BreakingNews
Latest
Sprint gets official with HTC Touch: November 4 for $249.99
Is it safe yet to declare that carriers are looking at finger-friendly touchscreens as The Next Big Thing in wireless? Sprint today has officially announced its HTC Touch, a device codenamed "Vogue" that brings all of the original's unique personality to the world of CDMA (and, thankfully, EV-DO). Besides the touted support for 3G data, features include a 2 megapixel cam, microSD slot with support for up to 4GB of expansion, Windows Mobile 6 Professional with HTC's TouchFLO interface, and comprehensive support for Sprint's media features including Sprint TV and the Sprint Music Store, all packed into a shell measuring 4 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches and weighing in at 4 ounces (trust us, it looks and feels pretty flippin' small). Interested parties don't have terribly long to wait, either -- look for it to start showing up in retail channels November 4 for a penny under $250 on contract with rebates.
Nokia's N810 makes first appearance, drops jaws
We're still waiting for the press release, but that's Nokia N810 Internet Tablet in the fo' realz. Yeah, sexy is an understatement. We peeped this model in a spyshot back in July and appears to be the same lovely recently revealed by the FCC. The obvious improvement to the N800? The full QWERTY.Update: Details now rolling in.%Gallery-8727%[Via InternetTabletTalk, thanks Noah]
Orange to sell unlocked iPhones in France
Well, well... looks like Apple has been backed into a corner by French law and will be releasing an unlocked iPhone in France after all. While no one will say precisely how much the unlocked iPhone will cost (the locked Orange-network iPhone will cost €399) those details are expected to be announced sometime before the November 29 launch. Of course, laws forbidding the exclusive bundling of cellphones to carriers are not unique to France. As such, we can expect a glut of unlocked iPhones in the coming months as deals are struck throughout Europe and Asia. Hear that AT&T, O2 and T-Mobile haters? Your nefarious unlocking efforts are about to get a whole lot easier (and more expensive). [Via Orange]
First Brutal Legend video is ... well, it's brutal
The marketing for Tim Schafer's latest game is in full swing and – even though the game designer can't talk about the game himself (check out Double Fine's blog to watch him squirm) – the Game Informer cover and now video trailer sure as shinola confirm its existence. It turns out Brütal Legend is appropriately titled; the trailer is full of axe-assisted dismemberment on the part of protagonist (and rock roadie) Eddie Riggs.So let's run down the checklist: Rockin' metal soundtrack? Check. Buckets of violence? Check. Overwrought mythology? Check. Bitchin' Hot Rod with flame exhaust? Check. Demon wings? Check. Sexy metal babes? Check. All in a video game format? Very check. Wait a second, this game wasn't designed by Tim Schafer at all. No, it was designed by the collective fantasies of every teenage boy who's ever lived ... Schafer's just the tool they'll use to see their vision writ large.
Target scan shows 40 GB PS3 coming Oct. 28 for $399
The last thing any street date's parents want to see is their kid hanging around with Target. No matter what sweet talking the red rings make, the street date's only going to end up one way: Broken. Just ask the Xbox 360 Arcade, or the Xbox 360 Elite, if the store's not selling items before their time, they're advertising them. The streak continues with this listing for the 40 GB PS3 captured at a Target price check kiosk.It's all information that we expected though: 40 GBs, $400, late October. Now, if only Sony would announce it so the leakiest system in history can come ashore.[Via Engadget]
NiGHTS coming December 18 for US, January 2008 for Europe
Good news for Americans: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is confirmed for a December 18 release in North America, meaning that Wii owners can get their dream on in time for the holiday season.Unfortunately for European Wii owners, NiGHTS will miss the holiday 2007 release in Europe, instead coming out sometime in January 2008. On the plus side, European readers, you might not really be missing much.Read - Dream big with NiGHTS for the Wii [press release]Read - No NiGHTS this year [Eurogamer]
Rogers brings HSPA to 22 Canadian markets
Just about a year after its initial, extremely limited rollout in Ontario and a few months of soft launching across the lands, Rogers has announced that the switch has now officially been flipped on its HSPA hardware in a solid 22 Canadian markets. Cities fortunate enough to make the cut include Vancouver, Winnipeg, Regina, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City among a smattering of others. The carrier's official branding for its 3G services is "Vision" -- a curious homage to Sprint's EV-DO network in the US -- though Rogers gets the crown for the cool factor here thanks to its true video calling capability, the only carrier in North America to offer the feature (ahem, AT&T?). Given the fact that Rogers is careful to call the network "HSPA" (as opposed to "HSDPA") we imagine high-speed uploads are in the cards, too. Bonus![Via the::unwired]
Leopard release: October 26th
If you're one of the many speculating the release date for Apple's next version of OS X, Leopard, you can tick the other 10 of the remaining 11 business days left on the October calendar because it's finally official: Mac OS 10.5 launches Friday, October 26th at 6.00pm, and may we just say friggin finally. Minimum specs: Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor with 512MB of physical RAM. $129 for a single-user copy or $199 for a 5-user, single-residence family pack. Upgrade price? You're kidding, right... this is Apple.
