Hasta La Gadget!

Cisco’s already taken some big steps into the consumer market by buying the Flip cam line and releasing the Valet routers, but the company isn’t done yet — it’s just acquired the MOTO Development Group, a San Francisco design house that’s worked on a variety of high-profile products like Zune 2.0 and the LiveScribe Pulse. MOTO’s also done some work on Android-based e-readers and MIDs that never really went anywhere, but you probably know the company best for its controversial smartphone touchscreen linearity test, which caused so much ruckus the firm actually re-did the whole thing with a robot in charge. Cisco says the MOTO crew will live in the consumer products division, alongside Linksys, Valet, and Flip, so we should see some interesting cross-pollination soon — and based on Cisco’s middling recent efforts like the Flip Slide HD, we’d even say MOTO might do well to lead a total revamp of the company’s approach to consumer design. We’ll see how it goes.

Cisco buys MOTO Development Group to beef up consumer design chops originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 14:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Japanese carrier Softbank is bringing new Twitter phones to Japan. Will users continue to embrace the short-messaging service? pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-20005273-62.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Software, Interrupted/a/p

Continue reading Xperia X10 Mini unboxed, dwarfed by its own peripherals (video)

Xperia X10 Mini unboxed, dwarfed by its own peripherals (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 14:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fragmentation caused by the different versions of the Android operating system — a cause of concern among developers — is on the decline. The Android OS is coalescing around three major flavors: Android 1.5, aka Cupcake; Android 1.6, or Donut; and Android 2.1, nicknamed Eclair.

Among those, Android 2.1 has the maximum share. About 37.2 percent of Android phones today have the Android 2.1 operating system, up from 27.3 percent in April.

Android 1.5 comes next with about 34.1 percent of Android phones sporting it, followed by Android 1.6 at 28 percent.

The data comes from Android Developers, the official Android developers’ community website, and is based on OS data reported by devices accessing the Android Market during a 2-week period ending May 17.

In the 16 months since the first Android phone hit the market, Google has made four major upgrades to the operating system. But smartphone makers unable to keep up with that pace have continued to introduce new cellphones with older versions of the OS, leading to consumer confusion about what capabilities various Android phones have. But in the past four months, many handset makers, including Motorola and HTC, have been steadily updating the OSes on their older phones. In most cases, they’re upgrading to the latest version, Android 2.1.

Still, in the rapidly changing Android world it is not enough. At its developer conference later this week, Google is likely to release the next update to Android called Android 2.2 or FroYo.

FroYo will support an updated Android Market, Flash Player 10.1, and tethering.

It will be interesting to see what this chart looks like in three months.

See Also:

• Android’s Rapid Growth Has Some Developers Worried
• Android Fragmentation Declines, But Older Versions Still Rule
• Android Comes of Age at Google Developer Conference
• New Phones Still Sold With Old Versions of Android

Chart data: Android Developers

CTA strikes again! The company known for its unorthodox (and rather silly) game controllers is back with a plastic drawbar / foot pedal combo that is supposed to be “very similar to a rowing machine you would find at the gym,” although we highly doubt it. Designed for games like Wii Sports Resort and Jillian Michaels’ Angry Sports Resort, this is something that would probably only enter your home as an ill-considered Christmas gift before gathering dust in the back of a closet, alongside your Bowling Ball and Football controllers. But we must admit, even if the company’s products are dubious, its infomercials are an endless source of entertainment. See for yourself after the break. As for the rowing machine, it’s up for pre-order now at Amazon, as if you care.

Continue reading Wii Rowing Machine aims to sculpt abs, achieves belly laughs (video)

Wii Rowing Machine aims to sculpt abs, achieves belly laughs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 13:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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