Verizon Wireless MiFi Hotspot; Apple tablet speculation; Kindle DX announced

May 7, 2009

IN THIS ISSUE In a week overshadowed by Amazon's big Kindle DX announcement yesterday and rampant speculation about what Apple's up to next, let's not overlook the lower-profile stories. Anything with the word "chocolate" involved piques my interest, anyway! Verizon Wireless Launches MiFi Hotspot, No Subscription Required Is Apple's New Tablet a Gaming Device? Amazon Announces Large-Screen Kindle DX for Textbooks, Newspapers Scientists Develop Chocolate-Powered Race Car MyDinos Virtual World for Kids: Free Beta Invite! Sponsored by Newegg ExtremeTech's Case Mod Contest is back. Time to dust off those tools, fire up the Dremel, and start sending us pictures.... and don't forget to check out those mods already submitted! Verizon Wireless Launches MiFi Hotspot, No Subscription Required Verizon Wireless just became the first carrier to launch Novatel's MiFi personal hotspot gadget - and there's no subscription required. Yes, if you want, you can pay $99.99 for the hotspot and $59.99 a month for 5 GB of data. But to me, the killer combination for occasional travelers is $269.99 for the device and $15 for an unlimited use 'day pass' - no commitment required. Is Apple's New Tablet a Gaming Device? Amid all the shaky speculation about whether Apple is buying Twitter and EA, two things seem certain. First, the company is working on a 10-inch touchscreen device. Second, Apple is making a strong push into the world of gaming--as evidenced by the company's hiring of two former Microsoft Xbox execs. Amazon Announces Large-Screen Kindle DX for Textbooks, Newspapers Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took the stage yesterday morning at Manhattan's Pace University to unveil the latest version of the company's popular line of Kindle ebook readers, the second such announcement in the space of a few months. The DX, the third model in the Kindle line, boasts a 9.7-inch screen, which is 2.5 times the size of Kindles 1 and 2 and designed to display periodicals and textbooks. Scientists Develop Chocolate-Powered Race Car Now here's some green tech I can really get behind. Scientists have developed what they hope will be one of the world's fastest biofuel vehicles--one that is powered by waste from chocolate factories and created partly from plant fibers, according to the Associated Press. MyDinos Virtual World for Kids: Free Beta Invite! Most of us probably grew up doing the majority of our social networking at the cafeteria lunch table or passing notes in homeroom, at best. With Oceanside Interactive's MyDinos.com, future Facebookers and Twitterers can cut their social media teeth on a dinosaur-themed virtual world. And MyDino.com has offered an free invite code to PCMag.com readers SUBSCRIBE TO PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL TODAY! Subscribe to PC Magazine Digital today for as little as $.62 a copy and enjoy the convenience and immediate delivery of digital.       PC Magazine is America’s #1 technology magazine, delivering authoritative, lab-based comparative reviews of technology products and services. FEATURED OFFERS Free utility finds the fragmentation that’s crippling your network! New Disk Performance Analyzer for Networks 2.0 takes the guesswork out of tracking networked system performance. This revolutionary utility scans networked systems’ performance from one single access point. It equips administrators with an arsenal of performance data, so they can zero in on systems’ fragmentation and slows. Don’t let low-functioning systems go unnoticed. Get Disk Performance Analyzer for Networks 2.0 free now! Counter Threats in Database Security in this Free White Paper 70 percent of all database breaches arise internally with no Internet connection required. Read more about the growing significance of database security in this free white paper. Download today! eNewsletter Information You are subscribed to Gearlog Update with the email address austinames2008.pcmag@blogger.com. Click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter. To subscribe to other e-mail newsletters from Ziff Davis, change your delivery format from HTML to text, or change your e-mail address, click here. Copyright © 2009 Ziff Davis Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Ziff Davis Media Inc., 28 East 28th Street, New York, NY 10016

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