AT&T bringing WiFi to 20 NYC parks, Weiner envisions all new places to tweet from

For better or worse, AT&T’s hampered 3G blanket in New York City may indeed save you from sending out a few tweets that would be better off unsent, but thanks to this new initiative, it looks like you’ll have far more opportunities to make illogical decisions with your Twitter application of choice. This week, Mayor Bloomberg and AT&T head honcho Randall Stephenson rolled out a five year plan to provide gratis WiFi at 26 locations in in 20 New York City parks across the five boroughs, meaning that you’ll no longer have to slog through Times Square just to get a few free bytes. As of this very moment in time, free AT&T WiFi is available to users at Battery Bosque in Battery Park, the north-end playground in Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx, and around the recreation center at Thomas Jefferson Park in East Harlem, with 23 additional park locations to follow throughout the summer.

Back at D9, Ralph de la Vega made it clear that the company was spending countless hours on 3G handoff methods as a way to offload some of the strain on its cellular networks, and sure enough, those with “select” AT&T smartphones will be able to seamlessly switch over without even touching a thing. Thankfully, it’s also free for folks on other carriers (or no carrier at all), with a NSFW filter being applied only to parks located in the 9th district. Or, so we’re told.

Continue reading AT&T bringing WiFi to 20 NYC parks, Weiner envisions all new places to tweet from

AT&T bringing WiFi to 20 NYC parks, Weiner envisions all new places to tweet from originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netgear’s Universal WiFi Range Extender now available for balding home networks

Few things in life are more aggravating than WiFi dead spots — especially when you’ve just settled in to stream the latest Game of Thrones episode, after a long and excruciating week of tech blogging. Good thing that Netgear’s Universal WiFi Range Extender, first spotted at this year’s CES, is now available for shipping. This discrete white cube promises to bring connectivity to remote regions of your lair by automatically mirroring the wireless signal emitted from your gateway. Just use the device’s LED indicator to find the area where the extender would optimize its reach, plug it into any ol’ AC outlet, and those ugly pockets of wireless death will suddenly spring back to life (think of it as Rogaine for your WiFi router). It also supports 802.11 b/g/n and is compatible with WEP, WPA and WPA2 security standards, in case you were wondering. You can find the extender at retailers located all over this green Earth, where it’ll be priced at around $90. If that tickles your fancy, head past the break for the full PR.

Continue reading Netgear’s Universal WiFi Range Extender now available for balding home networks

Netgear’s Universal WiFi Range Extender now available for balding home networks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Jobs reveals Apple’s new spaceship campus, calls it the ‘best office building in the world’ (video)

Shortly after taking the stage at WWDC, Steve Jobs made an appearance before the Cupertino City Council to pitch the local governing body on Apple’s ambition to build a new campus. The site for the curvaceous, four-story, “human-scale” building to house 13,000 employees is the original home of HP’s computer systems division, land that was recently sold to Apple. The property is currently covered by a series of big asphalt parking lots. Apple’s plan would increase the landscape coverage from 20 to 80 percent with the help of a senior arborist from Stanford who will help restore some of the indigenous plant life to the property, including the apricot orchards. Apple plans to make the campus’ energy center the facility’s primary power generator using natural gas and other “clean energy” sources — the city would simply provide backup power when needed. Of course, what would a Jobs presentation be without a few choice superlatives? In this case, Jobs claims that the new curved-glass facility will be the “best office building in the world,” luring in students of architecture anxious for a peek. Apple plans to break ground in 2012 with a 2015 move-in date.

As an aside, it’s fascinating (and yes, troubling) to observe Gilbert Wong, Mayor of Cupertino, guffaw at Steve’s “jokes” like a smitten schoolgirl, going so far as to fawn over his own iPad 2 in front of the assembly. For his part, Jobs seems to bite his tongue during several exchanges particularly when one city council member tries to extort free WiFi from Apple in an apparent quid pro quo. Click through to see what we mean.

[Thanks, GB]

Continue reading Steve Jobs reveals Apple’s new spaceship campus, calls it the ‘best office building in the world’ (video)

Steve Jobs reveals Apple’s new spaceship campus, calls it the ‘best office building in the world’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 03:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Smart View shrinks Smart TV down for your Galaxy S II

Samsung Smart View

We’re not sure how many of you happen to own both a Galaxy S II and a Samsung Smart TV but, if you do, you’ll probably want to download Smart View from the Android market. Like now — don’t worry, we’ll wait. This handy app lets you stream content from your set to your smartphone over WiFi, and can even be used as a controller for games from the Samsung app store. Unfortunately, you’re limited to either mirroring the content shown on the TV or watching an optional second stream from a Sammy-branded Blu-ray player but, hey, at least you won’t have to miss a single second of Game of Thrones just because that box of Cheez-Its keeps whispering your name. Like any good TV-connected app, Smart View can also act as a remote with a program guide and the ability to change channels, and even more functionality is promised for the future. Eventually, it will make its way to Galaxy Player, Galaxy S, and Galaxy Tab owners but, while you wait, check out the gallery and PR below.

Continue reading Samsung Smart View shrinks Smart TV down for your Galaxy S II

Samsung Smart View shrinks Smart TV down for your Galaxy S II originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits NYC Best Buy June 8, nationwide on June 17

Wondering when you can get your own Galaxy Tab 10.1, one that exchanges the cute field of robots on the back for an upgrade to Android 3.1? It appears that day is next week, with the NYC Best Buy in Union Square becoming the first to offer this tablet on Wednesday, June 8th. Those outside of the boroughs will be able to purchase theirs on the 17th, when this hunk of Honeycomb hits other retailers. The price? 16GB for $499, 32GB for $599, all in WiFi-only, though Sprint is said to start selling a similarly non-3G version sometime this summer. The press release below also confirms that the UI has been tweaked, adding in TouchWiz UX customizations, so it won’t be an entirely pure experience, but just how unclean it will be remains to be seen.

Update: We’ve confirmed with Samsung that the TouchWiz customization will actually come as a later, OTA update to the device, which we presume means it’ll be optional — at least initially.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits NYC Best Buy June 8, nationwide on June 17

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits NYC Best Buy June 8, nationwide on June 17 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FaceNiff makes Facebook hacking a portable, one-tap affair (video)

FaceNiff

Remember Firesheep? Well, the cookie snatching Firefox extension now has a more portable cousin called FaceNiff. This Android app listens in on WiFi networks (even ones encrypted with WEP, WPA, or WPA2) and lets you hop on to the accounts of anyone sharing the wireless connection with you. Right now it works with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Nasza-Klasa (a Polish Facebook clone), but developer Bartosz Ponurkiewicz promises more are coming. You’ll need to be rooted to run FaceNiff — luckily, we had such a device laying around and gave the tap-to-hack app a try. Within 30 seconds it identified the Facebook account we had open on our laptop and had us posting updates from the phone. At least with Firesheep you had to sit down and open up a laptop, now you can hijack Twitter profiles as you stroll by Starbucks and it’ll just look like you’re sending a text message (but you wouldn’t do that… would you?). One more image and a video are after the break.

Continue reading FaceNiff makes Facebook hacking a portable, one-tap affair (video)

FaceNiff makes Facebook hacking a portable, one-tap affair (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 02:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Qualcomm unleashes tri-band WiFi and new mobile wireless chipset

Qualcomm and WiGigQualcomm might be all juiced up about getting its Snapdragon processor in 250 upcoming devices, but that doesn’t mean the company has forgotten its wireless roots. The San Diego-based chip maker announced that its partnership with Wilocity has finally bore fruit in the form of the AR9004TB chipset. This tri-band wireless setup adds 60GHz WiGig to the usual 2.4 and 5GHz dual-band 802.11n formula for “multi-gigabit in-room performance.” Though far from finalized, the 802.11ad standard being pushed by the WiGig alliance should be able to hit speeds of 5Gbps — more than enough to blast several HD video streams around your home. It also packs Bluetooth 4.0 for your less bandwidth intensive (and more battery sensitive) computing needs. Going smaller scale, Qualcomm also unveiled the WCN3660, a wireless chipset to complement its Snapdragon CPU in smartphones and tablets. Inside this sliver of silicon is a dual-band Wi-Fi radio, Bluetooth 4.0, and an FM radio. It also supports Wi-Fi Display (not to be confused with WiDi) for beaming video to a WiFi-enabled TV or monitor. Head on after the break for more PR than you can shake an antenna at.

Continue reading Qualcomm unleashes tri-band WiFi and new mobile wireless chipset

Qualcomm unleashes tri-band WiFi and new mobile wireless chipset originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another Samsung WiFi Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits the FCC, this time dubbed GT-P7310

This week brought news that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 would be released into the wild in just a few days. Today, a WiFi tablet from the Korean company made its way through the FCC bearing model number GT-P7310. Which, you see, is slightly different from the GT-P7510 moniker we saw in another FCC filing earlier this month, and this ended up being the limited edition 10.1 passed out at Google I/O. While some may think that this could well be the 8.9-inch version of Sammy’s Android tablet, the above drawing is actually identical to the previous one bar the extra text at the bottom, so our money’s on 10.1 again — maybe this variant is destined for other countries? We shall see.

Update: A bit more digging found a pair of 10.1-inchers demonstrated in Monaco with models listed as the GT-P7300 (a WiFi plus 3G Galaxy Tab 10.1) and GT-P7310, which, you guessed it, is a WiFi-only version.

Another Samsung WiFi Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits the FCC, this time dubbed GT-P7310 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 05:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barnes & Noble selling Nooks for $99 on eBay

What do you do just before you decide to upgrade your old device with some new hotness? You sell the old stuff on eBay, right? Well, B&N doesn’t seem to have any better ideas than you as it’s started offering its classic Nook e-reader for $99 on the online auction site, undercutting its own price by $50. This is the WiFi-only dual-screen unit, as you might surmise, not the Color tablet that’s been treading dangerously close to being a fully fledged Android slate. If you’re an E Ink loyalist on a budget, this might just be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for, though don’t blame us if Barnes & Noble comes up with a fancier, more lustworthy model in the time it takes for that free delivery to reach your door.

[Thanks, Sheldon]

Barnes & Noble selling Nooks for $99 on eBay originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 02:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Invisible iPhone prototype puts the ‘hand’ back in ‘handset’ (video)

Not too long ago, the invisible iPhone was nothing more than satirical fodder for the Onion. Now, Patrick Baudisch and his team of researchers at the Hasso-Plattner Institute have moved closer to making it a reality, with a new interface that can essentially transfer an iPhone touchscreen to the palm of your hand. The device involves an Xbox-like depth camera, mounted on a tripod, that can register the movements of a person’s finger across his or her palm. Special software then determines the actions these gestures would execute on a user’s iPhone, before transmitting the commands to a physical phone, via WiFi radio. Unlike MIT’s motion-based “sixth sense” interface, Baudisch’s imaginary phone doesn’t require users to learn a new dictionary of gestures, but relies solely on the muscle memory that so many smartphone users have developed. During their research, Baudisch and his colleagues found that iPhone owners could accurately determine the position of two-thirds of their apps on their palms, without even looking at their device. At the moment, the prototype still involves plenty of bulky equipment, but Baudisch hopes to eventually incorporate a smaller camera that users could wear more comfortably — allowing them to answer their imaginary phones while doing the dishes and to spend hours chatting with their imaginary friends. Head past the break to see the prototype in action.

Continue reading Invisible iPhone prototype puts the ‘hand’ back in ‘handset’ (video)

Invisible iPhone prototype puts the ‘hand’ back in ‘handset’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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