Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on April 16, 2008 by CyberNet.

Remember the Psystar company that we wrote about yesterday? They are the ones who make the Open Computer that is capable of running Mac OS X, and they’ll even go as far as to preinstall it for you. Because their prices are surprisingly reasonable there has been some concern raised as to whether the company is a scam.

Yesterday the Guardian decided to delve into whether the company is real or not. After a little digging things were not looking so good:

The site was registered in 2000, according to whois, but what’s odd is that searches on Google and on Live.com don’t turn up anything about the company before this week. Zip. Zero. Nada.

I called the Miami Chamber of Commerces and its Better Business Bureau. They’ve never heard of it.

I called the company. The automated system asked if I want Sales? Support? Human Resources? Let’s have a laugh and call HR. No reply. (This was 11.45am their time.) Did I want to leave a message? Press the pound key when done. I did. “Error.”

And things progressively got worse. The author noticed that earlier in the day their office was showing up as “10645 SW 112 St, Miami FL 33176” and in the midst of writing his post it had changed to “10481 NW 28th St, Miami, FL 33172.” That’s definitely a little eerie.

Some people were even reporting that they were able to complete the checkout process using false information, and that the process wasn’t at all secure. I wanted to see for myself whether that was true, but immediately after adding the item to the cart I was presented with this notification:

Thank you for visiting Psystar. We’re sorry but the store is temporarily down due to the fact that we are currently unable to process any credit card transactions.

And now it seems as though their entire store is down for the same reason. I was hoping that Psystar would come through, but the question of whether this is a scam is definitely sitting in the back of my head. Hopefully some of these machines will make their way out into the wild so that we can rest easy!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Nokia’s current typeface — Nokia Sans — feels like one of the great constants in the consumer electronics industry, a design that instantly screams “Nokia” the moment you see it (for better or worse). That kind of strong, tight brand recognition from something as basic and simple as a character on a screen really isn’t something that you can buy — it needs to be built and cultivated over many, many years — so we’re sure that Espoo’s decision to chuck it and start fresh wasn’t taken lightly. In fact, we’re sure it wasn’t taken lightly because the company has published an 800-plus word explanation and defense of its decision to kill off Nokia Sans and replace it with Nokia Pure, a font it describes as the embodiment of “beauty in supreme usability.”

Of course, it’s no coincidence that the font change comes just as Nokia’s trying to go back to the drawing board, both with its hiring of outsider Stephen Elop and its decision to phase out Symbian and add Windows Phone into the mix; sure enough, the company says that it plans to use Pure on its devices and that “it has been designed specially for mobile and digital environments.” What do you think?

[Thanks, Esko]

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Nokia continues reinvention, details new fonts and branding originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 15:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though it won’t be the first Verizon LTE device to share its white-hot connection over WiFi (that honor goes to the recently-launched Thunderbolt), Samsung’s SCH-LC11 — announced back at CES — is shaping up to be the network’s first dedicated hotspot to hit retail. We’ve just been dropped the carrier’s internal equipment guide showing a launch date in all channels (stores, telesales, and online) this coming Thursday, March 31st; pricing is an open question, but carriers tend to price these modems pretty aggressively on contract since they know they’re going to eat you alive with the data plan for the next two years. Of course, in this case, we’re more than willing to get eaten alive if it means we’ve got a 20Mbps WiFi connection in our pocket at all times.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Verizon’s Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot launches March 31st originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just got home from this little massive US mobile industry event you may have heard about called CTIA Wireless. It took place in Orlando this year (instead of Las Vegas as usual) and we can definitely say that Sprint was the star of the show with its HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO View 4G, and Google Voice integration. Samsung also delivered some goodies with the Galaxy Tab 8.9, a redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Google Nexus S 4G for Sprint, and the Android-powered Sidekick 4G for T-Mobile. LG re-badged the Optimus 2x as the G2x on T-Mobile, and the Optimus 3D as the Thrill on AT&T. The HTC HD7 made a comeback as the Super LCD-equipped HD7S on AT&T, and Nokia gave us the Astound, nee C7, for T-Mobile. Of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg — so if you missed the action this past week, we’ve got you covered with all the nitty gritty in the links below.

Major news / product releases:

• AT&T agrees to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion
• Google Nexus S 4G with WiMAX announced for Sprint: coming this spring for $200
• Sprint, Google Voice getting tight integration, will let you use your number without porting it
• AT&T launches HTC HD7S with WP7 and LG’s 3D-enabled Thrill 4G Android phone
• Sprint’s BlackBerry 4G PlayBook portal goes live, still on track for a summer release
• LG’s T-Mobile G2x announced, available ‘later this spring’ (update: preloaded with Tegra Zone)
• T-Mobile’s LG G-Slate priced at $529.99 with a two-year contract
• HTC EVO 3D officially announced for Sprint
• Sprint makes EVO View 4G tablet official: 1.5GHz, WiMAX, 7-inch screen, and a stylus to boot
• LG gets official with WCP-700 Wireless Charging Pad, fails to provide pricing
• Samsung’s CTIA press conference posted online, skinny new Galaxy Tabs shown off (video)

Hands-on / previews:

• Nokia Astound for T-Mobile coming April 6th for $80 (hands-on with video)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Play for Verizon hands-on (video)
• T-Mobile Sidekick 4G by Samsung priced at $99.99 with a two-year contract, we go hands-on
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and new Galaxy Tab 10.1 hands-on: thinner than the iPad 2, dual-core power, TouchWiz 4.0
• T-Mobile G2x from LG hands-on (video)
• HTC EVO 3D vs. EVO 4G… fight!
• HTC EVO 3D first hands-on! (video)
• Sprint’s HTC EVO View 4G hands-on (video)
• HTC HD7S hands-on
• AT&T’s LG Thrill 4G hands-on (video)
• T-Mobile G-Slate bundled apps tour (video)
  
• Cricket teases CDMA-only Samsung Indulge, Huawei Ascend 2 at CTIA (hands-on)
  
• T-Mobile 4G Mobile Hotspot hands-on
• Wysips wants to turn your phone’s display into a solar cell (hands-on with video)
• ZTE’s Style S and LTE tablet coming to the US during the second half of the year
  
• Kyocera pictures a world of deeply understanding phones
• Google Nexus S 4G for Sprint hands-on (video)
• Google Voice for Sprint hands-on (video)
• Samsung’s original Galaxy Tab 10.1 renamed the Tab 10.1V, thicker Galaxy Tab 8.9 no more than a trade show dummy

Everything else:

• LG’s T-Mobile G2x spied at CTIA
• Cobra Tag Bluetooth key tagging system to ship in July, iRadar and PhoneLynx coming to Android
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 specs and Honeycomb UI tweaks leak out before its official launch
• EVO 3D specs confirmed: 1080p 2D video, 720p 3D, dual cameras, 1.2GHz dual-core CPU
• HTC EVO 3D and EVO View 4G tablet spotted — on Sprint’s website, where else?
• Live from CTIA’s day one keynote with FCC chairman Julius Genachowski
• Live from Samsung’s CTIA event!
• Live from Sprint’s CTIA event!
• Verizon says 4G LTE network will cover ‘at least’ 147 US cities by the end of 2011
• HTC’s WiFi-only Flyer launching exclusively with Best Buy ‘this spring’
• Kyocera launches developer program for dual-screen Echo smartphone
• Best Buy signs up for LightSquared’s wholesale LTE service
• Femto Forum publishes API specification for femtocell apps, places focus on ‘awareness information’
• Blio e-reading software still alive, will come preloaded on T-Mobile Android devices
• Samsung’s original Galaxy Tab 10.1 renamed the Tab 10.1V, thicker Galaxy Tab 8.9 no more than a trade show dummy

And if that’s still not enough, be sure to listen to our CTIA 2011 podcast and take a look at our CTIA 2011 page right here.

CTIA 2011 wrap-up: EVO 3D, G2x, skinny new Galaxy Tabs, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Home Shopping Network has begun selling the Nook Color on TV and online, with sales presenters talking up a major firmware update coming to the device in mid-April that includes Flash support.