Acer's just told us that it has "no imminent plans" to bring the dual-booting Android and Windows XP Aspire One D255 stateside, and after seeing an in-depth video (no, really it's 14 minutes long!) of the 10-inch netbook in action we can't say we're all that upset about the news. Yep, the NetbookNews team snatched up a light blue version of the new netbook in Taipei, and though they were impressed with the thin design and included case, they had less positive things to say on the software end. Not only is the Windows XP desktop ridden with crapware, but the Android implementation is still half baked. Similar to the first generation Acer Aspire One D250, the Android 2.1 interface is really only good for searching the web and checking e-mail since it doesn't have access to the Market. Of course, we urge you to sit back and watch the lengthy hands-on video after the break to make your own call on this $299 lappie, but ultimately, we're assuming you'll have the same question as us: Acer, how's that Chrome OS netbook coming along?

Continue reading Android-booting Acer Aspire One D255 extensively demoed, yet far from loved on video

Android-booting Acer Aspire One D255 extensively demoed, yet far from loved on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  NetbookNews  | Email this | Comments

Following up on a story we posted this morning, Google has released a statement in response to the lawsuit filed by Oracle over the search giant’s implementation of Java in Android. The statement looks like this:

We are disappointed Oracle has chosen to attack both Google and the open-source Java community with this baseless lawsuit. The open-source Java community goes beyond any one corporation and works every day to make the web a better place. We will strongly defend open-source standards and will continue to work with the industry to develop the Android platform.

As reported by USA Today, Oracle is, “seeking an injunction and unspecified damages,” although the suit is most likely “part of a larger negotiating effort by Oracle to land a sizable licensing fee.” Oracle has yet to release an official statement defending the merits of the suit.

Read

Alright, I need to get this off my chest. I’m an iPhone user, and as such the one thing that makes me stark-raving green with envy is Android’s implementation of Google Maps (and Google Voice, but mostly Maps). Full OS integration? Check. Free turn-by-turn navigation? Check. And — as of today — location aware venue recommendations? Check.

Google has introduced a new feature into the Maps for Android application that aims to bring Yelp-like, location based functionality right to your phone. Search restaurants, coffee shops, bars, ATM’s, gas stations… you name it. The new Places application gives you one-touch access to reviews, directions, pertinent venue information and more. All this is neatly wrapped up and packed into the latest Maps update and integrated right into the Android OS. Version 4.4, is in the Android Market and available for download now. Go get em!

Read

According to BP officials, the implementation of their latest containment seal at the Deepwater Horizon rig has been successful. That means that for the first time in months, no new oil is gushing into the Gulf. More »

According to BP officials, the implementation of their latest containment seal at the Deepwater Horizon rig has been successful. That means that for the first time in months, no new oil is gushing into the Gulf. More »

Motorola's quirky square-shaped Android 2.1 creation has just become official, courtesy of the company's YouTube channel.The Flipout brings a 2.8-inch, 320 x 240 screen (Kin killer!), a 3 megapixel camera with "one-touch" uploads to Facebook, MySpace and photo-hosting sites, and a refreshed implementation of Motoblur, which now includes resizable widgets, feed filters, and push corporate email. We hear that last feature is a real must-have with the target audience of this device.Video of the Flipout can be found just after the break, and Euro readers can expect it imminently, as the listed Q2 2010 launch date basically means it'll be out by month's end. Wonder how they'll price a curious creature like this.

[Thanks, Martin]

Continue reading Motorola Flipout official: Android 2.1 and enhanced Motoblur coming to Europe in Q2 2010 (video)

Motorola Flipout official: Android 2.1 and enhanced Motoblur coming to Europe in Q2 2010 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AndroidOS.in  |  motorola (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

Oh sure, having Boxee nailed down to the desktop of your PC is fine and dandy, and that Boxee Box will ensure that the same experience is enjoyed by all who plant their fundament in front of your HDTV. But we all know what you're after -- lemon drops. And a mobile version of Boxee. In a post today by the company, it expressed outright joy in inking a deal with Vindicia in order to bring a payment processing solution to the platform; slated for implementation "by the end of the summer," this CashBox add-in would enable users to purchase "premium content" from Boxee's programming partners via credit card, gift card or PayPal. It's a vital step in Boxee finally finding a revenue stream (something it confessed to needing on a previous episode of The Engadget Show), and better still, "Vindicia's flexibility makes it possible for [Boxee] to enable payments on its website and across mobile platforms like the iPhone, Android and iPad." Yeah, those are the company's own words right there, and in case you still aren't believing your eyes, chew on one final quote:

"Boxee's eventual expansion to these platforms will pave the way for universally accessible content no matter where a user is (we love this idea!)."

Huzzah!

Boxee for iPhone, iPad and Android all but confirmed in Vindicia payment processing deal originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 20:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Boxee  | Email this | Comments

The pun is so obvious it practically insults your intelligence, but we just can't help ourselves -- the iPad has just gotten a little more magical. Using the BTstack application that brought Bluetooth mouse support to iPhone, enterprising individuals discovered the same technique works on a jailbroken iPad as well, and hooked up Apple's own Magic Mouse to show it off to the world. Mind you, while this implementation does look quite useful, we do detect the barest hint of lag -- so it may not be your weapon of choice for pixel-doubled Doom sessions. Video after the break.

Continue reading Magic Mouse syncs with jailbroken iPad, enabling cursory cursor control (video)

Magic Mouse syncs with jailbroken iPad, enabling cursory cursor control (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 May 2010 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Redmond Pie  | Email this | Comments

You'll recall, studious little gremlins that you are, that we recently saw the venerable first-gen iPhone prancing about with an unusual little green droid providing it with operational commands. Well, the coder behind that project, David Wang, has now stepped his game up to the iPhone 3G, which has been outfitted with an almost complete implementation of Android. Audio support is the last missing piece of the puzzle, but the groundwork has been laid and it too should be ready for some unholy Apple plus Google action within the next few days. Downloadable binaries are currently being prepared, so we thought we'd help you fill the time with a video demo of the port, which may be found just past the break.

[Thanks, Andrew]

Continue reading iPhone 3G gets an Android port to call its own (video)

iPhone 3G gets an Android port to call its own (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 03:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Linux on the iPhone  | Email this | Comments

Google is certainly making good on their promise to again start acquiring companies on a pretty quick pace. Latest on the list is BumpTop, a multitouch 3D interface for the computer desktop. Chatter around the web has suggested Google might use some of BumpTop’s IP to give Android a makeover, possibly even making a 3D environment. Then, of course, there’s the fantastic multitouch implementation BumpTop has integrated into their UI and it’s pretty impressive. BumpTop raised $1.65 million in funding in 2007 and the rumored selling price is said to be $35-$40 million. Check out the video of it in action after the break!

A newly circulating rumor potentially sheds new light on that Samsung tablet which was outed earlier this week by Emmanuele Silanesu, National Product and Marketing Manager for Samsung Australia’s IT division. Despite the insinuation by Silanesu that the device will feature an Intel Atom chip with some flavor of Windows on board, this latest rumor turns that whole scenario upside down by claiming the device will be powered by Android. Details are sketchy but the tablet could feature calling via a headset presumably using some implementation of VoIP, 3G and possibly even 4G connectivity, and an ARM-based architecture under the hood. We have a good six months to elucidate all the details on this slate device but this latest rumor paints a picture of a device which is much more desirable than a re-hashed Q1. Cross fingers and hope that this latest rumor is the one that rises to the top when all the wheat is separated from the chaff.

Read

Want your stolen gear back? Don't call some gung-ho superhero who's as likely to blow up your small grocery store as he is to catch those perps, call GadgetTrak instead. The little startup company has grown since we last heard of it back in 2007, and is now operating a $25 per year tracking service that has delivered a statistically significant 95 percent success rate on reuniting gadgets with their owners. Available for Mac OS and Windows laptops, as well as mobile phones (BlackBerrys, WinMo, and iPhone) and even removable USB storage, the software's intelligent enough to remotely activate your webcam and ping the incriminating info back directly to you -- no data is sent to GadgetTrak. Check out some recent news coverage of the software and its implementation in local schools after the break.

Continue reading GadgetTrak retrieves 95 percent of stolen laptops, puts RoboCop to shame (video)

GadgetTrak retrieves 95 percent of stolen laptops, puts RoboCop to shame (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  GadgetTrak  | Email this | Comments

As expected, Apple just responded to Nokia's ITC request to ban Apple device imports with a US embargo request of its very own. Notice of Apple's complaint (without any detail) was posted yesterday on the website of the International Trade Commission -- a government agency tasked with protecting the US market from unfair trade practices. As you might recall, the whole Nokia v. Apple legal spat started with Nokia suing Apple for infringing upon Nokia patents relating to GSM, UMTS, and WiFi; a claim later expanded to include "implementation patents" covering a wide range of items including camera sensors and touchscreens. While the ITC hasn't agreed to investigate either Nokia's or Apple's complaints, it is customary to do so with investigations usually taking about 15 months to complete. We'll post more when the details of Apple's patent infringement complaint are revealed.

