.::REALITYRECALL::.

Yesterday’s speculation has turned into today’s fact. The ultraslim Lenovo ThinkPad X1 is most definitely real, coming soon, and just so happens to be packing some fancy new battery technology as well. This intel comes straight from Lenovo’s own servers, where a highly informative PDF (intended for reseller partners, but accessible to all) dishes the dirt on the upcoming laptop. The X1’s “slice” battery won’t be user-replaceable, but what you lose in flexibility will be made up for in sheer performance gains, as Lenovo is touting it’ll last three times as long as a normal battery and will recharge 2.5 times faster than previous ThinkPad cells. That’s thanks to some fanciness named RapidCharge that will revitalize the X1 to 80 percent within 30 minutes. The presentation slides show the X1 right alongside Lenovo’s latest Edge models, the E420s and E220s, as part of “a new generation of ThinkPads,” and given that both of those are now shipping, the ultraslim, but still unannounced, X1 can’t be far behind. Finally, just for some added intrigue, we’ve also spotted mention of an “X Slate” within the document — any ideas as to what that might look like?

[Thanks, Alexandr]

Continue reading Lenovo ThinkPad X1 confirmed, faster-charging integrated battery detailed

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 confirmed, faster-charging integrated battery detailed originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Lenovo [PDF]  | Email this | Comments

Rick Nash has been named Canada’s captain ahead of the IIHF world hockey championship.

RIM wants Hulu Plus on the just-released Blackberry PlayBook. It also wants everyone to know it wants Hulu Plus on the Blackberry PlayBook, after the streaming video service unceremoniously blocked access to its videos just days after the tablet’s launch. Now, both PC Mag and The Wall Street Journal are reporting the same terse email statement from RIM: “We are in conversations with Hulu to bring the Hulu Plus subscription service to BlackBerry PlayBook users.” No word on the content of those conversations or a timeline for resolution, so for now PlayBook users will need to find another way to satisfy their yearning for Seinfeld reruns.

RIM wants Hulu Plus on the Blackberry PlayBook, ‘conversations’ continue originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  PCMag, The Wall Street Journal  | Email this | Comments

Day Four without Playstation Network service is officially upon us, and there seems to be no end in sight as Sony now says it is “‘rebuilding’ its system to better guard against attacks,” according to PC World.

It appears that the attack that brought down PSN and Qriocity, Sony’s audio and video networking service that runs on the same infrastructure as PSN, was a pretty tough customer. Here’s a quote from Sony’s statement.

‘Our efforts to resolve this matter involve rebuilding our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure,’ the company said in a statement. ‘Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.’

It would appear that this isn’t a matter of Sony just figuring out what the hack did and repairing it — the company is actually so worried that it feels it can’t re-open the network without strengthening its defenses. There’s still no word whatsoever as to when PSN might be up and running again, but it will probably be sometime after Sony sorts out exactly where all its chickens will be roosting.

In other news, Phil Owen still can’t play SOCOM 4.

… and thinks, “I should ask for another raise.”

Visualized: a Foxconn worker walks into an Apple store… originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Well, well, what have we here? A pair of 10-inch Dell tablets, one running Windows 7 on those fancy new Oak Trail chips from Intel and the other pushing Android 3.0 with a Tegra T25. We already saw these devices leaked in February, but now we have some specs and release dates. The Wintel powered Latitude ST boasts a resolution of 1366 x 768, 2GB of RAM, up to a 128GB SSD, GPS, an accelerometer, both front- and rear-facing cameras, an 8-hour removable battery, and “1080p video output,” which we assume means HDMI-out. The Android-flavored Streak Pro opts for a 1200 x 800 panel, but keeps the pair of cameras (and two mics) for video chats, while adding an unspecified mobile broadband radio and slathering Dell’s Stage UI on top of Honeycomb (whether or not that’s a good thing is purely a matter of taste). Pricing is still up in the air, but the leaked roadmap indicates the Streak Pro will land in June, followed by the Latitude XT3 convertible tablet in July, and the Latitude ST in October.

