Posted Oct 13th 2007 11:49PM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Cellphones, Features
Okay, now we know what you're thinking. Sure, we (lovingly) raked
Palm over the coals in our
open letter to the company, and yeah, we haven't been the sweetest of hearts to the boys from
Sunnyvale (with reason, of course). However, If you've paid attention to our past good-intentioned prodding, then you'll know that getting our hands on a new Palm device still gives some of us chills.
After seeing scores of "leaked" photos of the
Centro, and hearing enough internet chatter about the device to make your brain vibrate like tightly-wound piano string, actually getting our hands on the phone was honestly a bit of a surprise, both bad and good. We're going to break it down piece by piece and hopefully give you a rounded impression of the smartphone crown-chaser (or at least princess-in-waiting).
Continue reading Palm Centro review
Posted Oct 13th 2007 9:17PM by Darren Murph
If you had an inkling that Qualcomm's legal altercations were finally
concluding, you'd be badly mistaken. Reportedly, the chip maker is now feuding with 19 of its
own attorneys (or should we say, prior attorneys) over "who should shoulder the blame for what a judge called 'gross misconduct on a massive scale' at a past trial." Apparently, 21 crucial e-mails and some 200,000 pages of documents owned by Qualcomm were withheld until after Broadcom trials, which was unsurprisingly seen as a "carefully orchestrated plan and deadly determination to hold hostage the entire industry." Now, US Magistrate Judge Barbara Major is "considering sanctions" against the lawyers in question, which has placed their careers in danger and is "prolonging a damaging episode for Qualcomm." We're tempted to ask what could possibly happen next, but quite frankly, we're terrified of the answer.
Posted Oct 13th 2007 7:40PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables
We've seen some pretty
outrageous looking
antennas in our day, but NEC could have a hit on its hands with this newfangled cloth iteration. Granted, details are still hazy, but apparently this device can receive OTA TV signals and double as a handkerchief if you so desire. Reportedly, the firm has lined the cloth triangles with a "special metal" that can pick up broadcasted signals, and it's already thinking about integrating this into tents and other outdoor equipment. Additionally, this could certainly take wearable electronics to a new level if it were woven into one's garb (walking televisions, anyone?), but sadly, there's no word as to when (or if) this technology will hit the mainstream.
[Thanks, kaztm]
Posted Oct 13th 2007 5:32PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Wireless
Although Wal-Mart is traditionally viewed as a logistics leader and a pioneer in RFID adoption, only 975 of its stores currently utilize the technology. Frustrated by losing sales due to misplaced inventory, the firm is now dead set on rolling out RFID gear into every single North American store, and soon. When complete, over 4,000 locales will be fitted with the equipment, which could net Wally World over $287 million in extra sales by simply having the technology in place to quickly track down wares before a customer heads elsewhere. Of course, it seems but a matter of time before these tags actually make it beyond the crate and onto
individual items / shelves, but hey, it's not like you actually
expected Wal-Mart to turn away Big Brother,
right?
[Image courtesy of
Weka]
Posted Oct 13th 2007 3:39PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Portable Audio
As the constant
battle between the National Association of Broadcasters and nearly
everyone else
continues on over the potential XM / Sirius merger, the entity is now asking the FCC to put a stop on the 180-day clock for considering the junction. Reportedly, all the NAB wants is "time to go through documents it said it is getting through a Freedom of Information Request filed in March," and it seemingly feels that some of the articles it's still waiting for contain proof of "serious apparent wrongdoing by XM and Sirius executive and senior-level employees regarding the operation of FM modulators / translators and / or terrestrial repeaters." Of note, both of the aforementioned sat radio providers shot back by stating that the NAB's "allegations are unfounded and its recent filing is just an attempt to stall the process." From the outside looking in, we'd say that sounds just about right. [Warning: PDF read link]
[Via
BroadcastingCable]
Posted Oct 13th 2007 2:28PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Desktops
It looks like those that took advantage of the now-discounted 24-inch iMac's
upgradeable graphics only to be stymied by problems with Boot Camp may finally be getting a fix courtesy of Apple, although that's apparently still far from a sure thing. According to AppleInsider, Apple has in fact been "secretly testing" a software patch for the problem, which prevented users with certain graphics cards from booting into Windows using Boot Camp, but an actual release will depend on whether testers can isolate a few "remaining bugs." As AppleInsider points out, however, that process could well be pushed down the list of priorities for the company, what with another
little piece of software supposedly nearing a release.
Posted Oct 13th 2007 1:49PM by Conrad Quilty-Harper
Filed under: Gaming
Although there's still no official word from Microsoft about the
Xbox 360 Arcade, we've just received a second picture of a boxed unit sitting on the shelves of a retail store: this time in a Methuen, MA store, only miles away from
the unit spotted in Haverhill. New details include a Harry Potter / Lego Star Wars back, along with details on included games -- we can make out Uno, Pac-Man, Luxor 2, and two other indistinguishable logos. The closeness of the two spottings indicates that this early leak is the fault of whoever put a pallet on a truck without marking it with the correct ship date. In that case, don't expect an
early announcement from Microsoft.
[Thanks, Emanuel E.]
Posted Oct 13th 2007 1:02PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Unfortunately, details are still thin on this one, but apparently Sony is looking to introduce not one, but three new DSLRs next year. At a recent press event at Sonimagfoto in Barcelona, Spain, it was reported that the firm is hoping to crank out an all new flagship model, a true
A100 successor and another flavor that's likely to hit at a lower price point than its higher-end
Alpha siblings. Additionally, it's looking to increase its lens collection from around 24 to 40 within the next two years, many of which will be new designs from Carl Zeiss. Beyond that, we're simply left to speculate, so be our guests in comments, would ya?
[Thanks, Jakob G.]
Posted Oct 13th 2007 11:53AM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Wireless
The
ZigBee wireless standard has already proven to be fairly successful in its current state, but it now looks like it'll soon be getting a boost, with the new and improved ZigBee PRO standard now apparently getting the all clear from the all-important ZigBee Alliance. Among other things, it supposedly improves the wireless technology's flexibility and ease of use, and adds a number of "advanced features," including support for larger wireless networks. While it appears to be all but a sure thing, the standard still has to go through the so-called "Golden Node" testing procedure, which focuses on interoperability between between devices from different manufacturers. According Bob Gohn from Ember Corporation (a leading ZigBee firm), assuming all that goes as planned, the new platform should be ready for an official launch sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, although it's not clear when there might actually be some devices that take advantage of it.
Posted Oct 13th 2007 10:31AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Gaming
Just in case you thought this whole
Vii thing was one big prank, guess again. Our pals over at Engadget Chinese managed to scrounge up one of these clones and put it toe-to-toe with its idol. Needless to say, Nintendo's unit tends to demand quite a bit more respect, but why not take a look at
their gallery and see how the two really stack up.
Update:Live video
Posted Oct 13th 2007 7:32AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
Trust us, we know how tough it is to count to 999 in our head while closing in on a cool thousand push-ups, so we could not be more excited to see Konami's push-up counter. Okay, our entire team couldn't hit 1,000 collectively in one sitting (okay, maybe so on a good day), but for those macho, macho men out there, this thing will certainly keep you motivated as you look to max one out and hop over to another. Feel free to start the chin-to-big red button-action as soon as you muster up ¥1,764 ($15) required to claim one of your own.
[Via
TechDigest]
Posted Oct 13th 2007 4:19AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless
In case you're not
tired of
seeing high-speed
promises for 4G networks, along comes yet another from South Korea that could "enable users to download data at 3.6-gigabits per second while moving at 3-kilometers per hour or slower. Dubbed NoLA, which translates out to New Nomadic Local Area Wireless Access, the technology should allow folks to "download a disc full of data in under two seconds." Choi Mun-kee, head of the Daejeon-based institute, stated that NoLA data transmissions far surpass the "international
4G benchmark for slow-moving users," and Minister of Information and Communications Yoo Young-hwan threw in his two pennies by suggesting that it could one day "be applied to home networking and internet protocol TV or IPTV." Now, if only South Korea was closer to America...
[Via
GizmoWatch, thanks
Vikas]
Posted Oct 13th 2007 12:09AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Archos' AV420 hit the market quite some time ago, but that apparently didn't stop the Nanjing Panda Information Industry Company from trying to sneak one by us. The HDD-based V503 claims to feature a 3.6-inch LCD, rechargeable battery pack, FM tuner, USB 2.0 connectivity and support for DivX, AVI, MP3, WMA and VCD formats. Additionally, users can load in a 1.8-inch hard drive and take advantage of the AV output, integrated microphone and text viewer. Per usual, there's no price listed, but considering that this thing just
looks old fashioned, we'd advise on passing, anyway.
[Via
PMPToday, thanks Brian B.]
Posted Oct 12th 2007 10:36PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Gaming
Well, would you look at that. A Target store in Haverhill, MA has one of those
Xbox 360 Arcade getups we've heard a
thing or
two about lately. If our eyes don't deceive us, that blurry pricetag is showing off a $280 pricetag, which isn't too surprising no matter how exciting a $250 tag would've been. Who knows how much more evidence it's going to take for Microsoft to finally fess up to this one, but we're enjoying the spy shots while they last. There's another pic after the break.
[Thanks, Paul A.]
Continue reading Xbox 360 Arcade finds a shelf in the wild
Posted Oct 12th 2007 10:23PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Portable Audio
Make no mistake, this isn't the first time a religious symbol has been integrated into a digital audio player, but unlike the
iBelieve, this thing is actually, you know,
real. Destined to be sold in bulk quantities to youth groups everywhere, the Cross MP3 Player is hardly designed by coincidence, and comes with 4GB of internal memory, a two-color LCD, built-in speaker, FM tuner, integrated mic, seven equalizer modes and a multi-language menu for those overseas mission trips. Fightin' the good fight will only cost you $48.14, but you can whittle that down even more by purchasing these things by the hundreds. Check out a couple more shots after the jump.
[Via
CNET]
Continue reading Cross MP3 Player keeps the faith
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