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• Reported Tegra 4 roadmap hints at LTE, Q1 2013 release
• VisiJax turns you into one big bicycle warning system
• Illuminated Kindle e-readers could arrive this year, also, might not
• No more Beats headphones with your HTC? Just what the Dr. ordered
• Flawed diamonds are perfect ingredients for quantum computing, just add time travel
• Lenovo's ICS, 42-inch K71 smart TV going on sale by month's end in China
• TextSpresso machine brews caffeinated goodness via text messaging (video)
• FCC Fridays: April 6, 2012
• Google updates Gmail's 'people widget,' now includes previous images
• Instagram for Android update adds support for tablets, WiFi handsets and SD card installs
• 'Leaked' Nokia Lumia PureView concept images brandish bright colors, chunky profile
• IMDb updates Android app, now lets you watch 720p trailers
• Lenovo K800's initial benchmark scores look promising, but not ambitious
• Comcast confirms full HBO Go access on Xbox 360 coming next week
• Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1-inch) priced at $399, still unavailable for purchase
• Delorean Electric travels back in time to the basement of the New York International Auto Show
• RIM confirms departures of two top BlackBerry, BBM execs
• MyWi gets friendlier with iOS 5, brings faster connection speeds and improved reliability
• IRL: Blue Mics Yeti, Western Digital My Passport and Razer's Naga Hex gaming mouse

Reported Tegra 4 roadmap hints at LTE, Q1 2013 release Posted: 07 Apr 2012 10:17 AM PDT Time to put on our "skepticles" as we pore over some reportedly leaked Tegra 4 details. NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang went on record saying that we could expect a new Tegra "every single year", so if anything, the fourth iteration of the series is slightly overdue. Chinese site VR-Zone, however, thinks it's got the inside skinny on how the next deployment might look. If its alleged roadmap leaks are to be believed, there will be four variants, three with a quad-core ARM Cortex A15 configuration, with clock speeds from 1.2 to 2.0GHz. What caught our eye a little more, though, was the "SP3X" flavor. Not because it favors the A9, but because it appears to bring LTE to the table right off the bat. That said, given that it's not that long since NVIDIA announced the same for Tegra 3, we can't help but wonder if something just got lost in translation. [Thanks Rizwan]

VisiJax turns you into one big bicycle warning system Posted: 07 Apr 2012 08:32 AM PDT Anyone who's ever done any bike riding in a big city knows that it's one of the more harrowing experiences of modern society. So, why not protect yourself as much as humanly possible? The VisiJax electronic cycling jacket seems like a pretty solid start. The neon-colored waterproof windbreaker features some 23 LEDs worth of butt-saving protection, with white lights on the front and red on the rear. The iMASS active signaling system, meanwhile, detects when the cyclist lifts his or her arm and triggers the corresponding turn signal. The jacket runs on three AAA batteries, which should give you around 200 hours of use. You can pick one up now in the UK for £129 (or £149 after May 31st).

Illuminated Kindle e-readers could arrive this year, also, might not Posted: 07 Apr 2012 06:17 AM PDT Rumors relating to a new Kindle, or three, land in our inbox with surprising frequency, but when they come from our brethren at TechCrunch, we'll definitely give it a listen. Devin Coldewey reports how he was lucky enough to snatch a glance at an in-development Kindle, which sports an illuminated screen. Amazon's purchase of Finnish firm Oy Modilis, which has a quiver of patents pertaining to lighting technology, adds credence to the idea that an e-reader with some form of lighting could be in the works, and Coldewey thinks he's seen it. He says tapping the screen reveals a slider that, when dragged to the right, "lit up evenly with a rather cool light." Importantly -- for eyes and batteries alike -- the light is said to be softer, and of a gentler blue-white color, compared to the harsh white common in LCDs. The loose-lipped wielder of this device claims that the industrial design isn't finished yet, but did hint at a 2012 release. We're not holding our breath, but the chance to do away with additional light accessories, is definitely enough to have us keep our fingers crossed.

