Amazon Has High Hopes for Its iPad Competitor

One after another, like moths to a flame, technology companies have been seduced into entering the market for tablets. Apple made it look so irresistible, with 29 million eager and sometimes fanatical consumers snapping up an iPad in the device’s first 15 months.




Enlarge This Image

Brian Snyder/Reuters

A Kindle user in Cambridge, Mass. Amazon has been willing to sell its e-reader at a loss.



Enlarge This Image

Tony Avelar/Bloomberg News

Shoppers test out iPads at an Apple store in San Francisco.


Readers’ Comments


Share your thoughts.
Post a Comment »
Read All Comments (12) »


But neither Samsung nor Motorola nor Acer could beg or borrow any of Apple’s magic. Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, said it shipped only 200,000 of its PlayBooks in three months — about what Apple sells in three days. Hewlett-Packard, which flopped this summer with the TouchPad, was the latest to get burned.

Now comes a final competitor, the best-placed challenger of all: Amazon.com. The retailer is on the verge of introducing its own tablet, analysts predict, a souped-up color version of its Kindle e-reader that will undercut the iPad in price and aim to steal away a couple of million in unit sales by Christmas.

A competition between Amazon and Apple tablets will be a battle that pits the company that created the first popular e-reader (and set off a still-unfolding revolution in how books are consumed) against the company that created the first popular tablet (and set off a revolution in progress about how entertainment and other media are consumed).

Both companies are riding high, racking up record revenues and seeing their stock market valuations cruise to new peaks. Each has ample resources to enjoy a pitched struggle for people’s attention and their wallets.

Whichever company triumphs, said the Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente, “the consumer is going to be the winner.”

“The fact that Amazon is making such a huge investment might make Apple come back into the market at a lower price point,” he suggested. “What’s to prevent them from slimming down the iPad?”

Most tech companies like to keep their cards close to their vests, but Amazon, like Apple, strives to render the whole deck invisible. It has, though, scheduled a news conference in Manhattan on Wednesday, and the speculation on technology blogs and among analysts is that the tablet will be unveiled.

The original Kindle was not introduced until Nov. 19, 2007, which was rather late in the holiday season. It immediately went out of stock for five months. Amazon perhaps is learning from its mistakes.

The Amazon tablet, analysts believe, will most likely sell for about $250, half the price of the basic iPad. Its screen will be seven inches as opposed to the iPad’s 10 inches. Unlike the current Kindle but like the iPad and iPhone, it will operate by touch. A second tablet, with a bigger screen, is expected next year.

The competition will be asymmetrical. Apple sells movies, music and books in order to sell devices. Amazon sells devices in order to sell books, movies and music. Apple has never faced an opponent with such a vastly different strategy. Apple declined to comment on its strategy against Amazon.

Few if any analysts expect Apple to seriously stumble, but that is not to say it will emerge unscathed. The Amazon tablet might be underpowered when set against the iPad, a Corolla to Apple’s Lexus, but that might not matter.

“The No. 1 thing consumers do on tablets is e-mail,” said Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester analyst. “The No. 2 thing is look up stuff on the Web. Then playing games and watching video. Amazon will offer all the tablet that many consumers need.” She estimated initial sales of as many as five million devices.

Amazon’s willingness to sell the Kindle e-reader at a loss — it dropped to $114 from $399 in less than four years — will doubtless be duplicated with its tablets. By concentrating on direct sales from its own Web site, Amazon does not have to share margins with another store.

All that makes Amazon “a nasty competitor,” Ms. Epps wrote in a recent report, and leaves Apple vulnerable among those who want a tablet solely for entertainment and not for professional uses. Since that is about two-thirds of tablet users, Apple’s product strategists will finally have to take a competitor seriously, she concluded.

Apple is not the only vulnerable one. The Amazon tablet will sell for the same price and offer many of the same things as Barnes & Noble’s successful color Nook e-reader. The once-mighty book retailer is staking its future on making the transformation to digital; otherwise it will end up like its one-time competitor Borders, now vanquished.

Amazon has 52 percent of the e-reader market against 21 percent for Barnes & Noble, according to the data firm IDC. A small harbinger of the cutthroat struggle between the two booksellers came this summer in the unlikely form of a best-selling German historical novel, “The Hangman’s Daughter” by Oliver Potzsch.

Sony Announces New D-SLR and NEX Cameras

Sony made some noise this morning with announcement of five cameras. The new cameras include the Alpha A65 and A77 D-SLRs, both with a translucent mirror and OLED viewfinder. Three NEX cameras, the NEX-5N and NEX-7 for photographers and the NEX-VG20 for videographers arrived on the scene, along with a trio of new E-mount lenses.

The Alpha A77, which replaces the A700, is built around a 24.3-megapixel APS-C Exmor CMOS image sensor, and features a new Bionz image processor and a translucent mirror that allows the camera to shoot at an amazing 12 frames per second with continuous autofocus. An innovative shutter, which uses an electronic first curtain, helps to speed up shooting and reduces shutter lag to less than 50 milliseconds.

The camera's eye-level electronic viewfinder is built on OLED technology, and it's astounding to look through. It refreshes very quickly and boasts an extremely sharp 2.359 million dot resolution, with none of the light fall off or coverage issues that are present when using a pentaprism or pentamirror optical viewfinder.




Its rear LCD features an innovative hinge system, which makes it possible to position it so you can view it form the top, bottom, or either side of the camera. The A77 can capture video at 1080p60 or 1080p24 resolution using the AVCHD Progressive codec. If you’d rather record direct to MP4, you can do so at 1080i60 or 1080p30.

The camera’s magnesium alloy body is sealed against the elements, and includes built-in GPS for geotagging. A vertical battery grip accessory is available, which is also sealed. Sony is launching a new kit lens with the A77, a 16-50mm f/2.8 SSM zoom lens. The camera will be available in October for $1,399 as a body only or for $1,999 with the kit lens.

The A65

The A65, which will be made available at the same time, is a pared-down version of the A77, targeted at a consumer audience. The camera features a 24-megapixel Exmor CMOS sensor, and is capable of 10 frames per second shooting with continuous autofocus. Its AF system is less advanced than that of the A77, its kit lens is the standard 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 variety, and its LCD features a simplified tilting mechanism. The camera’s body is polycarbonate, and it is a bit smaller than the A77. There are many shared features between the two cameras, including the OLED EVF, GPS support, and the translucent mirror design. The A65 will be available as a body only for $899 or with the kit lens for $999.

The NEX-7

The second generation of the NEX system continues to roll out, featuring two more upgraded bodies and one completely new camera. The latter, the NEX-7, is an enthusiast-targeted mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, loaded with the same 24.3-megapixel sensor, OLED EVF, and video capabilities found in the A77. The camera features the same tilting 3” LCD that has been used across the NEX line, and is packed with as many manual controls as Sony could fit on its svelte body. It is capable of shooting images at 10 frames per second, and cuts shutter lag to 0.02 second thanks to its use of an electronic first curtain design.

The Tri-Navi system, which uses three control wheels, allows you to quickly adjust shooting settings, without having to delve into menus. It somehow manages to squeeze a built-in pop-up flash and an Alpha hot shoe in as well. The camera will be available in November at a price of $1,199 for the body only or $1,349 with an 18-55mm kit lens with a matching black finish. That lens will be available only in the kit.

The NEX-5N

The NEX-5N, which replaces the NEX-5, is a 16.1-megapixel camera with a touch-screen interface. Sony has designed the interface so that the screen augments the physical buttons on the camera rather than replacing them. The camera shares the shutter design of the NEX-7 for extremely fast performance, although it does not include an integrated OLED EVF. Rather, an accessory viewfinder, which will only be compatible with the NEX-5N, will be available to add the same high-resolution OLED to the camera, priced at $349. The camera will be available in early September in black, silver, or white as a body only for $599, or $699 with the 18-55mm lens.

Sony has also released an update to their NEX-VG10 camcorder, the NEX-VG20. Available in November for $2,199 with an 18-200mm lens, or $1,599 as a body only, the camcorder offers a few upgrades over its previous incarnation. Its resolution has been improved to 16.2 megapixels, and it can now capture RAW stills, 1080p60 and 1080p24 video, and 5.1-channel sound. A new grip and belt design, an additional Record button, and a wireless remote control are also now part of the package.

The NEX lens line-up is also expanding with three new optics. The E 50mm F1.8 OSS adds a fast, standard angle prime lens to the system, which should really work well in low-light situations when coupled with the outstanding high ISO capability of the NEX system. Sony has also announced a companion telezoom that should match well with the existing 18-55mm kit lens. The E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS lens will come in handy for situations when you need some extra reach with the camera, such as at sporting events or the zoo. Finally, the Carl Zeiss SonnarT* E 24mm F1.8, the first Zeiss-designed lens for the NEX system, steps in to provide fast, wide-angle coverage. Its offers a field of view that is equivalent to 36mm on full frame cameras, making it a great asset to street photographers, photojournalists, and others with the aspiration to be the next Cartier-Bresson.

Rounding out the announcements is a new Alpha lens adapter for the NEX system. It does not replace the existing adapter; instead it brings improved autofocus performance when using Alpha lenses on a NEX camera. The LA-EA2 adapter, set to retail for $399, features a translucent mirror and a dedicated phase detect autofocus sensor. This provides much faster focus performance than the contrast detect system currently used in the NEX. It is compatible with all NEX cameras, although a firmware update will be required for older bodies.

TouchPad Fever--Why Do We Suddenly Love WebOS?

Consumers are going absolutely crazy for HP's touchpad thanks to the recent fire sale pricing of $99. The tablet sells out at stores across the country faster than stores can pull them off the trucks. On eBay, the tablets are being sold for upwards of $300.

The real question here is, why? We had serious issues with WebOS and that--combined with HP's recent announcement that WebOS would be shut down--it's unlikely that those problems will be solved any time soon.

Barely a week ago there was hardly any interest in the TouchPad. Even when HP slashed $100 off the price nobody noticed. But apparently the company just didn't discount the tablet enough. Suddenly the TouchPad is the most sought-after tech object in the country. And while a price point that low is hard to argue with, it has to be said that some consumers are have gone a little bit nuts on their deal hunts.

Messages From The Hunt
With the huge demand for relatively low numbers of TouchPads, consumers are forced to rush from store to store to find a TouchPad in stock. After this morning's East coast quake Twitter user @transamcruiser even joked: "Was that an earthquake or did best buy just get like 3 touchpads in?"

The TouchPad has also inspired huge discussion threads at sites like Slickdeals where rabid dealhunters recount near misses and moments of triumph as they hunt for the WebOS tablet.

In a Slickdeals thread that's seeing almost ten posts every minute and has now grown to over 1000 pages, users post updates on stores that do and don't have the tablet in stock. They also trade quips like this from user Steeldeals: "We're in Hotel TouchPad: You can check out, but you can never leave..."

Even though the TouchPad failed at going toe to toe with the Apple iPad before it even got out of the gate, now--at $99--the HP tablet has basically no competition. If nothing else, this shows there's still a real market for a competent bare-bones tablet at the bottom end of the market. It's just a shame that once TouchPad fever flares out there'll be nothing even close to its price point.

Motorola Mobility buy could boost Google's enterprise push

Google has been pushing hard to work its way into the enterprise, but it remains to be seen whether that effort will be aided by this week's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, analysts say.

Google Monday announced that it had agreed to buy the smartphone manufacturer, which was spun out of Motorola Inc. in January, for $12.5 billion. Since then, industry observers have been mulling over whether the deal can provide a significant boost to Google's ongoing effort to become a formidable enterprise alternative to rival Microsoft.
Motorola has had its moments in the cellphone business, long before Google's announcement that it was buying Motorola Mobility. In 1983, it was Motorola that marketed the first cellphone in the United States, and from 2003 to 2007, its Razr was by far the best-selling cellphone of all time.

Then came Apple's iPhone, and Motorola has struggled ever since to keep up. Its one success -- not a lasting one, but a success -- was the Droid, a smartphone that ran on Google's Android software


Seth Harris, managing director of Cook Associates, a consulting company that focuses on merger and acquisition services, said the move should help Google as consumers using Motorola Mobility's popular Droid smartphone and other devices are likely to push their employers to support them for business use.

"The consumer now is in a unique position to influence, through their buying behavior, what kinds of platforms and standards their companies need to support," Harris told Computerworld. "Android is a hugely popular operating system. A Google phone with a Google operating system could be quite appealing. Any enterprise now is going to be forced to integrate those platforms into their enterprise for their knowledge workers."

And owning the handset hardware, as well as the operating system, is a powerful combination that should further drive Android adoption, he added.

"I think Google's acquisition here is pretty important because they're getting a respected handset manufacturer," said Harris. "They have the hardware system and the operating system and this combination has worked beautifully for Apple."

Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group, agrees the Google-Motorola Mobility combination will prove popular with consumers, but added that it's likely to take a while for it to affect its enterprise business.

"While there might be some way that this purchase links into a Google master plan to dominate the enterprise, I'm just not seeing it now," said Olds. "To me, the major push behind the purchase of Motorola is consumer-based, with mobility and set-top box type devices and using the large Motorola patent holdings as both an offensive and defensive weapon."

Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, agreed that the move probably won't immediately boost Google's enterprise business, but added that the search giant can be expected to make additional acquisitions of mobile technologies.

He noted that some observers are keeping an eye out for Google to move to buy Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry smartphone that has long been a staple of the corporate world.

"[The Motorola Mobility purchase] likely doesn't help them that much, which is why some of us are suggesting they may try to buy RIM next," said Enderle. "RIM has the enterprise connections they really want. The enterprise is very hard to penetrate -- it isn't a product problem, it is a trust/risk mitigation problem. They have to mitigate that to succeed there."

The analysts generally agreed that Google will work hard to weave its various offerings -- such as its search engine, Google Maps, Google Docs and Android -- into one cohesive unit.

"They're in a wonderful position to tie it all together," said Harris. "There's a lot being said about how the PC might finally be dead and the utility of how we work, how we buy things, how we bank is being pushed down into a single mobile device."

Harris noted that tying all of Google's offerings together with popular Motorola Mobility hardware would let people get work done wherever they are without having to lug a laptop around.

"Google has got the content, the hardware and the software to enable the enterprise to offer a stable platform for all of those workforce needs," said Harris. "All of the chess pieces are being moved around the board right now."

guru search

Need to know when buying a Tablet Computers

Need to know when buying a Tablet Computers


this year. After Apple broke open the tablet market with the iPad in early 2010, nearly every major manufacturer announced its own plans to make a flat, keyboard-less wonder.

That’s not surprising, since tablets have much to recommend them.

Thinner and lighter than a netbook, tablets easily pack into a small bag or purse. They offer super-simple browsing and e-mail reading capabilities. While they lack keyboards, they’re easier to type on than a tiny smartphone. And they can stream audio and video, making them excellent portable media devices.

However, navigating the tablet market can be tricky. The difficulty of making a usable, well-built tablet with long battery life is illustrated by the many months it took manufacturers to come up with credible alternatives to the iPad.

And while the iPad still leads the market by a mile, there are now options if you want to get a device that wasn’t conceived in One Infinite Loop.

If you’re shopping for one of these portables, here’s a quick rundown of buying decisions and features you should consider before pulling the trigger.

Screen
Screen is, arguably, the most important factor in your purchasing decision. In general, you’ll probably be more comfortable typing and tapping on a larger screen — even a half-inch bigger can make a significant difference. However, some users might want their tablets to be more portable, and a big screen adds more weight and bulk. Dell’s Streak comes in on the smaller end of the scale with a 5-inch screen, making it more of an oversized smartphone, while the Samsung Galaxy sports 7 inches. For those who want as much real estate as possible, the Archos 101 has a 10.1-inch screen that outsizes even the iPad’s generous 9.7-inch screen. Meanwhile, Toshiba’s Libretto sports dual 7-inch displays in a funky clamshell design.

You should also look at dot pitch, or the screen’s native resolution measured against the size. More pixels per square inch generally means a sharper picture for movie-watching and clearer text for reading. Of course, how a screen looks is largely dependent on color depth, contrast and brightness.

Outside of stated specs, which can be misleading, try to take a tablet for a test-drive to check the screen’s capabilities. Definitely check to see how responsive the screen is to your touch — after all, you’ll be poking at it constantly. Make sure brightness is turned up all the way so you’re evaluating each tablet at its best. Lastly, keep in mind that a sleek, glossy screen might look great in even lighting, but can cause horrible glare in bright light or sunlight, especially once you’ve smudged it up with your fingers.

Tip: A clear adhesive screen protector can mitigate some glare, as well as protect the screen from scratches. If you plan on replacing a laptop with a tablet for heavy-duty daily use, consider carrying a microfiber cloth and some screen-cleaner fluid for more stubborn spots. Wiping your tablet screen with tissues or napkins (or on your pants) can make smudges worse and leave behind lint.

Wireless Connections
Nearly every tablet is Wi-Fi-capable, but check which: Some models only support the 802.11b/g spec. This probably won’t be a big deal if you’ll just use your tablet for general computing, but if you plan on doing media-streaming and heavy-duty downloads, look for 802.11n.

A tablet with a 3G cell connection on top of Wi-Fi will let you stay in touch even when you’re out of hotspot range. But consider the coverage in your area, as well as the details of the contract.

The iPad 3G patches into AT&T, while the Samsung Galaxy Tab is available through Sprint. The upside? You can get online anywhere that wireless service provider has a signal. The downside? The data plans are costly and sometimes (but not always) come with a contract.

You also might want to consider a model with GPS, since a tablet’s larger screen size makes it an easier-to-read travel companion than a smaller GPS-enabled phone. If you’re looking at the iPad, you’ll have to shell out for the 3G model if you want the GPS.

Bluetooth can be useful, as well. For one, it offers easy wireless data transfer. Connecting a Bluetooth headset or headphones can also be useful for chatting and listening to music. You may also want to use a Bluetooth keyboard for longer typing chores.

OS and Apps
The main choices here are Apple’s iPhone-proven OS and Google’s up-and-coming Android. Each has advantages and drawbacks.

Apple’s iOS offers a massive app store as well as rock-solid hardware and software integration, but lacks support for Adobe Flash, limiting the web experience a bit.

There’s a better selection of Android tablets to choose from made by a variety of companies, but the OS isn’t quite as refined as Apple’s. In addition, the Android app market has a lot of great apps, but the quality control isn’t as tight as Apple’s. This cuts two ways: There are plenty of great apps that are the same as, or similar to, offerings for the iPad, but Android apps can be buggy.

Storage
The one thing that will always be true about storage is that you can never have enough of it, especially if you plan on using your tablet as an entertainment device for movies and music. Yet the flash-based RAM used in most tablets is expensive, meaning you’ll have to settle for a few GB at most. A tablet with an SD or microSD slot is a big boon, since it will let you upgrade your storage by adding a removable memory card.

Inputs and Outputs
Since tablet PCs are fairly lean devices, connections are usually restricted to the usual 3.5mm headphone jack and a USB port. Apple’s vaunted iPad doesn’t even have a USB port, so you’re limited to gadgets that work with its proprietary iPod connector.

A select few will have additional ports like HDMI out, letting you show videos or photos on a TV. Ask yourself if you’ll be using your tablet as a desktop/notebook replacement. If the answer is yes, then these additional ports will probably come in handy.

If a tablet you want doesn’t have all the connections you desire, there are a handful of external port adapters for tablets. For instance, the Archos 9 tablet offers a detachable port replicator that gives you VGA out, ethernet and a couple of USB ports, while Apple has a dock-to-VGA connector for connecting to a full-size monitor, and a camera connection kit for uploading images from your camera to your iPad.

Speakers
Sure, most folks use headphones, but there will inevitably be times when you’ll want to keep your ears unplugged. Built-in tablet speakers won’t sound great, but if you’re shopping in a brick-and-mortar store, take the speakers for a spin to see how far you can push them.

Camera
Even if you already have one on your phone (which you’ll probably have with you, anyway), an extra camera is always handy. Editing photos on a tablet’s larger screen is also inherently easier. Measuring a camera by mexapixels is one thing, but remember that real video and photo quality comes from accurate color and the ability to change camera settings for a particular shot. The Samsung Galaxy Tab even has two cameras — one front-facing, one rear-facing — so you can video chat or simply record yourself. The iPad, however, does not have a camera at all.

It Won’t Replace Your PC
Tablets might be the future of portable computing, but we interact with them in a profoundly different way than with smartphones or laptops. Tablets are ideal for web-surfing, watching films and TV shows, doing some light e-mail, reading magazines and newspapers. They’re fit for consuming.

But for creating content they’re lackluster and underpowered compared to even the most bare-bones laptop.

Tablets may revolutionize the way we interact with the web and other media. Just don’t expect one to serve as your primary computer.

Acer launch round-up: tablets, 4.8-inch smartphone, and more

Acer has taken the wraps off a range of new tablet devices and a content platform as part of an ambitious effort to rival Apple’s iPad and capture a good portion of this still nascent market. The new lineup includes a 4.8-inch "smartphone with the soul of a tablet," 7 and 10-inch Android tablets, a 10-inch Windows-based variant, and a unique dual touch screen hybrid between laptop and tablet. Here's a quick rundown of the key features disclosed so far:

The social-networking giant: Facebook allowed to Trademark the Word 'Face'

The social-networking giant: Facebook allowed to Trademark the Word 'Face'

Facebook Plans to Trademark the Word 'Face'
The social-networking giant was just given a green light in its efforts to trademark the word "face." The company's efforts have moved Facebook's pursuit of face past the opposition period, according to the U.S Patent and Trademark Office, and a "Notice of Allowance" has been issued. And it looks like the application will be approved, Neil Friedman, a partner at law firm Baker and Reynolds who regularly practices trademark law, told FoxNews.com.

Facebook now has six months to file a statement of use (SOU), which is a sworn statement signed by Facebook attesting to use of the mark in commerce, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Without the SOU, the application will be abandoned.

The document says that Facebook provides "telecommunication services, namely, providing online chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among computer users in the field of general interest and concerning social and entertainment subject matter, none primarily featuring or relating to motoring or to cars" – so, no Facebook Motors, then?

The effort to trademark "face" goes back to 2005 when CIS Internet Limited, a U.K.-based company, tried to trademark "face" for its faceparty.com site. Facebook bought the application from CIS in 2008.

Even without the official "face" trademark, Facebook has already gone after companies using "face" – as well as "book" – in their business names.

In August, the company sued Teachbook, arguing that "book" is a term associated with Facebook. Selecting "book" was a completely arbitrary choice and "pilfers a distinctive part of the Facebook," Facebook said. Travel site PlaceBook also changed its name to TripTrace after Facebook contacted the site and said its name was confusingly similar to its own.

..........

