Hasta La Gadget!

Hold your horses, Bubsy. While it looked like there were but a few Is to dot and Ts to cross before Comcast’s takeover of NBC Universal was official, folks in high places are now shaking their heads at a recent decision by the carrier. As the story goes, Comcast and NBC Universal are still in talks with the government over the proposed takeover, and it seems that a few wires were crossed in recent days; Comcast decided to announce a new management slate for NBC Universal just a few days ago, despite the fact that the takeover hasn’t actually been green-lit. According to an inside report over at The New York Times, one unnamed official in Washington had this to say: “For a deal this large, and one that hasn’t been approved, Comcast’s behavior is presumptuous and arrogant.” Of course, it’s not like this trigger-pulling in and of itself is reason for the whole deal to collapse, but it certainly won’t make things any easier on either company. So much for taking on those new roles (and accompanying raises) prior to Turkey Day, huh?

Regulators perturbed by Comcast’s executive reshuffling, NBC Universal takeover to blame originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready or not, Comcast and NBC will walk down the aisle in matrimony — but it’ll not be without a few conditions. According to The Wall Street Journal, both the FCC and the Justice Department are expected to impose conditions on how NBC online video is distributed online, to ensure the cable operator (with online video distribution channels of its own) doesn’t withhold or threaten to withhold NBC Universal content from rivals — both Netflix and Apple are specifically cited by WSJ. The FCC is additionally considering restrictions on Comcast slowing down / blocking “legal traffic” from its internet network, maintaining a pro-net neutrality stance. Chairman Julius Genachowski is currently meeting with staffers twice a week on the deal, with the timetable of circulating proposed conditions by mid-December — narrowly avoiding sweeps week, unless 30 Rock has an idea or two up its Kabletown-owned sleeve.

FCC, Justice Department look to prevent Comcast from hogging NBC’s online video all for itself originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already established that the Nexus S is almost certainly a Samsung — but what else do we know about it? Well, a quick search for pictures taken with a Nexus S on Flickr and Picasa produced some 5 megapixel results, believe it or not, and some of those users’ albums had been using a Samsung handset with model number GT-i9020 just a few days earlier. If we had to guess, a recent firmware update changed the EXIF identifier for these shots from the code to the actual retail name — Nexus S, that is — which explains the switchover. We’ve got both an FCC filing and a Wi-Fi Alliance certification for the i9020, and it’s definitely a smartphone with 802.11 b / g / n (single-band, unfortunately) and AWS 3G, a radio choice that ties it in nicely with T-Mobile as the Best Buy leak would have us believe.

Interestingly, a little digging reveals that all of these shots on photo sharing sites are coming from Google employees and families of Google employees — and Sammy’s i9000 series is closely tied to the Galaxy S line, which makes sense considering how much the Nexus S seems to look like a Galaxy S. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, the FCC label documentation for the i9020 lines up perfectly with the leaked picture. So yeah, it’s all kind of coming together — all we need now, Google, is an official Gingerbread and hardware announce. Let’s do this thing.

Update: It appears there are actually two very similar Nexus S candidates that passed the FCC: the GT-i9020, and the GT-i9020T. We’re starting to think one of them might be destined for Europe, as it’s labeled “EU” (the other is “TMB”) though both appear to support AWS for 3G. In case you need any extra corroboration, Samsung specifically calls out the GT-i9020T as a Google Android handset with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, Bluetooth, WiFi and dual-band 850/1900 GSM frequencies. [Thanks, Armo]

Google Nexus S is the Samsung GT-i9020? (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Still clinging on to your iPod touch in the hope that Sprint will one day launch an iPhone? Well, it’s rather early to make a call, but news has it that we may get the next best thing very soon. According to our buddies over at BGR, the ZTE Peel that we saw a little while back is apparently hitting Sprint on November 14th, which is merely a week from today. Sadly, no one knows yet how much this 3G router case will cost, but both BGR and our own sources have confirmed that it’ll be available on a contract-free 1GB data plan for $29.99 per month. Meanwhile, you may consider the Apple Peel 520 that can actually turn your jailbroken iPod touch into a phone, or grab yourself an Overdrive and duct tape for some hot WiMAX Skype action.

[Thanks, Delon H.]

Sprint’s ZTE Peel embracing your iPod touch sans contract on November 14th? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 06:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Based on design alone, it’s safe to say that the inscrutable device shown above isn’t the UX10 we peeked at Computex nor the Android-based Optimus Pad… unless, of course, LG’s hardware engineers have tweaked the enclosure rather significantly. According to a filing that just popped up in the FCC’s database, the H1000B tablet will eventually hit the US market with 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth and a copy of Windows 7, and we’re also hearing that an SD card reader is likely around the edges. The downward sloping front makes us wonder if this thing isn’t cut out for some sort of dock, but it’s not like a peripheral port is jumping out at us, either. Our bets are on a CES 2011 debut, but here’s hoping things materialize a bit quicker for you last-minute holiday shoppers.

LG H1000B Windows 7 tablet emerges at FCC, mystifies in almost every way originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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