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- Internet Archive puts all TV news since 2009 online, helps you stay classy
- We're liveblogging HTC's big reveal tomorrow at 11am ET! (update: teaser)
- SkyDrive adds recycle bin, Excel surveys for the chronically indecisive
- JetBlue Ka-band high-speed internet now arriving in early 2013, eight times faster than the competition
- Fox kicks off its Digital HD initiative by joining Google Play and YouTube, offering movies early
- Project Holodeck gets help from Razer, swaps Kinect for Move tracking
- Panasonic Toughbook 19 gets Ivy Bridge upgrade, small price bump
- Polaroid XS7, XS20 and XS100 Sports Cameras run $69 and up, we snap away at Photokina (sample video)
- RIM licenses Microsoft's exFAT file system to stuff extra-large files into BlackBerry devices
- Impossible Instant Lab iPhone photo booth hands-on (video)
- The Engadget Interview: LG Mobile's Chief Research Engineer Dr. Henry Nho on the Optimus G (video)
- Amped Wireless adds a dual-band access point to its range of super-strength networking gear
- ioSafe takes to Indiegogo to raise funds for the N2, its new disaster-proof NAS
- iPhoneTrip SIM rental review: the best way to keep your smartphone connected while abroad
- VOX jams guitar amps into Audio-Technica headphones, dubs them Amphones (ears-on)
- ZTE marketing guy goes crazy with unknown WP8 handset and Gaussian blur
- Hasselblad H5D brings the megapixels to Photokina, we go hands-on
- Twitter revamps its iPad app for expanded content, adds header photos and image streams
- Apple's Jony Ive tapped to design one-off Leica M for charity auction
- Hasselblad Lunar mirrorless camera hands-on
- Lensbaby Spark delivers selective focus for 80 bucks, we go hands-on (sample images)
- Beats Pill Bluetooth speaker spotted at FCC and HMV: take one and call Dr. Dre in the morning
- Leica V-Lux 4 superzoom hands-on (video)
- Netflix for iPhone update adds 'continue watching' bar, more titles to home screen (video)
- Leica S-System hands-on (video)
- Dropbox iOS app update adds sharing to Facebook and Twitter, tacks on AirPrint for good measure
- Hasselblad announces Lunar mirrorless camera, fancies up Sony's NEX-7 for 5,000 euros
- Amazon brings Cloud Player music service to the UK: choice of free or premium tiers from £6 per year
- Colors! Samsung's Galaxy Camera pops at Photokina with vibrant orange and magenta paint jobs
- Motorola's RAZR i: benchmarking Intel's first 2GHz Medfield smartphone
- MasterCard announces PayPass User Interface SDK, lets devs roll their own NFC payment-enabled apps
- Leica D-Lux 6 and V-Lux 40 hands-on (video)
- Samsung starts producing faster 2GB LPDDR3 memory for mobile devices, 128GB flash storage too
- Leica M-E is a $5,450 M9 with new color scheme, minor feature exclusions (hands-on video)
- Motorola RAZR i: hands-on with the 2GHz Android phone (video)
- Fujifilm X-E1 hands-on (video)
- Fujifilm's XF1 makes a fashion statement at Photokina, we go hands-on (video)
- New Leica M camera has live-view and 1080p video capture, we go hands-on (video)
- Motorola announces Intel-powered RAZR i, launches in Europe next month
- Google+ has 400 million members, a quarter of whom are active each month
| Internet Archive puts all TV news since 2009 online, helps you stay classy Posted: 18 Sep 2012 11:46 AM PDT Wish you could spend your evenings and weekends reliving the halcyon days of broadcast news? You should head on over to the Internet Archive. Founder Brewster Kahle has collected TV news from 20 major channels since 2009, and is making them available online from today. The archive stretches from the 24-hour CNN through to The Daily Show -- with whole episodes available to rent for a fee of $50 per disc. Kahle's planning to add additional years in reverse chronological order at least back to 2002, since that's when closed captioning (which the system uses to catalog the footage) was introduced. Unless, of course, we all fancy transcribing an hour or two of Channel 4 News circa 1975 to help out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We're liveblogging HTC's big reveal tomorrow at 11am ET! (update: teaser) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 11:30 AM PDT HTC isn't betraying too much with its event invite, but we've got our suspicions about what the Taiwanese company has up its sleeve. Maybe there will even be a few surprises in store for us, who knows? That's why we had to accept HTC's invite and will be there live, in person to experience the reveal ourselves. Since you can't be there (and we wouldn't want you to be square), join us tomorrow morning at 11am ET and follow along in the liveblog right here -- we'll know you're with us in spirit. Update: How about that: the company just whittled down the possibilities through an official teaser on its Facebook page. All we see is the corner of a Windows Phone, the event date and a promise that it's a day "when beautiful hardware meets stunning software." It doesn't take much sleuthing to deduce that this is HTC's turn at a Windows Phone 8 device launch, and that we may well see devices like the 8X when the New York City gathering gets started. Jon Fingas contributed to this post. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SkyDrive adds recycle bin, Excel surveys for the chronically indecisive Posted: 18 Sep 2012 11:19 AM PDT For all of the talk of cloud backups and sync, there isn't always a safety net when working from the cloud itself -- delete a file online and it might be gone forever. With that in mind, Microsoft just brought Windows' recycle bin concept to SkyDrive through a low-key update. You can now delete anything immediately, knowing that you can change your mind within three days -- and longer still, should the recycle bin occupy less than 10 percent of the storage limit. If you're just as uncertain about creating content as scrapping it, SkyDrive has also received support for creating and sharing Excel surveys to narrow down the scope of a project. The recycle bin should slide into your SkyDrive account within the next day; Excel surveys aren't yet polished enough, but they should be ready "soon." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 18 Sep 2012 10:52 AM PDT JetBlue Airways' high-speed wireless initiative is being held in a flight pattern until "early 2013," apparently. The company announced as much in a detailed blog post this afternoon, which also compared speeds of its forthcoming in-plane high-speed internet to the competition -- JetBlue's Ka-band operates roughly eight times faster than the Ku-band competition, and over nine times faster than ATG. Moreover, Ka-band can scale to a full plane of passengers, meaning everyone gets the "at-home experience" they'd like regardless of how many folks are signed on. As previously noted, the "basic Wi-Fi" service with JetBlue will cost nothing -- which sounds to us like there are plans to reveal a more expensive tier (or tiers) in the near future. But then again, we really like free things. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fox kicks off its Digital HD initiative by joining Google Play and YouTube, offering movies early Posted: 18 Sep 2012 10:31 AM PDT Fox embraced a radical thought when it outlined its Digital HD initiative earlier this month: customers are more likely to buy digital movies if the content isn't artificially delayed and priced to match the releases on conventional discs. The studio is about to see if that gamble on common sense pays off. As of today, you'll find 600-plus Fox movies ready to buy or rent in HD across every major digital video store in the US, with many downloads cleared to arrive ahead of their physical counterparts at lower prices that reflect a disc-free reality. The media giant has also decided to play nicely with Google after a longstanding absence, putting its movies and TV shows on Google Play Movies and YouTube. Its tentpole movie release Prometheus is unsurprisingly being used as the prime incentive to try Digital HD; the title is available online three weeks before the Blu-ray launch at a more reasonable $15 price. The sci-fi thriller is even Fox's first movie destined for UltraViolet cloud lockers. Only Americans will have expanded access to movies and TV at first, but it shouldn't be too long before many countries can be creeped out by Michael Fassbender's android -- including on their Android devices. TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX ADVANCES ENTERTAINMENT WITH DIGITAL HD™ Digital Model Expands Ownership Experience with HD, Affordable Pricing and Early Access Up to 600 Digital HD™ Movies Available Immediately from Fox in over 50 Countries LOS ANGELES – Sept. 18, 2012– Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment today announced the launch of DIGITAL HD™ -- a new initiative that allows consumers to download or stream their favorite Fox movies on a variety of connected devices. Customized for today's digital lifestyles, more than 600 Fox films can now be enjoyed anywhere, anytime in amazing high-definition immediately in the U.S. from Amazon, CinemaNow, Google Play, iTunes, PlayStation, VUDU, Xbox Live and YouTube. The epic sci-fi thriller PROMETHEUS is also available today on DIGITAL HD™ for less than $15, arriving three weeks before Blu-ray, DVD and video-on-demand (VOD). Digital HD™ combines four key benefits into one offering with earlier access to new releases, attractive pricing, cloud storage and availability across multiple devices. Whether the plan involves watching Fox movies on connected HDTVs in your living room, or on your tablet or smartphone on the run, Digital HD™ offers up versatility and convenience. "With almost 800 million broadband connected devices globally, and millions of people accessing entertainment on those devices, we feel the medium's time has come,'' said Mike Dunn, President Worldwide, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. "DIGITAL HD™ redefines digital ownership in a way that presents consumers with a full range of benefits in a coherent way, and it allows them the chance to build digital movie collections that can literally be carried in the palms of their hands. " "Available