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October 22, 2008 news 
By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Hardware
Want to be more productive? Get back to work faster? Probably not, but Dell has a solution for businesses that want you to be. Next week consumers will get a first look at Dell’s new Instant-On system for Latitude laptops.
Instant-On technology will give users instant access to data and major applications without booting up the computer. By doing so, this will allow users to function with e-mail and documents without engaging the CPU and therefore using far less energy.
Dell is promising its customers ‘multi-day’ battery life for new models of its Latitude line – dubbed with the name ‘Latitude On’ according to Jeff Clarke, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Dell Product Group. No details on when the ‘Latitude On’ would be released. However, Clarke did disclose some details of the system back in August of this year – claiming the system will run a Linux variant and a secondary chip, in order to extend battery life. You can watch the video containing some of the disclosures on YouTube here.
The Instant-On feature sounds a lot like Dell Media Direct, a partition that was pre-configured on select Dell systems that allowed you to listen to music and watch videos without having to boot into the operating system – sounds like they have utilized this idea and just bumped it up a notch, actually making it useful this time around.
Dell has the Latitude E4200 and E4300 listed on their site with the ’Latitude On’ feature. Dell’s description of the feature is as follows:
Instant Connectivity Enjoy instant access to email, calendar and internet with the new Dell Latitude ONTM communication module. Dell Latitude ON enables bi-directional remote access to your Microsoft Exchange data with the single touch of a button without booting or waking your entire laptop—lowering power consumption and extending battery life.
By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide
Recent reports say that Wii Fit, Nintendo’s at home personal training game will outsell Take Two’s vastly popular Grand Theft Auto IV by the end of the year.
GTA IV is often referred to as the best selling game of 2008. Released at around the same time but receiving considerably less media attention, is Nintendo’s Wii Fit. One is marketed at young males, the other, the casual gaming market, which is dominated by, well, everyone — including the elusive female demographic.
GigaOm has a forecast chart displaying sales of both GTA and Wii Fit and quotes analyst Michael Pachter as saying that if the current attachment rate of Wii Fit (one in three) were to remain constant, Wii Fit will outsell GTA.
If Wii Fit does indeed overtake GTA in time for 2009, we’re inclined to believe it will be holiday and New Year’s resolution sales that take it there as opposed to popularity. While there’s no doubt that Nintendo’s game is popular, sales at the moment indicate it’s not as popular as GTA. Take Two has shifted roughly 10.6 million copies of GTA, while Nintendo lags behind with 8.7 million units sold.
Keep in mind that GTA is available on both the Xbox 360 and the PS3, while Wii Fit is exclusive to Nintendo’s machine. Of course, the installed base of the Wii by itself is already formidable against even the combined numbers of Sony and Microsoft’s consoles.
Unfortunately, plenty of people have a problem with GTA and among them, are the parents of many kids who would love to get a copy for Christmas. Wii Fit is a game that tons of people will be given for Christmas but unfortunately the same cannot be said of GTA.
Check out the flow chart on GigaOm.
Related Links
Review of Wii Fit on Tom’s Games
Review of Grand Theft Auto IV on Tom’s Games
By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide
It looks as though there could be an end to what we thought would be a lengthy game of legal volleyball between Apple and Mac clone manufacturer, Psystar.
Today news emerged that the two companies were looking to settle their differences out of court in a process known as an Alternative Dispute Resolution, The Mac Observer reports.
"ADR is a private process whereby both parties can meet and work out a resolution in lieu of going to trial," an attorney told The Observer under a veil of anonymity. "Exactly why this has happened is not known at this point," he added.
While the ADR process can take several months it’s likely to give a much more discrete result than the alternative. Basically, both sides meet with an agreed mediator who agrees to play referee and help the two companies settle their differences.
We’re not really sure what this means as far either company’s allegations are concerned. If Apple was so sure what Psystar was doing was wrong, we wonder why the company would want to settle out of court rather than make a public example of Psystar. Similarly, Psystar recently filed an anti-trust suit against Apple and unless the company has suddenly had a change of heart and decided Apple’s business practices don’t violate anti-trust laws, there’s no reason why Psystar shouldn’t take the Cupertino giant to court.
