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- Dolphin unveils Garage, API access for add-ons and web apps
- Sergey Brin hopes to bring Google Glass to market in 2014
- Google sends Chromebooks to some Best Buy and Dixons stores, starting today
- Google Compute Engine brings Linux virtual machines 'at Google scale'
- Google Drive: 10 million users served
- Google announces offline editing for Docs, available later today
- Google Drive client comes to Chrome OS and iOS, available today
- Google puts Chrome on iPhone and iPad (update: video)
- Chrome tops 310 million users, almost 100% growth over last year
- Live from Google I/O 2012's day two keynote!
- Apple reportedly planning major iTunes overhaul, better iCloud integration and sharing
- Google Play lets you update and uninstall apps from the comfort of your browser
- Nexus 7 review: the best $200 tablet you can buy
- HTC One V quietly pops up at Virgin Mobile USA for $200, iPhone tags along for online orders
- Control4 delivers home automation Starter Kit for under $1,000 including installation, we go hands-on
- The Modbook Pro gets official, CEO Andreas Haas talks success in an iPad world
- Lenovo LePhone K860 surfaces with quad-core Exynos processor, 5-inch screen, and Android 4.0
- LG VS950 hits the FCC with Verizon LTE, looks suspiciously like the Optimus Vu
- T-Mobile USA's former CEO Phillipp Humm to become chief executive at Vodafone on October 1st
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean review: a look at what's changed in Google's mobile OS
- TomTom opens up MapShare to all 60 million of its GPS units (video)
- Visualized: Kinetisphere takes Nexus Q into another dimension at Google I/O 2012 (video)
- Nexus 7 early benchmarks: full Tegra 3 performance on the cheap
- 3DS XL to get Circle Pad Pro treatment, become that much larger
- T-Mobile brings out new mobile data plans mainly for the suits and ties, makes overage optional
- Nexus 7 8GB coming to UK mid-July for £159, 16GB version arriving at retailers July 27th for £199
- BT kicks off 330Mbps 'FTTP on Demand' trials, reveals pilot locations
- Netflix fires back in UK streaming war, says it has Fox TV shows too, plus Arrested Development
- Regenerative medicine pioneer continues changing lives with first successful laryngotracheal implants
- Verizon FiOS TV finally set to enforce CableCARD restrictions
- Insert Coin: LUMOback Smart Posture Sensor thrums when you slouch, charts your laziness (video)
- VESA's Mobility DisplayPort standard links smartphones to PC displays, jabs MHL
- Ubiquitous nanotubes could reboot Edison-era nickel-iron battery technology
- AIR.U to bring Super WiFi to small college towns, Microsoft and Google to be part of the process
- Google Drive SDK version 2 supports Android and iOS apps, common file tasks
- LG Optimus Vu 'Value Pack' Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade on the way in Korea
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean preview download is live, probably won't work on your Galaxy Nexus -- yet (Update)
- Japanese robot trolls humans at rock-paper-scissors, sadly wasn't named the UMADBRO 9000 (video)
- Google I/O 2012's second keynote is tomorrow, get your liveblog right here!
- Editorial: Engadget on Jelly Bean, Nexus Q, Nexus 7 and Project Glass
| Dolphin unveils Garage, API access for add-ons and web apps Posted: 28 Jun 2012 11:32 AM PDT The Dolphin browser has earned quite a following, by offering a healthy mix of speed and features. Now the company is opening up its offerings to further expansion though an open API service called Garage. The new portal opens up 150 APIs to third party developers who might want to build upon Dolphin's solid browser base, or integrate their web apps. As part of the launch of the Garage, four new add-ons have been added to the Dolphin repository. Dropbox, Evernote, Pocket and Wikipedia all now tie directly in to the browser's UI, exposing all the important features of those services. For more, check out the PR after the break and the Garage portal at the source. Dolphin Announces Open API With Over 50 Add-ons Including Dropbox and Wikipedia June 28, 2012 – San Francisco, CA – GOOGLE I/O - Dolphin Browser, the most popular third-party browser on Android and iOS and only Gesture and Voice enabled browser, today announced the launch of Dolphin Garage, which opens the Dolphin Browser API to allow for third-party development. Dolphin also announced four new Add-ons from Dropbox, Pocket, Evernote and Wikipedia that show off Dolphin Garage's powerful capability. In addition, Dolphin Garage also supports Web apps based on Adobe's PhoneGap, which enable faster HTML5 Web app deployment. Dolphin Garage gives developers access to more than 150 Dolphin internal APIs including various browser UI and interactions, while also providing a runtime sandbox environment to allow developers to create their own experiences within Dolphin Browser. Powered by Dolphin Garage, users can now seamlessly experience the following on Dolphin: "Dolphin Browser already contains 50 plus Add-ons that have been installed over 14 million times," said Yongzhi Yang, CEO. "Dolphin Garage empowers even more developers to build any Add-on or PhoneGap-based Web app they want and allows more Dolphin users to discover their app." The Dolphin team will be demoing Dolphin Garage and the new Add-ons today from 3-5pm PT at San Francisco's Moscone Center South - Room 200. To learn more about Dolphin Garage, go to http://dev.dolphin-browser.com/ About Dolphin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sergey Brin hopes to bring Google Glass to market in 2014 Posted: 28 Jun 2012 11:12 AM PDT If you're not one of the lucky few who met Google's requirements (be a U.S. citizen attending IO) and don't have $1,500 to drop on an early dev unit of an unproven technology, you might be wondering, "when can I get my hands on Glass?" The answer, straight from Sergey Brin's mouth, is 2014... hopefully. The Google big wig told Bloomberg that, if all goes according to plan, Google Glass will become available to consumers en masse sometime in 2014. Of course, how much cheaper they'll be two years from now is anyone's guess. But we wouldn't expect the first-gen to be an impulse purchase. When you check out the video after the break, you might notice that Sergey is wearing a new set of Glass glasses (how's that for awkward sounding), these ones with some snap in shades. If you're wondering if progress could be made any faster, we wouldn't count on it. Brin says he spends more than half his time on this project -- which means Google is putting a lot of stock in the future of wearable computers. Check out the complete interview after the break. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google sends Chromebooks to some Best Buy and Dixons stores, starting today Posted: 28 Jun 2012 10:48 AM PDT Google is getting serious about spreading the reach of Chromebooks. At its day two I/O keynote, it just revealed that the Chrome OS laptops are in 100 Best Buy retail stores across the US, effective today. British stores are getting a similar amount of care with a Chromebook presence in Dixons stores throughout the UK. We're still waiting on more details, such as which models will grace shelves, but there's good reason to suspect that Samsung's Series 5 550 will be front and center. If you haven't had the chance to make it out to a library or a cross-country flight to try a Chromebook for yourself, all you'll have to do now is swing by the local electronics shop to give that cloud computer a real shakedown. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's developer conference at our event hub! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Compute Engine brings Linux virtual machines 'at Google scale' Posted: 28 Jun 2012 10:47 AM PDT As anticipated, Google has just launched its cloud service for businesses at Google I/O 2012, called Google Compute Engine. Starting today Urs Holzle announced "anyone with large-scale computing needs" can access the infrastructure and efficiency of Google's datacenters. The company is promising both performance and stability -- Amazon EC2 they're coming for you -- claiming "this is how infrastructure as a service is supposed to work". It's also promising "50 percent more computes per dollar" than competitors. Beta testers will be on hand at later meetings to give impressions of the service, if you want to know how running your apps on 700,000 (and counting) cores feels. During the presentation we got a demo of a genome app and we're sure if we understood what was going on, it would have been impressive. Hit the source links below for more details on "computing without limits" or to sign up for a test yourself. Check the live blog for more details as they're revealed. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's developer conference at our event hub! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Drive: 10 million users served Posted: 28 Jun 2012 10:36 AM PDT Day two of Google I/O 2012 has started, and Big G just gave us an update on the success of its cloud storage solution. Google Drive's been accessed by over 10 million people, which comes out to about 1 million a week since its launch. Not a massive number, but it's a pretty good start, and with the explosive growth of Android and the addition of Chrome OS and iDevice users to the Drive party, the cloud locker's legion of users will continue to grow. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's developer conference at our event hub! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google announces offline editing for Docs, available later today Posted: 28 Jun 2012 10:36 AM PDT We're live at day two of I/O and the theme of this keynote is all about "Going Google." With this focus on Mountain View's various cloud-based apps, Clay Bavar, Director of Product Management for Google Apps, announced that Docs will now work offline for editing. In the onstage demo, Bavar was able to log into several devices, including a Nexus phone and tablet, to interact and collaborate in real-time on a document. Thanks to the smooth syncing at work, edits made from each device showed up as they were being entered, keystroke-by-keystroke. Now, those edits can also be created without a working internet connection and synced up later. You won't have to wait long, either, to take this offline mode for a test spin, as the feature will be enabled later in the day, with that functionality "coming soon" for presentations and spreadsheets. Check out the official PR after the break. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's developer conference at our event hub! Offline document editing No internet connection? No big deal. With offline editing, you can create and edit Google documents and leave comments. Any changes you make will be automatically synced when you get back online. You can enable offline editing from the gear icon in Google Drive and find more detailed instructions for getting set up in the Help Center. Note that you'll need the latest versions of Chrome or ChromeOS to edit offline. We're also working hard to make offline editing for spreadsheets and presentations available in the future. Google Drive for iOS We launched the Drive app for Android phones and tablets a few weeks ago, and starting today, Google Drive is available for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. With the Drive app, you can open PDFs, photos, videos, documents and anything else stored in your Drive while you're on the go. You can also search all your files, add collaborators to documents, and make files available offline to view them even without an internet connection. For blind and low-vision users, the app also works great in VoiceOver mode. Learn more about what you can do with the app in our Help Center. Get Drive in the App Store for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5.0+ and visit the Play Store to get the latest on your Android phone or tablet. To learn more about Google Drive, visit drive.google.com/start. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Drive client comes to Chrome OS and iOS, available today Posted: 28 Jun 2012 10:33 AM PDT Windows, Mac and Android users are no longer alone in their access to Google Drive's online repository. Now iOS and Chrome OS users can install a client and pull down their data and docs (though, the promised Linux client was nowhere to be seen at IO). The iOS app has all the features that make Drive drive great on Android, including OCR and picture recognition. As part of the demo, Clay Bavor, Director of Product Management for Google Apps, showed off the apps ability to decipher and index text from receipts he had taken a picture of. Perhaps more impressive though, was his ability to simply type "pyramids" and have his vacation snapshots pop up. There was no metadata attached to the images identifying them as the pyramids in Egypt, Google was able to recognize the landmarks by analyzing the photos. Obviously, Drive and seamless integration with it is key to Chrome OS's success. Now the browser-based OS finally has a native Drive client allowing you to quickly sync and access your data on the lightweight Linux machines. The ability to sync files with Chrome OS is great, but more importantly, an update to the web service has now made offline editing available -- perhaps the most requested feature. Now with offline access ironed out and all the major desktop and mobile OSes under it's belt Drive may actually be ready to challenge peripheral competitors like Dropbox. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's developer conference at our event hub! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google puts Chrome on iPhone and iPad (update: video) Posted: 28 Jun 2012 10:24 AM PDT Google just did what many thought wasn't possible -- it just put mobile Chrome on iOS. Both iPad and iPhone users will get the app, either with incognito browsing, syncing and that unique tabbed browsing interface intact. The company hasn't said what's changed versus the Android build, but it's likely the main differences are matters of integration -- Apple's app rules won't let Google bring in its own WebKit rendering engine tweaks or change the default browser. Whether or not that switch is a dealbreaker, Chrome should be available later today in the App Store for those who want a break from the Safari norm. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's developer conference at our event hub! Update: No download just yet, but Google is teasing us with a video that you can find after the break. The iOS port shows up at the 43-second mark. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chrome tops 310 million users, almost 100% growth over last year Posted: 28 Jun 2012 10:18 AM PDT Last year at Google IO, the company was bragging that it had racked up 160 million Chrome users. Since then, that number has nearly doubled, with the company claiming 310 million active users. Those consumers download roughly 1TB of data per day and type about 60 billion words according to Mountain View's crack team of analysts. The company even claims that 13 years of time have been saved thanks to the magic of Chrome's speedy rendering engine. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's developer conference at our event hub! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Live from Google I/O 2012's day two keynote! Posted: 28 Jun 2012 09:57 AM PDT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apple reportedly planning major iTunes overhaul, better iCloud integration and sharing Posted: 28 Jun 2012 09:54 AM PDT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Play lets you update and uninstall apps from the comfort of your browser Posted: 28 Jun 2012 09:42 AM PDT It's surely been a crazy couple of weeks for the folks at Google. The company clearly has more new features than it can shove into a couple of lengthy keynotes -- like functionality for Play that lets users update and uninstall apps by way of the My Android Apps tab in the browser-based version of the store. Check the source link below to begin your cloud-based bidding. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nexus 7 review: the best $200 tablet you can buy Posted: 28 Jun 2012 09:00 AM PDT In 2008, when the Eee PC was revolutionizing the computing world and driving every manufacturer to make cheaper and smaller laptops, Sony washed its hands of the whole thing. The "race to the bottom," the company said, would profoundly impact the industry, killing profit margins and flooding the market with cheap, terrible machines. Sony was wrong, its stance lasting about a year before joining the competition with its own VAIO W. Four years on we're buying better laptops than ever before and, with the netbook class now more or less dead, that downward competition seems to have shifted to the tablet front. A flood of cheap, truly awful slates preceded Amazon's Kindle Fire, the $200 tablet from a major brand that looks to have been the proper catalyst in plunging prices. The latest challenger to enter the competition is ASUS, partnering with Google to create the first Nexus tablet, a device that not only will amaze with its MSRP, but with its quality. It's called the Nexus 7, it too is $200, and it's better than Amazon's offering in every way but one. Hardware
Though that low cost is the big talking point about this tablet, you'd certainly never know it just by holding the thing. Okay, so there's more polycarbonate than panache here, but the design of the Nexus 7 feels reasonably high-end, starting with that rubberized back. Yes, it is rubber, but it's very nicely textured, nice enough to fool one tech journalist into thinking it was leather.
