Bethesda tells Mojang to lay down its virtual guns, lawyer up for a trademark battle
September 27, 2011 No Comment
Time was, men could settle their disputes with glinting swords at the ready and their honor on the line. Nowadays, only the cosplaying and Comic Con attending folk alike are likely to burnish (elvish) blades, although they’re rather inapt to sully them with enemy blood. Well, unsurprisingly, Mojang head Markus “Notch” Persson’s modern day offer of a Quake 3 Arena simulated duel — his proposed method of extralegal recourse — was shot down by Bethesda, the company suing the Minecraft creator for use of the word “Scrolls” in its unreleased card game. As these are apparently sue-happy times, both parties are headed to court to battle it out, with Mojang facing the terrible repercussion of a forced product name change. From the looks of the defendant’s Twitter feed, however, it doesn’t appear the impending litigation’s breaking this Swede’s stride. Bethesda tells Mojang to lay down its virtual guns, lawyer up for a trademark battle originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The ancient, fragile pieces of parchment containing the oldest known Bible text are no longer restricted to the scrutiny of glove-wearing museum curators and magnifying-glass-wielding archaeologists. Google and the Israel Museum have used infrared technology and computer-enhanced photography to post five of the 950 manuscripts online, where the zoom button can give scholars and everyone
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It’s easy to shrug off technical achievements like this while real-world data speeds still lag so far behind. Nevertheless, the adrenalin junkies at Nokia Siemens Services insist their latest HSPA+ platform will be commercially available to carriers by the end of next year and, to prove it actually works, they’ve been demoing at PT Expo Comm in Beijing. The technology uses the latest 3GPP standardization to hog eight 42Mbps frequency channels at the same time, delivering a peak throughput of 336Mbps. Sure, it doesn’t come close to the 1Gbps speeds we’ve seen from Ericsson with LTE-Advanced , but if it gets here first we’ll have it. [Thanks, Alan] Continue reading Nokia Siemens makes multi-carrier HSPA+ hurtle at 336Mbps Filed under: Cellphones Nokia Siemens makes multi-carrier HSPA+ hurtle at 336Mbps originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Well, this is kinda interesting: a brand new Roku just hit the FCC, sporting model number 2400X. Beyond the fact that we just got a trio of new streaming media boxes from the company, the model number would almost seem to imply this is a last-gen device (the Roku 2 lineup all start with “30″). It’s clear the Roku LT (the name it will eventually go to market with) is going to be the new low-cost member of the family, but it’s not just rebranded old tech. Inside is the same Broadcom 2835 SOC that powers the Roku 2 XD, XS, and HD and, while it tops out at 720p just like the low-end HD, it actually sports more RAM than the current budget model. Presumably the loss of Bluetooth and the SD slot will offset any cost increase associated with moving up to 256MB of memory. When the Roku LT will actually ship and how much it’ll cost is anyone’s guess, but we’d put our money on soon and cheap. For a few more specs check out the chart after the break. Continue reading Budget-friendly Roku LT pops up at the FCC as the 2400X Budget-friendly Roku LT pops up at the FCC as the 2400X originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Let’s face it: Windows Phone, as we know it, has an enormous amount of potential, but it’s a first-generation operating system. For the first eleven months of its existence, it’s lacked many of the common features we’ve come to enjoy (and take for granted) on Android and iOS, but then again, even those platforms have taken their turn getting the major wrinkles ironed out. So it comes as no surprise that Microsoft’s mobile darling — the innovative rebirth of a weak and faltering Windows Mobile platform that was quickly falling into obscurity — would need to go through a similar process. It’s finally time for Steve Ballmer & Co. to unleash its major annual update (not counting NoDo here), codenamed Mango, to a litany of devices both old and new. Also known as Windows Phone 7.5, the latest build delivers an onslaught of features — no less than 500, according to Microsoft — many of them we’ve been missing dearly. Three months ago we were given the opportunity to preview the new revamp and ogle over its smattering of new capabilities (see the full list of features here ), and it’s only proper for us to offer a follow-up with the update’s final build. So how does the completely polished version hold up against the mobile juggernauts, not to mention its own first-gen offering? Follow us below to get the full scoop. Continue reading