If you find yourself completely lost, check out the links below, which will bring you up to speed on the Psystar/Apple situation.
Related Links
Mac Clone Psystar Slams Steve Jobs
Apple Sues Psystar
Psystar Attorney Beats Around Antitrust Bush
Psystar Files Anti-trust Suit Against Apple
Apple Throws Ball Back to Psystar, Asks Judge to Throw Out Anti-Trust Suit
By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide
Online auctioneer, eBay has said it plans to put in place a global ban on the sale of ivory after the holidays.
Richard Brewer-Hay announced the company’s decision via eBay Inc, the official eBay blog. Brewer-Hay explained that 10 years ago 171 countries came together to ratify the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (known as CITES), which generally prohibits international trade in endangered plants and animals, and products derived from them. As a result of this, in 2007, eBay banned cross-border sales of ivory in an effort to balance the protection of endangered species but at the same time offer a way for sellers to legitimately sell products containing or made from ivory within domestic markets.
Over the last while, eBay has consulted with a number of organizations, including World Wildlife Fund, International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Humane Society of the United States, and has decided that it can’t ensure that ivory listed for sale on eBay is in compliance with the complex regulations that govern its sale and as of January 1, 2009 a global ban on the sale of all types ivory will take effect.
While the ban will be enforced as of January 1, Jack Christin, Sr. Regulatory Counsel for eBay has said that the ban will allow for some antique items that contain a very small amount of ivory, such as a small table with ivory inlay or an antique piano with ivory keys. However, eBay defines antiques as anything dated pre-1900 and stipulates that anything containing a significant amount of ivory, such as chess sets, ivory broaches or jewelry, regardless of age, will not be allowed.
While Christin says the company will be working closely with international and domestic law enforcement authorities in relation to dealing with those who break the law, there is no mention of what kind of punishments ivory sellers may face.
By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide
On Monday reports emerged that Yahoo! would end 2008 the way it rang in the new year back in January. That is, pink slips for an unspecified number of employees. While January’s cuts saw 1,000 Yahoos lose their jobs at the search company and rumours about this weeks cuts varied when it came to numbers.
Yesterday, Yahoo! CEO, Jerry Yang, announced the company’s earnings for Q3 2008 (which were bad but not woeful) and soon after sent out an email informing Yahoo staff that they would be cutting 10 percent of the global workforce in an effort to streamline business.
Yang, sent out an email (in all lowercase) to all-worldwide@yahoo-inc.com and after a three paragraph build up about “reaching out” to employees and the “challenging times” the company has been through in the last year, he finally got the the point. By Christmas, 10 percent of Yahoo!’s workforce will be gone, a figure many feel falls short of what the company needs to cut in order to make any kind of reduction in employees profitable.
Yang explained that as part of yesterday’s Q3 earnings release, the company’s goal was to reduce it’s current annualized cost run rate of roughly $3.9 billion by more than $400 million before the end of 2008. He went on to say that while they would target non-headcount expense where ever possible, compensation expense are the singly largest part of the company’s costs.
10 percent of Yahoo!’s work force is roughly 1,500 people, 500 more than what the company cut back in January. However, by June of this year, Yahoo!’s headcount was reportedly back up to what it was before the New Year’s layoffs. Yahoo! needs to either recut the original thousand and then decided where it should go from there in terms of layoffs or sack this 1,500 and make it stick.
Yang’s full memo below.
