NJ EV owner with 50,000 miles logged dispels myth of cold weather battery woes
February 2, 2011 No Comment
We see you in comments, chiming in on every EV post about how worthless they are in the cold. Charles Lane from The Washington Post recently did the same, saying things like “A change of ten degrees can sap 50% of a battery’s output” and speculating that the EV industry is “just one well-publicized malfunction away from disaster.” Not so, says Tom Moloughney, and he should know. He’s spent the last 49,500 miles of his commuting life in an all-electric Mini E , an average of 2,500 miles per month. Now, this car is a prototype and a fairly early example of the modern electric vehicle, meaning it has no preconditioning tech to let you warm up the battery packs before you go. Despite that, Tom has logged every trip he’s made in the car and indicates he rarely sees more than a loss of about five percent from the vehicle’s usual range. More importantly, he’s made his way through many a cold commute without getting stranded — or freezing to death. NJ EV owner with 50,000 miles logged dispels myth of cold weather battery woes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Keepon robot soon available to the masses in toy form as the $40 My Keepon
February 2, 2011 No Comment
We’ve been having a torrid affair with the Keepon robot since 2007, his simple yellow shape and unflappable adherence to the beat capturing our hearts. But, sadly, this has been an unrequited love, as the little guy has only been available to research institutions (and, apparently, rock bands ) at the tear-inducing price of $30,000. Now there’s a version we can finally bring home to mother, the $40 My Keepon. It’s being dubbed a “toy,” so we have our doubts that it can bust the same sort of moves its Pro predecessor puts down (embedded after the break), but we’re certainly going to be first in line to find out when they hit stores. No, we don’t know when that is just yet, but we’re told all will be revealed on February 14th. Yes, Valentine’s Day. Continue reading Keepon robot soon available to the masses in toy form as the $40 My Keepon Keepon robot soon available to the masses in toy form as the $40 My Keepon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Verizon iPhone will go on general sale at 7AM on February 10th, you can reserve one on February 9th
February 2, 2011 No Comment
Apple has just announced that tomorrow morning’s early Verizon iPhone pre-orders will be available through its online Store as well — starting at 3AM, available to current VZW subscribers only, and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. More pertinent news, however, can be found deeper in the company’s press release, which states that pre-orders will be opened up to the general public on February 9th, when you’ll be able to reserve or have one delivered on launch day, February 10th. Shops will open their doors early, 7AM — matching AT&T’s early opening for the iPhone 4′s original launch way back in June — and availability will be broad, encompassing Apple’s brick and mortar Stores, Verizon’s 2,000+ retail locations, select partners, and even a zany 1-800-2 JOIN IN phone number you can call. So, really, the only people left without a Verizon iPhone on February 11th should be those that don’t actually want one. Continue reading Verizon iPhone will go on general sale at 7AM on February 10th, you can reserve one on February 9th Verizon iPhone will go on general sale at 7AM on February 10th, you can reserve one on February 9th originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Good news for the people of Egypt: internet connectivity has been almost universally restored . Bad news for the people of Egypt: they’ll need at least a few weeks to catch up on all the Twitter mentions they’ve accumulated while being away. Egypt comes back online, has a ton of unread feeds to catch up on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …408 Chevrolet Volts and Nissan Leafs sold in US during January, limited supply probably to blame
February 2, 2011 No Comment
The Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are alike in a lot of ways: both rely on electric motors for their locomotion, both have earned Car of the Year awards (Volt in North America , Leaf in Europe ), and both have had stunningly low sales in their first couple of months on sale. January’s numbers have just come out and the Volt leads the way with 321 vehicles sold or leased, while Nissan scores an even weaker 87 purchases. That compares to figures of 326 and 19 , respectively, for the month of December. Before we all start writing off the EV as DOA (again), let’s remember that both companies have massive back-orders for their electrified people carriers, leading us to believe that the most likely cause for this slow trickle of deliveries is a limited supply rather than dwindling demand. Production volumes of the Volt and Leaf are expected to ramp up as we go forward, so panic’s inadvisable — unless we come around to January 2012 and are still looking at fewer sales than the Joojoo managed. 408 Chevrolet Volts and Nissan Leafs sold in US during January, limited supply probably to blame originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …HP unleashes Digital Sketch and Pocket Whiteboard, becomes the new teacher’s pet
February 2, 2011 No Comment
Nope, that’s not the rumored HP / Palm WebOS educational tablet we’ve heard about, but it’s a wireless tablet alright. That up there is HP’s new Digital Sketch, and it’s actually meant solely for the classroom — it wirelessly connects to a laptop or desktop allowing teachers to control lesson plans or draw diagrams while they’re walking around the room making sure no one’s passing notes. The pad itself, which will be available in March, works with HP’s Sketchbook Windows software and is said to last for over 25 hours on a charge. But that’s not all HP wants to put in schools. It’s also got a new Pocket Whiteboard up its educational sleeve. It’s a lot like other digital whiteboards in that it can turn almost any surface into a canvas, but it’s apparently much more portable than the others out there, so teachers can easily move it from class to class. It will come with a three-button stylus and connect to any laptop or desktop via USB. So, what’s the deal with all the education-friendly tools? They’re all part of HP’s new Digital Learning Suite and push to start providing really comprehensive tech tools for K through 12 classrooms. The company’s nothing but serious about providing an array of products, and beyond the two previously mentioned, HP’s also releasing new laptop carts, a Thin Client, and presentation stand for laptops. Hey, we get it, the children are our future, and we’ve got to teach them well — but don’t blame us HP, for just wanting to see the tablets of our future next week . Full press release and a low-resolution picture of the whiteboard after the break. Continue reading HP unleashes Digital Sketch and Pocket Whiteboard, becomes the new teacher’s pet HP unleashes Digital Sketch and Pocket Whiteboard, becomes the new teacher’s pet originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 07:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Last we heard, Nokia’s bike-powered cellphone charger was set to roll out worldwide by the end of 2010 for about €15 — now the company’s peddling it for €30 to European velocipede enthusiasts. (Sure, it’s twice as expensive as we anticipated, but it’s a huge step up from this thing .) The kit, intended primarily for developing markets, comes with a Nokia charger, phone holder, and bottle dynamo: the thing that spins your pedal pushing into cellphone juice. Aside from price and availability, Nokia seems to have followed through on the rest of its promises — it sports a 2-mm charger interface and provides 28 minutes of talk time for every 10 minutes spent riding between 6kph (4mph) and 50kph (31mph). European riders can pick up the charger kit from Nokia’s online store, while the rest of us just keep spinning our wheels. Nokia’s €15 bicycle cellphone charger, now €30 in Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 07:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You might think you’ve seen all that can be done with Kinect , but you would of course be wrong. Here’s another example of how Microsoft’s bundle of sensors and cameras can be utilized to freshen up an old concept — in this case a music video — with some arresting new visuals. Just sit back, relax, and hit play. [Thanks, Joe] Kinect used to shoot a gorgeous, ghostly music video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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All these upcoming NFC-equipped smartphones wouldn’t be worth much without places to use them , so it’s good to hear LG’s announcement this week that it’s working on providing the infrastructure for contactless payments. The Korean company has set its sights on Europe, where it’s conducting beta testing of point-of-sale technology that will facilitate paying for goods and services by swiping your phone near an NFC sensor. We’re not told whether that phone would necessarily have to be built by LG, though we imagine the company would be well served by including as many devices as possible and just taking its slice of the profits. Whatever LG does, it’s looking increasingly safe to assume that having NFC on your phone will be a legitimate asset in the coming months (and not just if you live in Japan ). LG working on an NFC payment system for Europe, planning launch in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 03:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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