| Chumby halts hardware sales, long-term support looking mighty unlikely Apr 20th 2012, 00:02  "The site is closed temporarily." Never a good sign, indeed, and particularly not when it's plastered across Chumby's own webstore. For over two days now, that's the message given to anyone attempting to buy hardware from the company, and it looks as if the Chumby we knew may be counting down its final days. A scrappy upstart attempting to bring its Chumby OS to the masses via injections into larger OEMs, the outfit saw little to no uptake across a wide variety of products; Sony nixed the Dash earlier this year, and Insignia turned its back quite some time ago. To be fair, Chumby had stopped manufacturing its own branded hardware in 2011, with the outfit's Duane Maxwell confirming the outright death of Chumby's store in a forum posting today. According to him, there was "no point in keeping the store around once inventory was exhausted," though hardcore loyalists can still snag a NeTV from adafruit. Other forum members have noted that all support emails now seem to be headed into the Great Beyond, and while the actual network that Chumby OS relies on remains alive at the moment, there's no guarantee it'll last. Interestingly, at least two individuals instrumental in the building of Chumby are now working at Media Navi -- both Alison Fay and Michael Coleman have moved Chumby-related job listings to "Past" in their LinkedIn profiles. We'll be reporting more as we get it, but in the meanwhile, we'd recommend giving your favorite Chum a warm hug. His / her heart may not be beating for too much longer. [Thanks, Jonathan] Chumby halts hardware sales, long-term support looking mighty unlikely originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Chumby Store, Chumby forums (1), (2) | Email this | Comments | | LG Optimus 4X HD gets dressed in white, shows its unicorn side (hands-on) Apr 19th 2012, 23:24  We know what you're thinking: It's white. But the truth is, there's something intangible about these snow-colored slabs that cause humans to lavishly drool. This time the sole culprit is LG's Optimus 4X HD, which appears to have found a way into the hands of Taiwanese site ePrice. Aside from being dressed in a different outfit than the first time we took it for a spin, not much has changed under that quad-core hood, meaning it's still sporting a flavor of Android 4.0 while also retaining its renown 8.9mm slim figure. Chances are this isn't enough eye candy for you, though, so we're hooking you up with a video of this unicorn in discrete action after the break. Update: We've just added our own hands-on pictures from our recent trip to Seoul, and as you can see, our Quadrant benchmark scores (we ran it four times) only reached just above 4,000 -- a bit less than what we've see previously. That said, ePrice got just above 4,200 on its 4X HD, and things could change again when the device ships with final firmware, so we shall take a look again when that happens. Continue reading LG Optimus 4X HD gets dressed in white, shows its unicorn side (hands-on) LG Optimus 4X HD gets dressed in white, shows its unicorn side (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  MobileSyrup | ePrice | Email this | Comments | | FCC begins tracking wireless carriers' implementation of bill shock notifications Apr 19th 2012, 23:03  If you've ever mistaken your wireless bill for your phone number, only to discover a dollar sign in front of all those digits, you're far from alone. The CTIA estimates that one in six mobile subscribers have experienced bill shock, but thanks to the efforts of the nation's wireless carriers -- along with a bit of help from the FCC -- consumers will start to receive notifications of any potential overages, along with alerts when the threshold has been crossed. The program is still in its infancy, but the FCC has launched a website to track wireless carriers' implementation of the notification system, which will alert consumers to any voice, data, SMS or international roaming charges. Carriers have until October 17th to have alerts for at least two of these categories in place, and will have until April 17th of next year to implement all four. Consumers may track the monthly progress of individual carriers at the FCC's bill shock website, but for a current peek at their progress, just hop the break. [Bill shock photo via Shutterstock] Continue reading FCC begins tracking wireless carriers' implementation of bill shock notifications FCC begins tracking wireless carriers' implementation of bill shock notifications originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Phone Scoop | FCC | Email this | Comments | | Intuit GoPayment goes live in Canada, more rectangular than Square Apr 19th 2012, 22:42  Looks like Canada just scored another mobile credit card payment system within its borders. It was back at CES when Intuit revealed its updated GoPayment dongle for our neighbors up north, and now the company's announced that the service has officially launched in the region. Once you're application is approved, you'll get the card reader for free without any contract -- and best of all, GoPayment works on a "pay-as-you-go" basis (3.3 percent if you enter the digits, 2.7 percent with a swipe). It's currently purposed for iDevices with a free downloadable app, accepting Visa and Mastercards, but Intuit notes that Android and BlackBerry compatibility is in the works. With services NetSecure and PayPal also claiming space in the country, we're still left to wonder when Square -- essentially the godfather of this type of thing -- will finally be joining the card-swiping party in the great white north. If you're curious for all the details or wanting to apply for yourself, head on down to the source link below. [Thanks, Mike] Intuit GoPayment goes live in Canada, more rectangular than Square originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | |
