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July 28, 2011
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Motorola Mobility posts solid Q2 earnings, new smartphones and tablets inbound

By on July 28, 2011 at 6:31 PM.

Motorola Mobility posts solid Q2 earnings, new smartphones and tablets inbound

Motorola Mobility on Thursday released its second quarter 2011 earnings and despite recent analyst downgrades, the company recorded a strong quarter. Motorola posted net revenues of $3.3 billion, up 28% from the same time period last year. In addition, mobile device revenues were $2.4 billion, up 41% from the second quarter of 2010. Motorola Mobility shipped a total of 11 million devices, including 4.4 million smartphones and 440,000 units of its XOOM Android tablet. That’s a large improvement over the 8.3 million mobile devices the firm shipped during the year-ago quarter. CEO Sanjay Jha also told CNET in a recent interview that the Verizon Wireless DROID BIONIC will finally launch in September. In addition, Motorola Mobility will introduce two new tablets and two 4G LTE smartphones. One of the tablets will have a 10-inch screen while the other will have a smaller display. “You’ll like the look of the tablet,” Jha said. “The consumer and carrier feedback has been positive. We want to compete. We think we have competitive products in the marketplace, and we’ve got good design wins in the U.S.” Read on for the full press release. More →

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Software
November 26, 2010
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Nokia opens Ovi Suite 3.0 beta to the public

By on November 26, 2010 at 7:38 AM.

Nokia opens Ovi Suite 3.0 beta to the public

Late yesterday, Nokia announced the availability of a public beta for its new software synchronization suite, Ovi 3.0. The new Ovi has been in private testing for the past several months and Nokia is promising improved “stability, syncing and the experience with downloading maps.”

“We have been working hard to improve the quality of Nokia Ovi Suite,” reads the press release. “We have also introduced a new Home view, and integrated our music experience with the millions of tracks available on Ovi Music even more closely to Nokia Ovi Suite.”

The company is looking for users to download the new bits onto their computers and provide feedback. If you’re a Symbian user, why don’t you just go right ahead and oblige them. The full list of improvements and a short video detailing some of the new goodies is waiting for you after the break. More →

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General
November 4, 2010
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Throwback Thursday: Tiger’s Talkboy

By on November 4, 2010 at 4:20 PM.

Throwback Thursday: Tiger’s Talkboy

For this week’s Throwback Thursday we’re going to rewind time all the way back to 1993 (did you see what we did just there… try and keep up). Let’s take a trip down memory lane to try and get you into the proper frame of mind. In 1993: Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States, the band Ace of Base had a hot new single called The Sign, and Macaulay Culkin was regarded as an up-and-coming young actor… and still sane. In fact, you have a young Mr. Culkin and 20th Century Fox’s Home Alone franchise to thank for this product’s existence. Hit the jump to read more about… the Tiger Talkboy. More →

43 Comments
Featured
October 28, 2010
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Sony Internet TV Blu-ray Player with Google TV review

By on October 28, 2010 at 12:57 PM.

Sony Internet TV Blu-ray Player with Google TV review

Sony thinks their Google TV-enabled Internet TV product is the future of home television. We covered the announcement and played with the product a little bit at the press event, but there isn’t anything like getting up close and personal with something in your own environment. Your TV, your sofa, your own install and set up. Read on for our thoughts on Sony’s Internet TV Blu-ray player, and whether or not we think the future is here! More →

53 Comments
Rumor
October 15, 2010
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White iPhone 4 spotted, explained?

By on October 15, 2010 at 11:20 AM.

White iPhone 4 spotted, explained?

Blog Pocket-lint managed to bird-dog a jacketed-gentlemen at a New York City press event carrying a white iPhone 4. The albino iPhone was promised way back in June, but has yet to actually be released by iMaker Apple, Inc. The publication queried said iPhone user as to how he came to acquire the seemingly un-acquirable and his responses were quite candid. According to the anonymous man in the suede jacket, Apple has hordes of white iPhone 4s in their Cupertino headquarters; the iPhone-owner has a friend who works for Apple who managed to pick one up for him. The person went on to say that the reason the iPhone 4 is so back-logged is due to the fact that the white paint used on the “home” button and the white paint used on the case of the iPhone 4 do not match. Apple will not release the product as is. Sad for all those iPeople that love white phones. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment and will update the article if they respond. More →

110 Comments
General
October 1, 2010
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AT&T launches smartphone voicemail-viewer for U-verse residential customers

By on October 1, 2010 at 11:22 AM.