in more than 50 countries, DIGITAL HD™ is a brand that will define the convenience and selection that digital ownership brings," added Mary Daily, President of Worldwide Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. "Over time, DIGITAL HD™ will embody the benefits of HD quality and the ultimate all-access pass to the best in entertainment." Today's launch will coincide with the most extensive all-digital media campaign to date for digital movies that will reach over 100 million active movie viewers across online retailer sites and through the No. 1 sports, music and gaming sites. PROMETHEUS on DIGITAL HD™ is also Fox's first UltraViolet-enabled title. Additional DIGITAL HD™ new releases this year include ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT, THE WATCH and DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Project Holodeck gets help from Razer, swaps Kinect for Move tracking Posted: 18 Sep 2012 10:17 AM PDT The group of folks bent on crafting a real-life version of Star Trek's "Holodeck" -- a virtual playground, essentially -- are getting official support from gaming hardware company Razer. That support means not only access to Razer's hardware but also the company's staff of trained professionals. The Project Holodeck team have already implemented Razer's "Hydra" -- a PC-based motion controller that originally shipped with Portal 2 -- into their work on Holodeck showcase game, "Wild Skies." But that's not the only big news for Project Holodeck, as the team recently swapped Microsoft's Kinect motion tech for Sony's PlayStation Move motion tech. Project lead James Iliff told RoadtoVR.com, "The Kinect hardware is extremely lacking in fidelity. Every point the Kinect tracks is filled with unmanageable jitter, rendering the data useless for anything other than the most simple of interactions. We tried very hard to get around this with several software algorithms we wrote, to get multiple Kinects to communicate with each other, however this did not really make anything more accurate unfortunately." In place of Kinect, the team strapped a PlayStation Move setup to a Pro-Tec skateboard helmet, and combined that tracking with the Hydra's motion control and Oculus Rift's head-mounted display. The result is ... well, it's a person standing in a room with a whole bunch of electronics attached to their person. But also, it allows players to interact in a 3D environment -- from perception to engagement. The team's still got plenty of work ahead of them, as evidenced by their latest video (below), but it sounds like things are coming together more cohesively than before. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Panasonic Toughbook 19 gets Ivy Bridge upgrade, small price bump Posted: 18 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT There's no doubt Panasonic keeps its Toughbook 19 line updated with the recent times, and today's no exception. This time out a processor upgrade is the main change, with the company announcing the rugged convertible will now ship sporting one of Intel's latest CPU creations -- a Core i5-3320M vPro, to be precise. That's not all, however, since there are also improvements in battery life, the addition of USB 3.0 ports and the option to load it with a beefier 500GB hard drive. Naturally, these nice enhancements had a mild effect on the price tag, making the jump from the previous starting price of $3,349 to a slightly heftier $3,549. But, hey, if you're already spending that much, 200 extra bucks shouldn't cause you any sweats. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Polaroid XS7, XS20 and XS100 Sports Cameras run $69 and up, we snap away at Photokina (sample video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:46 AM PDT Polaroid may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of adventure-friendly video cams -- Contour and GoPro own that space, with Sony now making a heavy push of its own -- but the insta-film maker turned camera manufacturer now has a rugged lineup of its own. First off the assembly line is the XS7, a $69 cam that packs a waterproof housing (rated to 10 meters), 720p video capture and a 2-inch touchscreen. This model is as entry level as they come, and Polaroid reps said to expect to see it in stores like Toys 'R' Us. If you're slightly more serious about image quality, you might opt for the XS20, which packs a "professional" CMOS sensor, 720p shooting, a waterproof housing (20 meters) and a battery that's rated for up to 3 hours of use. It also includes a fixed lens with a 120-degree viewing angle that's surrounded by eight LCDs, for shooting in the dark. Finally, The XS100 is what you might consider to be Polaroid's flagship, with support for 1080p video, an adjustable frame rate, a 170-degree lens, an orientation sensor for auto rotation and a $200 price tag. All three cameras use microSD cards, but the XS100 also includes 32MB of internal storage, letting you store a small collection of 5-megapixel stills. The sports-shooting trio may not blow you away spec-wise, and we also weren't floored by the design, but they weren't created to lead the market from a performance perspective -- Polaroid is playing up the cost angle here, and we don't blame them. Based on our quick test of the XS7, image quality was passable, but you're not going to want to use it for close-up shots as we did here. Even with the underwater housing removed, frames were either under or overexposed, generally unsharp and audio wasn't terribly clear. It's worth noting that we played with a pre-production sample, that'll run you just shy of $70 when it does hit stores. That said, if quality is key and you don't mind dropping a few hundred bucks, you'll probably be happier with a more established model. Because we're at a photo show and Polaroid was generous enough to let us take the XS7 for a spin, we figured there's no better way to demonstrate this camera's capabilities by using it to film our hands-on -- you'll find that video tour just past the break. Steve Dent contributed to this report. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RIM licenses Microsoft's exFAT file system to stuff extra-large files into BlackBerry devices Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:32 AM PDT RIM has big ambitions for media on BlackBerry hardware -- really big. Accordingly, it just reached a patent licensing deal with Microsoft that lets it use the exFAT file system on "certain BlackBerry devices." We have a hunch that's a reference to future BlackBerry 10 phones and tablets rather than retrofits of existing (and likely incapable) mobile gear. The move will let any devices that do recognize exFAT handle much larger files, such as long videos, in addition to streamlining transfers between computers and other gadgets. The conditions of the deal haven't been given out, but we suspect RIM's negotiations with Microsoft were on more voluntary terms than those faced by Android supporters. Microsoft Signs Licensing Agreement With Research In Motion exFAT file technology helps mobile industry leader provide cutting-edge capabilities to customers. REDMOND, Wash. - Sept. 18, 2012 - Microsoft Corp. announced today that Microsoft and Research In Motion (RIM) have signed a patent licensing agreement that gives RIM broad access to the latest Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) for certain BlackBerry devices of RIM. exFAT is a modern file system from Microsoft that facilitates large files for audiovisual media and enables seamless data portability and an easy interchange between desktop PCs and other electronic devices. exFAT improves on its predecessor, the FAT system, and greatly expands the size of files that flash memory devices can handle by five times over previous FAT technology. It also increases the speed with which those files can be accessed. The exFAT file system not only facilitates large files for use of audiovisual media, it enables seamless data portability and an easy interchange between desktop PCs and a variety of electronic devices. "Today's smartphones and tablets require the capacity to display richer images and data than traditional cellular phones," said David Kaefer, general manager of Intellectual Property (IP) Licensing at Microsoft. "This agreement with RIM highlights how a modern file system, such as exFAT can help directly address the specific needs of customers in the mobile industry." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Impossible Instant Lab iPhone photo booth hands-on (video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:29 AM PDT Life's hard when you're an analog enthusiast in the early 21st century. Thankfully, however, you're not alone in this world -- there are fellow travelers like the folks behind The Impossible Project, folks who bought a Polaroid factory to continue production on the company's famed instant film. As we noted roughly a week ago, the company's also launched a Kickstarter to create an iPhone-friendly gadget to go along with it. It's since handily met its goal and is still chugging along at around $440,000 (from a proposed $250,000), with a full 19 days to go. The company also made an appearance on the show floor here at Photokina to show off what its been working on. The Impossible Instant Lab is still in the prototype stages, as with a number of devices we've seen here today -- though it's fully operational. We got a demo of the thing from one of the folks at Impossible -- just load the film into the rollers on the bottom, extend the old timey accordion top, choose the proper settings in the company's iPhone app and place it in the holder. Right now, the company's only got an iPhone 4 holder (created with a 3D printer), though they plan to ship it with one for an iPhone 5. Impossible's also looking into other handsets and currently has a poll on its Kickstarter page where you can vote for ones you'd like to see. Given the number of Android handsets floating around, it's not really possible (read: Impossible) for the company to appease everyone, especially since the length of the device's neck needs to be altered based on the phones' screens, meaning they can't just make a modular holder.
