Verizon announced today that its first 4G smartphone, the HTC Thunderbolt, will be available starting March 17 for $249.99 with a two-year contract.

Announced at CES 2011, the Thunderbolt has been one of the most anticipated smartphones of the year so far, as it's the first phone to take advantage of Verizon's LTE network, which promises download speeds of 5Mbps to 12Mbps and upload speeds of 2Mbps to 5Mbps.

The smartphone can be used as a mobile hot-spot capabilities for up to eight devices and comes preloaded with several 4G-optimized apps, including EA's Rock Band, Gameloft's Let's Golf, Tunewiki, and Bitbop. CNET also confirmed with Verizon that the Thunderbolt will be able to do simultaneous voice and data over 3G.

In addition to the 4G capabilities, the Android 2.2 device features HTC Sense, a 4.3-inch WVGA touch screen, a kickstand, an 8-megapixel camera with HD video recording, and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video calls. The smartphone is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and has 8GB of onboard memory, as well as preinstalled 32GB microSD card. … Read more

The T-Mobile Sidekick as we once knew it may be gone forever, but that doesn't mean it's the end of the franchise. Far from it actually.

T-Mobile dished out fresh details about the upcoming Sidekick 4G this evening, and the smartphone mixes a bit of the old with the new to offer something that's both familiar to Sidekick fans and modern enough to keep it relevant in today's competitive smartphone market.

Right off the bat, you'll notice that the design doesn't stray far from its roots. You get the five-row keyboard and even the … Read more

OK, so you just replaced your antiquated, not-even-a-year-old iPad with a brand new iPad 2.

To complete the succession, you have one last task to complete: to transfer all your apps, music, movies, and settings from that archaic piece of "technology" (that was never good enough for you, anyway) to your new honey, who's going to love you forever.

I don't state it in the video, but make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on your PC. Also, just to be completely safe, go ahead and upgrade your current iPad to the latest … Read more

Happy Pi Day; it's March 14, which means it's the day to commemorate the mathematical holiday started by Larry Shaw, who created it in 1989 while working at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. We're all about celebrating nerds, so enjoy a sweet or savory pie today with us!

Wilson's enjoying Pi Day with a slice of his own Apple iPad 2; he and Jeff waited patiently in line to become two of the 500,000 estimated iPad 2 owners over the device's launch weekend. Many Apple stores officially ran out of stock this weekend, and now analysts are expecting up to a two-week backlog on orders reserved online.

You can read CNET's official review of the iPad 2 here, but we also want to talk about the new features being added to the iPad 2 with the public release of iOS 4.3.… Read more

The Wi-Fi-only versions of Motorola's Xoom and Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablets could reach consumers very soon, at least according to a couple of product flyers discovered by the folks at DroidLife.

Displaying what appears to be an upcoming flyer for Staples, DroidLife has zeroed in on a launch date of March 27 and a price tag of $599 for the Wi-Fi-only Xoom. Though the price seems accurate based on information from Motorola, the new date contradicts earlier information sent to DroidLife indicating an April 3 debut for the Wi-Fi-only Xoom.

Motorola Mobility's CEO Sanjay Jha recently revealed that the Wi-Fi-only version Xoom would sell for around $600. Staples' price for the Wi-Fi Xoom is a bit higher than the $539 that Sam's Club reportedly will charge. But if accurate, the difference makes sense since Sam's Club discounts its prices for members. The Wi-Fi Xoom is slated to launch in Europe starting in the second quarter.

We've reached out to Motorola and Staples for comment or further details.

Meanwhile, another supposed product flyer uncovered by DroidLife says the Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab will start shipping by April 4 and sell for $399. Launched last November, the 3G version of the 7-inch tablet currently sells from a variety of carriers for a variety of prices, with T-Mobile offering the Tab at $249 with a two-year contract.

A Samsung spokeswoman told CNET that the company has not announced pricing or availability for the Wi-Fi-only version of the Tab.… Read more

Motorola and Verizon Wireless have begun to roll out a minor update to the 10.1-inch Xoom tablet this week, preparing the Honeycomb device for Flash 10.2.

Released as a staged over-the-air update, Android 3.0.1 also addresses (PDF) a bug in the Xoom affecting daylight saving time and calendar appointments. It's expected that the update will be delivered to all tablets ahead of Flash 10.2's arrival in the Android Market on March 18.

According to Adobe's blog, this latest build of Flash will be available initially in beta form for all tablets that have the Android 3.0.1 update. Once loaded, the 10.2 version is expected to offer better battery performance and higher frame rates than its previous iterations. … Read more

As the iPad juggernaut continues with today's launch of the iPad 2, can any other tablet maker truly compete with Apple?

The odds seem to be against it, at least according to the results of a survey released yesterday by ChangeWave Research. Questioning more than 3,000 consumers last month, ChangeWave found that 27 percent of them plan to buy a tablet, 2 percentage points more than a similar poll found last November.

Among those eyeing a tablet, 82 percent said they'll opt for an iPad. That number compares with 4 percent looking into a Motorola Xoom, 3 … Read more

We're keeping Japan in our collective thoughts today as the country continues to suffer from the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit this morning. Be sure to visit RedCross.org for how you can help with the relief effort.

As usual, Google is doing its part to help on the tech side with a Person Finder to help locate displaced family and friends in Japan. Google launched a similar project in February of last year amid the Chilean earthquake disaster.

It's hard to think about anything but our friends in the East, but today also happens to be iPad 2 day, and there are already people in line for the release at 5 p.m. tonight.

And after spending almost 41 hours in line (all the way through last night's torrents), college student Amanda Foote just sold her first-place spot in line for $900. She plans to use the money to buy Lady Gaga tickets.

This morning also marked the release of the trailer for JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg's new sci-fi thriller "Super 8." The Twitter-exclusive full-length trailer finally gives context to the teaser we first saw in last year's Super Bowl ad, although we still don't know exactly what escaped from the train crash.

In typical Bad Robot fashion, JJ Abrams and his crew add to the mystery of the film with an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) alongside viral marketing that creates an entire world to discover around the film.

There's already a product page in place for Rocket Poppeteers that lets you sign up and create your own member certificate, as well as an easter egg editing room whose URL is seen in this frozen screenshot from the trailer.

After an extended chat about the origin of ARGs, Jeff and I both have stories to talk about that deal with our beats--video games and printers, respectively.… Read more

Adobe Systems, working furiously to disprove Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs' belief that the Flash Player is a bad match for mobile devices, will deliver its second version of the software for Android devices on March 18.

The software will be available in final form through the Android Market for Android 2.2 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread) devices and in beta form for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablets after Google's 3.0.1 system update, Adobe said in a blog post.

However, it's not for any Android device. People can check Adobe's list of Flash-capable Android devices … Read more