Droid Eris rooted to 2.1, but look before you leap

Tired of waiting for Verizon and dissatisfied with a series of recent buggy leaks, the fine folks at XDA Developers were determined to trade their Cupcake-laden Droid Eris for a more toothsome Eclair on their own terms. Yesterday evening, it seems they finally achieved their goal, though not without a caveat or three. If you’re still running the stock Android 1.5, it’s a simple matter of dropping a ZIP file onto your SD card and restarting your phone; if not, you’re completely out of luck. Rooters warn that the hack won’t work on phones that have already been flashed to that aforementioned Eris 2.1 leak, and that they haven’t yet figured out a way to restore any non-1.5 phones back to factory default. If hacking isn’t your daily bread, proceed with caution — Sense UI may be fancy and all, but chaining your phone forevermore to an unsupported OS just ain’t worth it. See what an Eris Eclair looks like after the break.

Continue reading Droid Eris rooted to 2.1, but look before you leap

Droid Eris rooted to 2.1, but look before you leap originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Data and Tyfone announce partnership for NFC payments by microSD card

March 16, 2010

Continue reading First Data and Tyfone announce partnership for NFC payments by microSD card

First Data and Tyfone announce partnership for NFC payments by microSD card originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Comcast will broadcast the Masters Tournament in 3D April 7-11, beat DirecTV to the punch

Very cagey way to play it Comcast. While DirecTV, ESPN and Discovery were first to say they would have 3DTV broadcasts back at CES, the cable company will actually be the first to deliver it, starting with the Masters Tournament (but why not the 3D broadcast of the Final Four?) April 7-11. That’s right, the first “live next-generation 3D broadcast of a major sporting event on TV, the first live simulcast of a next-gen 3D event online, and the industry’s first live multi-camera next-gen 3D production” will be on cable (& internet), not satellite or telco. Again, that’s right, if you don’t have a 3D television set up yet, it will also be streamed at Masters.com (no word whether this is a Comcast only or if it will be open to all) for those with a 3D setup on their PC. We’ll temper our expectations until we see what kind of quality is able to squeeze through Comcast’s fiber backbone and down our neighborhood coax wires, but this should certainly blow away the anaglyph stuff currently offered on VOD. Of course, the old school HD streams will still be broadcast on ESPN and CBS, but if Tiger really does make his comeback at Augusta this should give us a better view of the course (and any residual damage from that “car accident”) than ever before.

[Thanks, Simon]

Comcast will broadcast the Masters Tournament in 3D April 7-11, beat DirecTV to the punch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ballmer’s visage evoked for ‘developers, developers, developers’ demo app on Windows Phone 7 Series

March 15, 2010

You could argue that Steve Ballmer’s classic “developers, developers, developers” mantra is more important to the success of Windows Phone 7 Series than of any other product in recent Microsoft history, so it comes as no surprise that he’s pulled it out of his hat one more time for MIX10 today. Demoing how easy it is to take advantage of the platform’s many rapid-development features, the team showed off a gangly Silverlight version of the big guy in lieu of the real deal (apparently he had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t be around for the event). Ballmer actually recorded a “developers, developers, developers!” rant just for the app, which the visage chants incessantly; you can adjust voice pitch and throw the doll around with a few flicks of the hand. Scary? Yes, yet somehow, we’d pay $0.99 for it. Follow the break for video.

Continue reading Ballmer’s visage evoked for ‘developers, developers, developers’ demo app on Windows Phone 7 Series

Ballmer’s visage evoked for ‘developers, developers, developers’ demo app on Windows Phone 7 Series originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cowon V5 review

Cowon’s V5 has been out and about in South Korea for just over two months now, but thankfully for the Yanks who are downright flustered with the existing PMP options here in the States, the company has decided to bring this beaut stateside. Boasting a 4.8-inch resistive touchscreen (800 x 480 resolution), a Windows CE 6.0 underlying OS, HDMI / USB sockets (via adapters from a proprietary socket), a voice recorder, integrated speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack, 8/16/32GB of internal storage, an SDHC expansion slot, a battery good for 45 hours of music playback (or 10 hours with video) and a format support list that would drive you batty to read, there’s a lot (lot!) to love about this thing on paper. We were fortunate enough to get our hands on one of the first units to ship to America, so hop on past the break for our two pennies.

Continue reading Cowon V5 review

Cowon V5 review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Philips BDP5010 Blu-ray / Divx player drops below $70 at Target

March 15, 2010

Believe it: $70 at Target takes home a new Philips (eh hem, Funai) BDP5010 Blu-ray player that once sold for as much as $250. Hell, it’s listed for $139.99 right now on Target’s online storefront. If you do manage to track one down in a real life Target store then you’ll be getting DivX support, a SDHC card reader, BD Live, and HDMI CEC convenience. While a quick search returns a bevy of mixed reviews (image quality is only so-so), really, for $69.98 you really can’t complain if you’re looking to finally make the jump to 1080p physical media.

[Thanks, Keith B.]

Philips BDP5010 Blu-ray / Divx player drops below $70 at Target originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus One shipments headed to Verizon, Vodafone soon?

Not much here in the way of verifiable detail but we’re hearing that a CDMAified Nexus One is en route to Verizon (or Google’s warehouses, anyway) from HTC’s factories. The Economic Daily News (EDN) adds that Verizon will begin to “market” Google’s superphone this month or in April at the earliest which lends some credibility to that March 23rd date tossed about previously. As for the Vodafone branded handset; EDN says HTC will ship it “soon” — something we’ve been hearing since January.

Nexus One shipments headed to Verizon, Vodafone soon? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Keepin’ it real fake: iPhone hits discount retailers as an eyeshadow palette

March 15, 2010

Now, these may have been around for ages, we can’t really be sure because, truth be told, it’s pretty rare for us to troll the aisles of Kohl’s makeup section looking for KIRFs. Regardless, a helpful, hawk-eyed reader snapped this shot of an eyeshadow palette — called eyemobile — that’s got the distinct iPhone aura going on, though we’re 100 percent certain this is an unauthorized use case. It’s hard to say from the photo, but it also looks like there’s a lip gloss palette in the background (which we assume is called lipmobile), and that, friends, we would pay money for. Lots of money.

[Thanks, Bill]

Keepin’ it real fake: iPhone hits discount retailers as an eyeshadow palette originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plastic Logic QUE proReader pre-orders halted?

We’re not going to engage in too much wild speculation on this piece of information, but there are certainly a few raised eyebrows in Engadget-land right now. Apparently Plastic Logic is no longer offering pre-orders of its QUE proReader, as a tipster of ours discovered while trying to push through his order of the $799.99, 8GB / 3G version of the large-screen device. According to the order page “Pre-orders are sold out. QUE will be available online and in select Barnes & Noble stores this summer.” This of course comes on the heels of news that the company would be further delaying the ship date from mid-April to summer related to “fine-tuning” and “enhancing the overall product experience.” So our minds aren’t exactly at ease, as we’re trying to understand why a company wouldn’t just caveat pre-orders by letting people know there’s been a run on supply — though it’s possible that Plastic Logic is doing separate batches for mail order and in-store, and just needs to pace themselves. We’ve reached out to the company for comment, and we’ll let you know as soon as we hear back.

[Thanks, Clive]

Plastic Logic QUE proReader pre-orders halted? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo unleashes three new monitors, one boasting multitouch

Lenovo’s quietly unleashed three new 1080p resolution-boasting monitors. Up first, the 21.5-inch L2261 Wide LCD, a pretty basic affair with VGA and DVI inputs. The L2361p Wide is 23-inches, with a more stylized look than the L2261, with integrated speakers and microphone, a webcam, and three USB 2.0 ports. Finally, the real star of the show, the L2461X Wide is a 23.6-inch, multitouch display. It also has integrated speakers and microphone, a 2 megapixel webcam. There is no official pricing or availability information for any of these bad boys yet, but there are two more images after the break.

