RedBox to offer videogame rentals in Charlotte

Redbox announced today it will now feature video games in addition to new release DVDs and Blu-ray Discs at select redbox locations throughout the city starting today.

The video game rentals here is a test to gauge customer interest in videogame rentals. Games available here will include titles for Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Videogame rentals will be $2 per night plus tax.

Redbox says the videogames will be available at 245 Charlotte locations.

Charlotte, N.C., beginning October 18, 2010. The addition of video games to the popular redbox kiosks in the Charlotte area is a test designed to gauge consumer interest in video game rentals. Charlotte-area redbox consumers now can rent a variety of video games from the top platforms, including: Wii, PLAYSTATION 3, and Xbox 360, for $2 a night plus tax.

The number of video game titles and copies will vary by kiosk and location with new games being added each week. Local residents can visit www.redbox.com/games to see a current list of games offered. Then, once at the kiosk, users access the touch screen display to determine which titles and platforms are available at that particular location.

Time Warner cable launches Remote DVR Manager

Time Warner Cable has launched a new feature that will allow customers to set their DVRs remotely.

With the new feature, customers throughout the Carolinas can access their home DVR and set it to record shows and series. You can search for progamming and make necessary changes through any web-enabled computer or browser-enabled mobile device, like Android and iPhone.

Time Warner Cable recently launched My Services, a new online service that gives customers the ability to access their account information, as well as new features and tools. By going to https://myservices.timewarnercable.com, customers have the ability to manage their DVR in real time as if they were sitting in front of their television.

Satellite providers, like DirecTV, also offer a similar feature.

iPad to hit AT&T stores as well as Verizon

After this morning's announcement that iPad was coming to Verizon on Oct. 28, AT&T has also announced it will begin carrying the device on the same date.

It won't be hard to find iPad as Best Buy plans to expand available and Target, Amazon, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club will all be carrying the tablet computer soon.

AT&T will offer all three iPad Wi-Fi + 3G models at its 2,200 stores nationwide. The company will offer pre-paid 3G data plans that can be turned on or off on the machine itself. The plans are available without contract and come with access to the company's 23,000 domestic Wi-Fi hotspots.

Pricing you ask?

It's $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB, and $829 for 64GB. Domestic data plans for iPad are priced at $14.99 per month for 250MB and $25 per month for 2GB with no term contract.

Verizon Wireless will offer three bundles, all featuring an iPad Wi-Fi model and a Verizon MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, for a suggested retail price of $629.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 16GB + MiFi, $729.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 32GB + MiFi and $829.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 64GB + MiFi. Verizon Wireless is offering a monthly access plan to iPad customers of up to 1GB of data for just $20 a month. In addition, Verizon Wireless will also offer all three iPad Wi-Fi models on a stand-alone basis.

iPad is coming to Verizon

Get your iPhone rumors ready.

Verizon Wireless will carry Apple's WiFi iPad beginning Oct. 28.

Verizon Wireless will offer three bundles, all featuring an iPad Wi-Fi model and a Verizon MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, for a suggested retail price of $629.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 16GB + MiFi, $729.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 32GB + MiFi and $829.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 64GB + MiFi. Verizon Wireless is offering a monthly access plan to iPad customers of up to 1GB of data for just $20 a month. In addition, Verizon Wireless will also offer all three iPad Wi-Fi models on a stand-alone basis.

New Panther Devin Thomas in Fantasia's new video

New Carolina Panther wide reciever Devin Thomas has a strong cameo in Fantasia's steamy new video for her hit song "Bittersweet."

Where does Michael rank Kobe? Top 10?

Speaking to USA Today about the new NBA2K11 videogame that features his likeness, Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan was asked where he would rank Laker Kobe Bryant among the all-time greats.

Jordan said Bryant, one of the two best players on the planet right now along with the Miami Heat's LeBron James, belongs among the top 10, among a certain position.

"I think he is always going to be within the conversations of some of the greatest players who've played by the time he is finished," Jordan told USA Today. "Where does he rank among those, if you are talking about positions? If you are talking about guards, I would say he has got to be in the Top 10."

Jordan also talked about how today's NBA differs from when he played.

"It's less physical and the rules have changed, obviously," he said. "Based on these rules, if I had to play with my style of play, I'm pretty sure I would have fouled out or I would have been at the free throw line pretty often and I could have scored 100 points."

Jordan said he's played the new NBA 2K11 videogame, which I think is one of the best ever (click here for review)

He said his kids are better than him at it.

Me, too, Michael.

Sony unveils Google TV

Google TV is here.

At a big news conference in New York late Tuesday afternoon, Sony unveiled a line of TV sets featuring integrated Google TV, which will allow users to surf the internet on their TV as well as watch traditional TV programming.

Sets go on sale Oct. 16, with prices running from $600 to $1,400. Set sizes, for now, range from 24 to 46 inches. If you already have an HDTV, you can buy a Blu-Ray DVD enabled set top box for $399.

Sony is aiming this at people who are already watching TV programming on their computers, such as early broadcasts of sporting events and YouTube videos.

Google TV uses the same Android operating system that has become uber-popular among cell phone users. Google TV comes with a Chrome Web browser. Several partners are already on line to provide content including Amazon, Netflix, NBC Universal, the NBA, Time Warner and USA Today.

The Google TV comes with a remote that has a full QWERTY keyboard.

VIDEO: Microsoft Windows 7 phone keynote and demo

If you want to see what Steve Ballmer and Company have cooked up with the new phone, see the video below.

Click here

Whoa, Happy Meal doesn't decompose....after 171 days

Think about this the next time you want to give the kids a little Ronald McDonald love:

A British newspaper reports that a New York photographer named Sally Davies conducted a little experiment in the post "Supersize Me" world.

Unlike Morgan Spurlock, who ate McDonald's for days on end -- and risked his health -- in a popular feature film, Davies decided to take a picture of a McDonald's Happy Meal every day for months to see what would happen.

And not much happened.

Davies' "The Happy Meal Project" has gone viral.

"I bought the meal on April 10 of this year and brought it home with the express intention of leaving it out to see how it fared," she said. "I chose McDonald's because it was nearest to my house, but the project could have been about any other of the myriad of fast food joints in New York."

On day two, Davies said, the food lost its familiar smell of McDonald's goodness. Her dogs stopped circling near the shelf where she kept it.

Davies thought the food would mold. After two weeks, it still looked just as fresh as when the workers dropped it in that little white bag.

"It was then that I realised that something strange might be going on with this food that I had bought," she told the newspaper. "The fries shrivelled slightly as did the burger patty, but the overall appearance of the food did not change as the weeks turned to months."

After six months, she said the food is hard like plastic with an "acrylic sheen to it."

Anyone else ready for a Big Mac and fries?

Frustrated Panther fan makes song "Teach Me How To QB"

Tip of the hat to reader Carmen F., who sent me the link to "Teach Me How To QB," a song aimed at original Carolina Panthers star Matt Moore.

I won't make any commentary about being patient with a young team with young QBs. Enjoy

Nike's new Machspeed driver to hit stores next month

If you're a golfer who loves gadgets, you've got to love fall. That's when all the golf companies show off what their R&D departments have been cooking up all summer.

Nike today announced its new SQ MACHSPEED black driver, due Nov. 26. It is available with a round or square 460 cc head. It's designed to reduce air drag and has a deep face to still give golfers good distance on off center hits. It also has a lightweight shaft to increase swing speed.

Nike said it designed the head with a tall club face that tapers quickly, to increase forgiveness. All this results in a club with a slightly lower ballflight than last year's MACHSPEED model and one that spins less. That means your ball won't curve as much.

Men's lofts are available in 8.5 to 11.5. Women get an 11.5 and a high launch. MSRP is $359.99

Report: Apple won't support 4G with iPhone 5

Now things are getting interesting.

