Ross Rubin contributes Reserve Power , a column focused on personal perspectives and products. With handset screens getting larger and applications such as streaming primetime shows and video chat becoming more prevalent, it’s not surprising that some handsets such as the HTC Evo 4G include a built-in kickstand. Most phones, though, suffer from LifeCall commercial syndrome — when they’ve fallen, they can’t get up. To offer some assistance, a whole cottage industry of pocketable products – many with inventive designs — have appeared to let you enjoy your handset’s screen without your hands in the way. But how universal are they? I tested a variety of popular and unusually-shaped handsets — including the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, Droid 2, Droid X, BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Torch, Palm Pre, HP Veer, Samsung Captivate and the monstrous Samsung Infuse — finding, for example, that some phones fit in some stands only when their physical keyboards were extended. Surprised at how well a few of the stands held up, I even tried them with a few tablets, including the BlackBerry PlayBook, Apple iPad and Motorola Xoom. This column will introduce the first six devices after the break, while the next Reserve Power will discuss several more, conclude with my favorites, and link to a spreadsheet detailing which devices and stands paired appropriately with one another. Continue reading Reserve Power: Stand Off, Part 1 Reserve Power: Stand Off, Part 1 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 22:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Samsung lawyers recently asked the court to make Apple show them the as-yet-unannounced iPhone 5 and iPad 3, claiming that they need to know what Apple’s products will look like ahead of time to avoid future lawsuits and uncanny similarities . If only it were this easy. Visualized: Samsung wants to see the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 20:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve seen it put its processing power behind the iPad 2 and heard rumors of its presence in the upcoming fifth-gen iPhone , but could Apple really be considering putting its mobile-minded A5 processor in a MacBook Air? According to Japanese website, Macotakara , a trial of the ARM chip is already underway. Apple’s reportedly been experimenting with a Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Air with the A5 on board, and “according to someone who has seen a model running with [Apple's] A5 processor, the performance is better than had been thought.” Two weeks ago, we reported on rumors that the upcoming MacBook Air refresh could be on its way as early as next month, featuring Intel’s Sandy Bridge 17W mobile processors — a claim we’d say could hold water. Of course, this information has trickled a ways down the grapevine, and the presence of an A5-packing test vehicle doesn’t mean much anyway, but you can consider our interest piqued, regardless. Apple testing A5-packing MacBook Air? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 19:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …1923 Leica 0-series becomes world’s most expensive camera, fetches $1.89 million at auction
May 28, 2011 No Comment
Just when we thought ancient wooden boxes were all the rage among camera collectors, a compact beauty has shattered our theories — this 1923 Leica 0-series just sold at auction for €1,320,000, or about 1.89 million in US money. Curiously enough, the exact same auction house reportedly sold the exact same camera four years ago: No. 107, the first Leica to be exported, allegedly for a patent application inspection in New York. In 2007, it fetched a relatively paltry €336,000, which was apparently still a world record for Leica cameras at the time. Quite the return on that investment, no? Find more pictures and details at the links below. 1923 Leica 0-series becomes world’s most expensive camera, fetches $1.89 million at auction originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 16:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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‘Tis a sad day in the world of Google … at least for developers who use any of a handful of ill-fated APIs. As the search giant’s API list has grown in recent months, it’s making the decision to cull a few in the effort of “spring cleaning.” In fact, a grand total of seven new APIs were launched during Google I/O alone, but it looks as if the end is nigh for the Blog Search API, Books Data API, Image Search API, News Search API, Patent Search API, Safe Browsing API (v1 only), Translate API, Transliterate API, Video Search API and Virtual Keyboard API. Of those, Wave is most unsurprising , but Translate likely hurts the most — particularly for jetsetters who relied on those baked-in services to wrap their heads around various tongues. According to Goog, the Translate API has been officially deprecated “due to the substantial economic burden caused by extensive abuse.” A pretty ominous phrase, to be sure, and further proof that a few rotten apples can ruin things for the whole of us. Hit the links below to get a glimpse of the full damage — we’re warning you, it ain’t pretty. Google pinpoints shutdown dates for Wave, Translate APIs (amongst others) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 17:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Gigabyte has decided to simplify matters for those who want the power of an SSD in their desktop, but don’t want to deal with the hassle of buying and connecting one. The company’s new Z68XP-UD3-iSSD (catchy, no?) motherboard comes with a 20GB Intel SSD 311 mounted right on it, which should sound somewhat familiar . It’s not clear if you can simply dump files on it like a normal drive — what it can do, however, is use Intel’s Smart Response tech to cache frequently accessed data, like your OS, to improve performance. Essentially, it turns any hard disk you connect to the system into a hybrid drive with a much larger reserve of flash storage. The board also features the ability to switch between discrete and built-in graphics thanks to Lucid Logix’s Virtu . The rest of the features are pretty standard fare: USB 3.0, a pair of 16x PCI-E slots, and 6GB SATA connections. The latest Z68 board from Gigabyte will go on sale early in June and, while we don’t have a price, we’ve done a little (PR) embedding of our own after the break. Continue reading Gigabyte bolts an SSD to a motherboard (so you don’t have to) Gigabyte bolts an SSD to a motherboard (so you don’t have to) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 15:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Lodsys shifts in-app purchasing target to Android devs following Apple response
May 28, 2011 No Comment
We figured Apple’s firm response to Lodsys earlier this week regarding its claims against iOS devs would prompt the patent holder to move on to its next target, and sure enough, it looks as if said target has been selected. Unfortunately, a group of Android app devs have now found themselves in the Texas-based company’s crosshairs, which is citing the same patent infringement that Apple recently addressed, relating specifically to in-app upgrade purchases. As was the case with the last round of letters, Lodsys is demanding licensing fees from small, individual developers, who don’t have the resources to fight back. Lodsys appears to be maintaining its trend of ignoring media requests, so we’re keeping an eye on the patent troll’s blog to see if anyone comes up to the surface to defend this latest round of allegations. In the meantime, plugging your ears while humming and ignoring the mailman might not be such a bad idea… you know, if you do this kind of thing for a living. Lodsys shifts in-app purchasing target to Android devs following Apple response originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 14:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Poor arachnophobes — it’s bad enough that 3D movies can make it look like swarms of eight-legged freaks are pouring out of the screen, now Disney wants you to feel the creepy crawlies, too. In a presumed effort to one-up those “4D” chairs used at Shrek’s castle down in Orlando, the company has been working on what it calls Tactile Brush — a chair with an array of 12 vibrating coils that are able to simulate anything from the sensation of speeding around a race track to the delicate drip of rain on your back. Two techniques are used: apparent motion, which triggers two motors in quick succession to create the illusion of something moving over your skin, and phantom sensation, in which two stationary vibrations are felt as a single tingle between the two points. Disney researchers demoed Tactile Brush at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Vancouver using a racing game, but hope to bring it to amusement park rides and movie theaters — which, in the right hands, should lead to more screaming and at least a few pairs of wet pants. Tactile Brush uses sensory illusions to let you feel games, movies originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 13:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The iPad has already gotten the go-ahead from the FAA as a replacement for paper flight charts and maps, and now Alaska Airlines has become the first major US airline to hop on board the paperless bandwagon. While it’s not quite ready to ditch paper navigation charts just yet (though that is under consideration), the airline has announced that it will be replacing its traditional flight manuals with iPads, which will be loaded up with the GoodReader app and PDFs of 41 different manuals and other materials. According to the airline, that change will result in savings of about 2.4 million pieces of paper, and it says the cost of the project will be offset by fuel savings from the reduced weight, and additional savings that are expected from “fewer back and muscle injuries caused by pilots carrying flight bags,” which can weigh up to 50 pounds. Let’s just hope those newly lightened flight bags still have room for a charging cable. Continue reading Alaska Airlines ditches paper flight manuals for iPads Alaska Airlines ditches paper flight manuals for iPads originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 11:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Google and its poached Paypal employees got sued for trade secret misappropriation yesterday, but we didn’t know the dirty details until now. A peek at PayPal’s complaint reveals there’s a bit more to the story. Apparently, Paypal and Google were in talks last year to use PayPal for payments in the Android Market. Osama Bedier was in charge of those negotiations for PayPal in October of 2010, when the deal was supposed to close, but was allegedly interviewing for a mobile payment position at Google at the same time (holy conflict of interest, Batman!). The complaint claims that Bedier initially rebuffed El Goog’s advances, told PayPal of the job offer and professed that he would stay, but jumped ship a month later (bringing some PayPal coworkers with him) after being recruited by Stephanie Tilenius and the almighty dollar. Once it hired Osama, Google reportedly put the brakes on the PayPal deal and created Google Wallet . Then Google, Bedier, and Tilenius got slapped with a lawsuit. A brief rundown of the legal claims awaits you after the break. Continue reading Paypal v. Google: a tawdry tale of trade secret misappropriation Paypal v. Google: a tawdry tale of trade secret misappropriation originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 10:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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