Microsoft Makes $300M Investment In New Barnes & Noble Subsidiary To Battle With Amazon And Apple In E-books

Barnes & Noble has found a new, major partner in its fight to get an edge over Amazon and Apple in the market for e-books and the devices being used to consume them: it is teaming up with Microsoft in what the two are calling a strategic partnership, name yet to be determined.
It will come in the form of a new subsidiary of B&N that will include all of its Nook business as well as its educational College business. Microsoft is making a $300 million investment in the subsidiary, valuing the company at $1.7 billion in exchange for around 17.6 percent equity in the subsidiary.
The news leaves the door open for B&N to eventually spin these off into a separate business altogether — or even sell them to Microsoft. And it leaves a load of questions about what B&N will do next with the Nook, which is currently built on a forked version of Google’s Android platform.
The new company, referred to for the moment as Newco, will contain B&N’s digital business, as well as its College division. While Microsoft will take 17.6 percent, B&N will own 82.4 percent of the venture.

This is a key way of getting more content on to the Microsoft platform — specifically e-books content to ensure that its Windows 8 tablets will be able to compete not only against the best-selling iPad but also the Kindle Fire from Amazon, along with the rest of the company’s e-readers. The Kindle Fire has stolen a march among Android tablet makers and part of the compelling offer is not only the low price ($199) but also the fact that it contains so much content, including seamless access to all of Amazon’s e-book offerings.
This is also a progression — a very big one — of the funding etudes that Microsoft has been making to developers to make sure they are making apps for the Windows Phone platform, a way of getting more content on its platforms, which, it can be argued, may have come too late to the market. The first product to come out of the door? A Nook application for Windows 8, the companies say.
And given that education has been one of Apple’s bigger pushes this year, and the obvious and close links between education and e-reading, it’s not too surprising to see that B&N has also put its College division into this subsidiary. Microsoft, too, has been courting the education market — making its biggest-ever cloud-services deal in the education sector. Nevertheless they have a long road ahead of them. In January, Apple noted that there were already 20,000 educational apps for iOS and that there were already 1.5 million devices deployed in schools, numbers that will inevitably have grown in the last 4-5 months with the launch of the new iPad and numerous initiatives to spread the tablet in the educational sector.
And there is a legal twist to the deal, too: the two companies say they have definitely sorted out their patent litigation now: “Moving forward, Barnes & Noble and Newco will have a royalty-bearing license under Microsoft’s patents for its NOOK eReader and Tablet products,” the two write in the release below. If Microsoft doesn’t use this as an opportunity of possibly persuading B&N to swap over to Windows 8 for a version of the Nook, it will also give it a very interesting inroad into developing more for Android.
As for B&N and the future of these products… this deal looks like it could potentially pave the way for B&N to spin off this business into its own standalone operation, if not into the waiting arms of Microsoft itself — long speculated to be looking at ways of gaining a stronger foothold in the area of mobile devices to better implement its bigger strategy. The idea of a subsidiary was something that B&N had first floated back in January, when it noted that it was weighing up how best to separate its digital business to “maximize shareholder value.”
There are many more questions — such as what this could mean for the company’s broader strategy for growing the market for the Nook (international being a key push that the company has yet to make, apart from some baby steps); and how well, exactly, those products are doing for the company: IDC puts the Nook’s share of the tablet market at just 3.5 percent.

Via techcrunch.com

LG Cloud launches, guns after iCloud on mobile, PC, TV

LG has formally launched into the cloud space on Monday with a beta of LG Cloud. The service is intended as a non-exclusive way to quickly shuttle music, photos, and videos between the various devices in LG"s ecosystem, including PCs, smartphones, and TVs. By including the TV, it carries the uncommon advantage of exporting 3D content: a 3D video recorded on an Optimus 3D Max can be remotely shared to a TV that can play it back.

Its signature will be a real-time transcoding approach that can make content playable in an ideal format, particularly for bandwidth-sensitive mobile devices.

