We’ve already heard a fair bit about RIM’s plans for NFC -based mobile payments, but it’s starting to look like some of those plans don’t quite line up with what the carriers have in mind. As the Wall Street Journal reports, there’s a brewing dispute between RIM and a number of carriers including AT&T, T-Mobile and Rogers over just how NFC payment-related data, or “credentials,” are stored, and who actually controls that data. For its part, RIM unsurprisingly wants to store the data in a secure area of the phone itself, which would obviously tie folks to their BlackBerry more than ever, while the carriers are pushing to have that data simply stored on the phone’s SIM card, which would let customers move from one phone to another more easily. While things apparently haven’t gotten that heated just yet, it does certainly seem like there’s a bit of a fight in store — according to the Wall Street Journal , RIM is already reaching out to banks on its own in an effort to strike some deals, while Canadian carriers have apparently been telling RIM in a “gentle” way that “you won’t be doing this.” Carriers at odds with RIM over NFC payment data originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Samsung Epic 4G, Galaxy Tab and Transform software updates coming March 21st: Froyo and / or Sprint ID in tow
March 18, 2011 No Comment
This one isn’t quite completely official just yet, but a helpful tipster has passed along the screenshot above which quite clearly suggests that some software updates are coming to a trio of Sprint’s Samsung devices on March 21st. That includes a new and hopefully improved over-the-air upgrade to Android 2.2.1 for the Epic 4G, as well as an Android 2.2 update for the Transform , both of which also include a number of other additions like Flash 10.1 on the Epic and Swype on the Transform. Also not left out of the fun is Sprint’s version of the Galaxy Tab , which is getting the Sprint ID update we saw first hand at CES back in January — it’s headed to the Epic and Transform as well. Samsung Epic 4G, Galaxy Tab and Transform software updates coming March 21st: Froyo and / or Sprint ID in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Internet Explorer versions 1 through 9 compared, signs of progress found (video)
March 18, 2011 No Comment
Most sane folks will have greeted the arrival of Internet Explorer 9 with a curious click on a download button or a simple update of the browser they were already using, but that’s not enough for everyone. One chap with a taste for the eccentrically geeky decided to take this opportunity to go through a retrospective of every version of IE, going all the way back to Windows 95′s first iteration, and to run the Acid compatibility tests to see how they stand up to modern standards. IE1, the ancient, CSS-deprived beast that it is, choked immediately and failed to even display its homepage without an error, but things improved steadily from there until the triumph of iteration 9. See all that glorious progress happening in the space of just a few minutes in the video after the break. Continue reading Internet Explorer versions 1 through 9 compared, signs of progress found (video) Internet Explorer versions 1 through 9 compared, signs of progress found (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You wouldn’t think something classifiable as “wearable storage” would look so darn dapper, but here we are, staring at just about the finest cufflinks we ever did see. Not only are these handmade shirt cuffs beautiful in the most steampunk of ways, they’re also pretty useful as each features an 8GB flash storage chip with the utterly ubiquitous USB connector attached. Basically, they’re what James Bond would wear if James Bond wore really awesome cufflinks . The general idea behind them might not exactly be original anymore, but we can’t really fault the execution here. What we could probably find fault with is our lack of $225 of disposable coin, the price one will have to pay to sport this unique pair of hand-carved, walnut-enclosed memory sticks. [Thanks, Amelia] Continue reading Steampunk USB cufflinks are as awesome as they are pricey Steampunk USB cufflinks are as awesome as they are pricey originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …You wouldn’t think something classifiable as “wearable storage” would look so darn dapper, but here we are, staring at just about the finest cufflinks we ever did see. Not only are these handmade shirt cuffs beautiful in the most steampunk of ways, they’re also pretty useful as each features an 8GB flash storage chip with the utterly ubiquitous USB connector attached. Basically, they’re what James Bond would wear if James Bond wore really awesome cufflinks . The general idea behind them might not exactly be original anymore, but we can’t really fault the execution here. What we could probably find fault with is our lack of $225 of disposable coin, the price one will have to pay to sport this unique pair of hand-carved, walnut-enclosed memory sticks. [Thanks, Amelia] Continue reading Steampunk USB cufflinks are as awesome as they are pricey Steampunk USB cufflinks are as awesome as they are pricey originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …You wouldn’t think something classifiable as “wearable storage” would look so darn dapper, but here we are, staring at just about the finest cufflinks we ever did see. Not only are these handmade shirt cuffs beautiful in the most steampunk of ways, they’re also pretty useful as each features an 8GB flash storage chip with the utterly ubiquitous USB connector attached. Basically, they’re what James Bond would wear if James Bond wore really awesome cufflinks . The general idea behind them might not exactly be original anymore, but we can’t really fault the execution here. What we could probably find fault with is our lack of $225 of disposable coin, the price one will have to pay to sport this unique pair of hand-carved, walnut-enclosed memory sticks. [Thanks, Amelia] Continue reading Steampunk USB cufflinks are as awesome as they are pricey Steampunk USB cufflinks are as awesome as they are pricey originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …AT&T tells customers using unauthorized tethering methods to pay up or stop
