Motorola MOTOSPLIT to have dynamic key labels, lame processor?

A quick glance at that render we’d obtained of the rumored MOTOSPLIT had us thinking we were seeing a large, Sholes-style phone with a musclebound OMAP3 core, but hold up — maybe this is a lower-end (and stranger) phone than we’d originally thought. Android Community has gotten tipped with additional details and another supposed render of the handset, and the most notable tidbit here seems to be that the phone is said to use dynamic key labels (a la Samsung Alias 2) to let the user pull out a single side as a numeric keypad or both sides (hence the “SPLIT” in the name) for full QWERTY action. In the QWERTY configuration, there’s apparently a kickstand around back that would help you set the phone on a desk and type with all the ease of the world’s smallest netbook cocked at an awkward 45-degree angle.

The wisdom and usability of this kind of setup remains a huge question mark, but the bigger question mark might be inside the phone itself: we’re hearing here that the MOTOSPLIT would use the same core as the Backflip, an old-school Qualcomm MSM7201A. Frankly that seems unlikely at best — virtually every Qualcomm-powered midrange smartphone to be introduced in 2010 from here on out will be using an MSM7227 or 7627 (including Moto’s own Devour), so we’re going to cautiously assume this particular piece of the intel is incorrect. Please let it be incorrect, Motorola, we beg of you.

Motorola MOTOSPLIT to have dynamic key labels, lame processor? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Local Paper Wrapper

Local%20Paper%20Wrapper.jpg

Inhabitat: Here’s a source for gift wrap paper that is as beautiful as it is eco-conscious. Known as The Local Paper, these couture coverings are based on unique themes that are inspired by the designers’ travel, nature, and life. Each elegant wrap comes in 24×36 inch sheets that are Forestry Stewardship Council certified, made with papers that are 30% recycled post-consumer fiber. Additionally, all of the packaging used is recycled, recyclable, and biodegradable. You can purchase The Local Paper at the Contemporary Arts Museum Shop in Houston, TX or online.

The Local Paper Makes Gorgeous Eco Gift Wrap [Inhabitat]

This day in Engadget: Steve Jobs calls for an end to DRM

Welcome to ‘This day in Engadget’, where we crack open the archives and take a whimsical look back at the memories and moments of our storied past. Please join us on this trip down random access memory lane.

On February 6th, 2007 Apple CEO Steve Jobs published his “Thoughts on Music” letter. iTunes was by then the major player in online distribution, and the iPod had become the widely recognized face of portable music. DRM was controversial and pretty much universally disdained, and Jobs took the opportunity to write a letter pinpointing what he thought were the three options moving forward in the digital music distribution model. Essentially, he felt Apple (and the rest of the music loving world) had three choices: stay the course (DRM intact), move to the company’s FairPlay licensing model, or envision a future which was DRM-free. Jobs made no bones about it: he and Apple hoped to “embrace” the end of DRM (under pressure from the EU, of course). Arguing that DRM hadn’t stopped piracy, he conveniently called for the major labels to license their music to Apple DRM-free. On January 9th of 2009, Apple did announce that some of the music in its iTunes store would be purchasable DRM-free, though it still makes use of FairPlay for apps and video. Jobs will have to continue fighting the good fight, we suppose.

Also on this date:

February 6th, 2009: The Kindle 2 seemed like it might be leaking (it was), Roku moved into private beta with Amazon Video on Demand, and Microsoft denied it was making a phone.

February 6th, 2008:
Ford announced it would offer its F-150 with an in-dash computer (amongst other things), a bunch of undersea cables were reportedly cut leaving much of the world with no internet and no Engadget, and the Xbox 360 HD DVD player hit an all-time low price of $130.

February 6th, 2007: Apple asked the FCC to keep its iPhone secrets confidential until the 15th of June, Hasbro recalled nearly a million Easy Bake Ovens to the dismay of little girls everywhere, and Sony Ericsson officially outed its W880 (Ai) Walkman musicphone.

February 6th, 2006: The PSP was www.engadget.com/2006/02/06/psp-officially-getting-email-and-gps/officially rumored to be getting both email and GPS, LG outed its F3000 cellphone which went ‘vroom vroom’ whenever you got a text, and Mobile ESPN went live.

February 6th, 2005: The world was a flutter with the news of how to unlock a GSM Treo 650, while signing up for a year of Napster to Go brought with it a free iRiver H10.

February 6th, 2004:
Hey, Engadget didn’t exist yet!

This day in Engadget: Steve Jobs calls for an end to DRM originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ExoPC tablet opens up for the world to see

It was just a week ago that the $599 8.9-inch ExoPC tablet came into our lives, but now we’ve been lucky enough to receive some shots of its internals. If tablet or netbook organs are your thing there’s plenty to see in the gallery below, including some photos of the fan, what appears to be a Ene memory card controller, and an open Mini PCI-Express slot. The Intel Atom N270 CPU, 945 Express chipset and 2GB of RAM are blurry, but ExoPC has been nice enough to confirm those specs for us. Though there’s not much in terms of the externals here it looks to be a solidly built tablet, and it does appear to have a free SIM slot on its edge. We’re itching to see some some more pics of the final multitouch units, including the finger-friendly ExoPC UI Layer which will run on top of its Windows 7 Premium, but in the meantime we’ve got the gallery below.

[Thanks, Jean-Baptiste]

ExoPC tablet opens up for the world to see originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumored Windows Phone 7 details surface ahead of MWC launch: Zune-like UI, no multitasking

We’ve had a pretty clear indication that Microsoft would have plenty to say about Windows Mobile 7 at MWC this month, and it looks like we now have the first significant batch of rumored details ahead of the presumed launch. While nothing is close to being confirmed just yet, PPCGeeks has received what it describes as some “truly amazing information” about what’s now apparently known as Windows Phone 7, and it certainly paints an interesting picture. According to the site, Windows Phone 7 will sport an interface that’s “very similar” to the Zune HD, along with a complete revamp of the start screen, and a UI (codenamed METRO) that’s described as “very clean,” “soulful,” and “alive.” Perhaps just as notably, the OS supposedly won’t support multitasking, with applications instead simply pausing themselves when in the background (there will be support for push notifications, though). Also missing is Flash support (at least initially), as well as NETCF backwards compatibility for older applications, although there are apparently “high hopes” for porting NETCF to the new platform eventually.

On the upside, the OS is said to have full Xbox gaming integration (including gamertags, avatars and, yes, achievements), full Zune integration, full support for social networking, and a try before you buy system in the Marketplace. What we apparently won’t be seeing at MWC, however, is any Windows Phone 7 hardware, as the announcement is said to focus solely on the user interface. According to PPCGeeks, however, Microsoft is confident that the first hardware will be ready by September of this year. Hit up the link below for the complete rundown.

Update: MobileTechWorld looks to have also received the same batch of rumors, and has revealed a few more, including word that the browsing experience is currently “better / faster” than the iPhone 3G, and that Microsoft is “aiming towards” the 3GS. They also say that while there will be no Microsoft-made device, the company will have tighter control of the manufacturing process, which promises to simplify things for everyone involved and allow for over-the-air updates.

Rumored Windows Phone 7 details surface ahead of MWC launch: Zune-like UI, no multitasking originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is a Core i7-based MacBook Pro strutting its specs in the wild?

For your viewing pleasure, we present the latest Apple rumor doing the rounds this Saturday afternoon — namely, GeekBench results for a “new” Core i7 MacBook Pro. According to the results, what you’re looking at above are the numbers for the MacBook Pro 6,1, sporting a nastified Intel Core i7 (dual core, not quad) 620M (Arrandale) percolating along at 2.66GHz. Other curious points here are the 4.8GHz FSB, which sounds a little screwy to us, and a final GeekBench score of 5260, which makes current MBPs clocked at the same speed look like your grandfather with a walker (those ranges hover around 3700-4000 on average). The laptop in question is also allegedly running a fresh version of Snow Leopard (build 10C3067 of 10.6.2), which certainly makes sense if someone is out there benching a new Apple product, though it’s not a number we can verify. Still, if you were using a new Apple product, would you be dumb enough to publicly share this info? Probably not, which of course raises the question that this might just be a hackintosh or some other clever spoof (even if we did see a suggestion of new MBPs on the way recently). In the meantime, you can dream of having your pants burnt off by the above monster, and we’ll let you know if this thing starts looking a little more real.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Is a Core i7-based MacBook Pro strutting its specs in the wild? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FeedDemon and NetNewsWire are now FREE

This article was written on January 09, 2008 by CyberNet.

NetNewsWire FeedDemon

NewsGator has made a HUGE unexpected step today by releasing their RSS news readers for free. That includes NetNewsWire (Mac), FeedDemon (Windows), and NewsGator Go (Blackberry, Java Mobile, and Windows Mobile). That’s right, they are all FREE now.

