Mobilize2010
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Tango launches 3G and WiFi video calling on iOS and Android, no account required
Today at San Francisco's Mobilize conference, a company by the name of Tango launched its video calling application, appropriately called... yes, "Tango." Like Fring, it's available for both iOS and Android devices, and handles calls over 3G and WiFi. Like FaceTime, no account is required to initiate calls. We chatted with Eric Setton, CTO of Tango, who gave us a demo of the application (on video) using an iPhone 4 and EVO 4G. We also tested Tango by installing the application on an iPhone 4 and Nexus One, and it works as advertised -- although it only appears to initiate calls with people already in your contact list. Tango relies on the XMPP protocol used by Jabber and Google Talk to initiate calls via a centralized server, but the actual calls are peer-to-peer over 3G and WiFi. Call quality scales dynamically with connection performance. Currently, the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and 4th generation iPod touch are supported, as well as devices running Android 2.1 and higher (not 2.0 as mentioned in the video). Give it a try and let us know how it works for you -- and remember, it takes two to tango. Follow the break for the video demo!
Malata launches a candy-colored educational smartbook, we give it a whirl
The tablet craze may have pushed smartbooks out of the spotlight, but don't tell Malata that -- the ODM's launching an ARM-powered mini laptop in China this very week. Spotted at Mobilize 2010, the Malata T9000 is a cute-as-a-button blue and black clamshell with a 10-inch, 1024 x 600 screen and a Marvell Armada 166 inside, running a Chinese version of Linux (on an 8GB SSD) designed for the educational market. It's almost certainly cheap and underpowered, but we weren't really able to tell, as the UI didn't actually launch any usable applications when we randomly clicked on the icons strewn about. That said, it's got a fairly usable, springy little keyboard and a good number of ports, so it might be fun to tinker with, but we won't shed a tear if the machine never makes it stateside. %Gallery-103875%
