Right on schedule, the Barnes and Noble Nook is kicking out a software update (we rebooted to get the download to start). We’ve heard this will fix some of the issues we had with the unit in our review — but we’ll update you once we’ve had a little time to play around with it.
Some things we’ve noticed so far:
‘Tis the season shop until your brains melt (or skip it all entirely, depending on your interpretation of the term holiday). In that spirit, for the next few weeks we’ll be rounding up a dozen daily deals courtesy our friends at DealNews.com. Each afternoon tune in to TUAW for this handy summary. Keep in mind that while our posts will live on, the deals won’t. Each is lovingly generated by the deal-bot every day, so get ‘em while they’re hot. Enjoy!
MacUpdate Promo: [Home & Hobbies Software] Videobox 2 and MainMenu 2 for Mac downloads for free
Last month, we wrote about the VoIP startup Jajah being the target of a bidding war. Today, it appears that war is over, with the winner being O2, and the price being $200 million, according to a report sent out by the financial website TheMarker, and being circulated by Reuters.
It was believed that Microsoft and Cisco were two other companies that were vying to get the company. Back in June, the company served up its 1 billionth VoIP call. While the company has some 15 million subscribers of its own, many of the calls originate from Yahoo Messenger, which has used Jajah since 2008 for its VoIP calls. They also have a deal in place with Microsoft.
Matt’s back with another Count The Beats interview (full of insightful thought-provoking content), waiting for you to devour and digest. Happy holidays!
We got together with Toyo from Amidio, the creators of the mighty Noise.io Pro [iTunes Link] synth app (and other cool music apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch), to get the inside scoop on their newest app, Touch DJ [iTunes Link], the rewards of playing eastern wind instruments, some down-to-earth points on developing for the iPhone / iPod touch platform, as well as Amidio’s thoughts on the future of mobile music creation.
A tipster who has proven to be reliable in the past says that Barnes and Noble’s Nook will get a software update this week — most likely around Tuesday. The update itself looks to be fairly sizeable, in that it looks like it will improve some of the major issues we’ve had with the e-reader — like page refresh rate and a lot of other little speed issues. Our tipster also says they’ve played with an updated unit and that it’s much, much better, so we’re interested to see for ourselves when the update goes down. Until then, check out the list of bugs and fixes (which is only a partial list) we’re hearing the update will include after the break.
Continue reading Barnes & Noble Nook to get an update this week? Sure sounds like it
Can’t wait for another Engadget Show to roll around? Well you’re in luck, friend. It’s happening today.
The last show of the decade will be dedicated to just that: the decade. We’re going to be talking about the most important gadgets of the past 10 years — both good and bad — and we’ll be joined by the perfect guest. Peter Rojas, the founder of both Gizmodo and Engadget (and now gdgt!) will take the stage with Josh, Paul, and Nilay to discuss what has been arguably the most important 10 years in gadgetry.
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The following guest post was written by Edo Segal (@edosegal).
It was 1993 and I had just decided to drop out of college. I was a graphic design major in a great art school but decided I want to start my second company. Knowing this would mark the conclusion of my studies there I set out to create my final project. I would write a short story, design and produce it in print. I put out an edition of 300 and gave it to my friends and people who inspired me like author William Gibson.
Saturday Night Live’s ‘Weekend Update’ with Seth Meyers joined the fray of people who were sick of AT&T’s poor network reception:
“It was reported this week that Google would soon launch its own cellphone as a challenge to the iPhone. Also a challenge to the iPhone? Making phone calls.”
OK, so we know a thing or two about the “convenience” of using your iPhone as a remote control. For instance, using it to control Boxee was alright — until we needed to make a call. Or we received a call. Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but the idea of re-purposing your phone to act as a universal remote seems a little silly. But what do we know? Maybe you hold all calls while Jersey Shore is on anyways. In that case, Re could be your next favorite gadget. This bad boy lets your handset communicate with all your AV equipment via infrared, contains an extensive database of devices, and can learn from any IR remote. If that weren’t enough, New Kinetix promises regular updates to the app — and your typical remote can’t do that! Compatible with the iPod Touch as well, there’s no word yet on a price or release date, but we’re expecting that we’ll be getting plenty more details come CES time.
“It was reported this week that Google would launch its own cellphone as a challenge to the iPhone. Also a challenge to the iPhone? Making phone calls.”
Cue uproarious applause.