Hasta La Gadget!

When a former Apple product engineer mixes up some Google-juice with MC Hammer you’d be surprised at what you get. If you guessed a range of household Android devices sporting 4.3- to 10-inch touchscreens, WiFi, and Ethernet connectivity well, that would be weird… but you’d be right. Mark Hamblin, the founder and CEO of Touch Revolution who claims to have worked on the iPhone and iPod touch, breaks down the Touch Revolution product family into three major categories: 1) home control to manage lights, security, heating and ventilation, 2) media control for the TV, stereo, and DVR programming, and 3) home-based smartphones like the NIMble we played with at CES. The first Touch Revolution modules will launch later this year inside a range of devices that can be hand-held, placed on a tabletop, or even embedded in a wall. While not naming names, Hamblin says that the hardware and software will be customized and sold by “companies with major brands” before the end of the year in the “US and elsewhere.” As for Hammer, that’s hard to say — but we’d buy pretty much anything he’d like to officially endorse.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Home Entertainment, Household

Touch Revolution’s household Android devices coming this year — it’s Hammer time! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At this point, Bluetooth headsets are pretty played, but it’s some kind of thrilling to see at least one company keeping things interesting. Newton Peripherals is that very outfit, today introducing a pair of new devices that are definitely unique in a sea of me-too ear pieces. First up is the MoGo Talk for iPhone, which adheres to the back of your handset and keeps the headset nearby at all times — think LG’s Decoy, but a tad less elegant. Next up is the MoGo Talk for VoIP & Skype (our personal favorite), which slides inconspicuously into one’s ExpressCard slot in order to a) stay out of harm’s way and b) charge when not in use. Too bad Apple decided that these slots were practically unwanted in its newest 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros, huh? Both devices can be pre-ordered right now for $99 apiece, with shipments expected to begin next month.

[Via HotHardware]

Read – MoGo Talk for iPhone
Read – MoGo Talk for VoIP and Skype

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals

MoGo Talk intros Bluetooth headset for iPhone, everyone else originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hold up AirTran — not so fast with those wild claims of in-flight WiFi superiority. If you’ll recall, the aforesaid airline proclaimed that it would soon be the first to have its entire fleet doused with Gogo, but it looks like Virgin America has swept in to claim that title. We should point out just how unfair the challenge is, though: VA has 28 planes as of today, whereas AirTran has 136. At any rate, we’re still thrilled to see airlines duking it out in order to get more WiFi to more fliers, and we fully anticipate that every new aircraft added to Virgin America’s fleet will be lit from day one. Now, if only they’d allow Skype functionality for more than just an Oprah demonstration, we’d really be playing with fire.

[Via Gadling]

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

Virgin America lights up entire fleet with in-flight WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 May 2009 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For quite some time now, the number of people in the U.S. that have dropped landlines in favor of cell phones has gradually increased. However, it seems we’ve reached a milestone. According to the Associated Press, the number of U.S. households opting for only cell phones has for the
first time surpassed those that just have traditional landlines.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released Wednesday said that fully 20 percent of U.S. households only had cell phones in the second half of 2008. That’s a three point increase since the first half of 2008–a big jump, statistically speaking–and also three points higher than the 17 percent of households with landlines but no cell phones.

For comparison purposes, in 2003, just three percent of households were wireless only, whereas a whopping 43 percent had landlines but no cell phones yet. In the meantime, about 60 percent of households have both landlines and cell phones. The report attributed the accelerated shift to the recession, and the fact that the cell phone offers extra features–namely, mobility and texting, among others–that landlines generally don’t have.

CallVantage may have survived being sued by Vonage, but there’s one thing it couldn’t survive — progress. After thrilling us for some time now by magically transmitting people’s “voice” over something called the “internet,” AT&T’s VoIP service will begin weening off customers over the course of this year. Folks will be able to switch to either another AT&T service, transfer to another service provider, or drop off the communications grid altogether — where they will finally have the opportunity to spend their lives in solemn contemplation, with nothing but the babbling brook, the sweet sound of songbirds, and a journal of their thoughts to keep them occupied. The company says that it’s pulling the plug to concentrate on its U-verse voice service, which can only mean one thing: Watson’s got to them. We knew that guy was up to no good.

[Via MobileTechNews]

Filed under: Household, Networking

AT&T CallVantage: fare thee well, we hardly knew ye originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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