Wii 2 to be smaller and cheaper?

If you’re expecting bigger and better things from the Wii’s successor, you may be let down. Nintendo might be satisfied with what the current Wii is already able to offer. According to TechRadar and Popular Mechanics, the company’s creative mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto says, “With both the Wii …

Unboxing Verizons Droid

droid1.JPGA box arrived for me from Verizon’s PR firm today, with a wonderfully scary little robot-eye sticker on the side. Given that the Motorola Droid launch is coming on October 28, could this be the new phone? Head to the jump to see what happened when I unboxed the contents.

Space-inspired quilts perfect for chilly geeks

Space quilt

Jimmy McBride's "The Black Eye Galaxy" measures 45 inches by 60 inches and sells for $2,000. Most of McBride’s space quilts are for kids, be we think adults would like them, too.

(Credit:
Jimmy McBride)

On these chilly fall days I like to combat …

New Verizon Droid Dates: October 28, November 9

droid-date.jpg

We’ve got fresh news today on the Verizon/Motorola Droid front. Verizon Wireless’s first (and highly-awaited) Android phone is now tipped to do … something … November 9, according to a small postcard I got in the mail from Verizon’s PR agency today (shown at left.)
Combine that with the coded countdown on Verizon’s official Droid site, which now counts down to October 28 instead of the original October 30, and we have what look like announcement and sale dates for the first Android 2.0 phone. October 28 and November 9. Keep them in mind.
The “Droid” will be Verizon Wireless’s first Google Android-powered phone, built by Motorola. Two weeks ago, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam promised the first of several Android phone launches “in a few weeks” and followed up with an official press photo of himself and Google CEO Eric Schmidt wielding two Verizon Android phones, one assumed to be the Motorola device and the other looking like a variant of Sprint’s HTC Hero. 
No other phones so far have run version 2.0 of the Android OS, codenamed “Eclair,” though the appearance of a giant inflatable pastry on the Google campus last week foreshadowed its coming.
You can sign up for more information about Verizon’s “Droid” at http://phones.verizonwireless.com/motorola/droid/?cmp=OTC-Droid-redirect1

BlackBerry Bold 9700 gets handled, appreciated for its nuances

Our dear colleagues over at Engadget German have had a chance to play with RIM’s just-announced BlackBerry Bold 9700 today, and every indication we’ve gotten is that this thing is a perfect — if not extremely conservative — successor to the first-generation Bold. Interface and network speed are both praised (both the 9700 and the Bold before it feature a 624MHz core, so there’s some magic going on here) and the microSD card is now hot-swappable, meaning that you’ve got a theoretically limitless supply of storage space if you happen to be carrying around a pocketful of 16GB cards. Check out the full gallery below, and naturally, stay tuned for a review of this bad boy just as soon as is humanly possible.

Filed under: ,

BlackBerry Bold 9700 gets handled, appreciated for its nuances originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

T-Mobile’s Project Dark: $99.99 unlimited on Even More, $79.99 on Even More Plus?

The details of T-Mobile’s mysterious Project Dark definitely seem to be congealing around retooled handset billing and a set of new plans, and it looks like TmoNews might have the first word here on the all-important subject of plan pricing. Even More Plus, which would be contract-free and offer new handset FlexPay over four installments, is apparently tracking for a $79.99 all-you-can-eat package, $69.99 with 1,000 voice minutes, or $49.99 with unlimited voice and no data. Even More meanwhile, which basically amounts to new contract plan branding with traditional hardware subsidies, will come in at $99.99 for unlimited everything (mirroring Sprint’s pricing) or $59.99 for unlimited voice alone. It seems strange that the contract pricing is higher than the prepaid, especially since Even More Plus apparently won’t offer any hardware subsidies whatsoever, but we’re sure we’re going to find out how this all shakes out soon enough. Follow the break for another shot of the pricing grids.

Continue reading T-Mobile’s Project Dark: $99.99 unlimited on Even More, $79.99 on Even More Plus?

Filed under: ,

T-Mobile’s Project Dark: $99.99 unlimited on Even More, $79.99 on Even More Plus? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Upgrade Windows Vista to Windows 7

If you’re upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 it should be a fairly easy install. You can do what’s called an in-place upgrade as long you install the same version of Windows 7 as you have of Vista.

For instance, if you have Windows Vista Home premium you can upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. You can also go from Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional, and from Vista Ultimate to 7 Ultimate. Any other upgrade, like Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional, will require a clean install. That means you can’t just turn Vista into 7. You have to export all your data, erase the hard drive, and then reinstall all your applications and data. A lot of computer experts think you should do a clean install anyway, just to make sure your machine runs better.

See our video for upgrading XP to Windows 7 for that process.

But if you’re lucky enough to be able to do an in-place upgrade and want to, here’s what you do.

Originally posted at CNET TV

Comcast On Demand Online rolls out fully this year, but stops at the front door

Following the 5,000 person beta already ongoing, Comcast is apparently ready to deliver the On Demand Online experience to all of its customers by the end of the year, with a few rather significant caveats. At launch one the much hyped placeshifting element of the service will not be live, for the time being you’ll need internet and TV service, and it will only work at home. Still, if queuing up last night’s ep of Mad Men on your laptop is all you’re looking for there should be a decent library of content to choose from with 24 cable networks signed on, and a $0 additional cost for the service. Our excitement level depends mostly on how quickly HD streaming and on the go access becomes a part of the package.

Filed under:

Comcast On Demand Online rolls out fully this year, but stops at the front door originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

CRTC sets net neutrality rules for Canada, allows throttling as ‘last resort’

The FCC may be yet to act on Chairman Genachowski’s proposed net neutrality rules, but the agency’s Canadian counterpart, the CRTC, has made a fairly significant ruling of its own on the matter today, and it seems like it may have manged to disappoint folks on both sides of the debate in the process. The short of it is that the CRTC will allow internet service providers to practice “traffic shaping” (a.k.a. bandwidth throttling), but only as a “last resort,” and only after it has issued a warning that the throttling will take place (30 days in advance for regular users, and 60 days for wholesale customers). What’s more, the CRTC is also recommending that ISPs “give preference to Internet traffic management practices based on economic measures” before cutting into customers downloads — in other words, charge more for extra bandwidth, or offer discounts during non-peak hours.

Read – CRTC ruling
Read – The Globe and Mail, “CRTC sets Web ‘throttling’ rules”

Filed under:

CRTC sets net neutrality rules for Canada, allows throttling as ‘last resort’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Two-wheeled electrics at the Tokyo Motor Show

Yamaha EC-f

The Yamaha EC-f is an electric motorcycle concept designed for ease of use.

(Credit:
Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc.)

Just as carmakers develop electric cars, motorcycle manufacturers also see the writing on the wall, showing off a collection of electric bikes …

Originally posted at The Car Tech blog