Gadget Geeks

There's not exactly a ton to see there just yet, but a new website called Pastmapper has some pretty ambitious plans, and it's off to a fairly decent start. With a little help from the Google Maps API, it's aiming to provide maps of cities as they were in the past, complete with local business information, accurate streets, and even changes to things like hills and coastline. To kick things off, site founder Brad Thompson has debuted version 0.1 of the site with map of San Francisco as it was i…

Is a 4G LTE-capable Galaxy Note headed stateside? According to PocketNow, that could very well be the case. Rumour has it Sammy's bringing a branded variant of the 5.3-incher, purportedly the SGH-I717, to AT&T's lineup sometime in early 2012. We'd already seen the Note pass through the Commission's gates and had anticipated a U.S. debut would soon follow, but that version -- the GT7000B -- might simply be a color variant of the currently available international model. An operator tramp stamp an…

Windows 7.5 handset could knock messaging out cold, a one shot kill you can't prepare for. Apparently, WP devices that receive a text containing a certain string of characters will reboot and return with a non-functional messaging client which can only be restored via a hard reset. The flaw is not device-specific and has been found to affect other parts of the OS, locking up your handset if you've pinned a friend as a live tile and that buddy posts the magic bug words on Facebook or Windows Liv…

Breakout on Verizon and then the mysterious P4100 tablet that went through the FCC this week carrying AT&T 700 / 1700 LTE bands. Now, a handset that has the same frequencies as the aforementioned tablet (including Band 5, which uses 850MHz) just made it through the Federal approval process. Known only as the P9070, little is known about this device other than the fancy blueprint above and diagram-o'-measurements below. It already received WiFi certification in August, so it seems to have been i…

It's been two weeks since the CarrierIQ story caught the eye of Senator Al Franken, who swiftly put his fist down and began demanding answers from the companies that admitted to allowing the tracking software on their handsets, as well as CarrierIQ itself. The deadline for the companies to respond is over for all but two -- T-Mobile and Motorola were both given until December 20th -- and the good Senator's had the chance to look over their questionnaires. Here's what Sen. Franken had to sa…

wait until 2012 to snag an international iTunes Match account? Think again. It seems Apple ended its negotiations with British record companies earlier than expected, as the outfit prematurely launched the music matching service on Wednesday, pulled it and refunded early subscribers, and finally relaunched a fully functional Match to the international community on Thursday. Users from the UK, Australia, Canada, France, the Czech Republic and other countries are now reporting that the service i…

Electromagnetic radiation is all around us, but we're largely unaware that our bodies are constantly bathed in waves of the stuff because our eyes aren't equipped to see it. Dr. Gregory Chavat decided to give us a glimpse of an EM waveform, however, by using a coffee can radar system, a couple of LEDs, and long-exposure photography. The setup consisted of a radar emitter made out of one coffee can and a second can with a couple of LEDs attached to serve as a tethered receiver antenna. Those LED…

Facebook has been through a number of revamps over the years. Now users of the world’s most popular social-networking site are waking up to Facebook’s biggest makeover yet – Timeline – which has now hit Android phones and other mobile devices. The new Timeline look interface gives Facebook users a new way to display their life and interactions with their friends online. Its move to mobile shows how that it’s here to stay. Facebook Timeline is a major overhaul of the service. The most notabl…

The Apple iPad 3 is on the cards for a 2012 launch, that’s what all gadget fans are hoping but that’s expected to be a full-size 10-inch tablet, or is it? Apple seems to be keeping it’s options open on the size front, as it looks like the company is also toying with the idea of a 7.85-inch variant to go head-to-head with the Kindle Fire. Pundits around the globe are suggesting that the first quarter of 2012 will see the launch of the Apple iPad 3. However, news is surfacing that Apple has bee…

CyanogenMod developers responsible for the Samsung Vibrant have abandoned support for the phone after efforts to enable 911 emergency access turned fruitless. The team suggests the issue can't be overcome without source code from Samsung, as all means to resolve the issue with open source code have failed. While it's no doubt an unfortunate revelation for Vibrant owners, the move is certainly the most responsible route for developers and users alike. Absent any intervention from the Korea…

Is the Lumia 900 a real device or an Arctic mirage? We've seen clues that Espoo might be working on a bigger Windows Phone to complement the Lumia 800 and 710, to the point where the strange Twitter conversation above doesn't strike us as totally surprising. A customer named Xavier Hahn tweeted support staff at Swiss operator Swisscom, to ask about a timeline for the "Nokia Lumia 800 or 900." Apparently forgetting that the 900 is an unknown and unannounced device, Swisscom responded that the 80…

Just in time to thank Grandma for that polyester blend sweater, comes more free domestic calling in Gmail for the US and Canada. In the spirit of holiday giving, Mountain View has decided to extend its gratis VoIP program for another year of free chatter. Of course, we're not sure if the holiday cheer will last forever, which may once again give us a valid excuse to avoid Uncle Lester's calls. Google gives the gift of gab, extends free domestic calling in Gmail originally appeared on Engadget o…

We do like a good indecipherable timepiece ' round these parts and Click's KeyPad certainly fits the bill. Resembling an old-school mechanical numerical keypad, each button packs an LED -- press any number and it'll blink out the time in single digits, so if it was 9:15am, the zero, nine, one and five buttons would flash in sequence. Push the hash key and the watch will oblige you for today's date. If you enjoy frustrating colleagues who ask you for the time, then you'll be delighted to hea…

Sony's connected Music Unlimited offering is already available online, on gaming devices, on Android phones and tablets, so nice to see it's finally available on its, you know, Walkman music players. In what feels somewhat like an afterthought, "compatible Walkman devices" (currently just the NWZ-E465) can play your favorite channels and playlists on the move -- no connection required. Only those paying the $9.99 premium, however, get to add songs from the actual Unlimited music catalogue…

That extra analog stick and three shoulder buttons -- they make all the difference and net you additional street cred in the process. Following up on its Japanese release of the Circle Pad Pro over the weekend, Nintendo has stated that it will release the accessory to the US exclusively through Gamestop on February 7th with a retail price of $20. Though still relatively unknown in American gaming circles, the Circle Pad Pro is cited as running for 480 hours on one AAA battery, which is nothin…