Porsche Design theme ported to BlackBerry 9900 / 9930, saves you a small fortune

If you want some of that Porsche Design look, without the German engineered price, then check what just pulled up on the driveway: a port of the custom theme and icons. Sadly, only BlackBerry 9900 / 9300 owners — which share much of the same hardware as the P’9981 — running BlackBerry OS7 (not 7.1) can give their handset that new car smell. This means the sharp lines and luxurious brushed finish that made the P’9981 catch our eye in the first place will remain firmly in those pockets deep enough to afford it. Tap the source link if you still want to add the racing stripes to your current saloon. Porsche Design theme ported to BlackBerry 9900 / 9930, saves you a small fortune originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Apple lead designer Jonathan Ive knighted for the New Year, how’s your 2012 looking?

Apple Senior VP Jonathan (or Jony) Ive has been credited with fueling the company’s resurgence alongside Steve Jobs with products like the iMac, iPhone and iPad, and for these successes has been made a Knight Commander of the British Empire as a part of the New Year’s Honour’s List. Aside from having a much better NYE celebration than yours, he’ll be tapped on the shoulders by the Queen’s sword and that will forever be Sir Jony to you, commoner (we’ll see if he can make it through the ceremony without suggesting some tweaks for better balance and usability — you can see his passion above as he eats an invisible sandwich pontificates about new iMacs ). It’s a bump up from his previous title of Commander of the British Empire and keeps the cycle going, as he released a statement appreciating the benefit of a “wonderful tradition in the UK of designing and making”. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Apple lead designer Jonathan Ive knighted for the New Year, how’s your 2012 looking? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Dec 2011 01:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

White Epic 4G Touch to grace Sprint come January, proves your wildest dreams can come true

If you thought Sprint was going to let T-Mobile and AT&T be the only US carriers to offer white Galaxy S IIs , think again. Per Sprintfeed is a supposed internal memo pegging the carrier’s bleached variant of the GSII for January 8th, 2012. For those keeping score at home, that’ll be nearly a month after T-Mo, and a good six months after we first caught wind of the unicorn . Frothing at the sentiment? Better think long and hard, as there’s bound to be something equally lust worthy at an upcoming trade show . White Epic 4G Touch to grace Sprint come January, proves your wildest dreams can come true originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Tech’s biggest misfires of 2011

The past 12 months have been a boon of technological innovation, particularly in the world of mobile devices, where top companies have been waging an arms race for the top of the smartphone and tablet hills. Not everything has been smooth sailing, however — 2011 has also been dotted by delays, false starts, security breeches and straight up technological turf outs. Check out some of the lowlights from the year that was after the break. Continue reading Tech’s biggest misfires of 2011 Tech’s biggest misfires of 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Lookalike Leia buns replicate Star Wars fashion for Druish princesses everywhere

Princess Vespa did it first — wore removable hair bun headphones, that is. And now those swirls of synthetic locks are coming to a cosplayer near you via e-artisan site Etsy . The Star Wars -style ear warmers stop short of functioning as actual cans, but you can glue’em over your own pair to achieve that “desired” Leia look. While it’s true that fanboys may prefer brooding, scifi-obsessed brunettes, blondes and gingers don’t have to be left out of this geek fantasy: alternatively hued coiffures can also be made to order. So, for $4, a piece of the force can always be with you or, y’know, mid-’90s era Bjork. Lookalike Leia buns replicate Star Wars fashion for Druish princesses everywhere originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

CM9 launcher available in alpha, ROM flashers tweak in anticipation

January’s right around the corner and with the promise of a new year comes the anticipated release of CM9 . So, to whet those ROM-flashing appetites, the CyanogenMod team’s made an alpha of its Trebuchet launcher available as an .apk and .zip file over on XDA , bringing with it the ability to customize the number of homescreens, resize widgets and sort the app drawer, amongst other planned features. As is the nature of Android’s underbelly, you’ll need to have your device rooted, as well as running 4.0.3 in order to take part. And if you do decide to take the plunge, remember this is far from the final build, so things are bound to get buggy. Check out the source below to preview the ICS goods. CM9 launcher available in alpha, ROM flashers tweak in anticipation originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Engadget Mobile Podcast 118 – 12.26.2011

