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Why on every mobile phone story do we have to have so many 'insightful' comments complaining that the phone covered in the story has too many features.

If you want a phone that makes calls, and does SMS, there are loads to choose from. Take the world's most popular phone, the Nokia 1100, with over 200 million sold worldwide. Excellent at making calls, sending text messages, brilliant battery life, and the only extra feature being a handy torch. And it'll cost you about £20 in the UK, without a contract, with £10 call time thrown in.

So leave those of us who use our phone for more than making calls to our gadget phones, you can buy the same basic and solid phones that you've always been able to buy.

Notably, for all that people complain about all those extras, basic models just never sell well when a manufacturer actually tries to listen to the complaints.

And I feel for the retailer, I really do. They get it from both ends, since at the same time their merchant processor is taking nasty percentages of every credit transaction that's not fraudulent. While ironically, if you asked the processor why they charge those fees, I'm sure "pays for our costs dealing with fraud" would get a bullet.

And yet, you can't forget that the retailers are part of the reason that credit card fraud is more common than other kinds of fraud. They can't complain about how much money they lose to fraudulent transactions if they make minimal efforts to prevent them in the first place. Signature-based retail purchases are completely untrustable, while mail-order/tele-order and online purchases are even worse. Even requiring the CVV is no better than signature. And yet retailers continue to allow them.

I guess the loss of business to the store next door outweighs the money lost to canceled fraudulent payments, but why aren't any retail alliances starting a campaign to educate consumers about the insecurity of signature-based transactions so they can pressure their banks and credit companies to stop using them? And then themselves pressuring the credit card companies to move to a more secure model? It seems like they're more interested in doing just the opposite lately.

Instead I see retailers where the cashier asks "debit or credit" without even knowing the difference; never, ever checks a signature, let alone declines a transaction based on one; and rarely asks for ID. (Asking for ID seemed to be a bit of a fad when I was living in California, but here in New York it's unheard-of.) I see gas pumps that allow completely unattended credit card payments and don't even offer a PIN-based option. Some ask for billing ZIP—gee, what a great security measure that is! It couldn't be the same as the place you stole the card from, could it?—and some don't. I see online retailers that allow purchases to be made with no CVV to any shipping address. These practices are begging to be exploited, so it's no big surprise that the credit companies dump their liabilities back on the retailer. And yet it's still not fair, because they're not giving the retailers any attractive alternatives to fix the problems.

Mark my words, as commerce in the developed world moves farther and farther away from cash, eventually the governments will have to step in and impose some security standards. Because right now, with the creditors able to dump on the retailers, and the retailers having to take it because consumers don't want to lose any convenience, it's not in the best interests of anyone who matters to make anything truly better. But of course it's really the consumers who get it in the end.

or more... did you see the coming out party at engadget today? EW!

For the majority of slashdotters that don't have a Vista DVD and a magnifying glass sitting on their desk, the engadget article has pictures.

Do some research. The iPhone will allow 3rd party software. The OS is NOT Symbian based..it is OS X through and through. http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/11/apple-announces -third-party-software-details-for-iphone/ http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/osx.html

ISS getting ready for a new computer system

Filed under: Desktops

The International Space Station crew is doing some spring cleaning this week to get ready for an upcoming computer upgrade. Related and unrelated novelties include 10 times faster networking and a brand new window and camera combo which was installed last week ..

http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/19/iss-getting-rea dy-for-a-new-computer-system/

http://www.spacescan.org/entry/international-space -station-may-soon-get-computer-upgradations/

I am wondering where the EA Sports line is though

Why are people so quick to blame MS when they have NO evidence to back up that claim. When you make a claim no matter who or what it is, back it up with some evidence. Blanket statements based on no evident or proven facts just don't cut it. Before it even got out the door this tuner had bugs and they stopped shipping this once: http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/05/ati-stops-shipp ing-cablecard-tuners-due-to-bugs-will-resume-soo/

Via Push-IMAP. Though only Yahoo! mail will be initially supported, apparently. I definitely could see this extended to Exchange, as some have speculated.

A lot of the "zomg it's so hard to support business email" is FUD generated by Research in Motion, due to the complexity of the Blackberry Enterprise Server. BES originally was needed because the original BlackBerries used the Mobitex network, and didn't have IP connectivity. So, BES or the Desktop Redirector had to chat to RIM's centralized servers (on the IP network), which would translate/push the email to Mobitex.

Nowadays, GPRS or EDGE devices can be "on" the Internet, so there's not really a need for an add-on server. You just need to register the client for Push-IMAP.

The major obstacle I could see is the need for VPN connectivity on the iPhone since many businesses only allow IMAP or POP3 access on a private network. This may change, depending on the growth. I think a lot of business executives that are into "fashion" (how many own BMW's?) will get an iPhone for vanity and demand their email on it eventually.

MicroSD will let you have 2GB

Soon eight. No kidding.

Wow. Ain't progress fabulous?

With a read speed of 16 Megabytes (MBs) per second and a write speed of 6MB/s, Samsung's 8GB microSD card well exceeds the Speed Class 4 SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) standard

Darn, that's for mid-2008 production according to engadget.

Verizon and Samsung jointly announced a 4GB MicroSDHC for May 1 2007 release, but I can't find it.

Anyway, performance on these systems will be more than sufficient for regular office work on Linux or as a thin client, and they'll support video up to 1080p (with add-on lvds daughter card of course). I believe the chipset supports SATA, though they don't show a connector on the device. Watts are ridiculously low (system: 14W Idle, 16W running Memtest!) It will be interesting to see what people do with them.

I'll have to buy a few to play with when they're available. I could have fun with this.

Gumstix is cute, but I'll take that x86 instruction set for ready applications and standard interfaces for readily available attachable goodies by preference.

I'm curious, how is leaving a meeting easier than texting during the meeting?

If people just wanted to make calls then they would buy phones that make a whole lot more sense for that.

The general trend lately with phones is that they are getting bigger, not smaller, which is precisely to accomodate texting.

I can't believe this wasn't mentioned in TFA. I really want one of those $600 ultra portable laptops which seem like a steal at $600, with a comfy keyboard. That looks to be 100 times more practical than that slide-down underneath keyboard I saw pics of. Gimme one of those.

How about, say 6 bucks a month to be able to listen to any song whenever you want (so long as you keep paying), and around $1.29 to own the track permanently?

The subscription model is already fairly successful, and most subscription services will sell you a given track -- those that you buy, you can continue to use even after you cancel the service. The model is fine. What needs to happen is that DRM needs to all but disappear.

Using the artists-get-paid-for-plays model is novel, but would require some sort of DRM to work; you'd need to limit the players that could use that music so that stats would be properly reported and aggregated. It could be less-restrictive (i.e. work on any machine participating in the service), but it would still have to exist.

I don't necessarily have a problem with DRM in cases where it's very clear that you don't own the content (such as the subscription tracks). However, it's essential that tracks offered for purchase be DRM-free (you either own it or you don't, there should be no gray area).

Broadcast flags...start to retard its functionality. http://wireless.engadget.com/2007/06/01/canadian-c able-providers-locking-out-vista-media-centers/ I will stick with the operating systems that lets me make the decisions

So as far as I understand, the only difference is :

- Sandisk SDplus cards (which iI currently use in most of my PDAs, DigiCam, etc...) are :
SD Card + USB + DRM restrictions (thanks SD !)
(and possibility to go above 2Go once Sandisk switches to SDHD sub-variant)

- Whereas miCards are :
MMC + USB (and thus NO DRM - thanks MMC) who happen to fit in the exact same slot (thank to SD / MMC electromechanical compatibility) and are compatible up to 2TB.

Also, I've read on wikipedia article on SD is that it not possible to come up with a open and free implementation of SD while it is possible to make such a MMC reader (and use SD cards in MMC legacy mode). So such a MMC/USB hybrid, in addition to being DRMless, could also be a good target for open-source project that can't afford to pay for all restrictions (licenses etc.) on SD.

