White Apple iPad 2: Shall we ever get it?

We all have heard and seen the picture of the legendary white iPhone but it never came to the stores. Rumor of a white color iPad 2 is now doing rounds on Internet. Apple would release the white-color iPad2 on March 2, 2011.

9to5Mac came up with the report. It showed picture of a white color iPad 2 bezel. It came from iFiYouri iPhone repair shop located in Shenzen, China. What makes it more credible is that the bezel has a hole at the top showing evidence that iPad 2 will carry a front facing camera.

Apple iPad 2 will be unveiled at the Yerba Buena Center for Arts in San Francisco, the same place where Apple unveiled the iPad in 2010 and last year and launched its first TV commercial at the 2010 Oscars.

Apple, to date, sold 15 million iPads all over the world. Let’s hope iPad 2 keeps that momentum and why not, it has many thing the first gen iPad missed except Flash support.

The new iPad 2 will be smaller and lighter than its predecessor . It will have next-generation A5 processor which is more powerful than the current A4 chip. It is expected to have a 12-hour battery back up.

Related article:

Digital Trends

Asus EeePad MeMo will come with MeMic and Android 3.0 Honeycomb

At the CeBIT fair, Asus revealed that its Eee Pad MeMo will run Honeycomb 3.0 by the time it is ready for launch. Asus also gave out specs of the device.

Asus Eee Pad MeMo has a bar-type design measuring 198.5mm x 116.8mm x 11.5mm and weighing less than 0.9 pounds. In addition, Asus Eee Pad MeMo will come with MeMic, a small Bluetooth handset that would allow MeMO users to take calls without holding the tablet PC. MeMic comes with a “translucent LCD display.” You can also stream music and media files on your MeMo tablet PC with MeMic. Here is a video clip of the Eee Pad Memo with MeMic:

Processor, memory & storage:

It is powere by a 1.2 GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 processor. It has 1GB of SDRAM and comes with 8GB/16GB/32GB/64GB eMMC Flash storage.

Display:

Eee Pad MeMo has a 7-inch WSVGA TFT capacitive touchscreen display with

1024 x 600 resolution. The tablet PC comes with a unique built-in stylus for handwriting input.

Camera:

It has a 1.2 mega pixel front-facing camera and 5 megapixel camera with LED Flash capable of recording 1080p video @ 30 fps.

OS:

ASUS Eee Pad MeMO will run Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb by June. The Asus EeePad prototype that had been showcased at CES 2011 ran Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The reason behind this delay is MeMo is a Qualcomm-based device and there is no “commercial grade Honeycomb port” for Qualcomm based devices. By June it will have a Honeycomb port.

Wireless communication and other features:

The Eee Pad MeMo has Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, 3G, and GPS. Other features include G-sensor, electric compass, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor and gyroscope. It has 1 micro-USB port, 3.5mm stereo headphone jack built-in dual speaker, 1 micro HDMI output port, and 1 micro SD port.

Battery:

The Eee Pad MeMo is powered by 4400mAh battery supporting up to 8-hours of video and music playback.

Launch:

As per the report of Liliputing.com, Asus Eee plans to offer the MeMo for between $499 and $699 in June.

Related article:

Uber Gizmo

Early signs indicate trouble for Content farms over Google’s Change of Algorithm

Just the other day, Google announced that it would try ‘to reduce rankings for low-quality sites’. The company did not mention the names of content farms like Demand Media, Suite101, Associated Content, Helium.com, Examiner.com and Hub Pages but it was clear to almost all the journalists and bloggers that Google has declared war against these content farms.

Demand Media officials are surely concerned but have managed to put up a brave face until now. It has perhaps helped the company to some extent at the stock exchange as the price of the share of Demand Media has not suffered until the Friday closing of the market.

Most probably, majority of share-holders felt that it was a temporary problem and Demand Media would come out of it almost unhurt. Well, early signs perhaps indicate just the opposite.

According to a Blog Post of Erik Sherman at BNET, most of the websites owned of Demand Media has suffered significant decrease in visitors in the short term. Erik Sherman got the information from Compete.com. Compete.com is a company that monitors and analyses Web Traffic in USA. According to Compete.com, not only Demand Media but also, Examiner.com is also suffering from decrease in traffic. However, Erik also wrote, "Examiner.com, which is not owned by Demand, saw a continuation of a traffic drop trend, so it’s unclear whether the site was actually hurt."

Helium.com also suffered a lot in the last few days as far as decrease in web traffic is concerned. 

Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 Windows 7 based tablet on Sale in Europe

Fujitsu showcased its Stylistic Q550 Windows 7 tablet was shown at CES 2011. On February 24, 2011, Fujitsu unveiled the device at a media briefing in Tokyo. The tablet PC is targeted towards enterprise people. In Japan, stylus based tablet PCs are very much popular and in the 90s Fujitsu was one of the top brands in this market. Now days, Fujitsu sells convertible tablet PCs.

We are excited to see this tablet as it is one of the first major devices in this field running on Windows 7 OS. It will be interesting to note whether Stylistic Q550 can offer a strong competition against iPad or Galaxy Tab in Europe at this moment.

About Fujitsu Stylistic Q550:

The device measures 10.8 inches x 7.6 inchesx 0.64 inches and weighs 1.6 lbs including battery. You can provide input via multitouch or pen. Here is a video clip of the device:

Hardware specs:

The tablet sports Intel Atom Z600 CPU (Oak Trail) processor, 2GB DDR3 RAM and optional Gobi radio with 14.4Mbps download and 5.76 Mbps upload over HSPA. You can choose between 32GB or 64GB SSD.

It has one USB 2.0 port and 3.5 mm headphone jack, and docking port. Wireless communication feature includes WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI port, 3G/HSDPA (optional), GPS (optional).

It has a front-facing 0.3 megapixel camera and 1.3 megapixel back-mounted camera.

Display:

The tablet has a 10.1-inch WXGA IPS display featuring four-finger multitouch input. You can also input data via stylus. Rugged PC Review reports:

The display size is 10.1 inches diagonally, but Fujitsu chose the 16:10 wide format over the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio of the iPad and HP's upcoming TouchPad. Resolution is 1280 x 800 pixel, i.e. a bit higher than the iPad's standard 1024 x 768 pixel XGA. The display has anti-glare treatment, a wide 160 degree vewing angle from all directions, and claims outdoor viewability with a strong 400 nits LED backlight.

OS:

Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 will run on Windows 7. You can choose between Home Premium or Professional. So, users who already use Windows 7 in their PC or laptops will find many things similar. At least, the user interface will be same and some of the programs should be almost identical too.

Microsoft is obviously happy with the launch of this tablet PC running on Windows 7 OS. Steven Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President of the OEM Division, Microsoft Corporation said, "Microsoft welcomes the release of the STYLISTIC Q550. "Windows® 7 is a great choice for commercial customers looking for a devices that enables the flexibility and mobility their businesses need to succeed. With Windows® 7, you get enterprise manageability, security, as well as the ability to run the applications used within organizations."

Battery:

You can choose between 2-cell (3.5 hours) or 4 cell Li-Ion battery (10 hour backup). Fujitsu is claiming that one of the biggest advantages of this tablet is SWAPPABLE BATTERY:

You work all day, so your slate has to keep up. The STYLISTIC Q550 gives you power to work all day long, and your battery is detachable in case you’ve got to work overtime. You’ll never be stuck searching for a socket when you should closing the deal.

So, if you are a serious user and you need good battery power then this tablet should be one of the things you should take a serious note.

Security feature:

Security is the most important feature enterprise people look for in a device and Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 comes with some impressive security features. The Advanced Theft Protection (ATP) technology and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) provides protection against hacking. It also has finger print reader and SmartCard reader. Business users are more interested about security as they often keep sensitive and information data in their portable devices. Data theft and data safety was and still is a major issue for laptops. Fujitsu has stated that it has put a lot of efforts to ensure better data safety for the tablet.

Launch:

The Stylistic Q550 will be launched in CeBIT 2011 that would take place in Hanover German from March 1-5, 2011. Pre-sales order will start from tomorrow. The price of the tablet will vary from region to region. In Europe, it will cost €699 (about $966). The device will have worldwide release in April 2011.

Final Words: We surely are going to keep an eye on Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 simply because it runs on Windows 7. The tablet market has totally become a two way race between iOS and Android as far as the Operating System is concerned. Any good device running on Windows 7 will give the consumers more choice. On the other hand, Microsoft has been struggling with its OS both in the smartphone and tablet market. Let us see if Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 can bring some change in fortune for the company.  
Related Articles

 Netbook News.com 

Slash Gear

Placecast joins AT&T Advanced Ad Solutions and rolls out ShapAlerts in the U.S.

On February 28, 2011, AT&T Advanced Ad solutions, in collaboration with Placecast, launched ShopAlerts on AT&T Network. Under this new service, a person passing through a shop that is having some sales offers will get a mobile alert.

Aside from containing information about special offers, the messages will contain information about weather, traffic, and details of the shopping area to further encourage the buyer.

This new service will be rolled out in four markets in the U.S.- New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. These locations have been chose for they are highly populated areas making them ideal for location based ad services. Seven companies- HP, Kmart, JetBlue, SC Johnson, Kibbles 'n Bits ('n Bits 'n Bits), Nature's Recipe, and the "got milk?" partnered with AT&T.

AT&T is further planning to launch the service all over the U.S in summer in order to get more partners into the service.

Aside from AT&T Placecast also partnered with European carrier O2 in October 2010.

Related article:

Engadget

Apple iPhone 5 will have larger display

The Verizon iPhone 4 excitement is history now. It is time to prepare for the Apple iPhone 5 rumor. It has been reported that the iPhone 5 will be unveiled in June.

Apple iPhone 5 will have a 4 inch screen. 9to5 Mac showed a picture from a Chinese reseller called iDealsChina which first came up with the image of the screen.

It is now clear that Apple is going for a major design overhaul of its famous smartphone. Apple has taken the clue from Google Android phones that come with large 4-inch screens. Apple iPhone 5 will also sport a new “integrated SIM card” that is easy to configure and would run on any carrier.

The new iPhone5 will have upgraded A4 processor called A5 along with a new Gobi WWAN chip which Apple used in Verizon iPhone 4. The Gobi WWAN Chip would work on both CDMA and GSM networks.

In another iPhone 5 rumor said that the new iPhone will sport a “multi-core A5 CPU powered with a dual-core graphics core” and feature Near Field Communication (NFC).

Related article:

International Business Times

Gmail users emails vanished: Google said to be working on a fix on Google Apps Dashboard

On February 28, 2011, more than 100,000 Gmail users found that all their emails had vanished from their email accounts. Google, the owner of the Gmail, was working on fixing a problem which resulted into the disappearance of emails.

After the incident, Gmail Forum started to receive lots of complaints from people losing their emails. Many Gmail users said that all their messages, labels and settings have been changed.

On its Apps Status dashboard, Google said that it is not a serious matter. Only fewer than 0.08 percent of Gmail users suffered from this problem and Google has already restored some of the emails. TG Daily reports:

Affected inboxes have been returned to their original settings, which means that not only have all emails vanished, along with attachments, but so have any customized settings, filters and the like. Users simply see the same welcome message as completely new users.

There had been a problem on the Google Apps dashboard and officials are working on it and the affected Gmail accounts had been disabled for the time being.

This is really scary because I am also one of those many people who use gmail as their main email account.

All about HTC Flyer Tablet PC

HTC unveiled its Flyer tablet PC on February 15, 2011 at the Mobile World Congress 2011. The sleek looking tablet packs some great features. HTC also introduced some new upgrades and new services with the tablet PC.

Display: HTC Flyer comes with a 7-inch display with 1024 x 600 resolution. Compared to recently released 10.1-inch Motorola Xoom, Flyer’s display resolution is not that good, but still users should reportedly be able to watch Youtube videos, movies and play games without much hiccups.

A pressure sensitive stylus would also come with this tablet which would make the navigation easier for the users.

Processor, Memory and Storage: HTC Flyer would feature Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 1.5GHz single-core processor. Though many reported that the processor is pretty much fast, but this single-core processor may come short on multi-tasking compared to the tables like Xoom featuring dual-core processors.

Flyer will also have 1GB of internal memory (RAM) and 32GB of flash storage.

Camera: This tablet from HTC would feature two cameras- a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera and a 5 megapixel camera on the back. The good side of the front-facing camera is that users can make video phone calls. The rear camera will have LED flash and facial recognition technology.

Connectivity and Port/s: HTC Flyer supports 3G and features HSPA. Users will reportedly get download speed of 144 Mbps and upload speed of 576 Mbps. The device will have a HDMI port and feature DLAN for wireless internet access.

Design: The heavily-built design of HTC Flyer would attract those who are looking for a tablet PC for rough use. Its aluminum-built exterior would make it a durable device and users would love to carry it while travelling. However, it is not very light compared to other 7-inch tablets mainly because of its processor.

OS:

HTC Flyer will come with Android 2.4 Gingerbread. The problem with the Gingerbread is that it is not optimized for tablet PCs. Well, the good news is: Flyer will launch with 2.4 and then upgrade to Honeycomb in Q2.

• HTC Flyer hands-on
• |
• CNET UK

Software

The tablet will support OnLive Inc.’s cloud-based gaming service. Customers can get this service via broadband wireless. HTC Watch, a video download service will offer HD movies. HTC Scribe is a great feature of the HTC Flyer tablet. It features “integrated digital ink” that allows people to take notes, sign contracts or draw pictures. Here is another video clip of HTC Flyer.

HTC  Flyer comes with the upgraded version of HTC’s Sense UI. CNET UK reports:

Sticking to the older version of Android has given HTC the time to customise the interface significantly. We haven't seen the Flyer's user interface in action yet, but HTC told us that it's tweaked all of its apps to take advantage of the tablet's extra screen space. For example, the email app will have two panels, showing your inbox and an email at the same time.

Another major feature of the HTC Flyer tablet PC is its digitizer technology. HTC worked with a company named N-Trig that provides digitizers for convertible PCs. HTC also developed its own writing software called HTC Scribe. HTC Flyer comes with a capacitive touchscreen and pressure-sensitive stylus. HTC Scribe is a great addition. HTC Flyer also integrates Evernote, the note taking app. Users can take notes and change the color of the ink. You can also scribble over images in the image gallery. Here is a video clip:

Launching:

According to DigiTimes, the HTC Flyer will become available in the U.S in March followed by worldwide release in the second quarter. 

Battery life and Price: Since HTC Flyer has not come to the market yet, detailed information about its battery or its price is not available. According to some websites, battery power is disappointing: “. The Apple iPad offer 10 hours video playback, while the Flyer can only manage 4 hours.” As for the price, it will be somewhat cheaper than iPad. And according to Cnet, the price will be around $674.

Flyer vs iPad

Whenever a new tablet comes it is natural to make a comparison with the iPad. It can be easily said that HTC Flyer will not be an iPad killer. In fact, we think that they will address totally different markets. HTC has good market visibility in many countries of Asia and Europe. So, HTC may try to make its tablet popular in countries where Apple is not strong. In the US market, we don’t think that Flyer would be able to pose any threat for iPad.

Flyer vs other Android Tablets

Flyer is going to face serious competition against other Android based tablets. Of course, the name of Samsung Galaxy Tab comes to my mind and Galaxy Tab is already popular in some parts of Asia including Korea. Motorola has already launched Xoom and it is running on Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS. So, people who can afford would go for something with Honeycomb perhaps. HTC needs to find its own niche as soon as possible. We wish that HTC focuses on the price issue. Still, it is too early to rule Flyer out as HTC has already proved in the smartphone market that it has some amazing capabilities to shine with Android.

Availability: Our suggestion to HTC is Flyer should be made available in as many countries as possible. After HTC has good global coverage with its handsets.

Final Words: HTC will find it difficult to become successful with Flyer tablet PC unless they make some dramatic improvements. Galaxy Tab is already a popular name and Motorola is trying a lot with its Xoom. So, HTC has to act aggressively either on pricing or on performance. At this moment, the company has not have any edge on neither of these two grounds over Samsung or Motorola. 

HTC Incredible S, Desire HD, Desire Z and Desire will get Gingerbread in the second quarter of 2011

The HTC Incredible S, Desire HD and Desire Z and the original HTC Desire will get on the air upgrade to Android 2.3 Gingerbread by the end of June.

HTC unveiled its latest HTC Incredible S at the Mobile World Congress 2011. The Desire HD and Desire Z were launched in September 2010 and were launched in Europe and Asia in October.

The original HTC Desire was announced in Mobile World Congress 2010 and was launched in April. Initially it came with Android 2.1.

The HTC Desire S and Wild Fire S will come with Android 2.3 pre-loaded.

According to the latest report of uSwitch, a “telephone comparison and switching service,” based in the U.K, HTC Desire is the most favorite smartphone in the region. The site collected data via its Mobile Tracker. It ranked phones based on live searches and sales figure.

HTC Desire came up at the top spot followed by HTC Desire HD and HTC Wildfire. The BlackBerry Curve 8520 was in fourth place followed by Samsung Galaxy S in the fifth position.

The Apple iPhone 4 went down to sixth position. It continually lost its position to Android smartphones since January 2011.

Related articles:

Slash Gear

PC World.com

Archos Brining Low Budget Tablet PCs

Motorola Xoom has been released recently and the tablet is considered as the first tough competitor for Apple’s iPad. However, Xoom’s high price could make you think twice before spending your money. There are many who cannot just afford to have a tablet pc. If you are one of them, then Archos’ low-priced tablet PCs are just for you.

Archos has brought two tablets priced under $200. There are two tablets- one is 8-inch and another one is 10-inch. The 8-inch Archos Arnova device features 4GB of storage (integrated) and a microSD slot. Powered by Rockchip RK2818, the tablet is priced at $149.

Archos Arnova 10-inch tablet features Rockchip RK2818 processor, a touchscreen with 1024×600 resolution. It also has 8GB integrated storage and a front facing camera. This device is priced at $199.

Related article:

onlinesocialmedia

Demand for PCs had a healthy growth in Q4 of 2010

These day, we are perhaps too excited with smartphones and laptops and some experts have already started to say goodbye to the good old PC- both desktop and laptop. Well, as far as PSc for business is concerned, a healthy improvement has been noted in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to the same time of 2009. According to Digitimes, there has been 7.2% growth in shipments of PC for business on a year to year growth.

HP, Dell and Lenovo all been benefited from this good news. They had seen their unit shipment to grow. However, it did not bring any benefit for Acer. Perhaps the main reason that Acer did not get any benefit is that the company focused on Europe a lot. European countries are yet to come out from the worst of the economic recession.

Acer wants to change its fortune in 2011 by focusing more on the Chinese market. This increase in the demand for PC has perhaps happened because both America and Asia have almost come out of the bad impact of the recession that plagued the world in 2009.

By the way, PC for business included both laptops and desktops. So, you should not simply write the good old PC yet.

Review and All about Motorola Xoom Tablet PC

On January 5, 2011, Motorola unveiled the Xoom tablet PC at CES 2011 and the device won the Best Tablet of CES 2011 and Best Gadget of the Show awards by CNET. The Xoom has some great features such as front- and rear-facing cameras, larger screen with higher resolution, and Flash support.

Display and Graphics: Xoom features a 10.1-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, and thus, defeating iPad in terms of both display size and resolution. However, some reviewers encountered problems in pixel density and suggested a software update for the auto-brightness feature.

Processor, Memory and Storage: Motorola Xoom comes with some powerful specs. It is powered by 1GH Nvidia Tegra 2 processor which is world’s first mobile dual-core CUP and is capable of multitasking. The device also packs in 1GB of DDR2 RAM as well as 32GB of storage.

Connectivity: Motorola Xoom currently supports 3G, but later on, a hardware swap by Motorola or operator Verizon could make the 4G LTE technology available for the users. The device also features WiFi 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A. It also supports GPS, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and has a light sensor as well as an accelerometer.

USB and other Port/s: The tablet PC has a micro USB and a mini HDMI ports. Users will also find a microSD slot which is currently has no use, but a software update from Google would reportedly make the slot useable.

Design and which buttons exist where: Design-wise Motorola Xoom does not give anything special compared to Apple iPad. In fact, on the first look, users may find it pretty much similar to iPad. Well, that does not mean that it has not got a good design. In fact, Xoom’s design, except few hiccups, is expected to satisfy the users.

On the front users will find only glass, while the back and two sides of Xoom are made up of machined metal with a matte black finish found in the one running on Verizon. The device has curved corners. The front-facing camera exists at the center of the top panel. There are few important buttons placed in the casing of Xoom.

First of all, two volume buttons are placed on the left side. On top of the volume buttons, which are a bit low and so difficult to use, users will find a slot for using 4G LTE SIM and microSD card. Dock sensors, Micro USB and mini HDMI jack- all are found on the bottom of the device. On the back side of the device, power/sleep button are found just adjacent to camera lens and flash; along the same line are two stereo speakers. There is a serious problem with power/sleep button. Reviews available in the media say that the device often tends to turn off while working on it placing on a surface.

Form Factor: Motorola Xoom is 9.8 inches wide, 6.6 inches tall and half inch thick; it weighs 1.5 pound. Overall, it is a solid mobile device that users would live to carry while travelling.

OS:

The Motorola Xoom tablet will be powered by Google’s latest version of Android, Android 3.0 aka Honeycomb which provides users with true multi-tasking experience and designed specifically for tablets. The UI of the Android 3.0 is far better than its predecessors. Engadget reports:

From a visual standpoint, we could most easily explain that Android 3.0 looks very much like the world of Tron. Think soft focus neon and cold, hard digital angles. A homescreen which phases between panels with a blue, ghosting glow that represents your last and next page. When you place items on the homescreens, you see a distant patchwork of grid marks, and a vector outline of where your icon or widget will eventually land. Even in the app list, you see electric blue representations of your icons before the icons themselves. The effect is angular, but the feel is still very human -- like a cross between the "chromeless" environment of Windows Phone 7, and the photorealism of webOS or iOS. It absolutely works. From the overall look and feel down to the method in which you get widgets onto your pages or change the wallpaper, everything is new here.

Unfortunately, the Android market does not have many applications that would run on the 10.1-inch Xoom screen. You can run Google Body, a newspaper reading application called Pulse and games called Corby. The Xoom tablet will support 3D content but there are not much 3D content for the tablet.

Launching and Price:

As reported, the Motorola Xoom has been launched in the first quarter of 2011. Initially, it will support Verizon’s 3G network and can be upgraded to 4G LTE in the second quarter this year. After that, Motorola will sell Xooms that support 4G.

The 32GB 3G Xoom will cost $800 with no contract. You can also buy it for $600 with a two year contract with Motorola. You will have to sign up for $20 1GB monthly data plan. In two years, your total expense would be $1080. This makes Xoom more expensive than the 32GB 3G iPad which costs only $729.

Motorola CEO said that a 32GB Wi-Fi only version of the Xoom tablet PC will be available and it will be priced at $600.

Performance:

In terms of performance, Motorola Xoom does not fall short compared to Apple iPad. It is a great device and very fast. The webpages load very quickly and you can swap screens quickly. The 10.1 inch screen with 150 ppi is ideal for playing games, watching movies or TV shows or reading books. Xoom also has a great battery back up (10 hours). However, it can not be said for sure if it would run that long for it does not have the Adobe Flash for the time being.

The problem is not on the hardware front but on the software front. There are not many good applications aside from games that would run on Xoom tablet and would fulfill the needs of Xoom tablet users. Apple App store has 60,000 applications that have been specifically designed to run on iPad.

Another big drawback is watching movie or TV content or download music on Motorola Xoom is not as smooth like the iTunes. The iPad has built in support and you can just start watching movies or TV shows or download songs just after you unpack your iPad but that is not the case with Motorola Xoom.  Here is a video clip of Motorola Xoom tablet PC:

Software:

The Movie Studio, the movie software of the Xoom tablet is slow in clip editing and quite slow when it comes to playback video clips. Google talk works seamlessly with the Android Honeycomb. It integrates your account very smoothly and uses both voice and video conversations. Gmail, though revamped, has too many hidden features and it is quite confusing when you are using various functions. The browser works perfectly but it identifies your device as smartphone and shows small webpages which you would find very uncomfortable on the big screen. YouTube has also been revamped and there is a 3D feel. The YouTube interface is like a big wall of videos with small windows showing different videoclipss at the same time.  The Android music player has been revamped and now it not only looks beautiful but becomes easy to use. The current Xoom does not come with Adobe Flash support but it will support Adobe Flash 10.2 instead of 10.1 in near future.  

Battery Power: The first thing that comes to our mind about Xoom’s battery is that ‘The battery is non user-replaceable’. The main reason for it is that the company thinks that the users might damage the tablet while changing the battery. If it happens then the user will not get the warranty behind the product.

About batter power, we are quoting from the official website:

BATTERY TYPE 24.5 W-hr, BROWSING OVER 3G up to approx. 9 hrs., BROWSING OVER WIFI up to approx. 10 hrs., MP3 PLAYBACK up to approx. 3.3 days. STANDBY TIME2 up to approx. 14 days, VIDEO PLAYBACK TIME

up to approx. 10 hrs.

As for the price, it is priced at $799 (unsubsidized) while WiFi-only version is $600.

Xoom vs iPad and iPad 2: Xoom has been launched at a time when iPad 2 is supposed to unveiled on March 2, 2011. So, a lot of attention will be shifted to the second version of Apple’s tablet. Right now, Xoom will have to compete with the original iPad and it will be an interesting competition because both Apple and Motorola are American companies and they are strong in the US market.

Competition with Galaxy Tab and other Android run Tablets: Since Xoom runs on Android, the main competition should take place with Samsung Galaxy Tab. Xoom has one advantage in this regard now: it runs on Honeycomb or Android 3:0 version. On the other hand, Galaxy Tab has already emerged as the most popular Android based tablet PC. So, we are eagerly waiting for the result of the competition between Xoom and Galaxy Tab. Galaxy Tab has another important advantage at this moment. It is available in many countries in the world. Even in USA, Galaxy Tab is available in all the 4 major carriers. So, it seems that Xoom has some catching up to do. Another notable competition may come from BlackBerry PlayBook of RIM.

Availability: Verizon Wireless introduced Motorola Xoom. Right now, the device is only available in America. It is expected that Xoom will be available in Canada in March 2011 while Europeans will get it on the second quarter of 2011. No information about an Asian launch can be found yet.

Final Words: Motorola has entered into the tablet PC market with its Xoom. It is not an easy battle because Apple has emerged as the 800 lb gorilla inthis field with its iPad. Samsung has also seen good success with its Galaxy Tab. Motorola has already failed to regain its position in the mobile phone industry. It hardly can afford to fail in the tablet device market now.

Richard Branson: Enjoy what you're doing

Richard Branson is a very successful man and he has achieved the kind of success that many of us cannot even dream of. He is a successful entrepreneur who ventured on different projects from the age of 16. Sometimes, he suffered losses but most of the time, he achieved huge success. Mr. Branson has written an article titled: 5 Steps to Start a Business and Make it Work

There, has given five tips for anyone who wants to become a successful entrepreneur. The first idea is- Enjoy what you're doing. This may sound like a cliché but it is indeed the biggest factor in your success.

For example, I achieved some success in writing about South Asia, Business and Sports because I enjoy all of them. On the other hand, I could never enjoy any significant success in writing about technology because until now, I did not enjoy it.

Another area that I could not enjoy any success is entertainment and movies. The reason is same here. It is not something that I enjoy a lot writing about.

You see when you do not enjoy something then your mind comes out with too many nonsense and logical excuses and you cannot work hard on it from your heart. The same thing happened to me while blogging about technology and gadgets. The funny thing is that in my own city, I have been writing about computer and Internet for more than 11 years I have achieved decent amount of success.

Well, the good part is that now I enjoy writing about technology and I can write more than past. Coming back to Richard Branson, there are another 4 tips to and I agree with all of them. 

Groupon revenue reached $760 million in 2010: Expects billion dollar revenue in 2011

Famous daily deal website, Groupon Inc. saw a revenue of $760 million in 2010. In an internal memo forwarded to Groupon employees earlier this year, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason revealed the matter. He further said that the company would earn billions in 2011.

He also wrote that, "By this time next year, we will either be on our way to becoming one of the great technology brands that define our generation, or a cool idea by people who were out executed and out innovated by others that were smarter and harder working,"

In 2009, Groupon Inc.’s revenue stood at $33 million. Of the $760 million revenue of the company $285 million came from overseas accounting for more than a third of the sales mad by the company.

However, Andrew Mason also warned that the company is currently facing major competitions from many other deal websites. The website was launched in November 2008. In 2010, Google made an offer to Groupon Inc. The search engine giant offered $6 billion offer, the highest in its history of acquisition. However, Groupon refused the offer.

Related article:

The Wall Street Journal

Reuters

BMW goes after Web Entrepreneurship: Invests $5 million in MyCityWay

When it comes to online business, the name of BMW does not ring any bell to us as it is a famous brand in the car industry. However, the automaker has realized the potential of Internet and has set up a venture capital company called BMW i Ventures. One strong indication that BMW has taken this company seriously is that it is going to keep $100 million for this project. The first $5 million has been invested in a company called MyCityWay.

Watch the video from YouTube about this partnership:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWV4MSQFulY&feature=player_embedded#at=62

My City Way develops apps for smartphones and the apps are targeted for local information in different cities. At first, the company targeted New York and now, it will cover many cities in Europe and USA. Users can get information and at the same share and create information on local topics. So, it is helpful not only for the tourists but also for the local residents.

In New York, nearly half a million people use MyCityWay apps. In the video, it was stated that the users can get all kind of information about the city in real time. MyCityWay is already active in 40 cities in USA and the money coming from BMW would help the company to reach out to the consumers in Europe and Asia. BMW is based in Munich, Germany and you don’t get any point for successfully guessing that MyCityWay will be able to the people in Munich from now on with the money of BMW. 

Google goes after Content Farms At Long Last

A number of content farms sprang up in Internet in the last 2-3 years. Economic recession in USA meant many people lost jobs and content farms got inexpensive workers to write on every topic imaginable. There is nothing wrong if the information is useful but the main goals of all the content farms is that their articles or entries would be at the top of Google results.

At long last, Google has officially declared war against content farms and this would make many bloggers like me very happy. I am not claiming that my content is superb but as an Internet user, I depend on Google.

According to the official Google Blog, the company has made some important changes in search algorithm and as a result, 11.8% queries are now showing different results. The goal is to decrease the rankings of ‘low-quality sites’. Google has given a definition of such sites, ‘sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.’. So, the search Engine wants high quality content that is valuable for people and is originally created to get good ranking in search results.

We are happy with this update from Google, what about you? 

Apple iPad 2 will be unveiled on March 2

On February 23, 2011, Apple sent out official invitations to media people with image containing an iOS calendar icon with the date March 2, 2011 being peeled away revealing an iPad. Below is a message saying “Come see what 2011 will be the year.”

The event would take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco where Apple unveiled its first Apple iPad in 2010.

The new iPad will be smaller and lighter than the first generation iPad and will have a front facing camera to support FaceTime feature. It will have Imagination Technologies' newer SGX543 graphics and video core processor.

According to Ming-Chi Kuo, analyst, Concord Securities, said that Foxconn will build some where between 4.5 million and 5 million iPad 2 units in the first quarter of 2011 followed by an additional 3million to 4 million units in April. Foxconn manufactures iPad for Apple and Concord Securities closely watches Foxconn.

Related article:

International Business Times

Apple unveiled its refreshed MacBook Pro laptops

On February 24, 2011, Apple unveiled its new line of MacBook Pro laptops. The MacBook Pro laptops were last updated in April 2010.

The new models come with same aluminum unibody design and glass multi-touch trackpad.

The refreshed MacBook Pro laptops comes with Intel’s latest dual-core and quad-core Intel Core processors, making the new MacBook Pros faster than its predecessors.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro is equipped with a 2.7GHz Core i5 processor. It has an integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 chip. The 15-inch and 17 inch MacBook Pro models sport Core i7 processors with up to 2.3GHz clockspeed. The 15-inch and 17-inch versions have AMD Radeon HD processors with up to 1GB of memory.

The most prominent feature in all the new MacBook Pro models is the Thunderbolt connectivity port which Apple developed in collaboration with Intel. Codenamed LightPeak, the port runs on copper cables and can simultaneously transfer data both ways at up to 10GBps. It supports PCI Express, FireWire, USB, and Gigabit Ethernet.

The new MacBook Pros have built-in FaceTime HD camera with three times the resolution of previous camera. All of them has up to 7-hours of battery backup.

The 13-inch model price starts at $1,199, the 15-inch at $1799 and 17-inch $2499.

Related article:

Computer World

Barnes & Noble has now 25% market share of E-book Reader with Nook

When it comes to e-book readers, the only thing that perhaps comes to our mind immediately is Amazon’s Kindle. It is very popular and could survive very well amidst the growing popularity of tablet devices like iPad. It seems that Nook of Barnes & Noble is also going to survive as the company has seen healthy growth in its revenue in the last one year.

Cnet wrote:

As for the good news, revenue was up 7 percent to $2.3 billion compared with the year-earlier period and the company claims it now owns a 25 percent share of the e-book market in the U.S.
"We intend for Barnes & Noble to be a leader in the exploding market for digital content," said William Lynch, Barnes & Noble's CEO. "We now represent 25 percent of the e-book market in the U.S., larger than our share in physical books. We sell twice as many e-books as all formats of physical books combined on BN.com."

Barnes & Noble now spends a lot of money on research and development of Nook and this investment is slowly paying off. Many people thought that the days of e-book readers were going to be numbered because of the onslaught of tablet devices powered by iOS and Android. Google and Apple both have taken this market seriously.

It is impossible to match up the budget of Amazon, Google and Apple but Barnes & Noble is not doing badly with its Nook at least in the US market. 

Apple’s Two Way Attack on Motorola Xoom Tablet

Motorola Xoom tablet is all set to be released on 24 February and this first tablet running on Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS will be available at Verizon and Best Buy stores in the US. This 10.1-inch tablet PC is also thought to be the first serious competitor for Apple iPad.

However, Apple is plotting a two-way attack on its competitor. First, it would release the much talked-about 11-inch MacBook Air ultraportable on the same day Xoom would be available on the stores. Then Apple is going to unveil iPad2 on 2nd of March at San Francisco.

Some may question how Apple’s MacBook Air could be a threat for Xoom tablet. Well, both the devices are ultraportable and mobile, and users can comfortably carry them while travelling and both come in similar price range. So, it seems users might intend to compare between MacBook Air and Xoom before spending their money.

Now, when it comes to a comparison between MacBook Air and Xoom, it seems MacBook Air may narrowly come out as winner given the features available on both devices. Xoom users may enjoy front and rear camera as well as 4G LTE, but MacBook Air also has its strong points to defeat the Motorola device.

MacBook Air users can feel the desktop experience with a physical keyboard coming with it. Moreover, they can also download apps from Apple’s app store.

Moreover, reports have it in the media that Apple is going to unveil iPad2 next week. So, it seems people would wait to know what iPad is offering before spending their money on Xoom. Overall, it seems to be Apple’s two-way attack on Motorola Xoom.