Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Cellphones

The well-scooped TM506 from Sony Ericsson is now on sale, marking the first time that T-Mobile has openly and proudly admitted that a handset in its lineup can actually support 3G — despite the fact that they’ve had such gear for over a year now. Why the big secret? Until now, T-Mobile’s 3G network has been undergoing pretty much the softest soft launch in mobile history, and only now are enough markets starting to come on board to make the whole thing worthwhile. For what it’s worth, every previous 3G handset on the carrier has merely rocked UMTS, so the TM506 becomes its first HSDPA-equipped piece while also offering up a 2-megapixel cam, TeleNav navigation, and stereo Bluetooth. As of this writing it’s still showing “Coming Soon” on the site, but we’re hearing that it’ll be available today for $79.99 after rebate on contract.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones

Anyone who’s been jonesing for a U9 with a little more style look no further than the MOTOJEWEL, a new clamshell Motorola’s bringing to the UK this fall that’s being billed as “a phone so sassy that users will wish they could wear it.” What then, pray tell, makes it so sassy? Well, that’s an open subject of debate — but we’re guessing it’s mostly the “3D crystal-cut design” that rings the mirrored Midnight Quartz shell to give it that jeweled look and the “dazzling” purple keypad that you won’t find on your garden variety U9. Otherwise, though, the specs are sounding mighty familiar: 2-megapixel cam, external touch-sensitive music controls, stereo Bluetooth, Motorola’s CrystalTalk noise reduction — you know the drill — and unless Moto pulled a fast one on us and slipped in some 3G, it’s likely packing quadband EDGE. Look for this little gem (see what we did there?) as a Carphone Warehouse limited edition exclusive starting in November.

[Via MobileBurn]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Well, here’s one we didn’t see coming: it seems that AT&T has wised up to the fact that Americans like their Symbian (well, at least a few of ‘em do, anyway) and wants to keep S60-equipped options on the table. Yes, granted, AT&T is a founding member of the Symbian Foundation, but the proof is in the pudding, and the last Nokia smartphone to land there was the N75 in May of last year — an eternity by mobile standards. More recently, the N75 grew up, got sexy, picked up some brushed metal, and emerged in Europe as the 6550; now, it’s surprisingly and unexpectedly been retooled as the 6650 for North American 3G spectrum. It’s got a 2.2-inch QVGA primary display, 160 x 128 secondary, 2-megapixel cam, AT&T Navigator (which means GPS), push-to-talk support, and HSDPA 850 / 1900 to compliment quadband EDGE. We don’t know exactly when it’s coming, but for S60 fans who cringe at the thought of having to blow several hundred on an unlocked set every time they want some fresh hardware, this should be welcome news.

[Thanks, Al and Oscar M.]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones

Moving just a tad downmarket from the mighty morphin’ E8, Moto has rolled out three new members of its music-centric ROKR series today: the EM25 slider, EM28 flip, and EM30 candybar. The EM30 probably feels the most familiar, aping the E8’s design language but trashing the touch-sensitive wheel for a plain ol’ d-pad. It does, however, carry over the E8’s so-called ModeShift morphing keypad and features an FM radio with RDS, 3.5mm headphone jack, and Windows Media compatibility. The EM28 brings the same style to a clamshell, while the EM25 reps the slider form factor. We’re seeing some shots of a T-Mobile branded EM30 in here, too, so it looks like the carrier wants something to slot in right below the E8 in its Moto lineup — a wise move, considering the E8’s considerable expense. Look for the EM30 to launch first in Taiwan (sorry, T-Mob) followed by other markets later in the quarter, while the EM25 and EM28 should launch on a more global scale in the coming weeks.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

The Bold is still stealing the overwhelming majority of RIM’s spotlight at the moment for a handful of pretty good reasons: one, it’s actually been announced; two, it’s 3G; and three, it falls in line with the traditional (and loved) BlackBerry form factor. Lurking in the shadows, though, is the KickStart, RIM’s very first flip phone, and a device that could end up making a huge splash if it actually manages to launch at the sub-$50 price point that’s been making the rounds on the rumor circuit. CrackBerry got a way-early peek at the 8220 version of the device, which follows RIM’s typical naming convention by packing WiFi while an 8210 will hold up the GPS side of things (seriously, RIM, how hard can it be to do both?), and overall it seems that the R&D team did its homework from the quick impressions. The SureType keyboard is huge and apparently quite easy to use without making the phone excessively large, though the trackball rests deeper in the shell making it a bit trickier to operate — you win some, you lose some. The QVGA display is said to be just shy of Bold quality (which is a compliment, considering the killer screen on the Bold), and it’s always hard to argue with a 3.5mm headphone jack. Come on, T-Mobile, let’s make this happen.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Storage

A full six months after Samsung took the wraps off of GDDR5 memory, along comes word from AMD that the next-generation ATI Radeon graphics cards will boast said technology. Apparently AMD will be tapping Qimonda for its supply of GDDR5 modules, which should boost gaming performance as well as benefit stream processing, “where GPUs are applied to address complex, massively parallel calculations.” As Hot Hardware points out, the release comes just weeks away from the rumored debut of the Radeon 4000 series, so if our deductive reasoning is sound, we’d surmise that the looming Radeon 4800 will indeed feature GDDR5.

[Via Hot Hardware]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops

In the world of high-end gaming rigs, it isn’t size of your megahertz that equates to higher performance, but the multiplier on your bus — if you catch our drift. Regardless, for most gamers bigger numbers will always be better, and when it comes to fast memory Corsair now holds the record with a 1GB stick of Dominator DDR3 SDRAM. Overclocking in at 2462MHz (supposedly the highest recorded frequency to date), it survived the brutal testing thanks in part to an integrated four-layer extruded aluminum sink, which helps shuttle heat away from your bits and into your case. Naturally, these numbers come at a premium: over $200 per gig. But if you absolutely must have the fastest, this is it — for the moment.

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Original post by Tim Stevens

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Microsoft’s recently refurbished Zune store features a lot of NBC content like Heroes and The Office, but it looks like it may have come at what could be a steep price: NBC recently told the New York Times that it’s working with Microsoft to develop “copyright filters” for the Zune that would “remove pirated movies and videos.” (We’ll pause for a moment so you can gape appropriately.) Granted, it’s not clear whether NBC wants to actually delete non-DRM’d media or simply block playback, but apparently the network thinks it’s an issue on par with variable pricing, and it’s not in the iTunes Store because Apple refuses to cooperate. Microsoft, on the other hand, is apparently cheerfully working on such a solution, dubbed the “copyright cop,” and says that it’s sympathetic to NBC’s concerns because it also suffers from piracy issues. Sigh. Of course, none of this is new territory for NBC or Microsoft: the two companies are working in similar content filtering systems to be implemented at the ISP level with AT&T, and NBC and SanDisk are working on a filter for Sansa players as well. Still, if Microsoft is serious about competing with the iPod, signing up for consumer-hostile DRM systems that actually block playback and potentially delete files just isn’t the way to do it — let’s hope this one dies on the vine.

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Displays

Not enough room to fit a front projector, overhead projector, document camera, scanner and electronic whiteboard into that hole in the wall your district supervisor calls a classroom? Fret not, as the AVIO iP-60E is out to make the most of the measly square footage you are entitled to. This all-in-one-type projector features 3,500 lumens of brightness and a unique top which enables instructors to place objects on a glass platen and see them on-screen as if they were operating a typical overhead unit. Packed within is a 4-megapixel CCD sensor which can purportedly capture full-size documents and nearly anything else you want to lay up there for the audience to peek. Unfortunately, such a multifaceted piece of kit isn’t exactly cheap, but we’re pretty certain the principal’s plastic can handle an extra $8,495 if necessary.

[Via AboutProjectors]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

While it should hardly come as a surprise given the near constant stream of hacking fears we hear about these days, researchers are now warning about a possible vulnerability to an especially important bit of technology: medical devices that control the human heart. As The Wall Street Journal reports, the concerns are mostly centered around so-called “programmers,” which are devices used to wirelessly communicate with the implanted defibrillator or pacemaker. Those devices are obviously only sold directly to physicians by a select group of companies but, as the researchers warn, it is at least conceivable that hackers could transmit the same radio signals using another device, allowing them to shut down the defibrillator or deliver a shock, or possibly even obtain a patient’s medical information. The researchers are quick to point out, however, that this is “theoretical risk, not an actual risk,” and they’re not recommending that anyone consider deferring an implantation or removing a defibrillator.

[Image courtesy of Medtronic]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Cellphones

Just in case you haven’t had your Android fill from this year’s Mobile World Congress, the folks from PhoneMag have now let loose a video that shows the much-anticipated OS in action on a working touchscreen phone from E28. As you can see for yourself in the video after the break, the OS is a tad sluggish but not unreasonably so, which is all the more impressive given that it’s apparently running without any modifications on some pretty lackluster hardware (a 200MHz OMAP TI 730 chipset and just 64MB RAM and 64MB ROM). Of course, this is just a demo in the truest sense of the word, so there’s no indication that you’ll actually be able to get your hands on the phone anytime soon.

[Via SlashGear]

Continue reading Android-based E28 touchscreen phone gets demoed on video

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Original post by Donald Melanson

BroadSoft and C3IP will debut the first-ever VoIP mashup with ACT! by Sage at INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo.

This is just the start of some really cool news coming out of ITEXPO. I expect some more interesting news announcements tomorrow when the exhibit hall opens in the morning. The exhibit hall will be open tonight from 6pm-8pm, but tomorrow is really considered the main exhibit hall opening and when many companies announce their big news.

In any event, here’s the announcement about the VoIP mashup…

Integration with Carrier-grade VoIP Adds Calling Feature to Popular Contact And Customer Management Application

MIAMI, Jan. 23, 2008 — BroadSoft, Inc., a leading provider of VoIP application software, and C3IP Communications, LLC, a provider of hosted voice, video and data IP solutions for business, today announced that the two companies will debut the first-ever “VoIP AddOn” for the ACT! by Sage contact and customer management software application at the ITEXPO held here from Jan. 23 to 25.

