Friday, July 30, 2010
Parrot AR.Drone now available for pre-order, shipping September 3rd
Been itching to get your hands on the Parrot AR.Drone ever since it first took flight at CES way back in January? Well, you can now finally get your $299 pre-order in to ensure it ships to you on the September 3rd launch date. What's more, Parrot has also announced that the Drone will be exclusively available at Brookstone stores in the U.S., where you'll be able to try it out first-hand through October 31st. Head on past the break for the complete press release, and be sure to check out our recent hands-on if you need a reminder of the iPhone-controlled shenanigans possible with the device.
Droid 2 manual leaks, teaches you everything you need to know about a phone you don't have
You know the drill: blurry shots of phone get leaked... user's manual gets leaked... excited would-be buyers voraciously consume manual's contents... phone finally gets released. Indeed, that's precisely the same well-trodden path the upcoming Droid 2 is taking, so if you're looking at getting this thing in the next few weeks, you might want to start skimming the documentation so there aren't any embarrassing newbie missteps in your first few moments of ownership. As Droid Life notes, we've got more confirmation here that the phone will be running the same skin as the Droid X, complete with the Swype-enabled (and presumably multitouch-enabled) soft keyboard for those times when you're too lazy to pull out the physical keyboard. We can't imagine what else could possibly leak at this point -- so hey, Verizon, can we recommend you go ahead and get this show on the road?
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Acer's Android-powered Stream confirmed for Expansys-exclusive August 9th launch
Acer's Android-powered Stream phone already got official way back in May -- and we got our hands on itat Computex in June -- but the company has only just now confirmed a launch date. According to Acer, the Stream will be rolling out on August 9th, and it'll be exclusive to UK-based online retailer Expansys, at least initially. As for the phone itself, you can expect a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen, Android 2.1 for an OS, a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video recording (no flash, though), an HDMI out port, and full DLNA / UPnP support for media streaming (hence the name). Of course, being exclusive to Expansys also means you won't be getting a subsidized price -- look for this one to set you back £399, or just over $600. Full press release is after the break.Update: And it looks like we've got our first unboxing with the final retail packaging. Video's after the break.
It's not the first thumb drive we've seen that taps into eSATA in order to provide near-USB 3.0 speeds without a SuperSpeed socket, but A-DATA's N909 ditches that awful design scheme from years back in favor of a much more streamlined approach here. Designed to utilize that USB 2.0 + eSATA combo port that's found on most modern day laptops, the N909 doesn't require an extra USB connection for power. Internally, the four-channel design enables the stick to achieve transfer rates of up to 90MB/sec (read) and 50MB/sec (write), and it'll also function just fine in a standard USB 2.0 socket (albeit at far slower speeds). No pricing information is being handed down just yet, but they should hit shelves soon in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities.
Rambus victorious in patent fight with NVIDIA, can expect neat wad of cash for its troubles
So what if Rambus doesn't really produce anything tangible these days? We're hearing the "innovation" business is going really well for the company that recently celebrated its 1,000th patent, and now there's a nice big windfall in its near future as well. The US International Trade Commission has handed down a ruling agreeing with a previous judgment that NVIDIA infringed on three Rambus patents in the design of its memory controllers, with the ultimate outcome being a ban on importing such infringing goods into the country. Of course, that's the one thing we're sure won't be happening, but NVIDIA will now have tosign up for a license to Rambus' precious IP portfolio, which might be a tad bit costly given that GeForce, Quadro, nForce, Tesla and Tegra chips are named as being in violation -- aside from Ion, that's pretty much NVIDIA's whole hardware business.
Apple launching new Mac Pros, speedbumped iMac, new Cinema Display and maybe the Magic Trackpad tomorrow?
