Missed out on the limited run of Windows 7 Family Packs back in July of last year ? You aren’t alone. In fact, it sold out in record time, and now that you’ve bitten the bullet and ponied up for a trio of retail copies, the folks in Redmond are having a laugh at your impatience. As a way to celebrate the nearing of the one year Windows 7 anniversary , Microsoft is now re-offering the Win7 Family Pack on its online store. As a refresher, $149.99 allows for Windows 7 Home Premium to be installed on up to three PCs, but Microsoft warns that the offer stands only while supplies last. Oh, and if you live outside of America? Look for your opportunity to arise on October 22nd. Update : Amazon has it for just $140 . Thanks, Stephen! Microsoft brings Windows 7 Family Pack back: $150 covers three PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Missed out on the limited run of Windows 7 Family Packs back in July of last year ? You aren’t alone. In fact, it sold out in record time, and now that you’ve bitten the bullet and ponied up for a trio of retail copies, the folks in Redmond are having a laugh at your impatience. As a way to celebrate the nearing of the one year Windows 7 anniversary , Microsoft is now re-offering the Win7 Family Pack on its online store. As a refresher, $149.99 allows for Windows 7 Home Premium to be installed on up to three PCs, but Microsoft warns that the offer stands only while supplies last. Oh, and if you live outside of America? Look for your opportunity to arise on October 22nd. Update : Amazon has it for just $140 . Thanks, Stephen! Microsoft brings Windows 7 Family Pack back: $150 covers three PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It may sound fairly bland on paper, but the potential implications here are notable. Tony Bates, who was seen as a major player within Cisco reporting directly to CEO John Chambers, has just left to take over the CEO role at Skype . Cisco’s own blog affirmed that Bates was leaving “to pursue another opportunity,” and The New York Times has it that Joshua Silverman is stepping aside to make room for Mr. Bates. He’ll arrive just in time to make a serious push for an IPO, grab more profit from its blossoming user base (which largely doesn’t pay anything to make Skype-to-Skype calls) and possibly “make a deeper push into carrier and enterprise markets,” as GigaOM puts it. Frankly, we’d be interested in seeing if any leftover synergies (yeah, we said it) could lead to a Skype-enabled Flip Video camcorder. Bates would obviously have great contacts with Cisco in order to make it happen, and honestly, it’d be a win-win for both parties. Crazier things have happened, right? Continue reading Skype lands Cisco’s Tony Bates as new CEO Skype lands Cisco’s Tony Bates as new CEO originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …It may sound fairly bland on paper, but the potential implications here are notable. Tony Bates, who was seen as a major player within Cisco reporting directly to CEO John Chambers, has just left to take over the CEO role at Skype . Cisco’s own blog affirmed that Bates was leaving “to pursue another opportunity,” and The New York Times has it that Joshua Silverman is stepping aside to make room for Mr. Bates. He’ll arrive just in time to make a serious push for an IPO, grab more profit from its blossoming user base (which largely doesn’t pay anything to make Skype-to-Skype calls) and possibly “make a deeper push into carrier and enterprise markets,” as GigaOM puts it. Frankly, we’d be interested in seeing if any leftover synergies (yeah, we said it) could lead to a Skype-enabled Flip Video camcorder. Bates would obviously have great contacts with Cisco in order to make it happen, and honestly, it’d be a win-win for both parties. Crazier things have happened, right? Continue reading Skype lands Cisco’s Tony Bates as new CEO Skype lands Cisco’s Tony Bates as new CEO originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Verizon gets official with Wireless Fivespot mobile hotspot, touts awful global roaming plans
October 4, 2010 No Comment
Really, Verizon ? Play up the global roaming features of your new-but-not-unexpected Wireless Fivespot , only to strangle it with GlobalAccess plans that top out with 200MB of international data? Thanks, but no thanks. For those still interested in the new WWAN modem for domestic use ( psst… the MiFi 2200 is a better deal ), this ZTE-built device is the first in VZW’s stable to offer global data access. That’s due to having both a SIM card slot (for GSM roaming) and a CDMA radio inside, and as with the aforesaid MiFi, it’ll handle up to five simultaneous WiFi connections. The unit itself will run $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year agreement, and Verizon’s providing both postpaid and prepaid domestic data plan options: $39.99 per month gets you 250MB with a $0.10 overage, while $59.99 nets you 5GB and a $0.05/MB overage (the prepaid details reside after the break). Where it really gets ludicrous is GlobalAccess — customers traveling abroad have the choice of two plans, a $129.99/month option with 5GB in the US / Canada and 100MB elsewhere, or a $219.99/month alternative that simply adds an extra 100MB on the international end. That’s $90 for an extra 100MB. We’ll spare you the chore of stressing over all of this and point you to Xcom Global — trust us, if you’re touching down in a foreign land for over an hour, you’ll need close to 100MB just to digest the inbox explosion from being in the air 14 hours. Continue reading Verizon gets official with Wireless Fivespot mobile hotspot, touts awful global roaming plans Verizon gets official with Wireless Fivespot mobile hotspot, touts awful global roaming plans originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Apple loses, challenges patent verdict surrounding Cover Flow and Time Machine
October 4, 2010 No Comment
Remember that one random company who sued Apple back in March of 2008 for ripping off its display interface patents? Turns out it was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, a hotbed for patent trolls who know that they stand a better-than-average chance of winning simply because of where their issues are being taken up. Sure enough, Cupertino’s stock of lawyers is today being forced to challenge a loss after a jury verdict led to Apple being ordered to pay “as much as $625.5 million to Mirror Worlds for infringing patents related to how documents are displayed digitally.” Ouch. Naturally, Apple has asked U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis for an emergency stay, noting that there are issues on two of the three; furthermore, Apple has claimed that Mirror Worlds would be “triple dipping” if it were to collect $208.5 million on each patent. In related news, the Judge is also considering a separate Apple request (one filed prior to the verdict) to “rule the company doesn’t infringe two of the patents” — if granted, that would “strike the amount of damages attributed to those two patents.” In other words, this whole ordeal is far from over. We can’t say we’re thrilled at the thought of following the play-by-play here, but this could definitely put a mild dent in Apple’s monstrous $45.8 billion pile of cash and securities. Or as some would say, “a drop in the bucket.” Apple loses, challenges patent verdict surrounding Cover Flow and Time Machine originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Ready for another Atom-powered, Windows 7 tablet ? Of course you are! Australia-based Tegatech has just announced the October 12 global launch of its 10.1-inch Tega v2. So, what is it exactly? With a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 CPU, 1GB of RAM and 16/32/64GB SSD options, it sounds like your run-of-the-mill Win 7 tablet, though it does have a capacitive touchscreen and accelerometer — facts that make it superior to the Nav 9 we just reviewed. It’ll also ship with Windows 7 Home Premium, but interestingly there are Android 1.6 drivers on the company’s site as well as a dual-boot manual. That, along with a dedicated Ctrl+Alt+Del button, certainly makes it a bit different than the others. No word on international pricing just yet, but those details ought to be flowing from the Land Down Under soon. Tegatech announces global launch of Tega v2, alerts us to its existence originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We only just got our hands on the Wave S8500 , but it looks like Samsung isn’t wasting any time in further expanding its Bada options — the company has just introduced the new and slightly improved Wave II. The biggest difference over the previous Wave, it seems, is a larger 3.7-inch WVGA SLCD screen, compared to a 3.3-inch AMOLED on its predecessor. Otherwise, you’ll get the same speedy 1GHz Hummingbird processor, the same LED flash-equipped 5-megapixel camera and, of course, the same Bada — although it does apparently add a new Swype-esque input method dubbed Trace. Look for this one to be available sometime in November (in Germany, at least) for a rather hefty €429, or about $590. [Thanks, Keith] Samsung announces Bada-powered Wave II, not quite a whole new Wave originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It’s hard not to love the crazy stuff happening at Microsoft Research , but it’s also hard to imagine when any of it is going to actually start changing the way we interact with our PCs. Surface was bested by SecondLight as the coolest tech we can’t buy, and now here comes another successor: LightSpace. This gets rid of the expensive table in favor of a (surely not cheap) series of projectors hanging from the ceiling paired to a 3D camera. The camera detects the relative position of things and instructs a projector to apply a Surface-like interface onto any flat surface. From there a user can literally grab any file they like and carry it over to another surface, where it will be displayed. It’s all demonstrated quite handily in the video below, and while the system does look a wee bit rough at the moment, the potential is surely there. Just like it was with SecondLight, and Surface, and Courier… Continue reading Microsoft LightSpace brings Surface (plus shadows) to any table (video) Microsoft LightSpace brings Surface (plus shadows) to any table (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …NC State patents multifunctional smart sensors, looks to ‘revolutionize energy and communications infrastructure’
October 4, 2010 No Comment
Bold words coming from a program that choked in epic fashion this past Saturday in front of 58,000+, don’t you think? Thankfully for those who are actually involved in the global energy and communications infrastructure (not to mention depressed alumni ), NC State ‘s athletics department is far removed from its research labs, and the university’s latest development was born and bred in the latter. A team of researchers have managed to patent a new technology that is expected to enable the development of “high-power, high-voltage and high-current devices that are critical for the development of energy distribution devices, such as smart grid technology and high-frequency military communications.” The secret? Integrating gallium nitride (GaN) sensors and devices directly into silicon-based computer chips, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by any team prior. According to Dr. Jay Narayan , this newfangled integration has “enabled the creation of multifunctional smart sensors, high-electron mobility transistors, high-power devices, and high-voltage switches for smart grids,” and it also makes a broader range of radio frequencies available — something that’ll obviously be beneficial in the advancement of communications. Best of all, a US-based corporation is already in the process of licensing the technology, so it’s likely that we’ll see this in use in the not-too-distant future. An ACC championship, however, remains far more elusive. NC State patents multifunctional smart sensors, looks to ‘revolutionize energy and communications infrastructure’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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