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Planon has redefined the meaning of a mobile office. DocuPen is a bluetooth-enabled scanner which scans full-sized documents wirelessly in seconds—anywhere! To complement DocuPen perfectly is PrintStik, the pocket sized printer, which is also Bluetooth enabled. The 9” DocuPen has mini rollers which make it really simple to accurately scan a document, with no warping. Simply start at the top of the page, and slowly scroll seconds to scan a document. Depending on the model it will take 2 to 6 seconds. DocuPen stores the document for retrieval at any point in time. The color models all come with a microSD expansion slot for expandable memory. DocuPen allows you to wirelessly print to PrintStik over Bluetooth. This can be set up to immediately print following a scan. DocuPens range in resolution from 400 to 1200 DPI. They all come with a lithium ion rechargeable battery. The DocuPen weighs only 2.5 ounces. Prices range from $339 to $439 and is currently available to purchase.

 

The Planon PrintStik uses monochrome thermal printing, so it doesn’t require ink. It prints 3 pages per minute, and comes with a 20 page printer cartridge included. The 11” printer weighs only 1.5 pounds. In addition to printing from DocuPen, it will also print straight from your BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, or Bluetooth printing enabled device. The battery lasts for 30 page prints. It even includes a carrying case. The cool thing is that it prints actual A4 and Legal sized documents, nothing gets shrunk down. The Bluetooth printers start at $199 and go up to $349, and is currently available. They vary based on resolution (200 or 300dpi native) and the extras that are included. The quality is pretty good for the size of the device. It prints very similar to receipts. The blacks may be a bit weak depending on the scan, but that’s probably just something you can fix by getting used to the device. The cool thing about thermal printing is you don’t have to worry about smudging, or other pitfalls of ink like drying up or leakage from temperature and pressure changes. If you find yourself needing copies of documents while on the go, then you will certainly want to invest in the DocuPen and PrintStik .

Filed under: Motorsports, Humor

Rhymes with hall of fame, doesn’t it? And yes, the 24 Hours of LeMons Wall of Blame (WoB) is exactly that – a place to forever honor (forever being a relative term) those cars and teams that have made LeMons such a freaky good time. Here’s how the lazy fat cats good people at LeMons explains the inspiration for the WoB:

“LeMons stuff never lasts: Cars explode or are hauled off by angry wives. Teams break up due to Sawz-All fights and/or prison terms. Brilliant themes become tired after the fifth time around for a Mr. T costume. But starting today, a rarified handful of LeMons over-underachievers will be immortalized forever through the LeMons Wall of Blame. Each inductee will be honored with a plaque made of Chinese lead, to be hung at LeMons HQ next to such other priceless artifacts as the original Noch Einer Scheiß-E30 stencil and Judge Jonny’s first powdered wig-an object equally redolent of history, stale tobacco smoke, and scalp smegma.”

Sure sounds like… something! Realizing just how sub-mental most LeMons fans are, the 24 Hours of LeMons HQ has gone ahead and selected six teams to be inducted into this year’s WoB class. Then, based off the results of the poll below (and a poll from some other site) an additional ten teams/cars/personalities will be selected as this year’s class members. Expect future WoB classes to consist of just ten teams total, but as LeMons has been around since 2006 and they just bothered thinking up the WoB before the start of their fifth racing season, there was lots of catching up to do.

One last little note before you jump and vote: Those of you planning to stuff the ballot box by voting early and often should know that this vote in no way resembles a democracy. Think of it as an autocracy that flashes a democratic face for the cameras. In the end, what Chief Perp Jay Lamm says, goes. See Rule 1.1 for clarification. Now jump.

[Source: 24 Hours of LeMons]

Continue reading 24 Hours of LeMons greats to get immortalized on Wall of Blame [w/poll]

24 Hours of LeMons greats to get immortalized on Wall of Blame [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After a quote that Google’s Nexus One is his “favorite gadget” went around, Steve Wozniak took the time to leave us a note. Read on for his explanation of how everyone misunderstood him and why fanboy-style arguments are ridiculous.

This is the comment Woz left us in the on the post about his gadget preference:

Actually, everyone got it wrong. My favorite phones are my iPhones. When asked what my favorite gadgets were I took it to mean new gadgets I was playing with (that I considered good). I am not a switcher but I’m not going to tell people that the Nexus One is not a good gadget. Same for the Droid. I continually buy and play with new hot gadgets because I gets asked about them all the time. I have had prior Android phones that I didn’t consider good. I usually have between 2 and 6 different cell phones on me, more when there are interesting product introductions.

I try mainly to make good comments but I’m honest about flaws too. I don’t get into arguments trying to claim that there are objective reasons that make one person’s phone better than another’s. It’s subjective. You can’t win such arguments, only have a stressful life doing so. I have no problem praising and learning from non-Apple products as well as Apple products, when they are good.

I think this is yet another reminder of why we adore this brilliant man. Thanks for the follow up, Woz.

If you haven’t downloaded the Office 2010 beta from Microsoft’s website then do it! Office 2010 is great, and the beta is free. They just announced the prices…they are as follows:

*Office Professional Academic is available to all students, even including highschool and elementary school.

From Microsoft – “The Product Key Card is to help you unlock the power of pre-loaded Office 2010 on new PCs, Microsoft is introducing an all-new, single license Product Key Card sold at retail. It is a single license card that unlocks the functionality of a pre-loaded Office 2010 image on a new PC. The packaging is smaller than the full package product and provides a simple way to purchase software for a variety of new hardware, including netbooks. It enables Microsoft to offer a lower price on Office 2010 because no media is required and it is a single install.”

Also, it’s important to note that the Product Key Card pricing is valid for a single installation of the product, while the boxed product pricing follows these parameters:

• Office Home and Student boxed product is available in a Family Pack, allowing usage on three PCs in one house
• Purchase rights for Office Home and Business, Office Professional, and Office Professional Academic boxed product allow for usage on two of your PCs.

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In true “Tyrone” fashion, I have a photoshoot update. The HQ ones have been released before and many of you have seen them. But I have come across more outtakes in large quality that I haven’t seen anywhere else personally. We are working to get the site back up with all the photoshoots and such that were lost. Stay clicked….

Ellen von Unwerth [LARGE]

Ellen von Unwerth [HQ]

We all know that Final Fantasy XIII did well enough to break some sales record upon its launch last year, and in fact even helped boost numbers of a particular console. But was it well enough to

Hello everyone! My name is Tyrone. You may know me from my previous works on Usher Web and Chris Brown Online. Maybe my Beyonce sites Miss Beyonce and Beyonce Source? Well I have left my own Beyonce sites in the past to join up with the Beyonce World team! I hope that you guys will welcome me and you are ready, because my exclusives will now be posted here. And I’m telling you. I have alot in store. Starting off with the new gallery, I have added Candids from the end of December 2009.

12.31 – NYE Party At Nikki Beach Restaurant in St Barth, Caribbean [HQ]

12.30 – French Caribbean W/ Jay-Z [HQ]

Shark with lasers are so aughts. Nipple lasers? So old they are the newest new. If anyone can please explain me what’s going on here, feel free to talk in the comments or shut up forever.

Was this a promotional shot for an olympic aerodynamic bike? Why did the boobs fire lasers? Why was Geordi La Forge’s sister doing neekeed pictures? Why I’m strangely aroused at the idea of nipples firing lasers? These are all questions that need urgent answers. [Thanks David]

Hershey edged closer to a bid for Cadbury of Britain on Friday, people briefed on the matter said. The move comes just days before Kraft is set to disclose its final offer for the confectioner.

Hershey, the chocolate maker based in Pennsylvania, has been lining up the billions of dollars in financing needed to challenge Kraft’s cash-and-stock proposal, worth about $17.2 billion based on Friday’s closing share price. The company has been holding talks with Cadbury over what would constitute an acceptable bid.

Hershey has been working with JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America to raise at least $10 billion, these people said. It is also planning to raise additional equity by issuing new shares and attracting outside capital. Its controlling shareholder, a trust that oversees the Milton Hershey School, has been working on fund-raising with Byron D. Trott, the former Goldman Sachs banker and Warren E. Buffett’s longtime adviser.

Cadbury’s chairman, Roger Carr, said on a conference call with investors this week that Hershey had recently reaffirmed its interest in a potential deal.

But it is not clear whether Hershey is seeking to follow through with an actual proposal or just make enough noise to persuade Kraft to pay more for Cadbury. While some within the company and the Hershey Trust have agitated for a deal, its management has been reluctant to stretch Hershey’s finances too thinly.

Hershey, which under British takeover law has until Jan. 23 to make a bid, will not make an offer without some assurance from Cadbury that it would be accepted, these people said. And while Cadbury executives have hinted that they would find a merger with Hershey more acceptable than one with a huge conglomerate like Kraft, they have strongly argued that they would prefer to keep their 186-year-old company independent.

In many ways, Hershey is finding itself in an unusual box. While it would like to acquire Cadbury, creating a candy specialist with a broad international presence, it would like to do so at a price that Cadbury would almost certainly reject. And as speculation has mounted over the last month that Hershey was drawing closer to presenting a formal bid, Cadbury shares have risen as well, making a potential takeover offer even more expensive. Cadbury’s shares closed on Friday at 793.5 pence. Kraft’s current offer is worth about 771 pence.

Hershey is also wary of endangering its investment-grade credit rating, constraining the amount of debt and equity it can raise in support of its bid, these people said. The individuals briefed on the matter spoke on condition that they not be identified because the talks were continuing and confidential. They added that the company held talks with the major credit ratings agencies this week.

Finally, these people said that Hershey could find itself quickly outbid by Kraft, whose management has identified a Cadbury takeover as the ideal tonic for its slow-growing stock. Hershey’s market value of $8.25 billion is dwarfed by Kraft’s $43.7 billion.

Other potential bidders have already fallen away. Nestlé, the Swiss food giant, withdrew from the Cadbury race early this month when it agreed to buy Kraft’s North American frozen pizza business for $3.7 billion. And Ferrero, the Italian maker of Nutella spread, is unlikely to make its own offer, according to people briefed on the matter.

Spokesmen for Hershey and Cadbury declined to comment.

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By JOSH FUNK
January 15, 2010, 8:04PM ET

SPONSOR

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is getting ready to split the company’s Class B shares next Thursday as part of its plan to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.

The 50-for-1 stock split, which shareholders will vote on Wednesday, will boost the liquidity of Berkshire’s stock, and enable Berkshire to offer even small BNSF shareholders Berkshire stock as part of its $26.3 billion cash and stock deal.

The added liquidity Berkshire will have as a result of the split will also increase the chances that the Omaha-based company will join the S&P 500 index. Berkshire’s Class A shares, which are the nation’s most expensive stock, and its Class B shares have been difficult to trade because of their high prices.

Berkshire’s Class A shares, which sold for $97,500 Friday, are not being split.

Class B shares, dubbed “Baby Berkshires,” were first issued in 1996 to meet demand from smaller investors and discourage investment firms from reselling pieces of Berkshire’s original shares — which became the Class A shares.

Buffett declined to discuss the stock split Friday, ahead of Wednesday’s special shareholder meeting in Omaha. Berkshire’s board has said in documents sent to shareholders that it supports the split regardless of the BNSF deal.

Next week’s split will make the $3,247 Class B shares significantly more affordable: They will be worth $64.94 apiece. That will take the B shares from 1/30th the value of a Class A share to 1/1,500th of Berkshire’s Class A shares.

“Now everybody will have access to it,” said Andy Kilpatrick, the stockbroker-author who wrote “Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett.”

The fact that the split may lead to inclusion in the S&P 500 is also significant because so many investors rely on it as a barometer for the economy. For years, Buffett has measured Berkshire’s annual performance against the index in his letter to shareholders.

Being included would also generate new investment in Berkshire because trillions of dollars mirror moves in the index, and many funds buy stock in the companies in it.

A Standard & Poor’s committee decides which companies to include in the S&P 500 based on a number of different criteria. Spokesman David Guarino declined to comment on the prospect of Berkshire joining the index, but he did explain the factors S&P considers.

Berkshire’s market capitalization of $151 billion would easily exceed S&P’s requirement that a company be worth at least $3.5 billion in the eyes of the stock market. But in the past, Berkshire has been left out of the index because its shares have been cumbersome to trade. S&P uses a formula comparing the dollar value of stock traded to a company’s market capitalization to evaluate liquidity.

Buffett’s charitable plans are another factor that will increase the number of Class B shares available to trade in the future. Buffett has pledged to convert all his Berkshire holdings to B shares and donate them to charity over time. Buffett pledged in 2006 to gradually give 10 million B shares to the Gates Foundation, 1 million B shares for the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation named in honor of his deceased first wife, and 350,000 shares for each of the three foundations run by his three children.

Morningstar analyst Bill Bergman said any company that gets added into the S&P 500 always sees a boost in its stock, but he thinks many investors have already factored that into Berkshire’s shares. So becoming part of the S&P 500 may not mean much to Berkshire’s share price.

“It’s an interesting development, but as far as the value of the shares go, it doesn’t mean much,” Bergman said.

The Class B split was a key part of the BNSF deal when it was announced in December. Berkshire agreed to pay $100 per share in cash and stock for the 77.4 percent of BNSF shares that it didn’t already own. The purchase will be the largest ever for Buffett’s company.

Berkshire and BNSF have said they expect the deal to close in the first quarter, and the Ft. Worth, Texas, railroad has scheduled a Feb. 11 shareholder vote on it.

Berkshire expects the majority of the shares issued in the $100-per-share deal will be Class A shares, but holders of smaller amounts of BNSF shares who opt for a share exchange rather than cash will receive Class B shares. Having smaller B shares will enable Berkshire to complete the deal without splitting many shares.

If both Berkshire’s and BNSF’s shareholders approve, Berkshire will become the owner of the nation’s second-largest railroad. BNSF hauls grain, coal and consumer products across 32,000 miles of track in 28 western states and two Canadian provinces.

Berkshire already owns more than 60 subsidiaries, including clothing, furniture, jewelry and corporate jet firms, but its insurance and utility businesses typically account for more than half of the company’s revenue. It also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

——

On the Net:

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.: http://www.bnsf.com

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Sure, all the cool kids might have moved on webOS these days, but the venerable PalmOS hasn’t totally kicked it yet — a company called Aceeca is actually releasing two Garnet-based devices later this year. If you don’t remember the entire sordid saga, the source code for PalmOS actually ended up with Access, which now licenses it out to other companies — including Palm, as it happens. Confusing? Yes. So is the idea of forking over $199 for the Aceeca PDA32 Garnet, which packs an unnamed ARM CPU, a QVGA screen, and an SD expansion slot into a case that’s “taller than a Palm TX and about twice as thick.” Oh, and you’ll have to pay extra for “wireless options.” Sounds like a winner — we’d actually advise you to go with the PDA32 CE, which runs Windows CE 5.0 and probably looks a lot like a Samsung Blackjack if you squint just right and drink enough rubbing alcohol. Corporate customers get some dated hardware of their own from Aceeca: the MEZ1500 Garnet, which will run a steep $499 and keeps the QVGA screen but adds a bigger battery, a faster processor, and an expansion bus for various optional barcode scanner, RFID readers, and so forth. You’ll have to pay extra for WiFi and Bluetooth on this one too, and you can also get a WinCE 5.0 version, which is apparently some kind of hilarious vaporware no one’s been waiting for. Sadly we don’t have any pictures of this gear, but we’re dying to check it all out — can you say “iPhone killer?”

PalmOS lives on, Aceeca releasing two devices this year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yes, you surmised as much. Gran Turismo 5 is delayed yet again because it’s still not finished. No less than Polyphony Digital big boss, Kazunori Yamauchi, confirmed this fact in an interview with USA Today.
 
 
 

Unconfirmed, but likely: Pricing for Verizon’s first two WebOS devices has leaked, and it’s looking like $150 (after $100 rebate) for the Pre Plus and $100 for the Pixi Plus. There’ll probably be a buy-one-get-one deal along with that. [PhoneArena]