Amazon unveils higher contrast, lower cost Kindle DX
Keeping the Kindle momentum high, Amazon has announced the next generation of Kindle DX is available for pre-order today, and will be shipping on July 7th.
The new Kindle DX has the same 9.7" screen size, and the same free 3G wireless, but features a new graphite chassis and a higher contrast e-ink screen with a purported 50% improvement in contrast. Furthermore, all of this is available at a price about 25% less than the first generation DX.
BP executive to appear live on YouTube to answer oil spill questions tomorrow
The largest oil spill in the history of the United States is taking place right now in the Gulf of Mexico, and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. Tomorrow, July 1 at 3:30pm EST (12:30pm PT) on CitizenTube, BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley will participate in a live interview moderated by PBS NewsHour's Ray Suarez where users submit the questions.
Right now, there are about 40 user-submitted questions posted for the interview, under the categories: BP accountability, Relief well status, cleanup plan, Gulf Region Recovery, Government Role, Environmental Impact, Future of BP, Future of Offshore Drilling, and "Other." Anyone can submit a question under one of these categories, in the form of a simple text-based message in Google Moderator, or as a YouTube video.
Two months after launch, Microsoft is killing Kin 'social phone'
Over this past weekend, Verizon slashed the price of Microsoft's two Kin phones by 50% to $49 and $29 respectively. Today CNET's Ina Fried got the word from Microsoft that it is halting further development on the phone line to focus on Windows Phone 7.
The two devices, which were launched a little over two months ago, were marketed to younger users and specialized in social networking and location-based media.
Qualcomm announces Android-based Augmented Reality platform
Augmented Reality, the title given to applications that use mobile device sensors to lay cloud-based data over real world images in real time, found an early home on Google's Android platform.
The Wikitude World Browser, for example, was one of the breakthrough augmented reality apps for consumers and was originally released for Android. In the year since Wikitude World Browser launched on Android, approximately 100 augmented reality apps have been released on the platform.
MeeGo for Handsets 'Day 1' version released, UI and basic apps revealed
Two major Linux-based mobile operating system efforts, Nokia's Maemo and Intel's Moblin were combined earlier this year into a new project going by the name of MeeGo which will ultimately support a wide range of mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, notebooks, set top boxes, and more.
In March, the core MeeGo distribution infrastructure and OS base were made available to developers so the two code bases, teams, and projects could be combined into a single Linux distribution. MeeGo version 1.0 for Netbooks was released in May, and today, the baseline source code of MeeGo for handsets has been released as a developer preview.
Sony and Consumer Product Safety Commission recall 233,000 Vaio notebooks in U.S.
Sony Electronics and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of about 233,000 Sony Vaio notebook computers in the U.S. as part of a wider-flung recall that the Wall Street Journal today said could include about 535,000 units in total.
Mike Lucas, Senior Vice President of the Vaio brand today said that the VPCf11 and VPCCW2 series of notebooks can overheat "due to a potential malfunction of the internal temperature management system, resulting in deformation of the product's keyboard or external casing, and a potential burn hazard to consumers."
Amazon ups the stakes in E-reader war, doubles royalties on cheaper e-books
This month, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders have been engaged in some serious e-reader competition. Following the introduction of Borders' bargain-priced Kobo e-paper reader, both Barnes and Noble and Amazon cut the prices of their Nook and Kindle products to put all three products on a level playing field. All three book retailers have been pushing their cross-platform software readers too, jockeying for superiority in the e-book trade.
But retail price wars and marketing blitzes are only one side of the business. Today, Amazon made a significant appeal to another side: independent content publishers.
Hulu finally comes to the TV with new $9.99 monthly subscription service
True to last week's rumors, Hulu today unveiled a new subscription tier called Hulu Plus which allows users access to Hulu across a broader spectrum of devices, not just limiting consumption to PC screens.
Select Samsung Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players can download a Hulu Plus application from the Samsung app store and start streaming Hulu Plus today, and iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch, and iPad users can download the Hulu Plus app to stream content over 3G or Wi-Fi as well.
XStreamHD hooks up to EchoStar satellite services
XStreamHD has always looked exciting on paper, but has had difficulties existing in the real world. Since we first started watching the company in 2008, there have been some serious delays in its 1080p high def TV over fixed satellite (FSS) service, but it is finally beginning to look like it is becoming a reality this year.
Today, XStreamHD signed a long-term agreement with EchoStar Satellite Service which will let XStreamHD use some of EchoStar's satellite transport capacity on the AMC-16 communications satellite.
Sony's PlayStation Plus service starts accepting subscribers; a quick first look
With the 3.40 software update to the Sony PlayStation 3 on Tuesday, Sony's new subscription-based gaming service called PlayStation Plus has gone live in several international markets.
Through the PlayStation Store, users can pay $49.99 for a year subscription to PlayStation Plus, or $17.99 for a three-month trial. Once a user's account is activated, content exclusive to subscribers is made available, such as one hour full game trial versions, discounted titles, and exclusive themes and avatars. Content exclusive to PlayStation Plus is marked by a yellow D-pad icon.
The next 4G phone is a Samsung, and it's Epic
Sprint and Samsung today have unveiled the next 4G WiMAX-capable smartphone, the Samsung Epic 4G. The device follows the impressive (and perpetually sold out) HTC Evo 4G in Sprint's roster of 4G devices, and is immediately differentiated by having a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
Despite recent Web chatter proclaiming the contrary, keyboards are not dead.
Salesforce strikes back against Microsoft's May patent suit
Last month, Microsoft sued Customer relationship management (CRM) software company Salesforce for nine counts of patent infringement in the District Court in the Western District of Washington.
The complaint appeared to be a defensive maneuver after Salesforce purchased cloud data management provider Jigsaw, a company in which Microsoft had important interests.
Hulu subscription service coming to PlayStation Network, says report
While it is no secret that Sony will launch PlayStation Plus next Tuesday --a for-pay tier for the formerly 100% free PlayStation Network online service-- a Bloomerg report yesterday revealed a heretofore unknown partnership between Sony and Hulu may result in a new Hulu video service after the launch of the PlayStation Plus tier.
According to an unnamed source, the PlayStation Network's free tier will include subscription-based access to a Hulu streaming service that makes primetime NBC, Fox, and ABC content available on demand.
Smartphones with HD video cams won't cut into pocket camcorder sales for 3-4 years
The ability to record 720p HD video has become a standard feature in the big flagship smartphones this year. The Google Nexus One, Apple iPhone 4, Motorola Droid X, HTC EVO 4G, and Nokia N8, for example, can all capture HD video.
For companies involved in the pocket camcorder business like Cisco, Kodak, and Creative, this convergence poses a threat to sales of their small, ultraportable cameras. But according to a report from Futuresource Consulting today, the consumer camcorder business has not yet begun to feel these effects.
Headphone company Koss sues former VP and accounting firm in $30m embezzlement scandal
American consumer electronics company Koss, famous for its stereo headphones, has filed a lawsuit against its former Vice President of Finance, Sujata Sachdeva, and against Grant Thornton, LLP, one of the nation's largest accounting firms, alleging fraud and deceit, professional negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty.
The company says that Sachdeva embezzled funds for at least five years, and that Grant Thornton failed to properly audit the company's financial statements and discover Sachdeva's actions.
Tim's Bio
Tim Conneally was born into dumpster tech. His father was an ARPANET research pioneer and equipped his kids with discarded tech gear, second-hand musical instruments, and government issue foreign language instruction tapes. After years of building Frankenstein computers from rubbish and playing raucous music in clubs across the country (and briefly on MTV) Tim grew into an adult with deep, twisted roots and an eye on the future. He most passionately covers mobile technology, user interfaces and applications, the science and policy of the wireless world, and watching different technologies shrink and converge.
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