Arcadie blog

Geyser Rocket Car™ and Energy Stick™ Unveiled by Be Amazing! Toys at Toy Fair 2011

Be Amazing! Toys, a manufacturer of educational toys that teach kids about the wonders of science, today announced two new innovative science toys at Toy Fair 2011.

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 14, 2011

Be Amazing! Toys, a manufacturer of educational toys that teach kids about the wonders of science, today announced two new innovative science toys at Toy Fair 2011.

Inspired by their award-winning Geyser Tube™ product, the Geyser Rocket Car™ is a new, self-propelled toy car that kids assemble and fuel with a Diet Coke® and Mentos® combination. Kids build the car by first assembling the chassis, wheels and nosecone -- which can be customized with a selection of adhesive stickers -- then add a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke® (not included) to a specially designed propulsion mechanism. The propulsion mechanism is then hooked up to the car and 4 Mentos® candies are added. The resulting Diet Coke®/Mentos® chemical reaction propels the car up to 200 feet. A lesson in chemistry and physics, this new product will be demonstrated at the Be Amazing! Toys booth inside an enormous Plexiglas encasing complete with raised Plexiglas racetrack. This product also comes with additional components for performing other experiments.

The Energy Stick™ is a 6” long, clear, sealed plastic tube filled with a complex and colorful maze of wires and LEDs. Quiet and dark while sitting on its own or when held in one hand, the stick suddenly springs to life with sound and flashing lights when held in two hands. A lesson in electroconductivity, the Energy Stick™ uses the chemical properties of a person’s body to complete a highly sensitive electrical circuit, triggering the sounds and lights. This product will be demonstrated in Be Amazing! Toys’ booth by individuals and by rings of individuals holding hands to demonstrate the physical science behind the toy.

will be offering special promotions on these and other best-selling products at Toy Fair 2011. Be Amazing! Toys’ booth is located in booth #1045 on the upper floor of Toy Fair’s main hall. Toy Fair 2011 runs February 13th through February 16th at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

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Renee WhitneyBe Amazing! Toys(801) 583-1846Email Information

CenturyLink outlook disappoints, shares fall

NEW YORK (Reuters) – CenturyLink Inc (CTL.N) forecast a disappointing profit target for what is expected to be its last quarter as a stand-alone company before it buys Qwest Communications International Inc (Q.N).

Shares in both companies fell about 1.5 percent after CenturyLink said it would increase spending throughout 2011 on upgrading its network even as revenue keeps falling.

The companies, which expect to close their merger on April 1, are combining in an effort to reduce expenses as consumers continue to disconnect their home phones in favor of services such as cellphones and Internet services.

But for now investors focused on its guidance for this quarter, analysts said.

"We have to hear more details as to what their spending plans are," said Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche, adding that CenturyLink's reputation for setting conservative earnings targets may provide some reassurance.

CenturyLink forecast first-quarter earnings per share of 66 cents to 70 cents. This was below Fritzsche's expectation for 86 cents per share and other analysts' estimates for 82 cents.

Its first-quarter revenue target of $1.68 billion to $1.7 billion was in line with the analysts' estimates of $1.69 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company said it expects its revenue to fall at a slower pace in 2011, compared with its 2010 decline.

But its target for a 2011 revenue decline in a range of 4 percent to 5 percent, compared with its 6.5 percent revenue decline in 2010, was against a backdrop of plans to increase spending this year.

CenturyLink said capital spending would increase 16 percent in 2011 to $1 billion as it plans to lay fiber to serve customers connecting wireless broadcast towers. The budget excludes any costs for integrating Qwest, CenturyLink said.

CenturyLink posted a fourth-quarter profit of $232.3 million, or 76 cents per share, down from $286.7 million, or 95 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.

Its revenue fell to $1.72 billion from $1.84 billion in the year-ago quarter but just topped the average analyst expectation for $1.71 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Earlier on Tuesday, Qwest said it swung to a quarterly loss of $161 million, or 9 cents per share, as it shouldered hefty charges ahead of the merger. This compared with a year-earlier profit of $108 million, or 6 cents per share. Qwest's revenue fell 3.2 percent.

Qwest said it expects to gain regulatory approval for the CenturyLink deal from four remaining U.S. states and the Federal Communications Commission this quarter.

CenturyLink also said on Tuesday that it entered a wireless resale agreement with the biggest U.S. mobile service, Verizon Wireless, which is already Qwest's wireless partner.

Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L).

CenturyLink shares fell 1.5 percent, or 68 cents, to $44.46 in late morning trade and Qwest shares were down 1.48 percent, or 11 cents, at $7.31, both on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Maureen Bavdek and Gunna Dickson)

Mobile sales up 32 percent last year: Gartner

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Worldwide mobile sales increased 32 percent last year and smartphone shipments surpassed those of personal computers for the first time in the fourth quarter, according to tracking firms.

Technology research firm Gartner said Wednesday that mobile device sales rose 31.8 percent last year to 1.6 billion units over the previous year.

Smartphone sales soared 72.1 percent in 2010 over the previous year and accounted for 19 percent of total mobile sales last year, Gartner said.

Another tracking firm, International Data Corp. (IDC), reported meanwhile that vendors shipped a record 100.9 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, up 87.2 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

Global persoal computer shipments in the fourth quarter of 92.1 million units were a record high, according to IDC, but were less for the first time than the number of smartphones shipped during a quarter.

Gartner said Apple, maker of the iPhone, and Canada's Research In Motion (RIM), maker of the Blackberry, displaced Sony Ericsson and Motorola in the fourth quarter in the rankings of the world's largest mobile manufacturers.

Finland's Nokia remained number one overall with sales of 461.3 mobile devices last year but its market share fell from 36.4 percent at the end of 2009 to 28.9 percent at the end of 2010.

South Korea's Samsung was next with sales of 281.1 million units in 2010. Its market share fell from 19.5 percent to 17.6 percent.

South Korea's LG Electronics was in third place with sales of 114.1 million units and a market share of 7.1 percent, down from 10.1 percent.

RIM was next with sales of 47.4 million units and a market share which rose from 2.8 percent to 3.0 percent.

Apple sold 46.6 million units in 2010 and saw its market share increase from 2.1 percent to 2.9 percent.

Sony Ericsson had sales of 41.8 million units. Its market share fell to 2.6 percent from 4.5 percent. Motorola sold 38.5 million units and its market share fell to 2.4 percent from 4.8 percent.

Nokia and LG's drop in market share was due in part to their failure to make more of an impact in the rapidly growing smartphone market.

"Nokia and LG saw their market share erode in 2010 as they came under increasing pressure to refine their smartphone strategies," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.

Nokia's chief executive Stephen Elop warned Wednesday that the world's top mobile phone maker is "standing on a burning platform" surrounded by a "blazing fire" of competition.

The brutally honest appraisal of the company's woes appeared to be setting the scene for a spectacular shake-up which Elop is expected to unveil on Friday at a strategy and financial briefing in London.

The Wall Street Journal said Nokia may announce a partnership with Microsoft, Elop's former employer, or Google or both to adopt a new handset operating system.

Google's Android smartphone operating system grew 888.8 percent last year to take the number two position behind Symbian, according to Gartner.

HP's 'Think Beyond' Palm Event: What to Expect

Get ready forWednesday. Hewlett-Packard is finally taking the wraps off its long-awaited WebOS reboot since .

Leading up to a press event held by HP's Palm division at 1 p.m. ET today, anticipation grows as to what devices will be unveiled and how Palm's next-gen WebOS 2.0 mobile operating system will differ from what Apple and Google's Android devices currently offer.

There is little doubt Palm will show a WebOS tablet. But how many? Will there be a new phone or netbook? What about services? Will we hear more about "cloud-oriented" services built into the OS as hinted by HP brass?

So far all we know about the WebOS refresh is rumors, a few statements by company executives, and a short mysterious. Regardless, expectations for today include tablets, smartphones, a discussion of WebOS 2.0, and hopefully a few surprises.

Here's a Palm WebOS primer to get you ready for the press event, and don't forget to check in with PCWorld's live blog coverage of the event starting at 1 p.m. Eastern.

PalmPad(s)

Let there be no doubt, HP will be talking about tablets on Wednesday.HP has long hinted it would develop a , and then confirmed in August it wasdubbed the PalmPad."We're totally focused on the tablet market.We're totally focused on enabling it with WebOS," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president for HP's Personal Systems Group, during an .

But the big question is whether we will see .

In January,showing off a 7-inch WebOS tablet codenamed Opal and a 9-inch device codenamed Topaz.Both tablets are rumored to have a 1.2Ghz processor, front-facing camera, micro USB port and three built-in speakers.The tablets are rumored to be hitting the market later this year, and there may be Wi-Fi only versions of the tablets similar to Apple's strategy with the iPad. There are also rumors that new WebOS tablets would be charge via .

Not to be outdone by the gadget blog, HP sent out a note about its February 9 event shortly after the leak saying, "."Did Engadget get it wrong or does HP have a big surprise up its sleeve for Wednesday?

Smartphones

Theand theare getting pretty long in the tooth despite having the term "Plus" appended to their names in mid-2010.In both cases,and , the new devices received minor hardware tweaks (Wi-Fi connectivity for the Pixi plus) and updated WebOS software.

HP was showing off a newback in October, but has yet to launch the device in the U.S.The Pre 2 was largely met with indifference from critics since it wasn't much of a significant upgrade from the original Palm Pre.The Pre 2 is faster with a 1 GHz processor, has a 5 mega-pixel camera instead of 3MP, 16GB onboard storage with no SD option, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi and the same 3.1-inch 320-by-480 screen as the original Pre.

Will HP have something else to offer on Wednesday or will the computer maker continue to tie its smartphone fortunes to the ?

WebOS 2.0

HP's event on Wednesday isn't just about new products, but a discussion about the future of WebOS.I wouldn't be surprised if that translates into, "nothing new for WebOS software so we'll just talk about how great it is."Expect to seeand its features such as multitasking; HP Synergy for merging your multiple online accounts into your phone's contacts, calendars and messaging apps; and Just Type, a feature that lets you write an e-mail, text, search query or status update from one place.

Can WebOS Win?

The big question hanging over HP's WebOS event Wednesday is whether it has what it takes to compete against the smartphone and tablet frontrunners, Google's Android and Apple's iOS.Microsoft is having a hard time getting Windows Phone 7 off the ground.The company recently said itlast quarter, but that's nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of Android and iOS devices being activated every day.Nokia recently admitted it was , and Research In Motion's Blackberry devices aren't expected to win back lost ground to iOS and Android any time soon.

Will WebOS fare any better?Is there room for another mobile OS platform or will theby the end of 2011?

The key to WebOS' future prospects will be third-party apps.Users want to know that if they move to a new platform they can get the coolest, most fun apps possible.WebOS is admittedly a little bit ahead of the game with popular apps such as Angry Birds (something , yet), Facebook, Evernote, The New York Times, Pandora, Gowalla and Foursquare.

But the WebOS app ecosystem doesn't come close to having the hundreds of thousands of apps that Android and iOS do. HP needs to convince developers that writing apps for the WebOS platform will be worth their while.But that's a tough call when there's already Android, iOS, Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry.Can the world sustain another mobile platform?We should have a better idea of WebOS' future prospects after HP's press event Wednesday starting at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Connect with Ian Paul () andon Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.

Quinnipiac defeats St. Francis (N.Y.) 74-60

NEW YORK – Deontay Twyman scored 20 points and Quinnipiac won its third game in a row by defeating St. Francis (N.Y.) 74-60 on Thursday night.

The Bobcats (15-7, 7-4 Northeast Conference) nearly got a double-double out of James Johnson, who had 16 points and nine rebounds. Lance Brown grabbed 12 rebounds as Quinnipiac, whose 41.7-rebound average is fourth in the nation, won the battle of the boards 50-30.

Justin Rutty added 12 points and eight rebounds.

Ricky Cadell led St. Francis with 16 points, but was only 4 of 16 from the field. The Terriers shot 33.3 percent from the field (21 of 63). Travis Nichols added 15 points. Akeem Bennett, who had 28 in Saturday's win at Fairleigh Dickinson, was held to four points, 10.3 below his average.

Quinnipiac committed 18 turnovers to St. Francis' nine, but when it came to scoring off them, the Terriers only gained two points (15-13).