Jun 17
Lifehacker is offering a video primer on how to filter the din of those noisy horns during soccer broadcasts. Our ears are very thankful.
Jun 17
iPhone 4 to have 512MB of RAM, double the 3GS and iPad?
Posted in: Apple, AppleIphone, iPhone, memory, Today's Chili
Apple has traditionally been — how shall we put it — cagey with revealing memory and CPU specifics of its mobile devices, but MacRumors is today reporting its discovery that the fourth-gen iPhone’s RAM apportionment will be a very healthy 512MB. We’ve heard similar rumblings from reliable sources of our own. What it means is that iPhone 4 users can look forward to not only the same processor (though potentially at a lower speed) as their iPad compatriots, but also double the memory allowance. Of course, this will hardly be the first handset to offer half a gig for the OS to dance inside, but at least Apple’s keeping up with the times. Wouldn’t wanna disappoint all those pre-orderers now, would we?
iPhone 4 to have 512MB of RAM, double the 3GS and iPad? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jun 17
The Engadget Show returns Wednesday, June 23rd with Jimmy Fallon, Microsoft Kinect, and more!
Posted in: engadget show, EngadgetShow, the engadget show, TheEngadgetShow, Today's Chili
That’s right, Engadgeteers — the tables have turned. Next Wednesday, June 23rd, the Engadget Show returns full force with a very special guest: Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (and also a major geek). Jimmy will be sitting down with us for the kind of frank, eye-opening, and downright thrilling one-on-one conversation only the Engadget Show can provide. Not only that, but we’ll have the Microsoft Kinect live and on stage for a hands-on demo — so you’ll get a chance to see it in action long before it hits shelves this November! And there are lots of other major surprises in-store.
We’ll also have music from the inimitable Glomag, along with some stunning visuals. Oh, and did we mention the crazy giveaways? Like… a pair of new Xbox 360s? Seriously, you do not want to miss this one — it’s going to be epic.
The Show will be taking place at the Rose Auditorium in Cooper Union’s New Academic Building, located in Manhattan at 41 Cooper Square. Seating is extremely limited, so get there early!
Here’s all the info you need:
- There is no admission fee — tickets are completely free
- The event is all ages
- Ticketing will begin at 5PM on Wednesday, doors will open for seating at 7:30PM, and the show begins at 8PM
- You cannot collect tickets for friends or family — anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket
- Seating capacity is limited (only about 200 seats in the theatre), and once we’re full, we’re full
- The venue is located at 41 Cooper Square New York, NY 10003 (map after the break)
- The show length is around an hour
If you’re a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we’ll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.
Sprint is offering 50 guaranteed tickets to the Engadget Show taping to the first 50 entrants who text “ENGADGET” to 467467 or enter online! Standard text messaging rates apply. Click for the Official Rules and see how to enter online.
Subscribe to the Show:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
[Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V).
[RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
The Engadget Show returns Wednesday, June 23rd with Jimmy Fallon, Microsoft Kinect, and more! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jun 17
Apple has taken orders for more than half a million next-gen iPhones despite numerous website errors and two AT&T security glitches exposing customers’ personal data.
Now that’s impressive.
Many customers itching for an iPhone 4 this week reported server failures when they attempted to pre-order the handset. In some instances, customers were even erroneously logged into other people’s accounts through AT&T’s website. Acknowledging the security glitch, AT&T temporarily suspended iPhone 4 preorders to resolve the problem.
The AT&T website error was the second embarrassing security snafu for the telecom company in a week. After the other one, the FBI launched an investigation into a security hole that exposed personal data on more than 100,000 3G iPad owners. Hackers revealed the exploit in an exclusive story reported by Gawker.
Still, despite recurring failures and frustrations, Apple and AT&T received 600,000 pre-orders of the iPhone 4, anyway. For context, Apple needed a month to sell 1 million units of its other flagship product, the iPad.
“It’s clear there’s extremely strong demand for this phone, and it’s hard to even think of another phone that was introduced with so many pre-orders,” said Michael Gartenberg, a partner of Altimeter. “This was from consumers who have never seen or touched the device — people who are willing to buy it essentially sight unseen.”
“That means there’s a tremendous trust in Apple and Apple products that consumers have, which competitors don’t have and need to figure out how to get,” he added.
In addition to the iPhone 4’s new features — a higher-resolution display, a video-conferencing camera and a brandnew glass form factor — it was probably the sensational story behind leaking the iPhone 4 that helped drive its popularity, Gartenberg said.
Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, and despite the handset’s early imperfections, it has snowballed into a phenomenal success that many tech companies are attempting to replicate. Google’s Android platform is Apple’s fiercest competitor: 100,000 Android devices are being activated each day, according to Google.
Yet the determination seen among iPhone fanatics remains unparalleled even by Google.
“Stayed up past midnight to order on Apple.com,” iPhone customer Scott Schwartz said in Wired.com’s forums. “FAIL. Tried to call the sales number. Dropped calls. (Ironic, since I was calling with iPhone/AT&T). Too many calls, got hung up on. FAIL. Tried at 20-minute intervals for hours in the morning at AT&T and Apple. FAIL. FAIL. Heard about Apple Store App. Downloaded it. Used it. Reserved phone in 60 seconds. WIN. I think this deployment deserves a big banner on a carrier that says ‘Mission Accomplished.’”
“After four hours of attempts to use both the Apple and AT&T websites I was unable to pre-order my handsets,” wrote Wired.com reader Ryan Lieber in an e-mail, who said he eventually drove to an AT&T store multiple times to preorder the iPhone 4. “We got back to the store around 6:45. The system goes down right in front of us. We wait for 90 minutes at the counter just to swipe the credit card. But it’s done.”
Apple and AT&T said iPhone 4 pre-orders exceeded their expectations: Pre-order sales were 10 times higher than the first day of pre-orders for the third-generation iPhone.
It’s believable that they couldn’t anticipate such a demand. But let’s not forget that this is the fourth iPhone, and previous iPhone launches were botched by Apple and AT&T as well, with issues such as activation failures and a shoddy pre-order system.
Clearly, none of these headaches can take away from the shiny allure of Apple’s iPhone.
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
See Also:
- Photo Gallery: Hands-On With the iPhone 4
- Why the iPhone 4 Camera Is So Promising
- Apple Unveils High-Resolution, Videoconferencing iPhone 4
Jun 17
Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata: no ‘immediate need to replace the Wii’
Posted in: console, gaming, nintendo, rumor, rumors, Today's Chili, wii
Sheesh… will you folks ever learn? There will never, ever be a Wii replacement. It’s the console that keeps on giving, and also the one that’ll never perish. It’s the end-all answer to the world’s gaming needs, and even though greater than 50 percent of the US has an HDTV, Nintendo won’t ever have to support that unwanted “1080i” format. All sarcasm, angst and bitterness aside, Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata recently affirmed that there’s no Wii successor on the near-term roadmap. Specifically, he stated that he “doesn’t think that there is an immediate need to replace the Wii console; but of course, at some point in the future, the need will arise.” To cap things off, he added: “We currently do not have an answer as to what point in the future that need will come.” As much as we’d love to point out just how far behind the game Nintendo is in terms of graphics, we can’t argue with the sales figures, and until the collective consumer wallet deems true HD support a necessity, we suppose the Wii can just keep on keepin’ on. Much to our chagrin.
Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata: no ‘immediate need to replace the Wii’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jun 17
Check out our E3 2010 hub!
Posted in: Today's Chili
This E3 was a big one — Kinect, the new Xbox 360, and Nintendo’s 3DS, just to name a few of the major developments in gaming. Either way, if you missed some of the action, you can head on over to our brand new E3 2010 hub and get caught up. Do it!
Check out our E3 2010 hub! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jun 17
A new camcorder lets consumers play James Cameron at home by creating their own 3-D videos.
Hammacher Schlemmer has started selling what it claims is the first camcorder to shoot 3-D video and let users see the resulting content on the device’s screen, without the need for any special glasses.
With help from a 4-GB SD card, the $600 camcorder can store up to four hours of video or 2,000 3-D still images.
Don’t expect high-quality video though. The camcorder’s two lenses have to work with a 3-megapixel image sensor.