No more Beats headphones with your HTC? Just what the Dr. ordered Posted: 07 Apr 2012 04:04 AM PDT Despite all the hype, opening up the API, and recently scooping up a music streaming service, we might have seen the end of Beats brand plugs being bundled in with HTC phones. Martin Fichter, a product executive for the phone manufacturer, told CNET that "If they want a Beats headphone, they'll buy it directly," suggesting that the lure of the in-the-box pair just wasn't strong enough for those with a penchant for bass. Perhaps this explains why the whole "Enable Beats" option embedded on the new One series no longer requires the brand's headphones to activate it? Still, if true, the move seems a surprisingly quick turn around on what was originally a much vaunted collaboration. That, or contractual obligations further up the food chain are drawing to a close.

Flawed diamonds are perfect ingredients for quantum computing, just add time travel Posted: 07 Apr 2012 03:08 AM PDT Ready to suspend your brain cells in a superposition of disbelief? Good, because the latest news published in Nature is that diamonds are a quantum computer's best friend -- particularly if they're flawed. An international team of scientists sought out sub-atomic impurities in a 1mm-thick fragment of over-priced carbon and used these as qubits to perform successful calculations. A "rogue" nitrogen nucleus provided one qubit, while a free electron became a second. Unlike previous attempts at solid-state quantum computing, this new effort used an extra technique to protect the system from decoherence errors: microwave pulses were fired at the electron qubit to "time-reverse" inconsistencies in its spinning motion. Don't fully get it? Us neither. In any case, it probably won't stop jewellers tut-tutting to themselves.

Lenovo's ICS, 42-inch K71 smart TV going on sale by month's end in China Posted: 06 Apr 2012 11:54 PM PDT Similar to that K91 TV we saw Lenovo tease back in January, its K71 brethren's also stuffed with Ice Cream Sandwich, and according to the outfit's online shop it's ready to hit Chinese shelves by the end of the month. Along with running a flavor of Android four-dot-oh, this 42-inch smart TV is also packing an undisclosed 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, WiFi and 3D capabilities, plus a gaming remote control (you know, to use while playing TurboFly 3D). The K71's said to be carrying a 6499 yuan (around $1,030) price tag once pre-orders go live on April 10th, while pricing and availability for the other expected models still remains unknown. Mum's the word on when, or if, these ICS, LED TVs will ever come to US shores, but we'll keep you in the loop if any news pops up.

TextSpresso machine brews caffeinated goodness via text messaging (video) Posted: 06 Apr 2012 09:34 PM PDT The folks at Zipwhip may have unwittingly discovered a new business model. While the company is primarily focused on cloud messaging services, it's recently created an espresso maker that allows employees to whip up custom brews from the comfort of their mobile phone. Known as TextSpresso, it's based on the Jura Impressa XS90, but unlike the retail model, the machine accepts orders via SMS. As if that weren't enough, it's part of a larger system that's capable of printing employee names onto the foam (using edible ink) and then placing the drink onto a warming tray. TextSpresso is very much a custom job, but if you'd like an inside peek of the system -- complete with servo motors, an Arduino microcontroller and a retro-fitted Canon printer -- be sure to hop the break and dream of what could be.

FCC Fridays: April 6, 2012 Posted: 06 Apr 2012 07:52 PM PDT We here at Engadget tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol' Federal Communications Commission's site. Since we couldn't possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there individually, we've gathered up an exhaustive listing of every phone and / or tablet getting the stamp of approval over the last week. Enjoy! Phones Huawei U8655-51 (Ascend Y 200) LG L35G LG P720H (Optimus 3D Max) Motorola XT560 Nokia RM-714 RIM REX41GW Samsung GT-C3782 Samsung GT-S5300B (Galaxy Pocket variant) Samsung GT-S5300L (Galaxy Pocket variant) Samsung GT-S6102E (Galaxy Y Duos) Samsung SCH-R820 Sony LT22i (Xperia P) Tablets and peripherals Archos AN7G3 BlueAnt T2 (Bluetooth headset) Huawei E303MS-6 (USB stick) Samsung GT-P5113 (Galaxy Tab 2 WiFi variant) ZTE MF51 (mobile hotspot)

