Hasta La Gadget!

The Federal Communications Commission has just unveiled a new plan that’ll overhaul an $8 billion fund that’s currently used to “subsidize phone service in rural areas and for the poor,” pointing that money towards buildouts in the ambitious rural broadband initiative. Most critics suggest that the existing fee model is severely outdated, and in fact, encourages “perverse schemes by carriers to stimulate certain kinds of phone traffic.” Not surprisingly, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has said that he “doesn’t expect” phone rates to increase for most consumers, and the agency’s currently estimating a $2.2 billion savings from fees that are currently paid out to phone companies. Politics aside, the goal here is to provide broadband access (however that’s defined) to every American by the end of the decade, with Genachowski quipping: “We are taking a system designed for the Alexander Graham Bell era of rotary telephones and modernizing it for the era of Steve Jobs and the internet future he imagined.” Pretty sure more than just Jobs had visions of a connected future, but we’re following the logic, Jules.

Continue reading FCC’s ‘Connect America Fund’ redirects phone fees to provide rural broadband

FCC’s ‘Connect America Fund’ redirects phone fees to provide rural broadband originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“There’s a good reason why Street View is done in cars.” That’s a quote from Mat Bisher, associate creative director at McCann, who is teaming up with granola connoisseur Nature Valley in order to deliver a “Street View-style tour” of America’s National Parks. Fast Company reports that the two have embarked on quite the ambitious initiative (dubbed Trail View), sending a cadre of well-trained hikers to some of America’s most gorgeous locales with specially-rigged camera setups in tow. The goal? To capture views from near-limitless hiking trails, and bring them to your web browser starting in February 2012. Sadly, it won’t be integrated into any of the platforms already in existence; it’ll be its own standalone thing, but hopefully the likes of Microsoft or Google will take notice and either contribute or convert it. We’re told that “layers for user-generated content, social networking and mobility, and perhaps form partnerships with travel sites” are on tap, and yes, Woodrow Wilson’s ghost has purportedly approved.

Update: We’ve added a few shots of the actual capturing in the gallery below.

Nature Valley creating Street View-style tour of National Parks, chews through countless granola bars to do so originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The inability to win US government approval isn’t exactly an unfamiliar issue for Huawei, which by now must be conditioned not to expect a nod from major US telecom companies. But now, The Daily Beast reports that the U.S. Commerce Department has made it very clear that the Chinese company won’t have a role in building the country’s new dedicated first responder wireless network. A spokesman wasn’t shy about the reason, either, explaining that Huawei “will not be taking part in the building of America’s interoperable wireless emergency network for first responders due to U.S. government national security concerns.” And what about those national security concerns? Well, Huawei president Ren Zhengfei’s former role as a People’s Liberation Army technologist may have something to do with it, considering it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suspect that he still has some fairly close ties to Chinese government officials. We haven’t heard a peep from the feds regarding Huawei’s invitation for US officials to investigate the company earlier this year, but it’s safe to assume that the investigation either didn’t go very well, or more likely that it hasn’t happened at all. We imagine that whole corporate espionage debacle probably didn’t help the company, either.

Huawei blocked from first responder network contract, US cites ‘national security concerns’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hot on the heels of a UK release, Samsung has just announced that its long-awaited (and long-delayed) Galaxy Player 4.0 ($229) and 5.0 ($269) will be available for pre-order starting September 27th, with US availability pegged for October 16th. Oddly enough, Samsung gave no reason behind the once-spring, now-autumn pushback, but at least we can finally stop wondering and instead start enjoying the spoils of an (almost) Galaxy Note-sans-phone. (Not like we haven’t heard a similar tune before). All that aside, the Player 5.0 and 4.0 weigh in at 6.4 and 4.2 ounces, respectively, and both are powered by Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread); other specs include 802.11b/g/n, WVGA Super Clear LCDs (800 x 480), Bluetooth 3.0, 8GB of onboard storage, a microSD expansion slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, voice recorder, mini-USB connectivity, front and rear cameras and support for Sammy’s Media Hub content service. The big fellow gets a 2,500mAh battery, whereas its little(r) brother is equipped with a 1,200mAh cell. (Psst… you can catch our hands-on with these here and here.)

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is available for pre-sale right now, with shipments to hit retail on October 2nd. You’ll be laying down $469 for the 16GB model, while a doubling of capacity will run you $100 more. Need a refresher on this one, too? How’s about a WXGA (1,280 x 800) touchpanel, dual-core T250S processor, 6,100mAh battery, sub-one pound weight, DLNA compatibility, a 3 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front-facing camera, integrated Swype / Polaris Office and even a few amenities for those in the enterprise — things like full support for Exchange ActiveSync (v14), on-device encryption, Cisco VPN, Sybase MDM and WebEx support. Best of all, the inbuilt FindMyMobile service allows users to track their lost / stolen Tab 8.9 down on a map as it moves, remotely lock the device to prevent unauthorized access and delete personal information stored on the device. Head on past the break for the full release.

Continue reading Galaxy Tab 8.9 hits pre-order, ships October 2nd in US; Galaxy Player 5.0 and 4.0 shipping October 16th

Galaxy Tab 8.9 hits pre-order, ships October 2nd in US; Galaxy Player 5.0 and 4.0 shipping October 16th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seems like everyone is up President Obama’s ass for something these days. Too much war. Not enough war. Too much spending. Not enough spending. This guy can’t win. His rapidly graying hair is proof of that. More »