No Android device? No problem! Turns out Amazon’s upcoming Appstore for Android — which has been in the works for some time — will allow you to purchase apps even before you receive the device you intend to install them on, presumably so that you’re stocked up and ready to go by the time the phone (or tablet, or whatever miscellaneous gizmo) arrives on your doorstep. As AllThingsD points out, the concept appears to go partway toward mimicking Amazon’s Kindle business model, which does a decent job of decoupling content (which is associated with your Amazon account) from the actual hardware you’ve got it installed on. We still don’t know exactly when the Appstore is launching, but considering Amazon’s retail chops, these guys might actually stand a chance at cutting into the Android Market’s revenue by some noticeable margin. Amazon Appstore for Android will let you buy apps without a device originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Feb 2011 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Archos Arnova is ready to exterminate your clock radio, your Squeezebox too
February 20, 2011 No Comment
The consumer electronics company with the phlegmatic name has just dropped its latest device on us, and for once it isn’t a tablet or some form of PMP . It’s the Archos Arnova, a fancy clock radio, with a 3.5-inch touchscreen in the middle plus the ability to connect to 12,000 streaming radio stations and 1,500 “web TV” channels too. If that’s not enough you can play media directly from an SD card or pull it over your local network via uPNP. Why, you can even view pictures on there, if you don’t mind squinting. What you can’t do is know how much money to save or when you’ll need to save it by if you’re looking to buy one, as Archos hasn’t seen fit to tell us that just yet. Gallery: Archos Arnova [Thanks, Joshua] Archos Arnova is ready to exterminate your clock radio, your Squeezebox too originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 23:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …US Air Force raises concerns over LightSquared’s LTE network messing with GPS
February 20, 2011 No Comment
Following a navigation system’s instructions without driving into a ravine is hard enough as it is — can you even imagine how hard it’d be if you kept losing GPS reception every time you drove within range of an LTE tower? There have been a few anecdotal concerns raised over the last several weeks that LightSquared’s proposed LTE network — which would repurpose L-band spectrum formerly used for satellite — is too close to the spectrum used by the Global Positioning System, leading to unintentional jamming when the towers overpower the much weaker GPS signals. Things have gotten a little more interesting, though, now that the US Air Force Space Command has officially piped in. General William Shelton has gone on record saying that “a leading GPS receiver manufacturer just … has concluded that within 3 to 5 miles on the ground and within about 12 miles in the air GPS is jammed by those towers,” calling the situation “unbelievable” and saying he’s “hopeful the FCC does the right thing.” Presumably, the USAF thinks that “the right thing” would involve pulling LightSquared’s license, but for its part, the company says it believes Shelton is referring to a test conducted by Garmin (possibly explaining that recent outage in the Southeastern US?) using simulated interference filters — not the actual filters that it has spent several million dollars developing and perfecting. Regardless of how effective the filters might be, the idea that the only thing standing between a functional GPS system and a constellation of space-borne paperweights is a private company’s privately-developed, privately-operated filtering equipment… but then again, we love LTE. Decisions! [Thanks, Brian] US Air Force raises concerns over LightSquared’s LTE network messing with GPS originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 22:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …BlackBerry Dakota / Montana spotted in the wild, sporting threads of carbon
February 20, 2011 No Comment
So how’s our little leaked friend the alleged BlackBerry Bold Touch doing as Canada’s winter continues to rage? Looks like he’s all wrapped up and toasty in a tasteful carbon fiber weave. N4BB nabbed the first real-life photos of the triple-input-device OS 6.1 smartphone, which confirm its 640 x 480 VGA screen, though the publication says it’s also gained storage space (6.5GB flash) and lost memory (512MB of RAM) since the last time we heard its specs . There’s apparently still a 5 megapixel camera to be had, as well as a magnetometer, accelerometer and proximity sensor, and — as the rumor mill whispered in January — integrated NFC . Still no word on processing power, but it sure sounds like it’ll mop the floor with the Torch either way. [Thanks, Mike] BlackBerry Dakota / Montana spotted in the wild, sporting threads of carbon originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Here’s a quick heads-up, if you had your heart set on Samsung’s Galaxy S 4G : T-Mobile says it’ll actually cost $199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. That means you’re paying $250 out the door for an HSPA+ capable Vibrant, not counting taxes and related fees. T-Mobile says the original $150 price was a mistake on its part, and while you’re welcome to bring as many false advertising lawsuits as you’d like, we doubt you’ll get very far. Samsung Galaxy S 4G will actually cost $200, unfortunately originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 20:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Where can you find Orson Welles, Marconi’s daughter, Alexander Graham Bell’s grandaughter, and inventors of the transistor and television? You might try To Communicate is the Beginning , a 1976 educational publication tracing the history of electronic communication, which AT&T recently decided to exhume from its archives of Bell Labs material. The 30-minute video’s just the first in a series, too, as AT&T’s website is already playing host to fllms about the origins of the laser and integrated circuit too, with more on the way. Find them all at our source link — you do want to know how your favorite technologies evolved, right? AT&T opens up video archives, shares the history inside originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 20:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
We’d raised our own concerns in interviews with both Stephen Elop and Microsoft’s Aaron Woodman in the past week that Nokia could have difficulty pushing the Windows Phone platform low enough to fill the holes left by Symbian’s departure in the bottom rungs of the market, but the Nokia CEO is making it very clear that he thinks that won’t be a problem. In a talk with Finnish journalists on Friday, Elop said that it has become “convinced” that it can hit “a very low price point” and do it “very quickly,” a strategy that will be key to converting significant swaths of Symbian market share into Windows Phone market share without losing it to other manufacturers or platforms. Of course, something tells us the leaked design concept (pictured right) doesn’t represent the types of hardware Nokia has in mind for those low price points — but no single device or market segment is going to take Espoo to the promised land here. Nokia CEO: cheap Windows Phones can come ‘very quickly’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Rolls-Royce electrifies Phantom sedan, tests the waters of luxury (video)
February 19, 2011 No Comment
If you have the money to consider owning a Rolls, we doubt you’re worried about gasoline, but that hasn’t stopped the manufacturer from finally electrifying its Spirit of Ecstasy. Two years after teasing a fully-electric Phantom , Rolls-Royce has built the car for real, a one-off prototype it’s dubbed the 102EX, or Phantom Experimental Electric. You won’t be able to buy one, though, no matter your estate, as rather than produce the vehicle Rolls is taking it on a world tour to gauge the reaction of the luxury automobile community. First stop: the Geneva Motor Show on March 1st, where the company will reveal the vehicle’s full technical specs. While you wait, you’re welcome to peruse the entirely unhelpful video teaser and modestly useful press release after the break. Continue reading Rolls-Royce electrifies Phantom sedan, tests the waters of luxury (video) Rolls-Royce electrifies Phantom sedan, tests the waters of luxury (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …German researchers take mind-controlled car for a carefully-controlled spin
February 19, 2011 No Comment
Emotiv’s mind-reading EPOC headset may not have changed the face of video games , but it looks like it’s proven to be more than adequate for a team of German researchers, who’ve used it as the key component in their BrainDriver project. Yes, that’s a mind-controlled car and, after a bit of training, is does appear to have performed reasonably well — albeit with a slight delay that makes any real world test a worse idea than it already was. Interestingly, this latest effort actually follows some previous attempts at a completely autonomous car by the same group of researchers at the Freie Universit
Continue reading …Intel to spend $5 billion on new 14nm fab in Arizona, create 4,000 new jobs this year
February 19, 2011 No Comment
When Paul Otellini isn’t too busy talking about being jilted by Nokia , he spends his time hosting presidents and splashing billions of dollars on new manufacturing facilities. Intel’s CEO is wrapping his tumultuous week on a high note, having welcomed Barack Obama to Chipzilla’s Oregon facility and treated the president to the happy news that Intel will invest $5 billion back into the US economy by building its most advanced fab yet — which will introduce an impossibly small 14nm production process — in Arizona, to begin operation in 2013. Construction starts in the middle of this year and is expected to create “thousands” of jobs, both temporary and permanent. Aside from that, Otellini has disclosed Intel’s intention to create 4,000 new jobs in the US, mostly in R&D and product development. Music to Obama’s ears, we’re sure. Continue reading Intel to spend $5 billion on new 14nm fab in Arizona, create 4,000 new jobs this year Intel to spend $5 billion on new 14nm fab in Arizona, create 4,000 new jobs this year originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 15:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …