iPhone Carrier Update hints at AT&T MicroCell coming soon

iPhone users in the US have recently been hit with a "carrier update" when they sync with their machines, and a little digging reveals that the package contains two "AT&T M-Cell" carrier logos -- suggesting that Ma Bell's upcoming MicroCell femtocell is close to launch. Still no word on how much the Cisco-sourced hardware will cost when it does arrive and we're still not super-stoked on the idea of paying a monthly fee to improve AT&T's own service, but if you've been patiently waiting to take matters into your own hands, we'd guess you'll be rewarded soon.

[Via TUAW]

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone Carrier Update hints at AT&T MicroCell coming soon originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Feb 2009 12:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Keepin' it real fake, part CLXXX: It's a Zune! It's an iPod! It's a spoof!

Simply aping one device at a time has just become too easy for the cloning labs in the backwoods of China, as evidenced by the two-for-one produced here by QQ. The K805 does its best Zune and iPod impersonation, and amazingly, it does so at the same time. The all too familiar click wheel is there, yet so is the rectangular design first made famous by the cats in Redmond. For those looking for the worst of both worlds, you'll be interested in knowing that this here player features a 2.4-inch 320 x 240 resolution display, support for a plethora of files, USB 2.0 connectivity and a microSD card slot for loading up your favorite EMF jams. We aren't clued in on a price, but do yourself a favor and pretend you never actually wanted to know.

[Via DAP Review]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Keepin' it real fake, part CLXXX: It's a Zune! It's an iPod! It's a spoof! originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Feb 2009 03:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Amazon Kindle 2 launching on Monday -- we'll be there live!

There's not much of a surprise in store now, seeing as we've already seen official photos of Amazon's newest iteration of its e-book reader (and gotten a handful of info on price and release date). Still, we'll be there liveblogging and blowing it out Engadget style come 10AM ET Monday morning -- and who knows, maybe Bezos will announce some other colors.

Filed under: Announcements

Amazon Kindle 2 launching on Monday -- we'll be there live! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Google and Amazon debut cellphone e-books, eye strain

Sure, we pretty much figured that the V-Book (which is actually not a book at all) would be the final nail in the coffin of what was once known as "literature," but it looks like both Google and Amazon have other plans. Not only have there been rumblings of a new Kindle, but Amazon has announced that it'll soon be making the popular e-reader's some 230,000 titles available for your cellphone. The company hasn't said when the titles will be available or exactly what phones would be supported -- but we're guessing that we'll be seeing handsets with nice, big screens like the G1 and the iPhone on the list. If that weren't enough, Google's Book Search holdings -- about 1.5 million public domain works -- will soon be available for cellphone-based e-readers like Stanza. This is good news for people who need access to data on the go -- and really good news for anyone who would like to curl up next to the fire with a nice glass of wine and their Curve 8900.

[Image courtesy of Spacesick, Via Unwired View]

Filed under: Cellphones

Google and Amazon debut cellphone e-books, eye strain originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Sony's NWZ-X1000 gets handled in French

After proving a bit of a white whale at CES, Sony's new touchscreen Walkman NWZ-X1000 hasn't been easy to come by. After Stuff's general overview video hands-on, we've been waiting for some hard-hitting impressions, which Le Journal du Geek has finally provided, in French. Granted, they're playing with a non-complete prototype, so we'd have to take these impressions with a grain of salt either way. From what we can tell, they're certainly feeling the device aesthetically, and figure it's totally usable one-handed. The OLED screen is great, the incomplete interface is so far familiar and the capacitive touch has an "impressive response," perhaps even better than the iPod touch. The browser didn't get such rave reviews, but overall they found it to be in their "top five" players, with great audio quality. So at least somebody likes this thing, we'll hopefully have some more concrete impressions of our own to add as this thing approaches release in the coming months.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Sony's NWZ-X1000 gets handled in French originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

LaserPup trains for battle with Laser Cats

We don't really know where to begin. LaserPup involves shooting a laser at a dog over the internet, nothing more, nothing less, but somehow it transcends traditionally pointless moddery and becomes something so much greater. Maybe it's because you shoot a dog with a laser over the internet. LaserPup is a ceiling-mounted laser and webcam whose beam can be directed around the floor with an iPhone-friendly browser-based interface. There's switch for turning on and off the lights, and when the laser is activated or deactivated it makes a sound to alert the dog that it's time to get shot at by lasers. In the future, there was a nuclear war... video is after the break.

