Although Intel made some waves yesterday with the announcement of the smartphone-capable Moblin 2.1 release, the reality here on the ground at IDF is pretty much status quo: phones and other connected devices based on the next-gen Moorestown mobile platform are nowhere to be found, and the actual products on the floor are the same chunky MIDs we’ve all come to know and ignore. But while the devices remain somewhat uninteresting, Moblin itself has some terrific potential from what we’ve seen — there’s deep location and social networking integration with a unified contacts list that works a lot like Palm’s Synergy, standard Linux apps can be easily ported over and run without any fuss, and manufacturers and developers can even ditch the standard UI and develop whatever they want on top. It’s definitely cool stuff — we just wish Intel had given us this demo on a compelling hardware instead of an older Menlow-based Compal MID, you know? Video after the break.
Continue reading Video: Moblin 2.1 for MIDs and phones, sort of in action
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Video: Moblin 2.1 for MIDs and phones, sort of in action originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
UMID’s got a couple prototype M2s lying around IDF, and while they don’t seem like the most stable or production-ready things in the world — one of them booted straight to an all-white screen, while another had its logo stuck on by a doting booth attendant — it’s clear that this revision of the M1 will correct a few glaring flaws. The major fix is that there’s now a regular USB port on the side, instead of the M1’s goofy dongle, but we’re also glad to see a 3.5mm headphone jack and a (tiny) trackpad with two mouse buttons flanking the screen. Yeah, it’s still a quirky little MID, but hey, maybe that does it for you. We’re not here to judge what you do with the gallery below.
Gallery: UMID M2 hands-on at IDF
Filed under: Handhelds
UMID M2 hands-on at IDF originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Packed with an abundance of features, the ST2310 is…wait. Oh, it doesn’t have a lot of features? OK, never mind.
(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET)
A few months back I reviewed the 21.5-inch Dell SX2210, and when Dell first told me they’d be sending the ST2310, …
We’ve just heard from AT&T that new carrier settings for the iPhone 3G and 3GS will be available “late morning” Pacific Time (which would be early afternoon Eastern) this Friday, September 25, which will finally enable MMS support. Owners will have to tether up to iTunes to grab those settings, so fish out your cable (as if you don’t have it permanently attached to your machine already) and make sure you’ve got some solid time in front of the computer to check for the update over and over (and over) again, alright?
[Thanks, Frank]
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
AT&T slips some iPhone MMS rollout details for Friday originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
While more and more printer manufacturers are gearing MFPs for the dual role of home and home office, Epson has focused its Stylus NX line squarely on the home market. Its latest, the Stylus NX515 , excels in the role of a home device that can print, scan, and copy, earning an Editors’ Choice,. The printer beat out HP’s recent entry, the Photosmart C4680 All-in-One , among others.
The NX515 is even good for home-office use, if your needs are mostly confined to light-duty printing. Its Ethernet and WiFi connectivity recommend it for a dual role, though its lack of an automatic document feeder (ADF) and a fax modem work against it; its lightning-fast printing of high-quality, smear-resistant documents is some compensation. The NX515 ‘s photo printing speed is less impressive than text, but photo quality is fantastic, especially for black-and-white images, is fantastic, and the prints are water- and scratch-resistant.
Although at $149 (direct) the Epson Stylus NX515 is higher priced than many of its peers, it offers enough to be worth the extra expense. And you may be able to find it at a considerable discount–as I write this, Amazon is offering it for just under $100.
Word is that Deutsche Telekom (the parent company of T-Mobile) is now actively engaged in talks with Clearwire and MetroPCS to expand its 4G network. This isn’t terribly shocking to hear, considering that most other providers (including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint) are already either heavy into negotiations or in the process of upgrading their infrastructure. Though the company hasn’t yet said anything about planned expansions, word is its looking for the most “cost-effective” way to build nationwide networks capable of higher speeds.
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
T-Mobile negotiating to expand 4G service, Catherine Zeta-Jones going door-to-door originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The new standard of excellence in high-end cars is the BMW 750Li. It provides more technology, entertainment, safety, passenger comfort, and of course (since this a BMW), performance. It comes with five cameras, two radars, four sonar sensors, seats that blow both cold and hot, a hard disk, and a sports suspension that can be dialed back to provide a limousine-like ride. It’s a glimpse of the future of technology that will over time reach mainstream cars at mainstream prices. To some, the BMW 750Li’s features will seem overkill. When I write this, it does to me, too, but on the road it’s a different story.
The HT-RC180, the best-sounding receiver for a grand.
(Credit: Onkyo)
Powerful-sounding receivers are hard to come by.
Sure, you can buy respectable-sounding models from the usual suspects–Denon, Marantz, Onkyo, Pioneer, Sony, and Yamaha–but most of the more affordable models lack real muscle. They sound acceptable at moderate volume levels, but can’t fully convey home theater impact the way bigger, read “more expensive,” models do.
Onkyo’s new HT-RC180 ($1,049 MSRP) is THX Select2 Plus Certified and that’s always a good sign. A bevy of features including an Ethernet port that enables the HT-RC180 either to receive and output audio tracks playing on your PC, or to bypass your PC and directly stream Internet radio stations such as Rhapsody and Pandora. There’s five HDMI 1.3a inputs and the ability to upscale any video input to 1080p via Faroudja DCDi Cinema. You’ll soon get the complete scoop in the full HT-RC180 review I did with Matthew Moskovciak.
The features are nice, but it was the HT-RC180’s power and dynamic slam that wowed me.
The very first thing I noticed about the HT-RC180 was its ability to play nice and loud without strain. True, in absolute terms it probably can’t play much louder than lesser receivers, but the HT-RC180 definitely sounds better playing loud. Home theater, at its best, is all about producing a more visceral experience, and the HT-RC180 does just that.
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Originally posted at The Audiophiliac
The Light Peak technology sends signals with infrared light over optical fibers.
(Credit: Intel)
SAN FRANCISCO–Intel unveiled technology called Light Peak that it hopes ultimately will replace the profusion of different cables sprouting from today’s PCs with a single type of fiber-optic link.
Dadi Perlmutter, the newly promoted co-general manager of Intel’s Architecture Group, demonstrated Light Peak at the Intel Developer Forum here and said components for the technology, though not Light Peak-enabled PCs, will be ready in 2010.
“We hope to see one single cable,” Perlmutter said, adding that one thing getting in the way of smaller laptops is the profusion of cable ports around the systems’ edges.
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Originally posted at Deep Tech
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