Nokia's S60 Touch Interface announced
Nokia is showing off their new S60 Touch Interface at the Symbian Smartphone Show today. Unlike their last attempt, this effort was demonstrated on a more Nokia-like concept device. The touch-interface supports haptic feedback and accepts both finger and stylus inputs depending upon the display technology used. Feast your eyes on the video after the break until all the details become available.Update: The press release is out and with it, more information about the new S60 software: existing S60 3rd Edition apps will run on touch-enabled devices unmodified (but can be further enhanced, natch); generic proximity and light sensors supported; a UI Accelerator Toolkit enables "impressive" graphical effects; and Flash Video will be supported in the S60 web browser. Available to S60 device manufacturers "during 2008." A bit more specificity please, Nokia?Read -- S60 Touch Interface launchedRead -- Nokia PR
Nokia's S60 Touch Interface demonstrated
Nokia is showing off their new S60 Touch Interface at the Symbian Smartphone Show today. Unlike their last attempt, this effort was demonstrated on a more Nokia-like concept device. The touch-interface supports haptic feedback and accepts both finger and stylus inputs depending upon the display technology used. Feast your eyes on the video after the break until all the details become available. Update: The press release is out and with it, more information about the new S60 software: existing S60 3rd Edition apps will run on touch-enabled devices unmodified (but can be further enhanced, natch); generic proximity and light sensors supported; a UI Accelerator Toolkit enables "impressive" graphical effects; and Flash Video will be supported in the S60 web browser. Available to S60 device manufacturers "during 2008." A bit more specificity please, Nokia? Read -- S60 Touch Interface launched Read -- Nokia PR
ASUS Eee PC models announced
They're here, the Eee PC from ASUS, just announced in four ultra-portable flavors. Models offer between 8GB and 2GB of solid state disk capacity, 1GB to 256MB of DDR2 memory, and 3.5-hour or 2.8-hour batteries. Each sports an Intel CPU and chipset supporting Linux or XP, a 7-inch display, and Ethernet and WiFi. A video camera is only available in the 8GB and 4GB models. What's missing? The fracking price that's what. No worries, we expect the information to arrive courtesy of NewEgg and Best Buy over the next few hours if not minutes. In the meantime, see the model breakdown after the break.[Via I4U]
Capcom reveals Bionic Commando for PS3, Xbox 360, PC
As is the case with the eponymous character himself, Capcom thinks it's time to implant newfangled "Three Dee" technology into an old intellectual property. Gamespot reveals that the Bionic Commando franchise is set to return in a new game for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The robotic revamp, cleverly dubbed "Bionic Commando," follows one Nathan Spencer as he runs from the law (he was framed!) through a ruined city (badds terrorists blew it up!). His only companion? The trusty grappling arm, perfect for swinging across gaps, hurling objects, rappelling down buildings and rudely reaching across the table for the salt.Capcom is collaborating with Swedish studio GRIN (surely you remember its Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter PC conversions!) on the project, which currently lacks release date and, as you may have noticed, a Wii version.
T-Mobile releases Motorola RAZR 2 V8
Right on time, T-Mobile has announced retail availability today of the Motorola RAZR 2 V8. Unlike its V9 brethren on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, T-Mobile's version rocks out with 2GB of integrated storage -- perfect for making use of the media player via that glorious two-inch external display. Other goodies include a 2 megapixel cam, myFaves support (naturally), and a subdued color scheme that should see a few more fans than AT&T's wild "mahogany" version. Conspicuously missing is any support for 3G, but hey, it's T-Mobile, whatdya expect? Grab it today for $250 on contract after rebates.
Motorola buys into UIQ
Nokia and Sony Ericsson are typically considered Symbian's two patron saints, but little ol' Motorola's got skin in the game too with the Z8 in the marketplace and the Z10 just around the corner. Moto's been warming up to UIQ, the Symbian shell favored by Sony Ericsson -- problem is, Sony Ericsson owns 100 percent of the platform company, which we presume makes for some awkward conversations between UIQ and Moto about the manufacturer's future products (seriously, would you want to share your most closely guarded secrets with a competitor's division?). It's all good, though: Moto's agreed to take 50 percent of UIQ off Sony Ericsson's hands, with both companies saying that they'll be working together in the future to push UIQ and its development platform. Of course, Motorola's commitment to Windows Mobile still seems plenty strong, but we're all for smartphone diversity.
