Author: Terren

A Saskatchewan father fired 10 shots at his daughter’s boyfriend, killing him right in front of the teenage girl, the Crown said in its opening arguments at the man’s retrial.

When you want to but tell the whole family that “It’s a girl!” or let everyone know the café you planned to meet in is closed, you have plenty of options. Last week we asked you to share the apps you use to send group text messages and have conversations with multiple people over SMS. Then we collected your nominations and put them to a vote. Now we’re back with the winner. More »

We're camped out here at Google'e executive Q&A session, and Andy Rubin and co. are spitting out answers to questions from curious minds. While mentioned briefly in the outfit's keynote earlier, the structured upgrade program is obviously becoming a huge focal point here at the show. One of the major pain points for Android owners in the past (and even now, truthfully) is the inability to know if and when your particular handset will ever get an Android update. Epic 4G owners had a particularly hard go at it, but most everyone outside of Nexus One users have experienced something similar. Unfortunately, it seems as if our excitement may be a bit premature. While LG, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, AT&T, Vodafone, Sprint, Samsung, HTC and Verizon Wireless are technically onboard, all of this feels like it was decided upon at the 11th hour here in San Francisco. When pressed about how long it'd take updates to flow to phones after given the thumbs-up by Google itself, there's no hard news to report. In fact, the details there are still being hashed out.

To quote Google, “It’s a logistics problem.” We can only imagine. Trying to get every Android partner to follow a timeline for releases has to be a complete and utter nightmare, but the company seems certain that these stipulations won’t cripple anyone’s ability to innovate on their skins (or have too little time to make the needed changes).

We would’ve loved to hear a specific figure that we could start holding phone manufacturers to, but alas, it isn’t to be. The only hard number thrown out today is 18 months. That’s how long future hardware will be in the support cycle (at least, anyway), so you’ll “soon” be able to count on your next Android device receiving all applicable updates for 1.5 years after purchase. As for phones that use custom skins, like Blur and Sense? Hard to say if that’ll slow things down, and it’s even harder to say if outfits like Dell will be joining this party at any time in the future. Though, to be fair, Andy Rubin clarified that there’s an “open invitation” for anyone not listed to waltz on in. Naturally, we’ll keep you abreast of any further developments from the show floor.

Google clarifies 18 month Android upgrade program, details far from solidified originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 14:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, who said we’d only get software news at Google I/O? The Android maker just reminded us that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet (the thin version) will be launching in a month’s time, and to whet appetites, a white-backed version of the device was shown off on stage. It’s described as a limited edition, potentially because it looks to be running stock Android without the TouchWiz UI layer on top, and will be given away to the gathered crowd of 5,000 conference attendees. They’ll get it with Honeycomb 3.0 on board, but an update to 3.1 will be forthcoming over the next couple of weeks as well.

Google gives away 5,000 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets to devs at I/O originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 12:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re here live at Google I/O, and the folks from Mountain View have just shared something rather sweet — a coalition of manufacturers and carriers committed to making sure their Android devices receive the very latest updates. All four major US carriers (and Vodafone) as well as HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola are on board, and all will guarantee you timely upgrades to the latest version of Android for eighteen months after release, provided the hardware’s capable. Now that’s change we can believe in.

See our liveblog of Google’s I/O 2011 keynote for the very latest.

Google partners with OEMs and carriers to guarantee timely Android updates originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 12:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google has just announced Android 3.1, and it’s rolling out to Verizon Xoom 3G customers today. It brings with it a range of improvements and refinements including resizeable widgets, and a new host mode that will let you import photos to your tablet directly from your digital camera, and take advantage of a “ridiculous” number of USB devices, even including Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 controllers. It also includes Google’s new Movies app that will let you rent thousands of movies from the Android market, a new Books app, a new video editing app dubbed Movie Studio, and updated versions of most of Google’s main apps, including a “faster” web browser with a new Quick Controls menu — and to top things off, the OS will be hitting Google TV sometime “this summer” as well. Unfortunately, there’s still no firm word on when it will hit non-Xoom 3G tablets, although Google did mention that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 that it’s giving away to everyone at IO will be getting the update in the “next couple of weeks.”

Google announces Android 3.1, available on Verizon Xoom today originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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36 OEMs, 215 carriers, 450,000 Android developers all over the world, Google wants to say “thank you!” Android has recently crossed its 100 millionth activation milestone, and is also growing at its fastest pace yet: 400,000 devices activated each and every day. There are now 200,000 Android applications in the Market, which have accumulated a total of 4.5 billion installs, at a rate which Google actually says is accelerating. These figures have all been cited as a way to illustrate Google’s mobile momentum, which is evidently not even thinking about slowing down.

Google reaches 100 millionth Android activation, 400,000 Android devices activated daily originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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J.D. Power and Associates released their 2011 Canadian Wireless Customer Satisfaction Study today and the winners for each region are Videotron, Koodo Mobile and SaskTel. J.D. Power notes the study “examines perceptions of wireless customers with their service and retail experience” in seven areas on a 1,000-point scale: cost; network quality; account management; customer service; […]

Related posts:

1. Sony Ericsson ranked highest among wireless mobile phones brands in the J.D. Power and Associates Canadian Wireless Customer Satisfaction Study.
2. Virgin Mobile dominates the “2009 Canadian Wireless Customer Satisfaction Study”
3. Fido awarded Wireless Canadian Customer Satisfaction Award

It was pretty much known about since last night, but Microsoft and Skype have now obliterated any lingering doubt in the matter: the Redmond-based software giant will acquire the internet telephony company for a cool $8.5 billion in cash. Xbox and Kinect support are explicitly mentioned in the announcement of this definitive agreement, as is Windows Phone integration — both the gaming and mobile aspects being presumably key incentives for Microsoft to acquire Skype. Importantly, this purchase shouldn’t affect Skypers outside of the Microsoft ecosystem, as Steve Ballmer’s team promises to continue “to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.” Skype was first sold for a relative bargain at $2.5b to eBay in 2005, who in turn sold most of it off to Silver Lake in 2009 at an overall valuation of $2.75b, and now Redmond is concluding proceedings by tripling those earlier prices and offering Skype a permanent home. A new Microsoft Skype Division will now be opened up to accommodate the newcomers, with current Skype CEO Tony Bates becoming president of that operation and reporting directly to Ballmer. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year and you can read Microskype’s full announcement after the break.

Update: Microsoft has just disclosed a couple more details about the deal. It was signed last night, May 9th, though the price was finalized on April 18th. You can follow a live stream of Steve Ballmer and Tony Bates’ presentation right here.

Continue reading Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype for $8.5 billion becomes official

Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype for $8.5 billion becomes official originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver, announced Monday that they are separating.

Following rumors of Facebook and Google eyeing a deal to acquire Skype, we now have a new contender who is none other than the beast from Redmond, Microsoft. According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, Team Ballmer and the VoIP company are finalizing a negotiation that’s worth more than a whopping $7 billion, and they could be making an announcement as soon as Tuesday. Given that this figure will be a new record for Microsoft in recent years, it’s clear that Ballmer’s very keen on securing this popular voice calling service for his own amusement — perhaps Windows Phone will eventually come with integrated Skype features? Or maybe he just wants to slot in some ads between our calls? Only time will tell, and for the sake of Redmond, hopefully nothing turns sour between now and tomorrow.

Update: All Things D’s Kara Swisher has confirmed that the two companies will be announcing their deal early tomorrow morning. Stay tuned!

Microsoft close to buying Skype for more than $7 billion? (Update: announcement tomorrow) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 May 2011 22:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google translate has nothing on the Wild Dolphin Project which is developing a two-way communication system for dolphins. Crazy as it seems, the Florida-based group hopes to create a new language derived from the sounds of the animalsn in the wild. More »