Posted: 10 Nov 2010 06:39 AM PST

RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie finally gave a crucial bit of information about the BlackBerry Playbook this morning: price, or at least a threshold. According to a Korean interview, Balsillie said that RIM’s 7-inch tablet will be “very competitively priced” with Bloomberg quoting the man saying that it will be “under” $500 when it hits North America in the first quarter of 2011, expanding globally in Q2. A price that should at least match the 9.7-inch WiFi-only iPad (16GB) and undercut the 7-inch 3G Galaxy Tab which goes on sale on Verizon tomorrow for $599.99. Thing is, by the time Q1 rolls around we’re going to be looking at many, many more viable tablet alternatives including a likely Apple refresh.

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RIM to sell Blackbook for less than 500$ to take on Apple’s iPad is a post from: Tech Mania

By Blogsdna

Then & Now- the Internet from past to present

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 06:29 AM PST

The history of the Internet is filled with many myths, not the least of which is itsinvention by Al Gore in the year 600 B.C. (to help prevent Napoleon’s invasion). However, there are also plenty of legitimate facts and major occasions which mark the trail, creating a distinct vision of the “ancient” and “modern” web. Here are some of those landmark moments.

‘57: The Communists Launch Sputnik

If you want to know how the Internet was really born, you may want to look back to the cold war era. When the USSR sent sputnik soaring through the skies, the United States felt a need to counter with new technology. This included the original form of the ARPA information sharing system. While it would take decades, this seedling can be seen as where the web really began.

‘75: The Email Drug Invention

While some forms of email-like messages existed in networks before this point, it wasn’t until ‘75 that the original mailing system was unleashed on an unsuspecting public. While this primitive form of messaging lacked any advanced capabilities, it was sufficient to start the email boom. Who would have thought that the three lettered program, MSG, would end up luring people into staring at their screen for literally hundreds of hours each year?

‘90-’91: CERN Gives the World the Web

In 1991, CERN introduced our first “www” access. Paired with the “world” dial-up access available to the public, this meant the launch of the Internet as we know it.

‘91: Al Gore Helps Invent Stuff

Gore may not have invented the Internet, but he did help sponsor the Gore Bill, which provided funding for Mosaic. Mosaic would later become the first functional, graphics-based web-browser.

‘96: Microsoft Steps onto the Field

Five years after CERN released global web access, Microsoft decided to enter the race, becoming one of the first major search engines, news providers, and email hosting groups. Other companies, including Yahoo, launched shortly thereafter.

‘97: eBay Sails In

The first major shopping network on the web, eBay, raised its flags in 1997. While this site hardly resembles its current iterations, the eBay boom helped launch the e-commerce industry.

‘98: Google Pops Into Existence

To say Google was born would be to declare it mortal, and lest Google is watching, we’re not willing to do that. This Stanford experiment turned into a global obsession starting in 1998.

‘00: Pirates Rejoice the Birth of Napster

At the turn of the millennium, Napster introduced its peer-to-peer program which would quickly become the foundation for all modern file-sharing.

‘03: MySpace Launches

The first major social network hits the public like a ton of bricks.

‘05: Web Users Visit the Cloud

Cloud computing, a concept existing from ‘98, didn’t hit the mainstream until 2005, when platforms (including Google Docs) hit the web. Everything from web hosting, to email hosting, to document collaboration were rapidly revolutionized.

It’s certainly true that the web has come a long way. The Internet as we know it hardly resembles the humble networking tool that was created so long ago. Without landmarks and flagships like those mentioned above, what would the web even be today?

Then & Now- the Internet from past to present is a post from: Tech Mania

By Blogsdna

Samsung 7″ super Amoled panel showcased on the next gen Galaxy Tab

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 05:51 AM PST

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We had seen and heard before of the 7-inch Super AMOLED display at FPD 2010 and now Samsung has duly delivered.Now what is shocking and never expected was it was built right into a Galaxy Tab. So the postulations of Samsung intending to spruce up its “pocket-friendly” slate with a 1200 x 600 resolution and an extra lick of hyper-advanced screen technology seem to have been spot on, as OLED-Display reports the device on show was indeed the company’s “next generation” Tab.

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Samsung’s official note on the matter lists a WSVGA resolution (i.e. 1024 x 600 as on thecurrent Tab) and some amateur geometry applied to the image does indeed show the prototype screen above has a smaller ratio than the requisite 2:1 for a 1200 x 600 pixel display. Ah well, we still want one. Also, check out Netbook News below for more images.

Samsung 7″ super Amoled panel showcased on the next gen Galaxy Tab is a post from: Tech Mania