Aplomb Archive

  • Motorola Flipout preview

    Motorola Flipout preview

    Posted on June 3, 2010 | No Comments
    We know you're excited -- the Nokia Twist finally has a legitimate competitor in the square-shaped pseudo-smartphone space! Motorola snuck up on us with its Flipout unveiling yesterday, so today we diligently trudged along to its local offices to get properly acquainted with this new Android handset. Running version 2.1 (Eclair) on a 600MHz processor might seem like a recipe for trouble, but it's the same TI OMAP 3410 as used in the Droid, and our time with the little quadrangle revealed it could handle itself with aplomb. The Flipout also boasts a freshened up Motoblur implementation and 512MB of both RAM and ROM, but only 150MB for user storage -- time to bring on Froyo, eh? With interchangeable back covers (two will come in the retail box) and that handbag-friendly form factor, the Flipout is unashamedly flirting with being a phone for style-conscious lady-geeks, but let's see if it doesn't appeal to gruff old types like us as well. Join us after the break for our full hands-on impressions.

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    Motorola Flipout preview originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Latest Android stats show pre-2.1 versions still reign supreme

    Latest Android stats show pre-2.1 versions still reign supreme

    Posted on June 2, 2010 | No Comments
    Fragmentation's a red herring, eh, Google? We'd suggest you look at your own stats, where -- as of yesterday, anyway -- fragmentation was alive and well, no matter how you define it. In the two-week period of Google's data collection ending June 1, some 54.5 percent of devices in the field were still using pre-Eclair versions of Android, a pretty sorry stat considering that it was released back in late 2009 and xda-developers members have proven countless times that every Android phone ever made can run 2.0 and above with aplomb. To be fair, 2.1 picked up significant steam since the last roundup and the trailing devices aren't entirely Google's fault -- manufacturers and carriers need to take most of the blame for the delays in getting upgrades pushed out -- but it's Google's wild development pace that has left this trail of premature obsolescence in its wake. Upgrades are good, but necessitating that your development community has its eyeballs on at least four versions of your platform (1.5, 1.6, 2.1, and 2.2) is generally bad.

    Latest Android stats show pre-2.1 versions still reign supreme originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • A first? Muslim woman refuses to submit to airport body scan, not allowed to board flight

    A first? Muslim woman refuses to submit to airport body scan, not allowed to board flight

    Posted on March 4, 2010 | No Comments
    It finally happened. A Muslim woman in Manchester refused to submit to a full-body airport body scanner and was thus barred from boarding her flight. She cited her Muslim faith, which might have been expected, as to why she refused to submit to the scan. I don't trust the Internet to react to this news with any aplomb whatsoever.

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  • Afilias buys “.mobi” domain, but will it help?

    Afilias buys “.mobi” domain, but will it help?

    Posted on February 17, 2010 | No Comments
    Alright kids, it’s time for a little game. Raise your hand if you’ve visited a website with a .com TLD today. Alright, good! Now raise your hand if you’ve been to a .net site today. Great! Here’s the last one: raise your hand if you’ve been to a .mobi site. That’s what we thought. And that [...]

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  • Sprint puts out fact sheet for dual-mode U301 WiMAX modem, release imminent?

    Sprint puts out fact sheet for dual-mode U301 WiMAX modem, release imminent?

    Posted on December 19, 2009 | No Comments
    So Sprint just published an official fact sheet for a U301 USB modem with support for both WiMAX and EV-DO -- it's not accompanied by any press release or product page on Sprint's online store, but we can only assume this means that a release is around the corner. Of course, the dual-mode capability alone doesn't set it apart -- the carrier's existing U300 model already handles those duties with aplomb -- but what seemingly sets the U301 apart is its support for Mac OS. We'd just as soon they'd release drivers for the U300, but failing that, alright, fine, we'll take a new modem. If we're sustaining over 3Mbps down, we'll take a lot of carrier and manufacturer abuse, actually.

    Sprint puts out fact sheet for dual-mode U301 WiMAX modem, release imminent? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Up close with the Mythbusters

    Up close with the Mythbusters

    Posted on August 11, 2009 | No Comments
    PopMech just interviewed the Mythbusters in their M5 headquarters in some strange corner of San Francisco where robots run wild and men have effusive, untamed facial hair. Except for spooky robots guarding the stairs, M5’s second-floor offices could be those of any small company, with cluttered desks, a computer room and a small kitchen. Whiteboards are [...]

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  • She’s my final fantasy: G4’s ‘Girl at the Video Game Store’ music video is unexpectedly really good

    She’s my final fantasy: G4’s ‘Girl at the Video Game Store’ music video is unexpectedly really good

    Posted on July 10, 2009 | No Comments
    Oh, how I wanted to hate this video. Yesterday was the thousandth episode of Attack of the Show—how did you celebrate?—and while I only caught about two minutes in between commercials of whatever else I was watching (I think it was a documentary about salt; I'm not joking), I did manage to catch the tail end of this video. It's “The Girl at the Video Game Store,” a song written by Parry Gripp; the video was directed by Michael W. Shaw, of G4.

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