We know you're positively giddy with excitement to get at this OlivePad rebadge and ViewSonic is today fanning those flames of desire with a little bit of pre-IFA PR. Made official today, the 7-inch ViewPad 7 will try to lure in Android lovers with its tasty Froyo parfait, underpinned by hardware that includes front- and back-facing cameras, 3G for both phone and data transmissions, and a full-sized SIM slot. It doesn't seem to have an earpiece so we're unwilling to grant it the claim that it offers "full" phone functionality, but we'd be more worried about the unlisted internal specs on this thing -- the OlivePad makes do with a 600MHz ARM CPU and an underwhelming 800 x 480 resolution, neither of which should be making the iPad quake in its well padded boots. Price is expected to be "no more than £350" ($543) in the UK, though all we know about availability is that review units will start showing up in October. Ah well, the wait for a quality iPad alternative continues.

Continue reading ViewSonic ViewPad 7 official: Android 2.2 and 'full' phone functionality

ViewSonic ViewPad 7 official: Android 2.2 and 'full' phone functionality originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I still remember my first 3D card, the ATI Rage Pro, so this makes me a little bit sad: AMD has officially killed the ATI brand. From now on, it's only Radeon and Fire Pro. More »

The 33 Chilean miners trapped a half-mile underground have made a video of themselves and the place they may be staying for months using a camera handed down to them through a bore hole. They even sing a little bit! More »

Explaining the differences between DRAM and non-volatile storage is about to get that little bit harder, thanks to Viking Modular. The company's decided to "borrow" the DIMM form factor for its latest enterprise SSD offering, equipping it with a 240-pin array to draw power from your spare memory slots. Of course, you'll still need to hook up a SATA cable to get data flowing to this SSD -- at a very respectable 260MBps for both read and write -- but we must admit we're in love with the very idea of it. This new design offers another option for consolidating storage right onto the motherboard and should help case modders yearning for ever-slimmer enclosures. Alas, the SATADIMM is only available to enterprise and OEM clients for now, but we can't think of any reason why it won't test the consumer waters as well -- if not by Viking, maybe someone else?

Continue reading Viking Modular's SATADIMM jacks an SSD into your memory slot

Viking Modular's SATADIMM jacks an SSD into your memory slot originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look who's back. The LCD plus digitizer combo that we first laid eyes on last month seems to have leaked out again, still claiming it'll be part of Apple's upcoming (unannounced, but popular knowledge anyway) iPod touch 4th generation refresh. It continues to insist it'll have a front-facing camera, pointing to the rounded hole in its forehead as evidence, and we're now inclined to trust it that little bit more given the leaking site's prior record. A visual inspection reveals it to have the same fused design as on the iPhone 4, which naturally invites speculation that the retina display will be pulling some PMP duty as well. Skip past the break to see the new screen side-by-side with Apple's latest phone display and third-gen iPod touch hardware.

Continue reading Possible iPod touch LCD and digitizer assembly compared to older gen, iPhone 4 (video)

Possible iPod touch LCD and digitizer assembly compared to older gen, iPhone 4 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that new licensing service for third-party developers that Google started advertising last month? A new exposé on Android Police claims that it's actually pretty easy to get around -- easy enough so that the crack could probably be packaged into some sort of automated script that breaks protected apps en masse for distribution through pirate-friendly channels. Though that's obviously bad news for developers, it's just as bad for consumers on Android devices who've customarily had less support from top-tier software brands and game studios than Apple's App Store has -- not to say iPhone apps are uncrackable, of course, but considering how difficult it's been in the past to turn a profit in the Android Market, every little bit helps. Let's hope a renewed focus on gaming in Gingerbread helps the situation, eh? Follow the break for Android Police's demo of the crack in action.

Continue reading Android's new app licensing scheme apparently easy to break

Android's new app licensing scheme apparently easy to break originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The original Motorola DROID practically saved Motorola’s wireless division (though we suppose you could argue Verizon deserves the same amount of credit, if not more). Following up on their superstar handset is the Motorola DROID 2 — couple refinements here, couple changes there. It’s nothing breathtaking, more like another option in the getting-very-crowded Android section on Verizon Wireless. Here are some first thoughts and our unboxing gallery follows:

• The handset unfortunately feels a little bit cheaper than the original. It creaks along the sides a bit, and we’re not in love with the design identity of the phone. It’s almost like Motorola went backwards when trying to make the device have a bit more mass-market appeal with the chrome, blue color scheme, and now more rounded design — feels like their vision wasn’t carried all the way through.
• The keyboard is slightly more pronounced now (the middle of each key is domed), but we have to say, it’s not the update we hoped it would be. Comparing it to the old, flat keyboard, we’re not sure what we’d pick. You can feel each key more on the new keyboard, but we’re not sure if that let’s you type any faster.
• The screen is solid — seems identical to the original DROID.
• Android 2.2 doesn’t really feel like Android 2.2 since it’s been BLUR’d and MOTO’d. We’d have loved this to be a stock Android 2.2 handset. This is basically a DROID X in a different form factor.
• All in all seems solid, and a great product refresh, though we do wish that Motorola would have pushed the bar a tad bit higher.

Click on over to our Motorola DROID 2 unboxing gallery!

Last Throwback Thursday, we covered the NES Zapper; a well known and respected Nintendo accessory. This week, we are going to go a little bit more obscure… with the Power Glove. The Power Glove was an accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System that never really took off. Made in 1989 by U.S. toy company Mattel, the Glove was a wearable NES controller that was meant to track the movements of your hand in order to control gameplay. While we never owned a Power Glove ourselves (a little too rich for our 7 year-old blood), we do remember it making a cameo in the 1989 film The Wizard. One of the more memorable movie lines from a 12-year old dweeb with teased hair was: “I love the power glove. It’s so bad.” Oh, and how bad it was. There were only two, count em’ two, titles released with specific Power Glove functionality; although you could technically use any game by entering codes on the gloves keypad. While sales of the wearable controller were — by all accounts — an unmitigated disaster, duality can be seen between the Glove and the current technology used in the Nintendo Wii’s Wiimote. How about it? Anyone have a rich uncle that gifted you a Power Glove? Oh, and we’ve got that awesomely bad clip from The Wizard ready for you after the bounce.

BGR Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear

Rumor has it that Apple will be scheduling its annual iPod event for mid-September, which is a little bit later than in years past. This contradicts rumors from just last week that the event would be held in mid-August. Apple has held these iPod events every year since 2005. Last year, they announced their September 9 “Let’s Rockâ€� event on August 31. With only a few days of shelf life left for this rumor, we’d expect invitations to start going out in the next few weeks.

However, as a rumor recap, whenever the event takes place, there’s strong evidence to suggest that we’ll see an iPod Touch refresh. It is likely that we’ll see a high-resolution Retina Display, along with front and rear facing cameras (just like the iPhone 4). The iPod Nano is also expected to get the refresh treatment, and some are wondering if it receive tiny touch screens as well. You might remember those. There may even be some iTunes announcements as well (cloud-based music streaming, anyone?), even though there are whispers that Apple is scaling back its ambitions in that arena, for the time being. In any event, let’s hope this shindig happens sooner than later — we’re counting the days.

[Via MacRumors]

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We’ve been on a little bit of a retro software bender lately, and today’s Throwback Thursday is no different. So, step one: open this YouTube link (it will open a new window) and press play. We’ll wait for you, go ahead… Back? Great.

Now, there is a rumor that one “Vick the Slick” — one of Carmen Sandiego’s mustachioed marauders – is on the loose. We’re counting on you, young gumshoe, to help capture Vick the Slick and track down Carmen Sandiego.

The original Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego was a computer game created by Brøderbund in 1985. After its huge success in schools and homes, subsequent versions were made and had users trying and track down Carmen — and her gang of criminals — in the United States, Japan, Time, and even Space. The software’s leading lady quickly turned into a brand empire, and eventually spun-off into a cartoon, a board game, a book series, and a game show for grade schoolers (which originally aired on PBS).

Go ahead, let us know what your favorite Carmen Sandiego memory is. Personally, Carmen taught me what the meaning of spelunking is… to explore caves of course.

