11/06, 9:50pm
iPhone may have CDMA option next year
An analyst report sent today hints at Apple producing an iPhone that would work with both GSM and CDMA networks. The OTR Global note obtained by AppleInsider claims to know of an iPhone in development with a hybrid Qualcomm chipset that will support the two normally incompatible standards. It would support UMTS-based 3G on carriers like AT&T and would presumably support EVDO-based 3G on Verizon and similar CDMA carriers.
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11/06, 6:40pm
Radio Shack now third US iPhone reseller
Radio Shack in a terse notice today said it would begin selling the iPhone 3G and 3GS in its retail stores later this month. The initial rollout is small and will be limited to certain company-run stores in the Dallas/Fort Worth area as well as in New York City. Expansion to all of its stores isn't expected until 2010.
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11/06, 5:20pm
Droid tethering to cost $30, have 5GB cap
Verizon late Thursday confirmed that it would add tethering to the Motorola Droid but clarified its plans. Contradicting a prior statement, it now says tethering when ready will cost $30 in addition to the phone's existing voice and data plans. It will also have a 5GB bandwidth cap before overage fees begin, though the tethering rate will be separate from the Droid's regular data.
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11/06, 4:40pm
Metal-air ionic liquid could extend batteries
A new development by partly government-backed Fluidic Energy could potentially extend the battery life of notebooks, cars and other devices well beyond existing lithium-ion cells. Known as Metal-Air Ionic Liquid (MAIL), it would improve energy storage beyond relatively efficient zinc-air batteries by using an ionic liquid salt to conduct electricity that is much more stable and isn't prone to drying out either by accident or by eventual decay. The move would let battery makers use metals denser than zinc and therefore hold a much larger charge in a given volume.
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11/06, 3:50pm
Highlights discrepancy in standards
A Spanish translation of Mein Kampf has been launched at the App Store, observers note. Written in the 1920s by Adolf Hitler, the book is both an autobiography and a charter of the fascist, anti-Semitic policies that would come to guide the Third Reich. No other version of the book is available as a standalone app, and its icon is the Nazi Party emblem, complete with swastika.
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11/06, 3:00pm
Verizon wants stready Droid sales instead
The absence of long lines at most Verizon stores for the Motorola Droid is a positive sign, company spokesman David Samberg claimed today. According to the representative, Verizon believes early queues as "not really the goal" and that they are "flashy" more than a sign of actual built-up demand. The carrier would prefer to see a regular flow over coming weeks rather than an initial rush.
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11/06, 2:15pm
Nintendo head says Wii HD not happening
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has again taken time to deny rumors of an advanced Wii shipping next year. Following assertions by analyst Michael Pachter that a new model is due in 2010, Fils-Aime tells Gametrailers TV that Pachter is the only one making such claims and that the rumored console is "not happening." Fils-Aime doesn't talk about whether or not the Wii will be updated at any point in the future but is emphatic that a replacement isn't coming soon.
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11/06, 1:45pm
ARM Eagle to be multi-core, 28nm
ARM president Tudor Brown at a presentation on Friday provided early details of his company's next-generation architecture for smartphones and other handhelds. Nicknamed Eagle, the processor design will focus on speed and come with a multi-core main processor, "high-end" graphics and better security against hardware-related attacks. Power use will be kept down by using GlobalFoundries' new 28 nanometer process and should get more efficient still when the assembly process shrinks to 22 nanometers.
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11/06, 12:45pm
IDC Q3 2009 phone share results live
Apple gained market share in the summer but slipped in the face of tougher competition, according to new IDC data. The iPhone's share of smartphones grew from 16.6 percent to 17.1 percent during the quarter but was overtaken by Research in Motion's record BlackBerry sales, which pushed it above Apple from 14.6 percent to 19 percent. The reversal is credited to the BlackBerry's wider distribution and the launch of a pair of key phones, the Tour and the Curve 8520.
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11/06, 10:30am
MS glass interface uses eyes, gestures, voice
Microsoft chief research officer Craig Mundie as part of his college tour this week demonstrated a unique concept for a future computing interface that would in many cases go without any touch input. Although it would support pens for precise input, the transparent glass display would also recognize voices and detect touch-free gestures, much as with the Xbox 360's upcoming Project Natal. The system can also detect eyes and navigate based on their gaze.
