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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

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Mystery Nokia Windows Phone handset leaks out in developer video, could this be Champagne?

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 11:06 AM PST

Is that Champagne we see floating above in black space or a conceptual portent of Windows Phones to come? Whatever the case, that Lumia-like Nokia phone of unknown origin comes to us via a now pulled video on the company's developer YouTube channel. Not much new can be gleaned from the handset's brief appearance, aside from a rounded chin and what appears to be prominent speakers on its base -- perfect for that exclusive Nokia Music app. We do know that low- and high-end versions of Espoo's latest flagship are on their way, so whether or not this leaked model makes it to market, the company's certainly cooking something up in their Finnish labs. Click on past the break for a closer peek at the rendered goods.

j5create makes new Wormholes to cross the device divide, share things

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 10:44 AM PST

j5create has updated its range of foolproof cross-device sharing accessories (prior model shown above) that bridge the gap between Mac, PC and even Android tablets through USB. The Wormhole Keyboard/MouseSwitch JUC 200 ($30) does what it says it will, sharing peripherals between devices, with the extra ability of drag-and-drop file transfer between PCs and Android devices. Meanwhile, the JUC 400 model ($40) allows your PC and Mac to hold hands in the same way, as well as link your PC to iPads for file storage and transfer. Finally, there's the Wormhole Station JUH 320v2 ($130), which is somehow already winning plaudits from the future. The CES 2012 Innovations Award honoree is a docking extension with Ethernet, audio and USB 3.0 connections and PC to Mac compatibility. Take a jump through the PR button to get the full explanation.

Show full PR text
j5create Adds Three Unique Products to its Existing Line of Computer Peripherals


Two New Wormhole Transfer Cables and One New Wormhole Docking Station Give PC, Android and Mac Users Unparalleled Cross-Compatibility Access

ATLANTA - Nov.15, 2011 - j5create, a manufacturer of computer usability and interface peripherals, introduced three new products featuring the company's exclusive Wormhole technology, an ideal solution for multiple platform, or multi-computer businesses and families, as a means to copy and share large data, photo and video files. With a simple USB to USB interface, the Wormhole products allow for easy drag-and-drop and copy/paste transfers for files of any size at speeds of up to 480Mbps. The Wormhole products also allow users to connect a laptop or tablet to desktop computers and share keyboard and mouse inputs as well as drag-and-drop file transfers.

Like previous j5create products, the new products provide functionality and appealing design to users. All j5create products are now available at retailers nationwide, including Fry's Electronics, Buy.com, Sears.com, Walmart.com, and the newest authorized retailer, Micro Center..

j5create's new products include:

Wormhole Keyboard/MouseSwitch JUC 200: The JUC 200 allows two computers to share a keyboard and mouse, while supporting drag-and-drop file transfer between two PCs as well as Android devices, in a simple USB-to-USB cable. (MSRP $29.99)
Wormhole Keyboard/MouseSwitch JUC 400: The JUC 400 expands upon the JUC 100 by supporting PC-to-Mac as well as PC-to-iPad sharing and file transfer capabilities. (MSRP: $39.99)
Wormhole Station V.2 JUH 320v2: As an official CES 2012 Innovations Award Honoree, The Wormhole Station V.2 adds PC-to-Mac compatibility to j5create's USB 3.0 Wormhole Station, a docking extension for laptops featuring Ethernet connections, audio connections and USB 3.0 support. With two USB 3.0 ports and a flash memory card reader, the sleek design of the Wormhole Station V.2 also lifts a laptop off the ground enough to provide better air flow without interrupting comfort. (MSRP: $129.99)

"j5create provides customers with easy-to-use tools that are functional and essential to everyday computing," said Fred Schweer, director of North American sales, j5create. "We pride ourselves on creating unique products in design, capability and simplicity of operation. We're taking our one-of-kind, high speed transfer, keyboard/mouse sharing Wormhole products to the next level by giving them cross-platform compatibility between PC and Apple computers."

The plug-and-play feature will allow even technologically un-savvy customers to easily use the products. The exclusive j5create platform will allow the Wormhole Keyboard/Mouse Switches to transfer files at speeds up to 480Mbps or 15 songs per second, while the Wormhole Station will support USB 3.0 speeds, up to 5Gbps or 160 songs per second.

For more information about j5create and its products, please visit http://www.j5create.com

Apple patents workflow sharing using NFC, because it's never too late

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 10:21 AM PST

Two things that are guaranteed to mess with your brain: playing the oboe and reading dense Apple patent applications. You do find the occasional gem, but often you'll read scores of pages only to discover that the so-called invention has already been put to use by others. In this instance, Apple has successfully patented the idea of using NFC to establish a master/slave relationship between two smartphones, as a prelude to making a fully-fledged WiFi connection that allows the sharing of contact details or more complicated sequences of actions. Now, this is a smart idea, especially since the patent specifically talks about retail applications (shown above), but is the end result so wildly different to Android Beam or even Bump? Even Fujitsu came up with a similar concept for using NFC to trigger location-relevant workflows. Either there's some significant overlap here, or we've spent too long playing reed instruments.

The Engadget Show is live tonight with Nokia's Stephen Elop, Qualcomm, NASA and more!

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 10:00 AM PST

The Engadget Show! It's tonight! Live at 6PM ET! If you're not lucky enough to join us in-person at our NYC studio, you can follow along online. Just set your browsers here.

It's almost crazy how much we have planned this month, including an interview with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, an appearance by Qualcomm and a trip to Lockheed Martin in Colorado, to take a look at the Orion spacecraft the company is building for NASA. We'll also be looking at the Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, Motorola Razr, HTC Rezound, three Galaxy tabs and will be serenaded by the indie rock stylings of Milagres.


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Gmail app for iOS returns to the App Store, promises to stay this time

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 09:48 AM PST

It looks like you can put any any fears of the short-lived Gmail iOS app going the way of the BlackBerry app to rest. Google has just announced that the app has returned to Apple's App Store, and it promises that the problematic bugs that plagued the original release have been fixed. The company also says that it has "received a lot of helpful feedback and feature requests" during the app's two-week absence, and further notes that it's "just getting started" with the iOS app and plans to rapidly add a number of new features including support for multiple accounts and improved notifications.

Samsung modifies tablet to satisfy German ruling, begins selling Galaxy Tab 10.1N

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 09:42 AM PST

Sick of those trips across the border to smuggle a banned Galaxy Tab 10.1 into Germany? Samsung has come to the rescue, modifying its familiar Honeycomb tablet to work around the injunction issued in August and upheld in September as part of Apple's patent litigation in Düsseldorf. It's not entirely clear what's different with the relaunched tablet, which appears to have a black bezel that extends slightly further towards the metal rim, but the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, as it is now being called, has appeared on a German e-tailer's website with a shipping window of two to four days, along with the text "Galaxy Tab is back!" at the bottom of the listing. Samsung isn't entirely in the clear just yet, but unless its new "N" model is also found to be infringing on Apple's patents, gadget-hungry Germans shouldn't have to worry about the iPad-alternative disappearing again anytime soon.

Kindle Fire crept through FCC checks in September, wore a disguise

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 09:23 AM PST

The Kindle Fire's now out there, but it had managed to tick all those FCC boxes a few months back. Registering the device under the exotic-sounding Okakopa company, the "tablet device' kept its cards close to its chest. Given that we've already given the Kindle Fire a rigorous inspection and it's already suffered a comprehensive teardown, there's not much left to glean from the filings. You can check out the source link below, but it's for labeling and antenna placement fanatics only.

ZTE Light Tab 2 hands-on: another 7-inch phone to stuff your generous pocket

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 09:00 AM PST

Following the likes of Samsung's original Galaxy Tab, here's yet another option for fans of comically-sized phones: the ZTE Light Tab 2, an obvious follow-up to the original Light. In fact, this 7-inch Android 2.3.5 slate was announced back in June and was expected to launch around October, but the ZTE folks here at Mobile Asia Congress still couldn't shed light on its actual availability (pun intended). It sure makes one wonder if any carrier's picked up this tablet.

Anyhow, here's the lowdown: the 12.6mm-thick package comes with a 1024 x 600 non-IPS LCD and a capacitive touchscreen, garnished with a 1.4GHz Qualcomm single core chip, 4GB of ROM, 512MB of RAM, a 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera, a 3.2 megapixel imager on the back, a generous 3,400mAh battery and, of course, 14.4Mbps HSDPA connection that supports voice call. Despite the soon-obsolete OS version, the UI response on the new Light isn't bad at all, and the body felt solid. Take a look at our quick hands-on video after the break.

Alternatively, there's also the 7-inch Froyo-powered T72 tablet (yes, Froyo) featuring an "iOS-like UI." Seriously, that was what we read on the spec sheet! Again, we couldn't get a date out of ZTE, but feel free to check out this shameless device after the break, if you must.
ZTE Light Tab 2 hands-on: another 7-inch phone to stuff your generous pocket



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Visa dubs upcoming digital wallet service 'V.me,' looks to differentiate product line

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 08:39 AM PST

You may be using a Visa digital wallet next year, even if the brand name says otherwise (my Visa account was hacked twice in the past 18 months to procure vast amounts of premium shampoo and Xbox Live account add-ons, so maybe it's a good thing). Recently, the company announced that it will be using the name V.me to distinguish its upcoming digital wallet from its other services. The service, which is expected to launch in early 2012 following a private beta period, will allow customers to fund the account via their Visa card, a MasterCard account or their bank account. Taking a lead from competitors such as PayPal, Amazon.com and American Express, customers will be able to log in through a user name and password as opposed to keying in their 12-digit account number each time. A PayPal-esque send and receive money feature is also in the works, allowing for users to shoot money to each other on the fly. The company has also stated that it will be developing mobile-friendly applications for shopping from a smartphone or a tablet, the apps eventually allowing people to pay using near-field technology. And if someone can buy $500 worth of premium shampoo on an innocent man's card just by pointing their smartphone on it, that's technology in action.

Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: desktops

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 08:00 AM PST

Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! We're well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties surrounding the seasonal shopping experience, so we're here to help you sort out this year's tech treasures. Below is today's bevy of curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season.
Just because most folks have moved onto lighter and more portable playthings doesn't mean there aren't those of you that still enjoy some good old-fashioned "real computing" -- you know, of the immovable persuasion. We jest, as despite their waning sales, desktops still serve an important role in the PC market, especially for those of you serious about all-out performance or a no-frills experience. And, while the pace of innovation in a once burgeoning category has slowed to a consolidated tranquil pace, there are still some hotspots of innovation -- especially around all-in-ones and high-end gaming solutions. As you mavericks press on, so will we, so join us after the break as we suggest some of our favorite desktops for your holiday perusal.


On the cheap


Dell Inspiron One


Though it may not be what we'd call powerful in its base incarnation, you can't fault Dell for the Inspiron 2320's clean looks and low starting price. Six Benjamins nets you an all-in-one rocking a 23-inch display, replete with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. Pricier configs wield touchscreens, HD webcams and scrap the budget Pentium for more brawny Core series processors. If you've got a penchant for speed, the $1,399-range topper awaits with its Core i7 married to 8GB of RAM, NVIDIA's GeForce GT 525M and a Blu-ray burner, which should be able to handle what you'll hurtle its way. But before you pull out that plastic, do note: USB 3.0 is nowhere to be found, and -- despite us wishing it wasn't so -- all variant ship with Windows 7 Home, not Professional.

Price: $599 and up from Dell

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HP Pavilion s5

HP's Slimline S5 packs quite a potent punch despite its diminutive looks. This little number can be stuffed with up to 8GB of RAM, 2TB of storage and a quad-core Core i7. While it isn't made of svelte aluminum like its counterpart to the right, even the base config comes with a keyboard, mouse and optical drive -- proving that miniature and cheap doesn't have to be barren.

Price: $329+ from HP



Mac Mini

The Mac Mini's still the cheapest way to get on the OS X train -- and this year Thunderbolt's on-board. We're still smitten with its unibody design, which finally houses a processor from this decade. Yet, we find it egregious to demand users bring keyboards and mice to a computer that costs more than half a grand in 2011. And expect to shell out an additional $79 for an external Superdrive.

Price: $568+ on Amazon



Mid-range


Samsung Series 7


While it might be down on graphical brawn, it's certainly not lacking originality. Marking the first time an all-in-one from Samsung has made it stateside, the 23-inch LED-powered beaut is unique in its ability to fold completely flat. Available in two SKUs, you're looking at either Core i3 or i5 internals coupled with 1TB of storage and Intel's integrated graphics. But unlike in many of its contemporaries, you'll find USB 3.0 support, although you'll only get one port. Oh and that panel? It's a touchscreen, so it won't be long before you're swiping on the custom touch layer, at radical oblique angles.

Price: $949 and up from Best Buy

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Maingear Vybe

No-one said fast had to be svelte. While some of you might appreciate its utilitarian chic looks, we're after the Vybe Super Stock's vigor. Performance ranges from "good" (with the stock Core i5 and a GTX 450) to "awesome," with an overclocked 4GHz Core i7 and dual GeForce GTX 570s in SLI. Just promise you'll leave us some kills, okay?

Price: $949 and up from Maingear



Toshiba DX735

If you're looking for a little more "TV" from your all-in-one, the DX735 might be up your alley. The 23-inch touchscreen features multitouch and is powered by Intel's Core i5 or i7. Turn it around, and you'll find a lone USB 3.0 port and a neighboring HDMI input -- allowing it to double as a miniature boob tube.

Price: $899 and up from Best Buy



Money's no object


Apple iMac


While it's no longer the freshest desktop on the block, there's no denying it isn't the benchmark -- at least when it comes to details like fit and finish. Like the rest of Cupertino's meticulously-crafted lineup, the iMac is carved out of a single piece of aluminum and then fused with über-reflective glass. You'll find roughly the same sorts of specs on the 21- or 27-inch variants, but those looking for a touchscreen, Blu-ray or USB 3.0 support ought to look elsewhere. But, hey, at least it's got Thunderbolt, right?

Price: $1,120 and up on Amazon

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HP TouchSmart 620

If you've always wanted your all-in-one to have a little more 3D, the search ends here. The 620 is a rehash of its predecessor -- the TouchSmart 610 -- and that's a good thing, as the stellar, tiltable 23-inch 1080p panel carries over from its predecessor. HDMI didn't make the cut, but who'll notice that while you're taking 3D snaps of yourself wearing those active shutter glasses that come in the box.

Price: $1,600 from HP



Digital Storm Ode Level 3

We know, we know. You can build something more powerful for less dough, but not everyone wants to roll their own. Boasting an overclocked 4.7GHz Core i7, dual NVIDIA GeForce 570GTX's in SLI, complete with 8GB of RAM, the Ode Level 3 means business. Still not sold? Well how about that trick white case? We think it's pretty rad.

Price: $2,339 from Digital Storm

Digital downloads bring UltraViolet one step closer to being useful

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 07:40 AM PST

UltraViloet digital downloads
The dream of being able to buy a movie once and watch it anywhere promised by UltraViolet still seems impossible, but adding digital downloads to Flixster does bring it one step closer. Of course being able to download and watch a handful of movies on a single movie application is far from anyone's dream, but we supposed you have to start somewhere. If you had your hopes a simpler solution, though, you might also keep dreaming as the video after the break seems to show just how complicated one can make watching a movie. We suppose we'd be more excited if we'd just purchased Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 and learned that we could now also watch it on our tablet or smartphone -- now even if we aren't connected to the internet -- but perhaps like you, the final Potter installment isn't exactly on the top of our must have movie list.

iPhone 4S sashays its way to India, up for pre-order this week

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 07:18 AM PST

They're pumped. You're pumped. Everyone's pumped. Why? Because the iPhone 4S is coming to India, that's why. According to the Times of India, Apple's latest handset will be available on November 25th from Bharti Airtel, the country's leading carrier. The Times' report comes just a few days after rival domestic provider Aircel confirmed its own 4S launch (also slated for the 25th), with a post on its Facebook page. Neither company has announced a price yet, though Aircel will start taking pre-orders on the 18th, at the source link below.

[Image courtesy of Bollysite.com]

Ice Cream Sandwich-based CyanogenMod 9 in the works, slated for January release

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 06:58 AM PST

Ice Cream Sandwich's source code has just been unleashed, which means it's time for the folks over at CyanogenMod to saddle up the horses, and get to work. In a Twitter post published on Tuesday, the Mod squad confirmed that it has already begun working on CM9, though it won't be released for another two months. CM8, in case you were wondering, was likely pegged for Android 3.0, but with Google holding tight to its Honeycomb source code, CyanogenMod may just leapfrog it altogether and jump straight to Cloud Nine. We'll all know more, come January.

Google's 'These Go To Eleven' Android event starts at 5PM ET, get your liveblog here!

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 06:43 AM PST

It's just about that time, kids. And by "that time," we mean "time for Google to pull some kind of LA-themed rabbit out of an LA-based hat." The Mountain View monster has rolled down I-5 today in order to throw a "These Go To Eleven" event, presumably in conjunction with T-Mobile. What's on the docket? A Google Music that actually sells stuff? A Galaxy Nexus for T-Mobile? A Google Music store that only runs on T-Mobile's Galaxy Nexus while positioned in the greater Los Angeles area? Feel free to let your imagination run (a little) wild in comments below, and check back right here at the time listed below (2PM local time, for the Californicators) for our blow-by-blow liveblog coverage.

Wed Nov 16 05:00:00 PM EST 2011

BlackBerry design chief says 2012 phones will be 'charming, whimsical and fun'

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 06:27 AM PST

Todd Wood, RIM's senior vice president of industrial design has teased next year's BlackBerry handsets, describing them as "charming, whimsical and fun." Admittedly, those last two words aren't closely associated with BB devices of the past, but the manufacture will certainly be on the charm offensive after those service outages last month. In an interview with Pocket-Lint, the Wood explained how this year's range was influenced by Bellagio in Italy. This is apparently inspired the style licks -- like the 'fretted' keyboard -- on phones like the Bold 9930 and the barely-announced Bold 9790. Next year's models, presumably arriving with a software refresh in the form of BBX, will be drawn from ideas at a design workshop held in Malmo, Sweden. While we can't imagine seeing a Nordic wood-encased Bold, nor the disappearance of RIM's talismanic keyboard, hopefully the change in design focus will bring a bit of texture and spice to BB's next roll of the smartphone dice.

Nook Tablet limits internal storage for non-B&N purchased content to 1GB

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 06:00 AM PST

Well, this is definitely a bummer. Barnes & Noble has spent a fair amount of time talking up all of the Nook Tablet's internal advantages over the Kindle Fire, a list that includes 16GB of storage to the Fire's 8GB. That particular spec may not be quite as good as it looks on paper, however. It seems that Barnes & Noble is currently limiting internal storage on the Android slate to 1GB of content not downloaded directly from B&N. Bummer, right? Especially for those expecting to store their multimedia content on the device. It's not all bad, though. Keep in mind that, unlike the Fire, the Nook's got a not-so-secret weapon -- expandable memory via a microSD card slot located behind the tablet's distinctive loop. We've reached out to B&N for comment, and we're guessing a firmware update will remedy this PR nightmare in 3... 2... 1....

Update: Barnes & Noble confirmed that the above numbers are correct, but added that future multimedia download plans from third-party vendors will utilize the space currently devoted to B&N content only.

CRTC rules against traffic-based internet billing, touts 'flexibility' for small ISPs

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 05:44 AM PST

Chalk one up for the little guy, because Canada's telecom regulator has finally come down in favor of independent ISPs -- ostensibly, at least. Earlier this week, the CRTC ruled that major providers will not be able to bill smaller operators based on bandwidth usage, effectively reversing a controversial policy it implemented (and eventually rescinded) back in February. Under the ruling, heavyweights like BCE and Rogers will be able to sell their bandwidth to smaller ISPs on a monthly basis, with rates pre-determined according to the network capacity each independent operator requires. Large companies can continue to charge flat monthly fees, as well, but they won't be allowed to impose the same traffic-based billing that many apply to individual consumers. The regulator explained the decision thusly: "This wholesale billing model, which is based on capacity, will give independent ISPs added flexibility in offering competitive and innovative services to Canadians." For more details, surf past the break for a dose of PR.

[Image courtesy of Jeff Myers/Flickr]
Show full PR text
CRTC supports choice of Internet services

Independent ISPs to have flexibility to offer competitive retail services without capping bandwidth

OTTAWA-GATINEAU, November 15, 2011 - Today, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) introduced a new way for large telephone and cable companies to charge independent Internet service providers (ISPs) for the use of their networks. This wholesale billing model, which is based on capacity, will give independent ISPs added flexibility in offering competitive and innovative services to Canadians.

The CRTC does not regulate rates or set bandwidth caps for retail Internet customers. To encourage greater competition, the CRTC requires that large telephone and cable companies sell access to their networks to independent ISPs, under specific terms and conditions. Canadians can then choose between multiple ISPs.

Under the CRTC's new capacity-based approach, large telephone and cable companies will sell wholesale bandwidth to independent ISPs on a monthly basis. Independent ISPs will have to determine in advance the amount they need to serve their retail customers and then manage network capacity until they are able to purchase more. Alternatively, large companies can continue to charge independent ISPs a flat monthly fee for wholesale access, regardless of how much bandwidth their customers use. Both billing options give independent ISPs the ability to design service plans and charge their own customers as they see fit.

"Our aim is to foster a marketplace in which Canadians have as many options as possible for their Internet services," said Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC. "Independent ISPs provide an alternative to the large telephone and cable companies, but must rely on these same companies for certain elements of their network. Under the capacity-based model announced today, they will have to forecast their usage and plan accordingly."

The same requirements will now apply to all large telephone and cable companies, ensuring that independent ISPs can choose between different wholesale providers under similar terms.

The rates approved by the CRTC will allow the large companies to recover their costs and provide them with incentives to continue investing in their networks to meet future increases in Internet traffic.

In addition, the CRTC approved a flat-rate only model for wholesale business services.

Boxee Box Live TV dongle shipping for $49 in January 2012, pre-orders open today

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 05:21 AM PST

No point in hiding in plain view, eh? Boxee has just affirmed that the leaked Live TV dongle is legit, and it'll be splashing down on North American shores in January. The Boxee Box Live TV dongle will allow North American users to connect an antenna to their Box to watch channels like ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in HD with no monthly fee -- assuming you're close enough to an OTA tower to receive said signals, of course. Once equipped, a Box will be able to fetch content from the major networks, Vudu, Netflix and Hulu, though you may want to spring for that bolstered internet connection.

Boxee Live TV works with signals from HDTV antennas (using ATSC) or an unencrypted cable connection (using ClearQAM), and a portable antenna is included. Users who live out in the 'burbs may want to consider something a bit beefier, and if you're hoping to use this thing with something other than the Boxee Box... well, keep dreaming. In fact, Boxee has confirmed that even the forthcoming update of its Boxee software for Mac and PC won't support the device, so you'll be forced to pony up for D-Link's hardware if you're looking to party. There's also no DVR function in sight (sort of defeating the purpose, given just how many TVs have tuners already), but hey -- who knows what'll roll out at CES. Pre-orders are available down in the source link, with $49 claiming your spot in line.
Boxee Box Live TV user interface

Qualcomm announces a slew of new Snapdragon processors, upgrades, mobile games

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 05:11 AM PST

It's shaping up to be a busy morning for Qualcomm. The San Diego-based mobile chipmaker issued a bunch of announcements today, including a number of additions to its S4 line of next-generation processors. The list of new S4 chips includes the MSM8660A, MSM8260A, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627, MSM8227, APQ8060A and APQ8030, which join the already announced MSM8960, MSM8930 and APQ8064. The new chips feature the Krait CPU, aimed at upping mobile performance, while offering better power management and battery life. Also on the list are upgrades to four members of the company's S1 entry-level smartphone chip line -- the MSM7225A, MSM7625A, MSM7227A and MSM7627A have been juiced up for better performance.

Oh, and there are games. The company is expanding its already voluminous Snapdragon GamePack to include titles like The Ball, Fight Game Heroes, and Galaga Special Edition -- casual and console games aimed at showcasing its chips' abilities. The list also includes the introduction of Snapdragon GameCommand, an app aimed at showcasing those showcasing apps, making them easier to find and offering up gaming news. GameCommand will be hitting early next year. The new games will be available through the Android Market for handsets packing Snapdragon processors. Lots of press info after the break.
Show full PR text
Qualcomm Unveils New Snapdragon Mobile Processors Across All Tiers of Smartphones and Tablets

NEW YORK – November 16, 2011 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) announced today the expansion of its Snapdragon S4 class of next-generation mobile processors and the enhancement of its Snapdragon S1 solutions for entry-level smartphones.

The addition of new Snapdragon S4 processors, which are aimed at lowering design, engineering and inventory costs while bringing leading-edge 3G and 4G Internet connection speeds, will allow OEMs to introduce S4-based devices with next-generation mobile architecture throughout their respective device roadmaps-from basic smartphones to high-end smartphones and tablets. The enhanced S4 processors are also optimized for use with a suite of software solutions available from Qualcomm that help enable OEMs to deliver industry-leading feature sets for multimedia, connectivity, camera, display, security, power management, browsing and natural user interface design.

The Krait CPU is the next generation of Qualcomm's micro architecture and is purpose-built from the ground up for significant mobile performance and power management advantages leading to enhanced user experience and better battery life. The Krait CPU is an essential part of the Snapdragon S4 class of processors. Today, Qualcomm announced several new S4 chipsets, including the MSM8660A, MSM8260A, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627, MSM8227, APQ8060A and APQ8030. These are additional chipsets to the previously announced MSM8960, MSM8930 and APQ8064. Snapdragon S4 MSM processors include Qualcomm's leading-edge wireless modem technologies, including EV-DO, HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, LTE FDD, LTE TDD and Wi-Fi® standards. Devices based on Snapdragon S4 processors are expected to appear in early 2012.

The Snapdragon S1 product line is driving smartphone growth in all regions, and it offers a significant opportunity for market expansion and migration to 3G. To further this trend, Qualcomm is also announcing an upgrade to four of its existing Snapdragon S1 mobile processors. The MSM7225A, MSM7625A, MSM7227A and MSM7627A have been upgraded to deliver better performance and will enable new mobile experiences for entry-level smartphone users, particularly those transitioning from 2G to 3G.

"Qualcomm is innovating on all fronts and continues to lead the mobile computing era with its roadmap depth, breadth and software support," said Cristiano Amon, senior vice president of product management, Qualcomm. "Our next-generation hardware, optimized for use with our software suite, facilitates best-in-class performance and power for every smart device segment, from mass-market smartphones to high-performance tablets."

Qualcomm Snapdragon processors are classified by the S1, S2, S3 and S4 generations of products. The S1 class is meant for entry-level smartphones; the S2 class for high-performance smartphones and tablets; the S3 class for multi-tasking and advanced gaming; and the S4 class for next-generation devices.

Show full PR text
Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon GameCommand Application and Exclusive Mobile Games for Android

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced today the expansion of its 100+ games Snapdragon GamePack and launch of a new showcase application - Snapdragon™ GameCommand™ - further bolstering the supply of console-quality and casual games for mobile devices featuring Snapdragon processors.

The new gaming titles being introduced as part of the extended Snapdragon GamePack and the new Snapdragon GameCommand app are all expected to hit the Android Market in early 2012. Additions to the Snapdragon GamePack include several new, exclusive gaming titles that will be available through the Android Market, and which will initially be designed to operate exclusively on Android-enabled devices powered by Snapdragon processors. These titles include a number of high-end PC games, such as:

• "The Ball" from Tripwire Interactive, which has earned several accolades including PC Gamer's 2010 Action-Adventure Game of the Year, is built on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 and is debuting for the first time ever on mobile
• "Fight Game Heroes" from Khaeon Gamestudio
• "GALAGA Special Edition," the 30th anniversary edition of the perennial arcade favorite from NAMCO BANDAI Games.

While the GamePack is an ever-growing collection of great games, the new Snapdragon GameCommand app provides mobile users a way to quickly find and learn about the latest Snapdragon featured and exclusive games, with the added bonus of being able to keep and access all their favorite games in a single place with one group icon. The Snapdragon GameCommand app also provides gamers with a source for the latest gaming news from some of the most popular gaming news sites.

"Qualcomm has received great user feedback since launching the Snapdragon GamePack, so we are expanding the quantity and quality of games while making them easier to locate through the launch of the Snapdragon GameCommand app," says Raj Talluri, vice president of product management at Qualcomm. "With more than 60 percent of smartphone users regularly playing games on their mobile devices, the time is right to bring more console-quality and casual games to the Snapdragon platform. We are very excited to put our new Snapdragon GameCommand app and more great gaming titles in the hands of consumers in early 2012."

The Snapdragon GamePack, launched in June 2011 at Qualcomm's Uplinq® mobile developer conference, originally featured more than 100 game titles from some of the industry's top game development companies, including Advanced Mobile Applications Ltd., Babaroga LLC, Booyah Inc., Com2us USA Inc., Digital Chocolate Inc., Electronic Arts Inc., Eyelead Software S.A., FISHLABS Entertainment GmbH, Glu Mobile Inc., Guild Software Inc., Gameloft Inc., Khaeon Games BV, NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., NaturalMotion Games Ltd., Polarbit AB, PopCap Games Inc., HandyGames, Southend Interactive, and Tripwire Interactive LLC. Qualcomm worked closely with them to utilize the advanced graphics capability of the embedded Adreno® GPUs in Snapdragon mobile processors and bring a better gaming experience to mobile users.

"We waited to enter the mobile market until we could bring a top-of-the-line PC game experience to mobile devices," said Alan Wilson, vice president of Tripwire Interactive. "Snapdragon processors now give us the power to do that."

"We are looking forward to the launch of the Snapdragon GameCommand app, which will bring our Snapdragon-optimized games directly to consumers and help to eliminate the search process," said Didier Pippel of Khaeon Gamestudio. "Android has emerged as a prominent medium for gaming, and we are excited to work with Qualcomm to give gamers the mobile experience they deserve."

"We have been able to maximize the advanced Adreno graphics in our premium 3D games like 'PAC-MAN Kart Rally,'" said Carlson Choi, vice president of marketing, NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. "Our developers and producers are enthusiastically working with Qualcomm's gaming team to continue to expand the Snapdragon GamePack by bringing some of the industry's top franchises to the new platform."

Intel's gettin' kinda heavy, it's got the power, gonna break your heart

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 05:03 AM PST

Intel spent most of yesterday standing in the bar at the SC11 conference showing off the size of its computing prowess. Admittedly, it's on a roll; the Xeon E5 processor powers ten of the Top 500 supercomputers in the world, and Intel chips as a whole are found inside 85 percent of all the machines on the list -- not to mention the E5's newly minted PCI Express 3.0 compatibility. The Santa Clara chip maker is also building a new Exascale lab at the Barcelona Computing Center, a ten petaflop "Stampede" machine at the Texas Advanced Computing center and several other machines for Government agencies like NASA. The Seattle shindig was a great excuse for Intel's Rajeeb Hazra to show off the new Knights Corner co-processor, built with a new Tri-Gate 3D 22nm process that packs 50 cores into one strip of silicon. In fact, the only thing Intel wasn't bragging about was being bested by the record breaking Fujitsu K, the mere mention of which caused everyone to go a little bit too quiet and begin to glower (we assume).
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Intel Reveals Details of Next-Generation High-Performance Computing Platforms

Intel® Xeon® E5 Processor Debuts on TOP500 List; First Intel® Many Integrated Core Co-processor Demonstrated to Deliver Performance Above 1 TFLOPS

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Intel® Xeon® processor E5 family, world's first server chip to support the PCI Express* 3.0 I/O integration, debuts on TOP500 list, powering 10 supercomputers.
Intel's "Knights Corner" product, the first commercial co-processor based on the Intel® Many Integrated Core (Intel® MIC) architecture, was shown for the first time breaking the barrier of 1 TFLOPS double precision performance**.
Intel announced additional investments and new partner projects with R&D laboratories to pursue the goal of achieving Exascale performance by 2018.
Intel processors power 85 percent of all new entries to the latest TOP500 list of supercomputers, with Intel Xeon processor 5600 series being most popular selected for 223 systems.

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At SC11, Intel Corporation revealed details about the company's next-generation Intel Xeon processor-based and Intel® Many Integrated Core (Intel® MIC)-based platforms designed for high-performance computing (HPC). The company also outlined new investments in research and development that will lead the industry to Exascale performance by 2018.

During his briefing at the conference, Rajeeb Hazra, general manager of Technical Computing, Intel Datacenter and Connected Systems Group, said that the Intel Xeon processor E5 family is the world's first server processor to support full integration of the PCI Express 3.0 specification**. PCIe 3.0 is estimated** to double the interconnect bandwidth over the PCIe* 2.0 specification** while enabling lower power and higher density server implementations. New fabric controllers taking advantage of the PCI Express 3.0 specification will allow more efficient scaling of performance and data transfer with the growing number of nodes in HPC supercomputers.

The early-performance benchmarks revealed that the Intel Xeon E5 delivers up to 2.1* times** more performance in raw FLOPS (Floating Point Operations Per Second as measured by Linpack*) and up to 70 percent more performance using real-HPC workloads compared to the previous generation of Intel Xeon 5600 series processors.

"Customer acceptance of the Intel Xeon E5 processor has exceeded our expectations and is driving the fastest debut on the TOP500 list of any processor in Intel's history," said Hazra. "Collecting, analyzing and sharing large amounts of information is critical to today's science activities and requires new levels of processor performance and technologies designed precisely for this purpose."

The Intel Xeon E5 processors made their way onto the TOP500 list in the year of the 40th anniversary of availability of the world's first microprocessor (the Intel 4004 processor) and on the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Intel Xeon brand. Since the introduction of Intel Xeon processors in 2001, Intel estimates that Xeon processor performance has increased by more than 130 times***.

Two months since its initial shipments to supercomputer centers, Intel Xeon E5 processors now power 10 systems on the TOP500 list. More than 20,000 of these processors are in operation, delivering a cumulative peak performance of more than 3.4 Petaflops.

As previously announced, the upcoming Intel Xeon processor E5 family will power several other future supercomputers, including the 10 PFLOPS "Stampede" at Texas Advanced Computing Center, the 1.6 PFLOPs "Yellowstone" at The National Center for Atmospheric Research, the 1.6 PFLOPS "Curie" at GENCI, the 1.3 PFLOPS system at International Fusion Energy Research Center (IFERC) and more than 1 PFLOPS "Pleiades" expansion at NASA.

Intel started shipping the Intel Xeon processor E5 family to a small number of cloud and HPC customers in September, with broad availability planned in the first half of 2012. Intel is tracking more than 400 design wins for the Intel Xeon processor E5 family, nearly double the amount at time of launch of the Xeon 5500/5600 generation. Demand for initial production units is approximately 20 times greater than for previous generations of the Intel Xeon 5500 or 5600 series processors.

During SC'11 Intel also provided details on its greatly expanded lineup of server boards and chassis, including products specifically optimized for HPC, which will be ready to support the launch of the Intel® Xeon® Processor E5.

First Teraflops Intel Many Integrated Core Co-Processor Showcased
Intel also reiterated its commitment to delivering the most efficient and programming-friendly platform for highly parallel applications. The benefits of the Intel MIC architecture in weather modelling, tomography, proteins folding and advanced materials simulation were shown at Intel's booth at SC'11.

The first presentation of the first silicon of "Knights Corner" co-processor showed that Intel architecture is capable of delivering more than 1 TFLOPs of double precision floating point performance (as measured by the Double-precision, General Matrix-Matrix multiplication benchmark -- DGEMM*). This was the first demonstration of a single processing chip capable of achieving such a performance level.

"Intel first demonstrated a Teraflop supercomputer utilizing 9,680 Intel® Pentium Pro® Processors in 1997 as part of Sandia Lab's "ASCI RED" system," Hazra said. "Having this performance now in a single chip based on Intel MIC architecture is a milestone that will once again be etched into HPC history."

"Knights Corner," the first commercial Intel MIC architecture product, will be manufactured using Intel's latest 3-D Tri-Gate 22nm transistor process and will feature more than 50 cores. When available, Intel MIC products will offer both high performance from an architecture specifically designed to process highly parallel workloads, and compatibility with existing x86 programming model and tools.

Hazra said that the "Knights Corner" co-processor is very unique as, unlike traditional accelerators, it is fully accessible and programmable like fully functional HPC compute node, visible to applications as though it was a computer that runs its own Linux*-based operating system independent of the host OS.

One of the benefits of Intel MIC architecture is the ability to run existing applications without the need to port the code to a new programming environment. This will allow scientists to use both CPU and co-processor performance simultaneously with existing x86 based applications, dramatically saving time, cost and resources that would otherwise be needed to rewrite them to alternative proprietary languages.

Intel Increases Investment in Exascale Computing Labs
As previously announced at the International Supercomputing Conference 2011 in Hamburg, Germany, Intel's goal is to deliver Exascale-level performance by 2018 (which is more than 100 times faster performance than is currently available) while only requiring two times the power usage of the current top supercomputer. Fundamental to achieving that goal is working closely with the HPC community, and today Hazra announced several new initiatives that will help to achieve that goal.

Intel and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) have signed a multi-year agreement to create the Exascale Laboratory in Barcelona, Intel's fourth European Exascale R&D lab that joins existing sites in Paris, Juelich (Germany) and Lueven (Belgium). This new laboratory will focus on scalability issues in the programming and runtime systems of Exascale supercomputers.

Additionally, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Intel have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop and test technology that will be required to power the supercomputers of tomorrow. Under this initial agreement, STFC's computational scientists at its Daresbury Laboratory in England and Intel will work together to test and evaluate Intel's current and future hardware with leading software applications to ensure that scientists are ready to exploit Intel's supercomputer systems of the future.

TOP500 Supercomputers
The 38th edition of the Top500 list, which was announced at SC'11, shows that the world's leading scientists and institutions continue to base their supercomputers on Intel Xeon processors. Out of all new entries to the list compared to last edition, Intel-powered supercomputers accounted for close to 85 percent. The Intel Xeon 5600 series processor is the top processor on the list, powering 223 systems. Intel Xeon processor E5 family made its introduction in 10 systems on the list with record-breaking 152 GFLOPS per socket and 91 percent efficiency. Intel processors also power five systems in the top 10 and almost 77 percent of all listed supercomputers. The complete report is available at www.top500.org.

More information on SC'11, including Hazra's presentation and pictures, are available at www.intel.com/newsroom/sc11.

Nokia Lumia 800 hits UK stores, preorder demand leaves Orange UK glowing

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 04:38 AM PST

As Nokia's first Windows Phone lights up shop fronts across Britain, Orange has informed us that the Lumia 800 has attracted the most attention it's ever seen for a Nokia device. Based on preorders, the smartphone has trumped both the critically acclaimed N95 and the 5800, while we're sure the gratis Xbox 360 for upgraders hasn't hurt demand -- 50 percent of those looking to pick up the polycarbonate phone are already Orange customers. The carrier has told us that an Xbox-based offer for new customers looking to pick up the Nokia-coated Windows Phone is also in the pipeline -- something for UK network hoppers to get excited about.

University gets $188 million AMD-based supercomputer, free copy of Norton

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 04:19 AM PST

It used to be that you only needed a bachelor's degree and elbow patches to be taken seriously as an academic, but now it's all about that 50-petaflop supercomputer with 500 petabytes of storage whirring away in the basement. The University of Illinois used to shop with IBM, but it's just about to have a brand new Cray XK6 installed instead, so it can continue providing computing power to the National Science Foundation's Blue Waters project. It's not all about inciting gadget envy, of course: the machine's unlikely truce of AMD Opteron 6200 16-core processors and NVIDIA Tesla GPUs will help more than 25 teams of scientists to model and understand real-world phenomena, from the damage caused by earthquakes to the way viruses to break into cells. Breakthroughs from these projects will -- hopefully, one day -- make the $188 million total cost of Cray's products and services seem like a bargain. Full details in the PR after the break.
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NCSA, Cray partner on sustained-petascale Blue Waters supercomputer

URBANA, IL - Seattle, WA - The University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) has finalized a contract with Cray Inc. (Nasdaq: CRAY), to provide the supercomputer for the National Science Foundation's Blue Waters project.

This new Cray supercomputer will support significant research advances in a broad range of science and engineering domains, meeting the needs of the most compute-intensive, memory-intensive, and data-intensive applications. Blue Waters is expected to deliver sustained performance, on average, of more than one petaflops on a set of benchmark codes that represent those applications and domains.

More than 25 teams, from a dozen research fields, are preparing to achieve breakthroughs by using Blue Waters to model a broad range of phenomena, including: nanotechnology's minute molecular assemblies, the evolution of the universe since the Big Bang, the damage caused by earthquakes and the formation of tornadoes, the mechanism by which viruses enter cells, and improved climate change predictions.

Blue Waters will be composed of more than 235 Cray XE6 cabinets based on the recently announced AMD Opteron™ 6200 Series processor (formerly code-named "Interlagos") and more than 30 cabinets of a future version of the recently announced Cray XK6 supercomputer with NVIDIA® Tesla™ GPU computing capability incorporated into a single, powerful hybrid supercomputer. These Cray XK nodes will further increase the measured sustained performance on real science problems.

"We are extremely pleased to have forged a strong partnership with Cray. This configuration will be the most balanced, powerful, and useable system available when it comes online. By incorporating a future version of the XK6 system, Blue Waters will also provide a bridge to the future of scientific computing," said NCSA Director Thom Dunning.

"The project is an incredible undertaking, requiring commitment and dedication not only from NSF, NCSA, the University of Illinois, and the science teams, but also from our computing systems partner-Cray. This strong partnership further establishes our place at the forefront of high-performance computing," said University of Illinois President Michael Hogan.

"The Blue Waters team has the technological capability and the commitment to make this important resource a reality-a resource that will help scientists and engineers solve their most challenging problems," said Phyllis Wise, chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The Cray Blue Waters system will employ:
• Cray's scalable Gemini high-performance interconnect, providing a major improvement in message throughput and latency.
• 16-core AMD (NYSE: AMD) Opteron™ 6200 Series processors, selected by the editors of HPCwire as one of the top five new technologies to watch in 2011.
• Cray XK6 blades with NVIDIA® Tesla™ GPUs, based on NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) next-generation 'Kepler' architecture, which is expected to more than double the performance of the Fermi GPU on double-precision arithmetic.
• 1.5 petabytes of total memory (or four gigabytes per AMD Opteron 6200 Series processor core).
• Cray's scalable Linux Environment (CLE) and HPC-focused GPU/CPU Programming Environment (CPE).
• A Cray integrated Lustre parallel file system with more than one terabyte-per-second of aggregate storage bandwidth and more than 25 petabytes of user accessible storage.
• Up to 500 petabytes of near-line storage and up to 300 gigabits per second of wide area connections.

"We are extremely proud to have been selected to deliver the Blue Waters system through this important partnership with the NSF, the University of Illinois, and NCSA," said Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray. "It's a honor to be able provide the NSF's vast user community with a Cray supercomputer specifically designed for delivering real, sustained petascale performance across a broad range of breakthrough science and engineering applications. It's a passion that drives all the members of this partnership, and we are pleased to be a part of it."

Consisting of products and services, the multi-year and multi-phase contract is valued at more than $188 million. Cray will begin installing hardware in the University of Illinois' National Petascale Computing Facility soon, with an early science system expected to be available in early 2012. Blue Waters is expected to be fully deployed by the end of 2012.

As supercomputers continue to grow in scale and complexity, it becomes more challenging to effectively harness their power. Since the Blue Waters project was launched in 2008, NCSA has helped researchers prepare their codes for the massive scale of this and other extreme-scale systems. NCSA also initiated a broad range of R&D projects designed to improve the performance of the existing HPC software stack and facilitate the development and use of applications on Blue Waters and other petascale computers.

The Blue Waters project is now prepared to mount a major, community-based effort to move the state of computational science into the petascale era. The center will work with the computational and computer science and engineering communities to help them take full advantage of Blue Waters as well as future supercomputers. The effort will focus on scalability and resilience of algorithms and applications, the use of accelerators to improve time to solution for science and engineering problems, and enabling applications to simultaneously use computational components with different characteristics.

For more information about the Blue Waters project, see: http://www.ncsa.illinois.edu/BlueWaters/.

For a Cray press release with more information regarding the financial details of the contract and its expected impact on Cray's 2012 outlook, see: http://www.cray.com/rd/nov2011.html.
About Cray Inc. As a global leader in supercomputing, Cray provides highly advanced supercomputers and world-class services and support to government, industry and academia.

Cray technology is designed to enable scientists and engineers to achieve remarkable breakthroughs by accelerating performance, improving efficiency and extending the capabilities of their most demanding applications. Cray's Adaptive Supercomputing vision is focused on delivering innovative next-generation products that integrate diverse processing technologies into a unified architecture, allowing customers to surpass today's limitations and meeting the market's continued demand for realized performance. Go to www.cray.com for more information.

About the National Center for Supercomputing Applications The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, provides powerful computers and expert support that help thousands of scientists and engineers across the country improve our world. Established in 1986 as one of the original sites of the National Science Foundation's Supercomputer Centers Program, NCSA is supported by the state of Illinois, the University of Illinois, the National Science Foundation, and grants from other federal agencies.

Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, including, but not limited to, statements related to Cray's ability to deliver the Cray supercomputer to NCSA when expected, Cray's ability to deliver a Cray supercomputer that meets NCSA's needs and the expected timing of the system being available and fully deployed. These statements involve current expectations, forecasts of future events and other statements that are not historical facts. Inaccurate assumptions and known and unknown risks and uncertainties can affect the accuracy of forward-looking statements and cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect actual future events or results include, but are not limited to, the risk that the Cray supercomputer required by NCSA is not delivered and/or accepted in a timely fashion or does not perform as expected, the risk that NVIDIA's Tesla GPUs based on the next-generation 'Kepler' architecture is not available with the performance expected or when expected and such other risks as identified in the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, and from time to time in other reports filed by Cray with the U.S.

Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, more information regarding the expected impact of the contract on Cray's 2012 financial results and the risks associated with that impact can be found in Cray's press release announcing 2012 outlook referenced above. You should not rely unduly on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this release. Cray undertakes no duty to publicly announce or report revisions to these statements as new information becomes available that may change the Company's expectations.

Cray is a registered trademark of Cray Inc. in the United States and other countries, and Cray XE6, Cray XK6, Cray XK, Gemini and Cray Linux Environment are trademarks of Cray Inc. Other product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Vizio's M-Series Theater 3D TVs are officially available, at last

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 04:00 AM PST

Last CES Vizio announced a slew of new LCD HDTVs with its passive glasses-compatible Theater 3D capabilities and Vizio Internet Apps built in, and now it's finally ready to announced the M-series midrange lineup is shipping nationwide. M3D models in various 40- and 50-inch sizes have been popping up over the last few weeks, featuring edge LED backlighting for between $1,039 (42-inch) and $1,649 (55-inch). Need something bigger on your wall? There's also a 65-inch version on the way in 2012, with a pricetag of $2,099. As usual, Vizio's displays bring a rather complete line of features without an ultra-high price tag, but there'd be more reasons to share the included four pairs of 3D glasses with friends if the NBA season would just ever start. As is, buyers will have to make do with whatever videogames and college sports they can find for now -- check after the break for more specs and prices.
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VIZIO Wins Popular Science Magazine's Coveted "2011 Best of What's New Award" for Theater 3D™ Technology and Celebrates with Release of Sleek M-Series Theater 3D Line to Retailers Nationwide

- VIZIO Theater 3D technology emerges from thousands of innovations as the "Best of What's New" in the Home Entertainment category by world's largest science and technology magazine

- VIZIO's M-Series Theater 3D™ HDTVs bring movie theater 3D experience home for the holidays, delivering crystal-clear, flicker-free 3D technology, and up to four pairs of lightweight, battery-free 3D glasses allowing the whole family to enjoy

Irvine, CA – November 16, 2011 - VIZIO, America's #1 LCD HDTV Company*, announced today nationwide availability of its M-Series Theater 3D HDTVs, after yesterday receiving Popular Science magazine's "2011 Best of What's New Award" for Theater 3D technology. As a winner in the Home Entertainment category, VIZIO Theater 3D Technology will be featured in the December 2011 issue of Popular Science magazine.

"For 24 years, Popular Science has honored the innovations that surprise and amaze us − those that make a positive impact on our world today and challenge our views of whatʼs possible in the future," said Mark Jannot, Editor-in-Chief of Popular Science. "The Best of Whatʼs New Award is the magazine's top honor, and the 100 winners − chosen from among thousands of entrants − represent the highest level of achievement in their fields."

Inherent in the M-Series 42", 46", 55" and 65" Edge Lit Razor LED LCD Theater 3D HDTVs, VIZIO Theater 3D technology boasts a brighter picture when compared to conventional 3D enabled units. The result is crystal-clear, flicker-free 3D, complete with a wider horizontal viewing angle and improved fast motion pictures. These attributes make the M-Series line perfect for watching HD or 3D content, bringing families together and providing viewers with stunning picture quality just in time for holiday gatherings.

M-Series Theater 3D HDTVs also utilize lightweight, battery-free glasses that work in most 3D theaters. The sleek VIZIO 3D eyewear is popular among Theater 3D viewers as it eliminates the discomfort felt by some and the high cost of active shutter glasses, common objections voiced by many 3D home theater viewers. With the affordable VIZIO Theater 3D glasses, families can host 3D gaming parties, 3D movie nights, 3D sports viewing get-togethers and other events, easily accommodating all viewers with comfortable and stylish 3D eyewear.

"From broadcast sporting events to streaming movies, VIZIO is truly making 3D content accessible for every family," said Matt McRae, VIZIO Chief Technology Officer. "The M-Series incorporates the very latest Theater 3D technologies and the recent recognition from Popular Science only validates our efforts to provide customers with great technology at an exceptional value."