What’s even better is that all of these clients synchronize with NewGator’s online service, which can be used to read news anywhere you have access to the Internet. Some time ago NewsGator also created an iPhone-based mobile reader for optimized reading on the smaller screen, and that can be accessed from http://m.newsgator.com.

That’s not all either. They are also releasing new versions of all their RSS products! Here are some of the new features from NetNewsWire and FeedDemon:

  • NetNewsWire 3.1 – New user interface, performance improvements, archive items (a.k.a. save them to your hard dive), and more.
  • FeedDemon 2.6 – Includes a panic button for clearing out some older unread items, some user interface enhancements, performance improvements, inline searching, attention reporting, and more.

We have been using FeedDemon for quite awhile (we’re actually paid customers), and it is by far the best feed reader for Windows. It can handle hundreds of feeds without stuttering, and the fact that it’s now free makes it irresistible! It’s time to go get NetNewsWire (Mac), FeedDemon (Windows), or NewsGator Go (Blackberry, Java Mobile, and Windows Mobile).

Thanks for the tip Radu!

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Yinlips busts out a 6-inch, E Ink-boasting e-reader

Yinlips is jumping on the e-reader bandwagon with a 6-inch, touchscreen E Ink reader all its own. While we don’t have full specs for this think-looking little guy yet, we do know that it supports a wide array of file formats, supposedly gets around 20 hours of battery life, and that it’s got an FM radio with recording functions. There’s no word on pricing, other specs, or even the official name of this product yet (possibly just ‘E-Book’?), so make your suggestions in the comments, and we’ll try to get word to Yinlips for you.

Yinlips busts out a 6-inch, E Ink-boasting e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile getting Moto CLIQ XT, HTC HD2, Nokia Nuron next month?

The ironclad legitimacy of this slide can’t be confirmed, but considering what we know and what we’ve heard about T-Mobile USA’s plans for the next few months, we can totally buy what we’re seeing here. The PowerPoint masterpiece — which showed up on a PPCGeeks forum thread recently — has the midrange Android-powered Motorola Zeppelin as the “CLIQ XT” with a target launch of March 10, giving customers already flush with choices yet another way to get their Google on. Next, the Nokia “Nuron” (which looks an awful lot like a 5230 to us) is being billed as a “low-cost touchscreen” with 3G and Ovi Store access for a March 17 date with destiny, and finally, the mighty HD2 — which we already know is coming to T-Mobile — is said to be ready come March 24. Now, don’t get us wrong, the HD2 is a helluva phone — but if Windows Mobile 7 is really unveiled in a few days at MWC like everyone expects, that’s going to make the launch of a high-end 6.5 device just a little anticlimactic.

T-Mobile getting Moto CLIQ XT, HTC HD2, Nokia Nuron next month? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Mined the gap

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

At the introduction of the iPad, Steve Jobs showed a simple slide illustrating one of the burning questions in the industry for many years. On the left was a smartphone. On the right was a laptop. And in the middle was a gap. Apple, like many companies in the PC industry, was seeking to create a product that filled this gap. Indeed, the iPad itself reflects elements of the Apple devices that flank it. Its enclosure resembles the silver metallic enclosure of a MacBook Pro, but inside, it has the ARM processor architecture and operating system of the iPhone.

But the iPad is but the latest in a long line of products and would-be general-purpose devices that seeks to fill this gap, most of them short-lived. Some of the more recent ones include the aborted Palm Foleo, the Sony Mylo, Nokia Internet Tablets, UMPCs, and MIDs. Why are so many companies convinced there is opportunity in these products?

Let’s turn back the clock to 2002, the year Handspring launched its first smartphone, the monochrome 160 x 160-pixel Treo 180. It was the year that Verizon Wireless launched the first 3G network in the U.S. and the year MobileStar declared bankruptcy after deploying public Wi-Fi throughout many Starbucks locations in 2001. In 2002, PC World awarded its World Class Award for ultralight notebooks to the Fujitsu LifeBook P-2000. It was less than three pounds and had a 10.6-inch screen, but was 1.6-inches thick and had a starting price of $1,499. And it couldn’t access Facebook, Hulu, YouTube or Engadget — because they didn’t exist.

Continue reading Switched On: Mined the gap

Switched On: Mined the gap originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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