Anyone will have access to a free account with 2GB of space, although LG is providing a heavy incentive to buy into LG devices. These users will get 5GB for free, and the first six months will give them 50GB of space. LG is planning paid storage as an option, but has yet to settle on pricing. Most of its peers multiple yearly subscription rates.

The service is available as a free beta in South Korea and the US starting from May 1, with a wider launch mostly likely in the first half of 2013. Native clients are for now limited to Android 2.2 or newer phones, Windows XP, and Windows 7, although a web interface should let users manage storage on any device.

LG's introduction follows a trend of computer designers starting their own cloud services, started in earnest by Apple with 2011's iCloud. Samsung is rumored to be making its own S-Cloud service as a parallel to what Apple and LG have been developing. In all cases, the aim is to have various divisions' technology working in sync and give customers more reason to buy across the line rather than cherry pick from individual vendors.

Via electronista.com

Η Microsoft επενδύει $300 εκατομμύρια στην Barnes & Noble για να ανταγωνιστεί Apple και Amazon

Οι Microsoft και Barnes & Noble ανακοίνωσαν σήμερα τη δημιουργία μιας νέας θυγατρικής εταιρείας που θα επικεντρωθεί στην υπάρχουσα ψηφιακή αγορά των Nook e-readers και e-books. Η Microsoft θα επενδύσει 300 εκατομμύρια δολάρια στη θυγατρική που μέχρι στιγμής της έχει δοθεί το προσωρινό όνομα Newco ενώ θα κατέχει και το 17.6 τοις εκατό της εταιρείας.
Ένα από τα πλεονεκτήματα για τους χρήστες θα είναι η εφαρμογή Nook για το Windows 8 που θα παρέχει μία από τις μεγαλύτερες συλλογές ψηφιακών βιβλίων, περιοδικών και εφημερίδων στους εκατοντάδες εκατομμύρια χρήστες του επερχόμενου λειτουργικού της Microsoft.
Ως μέρος της συμφωνίας οι δύο εταιρείες έλυσαν τις δικαστικές τους διαμάχες με κοινό συμβιβασμό. H Microsoft είχε ασκήσει αγωγή κατά της εταιρείας για παραβίαση πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας από το Nook reader ως μέρος μιας γενικότερης επίθεσης κατά του Android. Στη νέα συμφωνία η Barnes & Noble και η Newco θα έχουν από κοινού αδειοδότηση των εν λόγω πατεντών χωρίς να έχει γίνει γνωστό το ποσό.

Με την συνεργασία αυτή οι δύο εταιρείες επιθυμούν να αυξήσουν την ανταγωνιστικότητα στο χώρο των e-books ενάντια στην Amazon με το Kindle Store αλλά και στην Apple με το iBookstore. Το μέλλον, ωστόσο, δείχνει αβέβαιο για την Apple και την Microsoft αφού πρόσφατη αγωγή του Υπουργείου Δικαιοσύνης για συμφωνημένη ρύθμιση τιμών εντείνει τις ανησυχίες για επιστροφή στο μοντέλο του μονοπωλίου της Amazon.

Via techgear.gr

Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom Gets $750,000 Back

 

Kim Dotcom booked a valuable victory this week when a court ruled that $750,000 in funds and cars should be returned to the Megaupload founder. Among other things, Dotcom regained possession of a $301,000 bank account and his Mercedes-Benz G55AMG. Other property that was seized based on an order from the US District Court remains in the hands of the New Zealand authorities for the time being.
 The New Zealand High Court has decided to return several items of property belonging to Kim Dotcom.
The Megaupload founder is allowed to keep his $20,000 a month spending budget and regains use of his Mercedes-Benz G55AMG, a luxury car worth $250,000 that sports “Police” on its license plate. A bank account containing $301,000 was also returned.
Dotcom’s wife Mona will have her expenses covered and can have use of a Toyota Vellfire.
Despite the partial success, Stuff reports that the High Court chose to uphold the majority of the US District Court seizure order. This means that most of Dotcom’s cars and other goods will remain with the authorities until further notice.

Dotcom’s attorney Willie Akel had asked the court to return all properties because the New Zealand authorities didn’t investigate the US request, but Judge Potter said that the Attorney General is not required to evaluate the legitimacy of the US order.
A significant portion of the new funds will be used to pay for legal expenses, both in New Zealand and the United States.
Among other things, the legal team will try to prevent Dotcom’s extradition. A court will review whether the Megaupload founder has committed an extraditable offense that violates New Zealand law. Earlier this week Dotcom’s US lawyer Ira Rothken said they are confident that this is not the case.
“According to our New Zealand counsel we don’t think that would be the case so we’re optimistic that Kim Dotcom will have a good result in New Zealand,” Rothken said.
The extradition hearing is scheduled for September. In the meantime Megaupload’s defense team is preparing a response to the US indictment, which is expected to be filed in the coming weeks.
Dotcom believes that they have a strong case against an indictment he describes as “nonsense.” The Megaupload founder previously shared several issues that the defense team will bring up in their reply, and he characterized the whole case as a political move.
“This Mega takedown was possible because of corruption on the highest political level, serving the interests of the copyright extremists in Hollywood,” he said.
Whether Megaupload will have to defend itself is still uncertain though. Last week Judge O’Grady informed the FBI that a trial in the United States may never happen because it is impossible to serve a foreign company with criminal charges.

Via torrentfreak.com

Galaxy S III picture points towards a 4.8-inch display

They reached upon this conclusion after they received the picture above with the phone set against a ruler. The length of the phone seems to be somewhere around 130mm, which makes it about as long as the Galaxy Nexus. The display itself seems to be a bit above 100mm. If you do the math it turns out to be around 4.8-inch diagonally, which is slightly greater than the 4.65-inch figure that was being floated around.
There is not much else to see except the presence of what looks like a physical Home button below the display. The constant appearance of this button keeps confusing us as we have already seen the phone having software keys within the display, as on the Galaxy Nexus. Then again, this is just a prototype device and the final device might not have this button at all.

Samsung is due to launch its Next Galaxy device at an event on May 3. We'll be at the event, reporting live, so make sure you come back then.

Apple seriously considered hardware keyboard for iPhone

Tony Fadell stopped by On The Verge tonight, and during a fun and wide-ranging interview he had an interesting revelation about his time working on the original iPhone: namely, that a hardware keyboard was seriously considered within Apple before the iconic touchscreen-only design was given the green light. He said there were three different versions: an "iPod + Phone," a different iteration that was called the "iPhone," and finally, the device that was ultimately introduced back in January of 2007. As for Fadell's own take on a hardware keyboard? He told the audience tonight that he himself knew the potential of virtual keyboards, and personally wanted to wait to implement one before going with the hardware option. Fadell worked on the iPhone up until the 3GS — and was involved with a whopping 18 generations of the iPod line — before stepping away to start Nest. The guys are still in the studio talking as of this writing, but if you'd like to see the full interview for yourself, it will be available as soon as our crack team of editors paste the pixels together.


Via theverge.com

MIT develops self-cleaning, fog and glare free glass

MIT researchers have developed a super clear, self-cleaning glass that is resistant to fog and glare. The new glass could be used in future smartphones, tablets, cars, and buildings, eliminating unwanted reflections and staying smudge-free. Water droplets that fall onto this new glass surface are said to bounce off like “tiny rubber balls.”


The surface of this glass is comprised of nanoscale cones, about 1,000 times to 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. The nano-structure is etched into the glass that then goes through a vapor deposition process. It creates air pockets on the surface that minimize the amount of contact between the glass and the water droplets.




The droplets then roll off or bounce off without adhering to the surface. The difference can be seen in the image above, which shows a blue-dyed water droplet sitting on this nano-structured glass (left) versus the droplet on a regular piece of flat glass (right). A Phantom high-speed camera was used to record water dropping onto this new glass surface, showing the droplets form almost perfect beads in the video below.

Via slashgear.com

Νέα τεχνολογία αυτοκαθαριζόμενου γυαλιού από το MIT

 

Ερευνητές του MIT κατασκεύασαν ένα νέο είδος “αυτοκαθαριζόμενου” γυαλιού, με μεγάλη προστασία έναντι στους υδρατμούς και τη θαμπάδα, το οποίο θα μπορούσε μελλοντικά να χρησιμοποιηθεί σε συσκευές smartphones, σε tablets, στα αυτοκίνητα ή ακόμη και σε κτίρια για την αποφυγή αντανακλάσεων. Αναφέρεται ότι οι σταγόνες νερού που προσπίπτουν στη γυάλινη αυτή επιφάνεια αναπηδούν και συμπεριφέρονται ως “μικροσκοπικές μπάλες από καουτσούκ”.

Η επιφάνεια του γυαλιού αποτελείται από κώνους νανομετρικών διαστάσεων, 1.000 με 100.000 φορές μικρότερους από τη διάμετρο μιας τρίχας από τα μαλλιά ενός ανθρώπου. Αυτού του είδους η “νανοδομή” χαράσσεται μέσα στο γυαλί όπου στη συνέχεια περνά από μια διαδικασία εναπόθεσης ατμού. Με αυτό τον τρόπο δημιουργούνται θύλακες αέρα ελαχιστοποιώντας έτσι την επαφή μεταξύ των σταγόνων νερού και της γυάλινης επιφάνειας. Έπειτα οι σταγόνες νερού ουσιαστικά “αναπηδούν” στην επιφάνεια, αντί να κολλάνε σε αυτή.




Η διαφορά σε σύγκριση με το γυαλί που χρησιμοποιείται σήμερα διακρίνεται στην πααπάνω φωτογραφία, όπου απεικονίζεται μία σταγόνα νερού επάνω στη νέα τεχνολογία γυαλιού μαζί με μια σταγόνα νερού επάνω στο συνηθισμένο γυαλί. Χρησιμοποιήθηκε επίσης μια κάμερα τελευταίας τεχνολογίας για την καταγραφή ρίψεων νερού στη νέα αυτή τεχνολογία. όπου φαίνεται οι σταγόνες νερού να συμπεριφέρονται σχεδόν σαν χάντρες.

Via insomnia.gr

NVIDIA Unveils GeForce GTX 690 -- Dual Graphics Card

NVIDIA today announced the GeForce® GTX 690, the world's fastest consumer graphics card¹ -- with a bold industrial design to match. 
Powered by dual Kepler™ architecture-based GeForce GPUs, the GTX 690 is meticulously designed -- inside and out -- to deliver the most refined, elegant and smooth PC gaming experience possible.
The surprise announcement was made by NVIDIA CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang during his keynote address at the NVIDIA Game Festival in Shanghai, which is being attended by more than 6,000 gamers from across China.
Engineered to reach a new threshold in gaming performance, the GTX 690 also looks the part. Its array of innovative technologies is complemented by sleek materials that contribute to the exotic design of the card, including:

• An exterior frame made from trivalent chromium-plated aluminum, providing excellent strength and durability
• A fan housing made from a thixomolded magnesium alloy, which offers excellent heat dissipation and vibration dampening
• High-efficiency power delivery with less resistance, lower power and less heat generated using a 10-phase, heavy-duty power supply with a 10-layer, two-ounce copper printed circuit board
• Efficient cooling using dual vapor chambers, a nickel-plated finstack and center-mounted axial fan with optimized fin pitch and air entry angles
• Low-profile components and ducted baseplate channels for unobstructed airflow, minimizing turbulence and improving acoustic quality

The GTX 690 is powered by a total of 3,072 NVIDIA CUDA® cores, all working to deliver awesome gaming performance for ultimate gaming setups. Designed for the discriminating gamer and ultra-high-resolution, multimonitor NVIDIA Surround™ configurations, the GTX 690 delivers close to double the frame rates of the closest single GPU product, the GTX 680. Plus, it is more power efficient and quieter when compared to systems equipped with two GTX 680 cards² running in NVIDIA SLI® configuration.
"The GTX 690 is truly a work of art -- gorgeous on the outside with amazing performance on the inside," said Brian Kelleher, senior vice president of GPU engineering at NVIDIA. "Gamers will love playing on multiple screens at high resolutions with all the eye candy turned on. And they'll relish showing their friends how beautiful the cards look inside their systems."
The GTX 690 graphics card is designed using GeForce GPUs based on NVIDIA's 28-nanometer Kepler architecture, following the introduction late last month of the GTX 680.
Availability
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 GPU will be available in limited quantities starting May 3, 2012, with wider availability by May 7, 2012 from NVIDIA's add-in card partners, including ASUS, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Inno3D, MSI, Palit and Zotac. Expected pricing is $999.
More information about the new GeForce GTX 690 is available at www.geforce.com.

• Read also GeForce GTX 690 with dual GK104 

(1) Testing was conducting comparing the GeForce GTX 690 versus GTX 680, running at a resolution of 2,500 x 1,600. Driver version used was 301.10. In the Heaven benchmark, with 4xAA/16xAF settings, GTX 690 scored 58.9 fps while the GTX 680 scored 31.1 fps. For Crysis 2 Ultra, the GTX 690 scored 57.8 fps while the GTX 680 scored 32.3 fps. In Dirt 3, with 8xAA/16xAF, the GTX 690 scored 111.2 fps, while the GTX 680 scored 62.3 fps. For performance, a higher number is better.
(2) GTX 690 acoustic measurement was 47 dB versus 51 dB for the GTX 680 SLI. For acoustic testing, a lower number is better.
Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to statements as to: the availability GeForce GTX 690 GPUs; and the effects of the company's patents on modern computing are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including its Form 10-K for the fiscal period ended January 29, 2012. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company's website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 dual GPU, η γρηγορότερη κάρτα γραφικών στον κόσμο !

Ευχάριστα τα νέα για τους απαιτητικούς gamers, καθώς η Nvidia ανακοίνωσε τη γρηγορότερη κάρτα γραφικών στον κόσμο, Nvidia GeForce GTX 690, η οποία διαθέτει διπλό επεξεργαστή γραφικών (dual GPU) και σε ορισμένες περιπτώσεις προσφέρει διπλάσια ταχύτητα από την προηγούμενη GTX 680.

Ο σχεδιασμός της GTX 690 είναι επίσης μοναδικός, με αλουμινένιο κάλυμα, εσωτερικό από μαγνήσιο και κάθετο ανεμιστήρα, έτσι ώστε ο αέρας να διαχέεται ομοιόμορφα για την καλύτερη δυνατή ψύξη της κάρτας, ενώ παραμένει αρκετά αθόρυβη παρά το γεγονός ότι λειτουργεί στις 3.000 στροφές ανά λεπτό (rpm). Ακόμη, για όσους διαθέτουν διαφανή κουτιά, η Nvidia έχει προσθέσει μια ιδιαίτερη πινελιά με το φωτισμένο λογότυπο “GeForce GTX”.




Η διάθεση της Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 θα ξεκινήσει σε περιορισμένο αριθμό από τις 3 Μαΐου, επομένως θα αποτελέσει μια καλή επιλογή για απαιτητικά παιχνίδια. Ωστόσο, το αρνητικό είναι ότι θα κοστίζει $999 (περίπου €750).

Εξάλλου, η Nvidia ανακοίνωσε την υπηρεσία GeForce Experience, μια προσπάθεια για να βελτιώσει την ποιότητα του gaming σε όσους δεν θέλουν ή δεν γνωρίζουν ποιες είναι οι κατάλληλες ρυθμίσεις για κάθε παιχνίδι.

Ουσιαστικά, πρόκειται για μια database από κάρτες γραφικών, επεξεργαστές και άλλα μέρη υπολογιστών, όπου ο χρήστης επιλέγει αυτά που διαθέτει, και η υπηρεσία ρυθμίζει αυτόματα το σύστημα στην ιδανική κατάσταση ανάλογα με το παιχνίδι που επιλέγει ο χρήστης. Η beta έκδοση του GeForce Experience αναμένεται ότι θα λειτουργήσει από τις 6 Ιουνίου.

Via insomnia.gr

Samsung I9100G Galaxy S II ICS update now available

The original I9100 Galaxy S II started getting its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update in March, but its TI OMAP-based I9100G cousin wasn't that lucky.
Until recently that is, as we started getting user reports that the I9100G ICS update is already seeding in several countries. It seems the rollout has now reached almost all the I9100G Galaxy S II units worldwide.
It's good to know that Samsung hasn't forgotten all about the less popular versions of the extremely popular Galaxy S II and is deliver their due ICS servings.
If you are not sure what differences between the two international Galaxy S II versions are, you should check out our comparison article.



Via gsmarena.com

Nokia N9 rumored to get PR1.3 update by the end of May

The PR1.2 update for the MeeGo-running Nokia N9 came out a couple of months ago, but even before that Nokia had been teasing PR1.3, calling it a "small but valuable" update.
Someone from a MeeGo fanblog was eager to find out more details on the next update, so they contacted Nokia - and Nokia answered. Reportedly, a Nokia representative said that the update will be out by the end of May and confirmed that the update is small, but it would contain many surprises.
The Nokia representative couldn't comment on whether the Skype app for the N9 will support video calling, like the Google Talk Video Call app already does (Skype is a third-party app after all).
It goes without saying that this info should be treated as a rumor for now.




Via gsmarena.com

USC develops printable liquid solar cells for flexible, low-cost panels

Scientists at USC have developed a potential pathway to cheap, stable solar cells made from nanocrystals so small they can exist as a liquid ink and be painted or printed onto clear surfaces.

The solar nanocrystals are about four nanometers in size — meaning you could fit more than 250,000,000,000 on the head of a pin — and float them in a liquid solution, so "like you print a newspaper, you can print solar cells," said Richard L. Brutchey, assistant professor of chemistry at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

Brutchey and USC postdoctoral researcher David H. Webber developed a new surface coating for the nanocrystals, which are made of the semiconductor cadmium selenide. Their research is featured as a "hot article" this month in the international journal for inorganic chemistry Dalton Transactions.



Liquid nanocrystal solar cells are cheaper to fabricate than available single-crystal silicon wafer solar cells but are not nearly as efficient at converting sunlight to electricity. Brutchey and Webber solved one of the key problems of liquid solar cells: how to create a stable liquid that also conducts electricity.

In the past, organic ligand molecules were attached to the nanocrystals to keep them stable and to prevent them from sticking together. These molecules also insulated the crystals, making the whole thing terrible at conducting electricity.

"That has been a real challenge in this field," Brutchey said.

Brutchey and Webber discovered a synthetic ligand that not only works well at stabilizing nanocrystals, but actually builds tiny bridges connecting the nanocrystals to help transmit current.

With a relatively low-temperature process, the researchers' method also allows for the possibility that solar cells can be printed onto plastic instead of glass without any issues with melting – resulting in a flexible solar panel that can be shaped to fit anywhere.

As they continue their research, Brutchey said he plans to work on nanocrystals built from materials other than cadmium, which is restricted in commercial applications due to toxicity.

"While the commercialization of this technology is still years away, we see a clear path forward toward integrating this into the next generation of solar cell technologies," Brutchey said.

Via usc.edu

HP Windows 8 tablet code name Slate 8 show up !

