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How can anyone post this when we have the exclusive deal confirmed? http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/10/confirmed-apple-and-atandt-signed-five-year-iphone-exclusivity-de/

And the other is that the last time I checked, Verizon doesn't have GSM. Why would Apple manufacture two different devices, and one that can't be used in all the other world markets? I'm not trying to start a GSM/CDMA holy war, just acknowledging that Apple is doing just fine with AT&T and GSM. Why would they go through all that trouble just to get Verizon customers?

Especially since Verizon seems to insist on branding all phones they offer--I don't see how Steve would accept that either.

what the hell are you talking about? You are off on all accounts.

Yes, intel has H264 hardware support. so does nvidia and AMD. Intel's support however, runs shitty and has horrible framerate. Integrated graphics from nvidia and amd run significantly better on all accounts.

Meanwhile, intel is not the only one to accounce support. They have the highest share, yes, but not by much anymore.

From that list I see:
Update: Industry support announced at I/O -- including Adobe, who'll be rolling VP8 support into Flash Player. Take note of the hardware partners, though: AMD, ARM, Broadcom, Freescale, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and TI, among others. Missing in action? Intel.

notably intel joined later saying they might support it.. That's hardly intel announcing support.

Here's a decent engadget review and associated video of this mouse.

If only there were something linked to this slashvertisement that could provide your answer....

Hmmm.... or even the summary, which implies it is a single drive.

You simply have to bridge that little gap in the antenna and it no longer functions. There are no iPhones4's which don't have this antenna setup.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/some-iphone-4-models-see-signals-drop-to-0-when-held-left-handed/ And yet, 2 out of 3 iPhones didn't have the problem.

I've been thinking of getting a sleeve of math and science tattoos for quite a while now. With the money saved up, the only question remaining is, what equations/ideas should I get?

Do you really want to do this? It's going to be extraordinarily lame, and everyone is going to be forever looking at you like "Dude, what?".

I'm not dissing the notion of getting ink, I've got my fair share. But, really? Geek tattoos?? Equations? Chicks won't dig it.

And, as a purely practical matter, an artist is going to have a hard time adapting what you're describing, and won't know if he's making a mistake. If an artist isn't adapting it, you're going to end up designing your own tattoo, which will be mostly math -- your artist maynot know WTF it is. It could end up looking like you wrote crib notes in your arm and had them immortalized.

Go for a theme, or maybe something which depicts what you're getting in a more abstract way. But, a bunch of equations as a sleeve? I'd discourage it. It might not turn out a nice/cool as you're hoping.

Think of the poor guy with the Zune tatoo.

Unless you have a very concrete idea with some sketches, this could go wrong. Rule of thumb is if you describe it to your artist, and his eyes glaze over like it's a dumb idea, you might not like the end result.

Full pocket-sized computer running linux (Maemo comes pre-installed, upgradeable to MeeGo... and Android 2,2 runs beauifullly on it, too). It does everything a laptop computer does - I think you can even get the Gimp running on it. Dell Small Business was selling it for $369 last week (no plans, no locks,etc.), so you can bring it to other countries, buy a local SIM card and you're good to go. More info at Engadget.

If you go Verizon & Android, note that the Skype application works only over 3G, not WiFi. It routes US domestic calls through the cellular voice network, even. It makes that hardware/software/carrier combination utterly useless (IMHO) for your needs.

This guy is an expert in antenna design from Aalborg University, and predicted this two weeks ago.

Very interesting - but if the design is fundamentally flawed, why couldn't Engadget replicate the problem on 2 from 3 iPhones? http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/some-iphone-4-models-see-signals-drop-to-0-when-held-left-handed/

Next thing you know, holding a cell phone with the thumb and forefinger by the top right corner will become the fashionable way for any of the cognoscenti to hold their phones.

So how come this problem was not identified during the system test of the device? Were all the testers instructed to hold it that way? Or maybe they identified it, but did not have the courage to report it?

Or maybe it doesn't happen on all iPhones. http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/some-iphone-4-models-see-signals-drop-to-0-when-held-left-handed/

One iPhone 4 demonstrated the issue everytime it was held in our left hand (...) Our second UK-purchased iPhone 4 was fine, showing none of these handling symptoms. (...) P.P.S. Since some of you are asking, our review unit showed none of these issues.

my old blackberry had a similar feature; which was often exploited by verizon wireless to push icons for new apps and services to my phone without my permission and there was nothing i could do about it...

Actually, Verizon CAN'T push out applications to your blackberry. No carrier can.

You might recall when Etisalat [engadget.com] (a carrier in the United Arab Emirates) wanted to install spyware on all blackberries in the country.

They had to trick users to install the software manually, because the carrier couldn't do it themselves.

What Verizon is doing is pushing out an icon, and then you can click on the icon to download & install the application. The icon isn't the application itself.

You can block these icons from your blackberry enterprise server, it's under "browser" and "allow application download services". Set this to false, and then the icons disappear.

one day you look at your phone: hey, there's a bing icon

couple of months later: look at that, a skype icon

Actually, Verizon CAN'T push out applications to your blackberry. No carrier can.

You might recall when Etisalat (a carrier in the United Arab Emirates) wanted to install spyware on all blackberries in the country.

They had to trick users to install the software manually, because the carrier couldn't do it themselves.

What Verizon is doing is pushing out an icon, and then you can click on the icon to download & install the application. The icon isn't the application itself.

You can even block these icons from your blackberry enterprise server, it's under "browser" and "allow application download services". Set this to false.

it's vaguely unsettling, to be reminded of how raped you are in terms of privacy

You aren't, because you have a blackberry. The blackberry platform has been tested & certified by many governments & non-governmental organizations.

Iphone, android, symbian et al haven't been certified by anyone.

According to this Slashdot article Android phones outsold the iPhone in that quarter.

That Slashdot article is wrong.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/idc-and-gartner-award-smartphone-growth-prizes-to-apple-and-goog/

I suppose "sell well" is vague enough you could justify it at any level. But we can do rather better than Amazon best seller lists. Worldwide smartphone market share 2010 Q1 for Android is 9.6%. Behind Symbian, RIM, and iOS.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/idc-and-gartner-award-smartphone-growth-prizes-to-apple-and-goog/

This is contrary to the Slashdot editors repeated claim that Android outsold iPhone in that quarter. They are wrong, as they don't mention the proviso that NPD's figure is only for the US.

(Oh, and no one was saying that AT&T matters outside the US.)

Since it's not a killswitch at all (even though such a thing does exist for the telcos), it doesn't raise any such thing: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/the-internet-kill-switch-and-other-lies-the-internet-told-you/

Nope

Possibly not for long though http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/iphone-4s-yellow-spot-issue-goes-away-with-a-bit-of-time/

The screens have yellow spots. Apparently these "retina" displays have cataracts.

Yesterday at the Droid X launch, the quote was of 160.000 Android phones being sold per day.

Nitpick: that Android devices per day, not phones. Which get compared to iPhones, not iOS devices.

Yesterday at the Droid X launch, the quote was of 160.000 Android phones being sold per day. I assume that this number is global. So at any 4 working days Android (sales world wide) matches the iphone 4 (US) launch. How well do you think the sales between these two fare on a normal week world wide? Truth is, we both don't know.

I think that at the high-end price point, the iphone seems to sell a lot more. But the trick is that, world wide, not that many people have the disposable money. Android OTOH is present both at the high-end and at the mid-range.

The original posting cites a May report from NPD that says that Android beat iPhone sales in Q1 of this year. However, that was now found to be erroneous: that survey was only for the consumer market. When business/enterprise sales were counted and reported in June by Nielsen, then iPhone beat Android by 3-to-1 and is closing in on RIM. Furthermore, most likely the only reason Android beat out iPhone in Q1 for consumers was because people were already anticipating the newest iPhone 4 released today. Apple sold 600K iPhone 4 during pre-orders, which as 10x the sales for the iPhone 3GS.

The original posting cites a May report from NPD that says that Android beat iPhone sales in Q1 of this year. However, that was now found to be erroneous: that survey was only for the consumer market. When business/enterprise sales were counted and reported in June by Nielsen, then iPhone beat Android by 3-to-1 and is closing in on RIM. Furthermore, most likely the only reason Android beat out iPhone in Q1 for consumers was because people were already anticipating the newest iPhone 4 released today. Apple sold 600K iPhone 4 during pre-orders, which as 10x the sales for the iPhone 3GS.

Because neither are available in my country? (and as it seems, the brick and mortar BB shops aren't as well, but the other movie rental shops don't have a better selection).

As far as I know the only options are brick and mortar (terrible selection), video-on-demand (expensive cable box, terrible selection) and buying the fucking movies, which is too expensive for someone who just wants to watch it once.

Google uses secretive drive by shooting tactics for stealing information from everyone and recording locations, even people who don't use their services, and I think that's a lot cooler. I mean, who shows up first in a gangsta rap video? Apple or Google? Hmm... OK, maybe Apple.

Transflective LCD's look pretty promising, they can turn off their backlights and be readable in bright light. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transflective_liquid_crystal_display Pretty cool video of one in action. http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/09/cpt-starts-a-little-transflective-lcd-fire-under-pixel-qi/

e-Ink is more expensive than you think (I don't have a definitive price, but according to this link the cost to Amazon for the e-Ink display on the Kindle is $60 by itself). Tack on the cost of the processor, memory, networking gear, battery, casing, quality control, etc., and the supposed cost to Amazon is $185. Given that prices have probably dropped a bit since that report, I suspect they are making a small profit on each device (though of course the cost of warranty replacements probably removes even that). The money is in e-Book sales; each sale may be for less than the hardcover, and the publishers may take a large cut, but what remains is pure profit; sale and distribution of pure data is effectively free.

Apparently, Microsoft is so worried about the lack of developer interest they're offerring substantial incentives to iPhone developers to port their apps. The original source is here. Apparently these incentives are taking the form of prepaid commissions.

Not that it matters. This one is over already, and the product isn't even shipped. Here's the Engadget piece:

The dev that allegedly contacted PocketGamer.biz about the offer turned it down, saying the financial compensation was "substantial" but ultimately not enough for the amount of work he'd have to put into it -- so this might just be a question of how badly Microsoft wants to come roaring out of the gate with a great catalog of apps.

I wonder how many billions they're willing to dump down this hole. I hope we get to find out.

"Scrambling"? They're not.

You're very out of touch, they are scrambling to match the iPhone/Android devices but are falling short. They just downgraded their sales forecasts for the quarter, and most likely for the year. http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/16/nokia-downgrades-sales-forecasts-thanks-to-competitive-environm/

Problem is, Nokia is a phone company, they know how to make phones really well. However, smartphones are more computers than phones, that's why companies like Apple and Google are leading the pack.

Give it a few more years and Nokia will be stuck selling dumbphones while Apple/Google take over the high end smartphone market.

"We're starting to see that philosophy play out today with the introduction of Windows Embedded Handheld, which is essentially a warmed-over version of WinMo 6.5.3 with some key UI and enterprise-focused enhancements. Microsoft is specifically calling out an "extended support life-cycle" for the platform, a sign that these phones aren't for the gotta-have-it crowd -- instead, the company intends to push these things through corporate fleets where Windows Mobile has traditionally dominated, places where Windows Phone's flashy stylings and locked-down underpinnings won't have the same draw."

Mostly seems this *is* Windows Mobile 6.5 in all but name.

See I can get behind devices like this: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/17/belkin-conserve-lineup-will-make-you-feel-even-worse-about-all-t/

I'm interested in this, I'd plug my amplifier into the "green" socket and it turns off the cable box, cd player, dvd player, record player, tv, and antenna amplifier. All for a little more than I'd pay for a decent brand name power strip anyway.

I'm not opposed to the Intel device, other people using them can help me decide what devices to micromanage but its just not something that I can get value out of. It may also happen that, like most electronics, devices like it get cheaper and more useful.

Still going to desolder that LED offa the toaster though.

I can still perceive depth to some degree, somewhat more indirectly, by means of other visual cues, e.g. focus changes or moving my head/body and observing the relative motion of objects, but "stereo faux 3D" ala avatar is completely useless for me.

As I said, you're not fooled by those displays, but displays that do head tracking (when they can develop one that doesn't require a wiimote hanging from your neck) will allow you to employ those visual clues in virtual 3D environments. It also requires some image post-processing to enable those cues from normal frames, but that can be done.

As for if it's worth the cost, like everything it'll come down as the early adopters get it and competition starts to pick up - just like any other technology.

Yeah- much as I think the Mac Mini is overpriced (and the lack of height not as big an improvement as the original's small footprint was)... that Zino thing is still cheap and plasticky looking.

I remember thinking that Hoojum's Nanode looked great when it was previewed months before the Mac Mini had even been announced... but it never came out and I'm currently running a PC in a pig-ugly cheap case. :'-(

Worry not. As long as it looks shiny and pretty, people will be willing to take out extra $100 to have their computers downgraded wrt time, and that is how Apple profits.

Well, this isn't confirmation, but I guess we'll soon see.

Nope, there is still a brick: http://www.engadget.com/photos/xbox-360-250gb-first-unboxing-0/#3077004

Can you post a link to where it says that in detail? Having data dependent upon the ISP for a feature on a console seems like a very convoluted chain, likely to enrage a lot of people (and ISP's).

Sorry it took a while, here is the link http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/14/espn3-comes-exclusively-to-xbox-360/

Have RIM, Nokia, Palm, or even MS ever done what Apple is doing?

The thing you have to realize, is that none of them is thriving in the way that iPhone and Android are (for what I mentioned in my OP, an "App Store" centric OS).

• RIM doesn't even have an app store, so they couldn't even do what Apple is doing...
• Nokia launched Ovi, but there are plenty of other methods to get your apps (and considering that Nokia has 2% of the US market share and doesn't even show up on the sales charts, I can't see how you can say that Nokia is "thriving" in the smartphone market)...
• Palm is the only real argument that you have here. But I would also hardly considering it thriving. It's at 4% US market share (vs 9% Android), and has low single digit sale rates (vs over 30% for Android).
• MS doesn't have a market place for 6.x. They are introducing one for 7 (in fact it will be the only place to buy apps). However, they did release statements that they would be controlling content in the market. They actually took a shot at Apple by saying that they would be "transparent" with their policies. But telling you what they are going to censor is still censorship...

Uh, who made this "5-year rule" up, exactly? You?
Microsoft sure didn't.

The original XBox had a life-span of about 4 years, not really enough time to recoup losses made. I'm not surprised that as the consoles get more expensive to make, that people want to push them out longer to make a reasonable profit on them.

Obviously one day human/computer interfaces are going to reach the point where they're more efficient than a keyboard, a decently-sized LCD display and mouse, but I can't see that happening for a long time yet.

It's coming. What they need to do is offer something like the Dell Streak in different sizes. Give me a 9" flat glass touch-panel with a nice high-res screen, the latest OS and no phone. Hang 'em up on walls, control your home wirelessly. Like fucking Star Trek.

Apple only recently provided 3rd party API access to hardware acceleration for video in Mac OS X 10.6.3. Six days later, Adobe released a beta preview of Flash Player 10.1 with hardware acceleration for video. So really, is it Adobe's fault? Or is it Apple's fault for locking down their OS and access go important APIs? http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/28/flash-player-gala-brings-hardware-decoding-support-to-mac-os-x/

Google acquired a lot of companies. Sometimes for the patents, sometimes for the tech and sometimes for the people. If you look at news articles from the time it wasn't clear at all if Google really wanted to go into the cell phone business or even if that was what Android was making. By your own timeline they sat on it for more than 2 years and by the time the Google G1 came out it was clearly influenced by the iPhone (this is a good thing.) iPhone release : june 2007, Android 1 release : november 2007 but the HTC Dream (first Android handset) wasn't available until october 2008.

