Apple planning event for January, with high-res iPhone or small-sized tablet in tow? Maybe just hanging out?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/apple-planning-event-for-january-with-high-res-iphone-or-small/

Breaking news, everybody: Apple's working on some stuff. The rumors are flying in all directions today, starting out fairly innocently with word from the oft-innacurate DigiTimes of an iPhone-destined 5 megapixel camera sensor. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster piled on with an investor note saying they're giving an Apple January event a 75% chance of happening, and the tablet is squarely at 50 / 50. The most interesting word, however, comes out of the Silicon Alley Insider, who is quoting a "plugged-in source in the mobile industry" who says that Apple is working with some select app makers on prepping high-res apps to demo on a "new, larger mobile device." The device would be shown in January but not available at that time -- presumably in wait for these redesigned apps to mature (at WWDC, perhaps?). While that rumor is being piled in with the ever-present tablet hubbub, if we were to read between the lines we'd say it sounds more like a higher-resolution iPhone in the style of Google's Nexus one or Motorola's Droid -- both of which are making the iPhone's 320 x 480 screen look a tad archaic. Certainly more likely than Apple releasing "several tablets" to match up with all the disparate rumors we've seen of the 7-inch / 9-inch / 10-inch unicorn device.

Update: Just so you know, The New York Times has it on good authority that Steve Jobs is apparently "extremely happy" with the current tablet design. The assumption here -- if true, of course -- is that he won't be killing this project like he did all the previous iterations.

Apple planning event for January, with high-res iPhone or small-sized tablet in tow? Maybe just hanging out? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo, Pocket-lint  |  AppleInsider, Silicon Valley Insider, DigiTimes  | Email this | Comment s

Read More...

Summary only...

Asus Eee PC T101MT revealed by the FCC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/asus-eee-pc-t101mt-revealed-by-the-fcc/

Asus' Eee PC T101 convertible tablet has been floating around in one form or another for quite a while now, but it looks like it's now finally cleared the FCC as the Eee PC T101MT, which seems to suggest that it might just be getting official at CES next month. While details on this particular model are pretty light, the FCC filing does confirm that it packs 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and the "MT" in the model name likely indicates that this one's a multitouch tablet -- the Eee PC T101 that we've seen previously was a 10-inch tablet with the usual unremarkable netbook specs, but an upgrade to Pine Trail seems a safe bet for this model.

Asus Eee PC T101MT revealed by the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Netbook Italia  |  FCC  | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Switched On: Multi-room music's rocket ride

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/switched-on-multi-room-musics-rocket-ride/

Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Multi-room music has a long history as the province of the wealthy, the corporate, and those with the forethought to build or buy new construction with the structured wiring to support it. But over the past few years a number of companies have tried various wireless technologies to bring multi-room music closer to the masses. Some companies have used proprietary wireless systems while others have used WiFi, and yet others have tried both approaches in different products at different times.

Those approaches, though, now face competition from a new ingredient brand called Rocketboost. While it may sound like a powdered nutritional supplement that Jamba Juice adds to smoothies, Rocketboost uses the second generation of a wireless audio technology dubbed AudioMagic 2G, which developer Avnera claims is the first multipoint to multipoint HD wireless audio platform. Indeed, AudioMagic 2G can support up to five sources and nine receivers -- significantly shy of Sonos's 32 zones, but enough to cover many homes. Each Rocketboost receiver has, at minimum, a button to cycle through active sources, and the standard also supports displays that would enable more flexibility in source selection, particularly AudioMagic 2G has a data channel for sending information about a source and the content it is playing.

Continue reading Switched On: Multi-room music's rocket ride

Switched On: Multi-room music's rocket ride originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Viewsonic VOT132 nettop review

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/24/viewsonic-vot132-nettop-review/

You don't need booming sales figures to tell you that netbooks have taken over the world -- the mobile computing world, at least. Their screenless and battery-free brethren, however, have yet to find quite the same success. Nettops are great tiny little machines but in general they've been under-powered and, while people love eking out another hour or two of battery life on the road, few sadly care whether their desktop computers pull down 17 or 71 watts of juice. Still, it's hard to deny the appeal of a fully-functional computer that's half the size of a Wii -- especially when it can manage 1080p output over HDMI. Viewsonic's VOT132, with its Ion graphics and trick magnetic DVD drive, is tiny, efficient, and powerful. The perfect media PC? Read on to find out.

Gallery: Viewsonic VOT132 unboxing

Continue reading Viewsonic VOT132 nettop review

Viewsonic VOT132 nettop review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Archos 9 reviewed: too big, too slow, too 'Starter'

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/24/archos-9-reviewed-too-big-too-slow-too-starter/

We hate to be the bringers of bad news, but it looks like the Archos 9 might be serving as a bit of a morality tale, showing why and how PC hardware and software might not be quite ready for the large form factor tablet experience. That's not to say there aren't some plusses to the device pointed out by UMPC Portal in its review, like the great build quality and style of the tablet, the sensitive, flush touchscreen, and some great connectivity, but the sum seems less than its parts. The primary blame can be laid at the feet of the 1.1GHz Atom Z510 processor, which is sluggish and single-threaded, and Windows 7 Starter, which is lacking in the standard Windows 7 tablet functionality. We don't know all the reasoning at play here, but the result is a slow computer with a hacked-on touchscreen keyboard at a $550 pricepoint that doesn't the hit handheld UMPC size sweetspot and can hardly stand against a netbook in cost or utility. Sounds kind of mean when we say it like that, doesn't it?

Archos 9 reviewed: too big, too slow, too 'Starter' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  UMPC Portal  | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...