Hasta La Gadget!

It’s time to begin counting down to the weekend once again, because we’ve hit Wednesday evening. Today we heard that the iPad Mini could launch on November 2, which makes sense considering that date is just over a week after Apple’s October 23 press event. Later in the day, more sources were mentioning a November 2 release date for the iPad Mini, as well as spilling a few more details about the long-rumored device. The Isis NFC mobile payment system will apparently be launching on October 22, and Microsoft said that Internet Explorer 10 will be coming to Windows 7 in mid-November.

We found out today iOS app size is on the rise, and that the FCC will allow AT&T to take advantage of unused airwaves for mobile broadband. Google is allowing third-party developers to use its plethora of Maps information with a set of new APIs, and Facebook’s new promoted posts feature is undergoing and expansion in Europe. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins had something to say about a recent (and rather negative) write-up about BlackBerry in The New York Times today, and a series of leaked AT&T training videos revealed that the Lumia 920 will be exclusive to the carrier for six months after its release.

Call of Duty Elite won’t be featured in the Wii U version of Black Ops II, and Apple has been granted a patent for an alternative NFC technology. Speaking of Apple, the company will be holding a meeting with the MFI group next month to talk about the future of the Lightning connector, and Foxconn is saying that the iPhone 5 is a difficult device to make, but assures that it’s getting better. Consumers are reporting a decline in overall Internet usage, but Forrester (the company that did the study) has a good explination for that, while V-MODA was busy pulling the veil off its Crossfade M-100 headphones today.

A new video called “Star Trails” shows time-lapse footage captured by the International Space Station, and the Color app that has been gracing Verizon phones lately may be going dark soon. Just a little while ago, Google sent out invites to an Android event that will take place in New York in a couple of weeks, and we got a high-definition look inside the company’s data centers today. The Pirate Bay told us this afternoon that it has switched its servers to the cloud, eBay posted some strong Q3 financial results, and Project Eternity from Obsidian reached its funding goal on Kickstarter (and then some).

Finally tonight, Chris Davies asks why we care about the iPad Mini, and Craig Lloyd brings us his review of the Loop Mummy iPhone case. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 17, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After eBay finally straightened out its logo and became ebay (it’ll always be camel-cased in our hearts) it seemed only logical that the site itself would get a long overdue facelift too. At a press event today in NYC the tenacious dot-com holdover unveiled the most dramatic redesign of its long and storied existence. The look has been compared, repeatedly in the media, to Pinterest with its endless, uneven grid of product boxes and curated feed of auctions. The design is cleaner, with less text and better suited to scale for mobile and the upcoming onslaught of touchscreens. You can also like auctions on Facebook, which it hopes will drive more traffic to the site. The company quietly launched eBay Lifestyle Deals as well, a local coupon service in the vein of Groupon and Google Offers. Right now the deals are only available in a few major cities, including Washington DC, San Francisco and LA. SF is also the beneficiary of eBay Now, the same-day delivery service that entered beta testing in early August. There isn’t an immediate expansion to accompany the end of the trial, but more cities should be added soon. If you’re not seeing the new design yet, look for the “Feeds” option on the home page to switch over now.

Filed under: Internet

eBay unveils redesign, deals site and launches same-day delivery originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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People put weird and inappropriate stuff up for auction on eBay all the time. Remember the woman who wanted to sell her soul on eBay? Or the multitudes of sellers who sold enchantments and potions online (before eBay forbade them to, that is.)

There’s another listing that eBay took down recently, and we’re glad they did for many reasons: the James Holmes rubber Halloween mask.

Now aren’t you glad that eBay took the listing down? Aside from the fact that it looks incredibly creepy, it’s just a horrible, horrible sight to behold.

James Holmes is infamous for being the one behind The Dark Knight Rises movie theater killings in Aurora, Colorado last July. I doubt anyone would want anything to do with whoever wears this mask on October 30th because it just shows poor taste.

The mask was put up for sale by eBay user realface13, who listed the starting price at $500. There were no bidders when eBay decided to pull the plug on the auction a short time after.

[ABC News via Softpedia]

While hype for the Nintendo Wii U may not be as substantial compared to other consoles, pre-orders for the Wii U went quickly and eventually sold out. Now, console scalpers are looking to make bank on their pre-ordered Wii U consoles by selling them on eBay for almost a quarter as much as they originally paid for the console.

It turns out that the 32GB “Deluxe” Wii U system is selling for an average of $517, which is almost 50% higher than the $350 retail price. However, the margin is a lot less for the 8GB “Basic” console, which is averaging $348 on eBay when the retail price is only $300. Then again, one lucky eBayer was able to sell his 32GB Deluxe system for a whopping $750.

Selling sold out devices on eBay is nothing new. It’s been happening with the iPhone 5 just recently, with people spending as much as $800+ for the basic 16GB model. I also saw this kind of thing back in 2006 when Sony launched the PlayStation 3. They were easily selling for over $1,000 on eBay at the time when they sold out.

Seeing as to how a lot of people are willing to spend this much on a Wii U console says that Nintendo still must be doing something right at least. The lone fact that the Wii U sold out is a sign that the Wii series still has momentum. We’re excited to see how launch day goes for the Wii U — it’s happening on November 18 and there will be 23 games to choose from that day as well.

[via Ars Technica]

Wii U pre-orders fetching up to $750 on eBay is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

AAC files and the arcane don’t have much in common on the surface. After some digging, however, PBS’ Idea Channel has found that magic is an uncannily good analogy for digital music rights and explaining the thorny ethical issues that come with them. Both music and spells stem from grassroots cultures that give away their content for free, but (at least until an anti-magic clampdown at eBay) have since become businesses. That nature poses a key ethical question: when we’re used to a free experience and can copy songs or spells as much as we like, what does it take to keep us as honest customers? As show host Mike Rugnetta suggests, it’s a matter of personal responsibility — if we want more of either, we have to think of the commerce as showing support for future work. You can catch Mike’s clever train of thought after the break, and ponder what constitutes DRM for a potion while you’re at it.

Continue reading PBS draws link between digital music ethics and magic spells, somehow makes it look simple (video)

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Alt

PBS draws link between digital music ethics and magic spells, somehow makes it look simple (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 22:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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