Hasta La Gadget!

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Beyond an opportunity for a lucky few to visit the surreal and sophisticated wireless testing labs buried deep within the Apple campus, the Steve Jobs “Antennagate” press conference had few surprises in terms of using a tool at Apple’s disposal — its own Bumpers (augmented by those of third parties) — to address a vulnerability of the iPhone 4 antenna design. The difference between the iPhone 4 and other devices is the clear marking of the spot at which physical contact causes the signal to degrade. Optimists could consider this a visual reminder to avoid contact while pessimists could see a constant reminder of imperfection. Regardless, at its press conference, Apple added – and continues to add — visual verification of its assertion that multiple handsets (or at least smartphones) can fall victim to a strategic grasp.

Beyond that, the only muted revelation of the day was that AT&T is reporting that the iPhone 4 is monitoring dropped calls on the iPhone 4 at a rate ever so slightly above that of the 3GS. However, the 3GS did not have a reputation for being particularly tenacious at holding on to a call. Indeed, were it not for all the heat the previous iPhone took at AT&T, perhaps Apple would not have had to push for so radical an antenna redesign. Therefore, it would have been interesting to know how the iPhone 4 compared to the AT&T smartphone average (skewed as it is to iPhones anyway), especially given the earlier Apple demonstration of how other smartphones can suffer from attenuation.

Continue reading Switched On: Of guiltlessness and giveaways

Switched On: Of guiltlessness and giveaways originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

There may have been a lot of behind-the-scenes machinations at Microsoft and Verizon that resulted in the discontinuation of the Kin One and the Kin Two, but there were also many marketplace miscues that resulted in the demise of the handsets. Here, then, were Kin’s seven deadly sins:

Lust. With the Kin handsets, Microsoft was too eager to get its hands into the pockets of young social networkers for whom the smartphone market had proven elusive. The key paradox of this was that the Kin data plan was the same for that of other smartphones at Verizon, and that continued to shut out those who aspired to mobile digital sharing nirvana.

Gluttony. If Microsoft was angling to get Verizon to offer a sweetheart deal for Kin data, it certainly didn’t help its cause with the automatic backup of rich media to the Kin Studio website. If there was one aspect to the Kin handsets operation that may pave the way toward future success, it was the Silverlight-based web interface to all the media that was captured with the device. This also allowed Microsoft and Sharp to minimize the amount of on-device storage. However, constantly backing up high-resolution photos and even standard-definition videos to the cloud required a lot of bandwidth, making it difficult for Verizon to justify a “light” data usage plan for Kin users.

Continue reading Switched On: Kin’s seven deadly sins

Switched On: Kin’s seven deadly sins originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

As TVs and Blu-ray players increasingly feature internet connections, content partnerships, and now even open operating systems, they’re turning up the pressure on of standalone devices such as Apple TV and the Roku player. Indeed, Steve Jobs has said the demanding existence between the rock of the connected television and the hard place of the closed cable system is what’s relegated Apple TV to “hobby” status.

In the Windows world, several companies in the netbook space such as Asus, Acer and Lenovo have popped Atom processors into slim desktop enclosures, dubbing them nettops. Dell has gone a somewhat different route, opting for more powerful desktop components in its chunky Inspiron Zino HD desktop/home theater hybrid. And now, the Mac mini has taken a step toward this role as Apple, which has been a strong backer of DisplayPort, has adorned its only display-free Mac with an HDMI port.

Continue reading Switched On: New Mac mini a mixed Apple TV alternative

Switched On: New Mac mini a mixed Apple TV alternative originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

With each passing day it becomes less of an insult to say someone’s head is in the clouds, as more and more people begin to outright rely on web sites and applications like Facebook, Google Docs, Flickr, Farmville, YouTube and Hulu. Among these popular services are Slacker and Pandora, two internet radio services that have grown tremendously since becoming available as smartphone apps, and which have recently completed the three-screen trifecta by being offered on connected televisions. These services have always had plenty of online competition, including simulcast internet radio stations, streamed Sirius XM, and Rhapsody. But it appears as though the landscape of Internet music services in the US is preparing to accommodate two more game-changing newcomers from profoundly different backgrounds.

The first is a startup from Europe called Spotify, which has been winning fans across the continent in the five countries in which it is offered. Spotify’s Open service represents something of a holy grail for on-demand music from the cloud: you can play any song in its catalog as often as you like for up to 20 hours per month for free, and share songs with your friends. The service gets high marks for its responsiveness. Becoming a premium Spotify member essentially turns the service into something more akin to Rhapsody, with no ads, better audio quality, and offline listening. Spotify has begun offering a private preview of its U.S. service to a lucky few, and is expected to be rolling out more broadly this year.

Continue reading Switched On: Thunder in the cloud

Switched On: Thunder in the cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 17:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

The system does have advantages. You can pick up a GoFlex drive assured that it will work with most computers via the bundled USB 2.0 connector cable, upgrade to eSATA or FireWire 800 for faster speed today, and then to USB 3.0 as you acquire a computer that uses that connector. Adapters start at about $20, which is what one might spend on a decent new enclosure for upgrading the old-fashioned way, and Seagate claims that separating the drive from the physical interface will enable it to sell less expensive external drives that come without any connector. Still, by the time most people spend between upgrading their PCs, they might want to simply start over with a higher-capacity drive that will be compatible with the latest and greatest connector anyway.

Continue reading Switched On: A new spin on external hard drives, part two

Switched On: A new spin on external hard drives, part two originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 May 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments