FocuSoft Tech Blog |
| Posted: 13 May 2009 03:30 PM PDT
The Stature really isn't anything terribly new. Motorola took the design of their incredibly popular RAZR2, and added the necessary electronics to use the i9 network. So while the Stature is by no means a small phone, it is thin enough to fit conveniently in your jeans pocket. The phone feels like a quality device. The back is rubberized and resists fingerprints, but still provides a firm surface to hold onto. It opens smoothly and feels very solid when you hold it up to your ear. The left side of the phone is a little busy, with the GC/DC mute button, the volume control, and the PTT button all being at the top. The bottom has the micro-USB port for charging and data transfers, however I was unable to get the phone to charge via a micro-USB cable. Instead, I had to use the standard wall charger. While this wasn't a major issue, it could be a problem in some situations. One thing this phone does lack is a standard 1/8 inch plug. If you're planning on using the phone as an MP3 player, you'll have to get a USB adapter or a Bluetooth device to do so. The right side has a menu button, and a sliding lock switch which locks all the buttons on the outside of the phone. The menu button brings up one of the phone's more interesting features, the front screen menu. The front bezel of the Stature has several touch buttons surrounding the screen. These buttons light up depending on what function you are using at a given time. The phone provides a slight vibration when you push a button, providing a slight feedback which is actually pretty nice. The front screen is quite versatile, and provides a clear display regardless of whether you are listening to music, taking pictures, or just scrolling through your contact list to call someone. One of my favorite features of the phone is the sound quality. The sound on this phone is, in a word, incredible. I've used many phones, and this phone has the clearest sound of any phone I've ever heard. If you're concerned about sound quality, that alone is a reason to buy this phone. Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks with this phone. In addition to the obvious issues with battery life, because this is a Nextel phone, the network is really slow. Like painfully, agonizingly slow. Most Nextel users aren't all about the internet browsing on their phone anyway, so you'll have to decide for yourself how critical this issue is for you. As far as cost goes, you're looking at $399 from Sprint without a contract, $199 with a contract, and $299 if you want to buy it from Boost Mobile. Bottom line, if you're a Nextel user looking for a new phone, I'd say buy this one. The sound quality, style, and size more than make up for the poor battery life. Here is the original:
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| VTech moves from cordless phones to cordless music Posted: 13 May 2009 03:30 PM PDT In the me-too world of wireless music streaming, it's unusual to find a device that does something a little different. And while the latest offering from VTech doesn't manage to add too many features to make itself stand out from the crowd, its $199 price tag ought to distance it somewhat. The confoundingly-named "IS9181 WiFi Internet Radio" is the first streaming audio device from VTech, a company more commonly known for its cordless phone products. The IS9181 has two forward facing 3-watt speakers and one 10-watt subwoofer all contained in the product. The unit works with any MP3 device via the standard 3.5mm jack connector. Here are a few more features from the press release:
Pretty standard fare for a wireless music streamer, although the ability to add presets online is certainly a nice feature and VTech does promise "better sound quality than other similarly priced offerings," so if you're down with dropping a couple hundred dollars on a streaming audio box it might be worth a closer look. VTech IS9181 WiFi Internet Radio [VTech.com] Read the rest here:
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| Review: Verizon MiFi 2200 Mini Hotspot Posted: 13 May 2009 03:08 PM PDT
After a trivial hiccup with the activation, we had 4 computers up and running in minutes. Speeds in our area are about average for the local EVDO Rev-A network, and we’ve had absolutely no connectivity drops in our 2 days of testing. Here is the original:
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| Kindle Publishing Now Open To All Blogs Posted: 13 May 2009 03:04 PM PDT
But the biggest limiting factor of this so far is that only the big blogs have been included in the blog directory. Starting today, anyone can make their blogs available via the new Kindle Publishing for Blogs Beta program. All you have to do is make your blog's feed available to the Kindle Store, and Amazon will do the rest, formatting your content for the device. According to the email from Amazon, after a few easy steps, your blog should be up and ready to go in the Kindle Store after about 12 to 48 hours of processing. Not bad. As with blogs currently in the program, these new blogs will get 30% of the monthly blog subscription price for every subscriber Amazon signs up. In an app world where developers traditionally keep 70% or more of the revenues, 30% seems awfully low. And exactly how much Amazon will charge for each blog isn't totally clear, other than Amazon says it will "define the price based on what we deem is a fair value for customers." Most blogs currently go for $1.99 a month. Unfortunately, even if you want to, you can't give your blog away for free on the device. Amazon has that WhisperNet to maintain, after all. As a Kindle owner, I currently subscribe to a few of my favorite blogs, but for most of the rest I use Instapaper to bookmark article and sync them over email to my device (which does cost a ridiculous $0.15 an email unfortunately — but Instapaper sends only one digest a day). The bottom line is that even with 30% of the subscription price going to publishers, this isn't likely to be a big source of income for most sites. There are simply too many blogs and the Kindle market is simply not that big. And the people who will pay for blogs on it is even less. Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. Original post:
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| AMD ATI Radeon HD 4890 launched with 1GHz speed Posted: 13 May 2009 03:04 PM PDT AMD did something a bit surprising today. They've announced a new version of their ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics chipset that will be factory-overclocked to bump up the standard speed from 850MHz to 1GHz. This is actually the first graphics processor to reach the 1GHz mark, so congratulations are due to AMD! Plus, this boost actually increases the computing power to 1.6 teraflops from the previous 1.36 teraflops. Interestingly enough, this hasn't caused the chipset to switch over to required liquid cooling. Fan cooling is still apparently okay, though you can use higher-tech cooling options, if you'd like. The ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics processor is compatible with Windows systems at this point in time. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Midway Games creditors sue Sumner Redstone, company board Posted: 13 May 2009 03:00 PM PDT  Sumner Redstone (center) with daughter Shari Redstone (right) and granddaughter Kimberlee Korff in 2003. Credit: Kevin Winters / Getty Images Creditors of Midway Games have filed a lawsuit against the Chicago company’s board members and former majority owner Sumner Redstone, alleging that his sale of Midway in November was a “fraudulent transfer” that benefited the media mogul while pushing Midway into bankruptcy. The suit, filed Monday in federal bankruptcy court, claims that Redstone sold his 87% stake to investor Mark E. Thomas for a mere $100,000 in order to register $700 million in tax losses to collect a “massive tax refund.” The plaintiffs include a group of unsecured creditors for the publisher of the Mortal Kombat video game franchise. The suit also names Redstone’s daughter, Shari Redstone, as well as Thomas and five board members who approved of the sale, alleging that the board made a number of decisions that “put the interest of the Redstone defendants above Midway’s interests.” They include Robert J. Steele, Joseph A. Califano, Robert N. Waxman, William C. Bartholomay and Peter C. Brown. Shari Redstone resigned as Midway’s board chairwoman in November and was replaced by Brown, who was chief executive of AMC Entertainment. "This suit is completely without merit,” a National Amusements Inc. spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement. “The conduct of Mr. Redstone and NAI was entirely proper, and we strongly disagree with any suggestion that Mr. Redstone or NAI breached any fiduciary duties." Thomas’ lawyer declined to comment. Redstone, who owns the National Amusements chain of movie theaters as well as … … controlling shares of Viacom and CBS, began in 2003 to aggressively expand his minority stake in Midway. But under the strain of enormous debt, he shed his shares by selling them to Thomas and got a big tax write-off in the process. The lawsuit claims that Thomas “was completely unsuited to be the 87% owner of a publicly traded company” because “he had no background in the video game industry. He had no assets to invest in Midway.” Since the sale, Thomas has refused to grant interviews or issue statements through his attorney, which has prompted speculation about his motives. Apparently, his reticence extended to creditors as well. “Upon acquiring his controlling interest, he refused to speak with any officer or director of the company and even refused to disclose his middle initial so that an investigation could be made into his background,” according to the lawsuit. As holder of $70 million in Midway bonds, Thomas is among the first in line to collect from a sale of the company. Creditors, including those represented by the plaintiffs, would be paid after Thomas and other debt holders. Warner Bros., which has been quietly building its game portfolio, is rumored to be among those interested in buying Midway. But the creditors’ lawsuit indicates that any deal would be delayed until Midway’s creditors and owners, including Thomas, agree on how to distribute the proceeds of a sale. – Alex Pham [via LATimes.com]
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| Review: Verizon MiFi 2200 - We love everything but the bill Posted: 13 May 2009 02:49 PM PDT Short version: We've loved the MiFi mobile router since we first laid eyes on it back at CES. After a few days of playing with the Verizon MiFi 2200, we still love it just as much - but with one hangup: the nasty monthly bill. After a trivial hiccup with the activation, we had 4 computers up and running in minutes. Speeds in our area are about average for the local EVDO Rev-A network, and we've had absolutely no connectivity drops in our 2 days of testing. Read the rest of this entry >> See the original post:
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| Peggy’s Cove notebook from Gigabyte runs on Montevina Posted: 13 May 2009 02:36 PM PDT Gigabyte Technology just revealed their latest notebook offering and this one is a bit different, to say the least. It's called the Peggy's Cove (or, it's code-named as such, for now) and features an Intel-design that runs on the Montevina platform. This new notebook supposedly will have WiMAX, 3G and Wi-Fi in terms of connectivity and a 13.3-inch display. This notebook is apparently a part of the Intel Blanca program and though we don't have too many details, this does seem a likely rumor. In fact, Intel will be updating Montevina Core 2 processors very soon, which makes this notebook seem even more promising. While we don't know when (or if) the "Peggy's Cove" will be available or how much it'll cost, we do know that it has our attention. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Posted: 13 May 2009 02:30 PM PDT No matter the device Nintendo makes, there is always some company attempting to improve on it. Usually this is ill-advised, and that's why licensed Nintendo products are always your safest bet. Sometimes though, you just have to take a chance, throw caution to the wind, and buy a DSi grip. Designed to make your DSi more ergonomic, this grip seems to be inspired by the current generation of controllers, and provides a firmer holding surface for your sweaty palms. It also provides a handy place to store a couple of cartridges, and serves as a convenient stand! Currently it is only available in Japan, however it only costs about $12 and I'm sure if there is enough demand someone will start importing it. Maybe we'll get one for Peter, since he seemed to like his DSi. [via GoNintendo] Original post:
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| Mini-SAS gets added to Sans Digital TowerRAID Series Posted: 13 May 2009 02:10 PM PDT Sans Digital announced an update to their TowerRAID series today, which includes new mini-SAS interfaces. These updates are available on the TowerRAID TR4X/TR4X-B and TR8X/TR8X-B models and improve efficiency all around. The new mini-SAS ports work by putting four hard drive connections together. This makes data transfers smoother and reduces the chances of failure. This tech is actually intended for high demand needs like Fibre Channel connectivity and video editing. These models support SAS, SATA or 3Gbps hard drives and more. The TR4X features one mini-SAS connection that can handle 400MB/s with the four-bay tower. The TR8X, on the other hand, has two mini-SAS connections and is an eight-bay tower, allowing for speeds up to 750MB/s. You can get the updated TR4X and TR8X now for starting prices of $325 and $545, respectively. Black and silver color options are available. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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