Dec 30

Skype Declared Illegal in China

Posted in: skype, Today's Chili

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It’s turning out to be a pretty rough month for the folks at Skype. First there was that whole major service outage that the service suffered during one it its busiest times of year. And now it seems that the VoIP provider may soon become illegal in the world’s most populous country.

Communist Party-run paper The People’s Daily declared all Internet phone services not run by state sanctioned China Telecom and China Unicom to be illegal. The article stated that The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is set to take Skype and other VoIPs out of commission in China.

The Ministry reflected the statement in a recent announcement, “Currently, our ministry is working with relevant departments to focus on the crackdown on illegal VoIP [voice over internet protocol calls] and we are now appealing to the public for clues for illegal VoIP cases.”

For now, Skype is currently available in the country. Said a spokeswoman, “Users in China currently can access Skype via TOM Online, our majority JV partner. TOM Online offers local versions of Skype for Windows, MAC as well as mobile platforms such as Symbian and Windows Mobile. More details can be found at skype.tom.com.”

If Skype is indeed officially made illegal, it will be in good company, joing Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

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Dec 30

Verizon iPhone Could Appear by Mid-Feb – Report

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

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Nothing too exciting here–just the latest in a long line of unconfirmed reports that a Verizon iPhone is “coming soon.” According to a new story by Business Week, the long-awaiting handset could be arriving “maybe by Valentine’s Day.”

The phone, according to an unnamed source, will drop after CES in Las Vegas–which, remember, is next week. Oh course, we wouldn’t put it past Apple to flex its industry muscle during the country’s biggest consumer electronics show.

After all, Google took plenty of wind out of CES’s sails last year, with the introduction of the Nexus (though that, of course, proved to be a lot of smoke and not a heck of a lot of fire).

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Dec 30

The Engadget Podcast, live at 4:45PM EST!

Posted in: engadget podcast, EngadgetPodcast, podcast, Today's Chili

It’s the end of the year, so it’s time for the boys to look back and reflect on the… oh, who are we kidding, we’ll probably just do more skits. Join us below!

P.S. And don’t forget that Ustream has Android and iPhone clients as well, if you’re out and about and you can’t join in on the Flash-based fun below.

Continue reading The Engadget Podcast, live at 4:45PM EST!

The Engadget Podcast, live at 4:45PM EST! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 30

The 19 Most Wired iPhone and iPad Apps of 2010

Posted in: Apple, ios, ipad, iPhone, Phones, Tablets and E-Readers, Today's Chili

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Apple’s iOS App Store hit the ground sprinting two-and-a-half years ago, and it hasn’t slowed down. In 2010, programmers unleashed a plethora of high-quality apps for the iPhone and its brand-new big sibling, the iPad.

For Apple’s tablet, many of the most impressive apps focused on the reading experience. That’s not surprising, because what better to do with that big, beautiful screen? And for the iPhone, we saw some clever apps that made excellent use of the handset’s always-on data connection, geo-awareness and camera.

With 400,000 apps crowding the iOS App Store, it’s tough to choose what’s worthy of a space on your screen. Here are Wired staff’s picks for the best iOS apps of 2010. There may be a lot of useless apps out there, but these are worth downloading.

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Dec 30

Kindle book lending now available

Posted in: Today's Chili

You can now loan out eligible Kindle books once for a period of 14 days.

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Dec 30

Engadget’s biggest stories of 2010

Posted in: Today's Chili

What a year it’s been! It makes us dizzy just thinking about it, so we did what we do best: we made a list. It was a year of significant upheaval for the industry, with new categories blossoming and rampant obsolescence looming for everything else. Still, the usual suspects seemed to be to blame for most of the hubbub, with Apple, Google, and Microsoft dominating the headlines. Follow along after the break as we run you through what happened, just in case, you know, you just woke up from a 365 day coma. Or maybe you like lists. Or touching retrospectives. We don’t care, just click.