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11/06, 9:10am
Most VZ stores see small Droid queues
(Updated with additional lineup details) Early reports have suggested relatively small lineups for the Droid at Verizon stores. Visitors to most stores have seen lines of several people or less, with others seeing no lineups even with later early opening 8AM openings. The midnight opening at Verizon's 34th Street Manhattan store has also been described as modest, with one report so far suggesting that only 20 were in queue roughly an hour before it opened and no reports of the line growing much larger by 12AM.
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11/06, 8:10am
Vista PC users in no rush to replace
Windows 7 isn't having as large an impact on PC sales as initially thought, sources from manufacturers said on Friday. Although US retail sales were up 49 percent, those speaking to DigiTimes say they didn't see a major spike in late October and don't expect one for the rest of 2009. The turnout has been soft enough that some notebook producers are actually facing overstock as they ordered more portables than demand required.
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11/06, 12:00am
Droid launches at 34th St store
As promised, Verizon tonight launched the Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris at its primary retail store on 34th Street in New York City. The midnight opening is the first official launch in the country but follows numerous reports from those who have visited Best Buy and Walmart stores and successfully obtained the phone ahead of its official street date. Walmart Super Center stores are also typically opening sales at midnight, though the next earliest opportunity will involve the 7AM and 8AM openings at some non-mall Verizon stores.
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11/05, 9:55pm
Search giant fights with software company
Google has filed a countersuit against Illinois entrepreneur Erich Specht over the use of the Android trademark, according to the Business Insider. Specht in 1999 launched a company, Android Data Corporation, which sold a number of software titles using the Android name. The USPTO later granted the registration for trademark protection over the name "Android Data."
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11/05, 6:45pm
NPD says Win 7 units soar, cash modest
The NPD Group today revealed that initial Windows 7 sales were more than twice as strong as for Vista. Although declining to provide the number of copies estimated sold, the researchers note that boxed, retail unit sales of the new OS were 234 percent higher in the first few days than the 2007 release. The jump is credited to both to steep pre-order discounts, strong marketing and similar approaches that helped ship a large number of initial copies.
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11/05, 6:15pm
Comcast two-tier throttling now active
(Update clarifying timing) Comcast in a new FCC notice (PDF) revealed that it has already begun implementing a new throttling system. The approach is now service-agnostic and will lower the priority of any data packets if a user's cable modem either tops 70 percent of download or upload bandwidth for more than 15 minutes or else is flagged as bogging down the CMTS node, which manages a neighborhood's cable modem traffic.
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11/05, 5:30pm
Win 7 10-day sales best ever for MS
Sales of Windows 7 have broken Microsoft's sales records for an initial operating system launch, company CEO Steve Ballmer said at a Japanese press event today. The executive said early sales have been "fantastic" and that the new OS has generated more revenue in its first 10 days than any earlier version of Windows during a similar timeframe. He declined to provide specific revenue or unit numbers.
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11/05, 4:35pm
iPhone 3GS 8GB may combat Moto Droid
Apple and AT&T may use an 8GB iPhone 3GS as a 'secret weapon' against the launch of the Motorola Droid if a rumor proves accurate. Two separate sources of BGR's say the two iPhone partners are considering replacing the existing 8GB iPhone 3G with a 3GS variant, preserving the same capacity and $99 price. The move would undercut Verizon by offering the latest iPhone at the same price as the less ambitious Droid Eris.
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11/05, 4:05pm
Verizon offering prepaid bundled data packages
On Thursday, Verizon Wireless said it has added three new prepaid mobile broadband data plans. Users can now opt for a $15 daily data allowance that includes 75MB of data, a $30 weekly package that includes 250MB of data and a $50 monthly offering with 500MB of data. These will be sold alongside a Verizon Wireless USB760 modem, priced at $130.
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11/05, 3:10pm
Tegra 2 may go dual-core, use ARM9
A source today claims the sequel to NVIDIA's Tegra mobile processor could muster double the performance of the original. The new chip is purported by "high ranking" industry contacts to be switching from an ARM7 architecture to the much newer ARM9 and also to use a dual-core design. Combined with improvements to the graphics core, the updated Tegra would be roughly twice as fast overall.
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11/05, 2:30pm
Verizon 34th St store has Droid at 12AM
Verizon in a last-minute update today moved up the launch of the Motorola Droid for just one of its stores. Its flagship store on 34th Street in New York City will open at 12AM tonight for two hours to sell the Droid, the HTC Droid Eris, and accessories like the Droid's horizontal dock. This and other stores in the city will still open early afterwards, with most ready between 7AM and 8AM.
