Can’t say we’ve ever heard of Soundfreaq, but it’s safe to say said company has our attention now. The newly introduced SFQ-01 Bluetooth audio system is easily one of the most stunning we’ve seen , and since it accepts BT commands, it’ll play nice with just about any mobile phone and / or PMP in the modern era. As for aural qualifications, you’re looking at Kevlar-reinforced balanced drivers (2.75-inch), an acoustically tuned dual-port chamber and a UQ3 spatial enhancement processor, all of which presumably combine to deliver pure nirvana straight to your ear canal. Doubly so if listening to Cobain. You’ll also find an inbuilt FM radio tuner as well as a 3.5 millimeter auxiliary input, but you won’t spot the unit itself anywhere other than Target; it’ll ship there later this month for $199. Soundfreaq’s SFQ-01 Bluetooth audio system exemplifies gorgeous originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Keen readers of the Financial Times will have been greeted this morning by a nice little bit of insider information regarding HTC’s future software plans. We already knew the phone maker was keen to play a more active role in the softer parts of the smartphone experience it offers, but two new sources have come forward with word that HTC is actively hiring new staff in preparation for setting up its very own app store. The HTCSense.com cloud service that recently launched with the Desire HD and Desire Z Android models in Europe looks like the first step toward that goal, with its HTC Hub area already acting as an app discovery assistant — it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to include an extra section in it for HTC’s own application offerings. That’s not to say that this would be an Android exclusive thing, as HTC already boasts a selection of ten apps on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform and it would seem quite logical that it’d want an organized repository where it could sort through all its wares. HTC said to be working on its own app store, would make a lot of Sense originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 07:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Qualcomm says all options are on the table for FLO TV, including sale of spectrum
November 8, 2010 No Comment
FLO TV may be dead as we know it , but it’s still a significant asset for Qualcomm, and it looks like the company is keeping all options on the table for what to do with it. As CEO Paul Jacobs himself laid out during a recent analysts’ conference call, that includes a possible restructuring of FLO TV’s wholesale business model, a joint venture with a third party, or a complete shutdown of the service and sale of its sure-to-be-valuable 700MHz spectrum. On that latter possibility, there’s apparently been some “strong interest” from various parties looking to use he FLO TV network or spectrum for one purpose or another, although specifics beyond that are obviously still being kept under wraps. Qualcomm says all options are on the table for FLO TV, including sale of spectrum originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 07:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Sprint’s ZTE Peel embracing your iPod touch sans contract on November 14th?
November 8, 2010 No Comment
Still clinging on to your iPod touch in the hope that Sprint will one day launch an iPhone ? Well, it’s rather early to make a call, but news has it that we may get the next best thing very soon. According to our buddies over at BGR , the ZTE Peel that we saw a little while back is apparently hitting Sprint on November 14th, which is merely a week from today. Sadly, no one knows yet how much this 3G router case will cost, but both BGR and our own sources have confirmed that it’ll be availble on a contract-free 1GB data plan for $29.99 per month. Meanwhile, you may consider the Apple Peel 520 that can actually turn your jailbroken iPod touch into a phone, or grab yourself an Overdrive and duct tape for some hot WiMAX Skype action. [Thanks, Delon H.] Sprint’s ZTE Peel embracing your iPod touch sans contract on November 14th? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 06:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Why just dock your iPhone when you can create an iOS-based Eee Keyboard instead? What you’re looking at is a Made for iPhone keyboard called WOWKeys from Omnio. The $100 USB keyboard / iPhone (3GS or 4) dock is Mac or PC compatible (note the cohabitation of the Windows flag and Command key in the image after the break) featuring 15 hotkeys designed for iPhone use. Of course, you can also load up any number of apps to turn the iPhone into a media center remote control, multi-touch trackpad, and soon an AirPlay media streamer when iOS 4.2 is released. That makes the whole ensemble a pretty versatile ARM-based computer and smartphone. Someone remind us of the advantages of that $600ish Atom-based ASUS all-in-one PC running XP again? Continue reading Omnio WOWKeys and iPhone team up to build a better Eee Keyboard Omnio WOWKeys and iPhone team up to build a better Eee Keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 06:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Sharp Touch Wood concept turns real with limited run of 15,000 handsets on NTT DoCoMo