Sure, we've been hearing whispers that Apple's got a new Mac Pros and some updated iMacs waiting in the wings, but our friend John Gruber at Daring Fireball seems just a mite more confident about things -- in a post trumpeting the return of his podcast The Talk Show, John coyly says tomorrow "might hypothetically" bring new Mac Pros, speedbumped iMacs (we'd guess the Core i3 will make its OS X debut), and a new 27-inch 16:9 Cinema Display will all arrive tomorrow. John also says the Magic Trackpad might also arrive tomorrow, but he's calling that one a "double-hypothetical," so who knows -- we'd think anything more serious than hardware refreshes would warrant a Jobs introduction, but hey, maybe Steve's all talked out for the month. We'll see what happens -- stay tuned.Augen's $150 Android tablet hits Kmart circular, coming to stores later this week
We can't say we've heard of Augen before, but the company certainly sparked our interest (and that of Kmart circular readers) this weekend with its $149.99 7-inch Android tablet. Oh yes, you heard right shoppers -- the small Florida-based shop is bringing an Android 2.1 tablet with WiFi, 2GB of storage and 256MB of RAM to a store near you for just 150 buckaroos. And according to an Augen spokesperson, it will have access to the Android "Market App Store." That sounds pretty awesome for the pricetag, but we -- along with a number of readers we've heard from -- haven't been able to locate the 7-inch tablet at any Kmart retail location just yet. (Yes, we even spent a lovely ten minutes on hold with our local store while they checked the inventory.) We're told by Augen that the device should be hitting shelves later this week, though the company was unsure it would ever land on Kmart's online store. In addition to the 7-inch tablet, Augen has also released its $89 TheBook e-reader with a similar 7-inch LCD. It doesn't run Android, but you can check out an in-depth look at its Linux OS in The eReader's video review after the break. We'll be keeping an ear to the ground on the availability of the tablet and will be trying to get one in our hands to confirm the preloaded Market, but let us know in the comments if you've had any luck yourselves.
Life after death: Phantom game console remembered in design mockups
Why settle for a separate iPad stand and external battery when you can have both in one device? Why indeed. That's the thinking from the folks at Sanho at least, who have just rolled-out the first-of-its-kind HyperMac Stand. It packs two slots that can hold your iPad at either an 18 or 45-degree angle (with or without a case), and a built-in 40-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-ion battery that promises to extend your battery life by a full 16 hours. Of course, that combination does make this one of the more expensive iPad stands around at $129.95, but that's not exactly too out of line when compared to a standalone HyperMac battery. Head on past the break for the complete press release.
AT&T deploying software fix for slow upload speeds over next few weeks
Looks like AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent have finally sorted out the software glitch that's resulted in slow HSPA upload speed sin certain markets -- we were just told on the record that a patch is being rolled out and the update will be completed over the next two to three weeks. That should mean iPhone 4 and laptop data modem customers should start to see their upload speeds creep back to higher levels after being capped at UMTS rates for the past few weeks, so that's good news -- let us know if things are getting better for you, yeah?
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Rick Ross, aka Ricky Rozay,
Rick Ross, aka Ricky Rozay, the biggest fraud in Hip Hop, celebrated his album release last night at King of Diamonds strip club in Miami, Florida. His Teflon Don album flew off the shelves when it dropped yesterday, giving Eminem a run at the top spot on the charts next week.
Celebs Out & About: Justin Bieber, Sean Kingston,
Who knew teen singing sensation Justin Bieber and one-hit-wonder Sean Kingston were tighter than two peas in a pod? The two chums were seen driving around L.A. in Bieber’s brand new $200,000 Lamborghini Gallardo.
Correction: the $200,000 Gallardo does not belong to Justin. According to theDaily Mail:
Eminem’s Recovery and Rick Ross’ Teflon Don Battle for #1
According to Hits Daily Double, rapper Eminem’s platinum selling Recovery still has a slight lead for the #1 spot next week over Hip Hop fraud Rick Ross:Singer Keri Hilson leaving the Today Show
Singer Keri Hilson leaving the Today Show yesterday where she chatted with Kathie Lee and Hoda about being ‘Empowered’ as Avon’s new lady
PlayStation 3 could get 3D depth slider à la the 3DS
How will sir be having his gimmick today? The devs behind the upcoming Sly Cooper 3D compilation are wisely mulling over the idea of inserting a 3D-adjusting slider to let users decide just how much stereoscopy they want with their Sony-approved gaming. It's argued that this should allow you greater positional flexibility when smacking fools down in three dimensions, as you'll be able to manually toggle the depth of the 3D effect to suit your viewing angle. We were happy to see such an option introduced in the Nintendo 3DS at E3 and would similarly welcome its inclusion on the PS3 -- though that's no foregone conclusion as yet. All we can say for sure right now is that the stuff is adjustable, but it looks like it'll be up to devs to roll their sleeves up and integrate the slider into their games. Hey, it's the summer, not like they've got anything else to do, right?
Guru'board cancels Miniguru keyboard project
It seemed like a bit of a longshot when it was announced back in January, and Guru'board has unfortunately now confirmed those fears -- the Miniguru keyboard project has been canceled. In case you missed it, the Miniguru was designed to be a completely customizable keyboard that would basically let you keep your fingers on the home row at all times (a modifier key would let you turn JKLI keys into arrows, and the caps lock into control). True to its name, they keyboard would have also been small, and it seemed like it would have been fairly high-end, with three different types of mechanical key switches available. As for the reason for the cancellation, Guru'board says it simply "lost faith in being able to sell the initial production run."
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