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Monday, October 17, 2011

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HTC Titan review

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT

We knew as soon as we first clapped eyes on this hulk of a phone that it'd make a brave purchase. It's not just the 4.7-inch screen that requires a leap of faith, but also the Windows Phone operating system, which is presented here in all its Mangofied glory but is still very much an early adopter's ecosystem. After all, if you love the Titan's hardware but prefer a more established OS, you can always wait for the Sensation XL, which is essentially the same phone running good ol' Android and which should have a similar £480 ($750 converted) SIM-free price tag. The question is, do you have the guts to make that jump to something more exotic? Yes? Maybe? Then read on before you begin your run-up.
HTC Titan review


Hardware



The Titan's build quality still gives us a buzz every time we pick it up. If dwarves carved a smartphone out of an alien meteorite, this is precisely how it'd look. Detach the aluminum unibody case and it's all black and gold underneath, with exquisite molding and perfect rigidity. How far things have come since the plasticky flab of the TyTN and TyTN II, when HTC smartphones couldn't even spell out their mythical names while keeping a straight face.


The 131.5mm (5.2-inch) height and 70.7mm (2.8-inch) width might sound intimidating, but only until you realize that the Titan is a mere 5mm (0.2 inches) taller and wider than a familiar 4.3-inch smartphone like the Sensation XE. Moreover, the 160g (5.6-ounce) weight is only nine grams (0.35 ounces) heavier than the XE -- a barely noticeable difference. What's more, the Titan's slim 9.9mm (0.39-inch) waistline puts the XE's 11.6mm girth to shame and goes a long way in canceling out its other excesses.

So, is the Titan's size really that big of an issue in everyday use? Only occasionally. We found that it was generally easy to forget about when tucked away in the pocket of our straight-cut jeans. On the other hand, don't count on putting your car key or credit card wallet or anything else in there -- the lack of maneuverability increases the chances of a scratch, and in fact we managed to get a nasty nick after just a couple of days by making precisely this mistake, despite the Gorilla Glass screen. Aside from all this, as you'll see below, we believe the Titan's mass is justified by the fact that it has major pay-offs in terms of how enjoyable it is to use for everyday tasks.


For the sake of thoroughness, we'd better mention a minor issue with the build quality, which shouldn't put you off unless you're really fussy: the way the core of the phone slots into the aluminum case is not quite perfect -- if you squeeze the phone through its z-axis you get a slight movement. However, this flex is silent rather than creaky and hence easily forgotten.

The headset that comes with the Titan is predictably cheap and awful. HTC might be banging the Beats Audio drum with its latest Android handsets, but you'll find no Dre-approved headphones here. On the other hand, for the sake of experimentation, we switched out the standard headset for the YourBeats headphones that came with our Sensation XE and everything sounded great, especially when we turned on the 'Loudness' EQ in Windows Phone settings. Moral of the story? Don't worry about the lack of Beats Audio branding on this phone, just buy yourself some decent headphones if you haven't already. Artists like Kanye and Jennifer don't bust a gut for a pittance just so you can destroy their art with out-of-the-box cans.


Now for the downer: the Titan's musical abilities are severely hobbled by its lack of storage. It was disconcerting to transfer across a small sample of albums to test the music playback and discover that we'd already used up 1.5GB out of our 12.6GB allowance. Wasn't cheap and plentiful storage meant to be one of the main benefits of avoiding an iPhone? Of course, we'll one day store everything in the cloud, but that day is not yet here. Ask a ticket inspector on the London Underground whether we'll ever be able to stream Spotify tracks in the tunnels and she'll probably fine you for being obnoxious. Depending on your listening habits and music collection, the lack of a microSD card could well be a deal-breaker.

Performance and battery life


The Titan's 1.5GHz second-gen Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 may only be single-core, but it destroys HTC's older WP handsets like the 1GHz Trophy. WP Bench gave our Titan an overall score of around 96, versus just 50 for the Trophy. This superiority extended through every part of the system: the CPU completed tasks in half the time, data transfer rates were almost doubled and the GPU also delivered double the frame rates.

Is it a problem that this phone is only single-core? Nope, not unless you're really going to miss 1080p video recording. For most other tasks, the processor will serve you just fine: sites like Engadget and the BBC rendered quickly, apps opened and closed without delay, and the voice recognition feature of Bing processed our mutterings efficiently. Nope, if you're held back by the behavior of the Titan it won't be due to the hardware so much as to Mango. The young OS still doesn't handle multitasking very well, and the browser often shows glitches in the way it lays out a website: the main BBC News page often nudged the lead picture out of its column, for example, which is something we haven't witnessed on Android, iOS or even BlackBerry devices. Incidentally, the Sun Spider browsing benchmark gave the Titan a poor 6,500ms result, but we're not sure what to make of it because there's not much to compare it against: the latest Sensation XE scored around 3,500ms, but the WP7 HTC Trophy scored took an unbelievable 45,000ms -- so we're not sure this benchmark can handle cross-platform comparisons.


One area that definitely benefits from having just a single core is battery life, and we have no complaints about the Titan in this regard -- despite the extra demands that will inevitably be made by the larger display. We put it to use all day and the 1,600mAh battery still had plenty left in reserve by the time we hit the sack. In fact, one day we forgot to plug it in for an overnight charge so we left the house with battery already at 60 percent and yet we still made it to bedtime with room to spare. We'd stop just shy of claiming two full days of low-to-moderate use -- it's more like a day and a half. For the record, the WP Bench battery test gave us three hours at medium brightness, which was virtually identical to the HTC Trophy, with its meager three-inch screen and 1GHz processor.

Network performance seemed average on the UK's Three network, with 3G reception and data speeds matching other handsets we carried around. Calls sounded crisp, although we can't say we noticed much of an impact from the Titan's secondary noise-cancelling mic. Usually our environment was quiet enough for it not to be necessary, or so loud that any beneficial effect was drowned out -- but we can believe it'd make a difference in certain situations.

Display


The Titan's WVGA resolution equates to just 198 pixels per inch. No matter how much HTC tries to gloss over this issue, the fact remains that those pixels are visible on text and vector graphics (although not so much on photos), and they do nothing to add to the otherwise delightful aesthetics of the OS. Zooming out on a webpage quickly causes the text to become blocky and unreadable, which partially cancels out the large panel's ability to display vast swathes of a page in one go.

Arguably, this isn't HTC's fault, because 480x800 happens to be the resolution currently required by Windows Phone. Microsoft clearly just wants to keep things simple at this stage, and in any case it's looking at Windows 8 for the tablet form factor, so it's made no room for diverse screen sizes with WP 7.5. But does the end user really care who's fault it is? We've come to expect effective resolutions greater than 300dpi, which is the point at which we can truly forget that we're even looking at pixels, and the Titan falls well short of that.


On the other hand, resolution isn't everything and the Titan's Super LCD display actually has a lot going for it. For a start, it's a higher quality panel than the one used in some HTC handsets like the Sensation and Trophy. Whereas those handsets would look slightly washed out when viewed at anything than head-on, the Titan's brightness and color rendition remains consistent even from extreme angles. At the optimum angle, the blacks look deep, the colors look rich and saturated in keeping with the WP style, and photos and video come across absolutely fine. It's not Super AMOLED, but should satisfy the majority of users.

Camera


Just like the display, the camera unit in the Titan is also significantly better than some of HTC's other recent models. Everything about it is faster, smoother and more intelligent in how it deals with automatic focus and exposure. The dedicated camera button is tactile and responsive, the software gets into gear fast, and settings are readily accessed and altered. We love the fact that you can actually hear the whir of the autofocus shifting the lens inside the camera -- it tells us it's a big unit.
HTC Titan sample shots



The f/2.2 maximum aperture really does make a difference with low-light performance. We took a shot in our kitchen, which was poorly lit with a single main energy-saving bulb, and we were blown away by the quality of the skin tones and the lack of noise. Overall image quality was also aided by sensible jpeg compression, which generally reduced our eight megapixel images to somewhere between 1MB and 1.3MB. We'd still rather have control over the level of compression, rather than HTC deciding for us, but at least this camera doesn't ruin images by pulping them into a 600KB mess -- like the Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo does, for example.




The same applies to the 720p video: a one-minute clip was generally compressed to around 80MB, which preserves just about enough information to make it watchable on a TV or desktop, even during fast pans and wobbles. In comparison, a one-minute 1080p clip from the HTC Sensation XE is compressed down to a mere 65MB, which looks terrible and goes to show just how irrelevant video resolution is unless you get a higher bit-rate to match. Another key upside to the Titan's video recording: it adjusts auto-exposure smoothly and relatively slowly, as opposed to the sudden switches we saw in the Sensation XE, which means videos are less jarring when the light changes.


The camera software lives up to the promise of the hardware, with a whole range of clever touches from Microsoft and HTC. For example, when you're scrolling through photos and you reach the end of the camera roll, it automatically switches to camera mode, as if to say "go on, take another one." Plus, you'll find HTC's Panorama feature in there, which is incredibly fun and easy to use and gets some decent results too. The only problem we had was that sometimes OS X failed to recognize the proper orientation of shots we'd taken on the Titan -- but then it's perhaps too much to expect complete harmony between rivals. (Incidentally, the Windows Phone Connector icon on the OS X dock is indisputably ugly.)

Unlike HTC's pre-Mango Windows Phone handsets, the Titan also has a front-facing camera. It has typically poor resolution and dynamic range but its good to have it -- even though there's still none of our promised Skype action. Sure, there's Tango, but we had no one to test it with and frankly, who's got the energy? We'd rather just wait for the app that everyone already uses.


Software


The Windows Phone OS is an amazing experience at this screen size. Sure, we don't have the resolution needed to cram loads of shrunken live tiles into our home screen, but that's not what this OS is about. The overall aesthetic is one of minimalism, boldness and space to breathe, and spreading those tiles and apps over 4.7 inches takes this to another level. We have never felt so calm and relaxed when using a smartphone. Whether we're searching for media, loading up Bing to recognize a music track, or bashing out an email, the experience is serene.


The huge keyboard might look like a series of simple rectangular blocks, each with a single character in the middle, but it's actually triumph of design -- and just about the exact opposite of the busy mess that handles text entry in HTC's proprietary Sense UI on its Android devices. As soon as you start entering your login details to connect up to your email accounts, Twitter and so on, you notice something totally unexpected: you're no longer hitting backspace all the time. The button press somehow always ends up being precisely the button you want to press, and it's a breath of fresh air. We're not going to start writing full-length feature articles on the Titan, but in an emergency we probably could.

Now, there are many times when the serenity breaks down due to bugs in the software. We've been over the key weaknesses of Mango in our full review of the updated OS, but we can't resist mentioning a few more minor issues here too. You'll be surfing the net and suddenly realize that the 'back' button takes you back to the home screen rather than to the previous page. You'll be typing in a 'Name' field to register an email account when you realize that it doesn't capitalize the first letter, and the 'Email' field doesn't present you with the @ symbol. You'll try to connect to the Marketplace only to get some random error number, even though you have a strong WiFi signal and you connected fine just a few minutes ago. When you finally gain access, you'll discover that the Search button stops being context sensitive and instead of searching the Marketplace it annoyingly transports you to Bing. You'll finally get over the general dearth of good apps and decide to purchase one, only to discover that you can't add credit card details because a few decades ago you registered your first ever Hotmail account in a different country. (If this happens to you, you'll have to reset the phone and create a fresh Windows Live account with your current home country, and then add your main account back in as a secondary account -- even though this will lose your Xbox Live avatar and achievements.) It's obvious that this OS is still having teething problems, and they can be infuriating -- but they could all be rectified in future updates, and we're optimistic that they will.

We don't want to go out on a sour note, because it just wouldn't be fair. The fact is, we've used Windows Phone on a range of handsets by now, but the big and bold Titan is the first that's really allowed to us to tune in to what the software designers at Microsoft have been trying to achieve, and how they want to differentiate themselves from the others. Aesthetically speaking, we sometimes think of Android as a house that you build yourself: the base materials are relatively neutral, but there's plenty of scope for personalization in the way you fit them together. Meanwhile, iOS is like somebody else's house, built by a super-creative person with strong opinions who really doesn't care if you love it or hate it. So what about Windows Phone? Well, on the Titan's glorious display, it too feels like a house built by somebody else -- but this time it's the handiwork of someone who's primary goal is to make you happy. You'll notice neat little features that you might have missed on a smaller screen, like that fact that you can read all your notes on the Notes app's corkboard without squinting or having to open them up, because the text is just about large enough even despite the poor resolution. Animated tiles remain animated even while you're scrolling down the home screen -- subtle but delicious.

Wrap-up



Of all the different handsets that pass through our hands, many are good, some are bad, but there's only very few that surprise us. The Titan can certainly count itself among that standout minority, thanks to the way its oversized display, superb camera and overall build quality jibe so well with the generally slick and wonderful Windows Phone OS.

Not all the surprises are positive, though. The WVGA panel delivers poor pixel density, the 16GB of flash storage is inexplicably non-expandable and the lack of apps and occasional bugginess of the OS may all be bothersome, depending on your priorities and temperament. Perhaps there's an argument for waiting to see what Nokia has in store for us -- those guys also know a thing or two about design, and Nokia World is just ten days away. However, if you're ready to make room in your pocket for a phone this big, and room in your heart for a fledgling OS that occasionally requires some patience, then you will love the Titan.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

ITC judge says Apple did not infringe on HTC's patents in initial case, more rulings still to come

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 10:49 AM PDT

HTC has since lodged some additional patent infringement complaints with the International Trade Commission, but an ITC judge has now ruled on HTC's first complaint against Apple from back in May of 2010, finding no violation of the patents in question on the part of Apple. As FOSS Patents notes, however, the ruling hardly puts an end to the dispute between the two companies, and HTC certainly seems to be in it for the long haul. Its general counsel told CNET that "this is only one step of many in these legal proceedings," and that, "we are confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to protect our intellectual property."

New PS3 and PS Move bundles leaked by box manufacturer, Black Friday deal evidently in tow

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 10:44 AM PDT

There may be a healthy selection of new PlayStation kits coming your way in the near future. Images of unannounced bundle boxes have surfaced over at Slickdeals, courtesy of Scream777, who claims to work at a package production facility that makes 'em. Those include a previously unknown Mayhem Edition PS Move kit with a Sharpshooter peripheral and the newest Resistance and Killzone titles, while a Complete Entertainment Bundle packs a 160GB PS3 Slim with a free month of PlayStation Plus and the latest Little Big Planet and Ratchet and Clank. Gaming blog Gimme Gimme Games claims that the CEB will be $250, with Scream777 noting that its order invoice lists it as a Black Friday special. Adding credence to the leak, said poster also threw in box shots of the 320GB Uncharted 3 bundle and Goldeneye 007: Reloaded Sharpshooter set -- both of which are currently available for pre-order. Here's to hoping it all proves true, but in the meantime, you'll find more details in the links below.

Nokia 710 spotted on developer site, probably not running 'Internet Tablet OS 2008 Edition'

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 10:24 AM PDT

With barely a few weeks before the phone giant's annual hurrah, Nokia World, kicks off in London, details have leaked of a new phone possibly winging its way to the Finnish faithful. According to MyNokiaBlog, the 710 is slightly longer and wider than the MeeGo-powered N9, with a 1.4GHz Cortex A8 processor, a 3.7-inch TFT screen and a five megapixel camera topped with some 720p video-capture frosting. All these details were swiftly pulled from the site, but not before the blog managed grab the screenshot above. A Nokia 710 also made a brief appearance on Occasional Gamer, which registers phone use on WP7 games. Most of the details match up with the Nokia Sun we saw earlier this month, though there are some inconsistencies -- is it TFT or AMOLED? We're hoping for the latter. It'll be a few weeks before Nokia has anything official to say, but whatever it is, it's going to have to wow us. The competition's never been tougher.

SideBySide makes tiny projectors fun again (video)

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 10:05 AM PDT

Kids these days just don't get thrilled by tiny projectors the way they used to. Disney Research is hoping to address the problem with its new SideBySide prototype, a pico projector that interacts with images projected nearby. The device outputs both visible and infrared light, while a built-in sensor detects the latter, allowing it to react to the image. The team showed off a handful of applications for the technology, including a few games, drag and drop file sharing and the ability to change perspectives on a 3D model. Non-interactive video after the jump.


Remember those faster-than-light neutrinos? Great, now forget 'em

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 09:46 AM PDT

A week ago the world went wild over CERN's tentative claim that it could make neutrinos travel faster than light. Suddenly, intergalactic tourism and day trips to the real Jurassic Park were back on the menu, despite everything Einstein said. Now, however, a team of scientists at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands reckons it's come up with a more plausible (and disappointing) explanation of what happened: the GPS satellites used to measure the departure and arrival times of the racing neutrinos were themselves subject to Einsteinian effects, because they were in motion relative to the experiment. This relative motion wasn't properly taken into account, but it would have decreased the neutrinos' apparent journey time. The Dutch scientists calculated the error and came up with the 64 nanoseconds. Sound familiar? That's because it's almost exactly the margin by which CERN's neutrinos were supposed to have beaten light. So, it's Monday morning, Alpha Centauri and medieval jousting tournaments remain as out of reach as ever, and we just thought we'd let you know.

Spyro figurines bridge the console divide, bring flame-grilled peace to the world

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 09:25 AM PDT

Kids lacking the imagination to bring their own toys to life now have the option of letting a games console do it for them. Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure has teleported into stores, boxed with three toy figures and a 'portal device' that brings them to life in-game. The bundle totals up at $70, and Activision is billing it as the "first true cross-platform game", with the toys playing nice across Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, 3DS and iOS versions. The statuettes, which connect to the portal peripheral through embedded RFID tags, also store game data across platforms. The business plan presumably involves groups of kids investing in Spyro's latest yarn and swapping characters amongst themselves, while holding onto their own precious in-game achievements. If your little brother has trouble trading with friends who couldn't care less about the antics of lava-belching monsters, they can always can stump up an extra $8 for new figures. Click 'Read more' for some explanatory cartoon violence.

Show full PR text
Comprehensive Marketing Program to Demonstrate The Unique Benefits Of Bringing Toys to Life Via Co-Op Advertising

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced a global marketing partnership with Toys"R"Us to launch its landmark new video game, Skylanders Spyro's Adventure™, debuting at North American retail on Sunday, October 16th. This revolutionary title breathes new life into interactive entertainment by allowing kids to bring a vast collection of physical toys to life in-game. Place one of over 30 different characters onto the magical Portal of Power-yours or a friend's-and they are teleported to a vibrant game-world, all customizations and powers intact. The marketing plan for this novel game experience includes a national co-op advertising campaign, exclusive toy/adventure pack releases, first-to-play opportunities and interactive game displays at over 1200 Toys"R"Us stores around the world.

"Toys"R"Us has been an avid fan and eager supporter of the Skylanders Spyro's Adventure concept from its inception," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "This partnership signals our shared belief that the brand is literally a game-changer, transforming children's play in both the physical and digital realms. For the first time ever, kids will be able to bring their toys to life in a video game, and we've developed a slate of exclusive in-store experiences and merchandise to showcase this phenomenon to Toys"R"Us consumers worldwide."

"We're thrilled to partner with Activision and make Toys"R"Us the retail launchpad for Skylanders Spyro's Adventure," said Jerry Storch, Chairman and CEO, Toys"R"Us, Inc. "We believe that the product line will be one of this holiday's hottest gifts and we can't wait to offer customers a one-of-a-kind way to discover Skylanders at our stores."

Activision and Toys"R"Us will unveil this genre-busting Skylanders Spyro's Adventure on October 8, 2011, with the roll-out of full game demos and interactive game kiosks in over 1200 retail locations across the globe. Following the game's U.S. launch on October 16th, players can purchase Toys"R"Us exclusives like three Skylanders Legendary characters, which feature accompanying in-game skins and power-ups. Additionally, the retailer will be the only place to purchase the Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Darklight Crypt Adventure Pack in its first thirty days on the market, from October 16 through November 15, 2011.

In Skylanders Spyro's Adventure, kids take on the role of a powerful Portal Master, leader of over 30 different characters, including the beloved purple dragon Spyro. Each of these creatures has been cast out of the mystical worlds they are charged to protect by the sinister Portal Master Kaos, and frozen in our world as toys. Skylanders Spyro's Adventure players will embark on a magical journey; treasure hunting, solving puzzles and doing battle with fantastic, otherworldly enemies in a bid to bring the frozen guardians back to life and safely reunite them with their homelands.

Skylanders Spyro's Adventure is developed by Toys For Bob, an Activision studio located in Novato, California. The game is rated E10+ by the ESRB. For more information, visit www.skylandersgame.com

Kinect hack lets you manage your bank account with gestures, will occupy your living room (video)

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 09:04 AM PDT

You know all those convoluted gestures and hate-infused fist pumps you make every time you look at your bank account? Well, you can now put them to good use, thanks to a new Kinect hack from Lithuania-based Etronika. The company's software, which made its debut at last week's CTIA E&A event, effectively brings motion-controlled banking directly to your living room. All you have to do is stand in front of your display, clap your hands to choose an icon, or wave your hand back and forth to navigate across the app's carousel menu. This means you can pay your bills, check your balance and return to fetal position without even touching a sharp object. "A lot of banking software apps are filled with boring crap," Etronika CEO Kestutis Gardziulis explained with refreshing candor. "With our software, you could be on the couch at home, having a beer, all while dealing with your bank account and kicking back." Beer, banking and body language -- sounds scandalous! Head past the break to watch a demo video, starring Pam Beesly's doppelgänger.

Show full PR text
ETRONIKA Shows off Kinect Banking App

ETRONIKA trot out future vision about internet banking by exhibiting personal finance management carried out at home, standing in front of TV screen, accomplishing bill payment or money transfer with hand gestures at international exhibition CTIA Enterprise & Applications 2011 which takes place in San Diego, also know as capital of Silicon Valley, USA.

CTIA Enterprise & Applications – reflects the evolution of the industry and growing use of mobile technology in business, gather alongside 250 service providers, manufacturers, developers, retailers, enterprise endusers and the media to join in the dialogue on the future of wireless. In parallel one of the largest IT conference in the field with more than 15,000 people from industry is taking place.

The application, developed by ETRONIKA, uses Kinect, Microsoft's motion and voice sensing technology developed for its Xbox 360 games console. The interface has two rows of icons that spin left or right. Waving an arm to the left rotates the top row, and waving to the right rotates the bottom row. Users select an icon or confirm operation by bringing their hands together in front of them. User can also sent a copy of the bill to his phone.

Microsoft doesn't yet allow developers to offer commercial products based on Kinect, Microsoft has said it plans to release a commercial SDK package in the future.

YouTube 'Merch Store' makes your artist channel a one-stop shop for the groupie goodies

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 08:42 AM PDT

Know what beats selling CDs (or USB sticks) and swag out of the trunk of your struggling band's party wagon? Striking a deal with Google to pitch those wares on the interwebs, that's what. Rolling out to official YouTube partners over the next few weeks, the newly created Merch Store will offer fans from all across the globe an opportunity to purchase MP3s, tickets for concerts and gatherings, and, of course, merchandise straight from your dedicated page. Helping ol' Mountain View make these coffer-filling goodies available are a handful of established online retailers like Amazon, iTunes, Songkick and Topspin. So, if you just can't wait for the Rebecca Black arena rock tour to blitz through your small town, keep clicking refresh on that artist channel for the inevitable slew of merchandising, merchandising.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Motorola intros Elite Sliver and Elite Flip Bluetooth headsets with NFC pairing (video)

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 08:20 AM PDT

Bluetooth headsets are normally the province of businesspeople so important they can't spare the energy to hold a phone to their ears or, perhaps, folks who just want to play CIA agent. If you find yourself in either category, Motorola's newest offerings will put what passes for a smile on your serious businessperson face. The outfit just took the wraps off two Elite series headsets, both equipped with NFC pairing, so one tap 'twixt phone and earpiece will have you ready to simultaneously drive and talk. You'll also get integration with MyMotospeak, now capable of dictating text messages as well as hearing them read to you, HD-Audio, CrystalTalk noise cancellation and a roaming distance of 300 feet. While the Flip looks the part of your typical earpiece, the Sliver (pictured above) has decidedly more futuristic digs. Both will be available on October 24th with the Flip costing $100 and the Sliver fetching an extra $30 for its avant-garde design.We've got PR after the break along with a demo video -- because who doesn't love watching cartoon characters explain how NFC works?

Show full PR text
Motorola Mobility Introduces the World's Most Advanced Wireless Headsets With Bluetooth® Technology
Discreet design, My MotoSpeak™ hands-free texting and unparalleled audio performance achieved through exclusive software solution

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill – Oct. 14, 2011 – Motorola Mobility, Inc. today announced the arrival of two new ground-breaking Bluetooth headsets, Motorola ELITE SLIVER and Motorola ELITE FLIP. The innovative Bluetooth headsets boast unmatched sound quality and features, including Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, HD Audio Plus and three times greater connection range than the leading competitors.

Motorola ELITE SLIVER and Motorola ELITE FLIP feature NFC technology, which allows you to pair either headset with your phone with a quick tap. The inclusion of HD Audio Plus in both headsets increases clarity and provides richer sound for all your conversations with true wideband audio and CrystalTalk™ dual-microphone noise cancellation technology. With an extended roaming range of up to 300 feet from Class 1 Bluetooth technology, you can walk away from your phone without disconnecting your conversation.

The Motorola ELITE SLIVER and Motorola ELITE FLIP also work with the My MotoSpeak application to read, dictate and send text messages hands-free. The new My MotoSpeak application adds the capabilities for users to initiate and send text messages without touching or holding their phone.

"Seamless integration of elegant design and new ground-breaking technology make Motorola ELITE SLIVER and Motorola ELITE FLIP, the obvious choices for consumers from the tech savvy to the fashion conscious," said Yossi Cohen, senior vice president, Companion Products, Motorola Mobility. "In designing these headsets, we built custom software to deliver new user experiences. Multiple technology advancements such as NFC, HD Audio Plus featuring wideband audio and My MotoSpeak provide an additional layer of superior and innovative functionality."

Barely noticeable, impossible to ignore
Weighing in at just under half an ounce, Motorola ELITE SLIVER can hardly be seen but it certainly can be heard. The headset is perfect for those who want discretion but don't want to sacrifice great audio or advanced features. In addition to the aforementioned features, Motorola ELITE SLIVER offers more than twice as much talk time as the leading competitors. The stylish protective charging case recharges the headset for a total of up to 15 hours of talk time without needing to search for a power outlet.

Keep talking... and be heard
Motorola ELITE FLIP lets users talk through almost anything. In addition to the rich and clear audio of HD Audio Plus, the TrueComfort™ design let you choose the most comfortable way to wear the headset. Motorola ELITE FLIP provides the unique capability to choose from three wearing options first seen on the Motorola HX550.

My MotoSpeak integration
Both headsets work with My MotoSpeak, the ultimate hands-free texting application for an increasingly hands-free world. The latest generation of Motorola's MotoSpeak application, My MotoSpeak allows you to initiate, dictate and send a text message without touching your phone. The free application reads incoming text messages aloud through the headset and lets you reply hands-free, including interpreting common acronyms such as 'asap' or 'l8r.' The smart button feature on Motorola ELITE SLIVER and Motorola ELITE FLIP makes sending a text easier than ever. With one simple touch of the smart button on the headset, you can initiate a text message and simply talk aloud to dictate the message. In addition, My MotoSpeak can also easily customize headset settings like noise cancellation, equalizer and smart button function.

Motorola ELITE SLIVER Key features and specifications:
- HD Audio Plus with true wideband audio and CrystalTalk™ dual-mic technology enable increased clarity and richer sound
- NFC technology pairs device to NFC-enabled phones1 in one tap
- Extended roaming range up to 300 feet
- Integrated with My MotoSpeak to hear incoming messages, speak outgoing texts and send without ever touching your phone
- Up to 15 hours of talk time4 when combined with the included charging case
- Weighs less than half an ounce and can barely be seen when worn

Motorola ELITE FLIP Key features and specifications:
- HD Audio Plus with true wideband audio and CrystalTalk™ dual-mic technology enable increased clarity and richer sound
- NFC technology pairs device to NFC-enabled phones1 in one tap
- Extended roaming range up to 300 feet2
- Integrated with My MotoSpeak to hear incoming messages, speak outgoing texts and send without ever touching your phone
- TrueComfort™ with three distinct wear styles
- The unique RapidConnect™ feature lets you simply flip open to turn on and talk, flip closed to turn off and save power
- Battery provides up to six hours of talk time, 12 days of standby time4

Pricing and Availability
Starting Oct. 24, 2011, both headsets will be available online at www.store.Motorola.com. Motorola ELITE SLIVER will be $129.99 and Motorola ELITE FLIP will be $99.99.

My MotoSpeak is a free download from Android Market™.

About Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility, Inc. (NYSE:MMI) fuses innovative technology with human insights to create experiences that simplify, connect and enrich people's lives. Our portfolio includes converged mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets; wireless accessories; end-to-end video and data delivery; and management solutions, including set-tops and data-access devices. For more information, visit motorola.com/mobility.

