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LG Optimus 7, Quantum, and Optimus 7Q welcome Windows Phone 7 to the fold
LG was naturally expected to show up for today's announcement seeing how the company has been a longtime "strategic" partner of Microsoft's -- and indeed, they're bringing two models into the fold. First up is the Quantum (known as the Optimus 7Q in markets outside the US, pictured right) that we broke as the C900 back in August, a landscape slider equipped with quadband EDGE and triband HSPA (850 / 1900 / 2100MHz), 16GB of storage, a 5 megapixel camera with 720p video capture, a 3.5-inch WVGA display, and an all-too-familiar 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon core; as you might have guessed from the 3G bands, this puppy will be coming to AT&T. Next, the Optimus 7 (pictured left) will be seeing a much wider international release on Telus in Canada, America Movil in Mexico, Movistar and Vodafone in Europe, and SingTel in Singapore. What is it, you ask? Well, it's exactly what you'd figured by now from the leaks -- a 3.8-inch WVGA slate at 11.5mm thick with specs that largely mirror the Quantum's otherwise: 1GHz Snapdragon and 5 megapixel cam, notably. Both models will support "Play To," the brand name for the DLNA features LG touted back at IFA, allowing users to fling media to DLNA-compatible TVs, set-top boxes, and the like. Expect both the Optimus 7 and 7Q to start rolling out on October 21, eventually deploying in over 35 countries; on AT&T, the Quantum will run $199.99 when it hits in the next few weeks. Follow the break for LG's full press release.
In-flight calling and texting coming to Singapore Airlines in 2011
So, OnAir is still hanging around, huh? It's been quite a while since we've heard anything from the in-flight telephony company, with outfits like Row44 and Aircell dominating the space with their near-constant rollout of in-flight WiFi services here in the States. But for those traveling in and around Asia on Singapore Airlines, it sounds as if your flights are about to get a bit more connected, and potentially more chatty. A new in-flight connectivity system based on Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband (and a collaboration with OnAir) is expected to provide passengers on medium- and long-haul flights with "access to WiFi internet and mobile telephony services." This should, in theory, enable patrons to send and receive SMS text messages with their GSM-compatible handsets, send and receive emails on their smartphones (and laptops, we presume?) and potentially make and receive voice calls. SIA expects to have the first of its fleet equipped in the first half of 2011, with introductions to happen in progressive fashion on its Airbus A380, Airbus A340-500 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Sounds like a few airlines we know and love have a little catching up to do...
iPad hitting nine more countries this Friday
Apple has just let word out that it'll be bringing its super-selling slate to nine new markets. The Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore are all getting their hands on the device this Friday, July 23. We were just remarking on how the iPad's sales pace had slowed down recently, but this expansion in markets should move things along toward rounding the next milestone. Local pricing hasn't yet been revealed, but it's not like there's long to wait now. "Many" more countries are promised before the end of the year, so don't despair if your local Apple Store isn't stocking the iPad just yet.
The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life, 2008-2010 and beyond
This week, we cover the final installment of our summarized history of Second Life and Linden Lab (check out the first installment or the second, if you missed them). It's only possible to cover a tiny fraction of the events that took place in the space we have here, but the highlights paint an interesting picture. We'll be working our way from 2008 to June 2010, and looking at what future directions we expect from there.
RoboErectus Jr kicks, waves, dances its way into our hearts (and the Singapore RoboCup)
So, we've definitely had a few laughs at the expense of the RoboCup folks. Sure, the goal is admirable, and the amount of knowledge and skill that goes into developing these robot athletes is impressive. Until these automatons learn pick up the pace a little, howevs, there really is a snowball's chance that they'll be able to take on a human team. That said, these guys are learning new tricks every day. For instance, we caught some footage of the latest iteration of RoboErectus Jr., and it now has some good old fashioned showmanship to add to its repertoire of static kicks. See it bow, wave, jump, and dance at the Singapore RoboCup June 19-25 -- or merely check out the videos after the break.
Linden Lab laying off staff, closing Singapore office
Back in April, we observed the departure of what we estimate to be approximately 5% or so of Linden Lab's total headcount. Some churn is to be expected, of course, especially in a tech company. It seemed a little odd that the positions didn't appear to have been advertised or refilled, but sometimes that happens out of sight. Last week, a Lab spokesperson confirmed for us that the Lab still had in excess of 300 staff. This week, however, we're actually becoming quite concerned as there are signs of what seems to be a significant series of layoffs in progress at Linden Lab.
Singapore injecting $14 million investment into games development
[Image credit: WilliamCho] The Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore plans to invest $14.6 million in the country's video game industry. IndustryGamers notes that the money will be granted over three years to the GAME+ Program, an initiative that plans to "address the needs of the entire games value chain by providing support for concept development all the way to go-to-market strategies" -- with an emphasis on projects that are "internationally-marketable." The MDA will invest in "bigger-budget" game content like MMOs, create "financial management games" for social networks and mobile platforms, and assist start-ups on "emerging platforms." Wait -- is the decimal point on the $14.6 million in the wrong place?
Nokia E72 'White Edition' pops up in Singapore -- in white, obviously
Look, we've got nothing against the E72 in Amethyst, Zodium Black, Metal Grey, or Topaz Brown -- but we also know that choice is almost always a good thing, which is why it brings us such great joy to learn that there's an official white version floating around. It's not mentioned on Nokia's main site, but a quick visit to a Singapore-based contest that seems to have official Nokia ties clearly touts a white E72 and throws in an accessorized picture of it for good measure. It's said to be bundled as a special "White Edition" with a BH-216 Bluetooth headset and WH-205 wired headset and will retail for $327 when it launches "worldwide" later this month, so we'll be standing by for more announcements in sundry locales. [Thanks, Clinton]
Dell Vostro V13 is $450, .65 inches thick, available 'worldwide' today (update: video!)
You had to know Dell's comically secretive product launch strategy would eventually break down, and here we go: although the company is teasing an "unnamed $450 Vostro" to US media, Dell Singapore has just gone ahead and launched the thing officially as the Vostro V13, complete with specs. Oops. While Dell PR tries to put out that fire, we can dance in the rubble and tell you that Dell's putting everything it learned building the Adamo XPS to some more practical use in the .65-inch thick, sub-3.5-pound V13, which packs either a 1.2GHz Celeron, 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo or 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo with integrated X4500MHD graphics under that 13.3-inch screen. Sure, the design isn't as wild as the Adamo XPS, but the extra thickness means that it can accommodate an Ethernet port, along with eSATA, USB, an SD card slot and even a freaking ExpressCard slot. All this for just a confirmed US$450 on the low end? Okay, sign us up. Hit the Dell Singapore link for more pics and a nice 360-degree view. Update: Added a video after the break so you can hear Dell pitch the V13 direct. Update 2: It's now official in America, starts at $449 and can be had "worldwide" starting today. %Gallery-79806% [Thanks, Daniel]
Realm Championships and a 2010 preview for the TCG
The WoW TCG has just finished up their year with the World Championships, but apparently they're not sitting back on their laurels -- they've just sent word that their Realm Championships will be going down November 14-15, 2009, in cities around the world like "San Diego, Philadelphia, Helsinki, Manchester (England), Singapore and Melbourne." These are invite-only tournaments, but they're always accompanied by events that are open to the public, including lots and lots of TCG playing, giveaways and door prizes, and sometimes even special realms of the online game set up for players to join. If you've never seen a TCG event and one is headed to your city, it's worth checking out. Additionally, the TCG folks have outlined their plans for 2010 over on their website, and it sounds like it'll be a busy year. They're kicking things off with the Scourgewar release, including the TCG loot of the mini-mounts (finally, a pony!), the Tuskarr Kite, and a Spectral Tiger Cub. And later in the year, you can look forward to a Naxxramas dungeon deck, another expansion called Wrathgate (with likely more in-game loot to go after), and finally, an Icecrown Citadel raid deck release. Should be an exciting 2010 for the trading card game -- we'll definitely be watching for that new expansion and the loot items due out with it.
Ultra-limited edition Nokia N97 mini RAOUL launched for Nokia Singapore
Nokia's teamed up with fashion house RAOUL for a special, limited edition N97 mini. The leather-heavy pack will contain a stripe-emblazoned N97 mini with a custom designed Fashion Asia widget and a calf-skin leather case. The whole shebang will come in a leather bound RAOUL box. The production will be limited to just 1000 units (sort of good news for the calves, we suppose), so if you live in Singapore and want to get one, we'd suggest getting a move on: they're up for pre-order right now for 400 euro -- about $589. [Via GSM Arena]
Study: Singapore teens play 27 hours a week
The topic of addiction comes up pretty often when you're talking about World of Warcraft -- as Dr. Hilarie Cash told us, this is exactly the kind of game that brings out addictive tendencies in people who already have them. They've dealt with it in Sweden and elsewhere in the world before, and the most recent place to step up and face the problem is Singapore. This article talks about a three-year study that reveals some interesting facts about how and why Singaporean primary and secondary school students play their MMOs. The average amount of playtime per week, according to the study, is 27 hours. That's over a day of playtime per week.Still, while that seems high (and remember, it's just an average according to this study, which apparently isn't done until the end of the year), I like the government's take at the end of the article: regulating it, either by attacking the games or putting unenforceable rules on the Internet, just won't work. If these kids are playing too much (and generally the rule is that if your life is suffering, you're playing too much -- it's hard to believe that a kid going to school can play for 27 hours a week and still have time to do homework and sleep as they need to), then it's their and their parents' responsibility to get educated and fix it. Lots of people play MMOs, but it's up to those who do it unhealthily to get help for themselves.
Second Life content creators warn about scam site
Numerous Second Life content creators are warning their clientele that the Web-site virtualget.net (which has been apparently been operating for a couple of months now) is a credit-card harvesting scam. Whether that's correct or not, the site appears to be using the product images and product descriptions and trademarks of numerous Second Life content creators without their permission. The original images and text appear on Linden Lab's Xstreet SL virtual goods shopping Web-site. Numerous DMCA notices are reportedly being filed by content creators at present. We attempted to contact virtualget.net (anonymously registered in Singapore) for comment, but none of their email addresses appeared to be functional -- One email address was restored to function when the majority of the site was taken down a short time ago, but we received no response. Linden Lab, who has an intellectual property stake in the matter, was not available for comment either. Users of Kaspersky protection software found the Web-site marked as a phishing site several hours ago, presumably based on user reports. Update: The operation seems to have disabled access to much of the site in the wake of numerous DMCA notices filed by content-creators. Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.
Philips sticks to its guns with 16GB GoGear Muse PMP
Think you've seen this one before? Close, but no cigar. Philips' GoGear Muse doesn't deviate much from the path that has been chosen for it (and fittingly so, might we add), boasting a predictably glossy motif, 16GB of internal storage space and a 3-inch display. As it overtakes the Opus for the company's top-of-the-line player, it also gains support for BMP, GIF, PNG, OGG, APE, Real Video and Real Audio formats, and just in case you're curious, it'll also handle those ultra-rare "MP3" things as well. Philips asserts that users could see up to 25 hours of audio playback on a single charge, while watching Family Guy re-runs could suck it dry in just 5 hours. As with pretty much everything else that Philips produces these days, it'll first hit Singapore for S$349 (or around $244 in Greenbacks), with only a faint chance of ever seeing significant action here in North America. One more look is after the break.[Via CNET]
D.I.C.E. summit rolling to Singapore in September
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced today that its annual D.I.C.E. Summit will be going global. For the first time, the summit with be held in Asia, at Singapore's Suntec Center -- the same venue for Games Convention Asia. D.I.C.E. and GC Asia will open together on September 17.Among those in the industry planning to head out to the Lion City for D.I.C.E. are Masaya Matsuura of PaRappa the Rapper fame and Chris Taylor, founder and creative director of Gas Powered Games. With both events running at the same time, it would seem like a rather good idea for regional game designers to stop by the Suntec Center this year.
