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Sep

Barnes & Noble Launches 7" NOOK HD And 9" HD+, A Duo Aiming To Beat Competition With Better Displays, Lower Prices

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Barnes & Noble, News, NOOK HD, NOOK HD+

Looking to steal some of Amazon's limelight, Barnes & Noble tonight announced a new duo of NOOK devices that seem to take aim directly at Amazon's newest additions to the Kindle Fire family.

For some reason, B&N's press release covering the announcement focuses primarily on the tablets' weight – both the 7" NOOK HD and its 9" HD+ counterpart are the "lightest HD and full HD tablets," with the HD+ earning the title of "lightest, lowest-priced full HD tablet ever." There's so much more to the new set of NOOK tablets, though. First, let's take a look at some shots.

Sep

Wi-Fi Alliance Launches Miracast Certification Program – Samsung Galaxy SIII And LG Optimus G Among Devices Already Certified

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Galaxy S III, News, Optimus G

Wi-Fi Alliance, the go-to association for certification of wireless LAN technologies, today announced the launch of its Miracast certification program.

For those unaware, Miracast is a new wireless display technology that allows users to "transmit" or stream video or other media content from one device to another quickly, easily, and wirelessly using Wi-Fi Direct. The technology essentially offers a mirrored display experience with low latency and responsiveness that's just what you'd hope for.

A major benefit of Miracast is that it is expected to become a standard used across a wide range of products from an even wider range of manufacturers.

Sep

Sony Launching PlayStation Store Next Month For Certified Devices, PlayStation Mobile SDK Available For Developers In November

Posted by John Thompson in News, Sony

Sony has announced that it will launch its PlayStation Store next month, bringing PlayStation Mobile titles to certified devices across 9 countries.

Previously, most of these titles were restricted to Sony's own Android phones, but the company has struck a deal that will bring 30 new titles from a variety of genres to selected Fujitsu and Sharp smartphones as well. This may not be big news for stateside customers, but it's particularly significant in the Japanese market.

According to the press release, the service will start in nine countries - Japan, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Australia - on October 3rd, with more countries to be announced in the future.

Sep

awesome-amazon-mp3-now-matches-your-imported-music-to-its-own-library-and-gives-you-256kbps-versions-plus-a-lot-more

Amazon Cloud Player Now Available In The UK, Premium Storage Priced At £21.99 Per Year

Posted by John Thompson in Amazon, News

Hot on the heels of its Kindle Fire launch in the UK, Amazon has now made its Cloud Player available to British customers.

Like the U.S. Cloud Player, any purchases made on Amazon's MP3 store can be stored online free of charge. If users want to upload their music library to Cloud Player, they can store 250 tracks for free. Users with larger libraries can pay £21.99 per year for the premium service, which can store up to 250,000 tracks. Songs that have been uploaded can then be played back on any Android phone, tablet, Mac, or PC using Amazon's app or web interface.

Sep

Acer Reportedly Cancels Announcement Of Aliyun-Powered Smartphone Following Google Warning, Says Alibaba

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Acer, Android OS, Google, News, Rumors

Earlier this evening, Nasdaq reported that Taiwanese manufacturer Acer decided to cancel a press conference scheduled for Thursday, which would have seen the announcement of Acer's CloudMobile A800.

The smartphone, which would have been unveiled in Shanghai, was set to run on Aliyun, a mobile OS developed by a Chinese Internet firm called Alibaba Group, the largest internet firm in China by transactions. Acer indicated that the press conference was canceled after Google, according to Nasdaq, "expressed concerns about the smartphone."

An anonymous official at Acer commented that "Acer will continue to communicate with Google and the company still wants to launch the new smartphone based on Alibaba software."

Sep

Marvel (Sort Of) Releases 'Avengers Initiative,' The First In A Series Of Avengers-Themed Gaming Content

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

It's difficult to put out a $1.5 billion movie and not expect a few major product tie-ins. Marvel, today, "released" (we'll get to that in a bit) a new game for Android called "Avengers Initiative." This $7 app stars the Hulk, as the green loose cannon battles some of his most notorious villains, including Wendigo, the Abomination, and even the infamous Skrulls. The game will only be available for select Android devices to start with.

Curiously, though, despite the game being available on the Play Store, it doesn't seem to be active. There is a list of devices that will be supported (including the HTC One X, Galaxy S III, Nexus 7, and many other flagship phones and tablets), however it can't actually be installed just yet.

Aug

[Leak] Google Play Store Gift Cards May Land In Stores On August 26th

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Rumors

I bet you never thought you'd read so many rumors about gift cards! Well, if our latest tipster's info is accurate, you won't be hearing them much longer. According to an internal image sent to us, the gift cards should be ready to hit store shelves on August 26th. The leak comes from internal systems at Target which, a certain eagle-eyed commenter has pointed out, would not be the first time we've seen a leak from this company.

According to this information, the gift card displays should have a couple empty slots until the Play Store cards arrive. While it's entirely possible that Google intended to launch them a bit earlier—the code in the Play Store apk and the high number of leaks could raise an eyebrow—it's idle speculation at best.

Aug

[New App] Mobint Joins The 4.0+ Launcher Party With Jelly Bean-Inspired Holo Launcher HD

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

Mobint, the dev team behind the original Holo Launcher (for Android 2.2+ devices), decided to jump into the Android 4.0+ launcher party recently with their latest entry in the Play Store – Holo Launcher HD.

Holo Launcher HD, like its older counterpart, gives your home screen the 4.x panache we've come to know and love, but is specifically modeled after Jelly Bean, and is only compatible with devices running 4.0 and above.

Besides providing a smooth Jelly Bean aesthetic, the launcher has plenty of customizable options, making it a competitive entry in the current fray of ICS/JB launchers. Users can add up to 9 home screen pages, each with icon grids up to 10x10, utilize a scrollable dock with up to 7 icons per page, use gestures to open apps (something that can't be said of Nova's free offering), and apply icon packs compatible with either ADW or Launcherpro, in addition to a handful of other handy features.

Aug

Negri Electronics Tweets Pics Of The Galaxy Note 10.1, Says It "Ships 8/3" - Color Us Confused

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy Note 10.1 (GT-N8000 / N8010 / N8013), News

Well, this is...odd. To say the least. Tonight, Negri Electronics, which is a well-respected and reputable dealer in consumer electronics, tweeted the picture of a partially-unboxed Galaxy Note 10.1, claiming that the device "Ships 8/3", and included the hashtag "#beforefirst." It's a little unclear what "#beforefirst" means. Maybe Negri gets to ship the product before everyone else? Or is it that pre-orders are starting? You can pre-order on Negri's site right now, so maybe that's it. However, the ship date of tomorrow sounds, well, sudden.

For starters, there are not one but two Samsung events coming up in the near future.

Aug

Chameleon Launcher Beta Arrives To The Play Store For Pre-Registered And Kickstarter Users [Initial Hands-On Screenshots]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Chameleon Launcher, a highly anticipated launcher replacement for Android tablets, has just released the initial beta version of the app into the Play Store. While everyone with a compatible device can download it, you will need to have an invitation, whether from your Kickstarter pre-order or pre-registration (say, if you're a member of the press or a private beta tester).

If you think you're part of the private beta, head over here (replace YOUR_EMAIL with your pre-reg email address and YOUR_NAME with your name) and associate your registration email with your Play Store account, then grab the app from the Play Store and fire it up.