The lens inside the device picks up the light from the camera's screen. Once the process is finished, the phone's flash will be trigger and the rollers will spit out the photo. You'll have to shield the photo from the light for a bit to ensure that it comes out properly. In fact, there are a lot of things that can go wrong in there -- in our demo, the photo apparently wasn't held away from the lights for long enough and came out undeveloped. When everything goes right, however, you've got a perfect little Polaroid-style photo. There's still time left to pledge on Kickstarter. $229 will get you a device before its planned February release. When it hits retail, it'll run $299. Pricey, but man, it's pretty darn cool -- and it's easily the coolest thing we've seen at Photokina thus far. Steve Dent contributed to this report. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Engadget Interview: LG Mobile's Chief Research Engineer Dr. Henry Nho on the Optimus G (video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:15 AM PDT
After yesterday's hands-on with the Optimus G we had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Henry Nho, LG Mobile's Chief Research Engineer, to discuss the technology behind the company's beautiful new flagship smartphone. We talked about the challenges his team encountered while designing the world's first handset to feature Qualcomm's 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC -- including issues such as power and thermal management. Making the handset 8.45mm (0.33-inch) thin was another major engineering feat made possible by the Zerogap Touch display, sealed 2100mAh Li-polymer battery and compact 13-megapixel camera module. Want to know more? Go ahead and watch our video interview. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amped Wireless adds a dual-band access point to its range of super-strength networking gear Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT Amped Wireless has a single-minded purpose of eliminating blackspots in your WiFi coverage with a range of routers, adapters and repeaters to pump out 600mW of internet where you need it most. Now that it's done adding dual-band technology to its lineup of products, it's busting out a similarly-equipped access point that promises to add a further 7,500 square feet of coverage to your home. Capable of automatically setting itself up on your home (or office) network, it's packing the same USB port for storage that its recently revamped brothers have seen. It'll be available at the end of September for $170, and you can find a high-powered collection of words and punctuation arranged in the form of a press release included after the break. AMPED WIRELESS AP20000G DUAL BAND WI-FI ACCESS POINT, DELIVERS UP TO 7,500 SQ FT OF WI-FI COVERAGE Amped Wireless' announces the long range, High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Access Point with Industry's Best Combination of Wi-Fi Range, Ease of Use, Features and Performance for Any Environment and Product Chino, CA – September 18th, 2012 – Amped Wireless, the leading manufacturer of high power, long range wireless communication products for the home and office, today announced the launch of the AP20000G High Power Wireless-N 600 milliwatts (mW), Gigabit Dual Band Access Point, a versatile wireless access point designed to deliver powerful, long range, high-performance wireless access for existing home and business networks. Through the use of a high speed 620MHz processor, premium high power Wi-Fi 600mW 2.4GHz amplifiers, high power 5.0GHz Wi-Fi amplifiers and two dual band high gain antennas, the Amped Wireless High Power Gigabit Dual Band Access Point delivers up to 7,500 square feet of simultaneous dual band Wi-Fi coverage for large homes and offices. The AP20000G features a USB port to share files on a USB storage devices among local connected users and four gigabit wired ports for connecting additional wired network devices such as, servers, computers and other networking accessories. The High Power Dual Band Wi-Fi Access Point includes premium software features, such as guest networks, adjustable Wi-Fi coverage controls, and support for the latest Wi-Fi security to secure your Wi-Fi experience. Advanced software allows the AP20000G to automatically configure itself to a network's settings without the user's input or configuration. The AP20000G simply connects to the router's network port, automatically configures itself and creates a new wireless and wired network for connecting wired or wireless computers, printers and other network devices. Key Features The Amped Wireless Difference: High Power Technology Pricing and Availability | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ioSafe takes to Indiegogo to raise funds for the N2, its new disaster-proof NAS Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT ioSafe makes hard-drives so sturdy that it can reduce fire, electricity and Terrence O'Brien to tears at the mere thought of them. Now, it's producing a new disaster-proof NAS, but as a small business, needs a cash injection from consumers to make it happen. As such, it's taking to Indiegogo to raise funds for the ioSafe N2, a private cloud Synology-powered NAS that'll keep up to 8TB of data protected from the elements. On the outside, a steel body that'll take a building collapsing onto it protects a chemically bound fireproof insulation and water / heat barrier will stop your discs flooding or melting, depending on the catastrophe. The company's planning to have the units shipping by January next year, when the 23lb box will set you back $600 without discs -- and if you're hard enough, you can find PR after the break. ioSafe® Announces the N2 Private Cloud: a Disaster-Proof Network Attached Storage Solution to be Crowd-Funded via Indiegogo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| iPhoneTrip SIM rental review: the best way to keep your smartphone connected while abroad Posted: 18 Sep 2012 08:31 AM PDT In the seemingly unending quest to remain connected while traveling abroad, we recently decided to try yet another option when departing the US for a lengthy amount of time: iPhoneTrip. In a way, it sounds like the perfect solution. A single rental SIM, mailed to your address anywhere in the world, that you don't even have to return when you're done. There are claims of supporting "200+ countries," and if you don't have a smartphone or mobile hotspot at the ready, the company will rent you one of those, too. Of course, we've long since learned to take grandiose claims with an adequate amount of salt. Care to see how iPhoneTrip's rental SIM service stacks up against similar alternatives from Tep Wireless and XCom Global? Read on. The deal iPhoneTrip makes it relatively easy to understand what you're getting. The gist here is easy to grok: if you're planning a trip overseas where you'll need access to mobile data, you can rent a SIM from these guys that'll get you online from your destination without any nasty roaming charges. Despite the company's name, its rental SIMs will function in non-iPhone devices -- any unlocked smartphone or tablet that accepts SIM or micro-SIM cards can take advantage, while iPhones locked to AT&T can also indulge without jailbreaking. (One can only assume that nano-SIMs will pop up on its soon in the very near future in order to serve the blooming iPhone 5 market.) You've got a few basic options. If you'll be staying put in one foreign nation, you can select a single-country SIM. If you're headed to multiple nations in Europe, there's a European SIM. Similarly, those heading to Asia-Pac have a SIM to choose from. And finally, the "global" SIM covers a staggering 200 countries, and is undoubtedly the wise choice for those who want to keep their options open when enticed by an unexpected border crossing. Frustratingly, there's no running list of supported nations on iPhoneTrip's website -- at least not one that's easily discoverable -- but you can tell if the nation(s) you're interested in are covered by "faking" the purchase of a one-nation SIM and spotting the names in the list of selections.
Pricing starts at $5.99 per day to rent a single-country SIM with 50MB of daily data, with $7.99 each day ramping that up to 100MB per day. The "unlimited" option is -- predictably -- not as awesome as it sounds, and it rings up at $14.99 a day for a single country. iPhoneTrip's terms and conditions make it quite clear that "unlimited SIM card plans are subject to fair use terms of 500MB per day," and if you choose to exceed that, you risk having your SIM disabled. Lovely. Granted, "unlimited" hasn't meant "unlimited" in the cellular data world for some time now, but it's still pretty silly that the company's labeling this as such when "500MB/day" would be entirely more accurate. The Europe SIM runs $15.99 per day for "unlimited," while the Asia SIM is inexplicably priced at $22.99/day for the same. Frankly, there's no reason to choose that over the World option, which is priced at daily rates of $9.99 for 50MB, $11.99 for 100MB and $16.99 for "unlimited." If you need to rent yourself an iPhone 4S, one of those can be had for an extra $12.99 each day, while a lowly BlackBerry costs but $4.99 per day. Mobile hotspots start at just $2.99 / day, while an iPad will run you over $20 daily. Needless to say, you're probably better off springing for an unlocked Galaxy Nexus and then reselling it when you're done, or just picking up any 'ole unlocked smartphone on eBay prior to your trip. (But if we're being honest, you wouldn't be reading this article if you weren't already in possession of -- or at least considering the purchase of -- a smartphone.) Pricing in perspective For all but the lightest of users, even 100MB per day is too little. If you're traveling and expect to use Maps to navigate, Google to scope out enjoyable things to do, your email app to keep in touch, Instagram to brag, Foursquare to keep tabs, Facebook to kill time and your cloud drive of choice to sift through flight and hotel confirmation PDFs, it'll be dangerously easy to exceed 100MB in a day. If you consider tethering for even an hour-long browsing session on your laptop, you'll need more than 100MB of data. With that said, we'll focus most of our attention on the unlimited plan -- which, as mentioned, realistically provides 500MB of daily cellular data. If you're heading off to a single country, you're looking at $14.99 per day for that. And wonderfully, that includes America; we've had quite a few friends from other nations ask about staying connected while visiting the US, and this certainly ranks high for convenience. AT&T makes it nearly impossible to rent a data SIM for short-term visits and T-Mobile stores aren't exactly everywhere here. European visitors get it a bit cheaper -- $11.99 per day for an unlimited SIM. Everyone else should just spring for the World option at a daily rate of $16.99. Currently, XCom Global will rent you an aging MiFi for $12.95 per day with "unlimited" data in 195 countries. Truth is it relies on iPhoneTrip just the same, so you can enjoy a mild discount if you're okay using one of those insanely finicky, unquestionably frustrating Novatel MiFi units. For European visitors only, there's another option to consider: Tep Wireless. This company serves Europe exclusively (though it has promised to expand that reach shortly), but its pricing model is a bit different. You'll pay $5 a day for an absolutely brilliant Huawei E586 mobile hotspot with 1GB of total data. An extra 1.4GB of data will run you $55, while an extra 4GB will ding you for $95. Depending on your usage, Tep may be a better deal, but remember this is for a mobile hotspot. Yes, you can carry that in your pocket and let your smartphone siphon from it via WiFi, but it's one extra device to worry about. On the flipside, you can easily use Tep's device to surf on your laptop, while tethering through an iPhoneTrip SIM may or may not cause headaches depending on how heavily you abuse it. You may wonder if it's truly worthwhile to pay upwards of $15 per day to have your smartphone remain online when you travel to a new country. For those familiar with the locale that they're landing in, or for those who have a job that actually lets you ignore email on "vacation," perhaps it's not. For most every other passport-wielding jetsetter, we're guessing that it'd behoove you to keep a data connection nearby. We've explained before the virtues of having a connection while traveling, and when you consider that hotels routinely charge $10, $20 or more per day for a (typically lackluster) WiFi connection that can't leave the hotel grounds, the pricing is a bit more understandable. Alternatively, consider what your home carrier would charge you if you didn't have a data roaming plan in place. AT&T regularly charges around $5 per megabyte for roaming data, and that can soar in some of the more remote nations. Watching a single YouTube video would be about the same as paying for dinner, and even a video of rich people eating rich people food wouldn't justify the trade. AT&T also offers a few international data bundles, but at $120 for 800MB, it's not even on the same playing field as iPhoneTrip. Finally, it's worth noting that those who rent a SIM for 15 to 30 days will get a 10 percent discount on their total bill, while those renting for 31+ days will enjoy a 20 percent discount. The order and acquisition process iPhoneTrip's website may still be stuck in the early 2000s, but it serves its purpose. Selections are obvious and once you choose your dates and your SIM card, you're done. Our rental SIM -- a World variant for 32 days -- was ordered around four weeks prior to our departure. It arrived about two weeks later, along with a "backup SIM" in the event that the primary failed. A nice touch, indeed. Staying connected abroad is perhaps one of the most finicky things to accomplish, so having a backup from the start goes a long way in helping frantic travelers rest a little easier. At midnight on the day of your departure, your SIM will be activated, and you'll receive an email notifying you that it's ready for use. Our unit was an AT&T SIM card, which leads us to believe that iPhoneTrip has simply worked out an agreement with Ma Bell to sell SIMs with international data packs at reduced rates. It makes sense -- iPhoneTrip's list of supported nations is a practical mirror of those supported by AT&T. iPhoneTrip includes all of the instructions you'd need to program your locked iPhone to work internationally (APN reprogramming ain't that hard, as it turns out), and if you're using an unlocked Android phone as this editor did, you'll need only to flip on data roaming in Settings for everything to work as advertised. Performance and protips Our review SIM spent time sucking down emails and translating funny messages in bathroom stalls in Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Greece and the United States. Earlier in the year, we took an XCom Global MiFi through a handful of remote nations in the South Pacific with mostly negative results -- connections were nearly impossible to make and we found ourselves more frustrated than we'd like, greatly impacting productivity. Knowing that iPhoneTrip was at the heart of those units, we had low expectations for this particular SIM as we took off for countries in a different region of the world. Much to our surprise and delight, the iPhoneTrip SIM worked like a champion throughout this editor's month away from home. Our primary test subject was an unlocked Galaxy Nexus with Android 4.1, and after triggering roaming data active, we never had to screw with the settings again. That's impressive. Connections were as solid as we were used to back home -- in other words, generally great, but we did spot a few coverage holes on some of the rail routes through the European countryside. Naturally, you can't blame this on iPhoneTrip -- the SIM won't function if there aren't towers nearby to serve it. Similarly, we've had an iPhoneTrip give us issues in Barcelona during Mobile World Congress, but the fact is that Barcelona's networks are never up to the chore. We tethered on a few occasions, mostly to check email on a laptop and send a few attachments, and never noticed any major issues. On one particularly hairy night, our hotel WiFi went down completely, and being able to tether for a few hours was hugely beneficial. We also never came close to breaching the 500MB per day that our unlimited plan allowed us, and we were able to keep a close eye on usage thanks to Android's inbuilt Data Meter (it's in Settings, just so you know). That's a brilliant, brilliant tool, and for iPhone users, we'd highly recommend resetting your data counter before you land so that you too can have an idea of how much data you've chewed through. We also kept data usage to a minimum by taking advantage of offline Maps on Android. We simply downloaded the cities that we'd be visiting to offline storage while we had WiFi access at a hotel (but back home would've been smarter!). That way, Maps will only need to tap into your data connection when you're searching for landmarks and the like. Wrap-up Perhaps what is most telling about this experiment was that we rarely felt as if anything was different than in our homeland. When we got curious as to whether we had any new messages, we pulled out our smartphone, hit refresh and carried on. When we felt like checking in on Foursquare, we pulled out our phone and did it. Being able to do this in a foreign land without so much as a second thought is insanely refreshing. Particularly for those who have struggled with language barriers and local SIM acquisition routines in the past. Having internet access as soon as you land is an incredibly powerful feeling. You're instantly able to use Maps to navigate to a nearby metro station. You're instantly able to check currency conversion rates. You're instantly able to email your loved ones back home and assure them that you're safe.
Being able to use a smartphone without wondering how much money you're burning up on roaming costs is tremendously useful. Perhaps business travelers will agree with that sentiment the most, but even adventurous vacationers will surely appreciate the ability to journal their excursion via social check-ins, status updates and photo uploads. And, of course, the utility of being able to use online translation services to read signs, Maps to navigate a new place and Google to check the status of your upcoming flight cannot be understated. It's also worth noting that the customer service provided by iPhoneTrip is second to none. Seriously -- this shouldn't be understated -- it's a world-class organization. Yours truly had to cut a trip short by a few days, and within two hours, I had confirmation of a pro-rated refund for the days that wouldn't be used. The company replied via email (on a Saturday, no less) that it would simply deactivate the SIM on the new date of return, and refund the leftover monies back to the original credit card. If you've ever tried to get similar treatment from [insert travel company here] when unexpected events force cancellations, you'll understand just how shocking and impressive this is. Yes, just like at home, you'll hit spots of weak coverage where you can't get anything to load, but we had no complaints whatsoever with iPhoneTrip as a service provider. The frictionless order and delivery process was ideal, and not having to return anything at the conclusion of one's trip is another boon. One could argue that it's tough to put a price on being able to use your phone like a local while traveling, but iPhoneTrip has put a price on it. If you're still balking at the idea of paying around $15 per day for on-demand mobile data regardless of where you go, the service simply isn't for you. For those in the target market, we'd put one of these rental SIMs up there with "passport" and "underwear" when it comes to essentials that you can't leave home without. The Europe SIM provides coverage across Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Vatican City (Holy See). The Asia SIM provides coverage all over Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| VOX jams guitar amps into Audio-Technica headphones, dubs them Amphones (ears-on) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT Guitarists and Bassists have many tools at their disposal for practicing fresh news licks without disturbing others around them. One of our favorites is Vox's AmPlug -- a guitar amp-modeling dongle that plugs into your instrument's 1/4-inch jack, allowing you to connect headphones and an MP3 player to practice privately. Building on the idea, Vox worked with Audio-Technica to simply embed the AmPlug in a new line of headphones, dubbing them Amphones. The company quietly put the cans up on its site recently, and it's now officially ready to shout out load about them. Guitarists can choose from AC-30 (British crunch), Lead (hi-gain) and Twin (clean) variants, and bassists can snag the Bass version, which is based on Vox's AC100. Just like the AmPlug, each Amphone features volume dials -- sadly, these don't go to 11 -- for setting gain, volume and tone, along with a fourth for a built-in effect (compression for the Bass and reverb with the AC30, for example). A duo of triple AAs power the cans and, as you'd expect, the 'phones have a 3.5mm jack for hooking in external sources as well as a 1/4 adapter to plug into your axe. These Vox-styled units will be available in the US sometime in October for $100 a pop (double the cost of an AmPlug). Hungering for more already? We were able to give a pre-production version of the AC30 model a brief run, and you'll find our initial impressions after the break. For the record, this guitar and bass-playing editor was excited about the prospects of the Amphone. While the AmPlug has proved to be staple in my practicing arsenal, it suffers from its less than ideal build quality -- it had to be nursed back together by tape and rubber-bands after only a few months of ownership. Furthermore, the device can sometimes be a nuisance depending on the placement of a guitar's input jack, not to mention dealing will two audio cords for headphones and a music source. Disappointingly, the Amphones feel as passable as the AmPlug -- make no mistake, the cans are about as utilitarian as they come. The design is certainly flexible and light, but the slim amount of padding supplied was hard to forget about when wrapped around this editor's ears. This isn't a set we'd recommend for pure music listening in the least. Even the Vox accents manage look cheap, thanks to an unfortunate choice of metallic-colored paint along the edges. As far as sound goes? Well, it's basically just as passable as the build quality. No