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EE flips the switch on its faster 4G network in London

EE’s been conducting closed trials of LTE-Advanced technology since last year , so imagine the red faces when Vodafone reported earlier this month that its own faster 4G network was about to go live in three cities. EE’s now being forced to play catch-up, but it’s well on its way today after flipping its LTE-A network live in parts of central London, including Kensington, Old Street, Shoreditch, Soho, Southbank and Westminster. This 4G+ network, as EE brands it, should cover the whole of Greater London by the middle of next year, before rolling out to other big cities like Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester later. While standard LTE can deliver a theoretical maximum download speed of 150 Mbps, LTE-A doubles that to a maximum speed of 300 Mbps (though real-world speeds tend to be around half the max). In EE’s case, this is achieved by combining spectrum from the 2.6GHz band with its existing 1800MHz network (a process known as carrier aggregation). While everyone should see speed improvements due to increased network capacity, only smartphones with a Cat 6 LTE radio capable of tuning into the 2.6GHz band will be able to enjoy the top speeds. Currently, the only Cat 6 devices EE have to offer are the Samsung Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy Note 4 , though there are compatible handsets available to buy elsewhere. Filed under: Wireless , Mobile Comments Source: EE

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EE flips the switch on its faster 4G network in London

It’s official: Lenovo owns Motorola

The cash has been handed over, the contracts are signed and the lawyers are sipping champagne, which can only mean that Lenovo’s deal to buy Motorola has been completed. The purchase makes Lenovo the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, and the Chinese company has been quick to promise not to meddle. The outfit has pledged to keep Motorola based in Chicago, and CEO Rick Osterloh will keep his job at the head of the table. What will change, is that Motorola will now be able to sell its devices in Lenovo’s Asian and European strongholds, which should help the pair meet its pledge to sell 100 million smartphones and tablets this year. The pair have also pledged to return Motorola to profitability by mid-2016, which seems a lot more plausible with a stable of devices that include the Nexus 6 , Droid Turbo and Moto 360 . Filed under: Cellphones , Tablets , Google , Lenovo Comments Via: Re/code Source: Lenovo

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It’s official: Lenovo owns Motorola

Startup wants to raise $1.8 million to build giant fighting robots

The folks at MegaBots Inc. dream of making humongous machines: 15-foot-tall, 15, 000-pound piloted robots to be exact. And they don’t want to build them for rescue missions or military use — nope, these robots are designed to duke it out in an arena à la Real Steel , except instead of using fists, they shoot each other with high-powered paint guns. A now-defunct convention called RoboGames used to have a real-life robot combat event, but this startup’s plans are obviously a lot grander in scale. Each MegaBot is big enough to carry a pilot and a gunner within its body (just like in mecha anime), with the latter in charge of firing paint-filled projectiles going at 120 mph at their opponents. While all these giant fighting robots deal sound too unreal, the team has managed to build a prototype upper body, arm, gun placement and weapon system these past months. The startup obviously still needs a ton of cash to make its fantastical dreams come true, though, so it’s trying to raise a whopping $1.8 million via Kickstarter . In case it does reach its goal, the money will be used to build two robots and make them “fight to the death, ” or more like fight until the other’s armor and panels start coming off. A very generous $10, 000 pledge will get your logo emblazoned on one of the MegaBots. But if you’d rather own it yourself, well, you’ll have to empty your coffers, so to speak, as a single one will cost you $1 million. Filed under: Robots Comments Source: Megabots , Kickstarter

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Startup wants to raise $1.8 million to build giant fighting robots

Apple explains its busted iOS 8.0.1 update

Sure, Apple’s already fixed that buggy iOS 8.0.1 update that disconnected devices from their networks and just pretty much broke iPhones for a while. It’s even been a month since then, but you still can’t let it go until you get an explanation, huh? Well, friends, this is probably the closest thing you’ll ever get: apparently, there was nothing wrong with the update itself, and it was Apple’s distribution methods or how the update was “wrapped” that broke devices. At Recode’s Code/Mobile conference earlier, Apple product marketing executive Greg “Joz” Joswiak said the issue resulted from “the way the software was being sent over servers, ” though he didn’t go into specifics. He also defended his company, claiming that mistakes are inevitable when you’re pushing software and that Apple always tries to fix them quickly. Since Joz dismissed questions on whether he thinks the company has bigger quality control issues, you’ll just have to speculate about that on your own. Filed under: Cellphones , Tablets , Mobile , Apple Comments Source: Recode

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Apple explains its busted iOS 8.0.1 update

Mobile pushes Facebook to even greater heights

…And Facebook’s march towards utter market dominance continues unabated. While Twitter enjoys plenty of success, and we’re sure someone out there still uses Google+ , there’s no denying that the king of the social networking hill is Facebook. And during the third quarter of 2014 the company did nothing but extend that lead . In particular the number of mobile users continued to explode at an impressive rate. The average number of monthly mobile users in September was 1.12 billion. (To put that in perspective: Twitter announced just 284 million monthly users across all platforms.) That’s 29 percent more than last year. Most impressively many of those users check in every day . The average daily number of mobile users during the quarter was 703 million. And when you take the desktop into account, usage balloons to 864 million per day — or about 64 percent of its users. Its no surprise with its continued growth that ad revenue has soared for the company. And that mobile ad dollars made up a majority of its income. A full 64 percent of the money coming into Facebook is from ads, and 66 percent of that ad revenue is from mobile. (You know, just in case you needed any more evidence that the future is on mobile.) While Mark Zuckerberg spoke at length about how important WhatsApp and Oculus are to the future of the company, he declined to go into to much detail during his prepared statements. He did however provide an update on Instagram which has seen its audience grow by as much as 100 percent in certain markets over the last year as it continues its international expansion. The mobile photo-sharing network also has an impressive grip on the attention span of its users. The average member apparently spends 21 minutes per-day browsing the service. The move to bring ads to the platform hasn’t seemed to hurt usage yet. Filed under: Internet , Facebook Comments

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Mobile pushes Facebook to even greater heights

Google Fit for Android is ready to compile all of your fitness stats

We first heard about Mountain View’s activity-tracking plans back at I/O, and now the Android faithful and get their hands on the goods. The Google Fit app, the company’s answer to Apple Health , is now available for download, compiling all of those collected fitness stats in the same spot. By leveraging your phone’s sensors, the software monitors walking, running and cycling activity, allowing you to set specific goals and benefit from some friendly advice. Fit also plays nice with third-party apps and devices — and of course, Android Wear gadgets — so that you can get an overall view of your progress from one place. Strava, Withings, Runtastic, Runkeeper and Noom Coach were specifically mentioned in the announcement. What’s more, the initiative can be accessed on the web should the need arise (once you’ve logged in on your phone). Looking to get moving? You’ll need a handset running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or above, but if you meet the requirement, the app is available for download at Google Play . Filed under: Software , Mobile , Google Comments Via: The Next Web Source: Google Play , Android Official Blog

This is Verizon’s Droid Turbo: 5.2-inch Quad HD display, up to 48 hours of battery life

What’s black and Kevlar and screams “turbo”? Okay, yes, a modded BMW M3. But also Verizon’s latest smartphone, the Droid Turbo by Motorola. Regular Engadget readers assuredly know a lot about this phone already : it’s got a 5.2-inch Quad HD AMOLED display covered in Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3, a Kevlar back, and an incredibly long battery life. Verizon’s touting “up to” 48 hours of power and a quick charge feature that nets “up to 8 hours of use” from a 15-minute charge (using a specific charging cable included with the phone, naturally). The Droid Turbo’s not all charge and no oomph: a Snapdragon 805 processor is the heart of the Turbo (a 2.7GHz quad-core CPU) and an Adreno 420 CPU (running at 600MHz) handles graphics on that fancy Quad HD screen. 3GB of RAM handles memory, making all that processor power worth a damn. Should processor speeds not excite you, perhaps megapixel counts will? The camera out back on the Droid Turbo is a whopping 21-megapixels. And yes, relax, your selfies are safe: there’s a front-facing camera with 2MP resolution and 1080p video capability. In terms of the rest of the specs, the Droid Turbo is keeping up with the Joneses with Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11 in all the flavors (a/g/b/n/ac), NFC, and microUSB for connectivity. Verizon’s XLTE comes inside the Droid Turbo as well — surprise! Honestly, it’s just a little frustrating to see this thing debut so shortly after the Moto X first hit the scene. After all, it basically improves on just about everything we didn’t dig about Moto’s recent flagship , so if you just bought one you might want to keep the receipt handy. In fact, all of the voice and gesture ability in Motorola’s Moto X is also in the Droid Turbo. How about that ?! Okay, now the elephant in the room: what’s powering that “up to” 48 hours of battery life? A 3, 900 mAH battery is nestled behind that tough exterior, sitting next to 32GB of internal storage (64GB optionally if you wanna get crazy ). It’s available October 30th; Droid Turbo starts at $199 (with a two-year contract) and jumps to $249 when you add the extra storage. So, how does the phone feel? Is it any good? These are all good questions that we don’t have answers for just yet, but we’ll have a hands-on for you shortly. Hang tight! Filed under: Cellphones , Handhelds , Mobile , Verizon Comments

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This is Verizon’s Droid Turbo: 5.2-inch Quad HD display, up to 48 hours of battery life

Apple to distribute over $100 million worth of iPads in underprivileged schools

Students in 114 schools across the country are about to get free iPads straight from Apple, thanks to the tech titan’s $100 million pledge to President Obama’s ConnectED initiative . Cupertino first announced its support for the project (which aims to give students access to high-speed internet) in February this year, but now we know how the company’s fulfilling its multimillion-dollar promise. According to Apple’s ConnectED page, 96 percent of the students in each of its 114 chosen schools are eligible for free or, at least, reduced-priced lunches. Also, half of the schools are in urban areas, with students who are mostly of Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian heritage. Apple placed emphasis in giving minorities access to technology and knowledge, as they usually don’t, putting them at a disadvantage. The company says it sees “the results of this and other forms of inequality every day”, as “minorities are significantly underrepresented in the technology industry.” In addition to giving every student in the school an iPad , Apple will also provide each teacher with both an iPad and a Mac and will equip classrooms with Apple TV. The company will be assigning special education teams to oversee each school, tailor curricula for the needs of every institution and work with providers to ensure students and teachers have WiFi or cellular connection, as well. You can check out Apple’s ConnectED page for more details, or the complete list of schools to know if there’s one in your area. [Image credit: Getty Images] Inspired by the students, teachers, and administrators at the 114 schools we’re partnering with for ConnectED http://t.co/WTsQT0yAD4 – Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 27, 2014 Filed under: Desktops , Tablets , Apple Comments Source: Apple

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Apple to distribute over $100 million worth of iPads in underprivileged schools

Tesla Model S is now cheaper to lease, comes with a return policy

Tesla has just revealed reduced lease rates for its Model S, along with a “happiness guarantee” that lets you return the EV up to three months after purchase with no penalty. Elon Musk said that buyers in certain states will get rates up to 25 percent lower, thanks to a new deal it struck with US Bank. Leasing currently starts at around $800 per month for a Model S. The return guarantee is “no questions asked, ” but Musk added that it’s not possible to then turn around and lease a newer model unless you pay a pass-through fee. Tesla recently announced a new, more powerful “D” variant of the Model S and, and currently has the Model X SUV and cheaper Model 3 in development. The new lease rates and guarantee have led some to speculate that sales are down, but Tesla told the NYT that “demand remains extremely strong for the cars.” Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: Autoblog Source: Tesla

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Tesla Model S is now cheaper to lease, comes with a return policy

You can finally play the best-ever Star Wars games on a modern PC (updated)

Forget that upcoming Battlefront game for now — the Star Wars titles that hardcore fans have really been looking for are finally here. Good Old Games has announced official re-releases of X-Wing and TIE Fighter that let you play these legendary space combat games (arguably, the best Star Wars games ever) on a modern PC without resorting to bootleg copies or hacks. They’ll cost $10 each when they arrive on October 28th, and they’re Special Editions that include both the CD-ROM content (SVGA graphics! Voiceovers!) as well as all the expansion packs. If you’ve been waiting two decades to once more recreate the Death Star trench run or blow up a Rebel frigate, your moment has come. Update: As you may have suspected, GOG posted those game links prematurely — they disappeared shortly after we posted our story. Come back on the 28th and they should work properly. Filed under: Gaming , Software Comments Via: Sir_Crocodile (NeoGAF) , Kotaku Source: GOG (X-Wing) , (TIE Fighter)

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You can finally play the best-ever Star Wars games on a modern PC (updated)

Ken May

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