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- Hands-on with Wikipad, the $500 Android gaming tablet (video)
- Hubble reveals XDF, the deepest view of the universe ever captured
- O2 to sell upcoming HTC smartphone without a wall charger, says it's part of a 'simple vision'
- Samsung SGH-T799 tablet turns up at the FCC wearing T-Mobile's 4G colors
- Boost Mobile announces the LG Venice: a $220, 4.3-inch handset with Ice Cream Sandwich
- From the lab: Lumia 920 low-light shootout with Nokia 808, iPhone 5, HTC One X and Galaxy S III
- Visualized: Inside Rovio's HQ (video)
- Google adds mouse lock to stable Chrome 22 for 3D shooter mavens
- RadioShack parts company with CEO James F. Gooch in management shakeup
- Windows Phone 8 SDK gets leaked and peeked (video)
- Slickdeals' best in tech for September 26th: HIS IceQ Radeon HD 7870, SSDs and Skullcandy earbuds
- Fusion Garage's Grid 10 just won't die, preparing comeback as Compal's Smart Pad PBJ40
- ABI Research: LTE subscriptions surpassed WiMAX usage in Q2 2012
- These are the 23 games launching with the Wii U on November 18
- JEDEC announces final DDR4 RAM specification
- Texas Instruments wants to ditch smartphones, switch focus to embedded processors
- Public Cloudee beta blows in with desktop uploader, new web interface, iPhone 5 optimization
- Dashboard beta leaks new Xbox Music Pass: Cloud playlists and early pricing revealed
- Children's tablet maker suing Toys R Us over Tabeo design
- Maingear announces Alpha 24 Super Stock AIO: NVIDIA graphics and Ivy Bridge power for $1,349 and up
- Tesla's Supercharger not compatible with competitor's EVs, keeps electricity within the family
- Angry Birds sequel 'Bad Piggies' launches tomorrow, we go hands-on
- Barnes & Noble Nook HD, HD+ vs. Nook Tablet: what's changed?
- Cable, IPTV providers reportedly testing cloud-based HD gaming for launch next year
- Samsung Galaxy Note II launches on three carriers in Korea
- Google Play hits 25 billion app downloads, holds celebratory yard sale with $0.25 games
- Permanent quartz glass data storage announced by Hitachi, could hit market by 2015
- Sky+ launches 7-day Catch Up TV, 2TB HD DVRs and adds zeebox extras to its iPad app
- Samsung has already patched 'dirty USSD' vulnerability for Galaxy S III
- Sharp unveils semi-transparent solar panels, lets you see the sun while reaping its benefits
- Foursquare's 'Always On' feature tracks your VIPs near or far, Android app regains nearby check-in filter
- Barnes & Noble Nook lands in Currys, PC World and Sainsbury's stores, furthers the UK conquest
- Google Maps on web and Android adds bus routing for Japan, guides teddy bears quickly (video)
- Barnes & Noble hits the UK, launches Nook Simple Touch, Glowlight and a pair of HD tablets
- Mach inks carrier billing deal with Everything Everywhere, O2, Vodafone and Three in the UK
- Google Street View gets its first underwater panoramic images, ready for desk-based scuba expeditions (video)
- Barnes & Noble announces Nook HD+ 9-inch tablet, we go hands-on (video)
- Barnes & Noble's Nook HD 7-inch Android tablet, hands-on (video)
- Rumors about Google Maps app for iOS intensify, claim it's still months away from launch
- Suitable Technologies introduces Beam, the remote presence device (hands-on)
| Hands-on with Wikipad, the $500 Android gaming tablet (video) Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:33 AM PDT The Wikipad is an anomaly. It's a 10.1-inch, $500 Android tablet aimed squarely at gamers -- an expensive portal to a platform many mobile game developers have abandoned due to piracy. It's got an IPS display with 1,280 x 800 resolution, an NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30 quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (at launch). So ... it's not quite as sharp in the graphics department as some other tablets on the market, nor is it as pretty as its main handheld gaming competition, the PlayStation Vita. On top of that, it's from an engineering firm that you've never heard of -- Wikipad is also the name of the business behind the tablet, and this is the company's first product launch. Oh, and did we mention that the main selling point is an attachable game controller that frames half the tablet in a mess of plastic buttons, joysticks, and speakers? And no, the controller won't be sold separately, nor will it work with any other tablet. Defying all logic, however, the Wikipad feels like a surprisingly solid piece of equipment (regardless of the fact that the prototype model we used was hand-built). From the light but solid construction of the tablet's chassis, to its grippy molded rear -- which helps both for gripping the tablet without the controller attached and assists sound amplification when the device is laid down -- nothing about the device feels cheap. As a tablet, it's speedy and responsive. Apps load quickly and smoothly, and it's got extra loud speakers for gaming without headphones (or for David Guetta, as was demonstrated to us). The custom skin it was running felt a bit rough -- the apps get reorganized with a gaming focus and slapped onto a flippable cube, which caused some visual stuttering from pane to pane. Another feature of the custom OS is a special 3D game launcher, which includes sections for Nvidia's Tegra Zone, PlayStation Mobile games, GameStop-suggested titles, and Google Play. There are some less than exciting ad banners attached to this launcher, but they're easily ignorable. Though Gaikai is still working with the Wikipad post-Sony buyout, CEO James Bower told us the game streaming service won't be there at launch -- he's hoping it'll arrive by year's end, "but that's up to Sony." With the tablet's dual analog stick controller attachment, it's a perfectly capable gaming device. We saw it transform the touch-based mess of Grand Theft Auto 3 for Android into a playable version of the Rockstar Games classic, with no button mapping required. Magic! It works with existing Android games as well, as evidenced by time we spent with zombie shooter Dead Trigger. Is the controller perfect? Not by a longshot -- the buttons and the joysticks feel somewhat cheap comparatively with an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or Vita. Is it a massive step up from touch-based controls? For sure! But does it compare with the PlayStation Vita? Not quite. The larger screen is nice, but the Vita's OLED 5-incher is a beauty -- and stands in stark contrast to the Wikipad. And the build of the controller -- from sticky buttons to loose analog sticks -- doesn't stand up to the Vita nor the 3DSes clicky buttons and precise analog sticks. It's not quite clear who the Wikipad is made for. The company's slogan is, "Work Hard, Game Hard," which Bower tells us is intended to straddle the line between enterprise and gamers. But straddling that line could be tough, with both camps potentially ignoring the Wikipad for lack of focus. And are gamers willing to pony up $500 for yet another handheld gaming console -- both Sony's Vita and Nintendo's 3DS are already competing for that attention -- especially when new consoles are expected as early as next year? And that's to say nothing of Vita's lackluster sales, dwarfed by less expensive competition from Nintendo's 3DS. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hubble reveals XDF, the deepest view of the universe ever captured Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:18 AM PDT That picture above is the deepest and most detailed view of the universe ever captured. It's called XDF, or eXtreme Deep Field, and was created using Hubble Telescope data from 2003 and 2004. It combines ten years of NASA Hubble Space photographs of a single sky sample into one full-color historic view of the galaxies. Hubble pointed at this patch of the constellation Fornax for fifty days, with an exposure time of 2 million seconds. A dazzling trip back in time, the image reveals almost 5,500 galaxies that include Andromeda, spirals similar to the Milky Way, along with remnants of galactic collisions. According to NASA, the XDF reveals galaxies that go as far back as 13.2 billion years. There's a video after the break describing how the shot was assembled; those interested in learning even more can participate in a Google+ webinar with the XDF team this Thursday, September 27th. Here's hoping that when NASA finally gets the James Webb Space Telescope going, we'll have an even deeper view into our galactic past. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| O2 to sell upcoming HTC smartphone without a wall charger, says it's part of a 'simple vision' Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:02 AM PDT In what could be considered a relatively strange move, O2 has announced that an upcoming, unannounced HTC smartphone won't come with a wall charger inside the box. According to the Euro carrier, this idea is part of a "simple vision" in which it wants "to take chargers out of boxes full stop," adding that research has shown more than 70 percent of UK customers don't have the need for such charger as they already own one with the same compatibility. The soon-to-be HTC device will, however, include a USB to micro-USB cable, so not everything will be completely lost. Now O2 didn't give any fruitful details about which HTC handset it'll be using to kick off the program, but we'll let you know as soon as we find out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung SGH-T799 tablet turns up at the FCC wearing T-Mobile's 4G colors Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:45 AM PDT If you liked the look of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 when we reviewed it back in May, but were holding out for a T-Mobile 4G variety, then your patience might soon be rewarded. A Tablet-shaped device from Samsung sporting the model number SGH-T779 has just popped up at the FCC. While that code name might not tell us much, the T-Mobile branding, and the 4G logo are a little easier to make sense of. There was another model, SGH-I497, that went through the FCC with the same ID -- which had a distinct AT&T / Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 flavor to it -- so betting fans might consider the odds of this being the same thing, but for another operator, as being reasonable. Those who prefer not to chance the hand of fate, likely only need wait a short while, however, for this to pop up on the network's store to find out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boost Mobile announces the LG Venice: a $220, 4.3-inch handset with Ice Cream Sandwich Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:30 AM PDT It's only been a few days since we saw those leaked shots of what was rumored to be Boost Mobile's own variant of that Optimus L7 -- and, well, today the LG handset sees its official debut on the prepaid carrier. The LG Venice, as it'll be more commonly known around these parts, boasts a 4.3-inch, WVGA screen alongside a 1GHz CPU, a 5-megapixel camera on the rear (VGA quality on the front) and a video mode capable of shooting up to 720p recordings -- of course, this is all running LG's UI 3.0 flavor of Ice Cream Sandwich. As we've become accustomed to, Boost Mobile is pricing its new Android handset at a decent price ($220), with the device expected to start hitting "exclusive" shelves on October 10th and other "select" retail shops later the same month. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From the lab: Lumia 920 low-light shootout with Nokia 808, iPhone 5, HTC One X and Galaxy S III Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT It looks like Nokia's controversial marketing move, which involved using pro DSLRs to "simulate" low-light shooting, was even less necessary that the smartphone maker may have thought. During our visit to the company's Tampere, Finland research and development complex, we were given access to a comprehensive testing suite, enabling us to shoot with a Lumia 920 prototype and a handful of competing products in a controlled lighting environment. Technicians dimmed the lights and let us snap a static scene with each handset at just 5 lux -- a level on par with what you may expect on a dimly lit city street in the middle of the night. The 920 took the cake, without question, but the iPhone didn't fare too poorly itself, snatching up nearly as much light as the Nokia device. The 808 PureView also performed quite well, but the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III yielded unusable results. It's one thing to snag proper exposure, though -- capturing sharp details with little noise and superior color balance is an entirely different beast, and the Lumia managed to do just that, as you'll see in our 100-percent-view shots further on. Later in the evening we hit the streets of Helsinki for a real-world shootout. The 920 did present some issues with exaggerated shake and other rapid movements, but it offered up excellent results overall, even in scenes that were too dark for us to make out any details with our own eyes. Our nighttime shoot can be found in the gallery below, followed by plenty of comparison photos after the break.
