Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

So we might not have a physical device here, but these packaging renderings are pretty solid evidence of exactly what BlackBerry fans on Verizon — particularly those jealous of the Bold — can expect in a few weeks’ time. It looks like RIM’s first foray into the scary world of touchscreens will be officially branded the 9530 Storm, will be global (it includes a SIM card, after all), and will feature an 8GB SanDisk microSD card preinstalled. Wondering what happened to the Thunder name? Turns out that’ll apparently be reserved for the version of the phone launching on Rogers up in Canada and on Vodafone across the pond. Those Storm users on the screen there sure look happy, don’t they?

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones

So patent holding firm Klausner Technologies figures it has this whole litigation thing down to a T at this point, having already sued a who’s-who of companies having anything to do with visual voicemail in the past and ultimately coming away with a whole bunch of lucrative license agreements for its efforts (eleven, to be exact). Needless to say, any new company that tries to break into the game at this point is probably going to get treated with the same warm, fuzzy love, and Verizon and LG are experiencing that firsthand. Klausner has announced that it has filed suit against both companies in Texas federal court, presumably in response to Big Red’s recent launch of the refreshed Voyager featuring visual voicemail software on board. Given the track record Klausner has, guys, you might just want to cut to the chase here and pay up.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones

This one has been in the works for a while, but Verizon has appropriated UTStarcom’s TXT8010 my-first-QWERTY phone for tweens and dropped it onto an unsuspecting market with the new “Blitz” moniker. The slider phone will run you $70 with a two year contract, is available now, and includes a few perks like VCAST Music, a microSD slot, 1.3 megapixel camera and stereo Bluetooth to keep your jaded child interested.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Cellphones

There aren’t exactly all that many details left to announce, but Verizon has just gotten official with its late to the party Visual Voicemail service which, for the time being at least, is only available on the LG Voyager. As we had heard previously, the service will run you an extra $2.99 per month on top of your usual bill, and you’ll be able to store up to 40 messages for 40 days, with an option to create up to 10 greetings and 20 distribution lists. Unfortunately, Verizon didn’t take the opportunity to announce any firm plans for a roll-out to any of the other phones supposedly in line to get the service, with it only going so far as to say that additional devices will be getting it in the “coming months.”

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

It’s taken more than a year, but Verizon has just officially announced that it has completed its purchase of Rural Cellular, which you may also know by its business name, Unicel. This latest announcement follows a conditional approval from the FCC earlier this week, which required one of the two companies to sell licenses in six markets in order to “improve competition” — a compromise Verizon seems to have been more than willing to accept. All told, Verizon will be forking over $2.66 billion in cash and assumed debt for the company, which will increase its customer base by more than 625,000, and expand its coverage area by 4.7 million people, including markets in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Cellphones

Now that developers have had a fair crack at the iPhone SDK for a few months, plenty of companies were ready today to showcase their wares alongside Stevie. Among them:

• eBay. Pretty much everything you’d need to do from a desktop browser can be done through eBay’s iPhone app: bidding, searching for items, My eBay (so you can see how the sale of your old iPhone’s going), watching items, and the like. It’s free, but since you’re giving eBay money every time you make a transaction, we’d expect it to be.
• Loopt. Already a staple on a couple carriers, Loopt’s location-based services allow friends to keep tabs on one another. It’ll be free at the launch of the App Store.
• TypePad. Following some of Six Apart’s other moblogging efforts, the iPhone version of its TypePad client will allow realtime uploading of photos taken with the iPhone’s cam. It’ll also be free.
• Associated Press. It seems the AP wants to turn us all into unpaid correspondents, offering an app that will allow users to upload footage.
• Band. A collection of virtual instruments for creating music from scratch right on the iPhone. Probably not the most effective platform for creating songs if we had to guess, but hey, cool nonetheless! Available in a “few weeks’ time.”
• MLB.com. Video baseball highlights, real-times stats and scores.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones

As we inch towards the towering precipice of WWDC 2008, rumors swirling around Apple’s next iteration of the iPhone are being deposited onto the interblogs at an alarming rate. The latest set comes in three distinct flavors, the first of which recalls an earlier story that telcos would be offering subsidies for long-term contract signers. According to separate sources, Spain’s Telefonica and the UK’s O2 would offer the 3G iPhone at discounted rates (as low as €100) for those willing to put pen to paper, while some are claiming that O2 might also offer a “free” upgrade to the new phone for existing users. In other pot-stirring news, iDealsChina is reporting that the phone will suddenly be 2.0mm shorter and 0.5mm thinner than previously spec’d by Griffin in its new casing molds, thus causing all kinds of trouble for the accessory-maker… and people with big hands. Finally, we can safely report that AT&T has run out of stock of the device online (finally joining Apple). The site claims it’s a “temporary” situation — one which we suspect will be rectified by the appearance of a new model. Time to get in that line?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Telefonica to be sole distributor of 3G iPhone in Spain for 100 euro
Read - Rumour: O2 plans free iPhone 3G upgrade and pay-as-you-go
Read - iPhone 3G last minute size change!
Read - AT&T iPhone page

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wearables

Sure, there’s plenty of basic dive computers out there, but if you really want to get some attention under the sea, you may want to consider something like Linde Wrdelin’s new “Sea Instrument,” which can even be had in a special 18K yellow gold edition if you want to go all out. Whether you opt for that or the basic anodized aluminum model, however, you’ll get the same transflective color display and sapphire crystal glass cover designed to be readable underwater, along with a 3-axis compass and access to all the vital information you’ll need including depth, dive time, decompression stops, and temperature, to name a few, not to mention a rechargeable battery that promises to deliver 28 hours of continuous use. Of course, all that doesn’t exactly come cheap, with the aluminum version alone running €2,100 (or about $3,000). Oh, and you’ll also need a Linde Werdelin Biformeter watch to attach it to, which is only a few grand more.

[Via Luxist]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Features, Laptops, Wireless

Damn, Everex clearly stepped up their game with the Cloudbook MAX. Not that we want to harsh on the original Cloudbook or anything, but this thing is definitely in a different class — and the integrated XOHM WiMAX doesn’t hurt, either. Check out some hands-on shots taken at CTIA below.

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Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Laptops, Wireless

Not too long ago, we gave you loyal Cloudbook owners a chance to voice your opinion on how you’d change things. Fast forward a few weeks, and take a gander at what Everex has put together. Debuting today at CTIA 2008, the Cloudbook MAX not only boasts an 8.9-inch WVGA (1,024 x 600) display, Windows Vista, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, integrated GPS receiver, 2-megapixel webcam and a battery good for four hours, but it also features an 80GB HDD, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, audio in / out and an S-Video output. Beyond all that, this thing gets energized by a 1.6GHz VIA C7-M ULV processor coupled with the VX800 digital media IGP chipset, which touts full DirectX 9 support and video acceleration for MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9, VC1 and DivX video formats (plus a VMR-capable HD video processor, among other things). Lastly, the unit includes built-in support for Sprint’s XOHM WiMAX network. Brimming with excitement yet? Start stocking that piggy bank — this currently unpriced rig will be available in the latter half of this year across North America.

Read - VIA and Everex demonstrate Cloudbook MAX at CTIA
Read - VIA VX800 Series Chipset

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Transportation

Tesla Motors sure has been doing a lot of explaining about its all-electric Tesla Roadster since it first announced it way back when, and it’s now aiming to clear up what it says is another common misconception about the car: that it’s a converted Lotus Elise. According to Tesla’s Darryl Siry, the total number of shared parts between the cars is actually “under 7%,” and that “if you were to try to convert an Elise to a Tesla and started throwing away parts that aren’t carried over what you would basically be left with a windshield, dashboard (complete with airbags!), front wishbones and a removable soft top.” He does admit, however, that the remaining pieces (particularly the dashboard and steering wheel) are so noticeable that they give drivers the impression of an Elise, as we’ve seen in some of the road tests of the vehicle. If you’re still not convinced, you can find Siry’s full, lengthy explanation at the read link below.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Transportation

Tesla VP of Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Service, Darryl Siry, set the record straight on the whole airbag wavier thing: in case it wasn’t already clear, the Roadster does indeed have driver and passenger airbags. The waiver was regarding the fact that currently “front passenger airbag does not vary its deployment based on the weight of the passenger,” and thus needed the waiver not unlike other boutique automakers (he cites the Ferrari F430 as an example). Of course, this misunderstandings and misinformation might have been mitigated if Telsa just addressed the issue at the time (instead of waiting a month after the fact); we can only hope their non-metaphoric airbags don’t take as long to deploy.

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Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Transportation

Tesla VP of Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Service, Darryl Siry, set the record straight on the whole airbag wavier thing: in case it wasn’t already clear, the Roadster does indeed have driver and passenger airbags. The waiver was regarding the fact that currently “front passenger airbag does not vary its deployment based on the weight of the passenger,” and thus needed the waiver not unlike other boutique automakers (he cites the Ferrari F430 as an example). Of course, this misunderstandings and misinformation might have been mitigated if Tesla just addressed the issue at the time (instead of waiting a month after the fact); we can only hope their non-metaphoric airbags don’t take as long to deploy.

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Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: CES, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Supposedly Marantz’s new Blu-ray player was at CEDIA, but if it was, we missed it. We won’t let that happen again next week and we guarantee we’ll get our hands-on the new BD8002 at CES next Wednesday. This players seems it may be one of best players ever considering it includes everything we can think of — as it should with a MSRP of $2,099.99. At the top of the list is the players ability to decode just about every new audio codec out there including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, and output it via 7.1 analog outs or uncompressed via HDMI. The icing on the cake is the inclusion of the 10-bit Silicon Optix Realta video processor, which should help make it the best Profile 1.1 player yet when it’s released the second quarter of 2008.

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Original post by Ben Drawbaugh