Nissan Recalling 2.1 Million Cars Worldwide

nissan_march.jpg

Nissan today announced that it is recalling some 2.14 million cars
globally
, due to a problem with the vehicles’ ignition relay, which may cause
engine stalls.

The recall affects cars in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. 835,000 of the
affected vehicles were produced in
Japan, 762,000 in North America, and 354,000 in
Europe.

Dates on the recalled cars range from 2003 to 2006. Affected models range
from compact vechicles to pickup trucks and luxury cars, including the March,
Cube, Note, Tiida, Titan, and Infiniti QX56.

Motorola’s mobile unit posts first operating profit in a long, long time

As a whole, Motorola is no stranger to profit… thing is, Moto won’t be “whole” for much longer, and when the split happens, we’re sure it’d like all of its divisions to be profitable. The mobile unit, of course, has been the struggling one, trying to pull out of a multi-year post-RAZR nosedive under the leadership of CEO Sanjay Jha — and it looks like his all-in bet on Android is starting to pay off at the bank on today’s news that they’ve posted a non-GAAP operating profit of $3 million. Yes, sure, that’s razor-thin when you consider that they sold some $2 billion worth of phones — but these guys haven’t seen black ink in three years, so it’s definitely cause for celebration. Looking at the bigger picture, the entirety of Motorola posted non-GAAP earnings per share of 16 cents — handily beating the estimate of 10 to 12 cents — on sales of $5.8 billion. Not out of the woods yet, but certainly rolling toward the end of the year on a high note, we’d say.

Motorola’s mobile unit posts first operating profit in a long, long time originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 11:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceMotorola  | Email this | Comments

New PS3 Model Has Bigger Hard Drive, Still Awfully Expensive

For the holidays, Sony is releasing a standalone Playstation 3 with a 320 GB hard drive, retailing $350. The same PS3 with a Playstation Move controller, Eye camera and Sports Champions game will cost $400; a standalone unit with a 160 GB hard drive costs $300.

The extra hard drive space is purportedly for games, video and other content distributed over the Playstation Network, but I’ve got to say that I agree with this Playstation Blog commenter:

You know I understand that with DLC content increasing at an alarming rate, we do need the extra space. What I don’t understand is why you don’t just keep all systems across the board with the same amount of memory and have consistent price drops (as technology gets cheaper) instead? 160GB would be ample space for most owners and for those who do a lot more downloading, I’m sure those are the people fully capable and comfortable swapping out hard drives. Honestly if I were a basic user, I’d prefer to spend $300 for a 160GB PS3 than spend $350 for a 320GB. It also causes more confusion for many “non gamer” types. What is the difference? Hard drive size. Really? That’s it?

Many other commenters point out that it’s easy to upgrade the internal hard drive of the PS3, making the savings relative to the 160 GB model nominal. On its own, the Move Starter Pack (controller, camera, game) costs $100.

Meanwhile, Nintendo’s offering bundled units at steep discounts and Microsoft Xbox is selling Kinects and new Xboxes like crazy. Either Sony’s margins don’t permit a price drop or they think they’re fine with the price points they have.

Offering a new package with a bigger hard drive makes sense if you’re cutting prices across the board. All this does is make the high-end bundle with the Move controller look like a marginally better deal.

See Also:


LED pumpkin would be perfect for your next Sleepy Hollow dance party (video)

We can’t all have heads as amazing as Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, but this holiday season we can have pumpkins that are every bit as blinky. Mike Szczys has posted a detailed walkthrough of how to create the above Jack-o-creation at Hack a Day, which features a 5 x 14 matrix of LEDs on the front that can be programmed to light up in various ways, like the Knight Rider sweep or to simply scroll the message “HAPPY HALLOWEEN.” That’s shown in the video below, but hopefully version 2.0 can manage the tricks displayed in the second embed that’s also waiting for you after the break.

Continue reading LED pumpkin would be perfect for your next Sleepy Hollow dance party (video)

LED pumpkin would be perfect for your next Sleepy Hollow dance party (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 11:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceHack a Day  | Email this | Comments

Marshall Headphones: Stick Some Guitar Amps on Your Ears

marhsall_headphone_preview.jpg

Everyone knows that you can’t really get that full live rock and roll experience without shoving your head against the amp. That said, sometimes it’s hard to find a nearby Marshall stack–like, say, when you’re at the office or on the subway.

These new Marhsall-branded headphones may be the next thing. At the very least, they sort of look like a pair of amps strapped to the sides of your head.

“These headphones are conceived from Marshall’s time-tested fundaments of performance and endurance, designed to thrive on daily use and to render music the way it was meant to sound, no matter what your flavor is,” the company writes in a press release. “The greatest of effort has also been put into the aesthetics, making the headphones ooze of that iconic Marshall look.”

If you don’t mind a little oozing next to your ears, these things look downright snazzy. Well, at least wall two inches of what we’ve seen thus far.

The Church of the Sacred Hologram [Video]

Will you tell of your hopes and your dreams and the goodness you have seen? Or will you tell them of the darkness you’ve created with your own hands? More »

HP Palm Logo Debuts

hp_palm_logo.jpg

You can spend all the money in the world, but an acquisition isn’t really complete until everything has been sufficiently re-branded. By that measure, it’s time to officially welcome Palm into the HP family.

Goodbye orange dot, hello branding afterthought. The new HP Palm logo looks as though someone slapped the word “Palm” onto the thing last second. It all seems a bit…mismatched… At least this puts to rest early speculation that the company might more or less abandon the Palm name.

It doesn’t particularly instill us with confidence about the company’s aesthetic future, however.

Japanese Pet Market and Wigs for Dogs

We were out on a Tokyo Trend Tour with a client this week, and came across this capsule vending machine in Ginza (gashapon) that dispenses wigs…for dogs.

dog-wig-gashapon

Japan’s pet market is so evolved, and undeniably fashion-conscious, that across town in Harajuku we found a line stretching down the block with female dog owners waiting for a limited edition line to debut at the girliest pet shop you’ve ever seen.

harajuku-girly-pet-shop

HTC Wildfire spreading to North America in Q4

HTC announces plans to bring its budget-friendly and compact Wildfire Android phone to North American regional carriers in Q4 2010.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

Tivoli Audio fails to deviate with Model 10 clock radio, still celebrates Tin anniversary

So, what’s a company to do when turning the big one-oh? The same thing that it always has, of course! Tivoli Audio’s classic styling has somehow found its way back around again on the 10th anniversary Model 10 AM/FM clock radio, a highly compact music maker with a 7.8-inch cabinet, a pair of independent alarms (which can be set to music or a tone), inbuilt LCD and a menu screen with an adjustable backlight. As you’d expect, the pizazz is coming mostly in the form of exterior color options, with “furniture grade wood” being offered in walnut, cherry, blue, black and red. For the true historians, a Celebration Collection is available in light and dark aluminum wood finishes, with the Superior Collection adding a high gloss Frost White and Chesnut Brown (along with the ‘Lines’ pattern shown here). The auxiliary input allows pretty much any source to be connected, with all functions dictated by a single top-mounted rotary control or a bundled remote. As for pricing? They’re going for $199.99 to $379.99, or precisely 19.2 times more than you ever expected.

Continue reading Tivoli Audio fails to deviate with Model 10 clock radio, still celebrates Tin anniversary

Tivoli Audio fails to deviate with Model 10 clock radio, still celebrates Tin anniversary originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceTivoli Audio  | Email this | Comments