It's one thing to expect in-flight WiFi on a commercial flight serving two or three hundred addicted peons, but how on Earth has it taken until now for NetJets to hop onboard this bandwagon? For those unaware, NetJets hosts the world's largest fractional fleet of business-oriented aircraft, and those that lay claim to portions of its herd are amongst the most wealthy this world has to offer. Currently, the outfit has just over 800 planes, and starting next month over 250 of them (in the midsize and large-cabin categories) will be equipped with Aircell's high speed internet service. In time, NetJets is planning to have "all future fleet aircraft, including light cabin models, delivered from the factory with high speed internet," and we're guessing that the jetsetters who drop the Benjamins to have their own plane are as anxious as ever for the future to be now. After all, who wouldn't want to tweet images of filet mignon from 35,000 feet?

Continue reading NetJets begins Aircell in-flight WiFi installations, won't stop anytime soon

NetJets begins Aircell in-flight WiFi installations, won't stop anytime soon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A conciliatory end? Looks like we spoke too soon. Yes, Google and China seem to be on a collision course yet again, with the company's "Mainland China service availability page" showing that web search and ads have once again been fully blocked. Additionally, image and news search have been downgraded from "fully accessible" yesterday to "partially blocked" today. YouTube, Picasa, and other services already blocked remain as such. Looks like the saga continues.

Update: TechCrunch reports hearing back from Google, who now say this is all much ado about nothing -- or rather, it's a false alarm. Apparently there was "relatively small blockage" last night, but it has since returned to normal.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Google search blocked in China, again; other services partially blocked (update: false alarm, says Google) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems like a no-brainer, but at this point Microsoft has yet to confirm a separate 250GB HDD for its new Xbox 360 consoles -- and really, if you're picking up the 4GB model next month, that might come in handy. Newer press shots show a different side of the packaging, however, and if you get a high-res snapshot, you can see that it's touting the various accessories you can buy to enhance your new Xbox 360 4GB experience: wireless controllers, Kinect, and... a 250GB HDD. Now, it could very well be misleading advertising -- such a disc drive already exists, but you have to buy the current slimmed-down model or Halo Reach special edition bundle to get it. Somehow, though, we get the feeling this HDD is destined to be wrapped in separate packaging all by its lonesome -- Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg even insinuated as much not two weeks ago. Only question is, when and for how much?

New Xbox 360 4GB's packaging shows off 250GB HDD upgrade option originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We're not certain that this date is going to hold -- things like this have an uncanny tendency to slip at the last possible moment -- but we're at least hopeful to see some internal Sprint communication that they're trying to get the EVO 4G updated to Froyo as soon as tomorrow, July 30. It'd be the perfect way to kick off the weekend, wouldn't it? Turns out this is no mere 2.2 upgrade, though -- they're making a bunch of changes, too, including a host of new preloaded widgets, a flashlight mode for the camera's LED flash, light-assisted 720p video, and "improvement" to the quality of said video capture (something we specifically complained about in our review). Unfortunately, it looks like the hotspot hack might be sealed off with this update, but that really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. As we said, we're hopefully the date sticks, because Sprint has identified it as a "high priority for competitive reasons" -- in other words, these guys must be feeling the Droid heat -- but the PR is apparently going to identify the week of August 1 as the first push, so the devices getting the OTA tomorrow might just be a very small, select group to ensure that nothing spectacularly bad happens. We're pulling for you, EVO owners.

Gallery: EVO 4G getting Android 2.2, loads of new features and fixes tomorrow?

Update: It's been made official! Notifications will go out starting August 3, but Sprint's doing something extremely cool by allowing eager users to opt-in early and grab the download at their choosing. Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading EVO 4G's Android 2.2 update starts trickling out tomorrow, loads of new features and fixes in store? (update: official for August 3rd!)

EVO 4G's Android 2.2 update starts trickling out tomorrow, loads of new features and fixes in store? (update: official for August 3rd!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's hard out there for a prez, you know? Hardly anyone knows better than one Barack Obama, who sat down this morning on ABC's The View in order to talk smack with a few ladies who undoubtedly helped put him in office. If you'll recall, Obama fought hard early on for the privilege of maintaining his prized BlackBerry, and while he eventually won out, we learned today that a grand total of ten individuals are authorized to ping it. Yeah, ten. Needless to say, he described that depressing fact as "no fun," and even the folks that are cleared to make contact with it won't send over anything juicy. Why? They know that messages sent to it "will probably be subject to the presidential records act," so those lucky enough to have the digits are also smart enough to divert their ramblings to Texts From Last Night. But hey, at least hanging in there despite the limitations grants you early access to BlackBerry OS 6, right? Right?

Obama says presidential BlackBerry ownership is 'no fun,' should've gone with the Sectera Edge originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPhone 4 may be launching on all the major Canadian carriers tomorrow, but we're only just now starting to get the actual details on what they'll be offering. Rogers is the first out of the gate and, for a change, it looks like folks in the US may just be a tad jealous of their northern neighbors. It's not only offering the iPhone 4 for a further discounted price -- $159 for the 16GB and $269 for the 32GB on a three-year contract (for both new and existing customers eligible for a hardware upgrade) -- but it's bringing back its 6GB data plan for $30 a month as well. On top of that, Rogers is also offering a new iPad sharing plan that will let you share those 6GB between the two devices for an extra $20 a month. Still no official word from the other carriers, but MobileSyrup has turned up a leak that suggests Bell will be offering 6GB for $30 as well, and iPad sharing for just $10 a month -- although that's yet to be confirmed. We'll keep you posted as more plans are announced.

Update: Bell just flipped the switch, and their numbers are largely the same with one notable exception -- iPad data sharing is an additional $10 a month instead of $20, just as had been rumored. Thanks, everyone!

Canadian iPhone 4 launch details emerge: Rogers offers 6GB for $30, iPad sharing for $20 (update: Bell's iPad deal cheaper) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Poor guy can't catch a break. Talking to analysts today about the world of tablets, Steve Ballmer put on a brave face about his lack of a strong competitor to the iPad, saying of Windows 7 products in the works with third parties: "They'll be shipping as soon as they are ready." Unfortunately, Apple's iPad looms large, with Ballmer stating that "they've sold certainly more than I'd like them to have sold." Perhaps more revelatory, Steve likened the tablet challenge to the situation Microsoft faced when the netbook started out as a Linux product, mentioning that part of their chore is "tuning Windows 7," in addition to working with hardware partners. Obviously Microsoft is down, not out, when it comes to tablets, but will a few million iPads be their eventual demise or the impetus they need to succeed? Tune in next week someday for the thrilling conclusion!

Ballmer on iPad: 'they've sold certainly more than I'd like them to have sold' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well ladies and gentlemen, it's that time again -- the Engadget Show is back in a big way on Wednesday, August 4th at 8pm! This time around, we'll have the inimitable Peter Molyneux, one of the world's most forward-thinking game designers and creator of "Black & White" and the "Fable" franchise. What's more, we'll have a rousing roundtable with Josh, Paul, and Nilay, some fine, fine music from Zen Albatross, mind-bending visuals from invaderbacca, and a few other big surprises. As usual, we'll be doing tons of giveaways at the live show only, so make the trek and join us at The Times Center in person. If you're geographically incapable of joining us in New York City, just tune into the stream at right here on Engadget.

The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's all the info you need:

• There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free
• The event is all ages
• Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 5:30PM on Wednesday, doors will open for seating at 7:30PM, and the show begins at 8PM. It's probably going to be hot, so if you want to come early to wait for tickets, bring some water! Again, we won't be doing any ticketing prior to 5:30PM.
• You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket
• Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full
• The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break)
• The show length is around an hour

If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.

Sprint is also offering 50 guaranteed tickets to the Engadget Show taping to the first 50 entrants who text "ENGADGET" to 467467 or enter online! Standard text messaging rates apply. Click for the Official Rules and see how to enter online.

Subscribe to the Show:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
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[RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.

Continue reading The Engadget Show returns Wednesday, August 4th with game designer Peter Molyneux, Windows Phone 7, and much more!

The Engadget Show returns Wednesday, August 4th with game designer Peter Molyneux, Windows Phone 7, and much more! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hitachi's already dipped its toes (or hands, as it were) into the gesture-based waters before, but it looks to have refined things quite a bit for its latest Minority Report-esque demo, which the company is showing off as part of its 100th anniversary celebration. While complete details are a bit light, the system does seem to be reasonably responsive, and appears to rely on a projection-based system and a single camera to track movements. Perhaps what's most interesting, however, is that Hitachi eventually sees systems like this being used in everything from digital signage to medical applications -- and, yes, even TVs and desktop computers (though not before mid-2011 at the earliest). Head on past the break to check it out in action.

