Everybody loves “Cupcakes”

The much talked about “Cupcake update” that is supposed to be officially adopted by T-Mobile is still an orphan as no *definitive* release date has been anounced.  Besides the much hyped onscreen keyboard, bug fixes, utility add-ons, and UI tweaks are what make Cupcake sweet.  (weak I know).  The rumored release for Cupcake was end of January.  If that is in fact true, we could see it released within the next few days.  Cross your fingers!

Source: Boy Genius

Motorola i9 coming to Boost Mobile

Since the Razr fad ended, Motorola has found itself unable to escape the once iconic handsets styling.  Most of the phones Motorola has released since then have all revolved around the same “thin” look as well as more or less copy over the keypad.  While the Razr was a great phone in its hayday, times have changed and Motoroloa is sadly falling behind.  If you are a fan of cutting edge design and all kinds of features built in to your phone, Boost Mobile isn’t really the first carrier that is considered.  However, Boost Mobile does have some pretty good prices.  Recently announced was there $50 unlimited everything plan which is by far the best deal in the industry as the bigger carriers don’t and won’t even come close to matching it.  As far as cutting edge handsets…not so much.  However Motorola is determined to win customers back.  One step towards that goal comes today as Motorola announced the Motorola i9.  It is a clamshell, ModeShift, PTT handset that (in my opinion) loosely resembles a more squared off pebl.  Nothing to write home about, but certainly it will excite some.

Source: Boy Genius

Survey says: XP still the speed king

Since Windows 7 beta’s leak and then public release, there have been many posts on how “real world” tests are showing it to be faster than Vista (not hard) and XP.  Do those claims hold any truth?  Infoworld conducted benchmark tests between XP, Vista, and 7.  The results?  XP is still the speed king, 7 trails slightly, and Vista is sucking the dust of the other two.  Infoworld goes on to explain how as processors gain more and more cores and processing power, 7 will surpass XP.  The reason for the slow down with dual and quad core processors is that 7 comes with extra code to manage the multi core processors.  Again, as speeds and cores increase, this current limitation will turn out to be the winning factor.  For the full geek stats head on over to Infoworld.

Benchmark against just Vista

Benchmark against Vista and XP

Source: Engadget, Info World

Microsofts brings back DRM for an encore

DRM…Dead…Psh.  Apparently Microsoft didn’t get the memo that DRM is on the way out.  With companies such as Amazon and Apple’s iTunes distancing themselves from DRM it seems odd for Microsoft to welcome it aboard their MSN Mobile Music service so non shalantly.  What are the restrictions you ask?  For starters, any and all music you download is shackled to the phoen it was downloaded on.  Get a new phone?  You’re screwed.  Want to upload to your computer or burn a CD? Ditto.  I can’t imagine anyone buying into this but according to an interview between PC Pro’s Barry Davis and Head of Mobile of Microsoft UK’s Hugh Griffiths, over one million people have used the service in it’s first year.  When confronted with various questions on the fairness and future of the service Microsoft replied with your common “we’ll keep an eye on it and adjust as conumer complaints feedback come in.  I can’t see how they can add DRM back into a society that is quickly trying to kill and bury the useless technology.  Oh well.  Microsoft will be Microsoft love them or hate them.  To read the full sad, yet amusing article head on over to PC Pro.

Source: PC Pro, Slashdot

Cheap, Reliable HDMI cables

After an article/rant on Monster’s appearance at CES, a pretty heated comment was left by supposedly a Monster employee.  Long story short we had completely different viewpoints.  It’s no surprise that Monster cables are expensive.  It’s also no surprise that you can find HDMI cables elsewhere for cheaper.  Where you ask?  Crunchgear is reporting that Merit Line has a 2-pack of 6ft. HDMI cables for $6…including shipping!  Definitely beats the $50-$75 you’d pay for “name brand” cables.  The cables are 30-gauge and gold tipped.  Need more length? How about a 2-pack of 10ft. cables for $11 shipped?  Monoprice is another good spot to check for cables and other A/V supplies if Merit Line doesn’t have exactly what you are looking for.

Source: Crunch Gear, Merit Lane, Monoprice

Sony laying off up to 16,000 by March of 2010!

And you though Microsoft was having a bad year.  Sony, who will post a massive net loss of $2.9 billion will be letting 16,000 employees go between now March of 2010.  Interesting side note: Sony hasn’t had an operating loss in 14 years.  The change that is coming to Sony won’t be the most fun, or fair.  The changes include everything from the bleeding of employees, to shutting several plants, cutting back at others, paycuts, early retirement options, as well as restructured management.  Hopefully the economy starts going uphill and soon.

Source: Boy Genius, Daily Tech

HTC Touch Cruise with “Footprints” Geo-tagging

picture property of Engadget

The Touch Cruise part Deux is coming to you today compliments of HTC.  The redesigned Cruise offers a more elegant, smaller shell with a new “Footprints” geo-tagging feature included allowing location data to be shared with pictures and notes.  Other features of Cruise part Deux include:

• 2.8″ QVGA screen
• 528 MHz (Qualcomm MSM7225A platform)
• 512 MB ROM
• 256MB RAM
• Quad band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 Mhz, EDGE/GPRS, UMTS/HSDPA 2100
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR
• 3.2 Megapixel Camera
• microSD card slot
• Removable 1100 mAh Li-ion battery

The Footprints feature will is geo-tagging on steroids in that it will allow you to take notes and audio clips and save them according to location. Neat indeed!  Look for the unlocked American version to go for between $500-$600 with a release date of Q2.  Click through for mor pics.