Nissan‘s Leaf is almost ready to be picked. The company announced its all-electric car will be available to buy as early as December, but only for those in California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Tennessee. Other parts of the country will have to hold their horsepower a little bit longer.
Nissan chose to release to those five states first because they’re home to the EV project, the world’s largest electric vehicle and infrastructure deployment designed to collect data on EV performance in different climates and terrains. ECOtality, which runs the project, received a $99.8 million grant from the Department of Energy last year and will also study charging infrastructure effectiveness and revenue models. → Read More
It’s like the lifeboat policy put in place while the Titanic was sinking, except creepier: if you’re looking to pick up an iPhone 4 on launch day at any Orange At Globus store in Switzerland, you best be a lady — or at least, you better know one you can hide behind. → Read More
The only Larsson I’ve ever heard of is Henrik Larsson, so clearly I’m out of the loop with regards to this Stieg Larsson fellow. The Swedish author has become the first author to sell one million copies of his book(s) on the Amazon Kindle store. Amazon now calls him the first member of the imaginatively named Kindle Million Club. → Read More
A few weeks ago, Google invited a handful of press for an informal get-together with Dave Girouard, Google’s President of Enterprise, who helps drive Google’s mission to get businesses to turn their back on Microsoft and make the jump to Google Apps. The conversation bounced around fascinating topics like security in the cloud and the future of mobile computing. But, by chance, it also uncovered one gripe that half the reporters in the room had secretly been harboring: they hated Google Docs smartquotes with a passion. Seriously, it was like watching a chain reaction of disdain make its way around the conference table.
Smartquotes, for those who aren’t familiar with them, are the curved quotation marks that appear in some document editors in place of the standard straight quotes. They’re generally desirable, but it seems that the smartquotes were mucking up these reporters’ content management systems, and there’s been no way to turn them off. They aren’t the only ones with this issue, either — there are multiple topics on Google Groups complaining about the same thing. Well today, Google has announced that it’s giving users the ability to undo smartquotes. Try to contain your excitement. → Read More
GM is going live with the Chevy Volt‘s pricing today at Noon Eastern but Bloomberg apparently got word early from a source within GM. Apparently the price will be “about $40,000.” That means buyers will end up spending about $32,500 after the $7,500 tax credit is figured in. We’ll have to wait a couple more hours before GM’s VP of US marketing, Joel Ewanick, takes the stage at the Plug-In 2010 conference can confirm this price, but it certainly sounds about right. → Read More
We’ve shown you “robotic” butterflies before, but this one you can actually buy soon. The ChouChou looks a lot like the real thing, and it moves realistically, too. All you need to do is to tap the jar’s lid to make it start moving. Just have a look at the videos embedded below to see how it works. → Read More
http://revision3.com/player-v6423 More details about Panasonic’s upcoming 3D camcorder, the app that helps iPhone 4 owners get a free case, hanging your iPad on the wall like a tiny TV, Bielefeld University’s entry into the “robots that learn” field, Trey Ratcliff and AJ Wood will help your photos be their best, and the Royal Family can now be found on Flickr. Join Cali Lewis for all the tech news on GeekBeat.TV #14. → Read More
During the World Cup, particularly during the England-Germany and Mexico-Argentina games, there was a lot of debate over the role of video replay in the sport. FIFA responded, in typical fashion, by banning video replay inside stadia. Head in the sand, etc. Well now Italy broadcaster RAI has embraced that very same mentality. Starting with the upcoming Italian season it will not show “controversial” replays during games. So, if there’s a dodgy offside call during the Derby d’Italia, or perhaps a contentious penalty between the war-masked-as-sport between Lazio and Roma, well, RAI won’t be showing any of that. → Read More
Easily the most interesting thing Apple unveiled today is the new Magic Trackpad. Essentially, it’s a larger version of the trackpads that ship with each MacBook and MacBook Pro. But it’s a stand-alone product, meant to be used with desktop computers. So why did Apple feel the need to make such a product? It’s about trends and the future.
“Looking at the big picture, more users are using our trackpad because there are more notebook users than desktop users,” an Apple representative told me today when discussing the Magic Trackpad. Laptops have been Apple’s best-selling computers for some time now. And as time goes on, despite some of the new desktop products unveiled today, we can likely expect the gap between laptops and desktops to increase. This will mean an increasing number of users who are accustomed to using their computers via these trackpads. So this new product makes sense for users who are interested in buying Apple desktops as well. → Read More
Alright. Either this is the beginning of the end for the Apple brand as they start draining their fanboys dry or Apple has something special here. Either way, the Apple Battery Charger is real and ready to charge AA batteries. The Magic Trackpad joins the Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse’s AA-powered club. That’s where the Apple Battery Charger comes in. → Read More
The Cinema Display has always been a top-tier LCD monitor option and this new model is no different. The 27-inch sports an actually astonding 2560 x 1440 resolution – that’s 60% more pixels over the 24-inch model. Of course LED is tasked with the backlighting and connectivity is done though Mini DisplayPort connector. There’s also three rear-facing USB ports, stereo speakers and a built-in iSight located in the top bezel. The only downside, however, is the price. Yeah, all this fun doesn’t come cheap. → Read More
As you may have noticed, Apple’s online store has been down the past few hours. The reason? New products. Most people seemed to be aware that new Mac Pros and iMacs were coming, but something new was just released to. Meet: the Magic Trackpad.
As anticipated last week thanks to an FCC filing (and rumored months before that), the Magic Trackpad is basically a trackpad that you would find on a MacBook or MacBook Pro, reworked as its own stand-alone Bluetooth product. “Why should notebooks have all the fun?,” Apple notes. → Read More
Can’t say we didn’t see this coming. It seemed like each day there was another random source or sign that Apple was preparing to update the iMac and Mac Pro. Well, most of the rumors were right. The changes aren’t really all that special and simply evolutionary in nature. Still, we’re not one to turn away new components. → Read More
No idea how this will fly in court, but here we go. Apple says that jailbreaking your iPhone, while now as legal as can be, will still void your warranty. Besides, said Apple, the number of people who actually go to the trouble of jailbreaking their iPhone is so small that it’s really not worth getting too excited over. → Read More
Japan is a huge market for electronic dictionaries, even though a good number of cell phones in this country come with decent dictionaries pre-installed. While most Japanese e-dictionaries are designed like micro-notebooks, market leader Sharp today announced [JP] a model of a different kind. For reasons unknown, their PW-AC10 looks much like a Blackberry (or a knock-off). → Read More
Apple unleashed a range of new and updated products earlier today — everything from new Mac Pros to new iMacs to a new Magic Trackpad device. Lost in the shuffle was a tiny new product Apple also unveiled: the Apple Battery Charger.
But just because it’s not as big or a pricey as Apple’s other new toys, don’t think Apple loves it any less. In fact, when I spoke to Apple today about their new products, they made sure to dedicate some time to talking all about this new battery charger. → Read More
Collaboration software developer 37signals has bought Ember, an iPhone app for Campfire, according to a blog post. on the company’s site. 37signals develops Campfire, which is a popular real-time group chat tool used by developers and businesses. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
37signals founder Jason Fried says that Ember’s iPhone app, which was developed by app developer Overcommitted, lets you chat, view transcripts, jump between rooms, share pictures in a Campfire chat. The app caught Fried’s eye earlier this year and the company decided to buy the developer and re-launch Ember as Campfire for the iPhone. → Read More
CloudMade, which provides collaborative data and tools to developers and OEMs for mapping and navigation applications, has raised $12.3 million in series B funding led by Greylock Partners with existing investor Sunstone Capital participating in the round. This brings the startup’s total funding to $15.7 million.
CloudMade’s platform allows third parties to create applications with stylized and customized map tiles, fully featured turn-by-turn navigation, in-app advertising, local search and data sets relevant to thousands of consumer activities. CloudMade distributes its collaborative mapping, package maps, geo services and advertising to developers and businesses; its main customers are mobile developers, OEMs and network operators. Some of the 12,000-plus developers using CloudMade’s API include Skobbler, OffMaps, Geocaching, Trails, Ride the City, GayCities, and Dopplr. → Read More
Following the success of 3D technology on films like Avatar, Break Media, a social video and entertainment site for guys, is moving into 3D programming today with the launch of a 3D video channel on Break.com. Video content, which will include action sports videos and a series of 3D mini-shows, will both be curated in-house and aggregated from across the web, so viewers have a one-stop-shop for 3D content online. See our in-depth guide to 3D technology here.
Break Media’s has nine branded properties, which include Break.com, MadeMan, Chickipedia, Cage Potato, Holy Taco, Screen Junkies, and All Left Turns, and also operates an ad network. While the Break’s CEO CEO, Keith Richman says that there isn’t a wealth of 3D content on the web at the moment, he believes that demand will steadily increase and wants to get into the game early. → Read More
