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Pending likely regulatory approval, Verizon is working on an $8.5 billion deal to offload six million broadband and voice customers in more than a dozen states to Frontier Communications. While the majority of those customers are DSL and landline users, there are approximately 110,000 FiOS fiber to the home customers included in that total. Apparently, cable companies have been using the sale as a marketing opportunity to get these FiOS customers to switch to cable (see this regional Comcast letter). Verizon apparently is trying to calm regional customers, and has issued this press release. In it, Verizon promises existing and new FiOS customers in Indiana, Oregon and Washington that Verizon will adhere to a new "Service Commitment." What does this service commitment to customers about to be sold of consist of? Apparently it involves FiOS getting the personal phone number of the Verizon technician who did their installation. It also means users get a phone call from Verizon to make sure the installation went ok. From the Verizon press release:Under the commitment, the Verizon technician who installed the service will be available to ensure the customer's service is working and to answer questions from Day One. New customers get a direct phone number to reach the technician who installed their service, should they have any questions after the work is done. Verizon service employees will also check in by phone with customers within the first 30 to 45 days of installation to answer any questions, review the customers' first bill and ensure they know how to reach Verizon round-the-clock for any future needs.Of course if Verizon really valued these customers, they wouldn't be selling off a chunk of them to Frontier Communications. Meanwhile, Verizon has an interesting habit of saving truly personal customer support until after problems arise. You might recall they began assigning FiOS customers in Florida their own "Personal Account Managers" (PAMs) -- after state regulators, local union workers and the local press had hammered Verizon for poor service. read comment(s) <br clear=all>

You know your mobile OS is going places when people start resurrecting their smartphone divisions just to throw out their own spin on it. Kyocera's approach with the new Zio M6000 has been to marry an 800 x 480 display to some rather middle of the road components and to sell that package at a significantly lower price point (between $169 and $216 unsubsidized) than most Android-infused communicators on the market. You know, for the people that like to have a handsome high-res phone, but don't need it to have the firepower to run Quake. It's still not a terrible slouch, coming with a 600MHz MSM7227 CPU from Qualcomm, 512MB of onboard app memory, and 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. Look out for its US arrival in the second quarter of this year. Gallery: Kyocera Zio M6000 Kyocera Zio M6000 joins burgeoning Android ranks with high-res affordability originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | PC Mag | Email this | Comments

We've just been seated in an extraordinarily large keynote hall -- as big as anything you'll find even at CES -- for CTIA 2010's first day keynote session featuring AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega and J. K. Shin, president of Samsung's mobile business. It should be an interesting shindig, so keep it locked!Continue reading Live from CTIA 2010's day one keynote with Ralph de la Vega and J. K. Shin! Live from CTIA 2010's day one keynote with Ralph de la Vega and J. K. Shin! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | | Email this | Comments

BlueAnt's been slinking along in the shadows of the (thankfully) dwindling Bluetooth headset market for years now, and aside from that one voice-controlled V1 that popped two years ago, we haven't seen much from the outfit that really got our juices flowing. Until today, naturally. The rugged, May-bound T1 headset ($79.99) doesn't look drastically different (or smaller) than the aforesaid V1, but it's the firm's first to feature Wind Armour Technology -- something that's engineered to "deliver clear audio in wind speeds up to 22mph." It's also built to withstand the occasional drop and bout with dust / moisture, and in case that's not enough, it'll also audibly announce who's calling so long as they're in your address book. As you'd expect, A2DP streaming audio is fully supported, as is multipoint (which allows it to remain connected to two phones at once and respond to whichever rings first). In related news, the company also announced its new Q1 app for Android (due April 1st), which helps Q1 headset users by reading text messages aloud to you via a presumably flawed text-to-speech system. Hit up the source links for the fully skinny on each, or just hop on past the break for a pair of superbly informative videos. Gallery: BlueAnt intros rugged T1 Bluetooth headset, sophisticated Android app Continue reading BlueAnt intros rugged T1 Bluetooth headset, sophisticated Android app BlueAnt intros rugged T1 Bluetooth headset, sophisticated Android app originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | Business Wire [T1], [Android app] | Email this | Comments

Sprint's just announced some more markets for its planned 4G expansion, among them Los Angeles and Miami, plus Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City and St. Louis. That's right: WiMAX is coming to penetrate the Steel Curtain. In addition to the markets previously announced at the end of February (New York, San Francisco, Boston, Denver, Kansas City, Houston, Minneapolis, and Washington, DC), the list is starting to look a lot like that "many markets" we've been promised. While we're still not getting launch dates, it's clear that Sprint's on an aggressive path here -- and an apparently leaked internal email we just got from a tipster confirms that pretty blatantly. Supposedly penned by Joe Whited, the Manager of Corporate Communications at Sprint, the email appears to have been aimed at pumping up Sprint employees based on this morning's announcement: "Let AT&T and Verizon yak about maps and 3G coverage, we're moving forward with what customers really want -- lightening [sic.] fast internet and uncapped 4G service." Fighting words, friends -- and the addition of major markets like Los Angeles and Miami are surely an upping of the game. Full press release is after the break.Continue reading Sprint announces seven new WiMAX markets, says 'Let AT&T and Verizon yak about maps and 3G coverage' Sprint announces seven new WiMAX markets, says 'Let AT&T and Verizon yak about maps and 3G coverage' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | | Email this | Comments

You had the hard news for breakfast, so how's about some less official, but still pretty robust, fodder for brunch? Asahi in Japan offers the first word on how the 3DS achieves its 3D-ness by suggesting that the new portable game machine with feature a parallax barrier LCD from Sharp. The tech has apparently already been deployed in a few cellphones over there and is described as "unsuitable" for large-screen TVs. This is corroborated by Nikkei, which suggests that the screens on the new device will be smaller than 4 inches diagonally, placing it closer to the DSi than the 4.2-inch DSi XL / LL. Other news from the latter source include so-called 3D control stick(s), though it's not entirely clear whether this'll be anything massively new or just a pair of analog nubs for us to push around. Either way, Nintendo is said to have secured patents for the new control methodology in Japan late last year. The Nikkei article also mentions improvements in WiFi transfers and battery life, as well as a new vibration function. Now that we've got all that out of the way, can someone please tell us if this thing has Tegra inside or not?Nintendo 3DS to come with '3D control stick,' vibration, and Sharp's parallax barrier 3D LCD? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | Nikkei, Asahi | Email this | Comments

OpenDNS executives probably huddle together each morning in a meeting room, praying to the digital gods for ISP DNS problems -- given that every time an ISP has a DNS disruption, the increasingly popular company sees an influx of new customers. OpenDNS this morning highlighted their growth by announcing that they now officially serve 1% of the Internet. That's a bigger number that it seems; the company says they've now reached 18 million of the world's 1.67 billion Internet users, and that their usage total has doubled in the last 12 months. OpenDNS was founded in 2006, and for most of that time they've been a very profitable company, largely thanks to search-based ads. In 2008 it was estimated that OpenDNS generates a whopping $20,000 per day off of their DNS redirection relationship with Yahoo. Of course we're starting to see some ISPs realize that this is ad revenue they could be keeping in house. Comcast in particular has put a lot of effort lately into beefing up their DNS reliability and tools, including a new portal to track DNS uptime. Added DNS functionality is by and large a neglected service aspect for many ISPs. Many ISP executives simply ran toward DNS redirection advertising (redirecting users trying to access mistyped or non-existent URLs toward an ad-laden search portal) with dollar signs in their eyes, without realizing that they might want to actually offer value. Worse, many of these DNS redirection systems don't even feature functional opt-out mechanisms. Of course ISPs awakening from their slumber isn't the only obstacle facing OpenDNS moving forward. Last December Google announced they were launching Google Public DNS, and while OpenDNS founder David Ulevitch claimed Google's service wasn't going to compete with OpenDNS -- it's going to compete with OpenDNS. Still, OpenDNS has successfully carved an 18-million-user strong niche by offering quality DNS tools and services, and if ISPs or Google want to claim that lost ad revenue, they're certainly going to have to work for it. read comment(s) <br clear=all>

Speaking at the wireless industry's annual CTIA trade show (which kicks off today in Las Vegas), Clearwire offered an updated deployment schedule, which lists a slew of additional launch markets for the company's 2010 deployment. Clearwire currently offers service in 27 markets, and hopes to reach 120 million potential customers by the end of this year. To accomplish that goal, the company today added Los Angeles, Miami, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Salt Lake City to their list of 2010 deployments. The company had already planned to launch Clear service in New York City, Houston, Boston, Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Denver, Minneapolis and the San Francisco Bay Area before the end of the year. read comment(s) <br clear=all>

According to new data from Nielsen, a growing number of Americans are now watching TV and using the Internet simultaneously. The study found that Americans watch roughly 35 hours of TV and two hours of timeshifted TV via a DVR a week, on average. But while Internet video use is up 16%, it's used largely as a supplement to traditional TV viewing -- while nearly 60% of TV viewers now use the Internet once a month while also watching TV. "The initial fear was that Internet and mobile video and entertainment would slowly cannibalize traditional TV viewing, but the steady trend of increased TV viewership alongside expanded simultaneous usage argues something quite different," argues Nielsen's Matt O Grady. That's probably comforting to cable executives for now, though a rise in living room broadband video options could change these numbers significantly over the next decade. The full report is available here (pdf) for those interested. read comment(s) <br clear=all>

Verizon has been getting a lot of press lately about their plans to launch 5-12 Mbps Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless broadband service in 25-30 markets sometime this year. AT&T, for one, isn't impressed. The carrier, who won't be launching their own LTE implementation for another few years, this week took shots at Verizon in the Wall Street Journal, claiming that Verizon is embracing technology that "isn't fully mature." Most notably, AT&T Chief Technology Officer John Donovan complained that LTE handets aren't ready yet -- and won't be for another few years:"2012 will be the time when you'll have decent handsets, decent quantity of handsets, and decent choice of handsets," Mr. Donovan said. LTE-compatible handsets require two antennas, and chip sets are larger than what is currently built into current third-generation, or 3G, devices. "Right out of the chute, it's going to be difficult to engineer," Mr. Donovan said of the first LTE handsets. "It's going to drain the battery like crazy, and it's going to be a fat brick."AT&T of course has stated they intend to nurse their HSDPA network for another few years before fully committing to LTE. Verizon claims they'll be launching their first LTE-compatible handset sometime in the middle of 2011, though Donovan went on to claim that any wireless carrier that thinks their network is ready for the demands of the iPhone is being "naive." read comment(s) <br clear=all>

AT&T's teaser site for the Dell Aero has gone live and we can now fill in a few more gaps in our knowledge about this forthcoming handset. It's looking every bit the renamed Mini 3 we thought it was, so click here and here to get a closer look at the body of the device. The official web mouthpiece confirms a 3.5-inch screen with nHD resolution -- which may or may not signify the same 640 x 480 as on the Brazilian and Chinese versions -- and one definite point of departure, a 5 (rather than 3) megapixel camera on the back. Claimed to be the lightest Android smartphone yet, the Aero will also come with WiFi and GPS built in, though its biggest attraction will undoubtedly be the thoroughly tricked out Android UI, which promises Picassa, Flick, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitpic integration right out of the box. Check out the gallery below for some hints of what that willl look like. [Thanks, Chilko] Gallery: Dell Aero Dell Aero is 'the lightest' Android phone yet, poses for pictures originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | AT&T | Email this | Comments

Can you feel the tension? Opera is now in the throes of the App Store approval process. The wait is on to see if Apple will loosen its grip and approve the fast (very fast) Opera Mini browser for iPhone app we checked out at MWC. Remember, Opera Mini relies on Opera's servers to render and compress pages before sending them back to the iPhone for display. As such, there's no code interpretation being done by the software -- a definite no no for approval. So the only thing that could cause Apple to reject the app would be a perceived duplication of core iPhone functionality even though it already approved several WebKit-based browsers. Whatever happens, this is going to be good. Update: Opera just threw up a counter tracking how long the approval process has taken. You know, 'cause everyone likes to be backed into a corner. Gallery: Opera Mini for iPhone submitted to Apple for approval (video) Continue reading Opera Mini for iPhone submitted to Apple for approval (video) Opera Mini for iPhone submitted to Apple for approval (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Remember back when Germany's Federal Office for Information Security said that Internet Explorer just wasn't good enough for its citizens? The Office is doing its civic duty once again, this time warning against that formerly lean and mean upstart competitor: Firefox -- for a little while, at least. The Office "recommends the use of alternative browser until Mozilla has released Firefox version 3.6.2," due one week from today, and while it doesn't make a recommendation on which browser you should be using in the interim, we're thinking Lynx users can keep on surfing with confidence. Update: Just as this post was going live Mozilla released the 3.6.2 Firefox security update that B&uuml;rger-CERT was looking for. Their press release has been changed to recommend updating your browser to the new version ASAP, and if you really did jump over to Lynx we would recommend closing that terminal window and getting back to reality ASAP.Germany keeps spreading the browser hate, warns against Firefox originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink BBC | Burger CERT | Email this | Comments

What does that look like to you? Sure looks like a probable Nokia flagship candidate for the upcoming launch of Symbian^3 to ride. Remember, we've already heard about a N8-00 said to be sporting a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, 12 megapixel camera, and HDMI-out. This unnamed device features a 12 megapixel camera with Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss optics, an HDMI jack next to a top-mounted 3.5-mm headphone jack, and a bottom-loading battery allowing the phone to keep a unibody design (a la the HTC Legend). The screen is big, at least 3.5 inches and possibly hovering around 4 inches. Oh, and a QWERTY is nowhere to be found. So Nokia, got anything you'd like to announce?Gallery: Nokia's Symbian^3 touchscreen flagship leaked? Nokia's Symbian^3 touchscreen flagship leaked? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink Mobile Bulgaria | IT168 | Email this | Comments

We like little computers, but we also like big-bitrate video content, and thanks to media accelerators like Broadcom's Crystal HD we can have our proverbial cake and proverbially eat it, too -- at least up to 720p. We've had issues with 1080p on that chip and, while that may be due to troublesome Flash betas, VIA is saying its upcoming VX900 media system processor suffers from no such limitation. A back-to-back video captured by Netbooknews seems to back that up, embedded below and showing a VX900 running the 1080p Avatar trailer at a higher frame rate with lower CPU utilization than Broadcom's option could manage the 720p version. It then goes on to play a massive 80Mb/s bitrate 1080p file with nary a stutter. This wasn't on perfectly equivalent hardware so it's a bit early to draw too many conclusions, but we're eager to see what this chip has to offer when it starts hitting VIA-powered laptops and nettops, supposedly at Computex later this summer.Continue reading VIA introduces VX900 media processor, sets sights on Broadcom's Crystal HD (video) VIA introduces VX900 media processor, sets sights on Broadcom's Crystal HD (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | VIA, Newbooknews | Email this | Comments

FCC testing finds fastest broadband speeds in D.C., N.Y. areas washingtonpost.com Genachowski: Government Should Have 'Restrained' Role In Broadband Rollout broadcastnewsroom.com 4G Wireless Ready to Take On Broadband? cbsnews.com UK Broadband tax will push 200,000 homes off the internet telegraph.co.uk Egypt Says No More Mobile Skype Calls techdirt.com Australia filter could 'legitimise' Web censorship - Google totaltele.com Ofcom proposes BT opens infrastructure to rivals ft.com Apple Sells Contract-Free iPhones: $500-$700 wired.com read comment(s) <br clear=all>

It would seem that Toshiba hasn't given up on its dream of producing a nuclear reactor for the home, and its latest potential partner counts quite the big name among its backers. Run by a former Microsoft exec and partially funded by Bill Gates himself, TerraPower is said to have opened preliminary discussions with Toshiba regarding a possible joint venture between the two companies. The aim is, predictably, to make safer, smaller, more socially acceptable, and just plain better reactors. TerraPower boasts its tech can run without refueling for up to 60 years on depleted uranium and Bill Gates has gotten enthusiastic enough about the whole thing to give a 30-minute talk on the matter. Click past the break for the video.Continue reading Toshiba and Bill Gates-backed TerraPower discussing small-scale nuclear reactors Toshiba and Bill Gates-backed TerraPower discussing small-scale nuclear reactors originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | Wall Street Journal | Email this | Comments

You're probably a little too old to rock out like you used to, and besides your hearing isn't exactly what it was when you first saw Purple Fudge open for Hendrix at Cafe Wha? in the village. That's okay -- we found something for you and the missus now that the kids don't come around as much as they used to. Bang & Olufsen have announced that its BeoVision 10 -- the 40-inch behemoth currently available overseas -- will be making its way to showrooms stateside this spring. To commemorate, the company is taking the the thing on tour, with dates including Chicago on March 18, New York on March 25, and LA on April 8. To keep up with your forever escalating tastes, guests who attend the events can check out a special edition Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black (with Bang & Olufsen BeoSound DBS audio system) and enter to win a bottle of Dom Perignon Vintage 2000 champagne. You've certainly come a long way from sipping Narragansett draft at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, huh? Prices start at $6,248 and climb skyward rather quickly. PR after the break.Continue reading Bang & Olufsen announces BeoVision 10 North American Tour Bang & Olufsen announces BeoVision 10 North American Tour originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink Coolest Gadgets | | Email this | Comments

Whoa, now this is a whopper coming (almost) out of nowhere. Nintendo has just slipped out a press release in Japan informing the world that all-new 3D-capable portable hardware is coming, with a full unveiling set for E3 2010 this June. Tentatively titled the 3DS, this glasses-free 3D wonder is pitched as the successor to both the DS and DSi, and will use a "compatible cart" that should ensure backwards compatibility with your vast library of favorites from the older consoles. Nintendo expects to launch the 3DS into retail "during the fiscal year ending March 2011."Nintendo announces 3DS -- the glasses-free 3D successor to the DS originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink Twitter | Nintendo | Email this | Comments

The invention of nanocrystal semiconductors -- more commonly called quantum dots -- has spurred scientists to create everything from precisely-colored LED lamps to higher-density flash memory. There's also been some talk of applying a solution of the tiny crystals to create higher sensitivity cameras, and according to a company named InVisage, that latter utility is almost ready for commercial production. By smearing light-amplifying quantum dots onto the existing CMOS sensors used in cell phone cameras like so much strawberry jam, InVisage claims it will offer smartphone sensors that have four times the performance and twice the dynamic range of existing chips by the end of the year, and roll out the conveyor belts in late 2011, just in time for the contract to end on your terrible new cameraphone. [Thanks, Matt]InVisage envisions a world where cell phone cameras don't suck, embraces quantum dots originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | InVisage | Email this | Comments

Do our eyes deceive us? Can it be that JooJoo -- the CrunchPad that wasn't -- has progressed from pre-order status to shipping? Sure seems that way. Two days ahead of the revised March 25th launch date we see that the JooJoo is now taking proper orders for their Ion-based $499 Atom tablet with 12.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, in the US anyway. So, did anyone get a revised delivery status? [Thanks, Marquel G.]JooJoo finally shipping? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | JooJoo | Email this | Comments

"It would let me set up shop at that posh cafe down the street." That's how you justified your laptop purchase -- but as you sat, gently sipping your macchiato, you realized it would never work without your decidedly non-portable 24-inch Cinema Display's extra real estate. We've been there many a time, and apparently so has a startup named MEDL Technology, which has just finished prototyping the answer to our telecommuting (and portable gaming) woes. Going above and beyond the average, tiny secondary display, "The Panel" is an honest-to-goodness 13.3-inch LED-backlit monitor that's less than an inch thick, but packs incredible connectivity (DVI, VGA, Component, S-Video, mini-HDMI and USB) in addition to a sweet folding stand and up to five hours of rechargeable battery life. MEDL told us that should they secure funding, the firm's looking to launch The Panel in Q4 2010, and is hoping to first sway business users with a sub-$350 price point. To work surrounded by coffee -- without being employed by Starbucks -- that's a small price to pay.Gallery: METL Technology's 'The Panel' portable monitor 'The Panel' rechargeable LED monitor sentences you to a more productive life originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink PR Newswire | MEDL Tech | Email this | Comments

In 1997, Hypersonic joined the likes of Voodoo, AlienWare and Falcon Northwest in the gamble that gamers would buy what were then gut-wrenchingly expensive (think $10,000) custom PCs. Ten years later, it was gobbled up by memory manufacturer OCZ, and soon came to our attention for selling a chic, tiny, but somehow nicely specced 12.1-inch laptop. Today, the company is no more. The Hypersonic website reads that the firm is no longer accepting orders, and Techgage -- speaking to OCZ's chief marketing office Alex Mei -- reports that while OCZ will honor all warranties, the company is ceasing marketing and sales support for the Hypersonic brand. Sad, yes, but at least it's one fewer temptation to lure us extreme gamers into bankruptcy.Hypersonic-PC powers down for the last time originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | Techgage, Hypersonic-PC | Email this | Comments

Oh, don't act surprised. As is the norm with these things, Dish Network has filed a countersuit against DirecTV. Last month, the latter company filed suit, claiming Dish's "Why Pay More" ads were false and misleading. The countersuit, unsurprisingly, is also false and misleading advertising -- in this instance, the claim "nothing comes close to the reliability and quality of DirecTV." Dish asserts its signal reliability is exactly the same, 99.9 percent. Better strap yourself in, it's gonna be a long and bumpy ride through the court system.Dish Network countersues DirecTV over signal reliability claims originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | WSJ | Email this | Comments

We're shmoozing with Motorola's team and Mike Rowe -- yes, the Dirty Jobs guy, who's been fittingly selected as the rugged i1's spokesperson -- and we're starting to get our first fleeting moments with Motorola's first Android-powered Android set in the flesh. Believe it or not, it might be the best-feeling Android phone from Motorola to date, besting the CLIQ XT and Droid with a tasteful mix of black chrome and rubber around the edges; if it weren't for the lack of bona fide 3G, we could realistically see putting this in our pockets over, say, a myTouch 3G, Hero, or Behold II. We've been able to confirm that they've basically taken the UI look and feel introduced by Blur and subtracted... well, the things that actually make it Blur, namely the integration with Blur servers that brings social service aggregation into the fold. Will it appeal to the iDEN demographic? Hard to say, but Mr. Rowe certainly seems amped on it. Check out the gallery below! Gallery: Motorola i1 first hands-on! Motorola i1 first hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. <h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6>Permalink | | Email this | Comments