"yahoos,
i feel it’s important for me to reach out to you after our earnings announcement, and before our all hands meeting tomorrow.
we as a company have been through a tremendously challenging year; and managing the increasingly turbulent global advertising climate has been an important focus for the last three months.
throughout the first three quarters of 2008, we have been balancing between investing in our top priorities, and managing our cost structure. beginning in september, with the help of Bain & Co., we initiated a series of steps to determine how we can become more efficient and productive as an organization.
we heard from you through the YEES survey, and through your suggestions on backyard, and we’ve identified many areas that we all feel we can improve upon. our productivity efforts, based in part on what we heard from you, will involve initiatives such as streamlining our organizational structure through reducing layers and increasing spans of control, and eliminating redundancies. longer term structural efficiencies include consolidating facilities, improving procurement, and standardizing our global technology platforms.
today as part of our q3 earnings release, we said that our goal is to reduce our current annualized cost run rate of roughly $3.9 billion by more than $400 million before the end of 2008. we are targeting non-headcount expenses wherever possible, such as facilities and outside services. however, because compensation expenses are the single largest part of our costs, we anticipate a reduction of at least 10% of our global workforce by year-end.
affected employees will be notified of layoffs in the next several weeks. we understand that hearing this news now creates uncertainty, but we are moving ahead in a way that balances speed with a clear focus on accomplishing what is necessary to set the organization up for long term success. going forward it will continue to be important for us to make the right decisions to keep our business efficient and strong.
having layoffs is very difficult, particularly in light of all we’ve experienced this year. but we don’t take these decisions lightly, and are committed to treating affected employees fairly, offering severance and outplacement services.
the steps we are taking are not easy for us as a company, but as we become more fit as an organization, decision-making will be faster and it will be easier for us all to get more done and stay focused on our strategy. these changes will also prepare us to better deal with the macroeconomic downturn. as with previous downturns, yahoo! continues to be a place where consumers turn for information and communications, and is an integral part of their internet day. as the global economy improves in the future, i certainly believe that we will be stronger and benefit from the actions we are taking now.
as always, i thank you for all you do as yahoos.
best, jerry"]
By Devin Connors - Source : Tom's Guide
Apple posted its fourth quarter numbers today, and while the economy may be in a downswing, its clear that the Cupertino based computer company is doing extremely well amidst a sea of worry and doubt.
Apple posted revenue of $7.9 billion and a profit of $1.14 billion for the quarter, which translates to $1.26 per share. This time last year, Apple was posting $6.22 billion in revenue and net quarterly profits of $904 million, meaning revenue and quarterly profit are up about 27% and 26%, respectively. While Apple has traditionally been strong company in the U.S. and weaker internationally, 41% of its total sales came from outside the U.S., undoubtedly fueled by the large numbers of foreign carriers who picked up the iPhone 3G.
In the 4th quarter alone, Apple shipped 2,611,000 Macs, representing a 21 percent jump over Q4 of 2007. More impressive than Mac sales was the iPhone 3G,which sold 6.9 million units, outselling BlackBerry devices as well as outselling the original iPhone over its 5 quarter lifespan. Fueled by international sales, the 6.9 million sold helped Apple to meet its goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008, making it one of the most successful products of this year.
Apple announced that it has over 5,500 applications available in its App Store, which should sell its 200 millionth app sometime tomorrow. iPod sales are also up, jumping 8% compared to one year ago, totaling just over 11 million sold in Q4.
“Apple just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone—we sold more phones than RIM,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple. But we’re armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.”
While happy with the quarterly numbers, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer emphasized caution. “We’re very pleased to have grown revenue 35 percent and to have generated $9.1 billion in cash in fiscal 2008,” said Oppenheimer “Looking ahead, visibility is low and forecasting is challenging, and as a result we are going to be prudent in predicting the December quarter.”
Related Links
By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide
Sorry, C-3PO isn’t available for reprogramming. It’s only Google and its just-launched cell phone, now open-sourced for your hacking pleasure.
As this blog by Google software engineer Dave Bort dictates, today is a big day for Android. Apparently, the development team has officially kicked off the Linux-based Android Open Source Project, inviting the open-source community to download, investigate, and create applications of utmost wonder. On the other hand, this also allows hackers in the mobile phone’s innards like inviting vampires into the home. Still, Bort seems optimistic and partly giddy from the initial release. And rightfully so: with the release of the tools, anyone can contribute to Android and influence its direction.
"Android is not a single piece of hardware; it’s a complete, end-to-end software platform that can be adapted to work on any number of hardware configurations. Everything is there, from the bootloader all the way up to the applications. And with an Android device already on the market, it has proven that it has what it takes to truly compete in the mobile arena."
He goes on to say Android has a lot to offer even for those not planning to ship a mobile device, that the Android serves as a great source material for virtual machine research. The phone even features an out-of-the-box embedded Linux solution all of which is available through the Android Open source Project along with graphics libraries, media codecs, WebKit, SQLite and many more. The source code also features Google’s Dalvik virtual machine and Java-based middleware layer.
Curious minds and interested developers alike can download and use the source code for free, as the software falls under the Apache GPU license (free to use but developers don’t have to release the resulting product’s source code). But be warned: the 2.1GB package requires 6GB of drive space to install. Apparently, Ubunti is the ideal coding environment although Mac software can be used as well.
However, it’s no surprise that the announcement comes the day before T-Mobile’s G1 goes on sale, the first Android-operated phone. Starting at $179 USD, the G1 smartphone features many of the goodies found on Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry touchscreen phones including Wi-Fi, high-speed web browsing, instant messaging and more. Google has made it no secret that it wants to make the Android operating system standard on all smartphones much like the Windows platform on all PCs. Of course, that will happen when hell freezes over.
"This is an exciting time for Android, and we’re just getting started," said Bort. "It takes a lot of work to keep up with the changes in the mobile industry. But we want to do more than just keep up; we want to lead the way, to try things out, to add the new features that everyone else is scrambling to keep up with. But we can’t do it without your help. What will you do with Android?"
There’s no doubt that an Android-operated smartphone is not only intriguing, but a breath of fresh air to developers and consumers. As T-Mobile’s G1 serving as android’s flagship, it will be interesting to see what becomes of Google’s operating system in the months ahead, and what developers can do with the platform to make smartphone use an awesome experience. Then again, open-source can also lead to potential danger.
To download the SDK, start here.
By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Hardware
Nvidia has announced that that ASUS, EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte, and DFI have all licensed Nvidia SLI technology for their new lines of boards designed around the Intel X58 chipset. Adding SLI to these boards (and adoption by major OEMs such as Dell) means that consumers will be able to use the power of Single, Dual, or even Triple SLI configurations.
Quoting Patrick Cooper, Director of Product Planning for Dell Gaming: “Dell Gaming is known for industry-leading graphics and unparalleled performance. With the marriage of Nvidia SLI and the latest generation of Intel chipsets, we will continue to offer hardcore gamers the opportunity to push their Alienware systems beyond the limits of today’s hottest titles.”
The new boards designed for Bloomfield processors utilizing the X58 chipset are currently in final production and are being readied for market introduction based on Intel processor launch schedules. The boards and PC systems coming to market will feature of variety of graphics options. Two of the options will be implementations utilizing the Nvidia nForce 200 SLI processor, and then boards designed to run SLI technology natively through the licensing and certification program.
Joe Hsieh, General Manager at ASUS Motherboard Business Unit, enthusiastically added, “ASUS is bringing many motherboards into production with support for Nvidia SLI technology, and a motherboard worthy of mention is the new ASUS Rampage II Extreme which is based on Intel’s upcoming X58 chipset. This state-of-the-art motherboard is specifically designed to serve as the nucleus of the most demanding PC configurations available on the market today, and will be a boon to extreme overclockers and hardcore gamers. We are expecting gamers to take full advantage of the graphics capability that 3-way SLI provides to build a screaming-fast gaming machine. I’m sure our customers can hardly wait to start gaming!”
Regarding the licensing and certification program that these manufacturers will be taking part in, they will all be, apparently, required to pay Nvidia a fixed sum of money for every motherboard sold to legally enable Nvidia’s SLI multi-GPU technology in all Intel X58-based platforms.
As covered in a news article by Expreview, Nvidia will be charging board makers $5 per unit for SLI licensing. It is currently unclear if the company also plans to charge manufacturers of board for actual ‘certification’ at this point in time.
A lot of people have been asking for Intel platforms that support SLI for years now, and they are finally getting their wish. Nvidia actually has no SLI compatible architecture that will work with i7, so they had pursue other avenues to keep the customers interested, and all of this is what came of it – possibly a pretty slick and smart move. It feels like we might see a huge war of enthusiast boards soon.
By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Hardware
Need another 1/10th of a millimeter of space on your desk? Probably not, but Samsung is claiming the thinnest LCD in the world at 7.9mm over the 8.0mm Phillips had on show back in August.
A tenth of a millimeter is not much at all, but when it comes to these giants competing with each other, it means everything. Samsung unveiled a prototype 40-inch LCD that is 7.9mm thin at an event in South Korea last week — beating the 32-inch LCD from Phillips at 8mm.
Both prototypes were able to achieve their ’thinness’ by having the tuner and most other electronics put into a separate box that sits near the screen. There has been no mention of either product becoming commercially available at this point in time.
Samsung was also showing off a 52-inch LCD that is only 9.9mm thin — which is very impressive and matches the Sony ZX1, due to ship this coming November in Japan and Europe to follow shortly after. Samsung has no comment on when its super thin 52-inch is expected to hit the market.
It is quite amazing how thin these things are getting — it seems like only yesterday we were all using enormous CRTs on our desks and living rooms.
By Steve Seguin - Source : Tom's Guide
Intel officially introduced its UrbanMax concept platform at IDF in Taipei this week.
The UrbanMax is Intel’s new mobile PC concept, which features an 11.1-inch touchscreen display. Text input on the UrbanMax can be achieved using the touchscreen display, but the UrbanMax also offers a small slide out Qwerty keyboard. The touchscreen allows users to input data, navigate the interface and jot down notes while standing up or on the go. When at a desk or sitting down, the screen on the UrbanMax can be tilted upwards to offer notebook functionality and faster text input with the use of the slide out keyboard.
The UrbanMax comes with a high-performance SSD for rugged, fast and energy efficient storage. The system will use small form factor Intel Centrino 2 processor technology, which will support high-definition 1080p video playback on the 1366x768 resolution display. Considering the mobile nature of the UrbanMax, support for wireless technologies, such as 3G and WiMax, are more than likely.
The UrbanMax concept was already spotted a couple months ago and at the time it was discovered that the system runs Windows Vista. When the UrbanMax is in notebook mode, the traditional desktop interface is present, but when in tablet mode, the interface switches to one designed for touchscreens. Also, the slide out keyboard is equipped with a tiny optical mouse device, which is reminiscent of the red nub found on ThinkPad notebooks.
The UrbanMax will likely be facing competition from netbook designs, which offer mobility, simplicity and a low price. With some netbook manufactures also adopting touchscreens for their netbook designs, the UrbanMax may end up being labeled as being just another tablet PC. Overall though, the device does seem appealing in that gigantic iPhone-type of way. There has been mention of Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) at IDF, although the UrbanMax would not be classified as one. MIDs are devices that someone carries on them, rather than with them.
By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide
Today LucasArts and BioWare revealed one of the industry’s worst kept secrets ever... Star Wars: The Old Republic
Some would probably say, "it’s about time" while others may smirk and whisper a well-deserved "no kidding." But no matter what, the cat is out of the bag with the official announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic, a joint MMOG venture between LucasArts and famed developer BioWare. Set in the Knights of the Old Republic timeframe, the upcoming massively multiplayer online PC game promises "immersive storytelling, dynamic combat and intelligent companion characters." Can someone say w00t?
But why choose the KOTOR setting? "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is the most critically acclaimed Star Wars game in LucasArts history and a preeminent example of our company’s interactive storytelling heritage,” said Darrell Rodriguez, President of LucasArts. “For a long time, we’ve wanted to return to the franchise in a grand way, and we felt that the best setting for it was an online world that would allow millions of people to participate in the experience together. We knew that the developer capable of working with us to deliver an engrossing story with a fully-realized online world was BioWare.”
