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Samsung Bada UI unveiled in beautiful stills, reason for existing still blurry

We hate to harsh on a new phone platform -- what could be more exciting, after all, than a whole new take on handset software? -- but we're pretty confused by Samsung's Bada. Still, these leaked screenshots fill us with some hope: it looks fairly pretty, and quite a bit more intuitive than the standard Samsung UI. It also seems to be an odd visual mashup of Android and Symbian, but in a good sort of way, and we look forward to the sort of democratization of touchphones it seems to represent. There, that wasn't very harsh-ey at all! Now check out the developer-oriented video after the break to let a new wave of confusion wash over you.Continue reading Samsung Bada UI unveiled in beautiful stills, reason for existing still blurry Samsung Bada UI unveiled in beautiful stills, reason for existing still blurry originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Engadget German  |  HDblog.it  | Email this | Comments

Sony staying conservative with Reader device, aware of current tablet mania

Sony's Sir Howard Stringer played the tease at today's Reader content partnership presser, stating that while Sony could make the device into a multimedia tablet, it would rather wait and see if consumers warm up to current devices. Stringer's watching if people find the form factor "comfortable and helpful" before Sony starts "plowing on a thousand apps" or building a "Vaio Reader." We don't really know how much e-reader acceptance points to the demand for color multimedia tablets, but in regards to the (non-existant, ever-present) Apple Tablet, Stringer says "we're all working on variations of the same thing." Hopefully we'll figure out what exactly he means by that before we grow old and start reading books or something horrible like that.Sony staying conservative with Reader device, aware of current tablet mania originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Reuters, Peter Kafka  | Email this | Comments

Microsoft updating Zune HD Twitter to stop censoring tweets

Microsoft definitely copped some of Apple's lame App Store antics with its tweet-censoring Zune HD Twitter app, so now it's time for the infuriatingly vague PR-speak backtracking -- Redmond just pinged us to say it's "identified the issue" with the Twitter app and that a naughty words-enabling update is coming "as soon as possible." That's a pretty lame response, considering the "issue" is that the app is coded to actively censor tweets -- not exactly an "oops" moment, you know?

Here's the entire statement:

The recently released Twitter for Zune HD application has been abbreviating some explicit words in tweets when viewed on the device; however these explicit words do appear in their full text on the Twitter site or on any other Twitter client. We have identified the issue and are taking steps to update the application as soon as possible to ensure Twitter for Zune HD users are able to view tweets in their original state.
Flack silliness aside, it's still the right step -- let's hope this update addresses the performance issues we noticed as well.Microsoft updating Zune HD Twitter to stop censoring tweets originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Palm's Ares SDK goes to public beta

After a brief private testing period, Palm's interesting Ares software development package has made its way into a public beta phase. Breaking tradition from Mojo -- Palm's other webOS SDK -- the big news with Ares is that the dev environment is fully web-based with no additional tools needed for apps to get whipped into reality. Not only does that make getting started a breeze (theoretically, anyway), but Palm thinks that this is the way to bring mobile development to a whole new category of folks who may not come from traditional dev backgrounds -- they want to pull in web geeks who've got the ideas and design experience but not necessarily the hardcore coding background that you'd normally need to take the next Air Hockey to production. Grab that sucker now and let us know what you come up with, alright? We'll split the profits 60 / 40.Palm's Ares SDK goes to public beta originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Palm  | Email this | Comments

Palm loses $85.4 million in latest reported quarter -- hey, it's an improvement

We don't know just how quickly Palm (or Elevation Partners, for that matter) thought it'd become profitable following the release of webOS, but it's not there quite yet -- the company is in the process of outing its earnings for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 right now, and in a word, they're still in the red. The good news is that it's a marked improvement from last quarter -- they've gone from a $164.5M GAAP net loss to an $85.4M one this time around. On a non-GAAP gross basis, they actually made $5.5M, which is up from $2.8M a quarter earlier. They've got $590 million in cash and other "short-term investments" on the book right now, which seems like it should be enough to keep the company going without a profit or additional cash infusion for at least a few additional quarters, but then again, burn rate is going to vary with just how much hardware and software R&D they're doing and the kinds of carrier deals they're scoring. We bet they're looking forward to this Verizon business going down, eh?

Update: Palm's specifically saying that they're looking to grow carrier and geographic coverage right now -- a good plan, if we say so ourselves.

