Hon Hai shows record profits, keeps making money from making iPhones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/hon-hai-profits/

Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn Technology, has reported its earnings for the year and notched a net income of $3.2 billion according to the Financial Times. Most familiar as the manufacturing muscle behind Apple's iPhones, iPads and the like, the Taiwan-based manufacturer beat analyst predictions on high margins for those products. Its subsidiary, Foxconn International Holdings, is the world's largest cellphone maker and produces devices for companies including Nokia and Motorola, but suffered a net loss of $316.4 million. As a result, some are concerned about Foxconn's heavy reliance on Apple as a customer going forward.Still, the company is reportedly continuing a plan to increase vertical integration, by manufacturing the parts for devices and not just putting them together -- we'll see if anyone notices changes in the final product anytime soon.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple

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Source: FT, BBC, Bloomberg

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T-Mobile's 4G LTE goes live in Phoenix, San Jose

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/t-mobiles-4g-lte-goes-live-in-phoenix-san-jose/

T-Mobile has started to roll out 4G services in the Phoenix and San Jose ahead of a press gathering today, according to our tipsters. Screen grabs show the service alive and kicking out speeds in the 20-30Mbps range, though we've yet to verify it for ourselves. The company already outed its "UnCarrier" plans on its site earlier featuring non-subsidized smartphones -- including LTE models -- along with unlimited voice, text and basic data plans. We should be able to color in the rest of the details later this morning.

[Thanks Nick, Dustin]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, T-Mobile

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NVIDIA's GTX 650 Ti Boost lives up to its name for $149

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/nvidia-gtx-650-ti-boost/

By NVIDIA's own admission, the lower registers of its Kepler-based GeForce graphics cards "couldn't always tackle [their] originally stated goal" of powering 1080p games with the settings amped up to high. So, after the GeForce GTX 650 and 650 Ti, maybe the third time's a charm. The latest card goes by the name GTX 650 Ti Boost, reflecting the fact that it brings NVIDIA's GPU Boost technology into the mix, which can vary the chip's clock speed as need allows. Stacked against the 650 Ti, this unit's got 782 CUDA cores (up from 768), a base clock of 980MHz (up from 928MHz) and a TDP of 140W, (compared to 110W). Another big draw is two-way SLI, so you can pair up cards when your wallet regains its strength. On the benchmark front, NVIDIA promises you can run Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm at highest settings and get a frame rate of 62fps, an order of magnitude higher than the 39fps promised on the 650 Ti. Sitting above the 650 Ti and below the GeForce 660, the 1GB version will set you back $149 (£124), with the 2GB edition priced at $169 (£144). In behind-closed-doors tests, the company has found that it comes out on top against AMD's $249 Radeon 7850, but we'll be rounding up independent reviews shortly in o! rder to verify that claim -- as well as seeing if it can make the 7790 think twice about getting out of bed.

Filed under: NVIDIA

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Unreal Engine 3 adding Oculus Rift support this April, Epic Citadel demo packed in

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/25/unreal-engine-3-oculus-rift/

The engine that powered the vast majority of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3's hit games, Unreal Engine 3, is getting a development kit update to support the soon-to-be-released Oculus Rift VR headset. Of course, the model of the Rift that's soon-to-be-released is intended for developers, so the Unreal Engine 3 UDK update is right on time; it arrives at some point in "early April," soon after the headset itself arrives for Kickstarter backers. Beyond UDK integration, full UE3 licensees will also get an update for integrating the headset into their games.

That said, if you snagged yourself a Rift dev kit and have no intention of actually developing games with it, the upcoming UDK release also includes a "VR Mode" version of the software's sample Unreal Tournament game, as well as a summer version of the Epic Citadel demo we were shown at CES 2013. Paired with Valve's offering of Team Fortress 2 VR Mode, that brings the grand total of playable things with the Rift headset to ... five or six (depending on what you define as a "demo"). Upcoming PC mech shooter Hawken is also promising Rift support, though it won't launch until mid-December. The Oculus folks are saying that Rift dev kits will begin shipping to Kickstarter backers this month, with orders fulfilled by mid-April.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Software, HD

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Jabra's Revo, Revo Wireless and Vox headphones get priced, now shipping

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/25/jabra-revo-wireless-vox-headphones-price-now-available/

Jabra's fresh batch of stereo headphones were first trotted out at CES, and now they've just been graced with price tags and are up for grabs. The Revo Wireless over-ear headphone rings up at $249, while the wired flavor will set folks back $199. Jabra's in-ear Vox hardware hits wallets with a little less force thanks to a $99 asking price. If you're in need a refresher, the gear was designed with durability in mind, sports Dolby Digital Plus tech and works with its manufacturer's Sound App for iOS and Android, which promises souped-up audio quality. Pining for a set of the cans? You'll have to head over to Amazon or Dell's online storefront to pick one up.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video

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