Dell’s 10-inch Android and Windows tablets get names, specs, release dates originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink NetbookNews  |  AndroidCentral  | Email this | Comments

Continue reading HTC Flyer up for preorder for $499 at Best Buy on April 24th

HTC Flyer up for preorder for $499 at Best Buy on April 24th originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Droid-Life  |  Best Buy  | Email this | Comments

Wow. Fringe‘s war between universes turned bloody last night. Both Walters decided to make some major sacrifices, and both Olivias faced some tough choices. Fringe is once again an epic drama. Spoilers ahead… More »

Lindsay Lohan was released from a Los Angeles County jail Friday night, just hours after she was sentenced to 120 days for violating her probation by taking a designer necklace.

Termites chow on Indian currency: A bank in India opened a vault to find termites had eaten through millions of rupees, Friday.

Continue reading Microsoft patent application shows custom Kinect gestures, roaming user profiles

Microsoft patent application shows custom Kinect gestures, roaming user profiles originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Being Manan  |  US Patent & Trademark Office  | Email this | Comments

It is hard to believe but Windows 7 has been on the market for 18 months. During that time, the platform has experienced tremendous growth and adoption by users all over the world; including business environments.

Announced today on the Windowsteamblog is that Windows 7 has sold more than 350 million…

ASUS’ shape-shifting Transformer might be ready to make its way across the pond, but don’t expect it to find its own way, because the US version won’t be packing GPS — at least not as we know it. The tablet’s official specs might lead you to believe otherwise, but according to a rather long and cryptic thread on Facebook, you’ll need a WiFi connection if you want the thing to take you places. After a review posted to AnandTech pointed out the slate’s apparent lack of GPS, ASUS revealed that there will be “No GPS in North America.” The company goes on to contradict itself, saying the US edition will include “location GPS” but not “Navigation GPS” — whatever that means — before settling on this:

“You need to be connected to wi-fi for the maps program to locate you at first, then it can guide the rest of the way. But if you powered off half-way you’d have to reestablish connection before making navigation changes.”

Now, you can call it A-GPS or location GPS — heck you can call it magic — but that doesn’t change the fact that ASUS’ US edition of the Eee Pad Transformer will not come equipped with GPS.

[Thanks, Richard]

Eee Pad Transformer US edition lacks GPS, but don’t tell ASUS that originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  ASUS (Facebook)  | Email this | Comments

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone: in the latest chapter of the Apple-Samsung dispute over their smartphones’ resemblance, the latter company has just retaliated by filing lawsuits against Apple in three countries. Sammy’s load of ammo includes five patent infringements in South Korea, two in Japan, and three in Germany, though we’ve yet to hear more details about these claims. Now we just sit back and enjoy the show — popcorn, anyone?

[Thanks, Jake L.]

Update: Reuters has shed some light on the actual patents Samsung is alleging are being infringed. The news organization reports they relate to “power reduction during data transmission, 3G technology for reducing errors during data transmission, and wireless data communication technology.”

Samsung strikes back at Apple with ten patent infringement claims originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Samsung  | Email this | Comments

Jack Dorsey’s über-popular credit card readers got a big thumbs-up from Cupertino this week. Square‘s devices are hitting Apple’s 235 US retail locations and Apple.com for $9.95 a pop — plus the 2.75 percent that the startup takes off the backend each time you use the reader — or you can always just sign up for a free one over on Square’s site. The iPhone / iPad / iPod touch plug-in accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and yes, even American Express. The CEO of VeriFone will no doubt have plenty to say about the matter.

Update: It turns out you get a $10 redemption code in the box when you buy a Square reader at an Apple store, so it is still technically free (just not, you know, when you buy it).

[Thanks, Michael]

Apple Stores stocking Square credit card readers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink IntoMobile  |  Apple  | Email this | Comments