Filed under: Digital Cameras

For Leica enthusiasts and digicam freaks alike, we’re sure the day that uber-expensive M8 landed on your doorstep was one of pure elation — or maybe not so much, depending on your luck. Turns out the nearly $6,000 piece of kit wasn’t as refined and ready to shoot as the lofty pricetag may lead you to believe, but Lieca is apparently aiming to please those deep pocketed customers by offering up some quick fixes and a few bonus filters to boot. Folks suffering from “banding issues, mirror / ghosting effects, and IR sensitivity quirks” can register on the company’s website by December 6th in order to have Leica contact you to set up a return. Unfortunately, this means your finicky M8 will be out of your palms for a few days (or weeks), but at least it’ll come back with a “firmware upgrade” to eliminate the banding / ghosting problems, as well as “a basic kit of two UV / IR filters with diameters of your choice” to counteract the “faulty color rendering.” While we aren’t sure how long the gurus in Solms will hold your precious M8 captive, we do know the additional filters won’t ship until February of next year, and if you’re worried about picking up a buggy M8 as of now, Leica has assured us that all units shipping after November 27th will sport the internal upgrades right out of the box.

[Thanks, Derek M.]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

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

Filed under: Home Entertainment

TiVo looks to be sending out its latest update for Series2 recorders on a first-come-first-service basis, taking requests for the update on a priority list on its website, and promising to get it out to you in three business days. According to TiVo, bumping your unit up to 8.1 will give you enhanced support for recording live events (like adding extra time), improved system performance, WPA network security and, well, that’s about it. While it’s just for Series2 units at the moment, TiVo seems to be saying that Series3 users can expect an update of their own as well, simply stating that “this update is not yet available for these units.”

[Via Zatz Not Funny!}

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

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

Filed under: Cellphones

We hate to see a nifty technology like FOTA (firmware over-the-air) getting such a bad rap early on in the game, but in the same breath, our mommies always told us “measure twice, cut once” — and we think that’s an imminently appropriate adage in the aftermath of Sprint’s recent attempt to re-up Fusics already in the field. It seems the firmware update, pushed just a couple days ago to customers’ handsets, quickly and efficiently bricked each and every one of them. The whole situation is a full order of magnitude more frightening than Nokia’s similar experience with the E70, seeing how Nokia’s update was optional and at least required the user to manually perform the upgrade. Naturally, Sprint’s pulled the bogus firmware and is offering a free replacement to affected customers, but it’s still a shame that they’ve cost Fusic owners a trip to the Sprint Store.

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Reader James writes in about possible upcoming Helio plans:

So I was reading through what seems to be a Helio sponsored community site: Heliofriends.com and one of the mods dropped that tomorrow a $200 rebate will kick in on the Kickflips through this site. Which means the Kickflips are free after the rebate.

Also, tomorrow is supposed to be the start day for a new price plan. $65 all-in data/500 min. This was also mentioned in a seperate thread.

Looks like they are trying to lower the price to bring some of the fence sitters down.

-James

Pretty cool James. Part of us think they want to start lowering prices offer a new rate plan because of their lackluster subscriber numbers. Add to that the recent troubles of VK Mobile, the manufacturer of one of their two handsets, Helio may be in need of some cash. – Jason Chen

Update: To clarify, the heliofriends.com site isn't associated with Helio. They're the ones offering the rebate—Helio has nothing to do with it. Also, the new $65 plan came about because some subscribers didn't need the 1000 minutes, so they made a $65 plan to sit between their $85 plan and the a-la carte. So, heliofriends isn't "helio sponsored", and they're not lowering rate plans. Just adding a new one.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Filed under: Gaming

Filed under: Handsets, Software, HTC, O2, Windows Mobile

The folks over at O2 have been busy little beavers today, first releasing the HTC Tornado-based Xda IQ, and now posting the Windows Mobile 5.0 AKU update for Xda Atom owners to download. We're sure that we don't need to repeat the advantages of AKU2 again, but since our contracts stipulate that we rehash the deets ad infinitum, we'll remind you that this upgrade adds BlackBerry-like push email through the Messaging & Security Feature Pack (MSFP) along with an improved wireless connection manager, quicker screen orientation switches, and other minor enhancements. Atom owners also get a few device-specific bug fixes with the new firmware, most notably the elimination of the "heartbeat noise" that had apparently plagued some versions of the FM tuner app. For now you'll need your handset's serial number registered with O2 in order to access the download, but it'll probably be just a matter of time before it becomes available on one of the popular cellphone forums.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Motorola, Verizon Wireless

hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2006/04/obex.jpg" />

In what
seems like a complete 180 for a company fond of disabling dial-up networking and simultaneous WiFi and voice usage on
their handsets, Verizon has apparently enabled the OBEX
Bluetooth profile in the recently-released 0.1.15.04 RAZR href="http://engadget.com/search/?q=v3c">V3c firmware update. As href="http://engadgetmobile.com/search/?q=razr">RAZR owners are well aware, the previous two firmware updates had
disabled and then completely removed OBEX, which gives customers a free way to transfer their files to a PC, most
importantly their pictures. The new firmware not only enables OBEX, href="http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=893475&page=1&pp=15">say HowardForums users, but actually
allows pic transfers over a wired USB connection as well using the Motorola Phone Tools software. Having seen Verizon
has take such a shocking step following their href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/02/verizon-gives-in-allows-dun-from-cellphones/">change of heart on DUN,
we’re expecting reports anytime of Apple opening up the iPod, Sony dumping the MemoryStick, and the HD-DVD and Blu-ray
camps coming to a super-last-minute compromise.

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Filed under: Handsets, Software, Motorola, Verizon Wireless, Windows Mobile, EV-DO, CDMA

Manufacturer posts OS update, manufacturer discovers update wasn’t quite ready for prime time, manufacturer pulls update from web. Sound familiar? Moto teased us with the long-awaited AKU2 update for their Q, but pulled it from their website a scant two days later after “realizing” that it was still in beta. Needless to say, the prerelease cut’s still floating around the web and shouldn’t be terribly hard for hardcore Q users to get their hands on, but the faint of heart might just be better off for the real deal to drop since it wipes your device clean — not to mention that Moto’s hinting the beta does nasty things to your warranty.

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Filed under: Handsets, LG, Sprint-Nextel, 1xRTT, EV-DO, CDMA, Misc

We hate to see a nifty technology like FOTA (firmware over-the-air) getting such a bad rap early on in the game, but in the same breath, our mommies always told us “measure twice, cut once” — and we think that’s an eminently appropriate adage in the aftermath of Sprint’s recent attempt to re-up Fusics already in the field. It seems the firmware update, pushed just a couple days ago to customers’ handsets, quickly and efficiently bricked each and every one of them. The whole situation is a full order of magnitude more frightening than Nokia’s similar experience with the E70, seeing how Nokia’s update was optional and at least required the user to manually perform the upgrade. Naturally, Sprint’s pulled the bogus firmware and is offering a free replacement to affected customers, but it’s still a shame that they’ve cost Fusic owners a trip to the Sprint Store.

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.