The VoIP AddOn developed by C3IP seamlessly integrates ACT! with BroadSoft’s carrier-grade BroadWorks® VoIP application platform, the platform of choice among leading service providers for the delivery of hosted telephony, multimedia and unified communications and mobile services. The VoIP AddOn solution enables call management capabilities within ACT! for BroadWorks end-users. 

ACT! Add-on solutions extend the functionality of ACT! and are marketed directly to ACT! users. The BroadWorks-based VoIP AddOn is not yet available through ACT! Add-on. ACT! has 2.8 million registered users and an additional 43,000 corporate account customers.

“We are proud to be the first to integrate call control with ACT!,” said Cory Miller, Principal of C3IP. “Integrating ACT!, the No. 1 rated contact and customer management solution, with BroadSoft’s proven telephony platform increases productivity through easy to use features, such as click to dial from the database, automatic logging of calls and screen pops on inbound calls.”

The BroadWorks-based VoIP AddOn for ACT! enables:
•    Automatic screen pops from CRM database records based on Caller ID
•    Complete call history automatically embedded into each ACT! database record
•    Note taking for each call during and/or after the call
•    “Click to Dial” Contacts directly from your ACT! Database
•    Convenient storage of voicemails in ACT! contact’s history
•    Receive voice mail messages via email (.wav file)
•    4-digit extension dialing from ACT!, even to coworkers located in different cities.

“When you combine the market leader in VoIP applications with ACT!, a pioneer of customer relationship management, you unleash a powerful joint solution for businesses of all sizes,” said Michael Lauricella, director of BroadSoft Xtended, the company’s open development program. “C3IP has proven the flexibility of the BroadWorks platform to create new, exciting service offerings that add value for the end-user.”
 
C3IP developed the VoIP AddOn using BroadWorks APIs (Open Client Interface – Provisioning and Client Application Protocol) in partnership with a leading Add-on developer for ACT!.

C3IP will conduct live demos of the BroadWorks VoIP AddOn for ACT! in the BroadSoft booth (Booth #1026) at the ITEXPO from Jan. 23 to 25.  To request a meeting, click here or contact Ira Feuerstein at 480-751-4070, or visit www.voipaddon.com.

Tags: 3CIP, ACT!, Broadsoft, BroadWorks, ITEXPO, mashup, VoIP

Original post by Eric

AT&T just can’t catch a break with their troubled U-Verse service. AT&T has to replace the lithium metal polymer batteries in the VRAD cabinets for U-Verse IPTV because four fires have occurred in various locations. ‘Fire’ is a bit tame of a word choice since "explosions" have occurred in Houston, Cleveland and Wisconsin. In Wisconsin it was reportedly strong enough to blow the 50-pound cabinet door off its bolts. AT&T has more than 17,000 Avestor lithium batteries in its network to power their VRAD U-verse cabinets. Unfortunately, Avestor has filed for bankruptcy and closed. What’s up with lithium exploding batteries and recalls on top of more recalls, anyway? Of course those recalls were for lithium-ion laptop batteries.

Wow, imagine an entire neighborhood with no triple play communications - no VoIP, no TV, and no Internet. After dodging the flying shrapnel, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a mob with pitchforks and torches headed down to the local AT&T branch.

Obviously, AT&T doesn’t feel comfortable with the batteries which provide backup power to over 17,000 of its cabinets located in neighborhoods across the United States, so they are in the process of replacing them with lead-acid batteries. AT&T has declined to answer questions on the costs of the battery replacement.

Tags: AT&T, Avestor, batteries, exploding, U-Verse, VRAD

Original post by Eric

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

We’ve been hearing about these highway use tax trials for years now, but apparently, a new $16.5 million Road User Charge Study will be looking for 2,700 mettlesome individuals that won’t mind driving around with a tracking unit riding shotgun. The absurdly expensive initiative is purportedly seeking to figure out whether Americans “would accept the idea of paying by the mile, instead of by the gallon.” North Carolina-based Innovation Management — which will “oversee the study” in the Triangle region of NC — proclaimed that folks who volunteer to take part in it would have their vehicle fitted with “GPS and computer hardware to track the miles they travel through each state and local government jurisdiction.” Best of all, however, is the tidbit noting that these very guinea pigs will also receive “make-believe bills” each month displaying what taxes they would owe if they were indeed being taxed per mile. Anyone want to guess how much revenue they could rake in from accidental payments?

[Via The Wolf Web, image courtesy of WRAL]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Gaming

While we’ve certainly seen a few items get returned without, shall we say, everything in tact, this example just might take the cake. Details are fairly light, but the long and short of it is that some sly customer managed to return an Xbox 360 and get a full refund, but the most critical components weren’t repackaged. Reportedly, the store decided to allow the refund just this once without thoroughly checking the innards, and sure enough, the decision came back to bite ‘em. Packed within was a gutted console (stuffed with a used textbook, no less), a bunch of totally random cabling and an official Xbox 360 headset. Needless to say, the store got burned torched, but if the culprit received his / her refund as a credit card charge-back and / or was caught on camera, we’ve all ideas the retailer will get what it’s owed one way or another.

[Via Digg]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Darren Murph