Continue reading Engadget’s biggest stories of 2010

Engadget’s biggest stories of 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 30

How to connect and set up your new HDTV: all the cables, content, and calibration you need

Posted in: blu-ray, cable, hdtv, ota, satellite, Today's Chili

Whether you’re taking the wraps off of your first HDTV or your fifth there’s a few easily avoidable hurdles that can prevent you from enjoying that brand new display at its best. Now, with new internet connected TVs and 3DTVs in the mix, there’s even more to consider, but we’ll walk you through the minefield of figuring out how to hook that new TV up, what to connect it to and even throw in a few suggestions on where to find the stuff you like to watch most.

Continue reading How to connect and set up your new HDTV: all the cables, content, and calibration you need

How to connect and set up your new HDTV: all the cables, content, and calibration you need originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 30

Android Malware Surfaces in Chinese App Markets

Posted in: Android, apps, Google, Phones, Today's Chili

A new Trojan horse aimed at Android devices has recently surfaced in China.

Named “Geinimi,” San Francisco firm Lookout Mobile Security says the Trojan is “the most sophisticated Android malware [the firm has] seen to date.”

“Geinimi is effectively being ‘grafted’ onto repackaged versions of legitimate applications,” most of which have been games, the firm says. The apps are then sold in Chinese third-party Android app markets. Affected apps will request permissions “over and above”  those requested by the legitimate version of an app.

“Users should make sure that the program is asking for permissions appropriate to the app,” a spokesperson from Lookout told Wired. “If the program is asking for your IMEI or your location, and it has nothing to do with the app’s function, that’s a big red flag.”

IMEI is short for International Mobile Equipment Identity, the internationally-used, unique identity number used by many phones.

Lookout hasn’t yet established an intent for Geinimi, though the firm claims the Trojan is “the first Android malware in the wild that displays botnet-like capabilities.” The firm claims that it’s “botnet-like” because it hasn’t yet seen the command server communicate back to affected devices, a Lookout spokesperson told Wired.

The firm has evidence that Geinimi is being distributed only through third-party Chinese app markets. Lookout hasn’t seen any Geinimi-compromised apps in the official Google Android marketplace.

Lookout released an update to its own Android antivirus app, which it says will protect users against Geinimi.

Photo: alachia/Flickr


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Dec 30

HTC HD2 gets a stable stock Android build for internal storage

Posted in: Android, hack, HTC, Today's Chili

Running Android on HTC’s venerable HD2 is old hat — but historically, you’ve had to run it off microSD storage, which isn’t an optimal situation for an operating system you might hope to use as your primary. Now we’ve finally got what appears to be the first solution allowing you to drop a nearly stock build of Android on the HD2’s internal NAND memory, freeing up external storage for your usual collection of family photos, showtunes, and PowerPoint presentations left over from your WinMo 6.5 days. We’ve no doubt that this hack is a little dicey — especially considering the herculean level of hacker effort that went into making it happen — but if you’ve got an HD2 lying around that needs a new lease on life, it might be worth a shot.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

HTC HD2 gets a stable stock Android build for internal storage originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 14:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 30

Archos Unveils the Archos 70 Internet Tablet, Powered by Android

Posted in: archos, Miscellaneous Tech, tablets, Today's Chili

Archos 70 Tablet

Earlier in the year, when Archos brought the Archos 7 Home Tablet to market, we noted its attractive price but some of you questioned its skimpy features. Apparently Archos got the message, and has announced the Archos 70 Internet Tablet, complete with a 250GB hard drive, 7-inch screen, and 1GHz processor under the hood. The Archos 70 will run Android 2.2 “Froyo” and support 720p HD video playback. 
The tablet will be a half-inch thick and weigh in at 14-ounces, making it thin and relatively light, considering the physical hard drive inside. Archos says the device will have HDMI out, and support Flash. 
Archos has also given a number of Android apps a facelift for the tablet form factor, and will give you access to the AppsLib as opposed to the Android App Market, and come with its own music and media player, as opposed to the recently leaked update to the pre-installed one.
All of the features in the Archos 70 will come at a price though; this 7-inch tablet will set you back $349.99 at retail, and is available to purchase at Archos’ Web site. The tablet will also be on the show floor at CES 2010 in Las Vegas next week.
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