Continue reading Hitachi shows off new gesture-based interface, touts grand plans

Hitachi shows off new gesture-based interface, touts grand plans originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We're not experts or anything, but cutting down trees to manufacture your headphones ($30), ear buds ($20), and iPhone cases ($25) does not really seem all that "green" to us. But what good is selling stuff made from "reusable, environmentally friendly and recyclable materials" if you can't broadcast your sense of social responsibility with "rustic wood grain finishes and smooth earthy tones" that "mirror the true beauty that surrounds us?" Is we right, or is we right? The Grass Roots Collection (get it?) starts shipping August 1st. PR after the break.

Update: A rep from from iWave just sent in an email to assure us that no trees whatsoever were harmed in the making of the Grass Roots collection. We just want to take this opportunity to set the record straight -- and to point out that the Earth in the above illustration reminds us of a Chia Pet. Thanks!

Continue reading How many trees must die for iWave's Earth-friendly headphones, iPhone cases? (update)

How many trees must die for iWave's Earth-friendly headphones, iPhone cases? (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Been itching to get your hands on the Parrot AR.Drone ever since it first took flight at CES way back in January? Well, you can now finally get your $299 pre-order in to ensure it ships to you on the September 3rd launch date. What's more, Parrot has also announced that the Drone will be exclusively available at Brookstone stores in the U.S., where you'll be able to try it out first-hand through October 31st. Head on past the break for the complete press release, and be sure to check out our recent hands-on if you need a reminder of the iPhone-controlled shenanigans possible with the device.

Continue reading Parrot AR.Drone now available for pre-order, shipping September 3rd

Parrot AR.Drone now available for pre-order, shipping September 3rd originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM completes long-rumored acquisition of Storwize, continuing the trend of major vendors adding primary data reduction technology to their storage platforms.



IBM - Storwize - Data compression - Compression - Hardware

You know the drill: blurry shots of phone get leaked... user's manual gets leaked... excited would-be buyers voraciously consume manual's contents... phone finally gets released. Indeed, that's precisely the same well-trodden path the upcoming Droid 2 is taking, so if you're looking at getting this thing in the next few weeks, you might want to start skimming the documentation so there aren't any embarrassing newbie missteps in your first few moments of ownership. As Droid Life notes, we've got more confirmation here that the phone will be running the same skin as the Droid X, complete with the Swype-enabled (and presumably multitouch-enabled) soft keyboard for those times when you're too lazy to pull out the physical keyboard. We can't imagine what else could possibly leak at this point -- so hey, Verizon, can we recommend you go ahead and get this show on the road?

Droid 2 manual leaks, teaches you everything you need to know about a phone you don't have originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Duncan Epping at Yellow Bricks yesterday posted a brief but very interesting article about the best approach to pursue when a company is about to replace its SAN arrays: Storage vMotion or SAN Replication.

Epping breaks down the pros and cons of both approaches:

SAN Replication

• Can utilize Array based copy mechanisms for fast replication (+)
• Per LUN migration, high level of concurrency (+)
• Old volumes still available (+)
• Need to resignature or mount the volume again (-)
  • A resignature also means you will need to reregister the VM! (-)
• Downtime for the VM during the cut over (-)

Storage vMotion

• No downtime for your VMs (+)
• Fast Storage vMotion when your Array supports vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) (+)
  • If your Array doesn’t support VAAI migrations can be slow (-)
  • Induced cost if VAAI isn’t supported (-)
  • Only intra Array not across arrays (-)
• No resignaturing or re-registering needed (+)
• Per VM migration (-)
  • Limited concurrency (2 per host, 8 per VMFS volume) (-)

Labels: VMware

The US startup Virtual Computer earlier this week announced its new Senior Vice President of Marketing: Andrew McKay.

McKay is the co-founder and former Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Attivio, a software company focused on enterprise search solutions.
From 2002 to 2006 McKay has been the Vice President of Sales, Technical Sales and Product Marketing at Fast Search & Transfer (FAST), acquired by Microsoft in early 2008.

Labels: Leadership, Virtual Computer

The electric Think City has been targeting an American release for well over two years now but, like many EVs, those dates just kept on 'a slipping. Now the cars are finally starting to hit the colonies and, as a reward for the wait, we're receiving models with more powerful batteries. The cells are supplied by Indiana-based Ener1, a new lithium-manganese pack that offers 25kWh. Those cells are said to double the car's previous expected range, up to 100 miles from 50, yet still recharge in a scant four hours -- if you're using a 240v plug. The folks at Green Car Advisor managed a maximum of 68mph in the two-seater and, driving in a decidedly non-eco-minded way, managed 43.5 miles with 38 percent left, giving an estimated 75 miles for those with leaden right foots. That, at least, is promising, and while a $28,000 MSRP is rather a bitter pill, it's a good bit cheaper (though smaller) than the Nissan Leaf. And don't forget that Uncle Sam would be happy to knock at least a few grand off of that price, too.

Think City electric car gets bigger American batteries for bigger American roads originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, how do you feel about the look of this myTouch 3G HD we've been seeing this week? Haven't formed a complete opinion yet? Well, maybe this new shot -- seemingly of said phone's backside -- will help. As we've seen on past models, the rear features a tastefully-sized myTouch logo, lending a dose of credibility to the picture that seems to have been covertly snapped off a monitor where the render was being shown. In other words, we don't have much reason to doubt this thing -- and considering that the Vibrant isn't a member of the myTouch line, T-Mobile's overdue for a refreshed non-QWERTY Android device in that segment of the market. Should be an interesting few months for these guys, no?

T-Mobile's apparent myTouch 3G HD gets spied from the rear originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After a few years of teasing and smoke blowing, the HomePlug Powerline Alliance has finally released the skinny on major enhancements we can expect to see integrated into the HomePlug AV2 powerline networking specification that's scheduled for finalization in Q1 of 2011. Chief among them is MIMO (Multiple-Inputs Multiple-Outputs), which will expand home coverage by increasing the throughput speeds, and transmission ranges, without additional signal power or requiring more spectrum -- but you knew already that didn't you, MacGyver? Compounding this efficiency gain will be the expansion of the operating spectrum by an order of magnitude. Tallied together with other upgrades, the end result for consumers will be a "reported" 5x increase in performance, not to mention support for bigger, more reliable networks. Oh, and it'll also play nicely with original HomePlug AV technology, too. Frankly, that's jolly good news for our dreams of pushing 1080p HD video streams to every room in our house with an outlet -- including the pantry. Doing the same thing for 3D and 4K HD content... well, that's just brilliant! For more details peep the PR below the break.

Continue reading HomePlug Powerline Alliance reveals features of new HomePlug AV2 spec

HomePlug Powerline Alliance reveals features of new HomePlug AV2 spec originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Billed as "the Segway's little sister," this self-balancing electro scooter comes from a small German company called Ewee. The idea behind it is pretty simple: file down all the extraneous bits, keep the stuff that keeps you going, and presumably try to sell it to hardy macho types who like the barebones aesthetic. You accelerate by leaning forward and decelerate by doing the opposite, while steering is handled by a joystick (apparently "driving pleasure is guranteed"). We're not sure how much trust we're willing to invest in either the company or its product, but exclusive retailer fun-components does have it ready for pre-order today, so if you're feeling adventurous with your €799 ($1,039), feel free to pay their site a visit. The rest of us are going after the break to watch the video.

Continue reading Ewee-PT is how you say 'Segway' in German (video)

Ewee-PT is how you say 'Segway' in German (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Speaking at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, a fellow named Barnaby Jack (really!) used custom software to hack Windows CE-based ATMs on stage. After using an industry standard key to gain entry to the machines (apparently many ATM owners are too lazy to install new locks) Jack was able to load a rootkit on the device using a USB thumb drive. From that point, it was just a matter of running another program that caused all the cash therein to shoot out in a comical manner. The machines used in the presentation were manufactured by Trannax and Triton, both of which have have had a chance to send a security patch to customers prior to the demonstration. However, there are four different machines in common use that are still vulnerable. And no, he won't tell us which ones.

Some Windows CE-based ATMs especially generous (and vulnerable to hackers) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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