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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

Alienware’s got a massive $300 dock for your new graphics card

We know what you’re thinking: What the hell is a “graphics amplifier”? (Some of you smartasses are probably also wondering if it goes to 11 .) In fact, it is what it sounds like: The Amplifier, a new accessory from Alienware, is a big ol’ shell that lives on your desk, with room for nearly any desktop-grade GPU (anything up to 375 watts). Once you get that set up, you plug the thing into your gaming laptop via a cable and boom, your notebook is suddenly running off a desktop-grade GPU, not the mobile one that came built inside the chassis. As a bonus, the Amplifier also has four powered USB ports, so you can also use this as a docking station for your keyboard, mouse, monitor, et cetera. And yes, that glowing Alienware head on the front has customizable lighting. Of course it does. Sounds kinda rad, right? Right. Well, except for one teeny detail: This requires a proprietary, PCI-Express-based cable, one that only works on the new Alienware 13 . According to a Dell spokesperson, future models will use the same connection port, but for now, even if you have an older Alienware machine you’re outta luck. Of course, too, if you own a notebook from another brand, like Razer or ASUS, this will be of absolutely no use to you. Which makes sense: Dell wants to give people an incentive to buy Alienware laptops. This is, at the end of the day, just an Alienware add-on and little more. But come on, imagine how many of these Dell would sell if it could make the thing work using a common standard. Assuming we haven’t taken the winds out of your sails, this is up for preorder today for $299 in the US and £199 in the UK (GPU not included), and is expected to ship sometime in November. As for the rest of you, well, we’ll always have Spinal Tap , right? Filed under: Gaming , Dell Comments

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Alienware’s got a massive $300 dock for your new graphics card

In 72 hours, Apple Pay is already the wireless payment leader in the US

Paying with your phone still feels fancy, and at WSJD Live today, Apple CEO Tim Cook explained that the company has already registered 1 million customers. Compared to say, iPhone sales, it might not seem all that impressive, but Cook added that Visa and Mastercard apparently said that if you summed up everyone else in the contactless payment market, these kinds of numbers make Apple number one in wireless payments. Already. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile , Apple Comments

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In 72 hours, Apple Pay is already the wireless payment leader in the US

Nextbit is bringing iOS-like app continuity and ‘limitless’ storage to Android

You may just about recall that Nextbit, a startup formed by ex-Googlers, has been collaborating with Cyanogen on a “really cool” secret project . As it turns out, this is all about the continuity experience across Android devices — very timely given the recent launch of OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.1 , which boast a set of continuity features. Nextbit’s offering is dubbed Baton, and as the name suggests, it lets you quickly pass an app’s state from one Android device to another, meaning you can continue playing on the same level in a game, editing the same document in an app or browsing the same web page right away; with the precondition being the second device must also have Baton and the same app installed. Better yet, app developers don’t have to do anything at all; existing apps should just work. To toggle a pass, simply hold down the “Recent Apps” Android soft key and then choose your desired target device. In a matter of seconds, the target device will wake up and launch the same app in the same state. Similarly, you can do the same to pass the app to the previous device or to a new one — provided that it’s already associated with your CyanogenMod account, running Baton and has the identical app installed. In the case where the passed app isn’t yet installed, the OS will prompt you to download it. The more we look at this, the more we wonder why didn’t Google come up with this. “We’ve taken the cloud and we’ve deeply integrated it into the OS itself, ” Nextbit CEO Tom Moss said proudly. Interestingly, Nextbit’s Baton somewhat contrasts with iOS’ Handoff by getting the user to “push” an app’s state to a target device, as opposed to pulling an app onto one’s selected device. Different initiations, but similar ideas. That said, Handoff only works on iOS and OS X apps that use its APIs (which isn’t surprising given the cross-platform nature), whereas Baton has the advantage of requiring literally no dev work at all. Don’t be mistaken: Baton isn’t an app that you download from the Play Store. Rather, it’s a framework that utilizes the cloud to keep apps and data constantly in sync across multiple Android devices. And since the state of the apps plus the UI’s look and feel are backed up daily, Baton also lets you restore to your desired moment. In fact, this particular part of Baton is already being shipped as a white label product on Japan’s NTT Docomo devices as of last week, and Nextbit is in talks with Chinese OEMs to spread the love further. OnePlus One will definitely be getting Baton. Likewise, Baton will only be available on devices made or sold by licensees, and Moss said he’s getting a pretty good momentum in terms of establishing partnerships. This feature is currently only available to select testers who are running the latest version of CyanogenMod, though Nextbit will soon be launching an invite-only beta program. We’re also told that Baton’s first public release will debut on the “commercially distributed Cyanogen operating system” at some point this year; and yes, this means the popular OnePlus One will definitely be getting Baton. But this is only just the beginning for Nextbit. Seeing that 50 percent of smartphone users run out of storage within the first 12 months, the startup’s next goal is to enable “limitless” storage — local storage and cloud storage combined as one — on Android devices. The execs didn’t dive into details since they are in talks with a carrier partner, but on paper it’s simple: This is achieved by intelligently moving data between local storage and the cloud, so the user wouldn’t notice a thing. “We don’t want to change users’ behaviour, so we’re keeping it totally seamless, ” said Scott Croyle , HTC’s former lead designer. “It’s all about solving the real pain points on our mobile devices, ” Moss added. Filed under: Software , Mobile Comments