Continue reading Lenovo unleashes three new monitors, one boasting multitouch

Lenovo unleashes three new monitors, one boasting multitouch originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony opens idyllic new retail store in Nagoya, Japan

We heard back in January that Sony was looking to reface itself somewhat by introducing a minty fresh retail look that takes a note or two from the Apple and Microsoft shops already in existence, and for those lucky enough to find themselves in Nagoya this weekend, you can check it out in person. March 13th marked the opening of the all new Sony Store Nagoya, and with an ample of amount of glass, white demo stands and black overhead signs, it’s certainly one of the more seductive retail shops that we’ve seen. We’d bother knocking Sony for following instead of leading, but considering just how far the brand has fallen over the past couple of years, we’re just stoked to see it putting forth an effort to turn things around.

Sony opens idyllic new retail store in Nagoya, Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stanford develops safer lithium-sulfur batteries with four times the charge of lithium-ion cells

Longer battery life is high atop our list of gadget prayers, and the brainiacs at Stanford are one step closer to making our dreams come true with a new lithium-sulfur technology. Half of this trick lies in the silicon nanowire anode that the same team developed back in 2007, whereas the new cathode consists of a similarly commodious lithium sulfide nanostructure. Compared to present lithium-ion batteries, Stanford’s design is “significantly safer” and currently achieves 80 percent more capacity, but it’s nowhere near commercial launch with just 40 to 50 charge cycles (Li-ion does “300 to 500″) due to the compound’s rapid degradation. That said, we’re promised a theoretical quadruple boost in capacity as the technology matures, so until then we’ll keep that hamster running in our backpack.

Stanford develops safer lithium-sulfur batteries with four times the charge of lithium-ion cells originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jaxbot’s Windows Phone 7 Series Theme now available in beta (video)

March 14, 2010

Continue reading Jaxbot’s Windows Phone 7 Series Theme now available in beta (video)

Jaxbot’s Windows Phone 7 Series Theme now available in beta (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell introduces $339 G2410H 24-inch 1080p LCD monitor, we go hands-on

Just over a year ago, Dell pushed out its latest and greatest 24-incher, the energy-sipping G2410. Today, the Round Rock powerhouse has introduced that very unit’s successor (complete with a height adjustable stand), the G2410H. Still sized at 24-inches, this 1080p LCD monitor sports a variety of eco-modes, 5 millisecond response time, 160-degree (horizontal) / 170-degree (vertical) viewing angles, a native 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, ambient light sensor, 250 nits of brightness, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio and DVI / VGA inputs. We’ve had one in-house for around a week now, and for $339, it’s not a bad replacement to that 21-inch CRT that’s still weighing heavily on your desk. It’s not as sharp and brilliant as the (admittedly more expensive) UltraSharp U2711, but it was certainly clear enough for the average home user. It’s shipping now if you just can’t resist.

Dell introduces $339 G2410H 24-inch 1080p LCD monitor, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another optical wireless experiment shows us that LEDs will beam your future downloads

Beaming data with light is hardly a new thing, but lately we’ve seen a number of attempts at making it rather more usable and, more interesting, rather more speedy. We’re starting to get the feeling that those maybe/maybe not dangerous microwave-based systems have had their days numbered. The latest to beam bits with blinkenlights is a team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications in Germany, which will be showing its stuff at the always happenin’ Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition in two weeks. The team was able to use a commercial LED and get an impressive 230Mb/s transfer rate, which doesn’t compare to the gigabit Penn State managed or 500mb/s Siemens pulled off, but those were done using rather more specialized hardware (like the Siemens rig pictured above). It’s interesting stuff, and we’re looking forward to see the commercial applications for this tech, but we do have one nagging question: what if you want to surf in the dark?

Another optical wireless experiment shows us that LEDs will beam your future downloads originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TomTom iPhone app hits 1.3, gains real-time traffic and Google local search

Here lately, Navigon has been crushing it on the iPhone GPS front. Every couple of weeks, it seems that MobileNavigator is getting yet another fantastic update, all while TomTom’s lackluster offering hangs back in the land of complacency. Thankfully for us all, the outfit has just pushed out the v1.3 update, which adds real-time traffic (an unfortunate $19.99 add-on), Google local search, updated roadways, automatic music fading between text-to-speech instructions and the ability to add locations from other apps and websites. We’d still recommend Navigon’s software if you’re looking to buy into iPhone GPS for the first time, but this is certainly a boon for those already locked into the TomTom alternative.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

TomTom iPhone app hits 1.3, gains real-time traffic and Google local search originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ceton’s quad CableCARD tuner for Media Center available for pre-order

That’s right, you can now reserve your place in line to be the first to record four HD cable shows at once on your Windows 7 Media Center. The bad news is that ship date for the InfiniTV 4 is now May 31st. Ceton wasn’t willing to share a specific reason for the 60 day delay, but we suspect CableLabs is to blame — Ceton refuted this and insisted CableLabs has been very helpful, but we don’t buy it. The other big news — for those that were concerned with noise or fitment options — is that the latest version of the PCI-E card pictured above no longer includes a fan. The InfiniTV name was the result of over 1000 submissions to Ceton’s naming contest, of which Gary Petro came up with winner — the name is not to be confused with Comcast’s XFINITY. Future tuners in the line will share a variation of the name, so the dual external tuner would be the InfiniTV ex2 — for example. But Gary isn’t the only one receiving a free tuner, as two more submitters were deemed worthy. Rus Sanchez submitted 94 different product names, while Charles Fraser earned his free card with the funniest submission; Wicked Super, Super Duper, and Super Duper Alleyoopder. The last bit of news out of the Kirkland startup is a littler clarification in regards to the network capabilities of the card. Although you can share the tuners with a small form factor PC on the network, the bad news is that it gets paired per CableCARD, so all four tuners have to go to the same PC. Ohh we almost forgot, the best news of all is that we received our review sample, so stay tunned for a full run down.

Ceton’s quad CableCARD tuner for Media Center available for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayStation Move requires only 2MB of RAM, developers breath sigh of relief

While it’s a crying shame that Sony’s PlayStation Move won’t have full four-player support, at least the technology is efficient; our buddies at Joystiq are reporting that the camera-and-wand based motion control game system will only minimally impact game performance. Quizzing Sony’s David Coombes, they found out that the advanced image processing required to make sense of your wild, flailing movements will take only 1-2 MB of RAM. Of course, when you consider that the PS3 has only 256MB of fast XDR memory to begin with, that 2MB isn’t as “insignificant” as Sony would have you believe, but coupled with the company’s claim that the whole shebang takes “under a frame” of the Cell CPU’s processing time, we’re inclined to think it won’t be much of an issue for the end user. Assuming they fix that nasty lag, of course. Check out our full PlayStation Move guide for more details.

PlayStation Move requires only 2MB of RAM, developers breath sigh of relief originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scientists discover method for rapid charging Li-ion batteries

Huzzah! Yet another discovery for us to add to our ever-expanding list of “awesome things that’ll never actually happen!” Ibrahim Abou Hamad and colleagues from Mississippi State University have reportedly devised a method of charging batteries that could hasten the process rather significantly, and better still, it could provide “an increase in battery power densities” as well. The only problem? Lithium-ion batteries have been disappointing tech users for years, and so long as Energizer and Duracell are calling the shots, we kind of doubt a lot will be done to improve the longevity of ‘em. Skepticism aside, the new method involves some fancy black magic surrounding molecular dynamics simulations, and researchers have found a way to boost charging time by “simulating the intercalation of lithium ions into the battery’s graphite anode.” We know we just went way over your heads on a Friday afternoon, but if techobabble’s your thing, all you can handle is right there in the Source link.

Scientists discover method for rapid charging Li-ion batteries originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Make your Magic Mouse oh-so-ergonomic with this pasty silicone grip

While it’s hard to say if Apple’s Magic Mouse really needs “fixing” — it depends somewhat on your grip — it’s not a huge stretch to say that the slender multitouch device doesn’t quite fit in the palm of one’s hand. Sensing a market opportunity, Will of MMFixed.com recently decided to come to our collective rescue. For $10, he offers a simple silicone block that matches the mouse’s contoured surface nicely, with an integrated suction cup that keeps it securely fastened. While it’s not quite a one-size-fits-all solution, it’s certainly a lot cheaper than buying one of the new whacky, adjustable mice we’ve seen recently; and if the idea of ergonomics via marshmallow doesn’t appeal to you, you can always try the white bread variety. Video after the break.

Continue reading Make your Magic Mouse oh-so-ergonomic with this pasty silicone grip

Make your Magic Mouse oh-so-ergonomic with this pasty silicone grip originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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