Home » Posts tagged with » breaking news (Page 1585)
First Lady to the Rescue?

First Lady Michelle Obama hits the campaign trail this week in an effort to help struggling Democratic candidates. But will it work? The AP’s Kelly Daschle takes a look. (Oct. 11)

Continue reading …
HTC 7 Surround first hands-on! (update: video)

We just got a quick look at the HTC 7 Surround for AT&T, running that brand-spanking-new Windows Phone 7 OS you’ve been hearing so much about. The phone has a kickstand to help it show off its standout feature: a slide-out “Dolby Surround Sound” speaker. Stand by for more impressions and video, but for now check out the gallery below. Update: Video is live! Here are some thoughts: We were impeded by the security device holding the phone down, but from what we could tell the Surround is a quality device — we’d expect no less from HTC. It is built of plastic, but it pulls off that certain premium look and feel. Like we noted in the family post, however, the slide-out speaker seems like an expensive addition when you consider the thickness it’s adding. Once we get a chance to play back some media and be “blown away” by the Dolby Surround we’ll be able to tell if you if it’s truly worth the tradeoff. Somehow we’re in doubt. Overall the phone comes off as a slightly inspired design in a sea of fairly uninspired designs (at least in the US). HTC HD7 this is not. Gallery: HTC 7 Surround first hands-on! Continue reading HTC 7 Surround first hands-on! (update: video) HTC 7 Surround first hands-on! (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Continue reading …
‘Middle’ Stars Go All the Way for Laughs

Eden Sher and Charlie McDermott on their role as teens in ABC’s comedy ‘The Middle.’ (Oct. 11)

Continue reading …
AT&T brings U-verse to Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360

Well, it looks like AT&T has a few surprises of its own today — it’s just announced that U-verse Mobile will be heading to Windows Phone 7 this fall and — get this — you don’t even have to be a U-verse customer to use it. Non-customers will have to shell out $9.99 a month to get their mobile TV fix, however, while current U-verse users will be able to take advantage of the service for free — it’s also available nationwide, a first for a U-verse service. In other U-verse news, AT&T has also now confirmed earlier reports that you will be able to use your Xbox 360 as a U-verse receiver, although you will obviously have to be a U-verse customer for that. Look for it to be available as a $55 installation option for current customers starting October 15th, while new U-verse customers will have to order a $99 Xbox kit that includes installation (but not the actual Xbox 360). Head on past the break for the full press release and a quick video. Continue reading AT&T brings U-verse to Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360 AT&T brings U-verse to Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Continue reading …
Rod Stewart Opens His Fifth ‘Songbook’

After the success of his first four ‘Songbooks,’ Rod Stewart is ready to release part five, ‘Fly Me to the Moon… The Great American Songbook, Volume V.’ Not that he listens to his own albums at home, he much prefers to chat with his wife. (Oct 11)

Continue reading …
HTC HD7 is a HD2 lookalike with Windows Phone 7 and 720p video, exclusive to T-Mobile in US

Stop us if you’ve heard these specs before: 4.3-inch WVGA (800 x 480) TFT screen, 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250 system-on-chip, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, and Microsoft’s latest mobile OS on board. Yes, the HTC HD7 is almost a carbon copy of the much-loved HD2 , albeit with a major upgrade to Windows Phone 7 software and an appreciated bump to 720/24p video recording. Beyond those enhancements, American buyers will be greeted with preinstalled Netflix, Slacker, and T-Mobile TV entertainment apps, along with 16GB of built-in storage. T-Mobile gets the honor of being the exclusive US carrier, with exclusives also going out to O2 in the UK and Ireland and Telstra in Australia. O2 Germany will also distribute the phone, along with Movistar in Spain, Bouygues Telecom in France, and a choice of carriers in Italy. Bear in mind that the non-US HD7s are likely to come with a less capacious 8GB of storage. The phone is scheduled for an October 21 retail debut in Europe, to be followed by a mid-November arrival on US shelves. You’ll find the full press release after the break, although you shouldn’t bother if you expect it to explain why the nearly identical HD2 isn’t getting a WP7 upgrade. Gallery: HTC HD7 press images Continue reading HTC HD7 is a HD2 lookalike with Windows Phone 7 and 720p video, exclusive to T-Mobile in US HTC HD7 is a HD2 lookalike with Windows Phone 7 and 720p video, exclusive to T-Mobile in US originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Continue reading …
Political Description of the Day

Ace described this photo of Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), the congressman who called for a boycott of his own state because of the illegal immigration bill, this way : ‎”He kind of looks like his parents were a tarantula and a deflated basketball.” Grijalva is in a running battle with this Republican, Ruth McClung, who is an actual honest-to-goodness rocket scientist: Game, set and match to the rocket scientist.

Continue reading …

Something to look forward to if Prop 19 passes : Swap the Dungeness crab cakes and peasant skirts for lobster rolls and L.L. Bean khakis, and this snug seaside hamlet a few hours north of San Francisco could be a dead ringer for a New England village. (It was a stand-in for Cabot Cove, Maine, in the long-running TV series Murder She Wrote.) But if California voters approve a controversial ballot proposition in November to tax and legalize marijuana for recreational use — and it’s ahead in several polls — some local growers say Mendocino, pop. 900, might become better known as the tourist capital of a “Napa Valley of cannabis.” The notion of opening marijuana-tasting rooms, meet-the-grower tours and ganja-friendly “bud and breakfasts” in Northern California’s pot-farming “Emerald Triangle” is like “tearing down the Berlin Wall. It’s not going to happen overnight,” says Matthew Cohen of MendoGrown. His 12-member association promotes a “sustainably grown medical cannabis industry” in the county, where legal and illicit pot — sanctioned for medical use by California residents since 1996 — fuels an estimated half to two-thirds of an economy once anchored by fishing and timber. Still, he says, passage of Proposition 19 would mobilize entrepreneurs and help jump-start a sluggish tourism industry by putting “Mendocino County on the map as a vision of what cannabis country could look like. The vibration is already here, and if you love (marijuana) enough to smoke it in a coffeehouse, why wouldn’t you want to come out and enjoy it at the source?” They’re going to have to put rubber bumpers along the freeway up there.

Continue reading …
ShowBiz Minute: Burke, Box Office, Jackson

Soul singer Solomon Burke dies aged 70; ‘The Social Network’ stays as Box Office number one; Michael Jackson memorabilia fetches $1M in Macau. (Oct 11)

Continue reading …
TDK develops 1TB optical disc, leaves other optical storage feeling emasculated

We’ve heard about 1TB-sized optical discs in the past, but TDK has now revealed a 1TB monster of its own at CEATEC. Unlike existing Blu-rays which use four recording layers at most, TDK’s creation features 16 layers on both sides of the disc, each capable of storing up to 32GB apiece. If you’re keeping track of the optical storage arms race, that’s seven more gigabytes per layer than Pioneer’s 400GB and 500GB disc achievements made back in 2008. TDK’s prototype also has the potential to leverage existing Blu-ray technologies, since it’s made from a material already found in BDs and shares the same beam aperture. On the down side, the current version’s recording layers measure 260μm — that’s more than twice as thick as its Blu-ray counterpart — and causes aberrations in today’s fat-layer-hating optical lenses. Outside of its Biggest Loser qualifications, though, TDK says “its commercialization depends on disc manufacturers.” Considering the company has yet to sell the 10-layer 320GB discs revealed at CEATEC 2009, however, we’re doubtful this 1TB improvement will hit stores anytime soon. Filed under: Storage TDK develops 1TB optical disc, leaves other optical storage feeling emasculated originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Continue reading …