Boss Archive

  • Dan Hesse email: ‘no current plans’ to alter data pricing

    Dan Hesse email: ‘no current plans’ to alter data pricing

    Bypassing a company's power structure altogether and contacting the CEO directly is the vogue thing to do right now -- and in light of the AT&T incident this week, it probably behooves said CEOs (and / or their assistants) to earn some PR brownie points by responding with a positive attitude. Take this response from Sprint boss Dan Hesse, for example, in reply to a request that the company "keep [its] great pricing and customer service, and most importantly -- keep unlimited data." In short, Hesse says "one can never say 'never,' but [the company] has no current plans to change our pricing." That's certainly the "correct" thing to say coming off AT&T's big strategy shift toward killing unlimited and hints from Verizon that it'll do the same, but whether Sprint is able to hold the line when the WiMAX airwaves are flooded with EVO 4Gs and EVO 4G-like devices is another matter altogether. We'll see.

    [Thanks, Matt P.]

    Dan Hesse email: 'no current plans' to alter data pricing originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Inventec’s Dr. Eye puts Android in a pocket-sized laptop

    Inventec’s Dr. Eye puts Android in a pocket-sized laptop

    Inventec's Dr. Eye puts Android in a pocket-sized laptop
    It may sound like a mid-boss in some forgotten and poorly translated NES game, but Dr. Eye (aka the N18C) is actually a sort of keyboard-endowed MID from Inventec. This chubby clamshell sports a QWERTY keyboard, a 4.8-inch VGA touchscreen, 3G, WiFi, and a front-facing webcam. Power is said to come from a "Marvell 624," which we're guessing is a 624MHz PXA310 and, while it's currently running 1.6, word is that it'll be dipped in 2.1's creamy filling in the near future. When will delivery be? Inventec has been showing this guy off since last year, and while the person doing the demonstration indicates they'll be available "pretty soon" at a price point around $400, we found this guy for sale already at a price of 2688 yuan, or about $395. So, if you're eager to get computing and prefer donuts to eclairs, we wish you happy importing.

    Continue reading Inventec's Dr. Eye puts Android in a pocket-sized laptop

    Inventec's Dr. Eye puts Android in a pocket-sized laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Steve Jobs: ‘there might be’ advantages to two iPhone carriers in US

    Steve Jobs: ‘there might be’ advantages to two iPhone carriers in US

    digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Steve_Jobs_there_might_be_advantages_to_2_iPhone_carriers'; At Steve Jobs' conversation with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at D8 this evening, the Apple boss just threw out this weighty little gem when asked whether there'd be advantages to deploying the iPhone on two American carriers: "there might be." Naturally, you can interpret that any way you like, but it's interesting that he failed to say no to the concept of taking the phone beyond its usual AT&T playground.

    Speaking of AT&T, Jobs says that his company meets with the carrier once per quarter to get briefed on network improvements, and while he notes that they've got the fastest 3G around, he says "I wish they were improving faster" -- while also qualifying that any network receiving the iPhone back in '07 probably would've suffered the same kinds of problems AT&T has. When pressed on whether we'd see the iPhone on another carrier in the near future, Jobs hit them up with the expected "no comment" before turning to other subjects, so make of it what you will. Follow the break for another interesting snippet from the Q&A session at D8 where Steve muses on AT&T's network improvements.

    Continue reading Steve Jobs: 'there might be' advantages to two iPhone carriers in US

    Steve Jobs: 'there might be' advantages to two iPhone carriers in US originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Verizon looking at non-unlimited plans for 4G data, will use LTE for voice by 2012

    Verizon looking at non-unlimited plans for 4G data, will use LTE for voice by 2012

    We'd not-so-secretly hoped that carriers would be looking to dispense with those troublesome 5GB caps on so-called "unlimited" 3G data plans, but there's a big problem with that: spectrum is still limited, and even though 4G technologies help use it more efficiently, it's still a constraint that the FCC is going to need many years to solve. We're not sure how much the spectrum crunch really factors in here, but in addition to his comments on Droid Incredible inventory problems, Verizon Wireless boss Lowell McAdam mentioned at a Barclays Capital conference this week that he hopes to move away from unlimited plans altogether for the company's LTE network, instead charging for "buckets" of megabytes, just like in the olden days -- despite the fact that it'll cost it a half to a third of what it costs today to transmit the same amount of data.

    On a happier note, McAdam said that the company expects to be using its LTE network for voice by 2012, which comes just after its first volley of LTE-capable handsets in early 2011. He also mentioned that at least some of those devices will be shown off at CES 2011, and naturally, we'll be there -- not just to check out the phones, but to raise some hell at the notion that unlimited data is a thing of the past. At this rate, how are we ever going to run the Engadget servers on a wireless connection?

    Verizon looking at non-unlimited plans for 4G data, will use LTE for voice by 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Blizzard will add Facebook integration to Battle.net

    Blizzard will add Facebook integration to Battle.net

    Whoa there. Blizzard just announced that its Battle.net service will soon hook into Facebook, "linking the world's premier online gaming platform with the world's most popular social platform." The synergy begins with the release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, which is currently scheduled for release in July.

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  • Study: TiVo, other DVRs don’t negatively affect TV advertising

    Study: TiVo, other DVRs don’t negatively affect TV advertising

    Reasonably interesting study coming out of Duke University that says that digital video recorders (TiVo and the like) do not negatively affect television advertising at all. That flies in the face of conventional wisdom, wisdom that says TiVo and its ilk have destroyed the TV business forever. Well, that's just not the case.

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  • Photo report: Darth Vader promotes DoCoMo cell phones in weird campaign

    Photo report: Darth Vader promotes DoCoMo cell phones in weird campaign

    NTT DoComo, Japan's largest cell phone carrier (55 million customers), is currently running a pretty bizarre viral promotion campaign in this country (both on- and offline). The company has set up a weird website [JP] that, for some strange reason, shows Darth Vader running around Tokyo and asking who's his boss ("Who is my boss" is the official tag line of the campaign).

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  • Shock: Graphics being equal, Crysis 2 said to run better on PS3 than Xbox 360 (but best on PC)

    Shock: Graphics being equal, Crysis 2 said to run better on PS3 than Xbox 360 (but best on PC)

    It was only a few days ago that Crytek and EA showed off Crysis 2 to the world's gaming press—and CrunchGear. It looks crazy, yes, and that finely tuned opinion—"it looks crazy"—is based on the Xbox 360 version. But if we believe Crytek's business development boss, then the game runs even better on the PS3 than it does the Xbox 360. The games may look identical, or extraordinarily close to it, but the Xbox 360 is being pushed far harder than the PS3. You probably already knew that, yes.

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  • SketchNation: DIY iPad gaming plus a giveaway

    SketchNation: DIY iPad gaming plus a giveaway

    If you've dreamt all your life of blowing up your third-grade teacher with spitball guns, your prayers have been answered. SketchNation is a surprisingly odd game that allows you to select all of the sprites in gameplay. You can set your own character sprite (a spitball gun, for example), the sprites for the bullets or spitballs, and even set up a boss image (your third-grade teacher). You then fly through a hail of bullets until you beat the game. Apparently you can also blow up Walt Mossberg and David Pogue, for whatever reason. Those men are saints. Anyway, if you'd like to try it out, comment below. I'll send codes to five lucky, random readers. Viel Glück!

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  • Yanko’s camera concept protects the delicate bits

    Yanko’s camera concept protects the delicate bits

    Yanko is known for their off the wall concept products that never actually materialize. Why do we tell you about them? Because my boss tells me to write them up. Maybe he hopes that someday, one of these products will actually exist. Because you know, dreams can come true.

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  • BR-800 digital recorder from BOSS

    BR-800 digital recorder from BOSS

    Field recording sessions are fun, but there’s a pretty large gap between the low and high ends of the gear. You either get a handheld stereo recorder, or have to haul a mess of interfaces and preamps with your laptop. But this multi-track recorder from BOSS fills in that gap nicely with a very versatile [...]

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  • Chaos Rings: Square Enix releases fantastic trailer for iPhone-exclusive RPG

    Chaos Rings: Square Enix releases fantastic trailer for iPhone-exclusive RPG

    Japanese video gaming powerhouse Square Enix has released a handful of hit titles for the iPhone already (including Final Fantasy I and II), but the next one, an RPG named Chaos Rings, is poised to blow them all out of the water. Officially announced [JP] today, the game's trailer shows absolutely amazing graphics.

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