Hasta La Gadget!

When I got my wisdom teeth pulled I was in some serious pain. I’m fairly certain the doctor braced his feet on my face for leverage and just yanked like crazy. This resulted in me being on some rather serious pain-killers for something like ten days. That whole period was a blur. I watched virtually every movie I had ever intended to see, but once the drug-fog lifted I couldn’t remember any of them. From time to time, though, I’d be watching a movie and want to look something up. I’d hunt for remotes to stop the movie, walk over to my computer, look it up, then go back, hunt for the remote again (okay, my room was messy… I was on meds, leave me alone), and resume. This all would have been so much easier if I’d had the Vizio VTAB1008. Not only does it act as a universal remote, but it’s also a low-end Android tablet. I could have paused, looked something up on IMDB, and unpaused without ever moving, which would have been awesome. Yeah, it’s a two-star Android tablet, but consider this: a fancy universal remote can cost upwards of $140. This is only $160 and it’s good for a lot of other stuff. Games! Music! Internets! I can’t wait for those bedsores. -BR More »

Just last week, the US Department of Justice indicated its desire to dismiss the lawsuit it filed to stop the union of AT&T and T-Mobile because of Ma Bell’s withdrawal of the merger’s FCC application. It looks like that’s given the telco plenty more issues to ponder, so now it’s asking Judge Huvelle to postpone further antitrust court proceedings until January 18. The folks at AT&T need the extra time to “evaluate all options” and “revise our current transaction to achieve the necessary regulatory approvals” for the merger. Because the DoJ has signed off on AT&T’s petition, it seems likely the court will go along with the plan — as opposed to killing the deal via a case dismissal at the hearing currently scheduled later this week. We’ll have to wait and see if the Judge Huvelle grants the request, but if she does, this much is certain: Ma Bell’s lawyers will be doing more work than merrymaking over the holidays.

Update: It looks like Christmas came early for AT&T&T, as the New York Times reports that Judge Huvelle has granted the stay.

Continue reading AT&T asks judge to stay T-Mobile merger court proceedings until January 18th (update: granted)

AT&T asks judge to stay T-Mobile merger court proceedings until January 18th (update: granted) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yes, that awesome new 8-core chip in your PC is the fastest thing on the block, but it’s got your utility meter spinning accordingly. Fortunately, researchers from Penn State have come up with a new high performance transistor that may turn future chips from power hogs into current-sipping silicon. The group, in cooperation with semiconductor manufacturer IQE, has created a high-performance transistor capable of significantly reducing power demand whether it’s idle or switching. Doctoral candidate Dheeraj Mohata’s the one who made it happen by inventing an alternative to traditional MOSFET (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors) technology capable of turning on and off using far less power. Mohata’s method uses a tunneling field effect transistor crafted from dissimilar semiconductor materials to provide instant on-off capability at 300 millivolts — compared to MOSFET’s one volt requirement — to provide a power savings of 70 percent. You can dig deeper into the technical transistor details at the source, but all you really need to know is that the ladies love a PC with paltry power consumption.

New quantum tunneling transistors to make PCs less power-hungry originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’re not with him/her anymore. The lovely days, over—and so are the days of lovely, considerate gifts. But what if you still want a holiday gesture for your ex? Might as well have it make them feel bad. More »

We want to… create a national wireless network, video, voice and data. We’ve got expertise in satellite TV, and we will in satellite broadband. The voice part, we’ll need some help with.

A partnership with T-Mobile would ideally help both companies: it would help Dish get one step closer to its goal of a wireless network that bundles smartphones, tablets and satellite under the same umbrella, and would cast a bright light on T-Mobile’s questionable future. How does “Ollo” with LTE-Advanced on Magenta sound?

Dish Network surfaces as possible Plan B for T-Mobile if AT&T merger falls through originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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