If listening to Engadget Chinese editor Richard Lai talk about the bleedingest-edge phones from China isn’t the perfect programming to shake off all those extra trips to the Christmas buffet to, we don’t know what is. It’s the Engadget Mobile Podcast, now with more globetrotting/calorie burning madness inside. Hosts: Myriam Joire ( tnkgrl ), Brad Molen Guest: Richard Lai Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: Tycho – Coastal Brake ( Ghostly International ) 00:01:07 – Xiaomi Phone review 00:10:56 – Meizu MX review 00:29:53 – Samsung Captivate Glide review 00:47:10 – Samsung Stratosphere review 00:53:55 – AT&T abandons T-Mobile merger plans (updated) 01:13:33 – Amazon reportedly considered a RIM purchase, ‘commercial partnership’ still on the table 01:22:05 – ITC sides with Apple, bans sale and import of some HTC phones (updated) 01:25:55 – Dell’s Streak Pro 101DL to become Baidu’s first Yi phone, shows up in FCC’s database Hear the podcast Subscribe to the podcast [ iTunes ] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes [ RSS MP3 ] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically [ RSS AAC ] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator [ Zune ] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) Contact the podcast podcast (at) engadgetmobile (dot) com. Follow us on Twitter @tnkgrl @phonewisdom @engadgetmobile @richardlai Engadget Mobile Podcast 118 – 12.26.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Boxee 1.5 nears release, will be final desktop version

We have some good news and bad news. The good news is: Boxee 1.5 will be entering public beta soon, with a proper release scheduled for January alongside Live TV . The update will finally bring the desktop software up-to-date and deliver the more streamlined UI found on the Boxee Box to your Windows, Mac or Linux computer. The bad news is: this will be the final version of the HTPCsoftware. Going forward Boxee plans to focus all of its efforts on streaming appliances, like its namesake Box and connected Blu-ray players and TVs. The software will also lack access to premium apps like Netflix, thanks to the tangled web of DRM woven by content providers. When CEO Avner Ronen said that the downloadable app would, “most likely lag behind the versions of Boxee for devices,” we didn’t realize just how far behind he meant.

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Boxee 1.5 nears release, will be final desktop version

Western Digital releases Android app to control set-top boxes remotely

This week, you’ll be able to control your Western Digital set-top box with a free Android app. And you’ll love it. Only days after releasing an equivalent app for iOS , Western Digital has just released WD TV Remote , a free Android app that connects to your Western Digital set-top box over a WiFi connection and allows you to control it from any Android-based device. The app includes one-touch access to every online service available, keyboard entry using Android’s on-screen keyboard , a gesture pad for quick navigation and the ability to connect multiple Android devices at once. WD TV Remote requires Android 2.1 or later to install, as well as a WiFi network and third-generation WD TV Live Hub or TV Live system to run. In other news, development on an Android app to paint your house via gesture controls is proceeding quite nicely. Western Digital releases Android app to control set-top boxes remotely originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds

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Western Digital releases Android app to control set-top boxes remotely

MOTOACTV torn down and rooted, turned into a tablet for ants

Chris Wade, the intrepid dev behind the DingleBerry PlayBook hack, has turned his attention to new device. One that occupies the exact opposite end of the size spectrum — the MOTOACTV . The man started poking around inside the Android-powered sports watch, actually tearing it open and splaying its innards across his palm for all of us to see. Under the hood he discovered an OMAP 3630 clocked at 600MHz and 256MB of RAM. Then he put the whole thing back together and the real fun began. Wade managed root the underlying Gingerbread platform and turn it from a GPS tracker to 1.6-inch tablet by sideloading the stock Honeycomb launcher. Wade even managed to bless the tiny device with Market access, allowing him to install a certain title featuring a flock of furious fowl. You’ll find a few more photos in the gallery below and a video of the hacked up sports watch cum micro-tablet after the break.

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MOTOACTV torn down and rooted, turned into a tablet for ants

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