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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

drag2share: This Ecko Spraycan Is Filled With Speakers, Not Paint [Speakers]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5859626/this-ecko-spraycan-is-filled-with-speakers-not-paint

This Ecko Spraycan Is Filled With Speakers, Not Paint Deciding that form is the better way to make a name for themselves in the crowded Bluetooth speaker market than function, Ecko UNLTD's new Spray speaker looks like a can of spraypaint, but that's where the novelty ends.

A Bluetooth 2.1 connection lets the speaker pair with any A2DP compatible device, while a built in microphone also provides speakerphone functionality if you're using it with a smartphone. A pair of 40mm, 3 watt drivers hidden behind a metal grill should provide a decent amount of sound, and its lithium ion rechargeable battery can be easily swapped out, extending your listening pleasure past the ten hour mark if you carry a spare.

Instead of buttons, the can's dome can be rotated to control the volume or skip tracks, and pressing the nozzle lets you play and pause your music, or answer an incoming call. There's no word on pricing or availability yet, but that should all be revealed when it's officially unveiled at CES. So if you were hoping to become the Banksy of sound with it, check back in the new year for more details. [Griffin PR via Chip Chick]

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drag2share: Gartner's Q3 2011 smartphone figures: Samsung on top globally, Android tops 50 percent share

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/15/gartners-q3-2011-smartphone-figures-samsung-on-top-globally-a/

Yahtzee! Now that Canalys, IDC and Strategy Analytics have had their turn, it's Gartner's go to serve up its summary of the smartphone world as seen in Q3 2011. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the headlines aren't changing much, with Samsung becoming the number one smartphone manufacturer worldwide with sales reaching 24 million, and Android's quarterly market share inching over 50 percent to best iOS, BlackBerry OS, etc. We also (re)learned that Apple shipped 17 million iPhones in the quarter, which represents an annual uptick of 21 percent, but a 3 percent drop from Q2 2011 due to the looming iPhone 4S release; predictably, Gartner's predicting that Apple's Q4 2011 will be its strongest yet with the 4S on the market. Breaking the operating system share a bit, we found that Symbian is (strangely) still being included, and that Android managed to soar from 25.3 percent in Q3 2010 to 52.5 percent today. iOS actually lost a bit of ground (16.6 percent a year ago compared to 15 percent today), but in fairness, so did BlackBerry OS and Bada. Curious about Microsoft? It's claiming just 1.5 percent of the worldwide pie, a fairly precipitous drop from the 2.7 percent it had a year ago. Far more fun facts and figures await you after the break.

Continue reading Gartner's Q3 2011 smartphone figures: Samsung on top globally, Android tops 50 percent share

Gartner's Q3 2011 smartphone figures: Samsung on top globally, Android tops 50 percent sha! re o riginally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Netflix reveals new user interface experience for Android tablets, iPad counterpart coming soon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/15/netflix-reveals-new-user-interface-experience-for-android-tablet/

You've already had a peek at it in the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet, but it seems that redesigned user interface is going to be hitting more than just the holiday's most-talked about duo. Netflix has made official a newly redesigned user interface experience for Android tablets -- one that "makes browsing and instantly watching unlimited TV shows and movies streaming from Netflix better than ever." The new look provides multiple rows of titles with larger artwork to scroll through, with Neil Hunt, chief product officer at Netflix, noting that the company has seen a "threefold increase in how long Netflix members are watching on their tablets." As of today, interested consumers can simply update their Netflix app in the Android Market, while iPad users are being asked to wait "a few weeks," after which the new tablet experience will be dubbed Tabster and led on Twitter by a 17-year old methamphetamine addict.

Continue reading Netflix reveals new user interface experience for Android tablets, iPad counterpart coming soon

Netflix reveals new user interface experience for Android tablets, iPad counterpart coming soon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Microsoft outlines Code Space, looks to include Kinect in conference rooms, PTA meetings (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/microsoft-outlines-code-space-looks-to-include-kinect-in-confer/

If there's one thing that's certain about the Kinect, it's this; Microsoft wants it to be versatile. Case in point, Code Space -- the next extracurricular activity for the gaming controller which sees it teaming up with smartphones and laptops to present information on a shared screen. The project is aimed at presenting and exchanging code in developer meetings using a large display and simple hand gestures, though we could easily see this being adopted in both the classroom and the boardroom as well. In other news, the Kinect will be able to paint your house this spring, even if you may not be crazy about the final color...

Update: We realize it's a bit slow at times, but if you'd like to see Code Space in action, just hop the break. You'll discover the magic. [Thanks, Andrew]

Gallery: Code Space Gallery

Continue reading Microsoft outlines Code Space, looks to include Kinect in conference rooms, PTA meetings (video)

Microsoft outlines Code Space, looks to include Kinect in conference rooms, PTA meetings (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Adobe brings Touch Apps family to Android tablets, Creative Cloud looms on the horizon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/15/adobe-brings-touch-apps-family-to-android-tablets-creative-clou/

Back in October, as you may recall, Adobe unveiled its Touch Apps family -- a collection of six tools designed to make life easier and more tactile for tablet-using creative types. Today, those apps are finally available on the Android Market, for tablets running Android 3.1 or higher. The sextet includes Photoshop Touch, Collage and Proto, among other Adobe products, each of which is priced at $9.99. These applications will also play a central role in Adobe's forthcoming Creative Cloud initiative, which will allow users to share, view and transfer files across multiple devices. That isn't expected to launch until the first half of next year, while the full suite of Touch Apps for iOS users should be released by "early 2012" (Adobe Ideas is the only member currently available on iTunes). Android slate wielders can get their hands on all the Touch Apps now, though Adobe says they'll need at least an 8.9-inch, 1280 x 800 display to get the most out of it. Check out the source link below for more details, or head past the break for the full PR treatment.

Continue reading Adobe brings Touch Apps family to Android tablets, Creative Cloud looms on the horizon

Adobe brings Touch Apps family to Android tablets, Creative Cloud looms on the horizon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: RIM unveils BlackBerry Bold 9790, Curve 9380, hitting the market within weeks

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/15/rim-unveils-blackberry-bold-9790-curve-9380-hitting-the-market/

Now that we've seen all the leaks and heard all the rumors, RIM has finally announced the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and Curve 9380, welcoming two new members to the OS 7 family. Picking up where the Bold 9780 left off, the comparatively higher-end 9790 boasts a 2.44-inch touchscreen display with 360 x 480 resolution, and is powered by a 1GHz CPU. The QWERTY-equipped handset also ships with 8GB of onboard memory and features a microSD slot that offers up to 32GB of additional space. The Curve 9380, meanwhile, is an all touchscreen affair, with a 3.2-inch, 480 x 360 display and a five megapixel camera. RIM hasn't offered any other details on the 9380's specs, though the company did specify that both devices will offer NFC and augmented reality support, and will come pre-loaded with BlackBerry Messenger, Documents To Go Premium, and BlackBerry Protect. No word yet on pricing or availability, though RIM says to expect a launch "over the coming weeks." Find more details in the full PR, after the break.

Continue reading RIM unveils BlackBerry Bold 9790, Curve 9380, hitting the market within weeks

RIM unveils BlackBerry Bold 9790, Curve 9380, hitting the market within weeks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 04:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Zinio now available on Amazon Appstore, brings 5,000 magazines to Kindle Fire

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/15/zinio-now-available-on-amazon-appstore-brings-5-000-magazines-t/

After having already arrived on a host of Android slates, iPads and even TouchPads, Zinio's reader app has now made its way to the newest tablet platform -- the Kindle Fire. The magazine marketplace made its debut on the Amazon Appstore today, just in time for today's grand launch. Available as a free download, Zinio brings more than 5,000 magazine titles to Amazon's new slab, including The Economist, Rolling Stone and US Weekly, among others. New subscribers, meanwhile, will benefit from an extra $25 in credit, redeemable through March of 2012. Find more specifics in the full PR, after the break.

Continue reading Zinio now available on Amazon Appstore, brings 5,000 magazines to Kindle Fire

Zinio now available on Amazon Appstore, brings 5,000 magazines to Kindle Fire originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Biscotti TV Phone goes on sale today for $199, assumes everyone you know uses Google Talk

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/15/biscotti-tv-phone-goes-on-sale-today-for-199-assumes-everyone/

Feel the need to video chat in higher resolution? Or maybe just take a break from the PC while you talk to your long-distance girlfriend you met at Comic Con? Well, we just got word that Biscotti, that TV phone we demoed last week, is on sale in the US and Canada for a princely $199. To recap, it's a camera that sits discreetly atop your TV and is, indeed, about as small and lightweight as that crunchy Italian cookie. The idea is pretty simple: it plugs into both your TV and set-top box, and makes free calls to other Biscotti owners, along with anyone using Google Talk. After our brief demo we were impressed enough with the easy setup and simple menus that layer on top of whatever you're watching, but then again, we were unaware of the price. So, is two hundred bucks worth a lifetime of seeing grandma in 1080p? That, friends, is a decision you'll have to make for yourself.

Gallery: Biscotti TV Phone

Continue reading Biscotti TV Phone goes on sale today for $199, assumes everyone you know uses Google Talk

Biscotti TV Phone goes on sale today for $199, assumes everyone you know uses Google Talk originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monday, November 14, 2011

drag2share: Turkish company builds 65-inch Android 'tablet' with Honeycomb, 1080p support (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/turkish-company-builds-65-inch-android-tablet-with-honeycomb/

Want Honeycomb on your TV? You can take your chances with a Google TV-enabled set from Sony, or you can get the full Android experience by adding a connected tablet to your HD mix -- if Istanbul-based Ardic gets its solution out the door, at least. The Turkish company's prototype uses a 10-inch Android Honeycomb-based tablet to power a 65-inch LCD with 1080p support for basic gestures, like pinch and zoom. The display currently has two touch sensors, but a version with four sensors is on the way, which will bring multi-touch support. The tablet is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 2 SoC, and includes 1GB of RAM, 16GB of flash memory, dual cameras, HDMI, USB, microSD and 3G and WiFi connectivity. A dock enables instant connectivity with the OEM TV, including HDMI for video and audio, and USB for touch input (a wireless version is in the works as well).

The devs customized Android to support 1080p output, and it appears to work quite seamlessly, as you'll see in the embedded video. And this isn't simply another goofy demo or proof of concept -- the Turkish company is in talks with education and enterprise customers and hopes to bring this setup to production as a more power- and cost-efficient smart board alternative. The company eventually hopes to offer displays in a variety of sizes, that will all be powered by a pocketable device, such as a smartphone, but watch in wonder as the 65-inch proto we have today struts its stuff in the video after the break.

Continue reading Turkish company builds 65-inch Android 'tablet' with Honeycomb, 1080p support (video)

Turkish company builds 65-inch Android 'tablet' with Honeycomb, 1080p support (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: NVIDIA's Maximus technology, packs CPU and GPU warrior powers

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/nvidias-maximus-technology-packs-cpu-and-gpu-warrior-powers/

Back in August, NVIDIA sneaked us a few deets about its curious Maximus project, now the joint CPU/GPU card is officially ready to rev-up your work-flow. The idea is simple: dramatically improve productivity by using one system to handle the graphics along with the processing to deliver it. You might say it's got the looks and the brains. By melding the graphics ham of its Quadpro GPUs with the cheesy smarts from the Tesla C2075, NVIDIA has made one epic processing sandwich that 'transparently' delegates tasks to the right processor; also expect to see Maximus-optimized applications from the likes of Adobe and Bunkspeed in the not-too-distant future. Workstations can supe-up their core immediately, but whether the Maximus will ever be accompanied by a companion Biggus Diskus is unclear.

Continue reading NVIDIA's Maximus technology, packs CPU and GPU warrior powers

NVIDIA's Maximus technology, packs CPU and GPU warrior powers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Rock-steady Gigabyte G1.Sniper2 Z68 motherboard gets a nod of approval

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/rock-steady-gigabyte-g1-sniper2-z68-motherboard-gets-a-nod-of-ap/

Not enticed by all that Sandy Bridge E havoc that hit the PC market today? Good for you, because there's still plenty of life left in the first-gen LGA1155 Sandy Bridge processors and Gigabyte has put out another high-end Z68-based motherboard to prove it. The G1.Sniper2 just won itself a HotHardware recommendation, and if you look past the violent branding and color scheme you'll see why: the $360 premium card has the full gamut of ports and connections and delivers rock solid stability even when overclocked right up the limits of an i7-2600K CPU. Rack up that Wiz Khalifa tune and then click the source link for more.