With Verizon's announcement last week that it's new 4G network would be deployed by year's end in nearly 40 markets, including Charlotte -- and media reports that the company would be getting an iPhone in January -- many assumed the iPhone would be Verizon's first 4G device.

To quote ESPN's Lee Courso, "Not so fast my friend."

Techcrunch, a popular and reputable blog, is reporting that Apple will not support 4G in 2011, much like it didn't initially support 3G when the original iPhone debuted on AT&T's Edge Network.

Techcrunch says the Verizon iPhone (or Veriphone as folks have begun to call it) will not support the 4G standard, and when a mid-2011 refresh is out, the iPhone 5, that the new model won't support it, either.

According to the blog, Apple will make a dual-mode phone that supports GSM (AT&T) and CDMA (Verizon) standards, but only on 3G. Apple won't support the 4G network until sometime in 2012.

Consider this Steve Jobs saying he doesn't want to have his users testing out a brand new service that may have some bugs. This, of course, will give Android momentum, even as Veriphone finally arrives, by saying it Droid Does 4G and iPhone won't.

Android actually supports 4G on Sprint's WiMAX networks right now and I've been able to use it around Charlotte with pretty good results. But 4G is spotty and I'd imagine that AT&T and Verizon will suffer some 4G growing pains next year, not to mention that the chips needed to power the 4G devices are a little power hungry. Anyone who has tried Sprint's otherwise cool 4G phone, the HTC Evo, knows you have to basically keep a charge cable in your pocket.

So it seems that you'll be able to get iPhone 5 for AT&T or Verizon (and I'm assuming Sprint and T-Mobile, too, if the multi-standard thing is true). AT&T is lighting up its new 3G mode, called HSPA+, which some feel can deliver speeds close to what we're seeing in early 4G devices.

Be interesting to see what happens moving forward when we get some official announcements, but considering there will likely be a premium charge for 4G, something like Sprint's $10 per month, I'm not sure how many folks will sign up for it anyway. At least initially.

Wilson to give away 11 free set of irons next month

Attention golfers, Wilson plans to give away 11 sets of its new Di11 irons on Nov. 11. The irons are made for distance and accuracy.

To enter, visit Wilson's web site Submissions will be accepted until Nov. 8. Winners will be announced Nov. 11

Wilson Staff Di irons have pushed the distance and accuracy envelope since the original first launched in 2005. Now, 11 is the magic number as Wilson has created a promotion that awards 11 lucky golfers a free set of Di11 irons on 11/11 (Nov. 11, 2010).

The new irons are the fifth generation of the Di in the super game improvement category. Wilson says they feature "modifications and updates in virtually every performance area, all designed to deliver added power and greater accuracy for players of all skill levels."


The changes include a wider sole and bigger sweet spot, meaning these will be easier for the average 100-shooter to hit, and hit far.

Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7, hopes to boost sales

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer introduced his company's latest offering into the smartphone industry, Windows Phone 7, Monday morning in New York.

Microsoft is going the Google/Android route by developing software and allowing hardware manufacturers to create the handsets. Customers will get touchscreen thin handsets as well as QWERTY keyboard devices.

Ballmer describes the new phones, which will be GSM only for now (read: no Verizon) as "different" and "more modern" in design and usage.

He said the new phone focuses on how real people want to use their handsets.

The device will use something called Windows Phone Hubs, which appear as large box-shaped tile displays on the phone. They react in real time. Get a new email or a voicemail or even Twitter or Facebook updates, and the "hub" changes on your home screen.

The phone ships with six hubs: People, Pictures, Music/Video, Games Hub, Office and the Market (for apps).

The phone also can connect to Xbox Live. And the hubs are totally customizable.

There's a hard button to snap a photo with the camera which also helps access on board photos. Microsoft said uploading photos to the cloud is a snap.

Microsoft Office is also included here with a mobile version of Outlook and office document support. Users can also edit Office files from the phone, but until early next year the phone cannot copy and paste (ugh).

This could be huge for business users.

Is this going to be the device to get Microsoft on the field with Apple and Google and RIM? The devices out so far look slick and more and more customers are trying smartphones. The market is expected to grow to nearly 300 million sold devices next year from about 190 million expected this year.

The phone will be available in several versions from AT&T and T-Mobile for $199 with a two-year contract.

"Halo Reach" a masterpiece, (possibly) a fitting goodbye

There have been few videogame series as good as Halo, and this is a fitting finale (at least for Bungie, the game's developers). It's a masterpiece, one of the best games of 2010, along with NBA2K11.

The game is set a few weeks before the start of the original Halo, when we were introduced to one of the most iconic heroes in videogame history, Master Chief. Only now, dialing back in time, we meet the Noble Team, a group of super soilders, taking control of one of them known as "Noble 6." You never get to see his face. This is Noble 6's story. Master Chief is not here.

The best thing here is you don't know the Halo mythology, you're OK. Everything is explained and makes sense, at least as much as videogame stories can.

The game is set on the lovingly drawn Planet Reach, which is where one of the biggest battles between humanity and an alien species known as the Covenant took place. The Covenant has long sought to eradicate the human race.

We are introduced to Planet Reach to start the game and find Noble 6's team stationed at the center of humanity's military operation. You'll work with other members of the team as you complete missions, getting to know -- and care -- about them. The other members show their faces under the helmets, and you quickly understand that this is a war the humans are not winning.

At times, the costs of war can get depressing.

Like the previous titles, this is a first person shooter and action comes fast. Something new is the ability to use powers you pick up permanently. You can use jetpacks when you want and even give yourself a brief amount of invincibility. I did find that it was hard to use some abilities concurrently.

I couldn't find much to quibble with this game. It will take large chunks of your life to play. It's immersive. It's hard. It's engaging.

It's fun.

I only wonder where Halo goes from here. The guys at Bungie, who have made all the Halo games, are pulling off to concentrate on a new game. Microsoft will handle the franchise's future, if there's to be one.

If we never see another Halo title, though, this is a great way to go out.

"Spider Man Shattered Dimensions" worth a try

This is like four mini-adventures in one, plus more Peter Parker one-line cracks than many fans will be able to take.

Really, it does kind of get old.

"I break pots," Peter says at one point. "It's what I do."

Really?

Luckily, the game just rocks.

The game begins with Spider Man battling with Mysterio when they break something called the Tablet of Order and Chaos.

This causes reality to split. To restore order, a clairvoyant named Madame Web reaches out to the Spider Man of each reality to help restore order. Along the way, you'll face off with famous Spidey villains like Green Goblin and Sandman. And you get to play as a future Spider in 2099, today's guy and two others.

Basically in each world, you have to work your way through a series of battles, while saving civilians along the way. It's kind of easy at first. Walk into a room and stop the enemy threat there, but when you get to the big enemies, the bosses, things get tougher.

Of course, how well you do is really about how well you learn the button-mashing combos that allow you to unleash your powers.

I enjoyed playing with Spider Man of today and tomorrow (with the flying cars and neon colors). But I enjoyed the "Noir" version

In the 1930s Depression era, Peter Parker kind of handles business like Batman, doing his work behind the scenes with a much higher degree of stealth than we're used to seeing from Your Friendly Neighborhood Web Slinger.

UVerse customers to use Xbox 360 as a set-top DVR?

According to Engadget, AT&T UVerse customers will be able to use their Xbox 360 as a set-top box in November.

A wired software update will come out next week bringing a Dashboard app to the Xbox. To use Xbox with UVerse, however, customers will still need at least one other standard DVR to enjoy the four streams of HD programming available.

WSJ: Apple to produce Verizon iPhone by year's end

With news today that Verizon will deploy its 4G network to 38 cities, including Charlotte, by year's end, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple will begin to mass produce a Verizon iPhone by the end of the year.

The Journal writes that Verizon could sell the smartphone in early 2011, quoting sources who had been briefed by Apple.

Apple has long touted the iPhones ability to do voice and data at the same time, something that users of Verizon's current 3G network are unable to do. With 4G arriving soon, that would no longer be an issue. The initial Verizon iPhone apparently would be based on the company's current 3G network, however.

This news, if true, could be big for Apple and hurt AT&T, Apple's current provider which allowed current customers to get the new iPhone 4 in mid-contract without penalty this year.

Many speculated that was done to lock up those users in new two-year agreements with an increased termination fee.

AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson said last month that he felt that because so many iPhone customers were in family plans, he didn't think the company would be too hurt by a new carrier for the Apple phone. The thinking there is, say, if a family has three iPhones on AT&T, it would have to pay three termination fees and buy three new iPhones somewhere else. That would cost well over $1,000.

But what if Verizon is able to offer the buy-one-get-one-free specials it's been running with Android phones, or even offers to buy out the contract for AT&T customers switching over?

This is an important time in the cell phone wars for sure.

Also, a Morpace Omibus poll of 1,000 Americans showed that more than half of current Verizon customers intend to get an iPhone with Verizon.


A Deloitte study found that close to half of all U.S. iPhone customers on AT&T would be 'interested' in a Verizon iPhone.

The Wall Street Journal said the upcoming Verizon iPhone would be similar in design to the current iPhone 4 and is expected in the first quarter of 2011. The WSJ also said Apple is working on iPhone 5 and it will have a "different form factor" than those currently available (larger screen iPhone XL perhaps?).

I would expect that if iPhone is not compatible with Verizon's 4G network, iPhone 5 would be. But would you want to get a 3G iPhone on Verizon in February, knowing the faster version was coming in June?

Interesting days ahead. The next time Steve Jobs puts on the black turtleneck and hits the stage might be the biggest "And One More Thing" news conference that company has seen yet.

Charlotte one of 38 cities to get Verizon 4G coverage by December

Verizon plans to have its next-generation "4G" cellular network launched by the end of the year. At a news conference in San Francisco Wednesday, the company said that its 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network would launch in 38 major metros, including Charlotte, and touch more than 110 million Americans by December.

Verizon is also putting its 4G network into 60 commercial airports in the U.S. -- in launch cities and other key areas.

The new network will allow much faster speed than the current 3G network provides, much closer to type speed customers see on at-home DSL or cable modem networks.

The launch areas include Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. as well as Rochester, New York in the Northeast.

The launch will also touch customers throughout Miami and south Florida, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and New Orleans as well as Charlotte and Nashville, Tennessee.

Others are Chicagoland, St. Louis, the Twin Cities, Pittsburgh and major cities in Ohio, plus major population centers in California as well as Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas and West Lafayette, Ind., home of Purdue University.

The company said Purdue is using several software applications on its 3G network that improve student engagement and success, and Verizon Wireless is working with Purdue to explore the next phase of how 4G LTE technology can improve e-learning across the nation.

Apple makes Maiden couple nearly $2M richer

Bloomberg reports that Apple recently made millionaires out of Maiden's Donnie and Kathy Fulbright.

Turns out the Cupertino, California company needed some land that Fulbrights lived on to complete its new billion dollar data center there. The Fulbrights brought the land for about $6,000 and built a modest single-story home there.

After turning down an initial offer, the Fulbrights sold for $1.7 million.

With their winnings, the Fulbrights bought a new 4,200 square foot home with a jacuzzi in the master bedroom. It sits on a 49-acre lot.

Thanks a lot Steve Jobs.

The data center is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Analysts believe it will herald the arrival of Apple's cloud-based computing, allowing users to stream and store videos and music on its servers instead of on user's computers. It could also be used to stream video content to Apple's just announced and recently released Apple TV set-top box.