We don't need another standard. A few days ago at Wal Mart I saw Wii-branded product that is really slick. It is an SD card, but the back of the card has been notched out so that the last few millimeters are the width of the little PCB that is in the connector part of USB. So the card fits in SD slots as normal, and the back side can be directly plugged into a USB slot.

Here it is.

Here is a similar product with a slide on sleeve. I assume that might be needed for physical compatibility with some SD slots?

Here is a SanDisk combo SD / USB memory card, but I don't like it as well because it has moving parts which can break.

These products are pure genius. Personally, I think the SD standard should be updated to increase supported capacity, so we can use a ubiquitous form factor long into the future. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have these worthless PCMCIA memory cards lying around, which I replaced with now worthless CF memory cards, which I've now replaced with SD. I don't want another change, and we don't need anything smaller than Micro-SD. So only bandwidth and capacity need to increase, which the SD standard can be modified to support (while maintaining backwards compatibility) as the technology improves.

Dan East

We don't need another standard. A few days ago at Wal Mart I saw Wii-branded product that is really slick. It is an SD card, but the back of the card has been notched out so that the last few millimeters are the width of the little PCB that is in the connector part of USB. So the card fits in SD slots as normal, and the back side can be directly plugged into a USB slot.

Here it is.

Here is a similar product with a slide on sleeve. I assume that might be needed for physical compatibility with some SD slots?

Here is a SanDisk combo SD / USB memory card, but I don't like it as well because it has moving parts which can break.

These products are pure genius. Personally, I think the SD standard should be updated to increase supported capacity, so we can use a ubiquitous form factor long into the future. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have these worthless PCMCIA memory cards lying around, which I replaced with now worthless CF memory cards, which I've now replaced with SD. I don't want another change, and we don't need anything smaller than Micro-SD. So only bandwidth and capacity need to increase, which the SD standard can be modified to support (while maintaining backwards compatibility) as the technology improves.

Dan East

...several Years ago...Blah

Tm

Actually, I dont know either, since MMC/SD cards with built-in USB connectors already exist. See Here. I know microcenter around here has been carrying them for quiet some time now. Basically, you fold the card in half and the tab that sticks out has the contacts for a USB plug. Its not a full USB plug form-factor, just a card large enough to hold itself in place against the USB jack's contacts. Maybe they are making the interface the same so that there is only one "plugin" side, and it can determine if its being used as mim or USB. The only other plus would be that it can hold up to 2T, and starts at 8G, where todays MMC/SD cards top out around 8G.

Tm

According to engadget, there's a version with a SD expansion slot in the works.

Wow... again. The original poster was saying Apple had gotten the software right, and you come out of left field with it being a market failure? ha... Yes, it was pricey as hell. It was an great product that wasn't easily affordable. http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/30/apple-newton-ta kes-down-the-samsung-q1-umpc/

I'm not sure how the Clix works, but my iRiver T30 had a firmware that only supported MTP, not UMS; I had to download another firmware that does UMS (which ment losing MTP support, but since I'm a linux user, and I only listen to stuff I rip myself and steer clear of DRM, that's hardly an issue for me). Then I used iRiver's firmware updater to install the new firmware; you need a Windows machine for this to work.

According to a post on this page, the older firmwares only did MTP; if you want UMS as well, you need a newer firmware.

Does the player mount as a thumbdrive when you plug it in? If not, your player only does MTP, not UMS.

As to what software to use to synch the player; heck, I just use a file browser, or "cp" on the commandline.

The PSP with its new firmware plus the PS3 with its firmware from last week does the same thing for music, pictures, and video. Wonder how MLB will treat it? http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/31/psp-3-50-firmwa re-available-remote-play-over-the-internet/

http://tinker.it/now/2007/02/28/multitouch-table-e xperiment/

        * 1 panel of plexiglass 8mm thickness
        * 2 strips of IR LEDs (18 LED per strip)
        * 2 sheets of tracing paper
        * 1 projector
        * 1 mirror
        * 1 analog camera sensitive to IR light
        * 1 IR filter for the camera
        * 1 computer

The traking was done using vvvv. http://vvvv.org/tiki-index.php

==============

Also See:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/01/build-your-own- multi-touch-table/
http://www.slashgear.com/make-your-own-multitouch- projected-table-284137.php

Question: Are people sharing music by beaming songs from Zune to Zune? Do you have any way to gauge that?

Bach: People are sharing. When your installed base is a million, the benefits of sharing, frankly, aren't as wide as we hope to see in the future. One of the challenges for us is continuing to build on the install base.

Sharing is a tip of the iceberg of what you can do in the social nature of music, and what you can do when you have a device that you can connect when you're at a Starbucks, when you're at work, when you're at home. That really, over time, will change things, for Zune and for consumers.

From the PDF ( http://www.engadget.com/videos/PDF/apple_macbook_l awsuit.pdf ) :

''The extent to which a particular make of computer is capable of "dithering" is a function of the sophistication of the programming of the software. For example, in the case of the MacBook and MacBook Pro, because of the uniqueness of these computers to be able to run both Apple's OS operating system, and the PC's Microsoft Windows operating system, it is possible to compare the quality of the display between the two operating systems. In the case of the display that the MacBook and the MacBook Pro produces using the Microsoft Windows operating system at all resolution levels is superior to the display that those same computers display using Apple's OS operating system.''

Some nasty grammar in there, but in summary: no such problem when running Windows on the same machine?

If that is true, then it is indeed an Apple software problem. Note that software shouldn't be in charge of this sort of thing in the first place. LCD displays themselves handle incoming 8bit values on a 6bit displays in one of three ways:
A. 'as is', 91 becomes 92.
B. 'dither', 3 out of 4 pixels are 92, the other one is 88, averaging to 91
C. 'frame rate control', 3 out of 4 refreshes it draws the pixel as 92, the other one is 88, averaging to 91.

B&C are both common, and both have pros/cons. But either way, the software shouldn't be doing anything there (arguably, a driver might - i.e. if the monitor specifically allows you to specify which method to use, what dithering pattern, etc. by means of driver control).

I'm not sure I 100% agree. Microsoft doesn't look good when things goto hell and don't work. When users get what they want and it works THEN they look good. Microsoft knows this. Like it or not they are usually "good enough" for people who aren't computer geniuses to be able to get things done. Even if they had no patents and no DRM alliance they still wouldn't just disappear - too many people use their software. Linux is going to have to get a whole lot easier to use on the desktop before you have a mass exodus from Microsoft big enough to hurt them.

That said... they want to be in your living room. They have already gotten huge on desktops but now folks are buying things for the living room, expensive things. Microsoft wants to be that thing and to control it. They know that if they suck people will stop buying them, they also know if they aren't first they will lose. They ARE the first with CableCard - okay second if you count the S3. In order to be that first, in order to beat out who knwos what box running embedded Linux somone in China is probably dreaming up they had to sign in blood. They TRIED with XP to get certified and were REJECTED, so they bent over and made changes to Vista specifically to support this DRM crap. Like it or not they are the first general purpose box to be able to use CableCard. Sadly Linux will probably never be there short of a huge effort to crack the damned stuff and eventhen it might not be doable since your cable company has to allow the card to work.

Sure, Microsoft could've said no but why would they? They aren't looking to support the consumer in this endeavor, they are looking to be FIRST to market. As hosed up as CableCard is they could be only to market too. Couple this with what they are doing with the 360 - making it an extender and recorder controller and an IPTV receiver and you can see they have a grand plan in mind. Whether the consumer swallows this hook or not is the question - so far there's no seriously viable competitor at hand. No prepacked Myth box that just plugs in and works sold at Walmart by a big name and there won't be either if the "providers" have anything to say about it. Microsoft isn't gasping for breath, not yet anyway.

