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NTT DoCoMo, Fujitsu and NEC rekindle love and LTE partnership, Samsung and Panasonic left in the rain
The fractious on-again, off-again love affair between NTT DoCoMo, Fujitsu and NEC has taken another turn. After dissolving a partnership to build a common LTE platform that included Samsung and Panasonic, the trio have rekindled their love over a candlelit dinner. The gang are stumping up the cash to bankroll Access Network Technology, a venture to build, wait for it, LTE platforms for smartphones and tablets, with each party bringing its own R&D and IP knowhow to the table. There's no word on how jilted lovers Samsung and Panasonic feel about the team-up, but we wouldn't be surprised if they didn't shed a private tear and think about the good old days.
Q2 and Q4 Xbee controllers have the gimbals to handle your most unwieldy robotics projects
Yes, we've seen an XBee radio interface with RC robots before, but Quantum Robotics' open-source Xbee handheld controllers have enough gimbals, push buttons and toggle switches to leave us starry-eyed. The Q2 and Q4, both open for funding on Kickstarter, use a XBee wireless transceiver to transfer data and a Parallex Propeller to act as the main processor, and both models put most controllers to shame with a ton of options. While the Q4 uses four PlayStation-style joysticks, the Q2 sports two RC gimbals, and both can be modified to add extra functionality based on the project at hand. Clearly, the more complicated the robot, the more fun these controllers are -- take a look at the Q4 interacting with a hexapod and a robotic arm in the video below.
Pure updates Evoke Mio radio with six new colors, thinks you need a new shade for summer
Do you really think a black FM radio -- or even worse, one in an off-season shade of grape --- can get you through the summer? Radio maker Pure wants to correct your errant ways. The company is expanding its Evoke Mio radio line with six new "on-trend" color options. The radio is already available in black, teal, grape and cherry, and now Pure is adding pepper, mustard, paprika, sage, rose and seagrass shades. While the colors are new, the specs are the same as on the original model: there's digital and FM radio, space for 30 presets, an auxiliary input for a PMP and an auto-dimming OLED panel. The new Pure Evoke Mio collection will go on sale in June for £130 (it's unclear if the radios will head stateside as well).
Tivoli enters headphone game with Radio Silenz, has new PAL BT and Model One BT radios
Tivoli Audio is known for radios that rarely deviate from a tried-and-true formula (save for that snazzy crystal-encrusted Model One), but the company is still capable of surprises. Exhibit A: it's gearing up to release its first pair of headphones. The new Radio Silenz noise-cancelling cans have 40mm drivers in the wooden ear cups, and a "Defeat" button mutes your tunes so you can hear someone talking to you without taking the headphones off. Tivoli says the AAA battery will give you 50 hours of listening. The Radio Silenz will go on sale for $160 in June. Just because Tivoli is venturing into headphone territory doesn't mean it is losing touch with its roots. In addition to the cans, the company has two new radios, the PAL BT and the Model One BT, both of which support Bluetooth streaming. The $300 PAL BT sports a 2.5-inch, battery-powered speaker, while the $260 Model One's 3-inch speaker is encased in a lovely, retro wooden design. Tivoli will also sell a $200 BluCon wireless Bluetooth receiver. All three products will reportedly launch in late summer. Update: Still thirsty for more audio news? You'll now find the full PR after the break.
Eton anticipates next natural disaster with self-powered FRX radios
Eton, the name behind solar-powered sound systems and emergency radios, is updating its disaster-preparedness portfolio with the new FRX series of self-powered radios. The FRX 1, FRX 2 and FRX 3 use hand-turbine energy to keep the internal lithium ion battery juiced, and all include a glow-in-the-dark indicator, LED flashlight and DC input. While the FRX 1 offers only the basic components, the FRX 2 and 3 have solar panels for recharging, along with a headphone jack and a USB port for powering other gadgets. The FRX 3 boasts a digital alarm and radio -- as opposed to the analog radio on the FRX 2 -- and a display for receiving NOAA weather alerts. Eton priced the radios at $25, $40 and $60, respectively, and it's currently selling the three options with American Red Cross co-branding at outlets such as Amazon, Best Buy and REI. Realizing your crank-powered Raptor is on its last legs? Check out the PR past the break.
Tivoli Audio announces PAL+ and Model 10+ clock radios, we go ears-on
If those clock radios up there look familiar, it's because their maker, Tivoli Audio, has been spitting out pretty much the same thing for the past 11 years. Their innards, at least, have changed with the times, and here at IFA the company is showing two models -- the portable PAL+ and the more stationary Model 10+ -- both of which hinge on support for digital radio. They're each compatible with DAB, DAB+ and DMB, in addition to good 'ol FM, have dual alarms and support five station presets for each band. The main difference is that the PAL+ is weather-resistant and battery-powered, rated to last three and a half hours unplugged. At 1.85 pounds it's still heavy enough that we'd never throw it in a carry-on, but in a world where it cost less or money were no object we might take it to the beach. You could, if you were so inclined, use the included remote to navigate the UI, though there's also a scroll wheel up top -- a neat idea, we thought, until you realize pushing that button in the center to cycle through each and every menu gets annoying fast. As for the audio quality, the speakers are powerful enough that their sound could rise above the din of the show floor, but we could still hear some tinniness coming through. The pair are available now, fetching $299 (£299) and $399 (£399), respectively, which means HD radio or no, these are, still, glorified alarm clocks. %Gallery-132357% %Gallery-132360% %Gallery-132363%
Verizon iPhone: Hardware is still the iPhone 4
Sure, it would have been more exciting if Verizon launched its version of the iPhone with an incremented version number and splashy new hardware capabilites -- LTE! Super-Retina display! Downward-facing camera! -- but as expected, the new beastie is essentially the same as the existing iPhone 4 model. The primary difference is that Verizon's iPhone 4 is a CDMA unit, not GSM. This of course means that users cannot migrate their handsets between AT&T and Verizon; they have different radios and will only work on their respective network flavor. (Worthy of note, though, the Verizon agreement is non-exclusive, so a Sprint-centric CDMA iPhone is not an impossibility.) The CDMA phone is also far more limited for international roaming, so if you plan to travel overseas with your phone please think ahead. As Steve notes, CDMA is still not capable of simultaneous voice and data, so phone calls will interrupt your data sessions; you might consider letting the calls go to your voicemail, and using a Google Voice mailbox so you can get those messages while you're surfing (although it's possible Visual Voicemail will work when a data-only session is active; we'll have to try it out and see). Along with the different radio config comes a slightly different antenna arrangement, with another infamous air gap associated with the 'grip of death.' It's not clear yet whether this will have any bearing on the phone's connectivity, but since the working assumption is that Verizon's network > AT&T's network, dropped calls and dead spots are theoretically going to be less of a problem on Big Red than on Big Blue. The new VZW phone also sports the ability to behave as a MiFi hotspot, giving WiFi connectivity at 3G speeds for up to five devices. Although this isn't available on AT&T's plans as an official capability, the $10 $19.99 Cydia app MyWi for jailbroken phones already enables it, so it's reasonable to think that there's not a hardware-specific change in play; Verizon already offers the capability on several Android phones. Be aware, though, it will chew through battery like a gopher in a cabbage patch. That's another reason to be happy the VZW iPhone isn't shifting form factor at all; existing cases, battery packs and audio accessories should all continue to work unmodified. If only that were true! Laptop Mag and Slashgear both confirm that the mute switch and volume buttons have moved, meaning many (but not all) existing cases won't fit (see here). D'oh. Developing story: stay with TUAW today for all the Verizon iPhone news.
Portal receives radio patch, tunes in hints of a sequel
Valve has released a new patch for Portal on Steam, and the patch notes say only that it has "changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations." A curious note, especially since Portal, as a computer game, doesn't actually transmit anything over the radio. That got the forum train a'moving on the Steam boards, and they eventually discovered that radios have been added to each level of the game which, when carried to the correct spots in each level, will tune in a series of coded messages. Connecting to all (or any, according to some reports) of the 26 messages in the game will supposedly unlock a new hidden achievement called "Transmission Received." At least, we think so -- as of this writing, no one seems to have unlocked it yet. Some of the messages are morse codes that range from the technical ("External data line active") to the silly ("Beep beep beep beep"), and some are encoded images of numbers and equations ("B.dA=3"), but the whole thing appears to be hinting that AI antagonist GLaDOS may have transmitted information or part of herself out of the Aperture Science facility before the first game ended. Which would probably mean that a sequel reveal is imminent. We'll stay tuned for more information -- we didn't really expect to hear from Valve at GDC next week, but a Portal 2 reveal would make our San Francisco visit that much nicer. [Thanks, Rob!]
Pure Oasis, Sensia and Sirocco 550 internet radios hands-on
Pure's WiFi-enabled radios are making their US debut here at CES, and we've gotten to grips with the top trio on offer. The Oasis (pictured above) is a weatherproofed, rubber-rich unit, which can resist splashes of water and go on for between 10 and 15 hours on a single charge. We agree it looks like a durable machine, but -- while it can reach some pretty high volumes -- the sound itself was predictably lacking at the furthest ends of bass and treble. Moving up in the world to the Sensia delivers a snazzier touchscreen interface with built-in Facebook and Twitter integration, but we clashed with some deal-breaking lag while using it. Finally, the top tier Sirocco 550 offers a more conventional styling to go along with a CD player (those still exist?) and an iPod / iPhone dock. Priced at $249, $349 and $449, respectively, these should all find American shelves to sing from by the middle of this year. %Gallery-82501%
Solo's bus stop ad enables life-size chatting with strangers
Hot on the heels of Nokia's own bus stop gimmick comes none other than Solo, which has erected a clever display on a number of waiting areas to allow perfect strangers to yap it up on giant mobiles. The interactive billboards each sport a larger-than-usual flip phone, which allows curious onlookers to mash an enlarged walkie talkie button and get on the horn with a faraway stranger. The active two-way radio setup was reportedly installed in transit shelters in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary, and the system supposedly connects users in the different cities to one another when a conversation is initiated. Unfortunately, Engadget HQ doesn't happen to reside in the land of the Canucks, so for our brethren in the north, why not stop on by and give a shout to a fellow Canadian, eh?[Via Core77]
XM will "vigorously defend" Innos against industry suit
XM is firing back against the recording industry's lawsuit over the Pioneer Inno's ability to temporarily store copyrighted material, stating rather boldly in an open letter to its customers that "we will vigorously defend these radios and your right to enjoy them in court and before Congress, and we expect to win." Claiming that the record labels "don't get it," XM argues that consumers have always been free to tape over-the-air content from a variety of sources, provided that they restrict those recordings to personal use. What's more, the Inno doesn't even let you transfer recorded content to other devices, and deletes all of your tunes if you drop your XM subscription, so it's already much more restrictive than the recording devices faced by TV and terrestrial radio broadcasters. Instead of actually expecting XM to pay $150,000 for each song recorded by Inno users (which would probably amount to at least several billion dollars), it's more likely that the music industry is using this suit to coax XM into joining rival Sirius in coughing up additional licensing fees. Also, a note to XM PR: despite your suggestion that the record labels are attacking sat radio owners at the expense of a war on the "real" pirates, we think that the industry is both well-prepared and well-equipped for a multi-front conflict.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