Oh, by the way: July 16, 2009
Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Thursday, July 16th, 2009: The Samsung Omnia II will go on sale in Singapore this Saturday, July 18 for S$898 (about $619) unlocked, while the Omnia Pro will be available August 1 for something under S$550 (about $379). [Thanks, Rixter] Remember that mysterious Samsung Link for Bell? MobileSyrup has scored the lowdown on the device, and it turns out not to be a smartphone of any sort -- instead, it's just a text-centric dumbphone (isn't that theme starting to get a little played out?) with a 1.3 megapixel camera and a 2.2-inch display. It'll allegedly launch on July 30 in your choice of white or black for CAD $19.95 (about $18) on a three-year deal. HTC has already managed to roll a fix for that Bluetooth vulnerability they've been dogged by in recent days. [Via pocketnow.com] Ovi Maps 3.1, N-Gage, Ovi Contacts 2.1, and a mysterious "phone memory update" are all now available to users of North American Nokia N97s. Early reports suggest that some users are having trouble getting the goods installed successfully, so let us know how it goes. Continuing a trend it started earlier this year on other smartphones, Verizon has gone ahead and unlocked the GPS on its Samsung Omnia with an official firmware update. The release also includes an updated WinMo 6.1 AKU, Bluetooth tethering support through VZ Access Manager, and some memory fixes. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Timezone confusion baffles eager 3.0 downloaders
We're not innocent of error, and on occasion we create our own dramatic bits of fail, but in this case we can help clarify things: If you are visiting an "official Apple site" that shows a release date of June 18 for the iPhone 3.0 software update, take a closer look at that URL before you start jumping up and down in panic. Yes, that 'sg' does indeed signify that you are looking at the Singapore version of Apple's site, even if PC World mistakenly says that the US site has been updated with the "delayed" release date -- they are also linking to the incorrect URL. ComputerWorld has the correct info. Of course, Singapore is not on Pacific Time, but you can see here how the 10 am PT slot shows up around the globe. We're also getting links from folks mistakenly pointing to the Australia version of the site and saying "It's out now!!" Please, do yourself a solid and check in iTunes or in Terminal before engaging full freakout mode. How did this spin out of control? A tweet sometime last night, from whom we do not yet know, with the Singapore link that got picked up and amplified over and over again. We did our best to squelch it, but it keeps coming back. The good news is, with any luck we'll all be on track with our watches very soon. In the meantime, you can visit us on Twitter at our new Q&A address -- @ask_tuaw -- or, for some tunes to keep your mind off your anticipation, click through to the second half of this post for a custom TUAW's "Music To Wait For Upgrades By" playlist.
Nokia's Ovi store makes soft landing in a few markets, might be headed to your neck of the woods soon
With that May launch window closing fast, it looks like Nokia might get Ovi Store in under the proverbial wire: it just went live on Vodafone in Australia, which was soon followed by other carriers, and then Ireland and Singapore. According to a post that was subsequently pulled from Nokia's Conversations blog, Nokia confirmed the rollout and said that it was progressively moving the Ovi Store to "production servers," and that we could "expect a broader announcement and consumer availability soon." Unfortunately, since that post has been pulled, we're not really sure what to expect, but at least the lucky few with Ovi can beam back important missives on their Twittix apps about what life is like in the future. Above are shots of the store live on an N97.
LucasArts details The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes
It's true, last week's peek at Krome Studios' upcoming take on Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars left our midichlorian count at an all-time low. Now publisher LucasArts has made things official, laying out what we can expect from The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes.The game, which will force grip retail shelves on September 15, will feature "run-and-gun" gameplay and 30 different missions, each plucked from "key" events in the animated series' debut run. Republic Heroes will also support two-player online and offline co-op, as well as the ability to drop in and out of multiplayer matches "seamlessly."Lastly, LucasArts adds that its Singapore branch is handling on the DS version of the game, something we already suspected. Now, with our force powers slightly charged, we're going to see if we can lift our expectations out of the Dagobah swamp. %Gallery-63185%%Gallery-63184%
Unlocked HTC Touch Pro2 to retail for $880, Touch Diamond2 for $725
HTC's been pretty coy with pricing on the Touch Pro2 and Touch Diamond2, but now that units are starting to trickle out overseas, the numbers situation is getting slightly clearer. HTC's just announced that an unlocked Pro2 will set Singaporeans back S$1,328 ($887), while a Diamond2 will hit 'em up for S$1,088 ($726) -- a little more than in Taiwan, but probably close to what we'll see off-contract in the States. A little rich for our blood, though -- let's hope T-Mobile cleans the goo off soon.[Via Unwired View]
