Latest News - Page 3198

Yesterday it was reported by many outlets, including yours truly, that the eFuse technology will brick your Droid X if the phone finds anything modded or hacked in the software. The guys at Engadget decided to do a little more digging and got a response from Motorola. Motorola states that eFuse will not kill your phone; it will simply go into recovery mode until approved software is reinstalled. It seems the modders out there will still have a rough time tinkering with the Droid X, but the results don't seem to be as bad as initially reported.

Here's the full response from Motorola: (courtesy of Engadget)

"Motorola's primary focus is the security of our end users and protection of their data, while also meeting carrier, partner and legal requirements. The Droid X and a majority of Android consumer devices on the market today have a secured bootloader. In reference specifically to eFuse, the technology is not loaded with the purpose of preventing a consumer device from functioning, but rather ensuring for the user that the device only runs on updated and tested versions of software. If a device attempts to boot with unapproved software, it will go into recovery mode, and can re-boot once approved software is re-installed. Checking for a valid software configuration is a common practice within the industry to protect the user against potential malicious software threats. Motorola has been a long time advocate of open platforms and provides a number of resources to developers to foster the ecosystem including tools and access to devices via MOTODEV at https://developer.motorola.com."

Well, the cries over the iPhone 4 have been heard all the way to the top of the mountain. While Apple gears us for the press conference tomorrow, even a U.S. senator has gotten involved in trying to get Apple to fix things with their newest device. Charles E. Sumner, a senator from New York, has posted an open letter to Steve Jobs criticizing the iPhone 4 and its problems and strongly encouraging Jobs to make things right with customers.

Here's a copy of the letter: (courtesy of Gizmodo)

July 15, 2010

With the release by Consumer Reports stating that the iPhone 4 antenna issues are hardware related as well as the other problems plaguing the iPhone 4, many are wondering when Apple is going to take a hard look at what to do about the situation. Public relations experts spoken to by CultofMac.com seem to have a similar take: a hardware recall may be in order.

"Apple will be forced to do a recall of this product," said Professor Matthew Seeger, an expert in crisis communication. "It's critically important. The brand image is the most important thing Apple has. This is potentially devastating."

Apple's foot dragging and spinning on the issue have reminded some of the hit Toyota took for the mishandling of the problems the Prius had with its braking system, although no one is saying this is in the same league dangerwise. Toyota ended up taking a serious PR hit and recalling over 10 million vehicles.

People trying to browse the NZXT site last night as well as those subscribed to the NZXT newsletter got an awful surprise when a letter was released stating that NZXT was going out of business. This was an attack on their site in which hackers infiltrated the site and changed product warranties, deleted products and banners, and even sent out a newsletter stating that NZXT was going out of business.

The folks at NZXT have since booted the hackers, cleaned up the site and have assured us that NZXT is still going strong and plan to continue business as usual. Here's the official statement from Johnny Hou, Product Manager and Co-Founder of NZXT:

To our friends and loyal customers in the PC enthusiast community,

Another Android phone getting ready to hit shelves isn't usually huge news, but a phone equipped with a projector is definitely exciting. Singapore has dibs on the Samsung Galaxy Beam, the first projector equipped phone which will be available from StarHub on July 17th.

The Beam, which was originally dubbed "Halo" when unveiled at the Mobile World Congress, sports a lot of the usual features from new Android phones: 3.7" Super AMOLED display, Android 2.1 onboard with 2.2 a possibility soon, an 8mp camera, WiFI, and Bluetooth. But the pico projector is the big selling point; a Texas Instruments powered DLP setup that can put up an image on a wall from about 50 inches away. In a dark area, the lens can show a video or image 800 by 400 pixels and has enough lumens to throw a vivid 60-inch image onto a wall.

Availability outside Singapore is still up in the air at this point, but one can only believe that this will be the start of this tech invading smartphones and helping them become the only device you ever need to carry with you.