In addition to a superb 3D picture, all M-Series units include VIZIO Internet Apps® (V.I.A.) technology and built-in 802.11n WiFi, giving users the convenience of on-demand movies, TV shows, social networks, music and photos, on their HDTV. By using the premium Bluetooth QWERTY remote to navigate the connected platform, the user's experience is further enhanced as VIZIO's web-based content is available at the touch of a button. Services such as Amazon Instant Video, Blockbuster on Demand, Facebook®, Fandango®, Flickr®, Hulu Plus™, Netflix, Pandora®, Rhapsody®, Twitter™ and VUDU®, can all be accessed through the V.I.A. platform on the Edge Lit Razor Theater 3D HDTVs, providing families with the ultimate entertainment hub.

The V.I.A platform and the stunning quality of the Theater 3D picture of the M-Series is matched by the latest high performance SRS audio technologies. SRS technologies deliver an immersive, virtual, high definition surround sound through StudioSound™ HD - the ultimate all-in-one audio experience, designed specifically for flat panel HDTVs. StudioSound HD delivers remarkably crisp and clear dialog, rich bass and consistent, spike-free volume levels.

The M-Series Edge Lit Razor LED LCD Theater 3D HDTV is currently available in three different sizes. The 42" M3D420SR has an SRP of $1,039.99, the 46" M3D460SR has an SRP of $1,259.99 and the 55" M3D550SR has an SRP of $1,649.99. The 65" M3D650SV will be available in January 2012 with an SRP of $2,099.99.

*Source: IHS iSuppli Corporation Research Q3 2011 Market Tracker Report of Q2 2011 1st half of 2011 results.

Robotic bear pillow stops your snoring by gently mauling your face (video)

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 03:32 AM PST

Looking to stop snoring? What you need is Jusui-Kun, a robot bear that paws your face while you're sleeping. Okay, it's more of a "gentle tickling," according to the bear's creators. The key is to get the snorer sleeping on the pillow to move his or her head from side to side. Jusui-Kun has a built-in mic to detect the sleeper's snoring, while an equally cuddly hand monitor detects blood oxygen levels, letting the bear know when to issue one of its loving face swipes. Video after the break.

Kindle Fire gets rooted with 'one click,' paves the way for Amazonian adventures

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 02:33 AM PST

Yesterday, we saw the Kindle Fire get ripped apart. Today, it's been rooted. The solution comes courtesy of a user lovingly known as "death2all11o," who posted the "1-click' recipe to Android Forums earlier today. The procedure seems relatively straightforward, requiring only a copy of SuperOneClick 2.2, an Android SDK, and a bit of hacktastic know-how. For a more detailed guide, hit up the source links below.

[Thanks, Blake]

Researchers increase charging capacity, speed of lithium ion batteries by a factor of ten

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 01:39 AM PST

It's not every day that we get to write about advancements in battery technology -- much less one as potentially groundbreaking as what a group of engineers at Northwestern University claim to have pulled off. In fact, Professor Harold Kung and his team say they've successfully managed to increase both the charging capacity and speed of lithium ion batteries by a factor of ten. The key, according to Kung, is the movement of the lithium ions nestled between layers of graphene. The speed at which these ions move across a battery's graphene sheets is directly related to how fast a device can recharge. To speed up this process, Kung decided to poke millions of tiny, 10-20nm-sized holes into a mobile battery's graphene layers, thereby providing the ions with a "shortcut" to the next level. As a result, Kung's perforated batteries were able to charge ten times faster than traditional cells, going from zero to hero in 15 minutes.

Not satisfied with that achievement alone, Kung and his squad then set about increasing their battery's charging capacity, as well. Here, they increased the density of lithium ions by inserting small clusters of silicon between each graphene slice. This approach allows more ions to gather at the electrode and, by taking advantage of graphene's malleable properties, avoids some of the silicon expansion problems that have plagued previous attempts at capacity enhancement. The result? A battery that can run on a single charge for more than a week. "Now we almost have the best of both worlds," Kung said. "We have much higher energy density because of the silicon, and the sandwiching reduces the capacity loss caused by the silicon expanding and contracting. Even if the silicon clusters break up, the silicon won't be lost." There is, however, a downside, as both charging capacity and speed sharply fell off after 150 charges. But as Kung points out, the increase in charge retention would more than make up for this shortcoming. "Even after 150 charges, which would be one year or more of operation, the battery is still five times more effective than lithium-ion batteries on the market today," he told the BBC. For more technical details, hit up the links below.

RIM: 'We're committed to the keyboard'

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 12:46 AM PST

With all the gossip about BBX screens becoming more tablet-like and the rumored BlackBerry 'London' being QWERTY-less, lovers of the physical keyboard can be forgiven for getting antsy. Hey, we feel it too -- after all, a BB's thumb pad is as quintessential as Québécois poutine. So, we put the question straight to one of our buddies at RIM. His unhesitating (yet not totally unambiguous) reply? That RIM will "maintain choice within its product portfolio" and is "absolutely committed to building more great keyboard-based smartphones." There you have it. Now, did someone mention cheesy fries?

Nokia to release Windows 8 tablets this June, top drawer Lumia in the works?

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 11:31 PM PST

There's some intriguing Nokia news coming out of France this morning, thanks to Paul Amsellem, head of the company's Gallic outpost. In a recent interview with Parisian daily Les Echos, Amsellem described Nokia's aspirations to regain some of the market share it's lost within France, explaining that his firm is squarely targeting the 60 percent of French users who currently don't own a smartphone. More salient, however, is what the exec had to say about Nokia's plans for future releases. According to Amsellem, Espoo will unveil a new Windows 8 equipped tablet by June 2012. Unfortunately, that's about all he had to say on the subject, but it's certainly enough of a carrot to raise our heart rates -- as are Amsellem's comments on the Lumia 800, which hit French stores yesterday. Comparing the handset to a BMW 5 series, the chief went on to say that Nokia "will soon have a full range with a 7 Series and 3 Series." He didn't elaborate much on this analogy, though its implication is rather self-evident -- new Lumia cousins may be in the works. Of course, it remains to be seen when and if the company will expand upon its Lumia line, though we'll definitely be keeping our yeux on it.

WiFi Direct and DLNA get friendly, make streaming media a little bit easier

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 10:24 PM PST

WiFi Direct
DLNA and WiFi Direct are both pretty sweet technologies on their own but, together, they offer the promise of simple, wireless media streaming without the need for that pesky router middleman. The Digital Living Network Alliance has officially incorporated WiFi Direct into its interoperability guidelines, which means you could soon be streaming movies and music between devices (like your laptop and smartphone) without connecting to a home (or public) network. And don't forget, only one part of the equation needs to be WiFi Direct certified -- so don't worry that your aging computer doesn't support it, as long as your smartphone does you're golden. Check out the PR after the break.
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Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct™ Now Included in DLNA® Interoperability Guidelines


DLNA® and Wi-Fi Direct™ Make It Easier Than Ever for Consumers to Connect Devices
WI-FI ALLIANCE LOGO WI-FI ALLIANCE LOGO. (PRNewsFoto/Wi-Fi Alliance) AUSTIN, TX UNITED STATES

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Digital Living Network Alliance® (DLNA®) today announced that Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct has been incorporated into its Interoperability Guidelines. Wi-Fi Direct is a certification by the Wi-Fi Alliance® for products that are capable of device-to-device connections without the presence of a traditional home, office or hotspot network. Through incorporation into the DLNA Interoperability Guidelines, Wi-Fi Direct will expand on the existing Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices supported by DLNA to enhance wireless connectivity for consumers globally.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20070516/SFW029LOGO)

"Wi-Fi Direct meets an important need for today's consumers to enjoy seamless product interoperability," said Nidhish Parikh, chairman and president of DLNA. "DLNA has supported Wi-Fi CERTIFIED devices since 2005 and the inclusion of Wi-Fi Direct in our Interoperability Guidelines is a logical extension of our relationship with the Wi-Fi Alliance. We continue to advance the connected home by providing consumers with new, innovative ways to connect and enjoy their digital content."

ABI Research recently examined key market and technology trends for the integration of home networking capability in mobile devices and expects DLNA Certified® and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct smartphones to grow strongly through 2016. The firm stated that both will help consumers when connecting devices at home and will bring wireless technology further into the mainstream market.

"Worldwide demand for interoperable, security-protected Wi-Fi® products has grown exponentially in recent years, and the device-to-device usages enabled by Wi-Fi Direct are fundamental to digital home usages for Wi-Fi," said Edgar Figueroa, CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. "Wi-Fi continues to evolve and to enhance the connected consumer experience. The incorporation of Wi-Fi Direct into the DLNA Interoperability Guidelines will aid the proliferation of Wi-Fi Direct in today's connected home."

DLNA and the Wi-Fi Alliance are also jointly distributing a holiday edition Gadget Guide (http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/wifi/gadgetguide_dlnawfa) which highlights great DLNA Certified® and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ gift ideas available today for consumer purchase. The 2011 Wi-Fi® and DLNA® Gadget Guide: Holiday Edition is available now.

About DLNA

Members of Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) share a vision of an interoperable network of personal computers (PC), consumer electronics (CE), mobile devices and service providers in and beyond the home, enabling a seamless environment for sharing and growing new digital media and content services. Founded in 2003, the group established and maintains a platform of interoperability based on open and established industry standards that, when used by manufacturers will support the sharing of media through wired or wireless networks. More than 200 multi-industry companies from around the world have joined DLNA, committing the time and resources necessary to achieve their vision. DLNA's Promoter Members include: ACCESS, AT&T, AwoX, Broadcom, CableLabs, Cisco, Comcast, DIRECTV, DTS, Dolby Laboratories, Ericsson, HP, Huawei, Intel, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, PROMISE Technology, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Technicolor and Verizon. Additional information about the Alliance, its participating companies and membership benefits is available at www.dlna.org or find the Alliance on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dlnacertified or on Twitter at @DLNA.

About the Wi-Fi Alliance

The Wi-Fi Alliance is a global non-profit industry association of hundreds of leading companies devoted to seamless connectivity. With technology development, market building, and regulatory programs, the Wi-Fi Alliance has enabled widespread adoption of Wi-Fi worldwide.

The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ program was launched in March 2000. It provides a widely-recognized designation of interoperability and quality and it helps to ensure that Wi-Fi enabled products deliver the best user experience. The Wi-Fi Alliance has completed more than 11,000 product certifications, encouraging the expanded use of Wi-Fi products and services in new and established markets.

Wi-Fi®, Wi-Fi Alliance®, WMM®, Wi-Fi Protected Access® (WPA), the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED logo, the Wi-Fi logo, the Wi-Fi ZONE logo and the Wi-Fi Protected Setup logo are registered trademarks of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™, Wi-Fi Direct™, Wi-Fi Protected Setup™, Wi-Fi Multimedia™, WPA2™ and the Wi-Fi Alliance logo are trademarks of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Additional details on the Wi-Fi Alliance and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct can be found at http://www.wi-fi.org/Wi-Fi_Direct.php. Follow Wi-Fi Alliance on Twitter @wifialliance.

Kobo partners with Rdio to pre-load app on Vox tablet

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 09:18 PM PST

Amazon and Barnes & Noble aren't the only companies touting some high-profile apps for their Android-based tablets. Kobo has now also announced a partnership with Rdio, which will see the latter company's app (and access to a catalog of more than 12 million tracks) come pre-loaded on the new Kobo Vox tablet. Of course, the Rdio app is already available for other Android devices, but this is certainly at least a small boon for Kobo, which doesn't offer Android Market access on the Vox tablet.
Show full PR text
Kobo™ Partners with Rdio to Bring Music to its Readers

Consumers now have access to Rdio's full catalogue of 12+ million tracks on the new Kobo Vox

SAN FRANCISCO and TORONTO, Nov. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Rdio (www.rdio.com) the digital music service created by the founders of Skype, and Kobo, a global leader in eReading with over five million users worldwide, today announced that Rdio will come pre-loaded on the new Android-powered Kobo Vox. Together, Kobo and Rdio are making it even easier for users to enjoy enhanced, end-to-end entertainment that incorporates a social reading experience and music from the convenience of the new Kobo Vox.

"By adding Rdio to the Kobo Vox, our subscribers can now easily extend their Rdio listening experience into their reading life, and it gives them yet another platform to access our service," said Drew Larner, CEO of Rdio. "For Kobo customers, we bring a new and unique social approach to music discovery. Reading and listening to music have always been preferred leisure activities and now customers can enjoy them together, seamlessly."

Given Rdio's inherently social features, it was deemed the perfect fit for the Kobo Vox eReader, the industry's first social eReader. By allowing users to discover music through friends and influencers, it takes the work out of deciding what to play next.

"The Kobo Vox was designed for today's connected consumers," said Michael Serbinis CEO of Kobo. "Finding new books and new music is best done through trusted sources and friends. With Kobo Vox and Rdio, our customers can not only discover new books by connecting with other readers, but also new music from the convenience of one device."

Key features include:

* Play anything you want. Instantly search and play music from a catalogue of 12+ million songs directly from the Kobo Vox device.
* Discover new music and re-discover old favorites. Follow friends, people with similar taste in music, and influencers (such as recording artists and music bloggers) to discover new music.
* Listen offline. Sync music from your collection to your Kobo Vox and listen even when you aren't connected.
* Hear all the latest music the moment it comes out. Listen to new albums and songs instantly the day they are released.
* Create and listen to playlists. Access and update existing playlists and listen to playlists created by other users.
* Let Rdio decide what to play next. Also available on the Rdio App for Android, users can discover music from an artist and others like them through artist radio.


In the United States, the Kobo Vox eReader is available in Fry's stores, and available online from U.S. retailers including Best Buy (www.bestbuy.com), Fry's (www.frys.com), and Kobo.com for $199.99 . Sign up for Rdio Free Access by visiting Rdio.com. Users can also subscribe to Rdio unlimited for $9.99 a month for unlimited access on all devices including the Kobo Vox.

Rdio is currently available in the US, Canada, and Brazil.

About Rdio
Rdio is the ground-breaking digital music service that is reinventing the way people discover, listen to, and share music. With on-demand access to over 12 million songs, Rdio connects people with music and makes it easy to search for and instantly play any song, album, artist or playlist without ever hearing a single ad. Discover what friends, people with similar tastes, recording artists and more are listening to in real-time and share across Twitter and Facebook. Build a digital music collection that's available everywhere - on the web, in-home or in-car, on an iPad or smartphone, and even offline.

Launched in August 2010, Rdio is headquartered in San Francisco and was founded by Janus Friis, one of the creators of Skype. Currently available in the US, Canada and Brazil, Rdio is funded by Atomico, Janus Friis through his investment entities, Skype and Mangrove Capital Partners. For more information and to sign up, visit www.rdio.com.

About the Kobo Vox eReader

Kobo Vox™ is an eReader and more! One of the world's largest bookstores expands as Kobo adds a wide selection of stunning color books for all ages including interactive Read Along children's books that will ignite young imaginations on the brilliant 7" FFS+ multi-touch, multi-media screen. Kobo Vox opens a new world of social reading, featuring Kobo's Reading Life™ experience, now with Kobo Pulse™. Share ideas on passages with other readers within the pages of a book and share your Reading Life™ with friends on Facebook® and Twitter®. Built for connected life, Kobo Vox comes pre-loaded with great apps ready to go and offers access to Wi Fi, Web browsing, Facebook®, email, games, plus a store with over 15,000 apps for Android™!

About Kobo Inc.

Kobo is a global eReading service with more than 2.5 million eBooks, magazines and newspapers – one of the largest eReading catalogues in the world. Read Freely - Kobo believes consumers should have the freedom to read any book on any device and has attracted millions of readers from over 100 countries across the globe. Kobo has top ranked eReading applications for iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows and MacOS, and is the eReading application of choice for leading tablet OEMs. Kobo eReaders, including the Kobo Touch and the newly launched Kobo Vox are available at leading retailers, including Indigo, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Future Shop, WHSmith, FNAC, Collins Booksellers and Whitcoull's. Kobo's innovative Reading Life is an industry-first comprehensive social eReading experience – Kobo users can earn awards simply for time spent reading and encouraging others. Kobo is backed by majority shareholder Indigo Books & Music Inc., Cheung Kong Holdings, and institutional investors.

SOURCE Rdio

HP Folio 13 Ultrabook official: starts at $900 with a 128GB SSD and backlit keyboard (hands-on)

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 08:03 PM PST

And just like that, HP joined the Ultrabook party. After announcing the Folio in Australia yesterday, the company went and made it official here in the states too. And man, do we get the feeling the outfit's been watching the competition very closely: this guy starts at $900 and comes standard with a 128GB mSATA SSD and a backlit keyboard. Provided it comes close to matching its promise of nine hours of battery life, it could give the identically priced Toshiba Portege Z830 a run for its money. Not to mention, it undercuts the MacBook Air ($1,299 and up), along with the ASUS Zenbook UX31 and Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, both of which start at $1,100 with a 128GB SSD and no backlit keyboard. Good on ya, HP.

What's that, you say? You want more specs? Rounding out the list, the Folio has a 13.3-inch (1366 x 768) display, optional TPM circuitry and comes standard with a Core i5-2467M processor, 4GB of RAM, a six-cell battery and HP's CoolSense technology. Additionally, it offers a fairly robust selection of ports, including HDMI, Ethernet, USB 2.0 and 3.0, a memory card reader and a combined headphone / mic socket. The trade-off, though, is a slightly thicker chassis than what other Ultrabooks are offering: 3.3 pounds and 18mm (0.7 inches) thick. It'll be available in the US starting December 7th, but we've already managed to snag a few minutes with it, which means we've got photos, video and impressions for you to peek now. So what are you waiting for? Meet us after the break for our hands-on preview.
HP Folio 13 Ultrabook
HP Folio hands-on

Look and feel

We'll get this out of the way early: at 3.3 pounds and 18mm thick, the Folio is "chunky" for an Ultrabook, to the extent that such a laptop can really be unwieldy. Perhaps if we held this in one hand and the 2.9-pound UX31 in the other, we'd feel the difference. But if you're handling the Folio on its own, what you've got, quite simply, is a lightweight laptop. Period. What's more, it's particularly easy to grip in one hand, given that the bottom side is coated in a pleasant soft-touch material. As for its shape, this feels most similar to the Aspire S3 in that it has rounded corners and doesn't taper down to a razer-thin sliver.

Even HP will tell you the Folio could have been skinnier and lighter, but that might have meant skimping on ports. It's worth repeating that this has a fuller assortment of sockets than pretty much anything else on the market. For comparison's sake, the Air has two USB 2.0 ports, Thunderbolt and an SD slot (on the 13-inch model only). The UX31 has USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, along with mini-HDMI and mini-VGA ports (it comes with VGA and Ethernet adapters). The U300s has USB 3.0 and HDMI. So far, the Portege Z830 is the only other model with USB 3.0, HDMI and Ethernet and -- unfortunately for HP -- it weighs a scant 2.5 pounds.

Particularly once you lift the lid, it's clear that HP cut some corners to hit that $900 price point, which is pretty much the same thing we had to say about the identically priced S3. Mainly, we're talking about the fact that HP opted for plain, plastic keys instead of an all-metal 'board like the one ASUS used in its Zenbooks. Still, if we're pitting one $899 Ultrabook against the other in a beauty contest, the Folio handily trumps the S3 (not to mention, the dated-looking Z830). Whereas the S3 has a split personality (metal on the outside, plastic under the lid), the Folio has a brushed metal lid with a matching palm rest and keyboard deck. In fact, it's almost entirely made of metal, save for the bottom. What's more, the Folio's deck is almost entirely devoid of buttons and branding, which gives it a tasteful, if somewhat spartan look.

In our brief hands-on, the keys exhibited some bounce while we typed, and so far we're cautiously optimistic that they won't be as shallow as the Aspire S3 and UX31's keyboards. At least the panel seems sturdy, though we'll of course be curious to see how it holds up through hours of furious typing. Moving on, the Folio has a buttonless touchpad with left and right click zones clearly demarcated with a thin line. In general, we prefer to wait until our full review to cast judgment on such things, and in this case we were playing with a pre-production (read: not final) model. So who knows what kind of fine-tuning HP do between now and December 7th? However much it needs to make this thing flawless, we hope.

Display

One of the first things we noticed about the Folio is that the bezels are relatively narrow, at least compared to what you'll usually see paired with such a common 1366 x 768 display. At first glance, before HP shared any of the specs, we even wondered if we were looking at an LG Shuriken panel, which allows a 14-inch panel to fit in a chassis meant for a 13-inch display. As we got closer to the machine (and got confirmation from HP), we realized it's not a Shuriken display, but that doesn't dampen our appreciation for the bezels one bit. As for the viewing angles, well, look at some of our hands-on photos and decide for yourself. Our early take is that they're on par with what you'd get from other TN displays, which is to say, they're not great (but not necessarily terrible either).

Outlook

Incredibly, HP is careful to say the Folio 13 mainly for business customers. It's almost as if the company is afraid of being pitted against a certain other skinny, aluminum-clad laptop. But if the Folio is as exemplary in practice as it is on paper, then HP might be thinking too small. Based on its design, specs and price alone, it has enormous potential. At this price, we can see it being a hit not just among suits, but the Best Buy-shopping masses.

Still, its performance and ergonomics have the potential to make or break it. For instance, how close does it come to living up to that nine-hour battery life claim? What's it like typing 5,000 words on that keyboard? How precise will the final trackpad be? And how fast is its SSD compared to the UX31's SATA III? All questions we'll just have to tackle in our full review.

Show full PR text
HP Unveils Its First Business Ultrabook, Offering Industry's Best Battery Life
HP Folio13 designed to bridge gap between professional and personal life
PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 16, 2011 – HP today introduced its first business Ultrabook, which features a thin and light design, strong security options and a responsive solid state hard drive for the ultimate mobile experience.

The HP Folio13 also delivers up to 9.0 hours of battery life, the highest performance available among Ultrabook devices currently on the market.

With battery life to get you through the workday, users are no longer saddled with carrying power adapters to charge their notebook PC. Plus, a wide array of ports, including Ethernet, eliminates the need to carry dongles. Mobile professionals can now stay productive and get through their entire business day – from home to business and back home – with only the HP Folio13.

Measuring less than 18 millimeters thin and utilizing an ultraslim 13.3- inch diagonal high-definition (HD) BrightView display, the HP Folio13 weighs just 3.3 pounds. It combines the cool industrial design found on consumer products with the security and usability business users demand.

Powered by the latest Intel® Core processors, the HP Folio13 also includes Intel Rapid Start Technology, which gets your system up and running fast to help you save time.

The HP Folio13 includes a backlit keyboard for mobile users who work in low-light conditions. A full array of ports, including RJ-45 and USB 3.0, allows users greater flexibility to connect to the information they need. The HP Folio13 also includes a solid state drive (SSD) with 128 GB of storage for fast response times and increased reliability.

An optional TPM Embedded Security Chip protects data in email as well as information on the hard drive for security-conscious users.

The HP Folio13 features HP CoolSense technology, which uses advanced hardware and intelligent software for a noticeably cooler notebook. The notebook also includes an HP Imagepad for highly accurate, advanced multitouch gesture support.

Additional features include an HP TrueVision HD Webcam for brighter, cleaner HD images, and Dolby Advanced Audio.

The HP Folio13 also can be configured with a range of Microsoft Windows® 7 operating systems, including Windows 7 Professional. A three-year limited warranty is available through an optional HP Care Pack.

Users who need a desktop-like environment or additional audio, video, network and USB connectivity can connect the HP Folio13 to the optional HP USB 2.0 dock.

Pricing and availability
The HP Folio13 is expected to be available on Dec. 7 with a starting price of $899.99.

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

HP redesigns its Envy laptops, announces the Envy 15, 17 and 17 3D (video)

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 08:02 PM PST

Just last month, we off-handedly said that HP's Envy laptops were among the most shameless MacBook impersonations we've seen. Looks like we spoke too soon: the company just introduced a redesigned Envy 15, Envy 17 and Envy 17 3D, and we have to say: the resemblance in the interior is just uncanny. If you ask company reps, they'll tell you the old taupe design was too masculine (despite the divets arranged in a floral pattern!), and that the new aesthetic is more gender-neutral. Fair enough, we suppose, though we defy you to tell us that touchpad, silvery aluminum chassis and black, chiclet-style keyboard aren't familiar. To be fair, it's not a complete facsimile: HP also throw in a few design flourishes of its own, most of them Beats-inspired. Chief among them is a red-accented, analog volume dial on the right side of the keyboard deck, though the black lid and thin red strip around the keyboard also add some kick.

All three laptops will be available December 7th, with the Envy 15, Envy 17 and Envy 17 3D starting at $1,100, $1,250 and $1,600, respectively. For now, though, we've got hands-on shots below, along with a rundown of the starting specs just past the break.
HP Envy 15 and 17 (2011)
HP Envy 15, Envy 17 and Envy 17 3D

Starting with those bright displays, the Envy 15 will be offered with a 15.6-inch, 1080p Radiance panel, which should hearten anyone who was dismayed when HP discontinued that kind of screen for the Envy 14. The 17.3-inch Envy 17 will come standard with a 1080p Radiance screen, but it's a TN panel, whereas the Envy 15 gets the full IPS treatment. Those backlit keyboards are also powered by Radiance technology, which relies on individual LEDs for each key, along with a proximity sensor that kicks up the backlighting when it senses someone nearby.

Across the board, these bad boys can be configured with quad-core CPUs, and come standard with six speakers, a subwoofer, HP's CoolSense technology and support for HP Wireless Audio. The Envy 17, in particular, can be configured with either a 128GB mSATA SSD or dual 1TB drives. Naturally, like every other in HP's lineup, they all have Beats Audio on-board. No surprise there.

And now, the nitty-gritty details you've been awaiting: starting specs. The base-level Envy 15 sports a Core i5-2430M CPU, 6GB of RAM, a 500GB 7,200RPM hard drive, 1366 x 768 display, Bluetooth, Intel Wireless Display, a slot-loading DVD burner and AMD Radeon HD graphics (HP didn't tell us the specific GPU in advance, though we'll update this post once we have confirmation what it is). In addition to HDMI, it has one DisplayPort, two USB 3.0 sockets and one of the 2.0 persuasion. As for the eight-cell, 76Wh battery, it promises up to nine hours of runtime.

Moving along, the Envy 17 also starts with a Core i5-2430 CPU, 6GB of RAM, Bluetooth, WiDi, DVD burner and AMD graphics, though it steps up to a 750GB 7,200RPM drive and standard 1080p Radiance display. And here, you'll get a six-cell, 91Wh battery that's rated for nine and a half hours of juice. With the 17-inch model, you'll also get an extra DisplayPort, as well as a bonus USB 3.0 socket. Finally, the Envy 17 3D starts with the same Core i5 CPU, along with 8GB of RAM, a 750GB 7,200RPM drive, AMD Radeon HD graphics, a six-cell battery, Bluetooth, WiDi, a Blu-ray player and one pair of active shutter glasses.






Show full PR text
HP Debuts New ENVY Notebook PCs
PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 16, 2011 – HP today introduced redesigned HP ENVY notebooks PCs that exude power, performance, advanced technologies and precision craftsmanship.

- The new HP ENVY 15 and HP ENVY 17 deliver blistering performance and optimal sound experience in a timeless design that includes an all-metal chassis with rounded edges in a classic black and silver finish, accented by subtle red details.
- The HP ENVY 17 3D offers the best 3-D visual experience in a notebook PC.

The company also introduced two wireless accessories – HP Wireless Audio and the HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse X7000.

Timeless design, powerful performance
Featuring a new HP Radiance Backlit keyboard, the HP ENVY notebooks provide outstanding illumination using individual LEDs dedicated to each keycap. The keyboard also works with an advanced proximity sensor to illuminate when it detects a user approaching the notebook and deactivate after the user leaves.

With six powerful speakers and a subwoofer, the HP ENVY notebooks deliver an optimal sound experience, featuring Beats Audio, an exclusive, high-performance technology developed by HP and Beats by Dr. Dre. A new aluminum analog volume dial acts as a visual design cue, working seamlessly with the Beats Audio Manager so users can easily and precisely adjust audio levels.

The HP ENVY 15 and ENVY 17 provide the powerful performance needed for even the most demanding tasks, with optional Intel® Quad Core and AMD Mobility Radeon HD graphic processors. With optional 3x3 wireless technology, the HP ENVY notebooks offer up to three times the speed and twice the range of typical network connections.

The ENVY 15 and ENVY 17 are available with optional Radiance Full HD Infinity displays – either 15.6-inch diagonal or 17.3-inch diagonal, respectively. Radiance displays offer higher resolution, richer color, better brightness and wider viewing angles than traditional notebook displays. The ENVY 17 display boasts 50 percent greater brightness than standard.

With support for HDMI and full-size DisplayPorts, users can connect up to three external displays. The ENVY 17 also offers an advanced option with support for a 128-gigabyte mSATA SSD and up to two 1-terabyte hard drives. The ENVY 15 boasts up to 9 hours of battery life, while the ENVY 17 can achieve up to 9.5 hours in ideal conditions.

Other innovations featured in both ENVY notebooks include HP CoolSense technology, which automatically adjusts performance and internal fan settings for a noticeably cooler PC, and HP ImagePad, for precise multifinger touch navigation.

Fast boot and resume times, a performance-tuned software image that includes two full years of preinstalled Norton Internet Security, and a dedicated concierge phone line for technical support deliver a premium experience to ENVY users.

Superb 3-D viewing experience
For those seeking the ultimate multimedia experience, the HP ENVY 17 3D offers the best 3-D visual experience in a notebook PC. In addition to all the features of the ENVY 17, the ENVY 17 3D provides 1080p full high-definition (HD) viewing along with improved viewing angles and color gamut for all 2-D and 3-D content.

HP 3D Active Shutter Glasses provide a seamless viewing experience by wirelessly synchronizing each frame of the 3-D content between the display and glasses, resulting in crisp 3-D Blu-ray viewing as all 3-D content appears in full HD resolution.

Superior wireless technology
The new HP Wireless Audio and HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse X7000 deliver the best in convenience and design.

Using the same technology integrated into the new HP ENVY notebooks, HP Wireless Audio transforms a notebook or desktop PC into a full home audio system. Users can stream uncompressed audio to up to four external devices or directly to any KleerNet device. Advanced tri-band connectivity reduces interference, lag time and latency for the highest sound quality. The thumb-sized dongle attaches to any PC and the tiny receiver attaches to legacy speakers through its two analog or two digital ports.

An ideal companion to the new HP ENVY notebooks, the HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse X7000 features a sculpted shape and glossy black finish. The standard-sized wireless mouse comes equipped with an innovative capacitive-touch scroll and six customizable buttons, including a button for one-touch uploads to Facebook. It stays connected up to 30 feet away with no wires or USB dongle required and has a battery life of up to nine months – twice as long as that of comparable Bluetooth® models.

Pricing and availability
The new HP ENVY notebook PCs are planned to be available in the United States on Dec. 7.
The HP ENVY 15 has a starting price of $1,099.99.
The HP ENVY 17 has a starting price of $1,249.99.
The HP ENVY 17 3D has a starting price of $1,599.99.

HP Wireless Audio is expected to be available mid-December for $99.99, and the HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse X7000 is available now at the HP Home & Home Office store for $59.99.

Additional information is available at www.hp.com/go/envy or by calling the HP ―Reserve Now‖ line at +1 888 291 7996.

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

HP Wireless Audio streams audio from your PC, arrives next month for $100 (video)

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 08:01 PM PST

Yep, HP's on a tear today. In addition to unleashing a trio of redesigned Envy laptops, a refreshed dm4 and one aggressively priced Ultrabook, it has some news to share on the accessories front. The outfit unveiled its Wireless Audio system, which lets you stream audio files from your PC to as many as four compatible speakers. In terms of setup, that photo up there says almost everything: you plug a thumb-sized dongle into your USB port and a larger receiver into the speaker. In the box, you'll also find a software CD to fill in the missing UI piece. The only caveat here (aside from the relative messiness of connecting two intermediary pieces of equipment) is that the system only works with speakers that are compatible with KleerNet's wireless audio technology, and it's likely yours are anyway. In all, the system uses three frequencies (2.4, 5.2 and 5.8GHz) to cut latency and interference, and also supports 5.1 audio. You can pair it with up to four speakers, as we said, so long as they're within 100 feet of your laptop. It'll go on sale next month for $100, with one receiver and transmitter per box. If you're curious, we've got the full PR after the break, along with a short promo video.


Show full PR text
HP Debuts New ENVY Notebook PCs
PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 16, 2011 – HP today introduced redesigned HP ENVY notebooks PCs that exude power, performance, advanced technologies and precision craftsmanship.

- The new HP ENVY 15 and HP ENVY 17 deliver blistering performance and optimal sound experience in a timeless design that includes an all-metal chassis with rounded edges in a classic black and silver finish, accented by subtle red details.
- The HP ENVY 17 3D offers the best 3-D visual experience in a notebook PC.

The company also introduced two wireless accessories – HP Wireless Audio and the HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse X7000.

Timeless design, powerful performance
Featuring a new HP Radiance Backlit keyboard, the HP ENVY notebooks provide outstanding illumination using individual LEDs dedicated to each keycap. The keyboard also works with an advanced proximity sensor to illuminate when it detects a user approaching the notebook and deactivate after the user leaves.

With six powerful speakers and a subwoofer, the HP ENVY notebooks deliver an optimal sound experience, featuring Beats Audio, an exclusive, high-performance technology developed by HP and Beats by Dr. Dre. A new aluminum analog volume dial acts as a visual design cue, working seamlessly with the Beats Audio Manager so users can easily and precisely adjust audio levels.

The HP ENVY 15 and ENVY 17 provide the powerful performance needed for even the most demanding tasks, with optional Intel® Quad Core and AMD Mobility Radeon HD graphic processors. With optional 3x3 wireless technology, the HP ENVY notebooks offer up to three times the speed and twice the range of typical network connections.

The ENVY 15 and ENVY 17 are available with optional Radiance Full HD Infinity displays – either 15.6-inch diagonal or 17.3-inch diagonal, respectively. Radiance displays offer higher resolution, richer color, better brightness and wider viewing angles than traditional notebook displays. The ENVY 17 display boasts 50 percent greater brightness than standard.

With support for HDMI and full-size DisplayPorts, users can connect up to three external displays. The ENVY 17 also offers an advanced option with support for a 128-gigabyte mSATA SSD and up to two 1-terabyte hard drives. The ENVY 15 boasts up to 9 hours of battery life, while the ENVY 17 can achieve up to 9.5 hours in ideal conditions.

Other innovations featured in both ENVY notebooks include HP CoolSense technology, which automatically adjusts performance and internal fan settings for a noticeably cooler PC, and HP ImagePad, for precise multifinger touch navigation.

Fast boot and resume times, a performance-tuned software image that includes two full years of preinstalled Norton Internet Security, and a dedicated concierge phone line for technical support deliver a premium experience to ENVY users.

Superb 3-D viewing experience
For those seeking the ultimate multimedia experience, the HP ENVY 17 3D offers the best 3-D visual experience in a notebook PC. In addition to all the features of the ENVY 17, the ENVY 17 3D provides 1080p full high-definition (HD) viewing along with improved viewing angles and color gamut for all 2-D and 3-D content.

HP 3D Active Shutter Glasses provide a seamless viewing experience by wirelessly synchronizing each frame of the 3-D content between the display and glasses, resulting in crisp 3-D Blu-ray viewing as all 3-D content appears in full HD resolution.

Superior wireless technology
The new HP Wireless Audio and HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse X7000 deliver the best in convenience and design.

Using the same technology integrated into the new HP ENVY notebooks, HP Wireless Audio transforms a notebook or desktop PC into a full home audio system. Users can stream uncompressed audio to up to four external devices or directly to any KleerNet device. Advanced tri-band connectivity reduces interference, lag time and latency for the highest sound quality. The thumb-sized dongle attaches to any PC and the tiny receiver attaches to legacy speakers through its two analog or two digital ports.

An ideal companion to the new HP ENVY notebooks, the HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse X7000 features a sculpted shape and glossy black finish. The standard-sized wireless mouse comes equipped with an innovative capacitive-touch scroll and six customizable buttons, including a button for one-touch uploads to Facebook. It stays connected up to 30 feet away with no wires or USB dongle required and has a battery life of up to nine months – twice as long as that of comparable Bluetooth® models.

Pricing and availability
The new HP ENVY notebook PCs are planned to be available in the United States on Dec. 7.
The HP ENVY 15 has a starting price of $1,099.99.
The HP ENVY 17 has a starting price of $1,249.99.
The HP ENVY 17 3D has a starting price of $1,599.99.

HP Wireless Audio is expected to be available mid-December for $99.99, and the HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse X7000 is available now at the HP Home & Home Office store for $59.99.

Additional information is available at www.hp.com/go/envy or by calling the HP ―Reserve Now‖ line at +1 888 291 7996.

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

HP refreshes the Pavilion dm4 with a subwoofer, unveils requisite Beats Edition

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 08:01 PM PST

It's shaping up to be a wild day for HP: in addition to revamping its Envy laptops and announcing its first Ultrabook, the outfit went and refreshed the mid-range Pavilion dm4. While it has the same metal-heavy design that bowled us over in our review, it trades Altec Lansing audio for Beats and gains a subwoofer. Otherwise, its entry-level specs -- a Core i3 CPU, 6GB of RAM and a 640GB 5,400RPM hard drive -- closely match the starting config available today.