Rock-steady Gigabyte G1.Sniper2 Z68 motherboard gets a nod of approval originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Microsoft eyes new category for Windows Embedded, envisions intelligent systems for everyday objects

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/microsoft-eyes-new-category-for-windows-embedded-envisions-inte/

Microsoft's fixin' to get its Windows platform inside, well, everything. That's according to GM of Windows Embedded, Kevin Dallas, who says the tech giant is on track to create a new category for the division that centers around "intelligent systems." It appears the time is ripe for "low-cost... high-powered microchips" to take advantage of MS' emerging cloud services and integrate means of delivering data and immersive experiences to both enterprise and commercial end users, like in-car systems or point of sale terminals. Need a more specific visual of where this heavy-handed business jargon's headed? Dallas claims customers in the medical industry are eager to implement Kinect's gesture-based tracking into future equipment, so pretty soon you won't have to worry about shaky hands splicing into your vital organs. And all of this is coming relatively soon, as good 'ol Redmond plans to make its Windows Embedded platforms available shortly after the release of Windows 8 for PCs. So hold tight, there's a brave new world coming and Microsoft's holding the keys.

Microsoft eyes new category for Windows Embedded, envisions intelligent systems for everyday objects originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: HTC Jetstream review

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/htc-jetstream-review/

When HTC entered the tablet game, it did so in reverse course. Where other manufacturers were jostling for elbow room in a 10-inch form factored world, the company opted for smaller, more familiar battleground, eschewing the rough-hewn Honeycomb OS for a Gingerbread-baked Sense overlay on the Flyer. Naturally, the time for that mini-slate to shine has come and gone. In its stead, we're treated to a flagship of sorts -- HTC's first 10-incher and AT&T's inaugural 4G LTE slate. Android 3.1 makes an appearance here, as does Sense 1.1 for tablets, but is the skinned experience really any different from the custom UX we've all come to love or hate on phones? Can the added Scribe pen functionality, repurposed here from its 7-inch brother, transform the Jetstream from third pillar offering to an always-on, on-the-go assistant? And will those newly hatched 700MHz speeds convince you to cough up for that weighty $700 price tag? Follow along past the break to see how it fared.

Gallery: HTC Jetstream review

Continue reading HTC Jetstream review

HTC Jetstream review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Shopping Discovery App Zoomingo Raises $1.3 Million

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/14/shopping-discovery-app-zoomingo-raises-1-3-million/

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The newly launched shopping discovery app Zoomingo announced today it has secured $1.3 million in funding from early-stage VC firms Naya Ventures and Benaroya Capital along with several prominent angel investors. Previously self-funded, Zoomingo says it will use the additional capital to enhance its current mobile application, build a retailer platform and grow its community through expanded outreach to customers and retailer partners.

With this funding, Dayakar Puskoor, managing director of Dallas-based Naya Ventures, will also join Zoomingo's board of directors.

For background, Seattle-based Zoomingo was founded by language learning service Livemocha's co-founders, Shirish Nadkarni (Zoomingo CEO) and Krishnan Seshadrinathan (CTO). Nadkarni said he had the idea for the service when he noticed that his wife (an avid shopper, he says) was having trouble locating nearby sales using her mobile phone. So many of today’s apps focus on barcode scanning, deals and offers or price comparisons, but none simply rounded up all the nearby sales at local retailers in one easy-to-access mobile application.

Hence, Zoomingo.

The app pulls in sales data from major retailers using a combination of manual and automated means as well as crowd-sourcing via its “Deal Scouts,” who are positioned in several major U.S. cities. Zoomingo now provides access to 70,000 retail outlets in the U.S., and growing.

The app is available on both iPhone and Android.

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drag2share: Best Buy Preps $249 Asus Transformer For Black Friday

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/14/best-buy-preps-249-asus-transformer-for-black-friday/

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The ratio of awful tablets to good ones in this year’s Black Friday ads doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence, but there are some good deals to be found even at this early stage. Case in point: Best Buy’s leaked Black Friday circular has the first generation 16GB Asus Transformer for $250, a respectable $150 drop from its current price.

Much like with Staples and their bargain-basement BlackBerry PlayBooks, this doorbuster deal is only for people with the guts to wait in line for it. The big question though, is whether or not it’s worth risking life and limb to acquire. Let’s not forget, after all, that the Transformer Prime is barreling down the pipeline with a better processor and camera in tow as we speak.

Still, the Transformer’s solid Tegra 2 chipset and 10.1-inch display make it one of the better tablet options available during the post-Thanksgiving mayhem. Better one of these than a Coby Kyros or a “Polaroid Internet Tablet,” after all.

I’m sure the temptation of a low price already has some bargain hunters working out their Black Friday logistics, but here’s a thought — why not stay at home as see what Cyber Monday has to offer instead? Call me lazy, but in this case, I’d rather my credit card and clicking finger get a workout instead of schlepping around in the cold with 1,000 other people.

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