We’ve heard an awful lot about a Windows tablet OS this past year, with stirrings of a 2012 launch — heck, even Steve Ballmer’s fanned the flames of speculation — and now the rumor mill’s been set in motion with word of an impending preview expected next week. According to Bloomberg , three sources have confirmed Microsoft’s plan to flaunt the much-anticipated UI, possibly at upcoming appearances at AllThingsD and Computex. The showcase is supposedly set to run the touchscreen-enabled software on a Tegra-equipped machine. We’d previously reported on stirrings of a June demo . Considering all the evidence that’s stacked up over the past few months, we’d say 2012 is looking like a rather practical target. Windows tablet OS preview coming next week? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
The homebrew community may mourn HTC’s Thunderbolt , Incredible S , Sensation and EVO 3D , but the company’s controversial policy of locking bootloaders is no more. Following a tease yesterday , HTC CEO Peter Chou has decreed from on high — namely, HTC’s Facebook page — that future devices will be open. There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we’ve listened. Today, I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience. We’re holding out hope that this policy will also be retroactive , but this is very welcome news regardless. Ball’s in your court, Motorola . HTC officially dissolves locked bootloader policy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 21:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Tired of content providers bossing you around, telling you what you can do with your own phone? Good, because Netflix is sick of telling you kids to keep off its lawn. Following a recent update, the outfit’s Android app now officially supports the LG Revolution, Motorola Droid, Casio G’zOne Commando C771, and any unsupported device that just happens to work on its own. In addition to adding official support for the aforementioned trio (and of course, some minor bug fixes), the stream king removed a device check that previously blocked unsupported handsets from attempting playback. Your mileage may vary, but the folks over at Droid Life are reporting success with both the Droid X and Droid X2, as well as the Xperia Play. That’s no guarantee for you and your unsupported device, but at least you have the freedom to fail. That’s nice, isn’t it? Netflix updates Android app, expands device support originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 21:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
An Ode to the Philips GoGear Connect 7: It’s rumored to be launching soon, Supposedly hitting shelves in June. Instead of picking Honeycomb, Philips decided to go it on its own. Underneath its skin you’ll find Gingerbread , We’d prefer an ” entirely for tablet ” OS instead. There’s a front facing camera for video chat And a “drawing area” — imagine that! It’s got a 7-inch screen and microSD, As for price and processor it’s wait and see. [Thanks, Holman] Philips GoGear Connect 7 Android tablet launching in China soon? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
We love ourselves extra storage as much as the next guy, and we also happen to hate cables as much the next guy, so whenever a device promises some extra wiggle room with no strings attached, we’re all ears. The AirStash is a wireless flash drive that lets you expand the capacity of your mobile device up to 32GB at a time through swappable SD cards, freeing up local storage for apps and the like. We first got our paws on one back at CES , but now that it’s a shipping product and has a finalized iOS app, we gave it a quick shakedown as promised to see whether this gadget is worth dipping into your personal stash for. Gallery: AirStash Wireless Flash Drive Continue reading AirStash wireless flash drive (and iOS app) review AirStash wireless flash drive (and iOS app) review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Piling on cores is one way to boost performance, but it’s not necessarily the most efficient way — researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new prefetching technique for processors that could boost performance by up to 40-percent. As you may know, any data not stored in a CPU’s cache must be pulled from RAM, but as more cores are added they can create a bottleneck by competing for memory access. To counter this designers use prefetching to predict what information will be needed and grab it ahead of time, but guessing wrong can hurt performance. Researchers tackled this problem from two fronts: first, by creating a better algorithm for divvying up bandwidth, and second, by selectively turning off prefetching when it might slow the CPU. Full PR and an abstract of the study being published June 9th are after the break. Continue reading Researchers boost multi-core CPU performance with better prefetching Researchers boost multi-core CPU performance with better prefetching originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 18:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
How much does it take to convince Symbian users their OS is doomed? Just the one slide you see above. Now it seems Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is attempting damage control. In an interview with Nokia Conversations, Elop attempted to placate his shareholders and customers by stating that the OS’s last update will take place somewhere around 2016 at the earliest. He isn’t switching the focus away from Windows Phone as his company’s bright new future, but he does want to assuage folks who sunk money into Symbian that their investment isn’t just going down the drain. Stating there is “a long history still to be paved for Symbian in the future,” Elop didn’t volunteer any additional details on update strategy or how much longer new Symbian phones will be sold. We’re a bit surprised at the length of this extension of relevancy; we can’t help but feel as though it’s all because Nokia’s breakup with Symbian was too emotional and they’re both trying to stay friends. Or perhaps four years is just how long the company thinks it will take to sell all of the remaining 150 million units it originally planned to push. Either way, check out the full video after the break and let us know what you think below. [Thanks, Chris ] Continue reading Elop: Symbian will continue getting updates until 2016, at least Elop: Symbian will continue getting updates until 2016, at least originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Nook WiFi and Kobo eReader Touch Edition assault the Amazon Kindle fortress: a chart
May 26, 2011 No Comment
The e-reader market just got a lot more crowded this week with the launch of the touch-enabled Nook and Kobo eReader Touch Edition . Will either device be able to take down the Amazon’s industry defining Kindle ? We’ve broken down the specs on the two new readers, the Kindle, and Sony’s comparable Reader Pocket Edition (PRS-350SC) to find out which device will come out on top. There’s a lot of overlap features between the different readers, like infrared touchscreens and Pearl E Ink displays. All of those important details and more in the chart after the break. Check it out, because you obviously like reading things. Continue reading Nook WiFi and Kobo eReader Touch Edition assault the Amazon Kindle fortress: a chart Nook WiFi and Kobo eReader Touch Edition assault the Amazon Kindle fortress: a chart originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 17:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Yes, it’s another store within a store at Amazon, this time a Mac Download Store. While software downloads certainly aren’t anything new for the online retailer, the Mac store does actually boast a wider variety of titles than Amazon’s Windows download section, including games like Dragon Age: Origins and Civilization V , and applications like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop Elements. All told, there’s more than 250 titles currently available — not exactly a rival to Apple’s own Mac App Store , but a more than respectable start. Of course, no store launch is complete without a sale, and Amazon has kicked things off with two: a free download of Airport Mania, and $5 off your first paid download. Hit up the source link below to check it out. Amazon launches Mac Download Store with more than 250 titles originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 14:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
NVIDIA and YouTube made a rather caveat-heavy announcement today that promises to bring stereoscopic 3D YouTube videos to NVIDIA 3D Vision PCs and notebooks, running Firefox 4 . If you’re rocking an NVIDIA GeForce GPU-equipped machine, sporting driver release 275 or later, a 3D Vision monitor, notebook, projector, or DLP HDTV, and Firefox 4 with streaming HTML5, you’ve got access to all the 3D goodness YouTube has to offer — given you’re not trying to access content via a standard YouTube channel, as the outfit’s HTML5 support is still limited. And don’t forget, you’ll need your active shutter 3D glasses handy, too. So, if you fit all of the aforementioned criteria, check out the demo video after break (and make sure to hit the HTML5 function under options) — otherwise, feel free to go on using the old cyan and red method for viewing YouTube in 3D. Full PR after the break. Continue reading NVIDIA 3D Vision machines get 3D YouTube video support on Firefox NVIDIA 3D Vision machines get 3D YouTube video support on Firefox originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …