OH Boy! With only a few days before the WWDC (WorldWide Developers Conference for Apple), rumors are out there about the new iPhone 4G being announced this Monday. Will it come to Verizon? Probably not… John Johnson, a spokesperson from Verizon Wireless said that the iPhone won’t be coming to Verizon anytime soon. But can you really believe him (video after the bump)?

And then there is the iPad and how Verizon has been testing them already. Is this going to be the announcement on Monday?

It is going to be 1 looooong weekend!

[beet.tv]

With Google I/O sessions this week, they are just slaughtering everything!

• Google TV (What is it?)
• Froyo (Android 2.2 and why it is faster)
• 30th Anniversary of Pac Man

That last one is the best!  Those people at Google are with it!

I hope to get a lot out of this gaming expo, other than the already carpal tunnel I have nagging me.  And I certainly don’t need the H1Nerd1 either.

I am already anticipating the nerdfest that is gaming and hope to see some awesome new games by the developers listed below.  Note, these are “maybe” games and may not be displayed day of, but we can only hope!  Hit the bump for the entire list.

And if you still want to go, you can’t.  It is already sold out.  I can’t imagine how many tickets were sold, but I’d say in the thousands.  But wait!  You can still go as a volunteer by signing up here.

From the PAX forums:

The games are listed in order of current release date.  Soonest at the top.

• 2K Games:
  • Mafia II
  • Spec Ops: The Line
• EA
  • APB
  • Battlefield: Bad Company 2
  • Dante’s Inferno: Trials of St Lucia
  • Skate 3
  • Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11
  • Medal of Honor
  • Crysis 2
  • Dead Space 2
• Harmonix
  • Green Day: Rock Band
• Microsoft
  • Super Street Fighter IV
  • Lost Planet 2
  • Alan Wake
  • Dead Rising 2
  • Fable III
  • Halo Reach
  • Micorsoft Game Room
  • Natal
• Nintendo
  • WarioWare D.I.Y.
  • Monster Hunter Tri
  • Super Meat Boy
  • Sin and Punishment 2
  • Metroid: Other M
  • Epic Mickey
• NVIDIA
  • Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
  • Dark Void
  • Resident Evil 5
  • Alan Wake
  • Crysis 2
• Rockstar Games
  • GTA IV: The Lost and Damned (PS3)
  • GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony (PS3)
  • Red Dead Redemption
  • Max Payne 3
  • Agent
• Sega
  • Yakuza 3
  • Iron Man 2
  • Valkyria Chronicles 2
  • After Burner Climax
  • Alpha Protocol
  • Resonance of Fate
• The Behemoth
  • BattleBlock Theater
• Turbine
  • Turbine Next-Gen MMO Project
• Twisted Pixel Games
  • Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley
• Ubisoft
  • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 4
  • Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction
  • Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
  • Tom Clancy’s HAWX
• Wizards of the Coast
  • I don’t know, do you?

Music acts:

• Anamanaguchi
• Jonathan Coulton
• MC Frontalot
• Metroid Metal
• Paul and Storm
• Protomen
• The Video Game Orchestra

CES 2010 or the Consumer Electronics Show is going on right now in Vegas, and some of the new Lenovo toys are just fantastic! Now, keep in mind that these are still betas and prototypes, but if these devices were fully refined, they could change the future of portable computing and electronics.

First up is the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid first noted by Gizmodo (img source from Gizmodo) is not only a tablet, but a laptop as well. With the red clamshell casing, the screen can be docked to provide powerful computing:

When both halves of the U1 are together, it runs on Windows 7 on a Intel Core 2 Duo SU processor, but when you split them up, the tablet will use a custom version of Linux and a Qualcomm ARM Snapdragon processor. This means that you’d be getting the best combination of power and battery life for each scenario. Other than that neat setup, the U1 brings 4GB of RAM (512MB in slate/tablet mode), two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, VGA, HDMI, 4-in-1 memory card reader, and a 1.3-Megapixel camera.

Pretty sweet for a “hybrid” and very powerful for such a small machine as well. All this for $999 come June but like Brian noted, there is no accelerometer or headphone jack for the tablet portion itself. Maybe Lenovo will add it before June (/crossingfingers). But what more can you ask for? I love the feel of typing on a keyboard since it is much faster and more accurate than typing on a touchscreen. And when you feel like watching a movie on the couch, you can just detach and take it with you… oh yea, no headphone jack!

Along the same lines as the U1 Hybrid comes Lenovo’s smartphone Lephone. Another Android based smartphone, this one is very different than it’s competitors.

At first glance, it looks like every other Android based phone: a nice glossy shiny phone with bright OLED touchscreen. But look closely to the picture… there is a keyboard in the background. Does it slide out from underneath? Guess again!

The keyboard is an accessory to the phone. Similar to the U1 Hybrid, the phone docks into a clamshell with the keyboard to provide longer battery life and faster typing. A great idea if you plan to be doing a lot of status updates on Facebook or Twitter at conferences… or you can do without and just use as a phone.

Devin from MoblieCrunch tried to get as much information but could only get the following specs:

In shape it’s quite pleasing, a little big, but with a good heft and solid feel. The screen is a gorgeous 3.7? 800×480 OLED one, although I couldn’t confirm whether it’s the same that’s in the Nexus One. It’s got volume buttons on the left side, there, and a reprogrammable button on the right. It’s got a Pre-like dark area at the bottom that’s also touch-sensitive, and works as either a home button or for simple swiping gestures. It’s got the usual fixins: GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and all that, and it’s running on a Snapdragon processor, though I couldn’t seem to suss out the RAM or internal storage.

It is a pretty beefy phone with a lot of features. Check out the following videos on the Lephone at the end of the page.

To summarize, a new tablet/laptop concept that features a small form factor laptop with power with a detachable screen that becomes a tablet lacking some key features such as a headphone jack and accelerometer but is a nice entry point at $999 sometime in June 2010. Lenovo also has a new smartphone with the same concepts: a touchscreen Android based phone with power with a separate keyboard accessory that can be paired for faster typing/texting.

I hope you found these 2 as fascinating and exciting as I did… I can’t wait to see what the new year bring with tech gadgets!

MobileCrunch

PhoneDog

[Gizmodo 1, Gizmodo 2, MobileCrunch and PhoneDog]

But recently, there have been leaks of pictures and videos on the not-quite-official-blog/website thenexusone.com however, none have been entirely impressive as there are only 30 second clips of boot-up and the screen running… whoopie!

There has also been a recap from Fox News about this said phone.  Although it may cost consumers $1000 (yes, that is one thousand), it is for good reason.  Since the phone will have no affiliation with any carrier network, there is no subsidized price.  However, if there is no carrier network, how will the phone actually work?  Data towers and pure VoIP? Or does it have something to do with the 700MHz spectrum auction a year ago?  Hopefully we’ll find out soon but for now, enjoy the videos and keep up with the websites!

[Engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch]

• ASUS TS mini home-server. [engadget]
• 802.11n Wi-Fi is now finallized, after more then 7 years. [engadget]
• Buy a Dell 24-inch LCD monitor for just $599 [engadget]
• Dell is giving a 15% discount for Zune HD when it launches! [engadget]
• A glimps at the Toyota’s plug-in hybrid Prius [engadget]
• Sony is now offering to custom-colorize your PS3. [engadget]

• Since there are two new OS’s (or soon will be), here is a guide to get you started. Windows 7. Mac OS X.
• Solar roads in the future? [engadget]
• Surf the web and put your notes on a Scratch-n-Scroll noteable mousepad. [engadget]
• LG HS200 ‘pocket projector’ has an embedded FM transmitter and DivX [engadget]
• The new ThinkPad keyboard. Better, cheaper. [engadget]
• Sony plans to enable 3D gaming for old titles. [engadget]

• Microsoft annouced that the Xbox 360 has a 54.2% failure rate. Yikes! [engadget]
• Snow Leopard is Shipping on the 28th, but its not 64-bit compatible [gizmodo]
• Intel buys RapidMind [pc world]
• PCI Express 3.0 release delayed until 2011 [engadget]
• Rhapsody music on iPhones/iPod Touch. If Apple approves. [engadget]
• Instead of having your wireless router sit there on the table, D-Link incorporated a photo frame with it! [gizmodo]

• Western Digital’s new TV media player (WD TV-2). Its way better then their first version. [engadget]
• Take a look at the MacBook Micro! [engadget]
• Nissan’s “The Leaf”, to be able to get 367mpg! Wow, that’s impressive. [engadget]
• IBM’s future microchips will be built using DNA [gizmodo]
• Liquid OLED technology bringing more reliable and flexible displays. [gizmodo]
• Comcast is on the move to control pipes and content. [gizmodo]

… new camera-equipped ones Apple is set to announce next month (16/32/64 GB for $199/299/399).

This might explain why I need to wait… [Gizmodo]

And the coveted Apple tablet… 2 versions (1 educational and 1 web-cam based)

They continued to explain the device as something that would sit between an iPod/iPhone and a MacBook, and would cost $700 to $900—”More than twice as much as a netbook,” they said.

To make up for that cost and make the device more than just a big iPod there was, this person claimed, there was talk of making the device act as a secondary screen/touchpad for iMacs and MacBooks, much like a few of the USB screens that have come out in recent months from Chinese companies. Very interesting.

Very interesting indeed… twice as much… but I would like to see the actual day to day use when it is attached to a full computer (Macbook or Mac). [Gizmodo]