BrandFinance declares Google the most valuable brand in the world

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/25/brandfinance-declares-google-the-most-valuable-brand-in-the-worl/

Well, it looks Eric Schmidt wasn't far off when he said recently that Microsoft is bigger competition than Facebook for Google -- at least when it comes to overall brand value, that is. According to BrandFinance's latest annual ranking, Google has just barely edged out Microsoft for the title of most valuable brand in the world, with the pair of them pushing Walmart out from the number one spot last year. As for Facebook, it just entered the top 500 for the first time at number 285, while Apple jumped twelve spots to make its first appearance in the top ten at number eight -- a shift that partly comes at the expense of usual suspect Coca Cola, which has dropped out of the top ten for the first time. The biggest loser? Nokia. It dropped all the way from number 21 last year to number 94 this year. Hit up the source link below for the complete list.

Continue reading BrandFinance declares Google the most valuable brand in the world

BrandFinance declares Google the most valuable brand in the world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 04:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xperia X10 to get Android 2.3 this summer, makes us rub our eyes in disbelief

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/25/xperia-x10-to-get-android-2-3-this-summer-makes-us-rub-our-eyes/

Who's in charge of Sony Ericsson today and what did they do with the old crew? Reversing a previous statement saying there'll be no Android updates for its Xperia X10 family beyond Eclair, SE has just announced that it'll bring Gingerbread to the X10 at the end of Q2 / start of Q3 this year. That's right around this summer, when we should expect a user experience roughly equivalent to that on the new Xperia Arc, Neo and Play devices, whose Gingerbread implementation looks to have served as the basis for the elder X10's upcoming update. Seriously, Gingerbread on the X10, we still can't believe it.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Xperia X10 to get Android 2.3 this summer, makes us rub our eyes in disbelief originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kingston's Class 10 microSD family gets bigger, stays tiny

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/23/kingstons-class-10-microsd-family-gets-bigger-stays-tiny/

Kingston is putting an extra boost the smallest of its tiny memory cards. The popular provider of flash storage is upping its 4GB and 8GB microSDHC cards from Class 4 specifications (up to a 4 MB/s transfer rate) to a whopping Class 10 spec and all of its 10 MB/s goodness. The newly announced models join a 16GB version that has been available for several months. By completing the family tree of Class 10 cards, Kingston is offering faster all-round performance for file transfers on smartphones, quicker write times for microSD-wielding cameras and basically a few seconds of your life back -- at lower prices than before, though you'll still be paying a premium compared to slower cards. Our microSDHC-accepting devices are itching to hop aboard this speedier train of data storage, and luckily we won't have to wait long. The two memory cards start shipping at the end of March and are being offered with an available Mobility Kit, which includes an SD adapter and a USB card reader. But, if you want a full-fat 32GB model, you'll have to wait for Q2 of 2011 like the rest of us. Pricing starts at $22 for a 4GB model up to $138 for the 16GB model -- check after the break for full breakdown of prices and more in the PR.

Continue reading Kingston's Class 10 microSD family gets bigger, stays tiny

Kingston's Class 10 microSD family gets bigger, stays tiny originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BMW launches DriveNow, the 'premium' car sharing service with a Dell Streak on every dash (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/23/bmw-launches-drivenow-the-premium-car-sharing-service-with-a/

If you liked the idea of the Car2go service we profiled a few weeks back, Smart fortwos available for rent by the minute with and some pretty fancy tracking apps to help you find them, but maybe you wanted to drive something a little bit bigger, BMW has you covered. Well, assuming "you" are German or at least living in Germany. The company has launched its own car sharing service it calls DriveNow. This one is billed as a "premium" -- though curiously none of the company's truly premium models will be offered. That said, the Minis and 1 Series autos that make up the initial fleet are hardly low-rent, and we'd be utterly shocked if the upcoming i3 didn't get added to the mix down the road too.

Usage details are still a little bit scarce, but we do know that each car will have a dash-mounted Dell Streak through which users will log in after unlocking the car doors with an RFID-equipped membership card or even a suitably endowed drivers license. Renting a car costs 29 cents per minute, up to €14.90 (about $21) per hour, and there will be 300 cars available at first starting in the Munich area. If you're not in Munich it's tough cookies for now, but BMW is hoping to have one million members worldwide by 2020. Maybe one of them will be you.

Continue reading BMW launches DriveNow, the 'premium' car sharing service with a Dell Streak on every dash (video)

BMW launches DriveNow, the 'premium' car sharing service with a Dell Streak on every dash (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS' K53E laptop gets reviewed, 2.53GHz Core i5-2520M CPU gets praised

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/23/intels-2-53ghz-core-i5-2520m-reviewed-within-asus-k53e-laptop/

Never mind the fact that Intel's outing a mid-range laptop CPU long after the highest of high-end -- the 2.53GHz Core i5-2520M is shaping up to be a lovely option for those who'd prefer a budget choice with plenty of horsepower for churning through HD video. The benchmarking gurus over at Hot Hardware recently grabbed hold of the new silicon, and they noticed an "unmatched performance-per-watt profile for mobile CPUs," not to mention a robust graphics core, "ridiculously low idle power consumption," a respectable price point and plenty of power for any software title not named Crysis 2. ASUS' 15.6-inch K53E was the test machine, and with a starting tag of just $899, it's definitely a compelling package. Based on their testing, this particular CPU was around 15 to 25 percent faster across the board compared to its previous generation 2.5GHz Arrandale counterpart, and that's with around the same power draw, too. Hit the source link for more charts than you'd care to see on an average workday, and be on the lookout for this chip to hit a whole slew of new rigs in the coming weeks.

ASUS' K53E laptop gets reviewed, 2.53GHz Core i5-2520M CPU gets praised originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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