Nokia Windows Phones will launch in six European nations first, Finland not among them
June 17, 2011 No Comment
Nokia VP Victor Saeijs has this week disclosed the six launch markets for the vanguard devices born out of the Microsoft-Nokia partnership. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the UK will all count themselves as hosts to Nokia’s Windows Phone debut , but the company’s mother nation of Finland has strangely been left out in the cold. Knowing Nokia, there’s no doubt that once the WP7 handsets are ready they’ll find themselves swiftly available worldwide, but if you care to be among the very first to own one, you’ll be wanting to visit Europe’s western shores — preferably some time before the year’s through, as Mr. Saeijs also reaffirmed that there will indeed be a Nokia Windows Phone coming out in 2011. Nokia Windows Phones will launch in six European nations first, Finland not among them originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Wii U dev kits to be updated to latest prototyping hardware in the coming weeks
June 17, 2011 No Comment
Nintendo couldn’t have put all those glorious names of third party developers up alongside its Wii U announcement earlier this month without giving those companies at least a glimpse at the actual hardware they’d have to code on. Sega Europe’s Gary Dunn was among those to have tinkered with a development kit before we even knew what the Wii U would be called, but he says that Nintendo intends to refresh that hardware to the latest prototype model at some point before the end of July. According to Gary, coding for the new system is pretty straightforward, and though he wouldn’t get into specifics about performance, he does expect more details to emerge once Nintendo starts distributing the latest version of the Wii U dev platform. Asked about how it compares to the Xbox 360 and PS3 , Sega’s dev leader simply said the new Nintendo console is “different.” Wii U dev kits to be updated to latest prototyping hardware in the coming weeks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Oh Verizon, did you just spill confidential information all over your YouTube channel? The guys over at Droid-Life spotted a VZW ad starring a mysterious new Honeycomb tablet, which to our ninja-trained eyes looks to exhibit many of the design elements of Motorola’s Xoom . It could, of course, be just about anything, given that Verizon yanked the video almost as soon as the above screengrab was lifted, but the rear of this 10(ish)-inch tablet looks very much like a Xoom designed to be used in portrait orientation. We know Moto has a Xoom 2 cooking in the oven and it’s not unreasonable to surmise that Verizon is putting together the finishing touches on a promo campaign for it. Now if only we could get a look at that video with our own eyes… Pulled Verizon video shows an unannounced tablet, could it be the Xoom 2? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Finally, an invention John Waters can get behind. When the harbinger of filth brought the odiferous experience to screenings of Polyester , he took the scratch-and-sniff route — including scents like glue and feces — now a team of researchers at the University of California in San Diego are expanding on the smell-what-you-see concept, albeit in a much more high-tech fashion. In collaboration with the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, the team has developed a method for generating odors that could pack the appropriate hardware into a device “small enough to fit on the back of your TV.” Basically, scents are produced by an aqueous solution, like ammonia, which is heated by a thin metal wire, and eventually expelled, as an odorous gas, from a small hole in its silicone elastomer housing — and, bam! You’ve got Smell-O-Vision. The team has tested its method using perfumes by Jennifer Lopez and Elizabeth Taylor, but have yet to create a working prototype. For the sake of innocent noses everywhere, let’s hope Mr. Waters doesn’t get a whiff of this. Scent generator threatens to waft Odorama into the 21st century originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Redbox starts renting out video games nationwide, charges $2 for your Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii pleasure
June 17, 2011 No Comment
Exactly as promised , Redbox is today inaugurating a new branch to its media-renting venture with the introduction of video game rentals at $2 a day. There’s a pretty rich and fresh selection on offer, including the likes of Duke Nukem Forever , Dirt 3 , and Brink , and you can reserve your copy online before moseying down to your nearest Redbox kiosk to execute the transaction. About 5,000 of those crimson encasements have already been partaking in the testing of this service, but now Redbox is flipping the switch on the other 21,000 across the US and making things officially official. Redbox starts renting out video games nationwide, charges $2 for your Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii pleasure originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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When it comes to battery-boosting power sleeves , we’d say the iPhone’s covered, but what of the little green monster ? Well, at least two Androids can now get juiced by way of a new charging case from PowerSkin. HTC’s Inspire 4G and Desire HD are getting a little extra power with the release of this black silicone skin, which promises 1500mAh and up to eight hours of added battery life. The PowerSkin will set you back $60, and is now available at Amazon and the source link below. PowerSkin battery case pumps juice to HTC Inspire 4G, Desire HD originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Motorola Droid 3 official in China under Milestone 3 moniker, packs 4-inch qHD display
June 17, 2011 No Comment
The Droid 3 is upon us! Well, it is if you live in China and don’t mind calling it the Milestone 3. A new XT883 model has just been made official by Motorola during China Telecom’s CDMA Summit, touting the tagline “the third Milestone” and a new five-row slideout QWERTY keyboard. The salient specs include a 4-inch touchscreen with qHD (540 x 960) resolution, a dual-core processor capable of driving 1080p video recording, an 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, up to 32GB of built-in storage, and of course, Android 2.3 as the shipping OS. A pretty compelling package, we think you’ll agree. It’s coming to China this summer, though Moto could still be crafty enough to squeeze the US launch in before actual units start shipping to Yao Ming’s homeland. Because, well, who’s ever heard of a Milestone coming before a Droid? Gallery: Motorola Milestone XT883 official pictures Continue reading Motorola Droid 3 official in China under Milestone 3 moniker, packs 4-inch qHD display Motorola Droid 3 official in China under Milestone 3 moniker, packs 4-inch qHD display originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Well, it looks like Microsoft is taking those warnings about WebGL pretty seriously. The company has decided not to support the web-based 3D standard because it wouldn’t be able to pass security muster. Highest on the list of concerns is that WebGL opens up a direct line from the internet to a system’s GPU. To make matters worse, holes and bugs may crop up that are platform or video card specific, turning attempts to plug holes in its defense into a game of whack-a-mole — with many players of varying reliability. Lastly Microsoft, like security firm Context, has found current solutions for protecting against DoS attacks rather unsatisfying. Lack of support in Internet Explorer won’t necessarily kill WebGL and, as it matures, Microsoft may change its tune — but it’s still a pretty big blow for all us of hoping the next edition of Crysis would be browser-based. Microsoft decides to pass on WebGL over security concerns originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 01:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Motorola’s WiFi Xoom gains access to Google Movies, just in time for the weekend
June 16, 2011 No Comment
Hard to say why Google chose to roll its Movies app out first to 3G-packed tablets sporting Android 3.1 (a smaller testbed, perhaps?), but it looks as if it won’t matter for much longer. We’ve received a number of tips this evening suggesting that Google Movies can now be downloaded from the Android Market by WiFi-only Xoom tablets, though some are seeing a litany of server errors when trying to actually use the service. That said, we didn’t see any issues here at Engadget HQ, so it’s possible that a few kinks are still being worked out on select servers. Give it a whirl and let us know how it turns out in comments below, and if you’re a proud owner of a Galaxy Tab 10.1 … well, we guess you’re also the proud owner of a trait called “patience.” [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Motorola’s WiFi Xoom gains access to Google Movies, just in time for the weekend originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 01:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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