FCC and CTIA get set to hit back against bill shock

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 07:56 AM PDT

Bill shock? It's "a real consumer problem that needs to be fixed," according to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski. The department teamed up with the CTIA and the Consumers Union today to address the problem of unexpected mobile bill charges. The solution? Alerts about overages and international roaming sent to subscribers before they rack up bills they can't afford. It's a plan the organization talked up last year, thanks to the findings of a Consumer Task Force. The FCC hopes that a rollout of the plan will be completed in the next 12 months.
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CTIA-The Wireless Association, Federal Communications Commission and Consumers Union Announce Free Alerts to Help Consumers Avoid Unexpected Overage Charges

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CTIA-The Wireless Association® today announced new commitments by providers that represent more than 97 percent of wireless consumers in the U.S. to send free alerts to help consumers avoid unexpected overage charges. The joint announcement was made by CTIA President & CEO Steve Largent, Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski, and Consumers Union's Communications Policy Counsel Parul Desai. The plan – called the "Wireless Consumer Usage Notification Guidelines" – will provide free alerts both before and after subscribers they reach monthly limits on voice, data and text. In addition, the plan includes a notification to inform consumers of international roaming charges when traveling abroad. Subscribers will be covered by this plan unless they opt-out.

The CTIA "Wireless Consumer Usage Notification Guidelines" will become part of the broader CTIA "Consumer Code for Wireless Service" that provides disclosures and practices for wireless service to individual consumers. By October 17, 2012 participating carriers will provide customers with at least two out of the four notifications for data, voice, text and international roaming and all of the alerts by April 17, 2013.

President Barack Obama said, "Far too many Americans know what it's like to open up their cell-phone bill and be shocked by hundreds or even thousands of dollars in unexpected fees and charges. But we can put an end to that with a simple step: an alert warning consumers that they're about to hit their limit before fees and charges add up. Our phones shouldn't cost us more than the monthly rent or mortgage. So I appreciate the mobile phone companies' willingness to work with my Administration and join us in our overall and ongoing efforts to protect American consumers by making sure financial transactions are fair, honest and transparent."

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said, "Last year, the FCC identified a growing problem known as bill shock and took important steps toward a solution, which led to today's victory for more than 97 percent of wireless consumers. These alerts will give consumers the information they need to save money on their monthly wireless bills. Consistent with the FCC's ongoing efforts, these actions harness technology to empower consumers, and ensure consumers get a fair shake, not bill shock."

CTIA President & CEO Steve Largent said, "The 'Wireless Consumer Usage Notification Guidelines' are another step that CTIA and our members have taken to advance consumer interests while recognizing the U.S. wireless industry's incredible innovation and competition. We appreciate the interest and guidance of FCC Chairman Genachowski and Commissioners, the FCC's Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau and Consumers Union in highlighting the need to harness technology to help empower consumers. Today's initiative is a perfect example of how government agencies and industries they regulate can work together under President Obama's recent executive order directing federal agencies to consider whether new rules are necessary or would unnecessarily burden businesses and the economy."

Parul P. Desai, Policy Counsel for Consumers Union, said, "Consumers have been telling us about 'bill shock' for a long time, and we've been pushing for reforms to crack down on the problem. We're encouraged that the industry is offering to provide free alerts to help customers avoid 'bill shock,' and we urge them to do it as quickly as possible. Some companies are already providing free alerts, while others are charging extra fees for them, and we think it's possible – and consumers deserve – to immediately receive free alerts to avoid overage charges. We're going to work closely with the FCC to make sure companies comply, and we're pleased the Commission is keeping this proceeding open to help ensure compliance. Ultimately, this is about helping people protect their pocketbooks, so we applaud the FCC and the industry for this effort to do right by consumers."

Microsoft reveals Data Explorer tool, gets into the sorbet business (video)

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 07:32 AM PDT

Redmond houses quite a few little teams beavering away on quirky projects and one of those has just gone public with its latest creation. It's codenamed "Data Explorer", which perhaps isn't an ideal codename since it describes exactly what the enterprise-focused service does. Instead of manually searching and copying data into a report, Data Explorer pulls information from SQL databases, spreadsheets and other "random sources" that could be relevant, and then attempts to "clean it up, transform it, merge it together and then publish it out" as a coherent report. You can learn more and sign up for the beta at the source link, or click past the break to watch a Microsoft exec demo the tool using a real-world case study -- we found it a bit dense, but you'll be fine as long as you remember that kids love frozen yogurt.

webOS brick-and-mortar stores close forever, may they rest in peace

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 07:08 AM PDT

It's with broken heart that we announce that the doors have officially shut for good on all remaining webOS retail stores. The news likely won't come as a shock to many, given HP's intent to scrap the operating system from its future plans. This isn't the first physical manifestation of the company's announcement, when factoring in the plethora of layoffs taking place; nonetheless, anyone affected or touched by a Palm device over the last 19 years may likely mourn the loss. That said, at least the stores went out with a bang: Veers were cleared out for $50 each, the Pixi was sold for $25 ($15 if you purchased four or more) and the Touchstone could be had for a cool $2.50. The retail outlets may now be a thing of the past, but the memories of the products sold in them will hopefully live on forever. Never forget.

iPhone 4S hits four million in sales after first weekend

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 06:37 AM PDT

How did you spend your weekend? If you're Apple, the answer is simple, really: selling a whole lot of iPhones. Cupertino this morning announced that iPhone 4S sales have reached four million -- quite an impressive number compared to what its predecessor was capable of, a fact no doubt helped by the addition of some carriers, like Verizon and Sprint here in the States. The handset is currently available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK, with plenty more countries coming by the end of the year. Press info can be found after the jump.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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iPhone 4S First Weekend Sales Top Four Million

CUPERTINO, California-October 17, 2011- Apple® today announced it has sold over four million of its new iPhone® 4S, just three days after its launch on October 14. In addition, more than 25 million customers are already using iOS 5, the world's most advanced mobile operating system, in the first five days of its release, and more than 20 million customers have signed up for iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices. iPhone 4S is available today in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK, and will be available in 22 more countries on October 28 and more than 70 countries by the end of the year.

"iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend-the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever."

iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple's dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri™, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone 4S comes in either black or white and is available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model, $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the new 64GB model.* iPhone 4S is available from the Apple Online Store, Apple's retail stores and through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, and select Best Buy, Target and Walmart stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iPhone 4 is available for just $99 (US) and iPhone 3GS is available for free with a two year contract.

iPhone 4S will be available on October 28 in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

*Qualified customers only. Requires a new two year rate plan, sold separately.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Mycestro is one wearable 3D ring mouse to rule them all (video)

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 06:18 AM PDT

Sure, we've seen some wearable mice in the past (some more wearable than others), but this little one from Innovative Developments offers up some fairly diverse applications. The Mycestro's four buttons can be used for basic work functionality -- the wearer can also use gestures to perform these tasks, making an "M" in the air to open an email or a flicking motion to delete files. The mouse can manipulate 3D software as well, moving one's arm to zoom in and out. And heck, why not use it to navigate through in-car menus, rather than interacting with a touchscreen while driving? Controlling media content at home? Why yes, it does that too. There's not a lot of information available about the Mycestro, at the moment, but the company is offering up a few videos to show off it what the thing can do. You can check some of them out after the break.



Ice Cream Sandwich may have a built-in photo editor to help your pictures turn out halfway decent

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 05:53 AM PDT

If you envision Ice Cream Sandwich -- the latest iteration of Android -- as a revolutionary update that satisfies every single one of your geeky lusts, we sure hope you've been aching for a photo editor. It appears that AndroidPolice has hunted down a variety of icons and logos presumed to be associated with the feature, but it's not certain if these will actually appear in the final build. The icons hint at a smattering of image editing tools: crop, sharpen, flip, rotate and a selection of 19 possible photo effects are among the options. Again, this is highly speculative, and rumors such as these will likely ramp up as we approach the official announcement. 'Course, we won't scoff at the idea of a native photo editor in Ice Cream Sandwich, but we're sincerely hoping this won't be the coolest thing about the new OS at Tuesday's announcement in Hong Kong.

[Thanks, Paul]

Virgin Media's TiVos get updated with Spotify, iOS app support and more

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 05:22 AM PDT

Over in the UK, Virgin Media has given a lucky few (3,500 or so) access to a pilot update for their TiVo DVRs that adds many of the features we'd heard were on the way, plus some extras. Word out of Crawley and Cambridge is that multiroom streaming is enabled, there's faster performance and an official community post mentions compatibility with TiVo's iOS apps, BBC iPlayer integration and music streaming from Spotify. A wider rollout is expected before Christmas, for a full list of changes check out the links below.

IDC and Gartner: Lenovo leaps past Dell for second place, still trails HP for the gold

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 04:37 AM PDT

IDC and Gartner have come out with their latest Q3 rankings of the world's PC manufacturers, which means it's time for us to do some dissecting. Not much changed at the top of the heap, where, according to IDC, HP still rules the roost with about 18 percent market share (despite that whole PC biz spinoff thing). But the most dramatic shift came from Lenovo, which scurried past Dell for second place, with 13.7 percent market share (13.5, according to Gartner) -- a 36.1 percent jump from the third quarter of 2010 (25.2 percent, says Gartner). Dell's pie slice, on the other hand, shrunk slightly to 12 percent this quarter, down from 12.6 percent last year. On the global scale, meanwhile, PC sales increased by about 3.6 percent compared to Q3 2010 (3.2 percent, in Gartner's books), though both research firms acknowledged that this figure was well below their respective projections. Why? IDC points to several economic factors, including the threat of a double-dip recession, while Gartner blames the rise of "non-PC devices," including tablets. Surprise!
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Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Grew 3.2 Percent in Third Quarter of 2011

For the First Time, Lenovo Moved Into the No. 2 Position and Asus Became the No. 5 Vendor

STAMFORD, Conn., Oct 12, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Worldwide PC shipments totaled 91.8 million units in the third quarter of 2011, a 3.2 percent increase from the third quarter of 2010, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. These results are slightly lower than Gartner's earlier projection of 5.1 percent growth for the quarter. The EMEA region contributed to lower-than-expected growth led by a weak Western European market.

"The inventory buildup, which slowed growth the last four quarters, mostly cleared out during the third quarter of this year; however, the PC industry has been performing below normal seasonality," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "As expected, back-to-school PC sales were disappointing in mature markets, confirming that the consumer PC market continues to be weak. The popularity of non-PC devices, including media tablets, such as the iPad and smartphones, took consumers' spending away from PCs.

"As the PC market faced a slowdown, vendor consolidation has become a more apparent trend in the industry. Lenovo's recent merger with NEC, and its acquisition of Medion, as well as HP's announcement that it may spin off or sell its PC business, underlined this trend during the quarter."

HP, the No. 1 vendor based on global PC shipments, grew faster than the industry average, and its market share reached 17.7 percent in the third quarter of 2011 (see Table 1). Despite announcing in the middle of 2Q11 the potential spinoff of its PC business, HP experienced strong growth in the U.S., while outside the U.S., growth was relatively weak or average.

Lenovo became the second-largest PC vendor in the worldwide market for the first time. The company's expansion was boosted in part by the joint vendor with NEC in Japan. However, its aggressive marketing to both the professional and consumer PC markets accelerated its shipment volume.

Dell's performance was below the industry average in most regions, as the company faced intensified competition in the professional space, where Dell has been traditionally strong. Acer mostly cleared its inventory buildup in the EMEA region by the third quarter of 2011. However, channels have been adopting a conservative position in regard to placing orders following the inventory issues. Asus widened the gap with Toshiba, the sixth-largest vendor. Asus achieved strong growth in China.

In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 17.8 million units in the third quarter of 2011, a 1.1 percent increase from the third quarter of 2010. The U.S. PC market experienced year-over-year growth for the first time in three quarters. While the consumer market continued to be weak with disappointing back-to-school sales in the third quarter, the inventory was kept mostly in check as industry expectations were relatively low.

"The main contributor to the weak consumer PC market in the U.S. was intensified competition for consumers' money," Ms. Kitagawa said. "Media tablets and smartphones took center stage in the U.S. retail sector, and the expectation is for continuing demand for these devices throughout the holiday season."

HP showed strong growth in the U.S. PC market, as shipments increased 15.1 percent in the third quarter, and its market share totaled 28.9 percent (see Table 2). Despite the potential spinoff of its PC business, HP executives' efforts to give the appearance of "business as usual" seemed to work in the quarter.

Dell struggled as shipments declined 7.2 percent in the third quarter of 2011. "Dell's issue has been balancing profitability and market share gain, a difficult task in a PC industry where high volumes and low margins are the norm," Ms. Kitagawa said.

Gartner's early study shows that Apple experienced the strongest growth among the top five vendors in the U.S. PC market. Apple's PC shipments increased 21.5 percent in the third quarter of 2011. The robust growth of the MacBook Air continued to lead Apple's overall growth in the U.S. market.

PC growth in EMEA reached 26.6 million units in the third quarter of 2011, a 2.9 percent decline from the second quarter of 2010. It was the third consecutive quarter that the EMEA region has experienced negative growth. However, analysts said vendors may have seen the end of backed-up inventory issues, which have been pulling down growth. The consumer PC market in Western Europe remained weak, with consumer confidence permanently shaken by the economic issues spreading across most of the region. Furthermore, the market share of mini-notebooks continued to decline, especially in Western Europe, which also contributed to the weak year-over-year comparison.

In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments reached 31.8 million units in the third quarter of 2011, a 6 percent increase from the same period last year. Vendors continued to stimulate demand aggressively with promotions and prices, benefiting buyers looking for good prices. It also provided an opportunity for some consumers to buy their first mobile PC.
The PC market in Latin America grew 19.6 percent in the third quarter of 2011. Mobile PC shipments grew 31.1 percent year over year, and desk-based PC shipments increased 6.5 percent in the third quarter of 2011.

PC shipments in Japan grew 3 percent, with shipments reaching 3.9 million units. The consumer market received a boost in demand with the introduction by vendors of new consumer models in September. There was also a rebound in production for the professional market, after a drop in enterprise demand because of the higher prioritization for business continuity plans that coincided with the earthquake and tsunami in March.

These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner's PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program. This program offers a comprehensive and timely picture of the worldwide PC market, allowing product planning, distribution, marketing and sales organizations to keep abreast of key issues and their future implications around the globe. Additional research can be found on the Computing Hardware section on Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/it/products/research/asset_129157_2395.jsp .

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Worldwide PC Market Grapples with Slow Growth in Second Quarter as Lenovo Rises to Number 2 Position, According to IDC

12 Oct 2011

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., October 12, 2011 – Worldwide PC shipments increased by 3.6% in the third quarter of 2011 (3Q11) compared to the same quarter in 2010, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The results are up slightly from the 2.7% growth experienced in 2Q11, and just below IDC's August projections for 4.5% growth in the quarter. The Americas and EMEA were slightly below expectations while the Asia/Pacific markets were slightly ahead. The market continues to struggle as consumer discretionary income is diverted to other areas and business spending remains depressed in light of other priorities and a potential double-dip recession.

"For the moment, PCs have taken a backseat to a range of other devices competing for shrinking consumer and business budgets," said Jay Chou, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "While growth is expected to stay in mid-single digits in the fourth quarter, we should see faster growth in 2012 and beyond based on easier comparisons and refreshed PC offerings as the industry better addresses the evolving usage models by integrating more of the features in ultra mobile devices."

"Most vendors continue to struggle with the slow market environment and product changes," said Loren Loverde, IDC vice president of Worldwide Consumer Device Trackers. "Although we don't see media tablets and other devices replacing PCs, questions on how products will evolve, and consumer interest in these and other categories are providing a distraction. And while price remains critical, many users are delaying PC purchases for the moment. Still, there are opportunities, as demonstrated by Lenovo's gains, and we expect PCs to find stronger demand in the coming years."

"The U.S. market came in about flat as expected, but failed to generate positive momentum given the state of saturation and lack of incentives for consumers to upgrade. Other inhibitors included the poor economic environment and, to a certain extent, iPad cannibalization," said David Daoud, IDC's Personal Computing Research Director. "As we approach the holiday season, the opportunity for low single-digit growth is real, but mostly as a result of poor market conditions last year, as opposed to a recovery in demand."

Regional Outlook

The United States market came in roughly flat with year ago shipments as the consumer and commercial demand remained constrained. Nevertheless, the market moved out of negative growth and HP registered strong growth going into the holiday season.

Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) performed in line with forecast as the PC market continued to shrink in the third quarter across both desktop and portable form factors. The back-to-school season saw sustained weakness in consumer demand, with spending being diverted to media tablets and smartphones, while vendors and channel players remained focused on clearing consumer notebook inventory before taking new stock. Besides weak consumer trends, commercial demand has also slowed down, indicative of the increasing caution and postponed investments as a response to the current economic and financial turmoil in the Euro-zone and the U.S.

Japan continued to see growth in low single-digits. Lenovo finalized its merger with NEC, leveraging its scale and becoming the clear market leader. Although power rationing affected some commercial purchases, the market by and large continued to see more adoption of both consumer and business PCs.

Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) had a strong quarter with double-digit growth, meeting expected volume. The region managed to regain momentum, reversing two previous quarters of only single digit growth due to gains in China and India, as well as good volume in Indonesia and Thailand.
Vendor Outlook

HP grew 5.3% year on year, thanks to double-digit growth in the U.S. The company has been criticized for management missteps in the past few months, and been affected by slower consumer demand in many regions, but managed to outpace overall market growth nonetheless.

Dell continued to make gains in APeJ and CEMA, but declines in more mature regions pulled overall growth to –1.6% year on year. Dell faced tough competition and had sizable declines in some markets. However, its continued expansion efforts in China continued to pay dividends, maintaining double-digit growth in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan).

Lenovo experienced strong gains across all regions as it continues its channel expansion and capitalizes on disarray among the other top players. Lenovo has now outpaced the market by more than 10% for the past 9 quarters, and by 20% or more in six of these periods. The results moved Lenovo ahead of Dell in 3Q11 after trailing by a small margin in the second quarter. Lenovo's partnership with NEC and the acquisition of Medion added incremental volume and provided new access to the Japanese and Western European markets.

Acer continued to struggle with inventory clearing and adjusting its strategy following declines in mini notebooks and its management shake-up. Total shipments were down 20.6% from a year ago – the fourth consecutive quarterly decline – but easier comparisons may help the company turn a corner in coming quarters.

ASUS had a strong quarter, boosting growth to over 30%. Strong gains in Asia/Pacific, along with improvements in EMEA, helped ASUS overtake Toshiba for the number 5 spot in worldwide shipments. While the vendor has had some difficulties adjusting for the decline in mini notebook PCs, its mainstream notebooks have done well, especially in emerging markets.

Apple Total shipments increased more than 20% in 3Q11, recovering from a dip to 15% growth in the second quarter but otherwise continuing a trend of more than 2 years with over 20% growth. The MacBook Air continues to boost volumes, and Apple's position in driving changes in consumer expectations for devices also positions it favorably relative to other players and tight consumer spending.

Table Notes:

Some IDC estimates prior to financial earnings reports.
Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the vendor/brand under which they are sold.
PCs include Desktops, Portables, Mini Notebooks and do not include handhelds, x86 Servers and Media Tablets (i.e. iPad and Android-based Tablets). Data for all vendors are reported for calendar periods.

