Cingular bans the word “engadget” (Unlocking Mobile) from its customer forums
Cingular bans the word “engadget” from its customer forums
Filed under: CellphonesOh, Cingular. We know you’re pissed at us — you stopped returning our phone calls a while ago after we posted that product roadmap we got our hands on — but banning all mention of our name, as well as our URL, from your user forums is a little cheap and heavy-handed, don’t you think? Guess you don’t want your users making informed decisions about your service. Anyway, we must be doing something right, because here’s the message users get when trying to post anything to Cingular’s customer forums with the word “engadget” in it:The message body contains the following prohibited content: ‘Engadget’ You must remove this content before submitting your post.When writing your message, remember to keep the language clean.Then again, from what we understand “engadget” is now a swear word in Albanian, so maybe we’re being unreasonable.[Thanks, David K.]Update: There is one Engadget mention in an old forum post, but as of Thursday, September 14th, the word “engadget” is still banned! Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | CommentsSPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Fujitsu FPcodes, like QR without the mess
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets You just forget everything you know about that QR coding qrap ’cause Fujitsu just went next-gen with the introduction of FPcodes. Like QR codes, Fine Picture codes allow you to photograph the code with your trusty cameraphone and then be redirected to a URL for the product. However, instead of looking like a greasy black smudge, the pale yellow FPcode is printed directly onto the image of the product, just snap the product and off you go. FPcode-printed catalogs and magazines are expected to be released as early as October and require the download of a free app to use. Now considering we don’t even have QR implemented yet, we’ll call you daddy on this one Japan. [Via lariviereauxcanards] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | CommentsSPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
California to go hands-free in the car
Filed under: CellphonesBanning phone use while driving is all the rage these days — despite evidence suggesting it doesn’t help — and now California’s the latest to join the bandwagon. The law, which goes into effect January 1, 2008, requires the use of a hands-free device when chatting behind the wheel, lest some Erik Estrada type pulls you over and slaps you with a $20 fine. Repeat offenders get their fine upped to $50, but apparently has no adverse effect on the driver’s insurance premium; we suspect a sizable number of Californians are going to view an occasional $50 chat with a CHiP as more of a price of doing business than a deterrent (but then again, maybe that’s the idea). And no, being parked in LA traffic won’t count as an exemption.[Via Autoblog] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | CommentsSPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
HTC buyout of Dopod in final stages: i-mate, O2, HP wail
Filed under: Cellphones, HandheldsContinuing their skyrocket beyond ODM-dom, HTC’s buyout bid for Taiwanese Dopod has moved into the final stages. Having signed a memorandum of understanding, the only thing left in the estimated $150 million deal is approval from the Taiwanese government. Assuming HTC chairwoman and Dopod controlling shareholder Cher Wang, daughter of petrochemicals billionaire Y.C. Wang and wife of HTC boss-man Peter Chou, has enough influence to push this through (read: she does), then HTC is about to find themselves in direct competition with their own customers O2, i-mate and HP. HTC already confirmed their decision to self-brand phones in Europe, now the Dopod deal could result in HTC designs being sold exclusively under the Dopod branding outside of Europe. In fact, HTC has already cut ties with both O2 and i-mate in Australia, New Zealand, and India. So if Dopod’s claim that HTC manufactures 80 percent of Windows Mobile phones is true, well, O2, i-mate, and HP best be looking for fresh design and manufacturing blood on the quick. [Thanks, Ash] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | CommentsSPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Oki Electric Industry intros “world’s smallest MP3 chip”
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable AudioAs decreasing chip sizes seems to be all the rage these days, Japan’s Oki Electric Industry isn’t missing out on its own opportunity to go small. The company recently announced that sample shipments of the “world’s smallest MP3 playback chip” were being dispersed, and that manufacturers of cellphones, PDAs, MP3 players (clearly), and essentially anything in which MP3 playback could be crammed into should take notice. The minuscule module — dubbed the ML2011 — packs an MP3 decoder and 650mW amplifier onto a 3.6mm x 4.2mm wafer, and can be conveniently paired with Oki’s reference board and “SoundLib” software in order to bypass that whole headache-inducing “playback software development” phase. If you can spare just a tad more room, and want something that’s instantly mountable, the 5mm x 6mm QFN-packaged version is also on the horizon. While pricing details were kept under wraps, Oki plans to ramp up full scale production by December, and will probably lobby mighty hard to get under the hood of Motorola’s next cash cow.[Via CrissCross] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | CommentsSPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Palm Treo 750v gets official
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds Thanks to countless leaks over the last several months, one of the most anticlimactic smartphone releases in history has finally gone official. Palm has issued all the juicy details on their UK site, and… well, it’s pretty much exactly what we expected: internal antenna, quadband GSM with triband UMTS (lending itself to a Cingular release), and a superbly average 1.3-megapixel cam sitting atop Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone Edition. The phone is still apparently in the pre-order phase, though Vodafone’s site is showing a price “From Free to £127.66″ (about $240) depending on contract — not bad considering what you get, but whether similar pricing will carry over to Cingular is another question entirely.[Thanks, Wolwol and Camp] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | CommentsSPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
More deets on O2′s Xda Stealth
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds Perhaps we failed to adequately emphasize one key feature of the Gigabyte-sourced Xda Stealth when we outed its FCC filing yesterday: its diminutive size. At 110 x 53 x 22.5mm, it bests the HTC Wizard in all but length (where it clocks in just 2 millimeters longer), putting it nearly in dumbphone territory. Granted, the Stealth lacks a full keyboard, but everything’s put into better perspective when remembering that it manages to stuff Pocket PC Phone Edition power (and specs to match) into a package on par with some Smartphones on the market. Though there’s no 3G radio aboard the handset, we take solace in its 802.11g support; in fact, the only thing raining on our parade is the triband GSM support, which leaves parts of the world unhappy pretty much any way you slice it — let this be a lesson to Gigabyte that they’ve got some American sales waiting in the wings as soon as they want to tack GSM 850 onto this thing.Update: MTekk reports that the Stealth will be finding its way to Australia post haste, officially launching before the end of the month for around $940 Australian ($707 US). Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | CommentsSPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.
Source: cellphones.engadget.com