Author: Terren

There is a problem with the iPhone 4. It is not something that somebody just made up. So even though Apple has reversed its very strict policies on no free bumper cases and no restocking fee waiver, somehow Steve Jobs was still able to present himself as superior to everyone else and that any problems anyone had weren’t his fault.

read more

In case it wasn’t obvious enough from Apple‘s agitated response to our question during today’s iPhone 4 Q&A session in Cupertino, there’s no software fix in the pipeline for the antenna issues that are plaguing users today. A prior report in the New York Times seemed fairly confident that the troubles could (and would) be solved in the near term by a simple software update, but the company’s own Scott Forstall called said report “patently false.” So, there you have it — the only thing that’ll be fixed via software is how big your smallest bar of signal is. Beyond that, you’ll need to grab some Duct tape, a free case or a white glove if you’re looking to avoid attenuation entirely.

Apple affirms: no software fix for iPhone 4 antenna issue originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

I haven’t been into the whole Old Spice Guy ad campaign but … gotta admit, I love the ending of this:

Full story at The Live Feed

Windows only: You’ve probably tested your internet connection speed (I’ve always preferred Speakeasy’s Speed Test) and have a pretty good idea of your broadband speed, but free Windows app LAN Speed Test measures the speed of data transfers on your home network. More »

With analog TV signals to be shut down in most Canadian cities in just over a year, nearly one million Canadians aren’t ready for the switch, says the CRTC.

Honey bee venom may be the key to treating diseases like muscular dystrophy, dementia and depression.

Proving once again that in this world it’s more important what you look like than what you do, the Xbox 360 has cruised to the title of best-selling console in June on the back of a sexy physical redesign. The latest numbers from NPD show that Microsoft shifted 451,700 units in the US, which ousts the Wii’s tally of 422,500 and comfortably dwarfs the PS3’s 304,800. Still, if Sony wants any consolation it need only look back to the results of its own console Slimmification last year — US sales were said to have tripled in the immediate aftermath of the new SKU’s release. So Microsoft might have a little bit of catching up to do yet, and let’s not forget that the king of all hardware sales remains the DS, which somehow managed to sell more than half a million devices in June, in spite of the whole world and its dog already owning one.

Xbox 360 sales increase 88 percent in June, give it US console crown for the month originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  1UP, @aarongreenberg (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

Visitors to China’s Green Dream Park—not far from the 2008 Olympics' "Bird’s Nest" stadium—are currently being greeted by a 40-foot tall, six ton Optimus Prime made from five truckloads of car and truck spare parts. Take that, Gundam. More »

Kim Walker, the Saskatchewan man who shot and killed his daughter’s drug-dealing boyfriend, will be free on bail as he awaits a new trial.

Well, it may not come as a huge surprise considering all the steam Android‘s picked up over the past few years, but it’s a landmark nonetheless: according to AndroLib’s data, the Market now has 100,000 apps available for download. It’s also interesting to note that it took just under three months to get from 50,000 to the 100,000 mark. An even more impressive number, however, is the fact that over one billion applications have been downloaded. While it’s not clear if this number includes app updates or not, the number is massive either way, and they’re growing pretty steeply each month. AndroLib’s data also notes that over 14,000 applications became available during the month of June, and over 10,000 have appeared already in July. Hit up the source links for more stats, and a chance to see the numbers update in real time.

[Thanks, Eggo]

Update: By Google’s official count, they’ve only just passed 70,000; this isn’t the first time AndroLib and Google have had different numbers, so we’re figuring the discrepancy might be thanks to the international Markets. More on this as we get it.

Android Market now has 100,000 apps, passes 1 billion download mark (update: Google says 70K) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Information Week  | Email this | Comments

There may be more to Mel Gibon’s latest embarrassing rants than meets the eye.

Although the tests are still ongoing, the new cap appears to be preventing oil from gushing into the Gulf.

Electricity rates are going up 4.5 per cent in Saskatchewan, starting Aug. 1.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

---

Download MaxiVista iPad for Windows from Fileforum now!

---

Windows users can now use the Apple iPad as a wireless display extension with a software package released in beta today called MaxiVista from German software company Bartels Media.

MaxiVista’s multi-monitor software lets users extend their desktop across other PCs and Notebooks, and utilizes a special data compression so the CPU and network load stay low. While the frame rate isn’t exactly good enough to handle video playback or gaming, it is useful for non-graphically intensive applications, and it doesn’t require any unique hardware.

“The new graphic card standard, WDDM, that was introduced with Windows Vista prohibited the use of multiple graphic cards from different manufacturers on one computer. MaxiVista is the first application of its kind to overcome these limitations and functions with Windows XP as well as with Windows Vista and Windows 7,” General Manager Gunnar Bartels told us this morning.