Windows 8 news comes from a variety of sources. Sometimes it comes from the Windows 8 fountain and other times it comes from sources familiar with company’s plans.
This time around we have some information from a trusted source about HPs upcoming plans for an x86 tablet that will be thinner than the iPad and have 8-10hrs of battery life with a 10.1in screen. What we are showing above is a rendering of the device that is currently going by the name HP Slate 8.

The device is targeted for businesses and as such, will not be using ARM based architecture. At this time, a release date was not given.

We know that the slide above is a bit rough around the edges but our source is adamant that this is a working spec list and the render above is an early mockup for the tablet.
We highly expect that many tablets will be hitting the market around, or not long after Windows 8 is released and HP will surely aiming to be a front-runner in this market.
To build on this further, back in February, CEO Meg Whitman said that it expects that the company will release its first x86 processor-based PCs with Windows 8 installed sometime before the end of 2012. The image you see above is likely a render of that device.
If HP can live up to the spec list above, the device will be compelling alternative to the iPad but one thing is not known and that is the price. If HP can position the tablet competitively, it could have a huge hit on its hands and avoid the TouchPad fiasco.

Read also

• Science &Tech News: Announcing the Windows 8 Editions 
• Intel Shows Off Ultrabook-Tablet Hybrid Running Windows 8

Amazon's Q1 2012 earnings: net income down 35 percent to $130 million, net sales at $13.18 billion

It's no Apple-sized quarter, but you'd need to be on HGTV's Million Dollar Rooms a handful of times over to scoff at Amazon's Q1 2012 earnings. After reporting $177 million in net earnings last quarter (on $17.43 billion in revenue), the online sales behemoth has today registered $13.18 billion in net sales -- proudly reporting that said tally was up from the $9.86 billion in its Q1 a year ago. Excluding the $56 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales would have grown 34 percent compared with first quarter 2011. As for operating income? That checked in at $192 million (compared to $322 million Q1 2011), with the outfit noting that the "unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter on operating income was $4 million." Net income also sank 35 percent from $201 million a year ago, but it still left Amazon with $130 million more in the bank than it had just three months ago.

It's important to note that the outfit didn't have "the holidays" here to help out, but it's still a bit worrisome to investors when profit margin shrinks. Focusing on more positive things, CEO Jeff Bezos noted that Amazon has "over 130,000 new, in-copyright books that are exclusive to the Kindle Store," again reminding the world that Amazon Prime members can "borrow them for free with no due dates." We're also told that the Kindle Fire remains the top, most gifted and most wished for product across its entire store, while pointing out that the North American sales segment was up 36 percent from Q1 2011 (reaching $7.43 billion). Our overseas comrades -- specifically, Amazon's UK, German, Japanese, French, Chinese, Italian and Spanish sites -- accounted for $5.76 billion in sales, up 31 percent year-over-year. Worldwide media sales saw a 19 percent uptick to $4.71 billion, while global electronics and "other merchandise" saw sales grow a whopping 43 percent to $7.97 billion. Notably, the company continually banged on unfavorable exchange rates, so if you're looking for a place to heap blame... well, there you go.
Looking ahead to the company's Q2, we're told that net sales are expected to remain flat or dip slightly compared to this quarter, with totals to hover between $11.9 billion and $13.3 billion. Though, that would represent a 20 to 34 percent increase compared with second quarter 2011. Unfortunately, Amazon's actually forecasting an operating loss between $260 million and $40 million compared to Q2 2011, and we're told that this "guidance includes approximately $260 million for stock-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets, and it assumes, among other things, that no additional business acquisitions or investments are concluded and that there are no further revisions to stock-based compensation estimates.

Via engadget.com

Project Glass makes a TV appearance on Charlie Rose, flashes its rear for the cameras

Google fellow, founder of Project X and self-driving car pioneer Sebastian Thrun became the latest to publicly rock a Project Glass prototype (after company co-founder Sergey Brin) on a recent episode of Charlie Rose, and managed to show off a whole new side of the project in the process. While the 19-minute interview was mostly unremarkable product-wise with a focus on higher education and his Udacity project, we did get to see him take a picture of the host (about a minute in) by tapping it, then posting it on Google+ by nodding twice. Also, as Electronista points out, in a brief reverse shot (17:20) of Thrun we see for the first time what appears to be a small battery pack / transmitter portion lodged behind his ear. Of course, we're still not any closer to rocking the latest in bionic man-chic ourselves, but at least we can start getting fitted for one now.


Via engadget.com

Wolfram Alpha releases first desktop PC app for Windows 7, makes homework even easier

Have a habit of letting Wolfram Alpha do your math for you? Well, say hello to one more tool in your computational arsenal -- the  self-described knowledge engine is now available as a Windows 7 desktop app for $2.99 at the Intel AppUp store. In addition to providing desktop analytics on the works of the Bard, the Wolfram Alpha app features extended copy / paste support for graphics and queries, a full-screen optimized user interface and a special software keyboard with native support for special characters. If that isn't enough, the company also plans to drop even more knowledge at the AppUp center later this year in the form of "course assistant apps" for such geeky subjects as astronomy, physics and chemistry.


Via engadget.com

Samsung Q1 results are out, takes top spot from Nokia

Samsung announced its financial results for the first quarter of this year and the South Korean company is cheering. Analysts like Strategy Analytics say that it is now king of the mobile phone hill - ending Nokia's 14-year reign.
Samsung shipped 93.5 million phones in the three month period, while the former champ Nokia managed just 82.7 million. Of the shipped Samsung phones, 44.5 million were smartphones, which beats Apple's achievement of 35.1 million smartphones. This puts Samsung on top both in terms of both total phones shipped and in the number of smartphones.


Consolidated revenue went up 22% year on year to $39.9 billion, while consolidated net profit reached $4.4 billion.
The chip manufacturing business is down, but demand for DRAM chips and application processors (especially the cool new 32nm ones) is expected to bounce back up in Q2.
The Samsung profit drivers were really IT & Mobile communications business and the display business.
The mobile business is seeing strong demand for smart devices of the Galaxy line (like the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note), with revenue from the mobile division increasing 86% year-on-year.
Strong demand for high-end TVs (LED and 3D) along with tablet and OLED panels helped push operating profit of Samsung's Consumer Electronics business up a whopping 550% in the quarter (year-on-year) to $9.4 billion.

Via gsmarena.com

“Worse than SOPA” CISPA bill passes

Luckily for denizens of the internet, SOPA was struck down not too long ago, but there’s another bill which was passed by the House of Representatives that proves just as menacing. It’s called CISPA, and was voted for 248 to 168. The bill would require private companies to hand over information they pertaining to you if requested by any government agency. That includes websites like Google, YouTube, and Facebook.

The bill is supposed to allow the government to use information for “cybersecurity” and “national security” purposes, but three recent additions to the bill give it an even wider (and vaguer) scope. TechDirt details the additions as the “investigation and prosecution of cybersecurity crime, protection of individuals, and protection of children,” and that “Cybersecurity crime is defined as any crime involving network disruption or hacking, plus any violation of the CFAA.”

So if the government suspects you of having committed some kind of cybercrime, they can dig through your information without falling foul of privacy laws. There’s no limit to what the government can use the data for, either, just as long as say that there was some kind of danger. The even crazier part is that Google and Facebook support the bill, believing it help will protect them from cybercrimes.
It’s not all bad news: first the bill would have to pass the Senate, then it would need to be signed into law by President Obama. He’s so far maintained a firm stance on the issue, saying he will veto the bill if it lands on his desk. The fact that it managed to pass the House without too many issues is a cause for concern though, and the EFF suggests you get in touch with your local representative in Congress to drum up awareness of how damaging this bill could potentially be.