| Fido switches on LTE, gives Canadians a taste of slightly more budget-minded 4G Aug 30th 2012, 17:31  Canadians have had fairly limited options for LTE-based 4G if they didn't want to turn to the three main carrier brands: they could go to a Bell-owned Virgin Mobile, and that's it. While there isn't a truly independent LTE carrier yet, Rogers' lower-cost Fido label has just taken its promised LTE access live to at least offer some competition among the smaller names in the field. Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, St. John's, Toronto and Vancouver can immediately hop on the network at speeds of up to 100Mbps. Bring-your-own-device users don't have to pay a premium to get the faster speeds, although there's currently little choice in hardware if you want to buy straight from the source: the lone LTE device on offer is Sierra Wireless' AirCard 763S hotspot, which costs $50 on a two-year contract. The flexible rate data-only plan also isn't the greatest deal, starting at $22 for a gone-in-five-minutes 100MB per month to $92 for 9GB. All the same, light data users in the True North will be glad to know they don't have to be relegated to 3G to save a few dollars. Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Networking, Mobile Fido switches on LTE, gives Canadians a taste of slightly more budget-minded 4G originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Fido | Email this | Comments | | ZTE Grand X IN: early benchmarks for the latest Intel-powered smartphone Aug 30th 2012, 16:58  It's a shame when phones feel outdated even as they hit the market, but that's sadly what happened with the original Grand X. However, as you may have heard a few hours ago, the handset's just had a healthy revamp. The spec-bumped version is called the Grand X IN -- it's due out next month and we've just had a chance to run some early benchmarks to test the performance of its vanilla Android 4 OS and new Intel engine. Among a range of improvements, including an 8-megapixel camera with burst mode (instead of the Grand X's dowdy five with no burst) and 1GB of RAM (instead of 512MB), the biggest change is that processor: out goes the old NVIDIA Tegra 2 and in comes a Medfield Z2460. Yep, that's the exact same chip we've seen put to good effect in the Orange San Diego, but how does it fare in this device? Click past the break for a head-to-head comparison with the San Diego, which is cheaper but slightly less well-built (and still running Gingerbread), and the Galaxy Nexus, which costs more but comes with a far better display. Continue reading ZTE Grand X IN: early benchmarks for the latest Intel-powered smartphone Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile ZTE Grand X IN: early benchmarks for the latest Intel-powered smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Jabra Solemate Bluetooth speaker hands-on, soles off Aug 30th 2012, 16:47  Hey, it's a shoe-themed Bluetooth speaker -- because, hey, why not, right? Jabra announced the punnily named Solemate yesterday, and we happened to run into one on the floor of this year's IFA. It's a small, solid little speaker with a hearty rubber sole that sits on the bottom, protecting the device from shocks and the like. The heel actually peels off, so you can replace it with different colors. Jabra had a slew of brightly colored options aside from the basic black and white, though apparently those won't be widely available at launch. The pairing process is quite easy -- just flip the Bluetooth button on the side of the device and a glowing blue light will turn on -- not only that, but a friendly device will walk you through the process. Find the speaker on your device's drop down menu and you're good to go. As for the sound, it's surprisingly loud (120dB, to be exact). We walked off the show floor for a second to demo it, but it turned out we didn't need to. Oh, and when you're using a non-Bluetooth device, there's a wired connection that lives on the bottom of the sole that you can pull out. All in all, it's a really solid and nicely built speaker -- and for its $200 asking price, we'd certainly hope so. The speaker has big volume buttons on the top and a carrying loop on its side. It also comes with a small black bag, which it can actually play through without dampening the sound too much. It'll hit the US on September 2nd, but you can pre-order it now, if you're eager. Jabra Solemate Bluetooth speaker hands-on, soles off originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Mars Curiosity leaves its landing area, heads to distant frontier a quarter-mile away Aug 30th 2012, 16:46  Now that Curiosity has survived its thrill-a-minute landing and passed an upgrade and physical with (nearly) flying colors, the rover is off to earn its $2 billion keep. The buggy got off to a good start, driving 52 feet towards its first science site "beautifully, just as our rover planners designed it," according to NASA. The destination, Glenelg, is 1,500 feet away from the