| DirecTV waves goodbye to 52,000 subscribers in first ever net loss of customers Aug 2nd 2012, 13:20  Viacom's frenemy, DirecTV, has announced that it suffered a net loss of subscribers for the first time in its history. The revelation came in its second quarter filing, which claimed that the exodus is actually a purge -- due to a tighter credit policy and a change of focus toward "higher quality" customers. The dip in numbers hasn't hurt the balance sheet, however, with revenues up seven percent to $5.65 billion, leading to a net profit of $604 million. This time out, there's no reference to the recently-minted deal to keep Viacom's stations on the service, believed to be in the region of $600 million per year -- but we expect it to appear on the books in the next quarterly report. Filed under: Home Entertainment DirecTV waves goodbye to 52,000 subscribers in first ever net loss of customers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 09:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  BusinessWire | Email this | Comments | | RIM tips August 9th BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE Canadian release Aug 2nd 2012, 13:05  The wait for a quicker PlayBook is nearly over -- for our neighbors to the north, at least. RIM let it be known via the official BlackBerry blog that the followup to its business-minded slate will be hitting "select" Canadian retailers on August 9th. Not convinced that you need the BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE in your life? RIM's got four, count 'em four, reasons to pick up the verbose slate -- speed, size, web browsing and movies and TV -- which can be found in moderate detail at the source link below. The tablet features 32GB of storage and OS 2.0.1 pre-loaded -- the aforementioned software is also currently available as a maintenance update for owners of the old fashioned WiFi model. The slightly souped-up PlayBook is hitting Canada first, but will be coming to additional areas including the US, Europe, South Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America in "coming months."
[Thanks, Ruben] Filed under: Tablet PCs RIM tips August 9th BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE Canadian release originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Inside BlackBerry | Email this | Comments | | Mattel casts NASA Curiosity rover die with new Hot Wheels toy Aug 2nd 2012, 11:57  After NASA's Curiousity attempts its tension-fraught landing on August 5th, you'll be able to get one yourself in the form of this Hot Wheels die-cast model. The 1:64 scale buggy will reproduce the gutsy rover's nuclear motor, drill, cameras and laser, while being a galaxy away from the $2.5 billion price tag, at a mere $1.09 or so. The real six-wheeled deal will need to hit all its marks perfectly when it attempts to land in a few days, with a complex sequence involving an atmospheric entry, parachute deployment, retro rocket firing and final crane-style drop. So, if you do end up with the toy version, hopefully it'll be a good souvenir of a Spirit-like success -- and not some other unmentionable Mars excursions. Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Robots Mattel casts NASA Curiosity rover die with new Hot Wheels toy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 07:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | CollectSpace | Email this | Comments | |