No cow shed its skin to cover the back of this tablet, of that we can assure you, but the dimpled pattern here is not unlike the sort you might find on leather-wrapped racecar steering wheels. While there's no MOMO logo to be found, the feel is much the same and, we presume, rather more durable. There are two other logos to be found, though, starting with the Nexus branding embossed in big letters on the top, with a much smaller ASUS graphic on the bottom. That's it, though: understated and sophisticated. Just how we like it. (Even the FCC logo and other noise are on a piece of plastic you can easily peel off.) There's also no camera lens poking out here, as the 1.2-megapixel shooter up front is all you get. Move further down toward the bottom of the back and you'll find the device's single speaker. It's a slit that runs roughly two-thirds of the way across the back, centered and sitting about a half-inch above the bottom -- which is, by the way, where you'll find the tablet's only ports. Centered down there is a micro-USB connector and, to the far right side when looking at the display, the 3.5mm headphone jack. That's it. Thankfully, ASUS's proprietary connector found on the Transformer tablets doesn't make an appearance here, but neither do we get a dedicated HDMI output, which is a bit of a bummer. (You can, of course, use an MHL adapter if you like.) On the left edge of the device, the same four contacts present on the Galaxy Nexus can be found, presumably waiting to be tickled by some future accessory, while up top you'll find ... nothing. Just the silvery ring that runs around the full device. It looks like brushed metal, but feels more like plastic. Even so, the tablet has a very sturdy, strong feel to it -- but that's partly thanks to it being just a little bit chunky. It measures 10.45mm (0.41 inches) thick, which is just half a millimeter thinner than the Kindle Fire -- itself no slender belle. But, crucially, it weighs much less: 340g (12 ounces) versus 413g (14.6 ounces) for the Fire. That's a very noticeable difference and it makes the Nexus 7 much nicer to carry around. Its curved edges, too, make it far more comfortable. On the inside is an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor running at 1.2GHz (though it can step up to 1.3GHz when it wants to) and paired with 1GB of RAM with either eight or 16 gigs of flash storage (doubling the capacity will cost you a $50 premium). As there's no microSD expansion here, you'll probably want to pay the extra cash. WiFi (802.11b/g/n) is your only option for data connectivity, though there's naturally Bluetooth and NFC, not to mention GPS, an accelerometer, a digital compass and a gyroscope, too. Display and sound Budget tablets typically make the biggest sacrifices on the display front, and certainly the 1,024 x 600 resolution on the Kindle Fire feels a bit constricting at this point. Not so with the Nexus 7, which is fronted by a very nice 1,280 x 800 IPS panel rated at 400 nits of brightness. While more pixels is always better -- the new iPad and its Retina display having made us yearn for ridiculously high resolutions in all our devices -- WXGA feels perfectly adequate here. Text is rendered very well and 720p videos look great. Much of that, though, is thanks to the other, less quantifiable aspects of the screen. Viewing angles are top-notch, with contrast staying strong regardless of which side you're coming from. And, it's plenty bright, too, a properly nice screen that, like everything else here, is just a little nicer than you'd expect given the cost. Audio, however, isn't exactly fighting above its class. The speakers integrated in the back and peeking out through a slender slit toward the bottom deliver a decent amount of sound that isn't too unpleasant to listen to. It passes the "loud enough to fill a hotel room" test but the quality at those levels will leave you reaching for your earbuds. Performance and battery life When Jen-Hsun Huang teased Tegra 3-powered tablets would drop under $200 this summer he obviously knew what was coming, but what we didn't know was just how far back those tablets would have to be scaled to make that price point. If you've been reading all the way through to here (and we love you for it) you'll know we haven't yet found a real compromise made to achieve that price. Compromises will not be found in this section, either. Okay, so a 35-second boot time does leave a little bit to be desired, but once you're inside the OS, applications load quickly and respond briskly, even graphics-heavy ones like the Google Play magazine app. Webpages are rendered promptly and swiping through them is snappy. Sure, there are the occasional stutters and hiccups here that even a coating of Butter doesn't completely eliminate, but we've experienced those with even the top-shelf tablets, like the recent Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 with its 1.7GHz version of the Tegra 3 processor.
In fact, if benchmarks are to be believed, this little guy actually performs better than its bigger brothers. SunSpider tests, which look at JavaScript rendering speeds in the new Chrome browser, were completed on average in a relatively speedy 1,785ms. The tablet burned through Vellamo with an average score of 1,650 and notched 11,713 in CF-Bench. Only the Quadrant score was on the low side compared to the much higher-priced competition, coming in at 3,501.
Since there were plenty of people freaking out about the new iPad getting warm when gaming and doing other intensive tasks we'll point out briefly that the Nexus 7 was noticeably increasing in temperature as these benchmarks cooked away. But, at no point did it become disconcertingly hot. Just a little toasty.
And of course a tablet is only good for as long as you can use the thing, and we were quite impressed by the longevity here. We came within spitting distance of 10 hours on a charge using out standard rundown test, which has the tablet connected on WiFi and looping a video endlessly. That's very, very good for a budget 7-incher and bests many bigger, more expensive slates. Software The Nexus 7 is the first device shipping with Android 4.1. We'll defer to our full review of Jelly Bean for full impressions, as it's far too much to get into here, but there are a few aspects of the latest additions to Android that are worth pointing out. Like those magazine subscriptions we mentioned above, for example. The Play Magazines app is a perfectly respectable reader that has a great selection of content and very smooth performance. While pinch-to-zoom is quite fluid, thanks to the reasonably high-res screen you won't necessarily have to do so as often as you might on the Fire. That's because text is clear and readable if you still have the eyesight to match -- though should you want something a bit easier to parse there's a handy text view. In terms of pricing, though, we found many magazines to be slightly more expensive here than they are on the Fire. Music, too, tends to cost a dollar or two more per album than what Amazon offers in its MP3 download store. Thankfully, since all that music is DRM-free, there's nothing stopping you from loading up your tablet with what you've bought elsewhere. Nothing, at least, other than the somewhat limited amount of internal storage.
And then, of course, there's the new stock browser, Chrome. Not a lot has changed since our first impressions a few months ago, so it's still a nice step up from the boring, old Browser app on previous versions of Android. Rendering performance is generally good, and the ability to import open tabs from a desktop browsing session is very handy, indeed. You can finally uninstall that ancient Chrome to Phone plugin. Wrap-up The Nexus 7 is an amazing package for something that costs a penny less than $200. It feels like something that could sell for much more. It has a great screen, solid performance and a clean, clear, uncluttered version of Google's latest operating system, Jelly Bean. From a pure hardware standpoint it beats the Kindle in every way possible -- except for content. Amazon's selection almost always trumps that of Google's, both in terms of variety and cost, but that's one wonderful problem to have, because almost all of that content is just as available on the Nexus 7 as it is on the Fire. The only major exception is Amazon Instant Video, and with Netflix, we can live with that. So, while we tend to prefer larger tablets that better differentiate themselves from phones, if you've been toying with the idea of getting a real Android slate but didn't want to spend big bucks for a big device, this is what you've been waiting for. This is the best Android tablet for less than $200 and the best budget 7-inch tablet on the market. For the moment. The race to the bottom in the tablet space is, after all, just getting started and, if the Nexus 7 is any indication of what's to come, we're in for a very good ride. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HTC One V quietly pops up at Virgin Mobile USA for $200, iPhone tags along for online orders Posted: 28 Jun 2012 08:47 AM PDT HTC had broadcast its intentions to bring the One V to the US this summer, and that's exactly what it's doing, even if it's keeping the formalities to a minimum. Virgin Mobile has started selling the entry Android 4.0 phone without fanfare at a very tempting $200 contract-free -- certainly the lowest American price we've seen so far for joining the Sense 4.0 party. The hardware still won't floor anyone, but Virgin Mobile Live is tossed in to perk up the experience. Should Google's platform just not be your bag, you'll also be glad to know that Virgin has recently started taking online orders for its prepaid iPhones, which officially hit the shops on Friday. With their $550 and $650 no-contract prices, though, some may question just how Retina their displays really need to be. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 28 Jun 2012 08:33 AM PDT Replacing a house full of switches and dials with a single remote seems a desirable proposition, but less-than-intuitive setup processes and fees that run far into the thousands make a disconnected home the only option for some. Like other home automation system manufacturers, Control4 has a bounty of offerings that can run up pricing into that out-of-reach range, but if you're looking to adjust audio and video in a single room, the new Starter Kit should get you going for just shy of a grand, including installation. That price includes a HC-250 Controller, which delivers IR control for up to eight components (via splitters connected to the four IR ports on the rear), serial control for up to two receivers or other systems and IP control for an unlimited number of devices. There's also an SR-250 ZigBee remote in the box, which offers full control through a television interface (HDMI and component outputs can be found on the HC-250's rear). You can also have full access through a variety of add-ons, including a $999 7-inch in-wall touchscreen with camera, a portable version for the same price, or any Android, iOS or Mac device -- access licenses for smartphones, tablets and computers run $199 each, or $499 to cover the entire home. The Starter Kit can enable control of a single room, which may be fine for some users -- to add additional home theater setups you can bring on more HC-250s at $599 a pop. There's also an option to add ZigBee lighting controls ($129 per switch), ZigBee door locks ($150 to $350) or a door intercom unit with camera ($799). All-in, outfitting a large home can be quite pricey, and the Starter Kit is designed to get folks in the door, rather than to deliver a complete solution. We tested the controller with a TV, audio system, a pair of lights on two zones, the door intercom and a deadbolt, and all performed seamlessly without an hiccups. We also took a look at the intuitive drag-and-drop PC-based interface, which owners can use to change macros and add media. Introducing new components to the rig will require a dealer service call (or remote access, if you're just trying to loop in something like a NAS to serve up content). The Control4 Starter Kit is available through third-party dealers beginning today, including Magnolia Home Theater in select Best Buy stores (in that case, Geek Squad will handle the install). That sub-$1,000 figure factors in two hours of labor, and may climb a bit higher depending on dealer rates. Still, if you're just looking to get your feet wet, this seems to be a solid solution. Thumb through the gallery below for a closer look at the components and interface. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Modbook Pro gets official, CEO Andreas Haas talks success in an iPad world Posted: 28 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT You'd be forgiven for assuming that the ModBook dream died with release of the first iPad. After all, the first version of the hacked notebook predated Apple's announcement by a couple of years. When the iPad finally hit in 2010, it did a lot to address the desire for a slate device running Apple software. Since then, things have largely remained silent on the Axiotron front. In fact, the last time we heard a significant peep out of the company was back in 2009. Its former CEO Andreas Haas assured us, however, that the real reason for the company's silence is a bit more complicated than the story of yet another product falling victim to the Apple steamroller. "Axiotron itself was a great company," says Haas. "Back in 2008, I took the company public, everything was really great. There was one little thing that turned out to be a huge problem, which is that the company was largely bank-financed and 10 days after it went public, Lehman Brothers went belly-up and put the whole financial market in a tailspin. After that was mostly spent on trying to somehow restructure the company, and ultimately there was just nothing that could be done about it." As the newly reborn Modbook Inc. teased via its Facebook page yesterday, however, the name lives on. This week marks the return of the tablet in the form of the 13.3-inch Modbook Pro, a device slated to ship early this fall. Can such a device survive in a world that's been downright flooded by tablets in the years since its predecessor's release? The company clearly feels it can -- that its new product is unique enough to set itself apart in amongst the deluge of slates, calling the new Pro, "the world's most powerful and largest-screen tablet computer." And in a space where hardware and software are relatively neutered, it's understandable how the company might be inclined to make such bold claims about the converted notebook. There's certainly no lack of context on Haas' part. Prior to Axiotron, the exec was a part of Apple's Newton Systems Group, calling himself "the guy who had to close the whole thing down." He tells us, "When I joined that group I actually wanted to see the pen on the Mac, because I remember there was a development unit that was shown to Andy Warhol to draw on a Mac, and he just loved it. I always felt, that is what I wanted to do, but then John Sculley came along and said, 'Ooh, I have a good idea about a personal digital assistant and I need a pen,' and he actually took the handwriting recognition and the pen work that had been done on the Mac and took it away and moved it over to [the PDA]."
That Warhol-inspired passion project was borne out as the Modbook back in 2007, a hacked MacBook that embraced the slate form factor that had all but vanished by that point. In spite of Apple's notoriously litigious background, however, Haas claims that the company managed to launch the product without ruffling any Cupertino-area feathers. "When we started the Modbook, the premise was always to be a model citizen in the Apple environment," he tells us. "When it comes down to it, we are really only a third-party that is building an accessory. When I was at Axiotron and we brought out that Modbook, before I did this I didn't ask anyone permission, I just looked up the rules and built within those rules. When I brought it out, Apple actually came to me and gave me a proprietary solutions provider contract which is something like a manufacturing license to actually get people from Apple and put them together, but that is incompatible with our distribution system. So after that they moved us over to an Apple Premier Developer and that is what we are now, we're an Apple Developer. We sell the kit, which is a conversion kit, to our sales partners and those sales partners then perform the conversion on your behalf." After the aforementioned financial concerns sidetracked the company, Haas began working on bringing the Modbook back to life by way of an eponymous new company built around a number of former Axiotron employees. "[In the] beginning of this year, in order to continue working on my vision to create that next-generation MacBook, I had no choice but create a new company," he explains. "I was lucky that my old core team was able to join again and since the beginning of the year, we have spent no time on anything else but coming up with the best device. Now we have the company on solid financial footing now and we don't have to worry about that, and can just focus on what you, for example, as an end-user actually care about."
That, naturally, is the new Modbook Pro -- a device that, Haas explains, isn't something that will compete directly against the iPad and its ilk. "If you are a creative-minded person, you're working in the creative industry and you start drawing on an iPad, at some point you'll grab a stylus, and if you do that, then you will end up eventually looking at a Modbook Pro." Or, to put it more bluntly, "Finger-painting is fun when you're five years old, but as soon as you get serious about it, you start picking up a stick or a pencil, that's how you evolve as a human being from boy to man or from girl to woman." In other words, if the iPad is kindergarten-style finger-painting, the Modbook is the almighty number two pencil. It's easy to see his point -- the iPad and most Android tablets are certainly limited as tools for creative professionals. The Modbook Pro, on the other hand, gives the user full OS functionality on a stylus input device. With the base configuration, you're getting a 2.5GHz, dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (upgradable to a 2.9GHz, dual-core Intel Core i7), up to 16GB of RAM and up to either a 1TB HDD or 960GB SSD, for starters -- this is very much a real computer. On top of all of that is a pen system that offers 512 pressure levels on its 1280 by 800 pixel display.
And unlike past Modbooks, born in an era in which dual-boot wasn't the MacBook standard, the company is now pushing the Windows experience on this device. "The Modbook Pro runs both Windows 7 and OS X," says Haas, "and if you use them side-by-side and you don't mind, if you are one of those users who'd rather lose his right arm than a Mac operating system and you don't care, then I would actually expect you to end up on the Windows side of things." Haas says he's equally enthused about the arrival of tablet-friendly Windows 8. "We're looking forward to it. Windows 7 already is a great operating system to be used with a pen, and we're looking forward to Windows 8 showing up, shortly after we start shipping our products." He adds, "having Windows upgrade the operating system to a better interface [is something] we welcome, because that makes our device even better all around. And if the other manufacturers don't change their hardware and actually change their target group, it doesn't bother us." In other words, as long as other device makers target consumers and not professionals, Modbook will be just fine. That remains to be seen, of course. After all, much of the company's success lies in pricing, which is likely to be fairly high, even by professional standards, with aftermarket costs. It's information that we should be seeing in the coming weeks. The tablet itself, meanwhile, is due out at an unspecified date in the early fall.
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| Lenovo LePhone K860 surfaces with quad-core Exynos processor, 5-inch screen, and Android 4.0 Posted: 28 Jun 2012 07:49 AM PDT This one isn't fully official just yet, but Blog of Mobile has turned up some pictures and specs for a new Lenovo LePhone K860 that would appear to one-up the company's existing offerings. Perhaps most notably, this one is said to pack a quad-core, 1.4GHz Exynos 4412 processor (the same found in some variants of the Galaxy S III), along with a 5-inch screen boasting a 1280 x 720 resolution. Otherwise, you'll apparently get a 2 megapixel camera up front and 8 megapixels 'round back, 1GB of RAM, and Android 4.0 for an OS (no mention of a 4.1 upgade). No indication of a price, but it looks like it will be hitting China in August. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LG VS950 hits the FCC with Verizon LTE, looks suspiciously like the Optimus Vu Posted: 28 Jun 2012 07:42 AM PDT LG and Verizon have something special in the works, and judging from the information we were able to glean from some mysterious documents submitted to the FCC (and subsequently approved today), it appears to be Big Red's version of the Optimus Vu. While the docs don't come out and specifically mention the Vu name or the phone's iconic 5-inch display, the diagram (seen above) of the LG VS950 shows the exact same speaker grille setup on the lower left as well as the SIM flap on the upper right. But if that weren't enough to clue us in, you can clearly see something that looks curiously like an antenna on the top left -- in the very same place as the Korean Optimus Vu. The VS950 sports NFC and offers LTE band 13 and GSM 850 / 1900. The phone's already received Bluetooth Certification, so we're hoping this means it's in the final stages of testing. Let's just hope it comes with a newer version of firmware than its Korean counterpart. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T-Mobile USA's former CEO Phillipp Humm to become chief executive at Vodafone on October 1st Posted: 28 Jun 2012 07:37 AM PDT Less than 24 hours after the unexpected news that Phillipp Humm had penned his resignation as T-Mobile USA's CEO, Reuters is now reporting he himself has said a chief executive position awaits him at Vodafone. As you may know, this comes after the Magenta carrier had stated Humm would be leaving to reunite with his family back in the Old Continent, and seek a new career outside of Deutsche Telekom. According to the report, Phillipp Humm's new role will be as a chief executive for Vodafone's operations in northern and central Europe, which is set to begin as early as October 1st. Naturally, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao seems to be quite satisfied with Humm's upcoming arrival, saying it "will be a strong addition to the Vodafone group executive committee." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Android 4.1 Jelly Bean review: a look at what's changed in Google's mobile OS Posted: 28 Jun 2012 07:00 AM PDT Google's next iteration of Android wasn't quite the full-point release jump that many of you were perhaps anticipating. Rather than using Google I/O 2012 as the launching pad for Android 5.0, we're being formally introduced to v4.1 -- a mere 0.1 ahead of where Ice Cream Sandwich placed us around six months ago. Aside from grabbing a name change, the minor numerical bump also provides Jelly Bean the opportunity to usher in a few new features for Nexus owners to enjoy. If you missed yesterday's keynote, Google revealed that Android 4.1 would arrive on Nexus devices in "mid-July," but there's no clear word on when partner companies will begin pushing it to their products. Moreover, pundits are quick to point out the legions of Android products that still haven't made the leap to 4.0, leaving us to wonder if those Froyo and Gingerbread laggards will simply take the fast track to 4.1 now that it's (almost) available. Care to see if the latest and greatest will live up to your expectations once it lands in a few weeks? Head on past the break as we discuss some of the larger changes that Jelly Bean has to offer.
