Hasta La Gadget!

Sony’s just released the details for its upcoming PlayStation 3 2.70 firmware update, and while it’s nothing that’ll knock your socks off, they are some goodies here to look forward to. Additions include text chat for letting you make the best of that new Wireless Keypad — or some other physical / on-screen keyboard — with up to fifteen online friends and / or three chat rooms, in-game or out. Speaking of online friends, those can now be sorted by online status to see who most recently logged on, and the file attachment size cap has been upped from 1MB to 3MB. Additionally, you can now back up your PS Store video purchases to an external drive and restore later for playback, and similarly your PSP video purchases can now be transferred to PS3 for a larger-screen experience. No word on the release date for now, but in the meantime, check out video demonstration after the break.

Update: Well that was fast. Firmware’s available now, let us know what you think.

Continue reading PS3 2.70 firmware adds in-game text chat, video backup

Filed under: Gaming

PS3 2.70 firmware adds in-game text chat, video backup originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clearly, the big news from Endless Ideas today at CeBIT was its next-generation BeBook 2. But what about all those existing / to-be BeBook 1 owners? We’ve got a bit of excitement to share with you folks as well. While prying for information today in Hannover, we were informed that one of the biggest issues with the BeBook is being resolved very soon. Yes, friends, WiFi is coming. In just a few months, BeBook users will be able to buy a WiFi-enabling SD card (and download a new firmware update) which will provide wireless access to eBook stores, RSS feeds and lots of other goodies that can only be touched with a live internet connection. We’re told that the WiFi SD card will be sold directly on the BeBook website for around $40, and it should be listed for sale within the next few months. We took the chance to grab some hands-on footage of the original BeBook in video form for you Yanks who’ve yet to see one, and if you hang in there ’til the end, you’ll hear us get tipped off on the forthcoming card.

Continue reading BeBook e-reader getting WiFi, new firmware update: eyes-on

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

BeBook e-reader getting WiFi, new firmware update: eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When you’re dealing with a major signal reception issue on a phone, it’s easy to believe that the problem isn’t gonna go away without retooling the innards and releasing revised hardware — but for North American owners (and would-be owners) of Nokia’s stricken NAM version of the 5800 XpressMusic, there’s new hope. The Nokia Blog is claiming that word from an inside source confirms that the problem has already been fixed with an unreleased firmware update, which would lead us to believe that Nokia could conceivably get devices back on the shelves relatively quickly — and that current owners will be able to fix their woes without physically exchanging phones. Of course, firmware updates have never come out of Espoo at a firehose pace — particularly for North American versions of devices — so we’ll believe this is resolved when we’ve seen it with our own eyes.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Reception issues with North American Nokia 5800s to be fixed with firmware? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not all of us have the time required to go digging around in device firmware. Fortunately, there are sites like Mac Rumors, which spends a good chunk of its day doing just that.

Digging around in the iPhone’s 2.x Firmware, the site made an interesting little discovery that may signal the existence (be it physically or conceptually) of the next version of Apple’s popular handset. In the firmware, the device is referred to as “iPhone2,1.” The company uses these designations to distinguish iterations of the phone. The first iPhone was iPhone 1,1. The 3G was designated the iPhone 1,2.

After even more digging, a developer noticed the company had two such devices listed s being in use.

No copy and paste here, move along everyone! What you can expect in the new, just-released 2.2.1 software update for the iPhone (and iPod touch) is “improved general stability of Safari” — always encouraging — and a fix for saved Mail images not showing up just right in the camera roll. It’s like Christmas in January!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

iPhone firmware update 2.2.1 brings minor stability improvements originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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