Technology/Gadgets
Rumor: Microsoft to charge $150 for Kinect
by admin on Jun.23, 2010, under Gamer's Lounge, Technology/Gadgets
The majority of Microsoft’s E3 keynote was dedicated to Kinect, the camera system formerly known as Project Natal, and we learned the device’s release date and heard details about its use in several games. But one important piece of information was still missing: the price. Soon after the keynote, Gamestop listed Kinect for $149.99, and now further evidence has been revealed to support that number.
Firstly, we have Microsoft’s own store, which has listed Kinect as $149.99 for those who want to pre-order the motion control device. This isn’t an official price confirmation, however; the store says that “the advertised price for pre-order items may increase or decrease prior to the date the product is released to the public.”
Meanwhile, Develop has reported on information from a “highly positioned” anonymous source claiming that each Kinect unit actually costs Microsoft $150 to manufacture. If true, this would mean that Microsoft would take a loss on each unit sold for less than $150, whereas sticking to the rumored price would allow the company to break even on the hardware.
With Kinect not due to launch in North America until November 4, it could be quite some time before we get an official pricing announcement.
Nintendo courting third-party developers with 3DS
by admin on Jun.23, 2010, under Gamer's Lounge, Technology/Gadgets
“One of the major objectives of our E3 was to stress that it’s important for Nintendo that we get this level of support from partners,” Nintendo of Europe’s Laurent Fischer told GamesIndustry.biz. “Of course we’re happy about it, but it’s more than we would have dreamed of with such support from our partners at this new time for consoles.”
According to Fischer, there are currently around 70 games—both first and third party—in the works for the new handheld, including titles from Konami, Capcom, Ubisoft, and Activision.
“For hardware that started its public life only days ago that’s amazing, and what I was pleased with was you can see very, very strong support from everyone. You can see from the line-up that we have huge titles that no other publisher is doing, without us thinking twice about it. I couldn’t see any publisher that isn’t very motivated by the console so we’re really pleased by that.”
The Nintendo 3DS still doesn’t have a release date, but you can check out our hands-on impressions from E3for further details.
Courier lives, kinda, with new Toshiba dual-screen portable
by admin on Jun.22, 2010, under Technology/Gadgets
Today Toshiba announced the Libretto W100, an ultra-mobile PC sporting a pair of 7″ 1024 × 600 multitouch screens, a 1.2GHz Pentium U5400 processor, 2GB RAM, and a 62GB solid state disk. The all-touch device is designed to be used as a conventional laptop, and vertically, like a book.
The W100 includes haptic technology, giving the touchscreens tactile feedback; there’s also 802.11b/g/n support, Bluetooth, and a built-in camera. This is all in a slightly bulky—7.95″ × 4.84″ × 1.2″—but lightweight—1.8 lbs (just a hair more than the iPad)—package. In spite of the size, it is certainly a fully-featured machine.
Toshiba is describing the W100 as a “concept PC,” an acknowledgement that it won’t be a machine suitable for everyone. It will hit the market in August, with prices starting at $1099, albeit with limited availability. The device was shown as part of Toshiba’s celebration of 25 years of laptops; the first clamshell laptop was released by Toshiba some 25 years ago.
The company is positioning the W100 as an Ultra Mobile PC—something highly portable, but still in every sense a PC, with all the functionality that entails. The similarity to Microsoft’s Courier concept, however, is striking. Courier paired the dual-screen, book-like form-factor with specialized software that fully exploited the touch capabilities to provide a natural, intuitive interface.
However, as with so many tablet-like devices before, the W100 does not do this. The W100 includes Windows 7 Home Premium, which is a perfectly good operating system, but it is not purpose-built for pure touch machines. The user interface is designed for a mouse and a keyboard, and though Windows 7 does include some concessions to touch (for example, it includes an on-screen keyboard with multitouch support, and it enlarges certain interface elements when used with touch machines), it still falls a long way short of the purpose-built interfaces found in so many cell phones and the iPad.
To fill this gap, the W100 does include some custom software: a “Toshiba Bulletin Board,” that provides a touch-friendly, widget-based desktop, and “Toshiba ReelTime,” with touch-friendly file management. The device can also be used as a more conventional laptop, with one screen serving as a keyboard. A number of keyboard layouts are supported, including a neat split mode for use with thumbs.
The software problem is a continued issue for Microsoft. Given the hardware specs of the W100, Windows 7 is in some ways a natural fit: this is a piece of hardware that’s got the horsepower to run fully fledged desktop apps without a problem (in terms of computational capabilities, it has something like five times the integer performance of the A4 processor in the iPad). Using one screen as a keyboard—a keyboard with tactile feedback, no less—arguably also justifies the use of full Windows 7, as it makes the W100 functionally equivalent to a standard laptop.
But if that’s all the device is going to be used for, it might as well abandon the second screen and just use a regular keyboard. The unique value of the W100 is that it can be tilted sideways and held like a book with a pair of screens—only it lacks the software to really make use of this mode.
As such, it’s hard to see the point of the W100. A similar device based on, say, Android would make sense with the touchscreens, but would then be (in comparison to other Android devices) immensely overpowered, with the drop in battery life that implies. Sticking with Windows 7 limits the utility of the touchscreens, but justifies the stuff under the hood. Combined with the price, it’s not hard to see why Toshiba is labeling this a “concept PC.” The W100 is unlikely to emulate the iPad’s sales figures, and isn’t enough—yet—to herald a new era of portable computing.
Next-gen gigabit wireless spec formalized with 7Gbps speeds
by admin on Jun.05, 2010, under Articles, Technology/Gadgets
It has been a very busy day for the WiGig Alliance, which is attempting to develop a specification for next-generation wireless devices. Earlier today, the group announced the 1.0 version of its spec, which would use a chunk of spectrum at 60GHz, achieve data rates of up to 7Gbps, and retain backwards compatibility with current-generation WiFi devices. In an effort to show that support for the spec is building, WiGig also announced that it has forged a cooperation agreement with the WiFi Alliance, which promotes the current generation of wireless networking devices, and added networking giant Cisco to its board of directors.
Right now, the spec itself is only available to companies that have joined the WiGig Alliance, although there are details about it scattered through various pages on the group’s site. For one, compatible devices will be able to communicate on three frequencies: the 2.4GHz chunk of the spectrum used by 802.11b/g devices, the 5GHz region used by 802.11n, and the new, 60GHz area of the spectrum that is currently not in use. WiGig documentation indicates that there’s a lot of unlicensed space in that region, which gives it more options for avoiding interference when transmitting. That may be needed, as there is one HD video spec called Wireless HD that plans on broadcasting there as well (we covered Wireless HD briefly in our roundup of wireless tech).
But the bigger problem with the 60GHz region of the spectrum is simply that signals don’t travel as far and are more prone to being absorbed by intervening devices. WiGig plans on getting around that by using a technique called beamforming. This requires multiple transmitters; once a recipient’s position is known, the signal is sent from each transmitter with slight delays in timing needed to ensure that it causes a constructive interference pattern at the destination. Implement this properly, and WiGig promises decent signal out beyond 10 meters.
None of the previous wireless technologies have ever lived up to their promised throughputs, but, in general, a faster theoretical rate has turned out to provide better performance. With a potential throughput about 10 times that of 802.11n, WiGig seems likely to enable better speeds, provided that the beamforming technology adequately deals with any broadcast distance issues.
Existing WiFi tech, however, easily provides sufficient head room to handle the speed of incoming broadband connections, which primarily makes WiGig interesting from what it may enable within a home LAN. Home networks are becoming ever more sophisticated, with various file-serving and consuming devices, like NAS boxes, HDTVs, DVRs, and the like. Given that most of this hardware doesn’t move around much, it may be easier to arrange the devices so that throughput is a bit closer to the theoretical maximum.
As we noted above, however, there are a number of other wireless protocols in the works for transmitting HD material. WiGig has some significant advantages, in that it is both more general, and is backwards compatible with earlier devices. It’s also royalty-free, and the Alliance promises that it will be possible to create low-power implementations suitable for portable devices.
But the biggest advantage the group has may be in its backers. Although Cisco has just signed on, WiGig members also include Atheros and Broadcom, which make a lot of the current-generation hardware. Intel and AMD are both on board, as is Dell, a handful of cellular companies, and some consumer electronics makers. Overall, it seems like a broad base of support, and having a completed spec should allow some of them to start designing compatible gear.
Whether we’ll actually see any gear in the near future is a different question entirely, and one that’s tough to answer without detailed knowledge of the spec and what it would take to implement it. Even if the hardware appears soon, it may take a while to actually have an impact. Wireless-N devices were slow to take off as many companies waited for at least a draft form of an IEEE-sanctioned spec, and have only recently started displacing earlier generation hardware.
Seagate’s upcoming 3TB drives will need new motherboards
by admin on Jun.05, 2010, under Articles, Technology/Gadgets
2.1 TB of storage ought to be enough for anybody. At least, that’s what IBM and Microsoft must have been thinking when they set the maximum supported size drive of the venerable Logical Block Addressing (LBA) standard that’s now embedded in motherboards, RAID drivers and firmware, and operating systems across all segments of the PC industry. So when Seagate confirmed longstanding rumors that the drivemaker is prepping a 3TB drive for the end of the year, it also had to give a number of caveats along with the news.
“Nobody expected back in 1980 when they set the standard that we’d ever address over 2.1TB,” Seagate’s Barbara Craig told Thinq. That was the year that IBM introduced the world’s first gigabyte drive at a retail price of $40,000 (about $68,300 in 2009 dollars) and a weight of 550lb; it was also the year that Seagate introduced the first 5.25-inch hard drive for the IBM PC-XT, the 5MB ST-506. Given those data points, it’s easy to see how 2.1TB was essentially just an arbitrarily large number of bytes, sort of like “a gazillion.”
So if you’re in the market for a new system as we head into the summer, you’ll want to keep an eye out for hardware that can support the larger drives. And you’ll also want to keep an eye out for the next version of our long-delayed System Guide, which we’re currently working on.
New AT&T data plans milk data gluttons, lower costs for most
by admin on Jun.05, 2010, under Technology/Gadgets
As AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega has hinted at for months, AT&T announced this morning a major overhaul to its smartphone data plans. AT&T will now offer two-tiered data plan pricing, with a top cap set at 2GB. Though most users should save money, according to AT&T’s research, users that relied on unlimited data will be paying more.
The company has also announced that a long-awaited tethering plan will for the first time be available to iPhone users, about a year after tethering functionality was enabled in last year’s iPhone OS 3.0 upgrade. iPhone tethering will become a reality “this summer” with the iPhone OS 4.0 upgrade; curiously, the new pricing plans go into effect the exact same day that Steve Jobs is expected to announce the next revision of the iPhone at WWDC. Along with the new smartphone plans, AT&T is also capping iPad 3G users at 2GB per month, effectively wiping out the “amazing” pricing that Steve Jobs announced back in January after only one month of iPad 3G availability.
“To give more people the opportunity to experience the benefits [of mobile broadband], we’re breaking free from the traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ pricing model and making the mobile Internet more affordable to a greater number of people,” said de la Vega in a statement. De la Vega and other mobile CEOs have been suggesting for a while now that “unlimited” plans weren’t tenable with the growing tide of smartphones and other data devices. The good news is that these changes should offer some savings for a lot of users; the bad news is that some of the changes make AT&T’s data far more expensive compared to plans from other carriers.
Tiered pricing
AT&T will now offer a lower-end data plan, called DataPlus, for $15 per month. Users on this plan get 200MB to use for one month, and those that go over will be given an additional 200MB for another $15. According to AT&T’s analysis, 65 percent of its smartphone customers use less than 200MB on average. Checking around the Orbiting HQ, all but one of us with an iPhone on AT&T fall into this category.
The new high-end plan, called DataPro, gets you 2GB of data use for $25 per month. If you go over 2GB, you’ll pay $10 for each 1GB increment. For example, if you use 3.5GB, you’ll pay $25 + 10 + 10, or $45 for the month. AT&T is not offering an unlimited data tier at any price. The company says that 98 percent of its customers use less than 2GB of data, so among these two plans, all but the heaviest data users should theoretically save on their monthly bill…
…unless you are interested in the new smartphone tethering plan. AT&T will charge you an additional $20 to use your smartphone for wireless data use with a laptop or other device. However, tethering can only be combined with the 2GB DataPro plan, and the $20 per month charge doesn’t include any extra data allowance. There are no pay-as-you-go options for tethering; It’s $45 per month for 2GB total usage (with $10 per GB overage) or no tethering at all.
