Archive for July 29th, 2009

If you’ve preordered one o’ them fancy new myTouch 3Gs, check your mailbox, front porch, back door, administrative assistant, or dirty, thieving neighbor — because it might be there. T-Mobile said that preorders would be shipping at the tail end of July, and sure enough, some folks are starting to get lucky; plebes without preorders will still need to wait until August 5, though, so, you know, either sit there and drool or shout nasty remarks about how you’d rather have a Hero in the meanwhile.

[Thanks, sun]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

T-Mobile myTouch 3G preorders now shipping, arriving, being touched originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Our Kindle contest that we’re running in cooperation with our good friends at Adafruit Industries and Amazon has drawn to an epic conclusion, and there’s simply no other way to put it — we’re blown away. We received literally dozens upon dozens of incredible, art gallery-worthy entries and it was all but impossible to narrow them down to a group of finalists — but after an entire weekend of mulling, debating, and hand-wringing, we’ve done the dirty work and narrowed it down to a group of just twenty-three. Now, dear readers, the fate of five Kindles lies in your hands and your hands alone. The laser awaits.

So here’s what we need from you: pick your favorite by 11:59PM ET on Monday, August 3rd. That’s it. We’ll take the five top vote-getters and award each with a 6-inch Kindle engraved with their design — and of course, we’ll post pictures of the finished products before they go out to their lucky owners.

Follow the break to see the entries (which you can click to see in larger form). Below each design, you’ll see a number — these correspond to numbers in the poll, which you’ll find directly below the entries. Just choose your favorite by number and we’ll take care of the rest.

Good luck, contestants — and good luck picking from all of these amazing entries, readers!

Continue reading Amazon Kindle design contest: now it’s your turn to decide who wins!

Filed under: Announcements, Misc. Gadgets

Amazon Kindle design contest: now it’s your turn to decide who wins! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Today, Yahoo died as a search engine. If the deal with Microsoft is approved, what will replace it will be Bing, the search engine that Microsoft launched only two months ago. Within a few months time, Microsoft will go from owning 8 percent of the U.S. search market to 28 percent (comScore). That is still less than half of Google’s 65 percent, but it could give Microsoft a fighting chance in the search wars against Google.

While the agreement was a long time coming, Bing was the cherry on top, so to speak. Earlier today, I spoke with the two executives who oversaw the negotiations for both sides, Yahoo EVP Hillary Schneider and Microsoft SVP Yusuf Mehdi. I asked how big an impact Bing’s sudden success had on bringing the deal to a close.

VUDU and Xbox Live, welcome your new competition in the 1080p movie streaming arena, now that Sonic Solutions has announced its CinemaNow service will offer “Blu-ray Disc resolution” (3D is already on the way) with buffer-free playback thanks to its new Cinevision Adaptive HD encoding and delivery system. Sonic claims to have a leg up since the system is already used for Blu-ray disc production, and it’s teaming with Widevine for the adaptive streaming backend. As usual, even if you’re not directly a CinemaNow user, its wide compatibility and position behind Blockbuster’s store and upcoming ones from Best Buy and Zip.ca should mean 1080p streaming to an ethernet equipped home theater device will be available no matter where you are, whether you’re ready to ditch the discs (and downloads) or not.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Sonic upgrading CinemaNow movie streaming to 1080p originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Yeah, you don’t really need 1080p in a compact like this. You know it, we know it. Kodak probably knows it too. Still, it’s always pretty wild to pick up a little piece like this and know it can shoot to a native resolution that our parents can’t even pronounce. The new Zi8 is certainly bulky for a “pocket” camcorder, but makes up for it by sporting a rechargeable battery, line-in audio jack, HDMI out, 2.5-inch LCD and even keeping the pop-out USB plug around for old times sake. The perks of face recognition for improved exposure and gyroscope-based image stabilization are also pretty snazzy at this $180 pricepoint. We still aren’t quite sold on the way this camera (like most of these compacts) processes video — it seems to do a lot of damage to frame-to-frame motion, something that Apple fought off pretty well with the iPhone 3GS — but we’re going to take one home and test it out a little before we throw down a verdict.

Filed under: Digital Cameras, HDTV, Portable Video

Kodak’s 1080p Zi8 HD pocket camcorder in hand originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Now that the gang at Creative have ‘fessed up to the Zii EGG first seen at the FCC earlier this month, we imagine we’ll be encountering this bad boy quite often over the coming months. If you need your StemCell Computing fix right now, we have a video that showcases the newest developer platform running a racing game in all of its accelerometer-packing, 3D OpenGL ES-enhanced glory. Peep for yourself after the break.

[Via EpiZENter, thanks Michael]

Continue reading Video: Creative Zii EGG 3D gaming demo

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Video: Creative Zii EGG 3D gaming demo originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

We’ve already heard talk of a Nokia N97 Mini (or Mini N97, if you will) from folks who should know what the situation is, and it looks like things have now gotten more interesting still, with some seemingly legitimate pictures of the rumored device finding their way to us that show it out and about with its bigger brother. As you can see above and in another pic after the break, the device is slightly smaller and slightly slimmer than the regular N97, and it’s also received a few subtle design changes, particularly on the back, where the camera has lost its sliding cover. Could it be real? Almost certainly — either that, or it’s a tremendously talented KIRF — though we’re not sure we understand the business justification for a new version of the N97 that isn’t small enough (or different enough, for that matter) to hold its own spot in the lineup. Not much more to go on than that, unfortunately, but you can pretty safely move this one up a notch on the ol’ Rumor-o-Meter.

Continue reading Nokia N97 ‘Mini’ gets pictured in the wild?

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia N97 ‘Mini’ gets pictured in the wild? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The way we hear it, there are plenty of Viliv fans out there disappointed that Dynamism missed its promised delivery date for pre-ordered X70 units this week. The retailer says that component shortages are responsible for the delay and is now hoping to deliver by August 11, but there’s worse news: new orders aren’t expected to ship until September 2, turning what was once a fashionably late arrival to US shores into a rather embarrassing month-long delay.

[Via Pocketables]

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Pre-ordered Viliv X70s delayed to August 11, new customers might have to wait till September originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

As readers of this site know, Greenpeace has quite an active sideline in rating (and berating) technology companies that generate excessive toxic landfill. In fact, we’ve seen so many of these reports that we almost forgot what the organization does best: chasing down whaling vessels, trespassing, hanging banners, and generally bedeviling polluters in the name of Mother Earth. And now, after repeatedly calling out HP for using PVC and hazardous chemicals in its devices, the group has taken matters into its own hands — specifically, by slipping into the company’s Palo Alto headquarters and painting “hazardous products” on the roof, in really big letters, with non-toxic children’s paint. Congratulations to the activist group for finally finding a way to spread their message to low-flying pilots in the San Francisco Bay area! One more pic after the break.

[Via Switched]

Continue reading Greenpeace takes a break from issuing reports to vandalize HP corporate HQ

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Greenpeace takes a break from issuing reports to vandalize HP corporate HQ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Time Warner released it second quarter results today, and the numbers aren’t good. Overall, revenue was down 9% versus the year-ago period as poor results from the publishing, film and yes, AOL dragged down the numbers for all. CEO Jeff Bewkes remarks are telling:

At the same time, we’re continuing the reshaping of Time Warner that we started last year. We’re on track to spin off AOL to our stockholders around the end of the year. Separating AOL will benefit both companies – enabling Time Warner to concentrate fully on our core content businesses and improving AOL’s operational and strategic flexibility.

That’s three AOL mentions in three sentences. Clearly, Time Warner is happy to let everyone know that it will only have a couple more quarters of dealing with that division’s nosedive.