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Trust in yourself, son, the increase in smartphone news that you sense is not imagined, it’s very very real. Mobile World Congress is about to kick off in Barcelona which means we’re just hours away from being knee-deep in the stuff. One of the most anticipated devices is the Samsung Wave, first spotted on billboards around Barcelona yesterday. The anticipation is warranted for 2 reasons. First, this 3.3-inch candybar slate is presumably sporting Samsung’s new Super AMOLED which should help with outdoor viewing. And b, it’s the first phone to run Samsung’s new Bada smartphone OS… yes, another one, developers. According to Daily Mobile, the Wave S8500 brings a1GHz processor, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash, 720p video recording to 2GB of internal memory or microSD expansion, 802.11b/g/n WiFi and HSDPA data, DivX video support, and a 3.5-mm audio jack in a device measuring 10.9-mm thick. Unfotunately, we can’t confirm any of those specs yet (wait until Sunday’s press event) — the pics, however, certainly match up with what we’ve already seen. We’ve dropped in a few choice shots after the break, the rest are at Daily Mobile in the link below.

[Thanks, Daniel]

Continue reading Samsung S8500 Wave caught in a spigot of leaks

Samsung S8500 Wave caught in a spigot of leaks originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Feb 2010 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools

A Mac version of Cerulean Studio’s Trillian has been years in the making and as of this past Friday, the alpha build of the software is finally out in the wild for Mac users to try. A private alpha has been available since 2007.

Since I dropkicked PCs out of my household five years ago, I’ve switched between iChat and the wonderful Adium. Trillian has a lot to live up to when it comes to instant messaging on the Mac. Adium, to start with, is free. Trillian costs Windows users $25USD to get full access to all of its features (the Alpha version for Mac is free). As stated when the original alpha was released, Trillian is rebuilding its software for OSX from the ground up.

I downloaded a copy of the alpha to try, and I am not impressed. While Cerulean Studios did warn that the alpha version of Trillian is lacking features, the entire experience was just unpleasant. No buddy icons from any of my IM accounts came over and the program looks nothing like the picture included with this article (taken from Cerulean Studio’s blog announcement.) Having one-button clicks to access your different accounts is nice — when it actually works. The most glaring of the missing features is no group chat support, which will be a turnoff for many. Other missing features include a lack of voice and video support, chat logs and more. You have to sign up for an Astra account to even start using the IM client.

When I was on Windows, the free version of Trillian was my IM client of choice. The Mac version has a lot to live up to, and maybe it could hold its own against its Windows big brother one day. But for now, I’d recommend sticking with much better, and free, alternatives such as Adium and Pidgin.

[Via Lifehacker]

TUAWNew Trillian alpha available for the Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Online video advertising is still taking its baby steps. Big display ad networks like Ask.com have added video support to their banner ad networks, while startups Tremor Media, VideoEgg and Brightroll launched as straight-up video networks. Company strategies stretch across a wide range. Freewheel is a technology platform, while Brightroll focuses on being an ad sales network.

YuMe, a well-funded company founded in 2004 in San Francisco, combines what co-founder Jayant Kadambi described on a phone call as “a technology platform with a media sales team on top of it,” in the style of the original DoubleClick ad network of the 1990s. YuMe will not only provide the technology to serve video ads to your site, it’ll actually sell the ads for you, and give you a cut of the proceeds. “Instead of going to publishers and saying, ‘pay me $10,000 up front to use my technology,’” Kadambi said, “we can go in there and start writing checks to them.”

Today, YuMe launched a new video ad feature the company calls Triple Play. Think about how at the end of a YouTube video, you’re given the option to do several different things — play the video, play another video, share the video. Triple Play adds that sort of functionality to the end of a pre-roll ad that runs before the main video in an embedded Flash player. See the demo Triple Play ad in YuMe’s ad gallery. It begins with a 12-second ad for the Pulse Smartpen. At the end of the ad, there’s an onscreen menu with three options: Watch a full-length video about the Pulse, go to Pulse’s Facebook page, or go to Pulse’s website.

Oh yeah: There’s also a link at the bottom: “Continue to Content.”

I’m sure many people who find themselves agitated by advertisements — I’m one of them — will seethe in silence when instead of proceeding to the video they wanted to watch, the ad stops and puts up a menu of more calls to action. But it’s also a pet frustration of mine that when I do find an ad interesting, it’s suddenly over and I can’t get it back. Triple Play could help — it could let me play the ad again, or pop open a new tab with the product’s home page, or tweet me a link to look at later. “Basically anything you can code into a Flash file,” Kadambi said. The most obvious call to action might be to get a viewer’s ZIP code or email address for more targeted information.

