Hasta La Gadget!

Rumors of international expansion seem to follow every streaming media company and Hulu has finally revealed plans to launch in Japan later this year. There’s not many details, but it appears the free side is staying home in favor of a Hulu Plus-only approach with plans to bring “premium feature films and TV shows” to PCs, TVs, phones and tablets. That it’s also avoiding a direct confrontation with Netflix across borders is also notable, as the other major all you can eat video service focuses on Latin America and Europe. Interested parties can sign up for updates at Hulu.jp, but how many yen they may have to spend is as much of a mystery as who is going to be Hulu’s lucky new owner.

Hulu goes international, will launch in Japan later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Making international VoIP calls from your iPhone just got slightly less complicated, and slightly more expensive. Vonage’s new Time to Call app lets you make short, 15-minute calls to 190 countries with rates ranging from 99 cents to $9.99 per call. Payments are processed through iTunes, so you don’t need to create an account with Vonage, giving the app a slight advantage over services from competitors like Skype — for now, at least. The app works over WiFi everywhere, and 3G in the US and Canada, and you’ll pay the same rate when calling both mobile phones and landlines — so you could save quite a bit if you typically make short calls to mobile numbers. For casual callers, however, the app’s most appealing feature is the free call you’ll get after installation. We wasted it on a 30-second call to Tokyo that would’ve cost us three cents to make using Skype, so hopefully you’ll be slightly more creative.

Continue reading Vonage Time to Call app lets you make international calls from your iPhone, pay through iTunes

Vonage Time to Call app lets you make international calls from your iPhone, pay through iTunes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Groupme, the little group messaging service that made a bit of a splash at Google I/O, turns 3.0 today. There are some shiny new features on board, including a simpler way to exchange private messages and “Questions” for sparking conversations when you’re not sure who to talk to. But, the big news — Groupme 3.0 is now platform and nation agnostic. With the latest update, the service will be available in 90 countries and add Windows Phone 7 to its list of supported OSes, alongside iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android. Even if you’re sitting in front of your desktop you can still take part in the mass messaging fun. The website has been overhauled and now sports all of the same features, like photo-sharing and group management, as the mobile apps. Check out the source link to get the latest version for your handset of choice — provided you’re not a Symbian fan — and don’t miss the gallery below.

Groupme 3.0 goes international and cross-platform, questions everything originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Say it with us: Hallelujah! It’s a problem that BMW European Delivery owners (not to mention gap-year backpackers and generic business travelers) have had for eons, and while the EU seems to have the whole “one currency” thing under control, the lack of a “one data plan” has continued to break the backs of connected travelers. No more. Xcom Global — the company that revolutionized the art of staying connected abroad — has just done the same thing for those planning their next Eurotrip. The newly-launched Euro SIM enables US-based jetsetters to rent a single device that’ll provide unlimited data access in a staggering 40 nations across the pond. Everywhere from Iceland to San Marino is covered, including 20 extra countries that weren’t covered even last week. Folks can pick up a MiFi for $14.95 per day (and yeah, that covers all 40 countries!) or a USB WWAN model for $12.95 a day, and if you happen to scoot over to a locale in Europe that isn’t covered, you’ll still be able to get online at a cost of one cent per KB. Hit the source link to find out more, and ping your best friend’s travel agent to set those long-backburnered plans in motion.

Continue reading Xcom Global’s Euro SIM solves your European data conundrum: $13 per day, works in 40 countries

Xcom Global’s Euro SIM solves your European data conundrum: $13 per day, works in 40 countries originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re guessing that this isn’t the riveting Q4 announcement that Dan Hesse promised us last week at Sprint’s Kansas headquarters, but it’s a shock to the system nonetheless. The outfit’s legacy iDEN network is still kicking around (and in turn, eating up valuable resources to run it), and while we’re told that those push-to-talk users are some of the most loyal, it looks as if 2012 will be the year they’re forced to try something new. The company’s CDMA-based Direct Connect alternative is officially slated to launch this winter, with those who buy in treated to triple the square miles of the company’s current push-to-talk coverage area, broadband capabilities and a smattering of new devices.

The Kyocera DuraMax and DuraCore will be joined by an unannounced Motorola smartphone, all of which should be rugged enough to handle the expected field work. Furthermore, Sprint will be adding international push-to-talk (alongside “additional capabilities”) in early 2012, and users should see a marked improvement in in-building coverage. Finally, we’re told that voice and data capacity is expected to increase significantly as Sprint leverages its spectrum holdings in 800MHz, 1.9GHz, and — through its relationship with Clearwire — 2.5GHz. And with that, we’d say your iDEN handset stash just became quite the collector’s item. Full details are tucked away in the PR just past the break.

Continue reading Sprint details Q4 CDMA Direct Connect launch plans and handsets, quietly waves goodbye to iDEN

Sprint details Q4 CDMA Direct Connect launch plans and handsets, quietly waves goodbye to iDEN originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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