“When we announced DROID X last month, we reaffirmed our commitment to continue to bring unique Android experiences to the Verizon Wireless network,” said Jeffrey Dietel, vice president – wireless device, marketing and development for Verizon Wireless.  ”The DROID by Motorola was our first Android device, so it is important for us to include the successor to that phone in our portfolio.  DROID 2 is not only a continuation of our commitment to Android but offers customers the features and form-factor they crave on the Verizon Wireless network.”

“With the new DROID 2, we’ve taken a big leap forward from the original DROID,” said Bill Ogle, chief marketing officer of Motorola Mobile Devices and Home Business.  ”We listened to consumers and are providing an even more robust experience built on Android 2.2 that includes a new keyboard, increased processing power, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities to send, access and share information even quicker than before.”

DROID 2′s super-slim design helps customers e-mail, text and tweet with ease.  DROID 2 offers a redesigned symmetrical keyboard with raised keys for more responsive typing to push out notes and status updates.  Speech-to-text input and the virtual multi-touch keyboard allow for quick messaging; or customers can also use Swype for even easier text input.  In addition, full push corporate e-mail delivers enhanced features such as remote wipe and password enforcement so that information remains secure.

DROID 2 packs power and speed.  Customers can enjoy the freedom of wireless with the 3G Mobile HotSpot and the ability to connect up to five compatible Wi-Fi® devices, and watch content on the full multi-touch 3.7-inch brilliant display, or share content captured on the 5-megapixel camera with enhanced functionality and DVD-quality video capture with DLNA connectivity to share on compatible devices.

Customers can also download favorite apps from Android Market™, which has more than 70,000 applications, and store them on 8 GB of preloaded on-board memory and the 8 GB microSD™ card, which can be upgraded to a 32 GB SD card for a total cargo capacity of 40 GB.  Popular apps available on DROID 2 include NFL Mobile (downloadable), Skype mobile™ and BLOCKBUSTER On Demand® presented by V CAST Video.  Customers can even manage their wireless accounts or their contacts from their phones with My Verizon and with Backup Assistant(SM).

“It’s great to see amazing new smartphones like the DROID 2 come pre-installed with Flash Player 10.1,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager, Creative and Interactive Solution Business Unit at Adobe.  ”With the completely redesigned and hardware accelerated Flash Player 10.1, DROID 2 users will be able to experience the full Web on the go.”

Adobe Flash Player 10.1 lets mobile users experience millions of websites the way they were meant to be seen – with rich Internet applications (RIAs), content inside the browser, including games, animations, data presentations and visualizations, e-commerce, music, video, audio and more.

R2-D2 DROID 2

In honor of the iconic Astromech Droid from the Star Wars™ Saga, Verizon Wireless will offer a limited-edition R2-D2 version of the DROID 2, available only online in September.  The special version of the phone will feature exclusive Star Wars content and external hardware designed to look like the trusty Droid from the film saga.  Visitors to the upcoming Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, Fla., can see a preview of the limited edition phone and sign up to receive alerts when the phone is ready for sale.

Pricing and Availability

DROID 2 by Motorola will be available at www.verizonwireless.com on August 11, and it will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores beginning August 12 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.  Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.  In addition to subscribing to a Nationwide Talk plan or a Nationwide Talk & Text plan, customers will also need to subscribe to an Email and Web for Smartphone plan.  Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access.  Email and Web for Smartphone plans start at $29.99 for unlimited monthly access.

Customers can add the optional 3G Mobile HotSpot service to their DROID 2 smartphones for $20 per month.  The 3G Mobile HotSpot allows customers to turn their phones into a wireless modem for up to five compatible Wi-Fi® devices.  In addition, current Verizon Wireless customers who have contracts ending by December 31, 2010, can upgrade to any smartphone, including DROID 2, without penalty.

For more information on DROID 2 by Motorola, go to www.droiddoes.com.  For information about Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

Microsoft Corp. today announced an all-in-one opportunity to jump into the controller-free fun of Kinect this holiday: the all-new Xbox 360 4GB console, the revolutionary Kinect sensor and “Kinect Adventures” packaged together for $299.99 (U.S. ERP). With “Kinect Adventures,” players will make their way through 20 adventures, navigating roaring rapids and ducking and dodging through mountaintop obstacle courses and other exotic locations – no controller, wand or balance board required. In addition, existing Xbox 360 console owners can purchase the Kinect sensor with “Kinect Adventures” for $149.99 (U.S. ERP). The sensor, which will work with each of the 40 million Xbox 360 consoles currently in households worldwide,1 is uniquely able to track your full body movements, respond to your voice and deliver a multiplayer experience right out of the box.

In addition, the new Xbox 360 4GB console, which begins shipping on Aug. 3 in the U.S., will be available for $199.99 (U.S. ERP). With a sleek new design, the Xbox 360 4GB console looks great and includes built-in Wi-Fi N, 4GB of internal flash memory, touch-sensitive buttons and a black matte finish.2

“Kinect for Xbox 360 offers tremendous entertainment value for the whole family,” said Dennis Durkin, Xbox 360 chief operating officer. “With full body, voice and the ability to play games with your friends right out of the box, Kinect is the most unique, complete and affordable way for everyone to enjoy controller-free fun and entertainment.”

With more than 15 games available at launch, living rooms will become fitness rooms, dance clubs and sports stadiums. Kinect games, including “Kinectimals,” “Kinect Sports,” “Kinect Joy Ride” and MTV Games’ and Harmonix’s “Dance Central” will retail for $49.99 (U.S. ERP). In addition to games, Kinect changes the way you experience entertainment by putting your favorite movies, TV programs, music and live sports from ESPN all in one place. Begin a movie by simply saying, “Xbox, play,” or browse through a music list with the wave of a hand. Kinect also creates new ways for friends and family to have fun together. With Video Kinect,3 share a smile with friends and family, as you open a window into living rooms around the world.

“I think Kinect is a major leap forward in the gaming experience that will appeal to both mainstream and casual gamers,” said Michael Gartenberg, partner, Altimeter Group, and author of the Engadget Entelligence column.
Starting today, select retailers are taking pre-orders for the Xbox 360 Kinect Console Bundle at $299.99 (U.S. ERP) and Kinect for Xbox 360 at $149.99 (U.S. ERP). Pre-order Kinect or the Xbox 360 Kinect Console Bundle today, and at launch receive a token to download three exclusive game levels for “Kinect Adventures,” the game included with Kinect.4 Those wanting more information or to pre-order now should go to http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/wheretobuy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Capture, share and enjoy your world with DROID X, a pocket-sized home theater with a massive 4.3 inch high-resolution display that lets you capture HD movies for playback on your HDTV. It also features a powerful processor and scary fast speeds, all on Verizon Wireless’ 3G network, the nation’s largest and most reliable wireless voice and data network. DROID X utilizes high-performance diversity antennas along with innovative software to improve signal strength and reduce dropped calls. DROID X users will receive Android™ 2.2 and Adobe^® Flash^® Player 10.1 via an over-the-air update in late summer.

Capture Sights and Sounds
Capture your memories in high definition with 720p HD video capture.  Customize your videos with a slow-motion effect and make them flawless with an advanced three microphone solution for directional audio capture and noise cancelation.  In between takes, make sure no still shot is missed with a fully loaded 8 megapixel camera capable of 1/1000 second shutter speed and features such as auto-focus, touch to focus, panoramic capture and a powerful dual LED flash to produce high-quality photos.

Share with Ease
Share personal videos with friends using either an optional HDMI cable or Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certified technology, enabling you to stream, store and share content with multiple DLNA compatible devices such as a HDTVs, game consoles or PCs. Share the wealth of your own 3G Mobile HotSpot with up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices, all while accessing your content at superfast speed, powered by a 1 GHz processor.

Enjoy Life’s Brilliant Moments
DROID X brings your content to life with a vibrant 4.3-inch display with a crisp WVGA 854 x 480 resolution. Download full-length movies and enjoy them in cinematic widescreen format¹.  DROID X will feature Adobe Flash Player following a software update late summer, which will deliver streaming video from tens of millions of websites or game play with a full PC Web experience.  Whether texting, checking push corporate e-mails or updating your status, the large display reveals a spacious virtual keyboard to do it all.  Type and text with ease at more than 50 words per minute with Swype^® using one continuous finger motion across the screen keyboard.  Get up close and personal with your favorite sites using pinch-to-zoom.

Enjoy additional preloaded apps and games such as EA Need for Speed Shift™, NFL Mobile, Skype mobile™ and a full suite of Google™ Mobile Services, including Android Market™, Google Maps™ with Street View, Google Latitude, a YouTube™ widget, Calendar, Google Search™ by Voice, and, of course, Gmail™ and Google Search™. You can also easily download BLOCKBUSTER On Demand^® presented by V CAST Video via a link icon on your home screen or use V CAST to watch your favorite shows.

More Social, More Connected, More Memory
Preloaded social networking widgets allow you to sync and stream your feeds and updates from Facebook^®, Twitter and MySpace all to one screen in real time.  With 8 GB of onboard memory and a pre-installed 16 GB memory card, DROID X can be expanded to up to 40 GB with the addition of a 32 GB memory card to house favorite videos, images, games and apps.

DROID X will be available July 15 exclusively from Verizon Wireless for $199.99 after $100 mail-in rebate with new two-year contract. DROID X users will receive Android 2.2 and Adobe Flash Player via an over-the-air upgrade late summer.

“The sleek, aluminum Mac mini packs great features, versatility and value into an elegant, amazingly compact design,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With twice the graphics performance, HDMI support and industry-leading energy efficiency, customers are going to love the new Mac mini.”

Created with the unibody construction process pioneered by Apple, the new Mac mini features a compact aluminum enclosure just 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches thin. A new integrated power supply eliminates the need for an external power adapter, reducing overall system volume by 20 percent and keeping cable clutter to a minimum. A removable panel underneath provides quick access for memory expansion. Mac mini is incredibly versatile, effortlessly connecting to existing peripherals such as mice, keyboards and digital displays, while the new HDMI output connects Mac mini to an HDTV and the new SD card slot enables easy transfer of photos and videos from a digital camera.

Inside its sleek, compact enclosure, the new Mac mini includes the fastest integrated graphics processor on the market today. With 48 processing cores, the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor delivers up to twice the graphics performance of its predecessor, making Mac mini ideal for graphics intensive applications or visually rich games. Mac mini comes standard with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 320GB hard and 2GB of RAM for $699.

With twice the graphics performance, the new Mac mini is still the world’s most energy efficient desktop.* The new Mac mini reduces power consumption by an incredible 25 percent to less than 10W at idle, less than half the power required by competing systems. Mac mini meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.** The new aluminum enclosure is highly recyclable and Mac mini uses PVC-free components and cables, contains no brominated flame retardants and features material-efficient system and packaging designs.

Mac mini comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, to easily organize and manage photos; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.

Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server fulfills all the server needs of a workgroup or small business including email, calendar, file serving, Time Machine® backup, Wiki Server, Podcast Producer and more. Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server uses less than 11W of power at idle, a fraction of the power consumed in comparison to typical entry-level tower servers.*** Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server is faster than before with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two 500GB hard drives now running at 7200 rpm, 4GB of RAM and supports unlimited clients for $999.

Pricing & Availability
The new Mac mini is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of $699 (US), includes:

• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB of shared L2 cache;
• 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable up to 8GB;
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
• NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics;
• AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• Gigabit Ethernet;
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• SD card slot;
• one FireWire® 800 port;
• one HDMI port and one Mini DisplayPort;
• HDMI to DVI video adapter;
• combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
• combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).

Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB hard drive running at 5400 rpm, Apple Remote, Aperture™ 3, Final Cut® Express 4, Logic® Express, iWork® (pre-installed), Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display and the AppleCare® Protection Plan.

The Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, for a suggested retail price of $999 (US), includes:

• 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB of shared L2 cache;
• 4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable up to 8GB;
• two 500GB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm;
• NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics;
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• Gigabit Ethernet;
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• SD card slot;
• one FireWire 800 port;
• one HDMI port and one Mini DisplayPort;
• HDMI to DVI video adapter;
• combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
• combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).

Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, External SuperDrive, Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

• Android 2.1 (barring a last minute Froyo intervention)
• 3.7? screen
• 750MHz OMAP processor
• Wi-Fi tethering
• 8GB internal
• 8GB SD card preinstalled
• Updated keyboard
• 5MP camera
• New version of MOTOBLUR

Some even claim this device to have a front facing camera for video chat. But sources have claimed this rumor to be false.

Let us know what you think ? Comment Below!

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FULL List of the Specs Below:

Size and weight

Height:
4.5 inches (115.2 mm)
Width:
2.31 inches (58.6 mm)
Depth:
0.37 inch (9.3 mm)
Weight:
4.8 ounces (137 grams)

Cellular and wireless

* UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
* GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
* 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
* Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless technology

Location

* Assisted GPS
* Digital compass
* Wi-Fi
* Cellular

Power and battery

* Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
* Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter
*

Talk time:
Up to 7 hours on 3G
Up to 14 hours on 2G

* Standby time: Up to 300 hours
*

Internet use:
Up to 6 hours on 3G
Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi

* Video playback: Up to 10 hours
* Audio playback: Up to 40 hours

Capacity

* 16GB or 32GB flash drive

Color

* White or black

Display

* Retina display
* 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
* 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi
* 800:1 contrast ratio (typical)
* Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front and back
* Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Camera, photos, and video

* Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio
* 5-megapixel still camera
* VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second with the front camera
* Tap to focus video or still images
* LED flash
* Photo and video geotagging

External buttons and controls

* Sleep/wake
* Ring/silent
* Volume up/down
* Home

Sensors

* Three-axis gyro
* Accelerometer
* Proximity sensor
* Ambient light sensor

Connectors and input/output

* 30-pin dock connector
* 3.5-mm stereo headphone minijack
* Built-in speaker
* Microphone
* Micro-SIM card tray

Quick intro in case you haven’t heard: On April 19th, Gizmodo put up a post fully dissecting Apple’s next iPhone (except for the software – they couldn’t turn the damn thing on (it was remotely killed by Apple)). Here’s the catch: Apple has never announced any next-gen iPhone yet. It was discovered (on March 18th – one whole month before Gizmodo broke the news) in a Redwood City, California bar disguised as a current iPhone 3GS. It seems that some Apple employee (lets just call him Gray Powell) left it behind, probably doing some field testing,  and was found by a bar patron (who, according to CNet, has been identified by police (UPDATE: His name is Brian J. Hogan). The phone eventually found its way into the sweaty palms of Gizmodo, which ran them a tasty $5000, though at this time it is not clear who exactly sold them the phone (UPDATE: Yes it is – It was the same guy who found it; see link re: Brian J. Hogan).

Last week, news broke that a criminal investigation was under way, and hours later police served a search warrant on the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen and seized his computers and other electronic equipment. Some are accusing Apple of launching this entire police operation.

(Want a visual aid for this whole fiasco? Check out an ingenious flow chart created by Fast Company below, after the break!)

Has Apple gotten off their game? Or is this the most brilliant marketing scheme ever devised? Here’s why I think the Apple Marketing team has seriously topped themselves.

(Continued after the break –>)

1. Apple has always been known to be one of the most top secret companies (if not the most top secret) when it comes to unreleased products (I once read that they test different parts of a product in different departments so that even their own employees do not know what the finished product of their labor is going to be).
   • They of course field test their products all the time, but how an Apple employee could forget a next-gen iPhone (even a prototype) is beyond me. I’ll bet you that’s going to be the last beer paid on Apple’s tab!
2. Some new juicy info uncovered by Wired.com states that Apple tried approaching the guy who the iPhone in the bar (who we might as well be calling Indiana Jones, because from the way tech world has reacted, it seems like this dude found the frickin’ Holy Grail) before the police did. Turns out just the guy’s roommate was there, who would not let them.
   • Apple of course took this course of action to re-obtain what was rightfully theirs, but perhaps there was something more to it?
3. Since Apple likes doing things behind closed doors, why launch a very loud and public police investigation?
   • This could only keep them in the public eye longer, and thus continue to be on people’s minds. The iPad was released a few weeks before this news broke, and over those few weeks until around the 19th Apple was in the headlines with iPad reviews and impressions. The Wifi+3G iPad is going on sale this weekend, but this debacle will definitely keep developing until Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) which begins on June 7th. At that point Apple will likely releasesomething, perhaps even the very device that has been exposed here – expect stock prices to explode.
4. Apple’s key to marketing has been getting consumers ripe with anticipation for a product’s release. Once the thing is unleashed, the world pounces on it like leopards! (Yes, yes; that was a slight nod to Apple’s OS)
   • Some of the hardware Gizmodo uncovered answer many of worlds cries for what they have wanted to see on the iPhone for a while: front-facing camera (I’m excited for that), “much higher resolution screen than the iPhone 3GS” (though not “HD” – perhaps something better? Something alien-like?), larger back-camera (my own speculation would be a 5 megapixel cam (Update: Looks like my speculation may hold some ground: Check out this rumor via Engadget), and  camera flash.
   • Putting an iPhone out in the wild with these hardware specs is Apple telling their fanboys (and the world) that they are listening and taking their pleas into consideration. Even if this isn’t the final design we may see at WWDC, Apple just earned like a bazillion kudos points with it’s consumers.

So, now that I have imparted by knowledge onto you – what do you think? Marketing scheme or a complete screw by what may now be a once great company (ok, maybe that stretching it a bit)?

Actually, it is more likely to turn computers OFF.

If you’re a Windows XP user and you are presented with an option today to download an update to McAfee (anti-virus software), do yourself a favor – DON’T. A seemingly routine McAfee update has caused computers running Windows XP to shut down. WORLDWIDE. Since many corporate entities operate on Windows XP, this is going to cause quite the problem. Engadget.com has reported that they know that an Intel facility as well as Dish Network call centers have been affected, but that’s only an initial report.

For the nerds among us, Engadget described the issue as being: “DAT update 5958 deletes the svchost.exe file, which then triggers a false-positive in McAfee itself and sets off a chain of uncontrolled restarts and loss of networking functionality”. Basically – the computer thinks that it is infected when it is not. Sort of like a really bad reaction to a vaccine.

Since the incident has occurred McAfee has (obviously) pulled the faulty update from their site and has released a fix for said update. A fix which only works for those who have not been affected by the bug. Yikes! Even with a fix, a McAfee tech needs to personally attend to each machine affected. Looks like we’re going to be hearing about this one for a while. The day the terminators turned on themselves.

As you would imagine, Twitter is all aflutter, as it always is when something BAD happens. Some cursing McAfee to all kinds of high heaven, others thanking G-d that they have a Mac (like me!).

So, anyone here think this might be a deliberate attack? Or some McAfee tester really screwed up (like messed with the world economy kind of screwed up)? Are we all soon doomed to a computer-less existence (at least an XP-less existence)?

(Originally posted on I On T3chnology – Jake’s official tech blog)