Will this make YuMe more money? It seems likely. Video ad rates can be as high as $80 for 1,000 served ads, or as low as a few cents for a thousand. Triple Play gets to the point that what advertisers really want from online viewers is for them to “lean in” and interact with the ad, rather than leaning back and watching it go by. Triple Play pretty much forces you to engage.

YuMe, which has 40 employees in Redwood City and another 40 in India, is backed by Khosla Ventures, Accel Partners, BV Capital and DAG Ventures. The company has raised $21 million in three rounds, most recently a $5 investment in September 2009.

Considering the proliferation of 3G, WiFi, in-home broadband, and front-facing cameras on phones, you’d think that there’d be far more obvious ways to bridge video calls between phones and PCs — but alas, it’s virtually impossible, particularly in the States where carriers have a complete aversion to the topic. Enter Fring — one of the mobile industry’s VoIP pioneers that has spread its love from Symbian to almost every smartphone platform worth mentioning over the years — which is stepping out today with a new build for S60 handsets that offers video support through Skype. The way we see it, this is great news for a couple of reasons: one, Skype is one of the few videoconferencing systems with widespread traction, and two, this suddenly makes front-facing cams useful to a whole swath of Nokia users on networks (ahem, AT&T and T-Mobile) that don’t offer video calling themselves. Whether we actually use it is another story altogether, but hey, it’s cool to have it if we absolutely must see your beautiful face face right now in stunning low fidelity. Follow the break for a video demo.

Continue reading Fring adds Skype video support on S60, threatens to make front cams useful

Fring adds Skype video support on S60, threatens to make front cams useful originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos has been on a real PMP tear as of late, releasing the Archos 2 Vision, 3 Vision, and the Clipper all in one pop back in August. The company’s now launched yet another Vision model, the entry-level 1 Vision. This tiny little 4GB dude has a 1.5-inch LCD and supposedly gets about 20 hours of battery life per charge. No video support in this puppy, but the €30 (somewhere in the realm of $45) pricetag should temper some of your crushing disappointment over its lack of features. The Archos 1 Vision should be available in Europe by the end of November.

[Via PMP Today]

Super cheap Archos 1 Vision DMP set for release this month originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Those already upgraded to Windows 7 ahead of Thursday’s launch events (no, we’re not coming to your party) should find a Netflix button parked under the Movies section in Media Center starting today. Clicking it revealed a slightly smoother install process than the initial Netflix upgrade for Vista users last spring, then it’s off to the refreshed interface we first spotted at CEDIA — extender support or HD streaming is still out. Also updated is the out-of-beta internet TV sliding under the TV tab (new from beta 2: Adobe Flash video support and region locking) with a wide assortment of streaming video available, though the picture quality still leaves something to be desired.

[Thanks, Daren & Craig]

Update: Not seeing it yet? Go to the Tasks –>Settings–>General–>Automatic Download Options and manually start an update there, the new tiles should arrive shortly.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Windows 7 Media Center’s upgraded Netflix Watch Instantly interface now available originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had a pretty clear indication that this one was coming, but it looks RAmos has finally gotten official with its once mysterious Android-based MID, now known from here on out as the W7. As rumored, this one is a Rockchip-powered device, and packs a 4.8-inch, 800 x 480 touchscreen, 720p video support (via HDMI output, presumably), built-in WiFi, and no 3G, although that apparently could still be in the cards for the future. It also just so happens to bear more than a passing resemblance to eviGroup’s recently-debuted Wallet Android MID, and another, non-existent MID / tablet you might have heard of. What’s more, RAmos also seems to have taken the opportunity to debut a few other, non-Android-based MIDs and PMPs, including the T11TE (which apparently boasts 1080p output over HDMI), the T9HD, and the T7 — although details on those are few and far between at the moment.

[Via Electric Echoes, thanks Sere83]

Filed under: Handhelds

RAmos’ Android-based W7 MID gets real — real familiar originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7 only: The latest DivX tech preview adds support for MKV video files to Windows 7, so you can use them in Media Center, Media Player, and even show thumbnails in Windows Explorer.

Windows 7 already includes native support for AVI/DivX files, but MKV files are quickly becoming the standard format for media files in HD—and while you can play them using everybody’s favorite, VLC Player, you won’t be able to use them in Media Center or stream to an extender device like the Xbox360, and the thumbnails will just show a generic icon. Installing the DivX Tech Preview enables MKV support, so the video files will work in any application that relies on Microsoft’s native media support, and even adds hardware acceleration for video decoding (if your video card supports it). Readers should note that you can continue to use VLC to actually play the files, but install this to get thumbnails working.

Hit the link for the free download (free registration required), and make sure to check out the CyberNet News post for the full explanation, including some extra links for additional filters to make sure all of your media works.