Showing posts with label Tech News. Show all posts
Verizon fastest among 4G networks
Verizon's 4G network proved the fastest and most consistent among those of the four major U.S. carriers, according to a study (PDF) out today by mobile testing company RootMetrics.
With the four (but soon to be three, what with yesterday's surprise announcement that AT&T plans to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion) major carriers all trumpeting the respective performance of their own high-speed mobile networks, RootMetrics set out to determine which was truly the speediest by testing 4G-capable phones from each one.
Included in the study were the HTC Thunderbolt running on Verizon's LTE network, the HTC Inspire on AT&T's HSPA+ network, the HTC Evo on Sprint's WiMax network, and the Samsung Galaxy S on T-Mobile's HSPA+21 network. The testing was done solely in Seattle near RootMetrics' offices in Bellevue, Washington.
Though the term 4G is bandied about rather loosely in the industry, for the purposes of the study Metrics referred to each carrier's network as 4G.
Measuring upload and download performance as one part of the test, RootMetrics found that Verizon's LTE delivered the best speeds, averaging between 4 and 14.5 times faster than the competition in downloads and between 4.7 and 49.3 times faster in uploads. Beyond mere speed, though, the test looked at the ability to both achieve and maintain those high speeds. And here, Verizon also scored on top.
RootMetrics discovered that Verizon managed to deliver download speeds above 10 megabits per second almost 90 percent of the time and average upload speeds between 5Mbps and 10Mbps fully 100 percent of the time. Further, Verizon's LTE network was available 100 percent of the time, both in the car and in a fixed location.
In comparison, T-Mobile and Sprint tied statistically for second place overall, though T-Mobile's HSPA+21 network offered a slightly higher average download speed of 4.42Mbps over Sprint's WiMax at 4.4Mbps. T-Mobile's upload speed fared better as well, averaging 1.29Mbps versus Sprint's 605 kilobits per second. Taking up the rear in speed was AT&T's HSPA+ network, which delivered average download speeds of 1.18Mbps and upload speeds of just 123Kbps.
Looking at reliability, RootMetrics was able to access Sprint's network 90 percent of the time and the networks from AT&T and T-Mobile 80 percent of the time. Further, the tests found that WiMax offered the most consistent download and upload speeds after Verizon, followed by T-Mobile and then AT&T.
How do the speeds that RootMetrics found compare with those touted by the carriers themselves?
For its LTE network, Verizon promises average speeds of 5Mbps to 12Mbps for downloads and 2Mbps to 5Mbps for uploads. AT&T points to download speeds up to around 6Mbps. Sprint promises average download speeds of 3Mbps to 6Mbps on its WiMax network. And T-Mobile's testing showed download speeds of close to 5Mbps.
To conduct its tests, RootMetrics drove around Seattle on March 18 with unaltered, off-the-shelf versions of the four smartphones tested, each outfitted with the Android 2.2 operating system. The testers also stopped at certain locations to gauge performance in a fixed location.
Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20045376-251.html#ixzz1HB4qQgzZ
NRC plans review as focus turns to nuclear fuel storage
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to do a "systematic and methodical" review of U.S. nuclear facilities following the onset of the crisis earlier this month in Japan.
The NRC said today that it will study information from the situation in Japan--where a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunamis provoked a dangerous situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility--and conduct an assessment of nuclear power plants in the U.S. There will be a rapid, 90-day review and a longer review which could include regulatory action, according to reports.
"We have a high degree of confidence that at our 104 nuclear reactors there is an adequate basis to ensure adequate protection," Bill Borchardt, executive director for operations at the NRC, said at a Commission meeting, according to a report at E2 Wire.
Dry cask storage puts spent fuel assemblies are entombed in steel and concrete.
Dry cask storage puts spent fuel assemblies are entombed in steel and concrete.
(Credit: NRC)
The review comes at a time of growing concern over nuclear disasters in the U.S. and renewed calls to improve the safety of spent fuel from nuclear facilities. At the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, the spent fuel pools have emerged as one of the gravest dangers because they are not stored in metal and thick concrete structures as the reactors are.
In the U.S., there are under 100 tons of spent fuel stored at power plants, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. After they have been used to generate heat in the reactor, fuel is kept in pools of water that contain the radiation. Water is also circulated to remove the residual heat from the assemblies, which hold the nuclear fuel rods, for several years.
Because there isn't a central repository in the U.S. for storing spent nuclear fuel, many nuclear plants have a lot of spent nuclear fuel on site. The Seabrook Station nuclear power plant in New Hampshire, for example, had space for 20 years worth of spent fuel storage in pools but then needed to build a dry cask storage facility on site. The nuclear waste is covered in steel and concrete.
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), which released a report citing safety lapses at U.S. nuclear plants last week, noted that storing fuel in dry casks, rather than in pools, is safer from errors, natural disasters, and attacks.
"UCS has long recommended that spent fuel be transferred from the pool to dry cask storage once the fuel has cooled enough, after about five years. This is a major issue in the U.S. because U.S. pools are becoming increasingly packed with spent fuel," said Lisbeth Gronlund, the co-director of the global security program, in a blog post yesterday.
In particular, plant designs where nuclear fuel is stored above ground have come under fire. Massachusetts state attorney general Martha Coakley yesterday put out a statement pressing the NRC to review the spent fuel at two New England nuclear power plants--Vermont Yankee and Pilgrim. The Seabrook Power Plant was not subject of the complaint because it has below-grade storage.
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20045486-54.html#ixzz1HB31P300
Googling Google On Google: Why Do People Do It? (POLL)
Have you ever Googled Google on Google? It's more common than you might think.
This strange search trend is becoming more and more popular over time, as evidenced from the graph below. Google users Googling Google on Google seems to most happen when Google is in the news, which makes sense.
Most recently, the release of Google executive Wael Ghonim in Egypt led to a spike in Google searches for "Google."
GRAPH: Google search volume for the term "Google" via Google Insights
The interesting thing about Googling Google is it requires some effort. When you type the letter "g" in Google, Google suggests "gmail" first, followed by "google maps," "google.com," and "google translate." Even when you type "Google," those top three suggests stay the same, followed by "google earth," and finally "google."
So why do people do it besides the news? Well, for one, maybe they're trying to have some fun. Maybe they just want to see what results would come up. Or, maybe, they've heard the rumor that Googling Google breaks the Internet.
Seriously. If you check forums, such as Yahoo Answers, questions are asked based on the rumor like this one: "Is it true you can break the Internet by googling google?" The top answer encourages the questioner to try Googling Google, and then adds, "However, I heard that if you yahoo yahoo, you'll die in 7 days."
But the best answer to the question is on WikiAnswers. In response to "Will Googling Google really break the Internet," someone says the following:
No. In fact, I google google using google a googol amount of times every day and I get results about other people googling google while using google and when im done googling with google I google on google maps to find googols of maps about google and then I google google videos of google which demonstrate google and how to google it and when Im finally done I google with google while I blog about having googled using google and if you google a googol amount of times you will find this blog about me googling about google using google to illustrate how my daily life of googling works.Another possibility for the trend: in some Web browsers, like Firefox and Safari, some accidentally Google Google in a search bar at the top simply because they are trying to access the Google website. The same may be true for some mobile browsers.
These are some reasons people might Google Google. Let us know in the comments if you have your own theories and we'll add some of the best ones to this post. And make sure you take our poll below!
Nintendo 3DS official details revealed: March 27, $249
* US release date: March 27, 2011
* MSRP: $249.99
* Confirmed third-party launch window games: The Sims (EA); Ridge Racer 3D (Namco Bandai); Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (Capcom); Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D (Capcom); Dead of Alive: Dimensions (Tecmo); Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 (Konami); Madden Football (EA); Asphalt 3D (Ubisoft); Combat of Giants (Ubisoft): Dinosaurs; Lego Star Wars (Lucasarts)
* Confirmed Nintendo launch window games: Pilotwings Resort; Nintendogs + Cats; SteelDiver; Kid Icarus Uprising; Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time;
* DS and DSi backwards compatible, including downloadable games
* 2GB SD card included
* Comes in blue and black
* The d-pad is augmented by a new analog mini-stick
* Includes a gyroscope and accelerometer
* Includes a charging dock instead of a traditional A/C cable
* Two camera lenses for 3D photography, plus one inward-facing camera
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20028802-1.html#ixzz1BQfud3GQ
Tablets That Could Take Down the iPad 2
A year ago, Apple started the whole tablet revolution with the iPad. From that point onwards till now, there have been many competitive tablets released in the market, but none seem to match up to the iPad. These 'iPad-killers' came with a feature or two that excelled; stuff like dual-cameras, a pocketable design or even the ability to make phone-calls. But the iPad's optimized Interface worked in its favor, while the rest ran Android 2.x, which was designed with smaller smartphone screens in mind. Thus these assassins failed to make a killing, and the iPad - despite its flaws - still thrives.
But things may take a dramatic change this year, especially after CES 2011 last week. Many of those awe-inspiring tablets that were only seen through the eyes of a blurry camera lens', came out of their closet and flaunted themselves. Many of these have some serious hardware and software that will not only easily challenge the ability of the current iPad, but should also serve a tough fight to the iPad 2, which is speculated to be officially unveiled in February. If you're planning to purchase a tablet this year, please consider the following points.
Motorola XOOM
The first Tablet running Android's codename Honeycomb OS was shown off in its prototype stages not too long ago. Today, we know it as the Motorola XOOM, the first tablet to run Google's "Made for Tablets" version of Android. From what we've seen of the new User Interface, the changes are major and nicely done.
But it is not just the software that Motorola can boast about with the XOOM. Although it shares the same 10-inch screen size of the iPad, the XOOM follows a wide-screen aspect ratio, which is better suited for watching videos. Its resolution is also higher than the current iPad (at a healthy 1280 x 800 pixels). It runs NVIDIA's Tegra 2 chip that has two 1GHz cores under the die. This coupled with 1GB of RAM should help the Interface fly. Not only that, it also helps the XOOM in accomplishing number-crunching tasks like playing 1080p HD videos directly.
The browser will support Adobe Flash 10.1. The XOOM has a 5 megapixel camera at the back that can shoot 720p HD video. At the front, there's a 2 megapixel cam that should theoretically support HD video-calling, whenever that makes its way in the future. There's 32GB internal memory and a microSD card slot that supports 32GB worth cards. Connectivity is served by 3G, Wi-fi and Bluetooth. The XOOM is also said to be 'upgradeable' with the mind-blazingly fast LTE 4G support. Battery life is also rated like the iPad's - 10 hours of video playback.
So, as you can see, Motorola has pretty much pulled off everything that one could possibly ask for in a tablet with the XOOM. Now only if they can pull this off at a competitive price tag and we've got ourselves a winner. Now the only question remains is of the apps -- but we don't have any doubts over tablet-optimized apps coming soon to Android 3.0 that will take advantage of the bigger screen. We're talking of Android after all, an OS that went from zero to 2,00,000 apps (and counting) apps in a little over two years.
But things may take a dramatic change this year, especially after CES 2011 last week. Many of those awe-inspiring tablets that were only seen through the eyes of a blurry camera lens', came out of their closet and flaunted themselves. Many of these have some serious hardware and software that will not only easily challenge the ability of the current iPad, but should also serve a tough fight to the iPad 2, which is speculated to be officially unveiled in February. If you're planning to purchase a tablet this year, please consider the following points.
Motorola XOOM
The first Tablet running Android's codename Honeycomb OS was shown off in its prototype stages not too long ago. Today, we know it as the Motorola XOOM, the first tablet to run Google's "Made for Tablets" version of Android. From what we've seen of the new User Interface, the changes are major and nicely done.
But it is not just the software that Motorola can boast about with the XOOM. Although it shares the same 10-inch screen size of the iPad, the XOOM follows a wide-screen aspect ratio, which is better suited for watching videos. Its resolution is also higher than the current iPad (at a healthy 1280 x 800 pixels). It runs NVIDIA's Tegra 2 chip that has two 1GHz cores under the die. This coupled with 1GB of RAM should help the Interface fly. Not only that, it also helps the XOOM in accomplishing number-crunching tasks like playing 1080p HD videos directly.
The browser will support Adobe Flash 10.1. The XOOM has a 5 megapixel camera at the back that can shoot 720p HD video. At the front, there's a 2 megapixel cam that should theoretically support HD video-calling, whenever that makes its way in the future. There's 32GB internal memory and a microSD card slot that supports 32GB worth cards. Connectivity is served by 3G, Wi-fi and Bluetooth. The XOOM is also said to be 'upgradeable' with the mind-blazingly fast LTE 4G support. Battery life is also rated like the iPad's - 10 hours of video playback.
So, as you can see, Motorola has pretty much pulled off everything that one could possibly ask for in a tablet with the XOOM. Now only if they can pull this off at a competitive price tag and we've got ourselves a winner. Now the only question remains is of the apps -- but we don't have any doubts over tablet-optimized apps coming soon to Android 3.0 that will take advantage of the bigger screen. We're talking of Android after all, an OS that went from zero to 2,00,000 apps (and counting) apps in a little over two years.
CES 2011: Cisco Launches Multi-Device Competitor To GoogleTV [Video]
At CES, Cisco launched Videoscape; a family of products and services that consumers will get from broadband service providers. Videoscape organizes disaggregated video content from across the Web and cable TV and delivers it to you wherever you are.
Will Tablets Make Us Less Creative?
Tablets like the iPad are great for consuming information but what about creating? (Photo Credit: Apple, Inc.)
If there was one thing obvious at last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it's that just about every company in the consumer electronics industry envies the success of Apple's iPad.
Tablet PCs have been around for more than a decade. But until Apple came out with its little iPad, they simply never gained any traction. Microsoft certainly tried with various versions of its Windows tablet editions, starting with a version based on Windows XP. And at last year's CES, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off a prototype of a Windows "slate" PC from Hewlett-Packard that was supposed to be aimed at consumers, but when it finally emerged in October 2010, it was an enterprise device released with little fanfare. In the meantime, HP acquired Palm and is expected to announce its own line of consumer-oriented tablets later this year based on Palm's webOS.
Besides Apple, the biggest player in tablets is likely to be Google, whose Android operating system is being adopted to work on scores of new tablet devices. Even before the tablet-friendly "Honeycomb" version of Android was announced, several companies, including Samsung, began shipping tablets based on phone-centric versions of Android.
End of PC Era?
With all the hype about tablets, it's no wonder that many observers, including my San Jose Mercury News colleague Troy Wolverton, have observed that the reign of the PC may be ending. Even Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who owes much of his fortune to the Apple II and Mac PCs, declared the PC to no longer be a consumer device, saying last June that "PCs are going to be like trucks," and that most people won't need them.
Jobs might be right but I'm not sure that's something to celebrate. His analogy to trucks refers back to a time when most people made their living growing food or working in trades and had to haul around goods or tools. Most of today's workers can get by with cars.
Great for Consuming but not Producing
After using an iPad for several months, I'm convinced its a great device for consuming media but not great for producing it. Just as we have fewer farmers and craft people using trucks to haul their goods to market, we'll have fewer people producing documents, spreadsheets, reports, software, professional quality videos and other "goods" that require a PC with a keyboard, a powerful processor, lots of storage and plenty of input ports for accessories.
Is that a good thing? I don't think so, especially if tablets wind up replacing PCs in schools.
Teaching Kids to Program
Unlike the iPad, Apple's ultra-lite MacBook Air has a full-sized keyboard to create and program (Photo: Apple, Inc)
There was a time when kids were encouraged not just to use PCs but to program them using tools like Logo, Apple's own HyperCard or even HTML to build their programs and websites from scratch. I admit that blogging or even posting status updates to Facebook can be creative work, and there certainly are many examples of kids being extremely creative with their video cameras and cell phone camcorders. But there's more to creativity than posting a clever phrase on a social networking site or pointing a camera toward a funny or interesting scene.
When your only keyboard is a virtual one on glass, you're less inclined to write serious essays, stories or books. And though we are seeing an explosion in video creation, there is also the art of video editing. That can be done on a tablet with the right software but -- for now at least -- can be done more effectively on a more powerful PC.
Smartphones and laptops have created an enormous demand for applications or "apps," and that represents an opportunity to keep the art of programming alive. But in the vast majority of cases, the preferred hardware for creating these apps are PCs and Macs, not tablets and phones.
Of course we're not going to see a complete end to productivity. Just as there are still a significant number of people who buy trucks to haul produce, products and tools, there will continue to be professional programmers, writers, accountants, videographers and others with access to whatever tools they need to do their job. But I worry that this group, just like farmers and skilled craft people, will become a smaller and smaller segment of our population. And I'm especially worried that an increasing number of them will be working from outside the United States at lower wages.
I fear we are becoming a nation of technology consumers rather than creators. Whatever form factor we wind up having in the technology in our homes and schools, I want it to be useful for helping young people understand how to build, program and enhance the technology itself.
I give Steve Jobs a lot of credit for creating products that make it easy for the rest of us to consume technology. But I also want to make sure that our kids have the same opportunity as Job's one-time partner Steve Wozniak had to help create the technologies that they and their children will use.
This post is adapted from a column that appeared in the San Jose Mercury News
CES 2011: Android-based Car Stereo Integrates With Internet, iPods And More [video]
Parrott is in Las Vegas at CES 2011 showing off an Android-based car stereo called Asteroid that, via 3G, can make Internet services available to the dashboard. It also will playback music from an iPod or iPhone via Bluetooth.
Microsoft invites iPad users to participate in a study
If you happen to be an iPad user living in the area, you can hit up the Facebook page for the event and let Microsoft know if you’re available for two hours sometime between July 16th and July 21st.
It’s interesting that the study isn’t asking for tablet PC users… but rather for iPad users. While Microsoft isn’t spilling any details about the study, it sounds like the company is interested in finding out how people use the Apple tablet, what they like about it, and what they don’t like about it.
Or maybe Microsoft just wants to hand these people shiny new Windows 7 slates and see how they compare. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if they handed them Windows 7 Slates and told them they were new versions of the iPad with special software to see what they think… it wouldn’t be all that different from the Mojave Experiment Microsoft pulled a few years back when researchers told people they were using the “next Microsoft OS” without mentioning the fact that it was really the much-maligned Windows Vista.
Then again, perhaps this is an indication that Microsoft really is developing software for the iPad… or plans to launch a Windows Phone 7-based tablet to compete with it. Only time will tell.
via Electronista
NEC shows off a 7 inch mini-laptop with Tegra 2
Charbax from ARMDevices spotted something I missed at CES last week: A 7 inch netbook with an NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip from NEC. The little guy has a full QWERTY keyboard as well as special keys for Android functions such as Hme, Back, and Menu. The screen also features a resistive touch panel.
That said, the keyboard looks awfully cramped, and the Android function keys are kind of awkwardly placed for buttons you’re likely to use quite a bit. Still, the little laptop is pretty nifty looking, and the Tegra 2 chipset makes it quite snappy — at least for launching and switching between applications.
The prototype runs Android 2.2 and weighs about 1.3 pounds. It’s not clear if or when it will be launched as a real product.
You can check out the ARMDevices video after the break.
iPad reading could cut into TV's time
(Fast Company) -- The iPad is changing how folks read stuff online -- no surprise if you think how different a gizmo it is to a PC.
But a new study shows it's moving online reading into primetime TV hours, which is big news. Is evening reading coming back, just in a digital style?
The study comes from internal data acquired by ReadItLater, a web service that lets users bookmark web content for perusal at a different time. Though you may think this slightly colors the dataset, the way this service works gives the company unique access to time-coded data on how iPad users (and traditional computer users) read content online.
By looking at how traffic moves through their servers, normalized for global time differences, the ReadItLater team worked out how traditional PC users spread their online reading out during the day.
As you may expect, given how deeply into our everyday lives the computer has penetrated, the curve of content consumption is pretty stable -- not much happens in the wee small hours of the day, then as people wake and go to work there's more traffic, with a small peak spread out around traditional lunch hours and another around 8 p.m. after the evening meal.
When you look at iPhone and iPad user traffic, distinct from "normal" PCs, everything is suddenly very different.
Quest reviews his iPad
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iPhone users have distinct peaks in their reading habits, timed to correspond with the morning routine of breakfast, then a commute to work, the end of the work day and homeward journey, and then last thing in the evening.
This matches the iPhone's status as a handy, portable, always-on Net browser that's good for quick content consumption.
But it's with the iPad that the statistics get very odd indeed: With minor usage spikes first thing in the morning, at lunchtime and then dinner time, the main bulk of iPad text content consumption is from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m..
Fast Company: iPad 2 rumor round-up
This is prime-time TV's slot, and it seems that as well as settling back on the sofa to watch TV, people are taking their iPad with them too. The data doesn't reveal if folk are multitasking (spending some time ogling their favorite shows, some looking data up on the Web) or are ignoring the TV altogether--but the data will still be of concern to TV execs who expect uninterrupted attention from TV watchers, in order to maximize ad revenues.
Plus it's something of a return to a traditional leisure hour image: People settling down on the couch after the evening meal to read the paper or a book, possibly to listen to the radio at the same time.
Remembering a study last year that showed how much time users devote to reading magazines on an iPad, we have to wonder is the iPad causing a renaissance in reading -- just digitally, and with Web content as well as digital books content?
Fast Company: More technology coverage
If this is true, then Rupert Murdoch's Daily iPad newspaper is arriving with pinpoint timing. And the hordes of Android tablets that have just arrived should accentuate the effect.
This is thus something that PR and advertising executives need to pay careful attention to, because the attention focus of the average consumer may be switching away from the TV to their other (newer) powerful glowing screen--in their laps
2010 was declared the "year of the tablet
2010 was declared the "year of the tablet," but the plethora of new tablets on display at this week's Consumer Electronics Show, many running Google's Android operating system, suggests 2011 may well earn that distinction as well.
In addition to the big-name tablets unveiled over the past few months by the likes of Samsung and Research In Motion, there were also host of never-before-seen tablet devices at CES 2011, some sporting new features like slide-out keyboards, stunningly iPad-like designs, and more.
We've put together a slideshow of 11 tablets that you've probably never heard of that were shown off at CES 2011.
Dell Announces The Streak 7, The First 4G Tablet (VIDEO)
What was originally dubbed Dell's Looking Glass tablet is here, with a new name: The Dell Streak 7.
While it may not be running that fresh Android Honeycomb operating system (unlike the Motorola Xoom), it will be 4G equipped on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, and contains the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor that is making so many of these tablets possible.
The 7" touch screen tablet will run Android 2.2 (Froyo), has a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and has WiFi capabilities in addition to 4G. It comes standard with an SD card slot and 16 GB of memory, expandable to 32.
Dell's tablet also incorporates Bluetooth capabilities, as well as support for Adobe Flash Player, much like its predecessor, the Streak 5.
The Streak 7 is set to be launched early this year, though a price is yet to have been set.
While it may not be running that fresh Android Honeycomb operating system (unlike the Motorola Xoom), it will be 4G equipped on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, and contains the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor that is making so many of these tablets possible.
The 7" touch screen tablet will run Android 2.2 (Froyo), has a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and has WiFi capabilities in addition to 4G. It comes standard with an SD card slot and 16 GB of memory, expandable to 32.
Dell's tablet also incorporates Bluetooth capabilities, as well as support for Adobe Flash Player, much like its predecessor, the Streak 5.
The Streak 7 is set to be launched early this year, though a price is yet to have been set.
Motorola Atrix: Half Smartphone, Half PC From CES 2011
The Motorola Atrix aims to be more than just another fancy smartphone. It's a laptop too.
While we've seen combination tablet/laptops before, the Atrix is one of the first smartphone/PCs, largely made possible by NVIDA's dual-core Tegra 2 chip, which lives inside.
PC magazine calls it "an entirely new approach to computing."
The key to the Atrix's abilities lies in it's ability to run two operating systems, Google's Android 2.2 and a customized version of Linux. When plugged into a dock the Atrix can virtually become a desktop PC (attached to a monitor). Motorola is also releasing a Laptop Dock, which the phone plugs into, that's almost as thin as a MacBook Air, according to PC Magazine.
Now for the specs. The Atrix makes such a good computer because it's almost built like one. With 802.11n wireless networking, HSPA+ 4G capabilities, 1GB ram, 16GB of storage space and a MicroSD slot, it virtually is a computer in your pocket.
Perhaps most enticingly, Firefox (one of the Linux system's three apps) supports Flash and other plug-ins. According to Motorola's press release, while in laptop or PC mode Android applications can also be run in a separate window
11 New Tablets You've Probably Never Heard Of From CES 2011
2010 was declared the "year of the tablet," but the plethora of new tablets on display at this week's Consumer Electronics Show, many running Google's Android operating system, suggests 2011 may well earn that distinction as well.
In addition to the big-name tablets unveiled over the past few months by the likes of Samsung and Research In Motion, there were also host of never-before-seen tablet devices at CES 2011, some sporting new features like slide-out keyboards, stunningly iPad-like designs, and more.
We've put together a slideshow of 11 tablets that you've probably never heard of that were shown off at CES 2011.
Ford Unveils New All-Electric Focus
NEW YORK--The car of the future is here, at least according to Ford, which unveiled its first all-electric car today with glitzy events here in New York and in Las Vegas.
Unlike its competitors, Ford will roll out its electric vehicle as a new version of an existing model, the popular Ford Focus. In a further move to distinguish itself from the field, the Focus will be available not just as an all-electric car, but also as a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid, and as a conventional gas engine vehicle.
At New York's Altman building, frenetic dance music geared up the crowd of auto journalists, car dealers and executives. As the lights dimmed, a smooth-voiced announcer directed the audience to take their seats. This was no mere car announcement. It was automotive theater.
In fact, some analysts suggest that a performance is all the product release really amounts to. Electric cars are still an extremely minor part of the auto market--only about 2 percent of cars sold are even hybrids. Building an all-electric car provides extraordinary fuel economy credits for automakers looking to comply with nationally mandated fuel efficiency standards, as well as boosting a progressive, green-minded company image. Skeptics suggest the electric Focus is more about satisfying those requirements than making money.
"There wouldn't be any automaker making electric cars if not for fuel economy regulations," said Aaron Bragman senior analyst for IHS Global Insight. "They're not a moneymaker."
Even if Ford has genuinely ambitious plans for its latest cars, it is taking on enormous obstacles that could prevent electric vehicles from penetrating the consumer market. Not only are electric cars substantially more expensive than ordinary gas automobiles, but the lack of an overall U.S. infrastructure to charge electric car batteries induces major anxiety for drivers looking to drive more than 100 miles at a time.
But in New York on Friday, the mood was distinctly triumphant as the company still associated with the earliest roots of the American auto industry took aim at capturing a slice of its next iteration.
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"This really is a milestone for Ford Motor Company," proclaimed Bill Ford, the company's executive chairman of the board and the great-grandson of the automotive pioneer, Henry Ford. "The future has arrived and you are the first to witness it."
Everyone cheered as a fake garage door ascended and a gleaming electric Focus pulled out of the mock-garage (complete with mulch, shovel and sled). Ford posed by the lit-up circle where a driver might ordinarily pump his gas. But of course, this car had instead a long cord connecting the car's electric battery to a small charging station.
Unlike the Nissan Leaf or the Chevrolet Volt--the company's primary competitors in the electric car market-- Ford has chosen to capitalize on the popularity of the Focus name rather than produce a new brand for their all-electric car. The electric Focus looks almost exactly like its gas predecessor.
"Frankly, why mess with something that's great?" asked Ford, praising the Focus as "gorgeous," "good-looking" and "attractive."
Rolling out its line of electrics under an established name is part of Ford's tactic to bring electric cars to the average consumer.
"It's part of an overall strategy of trying to consolidate brands and model names," said Jesse Toprak, VP of Industry Trends at TrueCar.com. "They'll spend money on a few brands and just a few models."
The Focus is a compact car, the most popular variety in the world.
"To make this the electric vehicle for them means just about anyone can sell it just about anywhere," said Bragman. "They're going to build off the Focus name and simply make it an additional option."
For Ford, offering a wide range of electric options is a matter of catering to different consumers' needs. They will build the hybrids, plug-in hybrids, all-electrics and conventional Fords in one factory in Wayne, Mich. Depending on demand, this will allow Ford to ramp up production of whichever flavor of electric proves to be the most successful more easily than if they had to separate production locations.
"Each automaker is going for their core competency," said Brandon Mason, lead powertrain analyst at Autofacts of PricewaterhouseCoopers, of the electric market. "Ford is taking the path that we're going to offer a bit of everything."
While an all-electric runs purely on an electric battery charged through an at-home charging station, a plug-in hybrid switches from an electric battery to a gas engine once the battery is depleted, while a hybrid combines an internal combustion engine with an electric propulsion system.
"One size doesn't fit all," said Ford. "Customers have different needs."
But green is far from mainstream. Electric vehicles--hybrids, plug-ins, and all-electrics combined--make up only about two percent of the actual market. Ford Director of Global Electrification Nancy Gioia's confident prediction that market share will jump to ten to 25 percent by 2020 is not matched by more conservative analysts.
"We predict sales of 1.4 million units annually in 2017," said Mason. "That's about one and a half percent market share."
Two issues confront prospective buyers: affordability and range anxiety. Even with the $7,500 tax credit buyers can receive for buying electric, such vehicles still cost much more than conventional cars.
"Cost is a huge prohibiting factor to make it a better business case for consumers," said Mason. "[Electric cars] are 10 to 15 thousand dollars higher now and mainstream consumers aren't willing to pay that kind of premium."
Ford has not yet revealed how expensive the new Focus will be, though they let slip a coy remark that it would be priced better than the Chevrolet Volt, and competitively with others. The Volt, a hybrid plug-in, currently sells for $41,000, while the Nissan Leaf, an all-electric, goes for $32,780, pre-credit.
And even though drivers can certainly save on gasoline money by going electric, George Peterson, President of AutoPacific, estimates that it still takes something like 12 years to pay back the electric price premium.
"Unless gasoline goes up to 5 or 6 dollars a gallon, you can't really economically decide that it pays back," said Peterson.
Aside from cost, range anxiety about the distance a car can drive on a single full charge is the major prohibiting factor of the all-electric vehicle. Though hybrids and plug-ins address the range issue by combining traditional gas engines with the electric component, all-electric cars mainly suit the lifestyle of urban drivers who have only short distances to go.
Though Ford has not released their exact efficiency statistics, they have said the all-electric Focus will be competitive with the Nissan Leaf, which provides about 100 miles on a full charge.
This will remain the case until a national infrastructure for electric charging is built. The owner of an all-electric car that runs out of charge on the side of the highway can't exactly expect a fellow driver to pull up with a portable charging station they way they might with a cup of gas.
"The electric infrastructure still has a long way to go in the U.S.," said Peterson. "There are not enough public chargers out there to fulfill the requirements of a broad-base infrastructure for an electric vehicle."
For now at least, early adopters of these new electric cars are likely to be green-minded citizens for whom affordability is not the main concern.
"Is it being viewed as a toy by people who want something cool, or is it really going to be sustainable transportation?" asked Bragman, "I think it's somewhere in the middle of that."
AutoPacific's research shows that only 2 to 3 percent of consumers today would consider buying an electric car.
"It's easy to sell 2000 units of any technology to early adopters," said Toprak. "The challenge is to sell them to Middle America who will buy on financial reasons and not because they look cool or for environmental factors."
Of course, looking cool isn't exactly a bad thing. Ford's decision to unveil the electric Focus at the tech mecca that is the Consumer Electronics Show, rather than at next week's North American International Auto Show, is a sign of increasing confluence between the automotive and electronics worlds. The Focus is CES's official car, a two-peat for Ford, whose Taurus bore the honor in 2010.
Ford has also led the way in automotive infotainment with their wildly popular Sync system, which lets users control music and hear audio text messages. It has been installed in 3 million cars since its introduction in 2007. Toyota just announced their version of Sync, called Entune, at CES this week.
Ford's ability to establish itself as a leaders of technology has been one important part of their astonishing recovery since the auto industry's major crisis in 2008. Ford was the only one of the Big Three domestic automakers not to take bailout money, and recently topped Toyota both in sales and in consumer preference.
"Their tech is two generations more advanced than any other automaker," said Bragman. "They've done a lot of things that have been very painful, but they've done them well, and now they're starting to reap the rewards."
Most internet users spend under £7 a month on content
Reassuringly, for businesses selling content online, 65 per cent of US consumers regularly pay to access or download content online. It's just a shame that they don't pay more!
Pew Research report
The Pew Research Center report, released Thursday this week, confirms that the typical user pays between $1 to $10 per month for downloads or online streaming services
Nearly half of those in the survey pay for either smartphone apps or music downloads.
18 per cent pay for a digital newspaper or magazine, although only 11 per cent had paid for premium content when they were able to access a paper or magazine's website for free.
10 per cent of those in the survey had paid to download e-books, while only 2 per cent admitted to having paid for online porn.
A minority of heavy downloaders means that the average monthly payment for online content is $47 (£30.37)
Rumour: News Corp to layoff 550 MySpace employees
While there is no official word on any plans for restructuring, News Corp execs have made no secret of the fact that the company may consider selling its recently rebranded social network, should a suitable buyer make a satisfactory offer in the near future.
MySpace has been a problem
MySpace's COO Chase Carey said in no uncertain terms last month: "We've been clear that MySpace has been a problem.
"Current losses are not acceptable or sustainable. But we know that we have to work very hard in [the] coming months to get this thing sustainable," he said, adding, "We judge in quarters, not in years."
The reports of impending layoffs come from All Things Digital, which claims to have multiple sources familiar with the matter informing them that up to 50 per cent of MySpace's 1,100 workforce could be up for the chop in early 2011.
News Corp reportedly gave MySpace employees the last week of December off work to save cash. Not the nicest of Christmas bonuses!
MySpace recently rebranded itself as an entertainment portal that users can use in conjunction with (and easily connecting to) their Facebook accounts.
