Microsoft Kin Phones Discontinued

The supposed ultimate social networking phone from Microsoft, the Kin, has been discontinued. Microsoft has officially announced that they won’t be producing any more Kin phones because of poor sales.

The Microsoft Kin phone is far too expensive for a phone that was designed to be used as a social networking phone and obviously aimed at the teenage market. However, Microsoft will continue to provide support for those who have already purchased the Kin phone. [Geeky Gadgets]

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Are Airships Making A Grand Comeback?

Sir David King, who you know is a big deal because dude’s knighted (and he’s director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford), sees a different method of freight delivery becoming a reality in the near future: cargo blimps.

While a blimp moves significantly slower than an airplane (currently not going much faster than 75 mph), they could potentially haul more, deliver goods to a wider range of places and do it without leaving a huge carbon footprint.

Where planes rely on fuel and runways, a blimp could take advantage of alternative methods for each. Solar power could keep a blimp in the sky, for instance, and it could be designed to be its own loading dock, so it wouldn’t have to land at any specialized facility. Depending on its size, the floating crafts could also haul twice as much as your average 747 freight plane.

Just how possible is the idea? Sir King thinks it could happen within the next 10 years, and that’s not as crazy as it may sound. “There are an awful lot of people we talk to who say this is going to happen,” said King. “This is something I believe is going to happen.”

We have certainly been writing about more and more zeppelins and blimps lately, and all around the world there’s been an increased interest in the technology, including America’s own Lockheed Martin, which received a grant from the US government.

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Kindle For Android Is Available Now

Amazon has just released the Kindle for Android (link) app.

Apparently the app will come pre loaded on the Samsung Galaxy Android phone in addition to the Dell Streak.

For those with Android devices you can download it from the Android market.

Verizon’s Droid X Joins Android Uber Phones

Verizon Wireless unveiled the much-anticipated Motorola Droid X on Wednesday. The device, which Motorola variously describes as a touch tablet and a pocket-sized home theater, runs Android version 2.1. It will be updated over the air to run on Android 2.2 later in the year. When that happens, the Droid X will double as a business user’s device. The Droid X will be available at Verizon Wireless stores and on the carrier’s website from July 15 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate.

The Droid X’s Tech Specs

The Droid X is a CDMA device with an 8 MP (megapixel) camera offering a shutter speed of 1/1,000 seconds, autofocus, digital zoom, dual LED flash and cropping, rotating and geotagging tools.

It captures high-defintion video at 720p resolution at 30 fps (frames per second). The Droid X also runs streaming audio and video. Media formats supported include AAC, H.263, H.264, MP3, MPEG-4, .WAV and MIDI.

Motorola’s new smartphone supports Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, the Android and Webkit browsers, and 802.11n WiFi. It can serve as a 3G mobile WiFi hotspot for up to five other devices and enables data access.

Owners can share videos by linking the device using an optional HDMI cable or Digital Living Network Alliance-certified technology to multiple DLNA devices such as a HDTV set, game console or PC.

The Droid X comes pre-loaded with games and apps such as “Need for Speed Shift,” “NFL Mobile,” Skype Mobile, and a full suite of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Mobile Services, including Android Market, Google Maps with Street View, Google Latitude and Gmail and Google Search.

Users can download Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) on Demand using Verizon Wireless’ VCast video feature. Read more

Batman Tumbler Golf Cart - Way Cool!

Golf carts are fun, but they just look so puny.  Instead of riding around in some incredibly slow and fragile looking golf cart, you need this Batman inspired golf cart.  Sure, it’s not going to be able to do nearly as many tricks as the tumbler in the Batman movies, but at least you’ll get to look cool while cruising around at the high speed of 15 miles an hour.

This just happens to have been created by a Warner Bros. employee who works in LA.  Hopefully his creation will soon be a part of the tour of the studio, at least it should be added.  There is no current tutorial or any hint on how this was made.  This is just a picture that someone captured while on the studio grounds, so there really isn’t much information at all to go with it.

Source: OhGizmo

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Android-iPhone War Gaining Speed During Pre-Orders

With a small army of Android phones headed to the market from Motorola, LG Electronics, and Sony, the stage is set for a major showdown between the two fastest-growing smartphone platforms as Apple brings the iPhone 4 to market. But the challenges seen by AT&T, Apple’s exclusive U.S. carrier, and Apple in taking advance orders for the iPhone 4 could give the competition a boost.

Those rivals include Motorola’s Droid X — launching one day before the iPhone 4 — with its 4.4-inch screen and the Droid Shadow with a 4.3-inch screen. Like Sprint’s HTC EVO, these upstarts are showing defiant bulk as the iPhone gets slimmer. The Droids are packed with goodies like slide-out keyboards — still absent from the iPhone — fast processors and sharp cameras, and, perhaps, Android’s latest multitasking operating system, version 2.2.

iPhone 4 Mania

According to several reports, LG will release up to 20 new Android devices, while Sony Ericsson is readying the Xperia 8 for battle.

But the iPhone 4 is no slouch either, with its 960-by-640-pixel screen with Retina display, a gyroscope, and dual cameras for video conferencing. A leak of the prototype in April and AT&T’s decision to allow early upgrades to iPhone 3GS customers have fueled a landslide of pre-orders.

The carrier said there were 13 million upgrade inquiries on its web site and it had to suspend pre-orders on Wednesday, when a new system designed for fraud protection reportedly went haywire amid the chaos.

Apple, too, said it was overwhelmed, announcing on its site that the computer giant and its partners had taken 600,000 pre-orders, the largest ever in a single day. That forced Apple to push back the order-fulfillment target date from July 2 to July 14.

"Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration, " Apple said. "We apologize…

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Verizon’s Motorola Droid X Confirmed

Verizon Wireless has officially confirmed the availability of the Motorola Droid X. The phone features a large 4.3-inch display with a 1280 x 720 pixels resolution and an HDMI output, so you can connect this handset to your HDTV. Too bad, there is no further info about the Motorola Droid X at the moment. Stay tuned for more updates. [Verizon Wireless]

Verizon’s Motorola Droid X Confirmed

Windows Phone 7 Development

"Despite its long and windy road to fruition, Windows Phone 7 has a chance, Myerson says with a quiet conviction that sounds more like an engineer convinced of his work than a salesman looking to close the deal. Myerson is convinced that Microsoft can get back in the game if Windows Phone 7 really nails the set of things that it does tackle–merging personal and work contacts, integrating Xbox Live games and Zune music and video, including mobile versions of Office and aiming to bring together photos from various social networks…’We’ve got a good product,’ he said. ‘I actually do believe that. I think we are going to actually have a lot of happy customers.’"

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Perfect Launch: Private Rocket Gets Perfect Liftoff

SpaceX Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral this afternoon, in a picture-perfect liftoff. The vehicle separation occurred as planned, and shortly after that, the second stage ignited as designed. Beautiful!

In its first attempt at launch earlier today, Falcon 9 remained on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral because of an engine abort with about a second before liftoff. After that happened, SpaceX said the spacecraft put itself into “safe mode.”

A few minutes later, SpaceX reported, “The pad abort involved an out-of-limit startup parameter.” About an hour later, the countdown was resumed, and the powerful two-stage rocket gracefully lifted off the launch pad. At 9 minutes,4 seconds after launch, Falcon 9 achieved Earth orbit.

Via SpaceX

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Windows Phone 7 Will Have A Home Shopping Network App

Well, it’s an app that I guess will bring countless hours of want and desire to your heart as you check out what’s hot on Home Shopping Network. Just keep your phone away from your credit card, and you should be safe.

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