ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft has chosen a well-known ad agency to create a campaign for its ‘Pink Project,’ which Foley says is a Microsoft-branded phone.

Read the full story here.

Developer Piranha Bytes has announced that its RPG Risen will try to take a bite out of retail on October 2. Big Download took note of the press release’s proud statement that the game is completely done and going through three separate quality assurance teams.

That last bit likely has a little something to do with the developer’s most recent game, Gothic 3, being a tad buggy. Three months will hopefully be enough time to work any issues out.

[Via Big Download]

Risen rising to retail rOctober recond … argh, second originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Brütal Legend’s Rocktober release is drawing closer, and the game’s creator, Tim Schafer, has tossed us a bone in a pair of developer walkthroughs for the beginning sections of the game over at IGN. Be warned: The videos show off a great deal of content, so if you’re trying to avoid spoilers, steer clear. For the rest of you, we suggest you don your spiked bracelet and sleeveless leather vest and peer past the break for some glorious metal action.

Source – Brütal Legend developer walkthrough (part one)
Source – Brütal Legend developer walkthrough (part two)

Continue reading Tim Schafer walks us through Brutal Legend’s beginning

Tim Schafer walks us through Brutal Legend’s beginning originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumors are flying yet again about an upcoming Microsoft project codenamed Pink. MS has now hired an ad agency for the project (McCann Erikson) who just happens to be the same ones that do the Zune campaigns. Seemingly on the strength of that connection alone the old Zune Phone rumors have started up again (Pink + Zune ads = Zune Phone? Yeah right.), even though half of Microsoft and Steve Ballmer himself have sworn upside down and backwards that Microsoft is not getting into the handset business.

Of course, there are many indications that a handset of some kind is still in Microsoft’s future. Why else purchase Danger, the creators of the Sidekick phones, unless you will have them design you a phone of some kind? While they may be there just to give a new look and feel to WinMo, their strength was always in intuitive physical design. Also, Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet is still quite convinced this is going to happen…of course she was quite convinced that a secret project named Pink was going to be a Microsoft phone and was about to be announced six months ago as well. However, she is seldom that wrong about Microsoft.

At the moment all we really know for sure is that MS hired an ad agency for a project they call Pink. That’s it. Not much to go on, but the rumor mill is spinning fast. It seems like the tech press is desperate for a Zune Phone, if for no other reason then to mock it compared to the iPhone. Go figger.

Microsoft is refusing to comment of course, but “We are NOT making a phone” has become Microsoft’s version of Apple’s “Steve is perfectly healthy, move along please” mantra. However, Steve was so healthy he now has a new liver…so maybe there is a Zune Phone coming after all, despite the mantra.

(Mock up Credit: SlashGear)

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© Zealot at Mobility Site, 2009. |
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We may see the Archos 9 TabletPC in this Christmas list of many of us. According to a Press Release,  it will be sold in USA this fall.

The ARCHOS 9 features the new Z515 Intel® processor, Microsoft Windows 7® Operating system and an integrated multimedia platform that uses WiFi 802.11b/g connection and Bluetooth 2.1 for extremely fast computing anywhere, anytime.

This small Tablet PC has one of the most appealing designs that I have seen later.

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• Archos AV700
• Archos Unveils 5th Generation Media Players
• The Archos 105 rivals the iPod Nano
• ARCHOS 605 WiFi – Impressive!
• Archos 704-WiFi gets official

© ctitanic at Mobility Site, 2009. |
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Filed under: Handsets, LG

Sitting pretty as the number three cell maker in the world would make many of the bigger names happy — not to mention the usurped Sony Ericsson and Motorola a bit green — but not LG, as it’s now gunning for spot number two. In an interview with Yonhap, LG’s president of its mobile business, Ahn Seung-kwon, stated that the company hoped to bump Samsung to the wayside by 2012 with the help of a serious new set and a premium brand. While the gaudiness of really expensive handsets disturbs us at times, we’ll admit that mention that LG’s looking at a foray into the über high end of the spectrum — with the likes of Nokia’s Vertu — piques our curiosity a good deal. And what about that serious new set we mentioned? Apparently in Q4 of this year, LG will launch a new Black Label-branded device to compete directly with iPhone, which when coupled with dreams of more success from yet another Prada device (and if we’re super fortunate, some more Transformers-branded stuff) is part of the master scheme to start down the path. Will they crack it? Well, if we were betting types, we’d lean towards not likely as long as the Samsung juggernaut’s standing in the way — but we’re all for watching them try.

LG eyes number two phone maker spot for 2012, premium brand in the works originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, China Unicom, Apple

Apple’s on-again, off-again deal with China Unicom to officially bring the iPhone to China may still be up in the air, but it looks like it could now also be facing some trademark issues that could potentially further hold up its release. Apparently, China’s Hanwang Technology owns the trademark for “i-phone” in the country, which could force Apple to make a deal with ‘em before it enters the market (sound familiar?). Interestingly, Apple does actually own an “iPhone” trademark in China, but it apparently only covers computer hardware and software, while Hanwang’s trademark covers mobile phones. According to Hanwang, however, the two aren’t actually in talks just yet, and it’s not saying what it plans to do if Apple decides to go crazy and announce a move into China without its blessing.

[Via mocoNews.net]

iPhone facing potential trademark issues in China? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Peripherals, Others

BluAnt, maker of many fine Bluetooth accessories launched the S1in the recent past and CNET’s taken some moments to review it. Sure, we’ve seen gazillions of speakerphones that attach to the visor in your car but this one adds a fairly low price — roughly $69 — A2DP support for streaming your tunes, voice answering, and multipoint connectivity to the mix. CNET liked the price, tiny size, and the call quality, but were down on the volume rocker’s stiffness, and the fact that S1 doesn’t announce the incoming caller’s info. We’re all for music streaming and answering a call by speaking to it, but if you drive a convertible, you may want to look for something in the higher end that’ll handle all the wind noise.

BluAnt Wireless’ S1 speakerphone reviewed, is well liked originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, Apple, iPhone OS

Given the hype surrounding Apple’s iPhone, we’re actually surprised that we haven’t seen more holes to plug over the years. In fact, the last major iPhone exploit to take the world by storm happened right around this time two years ago, and now — thanks to OS X security expert Charlie Miller — we’re seeing yet another come to light. Over at the SyScan conference in Singapore, Mr. Miller disclosed a hole that would let attackers “run software code on the phone that is sent by SMS over a mobile operator’s network in order to monitor the location of the phone using GPS, turn on the phone’s microphone to eavesdrop on conversations, or make the phone join a distributed denial of service attack or a botnet.” Charlie’s planning to detail the vulnerability in full at the upcoming Black Hat conference, but Apple’s hoping to have it all patched up by the end of this month.

[Via HotHardware]

Apple patching nasty iPhone SMS vulnerability originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, HTC, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS, Android

No mention was made of a Hero with 3G that’d work on Rogers or AT&T back at its announcement a few days ago, but HTC has been getting awfully good at making phones that work properly around these parts — so we can’t say we’re entirely surprised to see a Hero approved for WCDMA on Bands II and V gracing the FCC today. For the record, Bands II and V are 1900 and 850MHz, respectively, which is exactly the combo AT&T subscribers would need to flip the switch on high-speed data. We’re not sure if this negates rumors that the Hero would be coming to Sprint, but if we can just get this version released and in our hands, you know… maybe our minds would be operating with a little more clarity.

HTC Hero hits FCC with US 3G originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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