FCC chairman Julius Genachowski briefly mentioned data roaming at CTIA last week, but now he’s telling Congress that action is inbound, to ensure rural carriers don’t get left behind the rest of the cellular industry. You see, in 2007 the Commission mandated cheap roaming agreements for voice and messaging services to let regional carriers compete, but cellular data is the bee’s knees now (as those of you reading this on a smartphone can attest) and those agreements won’t protect the Tiny Tims of telecom in a world of VoLTE anyhow. So, as he explains in a letter sent to members of the Senate and House, the chairman has come up with a set of rules, which will “incent potential roaming partners to come to the bargaining table to negotiate private commercial deals.” “The draft order under consideration eschews a common carriage approach and leaves mobile service providers free to negotiate and determine, on a customer-by-customer basis, the commercially reasonable terms of data roaming agreements,” reads another letter. Needless to say, we’re looking forward to hearing how the FCC will encourage competition while still letting the big boys negotiate from their multi-billion-dollar spectrum holding positions. FCC looking at data roaming rules, not interested in commonizing carriers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Are you a true contrarian looking for a camera that befits your nonconformist lifestyle? Well, Canon’s latest entry-level DSLR may not be the most unruly camera out, but at least it sports a moniker that fits the bill. The Canon T3 Rebel , also known as the EOS 1100D, is a 12.2-megapixel affair designed with the DSLR newbie in mind, and according to a review over at PhotographyBlog , it doesn’t sacrifice image quality for ease of use. Touted as a successor to the Rebel XS, the T3 actually carries over some useful features from its more sophisticated sibling, the T3i , including a user-friendly control layout, but lacks the camera’s Scene Intelligent auto mode and extensive list of creative filters. Aside from that, the reviewer found T3′s grips too slick and its diminutive LCD screen a minor setback, but was quick to point out that none of these is a deal-breaker. In fact, aside from a bit of noise encountered at the highest ISO setting, the camera delivers high quality photographs even in low light. All things considered, it looks like the Rebel T3 is a “responsive and intuitive DSLR” for the novice photog, and at $600, it’s got at least some of the competition beat. Now, we won’t tell you what to do, but if we were you, we’d click the source link to see how the T3 stacks up. Canon Rebel T3 DSLR reviewed: a safe bet for first-time shooters originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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There’s no shortage of ways to get sound into your iOS device, but one thing has been missing from the field up to this point: a handheld accessory to help you hone your Eddie Van Halen (or Anderson Cooper) impression while you’re FaceTiming with Gramps. The iRig vocal mic fills that gap, and the included Vocalive app does its part to help you rap over your favorite beat, add sick and twisted FX to your vox, and share your jams with your file-sharing friends. But is the iRig a Napster-level entry into the iMic field? Is it more of an eDonkey, or just kind of a KaZaA? Read on for our impressions of the SM58-feeling cardioid. Gallery: iRig Mic review Continue reading iRig Mic review iRig Mic review originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Kodak and Apple win early victories at International Trade Commission, big bucks hang in the balance
March 26, 2011 No Comment
Looks like the US International Trade Commission’s had a busy week in tech, as Bloomberg reports the organization has ruled on two long-standing patent wars involving Apple, Nokia, RIM and Kodak. While neither is out of the woods quite yet, two companies have reason to be pleased: Apple and Kodak. ITC Judge E. James Gildea ruled that five Nokia patents don’t apply to Apple products, making a ban on iDevice importation unlikely in the United States, and the commission has also agreed to reconsider Kodak’s case against Apple and RIM (regarding camera image previews) with its full six members present. Since nobody likes having their products seized at customs, even such preliminary verdicts can lead to large cash sums being paid out, and Kodak thinks it’s found a whopper here — Bloomberg reports that Kodak received a total of $964 million in licensing fees from Samsung and LG , and the company thinks it can suck $1 billion out of its latest pair of defendants. We’ll let you know how it goes down. Kodak and Apple win early victories at International Trade Commission, big bucks hang in the balance originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Advances in nanowires may occur on a pretty regular basis these days, but this new development out of Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems could have a particularly big impact on one all-important area: cost. As PhysOrg reports, manufacturing semiconducter nanowires at an industrial scale is currently very expensive because they need to be produced at extremely high temperatures (600 to 900 degrees Celsius), and the process used to manufacture them generally uses pure gold as a catalyst, which obviously adds to the cost. This new process, however, can use inexpensive materials like aluminum as a catalyst, and it can produce crystalline semiconductor nanowires at temperatures of just 150 degrees Celsius. Of course, that’s all still only being done in the lab at the moment, and there’s no indication as to when it might actually be more widely used. Researchers produce cheaper, ‘cooler’ semiconductor nanowires originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Given the impressive knockoffs and official camera kits we’ve seen, we’d say the iPad’s definitely got the stuff to help out most shutterbugs, but up until now, uploading content from a CF card wasn’t exactly easy. Well, our friends over at MIC Gadget recently showed off an iPad / iPad 2-compatible card reader that fixes that on the cheap. Simply called the CF card reader for iPad and iPad 2, the thing slips right into the slate’s dock connector port and, as you can see from the video below, it transfers HD video and high-res images in a snap — it also sports USB connectivity. Like its predecessor, the reader’s available from MIC for $29.90, but you’ll have to wait at least a month to get your hands on one. Oh, and a word of warning, you might want to make sure the iPad supports your camera’s video format before shelling out the dough, as MIC found the slab couldn’t playback video from a Canon EOS 5D Mark II . Continue reading iPad, iPad 2 get unofficial CF card compatibility (video) iPad, iPad 2 get unofficial CF card compatibility (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …US satellites successfully track ballistic missile from cradle to grave, don’t pay for the flowers
March 26, 2011 No Comment
Lasers destroy missiles , missiles shoot down satellites , and soon, satellites may tell both where to aim, as the United States successfully managed to track an entire ballistic missile launch from “birth-to-death” with its prototype Space Tracking and Surveillance System. After a year and a half in orbit, two Northrop Grumman-built satellites managed the feat last week, in what the company’s calling “the Holy Grail for missile defense.” While we’re not reading about any plans to mount any lasers on the satellite’s… ahem… heads, Space News reports that the US Navy will attempt to relay the satellite tracking data to its Aegis ships with interceptor missiles on board, and hopefully obliterate incoming projectiles with the extra range and reaction time that satellite coordinates afford. The Navy has reportedly scheduled its first game of space-based Missile Command for next month. US satellites successfully track ballistic missile from cradle to grave, don’t pay for the flowers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …DIY business card displays your info via persistence of vision, fails to impress Patrick Bateman (video)
March 26, 2011 No Comment
Still fancy the age-old business card and enjoy outrageous DIY projects that may or may not make you look foolish? Continue on then, dear reader. The peeps over at Instructables have provided a lengthy and seemingly difficult set of directions on how to craft a persistence of vision business card. POV allows your eyes to see text or images generated by light waving back and forth — in other words, your name is displayed by swinging your arm in a giant circle. If you’re cool with this, hit the source link, build your own and be sure to let us know how many contacts you make. Continue reading DIY business card displays your info via persistence of vision, fails to impress Patrick Bateman (video) DIY business card displays your info via persistence of vision, fails to impress Patrick Bateman (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Atomos Ninja and Samurai HD video recorder / monitors bring compression jutsu to pro filmmaking
March 26, 2011 No Comment
We all drool over the hi-res video shot by cameras like the RED EPIC , but for indie-film types, processing the massive files produced takes a lot of time (and therefore money) and not everyone has an ARRI ALEXA to do native recording compression. Enter the Atomos Ninja and Samurai HD recorder / monitor / playback devices that take your 10-bit video and compress it in Apple’s 1080p ProRes QuickTime format to make your post-production life a little easier. The Ninja pulls video through HDMI and deposits it on your choice of 2.5-inch HDD or SDD storage, does playback via a 4.3-inch 480 x 270 touchscreen, and has continuous power thanks to dual hot-swappable batteries (available in 2600, 5200, and 7800 mAh varieties). Meanwhile, the Samurai matches the Ninja’s specs, but swaps out the HDMI connection for HD-SDI ports and adds SDI Loop-Through to connect an external monitor, a larger 5-inch 800 x 400 display, and 3D support (if you get two Samurais genlocked together). Both units have FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 and 3.0 connections for offloading your vids. Those with Spielbergian aspirations can pony up $995 for the Ninja right now, or pay $1,495 for the Samurai upon its release this summer. Atomos Ninja and Samurai HD video recorder / monitors bring compression jutsu to pro filmmaking originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 11:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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AT&T’s teased that some of its existing models will eventually have HSUPA enabled, which should help mitigate the flack they’ve been taking over branding a network with glacial uplink speeds “4G.” The recently-launched HTC Inspire 4G is among the models with disabled HSUPA out of the box, but the good news is that it shouldn’t be disabled for much longer: an FCC Class II Permissive Change — which gets generated when a device’s RF characteristics are modified — has just hit, clearly stating that “HTC Corporation will enable HSUPA function of this product.” There’s no time frame for the switch, but at least we know it’s going to happen at some point; just try not to turn your Inspire into an FTP server in the meantime, alright? AT&T’s HTC Inspire 4G gets FCC permission to enable HSUPA originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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