Google exec sets a new record for highest-altitude jump (video)

Move over Felix Baumgartner (pictured above) — just two years after the daredevil’s record setting 128, 000 foot Red Bull Stratos space jump , Google VP Alan Eustace has topped it. The New York Times reports Eustace rode a balloon 135, 908 feet above New Mexico and dove back to Earth, opting for just a specially designed spacesuit / life support system instead of Baumgartner’s capsule + suit combo . It took two hours for the ride up, and another 15 minutes for the trip down, which peaked at speeds of up to 800 mph before the parachute system kicked in, and he glided back down to a landing site 70 miles away from where he started. He’s apparently been working on the project since 2011, and declined assistance from Google to go it alone, working with Paragon Space Development Corporation on the project, dubbed “StratEx.” He recorded the whole thing on GoPro cameras (of course) and you can watch highlights from the feat embedded after the break. [Image credit: AP Photo/Red Bull Stratos, Balazs Gardi] Filed under: Misc , Transportation , Google Comments Via: Larry Page (G+) Source: New York Times , Paragon SDC

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Google exec sets a new record for highest-altitude jump (video)

Microsoft is doing great, and so are Surface Pro 3 and Office 365

The cloud has been a solid source of income for Microsoft in recent times, and while the company is still in the middle of a huge transition, the future is looking bright under recently appointed CEO Satya Nadella. Today, Microsoft released its earnings for the first fiscal 2015 quarter, with the main takeaway being the growth of its Devices and Consumer revenue by 47 percent, to $10.96 billion, and a total of $23.20 billion in overall revenue, a 25 percent increase compared to the same period last year. In other words, business is superb over in Redmond. Part of the reason for this is how successful its productivity suite, Office 365, has been — there are now over 7 million subscribers to the Home and Personal software. What’s more, Microsoft revealed that the Surface Pro 3 drove the momentum of its Surface line to a revenue amount of $908 million; meanwhile, 2.4 million Xbox units were sold during the quarter, though the company didn’t specify how many of those were for its newest console, the Xbox One. Developing… [Image credit: Michael Kappel/Flickr] Filed under: Desktops , Laptops , Tablets , Software , Microsoft Comments

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Microsoft is doing great, and so are Surface Pro 3 and Office 365

Bitcasa drops its unlimited cloud storage due to underuse (and abuse)

If you were thinking of milking Bitcasa’s unlimited cloud storage for all it’s worth, you’d better have an alternative lined up. The company is dropping its signature Infinite storage option after November 15th, in tandem with an upgrade to new infrastructure. You’ll have to migrate to a limited tier (such as the new 10TB, $999 per year Pro plan) if you want to keep all your content. Why the sudden clampdown? According to Bitcasa, you probably weren’t using it — only 0.1 percent of its accounts chew through more than 10TB. Moreover, some of those that are consuming that much space are reportedly abusing it at a level which “seems impossible” for any one person. The company hasn’t elaborated on what these nogoodniks are doing beyond violating the terms of service, but it’s easy to see a company trying to use Bitcasa as a makeshift storage server. While it makes sense for Bitcasa to cut little-used services that cost a lot of money to run, the transition risks rubbing a lot of Infinite subscribers the wrong way. In addition to forcing users to cut back on cloud storage, there aren’t any planned refunds for customers who want to stay — if you just paid for a year’s worth of unlimited capacity, you’re probably going to feel shortchanged. It won’t be surprising if the company eventually extends an olive branch, but this still means that you’ll have to drop dreams of storing all your digital belongings online. [Thanks, Sean] Filed under: Storage , Internet Comments Source: Bitcasa Blog

Uber brings on-demand flu shots to Boston, NYC and DC for a day

If there’s one thing on-demand car startup Uber likes more than ferrying people around, it’s trying to grab people’s attention with kooky promo stunts. Uber for barbecue ? Uber wedding packages ? Pairing riders with attractive lady drivers ? Been there, done that (for better or worse). Every once in a while though, Uber cooks up something genuinely useful and today is one of those days: if you live in Boston, Washington DC or New York City, you can order an on-demand flu shot for you and up to nine of your friends until 3PM Eastern. No, really. You’ll have to punch the promo code “HEALTH” into the app, but once that’s done you can flag down a roaming nurse to either drop off a flu prevention kit or administer those shots. Uber refers to the day’s events as a pilot program flying under the UberHealth banner that could wind up marrying Uber’s logistical might with even more valuable health services, like bringing doctors straight to doorsteps. If that sounds a little familiar, you may be thinking of a New York startup called Pager (which is actually helping power today’s flu shot promo) that does something similar, and it’s not hard to imagine a frenzied MD responding to an in-app house call by jumping into a Uber some day down the road. Anyway. Uber warns that high demand means you’ll probably have to be very patient, but hey — free flu shots! Why the hell not. Seeing as how we’re a bunch of cynical jerks, we feel compelled to remind you that Uber’s operations definitely aren’t all sunshine and roses . After all, Uber’s got a precarious little balancing act going on: it’s positioning itself to the people an valuable alternative to the traditional cab experience, and pissing off the drivers powering its success at the same time. Filed under: Mobile Comments Source: UberHealth

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Uber brings on-demand flu shots to Boston, NYC and DC for a day