Hasta La Gadget!

Following the usual leak + wait-and-see saga, AT&T has today confirmed that it’ll be the exclusive home to one half of HTC’s Facebook-infused duo. The so-called Status will be making its way onto Ma Bell’s airwaves on July 17th, with eager social networkers able to get their pre-orders in today. It’ll sell for $49.99 on a two-year agreement, with that tally netting you a dedicated Facebook “Share” button that’ll allow photos / videos /websites to be instantly uploaded to your account. We’re also told that it’ll ship with Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) onboard, with an “enhanced version” of HTC’s Sense overlay. Other specs include a 5 megapixel camera (with autofocus and LED flash), a 2.6-inch touch panel, 480 x 320 screen resolution and capacitive navigation buttons. Oh, and if you’re uninterested in the hue you see about, Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile standalone stores will feature an exclusive mauve edition in due time. Fancy.

Continue reading HTC Status ships July 17th, currently in a pre-order relationship with AT&T

HTC Status ships July 17th, currently in a pre-order relationship with AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, Johnson & Johnson — you’re a male, right? If you’ve tried looping your business into Google+, you may have noticed that it’s not exactly setup for that right now. In case you didn’t, however, Goog’s own Christian Oestlien has a bit of intel he’d like you to know. For now, Google+ remains a consumer-oriented affair, but he did say that there’s a team of engineers toiling away on “an amazing Google+ experience for businesses.” As for features? Mum’s the word, really, but we are told that it’ll “far exceed the consumer profile in terms of its usefulness to businesses.” The company’s asking for patience while the finishing touches are made, and Google’s going to be testing the waters with a few marketing partners over the next few months. As for when your own LLC can take advantage? “Later this year.”

Continue reading Google+ recommends that businesses hold back for now, says current offering is consumer-focused

Google+ recommends that businesses hold back for now, says current offering is consumer-focused originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It ain’t the first time Mark Zuckerberg has taken the stage to announce… something, but today’s shindig is resulting in “something” that’s a bit more exciting for the average user. As rumored, the world’s most notable VoIP service is set to become exceedingly integrated with the world’s most notable social network. Skype has just thrown up a teaser page for v5.3 for Windows (and v5.5 Beta), noting that Skype and Facebook will aim to provide “the best of both worlds.”

Zuck is primarily announcing three main things today: group chat, a new way to chat (“an easier way to find someone who is online”) and Skype-enabled video chat. Oh, and the tiny, tiny fact that there’s now 750 million Facebook members. What’s notable is just how easy it is to fire up a group chat (or send transcripts to group members who miss out) and get a video call going using your existing Skype contact list. A single click is all it takes, and we’re told that it’ll be rolled out to everyone “over the next few weeks” in 70 different languages. The new chat design will be scalable based on your browser size, and the company made a point to mention that it’ll be listening closely to user input in order to iterate as it moves forward.

Tony Bates stepped up to the plate, and noted that over 300 million videocall minutes a month are going through Skype, and at peak times, over half of its traffic is video. He also noted that the technology behind it was “tough” to construct, but somehow it managed to hammer this whole thing out in around six months via joint development. There’s also talk about future “paid products” in due time, and it’s strikingly clear that this partnership isn’t going to fade anytime soon. If you’re looking to take a dive yourself, hit up the source links below for the Windows applications, and wear that F5 button out over at Facebook’s homepage if you’re more of the “in-browser” type.

Oh, and if you’re curious about mobile — video chat isn’t active on that front yet, and Mark’s not spilling any details on “when.” To quote him on a question of time tables: “We’ll see.”

Update: Those on the web can get started right now. Of note, this forces open the familiar chat bar, so it doesn’t much look like you can hide from “those people” while attempting to find folks on Skype. Sadly, we’re also seeing that doing so can add loads of Facebook contacts to your Skype program, and there’s no real way to see that it’s happening until it’s too late. Clever, Mark.

Update 2: We’ve spent a little time with both of the new options, and you can read up on our impressions here!

Skype comes to Facebook, and Facebook comes to Skype (update: available now!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s reportedly trying to put all of its product eggs into one self-branded basket. According to Mashable, two of its most popular services — Picasa and Blogger — may go under the branding knife and come out the other side looking like ‘Google Photos’ and ‘Google Blogs.’ With the exception of the latter’s planned UI overhaul, both services should function exactly the same. The move — alleged to take place within the next six weeks — would unify the search king’s user offerings ahead of the public launch of Google+. And if that social service’s rumored July 31st launch date pans out, we could be seeing this overhaul very soon. But don’t expect crown jewel YouTube to receive similar treatment, that site’s brand equity already sent its ugly step-sister — Google Video — to the grave.

Picasa, Blogger to get renamed: now with more Google? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a war on in New York City. The lines of loyalty were drawn way back in 1898 and, ever since, it’s been battle for borough superiority. A team of hackers has ushered this county rivalry into the internet age, turning the Big Apple into a giant Risk board where check-ins replace dice rolls and armies are gathered on Foursquare. In World of Fourcraft users pledge fealty to a particular locale then, for the honor of their homeland, check-in to wrest control of neighborhoods from their residents and defend their own turf from potential usurpers. The whole project was whipped up last weekend during a hackathon at New York’s General Assembly. At the moment it does little more than tally check-ins, but the creators plan to add new features in the future. Now, go forth and do battle for your block but, don’t stray too far — to the north and east of the Boogie Down Bronx, and the south and west of the Slums of Shaolin, lies The Waste Land.

World of Fourcraft brings battle of the boroughs to Foursquare originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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