| Nokia reportedly scraps Meltemi, decides it's Series 40 or bust in basic phones Jun 14th 2012, 23:44  O Meltemi, we hardly knew ye. In fact, we didn't know ye much at all, since Nokia never made the OS official. Nonetheless, claimed insiders have told AllThingsD that the reputed Linux-running alternative to S30 and S40 won't ever see the light of day. Nokia's deep structural cuts are to blame, and we imagine Nokia's previous drive to whittle down its OS portfolio will have come into play. CEO Stephen Elop and other executives never directly acknowledged Meltemi's existence during the cutback-related conference call, although Elop did admit that some projects were screeching to a halt behind the scenes -- possibly the closest Espoo will come to saying that the platform was ever real. Sad, to be sure, but between the new Asha Touch line and ever-cheaper Lumia models, we're not too worried about whether or not Nokia has the low end covered. Nokia reportedly scraps Meltemi, decides it's Series 40 or bust in basic phones originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  AllThingsD | Email this | Comments | | Sony's NXT trio sees the light, gets transparent bar notifications via third-party app Jun 14th 2012, 23:23  If there's one thing Sony got right with its NXT line, it's that design-distinctive, transparent element. Problem is, aside from color matching with your photo collection, that incognito antenna doesn't do much -- well, not with the company's official blessing anyway. Users that take a quick trip to the Google Play store can download a third-party app dubbed, rather self-evidently, Illumination Bar Notification. And it does just what it claims to do, letting Xperia U users set myriad notification hues (P and S owners will have to make do with white only) and blinking speeds for texts and calls. It's free to download, so if you're looking to make that handset sit and look even prettier, you'd be well advised to hit up the source below. Sony's NXT trio sees the light, gets transparent bar notifications via third-party app originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Xperia blog | Google Play | Email this | Comments | | Hexy: hands-on with the adorable, affordable hexapod (video) Jun 14th 2012, 22:41  The Artisan's Asylum has a few guiding principles, one of which is anyone can "make." We assume one of the others is "you can never have too many hexapods." If Stompy, the giant rideable bot, is a bit much for you to handle (or store), then maybe Hexy is more your speed. He's got six legs and 20 servos, but at only $200, he's much cheaper than similar hexapod kits and, most importantly, more adorable. The bot is the brain child of Joseph Schlesinger, a resident at the Somerville hacker space who saw a need for a low-cost but serious robotics kit. Since hitting Kickstarter in May, his creation has raked in roughly $86,000 in pledges, far surpassing his original goal of thirteen grand. We swung by Joe's booth to get a taste of what exactly his hundreds of backers have bought into and to find out what's next for the budding bot entrepreneur. Continue reading Hexy: hands-on with the adorable, affordable hexapod (video) Hexy: hands-on with the adorable, affordable hexapod (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Hexy (Kickstarter) | Email this | Comments | |
