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Leaked: Nokia 800 Windows Phone

admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:11:29 +0000

Nokia is set to launch its new Windows Phones at Nokia World next week, but some renders have leaked of the 800, formerly code named Sea Ray. The phone sports the Meego-based N9′s industrial design language, paired with a 3.7″ screen and Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango). It should be available in black, blue, and pink.

Some other findings from these images: Nokia has replaced Windows Phone’s default Segoe WP font with its own font, Pure, and the phone shows Nokia Music, so where will Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace go?

Rumored specs include: 3.7″ ClearBlack AMOLED screen, 1.4 GHz Qualcomm CPU, 16GB storage, 8 MP camera with Carl Zeiss lens, 1540 mAh battery.

Source: PocketNow

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Steve Jobs passes away

admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:35:01 +0000

Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and former CEO, has died at the age of 56. Jobs had been diagnosed with an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor (a rare type of pancreatic cancer), and despite a liver transplant in April 2009, his health continued to deteriorate. Jobs’ vision and passion drove Apple to great heights and will certainly have a lasting impact on the world. Apple released the following statement:

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com

Source: Apple

Apple announces iPhone 4S: A5 processor, HSDPA/CDMA, 8 MP, dual antenna

admin — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:10:02 +0000

Many expected Apple to launch a redesigned iPhone 5 at its phone event earlier today, but the company instead announced the iPhone 4S, an upgraded iPhone 4 that includes:

Dual-core Apple A5 processor (ARM Cortex A9)
Both HSDPA and CDMA radios built in (instead of separate variants, as in the iPhone 4)
8 MP camera with 1080p video recording
Dual antenna (to split send/receive and address iPhone 4 “death grip” issues)
Siri voice control

Apple also announced a Find My Friends feature that lets iPhone users track their friends on a map, similar to Google Latitude.

In the US, the new phone will be available on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint for $199 (16GB), $299 (32GB), and $399 (64GB) on a 2-year contract. Meanwhile the iPhone 4 (16GB) will drop to $99 and the iPhone 3GS will be free, both on 2-year contracts.

Presales of the iPhone 4S begin Friday, and the phone should hit stores by October 14.

Source: Apple

Microsoft discontinues Zune HD

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:31:38 +0000

As long suspected, Microsoft is discontinuing its dedicated Zune music players, instead focusing on the Zune music service that runs on Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox. Microsoft will continue to honor warranties on the Zune HD and other models. An update on the Zune site says, ”Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy…we will no longer be producing Zune players.”

Source: Zune.net

HTC unveils new Windows Phones: 4.7″ Titan, 3.8″ Radar

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:04:19 +0000

HTC just unveiled two new handsets running Microsoft’s latest mobile OS, Windows Phone 7.5 (codenamed Mango)– the Titan, a 4.7″ monster that may spawn a whole range of 4.7″ phones from HTC (as the HD2 did for the 4.3″ form factor), and the Radar, an update to the 3.8″ HTC Trophy.

The Titan (codenamed Eternity) is truly a beast, featuring a 4.7″ SLCD screen (800×480 resolution), 8 MP rear camera, 1.3 MP front-facing camera (for Skype chats). Inside, the phone sports a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 single-core processor, 512 MB RAM, and 16 GB storage. It’s quite slim (9.9 mm) and has a black painted unibody metal construction (minus a plastic bit at the bottom for the antennas), though Microsoft’s claim that it’ll be “the most amazing thing you’ve ever held” might a little ambitious.

The Radar (codenamed Omega) targets a lower price point. Featuring the same dimensions and weight as HTC’s current Trophy, along with the phone’s 3.8″ LCD, 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor, 5 MP rear camera, 512 MB RAM, and 8 GB storage. The Radar improves on the Trophy’s camera, and adds a front-facing VGA camera for video chat. The phone will come in gray and white variants, and while it’s slightly thicker than the Titan (10.9 mm), it’s still a decent-looking unit. HTC plans to offer landscape docks to allow the Radar and Titan to act as alarm clocks as they charge.

Imaging seems to have been a focus for HTC– both the Titan and Radar sport 28mm wide-angle lenses, f2.2 maximum aperture, and back-illuminated sensors (like the iPhone 4 and HTC’s own EVO 4G) that should improve image quality, along with LED flash (single on the Radar, dual on Titan). In addition, the phones include far more imaging options than HTC’s current WP7 lineup (along with features like panorama auto-stitching and burst mode).

HTC plans to ship its new Mango handsets in early October and will begin upgrading current phones to Mango starting in mid-September.

Source: Microsoft – Titan, Radar

World’s only turbine-powered Batmobile up for sale on eBay

admin — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:50:31 +0000

Auto restoration specialist Casey Putsch built himself the world’s only jet turbine-powered Batmobile, and now it’s for sale on eBay for the low price of just $620,000. The Batmobile design includes a turbine, but the movie prop cars used small-block Chevy V8s instead, so when Putsch decided to make his own, he built in a 365 HP turbine from a Boeing naval drone helicopter. Despite that, the car weighs only 2,800, so it should be fairly quick.

Best of all, this Batmobile is street-registered in the US, so you can drive it to work every day. Inside, you’ll find a pretty barebones cockpit, featuring a center-mounted iPad 3G for GPS navigation and avionics. Oh and you can feed the car Jet A, kerosene, or diesel.

So if your life would be incomplete without rollin like the Dark Knight, pick up your new ride on eBay. For the rest, check out the photos and videos below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ford finally retires the Crown Victoria

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:56:03 +0000

After more than 30 years, Ford has finally retired its Crown Victoria sedan, the last traditional rear-wheel-drive, V8-powered, body-on-frame American sedan. Best known through its Police Interceptor variant, which comprises more than 70% of America’s police fleets today, the Crown Victoria offers old domestic mainstays like a soft suspension, front bench seat, and steering column gear shifter. The Panther platform it’s built on dates back to 1979 and also lies under the Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car, which are being retired as well.

Ford stopped consumer sales of the Crown Vic in 2008, but sales to police department and taxi fleets have remained strong. Ford has new police offerings in the works, based on the Taurus sedan and Explorer SUV, but many police departments believe the Crown Vic is still the best option and have driven up sales by stockpiling cars over the last few months. Yet the same sturdy, easy-to-repair body-on-frame construction that makes the Crown Vic the highway patrol’s car of choice also makes it heavy and inefficient (16 mpg city), which Ford can hardly afford in an era of increasingly tight fuel economy requirements (manufacturers must average 35.5 mpg by 2016 and 54.5 mpg by 2025).

The Crown Vic was introduced for police duty in 1983 and became the dominant patrol car in 1996, when its main competitor, the Chevy Caprice, was discontinued. Today, Chevy has a new Caprice (based on an Australian Holden sedan) for the police, and Dodge offers a police-spec Charger sedan. Both are rear-wheel-drive, unlike Ford’s new police offering, the FWD/AWD Taurus. All offer better performance and fuel efficiency than the Crown Vic, but police fleets remain skeptical.

Despite its dominance in the police and taxi markets, the Crown Vic has seen its share of controversy in the last few years. Its vertically-mounted steel gas tank is located between the rear axle and trunk, making it susceptible to puncture in a rear crash and leading to strong and instantaneous fires. Ford faces dozens of lawsuits in the early 2000s following a number of deaths linked to the tank design. The carmaker eventually settled the cases and in 2003 began to install protecting the gas tank from rear-end puncture.

San Francisco loses last domestic car dealership

Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:08:50 +0000

Major news in Cupertino this evening– Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO of Apple, citing health reasons. He will remain Chairman, while COO Tim Cook will take over CEO duty. The company’s press release states “Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company.”

Jobs released the following letter:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Press release after the break.

Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple
Tim Cook Named CEO and Jobs Elected Chairman of the Board

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

“Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”
“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple’s Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.

As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

HP discontinues all webOS devices, may exit PC business altogether

admin — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 02:36:10 +0000

Just a year after it bought Palm for $1.2 billion, HP has given up and is discontinuing all webOS phones and tablets, including the Pre and TouchPad devices. The strategic turnaround is mentioned in the “other announcements” section of a press release saying HP may spin off its whole Personal Systems Group (PCs, mobile devices, and storage)– itself quite a bombshell:

“In addition, HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.“

It’s unclear what HP plans to do with webOS going forward– license or sell the OS to other phone manufacturers, open source it, or just kill it completely. But by announcing the move this way, HP has pretty much guaranteed that developers and enthusiasts alike will begin to abandon the platform.

These moves are part of CEO Leo Apothekar’s plan to move HP towards an IBM-like model– going from low-margin personal computers and devices into high-margin enterprise software and services. The also confirmed that HP is acquiring Autonomy Corporation plc, another B2B software vendor, for $11.7 billion.

Ultimately, these moves make sense given Apothekar’s past as the head of SAP, a German enterprise software giant– he’s clearly much more comfortable selling software licenses to large companies than competing with the likes of Apple in the consumer space. Yet we can’t help but see the move as severed misguided. HP is the largest seller of PCs in the world and has a deeper supply chain and global distribution network than anyone else in the consumer electronics industry. Further, Apothekar’s inspiration, IBM, has always focused on business first, consumer second, and thus saw the PC business as a diversion from its core, but HP’s history is much more focused on consumers.

HP’s newer PCs, most visibly the Envy line of laptops that resulted from the VoodooPC acquisition, show that the company can successfully compete against Apple in premium computers. The TouchPad tablet has not been an instant success, but the webOS software has received broad acclaim, and who knows– greater investment in hardware and developer engagement, as HP promised a year ago, could have resulted in a viable mobile competitor. HP’s current leadership seems to have a fundamental impatience that is incompatible with success in the consumer space.

Even before this announcement, HP displayed a lack of strategic clarity with webOS, alienating Microsoft by announcing it’d ship webOS on all its Windows PCs and then backpedaling on the decision. While Apothekar thinks the move to abandon webOS will help HP in the enterprise space, credibility is key in that business, and how credible is a company that gave up, after just one year, on a $1.2 billion acquisition whose technology was supposedly critical to the company’s future? Further, the move seems to all but ignore the recent trend of consumerization– even enterprise buying decisions are now being influenced by consumer devices.

Perhaps HP has something magical up its sleeve, but we’re going to join the bandwagon of “#hpfail” posters on Twitter and say that giving up on the entire consumer computing business — PCs, smartphones, tablets, and peripherals (except printers) — would be a sad and serious misstep for one of the world’s strongest consumer electronics brands.

Update: Rahul Sood, founder of VoodooPC, has some interesting thoughts on HP’s move here and here.

Update 2: This graph from AllThingsD indicates a lot of what’s wrong at HP:

Press release after the break.

August 18, 2011 03:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time
HP Confirms Discussions with Autonomy Corporation plc Regarding Possible Business Combination; Makes Other Announcements

PALO ALTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HP (NYSE: HPQ) today commented on the recent announcement by Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU.L). HP confirms that it is in discussions with Autonomy regarding a possible offer for the company.

HP also reported that it plans to announce that its board of directors has authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG). HP will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction.

In addition, HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.

HP today announced preliminary results for the third fiscal quarter 2011, with revenue of $31.2 billion compared with $30.7 billion one year ago.

In the third quarter, preliminary GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.93 and non-GAAP diluted EPS was $1.10, compared with third quarter fiscal 2010 GAAP diluted EPS of $0.75 and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.08. Non-GAAP diluted EPS estimates exclude after-tax costs related primarily to the amortization of purchased intangible assets of approximately $0.17 per share and $0.33 per share in the third quarter of fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2010, respectively.

For the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, HP estimates revenue of approximately $32.1 billion to $32.5 billion, GAAP diluted EPS in the range of $0.44 to $0.55, and non-GAAP diluted EPS in the range of $1.12 to $1.16. Non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance excludes after-tax costs of approximately $0.61 to $0.68 per share, related primarily to restructuring and shutdown costs associated with webOS devices, the amortization and impairment of purchased intangibles, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.

HP estimates full-year FY11 revenue will be approximately $127.2 billion to $127.6 billion, down from its previous estimate of $129 billion to $130 billion. FY11 GAAP diluted EPS is expected to be in the range of $3.59 to $3.70, down from its previous estimate of at least $4.27, and FY11 non-GAAP diluted EPS is expected to be in the range of $4.82 to $4.86, down from its previous estimate of at least $5.00. FY11 non-GAAP diluted EPS estimates exclude after-tax costs of approximately $1.16 to 1.23 per share, related primarily to restructuring and shutdown costs associated with webOS devices, the amortization and impairment of purchased intangibles, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.

HP will host a conference call with the financial community today at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET to discuss these announcements well as HP’s third quarter 2011 financial results. The call is accessible via an audio webcast at www.hp.com/investor/2011q3webcast.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure at the convergence of the cloud and connectivity, creating seamless, secure, context-aware experiences for a connected world. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

Google to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion- but is it really patents they’re after?

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:42:02 +0000

Google just announced that it’s purchasing Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion– the search giant’s biggest acquisition to date. Motorola Mobility is Motorola’s consumer division, which was spun off in January 2011 and primarily sells mobile phones and TV set-top boxes.

In a post on the official Google blog, CEO Larry Page wrote that the primary value Google sees in the acquisition is Motorola’s arsenal of 17,000 patents. In recent months, Apple, Microsoft, and others have sued prominent Android phone manufacturers like HTC, LG, and Samsung for patent infringement, with claims largely focusing on the Android OS. With little prior mobile experience, Google has few patents of its own to help defend its licensees. Motorola, on the other hand, has made millions of phones over the last few decades, accumulating a large patent portfolio along the way.

Most media outlets have reported that by licensing Motorola’s patents to Android manufacturers, Google will be able to help them defend against Apple and Microsoft, providing them the basis for counterclaims, resulting in mutually assured destruction and thus settlements freeing Android from patent troubles. The problem with this view is that Apple and Microsoft have already sued Motorola (see battle maps here and here); the cases are pretty far along and aren’t looking too great for Motorola at this point. If Motorola’s patents couldn’t protect it, then how will they shield the rest of Android-dom? And, as Florian Mueller writes, it’d indeed be quite ironic if, by the time the deal is approved, Google were to acquire a phone manufacturer that’s been banned from importing Android handsets into the U.S.

So clearly, patent protection from Apple and Microsoft is not the primary reason for the deal. If it were, Google could’ve just licensed Motorola’s patent portfolio (as Motorola shareholder Carl Icahn proposed just a few weeks ago). The fact that Google chose to purchase the entire company instead, and thus enter the phone hardware business itself, suggests a different modus operandi. So far, Google’s primary interest in the mobile space has been to increase access to its web services– that was the whole purpose of Android. But the company’s business practices on Android, from forcing licensees to use its services (see the Skyhook case– quite damning for a supposedly “open” platform) to giving only preferred partners early access to new versions of OS, suggest that Google wants a bigger slice of the mobile pie for itself.

Android licensees like LG, Samsung, and HTC are justifiably afraid of competing against the very company they get their phones’ operating system from. It’s unrealistic to imagine that Motorola would not gain a significant competitive advantage being under Google’s roof, and Google could easily decide to go vertical, creating Google-branded Android super-phones to match the iPhone’s tight hardware/software integration and leaving other Android licensees in the dust. An ancillary benefit for Google, of course, is that Motorola’s big presence in the TV set-top box market could be an entry point for its failing Google TV product.

One interesting provision of the deal is the reverse termination fee. If Google is unable to complete the deal, it must pay Motorola $2.5 billion– a fifth of the purchase price, four times the median for deals in the last year, and apparently the largest such fee in industry history. By contrast, if Motorola decides not to sell to Google, it must only pay $375 million. This seems to reflect Google’s desperation and Motorola’s concerns about regulatory hiccups– Google’s Android-related search business practices are already under FTC antitrust investigation.

Microsoft stands to benefit in that it can now market Windows Phone 7 as the only operating system OEMs can license without competing against the licensor’s own phones. Some believe Microsoft may follow Google’s move by acquiring Nokia (which is now a key partner on the Windows Phone platform). This is quite unlikely, especially if the Motorola deal motivates HTC, Samsung, and LG to put more effort into Windows Phone 7 (which they all offer but clearly place on the strategic backburner compared to Android). Microsoft wouldn’t gain anything beyond what it already has in Nokia (a high-quality hardware manufacturer exclusively committed to Windows Phone and armed with an immense patent portfolio), and besides, outside of Xbox, Microsoft still believes in the “ubiquity” strategy it used against Apple many years ago, mobilizing a whole industry of Windows-powered PC hardware manufacturers to destroy Apple’s bundled hardware-software offering.

RIM only gains in that the Google-Motorola deal kicks the mobile industry’s patent mess up a few notches, showing that the array of BlackBerry mobile patents is probably quite valuable. The issue is, however, that the only companies still interested in RIM’s IP would be firms that lack strong software portfolios and are looking to create their own phone OS (HTC or Samsung perhaps).

Time to sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch the tech giants duke it out for mobile supremacy.