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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Engadget News

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IBM's Jeopardy-winning supercomputer headed to hospitals. Dr. Watson, we presume?

Posted: 24 May 2011 11:02 AM PDT

We always knew that Watson's powers extended well beyond the realm of TV trivia, and now IBM has provided a little more insight into how its supercomputer could help doctors treat and diagnose their patients. Over the past few months, researchers have been stockpiling Watson's database with information from journals and encyclopedias, in an attempt to beef up the device's medical acumen. The idea is to eventually sync this database with a hospital's electronic health records, allowing doctors to remotely consult Watson via cloud computing and speech-recognition technology. The system still has its kinks to work out, but during a recent demonstration for the AP, IBM's brainchild accurately diagnosed a fictional patient with Lyme disease using only a list of symptoms. It may be another two years, however, before we see Watson in a white coat, as IBM has yet to set a price for its digitized doc. But if it's as sharp in the lab as it was on TV, we may end up remembering Watson for a lot more than pwning Ken Jennings. Head past the break for a video from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, which, along with Columbia University, has been directly involved in IBM's program.

New CyanogenMod lets you rule Android app permissions with an iron fist

Posted: 24 May 2011 10:34 AM PDT

We've recently seen Google crack down on rogue apps and patch some server-side security issues, but let's not forget Android does have a small measure of built-in security: app permissions. But as with those pesky EULAs, many users tend to breeze through the permissions screen. And Android forces even the most attentive readers to accept or deny all permissions requested by an app. But the newest nightly builds of the CyanogenMod custom ROM include a clever patch allowing users to grant and revoke permissions individually -- something like the TISSA security manager we're still awaiting. Obviously playing God with permissions can crash your applications: with great power comes great responsibility. But we figure if you're running aftermarket firmware on a rooted phone, you're comfortable experimenting. See how it works in the video after the break, then hit the source link to download.


Windows Phone Mango and Bing Vision hands-on

Posted: 24 May 2011 09:43 AM PDT

We're done listening, it's time to start doing. Microsoft had a number of Windows Phone Mango devices scattered about after this morning's intimate event concluded. So we grabbed one, went somewhere quiet, and got a little more intimate with the operating system itself, checking out the new hubs, groups, and Bing Vision search that should make cross-shopping a whole lot easier. Join us, won't you, to see what Mango is -- and what it isn't.
Windows Phone Mango hands-on!

First of all, Mango is not necessarily Windows Phone 7.1. Microsoft simply had to get the SDK ready to go and, well, they "had to call it something." So, 7.1 is that something, a number applied to the SDK that we have a feeling will stick to the OS as well, but Microsoft is still far from carving that version into stone.


We also got a little more information about the Dell situation, that simply the company wasn't quite ready to commit to being on the Mango bandwagon. So, don't try to read too much into the company's omission from the slide deck here: there's no reason to think the company won't be there with bells on once the leaves start turning, joining the confirmed partners: Samsung, LG, HTC, Acer, Fujitsu, ZTE, and of course Nokia. Oh, and if you're hoping for tethering in this release? No such luck -- it'll have to wait for a future release.

But, onto more important things. As you can see in the videos here the revisions and augmentations in Mango are tightly integrated into the OS, such that if you don't know where to look you'll probably miss them. The new Groups feature in the People Hub gives you a quick view into what's happening with your friends, pulling in photos and updates and really augmenting the social aspects of the device.

In fact, you could say that Kin lives on, its social DNA now imbibed by Windows Phone and, honestly, looking pretty great in its new digs.


We also tried out the new Bing Vision feature, which allows you to search for things using the camera. Unlike Google Googles or the like you can't take a picture of any old thing -- only visual codes (bar, QR, etc.) will be recognized along with book, movie, and album covers -- but things are much more responsive because of it. You don't need to take a pic and wait: the results just pop up. The OS can even identify and translate text in real-time, something you can see toward the end of the video above. Naturally, though, all of this relies on an active data connection.

Ultimately Mango is not a groundbreaking update, but it is definitely shaping up to be a great addition to the world of Windows Phone, adding the seamless integration other smartphone platforms lack, tying loose ends together to create a nicely woven final package. The only problem? It won't be ripe until fall, and while there will surely be a suite of new devices that ship with this software it remains to be seen just how long it'll take this juice of this fruit to trickle out to all the existing WP7 devices. It also remains to be seen just how much further we can take these mango references, but rest assured we aren't finished yet.

Sony's new OLED display promises higher quality images, glitch-free brightness

Posted: 24 May 2011 09:01 AM PDT

It may not be as flexible as some of the other displays we saw at last week's SID conference, but Sony seems confident that its new OLED panel will deliver high quality images with enhanced, glitch-free brightness. The 9.9-inch screen transmits images in 960 x 540 resolution, boasts a ninety-six percent color gamut, and is powered by a Self-Aligned Top-Gate TFT (in which the gate material is placed above the insulator) that reduces disparities in luminosity. To achieve this, Sony developed a new, four-part manufacturing process that lowers the parasitic capacitance between the gate electrode and the TFT. The top-gate structure, moreover, shortens the TFT's channel length, making it easier to adapt the technology to larger, high-resolution displays. No word yet on when the prototype will hit the market, but when it does, it'd be nice if it's priced as reasonably as some other OLEDs from Sony.

Windows Phone Mango augmented reality hands-on

Posted: 24 May 2011 08:38 AM PDT

We're still waiting to get our first big bite of the full Mango experience after this morning's liveblog, but we were able to get a quick hands-on with a few of the apps making use of the operating system's new features. Chief among them is the History Channel app, which is making use of the augmented reality features that have been enabled. Using the internal gyro and accelerometer the device was able to overlay landmarks, which with a tap can be added to the phones home screen -- you know, in case you really want to know what's up at the Brooklyn Bridge. We also got a look at the updated Weather Channel app, which will not identify cloud types using any augmented reality trickery, but will give you quick and easy access to what's up -- and about to start falling. Check out the pics below, and get ready for a video after the break.
Weather Channel and History Channel apps for Windows Phone Mango (hands-on)

Samsung's Explore 3D video on demand service hits the US

Posted: 24 May 2011 08:33 AM PDT

Well, it looks like folks in the US didn't have to wait that long to get Samsung's new Explore 3D video on demand service after all. Just over a week after launching in the UK, the app has now made its way to capable Smart 3D TVs in the United States, complete with "dozens of pieces of free 3D content," including trailers, music videos and educational content. What's more, while it's limited to free content right now, Samsung says that it will expand into paid content "later this year," and offer feature films from some as yet unnamed major studios (no word on pricing just yet). Full press release is after the break, and the app should be available from Samsung's SmartHub right now.
Show full PR text
Samsung Launches 3D On Demand Streaming Service in the U.S. – Delivering Spectacular 3D Content at Any Time

Free service launching today with trailers, music videos, educational content, full-length TV shows and more – Paid content from major studios coming this year

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics America Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today announced a new way for consumers to access incredible new 3D content for their 3D LED and 3D Plasma TVs.

"We decided to expand our Explore 3D App with both free content and – coming soon - feature films in order to meet this growing demand."

Beginning immediately, the "Explore 3D" app, which is accessible with a single click from Samsung's SmartHub interface, will offer access to dozens of pieces of free 3D content - all in streaming high definition - including trailers from DreamWorks Animation and other studios, music videos, educational content and full-length TV shows from Wealth TV.

Later this year, Explore 3D will also offer access to paid content available in streaming 3D – including feature films and shorts, plus full-length 3D documentaries. The service is available now on all 2010 and 2011 LED Smart 3D TVs and Plasma Smart 3D TVs. Users simply sign up for a new account via any PC.

"Once consumers experience the wonder of immersive 3D that we deliver on Samsung 3D LED and 3D Plasma TVs, they generally crave all the 3D content they can get their hands on," said John Revie, senior vice president of Home Entertainment, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. "We decided to expand our Explore 3D App with both free content and – coming soon - feature films in order to meet this growing demand."

"Samsung is providing the ultimate 3D experience to consumers - from a broad range of quality 3D TVs to compelling 3D content via Samsung's Explore 3D application. WealthTV is pleased to have a number of complete shows available via Samsung's Explore 3D offering," stated Robert Herring, Sr, CEO of WealthTV.

The Explore 3D application is powered by Rovi Corporation and includes its cloud-based metadata and RoxioNow platform. Rovi currently powers entertainment services for a range of companies, including digital storefronts from Blockbuster and Sears that are also available on Samsung TVs. In addition to supporting Explore 3D, Rovi licenses its interactive program guide, Advertising Services and DivX technologies for use on Samsung devices.

Samsung' utilizes 3D Active technology to deliver a no-compromise 3D experience. Unlike other approaches to 3D, Active 3D Technology delivers up to double the resolution for an immersive, Full HD image (1080p picture for each eye), a wider viewing angle and no black lines interfering with the picture.

Recently, Samsung announced a new promotion which includes two pairs of its Active 3D glasses with qualified 2011 LED and Plasma TVs purchased from authorized dealers, as well as a price reduction across its entire line of 3D glasses, allowing a family of four to enjoy 3D for under $100.

For more information on Samsung's full line of 3D TVs, glasses and accessories, please visit http://www.samsungusanews.com/.

About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.

Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, NJ, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., markets a broad range of award-winning, digital consumer electronics and home appliance products, including HDTVs, home theater systems, MP3 players, digital imaging products, refrigerators and washing machines. A recognized innovation leader in consumer electronics design and technology, Samsung is the HDTV market leader in the U.S. Please visit www.samsung.com for more information.

Dell curiously missing from Windows Phone 'Mango' hardware partner list, Microsoft says 'stay tuned' (updated)

Posted: 24 May 2011 08:01 AM PDT

Microsoft this morning added Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE to its stable of Windows Phone hardware partners, but look at that image above and you'll find one name missing. Yes, Michael Dell's surname is a notable absentee from the group of Mango manufacturers, which prompted us to reach out to someone in charge to see what's what. A Microsoft rep informed us that the company has nothing to announce on that front at present, but urged us to "stay tuned," whatever that may mean. If you're wondering where Nokia is, fret not, it's still very much in Microsoft's future plans, it just got a separate mention. As to Dell? Not a peep in the entire keynote. This comes only a day after a Wall Street Journal article mentioned Dell's intention to reduce its presence in the consumer market and focus on its enterprise strengths -- could an abandonment of Windows Phone be one of those steps?

Update: Dell is not off the list of WP7 hardware manufacturers. Microsoft told us that the Round Rock gang simply isn't one of the "partners ready to go" do the Mango tango right now.

Qualcomm confirms its Snapdragon processor will power 'new generation of Windows Phone' devices

Posted: 24 May 2011 08:00 AM PDT

We'd heard some rumblings ST-Ericsson might be moving in on its turf with Nokia's Windows Phone devices, but Qualcomm has now reasserted that it's still the main game in town. Following the big Mango announcement this morning, Qualcomm confirmed that Microsoft has chosen it to bring a "new generation of Windows Phone handsets exclusively featuring Qualcomm's second generation Snapdragon mobile processors to market." The company's executive vice president, Steve Mollenkopf, further went on to say that Qualcomm is "excited about this next Windows Phone Mango release," and that it will "leverage the synergy of our highly integrated second generation Snapdragon solution and Microsoft's Windows Phone software." Leveraging synergy, what more could you ask for?

Windows Phone 'Mango' will be used on first Nokia WP devices (updated: multiple!)

Posted: 24 May 2011 07:22 AM PDT

Nokia has noted Microsoft's announcement of the new Windows Phone 7 (aka Mango) with word that the software being demonstrated today will be the one we'll see on the first Nokia with Windows Phone device. That's singular, not plural, indicating that Nokia will likely start off with one phone and work its way up. It also slightly contracts the roadmap for the first handset born from the Microkia partnership, though Nokia's statement makes sure not to make any promises about when said device will show up. Finally, we find the "Nokia with Windows Phone" phrasing somewhat peculiar, don't be surprised if you see it turn into a branding strategy for Nokia's smartphones going forward. Here's the relevant statement, straight out of Finland:

"Today Microsoft has announced the key new ingredients of the latest 'Mango' release of the Windows Phone operating system. This is the software that will be used on the first Nokia with Windows Phone device, and so should be of keen interest to Nokia-watchers everywhere."

Update: Microsoft just concluded its keynote with word that it already has Nokia phones running Mango in its labs. And none have leaked out yet, amazing!

Update 2: We were just contacted by a Nokia representative indicating that there was a mistake in the original announcement the company distributed. It wasn't supposed to read device, it was supposed to be devices. More than one!

Barnes & Noble announces new touch-enabled Nook for $139 (video)

Posted: 24 May 2011 07:13 AM PDT

Nook Event
Not to be outdone by Kobo, which just unleashed it's latest E Ink reader yesterday, the folks at Barnes & Noble are back with the latest update to their line of Nook devices. The "all new" Nook has the same Zeforce infrared touch layer as the aforementioned Kobo, and lasts up to two months on a single charge. The Pearl E Ink screen boasts "80-percent less flashing" during page turns, something that many fans of the devices have resigned themselves to having their eyes assaulted by. B&N is also quite proud of its streamlined interface which it brags has 37 less buttons than the Kindle 3. Around the back is a soft-touch rubber surface that should feel great in the hand while reading, though, we'll have to wait to manhandle one ourselves to be sure.

The new Nook has a redesigned home screen with your current reading list and suggested titles. It also adds a few new features like FastPage Zoom forward, which lets you jump to any page in a title, and (finally) displays the number of pages left to go. Inside is Android 2.1, 2GB of storage, which can be expanded using the microSD slot, and a WiFi radio -- but sadly no 3G. You'll also be able to share quotes, lend books, and update your status on social networks using Nook Friends, which debuted last year with the Nook Color.

You can pre-order online and in stores now and the updated Nook should start shipping to customers June 10th. You'll also be able to pick one up at BestBuy, Walmart, Books-A-Million, and Staples for $139 at the same time.

Update: We just got a brief hands-on with B&N's svelte new Nook, and it's a sexy piece of hardware. It's incredibly light and thin (quite a bit thinner than its predecessor) and the rubbery back feels pleasant in the hand. We were only able to poke around the software for a short while, but it's certainly more responsive than the original Nook (as you'll see in the video below). While there is less screen flashing during refreshes there is still some, and it actually might be more jarring now that you're not seeing it every page turn.
Barnes and Noble BEA Event 2011

Touch Enabled Nook Hands-On




Show full PR text
Barnes & Noble Introduces The All-New NOOK™, The Simple Touch Reader™

Best Battery Life Ever – Up to an Incredible Two Months on a Single Charge

Ultra-Light and Compact for Optimal Portability, Lighter than a Paperback

Full Touchscreen with E Ink® Pearl Display Technology for Reading Anywhere

Optimized Display Performance Offers 80 Percent Less Flashing

than Any Other eReader for the Most Immersive Reading Experience

The Most Intuitive, Easy-to-Use eReader for Everyone

Barnes & Noble Expert Recommendations,

Plus the Most Social Reading Experience with NOOK Friends™

Pre-Order for $139 in Time for Father's Day and Summer Reading

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, today expanded its bestselling digital reading offering with the All-New NOOK, The Simple Touch Reader. With a full touchscreen, NOOK™ features record-setting, extra-long battery life on the easiest-to-use, ultra-light, portable 6-inch eReader with the most-advanced E Ink Pearl display, and the world's largest bookstore available by Wi-Fi®. Now available for pre-order at www.nook.com and at Barnes & Noble stores for just $139, NOOK will begin shipping on or about June 10. Barnes & Noble adds the All-New NOOK, a significant leap forward in the dedicated eReader category, to a product line that includes the bestselling NOOK Color™, the only Reader's Tablet™. Based on the success of the NOOK product line, combined with focus on the absolute best reading experience, Barnes & Noble now claims more than 25 percent of the digital book market – just 18 months after launching NOOK 1st Edition™.

"We set out to design the easiest-to-use, most optimized, dedicated reading device ever created and accomplished it with the All-New NOOK"

Barnes & Noble has always recognized the simplicity and ease that the element of touch brings to its NOOK product line, and the All-New NOOK is no exception. With a simple tap to the 6-inch touchscreen, it's intuitive and easy to navigate, shop and read. Customers can look up words, highlight passages, adjust the font size and style or search by typing on the responsive on-screen keyboard that appears only when a customer needs it. The paper-like E Ink display features crisp, clear text that's great for reading anywhere, even in bright sunlight. The no-glare display offers 50 percent more contrast than NOOK 1st Edition.

At only 7.48 ounces (212 grams), the artfully designed All-New NOOK is lightweight and thin – 35 percent lighter and 15 percent thinner than NOOK Wi-Fi 1st Edition™. Lighter than a paperback, NOOK's sleek but durable, compact design (6.5 inches high by 5 inches wide by 0.47 inches deep) makes it easy to fit in a jacket, pocket, purse or backpack, holding up to 1,000 digital books and more personal content using the expandable memory slot. Its ergonomic, contoured design with a soft-touch back makes it easy and comfortable to read, even with just one hand, and for extended periods of time. And thanks to best-in-class battery life, read for up to 2 months on a single charge with Wi-Fi off – that's twice as long as the other leading eReader available.

Barnes & Noble's use of the latest-generation E Ink screen and proprietary technology offers unmatched performance on the All-New NOOK, delivering a seamless and immersive reading experience. NOOK offers 80 percent less flashing than other eReaders – whether turning pages, browsing for books or scrolling through your library. Page turns are lightning fast, using the touchscreen or well-placed side buttons, and with the new Fast Page™ feature, just press and hold a side button to quickly scan through content and skip right to the desired section.

"We set out to design the easiest-to-use, most optimized, dedicated reading device ever created and accomplished it with the All-New NOOK," said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. "Touch makes it simple to use, and the beautifully compact design makes it the most portable eReader in its class. Add to that an unmatched battery life, the most advanced paper-like touch display on the market and wireless access to the world's largest digital bookstore, and we believe that for readers of all ages, the All-New NOOK is the best eReader on the market, and a great value at $139."

The World's Largest Bookstore in Your Pocket

With the All-New NOOK, customers can enjoy a wide variety of digital content, all at their fingertips. Shop for everything from new releases and current bestsellers to classics and more, all in a single search. The NOOK Bookstore™ offers one of the most expansive digital catalogs of more than two million books, magazines and newspapers. Enjoy helpful recommendations from Barnes & Noble's experts, personalized based on customers' favored authors and genres, to decide what to read next. Have more than 80 popular national and local market newspapers and magazines from the NOOK Newsstand™ automatically delivered to NOOK the moment they're released, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and USA TODAY, as well as Forbes, Reader's Digest, Discover, Fast Company and New York magazine. All periodicals are available for subscription with a 14-day free trial or via single copies.

Most NOOK Books™ are $9.99 or less, including most of The New York Times Bestsellers, plus there's over a million free classics. Enjoy more than 100,000 titles from independent publishers and self-publishing authors using Barnes & Noble's PubIt!™ digital publishing platform. Young readers will find more than 12,000 NOOK Kids™ chapter books in Barnes & Noble's world's largest collection of digital children's content. Sample NOOK Book titles for free and download all content wirelessly over a Wi-Fi connection in just seconds.

When customers visit Barnes & Noble stores with their All-New NOOK, the shopping and reading experience gets even better. Connect to free and fast Wi-Fi and browse complete NOOK Books for free through the company's innovative Read In Store™ program and get exclusive content and special promotions through the More In Store™ program. NOOK customers receive access at more than 24,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as other personal and public hotspots to browse, buy and download new content wirelessly.

Get Social with NOOK Friends

Another way NOOK customers can learn more about great books is through NOOK Friends, an exciting social experience previously available only to NOOK Color customers. From the home page, customers can see book recommendations from friends. See what your friends have posted about their current read, swap recommendations, share reading status, favorite quotes, and much more. Through Twitter® and Facebook® integrations, right from their current book, customers can tweet the title they're reading, post on their Facebook wall and see what their NOOK Friends "like" on Facebook. With Barnes & Noble's exclusive LendMe® technology, you can also lend eligible books to your friends at no cost for 14 days, and see and request to borrow friends' LendMe books.

And coming in the next few weeks, Barnes & Noble will offer a new custom website, mynook.com, where customers can get recommendations from Barnes & Noble expert booksellers and NOOK Friends, access their NOOK Library™, and manage their device.

Read Your Way

Customers can customize their All-New NOOK and reading experience to their liking. Choose from 7 font sizes and 6 font styles. NOOK owners can personalize their device with one of Barnes & Noble's screen savers or transfer personal photos (JPG, PNG, BMP and GIF) to make NOOK their own, and choose from a complete line of exclusive, new NOOK accessories (www.nook.com/accessories) to show their style wherever they go. They can also create personalized My Shelves to organize their NOOK Library and group reading content similar to their bookcase.

Read Everywhere

A customer's entire NOOK Library follows them wherever they go. They can also easily transfer personal EPUB and PDF files to their All-New NOOK device to read documents on the go using the 2GB internal memory or a microSD™ card. Since the All-New NOOK is built on Android™ Operating System 2.1 and uses Adobe technology, device owners can also borrow digital books from their local library, a feature Barnes & Noble has always offered to NOOK device customers. Customers can also read seamlessly, accessing their NOOK Library and sync the last page read across their NOOK devices and their favorite mobile and computing devices using Barnes & Noble's free line of eReading software (www.bn.com/freenookapps).

Availability

The All-New NOOK can be pre-ordered for $139 today and is expected to begin shipping on or about June 10, making it the perfect gift for dads and grads, and a great addition for every book lover's summer reading wish list. Experience the All-New NOOK at www.nook.com or at the NOOK Boutiques™ and displays in one of Barnes & Noble's more than 700 bookstores. With The Barnes & Noble Promise™, the company offers unmatched customer support in neighborhood Barnes & Noble bookstores, as more than 40,000 booksellers across the country are ready to assist customers with setting up their NOOKs or choosing their next great read. The company also continues to provide award-winning customer service support via phone and email. The All-New NOOK will also be available beginning next month at Best Buy, Walmart, Staples and Books-A-Million, along with NOOK Color.

About NOOK™ from Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble's NOOK brand of eReading products makes it easy to read what you love, anywhere you like™ with a fun, easy-to-use and immersive digital reading experience. With NOOK, customers gain access to Barnes & Noble's expansive NOOK Bookstore™ of more than two million digital titles, and the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices. The award-winning NOOK Color™ Reader's Tablet™, the best-value on the tablet market ($249), features a stunning 7-inch VividView™ Color Touchscreen to read all of the content you love, shop popular apps, connect via email, browse the Web and more. The All-New NOOK ($139), the Simple Touch Reader™, is the easiest-to-use 6-inch touch reader, with the longest battery life of any eReader. In Barnes & Noble stores, NOOK owners can access free Wi-Fi connectivity, enjoy the Read In Store™ feature to read NOOK Books™ for free, and the More In Store™ program, which offers free, exclusive content and special promotions. Barnes & Noble was the first company to offer digital lending for a wide selection of books through its LendMe® technology, available through NOOK eReading products. Find NOOK devices in Barnes & Noble stores and online at www.BN.com, as well as at Best Buy, Walmart, Staples and Books-A-Million.

In addition to NOOK devices, Barnes & Noble makes it easy for customers to enjoy any book, anytime, anywhere with its free line of NOOK software, available at www.bn.com/freenookapps. Customers can use Barnes & Noble's free eReading software to access and read books from their personal Barnes & Noble digital library on devices including iPad™, iPhone®, iPod touch®, Android™ smartphones and tablets BlackBerry®, PC and Mac®. Lifetime Library™ helps ensure that Barnes & Noble customers will always be able to access their digital libraries on NOOK products and software-enabled devices and BN.com. Barnes & Noble also offers NOOK Study™ (www.nookstudy.com), an innovative study platform and software solution for higher education, NOOK Kids™ (www.nookkids.com), a collection of digital picture and chapter books for children, and NOOK Books en español™ (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooksenespanol), the first-ever Spanish language digital bookstore in the United States.

For more information on NOOK devices and eReading software, updates, new NOOK Book releases, Free Friday™ NOOK Books and more, follow us on www.twitter.com/ebooksbn and www.facebook.com/nookbn.

ABOUT BARNES & NOBLE, INC.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 705 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 636 college bookstores serving nearly 4 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble's NOOK™ eReading product offering, customers can buy and read eBooks on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK eBook Readers, devices from partner companies, and hundreds of the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

Live from Microsoft's Windows Phone VIP preview event!

Posted: 24 May 2011 07:01 AM PDT


10:45AM Looks like we're done! Mango's looking sweet and we're off to go get a taste!

10:44AM What's coming now? Some loud music, apparently.

10:44AM Again, reminding that the SDK is out now, new phones and new OS coming this fall.


10:43AM Apparently Nokia Mango devices already exist, are already being tested, somewhere in a lab... somewhere...

10:43AM Windows Phone Mango will be the release that is used for the first Nokia Windows Phones.

10:42AM And there's one big one in the middle: Nokia.


10:42AM Also, new partners: Acer, Fujitsu, and ZTE.

10:42AM Confirmation that Samsung, LG, and HTC will be deploying new phones.



10:41AM Also coming in the version will be greater international support. The "addressable market" for Mango is four times larger, but no specifics about what new languages will make that possible.

10:41AM We're still calling things Mango here, by the way. No word on whether this will be 7.1 or 7.5 yet. We'd previously heard the former.

10:40AM And mad women, of course.


10:40AM Mango tools are available now, at least, so developers can start having fun and coding like madmen.


10:39AM Our hearts, alight for a moment, just sunk again.

10:39AM ...and that was followed up by saying that it will be delivered wirelessly to devices this fall.

10:39AM Okay, we were just told you will "not have to wait" for Mango...

10:39AM Sadly, they're not going to list them all now.


10:38AM Demo over and again we're being reminded there are 500 features coming in Mango.


10:37AM Really quick, nicely integrated, and potentially very useful. But does it work this well if you scan something a bit more obscure? We'll find out later.

10:37AM He scanned the cover of the Miley Cyrus biography (which really pulls at your heart strings, btw) and, with a tap, was right in the Kindle Store.



10:36AM It instantly delivers results. You don't need to submit, don't need to wait, just hit the result you want and bing it takes you there.



10:36AM No typing required, no speaking, just hit the eye icon and hover your camera over whatever you want to search for.

10:35AM Search time again. Visual Search now.


10:35AM We can get a list of events that are coming up, when they're coming. Oooh, Josh Groban.

10:35AM Time to go to MSG -- the place, not the seasoning.




10:34AM Yes, no longer will you be tethered to those giant printed maps, you can now squint at your phone!

10:33AM Tap one and you get a quick card for the location. He picked the Manhattan Mall and, with a tap, you can now get a map inside the mall.





10:33AM Restaurants, tours, farmers markets, dive bars...

10:33AM Another new experience: Local Scout. You can see all the stuff to do around you in one view.





10:32AM Now we're looking up restaurant reviews. Again with the food stuff. Getting hungry over here...

10:32AM Now you do. Thanks, IMDB -- and Windows Phone Mango.

10:32AM Did you know Sean Penn was going to be in Water for Elephants?

10:32AM One tap later we're right into the app, looking at reviews, parental guides, and trivia.





10:31AM It's using a feature called App Connect, handing off from a search result right into the IMDB app.

10:31AM Search by title, it shows you showtimes. Old hat -- but now you can get a lot more info in cards.

10:31AM Okay, now we're showing some location-related searches, looking for a movie.


10:30AM Mango? 30fps. Bam! This is obviously the ideal phone for speed readers.

10:30AM Okay, we're running an HTML5 benchmark, Speed Reading. The Torch = 5fps, the Charge is about 10, and the iPhone hasn't started yet...


10:29AM Guess which one's going to search faster? We can't wait to find out.

10:29AM Okay, we now have a BBerry Torch, iPhone 4, and the Droid Charge up on the prompter -- all lined up in a row next to a Mango device.

10:28AM Time to Bing, yo!

10:28AM Time to talk search again, Derek's back for another demo, blending search into the OS itself.


10:28AM Like, you know, a nice pair of gloves!

10:27AM Now IE9 on the browser will "tailor the web to your palm."

10:27AM Time to talk browsing. IE9 is on deck, "widely regarded as the leading desktop browser." Their words, note. Their words.



10:26AM Which probably means they're out wandering the pasture somewhere.

10:26AM Andy's back, reminding us that third-party apps have been "freed from their silos."










10:25AM Nobody wants to hear that Captain Jack went on a weekend bender before your Sunday red-eye.

10:25AM Wow, you can even see the menu, the movie selection, and the captain's name. Doesn't look like you can link to his Facebook profile, which might be for the best.

10:24AM Ooh, 3D walkthrough of the plane to pick your seat. Gratuitous use of polygons!




10:24AM That sounds lovely if you fly BA a lot, but how about the integration we were hearing so much about a moment ago? Would be lovely to do this on all airlines...

10:23AM Tap it and you naturally jump in and see all your upcoming flights, get updates, see your seat, etc.

10:23AM There's a live tile for the app, which gives time and date and other details.

10:23AM Okay, looking at a British Airways app now. Who's up for a little Eurotripping?

10:22AM Gaming will be a "really social experience" -- just like the Xbox 360.

10:22AM We'll ask later.

10:21AM Well, his avatar does anyway. Not sure if he does.



10:21AM Oh, look, he dressed like his avatar. And he has a pet monkey.

10:21AM You can now jump out of a game quickly and back in again without losing your progress.



10:19AM Okay, getting into Xbox. Now some fun stuff.



10:19AM Numbers, data, excitement.

10:19AM Looking at a spreadsheet now inside Office, pulled down from SkyDrive.




10:18AM Or, you know, not tag it if your friends would rather not be associated with your socially mild misdeeds.

10:18AM We saw a bit of Pictures before, and now we're seeing how you can upload to Facebook. It has face detection right in there so you can tag it and send it.

10:17AM We'll be looking at Pictures, Office, and Xbox hubs.

10:17AM Derek is back, looking at how apps will integrate into the hubs.


10:17AM Andy Lees is saying the disconnect from one application to the next is like "walking through the front door" when trying to go from the living room to the kitchen.


10:16AM "With other smartphones, applications are just silos -- you're presented with a grid of icons and a sea of applications."


10:15AM Now that we've got that down, let's talk apps!



10:15AM Creating a delicious, delightful mango tart.

10:14AM We're being reminded that all of this is built into the OS. We still haven't seen a single app outside of the core experience. Facebook, Exchange, Twitter, LinkedIn, all baked right in there.


10:14AM Never touched the phone, which might make texting while driving a little safer... but only a little.

10:13AM He just received a text while listening to music and the phone read it to him. He spoke the response and it converted it to text.


10:13AM Text to speech and voice recognition getting some screen time.

10:12AM Calendar integration time, which now shows Facebook events too, meaning you can make sure that your 5:00 concall ends before your 6:00 binge with buds at the bar.



10:12AM He's talking up the "rich information management tools" of the device, like flagging an e-mail as do not forward.

10:11AM Totally.

10:11AM Note here from Bill Gates: "You owe me $10." Totally not a fake e-mail.


10:10AM Okay, e-mail time.

10:10AM You can reply with a text and it'll show up in the same conversation window. Nice!

10:10AM Threads now handle communications across messaging platforms. Get a Facebook message but don't respond before your BFF heads off to work? No problem.



10:09AM Type "you're" it suggests "fired" -- maybe. If it's Trump's phone.

10:09AM Type "happy" it suggests "birthday."

10:08AM Showing off a smarter keyboard, "much more intuitive typing experience" here that predicts the next word for you.


10:08AM He's specifically calling out BBM, calling this a much more open system thanks to its compatibility with Live Messenger and Facebook Chat.


10:07AM It automatically pulls pictures of those tagged in the group, which helps you re-live all those more enjoyable times, even when you're stuck in a basement, like we kind of are now.

10:07AM There's a new feature called Groups, letting you bunch related people together into a grid. Live Tiles light up, flip around.




10:06AM Your friend who changes their profile pic every time the weather changes? You'll be seeing a lot of them.



10:06AM Now on the People Hub you'll see pictures from all the social networks, whatever they're uploading, all integrated together.


10:05AM Twitter and LinkedIn are now integrated, so you can see what's up with your buds and your office mates at the same time.

10:05AM Notifications are being pushed into "smarter" live tiles up front, letting you know what's going on even when you have your own thing going on.

10:05AM "We wanted to set people at the center of our focus by bringing people forward."

10:04AM Demo time!

10:04AM Derek Snyder is up now, Senior Project Manager.

10:04AM Yeah, that's you.

10:04AM The problem, he says, is that doing this through a bunch of apps is disjointed. Mango has a "people-centric approach" that ties it around the most important thing.

10:03AM You know, the inane stuff that gives us a reason to exist.



10:03AM We're hearing about the evolution of the phone now, how it's less about actually talking and more about doing things like taking pictures, tagging, sharing.

10:03AM There are three big aspects here: communications (with friends and family), software (apps and such) and internet (you know, the 'tubes).




10:02AM Mango is to "make the smartphone smarter and easier"

10:02AM "We wanted to provide innovation and choice without fragmentation and frustration" -- burn!



10:01AM His job? To deliver a set of "complete experiences" -- something we think we'll be hearing a lot about tonight.

10:00AM Andy Lees from Microsoft is up on stage, talking about a crowded market.

10:00AM And here we go!

10:00AM This is a particularly small event, maybe 40 - 50 people in here.

9:57AM Listening to some light folksy pop. Lifting the mood as we slowly sink into these cushions.

