iPhone to Verizon by Valentine's, or earlier?

A Business Week report has the iPhone landing at Verizon by Valentine's Day or earlier.

Business Week quotes an unnamed source saying Apple will introduce a Verizon version of its popular handset sometime after the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January.

Verizon has scheduled a special media call on the afternoon of Jan. 6 to discuss its plans for its new LTE 4G network. Could the iPhone run on that?

This is where it gets interesting. Apple has long touted iPhone's ability to run data and voice calls at the same time. Currently, you can't do that on Verizon's 3G network. But you could on the new LTE network.

Whatever happens, industry analysts think a Verizon iPhone could cost AT&T anywhere from one million to six million customers. Business Week quotes, for example, that John Hodulik, a UBS Securities analyst has dropped his estimation of AT&T iPhone sales in 2011 to 8.8 million from 15.6 million in 2010.

Hodulik predicts Verizon sells more than 13 million iPhones next year, including more than two million to AT&T customers who switch.

Ultimately, AT&T could have an answer for Verizon. It recently bought tons of 4G wireless spectrum and has been upgrading its current 3G wireless network to a faster standard that can deliver near 4G-speed. So when customers start using those 4G phones across all networks next year, AT&T can promise faster speeds than Verizon, in theory, when customers have to fall back from 4G.

Also, if both big carriers get the Apple device, they may be forced to compete on price, which could serve customers well.

A white golf driver? TaylorMade has one and it's coming soon

Golf drivers have always been black, or at least dark or silver, right?

Well, the golf company that does innovations -- or chances -- like few others is trying to turn that thought on its head.

Following the introduction of white putters, TaylorMade plans to unleash its new white R11 driver next month. Look for ads tapping a familiar Sesame Street song "One of These Things Is Not Like The Other" to start on the Golf Channel Jan. 3.

The ad will have children singing the song as some familiar dark drivers flash across the screen. Finally, the white R11 will pop up.

Is America ready for a white driver? Wonder how it look framed against the white ball.

Of course, TaylorMade is convinced it'll work. And the white putters are pretty cool.


“The R11 is the best driver we’ve ever made and it deserves something different,” said Bob Maggiore, vice president, brand and product marketing. “Golf marketing has become so cookie-cutter, and we felt it was time to move away from the pack. By creating a spot like this, we’ve shown how this driver’s stunning design, technology and performance clearly set it apart from the competition.”

Can't wait to see it.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer learns to do "The Dougie"

Have to share this video of CNN's Wolf Blitzer on the "Soul Train Music Awards" learning how to do the latest dance craze sweeping the nation: The Dougie.

The dance is named after rapper Doug E Fresh who made this his signature move, much like Michael Jackson's moon walking and leg kicking.

Enjoy.

iPhone 4 for $25? Yes, it's true

If you meet a few criteria, you can get an iPhone 4 from Radio Shack for as little as $25.

RadioShack is running a little special from Dec. 4-11 that offers a $50 discount on iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS. You must buy new devices and not refurbs. You just have to be eligible for upgrade. This means you must be ready for a new two-year agreement.

So the pricing would be: $49.99 for 3GS, $149.99 for 16 gig iPhone 4 and $249.99 for a 32-gig iPhone 4.

The Shack also offers a trade-in program. iPhone 3G owners get $75 and 3GS get $125. So you can get a new iPhone 4 for as little as $24.99 if you want to sign up with AT&T for two years.

Verizon will launch high speed wireless LTE network Dec. 5

Get ready Charlotte-area Verizon wireless customers: more speed is coming.

Verizon Wireless announced today it is lighting up its 4G LTE network Sunday and Charlotte is one of the initial 38 markets. The network, the company says, will be up to 10 times faster than the current 3G network and will be available to business users first.

Along with the launch, the company will introduce new 4G LTE mobile broadband data plans. They will start at $50 monthly for 5 GB, and there will be one USB modem available at launch.

To get 10 GB data, it will cost $80. Both plans have a $10/GB overage charge. The modem will be $99.99 after a $50 rebate for a two-year agreement.

Verizon officials said, at launch, the 4G LTE network will touch 1/3 of all Americans and will cover its existing 3G network in its entirety in about two years.

So how fast is this? Verizon said customers should expect download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second, as fast or faster as many high-speed cable or DSL modem speeds

Of course, you'll want to know about using cell phones on this new network. Looks like you'll have to wait until the middle of next year, so if your contract is up soon, best choose to wait. And this also makes me wonder if all the iPhone to Verizon in January talk will cool now.

Looks like a safe bet that iPhone 5 will take advantage of this network, which will also allow talking and surfing at the same time (something you can't do on Verizon's current 3G network). That makes me think the regular June iPhone launch date might be safe.

Last point on Verizon 4G. It's also launching in 38 metro areas and 60 airports. Click here to see if you're covered.

Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Initial Major Metropolitan Area Deployment (Dec. 5, 2010)

Akron, Ohio

Athens, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Baltimore, Maryland

Boston, Massachusetts

Charlotte, North Carolina

Chicago, Illinois

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, Dallas, Texas

Denver, Colorado

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Houston, Texas

Jacksonville, Florida

Las Vegas, Nevada

Los Angeles, California

Miami, Florida

Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota

Nashville, Tennessee

New Orleans, Louisiana

New York, New York

Oakland, California

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Orlando, Florida

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Phoenix, Arizona

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Rochester, New York

San Antonio, Texas

San Diego, California

San Francisco, California

San Jose, California

Seattle/Tacoma, Washington

St. Louis, Missouri

Tampa, Florida

Washington, D.C.

West Lafayette, Indiana

West Palm Beach, Florida



Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Initial Commercial Airport Deployment (Airport Name, City, State) Dec. 5, 2010

Austin-Bergstrom International, Austin, Texas

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshal, Glen Burnie, Maryland

Bob Hope, Burbank, California

Boeing Field/King County International, Seattle, Washington

Charlotte/Douglas International, Charlotte, North Carolina

Chicago Midway International, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago O’Hare International, Chicago, Illinois

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Covington, Kentucky

Cleveland-Hopkins International, Cleveland, Ohio

Dallas Love Field, Dallas, Texas

Dallas/Fort Worth International, Fort Worth, Texas

DenverInternational, Denver, Colorado

Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

George Bush Intercontinental/Houston, Houston, Texas

Greater Rochester International, Rochester, New York

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Atlanta, Georgia

Honolulu International, Honolulu, Hawaii

Jacksonville International, Jacksonville, Florida

John F. Kennedy International, New York, New York

John Wayne Airport-Orange County, Santa Ana, California

Kansas City International, Kansas City, Missouri

La Guardia, New York, New York

Lambert-St. Louis International, St. Louis, Missouri

Laurence G. Hanscom Field, Bedford, Massachusetts

LongBeach/Daugherty Field, Long Beach, California

Los Angeles International, Los Angeles, California

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, Metairie, Louisiana

McCarran International, Las Vegas, Nevada

Memphis International, Memphis, Tennessee

Metropolitan Oakland International, Oakland, California

Miami International, Miami, Florida

Minneapolis-St.Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Nashville International, Nashville, Tennessee

New Castle, Wilmington, Delaware

Newark Liberty International, Newark, New Jersey

Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International, San Jose, California

North Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada

Orlando International, Orlando, Florida

Orlando Sanford International, Sanford, Florida

Palm Beach International, West Palm Beach, Florida

Philadelphia International, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, Mesa, Arizona

Pittsburgh International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Port Columbus International, Columbus, Ohio

Portland International, Portland, Oregon

Rickenbacker International, Columbus, Ohio

Ronald Reagan Washington National, Arlington, Virginia

Sacramento International, Sacramento, California

Salt Lake City International, Salt Lake City, Utah

San Antonio International, San Antonio, Texas

SanDiego International, San Diego, California

SanFrancisco International, San Francisco, California

Seattle-Tacoma International, Seattle, Washington

St. Augustine, Saint Augustine, Florida

St. Petersburg-Clearwater International, Clearwater, Florida

Tampa International, Tampa, Florida

Teterboro, Teterboro, New Jersey

Trenton Mercer, Trenton, New Jersey

Washington Dulles International, Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C.

Will Rogers World, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

WilliamP. Hobby, Houston, Texas

New irons from TaylorMade, driver from Nike to stuff your golf fans stocking with

The gentleman’s game is one of the most popular recreational activities in the Carolinas and also one of the most frustrating. TaylorMade and Nike are making it a little easier to help those high handicappers on your list this season.

TaylorMade’s new Burner 2.0 irons can be used by good players and not-so good players (many clubs are for one group or the other). They’re lighter than standard clubs, so they are easier to swing. Because they’re lighter, you can swing faster without trying, making your ball go father and hopefully stay on the course.

They’re also designed to fly high, and land soft. This lets even the weekend hacker hit the occasional “oh my goodness” shot. Bonus, the sticks are so good, your golfing friend won’t need to buy those new-fangled clubs called hybrids, which kind of look like fairway woods, to replace his or her long irons.

Nike’s new SQ Machspeed Driver is pretty to look at and seems to correct many of your bad swings. It’s hard to really hit this one terribly. Bad swings produce good distance and aren’t as crooked as you might expect. Good swings produce better distance than with the driver you have (at least if you are like us), and you can adjust the head to help you if you hit the ball to the left or right too often. You can even adjust it to hit the ball a touch higher or lower. Who needs lessons anymore?

ESPN 3D lands on Time Warner Cable

DirecTV customers in Charlotte, you've got some company when it comes to accessing ESPN 3D.

Time Warner Cable, which impressively is adding to its lineup of services by the week, has launched the 3D channel in Charlotte. Of course, to see it you need the proper set-top box, plus a 3D enabled TV and those darn classes.

The channel is located on channel 1505. The channel airs live sporting events in 3D and is part of a 3D pass that costs $10 per month. I'm not big on the add-on charge. I think it should come as part of the HD package, especially when the 3D content is not as varied as what most customers will be used to.

Some of the programming highlights on ESPN 3D include X Games, select NCAA football games, the BCS championship game, and select NBA and NCAA basketball games.

Here's the schedule for the next two months:

Thursday, Nov. 25 12 Noon; 2:30 p.m.; 7:00 p.m.; and 9:30 p.m. Old Spice Classic

Friday, Nov. 26 12 Noon; 2:30 p.m.; 5:00 p.m.; and 7:30 p.m. Old Spice Classic

Sunday, Nov. 28 11:00 a.m.; 1:30 p.m.; 4:30 p.m.; and 7:00 p.m. Old Spice Classic

Sunday, Dec.5 7:30 p.m. Harlem Globetrotters

Tuesday, Dec. 7 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Jimmy V Classic

Saturday, Dec. 11 12:30 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. SEC/Big East Challenge

Friday, Dec. 17 7:00 p.m. Miami Heat at New York Knicks

Saturday, Jan. 1 8:30 p.m. Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

Monday, Jan. 10 8:30 p.m. BCS National Championship Game

Friday, Jan. 14 10:30 p.m. Portland Trail Blazers at Phoenix Suns

Beatles coming to iTunes and Oprah too

By now, you may have heard that the Beatles catalog is coming to the iTunes store. After yesterday's teaser that quoted Beatles' lyrics on the webpage, Apple pretty much gave the surprise away.

Another big iDevice news item today is that Oprah's "O" Magazine is coming to the iPad. The App is now in the App Store.

Interactive editions will appear monthly and feature content from the print product. The App will allow users to enter Oprah's "12-Day Holiday Give-O-Way" sweepstakes, which starts Nov. 29.

The talk show queen is famous for her love of the iPad and the magazine app looks pretty solid. It has video and animation, an interview with "For Colored Girls" director Tyler Perry with a behind the scenes video. There's a gift guide, recipes, slide shows, a book room with excepts from Oprah's favorite books of the moment and it's easy to get around in.

Like the magazine and her TV show, Oprah The App is going to hit a big audience.

The best protection money can buy....for your handheld device

Some of you will be buying those cute little handheld electronics games and cellphones for your loved ones this holiday season. I must pass along a story I got from a reader in Kings Mountain.

She bought a new Sprint HTC EVO phone for her son and was going to surprise him with it on Christmas Eve. She got it last week. Curious to see what all the fuss was about, she cracked open the case, and started fiddling around with it. She was cooking while she was talking on it, turned too quickly, and the EVO slipped from her hand and fell to her hardwood floor.

The EVO, which costs about $200 with a phone service contract, was ruined. It was cracked and bent and wasn't anything she could give to her 16-year-old anymore.

So she e-mailed me Sunday night and asked what could she get to protect her (second) investment in Sprint cellphone technology.

I've seen lots of protective covers and cases, but I think the King of Protection has to be the OtterBox series (otterbox.com). You can go with the Defender Series ($25-$50), which is like putting your device in a heavy, near-impenetrable shell, or the Commuter Series ($18-35), which is lighter and less protective but still able to survive the odd drop. Or two.

The Defender series is rugged and comes in different colors to fit BlackBerrys, iDevices and other handheld goodies. It's actually two cases in one. The first is a hard plastic shell that includes a clear screen protector. It's built into the case and sits well on your device. Once you slide your phone into the plastic shell, you put a silicone wrap around it.

Even though it adds heft, the Defender feels comfortable in your hand and allows access to all buttons and ports, which have covered access. Slight drawback: It can feel like a brick in your pocket at first.

I felt the only thing that could really, well, brick my phone with this case on it was dropping it in water. I wrapped one around one of my personal devices and climbed on a ladder and dropped it on my driveway. I said a quiet prayer as it fell. Nothing happened.

The alternative is the Commuter Series, which uses the same plastic-shell-wrapped -by-silicone-case tech, but everything is lighter and thinner, and you have the alternative peel-off screen protector. And where the Defender covers a portion of the front of the device at top and bottom, creating a bumper effect for drops, Commuter leaves the front more exposed. A face-front landing with Commuter might not be a good thing, but for everyday protection, it's a lighter alternative.

So the moral to my story is this: If you're buying handheld gadgets for the holidays, think about a good case to go with it.

TW Cable lets you "look back" to find shows you missed

Time Warner Cable has been pouring on the features lately, from adding 3D content to increasing its home broadband internet speeds.

This week's update gives customers the ability to scroll back on their guide for three days to watch shows they've missed on certain channels -- without setting the DVR.

So, in theory, if you wanted to see that Oprah episode you missed on Thursday that your DVR, for whatever reason, failed to record, Time Warner's got you covered.

Just pick up the remote and scroll backwards, find that Oprah slot and watch away.

"Look Back" will launch with up to 48 channels on Time Warner systems, and they should be consistent market-to-market. You'll be able to access Look Back programming immediately after it airs on the network channel.

I typed in the Observer's zip code at Time Warner's website and found these channels available for "Look Back" locally:

ABC (WSOC)
A&E
ABC Family
Animal Planet
Biography
Bravo
Discovery Channel
Discovery Science
Disney Channel
Disney XD
Food Network
History Channel
History International
Investigation Discovery
Planet Green
SyFy
TLC
USA

This service just finished marketing trials in several cities and was previously available to local customers who signed up for TWC's new gold Signature Home package

Now TWC is rolling it out in multiple areas, including New York, New England, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin and parts of Texas.

Microsoft's "Kinect" system is a game changer

I think Microsoft has a major, long-term, hit on its hands with the Kinect sensor, which was released Thursday.

Kinect retails for $149.99 and is essentially a camera that detects players’ movements and some voice commands.

Sony’s new PlayStation Move controller and the popular Nintendo Wii-Mote both allow users to hold wand-like devices in their hands to play games. This allows for a unique playing experience, involving the player in more true-to-life movements. If you want to swing a golf club or a light sabre, you wave your Move or Wii-Mote controller like a golf or Star Wars weapon in real time.

Kinect allows you to do this without holding anything.

I think, potentially, Kinect will be as big a game changer as the Nintendo Wii became.

It’s easy to set up. If you have a newer “slim” Xbox, you plug in one cable in the rear of the machine. If you have the older version, you plug in the Kinect to a USB port and to a power source. The Kinect detects body movements in a virtual “field,” so you will need a little space. I had to move a table and a chair, and you need to be standing six to eight feet away from the sensor.

Using Kinect in the Menu screens reminded me a lot of watching Tom Cruise in “Minority Report.” You are swiping things left and right with your hands in the air while watching the TV screen respond to your movements. The revamped Xbox Live experience is stellar, too.

With Netflix, ESPN and the upcoming Hulu Plus, Xbox is a solid alternative to Google TV or Apple TV and is something many people already have in their living rooms. The ESPN intergration is especially cool, allowing you to see “SportsCenter” on demand and view live and saved sporting events, including some out of market.

Moving around the menus is seamless -- and sometimes hands free -- and you can even tell Kinect to do things with your voice, such as turn on, play a disc, go up a screen or back one. But it’s not perfect.

Kinect had issues detecting me while I was seated, and playing “Kinect Joy Ride,” a simple driving game, required you to stand up and hold your hands in front of you like you’re gripping an imaginary steering wheel. The driving game, though, is quite fun, and Nintendo simple, except its got HD graphics. I just would expect to sit down while I played a driving game.

In some sports games, Kinect can’t detect how hard you throw a ball or necessarily which direction. It just knows you made a throwing motion. Still, “Kinect Sports” should be every bit the hit here that “Wii Sports” was before it. Bowling while making real bowling motions -- with arms and legs -- is incredibly realistic. Track and Field got me sweaty and I just flat enjoyed kicking the balls around in soccer.

“Kinect Adventures” was another standout among the games I tried. You played in space, in water and on mountains. The graphics were amazing and truly using your whole body to play, while not perfectly implemented, is a new thing in videogames. There’s a “Space Invaders” like segment on Adventures where you are smashing balls with hands and feet that is just amazing.

“Dance Central” featured music from Salt N Pepa (“Push It”) and Craig Mack (“Flava In Your Ear”) and asks you to repeat the dance moves you see. Simple. Fast. Fun. But my favorite was “Your Shape Fitness Evolved.”

It features workouts created by the guys at Men’s Health and Women’s Health and you basically create a character that looks a lot like you (with a digital picture of you) and follow the on-screen assistant in a variety of workouts from step aerobics to boxing. The game gives you feedback as you go to make sure you’re doing moves correctly and I think you could really get in shape using this.

I think this is something families will really enjoy. You can video-conference from your living room, connecting your family all at once to loved ones who have a Kinect or a Windows Live Messenger account on their PC. And as Microsoft works out the kinks via firmware upgrades, I think Kinect could end up as the best of all the new controller gizmos.

It’s definitely on my Christmas list.

Time Warner boosts internet speeds locally, debuts "Extreme" speed service

Did you notice your Time Warner internet was running a little faster today?

The company said it boosted its internet speeds with an overnight update.

“We substantially increased our download speeds and essentially doubled upload speeds for all of our Turbo and Standard Internet service customers,” said Mike Smith, area vice president for Time Warner Cable’s Charlotte operation.

Standard internet customers went from 7 megabits per second to 10. Turbo customers went from 10 to 15.

More speed is always good. I get 12.5 megabits per second download on my Windstream DSL connection at home. The website speedtest.net says I can download a pretty sizable movie file in nine minutes or an iTunes song in five seconds.

Time Warner is also introducing a service for those who want more speed. It's "Wideband Internet" service offers up to 50 Mbps speeds -- with a severely fast 5 Mbps upload speeds -- for, ahem, $99.95 per month.

This speed was previously offered only in Time Warner's bundled Signature Home service (click here for more on that).

Another new plan, Road Runner Extreme, delivers speeds up to 30 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream for as low as $64.95 per month when bundled with any other Time Warner Cable Service. Time Warner says Road Runner Extreme is a great alternative for families on a budget who desire extra speed.

Well sort of.

This could be a popular package and price point, at $65, if it were offered as a stand-alone. I would hope Time Warner would do this moving forward.

Anyone using these services? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

ESPN3 now on Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable has added ESPN3. Time Warners customers who receive ESPN as part of their video subscription will have access to a live simulcast of ESPN on their computers as well as access to ESPN3.com.

ESPN3.com features more than 3,500 live sporting events annually. Fans can toggle between up to 20 events in a main viewing window, and with a single click, jump to another event. Video can be viewed in widescreen (16:9) and normal (4:3) views and can be expanded to full screen or reduced to a compact size. Recently completed events are archived and available for on-demand replay.

Customers can also go directly to ESPNnetworks.com or ESPN3.com to register or sign in and view the programming.

At launch, the new authenticated service will give Time Warner Cable subscribers the opportunity to watch ESPN’s linear network online. In the near future, access to ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Goal Line and ESPN Buzzer Beater will also be offered through this same process, as well as on other Internet enabled devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Consumers can access the channels through a centralized web site, ESPNnetworks.com.

Obama signs autograph on iPad

On Thursday, at a rally in Seattle, Sylvester Cann IV had a novel idea. Instead of asking President Obama to sign a piece of paper, why not ask him to sign an iPad instead?

Using the Adobe Ideas app, Cann created a big place for Obama to write in his John Hancock. Cann created a website to showcase the moment.

Obama, looking amused, used his finger to write his name.

See video below.

Apple introduces iLife 11, new Macbook Air, adds FaceTime to Mac

Apple introduced its new iLife 11 software suite Wednesday. It also added FaceBook to Mac Computers and introduced a new superlight line of laptop computers that launch today.

The new iLife 11 is available immediately for $49 for existing customers and will come free for new users.

It updates GarageBand and iPhoto and iMovie with a suite of new features including the ability to create movie-quality trailers with a full orchestra sound.

FaceTime for Mac is also available for download today at apple.com and will allow customers to have video conferencing between Macs or with iPhone 4s and the new iPod touches.

CEO Steve Jobs also gave a preview of the new upcoming operating system, to be called Lion. Lion will use some of the innovations from the OS in iPad and iPhone.

Lion will use Multi-Touch gestures using touch gestures on the mouse or trackpad. Jobs said 7 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store and Lion will include a new Mac App Store.

It will have one-click download with free and paid apps, with 70 percent of revenues going to developers. The apps will auto install and auto update. These apps will be licensed for use on all your personal Mac computers.

The Apps will go into something called "the launchpad" on your doc.

Lion will also have "Misson Control" that will allow users to view everything running on the computer and interact with them instantly.

Jobs said Lion will release in summer 2011. The Mac App Store will launch for Snow Leopard users in 90 days.

-- Jobs also introduced the new Macbook Air, which he said he believes is the future of notebooks. At its thickest point, it's 0.68 inches and is 0.11 inches at its thinnest point. It weighs 2.9 pounds and has complete aluminum unibody construction with a full keyboard and track pad.

It's got a 13.3 inch LED backlit display (1440 x 900 pixels, more than on 15-inch MacBook pro). It's got a Core 2 Duo Processor. It has no optical drive and no hard drive.

Apple has gone to flash storage, similar to what is used in iPad. It allows for instant-on, starting two times faster than hard drives. It's 90 percent smaller and lighter than standard hard drives.

Battery life is 30 days on MacBook Air and 7 hours of real world wireless web use. Jobs thinks this is twice the life of the MacBook Pro.

A 11.6 display version is also available and will weigh just over two pounds. It gives five hours of heavy wireless web use.

Pricing is $999 for the 11.6 model with 64 GB of flash memory. To move to 128 GB it's $1,199.

The 13-inch model starts at $1,299 for 128 GB storage. To go to 256 GB, it's $1,599.

All models include 2 GB of memory.

Microsoft to "Kinect" us with 17 games Nov. 4

We have seen the Sony PlayStation 3 "Move" controllers, and they're quite cool. On Nov. 4, Microsoft will deliver their much-hyped "Kinect" system, which is totally hands free.

Kinect was featured on "Oprah" Tuesday. It'll be feature on "Ellen" later this month. Next month, customers can purchase a new Xbox 360 4 GB console with Kinect and the game "Kinect Adventures" for $299.99. If you already have the Xbox, you can buy the Kinect unit for $149.99, which includes the Kinect sensor and the "Kinect Adventures" game.

Microsoft will debut 17 Kinect-ready games during the first four weeks after launch. They include "Family Game Night," "Game Party: In Motion," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," and several fitness and dance games that I think will best take advantage of the system.

I can't wait to try this one.

Time Warner Cable goes 3D (and some for free)

Time Warner Cable is adding some free 3D movies for its digital subscribers.

The movies are on HD On Demand (Channel 1001) and HD Showcase on Demand (channel 1339).

Here free 3D movies being offered:

SOS Planet
Haunted Castle
Siegfried and Roy
African Adventure
3D Sun
Wild Safari
Misadventures in 3D
Alien Adventure
Dinosaurs Alive
Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs
Wild Ocean

Customers can also purchase on demand 3D movies for $4.99. The selection includes:

Under the Sea
Nascar 3D
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Deep Sea

To see the 3D movies, customers need a 3D capable TV with 3D glasses and a compatible Time Warner Cable HD or HD-DVR box connected to their television with an HDMI cable.

7-inch iPad from Apple? Not likely

Apple CEO Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance at an earnings conference call today, and perhaps all CEOs would be giddy to talk about Apple's money take.

The Cupertino, CA, company did incredible business for the third quarter. It posted revenue of $20.34 billion and a net profit of $4 billion.

Apple shipped almost 4 million Mac computers, up 27 percent from a year ago.

Quarterly iPhone sales were up 91 percent from the same quarter a year ago (thanks iPhone 4). Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones, and sold 9.05 million iPods. That was an 11 percent decline for iPod.

Now, the iPad. Apple sold 4.19 million of those during the recent quarter and Jobs was asked if the company was readying a heavily rumored 7-inch version. Competitors, including Samsung, are about to release 7-inch tablets. Samsung's, which is due in a few weeks, will run the Android operating system.

Jobs said you can hold an iPad in portrait view and draw a horizontal line halfdown down.

"What's left," he said, "is a seven inch screen. That's too small. There are clear limits to how close elements can be on the screen before users can't touch accurately. We believe 10-inch screen is (the) minimum necessary."

And so, the 7-inch iPad thing should now go away.

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.