launching

Just how many iPhone 5s did Apple sell since pre-orders began in the wee hours of Friday?

We don't have a number, but the company now says it was off the charts.

"Preorders for iPhone 5 have been incredible," an Apple spokeswoman told AllThingsD. "We've been completely blown away by the customer response."

New preorders for the device began being pushed back earlier today. Apple was the first to do so, exhausting its initial supply of launch day deliveries within the first hour of going on sale. The carriers, including AT&T and … Read more

A lot was learned at the Nintendo Wii U preview event in New York this morning, but surprisingly enough, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime did not deliver a definitive launch list of Wii U titles available alongside the console on November 18.

Instead, much to the attending crowd's chagrin, Fils-Aime said "it's still a little too early to guarantee exactly which games will be here for you on launch day itself and which will come shortly thereafter." Mind you, the "launch window" Fils-Aime is referring to spans from November 18, 2012, all the way to March 31, 2013.… Read more

HTC has announced a new smartphone for China that comes with a really interesting backside.

Dubbed the One SC, the device comes with a 4.3-inch WVGA HD display and support for both CDMA and GSM networks. The handset is running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), and comes with 4GB of onboard storage that's expandable to 32GB with a microSD card.

The One SC's most interesting feature, however, might just be its design. On the front, the device looks like any other, offering a prominent screen with a few buttons to boot. However, on the back, the … Read more

It's official -- Apple's holding an event next Wednesday, where the company is widely expected to debut its next iPhone.

Just like its iPad reveal earlier this year, Apple is holding at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater.

The invite says only "It's almost here," with a shadowed "5" underneath the September 12 date. The event will begin at 10 a.m. in San Francisco. CNET will cover the event with a live blog, so mark that time and head back here to tune in.

The date confirms a report … Read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- An Atlas 5 rocket boosted a pair of satellites into the maelstrom of the Van Allen radiation belts early today, kicking off a $686 million mission to probe the structure of the belts and how they're buffeted by the sun and to improve forecasting to reduce the threat they pose to astronauts, power grids and increasingly critical satellite systems.

"Today, 11 years hard work was realized by the science team," said Nicola Fox, the deputy project scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. "They're now at home in … Read more

We Microsoft watchers already knew October was going to be a crazy month, given Windows 8's general availability date is October 26.

But until this week, I didn't realize just how jam-packed that month is really going to be.

A source of mine privy to Microsoft's event plans, who asked not to be named, just shared with me dates and tentative locations for a number of Microsoft's upcoming launches. Some of these we suspected; a few we knew.

Windows Phone 8's build-up to launch started today, with Samsung showing off what's officially the first Windows Phone 8 device (… Read more

It looks like September 13 will be the day when Nintendo spills the beans about all things Wii U, including what I'm hoping is more than just the launch date and price. I'd imagine we'll also get a pretty good idea -- if not a definitive list -- of what the console's launch lineup will look like.

Nintendo COO Reggie Fils-Aime will be on hand to discuss the future of the console and explain some of the other features that the Wii's successor will be packing in. Of course you'll recall Nintendo's E3 2012 presentation … Read more

You may be familiar with the TouchWiz shortcuts on Samsung Android devices -- well Quick Launch is similar in how it works, but not how it looks. Instead, this lock-screen replacement is bit more modern than TouchWiz, which means it pairs nicely with the Ice Cream Sandwich/Jelly Bean design style.

Since you're going to be using the lock screen each time you pick up your phone, it may as well be something you like to look at. In addition to looking good, the lock screen should have added functionality that compliments the many features of your actual device.… Read more

Though it's not exactly an earth-shattering revelation, Microsoft has confirmed that Surface tablets will arrive October 26 along with Windows 8.

"The next version of our operating system, Windows 8, will be generally available on October 26, 2012. At that time, we will begin selling the Surface, a series of Microsoft-designed and manufactured hardware devices," Microsoft said in its annual report filed this week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Microsoft has said before that Surface products "would be available the same time that Windows 8" was launched, but it's reassuring to … Read more