London Science Museum undusts Oramics machine, revisits OG electronic music innovation
September 26, 2011 No Comment
Practicing its fist pump and channeling its inner Devo, the London Science Museum will be paying homage to electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram by resurrecting her old synthesizer last used in the ’70s — a device that relies on 35mm magnetic tape to pump out jams. The classic clunker was found in a French barn last month and will be brought out into the open for the first time in forty years at the museum in old Blighty. “Oramics” operators “draw” music on ten strips of clear film to create a mask. The machine then reads the tape as differences in light and turns it into voltage control, which is used to switch oscillators and control the amplitude of the sound. The effect? A creepy vortex of haunting sounds — so creepy it was used to make the theme song for Doctor Who . Fans of glow sticks and synth sounds can check out the exhibit until December, but if a trip to Londontown’s not in your future, there’s a video you should ogle after the break. Continue reading London Science Museum undusts Oramics machine, revisits OG electronic music innovation London Science Museum undusts Oramics machine, revisits OG electronic music innovation originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …T-Mobile Sonic 4G Mobile HotSpot bringing OLED display, HSPA+ connectivity this October
September 26, 2011 No Comment
It feels like just yesterday that we saw T-Mobile’s original 4G Mobile HotSpot at CTIA ( our review is here ), and already the purgatory-presiding US carrier is ushering out a successor. Alongside the Galaxy S II and Amaze 4G, the Sonic 4G Mobile HotSpot is being revealed at Mobilize, and it’s hailed as the carrier’s fastest ever in the category. Predictably, it’ll enable five WiFi devices to hop onto T-Mob’s HSPA+ 42 network, and there’s a microSD card slot for handling file transfers. The wow factor comes courtesy of the embedded OLED indicator display, which shows signal strength, number of devices connected, number of unread text messages, connectivity to the internet, battery level and network connection type. Lips are zipped on pricing, but it’ll be available at your nearest Magenta retailer next month. T-Mobile Sonic 4G Mobile HotSpot bringing OLED display, HSPA+ connectivity this October originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …T-Mobile: 90 percent of our smartphone owners use Android, ‘ball is in Apple’s court for iPhone 5′
September 26, 2011 No Comment
Here at Mobilize, T-Mobile’s CTO Cole Brodman revealed that over 75 percent of his company’s smartphones sold in 2011 were smartphones, with 90 percent of those powered by Google’s green little robots (read: Android). In a sense, that’s not too shocking given the carrier’s current portfolio, but it’s still a truly dominating figure. We’re going out on a limb and guessing that the other 10 percent are enterprise BlackBerry users, mixed in with a few enigmatic renegades for good measure. When asked about other platforms, like RIM, the CTO mentioned he was hopeful for a comeback from the latest crop of Canuck-sourced BlackBerry devices. He also noted that video was responsible for over half the traffic on T-Mob’s 4G network. Finally, when asked about the iPhone 5, Broadman responded coyly : “the ball is in Apple’s court. [We'd] love to have the iPhone… whenever Apple lets us know.” In other words, don’t bank on a T-Mob iPhone early next month . Gallery: T-Mobile keynote at Mobilize 2011 T-Mobile: 90 percent of our smartphone owners use Android, ‘ball is in Apple’s court for iPhone 5′ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Survey finds BlackBerry developers still profitable, Android Market as the store to watch
September 26, 2011 No Comment
Although the BlackBerry app store may be missing a favorite app or ten, according to a report from Evans Data Corp., developers are still making money by creating apps for the OS. Although the survey feels a bit narrow in scope (just 400 working developers were polled), 13 percent of ‘Berry devs said they make $100,000 or more per app — which according to the data collectors — is “considerably more than Android or iOS developers.” So why isn’t everyone dropping what they’re doing to develop for RIM’s OS? The problems seemed to outweigh the allure of cold, hard cash. 37 percent said app visibility was the biggest issue with the store , while others griped about the approval process and heavy restrictions. Developers were equally unenthusiastic about BlackBerry’s future, as only 4.8 percent predicted it would have the top market share two years from now — 30.2 percent went with Android and 28.4 percent voted Apple’s App Store. Check out the full report at the source. Continue reading Survey finds BlackBerry developers still profitable, Android Market as the store to watch Filed under: Cellphones Survey finds BlackBerry developers still profitable, Android Market as the store to watch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Fujitsu-Toshiba unveils waterproof Arrows Z ISW11F handset with 13 megapixel CMOS sensor
September 26, 2011 No Comment
Toshiba may be bowing out of its mobile joint venture with Fujitsu, but not without bestowing this Gingerbread-munching flamingo upon the Japanese market. The Wimax-enabled Arrows Z ISW11F, unveiled today by Japan’s KDDI au, is juiced by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, sports a 4.3-inch 1280 x 720 LCD and, most notably, rocks a 13 megapixel CMOS sensor. It also features a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera and supports 1080p video, along with your standard suite of 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities. Oh, and to top it all off, it’s waterproof, too. No word yet on pricing, but KDDI plans to bring this bubblegum to the Japanese market sometime in November. Doggie paddle past the break for more information in the translated presser. Continue reading Fujitsu-Toshiba unveils waterproof Arrows Z ISW11F handset with 13 megapixel CMOS sensor Fujitsu-Toshiba unveils waterproof Arrows Z ISW11F handset with 13 megapixel CMOS sensor originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Another day, another Android tablet on the FCC’s site. This is the ZTE Smart Tab 7 — or the back of it, at least. We don’t know a lot about the tablet, beyond what’s available in the above drawing, including the Bluetooth, WiFi and 3G logos. It’s also rocking the Google tramp stamp on its lower back and what appears to be a rear-facing camera at the top. Judging from the chosen name, it seems likely that the device will offer up a 7-inch display, and given the recent announcement of the Vodafone Smart Tab 7 and Smart Tab 10 at IFA, we might be gawking at a rebranded version of that device for the States. Time shall tell, no? ZTE Smart Tab 7 reveals its Google back tattoo for the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Fusion Garage’s Grid 4 smartphone sails through the FCC, Grid OS details flow from user manual
September 26, 2011 No Comment
Go on, Fusion Garage — get down with your bad self. While we’d previously heard that the outfit’s $399 Grid 4 smartphone wouldn’t hit shelves until ” closer to Q4 ,” a surprise stop by the FCC this morning makes us cautiously optimistic that it’ll happen — at least in the US — sooner rather than later. For those who’ve forgotten, this guy’s packing a 4-inch 800 x 480 LCD, dual-core Qualcomm CPU, 16GB of storage and dual cameras to boot. Moreover, the included user manual sheds a ton of light on how Grid OS will act, and it’s the first real in-depth look at how it’ll differ from what’s already out there. We’re told that there’s a built-in web browser, Grid Launcher, support for Yahoo / Google data importing, a contacts app that’ll suck names in from just about anywhere, full integration with email / Facebook / Twitter and a “GridDesktop” application that’s used to load media from your PC or Mac onto the device. The guide also talks up the status bar, which is located at the top of the Grid 4 screen in order to show “indicators and widget controls for wireless networks, notifications, music playback and volume control.” The oddly-named TaoBar is described as a “unique feature that shows details on your current notifications, events and ongoing sensor information, while also offering suggestions that might be of interest.” Examples? Things like similar artists whilst listening to music, or pinging you with lunch recommendations when noon rolls around. Eager to see what else the feds put your future unlocked phone through? Give that source link a poke. Update : We’ve added a gallery of the FCC’s teardown images below. Gallery: Fusion Garage Grid 4 smartphone torn down at FCC Fusion Garage’s Grid 4 smartphone sails through the FCC, Grid OS details flow from user manual originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …ZTE Tania joins Windows Phone Mango brigade, says Ni Hao to Chinese market
September 26, 2011 No Comment
With Mango finally on its very official way — that’d be one day away for certain AT&T owners — it’s hardly surprising to see OEMs jumping on Redmond’s mobile bandwagon . ZTE’s joined the allied Windows Phone 7.5 ranks, outing its Tania phone at the China International Postal and Telecommunications Exhibition 2011. The modestly specced 4.3-inch device runs Microsoft’s latest OS atop a single-core 1GHz processor, with 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and a 5 megapixel rear camera on-board. It’s certainly no HTC Titan, but then again, not every smartphone needs to be a roided-up beast. Let’s just hope MS gets those regional marketplace availability issues squared away before this handset’s Chinese launch. After all, what fun is a live-tiled phone without the apps? ZTE Tania joins Windows Phone Mango brigade, says Ni Hao to Chinese market originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Google Drive could finally be ready for launch, may just be rebranded Docs
September 26, 2011 No Comment
GDrive, GDisk, Google Drive – whatever they’re calling it these days – is coming. At least according to our friends over at TechCrunch . The service has not just been a rumor, but an actual product since 2007. Sadly though, it never made it passed the dogfooding stage. The internal cloud storage tool for Googlers has been highly anticipated, but in 2010 it seemed like the final nail was put in its coffin when Docs was turned into a makeshift replacement with the ability to store any file. Well, Google Drive still exists, and speculation is that Google Docs will eventually be rebranded as Drive and relaunched with non-Docs file storage moved to the forefront. What’s more, it’s rumored that there will be a desktop syncing component, similar to Dropbox. Of course, the image above (from a Google-sponsored presentation) and recently discovered mentions of Drive.Google.com in Chromium don’t necessarily mean anything. But, if Google actually plans on taking this Chrome OS thing seriously, Drive seems like a natural companion service. For now though, we’re just going to have wait patiently to see what, if anything, comes of these latest rumblings. Google Drive could finally be ready for launch, may just be rebranded Docs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Samsung just took the wraps off its Omnia W, which looks like a non-US variant of the Focus Flash we’ve already heard about via AT&T. The handset will debut in Italy and start spreading across the Old World and Latin America from next month. It’ll sport Windows Phone 7.5 out of the box, a 3.7-inch 800×480 Super AMOLED display, 1.4GHz processor, VGA webcam on the front and rear 5MP shooter with 720p video recording. We expect it’ll go head-to-head with HTC’s 3.8-inch Radar when the War of the Mangoes finally kicks off. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Gallery: Samsung Omnia W Samsung’s Omnia W: Mango, 3.7-inch Super AMOLED, 1.4GHZ processor originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 07:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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