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11/05, 1:55pm
AMD facing ATI Radeon GPU shortages
PC vendors that rely on AMD graphics cards are delaying their shipments scheduled for the first quarter of 2010 by nearly two months, say sources at the manufacturers, DigiTimes claimed on Thursday. Radeon HD 5000-series GPUs and HD 4000-series GPUs are reportedly facing shortages through a combination of factors. The shortage of the 40nm Radeon HD 5000 cards is due to a low yield at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) 40nm factories, while the 4000-series GPUs scarcity is allegedly AMD's own doing as it has scaled back production of older technology after releasing the more advanced 40nm parts.
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11/05, 12:20pm
EU sees Internet a right in music cases
The European Parliament today agreed on a new set of legal protections for those threatened with losing Internet access under anti-piracy rules. The new measure in the EU's Telecoms Reform Package considers Internet access a "fundamental" right and will require that EU countries implement a "fair and impartial" process if their laws allow for disconnecting alleged pirates. It will also permit those facing a disconnection to legally dispute their case, though this won't necessarily be part of the regular process.
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11/05, 11:05am
Magazine claims revolutionary impact
Apple head Steve Jobs has been chosen as Fortune's CEO of the Decade. The magazine claims that "the past decade in business belongs to Jobs," not only because of his personal and corporate wealth, but the way he has "radically and lucratively reordered three markets," specifically movies, music and cellphones. His impact is also said to extend to computers, though it is less pronounced.
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11/05, 8:55am
Telus HSPA launches with new phones
Telus this morning took its turn at launching its own HSPA+ network and new devices, including the iPhone. It sells the iPhone 3G and both the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 3GS units at the same $100, $200 and $300 prices as at Bell and Rogers on a three-year contract. The plans are slightly different than Bell's and start with a $50 Clear Choice iPhone plan that provides 150 minutes, unlimited evenings and weekends after 9PM and 500MB of data with tethering but supplies the perk of either unlimited local calls and MMS/SMS messaging to five numbers, double the minutes, or 1,000 outbound (unlimited inbound) messages.
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11/04, 10:55pm
Drives geared for thin notebooks, ultraportables
Toshiba has expanded its line of small hard drives with several 1.8-inch offerings featuring capacities up to 320GB. The MKxx33GSG series is available in 160GB, 250GB, and 320GB sizes, each based on dual-platter configuration. The drives feature a 16MB cache buffer, 5,400RPM spindle speed and transfer rates of up to 830Mb/s.
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11/04, 6:55pm
One Voice initiative aims for interoperability
A long list of cellular providers and manufacturers, including players such as AT&T, Verizon, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Siemens, Ericsson and Samsung, have all agreed on standards for voice calls and SMS messages distributed across LTE networks. The companies have collaborated on a technical profile, the One Voice initiative, that aims to ensure widespread compatibility between different products.
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11/04, 6:35pm
LG targeting iPhone, BlackBerry, Pre
LG now considers the iPhone one of its largest competitors in the smartphone space, CEO Yong Nam said in a Washington presentation today. He dismisses both market leader Nokia and Sony Ericsson as rivals and instead says most of LG's energy is now focused on beating Apple, Palm and Research in Motion. The Korean company is now "investing heavily" in smartphones and is putting most of its focus on touchscreen devices like the Android-based Eve and multiple Windows Mobile phones.
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11/04, 3:50pm
NVIDIA blames Intel for delaying USB 3
Intel may have stalled adoption of the USB 3.0 standard for as long as two years, NVIDIA spokesman Brian Burke says. Following an apparent PC vendor leak which claims Intel won't have any USB 3.0-capable chipsets of its own until 2011, Burke tells TGDaily that NVIDIA has learned the same news. He contends that Intel has held the industry back by creating a near monopoly in demand for its chipsets but refusing to provide significant updates.
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11/04, 3:05pm
Microsoft cuts go beyond planned 5K
Microsoft today confirmed late rumors and said it has cut 800 additional jobs. The positions are spread across many of the company's divisions and are above and beyond the 5,000 cuts planned at the start of the year. No direct explanation is given other than that the company says it still has to "manage [its] businesses closely" and watch for where it can trim costs.