For MaxiVista to function, users must download a $9.99 iPad application. The Windows part of the software is free, and video drivers are compatible with both 32 and 64 Bit operating systems. Interestingly, there is not a version yet compatible with OS X, but it is reportedly on the way.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

---

		We are pleased to announce dlvr.it now supports Google Buzz! You can now easily distribute your content to Google Buzz, and track your Buzz followers and stats with dlvr.it. To start posting to Google Buzz with dlvr.it: 1. Sign…
		dlvr.it >> Read more

Windows Vista – Windows XP – Window 7 – Operating system – Microsoft Windows

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Today, Ford announced that its Sync in-car command, navigation, and entertainment system has improved its voice recognition interface by increasing the vocabulary by more than 100x, allowing system commands to be much simpler and more direct.

The Sync system was developed through Ford’s partnership with Microsoft, and launched in 2007 on twelve 2008 Ford vehicles. At first, the system was very limited in what it could do, and included the ability to operate USB media players hands-free, connect to mobile phones via bluetooth, and export diagnostic data. The voice interface launched with around 100 commands, which reflected more or less the menu structure of the system.

With the new voice command system available in the next generation of Sync called MyFord Touch, users will be able to speak commands in various ways and not have to simply navigate menus by voice.

For example, users would have to first say what device they were going to access before they could perform an action. If they wanted to call someone, they first had to say “Phone,” or if they wanted to switch the song that was playing on their iPod or Zune, they’d have to first say “USB.” With the new system, users can just say “Call (name),” for example, and the connected phone will start the calling process.

“As we’ve gained processing power and learned more about how drivers use the system, we’ve been able to refine the interface. Customers can do more and say more from the top-level menu, helping them accomplish their tasks more quickly and efficiently,” said Brigitte Richardson, Ford global voice control technology and speech systems lead engineer.

The speech recognition engine, designed by Nuance Communications, can recognize different voices and create user profiles for them within three commands. This means multiple users can easily use the hands-free system without having to “train” it, as other systems currently require.

The new voice recognition system, and MyFord Touch, is launching this year on the 2011 Ford Edge.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

---

		Social Media. You know you need to be there. But how do you measure social media ROI? How do you know if it is working? dlvr.it now makes it easy to integrate Google Analytics and Omniture tracking into your…
		dlvr.it >> Read more

Ford Sync – Speech recognition – Microsoft – Nuance Communications – Speech Technology

As if we needed any more drama in this situation, Bloomberg has someone “familiar with the matter” that claims Apple’s own antenna expert, Ruben Caballero, told Apple management that the iPhone 4 antenna design could cause reception problems, dropped calls, and a serious engineering challenge. Caballero is a senior engineer for Apple with a large quantity of antenna patents under his belt, and while we certainly don’t know the whole story — perhaps his claims were somehow quelled by Apple’s own testing — it certainly adds a twist to this story if Steve Jobs and co. had been alerted to this very real problem during the design phase. The Bloomberg article also claims, from a different source, no less, that a carrier partner also raised antenna concerns before the release. Apple and Caballero naturally did not comment on this report. We’re not really sure about the real-world implications of all this behind-the-scenes drama, but we suppose we’ll see what Apple has to say for itself tomorrow.

Bloomberg: Apple engineer was concerned about iPhone 4 antenna early on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Bloomberg  | Email this | Comments

Google’s Chrome Web Store is unveiled, but not yet released. If you’re running the latest Chrome Dev version or Chromium, though, you can check out the early versions of the Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar apps, as if from the Store. More »

Although nothing official has come from HP on this front, we got some pretty solid word back in April that the American giant was mulling an Android tablet. As it turns out, what with the WebOS acquisition that followed and HP’s dogged commitment to Windows 7, that Googly project has apparently slipped out of the limelight in HP HQ. Word from All Things Digital is that there’ll be nothing forthcoming this year (as was tentatively expected) and if an HP Android tablet is to materialize, it’ll have to come in 2011. The company seems to be in the midst of reallocating resources to its higher priority projects, and who knows, should that rumored Hurricane tablet blow us all away, Android might never gets its chance to shine at all.

HP Android tablet coming later than you think, or not at all originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  All Things Digital  | Email this | Comments

…or can they? In case Apple has somehow managed to perfect the art of selective disremembrance across a wide population, here’s a refresher: Consumer Reports has thrown down the gauntlet, stating that it “can’t recommend” the iPhone 4 until the antenna issues are fixed, issues that its labs and ours have verified quite substantially. Apple apparently isn’t happy about that, and has taken to deleting threads about the Consumer Reports article from its support forums. Now, Apple deleting threads from its support forums is nothing new; outside of “regular” moderation, the company routinely deletes discussion of hardware flaws that it’s not ready to ‘fess up to, or just generally negative lines of thought about its products. Good thing the internet’s a big place, and if Apple’s not going to admit the antenna issue, there are plenty of ways to gripe about it. Feel free to express yourself in the comments below, for instance!

Apple deleting mentions of Consumer Reports’ iPhone 4 piece on forums, can’t delete your thoughts originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  TUAW  | Email this | Comments

Two men from Yorkton, Sask., are missing and a third was arrested after a pickup truck was swept off a bridge by flood water in east-central Saskatchewan.