Tech News Updates

There was a time when Skyfire on Windows Mobile meant full Flash all the time. The 2.0 version on Android reigned that in a bit, really only supporting Flash video and little else, something Android 2.2 users no longer need to worry about. iOS users, however, do still spend their days ruing websites with such content, and so that’s the market Skyfire is targeting next. The company has submitted a version of the browser for App Store approval, transcoding Flash video such that the phone only sees HTML5, with content coming in over H.264 adaptive streaming. As such, video is said to be compressed an average of 75 percent, in theory allaying any concerns about this thing being a bandwidth hog. In other words: there’s no reason for this to not be approved, right? Right! However, something tells us things may not be so easy… Continue reading Skyfire submits iPhone browser for App Store approval, we wait for the Flash to hit the fan Skyfire submits iPhone browser for App Store approval, we wait for the Flash to hit the fan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Sometimes it takes a crafty, steel-nerved individual to leak an unreleased phone’s details ahead of time. And then sometimes all it takes is a negligently uploaded video. An official promo for the Milestone 2 has popped up on YouTube before quickly being yanked by Moto. The Droid 2 ’s international sibling unsurprisingly looks to be its carbon copy by another name: it features a 1GHz OMAP SOC, 512MB of RAM, a 5 megapixel imager, and Android 2.2 as the OS (complete with Flash Player and Froyo’s native hotspot ability). We’ll go out on a limb here and guess that this means the rest of the world will be getting its dose of Moto’s latest and greatest QWERTY slider in very short order. [Thanks, Thomas] Update: Oh hello! Someone managed to rip the video before Motorola’s retraction, so we’ve naturally got it embedded for you just past the break. And yes, whether you like it or not, Motoblur lives on. Thanks, qakgob! Continue reading Motorola Milestone 2 makes official, albeit unintentional, debut (video) Motorola Milestone 2 makes official, albeit unintentional, debut (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Let’s take a moment to congratulate Toshiba on a fine feat of engineering. It was only last year that the company started shipping 32nm NAND flash memory , and yet today its factories are starting to churn out 24 nm chips. Unsurprisingly, this comes with the boast of offering “the world’s highest” density and capacity per single chip, an honor going to the 2 bits-per-cell 64Gb parts. That newfangled Toggle DDR transfer-acceleratin’ technology is also supported, naturally, leaving us only to wonder who’ll be picking up the earliest deliveries of these minuscule data stores. Continue reading Toshiba sends 24nm NAND flash memory chips into mass production Toshiba sends 24nm NAND flash memory chips into mass production originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Just as we thought , HTC’s Droid Incredible for Verizon is getting boosted from Android 2.1 to 2.2 today, which should make plenty of owners (and plenty of non-owners who’ve been unable to find any stock for the past couple months) happy as a clam. Major features include pre-installed Flash 10.1, 720p video recording, mobile hotspot support as first introduced for Verizon on the Droid X , and naturally, all the other standard greatness you’ve come to expect with Froyo . We imagine this update will take a couple weeks to roll out to everyone, so show some patience, Droid Incredible owners — or, you know, do like we do and search frantically for an update.zip to get posted somewhere. [Thanks, Ryan] Verizon confirms Android 2.2 update for Droid Incredible hits today originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Nilay’s out of town, but you can still have 2/3rds the fun for the same low price of nothing when today’s podcast starts rolling somewhere in the vicinity of 6:30PM EST. The chat and show can be found after the break. P.S. And don’t forget that Ustream has Android and iPhone clients as well, if you out and about and you can’t join in on the Flash-based fun below. Update: It’s over, thanks for tuning in! If you missed the live stream watch out for the download sometime tomorrow. The Engadget Podcast, live at 6:30PM EST! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

While Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile customers have been enjoying their epic , vibrant and captivating Galaxy S variants for weeks, the only thing fascinating about Verizon’s take on the Samsung smartphone is how long it’s taken to arrive. Come September, however, that’s all liable to change, as a very familiar-looking SCH-I500 has just allegedly appeared in Verizon warehouse databases. Coupled with the fact that the MTV Music Video Awards (airing on September 12th) are now officially sponsored by “Samsung Fascinate a Galaxy S phone” and Verizon Wireless itself, we’re thinking it’s a safe bet that early September will find the 4-inch Super AMOLED handset on store shelves. Samsung Fascinate shows up in Verizon warehouse manifest, destined for September launch? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

You might recall that Verizon and Motorola’s first go-around at pushing Android 2.2 to the original Droid didn’t include compatibility with the Flash 10.1 install in the Market — but don’t worry, lovers of Flash-based web ads, because the fix is now upon us. We don’t know exactly how long the rollout process is going to take, but you know how it goes with Android OTA updates: even if they try to stretch it over several weeks, there’s usually an update.zip floating around within a few hours that you can grab if you want to accelerate the process just a bit. Here’s the full statement from Verizon: “Verizon Wireless has begun pushing an update today to the DROID by Motorola (introduced November 2009) that will allow customers to download Adobe Flash 10.1 via Android Market. Flash Player 10.1 provides access to millions of sites with rich content including animations, casual games, videos, rich internet applications, audio and much more.” Verizon pushing Droid update for Flash 10.1 compatibility originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

What we’re looking at here is allegedly the leaked over-the-air update to Froyo that Verizon plans on deploying to Droid X customers in the next few weeks, which means two critical things for customers: it should generally be faster all the way around, and — of course — you’ve got support for Flash, which was a big topic of interest at Motorola’s launch event for the phone a couple months back. The update is available both in rooted and non-rooted versions, so if you’re feeling adventurous today and you enjoy the thrill of doing something that offers a remote possibility of bricking your phone, you may want to go ahead and grab it. Good luck, and let us know your experiences in comments, alright? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Droid X upgrade to Android 2.2 leaks out originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

And now the cycle is complete. What started as a single mention on a leaked slide has slowly evolved into a full-blown video preview of Nokia’s unannounced C7 handset. The cats at the Chinese site zol.com.cn took the time to fuss over the Symbian^3 candybar’s stereo speakers, 3.5-inch multitouch display, support for Flash banner ads (presumably via Flash Lite 4.0 like the flagship N8 ), and the ability to charge off Micro USB or Nokia 2-mm connectors (also like the N8). It’s also demonstrated to easily handle a 720p H.264 video file at 2.7Mbps. Without giving reason as to why, the handler speculates that we might see the C7 launch before Nokia’s own N8 finally makes it to retail. Click on through to see a fairly extensive preview replete with a soothing Chinese narration. Continue reading Nokia C7 given a full video preview — still not announced Nokia C7 given a full video preview — still not announced originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Who needs George Hotz anyway? A USB modchip for the PS3 has emerged from the mists this morning, purporting to allow the dumping of games onto nearby storage — the console’s internal HDD and external drives are both a-ok — as well as the subsequent playing of said games without the need for the original disc. Could it be the backup/piracy nirvana Sony loyalists have been awaiting for so long? Well, there’s a video showing the little USB device apparently working, and the PSX-Scene team say they have personally verified that it does what it claims to do, but skepticism remains advisable here. The PS3 has been a fortress of hacker unfriendliness, so we’d rather kick back, relax, and wait for some braver souls than us to do the testing. For now, the video awaits after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Continue reading PS3 modchip claims to finally allow backing up games without invasive console surgery (video) PS3 modchip claims to finally allow backing up games without invasive console surgery (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink