Faster Forward - Technology News, Observations and Occasional Rants by The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro - February 6, 2011

Sandy Bridge MacBook Air update may come in June

CNET reported Thursday that Apple will release a MacBook Air with Intel's Sandy Bridge chip in June.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 11, 2011; 11:28 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Apple, Computers
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Nokia to adopt Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, scuttling Symbian

A company that once stood atop the mobile-phone market is throwing in its lot with ... another company that once stood atop the mobile-phone market. Nokia announced this morning that it will adopt Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 software in place of its homegrown Symbian. In the bargain, Nokia will contribute...

By Rob Pegoraro | February 11, 2011; 8:59 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: Mobile
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Portal 2 Valentines available from Valve

Game developer Valve has a sweet surprise for gamers at its Web site -- Portal 2-themed Valentines Day cards.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 11, 2011; 8:58 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Gaming
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Report: Apple to introduce cheaper iPhone

Apple may be working on a cheaper, smaller iPhone on track for a mid-year release, according to a Thursday report from Bloomberg that offered a glimpse into what may be going on in the company's development laps.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 11, 2011; 8:13 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Mobile
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Google adds optional two-step Gmail security

Google just launched a new, secured login for Gmail and other Google services.

By Rob Pegoraro | February 10, 2011; 4:58 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: E-mail, Security
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A first look at the Verizon iPhone - and what that can't tell you

Meet the new iPhone--somewhat the same as the old iPhone. Powered off, the Verizon Wireless version of Apple's iPhone 4 that's now in stores differs only at the margins from the AT&T model that's been available since last summer: The Verizon model has one extra black line on its outside...

By Rob Pegoraro | February 10, 2011; 1:45 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (40)
Categories: Apple, Mobile
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iPad 3 to have Fall 2011 launch? Some say it makes sense

Apple has yet to confirm the existence of the iPad 2, but there are already rumors that the third-generation of the company's popular tablet will be launched this fall.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 10, 2011; 11:20 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Tablets
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Verizon iPhone 4 reactions

Twitter is full of immediate reactions to the Verizon iPhone -- the good, the bad, and the indifferent.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 10, 2011; 10:55 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Mobile
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Facebook: Obama girls too young for Facebook, anyway

The first lady's comments that she doesn't allow her daughters to have Facebook profiles caught some attention after Michelle Obama's interview Wednesday on the "Today" show. But that's a good thing, the social network said. As The Washington Post's 44 blog pointed out Wednesday, Facebook is only for users 13...

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 10, 2011; 9:00 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Digital culture, Social media
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Free mobile-to-mobile from AT&T, starting today

AT&T announced that it will offer free mobile-to-mobile calls to its customers, regardless of what network they're calling.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 10, 2011; 8:48 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Mobile
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Verizon iPhone in stores today

The Verizon iPhone went on sale at 7 a.m. today, nationwide. Verizon employees handed out handwarmers and hats to customers waiting in line for the new version of the iPhone 4.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 10, 2011; 8:27 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Mobile
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HP debuts Veer and Pre3 phones, TouchPad tablet--and will ship webOS for PCs

Now we know what HP's been doing with Palm since it spent $1.2 billion to buy that company last year: developing an answer to the iPad and giving itself something besides Windows to ship on its PCs. At an event in San Francisco, HP introduced the TouchPad tablet that it...

By Rob Pegoraro | February 9, 2011; 3:29 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Mobile, Tablets
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Verizon iPhone might have antenna problems, too

The Verizon iPhone may suffer from antenna problems similar to problems seen with the AT&T iPhone when the antennas come into contact with bare skin.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 9, 2011; 12:20 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Mobile
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Report: iPad 2 in production

A report from the Wall Street Journal says that Apple has begun production of the next generation of the iPad.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 9, 2011; 9:42 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Tablets
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Catholic Church approves confession app

An iPhone app designed to walk users through the sacrament of confession has received an official nod from a Catholic bishop in Indiana.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 9, 2011; 9:40 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Digital culture
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OnStar reads your Facebook feed to you

A Super Bowl commercial for the Chevy Cruze gave a wider audience a peek at the Facebook integration service that OnStar announced in October.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 8, 2011; 10:52 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: CES 2011, Car Toys, Gadgets, Shopping, Social media
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Current TV back in the headlines with Olbermann pickup

Keith Olbermann's next job will be as the Chief News Officer for Current TV, Al Gore's public affairs channel.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 8, 2011; 10:20 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (10)

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Kindle adds real page numbers, public notes to new release

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 8, 2011; 10:20 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: E-books, Gadgets, Pleasant surprises
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Verizon iPhone is here. Are you buying it?

After years of waiting and a hefty dose of hype, would-be iPhone users who were loathe to give up their Verizon service plans can finally have the best of both worlds, and current iPhone users have different options. Verizon began taking pre-orders for the device on Feb. 3 and it...

By Sarah Halzack | February 8, 2011; 9:52 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Apple
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Report: Apple to eliminate boxed software?

MacRumors reported that Apple may be making the move to all digital software sooner than anticipated.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 8, 2011; 9:07 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (30)
Categories: Apple, Digital culture, Gadgets, Mac, Shopping
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Verizon iPhone could have been international

A teardown from iFixYouri and 9to5 Mac show that the Verizon iPhone has a dual GSM/CDMA chip, leading to suspicions that the iPhone 5 will be dual-mode.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 8, 2011; 8:06 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Mobile, Pleasant surprises
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IPv4 addresses running out. Don't panic.

The Internet's numbers are almost up. But that's okay; we can make new ones. That's the short version of an issue that goes by the technical name of "IPv4 exhaustion". The current, fourth version of Internet Protocol addressing--the numerical identifiers that make each device on the Internet visible to every...

By Rob Pegoraro | February 8, 2011; 7:00 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Standards, Telecom
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Smartphone stunts: Sprint introduces two-screen Echo, T-Mobile to give them away

Since including two cameras in a smartphone no longer impresses anybody, what sort of design one-upmanship is left for phone vendors? To judge from a new Android phone Sprint just introduced, the answer is to double down on color touchscreens. Sprint's Kyocera Echo, $299.99 before a $100 mail-in rebate, looks...

By Rob Pegoraro | February 7, 2011; 6:39 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Gadgets, Mobile
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YOUR TAKE: Have you received Verizon's iPhone? What do you think Tweet The first Verizon iPhone orders are being shipped and received today. Did you buy the device? What do you think about it? Are you pleased. Tell us what you think, use #vziphone on Twitter and we'll post...

By Washington Post Editors | February 7, 2011; 4:04 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Apple
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Answers to your questions about the Verizon iPhone

As you may have heard, Verizon and Apple will start selling a version of the iPhone 4 for that carrier later this week. That seems like a reasonably straightforward bit of news, but there's always room for confusion in the telecom universe. Here are my attempts to answer some of...

By Rob Pegoraro | February 7, 2011; 10:34 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Apple, Mobile, Telecom
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Rumors: iPad 2 may get a preview this week, ship in March

Rumors say the iPad 2 may appear as early as this week and ship starting in March. The second would be a turn-up for the books, since conventional wisdom has put the iPad 2 launch in April, a year after Apple announced its "magic" predecessor. The rumors seem to stem...

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 7, 2011; 10:11 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (8)

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Verizon iPhone: Review Roundup

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 7, 2011; 9:04 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Mobile
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Super Bowl ads: Tech edition

Tech companies stepped into the spotlight Sunday night with a varied offering of Super Bowl ads.

By Hayley Tsukayama | February 7, 2011; 8:57 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Apple, Car Toys, Gadgets, Gaming
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PostPoints tip: Discounts at Apple's Mac App Store (and their costs)

If you're running the current release of Mac OS X, you can score some tidy discounts on Apple's own software by buying through its one-click Mac App Store. For instance, while the company's new iLife '11 multimedia suite goes for $49 in its own stores, you can buy its three...

By Rob Pegoraro | February 7, 2011; 6:17 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Tips
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Faster Forward: February 6, 2011 - February 12, 2011