Archive for September 25th, 2009

We’d heard Apple was pushing the Financial Accounting Standards Board to change the rules by which Cupertino’s accountants reported iPhone and Apple TV revenue, and it looks like the effort was successful. The new rules allow Apple (and other companies like Palm) to report revenues on products that bundle hardware and software all at once, instead of parceling out the revenue over time using subscription accounting to enable free software upgrades. For investors, that means Apple’s quarterly earnings reports will more accurately reflect the state of the company’s cash flow, but we’re more interested to find out if this means iPod touch OS updates will be free now, since the previous rationale for charging was that iPod revenue wasn’t recorded using subscription accounting. We’ve got a feeling Apple’s all too happy to take your $4.95, but we can hope, right?

[Via MacRumors]

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets

Standards board changes subscription accounting rules, Apple CPAs drunk with power originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Pre’s proven to be an eminently hackable platform pretty much from day one, and given that, it stands to reason that major “missing” features are going to either be added in the hard way or a few good programmers are going to die trying. The virtual keyboard developments are seen as a big win for users, and next up is true video recording — something inexplicably missing from the device considering its ample (well, theoretically ample) processing power. Work on homebrew recording tools seems to be moving along nicely, with some open-source tools already available — so far, they’re apparently able to push it to 480 x 320 at 30fps, but it comes out encoded strangely and doesn’t resemble anything your average end user would want to be dealing with. That’s where Palm hopefully comes in with a future webOS update, but for now, at least we’re able to play around. Follow the break for video of the hack in action.

[Via PreCentral]

Continue reading Video recording hacks for the Pre making nice progress

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Video

Video recording hacks for the Pre making nice progress originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you needed another reason to frown upon the state of the North American wireless industry, allow us to go ahead and turn your attention to Exhibit A here. What you’re looking at is some promotional material backing up earlier rumors that the HD2 / Leo is en route to O2 in the UK, but what’s especially upsetting (though not terribly surprising) is the knowledge that customers will be able to scoop up HTC’s new ultra-high-end WinMo beast for zilch on an O2 1200 tariff — a plan that runs something like £45 (about $72) a month. Oh, and that’s on an 18-month contract, not 24. Meanwhile, we’ll be lucky to ever see the Leo land in its natural, original, HTC-approved state on a carrier at any price in the US, but hey, at least we’ve still got some more Touch Pro2 launches to look forward to, right?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Leo looking confirmed for O2 UK debut, will be free on the right plan originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Popcorn Hour’s latest all-accessing all-playing media device has finally made its way into our hands, and while we haven’t had nearly enough time to put the C-200 completely through its paces, we did spare a moment to take some pictures and play a movie or two. Other than using RF (no line of sight needed here) the remote is mostly unchanged from the earlier A-110, though we have had some issues with the box not responding to inputs, tightening the antenna seems to have made things better for now. Slipping a SATA hard drive in requires only the lightest tug on the drive bay door, it really couldn’t be easier — we’ll have to see how a Blu-ray drive fits soon. With the exception of slight noise from the HDD we put in, the C-200 is nearly silent in operation, and home theater nuts will be glad to know that bright blue display up front can be dimmed all the way to off. An extra USB port front and back hasn’t hurt usability either, though it would have been nice if it recognized a keyboard when we were setting up new RSS feeds. Thanks to DLNA support, Windows 7 Play To functionality worked sufficiently playing media, but we couldn’t get the titles to display properly on the C-200 whether initiated from the PC or on the box itself. So far it’s played everything we’ve thrown at it, from legitimately downloaded trailers to less MPAA-authorized material. Anything you want to see tested as part of our full review? Leave ideas in the comments while you check out the pictures.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Popcorn Hour C-200 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Historically, wireless rollouts have been miserably long, protracted affairs that take countless years to complete, but Verizon’s talking in some really aggressive terms as it moves to LTE. The company wants to be at or near 100 percent overlay with its legacy CDMA footprint by 2013, but a ton of major markets will be covered and commercially well before then — up to 30 in 2010. Speaking in an interview this week, Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone has reiterated that the company is still on track with its LTE deployment — music to our ears — and that they’re not looking to “tease” customers at length with trial deployments that would require moving cross-country to enjoy. They’re looking to establish a “significant footprint” out of the gate, which is allegedly made possibly in part by the LTE equipment’s ability to share some infrastructure (backhaul equipment, for instance) with the CDMA network it’ll be joining in cell sites around the country. Now, how about those USB LTE modems, Verizon?

Filed under: Wireless

Verizon: LTE rollout to be ‘as close to all-at-once as possible’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What could possibly cause nearly 700 comments on an official Sony blog post announcing the relatively minor 3.01 firmware update for the PS3? Plaudits? A Kanye meme gone awry? No, it’s the age old problem of an update that apparently breaks more than it fixes. In this case, a sizable number of users are reporting that the 3.0 and/or 3.01 update caused their PS3′s Blu-ray drive to be all but unusable for both games and Blu-ray movies (although some folks report that DVDs still work). Other users are also reporting intermittent problems like no sound, and some problems with specific games, but it does seem like the complaints are pretty widespread and, as of yet, Sony isn’t saying much about them. Bitten by the upgrade bug yourself? Let us know in comments.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Gaming

PS3 3.0 / 3.01 firmware update making Blu-ray drive unusable? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, JVC’s new Picsio GC-FM1 pocket video camera has the specs to complete with the likes of Flip Video’s Ultra HD and other similar offerings (1080p video, 8-megapixel stills, a 2-inch LCD, and HDMI out), but it also has a little something extra, something rarely seen in the world of anthropomorphized products since they heyday of the California Raisins: showmanship. Still no word on a North American appearance just yet, unfortunately but it looks like the camera will run around ¥20,000 (or about $220) when it hits Japan by the end of the month. In the meantime, we’re sure the video after the break will more than tide you over.

[Via Akihabara News]

Continue reading JVC Picsio GC-FM1 video camera flips out for its debut

Filed under: Digital Cameras

JVC Picsio GC-FM1 video camera flips out for its debut originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a bit hard to tell if Artcoustic’s latest wall-mounted, ultrathin loudspeakers, the Crystal line, are incredibly horrid or insanely awesome. There’s no denying that high-end loving audiophiles are enticed by the brand — but the Crystal line? Well, let’s just say that adding a bunch of Swarovskis to any product won’t necessarily make it better. Regardless, these bad boys are customizable and if you’re into ostentation, they probably belong in your apartment. There’s also a matching iPod dock available, and it’ll run you about $3700 to get one, speaker included.

Filed under: Peripherals

Artcoustic vomits bling allover its Crystal line of wall-mounted speakers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/iPhone_MMS_is_now_live’; All you’ve gotta do is plug that iPhone 3G or 3GS into iTunes, run the teensiest of updates, restart the phone, and you can at last make that fashionably late entrance into the 21st century you’ve always dreamed of. That’s right folks, MMS on the iPhone is live on AT&T at last.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

iPhone MMS is now live! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yet another CEDIA has come and gone, and while some of our greatest hopes for Media Center came true (CableCard is no longer OEM only, Switched Digital Video support for the tuning adapter is coming) several more did not (Zune HD integration and any new CableCard announcements from ATI.) Peep the recap post on Engadget HD for the full rundown on what did and didn’t happen in Media Center news from Atlanta, and what Microsoft’s next plans for Windows Media Center could (& should) be.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Engadget HD reviews what’s new in Windows Media Center after CEDIA originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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