Some bumps in the road so far though :-P
  contrasted with http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/21/installing-a-vi sta-cablecard-media-center-pc-part-2-perfecto/

'Does our collective ear deceive us? If pirates are to plunder, Microsoft now wants them to board the Windows ship first. The news came about at last week's Morgan Stanley Technology conference where MS business group prez Jeff Raikes stated, 'If they're going to pirate somebody, we want it to be us rather than somebody else. We understand that in the long run the fundamental asset is the installed base of people who are using our products.' '

Is he TRULY wants to help the kids, he needs to put grudges and his bruised personal ego aside. If it helped some kids get some laptops/medicine/water/food, I would take an offer of assistance from Adolph Hitler. Again, it comes down to who this is REALLY about--the kids or HIM.

Okay, I'm only going to explain this one more time, then I am going to write you off as too stupid to understand. At that point I will actually go and remove one of my relationships just so I can add you as a foe.

1. The OLPC project uses a processor from AMD. So it is unlikely that intel would work with the OLPC project under any circumstances.
2. Intel has characterized the OLPC as a "gadget", probably simply to discredit it because a major part is supplied by AMD. They have not evinced any interest in helping the project, only in harming it.
3. Intel actually went so far as to distribute documentation about the shortcomings of the OLPC in order to promote their ClassmatePC. Does this sound like an organization interested in working WITH the OLPC?

Is he TRULY wants to help the kids, he needs to put grudges and his bruised personal ego aside.

Negroponte would, I am sure, be interested in working with intel if they were interested in working with him, which they are not - they have demonstrated this with their repeated unfounded attacks on the OLPC project.

If it helped some kids get some laptops/medicine/water/food, I would take an offer of assistance from Adolph Hitler.

Then it would turn out that (were he not dead) he had done it solely to get into their good graces, so that his troops could come in disguised as aid workers, and commit genocide.

The situation here is similar in more ways than you probably appreciate. Intel is taking on the OLPC not so that it can help students with education - if they were interested in assisting with education, they wouldn't be attacking the OLPC, which addresses the needs of an entirely different group of users. The ClassmatePC is useful primarily in the first world, and it has a TPM chip in it which addresses the needs not of users, but of media corporations. Surely the system could have been cheaper without TPM?

But more importantly, information is the only thing that can save people scrabbling around in the dirt and cooking their food over a plastic fire because all the trees are gone. And the OLPC suits the needs of providing that information to people living in places where there are no electrical outlets than the ClassmatePC, which would be completely and totally useless in such a situation.

Again, it comes down to who this is REALLY about--the kids or HIM.

Yes, and this conversation comes down to who this is really about - Negroponte, or you. It's really not about him. It's about you thinking that you know better than he does whether he should or shouldn't work with a company that has been sabotaging the project which he is sweating over from day one.

If someone announces their intent to destroy me, I usually don't try to make friends with them; I'm too afraid that while I'm shaking their right hand, they'll stab me with the left. Tell you what, next time a mugger demands your wallet, why don't you suggest that the two of you go into business together? I'm sure you'll get along famously.

You mean like this?

I hope you realise that Engadget isn't some kid running a blog from his home. Engadget is owned by AOL and has a full staff of people, they attend all the major tech trade shows and do live coverage of some of the bigger events (including the Apple ones). They get sent demo units, get invited to pre-release press events, conduct interview with PR managers and executives (they even had an interview with Bill Gates) and have their own PR contacts at the major companies.

In short, these guys do this for a living and know that trust and credibility is their currency. They don't post random tip offs, they have their network of internal sources and try to confirm with PR teams whenever possible before posting -- exactly how journalists get their information. They did phone Apple PR yesterday and it's when they couldn't reach anyone did they decide to run the story.

Here, read their follow up of the incident. It doesn't excuse them for not making it clear that they were unable to confirm the news before running it and in that way, they were incompetent but asshattery? Stop being an asshole man.

No, but it probably exposes a little bit of the ridiculous claims that Sony is losing massive amounts of money per console.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/16/sony-losing-mad -loot-on-each-ps3/
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/88295/son y_losing_money_on_ps3_systems.html
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20061116/085020.s html

And it proves the point that as consoles age, they become much cheaper to produce.

how many people here have even bothered to replace their $30 deadbolts with $100+ models that can't be bumped?

I didn't miss that. Amazon has been working on their service for the last 8-12 months.They didn't start working on it in the last 5 days.

Jobs doesn't care about DRM as an issue. Jobs cares about keeping the majority of the digital music market in Apple's hands. If he doesn't start selling DRM-free songs before Amazon's imminent release, Apple loses.

If nobody wanted to draw on an LCD, why would Wacom sell Cintiqs? Here's a guy who went through the trouble of building his own "Cintiq" from an LCD and tablet.

Funny you should mention "kitchen sink". There's a bit of additional detail (and a photo of the glove!) on engadget. It mentions that he used off-the-shelf kitchen cleaning gloves as the base.

And come to think of it, the average kitchen gloves *do* host multiple lifeforms.

I 'need' a UMPC due to a large amount of time spent travelling via train to and from work, that I could be spending productively. I've currently got a HTC Universal PDA mobile phone - allowing me to edit Word docs, Excel, surf the net etc while on the go. However, my phone contract's up in August, and I'm looking for the next ideal purchase - and I think I've found it!

The HTC Shift will provide a mobile phone in a Vista UMPC form-factor. apparently "it is about the same size as two DVD cases", yet features include "full QWERTY keyboard, 7" touchscreen, 1Gb of RAM and a 30Gb hard drive" (Source

I can't wait to have a look at it.

Really? I could've sworn I read about a trial run on standard DVD's just a couple weeks back...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/29/is-this-a-photo -from-an-iphone/

Is this you? It is, isn't it?

In a shocking news story Apple CEO Steve Jobs told the media that the Zune will be a totaly bust.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/16/steve-jobs-worr ied-about-the-zune-in-a-word-no/

Not sure what the huge deal is. My Samsung YP-T8 MP3 player has this feature. Sort of useless, but kinda fun. More about this MP3 player from Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/10/samsung-yp-t8-p ics-and-specs/

can read both blue-laser formats, but only writes to Blu-ray or standard DVDs and CDs.

Why is that so hard to imagine?

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/lgs-hybrid-blu- ray-hd-dvd-standalone-drive-coming-soon/

I would, but I suspect your damn cctv network will would nag me the rest of the day. ("Excuse me good sir, but might I suggest that you wait until the crosswalk indicates that it is safe to cross? Sir. Sir! You're crossing the street against the light! Sir. For your own safety please obey all safety regulations in the future. Sir, I don't believe that is an appropriate gesture.")

no, thats charges for the purchase.
they actually bought ATI for around $5.4 billion
and when you look at it like that, its not much.
ATI was obviously struggling (hence the sell out) their losses are now part of AMD's P&L account, whats unexpected here is quite how much the two losses have added up.
Second, AMD/ATI will not go under, period, if things start looking bad (and this isn't) they'll be bought out, we'll see huge job cuts (which I think we'll see in both AMD and intel, there's a tough few years ahead for both companies).
'does anyone need the extra speed'
YES!!!
I do a LOT of AI research, its not uncomman for my (nix box) to be using 100% of 2 CPUs 95% of 2GB ram for a week or more on end processing some hard problem and trying to create a low order solution to it.
But I am a very small minority, and I dont have thousands to spend on hardware

Before the blogosphere goes wild: Don't be a part of the problem! Initial reports are contradictory. It actually looks like Wal-Mart was ordering $300 Blu-Ray players, NOT HD-DVD players.

EVERYONE should stop reporting or commenting on this story until Wal-Mart clears up this confusion.

Read the update at the end of the article:
http://primetime.engadget.com/2007/04/20/the-wal-m art-299-hd-dvd-player-on-the-way/
"Update: Pull back the reigns HD DVD fanboys, Akihabara now says that they've made a "huge mistake" with their translation: the original source called it " HD DVD and means Blu-RAY." In other words, Blu-ray HD DVD. Huh? Word to the wise: since both formats use blue lasers, it's best to wait for an English press release before either camp celebrates."

This is the flaw of the blogosphere...but it's something we all must endure.

The LAPD is already trying to use UAV's in Los Angeles. The only thing holding them up is a squabble with the FAA.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/22/l-a-drone-groun ded-disciplinary-action-possible/