March 18, 2011 1 Comment
Been using an app like MyWi to enable tethering on your jailbroken iPhone? Then there’s a good chance you’ve already received a message like the one above from AT&T, or perhaps an email like the one after the break. By all accounts, the carrier is now cracking down on all unauthorized tethering, and it’s asking folks engaged in such behavior to either pay up for a proper tethering plan or simply stop tethering altogether — if it doesn’t hear anything back for you after sending the message, AT&T says it will automatically enroll you in a DataPro 4GB tethering plan (at a rate of $45 a month). We should note that all the reports we’ve seen so far are from iPhone users, although that certainly doesn’t mean Android users will simply be allowed to slip by unnoticed. Exactly how AT&T is identifying users isn’t clear, however, and we could well just be seeing the beginning of a cat and mouse game as folks try to discover workarounds to go undetected. More on this one as we get it. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Continue reading AT&T tells customers using unauthorized tethering methods to pay up or stop AT&T tells customers using unauthorized tethering methods to pay up or stop originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Flash 10.2 hits Android today, Adobe hopes for viewable 720p playback in a matter of weeks
March 18, 2011 No Comment
Today, Adobe Flash 10.2 will hit the Android Market for devices running Froyo, Gingerbread and Honeycomb, and by now you’re probably familiar with what it brings — increased performance for dual-core smartphones running Android 2.2 and Android 2.3, and the promise of seriously sped-up Flash content and better battery life for Android 3.0 tablets (not to mention Flash, period ). Well, we’ve already spent a full day with the latest build of Flash 10.2 for Android and quizzed the company thoroughly about the release, and there’s actually a surprise to be had today, and more coming soon. First off, you don’t absolutely need a dual-core phone to take advantage of Flash 10.2 — Adobe VP Danny Winokur told us, and we confirmed in testing, that there are slight performance improvements on earlier devices too. With our trusty Droid 2′s 1Ghz OMAP3 chip, we saw a slight but noticeable boost in framerate when playing a YouTube trailer at 480p, which admittedly only took took that particular video from “unwatchable” to merely “fairly jerky.” With the Tegra 2-toting Motorola Xoom, however, 480p videos ran perfectly smooth , even as the tablet had trouble rendering 720p content as anything but a series of images. However, Adobe says even that will change soon, as this beta release doesn’t take advantage of full hardware acceleration — it’s actually turned off right now. Though the Tegra 2 is natively decoding video, Adobe told us that hardware rendering and compositing will be added in a subsequent release, and when they are it “will bring 720p playback to a really smooth, enjoyable level.” The other work-in-progress is Flash integration into Google’s Honeycomb browser, which presently has trouble detecting finger taps when Flash isn’t played full screen , but which will — Adobe hopes — play exactly the same inside and outside the browser when work on Flash 10.2 is complete. Sounds promising, no? Then why not download it yourself and give it a go? Flash 10.2 hits Android today, Adobe hopes for viewable 720p playback in a matter of weeks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …RSA hacked, data exposed that could ‘reduce the effectiveness’ of SecurID tokens
March 18, 2011 No Comment
If you’ve ever wondered whether two-factor authentication systems actually boost security, things that spit out random numbers you have to enter in addition to a password, the answer is yes, yes they do. But, their effectiveness is of course dependent on the security of the systems that actually generate those funny numbers, and as of this morning those are looking a little less reliable. RSA , the security division of EMC and producer of the SecurID systems used by countless corporations (and the Department of Defense), has been hacked. Yesterday it sent out messages to its clients and posted an open letter stating that it’s been the victim of an “advanced” attack that “resulted in certain information being extracted from RSA’s systems” — information “specifically related to RSA’s SecurID two-factor authentication products.” Yeah, yikes. The company assures that the system hasn’t been totally compromised, but the information retrieved “could potentially be used to reduce the effectiveness of a current two-factor authentication implementation as part of a broader attack.” RSA is recommending its customers beef up security in other ways, including a suggestion that TSA’s customers “enforce strong password and pin policies.” Of course, if security admins wanted to rely on those they wouldn’t have made everyone carry around SecurID tokens in the first place. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] RSA hacked, data exposed that could ‘reduce the effectiveness’ of SecurID tokens originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 08:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Dell Streak 7 gets certified in Wi-Fi-only form, shows up on Amazon for pre-order
March 18, 2011 No Comment
At about $200 on-contract, Dell’s Streak 7 is one of the cheaper ways to get yourself into an Android tablet — or at least into one made by a manufacturer you’ve actually heard of before. But, that “on-contract” bit means of course the 3G-equipped handheld will be considerably more expensive in the long-run — or $450 up-front if you skip the contract. Here’s one that isn’t. Early this AM we got word that a Wi-Fi only version of the tablet had been certified and, now, here it is up on Amazon for pre-order. No release date is available but the price is: $379.99. That’s about $70 less than the 3G model and $20 less than the 3G-free Galaxy Tab is expected to retail for . Is that cheap enough to make up for its flaws ? That, dear reader, is a question you must answer for yourself. Dell Streak 7 gets certified in Wi-Fi-only form, shows up on Amazon for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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