The troubled Toyota motor company today announced yet another recall, with the latest involving 348 vehicles in the UK. The company is recalling Land Cruiser Amazon models built between July 2002 and September 2006, due to a potential steering problem. The company said there had been only two reported incidents in Europe and neither had resulted in an accident. The possible problem has also led to the recall of a sister model – the LX 479 – which is not sold in the UK. Toyota said it is also recalling the Toyota Avalon over another problem unrelated to the Land Cruiser Amazon difficulties. The Avalon is not sold in the UK and the recall mainly affects North America. Over the past few months…

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TOKYO — Sony bounced back to profit last quarter and raised its full-year earnings forecast, fueled by stronger demand for its PlayStation 3 gaming consoles, personal computers and televisions. The Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant booked a net profit of 25.7 billion yen – or $294 million at current exchange rates – for the April-June quarter, a sharp turnaround from a 37.1 billion yen loss a year earlier. Revenue grew 3.8 percent to 1.66 trillion yen. The healthier sales stemmed mainly from consumers in emerging markets, which offset declines in Japan and the United States. Its business was also strong enough to weather a stronger yen – which can make its products less…

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The Sky 3D channel has so far been officially available only in 1,500 or so UK pubs, but now its residential launch for all Sky+HD customers is slated for October 1. The 2010 Ryder Cup will serve as a launch event with three days of live coverage from Celtic Manor as the US and European teams do battle; the first ever in 3D, but the third such event it’s covered in high definition. Golf fans won’t be the only ones catered to, Premier League football will be returning once the season starts and today’s announcement coincided with a SkyArts 3D filming arranged by the English National Ballet. Hollywood’s major studios have already agreed to provide 3D movies including Bolt, Monsters vs. Aliens, Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince and more, while Sky has commissioned its own original 3D flick, Flying Monsters presented by Sir David Attenborough. Not quite ready for the 3D revolution? Feel free to put that on the backburner — at least until the 2012 London Olympics — as the network is also adding content from HBO, a large slate of new comedies, Anytime+ VOD, and a Sky Mobile TV iPad app. With an HD channel count of 43 and plans to reach 50 by year-end, there should be a little something there for everyone to enjoy.

Continue reading Sky 3D channel comes home October 1 with Ryder Cup, EPL, movies and more

Sky 3D channel comes home October 1 with Ryder Cup, EPL, movies and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A wordy headline, to be sure, but a pleasing one nonetheless. We came across HTC’s Chinese web portal listing the Desire as coming with Android 2.2 (with Sense!) and simply had to ping the official source for confirmation. It turns out the info up there is no mistake: all HTC Android handsets shipping to China — which includes the Wildfire and Tianyi — will do so with Froyo preloaded, cutting down on your upgrade angst at least until the Gingerbread man comes a’knocking. HTC has also reiterated that a 2.2 update for its phones already on the market will be delivered “very soon,” so if all goes well, we should be looking at a Froyo-dominated August in the land of High Tech Computers.

[Thanks, Christian]

HTC will ship all Android phones in China with Froyo on board, fuels fire for immediate update closer to home originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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London: Veteran actress Jane Fonda is set to play a hippie grandmother in a new…

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Q: A storm came by about two weeks ago and now my Internet is not working. I got a new modem but the Ethernet light will not turn on. It’s not the cord or modem, so what else could it be? A: When lightning strikes directly or even near your house or office, the electrical surge will travel as far as it possibly can via any conductive route it can find. Most commonly it travels all over your house via the electrical wiring. This means anything you have plugged into a wall socket runs the risk of being damaged or even destroyed by the excess current….

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So what if Rambus doesn’t really produce anything tangible these days? We’re hearing the “innovation” business is going really well for the company that recently celebrated its 1,000th patent, and now there’s a nice big windfall in its near future as well. The US International Trade Commission has handed down a ruling agreeing with a previous judgment that NVIDIA infringed on three Rambus patents in the design of its memory controllers, with the ultimate outcome being a ban on importing such infringing goods into the country. Of course, that’s the one thing we’re sure won’t be happening, but NVIDIA will now have to sign up for a license to Rambus’ precious IP portfolio, which might be a tad bit costly given that GeForce, Quadro, nForce, Tesla and Tegra chips are named as being in violation — aside from Ion, that’s pretty much NVIDIA’s whole hardware business.

[Thanks, Marc]

Update: NVIDIA, unsurprisingly, has said it will appeal the ruling. [Thanks, Xero2]

Rambus victorious in patent fight with NVIDIA, can expect neat wad of cash for its troubles originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, we in the US are pretty much stuck with AT&T when it comes to iPhone 4 indulgence, but Canada gets to pick — for a price. We knew the of the option up north but not how much, and according to CBC News, that’ll be $659 for 16GB, $779 for 32GB, and $549 for the 8GB iPhone 3GS. All Canadian dollars, of course — the US conversion would be about $637 / $753 / $530, respectively. Carriers are still offering it up for a discount on contract, and to be perfectly honest, we think that’s probably the route most people will take anyway. All the same, gotta love having a choice.

iPhone 4 for Canada gets unlocked price: freedom is far from free originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Delhi: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Sunday said his request to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reduce the number of his existing portfolios was not intended either to elevate his NCP colleague Praful Patel to Cabinet rank or to seek a ministerial berth for daughter Supriya Sule. “No, No. She (Supriya) is not interested to join government at all at this end. And, secondly, I am not going to insist that Ministry should be given to my party,” Pawar told a TV news channel when asked whether he was hoping that the ministry he gives up, will be given to his daughter. On whether there was an attempt to find a ministership for Supriya Sule or a promotion for Praful Patel, he said,…

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Australia captain Ricky Ponting insisted his team’s three-wicket defeat by Pakistan in the second Test would be irrelevant come the start of their bid to regain the Ashes. British newspapers were unable to contain themselves after Australia were bowled out…

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