We just received a tip and some screencaps, purportedly from the Apple-verse, with a word of warning about Monster’s headphone lineup . Apple is apparently blaming the “conductive flanges” used in many of Monster’s earbuds for erratic stopping and starting of playback on Apple devices. The point of this internal memo seems for support staff to recognize that what a consumer might assume is a defect in an Apple product might actually be a Monster problem. Interestingly, Apple’s list of problem headphones doesn’t mention any of the Beats-labeled products that Apple actually sells, and is limited to Monster headphones that include “ControlTalk” tech for controlling playback with a cable-mounted mic / volume / pause remote, modeled after Apple’s own iPhone-bundled earbuds. We’re not sure if this means Monster is mis-applying Apple standards or just has a manufacturing defect, and it’s also unclear if this problem also extends to the ControlTalk-equipped products in the joint-developed Beats lineup, but if you’ve been having some trouble with random stop-starts in your music on your $400 pair of Copper Turbines (and you aren’t listening to James Blake), perhaps this will clear up some confusion. A full list of the affected ‘buds is after the break. [Thanks, Anonymous] Continue reading Apple tracking an issue with defective Monster headphones? Apple tracking an issue with defective Monster headphones? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 11:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …T-Mobile offering unlimited tethering ‘this holiday season’ as $15 add-on
November 1, 2010 No Comment
This one comes as no surprise , but T-Mobile has announced today that the availability of tethering and WiFi hotspot capabilities for “select smartphones” in its lineup in time for the holidays — and as is often the case with Big Magenta, they’re offering the service at a much more aggressive price point than its larger competitors: $14.99 a month on top of your $30 unlimited data plan buys you unlimited tethering on T-Mobile’s glorious HSPA+ network (and in its non-HSPA+ areas as well, of course). We still don’t know whether this’ll start to roll out on November 3rd as was rumored, but that’d be a nice way to get into the holiday spirit, wouldn’t it? Don’t get us wrong — we’d prefer if they offered it for free as part of your $30 package, but in our post-apocalyptic world of streaming video and incessant browsing on the go, that just wasn’t gonna happen. Separately, T-Mobile is also announcing an alternative to that $30 smartphone data: a new 200MB plan clocking in at $10 on a new two-year deal or $15 a month without a contract extension. As you might imagine, tethering isn’t available with this one — we suspect it’s just an answer to the new fad adopted by AT&T and Verizon of offering a tiny-bucket data plan alongside your regular gluttonous-bucket package. Continue reading T-Mobile offering unlimited tethering ‘this holiday season’ as $15 add-on T-Mobile offering unlimited tethering ‘this holiday season’ as $15 add-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We didn’t exactly think that the oStylus capacitive pen was a runaway hit at $75 plus shipping, but at half that? Now we’re talking. Founder Andrew Goss just pinged us to say that the company’s first capacitive pen is now selling for half of the original MSRP, or $37.50 for those terrible with numbers. The only difference is the shedding of a limited run engraving; these pens are still handmade in-studio, so the build quality will match that of the one we reviewed . We still maintain that this unit is best in the hands of doodlers, and capacitive input devices as a whole still have aways to go, but this ain’t a bad price if you’re looking to experiment. oStylus capacitive pen goes majorly on sale, now just $37.50 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 10:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …ZTE’s AD8000 Android MID gets sized up at the FCC, with full specs in tow
November 1, 2010 No Comment
What first we thought was the Light is actually something wholly different — and rather less exciting. What we have here is called simply the AD8000 MID, a 7-inch device from ZTE with an 800 x 480 resistive touchscreen. Power comes courtesy a 600MHz processor, smarts courtesy Android 2.2, and there’s up to 16GB of storage internally and SDHC expansion for when that’s tapped out. 802.11b/g are your wireless options, while 10 hours is rated as maximum battery life while listening to music, though that drops to six if you’re cruising the web and/or watching videos. The FCC has kindly posted the thing’s full operating manual including all specs if you’d like to know more, but since Archos already has this segment rather well covered we’ll go back to waiting for the Light to light up our lives. ZTE’s AD8000 Android MID gets sized up at the FCC, with full specs in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Apple patent application offers promise of stronger, scratch-proof stainless steel
November 1, 2010 No Comment
As with all patent applications, it’s a bit early to get too excited about this one, but a recently published filing from Apple dubbed “Nitriding Stainless Steel for Consumer Electronic Products” is one of the more interesting we’ve seen from the company as of late, especially when you consider its recent acquisition of Liquidmetal’s intellectual property. Whereas Liquidmetal promises to let Apple create metal devices that are stronger and not limited to the usual structural or strength limitations found in conventional metals, this new patent application suggests that the company might also be working on a nitride coating for stainless steel that’s described as “both scratch and impact resistant.” What’s more, the application suggests that the coating would not affect the appearance of the underlying stainless steel, and not cause any RF interference either. As pointed out in the application itself, that means it could be used on laptops, portable media players and, yes, even cellphones — or it could simply be filed away with the countless other applications that haven’t seen the light of day. Here’s hoping for the former. Apple patent application offers promise of stronger, scratch-proof stainless steel originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Canalys: iPhone becomes most popular smartphone in the US, Android continues as most popular OS
November 1, 2010 No Comment
The Canalys numbers are out, and with Android coming off an 886 percent jump reported at the end of the second quarter we were expecting something big. So, here it is: Android is up 1,309 percent worldwide from this time last year, taking over 43.6 percent of the US smartphone market in the third quarter. In terms of mobile operating systems that makes it the dominant player in America, but with Apple capturing 26.2 percent it now jumps into the lead when it comes to hardware, beating out RIM’s 24.2 percent. That’s a swap from last quarter, where BlackBerries beat iPhones 32 to 21.7 percent, and worldwide things are looking the same: Apple at 17 percent compared to RIM’s 15. However around the globe it’s Nokia and the Symbian Foundation still dominating the stage as the leading smart phone OS vendor, owning 33 percent of the market compared to 38 last quarter, while Microsoft sits at a lowly 3 percent. With WP7 ready to rock the world, and Ballmer ready to release the advertising hounds , that’s a figure we’ll be keeping a close eye on for the next few quarters. Canalys: iPhone becomes most popular smartphone in the US, Android continues as most popular OS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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ViewSonic’s heavy foray into the tablet market has been no secret, but we’ve been a bit uncertain as to where on the map its products would land. Until now that is. According to ViewSonic’s American team, the company will be kicking off its US tablet invasion with the ViewPad 7 in November. Just as we’d heard , the 7-inch device packs an Snapdragon processor, Android 2.2, two cameras (a 3 megapixel cam on its rear and a VGA front facing one), 512MB of memory and 3G capabilities. Sure, it sounds a heck of a lot like the rest of the other Android tablets we’ve been seeing, but according to ViewSonic this one will most definitely have access to the Google Market and come preloaded with Google’s apps. Well, that’s a horse of a different color, though its $479 MSRP seems a bit high to us. What about the ViewSonic fans out there that have been eyeing the Android 1.6 / Win 7 dual-booting ViewPad 10 , you ask? Well, they’ll have to wait until the first quarter of 2011 to get their hands on that one, though at least that gives ‘em time to save up the $629 that it’s expected to retail for. We should note here, that the ViewPad 10 is identical in design to the Tega v2 we recently reviewed and similar in specs — it has a 1.66GHz Atom processor, 16GB SSD, 1GB of RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium. We’re still unsure where the 10-inch, Android 2.2 G-Tablet that was recently spotted in a Sears circular fits in, but we’re definitely getting the hint that Viewsonic’s in it to win it with tablets. Gallery: Viewsonic Viewpad 7 and 10 Continue reading ViewSonic ViewPad 7 and 10 officially comin’ to America ViewSonic ViewPad 7 and 10 officially comin’ to America originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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A Nokia tablet running MeeGo has been churning through the rumor mills since early summer . Speculation, however, began as soon as Nokia and Intel joined forces on the open source OS back in February. Eldar Murtazin , the ultimate Nokia insider, was first to give the Nokia tablet a name: Z500. Fast forward to yesterday, when reports first surfaced of people successfully replacing valid handset names in the store’s URL with “Z500.” Instead of being rejected as an unsupported device, the store seemingly accepted the Z500 device name as you can see in the screenshot above (the Ovi store now rejects the modified terminal ID string). Eldar had this to say on Twitter in response: Rumour mill. As far as I know Nokia Z500 (Nokia Meego tablet) is under question. Nokia arent happy with price/features. So now we have a name and with any luck, we’ll see a MeeGo-based Nokia tablet sometime in 2011 as followup to its Windows-based Booklet. If not, then we’ll always have the WeTab . Nokia Z500 MeeGo tablet leaked on Ovi Store? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 07:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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So, the dual-screen (9.7-inch E Ink and 10.1-inch LCD) Entourage Edge was too big for you, eh? That’s understandable. But what about the Pocket Edge , the self-described “world’s first mini dualbook” with a 6-inch E Ink panel and 7-inch resistive touchscreen LCD. It’s an eBook reader and 7-inch tablet all in one and it’s up for a $399.99 pre-order on Amazon right now. What could possibly go wrong ? Entourage Pocket Edge ‘dualbook’ up for $399.99 Amazon pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 06:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It’s out, right on schedule and it’s a biggie. The new Fall 2010 Xbox Live Dashboad update is being rolled out right now in preparation for Kinect to hit shelves on November 4th (or November 10th in Europe). The update includes Netflix search, Zune music, an ESPN entertainment hub, and much much more. Since you probably overslept anyway and don’t have time to do the update before heading into the coal mines, why not check out our in depth preview of the update from a few weeks ago. Go ahead, don’t cost nothin’. Otherwise, Major Nelson has the full breakdown in the link below. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Xbox 360 Dashboard update is out! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 05:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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