Archive for July, 2009

Filed under: Announcements

Reminder: vote for your favorite Kindle design by Monday! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TechCrunch co-editor Erick Schonfeld appeared on Charlie Rose last night to discuss the Microsoft/Yahoo search deal alongside Steven Levy of Wired and Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal.

The group talked about the initial deal Microsoft offered Yahoo last year to buy Yahoo outright, the complicated nature of this new deal, Microsoft Bing, Yahoo walking away from the search fight rather than engaging, how this was the worst of the deals that Microsoft had offered so far, the Bartz/Ballmer reaction, what this means for Microsoft versus Google now, and the possible antitrust implications of all of this.

Watch the part of the show that featured the discussion below.

Micosoft’s announced some Windows 7 pricing today, starting with a “family pack” option, which will allow users to upgrade three PCs to the Home Premium edition of the operating system for $149. The upgrade from XP or Vista to Home Premium for individual users, as previously announced, is $119. The company’s also announced the Microsoft Anytime Upgrade option, which will allow users to move from one version of Windows 7 to another for a discounted price. Moving from Windows 7 Starter to Home Premium will run you $79.99, while the move from Home Premium to Professional will set you back $89.99. Finally, the move from Windows 7 Professional to Ultimate will cost $139.99, and Microsoft says that the upgrades can be done in about 10 minutes. The company did not, however, specify what the move from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 7 Uber-Super Awesome would run, but we’ll keep an eye out for you, and let you know when we do.

[Via CNET]

Filed under: Software

Microsoft announces pricing for Windows 7 family pack, upgrading originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Which countries are the worst greenhouse gas emitters? Now you can see for yourself on this handy Google Map created by a department of the UN and Google. The map shows changes in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2006. Green is good (a decrease in emissions) and purple is bad (an increase).

So who are the worst offenders? Topping the list is Sweden! The country has managed to increase its emissions by 110 percent over that time period. So much for Nordic purity. Following Sweden is Turkey (with a 103 percent increase) and Canada (with a 55 percent increase). Yes, Canada. What is it with these northern countries?

Over the years we’ve found that usually, when a company takes a model number and slaps an extra letter on the end of it, there’s some sort of feature or update they’re highlighting. iPhone 3GS? That one’s easy: “speed.” But if we’re reading this FCC business correctly, Nokia’s new 5800i XpressMusic handset apparently differs little from its older sibling — save for the fact that they’ve removed that pesky WiFi antenna from the thing. Because, really, what would you do with all that connectivity, anyways? Also, while still sporting a 3 megapixel camera, those specs are listed as a 4.6mm on the new handset (the original is 3.7mm). As GSM Arena has pointed out, this could be due to either a narrower field of view or a larger sensor — probably the latter. Not too much more info here, but if you’re morbidly curious, please feel free to check out the gallery below. It’s a blast.

Gallery: Nokia 5800i XpressMusic hits the FCC: it’s like the 5800, only less so

Read – Nokia 5800i XM shows up. Loses Wi-Fi connectivity
Read – FCC teases with Nokia 5800i XM – better camera, but no Wi-Fi?

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio

Nokia 5800i XpressMusic hits the FCC: it’s like the 5800, only less so originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Displays

HP debuts 2709m 27-inch 16:9 display originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“We’re here today to announce the death of comments.”

That’s what JS-Kit CEO Khris Loux said in his opening remarks at our Real-Time Stream CrunchUp earlier this month. He went on to unveil ECHO, JS-Kit’s new take on how conversations should be happening around content on the web. And today, we’re going to try a limited test of this new system on the TechCrunch Network.

To reiterate, this is just a test that will reside under only this post for the time-being, so let us know what you think.

While at first glance, the comments you see below this post may look like a slight variation of any other commenting system, the reality is much different. Sure, a part of ECHO is made up by what we think of as traditional comments, that is, comments you fill out on a particular article and post to it. But the majority of the content in this commenting area will actually be populated from sources all around the web talking about this piece of content.

Another quiet week, podcast fans — but we were still excited by a few new toys, like the new Creative Zii EGG, the Kodak Zi8, and the Nikon D300s. We also spent some time with the new Sony Walkman X-series, which got us thinking about Sony’s fortunes in this brave new world and how the company might need to change — and speaking of change, both Apple and Palm need to rethink some of their current policies. Oh, and to top it all off, the Wall Street Journal totally whiffed that Apple-at-CES story, and we’ve got the scoop on how our old friend Ryan Block laid some truth on things. Hm, maybe it wasn’t such a quiet week after all.

P.S.- Just Josh and Nilay this time, but we promise the whole band’s getting back together soon.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: Bohemian Rhapsody

Hear the podcast

00:02:56 – Creative debuts Android-powered Zii EGG for developers and OEMs
00:15:26 – US Sony Walkman X-series unboxing and hands-on
00:29:22 – Kodak’s 1080p Zi8 HD pocket camcorder in hand
00:34:45 – Nikon D300s officially announced — 720p/24 movie mode with autofocus and mic input
00:40:24 – Google Voice iPhone app rejected, current GV apps lose connection with iTunes
00:45:25 – Unofficial Google Voice client for Palm Pre makes the scene
00:51:50 – Editorial: Palm, iTunes, and the ties that don’t bind
01:04:35 – WSJ: Apple going to CES 2010. Reality: Nope.

Subscribe to the podcast

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).
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[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace

Download the podcast

LISTEN (MP3)
LISTEN (AAC)
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Contact the podcast

1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.

Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget

Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 157 – 07.31.2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been getting requests from various citizens to feature their respective cities in our new Geek Weekend feature on CrunchGear, so when a request came in for the Twin Cities, John asked me to write it up and I thought, “Oh, great. More work.” “Perfect! I’m from Minneapolis! I know where geeky stuff is located!”

Background Info: The Twin Cities denotes the capital city of St. Paul, MN and the larger, more cosmopolitan city of Minneapolis, MN. Together the two cities are home to roughly 2.5 million people.

There’s always been a friendly little rivalry going on between the two cities, with some people from Minneapolis viewing people from St. Paul as more blue-collar and rough-around-the-edges, while some from St. Paul think people from Minneapolis are yuppies. I’ve lived in both cities and they’re both nice places. Overall, the rivalry is pretty silly, but it’s there. Look hard enough in any city, though, and you’ll find both a-holes and nice people. No different in the Twin Cities. Everyone’s pretty nice, overall, though.

Looks like Apple pulled the trigger on patching that nasty iPhone SMS vulnerability a little earlier than we expected — the iPhone OS 3.0.1 update just hit iTunes. It’s not some lightweight, either: you’re looking at 280MB of love here, so get downloading, friends.

Update: Here’s what Apple rep Tom Neumayr had to say about this little episode.

We appreciate the information provided to us about SMS vulnerabilities which affect several mobile phone platforms. This morning, less than 24 hours after a demonstration of this exploit, we’ve issued a free software update that eliminates the vulnerability from the iPhone. Contrary to what’s been reported, no one has been able to take control of the iPhone to gain access to personal information using this exploit.

Well… what do you know about that?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone OS 3.0.1 update released, fixes SMS vulnerability (updated with statement from Apple) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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