The videos are recorded in 640 x 480 pixel resolution as AVI files. The camcorder can also take standard 2-D movies and pictures.
With the success of films such as Avatar and Up, the 3-D format has made a big comeback this year. Major TV makers including Sony, Panasonic and Mitsubishi are offering large-screen 3-D TVs, even as broadcasters such as ESPN and Discovery prepare 3-D programming.
But it’s amateur content that could be the real catalyst for 3-D’s popularity. Already, some DIYers are rigging cameras and using software tricks to produce 3-D short films, postcards and home videos. Maker Faire had a section this year showcasing 3-D photographs and video from amateurs and professionals.
YouTube started offering a 3-D display option for videos on the site last July.
To create a 3-D image, you need to connect two cameras together, so each shoots the same scene from a slightly different perspective. Software helps synchronize the two sets of images. With some help from 3-D glasses, the brain can be tricked into perceiving depth in these images. There are also ways to offer 3-D–capable small screens that don’t require viewing glasses.
So far, DIYers have hooked together standard Canon cameras, iPod Nanos and Flip camcorders to create a home-brewed 3-D camera.
Consumer-electronics companies are now trying to step in to offer off-the-shelf gadgets. Last year, Fuji released the first 3-D point-and-shoot digital camera, a $600 gadget that, for now, is largely available only in Japan. Earlier this week, Nintendo announced the 3DS portable that allows you to take 3-D photos and play 3-D games with it.
Hammacher Schlemmer’s 3-D camcorder doesn’t require glasses to watch 3-D videos. It includes a media player with a 7-inch screen, speakers and a headphone jack that can display the 3-D content off the device’s storage card.
The battery life of the camcorder, though, seems disappointing. It offers just two hours of operation from a six-hour charge.
See Also:
- 3-D Goes DIY With Amateur Photos, Videos
- 3-D PCs Will Make a Splash at Computex
- Live Blog: Nintendo 3DS Debuts at E3 Conference
- 3-D Tabletop Display Gets Rid of the Glasses
- 4 Things That Could Keep 3-D TV Out of Your Living Room
Photo: Hammacher Schlemmer
Jun 17
KT brings the Nexus One to South Korea, complete with Froyo
Posted in: Android, froyo, Google, korea, nexus one, NexusOne, South Korea, SouthKorea, Today's Chili
The Nexus One may have taken a little while to reach South Korea, but it looks like KT is doing its best to make up for lost time — the carrier has just announced that it will not only be offering the Nexus One, but that it will come complete with Android 2.2 (a.k.a. Froyo). True to Nexus One form, you’ll be able to snag the phone off-contract for 699,600 won (or about $576), but you’ll also be able to get it for just 150,000 won (or $125) on a two-year contract. Not many surprises beyond that, but it looks like supplies will be limited to just 4,000 units for the June 21st launch — although KT promises it will be readily available at stores across the country in July.
[Thanks, Tom]
KT brings the Nexus One to South Korea, complete with Froyo originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Jun 17
Gundam gets a 30th anniversary salute by Japan’s All Nippon Airways with graphics of the giant meca splashed down the left side of a Boeing.
Jun 17
Fujitsu and Toshiba cellphone units merge, become second-largest Japanese mobile company
Posted in: financial, merger, mobile, phone, smartphone, Today's Chili, Toshiba
Merger mania in the Japanese smartphone market, as Toshiba and Fujitsu have decided to combine their mobile operations, creating what will be the second-largest Japanese phone maker after Sharp. The move comes just over a year after these two merged their hard drive operations, so clearly the love here is deep. Fujitsu will reportedly own 70-80 percent of the new company, as it’s actually a bigger mobile player — but it mostly makes dumbphones with gimmicky features for the domestic market, which is why it’s buying Toshiba and its lineup of smartphones like the Snapdragon-powered TG02. Of course, the TG02 runs Windows Mobile, so it’s not like it represents any sort of future, but we’d bet it’d look real nice running Android or Windows Phone 7. We’ll see how quickly these two can get in the game — the mobile market isn’t for the faint of heart.
Fujitsu and Toshiba cellphone units merge, become second-largest Japanese mobile company originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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