News Archive for 09/06/10
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Palm on Wednesday appointed former Apple executive Jon Rubinstein to serve as CEO and chairman, according to the Associated Press. The decision comes just days after the company launched its Pre smartphone, a device that it expects to help remedy a number of financial troubles. Rubinstein will replace Ed Colligan, who was with the company for 16 years but has decided to move on and work with Elevation Partners after taking time off.
Amazon on Wednesday started shipping the Kindle DX. The most advanced of the retailer's e-book readers was unveiled in May and is billed not only as a much more natural means of reading newspapers and magazines but also as an ideal tool for schools. Its 1200x824, 9.7-inch screen both affords more room for images and auto-rotates for landscape reading when the DX is tilted on its side.
Econo-Keys recently announced the addition of its EK-76-TP mobile keyboard that flips over to reveal a touchpad. While not completely functional, as users would be hard-pressed to use both the keyboard and touchpad simultaneously, the EK-76-TP is ultra-portable, measuring in at about 9 by 3.5 by 0.4 inches. The keyboard sports a USB interface and is compatible with Windows and Linux operating systems.
A print ad from wireless provider T-Mobile seems to confirm last week's report based on a leaked roadmap of upcoming releases from T-Mobile. Specifically, the ad shows two new smartphones due for a summer release, the Touch Pro2 and Dash 3G, also known as the HTC Snap. The Dash 3G is expected to come to T-Mobile on July 1st, while the Touch Pro2 is apparently coming on July 22nd.
Canadian wireless, Internet and cable provider Bell has recently announced it will be closing down its short-lived Bell Video Store, an online movie delivery service that lets users download movies to rent and watch over a 48-hour period or download to own. The company is e-mailing notices to users of the service and informing visitors to the website, notifying them of the service's shut-down on July 15th, though they will no longer be able to rent or download new content after June 15th.
Finland-based Elektrobit has recently demonstrated a cellular-voice-enabled mobile Internet device (MID) known as the Reference Device and based on Intel's next-generation Atom processor, codenamed Moorestown. The device will also sport a special build of the Linux-based Moblin v2 operating system optimized for use in MIDs and with cellular phone support. The EB design was co-developed along with Intel and Ericsson, and will be offered to companies in custom specs.
Ahead of any sort of official announcement, the Samsung Code i220 handset has appeared on wireless provider US Cellular's website. The spec sheet reveals the Code runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and sports a full QWERTY keyboard along with a 320x240 resolution display. The dual-band CDMA handset pulls its 3G data over the provider's EVDO network.
A new discovery by the University of Waterloo could extend the battery life of cellphones, notebooks and other devices by as much as three times. Lithium-sulfur follows lithium-ion's approach of storing energy in one electrode and releasing it through another but pairs the lithium with a set of nanoscale-level, porous carbon rods surrounded by sulfur to make contact between the rods. The choices of material greatly improve the lithium's energy capacity and would let it hold 84 percent of the theoretical capacity of sulfur, or between three to five more than a lithium-ion battery.
Specifications listed at the Netherlands T-Mobile website appear to confirm that the iPhone 3GS integrates 256MB of RAM. Developers will now be able to utilize double the memory from the previous 3G model. T-Mobile lists the expanded RAM on both the 16GB and 32GB models, although the basic 8GB variant likely still offers 128MB. The carrier also lists a 600MHz CPU, which could corroborate earlier reports that the device uses Samsung's ARM Cortex A8.
France's Constitutional Council today ruled against the country's recently approved three-strike law. The Council rejected the measure on constitutional grounds and says that the law, known as Création et Internet, violated the Declaration of 1789, which insists that all are innocent until proven guilty. Measures in the new law would automatically disconnect users on the third accusation of illegal file sharing and put the burden on customers to prove their own innocence.
Immersion on Tuesday announced it has joined the Symbian Foundation, giving other members access to the company's TouchSense haptics technology. The TouchSense API is available for free to programmers who are developing applications for the Symbian platform and cellphone makers can separately license Immersion's haptic technology. Haptic feedback such as Immersion's theoretically improve touchscreen interaction by producing confirmation of a virtual button press with vibration and sound.
The existence of Palm's next webOS phone after the Pre, the Eos, has allegedly been confirmed through investigation into code. Buried in the current version of webOS is a file called miniboot.sh, which contains two device references, Castle and Pixie. The former is known to have been the development codename of the Pre, while leaks have attributed the latter alias to the Eos. No other relevant information has so far been found in the firmware.
Internet provider Clearwire has recently began offering its high-speed mobile WiMAX services in Las Vegas, before it performs an official, full commercial launch later this summer. Residents of the Nevada city can now order it online, even before storefronts and ads are built and placed. This is the third city Clearwire has launched WiMAX in, following Atlanta, and Portland, Oregon releases earlier this year.
