Hasta La Gadget!

You’re probably wondering what’s been happening with that super thin, super sexy Plastic Logic e-book reader that we’ve seen floating around various tradeshows. Well, the device has landed at D7, and it’s got a few new features cooked up — most notably, built-in 3G data. There’s no specifics on what carriers or bands, but besides that WiFi connectivity, you’ll be able to go totally nuts out in the real world. Additionally, it looks like the company has seriously tweaked the UI, now providing a simple and clear interface for getting around your documents, and a page-turning gesture (don’t mind the green tint in the pic above, the screen is still very much grayscale). The slate is definitely lust-worthy, but we noted a fairly slow screen refresh (way slower than the Kindle), which is kind of a downer — along with that fairly distant 2010 launch date. Plastic Logic also made an appearance on Fox Business News today, and the video is embedded after the break.

Continue reading Plastic Logic e-book reader: now with 3G

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Plastic Logic e-book reader: now with 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 May 2009 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew AT&T had an HSPA upgrade in the works, and now the company has announced its plans, with initial rollout beginning later this year and reaching completion in 2011. That will overlap only slightly with LTE, which AT&T plans to put into trials in 2010 and start melting our faces in 2011. The HSPA upgrade takes the network from 3.6Mbps to 7.2Mbps in theoretical speed, and AT&T also plans to nearly double the amount of wireless spectrum it dedicates to 3G in metropolitan areas — which should come as a relief to city dwellers who haven’t managed more than a couple minutes of sustained conversation since mid-2008. To support the increased bandwidth of HSPA, AT&T also plans on adding thousands of new cell site backhaul connections, while also rolling out 3G service to 20 new metro areas and deploying 2,100 new cell sites in total. HSPA-sporting mobile data cards and smartphones will be available “later this year.”

Filed under: Cellphones

AT&T announces 7.2Mbps HSPA rollout plans originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 May 2009 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We have mixed feelings about the news that Psystar is going under. On the one hand, it’s wonderful having somebody attempt to create powerful, expandable Macs for cheap, on the other hand the company has been generally abrasive to the grassroots hacker community its work is based on, and pretty bombastic when it comes to Apple and “the law.” But hey, everybody needs to make a profit, even companies being sued into oblivion by Apple, and the news of Psystar filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection has interesting legal implications. Not only does it stall Apple’s case against the company — while implying a possibly inevitable defeat — but Apple has long posited that a mystery investor behind Psystar has nefarious aims, and the bankruptcy hearing on June 5th will name the creditors behind the company. Our fingers are crossed for a “Dan Brown”-style conspiracy, but we’re prepared to be “post-2002 Tom Hanks”-style disappointed.

[Via SlashGear]

Filed under: Desktops

Psystar files for bankruptcy, anonymous creditors to be outed originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 13:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Face it: in between waiting for Windows 7 to launch and tweaking the XP build on your newly purchased netbook, there’s this little thing called Windows Vista that needs to be maintained. Today, Microsoft did its part and released the standalone installers for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Service Pack 2 for Vista and Server 2008. Now it’s all up to you. Hit the read links to patch the Wow with a little SP2 Meh.

[Thanks, Justin W.]

Read — 32-bit
Read — 64-bit

Filed under: Desktops, Handhelds, Laptops

Windows Vista SP2 is live, ready to download originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 07:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We don’t have a lot of information at the moment, but CNET is reporting that Lenovo is getting ready to launch the world’s first ION-based netbook. While CNET doesn’t give it a model number, the filename used on the image reads “LenovoS12netbook” and is said to pack discrete graphics and NVIDIA’s Ion processor chipset.Technically, the 12-inch laptop is too big for netbook classifaction and too chubby to be a CULV thin-and-light. Then again, those are classifactions of Intel’s making which doesn’t mean a whole lot to the boys from NVIDIA.

Update: PC Perspective has additional detail about the S12: 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, full-size keyboard, and what looks like an HDMI-out when it lands in July or August for less than $600.

Update 2: Interesting. Netbooknews.de has a proven record with insider-netbook news and claims that the S12 will eventually include a Via Nano processor option.

[Via PCPer]

Filed under: Laptops

Lenovo’s ION-based S12 makes netbooks exciting again (update: less than $600) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 May 2009 01:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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