Wireless bike brake system has the highest GPA ever

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 03:30 AM PDT

Color us a yellow shade of mendacious, but if we designed something that works 99.999999999997 percent of the time, we'd probably round off and give ourselves a big ol' 100 percent A+. We'd probably throw in a smiley faced sticker, too. Computer scientist Holger Hermanns, however, is a much more honest man, which is why he's willing to admit that his new wireless bike brake system is susceptible to outright failure on about three out of every trillion occasions. Hermanns' concept bike, pictured above, may look pretty standard at first glance, but take a closer look at the right handlebar. There, you'll find a rubber grip with a pressure sensor nestled inside. Whenever a rider squeezes this grip, that blue plastic box sitting next to it will send out a signal to a receiver, attached to the bike's fork. From there, the message will be sent on to an actuator that converts the signal into mechanical energy, and activates the brake. Best of all, this entire process happens will take just 250 milliseconds of your life. No wires, no brakes, no mind control. Hermanns and his colleagues at Saarland University are now working on improving their system's traction and are still looking for engineers to turn their concept into a commercial reality, but you can wheel past the break for more information, in the full PR.
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Reaching 99.999999999997 percent safety: Saarland computer scientists present their concept for a wireless bicycle brake
13 October 2011 University Saarland

Computer scientists at Saarland University developed a wireless bicycle brake and demonstrated its efficiency on a so-called cruiser bike. Furthermore, they confirmed the brake system's reliability through mathematical calculations that are also used in control systems for aircraft or chemical factories.

The cruiser bike is more similar to an Easy Rider motorcycle without an engine block than it is to a traditional bike. However, looking at the straight, elongated stem, it is readily apparent what makes the newly developed system so special. The bicycle has neither a protruding brake lever to control the front brake, nor a brake cable snaking down the frame.

But the wireless bicycle brake represents much more than just an academic gadget to the scientists. Professor Holger Hermanns, who holds the chair of Dependable Systems and Software, and who developed the wireless bicycle brake together with his group, explains: "Wireless networks are never a fail-safe method. That's a fact that's based on a technological background." Nonetheless, the trend is to set up wireless systems that, like a simple bicycle brake, have to function all the time.

"In the field of the future European Train Service, for example, concrete plans already exist," Hermanns reports. Furthermore, he says that train and airplane experiments are far too sophisticated, and could even endanger the life of human beings in case of malfunction. Therefore, the Saarland computer scientist's mathematical methods should now verify the correct function and interaction of the components automatically. "The wireless bicycle brake gives us the necessary playground to optimize these methods for operation in much more complex systems," Hermanns adds. Therefore, his research group examines the brake prototype with algorithms that normally are used in control systems for aircraft or chemical factories. As a result, they found out that the brake works with 99.999999999997 percent reliability. "This implies that out of a trillion braking attempts, we have three failures," Hermanns explains and concludes: "That is not perfect, but acceptable."

To brake with the wireless brake, a cyclist has just to clench the rubber grip on the right handle. The more tightly the grip is clenched, the harder the disk brake on the front wheel works. It seems as if a ghost hand is in play, but a combination of several electronic components enables the braking. Integrated in the rubber grip is a pressure sensor, which activates a sender if a specified pressure threshold is crossed. The sender is integrated in a blue plastic box which is the size of a cigarette packet and is attached to the handlebar. Its radio signals are sent to a receiver attached at the end of the bicycle's fork. The receiver forwards the signal to an actuator, transforming the radio signal into the mechanical power by which the disk brake is activated. To enhance reliability, there are additional senders attached to the bicycle. These repeatedly send the same signal. In this way, the scientists hope to ensure that the signal arrives at the receiver in time, even if the connection causes a delay or fails. The computer scientists at Saarland University found that increasing the number of senders does not result in increased reliability. "If it is not configured correctly, it is possible that three out of five braking attempts fail," Hermanns says.

Its current configuration enables the cruiser bike to brake within 250 milliseconds. This means that at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, the cyclist has to react two meters before reaching the dangerous situation. But the Saarland University computer scientists are not satisfied with this functionality. "It is not difficult to integrate an anti-lock braking system and traction control. That takes only a few adjustments," Hermanns explains. After first talks with bicycle brake manufacturers, Hermanns is looking for engineers who will realize the concept of a wireless bicycle brake.
Researching the wireless bicycle brake was funded within the special research field

"Automatic Verification and Analysis of Complex Systems (AVACS)" by the German Research Foundation. Its results are documented in the scientific paper "A Verified Wireless Safety Critical Hard Real-Time Design," published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Salt enables six times the storage capacity for snail-unfriendly hard drives

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 02:22 AM PDT

Salt: sure, you might use it to cure meats for your latest solar-powered circumnavigation. But hold onto your kippers, Magellan, because Singaporean scientists have found that sodium chloride -- ordinary table salt! -- can also dramatically increase storage capacity. You see, typical hard drives have randomly-arranged magnetic grains, which allow data density of about 0.5 terabit per square inch. But a high-resolution e-beam lithography process, aided by our good friend NaCl, arranges the grains in a tighter, more orderly fashion, upping the density to 3.3 terabits per square inch. Called nanopatterning, this technique enables a 1TB drive to hold 6TB without additional platters; it also works with current manufacturing technology, meaning no expensive upgrades. If that's got you dreaming of a higher-capacity future, hit the source link for more glorious technical details. We'll warn you, though: the pictures of luscious, bee-stung lips stop here.

RIM offers free apps to make up for that whole BlackBerry outage thing

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 01:46 AM PDT

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis has already apologized for last week's widespread BlackBerry outage, but apparently, that wasn't enough. Today, the manufacturer announced that it's offering customers a full slate of "premium apps" for free, in the hopes of earning back some of the goodwill it lost following that mysterious blackout. In a statement, the company said the gesture is "an expression of appreciation" for the patience that many BlackBerry users demonstrated during the incident, with Lazaridis adding that his company remains "committed to providing the high standard of reliability" that consumers have come to expect. For now, the company's offering a total of 12 apps (collectively valued at around $100), including SIMS 3, iSpeech Translator Pro and Shazam Encore among others, though more will be added at a later date. The offer kicks off on Wednesday and will last for a month, so head past the break to see which goodies are up for grabs.
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Research In Motion Offers Free Premium Apps to Customers Following Service Interruptions

Waterloo, ON - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) announced today that a selection of premium apps worth a total value of more than US $100 will be offered free of charge to subscribers as an expression of appreciation for their patience during the recent service disruptions. The apps will be made available to customers over the coming weeks on BlackBerry® App World™ and will continue to be available until December 31, 2011.*

"Our global network supports the communications needs of more than 70 million customers," said RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. "We truly appreciate and value our relationship with our customers. We've worked hard to earn their trust over the past 12 years, and we're committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect, today and in the future."

The complete selection of premium apps will become available to download at BlackBerry App World over a period of four weeks beginning Wednesday, October 19th. The selections over this period will include the following (with more to come):

SIMS 3 - Electronic Arts
Bejeweled - Electronic Arts
N.O.V.A. - Gameloft
Texas Hold'em Poker 2 - Gameloft
Bubble Bash 2 - Gameloft
Photo Editor Ultimate - Ice Cold Apps
DriveSafe.ly Pro - iSpeech.org
iSpeech Translator Pro - iSpeech.org
Drive Safe.ly Enterprise - iSpeech.org
Nobex Radio™ Premium - Nobex
Shazam Encore - Shazam
Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant - Vlingo

RIM's enterprise customers will also be offered one month of free Technical Support. Current customers will be offered a complimentary one month extension of their existing Technical Support contract, and customers who do not currently have a Technical Support contract will be offered a one month trial of RIM's BlackBerry Technical Support Services - Enhanced Support, free of charge. Additional details about the program and information about how to register will be available at www.blackberry.com/enterpriseoffer.

"We are grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers for their patience," added Lazaridis. "We have apologized to our customers and we will work tirelessly to restore their confidence. We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again.


* Please note that the availability of this offer will depend on the type of device, operating system version, access to BlackBerry App World and local conditions and/or restrictions.

Crestron debuts free, paid mobile apps for Android devices

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 12:34 AM PDT

It's taken some time, but Crestron has finally rolled out an official version of its home automation remote control software for Android. Crestron's iOS efforts have been around and there was also an unofficial solution available from former Sling founder Blake Krikorian, but now users can choose between the free Crestron Mobile app and $100 Crestron Mobile Pro app. Judging by its iOS counterpart, the Pro version adds a number of control options including pre-set scenes and more. Of course, if you're rocking one of the company's setups then we figure you pay someone to explain this stuff to you who can probably break it down in more detail. Hit the link below to download or check out the press release after the break.
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Crestron Mobile Pro® For Android™ Now Available on Market

Control Your Crestron System from Any Android Mobile Device

Crestron today announced that the new Mobile Pro Control App for Android™ is now available on the Android™ Market. Mobile Pro turns any Android device into a fully functional Crestron touch screen, allowing homeowners to control lighting, thermostats, entertainment, security systems and other connected systems from anywhere, anytime.

"Whether you have an iPhone®, iPad® or Android mobile device, there's a Crestron control solution for you," said Crestron VP of Technology, Fred Bargetzi. "We're fanatical about keeping our customers on the cutting edge by offering a variety of solutions that bring the latest, most popular home technology into their lives. Our new Android App is just the latest example of that commitment. We don't make you choose, we make it easy."

Mobile Pro displays real-time status of room temperatures, shade positions, lighting levels and metadata including cover art, song and artist. You can even view streaming video from web-based security cameras right on your mobile device. Using the home Wi-Fi® network locally or powerful cellular networks remotely, a virtual Crestron touch screen is always in the palm of your hand no matter where you are.

