| Live from President Bill Clinton's CTIA keynote May 10th 2012, 18:46  It's the final day of CTIA Wireless 2012, and time for the week's big event. Will it be a new super phone? An epic new high-speed 4G network? The resurrection of webOS? Nope. The big get of the week is the 42nd president of the United States, Mr. William Jefferson Clinton. Honestly, we're not entirely sure what to expect of the event ending keynote. Most likely Willy (he let's us call him that since we're such close, personal friends -- it's no big deal) will wind up talking about the ability of wireless technology to empower the underclass and level the global playing field... you know, light-hearted stuff. But, there's only one way to find out for sure: follow along after the break. May 10, 2012 3:00 PM EDT Live from President Bill Clinton's CTIA keynote originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 May 2012 14:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Harry Potter e-book loaners coming to your Kindle, if you're Primed May 10th 2012, 18:36  Amazon will never run out of copies of Harry Potter e-books from its Lending Library. Thanks to a new agreement with Pottermore, on June 19th the entire seven-book collection will be among the 140,000 plus you can grab, provided, of course, that you're an Amazon Prime member. If you've forked over the $79 yearly membership fee, you'll have no due date or waiting, and all your highlights and bookmarks will be saved if you need to re-borrow. Unlike your local library, you can only take out one at a time, but at least you won't have to line up behind all the Muggles to get it. Continue reading Harry Potter e-book loaners coming to your Kindle, if you're Primed Harry Potter e-book loaners coming to your Kindle, if you're Primed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 May 2012 14:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Amazon (1), (2) | Email this | Comments | | Bing gets big remake with Snapshot, social sidebar, dig at Google (video) May 10th 2012, 18:25  Microsoft's determination to ratchet up the search engine wars just got clearer with a major rethink of Bing that includes a few potshots at Google. While the search results themselves are still prominent, there's now a Snapshot area in the middle that aggregates the common tasks linked to your search, such as booking a hotel room. Bing hasn't avoided the siren's call of putting social networking into search results, putting in both search hits as well as the option of asking friends, but has tucked the results into a social sidebar at the far right. Not surprisingly, Microsoft has already declared it a far better alternative to Google+ in-line results, which it sees "cluttering your results with social updates." You'll currently have to use a desktop web browser to see all the new Bingness, although Microsoft is promising a mobile-friendly update within weeks. Continue reading Bing gets big remake with Snapshot, social sidebar, dig at Google (video) Bing gets big remake with Snapshot, social sidebar, dig at Google (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 May 2012 14:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Bing Search Blog | Bing | Email this | Comments | | Konka W900 hands-on May 10th 2012, 18:17  If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, consider Konka the number one practitioner of that "craft." The company, (in)famous for its OEM-copycatting ways, has set up a booth here at CTIA 2012, letting us get some up close and personal time with its W900. The HTC-esque handset, previously released at this past Mobile World Congress, is yet another in a line of underwhelming Android offerings that subsists on design without delivering on performance. Although, the phone's official spec sheet lists it as running Ice Cream Sandwich, the build we encountered was actually that of Gingerbread 2.3.6 -- a very buggy version, at that. So, don't let your eyes deceive you, what you're seeing on the homescreen is simply a third-party launcher made to ape ICS' more streamlined UI. Beneath that 4-inch WVGA display lies quadband GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900) and WCDMA (2100) radios, VGA front-facing / rear 5-megapixel cameras, in addition to support for WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth. Unfortunately, the company couldn't confirm what processor's powering this lackluster affair. But no matter, this is one uneven device you can safely ignore. Terrence O'Brien contributed to this report. Konka W900 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 May 2012 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | HTC Car StereoClip hands-on May 10th 2012, 17:33  Looking for something nice to take home alongside your shiny (oh, so shiny) new HTC EVO 4G LTE? How about the Car StereoClip? When the latest EVO hits shelves on May 18th, it'll launch with this Bluetooth accessory that lets you stream audio to any device with an mini stereo auxiliary input. The tiny, USB thumb drive-sized receiver has a micro USB port on one end for charging, and a male 3.5mm connector hides under a cap on the other side. While the dongle is being marketed for in-car use, it could be used to turn your home stereo into a set of Bluetooth speakers as well. HTC claims that Bluetooth 4.0 and aptX support should make for drastically improved audio quality -- at least when paired with a similarly specced phone. You'll be able to pick up the plug for $60 from Sprint, followed shortly thereafter by AT&T. Check out the gallery below for a few more pics. HTC Car StereoClip hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 May 2012 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | iCache Geode digital wallet hands-on (video) May 10th 2012, 17:22  The iCache Geode was easily the most impressive use of technology that we saw during CTIA 2012. It's the epitome of how a fantastic tech idea can be translated to real world use in a very classy and clever way. At its heart it is extremely simple: take all your existing credit, debit, and loyalty cards, save them in a secure way and be able to use any of them without actually having the original cards handy. The system is comprised of a housing for the iPhone coupled with an app, an E Ink display on the rear, a fingerprint scanner, the GeoCard, and a magnetic stripe reader that is capable of quickly reading in your card details and saving them. Using the Geode is a two-step process, scan all your cards into the device with an included scanner attachment, then using the iPhone app select your method of payment and the GeoCard in the housing is instantly programmed. Pop the card out, tap it on a solid surface to activate it and spend your money. Loyalty cards are equally easy to use: select one of them in the app and its barcode is written to the E Ink display on the Geode's rear surface. Of course iCache has considered the security implications and has addressed them a few different ways. The iPhone doesn't store any of your card details as they're kept in the housing itself, on launch the app does a hardware check to be sure nothing's been tampered with, asks for a fingerprint scan, and the card programming only lasts for a user-defined period of time after you've tapped it on the table. Click on through for a video demo of the whole ride. Terrence O'Brien contributed to this report. Continue reading iCache Geode digital wallet hands-on (video) iCache Geode digital wallet hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 May 2012 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | HTC EVO 4G LTE for Sprint review May 10th 2012, 17:00  HTC is on a roll in the US, first releasing the One S for T-Mobile and the One X for AT&T. Now, with the EVO 4G LTE on Sprint, it's ready to shift to the CDMA realm in a different costume. Internally, it's incredibly close to what's offered in the One series' flagship, but the Now Network has made a few tweaks to the device so it'll adjust to life as the latest smartphone in the fabled EVO lineup. This time it's packing a powerful processor, gorgeous display and the ability to connect to the still-dormant LTE. It's eager to show its face in retail stores beginning May 18th for $200, placing it in the high end of Sprint's selection. This review, however, is just a bit different from any we've done before. How so? To our knowledge, we've never done one in New Orleans before. But when a phone gets dropped in our lap at CTIA 2012, we're naturally going to put it through its paces, regardless of location. As it shares so many commonalities with its One brethren, we've been expecting a very similar fit, feel and performance. In our review, we'll take you through what's different and what's better or worse. Is this the best device to grace the hands of Sprint customers? Follow us past the break to find out. Continue reading HTC EVO 4G LTE for Sprint review HTC EVO 4G LTE for Sprint review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 May 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | |
