APCMag has claimed an exclusive: that Samsung will be developing a slate tablet to ship sometime in the second half of 2010.
As others have noted, the hardware details are sketchy. But it appears that APC, traveling to the Samsung Forum "as a guest of Samsung," connected with enough Samsung executives to convince me that the company plans to manufacture some sort of tablet. Will it ship to the U.S.? If so, for how much? And what processor will it run? Will it be some sort of an e-reader, like the Samsung model above, or an iPad-like device?
All interesting questions, which will have to wait to be answered until Samsung ships its device.
Spotify's Daniel Ek gave the last keynote of the SXSW Interactive 2010 today. You can read the full details of his talk on AppScouthere, but at the end he pulled out an Android phone and showed how Spotify works on Android.
This demo was done using local music, not streaming, because he wanted to "avoid the roaming charges."
The national broadband plan has arrived. After 36 public workshops, nine field hearings, 31 public notices that produced 75,000 pages of public comments, 131 blog posts, and 335,000 Twitter followers, the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday finally released its 376-page plan for providing the country with broadband service.
The document--which was mandated by last year's stimulus bill--includes recommendations for broadband implementation over the next 10 years, touching on such things as public safety, education, health information technology, spectrum, the economy, and more. We perused the document in its entirety this morning and found a few things that could affect the average consumer. Check it out at PCMag.com.
But what is the industry saying about the plan? Major tech companies including Intel, Google, AT&T, and Microsoft have weighed in on the plan. More on their thoughts after the jump.
Spring Design said its Android-powered Alex e-reader is now on sale, and customers can pre-order their complementary e-books in a variety of formats.
Customers can order the $399 Alex e-reader at www.springdesign.com. The company announced the Alex e-reader late last year, sporting a dual-screen 6-inch E Ink display, a second 3.5-inch Android-powered touchscreen, and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Pre-orders will be shipped no later than mid-April, Spring Design said.
Spring Design will allow e-books to be shipped with what it calls a novel feature: LinkNotes," which "opens up a whole new dimension in publishing," according to the company. "Authors may
insert
hyperlinks in their books that show up on the EPD reading screen
indicating that
there is linked-in Web-based content available. Users can click on
hyperlinks
in eBooks, corporate documents, or periodicals that lead to relevant
web-based
information or to multimedia content stored on the Alex eReader that
will enrich
their reading experience. "
Spring Design has hooked up with Google's bookstore (with over one million titles) and other bookstores that
support Adobe's DRM technology. Spring has also engaged with multiple international partners to
jointly deliver multi-language versions of Alex for countries speaking Chinese,
Spanish, Russian, Korean and Hebrew, the company said.
It's possible Spring Design may be the launching pad this whole "hypertext" idea needs to really take off.
The unlocked phone is available for $529 directly from Google's Web site, at www.google.com/phone. There is no discounted price available with a contract.
The phone runs on AT&T's and Rogers' 3G networks rather than T-Mobile's, but otherwise it appears to be identical to the T-Mobile Nexus One that we've already reviewed. There's been one big difference since our review, though - Google started offering phone support, which we consider to be a major positive step.
The Nexus One instantly becomes the only decent Android-powered smartphone on the AT&T network. AT&T's other option, the Motorola Backflip, is a hideous abomination that should be purchased by no one.
While most external hard drives are compatible with either Windows or Macintosh computers, Western Digital drives are one or the other. So to satisfy its demanding Mac-using customers, it's released the high-capacity My Passport SE for Mac, a portable drive that's formatted for OS X 10.4, 10.5, and 10.6, and works with Apple's Time Machine backup software.
The drive comes in 1TB ($199.99) and 750GB sizes ($179.99), although only the 1TB model is currently listed on the site. The drive offers USB 2.0 connectivity, doesn't require a separate power cord, and includes 256-bit hardware-based encryption.
As if working for a baseball team didn't offer enough perks, you can now add sleek all-in-one computers to the list. MSI and the Los Angeles Dodgers just entered an agreement where the computer maker will supply Wind Top All-in-One PCs and laptop computers to the team's executives and office staff.
No doubt the deal involves several Wind Top AE2220 models, the company's flagship. It offers a 21.5-inch screen with a 16:9 widescreen display, 1080p resolution, and 5.1-channel SRS Premium Sound. Under the hood, it's powered by NVIDIA ION graphics and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
This promotional agreement will last through the 2011 season, and will even include an MSI promotional night at Dodger Stadium. Does this mean that everyone who attends gets a free all-in-one?
A few more choices in the rapidly expanding number of sol-d-state drives: Corsair recently launched the Force Series, which promise extra-fast performance. The Force Series uses an innovative SSD processor technology from SandForce to deliver up to 285MB-per-second read speeds and 275MB-per-second write speeds. The line also offers write-endurance and error-correction features.
"We have been very impressed with the SandForce SSD processor innovations in the months that we have been working with them, and we can't wait to get these extraordinarily fast SSDs into the hands of our most demanding customers," says Kevin Conley, vice president of engineering at Corsair.
This line comes in 100GB and 200GB capacities and should be available this week from Corsair. Pricing hasn't been announced yet.
Finally, someone has solved the problem of HDTVs that aren't shiny enough. TV- and monitor-maker Sceptre has just released a 24-inch LCD HDTV in sleek sleek chrome.
It's not all about the beautiful exterior, though. These sets offer 1080p resolution, a 2ms response time, 4,000:1 contrast ratio, and dual HDMI ports. You'll also get a USB port for listening to music and viewing digital photos. The chrome TV is Energy Star 3.0 compliant, so maybe it'll even save you a few bucks. The neck and base are detachable, and the TV features a Kensington security slot, in case you want to carry it around with you.
You can pick up the chrome set at Sears, Kmart, Costo, and NewEgg.com for a list price of just $399. If chrome isn't for you, this model also comes in black, red, pink, and blue.
Here's a study sure to raise the dander of a number of smartphone users: According to numbers from Crowd Science, roughly 40 percent of BlackBerry owners would happily pick up an iPhone when it comes time to trade in their handsets.
According to the study, 32 percent of BlackBerry owners would swap their smartphone for a Google Nexus One--not quite iPhone numbers, but still, not a great sign for the once-dominant BlackBerry.
As Ars Technica points out, this seems to be symptomatic of the fact that more and more smartphone owners are using their devices for personal as well a business reasons. According to the numbers, three-quarters of BlackBerry owners use their handset for personal and business reasons.
Buzz doesn't always equal sales. That fact is no better demonstrated than with Google's Nexus One. The phone was at the center of a flurry of coverage back in January, despite (or perhaps because of) being launched just before this year's CES. The long-awaited "Google Phone" was finally launched in early 2010, with a unique sales method.
According to mobile analytics group Flurry, that buzz has not translated into sales. The phone, as Business Insider puts it, has thus far proven to be "a flop." According to Flurry's numbers, Google has moved only 135,000 units, in its first 74 days. By comparison, the iPhone sold one million units in its first 74 days, and the Motorola Droid sold 1.05 million in that time.
The Nexus One is available only through T-Mobile, of course, a significantly smaller network than Verizon and AT&T. And as per Google's aforementioned unique sales approach, consumers can purchase the phone online only.
AT&T has unveiled four 'Quick Messaging' phones that the carrier says will include a new suite of messaging, video, and photo sharing solutions, plus enhanced contacts management.
Each phone will feature AT&T Address Book, which syncs contacts online for phone or PC management, and hooks into existing Web-based accounts. Next Generation Messaging will offer "reply all" and group messaging functionality for up to 10 contacts, plus threaded SMS and enhanced MMS display. AT&T Mobile Share will transfer photos and videos to PCs, social networking sites, or an online "storage locker" from AT&T.
That's the software; now comes the phones. The $19.99 Samsung Strive (pictured) features a 2-megapixel camera and a vertical QWERTY slider design. The $39.99 Samsung Sunburst is a full touch screen phone with a GPS radio and plenty of direct social networking links. Both Samsung phones will drop in AT&T stores on March 21. (All prices are with a two-year agreement and after rebate.)
Pantech makes the other two new devices, but neither one will be available immediately. The Pantech Link will be an ultra-slim keyboarded phone with a contemporary design, including black and blue accents; this one will appear "in the coming weeks." Finally, the Pantech Pursuit will combine a full touch screen with a vertical sliding keyboard, and will be available this summer in green or blue. The Pursuit's camera will also feature face recognition and geotagging software.
Sprint has launched the Motorola i890, an iDEN-compatible, push-to-talk flip phone that works with Nextel Direct Connect.
The i890 features a 2-megapixel camera and camcorder, an MP3 player, and stereo Bluetooth support. It also switches between push-to-talk and a regular call with a single button press, plus a quick-release button for one-handed operation.
The phone also includes external, haptic-feedback-enabled media keys, plus a GPS radio. The i890 is available now for $129.99 with a two-year agreement and after rebate.
You can find it in Sprint sales channels and retail stores, plus Business Direct Sales, Telesales (1-800-Nextel-9), and Web sales at nextel.com.
The experiment coats organic carbon nanotubes with a thin layer of
fuel and employs something called a thermopower wave (which sounds
powerful). The result could power future computers and cell phones
using batteries that are 10 times smaller than before, while retaining
the same power output.
And they could be incinerated or just degrade over time without
leaving heavy metal residue in the environment, the report said.
There's no word yet on whether this will even scale properly to a
consumer-level product, but here's hoping.
"Don't panic!" So said the cover of a certain famous book. Even so, you might want to have a
look at a Popular Science report, which says a prominent astronomer is
predicting an "86 percent chance" that a certain neighboring star
named Gilese 710 will smash into stray rocks orbiting the outer solar
system in the next 1.5 million years.
Or maybe it won't.
But that collision, if it occurs, would take place in the Oort Cloud
beyond Pluto, upon which it could send comets heading straight for
Earth.
In addition, the same astronomer--a real cheery fellow, it seems--has
found a high probability of nine other stars that have already swung
near the sun, or that might do so again in the future, the report
said. If we emerge unscathed--whoever "we" is at the time--then so
much the better, as we'll have plenty of time to get back to planning
for the Andromeda galaxy's eventual collision in 4.5 billion years.
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While most external hard drives are compatible with either Windows or Macintosh computers, Western Digital drives are one or the other. So to satisfy its demanding Mac-using customers, it's released the high-capacity 
As if working for a baseball team didn't offer enough perks, you can now add sleek all-in-one computers to the list. MSI and the Los Angeles Dodgers just entered an agreement where the computer maker will supply 
