Friday, November 07, 2008

JD Power Ranks the iPhone Highest in Business Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction [IPhone]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/lDwo1xz--D8/jd-power-ranks-the-iphone-highest-in-business-wireless-smartphone-satisfaction

JD Power and Associates have awarded the iPhone the top spot in their annual survey measuring overall customer satisfaction among business wireless smartphone users. On a scale of 1000 (measured by five key factors in order of importance: ease of operation, operating system, physical design, handset features, and battery aspects) Apple's iPhone scored a 778, followed by BlackBerry-maker RIM with a 703 and Samsung with a 701. This is significant for two reasons: JD Power has a reputation for reliable research and the survey focuses on business users—an area traditionally dominated by last year's winner the BlackBerry.

"one-fourth of users report experiencing at least one software-related issue or problem with their current smartphone device. The software-related issues reported most often include the need to reboot the phone, application malfunction/freeze and issues related to touch screen malfunction. Among those owners who have experienced a software problem, 44 percent report having to reboot their device at least once on a weekly basis during the past 12 months, while 34 percent report experiencing either an application malfunction or application freeze at least once per week."

With regard to usage:

•Sixty-nine percent of business smartphone users own a hands-free headset, and 74 percent of those owners use a wireless headset device. Motorola owners report a higher incidence of using wireless headsets (86%), while only 60 percent of Apple iPhone owners report using a wireless headset device.
•Among smartphone users, 37 percent would like GPS (global positioning system) capabilities on their device, 25 percent would like Wi-Fi capabilities, 23 percent want touch screen and 15 percent would like to have voice recognition command for automatic diali! ng.
•The average reported purchase price of a smartphone device is $216, compared with an average reported purchase price of $261 in 2007. Apple owners report the highest average purchase price at $337, while Motorola owners report the lowest device pricing at $169.
•The top five reasons given for choosing a smartphone brand are: Internet capability (45%), ability to use e-mail account (41%), overall design/style (39%), Bluetooth capabilities (37%) and keyboard style (e.g., QWERTY) (37%).
•Thirty-four percent of smartphone owners say they download third-party software. Popular software downloads among business users include games (49%), business applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel (43%) and travel-related programs (36%).

The 2008 Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 1,388 business wireless customers who currently own a smartphone device. The study was fielded between August and September 2008.

[JD Power and Associates]


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Claw Bike Storage From ABC's "American Inventor" Available For Pre-Order [Storage]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/t9Surzn8cz0/claw-bike-storage-from-abcs-american-inventor-available-for-pre+order

If you caught ABC's "American Inventor" last season you may remember "The Gladiator Claw" bicycle storage device as one of the finalists. Well, the folks behind the Claw have used the startup money earned from the show to turn their idea of a push-button catch and release storage hook into reality. Basically, it is a modest but clever upgrade to basic hook systems, but if you have a really nice bike it may be worth dropping an extra $60 on. Plus, I don't see why it could not be used for other items as well. The Claw is now available to pre-order for a November 15th release. [Amazon and The Claw via Crunchgear]


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MacBook Air With Nvidia-Powered H.264 Video Playback Runs Less Toasty [MacBook Air]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/6om56ERyt0o/macbook-air-with-nvidia+powered-h264-video-playback-runs-less-toasty

Like the MacBook and MacBook Pro, the new Nvidia-powered MacBook Air also uses hardware-acceleration for H.264 video playback. Benefit: Performance is better (duh), but also important for people who toasted their kibbles 'n' bits playing video on the old Air, the new one runs dramatically cooler.

One Mac Rumors forum member found that the new Air ran a full 10 degrees cooler playing back the same video, since it apparently dials back the CPU as the GPU picks up the video jujitsu. One wonders just how much it'll help (or hurt) battery life too, if at all. [Mac Rumors]


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60 Minutes Reporter Investigates China's E-Waste Pits, Gets Attacked [E-Waste]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-bBBmlH04HY/60-minutes-reporter-investigates-chinas-e+waste-pits-gets-attacked

60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley went to Guiyi, China to document the lives of Chinese e-waste workers there. He was able to get footage of what these pits, which process much of the toxic electronic scrap we in the West throw away, look like—despite being jumped by angry e-waste lot owners and nearly having his camera confiscated.

The Chinese who attacked them were trying to keep mum on the lucrative business of mining e-waste for valuable components, including gold. According to Jim Puckett, who works for a group working to stop the dumping of toxic materials in third world countries, "A lot of people are turning a blind eye here. And if somebody makes enough noise, they're afraid this [business] is all going to dry up."

The workers who sift through these e-waste pits get paid about $8 a day. They use caustic chemicals and often burn plastic without any type of protection uniform. The air is full of toxins, potable water needs to be trucked in, and pregnancies in the city are six times more likely to be miscarriages. All to deal with the mess we ship over. Sometimes it's easy to forget that even though we don't see our trash anymore, it still exists. And even though America has laws against e-dumping, companies regularly flout them with little repercussion.

Pelley's investigation will be broadcast on CBS this Sunday at 7pm. [CBS News via China Digital Times]


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EWA System Sucks Drinkable Water Out of Thin Air [Water]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/YhrfARfKy-Q/ewa-system-sucks-drinkable-water-out-of-thin-air

While energy issues tend to get a lot more media play, a perhaps even bigger challenge we'll need to collectively deal with soon is the problem of potable water. Israeli company EWA is hoping to help nations with less fresh water resources get it inexpensively by turning humidity in the air into drinkable fluids. EWA, which stands for Extraction of Water from Air, uses a heat-based absorption system and a special energy saving condenser to suck moisture from the atmosphere and into reservoirs cleanly and efficiently.

The technology works thusly: First, the desiccant, made of silica-based gel granules, absorbs the air's humidity using an exothermic (heat releasing) process. Then the water is drawn out of the gel and condensated. It's not the first water from air generator out there, but its heat recovery techniques have vastly reduced the cost for producing water with this method. The end product is cheaper to operate than other filtration systems, such as desalination.

According to EWA, one cubic kilometer of air contains about 10 to 40 thousand tons of water, enough for two million to not go thirsty. Considering that over half the world's population could be facing a water crisis by 2025, this kind of technology is definitely something we should keep an eye on. [Green Prophet]


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Google Seals Up Android 'Jailbreak' in Automatic Update [Android]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/e-qF2cxGPz0/google-seals-up-android-jailbreak-in-automatic-update

It only took Google about three days to recognize, examine and fix the vulnerability that allowed Android phones to be 'jailbroken', and users should see the fix (update RC30) pushed to their phones via an over the air update during the next few days. From the mouth of the Google:

We've been notified of this issue (Jailbreaking of Android) and have developed a fix. We're currently working with our partners to push the fix out and updating the open source code base to reflect these changes.

So what do Android users stand to lose from this Apple-like vigilance?

At present, very little. The so-called 'jailbreak' was of a completely different nature than the app-enabling hack that iPhone users are now so accustomed to. The technique was a telnet trick that allowed for easy root access to the operating system. The reality of the situation is less like a 'jailbreak' in the iPhone sense, and more like finding the administrative password on a desktop Linux system.

The exploit did provide more access to the the Android's core functions, some of which could be useful for app development and porting to other phones, but it also exposed a gaping vulnerability that would be immediately shut on any other Linux distribution. Google's fix is most accurately characterized as a security fix, not a party poop. [ModMyGphone, XDA —Thanks, Kyle]


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Wednesday, November 05, 2008

NTT DoCoMo reveals fall 2008 lineup: Bold, E71, 20 others

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/JgJ1UmalJaI/

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Hot on the heels of RIM's BlackBerry Bold finally hitting AT&T sales channels comes word that Japan's NTT DoCoMo has also joined in to offer the handset. As the Asian carriers dump their cornucopia of fall 2008 mobiles onto the world, this particular one is serving up 22, all divided into the STYLE, PRIME, SMART and PRO series. Naturally, the latter category piques our interest the most, as it hosts the Bold, Nokia E71, HTC Touch Pro (HT-01A), HTC Touch Diamond (HT-02A) and Sharp's decidedly handsome SH-04A. Feel free to have a look at the entire family (and their respective launch dates) just below in the read link.

NTT DoCoMo reveals fall 2008 lineup: Bold, E71, 20 others originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's T*Omnia praised by Ballmer in Korea, older Omnia coming to US this month?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/t2St_vJ2bHQ/

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Samsung's T*Omnia praised by Ballmer in Korea, older Omnia coming to US this month?
Steve Ballmer definitely gets around, last month taking a trip to the UK just to mock Android, this month heading all the way to Korea to praise Samsung's new T*Omnia. He says it's "at the forefront of this new generation of mobile devices," and digs how it "brings together communications, productivity, multimedia, and entertainment in a way that meets the needs of both consumers and mobile professionals." We think he's most fond of its operating system (WinMo 6.1), but must admit we're smitten by the handset too -- especially its 800 x 480 screen. That's more than twice the resolution of the older Omnia, which by the sounds of it will be released in the US sometime this month. Samsung didn't actually say which Omnia, but since it's the older one that's been FCC approved don't go holding your breath for WVGA goodness. Lucky Koreans, meanwhile, can expect the T*Omnia to start being served up by SK Telecom on November 20.

Samsung's T*Omnia praised by Ballmer in Korea, older Omnia coming to US this month? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC's Touch HD now available for £514.99

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/hDSZkQMnDEo/

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It's not apt to ever go on sale in America (okay, so maybe there's a sliver of a sliver of a chance), but HTC's Touch HD is now on sale for fortunate Britons with a fair amount of poundage to spare. The drop-dead gorgeous WinMo 6.1 handset can be procured right now for £514.99 ($821) sans contract, but if you're a North American mulling an import, you should obviously tack on a few more bills to that. You're still mulling, aren't you?

[Via MoDaCo]

HTC's Touch HD now available for £514.99 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AU Optronics' miraculous LCD Panels can read fingerprints or UV levels

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/1JAHOEN7gKY/

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Female? User of LCD panels? Have fingerprints that need read? Worried about skin cancer? If you answer "yes" to any or all of these questions, we have news that is sure to knock your sun-lovin' socks off. Among the items on display at this year's FPD International Exhibition in Yokohama are two exciting LCD panels: they're both 2.8 inches, and they're both manufactured by AU Optronics (a company that knows a thing or two about liquid crystal displays). The first panel functions as a fingerprint scanner -- it boasts a pixel count of 320 x 240, each pixel is equipped with four optical sensors, and sends its output to a 640 x 480 monitor. The other panel uses similar technology to measure the intensity of UV rays, numerically displaying the results on a scale of 0 to 11. According to the company, the UV reader "is targeted at female users who are concerned about the amount of UV light outdoors." There's no word yet on a UV reader for men, but you'll know as soon as we do.

AU Optronics' miraculous LCD Panels can read fingerprints or UV levels originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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