News Archive for 09/08/03
Choose an article from the archive listing on this page or refine your selection using the controls in the gray box below.
| Exclusive Deal | While supplies last, save 40% off over 40 iPhone 5 and iPhone 4/4S cases and chargers as well as Samsung S III cases at Kensington.com. Use coupon code 'SAVE40%' at checkout to receive this exclusive discount. |
Choose an article from the archive listing on this page or refine your selection using the controls in the gray box below.
Sprint has recently expanded sales of Palm's Pre smartphone to a variety of online retailers, according to a company memo posted on preThinking. Customers will now be able to purchase the device through portals such as Amazon.com and LetsTalk, among others.
The resignation of Eric Schmidt from Apple's board of directors will not put to rest a Federal Trade Commission investigation, says the group's Bureau of Competition director, Richard Feinstein. Apple announced Schmidt's departure early Monday morning, citing the existence of Chrome OS as a potential conflict of interest. It is illegal for two US companies to share directors when they are also nominally competing in the same field.
A variety of smartbooks and netbooks integrating ARM-based Snapdragon and Tegra processors are scheduled to ship later this year, according to a DigiTimes report. The devices are being produced by several companies such as Acer, Foxconn, Pegatron, Compal and Inventec.
Clearwire has announced that it is set to launch its 4G WiMAX service in ten new markets spread across Idaho, Washington and Texas beginning September 1st. The company's mobile Internet network is currently available in four locations including Atlanta; Baltimore, Las Vegas and Portland, Oregon.
Carrier Verizon Wireless has dropped the price of virtually all of its smartphones to $99, observers note. Amounts are contingent on a two-year contract, but represent a major reduction in some circumstances, for instance lowering the cost of an HTC Touch Pro by $320. Only two phones remain above the $99 level: RIM's BlackBerry Tour and the Samsung Saga.
Net Applications has revised its web share reports to improve the accuracy of its findings, although the adjustments have drastically changed the data, according to Fortune. Despite a report issued late last year that showed Mac web share growing to 8.9 percent, the latest report for July has reduced the number down to 4.9 percent.
Netflix may soon be opening the gates to its unlimited movie and TV streaming on the iPhone and iPod touch, a rumor indicates today. An executive for an unnamed company claims to MCN that Netflix will "soon" extend Watch Instantly to the Apple devices. The service would likely be limited to Wi-Fi for bandwidth concerns, though it's unclear whether this would be due solely to pressure from AT&T or simple practical concerns: Netflix streaming normally needs hundreds of kilobits per second and would be likely to encounter connection problems over 3G.
Kensington on Monday brought out a unique travel dock for iPhones and iPods. The Charging Dock with Mini Battery has a dock for both the Apple device itself but also a battery pack that attaches to the iPhone when it's in use. Attaching it gives an iPhone as much as 30 hours of extra music, 6 hours of web use or 3 hours of talk time; since both this and the iPhone share the same dock power, the two charge simultaneously and let users have the reserve power without occupying a second USB or power port.
RIM is reportedly working to integrate front-facing cameras on its Blackberry smartphones sometime next year, according to tinycomb. A company executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that video conferencing is something they have been working on for a "quite some time."
An upcoming GPS unit from Garmin should support cellular data, FCC testing reveals. The nuvi 1690 is noted to support GSM, GPRS and EDGE connections, though for what purpose is unclear. The technology could be used to supply real-time traffic information, and/or updates to points of interest. Similar devices can access Internet content, such as Google searches or routes stored on a remote computer or website.
Almost immediately following a preliminary scoop earlier today, a second leak has provided details of Nikon's first ever camera to include a built-in projector. Now named the Coolpix S1000pj, the point-and-shoot camera will have a 12-megapixel camera with a 5X wide and stabilized lens in one corner but, in the middle, will have a micro projector that produces an image up to 40 inches diagonal in size without needing video output. It should also introduce a better face detection system that prioritizes faces, avoids blinks and reduces blemishes in skin.
Hitachi has expanded its line of projectors with the CP-X3010N. The device offers the same basic features as the CO-X3010, but adds an Ethernet port and 802.11g/n connectivity. The device features integrated 16W speakers, 3,000 lumen brightness and a contrast ratio of up to 2,000:1.
Intel's six-core Xeon processor, known as Westmere, has been seen in a leak of an engineering sample today [caution: may not be safe for work). Still identified as a mainstream Core i7 chip by software, the Xeon W5590 example runs at a relatively low 2.4GHz clock speed but has 12MB of Level 3 cache shared between all cores and 256KB of Level 2 cache for each core. With Hyperthreading, which runs up to two program threads on a single core, the system shows as many as 12 effective cores.
Microsoft this weekend revealed that it would drop plans to launch Windows 7 E for Europe following a change in attitude from the European Commission. The special release, which would have provided Windows without any browser at all, is being scrapped as the Commission has tentatively embraced the company's browser ballot approach to providing a choice of web browsers. These customers should now get the same version of Windows 7 as elsewhere.
OCZ has announced pricing information and a launch time-frame for its 1TB Colossus SSD introduced at Computex last month. The drive is relatively large, with a weight of 400g, although it is designed to fit in a standard 3.5-inch drive bay. The company claims read speeds of up to 250MB/s and write speeds of 200MB using a SATA II interface.
Microsoft has confirmed in a preview of Windows Mobile 6.5 that version 7 of the mobile OS will include multi-touch and will be targeted at the same high-end market as Apple's iPhone or most current Android phones. The company promises to the Inquirer that multi-touch will be a core feature of Windows Mobile 7 and that many of the experiences of competing phones will be "knocked in the different realm" of Microsoft's new platform.
Samsung this morning launched a teaser page for the impending launch of a new line of "smart cameras." The company plans to gradually reveal features of the cameras up until August 13th, when the cameras themselves should appear. Few details are available today, but the name for the campaign, Tap and Take, hints either at touchscreen displays or else a whole-body tap feature similar to Olympus' tap control.
Apple today revealed that Google chief Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple's Board of Directors. The executive had held a position for three years but is leaving due to a conflict of interest triggered by the unveiling of Chrome OS, which now puts Google in direct competition with Mac OS X. Apple CEO Steve Jobs characterized the departure as unwanted but necessary given how often it would force Schmidt to leave Apple meetings discussing strategy.
Sony's upcoming PRS-300 and PRS-600 e-book readers could come in at prices well under existing models when they launch thanks to briefly available store listings at J&R (PRS-300, PRS-600). While even the base PRS-505 right now sells for $280, the 5-inch PRS-300 should sell for $200 and the touchscreen PRS-300 for $300, itself a significant price cut.
Intel on Monday morning rebuffed claims from late last week that it was cutting off Atom Z500 supplies. A spokeswoman for the company told Register staff that the rumors, which would have all of the netbook-class processors off the market, are "100% inaccurate." Intel's long-term plans for the Z series aren't known, though it's expected that the company's Pine Trail platform will make the Z series at least partially obsolete.
Nikon may be on the verge of releasing an industry-first combination camera and video projector if a leak proves accurate. French magazine Chasseur d’Images (Image Chaser) in its August issue claims that a new camera, the Coolpix VP650, should be unveiled this month and will have a micro projector that can produce a just over page-sized (8in by 12in) image in low light by itself. Most other details aren't clear in the information supplied to Nikon Rumors, but the VP650 would ship in September.
Network Headlines
Most Popular
Sponsor
Recent Reviews
MaxUpgrades MaxConnect for 2006-2008 Mac Pro
Nobody outside of Cupertino's privileged bunch knows the future of the Mac Pro line for sure. Despite Apple's reluctance to tell us wh ...
Brother HL-3170CDW LED Printer
We've mentioned before that we are far from a paperless society. For now, at least, there are tasks that require a piece of paper for ...
HTC One
It is hard to overstate just how critically important the HTC One is to the Taiwanese company’s fortunes. Despite its alarming decline ...
Sponsor