"At the end of the day, will they have protection in this space? Yes," Friedman said.

A trademark may help Facebook throw the book at the competition -- and Facebook faces a wealth of it. GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain name registrar, told FoxNews.com that it has 53,000 domain names containing the word "face" in its databases. The company estimated that the Internet has 89,000 domain names containing the word "face" just in the .com world.

So put on a happy face, Facebook, that trademark may need to be put to use.

A trademark can cover a variety of things, from the audible jingle in T-Mobile commercials to words or phrases, letters or numbers -- even something pictoral like the Nike swoosh, Friedman explained. Even a color. In Facebook's case, the trademark would cover "telecommunication services, namely providing online chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among computer users in the field of general interest and concerning social and entertainment subject matter, none primarily featuring or relating to motoring or to cars."

Cars? What could that mean? A spokesman for Facebook declined to comment on the trademark pursuit, but Friedman has a theory: "My guess is that they've been rejected by somebody that has face already for something related to cars," he said.

The unusual patent may be probably partly explained by its history: The social network picked up a trademark application originally filed in 2005 by U.K. company Faceparty.com, run by British company called CIS. Tech news site Engadget explains that the original application covered everything from festival planning to dating services to text message systems -- though that doesn't explain the car thing.

Around October of 2008 CIS filed to split the various categories into separate applications -- one of which was for online chat rooms. That application was taken over by Facebook on November 7, and on November 17 Facebook officially swapped in its attorney.

This doesn't mean that Facebook has won the battle for the word just yet, however. The company must first pay an issue fee, and submit a statement explaining how it uses the word face. Besides, Friedman noted, there are several other trademarks already filed that use the world face.

"In this category, there are already 34 other trademark applications that have a face component," he told FoxNews.com. "There's one for streaming video on the Internet -- mymusicface. And there's facefirst for monitoring security of others," for example.
"If someone else were using face by itself, yes, they'd be able to block that. But in the real world, that will have to be taken on a case by case basis," Friedman told FoxNews.com.

So Facebook won't be able to block all other faces -- because Mark Zuckerberg doesn't have the very first face.

Other prominent faces: Apple's newly launched video conferencing service Facetime may be the most high profile service to feel the brunt of Facebook's patent, though it may not be covered by the trademark. (Apple has filed its own trademark application for Facetime, though its efforts have been rejected.) And Facebook has already filed suit against a pornography company with the similar name FacePorn.

The company's efforts are also interesting in light of the current litigation surrounding the other half of the its name -- the "book" part, that is.

Facebook has been embroiled in a spate of trademark-fueled litigation in recent months, most recently a back and forth with parody site Lamebook. The company has also sued Teachbook and Placebook in an effort to protect its identity following the social network's astronomical rise in popularity in recent years.

Rare Apple computer sells for $210,700

. Computer the unlimited doors to technology . Now Talk about a smart tech buy. An Apple computer purchased more than 30 years ago has sold for 425 times its original selling price.

An Apple-1, one of only about 200 such machines built in Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' parents' garage, sold at Christie's auction house in London today for 133,250 pounds (about $210,700). The Apple-1, which didn't include a casing, power supply, keyboard, or monitor, originally retailed for $666.66 in 1976. Apple discontinued the model in 1977.

Christie's called the computer a "historic relic" and said the auction included all the original components, including its 8K bytes of RAM, in its original shipping box, as well as a signed letter from Jobs to the original owner.

The winning bidder was Italian businessman and private collector Marco Boglion, who made his offer over the phone, according to the Associated Press.

In a time when most personal computers were sold as self-assembly kits, the Apple-1 broke new ground as the first personal computer sold with a fully assembled motherboard.

Fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who attended the auction in London, threw in an autographed letter with the sale. Wozniak said he was proud to have his work auctioned alongside such technologically notables as an Enigma, the World War II German code-making machine, and documents from British mathematician Alan Turing, a pioneer of modern computing.

"Today my heart went out as I got to see things auctioned off like the Turing documents and the Enigma machine--and the Apple I," Wozniak reportedly told journalists after the auction. "It really was an important step, (even though) I didn't feel that way when I designed it."

World's first optically correct 3D glasses

World's first optically correct 3D glasses
Weekly high-tech product releases: World's first optically correct 3D glasses, light-powered keyboard, e-ink phone

Designer sportswear and eyewear maker Oakley has created the world's first optically correct 3D glasses, the Oakley 3D Gascan. Not only are they a lot more fashionable than the majority of existing 3D glasses on the market, the Gascan's optimize the wearer's 3D viewing experience by eliminating ghosting and providing a wider field of view without visual distortion. The glasses are priced at $120 and will be released later this month.

A keyboard that is powered by the sun (or your desk lamp)
Logitech has unveiled its first ever solar keyboard, the Wireless Solar Keyboard K750, giving users the ability to reduce their power consumption. The innovative, 7.5mm thick solar keyboard is powered by any light source (from both indoors and outdoors) and can work in total darkness for up to three months. The Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 will start shipping in the US and Europe from January 2011 for €79.99.

An innovative mobile phone that uses an e-ink keyboard
Samsung's Zeal is a dual-hinge messaging phone with a morphing e-ink keyboard. The unique e-ink keyboard lets users swap between QWERTY, numeric and alpha-only keyboards for easier text entry. It also comes with a 2 MP still and video-capable camera, Bluetooth, support for Exchange email, social networking, and turn by turn navigation. The Samsung Zeal will be available on November 11 for $79.99 on a two-year agreement after a $50 mail-in rebate.

An intelligent portable wireless speaker and speakerphone
The Jambox is mobile technology company Jawbone's first wireless speaker and speakerphone. Users can connect their digital gadgets via Bluetooth and seamless play music and audio associated with the movies, and games playing on their device. The Jambox can also be used for hands free phone conversations and can be updated with apps, software and new features available on Jawbone's MyTALK platform. The Jawbone Jambox is priced at $199 and is available from November 16.

A dual-screen tablet for students
The Kno is a dual, 14.1 inch touchscreen tablet designed to meet the needs of students. It gives students up to 6 hours of normal use and access to digital textbooks. It comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, 1080p video playback, support for Adobe Flash and touch or stylus input. The Dual Screen Kno is priced at $899 for the 16GB version and at $999 for the 32GB version. A single screen version is available for $599 (16GB) or $699 (32GB). All version of the Kno will be available from December 20.

A mirrorless camera that's lighter, smaller and easier to use
Panasonic's latest Micro Four Thirds camera, the Lumix GF2, is smaller and lighter than the company's existing models whilst still offering powerful features. It has a newly designed and easy-to-use interface, a three inch touchsensitive LCD screen, video recording and a range of auto focus modes. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 will arrive in stores by January 2011. Pricing will be announced in December.

LATEST TECHNOLOGY TO CURB VEHICLE THEFT

EHT POLICE USING LATEST TECHNOLOGY TO CURB VEHICLE THEFT

The police department is now equipped with tracking computers to combat vehicle theft.

The department demonstrated the LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery Network Wednesday morning, that was donated by the LoJack Corporation.

Four patrol cruisers are now equipped with a police tracking computer to locate and recover stolen cars, trucks, motorcycles, and construction equipment.

"With stolen vehicles speed is of the essence. The shorter time the officer has of recovering vehicle the quicker the vehicle will be recovered with less or no damage at all," says Phillip Rivoli, a law enforcement liaison for the LoJack Corporation.

There is a 90% recovery rate of stolen vehicles that are equipped with LoJack.

Residents can purchase the LoJack system for their car at participating auto dealerships or direct from the company.

International Game Technology Swings To Profit

International Game Technology Swings To Profit
International Game Technology 4Q
Slot machine maker International Game Technology reported a fourth-quarter profit, compared with a loss a year earlier, but its net income was not as high as Wall Street expected.

The Las Vegas company reported net income of $19.9 million, or 7 cents per share, on $496 million in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 30. That compares with a net loss of $28.6 million, or 10 cents per share, on $512.3 million in revenue a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, International Game Technology earned 18 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude one-time items, on average expected the company to report earning 19 cents per share on $488.2 million revenue.

For the full year, International Game Technology reported net income of $186 million, or 62 cents per share, on $2 billion in revenue. That compares with net income of $126.8 million, or 43 cents per share, on $2.1 billion in revenue for the prior year.

Excluding one-time items, the company reported full-year earnings of 85 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson on average had expected adjusted earnings of 85 cents per share on $2 billion in revenue for the full year.

The company said it ended its fiscal year with an installed base of 57,000 gaming units, a decline of 4,300 units from a year earlier.

International Game Technology said the results reflect a shift toward lower-yielding machines, and it said sales of new gaming units fell as fewer new casinos opened in the U.S., a drop that was only partly offset by rising sales overseas.

The company's shares slipped 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, in regular trading. After hours, the stock fell 32 cents, or 2 percent, to $16.

International Game Technology Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2010 Results
Fiscal 2010 Highlights (compared to last year) - Consolidated gross profit margin increased 100 bps to 56% - Global operating income increased 28% to $433 million - Consolidated operating margin increased 600 bps to 22% - International revenues increased 21% to $559 million

Good News :Google Instant Preview- improves search

Google on Tuesday announced yet another upgrade to its search results pages intended to provide more information so that users don't haphazardly click away: Instant Previews. These previews are as simple as a small magnifying glass icon next to a search result, which users can click upon to see a visual snapshot of the linked site. These snapshots may also include search terms highlighted in orange where they appear in the resulting page. That's about it.
"Instant Previews provides a graphic overview of a search result and highlights the most relevant sections, making finding the right page as quick and easy as flipping through a magazine,"
After searching for something, Google will return search results as usual, but next to the star icon that lets you favorite a link, there will also be a small magnifying glass. Hover over that icon and Google will pop up a preview of the page in question. Those without a mouse can see the preview by hitting the right arrow key; hit the down arrow key to continue seeing results.

The option will help people navigate results faster and not waste time waiting for pages to load, Krishnan said. Google will also highlight in orange the text that matches your search query to locate relevant content as fast as possible.

"Not long ago simply downloading an image could take 20 or 30 seconds, and even today many Web sites take four or five seconds to load," he wrote. "With Instant Previews, we match your query with an index of the entire Web, identify the relevant parts of each Web page, stitch them together and serve the resulting preview completely customized to your search—usually in under one-tenth of a second. Once you click the magnifying glass, we load previews for the other results in the background so you can flip through them without waiting."

During testing, Google found that people using Instant Previews were 5 percent more likely to be satisfied with the results on which they clicked.

The feature is rolling out now and should be available in more than 40 languages in the next few days, Krishnan said.

The release comes several days after Google Instant was added to mobile devices. Instant, which debuted in September, provides search results as you type.

Network for iPad and iPhone is buffering up -

The recent flurry of rumors predicting the end of AT&T's arrangement as exclusive provider of the Apple iPhone were apparently false. In fact, not only did Apple not announce the demise of exclusivity, it doubled down on its exclusive arrangement with AT&T by revealing AT&T as the sole provider of 3G wireless access for the upcoming iPad as well.
numerous complaints of poor or slow data bandwidth from business users and consumers alike, particularly in metropolitan regions like New York and San Francisco where iPhone use is exceptionally heavy. Judging by the maps in the Verizon ads, if you venture outside of those urban areas you might be lucky to find a 3G connection at all.

I predicted that the addition of the iPad, a device more dedicated to data consumption than its iPhone cousin, could be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back and bring AT&T's network to its knees. However, AT&T addressed many of those concerns on its quarterly earnings call on Thursday.

