| Xiaomi Phones may enter Europe next year, because China ain't big enough Aug 17th 2012, 21:18  Here's a bit of good news to soak in over the weekend. After the unveiling of the Xiaomi Phone 2 (aka Mi2) in front of some 3,000 people yesterday, a reliable source informed us that the Chinese startup is already looking to bring its highly affordable phones to Europe next year. Alas, we couldn't get a more specific time frame, but assuming Xiaomi wants to deliver its first quad core device to the Europeans as well, it'd likely be within the first half of next year, well before the next August 16th announcement (the company's managed to stick to the same date so far). Of course, it all depends on whether Xiaomi can scale its business model for the unknown territories, and it'll certainly need some solid partners to do so -- much like its collaboration with local retail channels China Unicom, China Telecom and Vancl. Luckily, the MIUI developer will be doing a warm up first in Taiwan. As reported by Business Next last month, chairman Lei Jun made a high profile visit to several Taiwanese carriers in the hopes of breaking into their market by the end of this year. If successful, Lei should be able to meet his ambitious sales target of 6 million Xiaomi Phones accumulated -- still some way away from the 3.52 million units sold so far. Judging by the madness at the event this week (see gallery below), it should be no problem. Filed under: Cellphones Xiaomi Phones may enter Europe next year, because China ain't big enough originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | AT&T: FaceTime over cellular feature to be included in Mobile Share plans at no extra charge, not available for other data plans Aug 17th 2012, 20:29  AT&T is offering a bit of clarification on the rumors involving a standalone feature offering FaceTime over Cellular for an additional charge: the iOS6 feature (due out this fall) will actually be included at no extra cost, but only for those customers who opt for the Mobile Share plans. Anyone on the grandfathered unlimited data plans or traditional tiered offerings will only be able to rely on the good 'ol WiFi whenever they feel the urge to use Apple's video chat service. From the looks of it, it seems that AT&T is hoping to conserve the amount of network bandwidth that would be chewed up by unlimited customers, while also having it function as a value-added feature for its newest shared data plans. In terms of usage, this FaceTime capability will use up part of your data allotment (instead of minutes). So, the good news is that the feature is free -- the bad news is that it won't make unlimited users any happier. Find AT&T's official statement below. Continue reading AT&T: FaceTime over cellular feature to be included in Mobile Share plans at no extra charge, not available for other data plans Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Wireless AT&T: FaceTime over cellular feature to be included in Mobile Share plans at no extra charge, not available for other data plans originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Campaign to build Nikola Tesla museum hits $500k in less than 48 hours, hopes to raise $850k Aug 17th 2012, 19:47  Nikola Tesla may not have gotten all the credit he was due in his lifetime, but his stature has grown considerably since, and many of the inventions he dreamed up are now finding new life in today's technology. Now, a new effort is underway to truly cement his place in history -- even moreso than having David Bowie play him in a movie. Two days ago, Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal comic strip launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund a Tesla museum at the site of Nikola Tesla's laboratory in Shoreham, New York, and it's now already raised over $500,000. That money will go directly to the non-profit Tesla Science Center, which has been attempting to buy the property for $1.6 million, half of which will be covered by a matching grant from the state of New York (meaning the goal for the campaign is $850,000, although anything raised above that will go toward the actual building of the museum). As Inman notes, however, even raising "just" $850k will ensure that the property isn't sold to someone else and demolished, as others have been looking to do. Those interested in contributing can find all the details at the links below. Filed under: Science Campaign to build Nikola Tesla museum hits $500k in less than 48 hours, hopes to raise $850k originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Indiegogo, The Oatmeal | Email this | Comments | |
