Sonos owners, like most nerds, have been patiently waiting for three things: jetpacks and flying cars to go mainstream and the Spotify music service to play on their beloved whole home wireless audio system. Of these, only one is being announced today. At this very moment, in this very time, upstart media darlings Spotify and Sonos have announced plans to wed… in Europe. Sorry Yanks. When the free 3.3 Sonos software update finally arrives at the end of September, new and existing Spotify Premium (£9.99 per month) customers living in Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK will be able to stream millions of Spotify music tracks throughout their Sonos home network. The deal not only brings Spotify its first global hardware partner, it also brings European Sonos owners up to par with US netizens who’ve long enjoyed streaming subscription services from the likes of Rhapsody and Napster — the latter limited to just the UK and Germany in Europe. Click through the break for a demo and the full press release.
Continue reading Sonos and Spotify join hands to stream sweet sweet music, at last
Sonos and Spotify join hands to stream sweet sweet music, at last originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Man, leakers don’t sleep! That hush-hush Kinect beta program is indeed in full effect, and while hardware is en route to giddy testers, the accompanying Xbox 360 Dashboard update has already been distributed — and promptly leaked. Joystiq has a gallery of screenshots from the new interface, including a revamped Avatar editor and some navigational alterations to account for using your body as the controller. We like this just for the humor value, including the note above instructing you to take a break if you get “sore” and the full-page list of prohibitions against talking about or showing the beta program’s interface. Ah well.
Kinect beta Dashboard update gets leaked as soon as it arrives, hardware kits are ‘being packed’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Leave it to Apple to make the process of building software to work with new third party iPhone hardware sound like some Kafkaesque nightmare. Here’s the basic gist of it: Apple, just like always, has to approve any third party hardware that plugs into one of its iOS devices over the 30-pin dock connector. What’s new is that before only the first party manufacturer could build software that works with that hardware, but now Apple is allowing that manufacturer to act as a gatekeeper for third party apps that would interoperate with its hardware. That means exciting times for app developers that are raring to mix with the likes of Line 6′s MIDI Mobilizer (pictured) and AKAI’s SynthStation 25, but it’s also a far cry from the land of computers where anybody can build a plug-and-play USB MIDI device, and anybody can build software that speaks to it. It also means juggling proprietary SDKs, NDAs, and other agreements, which could become very difficult for developers if or when the hardware availability balloons. Hopefully we can get something more elegant before it comes to that. Hit up the source link for an in-depth discussion of this issue.
The iPhone gets third party apps for third party hardware, but the proprietary SDKs make the future sad originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Well, that didn’t take long. Just a few months after Fujisoft’s PALRO was formally introduced to the Japanese education segment, said humanoid is now set to receive a host of new applications as well as become useful as a people tracker. It’s bruited that PALRO will soon gain a Twitter client (to read tweets aloud as best it can), a cooking app, a Japanese word game and remote monitoring abilities (among others), but it’s unclear how these obviously commercial apps will help / not help the robot inch closer to a citizen’s release. In related news, PALRO has been spotted with a few newfound abilities, namely the instinct to track people and objects via its built-in camera. We’ll spare you the rhetoric on why teaching these things to watch our every move is a tragic, tragic mistake, but feel free to peek the video after the break if you’re brushing the inevitable downfall of mankind off as a silly rumor.
Continue reading PALRO buddies with its first apps, busts new moves on video
PALRO buddies with its first apps, busts new moves on video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Just a quick note, true believers: If you’ve been all over the
Windows Live Essentials 2011 Beta that’s been making the rounds (and who hasn’t?) you might want to keep an eye on those updates. And if you’re not? Hit that source link, ‘cos Microsoft has done gone and refreshed aforementioned beta, as of 11 am (Pacific time). If you’re brave enough to take the leap, you can look forward to: Facebook Chat Integration in Messenger, Bing Maps Geotag integration in Photo Gallery, and Flickr video publishing in Movie Maker, according to the kids at
ZDNet. So what are you waiting for? Go, get!
