Velocity Micro’s 7-inch Cruz T301 Android 2.0 tablet surfaces on Amazon, shipping now for $250
December 18, 2010 No Comment
It’s like a Cruz Tablet , but with a T301 thrown into the mix. All jesting aside, we’d wager that the vast majority of simpletons wouldn’t spot the differences between the existing Cruz Tablet and the T301 at a glance, and honestly, we wish Velocity Micro would’ve done a little work to remedy that. For whatever reason, the 7-inch slate is shipping with Android 2.0, and while the 800 x 600 capacitive touchpanel sounds lovely indeed, it’s hard to get riled up for such a stale operating system. For those unconcerned with the luxuries present in Eclair and Froyo, there’s an 802.11n WiFi radio, built-in Kindle app and a user replaceable Li-Ion battery that could last up to ten hours on a good day… or so the company says. Without question, the highlight here is the price — at just $249.99, it’s definitely creeping down into LCD e-reader territory, with a lot of bells and whistles to boot. She’s shipping today if you’re so inclined. Velocity Micro’s 7-inch Cruz T301 Android 2.0 tablet surfaces on Amazon, shipping now for $250 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 15:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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By Barry Lando Almost ten years ago President Bush announced a global War on Terror. But since then it has only gotten worse for millions of Central Africans who live in constant fear of the Lords Resistance Army. Related Entries December 18, 2010 Christmas at the Forgotten Front December 14, 2010 Colonialism Still at Heart of Africa’s Problems
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In a signal of sufficient support for final passage, the Senate voted 63-33 to cut off debate (shut down a filibuster) and head to a final vote on the military’s Clinton-era “don’t ask, don’t tell” anti-gay policy. The bill now faces a second Senate vote for approval before it heads to President Obama for his signature. —JCL The New York Times: Capping a 17-year political struggle, the Senate on Saturday cleared the way for repealing the Pentagon’s ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military. By a vote of 63 to 33, with six Republicans joining Democrats, the Senate acted to cut off debate on a measure that would let President Obama declare an end to the Clinton-era policy, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which allows gay members of the armed forces to serve only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret. The vote indicated that there was easily enough support to push the measure to final passage. “By ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay,” Mr. Obama said in a statement after the cloture vote. “And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love.” Read more Related Entries December 18, 2010 Christmas at the Forgotten Front December 14, 2010 Colonialism Still at Heart of Africa’s Problems
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Click here to view this media While it appears DADT is going to finally be repealed, that didn’t stop John McCain from doing plenty of grumbling just before the filibuster was finally broken in the Senate. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Repeal Faces Senate Vote Today : Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Senate will take a final vote Saturday afternoon on legislation that would overturn the military ban on openly gay troops. The vote on ending the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is set for 3 p.m. before senators turn to a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Passage would send the military measure to the White House. Senators cleared the way for final action with a 63-33 vote earlier Saturday to move the bill ahead. The House passed an identical version of the bill this week. Repeal would mean that, for the first time in American history, gays would be openly accepted by the military and could acknowledge their sexual orientation without fear of being kicked out. The 63-33 test vote all but guarantees the legislation will pass the Senate, possibly by day’s end, and reach the president’s desk before the new year. Sen. John McCain, Obama’s GOP rival in 2008, led the opposition. Speaking on the Senate floor minutes before the vote, the Arizona Republican acknowledged he didn’t have the votes to stop the bill. He blamed elite liberals with no military experience for pushing their social agenda on troops during wartime. “They will do what is asked of them,” McCain said of service members. “But don’t think there won’t be a great cost.”
Continue reading …‘Inside Washington’ Host: Why is it Constitutional to Force People to Buy Car Insurance But Not Health Insurance?
December 18, 2010 No Comment
Gordon Peterson on Friday asked either a staggeringly ignorant or intentionally provocative question. On the most recent installment of PBS's “Inside Washington,” the host queried his guests,
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0 (12-18) 09:50 PST Washington – — In a major victory for President Obama and gay rights activists, a measure to end the 17-year-old ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the miliary won a bipartisan vote in the Senate today that paves the way for repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The Senate approved the repeal bill on a 63-33 test vote, which assures that a final, landmark vote to…
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The digital war of position between WikLeaks and those who have something to hide got a bit more barbed as Bank of America, a likely character in the next WikiLeak drama, announced it will refuse to process payments to the site. Bank of America has joined with MasterCard, Visa and PayPal to deny funds to the open government organization. WikiLeaks has said its next big leak will be about the banking meltdown and the financial sector.
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Been waiting to order an ExoPC here in the US of A? Well, today is your day — ExoPC has just announced that it’s teamed up with Microsoft’s very own store to bring you the 11.6-inch Windows 7 tablet. There’s only one configuration at the moment, but $699 buys you a rather thin 0.5-inch slate with 64GB of flash storage, an Intel Atom N450 processor, 2GB of RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium with ExoPC’s unique UI layer, and a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera. As for that UI, ExoPC just told us that a major update should be coming next week and that it’ll amend a number of issues we had with our early review unit . The slate is currently up for pre-order on the Microsoft Store website, but we’re told it will start shipping out early next week. And if you’re waiting to check it out in person before pulling out the plastic, we hear they should be arriving in all those Microsoft retail locations soon — apparently, San Diego and Scottsdale already have ‘em in stock. Hey, looks like Mr. Ballmer was right, we will have Win 7 tablets this “crucial holiday season .” ExoPC now up for pre-order at Microsoft Store, shipping next week originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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South Korean troops geared up Saturday for artillery drills on a border island shelled by North Korea last month despite Pyongyang’s threat to retaliate again. (Dec. 18)
Continue reading …Good news, bad news. First, the good news: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate will take a final vote Saturday afternoon on legislation that would overturn the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay troops. The vote on ending the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is set for 3 p.m. (2000 GMT) before senators turn to a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Passage would send the military measure to the White House. Senators cleared the way for final action with a 63-33 vote earlier Saturday to move the bill ahead. Now, the really crappy news : A measure that would have offered provisional legal status to some adults who came to America illegally as children failed to advance in a Senate vote Saturday. Democratic backers of the legislation fell short of the 60 votes to move the DREAM Act legislation forward. Democratic Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Jon Tester of Montana, Max Baucus of Montana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska voted against bringing the bill to the floor; Republican Sens. Richard Lugar, Lisa Murkowski, and Robert Bennett voted for it. The vote was 55-41. It’s a sad world when Lisa Murkowski has more political courage than Jon Tester. Well, at least progressives can start whittling down their list of which Democrats they will support in 2012.
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