Then, we scaled each shot to 620 pixels wide (to fit right here) and included a 100-percent cropped view in the lower left corner. We know you might want to examine each image yourself, though, so we're including the original files at the source link at the bottom of this page. First up is the Lumia 920, which offered the most even exposure of all of the devices we tested. Admittedly, the shot has a yellow cast, but given the dim conditions, it's certainly acceptable. Next up is the Nokia 808 PureView, which did a fantastic job compared to the other handsets, but required a longer exposure and lost significant color detail. It also has a heavy magenta cast -- still, a commendable performance. The iPhone was also a solid runner-up with this test -- it didn't perform as well in even dimmer light, as we experienced when capturing images from a dark rooftop late at night, but it did yield decent shots in the lab. Even so, the frame is underexposed, includes a heavy orange cast and the 100-percent view is heavily pixelated and noticeably soft. For its part, the One X snapped some detail, but the image is hardly usable -- it's quite dark and noisy. We were able to save it in Photoshop (not pictured), so HTC's flagship will work in a bind, but certainly wouldn't be our first pick. Finally, the Samsung Galaxy S III just barely squeezed by, snapping only the brightest elements. All in all, it really won't do. A few hours later, we hit the streets of Helsinki for a shoot under the stars (or, well, under the clouds). We found a rather dim spot that worked well for a second comparison, which you can see just below. The Lumia and iPhone may look like they offer on-par image quality, but the latter device had more than its fair share of noise output, while the shot from Nokia's phone was much cleaner. The 808 was quite dark in normal shooting mode (seen below), but performed better with the ISO bumped to 1600, which we opted not to include considering that not all of the cameras offered this feature. The One X snap was too dark to be usable, while you can just barely make out the boat in the Galaxy S III's. We're including untouched, full-res versions of all of these shots at the source link below, along with all of the Lumia 920 images from the gallery up above. Myriam Joire and Joseph Volpe contributed to this report. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Visualized: Inside Rovio's HQ (video) Posted: 26 Sep 2012 09:41 AM PDT When in Helsinki, or rather Espoo, there's only thing left to do after stopping by Nokia's glass House -- visit Rovio's HQ. That's right, the company made famous (and filthy rich) by flinging fowl is just a short walk away from Elop and co.'s waterside domain. And, in a bit of perfect timing, we were graciously welcomed into the gaming outfit's office on the eve of its Bad Piggies launch. As you might expect and hope, the walls, doors, floors, couches, desks, soft drinks and even bottles of hand lotion are adorned in all things Angry Birds. There's even a mock-up experience store -- populated with a variety of branded paraphernalia -- sitting pretty in pale green just outside a bank of cubicles. It's everything we ever imagined it to be. But don't just take our words for it. You can check it out for yourself in a video after the break. And now, we're really Finnish(ed).
Zach Honig and Myriam Joire contributed to this report. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google adds mouse lock to stable Chrome 22 for 3D shooter mavens Posted: 26 Sep 2012 09:31 AM PDT Google's fast-track approach to updating Chrome gives a different theme to each update: last time, it was all about visual acuity. For the just launched Chrome 22 stable version, the focus swings to gaming. Web apps can now lock in the mouse control for first-person shooters, simulations and other 3D content that needs the full attention of the pointer during play. Not keen on action games through the browser? There's still some fine-tuning in place for those who live on the cutting edge, including Windows 8 users and Retina MacBook Pro owners. The update may already be sitting on your computer if you're running Chrome; if not, you can get your gaming-friendly fix (and the security notes) through the source links. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RadioShack parts company with CEO James F. Gooch in management shakeup Posted: 26 Sep 2012 09:12 AM PDT RadioShack Announces Senior Management Transition CEO Jim Gooch to step down, Dorvin Lively named interim CEO FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) announced today that its Board of Directors and James F. Gooch have agreed that Mr. Gooch will step down from his positions as chief executive officer and director of the Company, effective immediately. The Board of Directors is in the process of retaining an executive search firm to assist in conducting a search for a successor. The Board does not intend to place any limitations on the search, which may include internal candidates. Dorvin Lively, the Company's executive vice president and chief financial officer, will assume the interim role as acting CEO, working under the Board's oversight. "We thank Jim for his service to the Company and wish him well in his future endeavors," said Daniel R. Feehan, non-executive chairman of the board for RadioShack Corp. "I would like to thank my colleagues on the Board and everyone at the Company for their strong support," Mr. Gooch said. "I wish them all great success in the future." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Windows Phone 8 SDK gets leaked and peeked (video) Posted: 26 Sep 2012 08:54 AM PDT While Microsoft's freshest Mobile OS is still a few weeks away from its big debut, versions of its SDK have begun to crop up online. The peeps over at WPCentral have snagged build 9900 of the software and are offering up a video tour of the reasonably-finished setup. It's not clear if this is a fully-loaded edition or if we're going to see a few more surprises if / when it launches next month, but if you'd care to see for yourself, check out the video after the break.
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| Slickdeals' best in tech for September 26th: HIS IceQ Radeon HD 7870, SSDs and Skullcandy earbuds Posted: 26 Sep 2012 08:42 AM PDT Looking to save some coin on your tech purchases? Of course you are! In this round-up, we'll run down a list of the freshest frugal buys, hand-picked with the help of the folks at Slickdeals. You'll want to act fast, though, as many of these offerings won't stick around long. If Monday's round of links didn't meet your gadget needs, perhaps today's lineup of discounts will be a bit more enticing. More components make the list this time around as well as a set of gaming keys and a price cut on in-ear Skullcandy headphones. We won't hold you up any longer, so head on past the break to take a gander at the goods. There are a few rebates today, though, so mind the extra links should you need 'em. Grab this offer from NewEgg with the form found here. Snag this deal from MacMall. Use this rebate form. Grab one from TigerDirect with this form. This deal is available at NewEgg via this rebate form. eBay has this offer up for grabs. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fusion Garage's Grid 10 just won't die, preparing comeback as Compal's Smart Pad PBJ40 Posted: 26 Sep 2012 08:29 AM PDT Usually, once a gadget gets canned it either just disappears or it ends up stumbling back under a different brand. Because, you know, some unfortunate manufacturer may have an orphaned stock to get rid of, or maybe it doesn't want to waste the expensive tooling developed for the failed product. Either way, judging by a fresh NCC (Taiwan's FCC, basically) filing dug up by our brethren over at Engadget Chinese, it looks like the Grid 10 from the now-defunct Fusion Garage may well crawl out of its grave just like that. While there's still the "Grid 10" branding on the back of the tablet, the two-day-old NCC document recognizes Compal as the company brand (presumably it was Fusion Garage's OEM partner for this), and there's also a new but rather mundane name for the device: "Smart Pad," model "PBJ40." Sadly, there's not much else to look at here apart from the vanilla Android Froyo or Gingerbread (instead of Grid OS) sighting in the pics, as well as the Bluetooth and 802.11b/g/n WiFi mention. So the question is: what will Compal do with this Smart Pad? Resurrect Fusion Garage in Taiwan? Unlikely (though Chandra does like to surprise people). Offload the lot to Taiwanese carriers or stores? We'll bet our money on that. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ABI Research: LTE subscriptions surpassed WiMAX usage in Q2 2012 Posted: 26 Sep 2012 08:22 AM PDT WiMAX isn't exactly a fading technology, but LTE is more and more the name of the mobile connectivity game -- at least in Japan, South Korea and the US. That's what ABI Research gleaned from its "4G Subscribers, Devices and Networks" market data: according to the study the number of LTE subscribers in Japan, South Korea and the US shot past that of WiMAX users in the last quarter of 2011 through to quarter two of 2012. The firm says 77 percent of LTE devices were smartphones in 2011, and it projects that LTE handsets will make up more than 80 percent of device shipments in 2016. ABI says LTE's advantage will grow in the next few years, as more mobile operators roll out TD-LTE networks, and as we begin to see more LTE chipsets hit the market. Head past the break for the press release. LTE Subscriber Totals Have Surpassed WiMAX in 2Q12, Finds ABI Research OYSTER BAY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In monitoring the early progress of LTE, many industry insiders closely watch countries where mobile operators are aggressively deploying new networks, and offering commercial LTE devices and services. In South Korea, the United States, and Japan, the number of LTE subscribers surpassed that of WiMAX subscribers in 4Q11, 1Q12, and 2Q12, respectively. The findings are part of new market data from market intelligence firm ABI Research detailing the mobile broadband transition. "Japan, South Korea, and the United States used to have strong mobile WiMAX proponents, so while the momentum and future of WiMAX and LTE are clear, it is somewhat surprising to see how long the subscriber crossover has actually taken" TD-LTE subscriber growth is slow with only a handful of smaller mobile operators currently servicing active subscribers. This will greatly accelerate towards the end of 2013 and into 2014 when larger mobile operators with TDD spectrum start adding LTE subscribers – especially China Mobile. LTE handsets are the primary LTE device for the foreseeable future capturing 77-percent of the LTE device market in 2011. This percentage is dipping a bit in 2012 as LTE external modems and media tablets with embedded LTE modules pick up, but LTE handsets will surpass 80-percent of device shipments during 2016. A few gating factors are holding back a potential explosion of non-handset LTE devices, but these are starting to get resolved and most of these factors will deteriorate over the next few years. "The relatively new data share plans leave room for improvement and represent one diminishing factor holding back the wider LTE device market. Another is related to new and unique LTE chipset solutions coming to market over the next few years," stresses Solis. "However, one of the factors that will remain is the complexity and cost around mobile technology royalties and litigation." These findings are from ABI Research's "4G Subscribers, Devices, and Networks" market data – a component of the firm's 4G (http://www.abiresearch.com/research/service/4g/) Database Service, which includes Market Data and Insights. The service is part of ABI Research's Mobile Devices, Content, and Applications research practice. ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research's worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 70+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| These are the 23 games launching with the Wii U on November 18 Posted: 26 Sep 2012 08:12 AM PDT Nintendo's nailing down a specific date for nearly half of its Wii U "launch window" lineup, and it's the same day that the console arrives in North America: November 18. 23 games will land at retail alongside the Wii U this November, including Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, New Super Mario Bros. U, and FIFA Soccer 13. Minigame collection Nintendo Land will launch with the 32GB, $350 version of the Wii U console, and will also be available separately on Nov. 18 -- all Nintendo first-party games will be available digitally at launch as well. Earlier this month, the company revealed just over 50 titles planned for the Wii U's "launch window," which comprises November 18, 2012 through March 31, 2013. The full list of all titles is just below.