Windows Live Essentials 2011 gets another Beta release, Facebook and Flickr video integration originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s not the biggest of releases, but progress is progress at this point. Since launching in late April, Microsoft has been rather mum on the future of its latest Windows Home Server build. This week, however, the second major beta release has been let loose into the wilds, with Vail’s most recent build now available to download there in the source link. The Big M doesn’t go into great detail on what all has been added and / or changed, only saying that this new version has “plenty of enhancements and improvements over the original.” The so-called “Preview” also adds support for Mac OS X backups, though users should know that storage check and repair (among other things, most likely) aren’t exactly working seamlessly. But hey, that’s what you get for living on the beta, right?
Windows Home Server ‘Vail’ sees new beta release, adds OS X support originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Barnes & Noble told us this update was in the pipeline when it introduced Nook for Android, and sure enough, said update is hitting the intertubes this fine morning. The iPhone and iPod touch version of the Nook app is said to be completely overhauled, while the iPad edition is the company’s first to offer an in-app “rating” feature. In case you couldn’t guess, the former also adds support for the iPhone 4′s Retina Display, while also tossing in a slew of new customization options (themes, day / night content options, line spacing, font styles, preferred justification, previews, etc.). Finally, today also marks the reintroduction of the Nook for PC client, though it seems that most of the fanciful new features are reserved for the more portable versions. Hop on past the break for the full skinny, and tap that source link to get to downloadin’.
Continue reading Nook for iPhone, iPad and PC see updates, slew of new features in tow
Nook for iPhone, iPad and PC see updates, slew of new features in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google just confirmed it at an Android / Flash event in San Francisco, and sure enough, our trusty Nexus One just found, downloaded and installed the final (read: non-beta) version of Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1. It weighs in at just under 5MB, and it’s looking as sweet as ever so far. Nexus One owners can hit up the Android Market to get their download on, and we’d highly encourage you to bookmark a few dozen Flash sites just to rub in the faces of your dearest iDevice-owning friends. Just sayin’.
Flash Player 10.1 goes final for Nexus One handsets, available to download now originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Can’t say we’ve heard of the Pleco Chinese Dictionary app prior to today even though it’s been around for two full version releases. Of course, we’ve seen plenty of
Google Goggle-like smartphone apps that can snap pictures and then convert the image to text using optical character recognition (OCR) — something that can be incredibly useful when important stacks of business cards. Pleco 2.2, however, is one of the first apps we’ve seen that can translate text in real time using the
live image presented on your phone’s camera display. The new feature, targeted for release in September, requires iOS 4 and should work with either the iPhone 4 or older 3GS. Sure, you might not need this app every day, but it might just be the difference between ordering chop suey or a thousand-year old egg garnished with a side of stinky tofu. See it in action after the break.
Continue reading Pleco 2.2 Chinese Dictionary uses iPhone camera to translate text in real time (video)
Pleco 2.2 Chinese Dictionary uses iPhone camera to translate text in real time (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You don’t need us to tell you that apps have grown to become a core part of modern smartphone ecosystems. Android and iOS, the two major app-centric OS environments are growing in leaps and bounds, while a substantial part of Windows Phone 7‘s eventual success is expected to hinge on exactly how it matches (or betters) those guys on the app front. So, what better excuse than that to check out this concept golf scoring app from Redmond? Designed using Microsoft’s favored Metro aesthetic, it really streamlines the user experience by employing “multiple touch targets [that] are spread out from one another” and distilling content down to large, easily readable data. We’ve got to say, it’s hitting the right note with us, but do follow along after the break to learn about a few of the WP7 design quirks — such as the drop-down system tray and the reason why rounded app icon corners are undesirable.
Continue reading Microsoft previews Windows Phone 7 app design process with a golfing scorekeeper (video)
Microsoft previews Windows Phone 7 app design process with a golfing scorekeeper (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 04:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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