Gingerbread makes Nexus S a smart cookie

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For some people, the holidays go hand in hand with gingerbread, in the form of houses or cookie-cutter men. This year, you can add smart phones - specifically, the Nexus S, the first device running the freshest version of Google's Android operating software, Gingerbread.
Developed by Google Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., the phone has a cool curved glass screen, back- and front-facing cameras and the ability to read special tags on such things as stickers embedded with Near Field Communication chips.
Combined with a fairly good price, it's likely to be on a number of holiday wish lists.

Best Buy stores will sell it for $199 with a contract from T-Mobile, or for a more wallet-stretching $529 if you want it to work on either T-Mobile's or AT&T's network.
The Nexus S is the follow-up to the Nexus One, an HTC Corp. phone that Google trotted out early this year but stopped selling months later as plenty of similar Android-running devices became available.

Although Nexus One was a good phone, it wasn't as amazing as Google thought it was. The company avoids this problem with the Nexus S, which is both a brainy and cool-looking handset.
First, let's get to the brains.
There are a number of subtle changes that come with Gingerbread, such as zippier overall performance.
The most obvious update is with the on-screen keyboard. It is better than previous versions of Android at recommending words as you type, such as last names and other words that you've typed before, but hadn't been in the phone's original dictionary. The keyboard features more space between keys and a multi-touch capability that make typing easier and speedier than on Froyo, Gingerbread's Android predecessor.
The copy and paste tools are simplified in Gingerbread, too, with a little slider that appears on the screen that you can move to select text.

The phone's most-touted feature has been its inclusion of Near Field Communication, or NFC, technology, which is a short-range wireless technology for transmitting data. This could ultimately function as a wireless payment system, eliminating the need for your wallet.
For now, though, Google is only letting the phone read NFC chips inserted in objects, such as movie posters you might pass at a bus stop. Once you are nearly touching one of these tags, the phone will automatically read it and, say, pull up a link to a film trailer.
To give reviewers an immediate sense of how this works, Google included a "Recommended on Google" sticker with the Nexus S the company loaned me for this review. Whenever the screen on my phone was active and within less than an inch of the sticker, it would add the NFC chip embedded in this sticker to my collection in a little app called "Tags." The tag contained a link to a YouTube video that explained the development of the Nexus S.
Cool, right? Too bad you can't really use the feature right now unless you live in Portland, Ore., where Google is distributing these stickers to some businesses. I'm all for adding technology to handsets, but it would be nice if I could actually do something with it near my home in San Francisco. Hopefully this will change in the near future, but it's still unclear.
More immediately useful is the Nexus S' bright screen. Like the phones in Samsung's Galaxy S series, it sports an AMOLED display, which basically means it will likely have higher color saturation than a standard LCD screen would.
This screen, which is 4 inches diagonally, is great for watching videos and surfing the Web, and it is super-sensitive to touch. It is a nice canvas for the latest version of Google Maps - out now for Android phones - which lets you use fingers to tilt the angle of the map and, in many cities, see 3-D buildings when you zoom in.

The screen is also easy to see if you're not looking at it head-on, which is good if you want to share a video with a buddy. It was much brighter in sunlight than another Android phone I had on hand.

What makes the screen truly unique, though, is that it's slightly curved in the center. It's not clear to me why this is beneficial. The press release announcing the phone said it give the phone "a more ergonomic style and feel when held to the user's face," but my face couldn't tell the difference between the Nexus S and a similar-sized smart phone.
Besides giving the phone a bit of a more interesting look and helping it stay slender, it could potentially help protect most of the viewing area if you drop it because only the very top and bottom of the frame would touch the ground.
Wanting to stay on-trend with the iPhone and several other Android-running smart phones, the Nexus S includes both front-facing and back cameras. The low-resolution front camera is handicapped because the phone doesn't include any video chat software, and software I downloaded either wouldn't work, or wouldn't work properly on it.

The 5-megapixel back camera takes crisp shots, but has some shutter lag - that annoying gap between when you press the shutter and when the camera actually takes a photo. I missed having a dedicated camera button, as I felt awkward focusing a shot and then maneuvering a finger to the virtual button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

This camera is also surprisingly Spartan, feature-wise, with just a handful of white balance and exposure settings, but you can always make photos look more exciting by downloading a camera app from the Android Market (the free Retro Camera is a fun one).
I wasn't wowed by the phone's battery life, either. It's rated for up to 6.7 hours of talk time when using a 3G network, and in a day of what I would consider fairly light multitasking, I got about seven hours of life out of the phone. On other days it lasted longer, but I wasn't doing much more than checking e-mail, making a few calls, playing the occasional game of "Angry Birds" and looking up a restaurant in Google Maps.
Still, the Nexus S impressed me overall, especially with the freshening to Android that Gingerbread brings. You just may want to get one while they're hot.

