Hasta La Gadget!

Remember when we thought that those $90 million and $190 million judgments in the endless TiVo / EchoStar case were big noise? Yeah, they were apparently pocket change: according to documents recently filed with the court, TiVo’s asking for nearly a billion dollars in contempt sanctions against EchoStar. Unfortunately, the original document in which TiVo made the request was filed under seal because it contains confidential information, but it appears that TiVo’s none too pleased that EchoStar violated the permanent injunction that ordered it to disable some 193,000 DVRs in the wild, and it’s looking for some payback. For its part, EchoStar says that it doesn’t have to comply with the court’s order because the injunction was put on hold pending appeal — an argument that appears on the surface to make perfect sense, but since we can’t read TiVo’s motion we can’t say for sure what’s going on, and there’s always a chance the company’s just playing hardball in order to force a late settlement. Given the rocky history of this endless case, we doubt that’s likely, but one thing’s for certain: all these lawyers are eating well tonight.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

TiVo asks court for a billion dollars in EchoStar case originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Now this is how you do a special edition. Activision and Infinity Ward look to be going all out for its Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 “Prestige Edition,” with not only the usual accoutrements like a special casing and an art book, but also what is described by Community Manager Robert “fourzerotwo” Bowling as a “fully functioning NVGs — night vision goggles.” No idea how well they work, but it’s got alternating modes and MW2 branding. That’s pretty awesome, but we gotta imagine it’s gonna demand a pretty penny — this is definitely more than that $80 “collector’s edition” for $80 GameStop is currently listing. You won’t be able to get your actual hands on the game until November at the earliest, so in the meantime, hit up the read link to get a glimpse of the “official” unboxing.

[Thanks, Joey]

Continue reading Modern Warfare 2’s Prestige Edition includes fully functioning night vision goggles

Filed under: Gaming

Modern Warfare 2’s Prestige Edition includes fully functioning night vision goggles originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Verizon’s getting very keen on entering the app store industry, but not without some rough decrees to its smartphone partners. According to GigaOm, VP Partner Management Ryan Hughes said in an interview Friday that its VZW-branded shop will house content from all the major platforms under one roof, with purchases being billed through the customer’s Verizon account and not requiring a separate signup / credit card entry. Convenient for consumers, and devs are also being promised a more streamlined approval process and a “competitive” revenue-sharing program, but here’s where things take a turn for the worse: according to Hughes, non-VZW app stores like BlackBerry App World or Windows Mobile Marketplace won’t be bundled with the smartphones out of the box, meaning consumers will have to take the initiative to download those portals for themselves. An incredibly jerk move, and an extra burden on developers who’ll be having to submit two approval applications if they want inclusion on Verizon’s own store. Of course, that large subscriber base is the reason it can get away with it, but let’s hope we hear some better justifications other than “because we can” when the full details are rolled out at the Verizon Developer Community Conference on July 28th.

Filed under: Cellphones

Verizon to its smartphones: thou shalt have no other app store before mine originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Following Starz, HBO has announced plans to provide programming on Comcast’s On Demand Online trial. Of course, this move shouldn’t surprise anyone given previous hints HBO was looking for ways to brings its video online or previous trials it has participated in. Just like Starz, users can expect a mix of television shows and movies, basically reflecting the current on demand lineup, including series like True Blood and Entourage, further detailed in the press release after the break. Also like Starz, following the launch, HD streaming is expected — clearly premium channel subscribers have the most reasons to be interested in being included in the 5,000 customer nationwide trial Comcast is launching in the coming weeks, but what about the basic cable only folks?

Continue reading HBO, Cinemax coming to Comcast’s On Demand Online

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet

HBO, Cinemax coming to Comcast’s On Demand Online originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Toshiba may be late to the netbook party, but its mini NB205 (http://tinyurl.com/mu58va) shows up with a bang.