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release posts

HTC HD2 officially coming to US, out in Europe and Asia today!

by Vladislav Savov posted Nov 4th 2009 at 6:02AM

Be still, our beating hearts! HTC has just pressed the "Go" button for European and Asian shipping of its latest object of desire, and it's served notice to American phone lovers that the HD2 is coming to them soon as well. Slated for a "major US carrier" some time "early 2010," it'll land squarely in the same time bracket as the XPERIA X10, which should lead to some really quite interesting decisions to be made, presumably by March 2010. The WinMo 6.5 device might be shipping now, but you'll have to wait at least until the 9th of November before you can spill your Euros for it, and we expect to see a flurry of pricing and contract information filling that short waiting time. Full PR after the break.

[Via MobileTechWorld]

Continue reading HTC HD2 officially coming to US, out in Europe and Asia today!

Ubuntu 9.10 'Karmic Koala' released, could decide your OS fate

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 29th 2009 at 8:31AM

It's October 2009 which means something very special for Linux fans: a 9.10 release of Ubuntu. Today we see the launch of "Karmic Koala" featuring a faster graphical boot sequence (no more scary text scrolls), a revamped audio framework that improves sound control across multiple applications, and a new Software Center that visually simplifies the Add/Remove Applications tool. These are just a few of the user-centric improvements meant to have a "transformative effect" on the OS experience and help bring "the world of open source closer to the user." It's available in desktop, server, and netbook editions now so get to it, before you know it you'll be updating to Lucid Lynx.

JVC brings 46-inch GD-463D10 3D LCD HDTV to America: shipping now for $9,200

by Darren Murph posted Sep 10th 2009 at 12:40PM

Jumpin' Jehosaphat! We know exchange rates have been sort of crazy of late, but we can say with a good deal of certainty that the in-home 3D revolution isn't going anywhere with MSRPs like this. After introducing the 46-inch GD-463D10 3D LCD HDTV in various overseas markets, JVC is announcing here at CEDIA that its flagship 3D panel is now available on US soil for a solid chunk of change. The 1080p display touts a 2,000:1 contrast ratio, three HDMI sockets, 178-degree viewing angles, a depth of 1.5-inches and two incredibly awesome sets of 3D goggles. If you're not concerned that actual 3D content is all but nonexistent for home users, you can snag this now for $9,153 (and not a penny more).

Gallery: JVC's 1080p GD-463D10 3D LCD HDTV to America

Logitech makes Squeezebox Radio and Touch official

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 3rd 2009 at 4:00AM

Logitech has finally released info on its upcoming additions to the Squeezebox lineup, and we're happy to share it all with you, dear readers. First up is the FCC-approved Squeezebox Radio, sporting integrated speakers and a 2.4-inch LCD upon which you can view playlists, peruse Facebook recommendations, and even squint at Flickr slideshows. On the higher end is the Squeezebox Touch, with its 4.3-inch touchscreen and outputs to connect directly to your home entertainment system. Both feature 802.11g wireless enabling them to suck tunes of all sorts (including Pandora, iTunes, Sirius, and various internet streams) straight from a Mac, Windows, or Linux machine, but only the Touch will be able to play tracks directly from USB drives and SD cards. The Radio will be shipping by the end of the month for an MSRP of $199, while the Touch (which would look perfect next to your Harmony 1100) is destined for a December release and a higher price of $299 -- despite it having already started shipping in some places. Full press releases after the break.

Gallery: Logitech's Squeezebox Radio and Squeezebox Touch

Continue reading Logitech makes Squeezebox Radio and Touch official

Zune HD lands September 15th, up for pre-order today

by Joshua Topolsky posted Aug 13th 2009 at 3:01AM

Do you want a Zune HD real bad? Well you're in luck, because the wait is nearly over. Microsoft announced today that the heavily hyped media player will be making its way into retail channels come September 15th, and will be up for pre-order at select spots (Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, and the Microsoft Store) today. That's right... today. The Tegra-packing, HD Radio-playing, 720p-outputting device will come in a black, 16GB flavor for $219.99, or a beefier, "platinum" finish 32GB version clocking in at $289.99 (apparently the player will come in five additional colors, but no word on which ones, exactly). If you're super impatient and in select markets (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis / St. Paul, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.) you can head into a Best Buy on August 22nd and 23rd to play with a device and drop $25 on a pre-order. Otherwise, you'll just have to sit tight till the ZHD makes its way into the wide world... which is actually pretty soon. Check out more info about the player at our Zune HD hub, and after the break you can enjoy a recent video we shot of the device in action and the official PR.

Continue reading Zune HD lands September 15th, up for pre-order today

Garmin-Asus nuvifone finally coming to America in Q4 (or so they say)

by Darren Murph posted Aug 7th 2009 at 4:32AM

With Garmin-Asus' nüvifone G60 already on sale in Asia, it makes sense to hear that said smartphone will soon make its way over to North American soil. Of course, it also made sense to think that this thing would be launching on AT&T about forever and a day ago, so we're not holding our collective breath just yet. At any rate, Garmin recently made abundantly clear on a quarter-end conference call that the GPS-infused handset is in the final testing stages with an undisclosed amount of US carriers, and if all goes well, it'll hit the streets in Q4. What's crazy is that every last specification remains unchanged from when it was announced back in January of 2008; meanwhile, Apple has shipped two new iterations of its iPhone, Android has blown up significantly and even Motorola and Palm have seemingly resurrected themselves from the grave. Knowing all that, will anyone even bother to show up to snag one in "just a few months?"

Sugar Labs' 'Sugar on a Stick' OS available for any and all

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jun 26th 2009 at 6:17PM

The last time we heard from Sugar Labs, its "Sugar on a Stick" project (a tidied-up build of Sugar OS which can be run live from a CD or USB drive) was just entering beta. Apparently all the company needed to take that version to a release-ready state was a month (give or take). A full, free version of Sugar is now available in a 383MB ISO file for anyone to take advantage of -- though the company is obviously setting its sights firmly in the direction of the education market as usual. The OS -- previously designed for the OLPC XO, but now targeted to any PC or Mac schools have lying around -- is based on the newly released Fedora 11, and is in a "Strawberry" release meant for real world classroom testing. The feedback the company receives on this edition will apparently be incorporated into a future version destined for your hands and eyes at the end of the year. In the meantime, you can take SoaS for a spin... ASAP.

[Via Ars Technica]

Microsoft Windows 7 on track for the holiday season

by Joseph L. Flatley posted May 11th 2009 at 2:33PM

Well, we thought this might happen -- especially after the news that Acer's Z5600 all-in-one will be shipping with Windows 7 pre-loaded, come October 23rd of this year. And now it's official: Windows 7 is on track to be released this "holiday season." Now, this announcement may be officially vague, but it is official. Sometimes in this business (as in life) we take what we can get.

Palm Pre launching no earlier than May 16 according to leaked doc?

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 13th 2009 at 2:50PM

We've been made privy to some Sprint planning documentation that implies that the carrier is looking to get all its Pre ducks in a row by May 16, which would suggest that there's no way in hell it's launching any earlier than that. Ultimately, that could mean we're looking at a launch on the 17th -- a Sunday, as Sprint launches often are -- or any time after that, but since Palm continues to reaffirm its first half commitment, we'd say that we're now down to a window between 5/17 and 6/30. Awesome.

LG's X120 netbook granted a release date

by Tim Stevens posted Mar 23rd 2009 at 8:34AM

Despite letting us play with the thing at CES and then giving us all the details of what's going on inside its upcoming white and green netbook, LG still wouldn't commit to just when its X120 would be hitting retail. Not one for protracted pre-order periods, apparently, the company has now confirmed the laptop will be shipping to Japanese users by the end of this very month, and to Europe and 20 other nations within the next one. We're not entirely sure that the US is going to be one of those 20, but since LG has just over a week left before March becomes April, it had better get shipping already.

UMID M1 mbook now less close to US release

by Darren Murph posted Mar 11th 2009 at 6:13AM

Less close, further away -- take your pick. The bottom line is that the UMID M1 mbook that we've been secretly swooning over for weeks now may be further away from a US release than any of us Yanks would like. According to new intel gathered by Pocketables, a Stateside release of the MID is still planned, but it's apt to ship later than previously expected. Furthermore, the units already prancing about in other corners of the globe aren't likely at all to support US 3G bands, so importing one won't fill that hole in your soul the way a WWAN-enabled MID should. Better hurry up and deliver the goods UMID, else we'll be forced to buy a rivaling unit and hack it up to suit our needs. Don't say we won't.

[Image courtesy of UMPCPortal]

Nintendo's DSi planning a European tour ahead of US release

by Tim Stevens posted Feb 19th 2009 at 7:13AM

If you're still feeling all giddy about getting your mitts on a DSi here in the States on April 5th, prepare for a bit of a downer. Nintendo Europe has just announced gamers within its territories be getting the multi-screen multi-cam wonder a full two days earlier, on April 3rd, but hasn't said how much they'll be paying for the privilege. Also, while we're stuck with black and a rather cheeky baby blue, Euro gamers will be getting the more stolid/boring color selection of black or white, which may be good or bad depending on your monochromatic tendencies. Regardless, whether you're domestic or abroad, you'd best get your pre-orders in now.

Update: LostProphet commented to say that it's showing up for pre-order abroad at £149.99, or about $214. That's quite a premium for a few days worth of exclusivity.

[Via Nowhere Else]

Samsung's NC10 netbook on sale in US for $480

by Darren Murph posted Oct 11th 2008 at 6:31AM

Generally speaking, Americans can count on the US price of any particular piece of kit being a fair bit less than the straight pound-to-dollar conversion. Unfortunately, the exchange rate here is nearly on point, with the £299 NC10 10-inch netbook on sale for $480 (give or take a few nickles) in the US of A. Granted, it looks as if it'll be a fortnight or so at the very least before any Yanks can wrap their grimy paws around the germ-shunning PC, but we've already got the e-tailers lining up to hold your place in line. Who knows -- maybe our version will come with built-in WiMAX and 12-hours of battery life to really sweeten the deal.

[Via Liliputing, thanks Michael]

Read - Pre-order NC10, option 1
Read - Pre-order NC10, option 2

HTC not bringing Touch HD to the States

by Darren Murph posted Oct 7th 2008 at 12:32PM

This shouldn't be surprising at all to anyone even remotely familiar with HTC's tendencies, but the Touch HD is officially not ever shipping to America (unless you import, obviously). The news was dropped via a Tweet (of all things), but evidently, the outcry over what we figured was common knowledge has caused some windows to be rattled in the penthouse offices. Another official Tweet followed to thank everyone for "expressing their desire for the HD," with the author noting that "US management now knows there's a grassroots demand for high-end HTCs here." Really, HTC? You needed a flood of angry Twitter comments to understand that Americans would give their second born for a phone like the Touch HD?

[Via WMExperts, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: We've received official word from HTC that they've been really overwhelmed by the "strong" demand for the HD in the States and other markets where no launch has been planned (with that insane display, it seemed like a no-brainer to us!). Sadly, due to the engineering time required to get a North American 3G version in the pipeline, they say they're better off just waiting until the next round of products launches -- hopefully with some extra bands in the radio this time, eh?

Read - Touch HD not coming to the US
Read - Thanks for the concern

Digital Cube Telson UMPC reappears, could break into reality soon

by Darren Murph posted Oct 4th 2008 at 8:02PM

Before we go any further, we'd like to inform this here Telson UMPC that if Pandora can finally get out of the starting blocks, so can you. Today, we're looking at new evidence that Digital Cube (the handheld's new parent) could be inching ever closer to bringing this shockingly thick gaming handheld to market. Out of seemingly nowhere, images have emerged of the portable posing beside a USB 3D camera dongle (saywha?); additionally, we're told that it will pack a 1.2GHz VIA C7M CPU and feature a 4.3-inch display, 512MB of RAM, 30GB hard drive and Windows XP. Oh, and we're also informed that it'll be "released in October" in at least one section of the world, so we've got T-minus 27 days to see if that claim is legit.

[Via Pocketables]