Engadget Podcast 115 - 10.24.2008

We're back, just as promised! This week, Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, and Nilay Patel discuss the finer points of new ASUS laptops, Casio digicams, and a score of other compelling, enthralling, and generally fascinating items that will tickle your braincells and delight your many respectable senses. Sit back, relax, kick off your shoes, crack open a can of Dr. Terrific's Party Juice, and enjoy the soothing sounds and delightful pseudo-sights of the Engadget Podcast.
Update: It looks like the Podcast is back up in iTunes! Thanks to everyone who pinged them, but you can call off the dogs -- and a big thanks to Scott at Apple for making it happen!
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, and Nilay Patel
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Professor Murder - Dutch Hex
[Via: Engadget ] [Tag: asus, blackberry, bold, casio, dashboard, ee pc, EePc, ex-f1, ex-fh20, macbook, macbook pro, MacbookPro, nxe, s101, smart, smart table, SmartTable, xbox 360, xbox experience, Xbox360, XboxExperience ]

Hop-on promises Android phone at CES, cookies, rainbows

Sure, we've seen a lot of product announcements from Hop-on accompanied by janky product renders over the years -- but we've never seen an actual Hop-on phone, so we're a little skeptical of the company's promise this morning to release an Android phone at CES this year. What's more, it's supposed to come in under $200, which is right in character for a manufacturer whose major claim to fame is the "disposable" cell phone, we suppose. We'll see if such a phone actually appears at the show -- Hop-on boldly says this mythical device will make it "competitive in the high-end phone market," which is probably sending shock waves through the offices of HTC, Apple, and RIM as we speak.
[Via: Engadget ] [Tag: android, ces, ces 2008, Ces2008, hop-on ]

Microsoft waves dismissive, bloated hand at iPhone sales figures

Microsoft's Robbie Bach feigned an uninterested yawn at Apple's 6.9 million iPhones figure in an interview with BusinessWeek the other day. He wasn't particularly insulting of the product, but didn't think the number means too much in the long run. "Apple had a big launch of a new product, and they launched at scale in a lot of new countries with a lot of new [wireless] operators. This quarter, RIM is having its big launch, and at some point we'll have our big launch. We'll have to see where things normalize." While that statement is encouraging for the fact that it semi-implies that Windows Mobile 7 is supposed to be released at "some point," we're not sure we're picking up what Robbie is putting down -- 6.9 million of a single device seems to imply a bit more than "launch buzz." Things devolved quickly when Bach started spouting about how carriers want a balanced ecosystem. That may be true, but consumers are the ones that buy the phones, and if their RAZR buying habits are any indication, "ecosystem" isn't their top priority.
[Via: Electronista ] [Tag: apple, iphone, microsoft, rim, robbie bach, RobbieBach, windows mobile, windows mobile 7, WindowsMobile, WindowsMobile7 ]

ARM Cortex-based netbooks said to be coming soon

ARM's Cortex processor was apparently good enough for the folks behind the Pandora project and it looks like we could soon be seeing some netbooks based on the CPU as well. That word comes straight from ARM's UK director of mobile solutions Rob Coombs, who said that both the Cortex-A8 (used in the Pandora) and the forthcoming Cortex-A9 would find their way into netbooks in addition to the expected smartphones, and that we should "expect announcements in the next few months." Of course, he didn't go so far as to name any specific companies we should expect announcements from, but he did helpfully run off a list of A8 and A9 licensees, which includes Samsung, Panasonic, NEC, and Toshiba, to name a few. As Crave points out, one potential drawback to netbook's using the processor is that there's no ARM-compatible version of Windows XP, but the architecture is supported by Windows CE and a number of Linux distributions, and there is the small matter of that other little device that's based on an ARM processor...
[Via: Engadget ] [Tag: ]

T-Mobile G1 up and running with no activation

It looks like getting up and running on an unactivated G1 is going to be a little easier than Apple made it for iPhone users. No jailbreak required. All you really need to do is beg, steal or borrow an active T-Mobile SIM card and slip it in the phone for the duration of the setup process (it should only take a few minutes). Once you've enabled WiFi you can go back to your old SIM: you're ready to browse the web, run your apps and do everything you expect your Android-powered phone to do (except talk on the phone). If you'd like to get in on this action, check out the read link for the step-by-step instructions.
[Via: Engadget ] [Tag: activation, android, g1, google, sim, t-mobile, t-mobile g1, T-mobileG1, wifi ]

Google opens the floodgates, open-sources Android

Making good on a promise it made at the very beginning, Google has today announced that the source code underpinning its Android platform for mobile devices is available for free to anyone who wants a crack at it. The code is being provided through the newly-announced Android Open Source Project, which will give the public at large the opportunity to make contributions to the platform's all-important core -- a first for a mobile operating system with true mass-market appeal. Theoretically, the move should position Android to benefit from a fairly democratic, speedy evolution, and it'll also give anyone with a few spare chips lying around the chance to build a smartphone of their own without shelling out a dime in licensing fees. We're really looking forward to seeing Android pop up on a whole bunch of devices for which it was never intended -- but we have to admit, in a sick, totally twisted sort of way, we're looking forward to some truly deranged individual porting Windows Mobile to the G1, too.
[Via: Engadget ] [Tag: android, breaking news, BreakingNews, google ]

RIM readies BlackBerry Application Storefront and Application Center

Big surprise here and all, but we hear RIM is actually thinking of crafting an App Store of its own in order to not get lapped by the likes of Apple and Google. Made official today was Research In Motion's plans to introduce a pair of "major distribution initiatives" for BlackBerry applications: the BlackBerry Application Storefront and the BlackBerry Application Center. The former is slated to launch in March 2009 (translation: forever from now), though developers can begin submitting their apps and content beginning in December. Similar to Apple's initiative, RIM will give devs the ability to set prices and retain 80% of all revenue from sales, and it will be giving the rest of the dough to working with PayPal for transactions. Of course, enterprise admins can still maintain control over what apps can be downloaded onto company phones, but you know you can sweet talk the boss into relaxing some of those restrictions. The Application Center is a carrier-customized, on-device tool for providers to host specific programs for customers. Details on deployment (and more importantly, app screening) are all but nil, but considering we've got until March before we can even use the Storefront, we can wait. Angrily.
[Via: phonescoop ] [Tag: app store, application center, Application Storefront, ApplicationCenter, applications, ApplicationStorefront, apps, AppStore, blackberry, BlackBerry Application Center, BlackBerry Application Storefront, BlackberryApplicationCenter, BlackberryApplicationStorefront, RIM, software, Storefront ]

Apple working on streaming your iTunes library to your iPhone?

Apple's experimented with allowing iTunes to stream over the internet as well as your LAN in the past and quickly removed the feature (probably due to RIAA pressure), so we're not placing too much stock in this, but AppleInsider's unearthed a patent that seems to describe a way to stream music over the 'net to your iPhone / iPod touch. The goal is to prevent you from having to selectively sync content to your device -- instead, you'd sync just the metadata and stream whatever you wanted direct from your machine as though it was all stored locally. There are some obvious problems here -- it wouldn't work if you didn't have service (or over EDGE, really), most home upstream connections aren't that fast, etc., etc., -- but it's certainly interesting, and a welcome addition to local storage if it ever makes the scene. In the meantime, how about working in some of those new UI elements from the Remote app into the iPod app?
[Via: Macrumors ] [Tag: 3g iphone, 3gIphone, apple, iphone, iphone 2.0, iphone 3g, Iphone2.0, Iphone3g, ipod, ipod touch, IpodTouch, itunes, patent, rumor, rumors, streaming, touch ]