It seems that the real reason has been found behind he iPhone 4's "losing bars" problem: a "totally wrong" formula to show how many bars of signal strength they are getting. This is the reason Apple has stated behind the large signal strength drop shown by holding the phone on the antenna.

Most sites, including Tweaktown, reported a couple of days ago the Anandtech report on the formula woes of the iPhone 4's antenna drop due to the formula used to show the signal strength on the display and the problems that it could cause. "Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place," the company said in a statement.

Apple has stated that a free software update, which will remedy this problem as well as make the bars taller and easier to see, will be made available in the coming weeks.

By now everyone's heard of the infamous iPhone 4 antenna problem. Holding the phone the wrong way can eat up your bars and make you drop calls, right? Well, it kinda depends.

The guys at Anandtech took a deep look into the iPhone 4 and its many issues and grabbed some interesting information. Holding the phone "the wrong way" can reduce your signal an average of about 20dB. The chart above shows the signal strength in dB of the bars shown on the screen. With a difference of 40dB between 5 bars and 4 bars, in a full strength area you're not likely to see a dip in the bars shown. Due to the logarithmic function of the bar system though, the difference between four bars and zero bars is only 23 dB. That makes the antenna issue a lot more prevalent in areas where your service isn't exactly the strongest.

The on-screen bar display may be tweaked in a future iOS update, maybe even the one reportedly coming next week. The iPhone 4 is still reportedly better than previous generations at holding onto calls even with the grumbling about the antenna issue. Apple has stated that "this iPhone gets the best cellular reception yet, even though measured signal is lower than the 3GS." This doesn't erase the fact that having to hold the phone a certain way to be sure to hold on to calls is ridiculous, and here's hoping Apple can find a fix for it.

The "will the iPhone come to Verizon?" swing has come back towards to side of it happening according to a Bloomberg report. Two sources, who preferred to remain anonymous due to the information not being officially released, stated that the iPhone will be available from Verizon in January.

The iPhone has been an AT&T exclusive device since its inception in 2007, but that seems to be coming to an end sooner rather than later if all of the rumblings are true. UBS AG analyst John Hodulik, who estimates Verizon customers could buy 3 million iPhones a quarter, stated: "Apple is going to dramatically increase the number of devices it sells in the U.S. when exclusivity at AT&T ends. It's hard to ignore the quality issues that AT&T has faced."

While this would obviously be a large coup for Verizon, I can only wonder how Apple would be able to keep up with the demand that multiple carriers would have. The iPhone sold out in the preorder stage as an AT&T exclusive; they would have to make some major adjustments to keep up with the estimated demand. All of those who have only stayed away from the iPhone due to disliking AT&T can hopefully take some comfort in this report, at least until something comes along to swing the possibility to "not happening."

The iPhone 4 went on sale in AT&T stores today, at least for an hour or so. It seems all of the launch day gripes about reception and funky screens did not deter many as tons of people stood in line hours before stores opened to get their hands on Apple's latest toy.

At&T stores only sold iPhone 4s to fill preorders on last Thursday's launch day. People in lines were also given the option to get on a list for an iPhone 4 after more shipments were received, since in store supplies were gone from 30-60 minutes after opening for most stores. Fom some of the quotes reportedly taken from people standing in line, customers were willing to put aside some differences to lay their hands on the device.

"At this point I might as well wait. I really love the design of the Apple product. But it's just ironic that I am waiting at an AT&T store where I've received the worst customer service," said loyal Apple fan Dave Norfleet-Vilaro. Stefani Bennett, when asked about the reception issues that were reportedly plaguing the iPhone 4, replied, "It's not that big of a deal. I've always had crappy reception with my iPhones. I'll just get the bumper. It looks a little tacky, but if I have to, I'll buy it."

