August 15, 2006, 3:42 PM PDT
New Verizon phones?
Posted by: Nicole Lee

The sharp eyes of the Engadget crew spotted a few upcoming phones on Verizon's Backup Assistant site that the carrier has yet to launch. They are the LG VX8600, the LG VX9900, and a new Kyocera K323. While the K323 seems like a fairly basic VGA camera phone, both the VX8600 and the VX9900 promise to be exciting additions to LG's lineup. The VX8600 is rumored to be the clamshell successor to the famous Chocolate, while the VX9900 is slated to be the successor to the popular V phone, otherwise known as the VX9800. We'll keep our eyes peeled for more information on these phones, and we hope to get our hands on them soon.

Source: Engadget

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August 15, 2006, 2:28 PM PDT
The Elle Glamphone for the ladies
Posted by: Nicole Lee

Though the Razr and the more recent Chocolate may dominate headlines as the fashion phones of choice, there are other options out there for those with more cash to spare. The Elle Glamphone by Alcatel is one such device, touted as a sophisticated camera phone made just for the ladies. It even has a screen which converts to a mirror when not in use. Styled like a piece of jewelry, you can also wear it as a necklace. It's sorely lacking in features though, sporting only the basic text and multimedia messaging, 3MB of memory, and a simple VGA camera. But the Elle Glamphone seems to be more style than substance anyway. The U.S. versions come in black and red and will be sold exclusively through Alcatel. You can get one for $179.99, along with a free one-year subscription to Elle Magazine.

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August 15, 2006, 2:19 PM PDT
Rising tide of laptop battery recalls
Posted by: Tom Merritt

With Dell's recall of more than 4 million laptop batteries today, I started to wonder if we're seeing more laptop battery recalls than usual. Here's a time line of all the battery recalls from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for the past five years. There were no laptop battery recalls in 2002 or 2003 in the United States.

• August 2006: Dell recalls more than 4 million Sony batteries.
• July 2006: Apple announces 15-inch MacBook Pro battery exchange program. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has not issued a formal recall notice for this product.
• April 2006: HP recalls 15,700 laptop batteries for overheating.
• December 2005: Dell recalls 22,000 notebook batteries.
• October 2005: HP recalls 135,000 laptop batteries.
• May 2005: Apple recalls 128,000 iBook and PowerBook batteries.
• August 2004: Apple recalls 28,000 PowerBook computer batteries.

As you can see, it's not just me. There definitely seems to be an increase in frequency. What's causing it is a whole different question.

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August 15, 2006, 2:02 PM PDT
So many pods, so few Apple lawyers
Posted by: Molly Wood

Apple is reportedly sending cease-and-desist letters to companies that are using pod in their names. So far, the Mac maker has sent notes to Profit Pod and TightPod, claiming the names infringe on the popular iPod brand. In other news, Apple declared it will quit manufacturing any products or services and dedicate all its time to sending C&Ds to companies with pod in the name. In other other news, peas immediately declared their intent to "fight this thing all the way to the top." Ah, I could do this all day.

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August 15, 2006, 1:00 PM PDT
Verizon bids billions for wireless spectrum
Posted by: Kent German

RCR Wireless News is following the ongoing FCC wireless spectrum auction where Verizon Wireless has just entered a $3.5 billion bid for 20 megahertz of spectrum covering the entire United States. After T-Mobile led in the first rounds of bidding last week, Verizon is now at the top of the pack. Other big bidders include Metro PCS and Cricket.

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August 15, 2006, 12:55 PM PDT
Camera phones can earn you money
Posted by: Kent German

It's official: camera phones have crossed the barrier between fun novelty to useful and valuable feature. The New York Times reported yesterday that more media outlets have started to pay for camera phone photos of newsworthy people and events. As camera phones continue to proliferate and as their photo-taking abilities get better in quality, so-called "citizen journalists" are snapping shots and sending them to their favorite newspaper or Web site.

Though the trend started in 2004 with the Asian tsunami and continued last year with the London Underground bombings, the German newspaper Bild is paying up to 1,000 euros ($1,278) for valuable pictures, according to the New York Times. What's more, other papers in Germany and in Norway feature sections dedicated to camera phone photos from readers, and the British Web site Scoopt.com provides a forum to sell your shots. But don't think that all photos need to be of disastrous events. In case you're an aspiring member of the paparazzi, photos of celebrity sightings are also in demand. Sure it's all a bit Big Brother-ish, but if you see Mel Gibson being pulled over, get your phone ready.

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August 15, 2006, 10:05 AM PDT
AMD talks new Opteron, plus quad-core CPUs
Posted by: Dan Ackerman

Love in the tech world is a pretty fickle thing. It seems like only yesterday we were all over AMD's X2 dual-core CPUs, going on about how nothing in the Intel camp could touch them in either price or performance. Then, Intel goes and releases its superpowered Core 2 Duo chips, and all of a sudden, no one is returning AMD's calls.

Trying to get back in the tech community's good graces, AMD today announced its next-generation AMD Opteron processors, which include DDR2 memory support. These are mostly for servers, so not terribly exciting to general consumers. What was interesting, however, were some hints the company dropped about its future quad-core processors (and you thought dual-core was over the top).

From AMD's press release:

AMD also announced the completion of the design, or tape-out, of its native Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors...AMD plans to deliver to customers in mid-2007 native Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors that incorporate four processor cores on a single die of silicon.

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August 15, 2006, 9:40 AM PDT
iRiver announces 2GB T10 flash MP3 player
Posted by: James Kim

This morning iRiver launched the 2GB version of the T10, a higher-capacity version of one of the first Janus-compatible flash players to hit the market. The device is packed with the typical set of iRiver features, including an FM tuner/recorder, voice and line-in recorder, and a color screen (it's photo-compatible, but pics need to be fomratted to fit the tiny screen). It's also AudibleReady and compatible with MP3, subscription WMA, and OGG audio formats.

While we weren't entirely thrilled with the design of the earlier versions (it's durable but clunky), at least the black 2GB T10's price is competitive. For $149.99, you get a nice- sounding player with awesome 45-hour battery life (per AA battery). The 512MB and 1GB versions are priced at $99.99 and $119.99, respectively.

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August 15, 2006, 8:30 AM PDT
Sirius goes portable with the Wi-Fi-enabled Stiletto 100
Posted by: John P. Falcone

Details of the oft-hinted Sirius portable have been leaked on the Web. The as-yet-unannounced Sirius Stiletto 100 is prominently featured in a catalog that's been mailed out from online retailer Crutchfield. According to information listed in the catalog, the Stiletto can stream Sirius channels from the company's satellites or via Wi-Fi. Storage capacity isn't specified, but the unit is said to be able to record up to 100 hours of Sirius programming. It's also a full-service digital music player, with half the total storage space available for storing your MP3 and WMA files (although, because MP3 and WMA files are encoded at higher bit rates than the satellite recordings, that will amount to far less than 50 hours' worth). And, because it's compliant with Microsoft's Plays For Sure digital rights management, the Stiletto offers compatibility with a variety of subscription music services. The Stiletto comes bundled with a car kit, two rechargeable batteries (a smaller standard battery and a larger extended-life one), and earbud headphones with a built-in antenna (but the marketing blurb specifies that the player's body includes a built-in antenna as well, so we're assuming it will work with any standard headphones). The whole setup will cost $399.99, and a home docking station with an FM transmitter will be available separately, as will a dedicated speaker dock.

If the Stiletto details are accurate (and there's every indication that they are), it looks to fill what's been a gaping hole in the Sirius hardware lineup. The company's previous portable offering, the S50, was essentially an MP3 player that offered the ability to listen to and record live satellite radio only when it was docked. By comparison, the XM-enabled Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix delivered live satellite radio on the go in a tiny and slick-looking package. The Stiletto finally answers XM's portable challenge, and its inclusion of a Wi-Fi streaming option (for the same $400 list price of the XM models) ups the ante--both for XM and for Apple, the latter of which hasn't released a new iPod model in months.

According to the rumor mill, the Sirius Stiletto 100 will be available for sale in late September. We'll have a full review when it hits, along with any official announcements from Sirius as soon as they become available.

Source: Sirius Backstage via Orbitcast via Gizmodo

Photo credit: Orbitcast

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August 15, 2006, 7:34 AM PDT
Dell to recall 4.1 million laptop batteries
Posted by: Matthew Elliott

Market-leading Dell begins a market-leading battery recall today. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says it's not only the largest battery recall, but the largest recall of any type of electronic product. Teaming with Dell, it plans to recall 4.1 million batteries. Sony, which manufactures the batteries in question, has pledged to assist Dell in the recall. Unfortunately, many Dell laptops use these Sony batteries, including models from the Latitude, Inspiron, and XPS laptop lines as well as Precision mobile workstations. Six incidents have been reported since June of a Dell laptop's battery exploding and catching fire. Here's the list of affected models:

Latitude: D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810

Inspiron: 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 510m, 600m, 6400, E1505, 700m, 710m, 9400, E1705

XPS: XPS, XPS Gen2, XPS M170, XPS M1710

Precision: M20, M60, M70, M90

If you purchased any of these models between April 2004 and July 18, 2006, you are urged to visit Dell's Web site on the matter or call 866/342-0011 (good luck getting through). Dell asks that you run your laptop on AC power until your replacement battery arrives. No word yet if other laptop vendors using Sony lithium-ion batteries will add to this already huge recall.

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