Continue reading LaserPup trains for battle with Laser Cats

Filed under: Household

LaserPup trains for battle with Laser Cats originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Snow Leopard gets hip to CoreLocation and multitouch

We're in the Q1 2009, folks, and while we'd love to believe that the release of Snow Leopard is imminent, it looks like all we'll have to be sustained by is rumors and innuendo for the time being. According to "insiders" at, well, Apple Insider, the eagerly awaited operating system will be taking some cues from the iPhone, adding both CoreLocation and opening up the multitouch trackpad to third-party developers. Since MacBooks don't currently have GPS, we're guessing CoreLocation will be powered by Skyhook's WiFi-positioning service, but anything can happen down the line. With all the buzz over Google Latitude making its way onto all manner of devices, including the G1, select Blackberrys, and (someday!) the iPhone and iPod touch. With Mac sales being particularly laptop-heavy lately, it looks like location awareness is shaping up to be the must-have functionality of the coming year. Fabulous, darling. Fabulous.

Filed under: Laptops

Snow Leopard gets hip to CoreLocation and multitouch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Nine-year old writes iPhone app, hates vegetables

We've seen plenty of remarkable kids -- the world is just bursting with them -- and Lim Ding Wen, a nine-year-old from Singapore is no exception. Like his father, Wen enjoys writing iPhone apps in his spare time. His application, called Doodle Kids, is a drawing application for children that he wrote for his two younger sisters, who enjoy drawing, and it's already been downloaded over 4,000 times (we just checked in the App Store and it does indeed appear to be quite popular) since its release on February 1st. Wen, who is fluent in six programming languages and enjoys reading books about -- you guessed it -- computer programming, is already hard at work on his next app, a game called "Invader Wars." We can't wait to see that one!

Filed under: Cellphones

Nine-year old writes iPhone app, hates vegetables originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

iPhone earrings will get great reception at your next party

In many ways modern cellphones are little more than high-tech pieces of jewelry that keep you connected to the world while looking great pressed to your ear. Barb at Etsy's "iPhone G3" earrings eschew all that unnecessary functionality and focus on the aesthetics, shrinking a pair of handsets the same way she miniaturized two Wiimotes, turning them into tiny charms to dangle from your earlobes -- head decor that's sure to light up the eyes of every male geek in the room. A pair are yours for just $22, which is a fair bit more affordable than the real things.

[Via technabob]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables

iPhone earrings will get great reception at your next party originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

OpenFrame and O2 caught canoodling in the wild

Our good friend Mr. BlurryCam managed to steady his (or her) hands a bit and snap a few shots of a working OpenFrame, complete with an on-screen widget indicating the multimedia phone's apparently found itself a home with European carrier O2. Additionally, it looks like traded in last season's iPhone duds for something in a more BlackBerry motif. Our anonymous tipster tells us we should expect to see it hit retail sometime near the end of February. Want more? Check out another shot of OpenPeak's touchscreen darling after the break.

Continue reading OpenFrame and O2 caught canoodling in the wild

Filed under: Household

OpenFrame and O2 caught canoodling in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Citigroup analyst says 500,000 Kindles were sold in 2008

While it could possibly have something to say on the matter at its big event next week, Amazon has so far been mum on the total number of Kindles sold, which has prompted folks like Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney to do their own digging / speculating to arrive at some hard numbers. Apparently, Mahaney was able to determine that Amazon sold about 500,000 Kindles in 2008 by examining the company's agreement with Sprint, which seems to be a reasonable enough conclusion, although things get decidedly more speculative from there. According to Mahaney, the Kindle will be a $1.2 billion business for Amazon by 2010, assuming that the rate of adoption is similar to that of the iPod at the time of its introduction, and assuming that each Kindle user buys at least one book a month -- two pretty big assumptions, to say the least. As you might have guessed, Mahaney also has a bit to say about the seemingly imminent Kindle 2.0, which he speculates will be thinner and longer than the current model, won't boast a color screen or a touch screen, and possibly cost as low as $300. As they say, stay tuned.

Filed under: Handhelds

Citigroup analyst says 500,000 Kindles were sold in 2008 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

T-Mobile G1 firmware RC33 (also known as "not Cupcake") trickles into reality

Odds are there's not a lot of point in checking your own G1 for the update at this point -- it's just in the hands of a select few so far -- but T-Mobile has confirmed that firmware 1.1 / RC33 is just around the corner with some unspecified pre-Cupcake features and fixes in the mix. At this point, at least one inordinately lucky recipient has reported that the phone now supports Google voice search like we've seen on other platforms; don't get us wrong, that's cool and all, but we're still waiting for our virtual keyboard. 'Bout ready to go whip up some batter and bake it ourselves, if you know what we're saying.

[Via TmoNews]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

T-Mobile G1 firmware RC33 (also known as "not Cupcake") trickles into reality originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

The Daily Roundup: here's what you might have missed

	Video: Hacker war drives San Francisco cloning RFID passports Think of it this way: Chris Paget just did you a service by hacking your passport and stealing your identity.		Crackulous released, promises to bust iPhone app protection scheme If Apple's sat back and let the iPhone hacking community do its thing in peace (well, relative peace) so far, this little gem just might be what the doctor ordered to stir up the crap.
	Elton John's Swarovski-encrusted charity iPod nano Taking his cue from the classy 'n' sassy Swarovski crowd, the players are bedazzled in the aforementioned crystals, and are available in black, green, orange, pink, purple, red, silver, or yellow.	Other news of import Real life Halo Warthog goes for a test drive Eee PC 1000HE with 9.5 hour battery seeks friends, pre-orders Tesla can't get funding, postpones plans to build new factory
	LG BD300 Blu-ray player review It's taken over two years and we've finally came to a point where a standalone player easily out classes the PS3 as a Blu-ray player.		Helio Ocean 2 Review Now that we've spent a few days comparing it to its predecessor, check out some of the the highs and lows of this new handset.
AT&T and DirecTV launch partnership, offer up quad-play bundle FCC Acting Chairman acknowledges seamless DTV switch isn't happening, sets open meeting for February 5		But wait, there's more: T-Mobile lets you buy with four easy payments Motorola's LTE trial is a go in Swindon, UK

The Daily Roundup: here's what you might have missed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Elton John's Swarovski-encrusted charity iPod nano

Out to give the rumored MySpace MP3 player a run for its money, Elton John has launched his own iPod nano lineup, raising money for a charity close to his hearts and our own -- the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Taking his cue from the classy 'n' sassy Swarovski crowd, the players are bedazzled in the aforementioned crystals, and are available in black, green, orange, pink, purple, red, silver, or yellow. Available at Goldgenie and Selfridges, the 8GB version is going for £399.99 while the 16GB model will set you back a cool £449.99. Be sure to jump on this soon, as each color is only offered in a limited edition of 100. And if that weren't enough, Goldgenie is throwing in "Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits CD" with every order. More pics after the break.

[Via Pocket Lint]

Continue reading Elton John's Swarovski-encrusted charity iPod nano

Filed under: Portable Audio

Elton John's Swarovski-encrusted charity iPod nano originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Smartphone videogame market explodes in 2008; dumbphone market wounded, but struggling on

With the economy lodged so firmly in the toilet we're always glad to see some sort of good news on that front, so check out the latest numbers from comScore that show the market for downloadable time-wasters on smartphones grew by a massive 291 percent in the period between November of 2007 and 2008. That's thanks in large part to the iPhone and its App Store, with sales on that platform alone accounting for 14 percent of all mobile game downloads and nearly one third of all iPhone users reporting they'd downloaded at least one game. That compares quite favorably to non-smartphone users, of whom just 3.8 percent have downloaded a game, driving that market to decline by 14 percent since 2007. Overall the mobile gaming industry bucked recessionary trends, grew a healthy 17 percent, and will now be shopping in the husky clothing section.

[Via PHONE Magazine]

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Handhelds

Smartphone videogame market explodes in 2008; dumbphone market wounded, but struggling on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Crackulous released, promises to bust iPhone app protection scheme

If Apple's sat back and let the iPhone hacking community do its thing in peace (well, relative peace) so far, this little gem just might be what the doctor ordered to stir up the crap. Crackulous -- available now in beta form through Cydia -- claims to be able to strip the protection off most apps downloaded from the App Store, meaning that just a single user needs to take the plunge and buy a target app once to get it busted and into free circulation. You need a jailbroken iPhone to get Crackulous loaded, naturally -- you'll see Apple make a Windows Mobile-powered device before you'll see Crackulous in the App Store -- but seeing how PwnageTool is dead simple to use, this puts most users just a couple graphical tools away from foolproof piracy and the golden opportunity to take a few hard-earned bucks out of a programmer's pocket.

[Via Funky Space Monkey]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Crackulous released, promises to bust iPhone app protection scheme originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Video: Stimulant's XRay mobile app brings SecondLight to any 'ol Surface

When Microsoft demonstrated Surface we were impressed. Then, when they later showed off SecondLight, we were even more impressed -- and then were sorry for anyone who had made the considerable investment in one of the earlier, singularly-lighted tables. We're feeling better now (thanks for asking) after seeing a video demonstration of XRay, a mobile app from Stimulant (who earlier blended a Wii Balance Board with a Surface) that provides similar functionality; letting you effectively see secondary images on the touch-table. The app relies on the ability of the Surface to detect where the phones are, communicating that position to tell them what to display and in what orientation. First up was the iPhone, as seen above, but the app has apparently already been ported to Windows Mobile and Android, meaning most-anyone can get in on the action -- assuming they have both a smart table and smart phone. A-ha-inspired video included below for your '80s flashback amusement.

Continue reading Video: Stimulant's XRay mobile app brings SecondLight to any 'ol Surface

Filed under: Cellphones

Video: Stimulant's XRay mobile app brings SecondLight to any 'ol Surface originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch