Hasta La Gadget!

The set-top box is now being sent to customers’ homes, according to word around the Web. The devices should arrive at their destinations later this week. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20017785-17.html” class=”origPostedBlog”The Digital Home/a/p

Designed to look like the iconic astromech, the Droid 2 honors the 30th anniversary of ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’ pOriginally posted at a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-20017766-251.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Android Atlas/a/p

Today at Research In Motion’s annual BlackBerry Developer Conference, CEO Mike Lazaridis announced the company’s new tablet — the PlayBook. The tablet will utilize an OS created by the recently acquired QNX (just as we’d heard previous to the announcement) called the BlackBerry Tablet OS which will offer full OpenGL and POSIX support alongside web standards such as HTML5 (which is all tied into RIM’s new WebWorks SDK). Lazaridis was joined on stage by the company’s founder, Dan Dodge, who said that “QNX is going to enable things that you have never seen before,” and added that the PlayBook would be “an incredible gaming platform for publishers and the players.” RIM also touted the PlayBook’s ability to handle Flash content via Flash 10.1, as well as Adobe AIR apps. The new slate — which Lazaridis described as “the first professional tablet” — will sport a 7-inch, 1024 x 600, capacitive multitouch display, a Cortex A9-based, dual-core 1GHz CPU (the company calls it the “fastest tablet ever”), 1GB of RAM, and a 3 megapixel front-facing camera along with a 5 megapixel rear lens (and yes, there will be video conferencing). There was no mention of onboard storage capacity during the keynote, though the devices we just spied in our eyes-on post are labeled 16GB and 32GB on their back panels. The PlayBook will be capable of 1080p HD video, and comes equipped with an HDMI port as well as a microUSB jack, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1. The device clocks in at a svelte 5.1- by 7.6-inches, is only 0.4-inches thick, and weighs just 400g (or about 0.9 pounds).

In terms of interface, the OS looks like a mashup of webOS and the BlackBerry OS, even allowing for multitasking via what amounts to a “card” view. Interestingly, RIM and QNX boasted of the PlayBook’s multimedia and gaming functions, but Mike Lazaridis also described the tablet as “an amplified view of what’s already on your BlackBerry.” That’s due largely in part to a function of the tablet which allows you to siphon data off of your BlackBerry handset via Bluetooth tethering and display it on your PlayBook (a la the ill-fated Palm Foleo). While the PlayBook doesn’t seem to rely on phone content alone, the press release from the company says that users can “use their tablet and smartphone interchangeably without worrying about syncing or duplicating data.” RIM didn’t hand out any solid launch dates beyond “early 2011,” and of course, there was no mention of retail price. We’ve got a slew of content after the break, including the PlayBook spec rundown, the company’s press release, and a full video of the device (and UI) in action — so take a look!

Continue reading RIM introduces PlayBook — the BlackBerry tablet

RIM introduces PlayBook — the BlackBerry tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM’s BlackBerry Developer Conference is going down this week in San Francisco, and as you might expect from a developer-focused event, there are a handful of newsy items that’ll affect the development community first and consumers down the road. Here’s a roundup of what’s what:

• WebWorks development platform. From what we’ve heard of this so far, it’s basically a quick way for web devs to get into the BlackBerry app game by offering a tightly-integrated platform for HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript code with hooks to native BlackBerry OS functions and a packager for turning them into “real” BlackBerry apps.
• BlackBerry Messenger Social Platform. RIM’s historically held BBM very, very close to the chest, but it’s starting to open up a tad with this particular announce. Don’t look for BBM on other platforms (yes, we know that’s what some of you were hoping to hear), but third-party app developers will now be able to tap into the system for sending and receiving messages, files, user profiles, and invitations. Interestingly, the company is pitching it as a platform for multiplayer gaming, using BBM as a conduit to move information between devices in real time.
• BlackBerry Advertising Service. Google bought AdMob and Apple bought Quattro, but RIM’s taking a more democratic approach to its advertising platform, allowing both “simple” and “rich media” ads to be served from a handful of providers “with only three lines of code.” It’ll be a 60 / 40 revenue split between devs and RIM.
• BlackBerry Payment Service SDK. This one’s launching in beta this week, bringing third-party in-app payments over credit card, PayPal, and carrier billing (available on AT&T right now, more carriers by the end of the year). It’ll be out of beta before 2010’s out.

Nothing on the so-called BlackPad so far, but at any rate, seems like this roundup is great news for anyone looking to slide some content into App World over the next few months.

RIM announces WebWorks development kit, in-app payments, ad platform, and BBM API originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM introduces a new Web-based app platform. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20017747-85.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Dialed In/a/p