By and large, Jelly Bean is Ice Cream Sandwich. Just ... nicer. And smoother. And with a few additions that make it worth yearning for. Here at I/O, we were provided with a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, preloaded with v4.1. Outside of the new Android build, it's the same phone we first saw in Hong Kong last October. As these things tend to go, the actual UI changes only tell a portion of the story. It's tough to talk about Jelly Bean's significance without first talking about Project Butter. Continuing Google's long obsession with cuisine, the whimsically named initiative is an appreciated one. Effectively, Google has retooled Android to be even more responsive, so that it ramps up whatever power lies within the moment a finger touches the screen. The goal here is to achieve 60 frames per second across the board on modern hardware; that could mean bad news for older devices that may or may not get the update, but phones like the Galaxy Nexus seem to gain horsepower simply due to coding improvements. In our testing, an already zippy phone simply felt perfectly smooth. Buttery, even. Chrome loaded in an instant. Toggling voice search didn't result in a single pause. Swiping between photos was shockingly brisk. We could go on, but it's really simple: Android is finally at a place where it feels completely buttoned-up from a silkiness standpoint. In the past, you needed cutting-edge hardware to overcome some irregularities and inefficiencies in the code. With v4.1, you're actually getting more features, without feeling there's a speed hit on the other end. In fact, you're gaining features and perceived speed. And really, who wouldn't be into that? Without further ado, let's take a look at some of the more significant changes introduced in Jelly Bean. Predictive keyboardAt a glance, Jelly Bean's keyboard looks a lot like the stock edition found in Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). But start typing, and you'll see something different. Or, something completely familiar if you're an avid user of SwiftKey. Google didn't take too much time to point it out, but the new prediction algorithm tucked into Jelly Bean's factory keyboard is hugely noteworthy. On one hand, it's a bit strange to see Google effectively ape functionality already hammered out by the folks at SwiftKey. While most of the mainstream swoons over Swype, the Engadget crew remains infatuated with SwiftKey's devilishly intelligent keyboard. Much like that third-party alternative, Google's version learns as you type and begins to make next-word recommendations based on familiar phrases you use. Better still, the center word option can be toggled into a multi-word matrix with a simple long-press. In practice, it works just as beautifully as SwiftKey (save for those times when we typed three or four words together sans spacing), and it's certainly convenient having that voice search microphone button just a tap away. Without question, this is our favorite stock Android keyboard to date. In fact, we can see ourselves using it as our go-to option, which has been difficult to say in the past. Even the "Smart Punctuation" feature that SwiftKey touts in its third build is mimicked by Google's own offering, and it actually provides an even greater variety of punctuation options to slide to. Offline Maps Google promised us earlier this month that its offline mapping solution would be coming soon -- just in time for Apple to debut its own mapping solution for iOS 6. Right in line with Jelly Bean's launch, offline Maps is now a reality for Android smartphones. It's exactly what you probably assume it is: the same Maps you know and love, but with the ability to navigate sans a live data connection. The concept here is far from new; even in early 2010, a Nokia device was pulling top honors in our smartphone GPS shootout thanks to its ability to operate offline. Fast forward a few years, and the Lumia's Nokia Drive app still remains a phenomenal option due to -- you guessed it -- offline support. It's actually kind of startling that it has taken Google this long to join the party, and now that it has, we're left with mixed feelings. On one hand, Maps is still beautifully designed, robust and magically woven into the fabric of Navigation. For the avid traveler, it's indispensable, and the addition of offline just makes an already world-class product that much more amazing. Maps ties in easily with searches for nearby eateries and businesses, and there's a wonderful amount of integration between searches and favorites on Maps for Android and Maps in the browser. The good news here is that offline Maps doesn't feel like a new product. It's still Maps, and it still works well. If you've downloaded a certain section of town and you're routing through it, it won't matter if you lose signal, dip into a tunnel or head underground for a bit -- at least, not any more than a conventional PND from TomTom or Garmin would. So long as you have GPS and downloaded maps, you're golden. Therein lies the problem. The actual process of getting an offline map is entirely too tedious, and thoroughly confusing in practice. Allow us to explain. When zoomed in around our test location in San Francisco, a tap into the Settings allowed us to select "Make Available Offline." Smooth sailing so far. But from here, you're presented with a situation that's just not ... ideal. You're asked to zoom in or out to select an ambiguous section of map that you'd like to download. How exactly are you supposed to know the precise road that you won't need to know about? How does Google expect its users to have that kind of knowledge if they're pre-downloading maps to a place that they'll soon travel to for the first time? And more importantly, why should Maps users need to know this? In our testing, we found it possible to download around 80MB of maps before running into a "This section is too large to download" error, which makes itself known even when connected to WiFi. If you get this pop-up, you'll have to zoom in tighter and download a smaller section. For reference, 80MB will only get you the roadways from San Francisco to Daly City (give or take a few miles). Pardon our terseness, but what a joke. Compare this to the offline downloading situation in Nokia Drive. There, you go into a "Manage Maps" section, connect to WiFi and then select an entire country to download -- or, if you aren't feeling the entire 50 states here in the USA, you can download each state individually. For reference, the entire USA takes up 1.8GB of space on the Lumia 900. Why isn't a similar option available from Google? As it stands, Google's implementation is practically useless for spontaneous road-trippers who aren't keen on spending a few hours zooming and downloading (and rinsing and repeating) in hopes of covering entire states that they'll be traversing. It really feels as if Google engineered this for urban dwellers who only intend to download maps for one city at a time. For those looking to download all of Montana in order to be prepared for those monumental coverage holes... well, you're still better off with Nokia Drive. Homescreen tweaksYou won't find too many differences on the homescreen, but you will find a homescreen that's easier to get along with. When customizing the layout on each pane, it's simpler now to drag icons around until they're just so. It's designed to automatically accommodate your apps and widgets, but we still saw the unfortunate "There's no room for this widget" more than once. Of note, you can also remove any unwanted apps and widgets with a quick swipe up and off the home screen. Google Now and voice search Without question, this is the highlight of Jelly Bean. Laypeople will refer to it as Google's version of Siri, and in some ways, it certainly acts as a personal assistant. But in some ways, it's more than Siri. Google Now can be activated by holding down the "Home" key and swiping up (or just swiping north from the lock screen). But unlike Siri, which simply requires you to start speaking, this action in Jelly Bean brings up an entirely new portal. Now unfolds, revealing a scrollable list of "Cards" that are just beautiful. (Unlike those from the webOS days, these scroll down rather than across, and don't swipe up or down as the images in the new Gallery do.) The fonts, textures and borders on these things are truly gorgeous. It's a fun place to fix your eyes within Android, because truthfully, it's lovely to look at. Beyond that, though, it's also highly informative. The cards that emerge will become better with time -- assuming you opt into Now from the get-go. You see, Now makes no bones about how it gains intelligence: it watches you. It remembers what you frequently search for. It looks at your current location. It recalls which flights you've been searching for. It's kind of creepy, but honestly, that's what makes it wise. It's also worth noting just how natural the robotic voice is whenever you are lucky enough to ask Now something that it can reply to. It's entirely believable, unlike the very humanoid-y Siri. The best way to customize Now is to simply be you. Use your phone. Do things that you'd normally do. Before long, Now will feel intensely personal. Just to let you know what areas Now covers, you can find Cards for the following: Weather, Traffic, Next Appointment, Travel, Flights, Public Transit, Places and Sports. Some of these auto-populate -- yes, automagically -- based on current location (Weather) and frequent searchers (Sports). Others don't truly come alive until you're on the go. If you're near the Astor Place subway stop in New York City, the card can be configured to show you what trains are coming up next, how long you've got until they arrive, and where they're headed. The longer you use the phone, the more cards it magically puts there with information that's magically useful to you. Like, scores you'd search for anyway. Or flight details that you'd search for anyway. Or subway routes you'd search for anyway based on what subway station you're standing by. Absolutely brilliant in every sense of the word. The same goes for Traffic -- you can rely on Now to look into your frequently traversed commuting routes and find alternatives in the event that a blockage has occurred during the moments before you usually depart. Google's also ramping up notifications, enabling them to be delivered before, during or after an ongoing event. Not entirely a fresh concept -- ESPN users can do the same on iOS -- but it's a fantastic implementation. Voice search now acts as an extension of Now, but it does so with hugely mixed results. For example, when telling our Nexus to "Make an appointment for lunch tomorrow at noon," it set a reminder for 12am, despite showing that it comprehended our request word-for-word. Yikes. That said, our request to "Remind me to get the clothes in 30 minutes" perfectly set an alarm that did just that. (In case you're wondering, that's the pinch of personal assistant showing off.) When we tried to ask if we had any appointments at 2pm the following day, the Nexus simply made an appointment for 2pm the next day instead of taking a peek into Google Calendar. That's indicative of the crapshoot nature of the whole "assistant" thing. It's obvious that Google's voice search is nowhere close to being able to act as a true assistant, but at least we're seeing signs of progress. It's also a bit hard to grasp what kind of answers Now can populate, and which ones fly right over its head. For instance, asking for the "distance between San Francisco and Daly City" simply brings up a Google search of that phrase, but asking for "directions between San Francisco and Daly City" activates Maps. Clearly, the natural language recognition needs to be worked on. We expected Maps to draw the lines between the two locales and report back a mileage figure for question one, but it simply overwhelmed the system. All that said, the silver lining is obvious: Google's powering the results. If you're even remotely familiar with the kinds of things that you can type into Google.com and get an answer up top, you'll understand what things will lead to similar results on the phone. Asking "What time does the sun rise tomorrow in Tahiti?" led to an answer up top, not just a list of search results. Asking Now to "convert 47 euros to South African rand" led to yet another answer. Asking even complex math questions led to even more answers. Asking about the filming locations for "Prometheus," however, resulted in a typical list of links rather than a beautifully sorted answer from IMDb's database. (Can you tell what we're dreaming about?) Moreover, we're huge fans of seeing searchable, copy-and-pastable results even when it's the best the system can do. Having Siri return a static image from Wolfram Alpha -- an image that cannot be read aloud by a robotic voice -- is tremendously underwhelming. Google Now won't read back search links yet, but given that it fetches actual text, the potential is certainly there for this to change down the road. Better still, you're also highly likely to have even obscure questions answered by the headlines of top search results within Google. When asking "Who won the 1993 World Series?" Now didn't know how to return an answer. But the answer was plainly obvious in the second search result -- the lead-in line to an Answers.com page displayed the following: "The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4 games to 2." It's not exactly a "success," per se, but we achieved our goal of finding the answer regardless, without any additional clicks or scrolling. Finally, it's worth pointing out that Google's voice search algorithm is really fantastic. Even when speaking to our Nexus at a normal tone in a bustling restaurant, it correctly understood 15 of 16 questions. We also found the results to populate quickly, even with just a single bar of T-Mobile HSPA+ coverage. More often than not, our answers appeared more quickly than we expected them to, and overall, we found the whole "talking to Now" experience to be a terrifically pleasing one. Offline voice dictation Asking Now a question that obviously requires an internet connection to answer isn't a wise use of time. But, those with Jelly Bean can finally hammer out emails to send later via voice. Somehow -- likely using a combination of black magic and AdSense-enabled Time Travel -- Google has managed to squash its US English language voice recognition tools into the OS' fabric. Even in airplane mode, we were able to vocally compose emails and text messages with ease. In fact, we saw no difference whatsoever in the composition regardless of whether we had five bars of HSPA+ or a tiny Airplane up in the status bar. For those keeping count, Apple's voice dictation feature -- along with Siri -- requires a live internet connection to be useful. Nice play, Google; now, just cook up something similar for all of those other tongues out there. Wrap-up In addition to the facets covered above (and this here easter egg), Jelly Bean also supports a new tap-to-air feature for Bluetooth-plus-NFC-enabled speakers; just tap your phone to an adequately equipped speaker, and your tunes start streaming. It's beautifully simple, and it works nicely alongside an updated version of Beam that supports photo sharing over simple bumps, too. All in all, it's tough to complain about a free update that both adds highly useful features and makes the overall system snappier. That's exactly what Google has managed to accomplish with Jelly Bean, which feels just stupendous in use on our Galaxy Nexus review unit. The speed improvements are subtle, but those who have used ICS for any length of time will notice them. It's sort of like transitioning from the iPhone 3G to the 3GS; the hastened transitions are just enough to spoil you once you've encountered them. The addition of Google Now and the offline voice dictation features are huge, huge assets in the Android stable. Both of these work laudably, and while there's clearly room for Now to improve as Google fine-tunes its natural language recognition algorithms, it's a feature that will no doubt have Gingerbread users crossing their fingers (and toes, for that matter) for an update. As lovely as Now is, however, offline Maps has to be the biggest letdown of the bunch. Not being able to download maps for entire states, provinces or countries is a massive oversight. That feature is already available on Nokia Drive, and Google should absolutely strive to at least meet the bar set on Windows Phone. Maps and Navigation remain world-class products, and offline Maps works as advertised so long as you have the portions you need downloaded; still, we need the ability to easily store as much of the world as we want, and we're hoping Google obliges in the near future. Android 4.1 may not be a quantum leap in any one area, but it's the fine-tuning of Ice Cream Sandwich that we've been waiting for. It's brisk, it's beautiful and it's more intelligent than any Android build before it. The primary problem, however, is availability. It's only hitting the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom (why bother?) in mid-July, with every other Android device in that all-too-familiar wait-and-see mode. It's also unlikely that the seamless experience we've seen here will ever be truly ported to the Galaxy S III; with S Beam and S Voice at the helm, it's likely that the skinned version of Android 4.1 will be massively different than the "pure" version found on Nexus products. (For those unaware, Android 4.0 for the Galaxy S II lacked most of the standout features that it brought to the Nexus family, so there's certainly a precedent.) Of course, this is hardly a new dilemma, and those who've chosen the Nexus route have plenty to look forward to. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TomTom opens up MapShare to all 60 million of its GPS units (video) Posted: 28 Jun 2012 06:33 AM PDT TomTom has seen the inexorable rise of smartphone navigation and decided that it needs a cheaper way of updating its head units. Its cunning solution has been to open its MapShare community to all 60 million TomToms in the wild -- which was previously limited just to smartphone apps and select devices. MapShare works by allowing users to update their, erm, maps, when they spot a change has been made, which is then uploaded when they get home. It'll now be aggregated and pushed out as a free daily download. Users can filter updates, deciding if they want ones submitted by "some," "many" or those officially verified by the company itself -- so don't bother trying to game the system to make your morning commute easier. London, 28 June 2012 – From today, TomTom is enabling all of its 60 million portable navigation devices to receive free daily map changes via the TomTom Map Share community. Map Share allows drivers to personalise the TomTom map on their own device and also share and receive map changes with the Map Share community around the world. Map Share was previously only available on a limited number of TomTom devices. Map Share technology enables drivers to keep the TomTom map on their device up to date with immediate changes in their area. Dynamic road changes, such as changed speed limits, new street names, blocked roads and new traffic directions can be updated directly on the device. Drivers then have the choice to share those road changes with TomTom and the broader Map Share community. All TomTom customers can now download daily Map Share changes for free. "Roads change all the time. Overnight, roads can close or traffic can be diverted,having a big impact on people's journey times." says Corinne Vigreux, TomTom's Managing Director. "With Map Share, drivers can update their own map themselves straightaway. Plus, we have an active community of drivers who share around 250,000 road changes with TomTom and each other every month. We are pleased to expand our community, because the more people who use Map Share the greater the navigation experience for all our customers." Map Share enables people to quickly and easily report and share the most frequent road changes. More structural, long-term changes such as the addition of roads or roundabouts are validated and updated within TomTom's maps and made available on a quarterly basis. TomTom applies a hybrid approach to map-making that includes the combination of authoritative sources, such as field collection, government data or satellite imagery, with community input to ensure its maps accurately reflect reality. Availability Map Share is already available for many TomTom customers. From 28 June, all TomTom Start, Via and GO customers will be able to receive free daily map changes from the TomTom Map Share Community via a simple, free software update. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Visualized: Kinetisphere takes Nexus Q into another dimension at Google I/O 2012 (video) Posted: 28 Jun 2012 06:00 AM PDT What you see here is arguably be the coolest thing on display at Google I/O 2012 -- an 8-foot, 300-pound Nexus Q replica (complete with LED ring visualizer) mounted on a robot arm. This interactive installation called Kinetisphere was designed and fabricated by San Francisco-based Bot & Dolly and is controlled by three stations each consisting of -- wait for it -- a Nexus Q device and a Nexus 7 tablet. How meta is that? One station controls the height of the sphere, another its angle, and a third lets you pick the pattern displayed on the LED ring. Of course, it's all carefully synchronized to music for maximum effect. We spent a few minutes talking with Jeff Linnell of Bot & Dolly about what went into the making of Kinetisphere. As it turns out, there's a lot more to the installation than a Kuka industrial robot, fiberglass, plywood and steel railing. In addition to using the Nexus Q and Nexus 7, the company combined its expertise in motion control and automation with Google's Android ADK 2012, Autodesk's Maya and even Linux. Take a look at our gallery below then hit the break for our video interview and a lovely behind-the-scenes clip.
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| Nexus 7 early benchmarks: full Tegra 3 performance on the cheap Posted: 28 Jun 2012 05:30 AM PDT Are you totally, utterly and irrevocably impatient? Then head past the break for some very early benchmarks we grabbed from a pre-production (hand-built) Nexus 7 in London. Our full review will have far more complete and reliable stats, but in the meantime we've seen just enough evidence to be sure of one thing: neither the tablet's low $199 price point nor its slightly reduced (1.2GHz) clock speed throttle its Tegra 3 engine in any obvious way. Read on for more.
If we compare the Nexus 7 to a top-end Tegra 3 device like the 1.7GHz, 1920 x 1200 Transformer Pad Infinity (set to its 'Performance' mode) the pre-production Nexus 7 more than keeps up -- thanks in some part to its lower (1280 x 800) resolution. The SunSpider score for web-browsing speed is especially healthy and hammers home the point that this is in a different league to the Kindle Fire -- which scores a poor 2,440ms in this test. Meanwhile, only the GLBenchmark for GPU performance shows that the Nexus 7 may be slightly held back compared to Tegra 3 supremos. Next, we can throw the Nexus 7 into the ring with a Galaxy Tab 7.7, which represents the family of Samsung devices powered by the last-gen dual-core Exynos processor (also including the Galaxy Note, for example). In this tussle, the Google slate wins by just the type of wide margin that we'd hope for given its quad-core 40nm silicon. In other words, when it comes to raw speed, the Nexus 7 looks like a proper 2012 Android device that can currently only be beaten by expensive flagships running off an Exynos Quad or a Snapdragon S4. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3DS XL to get Circle Pad Pro treatment, become that much larger Posted: 28 Jun 2012 05:03 AM PDT Nintendo's latest oversized handheld not big enough for you? Maybe another Circle Pad Pro will help. According to Japanese gaming publication Famitsu, the Big N is poised to give the freshly announced 3DS XL a second analog slider. Pricing wasn't covered in the magazine's Nintendo Q&A session, but gamers in the Land of the Rising Sun should have their thumbs on it later this year. Oh, and in case you didn't hear, the colossal clamshell is getting its very own charging cradle too, sold separately for 1,200 yen ($15). Mum's the word on stateside details for the secondary slide pad, but we wouldn't be surprised to see it show up on foreign shores. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T-Mobile brings out new mobile data plans mainly for the suits and ties, makes overage optional Posted: 28 Jun 2012 04:32 AM PDT T-Mobile just updated its prepaid data plans a month ago, and now it's the corporate crowd's turn for a shakeup. The new (and quite frankly daunting) array of primarily business-minded plans is based around whether or not you'd rather face throttling or overage fees if you push past a set cap. Overage Free plans for subsidized (Classic) and unsubsidized (Value) devices are largely self-explanatory and slow down that bandwidth cap-busting hotspot, modem or tablet until the next month. The High-speed plan range costs lower as a matter of course, but you'll be dinged to the order of two to 10 cents for every megabyte over the limit. That said, there's some bargains to be had versus other carriers, especially with the 5GB and 10GB plans. Provided you're happy with T-Mobile's coverage, it may be worth signing up to eke out a few extra dollars in savings every month. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nexus 7 8GB coming to UK mid-July for £159, 16GB version arriving at retailers July 27th for £199 Posted: 28 Jun 2012 03:57 AM PDT We've just had word from ASUS that the 16GB variant of the Nexus 7 will arrive on UK shelves on July 27th -- slightly later than the 8GB model, which will be sold exclusively through Google Play from mid-July. Brits are looking at £159 for the 8GB tablet and £199 for 16GB. The latter is actually shipping to big stores like PC World, Comet, Tesco and eBuyer around July 20th, so those who pre-order may end up signing for that Special Delivery even earlier. Update: the 16GB slate will also be sold through Carphone Warehouse, either for the same price as above or free on a tethered contract (but check those sums before signing up, obviously). PR added. GOOGLE TAKES IT TO THE NEXUS LEVEL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BT kicks off 330Mbps 'FTTP on Demand' trials, reveals pilot locations Posted: 28 Jun 2012 03:36 AM PDT Not everyone is apparently in love with British operator BT's green boxes. Still, that isn't stopping the company from serving up its high-fiber diet to those who want to have speedy Internet connections. For its latest project, BT's Openreach division has started offering an "FTTP on Demand" program that provides fiber-to-the-premises at 330Mbps speeds to folks or businesses who order the service. The project will be done in phases at eight locations, starting with High Wycombe, Bristol South and St Agnes, Cornwall in July. Next up is Edinburgh's Waverley exchange in September followed by Watford, Cardiff, Basingstoke and Manchester Central in 2013. Communications providers can decide to cover installation costs by absorbing a one-off charge, having higher monthly fees or passing the whole thing to the consumer. Want to gobble up more info about BT's latest fiber-filled broadband service? Then check out the good, old PR after the break. Openreach announces 'FTTP(1) on demand' pilot locations Openreach today revealed a list of eight locations where it will pilot the delivery of 'FTTP on Demand'. This service, which Openreach intends to make commercially available from Spring 2013, will enable customers to order an ultra-fast 330Mbps broadband connection directly to their home or business in an area served by Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)(2) technology. Previously, in order to receive 330Mbps speeds, customers had to be located in an FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) enabled area. The pilot will be held in two phases so that Openreach has sufficient time to explore and resolve the challenges in deploying the service with its Communications Provider (CP) customers. Phase one, which is intended to test the planning and construction process, will run from July 2012 to early 2013 and allow participating CPs to place orders for a 330Mbps downstream, and either 20 or 30Mbps upstream service in parts of High Wycombe, Bristol South as well as in St Agnes, Cornwall where the service was first trialled. Edinburgh's Waverley exchange will be added to the pilot in September 2012. Phase two, which will run from March to May 2013, will test new automated order processes, and focus on the 330Mbps downstream, 30Mbps upstream product. In addition to the first four areas, this phase will see the pilot extended to parts of Watford, Cardiff, Basingstoke, and Manchester Central. Mike Galvin, Openreach's MD Network Investment said: "FTTP on Demand has great potential and so we are proceeding with these pilots. Whilst we believe FTTC will be our mass market consumer product for some time yet, FTTP may be of interest to small and medium sized businesses and so we want to make it accessible throughout our fibre footprint. This development can potentially help SMEs to compete both at home and abroad as well as maintain and create jobs across the UK." Openreach is currently making fibre broadband available to homes and businesses across the UK. It has passed ten million premises with the technology to date and is due to pass approximately two thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014. The business is primarily deploying Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology. This currently delivers downstream speeds of up to 80Mbps with upstream speeds of up to 20Mbps and could deliver even faster speeds in the future. Openreach has also deployed Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technology in 15 exchange areas to date. Outside those 15 areas, it is also exploring the option of deploying the service to multi dwelling units such as apartment blocks where the fibre can support multiple connections. The pilots intend to make ultra-fast 330Mbps FTTP available 'on demand' in FTTC areas for the first time. CPs will be able to order the service where there is interest and then assist Openreach with the cost of deployment. It will then be up to the CP to decide whether to absorb that likely one-off charge, recover it through higher monthly prices or pass it on in full to their customer. The pilots will enable Openreach to gain an in-depth understanding of the costs of deploying FTTP on Demand. Any installation fee is highly likely to be distance dependent given the nature of the necessary work. (1) Fibre to the Premises, a broadband service where the fibre runs all the way from the exchange to the premises. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Netflix fires back in UK streaming war, says it has Fox TV shows too, plus Arrested Development Posted: 28 Jun 2012 02:56 AM PDT Just days after Lovefilm touted its TV and movie deal with 20th Century Fox, Netflix UK is promoting its own TV show additions from the studio, including an exclusive on The League. While we're not sure how well a comedy about Fantasy (North American) Football will go over across the pond, it's also adding Modern Family, Lie to Me, Sons of Anarchy and more, and points out it already has series like 24 and Prison Break that Lovefilm is just now adding. The highest profile piece however, is Netflix's exclusive hold on a new season of the old Fox show Arrested Development, set to premiere in 2013. The press release with the full list is after the break, contrast and compare your options to see which streaming service (if either) is a good fit. New Season of "Arrested Development" Coming Exclusively to Netflix UK and Ireland; Netflix to Offer Members More Complete Seasons of Great Twentieth Century Fox TV Shows BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) and Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, today announced that Netflix will be the exclusive UK and Ireland home to the highly anticipated new season of the Fox cult comedy hit, "Arrested Development" to premiere early 2013. Seasons one through three are currently available to members in the UK and Ireland. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120628/SF32062) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101014/SF81638LOGO) Netflix will also be adding to its UK and Ireland service additional Twentieth Century Fox comedy series including the multiple Emmy® Award-winning hit "Modern Family," and exclusively, "The League," an ensemble comedy about fantasy football and everything else in life, featuring an outrageously funny young cast from the U.S. and Canada. More Twentieth Century Fox dramatic series are coming to Netflix as well. They include complete seasons of "Lie to Me," the cerebral whodunit starring British actor Tim Roth; "Sons of Anarchy," a cynical but wildly entertaining look into the world of California motorcycle clubs; and finally, "The Killing," the critically acclaimed remake of the Danish noir police drama "Forbrydelsen." Since the service launched in January, Netflix members in the UK and Ireland have been enjoying complete Twentieth Century Fox series such as "24" and "Prison Break" and more recently have been exclusively able to watch "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." "Arrested Development is one of the finest American comedies in TV history and we are incredibly excited to bring it back for British and Irish fans," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix Chief Content Officer. "As today's announcement with Twentieth Century Fox clearly shows, we're continuing to add all kinds of great content for our UK and Ireland to enjoy when and how they want it." One of Time Magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME," the tale of the formerly wealthy, deeply eccentric Bluth clan aired for three seasons, 2003-2006, on the Fox Broadcasting network and was honored with the Emmy® award for Outstanding Comedy Series after its first season on the air. "We are thrilled to expand our relationship with Netflix by bringing the groundbreaking new season of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT to fans in the UK. This deal continues to build on prior deals by providing Netflix UK with more of our iconic shows and exposing our content to an even broader audience," said Gina Brogi, EVP of Worldwide Pay Television and Subscription Video on Demand for Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution. "Arrested Development" had its final broadcast on February 10, 2006 and concerned Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) and his eccentric family comprised of his son George Michael (Michael Cera), his father George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), his mother Lucille (Jessica Walter), his brothers George Oscar Bluth II (Will Arnett), Buster Bluth (Tony Hale) and sister Lindsay Funke (Portia de Rossi), and Lindsay's husband Tobias (David Cross) and their daughter Maeby (Alia Shawkat). About Netflix: About Twentieth Century Fox:
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| Posted: 28 Jun 2012 02:12 AM PDT Dr. Paolo Macchiarini is no stranger to world firsts, and less than a year after performing a synthetic windpipe transplant, the Karolinska Institute Professor has coordinated no less than two successful transplants of synthetic sections of larynx. Amazingly, both patients were able to breathe and talk normally straight after surgery, the basic functions we take for granted that they either struggled with or were simply unable to do before. The implants consisted of personally designed synthetic scaffolds coated with the candidates' own stem cells, so there's neither the chance of rejection nor the burden of life-long immunosuppressant therapy. Despite the amazing feat, Dr. Macchiarini ain't done yet, claiming this is the first of many steps towards building a synthetic, complete larynx -- voice box and all. Jump past the break for the official PR issued by Harvard Bioscience, the company responsible for growing what's in that tub. Harvard Bioscience's "InBreath" Bioreactors Used in World's First Successful Regenerated Laryngotracheal Transplants | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verizon FiOS TV finally set to enforce CableCARD restrictions Posted: 28 Jun 2012 01:34 AM PDT Verizon launched its fiber to the home service the same year CableCARD was released, but Verizon's implementation has always been a little different. For starters, Verizon got an extra year before it was required to support it, but even since then, Verizon has been pretty lax about enforcing all the restrictions CableCARD has to offer. Despite years of predictions about the sky falling one day, only now have a few FiOS customers received letters notifying them that the party's over. What we mean is that starting July 31st, you won't be able to just slide an activated CableCARD into another box, like you can now. The real bad news however, is that some premium content will now be flagged Copy Once. Although the FCC has always permitted the use of this flag on most content, Verizon has never used it. Essentially that meant that you could record anything you wanted on your TiVo or Windows Media Center PC and copy those programs any which way you'd like. Not only does this break TiVoToGo and other similar features, but it actually breaks Multi-Room Viewing on the Series3. CableCARD FiOS TV customers can tune to channel 131 to see if their TV will turn dark on D-Day (the screenshot above means you'll need to update your activation to continue viewing) but until then, enjoy the free for all copying while it lasts. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Insert Coin: LUMOback Smart Posture Sensor thrums when you slouch, charts your laziness (video) Posted: 28 Jun 2012 01:05 AM PDT LUMOback wants to show all those DIY posture dilitantes what's what with its Smart Posture Sensor, an app and hardware combo that tracks your carriage and vibrates when you hunch. The thinnish 8.5mm sensor is worn like a belt, and on top of the tactile nagging, it provides detailed iPhone or iPad charting of the sitting, running and even sleeping you did, complete with an xkcd-like stickman video replaying all your crooked moves. So far the team is about a third of the way to its $100K mark, and a minimum $99 pledge will get you a jet-black model if it's built, with a $125 chip-in letting you vote on a a second shipping color, to boot. If some of your activities consist of, say, blogging in front of a computer screen all day, check the video after the break for relief. Previous project update: Thus far, the Deeper Smart sonar Fishfinder for Android and iOS has hauled in a catch of $21,402 toward its $49,000 goal, with 16 fishing days left. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| VESA's Mobility DisplayPort standard links smartphones to PC displays, jabs MHL Posted: 28 Jun 2012 12:28 AM PDT If you own a modern Android smartphone, there's a reasonable chance you're familiar with MHL for video out to a TV. The format saves the trouble of adding an extra port, but it's really only intended for HDMI-based destinations and occasionally runs into compatibility issues. VESA is hoping to settle all that with its newly available Mobility DisplayPort standard, or MyDP. Existing micro-USB ports will still serve as the output, but you'll have the option of plugging into DVI or VGA displays with the right adapter, in addition to HDMI and full-size DisplayPort. Picture connecting to an older projector and you'll see why that might make sense. The new spec will charge up your device like with MHL, but it also has about 1Mbps of bandwidth for input, such as keyboards and trackpads in some future lapdock. Video still tops out at 1080p and 60Hz, so there's no hooking into a 4K display here. The real advantage, for many, is simply in having a broadly-adopted standard in the first place: VESA backing sees 180 companies tacitly endorsing the idea, producing a big improvement over the patchwork results that we've seen from MHL's much smaller alliance. The chief obstacle is the wait for the first smartphones, Ultrabooks and tablets with MyDP, which could be months or more away. VESA Enables Mobile Devices to Share Full HD Video and 3D Content on Any Display With Release of MyDP Standard New Mobility DisplayPort (MyDP) Standard Delivers Industry's Highest Mobile-to-Display Resolution through Existing Data Connectors NEWARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA®) today announced the release of the Mobility DisplayPort™ (MyDP) Standard. MyDP is an extension of the DisplayPort connectivity standard that enables mobile devices to share high-definition video, audio, and 3D content with the broad universe of larger external displays through common, widely adopted connectors. Offering the industry's highest mobile-to-display image resolution, MyDP allows consumers to experience their mobile content in full, uncompressed 1080p (HDTV). "Today's mobile devices with powerful processors and mass storage capacities have become the new hub of media content," said Soumendra Mohanty, senior