It’s safe to say that most of our readers are accustomed to phone shops that are well lit, fairly spacious, and not peppered with KIRF products. But if you’re feeling adventurous and want to take a dip in the deep end of the pool, then Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei district should satisfy your strange curiosity. As we’ve shown you in our previous trip , our gadget paradise covers an extensive range of products, including phones, computers, cameras, all the way down to circuitry components like LEDs, chips, and resistors. Our latest discovery, however, is an entire building dedicated to mostly mobile phone products. Read on to find out what this madness is all about — a video tour awaits after the break. Gallery: Shenzhen mobile phone market: going deeper inside Huaqiangbei Continue reading Shenzhen mobile phone market: going deeper inside Huaqiangbei Shenzhen mobile phone market: going deeper inside Huaqiangbei originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …US DOJ greenlights Google’s $900 million bid for Nortel patents; Apple, RIM also interested
June 15, 2011 No Comment
It looks like Google will be able to bid on Nortel’s patent portfolio after all, now that the Department of Justice has weighed in on the matter. According to the Wall Street Journal , El Goog’s $900 million bid has passed a governmental antitrust review, just a few days ahead of next week’s auction. Rivals like Microsoft, AT&T and Verizon had previously filed complaints with the DOJ, arguing that the sale of Nortel’s 6,000 patents would give an unfair advantage to the auction’s winner by providing it with a fresh arsenal for patent-infringement lawsuits. Google, however, claims it needs the portfolio to defend itself against legal challenges, since it has comparatively few patents to its name. The DOJ apparently sees nothing illegal with this argument, having determined that singular ownership of Nortel’s intellectual property would pose no threat to market competition. This is obviously music to Google’s ears, but the battle isn’t over yet. Sources tell the Journal that both RIM and Apple are interested in filing their own bids for the patents, and have already begun discussing the matter with the Justice Department. None of the companies involved have commented on the story, but it’ll all go down on June 20th, when the auction finally gets underway. US DOJ greenlights Google’s $900 million bid for Nortel patents; Apple, RIM also interested originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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HP has filed a bunch of TouchPad -related trademarks all in one go, and they must something , right? The USPTO database shows a TouchPad7, TouchPadGo, TouchPadFlex, TouchPadTwin, TouchPadGeo and TouchPadPro; unfortunately though, the descriptions provided with each trademark are so broad as to be useless, so we’re not going to indulge HP by speculating as to what each moniker might mean. Who knows? Maybe it’s all bluff, designed to spook other tablet manufacturers into taking up trout fishing instead, or maybe Jon actually did convince Leo to approve a webOS tablet for every day of the week. In the world of trademarks, stranger things have happened. [Thanks, Brum] HP messes with our brains, files six new TouchPad trademarks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Shazam adds LyricPlay, lets you act like you knew the words to that song all along
June 15, 2011 No Comment
Remember the song that was playing at the bar last night that you just had to know the name of? You busted out the iPhone and fired up Shazam to tag that sucker, and now that you’ve got it in your collection, so you can forever relive that magical first time you heard it. But whatever happened to immediate gratification? And since when was it possible to enjoy a song without fumbling through the lyrics? This morning’s upgrade to the popular music tagging app has your back — the premium versions of the service have added the LyricPlay feature, which syncs to the song you’re listening to, displaying its lyrics as it plays. The feature is currently available on the $6 Shazam Encore and (Shazam) Red apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. It works with 25,000 plus songs and growing, and is set to become the bane of bartenders around the world by the middle of next week. Continue reading Shazam adds LyricPlay, lets you act like you knew the words to that song all along Shazam adds LyricPlay, lets you act like you knew the words to that song all along originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …HTC Kingdom soars into FCC’s database, WiMAX radio signals a Sprint release
June 15, 2011 No Comment