9:52AM And we're in! Seated in perhaps the most comfortable chairs we've ever had the honor of liveblogging from.
Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 VIP Preview Event is when you'll finally find what's coming next for Microsoft's biggest little operating system yet. Are you ready? Sure you are. Come, join us at the times below

04:00 - Hawaii
07:00 - Pacific
08:00 - Mountain
09:00 - Central
10:00 - Eastern
15:00 - London
16:00 - Paris
18:00 - Moscow
22:00 - Perth
22:00 - Shenzhen
23:00 - Tokyo
00:00 - Sydney (May 25th)

Windows Phone 'Mango' search offers location-specific results, app integration (video)

Posted: 24 May 2011 07:00 AM PDT


Windows Phone's latest iteration (codename Mango) is all about keeping it in the hood. We had a chance to sit down with a Windows Phone rep before today's big reveal, and they let us in on a couple of new features that will most definitely set the OS apart -- at least when it comes to navigating the tangled web that is the internet. We did get a quick glimpse at IE9, but the new browser isn't much of a game changer -- it supports HTML5, but still won't deliver Flash or Silverlight compatibility. The real news here is in the Bing-powered search function, which lets users surf the vast expanses of the web four different ways, with a focus on the local.

Clicking the dedicated search button from the Windows Phone home screen takes you to a familiar Bing page, offering the visual, audio, and voice options we heard rumored earlier this month, along with a city scape icon. That skyline represents Local Scout, a function that focuses your queries on the neighborhood you're in, providing location-specific results that highlight important information about establishments and events in your immediate area. Clicking through on any link brings up general information as well as reviews gleaned from popular user-generated sites. That's not all that's new, however, as Mango also offers some nifty tricks in its visual search. Instead of just snapping a barcode, you can actually use a shot of the product itself to bring up information about pricing, availability, and relevant apps.

The demo we saw used the cover of The Girl Who Played With Fire, and supplied among the search results a link to the title in the Kindle app. This isn't exactly groundbreaking technology -- Google Goggles does much the same thing -- but what's truly different here is the tight integration of such functions in the operating system, as well as links to outside applications. Thus, the experience is a bit unlike any other in the OS atmosphere, upending our idea of what it means to search the internets without resorting to standalone programs. Whether it's something users will take to is anybody's guess, but we're certain it's enough to get folks talking. For a deeper (and very vertical) look at Local Scout, hop on past the break.

Microsoft announces Windows Phone 'Mango' update, coming in autumn (updated)

Posted: 24 May 2011 06:16 AM PDT

Mango may no longer be a secret in and of itself, but we doubt Microsoft would've set up an entire event to preview its big Windows Phone update if there was nothing hidden up that Redmond sleeve. To that end, we've just come across an official press release from the company, released on its Romanian website. The machine translation awaits after the break.

Update: We've now swapped in the natively English press release. There's also confirmation that Mango will indeed be known as Windows Phone 7.1.

Update 2: Turns out Microsoft "had to give [the SDK] a name" and dubbed it 7.1, so Mango retains its formal WP7 moniker.

The first thing to note is that the update will be "freely available" to all current Windows Phone handsets, something Microsoft already committed to, and will be ready for download "at the beginning of this summer." (Update: it looks like our translation machinery betrayed us, tipsters are saying it's actually the beginning of autumn.) Naturally, the new goodness will also figure in new devices and from new partners, including Acer, Fujitsu, and ZTE. Those fresh faces join Nokia and the incumbent partners of Dell (maybe) HTC, Samsung, and LG to expand the WP ecosystem.

A Beta SDK of the new Windows Phone free tools will be available within 24 hours, we're promised, for developers to sink their teeth into.

In the communications department, Microsoft is introducing conversation threads, which seamlessly transition between MSN Messenger chats, SMS, and Facebook messaging to keep you talking to the same person irrespective of the method. New contact group tiles are also incoming, with the ability to send quick emails or IMs to entire groups. Twitter and LinkedIn contact integration is mentioned, though we expect this go a lot deeper in Twitter's case, as Microsoft has already demonstrated. Speaking of more in-depth integration, Microsoft has improved the Live Tiles to allow the display of more dynamic information from apps, which will of course be able to multitask beautifully. Internet Explorer 9 is also joining in on the Mango fun with support for HTML5. Jump past the break for all the details.

Update 3: Would you look at that, Bing search has gotten a thorough sprucing up as well. Video of all the new goodness follows after the break -- or you can click here to hit up Microsoft's own video library, which is loaded to the gills with feature overviews.
Windows Phone 7 'Mango'

Show full PR text
Microsoft Previews Next Release of Windows Phone

"Mango" to deliver smarter and easier communications, apps and Internet experiences and bring Windows Phone to more customers around the world.

REDMOND, Wash. - May 24, 2011 - Microsoft Corp. today previewed the next major release of Windows Phone, code-named "Mango," through a series of media events around the world. "Mango" will deliver more than 500 new features to push the boundaries of the smartphone experience around communications, apps and the Internet. The "Mango" release will be available for free to Windows Phone 7 customers and is scheduled to ship on new phones beginning this fall. More details on device update timing will be provided closer to availability. Windows Phone will also add support for additional languages, expand access to apps by launching Windows Phone Marketplace in new countries, and partner with new OEMs to enable expansion to new markets.*

"Seven months ago we started our mission to make smartphones smarter and easier for people to do more," said Andy Lees, president of the Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft. "With 'Mango,' Windows Phone takes a major step forward in redefining how people communicate and use apps and the Internet, giving you better results with less effort."

Communications: Easier to Connect and Share

The smartphone experience can be complicated by a sea of disconnected apps and accounts as people attempt to keep pace with all the ways they communicate - from calls, texts, email and instant messages (IM) to status updates, Tweets, check-ins, photo posting and tagging. To help people stay on top of that growing complexity, the "Mango" release organizes information around the person or group people want to interact with, not the app they have to use.

• Threads. Switch between text, Facebook chat and Windows Live Messenger within the same conversation.

• Groups. Group contacts into personalized Live Tiles to see the latest status updates right from the Start Screen and quickly send a text, email or IM to the whole group.

• Deeper social network integration. Twitter and LinkedIn feeds are now integrated into contact cards, and "Mango" includes built-in Facebook check-ins and new face detection software that makes it easier to quickly tag photos and post to the Web.

• Linked inbox. See multiple email accounts in one linked inbox. Conversations are organized to make it easy to stay on top of the latest mail.

• Hands-free messaging. Built-in voice-to-text and text-to-voice support enables hands-free texting or chatting.

A Smarter Approach to Apps

Windows Phone will challenge the way people think about apps. Today their usefulness is measured by what can be done within the app, but Microsoft sees the promise of apps in how they can be integrated directly into the core experiences of the phone. In addition to making it easy to get timely notifications and updates from apps right from the Start Screen, the "Mango" release also will surface apps as part of search results and within Windows Phone Hubs. As a result, a useful app is more likely to be right there when needed.

• App Connect. By connecting apps to search results and deepening their integration with Windows Phone Hubs, including Music and Video and Pictures, "Mango" allows apps to be surfaced when and where they make sense.

• Improved Live Tiles. Get real-time information from apps without having to open them. Live Tiles can be more dynamic and hold more information.

• Multitasking. Quickly switch between apps in use and allow apps to run in the background, helping to preserve battery life and performance.

Taking the Internet Beyond the Browser

In addition to including Internet Explorer, the "Mango" release will connect the power of the Web to the unique capabilities of Windows Phones, such as location awareness, camera and access to apps, to present a way of viewing the Web that is more localized, actionable and relevant.

• Internet Explorer 9. A browser based on the powerful Internet Explorer 9 and including support for HTML5 and full hardware acceleration.

• Local Scout. Provides hyperlocal search results and recommends nearby restaurants, shopping and activities in an easy-to-use guide.

• Bing on Windows Phone. More ways to search the Web, including Bing Vision, Music Search and Voice so it's easy to discover and decide.

• Quick Cards. When searching for a product, movie, event or place, see a quick summary of relevant information, including related apps.

Strengthening the Ecosystem

The Windows Phone ecosystem has grown steadily since Windows Phone 7 first launched in October, with more than 17,000 apps currently available on Windows Phone Marketplace and Windows Phone handsets available from a range of partners worldwide, and Microsoft's recently announced partnership with Nokia. "Mango" will further expand and strengthen the Windows Phone ecosystem through new partnerships with Acer Inc., Fujitsu Ltd. and ZTE Corp., which today announced plans to deliver new Windows Phone devices in markets around the world. Furthermore, Microsoft announced it will support additional languages, including Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish, and will greatly expand the list of countries where consumers have access to apps via Windows Phone Marketplace. As well, a beta release of the free Windows Phone Developer tools, which will be used to create the next generation of "Mango" apps and games, will be posted for public download to Microsoft's website within 24 hours of today's events. More information about what "Mango" means for developers, the tools and a link to the public download page is available at http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2011/05/24/developer-news-beta-mango-tools-available-today.aspx.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Some information relates to pre-released product that may be substantially modified before it's commercially released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

*Data plan required; carrier fees apply. Apps from Marketplace. Features and services vary by area, phone, carrier and service plan.

Sonos now streaming MOG music at 320kbps

Posted: 24 May 2011 06:00 AM PDT

If you live in the US and own a Sonos whole-home audio system then the world of streaming audio truly is your oyster. You'd be hard pressed to name a single major domestic audio service not available to your S5 all-in-one or ZonePlayer setup. Today Sonos adds the MOG music service with high-quality 320kbps streams available on-demand or via customized artist-only radio stations. Better yet, you can sample the 11 million song library for free over the next 14-days before being asked to subscribe to the $9.99 per month Primo offering.
Show full PR text
SONOS AND MOG TEAM UP TO BRING HIGH-QUALITY LISTENING EXPERIENCE TO THE HOME

All US Sonos Customers offered 14-Day Free Trial

Limited time offer to save 20% on Sonos and MOG bundle


SANTA BARBARA, Calif and BERKELEY, Calif – May 24, 2011 – Sonos, the leading developer of wireless music systems for the home, today announced another step in providing access to all the music on earth with the addition of the MOG music service to the award-winning Sonos music experience. Beginning today, Sonos customers can enjoy a high-quality, on-demand listening experience from MOG all over their home. All Sonos customers in the United States will receive a free 14-day trial of MOG on Sonos.

Plus, Sonos and MOG have teamed up to offer a special bundle with a Sonos S5, Sonos ZoneBridge and one-year MOG subscription – saving music fans 20% on their purchase. For more information on this limited time promotion, visit www.sonos.com/MOGBundle.

"Our goal at Sonos is to provide music lovers with access to all the music on the planet," said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. "By offering MOG to our customers, we're providing an incredible, high-quality listening experience in the living room or any room of the home."

"Sonos products are absolutely best-of-breed and their customers expect great sound, whether they are accessing their own music library or streaming music from a service like MOG," said David Hyman, CEO of MOG. "Our goal is to make it fast and easy for music lovers to listen to any song they want from virtually anywhere-in the car, on the computer, on their phone, and now in any room with Sonos."

With MOG's award-winning music service on Sonos, music fans can enjoy the following features in any room of the home:

• High-quality audio: MOG on Sonos features the highest quality audio streams at 320kbps.
• MOG artist radio: Customize radio stations on the fly by choosing true "artist only" radio or a full mix of similar artists.
• On-demand music: Unlimited, anytime, ad-free listening to any artist or full album from MOG's 11-million song library.
• Simple searching and browsing, designed for the palm of the hand: MOG provides simple navigation of albums and artists, and easy browsing of New Releases, Chart Toppers, Editors' Picks and playlists created by recording artists for instant playing right from any Sonos Controller.

MOG offers all new and existing Sonos US customers a 14-day free trial after which users can upgrade to MOG's Primo subscription plan for $9.99 per month. Simply go to www.MOG.com/Sonos to register for the free trial. MOG Primo provides music fans with unlimited access to MOG on Sonos, with additional access online at MOG.com, and through the MOG app on iPhone and Android phones, all via a single MOG account.

NPG, CSU partner for $49 dynamic digital textbooks

Posted: 24 May 2011 06:00 AM PDT

The worst part of being a college student? Pricey learning materials... they make even Ramen noodles a fancy meal. This fall, students at California State University will be at least make a step up to fast food. CSU has announced a three-year deal with Nature Publishing Group for low-cost, interactive, web-based textbooks with access options for disabled students. The first to be offered is an introductory biology text, fittingly titled Principles of Biology. Students on the L.A., Northridge, and Chico campuses will each have varying payment and licensing models, but 49 bucks gets anyone a full edition starting September 1st. Professors can edit the content, which includes 175 "interactive lessons," access to a database of research papers, and assessments for students. It can all be used on any device from a slate to a computer and even printed if you prefer scribing your notes with pen and paper or won't be near an internet connection. Details are dry about future books using the system, but it looks like a promising break for college students. Still, before you get ready to ditch your books and backpack for more money and less backaches, we'd suggest skimming the press release after the break.


Show full PR text
California State University and Nature Publishing Group Partner to Support NPG's Development of Affordable Interactive Textbooks in Biology

Cambridge, Massachusetts – California State University (CSU) and Nature Publishing Group (NPG) today announced a three-year partnership to support design and development by NPG of a series of affordable, high quality interactive textbooks in college-level science. The "born digital" textbooks will be used initially at CSU campuses but will be available to other universities from September 2011.

The first interactive textbook in the program, Principles of Biology, will be used as the primary learning solution for the introductory biology course at CSUs Los Angeles, Northridge, and Chico campuses for the 2011/2012 academic year. Principles of Biology is being developed by a team of scientists and instructors led by NPG's editors, with guidance from a team of faculty advisors at the three CSU campuses. As a "born digital" product, Principles of Biology will be accessible to students and instructors via web browsers on desktops, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones, and will retail at $49 per student. Students will have the rights to self-print a color copy of the textbook. Principles of Biology uses more than 175 interactive lessons and continual assessment to help students master basic concepts, and draws on the Nature journals' extensive archive of research papers to cultivate mature scientific skills, including data analysis and critical thinking. Further titles in life and physical sciences will be launched by NPG, with consulting and adoption by CSU faculty, over a three-year period.

Gerry Hanley, Senior Director for Academic Technology Services at the CSU, Office of the Chancellor, said: "Our partnership with NPG is intended not just to develop a new kind of textbook, but to transform the traditional relationship between universities and textbook publishers. The CSU and NPG have interacted from the outset, not as producer and consumer, but as partners jointly designing a publishing model that satisfies the long-term needs of both kinds of organizations. The resulting set of product features, pricing, rights and permissions, and distribution options is an ideal foundation for academic institutions moving forward and a considerable advance over traditional models. We are delighted that a publisher of NPG's exceptional quality and reputation reached out to us to work on this significant project. Our faculty are excited to begin using NPG's high quality resources with their students this fall."

Vikram Savkar, Senior Vice President & Publishing Director at NPG, said: "CSU's strong leadership in educational innovation, demonstrated by their willingness to dedicate hundreds of hours faculty guidance throughout the advisory phase and work closely with us to design an affordable, sustainable publishing model, has been essential to our ability to launch this program. CSU also plays a significant role in training California's science, technology engineering and math (STEM) teachers, with nearly two-thirds of the state's K-12 science teachers educated at a CSU campus. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with CSU in the coming years to make a positive impact on the California science outlook and to make new textbook product models available to all academic institutions."

CSU campuses will be licensing NPG's Principles of Biology textbook for academic year 2011/2012 in three different modes. CSU's Los Angeles campus has opted for a site license, enabling automatic online access to the materials by all students enrolled at CSULA. At CSU's Chico campus, students will receive individual access, arranged through the campus bookstore. CSU Northridge is using the resource in its distance education class; students will purchase access online. Instructors will be able to customize the textbook before adoption and share modified versions of the material with their students during the semester. All materials will natively support accessibility by disabled students. Hanley said: "CSU particularly appreciates the flexibility that NPG's new publishing model offers institutions. The site license model, for example, makes high quality educational resources available to all of our students regardless of their personal ability to pay, removing the barriers that too often push students to make decisions about class materials based on their budget. It further strengthens the institution's role as a provider of tools that empower students to achieve their educational goals." Savkar added: "In an increasingly demand-driven education market, it's crucial not only for educational content itself, but also for the distribution model for that content, to be able to meet a range of customer needs. We look forward to working with institutions to expand the model that we have initiated this year with our founding partner CSU."

Principles of Biology will be available to the general market on September 1, 2011. For more information, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.nature.com/nature_education/biology.html" www.nature.com/nature_education/biology.html.




About the California State University The HYPERLINK "http://www.calstate.edu" California State University is the largest system of senior higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, approximately 412,000 students year round and 43,000 faculty and staff. Since the system was created in 1961, it has awarded nearly 2.5 million degrees, about 90,000 annually. The CSU is renowned for the quality of its teaching and for the job-ready graduates it produces. A HYPERLINK "http://www.calstate.edu/impact" recent economic report found that the CSU supports more than 150,000 jobs statewide, annually. The engine driving job creation is more than $17 billion in economic activity that directly results from CSU-related spending that generates $5.43 for every dollar the state invests. The mission of the CSU is to provide high-quality, affordable education to meet the ever-changing needs of the people of California. With its commitment to excellence, diversity and innovation, the CSU is the university system that is working for California.

About NPG

Nature Education, the educational division of Nature Publishing Group and publisher of Principles of Biology, is devoted to facilitating high quality, innovative, accessible science education in all countries of the world. More information at www.nature.com/nature_education

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific and medical information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences and clinical medicine.

Throughout all its businesses NPG is dedicated to serving the scientific and medical communities and the wider scientifically interested general public. Part of Macmillan Publishers Limited, NPG is a global company with principal offices in London, New York and Tokyo, and offices in cities worldwide. For more information, please go to HYPERLINK "http://www.nature.com/" www.nature.com.

Opera Mini lands on the iPad in version 6.0

Posted: 24 May 2011 05:49 AM PDT

Been loving the Opera Mini experience on your iPhone and wishing for it on your larger iOS device? Opera is today turning that desire into reality with the release of v6.0 of its Mini mobile browser, which now has support for all iOS portables, including the iPad and iPad 2, plus a specific shoutout for the iPhone 4's retina display. The overall design of the web explorer has also been freshened up, with a "new look and feel," while a social sharing function will let you blast URLs into Twitter and Facebook directly from the app. Additionally, the new version includes the ability to load tabs in the background and improves support for non-Latin alphabets like Arabic and Chinese. Hit the source link for the download.

[Thanks, Chris]
Show full PR text
Opera Mini makes its encore performance on iOS
Oslo, Norway - May 24, 2011

Today, the Opera Mini 6 browser for iOS joined the Opera band and is available to download for free from the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad.

The Opera Mini mobile browser provides a different kind of browsing experience to complement the default iPad and iPhone browser. It features up to 90% compression of data traffic for speed and cost savings, making both your patience and wallet happy on slower connections or when roaming.

So Opera Mini is ready to chime in and sing harmony when you are on a slow connection, crowded network, paying per megabyte for browsing, or simply want to save time and money.

Have an iPhone 4? Our browser adapts to the high resolution and changes the user interface to accommodate the screen size. How about iPad? Yep, the Opera Mini 6 browser will switch to a more convenient view for tablet handling.

The chorus of Opera Mini users gave feedback and we listened. Like the rest of the Opera Mini 6 lineup, the iOS version features:

Much faster and smoother panning and zooming that lets the user get all the way into the details of every page, in one smooth motion
Share buttons to share the love for a site to your friends on My Opera, Facebook, Twitter or vKontakte right from the Opera Mini 6 browser
New jazzed-up skin and redesigned Opera menus

Backstage, Opera's engineers have tuned the browser and created a faster and more fluid user experience. Scrolling and panning are ultra fast, even on the largest webpages, for instant access. On iOS, the Opera Mini 6 browser is submitted as a single download for all iOS devices.
What we are saying

"I would compare it to walking onto the stage and hearing the roar of the crowd," said Opera's, CEO Lars Boilesen, when describing the feeling of letting the Opera Mini 6 browser out on stage in the App Store. "We have put in a lot of rehearsal and clever thought behind the new experience. The Opera Mini browser has always kicked up the tempo when downloading pages; now the browsing flows along to a smooth, easy beat."
Rockin' the app store

The Opera Mini 5 browser for iOS launched in April 2010, to the delight of screaming fans who threw their underwear at the stage, racking up more than a million downloads at the Apple app store in the first 24 hours. Super fast browsing, cost savings on data traffic and unmatched user experience leads to a Woodstock-like download rush.

During that time, the Opera Mini browser topped the charts in every Apple App Store globally.

Now, it is Opera Mini 6's turn to get its name up in lights.

See the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD0IwRSpMSs
About Opera Software ASA

Opera Software ASA has redefined web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera's cross-platform web-browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at http://www.opera.com/.

Toshiba abandoning plans for Windows 7 tablet, Chromebook?

Posted: 24 May 2011 05:38 AM PDT

We were expecting Toshiba to launch its Windows 7 tablet during the second half of this year, but rumor has it that the company may be abandoning the slate altogether. DigiTimes is reporting that both the 11.6-inch slab and a forthcoming Chromebook have disappeared from Toshiba's product launchpad, according to sources within the industry. The Chromebook will reportedly be slashed due to disappointing netbook sales in 2010, whereas the reasons behind the tablet's cancellation remain less clear. DigiTimes suggests that Toshiba may be throwing all of its weight behind its new Honeycomb-powered Thrive slate, meaning that its Windows 7 counterpart could either be delayed even further, or simply relinquished. There's obviously plenty of speculation swirling around, but we'll let you know as soon as we receive more concrete reports.

Seeeduino ADK lets you build Android accessories on the cheap

Posted: 24 May 2011 05:16 AM PDT

Not interested in forking over the $400 required for one of Google's recommended Android Open Accessory development kits? Well, then it looks like you now have another considerably cheaper option courtesy of Shenzhen's own Seeed Studio. It's now offering what it's dubbed a "Seeeduino ADK" board for a mere $80, which it says is fully compatible with Google's ADK, and includes all the basics you need to start building your own Android accessories. You won't be able to start building those just yet, however, as Seeed Studio says the board will only start shipping on June 20th. You can still get your order in right now at the link below, though.

