.::REALITYRECALL::.

Lucy van Pelt is not to be trifled with.

President Obama has signaled that he will give the United States Commerce Department the authority over a proposed national cybersecurity measure that would involve giving each American a unique online identity. Other candidates mentioned previously to head up the new system have included the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security, but the announcement that the Commerce Department will take the job should please groups that have raised concerns over security agencies doing double duty in police and intelligence work. So anyway, what about this unique ID we’ll all be getting? Well, though details are still pretty scant, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, speaking at an event at the Stanford Institute, stressed that the new system would not be akin to a national ID card, or a government controlled system, but that it would enhance security and reduce the need for people to memorize dozens of passwords online. Sorry, Locke, sounds like a national ID system to us. Anyway, the Obama administration is currently drafting what it’s dubbed the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which is expected at the Department of Commerce in a few months. We’ll keep you posted if anything terrifying or cool happens.

Obama administration moves forward with unique internet ID for all Americans, Commerce Department to head system up originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 13:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SARCAN Recycling, the major operator of bottle depots in Saskatchewan, will soon refuse to accept containers that have caps attached.

We didn’t think much of Haier’s mention in Microsoft’s Windows 7 Media Center embedded press release, but on the show floor today we ran across this HDTV which was actually a full-blown Media Center including tuners and a harddrive. The details were very skimpy beyond that, with no mention of specific specs, prices or if the product would really make it to market. But the idea of an all-in-one TV and DVR running our favorite software certainly is something to get us excited about. What we didn’t like ws the motion remote used for the demo which was almost impossible to navigate and had us seriously longing for our favorite Green Button.

Windows 7 Media Center embedded TV hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been raining tablets here at CES 2011. No seriously, it as if the sky has opened up in Vegas and dropped touchscreen slabs with Android and Windows 7 operating systems on our heads. It’s been nearly impossible to keep track of the number of tablets released and the details we’ve learned about them… until now, that is. After the break you will find a complete list of all the tablets we have heard about as well as a few key details about ’em. You’ll notice that most of the tablets listed plan to run Android 3.0 — if you’re looking for more on Google’s not-yet-released tablet OS, you’ll want to check out our guided tour and our interview with Google’s Matias Duarte. The show isn’t over yet so expect us to add more tablets over the next couple of days, but without further ado, we give you the official Engadget tablet chart of CES 2011.

You’ll also note that we’ve denoted our favorites in bold, so pay closer attention to those and make sure to click through to hear why they’ve impressed us so much. Enjoy!

Continue reading Tablets at CES 2011: Honeycomb, Windows 7, and all the rest

Tablets at CES 2011: Honeycomb, Windows 7, and all the rest originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft and Samsung unveiled the next generation of the Microsoft Surface at CES this week. In Canada both Wind Mobile and Videotron use this technology to give their customers a great experience. They give the ability to check rate plans, device features and also compare devices against each other. This new version is called the […]

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Surfing and downloading from the internet is about to get more expensive for many Canadians as internet companies Shaw and Primus have announced plans to impose new fees and caps on net usage.

Marisa Guthrie
Starz is going ahead with what will be the second season of “Spartacus: Blood and Sand.”
read…

Full story at The Live Feed

LAS VEGAS – Ford joined the electric car fray today with the announcement of the Ford Focus Electric. Ford's first electric car ships late this year and will be more like the Nissan Leaf than the Chevrolet Volt because it's an electric-drive-only car. And it will employ an enhanced version of Ford Sync and MyFord Touch with an embedded cellular modem, the first for a Ford Sync vehicle, that lets the car search for the cheapest recharging rates. The delivered price will likely be under $25,000. The range will be around 100 miles.  

Enhancements to MyFord Touch

With the Focus Electric, Ford rolled out new dashboard technology to help drivers maximize their range while driving, customize the instrument panel view, and communicate with the car and the charging process when they’re away from the car. The MyFord Touch touchscreen display already on other Fords and Lincolns gets enhancements applicable to electric driving such as customize (called MyView) their driving-range display or give feedback on regenerative braking performance (Brake Coach) which boils down to: Long, gentle braking regenerates more energy than race-car stops. As on other Fords, the MyFord Touch interface comprises an eight-inch center stack touchscreen display and two 4.2-inch displays flanking the speedometer.

MyFord Touch Driver Connect Technology Embeds a Cellphone

This is the first MyFord Touch vehicle with an embedded cellular phone. It lets the driver monitor the car's charging from afar. It's necessary because the core Ford Sync technology of the past three years (Bluetooth, music connectors, free emergency crash notification) uses the driver's paired cellphone. You can't have one phone be in the car while it's parked as well as in the hands of the driver who is elsewhere. Ford calls the embedded phone plus data services MyFord Touch Driver Connect technology. It's free for the first three years of ownership or lease and the price after that – as is often the case when automakers say "free for the first X years" – is TBD. Ford crosses that bridge when they come to it. Since Ford has made a point of beating competitors' feature sets (mpg, charging time) it would likely have to be under the $200 a year GM charges for its basic OnStar service, Safe & Sound.

Value Charging Powered by Microsoft for Cheapest Electric Rates

The Focus Electric anticipates the advent of time-of-day electric pricing in more areas of the U.S. We don’t have enough generating power on a hot summer afternoon and too much late at night. When offered cheaper rates in the early morning hours, consumers may want to defer electric car charging and dishwasher operation. Ford calls this “Value Charging by Microsoft” because you-know-who is part of the equation.

Via an online search (through Microsoft), the car searches for the best and cheapest time to charge the Focus Electric. According to Ed Pleet, product and business manager for connected services, “Value charging allows our customers to reduce their electricity costs by taking advantage of off-peak or other reduced rates from their utility without a complicated set-up process.” The driver needs to key in the time he or she needs the car the next morning; Value Charging figures out when to start charging based on how empty the batteries are, and when within the late night / early morning hours electricity is cheapest.

Value charging won’t matter until your electric company actually offers time-of-day pricing, and that entails installing a smart meter at the house, and possibly a two-way connection if there’s a pricing-plus feature that negotiates a cap on usage during peak hours in exchange for lower overall rates.

Eco Routing via Onboard Navigation
In conjunction with the Focus Electric navigation system, drivers will get the option for an "EcoRoute option based on characteristics of efficient EV driving." If you're going to out-drive the range of the Focus Electric – range being one statistic Ford didn't yet announce – you can get a list of public charging stations through Ford Sync's Traffic, Directions and Information (TDI) service. 

Match and Raise You on Statistics: Quicker Recharge, More MPG than Leaf
The Focus Electric isn’t the first to the party but Ford says it will be better than the competitors in several ways. The available 240-volt household charger will fully recharge the Focus Electric in 3-4 hours, half that of the Nissan Leaf, Ford says. (To be meaningful, the Focus Electric would need to have equivalent range.) Ford also says the Focus Electric will offer a 1 mpg equivalent better than Chevrolet Volt “and [be] competitive with other battery electric vehicles.” In electric mode, most lightweight cars (meaning Volt and Leaf) get around 100 mpg equivalent, factoring in the cost of using power generated by an electric company vs. burning fossil fuel in an internal combustion engine. A 1 mpg savings is a rounding error.

If Ford is competitive on price as well, the selling price would be in the low thirties, no more, and $25,000 or less after a $7,500 federal tax credit. The Leaf stickers at $32,780, or $25,280 after the tax credit. The Volt lists for $41,000 but the gasoline engine makes it a different car, one that could be used for all kinds of driving including vacation trips. One indicator on Ford’s possible pricing aggressiveness is the price of the 240-volt home charger: $1,500 sold through Best Buy. Most other 240-volt chargers are about $2,000. 120-volt household chargers are cheaper still, but they take overnight to fully charge an elecric car.

Ford said the charger plug was designed for easy use, including indicator lights on the jack to indicate proper connections and a quick read on state-of-charge.

But How Long Will It Run?

The information Ford presented leading up to the announcement didn’t go into detail on range. The closest competitor, the Nissan Leaf, like the Focus a roomy compact-class car, is good or about 100 miles, meaning as little as 50 miles under adverse conditions or if treated like a sports car; as much as 125 miles driven by a hypermiler. (See Nissan Leaf First Drive: Groundbreaking Electric Car.) So expect a similar range. Ford now says the range will be “up to 100 miles depending on driving style.”

The Chevrolet Volt, our reigning Digital Drive Car of the Year, is a plug-in hybrid meaning it runs on battery power only for 25-40 miles (depending on conditions) then switches to a small gasoline internal combustion engine using a nine-gallon fuel tank.

Second CES Automaker Keynote in 2 Days
The Ford Focus Electric was rolled out at a CES 2011 keynote speech by Ford CEO Alan Mulally. It was the second automaker keynote in two days, following a keynote by Audi CEO Rupert Stadler that some found a snooze (it wasn’t) because the Audi keynote was short on brand-new-product information. It was meaningful for those who listened carefully to Audi’s commitment to alternative-fuel vehicles, to closer alliances with the CE and PC industries (the announcement it will use nVidia’s Tegra 2 chip to control dashboard functions), and to make sure in-cockpit infotainment systems won’t be rendered obsolete before the car’s mechanicals give way. That is a huge issue for automakers and is only now starting to be addressed as we near a decade of life with iPods.

• Ford Electric Car’s Embedded Phone: Is Ford Shifting Focus?

Ford’s all-new 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 for the 2011 F-150 has been officially rated by the EPA at 16/22 mpg city/highway for two-wheel drive trucks and 15/21 mpg for four-wheel drive models.

Those numbers give the twin-turbo six-cylinder yet another boost in credibility as Ford positions the engine as a suitable replacement for larger V-8 engines, which have long been the traditional mills used for max towing and hauling duties but are known for being thirsty at the fuel pump. Using regular gas, the EcoBoost makes 365 horsepower and 420 pounds-feet of torque.

Ford has already shown that the EcoBoost engine can outperform competitors’ V-8s in a towing test at Davis Dam in Arizona. Ford has also demonstrated the EcoBoost’s durability by torture testing a line-built engine on the dyno, pulling logs in Oregon, towing more than 11,000 pounds for 24 hours straight on a racetrack and competing in the Baja 1000 off-road race.

We’ve driven EcoBoost-equipped 2011 F-150s several times and have been impressed with its diesel-like performance – 90 percent of its torque band is available from 1,700 rpm to 5,000 rpm – and almost unnoticeable turbo lag.

The flat power curve also enables EcoBoost F-150s to run with the tallest (numerically lowest) rear axle ratios of any Ford half-ton, as low as 3.15. That helps enable the high fuel economy numbers, especially on the highway, without sacrificing much performance.

The 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 is paired with Ford’s updated 6R80 six-speed transmission, which is standard across the 2011 F-150 lineup. The transmission features a new manual shift mode for 2011 that allows the gearbox perform like a manual transmission as long as it isn’t redlined. The 6R140 also features Progressive Range Select for every engine, which allows a driver to reduce the number of available gears so it’s easier to tow up a grade and hold a specific top gear, like 5th, without worrying about the truck upshifting and getting bogged down.

The 2011 F-150 with the EcoBoost V-6 is expected to go on sale before the end of winter with a $750 premium over Ford's 5.0-liter V-8 and a $1,750 premium over the entry-level 3.7-liter V-6.

[Source: Ford]

A U.S. federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing author J.K. Rowling of copying ideas for her blockbuster Harry Potter boy wizard series from an earlier book.

Now that Kinect competitors have begun to spring up, Microsoft’s tipped its hand — CEO Steve Ballmer told the BBC that his company will officially support the depth camera in Windows PCs at some undisclosed point in the future, confirming earlier suspicions. Whether that will just be part of a risky new operating system or just another notch in Games for Windows‘ belt is hard to say, but it’s nice to know that there will be uses for those eight million cameras when we’re done hacking and dancing our hearts out.

Ballmer: Microsoft will eventually support Kinect on PC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen plenty of data to show that Android is the hottest-selling smartphone OS among US buyers today, but now we have a stat point to show that it’s doing pretty well in cumulative terms as well. According to ComScore’s latest estimates, Android had 26 percent of all US smartphone subscribers in the quarter ending November 2010, bettering Apple’s iPhone for the first time. The major victim of Android’s ascendancy has actually been RIM’s BlackBerry, whose lead at the top contracted by 4.1 percentage points (nearly 11 percent less than the share it had in the previous quarter). Guess those Verizon iPhones and dual-core BBs had better start arriving pretty soon.

ComScore: Android jumps ahead of iOS in total US smartphone subscribers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 10:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, here’s some good news: it looks like spam is on the decline. According to Symantec’s latest State of Spam and Phishing report, the volume of spam and junk mail in circulation around the world has been decreasing steadily since August, and dropped noticeably around Christmas. No one has a concrete explanation for the drop-off, but Symantec’s Eric Park suggests that the demise of major botnets may have played a role.

The notorious Rustock botnet, for example, virtually disappeared after December 25th. Once the most powerful botnet in all the land, Rustock now accounts for less than 0.5-percent of all the world’s spam. Two other big-time botnets, the Lethic and the Xarvester, have also gone mysteriously quiet in recent weeks. So, why did these botnets suddenly stop spamming? No one knows. But, until they start up again, we should all enjoy our (relatively) clean inboxes while we can.

Global Spam Volume on the Decline, Report Shows originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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