matter how we set the dials, the sound of guitar came out very harsh and hard to make out. The plug does have the vibe of an actual AC30 in its voicing, but it comes through as simply a wall of intense overdrive. Further exacerbating the problem, the main volume was insanely loud set to just a mere a two out of 10, leaving little room for mixing in our music or fine-tuning over levels. The on-ear controls are also hard to reach, meaning we had to take the cans off every time we wanted to make an adjustment -- a much easier task with the AmPlug which is always near your fingertips. Hopefully the Amphones will receive a bit of tweaking before their October release, but, as it stands, this editor will be sticking with the AmPlug and his own choice of headphones for practicing -- despite its niggles, it's hands-down the better option. VOX Releases Multifaceted Headphones Featuring High-Quality Sound and Built-in Guitar Amplifier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZTE marketing guy goes crazy with unknown WP8 handset and Gaussian blur Posted: 18 Sep 2012 07:52 AM PDT Who needs a marketing department when you have a personal Sina Weibo account? So reasoned ZTE's marketing strategy manager, Dennis Lui, as he posted the above photo of three ZTE Windows Phones to the internet. The right-hand device is just a regular ZTE Tania and, although it looks like it's running Windows Phone 8, the screen is actually a dead ringer for a certain "WP8 simulator" app available for WP7 phones. The remaining two devices are obscured by a generous helping of blur, but the handset on the left could well be running legit WP8, as evidenced by the shrunken live tiles, hinting that ZTE may be among the first wave of manufacturers diving into the new OS. To further whet our budget hardware appetites, Lui also posted a photo of a Windows 8 or Windows RT tablet (shown after the break), which suggests that ZTE is getting into that game too. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hasselblad H5D brings the megapixels to Photokina, we go hands-on Posted: 18 Sep 2012 07:22 AM PDT Oh, and if the Hasselblad Lunar isn't quite rich enough for your blood, why not take a look at the H5D medium format camera? The device looks a good deal like its predecessor, maintaining a similar video camera-esque form factor, with an optical viewfinder that extends from the front of the body to the back, above a larger, brighter, easier-to-read display. You'll also find a smaller, monochrome display on the top of the camera to the right of the optical viewfinder. The H5D's also a bit more ruggedized than its predecessor, with improved waterproofing and larger controls -- and it certainly does feel like a big, sturdy camera. As with the Lunar, the version we played with is still in prototype stage and wasn't quite functioning perfectly, much to the chagrin of the Hasselblad rep. When the camera hits in December (functioning properly, no doubt), it's going to start at a (perhaps not surprisingly) pricey €13,000 here in Europe, going all the way up to €30,000, depending on whether you opt for the 40-, 50, or 60-megapixel variety -- because hey, what's another €17,000, right? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Twitter revamps its iPad app for expanded content, adds header photos and image streams Posted: 18 Sep 2012 07:21 AM PDT Twitter's iPad app is sometimes the neglected stepchild of its mobile app family: newer features usually come to the Android and iPhone versions first and are handed down to the iPad later, if they come at all. The company is making amends for that in style with a major update to the iPad version as of today. Whether you like them or not, expanded tweets are now baked in and will optionally show some photos, videos and web links within the timeline rather than disrupting the entire experience. The Connect, Discover and Me sections we've seen elsewhere also come to the tablet-tuned app, albeit at the expense of more quickly finding direct messages and lists. You'll soon notice a much more visual spin on people's profiles, regardless of whether or not Apple's slate factors into the daily routine. Both the Twitter site as well as the official Android and iOS apps now show a header photo behind the bio to provide a little more color than avatars and background pictures can manage. If you're on one of the mobile platforms, you'll also see a photo stream in the profile that will help relive memories without hunting down individual tweets. The phone and tablet makeovers require an update to shine, so hit the relevant source link if you're ready for a prettier (if not always more functional) social experience. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apple's Jony Ive tapped to design one-off Leica M for charity auction Posted: 18 Sep 2012 07:02 AM PDT In case the newly announced Leica M simply isn't astronomically expensive enough -- or charity-minded enough, as it were -- Apple's senior VP of design Jony Ive is working with the German photography company on a one-off version set to be auctioned for charity. Given the M's baseline price of €6,200 (about $8,100), we're guessing the one-of-a-kind version designed by one of the world's most influential designers is going to fetch a pretty penny at auction. Like, "sell off one of your extra homes" kind of money. Leica head Dr. Andreas Kaufmann announced the collaboration last night during a Leica event at Photokina -- an event that Ive himself was reportedly set to appear at -- where he said that the auction will be done with U2 frontman (and longtime friend of Ive) Bono Vox. The latest Leica M debuts in early 2013, though we won't see the fruits of Ive and Leica's collaboration for some time as the camera's design has yet to begin. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hasselblad Lunar mirrorless camera hands-on Posted: 18 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT The Lunar has landed -- at Photokina, at least. Hasselblad was showing off a slew of different designs for the forthcoming camera -- and while we were told that its still in prototype mode (both from company reps and signage on the device itself), the camera seemed to be in mostly working order. The first thing you'll notice, once you get past the space-age design, is the fact that the camera really does feel like a rebranded Sony NEX device slipped into a new shell, and as such, it takes those Sony e-mount lenses. And on the back, you'll find that similar collapsible display. That said, it really does feel quite nice in the hand -- the device we played with had a leathery grip -- there are a number of carbon fiber and wood options available, as well. All of this is punctuated by a metal top with large metallic knobs, and inside you'll find an APS-C 24.3 megapixel sensor. The Lunar will start at €5,000 when it launches in Q1 of next year. And in case that's not rich enough for your blood, you can tack a "significant" amount onto that by getting the models decked out in pricier materials. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lensbaby Spark delivers selective focus for 80 bucks, we go hands-on (sample images) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 06:22 AM PDT What do you see when you look through a Lensbaby? Well, take a gander for yourself -- that image just above was shot with the company's new Spark. The $80 selective-focus optic is available for Canon and Nikon mounts, and brings f/5.6 shooting with a 50mm focal length, and, of course, that trademark Lensbaby bokeh. We caught up with the new lens at Photokina, and unlike many of the cameras we've seen so far, we were permitted to shoot some sample images. Snapping with any Lensbaby takes a fair amount of practice and patience, but the Spark is designed to simplify the process somewhat, with an interior barrel that prevents you from venturing too far past the focal plane, along with a more straightforward design -- simply frame your shot, focus and bend the lens towards your subject to blur out any other elements in the scene. Calculating exposure with the Spark can take some work, so we tweaked and cropped our sample images just a bit -- besides that, what you see is what you get, so click through our gallery below to see the Spark, shot by another Spark. So meta. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Beats Pill Bluetooth speaker spotted at FCC and HMV: take one and call Dr. Dre in the morning Posted: 18 Sep 2012 06:17 AM PDT The Beats by Dr. Dre badge has usually been attached to headphones and the occasional laptop or smartphone. We've never really seen it attached to dedicated speakers, however, and that's where both an FCC filing and a sighting at UK retailer HMV's online store raise a few eyebrows. The House that Dre Built appears on the edge of launching the Beats Pill, a Bluetooth wireless speaker with four drivers and a shape that more than explains the medicinal name. While we don't know just how much of that signature Beats thump we'll get, we do know from the FCC that the Pill can serve as a speakerphone, carries an aux-in jack and will last for a typical 8.5 hours on its USB-rechargeable lithium-ion battery. There's also signs of a red version of Beats' Mixr headphones coming at the same time. HMV has publicly scoured its pages of any trace of a ship date or price for the Pill, but cached copies point to a £170 ($276) price and a release around September 28th -- not necessarily trustworthy figures, but they may be in the ballpark. Our only question is whether or not we'll get a dose of the Pill in the US. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leica V-Lux 4 superzoom hands-on (video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 06:08 AM PDT Yep, one more Leica camera to tell you about from this year's Photokina show floor. It's the V-Lux 4 -- a big new superzoom addition to the company's line. Though its got a similar name to the V-Lux 40, the camera's body is a good deal larger -- closer in size and shape to a small DSLR, but still reasonably lightweight. As with the smaller model, the V-Lux 4 features an all black design, with a bright red Leica logo on the front -- in this case, just next to the curving textured handle. Also on top is a pop-out flash that you trigger with a devoted button. The V-Lux 4 is capable of continuous f2.8 zoom, accessible via two buttons -- one on top and the other next to the lens. Also on the rear, you get two viewfinders -- optical on top and a swiveling electronic three-inch display. The camera is available now in Europe for a pricey €699.
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| Netflix for iPhone update adds 'continue watching' bar, more titles to home screen (video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 06:03 AM PDT It's not just the Android side of things that's getting a little love from Netflix, the iPhone app just got a refresh too. The new design brings the mobile version much more inline with the tablet edition that got a revamp last December. The update brings with it the ability to resume watching shows, right from the top of the app view, along with the sliding rows of titles, and custom recommendations that you may be familiar with from other versions. The new interface gets the official walk-through in the video after the break, but as it's available now, you might just want to fondle the source link directly.
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| Leica S-System hands-on (video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 05:48 AM PDT More fun from Leica here at Photokina in Germany -- and this guy is big in every way. It's the S-System, the company's update to its pro-series medium format offering. The successor to the S2 is quite large (even in SLR terms) and is very, very heavy. In fact, you're going to want to work out that upper body before using this thing for any period of time -- that is, once you're done selling your first born child. Aesthetically, the camera looks a good deal like the S2, maintaining its nice looking design with a couple of key differences -- for one thing, there's an extra bump on the top of the camera -- this is where the integrated GPS lives. The 3-inch LCD (which is capable of 16 million colors) is also covered with Gorilla Glass, so you're less likely to crack it if you're rough on the thing (though, again, at these prices, we assume you'll be nicer to it than your own offspring). Look inside the optical viewfinder and you'll get a meter that helps you determine how you're oriented respective to the horizon. The sensor, naturally, has been refreshed as well, now measuring 30 by 44mm, with 37.5 megapixels. And the shutter can do its thing as quickly as 1/1,000 of a second. As for pricing, well -- the Leica rep we spoke with put the camera at (get ready) €19,600. The camera is also launching with four lenses, in case you have a few other kids you're interested in selling.
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| Dropbox iOS app update adds sharing to Facebook and Twitter, tacks on AirPrint for good measure Posted: 18 Sep 2012 05:41 AM PDT On the heels of the preview of its Jelly Bean-flavored Android app, Dropbox has updated its iOS software for mobile devices as well. This time around, the cloud storage outfit threw in sharing directly to Facebook and Twitter. Simply select your social media outlet of choice from the menu and proceed to type the appropriate message. A link to the file will then get comfortable on your timeline once you post the update. If you need to keep matters a bit more private, you can include the info in a Facebook message as well. For those looking to print directly from their cloud libraries, AirPrint support is also included in this version (1.5.5). If you haven't snagged the update just yet, the iTunes link below will lend a hand with said task. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hasselblad announces Lunar mirrorless camera, fancies up Sony's NEX-7 for 5,000 euros Posted: 18 Sep 2012 05:37 AM PDT The bar's pretty high when your company is behind the first camera in space. Hasselblad's looking to build on that theme with its new Lunar mirrorless, which according to the company "revives the timeless charm" of 1957's 500c -- and if nothing else, the camera's got a curvy, space age body, built out of high grade aluminum with either a carbon fiber (available in black, silver or titanium colors) or wood (beech, olive, pear or mahogany) grip. Inside, you'll get a Bionz processor and an APS-C 24.3 megapixel sensor. The Lunar has a 10 frames per second burst mode, full HD recording and sports a 100 to 16000 ISO range. On the rear, you'll find a swiveling three-inch display. All of that's packed into a body that weighs roughly a pound. Update: While we didn't quite realize it at first, the layout of the camera and its specs are clearly that of a rehashed NEX-7. As SonyAlphaRumors points out, the shooter accepts Sony's e-mount lenses and is part of new partnership between the two photography giants -- looks like we're soon to have even more Sony cameras re-purposed as Hasselblad's, similar to Leica and Panasonic. While the NEX-7 itself will run you roughly $1,100 to 1,200k (body-only vs. with a kit lens), SAR has the Lunar pegged at $5,000 Euro (about $6,530, or six NEX-7s). That's almost $1k more than Leica's utilitarian M-E and about as much as an M9 for, those keeping count -- but hey, at least the lunar can shoot video, right? Joe Pollicino contributed to this post. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amazon brings Cloud Player music service to the UK: choice of free or premium tiers from £6 per year Posted: 18 Sep 2012 05:14 AM PDT Brits who've been straining for a reason to care about Amazon's budding Cloud Player service can probably relax. It's live in the UK as of now, offering 5GB of online storage and the ability to stream 250 of your tracks (or 256Kbps matched versions) to a range of devices free of charge. Adding extra storage will cost from £6 per year for 20GB, rising to £320 p/a for a full terabyte. If you're a heavy user, though, you may also need to fork out £22 p/a for the right to stream up to 250,000 of your tracks. Paying to play music you already purchased? Indeed, further exertion may be necessary to figure out if it's all worth it, along with a glance at the detailed press release after the break. Amazon Customers in the UK Can Now Enjoy Their Music Everywhere With the Launch of Amazon Cloud Player for Android, iPhone and iPod Touch, and Web – All Available Starting Today Amazon extends its popular "Buy Once, Enjoy Everywhere" content ecosystem to the UK Luxembourg – 18 September, 2012 – Amazon.co.uk today announced the launch of Amazon Cloud Player, enabling customers to securely store music in the cloud and play it on any Android phone, Android tablet, Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac or PC – wherever they happen to be. Customers can get started at www.amazon.co.uk/cloudplayer, where they can easily import their music using Cloud Player's new scan and match technology. Customers' iTunes and Windows Media Player music libraries are scanned and tracks are matched to more than 20 million music tracks in Amazon's catalogue. All matched songs are automatically stored in high-quality 256 Kbps audio. All Amazon MP3 purchases – including music that customers purchased previously – are automatically saved to Cloud Player for free, which means that customers have a secure backup copy of the MP3s they buy from Amazon, free of charge. "Millions of US customers are already using Amazon Cloud Player to listen to their music everywhere, on their favourite devices, including Kindle Fire, Android phones and tablets, iPhones, iPod Touches, Macs and PCs. We're excited to bring this same convenience to Amazon music customers in the UK," said Greg Greeley, Vice President of EU Retail at Amazon. "The launch of Cloud Player in the UK means that customers can buy anywhere, play anywhere, and keep all of their music in one place without the need for constant software updates, or drives and cables to move and manage their music." Cloud Player is available in a Free tier and a Premium tier. Cloud Player Free customers can store 250 tracks from their PC or Mac to Cloud Player, at no charge. Cloud Player Premium customers can store 250,000 tracks in Cloud Player for an annual fee of £21.99. Amazon-purchased MP3s do not count against the 250 or 250,000-track limits and are added to both Free and Premium Cloud Player libraries at no charge. Adding Music to Cloud Player Amazon scans customers' iTunes and Windows Media Player libraries and matches tracks on their computers to eligible tracks from more than 20 million in Amazon's track catalogue. All matched tracks– even music purchased from iTunes or imported from CDs – are instantly made available in Cloud Player and are upgraded for free to high-quality 256 Kbps audio. Scan and match supports several file types, including MP3, AAC, WMA (Windows only), OGG, WAV, Apple Lossless (MacOS only), AIFF, and FLAC. Enjoying Music Everywhere · Cloud Player for Web Customers who have a computer with a Web browser can listen to their music. Cloud Player for Web currently supports Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari for Mac and Chrome. Cloud Player for Web enables customers to easily organise their music, and gives both download and streaming options for playback. · Cloud Player for Android Cloud Player for Android is simply included in the new version of the MP3 App, which includes the full Amazon MP3 Store and the mobile version of Cloud Player. Customers can use the app to play music stored on their Cloud Player and music stored locally on their device. Features include the ability to search and browse by artist, album or track, create playlists and download music from Cloud Player to the device for offline playback. · Cloud Player for iPhone and iPod Touch Amazon Cloud Player is also available on iPhone and iPod Touch. The app allows customers to stream or download music stored in Cloud Player to their iPhone or iPod Touch, play music that is already stored on their device, and manage or create playlists. Features include the ability to search and browse by artist, album or track, create playlists and download music from Cloud Player to the iPhone or iPod Touch for offline playback. · Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD The all-new Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD are coming to the UK, backed by Amazon's Vast Content Ecosystem and Cross-Platform Interoperability. With apps available on the largest number of devices and platforms, Kindle makes it easier than ever for customers to access content anytime, anywhere, including their music with the Amazon Cloud Player. Securely Storing Music in the Cloud Customers never need to worry about losing their music collection to a hard drive crash again. Files are securely stored on Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). Customers can buy Amazon MP3s anywhere and know that their MP3s are safely stored in Cloud Player and accessible from any device. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Colors! Samsung's Galaxy Camera pops at Photokina with vibrant orange and magenta paint jobs Posted: 18 Sep 2012 04:54 AM PDT Another Photokina star is Samsung's Galaxy Camera, which launched to much fanfare several weeks ago at IFA, but dominates the company's photo-themed booth at the biennial photography show in Cologne, Germany. There's not much more to report on the hardware side, apart from confirmation that certain versions of the Android snapper will pack LTE, but there are indeed some very shiny new finishes to gawk at. First up is a bright orange flavor -- if you feared that the Galaxy point-and-shoot's rather large footprint wouldn't attract enough attention on its own in the field, you shouldn't have any such concerns with an orange model. Also of the neon persuasion is a flashy pink version, which like the aforementioned color, should draw many an eye. We were quite pleased with the black and white models we saw at IFA, and while Samsung clearly has a few colorful prototypes in circulation, the company says they're only being considered at this point, with your feedback determining the final options. So, what do you think? Would you buy an orange or pink Galaxy Camera? Let us know in the comments after the break. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motorola's RAZR i: benchmarking Intel's first 2GHz Medfield smartphone Posted: 18 Sep 2012 04:40 AM PDT Motorola were quick to tell us that we're testing on pre-release RAZR i here -- software updates may arrive before the device does, but these figures below should give you a good estimate at what the 2GHz Intel processor can do. We've pitched it against the US-bound Droid RAZR M, with a capable dual-core Snapdragon S4 clocked at 1.5GHz, and ZTE's Grand X IN, which houses Intel's 1.6MHz Medfield Z2460 and Android ICS.
So what do all these numbers mean? Well, Intel's 2GHz processor is pretty capable. Although the RAZR i only bests the RAZR M on SunSpider browser performance (something that Intel's been focusing on with its mobile hardware), it's a substantial score difference. Otherwise, the Europe-bound RAZR skates pretty close, if behind the RAZR M's benchmarks. There's a hiccup on the CF-Bench score, something that we also noted on the Grand X IN. While both the ZTE and Motorola devices are running Android 4.0, there's still a tangible difference in these early benchmarks -- perhaps testament to both Motorola and Google's proximity and the debut of Intel's faster 2GHz Medfield processor. We'll be testing out those power-saving promises from the chipmaker over the next few days. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MasterCard announces PayPass User Interface SDK, lets devs roll their own NFC payment-enabled apps Posted: 18 Sep 2012 04:10 AM PDT MasterCard has been in the cashless payment game for quite a while, and now it's hoping to get more developers on the PayPass bandwagon with its freshly unveiled user interface software development kit. By leveraging the SDK, programmers will be able to bake the firm's NFC payment system, which is compatible with over 70 handsets, into their own Android or BlackBerry OS 7 apps. The kit is free to license and includes API code libraries, documentation, a developer guide, sample code, a white-label reference application and a testing suite. Once apps are created with the SDK, they'll have to go through MasterCard's approval process before they go live. Yearning to code PayPass-enabled smartphone software? Check out the press release below for more details. MasterCard Releases Mobile PayPass Software Development Kit to Simplify Payment Application Creation September 17, 2012 Purchase, N.Y., September 17, 2012 – MasterCard continues to make payments simpler and more secure through the release of the Mobile MasterCard® PayPass™ User Interface Software Development Kit (UI SDK) for Android and BlackBerry OS 7 mobile operating systems. Free to license and available globally, this new toolkit helps issuers, mobile network operators and third party developers rapidly build innovative new mobile applications that give consumers the speed and convenience of PayPass Tap-and-Go™ contactless payments – directly from their smartphone. The availability of NFC-equipped phones is rapidly increasing, with over 70 models already approved by MasterCard as Mobile PayPass compatible devices, and the growth of Mobile payment transactions is accelerating. According to Juniper Research, payments from NFC-equipped phones are expected to be responsible for sales exceeding $75 billion by 2013. Prior to the launch of the Mobile MasterCard PayPass UI SDK, highly specialized skills were required to develop applications that could interface with the NFC capabilities in popular smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X, Sony Xperia S and RIM BlackBerry Bold 9900. Now, MasterCard is providing a programmer-friendly set of functions that make it easy for application developers to rapidly deliver payment apps to consumers – without having to become smart card programming experts. "BMO's vision is to be the bank that defines great customer experience," said David Heatherly, Vice-President, Payment Products, BMO Bank of Montreal. "We fulfill that vision each and every day by continuing to innovate and by delivering products and services to our customers that are relevant in today's market and offer a better payment experience. Last September, BMO became the only major Canadian bank to roll out a 'Tap and Go' payment solution for mobile phones using a Mobile PayPass tag. MasterCard's UI SDK gives us the opportunity to continue to be a leader in this space as the technology supporting mobile payments evolves." MasterCard's toolkit provides everything software developers need to quickly create contactless payment solutions for Android and BlackBerry users
These tools help to rapidly integrate Mobile MasterCard PayPass into a proximity payment mobile UI application, a mobile banking application or a mobile wallet application. The White-Label Reference UI Application allows financial institutions to create a contactless mobile application within their own branded app. Along with a developer friendly toolkit, MasterCard has also streamlined the UI approval process so that customers can quickly and efficiently bring a Mobile MasterCard PayPass service to market. "Consumers are gaining comfort and familiarity with mobile and contactless payments, requiring the financial institutions and mobile network operators that offer these services to ensure a consistent and positive experience," said Mung Ki Woo, Group Executive, Mobile at MasterCard. "As we continue to lead the industry with mobile and contactless payments innovations, we saw an opportunity to simultaneously help our partners and improve the overall user experience. Our first-ever UI SDK provides smart tools and makes it easier for our partners to issue a complete contactless payment solution on mobile." Mobile PayPass UI SDK is available to developers of all levels including corporations, financial institutions, merchants, third party developers and more. For more information, please visit http://www.mastercard.com/mobile/mobile-paypass.html | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leica D-Lux 6 and V-Lux 40 hands-on (video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 04:05 AM PDT The Leica deluge continues here at Photokina in Cologne. We played around with two new point-and-shoots from the company, starting with the D-Lux 6, the larger and pricier of the pair. The camera features an all black body, with a red Leica logo on the front. It's got a 1.7-inch CMOS image sensor, a processor capable of ISO 80 to 12800 and adjustable aperture on the lens that can be changed with a twist. It's also got a large three-inch display on the rear and is capable of full HD video. The cheaper V-Lux 40 features a similar all-black build with red logo in a smaller form, with a 1/2.33-inch CMOS sensor. On the rear of the camera, you'll find a three-inch touch display with the same bright resolution as the D-Lux 6. The camera, which bears a striking resemblance to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20, can also do 1080p video. The V-Lux is available now here in Europe for €590 and the D-Lux is coming soon, priced at €699.
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| Samsung starts producing faster 2GB LPDDR3 memory for mobile devices, 128GB flash storage too Posted: 18 Sep 2012 03:20 AM PDT While the scales may be steadily tipping towards mobile in the world of DRAM production, there's still plenty of room for technological enhancements. To prove the point, Samsung has just started mass production of what it claims to be the first 2GB LPDDR3 DRAM chip for mobile, which can shuffle information in and out 1,600 Mbps (compared to its 1,066 Mbps LPDDR2 predecessor), with up to 12.8 GB/s of bandwidth. In addition, the manufacturer has also started mass production of a place to hold all of that lovely data, in the form of a 128GB mobile flash storage chip. When will you be able to buy a superphone sporting 2GB of RAM and 128GB of storage? We don't know for sure, but even in the face of adversity all of the components seem to be falling into place. Samsung Announces Production of Industry's First 2GB LPDDR3 Mobile Memory, Using 30nm-class Technology SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, has begun mass producing the industry's first two gigabyte (GB), low power double-data-rate 3 (LPDDR3) memory, using 30 nanometer (nm) class* technology, for next-generation mobile devices. "We will embrace greater technical cooperation with industry leading mobile device makers, as we continue to provide timely next-generation memory solutions like 2GB LPDDR3 DRAM, in helping to accelerate growth of the mobile memory market" Samsung started mass production of the industry's most advanced mobile DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chip, only 10 months after it began producing the industry's first 30nm-class based 2GB LPDDR2 memory in October, 2011. The new LPDDR3, which marks the first time a 2GB LPDDR3 density is available in one space-saving package, utilizes four LPDDR3 chips stacked together. LPDDR3 is needed for fast processors, high resolution displays and 3D graphics in tablets and smartphones. "We will embrace greater technical cooperation with industry leading mobile device makers, as we continue to provide timely next-generation memory solutions like 2GB LPDDR3 DRAM, in helping to accelerate growth of the mobile memory market," said Wanhoon Hong, executive vice president, Memory Sales & Marketing, Samsung Electronics. "Furthermore, with this rapid introduction of 2GB LPDDR3, we are moving very assertively to expand our global leadership on the premium side of our extensive memory portfolio." The new 2GB LPDDR3 DRAM can transfer data at up to 1600 megabits per second (Mbps) per pin, which is approximately 50 percent faster than a LPDDR2 DRAM. And on the package level, it provides a data transmission rate up to 12.8 gigabytes per second (GB/s), which will enable playing of full HD video content in real-time on smartphones and tablets. The high data transfer rates allows LPDDR3 to exceed support for full HD video payback on screens exceeding the current market available four-inch measurement and enable real-time viewing without downloading the content for the full HD visual experience. By providing an early extensive global supply of LPDDR3 DRAM to smartphone and tablet manufacturers, Samsung expects to see a significant increase in the adoption of 2GB mobile DRAM. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leica M-E is a $5,450 M9 with new color scheme, minor feature exclusions (hands-on video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 03:15 AM PDT Don't have the $6,500 to spare to pick up a Leica M9? You might consider the freshly announced M-E, which carries a similar feature set and a slightly more palatable $5,450 price tag. The camera includes the same 18-megapixel sensor as the M9, but drops relatively minor features like a built-in USB port (you'll need to pop out your SD card to download pics). It's nearly identical to the pricier model, with a low-res (230k-dot) 2.5-inch LCD and an ISO range of 160-2500. Unlike the "new M," announced alongside the M-E, the latter model does not offer live-view functionality, so you'll only be using the LCD to make settings adjustments and for reviewing images, anyway. Shot framing will be handled with the 0.68x viewfinder, positioned at the top left of the camera. Aesthetically, you might find the M-E to be a bit more pleasing, with a muted gray/black color scheme -- we found it to be quite nice during out hands-on at Photokina. The camera itself looks like an M9 with a hint of Michael Graves-esque simplicity -- there's a silver shutter speed dial up top, with soft numbering and positions that range from bulb to 1/4000 second. There's also a matching power toggle/shutter release, along with the standard suite of playback and ISO controls on the rear. As we mentioned, the 2.5-inch display offers a bit lower resolution than what we'd like to see, making it less than ideal for verifying image sharpness, for example, so if the LCD marks high on your list of priorities, you'll probably do best to wait for the "new M" (M10) to hit early next year. Otherwise, the M-E appears to be a capable camera, but M9 owners should hang tight -- there's not much to see here. The M-E is available for purchase now, for about $5,450 (or €4,800 in Europe), and you can sneak a peek in our gallery below, and the hands-on video after the break. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motorola RAZR i: hands-on with the 2GHz Android phone (video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 02:51 AM PDT While we've seen similar things from the RAZR M already -- and even reviewed it -- we reckoned those 2GHz Intel internals and HSPA-only radio inside the RAZR i (as well as European availability) warranted another tour of the hardware. In summary, there's decently bright, if a little jaggy, 4.3-inch AMOLED screen, with a water resistant coating covering the already hardy Kevlar backing. There's space for microSD expansion, and thanks to that tiny bezel, it's a phone that very happily resided in the palm of our hand. Some Intel assistance has added a new 10-frame burst mode, and also sped up the boot-time of the camera app itself, not forgetting that this RAZR model has a dedicated camera button on the side. We're booting up our benchmark toolkit to assess how Intel's processor fares, but until the final scores are revealed, take a look at our hands-on video after the break. Update: We've added our initial benchmarks -- check them here.