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LG Optimus 2X -- world's first dual-core smartphone

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LG Electronics today unveiled the LG Optimus 2X, the world’s first smartphone with a dual-core processor. Along with more powerful multimedia features, the LG Optimus 2X’s high-performance Tegra 2 processor makes for faster, smoother web browsing and applications and lets users multitask with virtually no screen lag.
“Dual-core technology is the next leap forward in mobile technology so this is no small achievement to be the first to offer a smartphone utilizing this technology,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, CEO and President of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “With unique features such as HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) mirroring and exceptional graphics performance, the LG Optimus 2X is proof of LG’s commitment to high-end smartphones in 2011.”
Developed by graphics processor powerhouse NVIDIA, the dual-core Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip found in the LG Optimus 2X runs at a clock speed of 1GHz and boasts low power consumption and high performance for playing video and audio. Users will experience faster web browsing and smoother gameplay compared with single-core processors running at the same speed as well as instantaneous touch response and seamless multitasking between applications.
The LG Optimus 2X offers 1080p HD video playback and recording with HDMI mirroring that expands content on external displays to full HD quality. The LG Optimus 2X can connect wirelessly to any DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compatible digital device such as HD TVs for a console-like gaming experience taking full advantage of the phone’s HDMI mirroring, accelerometer and gyro sensor. The smartphone also includes both rear- and front-facing cameras, microSD memory expandability, Micro-USB port and a hefty 1500mAh battery. The LG Optimus 2X will be available in Korea next month with countries in Europe and Asia to follow. The phone will initially be released with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and will be upgradeable to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
Key specifications:

• 1Ghz dual-core processor (NVIDIA Tegra 2)

• 4-inch WVGA screen
• 8GB memory (up to 32GB via microSD)
• 1,500 mAh battery
• 8 megapixel rear camera and 1.3 megapixel front camera
• HDMI mirroring
• 1080p MPEG-4/H.264 playback and recording

Source: LG Electronics

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Google unveils new smartphone, the Nexus S (Update)

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Internet giant Google unveiled its second branded smartphone on Monday, the "Nexus S" made by South Korea's Samsung.
Google said the Nexus S, which comes nearly a year after the Nexus One, which was a critical success if not a huge commercial hit, is powered by the latest version of Google's Android mobile operating system, "Gingerbread."
Google vice president of engineering Andy Rubin said the Nexus S would be the first Android device to ship with the new version of the Android platform, used by handset makers around the world.
It will be available in the United States from December 16 from Best Buy stores and from December 20 at Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy retailers in Britain, Rubin said in a blog post.
The Nexus S is available in the United States with a service plan from US wireless carrier T-Mobile or "unlocked," Rubin said.
"Nexus S delivers what we call a 'pure Google' experience: unlocked, unfiltered access to the best Google mobile services and the latest and greatest Android releases and updates," he said.
The touchscreen Nexus S features a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, front and rear facing cameras and 16 gigabytes of internal memory.
It is also equipped with near field communication (NFC) hardware that turns the device into a virtual wallet, allowing users to "tap and pay" for financial transactions.

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Google still polishing Chrome OS, postpones debut (Update)

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Google CEO Eric Schmidt talks about the Google Chrome operating system in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
(AP) -- It's taking longer than Google Inc. anticipated to deliver a new operating system designed to make computers run faster.
After more than a year building a much-anticipated system around its Chrome Web browser, Google announced Tuesday that the first laptops powered by the new software won't hit the stores until the middle of next year. The revised timetable is about six months behind Google's goal of having the Chrome OS completed in time for it to debut during the current holiday season.
Google's engineers decided they needed more time to fix bugs and fine tune the Chrome OS before the company launches its ambitious challenge to computers running on long-established operating systems made by larger rivals, Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc.
While Google polishes the Chrome OS, it will collect user feedback through a pilot program allowing a relatively small number of consumers and businesses to test unbranded devices running the software. Consumers will be invited to receive the test laptops through the Chrome Web browser and Google's YouTube video site. The companies getting the Chrome OS machines include AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, Kraft Foods Inc. Logitech International, and Virgin Airlines.
Acer Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. will make the first Chrome OS laptops available in stores next year. The prices of the machines will be determined by the manufacturers next year.
The postponement threatens to intensify the competitive challenges facing the Chrome OS machines. More people already are snapping up sleek, touch-screen tablets such as Apple Inc.'s iPad to surf the Web and run a variety of applications customized for the devices. Apple sold about 7.5 million iPads in the first six months after its April debut and the tablet is expected to be among the top-selling gadgets this holiday season.
The rising popularity of the iPad and an array of copycats has started to undercut sales of lightweight laptops, or "netbooks," according to industry analysts. Even the next version of Google's Android operating system for touch-screen devices is supposed to include more features tailored for tablets.
The Chrome OS computers will have a 12.1 inch display screen and standard-sized keyboard, but no hard drive. That means the Chrome OS computers will need online access to run more programs. Google is teaming up with Verizon Communications to sell Internet access over Verizon's wireless network when there is no other way to connect to the Web. Online consumption of up to 100 megabytes per month will be offered for free during the first two years of computer ownership. Larger data plans will cost as little as $9.99 per month with no long-term commitment required.
Google decided to build its own computer operating system primarily because its views the hundreds of millions of machines powered by Microsoft's dominant Windows software as plodding, cumbersome relics unable to provide speedy Web surfing. The Chrome OS machines are being designed so they're ready to navigate the Internet within a few seconds after hitting the power button, almost as quickly as a television set is ready for channel surfing .
Developing a Web-based alternative to Windows also realizes a long-held goal of Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who had previously clashed with Microsoft as an executive at Sun Microsystems and Novell Inc. during the 1990s. Google's development of the Chrome OS contributed to Schmidt's resignation from Apple's board in 2009. Schmidt stepped down because he increasingly was steering Google into the same markets as Apple, raising potential conflicts of interest.
By making it easier and more appealing for people to spend time online, Google hopes to attract more traffic to its dominant Internet search engine and boost its revenue by selling more of the ads that generate most of its income.
The push for a speedier Web experience, prompted Google to introduce the Chrome browser more than two years ago. Although it still lags behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer and the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox, Chrome has steadily been winning converts. Google says Chrome now has 120 million active users worldwide today, up from about 30 million at the beginning of the year.
Chrome will soon get even faster by pulling up websites as people type in an address, in the same manner that Google's search engine displays different results with each keystroke. For example, typing "e:" in Chrome's navigation bar display ESPN's site in the browser, if that is a destination that the user frequently visits.
To help whet consumers' appetite for the new Chrome OS machines, Google unveiled a new store that will distribute Web applications that offer more features and better graphics than the content found on standard Web pages. The Web apps store opened Monday with about 500 free and for-fee applications, meeting the end-of-the-year deadline Google established when it announced the idea in May. More than 40,000 applications already have been developed specifically for the iPad.
The New York Times Co., Time Warner Inc.'s Sports Illustrated magazine and video game maker Electronic Arts Inc. are among the major companies already offering applications in the Chrome store. Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc. also previewed an application that for the first time will allow other merchants to sell electronic books for its Kindle reader. The app enables Kindle books to be read through a Web browser.
Like programs designed for the iPad and mobile phones, the Chrome applications store could help publishers bring in more revenue from subscriptions and advertising.


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High hopes, hard realities for India's 35-dlr computer

Posted in Labels: | at 10:33:00 PM


A man reads comics on a Kindle-style tablet called Wink at the EC Media International Private Limited office in Bangalore. The Indian government won headlines around the world when it unveiled a prototype 35-US dollar tablet computer in July, but questions are now growing over whether the project is just a pipe dream.
The Indian government won headlines around the world when it unveiled a prototype 35-dollar tablet computer in July, but questions are now growing over whether the project is just a pipe dream.
At the computer's launch, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal vowed "the solutions for tomorrow will emerge from India" as he revealed the breathtaking price tag -- a fraction of the 500-dollar cost for an Apple iPad.
Officials said the touchscreen device, aimed at the country's millions of students, could even be hammered down to just 10 dollars once production rates increase.
The tablet computer, which has yet to be named, is billed as boasting a three-hour power back-up, Internet browser, media player, video-conferencing capability, good data storage, hard disk drive and webcam.
"The price includes a small component of profit for the manufacturer and hence higher volumes will fetch more returns," Sibal told AFP.
"This low-cost device is likely to revolutionise the education system in our country. It will have a very positive impact on our literacy campaign."
But Indian promises of a "laptop for the masses" have hit the buffers before. The government said it was on the brink of putting the computer on sale in both 2005 and 2009 -- only for the much-hyped product never to materialise.
Terry Thomas, a partner in the local arm of global audit firm Ernst and Young, is among those striking a note of caution.
"A computer with all normal functionalities at this price will not be sustainable unless it is subsidised by the government or the industry," he said.
Thomas suggested a "stripped-down version" with a bare minimum of facilities could perhaps be engineered at nearer the advertised cost, though users would likely be unimpressed.
The first 100,000 computers are slated to be released as soon as January, but details of its exact specifications are still scarce -- as is the level of government subsidy that will be essential to keep the price down

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Sony and Sharp launch e-readers, tablets in Japan

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A Sony employee displays 'Reader' electronic books in Tokyo on December 10. Sony and Sharp upped the rivalry stakes in the heated e-reader and tablet market with the head-to-head launch on Friday of their latest devices in Japan, along with tens of thousands of e-book titles.
Sony and Sharp upped the rivalry stakes in the heated e-reader and tablet market with the head-to-head launch on Friday of their latest devices in Japan, along with tens of thousands of e-book titles.
Sony, battling Amazon and Apple in the electronic book reader race, on Friday launched its Reader range in Japan along with a dedicated virtual library, after launching in 13 other countries including the US.
The move marked a return to Japan for the electronic giant's e-reader business since it left in 2007 after seeing low demand at a time when Japanese consumers were focused on mobile phone books.
Sharp meanwhile launched its multifunctional Galapagos tablet computer in a bid to rival Apple's iPad. The device allows users to read e-books, as well as major newspapers and popular magazines, delivered at designated times.
The name is a pun on the term "Galapagos Syndrome" -- in reference to the isolated islands that helped Charles Darwin form his theory of evolution -- and its association with Japan's tendency to be less influenced by global trends.
Earlier Japanese mobile phones made by the likes of Sharp or Fujitsu were years ahead of their time in terms of offering Internet access, and provided cameras and mobile payment options before others as well as live television.
But smartphones such as Samsung's Galaxy S and Apple's iPhone are providing stronger competition with third generation handsets sold in Europe or the United States now working in Japan.
Sharp's new brand represents a shift for the company from conventional one-off sales of stand-alone products to devices that will continue to "evolve" through software updates, it says.
Sharp will offer about 24,000 e-book titles for the Galapagos, while Sony has around 20,000 titles for the Reader.
While Sharp is taking orders for the Galapagos only via mail or the Internet, Sony is selling its Reader at retail shops.
Sharp will initially deliver only electronic books, magazines and newspapers for the Galapagos and start online music, video and game services next spring.
Sony said it is also considering distributing newspapers, comics and magazines. But it has made no decision on when they would be launched.
The success of Apple's iPad has sent electronics makers scrambling to gain a slice of the growing tablet computer and e-reader market.
The Galapagos, equipped with wireless telecom functions, comes in two models -- a 10.8-inch screen priced at 54,800 yen (655 dollars) and a 5.5-inch screen for 39,800 yen.
Unlike the colour Galapagos or iPad, the Sony Reader uses black-and-white e-ink technology.
Sony has cut the size and weight of its e-readers while expanding the use of touch technology to all models -- allowing users to turn pages with a swipe of the finger like the iPad.
The Reader Pocket Edition and Reader Touch Edition will initially be available in about 300 Japanese stores, selling for 20,000 yen and 25,000 yen.
The group hopes to sell 300,000 e-readers in Japan in the first year and expects a 50 percent market share by 2012, the company said.
It also recently created a joint venture with Japan's second-largest telecom operator KDDI, the Asahi newspaper group and printing technology firm Toppan to offer services for a variety of devices.
(c) 2010 AFP

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Tablet computers come of age in 2010 with iPad mania

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A customer tries out Apple's iPad in a shop in Berlin. Yearning for a gadget that was bigger than a smartphone but smaller than a laptop made tablet computing a defining trend for 2010.
Yearning for an Internet-linked gadget bigger than a smartphone but smaller than a laptop merged with always-connected lifestyles to make tablet computing a defining trend for 2010.
The iPad launched in April by Apple became the must-have device of the year and has rivals intent on dethroning the culture-shifting California company before it can lock in the market the way iPods became the ruling MP3 players.
"Apple nailed it and made tablet computers a success," said Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney. "There are going to be a lot of people trying to beat them but it will turn out like iPods; everybody wants one."
Internet Age lifestyles set the stage for the rock star debut of a tablet computer done right, according to Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps.
Work weeks have grown steadily longer with the proliferation of gadgets keeping people connected to bosses and offices nights and weekends.
"Consumers are working all the time, have less leisure time and less money to spend but still want to maximize enjoyment they get out of life," Rotman Epps told AFP.
"Tablets fill that demand for devices that fill those in-between moments and minimize your unconnected time," she said.
Forrester data shows that 26 percent of US consumers who bought iPads use the tablets for work as well as personal purposes.
The top spot for using an iPad is the living room, with the bedroom being the second most common, according to Forrester.
"People are using tablets to read the Wall Street Journal or watch TV in bed," Rotman Epps said. "It is replacing, in some circumstances, laptop computers, television and print media."


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Is a tablet the best choice?

Posted in Labels: , | at 5:21:00 AM


December 1, 2010 By David Sarno TABLETS VS. LAPTOPS: So your laptop is getting old: Should you buy a new one or change horses and try out one of these tablet computers?
That all depends on what you want to do with it.
It's still the case that laptops and smaller netbook computers are tuned for production - word processing, e-mailing, number-crunching, more complicated tasks that often require a lot of text and switching among several windows running different applications.
Tablets, lacking a mouse or a keyboard, are better for tasks that have simpler tactile and visual elements - like paging through a photo gallery, checking online news or blogs, or reading a digital magazine. In other words, they work better for consumption, and thus can stay on for quite a few hours on one charge.
For social media addicts, tablets will be excellent for browsing through Facebook for the latest photos or links that friends have posted, or checking out Twitter to see what the digital hive mind is buzzing about at that moment.
The iPad in particular has become a hit for casual gaming. Video games like "Angry Birds," in which the player tries to knock down rickety structures by shooting birds at them with a large slingshot, can be played with a single fingertip. No complicated controllers required.
When it comes to more serious applications, though, tablets are likely to lag behind netbooks and laptops for the foreseeable future: The devices are not sophisticated enough to seamlessly run multiple programs at once or to allow users to find and install the endless variety of software now available for PCs.
There is a thriving community of iPad "app" developers - the device has close to 40,000 small programs created for it, by some counts. But no such group yet exists for tablets running on Google's Android operating system, which will constitute most of the new offerings in coming months.
TABLETS VS. E-READERS: With electronic reading devices adding more bells and whistles, including wireless connectivity, the differences between e-readers and tablet computers seem to be blurring.
But there's one difference that might never go away.
Tablets are designed to let users interact with a range of features, from telephony and video chat to e-mail and text messaging, and from watching movies and looking at photos to browsing Web pages and news sites.
But e-readers are just for reading.
Most e-reader converts will tell you that the Amazon Kindle, for instance, works because it has reduced the number of built-in bells nearly to zero.
When you're reading a book, you're not bombarded with "You've got mail" sounds, "Friend" notifications or even a digital clock. All you get is the text in front of you, ready for your complete attention.
Tablet devices like the iPad or Samsung's new Galaxy tablet afford no such digital austerity: E-mail, Web browsing and Facebook are only a click away, and many readers find the temptation of the media matrix too difficult to resist.
And though tablet screens will soon offer higher resolution and brighter colors than the electronic ink still favored by most e-readers, you may find that staring at a digital display for hours can tire out your eyes (especially if you've already been doing it at work all day). The e-ink displays, while slower and monochrome, are all but identical to a printed page.
The success of Amazon's Kindle reader, which has become the online retailer's bestselling product, may show that the best way you can improve on the printed book is to make it lighter and simpler.

