Microsoft is preparing to update its Xbox 360 with another dashboard update. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s Xbox plans have revealed to The Verge that the dashboard update will enter into a public beta in late June or early July, with changes and updates in preparation for the next-generation Xbox. We’re told that the user interface will be refreshed alongside smaller Live Tiles, similar to what Microsoft is preparing for Windows 8.1. Microsoft is also said to be tweaking the look of the Xbox dashboard, with the possibility of darker or lighter themes.
We understand Microsoft is aiming to ensure Xbox 360 users can transition over to the next-generation console and interact with existing Xbox 360 users using messaging, beacons, and…
After acknowledging its Windows Blue codename publicly in March, Microsoft is getting closer to revealing all about the upcoming Windows 8 update. In an interview with The Verge this week, Microsoft’s Windows CFO Tami Reller provided some details on where the company is heading with its Blue project.
Although Windows 8.1 has been spotted in a number of leaked builds recently, Reller says Blue is simply an “internal name” and that the company isn’t yet discussing exact naming, pricing, and packaging details. All of those details will be revealed by the end of the month she says, well ahead of Microsoft’s Build developer conference in June. “Blue is an update,” says Reller. “That’s a good way to describe it, that’s a good way to think…
Jonathan Ive Is Making Big Changes To The iPhone's Look And Feel If you've been following any coverage of the new iPhone, you've heard that iPhone 5 users (or any iDevice users who have updated their gadgets to iOS 6) are complaining rather loudly about how terrible the Apple Maps app is. The new navigation app, … Read more on Huffington Post
iOS 6.1.4 Update For iPhone 5 Released I recommend downloading this update from the iPhone itself – Settings > General > Software Update – as this way the entire package is only 11.5MB as opposed to being hundreds of megabytes if downloaded via iTunes. Apple is also currently working on … Read more on Forbes
Maybe the Low-End iPhone Is Really a Mid-End iPhone What if Apple's long-rumored low-end iPhone isn't targeted at the smartphone market's lower reaches? What if it's targeted at the middle? What if it isn't low-end at all, but simply mainstream? Not a $ 150 phone or even a $ 200 one, but a $ 350 one? Read more on All Things Digital
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Apple has reportedly changed its battery suppliers for the iPad and MacBook lines to Amperex Technology Limited and Tianjin Lishen Battery, both Chinese firms, after Samsung SDI (Samsung’s battery-producing subsidiary) stopped supplying Apple, the China Business News reports. If accurate, this would be just the latest in a series of rifts between the two companies.
Samsung is a crucial component partner for Apple and will remain so at least in the near future, according to CEO Tim Cook on Apple’s most recent quarterly conference call. But recently, rumors have been swirling that the supplier relationship between Samsung and Apple is in the process of eroding. In the past couple of months, we’ve seen reports that Samsung had increased processor prices for Apple (which the company denied) and also claims that Apple was terminating the display supply relationship with the Korean company (also later denied).
The two companies are locked in a global patent battle and are each other’s primary competition in the global smartphone race. In light of the strained relationship, it’s natural that people should expect their supply chain arrangements to suffer, too. And there has been tangible proof; Apple did indeed remove crucial design components for its A-series processors out of Samsung’s hands and in-house, which reduces Samsung to just a manufactory partner. Apple has also reportedly been grooming TSMC and others to take over chip production in the future.
But for all the reports, there seems to be little hard evidence that the relationship is indeed collapsing. Put simply, Samsung has capacity that Apple can’t find elsewhere, and Apple has a very lucrative contract with Samsung, meaning changing their relationship quickly isn’t easy or beneficial to either.
This battery supplier report is just the latest in a series of indicators that the relationship between the two could be undergoing a slow but inevitable shift, but don’t expect to see Apple and Samsung walk away from each other entirely for quite a while yet.
The update cycle of consumer electronics can make a mess of your Kickstarter plans, but one new project that just launched is designed to provide a useful products that remains useful no matter what changes come down the road, in terms of modes of connectivity or hardware design. It’s the CompleteDock, and I had the chance to sneak a peek at an early, functional prototype at Disrupt SF this year.
I noticed it at a booth for a cloud services startup, and was immediately intrigued by its solid aluminum construction. It looked like a dock that was immovable, implacable, and designed to stand the test of time. And after going in for a closer look, it turns out that’s exactly what it was, but also with a unique, modal twist that means it can be used with just about any gadget out there.
Here’s how it works: The CompleteDock’s business end (where it gets connected to its data/power cable) is swappable, meaning you can change it out for a 30-pin dock connector to USB cable, micro-USB, or an Apple iPhone 5 Lightning connector. These will be available to purchase separately in case you buy new devices, but there’s also another wonderful benefit for backers: The first change is free. Meaning when you change devices initially, you’re covered.
There’s also a support that can switch out to accommodate different devices and different angles, and both a mini and full-sized version, depending on your needs, but for my money the regular version looks great with either tablets or smartphones.
The best part? This is already a real device, which I saw, and handled in person thanks to project founder Gligor Dacevski. The company has a manufacturing facility with CNC machines ready to pump them out. Compared to a lot of projects I’ve backed, they’re way ahead of the game, and actually stand a fair chance of hitting their December 2012 ship date.
I actually miss using my iPhone 4S dock, and I haven’t found a suitable replacement. The Elevation Dock looks promising, especially with its upcoming iPhone 5 compatibility update, but the CompleteDock is more multi-purpose, and seems sturdier, too. Plus, this may be naive, but I’m hoping this is the last dock I’ll ever buy.
Having put the phat back in phablet with its original 4:3 aspect ratio, 5-inch Optimus Vu, LG seems bent on releasing a successor already, the Optimus Vu II, according to a leak from Korean blog Bad IT Tong. The new Galaxy Note II challenger would carry the same form factor and 1080 x 768 IPS screen as the current Vu model, while doubling the RAM to 2GB, bumping the Qualcomm processor to an 8960 1.5GHz dual-core model (not the international quad-core version) and keeping the LTE radio from its US Intuition variant. It would come out of the box with Android 4.0, an 8-megapixel rear shooter, 32GB of storage and a 2080 mAh battery, judging by the leaked image above — all specs we’ve seen before. There’s no word yet on US pricing, availability, a stylus or an intriguing universal remote app teased by LG, but recent purchasers of the original Optimus Vu might be feeling left in a technology wake.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
LG Optimus Vu II specs leak out: double the RAM of the original, few other changes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 07:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Having put the phat back in phablet with its original 4:3 aspect ratio, 5-inch Optimus Vu, LG seems bent on releasing a successor already, the Optimus Vu II, according to a leak from Korean blog Bad IT Tong. The new Galaxy Note II challenger would carry the same form factor and 1080 x 768 IPS screen as the current Vu model, while doubling the RAM to 2GB, bumping the Qualcomm processor to an 8960 1.5GHz dual-core model (not the international quad-core version) and keeping the LTE radio from its US Intuition variant. It would come out of the box with Android 4.0, an 8-megapixel rear shooter, 32GB of storage and a 2080 mAh battery, judging by the leaked image above — all specs we’ve seen before. There’s no word yet on US pricing, availability, a stylus or an intriguing universal remote app teased by LG, but recent purchasers of the original Optimus Vu might be feeling left in a technology wake.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
LG Optimus Vu II specs leak out: double the RAM of the original, few other changes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 07:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This is a series of photographs of Lake Retba in Senegal. It’s pink. The lake has an unusually high salt concentration (like the Dead Sea), in which Dunaliella salina micro-algae thrive, giving it its pink hue. Neato. You know what would be even cooler though? If the Lost City of Atlantis really existed. Think about it — you damn well KNOW we’d have hoverboards and time machines by now.
Hit the jump for several more shots.
Facebook users rebuked proposed privacy changes in a vote on Friday — to the tune of 87 percent — but a thousand times higher turnout was needed for it to matter. As such, the company will likely proceed with the additions, which it said were needed to clarify current policies for European and US regulators. However, the company was sufficiently chastened by the anemic turnout of 342,600 voters to state that it was “pretty disappointing,” and spokeswoman Jame Schopflin said in the future, they will consider the vote “advisory” if numbers were too low. Still, groups like Our Policy who started the petition for this referendum might want to pick their battles better next time.
Tiny fraction of required 270 million Facebook users squeak ‘no’ to changes originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Jun 2012 03:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A vote on Facebook privacy rules prompted by 45,000 comments plastered on its governance page is likely to trigger consequences — maybe some not intended. With Max Schrems’ Our Policy site easily egging the number past the 7,000 threshold, the now-public social company must wait to see if 30 percent of its user base will object to the seemingly modest revisions. With the flock now numbering nearly 800 million, it seems unlikely that 230 million of them will bother to even vote, let alone strike the changes down. Given that and Facebook’s privacy Czar Erin Egan saying that it will now revisit the vote policy, it’s possible the only result will be a change in terms which could stymie future privacy efforts. Want to have your say? Check the more coverage link to find out where to go.
Facebook to put privacy changes to vote thanks to policy group, its own rules originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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