It was revealed on the call that AT&T has twice as many smartphone users as its nearest competitor, and that AT&T has experienced a 5,000 percent spike in broadband data consumption since introducing the iPhone. The explosive growth in data demand was both unprecedented and unexpected, and could explain some of the challenges the AT&T network has faced.

In 2009, AT&T added 1,900 new cell sites, expanded 3G coverage to over 360 markets, reaching an estimated 75 percent of the population, and added 850MHz 3G--improving the range and strength of the 3G signal. It also enabled HSPA 7.2 throughout the network, speeding up the 3G download speeds.

Speaking to analysts on the earnings call, John Stankey, president and CEO of AT&T Operations, said "We're very pleased to say that one of the 7.2-enabled devices that will have connectivity on our network is Apple's new iPad, which was unveiled yesterday."

Stankey added "we're really excited about the device, and we work closely with Apple in planning for its connectivity on our network. AT&T is a natural fit for the iPad, given the combination of the ever-improving speed of our 3G network and our robust Wi-Fi capabilities. We have a thorough technical understanding, with a good read on the iPad's usage requirements and characteristics, and all that is included in our network plans for 2010 in the plans I'm sharing with you this morning."

AT&T has aggressive plans for 2010 as well, including investing over $2 billion to expand and improve the broadband data network. It plans to deploy fiber-optic backhaul which will increase 3G data speeds even further, as well as focusing on boosting data capacity in troubled areas like New York and San Francisco.

Overall, AT&T customers should be satisfied that AT&T is not deaf to their complaints, and that it is taking aggressive strides to improve the speed, availability, and stability of its 3G network.

As it relates to the iPad, though, I found AT&T CFO Rick Lindner's statement to be telling. "We believe, though, the device, based on where we believe it will be used--in homes, in offices, coffee shops, bookstores, airports, so on and so forth--will be used a substantial amount of time in a Wi-Fi environment. And so we'll just--we'll have to monitor this usage as the device gets out there. And if it's substantially different, we'll adapt to it. But right now, I think the economics will be very positive because it will be a very low-cost device for us--no cost, really, in terms of acquisition."

Translated, Lindner is saying that, although Apple will charge $130 extra for a 3G capable device, and AT&T will happily take your $30 a month for unlimited 3G broadband access, it is assuming that iPad users will rely primarily on Wi-Fi, so the $30 a month will be pure profit to AT&T with no impact at all to the 3G bandwidth.

That reinforces my belief that there is no point in paying extra for the 3G iPad, and that either Apple will just eliminate 3G from the mix and stick with Wi-Fi, or eventually phase out the Wi-Fi only version, and just offer the Wi-Fi plus 3G iPad for the lower price that the Wi-Fi models are being introduced at. Even if that happens, though, I see no reason to pay $30 a month for 3G connectivity when free Wi-Fi is fairly ubiquitous.

<a href="http://www.gurumia.com">www.gurumia.com</a>

www.gurumia.com great site

in reference to: Google (view on Google Sidewiki)

Picture-driven computing-MIT

Until the 1980s, using a computer program meant memorizing a lot of commands and typing them in a line at a time, only to get lines of text back. The graphical user interface, or GUI, changed that. By representing programs, program functions, and data as two-dimensional images — like icons, buttons and windows — the GUI made intuitive and spatial what had been memory intensive and laborious.But while the GUI made things easier for computer users, it didn’t make them any easier for computer programmers. Underlying GUI components is a lot of computer code, and usually, building or customizing a program, or getting different programs to work together, still means manipulating that code. Researchers in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab hope to change that, with a system that allows people to write programs using screen shots of GUIs. Ultimately, the system could allow casual computer users to create their own programs without having to master a programming language.The system, designed by associate professor Rob Miller, grad student Tsung-Hsiang Chang, and the University of Maryland’s Tom Yeh, is called Sikuli, which means “God’s eye” in the language of Mexico’s Huichol Indians. In a paper that won the best-student-paper award at the Association for Computing Machinery’s User Interface Software and Technology conference last year, the researchers showed how Sikuli could aid in the construction of “scripts,” short programs that combine or extend the functionality of other programs. Using the system requires some familiarity with the common scripting language Python. But it requires no knowledge of the code underlying the programs whose functionality is being combined or extended. When the programmer wants to invoke the functionality of one of those programs, she simply draws a box around the associated GUI, clicks the mouse to capture a screen shot, and inserts the screen shot directly into a line of Python code.Suppose, for instance, that a Python programmer wants to write a script that automatically sends a message to her cell phone when the bus she takes to work rounds a particular corner. If the transportation authority maintains a web site that depicts the bus’s progress as a moving pin on a Google map, the programmer can specify that the message should be sent when the pin enters a particular map region. Instead of using arcane terminology to describe the pin, or specifying the geographical coordinates of the map region’s boundaries, the programmer can simply plug screen shots into the script: when this (the pin) gets here (the corner), send me a text.“When I saw that, I thought, ‘Oh my God, you can do that?’” says Allen Cypher, a researcher at IBM’s Almaden Research Center who specializes in human-computer interactions. “I certainly never thought that you could do anything like that. Not only do they do it; they do it well. It’s already practical. I want to use it right away to do things I couldn’t do before.”In the same paper, the researchers also presented a Sikuli application aimed at a broader audience. A computer user hoping to learn how to use an obscure feature of a computer program could use a screen shot of a GUI — say, the button that depicts a lasso in Adobe Photoshop — to search for related content on the web. In an experiment that allowed people to use the system over the web, the researchers found that the visual approach cut in half the time it took for users to find useful content.In the same way that a programmer using Sikuli doesn’t need to know anything about the code underlying a GUI, Sikuli doesn’t know anything about it, either. Instead, it uses computer vision algorithms to analyze what’s happening on-screen. “It’s a software agent that looks at the screen the way humans do,” Miller says. That means that without any additional modification, Sikuli can work with any program that has a graphical interface. It doesn’t have to translate between different file formats or computer languages because, like a human, it’s just looking at pixels on the screen.In a new paper to be presented this spring at CHI, the premier conference on human-computer interactions, the researchers describe a new application of Sikuli, aimed at programmers working on large software development projects. On such projects, new code accumulates every day, and any line of it could cause a previously developed GUI to function improperly. Ideally, after a day’s work, testers would run through the entire application, clicking virtual buttons and making sure that the right windows or icons still pop up. Since that would be prohibitively time consuming, however, broken GUIs may not be detected until the application has begun the long and costly process of quality assurance testing.The new Sikuli application, however, lets programmers create scripts that automatically test an application’s GUI components. Visually specifying both the GUI and the window it’s supposed to pull up makes writing the scripts much easier; and once written, they can be run every night without further modification.But the new application has an added feature that’s particularly heartening to non-programmers. Like its predecessors, it allows users to write their scripts — in this case, GUI tests — in Python. But of course, writing scripts in Python still requires some knowledge of Python — at the very least, an understanding of how to use commands like “dragDrop” or “assertNotExist,” which describe how the GUI components should be handled.The new application gives programmers the alternative of simply recording the series of keystrokes and mouse clicks that define the test procedure. For instance, instead of typing a line of code that includes the command “dragDrop,” the programmer can simply record the act of dragging a file. The system automatically generates the corresponding Python code, which will include a cropped screen shot of the sample file; but if she chooses, the programmer can reuse the code while plugging in screen shots of other GUIs. And that points toward a future version of Sikuli that would require knowledge neither of the code underlying particular applications nor of a scripting language like Python, giving ordinary computer users the ability to intuitively create programs that mediate between other applications.

www.gurumia,com

www.gurumia.com
to explore Bangladesh

in reference to: Google (view on Google Sidewiki)

good service

i appriciate - www.gurumia.com

in reference to: Google (view on Google Sidewiki)

good service

i appriciate - www.gurumia.com

in reference to: Google (view on Google Sidewiki)

Debris Did Not Damage Shuttle -NASA

Debris that fell from the space shuttle Endeavour’s external fuel tank during liftoff on Wednesday probably caused no major damage to the orbiter, NASA officials said Thursday.

The space shuttle Endeavour lifted off Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and during the liftoff, several pieces of foam fell from its external fuel tank.

“We don’t expect any issues,” John Shannon, the shuttle program manager, said at a news conference. “We’re not worried about this flight.”
Since the loss of the shuttle Columbia in 2003, because of damage caused by a piece of insulating foam that struck the left wing, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has taken painstaking care to analyze instances of foam falling off during liftoffs.
A camera on the Endeavour’s external tank captured at least a dozen instances of falling debris. One large piece, about six inches square, came off 6 minutes 17 seconds into flight, but by that time the shuttle had largely risen out of the atmosphere, and the foam, even if it hit the orbiter, would not have hit with much velocity.
But two showers of debris flew off much earlier, one at 1 minute 47 seconds after launching and another eight seconds later. A couple of pieces could be seen hitting the orbiter near the nose, leaving small white spots. Mr. Shannon said the damage there appeared slight.
Those pieces originated near the camera, perhaps making them look bigger. “It was dramatic footage looking at it,” Mr. Shannon said.
What is not yet clear is whether any pieces hit farther to the back.
The Endeavour astronauts spent their first full day in orbit using a camera and laser scanner attached to the end of the shuttle’s robotic arm to scan the shuttle’s nose cone and the leading edges of the wings. On Friday, as the shuttle approaches the International Space Station for docking, it will perform a backflip to allow the astronauts on the station to photograph its underside.
As shown in photographs taken of the external tank after it was jettisoned, most of the missing foam peeled off in strips from the intertank section.
“That was a little bit of a surprise to us,” Mr. Shannon said.
The fuel tank actually consists of two tanks, one at the top for liquid oxygen and one at the bottom for liquid hydrogen. The intertank is the cylindrical structure connecting the two tanks.
Because the intertank is not in contact with either the ultracold liquid oxygen or liquid hydrogen, the foam there is thinner — about half an inch. That also means that it does not experience the same temperature fluctuations; this type of shedding had not been seen before.
The foam somehow did not adhere properly to the metal structure, and in at least seven or eight places, it came completely off.
Mr. Shannon said that while it did not appear that the Endeavour suffered significant damage, the problem would need to be understood and, if necessary, fixed before the next shuttle flight, of the shuttle Discovery, currently scheduled for Aug. 18.
Meanwhile, NASA has a new leader. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr., a former astronaut, as the new administrator, and Lori B. Garver, a former associate administrator at the agency, as deputy administrator.

Star navigation aid for lunar surface sold at auction for $218,000

A navigational chart used by Apollo 11 astronauts has become the unexpected star of an auction in New York City marking the 40th anniversary of man's first lunar landing.
Bonhams New York said that the lunar surface star chart sold Thursday for an astronomical $218,000. The tool, with a 9-inch (23-centimeter) diameter, had been expected to bring in $70,000 to $90,000.
The device consists of two plastic discs riveted together. The lower disc shows Earth, the sun, planets and star patterns against a black background. The upper disc is a semi-transparent overlay that could be turned to calculate position.

The historic mission of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin began exactly 40 years earlier, on July 16, 1969, and came to a climax on July 20 with the moon landing. In a letter accompanying the sale item, Aldrin wrote that "this star chart was the single most critical navigational device we used while on the moon."
Among the expected highlights of the auction were three checklists from the landing's descent. Signed by Aldrin, the lot had been estimated to fetch $125,000 to $175,000. But the checklists failed to sell.
The sale contained about 350 items from a variety of space missions.