You’ve already seen it on the Jolibook , but now anyone with a netbook or suitable computer can get their hands on the Jolicloud 1.1 operating system, which promises a number of improvements over version 1.0 . Chief among those is the brand new HTML5 desktop, along with a simplified login process using Facebook Connect, a generally spiffed up UI, and a slew of other tweaks that promise better performance and battery life compared to the previous version. Hit up the link below to try it out for yourself, or revisit our Jolibook review for an in-depth look at the upstart OS. Jolicloud 1.1 now available to download originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Plantronics Voyager PRO UC senses your Bluetooth wants and needs, softly whispers in your ear
December 8, 2010 No Comment
We know, that headline makes it seem like the Plantronics Voyager Pro UC is going to seduce you, and well, after spending sometime with the headset yesterday at D: Dive Into Mobile we’re thinking it may actually be pretty hard to resist. While it’s not as snazzy as the Jawbone Icon or the Jabra Stone , its ear piece and ear hook contain capacitive sensors that know when you’ve got the device on your ear or in your hand. So, not only can the headset automatically switch a call or song from your phone to the headset when you put it on, but even if it’s paired it won’t ring the headset unless it’s actually on your ear. That means if you’ve got it paired but have it in your pocket or across the room, you’ll be able to pick it up on your phone without a problem. On top of that, the Pro will come with a USB dongle and Voice Alerts software, which integrates with Microsoft Outlook. When configured, the software will read the subject line of an email sent by certain specified contacts into your ear. We told you it was seductive! Sadly, the Voyager Pro UC won’t actually be out until early next year and we don’t know anything on pricing yet, but in the meantime check out some more pics of the device below. Gallery: Plantronics Voyager Pro UC hands-on Plantronics Voyager PRO UC senses your Bluetooth wants and needs, softly whispers in your ear originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Prima Cinema plans to offer $500 first-run movie downloads, with a mere $20k setup fee
December 8, 2010 No Comment
To achieve balance in all things, a new startup called Prima Cinema apparently figures while the proletariat are rejoicing over Netflix all you can eat $7.99 streaming and Redbox $1 rentals, there’s room at the high end and will offer a $20,000 digital delivery system to bring home first-run movies as soon as they come to theaters in theaters for $500 a pop. Beyond simply achieving the goal of making proposed $20-30 movie VODs on cable seem downright reasonable, The Wall Street Journal reports the company figures it can work this system into as many as 250,000 homes in the next five years. The idea is to deliver these flicks beyond the lucky few who currently receive copies for private screening to people whose home theaters make our Engadget HD Flickr group look low-rent, although theater industry insiders have already pointed out the increased risk of piracy. We’re not sure exactly what hardware that initial $20k buys, but at those prices we’ll probably still be looking at TS and cam rips for most bootlegged flicks after this service launches next year. Prima Cinema plans to offer $500 first-run movie downloads, with a mere $20k setup fee originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully launches, returns from orbit (video)
December 8, 2010 No Comment
It may have hit a few snags earlier this week, but SpaceX’s slightly-delayed launch of its Dragon spacecraft looks to have gone off as well as anyone could have possibly hoped for. The craft blasted off from Cape Canaveral atop a Falcon 9 rocket earlier today, entered a “100 percent successful” low-earth orbit, and returned to Earth to make an on-target soft landing in the Pacific Ocean just a short while ago. Head on past the break for the launch video, and look for NASA to hold a complete post-flight press conference at 3:30pm EST at the link below (and on NASA TV). Continue reading SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully launches, returns from orbit (video) SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully launches, returns from orbit (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Quadrocopters enter the Flying Machine Arena, must bounce a ping-pong ball to survive (video)
December 8, 2010 No Comment
We don’t need another hero. We don’t need to know the way home. All we want is life beyond the Flying Machine Arena, a test ground at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ( ETH ) where quadrocopters can learn new abilities and stretch their fan blades without injuring too many scientists. One such new ability is juggling balls — well, one ball, anyway. This particular quadrocopter has learned to identify a ping-pong ball and is quite adept at keeping it in the air while the robot itself stays flying. Interestingly the last project we heard about from ETH also involved table tennis , so hopefully the next one involves a full-scale humanoid player that won’t stop hunting until it has crushed every opponent. Continue reading Quadrocopters enter the Flying Machine Arena, must bounce a ping-pong ball to survive (video) Quadrocopters enter the Flying Machine Arena, must bounce a ping-pong ball to survive (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Google’s big week: Nexus S, Honeycomb tablets, Chrome OS laptops, and eBooks to boot
December 8, 2010 No Comment
We gotta hand it to Google : if its goal was to own the technology news cycle for 48 hours, mission accomplished. The Mountain View-based company spent the first two days this week laying out pretty much every big announcement it possibly could: a new flagship phone coming next week (the Nexus S), a new Android build (2.3 Gingerbread), a preview of the next Android build (Honeycomb) on a never-before-seen Motorola tablet, the debut of its cloud-based laptop platform (Chrome OS) with hardware, and a giant plunge into the growing e-book market — and that isn’t everything. We’ve done our best to condense all the days’ highlights into something easier to digest, so read on for a recap on all things Google! Continue reading Google’s big week: Nexus S, Honeycomb tablets, Chrome OS laptops, and eBooks to boot Google’s big week: Nexus S, Honeycomb tablets, Chrome OS laptops, and eBooks to boot originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …European carriers want content companies and smartphone makers to pay network usage fees
December 8, 2010 No Comment
How do you start a net neutrality debate without ever saying “net neutrality?” If you’re a European wireless carrier like France Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, or Vodafone, you do it by just getting straight to the point: you say companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook need to start paying for continued network access because their devices and services use too much bandwidth. Yep, that’s a straight-up network neutrality issue, but the carriers are framing it like it’s an accounting problem — and they’re not being shy about wanting more cash to even out the books as they invest in next-gen networks. “It’s necessary to put in place a system of payments by service providers as a function of their use,” says France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard, while Telefonica CEO Cesar Alierta says that Google and Yahoo’s free use of his network is a “tragedy” that “can’t continue.” (No, we’re not making this up.) In addition to shaking down service providers and device makers, European carriers are also following AT&T and Verizon to tiered data plans — France Telecom is will move from unlimited pricing to something “more sophisticated,” and the other networks expected to follow. What’s most interesting to us is that the carriers are appearing to conflate bandwidth-heavy services like Facebook and YouTube with devices that customers use to access those services — does it really make any sense to charge Apple or Google a fee for making good phones that encourage more network use, on top of charging users for tiered data? That’s an unexpected — and unfortunate — twist on the standard net neutrality debate, and we’re not so sure we want to see where it’s going. Read the whole article at the source link, it’s a good one. European carriers want content companies and smartphone makers to pay network usage fees originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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There wasn’t even so much as a press release announcing this one, but The New York Times has confirmed with Intel that the chip maker recently formed a new business unit dubbed simply the netbook and tablet group. That’s apparently been tasked with fending off competition in the netbook and tablet space, and ensuring Intel remains as successful as it has been with its Atom processors — it will be led by the the current head of Intel’s embedded and communications group, Douglas L. Davis. Intel spokesman Bill Kircos further explained that “it makes sense for us to sharpen our focus on these friends of the PC, and Doug’s experience running a similar and very successful embedded division makes him the right guy to lead the group.” Intel quietly forms netbook and tablet group to fend off competition originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …NASA’s shuttle PCs sold with sensitive data intact, insert WikiLeaks joke here
December 8, 2010 No Comment
Let this be a warning for John and Jane Q. Public (always a cute couple, those two) to always wipe sensitive / secret data from your hard drives before selling a computer. Or better yet, take out the drive entirely and physically destroy it. That’s what we’d expect from our government entities, but an internal investigation found that a number of PCs and components from NASA ‘s shuttles had been sold from four different centers — Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers, and Ames and Langley Research Centers — that “failed sanitization verification testing,” or weren’t even tested at all. In Langley’s case, while hard drives were being destroyed, “personnel did not properly account for or track the removed hard drives during the destruction process.” Meanwhile at Kennedy, computers were found being prepped for sale that still had “Internet Protocol information [that] was prominently displayed.” Helluva way to start a shuttle launch retirement, eh? NASA’s shuttle PCs sold with sensitive data intact, insert WikiLeaks joke here originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If you’re of a certain age , there was one console you wanted more than any other: a Neo Geo . It was so big, so dark, and so freaking expensive it was like a gadget from another time — yet there it was, looking down at you from behind the counter at Babbage’s. $649 in 1990? Yeah. Ouch. Anyway, people today can now experience that machine’s greatness for a much lower price, with the PlayStation Network receiving 10 of the system’s greatest hits, each selling for between $6.99 and $8.99. Yes, these games were already available on the Wii Virtual Console , but the PSN versions will support online competitive and co-operative play, which is truly worth getting excited about. All games will be hitting the PS3 on December 21, while Fatal Fury and Metal Slug will be hitting the PSP then as well. For other games, like Magician Lord and Super Sidekicks , you portable folks will just have to wait until January. Neo Geo games hit PSN, add online play, ditch the gigantic cartridges originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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