Our tipster says the stores have been prepped and the promo is set to begin tomorrow. No word on how long it will run so you better get your new phones soon.

Scammers beware though, remember Verizon recently hiked its ETFs on most advanced devices to counter those that were taking advantage of Verizon's genius nature. It's no longer worth it to simply get two new phones, pay the ETF and hawk the other one on eBay for a quick profit.

The Samsung X120 falls in the CULV category as it features the Intel CULV processor. The X120 features an 11.6 inch display and a full sized keyboard. The left and right mouse buttons are located either side of the trackpad, which for some may hinder the use of the built in mouse, especially if you're used to the right and left buttons being located under the trackpad. The guys over at Netbook News received the X120 and have posted an unboxing video along with first impressions design wise. Like the other Samsung netbooks, the accessories include a neoprene sleeve to protect the netbook, however it's noted that no manual is included, not even a quick start guide. The X120 also has the trademark chrome border. Looking at the underneath, it appears that the HDD and RAM are easily accessible for those who wish to upgrade either. You can view the full unboxing and first impressions video after the jump.

via

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Samsung X120 unboxing video

Intel wanted to knock the socks of CES attendees this year with its booth and found a great way to succeed.

They created Infoscape, a massive 7 1/2 foot square double HD (4k) partial cube with custom software to pull XML feeds in real-time and display them as a series of hundreds to thousands of rotating cubes.

They didn't stop there, however. They swung for the fences by adding interactivity with the two walls by integrating touch. Anyone could come up to the wall and touch the cubes to trigger the selection of that cube's content.

The best way to describe it would be that it was like clicking a photo online and having it popup in a lightbox with a transparent background, but with many open at once.

It turns out that this was only a display element for the booth and not a real product. The intention was highlight the i7 processor. This chip has over 600 million transistors on it and is the size of a dime. One single chip powered both screens.

3D wishes it had the juice that this wall did. If this wall were the future of television I'd feel a whole lot better about what Samsung, Panasonic and Sony were shilling.

This thing just goes to show that sometimes the best products are accidents. Look for Intel to find other uses for Infoscape this year.

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Intel Touch Wall Infoscape #CES is a post from: TechStartups.com

Its taken a bit longer than we all might have hoped, but it seems that Android is really starting to pick up the steam it deserves. Be it Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson.. if they're a big gun in the mobile manufacturing world (Well, outside of certain obvious exclusions), they're probably working on an Android handset or two. The first off the bat and the most dedicated so far has been HTC - and if the latest rumors hold true, they might be looking to throw even more weight behind it.

According to the Digitimes, HTC may be looking to put the Droid onto as much as fifty percent of their handsets. Now, HTC doesn't push'em out as fast as some other manufacturers (by the way, Samsung, we're totally talking about you), but they still pump out a good number of'em each year. And of their lineup, almost the entirety is Windows Mobile. Digitimes also adds that HTC is aiming for around 30% of their handsets this year to be Android-based. We can think of about 5 or 6 we're expecting to see by years end (including those that have launched already) -f it that's 30% and HTC continues to make around as many total devices next year, we can probably expect at least 9 or 10 Droidphones from them next year. Fuzzy math? Absolutely. But we can hope, can't we?

[Via EngadgetMobile]

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it's time for you to find a new Job2.0

Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Samsung's Pixon 12: a dozen megapixels of cameraphone nonsense in June After failing to show at the Mobile World Congress event in February, Samsung's rumored 12 megapixel cameraphone has finally arrived. Meet the Pixon 12 and its 3.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen with a Sammy promise of fast shutter speeds and quick browsing.

Notebook Magazine have just done a full set of battery life tests on the NC10 Netbook and it looks like Samsung have once again worked their magic. The tests included continuous Wifi-on web browsing in battery saving mode which is a very reasonable test to be doing. Far better than the misleading 2001 Jeita test and much more real-life' than the Battery Eater Pro turn everything and and run it at full-steam' approach. The NC10 returned

• 12% screen brightness: 7hrs 34mins representing an average drain of about 7.6w which is just a little bit more than what I saw on the Q1 Ultra.
• 50% screen brightness, the duration dropped to 6hrs 30mins which is an average 8.7W.
• 100% screen brightness, the test result reduced to 4hrs 38 minutes which is 12.3 watts drain.

More after the break

What it highlights is something I've been saying for years. The CPU power drain is not the most important element in determining a devices overall efficiency. In these 10" screens, even the latest LED technology backlight can take a lot of drain. In this case, nearly 5W at full power which is nearly 50% of the total power drain of the whole PC! Obviously, as screens get smaller, the LED power required drops and when you get to a 4.8" screen, you'll see 1-1.5W average drain. If you were to attache that Samsung battery to the Aigo MID, you would see close to 20 hours battery life under similar conditions as the Wifi-on drain is about 3W.

As we move to lower and lower power processors, screens and other components need to follow and the OEM that has access to the best components and the best engineers is always going to have an advantage. Samsung keep proving that.

So how's the rest of the NC10? I was watching a live session at EeePCnews.de a few evenings ago and it was clear that people are really interested in this one. 3000 people watched Sascha, the lead guy there, do live testing and as the session went on you could almost sense people hitting the buy button as Sascha reported positive comment after positive comment! LaptopMag calls it their netbook of choice' right now. From what I've seen, I have no reason to doubt it.

Samsung NC10 links and info in the product database.

Samsung's NC10 is the only product that provides comparableand even improvedfeatures for a lower price. Its comfortable, well-positioned keyboard, speedy and spacious hard drive, and more than 7 hours of endurance make the $499 Samsung NC10 the most well-rounded 10-inch netbook on the market.

Have a look at the review and see if you think the NC10 is the netbook of your dreams.

[Art Lebedev via Pocket-Lint and Unstrung]

The full list of specs are as follows:

2.8-inch QVGA (240320 pixels), 16m colors
8 megapixel camera with auto-focus, xenon flash and 120 fps video recording
UMTS with HSDPA support, WiFi, GPS, TV out, DivX support, dedicated 3D graphics chip
Optical mouse (same as i780 and i900 Omnia)
200 mAh battery
106.553.916.9 mm metal case
16 GB internal memory (possibly an 8 GB version as well)

Impressive. Conflicting reports have the i8510 running either Feature Pack 1 or 2 and there is no word on whether we are talking tri-band or quad-band GSM here. However, as with any rumor, we will just have to wait and see what holds true. [Forum2 via Estato via IntoMobile via BGR]

Anyone who looks for indications that copyright policymakers in the United States (including both Congress and the federal bench) share the belief, held by many legal academics, that a robust public domain is necessary to foster future creative production, is bound to be a little surprised: the evidence is actually fairly equivocal that Congress and the courts actually hold any such view. Even the language Congress and the courts employ seems, if anything, to be skeptical of the value of the public domain: it's routine to speak of works falling into the public domain, which conjures to mind somebody clutching the ledge of a tall building, hanging on for dear life: quick, that work is about to fall! Won't somebody save it?

The broadest judicial recognition of the value of the public domain that I'm aware of comes from Judge Kozinski's memorable dissenting opinion in White v. Samsung Electronics, 989 F.2d 1512 (9th Cir. 1993), which wasn't even a copyright case:

Overprotecting intellectual property is as harmful as underprotecting it. Creativity is impossible without a rich public domain. Nothing today, likely nothing since we tamed fire, is genuinely new: Culture, like science and technology, grows by accretion, each new creator building on the works of those who came before. Overprotection stifles the very creative forces it's supposed to nurture.

Id. at 1513. Later, Judge Kozinski continued:

To paraphrase only slightly Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991), it may seem unfair that much of the fruit of a creator's labor may be used by others without compensation. But this is not some unforeseen byproduct of our intellectual property system; it is the system's very essence. Intellectual property law assures authors the right to their original expression, but encourages others to build freely on the ideas that underlie it. This result is neither unfair nor unfortunate: It is the means by which intellectual property law advances the progress of science and art. We give authors certain exclusive rights, but in exchange we get a richer public domain. The majority ignores this wise teaching, and all of us are the poorer for it.

Id. at 1517.

I'd like to be able to illustrate Judge Kozinski's point for skeptical colleagues and friends by citing specific examples of particularly noteworthy works of art that are based on public domain source materials in simplest terms, I'm interested in contemporary remixes of public domain works. (I appreciate that this is a narrower conception of the influence of the public domain on later creators than Judge Kozinski is actually talking about, but it makes for relatively comprehensible examples.) So, for example, we might say that West Side Story is thought to be a pretty effective transformation of Romeo and Juliet: it takes Shakespeare's public domain play and makes of it something new, different, and by some measures at least, better.

The problem, of course, is that many remixes don't remotely improve on the artistic value of the original. I've yet to meet anyone competently acquainted with both The Iliad and Troy who sees much worth in the latter. (Which is not to say that a dynamite modern retelling of The Iliad couldn't be written; one of my old English profs, among others, has done so.) I was a kid during the disco era, during which it seemed like A Fifth of Beethoven was playing constantly; but that work, too, has not exactly held its own against the better-known public domain original. And you can probably think of others.

What are your nominees for the best/worst remixes of public domain works?

All content comes from USA TODAY and is provided RSS service provider InfoLink. And Users can use this service by connecting their Samsung Series 6 or Series 7 LCD and Plasma HDTV to the Internet via the integrated Ethernet port.

Officials of Samsung and USAToday are predictably excited over this new feature.

Consumers need only to press the special RSS button on the Samsung
HDTV remote control to bring up a semi-transparent menu overlay
featuring selectable newsfeeds covering a variety of customizable
topics. Consumers can then either browse through headlines to catch a
quick glimpse, or select a specific story to view full story. Content
already playing on the HDTV will remain on-screen, ensuring that
moments from a favorite show or a fantastic play during the big game
will never be missed, all the while having the most up-to-date news,
weather and more just a click away. [Source]

I wonder if they will demonstrate this new service at their booth at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas
Convention Center (January 7 to 10).

This is an exciting because of two things:

1) It is another step for RSS and information feeds into the mainstream. One brick at a time.

2) The innovation, although pre-defined and limits the service, is a one step process. And this is important in overcoming the initial apprehension over using RSS and web feeds.

So does this make these Television sets RSS Readers? Or just mainly the monitors that deliver the service?

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Samsung SGH-G600

Though it was announced earlier this year, the Samsung SGH-G600 made a guest appearance at CES. Like the SGH-G800, the G600 is a 5-megapixel camera phone with lots of photo editing features. The thin slider design may look like a lot of Moto phones before it, ...

Late Saturday night my beloved Samsung T509 had full signal in my apartment, but I couldn't place or receive any calls. Heading outside, I walked six blocks before my calls would go through. Some kind of cell phone black hole was centered right on my apartment. What a bummer, especially when you're trying to order pizza without a landline.

So the next morning I went out for brunch beyond the boundary of the black hole. I called T-Mobile with a forkful of chilaquiles and expected to wait on hold. Much to my surprise, T-Mobile doesn't make you wait. They take your number instead and call you back. Three minutes later, my phone rang. The girl on the other end was friendly, listened to my problem, apologized, and told me she'd send an engineer asap. She couldn't promise a response before Wednesday due to New Years, so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

Today my comatose phone gave a familiar chirp. T-Mobile had texted me this message:

An Engineer has reviewed your trouble ticket and a resolution has been found. Thank you for choosing T-Mobile.

After making a few calls and dancing around the room, I had to reflect on this. T-Mobile nailed this support experience from the beginning through the middle to the end.

1. I never had to stand in line
Waiting on hold sucks. T-Mobile knows it so they gave me another option and called me back.

2. The agent cared about my problem
The girl on the line was kind, attentive, and apologetic. She made me feel like it was their problem and their responsibility. Which is exactly what I want as a customer. She also promised an update by a specific date, which eased my uncertainty.

3. When the problem was fixed, I heard it from them first
I received a text message as soon as my service was restored. That little victory SMS taught me that when they have downtime in the future, I can trust they will work quickly and notify me when it's fixed. It's so frustrating to repeatedly pick up the phone every half hour to see if it works. Thanks to their communication, next time I can relax and wait for the good news.

Kudos to T-Mobile for the good example.

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While the headline is about cell-phone technology, Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt made it clear that the company is looking well beyond a fancy handset to compete with Apple's innovative iPhone.

Google's goal, he said, is to "shape a new computing environment that will change the way people access and share information in the future."

"Today's announcement is more ambitious than any single 'Google Phone' that the press has been speculating about over the past few weeks," Schmidt said. "Our vision is that the powerful platform we're unveiling will power thousands of different phone models."

The move catapults Googlenow valued at $220 billion by market capitalizationinto direct competition with the biggest players in the cell-phone market, including Verizon, AT&T, Apple, Nokia, Motorola, Palm, and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion.

Google's 34-member Open Handset Alliance includes Sprint Nextel, Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile, Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola, Japanese wireless giant NTT DoCoMo, and China Telecom, the world's largest cell-phone operator, with some 330 million users.

The devices will be ready for worldwide shipment by the spring. (Last month, Portfolio.com reported that Google was set to "roll out a limited run of devices made by one of the Taiwanese manufacturers.")

In fact, Google watchers have known for months that Google was working on a mobile product. As then, the major question is how much influence Google will exert over the design for the hardware architecture.

The move comes nary a week after Google launched the OpenSocial software protocola frontal assault on Facebook, the social-network phenom.

Google's long-anticipated entry into the cell-phone market comes against the backdrop of an ongoing "holy war" between Google and Verizon over the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming 700Mhz wireless-spectrum auction. That sale could establish a new cell-phone network that allows consumers to mix and match handsets and mobile software.

Google's move sets up the possibility of a royal showdown with Apple over control of next-generation cell-phone software. Adding spice to the prospect is the fact that Schmidt is an Apple board member.

Apple has emphatically placed its bets behind a "locked" handset modelin this case an exclusive partnership with AT&T. Most people who are not AT&T wireless subscribers are unable to switch to the iPhone, because they are locked into expensive multiyear cell-phone contracts.

In contrast, Google is championing an "open" model, not only in its approach to cell-phone software, but also in its dealings with the F.C.C. over the 700Mhz spectrum auction.

Toward the end of the call, Google co-founder Sergey Brin evoked the company's modest origins in a Stanford dorm room to convey his excitement about Android.

"Ten years ago I was sitting at a graduate student cubicle," Brin said. "We were able to build incredible things. There was a set of tools that allowed us to do that. It was all open technologies. It was based on Linux, GNU, Apache, and others.

"All those pieces and many more allowed us to do great things and distribute it to the world," he added. "That is what we are doing today, to allow people to innovate on today's mobile devices. Today's mobile devices are more powerful than those computers I was working on just 10 years ago. I cannot wait to see what today's innovators will build."

Also on Portfolio.com:

• Hello, Ma Google
• Google Does It Again
• Welcome to the Future
• Google's Counterpunch at Facebook