Archive for February, 2009

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Obama’s proposed 2010 budget juices carriers for more cash

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

There's no easy answer to erasing a staggering trillion-plus dollar deficit in a federal budget, but you've got to start somewhere -- and Obama's looking at the nation's wireless carriers as cash cows just waiting to be milked. The President's proposed budget for 2010 calls for an increase in spectrum license user fees from $50 million to $200 million, with further increases to $550 million over the course of the next decade, all of which would be on top of the billions carriers have already shelled out in spectrum auctions. A good way to bring in some extra cash? Yeah, probably, but considering that carriers will be more than happy to pass the increases on to consumers, let's just be straight: it's a tax.

[Via El Reg]

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Obama's proposed 2010 budget juices carriers for more cash originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple iMac murdered, reborn as all-in-one DreamCast mod

Saturday, February 28th, 2009
This may look like a beloved iMac, but make no mistake, it's just a shell of its former self. CGCC forum member Logicdustbin decided to gut the all-in-one and replace its innards with a Sega Dreamcast and 15-inch LCD monitor. The result? The iCast, a beautiful homage to simpler times. Hit up the video after the break to see this Fronk-en-shteen in action, playing a game that'll assuredly prepare our children for a post-apocalyptic world.

[Via hack a day]

Continue reading Apple iMac murdered, reborn as all-in-one DreamCast mod

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Apple iMac murdered, reborn as all-in-one DreamCast mod originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Endless Ideas launching next-gen WiFi BeBook at CeBIT

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

Endless Ideas' original BeBook wasn't exactly the same smash hit as, say, Amazon's Kindle, but the company's hoping to refocus some of the spotlight back on itself next week in Germany. According to a succulent teaser page on the company's website, it has proudly announced that the next-gen e-reader will be on display at CeBIT, bringing with it WiFi and 3G capabilities, touchscreen navigation and wireless RSS support. Sadly, we're not giving any pictorial clues, but we are told to expect "a complete redesign." Consider our interest piqued.

[Via Pocket-lint]

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Endless Ideas launching next-gen WiFi BeBook at CeBIT originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alaska Airlines offering in-flight WiFi — but not in Alaska

Friday, February 27th, 2009
Alaska Airlines offering in-flight WiFi -- but not in Alaska
It's a sad, sad state of affairs. After nearly four years worth of announcements you're still more likely to get a good night's rest on a flight than find wireless internet, leaving us to wonder whether any airline will survive long enough to roll-out the system-wide access they've almost all pledged. Another player is now crawling tardily into the ring, Alaska Airlines fulfilling its promise and partnering with Row 44 to offer satellite-based internets on a very limited basis. You should know the drill by now: access is only offered on very select routes, or route in this case, debuting on 737-300 flights running between Seattle (SEA) and San Jose (SJC). At least the service will be free for the first 90 60 days, but the airline isn't saying how much it will cost after that. We'd guess somewhere between not free and way too much, leaning toward the latter.

Update: Correction, it's only 60 days not 90, and we're told by Glenn over at High-Fi News that it's not just a single route it's actually a single plane, and while it will be starting out on the SEA/SJC route, it will be making appearances elsewhere -- maybe even in the land of the midnight sun!

[Via Electronista]

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Alaska Airlines offering in-flight WiFi -- but not in Alaska originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jobo unveils two new GIGA photo storage devices

Friday, February 27th, 2009
Just in case you really needed yet another alternative in the portable photo storage drive department, Jobo is doing you one better -- introducing not one but two new devices. Both the GIGA Vu Sonic and GIGA One Sonic will download up to 1GB in 30 seconds, and both feature RAW decoding, up to 250GB storage, and a 3.2-inch color display. In addition, these guys accommodate all the standard media card formats, including CompactFlash, Microdrive, SecureDigital (SD), SDHC, (Memory Stick) MS, MS Pro, MS Duo, and MultiMediaCard (MMC). Prices start at €329 ($417) for the GIGA Vu Sonic, and €240 ($305) for the GIGA One Sonic. Available worldwide next month. Full PR and specs after the break.

Continue reading Jobo unveils two new GIGA photo storage devices

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Jobo unveils two new GIGA photo storage devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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mLani introduces new “MoBi” FPS controller for PS3

Friday, February 27th, 2009

There's not exactly a wealth of information about this one just yet, but peripheral maker mLani (started by the former founder of SplitFish) looks to be doing its best to make PC gamers feel a bit more at home on the PS3 with this new FPS-minded controller which, coincidentally, looks to compete directly with some of SplitFish's own offerings. Apparently, in addition to improving your aim in Killzone 2, this one can double as a mouse for your PC and, as you can see above, it's also wireless, although it's at least possible that the cable between the mouse and the Wiimote-esque controller has been conveniently omitted. No word on a price, but this one's supposedly on track for a release in the next three months or so.

[Via DigitalBattle, thanks SK]

Update: Looks like mLani has just gotten official with the controller, which is now dubbed the "MoBi" and set for release in the third week of May. Still no indication of a price, but mLani did confirm that both the mouse and controller are indeed wireless, and that the mouse (2000 DPI, 500Hz) comes with its own PC software to allow for full customization. Head on past the break for the full press release.

Continue reading mLani introduces new "MoBi" FPS controller for PS3

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mLani introduces new "MoBi" FPS controller for PS3 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ZTE completes EV-DO Rev. B VoIP call on CDMA2000 system

Friday, February 27th, 2009

It seems like just yesterday that Big Red was firing up its EV-DO Rev. A network in America, and already we're seeing signs of life with Rev. B. In all honesty, though, we've known about the next iteration of EV-DO (and the next-next, for that matter) for years now, but said Chinese carrier has just completed what it calls the world's first EV-DO Rev. B VoIP call on its CDMA2000 system. In other words, this is the first time a CDMA carrier has achieved a 9.3Mbps download rate and 5.4Mbps upload rate. The lovely part of this is that ZTE can upgrade from Rev. A to Rev. B without any additional hardware, thus paving the way for a quick commercialization in Q3 2009. Huzzah!

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ZTE completes EV-DO Rev. B VoIP call on CDMA2000 system originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hearst to launch wireless e-reader, potentially revolutionize print media

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Hot on the heels of Amazon's highly anticipated Kindle 2 launch comes this: news that Hearst Corporation -- which publishes iconic magazines including Cosmopolitan and Esquire along with the San Francisco Chronicle -- will be launching its own wireless e-reader. While many may be quick to label this forthcoming device as a Kindle competitor, the concept behind this is far more elaborate than simply knocking Amazon from its perch. In an effort to "preserve the business model that has sustained newspapers and magazines" while moving forward with technology, Hearst is planning to ship a larger-than-usual reader (around the size of a standard sheet of paper), giving publishers (and advertisers, by extension) about the same amount of space as they're used to when pushing out e-articles. Reports suggest that the device -- which will do the monochrome thing until a color version debuts later -- could land as early as this year, with Hearst & Friends planning to sell them to publishers and "take a cut of the revenue derived from selling magazines and newspapers on these devices." No exaggeration here -- this may be the biggest news we've heard for print media in years, not to mention the promise of an all-new e-reader for gadget nerds to swoon over.

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Hearst to launch wireless e-reader, potentially revolutionize print media originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell’s 22-inch LED-backlit G-Series LCD now available in renewable quantities

Friday, February 27th, 2009
Dell's LED-backlit G-Series LCDs now available in renewable quantities
After teasing its entries last month and offering up the 24-inch G2410 a couple days ago, Dell's officially rounding out its eco-game on the desktop panel scene with the 22-inch G2210, a display so energy efficient it can only display pictures of windmills and solar panels (seriously, hit the read link). The 22-incher has an extremely miserly 18 watt power consumption rating, compared to the G2410's 20 -- impressive, but you're probably more interested in the 1000:1 contrast ratio (dynamically boosted up to 1,000,000:1), 250 nits of brightness, and 5ms response rate over a resolution of 1680 x 1050. At $239, it's actually a little cheaper than anticipated, which might just give you some extra incentive to pick one up with your tax refund -- you environmentalist you.

[Via iTech News Net]

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Dell's 22-inch LED-backlit G-Series LCD now available in renewable quantities originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DualShock Vortex concept controller brings the neGcon out of the nineties

Friday, February 27th, 2009
DualShock Vortex concept controller brings the neGcon out of the nineties
In the halcyon days before dual analog sticks, when gamers had only D-pads and buttons and that's the way we liked it, serious PlayStation drifters had one weapon of choice for 'Ridge Racer' battles: the neGcon from Namco. It and its twisting mechanism never really caught on, but it hasn't been entirely forgotten, reborn through the DualShock Vortex pictured above, a controller extending the same concept to the PS3, offering the 45 degrees of twist you'll want for Gran Turismo 5 (if it ever ships) plus the analog sticks you'll need for Killzone 2. Alas, it's just a rendered concept from Israeli designer Tamar Fleisher at this point, and is rather unlikely to show up at a game retailer near you, but maybe if enough of you e-mail the kind folks at the now Namco Bandai they'll think about making it a reality.

[Via Gizmodo]

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DualShock Vortex concept controller brings the neGcon out of the nineties originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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