Google updates Gmail's 'people widget,' now includes previous images Posted: 06 Apr 2012 06:04 PM PDT When it comes to an ideal conduit for minor announcements, Google's found a home on its very own social network. And this time, it's telling the world about a small update to the people widget -- that bar currently occupying real estate on the right-hand side of gmail.com. Along with showing the pertinent contact information from an email chain's participants, the peep widge will now reveal the last three images sent to you by the displayed contacts. As one might expect, clicking on the pics will whisk you to its associated email, and provide a little extra context to that candid, landscape or Lolcat you're staring at. Not the most exciting of additions, we'll admit, but a little extra functionality never hurts. Right?

Instagram for Android update adds support for tablets, WiFi handsets and SD card installs Posted: 06 Apr 2012 04:56 PM PDT It's only been three days since Instagram launched on Android and the only thing that seems to match the influx of new users is the pace at which the company is pushing out updates to enhance support and tweak a few glitches. The latest one to hit today (1.0.3) promises expanded support for tablets and WiFi handsets, app installation on the SD card for storage-limited users and fixing an audio mute bug during capture. If you haven't delved into its photo sharing and filter features already, check out our hands-on to see how this highly anticipated app has made the transition to Android, or just hit the source link below and install it yourself.

'Leaked' Nokia Lumia PureView concept images brandish bright colors, chunky profile Posted: 06 Apr 2012 03:53 PM PDT Take the smartphone camera sensor that was the toast of MWC, add in the burgeoning Windows Phone platform and this might be what you might get. Although we hope -- and suspect -- that it isn't. Sneaking out from China with some judicious pixelation, the phones look pretty... dynamic. With a profile more often associated with those tough, rubberized feature phones, the color gamut of black, magenta and yellow is at least very new-generation Nokia. But, if the concept hardware wasn't incredulous enough, wait 'til you hear the specs. A neat paragraph on one slide explains that this Lumia PureView would feature a 4.3-inch curved high-definition touchscreen (a first for Windows Phone), a dual-core process with an Adreno 320 GPU (yet another first) and Nokia's intriguing 41-megapixel camera sensor peeping out from behind a Carl Zeiss lens. We're looking at these renders through some high-prescription skeptic goggles and reckon it's an unlikely new direction for Nokia's hardware design. However, that's not to say a tie-up between Nokia's PureView tech and Microsoft isn't somewhere along the pipeline...

IMDb updates Android app, now lets you watch 720p trailers Posted: 06 Apr 2012 03:09 PM PDT iOS friends still flaunting those HD movie previews from Cupertino's Trailers app? Well, looks like now you can come right back at them thanks to IMDb. The all things Hollywood site just gave its Android application a minor refresh, boosting the max resolution on teasers within the app from 480p to 720p -- which you can change to accommodate any data caps you may have. Aside from the higher-res trailers, there's not much to dig save for the fix of some "pesky bugs." You can snag the update straight from your handset, or hit the Play link below if you're an IMDb first-timer.

Lenovo K800's initial benchmark scores look promising, but not ambitious Posted: 06 Apr 2012 02:31 PM PDT If Lenovo's sticking to its promise, it should only be another two months maximum before its Intel Medfield-powered K800 smartphone debuts in China. Until then, we won't know the full potential of the 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 powering Ice Cream Sandwich, but we do have the next best thing for now: what we've just obtained are some benchmark results from a K800 prototype with Android 2.3.7, and while the graphics performance wasn't top notch this time round, the general score performance came close to that of the Galaxy Note (powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core Exynos chipset). However, the K800 did beat pretty much everyone -- including the brand-spanking-new One X and One S from HTC -- in the SunSpider 0.91 Javascript test, where it only took 1,270ms to complete! What remains to be seen is whether Medfield will really deliver a better battery performance than its competitors; so until we find the answer (along with improved scores) on a final unit, you'll just have to make do with our list of scores after the break. K800 HTC One S HTC One X Galaxy Note (int'l) Quadrant (v2) 3,850 5,053 4,906 3,854 Linpack single-thread (MFLOPS) 89.47 103.88 48.54 64.3 Linpack multi-thread (MFLOPS) 90.57 222.22 150.54 95.66 NenaMark2 (fps) 27.6 61.0 47.6 32.8 NenaMark1 (fps) 38 60.8 59.5 56.6 Vellamo 1,162 2,452 1,617 901 SunSpider 9.1 (ms, lower numbers are better) 1,270.2 1,742.5 1,772.5 2,902

Comcast confirms full HBO Go access on Xbox 360 coming next week Posted: 06 Apr 2012 02:12 PM PDT Just as the rumors indicated, Comcast has revealed its subscribers will be able to access the standard HBO Go app on the Xbox 360 starting "early next week." The only bad news? There's still no news on when / if those Comcast logins will ever give HBO Go streaming access through other connected TV platforms like Samsung's Smart TV apps or the Roku box, and Time Warner cable customers are still on the outside looking in altogether. That's the business for now, Comcast customers can check out the app's video preview after the break to see what they've been missing This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1-inch) priced at $399, still unavailable for purchase Posted: 06 Apr 2012 01:57 PM PDT Office Depot probably isn't the first place you'd think to look for Samsung's incoming Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), but it looks to be the first legitimate retailer to throw a price tag on the aforementioned slate. Just weeks after cruising through the FCC, the Tab 2 is now being shown with a $399.99 price. Granted, that's for the lowly 8GB model, but it's still a step in the right direction -- you know, towards folks who would like to pay less than $499 for a 10-inch tablet. As of now, it's still impossible to actually check out with one, but those feeling lucky can hit the source link and get 'er a go. [Thanks, Dube]

Delorean Electric travels back in time to the basement of the New York International Auto Show Posted: 06 Apr 2012 01:48 PM PDT Yes we've seen it before but, with a cheeky license plate like that, we couldn't resist stopping by to ogle it again. It's the DMCev and, while it's been in the cards for quite some time now, it's finally getting close to production. Delorean Motor Company president Stephen Wynn was on-hand to demo the machine and give a few nuggets of information. DMC will be assembling the car in Houston, TX ahead of planned deliveries in 2013 with a cost of $95,000. For that you can get a 100 mile range, 0 - 60 time of 4.9 seconds and stainless steel body panels that almost, almost match the color of the plastic nose and tail sections. Sure, $95k may seem like a lot for an electric refresh of a 30-year-old car, but unlike other overpriced pieces of 1985 memorabilia this one actually works. Delorean Electric eyes-on

RIM confirms departures of two top BlackBerry, BBM execs Posted: 06 Apr 2012 01:15 PM PDT Word of a big exec shakeup at RIM leaked out just ahead of the company's quarterly earnings late last month -- something that was then quickly confirmed in said earnings report. It looks like that wasn't the end of it though, as RIM has now also confirmed the departures of two more high-level executives. That includes Senior Vice President Alan Brenner, who will be leaving after an unspecified transition period, and Alistair Mitchell, a VP for RIM's BBM service who has already left the company. No word on any further departures to come (willing or otherwise), but given Thorsten Heins' talk of a "comprehensive review" it certainly doesn't seem like the most remote of possibilities.

MyWi gets friendlier with iOS 5, brings faster connection speeds and improved reliability Posted: 06 Apr 2012 12:43 PM PDT Why shell out cash for those extra tethering fees when you've got MyWi, right? Well, you'll be happy to know the $19.99 jailbreak app has gone through a major revamp. MyWi v5.5 brings along a "total rewrite" for folks on iOS 5, while also promising a speedier connection, faster hotspot load times as well as improved overall reliability. Additionally, the overhauled application adds a couple of new features, including an upgrade to MyWi On Demand, which now uses Bluetooth to trigger hotspot mode. MyWi version 5.5 is up for grabs now via the App Cydia store, though you may need to keep it a secret from your carrier.

IRL: Blue Mics Yeti, Western Digital My Passport and Razer's Naga Hex gaming mouse Posted: 06 Apr 2012 12:00 PM PDT Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. It's been a busy week for tech writers. Capping out a week populated by not one, not two, but three smartphone reviews, we're happy to take a breather and return our attention to life's littler pleasures. Like USB mics and portable 2TB hard drives. And also, gaming mice. Blue Microphones Yeti It's no secret that Blue has a firm grasp on USB mic peripherals. They've long been the choice of podcasters, and now I know why. I've had my Yeti for over a month and have been using it mostly for cameos on the Engadget podcast. After connecting to my '06 iMac, firing up Skype and adjusting a couple of settings, I'm on air within minutes. The kit is more than up to the task and in particular I've found myself using the on-board mute button to make sure no unwanted noise makes it into the final recording. Speaking of which, the Yeti offers some excellent sound quality, and doesn't pick up things like the AC or folks hanging out nearby. While the mic does offer an audio output for headphone / earbud monitoring (with volume control on the chassis), I find myself using the jack on my computer most of the time. On occasion, I'll make use of that feature while recording voice tracks for a review video in Audacity, but that's not exactly a regular part of my routine. I imagine if I had some vocal chops and were in the habit of recording demos I'd get a lot more mileage out of that capability... but I digress. The built-in pattern and gain controls are a nice touch, too, though using the Yeti predominately for voice recording rarely forces me to tweak those knobs. Also a plus: the included high-quality desktop stand. This USB mic is a beast, and if you're looking to get serious about your podcast or voiceovers it's definitely a solid buy. -- Billy Steele Western Digital 2TB My Passport portable HDD The race to shove 4TB into a palm-sized external drive is officially on. It wasn't too long ago that a drive the size of WD's new My Passport would only hold a few hundred gigabytes, but the outfit's latest USB 3.0 drive manages to contain a staggering two terabytes of information. The HDD itself is surprisingly compact, if not a touch cute, but certainly thicker than the (admittedly less capacious) GoFlex Slim. Aside from being light and highly portable, it's also USB-powered. At last, 2TB of storage at your disposal without the need for an AC power tether. Oh, and it's also a USB 3.0 drive. Even when using it with a USB 2.0 machine, I consistently saw transfer rates between 28MBps and 31MBps, while USB 3.0 transfers are just under double. At $250 for 2TB of USB-powered data storage, it's hard to knock the newest My Passport. Once rival storage makers start producing similar units, the pricing that results will likely make it an even bigger no-brainer. -- Darren Murph Razer Naga Hex gaming mouse When you're at a desk as much as I am, you pay attention to your peripherals. My keyboards, mice, headphones and gamepads are all selected for maximum comfort, because if I'm not working at my desk, I'm often gaming at my desk. The latest gadget competing for a little surface area has been Razer's Naga Hex, an ergonomic rodent designed to give gamers an edge in action-RPG titles. It's a slightly simplified variation on the Naga MMO mouse, albeit with six fewer switches hugging its left side. The unit's bevy of buttons definitely gives my thumb a wider array of toggles than my Rat, with six hexagon shaped triggers on the left side. Having my keyboard's numeric keys within my opposable's reach came in handy during a recent replay of the Mass Effect series, but their hexagonal shape makes them difficult to differentiate by feel alone -- I often find myself clicking the wrong toggle by mistake. Learning the buttons' layout is further complicated by the keys' non-sequential order, counting one, two, three, six, five and four in a circle. I eventually committed this to memory and got my game on mostly unhindered, but I still manage to thumb the wrong button on occasion. Chalk it up to having enormous hands. Speaking of gargantuan mitts, the Hex fits in mine well enough, comfortably tilting my wrist slightly to the right. The mouse's smooth back and seductive curves offer comfortable purchase for most of my fingers, but leaves my pinky hanging – that's enough to make me miss my Rat's finger rest. The rodent's black and green veneer looks and feels slick, too slick, in fact. The glossy surface feels so smooth that I repeatedly try to wipe a non-existent oil off its back, all the while growing increasingly paranoid that my new peripheral was filthy. The Hex's button layout may be a bit cramped for my enormous thumb, and it may have set off some of my obsessive compulsive tendencies, but I had no trouble using it to take down Geth hordes. Even so, my orphaned pinky and I will be going back to our magical transforming Rat 7, where we can always change what we don't like. -- Sean Buckley

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