Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Xbox One: chat headset not included

Xbox One: chat headset not included data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 320};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20637053' !== '') ? 'bsd:20637053' : ''; var postID = '20637053'; 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:"gaming",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"timothy-j-seppala", 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');}});Xbox One: chat headset not includedBypostedJun 26th, 2013 at 1:22 AM 0

Xbox One doesn't include headset

Today Microsoft confirmed another disappointing detail about the Xbox One's launch -- unlike the Xbox 360 Pro SKU, it won't pack a chat headset in the box. In a statement to Ars Technica, the company extols the virtues of Kinect 2.0 and its multi-array microphones for chat across games, Skype and "other experiences." Chatting with the Xbox 360's Kinect introduces a multitude of issues like echoes and the device taking conversation as system commands. To replace even a cheap headset, Kinect 2.0 will need to be a massive upgrade. This seems odd considering Microsoft included headsets with almost everything since the original Xbox Live kits. However, The House That Gates Built isn't the only one breaking tradition: Sony's including a single earbud-and-mic headset with each $100-cheaper PS4. Shots fired?

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SK Telecom launches the world's first LTE-Advanced network, and the Galaxy S4 LTE-A

SK Telecom Launches World's First LTE-Advanced Network

Launched the world's first publicly available LTE-A network with the world's first LTE-A compatible phone, Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A
Offers LTE-A at LTE prices to allow customers to benefit from the faster network without having to pay extra costs
Plans to expand its LTE-A device lineup to a total of seven smartphones in the second half of 2013
Commercialized LTE-A in the entire Seoul area and central cities of Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong-do, and plans to expand LTE-A coverage to 84 cities nationwide
Expects LTE-A to boost the popularity of ultra high quality broadcasting/video contents and services
Seoul, Korea, 26 June 2013 – SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) announced that it today launched the world's first LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) service through smartphones.
The company achieved such a milestone in only less than two years after commercializing the nation's first LTE service in July 2011.
LTE-A offers ultra-fast network speeds of up to 150 Mbps, which is two times faster than that of LTE, and 10 times faster than 3G network. For instance, LTE-A users can download an 800MB movie in just 43 seconds.

With the commercialization of LTE-A, the company expects to further improve customer satisfaction in mobile Internet services, and increase the use of ultra fast video contents and other diverse mobile value added services.

Achieves another world's first with its advanced network technologies

To commercialize LTE-A, SK Telecom successfully developed and applied the most-advanced mobile network technologies. The company already applied Carrier Aggregation (CA) and Coordinated Multi Point (CoMP), and plans to apply Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (eICIC) in 2014.

CA, commercialized for the first time in the world by SK Telecom, supports up to 150Mpbs speed by combining two 10 MHz components carriers to form an effective bandwidth of 20 MHz spectrum bands.

With the surge of data traffic worldwide, CA will act as the key enabler for network evolution among mobile operators around the world. According to network experts, CA will be further advanced to realize up to 300Mbps speed by aggregating two 20MHz component carriers by 2015, and become capable of combining three component carriers by 2016. In addition, they expect to see the realization of uplink CA by 2016. The current CA standards allow for up to five 20 MHz carriers to be aggregated.

SK Telecom has fiercely competed with mobile carriers of other advanced nations to achieve the world's first LTE-A commercialization. Up to date, 13 operators*1) of 8 nations, including Verizon, AT&T, NTT Docomo and Telenor, have announced plans to launch LTE-A, and among them Sprint, Telstra, 3 Italia and Yota said that they will do so within this year. However, no carrier, besides SK Telecom, has yet reached the goal by launching LTE-A network through LTE-A compatible phone.
*1) Released by Wireless Intelligence, market research firm under GSMA (as of Jun 8, 2013)

Since launching the nation's first generation analogue network (1G) in 1984, SK Telecom led the popularization of mobile telecommunications service by commercializing CDMA (2G) for the first time in the world in 1996, and introduced video telephony service through the commercialization of CDMA2000 1X in 2000. In 2006, the company opened the era of mobile data communications service by commercializing the HSDPA technology over its 3G WCDMA network using a mobile phone for the first time in the world. Then, SK Telecom has launched the Korea's first 4G LTE in 2011 and successfully commercialized the Multi Carrier (MC) technology, for the first time in the world, in July 2012.

¦ Improves customer satisfaction by offering LTE-A service at LTE prices and introducing a rich device lineup

SK Telecom announced that its existing LTE price plans will apply to the LTE-A service, meaning that customers will be able to enjoy twice faster network speeds without paying extra. The decision comes as part of its commitment to maximize customer benefits and satisfaction through innovative technologies and services.

With the commercialization of the world's first LTE-A network, SK Telecom today released Samsung's 'Galaxy S4 LTE-A.' The Samsung device, the world's first phone optimized to work over LTE-A network, will come in two different colors, red (exclusively available at SK Telecom) and blue.

SK Telecom will embed useful services like 'Safe Message' and 'Safe Data Backup' as basic features in all its LTE-A phones. Safe Message is designed to protect users from smishing (SMS phishing) attacks by enabling them to check whether the message is sent from a trusted source; and 'Safe Data Backup' enables users to upload personal data stored in their smartphones to the cloud server to keep data safe from smartphone loss and accidental deletion. The company also plans to mount these features on all its to-be released LTE phones as well.

Customers can purchase Galaxy S4 LTE-A at SK Telecom's official online store named T World Shop (www.tworldshop.co.kr), or at one of 2,850 authorized SK Telecom T World retail stores. The company has secured an initial supply of 20,000 units of Galaxy S4 LTE-A.

Furthermore, SK Telecom will vigorously expand its LTE-A phone lineup to boost the popularization of LTE-A service. It plans to provide a total of seven different LTE-A compatible smarphones in the second half of 2013.

Begins offering LTE-A in Seoul and central areas of Gyeongg-do and Chungcheong-do, and plans to expand LTE-A coverage to 84 cities nationwide

SK Telecom plans to expand its LTE-A coverage at an unmatched speed to keep offering the best call quality to customers.

To achieve early commercialization of LTE-A, the company, for the first time in the world, developed the MC technology and applied it to its LTE network in July 2012. During the process, SK Telecom designed and built MC base stations in a way that they can support an optimized evolution towards LTE-A.

In March, SK Telecom has launched aggressive plans to expand the coverage of MC base stations to 200 university areas and central areas of 84 cities nationwide. The company has built a total of 20,000 RU (Radio Units) as of June 2013. With MC in place, the company can easily evolve the network to LTE-A s through simple software upgrades.

SK Telecom's LTE-A, launched today, covers the entire Seoul, central areas of 42 cities in Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong-do, and 103 university areas. Furthermore, the company will gradually expand its LTE-A coverage to 84 cities across the nation.

Plans to promote ultra high quality, large volume and multi channel services

SK Telecom projects that, as mobile connectivity continues to gain importance, LTE-A will promote the development of ultra high quality video contents/services as well as a wide variety of new applications.

On June 27, 2013, the company will launch a group video calling service for up to four users. The service, an upgraded version of the 3G network-based multi-party video conferencing service, will support 12 times better video quality and 2 times clearer audio quality.

SK Telecom's 'Btv mobile,' an IPTV service with 550,000 paid subscribers, will begin providing full HD (1080p resolution) video streaming service, for the first time in the world, from early July. Full HD video streaming requires a speed of 2Mbps or above, which is well supported by the LTE-A network.
Required speed for each level of image quality - SD: 1Mbps, HD: 2Mbps, Full HD: 4~8Mbps

The company will also launch 'T Baseball Multiview,' to enable users to watch two different games on one screen in July 2013. T Baseball is a free, real-time professional baseball game broadcast service optimized to the LTE network. Launched in August 2012, the service is currently enjoyed by 1.1 million users.

Moreover, SK Telecom plans to launch 'T Freemium 2.0,' a free multimedia content package that offers three times more contents – e.g. dramas, TV entertainment shows, music videos, sports game highlights, etc.- than its previous version, 'T Freemium,' in July 2013.