Rock Band in bundle only until 2008
The last time we delved into the great mysteries of Rock Band, no other stand-alone accessories had been announced for the game. Now, Harmonix has confirmed that the music game will come in only bundles until 2008, with no individual guitars this year. We'll wait for the implication to sink in. Yep, that means that if you want the full guitar/vocal/drum/bass experience in 2007, you're going to have to buy a Guitar Hero controller. That seems kind of silly to us, but, hey, we're not the one's losing money.Also, Harmonix says that the game will ship with between 40 and 50 songs. That, however, doesn't include unlockable tracks, so the final song count (like so many things Rock Band) is anybody's guess.
Another week, another 10 new HD channels for DirecTV
This is a trend we can't ever get sick of talking about as DirecTV has now added new HD channels every week for the past four weeks. Up this week is a few more channels new to everyone as well as four regional sports networks. We'd bet DirecTV pushed up their normal Wednesday release for Fox Business HD, which happened to launch today. These bring the total new HD channels up to 47 in the past month. There are a few surprises here since Speed HD wasn't expected till next year, but a few we'd expected including, FX HD and Cartoon Network HD. Fox Business is a lot like CNBC HD, but the studio shots are actually in HD, so far it's the only HD we've seen on any of the channels in this batch, but there isn't usually a lot of HD programming on in the morning. Be sure to check out our updated gallery. Fox Business Network (359) HGTV HD (229-1) FX HD (248) Speed Network HD (607) Fuel HD (612) The Cartoon Network (296) %Gallery-8097%
Nokia's N95 8GB released with a Spider-Man 3 surprise
Nokia's N95 8GB super-chunk is out for global(ish) distribution today. N95 fans can now take home the larger storage and slightly bigger 2.8-inch (240 x 320) display in addition to the HSDPA, WiFi, A-GPS, and 5 megapixel camera already found in Nokia's existing flagship "multimedia computer." To celebrate the launch, Nokia is pre-loading Spider-Man 3 for Europe and select Middle Eastern and Africa countries. The tie-in? Wait for it... "The Movie sees Spider-Man's suit turn jet-black and enhance his powers and, in its latest incarnation, the Nokia N95 has undergone a similar transformation to emerge as the Nokia N95 8GB." Riiight. Hitting retail today for €560 (about $794) pre-tax and pre-carrier subsidy.Read -- N95 8GB says "Ship Me!" Read -- Spiderman 3 bundle
Hitachi breakthrough: 4TB disks by 2011
When Hitachi -- the first disk manufacturer to go perpendicular and subsequently break the 1TB consumer disk drive barrier -- speaks about advances in hard disk technology, you'd be wise to listen. Today they're touting the world's smallest read-head technology for HDDs. The bold claim? 4TB desktop (3.5-inch) and 1TB laptop (2.5-inch) drives within the next 4 years. The new recording heads are more than 2x smaller than existing gear or about 2,000 times smaller than a human hair. Hmmm, Samsung may have to update their SSD vs. HDD graph after this, eh?
Xbox 360 Arcade unboxed
Thanks to Emanuel, an intrepid tipster who went above and beyond the call of duty, we managed to get a full unboxing of the Xbox 360 Arcade before Microsoft has even been able to send out a press release about the thing. Whenever the console officially lands, you can expect to pick up the hard drive free console for around $299.99 (Amazon said $279.99), which includes a 256MB Memory Card, a Wireless controller, an HDMI port minus the cable, and a disc that includes copies demos of Xbox LIVE Arcade games Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Luxor 2, Pac-Man Championship, and Uno. Check out the full gallery below.Update: We added some more shots from before the unboxing, including one for the eagle-eyed that shows the all important manufacture date: September 4th, 2007.[Thanks again, Emanuel E.!]%Gallery-8636%
Xbox 360 Arcade finds a shelf in the wild
Well, would you look at that. A Target store in Haverhill, MA has one of those Xbox 360 Arcade getups we've heard a thing or two about lately. If our eyes don't deceive us, that blurry pricetag is showing off a $280 pricetag, which isn't too surprising no matter how exciting a $250 tag would've been. Who knows how much more evidence it's going to take for Microsoft to finally fess up to this one, but we're enjoying the spy shots while they last. There's another pic after the break.[Thanks, Paul A.]