Windows Phone 7.5 Mango review Windows Phone 7.5 Mango review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If online video streams and locally stored media aren’t providing enough functionality for your Boxee Box , now you can watch regular TV on it too. The Digital Lifestyle mentions DVBLogic has released a new version of its DVBLink client for the device that lets you browse the program guide and watch live TV, provided you also have a home server set up with its software and a tuner. If you’re not familiar with the software, it lets you turn most any UPnP-compatible device into an extender capable of caching live streams, with clients available for iPad / iPhone already, plus Android and WP7 on the way. You’ll need the latest release candidate version of DVBLink Connect! server software to make it all go, then point your Boxee Box browser to the company’s repository to download the client software and let us know how it all works out. DVBLogic’s Boxee app brings live TV streaming to the Box originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …HTC Radar 4G headed to T-Mobile in time for the holidays, chock-full of Mango
September 27, 2011 No Comment
Looks like the HTC Radar 4G is the real deal, after all. T-Mobile outed the Windows Phone Mango -sporting handset today, talking up the device’s 3.8-inch screen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, five-megapixel camera (with a devoted camera button) and, of course, the titular 4G speed. No precise date on the thing yet, but the magenta carrier says it should be out in the States before the holidays. Continue reading HTC Radar 4G headed to T-Mobile in time for the holidays, chock-full of Mango HTC Radar 4G headed to T-Mobile in time for the holidays, chock-full of Mango originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Sprint’s LTE build out already underway, new 4G network to launch first half 2012?
September 27, 2011 No Comment
At this point, it’s pretty much an open secret that Sprint needs to hitch its ride to LTE to stay in the wireless game. CNET caught wind of the operator’s intended 4G plans ahead of its scheduled October strategy announcement — an event at which many in the industry expect Sprint to lay out its LTE cards. According to the report, the Hesse-led network’s been hard at work installing the necessary infrastructure to convert to its towers to FD-LTE, which is the same flavor of LTE as Verizon and future partner LightSquared. Using the iDEN spectrum it acquired from its Nextel purchase, Sprint reportedly plans to set up 4G shop on those radio waves, and make use of current WiMAX provider Clearwire’s proposed switch to TD-LTE by incorporating chipsets in future phones that accommodate both frequencies. The network changeover, rumored to cost Sprint somewhere in the range of $4 – $5 billion, should get carried out over the next five years, laying the groundwork for a true three-way 4G race . Sprint’s LTE build out already underway, new 4G network to launch first half 2012? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Any seasoned Android enthusiast would have no doubt come across Xiaomi Corporation’s MIUI at some point. For those who haven’t, here’s a quick intro: MIUI is a heavily customizable Android ROM based on the works of CyanogenMod (at least on the driver level, so we’ve been told), and currently the Chinese startup is officially offering its free software for 12 well-known Android handsets, including the HTC Desire, Samsung Captivate and Motorola Droid. Of course, we’ll also have the Xiaomi Phone on the list when it launches in China next month. Using Foxconn’s tooling and Inventec’s manufacturing resources, the aptly named Xiaomi Phone is the company’s first attempt at developing its own hardware, and boy, it’s done one helluva job here with the specs: a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8260 SoC (note that this isn’t just an overclocked 1.2GHz chip), 1GB RAM, 4GB ROM, eight megapixel camera and the usual wireless bundle including WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS (plus the rare GLONASS ). By now you must be thinking: surely there must be a tradeoff somewhere for that tempting price of
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Well, it’s about freaking time! Apple has finally begun sending out invites for its upcoming press conference, and the company’s being none too subtle with the hints, offering up some familiar app icons in the artwork and the tagline “Let’s talk iPhone.” As to whether it’ll be an iPhone 5 , 4S or some other new formation, we’ll all have to wait until the event to find out — and you’d better believe we’ll be there at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters to find out. Apple wants to ‘talk iPhone’ on October 4th originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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