And, while the company was at it, HP also announced a red-and-black-spangled Beats Edition. An inevitable move, if you ask us: HP has been pushing its partnership with Dr. Dre so heavily that it went so far as to redesign its Envy laptops with a prominent Beats dial. Then again, this is the first time HP's given the Beats special edition treatment to anything other than a top-shelf machine. In any case, you better be pretty sweet on that red backlit keyboard -- the gussied-up, Dre-approved version starts at $900 (headphones not included). Then again, at least you get beefier specs for the money: a Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 750GB hard drive. If nine hundred bucks isn't what you had in mind, the classic dm4 starts at $630. Both will be available December 18th. If you're curious, find the full PR after the break, along with some rubbernecking hands-on shots below.
HP Pavilion dm4 and dm4 Beats Edition
HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition hands-on
Show full PR text
HP Expands Thin and Light Notebook PC Portfolio
Company launches two HP Pavilion dm4 notebooks, offering users powerful performance, enhanced audio
PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 16, 2011 – HP today expanded its ultraportable consumer notebook PC portfolio with thin and light products that provide the ideal balance of mobility and high performance.

- With powerful performance in a small package, the HP Pavilion dm4 includes the latest Intel® Core™ processors, Beats Audio™ and a 14-inch high-definition (HD) LED display for a rich multimedia experience.
- The HP Pavilion dm4 Beats™ Edition delivers the ultimate listening experience with Beats Audio and features the signature black-and-red Beats Audio design.

HP Pavilion dm4 – mobility, entertainment and performance
Designed to help users tackle daily tasks on the go with uncompromising performance, the HP Pavilion dm4 boasts a profile that is 1-inch thin in the front and features a 14-inch HD LED display for an ideal, mobile entertainment experience.

Weighing less than 4.5 pounds and offering up to seven hours of battery life, the HP Pavilion dm4 features the latest Intel Core processors with optional AMD Radeon™ HD 7470M discrete graphics.

Available in a brushed aluminum dark umber or steel gray metal finish with optional backlit keyboard, the HP Pavilion dm4 includes optional Intel Smart Response Technology, which provides faster boot times and application loads.

With the added subwoofer and Beats Audio, the Pavilion dm4 offers a full audio experience. The notebook also includes innovations such as HP TrueVision HD Webcam, HP CoolSense and HP SimplePass with fingerprint reader for storing passwords in one place.

HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition – ultimate listening experience
The sleek HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition reflects the signature Beats blackand-red design. The black metal exterior features a red Beats logo and a striking black keyboard that is backlit in red. The soft-touch surface on the palm rest provides a smooth, silk-like tactile experience.
The Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition also includes exclusive Beats wallpaper and a Beats microfiber sleeve. Solo HD Headphones with an HP exclusive red design – are available via an optional bundle.

Beats Audio technology was developed by HP in collaboration with legendary artist and producer Dr. Dre and chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine.

HP also introduced its first Ultrabook™, the HP Folio 13 , as well as new HP ENVY notebook PCs.

Pricing and availability

The new HP Pavilion dm4 and Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition are expected
to be available in the United States on Dec. 18.

- The HP Pavilion dm4 has a starting price of $629.99.
- The HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition has a starting price of $899.99.

Additional information is available at www.hp.com/personal and
http://shopping.hp.com/go/newfromhp.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 hands-on (video)

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 07:04 PM PST

We found it hard to get excited over that other recent QWERTY-less BlackBerry, but we've swallowed a lungful of fresh air and approached this new 3.2-inch, 800MHz Curve 9380 with an open mind. It's the first touch-only device in the entry-level Curve family and it deserves to be considered on its own merits. So, if you're in the market for a relatively cheap smartphone that hooks up seamlessly to RIM's persistently popular ecosystem, and which puts BlackBerry Messenger and BBM Music at your fingertips (rather than your thumbs), then please read on for our hands-on video and impressions.
BlackBerry Curve 9380 hands-on



Physically, the 9380 is a Curve device through and through. Despite the absence of a keypad, it looks and feels extremely similar to the 9360 -- and when viewed from the back it is identical. This is no bad thing, however, because these are well-built devices. One regret is that the that the glossy finish on the front and back smears easily, which doesn't happen with matte-finished higher-end BlackBerries like the Bold 9790, which was also announced today.

Unfortunately, the 9380 has also inherited the 9360's 480 x 360 screen resolution, which results in a low pixel density on the 3.2-inch LCD. This isn't much of a problem during general use, but you certainly notice it when browsing.


The device is thin and extremely pocketable -- we don't have official measurements to hand, but we gauged the thickness to be around 10mm. As with most hardy BBs, there's no particular urge to add to its girth by encasing it in a protective sleeve.


There are four back-lit buttons along the bottom -- Call, Options, Back, Hang-up/Power -- in addition to the optical trackpad in the center. These four buttons look like they might be capacitive, but they're push buttons. This is largely a matter of personal preference, but we can't help but notice that even much cheaper handsets like the Huawei Ideos X3 can deliver capacitive navigation buttons that often give a smoother experience.


There's a dedicated camera button positioned beneath the volume rocker, which is a big help. However, we found all the buttons along this right side of the phone to be thin, stiff and unsatisfying to press. The camera itself is 5MP and functional. It's not a patch on high-end smartphones, but it's fast and the bright LED flash makes it good at what it's intended for: social snaps for quick viewing and sharing.


Charging is done via the micro-USB port, which is the only feature on the left side of the phone. On the top edge we have the 3.5mm jack exactly where you'd expect to find it, and the essential lock button. On the rear side at the bottom you find a surprisingly powerful speaker, which delivers good bass when laid on a flat surface. Beneath the fiddly cover you find a microSD slot for up to 32GB of expanded storage and a SIM slot buried beneath an even more nail-bending 1230mAh battery. Onboard application storage is poor -- our fresh handset had just 120MB free.

The 800MHz processor boots the phone in just over a minute and seems to do a good job of running OS 7. However, this usual fluidity does not extend to the browser, which was slow and occasionally erratic at rendering detailed web pages.


Overall, the worthiness of this phone will depend on how much you're into the BlackBerry ecosystem, how much you prefer a touchscreen over a physical keyboard and -- most importantly -- how much you're willing to spend. RIM leaves pricing up to its carriers, but this device will have to be seriously cheap if it's to make an impact when it hits the market in a few weeks, because budget Androids are getting better all the time.

Square adds customer loyalty and printable receipts to the mobile payment mix

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 06:14 PM PST

In case you haven't been paying attention, Square, the company that allows vendors to accept payments from various mobile devices, is starting to become a big deal. Now reporting days with over $11 million in transactions, the kids in San Francisco are looking to solve the pains of small business owners while driving repeat usage with a new opt-in customer loyalty system. Coming in the form of a software update, version 2.2 will empower merchants to track repeat visitors and offer sweet incentives to their regulars. For consumers, you'll be capable of seeing these discounts from within the Card Case app, along with letting your awesome presence be known to the shopkeeper -- so, don't be surprised when some owners come grovelin' at your feet. Not to become too futuristic, Square is also going old school with new features such as wireless control of cash drawers and receipt printing. After all, it's hard to look to the future without knowing from where you came.

Nook Newsstand getting Condé Nast publications (except Vogue)

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 05:46 PM PST

After all of our tablet stories, the first question people ask is "But will it run Vogue?" Fortunately for all of you who are desperate to strike a pose and let your bodies move to the music, it won't be long now. Condé Nast is bringing 17 of 18 titles to Nook Tablet, the only omission being Vogue; which is coming in early 2012. Until then, you'll be able to enjoy the rest of the publisher's stable including Glamour, GQ, Teen Vogue and The New Yorker from the end of November. You can purchase individual issues or an annual subscription, print subscribers will get the digital edition free of charge and anyone who does pay will get a fortnight's trial. The only downside to the trial is that it's significantly shorter than the three months offered by the same publisher on the Kindle Fire. There's plenty more details after the break, where we've got a press release all waiting for a closeup.
Show full PR text
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONDÉ NAST TO DELIVER ALL EIGHTEEN TITLES ON NOOK TABLET

New York, NY, November 14, 2011 РBob Sauerberg, President of Cond̩ Nast, announced today that eighteen Cond̩ Nast titles would soon be available on Barnes & Noble's NOOK Tablet and NOOK ColorTM. Seventeen of those titles will appear by the end of November, with Vogue joining the fold in early 2012. Titles will be available for both single copy and monthly subscription purchase. Current print subscribers will be able to access their magazine's digital edition free of charge, while new monthly subscribers will enjoy a free 14-day trial. Monthly digital subscriptions on NOOK Tablet will remain consistent with those offered on other tablet devices.

"We're excited about the launch of the NOOK tablet and being able to extend our relationship with Barnes & Noble," said Mr. Sauerberg. "We know readers will love having another great way to engage with our iconic brands."

Titles available at launch are: Allure, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, Brides, Condé Nast Traveler, Details, Glamour, Golf Digest, Golf World, GQ, Lucky, Self, Teen Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, W, and Wired.

Condé Nast is home to some of the world's most celebrated media brands. In the United States, Condé Nast publishes 18 consumer magazines, four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 40 apps for mobile and tablet devices, all of which define excellence in their categories. The company also owns Fairchild Fashion Media (FFM), whose portfolio of brands serves as the leading source of news and analysis for the global fashion community. Condé Nast has won more National Magazine Awards over the past ten years than all of its competitors combined.

Follow us on Twitter @CondeNastCorp

ThinkPad X130e spotted again, toughs it out with strengthened body and three CPU options

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 05:21 PM PST

Lenovo may have prematurely revealed its forthcoming ThinkPad refreshes, the X1 Hybrid and the X130e, but venture over to PCHome and you'll spot a few extra tidbits on the product pages there. Specifically, the toughened sequel to the X120e is purportedly packing a rough-and-tumble keyboard, strengthened hinges and a thicker plastic bezel. Behind its protective credentials, Lenovo is apparently promising eight-hour battery life, an 11.6-inch screen, AMD Radeon HD graphics plus HDMI and USB ports. The online store lists three different processor options, including an Intel Core i3-2367M and two AMD Fusion APUs -- the E-300 and E-450. No whispers just yet on HDD or RAM specs, but ThinkPad fans jonesing for something small shouldn't have to wait long -- it looks set to land by the end of the year.

Engadget HD Podcast 274 - 11.15.2011

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 04:50 PM PST

Sure there's plenty of TV biz, connected TV, and social networking on the docket for this week's episode, but stay tuned for a special throwback segment as we talk HDTV tech both past and future. The prospect of Super Hi-Vision bringing a fresh new look at the Olympic Games has us pretty excited, but the up and down week of Google TV does not yet engender such optimism. We've also got new hardware shipping from TiVo so press play to hear about that and more before we dive into what we're watching / playing this week.

Get the podcast
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
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[MP3] Download the show (MP3).

Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)

Producer: Trent Wolbe

00:09:05 - Sony's CEO is ready to launch a four-screen platform 'that can compete with Steve Jobs'
00:23:49 - Logitech's new CEO sees the failures of the Revue clearly in hindsight and doesn't plan a sequel
00:31:04 - Adobe abandoning Flash Player for TVs as well
00:40:47 - LG might show off Google TV hardware at CES
00:44:33 - Boxee Box may integrate live TV via USB dongle, push the definition of 'awesome' to a new level
00:48:13 - Griffin's Beacon universal remote control system now available for Android, ships for $70
00:53:30 - Facebook SlingPlayer revealed, proves you can't escape social networking
00:57:30 - 2012 London Olympics Super Hi-Vision broadcast coming to select US, Japan, UK locations
00:59:05 - Engadget Primed: HDTV technologies detailed, past and future
01:00:28 - Sony, Panasonic, Samsung team up for 3D supergroup
01:02:20 - TiVo Premiere Q and Preview multiroom DVR setup finally debuts from RCN
01:11:25 - Must See HDTV (November 14th - 20th)

Hear the podcast

LISTEN (MP3)
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This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Nook Tablet comes off the shelves one day early for one lucky customer

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 04:24 PM PST

Nook Tablet
Now, we can't promise you'll have the same luck as our fortunate tipster if you wander out to your local Barnes & Noble, but it does seem that at least one location is handing over Nook Tablets a little bit early. Not to be outdone by its bitter rival, the Kindle Fire, the slate with the brick-and-mortar bookstore roots also started moving 24-hours ahead of its scheduled November 16th release -- though, in slightly less official fashion than Amazon's device. If the image of the unboxed slab above isn't enough to convince you, check out the bonus receipt pic after the break.
Nook Tablet receipt
at 12:36 PM

1 comment:

  1. jasminOliviaJanuary 28, 2019 at 6:27 AM

    interesting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thanks you


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