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Microsoft trademark application hints at cross-platform "OneApp" app store

admin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:42:00 +0000

Microsoft’s attention may now be focused on Windows Marketplace , but a recently filed trademark application seems to suggest that the company could maybe, possibly have something even bigger in store for the future. As noted by istartedsomething , Microsoft is going after the name “ONEAPP” (or “One Application”), which it describes as a trademark for “online retail store services facilitating the download of computer software for use on mobile phones, media players and other portable electronic devices.” Now, putting two and two together, that would seem to indicate that Windows Mobile phones and devices like the Zune HD would not only share a single branded app store, but the actual apps as well — which isn’t so much of a stretch, if not for the fact that Microsoft has already invested itself so heavily in Windows Marketplace. Then again, it could very well be just yet another name that Microsoft likes but has no real intention of using. [Via istartedsomething , thanks Chris] Filed under: Cellphones , Handhelds Microsoft trademark application hints at cross-platform “OneApp” app store originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:42:00 EST.
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T-Mobile’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 launching on August 5th at Walmart?

admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:47:00 +0000

You have to look closely but in the text of the message above circulated around Wal-mart you can clearly make out a date for the launch of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 . So August 5th it is, under a two-month exclusive retail arrangement according to our Walmart-employed tipster. That’s the same date T-Mobile will be shipping out its myTouch 3G for those keeping track. That jibes with what looks to be an 8520 “Sneak Preview” pre-launch party kicking off on July 20th and scheduled to run for two weeks.
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China bans electro-shock for treating Internet addicts, far too late to help McMurphy

admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:38:00 +0000

It’s been a while since the specter of IA has reared it’s ugly head ’round here (or maybe we’ve just learned to accept it) but now it looks like it’s back in the news. According to Reuters, the Chinese Ministry of Health has banned electro-shock therapy for the treatment of Internet Addiction after it came to light that a doctor named Yang Yongxin (also known as “Uncle Yang”) has wired up as many as 3,000 teenagers in his Internet Addiction Treatment Center at Linyi Mental Hospital. The treatment included the aforementioned electro-shocks as well as psychotropic drugs, at a cost of 5,500 yuan ($805) a month — cruel and unnecessary, sure, but a small price to pay to get your teenager off of MySpace. Filed under: Misc.
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Screen Grabs: the G1 gets some serious love on ‘Weeds’ and ‘True Blood’

admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:46:00 +0000

Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com. If you’re unfamiliar with either Showtime’s series Weeds or HBO’s True Blood , we’ll catch you up to speed really quickly. The former is about a widowed housewife living in California who sells stolen gadgets to make ends meet for her family, while the latter is a Southern-fried tale of a Louisiana town infested with vampires plus a cute young woman who can see the future, and uses her power to predict Nokia’s product roadmap for 2010.
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Mechanical cheetah comin’ atcha!

admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:12:00 +0000

Actually, it’s just a sculpture with articulated joints, but by all the gods of steampunk , it looks glorious. The product of 60 hours’ labor and a selection of used transmission parts, disemboweled household appliances and 20-gauge steel, the mechanical cheetah stands 24-inches tall and 50-inches long. It looks like a stripped down robocat skeleton, and its joints can be maneuvered to mimic the movements of the real feline or to strike some downright awesome poses. Hit the read link for video of the mech cheetah simulating a run, as well as creator Andrew Chase’s thoughts on the project, or click past the break for more images — including a bonus snapshot of a mech giraffe.
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TiVo asks court for a billion dollars in EchoStar case

admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:41:00 +0000

Remember when we thought that those $90 million and $190 million judgments in the endless TiVo / EchoStar case were big noise? Yeah, they were apparently pocket change: according to documents recently filed with the court, TiVo’s asking for nearly a billion dollars in contempt sanctions against EchoStar. Unfortunately, the original document in which TiVo made the request was filed under seal because it contains confidential information, but it appears that TiVo’s none too pleased that EchoStar violated the permanent injunction that ordered it to disable some 193,000 DVRs in the wild, and it’s looking for some payback. For its part, EchoStar says that it doesn’t have to comply with the court’s order because the injunction was put on hold pending appeal — an argument that appears on the surface to make perfect sense, but since we can’t read TiVo’s motion we can’t say for sure what’s going on, and there’s always a chance the company’s just playing hardball in order to force a late settlement.
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Hitachi intros two new portable HDDs, SimpleNET NAS adapter

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:00:00 +0000

If you’ll recall, Hitachi GST snapped up Fabrik in February, and with that acquisition came the latter company’s highly-regarded SimpleTech line. Today, Hitachi is introducing its first consumer products since the pickup, and while you’ll notice a hint of ‘Simple’ in the titles, the branding is all Hitachi. First up is the water-resistant and shock-proof SimpleTOUGH portable USB drive (250/320/500GB for $99.99/$119.99/$149.99), which can survive a 3-meter fall and boasts a twistable USB cable that’s permanently affixed to the enclosure. Next, there’s the SimpleDRIVE Mini, which is a stylish, colorful portable HDD that is now shipping in red wine (250GB; $89.99), blue dusk (320GB; $109.99) and carbon fiber black (500GB; $139.99).
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Sony’s 32GB Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX proves that product naming is hard

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:28:00 +0000

What’s not to love here? Just look at that handsome blister pack , ready to mince flesh in your enthusiasm to get at Sony’s largest and most convolutedly named Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX. The 32GB stick is rated at 20MBps reads or 15MBps writes when using the bundled USB adapter. Imagine, had you purchased pretty much any device other than that Cyber-shot, Handycam, or Alpha shooter from Sony you could have been enjoying 30MBps read/writes from 32GB SDHC class 10 cards .
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Carnegie Mellon’s robotic snake stars in a glamour video

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:38:00 +0000

We’ve been pretty into Carnegie Mellon’s modular snake robots for a while now , and seeing as it’s a pretty sleepy Sunday we thought we’d share this latest video of snakebots just basically crawling all over the place and getting crazy. Bots like these have been getting some serious military attention lately, so watching these guys wriggle into any damn spot they please is at once awesome and terrifying. Or maybe it’s just the music. Video after the break.
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Fuljfilm’s FinePix Real 3D camera to launch in September, cost around $600

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:02:00 +0000

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about FujiFilm’s FinePix Real 3D camera, but as the twin-lensed shooter nears that scheduled September release some more details are spilling out — including the price, which will be “around $600″ at launch. Yeah, it’s steep, and that’s not all: to properly view the images you’ll need to either shell out for special prints with a plastic lenticular lens on it or buy a special stereoscopic LCD photo frame, and none of that really screams “cheap.” Honestly, our instinct would be to spend all that scratch on a good DSLR or even something like the Olympus E-P1 , but there’s always a chance Fujifilm’s about to reveal the public’s deep-rooted desire for 3D snapshots. We’ll see — anyone dying for one of these? [Thanks, ED] Filed under: Digital Cameras Fuljfilm’s FinePix Real 3D camera to launch in September, cost around $600 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:02:00 EST.
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