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Nokia unveils N9, sees Windows Phones in 2011

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that he has increasing confidence the company will ship its first Windows Phones this year, though significant volumes won't come until next year.

"We have shifted our organization," Elop said, speaking at the Nokia Connections event in Singapore. The event was also broadcast over the Internet. "We have a new strategy and we are focused on delivering results."

Elop's comments come three weeks after the company warned that sales and earnings would fall well short of expectations. As he noted when he spoke at our D9 conference earlier this … Read more

Trendnet intros first dual-band 450Mbps Wireless-N bridge

If you want to hook your Ethernet-ready devices to a wireless network, you can either get the D-Link DAP-1513, or you can wait for what Trendnet unveiled today, the 450Mbps Dual Band Wireless N Media Bridge, model TEW-680MB.

This new device shares the same design as the company's previous single-band 450Mbps Wireless-N gaming adapter, the TEW-687GA, but the TEW-680MB also supports the 5GHz frequency band.

Like other media bridge devices, the TEW-680MB connects itself to an existing Wireless-N network, on either the 2.4GHz band or the 5GHz band, and bridges that connection to a wired device plugged into its Ethernet port.

Unlike the D-Link DAP-1513, with its four network ports to handle four devices out of the box, the Trendnet TEW-680MB has only one network port and therefore can bridge the connection to only one device. To make up for this, you will want Gigabit Ethernet to ensure that the bridged device will get the fastest possible connection speed.… Read more

Coming to a network near you: Faster Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi has joined a short list of technologies such as USB, x86, HDMI, and PCI to spread successfully across the computing industry and beyond. So what do you do for an encore?

Duh. You get faster. This is the computer industry we're talking about here, after all.

Wi-Fi, the marketing-friendly term for the 802.11 family of wireless networking standards, got its mainstream start with 802.11b with a data-transfer speed of 11 megabits per second. Next came 802.11g at 54Mbps, then the present fastest standard, 802.11n with a top speed of 450Mbps.

But under development now … Read more

Trendnet to ship first 450Mbps true dual-band router

Announced at CES 2011, Trendnet's first true dual-band 450Mbps Wireless-N router--the 450Mbps Concurrent Dual Band Wireless-N Router, model TEW-692GR--is now about to be available for purchase, the company said today.

Unlike other 450Mbps dual-band routers, such as the Cisco Linksys E4200, which offers the higher 450Mbps speed only on the 5GHz frequency, the TEW-692GR is the first that also offers this higher speed on the 2.4GHz band at the same time.

Note that you'd need a wireless client that also supports the new 3x3 450Mbps standard to take advantage of the higher speed. An example would be … Read more

Popular console emulators removed from Android Market

Retro gamers who use Android devices to play classics from old-school systems like Atari, Nintendo 64, and Sega took a hit this week when emulator apps for those consoles and a handful of others were removed from the Android Market.

Yongzh's (also known as Yong Zhang) emulators have been among some of the most popular and highest rated in the market, but the emulator creator reports that his developer account has been terminated without warning.

The removal of yongzh's account comes just weeks after PlayStation emulator PSX4droid--the work of another developer--was also deleted from the market in the lead-up to the release of Sony's Xperia Play. Yongzh, who lives in China, took down his Genesis emulator last month after receiving a complaint from Sega, but apparently it wasn't enough to placate Google and/or those console makers who may have lodged complaints with Mountain View. … Read more

D-Link ships Wireless N Dual Band MediaBridge

If you want to hook up your game console, such as an Xbox 360, to the Internet without running network cable all over the place, you can either get a Wi-Fi adapter from the vendor, which tends to be overpriced, or get yourself a gaming bridge that can bring a wireless signal to any Ethernet-ready device. Those opting for the latter now have another option.

D-Link announced today that it's shipping the Wireless N Dual Band MediaBridge (model DAP-1513), which can bridge a wireless network to up to four network devices that don't have built-in Wi-Fi. The device combines a selectable dual-band wireless-N chip and a four-port switch and will work with any N router.

The device basically connects itself to an existing Wi-Fi network, then shares that connection with any device plugged into its network ports, hence the terms "bridge."… Read more

Hands-on with new Nook: Better than the Kindle?

Note: CNET's full review of the new Nook is up now.

The day after Kobo served up a new $129.99 touch-screen e-reader, Barnes & Noble, as expected, unveiled its own touch-screen e-ink Nook, which it's branding as "The Simple eReader."

We had a very good idea what the new device would be prior to the launch, but before we get to the initial impressions, here's a quick rundown of the new Nook's key specs:

Touch screen with Neonode "responsive" zForce infrared touch technology 6-inch Pearl e-ink screen (same screen as Kindle'… Read more

As iFlow Reader app closes, harsh words for Apple

Update 5/12: CNET has posted an expanded Q&A with BeamItDown co-founder and iFlow Reader developer Dennis Morin.

Some interesting news from the world of e-reading apps in the land of iOS: BeamItDown is shuttering its iFlow Reader app on May 31, saying "Apple has decided that it wants all of the e-book business in iOS for itself and it has has made mid-game rule changes that make it impossible for anyone but Apple to sell e-books at a profit on iOS."

Just like the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo apps for iOS, the iFlow Reader app for iPhone and iPad has an integrated e-bookstore. Apple has reportedly set a deadline of June 30 for developers to alter their apps to reflect the new terms for subscriptions in the Apple Store, which requires companies to give Apple a 30 percent cut on sales their apps generate.

In the past, e-reading apps like iFlow, Kindle, and Nook have avoided paying the cut by sending customers to a Web-based interface outside the app. Starting in June, however, Apple has said it will require developers to sell content from only within the app.

Fear of reprisals from Apple has kept most companies mum on the looming issue, but the folks at BeamItDown Software who make the iFlow Reader let their anger--excuse the pun--flow freely. It is one of the harsher public condemnations of Apple we've seen. … Read more

U.N.: Renewables could be 80 percent of energy by 2050

Renewable sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower could fulfill almost 80 percent of the world's energy demand by 2050 with the right policies, according to a U.N. report which won backing from governments today.

The 26-page study, by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), broadly matched a draft written by scientists. It was approved by government delegates at talks in Abu Dhabi.

Environmental groups hailed the report as a guide to the shift from fossil fuels to combat climate change, a process set to cost trillions of dollars. But they said some draft … Read more