BGR Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets — and in this case software — of yesterday and yesteryear

A while back, Google made the bold decision to stop censoring search results in China. As a consequence of this action, the company is now a little bit nervous about its future in the country: More »

Google - Searching - Search Engines - Companies - Facebook

Apple’s iOS might be in the most dominant position when it comes to mobile web traffic in North America, but according to Quantcast, it’s Google’s Android that has been fairing best as of late. From May 2009 to May 2010, iOS traffic fell 8.1% while Android saw a 12.2% increase. Impressive for sure, but that isn’t even the best example of the explosive growth Android is currently benefiting from. During the seventeen months between January 2009 and May 2010, iOS  dropped 16% at the expense of Android which climbed 15% with the two now standing at 59% and 20% respectively. The accuracy of these figures are a little bit questionable as the data does not appear to readily reflect data consumed by applications. On the other hand, this data was collected well after the launch of both the iPad and iPad 3G but before the EVO 4G even hit the market. Regardless, we think it’s easy enough to draw an accurate conclusion about what’s going on here: Android is starting to take generous bites out Apple.

[Via ReadWriteWeb]

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Not long after it pledged to update the myTouch 3G to Android 2.1, today a leaked document from T-Mobile revealed that the carrier is planning to further kick it up a notch with the release of Android 2.2. In addition to that, myTouch 3G owners will also get an updated version of the Faves Gallery alongside the addition to the Genius button and support for Exchange. No word yet on when the update will actually drop, but we imagine this update will involve at least a little bit of an agonizing wait.

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The frequency of major Android OS releases will soon slow down considerably, Google’s VP of engineering Andy Rubin said in an interview on Monday. Instead of several major releases per year (2009 saw three major releases), Rubin said Android is headed towards a more mature phase of its life cycle in which the number of updates must be controlled to allow developers to catch up. In other words, expect to see two or even one major release per year. Here are Rubin’s own words:

We’ve gone through a lot of product iterations because we had to bring the product up to market spec. Quite honestly, the product when we launched it, it didn’t really feel like a 1.0, it felt like kind of an 0.8, but it was a window of opportunity and the market needed an entrant at the holiday season. So we launched it, and from our internal 0.8, we got to 1.0 pretty quickly, and we went through this iteration cycle. You’ve noticed, probably, that that’s slowed down a little bit. Our product cycle is now, basically twice a year, and it will probably end up being once a year when things start settling down, because a platform that’s moving — it’s hard for developers to keep up. I want developers to basically leverage the innovation. I don’t want developers to have to predict the innovation.

We know the Android Army is going to pounce all over these statements as soon as this post goes up and that fans of other OSes will invariably get involved, but let’s try and keep it clean and civil, shall we?

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How desperate are you to get Netflix running on your iPhone? Desperate enough to jailbreak, grab frameworks from your iPad, and do some plist hacking? If the answer to those questions is "yes," then the folks at ModMyi have something they'd like to show you. According to the site, a tipster has been able to get the video streaming service up and playing on an iPhone by making what appears to be fairly simple changes to his device; namely, boosting the iPad's MediaPlayer.framework and altering plist settings once the app was installed on his phone. It's not all wine and roses, as using Netflix where it's not supposed to be used causes a massive battery drain (go figure), and there are issues with crashing and 3G playback (two more unsurprising problems). Still, it can be done, and this is just the start -- so if you want to get in on the party (and maybe even help out a little bit), hit the read link and see what it's all about.

[Thanks, Cody]

Netflix for iPad hacked and running on iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 May 2010 13:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yesterday, Google announced a new feature for its world dominating popular search engine, SSL. By simply directing your web browser to https://www.google.com you can take advantage of a secure, fully encrypted web query. Here is what Google had to say about their latest beta feature:

This secured channel helps protect your search terms and your search results pages from being intercepted by a third party on your network [...] Google will still maintain search data to improve your search quality and to provide better service. Searching over SSL doesn’t reduce the data sent to Google — it only hides that data from third parties who seek it.

The HTTPS Google variant seems a little bit more cumbersome than its unencrypted big brother, but hey, no pain no gain right? How about it, is anyone going to use the secure socket’ed version for all their Googling from now on?

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Between Sprint and Best Buy locations, there shouldn't be any shortage of opportunities to score an EVO 4G next month -- assuming inventory holds up, of course -- but Radio Shack's getting in the game, too, and it's sweetening the deal just a little bit. If you reserve a phone prior to launch by purchasing a $50 gift card (which you'll presumably use in June to help pay for the purchase), they'll toss in a $20 credit toward accessories when you come back in. Of course, these days, that doesn't even get you all the way to affording a freaking wall charger, but it's better than a punch in the nose.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Radio Shack taking EVO 4G preorders for $50 deposit, will toss in $20 for accessories originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 18:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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