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Vringo buys small Nokia patent portfolio as asset sell-off continues Aug 9th 2012, 13:44 Nokia's sale of the century hour continues, selling off a small intellectual property portfolio to Vringo. The little-known app maker has snapped up a bundle of 500 patents and applications from the Finnish phone maker, including 109 issued US Patents. The collection mostly concerns backbone tech, including communication management, signal transmission and cellular infrastructure. Neither company mentioned a figure, but Vringo revealed that Nokia's getting a chunk of any future profits made. There's PR after the break if you're curious enough to wonder if Stephen Elop's planning the mobile phone equivalent of a yard sale. Continue reading Vringo buys small Nokia patent portfolio as asset sell-off continues Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless Vringo buys small Nokia patent portfolio as asset sell-off continues originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 09:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments ASUS Transformer Pad TF300TL coming to Germany and Austria with LTE in tow Aug 9th 2012, 13:19 Our thoughts on the Transformer Pad TF300 were mostly positive when we reviewed it back in April. A lot has happened since then and, while its unlikely to still be at the top of our 10-inch heap, a helping of LTE will go a long way towards keeping it relevant. The TF300TL (as the 4G variant is called) sneaked through the FCC in late May, but we're only now getting word about availability. According to a German press release snagged by TechFokus, the slate should be available in mid August for €629 ($776) with keyboard dock or €529 ($653) without. Sadly, there's still no word on availability outside of German and Austria, but if you're on O2 in one of those nations you should be able to pick up the tablet soon and enjoy its embarrassment of 4G riches. Filed under: Tablet PCs ASUS Transformer Pad TF300TL coming to Germany and Austria with LTE in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 09:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink The Verge  |  TechFokus  | Email this | Comments Pulse Reader launches browser-based app, you'll need IE10 for certain gestures Aug 9th 2012, 13:00 Until now, if you've wanted to use the Pulse reader app for browsing Engadget your favorite blogs you had to own an Android or iOS device. Now, though, the startup is launching a browser-based version of the service, making it accessible on desktops and mobile platforms for which there's no standalone Pulse app. The site will run in any browser, including mobile ones, but there are certain gestures you'll only be able to pull off in IE10, like using two fingers to expose the reading pane. For that reason, Microsoft is promoting this announcement almost as enthusiastically as Pulse (see the source link below if you don't believe us). As for the new website, we could go on about the slick UI and brisk performance, but it's probably easier if you just check out the screenshots below and then peek the quickie demo video after the break. Gallery: Pulse browser app Continue reading Pulse Reader launches browser-based app, you'll need IE10 for certain gestures Filed under: Internet, Software Pulse Reader launches browser-based app, you'll need IE10 for certain gestures originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Pulse  | Email this | Comments Peek inside Samsung's sound lab to see ringtones being born Aug 9th 2012, 12:35 Samsung's opened up about how the engineers in its sound lab build the default tones for your handset. Tasked with developing a "Sonic Branding," a ringtone that's as iconic and recognizable as Nokia's famous reworking of Gran Vals is to the Finnish handset maker. Research showed that most phones are answered within 10 seconds, so for Over The Horizon, the two-second is repeated and variated several different ways. Designing the soundscape for NatureUX also posed problems of its own. In order to create those aquatic noises, designers stirred a rubber bowl of water and scratched wet plates with toothpicks hundreds of times until the perfect tone was found. What was the leading cause of rejection? The enhanced sounds were a little too similar to that of a flushing toilet. Of course, while handset sound design is the team's most famous effort, it's also tasked with producing the audible signals from everything from Microwaves to Washing Machines -- so perhaps your next load of clean laundry will be heralded with a three-minute guitar solo. Continue reading Peek inside Samsung's sound lab to see ringtones being born Filed under: Cellphones Peek inside Samsung's sound lab to see ringtones being born originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 08:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Samsung  | Email this | Comments Google Translate app gets weighty update, will translate signs through your smartphone camera Aug 9th 2012, 12:06 Google's multi-lingual translation app decided that (online) words were not enough. Beyond digital text, a new update to Translate will let Google's bots translate what you're looking at, whether that's hand-written directions or a sign saying, "wrong way." Though its not the first time we've seen an app that translates text from the camera (not even for Google) the update includes a convenient touch-guided interface that allows you to draw over the text you'd like converted into English -- it seemed to master our beginners' Spanish textbook with ease. The update also adds improvements to its voice translations, with new dialect preferences and improved handwriting recognition for Japanese input. Grab the download before you board that flight abroad this summer -- just ensure it's on a WiFi-only connection once you get there. Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Software Google Translate app gets weighty update, will translate signs through your smartphone camera originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 08:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Android Central  |  Google Translate (Google Play)  | Email this | Comments Facebook's Director of Engineering explains how you're part of the dev team Aug 9th 2012, 12:03 Ever wondered why those crazy fools at Facebook think it's a good idea to meddle with the timeline, or how you chat? Well you can blame yourself. Probably. The social network's Director of Engineering, Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, reveals all in a recent blog post. By first explaining that the site evolves in a two-step process, "technology pushes people to move forward and then people move past technology and it has to catch up," we can start to understand why constant user testing of new, often multiple, solutions is required. Boz goes on to explain that by using select groups, or even nations, the efficacy new features can not only be quickly, and solidly determined, it can actually supplant the need for weeks of boardroom debate. He goes on to say that the odds are that everyone on Facebook has been part of a test at some point. Curious to know more about the process, or just feeling a little bit used? Head over to the source link for the full post / comment thread. Filed under: Internet Facebook's Director of Engineering explains how you're part of the dev team originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 08:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink The Verge  |  Facebook's Engineering Blog  | Email this | Comments

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