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Indeed. These stories are probably apocryphal.

do you think onboard maps would have helped this dolt?
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jTvYZZKnORmo0blYq7iGHgKsmQ
show me the special map that tells you a collision with a large body of water is imminent.

and what about this guy (with pics)...
http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/02/gps-leads-driver-into-tight-spot-stays-wedged-for-three-days/

In the first six weeks, 1.5 million shipped to retailers. That was in December. Then MS announces last week that 2 million have been shipped since it launched. That means in the busiest consumer month of the year (December), MS was only able to move 500,000 phones. Even LG has noted that WP7 sales were less than expected. I'd hardly call that a smashing success.

I recently looked into my Tmobile account to find that i have my upgrade available and to my surprise they offer a low-end android based phone. Granted, it's no Droid or Galaxy S model, but the barrier for entry has been broken. MetroPCS, a popular prepaid carrier in the area, rolled out a few Android-powered smartphones for the $100-200 price point. You can consider that to be a "free, with contract" phone on any other carrier.

Tmobile Comet(manufactured by Hauwei) -- http://mobile.engadget.com/2010/11/04/t-mobile-comet-review/
Huawei Acend -- http://www.metropcs.com/shop/PhoneDetails.aspx?ProductId=HW-M860(Phones)

I think it's the same phone rebranded, but the Tmobile review doesnt show a model number

Up until very recently, Android was a cell phone OS. It isn't surprising that Google would require ... cellular connectivity to get their seal of approval.

Archos tablets are anything but official. The Motorola Xoom however is an "official" tablet, and a wifi only version has been confirmed.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/08/motorola-xoom-wifi-only-version-confirmed-by-motorola-latin-amer/

I bet it will have market too. You can't expect Google to be excited about every crappily adapted tablet. Be thankful that they allowed that crap to be made at all.

He's apparently hoarded 30 of the latest RED cameras down there on the bottom of the planet http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/28/peter-jackson-nabs-thirty-red-epic-cameras-to-film-the-hobbit-t/ So fear the worst...

Engadget HD had an article not all that long ago comparing Windows Media Center to the newest TiVo, and it is conveyed that Microsoft has actually had a very strong history on the software end of the DVR world.

No, the source code is available under the terms of the GPL. If they have distributed it with an Apache license that is compliant with the GPL and a clear copyright violation.

No, Google was accused of distributing GPL code. From engadget.com: "The single most relevant legal question is whether or not copying and distributing these files was authorized by Oracle, and the answer clearly appears to be "nope" -- even if Oracle licensed the code under the GPL."

I put the pertinent parts in bold.

Falcon

Yeah, that's the great thing about them, but the downside to this sort of sensor is that it doesn't scale well in size. That is, you can't use more than one kinect at a time, as the structured light fields from one will interfere with another. I suppose you can create some timing where one field will be off while another is on, but you can only have so many kinects in an area before this is impractical.

Well, two Kinects do interfere, but not much - http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/29/two-kinects-join-forces-to-create-better-3d-video-blow-our-mind/

Now, it's true that it doesn't scale as adding additional kinects will cause more interference, but two well-positioned ones can be made to not interfere too badly...

this seems like a perfectly valid counter to the zdnet piece:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/21/android-source-code-java-and-copyright-infringement-whats-go/

From a legal perspective, it seems very likely that these files create increased copyright liability for Google, because the state of our current copyright law doesn't make exceptions for how source code trees work, or whether or not a script pasted in a different license, or whether these files made it into handsets. The single most relevant legal question is whether or not copying and distributing these files was authorized by Oracle, and the answer clearly appears to be "nope" -- even if Oracle licensed the code under the GPL. Why? Because somewhere along the line, Google took Oracle's code, replaced the GPL language with the incompatible Apache Open Source License, and distributed the code under that license publicly. That's all it takes -- if Google violated the GPL by changing the license, it also infringed Oracle's underlying copyright. It doesn't matter if a Google employee, a script, a robot, or Eric Schmidt's cat made the change -- once you've created or distributed an unauthorized copy, you're liable for infringement.*

http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/26/loginoki-the-lcd-mouse-mod/

http://www.engadget.com/photos/http-www-engadget-com-2011-01-05-motorola-atrix-4g-hd-multimedia-dock-and-laptop-dock-hands-on/#3746331

HDMI, USB, and comes with a remote...

Seriously.

"If there is something good in the world then we copy with pride."

No, i mean what is the 'iPhone form factor'? As far as i can see the iPhone didn't bring anything new in terms of form factor.

Seriously.

"If there is something good in the world then we copy with pride."

Know your rights: H.264, patent licensing, and you

That is another really good FAQ on this issue. In short: understand the difference between "open" and "free" before going into a discussion on this topic.

Once its used up your allowance nothing gets past it at all.

You can see some pictures and video here:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/14/rock-band-3-pro-guitar-preview-the-guitarist-vs-the-guitar-her/

At the end of the clip, they play the Fender guitar through an amp. Sounds out of tune to me (being a real guitar, it needs tuning if you want to play it through an amp), but I could be mistaken.

Well, "11:39AM On Jeopardy's part, the questions were written just like usual, with the writers having no knowledge of Watson. They then pulled a pool of 30 games randomly to get a set for the practice matches, and merely pulled out the audio and video and picture clues." http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/13/ibm-demonstrates-watson-supercomputer-in-jeopardy-practice-match/

What substantial stake? Apple has a single patent in the pool. Folks like Samsung have a huge number of patents in the pool. Apple's stake is actually very small.

Apple won't. They own a substantial stake in the h264 patent pool - WebM is their direct competitor, so they arn't going to do anything to aid it.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/?s=t5

Claiming some huge 'win' for Apple if H.264 stays dominent is stretching the truth a bit. Some of the 26 companies in the patent pool own over a hundred patents.

All Android phones released in 2010 were capped at 1Ghz with chips from either Qualcomm or Samsung. The Samsung Infuse 4G is the first phone I'm aware of that at stock is greater than 1Ghz (it is 1.2Ghz).

Almost all the Motorola Android phones, and all the high-end ones currently shipping, use TI OMAP processors.

First, Droid (Milestone) in 2009 used a TI OMAP 3430

Later, Droid X in 2010 used a TI OMAP 3630 at 1Ghz

Finally, Droid 2 Global Launched on Nov 9 2001 with a 1.2 GHz TI OMAP processor

I'm switching. I currently own an iPhone 3GS which will be promptly handed over to my wife once the Motorola Atrix becomes available. I actually really like the iPhone, but I don't like Apple. My wife has a MacBook (which I really, really can't stand), so it will be a no-brainer for her to have an iPhone as well. I was actually really close to upgrading my phone to the iPhone 4 due to the screen alone, but now that other manufacturers are releasing comparable resolutions, I feel like I can finally make the switch. I won't consider any Samsung phone due to the fact that 50% of Samsung electronic devices that I've ever purchased have broken (for no apparent reason) well short of their expected lifespan (but just out of warranty).

TL;DR - I'm switching from iPhone to Android

ars and Engadget both say there is a wifi hotspot feature.

It's just not in the software. It's magic!

ars and Engadget both say there is a wifi hotspot feature.

Or even this one which we saw last week. http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/ipad-2-mockup-teases-128gb-storage-exhibits-speaker-grille-wev/

I can't see the video at work, but can someone tell me if this is the same thing as the mock-up Engadget spotted?

From Jobs' anti-Android rant: http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/18/apples-q4-earnings-are-out-records-set-for-revenue-earnings/

There will be at least four app stores with Android, which users much search among. This is going to be a mess for users and developers. Compare this with Apple's integrated app store."

That's probably going to be a big piece of evidence for app store being generic.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/11/atandt-iphone-4-vs-verizon-iphone-4-whats-changed/ this link shows a side by side comparison between the ATT and Verizon iPhone. The hotspot/tethering will require $50 and that gets you unlimited data for the phone and 2Gb for the tethered device.

They briefly touched on that...it's likely a minor redesign due to the differences between CDMA and GSM.

More here.

