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HP's Pre 3 goes up for pre-order in Germany, shipping in '1 bis 2 Wochen'
Remember the Pre 3? The portrait slider HP promised it'd be hawking to webOS fans by the end of summer? Well it might barely make its launch window, but only if you live in the land of the autobahn. Currently live on the Deutsches wing of HP's online store is a pre-order page for the elusive smartphone which'll apparently ship in "one to two weeks." The localized variant is unlocked and comes with a QWERTZ (yes, Z) keyboard instead of the QWERTY we're used to. And, at 349€ (or around $500), the handset is considerably cheaper than when when we first spied it on Amazon.de in May. Taking the plunge? Feel free to send one our way, preferably with bratwurst and rösti in tow, danke. [Thanks, Andreas]
Google fanboys egg the homes of those who opt out of being shown on Street View
You might have heard by now that some German folks didn't much fancy having their homes displayed on Google's Street View service and consequently opted to have their domiciles blurred out. Only trouble with their plan, it seems, was that they didn't account for some Google-loving zealots over in Essen, who were so outraged by the action that they ended up bombarding the offensively blurry homes with eggs and some eloquent signs. What did those placards have to say? "Google's cool." Pithy. A spokesperson from Mountain View has been quick to distance Google from the silly behavior, while also noting that it has been an isolated incident... so far, anyway. [Thanks, Milind]
WSJ: iPhone 4 to be offered by Vodafone and O2 in Germany as T-Mobile loses exclusivity
The last bastion of Applephone exclusivity in Europe is about to be toppled, according to the Wall Street Journal, as Deutsche Telekom is said to be preparing for the loss of its iPhone 4 monopoly ahead of this year's holiday shopping season. Citing separate sources familiar with the matter, this report suggests that Vodafone and O2's German arms are earnestly reaching out for Apple's latest and greatest, and while distribution deals haven't yet been finalized, negotiations have reached an "advanced stage." Much as with O2's UK exclusivity deal, Apple looks to have opted against extending its arrangement with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile in an effort to reach the widest possible consumer base. Makes a lot of sense to us, now how about doing the same back home?
Germany slapping RFID tags on its populace for the sake of brisker bureaucracy
ID cards and RFID tags are similar in one key respect: they get a lot of bad press -- one for constricting civil liberties, the other for being a lousy security risk -- and yet are widely used around the world. It's fitting, therefore, that Germany has decided to marry the two for the latest version of its own personalausweis. Dutch company NXP has begun production of the requisite RFID chips for these new slices of plastic, which will roll out from the beginning of November this year. The Deutsch state sees a vastly expanded role for the modernized cards, including validating your identity for online shopping and communicating with your local authority (e-government, they call it). And, of course, your biometric data is loaded onto the chip as well, just to make things nice and neat. You know, we remember the good old days when identity theft used to be hard.
Kostenlos Mittwoch: Es Gibt TV!
As Brett posted earlier, guess what's neu over at the Deutschland iTMS? TV Sendungen! Finally, TV has macht its way over the channel from England and für nur €1,99-€2,49 an eppy, you can get your TV on with South Park and Desperate Housewives. As far as the new hinzugefügte goes, I had a bit of trouble getting it all working this morning. You might have to wait until the store gets fully sorted. Here's a direct link to the new TV section, which features TV so wie Tramitz and Friends, Kaya Yanar, und Sechser Pack. Bitte forgiven Sie mein Deutsch. Despite having taken Erste Jahr Deutsch dreimal, not a lot of it stuck with mich. Kostenlossen/Gratis heute gibts jetzt in TV: Deutschland: Ladyland, Staffel 1 Ihre Frauenfiguren in "Ladyland" geben ihr die Möglichkeit, in die verschiedensten Rollen und Charaktere zu schlüpfen. Dabei stammen die Geschichten direkt aus dem Leben: überraschend, spannend, zum Schmunzeln, haarsträubend, verrückt und manchmal auch tragikomisch. Eben (fast) so, wie sie jeden Tag irgendwo auf der Welt passieren könnten. Anke Engelke schlüpft in jeder Folge in ganz unterschiedliche Rollen: Mal ist sie eine arrogante Immobilienmaklerin, die sich plötzlich in einem Kuhstall wiederfindet, dann die kleine kaufmännische Angestellte, bei der sich ein Scharfschütze auf dem Balkon einquartiert, mal eine angehende Ministerpräsidentin mit Alkohol-Problem, dann eine Hotelrezeptionistin mit künstlerischen Ambitionen oder ein einfältiges Blondchen, das tatsächlich eine SMS von Gott erhält. Deutschland: Pastewka, Staffel 3 In der 3. Staffel von "Pastewka" zeigt sich, dass das Leben eines Promis nicht nur extrem aufregend ist, sondern vor allem auch unglaublich kompliziert sein kann: Bastians Bruder Hagen ist immer noch mit der launischen Nachbarin Svenja Bruck liiert und führt diese - trotz Bastians massivem Widerstand - auch noch offiziell in die Familie ein. Vater Pastewka und Nichte Kim sorgen ebenfalls für Zuwachs: Kim hat endlich ihren ersten Freund und Vater Pastewka eine neue Putzfrau, die sich ganz offensichtlich nicht nur um seine schmutzige Wäsche kümmert. In der Beziehung zwischen Bastian und Anne kriselt es, und Annes dauerfröhlicher Ex-Freund Jo provoziert bei Bastian Eifersuchtsausbrüche. In all dem familiären Chaos dürfen natürlich auch in der 3. Staffel die lieben Kollegen nicht fehlen. So gibt es Gastauftritte u.a. von Michael Kessler, Maddin Schneider, Bully Herbig, Til Schweiger und Barbara Salesch. Deutschland: Switch, Staffel 1 Ob Daily-Soap, Talkshow, Nachrichten, Werbung oder Erotikmagazin - nichts ist vor "Switch" sicher und alles wird persifliert. "Switch" stellt mit hintergründigem Humor die Besonderheiten von Inhalten, Formaten und Darbietungen aus der gesamten Fernsehlandschaft heraus.
