Hasta La Gadget!

In a stealthy yet significant move, Amazon has dropped Sprint as its wireless partner for the latest versions of the Kindle 2 e-book reader. From now on, new Kindle 2s, in the U.S. and worldwide, will be powered exclusively by AT&T’s 3G network.

“Due to strong customer demand for the new Kindle with U.S. and international wireless, we are consolidating our family of 6-inch Kindles,” says Drew Herdener, spokesperson for Amazon.

The move was announced in a quiet update to Amazon’s product page for the Kindle rather than through a press announcement.

The move is a big blow to Sprint, which was the first U.S. telecom carrier to experiment with supporting mobile devices beyond cellphones and netbooks. It also means AT&T has all but cornered the wireless-connectivity market for e-readers. In addition to the Kindle 2, AT&T’s network forms the backbone of the new Sony touchscreen reader and Barnes & Noble’s recently introduced Nook e-reader. All that’s left for Sprint? Providing service for Amazon’s XL-sized Kindle DX, and supporting all the existing Sprint-connected Kindles.

When Amazon introduced the Kindle in 2007, the company highlighted wireless downloads of books as the device’s unique feature. The move helped the Kindle gain an edge over Sony, which had introduced its e-reader earlier but without wireless connectivity.

Earlier this year, Amazon offered a second-generation Kindle called Kindle 2 and a big-screen reader called the Kindle DX. Kindle 2 has a basic browser and lets users check text-heavy sites such as Wikipedia. But the devices were restricted to the United States.

Finally, this month, Amazon debuted an international version of the Kindle 2. It was the first Kindle to use AT&T’s network instead of Sprint’s. Kindle DX is still not available outside the states.

“Now that they are selling a Kindle overseas, it makes sense for them to have just one product that they can sell in all markets,” says Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. “And, since, in most of the world GSM is what is used, having a single product helps drive down costs for Amazon.” Sprint’s network is based on the CDMA standard.

That doesn’t mean Kindle buyers who bought their device before October will be switching to AT&T.

“Existing Kindle users, owners of the first- and second-generation Kindles and Kindle DX, will not notice any change to their experience. They will continue to utilize the Sprint network in the U.S.,” says Herdener.

And at least until Amazon introduces an international version of Kindle DX, Sprint will continue to be in business with Amazon.

“Sprint still powers the Kindle DX,” a Sprint spokesperson told Wired.com. “So it is not accurate to say that our relationship with Amazon is over.”

Meanwhile, for Kindle users, the switch from Sprint to AT&T raises questions about reliability of service. Weighed down by heavy data use from the iPhone, AT&T’s U.S. network has become congested, leading to slow connectivity and dropped calls.

And with about 3 million e-readers expected to be sold next year, could AT&T’s network face additional strain? Not really, says Golvin. “The type of connection that the Kindle needs is different from that of a phone, since there is no voice component, only a data component,” he says. “The actual capacity consumed by all Kindles now and those coming on to the network is very, very small compared to the rest of the network.”

Kindle users are also less likely to notice small delays or disturbances in the network, says Forrester’s Golvin. Unlike a web page, downloading a book does not require near–real-time display of different components.

“On an e-book reader, the congestion is invisible,” says Golvin. “The downloaded book arrives when it arrives, and a few seconds’ wait does not change much.”

See Also:

• Hands-on with International Kindle
• Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing, Dual-Screen ‘Nook’ E-Reader
• Amazon Kills U.S. Kindle, Cuts International Price
• International Kindle Now Shipping: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  
• Kindle Goes International — With a Little Help From AT&T
• Review: Amazon.com Kindle 2
  
• Review: Amazon.com Kindle DX

Top photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Homepage photo: Gubatron/Flickr

While Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the Nintendo DS received critical acclaim across the board, the game didn’t necessarily sell as well as it should have. Rockstar Games chose to bring the title over to the PSP, and with it, a complete graphical revamp.

We’ve had the final version of the game for some time now and here are our thoughts:

(Credit:
Rockstar Games)

Jeff:
I wish Rockstar Games would take the viewing angle from Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and go back and apply it to the first two GTA games on the system; that’s how fantastic of a gameplay experience it provides. Chinatown Wars is by far the best GTA game available on the system because it abandons the ground-level viewing angle that was present in the first two games. From here on out, we think every portable GTA title should control like this….

The Windows 7 launch seems to have gone off mostly roses and sunbeams, but we’re hearing today that quite a few people have had issues installing the downloadable $29 student upgrade edition on 32-bit Vista — apparently the file doesn’t unpack to an ISO, but instead to an executable and two bundles that don’t function properly, and eventually the process errors out with a 64-bit app trying to launch on 32-bit systems. It’s possible to create an ISO using some hackery, but the install process seems to be 50/50 after that — we’ve heard of both success and further crashes. For it’s part, Microsoft says it’s looking into things, so hopefully a newly repackaged download will be forthcoming — every party has its ups and downs, right?

Update: Our friends at DownloadSquad have a handy guide to making the ISO, in case you’re interested — and they say the installer does work in the end.

Update 2: We just got a tip that Microsoft is offering refunds to users who are having issues. [Thanks, Christopher]

[Thanks, Tom]

Read – Original thread
Read – Microsoft response

Filed under: Software

Windows 7 student upgrade installer not working for many originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this week, we issued our first shooting challenge “fall leaves” to the photographers among you. And holy crap are there some impressive photographers among you.

First Place
Wade Saathoff: Nikon D300, Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.4, 1/100th, f/3.2, ISO 320, 14 bit RAW, .nef converted using Raw Therapee and edited in Photoshop 7

Second Place
Tess Davis: Sony A350, 18-70mm kit lens, f/4.5, 1/200s, ISO 100

Third Place
Neal Rosenblat: Nikon D90, 50mm lens, f1.8, 1/2000

Thanks to everyone for making the first Shooting Challenge so much fun. And since these results are completely subjective, enjoy the full gallery below before mocking my taste in the comments. Still, I don’t think there’s a lousy shot in the bunch.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Psystar releases Rebel EFI installer, further enrages Apple originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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