An announcement on the Sprint blog this morning had a "good news, bad news" kind of feel to it. Sprint officially stated that Android 2.2, known as Froyo, will be coming to their flagship phone the EVO 4G "in the near future." Not all was joyous though as two of their more popular models, the HTC Hero and the Samsung Moment, will be left out of the Froyo goodness. This most likely means Android 2.1 will be the last update for these phones.

The blog states that "With the Android 2.2 upgrade, customers can expect improvements to include the following benefits: updates to user interface, improved EAS Support, improved browser performance, including Flash 10x Support, voice dialing over Bluetooth and application storage on external memory." Also stated is that any future devices launched with Android 2.1 will get updates to Froyo.

Google has had to remove several apps remotely from Android phones and from the Android Market for what they have deemed "security concerns." Via the Android Developers blog, Google's Android Security Lead Rich Cannings offered the following explanation:

"In cases where users may have installed a malicious application that poses a threat, we've also developed technologies and processes to remotely remove an installed application from devices. If an application is removed in this way, users will receive a notification on their phone."

Google apparently came across a couple of apps that, in their words, "intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads, but they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data - or system resources beyond permission." The publisher removed the app from the store, but Google had to remotely remove the app from any phone that had downloaded it.

There are rumblings out there that Hulu may be bringing a premium service to the Web and the Playstation 3. "Hulu Plus," a $9.95 US based subscription service that could offer a larger catalog of shows han he free Hulu service, was originally expected to be announced for Xbox Live at E3, but according to a Bloomberg report Sony could be ready to announce Hulu for the Playstation 3 as early as next week. A beta version of Hulu Plus could surface somewhere around the same time.

Hulu Plus, which could also make a mobile debut for the iPad as well as the Xbox, would offer the service to users with the single subscription price for any compatible device. CBS, Viacom, and Time Warner are said to be in discussions with hulu abut bringing shows to this premium service, and if the subscription gets big enough, it could be enough to convince some to ditch their cable or satellite service altogether.

Many notebook users out there seldom use their optical drive. Other than installing software, the drives often tend to collect dust. If you are the type of user, who can live without an optical drive and want to get more storage on a Mac OWC has a new product for you.

The new product is called the OWC Data Doubler and it is a bracket that replaces the optical drive inside Apple MacBook computers with a 2.5-inch HDD or SSD. The bracket supports any drive that is 9.5mm tall.

It is worth noting that you have to open your Mac up, remove the optical drive, and install the bracket and drive in your machine. This will undoubtedly void any warranty you might have. There are different adapter models for different MacBook models and they all sell for $79.99.

eMachines is one of those cheap PC brands that has been around for a long time in the US and often isn't associated with the best reputation for quality. The company has unveiled a new HTPC that looks very nice and has decent specs for the price.

The machine is called the mini-e ER1402 and it is very small. The machine is 7.1-inches in diameter and weighs nine pounds. It has full HD multimedia capability with HDMI out. Other features the 1402 include 802.11b/g/n and S/PDIF out.

The OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and the machine uses an AMD Athlon II NEO processor. Graphics are via NVIDIA GeForce 9200 GPU and the machine has 2GB of RAM. Storage is to a 160GB HDD. The ER1402 is available now in the US for $299.99.

If you didn't get a chance to give Microsoft's newest toy for the Xbox 360 a go at E3 last week, the Kinect sensor will now be available for trial at any Microsoft Store across the U.S. The downside? There are only four in the country: Scottsdale, AZ, Mission Viejo, CA, Lone Tree, CO, and the newest store opened today in San Diego, CA.

Of course Microsoft is also pushing the Kinect preorders at the Microsoft site as well as many stores nationwide, but states on the site now that "official pricing has not yet been announced," and "$149.99 is an estimate only and subject to change." A preorder with a price subject to change doesn't sound like something I'd like to sink that much money into, but the Kinect has drawn rave reviews and will most likely be a big hit at release.

Yes, I just used an emoticon in a news title. But it is warranted, because T-Mobile launched three new Samsung phones including the :). That's right, an emoticon as the name.

The Gravity 3, Gravity T and, get this, the Samsung :) are social networking and texting based slider phones equipped with T-Mobile's Social Buzz which sends notifications and messages when there are new posts on sites like Facebook and Twitter. The Gravity models have 2mp cameras and 16gb of supportable memory while the  has a smaller 1.3mp camera, but shortcut buttons to messaging applications.

All three phones are now available in the U.S., but no international launches have been scheduled yet. C'mon, you know the whole world needs a smile..........:)

RIM, the company that brings you Blackberry, are still doing a lot of business in the wake of the iPhone and Android crazes recently. RIM has reported a company record 11.2 million BlackBerries shipped in the spring quarter, a company record and 43 percent higher than last year. The company also reported the sale of their 100 millionth BlackBerry and 46 million accounts active.

40 percent of the sales are outside the U.S. and could have done more with adequate supplies of their highest sellers like the Curve 8500. Revenue is up about 24 percent to over $4.2 billion, and its profit grew 41 percent to $768.9 million.

RIM also reported in a conference call that two new high-end devices coming later this year. One is rumored to be the BlackBerry 9800, their first touchscreen phone, but the other is yet to be announced. Rumors are floating that RIM is developing a tablet device and this may be the second item noted.

Vidabox, an award winning media server and control solution manufacturer, debuted their new iPad Media Center controls at the Asian Pacific CEDIA EXPO in Melbourne, Australia. This is believed to be the first such solution for Windows based Media Centers. This solution can be used to control your TV, media players, cable, satellite, and even be programmed to control lights in the house and other automated devices.

"We're all absolutely thrilled to be the first in showcasing what dealers have been asking for," claims Steven Cheung, President of VidaBox, LLC. "With the iPad®, users can now browse and launch movies & music by cover art, get rich metadata, and much more - quickly and easily - all from a single, inexpensive device. Beyond controlling media center, dealers and integrators can potentially tie in multiroom audio, or basic room control with lighting and more."

The controls are expected to be rolled out sometime in Q3 of this year to dealers and integrators.

Well, it's officially here. The iPhone 4 officially launched today, to the delight of thousands of people. Reports are flooding in from all of the initial launch countries (USA, UK, France, Germany and Japan) of long lines, crowded stores, and joyous people clutching their prizes like a 6 year old getting their favorite toy at Christmas.

But the story is not all happy-go-lucky. Reports of retail stores having no where near the expected stock on hand of iPhones and various problems with the unit itself have been cropping up all over the internet. Walmart, Radio Shack, and best Buy, the biggest in the chains expected to carry the phones, only had them in limited supply at select stores. Best Buy seemed to only have them available for the preorder crowd and Walmart is reported to have only had 8,000 total phones spread across 1,500 of their over 4,000 stores.

Then there are the issues with the phone itself. The biggest complaint has been the loss of signal when holding the phone a certain way, as the metal that rings the outside of the phone also acts as an antenna. Most people are getting "don't hold it that way" as their answer to the problem, although getting a rubber case also seems to help the issue. Other complaints have included yellow spots on the screen (residue from the manufacturing process reported to go away with time) and lack of Bluetooth connectivity.

When you have multiple companies operating in the same product category each wants to claim that their widget is faster than or better than the completion for one reason or another. This was the case when NVIDIA crafted its GPUs to run applications that were before that point only able to run on a CPU.

Developers have claimed that the GPU is as much as 100x faster in some applications that the CPU. NVIDIA says that Intel has unveiled a paper at ISCA in France called "Debunking the 100x GPU vs. CPU Myth."

The catch is in debunking the 100x myth in Intel's mind; the company admitted that the NVIDIA GTX 280 GPU was 14x faster in the benchmarks it ran than its own processor. Intel didn't say specifically which benchmarks it ran to arrive at its conclusion.