Hasta La Gadget!

Apple’s not really ready to say it’s sorry about the iPhone 4 antenna design, but it is willing to give all you darn squeaky wheels free cases for your trouble. Since Apple can’t build its own Bumpers fast enough, it will give you a few options and let you decide, then send it your way for free as long as you purchased the phone before September 30th. Not good enough for you? Well, if you already bought a bumper from Apple you’ll get a refund, and you can also return your phone for a full refund within 30 days as long as it’s unharmed.

This solution comes at the end of 22 days of Apple engineers “working their butts off,” according to Steve, with “physics” ultimately being pinned as the main culprit. Apple claims you can replicate the left-handed “death grip” bar-dropping problem on the BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris, and Samsung Omnia II, and that “phones aren’t perfect.” Steve also claims that only 0.55% of people who bought the iPhone 4 have called into AppleCare to complain about the antenna, and the phone has a 1.7% return rate at AT&T, compared to 6% with the 3GS, though he would cop to a slight increase in dropped calls over the iPhone 3GS. For this Steve has what he confesses to be a pet theory: that 3GS users were using the case they had from the 3G, and therefore weren’t met with the horrible reality of a naked, call dropping handset. Hence the free case solution, which will probably satisfy some, infuriate others, and never even blip onto the radar of many of the massive horde of consumers that’s devoured this product in unprecedented numbers.

Update: Our own Richard Lai just waltzed down to the Regent Street Apple Store in London with his iPhone Bumper receipt in hand. A few minutes later he left with cold, hard cash, and kept the Bumper to boot. Seems as if the refund effort is a go, at least over in the UK.

Apple to give away free cases to iPhone 4 users originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we took Brammo’s Enertia motorcycle for a test ride last summer we found it to be a lovingly crafted and fun to ride bike that really only disappointed when it came to ultimate performance — far closer to your average scooter than your average sportbike. Since then the company has gone racing, taking on the iconic Isle of Man as part of the all-electric TTXGP and finishing third place with a top speed of 102mph. That fully-faired bike was called the TTR, and now the company is making a naked version for you: the 100mph Empulse. Read on for full details and a little video too.

Continue reading Brammo goes street fighting with the 100mph Empulse electric motorcycle (video)

Brammo goes street fighting with the 100mph Empulse electric motorcycle (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first update to iOS 4.0 is jumping all the way up a full tenth of a point to 4.1, and it’s now available for those of you signed up for Apple’s iPhone Developers Program. It looks like there are major changes to Game Center (which has yet to launch) in this build, but otherwise, we’re not sure what’s up just yet — and no, as far as we can tell, there’s no iPad support here. Stay tuned!

Update: So we’re definitely noticing some differences. The signal bars are, in fact, larger in the new OS, and we’re seeing fewer bars on our 4.1 device when compared to a standard 4.0 iPhone 4 (see the image after the break)… which is pretty much exactly what Apple said would happen. We’re testing now and will report back what we find!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading iOS 4.1 seeded to developers (updated)

iOS 4.1 seeded to developers (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, smartphone and tablets might be the Next Big Thing, but desktop computing ain’t dead yet — just ask Intel, which just reported its best-ever quarter with a $2.9b profit on $10.8b in revenue. That’s an increase of $445m in profit from last quarter and a whopping $3.3b from last year, all driven by record laptop and server chip revenue, as well as a 16 percent increase in Atom revenue. What’s more, the average sale price of all those chips went up, and selling more chips at a higher price is always good for business. Intel’s got a call to discuss these numbers in depth at 5:30PM ET, we’ll let you know if we hear anything good.

Intel has its best quarter ever, brings in $2.9b profit originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember NTP? The tiny company with a portfolio of patents on wireless email technology that wrung a $612 million settlement out of RIM in 2006 after years of litigation? Well, get ready to fall in love all over again, because the company just sued Apple, Google, Microsoft, HTC, LG, and Motorola for the same thing. Given the company’s protracted history defending its patent portfolio — the RIM case alone took nearly five years and ultimately involved USPTO re-examining several patents, rejecting some and then ultimately declaring some others valid in 2009 — we can’t see any of this ending quickly or easily, especially with such formidable adversaries aligned as defendants. In particular, we’d note that Apple and Microsoft have a long history of cooperation and cross-licensing in the patent space, so we’re sure their lawyers are ready to party down in lawsuit town, and adding Google, Motorola, HTC, and LG to the mix isn’t going to make any of this easier for NTP. We’ll see what happens — this one’s going to be long and messy. PR after the break.

Continue reading NTP awakes, sues Apple, Microsoft, Google, HTC, LG, and Motorola over wireless email patents

NTP awakes, sues Apple, Microsoft, Google, HTC, LG, and Motorola over wireless email patents originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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