Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks It should come as no surprise that Amazon is looking to compete better with Apple’s iPad, especially given the recent MacMillan issues. It looks like the company’s move now is to acquire other companies that could help bring Amazon’s products closer to Apple’s. It looks as if Amazon has acquired the New York-based startup Touchco to help. According to the New York Times, Touchco may have been acquired by Amazon to be folded into Lab126, the Kindle hardware team. Touchco’s main product is a thin, flexible touch sensitive surface. The technology is called interpolating force-sensitive resistance, which sounds like a fancy way of saying multitouch resistive screens. It uses resistors to determine the pressure applied to any number of points, and is designed to be easily integrated into LCD screens. Obviously we can’t yet know what Amazon is planning on doing with Touchco, though a touchscreen Kindle seems logical. Although, the big appeal to many people for the Kindle is the fact that it uses the e-ink display rather than the LED-backlit screen that the iPad will use. If Amazon can use the Touchco team to create it’s own touchscreen e-ink display, and sell it for less than the Que, it might be worthwhile. A Kindle 3 with an LCD screen just doesn’t seem like the right way to go, and could end up losing more faith than it lost after last weekend’s MacMillan debacle. Read [NY Times] Image Source: NY Times Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Broadband Cards, Mobile  I guess I should file this under “good to know” because I had been thinking about replacing my MiFi with a Palm Pre Plus now that it has the Mobile Hotspot app available. But after reading a recent article over on jkOnTheRun I am pretty glad that I have been dragging my feet about making the switch because it seems that the data speeds from the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are not nearly as good as that of the MiFi. I guess device convergence is not always a good thing.
According to the testing, the results were said to be “disappointing to say the least.” As far as the testing, it was noted that multiple tests were done with the MiFi, Pre Plus and the Pixi Plus. Additionally, the tests were done only in areas that offered full 3G reception. As for the results; - Palm Pixi Plus - Test 1 - 167kbps down and 263kbps up
- Palm Pixi Plus - Test 2 - 127kbps down and 376kbps up
- Palm Pre Plus - Test 1 - 166kbps down and 235kbps up
- Palm Pre Plus - Test 2 - 155kbps down and 158kbps up
- MiFi - Test 1 - 867kbps down and 355kbps up
- MiFi - Test 2 - 931kbps down and 558kbps up
I think the above description of disappointing would be entirely accurate. I guess that also means that I will be keeping the MiFi, at least until I begin to see some additional test results. [UPDATE] I was able to confirm that I am going to be receiving a Pre Plus and Pixi Plus here in a few days, which means that I will be able to do some testing of my own. Read [jkOnTheRun] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Computers  Several textbook publishers have secured deals to have their books digitally converted for devices like Apple’s iPad. ScrollMotion, Inc., has inked a deal with several publishers to develop textbooks, test-prep reading materials, and study guides for digital devices.
Scroll Motion, which has already developed iPhone apps, will likely adapt the books to include a search function, dictionaries, glossaries, and quizzes. Companies involved in the project include McGraw-Hill Cos., Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, Pearson Education, and Kaplan, Inc., major publishers of educational materials. I recognize more than a few of those names from my days of buying overpriced books from my college bookstore.
The deal has obvious promises for a new style of education. Though college students have yet to fully embrace e-textbooks, analysts believe that portable devices could change that. It’s much easier to read on a fast-loading tablet you already own than to carry a laptop every time you need to read a new chapter between classes. The iPad could even deliver the ability to integrate and link multimedia content to text.
Anyone who has been on a college campus in the past 4 years knows that Apple products are commonplace. More education-focused content on the iPad could lead to even further Applemania.
Read [Wall Street Journal] Full Story » | Written by Andrew Kameka for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
FROM GAMERTELL - Play-Asia is running a Lucky Lunar New Year Sale until February 11, 2010, and over 5,000 items are on sale. There is also a raffle running for people who purchase sale items, with the first prize being an Asian PS3 Final Fantasy XIII Lightning bundle.
MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Peripherals, Storage  Let’s face it, we can never have enough storage space on our hard drives. Current hard drives that use perpendicular magnetic recording technology already have densities of 300-400 GB per square inch, and they are capable of achieving up to 1 terabits per square inch density. The technology is being pushed to the limits and alternatives need to be considered to lift the theoretical density limit.
Hitachi has achieved a density of 2.5 Terabits per square inch with the heat-assisted magnetic recording technology, which has a theoretical limit of up to 50 terabits per square inch. 2.5 Terabits per square inch is 5 times higher than the one currently met in commercial HDDs, which means commercial hard drives with capacities of over 10GB is possible. Unfortunately there is no news on when Hitachi might implement this commercially. For all we know, flash drives might actually improve and render HDDs obsolete. Read [CDRinfo] Via [Ubergizmo] Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Imaging, Camcorders, Digital Cameras Hasselblad introduced the new H4D-40 “entry-level” camera to its existing line of H4D medium format camera systems. Touting a 33 x 44mm CCD sensor, which is almost twice the size of a full-frame 35mm DSLR sensor, the H4D-40 shoots at a whooping 40MP. If you ever need more megapixels to work with, you can count on the higher-end models in the H4D line of medium format cameras. This entry-level model also features the True Focus AF system, which is commonly found in the higher-end models. With True Focus, photographers can work with shallow depth-of-field compositions more effectively. The H4D-40 is priced at $19, 995, which isn’t much of a surprise considering the kind of specs you get with the camera. For $ 19, 995, you get the H4D-40 kit, including the camera body, 80mm lens, viewfinder and the company’s Phocus 2.0 software. It is available for shipping now. Read [Digital Photography Review] Via [SlashGear] Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile 
Verizon and Motorola today officially announced the Motorola Devour, an Android-powered phone set to be released for use on the Verizon network next month. The Devour, which runs Motorola’s custom-version of Android, MOTOBLUR, comes with a QWERTY slider and a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen. The phone runs Android 1.6 and includes an 8GB microSD card to take advantage of the following specs: - 3.1-inch touchscreen display with 320 x 480 resolution
- 3-megapixel camera
- EVDO Rev.A, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and aGPS
- Bluetooth with A2DP
- HTML5 compatible browser
- Speakerphone
- microSD card slot
- Talk time: Up to 340 minutes, Standby time: Up to 440 hours
- 4.55 x 2.4 x 0.61 inches, 6.35 ounces
Verizon announced that the Devour will appear in store beginning in March. Unfortunately, that debut will include the relatively stale Donut build of Android rather than the newer, fresher Eclair. Motorola has said that it will upgrade its MOTOBLUR social-networking system to Android 2.0, but it seems they won’t be able to do it soon enough to get their new phone with the latest version of Android. Let’s hope that they’ll be able to make an adjustment quickly and push out the update soon. The Motorola Devour requires a Verizon Nationwide Talk plan of at least $39.99 and a data plan of $29.99. Read [Motorola Media Center] Full Story » | Written by Andrew Kameka for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks  The whole mess with Macmillan and Amazon seems likely to spread to others at this point, which ultimately sounds like it will be bad news for Kindle customers in the long run. Just to recap, Macmillan was upset because of the $9.99 pricing with Amazon, Amazon pulled their content, Amazon then later allowed them back in at the prices they wanted.
Now it seems that others are taking note of this and sensing some weakness in the whole $9.99 Amazon pricing deal. The latest is Rupert Murdoch and his Harper Collins and he has recently stated that he sees Amazon is now “willing to sit down” and “renegotiate.” The important part here is nothing has changed, but that seems to come with a big ‘yet’ at the end because Murdoch also went on to state that the Apple deal “does allow some flexibility and higher prices.” On a slightly positive note, he did continue on to say that the ebook pricing will remain lower than print editions. Seems to be a small concession. The kicker here is that I love reading on my Kindle, but at the same time I do not want to pay more than $9.99 for a ebook, and I also do not want to have to start reading regular paper books again. Read [All Things D] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Audio, Portable Audio Nothing seems to have been officially announced in terms of a Zune HD price drop, however that has not stopped both Amazon and Newegg from recently lowering the price. Can you say price war? I hope so, because that generally means good things for the customers—well, potential customers. Bottom line, if you were looking for a Zune HD, now may be a good time to make a purchase. Anyway, at Amazon and Newegg the 16GB Zune HD is now $189.99 (a $30 savings) and the 32GB Zune HD is now $249.99 (a $40 savings). Links for all are below. Product [Amazon 16GB] and [Amazon 32GB] and [Newegg 16GB] and [Newegg 32GB] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile  Nokia has yet to catch up in the US smartphone market, though it could be argued that they don’t need to. Most of the complaints against the companies phones are that they aren’t subsidized by carriers, and lack capacitive screens and multitouch features. With Google introducing multitouch to the Nexus One, this is even more of a loss to Nokia, though one it could overcome by the end of the year.
Digitimes is reporting that Nokia will be skipping Version 2 of Symbian, and skipping straight to V3 by the third quarter of 2010. Symbian V3 will finally add multitouch controls to the mobile OS, which is could be argued are much needed. Nokia is also said to be releasing phones running Maemo 6 sometime in the second half of the year. It is rumored that after these, either in late 2010, or early 2011 we’ll see Symbian V4, which is thought to allow for cross-platform applications to be written for both Symbian and Maemo. Adding multitouch to it’s phones could finally bring Nokia to the feature set that most Americans seem to want from their smartphones. Adding cross-platform apps to Symbian and Maemo would be a great help for future Maemo phones so they could access more apps. It’ll be exciting to see where Nokia brings these phones, and if they’ll be a bit more affordable to Americans. Either way, more Maemo phones would be interesting, especially if multitouch could be worked into them. Read [DigiTimes] via [Boy Genius Report] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile Whoa… a company… that listens to what the people want… and gives it to them in a timely manner? That’s unheard of! But Google has done it. Last month, people were so disappointed with the fact that the Nexus One didn’t support multitouch, that hackers worked furiously to get it on there. And multitouch was probably the biggest hacking breakthrough on the Nexus One so far. But now, Google’s latest software update for the Nexus One rids of all that hard work and brings multitouch functionality to its Browser, Gallery, and Maps applications. Not even a month after its release, Google already rid the phone of its weakest point. Now if only they could get the sales to match… The software update not only has multitouch support, but it includes a few other things as well. First and foremost, they have added a Google Goggles application directly to your device. Now you can search with your camera, how simple! Next, they released Google Maps 3.4 onto the Nexus One that will add some much used features onto the application. Now, you can synchronize your favorite places between your web browser (at maps.google.com) and your phone so you can show off to your friends where you love to eat your ice cream. It also syncs with your maps.google.com’s history so it can suggest places if they compare to ones you have searched for recently. And finally, they have added what they call night mode. Not much description is given except that it changes color at night for easier viewing. I can only assume this changes the normally white background to black or a darker blue. The updates will be rolled out gradually throughout the week so don’t worry if you haven’t gotten it yet. In fact, Google states that most users probably won’t receive this update until the end of the week, so your going to have to be patient and wait for you ability to pinch-to-zoom. Read [Google] Full Story » | Written by Greg Billetdeaux for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
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