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Jan 08

Reports: Verizon iPhone Likely Coming Jan. 11

Posted in: Apple, iPhone, Phones, rumors, Today's Chili, verizon

Update 2 p.m. PT: The Wall Street Journal claims it has confirmed that Verizon iPhones will be in stores end of January.

U.S. iPhone users frustrated with AT&T’s frequently dropped calls, limited geographic coverage, delayed delivery of iPhone tethering, elimination of unlimited data plans, poor customer service, and alleged cooperation with warrantless wiretapping by the NSA may soon have an alternative.*

Verizon yesterday sent out invitations to a Tuesday, Jan. 11 press event in New York.

Many believe that this event will be the debut of the iPhone on Verizon.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that “a person familiar with the matter” had confirmed the Tuesday event would be the announcement of a Verizon iPhone. Earlier, The New York Times cited “people with direct knowledge of Apple’s plans” who said that Verizon would soon be adding the iPhone to its lineup. Both phrases typically mean that a company has delivered a controlled leak to the newspaper.

Adding credence to the codewords, Gizmodo reports that it did not receive an invitation, despite having a good relationship with Verizon — while Apple-centric blogger Jim Dalrymple, who never covers Verizon, did. Gizmodo has been excluded from every Apple press event since it published photos of the then-unreleased iPhone 4. Gizmodo’s conclusion: Apple is behind Verizon for this event.

Many iPhone users have been frustrated with AT&T, the exclusive U.S. carrier of the iPhone since its launch in 2007. The company’s network frequently drops calls (especially for iPhone users) and many users crave faster data speeds and more extensive geographic coverage than the company’s 3G network currently offers. Despite adding additional infrastructure, AT&T appears to have had difficulties keeping up with the demand for the wildly popular phone. Many hope that Verizon would do a better job — or would at least offer an alternative to customers who like Apple’s phone, but don’t like AT&T.

We’ve been unable to confirm the Times and Journal reports independently, but the signs point strongly in one direction: Verizon is about to get the iPhone.

Maybe it will even be available in white.

* Note: An earlier version of this story stated that AT&T customers may be frustrated with its slow data speeds. In fact, independent test results published by PC World in February, 2010 showed that AT&T’s 3G network is on average 67% faster than 3G networks from Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. We regret the error.

Jan 08

Apple pulls VLC from the iTunes store

Posted in: Apple, AppStore, Law, legal, open source, opensource, Today's Chili

Looks like VLC’s role as champion of open-source legal rights is no more — rather than lawyer up, Apple’s taken the easy way out, and simply removed the VLC media player from the App Store. Rémi Denis-Courmont — the VideoLAN developer who originally sued to have it removed — reports that an Apple attorney informed him that the company had complied with his takedown request, and pulled the app accordingly, which likely puts the kibosh on other potential VLC ports as well. If you think about it, the open-source community may have just planted the first brick in a walled garden of its own.

Apple pulls VLC from the iTunes store originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Skullcandy Fix versus Yurbuds Ironman … battle of the in-ear headphones! (video)

Posted in: audio, earphones, hands-on, headphones, impressions, Music, preview, sound, Today's Chili, video

Skullcandy is hitting CES with a characteristically bold claim: its new Fix in-ear headphones are touted as the first to never fall out of your ears, irrespective of the intensity of your physical activity. We’ve matched them up against the Yurbuds Ironman Series, a rather larger pair of in-ear speakers, which makes the exact same assertion. Both companies have patented their particular technology and both claim to be the one and only true solution. Obviously targeting runners, vigorous exercisers and discreet headbangers, they’re priced at $70 for Skullcandy’s Fix and $50 for the Yurbuds Ironmans. We’ve had a pair of each to play around with for a few hours here and sound quality is generally satisfactory on both. The Ironmans are much punchier in the bass range and offer significantly better sound isolation — a lot of external noise leaks in through the Fix’s seal, but the oversized Ironman buds netralize the vast majority of it. Both sets feel comfortable in the ear and shouldn’t cause any grief if you opt to wear them for prolonged jogs outdoors … or impromptu indoor moshing sessions.

Gallery: Skullcandy Fix hands-on

Gallery: Yurbuds Ironman Series hands-on

Skullcandy Fix versus Yurbuds Ironman … battle of the in-ear headphones! (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Android 2.3 gets ported to the iPhone 3G, breaks hearts left and right

Posted in: Android, gingerbread, hack, ios, iPhone, iphone 3g, Iphone3g, mod, Today's Chili, video

Android getting ported to the iPhone may be old news by now, but Android 2.3 (a.k.a. Gingerbread) getting ported to the iPhone? Well, that’s something… new, if entirely expected. As before, it’s the iPhone 3G doing the honors, and the port is still based on the iDroid project, which means you can hang onto iOS in a dual-boot configuration so you won’t be left in the cold when the less-than-stable port decides not to cooperate. And, yes, this once again means that the iPhone has gotten the latest version of Android before many Android devices have. Head on past the break for a video.

Continue reading Android 2.3 gets ported to the iPhone 3G, breaks hearts left and right

Android 2.3 gets ported to the iPhone 3G, breaks hearts left and right originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Novatel Wireless 4G MiFi LTE and WiMAX hands-on

Posted in: hands-on, lte, Sprint, Today's Chili, verizon, video, WiMAX

Novatel Wireless just keeps pumping out the MiFis, and this year’s CES offerings didn’t disappoint with both a WiMAX and an LTE version on offer. So first up is the Sprint WiMAX version of the MiFi that replaces the previous MiFi 2200 with a tenfold increase in speed — of course there is an asterisk next to that figure — an external electronic ink display for signal strength, battery, and number of connected devices, and the balance of the features pretty much jibe with what we’ve already seen in the past. Verizon’s 4510L LTE MiFi — the faster and larger of the two — packs the same e-ink display tech, LTE download speeds between 5 and 12 Mbps, and upload rates from 2 to 5 Mbps. No mention of battery life on either of these capable little toys, but if we had to guess we’d recommend you drag along a charger wherever your roaming may take you.

Gallery: Novatel Wireless 4G Mifi LTE and WiMAX hands-on

Novatel Wireless 4G MiFi LTE and WiMAX hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Twitter’s Top Trending Topics of the Week: New Year’s, Huck Finn, and the Culkin/Kunis Breakup

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili, twitter

The Consumer Electronics Showcase took up much of the tech buzz this week. If you were too entrenched in all of this week’s tablet news and missed out on all the other things in which normal, non-geeky people, were talking about, we can help. We took a look at some of the most talked-about topics on Twitter this week so that you can pretend you were keeping up with things other than tech-product announcements. Trust us, all but No. 10 on the list was news to us.

Check out the top trending topics on Twitter for the week ending in January 7 after the jump!

Jan 08

Turn Your PlayStation Move Into a Sniper Rifle

Posted in: nintendo, playstation, Today's Chili, video games, wii

ps3 move rifle.jpg

The PlayStation Move may be Sony’s attempt to target a younger audience, but that doesn’t mean you can’t turn the thing into a violent weapon of destruction. The folks at CTA are offering up this accessory, which transforms a run of the mill Move controller into a sniper rifle, perfect for games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor. Keep in mind, however, that the include scope is really only there for decoration, however.

Using the thing is pretty simple–just plug in your Move joystick and the thing is good to go. There’s also Nintendo version that works with the Wiimote.

The gun is hitting stores later this year. It should run you around $40.

Jan 08

Verbatim USB Drive Also a Paperclip

Posted in: Today's Chili

verbatim paper clip.jpg

Here’s a clever little combo that has nabbed Verbatim a few design awards. As someone who tends to lose USB drives by the boatload, there’s a lot to like in the Clip-it. These 4GB drive fold over, forming a paper clip, keeping documents together, until the time comes to plug them in.

The drive are water and dust resistant (your documents, however, probably aren’t), and the come in a number of colors–for the time being, however, they only appear to be available in 4GB capacities.They run you around $15.

Jan 08

Netbook Navigator NAV7, NAV9 and NAV10i hands-on with full specs and video

Posted in: hands-on, netbook, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, tablets, Today's Chili, video

With the announcement of three new Windows 7-based tablets, Netbook Navigator has made a splash in the already flooded world of tablets here at CES 2011. Netbook Navigator showed off the NAV7, NAV9 and the NAV10i for us on the CES show floor, check past the break for all of the details.

Gallery: Netbook Navigator NAV7, NAV9 and NAV10i hands-on

Continue reading Netbook Navigator NAV7, NAV9 and NAV10i hands-on with full specs and video

Netbook Navigator NAV7, NAV9 and NAV10i hands-on with full specs and video originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Samsung Smart Touch Remote and Smart TV hands-on

Posted in: hands-on, remote, samsung, Today's Chili, touch, video

Samsung made a lot of noise about its first-party Smart TV initiative yesterday, so we had to stop by and check things out — especially that new WiFi-based RMC30D Smart Touch Remote, which comes bundled with all new 8000-series TVs and above. (It also works with the 7000 series, but you have to buy it separately.) Unfortunately, things weren’t working so well — tons of WiFi interference in the area made control hard to do, and the system itself was a confusing UI nightmare made worse by the remote’s slow resistive touchscreen. Oh, and did we mention that the remote itself is a straight-up iPhone 3G KIRF? Because yeah — it is. Things were slightly improved when we loaded up the soon-to-be-released Android control app on a nearby Fascinate, but that didn’t fix the essential issues with the UI — it’s very much just a picture of a regular remote drawn on the screen, which rarely works well on a touchscreen device. Don’t just take our word for it — check the video after the break.

Gallery: Samsung RMC30D Smart Touch remote hands-on