Update 2: They've sold 784,000 phones in the quarter, which compares to 823,000 in the last -- a 5 percent drop. That's up 41 percent from the same quarter a year ago... but yeah, of course it's going to be way up from the pre-webOS days.

Update 3: Over 800 apps in the catalog so far, once they graduate from the Early Access Program exclusivity, Palm foresees a "flood" of apps. No plans right now to change SDK strategy to a more native development environment.Palm loses $85.4 million in latest reported quarter -- hey, it's an improvement originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Palm  | Email this | Comments

LaCie and Symwave announce 2Big USB 3.0 dual-drive RAID

No monkeys time time, but LaCie has just announced new storage option that should get folks plenty excited on its own: a new dual-drive 2Big USB 3.0 RAID drive developed in partnership with Symwave. As you've no doubt been able to surmise by now, this thing is big and fast, with it able to support up to 4TB of storage, and provide a peak burst read transfer speed of 275MB/s thanks to a new dual SATA and RAID bridge controller developed by Symwave. Unfortunately, there's still no indication of a price, and LaCie isn't getting any more specific than "early 2010" in terms of a release date. It is promising to show off the the drive at CES next month though, and hopefully offer a few more details about it as well.LaCie and Symwave announce 2Big USB 3.0 dual-drive RAID originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Business Wire  | Email this | Comments

Intel Core i3, mobile Core i5 processors coming January 7

Intel's Arrandale chips haven't been the best-kept secret around, and today Chipzilla made 'em official: the Core i3 and mobile Core i5 will launch on January 7, and we'd guess a bunch of new machines come along for the ride. Although the desktop Lynnfield Core i5 is a quad-core, both the new Core i3 and mobile Core i5 are dual-core -- and in a first for Intel, both of the new chips have an integrated GPU core that's being branded "Intel HD Graphics." The new GPU is supposedly good enough for "high-end" HTPC use, but manufacturers can add switchable discrete GPUs, so don't fret too much. Both Arrandale chips have Intel's latest hyperthreading tech, and the mobile i5 also has the Turbo Boost core-overclocking feature found in the desktop i5 and i7, which redirects power to a single core to boost performance when needed.

We got to see a few Core i3 and i5 laptops and desktops in action at Intel's pre-CES briefing today, although we didn't get to run any tests. The mobile Core i5 systems on display were doing a fine job running Call of Duty 4, while the scaled-down Core i3 rigs were playing Blu-ray movies and World of Warcraft -- not a bad demo, but we'll let you know when we see some real numbers.
Gallery: Intel Core i3, Mobile Core i5 Hands-On

Intel Core i3, mobile Core i5 processors coming January 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Intel  | Email this | Comments

ASUS Eee PC 1201N debuts early at Newegg

OK, kids, here you have it: the Asus Eee PC 1201N has arrived a little earlier than expected. At least we think that's what Newegg is trying to tell us. If you hop on over to the site RIGHT THIS MINUTE you can see that the thing is available for ordering, in black, with a limit of one per customer. It's better than waiting until sometime next month, eh? There's no telling if this is a snafu on the e-tailer's part -- everyone else in the western world has it available for pre-order, with a ship date of January 15 -- but if you feel like taking a gamble there is only one thing left to do: hit the source link.

[Thanks, Yoav E]ASUS Eee PC 1201N debuts early at Newegg originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Newegg  | Email this | Comments

Acer gets in the Olympic spirit with special edition Aspire Timeline 1810TZ

Lenovo really went to town with its Olympics-branded gear, but while Acer is a major Winter Olympics partner (and keeping the spot for 2012 as well), it's taking a bit more of a tame approach at the outset. This Acer Aspire Timeline 1810TZ, for instance, merely slaps some silver rings on the lid and calls it a day. Pretty classy, and the price isn't bad: $580 for a 11.6-inch CULV laptop with 3GB of RAM and Windows 7. Perfect for the multitasking ski jumper in your life.Acer gets in the Olympic spirit with special edition Aspire Timeline 1810TZ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Netbooked  |   | Email this | Comments

Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Desktops

Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season.

Let's face it, not everyone needs (or wants) to carry their computer around on the daily routine. Sacrificing portability can have its advantages -- and while nettops and all-in-one PCs have become a much more dominant force this year, the traditional, highly upgradeable desktop tower is still the reigning bang-for-the-buck champ. Just make sure your certain special someone has enough desk real estate for whatever potentially-enormous chassis you decide to take home and wrap.
Gallery: Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Desktops
Continue reading Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Desktops Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Desktops originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments