Hasta La Gadget!

Here’s an interesting little rumor that seems all too plausible: Peter Kafka at All Things Digital says sources are telling him Apple will announce a new mobile ad network based on its Quattro Wireless acquisition on Thursday at its iPhone OS 4 event, a report that jibes completely with what we learned about the iAd / AdKit framework present in the iPhone OS just last week. Kafka also says that Google will undoubtedly cheer the move on, since it’s trying to convince the FTC to approve its $750m AdMob acquisition — the presence of a formidable competitor like Apple in the mobile ad space makes the buyout seem more like healthy business and less like “evil monopoly that owns every ad on the internet and is stalking innocents for their flesh with Google Buzz.” Our guess is that Apple will give developers a standard way to place ads in their apps using a new OS service and split the revenue 70/30, just like paid apps in the App Store, but that’s just a shot in the dark — we’ll see what happens on Thursday.

Apple to announce iAd / AdKit mobile ad platform on Thursday? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, well — what’s this? We just got our hands on what looks like an internal HP Slate presentation given to cool down some of the iPad hype amongst HP employees, and it just happens to have specs and pricing details on the elusive Windows 7 tablet. As we’d heard, the Slate will run $549 in its base configuration, which has a 8.9-inch 1024 x 600 capacitive multitouch display, a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor with UMA graphics and an accelerator for 1080p video playback (we’re assuming it’s a Broadcom Crystal HD chip), 32GB of flash storage and 1GB of non-upgradeable RAM. There’s also a $599 version with 64GB of storage, and both models will have a five-hour battery, an SDHC slot, two camera, a USB port, a SIM card slot for the optional 3G modem, and a dock connector for power, audio, and HDMI out. Of course, what this spec list doesn’t cover is software, and we still haven’t seen much of how HP plans to make Windows 7 on a full slate device with netbook-class internals perform as smoothly or as intuitively as its demo videos. That’s not a small challenge, especially since the iPad is out now and setting some pretty high expectations for how this new breed of tablets should work. We’ve got our fingers crossed — show us something good, HP.

HP Slate to cost $549, have 1.6GHz Atom Z530, 5 hour battery? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This one’s still strictly in the realm of rumor for the time being, but there’s a growing amount evidence cropping up suggesting that Apple may have acquired another processor design firm. The company in question this time is Austin-based Intrinsity, which specializes in ARM processors, and has suddenly seen its website replaced with an old school “under construction” image — supposedly due to “scheduled maintenance.” That wouldn’t be much to go on by itself, of course, but EDN is reporting that it has a “solid rumor” that Intrinsity has indeed been sold, and a number of Intrinsity employees have apparently already changed their current employer status on LinkedIn to Apple only to promptly change it back. There’s even some speculation that Intrinsity may have actually contributed as much or more to the A4 processor in the iPad than P.A. Semi has, although any confirmation of that will likely have to wait until an official announcement — if there’s one to come at all, that is.

Is Intrinsity Apple’s latest chipmaker acquisition? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Apr 2010 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumors of Intel delaying processors to avoid stepping on some of its other processors’ toes? Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. This latest instance concerns some unspecified ultra-thin laptop CPUs that Intel has reportedly now put on hold until the third quarter of the year and, according to DigiTimes, a launch then will still depend on what demand looks like at that point. All of this is supposedly at least due in part to Acer’s decision to shelve some of its ultra-thin laptops that would have used the processors, and instead focus on thin-and-light Calpella-based laptops. No word from Intel, of course, but past history suggests we could see some further back and forth before things finally shake out.

Intel putting some ultra-thin laptop CPUs on hold to gauge demand? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We bumped into NVIDIA at CTIA in Vegas last week, and even NVIDIA itself expressed some frustration at not having any finished Tegra 2-powered products to show us, but there was no talk of delays — not that we really have many hard dates for any of the Tegra 2 devices to push up against. This morning, however, SlashGear ran a rumor from a “trusted source” saying that there were hardware and software “technical problems” with the platform, including a problem with Flash, which were delaying various tablets, including products from Notion Ink, Compal, and ICD. The source said that the Compal, which was due for a June release, has been bumped to September, while the ICD tablets won’t hit until October. We asked NVIDIA for a statement, and they said that “The rumors aren’t true. Everything’s on track.” With that sort of terse reply, we’re not really sure which aspects of this rumor NVIDIA is rebutting, but we have to assume NVIDIA is at least saying that there aren’t issues with Tegra 2 that are holding things back. As for when we’ll see Tegra 2 tablets and smartbooks hit the market? That’s anyone’s guess.

Tegra 2 delay rumor makes the rounds, NVIDIA says ‘everything’s on track’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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