Hi, everyone, I�m Molly Wood and welcome to the Buzz Report,
the show about the tech news that everyone is talking about.
This week, the English language takes a nose dive, Google gets
Motorola Mobility, and radio reception in a can.
But first, the gadget of the week.
The Gadget of the Week is the Samsung Galaxy Note.
It�s a
phone/tablet hybrid.
It�s a phablet.
i AM NOT MAKING THIS UP
PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY CALLING THIS THING A PHABLET
LIKE IT�S A NEW CATEGORY OF DEVICE KILL ME NOW.
Anyway.
The Galaxy Note has a 5.3 inch screen, so it�s just
about as big as a tablet, and it comes with a stylus so you can
take notes and draw and stuff.
But mainly, it�s a phone.
A really,
really, really gigante phone.
It�s LTE capable, it has an 8
megapixel camera, and like every new Android phone that
should be running Ice Cream Sandwich but isn�t, it�s expected to
get an upgrade sometime around someday.
It�s pretty good as a
phone, but it�s pretty much only for people who carry purses or
man purses.
And can say phablet with a straight face.
Phablet.
What has this world come to?
And now for the news.
Back to the good old days when tablets were tablets and phones
were phones � the world is awash with iPad 3 rumors, and
those rumors say it�s coming SOON!
The latest batch of
unnamed sources say the newest iPad could debut March 7,
which would be right on time, considering the iPad 2 came out
just about exactly a year ago.
iPad 2 prices are down to 429
bucks, by the way.
Rumors suggest the new iPad could have a Retina Display, a
faster, maybe even quad core processor, and support for 4G
LTE data.
And some reports say Apple has been testing a new,
smaller version of the iPad, closer to about 8 inches.
Which, if it
also came with 4G LTE networking built in, heck, why not use it
as a phone, too, and then it could be the world�s first iPhablet!
Ok, last time, I promise.
The U.S.
and the European Union have approved Google�s bid
to buy Motorola Mobility, which means the deal is VERY close to
done.
The purchase gives Google access to its own phone
hardware and a treasure trove of crucial phone-related patents,
PLUS Motorola�s entire TV set-top box business and its
relationships with cable companies who license those boxes.
The EU and DOJ approved the deal with no strings attached,
saying, hey, yeah, sure, Google COULD combine its search,
services, and operating system business with hardware to create
a technological juggernaut that would control and distribute most
of the world�s information, music, TV, video, and books on its
own branded platforms, crushing all other competition existing
and nascent � but let�s be honest.
This is GOOGLE we�re
talking about.
They�re not really that organized.
Anyway, we�ll all soon forget ALL our troubles, because the two
great opiates of the masses, �Angry Birds� and Facebook, have
just joined forces � it�s �Angry Birds for Facebook.� The wildly
popular physics and puzzle game now gets new features, new
powers, like a �birdquake,� and social gamification features, like
the ability to compare scores, daily rewards for playing all the
time, you know.
That kind of crack-type stuff.
In order to save society, let�s make a new rule, ok?
No Facebook
Angry Birds at work.
Just � NO.
No whiskey at lunch, no Angry
Birds at work.
The fate of the world is at stake, here.
Google recently held a conference called �Solve for X� -- it�s part
of a new project to encourage people to come up with crazy tech
solutions to huge problems.
And the big hit at the first conference
this week?
Spray-on antenna.
Startup Chamtech says you can
spray the antenna-in-a-can on almost any surface and improve
your various radio receptions, including cell phone reception.
They showed it off by spraying it on a tree.
Yeah, really!
Ooh,
hey!
Maybe if you mixed this with the spray-on hair stuff, then pretty
soon all the tall, balding guys in the world could be like, walking
femtocells!
Man.
I love Solve for X.
And that�s it for this week, everyone.
I�m Molly Wood and thank
you for watching.