Taking place thousands of years before Anakin Skywalker becomes the villainous Darth Vader and 300 years after the latest KOTOR game, players will experience the Star Wars universe when the war raging between the Sith Empire and the Old Republic divides the entire galaxy. Although players can chose to play Sith or Jedi, LucasArts says that other meaningful, classic classes will be available as well. Players will even befriend NPCs along their journey, and will either fight alongside the player or turn against them, depending on the player’s actions. Because the Old Republic is a massively multiplayer game, players will be able to team up with other gamers to "battle enemies and overcome incredible challenges using dynamic Star Wars combat."
“Traditionally, massively multiplayer online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars - combat, exploration and character progression,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder and General Manager/CEO of BioWare and General Manager/Vice President of Electronic Arts Inc., “In Star Wars: The Old Republic, we’re fusing BioWare’s heritage of critically-acclaimed storytelling with the amazing pedigree of Lucasfilm and LucasArts, and adding a brand-new fourth pillar to the equation – story. At the same time, we will still deliver all the fun features and activities that fans have come to expect in a triple-A massively multiplayer online game. To top it all off, Star Wars: The Old Republic is set in a very exciting, dynamic period in the Star Wars universe.”
Currently LucasArts and BioWare have not announced a release date for the MMOG, however LucasArts’ other MMOG Star Wars Galaxies remains afloat. Launched in 2003, over one million units of Star Wars Galaxies have been sold, and currently three expansion packs are available as well. In 2005 LucasArts and SOE implemented the New Game Enhancements, thus causing a negative backlash from its subscribers. Many reports have claimed that subscription rates are down, and online headcounts have dipped below 11,000 at one time.
It will be interesting to see how Star Wars: The Old Republic will affect Star Wars Galaxies: will current subscribers check out the new game and return, or will subscription rates drop to the point where SOE decides to shut down the servers. Hopefully both MMOGs can coexist however highly unlikely given BioWare’s previous history with the Star Wars universe.
LucasArts claims that more details will be revealed at a later date. In the meantime, PC.IGN has a hands-on preview with The Old Republic, stemming from their visit to BioWare’s Austin office.
By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide
A little while back there was talk of a touch screen Eee PC hitting shelves by early 2009. Asus today confirmed plans for the touchscreen Eee as well revealing a few other details about its line of compact computers.
Asus CEO Jerry Shen spoke to LaptopMag about the success of the Eee PC, the notebook that kicked off the UMPC market, and gave a few details of when users can expect to see the touchscreen Eee on the market. Shen said that to date, the company had sold nearly 4 million Eee PCs and was well on the way to meeting its target of 5 million by the end of 2008.
We all knew they were on the way and while rumor suggested sometime in Q1 and Q2 of 2009, there wasn’t much else to go on. Unfortunately Shen wasn’t so keen to share many details when it came to form factor, although LaptopMag reports Shen said the company is exploring a convertible mode and a regular laptop form for touch-enabled Eee PCs.
"We are considering a tablet one and also a different alternative and form but we cannot talk about the details," said Shen. "We plan to talk about it in Q1 of next year."
More interestingly, aside from telling us we’ll never see Vista on an Eee, Shen said the new Eees will run run Windows 7 as early as mid-2009 while Microsoft remains adamant the operating system is set for a late 2009 or early 2010 release.
In regards to Vista on the Eee line, Shen replied, "I think we could, but we don’t plan on putting Vista on any of the Eee PCs. I think in the future in the second half of next year we will put Windows 7 on Eee PCs. For now it will be Linux and XP and then Windows 7 and not do Vista."
Shen said the company would be announcing several new products at CES 2009 in January and dropped hints about an Asus mobile phone incorporating the Eee brand ideas.
Check out LaptopMag for the full interview.
