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| 2010-03-22 Posted by MobiG @ 12:46 am  [Thanks, Charles] Select LA-area iPhones insist they're in Boulder, Colorado originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
2010-03-19 Posted by MobiG @ 6:20 pm Awareness of the Kleer wireless alternative to Bluetooth A2DP is slowly growing, and the market for entry-level headphones (as opposed to, say, Sleek Audio’s range) is broadening. Into the fray comes DigiFi’s Digital Opera S5’s, intended specifically for iPod owners. Mediocre sound quality let DigiFi’s S2’s down; can the reworked S5’s pick up the slack?
If you the S5 headphones look familiar, that’s because they’re identical in design to DigiFi’s Digital Opera S2 set which we reviewed back in January. The earbuds themselves are tethered to a small receiver/power box, intended to hang at the back of your neck; there’s a USB charging cable to power it up. Where the two sets differ is in the transmitter: while the S2’s came with a generic dongle that plugged into a 3.5mm headphone socket, the S5’s come with an iPod-specific dongle that slots into your Apple PMP’s dock connector. While that limits the S5’s to an Apple-owning audience, it also means DigiFi can add in some remote control support. Whereas on the S2’s one set of earbud buttons controlled volume and the other toggled the “3D” DSP on and off, the S5 earbuds control volume and track control. Since the dock connector provides power, there’s no internal battery in the transmitter either; that means one less thing to remember to charge up, which we’re always grateful for.
DigiFi supply the transmitter/receiver pre-paired, but there are instructions for associating one or both with other existing Kleer-based kit in the box. Similarly you can pair up to four receivers with a single transmitter, so that multiple people can listen in. If you picked up one of the D&A RX1 iPod speaker-dock adapters we reviewed in February, you could easily cut the cord between your iPod and its speakers, but still leave yourself able to turn on some headphones for private listening. As we said of the S2’s, Kleer’s selling point is that the audio it transmits is CD-quality (16-bit, 44KHz) rather than the lossier audio you’d get with Bluetooth A2DP. However, that also means you’re at the mercy of the earphones themselves for the eventual sound quality; we went away disappointed with the performance of the Digital Opera S2 set. However, we were told that along with the new iPod functionality, DigiFi had reworked the S5’s to improve audio quality, and official resellers WireFreeHifi bundled a set of Comply ear-tips (which they sell as accessories) which they promised would make a real difference to audio quality. To be fair, with the regular tips DigiFi provide, the S5’s do sound better than the S2’s. They still lack the richness of bass we’d prefer, and there’s a lack of top-end sparkle, but it’s not quite so muddy as the previous headphones. Swap out the standard flanged rubber tips for the Comply foam buds and things improve again, primarily because more outside noise is removed. They’re also comfier and feel more secure in your ear canals, which made us more confident about jogging and exercising while wearing them. A single charge of the receiver is rated for up to 10hrs of playback, and we found – when we didn’t attempt to stretch the 10m wireless range – we could manage 8-9hrs of solid use. As with the S2’s you can’t use the S5’s while recharging them, however, a process which takes around 2.5hrs. While the DigiFi Digital Opera S5’s are obviously narrower in their scope than the S2’s, the improvement in audio quality and the ability to control iPod playback add up to a better experience overall. Priced at £85/$129 they’re not cheap for headphones, and a wired set – at the same cost – will likely give you better audio quality; still, now at least there’s a better balance between performance and the useful freedom of cutting the cord. We can recommend them now, something we couldn’t with the S2’s, just make sure to budget an extra £6.25/$9 for the Comply foam tips. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
Posted by MobiG @ 5:40 pm
We keep asking digital photo frame manufacturers to put cellular data connections into their displays, only very few of them seem to listen. One prospect on the near horizon is the Vizit from Isabella Products, a 10.4-inch 800 x 600 touchscreen that can be left freestanding or wall-mounted, and which uses an integrated GSM/GPRS quadband modem to receive images emailed, shared from an online gallery or sent from a cameraphone. Having been up for pre-order for a while now, we now know that Vizit will go on sale March 23rd.
The Vizit’s connection is always-on and photos can not only be sent to the display but from it, too. They go through the company’s VizitMe.com online gallery, which can be fed by direct uploads, RSS feeds or MMS messages from cellphones. Only preset numbers and email addresses can send pictures through, so nothing untoward should frighten your grandmother when it pops up on-screen. In fact, the only really scary thing is likely to be the price. The Vizit frame itself is $279.99, but you’ll also need to plump for a service plan which Isabella Products are yet to define. Because of that, we can’t see too many people picking up the Vizit. It’s obvious we should’ve been more specific: we want a firm to put together a cellular-enabled display with a user-accessible slot for a pre-paid SIM. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
Posted by MobiG @ 4:53 pm
 Looks like the kids at T-Mobile USA are well aware that their company's future will depend on offering both compelling handsets and a competitive network for them to ride on. Reuters reports that the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary has been exploring all its options with regard to the provision of 4G services, including potential joint ventures with cable companies and even spectrum sharing with AT&T, though the likeliest candidate for the moment remains Clearwire's WiMAX infrastructure. Asked about a potential merger with Sprint, who controls more than 50 percent of Clearwire, T-Mobile's CEO Robert Dotson declined the idea, explaining that "what you never want to do is take one company that is going through challenges and take another company going through challenges." Reports of ongoing discussions between Clearwire and T-Mo have been around since last September, and the latest from Dotson suggests that his company is keen to get a resolution either way as soon as possible.T-Mobile and Clearwire mulling 4G partnership originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
2010-03-16 Posted by MobiG @ 7:19 pm  AirStash brings the WiFi, neglects the storage, for a cent under $100 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted by MobiG @ 6:58 pm
Video demo after the cut The company reckon it’ll be useful for digital photographers looking to more easily access their digital media – though who don’t want an Eye-Fi card – as well as iPhone owners looking to add extra capacity. AirStash use HTML5 for their browser-based interface, and you can access documents as well as media files on more than one gadget at a time. Recharging is done while the AirStash is plugged into a USB port, and the WiFi b/g connection can either be left unlocked or secured with WPA2 encryption. A full charge is good for five hours use; the AirStash is available to order now, priced at $99.99. [via jkOnTheRun] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
2010-03-15 Posted by MobiG @ 7:42 pm Sony have outed a pair of new wireless headphones, the MDR-RF810RK and MDR-RF4000K, each a set of closed-cup cans intended for home entertainment use. Of the two, the Sony MDR-RF4000K are probably the more interesting; they use a dual-band digital RF transceiver with 30m range, and have a 40mm long-stroke diaphragm.
They also fold flat for easy storage, and for docking into the combination case and recharging station. Battery life from the standard NiMH pack is up to 10hrs, though you can also use an AAA battery for 7hrs use. As for the Sony MDR-RF810RK headphones, they weigh a little less than their classier counterparts but don’t fold flat. They do get longer battery life, however; up to 13hrs with the NiMH pack or 28hrs with the AAA battery. Audio quality might not be as strong, however, since they use analog RF not digital. Both sets will be available in April 2010, pricing tba.
Press Release:
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2010-03-12 Posted by MobiG @ 10:43 pm  FCC comes through with a Consumer Broadband Test app for iPhone, Android and the home originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted by MobiG @ 2:14 pm
So, we already know the Sony PlayStation Move controller is coming Fall 2010 and should be priced – in “starter kit” form – at under $100, but we’re still seeing more tidbits about the motion-control system drip out GDC this week. There’s good news and bad, unfortunately, including a limitation on multiplayer support in part thanks to the PS3’s own Bluetooth connectivity capabilities. Turns out, while up to four-player gaming is possible, that’s not if everyone wants to use both the Move controller and a sub-controller.
Sony have confirmed to Gizmodo that the PS3 will either support four Move controllers on their own, or a pair of them with sub-controllers. That means that motion-only games will be suitable for up to four players, but anything requiring extra degrees of control that a sub-controller would bring will only be usable by two gamers at a time.
It’s unclear to what extent this is a system limitation and what Sony themselves have coded in; apparently the PS3’s Bluetooth connectivity can only deal with up to seven connections at a time. Still, Sony have done good work slimming down the Move system elsewhere; according to Joystiq it’ll only demand 1-2MB of system memory.
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2010-03-09 Posted by MobiG @ 9:37 pm Ease of use and convenience is a big part of anyone’s life. And when you’re working with computers, for work or personal use, then you know working with more than one of them can become a hassle given enough time. Whether that means you’ve got all your files on one, and yet need it for a special project on the other, there’s no telling how many different scenarios can pop up and make you wish everything was just connected. Source R&D feels your pain, and they want to help you out. That’s why today marks the official announcement of their Warpia Easy Dock. That’s right: your life just got easier.
The laptop has become something of a ubiquitous product, to say the least. For some people out there, it holds the contents to their entire lives: music, school, work, pictures, and movies. But some people out there would rather watch their movies on a bigger screen than their laptop. Or listen to music on better speakers than the ones their laptop offers. Or, maybe you have a netbook with a smaller keyboard, and you want nothing more than to feel a full-sized board under your fingers again. Then the R&D Warpia Easy Dock is exactly what you need.
Based off wireless technology from Wisair, the Easy Dock is basically a dongle that connects to your laptop via a USB port, and a receiver that you connect to your home-based desktop PC. It connects to the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers. The receiver will instantly recognize the dongle, and the wireless transmission will begin. It will then begin transmitting the image from your laptop at a max resolution of 1400×1050 to your desktop screen.
Yes, there are other options for wirelessly syncing your laptop to your PC, but Source R&D is ahead of the game with their level of wireless technology. Above all, you’re able to wirelessly sync between a Mac-based platform to a Windows-based one without any trouble or extra cables. It just works. And for $149.99, it’s priced to not be a strain on your wallet. The Easy Dock works with Windows 7, Vista, XP, Mac OS X Leopard, and Snow Leopard. If you’ve been looking for a way to easily access everything on your laptop from your desktop, here’s your answer. [via Source R&D] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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AirStash may be a reasonably stupid name, but 
