Microsoft names three new division presidents following recent departures
October 4, 2010 No Comment
As you may have noticed, Microsoft has seen a few pretty significant executive shakeups as of late, with Robbie Bach and J Allard announcing their departures back in May, and Steven Elop leaving just last month to take the top job at Nokia. Now Microsoft has officially filled in some of those gaps, naming Kurt DelBene as president of its Microsoft Office Division, and Don Mattrick and Andy Lees as presidents of its Mobile Communications Business and Interactive Entertainment Business, respectively — Windows Phone and Xbox, in other words. All three divisions are actually new (at least in name), but DelBene is effectively succeeding Elop, who led Microsoft’s Business Division, while Mattrick and Lees are more or less splitting up Robbie Bach’s former duties as head of the now dissolved Entertainment and Devices division. Head on past the break for the complete press release. Continue reading Microsoft names three new division presidents following recent departures Microsoft names three new division presidents following recent departures originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Confirmed: Windows Phone 7 launches October 11th in New York City, and T-Mobile’s on board
October 4, 2010 No Comment
If there was any scrap of doubt in your mind, we’ll obliterate it for you right now — October 11th is the day Windows Phone 7 will be unveiled in the US , not just at a fancy London event… and wonder of wonders, T-Mobile’s the star of the show. Looks like AT&T won’t be launching Metro UI handsets all alone, eh? The event agenda clearly states there will be “an exclusive showing of T-Mobile powered Windows Phone 7 devices” at 3:30PM EST, and you can bet your britches we’ll be there live to cover the whole thing. [Thanks, James T.] Confirmed: Windows Phone 7 launches October 11th in New York City, and T-Mobile’s on board originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Inhabitat’s Week in Green: speed demon saws, emergency bras, and the pedal-powered monorail
October 4, 2010 No Comment
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green. This week China blazed a trail for green transportation as their newest train smashed the world record for high-speed rail travel . We also showcased a cutting edge vehicle powered by six circular saws and saw Google invest 1 million dollars in Shweeb’s bicycle powered monorail – we can’t wait to give it a spin! We also saw big things brewing for alternative energy as wave power lit up the US energy grid for the first time and Stanford scientists unveiled a new type of nanotech solar cells that can produce ten times more electricity than standard PV’s yet are thinner than a wavelength of light. Adobe also kept step with the latest in energy tech by upgrading its campus with a dozen Bloom Box fuel cells , and Volvo unveiled plans to create a new type of car body that doubles as a battery ! In other news, this week we spotted a great crop of green gadgets including an “emergency bra” that doubles as a gas mask, a flexible new type of electronic skin , and a stunning collection of recycled speaker art, fit to mount on your wall . We also rounded up our five favorite eco gadgets for guys and we ooh’d and aww’d at these incredibly detailed scooters made out of paper ! Inhabitat’s Week in Green: speed demon saws, emergency bras, and the pedal-powered monorail originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Erudite tipster Abe found this little gem — if you search for “HSPA” at T-Mobile’s online store, up pops the image above, and as you can no doubt see with your sparkling eyes, that’s the myTouch HD we’re looking at. Or perhaps just the “myTouch,” as that’s the moniker on this particular page, or even the “myTouch 2,” as that’s the name affixed to the tiny image. No matter what it’s called, though, it looks like that front-facing camera is confirmed, and given our query we wouldn’t be terribly surprised if it had HSPA+ connectivity. The big question is how disappointed you’ll be if it’s not “priced as low as free” when the handset comes out. myTouch HD confirmed by T-Mobile website, could be free on contract? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 20:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Hacker claims third-party iPhone apps can freely transmit UDID, pose serious threat to privacy
October 3, 2010 No Comment
When Apple addressed a congressional inquiry on privacy in July, the company claimed that it couldn’t actually track a particular iPhone in real time , as its transactions were anonymous and thoroughly randomized. Bucknell University network admin Eric Smith, however, theorizes that third-party application developers and advertisers may not have the same qualms, and could be linking your device to your name (and even your location) whenever they transmit data. Smith, a two-time DefCon wardriving champ, studied 57 top applications in the iTunes App Store to see what they sent out, and discovered that some fired off the iPhone’s UDID and personal details in plaintext (where they can ostensibly be intercepted), including those for Amazon, Chase Bank, Target and Sam’s Club, though a few were secured with SSL. Though UDIDs are routinely used by apps to store personal data and combat piracy, what Smith fears is that a database could be set up linking these UDIDs to GPS coordinates or GeoIP, giving nefarious individuals or organizations knowledge of where you are. It’s a scary idea, but before you direct hate Apple’s way, it’s important to note that Cupertino’s not necessarily the one to blame. iOS is arguably the best at requiring users to opt-in to apps that perform GPS tracking; transmitting the UDID and account information together publicly is strictly against the rules; and we’d like to think that if users provide their personal information to an application developer in the first place, they’d understand what they’re doing. Of course, not all users monitor those things closely, and plaintext transmission of personal details is obviously a big no-no. Smith’s piece opens and closes on the idea that Apple’s UDID is like the unique identifier of Intel’s Pentium III processor, which generated privacy concerns around the turn of the century, and we wonder if ths story might play out the same way — following government inquiries, Intel offered a software utility that let individuals manually disable their chip’s unique ID, and removed it from future CPUs. Hacker claims third-party iPhone apps can freely transmit UDID, pose serious threat to privacy originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 19:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Did you have a Verizon phone sans data plan, but get billed for data anyhow? Verizon Wireless is dropping $90 million to make things right next month. The New York Times reports that the company will refund 15 million cellular customers who were wrongly charged for internet use, in the form of $2 to $6 credits on their next bill — unless the fiasco already caused you to leave, in which case you’ll get a similar check in the mail. The FCC reportedly pressured Verizon into this settlement following hundreds of complaints, so it looks like the squeaky wheel may have won this round. If you can call Verizon treating you to the equivalent of a latte a “win,” of course. Verizon agrees to refund customers $90 million for wrongful data charges originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Toshiba shelves OLED production plans, focuses on LCDs and licking its wounds
October 3, 2010 No Comment
Man, it’s got to be tough for the proud guys and gals at Toshiba these days. First the company gets whooped in the optical media format wars , and now it’s having to ingloriously bow out of the OLED race as well. Citing a recent uptick in LCD demand alongside the impact of the recent global economic crisis, Toshiba says its mass production plans for OLED displays have now been “frozen” and will be reviewed from scratch. That sounds like a company cutting its losses to us, which should make our fellow OLED enthusiasts all sorts of unhappy. There had better be some damn fine (and thin ) LCDs in Toshiba’s pipeline if it hopes to keep us sweet. Toshiba shelves OLED production plans, focuses on LCDs and licking its wounds originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 17:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Last time we heard from ExoPC on the availability front it had opened pre-orders to its forum members and set a ship date of October 15 . It breaks our heart to relay this, but as we predicted could be the case, the company is now reporting some delays. According to founder Jean-Baptiste Martinoli, many of the PVT samples had serious touchscreen issues, and as a result it’ll only be shipping one hundred 32GB units come that October date. The plan is to then ship 400 of the 32GB and 64GB units by the first week in November, and then completely catch up by mid-November. It’s a bold promise, but he’s assured us that there’s now a new manufacturer that’s able to provide the same configuration options in a more timely and issue-free fashion. If you happen to have ordered one you’ve probably already reached for the tissues, but at least you’ll be getting a free stylus and three-legged stand to ease the pain when your 11.6-inch, Atom-powered tablet shows up. However, despite the delays, ExoPC still seems to be trucking along quite nicely on the partnership end — a company in Portugal will be bringing to market an ExoPC powered Mobi-1 and others are in the works. We’ll be keeping you updated on anything else we hear, whenever we find the time — we can’t promise we won’t be spending our waking hours checking the mailbox, hoping for our review unit to arrive. ExoPC delayed a few weeks, apologizes with free stylus and stand originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Last time we heard from ExoPC on the availability front it had opened pre-orders to its forum members and set a ship date of October 15 . It breaks our heart to relay this, but as we predicted could be the case, the company is now reporting some delays. According to founder Jean-Baptiste Martinoli, many of the PVT samples had serious touchscreen issues, and as a result it’ll only be shipping one hundred 32GB units come that October date. The plan is to then ship 400 of the 32GB and 64GB units by the first week in November, and then completely catch up by mid-November. It’s a bold promise, but he’s assured us that there’s now a new manufacturer that’s able to provide the same configuration options in a more timely and issue-free fashion. If you happen to have ordered one you’ve probably already reached for the tissues, but at least you’ll be getting a free stylus and three-legged stand to ease the pain when your 11.6-inch, Atom-powered tablet shows up. However, despite the delays, ExoPC still seems to be trucking along quite nicely on the partnership end — a company in Portugal will be bringing to market an ExoPC powered Mobi-1 and others are in the works. We’ll be keeping you updated on anything else we hear, whenever we find the time — we can’t promise we won’t be spending our waking hours checking the mailbox, hoping for our review unit to arrive. ExoPC delayed a few weeks, apologizes with free stylus and stand originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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HTC may have stemmed the flood of HD7 activity , but details about the 4.3-inch Windows Phone 7 device keep leaking out. Today, an O2 Germany tipster blew off most of the remaining doors. We’ve got what appears to be a full spec sheet confirming a 1GHz processor, 8GB of storage and 5 megapixel camera but also detailing internal memory, a full compliment of sensors, quad-band radio frequencies, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and more. There’s also few pictures sizing up the HD7 alongside a Galaxy S , a training slide for the hopefully-more-than-a-marketing-buzzword “Dolby Mobile Sound,” and for what we believe is the very first time, a cameo appearance on video. Our tipster says it’ll launch in Germany in just two weeks at €559 (about $770) or €79 ($109) on a two-year contract. Tempting, no? Video after the break. Gallery: HTC HD7 / Schubert leaked pictures Continue reading HTC HD7 leaks out once more with Dolby Sound, stars in a brief video HTC HD7 leaks out once more with Dolby Sound, stars in a brief video originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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