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| Fujifilm X-E1 hands-on (video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 02:46 AM PDT Sure the XF1's nice to look at, but the real star of Fujifilm's 2012 Photokina lineup has to be the X-E1. The X-Pro1's little sibling offers up most of the functionality of its bigger, pricier brother -- save for its inclusion just an electronic viewfinder -- into a body that's roughly a third smaller. That said, this is hardly a compact mirrorless -- the X-E1's still got a bit of girth and weight to it, compared to some of the smaller entries in the field. Still, it feels nice in the hand and isn't likely to weigh down your shooting -- particularly for those accustom to using a larger DSLR. It's also worth pointing out, right off the bat, that the retro-styled interchangeable lens camera is significantly cheaper, running you $700 less than the X-Pro-1. Flip the camera over and you get a 2.8-inch 460k-dot LCD. Just above the display is a devoted button that will pop up the retractable flash directly above. The X-E1 will be hitting stores in November, carrying a $1,000 price tag. Buy a kit with a lens and you'll still come in $300 under the X-Pro1's $1,700 price tag, making for a full-featured and great looking little mirrorless for a lot less money.
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| Fujifilm's XF1 makes a fashion statement at Photokina, we go hands-on (video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 02:33 AM PDT Point-and-shoot or fashion accessory? This is the conundrum posed by the XF1, a new retro-styled point-and-shoot from Fujifilm. It's a nice looking camera with a solid and fairly light build, certainly, and while the faux leather (in black, red or tan) might not be for everyone, the company was quick to point out that it'll go nicely with your new designer handbag, for whatever that's worth. The textured design is complimented nicely by a metal border on the top and bottom. There's a bit of a learning curve here, when it comes to just turning the thing on -- give it a twist and a pull, not unlike a childproof pill cap to put it in standby and another pull to get things started. There's a big, bright three-inch LCD on the rear of the device. Click the E-Fn button on the bottom right, and you can actually reassign the button mapping on the back to your liking on the display. Of course, such style and functionality comes at a price -- this guy will run you $500 when it goes on sale next month.
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| New Leica M camera has live-view and 1080p video capture, we go hands-on (video) Posted: 18 Sep 2012 02:26 AM PDT Yesterday, Canon stole the show, but today's darling of Photokina appears to be the just-announced Leica M camera. Show attendees flocked to the "new M" demo counter this morning, nudging through the crowd for a chance to check out Leica's first live-view equipped M. This new feature is powered by a new 24-megapixel CMOS sensor, and also enables 1080p video capture at 24 and 25 frames-per-second -- another first for Leica. Live-view and HD video shooting may not seem like banner features for a €6,200 (about $8,100) camera, but considering they've never been offered before, these additions seem to be highlights for hopeful M10 owners. The camera itself is quite beastly, in typical M fashion, and appears to have just as much heft as the M9. There's a new Gorilla Glass-equipped 3-inch, 920k-dot display, that's plenty sharp and quite responsive in live-view mode. Adjacent to the display, you'll find a new LV button, which, as you may have guessed, launches the new realtime display mode. There's also a playback button, along with direct access to ISO, image deletion and menu settings. Up top, there's the Leica trademark shutter speed dial (aperture control is on the lens), letting you select from bulb all the way through 1/4000 second. There's a full-size hot shoe up top with an accessory connector for the EVF 2 attachment, and a second proprietary connector on the bottom to interface with the accessory grip, which adds USB connectivity and built-in GPS. We can't comment on image quality just yet, but there's no question that the "new M" marks Leica's commitment to finally bring otherwise commonplace features to its popular (and pricey) rangefinder line. Look for this latest model to hit stores in early 2013, but you can take a closer look today in our hands-on gallery below and video demo after the break. Update: This post originally stated that the new Leica M had yet to be named, however the company has confirmed that the new camera will simply be named, "The Leica M," without numbers. "The Leica M also marks the beginning of a new era in the Leica product naming policy. In [the] future, Leica M and S model names will omit the number suffix to emphasize the enduring and long-term significance of the respective systems." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motorola announces Intel-powered RAZR i, launches in Europe next month Posted: 18 Sep 2012 02:09 AM PDT Motorola's revealed the first smartphone to be borne from its team-up with Intel. Here in London, UK, it's a familiar-looking Android smartphone with an important internal difference. The RAZR i will be running on one of Intel's latest mobile chips (2GHz processor), differentiating it from what we saw from the Google-owned phone-maker a few weeks earlier. Motorola's calling the phone its biggest launch in the UK since the original RAZR. Motorola's touting the (almost "edge-to-edge") 4.3-inch AMOLED display, 2,000mAh of battery and the same Kevlar coating -- it's water repellent this time. But this event is also about Intel's 2GHz processor inside. The chipmaker says it's optimized the architecture for web browsing, especially for Java-based activities. It's also pushing for power consumption even on processor-intensive activities like gaming -- but we'll have to wait for our own tests to check it out. The RAZR i also packs a similar 8-megapixel camera and interface to those other new Motorola phones, with under a second start-up to get the camera app running -- we bet that dedicated camera button helps there. Intel made similar promises with the Orange San Diego, but were already intrigued by that Vanilla-looking interface. NFC is already baked in, with Android Beam taking control of what you need, while its bootloader arrives unlocked. The RAZR i appears to be packing some iteration of Android 4 -- but we're still checking on whether it'll be coming with ICS or the newer Jelly Bean. The phone will arrive in the likes of UK, France, Germany and Brazil -- but no news on whether it'll appear inside North America's borders. In the meantime, you'll find a galley of pics below, plus a press release and publicity video right after the break. Update: According to retailer Clove.co.uk stock should be arriving (in the UK at least) on October 1st, with a SIM-free price of £342 (about $555).
Introducing the Powerful Motorola RAZR™ i with Intel Inside® and an Edge-to-Edge Display Say hello to the full-screen phone Motorola Mobility in partnership with Intel Corporation introduced the powerful Motorola RAZR™ i with Intel Inside®: the new full-screen smartphone that fits in the palm of your hand. Its Super AMOLED Advanced 4.3-inch display spans from edge-to-edge with virtually no border - giving you more screen with less phone. RAZR i is the first smartphone that can achieve speeds of 2.0 GHz thanks to a fast Intel® Atom™ processor. Jump from a game to a text and over to a playlist, then off to browse the Web - all without stopping and on a long-lasting battery that is 40 percent more powerful than the competition1. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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