Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve been trying to find out when HP would launch a webOS tablet since the company first bought Palm, and we’re now hearing from several trusted sources that it’ll be calendar Q1 2011. We’re told Personal Systems Group VP Todd Bradley mentioned the date during an all-hands employee meeting yesterday, and that the project is indeed known internally as “Hurricane.” (We’re assuming this is what that PalmPad trademark filing was for, but we can’t confirm that.) Shipping a killer tablet would be one way to change the subject from ex-CEO Mark Hurd’s recent troubles, we suppose — but we’re definitely wondering if HP is actually going to support three different tablet operating systems after it launches the Windows 7-based Slate for the enterprise and the Android-based Zeen e-reader tablet for consumers as well. We’ll see — Q1 could be mighty interesting.

HP tells employees webOS tablet coming Q1 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been flooded with a deluge of tips about the HP Zeen ever since we posted those first FCC images of the tablet device this morning, and it’s actually a little surprising at how perfectly everything aligns. We’ve now had multiple tipsters confirm that the Zeen is an e-reading-focused Android tablet with the unique ability to connect directly to an HP printer and function as its interface without the need for a computer. But that’s not all — here’s everything else we know:

• The Zeen is a capacitive tablet running a HP skin on top of Android 2.1 — it won’t get shifted to webOS, and it’s not clear if it’ll get upped to Froyo before launch given the development time required. It has capacitive touch buttons, a SD card slot, video support, and at least some prototypes have cameras with a special webcam app installed.
• The goal is for the HP home screen and skin to be the only home screen available, but that hasn’t been fully implemented yet.
• E-reading is a major focus, and the Zeen has “significant” integration with the Barnes & Noble Nook bookstore and ecosystem. Makes sense, as the Nook itself is based on Android, and being able to print e-books from the Zeen would be a huge differentiator — and a great way for HP to sell more ink.
• The Zeen will come in two configurations: a $399 bundle with a new printer called Zeus and as a standalone unit for an unknown price. The Zeus has its own “basic” control setup, but when the Zeen is docked it provides a rich interface to the printing functions — presumably a web-connected interface like the one HP’s been moving towards with other printers.
• Despite the CQ model number, the Zeen is a straight HP product, with a laser-etched logo on the back.

So that’s what we know about this enigmatic product. It certainly adds up — HP has long said one of the reasons it bought Palm was to use webOS as a consistent interface to other connected devices like printers, and it only makes sense that the company was working on executing that strategy with an OS like Android long before Jon Rubinstein and company joined the team. Besides, how better to sell more ink than by making it easy for consumers to hit Facebook and print pictures without having to use a computer at all? It’s certainly interesting — we’re waiting patiently to see when and where the Zeen next appears.

The HP eStation Zeen, the Zeus printer, and everything we know about them originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is a wild one, and we’re still parsing through the announcement, but on the surface it looks like the Library of Congress has added new anti-circumvention exceptions to the DMCA that, among other things, allow people to tweak their handsets for the purpose of installing legally obtained software — known as jailbreaking in iOS land, and rooting in the Android / webOS world. Check out the full statement from the Librarian of Congress, which is mostly an update of existing exceptions on record, after the break, but here’s the primary excerpt:

Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.

Now, before all you EFFers go all totally wild (although it’s undoubtedly a win for the EFF line of thinking on this issue), you should know that this in no way requires Apple to jailbreak your phone for you, or lay down its arms in this ongoing fight. Basically, they just can’t sue you for the specific act of breaking their protections, but there’s nothing stopping them from putting those protections in there in the first place, or for suing you for an infringement not covered in this exception — like distributing Apple code in a non-Apple-approved way, or installing illegal or pirated software. Not that any of you jailbreakers would ever do that. What’s more, the DMCA still broadly forbids distributing to the public any “technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof” that’s primarily designed to break access controls, so Apple can always go after the Dev Team directly — and we’d still keep those dreams of opening Joe’s Jailbreak Hut on ice for now.