now-familiar Bradbury Landing where it first set down, which is pretty far for a rover that treks along at about a tenth of a mile per hour. On top of that, its minders have some stops in mind to test instruments -- meaning it'll arrive there in about two weeks. Once at Glenelg, Curiousity will scope the unusual geology of the region, though its principal destination for science is Mount Sharp, a relatively vast six miles away. Don't worry about it running out of gas, though -- it's nuclear power supply will last a full Martian year, or 687 earth days. Filed under: Misc, Science Mars Curiosity leaves its landing area, heads to distant frontier a quarter-mile away originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Space.com | NASA | Email this | Comments | | Early Nintendo brochure shows us the childhood we could have had, the knitting we never did Aug 30th 2012, 16:31  We all know what the Nintendo Entertainment System looks like, right? Well, if a butterfly had flapped its wings in a slightly different manner, things could have apparently been quite different. Former Director of Game Creative at Nintendo America, Howard Phillips, has recently uploaded some images taken from a 1985 brochure for a precursor to the NES called the AVS (Advanced Video System). While a glance at some vintage-looking hardware that never came to be -- such as the wireless controller -- is a retrospective tease, it was the marketing material from a couple of years later that really snags the attention: an advert for a knitting machine peripheral. The image shows the NES we know and love, with a controller in a dock, attached to a knitting device turning-out what we can only assume are some leg-warmers. Not wanting to alienate its largely male audience, however, the tagline reads "Now you're knitting with power." Given that it never came to market, though, we guess that not quite everything was acceptable in the eighties. Continue reading Early Nintendo brochure shows us the childhood we could have had, the knitting we never did Filed under: Gaming Early Nintendo brochure shows us the childhood we could have had, the knitting we never did originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Joystiq | Gamemaster Howard (Facebook) | Email this | Comments | | Toshiba outs Satellite U945 and P845t Ultrabooks, Satellite S955 thin-and-light Aug 30th 2012, 16:00  In addition to unveiling that U925t laptop / tablet hybrid yesterday, Toshiba is announcing some more conventional-looking PCs this week at IFA. These new models include the Satellite U945, a low-end Ultrabook; the Satellite P845t, an Ultrabook with a touchscreen; and the Satellite S955, a 15-inch thin-and-light. Across the board, these will be available October 26th, the day Windows 8 formally launches. For now, too, Toshiba isn't revealing prices, though we already know plenty about the specs. Join us after the break where we'll spell out those nitty-gritty details. Continue reading Toshiba outs Satellite U945 and P845t Ultrabooks, Satellite S955 thin-and-light Filed under: Laptops Toshiba outs Satellite U945 and P845t Ultrabooks, Satellite S955 thin-and-light originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | States reach $69 million settlement with three publishers in e-book price fixing case Aug 30th 2012, 15:43  When the US Department of Justice sued Apple and five major book publishers over alleged e-book price rigging, it immediately became clear that a few of these companies would do just about anything to avoid trial. That same day, three of the publishers -- HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette -- elected to settle with the DoJ. Now, those same three publishers have reached an agreement in 49 states (all but Minnesota), wherein consumers will receive a combined $69 million in compensation. Specifically, the payout applies to people who bought agency-priced e-books between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. Interestingly, the payout includes folks who bought e-books from Macmillan and Penguin, even though those two publishers aren't settling. As for making sure people get paid, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google, Sony, Apple and Kobo have agreed to identify and contact affected customers. According to ABC News, most of these retailers will give customers the option of receiving a check or a credit toward future purchases. Sony, meanwhile, will automatically issue checks, while Google will direct customers to an online submission form where they can file a claim. Whatever the method, payments are expected to begin 30 days after the settlement is approved. The DoJ settlement, which is separate from the agreement with the 49 states, is still awaiting clearance. States reach $69 million settlement with three publishers in e-book price fixing case originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 11:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | PaidContent, ABC News | Email this | Comments | |