Uhh yeah.. keep hearing that.. Yes the iPhone will be better on Verizon, but that's because the hardware will be fixed.. Some die hard Apple users will switch from AT&T to Verizon.. but then market share is not increasing is it ?.. just moving.. I don't foresee a mass migration of Android users to iPhone.. there may be some, but I think a lot of Android users will be looking more towards other Android devices to upgrade to (sorry the opportunity was missed by a long shot).. There is just not the iPhone envy out there that people seem to think there is... but speaking of envy, there seems to be a bit building for this device ... http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/motorola-atrix-4g-hd-multimedia-dock-and-laptop-dock-hands-on/#disqus_thread ... but keep thinking that the iPhone on Verizon is the next big deal if you want to..

"Unexplained things happen every so often, which don't really phase me as a seasoned computer user, but would drive my mom bats."

And this is exactly why I ended up with an iPhone.

It started simply enough, I bought a Motorola Q. Worse... Phone... Ever. Crashed often and nothing worked on it because while it ran Windows Mobile the Q didn't have a touchscreen so I'd have to search for special Windows Mobile programs that didn't require touchscreen input and without a Windows Mobile app store that provided to be almost impossible.

This lead me to upgrade to a HTC Mogul, a touchscreen with sliding keyboard running Windows Mobile. That was better but finding good programs that didn't crash was difficult, there was no Windows Mobile store and it wasn't designed for fingers since it used a stylus.

Next came the BlackBerry Curve. Great phone, amazing email access (better than iPhone), but beyond email it didn't really do anything right, tiny buttons to dial with, phone was slow, offered few apps and the decent apps were pretty expensive ($5-$10+) and there were almost no free apps or demos.

Enter the iPhone. Required a carrier switch but that ended up being a good thing since AT&T turned out to be much better than my previous provider. iOS was amazing, no more crashing, phone functionality was much better than Windows Mobile or Blackberry, and navigation was much easier. Tons of great apps for cheap (99 cents) or free, and most of the paid for apps offer free demos. App store allows real user reviews.

Really it's the apps that make the difference with the iPhone. There's currently over 300,000 apps, 63 from EA and even classics like Final Fantasy made by Square Enix. Android just don't have the pull iOS does to bring the big names to the table. I don't care if the iPhone's CPU is 600mhz or 1000mhz, I bought a smartphone for apps, not to brag about my cpu speed.

I have a feeling as soon as the iPhone shows up on Verizon we're going to see a 10% jump or higher. I also think price has a lot to do with it: most the people I know buying Android did so because Android is free while iPhones are $200+, there has never been a free iPhone with contract. But the 3GS is now only $50 so we'll see if that helps, and I know some people are saying "that's the old one, I want the iPhone 4!" but I guess they forgot about the reception issues. I'd buy a 3GS or wait for iPhone 4GS.

"Unexplained things happen every so often, which don't really phase me as a seasoned computer user, but would drive my mom bats."

And this is exactly why I ended up with an iPhone.

It started simply enough, I bought a Motorola Q. Worse... Phone... Ever. Crashed often and nothing worked on it because while it ran Windows Mobile the Q didn't have a touchscreen so I'd have to search for special Windows Mobile programs that didn't require touchscreen input and without a Windows Mobile app store that provided to be almost impossible.

This lead me to upgrade to a HTC Mogul, a touchscreen with sliding keyboard running Windows Mobile. That was better but finding good programs that didn't crash was difficult, there was no Windows Mobile store and it wasn't designed for fingers since it used a stylus.

Next came the BlackBerry Curve. Great phone, amazing email access (better than iPhone), but beyond email it didn't really do anything right, tiny buttons to dial with, phone was slow, offered few apps and the decent apps were pretty expensive ($5-$10+) and there were almost no free apps or demos.

Enter the iPhone. Required a carrier switch but that ended up being a good thing since AT&T turned out to be much better than my previous provider. iOS was amazing, no more crashing, phone functionality was much better than Windows Mobile or Blackberry, and navigation was much easier. Tons of great apps for cheap (99 cents) or free, and most of the paid for apps offer free demos. App store allows real user reviews.

Really it's the apps that make the difference with the iPhone. There's currently over 300,000 apps, 63 from EA and even classics like Final Fantasy made by Square Enix. Android just don't have the pull iOS does to bring the big names to the table. I don't care if the iPhone's CPU is 600mhz or 1000mhz, I bought a smartphone for apps, not to brag about my cpu speed.

I have a feeling as soon as the iPhone shows up on Verizon we're going to see a 10% jump or higher. I also think price has a lot to do with it: most the people I know buying Android did so because Android is free while iPhones are $200+, there has never been a free iPhone with contract. But the 3GS is now only $50 so we'll see if that helps, and I know some people are saying "that's the old one, I want the iPhone 4!" but I guess they forgot about the reception issues. I'd buy a 3GS or wait for iPhone 4GS.

Check out Notion Ink adam tablet. Reviewed by engadget : http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/notion-ink-adam-hands-on-preview-video/. specs : http://www.notionink.com/techspecs.php

I like the Motorola Xoom myself, and so does Gizmodo. Engadget posted a great list of all they saw at CES, including OS, price, and availability. (If the info is available that is)

I like the Motorola Xoom myself, and so does Gizmodo. Engadget posted a great list of all they saw at CES, including OS, price, and availability. (If the info is available that is)

You really a tablet? Must be a tablet? You can afford it now, and then later? It must be with android?

My approach would be to get a netvertible (like Samsung sliding PC or Asus Eee Pad Slider, to put 2 examples on the spotlight right now), on which i could install some kind of Linux, like Ubuntu or Meego, or if no available, Android 3.x or even (bletch!) Windows. But for now for most of the needs of portable computing my N900 works pretty well.

You really a tablet? Must be a tablet? You can afford it now, and then later? It must be with android?

My approach would be to get a netvertible (like Samsung sliding PC or Asus Eee Pad Slider, to put 2 examples on the spotlight right now), on which i could install some kind of Linux, like Ubuntu or Meego, or if no available, Android 3.x or even (bletch!) Windows. But for now for most of the needs of portable computing my N900 works pretty well.

ARM-based devices are set to take more then 10% of all US Internet browsing in 2011 with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Not just that, but nVidia just announced their Project Denver, which is an ARM core integrated with their graphics and aimed at the desktop. And as mentioned in the same article (and expanded on), Windows 8 will have ARM support.

I have a strong personal bias against x86 and would be reasonably delighted to see ARM start to take over on the desktop in the next few years, but only time will tell if that will occur.

ARM-based devices are set to take more then 10% of all US Internet browsing in 2011 with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Not just that, but nVidia just announced their Project Denver, which is an ARM core integrated with their graphics and aimed at the desktop. And as mentioned in the same article (and expanded on), Windows 8 will have ARM support.

I have a strong personal bias against x86 and would be reasonably delighted to see ARM start to take over on the desktop in the next few years, but only time will tell if that will occur.

There's a lot of spin here. Apple pulled this at the request of a developer, over concerns of the GPL-licensed components contained in VLC. A lot of folks were surprised that VLC even made it the store, as App Store rules pretty much violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the GPL. Apple was more than happy to keep VLC in the store, but everyone is very happy to spin them as evil yet again. Not that they haven't done some tacky things with App Store takedowns, but really that seems to be more and more a thing of the past.

For more info on the reasons VLC was pulled, check out this Engadget article, just one of many articles out there that reports the truth of the issue.

As a side note, I love VLC; it does a lot on the Mac mini hooked to my HDTV. It's absolutely essential on Linux. But the iOS version was not that great. The one thing I use VLC for more than anything is its network streaming capabilities (remember, it's the Video LAN Client, first and foremost), and this feature didn't make it to the iOS version. So I never used it. Yeah, it's good to have to play videos that QuickTime can't handle, but I've never had occasion to view such videos on my iPhone or iPad. And if I have to use iTunes to load the videos onto my iPhone or iPad, that means the videos are on my computer, where I am more likely to watch them (with the OS X version of VLC, or QuickTime with Perian).

