schedule
Latest
HTC 7 Pro arriving in UK and rest of Europe 'early next year'
So what if Microsoft's nicest WP7 slate phones all went to Europe and the rest of the un-American world? At least we'll have the HTC 7 Pro, the true Windows Phone 7 workhorse, with its tilt-sliding QWERTY keyboard and compact 3.6-inch size. Well, as it turns out, that device will be available in Europe too! We've just confirmed with HTC that the 7 Pro is definitely headed to the UK and its Euro neighbors, with the current roadmap set for "early next year." It's still too soon to discuss potential carriers, but we're sure our British buddies will be chuffed just to know the handset's coming their way.
Choose My Adventure: Psychopathic Hatchet
Choose the adventures of the WoW Insider staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H). Spoiler warning: The video above and Robinemia's recap after the break are full of Cataclysm spoilers. Above is what happens when Choose My Adventure is live (the picture links to the video). See the board with the nail? It was not the most appropriate quest reward for me. Yet the voters chose it because Psychopathic Hatchet was the best name and it wasn't a placeholder graphic. No, it's not a hatchet. It's a board with a nail. But the axe was a staff, so yeah. Anyway, Roblinator the goblin shaman is winning the polls. If you don't like it, go vote. Another Prupher gallery and Robinemia's recap are after the break. Schedule Anne Stickney as Annephora, the level 42 troll warrior, will play on Tuesday at 1 a.m. EDT (which is Monday at 11 p.m. Zangarmarsh time). Robin Torres will play the character that wins the polls: Wednesday, 1 p.m. EDT. This will be streamed. Adventurers who play when they can Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the level 26 blood elf paladin Lisa Poisso as Prupher, the level 14 tauren druid Michael Sacco as Shockbroker, the goblin shaman Christian Belt, as Selfloathius, the level 16 blood elf warlock Robin Torres, as Robinemia, the level 29 Forsaken mage Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the level 17 troll mage Gregg Reece as Sandwichdoc, the level 17 troll shaman
UK carrier's roadmap points to October 21 release for Windows Phone 7, over 2,000 apps at launch
The whole world and his neighbor's dog may already know when Windows Phone 7 will be announced, but when are the actual phones going to hit actual shelves? If you're in the US, that time still looks to be a month away, but the UK release window has just been narrowed down from late October to a single, albeit still speculative, date: October 21. Our tipster forwards the above snapshot from a Three UK document showing a "Windows 7Phone" nestled in between the BlackBerry Torch and Samsung Europa. Its Super AMOLED display tells us we're definitely looking at a Samsung handset, while the 4-inch diagonal suggests it'll be the Cetus (SGH-i916/7). This sheet of revelation also finally gives us a hint as to the number of apps WP7 will start off with, enumerating them at "over 2,000 at launch." We don't know why Microsoft's been so shy about that number -- 2,000 good apps are more than enough.
ESPN 3D will broadcast 14 NBA games this year starting with Heat/Knicks December 17
While ESPN 3D's NCAA football plans are still leaking out in dribs and drabs (Ohio State is featured in the next two broadcasts, hosting Indiana on September 9 and at Wisconsin on the 16th) it has finally released its plans for the NBA season. Basketball fans can look forward to 14 planned broadcasts this season, with eight regular season matchups and six games in the playoffs, including three in the Western Conference Finals. LeBron, Dwyane, Chris and the rest of the Heat kick things off with a visit to Madison Square Garden against the Knicks December 17, with plenty of highlight matches among those that follow. Check the full schedule after the break, with so few on the slate you'll want to make sure you're free.
Choose My Adventure: Prupher, Peenk and Robinemia
Choose the adventures of the WoW Insider staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H). Spoiler warning: Peenk's story and video on the next page contains Cataclysm spoilers. Robinemia the Forsaken huntress is currently winning the polls for this Wednesday's stream. If you don't like that, vote now! The recaps on the next page include Prupher's bearness and the death of two alts, among other things. But first, the schedule. Schedule Adam Holisky as Adammentat, the level 67 tauren druid, will play on Monday at 10 p.m. EDT. Anne Stickney as Annephora, the level 42 troll warrior, will play on Tuesday at 1 a.m. EDT (which is Monday at 11 p.m. Zangarmarsh time). Robin Torres will play whomever wins the polls: Wednesday, 1 p.m. EDT. This will be streamed. Adventurers who play when they can Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the level 26 blood elf paladin Lisa Poisso as Prupher, the level 12 tauren druid Michael Sacco as Shockbroker, the goblin shaman Christian Belt, as Selfloathius, the level 16 blood elf warlock Robin Torres, as Robinemia, the level 29 Forsaken mage Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the level 17 troll mage Gregg Reece as Sandwichdoc, the level 17 troll shaman
BlizzCon 2010 schedule of events unveiled
BlizzCon 2010 is just over two weeks away, and if you're anything like us here at WoW Insider, you're eagerly anticipating what's to come. Class panel discussions, discussions of lore, sneak peaks into the future, news about Cataclysm and even a dance contest -- there's something World of Warcraft-related happening just about every second of every day. If you're as obsessive about planning as we are, there's good news: Blizzard just unveiled its schedule of events for Oct. 22 and 23. Whether you're heading to BlizzCon in person or catching the event on pay-per-view, you're bound to have something worth watching. And if you're not headed to beautiful Southern California and don't feel like dropping your hard-earned money on a live video feed, don't fret -- you can always catch the latest BlizzCon news as it happens right here on WoW Insider.
Dell launching 7-inch Android tablet in 'next few weeks,' 10-incher to follow a few months later
Good news, folks. It's looking like the tablet pool will be enriched with another 7-inch contender, running Android, within only a few weeks. The Wall Street Journal cites Dell's Greater China President Amit Midha as saying that the 7-inch slate we witnessed Michael teasing a few short days ago will be with us "very, very soon." Reiterating earlier promises of a family of tablets, Midha claims there'll be "a whole slew" of new devices emerging from Dell's labs over the next 6 to 12 months, which will include 10-inch, 4-inch and 3-inch form factors. Android is confirmed as the OS on the 7-incher, but Windows will be making an appearance somewhere along the line as well. Plenty to look forward to, then.
Choose My Adventure: Prupher pictorial and Gilneas excursion
Choose the adventures of the WoW Insider staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H). Spoiler warning: Robinemia's story and video after the break are full of Cataclysm spoilers. You have been warned. Peenk the gnome priestess is winning the polls as of this writing, but some boring human to see the new starting quests is close behind, if you want to tip the votes toward that instead. Of course, if worgen females are actually playable by Wednesday's stream, I'll drop everything to play a worgen druidess instead. Recaps from last week are after the break, but first, here's the schedule. Schedule Adam Holisky as Adammentat, the level 65 tauren druid, will play on Monday at 10 p.m. EDT. Anne Stickney as Annephora, the level 42 troll warrior, will play on Tuesday at 1 a.m. EDT (which is Monday at 11 p.m. Zangarmarsh time). Robin Torres will play whomever wins the polls: Wednesday, 1 p.m. EDT. Note: This will be streamed. Adventurers who play when they can Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the level 26 blood elf paladin Lisa Poisso as Prupher, the level 12 tauren druid Michael Sacco as Shockbroker, the goblin shaman Christian Belt, as Selfloathius, the level 16 blood elf warlock Robin Torres, as Robinemia, the level 29 Forsaken mage Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the level 17 troll mage Gregg Reece as Sandwichdoc, the level 17 troll shaman
10-inch Galaxy Tab promised for 2011 by Samsung Ireland General Manager (updated)
Tucked away at the bottom of a news story about who'll be carrying the 7-inch Galaxy Tab in Ireland this year is the promise of a 10-inch Tab (presumably for the whole world) next year. This comes straight from local General Manager Gary Twohig, who seems to have casually disclosed his company's plans for a 10-inch Android slate in the first half of 2011. Beyond that, all we know is that it'll include the V8 JavaScript Engine that first showed up as a touted feature in Froyo, though if we had to bet our Led Zep record collection, we'd probably say this 10-incher will be holding out for Android 3.x -- either Gingerbread or Honeycomb -- for an experience better optimized to run on larger screens. In fact, that may be the likeliest reason why this new tablet didn't debut with its 7-inch sibling: waiting on a better OS. [Thanks, Iain] Update: The original story has undergone a bit of massaging since we first reported on it and the connection between Gary Twohig and the 10-inch Tab has now been removed. We're still inclined to believe the content, however, as Samsung itself has not been shy about its plans to bring multiple Galaxy Tab sizes to the world.
HTC said to have placed production order with Pegatron for mythical 'tablet PC'
DigiTimes reports can be shaky at the best of times, but this one takes the digi-biscuit. Reporting on an apparent order by HTC with Pegatron for the production of a new Android-based "tablet PC," DigiTimes claims the new development will help Pegatron achieve its goal of being one of the top four global notebook manufacturers. So is this a tablet or, dare we say it, a smartbook? Nobody clarifies that point, but specs are said to include a 1280 x 720 widescreen display, a 32GB SSD, 2GB of RAM, and Tegra 2 under the hood. Android Market support is also expected (huzzah!), though pricing might be steep at around $790 unsubsidized. At this stage, we'd be more surprised if HTC doesn't bring out a tablet in the next few months, but we wouldn't invest too much of our emotions into this report just yet. Maybe once Mr. Blurrycam decides to join the fray and give us something to look at.
Motorola 'eager' to get into tablet market, but won't do so until next year
Motorola's been thinking about tablets for a while now, but according to Sanjay Jha, it won't be entering that flourishing new market segment until it's absolutely certain it'll have a product that's "competitive in the marketplace." Depending on how you perceive the Droid X, Moto might arguably be said to already have a tablet out on sale, but rumors have mostly circulated around a 10-inch slate device, most probably in partnership with Verizon and most likely using Android 3.0 as its OS. Google itself has admitted that Android won't be fit for tablets until Gingerbread is delivered, and Jha's reluctance to introduce any new hardware before 2011 seems to be motivated by a corresponding desire to have the latest and greatest version on board from the start. Can't say we blame him.
Notion Ink Adam a week ahead of schedule, adds comic book store and replaceable battery 'concept'
If you ask us, the whole Adam tablet is a concept until Notion Ink delivers something other than promises, but things are looking up for the less jaded among you. Rohan Shravan has updated the world on the Adam's latest condition, disclosing a new replaceable battery 'concept' and the addition of a comic book store. We're not sure whether that means the final retail unit will or won't have a user-swappable cell, but at least we now know that both the Pixel Qi- and LCD-equipped variants of the Adam will share one body design. The switch that turns off the Pixel Qi backlight will do the same for the LCD model, saving battery power when you're either downloading or listening to the Engadget podcast. We're also told things are moving faster than originally scheduled and the FCC should get a look at this long-awaited tablet a week early. As to the rest of us? Who knows, but maybe there is a tablet god.
Rahul Sood sees an awesome, but distant future for webOS devices
Rahul Sood, founder of Voodoo PC and current innovation tzar at HP, has some good and some bad news for us. On the one hand, the way he sees webOS development from the inside of the HP Palm coupling makes Rahul believe that "everyone will want in once the presentation of hardware is in front of them," but then on the other, far less happy hand, he urges us to abandon hope of seeing that happen soon. We can't know for sure what his definition of "soon" might be, but it does suggest webOS 2.0 will likely be a pure software drop later this year, to be followed by HPalm finally unveiling the hot new gear sometime in 2011. Although that's basically what we were expecting anyway, we can't help but wonder why it's taking so long to churn out some new devices -- it's not like they're being made out of unobtainium... or are they, Rahul? Update: Rahul has clarified his tweet in a blog post, assuring us that we'll see an entire new portfolio of webOS devices -- replete with new form factors -- take shape over the next 12 months. That, he says, means neither tomorrow nor 364 days from now. HPalm's unification challenges are many and the roadmap remains fluid.
Choose My Adventure: Polls for pets and next week's stream
Choose the adventures of the WoW.com staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H). Prupher, the level 11 tauren druid, would like you to choose a vanity pet to accompany her on your adventures. Please suggest level-appropriate ones in the comments below and we'll have a poll for the favorites next week. The poll for next week's stream is after the break. Schedule Robin Torres as Robinemia, the Forsaken huntress: Wednesday, 11 p.m. EDT. Note: This will be streamed. Anne Stickney as Annephora, the level 42 troll warrior, will play on Saturday at 1 a.m. EDT (which is Friday at 11 p.m. Zangarmarsh time). Adventurers who play when they can Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the level 25 blood elf paladin Lisa Poisso as Prupher, the level 11 tauren druid Michael Sacco as Shockbroker, the goblin shaman Christian Belt, as Selfloathius, the level 16 blood elf warlock Robin Torres, as Robinemia, the level 29 Forsaken mage Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the level 17 troll mage Michael Gray as Grayfields, the level 17 tauren hunter Gregg Reece as Sandwichdoc, the level 17 troll shaman
Choose My Adventure: Patent and Foxlight
Choose the adventures of the WoW.com staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H). I'm so sorry I never had the stream last week as promised. I got sick, then The Spawn got sick and we had to go visit Great Grandpa who was sick. Boo! (The Spawn and I are fully recovered and Great Grandpa is well cared for.) You may have also noticed we didn't have our usual polls on Friday. That's because we are going to have them on Wednesdays from now on. Our adventures will be recapped on Mondays, which begins today with the return of Foxlight and Patent after the break. Ch-ch-ch-changes! But first, the schedule: Schedule Adam Holisky as Adammentat, the level 62 tauren druid, will play on Monday at 10 p.m. EDT. Robin Torres as Robinemia, the Forsaken huntress: Wednesday, 11 p.m. EDT. Note: This will be streamed. Amy Schley as Patent, the level 29 troll rogue: Thursday, 10 p.m. EDT Anne Stickney as Annephora, the level 42 troll warrior, will play on Saturday at 1 a.m. EDT (which is Friday at 11 p.m. Zangarmarsh time). Adventurers who play when they can Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the level 25 blood elf paladin Lisa Poisso as Prupher, the level 11 tauren druid Michael Sacco as Shockbroker, the goblin shaman Christian Belt, as Selfloathius, the level 16 blood elf warlock Robin Torres, as Robinemia, the level 29 Forsaken mage Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the level 17 troll mage Michael Gray as Grayfields, the level 17 tauren hunter Gregg Reece as Sandwichdoc, the level 16 troll shaman
