Hasta La Gadget!

Relations between mainland China and Taiwan haven’t always been what you’d call warm, even with many companies having a footprint in both regions. Consider the first bursts of network traffic from a newly active connection as olive branches: a pair of undersea fiber optic cables running between southern China’s Xiamen and the Taiwan-claimed Kinmen island chain represent the first truly direct data link between the two sides. Built by China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom, the link both has its share of diplomatic symbolism as well as the very practical advantage of a faster, more reliable route — there’s no globetrotting required to get data and voice to their destinations, and there’s fewer chances of blackouts if a boat inadvertently slices a cable. We wouldn’t go so far as to call it a Happily Ever After for either faction after decades of tension, but it does at least provide a greater semblance of normalcy to their communication.

[Image credit: Aine Hickey, Wikitravel]

Filed under: Networking, Internet

Mainland China, Taiwan send first data over direct fiber optic link, take steps towards peace and harmony originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 09:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big Red’s push to blanket the entire US with those lovable Long Term Evolution waves just got a heck of a lot closer, as the carrier’s announced it’s bringing true 4G to 34 new markets and expanding coverage in other parts of the country. For starters, folks around Hot Springs, Arkansas, Reading, Pennsylvania, Longview, Washington and Laredo, Texas will finally be able to get the most out that marvelous Galaxy S III — or, perhaps, something like the newfangled Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. Meanwhile, Verizon’s also let it be known it’s expanding LTE coverage in previously covered markets, including big-name cities such as New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New Orleans. There are more cities involved in the process, but for that our friends, you’ll have to peek at the presser located right after the break.

Continue reading Verizon’s LTE network hits 34 new markets tomorrow, set to cover over 75 percent of the US

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Verizon’s LTE network hits 34 new markets tomorrow, set to cover over 75 percent of the US originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Having compared an iPhone 4S and an iPod Touch next to each other, I can confirm that I’d rather carry around an iPod Touch since it’s very thin compared to the iPhone. That sentiment will make even more sense once you pop FreedomPop’s Freedom Sleeve case onto your iPod Touch.

The Freedom Sleeve gives your iPod Touch access to a 4G network, allowing you to use it like you use your iPhone – except on a fast, modern network. You can Skype, chat, message, and make phone calls. You can even share the signal with up to eight other devices, providing a Wi-Fi mobile hotspot.

The FreedomPop network is free for the first GB. After that, you’ll pay $10 per GB. The upside of this deal is that you don’t need to have a contract and that you can cancel it anytime.

The case costs $99(USD) and it’s aimed at people who travel a lot who are looking to ditch their cell phone contracts. If you’re interested, the Freedom Sleeve is now available for pre-order in select markets.

[via DVice]

European gamers are warned to get something else to do from Thursday afternoon. Sony’s PlayStation Network is set to go offline on that side of the Atlantic starting from 4PM GMT tomorrow, through to 8AM Friday. Maintenance work will pull the PlayStation Store, account management and registration offline for this time, although anyone looking to play online can still do so — as long as they’re signed in to PSN before network… work begins. Updates on Sony’s network tinkering will be posted on both on its own blog and twitter — linked below for your convenience.

Filed under: Gaming

PSA: PlayStation Network scheduled maintenance in Europe starts tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 06:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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O2 is sorry for last week’s service issues. Really, really sorry. Like, giving you back 10-percent of your bill sorry, if you happened to be among the affected. The UK operator noted in a blog post today that it has identified all those users who were impacted by the “unprecedented” downtime and will be offering up 10-percent off of their July subscriptions, to be applied to their bills in September, the monetary equivalent of three lost days. Pay & Go members, meanwhile, will also be getting something back in September: a 10 percent bonus on their first top-up that month. The company’s also offering up customers a £10 O2 in-store voucher, available during the month of September. More info and apologies in the source link below.

Continue reading O2 apologizes for ‘unprecedented’ outage with 10 percent refunds

Filed under: Cellphones

O2 apologizes for ‘unprecedented’ outage with 10 percent refunds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 10:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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