Epson's Android-powered display glasses: do want...don't know why
Proving that head-mounted displays aren't just PC peripherals, Japanese electronics company Epson on Wednesday launched the Moverio BT-100, the first self-contained, Android-powered head-mounted display.
The $699.99 unit include stereoscopic .52-inch (960×540) TFT LCD displays that create a perceived 80-inch display, which is powered by Android 2.2 touch navigation. Since you can't touch the actual screen without jabbing yourself in the eyeball, all touch interface activity is done through a handheld touch pad.
NTIA says public and private sectors could share 95 MHz of wireless spectrum for broadband
This week, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that they have isolated 95 MHz of "prime" wireless spectrum that could be repurposed for mobile broadband uses.
The 1755–1850 MHz band was examined by NTIA as potentially viable for commercial wireless broadband services (.pdf here.) Currently, more than 20 federal agencies own more than 3,100 individual frequency assignments in this band. Their uses range from law enforcement surveillance, to military tactical communications, to unmanned aerial vehicles, to guided munitions.
AVG rolls out two types of 'Do Not Track' in latest antivirus service pack
Dutch security company AVG on Tuesday rolled out the 2012 service pack for all of its security products which adds the new "Do Not Track" and WiFi Guard features to the protections it offers users.
The service pack includes both Passive and Active Do Not Track (DNT) features that are turned on by default as soon as the software is installed. Passive DNT is the World Wide Web Consortium standard HTTP header request, that allows users to browse sites without being tracked.
BlueStacks Android App Player for Windows launches in beta, adds major new features
After a little more than six months in Alpha, the BlueStacks Android App Player has officially been released in beta.
This environment lets users run Android applications on their Windows machine, and it translates the touch- and sensor-based inputs into mouse and keyboard gestures. With this beta release, BlueStacks has added support for accelerometer commands, pinch-to-zoom inputs, and most importantly, support for apps that utilize Android's NDK.
Nokia Lumia 900 launches at $99 on AT&T
Monday, U.S. wireless carrier AT&T announced the Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone will be available on April 8 for $99.99 with a two-year contract, and in addition to the cyan, magenta and black versions we have already seen, there will also be a gloss white version available on April 22.
AT&T on Monday announced its round of pre-orders will begin on the afternoon of March 30 on the AT&T website.
Nvidia launches new Kepler GPU family
Graphics company Nvidia on Thursday launched its new GeForce GTX 680 and 600m GPUs, which were built using the next-generation Kepler architecture and the 28nm process, replacing the two-year old Fermi architecture.
With the new Kepler GPUs, Nvidia focused on creating faster, smoother, and overall better graphics that were much more energy efficient.
Windows Phone launches in world's biggest mobile market, China
Microsoft and Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC announced on Wednesday that the first Windows Phones have finally begun selling in China. The first device for sale in the country is the 4.7" HTC Eternity, which will be available to the Chinese market unlocked.
Microsoft was expected to launch Windows Phone in China some time in the first half of the year, and this is the first major platform announcement the company has made for the market.
HP combines printing and PCs in new business unit
Since last year, leading systems vendor Hewlett-Packard has been assessing the future of its PC division, known as the Personal Systems Group. Today, HP announced its PSG will merge with its Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) in a combined business group known as the Printing and Personal Systems Group.
At the end of last year, HP examined a potential spin-off of the PSG, but ultimately decided against the idea, since the division was so tightly integrated into HP's overall structure.
Internal issues still cause more data loss than outside attacks, says report
The Ponemon Institute, sponsored by security software company Symantec, released on Tuesday its seventh annual Cost of Data Breach Report, which analyzes and quantifies the financial impact of data breach incidents around the world.
This year, the Institute looked at the security data from 49 companies in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, India and Italy, and interviews with over 400 individuals from these companies were conducted over nine months in 2011.
Developer interest in HTML5 soars, BlackBerry plummets
Market research firm IDC and mobile platform services company Appcelerator have released the results of a developer survey that examined the attitudes, ideas, and plans of mobile application developers in the first quarter of 2012.
Principal among the survey items was developer interest in platforms. Unsurprisingly, iOS remained the top platform for developers, followed by Android (phone). Third place, beating out Android tablets, and indeed all the remaining mobile platforms, was HTML5 Mobile Web.
Microsoft snags longtime Verizon Wireless marketing guru for Windows Phone
Some new executive talent has been added to Microsoft in its big marketing push behind Windows Phone, former McCann Erickson New York president Thom Gruhler.
For eight years, Gruhler led the Verizon Wireless account for McCann, which at $1.9 billion was the agency's biggest U.S. account. Because of his role in that account, Gruhler was named president of the flagship New York office in 2009.
Seagate promises quantum leap in storage: 2TB laptop drives
Seagate, the world's number two hard drive maker by market share, announced on Monday that it had achieved the 1 terabit per square inch data density milestone, with a demonstration unit utilizing heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR.) Still very early in its development, Seagate said this technology will not be utilized in commercial storage solutions until some time "later in this decade."
Current HDDs utilize the technology known as Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR,) which was first introduced in late 2005 as a replacement for the original longitudinal recording method that had been in use since the advent of spinning hard drives. Toshiba was the first HDD maker to release its PMR drives, with Seagate and Hitachi following suit.
Indian ISPs commanded to block over 100 music Websites for alleged piracy
Responding to a complaint from trade group IMI (The Indian Music Industry,) the High Court in Calcutta, India ruled that access to 104 alleged copyright-infringing music websites must be blocked at ISP level. India's Internet service providers will utilize DNS and IP-based blocking as well as deep packet inspection to block access to the long list of sites.
"This decision is a victory for the rule of law online and a blow to those illegal businesses that want to build revenues by violating the rights of others," Frances Moore, chief executive of worldwide recording industry rights group IFPI said on Thursday. "It highlights the importance the Indian courts place on the creative industries and their contribution to the economy. The court ruled that blocking is a proportionate and effective way to tackle website piracy. The Indian government should build on this progress by moving forward legislation to effectively tackle all forms of digital piracy to enable the country's digital music market to reach its full potential."
Sprint officially backs out of LightSquared network deal
Friday, U.S. national wireless network operator Sprint announced that it has terminated its spectrum hosting agreement with experimental 4G network LightSquared on the grounds that the GPS interference issues associated with the wireless network have been declared unavoidable.
Sprint issued the following statement:
I am breaking my own rule by writing about this iPhone charger, that's how cool it is
As a tech writer, there are two things that I avoid like the plague: iPhone cases and iPhone cases. I say this as two separate instances because there are so freaking many of the things that avoiding them is a full-time job. Marketers indiscriminately shower me with information about various cases even though I have never displayed an interest in them, nor do I even own an iPhone.
In 2011, my BetaNews email address got 209 different email pitches about iPhone cases. Seriously…they were all different ones (Thanks to Tout for the inbox analysis, by the way.)
Tim's Bio
Tim Conneally was born into dumpster tech. His father was an ARPANET research pioneer and equipped his kids with discarded tech gear, second-hand musical instruments, and government issue foreign language instruction tapes. After years of building Frankenstein computers from rubbish and playing raucous music in clubs across the country (and briefly on MTV) Tim grew into an adult with deep, twisted roots and an eye on the future. He most passionately covers mobile technology, user interfaces and applications, the science and policy of the wireless world, and watching different technologies shrink and converge.
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