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HTC EVO 4G in short supply

Posted by Harshad

HTC EVO 4G in short supply


HTC EVO 4G in short supply

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 09:44 PM PDT

HTC EVO 4G in short supplySprint has said today that they are seeing shortages of the popular HTC EVO 4G smartphone, with CEO Dan Hesse saying some areas have had much higher-than-expected demand.

Hesse went as far as to say that he wishes there was more supply at launch, on June 4th.

"The device is more popular than we or HTC could foresee,"
said the CEO, via Reuters.

The CEO was then asked if the spot shortages was due to component shortages in Asia, but Hesse referred those questions over to HTC, which said there were no shortages.

"We're certainly doing everything we can to ensure we're supplying devices as quickly as possible. We're seeing greater demand for our products than we ever have in the past," said HTC spokesman Keith Nowak.

Additionally, HTC is also seeing spot shortages of the Droid Incredible, which is sold by Verizon.

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Unconfirmed: iPhone 4 headed to Verizon in January

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 12:07 PM PDT

Unconfirmed: iPhone 4 headed to Verizon in JanuaryBloomberg is reporting today that Apple and Verizon have made a deal to bring the iPhone 4 to the US' largest wireless carrier.

AT&T has exclusively been home to the iPhone since its original launch in 2007, and rumors of Verizon getting the device have cropped up every few months.

The device will be available in January, with pre-orders likely starting at Christmas.

Apple recently sold 1.7 million iPhone 4 in just three days of availability, the company's strongest launch ever, by far.

This is still not confirmed by Apple or Verizon, so take it as rumor for now. But this rumor may finally have legs.

We will keep you updated.

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'Hulu Plus' headed to Xbox 360, PS3, iPad and more

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 11:49 AM PDT

'Hulu Plus' headed to Xbox 360, PS3, iPad and moreHulu has announced today the launch of Hulu Plus, a premium version of the popular streaming site that will cost $10 per month.

Buyers of the subscription get expanded content, and the ability to play the shows on their HDTVs, Blu-ray players, Xbox 360 (with Gold subscription), PS3 and iPad and iPhone.

The PlayStation 3 is the first to get the service, starting in a couple of weeks, with the Xbox 360 getting the service in early 2011. HDTVs from Sony and Vizio will also get the service in "the fall."

Most importantly, Hulu Plus gives users season passes for most current shows, which is a massive improvement from only being able to watch the trailing five episodes of a given show. You will also be able to watch back seasons of the shows.

There are currently 2000 full TV episodes available for Hulu Plus, including older shows from the 80s and 90s.

On the downside, Hulu Plus will still be ad-supported.

For now, the service is in private beta. You can request an invite here: http://www.hulu.com/plus/invite

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Mozilla updates Firefox to appease Farmville users

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 11:13 AM PDT

Mozilla updates Firefox to appease Farmville usersLast week, Mozilla released Firefox 3.6.4 with "Crash Protection" which isolates third-party plug-ins when they crash, if you are using the Windows or Linux versions of the browser, allowing the main browser to remain stable.

Today, the company has had to rush out another small update, after the company was bombarded by complaints from Farmville players, the popular game available through Facebook.

The complaints mainly came from users with older computers, which were seeing the game crash from within their browser due to Firefox's update.

How "Crash Protection" works, explains Mozilla, is if Flash, QuickTime or Silverlight crash or become unresponsive for over 10 seconds, the browser kills the plug-in.

Users with older computers say the 10-second rule is too short, as they normally have 30 seconds or more of non-responsiveness, when playing any games requiring a plug-in.

Says Mozilla: "Following the release of Firefox 3.6.4 we heard from some users, mainly those using older computers, that they sometimes expect longer periods of non-responsiveness from plug-ins, especially with games. For these users, the default timeout of 10 seconds was too short."

The new update bumps the termination period to 45 seconds.

Bugzilla, Mozilla's bug-tracking database says complaints mainly came from Farmville players.

"Now that (Firefox) 3.6.4 has shipped, we are seeing an increasing number of reports that some users are unable to play Farmville, because Farmville hangs the browser long enough for our timeout to trigger and kill it," adds Mozilla developer Justin Dolske. "Let's hit this with a big hammer and make it 45 (seconds)."

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Barnes & Noble sees large loss thanks to e-book business expansion

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 10:15 AM PDT

Barnes & Noble sees large loss thanks to e-book business expansionBarnes & Noble has reported a large fourth quarter loss this week, citing its expensive push into the e-book and e-reader markets.

Additionally, the company forecasted lower future earnings, as it keeps expanding into aforementioned markets.

For the fourth quarter ended May, the company lost $32 million, compared with a $3 million loss in the same period last year.

Revenue, however, rose to $1.32 billion from $1.1 billion, beating analyst expectations.

The book company recently slashed the price of the Nook Android e-reader from $260 to $200, and introduced a 3G-stripped Wi-Fi only version for $150.

B&N's move prompted Amazon to drop the price of their market leading Kindle to $190.

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MSpot cloud streaming service now available for all

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 09:51 AM PDT

MSpot cloud streaming service now available for allAfter a quick private beta period, MSpot has opened their cloud streaming service to everyone, allowing for 2GB free and unlimited streaming of your own music libraries from the cloud.

The service works to your PC, Mac and Android-based smartphones or netbooks.

If you have over 2GB music you want to have everywhere (and most do), then you can purchase an MSpot storage plan for $3 a month (12 GB), $5 a month (22 GB), $10 a month for 52 GB or $14 per month for a massive 102 GB.

MSpot's media player works in IE, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

If you are running an Android device with firmware 2.1 or higher, you can download an app "that can set aside local phone storage and both stream and download songs to whatever amount of space you allow it to take up on your SD card or built-in storage," says CNet.

For audiophiles, the company has shrunk the tracks to 48kbps AAC+ format, which will undoubtedly anger fans of FLAC or other HD file types but will help reduce bandwidth strain while still keeping great quality.

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Foxconn installs nets to stop factory worker suicides?

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 09:26 AM PDT

Foxconn installs nets to stop factory worker suicides?Last month we reported that Foxconn was raising worker salaries up to 70 percent amidst a flood of worker suicides at their Chinese factory.

The company, probably best known for manufacturing the Apple iPhone among tons of other electronics we use daily, has been massively criticized for its working conditions, and low wages.

Foxconn has considered moving to Vietnam to lower their already low labor costs, and has also considered replacing workers with automated robots at some factories.

Today though, according to Gizmodo, the company has taken a much simpler route, installing safety nets at some of its facilities, effectively as a way to catch workers that may be considering trying to kill themselves.

Foxconn has not released a PR on the nets, so for now they are just speculation.

Besides the raise, Foxconn has also brought in Buddhist monks to sooth the karma of the factory, and created "anger rooms" to allows employees to box out their anger.

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Android 2.2 now official on the Nexus One

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 08:44 AM PDT

Android 2.2 now official on the Nexus OneThe Google Nexus One is the first Android smartphone device to officially get the final Android 2.2 Froyo, the much-anticipated OS update.

Users should begin getting the OTA update starting this week.

Says Google: "In order to access the update, you will receive a message on your phone's notification bar. Just download the update, wait for it to install, and you should be all set. This update will be rolled out gradually to phones - and most users will receive the notification by the end of the week . We hope you enjoy these new features."

There are many new features that most users have been expecting and wanting. The main two are the addition of Flash (built-in) and the addition of Wi-Fi tethering. Additionally, Apps2SD, desktop to handset music streaming and a "one-handed camera UI" are part of the update.

On the performance end, a new Dalvik JIT compiler will give 2.2 users a 200-500 percent performance boost over those using 2.1. The HTML-5 supportive browser will give 300 percent performance boosts for JavaScript.

Read our full report on Android 2.2 here: Introducing Froyo

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