Saturday, December 13, 2008

Apple: "the iPhone is a gaming console"

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/apple-the-iphone-is-a-gaming-console/


According to extremely reliable and embarrassingly handsome Engadget sources, at an iPhone event held today, John Geleynse (AKA Director of Technology Evangelism at Apple) made some statements regarding the iPhone platform that should seriously raise a few eyebrows. During an ADC "iPhone Tech Talk" in San Jose, Geleynse apparently waxed excited about the potential for the handheld as a viable threat to the DS (and the PSP by proxy), calling the iPhone a "gaming console" and claiming that "it's not a phone, it's a console experience." Pretty bold talk about a device that has yet to really prove its gaming mettle, but nothing new from the Apple camp as far as we're concerned. Considering these comments alongside those from a recent interview in which Greg Joswiak compared the touch to the DS, it seems clear that the company is making a noticeable effort to push this angle. Adding some fuel to that fire is PR that just went out announcing a series of EA "sneak peek" events at Apple Stores around the US. In their words:

Throughout the month of December Apple Stores in New York, LA, San Francisco and Chicago will host special "EA Games Sneak Peek" events where Electronic Arts will discuss why the iPod touch and iPhone are amazing platforms for mobile gaming...

While there's no question the iPhone and touch have made inroads when it comes to gaming, it still isn't clear that there's going to be anything beyond a casual interest for these devices. Then again, if the Wii's success has proven anything, it's that there's plenty of cash in casual if you can make it appealing enough. And you know how Apple feels about appealing products and money.

Filed under: , ,

Apple: "the iPhone is a gaming console" originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Posted by Augustine at 9:00 AM

Nokia says touch interface and handset leaked in presentation don't point to new product

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/nokia-says-touch-interface-and-handset-leaked-in-presentation-do/


Sure, we try to front as world-weary cynics, but when we pinged our folks at Nokia for a statement on that suspiciously-awesome slide about a previously unseen touchscreen interface and device concept, we were totally hoping for a "oh, our bad, that's a real phone and it's awesome and it's being released in the States tomorrow." Naturally, that was not the case. Here's what Nokia had to say on the matter:
"The story you sent over was from a non-public presentation that discussed some UI enhancements - NOT a new product. The form factor shown was a generic form factor and not meant to showcase a new device / product."
So, yeah. They're not really going to fess up to a lot here, but if we were to read between the lines we'd say these "UI enhancements" are much more likely to get real and official someday than whatever vaguely-hinted-at device was shown off beneath them. Maybe. Reading in further, we'd say it's a little odd that Nokia's demonstrating to investors its "best in class touch" capabilities by using a mockup interface on top of a mockup device, but perhaps that's why we were never so good with "the monies."

Filed under:

Nokia says touch interface and handset leaked in presentation don't point to new product originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Posted by Augustine at 9:00 AM

Switched On: MiFi pushes 3G past the router limits

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/switched-on-mifi-pushes-3g-past-the-router-limits/

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

In a commercial featuring 30 Rock actress and producer Tina Fey and director Martin Scorsese, the former Saturday Night Live head writer uses her credit card to gain entrance to an airline lounge. The notion of a faceless slice serving as an access pass would also apply to Novatel Wireless's MiFi, the simply named 3G personal hotspot that will support up to five users simultaneously connecting to a 3G network when it is offered through operators next year.

MiFi is not the first product to enable a small group to bridge WiFi products to the wireless WAN. One early entrant, Junxion, was acquired by Novatel Wireless competitor Sierra Wireless. And Cradlepoint has created a battery-powered device sold at Best Buy that, like the Junxion device, relies on a laptop card to create its WAN connection.

That's not true, though, of the MiFi, which integrates an HSPA or EVDO radio along with the battery that can provide over four hours of Internet access to devices such as a PC, iPod touch, Zune, Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. In fact, without apologies to Right Said Fred, the MiFi may be "too sexy for my LAN" -- particularly for a product that can work silently in a backpack as it serves its nodes. A thicker frame could provide all-day access, but perhaps such lengthy sessions will generally take place where there is access to an outlet; the device continues to perform normally if it is drawing juice from a PC's USB port.! But the MiFi is not simply a dumb dispenser of digits.

Continue reading Switched On: MiFi pushes 3G past the router limits

Filed under:

Switched On: MiFi pushes 3G past the router limits originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Posted by Augustine at 9:00 AM

How would you change HP's TouchSmart 2 all-in-one PC?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/how-would-you-change-hps-touchsmart-2-all-in-one-pc/


HP's TouchSmart 2 launched without a whole lot of fanfare, but what you get for $1,299 is pretty unique. The IQ504 / IQ506 all-in-one PCs are one of the first to actually encourage full-on touchscreen use in a PC, with HP urging users to touch their way to computational bliss. Of course, with an unorthodox design such as this, there will always be pundits who feel that this or that should have been done somewhat differently, and if that's you, you've found your sounding board. Are you a little let down by the internals? Yearn for more expandability? Is the screen as responsive as it should be? Get heard, won't you?

Filed under:

How would you change HP's TouchSmart 2 all-in-one PC? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Posted by Augustine at 9:00 AM

ViBook looses DisplayLink USB-to-DVI adapter with support for six-screen spanning

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/vibook-looses-displaylink-usb-to-dvi-adapter-with-support-for-si/

DisplayLink USB monitors are starting to trickle out a little more frequently now, but USB graphics cards based on the tech are still somewhat rare -- we've seen a couple, but VillageTronic's ViBook box is the only one that comes with software to span an image across up to six screens at once. That's right, the bundled VT MultiDisplay software will let you create a single giant Windows desktop out of six 1600 x 1200 22-inch displays if you buy enough of the $130 dongles -- Mac users can do the same with four screens. The dongle can be outfitted with a VESA cradle that allows it to hide discreetly behind your monitor, and while we don't know what the upper limit of graphics performance is, we do know that we'd kill for a gigantic 4800 x 2400 workspace. Weekend project, anyone?

[Thanks, Becky]

Filed under:

ViBook looses DisplayLink USB-to-DVI adapter with support for six-screen spanning originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Posted by Augustine at 8:59 AM

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)