Unlimited Mobile

It’s tough being the new kid in town — ask Voyager Mobile, an up and coming MVNO that had its launch delayed by a “malicious network attack” last week. The tenacious firm may have missed its planned May 15th launch, but managed to pull things together in time for the weekend, piggybacking unlimited talk, text and data off of Sprint’s CDMA and WiMAX network for $40 a month. A basic unlimited voice plan is also available to the tune of $20, without data allowances, of course. Phones are available too, albeit without subsidies — Samsung’s Epic 4G Touch or Galaxy S II will each set you back $550, though an assortment of more affordable devices can be had from $120 and up. Tempted to jump ship? Check out the source link below and let all your MVNO dreams come true.

Voyager Mobile shakes off network issues, launches a few days behind schedule originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 May 2012 16:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AllThingsD  |  Voyager Mobile  | Email this | Comments

Still waiting for your HTC handset to make its way through customs? Ratchet your hopes just a smidge higher, because the company says it’s making progress. “Some models have gone through inspection and been released to our carriers customers,” the firm stated in an investor statement today. HTC explained that each of the contested models needs to be reviewed by officials before release, and assures customers that it is working with customs to speed along the process. Which devices are making it through? “We don’t have the status of each specific device at this time,” HTC says, “We remain confident that this issue will be resolved soon.” Sure, that’s not much to go off of, but we’ll take what we can get.

Continue reading Customs slowly letting HTC handsets into the US, can’t say which ones

Customs slowly letting HTC handsets into the US, can’t say which ones originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 May 2012 16:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Look out, savvy graphics card buyer: just because it’s labelled ‘GeForce’ and starts with a ’6′ doesn’t necessarily mean it benefits from NVIDIA’s premium 28nm Kepler architecture. We’ve already seen rebadged mobile chips with last-gen 40nm silicon, and now entry-level desktop cards are arriving on shelves that will stretch Fermi’s expiry date even further. There are no price tags as yet, but according to AnandTech the ‘new’ GeForce GT 610 is a repackaged GT 520 with 48 CUDA cores and an ever-so-polite 29-watt power draw. The GT 620 is a GT 530 with a 49-watt TDP and twice as many CUDA cores as the 610 — although a meager 64-bit memory bus will put a cap on any performance gains. Finally, the GT 630 is a 65-watt GT 440 in all but name, with a 128-bit memory bus width allowing its 96 CUDA cores to be fully exploited. This latter card shouldn’t be confused with the OEM version of the GT 630, which does actually pack Kepler. Bewildering, right? We’ve quizzed NVIDIA over its strange rebadging tradition and were told that the company simply numbers its products according to raw performance, rather than freshness or chip type — which sort of makes sense so long as you don’t dwell on it.

NVIDIA outs budget GeForce GT 610, GT 620 and GT 630, no Kepler in any of ‘em originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 May 2012 15:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AnandTech  | Email this | Comments

What does one do after generating billions from an initial public stock offering? Go shopping, of course. After falling short of expectations following its somewhat helter-skelter IPO debut, Facebook simply shook off the whole thing and acquired itself some good Karma. No, we’re not talking about that Karma. Instead, Facebook purchased the startup responsible for the Karma social gifting app. The move was apparently made to bolster Facebook’s mobile chops — an area the company considers ripe for opportunity. Just recently, Facebook also acquired mobile stalwart Instagram and the Lightbox team, for example. As for its newest purchase, Karma will be allowed to “continue to operate in full force” despite its recent status change, according to a blog post by co-founders Lee Linden and Ben Lewis. Details weren’t disclosed about how much the deal was worth but judging from celebratory nature of their post, it doesn’t look like Linden and Lewis will “Unlike” the agreement any time soon.

