Hasta La Gadget!

In July we got our first taste of Aliyun OS, running on the W700. Now, with the Gregorian calendar year coming to a close, Alibaba is prepping its second wave “cloud-powered” hardware. First up is the W800, the successor to the original Aliyun handset. As far as specs go, the two look more or less the same — with the latest version still rocking a 1GHz Tegra 2. The one obvious difference is the slightly larger 4.3-inch display gracing the front of the W800. Perhaps more interesting though, is the still unnamed tablet which also clearly bares NVIDIA branding. Speed and exact model of the CPU inside is anyone’s guess, but we’re assuming this isn’t a Kal-el device. Price and release date for both are a mystery, but the W800 is expected to land sometime before November is out. Of course, you probably shouldn’t expect these to show up in your local Best Buy, but you’ve got a friend in Hong Kong who can send you one, right?

Alibaba unveils W800, second-gen Aliyun phone, and unnamed ‘cloud-powered’ tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shipments of MacBook Airs could be slowed a bit due to a factory closure in eastern China. That in itself isn’t all that newsworthy. It’s the reason for the closure: The factory is really, really smelly.

Local residents complained to local authorities of a “strange odor” coming from Catcher Technology’s factory, so it was partially closed, Wall Street Journal reports.

The factory is a supplier for the aluminum casing of Apple’s MacBook Air, as well as casings for iPods and iPod shuffles, and some HTC smartphones. Catcher and the more popularly known Foxconn factory are two of the world’s largest producers of metal casings for electronics.

“Shipments to our customers will inevitably be affected,” Catcher President Allen Horng said of the malodorous situation.

The plant won’t be able to resume normal operation until the government has inspected the facilities, so the closure could continue through October or November. The factory closure is mostly bad news for Catcher, but could delay shipments of MacBook Airs and HTC devices.

Catcher customers were advised to “make adjustments to their (casings) procurement.” Hopefully they responded with, “That stinks.”

via The Giz

The inability to win US government approval isn’t exactly an unfamiliar issue for Huawei, which by now must be conditioned not to expect a nod from major US telecom companies. But now, The Daily Beast reports that the U.S. Commerce Department has made it very clear that the Chinese company won’t have a role in building the country’s new dedicated first responder wireless network. A spokesman wasn’t shy about the reason, either, explaining that Huawei “will not be taking part in the building of America’s interoperable wireless emergency network for first responders due to U.S. government national security concerns.” And what about those national security concerns? Well, Huawei president Ren Zhengfei’s former role as a People’s Liberation Army technologist may have something to do with it, considering it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suspect that he still has some fairly close ties to Chinese government officials. We haven’t heard a peep from the feds regarding Huawei’s invitation for US officials to investigate the company earlier this year, but it’s safe to assume that the investigation either didn’t go very well, or more likely that it hasn’t happened at all. We imagine that whole corporate espionage debacle probably didn’t help the company, either.

Huawei blocked from first responder network contract, US cites ‘national security concerns’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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China has successfully launched the Tiangong-1, its first space lab. It’s the first of a series of small test stations, and the first step towards the country’s goal of having a 60-ton space station in orbit by 2020. More »

There’s a new Sensation on the block that’ll be making its way to China Mobile, but rather than rehashing more of the same, this release marks the first smartphone to place ST-Ericsson’s NovaThor SoC under the hood. Unlike offerings from Qualcomm, the chip inside the Sensation Z710t offers a dual-core A9 processor along with connectivity to the carrier’s TD-SCDMA infrastructure. Other specs are expected to remain the same, which includes a 4.3-inch qHD display and 8 megapixel camera. Unfortunately, press photos weren’t released, which suggests its design hasn’t changed. You’ll find the full PR after the break, heralding this latest Sensation among the top-tier of China Mobile’s offerings. While pricing or a release date have yet to be announced, we’re inclined to agree.

Continue reading HTC Sensation Z710t becomes first smartphone to offer ST-Ericsson’s NovaThor SoC

HTC Sensation Z710t becomes first smartphone to offer ST-Ericsson’s NovaThor SoC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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