drag2share: Intel may be giving up on smart TVs, ceding market to ARM

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/12/intel-may-be-giving-up-on-smart-tvs-ceding-market-to-arm/

Well, it looks like Intel is throwing in the smart TV towel. As originally reported by AnandTech, and now confirmed by the company itself, Chipzilla is closing down its Digital Home Group and folding the team and resources into its tablet division. Its CE processors, which are found in the Boxee Box and the Logitech Revue, will continue to be sold, but it sounds like the focus will shift away from consumer-facing products. Obviously, that leaves the door wide open for ARM to sweep in. We already know that Google TV will be making the move to ARM-based hardware soon and the Boxee Box started life on Tegra before making the move to an Atom CE4100 (not to mention the A4-sporting Apple TV), so this isn't entirely new ground for the big players. Still, we're a little shocked to see Intel abandon the market just as it seems to be picking up steam.

Intel may be giving up on smart TVs, ceding market to ARM originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: iOS 5 review

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/12/ios-5-review/

Now well into its fifth year of life, iOS has always been known for its exceptional polish -- and also, its glaring feature holes. But, just like clockwork, each year since its 2007 debut, those shortcomings have been addressed one by one in a sweeping annual update. In 2008, the platform was opened up to developers giving us the App Store, 2009 saw the introduction of copy and paste -- which we'd argue is still the best implementation to date -- and last year "multitasking" finally made a presence. So what has Apple chosen to rectify in 2011? Well, for starters, notifications gets a complete overhaul with Notification Center, tethered syncing dies at the hands of iCloud and messaging gets a do-over with the birth of iMessage.

If you recall, we first got acquainted with iOS 5 in May after downloading the developer preview, but how does the final release stack up? And does it have the chops to compete with the latest from Mountain View and Redmond? After drudging through seven betas, we're ready to conquer all that the final release has to offer, so join us, if you would, past the break.

Continue reading iOS 5 review

iOS 5 review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Pantech Pocket for AT&T hands-on at CTIA E&A 2011 (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/12/pantech-pocket-for-atandt-hands-on-at-ctia-eanda-2011-video/

It's the glitz and glamour that typically defines shows such as this week's CTIA Enterprise & Applications 2011, but Pantech chose to fly under the radar this time around. Sure, the company didn't have its own multi-million dollar booth at the event, but it still at least had a significant product to show off. We were given the opportunity to spend some brief time playing with the Pantech Pocket, a follow-up to the crossover with better specs and another unique form factor. The pocket features a 4-inch SVGA (800 x 600) display, which means you can expect the device to be wider and shorter than your typical handset; in terms of width, we felt as though we were holding a 4.7-incher. We noticed, however, that its shorter length allowed for additional places to grip, which made it at least easier to hold in our hand as a result. Specwise, the Pocket is a Gingerbread phone running on Android 2.3.4, uses a similar UI to what's found on the Crossover, has a 5MP rear cam with 720p video capture (and no LED flash or front-facing camera) and is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 single-core CPU and 512MB of RAM. No pricing has been set on the Pocket, but it's certain to be gracing the midrange section of your neighborhood AT&T store starting November 6th. Gallery and vid below.

Continue reading Pantech Pocket for AT&T hands-on at CTIA E&A 2011 (video)

Pantech Pocket for AT&T hands-on at CTIA E&A 2011 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: RIM clarifies global service outage, doesn't provide ETA for restore

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/12/rim-clarifies-global-service-outage-doesnt-provide-eta-for-res/

If you don't own a BlackBerry yourself, chances are you know somebody who does. And if that person lives in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America or South America, they're probably quite unhappy with RIM at the moment. This week's service outage began with a server failure in the UK, and spread like wildfire to Africa and the Middle East, before continuing on to parts of Asia, the US, Canada and a good portion of South America. This is only the latest BlackBerry service outage for RIM, bringing email, BBM and web browsing services to a halt. But with BlackBerry services playing a critical role in real-time business and government communications, any interruption is unacceptable, and costly for all.

RIM CTO David Yach responded to questions during a press conference this afternoon, explaining the original cause of the outage (that UK server failure, along with a series of failed redundancies), and how that grew into the global outage we're experiencing now:

"It's a backlog issue. Clearly we have a backlog in Europe, based on the initial outage and the time it's taken to stabilize that. At this point, we have not throttled the other regions, but as you can imagine, with the global reach of BlackBerry, people using it to contact others around the world, there's a lot of messages coming to Europe from Asia and the Americas, and those would be backed up on the other system. It's looking like over time that backlog built, and started impacting those other systems."

The obvious solution would be to clear the backlog and restore service, but in doing so, RIM would purge any undelivered messages. Yach said that all emails will eventually be delivered, however, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about there (there was no related comment regarding BBM messages). When asked what the company would be doing to "make right" by way of its customers, Yach emphasized that his focus was only on restoring service at this point, and made no promises of restitution.

Is the BlackBerry outage effecting you? Let us know by voting in our poll, or leaving a comment after the break.

RIM clarifies global service outage, doesn't provide ETA for restore originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: YT Background Search for Chrome Explores YouTube Without Leaving the Current Video [Chrome Extensions]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5847592/yt-background-search-for-chrome-searches-youtube-without-leaving-the-current-video

Chrome: Watching YouTube videos almost always generates ideas for more videos to watch, but initiating a new search means closing the current video. With YT Background Search, you can look up what you'll queue next without closing the currently playing video.

The extension splits the YouTube page apart when you type in a search and shows you the results at the top of the page while your currently playing video continues. That's all this extension does, but since it runs unobtrusively in the background and works its magic automatically, you'll never notice it's there.

YT Background Search | Chrome Web Store via Addictive Tips

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