Category: News

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Android Wear Teaser Videos Show Off Google Now on Your Wrist

Android WearIn a pair of videos showing off their new wearable OS, Google finally took the wraps off their long rumored smartwatch UI.

Dubbed Android Wear, it’s a system designed to feed notifications, small pieces of contextual information, and voice controlled services to your wrist. Modular enough for a variety of square and circular form factors (like that sexy Moto 360), it features a Google Now card style interface to feed you small pieces of relevant info. Backed up by voice actions, users should be able to stay informed as to what’s happening in their digital world, while still being able to interact with messages. A handy little trick in providing us tools to actually use our phones less while still consuming data services.

LG and Moto are already announcing hardware to use the new Wear software, and traditional watch manufacturers like Fossil are expressing interest as well. This might be the mainstream push required to get “old world” makers on board.

Also announced is a preview SDK releasing this week, so developers can already start work on migrating apps and services to these smaller screens.

Hit the videos below for the full scoop, and a demo of the Android Wear UI in action!


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Motorola Announces Gorgeous Moto 360 Smartwatch

*** Update: Our Moto 360 Review is now live! ***

motorola moto 360 smartwatch teaser announced (2)I try not to just gush, especially about products I haven’t actually handled yet, but following on the heels of a circular smartwatch mock up floating around the web, Motorola went ahead and did that.

Little is known about the Moto 360 right now, but this teaser vid walks us through some of the design process. It’s maybe the prettiest geek time piece I’ve seen to date.

It looks like Moto is focusing on the new Android for wearables SDK which was recently released, enabling a number of Google Now style controls and notifications. We’re likely looking at a Summer release, and I’ll definitely be looking forward to wearing one.

motorola moto 360 smartwatch teaser announced (1)

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Good Night iPad 2, You Had a Good Run…

apple ipad 4And with barely a blip, the reign of the iPad 2 was ended.

Long used as an “entry level” tablet, Apple quietly pulled the plug on the lower resolution sibling to the iPad Air. It survived as the back up option over three additional iPad releases, but over this last year, began to show how aged and out classed it was opposite newer, low-cost Android and Windows gear.

Moving forward, Apple has replaced the iPad 2 with the iPad 4. Similar housing, but now all of the full sized iPads will have Retina displays and Lightning Connectors. This leaves only the original iPad Mini with a low resolution “Non-Retina” display.

In a world of yearly iteration, the iPad 2 had a pretty good run, but now it’s time to move on…

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AT&T Offers 1 Year Free U-Verse to Qualifying California Businesses

ATT logoIf any market can use a little more broadband competition it’s… well… pretty much the entire country, but if you’re running a small business in California, and you meet the requirements, AT&T might be able to take a chunk off of your yearly expenses.

If you’re an AT&T wireless customer on a Mobile Share plan, you can add a year of U-Verse business broadband with a $35 a month credit. Starting off with the 6Mbps plan, which you essentially get for free, you can climb up to a 45Mbps plan for only $60 a month.

Really the only hitch will be if your business resides in a U-Verse area. Hit the press release below for the full scoop on plans and details.

Continue reading “AT&T Offers 1 Year Free U-Verse to Qualifying California Businesses”

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Microsoft Surface 2 LTE Officially Announced for AT&T

***UPDATE***

Confirmed from NVIDIA PR, the Surface 2 will continue to use a Tegra 4 chipset paired with the NVIDIA i500 LTE modem.

***Original Article***

microsoft surface 2 LTE on ATT

No big surprise that this guy is on the way, but Microsoft officially took the wraps off of the long rumored Surface 2 tablet with LTE. We now have pricing and availability info.

Headed for AT&T’s LTE network, the Surface 2 LTE is pretty much the same beast we’ve come to know over the last several months, only now you’ll have broadband data anywhere you have 4G reception. It’ll be available starting tomorrow, and will retail for $679. This $230 premium over the base model also includes twice the storage (64GB).  What isn’t explicitly mentioned however, is if Microsoft will be sticking with the Tegra 4 chipset, or the more common Qualcomm 800 which is also utilized in the LTE enabled Nokia Lumia 2520.

Always exciting seeing a few more premium tablet offerings with LTE. Microsoft’s full press release is below.

Related:
Nokia Lumia 2520 vs Microsoft Surface 2

Continue reading “Microsoft Surface 2 LTE Officially Announced for AT&T”

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Playstation 4 Price Rising to $449 in Canada Starting Today

sony ps4In an odd response to “changing market conditions” Sony is bumping up the price of the PS4 console, Playstation Camera, and the Dualshock 4 controller.

Starting today, the PS4 will jump $50, from $399 to $449, the Dualshock and Camera now retail for $64.99, and games will also increase in price by about $10 over USA prices.

This move makes sense to a degree as the current exchange rate puts the Canadian dollar at around 90 American cents, which would bring the price difference pretty close to that rate adjustment, as $399 USA is about $443 Canadian at the time of this posting.

As a platform strategy however, the timing on this increase is tricky. Sony still enjoys a sales lead, but rival Microsoft has been chipping away at that, and currently has no plans to raise the price of the XBox One which remains at $499 in Canada. Sony’s bump here brings the stock PS4 (without a camera) to within $50 of the XBox which includes the Kinect camera and tracking system.

Consoles exist to move software however, and Microsoft is only adding a $5 premium to their games up north, largely eroding the cost advantage Sony enjoyed when you factor in a console, and additional controller, and actually buying a game to play on that new system.

NPD sales data for February showed Microsoft selling just over 90% of what Sony moved over the same time period, and we’re about to see the impact of Titanfall, which has all the buzz and momentum of being the first true “Next Gen” hit. It’s impossible to declare any kind of “winner” this early into the console life cycle, but thankfully the competition is about to get a lot more interesting.

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The Sky Is Falling! Amazon to raise price of Prime by 20 WHOLE Dollars!

Amazon-logoIt’s been nine years folks. Nine years since Amazon launched their Prime service, which started as a membership offering reduced prices on shipping, and has expanded to include streaming video and the Kindle Lending Library for ebooks.

It’s been around for almost a decade with nary a market correction or twitch despite increasing fuel costs, and a number of legal battles over things like state sales taxes. Good old Amazon Prime, always $79.

Now new members and people renewing after April 17th will see that price jump. Amazon Prime will now cost $99 a year and Amazon Student Prime will rise to $49. Amazon Fresh will remain unchanged at $299.

Of course this price increase is arriving with the requisite “loyal customer” echo chamber of whinging and gnashing of teeth. Continue reading “The Sky Is Falling! Amazon to raise price of Prime by 20 WHOLE Dollars!”

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UPDATED: New Jersey Coalition of Auto Retailers with Governor Christie to end Tesla Sales Starting April 1st

***UPDATED***

It’s official folks. Live blogged from TransportEvolved from the floor of the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission meeting, you will no longer be able to buy a Tesla in the state of New Jersey starting April 1st. The proposal was approved without public comment.

*** Original Post***

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Announced this morning on Tesla’s Blog, New Jersey consumers interested in shopping electric vehicles might not be able to peruse Tesla’s offerings if a proposal being snuck into the state legislature passes today.

48 states currently have limitations or outright bans on manufacturers selling cars directly to consumers. Tesla was working with the Christie administration to expand retail operations in the state, and through previous negotiations had received two retail licenses. It was agreed that Tesla and the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers would hold an open session in the NJ legislature to address the situation. That plan seems to have been discarded.

Proposal PRN2013-138 would require some form of middle man in auto sales, and would undo the current retail licenses Tesla has already acquired. Instead of a public forum to discuss, the proposal is being voted on today at 2pm EDT in Trenton.

It’s another frustrating example of how the game is played behind the scenes through lobbying efforts on behalf of organizations like NJ CAR, and it certainly doesn’t shine the most positive light on Christie’s administration, which has had to field a couple embarrassing political hot potatoes of late.

You can read the full Tesla blog post below.

Continue reading “UPDATED: New Jersey Coalition of Auto Retailers with Governor Christie to end Tesla Sales Starting April 1st”

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