The IPhone is with Verizon

The iPhone is finally with Verizon but the question is will people go crazy and buy the iPhone 4 or wait til July to get the iPhone 5.  The 16GB version of the iPhone will sell for $199, with the 32GB to cost $299.  AT&T run is finally over with a three and a half year monopoly on the iPhone.  The iPhone will be on the 3G network but will upgrade to the 4G LTE network once the iPhone 5 comes out.  You can sign up to get your new iPhone early but there will be limited amount of phones because everyone will want this phone.  This is a big boost for Apple since they are with the world’s largest mobile network.

Samsung Sliding PC 7 Series hands-on preview

If you’re an avid Engadget reader, you’re familiar with a dream of ours — we have always wanted a netbook / tablet hybrid (netverible as we like to call ‘em) that actually works really well. We don’t want to get our hopes up too much, but the Samsung Sliding PC 7 Series could be it. While we got a chance to see the 10.1-inch tablet with its slide out keyboard just a few days ago, we caught some one-on-one time with the device behind closed doors here at the show and came out having a lot of hope in the product. The unit we saw, and the one being shown on the show floor here at CES, is still pre-production, but even so the sliding mechanism worked pretty smoothly. That’s not to say it doesn’t still feel delicate, but it actually auto-slides open once you start to push up the screen. As you’ll see in the video, it’s a rather exhilarating process, although, we were slightly worried that the back of the screen was going to shave off a keyboard key or two. Speaking of the keyboard, those smooth, shiny chiclet keys feel pretty good, though as you’d expect the layout is a little bit cramped.

When held in tablet mode the 2.18-pound device is a little heavy for one-handed use, but it’s nowhere near as thick or bulky as the Dell Inspiron Duo. However, to maintain those trim dimensions, Samsung has had to cut out a full sized USB port, and instead, the device will use its mini-HDMI port — it will come with a mini-HDMI-to-USB 2.0 adapter. It also has a MicroSD slot and 3G-card insert, and both front- and back-facing cameras. We didn’t get to spend too much with Samsung’s Touch Launcher, but it’s one of the nicer looking Windows 7 layers we’ve seen in our day, and it can be launched by just touching that bright blue strip on the screen bezel. Of course, we’re slightly worried that it will be sluggish, but Samsung is using Intel’s forthcoming 1.5GHz Oak Trail processor, which we’ve heard will speed up Win 7 and improve battery life. As for the 340-nit, 1366 x 768-resolution screen itself, it was nice and bright on maximum setting, and the viewing angles seemed to be fairly decent. Unfortunately, it’s also fairly glossy, so we’ll have to see how it holds up outdoors. It also supports up to 16 points of contact — we’re not sure how useful that is on a ten-inch screen, but it’s a nice bragging point. Samsung maintains the Sliding PC 7 Series should be hitting for $599 in May — don’t let us down Sammy, we’ve got dreams.

Credit to: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/07/samsung-sliding-pc-7-series-hands-on-preview-video/

To see video Click Here

Motor City getting in on electric fever

Coulomb Technologies unveiled its latest electric-vehicle charging station on Thursday morning in Detroit.mp_main_wide_SydneyChargingStation452

The Motor City is the first locale in Michigan to get a charging station for public use as part of ChargePoint America, a $37 million program to install public and residential stations throughout the U.S. to encourage adoption of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.

ChargePoint is funded in part by U.S. Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Automakers Ford Motor, General Motors, and Smart USA are also partners on the project. The automakers have a vested interest in making charging stations publicly accessible–they’re all pushing to sell their newly introduced plug-in hybrid and all-electric cars to the American public.

The first Detroit station is located downtown at the headquarters of NextEnergy, a nonprofit company that facilitates and brokers technology-sharing research projects and deals between academic, government, and corporate entities.Any interested company or municipality in the country may apply to be considered for a charging station for their property. Who gets one depends on whether the site fits several criteria in keeping with the program’s goal of encouraging EV adoption.

“The objective is to get highly visible, publically accessible, geographically dispersed locations from which we can provide the DOE and our automobile partners a lot of data on the usage of these charging stations,” according to ChargePoint.

Coulomb has been installing charging stations throughout the U.S. in places including Orlando, Fla., San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City, with thousands more planned in the coming year. A total of 4,600 electric-vehicle charging stations throughout nine regions of the U.S. are to be installed, along with a number of charging stations going into the homes of plug-in hybrid or EV owners.

Credit to: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20015436-54.html?tag=mncol