Dec 18
Sprint announces the immediate availability of the RIM BlackBerry 8530. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-10418329-85.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Dialed In/a/p
Dec 18
So, just how big is the iPhone’s growth in the Japanese market? According to recent numbers for Tokyo-based research group, Impress, the iPhone now controls roughly 26 percent of the Japanese smartphone market, having moved more than three million handsets in just over a year.
The numbers run counter to early reports that the Apple phone was a flop in the country.
Dec 18
BlackBerry Curve 8530 now available on Sprint
Posted in: BlackBerry, on sale, OnSale, Sprint, Today's Chili
What’s this we see here? Looks like the Curve 8530 has made it to Sprint after all. When all is said and done, she’ll cost you $50 with a new contract (after mail in rebate). Featuring a 2.5-inch display, OS 5.0, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and glorious, glorious WiFi, this is a solid, sensible device. Besides, if you wanted pizazz, you’d be looking at a Pureness right now. That, or you could always do a number on this guy with some Swarovski crystals and a hot glue gun — but please, don’t.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
BlackBerry Curve 8530 now available on Sprint originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Dec 18
Who owns the world’s 78 million iPhone and iPod touches? The US, mostly, according to a recent breakdown by Google-owned mobile advertising company, AdMob. Roughly half of those units sold reside in the US. The UK is in a distant second with eight percent, followed by France, Canada, and Germany.
According to the numbers, the United States actually has the slowest rate of growth. Japan leads that list, followed by Australia and China. The numbers are based on roughly 138 billion ad network impressions, rather than actual numbers of units shipped.
Dec 18
Stanza v2.0: The iPhone’s Best E-Reader Just Got Better
Posted in: e-books, iPhone, Media Players, Software, Today's Chili
Stanza, the iPhone e-book reader so good that Amazon bought it, has just released v2.0, and it improves on 1.x in almost every way.
Stanza was the first good e-book reading application for the iPhone, and this release keeps it at the top of the bunch. At first glance, the new feature list looks short, but when you start to poke around you discover that the polish that has been applied to the app makes every part easier to use. First, the official list:
Tabbed navigation
This simply adds a row of buttons along the top of catalog and settings screens to help find you way around. It doesn’t apply when reading, nor should it.
Copy to Clipboard in Annotation View
This single line hides a revamped annotation engine. Sure, now you can copy chunks of text, but you can also zoom pictures, share your notes (or the copied text) via Twitter or e-mail (or Facebook, if you have to), and easily define words via online dictionary.
Sharing
You can also show off how far you are into a book via Twitter and Facebook. Lord knows why, but it is there if you want it.
Unified Setting Screen
This is partially true. Those of you who learned to navigate the labyrinthine sections of the old Stanza will not be wasting that practice. It seems that the settings are, far from being unified, still scattered all over the place.
More
Not mentioned in these notes is a new text-resizer, which actually resizes the whole page as you pinch until you are happy, and then only reformats the text when you click to confirm. If you were ever frustrated by the old way which would reformat after every pinch, and always seemed to get the size wrong, you will be very happy.
In fact, this kind of polish is what marks the 2.0 update. You can now assign custom categories to your books easily, as well as creating your own collections (think playlists for books). You can assign artwork, either by searching on the web (it is automatic) or by importing from your iPhone photo library.
Further, the online catalogs have been separated into official and unofficial, so if you have added any (ahem) third-party repositories, they are kept away from the legit stuff.
One pain, and something nobody seems to have worked out yet, is that you have to leave the application to buy anything, getting dumped into Safari to input credit card or login details. A minor point, we suppose, but it certainly stops the candy-store buying approach we’re used to with iPhone applications and music. It is probably inevitable with Stanza, though, as it supports so many different online stores.
Should you download it? If you are already a Stanza user, it’s likely you already did as soon as you heard about the update. If you’re not a Stanza user, go get it now. It’s free.
Stanza [Lexcycle]
Stanza in the App Store [iTunes]
Dec 18
Marks & Spencer exclusive netbook offers lots of hyperbole, little substance
Posted in: advertising, netbook, Today's Chili
The status quo for the netbook has not shifted much since the Eee PC took over the world, but now Marks & Spencer has come along to revolutionize the segment with the Elonex-sourced MSNB-2009. Delivered using the company’s typically overstated advertising techniques, the machine is said to be “stylishly designed for life on the move,” “both portable and powerful,” and “style and sophistication” wrapped in a “glittery high-gloss finish.” What’s inside is rather less sparkly, the same ‘ol 1.6GHz Atom and 160GB HDD configuration that put us to sleep years ago. M&S calls this “an aspirational laptop for the modern lifestyle” and we totally agree: if you buy this you’ll aspire to buy something better. Available now in three shocking colors for “only” £279 — about $450.