The company is also planning to launch a new HD video-based shopping service in August 2013 to make shopping more fun and convenient for customers. Users will be able to seamlessly watch 6 different home shopping channels on one screen.

Also, SK Telecom's online/mobile music portal service MelOn yesterday opened a new service category to allow users to listen to original CD quality music by downloading Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) files.

Meanwhile, SK Telecom will hold a large-scale contest named 'LTE-A i.con' to boost the creation and provision of diverse innovative contents and applications optimized for the LTE-A network.

Demonstrates LTE-A's ultra-fast speed and strong performance

At today's LTE-A press conference held at SK T-Tower, SK Telecom's head office, the company demonstrated the speed of its LTE-A network by comparing it with those of LTE and 3G.

It also showcased innovative LTE-A-based mobile value added services including MelOn's FLAC files, 'T Baseball Multiview' and Btv mobile's full HD video streaming service.

Moreover, Kwon Hyok-sang, Head of Network Division of SK Telecom, made live video calls from SK T-Tower to Gangnam Station and the company's Daejeon office to show LTE-A's ultra-fast speed.

Park In-sik, President of Network Business Operations at SK Telecom said, "SK Telecom is proud to announce the world's first commercialization of LTE-A. By supporting twice faster speeds than LTE, LTE-A will not only enhance customers' satisfaction in network quality, but also give birth to new mobile value added services that can bring innovative changes to our customers' lives."

About SK Telecom
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, KSE: 017670), established in 1984, is Korea's largest telecommunications company with more than 27 million subscribers, accounting for over 50% of the market. The company reached KRW 16.301 trillion in revenue in 2012. As the world's first company to commercialize CDMA, CDMA 2000 1x, CDMA EV-DO and HSDPA networks, SK Telecom launched the nation's first LTE service in July 2011. Backed by rapid nationwide deployment, a rich device lineup and diverse mobile value added services, the company secured over 10 million LTE subscribers as of April 2013. SK Telecom also became the world's first mobile carrier to launch LTE-A on June 26, 2013 by applying core LTE technologies including Carrier Aggregation and Coordinated Multi Point. Also, based on its strength in network operations business, SK Telecom is seeking new growth engines by building ICT convergence business models in areas of healthcare, enterprise solutions, media and education. For more information, please visit www.sktelecom.com or email to press@sktelecom.com


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Nokia brings Augmented Reality to the employment market with JobLens

Nokia brings Augmented Reality to the employment market with JobLens data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 320};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20637176' !== '') ? 'bsd:20637176' : ''; var postID = '20637176'; 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:"cellphones",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"brad-molen", 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');}});Nokia brings Augmented Reality to the employment market with JobLens MobileBypostedJun 26th, 2013 at 8:00 AM 0

DNP Nokia brings AR to the employment market with JobLens

Once Sesame Street starts using Augmented Reality, you know the tech is no longer considered a niche affair. Strangely enough, however, we haven't actually seen an AR app that caters to job seekers, but Nokia's got that covered with JobLens -- an app we've tested at Nokia's UK-based Lumia 925 launch event last month. The program arrives on Lumia devices in the US and Canada today, utilizing the same LiveSight sight recognition tech previously seen in Here, and involving collaborative efforts with LinkedIn, Indeed, Zillow and Salary.com. In addition to gaining the benefit of visualizing exactly where you can find open positions around you, the app will help you create and submit resumes to push you in the right direction. There's still no word on when we can expect to see JobLens outside of North America, though we imagine it won't be too long. As a gentle reminder of how it all works, we've added our hands-on video after the break.

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Yahoo Shareholder Finds Worst Possible Way to Hit On Marissa Mayer [Updated]

Ugh.

On account of being a stylish and confident woman in the male-dominated tech world, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is no stranger to gross dudes treating her like some kind of exotic animal. But at a Yahoo shareholder meeting today, a shareholder reached what is (hopefully?) the apex of skeezy objectification.

"I have 2,000 Yahoo shares, I'm Greek, I'm a dirty old man and you look attractive," one shareholder told her, according to numerous Twitter reports, in a preface to what I'm sure was a thoughtful and probing question about Yahoo's dividend.

Mayer reportedly brushed the remark off and kept going, which is admirable. Lesser CEOs would have smacked him with a Lean In hardcover and had him escorted out by security.

Update: Greek tech investor George Polis is apparently the culprit.


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Motorola's new smartphone leaked, reportedly being tested on Sprint 4G

Motorola's new smartphone leaked, reportedly being tested on Sprint 4G data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 320};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20637227' !== '') ? 'bsd:20637227' : ''; var postID = '20637227'; var modalMNo = '93312529', 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:"cellphones",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"mat-smith", 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("348-14-15-13f",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); onBreak({980: function () { adSetType("F");htmlAdWH("93312529", "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("93312530", "215", "35",'AJAX','ajaxsponsor');}});Motorola's new smartphone leaked, reportedly being tested on Sprint 4G MobileBypostedJun 26th, 2013 at 3:55 AM 0

Mystery Motorola smartphone appears for real, reportedly being tested on Sprint 4G

That long-teased Motorola X phone might be approaching an official release, if you believe what you're staring at above. Phone Arena says it received the glare-heavy photo from a source that's testing it for Sprint's LTE network. We've already seen official FCC documents pointing to a Now Network future for the Motorola smartphone, while other filings tally with the shape of the device seen here. Aside from a first look at the device sans hardware-disguising casing, there's nothing more to cement rumored specs, although it appears that it will arrive with a screen around the 4.5- to 4.7-inch region -- a size that's suddenly starting to look pretty middle-of-the-road.

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Microsoft, Telefonica teaming up to push Windows Phone 8 devices in Europe, Latin America

Telefónica to promote and foster sales of Windows Phone 8 in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Chile

- With this arrangement Telefónica reinforces its commitment to improve the current balance of mobile operating platforms on the market, encouraging it to be more diverse and less of a duopoly.
- The company is enhancing its commercial offering, bringing compelling alternatives to customers from the ecosystem of smartphones on the market

Madrid, 26 June 2013. Telefónica today announced the establishment of an enhanced marketing effort with Microsoft that aims to boost the sales of Windows Phone 8 devices. Initially for a period of one year, Telefónica will enhance marketing activities in support of its Windows Phone 8 devices in the U.K., Germany, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Chile.

Telefónica, through its Global Devices area, and in collaboration with all its business units, is firmly committed to enhancing its commercial offering mobile devices to encourage the presence of additional mobile operating platforms as an alternative to the current duopoly of Android and iOS, and provide customers with a more personal smartphone experience like Windows Phone offers.

In this way, the Spanish multinational is reinforcing its commitment to pave the way for a much more competitive market. Promoting the use of Windows Phone 8 will benefit customers, as there will be more options to choose from while diluting the polarisation of installed base in operating platforms.

Telefónica plans to offer its clients enterprise-class business features such as Office 365 and SharePoint, as well as consumer-facing features such as Skydrive and Xbox in a mobile environment connected to the Internet, aiming to increase distribution of Windows Phone 8 devices through the collaboration with Microsoft.

As part of the commitment, Telefónica will encourage growth in market demand for Windows Phone 8 while working with suppliers to ensure the availability of high-quality devices. It will be working with the leading manufacturers of Windows Phone 8 devices to make their commercial offering available throughout the duration of this enhanced marketing effort with Microsoft.

"An associate partner such as Microsoft is chosen as a result of its operator-focused business approach. The Microsoft business culture is based on a model of value creation through its partnersassociates, which fits in perfectly with our culture and also with our way of doing business," said José María Álvarez Pallete, COO of Telefónica S.A.

According to Terry Myerson, corporate vice president, Windows Phone Division at Microsoft, "We are excited to work with Telefónica to market Windows Phone 8 devices to more customers in the UK, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Chile, bringing them a more personal smartphone experience with the speed of Telefónica's network."


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