These pricing plans go into effect on June 7 for all new AT&T customers signing up for new contracts, and current users can switch to the new plans without a contract extension. Those that are currently on a two-year contract for a $30 per month unlimited data plan can continue to use it, and can even renew their contract and keep the same data plan as long as they continue to use the same device.
At first glance, it appears that heavy users could just stay with their old plan and keep on using up to 40 percent of the data traffic on AT&T’s network. If you want tethering on your iPhone or other smartphone, however, you’ll have to switch to a new plan. And once you switch, you can’t go back.
To help mitigate the sting somewhat, AT&T is offering free access for all smartphone users to its network of over 20,000 branded WiFi hotspots around the country. AT&T has offered this to iPhone users for some time, so this is nothing new for them.
iPad downside
iPad WiFi + 3G users, who were sold the promise of unlimited data for $30, might be in for the biggest shock by these pricing changes. Just a month after the iPad WiFi + 3G went on sale, AT&T is pulling the $29.99 unlimited data plan and replacing it with a $25, 2GB per month plan.
Those that are currently signed up for a $29.99 unlimited plan will continue to be renewed at that rate. However, if you cancel that plan for any reason, you will not be able to sign up for it again—2GB for $25 will be your only option.
“For $25, we’re providing customers with a large amount of data,” AT&T spokesperson Seth Bloom told Ars. “We believe that 2GB of data on the 3G network will be plenty for most customers, especially since based on the trends we’ve seen thus far, iPad customers tend to use WiFi a lot.”
Inexplicably, the company is keeping the $14.99, 250MB per month plan for the iPad. “We have a unique pricing model for iPad, as we do for other emerging devices that don’t require a contract term or commitment,” explained Bloom. However, it makes the low 200MB cap on the DataPlus smartphone plan seem questionable.
To be fair, prepaid data pricing from the likes of Verizon or Virgin Mobile is quite a bit more expensive (Verizon charges $30 for one week of 3G data access with a 300MB cap), so AT&T’s pricing with respect to the iPad isn’t that bad in comparison. However, there are no monthly contract options, nor are there options to share that data allowance with an existing data plan. And the one-month pricing switcharoo is, we expect, going to leave a very bad taste in a lot of users’ mouths.
Anti-consumer?
So far, it seems that most users could end up paying less. But not everyone thinks AT&T’s new plans are a good deal for consumers.
“While AT&T asserts that its high-end 2GB cap will only impact the heaviest users, the fact is that today’s heavy user is tomorrow’s average user,” Free Press policy counsel M. Chris Riley said in a statement. “Internet overcharging schemes like the one AT&T proposes will discourage innovative new uses and stifle healthy growth in the mobile broadband economy. It is price gouging for AT&T to charge the low-end users $15 per 200MB, and to charge $20 for tethering capability even if no additional capacity is used. This pricing system is clearly divorced from the actual underlying cost of service.”
Let’s consider the data plans further. The 200MB cap on the low-end DataPlus tier effectively makes the price per gigabyte $76.80. But users on that plan can only get an additional 200MB allotment for another $15; they can’t opt for an additional 1GB for $10 like users of the DataPro plan.
The Data Pro plan is effectively $12.50 per gigabyte, with $10 per gigabyte for each additional gigabyte. That’s far more reasonable than what AT&T is charging for the DataPlus plan, and accomplishes AT&T’s goal of curbing the abnormally high use of a small percentage of users. For comparison, however, smartphone data plans from Verizon are $29.99 with a 5GB cap, making the effective price per gigabyte just $6. So while AT&T may charge you less, you’re also getting far less than what the competition offers.
And comparing total monthly plan costs, Sprint offers a great deal as well. While AT&T smartphone users can have a bill as low as $54.99 with the new data options combined with the cheapest calling plan, Sprint customers can get unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling, unlimited SMS and MMS, and unlimited data for $69.99. “With the latest phones delivering capabilities never before offered on a wireless device, customers are using more data, not less,” Sprint spokesperson Emmy Anderson told Ars. “With Sprint Everything Data plans, there’s no need to get out a calculator to tally up prices for each feature or guess how much data you’ll use in a month.”
The tethering pricing is also a raw deal for consumers. US iPhone users that have been waiting for a year may gladly pay the extra $20 per month fee, even as users in other countries have been tethering for a while without issue—some for no additional charge. But that doesn’t make it a good deal, even though other carriers, like Verizon, also charge an additional fee for tethering. Verizon charges just $15 additional per month, it also includes a 5GB monthly allowance. And while AT&T effectively charges 1¢ for each extra MB over the 2GB cap, Verizon only charges 5¢ per MB—and you don’t have to buy extra data in 1GB chunks.
The tethering pricing seems even worse compared to Android phones, which can convert to a mini-WiFi hotspot for free using an application. Essentially, all smartphone users are effectively paying for a monthly allotment of data—why should it matter if those bits go directly to a smartphone app or to your laptop? If you ask us, it shouldn’t.
Wireless broadband capacity may arguably be a somewhat scarce commodity—the FCC and wireless carriers have been arguing that more spectrum is needed to serve the needs of an increasingly wireless population in the US. AT&T’s new pricing plans will definitely save money for a variety of users in the long run, and may help limit the network use of heavy users. But some users—those who need only occasional tethering, for instance—are definitely going to be paying more, and getting a lot less in return.
UPDATE: AT&T spokesperson Seth Bloom just informed us that iPhone users will have some additional tools to help keep track of data use beyond checking usage under Settings or looking it up online. Like the iPad, the iPhone will warn users when approaching data limits—at 60, 90, and 100 percent of your package allotment, and at 75 and 100 percent of your overage allotment. Other smartphone users can get text messages for these warnings, and if an e-mail address is on file, you can get e-mail warnings as well.
Furthermore, Bloom noted that you can go online and switch plans as needed, in some cases applying DataPro pricing proactively for the billing period to help you avoid overage fees. For those that need occasional high data use and/or tethering, the option is effectively there—it just requires some manual management on your part to switch plans back and forth.
Android overtakes Apple in US smartphone market
by admin on May.12, 2010, under Articles, Technology/Gadgets
Google’s Android OS surpassed Apple in US smartphone market share during the first quarter of 2010. According to the NPD Group, Google now enjoys 28 percent of the smartphone market, earning the company the second-place spot behind Research in Motion (36 percent) and pushing Apple to third place (21 percent).
NPD credits Android’s success to strong carrier promotions, such as Verizon’s buy-one-get-one-free offer on RIM and Android OS devices. Still, the only company to offer Apple’s iPhone (AT&T) remained on top of the smartphone market with 32 percent share. Verizon was close behind with 30 percent, while T-Mobile and Sprint both ended the quarter hovering near the 15 percent mark.
It’s possible that Apple will retake second place with the release of the next-generation iPhone this summer, but in the long run, Apple may always trail in terms of market share. Under Steve Jobs, Apple has not been willing to license its OS out to third parties, and that’s the exact strategy that Google has used with Android to vault it to the top spot. On top of that, Apple currently limits the iPhone to one carrier while Android devices are carried by several different providers. Both of these elements help Google push a high volume of devices. Even when Apple finally moves to a multiple carrier model, Android will continue to be available on a wide variety of phones at a wide variety of price points, while iPhone OS will only be on a select number.
The day is coming when all mobile phones will be “smart,” and the majority of them will be running something besides the iPhone OS. Historically, being number one hasn’t been a high priority for Apple (until the success of the iPod, Apple seldom enjoyed that position). The world of high margin, niche products is where Apple likes to live, and the fact that Apple is currently number three probably doesn’t bother Jobs all that much.
Apple Ipad’s WIFI Issues!
by admin on May.12, 2010, under Articles, Technology/Gadgets
Apparently Apple is releasing an update for the New Apple Ipad’s. Customers have been complaining of weak wireless signals, forgotten passwords and issues with DHCP releases. Apple has not given a release date for the software fix.
No Camera on the Apple Ipad?
by admin on Jan.29, 2010, under Articles, Technology/Gadgets
Apple introduced its newest product on Wednesday—the iPad—suggesting that it fits in a space between an smartphone and a laptop. Both of those products typically have an integrated camera, so many folks were left scratching their heads when the iPad had none. Evidence buried within the iPad SDK suggests that Apple was ready to include one, but we’re wondering if its omission even matters to most consumers. Our feeling is that, despite the complaints, that lack of a camera won’t affect the iPad’s popularity or usability.
Screenshots of the Contacts application running in the iPad Simulator (part of the developer tools Apple released yesterday) reveal that Apple included a full interface to take a photo to add to new or existing contacts. If a contact doesn’t have a photo, you can click the blank space to add one. The user is then presented with the option to “Choose Existing Photo” or to “Take Photo.” Choosing “Take Photo” brings a pop-over to preview and take a picture. The apparent completeness of the feature suggests that Apple was prepared for the iPad to include camera hardware—if not in the current iteration, then perhaps in a future one.
However, does the iPad really need a camera? The iPhone has a camera capable of decent still shots and fair-to-middling video. It’s also a pocket-sized device comparable in size to many digital cameras—it’s size and ergonomics are suited to using it as a camera. The iPad, on the other hand, is 7.5 x 9.5 inches, which is easily bigger than most digital SLR cameras. The 9.7-inch screen would be great for framing (almost like using an 8×10 view camera!), but the device itself doesn’t seem like it would be very good for taking pictures.
Still, MacBooks have a built-in iSight, handy for videoconferencing via iChat or Skype, or taking gratuitous Facebook profile pictures. Surely such functionality would come in handy on the iPad? If you think about it, though, a webcam sitting in your lap and pointed up at your chin isn’t the most flattering angle, and holding it upright for an extended period doesn’t seem like it would be very comfortable either. We know there are some people who use video chats for keeping in touch with far-flung family, but the impression we got from a lot of folks is that the novelty of a video iChat wears off after only a couple sessions.
The iPod touch—another small, handheld Apple device—also got left out of the camera club with the most recent hardware update. Even without a camera, though, Apple recorded a 55 percent year-over-year growth in iPod touch sales last quarter. An integrated camera may have boosted that number a bit further, but the lack of camera doesn’t seem to be hurting the iPod touch by much.
iPhone OS may be ready for a camera-equipped iPad in the future, if Apple ever decides to include one. But we don’t feel the lack of camera will have any significant negative impact on the current-generation iPad’s sales.
Apples New Ipad!
by admin on Jan.27, 2010, under Technology/Gadgets
Apple revealed its new iPad Tablet today, and we’ve got photos from the live event and from our hands-on with the new device.
iPad hands-on
The press was given a few moments with one of the new Apple iPads and we tried to put it through as many paces as we could in the limited amount of time we were given. What follows are the photos we were able to take and a quick list of facts we know about the device from our session.
- There is no camera on the iPad.
- There’s no way to lock the screen into landscape or portrait mode. Some apps lock the screen (like on the iPhone) but there’s no universal way to lock the screen as you might on a Kindle or Nook.
- The landscape and portrait switching works in all 4 orientations, so you could read upside down if you liked.
- There’s a sleep/wake button on the top, just like an iPhone. Also, there is a headphone jack and a speaker on the top (and one speaker on the bottom).
- There is a volume rocker switch on the side, just like the iPhone. You can also silent the device.
- No brightness controls outside of the system preferences, just like on the iPhone.
- You can use any bluetooth keyboard you want, instead of Apple’s keyboard dock. You could use the case/stand with your existing bluetooth keyboard.
- You cannot use a bluetooth mouse, however.
- The screen resolution is 1024×768 (4:3).
- It can play 720p movies from iTunes.
- The case itself is some crazy soft rubbery microfiber material that no Apple rep could or would identify.
- The case/stand is $39.
- The case is very flat and solid like a Kindle case, but you can use it to prop the iPad up into a triangle so you can watch movies or use it like a laptop.
- The keyboard dock is $69 and the normal dock is $39.
- The browser is like Safari on the iPhone but it has toolbar favorites like on the Mac.
- It’s much easier to click and navigate on the iPad than on an iPhone, just by virtue of it being larger.
- Size/weight is very comparable to a Kindle DX, which is twice as heavy as a Kindle 2.
Leave any more questions you might have in the comments and we’ll be rounding up our coverage at some point in the future with as much information as we can find.
