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Engadget News

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• New quantum tunneling transistors to make PCs less power-hungry
• iOS 5.1 beta 2 out of the oven, ready for developer consumption
• Dish Network surfaces as possible Plan B for T-Mobile if AT&T merger falls through
• Apple reportedly stepping its connectivity game, wants to be the center of your wireless universe
• Researchers build world's smallest steam engine that could
• The Engadget Show is live tomorrow with Boeing, the Tokyo Motor Show and the year's best gadgets
• FCC restarts review clock for AT&T's spectrum purchase, gives itself 180 days
• Get your Doodle Jump and Flight Control on as the Android Market sale continues into day 7
• Spherical hexapod robot walks like a crab, dances like the Bogle (video)
• Don't want to shell out the cash for an iPhone 4S? Lease one on O2
• Nook Color gets multimedia upgrade, further blurs the tablet battle lines
• Verizon-branded LG Spectrum steps out in leaked press shot
• Android Market web store update adds user review filters, changes lives
• Galaxy Player 4.0 review
• Yifan Lu jailbreaks Kindle Touch, uses a special MP3 file to do so (video)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Nozomi spotted out again, can't help but get its photo taken
• Apple Mac Store breaks the 100 million download barrier
• Google's Native Client focuses on apps and games, brings Bastion to the browser (video)
• NASA looks to send landers to Europa in 2020, wants to break the ice
• Let the turkey power your Christmas tree lights
• Engadget Mobile Podcast 116 - 12.12.2011
• Archos G9 tablets to receive Ice Cream Sandwich by 'first trimester' of 2012
• Samsung claims record 300 million mobile sales this year
• Huawei Honor gets Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, feels honored
• Samsung outs two new Series 5 laptops in Korea, claims they're Ultrabooks
• Google doodle celebrates Robert Noyce; Intel co-founder and 'Mayor of Silicon Valley'
• More EXOdesk details spill: at least two models in the works, ViewSonic wants in
• SkyDrive and Windows Phone cozy up, apps can now directly integrate with the cloud
• Silverlight hits 5.0, Microsoft silent as to its future
• Caption Contest: Blue shells can't slow Miyamoto down
• Inhabitat's Week in Green: 5 megawatt solar roof, driverless electric cars and ten of the world's craziest Christmas trees
• Leaked Lumia 710 glamour shot reveals T-Mobile branding
• Switched On: A road trip with Siri
• Lucky shoppers pick up Verizon Galaxy Nexus early at Best Buy
• Leaked draft shows LightSquared's network interferes with 'great majority' of GPS receivers, company pushes back

New quantum tunneling transistors to make PCs less power-hungry Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:03 AM PST Yes, that awesome new 8-core chip in your PC is the fastest thing on the block, but it's got your utility meter spinning accordingly. Fortunately, researchers from Penn State have come up with a new high performance transistor that may turn future chips from power hogs into current-sipping silicon. The group, in cooperation with semiconductor manufacturer IQE, has created a high-performance transistor capable of significantly reducing power demand whether it's idle or switching. Doctoral candidate Dheeraj Mohata's the one who made it happen by inventing an alternative to traditional MOSFET (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors) technology capable of turning on and off using far less power. Mohata's method uses a tunneling field effect transistor crafted from dissimilar semiconductor materials to provide instant on-off capability at 300 millivolts -- compared to MOSFET's one volt requirement -- to provide a power savings of 70 percent. You can dig deeper into the technical transistor details at the source, but all you really need to know is that the ladies love a PC with paltry power consumption.

iOS 5.1 beta 2 out of the oven, ready for developer consumption Posted: 12 Dec 2011 10:36 AM PST Ready to kick off Monday with some iOS flashing? Excellent, because Apple's just released the second beta of iOS 5.1, lovingly christened 9B5127c. No Cupertino devices at Engadget HQ have taken the plunge, but as noted by MacRumors, the beta enables individual picture deletion from Photo Stream -- which differs from the existing delete all or nothing implementation. Too early to tell if it'll finally squash any lingering battery bugs once and for all, but you can hit Apple's developer website to get your download on -- just be ready for the next one in two weeks, cool? [Thanks, Haseeb]

Dish Network surfaces as possible Plan B for T-Mobile if AT&T merger falls through Posted: 12 Dec 2011 10:14 AM PST Dish Network had reportedly been considered a potential candidate to receive divested T-Mobile assets from AT&T if it couldn't secure initial approval of its acquisition from the government. Dish, however, has publicly opposed the acquisition -- and now it's clear that there were some ulterior motives in wanting to see the merger fall through, because Bloomberg reported this morning that the satellite provider wants to merge its spectrum assets with T-Mobile if things don't go so rosy in the acquisition. According to CEO Joseph Clayton: We want to... create a national wireless network, video, voice and data. We've got expertise in satellite TV, and we will in satellite broadband. The voice part, we'll need some help with. A partnership with T-Mobile would ideally help both companies: it would help Dish get one step closer to its goal of a wireless network that bundles smartphones, tablets and satellite under the same umbrella, and would cast a bright light on T-Mobile's questionable future. How does "Ollo" with LTE-Advanced on Magenta sound?

Apple reportedly stepping its connectivity game, wants to be the center of your wireless universe Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:56 AM PST Apple is purportedly readying a new certification chip for accessory makers that will allow wireless access and connectivity to that pile of iOS devices you're hoarding. Announced during an accessory manufacturer's conference in China, the new chip would allow connections across AirPlay, Bluetooth and WiFi. The Cupertino crew hope that this will encourage even more iOS-friendly add-ons and docks to market. Apple apparently added that it's working on support for AirPlay over Bluetooth, presumably bringing with it some improved battery longevitiy, and tying into the new low-powered Bluetooth 4.0 found on the iPhone 4S. Well, you know us, we always love seeing new iPad accessories.

Researchers build world's smallest steam engine that could Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:29 AM PST Wanna create your very own microscopic steam engine? Just take a colloid particle, put it in water, and add a laser. That's a CliffsNotes version of what a group of German researchers recently did to create the world's smallest steam engine. To pull it off, engineers from the University of Stuttgart and Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems tweaked the traditional approach introduced by Robert Stirling nearly 200 years ago. In Stirling's model, gas within a cylindrical tube is alternately heated and cooled, allowing it to expand and push an attached piston. Professor Clemens Bechinger and his team, however, decided to downsize this system by replacing the piston with a laser beam, and the cylinder's working gas with a single colloid bead that floats in water and measures just three thousandths of a millimeter in size. The laser's optical field limits the bead's range of motion, which can be easily observed with a microscope, since the plastic particle is about 10,000 times larger than an atom. Because the beam varies in intensity, it effectively acts upon the particle in the same way that heat compresses and expands gas molecules in Stirling's model. The bead, in turn, does work on the optical field, with its effects balanced by an outside heat source. The system's architects admit that their engine tends to "sputter" at times, but insist that its mere development shows that "there are no thermodynamic obstacles" to production. Read more about the invention and its potential implications in the full press release, after the break. Show full PR text The world's smallest steam engine A heat engine measuring only a few micrometres works as well as its larger counterpart, although it splutters December 11, 2011 What would be a case for the repair shop for a car engine is completely normal for a micro engine. If it sputters, this is caused by the thermal motions of the smallest particles, which interfere with its running. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart and the Stuttgart-based Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have now observed this with a heat engine on the micrometre scale. They have also determined that the machine does actually perform work, all things considered. Although this cannot be used as yet, the experiment carried out by the researchers in Stuttgart shows that an engine does basically work, even if it is on the microscale. This means that there is nothing, in principle, to prevent the construction of highly efficient, small heat engines. A technology which works on a large scale can cause unexpected problems on a small one. And these can be of a fundamental nature. This is because different laws prevail in the micro- and the macroworld. Despite the different laws, some physical processes are surprisingly similar on both large and small scales. Clemens Bechinger, Professor at the University of Stuttgart and Fellow of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, and his colleague Valentin Blickle have now observed one of these similarities. "We've developed the world's smallest steam engine, or to be more precise the smallest Stirling engine, and found that the machine really does perform work," says Clemens Bechinger. "This was not necessarily to be expected, because the machine is so small that its motion is hindered by microscopic processes which are of no consequence in the macroworld." The disturbances cause the micromachine to run rough and, in a sense, sputter. The laws of the microworld dictated that the researchers were not able to construct the tiny engine according to the blueprint of a normal-sized one. In the heat engine invented almost 200 years ago by Robert Stirling, a gas-filled cylinder is periodically heated and cooled so that the gas expands and contracts. This makes a piston execute a motion with which it can drive a wheel, for example. "We successfully decreased the size of the essential parts of a heat engine, such as the working gas and piston, to only a few micrometres and then assembled them to a machine," says Valentin Blickle. The working gas in the Stuttgart-based experiment thus no longer consists of countless molecules, but of only one individual plastic bead measuring a mere three micrometres (one micrometre corresponds to one thousandth of a millimetre) which floats in water. Since the colloid particle is around 10,000 times larger than an atom, researchers can observe its motion directly in a microscope. The physicists replaced the piston, which moves periodically up and down in a cylinder, by a focused laser beam whose intensity is periodically varied. The optical forces of the laser limit the motion of the plastic particle to a greater and a lesser degree, like the compression and expansion of the gas in the cylinder of a large heat engine. The particle then does work on the optical laser field. In order for the contributions to the work not to cancel each other out during compression and expansion, these must take place at different temperatures. This is done by heating the system from the outside during the expansion process, just like the boiler of a steam engine. The researchers replaced the coal fire of an old-fashioned steam engine with a further laser beam that heats the water suddenly, but also lets it cool down as soon as it is switched off. The fact that the Stuttgart machine runs rough is down to the water molecules which surround the plastic bead. The water molecules are in constant motion due to their temperature and continually collide with the microparticle. In these random collisions, the plastic particle constantly exchanges energy with its surroundings on the same order of magnitude as the micromachine converts energy into work. "This effect means that the amount of energy gained varies greatly from cycle to cycle, and even brings the machine to a standstill in the extreme case," explains Valentin Blickle. Since macroscopic machines convert around 20 orders of magnitude more energy, the tiny collision energies of the smallest particles in them are not important. The physicists are all the more astonished that the machine converts as much energy per cycle on average despite the varying power, and even runs with the same efficiency as its macroscopic counterpart under full load. "Our experiments provide us with an initial insight into the energy balance of a heat engine operating in microscopic dimensions. Although our machine does not provide any useful work as yet, there are no thermodynamic obstacles, in principle, which prohibit this in small dimensions," says Clemens Bechinger. This is surely good news for the design of reliable, highly efficient micromachines.

The Engadget Show is live tomorrow with Boeing, the Tokyo Motor Show and the year's best gadgets Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:05 AM PST We'll be dashing through the proverbial tech snow, laughing all the way at 6PM ET tomorrow. We're gonna tour the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, take a trip to Tokyo Motor Show and check out the best gadgets of 2011. Best of all, you can join us live! If you're in New York City, we've got a few extra tickets left over. If you'd like to attend, email jon dot turi at engadget dot com including your full name and confirmation that you can show up. Everyone else can follow along from home right here. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.

FCC restarts review clock for AT&T's spectrum purchase, gives itself 180 days Posted: 12 Dec 2011 08:41 AM PST Back in August, the FCC decided to freeze the 180-day review clock on AT&T's proposed acquisition of Qualcomm's 700 MHz spectrum, citing lingering concerns over the carrier's ongoing T-Mobile saga. Now that AT&T and Deutsche Telekom have withdrawn their merger application, however, the Commission has decided to re-open the review period for the Qualcomm acquisition, giving itself a fresh 180 days to make a decision. In a letter published Friday, Wireless Bureau chief Rick Kaplan announced that the timetable would be reset, with a retroactive start date of November 29th -- the very day that the FCC granted AT&T's pullout from the T-Mobile deal. No word yet on when we can expect a decision, but we'll be keeping an eye out for the latest developments. Read the letter in full at the source link below.

Get your Doodle Jump and Flight Control on as the Android Market sale continues into day 7 Posted: 12 Dec 2011 08:18 AM PST On the seventh day of the Android Market sale, your true love should give you Super KO Boxing 2. Or Flight Control, or Flick Soccer, or any of the other seven apps available today for ten cents. If you haven't been following along the past week, Google's been celebrating its ten billionth Android app download by offering a ten-day sale, and today's offerings -- ten in total -- are rife with games and a couple returning favorites. Everything you see in the above screenshot is available for a dime, so head over to the source link if there's something you've been pining for, or if you're just trying to collect the whole set.

Spherical hexapod robot walks like a crab, dances like the Bogle (video) Posted: 12 Dec 2011 07:55 AM PST Kåre Halvorsen (aka Zenta) is something of a genius in the robotic arts, as testified by the latest development in his long-running MorpHex project. By adding curved polycarbonate panels to its six feet and upper half, he's given his creation the ability to curl up into a ball when it gets tired of scuttling. Alas, he hasn't managed to make it roll around yet, or indeed fly, but the video after the break is still pretty amazing -- and almost as hypnotic as that robotic worm we caught doing the limbo.

Don't want to shell out the cash for an iPhone 4S? Lease one on O2 Posted: 12 Dec 2011 07:33 AM PST If you can lease a vehicle, why not a smartphone? That's O2's line of thinking, anyways, as the UK carrier has begun piloting a rental scheme -- called O2 Lease -- with the iPhone 4S in the driver's seat. For a 12-month lease period and £55 per month, you'll be able to rent the 16GB version and get 750 minutes, unlimited messaging, 500MB of data and insurance. Want a 32GB model? That'll be an extra £10 per month. Since it's a rental, you'll be required to give the phone back after your year is up, but at that point you're free to grab a new device -- a great idea for anyone embarrassed to still be holding onto a primitive year-old phone. As O2 puts it: "this is the first tariff model available to all O2 customers that reflects the lifestyle of the smartphone industry." If the pilot's successful, the company will consider expanding its selection to more devices; since not everyone wishing to lease a smartphone wants an iPhone, we'd say the more handsets the merrier.

Nook Color gets multimedia upgrade, further blurs the tablet battle lines Posted: 12 Dec 2011 07:11 AM PST Barnes & Noble's Nook Color is getting a piece of that promised multimedia upgrade. This round features video content from the likes of Netflix and Flixster, access to comics from the true believers at Marvel and a few other tweaks, like the ability to read books in landscape mode, to fully take advantage of that seven-inch display. The update further blurs the lines between the Color, which began life as little more than a color screen e-reader and the recently introduced Nook Tablet, which features souped up internals but an otherwise similar design. The Color is currently priced at $199 -- $50 less than the Tablet -- and will be getting more software upgrades in the future, including access to music services like Pandora and Rhapsody. Press info after the break. Show full PR text Barnes & Noble's Award-Winning $199 NOOK Color Now Even Better with Streaming Entertainment and More Breathtaking Content in VividView NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, continues to enhance its critically acclaimed NOOK Color with the largest-ever software update to the device now available at no cost (www.nookcolor.com/update), adding over 100 feature enhancements, access to top video and music services, popular apps, comics and more. With new tablet features and access to the best names in entertainment, the first-ever Reader's Tablet™ is now even better at the incredibly low price of $199. Customers can enjoy popular movies and TV shows through leading services like Netflix and Flixster, with others coming soon. The update also brings faster, easier access to the world's largest digital catalog of color and interactive books, magazines, children's books, high-quality apps, and now comics and graphic novels. The perfect holiday gift for those who love to experience all types of content in rich, beautiful color on the world's most advanced VividView™ display, NOOK Color is available for new customers to purchase immediately in NOOK Digital Shops™ at their neighborhood Barnes & Noble stores, www.nookcolor.com and other leading retailers. Today only, customers who purchase any new $199 NOOK Color online with a MasterCard will receive a free $25 Barnes & Noble Gift Card, along with free shipping. This offer also applies to the #1-rated $99 NOOK Simple Touch™, and the all-new $249 NOOK Tablet™, the company's fastest, lightest tablet with the best entertainment displayed in stunning VividView. Additional details are available at www.nook.com. "Building upon our award-winning reading experience and vast digital content catalog, we are excited to offer our largest NOOK Color software update ever that will bring access to movies, TV shows, hundreds of new apps, comics, graphic novels and more to our time-tested, critically acclaimed Reader's Tablet," said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. "This innovative product continues to receive high acclaim as an Editor's Choice and is ranked among the most highly rated eReaders by many leading technology reviewers. At the incredibly low price of $199, customers can discover all types of interactive content specifically designed for the stunning, 7-inch display, in addition to staying connected through email and the web. We encourage customers to stop by their local Barnes & Noble this holiday season to learn about the whole portfolio of NOOK devices and receive free support from one of our highly-trained NOOKsellers." More High-Quality NOOK Apps™, Including Top Entertainment Services Adding to the growing collection of high-quality NOOK Apps, children's apps, games and more, NOOK Color customers can download Netflix to watch movies and TV shows, and Flixster which, through the UltraViolet™ standard, will allow consumers to access their digital movies and TV shows on the go. Coming soon, more leading services will be available. NOOK Color owners can also listen to millions of songs using the hottest music services, including Pandora, Rhapsody®, Grooveshark and MOG, all available with a free 14-day trial. In addition, NOOK Color owners can listen to their own songs wherever they go with the built-in music player. From music to movies and more, all NOOK Apps are the highest-quality versions available, optimized for NOOK Color's beautiful and ultra-responsive 7-inch VividView display to ensure a stunning and seamless user experience. The NOOK App library continues to grow with hundreds of new titles added each week to bring all the top requested and most popular apps to both NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet. Exciting new NOOK App additions include games published by Chillingo such as Roll in the Hole and Spider Jack, I Can Read, Cozi Family Organizer, Audobon Insects, Pat the Bunny, and more. Enjoy fun new holiday-themed apps including How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Tacky's Christmas – all with a special reduced pricing promotion for the holidays. Also, find All I Want from Santa, Emma In: A Sweet Christmas plus an extensive lineup of holiday-centric live wallpapers, themes and much more. Barnes & Noble's Vast Collection of Interactive Content at Your Fingertips NOOK Color customers can shop the world's largest bookstore, featuring more than 2.5 million books, enhanced books, interactive magazines, newspapers, children's books, and now comics and graphic novels. Highlights include: NOOK Newsstand™: Choose from more than 300 newspapers and full-color, interactive magazines, delivered instantly to the device. Barnes & Noble offers the largest digital collection of top 100 magazines for subscription or single issue purchase – all available for a risk-free, 14-day free trial – including bestsellers PEOPLE, Food Network Magazine, Us Weekly, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, TIME, National Geographic and many others. Most interactive magazines offer Barnes & Noble's ArticleView™, new animated and lightning fast page turns, smooth pinch, zoom and panning. Many special edition NOOK Magazines™ feature videos, animation, image galleries and more. Newly added publications include People StyleWatch, Southern Living, SmartMoney, Official Xbox Magazine, WIRED, SELF and TransWorld Skateboarding with more titles being added each week. New NOOK Comics™: NOOK Color customers can now access a large collection of full-color comics, graphic novels and kids' comics in high resolution that allow readers to pinch, zoom and discover this content like never before. NOOK Comics features the largest digital collection of Marvel's graphic novels available through a third party – including Halo Uprising and other Marvel greats like Ultimate Spider-Man, The Astonishing X-Men, and Hulk: Planet Hulk, among others. NOOK Color customers can also enjoy titles from other leading publishers, including Archie – with series starring the redheaded star, plus pals Jughead and Betty & Veronica– IDW and Dynamite. NOOK Kids™: With an incredible collection of more than 1,000 interactive children's picture books and more than 12,000 chapter books, NOOK Color offers the world's largest digital selection with hundreds of titles offering enhanced Read to Me and Read to Play functionality, so children and parents can interact with built-in narration and engaging in-page animation and activities. Newly added popular titles for the holidays include A Charlie Brown Christmas and Elf on the Shelf, both only on NOOK with engaging narrations and entertaining activities built right in to the stories, plus an exclusive edition of Sandra Boynton's Christmas Parade, narrated by the author. Beginning readers can also enjoy new I Can Read series titles, plus Judy Blume's popular Fudge series including Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and many more through the expanded chapter book collection. NOOK Books™: Barnes & Noble continues to expand its NOOK Bookstore™ with the vast majority of books available for $9.99 or less. New PagePerfect™ NOOK Books™ feature cookbooks, craft and art books rendered with rich precision to retain all the beauty of their stunning print versions. Customers can also enjoy new titles including 11/22/63 from Stephen King and Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch, or bestsellers including Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich, Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible, Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and many more. Enhanced Reading Experience Makes it Easier than Ever to Find New Great Content NOOK Color customers can now explore new reading experiences and Shop enhancements that make it easier than ever to find great books, children's content, magazines, newspapers and apps. Simply tap to open the redesigned NOOK Store to find a clean, customized interface and great social features that showcase the vast amount of content available. Explore customized reading features to enjoy all your favorite content like never before. Customized reading: In response to customer feedback, NOOK Color now offers the flexibility to read books in portrait or landscape mode and to adjust the text with even more font sizes to choose from. And now reading is even more interactive with PDF thumbnail page views, and image pinch, zoom and pan in books and PDFs. Unparalleled reviews and recommendations: Learn what to read next from Barnes & Noble's knowledgeable booksellers, from new releases to up-and-coming authors. Barnes & Noble's personalized NOOK Recommendations™ suggest titles by customer's favorite authors in many different categories – helping them find selections in all subjects, from the most popular to hidden gems. In any book a customer is reading, a simple tap on the new NOOK Discover™ icon offers instant recommendations. Customers can also find new content through: NOOK Daily Find – Discover a new read every day at an amazing price. NOOK First – Exclusive content for NOOK owners from leading authors. NOOK Snaps – Bite-size reads for "snackable" content on the go. NOOK Spotlight – Twice a month, Barnes & Noble features great books at a great price. New Release Tuesday – The weekly scoop on the bestsellers and the newest releases. Get more social: With NOOK Color, customers can connect with Facebook friends and others through NOOK Friends™, and find out what they have to say about their books, magazines and newspapers. Customers can also share their thoughts about the books they're reading via email, Facebook and Twitter. Owners can share books, as well as browse and borrow books, from NOOK Friends using Barnes & Noble's exclusive LendMe® technology. Continuous reading: Read what you love, anywhere you like™ on NOOK devices and with free NOOK Reading Apps. NOOK Cloud™ automatically syncs a customer's library, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across all of their devices, so a customer can start a book on NOOK Color, and pick right back up where they left off on their computer or smartphone.

Verizon-branded LG Spectrum steps out in leaked press shot Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:55 AM PST LG aren't letting up on the LTE hardware. While we've only just shaken hands with AT&T's Nitro HD, this Verizon-branded 4G handset packs several design cues (and specifications) from its rival network cousin. The LG Spectrum has already appeared -- albeit fleetingly -- in a database listing and is likely to be the successor to Big Red's Revolution. Pocketnow reckons that the phone will rock a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, a high-definition display running at 720p and an eight megapixel shooter, although it's hard to make out much for from these shots -- aside from that protruding camera module. Regardless, life's most certainly looking good for LG fans.

Android Market web store update adds user review filters, changes lives Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:33 AM PST It looks like Google has rolled out yet another update to its Android Market web store, bringing a slew of new filtering features for especially investigative users. In particular, the refresh allows consumers to filter user reviews by a handful of parameters, including star ratings, app version and device model. Best of all, you can use any or all of these filters simultaneously, thereby allowing you to isolate, for example, all five-star reviews of a specific app from users of a specific handset. It certainly sounds like a useful addition, and one you can check out for yourself, at the source link below.

Galaxy Player 4.0 review Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:00 AM PST Apple users have the iPod touch, but what about Android fans? Where do they turn when looking for an app-running, connected media player -- basically a smartphone without the phone? Well, believe it or not, there are a few options out there (like the Philips GoGear and Cowon's D3) And one of the premier lines is certainly Samsung's Galaxy Player offerings which, as the name implies, borrow a few things from their beloved cellphone siblings. There's both a 4.0 ($230) and a 5.0 ($270) model which have four- and five-inch screens, respectively, but, besides the size, the two are practically identical in the specs department. We toyed with the smaller Galaxy Player 4.0 for a couple of weeks and our thoughts on Sammy's (somewhat pricier) answer to the iPod touch are right after the break. Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 review Hardware Looking at the Galaxy Player 4.0, it's clear where its roots lie. It'd be easy to mistake its silver-garnished bezel and curved plastic back for a white variant of T-Mobile's Galaxy S (or, for the more cynical amongst you, a white iPhone 3GS). It is, sadly, just as bulky as those now aging devices and just as plasticky. Samsung's build quality isn't always our favorite, but we're used to it. Still, we were shocked by just how cheap it felt. The shiny plastic and tacky chrome made it feel like a KIRF -- not the premier media player from the company behind some of our favorite Android handsets. While a tad on the large size it wasn't uncomfortable to hold or carry in a pocket -- at least no more so than a 4-inch smartphone. It might seem bulky compared to some of the tinier (non-touchscreen) media players out there, but if you're moving on from a dying iPod classic you wont notice the size. On the other hand, carrying both a smartphone and the Player seemed excessive and took up quite a bit of pocket space. Especially since it doesn't offer any advantages, where as going with a dedicated hard drive based player at least offers an obvious advantage in storage capacity. The backplate is one large glossy piece of white polymer that snaps on and off to reveal the removable 1,200mAh battery (the 5.0 bumps that to a stunning 2,500mAh) and microSD slot. Also around back is the 3.2 megapixel camera and a pair of speakers. The edges of the device are littered with your usual assortment of ports and keys, with the reasonably solid volume rocker on the left and the power button on the right. Up top is the all-important headphone jack and the micro USB port, which is hidden under a strange and flimsy feeling sliding door. The front of the device is home to the ear piece, for placing VoIP calls, a VGA camera and the trio of capacitive buttons found on most Samsung handsets (i.e., no search button here). Most of the front of the device is taken up by the four-inch 800 x 480 Super Clear LCD screen which, while not quite as stunning as the Super AMOLED Plus panels on its relatives, is still a pretty decent display. Colors are bright with plenty of eye-popping contrast and viewing angles are excellent, though black levels do leave something to be desired. The WVGA resolution is expected, but still a bit of a letdown. As a device primarily meant for media consumption we'd expect that Sammy would want to deliver the best visuals possible and, although it's good, it's not quite great. And the difference between those two things is glaringly obvious when you place the Player 4.0 next to its extremely pixel-dense, Apple-branded competitor. That being said, we did find watching video on the four-inch Samsung much easier on the eyes than squinting at the 3.5-inch panel on Apple's devices. We still wouldn't want to sit through a feature length film, but a half-hour episode of 30 Rock was pleasant enough. Inside Samsung's Gingerbread-powered media player is essentially a Galaxy S. And, yes, you read that right -- Galaxy S. There is no "II" at the end of that title. The brains of the operation is a 1GHz single-core Hummingbird CPU with 512MB of RAM to help it along the way. There's also an accelerometer and a gyroscope inside, alongside 8GB of storage (which can be expanded via micro SD) and a CMOS sensor for capturing 3.2 megapixel images. Then there are the radios, including an 802.11n connection, BlueTooth and GPS. Performance and battery life Speaking of that Exynos 3110 processor and half-gig of RAM, they still provide plenty of power for handling most day to day tasks. The average Quadrant score of 1,651 puts it in a league with the aging, but adequate Droid X and the somewhat disappointing Rhyme. In fact, even though specs never tell the whole story, the Galaxy Player 4.0 actually sports more powerful silicon than the latest iPod touch which rocks an 800MHz single-core chip and just 256MB of RAM. But, as we all know, iOS is fine-tuned to take advantage of the provided hardware -- that's not always the case with Android. We ran the Player through our usual barrage of benchmarks and it performed about as well as you'd expect given its year-old hardware, scoring just 17.64 in single-threaded Linpack and averaging just 50fps in Nenamark (Nenamark 2 refused to run). We've gotta give Sammy credit, though, it promised five hours of video playback and it delivered. In our standard battery drain test, which loops a video with the screen at 50 percent brightness, it actually managed five hours and 23 minutes. That doesn't exactly make this PMP an ultra marathoner -- but it's always nice to see a company deliver the battery life it promises -- something that's an unfortunate rarity in the gadget world. Then again, that doesn't really put it very far ahead of many LTE smartphones on the market, which aren't known for their stellar longevity. Sound Being a media player it's not just important, but crucial, that the Galaxy player impress when it came to sound quality. Sadly, we found ourselves let down at every turn. The pair of speakers on the back of the device are all but useless. They're tinny, not particularly loud and prone to distortion when the volume is cranked past the half-way mark. When you plug in headphones things get better, but not much. While the sound is clear and not in the slightest bit muddy, it's distinctly lacking in low-end and much quieter than the competition. We pitted it against an iPhone 4, a fifth-gen iPod classic and a Droid X -- we preferred the sound of all three to the Galaxy Player. Both the six-year-old iPod and the iPhone produced more balanced audio, with equal clarity and much more punch, while the Droid X was a bit muddier to our ears, but made up for it with a more satisfying low-end and decibel levels that put the Player to shame. Then again, if you're the kind of guy who turns the bass all the way down on your equalizer and you're seriously worried about hearing loss, this might just be the PMP for you. It's not surprising then that the included headphones piled on the bass pretty heavily. Actually, it wasn't until we swapped out those buds for some higher-end phones that we really noticed the weak bass response when compared to the other players. That being said, the white buds that come packed with the Player are not bad at all. No, they can't hold a candle to what you could pick up for only $50 in any reasonably serious electronics or audio shop, but they're light years beyond a certain iconic, tiny and uncomfortable set of pale plastic ear pieces. Camera Cameras, the Player 4.0's got 'em. That's about all the positive things we have to say about that. The front-facing VGA cam is fine for the occasional video chat, but the 3.2 megapixel autofocus shooter around back leaves something to be desired. Color reproduction was decent and, considering the pixel count, quality was decent. But, even images taken outside during the day were noisy and chances are you could manually focus a DSLR in less time than this thing lock on its target. Perhaps we've been spoiled by the 8MP sensors on most modern smartphones, but we couldn't imagine using this camera unless we absolutely had to. Video recording isn't much better. Clips were dark, soft and being only 720 x 480 didn't help matters. The low-res video capture was particularly confusing since even the abysmal shooter on the iPod touch is capable or 720p. Audio recording was acceptable -- we were able to hear ourselves narrating over a busy street, but wasn't anything to write home about. Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 sample shots Software All this hardware is running atop Gingerbread and, of course, TouchWiz. But this is not the less maligned version found on Sammy's recent handsets. No, no, no. This is 3.0 -- the same candy-colored skin found on the original Galaxy S. (Noticing a trend yet?) Thankfully, the device is pretty free of bloatware. Samsung has included its own app store, ThinkFree Office and a few simple apps like a diary, FM radio, memo pad and a social hub, but the PMP is relatively crap-free on first boot. The default music and video playing apps are slight improvements over their vanilla Android counterparts and we especially appreciate the 7-band customizable EQ for the music player. That being said, they're quite basic and there are much better options available in the market, including Google Music and DoubleTwist. Then again, that's the beauty of Android -- you can pretty much customize it to fit your every whim. Hate TouchWiz? Try LauncherPro or GO Launcher EX. Don't like the default music app? Give Winamp a go. And let's not forget the wealth of messaging options at your disposal, including Google Voice for sending texts and Skype for video chats. Access to the wealth of apps in the Android market is perhaps the Player's strongest selling point. Its competitor out of Cupertino also has a vast app catalog, but iOS doesn't have the same flexibility and deep integration with other services that Android has. Using widgets, swapping home screens and using the media player of your choice is just really just scratching the surface. On the other hand, media management is a nightmare. There is no default tool for easily loading or syncing music of video to the Galaxy Player. In fact, when you plug it into a computer it simply offers you the option to enter USB mass storage mode. Being able to copy your files manually to it is nice, but without an easy syncing option out of the box Samsung starts at a serious disadvantage. There's not even a market place included for purchasing new tunes. Now, you could download Google Music or Amazon MP3, which provide bothing syncing and shopping solutions, or DoubleTwist which, when combined with the $5 AirSync, provides the most seamless syncing solution we've seen on Android. But, having to go search these things out is not something most consumers will want to do with their brand new PMP. Wrap-up Even if the Galaxy Player 4.0 existed in a vacuum we'd have a hard time getting excited about it. When positioned as the Android answer to the iPod touch, things go from bad to worse. Even its strengths ultimately become weaknesses when placed next to its competitors. Its Super Clear LCD display is nice, but it's nowhere near as crisp as the Retina Display on the Apple's touchscreen media player. Taking pixel density out of the equation -- it still can't stand up to the abyss-like blacks of the Super AMOLED Plus display on the Galaxy S II. That expandable storage sounds nice until you realize that even if you max it out with a 32GB microSD card you're only looking at 40GB -- 24GB less than the high-end iPod Touch. And, yes, we know a Galaxy Player 4.0 and a 32GB microSD card would cost much less than the $400 top-of-the-line touch but, the truth is, most people don't want to go out buy (then swap) a microSD card. Out of the box an entry level touch offers the same storage for just $200. Even the user-replaceable battery doesn't seem like such a great thing when it adds so much bulk and (at least according to the manufacturers) lasts two hours less than Apple's device when playing video. Even its one clear and decisive victory -- its camera -- isn't really a selling point. It's just that the shooter on the iPod touch is that bad. Ultimately here's the pitch for the Galaxy Player: it's got expandable storage, a removable battery and runs Android for those of you who don't care for iOS. Android does allow you to customize the player to your heart's content -- and that's definitely a very, very strong point in Sammy's favor -- but is that enough to compensate for the rest of its short comings, especially the seriously disappointing audio? And for $30 more than the 8GB iPod touch? Not even close.

Yifan Lu jailbreaks Kindle Touch, uses a special MP3 file to do so (video) Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:46 AM PST We've seen a fair share of Kindle Jailbreaks over the past few years, but Yifan Lu's (evidently the first) for the Kindle Touch is certainly novel in its approach. As The Digital Reader points out, a sizeable chunk of the Touch's software is essentially a string of pseudo HTML5 and JavaScript webpages -- differentiating it from Kindles prior -- which led Lu to notice an exploit rooted in its browser. It's there where he found a function titled nativeBridge.dbgCmd(), which'll run any ol' shell command as root. Armed with that knowledge, Lu crafted the jailbreak by cramming his payload of HTML and JavaScript into the ID3 tags of an easily downloadable MP3 file. There isn't much to be gained from "playing" that MP3 just yet, but Lu's looking forward to developers using the tools needed to write programs for the device. Full details about the jailbreak can be found at source link below, but before you head off, you can catch the video proof after the break.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Nozomi spotted out again, can't help but get its photo taken Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:29 AM PST Sony Ericsson's forthcoming flagship was already looking like a very handsome slice of smartphone, but it's even more dashing in these thankfully crystal-clear shots. This latest leak give us a nice close-up of the matte-finished monolith, showing off a dedicated camera button, HDMI port, built-in battery and the conspicuous absence of microSD storage. The LT26i is rumored to possess a 720 x 1280 resolution spread across a 4.3-inch touchscreen, with a dual-core processor behind it. Sony Ericsson also looks to have finally taken the plunge with front-facing shooters, with an as-yet unspecified camera embedded above the screen, while a stylish glassy button bar below seems to run right through the device. Take a peak at the still-codenamed Nozomi -- uncovered -- after the break, or check out a full 360-degree runaround at the source below. [Thanks everyone]

Apple Mac Store breaks the 100 million download barrier Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:05 AM PST At just under a year old, Apple's Mac App Store is celebrating a fairly significant milestone, hitting the 100 million download mark, a fact the company celebrated with a customarily self-congratulatory press release. The desktop store hit the scene in January of this year, just ahead of CES -- at present, it's home to "thousands" of apps, according to Apple. Granted, these numbers pale in comparison to the some 18 billion app downloads for Apple's other App Store, but still, not bad for a year's work. Press release after the break. Show full PR text Apple's Mac App Store Downloads Top 100 Million CUPERTINO, California-December 12, 2011-Apple® today announced that over 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac® App Store™ in less than one year. With thousands of free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the App Store experience to the Mac so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes® account, and download and install them in just one step. Apple revolutionized the app industry with the App Store, which now has more than 500,000 apps and where customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps and continue to download more than 1 billion apps per month. "In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world." "With Autodesk products in both the App Store and Mac App Store, we can reach hundreds of millions of Apple users around the world," said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of Platform Solutions and Emerging Business at Autodesk. "With our free AutoCAD WS and the more powerful professional drafting tools of AutoCAD LT, we're using the Mac App Store to deliver new products and reach a growing base of new Mac customers." "The Mac App Store has unparalleled reach and has completely transformed our distribution and development cycle," said Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. "Offering Pixelmator 2.0 exclusively on the Mac App Store allows us to streamline updates to our image editing software and stay ahead of the competition." "In less than one year we've shifted the distribution of djay for Mac exclusively to the Mac App Store," said Karim Morsy, CEO of algoriddim. "With just a few clicks, djay for Mac is available to customers in 123 countries worldwide. We could never have that reach through traditional channels." The Mac App Store offers thousands of apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what's hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews. The Mac App Store is included with Mac OS® X Lion and is available as a software update for any Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard®. For more information visit, www.apple.com/mac/app-store. Mac developers set the prices for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit, developer.apple.com/programs/mac. Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Google's Native Client focuses on apps and games, brings Bastion to the browser (video) Posted: 12 Dec 2011 04:55 AM PST In case you missed it, Google's Native Client launched at the end of the summer, promising to ease cross-OS deployment by letting developers run x86 code natively in Chrome. Early adopters have had a few months to tinker with Google's new trick, and now the outfit is eager to show off their best work. Supergiant Games, for instance, has ported Bastion to the Native Client, opening up the Xbox Live hit to Mac, Linux and Chrome OS users. Google's Christian Stefansen says Native Client makes porting existing code bases written C, C++ or C# easy, citing Spacetime Studio's Star Legends -- an MMO with over half a million lines of code -- as an example of a large project that was ported in as little as two weeks. Google touts application middleware ports (such as Unity, Moai, Mono, fmod and more) and easy distribution to the Chrome Web Store as a major boon to developers, and encourages interested studios to check out its new Native Client site to help them get started. Interested? Hit up the links below, or simply skip past the break to hear Mr. Stefansen's spiel for yourself.

NASA looks to send landers to Europa in 2020, wants to break the ice Posted: 12 Dec 2011 04:34 AM PST There's still a lot of mystery surrounding Jupiter's moon Europa, but researchers at NASA seem fairly certain that there's a watery ocean lurking beneath its icy exterior. Their theories may finally be put to the test later this decade, thanks to a concept mission crafted by astronomers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. According to Space.com, JPL researchers have come up with a plan that would send a pair of landers to Europa by 2026, in the hopes of finding out whether the rock has ever supported life forms. The endeavor certainly wouldn't be easy, since Jupiter blankets its moon in heavy radiation, but researchers think they can mitigate these risks by sending in an extra lander as backup, and by keeping the mission short and sweet. Under the plan, each 700-pound robot would use a mass spectrometer, seismometers and a slew of cameras to search for any organic chemicals that may be lodged within the moon's ice. Neither craft will sport a protective shield, so they'll only stay around the planet for about seven days, so as to avoid any radiation damage. At this point, the mission is still in the concept phase, though the JPL is hoping to launch both landers by 2020. JPL researcher Kevin Hand was quick to point out, however, that this would be a "habitability mission," and that NASA doesn't expect to find any signs of current life on Europa. Lars von Trier was unavailable for comment.

Let the turkey power your Christmas tree lights Posted: 12 Dec 2011 04:12 AM PST No one's attempted this in a commercial product before, but Nihon Dengyo Kosaku Co has reportedly developed a device that makes it achievable: a 'rectenna' that can fit inside a microwave oven and recycle unused wave energy. The palm-sized gadget combines both an antenna for catching waves and a rectifier for converting them into DC current, with a maximum output of 100 watts. Foods with a low water content have the worst heating efficiency, which means they offer the best opportunity for reclaiming energy -- so stodgy Christmas cuisine would be perfect.

Engadget Mobile Podcast 116 - 12.12.2011 Posted: 12 Dec 2011 03:50 AM PST It's more than two hours. It has the latest news on obscure phones too brave to be released in the USA. It has strong opinions about BlackBerry. It's the Engadget Mobile Podcast. Hosts: Myriam Joire (tnkgrl), Brad Molen, Joseph Volpe Guest: Dante Cesa Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: Tycho - Coastal Brake (Ghostly International) 00:02:40 - Samsung Galaxy Nexus for Verizon LTE hands-on (video) 00:21:24 - HTC EVO Design 4G review 00:32:50 - Carrier IQ VP says software poses no threat to user privacy, backs up his argument with metaphor 00:45:21 - LG Nitro HD review 00:59:55 - LG DoublePlay review 01:20:05 - Nokia reportedly looking to sell Vertu, Russian oligarchs reportedly upset 01:22:12 - Eyez 720p video streaming / recording glasses hands-on (video) 01:28:00 - RIM loses BBX trademark battle, next OS is named BlackBerry 10 01:37:26 - Meizu MX first hands-on! 01:40:10 - T-Mobile and Nokia announce December 14th event, Windows Phone cometh? 01:47:35 - Eric Schmidt: 'Android will be bigger than iOS' 01:49:15 - Samsung's two-faced SCH-W999 Android plays the dual core, dual SIM game 01:52:52 - Listener questions Hear the podcast Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) Contact the podcast podcast (at) engadgetmobile (dot) com. Follow us on Twitter @tnkgrl @phonewisdom @engadgetmobile @jrvolpe @dantecesa This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Archos G9 tablets to receive Ice Cream Sandwich by 'first trimester' of 2012 Posted: 12 Dec 2011 03:35 AM PST Archos' duo of G9 tablets have been on the market for a few months now, but the French manufacturer has already made plans for the slates' next major update, announcing today that the devices will receive an update to Android 4.0 by the "first trimester" of 2012. Archos didn't offer anything more specific than that, but it's certainly an encouraging sign for those looking to take a bite of Ice Cream Sandwich on a budget. Read the full press release at the source link below, but be warned that it's in French. [Thanks, Wewewi]

Samsung claims record 300 million mobile sales this year Posted: 12 Dec 2011 03:20 AM PST Add together ten million Galaxy S IIs, a dollop of Galaxy Nexii, a gargantuan gathering of Galaxy Notes and a healthy serving of Badas, and what do you get? 300 million handset sales so far in 2011, that's what. And Samsung claims that makes this the best year in its mobile-making history, surpassing 2010 by a whopping 20 million. Of course, more sales doesn't necessarily translate into greater revenue -- Nokia is still the world's largest manufacturer by volume and is a case in point. Nevertheless, we'll know more when Samsung reveals its Q4 earnings next month.

Huawei Honor gets Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, feels honored Posted: 12 Dec 2011 02:40 AM PST It looks like the Huawei Honor has been honored with a helping of Ice Cream Sandwich. The Chinese manufacturer posted a "demo-build" of the update to its support page today, offering Android 4.0 in both simplified Chinese, as well as the standard suite of languages included in the Android pack. The update comes less than a month after the release of Ice Cream Sandwich's source code, and well in advance of some other manufacturers. You can take it for a spin now, at the source link below.

Samsung outs two new Series 5 laptops in Korea, claims they're Ultrabooks Posted: 12 Dec 2011 02:00 AM PST Is there room on the Ultrabook wagon for two new models from Samsung? There's a 13-incher and a 14-incher, which both reportedly come under its Series 5 branding (previously used for Chromebooks), but at first glance only the smaller model might deserve its seat: it has the requisite Sandy Bridge processor and a perfectly compliant 0.59-inch thickness, but it adds 500GB of HDD storage on top of a 16GB SSD, which brings its weight right up to the 1.4kg (3.1 pound) limit. Meanwhile, the 14-inch variant scrapes through the 0.83-inch thickness criterion, but its 1TB HDD and discrete AMD graphics lead to a 1.8kg weight that seems well overboard. The pricing looks acceptable, with both models starting at the equivalent of around $1150, but we can't wait to see what happens when Intel inspects their tickets.

Google doodle celebrates Robert Noyce; Intel co-founder and 'Mayor of Silicon Valley' Posted: 12 Dec 2011 01:13 AM PST The honor of having your own Google Doodle is bestowed upon only a few very special individuals like Gregor Mendel, Alexander Calder and Lucille Ball. Today's entrant celebrates the 84th birthday of the late Robert "Bob" Noyce, co-inventor of the microchip. After co-founding Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, he mentored younger engineers to earn the nickname "the Mayor of Silicon Valley." Surf on over to the Google homepage and you'll see its logo imprinted over a microprocessor, which Bob helped to birth.

More EXOdesk details spill: at least two models in the works, ViewSonic wants in Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:15 AM PST Sadly, we'll still have to wait for CES to leave fingerprints allover the EXOdesk, but at least we've got a few more details to hold us over till then. For one, we now know that ExoPC has two models in the works -- one that's simply an external display and another that integrates a complete Core i7 computer running Windows 7. Apps specifically designed for the EXOdesk, coded in HTML5, will be available from the EXOstore. The company has already announced a number of planned programs, including a news reader, virtual keyboards, board games and musical instruments. It also looks like ViewSonic will be demoing its own 32-inch flavor of EXOdesk at CES, though whether or not the company actually plans to sell such a device remains a mystery. Check out the source link for a few more images.

SkyDrive and Windows Phone cozy up, apps can now directly integrate with the cloud Posted: 11 Dec 2011 10:11 PM PST Microsoft, in an effort to continue integrating SkyDrive into Windows Phone, made a few changes to the cloud service's API this week. The new adjustments now give third-party Windows Phone apps full access to SkyDrive, complete with the ability to upload and share pictures, videos and docs. These changes were apparently the result of a lot of feedback from developers, and HandyScan just became the first company to show interest by incorporating the new API features into its Windows Phone app. The program, which offers the ability to scan a document or object, now offers the option of uploading these scanned images directly to SkyDrive. Of course, we imagine we'll soon be seeing a flood of developers proclaim their intent to journey "to the cloud." For more about HandyScan or the API, head to the links below.

Silverlight hits 5.0, Microsoft silent as to its future Posted: 11 Dec 2011 08:06 PM PST Last we heard, there were whispers that Redmond's favorite runtime / framework / Flash-killer was due for a fresh release "soon." Confirming those rumors is version 5.0 of Microsoft's cross-platform Silverlight, now available for download. Headlining the release is hardware decoding of H.264 streams, improved postscript printing and a better graphics stack, replete with support for things in the third dimension. Rumors that Silverlight's own luminance is fading still go unanswered, without confirmation or denial from Microsoft -- but why let uncertainty get you down? Hit the source and turn that frown upside down.

Caption Contest: Blue shells can't slow Miyamoto down Posted: 11 Dec 2011 06:27 PM PST Monumentally important game designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto made waves this week by saying he was / wasn't retiring from duties at Nintendo. There's been plenty of confusion regarding what his new duties at the company will entail, but this image makes it pretty clear. All hail Nintendo's new shopping mall test driver. Tim: "I'm developing a new power-up. It's called Golden Parachute." Richard Lai: "I once gave Kaz's ex a ride on this." Myriam: "I guess the shrink ray finally works." James: "The new Hotel Lobby level proved a success" Billy: "What? At least it's a hybrid." Mat: Miyamoto looks forward to exhibiting at next year's Tokyo Motor Show. Brian: "Miyamoto had an important message to impart on the youth of today: do enough magic mushrooms, and you're going to end up driving your car through a mall food court." Sean: A clean shave and a suit jacket revealed far more than Mario had ever intended. "Well," he thought, "at least I can still keep the 'M' logo." Jon: "In movie news: Photos from the 'lost camera' sequence in the upcoming The Hangover III started surfacing today..." Darren: "You should see what happens when I get Star Power."

Inhabitat's Week in Green: 5 megawatt solar roof, driverless electric cars and ten of the world's craziest Christmas trees Posted: 11 Dec 2011 04:57 PM PST Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Solar-powered buildings heated up this week as Inhabitat reported that Apple will crown its new Cupertino headquarters with a 5 megawatt solar roof, and we took a peek inside a sun-powered prefab pod home set in the Italian Alps. We also showcased several fresh examples of wintry architecture this week as we brought you six amazing buildings made from ice and snow and we learned that BIG's waste-to-energy ski slope incinerator was scrapped due to environmental concerns. We also showcased an innovative shelf for interiors made from movable pins, a set of awesome night lights made from retrofitted vintage cameras, and since the holidays are on the way we shared a kit that will help you make your own geodesic gingerbread house! Speaking of the holiday season, this week we rounded up the world's 10 craziest Christmas trees made from recycled objects, and we brought you photos of a massive luminous Xmas tree in Lithuania made from 40,000 plastic bottles. We also brought you a guide for making your own DIY terrarium Christmas ornaments, and if you're looking for cool techy gifts to stick beneath the tree you won't want to miss Theo Jansen's 3d-printed miniature Strandbeest wind walking robots and this fun wooden iPhone toy for tots. In other news, eco transportation blasted off to the future as Zapata Racing unveiled a set of insane water-propelled rocket boots that will send you soaring like a superhero and Audi and BIG unveiled plans for a network of driverless electric cars and luminous high-tech roadways. We were also excited to announce that the Nissan Leaf was named Japan's Car of the Year at the Tokyo Motor Show, we saw Daimler unveil plans for a new E-Cell hybrid with inductive charging, and Smart shared a sneak peek of their upcoming "For-US" compact electric pickup truck.

Leaked Lumia 710 glamour shot reveals T-Mobile branding Posted: 11 Dec 2011 03:48 PM PST We already knew that T-Mobile and Nokia have something to announce next week. Well, this shot suggests that their big party will involve a certain entry-level Lumia. Pocketnow has got its hands on this T-Mobile emblazoned Nokia Lumia 710 render, supplementing those magenta-themed leaks from last week. Will the Lumia 710 be taking the cross-Atlantic journey all on its lonesome? We'll just have to wait 'til Wednesday to see.

Switched On: A road trip with Siri Posted: 11 Dec 2011 02:00 PM PST Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. When considering the great technology advances of the past few decades, GPS tends to get short shrift compared to such culture-rocking innovations as the internet and cellular networks. But it is a marvel nonetheless. Just a few generations ago, the idea of hopping in a car with no clue how to get to a particular destination was foolishness (or at least fodder for gender-stereotyping comedians). Today, with an inexpensive device or smartphone software, we can do so with near certainty of finding our way. Developers of navigation apps and hardware must place great care in creating an experience that doesn't unnecessarily distract the driver. For example, quite a few involve "lane assist" features that starkly indicate the options when coming to a fork in the road so that the driver avoids having to stare at the screen too long to figure out the right path. In addition, spoken instructions have long been a defining commodity. While Telenav, for example, offers a free version of its navigation app, it doesn't include such audio. And Nokia recently followed suit with its distribution strategy around Nokia Drive, leaving the version with spoken turn-by-turn directions exclusive to its Windows Phones. But as wonderful as navigation apps are, they have been about as passive an experience as watching TV, with the key difference of directing most of your focus away from their screens. Enter your destination, maybe pick a route, sit back and drive. Of course, there may be the occasional traffic alert (that will often be provided too late to be actionable). And then there is the new app Waze, which cues you in to trouble spots around town when you stop at a traffic light. As our eyes have now been opened to what is possible with technologies such as Siri, though, we can imagine a more interactive but no less distracting kind of navigation experience, one that responds naturally to questions with network intelligence. At any point during a commute, to use a local example, one might blurt out something like, "How's the Grand Central Parkway looking?" The app would then report back on the level of traffic on that highway and suggest whether you'd save time switching over. Or let's say a driver is heading to a party when he receives a request from the host asking to pick up some cake. The driver could have a short verbal exchange with the software about where might be a suitable bakery along the way and have the app seamlessly add in that side trip. Today, in contrast, one would have to either program the destination in advance or pull over, end the trip and search for and enter a new destination. And of course, not all roads less taken would need to be taken while on a current route. A driver whose memory was jogged while passing a pharmacy, could set a reminder to pick up a prescription on her commute tomorrow. GPS technology has always shined when we are on an unfamiliar path. Pairing it with an intelligent network agent, though, could imbue even a familiar journey with an unfamiliar level of convenience. Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) is executive director and principal analyst of the NPD Connected Intelligence service at The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own.

Lucky shoppers pick up Verizon Galaxy Nexus early at Best Buy Posted: 11 Dec 2011 12:22 PM PST Well, this is just a tease. It was bad enough when the original December 9th release date was pushed back to some undetermined point in time. And then our neighbors to the north got their own version. Now a few lucky shoppers have managed to their hands on the Verizon edition of the Galaxy Nexus and, chances are, you're not one of them. It looks like at least one Best Buy didn't get the memo that the Nexus debut had been postponed. Sean Bates was able to stroll in to the big box retailer and snag himself an little slice of Ice Cream Sandwich and offered a photo of the receipt as evidence. Another forum user, who goes by the name dubya.t also managed to get his mitts on one and posted his own pics showing some of the Big Red branded apps. Sadly, you probably won't be able go drop $300 on your own LTE-equipped Android 4.0 handset and we're not any closer to finding out exactly when it'll officially hit the market.

Leaked draft shows LightSquared's network interferes with 'great majority' of GPS receivers, company pushes back Posted: 11 Dec 2011 11:24 AM PST According to leaked reports from government test drafts, LightSquared's technology causes "harmful interference" to the majority of GPS receivers. Addressing the allegations, LightSquared called the conclusions "patently false." It added, "We are outraged by the illegal leak of incomplete government data to news organizations. This breach attempts to draw an inaccurate conclusion to negatively influence the future of LightSquared and narrowly serve the business interests of the GPS industry." The company believes tests are inconclusive because they were completed at power levels up to 15 times higher than those that would be used in practice. By ignoring its commitment to work at a lower level to minimize interference, the company believes the conclusions are erroneous. It's important to note, however, that the NTIA will make the final determination about how many devices passed or failed, rather than the documents makers. And that assessment has not yet been made. Despite the ongoing dispute, the company has already managed to secure 30 partners ranging from Sprint to Best Buy, all hoping to cash in on a promised $7 per gigabyte price point. The FCC has given LightSquared the go-ahead to build the network, but will not allow for activation until approving the final round of government testing. Amar Toor contributed to this report.

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