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HP Goes Big with 21.5-inch Android Tablet

June 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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Hewlett-Packard appears to be bucking the trend once again in the tablet space, although this time it looks as if it will have less to lose than its first disastrous foray into the market. The company has introduced the HP Slate 21 AIO (All-in-One) that features a 21-inch display.

While tablets are gaining ground as a notebook replacement, this more than full sized offering could serve as a desktop replacement, although if you plan to hold it in your lap you might want to start super-sizing your meals now.

However you don’t need to worry about holding the Slate 21 AIO, it comes with a stand. It is powered by a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 4 processor and unlike many other members of the AIO family it will be running on the Android operating system, version 4.2.2 to be exact.

While it may look like a desktop replacement due to its size, the company is touting its ability to be a home entertainment tool that can be shared among members of a household. However it does have a HP desktop productivity software including KingSoft office software.

The tablet is expected in September and hopefully the company will unveil additional features previous to the launch of the $399 devices. It did say that it will have 8GB of storage and a MicroSD card slot for additional storage expansion and it will feature three USB ports and a high definition web-cam.

Interestingly the price makes it the lowest Slate AIO offering from the company, however its others have Windows as the operating system and the Android OS is free, while Windows is not. It will be interesting to see how well the device does, many tablets are used while watching television and this might make a perfect second screen for sports fans.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , ,

Toshiba Unveils a Trio of 10-inch Tablets

June 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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Looking for a new tablet and not interested in the smaller screen offerings? Well Toshiba is hoping that its latest product rollout will have something that fits the bill for every potential buyer out there as the company has introduced a trio of tablets.

The family will consist of the Excite Pure, Excite Pro, and Excite Write, all three of which will feature an 10.1-inch screen and they will all be using the Android 4.2 operating system with two of them, the Pro and Write will be powered by an Nvidia quad core Tegra 4 processor while the Pure will have a Tegra 3
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The Excite Pro features a 2560 x 1600 PixelPure high resolution display, 2GB of RAM and a32GB internal storage that can be expanded to 64GB with an optional MicroSD card. It includes an 8 megapixel rear camera and a 1.2MP front facing camera. There is an optional add-on keyboard as well.

The Excite Write is very similar under the hood to the Excite Pro using the same processor, same cameras, amount of RAM and screen. It has either 16GB or 32GB of storage that is also expandable to 64GB. The biggest difference is that it features a stylus pen and includes a number of apps that support note taking and other stylus activities. It also features integrated Harmon Kardon speakers.

The Excite Pure is the entry eve offering with a 1280 x 800 resolution display, 1GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB internal storage expandable to 64GB with optional MicroSD card, and a 3MP rear facing camera and a 1.2MP front facing camera. The Pure starts at $299.99 while the Write will have a $599 MSRP and the Excite Pro a $499 MSRP.

Of the three I think the most interesting will be the stylus-based Write. I have not seen many stylus users among tablet users, but that could be because the software ecosystem has not caught up with the idea yet. All of the tablets are expected to be available by the end of the month.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Nvidia, Tablets, Toshiba Tagged With: , , , ,

MLB Comes to TiVo-Is there a Player it Does Not support?

May 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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One of the advantages of having MLB.TV Premium subscription has always been that you can use a variety of platforms to watch and listen to games, but until MLB added TiVo I never realized how many it actually did support.

TiVo users can now watch MLB games, subject to certain limitations, and the app is designed to take advantage of select features that come with TiVo. MLB integrated TiVo’s standard playback functions into the app, including the ability to pause, fast-forward and rewind or skip game action.

The MLB.TV is set up to deliver game viewing and video stream in a picture-in-graphic (PIG) or an “L bar” window to view the score while watching a game. There are a range of additional features from the relatively mundane ones such as stats and standings, favorite team selection, a choice of home or away broadcasters, and calendar view to one called “Jump to Inning” that permits users to jump back to the beginning of any inning in the game.

The addition of TiVo support is in line with MLB’s approach of delivering its programming and games to its audience in as wide a manner as possible. It has a number of mobile devices supported including Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Then there is the huge number of devices that support Google’s Android operating system and most recently added was support for the BlackBerry Z10.

Now I was aware of all of these but the other, more stationary platforms caught me by a bit of a surprise, although I have watched games on two of the platforms. There is the Sony Playstation 3, Samsung TV and Blu-ray Disc Player, Apple TV, Roku Player and Boxee. Then of course there is also Xbox 360, Sony TV and Blu-ray players and Western Digital TV Live.

It is too bad that other sports do not actively follow the lead of MLB, but I guess that the broadcasting contracts most likely prohibit them from doing so. Fans of many teams, say in football, are constantly subjected to a limited number of teams on national broadcasts, and if you live outside of your teams home base you may only see them once or twice on broadcast TV a season.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, BlackBerry, Google, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Python S3 Tablet can boot Three Different Operating Systems

May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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The Python S3 is a tablet that has been just released by Italian developer Ekoore that has a feature that could help present true differentiation in the increasingly crowded tablet field; it can boot three very different operating systems.

The latest offering from the company has the ability to boot either Ubuntu Linux, Windows 8 or the Android operating system providing a great degree of flexibility for the user that matches the hardware flexibility that the platform presents.

The tablet comes with the option of having just a single operating system installed but if a user wishes the company will install all three. It features an 11.6-inch display with a 1366 x 768 resolution. It has an optional docking keyboard that also sports a second battery. It features built-in WI-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth and GPS.

The tablet is powered by Intel’s Celeron 847 dual core processor and the device will support a maximum of 8GB or RAM and comes with three storage options; 32GB, 64GB or 128GB. The tablet has a starting price of $770 and the optional keyboard runs $179. Moving up to greater storage will of course cost additional as well.

While this tablet certainly will not be the most powerful one on the market, it certainly can meet the developers’ vision of a multiuse, multiuser device.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Microsoft, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: ESPN Gets US Open, Qualcomm Adds Kaspersky

May 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The dangers of getting malware and viruses on Android devices could be lessened greatly due to a deal that has Qualcomm preloading security firm Kaspersky Lab’s mobile security products into Qualcomm’s silicon that is used to power over a 1,000 different smartphones.

According to Kaspersky the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor can be found in 770 commercially available or announced products as well as in another 550 products that are in some stage of the product design pipeline.


ESPN Gets US Open
ESPN has once again expanded its tennis coverage with the signing of an 11-year deal with the USTA, taking the coverage away from long time USTA broadcast partner CBS. The $770 million deal will start in 2015.

This deal will move the entire tournament to cable after an over the air broadcast run on CBS that started in 1968. CBS will be broadcasting the next two tournaments before its current contract expires.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone making market gains
Microsoft’s Windows Phone is slowly gaining a stronger position in the overall handset market and according to the latest numbers from market research firm International Data Corp. (as reported by Pocket-Lint) it has now passed the BlackBerry OS and moved into third place.

The leader, by a hefty margin, is the Android operating system, which has a 75% market share in the first quarter of 2013 followed by Apple’s iOS which has a 17.3% market share. Windows has 3.2% while BlackBerry has 2.9%.

Will Microsoft remake Windows RT
PC World has an interesting piece on the future of Windows RT, the alternative to Windows 8 for tablet users in the Microsoft world. Met with at best lackluster acceptance, analysts are saying the OEM pricing has to drop and the focus needs fine tuning.

Microsoft has said that it has no intention of killing the platform, which it is positioning as an alternative to the Android and Apple iOS platforms for users that do not want the Windows option either. However right now Apple still has a great deal of cache in the market while Android is offered for free so developers can easily undercut Windows RT devices.

Google announces streaming music service
In case you were out of touch this week Google held its annual Google I/O conference and there was a host of announcements that burst forth from the event. Probably the one that held the most interest is the unveiling of its streaming music service.

The Google Play All Music Access service is expected to rival an expected one from Apple as well as existing ones such as Spotify. It has many features similar to what Pandora offers including a thumb up or down on songs and the ability to load in your own music. It will have a $9.99 monthly fee.

Windows “Blue” due next month
The upgrade to Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, version 8.1 and commonly called Windows Blue, will be previewed on June 26 and will be available for free to over 100 million registered users of Windows 8.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, Google, iOS, Microsoft, Surface, Tablets, Tennis, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Nike Updates FuelBand iOS App

April 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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Nike has enhanced its popular iOS FuelBand app, moving the program into the realm of social media with greater hooks so that athletes that use the FuelBand can now quickly and easily share their activities.

The primary addition is the ability to directly post to Facebook, a move that now provides users with three alternatives when seeking to share results and compete with friends: Facebook, Nike+ and Contacts.

However the update has more than just the ability to share your latest accomplishments in the fitness arena, it also allows for customized photo sharing as well as a number of associated features such as location-tagged images.

The programs, which also enable commenting and other activities comes after Facebook made changes that opened its platform up to more fitness apps and allowed for the more easily sharing of data and images.

For those that have forgotten the FuelBand is a device that tracks users’ activities and is designed for them to set and track goals. Nike has been working to expand the apps and usages for its Nike+ platform, although Android users are still waiting for advances on that platform.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Facebook, Instagram, iOS, iPhone, Nike Tagged With: , , , ,
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