Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Cellphones

This shouldn’t be surprising at all to anyone even remotely familiar with HTC’s tendencies, but the Touch HD is officially not ever shipping to America (unless you import, obviously). The news was dropped via a Tweet (of all things), but evidently, the outcry over what we figured was common knowledge has caused some windows to be rattled in the penthouse offices. Another official Tweet followed to thank everyone for “expressing their desire for the HD,” with the author noting that “US management now knows there’s a grassroots demand for high-end HTCs here.” Really, HTC? You needed a flood of angry Twitter comments to understand that Americans would give their second born for a phone like the Touch HD?

[Via WMExperts, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: We′ve received official word from HTC that they’ve been really overwhelmed by the “strong″ demand for the HD in the States and other markets where no launch has been planned (with that insane display, it seemed like a no-brainer to us!). Sadly, due to the engineering time required to get a North American 3G version in the pipeline, they say they’re better off just waiting until the next round of products launches — hopefully with some extra bands in the radio this time, eh?

Read - Touch HD not coming to the US
Read - Thanks for the concern

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

Anxious to get your claws around an Eee PC that looks — amazingly — nothing like an Eee PC? Feast your eyes on the S101, which was recently toyed with by our brethren over at Engadget Chinese. We must say, this here piece of machinery looks mighty fine save for that not-at-all appealing brown coat, but we suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all. As for launch dates (pricing is still a mystery), we’re hearing that the Asia-Pacific realm could see it as early as tomorrow, while Europe will get it in around a fortnight and North America sometime later this month. Oh, and if you’re in that latter region, you better bite early — just 1,000 of ‘em will be made available here initially.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Contrary to what LG coerced us into believing at CEDIA, its Netflix / Blu-ray-lovin’ BD300 will actually be sold a full $50 cheaper than the previously quoted $399.95. Circuit City has the deck up for pre-order right this very moment for $349.99 (okay, so maybe that’s not a full $50, but c’mon), and better still, the retailer is listing an October 10th release date. Now that Netflix has inked deals with CBS, ABC and Starz, there′s just one question left: are you in for three fifty?

[Thanks, Joshua]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation

We came for the car, we stayed for the promoter. Takara Tomy’s previously announced AeroSpider RC car, which mystically scales walls and cruises upside-down, is finally shipping this month in Japan. Cool though that may be, the real news here is the overgrown 4-year old used to show off just how amazing this minuscule vehicle truly is. Head on past the break to see what we mean — trust us, we wouldn’t lead you on like this for nothing.

[Thanks, Clyde]

Continue reading Takara Tomy’s wall-climbing AeroSpider RC car ships this month

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Let’s do a quick recap, shall we? So we pretty much know everything there is to know about Verizon’s forthcoming BlackBerry Storm save for the price and release date, and so far as we can tell, Verizon’s version of the Touch Diamond is still expected to be totally underpowered compared to Sprint’s iteration. Now that we’ve rounded the tables, let’s have a look at this image above. This here is Verizon’s internal training schedule, and given that employees have to complete their Storm courses before November 2nd and their Touch Diamond courses before December 3rd, we’d say you now have a pretty good idea of when these two will be landing. Hey VZW — think you could make that “Blocking Features Assessment″ available to the public? We’re guessing it′d be a real hit.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: GPS

It’s no secret that the police have been using GPS to track cars for some time now, often without a warrant or court order and, as The Washington Post now reports, it looks like the practice is only getting more and more commonplace. That is mostly due to the fact that courts usually side with the police in the resulting cases that arise out of the use of GPS trackers, with them agreeing with the argument that it is essentially no different than having an officer physically track a car themselves. They also cite a 1983 Supreme Court case that allowed the use of “beepers″ that relay a car’s location to police. Of course, others, like attorney Chris Leibig, have an entirely different opinion, saying that, “tracking a person everywhere they go and keeping a computer record of it for days and days without that person knowing is a completely different type of intrusion.” Given that at least some state courts, like Washington state, side with that position and require a warrant for GPS trackers to be used, it would seem likely that this matter could eventually wind up being decided in the Supreme Court as well.

[Via Slashdot]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

It’s only been on sale for six days, but the pricetag on the Eee PC 1000H just dropped by $100, down to $549. We’re not sure if early buyers will get that extra Benny back, but it certainly can’t hurt to ask — and ASUS, while you’re at it, how about taking a little off the 901 as well?

