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mocoNews — »   Why retailers shouldn’t get caught up in the mobile barcode hype. [ MediaPost ] ~ »   In China, Motorola’s Android smartphones will be loaded with Microsoft ( NSDQ: MSFT ) Bing. [ PCWorld ] ~ »   The Palm ( NSDQ: PALM ) Pre, which launched in January for $150, is now $30 at Walmart. [ Electronista ] ~ »   MetroPCS could be open to a deal with Leap Wireless. [ WSJ ] ~ »   Opera Mini 5 launches in beta for Android. [ Opera ]

mocoNews — Early adopters take note: Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ) is taking pre-orders for the iPad at 5:30 a.m. Pacific on Friday. ~ Last week, Apple announced that March 12 was the magical day for per-orders, but never specified a time. Now, it has been confirmed that electronic ordering will begin bright and early, according to The Unofficial Apple Weblog , which says its readers have been asking in droves exactly what hour the tablet will go on sale. ~ Remember, the WiFi-only device won’t ship until April 3, and the 3G version will come ...More sometime later that month. No release date has been announced for other countries. ~ Related ~ Apple's iPad Hits The Streets Starting April 3; Still No Specifics For International Rollout The iPad Makes Its TV Ad Debut ...Less

Electronista — Apple tonight confirmed that tomorrow's iPad pre-orders will start on the Apple Store at 8:30AM Eastern. Initial orders are limited to the US and are likely to be limited to the Wi-Fi only version launching in the country on April 3rd....

Boy Genius Report — It’s inevitable, tiered data plans for mobile devices are coming.  It’s a reality that wireless providers and consumers are soon going to have to deal with. As phones add more features and become more data-centric, they tax wireless networks, and ultimately, the network provider’s bottom line. Verizon’s CTO, Tony Melone, had this to say when he was asked about unlimited data plans by the Wall Street Journal:  “As much data as you can consume is the big issue that has to change… It’s ...More one thing to say all you can eat is gone, it’s another to have consumers worrying, ‘Can I stream this radio?’ That’s what we don’t want.” It is mildly comforting to know that Verizon’s CTO understands — you can get rid of unlimited data… as long as we can have unlimited data. One thing we’re sure of: when the first major U.S. carrier institutes a tiered data pricing policy, the others are sure to follow suit. You can look for this to roll out prior to Verizon’s first 4G handset dropping circa summer 2011.  ~ Read ...Less

Electronista — HP is about to start an estimated eight week long, $40 million corporate advertising campaign, its first in over five years, a source said on Thursday. According to the WSJ, HP aims to show off its broader range of technology through a set of ads to help spread the message. The campaign would include rapper Dr. Dre, whose Beats headphones and software are already on some HP notebooks, as well as stand-up comic and Flight of the Conchords actor Rhys Darby....

jkOnTheRun — The FedEx guy showed up today unexpectedly and brought a new little bundle of joy to Mobile Tech Manor. Last year I thoroughly enjoyed evaluating HP’s Mini 5101 netbook, and the Mini 5201 that arrived today looks just as nice. It is a netbook made of brushed metal, which is unusual for a netbook as most are plastic. The 10.1-inch screen has a surprise in this refreshed model — unlike the previous model this one is a touchscreen. ~ The HP Mini 5102 is that rare notebook that just feels right. I picked this thing up ...More this morning and got right to work with it. It is the perfect size for a 10-inch netbook, and the island keys on the keyboard are as good as those on any notebook. I took it out of the box, installed the Google Chrome browser on it, and have been using it for work since. ~ I will be doing a detailed evaluation, along with a video review soon. Meanwhile here are the specs of this model as supplied by HP for evaluation: ~ CPU : Intel Atom N450, 1.66 GHz Memory : 2 GB Storage : 160 GB, 7,200 rpm Display : 10.1-inch, 1024×600 (a 1366×768 hi-res option is available), single touch-enabled Ports : 3xUSB 2.0, VGA out, audio in, audio out, power, RJ-45, SD/MMC slot Communications : Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 Webcam : 2 megapixel OS : Microsoft Windows XP Professional (s msft) Battery : 6-cell, rated at 10 hours Accessories : Carrying handle Dimensions and weight : 10.3 x 7.09 x 0.98 inches, 2.86 lbs.The 5102 is much the same as the earlier 5101 model, with the addition of the touchscreen option. This is not a convertible netbook, so without the ability to swivel the screen into a slate configuration the touchscreen may not provide a lot of value for some. I intend to spend a fair bit of time using the touchscreen and will have additional thoughts at that point. ~ HP has included a unique carrying handle which attaches to the side of the battery on the bottom of the unit. It folds up and forms a prop for the netbook which adds a nice typing angle. The handle sw... ...Less

MobileCrunch — While a lot of people are pretty pumped about Windows Phone 7 , there’s one group of people who definitely are not : everyone stuck on a now antiquated Windows Mobile 6.5 handset. Microsoft has already confirmed that if your handsets running 6.5, it’s not going to be running 7 . ~ If you can’t join’em, beat’em, right? There’s a new project in the works which aims to breath new life into old Windows Mobile 6.5 phones.. by replacing the whole OS with Android. ~ ~ As you can see in the video ...More above, they’ve already managed to jam the OS onto an HTC TouchPro2. (Fun Fact: I’ve wanted an HTC TouchPro 2 running Android since before the TouchPro 2 officially existed. I’ll be buying one purely for hacking this onto it.) It’s not perfect just yet, but it’s damn near it; data works, SMS works, calling works, and that glorious, glorious hardware keyboard works. ~ They’ve also got it up and running in various forms of functionality on the HTC Diamond2 (AT&T Pure), HD, Diamond, and the original Touch Pro. Ready to get your hack on? Pocketnow has all the download links you need to get started. ...Less

Electronista — Palm is currently demonstrating Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 running on a Palm Pre Plus at the Game Developers Conference this week. The company managed to get the engine working on webOS just two weeks after receiving a test version of the Unreal Development Kit, according to CNET. The technology is currently used in PC and console games such as Gears of War 2 and Unreal Tournament III....

Boy Genius Report — Available today from Verizon Wireless is the long awaited Casio G’zOne Brigade. The Brigade keeps the rugged good looks of its G’zOne predecessors but shakes things up by debuting as a horizontal clamshell instead of the traditional flip phone. The Brigade also ups the specs of the G’zOne line by offering the following: ~ 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash, video capture and LED light function Full QWERTY keyboard Push to Talk Field Force Manager MIL-STD-810F standards for Water, shock, dust, immersion, ...More vibration, humidity, salt fog, altitude, high and low temperature storage, and solar radiation GPS with support for VZ Navigator Front facing speakerphone Text to speech capability microSD expansionThe Casio G’zOne Brigade hits the shelves of Verizon Wireless at a rather pricey $249 after a $50 mail in rebate and two year contract, $319.99 after a $50 mail in rebate and one year contract and $419 full retail. It also comes with an optional $5 monthly PTT plan and is outrageously classified as a 3G Multimedia phone which will require a minimum 25MB data plan for $9.99 monthly. Anyone interested in a $250 feature phone with mandatory data? ~ Read ...Less

Electronista — The Khronos Group today outlined the official feature set for OpenGL 4.0. The new graphics standard is the first major update since the launch of OpenCL and better exploits general computing features. It can draw the output of an OpenCL calculation without having to invoke the main processor and potentially frees up the processor even more when video or a similar task is already being offloaded to the graphics core....