Dell freshens up Inspiron M5030 with Spanish-language keyboard, claims it's first of its kind in US

The Athlon-powered M5030 from Dell hardly looked like a machine that would be bearing an "industry first" label when it launched in September of last year, but now it's doing exactly that thanks to an intriguing new mod from its maker. The 15.6-incher is being released with its keyboard and Windows 7 installation customized in Spanish, neither of which would be unusual were it not for the fact that it's going to be on sale in the US. It's not exactly a vast overhaul, as only a couple of physical keys are swapped out and switching Win 7 into and out of Spanish mode can be done in the time it takes to click a mouse, but still, it's significant in that it services the speakers of the States' second most commonly used language. Pricing for the M5030 en español is set at $499 and includes a 320GB HDD and 4GB of RAM. For an entirely free video of an excitable Dell employee telling you about it, jump past the break.

MIT professor touts first 'practical' artificial leaf, signs deal with Tata to show up real plants

A professor at MIT claims to have Mother Nature beat at her own game. Dr. Daniel Nocera says his invention is ten times more efficient at photosynthesis than a real-life leaf, and could help to bring affordable alternative energy to developing countries. Described as an "advanced solar cell the size of a poker card," the device is made of silicon, electronics, and inexpensive catalysts made of nickel and cobalt. When placed in a gallon of water under direct sunlight, the catalysts break the H2O down into hydrogen and oxygen gases, which are then stored in a fuel cell -- the energy produced is apparently enough to power a single house for a day. Of course, this isn't the first time we've seen scientists try to one-up nature, in fact, we've seen solar-powered leaves before, but this thing actually looks poised for the mass market -- Nocera signed a deal with Tata in October. Full PR after the break.

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Debut of the first practical "artificial leaf"


ANAHEIM, March 27, 2011 - Scientists today claimed one of the milestones in the drive for sustainable energy - development of the first practical artificial leaf. Speaking here at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, they described an advanced solar cell the size of a poker card that mimics the process, called photosynthesis, that green plants use to convert sunlight and water into energy.

"A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades," said Daniel Nocera, Ph.D., who led the research team. "We believe we have done it. The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own power station," he said. "One can envision villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology."

The device bears no resemblance to Mother Nature's counterparts on oaks, maples and other green plants, which scientists have used as the model for their efforts to develop this new genre of solar cells. About the shape of a poker card but thinner, the device is fashioned from silicon, electronics and catalysts, substances that accelerate chemical reactions that otherwise would not occur, or would run slowly. Placed in a single gallon of water in a bright sunlight, the device could produce enough electricity to supply a house in a developing country with electricity for a day, Nocera said. It does so by splitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen.

The hydrogen and oxygen gases would be stored in a fuel cell, which uses those two materials to produce electricity, located either on top of the house or beside it.

Nocera, who is with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, points out that the "artificial leaf" is not a new concept. The first artificial leaf was developed more than a decade ago by John Turner of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Although highly efficient at carrying out photosynthesis, Turner's device was impractical for wider use, as it was composed of rare, expensive metals and was highly unstable - with a lifespan of barely one day.

Nocera's new leaf overcomes these problems. It is made of inexpensive materials that are widely available, works under simple conditions and is highly stable. In laboratory studies, he showed that an artificial leaf prototype could operate continuously for at least 45 hours without a drop in activity.

The key to this breakthrough is Nocera's recent discovery of several powerful new, inexpensive catalysts, made of nickel and cobalt, that are capable of efficiently splitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen, under simple conditions. Right now, Nocera's leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural leaf. However, he is optimistic that he can boost the efficiency of the artificial leaf much higher in the future.

"Nature is powered by photosynthesis, and I think that the future world will be powered by photosynthesis as well in the form of this artificial leaf," said Nocera, a chemist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.

Triforce Johnson gets his Nintendo 3DS first, the legend continues

There are fans, and then there are fans, if you know what we mean, and Isaiah Triforce Johnson has secured his spot in column number two with a Power Gloved fist -- here he is accepting the very first Nintendo 3DS on the east coast from Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America. Johnson camped out all week in front of Best Buy's Union Square location to be first in line at the launch event, replicating his feat of five years prior when he was first to purchase the Wii. Of course, Japanese gamers have had the autostereocopic handheld for over a month now, but we have to give credit where it's due -- we're already imagining Greg Packer and Triforce Johnson duking it out in a little Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition duel. By the way, we snapped a few shots of the 3DS launch event this morning -- check them out below.

Nintendo 3DS launch event

Verizon CTO: 'working through issues' with LTE phones, still on track for first half launch

No blockbusters here -- nothing that's going to give you much insight into an exact launch day for the Thunderbolt -- but Verizon CTO Tony Melone made a few comments about its LTE handset launches at a financial conference yesterday that border on the interesting. Asked whether the company was facing any challenges in getting the phones solid and ready for commercial consumption, Melone responded by saying that they're "facing is what you would expect, and that is a new technology, you are working through issues. And [they] anticipated that, and [they] are pleased at how [they] are working through issues." In the same breath, he reminded the audience that Verizon had said the phones would be coming in the first half of '11 all along and that hasn't changed -- so they're not late by a long shot. Pressed on whether battery life specifically was a concern for the Thunderbolt, Melone said that he thinks the juice "will be acceptable to consumers." Considering what we've been hearing about recent firmware revisions on the test units, we're hopeful he's right -- Verizon has a reputation for testing the crap out of devices prior to release, after all.

HTC Arrive is Sprint's first Windows Phone 7 device, launches March 20th for $200

Teased since Microsoft's launch event for Windows Phone 7 back in October of last year and recently launched in Europe as the 7 Pro, HTC's Arrive today becomes the very first CDMA device for the platform to be announced with a date and a price. Sprint picks up the QWERTY tilt-o-matic this coming March 20th for $199.99 on a two-year contract after $100 mail-in rebate, featuring a 3.6-inch WVGA display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5 megapixel camera with flash and 720p video capture, 16GB of internal storage, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi -- oh, and Sprint is quick to remind us that the phone will be launching with Microsoft's anticipated copy and paste update, too. In-store pre-orders begin today with the purchase of a $50 Sprint gift card; follow the break for the full press release.

HTC Arrive for Sprint (press shots)

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First Windows Phone 7 Device for Sprint, HTC Arrive, Available Beginning March 20 for $199.99

New Windows Phone 7 phone brings the Start screen to life with Live Tiles for a glance-and-go experience; offers Xbox LIVE and Zune integration with Microsoft Office Mobile

Starting today, customers can pre-order HTC Arrive at any Sprint Store;
For more information, visit www.sprint.com/arrive

Available from Sprint on March 20, the HTC Arrive™ smartphone (announced by HTC globally as HTC 7 Pro) offers the Windows Phone 7, glance-and-go experience combined with an innovative design that features a sliding full QWERTY keyboard and tilt-up display. Its unique Start screen with Hubs gives easy access to the user's most valuable content and customizable Live Tiles come to life with real-time updates from the Web.

Depending on the app, the Live Tiles might show pending messages and appointments, news and weather, or game notifications and friend status – all continuously refreshed. It also lets the user customize people, apps, playlists, pictures, and other favorites to the Start screen, so they're available at a single touch.

Windows Phone 7 Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view and offers quick and easy access to the users' most valuable content. The six Hubs are built on specific themes, including:
• People Hub brings together relevant content based on the person, including photos and live feeds from social networks. People Hub provides a central place from which to update status or change profile pictures across multiple social networking sites. Skim Facebook®, Windows® Live feeds & photos, then call, text or post to friends and get directions to their place.
• Games Hub is an on-the-go arcade and the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone. Play solo, or use the free Xbox LIVE service to match wits with friends wherever they are and view player avatars, profiles and achievements.
• Pictures Hub houses your entire collection and makes it easy to share pictures to a social network in one step. It can also bring together a user's photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view an entire picture and video collection, including photos saved to the phone and pictures friends posted on Facebook or Windows Live. You can even send favorites to friends, or post them to Facebook or Windows Live, all from one place.
• Music + Videos Hub is an anytime entertainment center. Play a music collection – synced wirelessly from a PC – or stream or download new tunes. There's even a built-in FM radio and high-resolution screen that's perfect for watching TV shows, movies or your own video clips. Add an optional Zune Pass subscription to get millions of songs for one low monthly fee. Users can turn their media experience into a social one with Zune Social on a PC and share their media recommendations with like-minded music lovers.
• Marketplace Hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certified applications and games.
• Office Hub brings the familiar experience of the world's leading productivity software to your phone. With access to Microsoft Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place, users can easily read, edit and share documents.

HTC Arrive key features include:
• Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon Processor
• 3.6-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen with multi-touch capability
• Full HTML Web browser with Bing Search and Maps for turn by turn directions, address mapping and even street level views via voice search or typing
• Windows Phone Marketplace offers a single view to showcase apps, games, music and premium Xbox LIVE games
• Corporate email (Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®), personal (POP & IMAP) email and text messaging
• 5MP camera with flash, autofocus and digital zoom and 720p HD camcorder. The camera button will snap photos fast, even if the phone is locked.
• 16GB internal memory for storing pictures, videos and large files. With an additional 25GB of storage in the cloud at no additional charge using a Windows Live ID.
• Wi-Fi® (802.11 b/g/n)

HTC Arrive will be available beginning March 20, for $199.99 with a new two-year service agreement or eligible upgrade and after a $100 mail-in rebate (taxes not included) in all Sprint retail channels, including the Web (www.sprint.com) and Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1).

Beginning today, customers can pre-order HTC Arrive at any participating Sprint Store with the purchase of a $50 Sprint gift card. Customers who pre-order HTC Arrive will have their name added to the Device Wait List and be contacted to set up an appointment to complete their purchase beginning on Sunday, March 20. Through the pre-order process, customers will have peace of mind knowing they are able to get the device they want and receive the full retail experience, including Sprint's Ready Now customer service experience.

Sprint customers get more with unlimited data plans on the Sprint Network. Sprint offers real simplicity, value and savings versus competitors, making it easy for customers to get the most out of their phones without using a calculator to tally up costs or worrying about how much data they've used.

HTC Arrive requires activation on one of Sprint's Everything Data plans, plus a required $10 Premium Data add-on charge for smartphones. Sprint's Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM includes unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint network, starting at just $69.99 per month plus required $10 Premium Data add-on charge – a savings of $39.99 per month vs. Verizon's comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and Web (excluding Verizon's Southern California plan; pricing excludes surcharges and taxes).

Sprint Everything Data plans qualify for automatic enrollment in the Sprint PremierSM loyalty program1. Existing Sprint customers can switch to an Everything Data plan without extending their service agreement. New lines of service require a two-year service agreement.