Crestron provides cross-platform flexibility for the entire family. "Mom can have the same control interface and functionality on her iPad that Dad has with his Samsung Galaxy," Bargetzi says. "You can switch carriers or get a new mobile device without calling in a programmer to reprogram the system. Just connect your new device, and you're ready to go...you have the freedom to choose whatever device you want."

Crestron provides the infrastructure that is the foundation for home control, while providing an open platform for development that supports PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android. The popular R2 Control for Crestron app, created by id8 Group, was the pioneer in providing the first Android solution for Crestron and is available for download from the Android Market.

Download Crestron Mobile Pro® for Android™ or go to www.crestron.com/mobileapps to learn more about Crestron Mobile® solutions for Apple and Android devices.

To get all the latest news, information and product updates subscribe to our RSS feed, "Like" us on Facebook® and follow us on Twitter®.

LG DoublePlay makes its official intro on T-Mobile, offers dual-screens and split keyboard

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 10:49 PM PDT

Where have all the split-keyboard phones gone? It's been roughly six years since the days of the Nokia E70, a messaging device with an innovative form factor, but handsets with a similar mold have become extreme rarities in the market -- if they even make it to the market at all (remember the MotoSplit?). LG's hoping to gain some ground in this area by officially announcing the DoublePlay, a unique Android 2.3 handset with dual touchscreens and split QWERTY. Here's the scoop: the DoublePlay's powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU and offers a 5MP rear-facing camera capable of capturing 720p HD video. Where it gets interesting, however, is in the DoublePlay's design -- it uses a 3.5-inch display on top, sliding out to reveal a 2-inch internal screen sandwiched in between both halves of the keyboard. As it turns out, both screens can be used separately or in tandem with each other, depending on your needs. No pricing or availability was specifically announced, but the presser appears to coincide with the 2011 National Texting Championship beginning October 26th, so the phone will likely launch around the same time. Perhaps we have a device here that'll be a legend in another seven years?
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New LG DoublePlay, Exclusively Offered By T-Mobile, Raises The Stakes At The 2011 LG U.S. National Texting Championship

LG and T-Mobile USA Announce LG DoublePlay™, with Unique Dual Touch Screens, Delivering Twice the Texting and Social Networking Capabilities
Thirteen Contestants Compete for Chance to Become Part of Texting History, a $50,000 Grand Prize and Named the Fastest Texter in the U.S.

SAN DIEGO and BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - LG Mobile is once again challenging the fastest thumbs in the nation to the ultimate text messaging challenge – the fifth annual LG U.S. National Texting Championship, featuring the new LG DoublePlay™. Announced today, LG DoublePlay is the ultimate multitasking handset, featuring a split QWERTY keyboard and dual capacitive touch screens, making simultaneous mobile activities easier than ever. During this year's competition, 13 contestants will use LG DoublePlay, which is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon® processor, to compete in the ultimate texting showdown for the chance to win a $50,000 cash prize and a once-in-a-lifetime spot in texting history.

Equipped with dual customizable touch screens – a 3.5-inch main display and 2.0-inch sub display – that operate independently or in tandem, as well as a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard and Swype® for easy text input, LG DoublePlay allows users to perform multiple tasks at once such as updating their Facebook pages while simultaneously surfing the Web, texting or checking email.

"The evolving nature of texting trends and mobile technology has brought LG and T-Mobile together to create a device that celebrates multi-tasking beyond a powerful processor," said Carl Brown, director of trade marketing for LG Mobile. "With its split keyboard and dual screens, LG DoublePlay's impressive hardware made it the obvious choice for the official mobile phone of the 2011 National Texting Championship. LG is proud to be leading the charge in the next generation of mobile messaging devices while continuing its legacy as a leading manufacturer in QWERTY keyboard devices."

"Whether sending texts or emails, checking in on social media sites, or browsing the Web, consumers are looking for fun and easy ways to stay connected to the people and things that matter most to them," said Kim Swanson, director, product management, T-Mobile USA. "With the introduction of LG DoublePlay and its unique dual-screen design, we are bringing the ultimate multitasking tool to our customers."

LG DoublePlay comes with a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p HD video recorder, allowing users to capture and share pictures and videos via messaging, email or Facebook. The device also offers multiple messaging options, including Cloud Text™ and Group Text™, giving users the ability to send and receive texts from a PC or tablet or create group chats on-the-go for faster, more efficient content sharing. LG DoublePlay features Android™ 2.3 (Gingerbread) with access to Android Market™ and delivers complete user customization with seven home screens and up to nine touchscreen shortcuts for one-touch navigation.

2011 LG U.S. National Texting Championship

The fifth annual LG U.S. National Texting Championship will bring the fastest, most talented thumbs in America to the historic Altman Building in New York City to face-off for the chance to be named the winner of the 2011 LG U.S. National Texting Championship. Reigning champion Brianna Hendrickson, who took home the 2010 title at just 13 years-old, is the contestant to beat. This year's competition will push contestants to dig deep and flex their texting muscles as they race through challenges designed to test texting speed, accuracy and dexterity. Competitors will need to type phrases on their LG DoublePlay exactly as they appear on LG plasma screens, while distracted by blind folds, complex phrases and marathon game play.

LG first set out to crown the fastest thumbs in America in 2007 when more than 500 contestants battled it out for the U.S. texting title. Now a national phenomenon, last year's Championship featured a record 500,000 competition entries and became the subject of a MTV documentary called "Thumbs" by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Bill Couturie. Providing an exclusive look at the growing phenomenon of texting among today's youth, the film provided a first-hand look at player preparations during the marathon race to the 2010 LG National Texting Championship. Moreover, "Thumbs" underscored the increasing importance of texting as one of today's preferred methods of mainstream communication. For more information on the LG U.S. National Texting Championship, please visit www.facebook.com/lgtexterus.

Amazon lockers come to NYC, no more getting caught by UPS in your PJs

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 10:24 PM PDT

Amazon Lockers NYC
First Seattle, then London, now the Big Apple -- Amazon's delivery lockers are starting to pop up all over. As we've explained before, the lockers are basically giant, automated PO boxes, designated exclusively for Amazon purchases. If you choose to add a locker location to your address book (go check your account settings to see if the option is available to you yet), your package will be crammed into one of these kiosks and you'll be given a code to unlock a particular slot at the location of your choice. So far there are eight scattered around Manhattan in Rite Aides, D'Agostinos and Gristedes. We haven't wandered out of our secret lair to get photographic evidence of the drop off locations yet (we prefer to have our Amazon purchases left at the gate under the watchful eye of a turret), but we think the screen shot we took is proof enough that we're not pulling your leg. Still, if you're afraid the UPS guy might swing by while you're still in your jammies this seems like a pretty nice solution.

Gamecube-free Wii refresh heads to North America, competes with more versatile predecessor

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 08:03 PM PDT

Usually when a hardware refresh axes a major feature, it gets a comparable price drop. Not for Nintendo's waggle star, however -- the gamecube-free Wii refresh we've seen advertised for Europe is heading to North America for the same price as its backwards-compatible kin. $150 will get you a black console designed to lay on its side and streamlined to play only Wii software, a Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack and a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. All well and good, except that Nintendo's press release (which you'll find after the break) also promises that the existing Wii bundle will stick around, packing Mario Kart Wii, a Wii Wheel, backwards compatibility for Gamecube games and the very same $150 price tag as the downgraded redesign. Mark your Christmas wishlists carefully folks, this one's a doozy.
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BLACK WII HOLIDAY BUNDLE WITH NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII AND EXCLUSIVE MUSIC CD ARRIVING OCT. 23

Oct. 11, 2011
As the holiday season draws near, Nintendo of America is giving consumers a new way to discover the nonstop fun and exceptional value of the Wii™ system. Starting Oct. 23, a new Wii console bundle will be available at U.S. retailers, including the New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii game, a special Super Mario Galaxy™ soundtrack CD, a black Wii Remote™ Plus controller and a black Nunchuk™ controller. The new bundle will be offered at a suggested retail price of $149.99.

Particularly for first-time console buyers and newcomers to the world of Nintendo, this new Wii bundle delivers a mix of inclusive entertainment at an attractive price. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is one of the most widely enjoyed games for the Wii system with more than 20 million units sold worldwide. Featuring iconic characters from the classic Super Mario Bros. series, the game lets up to four friends or family members play together in a fast-paced platforming adventure. The Super Mario Galaxy music CD, which includes a selection of memorable music from the acclaimed video game, is available only as part of the new Wii bundle and will not be sold separately. The newly configured black Wii console sits horizontally rather than vertically and is designed exclusively for Wii game play and entertainment experiences (Nintendo GameCube™ software and accessories are not supported).

The standard Wii bundle, which includes a Wii console (white or black), matching Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk controllers, Mario Kart™ Wii game and Wii Wheel™ accessory, will continue to be available at a suggested retail price of $149.99. Both Wii bundles offer tremendous value to consumers and families looking to expand their home entertainment options.

Upcoming games for Wii include The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword, an epic new installment in the fan-favorite adventure series launching Nov. 20. In addition to a huge, diverse library of motion-controlled video games, the Wii system allows users to access a variety of fun online features by connecting their console to the Internet. Netflix members with an unlimited streaming plan can use the Wii console to enjoy thousands of movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix directly to their living rooms.

How would you change HP's TouchPad?

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 07:38 PM PDT

Not like it matters much now, but hey -- why not, right? HP's TouchPad was tossed into the closeout bin just over 40 days after it initially went on sale, and it actually served to be a spark for the eventual webOS fire that still seems to be smoldering. When we tested it -- and before we knew HP was about to demolish its operating system in the consumer realm -- we found tons of promise. That said, we also found lackluster hardware and a relatively barren application store, but we held out hope that the latter would blossom. These days, our readers are using fire sale TouchPads for all manners of tasks, but if you had the chance, how would you change yours? Toss in a different CPU / GPU? Give webOS the overhaul HP never did? Swap Touchstone for Qi? Let us know in comments below -- those who need to hear, will.