Facebook likes Karma app, buys the whole darn thing originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 16:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Fast Company  |  Karma Official Blog  | Email this | Comments

The final significant roadblock to Google’s buyout of Motorola has been cleared, as Chinese regulators have just given their rubber stamp. Their approval follows a few months after the simultaneous American and European clearances, and virtually all that’s left now is to formally close the deal and start integrating the two mobile giants. It might still come too late for the combined entity to present a united front at Google I/O, but at least they won’t have any awkward glances at each other across the room. We’re just trying to decide on whether or not Googorola is the best pet name for the loving, $12.5 billion-dollar Android union. Update: Google has since told the AP that the deal will likely wrap up early next week, so Motorola should be part of the family well in advance of Google I/O. Also, Google has to keep Android freely usable by anyone for at least five years, although no one was expecting that to change anytime soon.

China clears Google acquisition of Motorola, eliminates last barrier to Googorola bliss originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  WSJ  | Email this | Comments

Looking through Engadget’s annals of robotic achievements, we see droids juggling, dabbling in competitive sailing and even manning prisons. Cool as they are, those functions aren’t going to mean a thing when Mr. Automaton is lost in the wilderness, damaged and without a helping human hand in sight. Researchers at ETH Zurich are working to change that scenario, as they’re currently developing a “self-reconfigurable” device that packs a glue gun for creating the tools it needs on the fly. It might not be the quickest method — as you’ll see in the video below, making a glue cup takes a good hour — but it’s effective enough for transporting and pouring water. That’s not to say that the prototype is ready to fend for itself; it built the cup, but only under human direction. The researchers’ next step is adding in autonomous capabilities so the bots can repair things — and even build other robots — without being told to do so. A sea of self-regenerating droids? Sounds harmless to us.

Continue reading Robot uses glue gun to make tools, hopes to ace Survival Skills 101

Robot uses glue gun to make tools, hopes to ace Survival Skills 101 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink IEEE Spectrum: Automaton Blog  |   | Email this | Comments

At the end of last year, an Administrative Law Judge issued an initial ruling that Motorola’s mobile devices infringe a bit of Microsoft’s IP. Now, the Commission has affirmed that decision and issued an exclusion order to ban Moto’s offending devices from importation into the US.

Developing…

ITC bans Motorola mobile devices for infringing Microsoft patent originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink FOSS Patents  |  ITC (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

Sprint’s had text-to-speech services on devices like the Samsung Epic 4G for quite some time, and now, looking to build up on that, the company’s introducing its My Wireless STS feature. The new speech-to-speech service aims to help people with speech disabilities by giving them access to an operator-assisted line every day of the week and all year round. Folks wanting to use the My Wireless STS will have to dial *787 from their device, after which a Now Network rep will start a call and repeat every spoken word — or ones that are unclear — depending on users choice. Relay Director, Michael Ellis, says Sprint is “the first in the industry to bring this service to market,” and that the project was developed closely with the help of speech disabled communities. If you’re interested in learning more, there’s a mighty presser waiting on you just past the break.

Continue reading Sprint introduces My Wireless STS service to assist folks with speech disabilities

Sprint introduces My Wireless STS service to assist folks with speech disabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 17:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Sprint  | Email this | Comments

Gogo has a virtual lock on in-flight WiFi for the US, but most of us forget that everything goes dark the moment you decide to cross the border. The company already has a deal with Inmarsat for Ka-band Internet connections, and now it’s partnering up with AeroSat to bring Ku-band satellite access. The tie-in will let Gogo offer precious relief from tedium on international flights, whether it’s a modest hop to the Great White North or an hours-long trip across the ocean. Gogo considers the deal an interim step until Inmarsat’s technology is ready, making for much quicker availability than if it had just waited until it could use Ka-band: Ku-band satellite linkups should be on airliners as soon as the end of 2012, while Ka-band won’t even show its face until at least late 2014. It’s unknown what kind of premium we’ll pay over the $13 maximum Gogo normally charges, but if AeroSat lets us squeak in a few more Twitter updates on our way home from Barcelona, it’ll be worthwhile.

Continue reading Gogo and AeroSat get friendly on Ku-band, bring international in-flight WiFi closer

Gogo and AeroSat get friendly on Ku-band, bring international in-flight WiFi closer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments