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Darren Murph

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Latest Posts from Switched

GM Proposes Standardized Plug for Electric Vehicles

by Darren Murph on April 17, 2009 at 09:30 AM

Say what you will about General Motors (okay, so maybe you should say it under your breath), but there's no denying the brilliance of this idea. On the company's FastLane blog, one Gery Kissel explains that engineers and suits will be meeting up next week to discuss the standardization of common components that will hopefully be installed in forthcoming electric vehicles. Notably, the SAE J1772 Task Force will be responsible for designing a plug that links each plug-in vehicle to an "ecosystem," ensuring that drivers can pull into any charging station from Key West to Neah Bay and see a socket that fits their ride. Specifically, the group is being charged with defining a "common electric vehicle conductive charging system architecture for all major automakers in North America," but it remains to be seen if said standard can be hammered out before the Volt's not-to-be-missed 2010 introduction.
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AT&T Purportedly Looking to Push iPhone Exclusivity to 2011

by Darren Murph on April 16, 2009 at 07:11 AM


It's a little silly just how hush-hush this whole iPhone-AT&T exclusivity agreement has been, but now it sounds like it just might be next century before any of you CDMA loyalists are able to indulge in the App Store. According to a fresh report in The Wall Street Journal, people "familiar with the matter" have suggested that AT&T is feverishly working to extend its exclusive agreement to carry the iPhone in America until 2011. Last we heard, the deal was stretched out through 2010, and considering just how many new subscribers are flocking over solely for this phone, can you really blame the guy for wanting another dozen months of bliss? Not surprisingly, an Apple spokeswoman had more to say about her personal life than on these rumors, but if you were really banking on snapping up a Verizon-branded iPhone at the end of next year, you should probably ask someone to blast you with a giant fire hose of reality.

[Via HotHardware]
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America's First 'Solar City' Coming to Florida

by Darren Murph on April 13, 2009 at 01:46 PM



Given that Florida has accurately been coined The Sunshine State, it's not at all shocking to hear that America's first "solar city" will be built in the state's southwest corner. Or, at least that's the plan. According to a new report, West Palm Beach-based Kitson & Partners is currently developing a new city near Charlotte County, which will get juiced by a massive 75-megawatt solar plant. Said plant will cost around $300 million to build and will be installed by Florida Power & Light; if all goes well, homes will begin construction on a sizable plot of land dubbed Babcock Ranch by 2011. If things don't go so well, we're told that the actual power plant will still be erected and fed into the larger grid. In other words, Florida's gettin' some solar power, with or without this newfangled concrete jungle.

[Via: Fark]
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Limited Edition, Prince-Themed iPod Touch -- Only $2,100

by Darren Murph on April 13, 2009 at 01:15 PM


While certainly not the most expensive iPod we've ever seen, the limited edition Prince Opus iPod touch is definitely amongst the priciest. Sold only as part of an ultra rare kit that includes a luxurious book of Prince photographs from Kraken Opus, this touch (of unknown capacity) comes preloaded with 40 minutes of "exclusive" footage along with a live soundtrack from 'Indigo Nights.' Of course, it's also doused in purple and splashed with Prince's symbol 'round back, but even with only 950 kits available, we still say the $2,100 price tag is far too lofty. Hate to break it to ya, Opus, but those hedge funds are no longer partying like it's 1999.

[Via All Things Digital]
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National Broadband Plan Starts Rolling Out

by Darren Murph on April 11, 2009 at 10:11 AM


Hey, what do you know? All those meetings over the proposed National Broadband Plan has amounted to something: a "yeah, we should probably hit this up." Today, the FCC has kicked off an immensely ambitious project to bring "high-speed internet access to every corner of the United States." $7.2 billion of the economic stimulus package has already been allocated for the task, but it'll be ages before anything becomes of this. For starters, the FCC is asking for input from consumers, businesses, etc, yet it doesn't require a response until February of 2010. Meanwhile, nations like South Korea, Japan and Australia are all looking to implement similar rollouts, albeit with much higher speeds. You see, the FCC currently defines "broadband" as 786Kpbs, which obviously isn't anywhere near median rates in some of the aforementioned countries. Pardon our skepticism in this becoming a reality, but at least we'll be extra elated if our rock-bottom expectations are met.
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'Personal Trainer: Walking' Bringing Pedometers to Nintendo DSi

by Darren Murph on April 8, 2009 at 08:56 AM


Nintendo's DSi may have just launched, but if you figured your wallet would be safe from buying any other related hardware in the near future, you clearly aren't in tune with the rabid peripheral market. Our best buds over at Joystiq sat down with David Young, the assistant PR manager for Nintendo of America, in order to talk shop and get a glimpse into the DSi's future. Of note, Mr. Young stated that DSi interaction with the Wii was "certainly a possibility," but he failed to elaborate much beyond that. What he did confess, however, was that the DSi will soon be interacting with a pair of pedometers (or "activity meters"), which will ship with the 'Personal Trainer: Walking' title. We're told that the devices will connect wirelessly with the console, and the game itself will be the first where you can import a Mii character from the Wii. Heck, users can even affix one of the meters to their dog in order to log Fido's exercise habits. Consider us (and our pets) highly intrigued.
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SimMan 3G Patient Simulator Will Undoubtedly Creep You Out

by Darren Murph on April 6, 2009 at 06:20 AM


Look, we want the next generation of robot doctors to be as competent as possible; after all, it's them that'll likely be taking care of us when our fingers lock up and our cranium-housed SSDs finally fail. That said, we can't help but be freaked completely out by Laerdal's latest and greatest patient simulator, the SimMan 3G. This almost-human can be programmed with various practice scenarios for to-be doctors to hone their skills on, and as any sophisticated mannequin should, this one is also wireless, self-contained and able to withstand four hours of surgery before conking out. We have no clue how many thousands this thing will set HOSA clubs around the nation back, but anything that bleeds, winks, and secretes shouldn't be something you "buy," anyway.
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Sony Debuts $1,000 GPS-Packin' 1080p Handycam

by Darren Murph on April 3, 2009 at 07:07 AM


Think your "high-def" camcorder is hot stuff? Think again, vaquero. Sony's swerving around the low-end and waving jovially as it laps the mid-range with the HDR-TG5V Handycam, a decidedly upscale pocket camcorder that's capable of logging full 1080p clips and holding 16GB of data. Moreover, the HD camcorder includes an embedded GPS module, minimal buttons and a new intuitive user interface for the touch-panel LCD -- something we harshed on in our review of the TG3E last year. The built-in GPS antenna and NAVTEQ maps enable photos and videos to be geotagged, and you should be able to scope things out pretty good on the 2.7-inch LCD. If holding six hours of footage isn't enough, you can pop in a Memory Stick PRO Duo card for even more capacity, and there's also a 10x optical zoom for getting all up close and personal. Look for it to ship this May for a solid grand, and if you're up for spending another $100, a wide angle conversion lens (Sony VCL-HGE07TB) can definitely help you there.

Sony debuts $1,000 GPS-packin' HDR-TG5V 1080p Handycam

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Time Warner to Charge Fees for Internet Based On 'Consumption'

by Darren Murph on April 2, 2009 at 05:01 PM

No, folks -- this is no prank. Time Warner Cable really is throwing caution (and public opinion) to the wind and moving forward with its evil consumption-based internet billing. If you'll recall, we heard that the operator was trialing the method -- which imposes premium rates on big broadband users -- back in early 2008, but now it seems it's quietly hoping to roll it out into more major markets. Starting this month, TWC will start gathering information on its customers' internet use in Austin, TX, San Antonio, TX, Rochester, NY and Greensboro, NC; if all goes "well," consumption billing will hit those markets this summer or sooner. We'll point you to the read link if you're interested in just how outrageous these capped plans look (particularly for internet TV viewers), but we'd be remiss of our duties if we didn't share this gem of a quote from TWC CEO Glenn Britt: "We made a mistake early on by not defining our business based on the consumption dimension." Thanks for clarifying, Glenn-o.

[Thanks Kevin, image courtesy of Corbis]
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American Airlines Bringing In-Flight Wi-Fi to Over 300 Planes

by Darren Murph on April 1, 2009 at 06:26 AM


All hail the laggard! With pretty much every other US-based legacy carrier already on board, we were beginning to wonder if American Airlines even got the memo that in-flight Wi-Fi was in serious demand. At long last, the company has made clear that it plans to equip more than 300 MD-80 and Boeing 737-800 aircraft used primarily in the United States with high-speed Wi-Fi capability (over the next two years). If you'll recall, American announced early on that it was game for trialing the tech, but until yesterday, it had yet to make a commitment large enough to make you consider signing up for its credit card and bankrolling those frequent flyer miles. We're expecting more details to emerge soon, but feel free to start pestering its agents with the whos, whats, wheres and whens.
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Track Plant Growth with the Timelapse Garden Video Camera

by Darren Murph on March 30, 2009 at 02:45 PM

For those of you looking to prove just how green your thumb really is, have a gander at the Timelapse Garden Video Camera. Offered up at the always intriguing Hammacher Schlemmer, this weatherproof garden tool engages in the tedious task of taking snapshots of your flora in customizable intervals and then weaving them together into a single 1,280 x 1,024 AVI video. The lens can focus as close as ... Read more »
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Number of Folks Unready for DTV Transition Falls to 4 Million

by Darren Murph on March 28, 2009 at 12:53 PM

Just days ago, we heard that the DTV voucher waitlist was completely gone, and now that those have started to flow again, the amount of Americans still unready for the switchover sits at 4.1 million. Compared to right around two months ago, that's definitely a marked improvement from 6.5 million still in the dark, and we fully anticipate that number to continually shrink as we inch closer to ... Read more »
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Warner Bros. 'Archive' Brings Obscure Films to DVD On-demand

by Darren Murph on March 27, 2009 at 04:58 PM

Being the digital aficionados that we are, we still prefer Criterion's Online Cinematheque over this approach, but those not quite ready to give up physical media will absolutely (and understandably) disagree. At any rate, the studio has just fired up its Warner Archive, a nice little web portal where film fanatics can surf over and locate niche titles to be placed on a DVD and shipped out. Most ... Read more »
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Skype for iPhone Coming Soon?

by Darren Murph on March 27, 2009 at 09:53 AM

We're still filing this away in the rumor folder for now, but we'll be honest -- this is totally believable. GigaOM has it on authority that a bona fide Skype for iPhone client will be launched as early as next week, and with CTIA kicking off on April 1st, we'd say the timing is just about ideal. Of course, we've already seen a variety of alternatives for bringing Skype and other VoIP apps to ... Read more »
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Odor-Free Underwear Coming Soon to a Retailer Near You

by Darren Murph on March 26, 2009 at 10:51 AM

Truthfully, there's just not enough work being done in the area of advanced underpants, so we're absolutely elated to hear that textile experts at Japan Women's University in Tokyo are picking up the slack and moving forward with an amazing development. Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese astronaut to live on the International Space Station, is current testing the "odor-free" clothing, and it's ... Read more »
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