Motorola's Android sales are kaput...no big deal
According to market research company NPD Group, the sale of Android-based handsets grew 29% in the second quarter of this year, bringing the operating system to a 52% share of the US market. Contributing to this growth were South Korean manufacturers Samsung and LG, which both experienced "substantial gains."
But while Samsung and LG were improving their Android sales, Motorola Mobility fell dramatically.
Sony Ericsson keeps 'feature phones' alive with Android Walkman line
It's not uncommon for Sony Ericsson phones to prominently feature one of Sony's consumer electronics brands, and there are now handsets sporting Cybershot, Walkman, PlayStation, and Bravia branding. Today, the joint venture debuted the Sony Ericsson "Live with Walkman" Android smartphone, another device capitalizing on the music player brand Sony popularized nearly 30 years ago.
The smartphone features a 3.2" touchscreen, a single core 1GHz processor, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), and a 5 megapixel camera with 720p video capture.
It's a TouchPad Gold Rush!!
To celebrate the launch of BetaNews' latest redesign, we all went on a Cannonball Run for the newly-discounted HP TouchPad, and we found that it truly was a gold rush, and nearly every TouchPad had been scooped up.
Diehards all over the place hit the shops at 8am EST this morning to try to snatch up the super cheap, high quality WebOS tablets from whichever retailers had them in stock, and as it turns out, they weren't exactly lining their birdcages with the things, as some journalists had initially suggested.
HP promises WebOS developers an 'updated strategy'
Friday evening, after retailers began showing $99 liquidation prices for the discontinued HP TouchPad, Hewlett-Packard sent a missive to its registered WebOS developers, vaguely outlining the changes that will take place after the company shutters its WebOS hardware division and considers alternatives for the mobile operating system.
Here's the letter in its entirety:
According to Factiva, you could be your company's 'Information Captain'
When you discover an interesting or important article, do you share it with your co-workers and peers? Or are you more the type to read something one of your colleagues shared, and then dig deeper into it to learn more? You could be a "Connector," or a "Miner," according to a new ethnographic study from Dow Jones Factiva.
The study observed the way different individuals in a company search for information and share it with their co-workers, and Dow Jones used the study's data to create six broad psychological profiles based on different user behaviors.
Sony unveils 3D HD video binoculars for long-distance lurkers
Sony today debuted two new sets of video binoculars, the DEV-3 and DEV-5, which are capable of 2D and 3D image capture using the new AVCHD 2.0 format.
Though images captured in the original AVCHD standard have shown a slight lack of clarity when compared to HDV because of its 13 to 17 mbps MPEG4-AVC compression in real-world trials; the AVCHD 2.0 standard, which debuted earlier this year, bumps up the maximum system bitrate to 28 Mbps, adds the capacity for 1080p 50i, 1080p 60i, and 3D image capture.
HP: Oracle's halt for Itanium support is "anti-customer"
There were a lot of sour notes in Hewlett-Packard's third quarter earnings call this evening: the bad economy is having a negative impact on hardware purchasing in both the consumer and public sectors, which impacts PCs, Printers, and Mobile devices. HP's CEO Leo Apotheker also pointed out the serious challenges for its Business-critical systems unit (a segment of its Enterprise servers, storaging and networking hardware [ESSN] division) that could possibly have been prevented.
Last March, Oracle announced it was stopping all software development for the Intel Itanium platform, and that it arrived at that decision because of the overall discontinuation of support by Intel, Microsoft, and RedHat. Oracle singled out HP and said, "HP CEO Leo Apotheker made no mention of Itanium in his long and detailed presentation on the future strategic direction of HP."
HP considering PC biz spinoff: Is this the return of Compaq?
Just hours ahead of Hewlett-Packard's quarterly earnings call (which we were already eagerly anticipating), Bloomberg posted a report saying the Palo Alto based computer company will be spinning off its PC business into a separate company, and that it is acquiring the United Kingdom's second largest software company, Autonomy Inc., for $10 billion.
HP has since confirmed both rumors, saying it plans to announce in its earnings call that the HP board of directors has "authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG). HP will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction."
AT&T leaves customers with only two texting options: pay-per-text or unlimited
United States wireless carrier AT&T is is scheduled to begin only offering a single unlimited text messaging plan for its customers on August 21.
This presents customers with only two options: pay for the unlimited messaging plan, or pay per message which costs 20¢ per SMS text and 30¢ per MMS.
Too soon to call HP's TouchPad a failure? We'll see tonight
Unnamed sources from electronics retailer Best Buy have suggested this week that HP's TouchPad is not selling and that as few as 25,000 of the retailer's stock of 270,000 have sold. The mobile tablet was first available for pre-order on June 19, and it first hit retail on the first of July. It is the first non-phone device to be powered by WebOS, and it's already being called a flop.
The time between July first and Wednesday of this week was a span of 47 days, so that means Best Buy has been selling an average of 531.9 TouchPads per day. That is not exactly the most auspicious beginning when one considers that there are 1,099 Best Buy stores in operation in the United States (Source: Best Buy) and that means the average store is selling about one TouchPad every other day.
HTC says everything Apple makes infringes on three of its patents
Tuesday evening, Taiwanese smartphone maker and long-time Android supporter HTC announced it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple in the U.S. District Court of Delaware and also a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC).
HTC alleges infringement of three patents by Apple's Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod product lines in the areas of Wi-Fi profiling, and PDA/Cellular functionality in a handheld device.
SilveOS, the Silverlight-based 'operating system' takes on Chrome OS
Browser-based computing and webtops are certainly getting a major boost by the widespread adoption in HTML5 from the likes of Microsoft, Apple, and Google. But alternatives to HTML5, Javascript, and CSS3 are still being explored, and a webtop called SilveOS gives a strong look at Microsoft's Silverlight as an alternative.
Launched in Beta back in May, SilveOS is still a bit rough around the edges, but is an interesting project to check out if you're following the growth and adoption of Web-based computers in both the consumer and enterprise spaces.
Verizon Wireless hosts major LTE expansion tomorrow in 11 states
After AT&T unveiled its first HSPA+/LTE modems on Tuesday, Verizon Wireless, who began rolling out its LTE service in late 2010, announced it will have another major LTE rollout tomorrow. The wireless operator will turn on its 4G LTE networks in 11 states tomorrow, August 18.
Verizon Wireless has laid out a handful of smaller metropolitan areas and their outlying suburbs to begin LTE service this time around.
Sony cheapens PS3...or boosts its HDD size, depending on your perspective
Sony Computer Entertainment lowered the worldwide price of its PlayStation 3 by another $50 on Tuesday, knocking its 160GB model to $249, and its 320GB model to $299.
The five-year old video game console has already gone through a handful of iterations and price reductions, as well as one major structural redesign. The first PS3 price reduction took place in July 2007 and knocked the 60GB model from $599 to $499. Subsequent models introduced higher storage limits and lower prices.
Ahead of the new network, AT&T's first 4G LTE devices arrive on Sunday
With Labor Day and the unofficial end of Summer rapidly approaching, Network operator AT&T is still expected to launch its 4G LTE network this summer in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. A sign that the network's nationwide launch may not be far off, AT&T on Tuesday unveiled its first two LTE/HSPA+ data modems which will be available on August 21.
The devices are the Momentum 4G USB stick and Elevate 4G 5-device mobile hotspot which sell for $50 and $70 respectively with two-year service contracts.
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.
© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.