Amazon to launch Kindle in Japan 'early October'

Its not the first time you are reading about the launch of Amazon's all new Kindle, it's because there is so much hush-hush . However, if a new report on Reuters via The Nikkei is to be believed, the launch could finally be getting closer. It's said that the internet retailer had planned to launch its e-reader line in September, but supply chain problems had put a question mark to that. Now the latest news leak hints that it'll land in "early October" with Amazon hurriedly securing Japanese content in time for the busy end of year sales period. The Kindle's still not out of the yard just if you think so, as it's also been suggested that publishers are being asked to change data formats for their content, which can act as a bottleneck causing further delay, if they dont comply in time. Sadly, given the history of this tale, we're not expecting Japanese farm owners to be making any irrational bets just yet.Well as of now,we have the best thing,'Wait'.

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New Twitter app for iPad released

Twitter has released a new official app for the iPad which comes with a revamped UI. The new app features a revamped home screen that allows the user to expand content embed in tweets seamlessly. May it be a video, a picture or a link, one can just tap and expand the content on the fly.

The new app makes it easier to keep track of conversations and interactions with other people. This also includes follows, mentions and retweets.

Information generally is organized in a more personalized way. One can read stories that are popular in ones own network and can also what all tweets are favorited or followed by people in the network. Additionally, trending topics are also highlighted and it is easier to find new accounts to follow on the basis of the relevance of ones content choices.

The profile page also gets a revamp and now we can add a new head image. Apart from this, this new photo will hover over the Tweets on the iPad, mobile apps and also Twitter.com. One can also remember the moments shared on Twitter by swiping through the  photo stream on ones own profile or by tapping photos to go fullscreen.

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Dell announces XPS duo 12 convertible UltraBook at IFA, will be available at Windows 8 launch

Dell has announced the XPS duo 12 convertible UltraBook at IFA in Berlin. The XPS duo 12 features a 12.5-inch Full HD multi-touch display with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. The screen will feature an edge-to-edge layer of Corning Gorilla Glass and it will be offered in varied options of Intel Ivy Bridge going up to the i7 chip.

The convertible boasts an aluminum and carbon fiber construction and its keyboard even incorporates a touch pa and backlit keys. Dell has not revealed information regarding battery life, memory and pricing but it says that the convertible will be available on October 26, when Windows 8 is launched.

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Odd looking HTC tablet spyshots, could be announced at IFA

Images of a rather odd looking HTC tablet have been leaked on social networking site Twitter by a user with the Twitter handle @evleaks. If this is not a fake, then the industrial design of the tablet will be rather ill-logical and unique as it has ultra-thin bezels on the top and the two sides, however sports quite a chunky bezel on the bottom.

From the looks of it, the tablet rocks a 10-inch landscape oriented display and runs on Android. Additionally, another oddity is the placement of the front and rear cameras, both of which are place on the bottom end, right in the middle of the chunky bezel.

Frankly, this seems more like render than a real world working prototype of sorts. Notably, though the design does seem to borrow elements from the One series of smartphones. If it is a true image of a working product, then we must admit HTC is at least innovating in terms of industrial design and we can be rest assured that the company will have some reasoning for the odd bezel. With IFA starting later this week, it will not be far fetched for HTC to officially unveil the tablet, but that will only happen if it is not a fake render.

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Sony Vaio Duo 11 Windows 8 dockable tablet on Internet now

Windows 8 is scheduled to hit markets on October 26, but that does not mean that we won’t get a peek at the hardware that will power the OS. Microsoft has already done that with its Surface, Acer and Asus showed some devices at Computex and Samsung is set to showcase something at IFA. Where does that leave Sony? Well, photographs of a Windows 8 based Sony tablet, dubbed the Vaio Duo 11, have emerged on the Internet.PocketNow has the official-looking press photos of the device, which happens to be an 11-inch Windows 8 convertible.

The slate seems to borrow some ideas from Microsoft’s own Surface, but unlike the Surface its keyboard is fixed on to the main chassis and it can slide back when one wants to use it solely like a traditional tablet. The images also suggest that the tablet has a backlit keyboard, but interestingly, there is no sign of a touchpad or a mouse. It is also likely to run on Windows Pro than Windows RT, considering one of the photographs shows a full-fledged MS Office screenshot.

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Angry Birds Space jettisons to Mars to rescue Curiosity Rover

Rovio has updated Angry Birds Space with a new level that takes place on Mars. The new missions will features a battle between the birds and their nemesis’, the green pigs who have hijacked the Mars Curiosity Rover. The pigs have started to look for eggs, rather than search for the signs of life, in the process changing the original mission of the Curiosity Rover.

The update adds twenty new levels to Angry Birds Space, breaking monotony for ardent fans of the franchise. There will also be new achievements and two special antenne levels. The update will be available on both Android and iOS versions of the game.

Additionally, Rovio is getting support from both National Geographic and NASA for the promotion of the new mission. This update comes a few weeks after Rovio had sent out an teaser for the Martian adventure.

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Google+ app finally comes to the iPad

Last month at Google I/O, the company showcased its Google+ app for the iPad alongside introducing a redesigned Google+ app experience for the iPhone. The iPad app is now finally available in the App Store.

Google says the app was designed to provide stream styles content based on popularity, type and orientation and the app would add a full bleed of photos and bring bolder visual elements in the UI. Additionally, Google has added a number of new features that include the following:

·       Pinch and expand posts right in the stream to add comments
·       Use two fingers to drag a post from a stream to easily re-share it
·       Start a Hangout from a iPad and stream it to a TV using AirPlay

The iOS app also adds support for Google+ events and Google+ Hangouts. With Google+ Hangouts users can have a video chat with up to nine people, with support for notifications. The Hangout option can be accessed from the main menu and people just need to add their friends and tap on the ‘start’ button to start a Hangout.

You can download the Google+ app for iPad here.

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Google’s Nexus 7 could change Android tabs for good

Google is expected to announce a Nexus tablet, the first of its kind, tomorrow to kickstart proceedings at its annual Google I/O developer summit. The tablet is expected to come in two variants priced at $199 and $249 and would run the latest version of Android, called Jelly Bean, which would also be announced at the event. Eric Schmidt had hinted at a $200 Android tablet in December last year and it seems we could finally see it tomorrow. In my view, the Nexus 7 tablet could be Google’s best attempt till date at having some decent market share in the tablet space and could change Android tablets for ever. Read on.

There is no doubt that the biggest draw for the Nexus 7 would be its pricing. Having followed three generations of iPads and wannabe iPad Android tabs, there is no doubt in my mind that Android tablets sell purely for their price. I have not seen a single Android tablet succeed in the market that has been priced at par or above the iPad. While most of them offer great specifications on paper but there are hardly any apps available in Android Market (Google Play just doesn’t sound right) to utilize the hardware. What one is left with is a large slate for browsing the web or watching movies.

Having said that, there are a number of sub-Rs 15,000 Android tablets available but even they are not exactly setting the market on fire. I have tried using some of these tablets but the user experience is pathetic. Most of them heat up worse than an old Maruti 800 from the early nineties on Delhi’s streets at the peak of summer and their inferior displays ensure a sprained neck thanks to poor viewing angles.

Many hardware manufacturers like Asus and Lenovo have tried snapping on keyboards with the tablet to entice the enterprise crowd of mistaking it for a hybrid tablet-cum-laptop. I have tried them too and found them to be way too expensive. Also Android, like iOS, has not been designed to work with cursors and mice. That market is best left for Microsoft and its upcoming Windows 8 portable devices, including the Surface.

Google is stuck in a vicious circle. The high-end Android tablets don’t sell because of lack of apps. The low-end ones have inferior hardware that are not capable of giving the right experience. What Android really needs is an affordable tablet with top-of-the-line specs, which would invoke confidence among developers to develop apps for Android tablets. That’s exactly what the Nexus 7 is all about.

Any sane Android tablet vendor would like to maximize its margins at the point of sale considering it does not get to keep a cut out of every app sold (like Apple) or can recover cost later by selling content (like Amazon). For them giving top-of-the-line hardware that is better than the iPad on paper for less than half of the iPad’s retail price does not make good business sense. And understandably so. Since Google does not control both the software and hardware elements (yet), the only option left is to collaborate with an OEM partner to bring the price down artificially.

If the leaked specifications of the Nexus 7′s are true, we might finally have an Android tablet that is cheap and usable at the same time. This might force other Android tablet OEMs to bring lower their prices but I doubt that happening. Most likely, they will ask Google to partner with them for similar Nexus tablets. Yes, it would imply Google handing out a “platform support fee” to select OEMs but it would further its cause and ensure Android tabs stay alive when Microsoft’s “your tablet is also a full PC” campaign begins later this year with Windows 8.

Image Courtesy: Gizmodo.com

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