Apple: Snow Leopard release in Q1 2009
Posted by Jo
Oops. Jordan Hubbard, Director of Apple’s Unix Technology Group, made a boo boo. The slide above was pulled from the deck presented last week at the LISA (Large Installation System Administration) conference. Up until now, Apple had only been willing to say that OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard would be ready “in about a year” — that was back in early June at WWDC. You just know that this will have Steve fuming given Apple’s tight control over information. One thing is perfectly clear: the race is on for both Redmond (rumored to be shooting for a mid-2009 Windows 7 launch) and Cupertino, nobody wants to be second with their next gen OS release.
[Via MacRumors]
Read — Presentation [Warning: PDF]
Apple: Snow Leopard release in Q1 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs
While HP mistakenly claims that its sparkly new TouchSmart tx2 is the world’s first multi-touch consumer notebook, we’re still decidedly stoked about this here convertible tablet. Boasting a 12.1-inch swivel display (LED-backlit) that’s just dying to have your prints all over it, the tx2 will come loaded with Windows Vista, a bezel-mounted fingerprint reader, integrated webcam with microphone, Bluetooth / WiFi, stereo speakers, a 5-in-1 multicard reader and a LightScribe SuperMulti DVD burner. HP’s also delivering the oh-so-stylish Reaction Imprint exterior, an AMD Turion X2 dual-core processor, the firm’s own MediaSmart 2.0 software, a VGA output, Ethernet and at least one USB port from the looks of things. You’re supposed to be able to add one of these to your digital shopping cart right now via HP’s own webstore or Amazon.com, but both links currently lead to sections of the intarwebz you don’t ever, ever want to see. Hold tight — we’ve a feeling HP will be getting really official with this one momentarily.
Read - TouchSmart tx2 microsite
Read - Hands-on with TouchSmart tx2
HP reveals multi-touch TouchSmart tx2 convertible tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft ratchets down pricing on flash-based Zunes
Posted by Jo
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
If you were this close to snapping up a new Zune after Microsoft pushed out its 3.1 software update, boy, are you glad you held off. At least, if you’ve been eying a Zune of the flash-based variety. Beginning today, the US Zunes are coming a little more in line with their Canadian brethren by falling from $129 to $99 (4GB), $149 to $139 (8GB) and $199 to $179 (16GB). The Car Pack / Dock Pack are also seeing a $10 decrease while the Home / AV pack is being reduced $20. You already purchased two in the time it took to read this, didn’t you?
Microsoft ratchets down pricing on flash-based Zunes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Zune 3.1 update out today - now featuring Sudoku!
Posted by Jo
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Zune 3.1 update out today - now featuring Sudoku! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Remember when Microsoft was hit with a lawsuit over its “Vista Capable” stickers? How about when the judge unsealed emails revealing that after a long battle to promote Vista’s graphics-intensive Aero UI, it capitulated and lowered the requirements for the sticker so Intel could keep on selling its graphically-challenged (i.e., WDDM noncompliant) 915 chipset? Yeah, that was awesome. Connoisseurs of corporate drama should appreciate the latest development — the judge has made public a second batch of emails revealing that MS execs were at odds about that decision. Senior VP Will Poole apparently made the call to appease Intel, but co-President of Platform & Services Jim Allchin (along with many others who had been fighting for the other side for months) was “beyond being upset,” saying “this was totally mismanaged by Intel and Microsoft. What a mess.” The mess he was referring to: an unhappy partner in HP, which had spent millions to meet the old standards… and presciently, the lawsuit we’re watching now. Alright, maybe not so awesome for everyone.
More “Vista Capable” emails unsealed, revealing sassy civil war originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
Anytime we hear the words “incompatible” and “music game” mixed into the same sentence, we typically can’t resist the onset of a bitter beer face. That being true, we can’t say we’re too terribly bummed about this one, particularly since we highly doubt Microsoft’s Lips will have the same following as Rock Band and / or Guitar Hero: World Tour. At any rate, you should probably know that the accelerometer-packin’ Lips microphone will not work with RB nor GH at launch, though creator Keiichi Yano of Inis did confess that compatibility was theoretically possible with future patches. ‘Course, we doubt anyone will spend time on said patches unless Lips moves like a billion copies this winter, but we suppose anything is possible with a snap of the fingers and a pinch of pixie dust.
[Via Joystiq]
Lips mic incompatible with Rock Band / Guitar Hero (at launch, anyway) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment
Microsoft’s new Xbox Experience dashboard doesn’t officially launch until Wednesday the 19th. But if you signed up for the preview (and who didn’t?) with a valid console ID then it’s available now according to Major Nelson. What’s more, Netflix has confirmed its Xbox 360 launch details: more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes and 300 streaming HD titles. Remember, streaming is free for Netflix members who are also Xbox Live Gold members. The HD video streams will be limited to SD audio, however — multi-channel audio is in the works as are additional HD titles. Now get outta here kid, NXE awaits.
[Via Joystiq]
Read — Major Nelson
Read — Netflix
Xbox Experience now available to all who signed up, Netflix HD streams too originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment
Microsoft’s new Xbox Experience dashboard doesn’t officially launch until Wednesday the 19th. But if you signed up for the preview (and who didn’t?) with a valid console ID then it’s available now according to Major Nelson. What’s more, Netflix has confirmed its Xbox 360 launch details: more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes and 300 streaming HD titles. Remember, streaming is free for Netflix members who are also Xbox Live Gold members. The HD video streams will be limited to SD audio, however — multi-channel audio is in the works as are additional HD titles. Now get outta here kid, NXE awaits.
[Via Joystiq]
Read — Major Nelson
Read — Netflix
Xbox Experience now available to all who signed up, Netflix HD streams too originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Laptops
Dell is set to expand upon its Art House series of Studio laptops with three new special edition designs for (PRODUCT) RED. That’s right: now you can have an arty Dell and do some good at the same time, with the choice of three different artists: Joseph Amedokpo, Siobhan Gunning and Bruce Mau. The custom designs will be available on Dell’s Studio 15 and 17 models for $649 and $799 respectively, and a $20 contribution will be made to The Global Fund for AIDS programs in Africa for each one sold. Dell claims that the art is “permanently infused” on the casing and totally durable, so, just like when deciding on a tattoo, be sure you’re really committed before the purchase. And if you’re too cool for these designs, well, maybe your slightly hip, gaudy great aunt will be interested. Regardless, they’re available now online.
Dell’s Studio 15 and 17 get art-housed for (PRODUCT) RED originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Cnet’s Ina Fried is covering WinHEC, Microsoft’s Hardware Engineering Conference, and has discovered that Windows 7 has a new system-wide service that will offer very easily accessible geographical location services for all devices and programs. Unfortunately, their implementation seems half-baked in the security front, opening the door to privacy problems that even Microsoft program manager Alec Berntson didn’t have a convincing answer for. What is worse: They don’t plan to fix them for the final release.
In previous versions of Windows, users didn’t have a way to turn geolocation services on or off, since the hardware was accessed on an application by application basis. However, the user was able to launch the application—which usually came with his GPS device—knowing that it was a “good” program. Having no easy-to-use API also made it more difficult for programmers (good ones and evil ones) to create software for GPS hardware and grab the geolocation data.
In Windows 7, the new system-wide GPS service can be turned on and off by the user, who has the option to make it available only to applications as opposed to background processes. However, once you turn the service on, there’s no way to limit access to specific programs: Anything that you launch will be able to access the GPS information without even warning you. Berntson admitted that this is problematic, because it opens the door for spoofing programs that could use this information mischievously.
We only promise the control that we can realistically give to them, rather than trying to promise more than we can deliver, Application-based control would be great to have and it is certainly on our Christmas list for future stuff.
On top of that, following a question by an attendee, Berntson pointed out that there will be no way to give a warning to the user when an application tries to access the GPS. He said that, even while this is technically possible, it’s not in their roadmap for Windows 7.
As a close comparison, when an application requests access to geographic information in the iPhone 3G, the operating system asks you for permission first. This happens on an application by application basis, every time it runs. Hopefully, someone at Microsoft will realize how absolutely stupid this is and, at least, implement the warning service before the updated OS reaches the market. [Cnet via Lifehacker]
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