Hasta La Gadget!

Sprint said Friday that it is canceling plans to bring out a 4G version of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. More bad news for a company struggling with dismal earnings and facing headwinds in the increasingly crowded tablet market.

Originally posted at Nanotech – The Circuits Blog

As saucy as some of them may be, today’s electric car is definitely a novelty. Still, it’s not too hard to imagine a future where the majority of autos run on electrons — whether they’re pushed from batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. Not everybody’s down with that idea, and one of those EV detractors is the incredibly suave Ferrari president Luca di Montezemelo. We recently had a chance to chat briefly with the man who said — in no unequivocal terms — that there is no electric Ferrari coming:

You will never see a Ferrari electric because I don’t believe in electric cars, because I don’t think they represent an important step forward for pollution or CO2 or the environment. But, we are working very, very hard on the hybrid Ferrari. This should be the future, and I hope in a couple of years you can see it.

So what’s next for the brand of the prancing horse? A hybrid, of course, which we’re guessing will be more Porsche 918 than Toyota Prius. Still, ruling out EVs in the future seems perhaps a bit… restricting, but keep in mind Luca did say this was only his policy.

Continue reading Ferrari president Luca di Montezemelo doesn’t believe in electric cars, Santa Claus (video)

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemelo doesn’t believe in electric cars, Santa Claus (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Wow, has it really been a year a year since we first witnessed the arrival of SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a? It seems like only yesterday when everyone was first scrambling to describe the text message manipulating bit of Android malware. We’ve come along way and seen plenty of malicious bits of software since August 2010. Remember the porn-bundled SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.b trojan from October? Or how about the bible-packing Android.Smspacem? Relive all of the handset hijacking memories in the source link below.

Continue reading Looking back at a year of Android Malware

Looking back at a year of Android Malware originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Twitter  |  Il Blog Di Paolo Passeri  | Email this | Comments

The BlackBerry PlayBook is currently only available as a Wi-Fi device.

Updated 5:17 P.M. PST with comment from RIM

RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet just can’t catch a break.

Sprint announced Friday that it will not be selling a 4G version of the PlayBook on its Wi-Max network.

“We apologize for any inconvenience but the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook Tablet that was announced in January for summer availability will no longer be coming to the Sprint network,” a Sprint representative told Wired.com in a statement. “This was a mutual decision between Sprint and RIM.”

The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

AT&T and Verizon do not currently support the PlayBook on their networks. AT&T announced it would support the PlayBook’s “bridge” application, which is necessary for users to access e-mail and calendar functions, in July.

Without carrier support, RIM can only sell a Wi-Fi version of its product. It must be paired with a Blackberry phone in order to access a carrier’s 3G network. When the product was announced, future 3G and 4G models were promised.

RIM is coloring the announcement somewhat differently.

“RIM has decided to prioritize and focus its 4G development resources on LTE,” a RIM spokeswoman told Wired.com in a statement.

Sprint’s 4G network is based on Wi-Max technology, a competitor of AT&T’s and Verizon’s LTE-based networks.

Reception of the BlackBerry PlayBook has been less than enthusiastic generally. The tablet has struggled with displaying Flash, which delayed the device’s initial launch a month. RIM initially said it planned to release the PlayBook on the three largest U.S. carriers (Verizon, AT&T and Sprint). In May, Wired.com reported that Sprint was delayingthe BlackBerry PlayBook release.

Apple’s highly successful iPad is supported by both AT&T and Verizon, and reported sales of approximately 9.3 million units in the first quarter of 2011. The Wi-Fi-only PlayBook shipped 500,000 units over that same time period, and the Motorola Xoom saw only 440,000 tablets ship.

Mike Isaac contributed to this report.

Whoa there, RIM — not so fast. Despite an earlier commitment from Sprint, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Now Network has cancelled its plans to bring WiMAX to the BlackBerry PlayBook, leaving Research in Motion to continue selling WiFi-only models of the half-baked tablet. Sprint representatives cited poor adoption rates among business customers as one reason for the move to cancel PlayBook sales, along with an already crowded tablet market, also adding that the decision will have “no impact” on the carrier’s relationship with RIM. We can’t say that a WiMAX-capable PlayBook would have topped our back to school wish list, but this latest move is somewhat shocking nonetheless.

Update: RIM wrote in to share the following statement:

RIM has decided to prioritize and focus its 4G development resources on LTE. We remain excited and committed to delivering innovative and powerful 4G tablets to the US market together with our carrier partners. Testing of BlackBerry 4G PlayBook models is already underway and we plan to enter labs for network certifications in the US and other international markets this fall.

Will RIM’s PlayBook get WiMAX? The Now Network says no (update: RIM focusing on LTE) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink @Phonescooper  |  Wall Street Journal  | Email this | Comments