ExoPC preorders open to all from CAD $649, tablet loses GPS but gains SanDisk SSD
First the good news, for those who've waited months to get their paws on that 11.6-inch multitouch capacitive screen: there's no longer anything stopping you from dropping a stack of change on the Windows 7-wielding ExoPC. Originally restricted to the first 1,200 dedicated fans, preorders are now open to all, with the 32GB tablet setting you back CAD $649 (about $624) and the 64GB version CAD $749 (about $720), with both models featuring up-to-160MB/s fast SanDisk P4 mini-SSDs and up to four hours of battery life. The bad news is that you'll no longer find GPS on that 64GB model, as the prototype didn't pan out, and we're afraid that September 30th ship date has already slid back to October 15th. Take a gander at our hands-on preview (or better yet, wait for our review) if you've yet to make your mind up. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Nikon wants to create a 'new market' with its new concept
We thought Nikon just wanted to join the burgeoning ranks of mirrorless interchangeable lens shooters that bridge the gap between full-fledged DSLR and pocket-friendly compact cameras. But oh no, as company president Makoto Kimura puts it, Nikon wants to create a whole "new market" with its next big idea. Noting that his lab lackeys have tested all sorts of eccentric possibilities, such as a head-mounted display, Kimura says it's time for digital cameras to move with the times and Nikon will be ready to take up its usual leadership position. When might that be, you ask? Well, in classic bigwig style, he keeps the roadmap tucked firmly inside the breast pocket of his smoking jacket, but at least we know that Nikon won't be sitting on the sidelines and letting whippersnappers like Sony's NEX-5 steal customers away.
Globalfoundries takes ARM Cortex-A9 into 28nm land, looks forward to 20nm chips in 2013
Forget the numbers, here's what matters: Globalfoundries' new production capabilities will lead to "smooth production ramp-ups and faster time-to-market" for its customers. Now consider that this promise relates to scrumptious 28nm Cortex-A9 SOCs and feel free to rejoice. The chip fabricator has just declared itself ready to take orders for ARM's systems-on-chip built using its high-k metal gate 28nm fab process. This fulfills its pledge for mass production in the latter half of 2010, but lest you think Globalfoundries is resting on any nanoscale laurels, it also has a 20nm roadmap to tell you about. It's very simple, really: expect even smaller, even more power-efficient silicon in 2013. We don't know if the future will be bright, but it sure looks like it's gonna be small.
Choose My Adventure: Death, dust, dwarves and distractions
Choose the adventures of the WoW.com staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H). Note: The video above and the stories on the next page contain Cataclysm spoilers. You have been warned. Above is the video of last Wednesday's stream, in case you missed it. Turn the page for recaps from Prupher, Robinka and Peenk, as well as the latest about the level 60 raids. Schedule [Update: Due to a headache, I am rescheduling tonight's stream for Friday night. Sorry for the inconvenience.]Robin Torres as Robinemia, the Forsaken huntress: Wednesday Friday, 11 p.m. EDT Note: This will be streamed. Amy Schley as Patent, the level 28 troll rogue: Thursday, 10 p.m. EDT Adventurers who play when they can Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the level 25 blood elf paladin Lisa Poisso as Prupher, the level 11 tauren druid Michael Sacco as Shockbroker, the goblin shaman Christian Belt, as Selfloathius, the level 16 blood elf warlock Robin Torres, as Robinemia, the level 29 Forsaken mage Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the level 17 troll mage Michael Gray as Grayfields, the level 17 tauren hunter Gregg Reece as Sandwichdoc, the level 16 troll shaman
Augen planning its next generation of tablets, not giving up without a fight
Everyone deserves a second chance, right? In the world of cheapo tablets, sure! Or at least that's our attitude when it comes to a company like Augen. Sure, it was just about a month ago that it released its $150 GenTouch78 at Kmart, but it's planning some future tablet products and hoping to right all those previous wrongs. According to the statement put out by the company, this new set of "Espresso" tablets will be unveiled at CES 2011 and will span from 7 to 10 inches diagonally. They'll still be aggressively priced and range from $200 to $400, but at least this time around it's planning for some with capacitive touchscreens. Other specs are of the fairly cookie cutter mold: WiFi, an accelerometer and more storage space. No word on what version of Android they'll run, but there's mention of a new "human friendly input." That all sounds much better than the previous GenTouch products we've seen, but by the time January rolls around there's no telling what the tablet landscape could look like. We'll be following this one to see if Augen can keep the caffeine in its system, but hit the break for the full statement and one more render.
