Motorola Xoom returns to PC World UK, this time at £500, promises April 9th delivery

By Vlad Savov posted Mar 2nd 2011 12:38PM Maybe PC World is trying to sneak the bad news in under the cover of the iPad 2 launch, but it's returned Motorola's Xoom tablet to its pre-order systems with a far less pleasing price than before: ?500. It was ?450 yesterday, but our suspicions were raised by the impossibility of actually pre-ordering one, and sure enough, now that you're able to sign yourself up to be among the first in Europe to own a Xoom, it'll cost you a 50 note more. Launch is scheduled for the first week of April, we're told, and PC World has a tentative April 9th delivery date. Yours, if you want it, at the source link below.
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Product placement gets a logo of its own, turns the world inside out

By Vlad Savov posted Feb 21st 2011 3:09AM So the UK is finally catching up with the fine money-grubbing nations of this world and allowing product placement in British-made TV programming, starting from next Monday, February 28th. Advertising embedded in internationally sourced films and shows has long been tolerated as a necessary evil within the Queen's realm, but now that the telecoms regulator Ofcom is opening up locally farmed TV content to the blight of commercialization, it's come up with a suitably austere logo to warn us of its dangers. Basically, any future episodes of Hollyoaks that may contain a "stray" Diet Coke or Nokia N8 within the frame will be preceded by the above P placed within a P, which will prep you for the pernicious potentiality that the programming you are perusing may provoke you into purchasing new property. Capiche?
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Adéu, Barcelona: Mobile World Congress 2011 is over

By Ross Miller posted Feb 18th 2011 9:00AM We've still got a handful of posts in the pipeline, but with the gates closed and everyone in the air heading back to their respective homes, our adventures at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona have come to a close. The good news is we can return to our regular four of hours of sleep each night (a figure that was cut in half this week). The bad news is the heartache of leaving behind gorgeous scenery and delicious paella. Take a look at some of our highlights below! Microsoft shows off WP7's future with multitasking, Twitter integration, and IE9, all coming this year
Windows Phone 7's multitasking uses zoomed-out cards to check on your apps
Microsoft Rally Ball demo shows Windows Phone 7, Kinect, Xbox Live living in perfect harmony (video)
Windows Phone 7 update with copy and paste, CDMA support coming in 'early March'
See the new Windows Phone 7 features in motion (video)
Live from Steve Ballmer's MWC 2011 keynote! The Engadget Interview: Nokia CEO Stephen Elop talks Microsoft, Symbian, MeeGo, and Windows Phone
Debunk: Elop never said Microsoft is paying Nokia billions of dollars to use Windows Phone
The Engadget Interview: Microsoft's Aaron Woodman talks Windows Phone 7 and Nokia
Nokia: 'Our first priority is beating Android'
Nokia hints we'll see first Windows Phone 7 device this year
Live from 'An Evening With Nokia' at MWC 2011! HTC launches 1.5GHz, 7-inch Android 2.4 Flyer into the tablet wars (update: hands-on video!)
HTC Flyer vs. Galaxy Tab vs. iPad... fight!
A closer look at the HTC Flyer's screen, stylus, and Scribe
HTC refreshes Android lineup with Incredible S, Desire S and Wildfire S (update: hands-on)
HTC Incredible S, Desire S, and Wildfire S video hands-on
HTC Salsa and Chacha bring the dedicated Facebook button to Android (update: eyes-on) Samsung Galaxy S II official: dual-core 1GHz CPU, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus, coming this month (hands-on with video)
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 official: Tegra 2, Honeycomb, dual cameras (hands-on with video)
T-Mobile Galaxy S 4G hands-on
Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 preview (video)
Samsung Galaxy Ace, Gio, Fit, and mini gather for a mega hands-on
Motorola Xoom vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 vs. LG G-Slate -- battle of the Tegra 2 Honeycomb tablets Eric Schmidt: 'We certainly tried' to get Nokia to use Android
Next version of Android will combine Gingerbread and Honeycomb, arrive on a six-month cycle
Google demos Android Movie Studio for Honeycomb
Live from Eric Schmidt's MWC 2011 keynote
Google's MWC 2011 Android booth tour LG Optimus Pad first hands-on! (video)
LG Optimus 3D hands-on
Android-powered LG Revolution caught streaming Netflix at MWC (video)
Motorola Xoom vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 vs. LG G-Slate -- battle of the Tegra 2 Honeycomb tablets Sony Ericsson Xperia family portrait at MWC 2011
Sony Ericsson Xperia Play MWC 2011 hands-on! (updated with video)
Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro first hands-on! (updated with video)
Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc preview (video)
Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo first hands-on! (updated with video)
Live from Sony Ericsson's MWC 2011 press event!
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Vodafone announces Webbox, gives internet access to the developing world

While many of us are focused on the latest and greatest consumer tech, there are many parts of the globe still waiting for utilities we take for granted -- like electricity, running water, and access to the internet. Developing nations do have access to cellphones, however. Vodafone is keenly aware of this fact, and its latest product, the Webbox, will bring the internet to anyone with a TV and access to 2.5G or EDGE networks. The Webbox is essentially a QWERTY keyboard -- with the data hardware from a phone stuffed inside -- that connects to a TV through basic RCA cables and allows for a relatively speedy internet experience by compressing data by around 90 percent. It's dead simple to set up, as you simply plug in the RCA's and switch on the device -- an Opera Mini browser pops up on screen and allows users to start surfing the world wide web immediately. An app store, some games, and a text editor are baked into the portal, and the ability to send email and SMS messages is included is well. Vodafone is selling the device -- which comes with a 2GB SD card and 100MB of data -- in South Africa for 749 Rand ($102), with other markets and a two year contract plan to be added later this year. Check out the Webbox, and all its elegant simplicity, in the video after the break.

RIM adding BBM app gifting to BlackBerry App World

So you've got this hot new "super app" off BlackBerry App World, and want to share it with a friend? You could message them the name of the program, but that's so 2010. Soon, BlackBerry's going to have its very own "Gift This App" functionality through BBM, which will let you take advantage of that handy new carrier billing to debit the cost of the item and wing it to your recipient. RIM envisions the functionality used by parents who want to limit their children's access too, by taking full control of their purchases and subscriptions from their own remote handset. Now, we'll just sit back, relax and wait for RIM to ping us with a release date. PR after the break. Show full PR textRIM Announces Plans to Provide Carriers with new BBM Mobile Gifting Platform

February 14, 2011

New mobile gifting platform will integrate with BlackBerry App World and carrier billing systems to allow BlackBerry subscribers to instantly gift airtime, apps and other carrier services from one subscriber to another using BBM

Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced plans for an innovative mobile gifting platform for carriers that will allow one authorized BlackBerry® subscriber to use their post-paid or pre-paid account to conveniently, securely and instantly approve and pay for airtime, apps or other carrier services requested by another BlackBerry subscriber.

The innovative BBM mobile gifting platform will integrate with BlackBerry App World™ and carrier billing systems and allow the gifting requests and approvals to be handled directly between the BlackBerry subscribers using BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger) with transactions that are secure, authenticated and non-repudiable. The platform will also allow carriers to more easily sell airtime to BlackBerry prepaid subscribers (for the subscriber's own use).

"RIM is committed to aligning with carrier business models to deliver innovative and relevant mobile commerce solutions," said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at RIM. "There will be many usage scenarios and circumstances that can be accommodated through the BBM mobile gifting platform around the world, but the easiest for many people to readily envision and appreciate is the simplified act of a parent approving their child's request for additional airtime minutes or an app purchase with a single click using BBM."

The introduction of such convenient and tightly integrated services based on the BBM mobile gifting platform will enhance mobile commerce and enable carriers to provide unique value to their customers. BlackBerry subscribers will be able to buy or gift airtime, apps and other carrier services and charge the purchases to their existing postpaid or prepaid account, or alternatively pay for the purchases through various other payment methods.

Gemalto puts Facebook on a SIM chip, Zuckerberg's plan for world domination coming along nicely

Smart card guru Gemalto is going to help Mark Zuckerberg take over the world! Ok, not really, but the company has made it possible to put Facebook on just about every GSM phone on earth by running it on a SIM chip. This allows every poke, friend request, and wall post to be transmitted by SMS -- meaning no data plan required -- so that the non-smartphone crowd can access Facebook on the go too. Gemalto, using only the brightest and most creative marketing minds out there, has named the solution "Facebook for SIM." Users get a free trial for an undisclosed period of time before a subscription for the service becomes necessary -- carriers are positively salivating at the prospect of all that extra SMS traffic lining their already deep pockets, no doubt. We knew that Mark had big plans for putting Facebook on phones, but we didn't figure that dumbphones would get to join in the social networking fun. Finally, a chicken in every pot and a Facebook phone (or three) in every home.

Fujitsu unveils world's first MeeGo netbook, world barely notices

It hasn't been a terribly good week for MeeGo, but there's a scant silver lining in the cloud -- the first MeeGo netbook has arrived in Singapore, courtesy of Fujitsu. Actually, to be precise, it's the first netbook to ship with MeeGo preinstalled, as Fujitsu's simply shoehorned the lightweight operating system onto its existing LifeBook MH330 machine. Sadly, the MH330's about as boring as they come -- it's a plain vanilla 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 ultraportable with 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and a 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 LED-backlit screen. The company says it's customized MeeGo to take advantage of hardware buttons, but other than that there's nothing noteworthy here, just a (roughly $400) netbook that managed to find a place in the annals of history for being the first to preinstall an operating system that's already on the outs -- albeit a very pleasant, quickly-booting one. PR after the break.