On a more minor note, the language pertaining to unlocking a handset to work on another wireless network has also been expanded from “firmware” in 2006 to “firmware or software” in the 2010 revision. Also, and very exciting for the YouTube set, the section pertaining to cracking a DVD video and excerpting scenes for commentary or criticism has been expanded beyond educational use into documentary and non-commercial applications.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Library of Congress adds DMCA exception for jailbreaking or rooting your phone

Library of Congress adds DMCA exception for jailbreaking or rooting your phone originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is an incredibly well-rounded and insightful double podcast. It is so well-rounded and insightful that it looks like it might turn into a triple podcast and is, quite frankly, the best podcast the Engadget Podcasters have ever seen.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Double Rainbow

00:02:33 – Panasonic’s new Lumix lineup: LX5, FZ40, FZ100, FX700, and TS10 all official
00:06:52 – Canon developing smaller DSLRs to compete with mirrorless cameras?
00:07:00 – Nikon planning “new concept” mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras with enhanced video modes
00:21:12 – New Xbox 360 4GB ships August 3rd for $199, Kinect standalone priced at $149, bundle coming this holiday for $299
00:30:48 – webOS 2.0 coming ‘later this year,’ says HP’s Rubinstein
00:30:58 – HP Slate no longer a consumer product, will arrive for enterprise this fall
00:31:24 – HP files for ‘PalmPad’ trademark — a webOS tablet, perhaps?
00:31:35 – HP Slate 500 with Windows 7 surfaces on HP’s site
00:31:54 – HP confirms that Slate is still kicking, ‘next steps’ being determined
00:41:52 – HP CEO: Palm could end up a ‘sub-brand’ of the company
00:46:41 – Samsung Galaxy S review shootout: Captivate for AT&T and Vibrant for T-Mobile
00:48:14 – Dell Streak review redux: thoughts from the New World
00:48:41 – Nexus One is sold out in Google’s store — forever
00:56:32 – Motorola mini Droid slider caught by Mr. Blurrycam
00:59:07 – Droid 2 being prepared for launch, set to arrive August 23rd?
01:00:29 – Apple posts record $3.25b profit in first full quarter of iPad sales, says more ‘amazing products’ coming this year
01:00:48 – Apple begins iPhone 4 Case Program: apply for your free case or Bumper now
01:01:26 – Apple delays white iPhone a second time, won’t ship until ‘later this year’
01:03:08 – Apple starts refunding Bumper purchases automagically
01:07:45 – AT&T announces 26 percent earnings growth for Q2, $4b profit
01:16:28 – Droid X users gobbling up 5x the data of other Verizon smartphones
01:18:00 – Microsoft reports $4.5b in profit, a record $16.04b in revenue
01:18:30 – Steve Ballmer feeling pressure at Microsoft for stagnating share price?
01:18:48 – Kin listed as at least $240 million writeoff in Microsoft earnings report
01:21:44 – Microsoft to employees: ‘everybody gets a Windows Phone 7!’
01:21:50 – Microsoft wants employees to code Windows Phone 7 apps ‘in their spare time’

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Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 206 – 07.24.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve sensed that something‘s been up with the HP Slate for a while now, and it looks like we’ve finally gotten the first solid confirmation that the Windows 7 tablet as unveiled by Steve Ballmer at CES in January won’t hit the consumer market as planned — speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference, HP Personal Systems Group VP Todd Bradley just said that the Slate will be “more customer-specific than broadly deployed,” and that it would launch the Microsoft-based tablet “for the enterprise” in the fall. That fits right in with HP telling us the other day that it was in “customer evaluations” as it prepared for the “next steps,” and based on followup comments from Bradley and Palm head Jon Rubinstein, it certainly sounded like the company will focus Windows tablets at the enterprise and develop a variety of webOS devices for the consumer market. Of course, there’s no official announcement yet, so we’ll see what happens — the only thing that we can confidently say is that the HP Slate has definitely succeeded the iPad as the tech industry’s favorite vaporware tablet.

HP Slate no longer a consumer product, will arrive for enterprise this fall originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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