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Gigabyte launches Aivia Xenon dual-mode touchpad mouse
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Sunday, July 1, 2012
Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 5pm ET!
Regular time, regular place. Wait, what? For such a hectic and crazy week as this, it's equally astounding to think that we'll be doing the Engadget Mobile Podcast the usual way -- Friday afternoon at 5pm. Just like last week, this is definitely one you don't want to miss: Google announced a couple things, RIM broke a few hearts and we reviewed a few devices. Tune in and enjoy Myriam and Brad waxing poetic about the wild week that was wireless!
Flickr brings in Nokia map data for precise geotagged photos, Instagram shots just got eerily accurate
By Jon Fingas 
posted Jun 29th 2012 12:59PM
posted Jun 29th 2012 12:59PM 
Open Street Map has been helping Flickr display geotagged shots for some time. That crowdsourced map data has led to more than a few photos being located in a gray blob, however, which is why Yahoo just struck a deal to put Nokia maps into as many nooks and crevices of the world as possible. The addition will make sure that Instagram photo tour of Africa is often accurate down to the street corner, not to mention give a slightly Finland-tinged look to the maps themselves. Open Street Map isn't going away, but it's now being used only for those areas where regular coverage is spotty or non-existent. The images already apply to any existing and upcoming uploads -- there will be no question that self-portrait was taken in Tanzania.
Rdio goes minimalist, tries another redesign on for size
By Donald Melanson posted Jun 29th 2012 4:46PM
posted Jun 29th 2012 4:46PM 
Finally get settled into the last Rdio redesign from just a few months ago? Well, we're afraid you've got a bit more adjusting to do. The streaming music service has now rolled out another sweeping visual overhaul of its website and desktop apps -- one that ditches the former iTunes-like appearance for a far more minimalist look, although all of the key elements remain in the same places as before. Naturally, that brings with it yet another software update for the desktop apps, although there's no word on any changes for its mobile apps just yet.
Cracking the Nexus Q, Google's 25-watt amplified obsession
"We're missing a nut," says a bemused Matt Hershenson, former Danger founder and now Google's director of hardware for Android, pointing at a vacant spot on an exploded photo of the Nexus Q. Its parts are strewn out across a white background, perfectly arranged in a linear pattern that starkly contrasts with the spherical nature of the thing. "Wow, you're right," agrees Joe Britt, engineering director at Google and another former Danger founder. "It's like the illuminators, you know, the monks who used to draw up the codexes." Hershenson picks up the reference without missing a beat: "Everybody needs to make at least one mistake. Nothing can be perfect."
That goes against everything else we've been learning from the pair, who spend 45 minutes walking us through every detail of what went into the development of the new Nexus Q. They worked hand-in-hand with engineers and designers and materials experts, ensuring everything from the bearings to the LEDs were, well, perfect. But there is one thing, something larger, that many have said is a crucial flaw in this illuminated device: pricing. Will people pay $299 for a high-concept, low-functionality social media streamer? Join us after the break for how the Q came to be, and why Britt and Hershenson think it will be a success.
Inside that spherical exterior is a decidedly more square dual-core TI OMAP 4460 processor CPU paired with 1GB of RAM, the same basic power behind the Galaxy Nexus. That's matched with 16GB of flash storage, but that storage is (at least out of the box) inaccessible. This is a purely streaming device, connecting over 10/100 Ethernet or dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi to pull media only from the cloud -- and, even more restrictively, only from Google Play.
Even though you start playback from your phone or tablet, the data must always go directly through the Q, and it's always pulled from Google's servers. Even the concept of "pinning" something for offline playback later is absent here. "Fundamentally, this is the way content is changing," says Hershenson. "There are a lot of people consuming data this way. YouTube is coming from the cloud in the first place. we're not doing something out of convention with regards to the information being in the cloud, and the use cases it enables is just awesome. The social aspect... those kinds of things are really exploiting the fact that it's in the cloud."
But, Britt is quick to point out that "this is just the initial feature set." As we've already seen, the Q is eminently hackable, a point that its two proud parents return to frequently. That "initial feature set" is admittedly limited, but Britt hopes the "collective imagination of the community" will continue to do amazing things to expand the functionality of the device. He is, after all, an evangelist for the Accessory Development Kit and the kind of person who has all sorts of naughty ideas for what could be done with the ADK demo hardware given out at I/O this year. He's also proud to point out the Arduino bootloader that's lurking within.
What that community won't be able to do, at least not easily, is expand the hardware, which is perhaps partly why the two obsessed over the Q's design. The alloy base, for example, is intentionally heavy, both acting as a heat sink for that OMAP chip and also preventing the Q from rolling off the back of your entertainment center when you plug in high-gauge, low-impedance speaker wire.
The top half, which can be spun about to quickly adjust volume and is ringed by 32 RGB LEDs (plus a 33rd on top), was originally going to be made of stainless steel but, due largely to cost concerns, is instead made of plastic. But, a weighted metal ring is inset within and the whole assembly rides on stainless steel bearings, conspiring to give it a higher-spec feel than its polymer composition would otherwise impart.
It's a custom class-D amplifier in there, nestled dangerously close to an integrated switching power supply, a recipe for noise if not handled properly. "We didn't want a wall wart," says Britt, but we shouldn't worry about interference. "The same guy who designed the amp designed the power supply." That amp is one of the more curious, and honestly controversial aspects of the device, but it was a fundamental part of its design, says Hershenson. "The sound this is capable of delivering is best realized on bookshelf speakers. A lot of powered speakers are fine, but the typical sound source is a PC, right? It's not quite as high-fidelity in the first place."
That amp, and all the engineering required to make this thing sound genuinely good, surely has a lot to do with why the Nexus Q costs as much as it does. We have to imagine the majority of Q users will skip the amp and rely on the TOSLINK or HDMI outputs for digital audio, thus bypassing all that attention to detail altogether. Plus, we couldn't help but question the merit of having such a high-fidelity audio source that can exclusively play compressed audio streamed from the internet.
Is lossless playback coming? "That would be a good idea," says Britt, saying it not in an "I hadn't thought of that" kind of way but with more in a "Wait and see" sort of intonation. "The hardware's totally capable."
Another thing driving up that cost is the geographic heritage of the device itself: designed and produced right here in the great US of A. This is an aspect that Google barely mentioned during its keynote unveiling, but is an important point at a time when so many are criticizing Apple for the handling of its partnership with Foxconn and thinking a lot more closely about where our gadgets are made. However, we're asked to not read too much into any implications here.
"I don't think that we're philosophically set," says Hershenson, when asked about the reasoning behind the domestic nature of the Q. Instead, it seems to have been more a question of optimizing the design and engineering process, which took a little over a year. Having partners locally meant they could get hardware revisions to evaluate the very next day, not next week. It seems to have worked well here, but again it sadly isn't something we can necessarily expect to see in whatever comes next. "We have to look at what's appropriate for each product," says Britt.
And presumably what comes next depends a lot on the success of the Q -- not the success of the engineering, of which we have little doubt, but rather the success of the marketing and consumer perception. As of now, the biggest question asked about the thing, even by ourselves, is why folks would pay $300 for a device that is less functional than a $100 Apple TV. Far more beautiful and with much higher quality analog output, sure, but that's largely meaningless for anyone who sticks an HDMI cable in the back.
It's the social aspect, the ability for anyone to interact with the device and add their own music to a playlist, that Google is making the most fuss about here. Of course, that "anyone" should come with a very large asterisk, pointing to a disclaimer stating: "Anyone with an Android-powered device and their own collection of music on Google Play." Even should you have an appropriate number of anyones among your gaggle of friends, there's still another question. How often will you legitimately get enough of those anyones together to really make use of everything this has to offer?
Google does every Friday, having something of a social mixer with multiple Q devices, each hooked to analog speakers, scattered about for all of their anyones to interact with. That sounds like the perfect storm for a Nexus Q -- a situation that typical users will have the opportunity to experience far less frequently.
So, then, is this a niche or halo device, expected to be fondly remembered but not frequently purchased? Definitely not -- Britt and Hershenson are both adamant that there's enough general appeal for this thing to be a mass-market success. "This is a device that sets a precedent," says Britt, "but it isn't like a concept car. We built it to sell it... This is the first of many."
We have to imagine that exactly how many is at least partially related to how well this thing sells. And that, of course, is largely up to you.
Government-backed movie streaming service coming to China in Q4, bringing Paramount titles along
Jiaflix Named Exclusive Partner of China Movie Channel Web Subsidiary M1905; Venture Will Stream Films Throughout China
Jiaflix Enterprises principals Sid Ganis, Marc Ganis and Kenneth Huang, and M1905, the official internet subsidiary of China Movie Channel/CCTV6 jointly announced today an exclusive venture to stream both Chinese and international feature films on a subscription basis (SVOD), as well as international feature films on a transactional video on demand basis (TVOD) throughout China. The long term agreement names Jiaflix, a U.S./China enterprise, M1905's exclusive authorized party for the importation of international films and libraries from North America and Europe for new media, internet streaming and mobile devices.
"China has the largest number of online users in the world, and M1905.com, commonly known as China Movie Web, is SARFT's official internet movie site. The M1905.com web site is dedicated solely to movies and caters to fans of both domestic Chinese and international films. It averages more than 16 million page views and 4 million unique visitors daily, has more than 3 million registered users and has been growing rapidly, more than doubling year to year," said Jiaflix principal Marc Ganis. "This new venture will bring the best that Hollywood has to offer to viewers in China. It represents a great opportunity to enhance cultural cooperation between our two nations and we are thrilled to be part of this official bridge between the Chinese and Hollywood film industries."
Jiaflix also announced today that it has signed a multi-year licensing deal with Paramount Pictures to include titles from Paramount's extensive and renowned film library for both SVOD and TVOD.
"This is an important step for Paramount in terms of positioning our product in China," said Hal Richardson, President, Paramount Home Media Distribution. "Paramount has worked with China Movie Channel for many years and we are happy to be expanding our relationship and online movie viewership in China through our deal with Jiaflix."
M1905's Director and Vice President, Longfei Liang, adds, "We are delighted to make this announcement with our partners at Jiaflix. China has a long and storied history in films. New media distribution of films is the future and M1905 is excited to be working with Jiaflix and Paramount Pictures, an iconic Hollywood studio, in bringing great movies to our expanding online audience."
The agreement with Paramount is the first under the Jiaflix partnership with M1905 that will see licensing deals with several other North American and European content providers.
M1905 is the wholly-owned subsidiary of the China Movie Channel, which is under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) of the People's Republic of China. China Movie Channel is that country's largest television buyer of international movies and has agreements with virtually all of the major movie studios. M1905 sub-licenses domestic Chinese films to a number of video web sites in China. In June 2012, M1905's mobile television service officially started operations with China Mobile and China Telecom's mobile video service allowing M1905 to provide officially licensed content and VOD service to the more than 100 million 3G mobile subscribers in China.
Sid Ganis' long affiliation within the film industry along with his recent role in China as Honorary Chairperson of Wuxi Studio Development and Promotion Committee, assisted in bringing this venture to fruition. He is a former President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and previously held roles as Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and President of Paramount Pictures. Ganis is currently an independent producer at his company Out of the Blue Entertainment and Co-Executive Producer on last year's ABC Television series PAN AM.
Kenneth Huang is a China based entrepreneur and investor. He is active in a number of important business sectors in China including capital markets, infrastructure construction, sports and entertainment. Mr. Huang is a successful philanthropist and was voted the most popular philanthropist by Sina.com and BQ Magazine in December 2009. Mr. Huang was raised in China and educated in the United States.
Marc Ganis is President and Founder of Sportscorp Ltd., a Chicago based sports business advisory firm. Mr. Ganis has been involved in a number of the most visible and valuable sports business transactions in the U.S. He has been active in China for more than a decade in the capital markets, sports and entertainment sectors.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
PSA: The end of MobileMe is nigh, time to move on or move out
By James Trew posted Jun 29th 2012 12:17PM
posted Jun 29th 2012 12:17PM 
The death knell for MobileMe has been ringing for some time, but if you've had your hands on your ears, hoping it'd go away, sadly this isn't the case. Tomorrow sees the service hang up its storage-boots for the last time, before being brutally put down released to pasture. If the 20GB olive branch Apple offered wasn't enough to turn you onto iCloud, then this is your last call to pack up your virtual things, and make sure the door doesn't hit you on the way out. And while breaking up is never easy to do, there are plenty more fish in the sea.
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