Friday, March 13, 2009

iPod shuffle teardown: guts weigh just 10% more than sheet of paper

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/13/ipod-shuffle-teardown-guts-weigh-just-10-more-than-sheet-of-pa/


Regular readers, you know the drill: interesting product introduced, product splayed wide for nerdgasm pulp. iFixIt has the honors again, this time aiming its Xacto at the new iPod shuffle. After the usual struggle to open Apple's un-serviceable (by consumers) gear, iFixIt notes that the functioning parts of the 3rd gen shuffle weigh only 10% more than a single sheet of letter-sized paper. Hit that read link for the visual gore -- pretty amazing stuff at this scale.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

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iPod shuffle teardown: guts weigh just 10% more than sheet of paper originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Apple logo modded as secondary LCD

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/13/video-apple-logo-modded-to-act-as-secondary-lcd/


The only thing more certain about an Apple fanboy than his unwavering trust in the infallibility of Steve Jobs is his affinity for the Apple logo. You'll see it prominently displayed on the bumper of his VW or on the backside of her MacBook where it glows in the conspicuous brilliance of latte-superiority. So it's no surprise to see said logo modded yet again, this time, with a fully functional LCD display thanks to the efforts of Eddie Zarick. Honestly, seeing the iTunes Visualizer pumped through that Apple mask looks pretty sweet. You seeing this Jonny Ive?

[Thanks, Chris T.]

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Video: Apple logo modded as secondary LCD originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 05:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gartner posts worldwide mobile OS numbers for 2008

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/13/gartner-posts-worldwide-mobile-os-numbers-for-2008/


This table pretty much speaks for itself as a snapshot of the year in smartphones that was 2008 (according to Gartner) -- a breakout year for the category particularly in the US. As you'd expect from the smartphone device tallies we saw yesterday, RIM and Apple have the momentum largely at the expense of Symbian's declining market share and the stagnation of Windows Mobile in an otherwise growing market segment. Palm's also a bit of a surprise showing 42.2% growth for the year. With any luck, Palm could turn this table upside down in 2009 with a successful global launch of WebOS. Regardless, you can bet that developers are paying particularly close attention to these numbers as they decide where to best align their resources for maximum financial gain.

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Gartner posts worldwide mobile OS numbers for 2008 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's P3 PMP gets imported, reviewed, adored

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/13/samsungs-p3-pmp-gets-imported-reviewed-adored/

Samsung's P3 PMP gets imported, reviewed, adored
Oh jealousy, you are a vile beast. While the Korean market has had access to the spicy P3 touchscreen PMP for months now, long enough for Samsung to release a complete revision of the firmware, we're still stuck waiting for the ambiguous "first half of this year." The impatient can always import, exactly what Pocketables has done, giving its gray-market gadget the full review treatment. Its design is found to be similar yet much more attractive than the earlier P2, size comparable to Cowan's S9, 480 x 272 touchscreen brilliant, and the UI snappy and intuitive. Negatives? Sound quality was found to be good, but not great out of the box (able to be fixed with a suite of tuning options) and the lack of video output is a slight handicap. Overall, the P3 sounds like the perfect competition for the S9 and just the PMP for our envious hearts -- if only it came in green.

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Samsung's P3 PMP gets imported, reviewed, adored originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zer01 is the new, contract-less MVNO that will bring VOIP to the mobile masses

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/13/zer01-is-the-new-contract-less-mvno-that-will-bring-voip-to-the/

Zer01 is the new, contract-less MVNO that will bring VOIP to the mobile masses
2008 marked the end for many a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), most going under in a flood of bankruptcies or getting consumed but their parent networks. It sure seems like no company in its right mind would want to wade back into that graveyard, but Zer01 is thinking differently, pledging to launch a new network within a network next month at CTIA 2009. Its services will be provided by AT&T, but it'll undercut the competition with a combination of a $69.95 monthly unlimited voice and data plan and a complete lack of contracts, as well as unlimited international calling (to 40 countries) for just an extra $10. What's the catch? The company will rely on a VOIP application for routing of all calls, and right now that app only works on Windows Mobile. That'll be a roadblock for many, and given AT&T's somewhat limited (and generally flaky) 3G data coverage we're a little concerned about call quality, but just the same can't wait to see how this one turns out.

[Via Unwired View and PC Magazine]

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Zer01 is the new, contract-less MVNO that will bring VOIP to the mobile masses originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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