iOS 5 imposes minor feature limitations on iPhone 3GS, 3G owners still bitter
June 9, 2011 No Comment
The unveiling of iOS 5 at this year’s WWDC keynote brought a wonderful feast of features , but it left us wondering if the iPhone 3GS would be updated with a few cards short of a full deck — the same way the 3G was treated last year. Reports are starting to flow in from folks who’ve tested it, so let’s get the bad news out of the way first: yes, some features are being withheld from the 3GS. The good news? They’re much more minor than we feared. So far, it appears that full Twitter integration and notifications are included; the newsstand and App Store are also intact, as well as the Safari reading list and grid lines in the camera . The only things we see missing so far are the photo editing features in the camera and the tab bar in Safari. So breathe a deep and well-deserved sigh of relief, fans, because your iPhone 3GS isn’t obsolete — at least, not yet. The full walkthrough of iOS 5 on the 3GS is right after the break. Continue reading iOS 5 imposes minor feature limitations on iPhone 3GS, 3G owners still bitter iOS 5 imposes minor feature limitations on iPhone 3GS, 3G owners still bitter originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 05:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Digital games distribution earned $3.8 billion in 2010, a quarter of entire video game market
June 9, 2011 No Comment
Alright, so technically all video games are digital, but what we’re talking about here is the stuff that you don’t buy on physical media — downloadable games, add-on content, mobile apps, subscriptions, and gaming on social networks. That market has grown to account for 24 percent of all video game revenues in 2010, or $3.8 billion , according to the Entertainment Software Association. The ESA is the body running the currently ongoing E3 shindig , and its data comes from the NPD Group , which likes to keep a cold robotic finger on the gaming industry’s pulse. Other findings in the latest ESA study include the average age of gamers (37!), the best-selling genres (action with 21.7 percent, followed by sports at 16.3 percent), and the highest-grossing games of 2010 (no prizes for guessing the warmongering winner of that one). Give the source link a bash to immerse yourself in even more gaming trivia from yesteryear. Digital games distribution earned $3.8 billion in 2010, a quarter of entire video game market originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 03:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Now that we’re all sitting on summer’s doorstep, Nintendo has decided to add a little heat to its 3DS lineup, with a new ‘Red Flare’ handheld, coming to Japan next month. Offering a sanguine alternative to the Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black variants, this little fireball will retail for
Continue reading …Dell Streak 10 Pro tablet to launch in China this summer, US may get it next year
June 9, 2011 No Comment
John Thode , Dell’s Vice President for mobile devices, has shared a Honeycomb-flavored snippet of his company’s tablet roadmap with CNET . The 10-inch Android tablet that we saw at CES and suspected could be with us this month will indeed be making its debut in the summer, according to Thode, but its launch market will be China, not the US. He points to a number of “inhibitors and barriers to success” in Dell’s homeland — such as mobile carriers dictating pricing models that stifle the adoption of tablets and users being unaware of “what exactly Android is bringing” — as the causes for Round Rock’s atypical decision. The Streak 10 Pro, as it’ll officially be known, comes with a Honeycomb-standard 1280 x 800 resolution screen, an edge-to-edge glass surface, two cameras (one of them reaching a 5 megapixel res), an SD card slot, a thickness of 12mm, and 1080p video playback capabilities courtesy of an unspecified NVIDIA Tegra dual-core processor. An additional dock will allow the 10 Pro to act as a USB host, while augmenting its connectivity with HDMI, Ethernet, and, obviously, a set of USB ports. The US may still get to enjoy this bounty of options, but we’re told it won’t happen until 2012. By which point we’ll probably have a taste for fresher, icier versions of Android. Dell Streak 10 Pro tablet to launch in China this summer, US may get it next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 02:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Sony Pictures breach affects 37,500 users, far less than Lulz Security claimed
June 9, 2011 No Comment
Well, Lulz Sec may have overstated its level of success by declaring it had stolen 1,000,000 passwords from Sony Pictures — turns out the number is closer to 37,500. Now granted, any breach of user data is unacceptable, but when a hacker collective’s haul is less than four percent of what it claimed, everyone can breathe a little easier. The troublemakers may have made off with email addresses, phone numbers, and passwords, but Sony says no credit card or social security numbers were compromised. The company issued a statement, which you’ll find after the break, and is working with the FBI to track down those responsible. Hopefully this finally closes the door on Sony’s security woes, and we can go back to bringing you stories about Angry Birds ports and Kinect hacks . Continue reading Sony Pictures breach affects 37,500 users, far less than Lulz Security claimed Sony Pictures breach affects 37,500 users, far less than Lulz Security claimed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 02:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Live transit updates in Google Maps help you plan your romantic bus-catching sprint
June 8, 2011 No Comment
Brooklynites on their way to the latest Reggie Watts show have long had real-time bus-tracking information , but public-transit aficionados in six other cities now have one less reason for BK envy. With the latest version of Google Maps , even the least cool citizens of Boston, Portland, Ore., San Diego, San Francisco, Madrid and Turin can see not just when their bus or train is scheduled to arrive, but when it actually will. Selecting a stop on the map displays “live departure times” and service alerts, thanks to Google’s data-sharing partnerships with city transit operators. That won’t always guarantee fewer delays or less waiting, but will help riders budget their time, and maybe find those precious seconds necessary to post more Tumblr pictures of “ironic” Hitler-kittens. Live transit updates in Google Maps help you plan your romantic bus-catching sprint originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 01:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Have you been to Google’s home page recently? Do it, you’ve got less than 24 hours to check out its guitar-inspired doodle celebrating the birthday of Les Paul. The “Google” script is highly interactive thanks to a combination of JavaScript, HMTL5, CSS, and even Flash (providing the audio). Click the compose button at the base of the second “g” and begin recording your own 30 second tribute to one of music’s most innovative pioneers using your keyboard to play specific notes or mouse for virtual strumming. Unfortunately, the recording aspect appears limited to US Googlers. Impressive stuff from a typically impressive company. Google doodle lets you play a recordable guitar ditty in honor of Les Paul originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 01:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …PlayStation Vita title ‘Ruin’ connects to PS3 for continuous client gameplay, we give it a swing (video)
June 8, 2011 No Comment
Cross-platform gaming is a wonderful idea, but Sony’s showing off something even more impressive at E3 this year — a game that you can starting playing on either PS3 or the PlayStation Vita handheld and immediately transfer to another console. Ruin leverages cloud storage to save your entire hack-and-slash RPG game, right down to the positions and actions of every nearby enemy and the structures you’ve destroyed. Then, a second or eight after you hit load on another machine, you’re right back in the very same fight. Resuming on console or handheld and picking up exactly where you left off — yep, it’s a bona fide continuous client , and we had to give it a try. So, off to Sony’s E3 2011 booth we went, to seek out developer Idol Minds. With both Vita and PS3 connected to a local router, it was both as simple and as mind-blowing as you’d expect — simply save on one (no matter what you’re doing), load on the other, and everything (save certain scripted animations) loads exceptionally quickly. In fact, Idol Minds VP Jeff Litchford said that while show floor conditions necessitated the local router, Ruin ‘s cloud resume functionality would even work over 3G, as the save files are actually fairly small, on the order of 250KB. He couldn’t tell us whether you’ll have to purchase two copies of the game to make the magic happen (we’re hoping not), but he did have some good news on the cloud storage front: it won’t cost a thing to save your game data, not even a subscription to PlayStation Plus . Sean Buckley contributed to this report. PlayStation Vita title ‘Ruin’ connects to PS3 for continuous client gameplay, we give it a swing (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Microsoft, Facebook, RIM, and others write to the FCC in support of AT&T-Mobile merger
June 8, 2011 No Comment
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has mail. It’s only a page and a paragraph long, but the letter he’s received this week has much gravitas attached to it, coming as it does from a select group of the tech industry’s biggest companies, all of whom are lending their support to AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile . Of the eight new proponents of the deal, Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo form a sub-group of software / web content distributors, whereas Qualcomm, RIM, Avaya, Brocade, and Oracle will have been motivated to speak up because they see the takeover as expanding opportunities to sell their mobile and networking hardware. The entire octet agrees that the melding of AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks into one is a requisite move for broadening mobile broadband availability in the US and for keeping the country competitive with the rest of the world. In their words, ” an increasingly robus t and efficient wireless network is part of a virtuous innovation cycle .” Virtuous for them, perhaps, but what about consumers faced with an increasingly binary choice of mobile carrier? Who shall protect their virtue? Microsoft, Facebook, RIM, and others write to the FCC in support of AT&T-Mobile merger originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Netflix.com’s new look is focused on streaming, cribs UI elements from connected TV apps
June 8, 2011 No Comment
Do not be alarmed, your Netflix.com experience has been updated today “with a new look and feel to make it easier for you to find something to watch instantly.” While the header introduced late last year remains and sticks on screen as you scroll vertically, box art of queued movies fills the screen horizontally. The redesign takes significant cues from the HTML5 UIs recently rolled out to most streaming devices, but it’s not clear if this related to some of the queue shuffling we’ve been seeing recently . Responses on the Netflix blog have been mostly negative, although just like Facebook and Twitter revamps some complaints about any change are normal. That said, we’re not fans either because it still requires an additional click to find out if a movie is in HD or has subtitles, a misdirected click starts playing the wrong movie too easily and selecting “your queue” still takes us to our discs first instead of Watch Instantly. If the new front page isn’t working there’s always alternatives in Netflix queue managers like InstantWatcher.com and FeedFliks, or any number of mobile apps. Let us know if you’ll be riding with the redesign or hitting the back button in the comments here. Netflix.com’s new look is focused on streaming, cribs UI elements from connected TV apps originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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