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Posted: 16 Dec 2011 01:00 AM PST

Fly Or Die: The Leapfrog LeapPad

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 05:27 PM PST

Erick and I are both parents so we know from tablets. The $99 LeapPad from Leapfrog is cool, to be sure, and fun if junior’s aunt or uncle is picking it up, but we both found it lacking, especially when compared to other devices. Obviously if you don’t want the wee ones slobbering all over your iPad, this is a huge winner. Otherwise, the lack of apps, especially for geeks like us, was disheartening.

Kids love toys and this is a toy. It’s very powerful and even has a rear camera, but in my high-tech household it is often the tablet of last resort, relegated to the toy box while the iPad takes center stage. However, as a fun, portable, and rugged device for kids too young for iPod Touches, it’s a winner.

Product Page



Bye Bye Netbooks: Dell Kills The Mini 10 As It Shifts Focus To “Thin And Powerful”

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 04:18 PM PST

Inspiron Mini 1012 Notebook Family

Once upon a time netbooks ruled the land. But with the rise of tablets and miniaturization of traditional x86 CPUs, the mini notebooks are quietly dying. The latest victim is the Dell Mini. Liliputing discovered by way of MyDellMini.com that the products are no longer listed on Dell.com. They’re dead, my friends, and it seems ultrabooks and similar products are to blame.

Dell is reportedly shifting focus away from the inexpensive notebooks. A company spokesperson confirmed with The Verge that the product line is indeed finished and Dell doesn’t have plans to release products on future Intel platforms. Instead, Dell will focus on “thin and powerful” notebooks, a not so subtle nod towards ultrabooks even though that description can fit a few of the company’s current notebook lines.

Both Intel and AMD are focusing heavily on CPU platforms that allow for ultrathin notebooks. Some will be as thin as the MacBook Air, the ultrabooks, but still others will be relatively thin while not fitting within the traditional definition of an ultrabook.

But with Dell’s inexpensive Mini line gone, it leaves a curious space open at the low-end of Dell’s product line. Other company’s like Acer previously stated that it was cutting a drastic amount of product lines in an effort to tighten up profit margins and the like. Either Dell is looking to do the same, or, and this is completely reasonable, the company is a prepping a product such as a tablet able to live comfortably in the Mini’s previous $300 – $400 price point. CES is less than a month away. Dell might have thrown away the Mini to clear room in the fridge for a more tasty treat.

Galaxy Nexus Gets Launch-Day OTA Update To Squash A Few Bugs

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 01:51 PM PST

Galaxy-Nexus

The Galaxy Nexus has been on sale here in the U.S. for mere hours, and it’s already getting its first refresh. But reports are bound to come in over the next week or so, but it looks as though Google had a few things that still needed fixing upon release.

In Android 4.0.2 build ICL53F, you’ll see improvements to your 3G/4G connection, your Wifi connection (including automatic reconnection to already-saved networks) and mobile hotspot enhancements.

The lock screen will also get some “visual improvements,” along with some special effect enhancements for the front-facing shooter. If you already own a Galaxy Nexus, you may have seen this error message: "data was disconnected due to roaming". That was a mistake, and will no longer appear once the update is complete. And if you were having trouble opening up certain mail attachments, that issue is done for, as well.

You may have also noticed that the G-Nex supports DivX. This latest update will remove support for DivX, though Verizon promises that support will come back in a future update. Verizon also mentions improved volume during Google Navigation’s turn-by-turn directions.

If the update hasn’t already been pushed straight to your device, it’s worth hitting up the Settings tab and checking for updates manually.

Here’s the full scoop on everything included in the update, and happy Galaxy Nexus day, everyone!

[via Droid-Life]

Sony Tablet S Review: Slick, But Somewhat Slow

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 01:13 PM PST

Sony Tablet S

Short Version

The Sony Tablet S is actually a pretty hot 9.4-inch slate, and doesn’t look like every other Android tablet out there (thank goodness). On the performance side, however, I found myself frustrated on more than one occasion. The design is everything I’ve been wanting from Android tabs, but unfortunately I just couldn’t ignore the underwhelming responsiveness of the slate.

Features:

  • 9.4-inch 1280×800 TFT touchscreen
  • Tegra 2 dual-core 1GHz processor
  • 5MP rear camera (720p video capture)
  • 1.3MP front-facing camera
  • Playstation-certified
  • Android 3.1 Honeycomb
  • MSRP: $499

Pros:

  • Smart, elegant design
  • Comfortable in the hand
  • Great Playstation game-play performance

Cons:

  • Super sluggish scrolling, pinch-to-zoom
  • Difficult to get comfortable in portrait
  • Drops Wifi connection more often than I’m OK with

Long Version

Hardware:

In terms of design, the Sony Tablet S actually has a lot going for it. It looks like it used to be a long slab that’s now been folded in half, making one side thicker and more rounded, with the other coming to a much thinner point. In landscape mode, this is exactly what a tablet should be. The slight angle makes for easier typing and viewing, and with the help of that textured finish on the back (more on that later) it’s comfortable in the hand, too.

In portrait, however, the tab gets more hit or miss. If you’re holding it with one hand on the thicker side, it’s actually a much more solid grip than you’d get with an iPad or Galaxy Tab 10.1. If you’ve gripped the thin side, on the other hand, it’s actually really difficult to hang on to not only because its thinner, but because that textured finish doesn’t extend all the way down to the thin side.

The tablet comes with the usual ports, some with a solid little plastic covering. I usually hate any sort of covering over ports (save for specifically rugged devices), but since the design of the slate leaves the button in a shallow crevice along the side, I don’t see this covering breaking off unless you leave it unlatched all the time.

Underneath the covering you’ll find an microUSB port, as well as an SD card slot (up to 32GB). The microUSB isn’t for charging, however, as the Tablet S has its own dedicated charger that sits along the bottom. In every case that’s a great spot for it, as it never once interrupted me while using the tab plugged in.

Unfortunately, just about every surface of this device snatches up your fingerprints like it’s the only thing that matters in this world. The screen is instantly smudgy, and even the textured back panel takes on prints. Since that back panel is also reflective, rather than being a soft touch-type material, once it takes prints it looks much cheaper than it did out of the box.

Software:

Honeycomb runs well on the Tablet S for the most part. Switching between home screens, opening and closing applications, and multitasking were all a breeze. But once I ventured into the browser, things got really messy. For some reason, the Sony Tablet S loses its Wifi connection too frequently.

More than a handful of times per day, I’d say, which is more than I’m comfortable with. Especially when every other device in the house (and trust me, there are plenty) is doing just fine maintaining a connection. I also had trouble within the browser. Pinch-to-zoom was wonky, and all scrolling was delayed, at best.

I also found a few other weird bugs. The pre-loaded Sony Reader app, for instance, sent me into an unending loop of a “download now” web page, to the Android Market, back to the “download now” page. Sony’s Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited apps work well if you can get them to open (and have a subscription, of course), but only if you can get them to open. I once had to restart the tablet to get them to launch.

Other apps, like Sony’s Remote Control (which lets you control almost any device in your house via infrared), work really well.

Basically, it’s hit or miss on the software front.

Performance/Battery Life:

The Tablet S really shines during game-play. Everything’s snappy, and I experienced no bugs in any of the Playstation titles I dug into. And as I said earlier, multitasking doesn’t seem to bother the S much. I was able to have up to ten different apps working at once without seeing a noticeable slow-down in performance.

The same story’s true of battery life, too. The Sony Tablet S gives a solid eight hours of use, even with the brightness turned all the way up.

Conclusion

The Sony Tablet S has a lot going for it in terms of design. I love the folded-over look, and think its much more comfortable during use and in the hand. The 10-inch form factor has always been a tad big for me, but anyone who appreciates the size of an iPad will feel right at home with the Tablet S, as it’s just slightly smaller.

It’ll inevitably come down to patience, which is what you’ll need a bit of to deal with surfing the web on this thing. The constant loss of a connection, the janky scrolling and zooming functions, and the overall bugginess of certain Sony apps is frustrating to say the least, and could use a good old software update.



The Louvre Scores 5,000 Nintendo 3DSs To Spice Up Their Audio Tours

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 12:57 PM PST

3ds-louvre

What’s a museum to do when they want to offer a richer art experience for guests but no one wants to use an audioguide? Why, give Nintendo a ring of course. Nintendo will be providing 5,000 3DSs to the French museum this March as part of the museum’s push to appeal to a more modern audience.

The Louvre is clearly gunning for appeal with the touchscreen generation, as they have also noted that an iOS app is in the works. In the meantime, guests who rent a 3DS will be able to load up special itineraries and listen to guided audio-tours in seven languages.

On top of that, Nintendo has also produced original content for the Louvre, though it’s still unclear what they have in mind. While we’ll certainly see some educational software trickle on to the devices, I’m still holding out hope for an elaborate RPG that takes players gallivanting up and down the Richilieu Wing. Sadly, the Louvre retains editorial control over what goes on their 3DSs, so we can probably kiss that epic boss battle atop the Pyramid goodbye.

With the upgrade, the Louvre’s security may have yet another thing to deal with. The museum’s previously audioguides were clunky, single-service devices emblazoned with KoreanAir logos — not exactly the kind of thing most people would be tempted to walk off with. A shiny new 3DS is an entirely different story, and I’m curious to see how many of these things the Louvre’s staff is going to be able to hold on to.

And for those of you wondering, this isn’t the first time that Nintendo and the Louvre have crossed paths: that distinction belongs to an old (and lousy) episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3



Google Granted Patent For Driverless Car “Landing Strip”

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 12:04 PM PST

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The age of driverless cars may still be years in the future, but to those playing a long game, that just means that work now will pay off even more later. Google is getting into the business of tracking and managing driverless cars, and while the technology actually steering and perceiving the cars’ surroundings will be undergoing lots of changes, some fundamentals of their interactions with the world can actually be explored today.

For example, Google has been granted a patent for a “landing strip”: a parking spot with special markings that help the car park itself, and then allow it to determine exactly where it is without relying on GPS or landmarks.

A smart parking spot has an air of inevitability to it that suggests it is one of those ideas that last. The patent is fairly specific, though: a visually-indicated landing strip, which in the illustrations is a banded area, would be stopped on by the driver. The car would detect that it had stopped on a landing strip, and would know to search the area for a second indicator, in this case a QR code.

The QR code would direct the car to visit a URL and, presumably, report itself as at location #382B319_g and awaiting instructions. The server would tell the car its exact location down to the inch, and any additional info the car might need: the locations of available parking spaces if the landing strip is at an airport, for instance, or local maps, navigational data, or rules. It could also push other information from local sources: live cameras, information about the location, and so on.

The title of the patent, “Transitioning a mixed-mode vehicle to autonomous mode” refers to this point in the process, after the person has parked or perhaps just driven over the landing strip, at which time the car would switch over to autonomous navigation.

It’s a neat process and there’s no conflict between the driver and the car. On the highway, for instance, things will be much more complicated: the humans will be watching that the car makes no mistakes and will be ready to grab the steering wheel if there’s an error. On the other hand, the car will be watching the human for mistakes, and will hit the brakes or warn the driver if there is danger. The landing strip is a more clear-cut handover.

Amazon: For The Third Week, Kindle (Including The Fire) Sales Have Surpassed 1 Million Per Week

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:01 AM PST

rocky-IV

The Kindle Fire is a hit and Amazon just released an impressive number to back up the widely accepted sentiment. Amazon is currently selling Kindles at a rate of one million per week as demand increases. Despite the huge sales numbers, Amazon has managed to keep the tablets and ereaders in stock and available for next day shipping. Even Apple couldn’t fulfill that sort of demand after the launch of either versions of the iPad.

Amazon’s budget tablet was a hit from the beginning. Even prior to its release, the tablet was the best-selling item on Amazon, kicking the e-ink Kindle from the top spot. But once it hit, customers haven’t stopped buying it. At its current rate of a million units sold per week, the Kindle family is actually outpacing the iPad’s post-launch sales rate. The iPad 2 saw a blockbuster initial first weekend with a million estimated sales but Apple quickly ran out of stock, causing a backorder wait of up to a month. Amazon must have been taking notes.

It can only get better for Amazon. Not only is the retailer selling Fires and Kindles like gangbusters, but both are essentially a mobile portal for all of Amazon. Consumers are buying the Kindle Fire and will in turn buy content from Amazon. It’s Amazon’s trojan horse indeed.

Update at 1:10: Updated the post because I messed up.

Samsung Galaxy Note LTE Headed For AT&T Next Year

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 08:46 AM PST

Samsung-Galaxy-Note-ATT

If you’re the type of person who looks at a Galaxy Nexus and wonders why it couldn’t be even bigger, then Samsung just might have a treat meant for you. According to PocketNow, Samsung will be bringing an LTE-capable version of Samsung’s Galaxy Note to AT&T early next year.

The Note, if you haven’t seen it before, is bound to strain a few pockets with its 5.3-inch Super AMOLED HD display. As you may be able to tell by the name, the Note’s big screen makes it a solid choice for avid note jotters, as does the included “S Pen” stylus.

Because AT&T will be getting the recently announced LTE variant, PocketNow mentions that the U.S. model will sport a Qualcomm SoC instead, specifically the dual-core 1.5GHz MSM8660 chipset. On paper, it looks like the Qualcomm chipset is just a hair faster than the 1.4GHz dual-core Samsung Exynos processor as seen in the standard Galaxy Note, but we’ll see if there’s any noticeable difference (hint: there probably won’t be).

From what we’ve seen in the past, the Note will probably ship with Gingerbread installed, unless Samsung manages to finish up their work on their Ice Sandwich update before they push this thing onto store shelves. Either way, prepare to play with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI all over again.

Sony Pins Its Future On Gaming

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 07:19 AM PST

ps-vita-004-19441

Sony can’t get much right these days. They’ve dissolved their partnership with Ericsson so they have no dog in the mobile fight and their Blu-Ray/3D TV push is, at best, an afterthought with consumers. Nobody wants Sony laptops, what with all the ultrabooks out there. The only thing that can save them is gaming.

The first great Sony hope is the Vita, Sony’s handheld gaming console. Designed to offer a superior gaming experience over the only other portable consoles, the Nintendo DSi and 3DS, the Vita is already selling out in Japanese pre-orders and could be next year’s hot selling gadget. None of the gaming greats except for Nintendo has progressed on the hardware front in years, so the Vita might be just the jolt Sony needs to survive.

But the Vita isn’t a sure thing, especially since Sony is hurting in multiple ways. As Reuters notes:

The videogames unit made a first profit in 5 years in the year to March, as it squeezed production costs for the Playstation 3, boosting profits for the whole company. The unit’s sales accounted for more than a tenth of Sony’s 7 trillion yen in total revenue.

This comes in conjunction with a fall in Sony stock after a major downgrade. Things couldn’t be worse. Sure, the Vita is interesting, but is it enough to pull the company out of the death spiral?

Sony played the wrong game for too long. Convinced they still had a say in the CE market, they pushed multiple technologies – Memory Stick, Blu-Ray, ATRAC – for far too long just as consumers were getting wise to their tricks. Their losing streak started when they lost the VHS/Betamax war, and there was no way they were going to sell an ATRAC-playing Walkman over an iPod.

These pointless battles distracted Sony management enough to ensure that the CE space wasn’t theirs anymore, resulting in a number of lower-priced, high-quality competitors that made Sony look like the Bose of TVs – too expensive for most people and with benefits too esoteric for many to understand.

In the end, I think Sony is done. Samsung owns the mobile space and much of the CE space. Vizio owns the low end. Gaming is still the wild card, but without a string of hits, 5 more years of profitless financial statements will not make the company much stronger.

Hands-On With WowWee’s AppGear AR Gaming Toys

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:55 AM PST

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WowWee, not content with creating singing Elvis heads, is branching out into AppGear Appcessories – apps that require AR-based accessories, allowing you to interact with real environments using an iPhone or iPod Touch. These games, arriving in stores in April, include a zombie game where you’re the zombies fighting off upset homeowners (What a twist!) and an air battle game that actually uses tiny foam planes attached to the front of your phone to simulate flying in three-dimensional space.

The games will cost $9.99 and include various collectable parts. For example, the zombie game, Zombie Burbz, includes four collectable figurines. Of of the figurines has a set of conductive pads on the bottom and, using the iPad’s multi-touch screen, you control the action by moving the figurine across the virtual board.

All of these concepts are quite cute. Mixing AR and gaming is a tough sell but I think WowWee has gotten it mostly right. One game, for, example, allows you to build a ray gun in real life and mix and match parts, resulting in odd weapons that do different things inside the game. It’s an interesting way to connect collectables with games.

Will it succeed? Meh. Kids are notoriously fickle and these sorts of things require an investment of time and effort that many casual gamers might now have. Why install a foam airplane when you can just fire up Angry Birds. That said, it’s a start and it can only get better. And the zombie game, in which the zombies eat garbage instead of brains, is pretty funny.
Click to view slideshow.

Acer To Cut Product Lines By Two Thirds In 2012, Bet Heavily On Ultrabooks

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:35 AM PST

ned-stark-game-of-thrones

Acer is in a bit of trouble. The company saw two consecutive quarters of net losses. Sales in the third quarter were up slightly from earlier in the year but still trailed year-over-year numbers by 30%. Things aren’t looking good for the house of Acer/Gateway/Packard Bell.

The company’s acting CEO, J.T. Wang, is a man with a plan. In an attempt to realign the company, he is going to cut two-thirds of the company’s vast product line up from current levels. It’s a drastic move considering the sheer amount of pink slips the company will hand out. In the United States market alone, Acer currently sells 101 individual notebook, netbook and chromebook SKUs. The company’s desktop, peripheral, and accessory lines are just as deep. Acer’s acting CEO wants to trim the fat and make things a bit more simple (and cost-effective).

The restructering is expected to take three years with the cheap Acer products apparently be the first to go. Acer’s previous CEO, Gianfranco Lanci, aimed for the low hanging fruit. It was a smart move and put the Acer brands on the map. During his time, Acer climb the PC shipment ladder, ultimately replacing Dell as the number two PC maker behind HP. But with sales lagging, it’s time for a change. Enter the ultrabooks.

Wang sees Acer offering one of the MacBook Air clones for as low as $699 in 2012, spurring enough growth to stall Apple’s steady growth. Wang is less optimistic about Android, though, and while acknowledging it will be a major platform in 2012, he stated to Digitimes that it will “only achieve flat performance in the future PC industry.”

Acer currently sells the Aspire S3 ultrabook and I found it to be a capable and less costly alternative to the MacBook Air. But unlike with Apple’s offering, ultrabooks will drop in price as makers once again race to the bottom. Apple is likely to keep prices steady as it has over the company’s entire existence. Once ultrabooks drop in price and consumer become more aware of the ultrathin notebooks, the new platform will no doubt prove to be a key product for most Wintel PC makers.



Autom The Diet Robot Now Shipping In Time Nog Season

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:08 AM PST

Screen Shot 2011-12-15 at 8.27.16 AM

I’ve been following Autom for years now, first interfacing with this happy little robot in China and then watching her grow into a young, intelligent diet robot. What does she do? She’s designed to help you lose weight by talking to you every day and getting to know your habits and peccadilloes.

Autom sits on your counter and asks what you’re eating. You tell her, through on-screen prompts, and she reminds you to weigh yourself and gives you moral support. Although you wouldn’t think a little plastic robot could help people shed the pounds, you’d be surprised by what a non-judgmental, plastic baby can do for your self-esteem. During testing, users began to dress their robots up in funny clothes and came to consider them friends.

You could argue that iPhone apps and other tools can do Autom’s job much more cheaply. However, the designers built Autom in a way that lets users interact with her in unique and highly personalized ways, ensuring you never get bored or forget to keep track of your food intake. She’s like a personal trainer that can’t move.

Quoth the website:

You have probably tried a weight loss program or two before. Maybe you’ve limited yourself to certain kinds of foods. Or counted to some magical number each week. Or tried to follow the prescriptions of a book or magazine article.
With Autom™, it’s not the diet itself that’s so important. Choose any diet and she’ll help you to really stick with it. She provides the motivation and support you need to succeed. As Amna shares in the video at the top of the page, Autom™ instantly became a part of her family.

Autom costs $199 and the weight loss service, which includes nutrition help, costs $20 a month. They’re offering TechCrunch readers free shipping with the coupon code “FREE_SHIPPING_CRUNCH” and we’ll be testing (and giving away) an Autom when they start sending them out.

Product Page



LG’s Optimus LTE Android Phone Goes On Sale In Japan

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 05:49 AM PST

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Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo has introduced LG’s awesome Optimus Android phone in Japan yesterday. It’s compatible to Docomo’s 4G service Xi and follows the launch of the handset in Korea and North America.

The Docomo version comes equipped with NFC and a digital TV tuner for Japanese users wanting to watch 1seg channels on the 4.5-inch, 1280×720 IPS display. LG did not build in an infrared connection, however (which many Japanese mobile subscribers got used to on their feature phones).

It also features other Docomo-specific bells and whistles, like access to the docomo market (the carrier’s Android marketplace), or the so-called “Palette UI” (an interface designed by Docomo for their Android phones). LG also manufactured a version in red, which is only available in Japan (in addition to the black version).

I had the chance to try the Optimus out in Tokyo (where I live) today, and the LTE connection was – not a big surprise – super-fast (see below).