Hasta La Gadget!

Telecom companies have reported that 25% of cell towers have been knocked out in 10 states in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. In addition, 25% of cable services have also been lost in those states, although landline outages are reported to be “far fewer.” Emergency calls are currently being rerouted to different call centers, according to the FCC.

According to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, only a very small number of 911 call centers have been impacted by the storm. Thus far, no numbers have been given on how many customers have been affected by the various outages. Sadly, the situation is expected to worsen in the coming days. The National Hurricane Center is reporting storm surge advisories until 4AM November 2.

Said Genachowski, “The storm is not over. And our assumption is that communications outages could get worse before they get better, particularly for mobile networks because of the flooding and loss of power.” It is estimated that 7 to 8 million people are without power. Some systems are currently running on generators, and could also go out if not catered to before the backup power goes down.

Several wireless carriers and cable providers have reported outages and various other problems, including the big names like Verizon and Time Warner. Several websites have also experienced outages, including Buzzfeed and The Huffington Post. Consumers are being urged to avoid non-essential mobile use, reserving calls and text messages for emergency communication only.

[via USA Today]

Hurricane Sandy takes down 25% of cell towers in 10 states is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The folks over at the FCC do seem to be a pretty busy bunch lately, and yet another tablet has arrived at their office’s doorsteps, with the Barnes & Noble NOOK HD being the latest model to do so. The Barnes & Noble NOOK HD will make its mark in the 7” market that saw Apple’s iPad mini recently surface to take a possible bite from this niche, although time will tell just how well the iPad mini will do. The Barnes & Noble NOOK HD sports a 7” display at 1440 x 900 resolution, a customized version of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, as well as a 1.3GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 processor.

Some of the other hardware details include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, 1GB RAM, a microSD memory card slot, and a choice of 8GB or 16GB of storage space. Pre-orders for the Barnes & Noble NOOK HD are being taken at the moment, where it will cost $199 at the minimum, depending on the configuration of your choice. Shipping commences from November 8th onwards, so it is no surprise to see the Barnes & Noble NOOK HD hit the FCC before it is ready to debut on your doorstep. This does seem to shape up to be a pretty interesting Thanksgiving and Christmas period, don’t you think so?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: 3G Nexus 7 spotted at the FCC, Razer Project Fiona hits the FCC,

The FCC is typically pretty good at confirming new devices before they’re officially revealed, and today it’s doing just that. A listing for the 3G Nexus 7 has popped up on the FCC’s website (as uncovered by The Digital Reader), which essentially confirms that it will be one of the devices Google announces during its Android event next Monday. In other words, get ready, because there should be a heaping helping of new Android devices revealed at the event.

Of course, there’s no way to be 100% positive until Google gives us some official word, but our friends at Android Community point out that this new device is called the “ASUS ME370TG.” The original Nexus 7 was the “ASUS ME370T,” so it isn’t exactly difficult to connect the dots in this particular instance. What’s unknown at this point, however, is whether or not this 3G Nexus 7 will also be the 32GB model we’ve been hearing so much about.

At the moment, we’re going to go ahead and assume that it is, but it’s also possible that Google will reveal separate Wi-Fi-only and 3G Nexus 7s with 32GB of storage. In any case, it seems pretty clear now that Google will be announcing some kind of new Nexus 7 model during its event, so it’s officially time to get excited. After all, a new Nexus 7 model isn’t the only thing Google is rumored to have up its sleeve.

Rumors also say that it will be revealing the LG Nexus 4, along with the Samsung Nexus 10. It appears that there will be plenty of Nexus to go around, so now all we need to do is play the waiting game until October 29 arrives. Monday is just four short days away – are you ready for whatever Google has planned?

Nexus 7 3G pops up on FCC website is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We all know that when it comes to high end gaming peripherals, the name Razer is always somewhere on the list. Well, the company which specializes in gaming peripherals did come up with the idea of a high end gaming tablet, calling it Project Fiona in the process. We are pleased to say that Project Fiona has finally made her way into the latest FCC filings, although she is not called that by federal regulators who have spent their fair share of time with Project Fiona. Boy, do we envy the folks over at the FCC from time to time! It does seem as though the nunchuk-like controllers failed to make the grade in the FCC’s label location outline, although in an attached accessory list, it does point towards a Razer-branded controller, running on a 2800mAh battery that points toward the possibility of this prototype’s gamepads being independent of it, or could be detached. As for the tablet itself, a 5600mAh battery will drive its processing needs.

Bear in mind that what we see in the FCC prototype above could very well not be the final design, but at least it does go to show that the device itself is on an evolutionary path, and it is well on its way to being released to the masses.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Razer Fiona is good to go after getting over 10,000 “Likes” on Facebook, Razer Naga Epic arrives on the FCC,

Apple’s iPad mini and 4th-generation iPad didn’t arrive alone. In the company’s time-honored tradition, it has timed the FCC filings for both devices to show up alongside the products themselves. Each iOS tablet has been approved in both singular WiFi and dual cellular editions: the iPad mini has appeared as the WiFi-only A1432 as well as the A1454 and A1455 for worldwide HSPA+, EV-DO and LTE coverage, while the full-size iPad has been cleared in directly paralleled A1458, A1459 and A1460 versions. Not surprisingly, the frequency range matches that of the iPhone 5 and suggests that we’re dealing with the same Qualcomm MDM9615 chip. We’ll know more once the two iPads are in our hands and those of teardown artists, but for now you can explore Apple’s regulatory gymnastics in full at the source links.

Filed under: Tablets, Apple

New Apple iPad mini, 4th-generation iPad reach the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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