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11/04, 2:35pm
Walmart confirms day of deals
Yesterday's leak of Walmart offering several sales on consumer electronics products has been confirmed today by the big-box electronics retailer. The one-day deals are slated to start on Saturday, November 7th at 8AM. The leaked image matches Walmart's official products down to the prices and includes an Xbox 360 Arcade gaming console coming with a $100 gift card for $199. The headline offering, according to Walmart, is a 46-inch plasma HDTV with 1080p resolution and three HDMI ports for $788.
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11/04, 11:35am
ACTA may force tight global restrictions
A leaked set of proposals for the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (ACTA) suggests the international deal will require harsh online anti-piracy measures. The draft will reportedly force Internet providers in all member states to actively police copyright on their networks. To qualify for safe harbor and reduce their liability, the ISPs would also have to implement "gradual response" rules like France's three-strike law that initially warn and eventually punish those said pirating content, likely forcing them offline.
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11/04, 8:40am
Beatles edge closer to pure digital sales
The Beatles on Wednesday surprised the music industry by offering their collection outside of a disc for the first time. The Limited Edition USB Stick carries the entire LP collection of the British band in a stereo mix along with the mini-documentaries, album art and liner notes from the remastered CDs. Significantly, all of the songs come both in unprotected 320Kbps MP3 as well as in a similarly unguarded, lossless FLAC and should work on most any computer or portable player.
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11/04, 7:55am
Bell iPhone plans cost just $45 a month
Bell today launched its HSPA+ network and its first devices, including the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G. The network supports up to 21Mbps downstream on the Novatel Wireless U998 ($75) and future modems that support HSPA+ and should also supply as much as 7.2Mbps for the iPhone 3GS and other current smartphones.
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11/03, 10:30pm
Samsung 30nm flash just 0.6mm thick
Samsung tonight unveiled a breakthrough for its NAND flash memory that could lead to much more storage in handhelds. The new approach manages to fit 32 gigabytes of memory into a single chip that measures just 0.6mm (0.02in) thick through the use of extra-thin, "bare" packages that are half as thick as before but are just as sturdy. Combined with a 30 nanometer assembly process, the chips are both 40 percent thinner and lighter and should lead to thinner smartphones and media players.
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11/03, 7:45pm
T-Mobile sees data, voice outages
T-Mobile users tonight have been reporting a widespread outage of service across the US. Those affected are finding themselves unable to call or use data services like 3G or messaging. The exact cause of the outage isn't currently known.
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11/03, 7:45pm
3D film easily switches between 2D and 3D
Sumitomo 3M has previewed an optical film capable of bringing naked-eye 3D to small- and medium-size LCD panels without requiring the viewer to wear special glasses, according to Tech-On. The technology, demonstrated at FPD International 2009, is claimed to retain spatial resolution and enables quick switching between 2D and 3D content.
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11/03, 6:05pm
Verizon promises cheap Droid tethering
Verizon today noted that it plans to add a data tethering option for the Motorola Droid. A representative tells Gearlog that, regardless of the open nature of Android, the new smartphone will eventually support the same $15 Broadband Connect add-on plan as other devices and can share its 3G connection with others. The support should go live in early 2010 and will carry the same 5GB transfer cap as Verizon's regular tethering and 3G modem plans.
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11/03, 5:45pm
Best Buy deal to give online movies as bonus
Best Buy today struck a deal with Roxio to create a unique online and DVD hybrid movie service for the big-box retailer. The unnamed project hopes to give users buy once, play anywhere privileges: those who buy a DVD in-store will then have access to a CinemaNow-based portal for watching movies both on computers as well as on smartphones and Internet-aware Blu-ray players. Many of the movies will be new releases instead of reprints or old titles.
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11/03, 4:40pm
ATT claims Verizon ads misleading
AT&T on Tuesday sued Verizon for allegedly misleading customers with its "there's a map for that" ads. The complaint argues that Verizon is deliberately exaggerating the gaps in AT&T's coverage through its map of 3G networks, making it seem as though some areas have no coverage at all, not just 3G. The campaign has already had to alter maps after some earlier protests from AT&T.
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11/03, 3:55pm
Touchscreen phone adoption jumps 159%
The iPhone now represents almost exactly one third of all touchscreen phones in the US, new comScore info says. Of all touch phones in the country, 32.9 percent are iPhones while all others trail significantly behind. Most of the runners-up are Verizon devices and include the LG Dare and Voyager at 8.7 and 7.8 percent respectively. The BlackBerry Storm has just seven percent, while the T-Mobile G1 is both the most popular Android and T-Mobile phone on the list with 3.6 percent.
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11/03, 3:10pm
Lenovo ThinkPad netbook spotted
An image of what is believed to be an upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad netbook, the x200e, has surfaced online. While the company has only said it's considering the concept, the leak suggests the computer is real and appears to have a cosmetically different form factor and that it may still use Windows XP.
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11/03, 2:15pm
Verizon confirms Droid launch events
Verizon today confirmed and clarified rumors of a high profile launch for the Motorola Droid. Some of its retail stores will open at 8AM or as early as 7AM on November 6th to accommodate an anticipated rush of early customers. Only mall stores will open as usual.
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11/03, 1:05pm
Unofficial end occurred months earlier
America's Apple and Orange, a division of France Telecom, have formally dropped an arrangement for exclusive French iPhone sales, says Dow Jones. France was in 2007 one of the first markets to receive the iPhone, and as in other countries at the time, negotiations left only one carrier in control of sales; unlocked phones were still available only through Orange, and at a high premium. Orange rivals SFR and Bouygues Telecom eventually complained to the country's competition regulator, which issued first preliminary then final rulings against exclusivity.
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11/03, 12:20pm
Consumer Reports marks electronics shops
Apple leads in brick-and-mortar retail stores but is no match for more universally oriented stores online, Consumer Reports says in its December issue (subscription needed for results). Of all major physical retailers, Apple scores the highest in a reader study. Although tied with Costco for an official 90-point score, it ranks highest through its perceived product quality, customer help and the ease of the buying process.
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11/03, 11:30am
Meizu M8 beta leak shows new UI
Meizu's M8 phone is about to undergo a major overhaul that draws on interface elements from at least three major operating systems, a copy of leaked firmware shows. Version 1.0.0.1 will shift its attention more towards Android with an app launcher much like Google's. However, that launcher will also be available directly from the drag-to-unlock screen and like Windows Mobile 6.5 will let users unlock directly to the phone or e-mail apps instead of visiting a home screen. Android's influence is equally evident in a contextual menu showing in the M8's web browser.
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11/03, 10:35am
Windows 7 creates short PC sales boost
The launch of Windows 7 has triggered at least a temporary spike in PC sales, Morgan Stanley analyst Katheryn Huberty says in an investment note issued yesterday. Pointing to NPD sales data, the researcher notes that computer sales jumped about 40 percent during the week of Microsoft's OS launch compared to the same time a year earlier. The number is partly offset by buyers holding off on purchases during the previous two weeks, when sales dropped 29 percent and then 2 percent versus 2008, but is well above earlier weeks, when sales were up by at most 19 percent.
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11/03, 9:30am
Intel offering Larrabee GPU to China card makers
On a recent trip to China, Intel's CEO Paul Otellini has been talking about the chipmaker's upcoming high-end Larrabee GPU with China-based graphics card makers, DigiTimes reported on Tuesday, citing sources at the card makers. They claim Intel is planning on offering preferential pricing for the GPU both on its own, as well as bundled with other Intel products. The Larrabee is expected to compete with NVIDIA's GeForce and AMD's Radeon products and is due for a 2010 launch.
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11/03, 7:30am
Spring lawsuit says Nook reader copies Alex
Spring Design late Monday revealed that it has sued Barnes & Noble for allegedly infringing on the design of its two-screen Alex e-book reader. The company claims to have been working with Barnes & Noble in confidential terms since spring of this year but that the bookstore 'stole' the idea, unveiling its Nook reader without telling Spring Design in advance. The latter also says it has been obtaining patents since 2006, well before development of the Nook would have begun.
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11/02, 6:30pm
Microsoft rushing Win 7 service pack
Despite having launched less than two weeks ago, Windows 7 is already on track to have its first service pack ready in less than a year, a timetable posted today suggests. Wzor, one of the sites that slipped out pre-release betas of Windows 7 earlier this year, says Microsoft is already aiming to release its first beta of Service Pack 1 to testers by December and to offer a public beta by January. After this and a second beta, Microsoft is scheduled have two release candidates and to release to manufacturing (RTM) as early as June or as late as August.
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