(c) 2010, Los Angeles Times.

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Review: Nookcolor is best dedicated e-reader

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The Barnes & Noble NookColor, left, and an Apple iPad are shown in this photograph, in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
(AP) -- When Barnes & Noble Inc. began to sell its first electronic reading device, the Nook, a year ago, I found it as welcome as a bookcase landing on my toe. It was a terrible design - slow, confusing and buggy.
The successor, the Nookcolor, is a huge improvement and the best dedicated e-reader on the market this holiday season.
The new color touch screen makes navigation and reading much easier. At $249, it is great for consumers who are not yet willing to spring for a pricier tablet computer such as the iPad.
The original Nook had two screens: one big, Kindle-like gray-scale "electronic ink" display for reading and one small touch-enabled color display for navigation. It was like an unholy marriage between a Kindle and an iPod Touch, worse than either product on its own.
The Nookcolor, which went on sale two weeks ago, dispenses with the e-ink screen. The color screen has swelled to 7 inches diagonally, taking over the whole surface and making the Nookcolor look like the mid-sized product of a happy union between an iPhone and an iPad.
Other color e-book readers have hit the market this year from smaller names, including Sharper Image with its Literati. They've been hampered by poor screens that make the text shimmer uncomfortably. Barnes & Noble's screen uses the same technology as Apple Inc. does for its iPad, and it's wonderfully crisp.
E-ink readers such as the Kindle do have one selling point: They provide a more paper-like reading experience, which sounds attractive to people who find that staring at a computer screen for hours on end is uncomfortable. However, I believe most of this discomfort derives from screens that are set to shine too brightly. I found the Nookcolor quite comfortable to read on, partly because it's easy to adjust the brightness of the backlight for pretty much any reading environment. Blazing sunshine will still wash the screen out, though.
Most importantly, the touch-sensitive color screen makes navigation much easier. The Nook's software isn't exemplary in its clarity and I did experience a few glitches, but it's not hard to get the hang of it.
Here's how the Nook stacks up with the competition:
- Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle has stuck to e-ink technology, which has been the norm for e-readers so far. It has only one virtue: It's easy to read in broad daylight. In all other ways, e-ink is a disastrous technology and makes navigation a chore. The Kindle can't show color, scroll or zoom images, and the text is dark grey on a light grey background. It doesn't come with its own light source.
In the Kindle's favor, the reader is cheaper, available for as low as $139. There's also a $189 version that comes with free access to AT&T Inc.'s cellular broadband network. (The first Nook was cellular too, but the current version relies solely on Wi-Fi hotspots.) The Kindle is about the same size as the Nookcolor, but weighs half as much.
The Kindle doesn't accept e-books from public libraries. The Nook does, though it treats them as second-class citizens. They can't been pinned to the "home" reading screen, so firing them up takes more time than with other titles.
- Apple Inc.'s iPad does far, far more than the Nook, and it is much better at presenting magazines and newspapers, thanks to a screen that's twice as big. Magazines, in particular, are terribly clumsy to navigate on the Nook. The Nookcolor is more portable and cheaper, and its screen brightness can be turned up higher, so it's a better choice if you plan to mainly use the tablet for reading novels. The iPad is better in every other way, so buy one if you can afford the $499 starting price.
Apple's iPod Touch is a viable e-book reader as well and starts at $229, making it slightly cheaper than the Nook. The screen is a third of the size of the Nook's. Like the iPad, the iPod Touch can access not just Barnes & Noble's e-book store, but scores of others, including Amazon's Kindle store. However, the small screen means that it's best bought as a general entertainment device. If you really want something to read books on, the Nook is a better choice.
Both the iPad and the Kindle beat the Nookcolor in terms of battery life, but at eight hours, the Nook is good enough. Expect to charge it every three or four days.
The Nook is based on Google Inc.'s smart-phone operating system, Android, but it doesn't run any of the tens of thousands of third-party Android programs, or apps, that are available for phones. Barnes & Noble plans to launch its own app store early next year. In the meantime, the Nook does come with a Web browser and a couple of apps, including Sudoku and Pandora's Internet music service.
Barnes & Noble is taking advantage of the color touch screen by selling children's books with built-in narration tracks. It's a fine idea, and my 3-year-old daughter soon got the hang of starting up the device, navigating to a book, and following along by swiping the screen to go from page to page. But the books cost $8 each, while iPhone and iPad apps that are more engaging and animated, such as a version of "Dr. Seuss "Green Eggs and Ham," cost just $2 each.
I don't think dedicated e-readers are going to get much better than the Nook, at least not when it comes to the hardware. Maybe they'll become a bit slimmer and lighter and have longer-lasting batteries, but there won't be much time for big improvements, because within a few years, general-purpose tablets such as the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab will have taken over this niche. Though it may get some more apps next year, the Nook won't be able to match the versatility of a general-purpose tablet.
The Nookcolor could use one immediate improvement: a space between "Nook" and "color." As it is, the name sounds too much like a mispronunciation of "nuclear" when you say it too fast, and that's not a word you want to stumble into when you're at an airport security checkpoint.
But other than that, it's a good choice for someone who doesn't want to spring for an iPad. Welcome to adulthood, e-readers.

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RIM shares up as CEO says tablet to cost below 500 dollars

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The BlackBerry PlayBook is pictured in September 2010. Shares in Research In Motion surged on Wall Street on Wednesday after the chief executive of the company behind the BlackBerry said its upcoming tablet computer would cost below 500 dollars.
Shares in Research In Motion surged on Wall Street on Wednesday after the chief executive of the company behind the BlackBerry said its upcoming tablet computer would cost below 500 dollars.
RIM shares were up 7.53 percent at 59.14 dollars in afternoon trading.
RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie said the Canadian firm's touchscreen tablet computer, the "PlayBook," will be introduced in North America in the first quarter of 2011 with a global launch in the second quarter of the year.
"There's a lot of demand and we are seeing a lot of interest from international retailers," Balsillie told The Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Seoul.
RIM unveiled the Playbook in San Francisco in September as it seeks to compete with Apple's popular iPad and Samsung's recently launched Galaxy Tab.
The PlayBook has a seven-inch (17.8-centimeter) display, smaller than the 9.7 inches of Apple's iPad, and plays Adobe Flash video software, which is banned from the Apple device.
The cheapest iPad costs 499 dollars while the top model is priced at 829 dollars.
(c) 2010 AFP

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Kno textbook reader to ship this year

Posted in Labels: , | at 4:36:00 AM


Kno Inc., a California company making a digital textbook reader for students, announced on Tuesday it would begin shipping the tablet computer by the end of the year.
Kno, which has received funding from Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm launched by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, said its 14.1-inch (35.8-centimeter) single screen tablet will cost 599 dollars.
The dual-screen version will sell for 899 dollars.
Kno, which is short for "knowledge," said it was accepting a limited number of pre-orders for an initial shipment that is expected to be delivered by the end of the year.
"Kno's extraordinary benefits represent only a tiny fraction of the overall cost of college," Kno co-founder and chief executive Osman Rashid said in a press release. "When you do the math, it actually pays for itself."
Kno said it has been testing the product with students and received a positive response for both the single and dual screen devices.
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Digital textbooks will be sold through the Kno bookstore and cost between 30 percent and 50 percent less than physical textbooks, the company said.
Kno is working with a number of publishers including Cengage, McGraw Hill, Pearson, Macmillan, Bedford, Freeman & Worth, Holtzbrinck, BarCharts Publishing, Kaplan, Random House and University Presses.
"According to the not-for-profit College Board's 2010 report, the average college student spends approximately 1,100 dollars a year on books and supplies," Kno co-founder and chief technology officer Babur Habib said.
"Kno can reduce that cost while bringing education into the 21st Century, providing students with a far superior learning experience than they have today."


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Review: iPhone-controlled drone fun but expensive

Posted in Labels: , , , | at 4:21:00 AM


This product image provided by Parrot, shows the AR.Drone. Parrot, a company known more for its Bluetooth hands-free car speakerphones, has launched a small, unmanned aircraft that can be controlled using an iPhone or another of Apple Inc.'s Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets, including the iPod Touch and the iPad.(AP Photo/Parrot) NO SALES
(AP) -- You can pretty much do anything with your iPhone these days - control your digital video recorder from afar, unlock your car, and now, fly a drone.
Parrot, a company known more for its Bluetooth handsfree car speakerphones, has launched a small, unmanned aircraft that can be controlled using an iPhone or another of Apple Inc.'s Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets, including the iPod Touch and the iPad. After reading about it online, I felt compelled to take the drone for a test drive because, honestly, what gadget geek wouldn't want one?
The $300 AR.Drone is a quadricopter - a helicopter with four separate propellers - made of carbon fiber and strong plastics.
Weighing less than a pound, the gadget can fly up to 11 mph, controlled from up to 150 feet away. The drone has two built-in cameras that stream video of what it sees directly to your iPhone, or another Apple device. You then control aspects of the flight by tilting the iPhone from side to side, using the gyroscope in the device.
Don't worry if you don't have a good cellular or Wi-Fi connection. The drone has its own Wi-Fi system to communicate directly with the iPhone without needing to go through an outside Wi-Fi hotspot.
The setup was quite easy. After downloading the free app from Apple's iTunes store and charging the battery for the AR.Drone, I was ready to fly. With one touch of a button on the screen, the AR.Drone was hovering about three feet off the ground. Landing is just as simple, with one on-screen button that slowly lowers the drone to the ground.
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Admittedly, the controls take a while to master. The easiest way is to tilt your iPhone to control the flight. There's also an advanced mode, which lets you control the drone with a virtual joystick. It's possible to guide the drone by looking at the video feeds, but I found it much easier to look at the aircraft itself.
Make sure your first test drive is in an open area like a field or big backyard that gives you room to experiment with the controls without crashing into everything. When the drone arrived at my office, colleagues were excited to see it fly. We regretted our haste when initial flights bashed the drone into filing cabinets.
During our outdoor field tests, the drone ended up in a nearby forest. Thankfully, the cameras on the drone gave me an idea of where it crashed. While the drone was noticeably affected by the wind outside, it has technology that tries to minimize the drifting.
You can fly the drone inside buildings more safely by attaching the included plastic foam bumpers, which protect the drone and anything you may run it into. (And trust me, you will run it into things.) If you get into trouble, there's also an emergency landing button that completely shuts off the motors and drops the unit to the ground.
I was able to master flying it after a couple of sessions, but was always cautious about where I flew it.
As fun as the AR.Drone is to fly, there are a few downsides. The battery only lasts about 15 minutes when fully charged, so if your flight requires a long drive to an open football field or parking lot, it might not feel worth it. You can, however, buy extra batteries for $30 each.
And, for now, the app used with the AR.Drone only controls flying movements and displays feeds from the on-board cameras.
But I find the future possibilities exciting. Parrot plans to update its app with augmented reality games. You can race other actual drones or chase and shoot virtual enemies that appear superimposed on the video feed from the drone.
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Parrot also has made its technology for the AR.Drone open source, meaning any programmer can build his or her own games or find other ways to use and control the drone. I could see one that lets users record the video feed or take screen shots while flying.
While it comes with a hefty price tag, the open platform puts the AR.Drone in the category of promising gadgets for those with extra cash to spend. It's fun to play with now, but you might want to wait until you can do more with it.
More information: AR.Drone: http://ardrone.parrot.com


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Amazon's 3G Kindle leaps 'Great Firewall of China'

Posted in Labels: , , , , , | at 4:06:00 AM


A 3G version of the Kindle e-reader, pictured in the hand of Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, is being snapped up on China's grey market as it has an extra special advantage for customers -- it automatically leaps the so-called "Great Firewall" of state web censorship.
Amazon's Kindle 3G e-reader is being snapped up on China's grey market as it has an extra special advantage for customers -- it automatically leaps the so-called "Great Firewall" of state web censorship.
Sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which are blocked by the Beijing authorities, can be accessed without interference by the Kindle's Internet browsing function, the South China Morning Post reported Monday.
Amazon says it is not able to ship the Kindle to mainland China or offer content in the country, which has the world's largest Internet community at more than 420 million web users, the Post reported.
But a seller in Beijing told the paper he slipped them into China a few at a time after having them delivered to an address outside the mainland. He has sold 300 in the past month.
AFP found dozens of Kindles available on web auction site Taobao, China's answer to eBay, with prices ranging from a special offer of 700 yuan (105 dollars) to 5,000 yuan.
Several Chinese bloggers are recommending the device, according to the paper, largely due to the fact it can "scale the wall automatically".
"I still can't believe it. I casually tried getting to Twitter, and what a surprise, I got there," the paper quoted a mainland blogger as saying.
"And then I quickly tried Facebook, and it perfectly presented itself. Am I dreaming? No, I pinched myself and it hurt."
The 3G Kindle uses global system mobile (GSM) communication technology, which gives WiFi coverage in more than 100 countries, including China. The WiFi-only Kindle would rely on a local Internet connection.
Professor Lawrence Yeung Kwan, of the University of Hong Kong's electrical and electronic engineering department, told the paper that mainland Internet patrols might have overlooked the gadget.
"Every Kindle device is pre-registered to a personal account, so every user's information is clear," he said.
"In addition, Kindle has a book-buying focus, so the censors may think these connections are relatively safe."
The Kindle has its own network, called Amazon Whispernet, to provide wireless coverage via AT&T's 3G data network in the US and partner networks in the rest of the world.
A 3G wireless coverage map on Amazon's website includes numerous Chinese cities, suggesting its 3G link involves a Chinese carrier, the paper said.
(c) 2010 AFP

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HP unveils 'Slate 500' tablet computer

Posted in Labels: , , , | at 3:51:00 AM


Hewlett-Packard unveiled a Windows-powered touchscreen tablet computer aimed at professionals, the latest entry into a growing market dominated by Apple's iPad.
Hewlett-Packard unveiled a Windows-powered touchscreen tablet computer on Friday aimed at professionals, the latest entry into a growing market dominated by Apple's iPad.
The "HP Slate 500," which features an 8.9-inch (22.6-centimeter) screen, slightly smaller than the iPad's 9.7-inch (24.6-cm) display, costs 800 dollars, about the same price as the top-of-the-line iPad.
While the iPad is aimed more at consumers, HP is targeting its device at business customers and touting its ability to handle documents, spreadsheets and applications from Microsoft.
HP described the Slate 500 as the "ideal PC for professionals who don't usually work at a traditional desk, yet need to stay productive in a secure, familiar Windows environment."
"The ability to easily incorporate custom business applications differentiates this product and ultimately enhances the user experience and saves time for HP's business and enterprise customers," it said in a statement.


