Saturday, June 15, 2013

Switched On: One box to rule them all

Switched On: One box to rule them all data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 315};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20582191' !== '') ? 'bsd:20582191' : ''; var postID = '20582191'; var modalMNo = '93325862', modalVideoMNo = '93320648', modalGalleryMNo = '93304207'; when.eng("eng.omni.init", {pfxID:"weg",pageName:document.title,server:"acp-ld39.websys.aol.com",channel:"us.engadget", s_account: "aolwbengadget,aolsvc", short_url: "",pageType:"",linkInternalFilters:"javascript:,",prop1:"article",prop2:"sony",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"ross-rubin", prop54:"blogsmith",mmxgo: true }); adSendTerms('1')adSetMOAT('1');adSetAdURL('/_uac/adpagem.html');lab._script("http://o.aolcdn.com/os/ads/adhesion/js/adhads-min.js").wait(function(){var floatingAd = new AdhesiveAd("348-14-15-14c",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); onBreak({980: function () { adSetType("F");htmlAdWH("93325862", "LB", "LB"); adSetType("");}}); EngadgetMenu NewsReviews Features Galleries VideosEventsPodcasts Engadget ShowTopics Buyers Guides Sagas Store HD Mobile Alt Announcements Cameras Cellphones Desktops Displays Gaming GPS Handhelds Home Entertainment Household Internet Laptops Meta Misc Networking Peripherals Podcasts Robots Portable Audio/Video Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Blackberry Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon About UsSubscribeLike Engadget@engadgettip uswhen.eng("eng.nav.init")when.eng("eng.tips.init") onBreak({980: function () {htmlAdWH("93325870", "215", "35",'AJAX','ajaxsponsor');}});Switched On: One box to rule them allBypostedMay 26th, 2013 at 5:30 PM 0

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Switched On One box to rule them all

When Microsoft introduced the original Xbox, the company had a lot to prove. The console newcomer promised that it was laser-focused on building a great system for games. There wasn't much to distract it. In a time of DVDs and dial-up, "convergence" in the space was focused on the ability for consoles to play back movies rented at Blockbuster.

But everyone knew that the new kid on the box had an agenda beyond taking its share of industry profits away from Nintendo and Sony. Particularly versus the latter, Microsoft knew it would be engaged in a war for the living room and the future of digital entertainment distribution including, but beyond, games. Nothing came close to matching the processing power that consoles had brought to the living room, but no one had really cracked the broader application beyond disc-based games. It surely wasn't web browsing, as Nintendo and Sony had tried. Still, as streaming services from Netflix, Hulu, Pandora and others began to proliferate across lots of different add-on boxes, it made sense to add them onto Xbox Live (even if the programming wasn't) as well as the PlayStation Network.

Xbox One is charging into the living room with the ferocity of one of its exquisitely rendered Call of Duty: Ghosts soldiers.

However, the spreading of the Zune brand's ashes and the sale of the pay TV, vendor-focused MediaRoom division to Ericsson were the final precursors to the end of the hidden agenda's secrecy. Xbox One is charging into the living room with the ferocity of one of its exquisitely rendered Call of Duty: Ghosts soldiers. Mere streaming boxes may be prepared to carry live streams of broadcasters. However, not only will the Xbox One incorporate the pay TV services consumers are already paying for, but it will also allow them to navigate those services by voice, switch between them and other Xbox apps for music and web browsing and even interact with them in some cases. And the Xbox One won't just be a passive pipe for the TV already available; Microsoft will begin to develop its own programming as Netflix and Amazon have done.

Mere control of the TV stream is hardly a recipe for success for non-cable products. Years before the Logitech Revue failed to marry broadband and broadcast came TiVo. WebTV tried the same with WebTV Plus. However, while high-budget game titles may not have universal appeal, they have been desirable enough Trojan horses to bring the Xbox and its major competitors into about a third of US homes. Before Blu-ray players, DVRs and even the Betamax, there were game consoles. With the opportunity for personalized programming and natural navigation, that tail is now poised to wag the dog.

The Nintendo Wii U, the first of this generation of consoles to launch, made its bid for TV control and overlay with its TVii feature. Nintendo TVii relies on TiVo for the capabilities of a DVR, a domain in which Microsoft has many years of experience with its long-underutilized, but well-regarded Windows Media Center. Microsoft at least played to those capabilities by mentioning recorded programming at its Xbox Reveal event, and we know that the Xbox One can both record gameplay (and send it to the cloud like the PlayStation 4), as well as accept external USB 3.0 hard drives.

Switched On One box to rule them all

Microsoft will actually have another opportunity to serve as it makes its E3 announcement a few hours before the ball lands in the court of Sony, which has previously offered TV viewing and recording capability with PlayTV in Europe. With a richer living room legacy than either of its main competitors, Sony will be under the gun to show that it has not abandoned its heart in the living room as it has turned its head toward the cloud.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

when.eng("eng.perm.init")

Jump In: 125 Swimsuits for Summer

Like it or not, summer is (unofficially) here and the shore (whether it be beach or lake) is bound to be in your near future. Here we present 125 skimpy, showy, and sometimes even flattering reasons to get in the water. Click ahead for a veritable rainbow of one-pieces, tankinis, and itsy-bitsy bikinis.

This article originally appeared in the June 3, 2013 issue of New York Magazine.


View the original article here

How would you change HP's Envy Sleekbook 6z?

How would you change HP's Envy Sleekbook 6z? data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 315};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20581622' !== '') ? 'bsd:20581622' : ''; var postID = '20581622'; var modalMNo = '93319229', modalVideoMNo = '93320648', modalGalleryMNo = '93304207'; when.eng("eng.omni.init", {pfxID:"weg",pageName:document.title,server:"acp-ld39.websys.aol.com",channel:"us.engadget", s_account: "aolwbengadget,aolsvc", short_url: "",pageType:"",linkInternalFilters:"javascript:,",prop1:"article",prop2:"laptops",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"daniel-cooper", prop54:"blogsmith",mmxgo: true }); adSendTerms('1')adSetMOAT('1');adSetAdURL('/_uac/adpagem.html');lab._script("http://o.aolcdn.com/os/ads/adhesion/js/adhads-min.js").wait(function(){var floatingAd = new AdhesiveAd("348-14-15-14d",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); onBreak({980: function () { adSetType("F");htmlAdWH("93319229", "LB", "LB"); adSetType("");}}); EngadgetMenu NewsReviews Features Galleries VideosEventsPodcasts Engadget ShowTopics Buyers Guides Sagas Store HD Mobile Alt Announcements Cameras Cellphones Desktops Displays Gaming GPS Handhelds Home Entertainment Household Internet Laptops Meta Misc Networking Peripherals Podcasts Robots Portable Audio/Video Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Blackberry Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon About UsSubscribeLike Engadget@engadgettip uswhen.eng("eng.nav.init")when.eng("eng.tips.init") onBreak({980: function () {htmlAdWH("93308280", "215", "35",'AJAX','ajaxsponsor');}});How would you change HP's Envy Sleekbook 6z?BypostedMay 26th, 2013 at 10:43 PM 0

C:\Program Files (x86)\ABS\Auto Blog Samurai\data\Viral Pinterest\engadget\body5-1342020253.jpg

Intel's Kirk Skaugen was relaxed about "me too" thin-and-light devices trailing behind Ultrabooks like Remoras. Perhaps it's because of our lukewarm reception of devices like HP's Envy Sleekbook 6z, which we found to be a little lumpen. While we liked its understated design, the sluggish AMD internals and flaky trackpad meant we weren't feeling particularly fondly on this piece of hardware. This is where you come in. Why not dream up a budget laptop that could hit the same price point but without the flaws -- the more imaginative, the better.

when.eng("eng.perm.init")

Chromium browser cops reset feature to clean up malware messes

Chromium browser cops reset feature to clean up malware messes data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 315};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20584518' !== '') ? 'bsd:20584518' : ''; var postID = '20584518'; var modalMNo = '93319229', modalVideoMNo = '93320648', modalGalleryMNo = '93304207'; when.eng("eng.omni.init", {pfxID:"weg",pageName:document.title,server:"acp-ld39.websys.aol.com",channel:"us.engadget", s_account: "aolwbengadget,aolsvc", short_url: "",pageType:"",linkInternalFilters:"javascript:,",prop1:"article",prop2:"internet",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"steve-dent", prop54:"blogsmith",mmxgo: true }); adSendTerms('1')adSetMOAT('1');adSetAdURL('/_uac/adpagem.html');lab._script("http://o.aolcdn.com/os/ads/adhesion/js/adhads-min.js").wait(function(){var floatingAd = new AdhesiveAd("348-14-15-14d",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); onBreak({980: function () { adSetType("F");htmlAdWH("93319229", "LB", "LB"); adSetType("");}}); EngadgetMenu NewsReviews Features Galleries VideosEventsPodcasts Engadget ShowTopics Buyers Guides Sagas Store HD Mobile Alt Announcements Cameras Cellphones Desktops Displays Gaming GPS Handhelds Home Entertainment Household Internet Laptops Meta Misc Networking Peripherals Podcasts Robots Portable Audio/Video Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Blackberry Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon About UsSubscribeLike Engadget@engadgettip uswhen.eng("eng.nav.init")when.eng("eng.tips.init") onBreak({980: function () {htmlAdWH("93308280", "215", "35",'AJAX','ajaxsponsor');}});Chromium browser cops reset feature to clean up malware messesBypostedMay 27th, 2013 at 12:02 PM 0

Chromium browser cops reset feature to help cleanup after malware

Mopping up after malicious software can land you in a browser quagmire full of sketchy search engines, toolbars or worse. Google's latest version of its open-source Chromium browser now has a remedy for much of that thanks to a 'reset profile' setting discovered by code tinkerer François Beaufort. You can revert the defaults for search, homepage, content settings and cookies all in one go, while also disabling extensions. Since Chromium features often pop up later in Chrome, that means your life may soon be easier after your, ahem, friend has a brush with the dark side of the internet.

when.eng("eng.perm.init")

Steve Wozniak discusses his dependency on a MacBook Pro and his affinity for transistor radios

Steve Wozniak discusses his dependency on a 17inch MacBook Pro and transistor radios

Every week, a new and interesting human being tackles our decidedly geeky take on the Proustian Q&A. This is the Engadget Questionnaire.

Steve Wozniak pioneered the personal computing industry with the Apple I and II. In a throwback to our 31st issue of Distro, we'll take a very thorough look at the mind and habits of the Woz. Spoiler alert: he has a thing for the bitten fruit.

Steve Wozniak discusses his dependency on a MacBook Pro and love for transistor radiosWhat gadget do you depend on most?
Macbook Pro 17-inch for most of my email, including web links and video links.

I have a calendar life that is complicated, so I use BusyCal and Google Calendar. I keep two different browsers open to avoid some confusion. I enter calendar dates with time zones, which I can't do on my iPhone. I watch DVD's since I don't have broad- band where I live. I record videos for promotions and interviews and it's handy to have the notes in front of me on the screen. I do a lot of Skype interviews and it's handy to see notes for those as well. I often copy from one source (web page maybe) to an email I'm composing.

I read Google news and use NetNewsWire to keep up with general and tech news. I use it when I travel for Slingbox. I'm better on the large keyboard. The larger screen is great for maps and photo viewing. I also keep tons of music and movies on the SSD, although the smaller size cramps me over a full HD. I often take notes regarding business talks and paste them into TextEdit docs to view during phone calls. These calls I usually make with my iPhone. I use FileChute to upload files that I want to distribute but which are too large for email. I use Dropbox to share with my iPhones. I'm always backed up with my home Time Capsule. I write AppleScripts, too.

Most of my photos I collect with iPhoto but I use Aperture for my finer photos, mostly from my Leica M9. I keep reminder links and files on my desktop and I have categories (folders) in my dock for things like "fun relief" and "important". I keep folders on my desktop for things like the songs I'm currently attracted to and upcoming speech events. I also keep many notes of info I need all the time, like home IP numbers and game scores, in Stickies, but I close Stickes to keep things neater. I also have a few games in my dock for quick access.

If you read this you'll see why my life has many aspects that don't translate well to an iPad or iPhone as my primary gadget.

Which do you look back on most fondly?
My first transistor radio was the heart of my gadget love today. It fit in my hand and brought me a world of music 24 / 7. Even while I slept it was right there beside me playing. The ham radio transmitter and receiver I built when I was 10 was a very important gadget. I learned a lot of radio theory and [about] electronics and construction of electronic devices that would stick for life. I didn't know the word 'gadget' but I would always be in love with devices that were interactive, where you turned dials and the device responds. I wouldn't say that my first 4-function calculator was a favorite gadget but my HP-35 scientific calculator certainly was. I guess before that you'd call my slide rule a gadget.

"After my third year of college, I built a bunch of gadgets for myself and they were all favorites."

I had a tube radio that brought the early days of FM to me in my bedroom at home. Eventually, in my own apartment, I would have a Pioneer 828 Receiver that was the heart of my music life. I had a turntable, too, but I got a reel- to-reel tape recorder (GE) at a local discount store and it was a very unusual gadget for 1970. I recorded all my Dylan albums and others onto tape this way.

After my third year of college, I built a bunch of gadgets for myself and they were all favorites.

One was a Pong game that worked with the TV in my apartment. I would have called the Breakout game that I designed for Atari a favorite gadget but they got the prototype and I don't even think I kept a schematic. My TV terminal to access computers on the ARPANET over modems was a great gadget and it got a lot of attention. Needless to say, the Apple I and Apple ][ were useful and fun gadgets.

After that I'd say that my first Navigation system (an Alpine unit in my Hummer) was a great gadget and life would never be the same. The Apple ][c was my favorite Apple ][. I actually liked the Portable Macintosh. Possibly my favorite Macintosh ever was the Duo, although I very much like the current MacBook Pros.

Over the years I had pocket TVs and small, battery-operated video tape players for movies. I can't pinpoint the models now. I had many very thin CD players and recording Walkmen -- usually such gadgets were Sony branded.

Add to this list every iPod ever made (and every size), every iPhone and the iPads.

My first camera was a Kodak Brownie camera. I had too many important cameras in my life to detail them all here. Some early Casio PHD (Push Here Dummy) cameras were so thin I loved them and recommended them. I liked the Sony cameras with internal zoom. I've had a lot of analog and digital DSL cameras but not since the Canon D5 Mk II. Plus, I dearly treasure my recent Leica M9-P camera.

I had the Motorola 'brick' cell phone and then moved on with all the subsequent Motorola advances... Star TAC, Elite, etc. I probably used my RAZR the longest of any phone. In later digital phone days I liked my Nokia 8890 very much. When the iPhone came out, I'd carry the iPhone for internet stuff and the RAZR for phone calls, for quite a while.

The Segway is a great gadget that I haven't had to move on from, in all the time since it first came out.

"My first camera was a Kodak Brownie camera. I had too many important cameras in my life to detail them all here."

I had a couple of very nice scanners that I used to listen to analog cell phone calls. One was some- thing like RC-1 and it fit in your palm. The other had a name like AOR 900 or something. I'd have to go out to the garage to get the exact models. I used these quite a bit and have good stories as to what I heard.

I could add many to this list.

For each of these, and many more, I have many specific memories of carrying them around and showing them off and using them in ways that meant a lot to me.

I'm sure that I've missed others.

Which company does the most to push the industry?
You have to be kidding. Apple leads the way. A bunch of companies could be like an ocean of products with waves and ripples. But Apple is an Everest. The day Apple introduces a new product you know it's not the same as before and you know it's the future for everyone.

What is your operating system of choice?
OS X. We had something similar in the LISA but at the wrong point in time, cost-wise. I never got comfortable when I had to use Windows. As for mobile devices, I prefer iOS. It's limited in some ways but that can be an advantage for many of us.

What are your favorite gadget names?
I'm not coming up with a good answer to this one. Apple has to be first. Newton was great too. iRobot isn't bad. Google is another great name. I have loved the name "Mophie" as well. MiFi isn't bad.

What are your least favorite?
Boring technical names, like ThinkPad xxxx. For things like cameras there are never enough names so they mostly have boring numbers.

"For things like cameras there are never enough names so they mostly have boring numbers."

Which app do you depend on most?
Mail. I wish that Eudora, the unsupported original Eudora, would run under Lion. It made my life much easier and better.

What traits do you most deplore in a smartphone?
Lousy sound quality, even for voice. The iPhone is the best that I've had, by far.

When battery life is poor. Hard to truly multitask while on a call without a second phone. Navigating web pages can be frustrating on a small screen. Accidentally touching the screen can be disastrous on occasion.

I don't like running an app to take a photo. More and more apps and features require internet connection and servers [that are] not overburdened.

When servers are down, the messaging is all wrong, causing you to take unneeded actions like resetting accounts. Printing limitations.

Which do you most admire?
Slimness, single-handed usability, hands-free links to cars, use of camera in apps for things like QR codes and Google Goggles, phone locating services, NFC payment systems with the ability to put funds on NFC via internet rather than ATM, syncing with computer, texting, VoIP apps like Line2 and Skype, Sling Player apps, radio apps, Sirius-XM app, voice recording for reminders, photos and movie taking.

What is your idea of the perfect device?
Hard to say. Best features of all the best gadgets plus a voice recognition system that really understands me and what I want, no matter how I say it. It returns answers, rather than links to sites that may not even have the answer I want. It would 'see' me with video and gauge other things about what I'm saying or doing. It would know me as well as any best friend and always know what to say and how to say it to me. I would want to give up on human friends.

What is your earliest gadget memory?
Transistor radio, about 1958.

What technological advancement do you most admire?
The transistor or the planar process for making chips. That's technology at the component level. At the device level, I'd say the iPhone is the best current one, although the Apple ][ is close (taking into account when it was).

Which do you most despise?
Moving to the cloud too fast... you don't own anything out there. You aren't assured that what works today will even be there tomorrow. Things that used to be built into my iPhone now fail because the cloud is 'down.'

I despised my HTC Thunderbolt phone greatly. I hated the Sense UI and the battery would often go down in one hour.

I also despise email because I get too much for my open policies. International cellular data is very dangerous. I had a $7,000 bill once after half a day in Ger- many. I had a $16,000 bill after a day in Moscow with my iPhone in my pocket the entire time except maybe a couple of Foursquare check-ins. (AT&T has no coverage of Russia on any international data plans and if your iPhone is locked to AT&T, you can forget about a local SIM card.)

"I despised my HTC Thunderbolt phone greatly. I hated the Sense UI and the battery would often go down in one hour."

What fault are you most tolerant of in a gadget?
Color? Screen quality? Sound quality?

Which are you most intolerant of?
Every time you do something that would seem to be the right thing based on other parts of life, but it does the wrong thing. Battery running out too fast. Apps quit- ting after working for a while to get data entered correctly. Some- thing that works in one mode fails in another (Siri and hands-free connection). Too many to list here.

When has your smartphone been of the most help?
Travel -- keeping up with flight info, checking tip rules for a country, looking for concerts in a city, notifying friends, photo memories, trading contact info, etc.

What device do you covet most?
iPhone 4S unlocked. Beautiful. Easy to manage. Just right in so many ways.

If you could change one thing about your phone what would it be?
Built-in auto navigation.

What does being connected mean to you?
Not as much as to many. I don't use my mobile devices much while walking around. I save computer time for my computer. I don't like my iPhone to take me from the friends I'm with. Hotel internet is so unreliable and slow that I carry many MiFis and mobile hotspot phones though, so in that way my phones are a big part of my connectivity.

When are you least likely to reply to an email?
When I'm busy and it requires a long answer.

When did you last disconnect?
Right now I fear disconnecting from the internet but in the late 90's I took a three- week cruise in the South Pacific with no phone or internet service. I had other priorities and survived. It was a very pleasant time.


View the original article here

Strategy Analytics: Samsung topped China smartphone share in Q1

Strategy Analytics Samsung tops China smartphone share in Q1

Many analysts believe that Samsung led the Chinese smartphone market throughout much of 2012, and there are already signs of a repeat coming in 2013. Strategy Analytics now estimates that the Galaxy maker sold 12.5 million smartphones in the country during the first quarter of this year, or enough to stay in front at 18.5 percent market share. Others didn't come close, although there was a fierce battle for the runner up spot. Huawei (8.1 million) barely pushed past Lenovo (7.9 million) to become number two in China, while Coolpad (7.1 million), ZTE (6.4 million) and Apple (6.1 million) were locked in their own fight for fourth place. While it's true that market share isn't the only yardstick for smartphone success, having the most popular devices in the world's most populous country undoubtedly helps with bragging rights.

when.eng("eng.perm.init")