director of marketing for Analogix. "However, consumers wish to experience their mobile content in a more diverse manner, beyond what a four-inch screen can offer. MyDP gives the industry a standard interface to break down screen size limitations, and Analogix is ready today with its compatible SlimPort products." With the MyDP standard, high-quality audio, video, and 3D content can be shared from a mobile device to a larger external DisplayPort or HDMI equipped display, including a PC monitor, digital signage display or HDTV, using the micro-USB connector found on the majority of smartphones and tablets. By leveraging a simple passive cable, consumers can instantly experience their content at 1080P full HD resolution, 24-bit color, and 60Hz. Consumers can also access the millions of legacy DVI and VGA displays, projectors and TVs through the use of MyDP adaptors and active converters. The MyDP interface also includes a robust 1Mbps sideband channel that provides enough bandwidth to support accessory functions including multi-touch, keyboard, mouse, and remote control of the external display. Furthermore, MyDP enables charging of the mobile device battery, through the MyDP cable, from the power provided by the DisplayPort-enabled display, while content is enjoyed. "MyDP is a win-win for consumers and technology manufacturers," said Ganesh Tekkatte, senior product marketing manager at STMicroelectronics. "MyDP is simple and flexible allowing content to be shared with today's displays through common connectors that are widely adopted, and will support the advanced media and connectivity standards through the foreseeable future." Backed by VESA's nearly 180 member companies, MyDP adoption is expected in next-generation tablets, ultrabooks, and smartphones, with the first products scheduled to ship in the fourth quarter of 2012. MyDP's simple plug-and-play functionality with any external display benefits the entire mobile ecosystem by enabling better experiences and the delivery of new features and services. Consumers will benefit from the entertainment and productivity value of viewing and editing mobile content on a large screen; hardware manufacturers can evolve their systems to have more robust business and gaming features; software developers can create more mobile-centric office and 3D entertainment apps; and carriers can provide a variety of new value-added services to leverage data plans and sell accessories like cables, docking stations, and more. "Consumers expect their mobile devices to interface with other CE products. However, in order to get this functionality, consumers are often forced to either purchase products from a single vendor, or leverage interfaces that have limited industry backing and adoption," said Bill Lempesis, executive director of VESA. "MyDP is an open standard that is backed by a large ecosystem of the leading technology companies. This gives consumers the ability to choose the devices they want, and share whatever content wherever they go." For more information about MyDP, please visit http://www.displayport.org. For more information about VESA, please visit http://www.vesa.org/ or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ubiquitous nanotubes could reboot Edison-era nickel-iron battery technology Posted: 27 Jun 2012 11:51 PM PDT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AIR.U to bring Super WiFi to small college towns, Microsoft and Google to be part of the process Posted: 27 Jun 2012 11:09 PM PDT Looks like town and gown communities will be among the first to experience "super WiFi," the high-speed broadband made possible, in part, by TV. After getting the FCC nod back in the fall of 2010, the white spaces harboring these unused television frequencies were opened up, paving the way for a host of new wireless broadband services. Now, thanks to AIR.U -- a consortium of over 500 higher learning institutions and tech industry partners like Google and Microsoft -- underserved small college towns will soon see deployments of these high speed networks as early as Q1 2013. Not only will the group's efforts help usher in a low-cost wireless solution, but it'll also tackle a major geographic hurdle: building and terrain penetration. Seems these in-development networks run on a much lower frequency than traditional WiFi and, thus, have greater ease broaching thick walls and covering larger expanses. A pilot effort is underway, although exact details as to the where and when have yet to be revealed. Check out the official presser after the break for the full-on rundown. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 26, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Drive SDK version 2 supports Android and iOS apps, common file tasks Posted: 27 Jun 2012 10:18 PM PDT Virtually every corner of the Google universe is being touched at Google I/O, and that now includes Google Drive. A version 2 update to the Drive SDK gives Android and iOS developers the option of building the cloud storage into their mobile apps, whether it's downloads, uploads or on-the-spot edits. The programming interface has likewise been expanded as a whole to handle everyday file duties, such as conversions, copying and revision handling. Web-only users are taken care of with support for embedded shares and opening Google documents in any given software that will take the exportable formats. The updated Drive SDK is ready to go, with a flood of apps either coming or already here -- if you want to hop on the bandwagon, just take a peek at the source link. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LG Optimus Vu 'Value Pack' Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade on the way in Korea Posted: 27 Jun 2012 09:41 PM PDT LG's Optimus Vu still has yet to debut in the US, but Korean fans of the extra-wide 5-inch phablet can soon enjoy a new "Value Pack" upgrade. It brings the phone to yesterday's-news Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich along with LG-specific tweaks to its note taking features, UI 3.0 and Quick Voice search. There's a quick demo video of the update (embedded after the break) and promotional mini site with more details, although the ability to understand Korean -- or muddle through machine translated closed captions -- will come in handy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 27 Jun 2012 08:41 PM PDT Google has opted to deliver Android 4.1 Jelly Bean as an OTA update to the ICS already on the Nexus phones and tablets it just handed everyone at I/O 2012, and there's a manual download link available too. As Android Police notes, only GSM phones running the IMM330D firmware will take the update (which you probably don't have, although a fresh phone from the initial Google Play run might work.) With this release already in the wild it's surely only a matter of time before various third parties open it up to a wider variety of hardware. As always with early and somewhat untested software YMMV, keep an eye on those XDA Developers threads for the latest updates. Update: Just that quickly, an SDK port has already popped up for the HTC One X. Of course, it's described as unstable and the author has no plans to try to fix the numerous problems but if you're desperate to see Jelly Bean you can, you just probably shouldn't. Update 2: And almost as quickly, a rooted version for ClockWorkMod Recovery and ROM Manager has appeared. Check the latest thread for all the details. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Japanese robot trolls humans at rock-paper-scissors, sadly wasn't named the UMADBRO 9000 (video) Posted: 27 Jun 2012 07:48 PM PDT Japan got itself in the good graces of many a Futurama fan after creating Bender's ancestor. Then again, another Japanese robotic creation -- one that specializes in rock, paper, scissors -- may actually have more in common with the morally questionable, beer-guzzling bot. That's because this sneaky little future overlord wins 100 percent of its matches by using an oh-so human trait known as cheating. See, the researchers at the University of Tokyo's | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google I/O 2012's second keynote is tomorrow, get your liveblog right here! Posted: 27 Jun 2012 07:00 PM PDT It's hard to imagine Google managing to one-up its first keynote -- skydiving into the roof of Moscone from a blimp is pretty tough act to follow -- but that doesn't mean the company is out of surprises. The second keynote of the 2012 Google I/O developer conference is tomorrow morning and we're expecting a few updates on Chrome and then, well, even more updates on Chrome. We'll be liveblogging the proceedings tomorrow at this page right here. Set your bookmarks now and get ready to rock tomorrow at 10:00 am PT. To figure out what time that is locally, just look right here: June 28, 2012 1:00 PM EDT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Editorial: Engadget on Jelly Bean, Nexus Q, Nexus 7 and Project Glass Posted: 27 Jun 2012 06:45 PM PDT Phew! On the heels of big events from Apple and Microsoft, Sergey and co. got their time to shine at the Google I/O event this week in San Francisco. The show kicked off with a a keynote that featured insight into Android Jelly Bean, the unveiling of the Nexus 7 tablet and Nexus Q media streaming device, plus some seriously amazing demos of Project Glass, among others. Was the two-hour-and-change press conference enough to push Google out in front of the competition? Check out our thoughts after the break. Darren MurphIt's sort of insane to think about how much Google revealed at its opening I/O keynote for 2012. Upon initial digestion, I'm most impressed by Glass, but perhaps more depressed about it than most. Why? As I see it, it's a really, really long ways from reality. The skydiving demo was monumentally impressive, but we know (almost) nothing about how it happened. Will Google pony up for unlimited LTE data for Glass wearers? What happens when you venture into the wilds of Yellowstone where there's no signal? Is there even infrastructure in place today for hordes of Glass wearers? I'm delighted that Glass is a real project at Google, but I'm trying to push it to the back of my mind for the next decade -- I doubt we'll see anything of substance on the mainstream front for a majorly long time, but I'd love to be proven wrong, and I can't wait to test out an Explorer Edition in 2013. That aside, the Nexus 7 just feels like a rehashed Kindle Fire. A powerful one, yes, but it really doesn't strike me as the device that'll change the tablet game. Had ASUS somehow managed to hit the $99 price point (even subsidized with ads), then I'd be singing a different tune. I'm also distraught by how ecosystems truly are taking over, and sadly, diverging from one another. I feel like I'm being forced to get with the Google+ program or else miss out on loads of amazing Google content. And until Facebook allows me to port over years of memories, I'm not going anywhere. I'm stuck. (You can read more on my take on ecosystems here.) I couldn't be happier about Jelly Bean. The features shown on stage are truly terrific, and the offline voice dictation and more useful voice searching both one-upped Siri in my mind. Part of me wishes the brains behind this stuff and Siri would just come together to create one all-encompassing ball of awesomeness, but I'm betting the SEC wouldn't take too kindly to that idea. Or most sane people, actually. Zach HonigOK, so now Microsoft's scramble to announce Surface last week seems a bit more justified. But, just a bit. Those Windows 8 tablets have little in common with Google's budget offering, but I suppose the fact that the Nexus 7 too offers a touchscreen, web access and video playback makes it a threat to MS. But will Surface have an impact on Nexus? That's a bit less likely -- unless the software giant plans to steal Goog's thunder with a sub-$200 price tag of its own (which, based on the hardware we saw last Monday, would drop the company's margins far into the red). Both companies are targeting entirely different segments, with Surface aiming for price-elastic businesses and professionals, and Nexus 7 destined for the sensitive consumer market -- the folks who would otherwise be picking up a Kindle Fire. It's that slate's fate that's a bit more questionable. A $199 7-inch tablet from a household name is what gave the Fire mass appeal, despite its locked-down OS and hefty build. Now, Google is stepping in with an arguably stronger offering in the Nexus 7, with a 1280 x 800 IPS display, quad-core Tegra 3 chipset and, perhaps the biggest feature of all, Android 4.1. That's not to mention the NFC functionality, accelerometer, GPS, magnetometer and gyroscope that combine to deliver an experience that goes far beyond content consumption. For reading books and watching flicks, the Fire's still got it, but if you're looking to do all that and more -- for the exact same price, mind you -- that aging tablet is about to be extinguished. I'm a Kindle Fire owner myself, and while I don't plan to unload that seven incher on Craigslist, my Nexus 7 order is signed and sealed -- and I'll be counting the days until it's delivered. Brian HeaterSure, he's got one of the best jobs out there, but I don't envy Vic Gundotra -- not today, at least. The Google exec joked about his "Taylor Swift moment," and like the "Love Story" singer totally hijacked by a bit of unscripted Kanye craziness, it was hard not to feel for him. After all, he was tasked with presenting one of the least sexy announcements of today's press conference (Google+ Events), only to be interrupted by co-founder, Sergey Brin, who hit the stage with Project Glass on his head, introing a demo that employed skydivers leaping from a blimp above San Francisco, bike riders and rock climbers repelling down the side of Moscone Center. Granted, Project Glass isn't nearly as polished as Jelly Bean or either of the new Nexus devices, but it marks a return to the risk-taking company we all fell in love with, the Google that pre-dates the shutdown of labs, a company focused not just on innovation, but way-out-there innovation. "Jetsons stuff," as our own Darren Murph put it during our liveblog. Project Glass is a reminder what Google was when it started, so it's only fitting that Brin was there to oversee it. It's also a solid reminder of the role Brin has taken on since co-founder Larry Page took over CEO duties from Eric Schmidt, as the guy who gets to ride around in self-driving cars and the like. Best of all, the company capped that portion of the presentation off by letting the crowd of devs know that it's not simply a pipe dream, with early Glass developer units shipping next year. Well played, Google. Billy SteeleEven though we'd seen just about everything Google had to offer in the hour leading up the I/O keynote, I must say the Glass move to Kanye the keynote was a welcome surprise. As a semi-jaded Verizon Galaxy Nexus owner, I'm stoked to hear that the Android 4.1 update will begin rolling out next month. I don't expect it cure my connectivity issues, but at least I'll have the freshest unskinned version of Google's prized OS, right? Google Now is going to be an immensely helpful tool -- especially when I'm traveling in an unfamiliar city and need to keep transportation details handy. After announcements like this one for Jelly Bean, I'm reminded of how few Android handsets actually sport the latest operating system. If history is any indication, those about to be ushered into the bowl of tasty candies will be even fewer than those that received a ticket to the Ice Cream Sandwich shindig. I'm going to reserve judgment on the Nexus 7... for now. The folks from Mountain View showed us just enough today to highlight the strengths while providing some rather stiff competition for the Kindle Fire. However, the camera didn't look particularly impressive (I know, it's a tablet -- but still) and I'm not completely convinced the reading software offers a better experience than Amazon's option. The gaming demo looked pretty good, but we'll have to see just how well it performs when the Engadget crew puts it through its proper paces. Sure, the Nexus Q is quite dapper and I'm thrilled to see it being made in the States, but for what it is, I'm left wondering if folks will commit $300 to the cause. Right now, I'm thinking not. So, about that Glass demo. I don't think I've seen a better or more entertaining method for an outfit to showcase how new tech can be used than with skydiving, mountain biking and repelling. I mean, we were really only lacking some pyrotechnics of some sort (planned, of course) to cover all of the bases. Kudos to the crew for making folks eager to drop $1,500 on a pair of specs that aren't even 100 percent finished yet. Tim Cook may need go all X Games at Apple's fall event to keep up -- something along the lines of Red Bull's New Year's events, perhaps. Sarah SilbertI'll hand it to Google -- a skydiving stunt, well-produced videos showcasing Project Glass and fun on-stage demos added up to a string of announcements that surpassed the pre-I/O hype. That keynote may have left me feeling exhilarated about the company's latest developments, but once that buzz wore off and Mountain View's hardware offerings reverted back to their life-like dimensions, things looked a little less thrilling. The blogosphere's early consensus on the Nexus Q media player seems to be a resounding "meh," and what else could it be given that $299 price tag? The Nexus 7 tablet looks more promising, as the Tegra 3 processor, NFC capability and 1280 X 800 IPS-based display all smack of a high-quality product. Just like Microsoft throwing its weight behind Windows 8 by outing the Surface slate, Google unveiling its own tablet to launch with Jelly Bean is a great way to show users exactly how it intends for the OS to be experienced. And really, it was the software introduced today that has me the most stoked. Android 4.1 looks delicious, with offline voice input, dynamic new search functions and a slick retooled notifications system. Google is streamlining and enhancing its OS in all the right ways, and I imagine Android's notorious "learning curve" is leveling out in the process. As nice as Jelly Bean looks, though, I know it'll be ages before it makes its way to my Galaxy Note. Sure, there are far more Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus and Xoom owners out there, but one of the OS' strengths is its presence on such a wide variety of devices. Unless Google's going to commandeer both the hardware and software sides of its Android ecosystem, it needs to work with carriers, hardware manufacturers and developers to roll out its latest software to many more handsets -- and stat. Richard LaiThis is, without a doubt, the funnest Google keynote ever, and most of the fun stemmed from the fact that Project Glass was used as a helmet cam to broadcast live video feeds from the sky. Yet I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't disappointed. For something that has so much potential, Google's stunt did a terrible job at convincing me that this is the future. What does the interface look like? What does Sergey want to do with these glasses? What are the other applications? There's just so much more that I wanted to see in live action. But hey, Sergey's obviously very excited about it and couldn't keep it to himself, so we shall see where his team gets to in a year's time. On the brighter side, Jelly Bean looks like it's all set to reduce the dumbness of Ice Cream Sandwich, and that's exactly what Android needs to shed its nerdy image. On top of the improved graphics performance, I'm particularly excited about the smarter widgets and input methods, while offline Google Maps and Google Play's new content types will also give Android a nice little boost. Naturally, this makes the highly affordable and lightweight Nexus 7 even more appealing to newcomers, though I do worry about the tablet's lack of rear camera and SD card slot. These cost reductions may make sense to increase market penetration, but with internal storage limited to 16GB maximum and no neat way for expansion (let's face it: OTG is not a pretty alternative), comes a dilemma: you need a personal hotspot to access the rest of your content in the cloud while mobile, but that sucks up a considerable amount of bandwidth, and not everyone can afford unlimited tethering (if you can, chances are you already have a tablet). This means that the Nexus 7 may struggle to get people using the tablet outside the home, and perhaps it would make sense for carriers to bundle it with an unlimited mobile hotspot plan at lower rates. And lastly, the Nexus Q. Even though it's marketed as a more capable and hackable streamer than the Apple TV, its $299 price tag will be a big obstacle for most people. But then again, this futuristic-looking device isn't made for "most people." Buddying up with the renowned Triad Speakers (I know these guys, and they mean business when it comes to audio), Google clearly wants the Nexus Q to be seen as a high-end smart entertainment hub; and by taking advantage of users with a higher budget, the company will slowly turn Android into a cool party machine. Seriously, the more I look at the introduction video clips, the more I want to try it with a bunch of friends. That said, I still hope the Q will get subsidized in the near future, which would obviously require the multimedia part of Google Play to do very well. So start spending, folks! Don Melanson There were a lot of big developments to digest during Google's I/O keynote today, but one small, almost throwaway line stood out to me. While running down the specs of the Nexus Q, Google's Matt Hershenson noted that the device has a micro USB port to support future accessories and "encourage general hackability." With an audience primarily made up of developers, that statement was unsurprisingly greeted with a round of applause. It's also something you don't usually hear a large company say about a big new product -- Microsoft and the Kinect comes to mind, but Redmond's embrace of DIY culture only came after hackers and modders had their way with the device. Michael GormanWhat a day. Google unloaded a lot on us at its opening Google I/O 2012 keynote, with a trio of hardware highlights and a new version of its mobile OS. Jelly Bean's not the revelation that was ICS, but it'll make living in Google's growing ecosystem a bit easier with Google Now, its improved home screen and refreshed notifications system, among other additions. Jelly Bean's first residence, the Nexus 7 tablet, however, has the potential to be a much bigger deal. Naturally, everyone's comparing the thing to the Kindle Fire, and while the screen size and price tag are the same, such a comparison strikes me as somewhat inappropriate. The Nexus 7's a proper tablet providing the full, stock Android experience and new, if not bleeding-edge, quad-core silicon -- not some bit of last-gen hardware running a closed custom OS. Because Google and ASUS are selling a quality, 7-inch slate with an HD IPS display for the same price as the Fire, they stand a good chance to get a meaningful number of new folks on the Android tablet bandwagon. Android slate sales have lagged since they first hit the market, but Amazon showed that such devices can be sold in bulk when the price is right, and the Nexus 7 provides an even better value proposition than its Kindle competition. Now, I'm not saying it'll overtake the iPad in market share, but I could certainly see the Nexus 7 chip away at Apple's lead in the tablet space. I can honestly say that this is the first Android slate that has me truly tempted to part with my own cash. As for Google's other Nexus reveal, the Q, I'm left wondering how it'll be received by the buying public. Sure, the hardware is slick, sturdy and handsome. And, I'm enamored with its encouragement of real, human-to-human social interaction through an 'everyone's a DJ' party approach to music streaming. The problem is, such functionality is being pitched as the Nexus Q's raison d'être, and at $300 a pop, I'm not sure how many party people will find it worth the money. Most of the time when I'm listening to tunes at home, it's just me and my dog, and he's yet to express displeasure with my DJ-ing skills or demonstrate he knows how to use Android. My point is, I don't see the soiree sphere aspect holding that much appeal, particularly in light of cheaper options that can do what the Nexus Q does while also granting access to content outside the Google ecosystem. That said, I love that it's built right here in the USA, and I dig its 25 watt amp that provides a quality audio punch. I'm also looking forward to seeing what comes of the "hackability" and accessories enabled by the Micro USB port -- but for now, you can count me among the Nexus Q skeptics. Lastly, Project Glass, the unexpected star of day one of the Google I/O 2012 show. What an entrance! From Sergey Brin hijacking the day's proceedings to the skydiving, biking and repelling that brought several pairs of Glasses to the stage, it was an incredible PR stunt. And it worked. The buzz around Project Glass is now louder than ever, and Brin further fed the hype by allowing I/O attendees to pre-order a developer pair of the tech specs for $1500 each. We also got a few more tidbits about the forthcoming optics, namely that Google's still experimenting with connectivity options and various control inputs (touch, voice, and head gestures). Like Brian, I love seeing Google on the bleeding edge of innovation with Project Glass, but unfortunately, all those unresolved issues mean that we won't be seeing hardware on the heads of consumers any time soon. Good thing I'll only have to wait a year to get my mitts on a pair... I know a couple guys with Explorer Edition specs on the way. Jon FingasBest Google event ever -- if not one of the best tech events for anyone, in terms of pure showmanship. Most of the two hours was pure meat, and even if you argue that most of the Project Glass segment was fluff, it was exciting fluff. The highlight is definitely the Nexus 7. Yes, it's a cheap tablet with no rear camera and no SD card slot. But it remains true that you're looking at a $199 tablet with a quad-core processor, a high-quality display, and the latest version of Android. How can you ignore that? Despite Google's lack of marketing reach, this is by far the best value for the money in Android tablets. Android 4.1 fixes a lot of the chronic performance issues that have dogged Android while one-upping (if very clearly riffing on) Siri. The one catch is that I can't see Google suddenly moving the needle on Android market share -- the Nexus 7 is being sold at cost, and any retailers that carry it will certainly push the price out of that magic zone. If there's a deeper concern, it's the Nexus Q; not for the $299 price (it's a more self-contained device than the Apple TV), but for what it says about Google's ecosystem. Remember Android@Home last year? Nothing materialized from third parties, and here we are a year later with the only halfway related accessory coming from Google itself. Either Google took the reins shortly afterwards, or it was met with dead silence from third parties. Whatever you think of Apple, it has no trouble marshalling accessory support, and that goes a long way towards courting fence-sitters. I hope Google isn't leaning too heavily on the Nexus Q to prove that Android can do whole-home media, because it's too expensive and too Google-specific (what, no DLNA or Netflix?) to really fly. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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