Nintendo Announces 23 Games Launching with Wii U on Nov. 18 An Additional 29 Games Are Planned Through the End of March REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nintendo is unleashing the largest launch-day video game lineup in its history for its new Wii U™ home console. When Wii U launches in the Americas on Nov. 18, 23 games from Nintendo and its third-party publishing partners will be ready to play as well. These include Nintendo-published games like Nintendo Land™, New Super Mario Bros.™ U, SiNG PARTY™ and NINJA GAIDEN™ 3: Razor's Edge, as well as third-party powerhouses like ZombiU™ from Ubisoft, Call of Duty®: Black Ops II from Activision Publishing, Inc., Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two from Disney Interactive, EA SPORTS™ FIFA Soccer 13 from Electronic Arts and Scribblenauts™ Unlimited from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "We have something for everyone, from new franchises to creative new approaches to familiar favorites." The high-definition Wii U system is available in two versions in the Americas, and each comes with a touch-screen Wii U GamePad controller. The Basic Set will be offered in white at a suggested retail price of $299.99 in the United States, while the Deluxe Set, which includes higher storage capacity, additional accessories and Nintendo Land, will be offered in black at a suggested retail price of $349.99 in the United States. Wii U owners who connect their systems to the Internet also unlock a vast array of features to enhance their gaming, social and entertainment experiences. This includes features such as Nintendo eShop, which allows users to buy and download games directly to their systems, and Miiverse™, an online gaming community that lets players interact in new ways and share playing tips. Wii U owners in the United States and Canada will also have access to Nintendo TVii, which lets users access multiple sources of entertainment through a convenient GamePad interface. Below is a list of upcoming Wii U games for launch day and beyond. Publisher Title Launch Date Broadband Internet access is required for online features. For more information, go to http://support.nintendo.com. Remember that Wii U features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu. For more information about Nintendo, visit http://www.nintendo.com. About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™ home console, Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ family of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 3.9 billion video games and more than 630 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™ and Nintendo GameCube™ systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company's website at http://www.nintendo.com. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| JEDEC announces final DDR4 RAM specification Posted: 26 Sep 2012 07:47 AM PDT A couple of companies have been jumping the gun on DDR4 production, but the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association is finally bringing order to the industry by releasing its official standard for the next-gen DRAM. It calls for "higher performance, with improved reliability and reduced power" -- which we roughly take to mean: less gigs for better rigs. The DDR4 per-pin data rate standard is 1.6 gigatransfers per second (GT/s) at the minimum and 3.2 GT/s at the top-end, although this cap is expected to increase in future updates (given that DDR3 also surpassed its initial target). Speeds will begin at 2133MHz, a significant jump from your average DDR3 stick, and will also operate at lower power thanks to the Pseudo Open Drain Interface. Check out the PR below if you want to delve deeper into the specs, and if even that's not enough to sate you, head to the source link below to tackle the full documentation. Godspeed! JEDEC Announces Publication of DDR4 Standard ARLINGTON, Va., USA – SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 –JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, today announced the initial publication of its widely-anticipated Synchronous DDR4 (Double Data Rate 4) standard. JEDEC DDR4 (JESD79-4) has been defined to provide higher performance, with improved reliability and reduced power, thereby representing a significant achievement relative to previous DRAM memory technologies. The new DDR4 standard is available for free download from the JEDEC website at http://www.jedec.org/standards-documents/results/jesd79-4%20ddr4. DDR4 offers a range of innovative features designed to enable high speed operation and broad applicability in a variety of applications including servers, laptops, desktop PCs and consumer products. In addition to the advantages described later in this release, the new technology has been defined with a goal of simplifying migration and enabling adoption of an industry-wide standard. To facilitate comprehension and early adoption of the DDR4 standard, JEDEC is hosting a two-day DDR4 Technical Workshop in Santa Clara, CA on October 30 and 31. For online registration and agenda information visit: http://www.jedec.org/ddr4workshop. The per-pin data rate for DDR4 is specified as 1.6 giga transfers per second to an initial maximum objective of 3.2 giga transfers per second. With DDR3 exceeding its original targeted performance of 1.6 GT/s, it is likely that higher performance speed grades will be added in a future DDR4 update. Other DDR4 attributes tightly intertwined with the planned speed grades, enabling device functionality as well as application adoption, include: a pseudo open drain interface on the DQ bus, a geardown mode for 2,667 MT/s per DQ and beyond, bank group architecture, internally generated VrefDQ and improved training modes. In addition, DDR4 has been designed in such a way that stacked memory devices may prove to be a key factor during the lifetime of the technology, with stacks of up to 8 memory devices presenting only a single signal load. Joe Macri, Chairman of JEDEC's JC-42.3 Subcommittee for DRAM Memories, said: "The publication of the JEDEC DDR4 standard represents the culmination of years of dedicated effort by memory device, system, component and module producers worldwide. The new standard will enable next generation systems to achieve greater performance, significantly increased packaging density and improved reliability - with lower power consumption." "The industry has been looking forward to the publication of this standard for some time," noted Desi Rhoden, Chairman JC-42 Memory Committee and Executive VP Montage Technology. "The current publication will provide early adopters with the critical information required to utilize the emerging DDR4 devices. Subsequent publications are planned to address material not yet finalized in time for this publication. As with all JEDEC standardization activities, industry participation is highly valued – companies interested in participating in JEDEC may visit the JEDEC website at www.jedec.org or call 703-907-7560 for more information." Industry Support for DDR4 "The publication of the DDR4 standard is a great milestone leading up to the launch of this next generation of DRAM," said Robert Feurle, vice president for Micron's DRAM marketing. "Improvements in performance and power consumption make DDR4 an attractive memory solution for the next generation of enterprise and consumer products, and we look forward to driving this technology into the marketplace." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Texas Instruments wants to ditch smartphones, switch focus to embedded processors Posted: 26 Sep 2012 07:18 AM PDT Texas Instruments has made the startling announcement that it's going to wind down its wildly successful smartphone and tablet business in favor of embedded systems. VP Greg Delagi told investors that the switch would create a more "stable" and "long-term business" than the cutthroat battles it's faced in mobile. While, currently the world's third biggest semiconductor company, it's concerned about losing ground to players like Qualcomm, Samsung and Apple -- despite its latest OMAP CPUs powering tablets like the Nook HD and Kindle Fire. We're scratching our heads as to why a major player would drop such a strong position like this, but perhaps they know something that we don't. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Public Cloudee beta blows in with desktop uploader, new web interface, iPhone 5 optimization Posted: 26 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT Boxee already has its fingers in quite a few video streaming pies, and now the company has launched the Cloudee service into public beta to let your store and share your own movies. The iPhone or iPod app allows clips to be uploaded and shared with a select group of pals, while permitting commenting and liking in a similar fashion to Google+. The company has also introduced desktop uploading software for Windows or Mac computers, along with a website so your can manage videos "with more than just your thumbs." In addition, the app is now optimized for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, and lets you share footage with contacts and publish using Facebook or Twitter. All videos are now private by default and users will enjoy unlimited space to stock videos until Cloudee emerges from beta -- at which point, Boxee may require an upgrade to its premium service to add additional content. So, if you're interested in crossing the video sharing bridge while avoiding the trolls, check the source to see how to sign up. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dashboard beta leaks new Xbox Music Pass: Cloud playlists and early pricing revealed Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:40 AM PDT Appearing soon after Zune's end, we've been sent these images of what Microsoft's likely to offer in Xbox Music. Matching those early rumors, it looks like some cloud-linked features will make an appearance in the form of synchronized playlists, while the service will offer a free half-month trial alongside paid subscriptions. Prices are currently set at £8.99 ($15) for a month, while £89.90 ($146) will offer a year's unlimited access to "millions" of tracks, to stream and download across Xbox, Windows, and Windows Phone. The system's UI seems to borrow its looks from Windows' [Thanks Anonymous]
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| Children's tablet maker suing Toys R Us over Tabeo design Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:19 AM PDT Currently lawsuits are all the rage in the tech industry, however it's somewhat of a sad day when the ill-effects of corporate hardball trickle down to children's toys. Nabi tablet maker Fuhu filed a lawsuit at a San Diego, California federal court claiming that mega retailer Toys R Us stole its product's trade secrets for the development of its forthcoming Tabeo tablet for children. Fuhu alleges that last year Toys R Us agreed to exclusively carry the Nabi tablet in order to gain access to confidential information before launching a tablet of its own. The partnership between the two companies ended in January and Toys R Us has since announced its plans to release its Tabeo tablet this fall. Fuhu is suing for an undisclosed sum and requesting that Toys R Us relinquish its stock of Tabeo tablets. It's too early to tell if this lawsuit will have an impact on the Tabeo's launch plans, but if Fuhu has its way, Toys R Us will receive a lump of coal and a court order this holiday season. Bah, humbug! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maingear announces Alpha 24 Super Stock AIO: NVIDIA graphics and Ivy Bridge power for $1,349 and up Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:00 AM PDT Maingear is relatively new to the all-in-one space, having released its Solo 21 just this March. Now it's introducing the Alpha 24 Super Stock, an AIO with a 24-inch, 1080p touchscreen and some solid specs under the hood. Processor choices include a Core i3-3240 chip clocked at 3.4GHz and a Core i7 option (both Ivy Bride, of course), and the AIO is configurable with up to 16GB of SO-DIMM memory. For storage, you're looking at up to a 3TB hard drive and up to a 256GB SSD. Being a Maingear machine, the Super Stock is all about the graphics: an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 GPU comes standard, but that can be switched out for a GeForce GTX 680 chip. There are also two 8-pin PCI-E power connectors on board for good measure. Also in line with the company's DIY mentality, the machine meets Intel's thin-mini ITX standard for assuring that next-gen components can be swapped in. Rounding out the feature list are an optional CableCARD tuner, an optical drive, HDMI, three USB 2.0 ports and a SD card reader. The Alpha 24 Super Stock will go for $1,349 and up starting today -- check out the full press info below the break. Kenilworth, New Jersey – September 26, 2012 – MAINGEAR, an award-winning custom PC builder whose name is known for building quality custom desktops, laptops, and workstations is yet again pushing the envelope of placing performance and quality in PC solutions to heights never before seen. The MAINGEAR ALPHA 24 Super Stock is an all-in-one computer that does not compromise in the way that the form factor is known to do: desktop-level performance. The MAINGEAR ALPHA 24 takes advantage of the Intel 3rd generation core processor and the desktop version of NVIDIA Optimus: Synergy. Synergy technology works in tandem with Intel's HD graphics, allowing for conservative power consumption while watching videos or internet browsing but delivering power on demand with any gaming need. An optional CableCARD tuner also turns the ALPHA 24 into a touch-enabled Media Center; a digital cable-enabled HTPC. The ALPHA 24 also has a HDMI in, allowing a cable box, XBOX 360, PS3, or other device to take advantage of its full HD display. • Intel® Core™ i3 3240 3.4GHz, upgradeable to Intel® Core™ i7 3770K "In this day and age, there shouldn't be a reason anyone would need to compromise for an all-in-one performance PC. "says Wallace Santos, CEO and founder of MAINGEAR. "Other all-in-one PC solutions pale in comparison to the ALPHA 24 and can be summed up with just a few words: 1080p gaming set to Ultra, maxed anti-aliasing and tessellation." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tesla's Supercharger not compatible with competitor's EVs, keeps electricity within the family Posted: 26 Sep 2012 05:36 AM PDT Planning on juicing up your Chevy Volt, Mitsubishi i-MiEV or Nissan Leaf with Tesla's Supercharger? Hold your horses, vaquero. The nighttime unveiling stressed that the quick-charge solution was Model S-friendly, but we should also note that it's only compatible with the firm's automobile. Vehicles from other automakers won't be able to jack into the station thanks to a 20-kilowatt hour converter, which would zap other batteries with too much electricity, and a proprietary plug. Unless something changes, those planning cross-country trips using EVs from other manufacturers will just have to find an alternative to Musk and Co.'s white obelisk. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Angry Birds sequel 'Bad Piggies' launches tomorrow, we go hands-on Posted: 26 Sep 2012 05:20 AM PDT Finnish game studio Rovio went from relatively unknown to center stage with the Angry Birds franchise. And in record time, too -- the first Angry Birds landed on Apple's iOS App Store in December 2009, less than three years ago, and has since become an international sensation. The birds spawned a flock of sequels, branded tie-ins, and tons of merchandise. All this adds up to quite a bit of chicken scratch for Rovio, and also quite a bit of pressure to keep the money train rolling. Today marks Rovio's first true sequel to the original Angry Birds, and it's focused on the other side of the farm: the pigs. Enter Bad Piggies. Unlike Angry Birds, Bad Piggies isn't about flinging anything towards a complicated structure in order to knock it down. Instead, it's about moving one very green, goofy sounding pig to various points on a map to collect items and reach a goal -- it's much more Cut the Rope than Angry Birds. The same physics-based game mechanics are at play in Bad Piggies that made both Cut the Rope and Angry Birds so popular, and they're just as fun in this time around. But how do you get said piggy to the goals? You build a contraption, of course. Each level starts with a build section, allowing players to create all types of vehicles in order to transport the pig from point A to point B (while grabbing collectibles along the way). Only a small handful of build options are available, keeping Bad Piggies just as speedy of a game -- to pick up and play while commuting or while waiting at the dentist's office -- as its wildly successful progenitor. It's hard to say if Bad Piggies will recapture the success that Rovio found with Angry Birds proper, but all the hallmarks are there: quick, fun gameplay, colorful characters, goofy sounds, and accessibility (we couldn't help but get all three stars on every level, but you don't have to in order to proceed, should it prove too difficult). Bad Piggies launches tomorrow morning for iOS devices, Mac, and Android. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barnes & Noble Nook HD, HD+ vs. Nook Tablet: what's changed? Posted: 26 Sep 2012 05:00 AM PDT When William Barnes and G. Clifford Noble set up their first bookstore in 1917, neither of them could have conceived of an e-reader or tablet, let alone trying to sell one of 'em. Their historical lack of foresight aside, the company outed a pair of second generation slates this morning, and it's our job to see what technical nips and tucks have been made from version one. If you love to start the day with a spec chart comparison, then why not grab a bowl of cereal and join us after the break?
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| Cable, IPTV providers reportedly testing cloud-based HD gaming for launch next year Posted: 26 Sep 2012 04:45 AM PDT The next generation of consoles from Sony and Microsoft haven't even been announced yet but their best competition may be from your cable TV / internet provider, according to a report from Bloomberg. The only-too-eager-to-talk people familiar with the matter named AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS and Time Warner Cable as services preparing tests before the end of the year with general availability planned for 2013. Comcast and Cox were also name dropped as potential candidates to bring console-quality HD games directly to customers, based on tech from startups like Playcast, CiiNOW and Agawi. Of course, while we've seen this sort of setup before (as seen above, check out an awesomely 90s Sega Channel ad after the break) and recently from OnLive and Gaikai, cloud gaming has yet to catch on in a major way. Whether this potential approach is all smoke or will actually turn into reality has yet to be seen, but after TV Everywhere we wouldn't be surprised to see providers toss in gaming as another incentive for subscribers not to cut the cord. [Image credit: Sega Retro] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy Note II launches on three carriers in Korea Posted: 26 Sep 2012 04:24 AM PDT Looking for Samsung's latest big phone? Get yourself over to Korea, where the Galaxy Note II has kicked off its | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Play hits 25 billion app downloads, holds celebratory yard sale with $0.25 games Posted: 26 Sep 2012 04:00 AM PDT Google Play crossed a rather significant milestone this morning: something to the tune of 25 billion app downloads. While the accomplishment is weighty enough on its own -- especially given that the store also offers books, music and movies, which aren't included in this tally -- Google is celebrating in symbolic style with a number of apps and games for sale at just $0.25 over the next five days. Among the mix of discounted titles, you'll find publishers such as Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Rovio, Runtastic and Full Fat. Not to stop there, shoppers will also discover a curated collection of 25 must-own movies, 25 banned books, 25 albums that changed the world and 25 top-selling magazines. With today's announcement, it was revealed that 675,000 apps and games now live in Google Play -- a healthy increase when compared to 600,000 titles and 20 billion installs just three months ago. As you might expect, Apple still claims the largest selection with 700,000 titles in its App Store, although with such a thin separation between the two, we may see Google Play eclipse its rival in short order. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Permanent quartz glass data storage announced by Hitachi, could hit market by 2015 Posted: 26 Sep 2012 03:34 AM PDT Sure, we can store huge quantities of bits in a tiny space, but how long will that data last? Current optical, magnetic and flash storage media have limited shelf lives, so Hitachi has announced a new way of locking up ones and zeros in quartz glass for hundreds of millions of years. The data can be etched with a laser in three layers on the crystals at a density slightly higher than a CD, then read out with an optical microscope, meaning that future generations could restore the info without needing a proprietary drive. The technology could come to market in three years, according to the research lab -- but would likely be targeted at companies first, who would need to send in their data to be encoded. Hitachi said the media withstood two hours of 3500 degree Fahrenheit temperatures in testing without data loss, meaning that archaeologists from the future may one day uncover your questionable taste. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sky+ launches 7-day Catch Up TV, 2TB HD DVRs and adds zeebox extras to its iPad app Posted: 26 Sep 2012 03:04 AM PDT Sky+ in the UK has bundled several updates to deliver all at once, including expected ones like zeebox integration into its iPad app and an expanded Catch Up TV lineup, plus a new 2TB Sky+ HD DVR. Viewers will notice the new 7-day Catch Up TV section in their video on-demand section stocked with shows from Sky, ITV Player and Demand 5, with BBC iPlayer arriving this fall and 4oD next year. The Sky+ iPad app has been updated to v4.1 with a notification for possible recording conflicts plus expanded content info and social tie-ins powered by zeebox. Now, you can not only change channels from the tablet, but also find out more about what's playing. Finally, the new expanded size DVR outpaces the stock configuration available from competitor Virgin Media, and we're told it is priced the same as the previous 1TB offering. Check after the break for a press release with all the details, the gallery for screenshots and a look at the DVR or hit iTunes to grab the updated app right now. Sky+ now bigger and better than ever - New Sky+HD 2TB box provides more personal storage – - New ways to interact with TV shows through the Sky+ iPad App - 26th September 2012 – Sky+, Britain's most popular personal video recorder, is getting even bigger and better with the launch this week of a brand new Catch Up TV service, more personal storage and new ways for customers to interact with their favourite TV shows. - ENDS – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung has already patched 'dirty USSD' vulnerability for Galaxy S III Posted: 26 Sep 2012 02:36 AM PDT If you were worried about stumbling onto a malicious website and accidentally wiping your Samsung Galaxy S III or other TouchWiz smartphone or slate, you can probably breathe easy. It's likely you already have firmware on your device which isn't vulnerable to the so-called dirty USSD code, and if not, you can download it now, according to Samsung. The company issued the following statement on the matter: "We would like to assure our customers that the recent security issue concerning the Galaxy S III has already been resolved through a software update. We recommend all Galaxy S III customers download the latest software update, which can be done quickly and easily via the Over-The-Air (OTA) service." It turns out we couldn't reproduce the bug earlier as we already had the latest update, and you should probably check to see that you do, as well. Meanwhile, we're also checking to see if other Touchwiz devices have been patched, so don't forget to watch what you click. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sharp unveils semi-transparent solar panels, lets you see the sun while reaping its benefits Posted: 26 Sep 2012 02:18 AM PDT Sharp has announced an unusual photovoltaic panel for the Japanese market that collects energy from the sun while still allowing the light to shine on through. Though it's rated at a lowly 6.8 percent / 98 watt max efficiency, the glass-like properties make it useful as a construction material (as shown in the balcony railing above), with the semi-transparent nature giving occupants privacy, to boot. The energy-producing cells are embedded in a laminated glass structure and an air slot provides a thermal barrier, allowing the panels to also be used as "windows, curtain wall and eaves" according to Sharp's PR. Though the system won't win any potency prizes, it has garnered a design award in Japan, so it won't blight any landscapes. There's no mention of pricing or western availability so far, but you can hit the source for all the technical details. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 26 Sep 2012 01:53 AM PDT If you have an urge to always know what your close friends and family members are up to, then Foursquare has the remedy. The popular social network has announced the availability of its new "Always On" option which allows you to receive continuous check-ins from a selected list of people -- even if you have notifications disabled. This slick new feature gives you the flexibility to create a list of VIPs that you'd like to keep tabs on opposed to receiving a play by play of everyone else's weekend excursion. For now, the toggle can only be found on Foursquare's website, but we wouldn't be surprised if this toggle headed to the company's cadre of apps in the near future. The Android app specifically just received a new update that brings back the nearby friends check-in filter users lost in the upgrade to 5.0 (iOS and BlackBerry saw it return in August) plus a "social history" that shows if your friends have visited a location and how many times, as well as a redesigned me card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barnes & Noble Nook lands in Currys, PC World and Sainsbury's stores, furthers the UK conquest Posted: 26 Sep 2012 01:20 AM PDT Barnes & Noble must want no corner of Britain untouched by Nooks. Following its planned bookstore invasion, the American company is bringing both the Nook Simple Touch and its GlowLight cousin to Sainsbury's and Waitrose supermarkets, as well as Dixons Retail-owned chains Currys and PC World. When the e-readers arrive at the outlets' respective online and retail stores from early October onwards, they'll bring the Nook's reach to nearly 2,000 UK sales points -- not quite ubiquitous coverage, but more than double what we saw in our most recent check. About all that's left is to offer the Android tablets that have been conspicuously missing from Barnes & Noble's initial expansion strategy. Barnes & Noble Continues its UK Expansion by Partnering with Dixons Retail to Offer Award-Winning NOOK® Products Leading Specialist in Electrical Goods to Offer NOOK Reading Experience and Products to its Millions of UK Customers Through PC World and Currys Stores and Online this Autumn NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced a partnership with Dixons Retail, owner of the UK's leading electrical retailers PC World and Currys. The partnership further fortifies Barnes & Noble's recently announced expansion into the UK and its commitment to offer UK shoppers the best reading experience through its range of award-winning NOOK products. "We are very excited to work with a company that, just like Barnes & Noble, puts its customers at the forefront of its business," said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. "We look forward to bringing our highly sought-after line of NOOK reading devices and content to PC World and Currys customers this autumn." Currys and PC World will feature Barnes & Noble's NOOK products in over 600 stores across the country and online (at www.currys.co.uk and www.pcworld.co.uk). They will offer the award-winning NOOK Simple Touch™ and NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight™. Dean Kramer, Head Of Category – Computing Hardware, Currys and PC World, said: "It's vital, as the UK's leading electrical retailers, that we continually offer the right mix of products to meet customers' needs. Portable tablet and eReading technology is becoming ever more popular so we are thrilled to be stocking Barnes & Noble's stylish, high quality NOOK products; we believe they will be one of the must-have gadgets for Christmas." Barnes & Noble's partnership with Dixons Retail further highlights the bookseller's commitment to offer the best choice in reading and tablet products, and outstanding customer service for UK consumers. The partnership will expand the expected number of NOOK UK retail outlets to more than 1,600, and include various leading online retail platforms offering NOOK products and the company's soon to launch online storefront, www.nook.co.uk. Barnes & Noble is a leader in creating innovative products that provide the best digital reading and entertainment experience for millions of customers today. The company is on track to offer the award-winning NOOK Simple Touch, the lightweight, easiest-to-use Reader with extra-long battery life and a paper-like display, and NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight, which adds an evenly distributed and adjustable light that's perfect for reading in the dark. Both of these critically-acclaimed devices will be available online and to experience first-hand in-store in early October. Commercial terms of the partnership have not been disclosed. Barnes & Noble Partners with Sainsbury's To Offer Award-Winning NOOK® Products Leading UK Retailer Will Offer NOOK As Exclusive Reading Devices to Millions of Customers NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Barnes & Noble, Inc. today announced a partnership with Sainsbury's to bring the award-winning NOOK reading experience and digital products as the exclusive eReader to over 270 Sainsbury's stores across the UK and online. "Barnes & Noble is committed to delivering the popular NOOK reading experience to the UK, beginning this autumn," said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. "We're proud to have NOOK in Sainsbury's portfolio, and to showcase our award-winning products with one of the UK's most trusted retailers." Sainsbury's New Technology Buyer, Lindsay Evans commented: "We aim to offer our customers new and exciting products. The NOOK provides avid readers with a portable, easy way to consume literature. General merchandise represents a significant part of our business' growth and it was critically important to us we found a device partner who understands the specific needs of our customers. The NOOK's high quality and intuitive features make it perfect for the whole family to enjoy." The Barnes & Noble partnership with Sainsbury's is another demonstration of the bookseller's commitment to offer the best choice in reading and tablet products, and outstanding customer service for UK consumers. The Sainsbury's commitment to their community and customers make them a great partner in bringing new reading experiences to customers throughout the UK. Barnes & Noble is a leader in creating innovative products that provide the best digital reading and entertainment experience for millions of customers today. The company is on track to offer two of its most popular products through leading UK retailers starting this autumn, in time for the holiday shopping season: the award-winning NOOK Simple Touch, the lightweight, easiest-to-use Reader with extra-long battery life and a paper-like display, and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight, which adds an evenly distributed and adjustable light that's perfect for reading in the dark. Further product, pricing and availability details will be announced in the coming weeks. Commercial terms of the partnership have not been disclosed. Barnes & Noble Partners with Waitrose To Offer Award-Winning NOOK® Products Leading UK Supermarket to Offer NOOK Reading Experience and Products to Millions of Customers Across the Country in Shops and Online this Autumn NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced a partnership with the major United Kingdom (UK) supermarket chain Waitrose. Through this partnership, the award-winning NOOK reading experience and digital products will be offered to Waitrose customers in selected stores across the UK. "We have enormous respect for Waitrose as great established company in the UK and think it is a perfect brand fit for NOOK," said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. "We look forward to joining forces with them to bring our award winning eReading and tablet products to their millions of discerning customers." Waitrose will be featuring the NOOK portfolio of products including the award-winning NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight. As part of the John Lewis partnership, Waitrose will bring NOOK to selected branches in the UK. Brent Collins, Buyer, Electricals of Waitrose said: "We believe our customers will love NOOK products due to their adaptability, design and content." Barnes & Noble's partnerships with Waitrose is another demonstration of the bookseller's commitment to offer the best choice in reading and tablet products and outstanding customer service for UK consumers. It will expand the expected number of UK retail outlets to nearly 2,000, and include various leading online retail platforms offering NOOK products and the company's soon to launch online storefront, www.nook.co.uk. The award-winning NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight devices will be available online and to experience first-hand in-store in early October. Further product pricing and availability details will be announced in the coming weeks. Commercial terms of the partnership have not been disclosed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Maps on web and Android adds bus routing for Japan, guides teddy bears quickly (video) Posted: 26 Sep 2012 12:51 AM PDT Virtually anyone who's been to a Japanese city knows that subways and trains might be closely associated with their country, but also that they only form a part of the mass transit picture. With that in mind, Google has quietly rolled out an update to Google Maps data for Android and the web that supports bus navigation in Japan, including schedules. It's a simple addition, but an important one for those who can't always get to where they're going on rails -- like teddy bears, according to Google's video. We just want to know who makes that kawaii case for the Galaxy Nexus. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barnes & Noble hits the UK, launches Nook Simple Touch, Glowlight and a pair of HD tablets Posted: 25 Sep 2012 11:50 PM PDT American bookseller Barnes and Noble is planning to broaden its horizons with a little international travel. At the same time the Kindle Fire HD makes its first tentative steps across the pond, the company behind the Nook has appointed Patrick Rouvillois to spearhead its global domination -- starting in the UK. As such, it's releasing the Nook Simple Touch, Simple Touch with Glowlight and both of its new HD tablets this holiday season to win the hearts and minds of cynical Brits. If you're a Brit (cynical or otherwise) and curious whether Jeff Bezos and chums have something to worry about (hint: most probably) then join us after the break. From a hardware perspective, you should check out our reviews of the Nook Simple Touch and its Glowlight-sporting brother, since very little has changed on its trip over from the US. However, the duo are very competitively priced, with the former retailing for £79, £30 cheaper than the Kindle Touch, and the Glowlight costing £109, with both available to pre-order from today and delivery planned for early October. Of course, the jewel in the company's crown is its pair of Ice Cream Sandwich-running slates, designed to shame the equivalent Kindle Fires. While we've gone into greater detail about the specifics on both devices elsewhere, they feel remarkably solid despite their lightness. In a side-by-side comparison, the hardware makes Amazon's latest tablet feel stodgy and unwieldily. Before its launch, the rumors were that Barnes & Noble was cooking up a device with an "incredible display," and certainly at first blush, that's true. NOOK® Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLightTM – Best-In-Class E Ink® eReaders – Now on Sale in UK First Time NOOK® Products Are Available to UK Customers Starting at Only £79, NOOK eReaders Offer High-Quality Touchscreen and Top-Rated Reading Experience at an Amazing Price Order Today From Leading UK Retailers London, United Kingdom – September 26, 2012 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced that its critically acclaimed E Ink readers – NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight – are on sale for the first time in the UK, ahead of the Christmas shopping season. Beginning today, customers in the UK can order devices hailed as the top-rated eReaders by scores of US technology reviewers and consumers alike. Starting at the low price of only £79, high quality NOOK eReaders are available today for pre-order online and in select stores across the UK. Starting in early October, customers will be able to experience NOOK first-hand in more than 1,600 top high street retailers including John Lewis, Argos, Sainsbury's, Dixons and Waitrose, and Britain's leading bookshops, Blackwell's and Foyles. The bestselling NOOK eReaders will also be available through www.nook.co.uk beginning in early October. "Our high quality NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight products pack in a lightning fast, easy to use touchscreen and access to our robust NOOK content catalogue, in an incredibly lightweight form at an amazing value," said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. "NOOK Simple Touch puts the focus on reading instead of the technology, while NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight is the first product to hit the market that is perfect for both outdoor and bedtime reading, with a built-in reading light. We're excited to give UK customers the opportunity to enjoy both of these devices, plus one of the world's largest digital bookstores with more than 2.5 million books, newspapers and magazines." Introducing NOOK to the UK With millions of NOOKs sold to reading lovers in the US, NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight are the most highly acclaimed, easiest-to-use eReaders combining an ergonomic form factor with a paper-like, glare-free readability, even in bright sunlight. NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight is the first eReader that's perfect for outdoors, with no glare even in bright sunlight, combined with a fully adjustable integrated lighting solution for nighttime reading. It's like having two devices in one! Both products are extremely lightweight, feature extra-long battery life and built-in access via Wi-Fi® to the NOOK StoreTM. NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight are available for only £79 and £109, respectively. Light, Compact and Portable Easy-to-Use, Responsive Touchscreen Brightest Innovation in Reading Long-Lasting Battery Life A Personalised Experience NOOK wirelessly connects via Wi-Fi to the NOOK Store, one of the world's largest digital bookstores. Whether on their device or shopping online at www.nook.co.uk this autumn, UK customers will find more than 2.5 million digital books including top-selling UK eBooks, new releases, classics and more, favourite UK newspapers and magazines, so customers can enjoy a wide variety of digital content at their fingertips. The NOOK Store also offers a large collection of titles from independent publishers and self-publishing authors through the PubItTM programme. Customers can easily browse by department or learn what to read next by exploring NOOK ChannelsTM, a pioneering recommendation system for an unparalleled, curated discovery experience targeted to the reader's interests. UK customers can sample any NOOK BookTM for free and download content in seconds. Avid and social readers can swap books with friends through innovative LendMe® technology, which Barnes & Noble pioneered. The NOOK Store also provides top bookseller picks and other recommendations. Free NOOK Reading Apps Availability Barnes & Noble Launches NOOK® HD and NOOK HD+, Lightest and Highest-Resolution 7-Inch HD Tablet and World's Lightest Full HD Tablet Incredible Reading and Entertainment Like Never Seen Before on 7- and 9-Inch Tablets NOOK HD Offers World's Highest Resolution Display Ever on a 7-Inch Media Tablet NOOK HD+ is Lightest, Lowest-Priced Full HD Tablet Ever Starting at Only £229 Unbeatable Values for Top Quality Tablets and No Annoying Ads Coming to the UK This Autumn New York, New York – September 26, 2012 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today introduced NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, the lightest HD and full HD tablets. The super-fast and lightweight 7-inch NOOK HD and 9-inch NOOK HD+ feature must-see displays for superior reading and entertainment and an instantly personalised tablet experience for each family member. In fact, NOOK HD boasts the world's highest- resolution ever on a 7-inch tablet and NOOK HD+ rivals the industry-leading tablet's display. Starting at the low prices of £159 for NOOK HD and £229 for NOOK HD+ – nearly half the cost of the leading large-format tablet – both products deliver an amazing value for customers, with no annoying ads. With more than 2.5 million books, a large selection of magazines and apps, as well as NOOK VideoTM content A Personalised Tablet Experience For Both Individuals and Families Must-Have Tablet Features 2 Lightning Fast: Armed with a dual-core 1.3GHz high-speed processor, NOOK HD is lightning fast, highly responsive and smooth. With its more powerful processor, it's not surprising that NOOK HD is faster than Kindle Fire HD for a nimble overall experience, and 80 percent faster when it comes to graphics processing for smoother, faster animations, renderings, apps experience and more. The 1GB of RAM allows customers to easily zip from one app to another and play movies. NOOK HD+ – The Lightest and Lowest-Priced Full HD Tablet Ever Incredibly Light Yet Powerful: Weighing in at only 515 grams, NOOK HD+ is big on display, yet lightweight, easy to hold and take anywhere. It is the lightest full HD tablet ever invented. NOOK HD+ is power-packed by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM for a fast, smooth customer experience, whether browsing the web, reading books and magazines, watching videos, enjoying apps or checking email. Best Price Ever for Full HD Tablet: The beautifully designed NOOK HD+, offered in the colour "Slate," features expandable memory for even more storage with options of 16GB for £229 and 32GB for £269 – two astoundingly low prices for a brilliant, super-light 9-inch reading and entertainment tablet. Both NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ will be delivered to customers and in UK stores in late November, in plenty of time for Christmas. . "With the combination of the highest resolution screen, lightest weight and expansive access to content rendered in a digital quality never before seen, NOOK HD is the world's best 7-inch media tablet," said William J. Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. "We designed our larger format tablet NOOK HD+, because we think there's big demand from customers for a super-light, extremely high quality 9-inch tablet, at half the price of the iPad. Both our 7-inch NOOK HD and 9-inch NOOK HD+ deliver an exceptional customer experience and we enthusiastically encourage customers to go to nook.com and learn more about them," said William J. Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. Announcing Even More NOOK Content and Services to Enjoy As part of the launch of NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, Barnes & Noble also announced significant new additions and advancements to the NOOK content ecosystem: A Growing and Diverse Digital Catalogue: The NOOK StoreTM now offers more than 2.5 million books including bestselling books, new releases, classics and enhanced titles with special content; a large collection of best-loved English-language children's interactive picture books; comic books and graphic novels; and picture-perfect art, photography, travel guides and cookbook titles. NOOK Video: Beginning this holiday in the UK, NOOK Video will offer customers their favourite standard and HD movies and TV shows for streaming and download to watch in spectacular colour and stunning definition on NOOK HD and NOOK HD+. Both devices are designed with an HDMI compatible port to allow customers to easily connect to their TVs to watch movies and shows in up to full 1080p. Magazine 2.0: NOOK NewsstandTM has a large digital collection of favourite UK magazines available for both digital subscriptions and single copy sale. With NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, the industry- leading magazine experience just got even better. A new visual table of contents lets customers view thumbnails of the entire magazine and simply tap the article they want to read first. Magazines feature a super-fast, 3D-like page turn and include built-in hot spots for readers to quickly jump to specific articles and to go deeper on a subject or story through audio, video and web linking. NOOK's innovative ArticleView lets the reader focus only on the text, customised to their needs. The company also introduced a breakthrough NOOK ScrapbookTM, where magazine readers can virtually clip pages of interest and save them in customised digital scrapbooks. Excellent Newspaper Experience: Extra! Extra! NOOK Newspapers make it easier and more fun to read newspapers digitally. Customers can view and choose each of the paper's sections on the left column to tap and read in a snap. The large selection of daily and weekly newspapers are available through subscription or single copies and are automatically downloaded via Wi-Fi® to the device when available for reading with morning coffee, on the commute home or anywhere in between. Top Apps: NOOK AppsTM features a wide range of titles for the whole family, including the hottest games, as well as lifestyle, productivity, news, entertainment and reading apps. Customers will find a broad collection with all the most popular and bestselling top 100 app titles for tablets available anywhere. . In fact, only the NOOK Store provides helpful age recommendations for parents and lets customers browse by subject area to find the perfect app for their child among the broadest and the most curated app collection of kids' educational apps on any Android store. With games and activities focused on language, math, puzzles, reading, art and more, NOOK provides families with hours of playful learning that helps kids make the most of their "screen time." NOOK Store - A Better Way to Shop & Find Content: NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ bring a new level of personal shopping service to the device experience. Customers can tap on the Your NOOK TodayTM icon on the home screen to reveal fresh content and personalised recommendations each day. This includes their latest newsstand subscriptions delivered virtually, plus cool apps and new titles matched to their profile. And just like a great bookshop, the NOOK Store is a place of continuous discovery. The new store experience allows customers to easily shop by department or explore new NOOK ChannelsTM, a pioneering recommendation system that combines the unrivalled knowledge of Barnes & Noble booksellers with advanced algorithmic technology to create an unparalleled, curated browsing experience. Targeted by interest and sensibility, each NOOK Channel programs a rich stream of reading and apps – and soon movies – that includes the latest releases as well as backlist gems, bestsellers as well as offbeat treasures. Customers can browse and shop Channels that will expand their passions for the authors and subjects they love, from Paranormal Romance, War Stories, and Books to Talk About to Jane Austen & Heirs, The New Classics, History by Plot and Books Every Kid Should Know. NOOK Cloud: All NOOK content is delivered via Wi-Fi and safely stored through NOOK Cloud, making NOOK Books, videos, apps and other content accessible across NOOK, personal computing and mobile devices using free NOOK Reading and NOOK Video apps. Additional NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ Highlights Barnes & Noble Names Patrick Rouvillois Vice President, Managing Director – International New Role to Oversee the Company's International Expansion New York, New York, and Luxembourg City, Luxembourg – September 25, 2012 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced the appointment of Patrick Rouvillois as Vice President, Managing Director – International, a new role in which he is responsible for building the NOOK® brand outside the US across the globe. Barnes & Noble recently announced its plans to offer award-winning NOOK products to customers in the UK beginning this fall. Mr. Rouvillois is based in Luxembourg and reports to Jamie Iannone, President, Barnes & Noble Digital Products. Mr. Rouvillois joins Barnes & Noble from Carrefour, the No. 2 global retailer with 15,000 stores in 30 countries, where as Global CMO and Head of eCommerce he oversaw the growth of the Carrefour brand and eCommerce and streamlined commercial and marketing proposals across the group. Previously, he was Executive Vice President of Consumer Marketing for Orange Group, one of the world's leading telecommunications operators, responsible for consumer propositions, product marketing, pricing and commercial investment optimization. Before joining Orange, Mr. Rouvillois held positions at Vivendi Universal Net, where he managed a content aggregation portal for Vodafone and SFR. Previously, he spent six years at The Boston Consulting Group in Europe and Oceania. "We're thrilled to have Patrick join the team as we embark on our international expansion of the NOOK brand into the UK and beyond," said Mr. Iannone. "Patrick brings strong leadership to the role, and his vast background in the retail, consulting, telecom and media sectors will be incredibly valuable." Mr. Rouvillois holds diplomas from Paris University and from Mines ParisTech, one of the most prominent French engineering schools, where he studied mathematics, business administration and economics. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mach inks carrier billing deal with Everything Everywhere, O2, Vodafone and Three in the UK Posted: 25 Sep 2012 11:33 PM PDT Not a month after Mach's last carrier billing deal, UK network providers Vodafone, Three, O2 and Everything Everywhere are getting in on the action. The company's direct billing solutions will initially allow the networks to charge app and online purchases straight to your bill, with in-app sales joining them at a later date. Don't expect this to be implemented immediately, however, as the agreement covers the back-end processing -- the individual carriers will be responsible for turning it on customer-side. They'll likely inform you when they hit the switch and your phone bill becomes a monthly surprise. MACH Launches Direct Operator Billing Across the UK MACH Direct Billing Gateway available across all major UK mobile operators Luxembourg, 25th September, 2012 – MACH, the world leader in direct operator billing, announced today that it is launching direct operator billing for online payments and app purchases across the UK, making it easier than ever for mobile subscribers to pay for apps and other online goods. The company is launching its direct operator billing service, the MACH Direct Billing Gateway, which includes Payforit Version 4 support, across the UK's mobile networks, including Vodafone, Everything Everywhere and Three, and is working with O2 as it rolls out its new Charge to Mobile platform. The move monetizes services for app developers and online merchants, opening a brand new revenue stream and enabling them to maximize revenues from online and app billing, while at the same time dramatically improving the user experience. Rory Maguire, Head of Payment Services at Three, commented: "With the UK very close to full availability of direct mobile operator billing for consumers of online and app purchases, we are now one of the leading geographies in the world for the presentation of a quick and easy payment method for the burgeoning smartphone user base. This will generate increased consumer choice, provides a vehicle for innovation in apps and online services and eliminates the age or "banked" barrier that exists with other forms of App payments. We believe this slick and easy payment method backed with the security of the UK wide mobile payments scheme, Payforit, will be the future for apps payments and will overtake the credit card or voucher payment methods that are hostile to a small screen. We are delighted to include MACH as an Accredited Payment Intermediary on the Three network." Danny Barclay, Head of Interactive Sales at O2, commented: "As one of the first trusted partners for our new Charge to Mobile platform, MACH is helping us to open up the app economy for online services to our consumers. MACH's heritage in delivering frictionless payments for major application stores and merchants, such as Microsoft made them an ideal partner. There is little doubting that apps and online content that can be charged direct to your bill represents an important revenue stream for us and our partners and a safe and secure mechanism for our consumers to access rich apps and content." For consumers, MACH's service enables a frictionless user experience by providing them with the option of buying applications and online goods and services through a simple process, placing the fee for the application on the user's phone bill. For merchants and developers, the service provides a range of potential features, including real-time charging, flexible pricing points and direct refund capabilities. By creating a frictionless user experience, MACH's service also maximizes conversion rates and boosts revenues for both merchants and operators, when compared with PSMS, WAP billing and Credit Cards. At the same time, the service inserts the mobile operators back into the application and content value chain, enabling them to effectively generate revenues from the apps ecosystem. Michael De Jongh, Global Head of Sales, Mobile Billing and Payments, MACH, commented: "Through our Direct Billing Gateway, a service we pioneered in 2007, MACH offers the most comprehensive direct operator billing services available. We provide the glue that unites application stores, content providers and merchants with operators and simplifies the apps ecosystem. Payforit Version 4 creates huge value for UK consumers, as with it they know that their purchases are governed by the Payforit Version 4 scheme rules, providing a trusted and safe framework for payments. The Payforit scheme will accelerate the monetization of services for developers whilst ensuring consumer confidence in what they are buying." The UK launch allows app stores and content providers to instantly deliver direct operator billing, and very soon in-app billing, without the need to set up individual agreements with UK operators, and all in the knowledge that MACH is an accredited Payforit payment intermediary. This saves considerable time and resource by allowing application providers and merchants to focus on their core business of monetizing their applications to consumers across the country. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 25 Sep 2012 10:57 PM PDT After working on its sea legs for some time, Google Street View is ready to take users on virtual scuba expeditions through six living coral reefs with the first underwater panoramic images to hit the service. In partnership with The Catlin Seaview Survey, Mountain View created the on-rails snorkeling experiences using undersea pictures from Heron, Lady Elliot and Wilson Islands at the Great Barrier Reef, Molokini Crater and Hanauma Bay in Hawaii and the Apo Islands in the Philippines. Combined with views from Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan, the new underwater tours might make for a respectable, desk-based vacation. Interested in paddling through the briny depths? Head past the break for a short preview or hit the source links below to dive right in. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barnes & Noble announces Nook HD+ 9-inch tablet, we go hands-on (video) Posted: 25 Sep 2012 10:00 PM PDT Sure we heard some early rumblings about a new tablet from Barnes & Noble, and no, we can't say we were particularly surprised by the revelation -- after all, no one expected the bookstore to sit idly by and let Amazon own the holiday shopping season with its freshly souped-up Kindle Fire line. But the company did manage to offer up a few surprises with today's announcement -- biggest of all (literally, in fact) was the launch of a 9-incher, the Nook HD+. And where the HD borrowed some style cues from B&N's Simple Touch line, its bigger brother is the aesthetic descendent of Nook tablets past, borrowing that long, skinny body and even offering up a winking reference to the carabiner that lent such a dramatic distinction to past products. That said, we're not simply repeating the move from Nook Color to Nook Tablet here. The Nook HD+ is a far more significant upgrade, even as it pays a little tribute to its predecessors. Barnes & Noble's really gunning to make a splash in the budget tablet space this holiday season, and while the company's clearly betting on the smaller and cheaper HD to be the big seller, a company rep told us that he expects that HD+ to be a sleeper hit for the company. And certainly it's easy to see why the company's got some confidence this time around -- the device is sleek, fast, hi-res and affordable. But can it succeed in such a cutthroat market? Check out some impressions after the break and judge for yourself.
Barnes & Noble has never been lacking when it comes to distinctive hardware designs. Say what you will about the Nook Color / Tablet, those things stood out in a sea of like-minded, trade dress-encroaching slates. The company worked with industrial designers to create a followup capable of paying homage to past products, while keeping up with the increasing quality of budget tablets. And really, regardless of its distinctive design, the Nook HD+ actually does feel quite nice. At 515 grams, it's also pretty light -- 20 percent lighter than the current iPad, the company will happily tell you. As one can certainly gather from the name, B&N's paid special attention to the display on this device. The 9-inch (that's nine on the nose) display is 1,920 x 1,280 at 256 ppi. The high resolution is aimed at offering up the proper showcase from Nook Video's high-def offerings. Interestingly, like the HD, the device was designed for reading, first and foremost, offering up an ideal aspect ratio for looking at magazines and catalogs. And yeah, it's also quite nice for reading comics and the company's custom multimedia kids books. Speaking of kids, the company's really talking up its use of personal profiles. On the lock screen, you slide into the profile you'd like to log into. Different accounts contain the user's personalized content. Parents can password-protect profiles and can control the settings on each account, offering up different permissions for different kids. UI-wise, we're talking about the same Paper layout built on top of Ice Cream Sandwich that we're seeing on the HD. There's also a no-thrills abandoning of content containers, with the Active Show scrolling spread offering up content on the top of the home screen, which can be dragged and dropped on the desktop. Barnes & Noble's still in the big bezel game here, a distinction it notes will help keep your thumbs from greasing up the display. On the bottom, that large, pronounced "n" home button is back, which, among other things, helps orient the user. Below that, the big carabiner from the Color / Tablet has been traded in for a far more subtle hole, which, like its predecessor, serves no particular purpose to speak of, beyond lending some distinction. Flip it over and you'll get that nice soft-touch material. There's no concave back here, however, and interestingly, while the company is talking up the quality of the device's speaker, there's only one grille on the back, unlike the HD (and the Fire HD, for that matter). Along the bottom, you'll find the microSD slot and a proprietary charging port, which the company says will charge the device faster, though we kind of prefer the ubiquity of something like micro-USB. If you want to use the port for HDMI out, you'll have to hook up an adapter. Inside, you'll find a dual-core, 1.5GHz OMAP4470 processor. The device seemed zippy enough in our time with it, though the company promises more advances as we push up to release. There's also a 6,000mAh battery that should give you either 10 hours of reading or nine hours of video. Storage-wise, you get either 16 or 32GB. All of that runs you $269 or $299, respectively -- a deal you can jump on right now with a pre-order. The Nook HD+ starts shipping in late October and will hit Barnes & Noble stores in early November. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barnes & Noble's Nook HD 7-inch Android tablet, hands-on (video) Posted: 25 Sep 2012 10:00 PM PDT It was roughly this time last year that Amazon's Kindle Fire showed us just how successful an aggressively priced 7-inch tablet could be, becoming, arguably the go-to gift of the last holiday season. This summer, Google upped the ante, showing the world that a $200 tablet could be more than just an OEM-ed content delivery device, enlisting ASUS to design a really solid piece of hardware at a seemingly impossible price. Barnes & Noble's journey in the space, meanwhile, has been decidedly more convoluted. In mid-October of 2010, the company gave the world the Nook Color -- a product with a wildly original industrial design, but decidedly limited functionality, which was, for most intents and purposes, an LCD-based color e-reader. Halfway through the following year, the device got a Pinocchio-like upgrade, transforming it into an honest-to-goodness tablet, apps and all. The device's celebration was cut short, however, eclipsed entirely by the arrival of the aesthetically (nearly) identical, but internally superior Nook Tablet. When Amazon announced the release of the Kindle Fire HD and all of its many variants, there was little question that Barnes & Noble had something waiting in the wings as well. After all, much of the bookseller's hardware game plan seems to revolve around going toe-to-toe against Amazon offerings, and since the company beat its chief competition to the market with a glowing reader, a Nook Tablet seemed all but inevitable. With this week's announcements, however, the company has managed to offer up some surprises -- for starters, there's the fact that it's doubled its efforts with the release of two tablets -- with the 7-inch Nook HD and the 9-inch Nook HD+. Then there's the fact that the company has clearly put great effort into the hardware this go-round, rather than offering up yet another rehash of the Color / Tablet lineage. Let's start with the Nook HD, shall we? Join us after the break.