November 8, 2010 No Comment
You might have expected Sharp’s pebble-shaped Touch Wood concept to remain just that, a concept, but the eclectic Japanese market has found a spot in its heart to fit 15,000 units of the curvy, wood-trimmed cellphone. Built from locally sourced cypress timber, each handset will have its own unique pattern and color, while the innards will be filled with a five megapixel imager, a 3.4-inch (854 x 480) display, a MicroSDHC expansion slot, and your usual GSM and 3G wireless radios. You can get yours through NTT DoCoMo some time around February or March. Sharp Touch Wood concept turns real with limited run of 15,000 handsets on NTT DoCoMo originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 05:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You’re probably familiar with supersonic planes like the SR-71 Blackbird pictured above, which managed to fly at over three times the speed of sound, but imagine this: NASA set aside $15 million to develop a hypersonic plane that could exit our atmosphere at speeds between Mach 5 and Mach 20. The US space agency’s not expecting to build it quite that cheaply, of course, and it’s not holding out hope for a contractor to build the entire plane just yet — the organization intends to fund some sixteen smaller science and engineering projects (ranging from “how to build a Mach 8+ engine” to “predicting hypersonic fluid dynamics”) and letting would-be government contractors pick and choose. Know how to quantify baseline turbulent aeroheating uncertainty in a hypersonic environment? You’ve got until November 23rd to get your proposal in. [Thanks, Gadi] NASA budgets $15 million for hypersonic flight originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 04:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …LG L-03C has 3x optical zoom, 12 megapixel CCD sensor, Xenon flash — and it can make phone calls!
November 8, 2010 No Comment
Dear Nokia and Samsung , please come to reception to collect your old and busted 12 megapixel cameraphones. The new king of the phonecamera heap, in appearance at least, has arrived in the shape of LG’s L-03C. It comes with a retractable 3x optical zoom lens from Pentax, a 12 megapixel CCD sensor, a Xenon flash, and a 720p movie recording mode. The L-03C is also intentionally styled to remind users of the more timeless compact camera designs of the past (and present ) and it’s only by entering the NTT DoCoMo OS and hitting up the dialer that you discover that it’s also a cellular phone to boot. In spite of its 3-inch display and 800 x 480 resolution, this is still strictly just a featurephone, but it’s sure put in a lot of work to make sure one of those features stands out. Look out for it in Japan from this January. LG L-03C has 3x optical zoom, 12 megapixel CCD sensor, Xenon flash — and it can make phone calls! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 03:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Toshiba rolls out Blade X-gale SSD modules, makes MacBook Air storage look a little less proprietary
November 8, 2010 No Comment
One of the most impressive aspects of Apple’s recent MacBook Air redesign was undeniably the shift to ultrathin flash storage modules that could cram your gigabytes of data into picoliters of space. Needless to say, that’s the sort of storage we could all do with in our lives and today Toshiba’s doing us a solid by introducing its Blade X-gale SSD line to the wider world. It’s basically the same stuff as in the Airs , sans Apple’s bombastic marketing, and while the new SSD modules are not yet readily available to buy by consumers (who wouldn’t have anywhere to put them in their laptops anyhow), system integrators are all free to start building around them as of today. The 64GB and 128GB modules are only 2.2mm tall, while the double-stacked 256GB option is 3.7mm in height, and all three can reach speeds of 220MBps while reading or 180MBps when writing. Full PR after the break. Continue reading Toshiba rolls out Blade X-gale SSD modules, makes MacBook Air storage look a little less proprietary Toshiba rolls out Blade X-gale SSD modules, makes MacBook Air storage look a little less proprietary originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 03:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Muggs Bass lives on Michigan’s remote Beaver Island. She has incurable cancer. But thanks to technology on this increasingly wired island she’s able to connect with a cancer support group on the mainland via video conference. (Nov. 8)
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