I thought this game was never going to end. Not football game. The “Will RIM CEOs ever Step Down?” game.

– AllThingsD‘s Ina Fried, via Twitter

Let’s face it, there are plenty of places to read about Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote. And, if you wanted to, you could watch the whole darn thing.

But it’s probably not going to be worth your undivided attention. Fret not — we here at AllThingsD agree. So, here in Las Vegas, we’ve decided to combine Ina Fried’s live blog of the final Ballmer keynote with reports from Lauren Goode, who will be at an ESPN event checking out the BCS National Championship game — in 3-D.

That way, when Ballmer starts yammering on, we can check in on ‘Bama and LSU. And when the football game pauses for yet another five-minute instant replay, you can learn a little something about Windows 8 or Xbox.

And even if not much is happening at either one, count on Lauren and Ina to keep you entertained.

The festivities should kick off around the same time the football game does, at 5:30 pm PT, and keep going until the end of the fourth quarter — or longer, if Ballmer or the game goes into overtime.

5:21 pm: All right, folks. After some issues getting Wi-Fi in the Hilton Theater, I’m getting ready to liveblog the BCS game for you (with a hat tip to Engadget, who helped out with a Wi-Fi code).

(And this is Lauren, by the way, at the theater at the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino — formerly known as the Las Vegas Hilton, home to Elvis and Barry Manilow. Ina’s coming to you from the Microsoft keynote at the Venetian. We’ll be sure to ID ourselves along the way!)

Right now, some ESPN execs are talking about the “true 3-D experience” while we gear up for the game. So in the meantime, I’ll provide some context.

5:25 pm: Here’s what you need to know about this bowl game: 1. It’s Alabama versus LSU. They’re both very good. That’s why they’re in the championship. 2. Disclaimer: I know very little about college football. (I did play collegiate sports, but not football.) I will do my best to keep you posted on the developments of this game. 3. I’m told Tim Tebow will not be playing in this game, which confuses me, because I follow Twitter trending topics and he seems to be a shoo-in when it comes to football game days. 4. This game will be broadcast in 3-D!

Marchon has provided 3-D eyewear for the event. I’ve just put mine on. Big football players now look bigger. Midfield SkyCam hovering above coin toss right now.

And yes, I was joking about Tim Tebow. Sort of.

5:29 pm: So I’m also told — by guy friends who watch college football, as well as by sources close to Google search — that LSU has an incredibly fast team. LSU and Alabama were matched up earlier in the season; it was a low-scoring game, and LSU squeaked by with a W. In the meantime, though, ‘Bama’s offense has improved. Tonight’s should be an excellent game.

Side note: I wonder what Steve Ballmer looks like on a 3-D screen …

The Hilton Theater — which technically may not be the Hilton Theater anymore, since the hotel just changed its name — anyway, the theater is actually pretty full. Everyone is wearing their 3-D glasses. But remember, it’s early. The last time I watched a sporting event in a 3-D theater — hockey at Madison Square Garden — I noticed a lot of people removing their glasses and tiring of the screen by the second period.

5:34 pm: Update: I’ve just been told by ESPN PR that Wi-Fi is down in the whole building here. Just in time for CES!

5:37 pm: So far, of the 10 3-D cameras used in this telecast, the best viewing angles seem to be the ground-level views, especially the one from the sideline. That may be ESPN’s 3-D “Ultra Slo Motion” camera.

5:39 pm: Going to break, with LSU in possession of the ball. I was wondering whether the commercials would be in 3-D as well — and, in fact, they are.

5:41 pm: While we’re in a commercial break, a little info about the kind of 3-D glasses we’re all wearing: They’re known as “passive” lenses, as opposed to active-shutter 3-D glasses, which create the 3-D image by rapidly shuttering the left eye and then the right eye. Passive — a.k.a. polarized — 3-D glasses are cheaper, look a lot like sunglasses, and work by allowing different levels of light into each eye. Note that these are different from the anaglyph cardboard glasses you might have worn at the movies as a kid.

5:39 pm: Ina here. I’m having a quick chat with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop before the Ballmer-note begins.

Indeed, Nokia’s announcement of the Lumia 900 Windows Phone is one of the biggest CES goings-on for Microsoft.

Ballmer appeared twice today already to talk about it, first at AT&T’s event in the morning, and then, just a couple hours ago, at Nokia’s event.

5:43 pm: And we’re back. LSU has made a couple little mistakes here to start, according to the game announcers, but right now, all I’m seeing is a pig-pile of red and yellow uniforms around the 20-yard line.

5:47 pm: Just asked a fellow theatergoer what he thought of the 3-D. So far, so good, he said, but we both noticed that the line-of-scrimmage line at the first down — that yellow line you see move across the screen during football broadcasts — seems to be missing from this one.

Other graphic elements, though, like name chyrons and stat charts, really jump out in 3-D.

Ah, there’s the yellow augmented reality line on the field. But it’s less noticeable.

5:51 pm: Lauren again. Other tidbits about this 3-D game: It’s ESPN 3D’s 188th telecast overall, and 39th 3-D football game over two seasons. The commentary, however, is the same commentary the 2-D “normals” at home are hearing.

ESPN now touting X-Games in a 3-D commercial. Must admit: Snowboarding looks pretty great in 3-D.

5:56 pm: Alabama’s defense looking to squelch Jordan Jefferson. That’s what I can tell from this. (See how much I know about college football?) Alabama seemingly has learned a bit from last matchup.

Jordan Jefferson currently unavailable for comment on what he thinks of 3-D broadcast.

Yet another commercial. These guys get a lot of breaks. I mean, basketball players don’t stop every time they run up the court. Well, some of them do.

6:01 pm: Ooh, a flag thrown!

Doesn’t look any different in 3-D, though.

6:03 pm: Actual game update: LSU’s making a lot of mistakes. Someone on Alabama is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury. Alabama’s up 3-0, with about a minute left in the first quarter.

6:05 pm: First quarter concludes with quite a completion from Alabama, who have a 3-0 lead.

Now the announcers on TV are giving us a shout-out here at CES. Audience cheers — loudest cheers I’ve heard so far here today.

6:08 pm: A little more info about just some of the 3-D gadgetry used to broadcast this game:

There’s a SkyCam that carries both 3-D and 2-D cameras developed for ESPN 3D, a 3-D Ultra Slo Motion camera on a cart that moves along the sideline developed for ESPN 3D, three miniaturized handheld 3-D cameras, and a 3-D game camera on a 28-foot-high mast on a cart that moves along the sideline to stay close to the action.

6:09 pm: People are cheering! Something just happened! Some sort of fake-out, I think, in which Alabama ran the ball. That was crafty.

LSU is challenging the call, it seems. 3-D does not enhance challenged calls, FYI.

Aaaaand another commercial. I wonder how it’s going on Ina’s side, at the Microsoft keynote event.

6:16 pm: Alabama free throw blocked! I mean, field goal. Alabama was kicking.

6:17 pm: What I want to know is: Where are the vuvuzelas at these events?

6:21 pm: Just asked another attendee what he thinks of the 3-D. “Outstanding,” he said. (He also said he doesn’t work for ESPN, when I asked.)

6:26 pm: Lauren again. About nine minutes left in the second quarter, and no changes to the scoreboard.

Regarding my 3-D experience so far: The glasses I’m wearing are comfortable, and I don’t feel the urge to take them off yet. And I’m enjoying the 3-D, although despite the crisp RealD screen and cool depth of field from certain angles, there’s still something dizzying about some shots.

6:32 pm: Jeremy Shelley up to kick a 34-yard field goal … and it’s good!

Nice three-pointer from outside the perimeter! Or something.

Alabama’s now up 6-0.

6:35 pm: According to the announcers, Alabama gave up kickoff returns for touchdowns their past two games. This game is far from over. And it’s still very three-dimensional.

6:37 pm: Still Lauren here. Ina’s having some Wi-Fi issues from the Microsoft keynote event, so we’re going to try to keep you updated as best we can from there.

6:42 pm: ESPN now showing a quick Alabama highlight reel from 2010. Have to wonder whether that was 2-D content (likely) that’s been up-converted to 3-D. There must be a fair amount of old footage converted to 3-D on 3-D channels like ESPN and Discovery.

6:42 pm: Ina just sent an update from the Microsoft keynote: Ryan Seacrest is the event’s celebrity guest host. He’s worked with Bing in the past.

First Kim, Kourtney & Khloe, and now Kinect?

On the college football side, less than a minute left in the second quarter.

6:46 pm: :03 left before we head to the half. This time it’s a 42-yarder for ‘Bama’s Jeremy Shelley … and again, it’s good.

Fans waving multicolored pom-poms at 3-D camera, dizzying close-up, please, no, make it go away.

6:48 pm: At the Microsoft event, Ryan Seacrest has noted that he has to raise his voice — and chair — to be on level playing field with Ballmer.

6:48 pm: They are now talking Windows phone, Ina tells me. Ballmer holds up a phone and notes he has a missed call from Bill Gates.

“Call him back on speaker,” Seacrest quips.

6:50 pm: Ina here — been having lots of trouble connecting. Had to resort to sending iMessages to Lauren, but let me see if this works.

It’s packed here, by the way. They were turning folks away. I arrived a few minutes before the keynote with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, and we were both initially rebuffed. (I’ll tell you later abut the phone conversation I had, asking if I could bring Stephen in to see the keynote.)

6:52 pm: Back to Ballmer, who is talking about Windows Phone’s partners.

He notes first Nokia phones coming to North America, with T-Mobile starting to sell the Lumia 710 and Rogers and Telus offering the Lumia 710 and 800 in Canada. (One is carrying one, and the other, the other, I think.)

Microsoft will also start selling the Nokia Lumia 800 unlocked in its stores.

6:54 pm: Halftime here at the (formerly) Hilton Theater. I’m now watching golf promos in 3-D. That little white ball isn’t any easier to see.

Of course Ballmer is really excited about the new LTE Windows Phones coming to AT&T — the HTC Titan II, with its 16 megapixel camera; and the Lumia 900, which is coming to AT&T, though no dates have been given for either.

“We’re clearly on the right track,” Ballmer said.

6:56 pm: Talk turning to Windows 8. Seacrest notes that Microsoft faces increasing competition there, clearly from Apple, though he didn’t use the A-word.

“Nothing better than good competition,” Ballmer said. “It’s a great thing, and I’m glad we’ve got Windows.”

6:56 pm: Lauren here. In terms of 3-D sports broadcasts, football may be a relatively easy sport to shoot and produce in 3-D, given all of the space on the field.

With hockey broadcasts, the NHL in the past has had to remove rows of seats in order to squeeze 3-D cameras in at the right angles. Same with basketball: I’ve been told that to shoot basketball games in 3-D, camera ops have to squeeze in at the corner angles next to the “regular” broadcast cameras, and in some instances the sideline “Jack Nicholson” seat gets blocked.

Back to Ina at Microsoft: But things have changed, Seacrest notes.

Of course, Ballmer says. Change is a constant. Ballmer promises Windows 8 will offer a no-compromises operating system with good battery life, performance, etc., etc.

By the way, one reason it is hard to get into the keynote is all the seats clearly taken up by Microsoft’s product teams. You can tell, because whenever a product or feature is mentioned, you hear loud cheers coming from one specific section of the room.

7:00 pm: We realize our posts are running together. We’ll work to be more clear about who’s who.

7:01 pm: Hey Lauren, what’s the score, by the way?

7:02 pm: Hey Ina! It’s 9-0, Alabama. Bunch of field goals. If these guys wanted to kick all day, why aren’t they playing soccer, is my question.

7:04 pm: How’s it going at Microsoft? I’d offer to switch, just so you could get a glimpse of the 3-D, but the cab lines at CES are so long you probably wouldn’t make it in time.

7:03 pm: Good question. Sorry I am missing it. We’re getting a demo of Windows 8 here, but it’s the same stuff we saw at the Build conference, and even at D9 before that.

It’s like watching last year’s BCS game.

7:07 pm: Ina, at last year’s Microsoft keynote ,you might remember they called upon the double-rainbow Internet meme. Here at the BCS game, the ESPN announcers are all about the Honey Badger meme. Oy.

7:12 pm: Lauren here. And we’re back from the half of the BCS championship game.

Third down at five! Not 100 percent sure what that means, but it seems like Alabama has come back from halftime with a vengeance.

7:16 pm: Jeremy Shelley with another field goal for Alabama. And I am increasingly convinced that this football game is soccer, and I don’t mean in that way that it is outside of the U.S.

7:17 pm: Meanwhile, from Microsoft, someone should throw a flag for delay of game. Ina’s having Wi-Fi issues again, but here are her updates …

Fortunately, or unfortunately, this is basically the same Windows 8 demo we’ve seen before.

Now, moving to stuff you can currently buy: Microsoft is showing an HP ultrabook and Samsung’s Series 9 laptop (Correction: We originally said it was a tablet).

7:20 pm: Lauren here. LSU has been all over the map, offensively. They’ve got the ball again now. Crowd thinned out about during halftime, but it looks like most people returned to their seats.

We’re all still wearing our 3-D glasses.

7:21 pm: Alabama’s defense wins first down again, just a few minutes into the third quarter.

7:24 pm: For boxing fans, if you’re curious about 3-D, and you’ve got 3-D capabilities at home: ESPN says it plans to televise Friday Night Fights in 3-D, live from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino this Friday night. I won’t be here for that one. Um, darn.

7:26 pm: Back to Microsoft: There is an honest-to-goodness gospel choir, called the Tweet Choir, singing out what people have been tweeting about during the keynote.

Now the talk is moving to Xbox. And a new number: 18 million Kinect sensors shipped. Seacrest has asked Ballmer if he expected it to be where it is today when the company started.

Ballmer: “I was optimistic. I was bullish. I was patient.”

7:30 pm: ESPN announcer references “Honey Badger” again. This time, I figure out he’s talking about LSU’s Tyrann Mathieu.

7:33 pm: Ina here. Hey, Lauren, our worlds briefly collided: They demoed the ESPN app and showed the game. 12-0, huh?

7:34 pm: Microsoft is back to running laterally with a demo of voice search on Kinect — a feature that debuted last fall.

7:34 pm: Lauren here. Meanwhile, LSU and Jordan Jefferson literally give the ball away to ‘Bama. Mosely hurt by Jefferson’s tackle following the interception.

7:35 pm: At the Microsoft keynote, a few new partnerships are announced, including one with AllThingsD‘s parent, News Corp., which is bringing Fox, WSJ Live, IGN and Fox News Channel to Xbox.

More exciting to me (Ina), though, is a partnership with Sesame Workshop to make “Sesame Street” interactive.

In the demo, kids can throw coconuts to their favorite monsters, who then count them.

7:38 pm: Ina here. “Elmo’s World” is also made interactive, allowing kids to enter a crayon-drawn world. It’s coming later this year, Microsoft said, as are the News Corp. apps.

7:40 pm: This is just the beginning, Ballmer said, adding that Kinect will revolutionize far more entertainment.

Kinect is coming to Windows on Feb. 1, Ballmer announced.

7:42 pm: So, is that all Microsoft is up to? Seacrest has asked, handing off the ball to the Ballmer.

Not by a long shot, Ballmer says. He touts Ford’s Sync, Office, Skype. Bing, he notes, has reached 30 percent market share in the U.S., if you count Yahoo.

7:43 pm: Lauren here, back to the game. LSU is 0 for 6 on third downs, and that’s where they are right now. People are whooping. LSU down at the 17-yard line.

7:44 pm: At the Microsoft event, Ballmer is stressing that Windows 8 is what’s next. There is nothing more important at Microsoft, he says.

We’re at the two-minute warning, and Ballmer is running out the clock …

7:44 pm: And with that, we’re out. Microsoft keynote has wrapped.

7:45 pm: Here at the Hilton Theater, the score is 12-0 Alabama with about two-and-a-half minutes left in the third.

And Alabama’s got a first down at the 36.

7:46 pm: Lauren again. I’m going to keep the liveblog going until this game has wrapped.

7:49 pm: Another field goal for Alabama, with their go-to guy Shelley getting ready to kick. These really are happening as frequently as free throws, it seems. This time, it’s a 44-yarder. And it’s good.

I bet Jeremy Shelley was always picked first for kickball as a kid.

I wonder why there isn’t a 3-D camera from behind the goal posts, instead of in front of it. The pigskin might look cooler as it’s flying toward the crowd.

7:51 pm: Score update: 15-0, with Alabama in the lead and 20 seconds left in the third quarter. LSU’s got to turn up the fire. They need Steve Ballmer screaming in their faces, maybe.

7:53 pm: What did you guys think of the news, and non-news, from the Microsoft keynote? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

7:56 pm: Fourth quarter has kicked off. Amazingly, no one has fouled out or gotten a technical yet.

7:58 pm: When is Ryan Seacrest going to show up at the Hilton Theater to help promote 3-D? I’d welcome a Justin Timberlake appearance, too — he was part of an earlier announcement today from Myspace and Panasonic (my colleague Peter Kafka has the story on that.)

8:03 pm: Man sitting next to me just told me me he has a 3-D TV at home. Pretty sure I looked at him like he has wings and a magical horn sprouting from his forehead.

Back to the game: Alabama is getting pumped up. I know this because there’s lots of chest-bumping. Time is ebbing away — with 9:44 left in the fourth quarter — and ‘Bama’s defense is stopping LSU in its tracks.

8:08 pm: LSU’s Jefferson shows some spark — crossing the 50 for the first time today.

LSU needs touchdowns. Badly. About 6:30 left in the fourth quarter.

A Hail Mary pass to Landry, but it’s a miss.

8:13 pm: Pigskin loose on the field! (Jump ball?)

8:15 pm: Another shout-out from ESPN announcers to us folks in Las Vegas who are watching this in 3-D. Now ESPN is showing us still images in 3-D. Some are rendering the effects better than others.

8:17 pm: If Alabama wins this one — and it’s looking this way — it’s the first shutout in any BCS bowl championship game.

Second down, with Alabama working on the clock now. About six minutes left in the game.

8:20 pm: Alabama runs it into the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown!

Alabama up 21-0 now, four-and-a-half minutes to go.

8:21 pm: Jeremy Shelley misses the field goal this time. I’d still pick him first for kickball.

Readers, any questions about the 3-D broadcast? Any comments? Leave your remarks in comments below.

8:23 pm: All right, we’re winding down our FootBallmer dual-blog. LSU rushing down the field, but it’s almost futile.

8:26 pm: Announcer just said Jordan Jefferson has been made invisible this game. Now that’s the technology we should talk about. Where’s their booth at CES?

There are still a good amount of 3-D viewers here in the Hilton Theater, but it’s hard to know whether that’s for the game, or for the free beer and food.

There are about two minutes left. And ‘Bama’s got it in the bag.

8:29 pm: Final thoughts on the BCS championship series game: I’m still wearing the glasses. They’re not irritating, but I’m also in a dark theater, and not in my living room. The 3-D broadcast provided some interesting depth of field from some angles, while others were a bit of a strain on the eyes.

Alabama wins the BCS championship, behind coach Nick Saban and the young AJ McCarron.

Final score: 21-0.

8:34 pm: There’s the essential Gatorade dumping over the coach, this time in 3-D. Alabama celebrates, and the theater here is thinning out. I’m still wondering where the vuvuzelas are. And that Tim Tebow guy.

Until next time …

Here’s the scene from today’s AT&T presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show, when mobile chief Ralph de la Vega brought Ballmer up on stage. Via the smart guys at Geekwire:

But wait! I can hear you saying: Did Ballmer conclude his chat with his world-famous “developers!” shoutout?

Ina Fried has your answer:

MORE CES NEWS:

• Complete coverage
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• Walt Shows Off CES Gadgets for Fox Business News (Video)
• What Kind of Web Video Plans Does Sony Have? (Video)
• Fujitsu Seeking Way Into Crowded U.S. Smartphone Market
• Why Rhapsody Is (Probably) Bigger Than Spotify — In the U.S.
• Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as It Pulls Back on CES
• Inside the CES Lost & Found
• FCC Chairman Has New Tablet, but Same Script: More Spectrum!
• Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber
• Ultrabooks From HP and Lenovo That Are (Kinda, Sorta) Different
• Walt and Katie Take a Tour of CES (Video)
• Schmidt-Storm Alert: The Google Chairman Didn’t Like Your Question
• T-Mobile Expands Bobsled Messaging Service
• Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video)
• Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year
• Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game
• More From T-Mobile CEO: On Pricing, LTE and That Ever-Elusive iPhone
• Exclusive: New Boss Acknowledges Windows Phone Still Has “Awareness Problem”
• And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!
• Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There
• Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It
• BlueStacks Bringing Android Apps to Windows 8
• Why the Future of TV Won’t Be Here Soon
• Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Tries to Save Battery in All Sorts of Different Ways
• Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer’s Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D
• Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote
• Myspace — Yes, Myspace — Says It’s Going to Sell You Web TV
• Samsung Unveils “Super” 55-Inch OLED TV
• Nokia Unveils That LTE Windows Phone It’s Been Dying to Share
• Steve Ballmer Gives Ralph De La Vega a Very … Vigorous Greeting (Video)
• Interview: AT&T’s De La Vega on LTE, Tablets and Life After T-Mobile
• AT&T’s De La Vega: Shared Data Plans Still in the Works
• LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way
• LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum
• Live: AT&T’s Vegas Act Stars LTE and, Making Her Return to the Stage, Nokia
• CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-kept Secret
• Belkin Bringing Mobile TV to Lots of Cellphones, Will Anyone Tune In?
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• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
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• Dell Will Drop the Flashy Vegas Act for CES This Year
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But since that clearly isn’t happening any time soon, we’re happy to see that this year’s show brings some creative options for recharging on the go.

And, really, what better time to show off your goods than when a bunch of frazzled reporters and producers are scrambling to find power outlets? (We’re writing this from a well-powered press room right now, though just a couple hours ago, we were in separate Vegas casinos, each trying to charge our laptops without attracting hotel security.)

Fortunately, electronics makers are plugged in to our needs. (Get it?!)

While there are lots of options for those willing to tote around an external battery, one of the more intriguing new entries adds charging capability to something we are already carrying — a backpack. Made by RFA, the Powerbag series backpack carries along several hours’ worth of battery life, and the ability to charge up to four devices at once, using micro-USB, mini-USB, full-size USB and Apple’s 30-pin dock connector.

The bags are pretty well padded, too, and have water-resistant bottoms. The Powerbags aren’t cheap — they range from $139.99 to $249.99 — but they do look handy, and several models are already on the market.

Unfortunately, the backpacks don’t charge laptops. But for average consumers, as opposed to reporters filing stories, the included mobile chargers are probably much more useful.

SolarKindle from Solar Focus makes us think of a day at the beach, rather than five days at CES. But it packs two functions that could be useful into one Kindle case. The outside of the case has solar panels that power both an arm light on top of the Kindle screen and an extra battery that lives in the back of the case.

Because it uses comparatively little battery and lasts weeks at a time, the Kindle is a logical device for solar charging. Even hardcore geeks get at least one day of sun, right? However, the same logic suggests that Kindle owners can probably also find time to charge up, every month or so.

To that end, the Solar Focus device doesn’t work with the new Kindle Fire — as the company points out, the tablet has a backlit screen and doesn’t use E-ink, so the arm light isn’t needed — but it does work with a standard Kindle and Kindle Touch.

Still, the Solar Touch could make the Kindle a near-perfect choice for those asked to choose the one gadget they would want on a desert island.

So if you need to fire up your non-Kindle Fire, the SolarKindle launches midmonth, and will cost $79.99.

Lastly, if you really have run out of battery power options, and you’re desperate to write something on your iPad, Targus has partnered with iDevices to create a writing pen that transcribes what you write on plain paper directly to your iPad, using Bluetooth capabilities. Even better is that the pen, called the iNotebook, does have some memory built in and allows you to store your notes if your iPad is dead. Once it’s up and running again, the notes will automatically transfer over. A little bit more than a ballpoint pen, this device is going to cost $149.99.

Of course, plain old pen and paper also work without a battery and cost just a couple bucks. Heck, we each got a free pen and notepad with our Vegas hotel rooms. Although, don’t get us started on what those cost.

Lauren Goode

* * *

Nokia and Samsung are locked in a fierce battle.

No, not the race for the title of world’s largest cellphone maker, though that’s interesting, too. The pair are neck and neck in the battle for worst-kept secret in Vegas.

We’re not sure which unannounced announcement has been more clearly preannounced: Nokia’s LTE Windows Phone for AT&T, or the fact that Samsung’s 5-inch Galaxy Note tabletphone is also coming to AT&T.

Nokia isn’t commenting, but people familiar with the matter have been busy talking up the device, most recently to the New York Times. Coding in AT&T’s Web site also reveals a Nokia device is coming, we’re told.

Meanwhile, Samsung’s Note is also officially yet to be announced. But there are signs for it all over Vegas. Plus, accessory maker Anymode, closely tied to Samsung, announced a line of accessories for the device (an announcement that was also retracted, as if such a thing were possible.)

While Samsung is probably the leakiest of the two, Nokia’s product is a whole lot more important to that company than the Galaxy Note is to Samsung’s future.

For Nokia, the new AT&T device will be its flagship and the centerpiece of the company’s effort to get back into the U.S. smartphone game.

In Samsung’s case, the Galaxy Note just ensures that it has every screen size from 3 inches to 10 inches covered with an Android device of some shape. Dell didn’t find much love for its 5-inch Streak, but we’ll see if a stylus and some other features allow it to carve out a niche.

Ina Fried

* * *

We were going to do a whole big feature story on how smartphones were killing the market for GPS devices, MP3 players and point-and-shoot cameras, but NPD’s holiday sales figures say it all.

MP3 players are down 20.5 percent, point-and-shoot cameras down 20.8 percent and GPS units down 32.6 percent.

The only thing missing are some quotes. So here you go:

“Yup,” said the analyst.

“But just wait,” said the point-and-shoot camera maker. “Our new camera adds Wi-Fi.”

“We’re focusing on value added services,” said the GPS maker, while also asking bystanders for loose change.

“I’m sorry, I was listening to music on my phone,” said the MP3 maker.

Ina Fried

* * *

Our team is on the ground in Vegas looking for the really interesting stuff, the big trends and the fun things that make the long lines, long days and long speeches worth it. Check out the links below for all the latest from the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show.

MORE CES NEWS:

• Complete coverage
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• Walt Shows Off CES Gadgets for Fox Business News (Video)
• What Kind of Web Video Plans Does Sony Have? (Video)
• Fujitsu Seeking Way Into Crowded U.S. Smartphone Market
• Why Rhapsody Is (Probably) Bigger Than Spotify — In the U.S.
• Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as It Pulls Back on CES
• Inside the CES Lost & Found
• FCC Chairman Has New Tablet, but Same Script: More Spectrum!
• Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber
• Ultrabooks From HP and Lenovo That Are (Kinda, Sorta) Different
• Walt and Katie Take a Tour of CES (Video)
• Schmidt-Storm Alert: The Google Chairman Didn’t Like Your Question
• T-Mobile Expands Bobsled Messaging Service
• Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video)
• Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year
• Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game
• More From T-Mobile CEO: On Pricing, LTE and That Ever-Elusive iPhone
• Exclusive: New Boss Acknowledges Windows Phone Still Has “Awareness Problem”
• And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!
• Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There
• Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It
• BlueStacks Bringing Android Apps to Windows 8
• Why the Future of TV Won’t Be Here Soon
• Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Tries to Save Battery in All Sorts of Different Ways
• Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer’s Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D
• Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote
• Myspace — Yes, Myspace — Says It’s Going to Sell You Web TV
• Samsung Unveils “Super” 55-Inch OLED TV
• Nokia Unveils That LTE Windows Phone It’s Been Dying to Share
• Steve Ballmer Gives Ralph De La Vega a Very … Vigorous Greeting (Video)
• Interview: AT&T’s De La Vega on LTE, Tablets and Life After T-Mobile
• AT&T’s De La Vega: Shared Data Plans Still in the Works
• LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way
• LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum
• Live: AT&T’s Vegas Act Stars LTE and, Making Her Return to the Stage, Nokia
• CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-kept Secret
• Belkin Bringing Mobile TV to Lots of Cellphones, Will Anyone Tune In?
• Acer Introduces “World’s Thinnest” Ultrabook and a “Me-Too” Cloud Service
• There Better Be Some Cool Stuff at CES, Because CE Holiday Sales Data Bytes!
• CES 2012: Snooki and Bieber Are In, Gaga Is Out!
• Coming to a Smartphone Near You: Gorilla Glass 2
• RIM Hopes Next PlayBook OS Will Impress at CES
• Ultrabooks, the Ultra-Fancy New Name for Laptops
• At CES, Expect More Gadgets Telling You to Get Off the Couch
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Microsoft Pulling Out of CES After Upcoming Show
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Dell Will Drop the Flashy Vegas Act for CES This Year
• Ultrabook Conga Line Preps for CES 2012

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

We’re following the schedule of the actual event. Up now: John Roese, head of Huawei’s North American R&D team.

While not as well known as others, the Chinese company is the world’s second-largest maker of telecommunications and networking gear. You might hear more about it soon, though, since Huawei aims to increase its annual revenue to more than $100 billion per year within the next decade, by expanding its business beyond communications service providers.

Roese is one of the execs charged with making it so by expanding in the U.S. and focusing on research.

Here’s his onstage interview with Ina Fried:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111121/huaweis-john-roese-on-the-telecom-giant-that-wants-to-roar-the-full-asiad-interview-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111109/the-livingsocial-trio-talk-asian-expansion-groupon-and-more-the-full-asiad-interview-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20111109/the-livingsocial-trio-talk-asian-expansion-groupon-and-more-the-full-asiad-interview-video/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:37:15 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=142168

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: LivingSocial CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy, along with the head of the daily deals site’s two recent acquisitions in Asia, Daniel Shin of South Korea’s TicketMonster and Paul Srivorakul of Indonesia’s Ensogo Group.

The panel, interviewed onstage by Ina Fried, talked about a range of topics, from its Asian expansion to thoughts about rival Groupon to the future of the social buying space.

Here’s the video:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111109/the-livingsocial-trio-talk-asian-expansion-groupon-and-more-the-full-asiad-interview-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111104/microsoft-windows-phone-head-andy-lees-the-full-asiad-interview-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20111104/microsoft-windows-phone-head-andy-lees-the-full-asiad-interview-video/#comments Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:10:34 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=140838

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next two weeks, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Andy Lees, president of the Microsoft’s Windows Phone division.

As such — and coming from way behind, compared to smartphone leaders Google with Android, and Apple with iOS, iPhone and iPad — Lees is working to extend Microsoft’s longtime desktop hegemony to mobile.

It’s a great time to watch the full onstage conversation between Lees and AllThingsD’s Ina Fried, since Microsoft is holding a big event in New York on Monday to celebrate the U.S. launch of devices running the new Mango version of Windows Phone 7.

The update, which features Twitter integration, multitasking and other features, has already been available for older devices; new models, with the operating system preloaded, are just hitting the market.

Here’s the Lees interview:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111104/microsoft-windows-phone-head-andy-lees-the-full-asiad-interview-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111028/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-mall-in-seoul-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20111028/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-mall-in-seoul-video/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:15:55 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=137647 During one of my evenings off in Seoul earlier this week, I headed to a popular mall for dinner.

On my way, I ran into a group of Koreans who were line dancing for what appeared to be no reason at all. I’m told it had to do with the local mayoral election, which at that time was just a couple of days away.

I’m not sure what it was meant to signify, but I will say it was a lot more fun than getting handed a pamphlet. In any case, it seems to have worked, as the party being backed by the dancers — the liberal opposition party — saw its candidate, Park Won-soon, win the election.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111028/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-mall-in-seoul-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111027/how-i-spent-my-last-12000-won-on-a-hamburger-shaped-iphone-case/ http://allthingsd.com/20111027/how-i-spent-my-last-12000-won-on-a-hamburger-shaped-iphone-case/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:00:53 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=137216 With just moments to go before boarding my flight from Seoul to Beijing, I had 12,000 Korean won (about $11) left, and it was buring a hole in my pocket.

I was surrounded primarily by overpriced duty-free shops, which, annoyingly, only took U.S. dollars. Thankfully, there was an Internet cafe that had a handful of goods for sale, including one or two tech products. There were a few USB drives, but who needs another one of those?

Then I saw it — an iPhone 4 case shaped like a hamburger bun. Turns out it was originally priced at 20,000 won, but had been marked down to 10,000. Sold!

Then, with the remainder, I made it a combo, buying a real-life Coca-Cola light (what we in the States know as my beloved Diet Coke).

And with that, I bid Seoul a fond farewell.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111027/how-i-spent-my-last-12000-won-on-a-hamburger-shaped-iphone-case/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111020/andy-lees-video-highlights-from-asiad/ http://allthingsd.com/20111020/andy-lees-video-highlights-from-asiad/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:31:20 +0000 Beth Callaghan http://allthingsd.com/?p=134682 Andy Lees, president of Microsoft’s Windows Phone division, is enthusiastic about the future for Windows Phone 7. A new deal with Samsung and a new version of Metro that’s been refreshed to target developing Asian markets are just two of the things he feels optimistic about — that arose in his conversation with Ina Fried today at AllThingsD‘s AsiaD conference. Some highlights from that discussion below.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111020/andy-lees-video-highlights-from-asiad/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111019/what-not-to-do-in-hong-kong-trust-me-on-this-one/ http://allthingsd.com/20111019/what-not-to-do-in-hong-kong-trust-me-on-this-one/#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:30:23 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=133936

How shall I put this as delicately as I am known for: So I went to AsiaD in Hong Kong and all I got was this lousy transient ischemic attack.

First off: I’m doing great, have recovered all functions completely, and have even had a couple of scoops while bedridden. (And, yes, I am a bad patient!)

In all seriousness, as it happened, a 14-hour plane flight sandwiched into a window seat with two big dudes sitting next to me, combined with a not-uncommon but undetected-until-now heart condition, seems to have spelled trouble for me this week and sent me right into a hospital here in China.

(Note to everyone: When they tell you to walk around on long-haul air trips and drink plenty of water, you might want to listen.)

Without going into the gory details, what I thought was jet lag and a bad migraine actually rendered me speechless for a few hours on Tuesday morning, and in need of some serious medical attention and recuperation, which is why I will not be appearing at our first international D conference tonight.

As you might imagine, I am pretty bummed, since I was looking forward to the event and interviewing the stellar list of speakers we are hosting. It is the first D in a decade that I am not part of, except in spirit.

But, as usual, I know that my fantastic partner Walt Mossberg and the amazing AllThingsD staff here and in the U.S. will do me proud and deliver yet another memorable D. ATD phenoms Peter Kafka and Ina Fried will take over my interviewing duties.

It all starts tonight, with an interview with Google Android chief Andy Rubin by Walt, so I hope you’ll be following it as closely as I will be from the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital (no flowers, please!).

Speaking of my sickbed, here’s a little video I did from my room with a view, this time turning the lens on myself for once. The message, in living color and for those who care: I really am doing well and am as snarky as usual.

And, as you also might guess, I will be back in California this weekend and back to scooping as usual:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111019/what-not-to-do-in-hong-kong-trust-me-on-this-one/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111018/liveblog-of-the-the-google-samsung-ice-cream-sandwich-unwrapping/ http://allthingsd.com/20111018/liveblog-of-the-the-google-samsung-ice-cream-sandwich-unwrapping/#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:57:47 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://allthingsd.com/?p=133716 Samsung and Google unveiled the latest flagship Android phone today called the Galaxy Nexus, which is running a version of the operating system called Ice Cream Sandwich.

The phone is big and powerful, boasting a 4.65-inch display and LTE, which is one of the fastest 4G networks available worldwide.

Based on demonstrations today, Ice Cream Sandwich marks the most polished version of Android yet. Improved usability will make it easier to conduct tasks in fewer steps, and an improved user interface has better graphics and typefaces.

It’s too early to tell how evolutionary Android 4.0 is, or if it’s more revolutionary. One of the tangible differences between it and Apple’s new iPhone 4S is a built-in near field communications chip, which will allow two users to tap with NFC-enabled phones to share any content on the phone, from a map to a news article. It will also support mobile payments, including Google’s own wallet.

From earlier:

Samsung and Google are gathering reporters in Hong Kong Thursday morning to talk about the next version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich.

However, I’ll be watching a live webcast of the event from back here in the states, where it is evening.

The event was rescheduled by Google and Samsung for today after the two companies graciously delayed the news after the passing of Apple’s Steve Jobs.

Now, perhaps enough time has gone by to talk about whether Ice Cream Sandwich (or ICS, for short) has passed Apple’s recently released iOS 5 in terms of features and functionality.

So far, not much has been officially revealed about the software as All Things D’s Ina Fried pointed out this morning. The answers we’ll be looking for are around what improvements it will offer, how it will compete with iOS 5, and, ultimately, availability.

At the minimum, it is the expectation that Ice Cream Sandwich will eliminate some fragmentation in the OS by tying the last two releases together. Gingerbread was for phones and Honeycomb was for tablets. Now, Ice Cream Sandwich is for both.

The software is expected to be backwards compatible with existing hardware and should be available in time for the holidays. Since Samsung is also participating in the event, expect some new hardware, too!

Here’s the live blog:

6:58 pm: Please stand by, the event is starting shortly.

Lots of the news has already leaked out. We are going to hear all about Ice Cream Sandwich, and the Galaxy Nexus, which will be Google’s latest flagship phone.

All the details for the gadget have been handed out to the press who are attending the event in person. But the crafty people at the Verge have all the details, from pictures to video to hands-on already.

Samsung’s head of public relations, Kim Titus, is on stage introducing the President of Samsung Mobile, J.K. Shin.

7:04 pm: Shin says that it is Samsung’s close relationship with Google that has allowed it to become the largest Android smartphone manufacturer.

He’s on stage to announce the first Ice Cream Sandwich phone.

It will be enabled with LTE for rapid wireless speeds via Verizon Wireless in the U.S., and depending on consumer demand, there will be an HSPA+ version, which today in the U.S. would work on T-Mobile USA and AT&T.

To help introduce the phone, Shin is introducing his friend from Google, Andy Rubin.

Rubin is very excited! It’s their next flagship phone, running Android 4.0!

We want it to be easy to use, and intuitive to use and predict what the user wants to do next. We want the customer feeling satisfied.

7:08 pm: Google wants to include all of Google’s cloud services, so it works intuitively, even when it’s in your pocket.

To illustrate how well this latest version of the operating system works, Google has a video.

That was really short. Basically a screenshot of the phone.

Now for the photo ops. Rubin and Shin holding phones together for the cameras. Awkward silence.

7:10 pm: Here are more details from Kevin Packingham.

Packingham repeats that Samsung is the largest manufacturer of Android phones. I guess there are no hard feelings yet about Google buying Motorola.

Packingham confirms both HSPA+ and LTE, depending on the market.

He said the Galaxy Nexus is the first Android smartphone, featuring Android 4.0 and LTE. That means it’s fast. The software and the network.

Here’s all the nitty gritty of the phone.

The phone will have the best screen, best processor, and quite possibly one of the largest screens at 4.65 inches. (Tablets are commonly 7 and 10 inches, for perspective.)

7:17 pm: Samsung has retained the rounded edge found on the Nexus S that is for sale on Sprint’s network currently.

Lots of other details being shared here, like a “hyperskin” back that keeps it from slipping out of your hand, and a “buttonless” design.

Some other features: 1.2 GHz, a five megapixel camera with zero shutter lag, and a forward-facing camera. It has NFC, of course, which will offer “a broad number of mobile payments options,” probably like Google Wallet.

In November it will go on sale in the U.S., Asia and Europe.

7:21 pm: Now Google is on stage. Here’s Matias Duarte.

He asks a very touchy-feely question: What is the soul of Android?

People said they needed it and wanted it, but they didn’t LOVE Android. We set out goals to guide how people would talk about Android: It’s enchanting. It’s easy. It simplifies my life. And, Android should make me feel powerful and smart.

The first example he’s offering of this is “Roboto,” which is a totally new look for Android. It offers a new bold typeface, starting from the homescreen.

One of people’s favorite parts of Android is their homescreen, it’s their personal space.

At the bottom of the screen, there are virtual buttons, such as phone and contacts. They disappear in some apps, though, like watching video.

7:27 pm: One of the demonstrations is showing off how features are better organized on the phone. One of the more difficult things on Android is finding or creating files, but these things have become a little less complex.

But the homescreen is also for speed dial shortcuts.

Ice Cream allows you to organize your favorites tray at the bottom of the screen, so you are always one click away from what you want to do.

One of Android’s best attributes is multi-tasking. Now it’s easier to see what apps you were recently using, and easily flick away apps you are done with to save on processing power.

7:30 pm: Notifications are better than ever. In Ice Cream Sandwich, music will be added to the screen and users can flick away notifications they don’t want to read.

Google says it gave the keyboard a lot of love in Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s more accurate, and there’s an in-line spell checker. Cut, copy and paste is also better. You can drag highlighted words or cut or copy like usual.

Google has always had voice to text, but with Apple’s announcement of Siri, it will have to up its game. Now they are saying voice transcription is “instant.” No need to push a button, even if you pause while dictating. Words show up very quickly.

Another new feature that’s pretty futuristic: Face unlock. The phone recognizes your face and unlocks the screen.

Uh oh, the demo isn’t working. Duarte’s phone didn’t recognize him. He jokes that his stage make-up was heavier than he thought.

7:35 pm: Google is now demonstrating the browser, which has lots of tabs and automatically syncs bookmarks from your Chrome laptop (if you have one …).

One nice feature is that you are able to save Web sites offline, like bus schedules or mobile boarding tickets in case you don’t have service when you need the information.

Google is now showing off the new Gmail, which they hope is the best mobile email anywhere (I thought BlackBerry held that title?).

Roboto makes the text insanely crisp and makes it a pleasure to read, and users are able to swipe to the right and left to change inboxes.

Lots of updates that are refining the Android experience, but nothing revolutionary. For instance, there’s offline search, so you can find an email or contact even when you aren’t online. They also updated the calendar app to pinch to zoom, so you can see details of a very busy day.

7:40 pm: Here’s a feature for carriers on data usage. The new features help you understand your data usage and give you controls to better manage it.

For instance, you can set alerts, or you can set limits to cut off mobile data, or it will forecast your monthly usage based on your past behavior.

Welcome to the world of limited data plans!

7:42 pm: A photo update: Google has worked closely with Samsung to improve the camera.

From the lock screen, you can drag to the left to snap a picture. By tapping on the photo, you can share to a number of locations. In this demo, they are conveniently sharing to Google+ and not Facebook.

The camera has zero shutter lag. It’s instant and you can take a number of shots in one rapid fire.

After taking the photo, you can crop it, remove red eye, or apply a “hipster” filter.

A new Ice Cream Sandwich feature for the camera is panoramic shots. Easily shoot a landscape and the phone will stitch together the photos seamlessly.

The camera also allows you to shoot 1080p video.

Users will be able to shoot time-lapsed videos and add filters to make shots and videos look amazing.

7:49 pm: The next new feature of Ice Cream Sandwich is “The People app.”

This is a new contact list of sorts that pulls in information from various social networks, like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. It’s open to any social network.

A lot of these new features add a lot of finishes to Android. Nicer graphics and typeface and a greater emphasis on photos to show contacts, make phone calls, etc.

The last thing they are showing us today is a new feature called Android Beam that allows you to share any content between phones using NFC.

Two phones must touch together in order to share a news article, or a map, YouTube videos, people cards and a bunch of other things.

You can even share apps to send a person directly to the Android Market page to download the same app.

It can be used to set up a multiplayer game, or a chat discussion. The APIs are shipping with Ice Cream Sandwich and open to developers.

7:57 pm: The phone isn’t available until November, but starting today, developers can download the SDK to start developing apps for the new platform.

That’s it for the demonstration.

And that’s it for the liveblog. The presentation is over.

No pricing information, and no carrier announcements other than NTT DoCoMo in Japan, so presumably, stay tuned for more information.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111018/liveblog-of-the-the-google-samsung-ice-cream-sandwich-unwrapping/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110622/blackberrys-fuzzy-forecast-and-pictures-that-never-are-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20110622/blackberrys-fuzzy-forecast-and-pictures-that-never-are-video/#comments Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:41:00 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=89696 It was a mobile-filled Digits show on Wednesday.

Katie Boehret kicked off the show with her review of Mango, the forthcoming Windows Phone update. I’ve also been playing around with the new software and think it tells us a lot about where Microsoft is heading with Windows Phone — namely a continued focus away from apps and toward integrating the people we care about with the tasks we do on our phones. It’s an interesting approach.

I stopped by the show (well, turned on Skype anyway) about 15 minutes in to talk about Lytro, the well-financed Silicon Valley company looking to upend the camera market with a photo technology that allows pictures to be focused after they are taken. If you haven’t played with the technology yet, check out the photo embedded here.

Lytro.com – Richard Koci Hernandez

After that, we chatted about the latest bad news for the folks in Waterloo. This time it is a DigiTimes report suggesting that Research In Motion has cut its internal forecast for the PlayBook tablet this quarter. RIM, which shipped 500,000 PlayBooks last quarter, now expects to ship between 800,000 and 900,000 of the tablets, according to DigiTimes, down from its earlier 2.4 million unit projection.

Here’s that segment:

Related posts

• Meet the Stealthy Start-Up That Aims to Sharpen Focus of Entire Camera Industry
• BlackBerry’s Fuzzy Forecast and Pictures That Never Are (Video)
• Its Goal in Focus, Camera Start-Up Lytro Takes a Moment to Celebrate (Video)
• All Lytro coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110622/blackberrys-fuzzy-forecast-and-pictures-that-never-are-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110606/three-things-to-take-away-from-apples-wwdc-announcements-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20110606/three-things-to-take-away-from-apples-wwdc-announcements-video/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 23:43:31 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=83365 Just after Steve Jobs wrapped up his Worldwide Developer Conference Keynote, I had a chance to chat with The Wall Street Journal Digital Network’s Lauren Goode about what to take away from the big event. That video appears below, followed by a second post-event video with additional reflections.

Here are a few things that struck me.

1. Clearly, Apple is learning from the mobile competition.

Although Apple has had the lead in a lot of mobile areas, the new iOS 5 software picks up on a few things where the competition was ahead. The new operating system will offer improved notifications in a manner quite reminiscent of Android. Meanwhile, the new software will also be able to go straight to the camera app from the lock screen, a favorite feature of Windows Phone 7. The company is also taking over some ground previously handled by third-party applications, such as Instapaper.

2. Apple just might get sync right.

Microsoft has been trying to allow users to sync their data for a while via Windows Live Mesh and other services, but nothing they have proposed is as elegant as the iCloud service that Steve Jobs outlined on Monday. Google, meanwhile, has proposed a cloud-only approach.

But Apple’s approach seems to give users what they really want–their photos, documents and other data on all their devices, synchronized automatically while also stored locally on the device. Of course, the devil is in the details and we won’t be able to see just how effortlessly it all works until the service launches with iOS 5 this fall.

3. Apple’s Lion is interesting not just for its features, but also for how it is being distributed.

The features of Lion are interesting, particularly when compared with the also-mobile-influenced Windows 8. However, what struck me even more is the fact that Apple is distributing it in an entirely new way. Rather than sell it on discs through retailers, the new Mac OS X will come via the Mac App Store for just under $30.

Complete coverage:

• Apple’s WWDC 2011 Keynote: Spotlight on Software
• Apple CEO Steve Jobs Takes the Stage
• Mac OS X Lion Coming in July via Mac App Store
• IOS 5 to Offer Improved Browsing, Notifications, Twitter Integration, 197 Other Features
• The Unlikely Breakout Stars of WWDC: Two Podcasters From the U.K.
• Google, Amazon Dodge a Bullet: Apple’s iCloud Music Is a Meh. (Luckily, There’s Much, Much More)
• Today in Hyperbole (or Possibly Reality): What Did Apple Just Kill?
• Apple’s Lion and Microsoft’s Windows 8 Both Show Mobile’s Influence
• Three Things to Take Away From Apple’s WWDC Announcements (Video)
• Apple’s Invisible iCloud: The Promise of Simple, Seamless Sync
• 25 Million iPads, 1 Billion Tweets: WWDC 2011 by the Numbers
• Apple Delivers Another Slap to RIM’s Face With iMessage
• Apple Enables Post-PC Era With iOS 5, but Are Users Ready?

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110606/three-things-to-take-away-from-apples-wwdc-announcements-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110321/sprint-google-embrace-google-voice-nexus-4g-come-to-sprint/ http://allthingsd.com/20110321/sprint-google-embrace-google-voice-nexus-4g-come-to-sprint/#comments Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:07:04 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=30955 Get ready for a slew of mobile deals beyond the AT&T/T-Mobile linkup, all timed to this week’s CTIA conference. For instance: Sprint is offering Google Voice for all of its mobile customers; Sprint says the integration will be finished “soon”. The two companies have also announced that Sprint will be offering Samsung’s Nexus 4G, the “first pure Google phone” running the Android 2.3 “Gingerbread” operating system. You can find Ina Fried’s comprehensive CTIA coverage here.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110321/sprint-google-embrace-google-voice-nexus-4g-come-to-sprint/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20110315/verizons-thunderbolt-due-to-strike-march-17/ http://allthingsd.com/20110315/verizons-thunderbolt-due-to-strike-march-17/#comments Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:08:17 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=5071 Ending considerable uncertainty, Verizon Wireless confirmed on Tuesday that the first smartphone for its higher-speed 4G LTE network is on its way.

Verizon said that the HTC ThunderBolt, which was shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, will hit store shelves on Thursday.

The carrier had been vague on when the first LTE phones would arrive, officially saying only that it would be in the first half of 2011.

The ThunderBolt will sell for $249 with a new two-year contract.

For those of you who like all the specs, the ThunderBolt packs a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, a 4.3-inch screen, 8 GB of onboard memory and a 32 GB memory card, an 8 megapixel rear camera and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera.

With the release of the phone, Verizon is also detailing its 4G LTE data charges. The company said unlimited data for the phone will cost $30. Mobile hotspot functionality will be included at no additional charge until May 15. After that, customers choosing to use their phone as a hotspot will pay $20 for 2 GB of hotspot data.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110315/verizons-thunderbolt-due-to-strike-march-17/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110314/pair-of-iphone-filmmakers-try-their-hand-at-editing-on-an-ipad-2/ http://allthingsd.com/20110314/pair-of-iphone-filmmakers-try-their-hand-at-editing-on-an-ipad-2/#comments Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:00:06 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=5000 Filmmakers Michael Koerbel and Anna Elizabeth James like putting Apple’s latest gear to the test.

When the iPhone 4 came out, the USC film students created a series filmed using the phone. Now, with the debut of the iPad 2, the pair has created an episode edited on the tablet, using the new iMovie application.

“It still has a long ways to go in contrast to Final Cut or Avid, but if you’re on the go and need to shoot, edit, and upload something immediately from an iOS device, it’s perfect,” James told Mobilized. It also shows how the iPad is expanding beyond content consumption, at least in some cases.

James and her colleagues produced episode nine of their series, Goldilocks, by filming scenes on the iPhone as usual, and planned on editing it using their normal tools, including Avid and Final Cut Pro–at least until the iPad 2 was announced.

They waited in line for six hours at the Apple Store at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles before getting their iPad on Friday and then spent from 6 p.m. until 5 a.m. the next morning editing the footage.

They even shot a couple clips using the iPad itself, although they said that the iPad 2 camera definitely pales when compared to the iPhone 4, let alone more professional gear.

Overall, they gave the latest Cupertino product a thumbs up. “As with any new piece of technology, there is always the immediate wish-list, although Apple packed a decent amount of features for our fingertips into iMovie,” James said.

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing according to Fawaz Al-Matrouk, the team’s editor.

“On the desktop version of iMovie you can separate audio and video, you can’t do that on the iPad version – so we had to get creative with how we overlapped video with audio clips,” Al-Matrouk said. On the plus side, he said that “editing in iMovie was really cool.”

“It made editing feel like arts and crafts–like I was back in kindergarten again–because you’re just using your fingers,” Al-Matrouk said.

Given that the team produces Goldilocks for sale in iTunes, they are also happy about the new AirPlay feature, which lets content be zipped from an iPad or iPhone to other devices.

“Seeing Goldilocks on the big screen without wires and cables is super exciting and gratifying,” Koerbel said in an e-mail on Sunday night. “Deep down it’s every storytellers wish–to have our stories on the big screen and this is a huge leap forward for us in that direction. As filmmakers you used to have two options on getting your content to a big screen–festivals or studios. But that’s changing now and its such an exciting time to be in the world of visual storytelling.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110314/pair-of-iphone-filmmakers-try-their-hand-at-editing-on-an-ipad-2/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110309/skype-rival-rebtel-hits-10-million-users/ http://allthingsd.com/20110309/skype-rival-rebtel-hits-10-million-users/#comments Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:00:14 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=4898 Rebtel said late on Wednesday that it has hit 10 million users for its voice-over-Internet calling service and has now connected more than 200 million calls.

Rebtel, which offers free and discount calling on a number of mobile devices, also offered up some financial numbers, saying it is profitable and 2010 revenue was $40 million, up 120 percent from a year earlier. The company said it expects 2011 revenue to reach $75 million.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110309/skype-rival-rebtel-hits-10-million-users/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110308/its-that-time-of-the-year-more-tax-apps-hit-the-market/ http://allthingsd.com/20110308/its-that-time-of-the-year-more-tax-apps-hit-the-market/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:00:16 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=4797 Intuit, which already has an iPhone app for filing the simplest of tax returns, this week introduced an iPad version of TurboTax capable of handling more complex returns.

“TurboTax is the first and only app that lets taxpayers prepare and e-file their federal and state tax returns using only an iPad,” Intuit said in a blog post. “So now you can tap, tap, tap your way to a refund.”

No word on what happens if you swipe.

TurboTax for iPad hopes to follow in the footsteps of Intuit’s SnapTax for iPhone which had more than 350,000 downloads in its first two weeks on the market.

Separately, H&R Block announced a deal with online finance service Pageonce on Monday that will allow its do-it-yourself tax filers to check the status of their refunds from within the Pageonce mobile app. The company noted that the IRS offers similar data on its Web site, but said that site is updated less frequently and that it takes at least 72 hours before that info shows up on the government site. Intuit also has a refund-tracking app called MyTaxRefund.

The IRS even has an app of its own. IRS2Go, for both Android and iPhone, lets users track refund status and get other information straight from Uncle Sam.

Despite the proliferation of tax apps, the Mobilized household is headed to a real-life accountant this week to prepare our taxes. But if we get a refund, we just might spend it on an iPad 2.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110308/its-that-time-of-the-year-more-tax-apps-hit-the-market/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110302/mobilized-gets-hands-on-with-the-ipad-2/ http://allthingsd.com/20110302/mobilized-gets-hands-on-with-the-ipad-2/#comments Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:43:09 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=4565 While it’s one thing to hear about the new iPad, it’s another to have it in your hands. Here’s a short video showing the new, thinner iPad in action.

The main new things feature-wise are the FaceTime and PhotoBooth apps that use the new camera, as well as iMovie and GarageBand, each sold separately for $4.99 and available March 11, the same day the iPad 2 goes on sale in the U.S.

Related Posts

• Liveblogging the iPad 2 Event
• Apple’s iPad 2: The Basics
• The Skinny on iOS 4.3

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