@Bell Canada backpedals, Twitter SMS now — almost — free

We had a quick chat with Bell Canada‘s Julie Smithers, and apparently the user gripes, moaning, and all around sadness seem to have helped Twitter and Bell strike up a new conversation about your beloved. Bell and Twitter have agreed that incoming Twitter SMSes will be free on Bell — provided you have a Bell SMS bundle — and that outgoing will be charged just like any other text would be. So if your plan includes 30 sent messages — like the $3 SMS bundle — and you go over, you’ll get dinged just like you would sending normal text messages. So let the merriment begin Canada, go forth, sign up for unlimited texting, and tweet like we know you’ve been itching to since November last year.

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@Bell Canada backpedals, Twitter SMS now — almost — free originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Superman gets sold

(Credit: Geekspeak)

Looking at that picture on the left, I’m reminded of the days when buying a comic book and keeping it in pristine condition was the most important thing in my life. Didn’t matter which comic, either; all of them were treated with the same reverence. Ah, …

Engadget’s recession antidote: win a Kodak Zi6 pocket HD camcorder!

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn’t want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back — so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We’ll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we’ve got a Kodak Zi6 pocket HD camcorder. Read the rules below (no skimming — we’re omniscient and can tell when you’ve skimmed) and get commenting!

Special thanks to Kodak for providing the gear!

The rules:

  • Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for “fixing” the world economy, that’d be sweet too.
  • You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you’ll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
  • If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you’ll be fine.
  • Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
  • Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one Kodak Zi6. Approximate retail value is $179.
  • If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
  • Entries can be submitted until Friday, February 27th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
  • Full rules can be found here.

Continue reading Engadget’s recession antidote: win a Kodak Zi6 pocket HD camcorder!

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Engadget’s recession antidote: win a Kodak Zi6 pocket HD camcorder! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS gets official with P835 WVGA smartphone

Last we checked, Mobile World Congress ended a few days ago, but evidently ASUS doesn’t mind a bit. Out of nowhere, the company has just introduced its newest Windows Mobile 6.1 (boo…) smartphone, the P835. Without a doubt, the two standout features here are the 3.5-inch WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen and support for HSUPA 7.2Mbps downloads. The handset comes loaded with Opera Mobile for web surfing, a trackball, the company’s new and improved Glide user interface, a battery good for six to seven hours of talking, a 528MHz Qualcomm 7201A processor, 4GB of internal storage, a microSDHC card slot, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, USB 2.0 connectivity, aGPS and quad-band GSM compatibility. You’ll also find a 5 megapixel AutoFocus camera and video recording, and beautifully enough, the phone can double as a WiFi access point to share its blazing fast connection over WiFi with up to ten devices. As ASUS always does, we’re left high and dry when it comes to pricing and availability. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading ASUS gets official with P835 WVGA smartphone

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ASUS gets official with P835 WVGA smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Viewsonic goes ultra thin

This is the CD4220T. Soon as I get a pic of the CD4230, I'll get back to you. Disappointing, I know. Send your hater mail to Viewsonic, please.

(Credit: Viewsonic)

Every now and then I actually like getting excited about things I’ll never have. Probably something carried …

Bell Canada launches first CDMA BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230

Big day for Bell and smartphones as they add the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 on top of the Pal Treo Pro launch a little earlier in the day. Thankfully the BlackBerry seems to have its pricing lined up and will squeeze your piggy bank for $29 on a three-year contract, a steep $349 on 2, $449 for 1-year and is $499 off contract altogether — though the $29 is apparently only until the end of March. Telus is also prepping this flippier BlackBerry for launch, though no word on a date for that just yet. In case you’ve forgotten the pink or black 8230 features GPS capabilities, 128MB of memory, external 1.6-inch and internal 2.4-inch displays, and the oh-so novel 4.6 OS. Grab it now on Bell’s site if you’ve been dreaming of the same ol’ BlackBerry in an entirely new and interesting package.

Update: Pricing updated as site was updated.

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Bell Canada launches first CDMA BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cheap Geek: Amazon Friday Sale, Dell Inspirion Mini, Philips Media Player

inspn_mini_9_black_sunset.jpg
Congratulations. You made it through yet another week. The economic crisis can be hard, but these bargains may just help you ease the pain. Check out Gearlog’s deals for Friday, February 27:

1. The best part about Fridays is Amazon’s Friday sale. This week brings us a variety of camcorders. Save 53 percent off of the Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder. Now just $69.99, the Flip Ultra comes in white and has 30-minutes of video space. The Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 Digital Camcorder and 8 MP Digital Camera, in blue, is 55 percent off of the original price of $399.99. Get it today for just $179.99. Check out the other deals at the Amazon Friday Sale.

2. Today, save $50 off of a Dell Inspiron Mini 9. The Inspiron Mini 9 has an Intel Atom processor, and a 8.9-inch LED display. Get it today only for $199. [Via Bargainist.com]

3. Need a cheap music player? The Philips GoGear 4GB Media Player is 60 percent off at Buy.com. The refurbished MP3 player is now $39.99, down from $69.99.

Hearst to launch wireless e-reader, potentially revolutionize print media

Hot on the heels of Amazon’s highly anticipated Kindle 2 launch comes this: news that Hearst Corporation — which publishes iconic magazines including Cosmopolitan and Esquire along with the San Francisco Chronicle — will be launching its own wireless e-reader. While many may be quick to label this forthcoming device as a Kindle competitor, the concept behind this is far more elaborate than simply knocking Amazon from its perch. In an effort to “preserve the business model that has sustained newspapers and magazines” while moving forward with technology, Hearst is planning to ship a larger-than-usual reader (around the size of a standard sheet of paper), giving publishers (and advertisers, by extension) about the same amount of space as they’re used to when pushing out e-articles. Reports suggest that the device — which will do the monochrome thing until a color version debuts later — could land as early as this year, with Hearst & Friends planning to sell them to publishers and “take a cut of the revenue derived from selling magazines and newspapers on these devices.” No exaggeration here — this may be the biggest news we’ve heard for print media in years, not to mention the promise of an all-new e-reader for gadget nerds to swoon over.

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Hearst to launch wireless e-reader, potentially revolutionize print media originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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VMware MVP weds Windows CE and Android in unholy matrimony on dual-boot N800

This is just too good. We knew VMware was working on this sort of thing, but watching it in action is almost too much magic for our fragile hearts to comprehend. VMware MVP lets you run multiple mobile operating systems on a mobile device as virtual machines. It works exactly as you might hope something like this to work — you can switch between operating systems on the fly, with full graphics acceleration and touchscreen interaction. You can even view both operating systems running simultaneously (in this case Windows CE 6 and Android), with info on just how much power each OS is swiping from your poor little mobile CPU. Performance isn’t perfect, of course, but as mobile hardware gets better and the desire for multiple mobile operating systems on the same device becomes unbearable, we see good things happening here. VMware expects to release the software in 2009, video is after the break.

Continue reading VMware MVP weds Windows CE and Android in unholy matrimony on dual-boot N800

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VMware MVP weds Windows CE and Android in unholy matrimony on dual-boot N800 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friday Poll: Wooed by weirdness



News.com Poll

A touch of odd
What’s the most wonderful weirdness we covered this week?

Minnie Mouse dressed as slave girl Leia
Wonderful Bra Dryer
Ugliest headphones ever seen