People of the world: this is not a GIF. But wait, don’t leave! It’s something more. It’s something better. It’s a long-form GIF with an audio component. One that’s capable of high-quality visuals but loads more gradually, less choppy. A GIF you can jump around in. And it has a name that isn’t hotly debated. Now, you may be worried about this Brave New World of “video” — that’s what we call it, which is some foreign term for “GIF with enhancements.” Thomas Houston has taught us so much.
Stories of the day:
- 90-day trial version of Windows 8 now available to download
- Microsoft to begin banning all apps with ‘metro’ in the title from the Windows Store
- Windows 8: hands-on with your next OS
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 review
- Flash for Android…
T-Mobile might have just gone with the nuclear option when it comes to ridiculous smartphone names. Apparently not content to let Sprint’s Galaxy S II, Epic 4G Touch hold on to the crown for unnecessarily wordy titles, Magenta is reportedly launching Samsung’s T699 as the Galaxy S Blaze Q. Yep. If you’ve stopped giggling, you’ll be glad to know TmoNews‘ leaked photos and details at least hint at a serious QWERTY slider attached to the silly name. The Android 4.0 hardware should be a slightly detuned Galaxy S III, with the familiar 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 and 720p display being tempered by a more restrained 1GB of RAM and a 5-megapixel back camera. As long as a store layout document proves accurate, we’ll have the choice of snagging a Blaze Q at T-Mobile on August 15th… assuming the store clerk doesn’t get tongue-tied first.
Samsung T699 may become Galaxy S Blaze Q, compete for silliest phone name ever on August 15th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jul 2012 02:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sure you could argue 17,000-miles isn’t actually that close, but everything is relative. Compared to the rest of space that’s like the distance between your privates and b-hole. DANGEROUSLY CLOSE. Also, I don’t trust NASA’s calculations enough to believe there’s not a chance this thing is gonna smash into us. And THAT, my friends, is why I just sold all my belongings and plan on living in my car until the world ends. “But I thought you didn’t own anything.” What the — DO I LOOK LIKE A COMMIE TO YOU?
Astronomers say it will pass at a distance of 17,000 miles from the surface of the Earth – which is much closer to the ground than GPS and communications satellites orbit. In comparison, satellites that provide television and radio signals to the public orbit at an altitude of more than 22,000 miles. GPS satellites orbit at about 12,000 miles in altitude. The International Space Station orbits much closer – at a distance of about 225 miles.
Astronomer Phil Plait, author of Discover Magazine’s Bad Astronomy blog, says the odds of an impact on February’s pass are so low that there’s no risk.
“Asteroid 2012 DA14 is almost certainly not going to hit the Earth next February. And by ‘almost certainly,’ I mean it: the odds of an impact are so low they are essentially zero. This does not rule out an impact at some future date, but for now we’re safe,” Plait said in a weekend blog entry.
Safe my ass — we’re as good as dead! We need to get Bruce Willis and the rest of the crew on that rock to blow it up for us pronto. And, I hope you know I’m being honest when I say this, but I don’t care if they come back or not. “You’re terrible!” Am I really? Or just capable of being honest with myself on a level your pseudo-morality prevents? “No, you’re actually a terrible human being.” *revealing third tit* Who says I’m human?
No danger from asteroid’s super close flyby — this time [11alive]
Thanks to kyle and Brandon, who are already starting cults. Smart.
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Ok, so chances are you probably haven’t thought about Dashwire much in the last couple of years. Last time we covered the service was back in the halycon days of Windows Mobile 6.0, early on in the modern smartphone revolution. In case you need a bit of a refresher, Dashwire was a cloud service that delivered many of the ammenities we now take for granted in mobile device — visual voicemail, threaded SMS, automatic sycing of photos, and status updates. Earlier this year, HTC snatched up the company which last made news with the free, and appropriately-named, Awesome Drop for Android (which seems to be dying a quiet death in the market). Well, the actual Dashwire service has been languishing for sometime now, but the company has decided to finally discontinue it completely and, on February 15th, will be shutting down its servers and deleting all user content. So, if you’ve got anything still sitting up in its aging cloud, now is the time to reclaim it.
Dashwire closes up shop, all your data to get flushed on February 15th originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple is famous — hell, notorious even — for their culture of secrecy. With the strictest of NDAs, discussions between even the closest of teams limited to need-to-know matters, and whispers of creepy internal investigation squads lurking about, people in the know tend to keep their lips sealed up tight.
Unless that person’s name is Stéphane Richard and they’re the CEO of France Telecom — then they say just about whatever the heck they want. In this case, he’s stirring up the rumors surrounding the iPhone 5′s launch date.
Back in May, Stéphane Richard tested the waters by confirming that Apple was tinkering with the idea of a new, smaller SIM card standard. Seemingly walking away from that without any harsh repercussions, he today shared what he believes to be the launch date for the iPhone 5. In discussions with a small group of French reports, Stéphane mentioned:
“If we believe what we have been told, the iPhone 5 will be released on 15 October”
Gasp! Of course, it’s worth noting that new iPhones dont always launch in all regions simultaneously; while the iPhone 4 launched in the US and across Europe all at once, some countries don’t get the new model until a few weeks later. Previous rumors have pinned this newest model’s launch on days all over the first half of October, and this little slip-up really just helps cement that idea.
What do you think? October 7th? October 15th? Place your bets now. The winner gets to point to this thread in all future internet flamewars as evidence of their undeniable prescience.
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Not content to rest on its milestone-achieving laurels, Verizon’s trek towards an America blanketed in 4G continues to plow ahead. Hot on the heels of the operator’s last expansion, comes another 15 markets that get to surf along at blazing wireless speeds. Launching on September 15th in the western areas of the US, Big Red plans to flip the LTE switch on in the likes of Reno, Nevada; Moorhead, Minnesota; Fargo, North Dakota; Iowa City, Iowa; Canton, Lima and Mansfield Ohio; three counties in California and five additional markets in Illinois. At this pace, it looks like VZW might just hit that promised 185 million mark by year’s end. Be sure to hit the source below for the full pressers.
Verizon Wireless’ LTE expansion keeps on trucking, 15 new markets on September 15th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Release date info for Nokia’s sweet slab of Meego has been scarce, but now Orange Switzerland’s webpage announces the N9 is coming its way September 15th. Last month Swedish carrier 3 Group promised it would arrive there September 23rd, while some retailer in Kazakhstan is apparently listing them for sale August 19th. We’re not quite ready to whip out our passport and translator for a taste of the (not) zombie OS’s brains yet, but we’ll keep an eye out for any more release date information as it comes.
[Thanks, StinkyFinger]
Orange Switzerland is expecting Nokia’s N9 on September 15th originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Well, it looks like T-Mobile is no longer on friendly enough terms with Radio Shack to call it “The Shack.” The retailer announced today that it’s ending its partnership with the carrier in favor of a new one with rival Verizon, which will be joining current partners AT&T and Sprint. The last day to buy a T-Mobile phone or service plan at The Shack will be September 14th, with Verizon moving in and setting up shop the very next day. As Reuters notes, however, the move isn’t all that surprising — the partnership has apparently been both an unprofitable one and a rocky one, with Radio Shack recently alleging that T-Mobile had “materially breached” its contract. While that’s a bit of a blow for T-Mobile, the move seems to be working out quite well for Radio Shack — its stock has already shot up more than 20 percent today on the news.
RadioShack ditches T-Mobile for Verizon, switcheroo happens September 15th originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The itsy bitsy HP Veer, or rather, HP Veer 4G as it’s now officially called, will sneak into AT&T stores on May 15th. Nothing has changed since the last time the Veer made an appearance — well, besides the somewhat deceptive 4G label.
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