Ken Carr's Daily Read

In an industry where customer churn can be likened to the fearsome troll under the bridge, Sprint has launched a program designed to keep its favored subscribers around for another two years. While not everyone is eligible — those who’ve upgraded less than eight months ago, corporate outfits and those in collections need not inquire — the program lets customers buy their way out of their current commitment and become eligible for a new, subsidized handset. The promotion begins February 12th and is set to run through the 14th of March, where the amount you pay correlates to the time since your last upgrade. So if you’re currently pining for the Epic 4G Touch or the iPhone 4S, just and give your local Sprint store a call this Sunday. They just may be able to hook you up.

Continue reading Sprint launches early upgrade promo, wants you to stay and chat awhile

Sprint launches early upgrade promo, wants you to stay and chat awhile originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Super bowl is over, the ads have aired, and now we’re trying to fill a football-sized hole in our TV schedules. Luckily there’s a few new shows airing that may help us get through the winter, unless of course we get more Glee clones that push us outdoors into the harsh, unforgiving elements. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

The Walking Dead
AMC’s hit show is back for the second half of its second season Sunday night, and we’re… actually anticipating it? Stranger things have happened, and now that the little girl we never really got to know or care about is gone maybe they can leave the farm to go places where things happen. There’s a quick preview trailer embedded after the break.
(February 12th, AMC, 10PM

Smash
It’s another show that’s a lot like Glee. These words have either filled you with dread or uncontrollable excitement. Schedule your DVR and plans for this evening accordingly.
(February 6th, NBC, 10PM)

Doomsday Preppers
We know, we said we were against the quirky reality TV shows (on a slightly related note, the second jousting reality show of the season also premieres this week — how has jousting become a thing?) but this one is crazy enough to pique our interest. Doomsday Preppers goes inside your neighbor’s underground vault to see just what he’s got stocked in there should the worst happen. Don’t wait for the air-raid sirens to go off to find out, just tune into National Geographic tomorrow night, or check out the trailer embedded after the break.
(February 7th, National Geographic, 9 & 10PM)

Continue reading Must See HDTV (February 6th – 12th)

Must See HDTV (February 6th – 12th) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Freshly anointed RIM CEO Thorsten Heins sat down with Crackberry this week to discuss his vision for the future of BlackBerry, his thoughts on Android and, most strikingly, his recent comments about maintaining the status quo. Shortly after his appointment, Heins issued a video address in which he implicitly claimed that RIM doesn’t need an overhaul. “If we continue doing well what we’re doing, I see no problems with us being in the top three players worldwide in the next years in wireless,” the exec said. At the time, we and many other observers read this as a sign that the Heins era would look a lot like the Balsillie-Lazaridis era, but according to the new CEO, that’s not the case. “I was talking about drastic or seismic changes,” he clarified. “What I was trying to address was that there was some suggestion that RIM should be split up or should even be sold. My true belief is that RIM has the strength and the assets that we can really succeed in this market.” Heins went on to claim that there’s already “a lot of change” going on at the company — citing the company’s adoption of QNX as a prime example — and that there’s “no standstill at any moment here at RIM.”

During the same sitdown, Heins also reiterated his belief that RIM shouldn’t outsource its software needs to Android, because BlackBerry, in his view, is a hallmark of differentiation. “Just take a look where the Android OEMs are,” Heins said. “Take a look at their recent announcements and what you will immediately see is there is just no room for differentiation because they are all the same.” The exec acknowledged that RIM may be taking the road less traveled, but seemed confident in its ability to rise to the challenge — even if there are some bumps along the way. “This is not baking cookies,” Heins elaborated. “This is building high tech products. From time to time your aspirations and your development timelines hit some bumps in the road that were not foreseen.”

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins clarifies comments on change, rejects Android speculation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hawaii’s proposed online tracking law comes under fire from ISPs, civil libertarians originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A classical music fan who thought the rules didn’t apply to them wound up in a sticky situation when his iPhone’s ringtone blared out during Tuesday’s performance of Mahler’s Ninth at the Avery Fisher hall. The New York Philharmonic’s musical director Alan Gilbert heard the disturbance and after a few aggressive looks, stopped his orchestra partway through the final movement until the phone was silenced. Hopefully that person learned a very valuable lesson, and everyone else will remember that there’s a special circle of hell reserved for those who don’t mute their phone at the theater.

Ringtone causes New York Philharmonic mid-performance strike originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like Google has rolled out yet another update to its Android Market web store, bringing a slew of new filtering features for especially investigative users. In particular, the refresh allows consumers to filter user reviews by a handful of parameters, including star ratings, app version and device model. Best of all, you can use any or all of these filters simultaneously, thereby allowing you to isolate, for example, all five-star reviews of a specific app from users of a specific handset. It certainly sounds like a useful addition, and one you can check out for yourself, at the source link below.

Android Market web store update adds user review filters, changes lives originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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