AT&T launches smartphone voicemail-viewer for U-verse residential customers

Today, AT&T announced the launch of the AT&T Voicemail Viewer application for U-verse smartphones users. As AT&T explains, “Much like an email inbox, the Voicemail Viewer app lists your home voicemail messages and allows you to choose the order in which you wish to listen to them. The app also provides a notification when a new voicemail arrives on your home phone, plus the ability to delete voicemails remotely.” The press release does not specify which smartphone platforms will be supported; navigating to att.com/vmviewer and entering a phone number — as instructed in the press release — results in a 404 error. Pristine. Anyway, it sounds like pretty a cool service for residential U-verse subscribers, thoughts?

UPDATE: AT&T has provided an alternate link for those interested in looking at the service: https://www.um.att.com/vmviewer. The application currently supports BlackBerry and iOS devices. More →

12 Comments
Audio
September 29, 2010
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Sonos Controller app for Apple iPad now available

By on September 29, 2010 at 2:45 PM.

Sonos Controller app for Apple iPad now available

We checked out Sonos’ Controller app for the iPad a little while ago before it was in final form, but last night, dear music lovers, the highly-thought out remote went live in Apple’s App Store. Pricing is set to free in typical Sonos fashion. Well, what do we think about the app? It is an incredibly rich remote experience that in some ways even performs better than the regular desktop application. The larger screen of the iPad means more information, more control, and makes using the music player and service incredibly easy and rewarding. Video of the app after the break! More →

29 Comments
General
September 28, 2010
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Clear home router with 4G and Wi-Fi passes through FCC

By on September 28, 2010 at 9:55 AM.

Clear home router with 4G and Wi-Fi passes through FCC

The people behind the nation’s first WiMax, 4G network, Clear, have sent a new home-router to the FCC for approval. The device, which — judging by the user manual — will be called the “Clear Modem with Wi-Fi,” will corral that sweet, sweet 4G signal (if available) and make it available to all your home devices via the 802.11 wireless standard. The router also appears to have an RJ11 phone jack on its posterior; indicating that their VoIP service could also be utilized on the device. Perhaps a little taste of the future of home broadband? More →

9 Comments
General
September 3, 2010
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Plex and LG to challenge Apple TV, Boxee, and others

By on September 3, 2010 at 10:01 AM.

Plex and LG to challenge Apple TV, Boxee, and others

Plex, for those not familiar, is a software company whose former creed was to: “bridge the gap between your Mac and your home theater, doing so with a visually appealing user interface that provides instant access to your media.” Today, the company has announced that it will be partnering with electronics maker LG to “integrate the Plex platform into their 2011 lineup of Netcast connected TVs and Blu-ray devices.” In the company’s announcement, they quip that when it comes to connecting devices to your television, a Mac Mini is “too large,” a Boxee box is “too pointy,” and the new Apple TV is “too tiny.” The company is betting on this free, integrated software model to be the future of connected televisions. The announcement continues: “Early next year, when you buy an LG Netcast TV or Blu-ray player, you will have Plex functionality built-in. Specifically, it will connect to a cloud version of the Plex platform for online content, and, if you happen to have a Plex Media Server running anywhere in your house (after all, who doesn’t have a computer in their house?), you can access your local and online content, in a rich interface, with full metadata.” The concept of integrating mature, intuitive media software into a TV really does sound like a great idea; especially for LG, as TV manufacturers are always trying to differentiate themselves from the competition.

“There will be more content providers investing in writing Plex plug-ins, so your online content choices will grow. And next year, if you’re upgrading your TV, or or buying an LG Blu-ray player, you’ll have the ability to get Plex, built in, at no additional cost. Fully integrated into killer consumer electronics gear, exactly as it should be.”

Yes, that is the way it should be. Hit the read link for more info on Plex and their recently inked LG deal. More →

13 Comments
General
August 16, 2010
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Verizon almost eclipses 1 gigabit network speeds with a current FiOS deployment

By on August 16, 2010 at 3:38 PM.

Verizon almost eclipses 1 gigabit network speeds with a current FiOS deployment

The folks over at Verizon have just dropped a press release to boast about a very impressive feat. The company has just “completed a field trial in which it delivered approximately 1 gigabit-per-second bandwidth to a customer on the currently deployed gigabit passive optical network in a live production FiOS network setting.” Now that is some speed! The press release goes on to say: “Verizon’s GPON platform supports a total throughput of 2.4 Gbps downstream and 1.2 Gbps upstream to customers connected to the PON. This test successfully demonstrated the ability to serve customers on the FiOS network with Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) service.” The actual speeds recorded were 925 Mbps to a local server and 800 Mbps to a regional server 400 miles away; Verizon also said the increased speeds did not cause any kind of degradation in FiOS TV or residential FiOS phone services. The company said that this test proves that its current FiOS network has the ability to scale to meet the growing data demands of its customers. How many of you out there have FiOS? Is it available in your area? We’ve got the full press release after the break. More →

47 Comments
Rumor
January 7, 2010
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T-Mobile to discontinue @Home service

By on January 7, 2010 at 8:30 AM.

T-Mobile to discontinue @Home service

t-mobile-@home

About a month ago, one of our tipsters hit us up to let us know that T-Mobile was probably in the process of shutting down their @Home service. The @Home service allowed T-Mobile customers to make home phone calls via a T-Mobile router connected to the internet. The @Home service was an available add-on to most wireless service plans offered by T-Mobile for a modest $10/month. Bad news for future @Home customers, though, because another circulating rumor confirms what we reported a month ago — T-Mobile has supposedly halted future investment in the @Home service. Current customers can continue to use the service and T-Mobile will continue to support it for the time being. Once the current inventory of @Home routers has been sold, T-Mobile will no longer offer this service to new customers, though. Any T-Mobile customers interested in jumping on board, should do so tout de suite. More →

27 Comments
CES
January 5, 2010
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Cradlepoint to introduce two new personal 4G routers at CES, enterprise broadband adapter available now

By on January 5, 2010 at 6:21 PM.

Cradlepoint to introduce two new personal 4G routers at CES, enterprise broadband adapter available now

cradlepoint_onred-logo

Cradlepoint, long-time manufacturer of cellular routers, is set to unveil two new 3G/4G combo routers at CES 2010 next week including a pocket-sized portable router and a larger home and office router. The portable router allows you to share a single 4G WiMAX connection with multiple devices via Wi-Fi and will even feature Wi-Fi 802.11n with VPN, WPA, and WEP for security. Better yet? It will support 16 simultaneous Wi-Fi-connected devices, a USB port for “legacy” 3G modems, and a run time of 4 hours. The home and office router is similarly spec’d and will include a single WAN port, four LAN ports, a USB port for 3G modems, Wi-Fi with VPN, WPA, and WEP for security, support for 16 simultaneous users/devices, and a backup wired connection if a wireless connection is no longer available. Cradlepoint also announced the immediate availability of  the CBA750, an enterprise wireless broadband adapter that will bring a 3G/4G connection into any enterprise environment. The broadband adapter will support 3G/4G USB and ExpressCard modems and will utilize existing CAT5 cabling to deliver wireless broadband internet connectivity to an entire company. The CBA750 is available now from Cradlepoint with a MSRP of $249. Both press releases are after the jump, too.

More →

5 Comments
Whisper
December 11, 2009
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T-Mobile discontinuing @Home landline service?

By on December 11, 2009 at 2:40 PM.

T-Mobile discontinuing @Home landline service?

One of our connects hit us with the following: “Heard that our new COO dislikes the @Home service because we make nothing on it. T-Mobile’s considering discontinuing it soon.” Now, to be clear, that’s not UMA we’re talking about but the actual home service that uses two T-Mobile SIM cards to provide you with a “landline” over a specialized router.

56 Comments