Author Archives: Joe Pollicino
Engadget HD Podcast 369 – 10.02.13
CEDIA is a wrap, but Richard still has lots to recap about the show. Plus, he's got time to kill until Grand Theft Auto Online's connectivity issues get sorted. And Ben? Well, he's frustrated with his Fantasy Football picks, because they aren't operating at peak performance. Get to streaming this week's Engadget HD Podcast below.
Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh, Richard Lawler
Producer: Joe Pollicino
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Panasonic 65-inch Smart VIERA WT600 Ultra HD TV (eyes-on)
Panasonic's 65-inch Smart VIERA WT600 UHD TV may have hit the market as a "me too" 4K TV, but it sure does look nice -- even when placed right next to some of the competition. Thanks to its embedded H.264 decoder, we saw it run 4K content straight off an SDXC card and streamed from the internet (after about 10-15 seconds of loading). Interestingly, while the TV supports the fresh and still-unfamiliar HDMI 2.0 spec, a good chunk our demo session was done over DisplayPort 1.2a to show the display's ability to pump out 60fps 4K content -- unlike existing competitors, which cap out at 30fps. Aside from faster frame rates, it was apparent in our viewing session that the out-of-box settings on a Sony XBR-65X900A ($5,499) had overly boosted reds, while both it and a Samsung F9000 ($5,000) dropped in for the demo showed pronounced haloing. Now we just want to see all of these TVs running 4K content fed from a player using HDMI 2.0 -- whenever that's fully standardized.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Verizon Wireless website reportedly allowing users to keep unlimited data plans while upgrading
Apparently, now is the time to upgrade your Verizon phone if you want to keep your grandfathered unlimited data plan in tact. According to tips we've received, along with reports from Droid-Life and Android Central, the aforementioned type of users are not being forced into a tiered Max data plan during the upgrade process. There doesn't seem to be any bit of trickery required to make it happen either -- folks just go through usual upgrade motions to get a brand new phone on subsidy, and come out with an order confirmation that has all-you-can-eat data still onboard (see above). We've reached out to Verizon to find out whether this is an issue with its website or a shift in policy, and will post an update if we hear more. Let us know your results if you're brave enough to try it out.
[Thanks to Minji and everyone who sent this in.]
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Verizon
Engadget Podcast 362 – 09.28.13
We didn't do it live this week, but boy did we record a great show for you! Brian, Dana and Peter piped in from their respective empty closets sound booths to discuss Amazon's latest Kindle Fires and Microsoft's updated Surface lineup. On top of all that, we fit in a quick review recap of Sony's flagship Z1 cameraphone. Don't delay. Do it now. Stream the Engadget Podcast below.
Hosts: Brian Heater, Dana Wollman, Peter Rojas
Producer: Joe Pollicino
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Filed under: Podcasts
NYT: NSA monitors, graphs some US Citizens’ social activity with collected metadata
Just how does the NSA piece together all that metadata it collects? Thanks to "newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials," The New York Times today shed light on how the agency plots out the social activity and connections of those it's spying on. Up until 2010, the NSA only traced and analyzed the metadata of emails and phone calls from foreigners, so anything from US citizens in the chains created stopgaps. Snowden-provided documents note the policy shifted later in that year to allow for the inclusion of Americans' metadata in such analysis. An NSA representative explained to the NYT that, "all data queries must include a foreign intelligence justification, period."
During "large-scale graph analysis," collected metadata is cross-referenced with commercial, public and "enrichment data" (some examples included GPS locations, social media accounts and banking info) to create a contact chain tied to any foreigner under review and scope out its activity. The highlighted ingestion tool in this instance goes by the name Mainway. The NYT article also highlights a secret report, dubbed "Better Person Centric Analysis," which details how data is sorted into 164 searchable "relationship types" and 94 "entity types" (email and IP addresses, along with phone numbers). Other documents highlight that during 2011 the NSA took in over 700 million phone records daily on its own, along with an "unnamed American service provider" that began funneling in an additional 1.1 billion cellphone records that August. In addition to that, Snowden's leak of the NSA's classified 2013 budget cites it as hoping to capture "20 billion 'record events' daily" that would be available for review by the agency's analysts in an hour's time. As you might expect, the number of US citizens that've had their info bunched up into all of this currently remains a secret -- national security, of course. Extended details are available at the source links.
Via: The Verge
Source: New York Times
Engadget Mobile Podcast 190: Myriam’s farewell – 09.27.13
This is it: Myriam Joire's last time serving as the host of the Mobile Podcast. If you haven't heard the news, she's taken a sweet gig as Product Evangelist for wearables startup, Pebble. We wish Myriam all the best on the new venture and expect it won't be the last time you'll hear from her on this front.
Our main man, "all-around rock star" and current co-host, Brad Molen, officially takes the lead position next week. So, don't worry -- this podcast will continue to live on and remain awesome as ever. Salutations all around.
Hosts: Myriam Joire, Brad Molen
Producer: Joe Pollicino
Music: Tycho - Coastal Brake (Ghostly International)
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Engadget HD Podcast 368 – 09.26.13
Ben spent the last week getting used to the iPhone 5s' Touch ID, while Richard advanced his career in GTA V. Fret not, however, because they still managed to keep tabs on all the latest HD news. Set aside an hour and get caught up yourself by streaming episode 368 below.
Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh, Richard Lawler
Producer: Joe Pollicino
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Jawbone Mini Jambox review
Jawbone's original Jambox made Bluetooth portable speakers a mass-market hit. Since then, though, Jawbone has started to lag behind as other companies have come out with better units that cost either the same price or less. Now, the $180 Mini Jambox is here with an even more portable design to help Jawbone keep its edge. Now that we've gotten the chance to live with it for a few weeks, it's time to answer the big questions you might have before placing a pre-order. Does the Mini Jambox offer marked improvements over the original? Is it enough to compete with all the other options in this space? And, most importantly, is the price right? Read on for the Engadget take. %Gallery-slideshow84424%
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video
Engadget Podcast 361 – 09.19.13
This week it's all about our iPhone 5s and 5c reviews, the newly unveiled BlackBerry Z30 and Sony's intriguing QX10 lens camera. So how did we spice things up? We got none other than TechCrunch's John Biggs and our Executive Editor, Marc Perton, to rock the mics with Brian Heater. You know it, you love it and you can stream the Engadget Podcast below.
Hosts: Brian Heater, Marc Perton
Guest: John Biggs
Producer: Joe Pollicino
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Filed under: Podcasts