Marks & Spencer exclusive netbook offers lots of hyperbole, little substance originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dec 18
BlackBerry shipments break record in Q3, RIM profits jump 59 percent
Posted in: BlackBerry, financial, financials, research in motion, ResearchInMotion, RIM, sales, smartphone, Smartphones, statistics, stats, Today's Chili
RIM being a thriving and profitable company is hardly a new story — as confirmed by third quarter earnings of $628 million off the back of a record-breaking 10 million units sold — but the way it’s making its money seems to be changing. More than 80 percent of new BlackBerry subscribers in the quarter were private customers, marking a distinct shift — maybe not away from the corporate arena, but definitely toward embracing the consumer market. In an effort to further consolidate its global empire, RIM has also announced a partnership with China Telecom to go along with its earlier China Mobile deal. Oh, and there’s the small matter of the 75 millionth BlackBerry being sold, but we’re sure the cool cats up in BB HQ aren’t counting handsets, they’re probably too busy rolling around in piles of money.
BlackBerry shipments break record in Q3, RIM profits jump 59 percent originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dec 18
FCC extends deadline on Verizon’s ETF response, lets it enjoy the weekend
Posted in: Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw
They’re not exactly calling off the hounds, but the FCC’s standing down just a wee bit in its hunt to get to the bottom of Verizon’s astronomical new $350 “advanced device” early termination fee; the original deadline for the carrier’s responses was yesterday, December 17, but instead, the FCC will now be checking its mailbox on Monday. Even in the most extreme outcome, it’d likely be months or years before the FCC would actually go from an inquiry to applying pressure on Verizon to lower the fee. In the meantime, though, failure to respond to the questionnaire will probably result in an entertaining series of strong verbal admonishments and — if Genachowski’s in a feisty mood — perhaps a flurry of punishing blows to Verizon’s torso and upper body.
FCC extends deadline on Verizon’s ETF response, lets it enjoy the weekend originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dec 18
Conservative Concept Tablet Gets Almost Everything Right
Posted in: concept, Media Players, tablet, Today's Chili
Coming up with a concept design is pretty easy — after all, you can say it does anything and you never have to actually fit real components into a real box and program a real machine. By this measure, Timur Pinar’s concept tablet is rather conservative and, counter-intuitively, somewhat more attractive than more outlandish designs.
The “HTC evolve” (yes, it even has an imagined manufacturer) sports an Intel Atom processor, two USB 3.0 ports, 128GB of solid-state storage, 1.5GB RAM, an HDMI port and a camera and microphone on the screen-side. And of course there is a touch screen.
As a design, it is pretty sweet (apart from a second, vestigial screen that pops out of the side, ready to be snapped off), and would run Android or Chrome or whatever would give it a one or two second boot time. The lines are clean and the purpose is clear — this is a machine for consuming media, non creating it. And that is the big difference between the upcoming wave of tablet devices and the failed tablet PCs of yesteryear: these machines do one thing, and they do it well. I’d buy this, but then I am on a mission to rid my home of any analog media whatsoever.
One more oddity: it has a stylus for input (you can still use fingers). What is this? 2005?
Sweet Dreams Are Meant To Evolve [Yanko]
Dec 18
Sony working on 3D Alpha DSLR cameras?
Posted in: dslr, sony, Today's Chili
3D is going mainstream big time, and while the first consumer-friendly 3D cameras are not exactly taking the world by storm, Sony wants to be there when they do. According to a slide deck uncovered by LetsGoDigital, the company is working on a 3D flavor of its Alpha line that will help to “grow market share” in this fledgling segment. Now if you’re imagining a giant monstrosity of a machine with dual lenses hanging off the front, take solace in knowing that Sony’s HFC Comfort-3D movie camera (similar to the HDC-F950 used to film action sequences in Avatar) does 3D through a single port, meaning you won’t necessarily have to go out and double your glass collection to use one of these. Beyond that it’s all speculation for now — wonderful, exciting speculation.
Sony working on 3D Alpha DSLR cameras? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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