So yes, I think Google got a swift kick up the backside when they saw the iPhone and decided to step up efforts on a tech that they had in their arsenal but hadn't fully developed or focused on. This is no criticism, we're all better for it and I say that as an iPhone user.

Stereoscopic imaging is not real 3D. It doesn't allow you to change the focal point. That's why stereoscopy is fatiguing. Also, you can't change your point of view. Yes, there are some kludgy workarounds like head-tracking or displays that work like lenticular images. Still, it's not the same as real 3D.

Fighting this word abuse is an uphill battle that probably can't be won. Hacking isn't cracking either. Gotta go, have to shoo some kids off my lawn.

http://wetab.mobi/en
http://www.archos.com/products/imt/archos_5it/
http://www.slashgear.com/dell-streak-5-inch-3g-android-mid-leaks-2161220/
http://mashable.com/2009/11/12/vega-android-tablet/
http://www.slashgear.com/icd-vega-and-ultra-android-tablets-hands-on-video-0869180/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4OCItW6ecc
http://www.viddler.com/simple_on_site/4d5337e2
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/quanta-tegra-2-prototype-hands-on/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/28/msis-10-inch-tablet-launching-this-year-at-500-patently-ignor/

Yeah, I to wouldn't want to run my whole desktop on a smartphone... and not on an iPad either. Probably better to design an UI which work well on the smaller screen ..

Depending on what it is.

http://wetab.mobi/en
http://www.archos.com/products/imt/archos_5it/
http://www.slashgear.com/dell-streak-5-inch-3g-android-mid-leaks-2161220/
http://mashable.com/2009/11/12/vega-android-tablet/
http://www.slashgear.com/icd-vega-and-ultra-android-tablets-hands-on-video-0869180/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4OCItW6ecc
http://www.viddler.com/simple_on_site/4d5337e2
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/quanta-tegra-2-prototype-hands-on/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/28/msis-10-inch-tablet-launching-this-year-at-500-patently-ignor/

Yeah, I to wouldn't want to run my whole desktop on a smartphone... and not on an iPad either. Probably better to design an UI which work well on the smaller screen ..

Depending on what it is.

I sometimes wonder why Apple hasn't moved away from it's exclusive relationship with AT&T.

Contractual obligations. Here's some info.

Basically, Apple signed a five-year deal in 2007 because they badly needed a carrier who was willing to sink many millions into the release.

Here's the thing that sucks for early adopters: If you bought in '07, you had to sign a two-year deal with AT&T. Par for the course for a phone the way we've got it structured in the US. But after your two years are up, you'd still be stuck with AT&T for another three years due to the 5-year deal they have with Apple. Either that, or jailbreak your phone, etc.

Practically, though, the extra three years are no big deal for the early adopters... surely most of them would move onto a new phone after two years, since they are early adopters.

I had the idea very shortly after the release of the original iphone... I was exaggerating with the duct tape, of course... I imaged something that looked like shop glasses, that somehow supported the displays behind a magnifier lens. I went so far as to make a few rough sketches, but left it moiling around in my head too long. Because Apple applied for a patent on the idea a few months ago.

The depth of a joke that EnergyStar is was put in stark relief when the GAO (through a fake company set up for this very purpose) managed to get an EnergyStar label for a gasoline-powered alarm clock.

Microsoft Win 7 Mobile is really looking iffy to appear at all.

Uh, what?

erm, if you're a serious wardriver you don't scan the channels, you have a wifi card for each channel, as these people showed:
janus project

I agree completely. I'm much more interested in the Entourage Edge, or at least the general idea of something like that. One regular LCD screen and one e-ink screen.

Of course i'll be waiting to see if there's a second generation version that fixes all the problems present in the first model. In particular, it needs to have Android 2.2, complete with access to the regular app store. Both screens need to have multitouch. You need to be able to put it in laptop configuration and use the bottom screen as a virtual keyboard. And it would be nice if when you have it folded all the way backwards you could use the screen on the back to control a pointer on the front screen. (I think the Motorola Backflip does something like that?) Oh yeah, and it needs expandable memory. Now if they could get all that together in one package for a reasonable price i'd be seriously interested.