The Engadget Show tapes this Saturday, January 16th with Erick Tseng of Google and our CES wrap-up!

If you caught our coverage during CES 2010 (and you better have!), then you probably saw our quick sit-down with Senior Product Manager for Android, Erick Tseng. We had such a good time chatting with him and had so many other questions, we thought having him on the Engadget Show made lots of sense! So, this Saturday, January 16th, Erick will join us live on-stage to answer all of our burning questions (and yours too — shout them out in comments). We’ll also be doing a wrap-up of all the gear we saw at CES during our editors roundtable, and giving away a bunch of stuff to audience members (including CES swag and limited edition Engadget t-shirts)! Oh, and we’ll have more chiptune goodness from our friend Glomag.

The Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are — as always — free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served… so get there early! Here’s all the info you need:

  • There is no admission fee — tickets are completely free
  • The event is all ages
  • Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM
  • You cannot collect tickets for friends or family — anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket
  • Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we’re full, we’re full
  • The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break)
  • The show length is around an hour

If you’re a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we’ll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.

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Continue reading The Engadget Show tapes this Saturday, January 16th with Erick Tseng of Google and our CES wrap-up!

The Engadget Show tapes this Saturday, January 16th with Erick Tseng of Google and our CES wrap-up! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft calls Android ‘free like a puppy,’ we can’t decide if that’s a bad thing or not

In a new brand of competition dissing, James DeBragga, General Manager of Windows Consumer Product Marketing, says Android “is free like a puppy.” The comment came in the context of the CEO of Entourage praising Android for the fact that’s it’s versatile and free — major motivating factors behind his use of the OS on his Edge e-reader device. James says that Android (like a puppy) is great in theory, but a hassle once you get it home. Unfortunately for him, his metaphor neglects the love and kisses and companionship many humans also associate with puppies. Perhaps James is a cat man? Still, we see his side to some extent: Windows is certainly more mature, supported and capable for powering a tablet device, especially if that tablet needs to perform serious computer-style tasks. Unfortunately, we’re not sure if Android, Windows or anything else is really ready to make tablet converts out of us. Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to go feed our free iguana, Ricardo.

Microsoft calls Android ‘free like a puppy,’ we can’t decide if that’s a bad thing or not originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android photo backup app reveals burglars’ identities, stupidity

Burglaries are an unfortunately commonplace event in daily urban life, but on some very rare occasions their outcomes give cause for celebration and maybe even a smile. Two young men from the Portland area, keen to get on the smartphone bandwagon without paying, broke in and stole a pair of Motorola Android handsets (along with other electronics) from a nearby household. What they didn’t foresee, however, was that one of the phones would have the free Lookout app, which automatically backs up all photos taken with the handset to a user-accessible server every night. So, in the midst of testing out their ill-gotten loot, the criminals provided the phone’s legitimate owner with enough visual clues for the police to swoop in and apprehend one of them. The search for his partner in crime continues, but the “gadget versus man” fight has already concluded with a clear win for what we presume was a Droid.

[Thanks, John]

Android photo backup app reveals burglars’ identities, stupidity originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Slippery Brick  |  sourceWilsonville Spokesman  | Email this | Comments

Android 2.1 SDK now available, Nexus One says ‘geez, finally’

In a break from tradition, the availability of an official SDK for Android 2.1 trailed availability of a phone running it — the Nexus One, of course — by nearly a week, undoubtedly leaving countless developers sleepless. Despite the Nexus’ fistful of new goodies like active wallpaper and a far flashier 3D-enabled Gallery app, Google’s simply referring onlookers to the 2.0 documentation to learn about user-facing changes: “Android 2.1 does not add significant user features, see the Android 2.0 Platform Highlights document for the latest user features.” From a development perspective, the latest SDK includes hooks for creating your own active wallpapers, so get moving, guys — a whole bunch of HTC and Moto devices are going to be able to use ’em soon enough.

Android 2.1 SDK now available, Nexus One says ‘geez, finally’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola XT720 spreading Android, BLUR to South Korea?

Though its market share pales against the home teams, Motorola has maintained a continued presence in South Korea for some time — and seeing how the company is going all-in with Android globally, it makes sense that they’d be launching it here, too. Enter the alleged XT720, a localized version of the XT701 that’s seeing duty on China Unicom on the other side of the Yellow Sea. Rumor has it this will be coming to SK Telecom, but details are sketchy and conflicting: Mirae Asset Research says the phone will feature a 5 megapixel cam while the source of this picture here says it’s 8; they’re also quoting the screen as a 3.7-inch 480 x 640 unit, but clearly, it’s going to be WVGA if the pic is legit. The research firm believes we’ll see this launch next month which would likely make this the first high-end device out of Moto to feature BLUR; whether that’s a good thing or not, though, is strictly a matter of personal opinion.

Motorola XT720 spreading Android, BLUR to South Korea? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Unwired View, Telecoms Korea  |  sourcekangrk.tistory.com  | Email this | Comments

Droid security flaw makes lock screen a mere inconvenience for evil-doers

You might recall Apple having a hard time keeping its lock screen locked at one point, and it looks like we’ve got a common theme brewing here now that Android’s suffering from the same drama. Turns out that Android 2.0.1 — the build currently deployed on the Droid — suffers from a flaw whereby you can back out to a locked phone’s home screen simply by pressing the Back button after accepting an incoming call. Of course, you’d either have to know a phone’s number or wait for a call to actually take advantage of this, but we’d argue that it’s a pretty low barrier of entry. The bright side of the story, we suppose, is that the phone goes back to being locked as soon as the call ends, but then again it doesn’t take much time to peep your juicy emails. Google’s aware of the issue, so we’re thinking this’ll make it into the Droid’s next software update; we don’t have a launch window for that just yet, so in the meantime… you know, just make sure no one ever calls you and you should be good to go.

Droid security flaw makes lock screen a mere inconvenience for evil-doers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhoneArena  |  sourceTheAssurer  | Email this | Comments

Phishing Android apps explain our maxed-out credit cards



There’s no such thing as a perfect mobile app store strategy — you’re either too draconian, too arbitrary, or too loose in your policies, and as far as we can tell, there’s no way to find a balance that isn’t going to trigger an alarm here and there or get a few people worked into a lather. If you’re too loose, for instance, you’re liable end up with the occasional bout of malware, which is exactly what appears to have gone down recently in the Android Market with a few fake banking apps published by a bandit going as “Droid09.” As you might imagine, the apps end up doing little more than stealing your information and ending your day in tears; the apps have since been pulled, but that’s probably little consolation for those already affected. The moral of the story? Be vigilant, keep a close eye on those system permissions the Market warns you about as you install new apps, report sketchy ones, and — as always — use a hearty dose of common sense.

Phishing Android apps explain our maxed-out credit cards originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Slashdot  |  sourceFirst Tech Credit Union  | Email this | Comments

Saygus VPhone Coming Real Soon Now?

saygus.jpg

The Verizon-powered, video-calling, Android VPhone may be rolling out within weeks, the phone’s creator Chad Sayers said to me at CES.
We first saw the VPhone back in November, when Sayers – the president of a small, new wireless firm called Saygus – brought it by our offices. The phone is being processed through Verizon’s Open Development Initiative, which is the carrier’s effort to get devices onto their network that they won’t have to service or support.
The VPhone will have its own, non-Verizon-branded service plans, but the plans will be affordable, Sayers said. Saygus’ video compression technology lets the phones use relatively little bandwidth, so they won’t be network hogs, he said.
Sayers had the same VPhone at CES as we saw in November, but he had some updates on the business. For one thing, the phone will now run Android 2.0. It has no Google apps, but is compatible with the Android market.
Sayers was very optimistic that the phone would make it out of Verizon’s labs soon, and he’s lining up sales channels. The deaf community is particularly enthusiastic about an inexpensive video-chatting phone, Sayers said.
Saygus hasn’t given us any reason to doubt their sincerity, but I’m still withholding judgement until I see a fully working phone – which they haven’t shown yet. As we learned most recently from the CrunchPad debacle, companies can promise a lot – but bringing the products to market is another thing entirely.

Engadget Podcast 179: CES 2010 Final Goodbye – 01.10.2010

Goodnight CES! You were cool and had a lot of great technologies this year.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: See You Again [Maximum FX Crushed + Screwed Mode]

Hear the podcast

04:12 – Inbrics M1 is the thinnest Android slider we’ve seen, probably everything we ever wanted
04:29 – LG GW990 hands-on video
06:50 – 3D @ CES
14:25 – RED Scarlet and Bomb EVF surprise hands-on!
20:05 – Lenovo Skylight hands-on and impressions (video)
20:20 – Intel
22:00 – E-ink
22:55 – Chances of Netflix on Nintendo ‘excellent,’ says Netflix CEO
23:05 – Andy Rubin on multitouch in Android: ‘I personally don’t like two-handed operations’
23:17 – Boxee
24:10 – Pixel Qi: The e-Reader story of CES 2010
33:35 – The Android Army is Rising
34:05 – Synaptics Fuse concept hands-on


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Engadget Podcast 179: CES 2010 Final Goodbye – 01.10.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Inbrics M1 is the thinnest Android slider we’ve seen, probably everything we ever wanted

We don’t know what everybody else in the phone business has been doing lately, but Inbrics has just unveiled what looks to be the near-ultimate Android phone. The Inbrics M1 is a slider handset with a (great) 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 3 megapixel camera, front-facing VGA camera, 16GB of built-in storage, microSD slot and all the other usual trimmings, but what’s particularly stunning is that the phone is not only half an inch thick, but it has a full QWERTY keyboard that’s surprisingly clicky and typable. The phone is running Android 1.5 right now, but it should be up to Android 2.0 by the time it hits the market in March. The biggest concern is the 800MHz Samsung processor, the same chip that’s in the Samsung Moment, but the interface (as demonstrated in the video after the break) is smooth as butter, and they demo’d it playing back 720p video just fine.

Inbrics actually has a lot of custom UI and software running on top of Android, but the most interesting part is what they’re doing with video calling and beaming media from handset to videophone to TV to laptop over DLNA or through an access point device that plugs into the TV over HDMI. Inbrics also has a Cover Flow-style media browser that isn’t super deep in functionality, but still puts the stock Android stuff to shame, and some rather sexy custom widgets.

The plan is apparently to get a carrier to bite and rebrand this phone in the US, so price and availability are still pretty hard to pin down, but if this phone can hit the market soon it sure could give the rest of the QWERTY Android sliders out there some body image issues.

Continue reading Inbrics M1 is the thinnest Android slider we’ve seen, probably everything we ever wanted

Inbrics M1 is the thinnest Android slider we’ve seen, probably everything we ever wanted originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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