[Thanks, Ian]

Solar-powered butterfly chandelier is a fluttering mass of art and light

Posted: 24 May 2011 04:52 AM PDT

Virtue of Blue
Look closely at that blue blob up above and you'll realize it's made up of 500 butterflies, each one meticulously cut from photovoltaic cells. The hundreds of insects collect the sun's rays as they flutter around a giant glass bulb that turns into a churning mass of light after dusk. The Virtue of Blue chandelier is a stunning work of art by Dutch designer Jeroen Verhoeven that draws connections between the beauty and power of nature and the importance of sustainable energy... or, you know, just something trippy to stare at while you sip a few cocktails at the Blain|Southern gallery in London.
Virtue of Blue

European Commission regains sanity, cancels €22 million SYMBEOSE project

Posted: 24 May 2011 04:20 AM PDT

Last November, to the surprise and dismay of many, the European Commission decided it needed to stimulate some homegrown innovation in the mobile space and pulled together €22 million in a public/private investment designed to help Symbian get ahead. It was intended to turn Nokia's former lover into the Embedded Operating System for Europe (hence the name SYMBEOSE), but alas the breakup between Symbian and the Finnish mobile maker was too much to overcome. The EC has decided, quite rightly, that there's no sense in continuing its symbtopia project, and now a member of Neelie Kroes' team has confirmed the entire venture has been cancelled. European taxpayers (two of whom you see on the right) will also be glad to know that no money has exchanged hands, so the bullet has been well and truly dodged. Guess that's why they're looking so happy.

[Thanks, Danijel]

Pantech Vega No.5 bringing sexy back to tabletphones, packs 1.5GHz dual-core chip

Posted: 24 May 2011 03:54 AM PDT

Yes, tabletphones are coming back! Joining the eccentric Dell Streak 5 is Pantech's conveniently named Vega No.5 (or IM-T100K), a 5-inch Android 2.3.3 smartphone powered by Qualcomm's brawny dual-core 1.5GHz MSM8660. Apart from the extra 0.7 inches of screen size, what we have here is essentially the same package as the Vega Racer: 800 x 480 LCD, 8 megapixel 1080p camera, front-facing camera, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 16GB of memory, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, and 14.4Mbps HSPA+ connectivity. No word on international availability, but expect this slate to hit the shops in Korea later this month. Hands-on video after the break.

Acer's 10-inch Oak Trail tablet running Android 3.0 rumored for July delivery

Posted: 24 May 2011 03:19 AM PDT

Paul Otellini already told us that we'd see new Android tablets running Intel silicon at Computex. Now DigiTimes is quoting loose-lipped upstream component makers who claim that Acer is set to launch its 10-inch Android 3.0 tablet built upon Intel's Oak Trail platform in July. Mind you that's the retail date, making the May 31st kickoff of Computex the perfect event to demonstrate the unARMed Android tablet for the first time in public. Of course, Acer was early with its Android-based netbook back in 2009 so it's no surprise to see the company with another Google first in 2011. And really, without a suitable Microsoft tablet OS available until 2012, you can bet that Intel's going to be pushing the Honeycomb port to x86 hard over the coming months with rigs from Lenovo and ASUS also tipped by DigiTimes. Oh, and for whatever it's worth, the Taiwanese rumor rag also says that Acer is "evaluating" an Oak Trail with MeeGo tablet. Which version, we wonder?

Windows Phone 7.1 is the likely name for Mango OS update

Posted: 24 May 2011 02:41 AM PDT

Microsoft's proper preview event for the next big release of Windows Phone may be mere hours away, but there's still time for a bit of good old fashioned web sleuthing before then. Latest on our radar is this Microsoft Developer Network page listing out all the APIs in Silverlight for Windows Phone 7.1. That's right, your eyes do not deceive you, there's a whole extra decimal added to the OS number, ostensibly signifying the move to the Mango update we're all so hungry for. We'd previously heard the moniker of Windows Phone 7.5 bandied about, but that was based on supposition more than anything else, and a .1 upgrade makes sense in light of the curent 7.0.7 version number. Fuller details will be forthcoming later on today, but for now, pencil in the number 7.1 alongside the dream specs of your next Windows Phone.

[Thanks, Garret]

AMD Llano quad-core APUs and Zambezi octa-core CPUs get priced, the former listed inside an HP dv6

Posted: 24 May 2011 01:48 AM PDT

Don't mistake the relative quietness from AMD on the APU front for inactivity. Ever since announcing the first shipment of its Llano Accelerated Processing Unit in April, the company's been working behind the scenes to ramp up availability to OEMs, and somewhere along the supply chain a gracious soul has been found who's leaked the bulk pricing for those chips. The new quad-core A Series processors start off at $110 for an A6-3450 and max out at $170 for an A8-3550P, but there's also mention of octa-core FX processors, which will weigh in at $320 a piece and reputedly compete with Intel's 3.4GHz Core i7-2600K. The latter are built around AMD's Bulldozer modules (wherein one module counts for two cores) and look to be the manifestation of the company's Zambezi CPUs, which could come without an integrated graphics processor as is available on the Llano and the rest of AMD's Fusion line.

Just to whet appetites further, we've also come across an HP dv6 on an obscure German retail site, offering a 1.6GHz A6-3410MX APU, 6GB of RAM, and a most reasonable €590 price. There's obviously no promised delivery date, but this should be the first of many such appearances in the coming days as we build up towards Computex 2011. Something tells us AMD won't be holding back when the Taipei electronics show gets started.

[Thanks, Shashwat and Vygantas]

AirPlay for Windows Media Center does exactly what you're thinking it does

Posted: 24 May 2011 12:58 AM PDT

This isn't the first time Windows has been invited to the AirPlay party, but Thomas Pleasance's AirPlay for Windows Media Center addin seems to already be one of the smoother combinations we've seen and it's still in beta. Unsurprisingly, it does what the name says, so after installing Apple's Bonjour service and the free client on your Media Center PC you should be able to stream video or pictures to it (there's no support for music yet) from an iPad or iPhone with a simple click. The Digital Lifestyle has already gotten a quick hands-on with the app and got it working seamlessly as seen above, check that out for more details or hit the source link to download the necessary software to make it all work.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 priced at €606 by Amazon.de, joined by 10.1 model in a pre-order dance

Posted: 24 May 2011 12:03 AM PDT

The US already knows when Samsung will launch its updated Galaxy Tab models and for how much, but that picture hasn't been quite as lucid over in Europe. Amazon.de is doing its best to dissipate the mists of unknowing by listing the 16GB Galaxy Tab 8.9 at a price of €606.50 ($852), whether you're buying the version with a black or white back. That sounds a relatively steep price, but it's not clear whether we're talking about the WiFi-only or 3G-equipped model. Notably, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 option is also listed alongside its 8.9-inch brethren, but there's no price attached to it yet. All we can really say for now is that the wheels are in motion and these Honeycomb tablets look to be on their way to the Euro market at about the same time as they'll hit the American one. Égalité!

Barnes & Noble selling Nooks for $99 on eBay

Posted: 23 May 2011 11:32 PM PDT

What do you do just before you decide to upgrade your old device with some new hotness? You sell the old stuff on eBay, right? Well, B&N doesn't seem to have any better ideas than you as it's started offering its classic Nook e-reader for $99 on the online auction site, undercutting its own price by $50. This is the WiFi-only dual-screen unit, as you might surmise, not the Color tablet that's been treading dangerously close to being a fully fledged Android slate. If you're an E Ink loyalist on a budget, this might just be the opportunity you've been waiting for, though don't blame us if Barnes & Noble comes up with a fancier, more lustworthy model in the time it takes for that free delivery to reach your door.

[Thanks, Sheldon]

HP EliteBook 8460w, 8560w, and 8760w mobile workstations all go on sale

Posted: 23 May 2011 10:58 PM PDT

If Dell's latest 17-inch powerhouse is too beastly for your next business trip, HP has begun selling its trio of new EliteBook mobile workstations, with screen sizes as small as 14 inches. In the case of both the 14-inch 8460w and the 15.6-inch 8560w, you get discrete graphics standard and can choose a $1,000 Core i7-2820QM processor, among less pricey options. (With the 15-inch iteration, you can also opt for a 1 billion-color DreamColor display.) Admittedly, you will have to step up to the 17-inch 8760w if you want a Core i7-2920XM CPU, AMD FirePro or NVIDIA Quadro graphics with up to 4GB of memory, and up to three hard drives with RAID 5 support. As promised, they're going for $1,299, $1,239, and $1,899, respectively -- in case your corporate card's just begging for its next hit.

[Thanks, Fuzzball]

IE9 code for Windows Phone 7 complete, adds landscape address bar

Posted: 23 May 2011 09:56 PM PDT

Ballmer didn't get specific when he said the Windows Phone Mango update would bring 500 new features, but we'd bet our blue screens that a handful of those additions are wrapped up in IE9. In addition to the long awaited landscape mode address bar, IE9 for Windows Phone promises to bolster performance through GPU acceleration and an improved rendering experience. The browser update boasts a litany of support features: the aforementioned GPU-accelerated browsing, full-screen video through HTML5 (though not embedded, sorry!), GPS-based geolocation, ECMAScript 5, 2D CSS3, etc. We should know a whole heap of a lot more come tomorrow morning, so be sure to follow along during our liveblog right here.

T-Mobile flips on 42Mbps HSPA+ across 55 markets, launching Rocket 3.0 modem stick tomorrow

Posted: 23 May 2011 09:01 PM PDT

Fellow road warriors, we bring you good news: starting today, T-Mobile customers across 55 markets -- including Chicago, Detroit, Honolulu, Pittsburgh, Miami, and many more -- will have immediate access to a faster HSPA+ "4G" network. This means anyone with compatible devices can achieve theoretical download speeds of up to a whopping 42Mbps, as opposed to just 21Mbps from the good ol' days. But of course, only time will tell whether this upgrade will deliver its promise -- you may recall that even AT&T's LTE demo last week delivered "realistic" download speeds of up to just 28.9Mbps, when in theory it should be capable of hitting up to 100Mbps.

Anyhow, if you want to soldier on and be a guinea pig an early adopter, then help yourself to ZTE's Rocket 3.0 USB modem stick starting tomorrow -- the entry price is $99.99 after a $50 mail in rebate, but tied to a two-year broadband plan of 2GB or higher; or you can opt for the contract-free price of $199.99. Hit the press release after the break for the full list of activated markets.
Show full PR text
America's Largest 4G Network Now Twice as Fast in More Than 50 New Markets

T-Mobile Rocket 3.0, the company's first 42Mbps-capable product, available starting tomorrow, delivers a lightning-fast mobile broadband experience

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, T-Mobile USA, Inc. announced it is doubling the speed of its 4G network in more than 50 markets to achieve theoretical peak download speeds of up to 42 megabits per second (Mbps). T-Mobile customers in 55 markets will now have access to increased 4G network speed, capacity and reliability. These markets include Atlanta, Ga.; Chicago, Ill.; Denver, Colo.; Detroit, Mich.; Dallas and Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, Calif.; Miami, Fla.; New Orleans, La.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Portland, Ore.; and San Francisco, Calif., among others.

In addition, T-Mobile's first 42 Mbps-capable 4G product, the T-Mobile Rocket® 3.0 laptop stick, will be available for purchase beginning tomorrow, May 25. The Rocket 3.0, manufactured by ZTE, is designed to take advantage of T-Mobile's faster 4G network speeds. Capable of speeds twice as fast as T-Mobile's previous 4G devices, customers in 42Mbps coverage are expected to experience more consistent 4G speeds when creating and sharing mobile content, streaming and connecting through mobile video, and participating in multiplayer gaming.

"We are continuing the aggressive expansion of America's Largest 4G Network™, and also doubling our speeds in more than 50 markets this month," said Neville Ray, chief technology officer, T-Mobile USA. "While customers with existing 3G and 4G devices will benefit from our continued network enhancements, new devices like the new Rocket 3.0 laptop stick will enable customers to reap the benefits of even faster 4G speeds."

Providing customers with a blazing fast Internet connection on almost any laptop while on the go, the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 is equipped with a convenient rotating swivel USB form factor, and three changeable faceplates in cobalt blue, dark violet and matte black. The Rocket 3.0 will be available at select T-Mobile retail stores and online at www.T-Mobile.com tomorrow for $99.99 after a $50 mail in rebate, with a qualifying mobile broadband plan on a two-year service agreement1. Postpaid monthly plans start at $29.99, and customers with a qualifying voice line of service with T-Mobile receive a 20 percent discount. Customers can also purchase the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 without an annual contract for $199.99. For more information about the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0, including pricing and plan details, visit www.t-mobile.com/broadbandgoesmobile.

As T-Mobile's 4G network continues to expand and get faster, the company's portfolio of 4G products is also growing. T-Mobile currently offers a dozen 4G-capable devices spanning smartphones, tablets and mobile broadband products that give customers access to America's Largest 4G Network. The company has announced plans to deliver a total of 25 4G-capable devices in 2011.

T-Mobile's 4G network already reaches more than 200 million Americans in 170 markets. By midyear, T-Mobile expects that more than 150 million Americans will have access to increased 4G speeds as T-Mobile upgrades its 4G network. A list of new markets where the new faster speeds are available can be found below.

T-Mobile 4G markets where 42Mbps service is launching today:

Albany, Ga.; Athens, Ga.; Atlanta, Ga.; Auburn, Ala.; Augusta, Ga.; Austin, Texas; Bentonville, Ark.; Boulder, Colo.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Chicago, Ill.; Dallas, Texas; Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla.; Denver, Colo.; Detroit, Mich.; Durham, N.C.; El Paso, Texas; Fort Collins, Colo.; Gainesville, Fla.; Gainesville, Ga.; Greeley, Colo.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Houston, Texas; Jacksonville, Fla.; Long Island, N.Y.; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.; Macon, Ga.; Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; Miami, Fla.; New Orleans, La.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Olympia, Wash.; Omaha, Neb.; Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Ponce, Puerto Rico; Portland, Ore.; Salinas, Calif.; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.; San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif.; Santa Rosa-Petaluma, Calif.; Savannah, Ga.; Seattle, Wash.; Spokane, Wash.; Tampa, Fla.; Tulsa, Okla.; Valdosta, Ga.; Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif.; Warner Robins, Ga.; and Wichita, Kan.

T-Mobile's HSPA+ 4G network is not available everywhere. See coverage details at T-Mobile.com.

1. Mail-in rebate card requires qualifying T-Mobile voice line and enrollment in EasyPay. Pricing and discount offers are subject to change.

Sony shows off, folds up super flexible organic TFT display

Posted: 23 May 2011 07:49 PM PDT

E-reader manufacturers are doing their darnedest to get their devices to behave more like the old fashioned books we've all since abandoned, but we won't be happy until we can roll one up and stuff it in our back pockets, paperback-style. Sony's working hard to make that dream a reality -- the company showed off some new bendable display technology behind closed doors at last week's SID conference in LA, including a color unit and the extremely flexible black and white e-paper display seen above, which can be bent to a 5mm curvature radius. The 13.3-inch sheet has a 1,600 x 1,200 (150ppi) resolution and is powered by organic TFTs. Sony showed off and bent the thing at the show, reportedly to the cheers of the crowd in attendance. Clearly they're all as excited as we are to make some really expensive e-paper airplanes. For more shots of the bending process, consult the source link below.

i-Buddie Oak Trail tablet makes cameo at MeeGo Conference 2011

Posted: 23 May 2011 06:52 PM PDT

Well what do we have here? We were loitering around the Intel booth here at the MeeGo Conference in San Francisco when we spotted this lonely little device resting unsupervised in the back, so we decided to give it a whirl and snap some pictures. It turns out it's a circa 10-inch tablet made by i-Buddie and built on Intel's recent Oak Trail architecture. Of course it's running MeeGo, but sadly we were unable to connect to the Internet -- something to do with missing WiFi drivers, according to the Intel rep who eventually caught up with us to snatch the tablet from our eager paws. We missed the opportunity to make a video, but take a look at our hands-on gallery below.
i-Buddie Oak Trail tablet at Meego Conference 2011

Dell XPS 15z review

Posted: 23 May 2011 06:09 PM PDT

For years, Dell's been teasing supermodel-thin laptops, each one flawed out of the gate: too pricey, too underpowered, and with underwhelming battery life. This time, Dell told us we'd get something different: a laptop without compromise. Recently, Round Rock killed off the Adamo and nixed the XPS 14, and then rumors started to spin -- a spiritual successor would be the slimmest 15.6-inch notebook we'd ever seen, be crafted from "special materials" and yet cost less than $1,000. Dell even stated that it would have an "innovative new form factor" of some sort.

The company neglected to mention it would look like a MacBook Pro.

This is the Dell XPS 15z, and we're sorry to say it's not a thin-and-light -- it's actually a few hairs thicker than a 15-inch MacBook Pro, wider, and at 5.54 pounds, it weighs practically the same. It is, however, constructed of aluminum and magnesium alloy and carries some pretty peppy silicon inside, and the base model really does ring up at $999. That's a pretty low price to garner comparisons to Apple's flagship, and yet here we are. Has Dell set a new bar for the notebook PC market? Find out after the break.
Dell XPS 15z unboxing and hands-on


Design

Clean lines, smooth curves, and vast expanses of beautifully textured metal, cool to the touch -- the MacBook Pro has captivated Apple fans for years, and there's no doubt Dell's trying to capture much of the same charm. From the aluminum chassis to the placement of the speakers, DVD drives and majority of ports... heck, even the tiny arrow key bars on the backlit keyboard and feet on the bottom of the chassis are cribbed from Apple's product.


It's honestly difficult to find anything on the entire notebook that feels wholly original, though there are a few Dell tweaks -- the speakers and vents have the same pattern as those on the Inspiron Duo, and last year's XPS lineup contributed its distinctive hinged screen, which lies flat on top of the notebook rather than forming a traditional clamshell case. You'll also find plenty of chrome trim, ringing both the chassis and the oversized touchpad.

But let's get this out of the way right now: though the XPS 15z most definitely looks like a MacBook Pro and sports similar materials, you'll wind up disappointed if you're expecting the same exacting attention to detail. You're looking at an aluminum and magnesium alloy sandwich here, not a unibody frame, and much of that metal is thin enough to flex under a little bit of pressure. While typing, we noticed that if we put a little weight on the keyboard, we'd oh-so-slightly squish the whole frame, not enough to make a lasting impression, but enough to audibly restrict airflow to the system fan. And -- at least in our pre-production model -- that aforementioned chrome trim had rough edges that slightly chafed our wrists. We also have to laugh at Dell's decision to place all the I/O ports in a row on the left-hand side, just like Apple's rig, as we've often felt Cupertino sacrificed function for form in so doing.
Dell XPS 15z vs. 15-inch MacBook Pro (2011)

Still, it's a very attractive machine...

Display / Speakers / Keyboard / Trackpad

...and it looks even better when you lift the lid to find this optional 300-nit 1920 x 1080 screen. Yes, while Apple fans still have to settle for a 1680 x 1050 pixel picture in a 15-inch chassis, an extra $150 buys the XPS 15z a full 1080p display, allowing for high-res movies, games, and wonderfully roomy split-screen multitasking. It's a pretty bright, beautiful picture on this particular screen, too, and though the contrast isn't quite as high as we'd like, Dell's software will automatically adjust the backlight to give you the best out of your blacks and whites. It's also quite glossy, unfortunately, and viewing angles are pretty terrible here, as the picture becomes far less vibrant if you shift your head even slightly to the left or right.

That's a shame, considering that the XPS 15z's speakers sound like they're designed to be shared. We're not sure what kind of drivers lie beneath those patterned grilles, but they sure are loud, and create a wide soundstage perfect for movies and games even though they have little bass to speak of. They're also a little shrill at maximum volume, but they're still a cut above most laptop speakers we've used.

Dell's been on a chiclet keyboard bent as of late -- following the global trend -- and while opinions differ regarding whether floating islands or distinct grids make for better typing, we can't complain about the sea of squares on the XPS 15z. As we've already alluded to, Mac users will find themselves completely at home with the layout, and the keys themselves are fairly friendly, too -- rounded, comfortable, slightly convex little squares and rectangles with a smooth, rubbery action and nice big tactile guides on the home row. There's no dedicated numpad here, a bit of a shame considering that there's definitely space, but we suppose some things have to be sacrificed for symmetry and a pair of speakers loud enough to fill the room.

Speaking of symmetry, you'll find the XPS 15z trackpad front and center in the experience, and we're happy to say it's a fairly pleasant one -- the oversized Cypress pad is quick, responsive and accurate for single-finger input, and comes with a pair of large, clicky and satisfying mouse buttons. What's more, it does two, three and four-finger multitouch gestures, though you'll note we didn't include them in the "quick, responsive and accurate" part. Some work amazingly well (swipe four fingers sideways to engage Windows Flip 3D, then drag one to flip through your open apps) and some fail miserably (far too often, the trackpad detected a pinch-to-zoom motion when we intended to do two-finger scrolling). You can tailor gestures at whim in the Cypress settings page, but we were surprised to find that our changes didn't stick. The next time we rebooted the machine, those problematic default settings were back again.

Did we mention that the entire palmrest is made of magnesium alloy, including those speaker grilles? The whole surface you interact with is smooth, durable, and dirt-resistant too, as the only way we were able to leave a visible fingerprint was by touching the glossy screen itself. We should note, however, that the metallic surface is a double-edged sword here. We noticed that our fingers were getting mighty toasty during a benchmark, as if the computer was venting hot air right right onto our skin, and during an intensive session of Bulletstorm, we found the magnesium spacers between the crucial WASD keys was burning hot to the touch. It seems that Dell may have put some important silicon right underneath those keys, so you may want an external keyboard at your next LAN party.

Performance and battery life

Yes, you heard us right, a LAN -- the XPS 15z may not be a gaming rig per se, but for $999 there's more than enough power under the hood for a few frag sessions. Even the base model is loaded with a dual-core 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M processor, switchable NVIDIA GeForce GT525M graphics with 1GB of memory, and 6GB of DDR3 RAM, a 7200RPM hard drive and loads of high-end connectivity. You'll find a gigabit Ethernet jack keeping the power socket company around back, two USB 3.0 ports on the left-hand side, along with one eSATA / USB 2.0 combo port, one Mini DisplayPort, and an HDMI 1.4 jack, a pair of 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks on the right, and a dual-band Intel 802.11a/g/n WiFi radio inside.

What can all that do in practice? Well, we're actually not quite sure about those particular specs, since we actually received the 2.7GHz Core i7-2620M version with 2GB of dedicated graphics memory and 8GB of RAM. That kind of rig will run you $1,534, but it'll also do some potent processing.

Case in point: We launched our Chrome browser with a dozen Engadget tabs, started playing a DVD copy of Hitch, fired up a 720p windowed version of Batman: Arkham Asylum, and started opening windowed 1080p movie trailers for The Dark Knight all at the same time... and it was only after the third concurrent trailer on top of our perfectly playable game session and DVD movie that we started noticing a little slowdown. In other words, multitasking is a go, and in case you're wondering, Windows told us that particular load still only used 80 percent of our available CPU cycles.

The XPS 15z also pulled its weight in a dedicated gaming scenario, playing that same Batman: Arkham Asylum at 1080p with all settings maxed save AA, and managed to deliver 30FPS on average. Similarly, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare gave us around 40FPS with 4xAA and all settings maxed. Bulletstorm proved pretty taxing, though: we had to drop resolution to 1366 x 768 and reduce details to medium to make that game playable. If you're aching for some more theoretical benchmarks, our XPS 15z pulled scores of E1511, P894 and X282 in 3DMark11, and earned 8023 PCMarks in PCMark Vantage and 7,317 in 3DMark06. By the by, boot times weren't amazing, but they're certainly not bad, as we clocked 40 seconds for the machine to load into Windows, or about a minute for the machine to finish loading startup programs and be completely ready for use.

PCMarkVantage 3DMark06
 Battery Life
Dell XPS M15z (Core i7-2620M, GeForce GT525M 2GB) 8,023 7,317 3:41 / 4:26
MacBook Pro (Core i7-2720QM, Radeon 6750M) 8,041 10,262 7:27
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 (Core i5-2410M) 7,787 3,726 3:31 / 6:57
Samsung Series 9 (Core i5-2537M) 7,582 2,240 4:20
Lenovo ThinkPad X220 (Core i5-2520M) 7,635 3,517 7:19
ASUS U36Jc (Core i5 / NVIDIA GeForce 310M) 5,981 2,048 / 3,524 5:30
ASUS U33Jc-A1 (Core i3-370M, GeForce 310M) 5,574 1,860 / 3,403 5:10
Toshiba Portege R705 (Core i3-350M) 5,024 1,739 / 3,686 4:25
Notes: the higher the score the better. For 3DMark06, the first number reflects score with GPU off, the second with it on.

We'd mentioned that Dell's previous attempts at premium systems failed price, power and battery life tests. With the XPS 15z, well... two out of three ain't bad. Despite the fact that the NVIDIA Optimus GPU turns off when not fully taxed (powering the laptop's display with integrated Intel HD 3000 Graphics instead), we weren't able to get much more than three and a half hours of regular use out of our review unit. Turning to our standard battery drain test (where we loop a standard-definition video with the screen at roughly 65 percent brightness, and with WiFi on), we saw much the same thing -- 3 hours, 41 minutes of use from the sealed 8-cell, 2.6Ah battery. It occurred to us that perhaps Optimus wasn't actually switching off the discrete GPU at the most appropriate intervals, and sure enough, we were able to eke out a little more runtime by completely disabling it, but you're still looking at 4 hours, 26 minutes of use. That's not bad, all things considered, but it's a good sight worse than the 8 hours of life that Dell's advertising here, and if the company wants to make a dent in the MacBook Pro's armor, it'll have to do better than that.

Software and Stage UI

The XPS 15z comes with the usual array of mostly unobtrusive bloatware, including a trial subscription to Norton Antivirus, the token copies of Microsoft Office Starter and Roxio for your disc burning needs -- but there is one thing out of the ordinary, and that's Dell's Stage UI. That's right -- the company's divorced its custom touchscreen interface from the Inspiron Duo and Streak, and turned it into a launcher bar that sits at the bottom of your desktop. There's no need to fear for your Windows 7 taskbar, though, as Stage buttons are just shortcuts to quickly launch your favorite multimedia, and the gallery, audio, video and podcast players are actually rather good-looking in our honest opinion. If you don't care for the bloat, it's all quickly uninstalled. Everybody wins.
Dell XPS 15z Stage UI and benchmarks

Wrap-up

These two laptops are not equals, but they never had to be -- for hundreds upon hundreds of dollars less than the Mac competition, Dell's unleashed an attractive, powerful and definitely desirable Windows PC. It's perhaps desirable enough to woo buyers who prefer Windows but love the Mac aesthetic. We suspect that's Dell's plan here, because while we really appreciate the XPS 15z's metal construction and choice parts, it hasn't really changed the game.

It's no lighter, thinner or particularly better armed than the competition, and when it tried to borrow the MacBook Pro's flair, it picked up some of Apple's failings along the way. We're not just talking about the inability to having chunky USB peripherals plugged in at the same time, but rather the ability to configure and upgrade the machine. While that dual-core Core i7 processor, GeForce GT525M GPU, 8-cell battery and DVD drive are nice to have, that's the best you'll get here -- even though Dell's slightly chunkier XPS 15 is configurable with quad-core processors, faster video options and a Blu-ray drive to deliver extra value to that 1080p screen.

When Dell tells you that the XPS 15z has no compromises, that's not quite the case -- it's a solid choice at this price point, but corners were cut to get here.

Google releases OTA update for Chrome OS, Cr-48 owners can upgrade now

Posted: 23 May 2011 05:33 PM PDT

Google recently rolled out the beta release of Chrome 12, and now Cr-48 owners are getting a matching version of Chrome OS. This latest version, 0.12.433.48, brings bug fixes, Flash 10.2.158.22, a file manager context menu, and some spiffy new icons and avatars to its browser-based UI. We grabbed the update on our own Google-fied laptops and got some pics of the beta's new bits for your viewing pleasure. We're still getting acquainted with all of the changes, so if you've also copped the new Chrome OS let us know how it's treating you in the comments.

[Thanks, Alex]
Chrome OS 12 update

Microsoft's Windows Phone VIP preview happens tomorrow, liveblog happens here!

Posted: 23 May 2011 05:11 PM PDT

Microsoft has some Mango-flavored updates in store for its Windows Phone operating system, and we're going to be there live to see whether they're really ripe. Really juicy. Steve Ballmer has promised over 500 new features in this next major release of the OS and we can't wait to hear him list them all out. One by one. In excruciating detail. Bookmark this page right here and come on back tomorrow at the times below to join in the fun.

04:00 - Hawaii
07:00 - Pacific
08:00 - Mountain
09:00 - Central
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15:00 - London
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22:00 - Perth
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00:00 - Sydney (May 25th)

Researchers create 26 terabit-per-second connections with just a single laser

Posted: 23 May 2011 04:22 PM PDT

Internet Must Be On At All Times
Remember that pair of 100 terabit-per-second connections we told you about earlier this moth? Impressive? Sure, but not entirely practical thanks to the massive banks of lasers (370 to be exact) that guzzled several kilowatts of electricity. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany haven't hit 100Tbps yet, but they were able push 26Tbps using just one, lonely laser. The new single-laser fiber-optic speed record was set using a technique called fast Fourier transform that pulses light at an incredibly high rate with data encoded in 325 distinct colors across the spectrum. A detector at the receiving end is able to distinguish between the various colored data streams, based on tiny differences in arrival time, and recombine them into a high-speed torrent of ones and zeros. The scientists behind the project believe that, eventually, the technology could make its way into commercial use and be integrated into silicon chips. Now, someone needs to hurry up and jack our FiOS connection into this thing -- all this talk of terabits-per-second and graphene modulators, yet we're still jealous of grandma Löthberg.

Dell XPS 15z available in Australia and Asia, fits Sandy Bridge in under an inch of thickness

Posted: 23 May 2011 03:51 PM PDT

The XPS 15z, true to Michael Dell's word, is now with us. Provided "now" is May the 24th in whatever part of the world you happen to live in. Laptop shoppers in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan -- a group of nations already enjoying the glories of Tuesday -- can now buy the 0.97 inches-thick 15z for prices starting at just under A$1,400. That buys you a Core i5-2410M from Intel (2.3GHz default speed, 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost), a generous 6GB of DDR3 RAM, backlit keyboard, GeForce GT 525M graphics with 2GB of dedicated memory, a 750GB hard drive, and a 64WHr battery. The screen spans 15.6 inches diagonally and offers 1920 x 1080 resolution. Stepping up to A$1,700 gets you a Core i7-2620M (2.7GHz default, 3.4GHz TB) and 8GB of RAM. Juicy specs, we must admit. Now when's midnight coming?

[Thanks, John]

Random Hacks of Kindness brings hackers together for the greater good next month

Posted: 23 May 2011 03:17 PM PDT

What could possibly bring hackers in 18 cities around the world together for a weekend next month? Potentially a lot of things, but on June 4th and 5th it'll be the third annual Random Hacks of Kindness (or RHoK), a globally-linked conference that's centered on the idea of "Hacking for Humanity." As with the two previous conferences, this one is community-driven from the ground up, with anyone able to suggest a problem that could have a technological solution of some sort, and everyone welcome to join in helping to solve it (some of the suggestions so far are things like tornado notification and brush fire command systems). Those interested in participating can find all the information they need at the source link below -- and don't worry about not being 1337 enough to make the grade, the definition of "hacker" in this case is a fairly loose one. It seems anyone with a laptop and some ideas is welcome.

[Thanks, Rachel; image: RHoK/Flickr]

Ballmer: 'next generation of Windows systems' coming next year

Posted: 23 May 2011 02:46 PM PDT

The name "Windows 8" may have been tossed around a lot as of late, but Steve Ballmer himself has only just now uttered the name for the first time in public at the company's developer forum in Japan. What's more, while he didn't divulge a ton of specifics, he did say that the "next generation of Windows systems" will be coming out next year, and that "there's a whole lot more coming," including "slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors." As ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley notes, the distinction between "slates" and "tablets" as two separate form factors is certainly an interesting one, as is the fact that he curiously didn't use the name Windows 8 in connection with those next generation Windows systems. What does it all mean? Perhaps Microsoft's Windows chief, Steven Sinofsky, will have more to say during his appearance at the D9 conference next week -- Winrumors is reporting that he may even be set to demo the company's Windows 8 Tablet UI. And, yes, you can count on us being there to bring it all to you live.

i3D app brings glasses-free 3D to iOS, tracks your gaze like a creepy portrait tracks Scooby Doo (video)

Posted: 23 May 2011 02:25 PM PDT

i3D is a new app that can create a glasses-free 3D display on iDevices, using a technology known as Head-Coupled Perspective (HCP). Developed by the folks from the Engineering Human-Computer Interaction (EHCI) Research Group, HCP uses a front facing camera to track the movements of a user's head, allowing the app to adjust the display accordingly. The result is a monocular 3D screen that creates the illusion of looking into a box. If the concept sounds a little familiar, it could be because Google unveiled a similar headtracking feature for Ice Cream Sandwich during the opening keynote at this month's I/O event. And by "similar" we mean "pretty much the exact same thing." i3D is now available for free in the iTunes Store and runs on the iPad 2, iPhone 4 and fourth generation iPod Touch. You can compare both iOS and Ice Cream Sandwich 3D generators after the break (Google's demo kicks off around the 16:50 mark).



at 11:43 AM

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