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Garmin leaks plan for Android phone

Brad Sams — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:40:19 +0000

As part of a webcast reporting its third quarter earnings, Garmin released a presentation containing a reference to a new Android OS handset for 2010. While the webcast did not call attention to the new product, mobile news site GSMArena caught the purported slip-up and brought it forward. Garmin's Nuvifone lineup already includes Windows Mobile and Linux-based units with the M20 and G60 recently released in a Garmin-Asus partnership in parts of the U.S., Asia, and Europe. Sales numbers for these products have not been made available, but the gadgets have so far failed to gain major attention.

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New Zune HD games released

Tom Warren — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:03:56 +0000

Last week Microsoft rolled out a v4.3 firmware update for the Zune HD which amongst other improvements added support for 3D games. Today Microsoft has released 6 new games for the Zune HD according to HelloFromEurope. Amongst the games is the highly anticipated PGR: ferrari edition and 3D bowling and 3D skate games.

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Microsoft's Bing Maps updated

Tom Warren — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:23:39 +0000

Microsoft have updated and optimised Bing Maps with a set of new features and an improved look and feel. Chris Pendleton, Bing Maps Technical Evangelist, confirmed the changes in a company blog post yesterday. "If you visited Bing Maps today you may have noticed a new look and feel. Well, that's because it has a new look and feel" noted Pendleton. The full list of changes are listed below:Draggable Routes - Generate a router and drag the route to change directionsZoom Bar - Jump to specific zoom levels within predefined settingsCommand Parsing - Intelligent searching, for example want traffic info?

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Microsoft set to release Vista Ultimate Extra games - free

Tom Warren — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:52:40 +0000

Remember Vista Ultimate Extras? Well they are back according to Paul Thurrott, but this time they will be released for free in the form of two games, Microsoft Tinker and Hold 'Em. Microsoft's failed Vista Ultimate Extras were a big promise from the company of "cutting-edge programs, innovative services and unique publications." At least they were in Vista RTM, by the time Vista SP1 was rolled out nearly all references to Vista Ultimate Extras were removed (shown below). Blogger Long Zheng called them the "ultimate con" at the time and in hindsight he was right. Microsoft made several promises of more extras which resulted in the company launching UltimatePC.com which now redirects to the Vista home-page.

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Microsoft rolls out Bing Video

Tom Warren — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:24:27 +0000

Microsoft announced today that it is consolidating MSN Video into Bing Video. Bing Video will offer MSN's array of videos, and videos from sites such as Hulu, ABC, Youtube and more than 300 content providers. The old video.msn.com portal will now forward directly to Bing Video. In a company blog posting, a Microsoft spokesperson detailed Bing video: "Today, we are announcing a new version of Bing Videos that brings together the rich editorial content and programming of MSN Video with the web-wide breadth and great search capabilities of Bing, to deliver a new online video destination that offers a comprehensive and faster video experience.

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Google introduces new 'Go' programming language

Sam Symons — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:22:48 +0000

Search, mail, mobile operating systems, advertising and mapping. These are all areas in which Google plays a big part. The company is ever expanding, however, and today they've demonstrated that: Google has just introduced an entirely new programming language, taking influences from C++ and Python, called, quite simply, Go. The language, which has a website here, "combines the development speed of working in a dynamic language like Python with the performance and safety of a compiled language like C or C++," according to the blog post made by Google. To give you a sample of the code, courtesy of TechCrunch, here is a simple 'Hello, World!' program. 05 package main 07 import fmt "fmt" // Package implementing formatted I/O.

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Ofcom blocks BBC's Freeview HD DRM plans

Matthew Hopson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:46:44 +0000

The BBC's plans for using digital rights management to prevent unauthorised usage of material broadcast on the coming Freeview HD service have been blocked by industry regulator Ofcom. The BBC had planned to let people freely record standard-definition content, with added restrictions for high-definition broadcasts. The introduction of DRM to the Freeview HD service, which is expected to launch this December, was designed as an anti-piracy measure, with the British broadcaster worried about unauthorised redistribution of high-definition content. Despite BBC claims of it being "invisible" to the end user, it still raised questions, according to TechRadar.

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Google apps getting the wave treatment

Owen Williams — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:47:17 +0000

Earlier this week, Engadget received a set of images from an anonymous insider at Google showing a quick insight into the potential future of Google's web applications - with a hint of wave. It looks very much like a work in progress, but a change such as this is needed. The pictures show a unified UI across all Google applications - including Google search, GMail and Google Contacts - which is a very similar UI to Google Wave - which is more than welcome. Engadget was told that "the goal is to provide a consistent experience throughout all Google Apps and blur the line between the browser and the website (e.g.

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VESA accepts Apple's Mini DisplayPort standard

Sam Symons — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:49:16 +0000

The Video Electronics Standards Association (commonly known as VESA) is essentially the deciding factor on new hardware specifications and standards. Earlier today, they announced that they have approved Apple's new Mini DisplayPort standard, helped by the fact that it's a small connector and works well with small devices. The announcement, found on VESA's website, states that, "Mini DisplayPort meets the need for a smaller form factor connector for devices such as thin portable computers and add-in cards with multiple display interfaces." Apple initially offered the standard in the form of a no-fee license, in which anybody could adopt, but decided to submit it to VESA for inclusion in the next DisplayPort standard update.

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Firefox reaches Five, tops vulnerabilities list

Brad Sams — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:17:13 +0000

This week marks five years since the public release of Mozilla Firefox 1.0. First available in beta form as "Phoenix" the browser was an open-source evolution of the rendering framework designed for Netscape Communicator and extended with the Mozilla Suite; an all-in-one web communications package that failed to gain the mindshare developers had hoped for. The idea behind Firefox was to create a browsing experience that was faster, more user friendly, and more standards compliant in comparison to Internet Explorer, which had seen few improvements in quality or feature changes since it had become a de facto monopoly within the segment.

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