Apr 13

Amazon Kindle Gets Ad-Support Option

Posted in: kindle, Today's Chili

 

Kindle_Ads.jpgThe Amazon Kindle has just gotten a little cheaper, that is, as long as you’re fine with having a whole lot of ads. Amazon is releasing an ad-supported version of the hit e-reader. It will feature special offers for its user, and will include more ads at the bottom along with the screen saver. If you’re a real stickler for a deal, and you don’t mind the ads, you can save $25 off the regular price of a Kindle. 

This generation of the Amazon Kindle will be called Kindle with Special Offers, and it costs $114, compared to the Wi-Fi model that costs $139. Amazon claims that the ads will not be intrusive, but it does seem to take away the point of owning one.

Amazon is working hard to make the new model sound good. While ad supported models work for free services, most who buy a device or service expect more out of the company. No word on how Kindle fans will react to the new device.

Via Hot Hardware

No Comments | Tags:
Apr 12

Cisco Shuts Down Flip Video, Axes 550 Employees

Posted in: camera, cisco, Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili

FlipUltra.jpg

Flip Video, makers of the Flip Ultra, Mino, and Mino HD lines of pocket-sized flash-based camcorders, and who found themselves purchased by Cisco 2 years ago for over $590 million, is no more. 
Back in 2009 Cisco said they were acquiring Flip Video because the company was “key to Cisco’s strategy to expand our momentum in the media-enabled home and to capture the consumer market transition to visual networking,” according to SVP Ned Hooper. 
Today however, the company announced that it would be ending the Flip Video line of devices, shuttering the offices, and firing the 550 employees who made up the division. 
Cisco will likely take Flip Video’s technology and apply it to its other videoconferencing products, like Cisco umi and Cisco Unified Videoconferencing, both of which are focused at businesses with telepresence needs. Even umi, which has been marketed to users who want to talk to family members on their television screens, costs too much to be affordable for most home users. Cisco’s approach seems to be to focus on business instead. 
At the same time, it’s difficult to see how Flip managed to stay competitive up to this point, especially when consumers can record HD video on mobile devices of all shapes and sizes, and those same smartpones are at or below the price-point as Flip Video’s handheld camcorders.
No Comments | Tags: , , ,
Apr 08

Is Adobe Flash Delaying the BlackBerry Playbook?

Posted in: flash, playbook, RIM, Today's Chili
playbook-2.jpg

Adobe Flash compatibility  was among the top selling points for the Xoom when Mototola first showed off the device at this year’s CES. After all, Apple’s Steve Jobs has long held a firm, unwavering position that the software just doesn’t work on mobile device–it’s buggy, it crashes, it makes everything slower. And then, after all of that, the Xoom didn’t even launch with the software.

There’s been a fair amount of speculation surrounding the delay of RIM’s own upcoming tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook. Recent rumors chalk the slowed pace up to concerns with touchscreen suppliers. CNN, on the other hand, has a different theory: the delay is due, at least in part, to problems with Flash.
First there’s the aforementioned lack of the software in the Xoom launch. And then there’s the bugginess. In fact, some early hands-ons with the PlayBook have confirmed those concerns. Flash on the PlayBook is choppy, just as Steve Jobs warned. 
At present, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is the only tablet offering the software. The PlayBook is now slotted to launch on the 19th, Flash or no. 
No Comments | Tags:
Apr 08

Acer A500 Tablet Gets Price, Release Date

Posted in: tablets, Today's Chili

acer a500.jpg

Three months after CES, it’s a bit hard to believe that we’ve only seen one of the many promised Android Honeycomb tablets actually come to fruition–naturally, that was the Motorola Xoom, the only device that actually sporting the operating system at the January show. Looks like Acer is going to sneak into the number two spot with its Iconia Tab A500.

The tablet went up for pre-order today through Best Buy. The thing will run you $450. It will be hitting retail locations on the 14th, along with a number of accessories like a Bluetooth keyboard, charging dock, case, and power adapter.

The tablet features a Nvidia Tegra 250 processor, integrated graphics, 16GB of storage (a future model will apparently double that capacity), 1GB of RAM, and a microSD reader. Oh, and front and rear facing cameras. Did we mention those?

No Comments | Tags: ,
Apr 07

Motorola Has Only Sold 100,000 Xooms – Report

Posted in: motorola, Today's Chili, xoom
moto tablet point.jpg

The thing about framing your product as an iPad killer is that, well, people are going to compare your product to the iPad–every passing mention of a failure or success will be uttered in the same sentence as the competition. So when research firm releases a report stating that your company has only sold 100,000 since launching more than a month ago, people will naturally point out the fact that the competition sold three times that in its first day.

Motorola selling 100,000 Xooms since the tablet’s February 24th launch is certainly not a spectacular number by any stretch, but that uninspiring figure is compounded drastically when compared to Apple’s official numbers. Of course, it’s worth mentioning here that the Xoom’s sales numbers don’t come directly from Motorola–rather they’re estimates released by Deutsche Bank.
By most accounts, however, numbers  for Motorola’s Honeycomb tablet are less than terrific. The device has gotten a fairly lukewarm reception from a number of reviewers, as well, pegging the Xoom as not quite ready for prime time. 
No Comments | Tags:
Apr 05

Wozniak: Tablets for Regular People, Not Geeks

Posted in: Apple, ipad, tablet, Today's Chili
steve-jobs-Steve-wozniak.jpg

Steve Wozniak has a theory about tablets: they’re PCs for normal people. You know, non-geeks. The Apple co-founder discussed the matter during a keynote at Storage Network World in Santa Clara. He told the crowd, “The tablet is not necessarily for the people in this room. It’s for the normal people in the world.”

The Woz added that the iPad is really the culmination of a dream that his co-founder Steve Jobs had when launching Apple back in the late-70s. “I think Steve Jobs had that intention from the day we started Apple, but it was just hard to get there, because we had to go through a lot of steps where you connected to things, and (eventually) computers grew up to where they could do … normal consumer appliance things.”
As for Android tablets? Woz apparently isn’t a fan. “On the subject of tablets, I read today that Android tablets are expected to surpass iPads, and I hope that never happens,” he told the crowd. 
No Comments | Tags: , ,
Apr 04

Sony Honeycomb Tablet Hitting States by End of Summer

Posted in: Android, Google, honeycomb, tablets, Today's Chili

Thumbnail image for android honeycomb bee.png

Sony’s getting ready to drop a new Android Honeycomb tablet on all of your heads. The company’s CEO Howard Stringer told Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei that the tablet will be hitting the States first–by the end of summer. 
Engadget points out that the timing lines up well with the rumored launch of the PlayStation-Certified S1 tablet–that oddly curved device, which is supposed to hit store shelves in September.
The company also apparently told another Japanese site that the aforementioned Honeycomb tablet is due out by the end of 2011–which could refer to the later Japanese launch date, or may highlight a slip from Stringer.

No Comments | Tags: ,
Apr 04

iPad 2 Fakes Sell Out Among Dead Chinese

Posted in: Apple, ipad 2, Today's Chili, Weird News

ipad 2 white flat game.jpg

Paper iPad 2s are flying off of shelves as Chinese residents in Malaysia flock to honor their dead ancestors as part of the annual Qingming festival. The event, based on the teachings of Confucius, is commemorated with the burning of fake luxury items and money.

The wish list for the event usually includes things like designer hand bags and luxury cars. This year, however, everyone is gunning for an iPad 2. In fact, the paper replica of Apple’s popular tablet is in such demand that it’s actually selling out–a familiar sight for anyone who has attempted to get their hands on the real thing.

Reuters spoke to Jeffrey Te, an owner of one of the Malaysian prayer shops that sells the items. At Te’s store an 888GB iPad 2 will run you $1–a pretty good deal, save for the whole paper thing. Te’s store is totally sold out of its shipment of 300 iPad 2s–though there are plenty of fake iPhones, Samsung Galaxy Tabs, and first generation iPads to choose from.

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Apr 01

DIY Tupperware Turret Offers Hours Of Enjoyment, Hiding From Angry Coworkers

Posted in: diy, Today's Chili

31.png

Getting tired of fellow office-workers bugging you at your desk? Chris over at PyroElectro put together the perfect solution for angry cubicle-dwellers like yourself. If you’ve got a spare airsoft gun, cake platter, TV remote and some electronics know-how, you can put together a remoted-controlled, fully-automatic airsoft turret. The device rotates and shoots pellets based on commands given to it from a distance using a standard remote control, all from the protection of a cake-tupperware shield. That said, the shield will only protect the turret; you pretty much have to deal with the people you shoot on your own.

PyroElectro has a step-by-step tutorial you can follow on their site with instructions on how to build this little weapon of minimal destruction. However, the project is rated at “medium-hard” difficulty and takes about 11 hours to complete, according to the site. Proceed at your own (and others’) risk.

[via Make, PyroElectro]

No Comments | Tags: ,
Apr 01

Dual Display Kyocera Echo Available For Pre-Order From RadioShack

Posted in: Android, Displays, phone, Today's Chili

kyoceraecho.pngApril Fool’s Day: The perfect time to pre-order a phone that already looks just a little bit crazy. The dual-screen Kyocera Echo, soon to come to Sprint, is now available for pre-order on RadioShack’s website and in stores. Running Android 2.2 (Froyo), the Echo can use one screen as a keyboard or run two apps at once with one on each screen. It can also combine the two into one 4.7 inch super-screen. Other than the fact that it has two independent displays, the rest of the phone’s features are pretty standard, with a 5 megapixel camera, 720p camcorder and wifi hotspot mode.

RadioShack is selling the phone, which costs $199 on contract, on its site with free shipping. You can also pre-order in RadioShack stores, but that will require the purchase of a $50 gift card, applied to the purchase of the phone when it comes out on April 17th.

[via BGR, RadioShack]

No Comments | Tags: , , ,