In response to last week's accusations by the Russian government that Microsoft is pulling copies of its Windows XP operating system from store shelves early, the Microsoft Russia CEO Nikolai Pryanishnikov on Wednesday said the software maker will fully resolve the related issues. The regional chief said Microsoft Russia has received documents containing the issues and believes they can be addressed "without any problems."
HP today acted on two of its planned system updates by launching them through its online store, including an unannounced processor. The new dv2z costs slightly more than promised at $625 but now has a white color trim option and starts with a single-core 1.6GHz Athlon Neo, 1GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive with Radeon X1250 integrated video. Adding a dual-core 1.6GHz processor costs $25; in a surprise, an option now exists for a 1.6GHz Turion Neo that likely boosts performance still for an additional $75.
The Palm Pre may cost significantly more to make than first anticipated and has surprising similarity to the iPhone's supply chain as it's existed in the past, according to a post-launch cost breakdown by iSuppli. Originally thought to cost $138 in raw manufacturing and parts, the smartphone is now estimated to cost at least $140 and as much as $160. Much of the price is attached to the 3.1-inch Sony multi-touch LCD, which with its Cypress controller costs about $40.60.
In addition to the Exilim, wireless provider Verizon Wireless announced on Wednesday it has added the Motorola Rival messaging handset to its lineup. First spotted at the start of May, the Rival sports a touch-dial pad and a face that slides open horizontally to reveal a backlit QWERTY keyboard. The handset is meant for users who use text-messaging, IM programs and e-mail heavily, as evidenced by the keyboard's dedicated emoticon and symbols keys as well as a shortcut to text messages, IM programs and e-mails.
Toshiba today started shipping the highest-end of its Regza HDTVs first shown at CES and added a new mid-range series to its line at the same time. The SV670 is the range leader with an LED backlight that supports local dimming on individual areas of the screen, giving it contrast levels as high as 2,000,000:1. It also has a 240Hz panel and 14-bit internal color processing. The SV670 comes in 46- and 55-inch variants that sell for $2,300 and $3,000 respectively.
Verizon today officially launched the Casio Exilim. As the first camera phone from Casio for the provider, the Exilim has a 5.1-megapixel sensor like some rivals but also a real 3X optical zoom that lets it crop the shot without losing detail. Its clamshell display also swivels around to give photographers a large display for previewing the shot while still holding the phone like it was a dedicated camera.
Virgin Mobile USA on Wednesday announced it will soon offer a pre-paid 3G Internet access service called Broadband2Go. Users will need to buy a Novatel MC760 USB modem, which will access the web via Sprint's EV-DO Revisoin A network. The modem plugs into the USB ports on Mac, Windows, or Linux computers and has an internal dual-band diversity antenna with an option for an external antenna for better performance in remote areas. There is also a microSDHC slot in the modem that allows users to add as much as 16GB of storage.
Eye-Fi this morning launched the Eye-Fi Pro, its first SDHC card geared towards owners of entry- to mid-range DSLRs and semi-pro compacts. The 4GB card can now transfer RAW files over Wi-Fi directly to a computer or to one of the multiple photo websites the company already supports. It also adds a unique ad hoc mode that creates a peer-to-peer connection directly between the card-equipped camera and a Mac or Windows PC, bypassing the need for a network router that might not be available at a live photo shoot.
Nokia today said it has started shipping the N86 8MP worldwide. As promised, the 8-megapixel slider claims a number of firsts for camera phones with a variable aperture that better controls the amount of light let in, a true mechanical shutter that speeds up photography and produces cleaner shots, and built-in image stabilization to cut back on blurring. It also has twin LED flashes, dedicated camera controls and an OLED display that more accurately renders the colors of the final shot.
Intel's first processor based on the Pine Trail platform could ship as soon as the start of the fall, a report from industry contacts would claim. The Atom N450 is reportedly due in October and would be a single-core processor at an unnamed speed meant to replace the 1.6GHz Atom N270. It should use the technology behind Pineview and would be made built on a new, 45 nanometer design that merges the memory controller and graphics directly into the processor; accompanying it would be the new-generation Tiger Point chipset, which is needed for and takes advantage of the N450 design.
Although the Palm Pre is fresh on the market, users have already begun dissecting the webOS Root Doctor which includes 195MB of operating system files and code. Used as intended, the recovery tool restores the functionality of a crashed phone and updates the operating system. Forum posts on PreCentral.net indicate several interesting code comments, access passwords for the developer mode, possible designations for upcoming hardware, and icons for AOL and MSN.
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