Up until now, all we’ve had to go on were leaked Blurrycam photos and a few morsels ” from the inside .” Now, however, HTC’s going to have an awfully difficult time denying the existence of its so-called Kingdom, known to the FCC as PH44100. The filing itself doesn’t reveal a whole heck of a lot beyond what we already knew — a 4.3-inch qHD display, namely — but the presence of both a CDMA and WiMAX radio assures us that it’ll be heading for Sprint sooner rather than later. A qHD contender for The Now Network? Yes, please. HTC Kingdom soars into FCC’s database, WiMAX radio signals a Sprint release originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 09:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Planning to replace that aging Blu-ray player with a Wii U ? Not so fast. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says the gaming console won’t play DVD or Blu-ray discs, due to patent licensing fees. Wii U does not have DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities. The reason for that is that we feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn’t warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies. So there you have it. Iwata doesn’t want to hand over a bag of cash for baby Blu’s ” bag of hurt .” By the time the Wii U hits store shelves in 2012, we may be buying Blu-ray players just for their Netflix capabilities , so here’s to hoping the console at least carries over that functionality from its predecessor. Wii U will not play DVDs or Blu-ray, Iwata says originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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After having already introduced its own iOS app , Starbucks has now decided to bring mobile mocha payments to Android users, as well. With the free Starbucks for Android app, all you have to do is add credit to your mobile Starbucks Card, scan the app’s barcode at the cash register, and that triple shot skinny latte will be yours to pound. Available on devices running Android 2.1 or above, the service will also locate all outlets within your immediate vicinity, while offering even more coffee-based incentives, via Starbucks’ rewards program. Thus far, there are about 6,800 stores that support mobile payments, though the company is planning to add an additional 1,000 locations, this July. Coffeeholics can find more information in the PR after the break, and can download the app from the source link, below. Continue reading Starbucks rolls out mobile payment app for Android users, java junkies Starbucks rolls out mobile payment app for Android users, java junkies originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 06:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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As you may have noticed, we have a bit of a soft spot for Nintendo’s other 3D device, the Virtual Boy — despite its many, many flaws. So, it seems, does DIYer Tighe Lory, who liked the oddball console so much that he built an full-size arcade cabinet for it. As you can see above, that comes complete with some custom joysticks that replace the Virtual Boy’s controller, along with a sliding mechanism that lets you adjust the Virtual Boy itself to just the right height instead of forcing you to hunch over a table. It even has some buttons on each side specifically for Galactic Pinball , and some other authentic arcade touches like a Nintendo serial plate and a backlit marquee. Head on past the break for Tighe’s grand tour on video. Continue reading DIY Virtual Boy arcade cabinet costs only a headache to play DIY Virtual Boy arcade cabinet costs only a headache to play originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 05:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Warner brings Pay-Per-View, Video on Demand to China, hopes people will actually pay for it
June 15, 2011 No Comment
Piracy may run rampant in China, but that hasn’t stopped Warner Bros. from launching the country’s first national Pay-Per-View and Video on Demand service. Under the program, movies like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 will be broadcast on You On Demand’s platform, and distributed to Chinese living rooms in cooperation with China Home Cinema — a branch of CCTV-6. According to You On Demand’s estimates, the service should be available in about three million homes by the end of this summer, and will have the potential to reach a full 200 million cable-equipped households. That’s certainly a huge market, and one that could provide some serious revenue — assuming, of course, that people are actually willing to pay for movies. Full PR after the break. Continue reading Warner brings Pay-Per-View, Video on Demand to China, hopes people will actually pay for it Warner brings Pay-Per-View, Video on Demand to China, hopes people will actually pay for it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 04:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Droid 2 Global gets Gingerbread, customizable dock and more in latest update from Verizon
June 15, 2011 No Comment
Droid 2 Global users, your moment in the Gingerbread sun has arrived. Verizon’s put up a page with download instructions for a 103MB update, taking your QWERTY slider from version 2.4.330 to 4.5.600. Updating isn’t the most taxing of activities, you just look for a system update in the About Phone menu and then give your blessing for the download to commence. VZW will also be prompting tardy users to take their OTA medicine in due course. So what’s new apart from Android 2.3? Well, the big change is that the previously static phone, contacts and apps icons at the bottom of the UI have now been turned into a user-customizable dock, with three links of your choosing sidling up next to the App Launcher. There’s also a freshened up UI look , a Download Manager App, user-definable App Groups, encryption for data both on the device and its SD card, improvements in battery life while using WiFi and Bluetooth, and the obligatory stability fixes. If all that sounds irresistible and you have the requisite phone in hand, go get it! [Thanks, Jon] Droid 2 Global gets Gingerbread, customizable dock and more in latest update from Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 02:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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