Hasta La Gadget!

The Motion Picture Association of America has been trying to get a waiver for the FCC Selectable Output Control (SoC) ban since it went into effect — the ability to only allow content to flow from a HDCP protected HDMI port. Up until now there has been lots of debate and no action. The bad news is that the MPAA can now use SoC to protect high value content, the good news is the FCC really locked down exactly when it can be used. Basically any movie that’s never been released on disc (DVD or Blu-ray) can be protected with SoC for 90 days. The reason the FCC granted this partial waiver was because the content affected isn’t currently available to cable and satellite anyways — in other words consumers who own older HDTVs, without HDMI ports, don’t currently expect access to these movies. So for those with older hardware nothing changes, and for those with the latest and greatest, you’ll be able to rent newer movies from home. And for everyone else there’s the HDfury2 — no, they’ll never learn that DRM is a big waste of time and money. Full waiver after the jump.

Continue reading FCC will let the MPAA disable analog outputs, kind of

FCC will let the MPAA disable analog outputs, kind of originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fujitsu’s been dabbling in the color e-paper market for years, showing off prototype readers during a time when the iPad was simply a twinkle in the eye of Steve-o. Now, the e-reader realm as a whole is having to reevaluate itself with the explosion of multifaceted tablets, but we’re not giving up hope just yet — Qualcomm’s downright stunning color Mirasol display could turn the tables once more later this year, and Fujitsu’s new and improved color e-paper might do the same later this month. Scheduled to debut at the Fujitsu Forum in Japan, this newly developed color electronic paper utilizes a redesigned panel structure and image re-write methods, and there’s also an improved contrast ratio to boot. Unfortunately, there’s no public commercialization plans just yet, but we’re hoping it’ll hit a few products sooner rather than later — time’s a wastin’, Fujitsu!

Fujitsu breathes new life into color e-paper: brighter, faster, lovelier originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alright, stop us if you’ve heard this one before — but seriously, we’ve noticed an uptick on the tip lines here at Engadget in the last couple weeks that’s becoming difficult to ignore. It’s one thing to say “hey, the iPhone is launching on Verizon,” but we’re noticing a particular confluence of facts that has us intrigued: it’ll drop sometime in Summer, possibly in concert with the announcement that Verizon’s first commercial LTE networks have gone live, and — tread carefully here, because this is pretty difficult to believe and we don’t want to get your hopes up only to have them smashed into a million pieces — it’ll supposedly even be a 4G launch device. We’ve gotten surprisingly specific details both from Verizon employees and tipsters whose companies are supposedly under NDA with Verizon to test enterprise deployments of the handset later this year, and they’re all sending basically this same message. Read on!

Continue reading Verizon iPhone chatter is getting harder (than usual) to ignore

Verizon iPhone chatter is getting harder (than usual) to ignore originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’d think that Michael Gartenberg would bring a tone of civility to the Engadget Podcast, but his practical approach to tech thought simply causes rage in the hyper-inflated egos of Josh and Nilay, who both live in a world where teenagers simply do not exist. Don’t miss it.

NOTE: We had a few recording issues, please bear with us. They won’t kill you. But if they do, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel
Special guest: Michael Gartenberg
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Rock And Roll All Night

Hear the podcast

00:01:30 – Microsoft Kin One and Two review
00:05:00 – Kin available online starting tomorrow, in Verizon stores on May 13
00:30:00 – Survey says: most teens don’t have a data plan, almost all send texts
00:40:00 – Confirmed: BlackBerry two-way sync for Gmail is now live
00:48:05 – Intel’s Atom Z6xx series isn’t targeting Windows Phone 7, but ‘full Windows experience’ still an Atom priority
00:53:00 – Intel reaches for the ‘smartphone zone’ with Moorestown-based Atom Z6, comes up shorthanded
00:58:25 – Apple under preliminary antitrust investigation over iPhone, triggered by complaint from Adobe
01:15:40 – Engadget wins the People’s Voice Webby in Consumer Electronics, and you can win a Droid Incredible!

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Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Handhelds, Podcasts, Wireless, Internet

Engadget Podcast 195 – 05.07.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ouch. Just a few days ago, it seems like a certainty that Sprint would be pushing out Android 2.1 updates to the aging Samsung Moment and HTC Hero, but now a company admin has stepped in to assure us that things aren’t nearly that close to go. The full text is pasted in after the break, but the long and short of it is this: the long-awaited 2.1 update is now on track “to be available in Q2.” The carrier did confess to wanting this out sooner rather than later, but hey, at least your patience is really, really appreciated.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Sprint: Samsung Moment and HTC Hero Android 2.1 updates now coming ‘in Q2’

Sprint: Samsung Moment and HTC Hero Android 2.1 updates now coming ‘in Q2’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 14:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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