Samsung Galaxy Note available at AT&T February 19th for $300

Samsung Galaxy Note is coming to AT&T by February 19th. If that day just isn't going to come soon enough, there's a way to get it delivered two days earlier -- the carrier's offering a pre-order option beginning next Sunday, and your February 17th delivery is promised as long as you click that "order" button by the 15th. 

Key Facts

· Previously announced at AT&T’s Developer Summit leading up to the International Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, the Samsung Galaxy Note™ arrives in carbon blue and ceramic white at AT&T* stores beginning Feb. 19 for $299.99 with a two-year agreement.

· Customers excited to get their hands on this dream device even earlier can pre-order beginning Sunday, Feb. 5 for delivery by Feb. 17.

· The Galaxy Note combines the best features of a smartphone with the larger viewing screen of a tablet and advanced technology in the S Pen™ — delivering an all-in-one device that allows users to work more efficiently and maintain productivity, while communicating in a unique, personal way.

· Galaxy Note boasts the world’s first 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED™ screen (1280×800), one of the largest screens on a smartphone, for sharp, clear colors and readability – both indoors and out. With high-resolution screen that provides an immersive viewing experience, customers can take full advantage of the large display, to create and consume more.

· The Galaxy Note includes a highly advanced tool called the S Pen, which delivers fast, responsive and precise control to create fine lines and detail on the device display, much like an ink pen and pad of paper. With the S Pen, users can easily sketch drawings, jot down notes or write emails and texts quickly and easily in free-form handwriting.

· S Memo™, a multimedia application designed to capture all forms of user-created content captured by the S Pen, allows for pictures, voice recordings, typed text, handwritten notes or drawings to be combined via a single application, converted to a ‘memo’, and shared as desired.

· It also includes a smart professional planning tool that makes full use of the device’s large screen. The calendar integrates the phone’s to-do list and schedule; control and navigation is intuitive, helping customers comprehensively organize their lives.

· An easy screen-capture function also allows users to instantly save any screen, which can also be annotated with the S Pen before being saved or shared.

· Users can communicate in personal, creative ways expanding beyond traditional sharing methods with the Galaxy Note.

Accessories

The Galaxy Note features a unique portfolio of custom designed optional accessories which includes:

· Desktop Dock to get the most out of your Galaxy Note

· Spare Battery Charging System that allows for a convenient backup charging solution

· Protective Flip Cover Case, available in multiple colors 

· Galaxy Note S Pen Holder Kit which offers a solution for users in need of a more traditional writing instrument. With a spare S Pen included, the S Pen Holder secures the navigation tool inside and offers a comfortable grip and allows for more detailed use.

The Galaxy Note is also compatible with the following universal accessories: Micro USB Adapter, HDTV Smart Adapter, Car Power Charger with Detachable Data Cable (Micro USB), Micro USB Data Cable, Travel Charger (Detachable with USB to Micro USB Cable), and the premium Refined Sound wired headset.

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet joining the Ice Cream Sandwich party in Q2?

According to PC World, Lenovo has said that it plans on bringing the latest and greatest from the Android platform to its ThinkPad Tablet sometime during Q2 of this year. Lenovo has joined other fellow manufacturers on the pledge to update its devices to ICS. 

Lenovo are the latest company to jump on the Ice Cream Sandwich update bandwagon by announcing its plans to update the ThinkPad tablet.

The Thinkpad has been around since last summer, and while we don't have a specific date Lenovo have stated that the update will roll out during Q2. The IdeaPad is also slated to make the jump to Android 4.0 as well. It's easy to forget about these in our tablet filled world, but Lenovo makes some pretty nice hardware and the ThinkPad has a pretty killer keyboard dock as well. 

Asteroid Eros at its closest since 1975 on January 31

  

Asteroid Eros will pass closer to Earth on January 31/February 1 than it has since 1975

 Asteroid 433 Eros will be making closest approach to Earth since 1975 on January 31, 2012. Eros will be passing closer on Tuesday than it has in some decades, but that’s not very close. It will be about 16.6 million miles (26.7 million km) away – some 50 times the moon’s average distance. That’s over 80 times farther than the closest point of a much smaller body that passed safely within the moon’s orbit on November 8, 2011. That object was called 2005 YU55. So there is absolutely no danger at all.

Even though it’ll be closer than since 1975 – and even though it won’t come this close again until 2056 – Eros won’t be close enough to view with the eye alone. But amateur astronomers with backyard telescopes will see it.

Eros helped astronomers pin down the exact distance to the sun in the 20th century. A similar close pass of Eros in 1931 allowed professional astronomers to refine the true scale of the solar system, starting with the Earth-Sun distance (the astronomical unit). This was the last great improvement in the scale of the solar system until interplanetary radar began making direct distance measurements in the 1960s.

Eros is a near-Earth asteroid (NEA), discovered in 1898 by astronomers Carl Gustav Witt in Berlin and Auguste Charlois in Nice. It’s about 21 miles (34 km) wide.

Eros also made history in 2000, when NASA’s NEAR Shoemaker probe approached it, went into orbit around it and even made a soft landing on its surface. This was the first such orbit of an asteroid. NEAR took over 160,000 images of Eros’ surface and helped researchers conclude that this asteroid is a solid object rather than a “flying rubble pile” as some had previously thought.

Plans to create The world’s largest plane

Entrepreneur and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen plans to create the world’s largest aeroplane within the next five years. The Stratolaunch, with a wingspan of 385ft, is 95ft wider than the largest passenger plane, the Airbus 380, and is designed to carry unmanned or manned space vehicles and cargo high into the earth’s atmosphere for an air launch into space.

Powered by six 747 jet engines, the plane will require a 12,000ft runway for takeoffs and landings. Once in flight, the plane will disengage from its capsule and return to the ground, while the capsule launches multistage booster rockets to propel it into space orbit or to the International Space Station. Allen’s company, Stratolaunch System, plans to start with unmanned cargo loads before it moves into launching passengers into low earth orbit.

According to Allen and his partners, this air-launch-to-orbit system is far less expensive and far more flexible than traditional ground launches, which are still used by some private companies for satellite launches. The massive plane can return to load up for new missions quickly and can provide an alternative to launch facilities that are already backed up with existing space missions. The plane will be built in California at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

Microsoft adding Nokia branding to Bing Maps

Nokia front-man Stephen Elop said that his company's moniker will be making its way to Bing Maps in the near future, and he's not just talking about on the desktop. During a CES interview with Pocket-lint, Elop explained that any "property" utilizing Microsoft's Bing Maps service -- including mobile platforms -- will be co-branded with the Nokia logo. "We are clearly placing a bet on the Windows Phone platform; they are placing a bet on our location-based platform," he said. The CEO cited BlackBerry as a non-Windows Phone device that will see the Nokia tattoo in its Maps app -- RIM recently announced its intention to integrate Bing Maps at the OS level. No word on when Microsoft branding will make its way onto Nokia software.