Verizon Launching LTE on July 21
There is good news for customers seeking the next level of wireless connectivity. On July 21 Verizon’s LTE will go active in the Triangle area. This includes Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Apex, Clayton, Morrisville, Chapel Hil, Carrboro, Gorman, Wake Forest, Rolesville, Knightdale, Wendell, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Garner and Smithfield. The company expects average data rates in real-world, loaded network environments to be 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink.
Of course, this comes on the heels of about tiered data pricing Verizon will roll out on July 7. Those plans are rumored to offer 2GB/mo for $30, 5GB/mo for $50, and 10GB/mo for $80.
Therefore, if your are interested in getting an LTE phone on Verizon (like the Samsung Droid Charge, the HTC Thunderbolt, and the LG Revolution), it might be wise to make a move soon.
If you are interested in a new Android phone, you can always check out . It sorts out the carrier and pricing information for 44 Android phones that are either currently or soon-to-be available.
Murph Named Engadget Managing Editor
Congratulations to Raleigh-area resident Darren Murph, who was announced today as the new Managing Editor at . If you read Engadget, surely you are familiar with one of Murph’s 17,000 blog entries, as he holds the Guinness Book of World Records’ .
Murph’s transition into Managing Editor, along with Tim Stevens’ new role as Editor-in-Chief, comes after a large series of transitions at Engadget this year. In early February AOL, Engadget’s parent company, purchased the Huffington Post, and has executed a massive reorganization that resulted in the departures of several Engadget personalities. However a new day means a new era, and Stevens and Murph have a full cupboard and numerous opportunities at their disposal. Hopefully Murph’s more prominent role on the site and the will mean better exposure for the RTP area in the San Francisco heavy world of tech journalism. This could get very interesting…
Ford Explorer Coming to City Plaza
At Noon on Tuesday (10/26) Craig Patterson, Explorer Marketing Manager for Ford will be in Raleigh’s City Plaza to unveil the 2011 Ford Explorer. The reinvented car no longer sits on a truck chassis, and features the world’s first inflatable seatbealts and 30% better fuel efficiency.
All of that is nice, but what is really worth checking out is the latest generation of the phenomenal Ford Sync system, called MyFord Touch. The new version continues Sync’s fantastic bluetooth connectivity for phone and audio, and expands the abilities of navigation and climate control. Two new features include turning the car into a WiFi hotspot and iTunes tagging support from the HD radio. There is also support for USB keyboards, RSS feeds, an additional USB socket, an SD Card slot, enhanced podcast support, and more. For more information, see of MyFord Touch, as did .
Clearly the next battleground for car makers is on the dashboard, and Ford has the early lead here. Be sure to take this opportunity to see what is going on in this space.
Plug-In Hybrid Conference Picks Raleigh
The (EPRI) recently announced that Plug-In 2011 – an international conference of expert insights on technical advances, market research and policy initiatives shaping the future of plug-in hybrid and electric transportation – will be held in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, July 18-21, 2011.
The Raleigh Convention Center will be the first venue for the Plug-In Conference that will be held outside of California. The shift in location was envisioned as a way to offer wider access to potential attendees. Next year’s conference will be co-organized by EPRI, Progress Energy and Duke Energy.
“We decided to offer a bit of geographical balance to our conference schedule as a way of exposing more people to the significant progress made toward integrating plug-in hybrid and other electric vehicles into the transportation system,” said Mark Duvall, director of Electric Transportation at EPRI. “The Research Triangle area is an appropriate location that is well-known as an incubator of entrepreneurship, innovation and thought-leadership.”
The Plug-In Conference was launched in San Jose in 2008, moved to Long Beach (Southern California) in 2009 and returned to San Jose this year. It attracts automotive manufacturers, component suppliers, electric utilities, government agencies, the environmental community and academia to exchange ideas and gather information needed to make key decisions related to plug-in hybrid and electric transportation.
Plug-In 2010 includes high-level plenary sessions and 21 breakout sessions and mini-panels focused on driving, connecting and launching technologies required to fully commercialize and integrate electric drive into the marketplace.
The exposition floor, which includes vehicles, electric infrastructure and batteries, and related components, features more than 40 exhibitors. July 27 is Public Night, an open forum where visitors can see the exposition floor and participate in a panel discussion. For more information about Plug-In 2010, organized by EPRI and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, visit .
(and don’t go squatting plugin2011.com just because this group hasn’t gotten the wherewithal to buy it yet!)
Evernote Meetup Planned for Next Week
It’s easy to fall in love with , the cloud-based note organizer. There is a desktop application as well as a slew of mobile apps for entering and quickly finding notes one has made. Use-cases include corralling perpetual shopping lists for certain stores (ie. Home Depot, Grocer, Office Depot, Costco…), lists for CDs to hear, movies to see, shows to watch, wines you loved, as well as a perfect clipper/organizer for recipes.
The list of use-cases goes on. That’s why some Evernote fans in the area are organizing a meetup on Wednesday, June 23 at the Tribeca Tavern where even more use-cases can be bounced around. as well as on Twitter (#CaryEvernoteMeetup hashtag). Please signup today so that the group can get an organizer party pack from Evernote.
EVO Hits Today
The went on sale this morning. The phone, only available on Sprint, is the latest Android phone that trumps the iPhone (for now at least). Along with having a replaceable battery, a free range of apps, a decent carrier network, the possibility of Flash support soon, freedom from iTunes, multitasking, a kickstand, “unlimited” data, desktop widgets, miniSD memory expansion, the ability to mount as a drive, video chat, tethering, and multi-notifications, this phone runs on the 4G data network. The network is reported to be 8X-10X faster than 3G. Some tech reporters, in fact, are saying that now is the time for people to consider dropping their land data lines and going to a tethered 4G phone instead.
is only available in 33 cities. New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, Miami, Denver, and Pittsburgh are among the cities that don’t have coverage, but Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill do! The full list of included cities is after the break:
N.C. State Grad Loses iPhone 4G
Blogs have been on fire this week about the lost and found prototype for the next generation iPhone. about the N.C. State grad who apparently lost the top-secret device in a bar on his birthday, and how they obtained it. How embarrassing. What will be interesting to see is if this is, in fact, the final form factor. (BTW, just how many Gray Powells are running around this town? I think this is the 4th one I’ve encountered.)
WRAL iPhone App Goes 2.0
WRAL has just released . The new version allows readers to forward stories to Facebook, Twitter, email, and SMS. It also features a tiny current weather in the upper right, so there is no need for one on the lower menu bar any more. The update also allows one to skip to the next story while viewing an individual article.
A long-awaited feature is the ability to lock/unlock rotation. It is hidden in More | Settings. I’m not sure if this is new in 2.0, per se. While it is nice to have the ability to change rotation, it still is not what I suggested. I’d like to see WRAL’s app behave like Safari where it rotates for three orientations, but does not the phone’s top side is down. Safari’s configuration is the best when lying in best, to be honest.
Finally a word of warning; this app is very crashy (even more than normal iPhone apps!). The majority of the time that I skip to the next story the app crashes. Several times it crashed when jumping in and out of news sections. Unless you are incredibly excited about the sharing features, I’d wait until 2.1.
Norton Names Raleigh Among Riskiest Cities
Symantec, the geniuses behind the Norton suite of computer security applications, name Raleigh as one of the . Those name riskier for cybercrime are Seattle, Boston, Washington, and San Francisco. They cite the number of Wi-Fi hotspots and hi-tech offerings as key factors in these cities’ vulnerabilities.
In other news…sluts are more likely to get an STD.
TWC To Roll Out 4G Wireless
Time Warner Cable announced today that it will officially launch 4G wireless service in Raleigh, Charlotte, and Greensboro on December 1. This will be called “Road Runner Mobile”, and prices start at $35 per month (for TWC Triple Pay Customers on Price Lock Guarantee).
Download speeds will be up to 6 Mbps. Unlike Verizon’s Mifi dongle, this service will be received via two types of USB dongles: Motorola USBw100 USB card (WiMax-only) and the Franklin Wireless CMU-300 USB card (dual 3G/WiMax). More options are said to be available after the service’s launch.
Note (10/15): Also being launched on December 1 is Time Warner’s CradlePoint device, which will also deliver Road Runner Mobile. The device is a portable wireless router that connects up to the internet wirelessly, much like Verizon’s Mifi.
The introduction of fob-based internet connectivity makes things interesting, especially for people who live alone. With this kind of device and a Wifi-capable “phone” device, one could use Skype for their telephony over wifi and avoid having to exhaust all of their patience with a terrible cellular phone carrier (I’m talking right at YOU, AT&T!)
Recent Stories
- Elton John Returning to RBC Center January 19, 2012
- Red Hot Chili Peppers Put On Hold January 11, 2012
- Lake Boone Trail Continues Backlog January 10, 2012
- Van Halen Coming to Greensboro January 9, 2012
- Corrosion of Conformity Playing Lincoln January 9, 2012
- 2012: The Endangered List January 4, 2012
- Broughton Band Featured in Tournament of Roses Parade January 1, 2012
- 2011: Best of the Year December 31, 2011
- Get Bowled Over with Gogo’s Football Calendar December 26, 2011
- Pour House Going “1989” Friday Night December 15, 2011
- Tilted Kilt Coming to North Raleigh December 15, 2011
- Vesuvio’s Coming to Peachtree Market December 13, 2011
- Preview Ford Focus Electric on Saturday December 2, 2011
- Jolly’s Closing After 130 Years November 30, 2011
- Red Hot Chili Peppers Coming to RBC Center November 28, 2011