Engadget

Hot on the heels of its OneNote app for the iPhone, Microsoft has gone ahead and given the Android Market a similar nod of acceptance with the release of OneNote Mobile. Like the iOS version, the app is free to try -- which allows tire kickers to create up to 500 memos -- but after the limit is reached, you'll need to plunk down $4.99 or be forever stuck in read-only mode. In addition to syncing all notes with SkyDrive, the app allows users to open notebooks from OneNote 2010. Android 2.3 is necessary admission for this one, and naturally, all users must have a Windows Live ID. So, Google, are you going to just stand there and let Evernote and Microsoft have all the fun?

Following its bittersweet Q3, the latest financial report from Sprint this quarter offers up another mixed bag of news. Net operating losses totalled $438 million, more than the $139 million posted in the same quarter last year. It suffered a staggering $1.3 billion net loss (much of that due to upfront costs associated with launching the iPhone), dwarfing the Q3's $301 million losses. Operating revenue increases were, however, the largest in the last five years, up to $8.72 billion from $8.3 billion. Net subscribers now total 55 million, with 33 million postpaid, 14.8 million prepaid and around 7.2 million arriving from wholesale, adding an extra 1.6 million Sprint customers in the last quarter. This was also the first time in a long while that new subscribers on the Sprint platform outpaced losses at the Nextel and wireline businesses. Sprint hoped to see its iPhone draw customers into its network, putting it toe-to-toe with the bigger carriers, and it largely did, with 40 percent of the 1.8 million iPhones sold landing directly in the hands of new customers. However, the higher subsidy costs of the iPhone was also responsible for these tougher financial results. Last year also saw the tentative launch of Sprint's LTE network, and that's where the future appears to be for the carrier, with its forward-looking statement hinging on exactly how fast they're able to grab the 4G bull by the horns and get it into their customers' hands. Compatibility with Clearwire's next generation network is mentioned here, as is the "financial performance of Clearwire and its ability to build, operate, and maintain its 4G network." Lightsquared, however, was conspicuously absent from Sprint's future machinations.

Alienware's latest PC is an attempt to fire a salvo right across the bows of Sony and Microsoft's gaming flagships. It looks like the (slightly overweight) lovechild of the pair; like an alternate universe console. The X51 borrows liberally from the design schools of both the Xbox (matte sides) and the PlayStation 3 (slot-loading optical drive, front panel gloss). The Alienware logo rotates to suit both vertical and horizontal setups. The device is around the size of the original PS3, but it looked pretty petite in comparison to the rest of Alienware's gaming hardware. There's a litany of holes on the back of the X51, including plenty of USB ports and audio options. Reacquaint yourself with some technical specifics after the break, alongside our hands-on impressions with Super Street Fighter IV.

Maingear has been tickling us with its gaming PCs for a while, and now it's adding some extra muscle to its catalog. The company's Titan 17 notebook is hitting the operating table for a processor transplant, the previous Intel i7-990X being swapped out for either the i7-3930K or i7-3960X. But what good is an internal update without some external flourish so folk know where you stand on the spec table? Maingear appreciates this, and that's why it's throwing a backlit keyboard into the mix. The souped-up Titan is up for pre-order now, with prices starting at $3,499. Tap the PR after the break for the full specs.

If you're into high strangeness in the mobile realm, you'd be wise to check out the video of the Optimus Vu that LG just posted -- just follow the break. While our Korean translation skills aren't quite up to par, we've been able to decipher that this boxy number packs a 5-inch touchscreen and a rather unique 4:3 aspect ratio. The telltale capacitive touch buttons reveal this as an Android device, which the Korean manufacturer suggests is more comfortable to hold than traditional portrait-based solutions. It'll be interesting to see what this means for application compatibility, but for the moment, we're going to keep digging for more specs. Oh, and if you happen to know Korean, don't be afraid to drop additional tidbits into the comments below.

[Thanks, Byungjin]

Update: We've stumbled upon an image -- embedded after the break -- from Datacider that purports to be a shot of the Optimus Vu in the wild. They've also included a smattering of specs, which include a 1.5GHz Qualcomm APQ8060 SoC, 1GB RAM, 8GB ROM, NFC, an eight megapixel camera and Android 2.3. More interestingly, the screen shows a "February 21st" date stamp, which may or may not be a hint. Feel free to hit up the source link for that extra peek.

We already knew that Nokia sits atop the world's market when it comes to shipments and market share. As it turns out, though, the Finnish manufacturer leads the way in terms of mobile web browsing, too. That's according to the latest report from StatCounter, which found that Nokia handsets account for about 40 percent of the world's mobile browsing, followed by Apple, at around 29 percent. Coming in at a relatively distant third is Samsung, with an approximately 14 percent share. Android OEMs as a whole, however, account for a little under 25 percent of the world's mobile browsing, while RIM came in at just 8.3 percent (thought it still ranks second in the UK, behind Apple). Overall, global mobile web usage has just about doubled every year since 2009, which is both crazy and not crazy. For more numbers and insight, check out the full PR after the break.

If we were the betting type -- and hell, some of us really are -- we'd wager a crisp ten spot that LightSquared isn't going to assuage the FCC's concerns over those pesky GPS interference issues in the next few weeks. After previously stating that the interference test reports were rigged by GPS insiders, the upstart LTE network is now getting political with its argument and is calling on the FCC to institute new standards for GPS equipment. LightSquared contends that current GPS devices on the market are poorly designed and purposefully encroach on the company's licensed spectrum. Of course, this change would do little to remedy the millions of interference prone / (causing?) devices on the market, but LightSquared notes that, by the FCC's own admission, GPS receivers must "reasonably discriminate against the reception of signals outside their allocated spectrum." With the company's latest argument flying high atop the flagpole, it begs the question, will anybody salute? You'll find LightSquared's statement in its entirety after the break.

Olympus has embraced the camera designs of yesteryear for several generations, from its first Micro Four Thirds models to last year's E-P3. But now the Japanese camera maker is stepping up its retro game, announcing a brand new line of Micro Four Thirds cams. Meet the OM-D. A dramatic departure from the more modern-looking PEN cameras, this new line of mirrorless models, specifically the E-M5, in many ways duplicates the design elements of the 1970s-era OM System. The first consumer camera in that SLR lineup, the OM-10, served as clear inspiration for the slightly boxy, black or silver and black magnesium alloy digital model we have today. We were able to spend some time with the Olympus E-M5 before tonight's announcement, and were very impressed with what we saw. Jump past the break for our impressions and an Olympus-guided video walkthrough, and thumb through the gallery below for a detailed look at the company's answer to the Fujifilm X-Pro1.

The issue of whether or not the ARM edition of Windows 8 will support both desktop and Metro-style apps has been pretty hazy. Some have claimed it would, others that it wont and, even when they've issued denials of the nay-sayers, Microsoft has stopped short of saying that ARM hardware would offer a desktop mode for non-Metro apps. Well, buried in a post about improving power efficiency over at MSDN blogs was a passing reference to "both desktop and Metro style apps" running on "System on Chip (SoC) architectures." Some, including the well regarded Mary Jo Foley, have read this to mean that desktop apps will indeed work on ARM-powered Windows tablets. Now, this seems to make sense since all of the SoC coverage has been focused on the powerful new RISC chips getting crammed in new slates and smartphones, and we've heard that Win8 and Windows Phone 8 will share the same kernel. But, there is one tiny wrinkle in this narrative -- Intel will have its own SoC solutions soon enough thanks to Medfield, so the passage could simply be a reference to those x86 chips. You'll find the relevant excerpt at the via link.

Out with the old, in with the new, eh? Yahoo certainly subscribes to that philosophy, as it's already shuffled out Jerry Yang in favor of Scott Thompson as its CEO, and now the company will be adding four fresh faces to its board. Among those departing Yahoo is Roy Bostock -- which ends his four year reign as Chairman of the board -- who is perhaps most well-known for having a hand in turning down Microsoft's money in 2008. With this most recent shuffling at the top, Yahoo's down to just seven board members, but the search is on to find replacements for the departed directors. Who will be the lucky chosen ones? No one can say for sure, but given Yahoo's declining status, whoever joins up will have their work cut out to get the company back on top.

A new version of Google Voice has just crawled out of the woodwork, and while the changes are minor, we think most users will like what's in store. First and foremost, we were greeted with a new, darker interface that better matches Honeycomb's design philosophy, along with a refreshed icon that more closely resembles the messaging app in Ice Cream Sandwich. There's also a curious new feature known as asynchronous SMS, which allows you to queue up messages for later delivery when you happen to be without signal. To test this out, we put our handset into airplane mode, fired off a few texts -- which showed up as queued -- and then took our phone back onto the network. Once back online, the messages were delivered as expected. And hey, it can't get much better than that, really.

A partnership between Microsoft and customer service company 24/7 may not exactly sound like the most exciting proposition on the face of things, but the two are making some fairly lofty promises, and Microsoft seems to be making a serious investment in the initiative. As ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reports, part of the deal will see Microsoft send at least some of the 400 employees it brought on in its 2007 acquisition of TellMe Networks to 24/7, and it will also license some of its speech-related IP to the company (in addition to taking an equity stake in it). The goal there being to combine natural user interfaces with a cloud-based customer service platform, which Microsoft promises will "redefine what customer service looks like." To that end, it gives the example of a credit card company getting in touch with you to report suspicious behavior; rather than a phone call, you could get a notification with all the pertinent details sent directly to your phone, which could anticipate a number of potential actions and let you respond by voice (or touch, presumably). Unfortunately, while the two are talking plenty about the future of customer service, there's not a lot of word as to when that might arrive.