[Via Mobile Stylus; thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Laptops

As if it wasn’t already clear that ASUS has descended into self-parody, the company′s Chinese website has now revealed yet another Eee PC model which, by our estimation, brings the total number of variations to about on par with the number of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors. This latest model, dubbed the Eee PC 900 30G, boasts a 30GB hard drive in place of the usual 12GB or 20GB SSD drive, and is apparently set to be available in both black and white Linux versions, and a black-only Windows XP model. No word on a price or release date just yet, but it seems safe to bet that it’ll come in under the flash-based models. Given the saturation of Eee PCs ‘round these parts, it also seems entirely possible that these’ll only be available in China, although we certainly wouldn′t put anything past ASUS at this point.

[Via Electronista]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

Another day, another Eee PC available for sale. This time it’s the Atom-based, hard drive-toting 10-inch Eee PC 1000H, now in stock at Newegg and patiently awaiting your $649. Sure, you could buy a real laptop for that, but then you wouldn’t be part of the least exclusive, most quickly diluted brand imaginable, would you?

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Laptops

As if we needed any further developments to muddy the Eee PC waters, it seems that there’s a curious lack of Linux-based Eee PC 901s available at stores in the UK at the moment, and ASUS is apparently laying the blame squarely at Intel, not Microsoft. As Register Hardware points out, that word comes after some speculation that Microsoft may have pressured ASUS to push the Windows XP-based Eee PCs more heavily, but an ASUS spokesperson insists that the company produces Linux and XP-based systems in equal amounts. The spokesperson adds, however, that Intel hasn’t been able to supply enough Atom processors to allow ASUS to keep up its pace, which seems to suggest that the Linux-based 901s are harder to find simply because they’re sold out. It looks like folks in the UK won’t have to wait too much longer to get their Linux-fueled netbook fix, however, with some unspecified suppliers now pointing to increased availability in late July.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

If you’ve been tearing your hair out, pacing wildly around the room, and sweating bullets over the availability of the ASUS Eee PC 1000 (and we know you have), you’ll be pleased to know that the grown-up sized version of the company’s mini-laptop is now available for pre-order on Amazon. The site doesn’t provide specific release dates for the systems (the $699.99, 40GB SSD equipped 1000, and the $649.99, 80GB HDD equipped 1000H), though we’re figuring it can’t be too long till these models hit shipping centers. In the meantime, we recommend going for long jogs.

Read - ASUS Eee PC 1000 40G
Read - ASUS Eee PC 1000H 80G

[Via I4UNews]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Laptops

Welcome back to reality ASUS. The Taiwanese giant just announced that it shipped 1.7 million Eee PCs in the “first half of 2008,” 300,000 less than had been forecast. Of course, this could be explained in any number of ways including a downturn in the global economy and those consumers who skipped past the Eee PC 900 in favor of the Atom-based Eee PC 901. With Atom processors in short supply and ASUS diluting the Eee brand as much as they have, well, we wouldn’t be surprised to see these failed expectations become the expectation moving forward especially for companies like Acer who seem to be betting the farm on these new netbook-class mini-laptops.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Laptops

We still think ASUS should cut the number of available Eee laptops down to something a little more reasonable, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon — the company just made with UK pricing on the 901, 904, and 1000. The Atom-based 901 will come in at £299 ($592), while the slower 904 (which is essentially a 900 in the 1000’s body) will set you back £269 ($533). The Atom-based 10-inch 1000 itself will run &pound349 ($691) for an 80GB hard drive version or &pound369 ($731) for a 40GB SSD edition. We’d say the sweet spot here remains the 901 if you can handle the smaller keyboard, but it’s not like you’re hurting for netbook options.

[Via Slashdot]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Laptops

Alright, raise your hand if the deluge of minor new Eee PC models like yesterday’s random launch of a 16GB 900 has you totally befuddled. Yeah, that’s what we thought — and apparently what ASUS UK thinks, too, because a new chart listing all the various Eee configurations is up on its site. One problem though: it’s also confusing as hell. Just the first two rows are an insane mish-mash of model numbers and pre-loaded operating systems, and we’re loving the unlabeled row at the bottom that marks all the Linux machines as “XP Compatible.” Thanks, ASUS. All that said, however, it does look like the 901 still the Eee to buy — so maybe it’s time to start trimming this ridiculous list down, guys.

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Laptops

ASUS’s newest, Atom-based 900 series Eee PCs may be fast approaching availability, but it looks like the company is still doing its best to get as many plain old Celeron-based Eee PC 900s out the door as possible, with it now offering up a $100 rebate on the already low-priced laptop. That brings the price down to $449, which is certainly a decent enough bargain compared to the $599 the updated Eee PC 901 will supposedly be going for — Amazon price mix-ups notwithstanding. From the looks of it, both Amazon and ZaReason are offering in the rebate (good ’til July 31th) at the moment, but we′d expect the offer to start showing up at other retailers before too long as well.

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Original post by Donald Melanson