Hasta La Gadget!

GPS-guided parachutes are nothing new — in fact, we’re guessing that a few are being dropped somewhere in this wide world right now — but a new deal between the Armed Services Blood Program and US Joint Forces Command will allow these devices to start saving even more lives in 2011. As the story goes, a cadre of air-dropped ‘chutes will be sent to the front lines of the battlefield in order to deliver vital blood to medics. For those unaware, blood loss is a major cause of death in war, and by skipping over the lengthy process that’s currently in place for delivery, the powers that be feel that more soldiers can be saved. Reportedly, the JPADS system “is a family of guided parachutes that can carry payloads ranging from about 150 to 60,000 pounds,” and at a predetermined altitude, a “parafoil deploys and a GPS-device steers supplies to an exact target.” The new system, however, will rely on ultralight versions of the aforesaid JPADS in order to sneak into locations that were previously thought impossible to penetrate. ‘Course, all of this will be a moot point once the robot armies rise to power and start pulverizing each other with scrap metal, but hey…

GPS parachutes delivering blood to front lines in the coming years originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink DailyTech  |  Military Blood, Marine Corps Times  | Email this | Comments

It’s not like you couldn’t snag an Overdrive from Sprint or an IntelliGo from Time Warner Cable, but if you’re dead-set on nabbing your WiMAX gear directly from Clearwire, we’ve good splendiferous news to share. The 4G-only Spot 4G and 3G / 4G Spot 4G+ (which is just a rebadged Overdrive, shown here) were up for pre-order prior to today, but now both are available in-store and online nationwide. In case the prices have slipped your mind, the Spot 4G will run you $99.99 (or $4.99 per month on a lease) with service plans starting at $40/month, while the Spot 4G+ goes for $224.99 (or $5.99 per month on a lease) with service plans starting at $55/month. Surf on, surfers.

Continue reading Clearwire ships Spot 4G and Spot 4G+ WiMAX portable hotspots

Clearwire ships Spot 4G and Spot 4G+ WiMAX portable hotspots originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Mmm… nothing like the smell of a warm caramel macchiato in the morning being masked by the smell of fresh greenbacks being burned, right? All jesting aside, we’re pretty stoked about the world’s most recognized coffee joint turning off the paywall surrounding its in-house WiFi hotspots, and in case you missed the original announcement, we’re here to remind you that the free-for-all begins today. As of this very moment, the next US / Canadian corporately-ran Starbucks that you enter should be offering free one two-click WiFi, meaning that no password is required and no time limits will be set. Of course, this also means that you’ll never see an open chair in any Starbucks ever again, but hey — that’s why sidewalks were created, right?

Update: Ha, as our good friend Dave Zatz points out, it’s actually two-clicks, not one: 1) agree to terms and services, 2) connect. But let’s not let the facts ruin a snappy press release.

Continue reading Starbucks begins offering free two-click WiFi access in US and Canada

Starbucks begins offering free two-click WiFi access in US and Canada originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Looks like we have a small band of US Cellular fans among our numbers, as we’ve received a slew of tips letting us know that the national carrier has dropped an official release date for the Samsung Acclaim. This most mundane of Android sliders will arrive on July 9, and… well, that’s it really. US Cellular hasn’t seen fit to entice us with any actual specs or even an Android version, though information floating about the interwebs suggests it has a 3.2-inch HVGA screen and a stock Eclair installation. We’ll just have to wait until somebody at Samsung swallows the shame of being associated with the Acclaim and finally gives us some official details.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Samsung Acclaim arrives in US Cellular stores July 9, we’re sure somebody will care originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  U.S. Cellular (Facebook)  | Email this | Comments

Take this for whatever it’s worth (which isn’t a whole heck of a lot without any official confirmation from any of the parties involved), but the New York Post has it that the Justice Department’s inquiry into Apple‘s iTunes practices may in fact be growing. ‘Course, it’s not exactly surprising to hear that authorities are now investigating every nook and cranny of Apple’s tactics thanks to Steve Jobs’ public thrashing of Flash and his sly insistence that the world shun Adobe while hugging HTML5, but we’ve still yet to hear from the DoJ and Apple about what exactly is going on within Cupertino. At any rate, the Post notes that a number of “sources” have confirmed that the inquiry is growing, most notably to include “how the iPhone and iPad maker does business with media outfits in areas beyond music.” We’d heard whispers that things may be getting just a bit too dictator-ish in the developers Ts and Cs, and now it seems that the DoJ is “asking questions about the terms that Apple lays out for computer programmers who want to develop apps for the iPad.” It’ll be interesting to see how all of this plays out, but we can bet devs (and end-users, frankly) are hoping and praying for less restrictions in the future.

DoJ’s inquiry at Apple purportedly expanding beyond iTunes practices originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 07:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  New York Post  | Email this | Comments