Hasta La Gadget!

It wasn’t long ago that Microsoft and Barnes & Noble announced a new digital book agreement. One of the first things to come out of that agreement are Nook apps available for Windows 8 and Windows RT devices. Both of those apps are now available at the Windows Store.

Previously Barnes & Noble’s CEO had promised that the Windows 8 app was “imminent” but didn’t offer an exact launch date for the app when Windows 8 launch last month. Other than Barnes & Noble offering a Nook app for Windows 8 and Windows RT, Microsoft also invested $300 million in Barnes & Noble to purchase a 17.6% stake in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary.

The purpose of that subsidiary was to focus on the Nook digital and college businesses. The investment also guaranteed Microsoft that Barnes & Noble would offer its Nook digital bookstore via Windows 8. The new apps that are now available for both versions of Windows allowing users to read digital books.

This is a big deal for Microsoft when many tablets that are purchased by consumers are increasingly used to read digital books. The reading of digital books is one of the most common things that tablet users do with their devices. This means that Windows Surface tablets have a native digital reading application and a large number of digital books for buyers to choose from rather than Microsoft having to whip something up on its own.

[via CNET]

Barnes & Noble Nook app hits Windows Store is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

AT&T has just announced that they will be offering the Asus VivoTab RT this coming November 16th at $499.99 a pop, where this is one tablet which was specially designed for the Windows 8 operating system. That purchase will also be accompanied by a free Mobile Dock with a keyboard as well as an additional battery. You can say that AT&T is in a class of its own, as they are the only carrier in the US to make available the new LTE tablet from Asus in time for the frantic holiday shopping season.

The Asus VivoTab RT will measure a mere 0.33” thin, and tips the scales at an impossibly thin 1.18lbs, making it one of the lightest and thinnest tablets around in the market. It will also be very pleasing on the eyes, boasting a stunning metallic design. You will not find it come up short where processing power is concerned, thanks to a beefy NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor and 12-core graphics, accompanied by a high-resolution 10.1” (1366×768) Super IPS+ display that will certainly be a boon to your eyes. In front lies a 2-megapixel shooter, while at the back there is an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and auto-focus. Make sure you know just which data plan you want to have to go along with this! [Press Release]

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: AT&T announces Asus VivoTab RT, Samsung ATIV Windows 8 tablets in time for 2012 holiday season, Asus VivoTab RT and VivoTab Smart Hands-On!,

Microsoft has detailed all of the changes made with DirectX 11.1, and even though there aren’t too many worth writing about, there’s one new feature that is: native support for stereoscopic 3D. Gone are the days of adding support for 3D based on a particular graphics card, at least as far as DirectX 11.1 is concerned. The problem is that you’ll need to be using Windows 8 in order to take advantage of DirectX 11.1.

That’s because Microsoft says it doesn’t have any plans to make DirectX 11.1 compatible with Windows 7 (or any other version aside from Windows 8 for that matter). “DirectX 11.1 is part of Windows 8, just like DirectX 11 was part of Windows 7,” said Daniel Moth on the Microsoft Answers Forum. “DirectX 11 was made available for Vista… but at this point there is no plan for DirectX 11.1 to be made available on Windows 7.”

Of course, that might not be a very big deal, as many games we see these days are still based on DirectX 9. Now that there are a large number of Windows 7 machines running DirectX 11, we might see developers begin making more games for that version of DirectX, but it seems that widespread support for DirectX 11.1 is still quite a ways – possibly even years – off. Therefore, if you were planning to upgrade simply because it meant you’d have DirectX 11.1, it’s probably okay to wait a bit.

Moth, however, seems to leave the door open when it comes to DirectX 11.1 on Windows 7, saying “at this point” there aren’t any plans to retrofit DirectX 11.1 to Windows 7. Those few words seem to suggest that Microsoft might change its mind about DirectX 11.1′s exclusivity in the future, but for now, it remains a feature of Windows 8 and Windows 8 only. Keep it tuned here to SlashGear, as we’ll have more details for you if Microsoft decides to talk more about DirectX 11.1.

[via Neowin]

Windows 8 getting DirectX 11.1 exclusively is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sales of Microsoft’s first Surface tablet have started “modestly,” CEO Steve Ballmer has conceded, though the outspoken exec is confident that demand will surge when the Surface Pro drops in early 2013. Having previously been bombastic about Surface’s appeal to the market, Ballmer was apparently more taciturn in an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien.

The CEO did not give exact figures for Surface sales, and instead shifted the focus to the upcoming Surface Pro. That will be a “high end” and “unique” product, Ballmer said, pointing to the higher-resolution Full HD display; Surface Pro will also run the full version of Windows 8, as opposed to Windows RT on the existing tablet.

It’s Windows RT that could well be leading to Surface confusion at present, with the OS and hardware attempting to straddle the divide between content consumption and content creation. On the one hand, Windows RT lacks backward-compatibility for existing Windows apps, and can only download software created for, and distributed via, the Windows Marketplace. On the other, it has an emphasis on producing content, with its keyboard covers.

Microsoft’s stated goal at the start of the Surface project was to spur adoption of Windows on tablets and encourage creativity by OEMs, as well as to help guide pricing in the market and ensure Windows slates were competitive with the iPad. However, the company is also believed to be working on an Xbox Surface tablet, 7-inches in size, which would integrate with the next-gen console.

[via CNET]

Surface sales began “modestly” admits Microsoft’s Ballmer is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Friday is here once again, but before you get too terribly sloshed, be sure you read through our recap of the day’s big news! Today we heard that Judge Lucy Koh will examine claims of misconduct on the part of the jury foreman in the Samsung vs. Apple patent trial, and Apple is actually being dragged back to court for a dispute over FaceTime in the iPhone 5 and iPad mini. Speaking of the iPad mini, Apple confirmed today that the LTE iPad minis should be shipping out in the next five days, and the company announced that it will be donating $2.5 million to the Hurricane Sandy recovery effort on behalf of its employees.

Earlier in the day, we learned that ASUS was handing out vouchers to consumers in Europe who bought the 16GB Nexus 7 right before its price drop, and then later on Google announced that it will be offering a “price protection program,” for 16GB Nexus 7 purchasers as well. The Nokia Lumia 920T leaked today, and it seems that China Telecom may be getting the iPhone 5 before long. Six companies may be facing fines for alleged CRT price fixing, and after learning a ton about Grand Theft Auto V yesterday, a leak today gave us all new information.

Google said today that it will begin focusing more on mobile than desktop, and Apple was named the most innovative company of the year by Booz and Co. There will be a new Windows 8 security update landing on November 13, and some users are already reporting issues with their Microsoft Surface touch covers. US video game sales were down 25% in October, and today Zynga revealed that it has acquired November Software, even though that purchase happened back in spring.

Angry Birds Star Wars rose to the top of the iOS charts in record time, and BioWare wants your suggestions for its next Mass Effect game. We learned today that climate change might mean a bleak future for the world’s coffee beans, and that the Motorola DROID RAZR M will soon be getting an upgrade to Jelly Bean from Verizon. Finally tonight, we compare the the Nokia Lumia 920 to the HTC Windows Phone 8X in a head-to-head battle, we take a closer look at the FanVision displays used during NASCAR races, and Chris Burns has a new interview with NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you enjoy the weekend ahead!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: November 9, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.