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Review: Windows Phone 7 a new start for Microsoft

Posted in Labels: , , , | at 3:35:00 AM


In this Oct. 18, 2010 photo, an Associated Press reporter holds the he AT&T HTC Surround, top, and the AT&T Samsung Surround in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
When it comes to smart phones, Microsoft is itching to get back in the game. Microsoft was sick of watching consumers flock to Apple's iPhone and smart phones running Google's Android software as its own Windows Mobile software floundered. So the world's largest software maker started from scratch with its new phone operating system, Windows Phone 7, which wireless carriers are rolling out on smart phones starting next month.
I tested three of them to get a feel for Microsoft Corp.'s latest work. The Samsung Focus and the HTC HD7 will be available Nov. 8 from AT&T and T-Mobile, respectively, while the HTC Surround is coming to AT&T by late November.
On its face, Windows Phone 7 is unabashedly consumer focused and pleasantly easy to use.
The phone's main screen features a wall of bright tiles that you tap to open applications. You can make tiles for everything from websites to Facebook friends.
There are plenty of fun features, such as the ability to connect to the company's online game service, Xbox Live, and to download music, apps and games through Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace. If you pay $15 per month for a Zune Pass, you can listen to as much music as you want right on the phone.
The operating software should also appeal to business users, as it integrates with e-mail and calendars from corporate Exchange servers and allows you to set up several different Exchange accounts. If you want to do work on the go, it includes mobile versions of Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Beyond this, there are lots of solid features that all Windows Phone 7 handsets will share: A minimum of 8 gigabytes of internal memory (like the iPhone, there is no slot for a memory card), a five-megapixel camera and the ability to record high-definition videos, a multi-touch screen and a simple on-screen keyboard that is impressively accurate. For search and maps, unsurprisingly, the phone turns to Bing. It uses Microsoft's TellMe voice recognition software to operate voice controls.
There is no instant-messaging application built into the phone, though you will be able to download one. And you won't find any free turn-by-turn navigation software here as you'd find on Android phones, though the built-in mapping application is good-looking and simple.
Windows Phone 7 does have a feature I wish all smart phones had: Hold down the camera button even when the phone is locked and asleep, and the camera turns on. If you have a password set on your phone, you'll still have to tap it in to use the other functions, but it's handy for taking photos on the fly.
But will all this be enough to sway smart-phone-seeking consumers who have long been bombarded by sexy ads for the iPhone and Android phones, not to mention surrounded by others who are using those phones? I tend to doubt it.
Windows Phone 7 is good - far better than the hobbled software Microsoft briefly introduced on the Kin phones earlier this year - but it's not phenomenal. I immediately took a shine to its ease of use, but at the same time it feels limited. For example, the phones I tested had two main screen panels that just got longer and longer as I added more applications to them. Somehow, it doesn't feel as jazzy or cutting-edge as Apple's iOS4 or Google's latest Android release. Those phones have numerous, screen-fitted panels.
One area that I'm withholding judgment on is Microsoft's Marketplace. Just a few hundred apps were listed when I played with the phones, including a Netflix movie-watching app and one from location-sharing service Foursquare. So it didn't seem fair to judge it against the well-established app stores available for the iPhone and Android phones. Microsoft said it plans to add several hundred apps each week this year; based on that, it will be a while before we can gauge its competitiveness.
Beyond the Microsoft experience loaded onto the phones, each one has its own quirks, so below is a rundown of how each fared in testing.
- Samsung Focus (AT&T, $200 with a two-year contract).
The Focus doesn't have the biggest screen of the group, but it had an AMOLED touch screen, which tends to have higher color saturation than standard LCD screens. Because of this, images looked the best and brightest on this phone, whether I was watching an episode of "Nip/Tuck" or drooling over photos of Italian food.
The Focus includes a more advanced camera than the other two, and you can adjust everything from image contrast to color saturation. There's a pretty good anti-shake setting, too.
The Focus also had the advantage of being the skinniest and lightest one I tested, at 0.4 inches and 4.2 ounces, which made it supremely portable. And with battery life rated for up to 6.5 hours of talk time, it should last through a day of taking photos, listening to music and making and phone calls.
- HTC Surround (AT&T, $200 with a two-year contract).
The Surround's most interesting feature is a long speaker with a kickstand on its back that slides out from its right side. While I appreciated this setup for listening to music or watching videos, the sound wasn't incredible. I would have preferred a skinnier phone with just a speaker on the back.
The Surround's touch screen - 3.8 inches diagonally - was crisp enough for surfing the Web and futzing around on Facebook, but videos streamed from Netflix looked surprisingly pixelated.
The phone's 16 gigabytes of storage seems generous enough, but users may be unimpressed by its battery life, which is rated for up to just 4 hours of talk time.
- HTC HD7 (T-Mobile, $200 with a two-year contract and $50 mail-in rebate).
The largest of the bunch, the HD7 includes a 4.3-inch touch screen that makes a fine display for videos and a giant viewfinder for the phone's built-in digital camera.
The phone conveniently includes a Netflix app, so if you have a Netflix account, you can use it to watch movies and TV shows on your phone (other phones can download the app from the Marketplace). I started watching "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" over Wi-Fi and found it streamed well on the HD7's generous screen, though I had expected it to look sharper. The phone has a smartly designed kickstand hidden around the camera lens and flash. Over T-Mobile's network, the movie took longer to load than over Wi-Fi and often stopped to re-load, which was frustrating.
The big screen is good for playing games, too.
The HD7, which includes 16 GB of memory, is rated for as many as 6.5 hours of talk time. This probably won't be enough if you're having a marathon movie-watching session, but should hold up through regular multitasking.




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