Apple retaliates: requests US import ban on Nokia phones originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Bloomberg  |  USITC  | Email this | Comments

Looks like Nokia is going all-out in it patent fight with Apple: in addition to the lawsuit it's filed over GSM standards and last week's International Trade Commission complaint, Espoo just filed a second complaint with the federal court, alleging that Apple's infringing several "implementation patents" that cover everything from camera sensors to touchscreens. That's three fronts in the same war, if you're counting -- the original regarding GSM patents, and these two latest over specific device technologies. The biggest bombshell so far is the ITC complaint, in which Nokia's asking the commission to ban imports of basically every Apple mobile product from the MacBook to the iPhone for infringing its device patents -- a strategy we've seen in other high-profile cases. Since the ITC has the ability to move quite quickly, we'd expect that case to be the primary battleground for the moment -- but remember that Apple has plenty of its own incredibly broad patents of its own to fight back with here, so don't expect a quick resolution. Looks like 2010 is going to be awfully good for these attorneys, don't you think?

Nokia asks ITC to ban iPhone, iPod, and MacBook imports, files another lawsuit against Apple originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Nokia Views  |  ITC complaint (PDF), Federal complaint (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

Microsoft and Kia formalize partnership, Uvo is born originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

If you thought the automakers would be leaving CES to the TV and PMP makers, Ford would like to have a word with you. A few words, actually. Aside from announcing that in-car WiFi will be available next year, the iconic blue oval is today calling itself the first car manufacturer to offer factory-installed HD Radio with iTunes tagging capabilities. Slated to become available on select 2011 Ford models sometime next year, the implementation will enable listeners of HD Radio to "tag" songs they like via a single button press; from there, the song information will be logged within the radio's memory, and up to 100 tags on Sync can be stored until an iPod is connected to suck them down. Once that data hits the iPod, users can then preview or purchase them conveniently through iTunes. There's no word yet on pricing (we're being forced to wait until CES), but we're guessing it'll demand quite the premium.

Continue reading Ford becomes first automaker to offer HD Radio with iTunes tagging

Ford becomes first automaker to offer HD Radio with iTunes tagging originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

It's starting. [Live updating] Update: McG is making a Terminator 5.

6:05: Logging into the Warner Bros. BD-Live account now.

6:08: There's a Harry Potter one on December 12, apparently.

6:12: Trying to figure out how to log into this commentary.

6:12: Sorry, I may have already had a few beers before this thing started.

6:15: I think it's the Director's Cut disc...

6:16: Still loading. It's a good thing I saw this movie already.

6:17: This IS December 5th right?? Why are there no screenings available?

6:25: OK I'm in. Had to join the session by joining the invite from an email. My fault.

6:26: Strange, it seems to be text only. I thought this thing was going to have audio.

6:29: There's even an option to have Event Audio "on", but it's not working.

6:30: Someone just asked him what's up with the name "McG"

6:30: Long silence.

6:31: He explains his mom actually came up with the idea to call him McG.

6:36: There we go! Commenter dishab says I had to change to Linear PCM audio to hear it. How in the hell would anyone know how to do that?

6:37: And now either McG is silent, or the audio stream somehow cut out. But he is talking about how he wanted to be a Laker.

6:39: This is seriously annoying. How would a normal person with a PS3 know to flip back and forth between Bitstream and PCM Audio? How would they even know what the hell either of those meant?

6:40: Don't get me wrong; the idea is pretty great. To have a director give live commentary and answer questions on top of the movie is a good idea. But this BD-Live implementation isn't any better than it was last year with The Dark Knight. In fact, I think it may actually be worse now.

6:42: Here's a FAQ posted by dishab in the comments in case any of you are having trouble.

6:44: I'm restarting the movie to see if that will fix the audio problem. What makes it even more frustrating is that I got it to work for about 30 seconds.

6:46: OK, now it works again. McG is talking about how they wanted to vary up the ethnicities of the survivors.

6:46: McG: "Where are all the people that hate this movie? I want these questions soon."

6:47: They're going to take a break soon. But before that they're talking about Moon Bloodgood's boobies.

6:47: The transcript on screen seems to be way delayed from what he's actually saying. 30-60 seconds.

6:48: Five minute break. And then afterwards some boobies.

6:49: I think somebody forgot to pause the movie like they did in the Dark Knight screening.

6:50: It's just silence and no typing now, but the movie is still playing.

6:53: It's starting up again in 30 seconds.

6:53: They're back. Oh they missed the boob scene. McG says he didn't want to make it the "gratuitous titty shot in a genre film."

6:54: He had to cut out some stuff like a screwdriver attack to make it a PG-13 in the theatrical release.

6:55: McG just compared his movie to The Dark Knight.

6:57: Question: how do you feel about making the horrible Charlie's Angels films?

6:57: McG: "I really like those movies. If you don't like them you can fuck off."

6:59: "I want feedback from the audience if you want another movie or not?"

7:00: From the comments the director's making, it seems like McG isn't really a fan of subtlety. I don't want to get too negative or anything...but yeah.

7:02: In answering a question about if Robert Patrick (T-1000) would be in a future movie. McG said that he might be, if there was a scientist that wanted to model a Terminator after himself. (Yes, he took that base idea from Terminator 3, in case you were wondering.)

7:03: McG just called himself heavyhanded.

7:05: Question: "What do you want for Christmas."

7:05: McG: "Blah blah let go of materialism blah blah spiritual salvation blah blah douche answer." It was pretty horrible.

7:06: I don't know how long I can deal with McG's commentary.

7:07: And now he just compared himself to Alfred Hitchcock.

7:10: You know when you're listening to a stupid person try and use big words he doesn't know the meaning of and end up using similar-sounding words that are totally different? This is like that.

7:10: You know when you're listening to a shallow person try to come up with some profound things to say, but fails miserably and sounds stupid? Yup. This is that.

7:13: The moderators are picking only the positive comments to give to McG to talk about.

7:13: He just announced that he's making another Terminator movie. Seriously.

7:15: Here's a tip that will go down in history from one of the film greats. "There's two elements that go into filmmaking. There's sound, and there's the picture."

7:16: Oh and for those people who are punching themselves in the face that he's making another one? He said he's making one after that.

7:19: McG just confessed to verbal abuse from his father when he was growing up.

7:21: And now McG is being coy about making another one? I don't get it.

7:22: McG says he only saw one episode of the Sarah Connor chronicles. And he didn't "pay attention" to the third movie. No wonder none of this shit lined up with the third movie.

7:23: It's also unfortunate that the main two characters have the names John and Kate.

7:24: And now he's talking about a second or third movie again.

7:24: I'm doing this for you, by the way, readers. Normally I would have turned this off an hour ago.

7:25: Words, words, words. He's using a lot of words to say very little.

7:27: And now the audio is cutting in and out. I actually like it more this way.

7:28: Here's a good comment from djbneozen:

Do you have to be really really full of yourself to be a director for a major Hollywood production nowadays? I'll just say it right now; T4...not that great. The movie lacked substance. No wonder they aren't really talking about it directly. I mean, specificly about what was going on in different scenes, why it was shot from this angle or that angle or what they may have cut from the movie. You know, discussing the "directing" choice in the movie with the DIRECTOR.

Batman, on the other hand, spectacular.

Jason...by the attitude of McG, I bet he had a lot more beer than you tonight.

7:30: They paused the movie to figure out the technical difficulties. Namely, the no audio-ness of what's going on right now.

7:32: You know, I think this movie is the only movie I've ever seen that was actually better when watched on the back of 7-inch airplane seat screen.

7:33: Now I have to restart the movie since the audio's still messed up.

7:34: Apropos of nothing, I just got a spam text talking about debt relief.

7:36: Anyone else like Community with Joel McHale? My favorite new show of the season.

7:37: OK audio is back. I wonder what stupid comments I just missed int he last 5 minutes.

7:37: Aaaaaaand he's talking about Hitler.

7:38: McG says once the T800 goes out, it's "curtains" for the resistance.

7:43: Wow, McG just dissed the third movie. Seriously? "We just tried to introduce credibility." Holy. Fuck. He thinks his movie is better than the third movie.

7:44: McG asked viewers who didn't like the third act, and it was all positive. Hell, I even liked the third act, because it meant the movie was ending soon.

7:46: He says Sarah Connor is going to be in the next film, but he's not sure how he's going to pull that off.

7:47: McG just says he loves what he does. Well, if I were a horrible director (I am) and got handed the reigns of a beloved franchise, I'd love it too.

7:48: McG: "I'm disappointed in myself that I couldn't make the best movie." Holy shit. He just said he thought he could make a better movie than #1 or #2.

7:49: Someone asked if McG could use Christian Bale in another one of his movies, what would it be? McG then talks about how it's good to work with Christian. And then babbles for three minutes before not answering the question.

7:52: McG talks about how he could have made a "dark ending" and ended the franchise by having [spoiler] Connor wake up from the transplant and shoot everyone else. Then it fades to black and the franchise is done.

7:53: THE MOVIE IS OVER! THE MOVIE IS OVER!!!

7:53: Thanks for reading everyone. I hope this was at least somewhat entertaining for you, as painful as it was for me. It's time to go break this Blu-ray disc so I'll never have to hear McG's voice again. Good night.