Tech News Updates

It’s that time again, the Engadget Show is back in a big way this Friday, August 27th at 8pm ! First up, Josh is sitting down with Samsung Chief Strategy Officer Omar Khan to chat up the company’s recent Android sprint, then Engadget’s investigative correspondent Rick Karr is back to scale a skyscraper and check up on an AT&T team tasked with improving New York’s data infrastructure. Next up, Josh and Paul welcome fellow editor Joanna Stern back to the roundtable and we’ve got an exclusive live demo of Rock Band 3 , plus a special Harmonix surprise… oh, and be ready to rock out to mind numbing chiptunes music, since Zen Albatross and invaderbacca are back for an encore performance! You were wondering about giveaways ? You’re in luck, because this time we’ll be giving away, not one, but four Samsung Galaxy S phones ! Yep, we’re talking about four phones, on four different carriers, so you know what that means. And if that isn’t enough, we’re also giving away an insane laptop rig from ASUS, featuring the B53J Eyefinity laptop and three (count em!) ASUS VE276Q Monitors ! Whatever you do, don’t miss this one! As usual, we’ll be doing the giveaways at the live show only , so make the trek and join us at The Times Center in person. If you’re geographically incapable of joining us in New York City, just tune into the stream at right here on Engadget. The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center , part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are — as always — free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served… so get there early! Here’s all the info you need: There is no admission fee — tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 5:30PM on Friday, doors will open for seating at 7:30PM, and the show begins at 8PM You cannot collect tickets for friends or family — anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we’re full, we’re full The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you’re a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at : engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we’ll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [ iTunes ] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [ Zune ] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [ RSS M4V ] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. Continue reading The Engadget Show returns this Friday, August 27th with Samsung CSO Omar Khan, Rock Band 3, crazy giveaways, and much more! The Engadget Show returns this Friday, August 27th with Samsung CSO Omar Khan, Rock Band 3, crazy giveaways, and much more! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

While the world holds its collective breath for India to actually mass produce that $35 tablet it’s been trumpeting here lately, the country’s own EC Media International is taking the wraps off of a sparkling new e-reader: the Wink. This cutely titled device doesn’t look much different than older generation Kindles, but it’ll reportedly support 15 languages and will offer 200,000+ book titles right out of the gate. The company has managed to garner the support of publishers like Penguin, Roli, Oxford University, Harper Collins and Permanent Black, and as expected, it’ll also be pushed as a substitute for traditional newspapers and magazines. As for pricing? Mum’s the word on that, but we are told that the EC Media has landed Croma as a retail partner and Redington as its primary distribution partner. Oh, and we guess you’d probably be interested in the specs — there’s a 6-inch (800 x 600) e-paper display, 2GB of inbuilt storage, 802.11b/g WiFi, GPRS wireless connectivity, a battery good for 10,000 page turns (or 10 hours of music playback), 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB 2.0 socket and support for a wide variety of text and audio formats. If that’s not tickling your fancy, it looks as if the outfit has three more options listed as “upcoming,” so hang tight. Short hands-on video after the break. [Thanks, Anish and Siddarth] Continue reading EC Media launches Wink e-reader in India EC Media launches Wink e-reader in India originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 08:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Because August is just that awesome, the Engadget Show is back in a big way next Friday, August 27th at 8pm ! You’ve read it right, we’re talking about double Engadget Show! Thrill as Josh sits down with Samsung Chief Strategy Officer Omar Khan to chat up the company’s recent Android sprint, chill as Engadget investigative correspondent Rick Karr scales a skyscraper to check up on an AT&T team tasked with improving New York’s data infrastructure, groove as the Show welcomes Harmonix’s Rock Band 3 team for an exclusive live demo, bask in the infinite wisdom of the round table with Josh, Paul, and a special guest , and rock out to mind numbing chiptunes music in an encore performance from Zen Albatross with visuals from invaderbacca ! As usual, we’ll be doing tons of giveaways at the live show only , so make the trek and join us at The Times Center in person. If you’re geographically incapable of joining us in New York City, just tune into the stream at right here on Engadget. The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center , part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are — as always — free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served… so get there early! Here’s all the info you need: There is no admission fee — tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 5:30PM on Friday, doors will open for seating at 7:30PM, and the show begins at 8PM You cannot collect tickets for friends or family — anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we’re full, we’re full The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you’re a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at : engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we’ll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [ iTunes ] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [ Zune ] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [ RSS M4V ] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. Continue reading The Engadget Show returns next Friday, August 27th with Samsung CSO Omar Khan, Rock Band 3, and much more! The Engadget Show returns next Friday, August 27th with Samsung CSO Omar Khan, Rock Band 3, and much more! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

We may never know the truth about the ousting of Mark Papermaster , Apple’s VP in charge of the iPhone and a direct report to Steve Jobs. However, a report in the Wall Street Journal co-authored by Yukari Iwatani Kane — widely considered to be Apple’s favorite go-to source when it wants to control a story in the press — is as close as we’re likely ever going to get, from Apple’s perspective anyway. Citing several anonymous sources familiar with Papermaster’s downfall, the WSJ says the following: Mr. Papermaster had lost the confidence of Mr. Jobs months ago and hasn’t been part of the decision-making process for some time, these people said. They added that Mr. Papermaster didn’t appear to have the type of creative thinking expected at Apple and wasn’t used to Apple’s corporate culture, where even senior executives are expected to keep on top of the smallest details of their areas of responsibility and often have to handle many tasks directly, as opposed to delegating them. In other words, it wasn’t just about the iPhone 4’s antenna. In fact, the WSJ claims that Jobs knew about the risks of the antenna design as much as a year ago and it was his decision, not Papermaster’s, to move forward with its development. Whatever the real story is, we’re sure that Steve, visibly agitated at having to host an antennagate press conference , wasn’t too pleased at having stood in front of the media promising an “end of July” ship date for the already delayed white iPhone 4 only to delay it again just a few days later. Straw, meet camel. WSJ: Apple lost confidence in Papermaster months ago, Jobs accepted iPhone 4 antenna risks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Western Digital has quietly revealed the Elements Play on their site, which combines pared-down playback features of the WD TV series with up to 2TB of internal storage right out of the box. It’s about time, considering competitor LaCie has offered integrated drives in its LaCinema line for more than a year, though we wish WD would have included the Netflix streaming capabilities of the WD TV Live Plus here — or any streaming at all, for that matter. If an unconnected box with 1080p playback via HDMI and fabulous codec support (including Monkey’s Audio!) is appealing to you though, then this latest offering might be worth your while — especially if it’s priced in line with its “value conscious” featureset, a fact we haven’t been able to verify. To be competitive, it’ll have to cost below LaCie’s LaCinema Classic HD , which throws in UPnP / DLNA server support on top of similar features for as little as $229. If you’re curious, find the user’s manual (including a full codec list) at our more coverage link. [Thanks, Steve] WD’s Elements Play media streamers bring internal HDDs at a presumably good price originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 01:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Wild news out of HP just now — CEO Mark Hurd has just resigned over a sexual harassment investigation. Hurd and the HP’s board of directors decided that he should resign following a sexual harassment claim against Hurd and HP by a former marketing contractor — HP claims that although there was no violation of its sexual harassment policy, Hurd violated the company’s standards of business conduct by submitting inaccurate expense reports that covered his relationship with the contractor. CFO Cathie Lesjak is taking over on an interim basis, and she’s actually upping the company’s forecasts for next quarter, saying Mark’s resignation has nothing to do with HP’s performance and everything to do with his behavior. A committee led by former Netscape CEO Marc Andreessen has been formed to find a new CEO; Lesjak has asked to be excluded, and HP declined to answer if Jon Rubinstein was being considered when we asked. Update: We liveblogged the media call — check it after the break! Continue reading HP CEO Mark Hurd resigns over sexual harassment investigation HP CEO Mark Hurd resigns over sexual harassment investigation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

If you’re thinking about going the Media Center DVR route but can’t or won’t get hooked up with a CableCARD don’t forget there’s another option available to pull in those premium channels now that the $199 Hauppauge HD PVR is supported as a TV recorder in Windows 7. There’s been a few updates since the feature was added in beta back in June , which lets users select programs via the Media Center guide to be captured and encoded in MPEG-4 over the device’s component video inputs (HDTV resolutions up to 1080i and 5.1 surround sound are supported) while the PC controls connected satellite or cable TV set-top boxes with an included IR blaster. There’s still a limit of one tuner per PC and a thread over on TheGreenButton reveals the experience can still be a bit glitchy, but if you’ve just got to have Windows Media Center and NFL Sunday Ticket then some compromises will be necessary. Continue reading Hauppauge officially announces HD PVR support in Windows Media Center Hauppauge officially announces HD PVR support in Windows Media Center originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Although TiVo and ReplayTV were the first DVRs on the market, Microsoft’s software actually powered the DISHPlayer Satellite DVR in late 1999. So here we are over 10 years later and while TiVo and Microsoft took different approaches to the same space, of the three original DVR software companies, they’re the only two left. Which is the bigger success depends on your perspective, because while TiVo has the mind share (and sold more consumer branded products) Microsoft’s technology is present in many other brand DVRs, like Verizon’s FiOS DVR, and AT&T’s U-Verse (which is built on Microsoft’s Mediaroom platform). But our perspective of success is based on the user interface experience, so while we previously reviewed both the TiVo Premiere and Windows 7 Media Center , we wanted to also tackled the task of directly comparing the two. Of course there are some obvious differences that might sway someone in one way or another, like TiVo’s simpler out of the box setup or Media Center’s 3rd party plug-in architecture, there are many other points of distinction to discover if you click on through and read about the less obvious user interface differences as well as a few other baked-in non-DVR features. Gallery: TiVo Premier vs Windows 7 Media Center Continue reading TiVo Premiere vs Windows 7 Media Center TiVo Premiere vs Windows 7 Media Center originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Remember SLAP widgets ? It was a project at RWTH Aachen University’s Media Computing Group, trying to add some tactile controls to touch-sensitive displays. Now that concept is back and better than ever with Madgets, magnetic widgets crafted by Malte Wei

We’re guessing that the past six months have dragged on (or zipped by, depending on viewpoint) for the folks at Infinitec as they waited for this day, but the device we first spotted at the Engadget trailer during CES 2010 is finally up for pre-order. Hailed as the world’s first “infinite USB flash drive,” this ad hoc streaming device enables any two locally networked devices to send content to one another , and as of today, those who have longed for just this thing can get in line. The startup’s also taking this opportunity to gloat about the “dual-WiFi” capabilities included (a video explanation awaits you past the break), which essentially enables an IUM-equipped laptop to connect to another device while retaining its live connection to the web. Hit the source link to part ways with your $129, and if you buy in early, you’ll be gifted with gratis worldwide shipping come August 31st. And you can’t beat that deal with a stick, USB or otherwise. Continue reading Infinitec opens pre-orders for ‘infinite’ USB memory drive, touts dual-WiFi Infinitec opens pre-orders for ‘infinite’ USB memory drive, touts dual-WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Aug 2010 22:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink