Consumer Electronics Daily News

HP will publish a Touchpad-focused magazine

 

Hewlett-Packard is going to unveil a new magazine aimed at the users of its Touchpad tablet, the company announced.

The company said that the monthly digital publication, dubbed Pivot, will cover all the new content and apps for the device. It also claimed that the publication will portray how the new Touchpad is unique and really different from all other tablets present in the market today.

“Pivot will include visually driven editorial pieces, columns from notable guest writers sharing their perspectives on digital culture, feature stories focused on applications around specific topics, and in-depth reviews," HP said in a statement.

Pivot will also take advantage of its electronic medium by being completely customized to each individual's tastes and preferences.

This new publication is meant to make the Touchpad user community aware of what the tablet has to offer and prevent losing customers to other tablets that come on the market.

The Touchpad, slated for launch on July 15, is going to be powered by WebOS, the operating system platform that HP acquired when it purchased Palm.

Apple's iPad and iPad 2 continue to dominate the tablet market, and it's not clear if this magazine will effectively combat the iPad's popularity or if it will just be seen as another form of marketing.

Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2011/06/27/hp-publish-touchpad-focused-magazine/#ixzz1QmSsKVHO

Samsung Wants Apple Products Banned in U.S.

Samsung is seeking to ban Apple products in the U.S., as the patent litigation war between the companies escalates, threatening their business relationship.

The South Korean company today said it filed a report with the International Trade Commission (ITC) asking Apple stop selling its products in the U.S., adding to its growing list of international lawsuits against Apple, which has cases pending against it in California, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy and the U.K.

Today's claim is the latest escalation in the growing legal war between the two tech giants. Filing a motion with a regulatory body may force Apple's hand into settling the original case against Samsung. Since Apple has sought a preliminary injunction as part of its original suit against Samsung -- which could limit the Seoul, South Korea-based company's smartphone and tablet sales in the U.S. -- Samsung must act boldly. The company is already suffering from declining profits, in contrast to Apple's booming business, and a forceful strike may boost its fortunes.

However, the claim may further deteriorate what had been a mutually beneficial relationship. Many of Samsung's profits come from supplying Apple with components for its iPhones and iPads. Last year, Apple forked over $7.8 billion for LCDs, processors and flash memory, making up 4 percent of Samsung's $142 billion revenue.

Apple for its part has been happy with Samsung's products and earlier said it wants to remain friends despite the ongoing courtroom drama. But this symbiotic relationship may deteriorate if the lawsuits continue on much longer.

HiWave develops panel speaker system for tablet covers

 

Tablet owners looking for some quality sounds from their multi-touch mobile device may soon be able to get hold of covers containing new flat speaker solutions from HiWave Technologies. The SoundSleeve incorporates a pair of 2W audio exciters mounted on a lightweight honeycomb panel and is designed to be hidden behind the lid of a tablet computer sleeve.

Within the 13mm (0.5-inch) thin protective shell, the company has mounted two low-profile electromagnetic audio exciters that output up to 2W each. HiWave is reported to be working on integrating its Audium amplifier chip into the design which can optimize the audio quality using its own onboard processing core and be tweaked to take different configurations into account, but designers' own amplifier and interface boards - together with battery packs - can also be incorporated as required.

The weight of the unit will vary depending on module size but we've been informed that a 7-inch wide speaker would be 195g (6.8 ounces), including drivers and cables.

"With tablet computing led by Apple's iPad now finding a place in so many people's daily lives, there is a rapidly growing market for protective sleeves that also deliver top quality audio for entertainment and conferencing to the tablet user on the move," says HiWave's James Lewis. "HiWave's flat speaker technology is the ideal solution to take tablet audio to the next level."

Hi-Wave is currently sending out a limited number of samples to select manufacturers ahead of more widespread availability in September, in time for consumer products to start appearing before Christmas.

HTC and AT&T; launching Facebook Phone

 

Smartphone maker HTC on Wednesday finally announced AT&T and Telus will be the first two carrier partners for the long-rumored "Facebook Phone," known as the HTC Status.

Looking something like the Peek e-mail appliance or an Android-powered BlackBerry, the Status has a 2.6" (480 x 320) touchscreen, portrait QWERTY keyboard, 800Mhz processor, 512MB of RAM, a forward-facing 1.3 megapixel/VGA chatcam and a 5 Megapixel camera, and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) with HTC's Sense user interface. Its wireless radios are Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900.

What makes it a Facebook Phone? The dedicated Facebook Button, of course, and the way it facilitates instant Facebook sharing. Users can shoot photos and video and instantly share them to Facebook by pressing the dedicated button, and long-pressing the button automatically checks the user's location into Facebook Places, tapping the button while listening to music lets users share the song title and artist instantly on their wall or with friends.

Also, this device offers a deeper integration into Facebook's services than the standard mobile app allows. Facebook Chat, for example, is available on the Status, and the lock screen can be loaded with Facebook app shortcuts so users can quickly share content without even unlocking the phone.

Given the mobile focus of Google+ and the future ability for all Android phones to share content instantly with Google's new social sharing service, Facebook's move to lock this deep sharing functionality into a single device seems ill-timed; especially when considering how long a Facebook Phone has been rumored.

No pricing or availability has yet been announced for the Status, but it is expected to arrive this summer in North America.

News Corporation sells MySpace for 35 Million

 

MySpace, the long-suffering Web site that the News Corporation bought six years ago for $580 million, was sold Wednesday to the advertising network Specific Media for roughly $35 million.

The News Corporation, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch, had been trying since last winter to rid itself of the unprofitable unit, which was a casualty of changing tastes and may be a cautionary tale for social companies like Zynga and LinkedIn that are currently enjoying sky-high valuations.

Relief over the sale was palpable on Wednesday, and not just at the News Corporation. Wall Street “just wanted it done, because it’s been a real drag on growth,” said Michael Nathanson, a media sector analyst for Nomura Securities.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the News Corporation said that it would retain a minority stake. Specific Media said it had brought on board the artist Justin Timberlake as a part owner and an active player in MySpace’s future, but said little else about how the site would change.

The sale closes a complex chapter in the history of the Internet and of the News Corporation, which was widely envied by other media companies when it acquired MySpace in 2005. At that time, MySpace was the world’s fastest-growing social network, with 20 million unique visitors each month in the United States. That figure soon soared to 70 million, but the network could not keep pace with Facebook, which overtook MySpace two years ago.

As users fled MySpace, so, too, did advertisers. The market research firm eMarketer estimates that the site will earn about $183 million in worldwide ad revenue this year, down from $605 million at its peak, when the site introduced many Web users and many advertisers to the concept of social networking.

“It’s a shame that MySpace’s value has diminished so severely since the acquisition; MySpace’s pioneering of social networking (now referred to as social media) will always be revered as igniting a new medium,” Richard Rosenblatt, the chairman of MySpace at the time of the sale to the News Corporation, said in an e-mail.

Instead of envy, the News Corporation’s bet on MySpace now provokes punch lines. Tom Freston, who was fired as the chief executive of Viacom in part for failing to buy MySpace, joked in an interview with CNBC earlier this year that “I’m still waiting for a thank-you note” from the Viacom chairman, Sumner M. Redstone.

Synology launches XS Series NAS Servers

 

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Synology is proud to launch its new xs series NAS servers, including 12-bay DiskStation DS3611xs and 10-bay RackStation RS3411xs/RS3411RPxs for large scale businesses.

Equipped with an Intel Core processor, Synology xs series NAS servers deliver data throughput in excess of 1,000 MB/sec and 100,000 IOPS with link aggregation enabled.

Redundant power supplies are available on the RS3411RPxs and its expansion unit, RX1211RP, to ensure continual service uptime. System reliability is further reinforced by failover support on all network ports, hot-swappable drives design and expandable ECC RAM module. Powerful and reliable as the xs series NAS servers are, they consume up to 128W in operation and 78W when hibernated. Once Deep Sleep mode is enabled, the expansion units, including DX1211 and RX1211/RX1211RP, reduce up to 95% of power consumption.

With comprehensive iSCSI support, the xs series NAS servers seamlessly integrate with major virtualization servers, including VMware vSphere, Citrix XenServer, and Microsoft Hyper-V. In addition, the Windows ADS and ACL support allows them to fit in a business environment easily and quickly.

Synology xs series NAS servers are powered by DiskStation Manager 3.1 (DSM 3.1), the operating system of every Synology DiskStation. DSM 3.1 makes complicated things simple and hard things possible by providing versatile features on a snappy, intuitive, and multitasking web-based user interface. Numerous notable media all over the world have praised or even awarded DSM, among which include the US Maximum PC Magazine, which named DSM as the “Future Tech Winner—Best Storage Technology of CES 2011.”

Amount of data will increase fiftyfold withinin decade

 

In 2011 alone, 1.8 zettabytes (or 1.8 trillion gigabytes) of data will be created, the equivalent to every U.S. citizen writing 3 tweets per minute for 26,976 years. And over the next decade, the number of servers managing the world's data stores will grow by ten times.

Those are some of the findings in the fifth annual IDC Digital Universe study that was released today.

Interestingly, the amount of data people create by writing email messages, taking photos, and downloading music and movies is minuscule compared to the amount of data being created about them, the EMC-sponsored study found.

The IDC study predicts that overall data will grow by 50 times by 2020, driven in large part by more embedded systems such as sensors in clothing, medical devices and structures like buildings and bridges.

The study also determined that unstructured information - such as files, email and video - will account for 90% of all data created over the next decade.

The bad news: the number of IT professionals available to manage all that data will only grow by 1.5 times today's levels, IDC said. The number of people with the skills and experience to manage the fast-growing stores of corporate simply isn't keeping pace with demand, IDC noted.

The study also notes that data security will continue to be a key issue for IT managers.

Read more: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217988/World_s_data_will_grow_by_50X_in_next_decade_IDC_study_predicts

Google announces social networking project

Social networking has long been Google's white whale. The company has done plenty of dabbling in the space, releasing Orkut, which has failed to catch on in the US, and rolling out Buzz to the relative indifference of its massive user base. Announced today after seemingly endless leaks, Google+ represents a major push for the software giant. The service began showing itself to a smattering of users last night, as a black bar across the top of various of the company's properties. A "+You" button on the far left of the bar currently brings you to the service's landing page, offering a tour of the many features that fall under the Google+ umbrella.

Among the sub-services is Circles, which lets users divide up which of their friends / followers can see which content, assuring that only your "Epic Bros" and not your boss sees what you were up to at last night's bachelor party. Hangouts, meanwhile, offers up multi-person video chat with members of your Circle. Sparks is a customized feed aggregator of content you curate from across the web -- remember when RSS feeds were a thing? This is kind of like that.

There's also, not surprisingly, a mobile element to the service. Huddle offers up group messaging, largely targeted at arranging real-world meetups for those times you actually want to, you know, socialize with humans in the flesh. The Instant Upload feature makes it easy to transfer photos to private albums in the cloud.

Google+ is still in a limited trial mode and has a few "rough edges," according to the company. Is Google finally giving Facebook a run for its money? Or is this just the latest social flop from the company?

Perfect Third, Inc. launces WakeMate V2

 

San Francisco, CA – June 29, 2011 – Perfect Third, Inc., a forerunner in the quantified self data revolution, today announced the launch of WakeMate® V2, the next generation of the WakeMate smartphone accessory now available at the WakeMate online store.

WakeMate V2 offers updated features to the WakeMate smartphone accessory and includes improvements to the mobile app, key enhancements to the WakeMate website and new Web-based user analytics. All of the WakeMate V2 upgrades will be available for both new and current WakeMate users.

Key features in the WakeMate V2 include:

- In app sleep analytics

- Improved Bluetooth reliability (connecting and pairing)

- Offline data storage (internet connection no longer required)

- Improved tagging UI (syncs with website)

- Battery life and battery life calculation optimization

- Option for larger wristband

- Data Analysis on web

– shows optimal bedtime, wake time and length of sleep

Here’s how WakeMate V2 works: The WakeMate wristband records subtle body movements using actigraphy – a clinically proven method to track an individual’s sleep.

WakeMate analyzes a user’s movements and communicates wirelessly with the person’s mobile phone to calculate the ideal wake point closest to the selected alarm time to ensure that the user rouses easily, feeling naturally alert and refreshed.

WakeMate then automatically uploads the user’s sleep data to its Web-based analytics platform (Wakelytics™), which provides the user with a nightly sleep report and insight about how to best improve their sleep.

See the WakeMate V2 in action. Watch the product demo here: http://youtu.be/NhAEC2BLh5E

Enflick Surpasses 15 Million Users

Enflick, Inc., a Canadian-based independent mobile app development company, announced today that it has surpassed more than 15 million users sending and receiving messages using its two free mobile applications, PingChat! and TextNow. Since its first mobile product was launched, Enflick customers have sent an estimated 2 billion messages to friends and family, with a combined savings to users of more than $400 million.

"Surpassing more than 15 million users of our apps is amazing and we are proud to support the world's largest community of people using free text messaging services," said Derek Ting, Co-founder and CEO, Enflick. "We are particularly proud of TextNow as it continues to be amongst the top 10 free social networking apps, alongside fan favorites like Facebook and Twitter. As we move into the summer look for major feature updates for both TextNow and PingChat! that will continue to meet the growing needs of users and the increased functionality of the mobile platforms, providing each user with a customizable experience and versatile communication tool completely free of charge!"

With more than 10 million users, PingChat! (iPhone®/Android/Blackberry) allows users everywhere to find their friends simply by connecting to their social network pages such as Facebook and Twitter and even by searching their personal address book. While other instant messaging platforms require users to sign in and out, PingChat! lets you stay connected to chat with friends, as well as receive private push notifications. Full media support makes it easy to send unlimited pictures, videos, voice chat files and GPS location to friends all over the world.

With more than 5 million users, TextNow (iPhone/iPad/iPod touch) is a free app that provides users with the benefit of unlimited text messaging to any mobile phone at no cost. Picture messaging is a way to share photos with friends and family on any of their iOS devices. And you can customize your own personal version of TextNow using different wallpaper, color schemes, emoticons, ringtones and landscape modes.