Motorola Atrix 2 just a few clicks away from your purchase at AT&T for $100

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 06:53 PM PDT

The latest high-end Android phone on AT&T's lineup definitely looks like a hundred bucks, and fortunately it won't cost you a penny more -- on the contrary, it'll be a penny less before taxes and fees get involved in the ruckus. We're talking about the Motorola Atrix 2, announced and shown off last week at CTIA Enterprise & Applications. If you're anxious to get a new phone and one of them fancy iDevices aren't doing it for you, this 4.3-inch qHD handset with a dual-core 1GHz CPU, 21Mbps HSPA+, an 8MP camera with 1080p HD video capture and front-facing cam, Android 2.3 and a full gigabyte of RAM will be a stunning option at a midrange price. Envisioning a beautiful future together with the Atrix 2 right now? Check it out (and checkout) at the link below.

Switched On: As Siri gets serious

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 06:12 PM PDT

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Nearly 15 years passed between Apple's first foray into handheld electronics -- the Newton MessagePad -- and the far more successful iPhone. But while phones have replaced PDAs for all intents and purposes, few if any have tried to be what Newton really aspired to -- an intelligent assistant that would seamlessly blend into your life. That has changed with Siri, the standout feature of iOS 5 on the iPhone 4S, which could aptly be described as a "personal digital assistant" if there weren't so much baggage tied to that term.

Siri is far more than parlor entertainment or a simple leapfrogging the voice control support in Android and Windows Phone. At the other end of the potential spectrum, Siri may not be a new platform in itself (although at this point Apple has somewhat sandboxed the experience). In any case, though, Siri certainly paves the way for voice as an important component for a rich multi-input digital experience. It steps toward the life-management set of functionality that the bow-tied agent immortalized in Apple's 1987 Knowledge Navigator video could achieve.

Its success even at this early stage has been driven by its impressive speech recognition accuracy. Apple shows a demo of Siri in which you can ask it to split a dinner tip among multiple people (don't they know there's an app for that?) and Siri obliges, calling on the cloud-based computational might of Wolfram Alpha. It's the kind of task that Newton was supposed to help with, but anyone who remembers the initial state of its handwriting recognition would know that trying to write "What does each person owe for a 20 percent tip on a $205 dinner for a part of six?" would be enough to send you scavenging for the nearest napkin and pencil. Siri, of course, also has access to powerful sources of information that did not readily exist in Newton's day, such as location and commonplace wireless data.

Siri also impresses in its ability to follow a dialogue in some contexts. You can ask it what you have on today's agenda and then follow up with "What about tomorrow?" and it will show you tomorrow's appointments. You can then tell it, "Cancel the first appointment" and if it's a recurring appointment, it will ask if you want to cancel just that occurrence or the series.

But Siri has some unusual limitations. It can't open iPhone apps such as Safari or key websites such as Wikipedia by name (although it can initiate a Web search). It can dictate SMS or iMessage messages but not tweets despite iOS 5's Twitter integration. Siri can call up a preview of recent e-mails, but it is not (yet) Apple's answer to a way to have texts and emails read passively while driving, a task handled adeptly by apps such as DriveSafe.ly -- particularly on the BlackBerry platform.


Today, Siri ties into a relatively small subset of your personal information and calendar as well as Wolfram Alpha as a general knowledge storehouse and Yelp for restaurant reviews. But for this self-described "humble personal assistant" to realize what are clearly less-than-humble ambitions, it must tie into more cloud-based services. Unfortunately, the two at the top of the list are not at the top of Apple's buddy list these days; Google and certainly Facebook know much more about most Siri users than Siri does, although Apple can make up some ground with its own browsing knowledge furnished via Safari and its new partnership with Twitter. And while Evernote may not have Facebook's user base, chronology or unconscious knowledge population, it could add great value to Siri's knowledge of our life details.

While less important, there would also be advantages to having Siri integrate with more of the iPhone's own local content (although iCloud should bridge this somewhat), such as photos and videos. For example, Siri can't get the job done when you ask it to, "Email the last photo I took." Rather, it creates an email with the subject "The last photo I took" but no attachment. And if you tell it, "Take a photo in ten minutes," Siri shrugs that it is not much of a photographer (a self-deprecating concern that hasn't done much to stem the tide of many Facebook photos).

Siri is unique in Apple lore in that it is the first major UI paradigm not to be introduced with a fundamentally new device. Apple introduced its graphical user interface on the Lisa, its pen user interface on the Newton, and its multitouch user interface on the iPhone. (Even the modest scroll wheel debuted on the iPod.) Apple could keep it tied to its virtual desk as a limited assistant or make it a pillar for an ever-broadening set of features that could include information retrieval, life management, knowledge work, and proactive alerting and recommendation tasks. Siri itself, though, isn't giving anything away. When asked, "Why did Apple make you?," one of its responses is, "Apple doesn't tell me everything, you know."

Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own.

Transformers Blu-ray 3D release coming to Japan in January, still no release date for US

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 06:00 PM PDT

The United States got a quickie Blu-ray release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon a couple of weeks ago sans-extras and 3D, with only a promise they would be delivered "in the coming months" but that is not the case across the Pacific. In Japan Paramount has announced the Blu-ray 3D version is coming January 20th complete with English and Japanese soundtracks. There's still no date for a full-fledged release around these parts, so if you're an early adopter (if you have a 3D TV, it's a pretty safe bet) your first chance to bring the billion dollar blockbuster home as Michael Bay intended may come with some extra kanji on it.

Inhabitat's Week in Green: Civic hybrid gets driven, AT-AT dog costume gets worn

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 04:57 PM PDT

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.
Incredible feats of green architecture reached for the sky this week as Inhabitat reported that the world's first vertical forest skyscraper is rising in Milan and an outdoor cinema made entirely from refrigerators popped up in London. We also took a look inside a crazy mountain lodge that resembles a hill-like hobbit high-rise and we spotted a Finnish hotel that rents out glass-domed geodesic igloos for viewing the northern lights. We also launched a brand new video that takes an inside look at this year's winning Solar Decathlon homes, we kicked off a contest where you can win one of 25 $600 home energy audits, and we learned that China's coal-powered energy grid negates the green benefits of electric vehicles.

Speaking of green transportation, this week we caught a glimpse of several next-generation electric vehicle technologies as Nissan unveiled a ten minute electric vehicle charger and Chevrolet announced plans to produce a Spark mini EV. We also took Honda's new Civic hybrid for a spin, and we learned that Tesla's new Model S sedan will be powered by highly efficient Panasonic batteries. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic announced plans to cut its carbon footprint in half by fueling airplanes with waste gas and Germany announced that 100 percent of its trains will run on renewable energy by 2050.

In other news, techy fashion got a jolt of affordability as we spotted an economical LED jacket for night cyclists and runners, and we took a look at the story behind Steve Jobs' iconic black turtlenecks. We also got into the Halloween spirit by bringing you an adorable Star Wars AT-AT costume for dogs, and we showcased a creepy set of "stained glass" windows made from x-rays. Finally, we shined the spotlight on India's solar-powered water ATMs, and we brought you a can't-miss set of tips for recycling e-waste.

Sony Reader PRS-T1 hacked to expose Android, run other e-reader apps (video)

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 03:54 PM PDT

Sony PRS-T1
We knew that lurking under the e-ink screen gracing the front of Sony's PRS-T1 reader was some version of Android. What was unclear, was whether or not we'd ever be able to actually get a peek under its highly customized skin and a chance to start poking its open-source innards. Well, thanks to one intrepid hacker, we're almost there. YouTube user vladboroda has managed to install AWD.Launcher and a host of other apps on the Reader and actually got some of them up and running. You won't be able to play Angry Birds on its 6-inch touchscreen (yet...) but it is capable of running other e-reader apps, like FBReader, and there is access to the terminal. It's not quite enough that we'd start referring to the PRS-T1 as a tablet just yet, and the hack still isn't available to the public, but work is progressing and we're sure it'll have you browsing the web and slingshotting aggravated avians in no time. Check out the video after the break.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Chipworks throws an iPhone 4S under its infrared microscope, finds Sony-sourced image sensor

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 02:34 PM PDT

Look closely. Can you spot it? That gray abyss is actually an infrared image by Chipworks revealing an iPhone 4S' Sony-branded, 8 megapixel CMOS sensor. Looks like Howard Stringer wasn't bluffing to Walt Mossberg back in April, after all. At the time, it was reported that Apple's usual sensor supplier, OmniVision, was experiencing production delays, prompting speculation that Sony would eventually usurp the position. While the iPhone 4S that Chipworks looked into seems to confirm this, it's pointed out that Apple does have a habit of "dual sourcing" components (with its contacts saying this should be no different), so Sony may not be the sole supplier this time around. What ever the case, there's no denying that the iPhone 4S takes some stellar shots. You'll find more information -- including X-rays of the 4S -- at the source link below.

RIM tells devs to get ready for BlackBerry Curve Touch and Bellagio

Posted: 16 Oct 2011 11:54 AM PDT

If you're going to give your devs a nugget of info about some of your unannounced devices on a publicly available site, we hope you won't be so surprised that word actually gets out about them. That's exactly what happened to Research in Motion, as the company let it "slip out" to devs that two future BlackBerry OS7 smartphones -- the Bellagio 9790 and Curve Touch 9380 -- are inbound. The whole point in the message was to inform developers of what kind of resolution to expect in the new phones' displays. From the bits and pieces we're given, it appears that the Bellagio will have a 2.4-inch screen using 480 x 360 resolution to produce a respectable 245 PPI; the Curve Touch, on the other hand, will feature an identical res on a larger 3.2-inch display, resulting in a PPI of 189. The probability of hearing an official announcement this week is pretty high, but we'd say the intended (and likely unintended) message has come through loud and clear for now, wouldn't you?
at 11:16 AM

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