On March 2, 2010, TiVo will be holding an event in New York City presumably regarding some new innovating technology. The flyer they have sent around includes the phrase “Inventing The DVR Was Just A Warmup.” For TiVO DVR enthusiasts, this is definitely exciting news.
So far rumors of an impending product release includes the TiVo Premiere, whose product manual had surfaced a few months ago. Whatever product they release, the flyer above sure does make it sound interesting, and Gadgetell will make sure to bring you the latest news from the event.
A couple of days ago it seemed Motorola was on the verge of rolling out the 2.1 Android update for all Verizon DROID smartphones. Naturally, this pleased many DROID owners as the higher Android version would mean extra features. However, yesterday, Matt (the Motorola Forums manager) had said “we jumped the gun on these details…” essentially saying the update has not been released yet, and probably not this week.
It’s a wonder why details about Android 2.1 were posted not only on Facebook but their support website, which have since been removed. Matt claims people inside Motorola posted information about the release prematurely, probably due to enthusiasm. While it may seem like a little error on Motorola’s part, it definitely annoyed DROID owners because they were on the verge of receiving a pretty nice update. Who knows exactly when the update will become available at this point.
I have been fortunate enough to be able to spend some quality time with both the Palm Pre Plus as well as the Pixi Plus as of late. And while I still have plenty of time left to play, test and use both I did want to offer up an image gallery with both phones side by side. Just to give a rough idea of the size and all that good stuff.
In regards to the phones, and as you will see in the gallery below both phones ship with a USB cable as well as a USB power outlet. In addition, the Pre Plus also ships with a set of stereo headphones and a case that doubles as a cleaning cloth.
As far as a first thought, I will say that despite having a smaller display (as compared to the Pre Plus) the Pixi Plus is an outstanding phone. In my opinion, the keyboard is nicer than that of the Pre Plus. Or at least, easier to type on. Not to mention, the Pixi Plus is super light, almost to the point you would forget you had it with you.
Anyway, while I am putting together my full review for each handset, as well as thoughts on both webOS and the App Catalog, enjoy the images below.
FROM GAMERTELL - Epicenter Studios is bringing Rock of the Dead, a zombie killing game that uses guitar controllers to take down the undead, to the Wii in 2010. MORE »
A leaked shot in advance of the Mobile World Congress shows us what could be a Puma branded phone that features a solar recharging panel on the very back of the device. Puma, the sports outfitter is expected to show off the device at the mobile phone show in Barcelona. A teaser site is up that clearly shows what Puma hopes to achieve and for their part, this isn’t just a fancy name brand stuck on a mediocre phone (see just about every other high-end branded device).
From the source code on the page, Puma has this to say (which oddly, isn’t visible on the page just yet):
The PUMA PHONE is a connected lifestyle device with sport and lifestyle functionalities such as PUMA Icon Messaging (Puma Language), Solarmeter (Solar Cell), Photo Sharing, GPS tracker, Bike Tracker, Run Tracker, Video Chat, Pedometer, Stopwatch, Music Turntable. It is also a connected handset that embraces the PUMA Community (PUMA on Facebook, PUMA on Twitter, PUMA on YouTube, PUMA on Flickr) and gives you access to the PUMA WORLD (Football, Motorsport, golf, sailing, running latest news), to PUMA Products and to specific PUMA Applications and Games.
Clearly GPS and Nike+ like applications will be a big part of this phone as will sports info on the go. Given Puma’s strength in these areas, this device could find a very welcome home in many fans pockets.
The rounded corners of the device are reminiscent of the Palm Pre, but don’t hold your breath for webOS under the hood. We dream but we aren’t dumb.
According to the site, we’ll get to know all in just 5 days.
Chocolate or vanilla? Mustard or ketchup? Cream or sugar? Add the Nuvi phone to life’s tough choices with their new phones officially announced today: the Android-powered A50 and Windows Mobile M10. Asus/Garmin announced these phones just as the Mobile World Congress is just getting underway in Barcelona, Spain.
The A50 is said to have “more location technology than any other smartphone.” What the heck does that mean? Garmin/Asus pre-loads the device with Garmin Navigation, so unlike say, AT&T Navigator, navigation calls are not made to the service and maps are not downloaded, on the Asus, the maps are stored locally. An e-compass is on-board as well as optional cityXplorer for ubran transit navigation. Many concepts are borrowed from Garmin’s high-end nuvi navigation units such as lane-assist. The A50 will head to Europe in the first half of 2010, no word on US availability or price.
The M10 by contrast runs Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and as you’d expect, is aimed clearly at the on-the-go professionals. Similar Garmin navigation features are preloaded, just as on the A50, as the defining feature of the nuvifone series is putting location up front and center. The device is expected in Asia and Europe in the first half of this year. No pricing or US availability yet. The nuvifone M20 was released back in November with Windows Mobile 6.5, no word on if the M10 replaces this device or is a step up or down. The M20 had expected distribution to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech, Turkey and other markets by the end of 2009.
Dell’s massive 27” display is definitely something you have always wanted. Gone are the days where PC users will have to envy Mac users who have enjoyed 27” displays in their iMacs for some time now. Although the display is not as aesthetically pleasing as Apple’s, it certainly isn’t lacking any important features. The display can support up to 2560x1440 pixels of resolution and has a 12-bit internal color processor. Dell’s U2711 uses CCFL, while Apple opted for LEDs in their displays. The U2711 has a contrast ratio of 80,000:1 and a wide 178-degree viewing angle. The screen comes in a matte finish. It carries a price tag of around $1100, which is pretty high considering that the iMac which is a complete system, costs just a little more than that.
Japanese manufacturer Century has recently unveiled the EX35EU2R RAID 0/1/3/5/10 system which allows you to connect up to five 3.5" SATA hard drives, each with a maximum of 2TB. That gives you a grand total of 10TB, and you’ll never have to worry about storage space again. It comes with USB 2.0 and eSata connectivity. For a drive that huge, you would probably prefer to stick to eSata due to performance issues. It would’ve been better if it came with USB 3.0 support as well, but oh well. The EX35EU2R will be released in Japan next week for the time being.
Iran announced that it has banned Google's popular Gmail service. The government's telecommunication service has also disrupted Internet access and text messaging services, likely in an attempt to quell any opposition protests as the country celebrates today's anniversary of the Islamic Republic. The Wall Street Journal reported that the government has even gone so far as to confiscate satellite dishes and mobile phones from individuals it identifies as key opposition members.
A national email service will be introduced to replace GMail, but it's likely all accounts created on it will be closely monitored and even censored.
Warner Music Group, one of the world’s largest music conglomerates, has said it will stop licensing songs to free music streaming services. Warner executive Edgar Bronfman, Jr. made the following statement to BBC News:
“Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed. The ‘get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price’ strategy is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future.”
Bronfman’s words are probably stinging to fans of music-streaming sites like Pandora, Slacker Radio, and Spotify. Most sites have a “freemium” model of displaying ads and limiting the amount of times a user can skip a song. A premium account will remove ads and provide unlimited skips for a fee, but that doesn’t yield enough money to please Warner.
It’s unclear if Bronfman means Warner will not license to any new services or will not renew licenses when existing deals expire. The absence of Warner titles would remove a sizable portion of songs from streaming services. WMG is the parent company of dozens of labels home to artists ranging from indie rap stars Atmosphere to Grammy-winning rock group Green Day. When factoring in the long list of albums - both current and past - that Warner Music has the rights to, thousands of songs could disappear from streaming sites once current licensing deals end. Either way, Warner’s music being yanked from sites like Pandora, Slacker, Last.fm, GrooveShark, Spotify, and so on could be devastating to music streaming services.
According to a leaked screenshot from a Sprint technician, the Palm Pre and Pixi will soon be receiving a webOS update. The screenshot notes both the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi as being slated for the webOS update, which will bring the phones up to version 1.4. The good news here is that is expected to happen soon—on February 15. As for what the update will include, another bit of good news—video recording, video editing, calendar enhancements, messaging enhancements as well as improvements to phonebook transfers.
I just wanted to offer a quick and friendly reminder to those that may have recently canceled their Sprint contract due to the regulatory rate increase. Unfortunately the time period to cancel is now over, but this message warning is intended for those that already did cancel.
If you canceled—call Sprint and make sure you are not being charged an ETF.
I canceled two lines (an HTC Hero and MiFi) and was told numerous times that I was not going to be charged an ETF for either account. Sadly though my when I called today to find out the total amount of my final bill it included two ETF fees.
Of course, in my case it was easy to catch at $180 a pop, but just make sure you are not paying those before you actually make good on that final bill.
In my case, the agent I spoke with today had to submit a new ticket to “waive” those fees and I can get my final bill amount sometime in the next 24-48 hours (after the fees have been removed). Seems a little shady to me, but I will play the game.
As a rule of thumb, I’d avoid going on YouTube at work whenever possible, but the reality is that millions of people across the globe log-on to the video sharing site every day. If you’re looking to avoid those Not Safe For Work (NSFW) videos or just want to decrease the likelihood that you or your children will see dirty videos while browsing YouTube, there’s a new link that will filter out “objectionable” content.
YouTube’s new “Safety Mode” will block out returns for phrases like “naked” or “sex.” The filter is not fool-proof, but it decreases the likelihood of negative content being available. Yes, pornography is already banned from YouTube and taken down when reported, but there are a number of users who push the boundaries.
In order to turn on Safety Mode, go to any YouTube video page. Browse to the bottom of the page and click “Safety Mode is Off” (you may not be able to see it just yet) to change the settings.
Once again the FCC has given us something to get excited over, well, get excited if you are hoping to see the Palm Pre become available with AT&T. According to some recently uncovered FCC documents, it would appear that the Palm Pre is indeed heading to AT&T and will become available sometime in May. Of course, this has not yet been confirmed by either Palm or AT&T. Not to mention the Palm Pre that is noted in these docs is simply going by the internal codename, which also means that we are unsure if we are going to see the Palm Pre or the Palm Pre Plus.
Paypal abruptly blocked personal payments to and from India earlier this week. People who attempted to send such payments had them reversed. The company blames India, who it says began questioning whether the payments could be considered remittance into the country following a change in licensing rules. Neither Paypal nor India’s government has given any further details on the issue.
Remittance refers to payments sent by immigrants to family back in their home country. Such payments play a large role in the economies of many countries, including India.
"We're working with the regulators and our bank processing partners in India to get this resolved as quickly as we can. We realize that this is causing considerable inconvenience to our customers and I want to reassure you that this is a top priority for the leadership at PayPal," the company said on their blog.
Paypal says personal payments may be suspended for months as they work out the red tape with India. Payments made for goods and services will continue to be accepted and processed.
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Despite only being on the market for a few months, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G seems a bit outdated compared to other Android smartphones. Today, early adopters of the T-Mobile myTouch 3G are feeling yet another sting as T-Mobile updates the hardware of the phone. The improvements don’t bring the phone to the level of the Nexus One, but it at least makes it a bit better than before.
The new version of the T-Mobile myTouch 3G, the myTouch 3G has features similar to the Fender version of the phone with the licensing fees. The refresh adds more RAM to the phone, bringing it from 192MB to 288MB like other versions of the HTC Magic. It also adds the much needed 3.5 mm headphone jack so users can listen to music and charge the phone and listen to music or any other media at the same time. Other features include the inclusion of Swype as an input option, and built in apps including Barcode Scanner, myAccount and Visual Voicemail.
The myTouch 3G refresh goes for $149, and is available in black and white. Merlot is apparently no more, which is depressing. With the new RAM upgrade in the myTouch 3G, it would now be possible to put the Sense UI from the HTC Hero onto the phone since it will now have the same specs. Even if HTC doesn’t release the Sense UI, it should hopefully now work with the homebrew versions for those willing to root their phones. Although, with the Nexus One costing only $30 more, and running Android 2.1 as opposed to 1.6, the entire point might be moot.
A leaked shot in advance of the Mobile World Congress shows us what could be a Puma branded phone that features a solar recharging panel on the very back of the device. Puma, the sports outfitter is expected to show off the device at the mobile phone show in Barcelona. A teaser site is up that clearly shows what Puma hopes to achieve and for their part, this isn’t just a fancy name brand stuck on a mediocre phone (see just about every other high-end branded device).
Iran announced that it has banned Google's popular Gmail service. The government's telecommunication service has also disrupted Internet access and text messaging services, likely in an attempt to quell any opposition protests as the country celebrates today's anniversary of the Islamic Republic. The Wall Street Journal reported that the government has even gone so far as to confiscate satellite dishes and mobile phones from individuals it identifies as key opposition members.
I just wanted to offer a quick and friendly reminder to those that may have recently 
As a rule of thumb, I’d avoid going on YouTube at work whenever possible, but the reality is that millions of people across the globe log-on to the video sharing site every day. If you’re looking to avoid those Not Safe For Work (NSFW) videos or just want to decrease the likelihood that you or your children will see dirty videos while browsing YouTube, there’s a new link that will filter out “objectionable” content.
Paypal abruptly blocked personal payments to and from India earlier this week. People who attempted to send such payments had them reversed. The company blames India, who it says began questioning whether the payments could be considered remittance into the country following a change in licensing rules. Neither Paypal nor India’s government has given any further details on the issue. 
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