Hasta La Gadget!

We don’t often hear from the source of an Apple acquisition target before the deal is done, but that’s just what’s happened in this case — a VP at Chinese gaming company Handseeing says that it’s in talks with Apple about an acquisition and “should have a decision in about one or two months.” What could Apple possibly want with the little known company? Your guess is as good as ours, but the company’s main product is its JGnet platform for online games — which, incidentally, is Java-based. Of course, Handseeing is the only party doing any talking at the moment, so it might be wise to wait a bit before drawing too many conclusions.

Apple reportedly in talks to buy Chinese gaming company Handseeing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Huawei has been kicking for well over two decades, and while a great deal of its business revolves around the enterprise, the company still has a presence in the consumer arena (most recently with its S7 tablet). But for whatever reason, it’s having one bear of a time breaking into the US acquisition game. According to a pair of people sourced by Bloomberg, Huawei wasn’t selected as the winning bidder of two large US assets in recent months despite having offers of “at least $100 million more in each case.” Ouch. As the story goes, the sellers (2Wire and Motorola) “doubted Huawei’s ability to win US government approval,” possibly because of the founder’s prior role as an official of the People Liberation’s Army. It’s also not the first time that Hauwei has been deterred in the US; the outfit dropped a bid in 2008 for 3Com after America began “investigating whether a deal would give China access to anti-hacking technology used by the Defense Department.” ‘Course, given the existing legal trouble between Huawei and Motorola right now, we’re not sure a +$200 million bid would’ve sealed the deal on its recently hawked wireless equipment unit. Hit the source link if you’re down for a serious read. Mystery, drama, deceit — it’s all there.

Huawei bids high, loses hard on two major US assets originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shameless isn’t even the word for it. While some companies try to get away with calling themselves Nokla or BlockBerry, these Chinese KIRFers have no qualms about copying HTC’s EVO 4G in its entirety (externally, anyhow). Yes, that includes the Sprint insignia and the promise of 4G, both of which are, of course, amusingly untrue. Not only do you not get that supersonic WiMAX radio, you also miss out on Android, as this EVO rides the WinMo 6.5 gravy train. There’s also no 8 megapixel camera, no 720p video, and no mini-HDMI output. But you still get a 4.3-inch, 800 x 480 screen and one of the best copy-and-paste KIRF jobs we’ve seen to date. See the back of this skilled imitator after the break.

Continue reading Keepin’ it real fake: EVO 4G Shanzai edition

Keepin’ it real fake: EVO 4G Shanzai edition originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When you’ve gone and built yourself an imitation MacBook Pro, a Magic Mouse-equipped pseudo-iMac, and an upcoming iPad-esque tablet, there’s little reason left to be shy with your website. That must be the thinking behind the design of Dragonfly’s web portal, which seems to have taken plenty of inspiration from Apple’s home on the internet. Upon visiting the Qing Ting address, users are confronted with a glamorous product shot, set against a black backdrop and accessorized only with some bold words — which happen to be as inane as the overreaching exaltations Apple likes to post up. So full marks for realism, but these aspiring KIRF merchants seem to have omitted the most important aspect: there’s no online store! How are we supposed to get our Q Pad now?

Keepin’ it real fake: because in China, even websites aren’t safe from knockoffs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A conciliatory end? Looks like we spoke too soon. Yes, Google and China seem to be on a collision course yet again, with the company’s “Mainland China service availability page” showing that web search and ads have once again been fully blocked. Additionally, image and news search have been downgraded from “fully accessible” yesterday to “partially blocked” today. YouTube, Picasa, and other services already blocked remain as such. Looks like the saga continues.

Update: TechCrunch reports hearing back from Google, who now say this is all much ado about nothing — or rather, it’s a false alarm. Apparently there was “relatively small blockage” last night, but it has since returned to normal.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Google search blocked in China, again; other services partially blocked (update: false alarm, says Google) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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