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50MB broadband for folks in the UK

If you happen to live in the UK and want a speedy Internet connection, you might be pleased with news that initial trials by Virgin Media managed to deliver 50MB broadband to the Berkshire village of Woolhampton thanks to the use of telegraph poles. Homes that are hooked up to Virgin Media’s fibre optic network directly will be able to increase broadband speeds by over ten-fold compared to BT’s copper network. There is no word on a national rollout by Virgin Media yet, but you can be assured that when it is available, many more people will jump aboard the torrent bandwagon.

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TiVo will be offered by Virgin Media in UK later this year

One of the three points I laid out as TiVo’s keys to survival was to partner with more content providers. And just like that, Virigin Media announced it will be offering TiVo set-top boxes to its 3.8 million subscribers sometime this year. This move, along with the Conax partnership, makes TiVo a major player in the European DVR market. See, I told you the company didn’t deserve the deathwatch label.

TiVo returning to the UK thanks to partnership with Virgin Media

It looks like TiVo’s freshly minted Premiere hardware will soon be setting sail eastwards as The Daily Telegraph is reporting Virgin Media’s next generation set-top box will be built around it. Loyal readers of Engadget HD will already be aware that TiVo and Virgin hooked up last November and this latest news relates to the first hardware to be spawned from that relationship. According to TiVo CEO Tom Rogers, the Premiere will “heavily inspire the development work” going into Virgin’s next TV appendage, which may or may not mean that the cable company will simply rebadge the well-received new boxes. What’s assured though is much greater integration with online content, with search linking you out to Amazon, BBC’s iPlayer, YouTube or good old standard broadcast channels. The whole thing’s about unlimited choice, apparently, and should be showing up on the Queen’s isles by the end of this year. We can wait, but we’d rather we didn’t have to.

TiVo returning to the UK thanks to partnership with Virgin Media originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PRS Guitarbud jacks your axe, ego into iPhone / iPod touch

Whatever happened to that dreamy Line 6 / Apple tie-up? Who knows, right? While those two sort out their future behind the scenes, Paul Reed Smith Guitars is stepping up to take advantage of an obvious market opportunity. The newly announced Guitarbud is a simplistic accessory that allows axe slingers to jack their guitar into an iPhone or second-generation iPod touch, all while providing a headphone output in order to keep the noise making to yourself. We’re told that the device works with pretty much any recording-supported app (even Apple’s own Voice Memos), though PRS obviously recommends that you check out its JamApp guitar amp simulator / tuner / training tool. Best of all, it’s available today for £29.95 (or $29.95 here in the States), putting you just a few yard mowings away from securing your own personal aural sanctuary. Too bad the reviews from early adopters aren’t so promising…

PRS Guitarbud jacks your axe, ego into iPhone / iPod touch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung NaviBot SR8845 / SR8855 vacuum cleaner hands-on

Continue reading Samsung NaviBot SR8845 / SR8855 vacuum cleaner hands-on

Samsung NaviBot SR8845 / SR8855 vacuum cleaner hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Customer greeted with malware on Vodafone-issued HTC Magic (good thing it’s discontinued)

Crapware’s bad enough, but having your life torn asunder simply by plugging in that shiny new (insert USB-connected device here) is an exciting new trend — viruses find their way into the darnedest places, don’t they? It seems an employee at anti-malware firm Panda Research who’d ordered a new Magic off Vodafone UK’s site was greeted with no fewer than three nefarious executables upon plugging the device into her PC: a bot client, a password stealer, and a Conficker variant, and running a network sniffer quickly confirmed that the virii were live and ready to do harm as soon as the autorun in the Magic’s mounted mass storage was executed on her Windows machine. If this were a widespread issue, we’d certainly have heard about it in other places, so odds are good (as Panda points out) that this was simply a case of HTC or Vodafone doing an awful job of wiping a refurbished set — but it gives you pause and kind of makes you wish you worked for an anti-malware firm, at least on days when you’re plugging in a new phone for the first time. The silver lining, we suppose, is that Vodafone has recently discontinued the Magic, though that creates another problem: the only Android device it currently stocks now is the lowly Tattoo, so the X10 and Nexus One can’t come soon enough.

Customer greeted with malware on Vodafone-issued HTC Magic (good thing it’s discontinued) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Adamo XPS removed from system

Strange as it might sound, Dell’s Adamo XPS is no longer available in the company’s system for those living Stateside, although it is still available in the UK via Dell’s exclusive retail deal with John Lewis, although there were just seven units left in stock about an hour back. This is rather strange considering the system shipped just in December. We are curious to know what Dell has up their sleeves though.

Update 3/8 3pm PT: Dell has informed us that you might still find the Adamo XPS at BestBuy.com and in select BestBuy stores. The Adamo XPS is seen by Dell as a “limited edition”, and they told us that future Adamo products would be introduced in the future.

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Is O2 UK Hinting That The Next-gen iPhone Will Support Video Calls?

The lack of video calls has been an irritating issue to many iPhone users who view video calling as an important feature of modern phones. Many rumors have been hinting that the next generation iPhone, the iPhone 4G, will be getting a front-facing camera, and will support video calls. Now it seems that the O2 UK site has listed the price of video calling for iPhones in its tariff chart. Could this be an error by a sloppy designer, or is it an accidental leak, and a sign of things to come? Is video calling an important feature for you, or do you think that it’s just a waste of time?

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The many varied opinions of Final Fantasy XIII: Was Square Enix trying to please too many people simultaneously?

Final Fantasy XIII comes out on Tuesday, but Square Enix’s review embargo must have lifted yesterday, since pretty much ever Web site ever has published their review. Not us, of course. That’s fine. I’ll just buy the game and play it quietly by myself next week. Be that as it may, let’s see what people are saying about it.

HTC: Don’t put the Nexus One in your hipster jeans

The wording in the headline may not be, you know, exactly what HTC said – but it might as well be.

After the folks over at Crave UK woke up to a broken screen — which they swear isn’t their fault, as the device had just been sitting on a desk charging — full of inky purple rage on their Nexus One , they shot a call over to HTC support. After investigating the device, HTC sent back a response: they were stumped.

Apple iPad gets April 3 release date

Forget about March 26th – the Apple iPad is slated (pun intended) for an April 3rd release instead. This news did not dampen the spirits of the folks at Wall Street since the share price for Apple did not suffer a drop at all with word on a slight delay. Orders for the Wi-Fi only and 3G + Wi-Fi version will commence on March 12 on Apple’s website. As for those living in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, you ought to be able to get yours before April is over.

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iPad launches on April 3rd, pre-orders begin March 12th

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/iPad_launches_on_April_3rd_pre_orders_begin_March_12th’; Word from Apple is out — so get your credit cards ready. The iPad will be launching on Saturday April 3rd (and on the shelves, er… display tables at Apple retail stores), but you’ll be able to plunk down cold, hard cash for it in just a week. Pre-orders will begin on March 12th for the US version (non-3G) for that April street date, with the 3G version coming in late April along with iPads for eager buyers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Says our man Steve Jobs: “We’re excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.” Remember, it’s magic. US pricing will be as follows (just in case you need to figure out how many piggy banks to smash):

• 16GB WiFi only — $499
• 32GB WiFi only — $599
• 64GB WiFi only — $699
• 16GB WiFi + 3G — $629
• 32GB WiFi + 3G — $729
• 64GB WiFi + 3G — $829

Need more info? Full PR after the break!

Continue reading iPad launches on April 3rd, pre-orders begin March 12th

iPad launches on April 3rd, pre-orders begin March 12th originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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