Google made a big splash when it revealed plans to offer Chromebooks to enterprise and education customers under a subscription model. What’s not clear is how much of a splash it actually made in those markets. While the notion of paying a monthly fee for three years, instead of buying a machine up front sounds like a game changer, some people just like the comfort of the familiar. To that end Google is now offering those same customers the option to purchase a Chromebook (with a year of support included) in one lump sum — $449 for the WiFi model or $519 for the 3G to educational customers, while business are looking at $559 and $639 respectively. After that first year is through, customers have the option to sign up for a monthly support contract, at $5 a month for education and $13 a month for enterprise.
Chromebooks now available to enterprise and education customers with a pay-once option originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Today, Windows Division prexy Steven Sinofsky treated Build 2011 attendees to a walkthrough of the various tweaks, subtle or otherwise, Microsoft’s made to Windows 8. Staying true to its roots, the new OS implements the familiar keyboard commands users have become accustomed to over the years — you know, like CMD and Ctrl+F. And as for its update to Internet Explorer, MS has imbued its tenth iteration with the ability to switch between the much-hyped Metro-style UI and plain old desktop view — all according to your whimsy. Of course, Redmond’s instituted other sweeping changes across the platform, and you can check some of the highlights after the break.
Continue reading Windows 8 details: new features, UI enhancements and everything in between
Windows 8 details: new features, UI enhancements and everything in between originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hey, it’s our old pal, the Acer W4. We’ve heard tell of the device and seen our share of
mockups, and this week at IFA, we actually got to play with the thing. The 3.6-inch handset is fairly compact, and pretty slick looking, with its black front and curved white backing. It’s not particularly exciting on the spec side, with its 1GHz Qualcomm processor. Nope, what’s most exciting here is the inclusion of
Mango, which should look rather familiar to Windows Phone 7 owners, while adding some welcomed updates to the mix.
According to Acer, the handset should be arrive some point next month, though the company isn’t offering up much in terms of pricing. Check out a hands-on video after the break.
Continue reading Acer W4 hands-on (video)
Filed under: Cellphones
Acer W4 hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Well folks, now we know. It looks like the HTC Ruby that was leaked via a series of hyper-sensitive office photos is headed to T-Mobile. You know
the one — a couple weeks back, when someone underestimated the glare of the
HTC Flyer and dropped their seemingly harmless photos on Flickr? Yeah, that’s the handset in question. Not much dirt on the specs, besides the familiar key layout cluing us into Google’s obvious underpinnings.. and just maybe, we’ll get some fresh baked
Gingerbread goodness. Either way, more info should be on the way soon, but until then, careful to check
your reflections, friends.
HTC Ruby shows its T-Mobile skin, Android aspirations originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 03:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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For the past few weeks, I’ve been doing most of my typing on a Matias Tactile Pro 3 — a mechanical keyboard that’s much like the original Apple Extended or IBM Model M keyboards, in function, if not appearance. If you’re not old enough to remember those, that means it relies on mechanical key switches instead of the rubber membrane used by most keyboards these days. You feel, and hear every key press — and, after you’ve used one for a while, you’ll be much more aware of the mushy alternative hiding under other keyboards, and likely find them quite unsatisfying.
Mechanical keyboards have seen a slight resurgence as of late among gamers, who value their accuracy, but they mostly remain a niche product for folks like me — writers who might also happen to collect manual typewriters, or coders who honed their skills to their familiar clickety-clack sound in the 80s and 90s. I bring this up because it’s not just keyboards that have gotten less “tactile” in recent years, but computing and consumer electronics in general — and that includes cellphones.
Continue reading Editorial: A less tactile future, and how to avoid it
Editorial: A less tactile future, and how to avoid it originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Go to Lenovo’s online store looking for an X Series laptop to call your own and you’ll be greeted by the familiar X201. But go to Lenovo’s spec sheet repository and you’ll find a lush PDF file detailing a new ThinkPad X220 model that seems set to become available very shortly indeed. Sized at a somewhat unconventional 12.5 inches, this fresh contender will feature a new “buttonless” touchpad — though it retains the mouse keys in support of the TrackPoint navigator — while offering the sweet nectar of a 1366 x 768 IPS display, up to a 2.7GHz Core i7-2620QM CPU, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and a choice of Intel SSDs ranging up to 160GB. The 9-cell battery is rated to last you 15 hours and there’s an additional external battery pack that will keep you tether-free for 23 hours. Click past the break for the full specs.
[Thanks, Chris]
Continue reading Lenovo posts ThinkPad X220 specs online, includes IPS display, SSD, and 23-hour battery options
Lenovo posts ThinkPad X220 specs online, includes IPS display, SSD, and 23-hour battery options originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 04:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You are standing in an open field as usual, or perhaps you’re in the darkness, likely to be eaten by a grue, but the words aren’t etching their way into your soul from the familiar computer terminal — they’re on freshly printed paper. Like a player piano, the Automatypewriter lets you play games like Zork by automatically keying in letters via a series of solenoids and fishing line to tell you where you are, and it records your input, too; every time you type “XYZZY” in vain, it’s an Arduino board that sends signals to the text parser, which directs a hollow voice to pity your foolish word. Forget the iPad typewriter — this is old-school. See it in action after the break, or hit the source link for the schematics to build one yourself. Just be sure to install Planetfall, too.
Continue reading Interactive fiction meets interactive typewriter, pilfers the kingdoms of Zork (video)
Interactive fiction meets interactive typewriter, pilfers the kingdoms of Zork (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Oct 2010 18:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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