By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide
A couple of weeks ago, rumors surfaced of a HP smartphone. Reports citing “people briefed on the plan,” said the company would soon be launching a smartphone that was supposed to hit European markets in the next two months and be targeted at your everyday consumer as opposed to HP’s usual corporate market.
Aside from that tidbit of information, there wasn’t much else to go on other than the phone would be the next in HP’s iPaq line of handsets. We were skeptical as to whether or not HP’s device would make any impact on the smartphone market, but now the devices are here for early analysis.
Not the only company to do an about face and target another market completely (for example, iPhone goes after business users, BlackBerry goes after social users), we figured HP’s only way to garner some attention was to come up with something very innovative on the design front.
One of the huge factors with smartphones is whether or not they have a touch screen or a physical keypad. HP has solved this problem by releasing one of each. Both phones are attractive and both look like a cross between the HTC Touch and a navy blue BlackBerry.
The Data Manager comes with both a touch screen and a slide out QWERTY keyboard. It features an 2.8 inch QVGA screen, HSDPA mobile broadband, built-in GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 3.1 Megapixel camera with LED flash. It also comes with 128 MB RAM, 256 ROM and the option for microSD expansion. Specs for the Voice Messenger are similar (with the same Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS functionality) however the Voice Messenger ditches the touch screen and slide out keypad in favour of a 20 key layout similar to the suretype keypad on the BlackBerry Pearl. Both will run on Windows Mobile 6.1.
The iPaq Voice Messenger costs £333 (SIM-free) and is due to ship to Europe in mid-November, while the iPaq Data Messenger costs £399 (SIM-free) and will be available from the end of November.
Related Links
By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide
It was only a matter of time before RIM caught on to Google’s heat, and now the company plans to launch an applications store of its own.
Although BlackBerry users already have access to third-party software from sites such as BPlay, Handango and even Crackberry.com, users will be able to purchase and download applications in the same manner as Google’s Android Market and Apple’s App Store. However, the BlackBerry applications store won’t launch until March 2009 as revealed at the recent BlackBerry Developer Conference.
“The BlackBerry platform enjoys strong roots in the enterprise market and we continue to invest for growth and success with our enterprise channel partners, but the introduction of more consumer-friendly features in BlackBerry smartphones has clearly helped generate a groundswell of interest with new developers that has already resulted in the introduction of thousands of consumer and lifestyle oriented applications for BlackBerry smartphones,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The new BlackBerry application storefront and BlackBerry application centers will further support the growing BlackBerry ecosystem and help bridge consumers with developers and carriers as more and more innovative and interesting applications arrive.”
According to RIM, BlackBerry developers can begin submitting their applications in December, and will be allowed to set their own prices if their applications are approved for the storefront. RIM in turn will collect 20 percent of the revenue earned from each sale; Apple takes a 30 percent chunk from applications sold in its store, and Google claims that it will not require any revenue when the store eventually launches.
RIM is currently working with PayPal to integrate its payment system into the store as well as with its carrier partners to provide an alternative to the online store, "carrier-customized, on-device application centers to help foster after-market application downloads." These centers will provide an on-phone catalog where customers can purchase and download applications over the air. Organizations that have deployed BlackBerry Enterprise Server or BlackBerry Professional Software will retain control of what applications can be downloaded to BlackBerry smartphones within their corporate deployments.
In August, Google announced it would launch an applications store for its Android smartphone, mimicking the success of rival Apple’s iPhone App Store. Although the global giant will not thoroughly dissect applications sold in the store, Google did state that it has the right to remotely uninstall and application not following the developer’s agreement. Apple also finally admitted to a secret entrance in its iPhone, citing similar reasons. While RIM has not officially announced any intentions, it is highly likely follow the same path, updating the BlackBerry OS once the applications store launches in March (if a backdoor isn’t already present with the 4.5 release).
There’s no question that the mobile smartphone market is a good business not to mention loads of fun for the consumer. RIM’s BlackBerry Apps Store seems like a step in the right direction. Hopefully online outlets already selling BlackBerry applications won’t see a huge hit in the revenue department.