Category: Articles

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Amazon heats up the Tablet Market with Kindle Fire HDX

Kindle Fire HDX Family (Photo: Business Wire)Tablets are hot right now. Google just ramped up the 7″ market with the New Nexus 7, offering up one of the most powerful small form factor slates at a market disrupting price. The only game in town right now for that kind of price competition is Amazon, and they’re not sitting idly by.

Dropping the bomb quietly tonight, Amazon took the wraps off their refreshed Kindle Fires. The new HDX line of 7″ and 8.9″ tablets now feature higher resolution screens and faster processors. Featuring a completely redesigned chassis built out of magnesium and a molded glass-nylon alloy, the new tablets have shed a significant amount of weight. The new 8.9″ Kindle weighs in at only 13.2 ounces.

On board now are Qualcomm 800 series CPUs, basically the peak of mobile processing at the moment, and backed up by 2GB of RAM. Storage options now include 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. The 7″ tablet is sporting a 1080p screen while the 8.9″ moves up to a 2560×1600 resolution display. To my knowledge, that’s the smallest screen yet to feature that high a resolution, handily topping the iPad’s Retina screen for pixel density.

feature-accessory._V355642688_Amazon is claiming 12 hours of run time, and there are 4G LTE versions for AT&T and Verizon. Pricing is super competitive. The 7″ Fire HDX starts at $229 and the 8.9″ starts at $379. The older Kindle Fire will remain as a low cost option starting at $139 for the 7″ and $269 for the 8.9″.

Also on tap is a new “Origami” case which looks pretty spiffy.

Pretty exciting stuff for the Kindle ecosystem.

Full press release (and a few more pics) after the jump, or you could just head directly to Amazon and push the button on a pre-order.

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My Morning Commute – Woman watches video on tablet while driving

WP_20130924_08_53_17_Pro__highresWe have to be better than this people.

We all get comedically outraged when we see bad tech behavior from people operating motor vehicles, when we recount those stories at dinner parties. However, there’s something sickeningly shocking about actually confronting this behavior head on. Out in the wild. Actually on the street. That momentary, icy chill when you realize that someone values their video watching more than the lives of all the people around them on the road.

Distracted driving has become one of my causes. It’s already illegal to use tech in this manner, but that doesn’t seem to act as much of a deterrent, and over 100,000 crashes a year involve technology. We need to do a better job of making it unfashionable. We need to make it as socially unacceptable as drinking and driving. We can be responsible tech citizens.

Moments after I took this photo, I honked my horn to see if I could snap her out of it. She didn’t even flinch before she turned to merge on I-405.

And yes, the irony of me using my phone to snap this pic isn’t lost on me.

For more info on the dangers of distracted driving, I would humbly ask you check out www.ItCanWait.com, please share the free documentary From One Second to the Next (directed by Werner Herzog), and you can also check out a recent event held here in LA to encourage people to sign the pledge to curb distracted driving.

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PSA: Surface 2 Pre-Orders are now GO!

LB_8705Announced yesterday, Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 are refreshed versions of Microsoft’s Tablet and Slate PC experience. Surface Pro 2 crams a full version of Redmond’s newest OS into a device little bigger than an iPad. With improved battery life, faster graphics processing, and new accessories, this could be the premier mobile Windows experience.

Now pre-orders are open for business, and you can lock in your place in line for a Surface Pro or Surface 2. If you’re shopping a new tablet or laptop, you might be able to knock out two birds with one stone. The new Surface docking station might help you knock out that third “desktop” bird too. These tablet hybrids should ship in late October. I’m wearing shades the future is so bright.

Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 Pre-Order page.

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Just for fun: Face blending classic Star Trek actors with their JJ Abrams modern Counterparts

chris pine william shatner face mashup star trekEasily one of the best aspects of the JJ Abrams Trek films is the wonderful job they did casting each of these iconic roles. Well of course Star Trek fandom can result in some strange and wonderful things. Reddit user ThatNordicGuy has taken it upon himself to face morph each new Abrams  Trek actor with their counterpart actor from the original Trek series.

Boldly go check out the album on Imgur!

(via Reddit)

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DuoLingo promotes free language training with new Youtube video

duolingo online free language education somegadgetguy promo videoOpen sourcing education with services like the Khan Academy might just be our future, providing free access to high quality materials, easily accessible via any data connection (more pressure to keep the web Net Neutral, but I digress).

Now online language educators DuoLingo are looking to increase their visibility by releasing this online promo. DuoLingo offers completely free courses for folks looking to learn Spanish, German, Italian, French, and Portuguese. Having just signed up myself, it looks like a well structured way to learn another language, and the price is certianly right.

You can find more info at DuoLingo.com.

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Valve announces SteamOS – Linux-based, gaming-focused operating system for our living room

steamos gaming screenshotYup we know XBox, Playstation, and Nintendo. Between those three, you’d think the console market is all locked up. Steam hopes that assumption is wrong, and they’ll be launching a new Linux based operating system built entirely around the Steam gaming service.

SteamOS aims to pair a Linux kernel around a “Big Screen” gaming experience, and it’ll be launched soon as a stand alone piece of software for living room computing hardware. The idea isn’t without merit. Traditional computers running Windows for example need to use some of their hardware power to run the OS. Now that overhead is gone as all the computer will have to do is keep Steam running. With optimization, We could see performance gains in similar hardware simply by removing the traditional OS relationship.

SteamOS also looks to be focused on in home streaming. While hundreds of game titles will be available at launch, it’ll take a while before the entire Steam library will be ported over. Playing local music and video files over your home network is a given, but SteamOS will also allow you to play games on your PC over a local network connection on your TV. We’re also seeing user profiles, keeping adult game libraries separate from kids collections for example, and the recently announced Friends and Family game sharing will come built in.

Steam is a remarkably popular service. Currently 50 million people currently have accounts in over 180 countries. Leveraging just a small percentage of this user base could make SteamOS a serious player in the console market.

No word yet on supported SteamOS hardware, but manufacturers of shiny plastic discs probably aren’t looking forward to this console launch…

More details at SteamOS

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Linkin Park’s Joe Hahn takes us for a tour of Microsoft’s Surface Remix Project

joe hahn linkin park microsoft surface pro 2 touch cover remix project xbox musicShown off during the MS keynote unveiling Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 was a new touch cover for the little slates. Instead of sporting a keyboard, it offers a series of custom built controls for remixing music through XBox Music. Hopefully this will be the beginning of custom built hardware for a variety of different creative solutions.

Joe Hahn from Linkin Park takes us for a quick spin around the Surface Remix Project.

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Breaking: BlackBerry to be acquired by Fairfax Financial Holdings for $4.7 billion – UPDATED!

Not a lot of news on this one yet, and I’m building it off of a tweet here, so I’ll update when we have more info.

Looks like BB is going to be acquired:

Pretty much all we know right now.

blackberry os 10 handsets z10 q10 smartphones***UPDATE!***

It’s official. Blackberry is going private.

Prem Watsa, Chairman and CEO of Fairfax, said:

“We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees. We can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world.”

Fairfax Financials has 6 weeks to conduct due diligence. Stock holders would receive $9 per share in cash (stock currently trading at 8 points).

Official Blackberry press release after the jump.

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