Hasta La Gadget!

Google’s about to expand its original content experiment by spreading another $200 million around marketing its new video channels, as it announced in May. The original $150 million, which created nearly 100 new YouTube channels with notables like Amy Poehler and NBA Star Blake Griffin, apparently caught on with advertisers who were willing to pay a premium to appear alongside branded, non-crummy content. It’s also popular with the creative set, who like the instant feedback and flexibility to take a show 180 degrees if needed in order to draw eyeballs. Mountain View could also possibly bring the more polished programs to French and British viewers by next year, according to WSJ sources. If it does, and you’re on that side of the pond, you may want to get your pitch in order.

Update: Google confirmed they won’t be investing money on any new channels or production, as originally reported — the $200 million is for marketing only.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet

YouTube will kick in an extra $200 million to market new channels originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC dampened a few spirits when it dropped the Desire HD from its Android 4.0 upgrade list. The company might feel your pain, but it claims to have a good reason for denying the update that it’s been doling out elsewhere. There’s no way to shoehorn a new version into the device like there was for the Desire’s leap to Android 2.3, the company says. Fitting all that Ice Cream Sandwich into the Desire HD would require repartitioning the internal space, and repartitioning risks overwriting personal content; needless to say, the company isn’t keen on explaining why it might nuke our family photos just so we can run Chrome. Even if that weren’t an issue, a nebulous set of “other technical limitations” might not rub upgraders the right way. All of the explanations add up, although it’s nonetheless easy to sympathize with Desire HD owners now stuck in Gingerbread land — especially as owners of the closely related Thunderbolt aren’t being held back.

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC explains decision to skip Android 4.0 for Desire HD: we’d rather not wipe your data originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jul 2012 01:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Windows Phone 8 SDK has escaped to the wild, and some sifting through the device emulator has dug up elements that Microsoft either skipped or only touched on lightly during the big unveiling in June. The most important addition may be the one customers see the least: backup. A WP7.hu search has the new OS replicating apps, settings and SMS messages in the cloud to prevent disaster, and that new SD card support will let WP8 owners shuffle photos from internal storage to the removable kind for safekeeping. There’s also more work on Internet Explorer than we saw before, with MobileTechWorld noticing that DataSense provides an option for Opera-like remote compression to save that precious cellular bandwidth.

Media fans might have the most to gain. If we go by The Verge, both the Music/Video and Xbox hubs are getting fresh coats of paint — both to integrate new ventures like Xbox Music as well as to jive more closely with the SmartGlass visual theme. Shutterbugs will like the long-awaited options to crop and rotate their work, pick multiple photos, and unify third-party camera apps under a Lenses concept. There’s even more clever features in store, such as a Maps update that finds nearby WiFi hotspots, so head on over to the sources to get a full sense of where Microsoft will be going.

Filed under: Cellphones

Windows Phone 8 SDK leaks show quiet upgrades to backup, media and the kitchen sink originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung promised — and it’s already delivered. Galaxy S III-toting Brits should wake up to yet another OTA update for their smartphone, which throws in some stability improvements alongside the returning universal search feature that polls your phone’s entire contents for results. Users can check their settings menu for the lightweight 5MB download now.

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung Galaxy S III recovers universal search box in OTA update to European handsets originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amidst all the Mountain Lion excitement from yesterday, a few members of the Apple crowd were inadvertently forgotten — yes, we’re talking about 2011 / 2012 MacBook Air and Retina MBP owners looking for some extensive Power Nap action. Luckily for most of them, however, the Cupertino behemoth’s quickly acted, outing a solution that’ll see the efficacious napping feature make its way onto the aforementioned generations of MacBook Airs. Unfortunately, not all is good news, as that pixel-packed MacBook Pro will have to wait it out on the sidelines a little longer, with Apple saying an SMC update is “coming soon.” Sound good? You’ll find the download on the company’s support page, linked down below to save you more troubles.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Laptops, Software

Apple delivers update to bring Power Nap feature to 2011, 2012 MacBook Airs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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