HTC Thunderbolt hits $175 price point with LetsTalk — but only for this weekend
March 19, 2011 No Comment
LetsTalk has this morning dropped its price for the HTC Thunderbolt from $200 all the way down to the so-far unmatched level of $175. This applies when bought with the obligatory two-year service plan and will be available to all willing customers, whether they be new to Verizon, adding an extra line, or upgrading their current phone. It also betters Amazon’s $180 price in one other important aspect: Amazon’s Thunderbolts are on back order at present, whereas LetsTalk has immediate stock and will even cover the cost of shipping. All good things must come to an end, however, and this discounted pricing will last only until Monday, at which point the cost will revert to a more sustainable point for the retailer. That said, we’d advise against rushing in unless you’re categorically sure — LetsTalk will ding you for $250 if you don’t stick to the contract that goes with this handset for at least 181 days. HTC Thunderbolt hits $175 price point with LetsTalk — but only for this weekend originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 09:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM
March 19, 2011 No Comment
Whether or not you agree with their tactics, lots of companies are finding it quite lucrative business to spend more time in the courts than in the research labs. CSIRO got some tasty settlements back in 2009, while just a few months ago Wi-LAN received ” a significant amount ” in a settlement from Intel. Now it’s Mosaid’s turn, a Kanata, Ontario-based company that bills itself as “one of the world’s leading intellectual property (IP) companies, focused on the licensing and development of semiconductor and communications technologies.” Indeed it just licensed some of those properties to LG on the 15th, but the very next day it filed suit against a 17 defendants for infringing on six of the company’s patents, relating to network discovery, multiplexing, and other wireless techniques. Among those companies is RIM; which has its Torch, Style, Curve, Pearl, Bold, Storm handsets called out; and Asus, which has a long line of motherboards, routers, and other products said to be in jeopardy. As ever it’s hard to draw the line between the patent trolls and the legitimately infringed, but that the lawsuit was filed in litigation-friendly Marshall, Texas doesn’t leave us with a particularly good feeling. Continue reading Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Beautiful Earth’s NYC solar powered EV charger follows the sun to Brooklyn Bridge Park
March 19, 2011 No Comment
The solar-powered, green and white Beautiful Earth Group EV charging station, which once found its shipping container internals filled with a Mini E , is no longer. Well, it’s no longer where it was, anyway. It’s now somewhere completely different , a place that happens to be just down the road, a land known by many as Brooklyn. It’s Brooklyn Bridge Park, specifically, and Better Earth has donated the thing to the facilities department there. It’ll be used to charge up the service vehicles that patrol the place, apparently including a pair of GEM and Toro Workman EVs that look like they might have been Photoshopped into the promotional picture above. The presumably non-digitally-manipulated ones will all be recharged using the charging station’s 24 solar cells, generating 5.6kW and, ultimately, saving the world. Or, at least, the Park. Beautiful Earth’s NYC solar powered EV charger follows the sun to Brooklyn Bridge Park originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 07:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Netflix is getting into the content biz, confirms ‘House of Cards’ will launch in late 2012
March 19, 2011 No Comment
The rumors are true, instead of simply offering old content from others, Netflix is jumping back into the content business by licensing David Fincher’s upcoming drama House of Cards for Watch Instantly streaming in the US and Canada before it airs anywhere else, or has even been produced. In a blog post and interview with AllThingsD , Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos justifies signing up for the series sight unseen by pointing out the popularity of the earlier BBC miniseries on which it is is based among Netflix members and the collective skills of both the director and lead actor Kevin Spacey. However, if you’re waiting around for fresh content to pop up on Watch Instantly don’t hold your breath, the 26 episode episode run produced by (interestingly, Netflix will neither produce nor own the show) Media Rights Capital isn’t due to arrive until late 2012. Continue reading Netflix is getting into the content biz, confirms ‘House of Cards’ will launch in late 2012 Netflix is getting into the content biz, confirms ‘House of Cards’ will launch in late 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It’s expected that when the Tesla Model S hits full production it’ll be rolling out of the company’s newly acquired facility in Fremont, California — formerly the NUMMI plant jointly owned by General Motors and Toyota . For now, though, the cars are being put together at Tesla HQ in Palo Alto and the company invited some media to go check things out. GigaOM has some pictures showing various Teslas in various states of disassembly, including motor and rear suspension assemblies about to be bolted in, and Chief Engineer Peter Rawlinson talking about the car’s massive front radiator assembly. Oh, and the matte orange models? No, they’re sadly not the first examples of a special General Lee edition. Those cars are destined to be run into various walls at various speeds to test the car’s performance in a crash, much like this poor Volvo was . Do spare a thought. Tesla opens its workshop, shows off more Model S prototypes originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 05:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Arctic Spas shows off hot tub-controlling iPhone app, waterproof iPhone case sold separately (video)
March 19, 2011 No Comment
Frankly, a few things in life are just too hard. Taxes being one of them, and moving from one’s spot in a hot tub to adjust the temperature and / or jet pressure being another. In a bid to solve issue number two, Arctic Spas has shoved out an iOS app (Android and BlackBerry are inbound) that interfaces with a WiFi module on some of the company’s hot tubs . Once loaded up, owners can control temperature and jets with a simple touch, though we hear that loads of steam and moist fingers aren’t exactly great for consumer electronics. Either way, you’ve got a video to entice you down below. Continue reading Arctic Spas shows off hot tub-controlling iPhone app, waterproof iPhone case sold separately (video) Arctic Spas shows off hot tub-controlling iPhone app, waterproof iPhone case sold separately (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Theorists get us closer to believing time travel is possible via the Large Hadron Collider
March 19, 2011 No Comment
Hard to say if Doc Brown would give this his coveted seal of approval, but our gullible minds have already been made up: time travel is not only possible, but it’s well within reach. A gaggle of scientists have apparently figured out a theory that could use the Large Hadron Collider to move a Higgs singlet back and forth through time. The ‘catch’ is that they have yet to prove the existence of said singlet, but the upside is that nothing in theory violates any laws of physics or experimental constraints. In other words, this wouldn’t enable a human to move back and forth along the universal timetable
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You can already do plenty of calculations and conversions right in Google’s search box, and it looks like the company’s now made it even smarter still. Searching for the title of an upcoming movie or video game plus “release date” will now instantly give you Google’s best guess for when the title will actually be released, which is apparently based on how often it’s been mentioned on certain websites. So far, we’ve only been able to get it to work with movies and games, although it seems pretty likely that it will soon expand to other areas as well — maybe even gadgets? Try it out yourself and let us know if you find anything. [Thanks, Mario] Google guesstimates release dates for movies and games originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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All signs are pointing to a Sprint blowout at CTIA next week — and we’ll be there, of course! But ahead of that, BGR’s claiming a few additional details on the headline devices we scooped not long ago that Sprint should be showing for the first time at the show — namely, the EVO 3D and EVO View 4G tablet. On the EVO 3D side, this bad boy is shaping up to be a proper EVO 4G successor with a newer 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8660 processor, 4.3-inch glasses-free 3D 960 x 540 display (which, like the rumored Pyramid , suggests HTC is following the qHD trend set by Motorola), a whopping 1GB of RAM, 1080p video out, 1.3 megapixel camera up front, and — of course — dual 5 megapixel cameras around back for stereoscopic capture. The rumor also pegs Gingerbread at launch along with 3D versions of the Blockbuster and YouTube apps to make sure users have plenty of 3D content out of the gate; that tidbit seems particularly believable considering that YouTube introduced high-quality mobile playback on the EVO 4G last year. As for the EVO View 4G, it’s shaping up to be a CDMA / WiMAX remix of the Flyer — as expected — complete with pen input. They’re also expected to confirm that the Xoom will be coming in a Sprint flavor (with WiMAX in place of Verizon’s LTE, of course) and will be launching “in the coming weeks or months.” Looking like it’s going to be tough for any other carrier to go this deep at the show — but hey, we invite ‘em to give it a shot. HTC EVO 3D, EVO View 4G specs revealed ahead of Sprint’s CTIA announce? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 01:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If you’ve been following these here pages closely, you’ll know that a little device named the Nexus S 4G is coming to Sprint’s network, with the expectation being that it’ll be announced at CTIA early next week. Fueling our previous info on the matter, we’ve now gotten ahold of an image purporting to be the logo that Sprint and Google will be using to represent their new WiMAX-equipped collaboration. That can be found after the break, but what you’re really eager to learn more about is that image of a Motorola Xoom with a Now Network logo on it, right? Well, it comes from the same source, whose record of revealing Sprint pre-release hardware (and not getting fired) is quite exemplary, so we’re willing to credit it as the real deal. We’ve no launch dates or pricing details to share as yet, but it’s not unreasonable to expect Sprint will be disclosing all that juicy info during its extra-long CTIA presser. And if not, we’ll keep tracking down these leaks and get it to you anyway! [Thanks, r0fl] Continue reading Motorola Xoom with Sprint insignia, Nexus S 4G logo leak out Motorola Xoom with Sprint insignia, Nexus S 4G logo leak out originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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