PayPal announces phone-to-phone NFC support, cuts eyes at Google (video)

Still eager to do business with a company that’ll lock your account on a whim and side with the buyer regardless of the facts? Splendid! If that’s you, PayPal would love for you to know that it has announced a new phone-to-phone NFC payment application at MobileBeat 2011, offering Nexus S owners the ability to request and transfer funds between handsets. As of now, the functionality is quite limited — there’s just a single smartphone with the hardware capabilities to take advantage, and there’s no phone-to-anything not a phone supported as of now. In other words, this isn’t exactly a Square killer just yet, but it’s definitely something for the sued folks at Google to pay attention to. We’re also hearing that P2P transactions through PayPal are gratis “if using a bank account or existing balance in the customer’s PayPal account,” but no one’s coughing up details on what’ll be deducted in the form of fees when using a different method of payment. A video demo of the 48 second transaction awaits you after the break, but sadly, there’s no details on how soon it’ll be made available to the public.

Update: It’ll be available in the Android Market “this summer.”

Continue reading PayPal announces phone-to-phone NFC support, cuts eyes at Google (video)

PayPal announces phone-to-phone NFC support, cuts eyes at Google (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  sourcePayPal (YouTube), The PayPal Blog  | Email this | Comments

Future Shop, Staples and London Drugs follow the trend and cut $70 off the HP TouchPad price


The HP TouchPad received its first price drop yesterday, a stunning $70 off the original price. This basically represents a 13.5% savings before it’s even available on Friday. Today, other retailers have followed suit and slashed the price too: Future Shop, London Drugs and Staples. However, if you feel like giving HP some dough you can still buy the TouchPad at the full retail price at their online store ($519.99 for the 16GB and $619.99 for the 32GB version).

We’ll be putting our review up shortly.
Who’s buying?

Related posts:

  1. HP TouchPad to be priced at $499.99?
  2. Best Buy price drops HP TouchPad by $70 before launch
  3. HP TouchPad officially available for pre-order

Lightning over Puyehue-Cordon Caulle

mordorshitrightthere.jpg

Photo: Carlos Gutierrez with Reuters

Lightning flashes around the ash plume at above the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain near Entrelagos. The volcano in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain, dormant for decades, erupted last month in south-central Chile, belching ash more than 6 miles into the sky. Winds fanned it toward neighboring Argentina, prompting the government to evacuate several thousand residents, authorities said.




First Contact


It’s amazing to see how a baby immediately starts making contact with its mother, just after being born. It’s among the most beautiful things I ever witnessed on this planet.

Motorola XOOM falls by $100 to $499.99


As Canadians patiently wait for Motorola to upgrade the XOOM to OS 3.1 (other countries are already getting 3.2), new users will benefit from a $100 price drop. The XOOM with Wi-Fi was released on April 6th for a high $599.99 but now a couple months later it’s been reduced to the average tablet price of $499.99. This now meets the iPad 2, PlayBook and will also be on par with the upcoming HP TouchPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Via: Future Shop

Related posts:

  1. Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi now has an “estimated release date” of April 6th
  2. TELUS releasing Motorola Xoom with Wi-Fi April 19th
  3. Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi available in April and “XOOM 3G will also be available in Canada mid-year”

Lenovo IdeaPad K1 begins shipment odyssey, courtesy of Office Depot

The IdeaPad K1’s long, crazy journey of near-availability looks to finally be at an end. Lenovo’s ethereal Honeycomb tablet has been popping up in online retail sites since May, teasing us with availability in June, and finally offering the promise of pre-order earlier this month. It seems that the plucky 10.1 inch Tegra 2 slate has taken the final step separating itself from the hands of consumers: getting sent out for shipment. One tipster passed along shipping confirmation from Office Depot that has the device lined up for delivery today — assuming, of course that the recipient is there to answer the door in the eight and a half hour delivery window provided.

[Thanks, Dan]

Lenovo IdeaPad K1 begins shipment odyssey, courtesy of Office Depot originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First synthetic organ transplant paves way for post-op, immunosuppresive drug-free future

Science can do some wonderful, heartstring-tugging things. Take this for example: surgeons have triumphantly performed the first ever synthetic organ transplant. Cancer-stricken Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene was the grateful recipient of this life-saving surgical breakthrough, performed by Prof. Paolo Macchiarini at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden. The revolutionary operation comes with a zero rejection rate and requires no donor — a huge relief for those stuck on lengthy waiting lists. Using a 3D scan of Beyene’s windpipe, scientists at University College London crafted a highly-porous nanocomposite tracheal scaffold replica and covered it in stem cells harvested from his bone marrow. Within two days, the stem cells had worked their magic, weaving a brand new transplantable facsimile that is “indistinguishable from a normal healthy one.” And since the procedure uses no foreign-born tissues, patients can look forward to a full-recovery sans mandatory immunosuppressive drugs, a major plus for post-op quality of life. With the surgery a success, Prof. Macchiarini’s moving on to the next patient in need — this time, a nine-month-old Korean baby with a malformed trachea. Doctors — saving lives and warming hearts. Press release of the medically wondrous kind after the break.

Continue reading First synthetic organ transplant paves way for post-op, immunosuppresive drug-free future

First synthetic organ transplant paves way for post-op, immunosuppresive drug-free future originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EA Acquires PopCap for Upwards of $1,300,000,000

Last month there were more than a few rumors circulating around regarding EA potentially buying PopCap for upwards of one billion dollars. Official news hit today that not only is EA acquiring PopCap, but they're potentially paying as much as $1.3b for them. That $1.3b includes $650m in cash (hopefully delivered in gym bags full of $100 bills), $100m in stock, and a multi-year earn out where PopCap can potentially get another $550m if they meet certain earnings benchmarks over the next few years.

Why fork out this kind of cash for the creators of Peggle? Well, if the writing on the wall wasn't clear enough already, EA is serious about the digital arena. PopCap games are ridiculously good, and are known and loved by people worldwide.

Or, as EA CEO John Riccitiello put it, “PopCap’s great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA’s momentum and accelerate our drive towards a $1 billion digital business. EA’s global studio and publishing network will help PopCap rapidly expand their business to more digital devices, more countries, and more channels.”

So, congratulations are in order for PopCap. It's incredible to see an 11 year old company that makes (admittedly awesome) casual games selling for so much money.

[via TechCrunch]

A new Android Market for phones, with books and movies

Recently, we’ve been hard at work improving Android Market to give you new ways to find great applications and games, purchase books, and rent movies. Today, we’re releasing a new version of Android Market which makes all of these available on phones (Android 2.2 and higher).

In the U.S., you’ll be able to rent thousands of movies, starting at $1.99, right from Android Market on your phone. With the Videos app, available in Android Market, there’s no more waiting for downloads, syncing, or worrying about storage space. Simply sign into Android Market with your Google account, and you can rent movies from anywhere – the web, or your Android phone or tablet – and start watching instantly. You can also download movies to your device so they’re available for viewing when you don’t have an internet connection.

Also in the U.S., you can now purchase books from Android Market on your phone. Like movie rentals, books are linked to your Google account, so they’re instantly available across all of your devices – computer, phone, or tablet – without the need for wires or downloads.

You’ll be delighted to find we’ve overhauled Android Market to make it faster, easier, and more fun to discover great apps, movies, and books. We’ve created more space to feature some of the most interesting content of the week on the home page. We’ve added more top charts, with newer, more relevant items, and we’ve made it easy to swipe through these charts as you browse the store. We’ve also introduced new collections of great content, like staff picks and Editors’ Choice apps.

The new Android Market will be rolling out in the coming weeks to Android 2.2 and higher phones around the world. You don’t need to do anything – the update is automatic on supported phones. If you’re in the U.S., you’ll also be able to download the Videos app, rent movies, and buy books once you receive the new Android Market.

Your phone is about to get a lot more interesting! Enjoy the new Android Market.

Posted by Paul Montoy-Wilson, Product Manager

Star Trek PADD App is a LCARS-sporting Trekkie’s reference bible for the iPad

Star Trek PADD App

Gather around the iPad Trekkies, have we got a treat for you — CBS Interactive has just unleashed the Star Trek PADD App. At its core is a deep database of information about the shows and movies, including cast and character data, details about planets that populate the universe, and an episode guide. Best of all, the whole experience is presented in the classic LCARS interface that should be familiar to any fan of The Next Generation (or TNG as the cool kids are calling it). In addition to serving as a reference for all things Trek, the app pulls in feeds from the official Facebook and Twitter pages. You can get grab it, in all its black and pastel-colored glory, for $5 at the source link and check out the gallery below.

Star Trek PADD App is a LCARS-sporting Trekkie’s reference bible for the iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |  sourceApp Store  | Email this | Comments

Evernote for Android Adds Rich Text, New Widget, and Tablet Support [In Brief]

Previously mentioned note-taker Evernote just pumped up its Android app with a number of handy features, most notably rich text entry. Now you can create notes with styles like bold and italics, bullet points, numbered lists, and even checkboxes (grocery lists, anyone?). There’s also a new, larger widget that shows recent notes, speed improvements, and a great new tablet interface (shown above). Hit the link to read more, or head straight to the Android Market to download it. [Evernote Blog] More »