Filed under: Cellphones

We know, you’re just dying to say this is a complete shock, but we’re here to inform you that it’s not. If you’ll recall, Cox dug deep to snatch up a decent block of spectrum in this year’s 700MHz auction, and it even went so far as to promise a differentiated product that would eventually integrate with its other content and services. Sure enough, it’s keeping its word. After spending $500 million on wireless capacity in its markets, president Pat Esser says it’s time to turn things on. By relying on Cox’s own 3G network (along with Sprint’s, initially), the carrier will offer up an undisclosed amount of handsets that will “include a network address book that automatically synchronizes with home PCs” and allow remote programming of one’s DVR. Furthermore, users will be able to access e-mail and voicemail that they receive at home right on their mobile, and ideally, subscribers could watch TV shows right on their handsets. Get ready for an awkward new rival in the wireless space beginning, um, anytime now.

Cox to enter cellphone biz, link handsets to other cable-related services originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Networking

Alright Minneapolis, you’ve had your fun. Now it’s time for another swath of Comcast markets to indulge in the lavish joys that only DOCSIS 3.0 can provide. For those unaware, the aforesaid technology enables 50Mbps internet to be delivered over the cable company’s infrastructure, which brings it up to speed (ahem) with offerings by fiber-based carriers Verizon and AT&T. In the next few weeks, the DOCSIS 3.0-based “Extreme 50″ option will bring 50Mbps down / 5Mbps up to subscribers in parts of New England, Philadelphia and New Jersey. Better still, the company announced its intentions to bring the $139.95 per month service to ten other big markets where it will reach “about 10 million homes and businesses in the next few months.” Oh, and if that’s just too much intarwebz for you to handle, an “Ultra” 22Mbps downstream service will be available for $62.95 per month.

[Via Reuters, image courtesy of TheRedWoodMotel]

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Filed under: Handhelds

Screen grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

Yeah, we know a Screen Grabs about a commercial about technology is kind of cheating, but there are a couple of gaffes to point out here. First, Mr. Smug Surfer-Do “I Was In A Band But We Split Up Over Creative Differences” Verizon FiOS Guy is a total jerk, so we’re totally rooting for the Zach Galifianakis look-alike, even if his bandwidth might suck. Second, waving a Kindle around might make you look like you rock at your job, but we’re guessing a paper clipboard is about 100 times more functional for the actual task, unless you’re supposed to read self-help books to your customers. Bitter cable users who can’t get FiOS yet unite!

[Thanks, Don R.]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: jerkface Verizon FiOS guy brandishes a Kindle

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

From all the coffee shop musicians here at Engadget, we’d like to sincerely thank Belkin for producing this marvelous device. For the rest of us who run around on stage like madmen, we have our doubts about how well this will work. Nevertheless, the BreakFree Connectors were designed to add a magnetic breakaway point in your 1/4-inch cable, meaning that things will simply snap away if too much pressure is applied. Sure, this could save you a mint in shredded cable costs, but we’d venture to say that only the calmer performers in attendance will really find it useful. Snatch (gently, of course) the BreakFree this September for $19.99 and grab a few extra tips for $9.99 per pair.

[Via Coolest-Gadgets]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Far from being the first time Time Warner Cable has upset its subscriber base, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office is pulling a Dee Snider and refusing to take the carrier’s lackluster service anymore. In a 25-page lawsuit, the city is alleging that the operator “caused major havoc and distress” two years ago when it “failed to live up to its part of the franchise cable agreement requiring that a company answer subscribers’ calls within 30 seconds and begin repairs of service interruptions within 24 hours of notification in 90% of its calls for service.” The suit claims that no more than 60% of customer calls were answered in time, and cable / internet service was said to be “so intermittent and inferior in quality that it was not much better than no service at all.” Not surprisingly, TWC representatives chose not to comment on the whole ordeal, but the outfit could face civil penalties of tens of millions of crisp US dollars in the case. Should’ve picked up the phone, TWC — it would’ve been easier than picking up this tab.

[Image courtesy of Web 2 Concepts, thanks Scott]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

This was the first time The Cable Show was back in the Big Easy since Katrina, and the first we’ve attended, too. For those unfamiliar, it’s the cable industry’s biggest event, and we certainly left with a new perspective on Big Cable. In case you missed what’s coming down the coax in the next year, here’s a rundown of our coverage.

Hands-on and on location

• Hands-on with the Motorola Tuning Adapter MTR700
• Hands-on with the Cisco Tuning Adapter STA1520
• The Cable Show 2008 floor tour
• The CableNET Booth tour at The Cable Show
• Up close and personal with the new Pace HD STBs
• Samsung shows off SMT-3090 tru2way DVR
• Cable has big plans for tru2way

Announcements

• Motorola study finds millennials hungry for VOD
• Tuning adapters hit CableLabs testing lair, still not ready for public consumption
• ADB shows off tru2way STB to MSOs
• ESPN unveils The Ultimate Remote, is WiFi worth $300?
• ESPN ratings 43% higher in HD homes than SD abodes in April
• Motorola’s SmartStream remote diagnostics to replace truck rolls
• Comcast claims more HD than anyone, anywhere
• Time Warner Cable signs up MGM HD
• QVCHD launches on SES AMERICOM satellites

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

In case you’re not content with just keeping your current cable / satellite / fiber TV service and using the recently launched ZvBox to pull in content from the web, a new startup is aiming to satisfy your bizarre desires. In what’s potentially the most befuddling launch of the year, said firm is looking to introduce its 1TB set-top-box to consumers on a city-by-city basis. Put simply (or, as simply as possible), the box will fetch content from a number of places: the built-in OTA receiver will grab locals, and it will use the owner’s broadband internet connection to snag IPTV material and web-based content (YouTube, Hulu, etc.). Sezmi plans to launch the product with “3G and DSL” telcos that don’t currently have a way to offer a triple-play package, and while some sources say that monthly fees will be as low as “half” of a typical cable / satellite bill, we’ve also seen Phil Wiser, co-founder, chairman and president, quoted as saying that it will be “roughly comparable” to its rivals. Hit up the links below for loads more info, and join us as we sit back and wait for this entirely-too-complex endeavor to implode.

[Via PC Magazine]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We like small, we like convenient, and we love cheap. As such we’re dripping our super-happy nerd juice all over this new $9.00 USB Smart Cable. The charging cable doubles as a microSD card reader and is available in three versions supporting mini-USB, mini 18 pin, or Nokia DC 2.0 devices. Sassy.

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

In a somewhat perplexing (okay, maybe not so much) release from Verizon, it is essentially crawling to the FCC and begging that it assist the telco in bolstering its own market share. How so? By enabling cable subscribers to jump ship without even notifying their cable company, that’s how. More specifically, it’s seeking to banish “a significant obstacle to consumer choice and competition in the market for bundled communications services” by allowing disconnect orders from the new provider (read: Verizon) to take the place of, you know, the customer calling up their carrier and shutting things down. Verizon argues that said procedure “significantly complicates the process of switching video providers, thereby entrenching the cable incumbents’ dominant market position.” Beyond the inordinately high level of ridiculousness crammed into those statements, we wonder if Verizon’s all geared up to start receiving similar letters from Comcast, Cablevision and the whole gang should any of its customers decide to walk away in silence.

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Filed under: HDTV

You want to know — nay, you deserve to know — which service provides the most HD content. Engadget HD’s got the answer, see how your HD provider stacks up.

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Filed under: Networking

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/world_news/Fourth_undersea_cable_cut_near_UAE_suspicions_rise’; For the fourth time in a week, an undersea communications cable has apparently been cut (or “failed due to a power outage,” as some sources suggest), and while no official reports of subversion have surfaced just yet, things are beginning to get suspicious. Flag Telecom, a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance ADA Group, has had two cables damaged in the span of a week — a quandary it has never dealt with until now. As it stands, traffic from the Middle East and surrounding areas is being routed through various other cables in an attempt to remain online, but any more snips and we could be dealing with ping times eerily similar to those seen in 1993 (or much, much larger issues).

[Image courtesy of DivingCo]

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Filed under: Networking

It’s not like we haven’t seen consortiums working to establish better links between America and Asia, but the more the merrier, right? Apparently, Verizon Business has just recently received the all-important thumbs-up from the FCC to “activate and operate the Trans-Pacific Express submarine cable system in the US.” The TPE cable is hailed as “the first next-generation undersea optical cable system directly linking the US and mainland China,” and is the first major system of its kind to land on America’s West Coast (Oregon, to be precise) in over seven years. For those curious, the 10,563-mile submarine communications cable will be able to support the equivalent of 62 million simultaneous phone calls — which is “more than 60 times the overall capacity of the existing cable directly linking the US and China” — and will initially provide capacity of up to 1.28Tbps. So, when will this thing be up and running? If all goes to plan, it should be fully operational by August (you know, prior to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing).

[Image courtesy of Devicepedia]

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Filed under: Home Entertainment

It’s not all gifts for cable giant Comcast this holiday season, as the FCC is considering a new cap on cable ownership. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and two of the Commissioners are set to support the cap plan, which would affect any company that controls over thirty percent of cable subscribers nationwide, while the remaining pair have not made their intentions public. The FCC has conducted additional market research to bolster their argument for limiting ownership, as a previous plan was rejected in 2004 by a federal judge. While the cable industry is sure to sue if the plan moves forward, perhaps Comcast should shore up any complaints on that pesky packet spoofing issue before this gets any uglier.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Networking

Remember that blisteringly fast channel bonding modem Comcast showed off earlier this year? Turns out that the firm’s CEO is apparently aiming to roll out internet services that can reach up to 160Mbps down / 120Mbps up sometime in 2008. As in, next year. In a recent interview with Fortune, Brian Roberts stated that service based on DOCSIS 3.0 technology would start “rolling out” sometime in 2008, and casually noted that it should provide “more than enough bandwidth to do multiplayer online gaming.” Additionally, Cable Digital News explains that the firm has plans to cover some 20-percent of its footprint with the uber-quick service before 2009, and while we’re left to guess what areas will be covered, we’d bet locales fetching FiOS could entertain some competition. Granted, we’ve still got aways to go before we can go toe-to-toe with a certain Swede, but we’ll take any progress we can get.

[Via ArsTechnica, image courtesy of AFP / BBC]
Read - Fortune interviews Comcast CEO Brian Roberts
Read - Comcast closes in on 100Mbit/s

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

TiVo and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) have announced a new external adapter that will allow cable operators to roll out switched video while still playing nice with third-party devices like the TiVo HD and Series3 DVRs. The devices will hook up to a CableCARD host device via USB and use software to choose channels, eliminating yet another set-top box but giving cable providers a break on bandwidth requirements. The devices will begin shipping to TiVo customers — and other compatible CableCARD devices — in the second quarter of 2008.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

We realize what day it is, but we’re pretty certain the FCC isn’t messing around on this one. Right on cue, regulators have “approved a rule that would ban exclusive agreements that cable television operators have with apartment buildings, opening up competition for other video providers that could eventually lead to lower prices.” The move was apparently “unanimously approved,” and Chairman Kevin Martin went on to say that there was simply “no reason that consumers living in apartment buildings should be locked into one service provider.” Not surprisingly, a spokeswoman for Comcast proclaimed that “many consumers were likely to wind up paying more for services if the FCC’s interference in the competitive marketplace stands,” but it’s fairly safe to assume Verizon and AT&T see things very differently.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Media PCs, Peripherals

Although Vista Media Center supports up to four CableCARDs, we haven’t actually seen the required ATI TV Wonder breakout box for sale by itself yet — it usually only comes bundled with a CableLABS-certified Vista Media Center PC. (In fact, from what we hear, OEMs are strictly forbidden from selling them without a PC.) It looks like Sony’s ready to bust these things loose, however, because SonyStyle.com is now selling them as the “VAIO Digital TV Tuner” for $299. You’ll still need that Vista Media Center PC with the required special firmware to make it work, but those of you itching to add more tuners to your rig — or just hack away at these things — might finally be able to make it happen. Just don’t blame us of CableLABS’s locks prevent you from properly capturing all those delicious high def MPEG-2 streams.

[Thanks, William]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

Replug’s clever breakaway concoction essentially does for 3.5-millimeter audio jacks what MagSafe does for Apple’s power connection, as it simply snaps away when excess pressure is applied to “protect your audio jack from the rigors of daily use.” The device works in any 3.5-millimeter auxiliary input, be it on your laptop, PMP or desktop, and should be available sometime this fall for a currently undisclosed price.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!