From an aesthetic perspective, the HD+ can be regarded as a spiritual successor to its Nook tablet forefathers. The HD, on the other hand, wipes that slate clean, instead sharing a good deal more with the company's reader offerings. It's a stubby little thing with well-rounded corners and a clearly defined bezel around the 7-inch display. Flip it over, and you'll find a back that also shares a lot with its E Ink brethren, with a soft-touch feel that's carved out to help you grip the thing. And really, if there's a common thread across Barnes & Noble's hardware choices here, it's that the company was focused on, above all, a product that's easy to hold. The weight certainly helps when it comes to a product meant to be held for long reading marathons. B&N's managed to get the HD down to a solid fighting weight at 319 grams, which compares quite favorably to the Nexus 7 (340 grams) and the Kindle Fire HD (395 grams). The light weight comes thanks, in part, to the fact that the company didn't beef up the battery, instead offering up some software bumps it says compensate for the additional battery drain that comes with things like a revved-up display. The company's also quick to point out that its product's bezels are just a built-in necessity -- they give you a place to stick those thumbs when you're reading. It's a natural positioning once you've got your fingers firmly positioned in the crook on the back of the device (of course there are no physical page turn buttons here, unlike the Nook Simple Touch). The plastic bezels also reduce the incidence of fingerprint art. The skinny form factor also makes it possible to wrap your fingers around the body of the tablet, if you prefer reading that way. The company's managed to add the big bezels to the proceedings without detracting too much from the overall look of the device -- if anything, it offers up a distinction (though, of course, not so pronounced as that of its big brother) from a slew of lookalike slates. Between the plastic and the display is a flush black bezel that gets a bit thicker on the top and the bottom, housing the trademark "n" home button -- a signature, the company explains, that helps people orient the device even when the screen is off. The top, on the other hand, is a whole lot of empty space -- there's no camera here or on the rear, a "tradeoff," according to company reps, but one they're confident won't distract from the devices greater mission: reading. In spite of that focus on reading, the company's opted for what it's deemed the "highest resolution on a 7-inch tablet," and certainly the 1,440 x 900, 243ppi display looks quite nice when you're watching one of those hi-res movies from the newly announced Nook Video. The graphics on the UI, however, aren't quite finalized and looked a bit choppy at times as we were scrolling through, something the company has promised to fix before launch. The same goes with the performance on this 1.3GHz OMAP 4470-packing device, so we'll have to hold off judgment until we get our hands on a final unit -- which shouldn't be long... The HD is running a customized UI on top of Ice Cream Sandwich. The theme here is "Paper," which, naturally, translates to simplicity. There's really not a lot going on when you load up the homepage, "focusing on the content itself," according to B&N. You've got a scroll wheel of fanned-out content on top and an open desktop onto which you can drop stuff for easy access. On the top is the "Your Nook Today" button, which brings you to a page featuring the current weather conditions and recommendations based on your recent activity. Along the bottom are buttons for Library, Apps, Web, Email and the newly-redesigned shop. The Nook HD is up for pre-order now. It'll start shipping in late October and will hit Barnes & Noble stores early the following month. It's available in "Snow" and "Smoke" colors and 8GB and 16GB varieties (both expandable via microSD slots), which are priced at a nice $199 and $229, respectively. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rumors about Google Maps app for iOS intensify, claim it's still months away from launch Posted: 25 Sep 2012 09:35 PM PDT If you're unsatisfied with Apple's current iOS 6 Maps experience and are hoping to jump back into Google's loving arms then take a breath and sit down -- it could be a little while. Separately, The Verge and New York Times have heard from unnamed sources that a standalone Google Maps app on iOS is launching, but may not be ready until the end of the year. The reason for the delay? Unlike some previous rumors that claimed Apple may be stalling on the approval an already submitted app, they indicate Google did not know of Cupertino's plans to launch its own solution this year until it was publicly announced in June, since their contract extended into 2013. According to one of the NYT sources, another issue could be Google's desire to include 3D imagery from Google Earth in any standalone effort to compete with Apple's native features. All of this follows a statement Google Chairman Eric Schmidt made in Japan last night that it had "not done anything yet" regarding Google Maps on iOS. So, if you've upgraded to iOS 6, are you sticking with the new app or trying to find some other way to avoid navigation related mishaps until Gmaps is back? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Suitable Technologies introduces Beam, the remote presence device (hands-on) Posted: 25 Sep 2012 09:00 PM PDT Telepresence is a booming business these days, with high speed wireless networks enabling plenty of folks to enjoy the pleasures of working (or attending class) from the comfort of home. While some such devices leverage the power of tablets or smartphones, the visual and audio quality such systems deliver often isn't up to corporate standards. Enter Suitable Technologies and its Beam remote presence device (RPD). As a spinoff of famed 'bot builder Willow Garage, the folks at Suitable figured they could provide a high-fidelity telepresence experience by building an RPD from scratch, and that's precisely what they've done with Beam. Its brain is a 1.3Ghz Intel Core i3 CPU and it moves around courtesy of dual brushless electric motors driven by an integrated car battery. That battery fills up in right around six hours using the Beam Dock, and the LED lamps underneath the screen shine whenever Beam is being used. Users, or "pilots" see where they're going via two Logitech HD webcams sporting custom lenses that grant near 180-degree views and zoom capability -- one's front-facing, and one points down for easy navigation in tight spaces. Connectivity comes courtesy of four WiFi antennas (two 2.4 GHz and two 5GHz) to ensure a solid connection at all times, while the seven microphones provide top-notch voice quality and noise cancellation. Oh, and there's a 17-inch monitor and a speaker on board to faithfully replicate what pilots look and sound like. We got a chance to meet the Beam's makers and take the RPD for a spin, so join us after the break to see a video of the thing in action and learn more about Beam's development.
Suitable Technologies is a company comprised of twenty engineers, many of whom worked on the Willow Garage PR2 robot. Its first project was the Texai telepresence device, a custom-built rig running Skype optimized neither for cost or performance. Texai proved to be a sort of proof-of-concept that's lead Suitable Technologies to build Beam. And build it did, from a purpose-built video chat service to the custom code and recommended router setups that keep at least one of Beam's WiFi antennas in strong, steady signal. The optimum experience for this new RPD model is delivered through a robust 2Mbps connection wherever it roams. That's why it costs $16,000 plus $950 for the charging dock, and that doesn't include the price of building the required wireless network or pilot terminal hardware. And, that's why it's being marketed to companies in Silicon Valley as a way to find and employ talent from anywhere in the country. It's value proposition lies in keeping employees happy, motivated, and able to live in areas outside San Francisco and New York, while lowering the cost of employee travel and providing employers a bigger pool from which to draw potential employees. We got to do a little beaming, and found the Beam Client simple to use. It's best displayed on a monitor in portrait mode, and gives you a main video feed that shows Beam's surroundings, and a smaller, secondary feed centered at the bottom looking at Beam's base, and an even smaller video of the pilot in the lower right hand corner. The lower left corner is occupied by the call controls. Moving Beam's accomplished with directional keys or via mouse point-and-click. The software superimposes a blue landing strip over the main feed that indicates the 100-pound RPD's trajectory, with clicks further from Beam resulting in higher speed, up to 1.5 meters per second. We found the mouse click navigation to be simple and intuitive, though the directional keys came in handy when docking with Beam's charger, and the video feeds were better than any other telepresence device we've seen. The company starts shipping Beam in November, but it begins taking orders today. Suitable Technologies Introduces Beam Remote Presence System PALO ALTO, CA – September 26, 2012 – Suitable Technologies today introduced Beam Remote Presence System (RPS). Suitable designed Beam to enable individuals to travel instantly to remote locations using videoconferencing on a mobile platform. Beam helps people to be more productive and efficient, all while eliminating travel costs. The Beam Remote Presence System The Beam Remote Presence System consists of three components: the Beam Remote Presence Device (RPD), the Beam Client and the Beam Dock. The Beam RPD is your physical presence in the world. The battery powers the Beam for up to eight hours of active use and has the ability to drive at human walking speed – with a top speed of 1.5 meters per second. Beam stands 62" tall, weighs 95 pounds, and has a 17" screen, enabling the pilot's face to be seen at human size. Seamless connectivity is provided by 4 Wi-Fi radios (2.4/5 GHz) and proprietary algorithms to smoothly handle transitions between access points. Beam has two HD cameras to provide a wide field of view, both vertically and horizontally; a six-microphone array for spatialized audio, background noise reduction, and echo cancellation; a sophisticated speaker system in order to be heard in noisy environments; and LED lamps to enable operation in low light. The Beam Client connects to the Beam RPD and provides integrated controls for driving, video, and audio. The client is available for download as an installer on both Windows and Mac OS X. The third component is the Beam Dock, which charges the RPD's battery. The driver maneuvers the RPD directly into the dock without any local intervention to connect to the power source. "Technology has progressed to the point where physical location no longer has to dictate the presence of a person," according to Scott Hassan, CEO of Suitable Technologies. "Audio and video conferencing have made good strides here, but our goal is to develop a system where an individual can travel instantly. With Beam, profession doesn't have to dictate location." With the growth in dispersed workforces, Suitable anticipates early adopters to come from those businesses with remote engineers or knowledge workers. These individuals can then choose their employer based not on the address of the company headquarters, but on the physical location of their preference. Professionally, individuals want the best, most exciting job possible, but professional goals and personal goals are often at odds when it comes to location. With the introduction of Beam, attributes that are more personally appealing such as family, local schools, housing prices, or outdoor hobbies can be equally measured against the attributes of a particular career. Suitable Technologies is a spinoff from the personal robotics company Willow Garage. Beam began as a DIY initiative called Project Texai that was originally developed to improve the experience and productivity of Dallas Goecker, a remote employee of Willow Garage. Dallas, now a Senior Electrical Engineer at Suitable, lives in Indiana where he prefers the cost of living, school system, and family support network without having to sacrifice the face-to-face communication and ad hoc communication with his colleagues in Silicon Valley. According to Dallas, "Living in Indiana and working in Silicon Valley via Beam isn't just the best of both worlds, it is both worlds." Suitable Executive Team Pricing and Availability About Suitable Technologies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As it's such a US-centric business, it's relying on 
When asked why Barnes & Noble didn't include a front-facing camera, Rouvillois said that it was because the Nook isn't a "communication device," although we'd have taken "to keep the costs down" as a 
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