I was wondering if someone would point that out. It was pulled due to licensing issues at the request of one of the developers, not due to some Apple initiated vendetta.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/01/vlc-for-iphone-and-ipad-soon-to-disappear-thanks-to-gpl-complain/

Most iPhone users don't even know what VLC is or care for that matter. The build in media player works fine for pretty much any digital download supplied with DVD's and Blu-Ray, as well any number of h.264 compatible profiles.

Speaking of Razer. The keyboard on their just announced Switchblade is basically a touchscreen with a transparent keyboard overlay. Similar to the Optimus keyboard where every key is OLED screen except Razer just uses one touchscreen. I think this could be a very good keyboard if the released it as a peripheral.

someone already had this idea:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/motorola-atrix-4g-hd-multimedia-dock-and-laptop-dock-hands-on/

If you can wait a few months Perhaps the Motorola Atrix is just what you are looking for. It doesn't have a physical keyboard attached but comes with a dock that looks like a netbook with full keyboard and LCD. It has a dual core processor and a desktop like interface when docked.

I believe Steve Jobs referred to Macs using a car metaphor (must be a Slashdot regular). He said that Macs (or PCs more broadly) were like trucks. Most people won't need that amount of utility/capability (they drive cars), but a certain chunk of us will (we drive F-150s). Macs/PCs will still be around to serve that market, even if it shrinks in comparison with tablets (iCrap as you so eloquently put it).

If I had to guess that the ratio toward which Mac vs. iCrap would converge, I would guess that it would reflect the 90-9-1 rule. Probably 10% will want a full featured PC of varying power, while the other 90% will be happy with something that gives them access to the net/media and performs their daily tasks (email, basic text editing, MyTwitFace, music).

For that matter, coat hangers will do just fine. http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audiophiles-cant-tell-the-difference-between-monster-cable-and/

woooooooooooooooooooooosh!!!!

For that matter, coat hangers will do just fine. http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audiophiles-cant-tell-the-difference-between-monster-cable-and/

I think that I'm going to switch to either a Nexus 2 phone or a Nokia N900, then buy a prepaid contract with AT&T or Tmobile.

In case you haven't heard, Dell recently dropped the price of their unlocked 5-inch Streak to $400 and updated its OS to Android 2.2 Froyo (updated review with photos and video here).

I personally like the larger screen for "tablet" stuff, even though I might look like a dork holding a "large" phone against my ear for phone calls.

I think that I'm going to switch to either a Nexus 2 phone or a Nokia N900, then buy a prepaid contract with AT&T or Tmobile.

In case you haven't heard, Dell recently dropped the price of their unlocked 5-inch Streak to $400 and updated its OS to Android 2.2 Froyo (updated review with photos and video here).

I personally like the larger screen for "tablet" stuff, even though I might look like a dork holding a "large" phone against my ear for phone calls.

Quadrant is a pretty flawed test.

That said, based on some other benchmarks and their respective specs, tegra2 has roughly 2.5x more CPU power compared to the hummingbird SOC. (1ghz A9 runs 25% faster than 1ghz A8, and tegra 2 is a dual core A9) Anadtech's Linpack scores seem to show that too. (Ignore the bloated snapdragon class scores, it has floating point performance optimisations) Article here

GPU performance is where it gets interesting. It seems like the PowerVR 540 GPU on the hummingbird SoC is better than the GPU used in the Tegra 2 SoC. Odd considering nVidia make the tegra2. Instances where Tegra 2 outperforms the hummingbird in GPU benchmarks are as far as i can tell down to the extra CPU power (roughly 250% faster)

Samsung's upcoming Orion chip also looks promising, and is a closer match to the Tegra 2.

It must not have been too difficult because there are some on the market. The Motorola Defy is one such smartphone. It appears from the reviews that the cool thing about it is that along with being highly water resistant, the Motorola Defy actually excels at actually being a decent smartphone. I don't own one, but it doesn't took too bad from the reviews.

Also, in case you forgot, smartphones typically have "a couple of microphones and speakers" built into them, as well as a camera and a headphone jack. You made it sound as if having "a couple of microphones and speakers" was unique to DSLRs. I don't think a phone work work too well without at least one microphone and at least one speaker.