IBLOG SPACE

Samsung has outed its latest iteration of the Galaxy S , the Samsung Galaxy S Plus i9001. Initially headed to Russia at the end of April – where it will launch as the Galaxy S 2011 Edition – the new version packs a 1.4GHz processor along with the same 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display of the original. There’s also 8GB of internal storage, HD video recording and playback, and a bigger, 1,650 mAh battery with a new metal back panel to cover it. The Galaxy S Plus i9001 runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, with Samsung’s own TouchWiz 3.0 on top. The new version will be priced at 23,990 rubles ($844) when it lands on Russian shores at the end of next month. No word on broader availability, but we’re guessing this new 2011 edition will be slotting in as the single-core mid-range device in Samsung’s range in a number of markets.

Verizon Wireless’ roadmap for 2011 has leaked on that map are a bunch of X’s marking a hoard of new Android devices that are inbound for the network. The Casio Commando is one of the Android devices on the map. It is a rugged smartphone that will be welcome by field workers and those that tend to not take good care of their gear. The next smartphone is the Samsung Charge also known as the Stealth and Droid Charge. This will be a 4G phone and is set to land on April 7. The list shows off the big handsets that we have been talking about too. The Xperia PLAY still coming on April 14 along with the HTC Incredible world phone on the 28th. After April showers leave and the May flowers bloom we will see the LG Revolution on May 5. The last three new Android devices will include the Motorola Bionic, Droid X2, and the Samsung Galaxy S II. Looks like the next few months will be happy ones for Android fans on Verizon.

There have been some high profile and tragic shootings on college campuses and many schools are taking to technology to alert students when there are emergency issues. Some campuses are using a system called RAVENAlert from IntelliGuard Systems to warn people when emergencies arise. The RAVENAlert system is a small device that can be hooked to a bag or to a key ring that looks like a flash drive, it’s actually wirelessly connected device with an LCD screen that the school can use to send messages out to students and faculty. The system can warn all connected devices at one time within 20 seconds. The company that makes the RAVENAlert device has announced that it has now crammed a flash drive inside the device to make it more useful to users. Inside the alert device is now a 4GB flash drive. The device also has a digital clock and uses a rechargeable battery. The small portable screen works with wall units for classrooms and large LED display for common areas.

If you are a fan of the iPad tablet and have used some of the less powerful photo editing apps on your tablet before you will like this. Adobe has shown off a real Photoshop app for the iPad at its Photoshop world symposium. The new app promises to allow you a much better photo editing experience and lots more. Adobe offered up a live demo of the new app. One of the key features for the new app is the ability to use layer animation to give a look at what is going on behind the scenes in the app with your photos. When the full app will land isn’t known, but photography types should like the idea of more interaction with photos for editing while on the go using the light iPad.

HTC has offered up the official video for the HTC Flyer Android tablet on YouTube. The tablet looks pretty cool and one of the coolest features is the stylus that lets you write on anything on your screen and lets you draw right on the tablet as well. The HTC Sense UI looks very interesting. This is the first time we have seen the official video offered by HTC even though we already know most of all there is to know about the Flyer. We even saw some promo material for T-Mobile leak not long ago. The Flyer has a 7-inch 1024 x 600 resolution screen, will run on the HSPA+ network at T-Mobile for the US and a WiFi only version will be coming too. That stylus is one of the coolest features and the Flyer has a single core processor inside.

If you like the idea of a tablet, but you have been waiting for a tablet to surface with Windows 7 onboard so you can use some of your apps from your notebook or PC a new options is here. The NAV7 Slate PC running Windows 7 has turned up and is now available for pre-order. The tablet runs Windows 7 and has lots of features that sound more like a netbook than a tablet. The machine weighs in at 1.25 pounds, uses a 1.6GHz Intel processor, and can have up to 2GB of RAM. The tablet stores to a 1.8″SSD with up to 64GB of storage. It also has a pair of USB ports for connecting accessories. Other features of the tablet includes a front webcam, WiFi, Bluetooth, and optional 3G modem inside. The screen is 7-inches and has a 1024 x 600 resolution. The battery promises four hours use per charge and the tablet has an accelerometer and more. The pre-orders are underway right now starting at $649 and shipment is expected to kick off in May.

With Amazon unveiling its Cloud Player music service recently, mSpot has felt the need to add a new and important feature to keep up. mSpot has now announced that it is offering users of its music service 5GB of online storage space. That is enough space for quite a bit of music and that music can be streamed to all sorts of devices like the iPhone, Android, and PCs or Macs. The music can also be streamed to web-connected TVs as well. Users can upload their tunes to the mSpot Cloud and start listening wherever they go. The mSpot service launched in June 2010 for the Android platform and in December 2010 for the iPhone. So far it has 1.2 million downloads. “We think we have a better service than storage lockers with a simple ‘player’ User Interface – and in order to remove any price barriers we’re going to offer 5 GB free storage. Going forward, we expect that the market for storage will be very commoditized and price-driven; but unique music services like mSpot will appeal more to mu

When my son was born, and his vibrating bouncy seat started eating through AA batteries like jelly beans, I bought rechargeable batteries. But I found them kind of a pain. They didn’t always charge back up very well, and it took a long time to charge them. Therefore, the battery charger is now in a drawer, and while we still go through AAs like crazy for all those electronic toys, I just buy regular batteries. But if this concept design comes to light, I might just switch back. Continuance is a battery with a USB port right in the side. As a bonus, and this might be the more popular feature, the batteries can provide a charge to USB-chargeable devices while on the go. Just plug your charger into the battery, then into the device, and get some extra power. The only drawback would be needing to charge them one by one, but I’m sure there is an easy solution to that. This is just a concept, but I’m encouraged to see them in actual packaging. Maybe it won’t be too long before this concept i

When it comes to being entertained in the living room, there are some things that practically all consumers are looking for. They want a device that’s affordable, offers a nice selection of content, and can survive the next few years without becoming obsolete. Admittedly, there are many such devices on store shelves right now. Consumers can opt for the Apple TV, Roku’s set-top boxes, and even HDTVs that come with built-in apps. The choices are endless, and for the most part, the entertainment opportunities are, as well. But if I were to choose a single device that can best them all and deliver the kind of entertainment that would satisfy just about any customer in the living room, it would be hard not to pick Sony’s PlayStation 3. Now, I know that there are some out there — especially Xbox fans — that hear that and scoff. For years now, they’ve heard people say that the PlayStation 3 is the go-to platform for entertainment, and they’re sick of hearing it. But the fact is, the PlayStati

Perhaps the most interesting device from RIM’s leaked 2011 roadmap has been caught in the wild, the BlackBerry Touch (aka Monaco/Monza). The all-touch smartphone has found its way into BGR ‘s clutches, who have wasted no time in sharing hands-on photos of the BlackBerry OS 6.1 device. According to their sources, the Touch will not be part of RIM’s existing Storm line, and in fact the Canadian company has supposedly axed that range altogether. It takes SureType with it, the little-loved “physical touchscreen” technology. What OS 6.1 seemingly brings is a switch from a BlackBerry PIN to a BlackBerry ID, which looks like it could be a link to various new cloud services. Very little in the way of new details from this particular leak, so we’re assuming the specs hold true from the original roadmap: that would make it a 1.2GHz CDMA/UMTS World Phone hybrid with a 3.7-inch WVGA touchscreen and 5-megapixel camera with flash. RIM will apparently make the BlackBerry Touch official – along with

DisplayLink ‘s USB graphics technology has made adding multiple screens to notebooks straightforward, but there’s always a limit on performance thanks to the throughput potential of USB 2.0. Unsurprisingly, then, the latest breed of USB display adapters, such as Sunix’s imminent VGA2788 , turn to USB 3.0 to allow for Full HD 1080p support. In fact, it will go all the way up to 2048 x 1152 resolution, and demands just 400mA. Output is via a single HDMI port, and you can either mirror or extend your existing desktop. Up to four VGA2788 units can be used at any one time (assuming your computer’s CPU can keep up). It’s backward compatible with USB 2.0, of course, though you’ll probably lose some pixels in the process. No word on pricing or availability at this stage.

If it is speed you are looking for, better start packing for Japan. Logitec has just announced a new Wireless LAN router, the LAN-WH450N/GR with speeds we can only dream of here in the US. The router is set to be released sometime in April, and boasts download speeds of 450Mbps. And no, that is not a propeller on the top. The Logitec Japan site calls this a “triple antenna router”. And it will retail for 19,950 Yen, or about $240. The router supports 5GHz bandwidth on IEEE 802.11a/n, and gives you 450Mbps speed on compatible devices. The LAN-WH450N/GR comes with all the basic features you would expect on a router, with UPnP, Dynamic DNS, etc. And here is the shot from the Logitec Japan site, showing how lightning fast it is.

Frankly, it’s a surprise it’s taken them this long. The idea of a PlayStation phone hasn’t been so much a persistent rumor as it has a cellular cloud hanging over both Sony and Sony Ericsson. It overshadowed the launch of the PSP Go and has been responsible for untold speculation about terse relations between the divisions. Throw in more pre-announce leaks than average, and the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play has quite the reputation to live up to. Can the first gaming-centric Android smartphone deliver both the polished day-to-day experience we now expect, and live up to the PlayStation branding? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut. Hardware The family similarity between the PSP Go and the XPERIA Play is obvious. Both have a slide-out gaming keypad and a chubby little body: 119 x 62 x 16 mm for the Sony Ericsson, 128 x 69 x 16.5 mm for the Sony. Even so, Sony Ericsson manages to fit in a larger display, a 4-inch panel running at 854 x 480 resolution. Colors and viewing angles

Microsoft has reported that there are 1,200 new developers joining the AppHub community each week, showing that there is considerable interest in building apps for Windows Phone 7. Even though the platform has only been available to consumers for four months or so, the developer tools have been available for over a year. And celebrating that first year of Windows Phone development, Microsoft’s Brandon Watson has come out with a list of statistics that help to show the progress of Windows Phone 7 AppHub and the developer community. All 1,200 new developers may not be working on Windows Phone, though, since AppHub also includes Xbox Live games developers. But 40% of registered developers have published an application in the Windows Phone Marketplace. Other Numbers There are 36,000 paid members of the AppHub community, and the developer tools for Windows Phone have been downloaded 1.5 million times. There are 11,500 apps available for download for Windows Phone, and Watson hastens to poi

Demand is still far ahead of supply for the iPad 2, which has proved to be quite a boon to eBay sellers. AppleInsider was able to get initial iPad 2 sales data from eBay, which shows what models are the most popular, and who is buying them. Most of of the units (65%) are being sold in the U.S., showing that even though the device has been out for a few weeks now, there is still a shortage. By contrast, only 35 percent of eBay sales of the original iPad were to the U.S. The Wi-Fi only 16GB model is the most popular, with 30% of all sales, with the second most sought after option being the 3G 64GB version at 23%. And resellers are making a bundle, selling for quite a bit above retail. The 16GB Wi-Fi model sells for $198 average above retail, and the 64GB model sells for $406 over the asking price. eBay has been much stricter with iPad 2 selling rules, only allowing Apple authorized resellers to list 50 items per week, and top-rated sellers four items per week. With the iPad, there were

In addition to a Windows Phone 7 update, users of the Dell Venue Pro will be being sent a separate update for the handset that will provide additional enhancements and fixes. There’s no ETA on this update, but the WP7 update is indeed rolling out to users today, March 31, 2011. This update is known as “Copy and Paste” and will continue to be released in a phased fashion over the next few weeks. This set of updates will come to you in three separate cycles. First there’s an update known as the “February Update” which you may well have already received. Without this update, you cannot update to the Copy and Paste update. Once you’ve got the first, you can start working on the second – Copy and Paste will also be sent over the air and downloaded by you essentially automatically (with notification, of course.) What the Copy and Paste update will do, in short, is give you faster app speed and gaming load times, tweaks to the Marketplace, tweaks to Outlook, and more. The process which you mu

RadioShack has confirmed the launch date for the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G , taking to Twitter to announce that the Android-based messaging handset will arrive in stores on April 20. T-Mobile had previously confirmed pricing for the Sidekick 4G, but is yet to attach an official release timetable. Your money gets you a full 3.5-inch touchscreen interface wearing a new Sidekick UI, preloaded video call support, and of course a physical keyboard with dedicated emoticon and voice control keys, no less. Inside there’s Android 2.2 Froyo running on a a 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor. The Sidekick 4G will be priced at $99.99 (with a $50 mail-in rebate) and a two-year agreement including unlimited data, or alternatively $149.99 with a qualifying plan including a limited data package, again for two years. For more on the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G, check out our hands-on coverage including live video.

I am not a Mac user so I can’t speak to the validity of this, but apparently chat on Skype for Mac sucks. It seems that it sucks so badly that Skype is asking Mac geeks for help designing something better. I guess the upside to this is if the new version created sucks, they can blame it on the users and not take the heat themselves. If you are a handy developer sort, you might want to enter this contest because you can win some cool prizes and the love of Mac fans all around if your chat design is better than what they have now. The contest opens a bit more than seven days from now and Skype has a template that you can use to get started. The contest will run over three stages and each of those stages will run for three weeks. Two geeks will be picked at the end of each stage and the winners will be named. The judge’s choice will be selected by votes from Skype users and the final six winners will go forward for a chance to win the final prize. All three judges choice winners will get

Yesterday we mentioned that Acer’s CEO had stepped down amid some disagreement on product development. Acer was hit hard last year with the sales of netbooks dropping massively in the face of the hugely popular iPad and other tablets. Acer has now set its sights on Apple and HTC. Acer had previously tried to target HP and that didn’t work out so well for it so the sights are only slightly lower this time around. Acer has noted that it will start to undergo some corporate restructuring according to the chairman JT Wang. Wang will also assume the spot of CEO with Guianfranco Lanci stepping down and a new global president will be appointed with DigiTimes claiming that will come at the end of April. Wang will handle finance, personnel and global marketing while the president will supervise product design, innovation, procurement, and logistics. Acer is also set to buy back up to NT$68.8 billion in stock shares. That works out to about 54 million shares at the current price. The buyback