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Kobo Vox eReader offers now full access to Google Play

The headline would make more sense if it read “Android Market access,” as opposed to “Google Play access,” but that wouldn’t be technically correct thanks to the Android Market’s rebranding.

In any event, Kobo’s Android-powered Vox eReader - the company’s answer to the B&N Nook or Amazon Kindle – is today announcing (at last!) full access to the official Google's Android app store, or whatever you want to call it.

The colorful eReader tablet has a lot going for it, including a low price point (just US$179.99 / €142.57, currently), but until now was only offering a limited, “curated” collection of some 15,000 Android applications. Today, it gets 500,000 apps.

The Google Play support also brings music and movies to Kobo Vox users, too. (Oh, we guess the headline does work, after all).

Following RIM market share loss, the Financial Times loses interest in developing BlackBerry's app

The Financial Times (FT), which gets nearly a third of its revenue from digital subscriptions, expects Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry smartphones to become less important for corporate executives as BlackBerry loses market share to devices like Apple's iPhone and Google's Android-based system.

FT.com Managing Director Rob Grimshaw said BlackBerry is now fourth in terms of priority for developing the FT's applications, even behind Microsoft's Windows 8.

"It's something we keep pushing back," Grimshaw said at the Reuters Global Media and Technology Summit in New York. "We'll be doing something, but it's becoming less and less important in our world. They still have a presence in the corporate marketplace but they have lost their dominance."

Amazon adds support for children books, comics to its Kindle eReader app

Amazon on Thursday released updates for its Kindle for Apple's iOS and Google's Android apps, as well as its Cloud Reader, adding support for children's books, comics, and graphic novels.

More than 1,000 children's and comic book titles are now available on the Kindle Fire, Kindle for Android, Kindle for iPad, and Kindle Cloud Reader, Amazon said.
Children's titles Brown Bear and Curious George are available, along with comics such as Batman and Superman.

The new additions will feature a "beautiful layout and full color," Amazon said.
Supported children's books, for example, utilize the Kindle Text Pop-Up feature to magnify text for easy reading on any size screen.
Supported comics and graphic novels are presented in Kindle Panel View, "showcasing the artwork in a panel by panel experience that reads as the author intended," Amazon said.

Instapaper now also available for Android

It took a while, and there have been numerous imitators, but the official Instapaper app finally arrived in the Google Play store today for Android smartphones and tablets.

This perennial favorite on Apple's iOS performs a fairly simple task but does it extremely well:
It lets you save Web pages to read later for offline reading, but it formats them and presents them in highly legible fashion, free of clutter and ads.

The Android version offers the same refined look and feel of its iOS counterpart.

Similar to apps like Readability and Pocket (formerly Read It Later), Instapaper provides distraction-free reading, and lets you access what you saved offline so you don’t need to be connected to the Internet to read your favorite articles.

Intel launches a new class of devices - the Studybook

Intel has launched a new class of device called the Studybook tablets which is in essence a Classmate PC with a touchscreen display rather than a keyboard.

The semiconductor giant claims that more than seven million Classmate PCs have been shipped to students with hardware and software partners in excess of 500 present in 70 countries worldwide.

The Studybook is a 7" tablet that will cost between US$199 (€152) and US$299 (€228) and like its Classmate counterpart, comes with a sturdy plastic design that is shock proof (surviving drops of up to 70cm on concrete) and splashproof.

Enable multi-touch on Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch e-Ink eReader

The Nook Color and Nook Tablet get the most attention out of Barnes & Noble’s eReader line, at least from an Android modder standpoint.

But many forget that all of the Nook devices run Google's Android – and all have been thoroughly modded.
Even the humble Nook Touch has been thoroughly rooted with custom apps and ROMs, though the e-Ink reader’s hardware limitation prevents some of the more basic Android tasks from being completed.

One of those can be disregarded now:
XDA members wheiltijohnny and Mani100 have devised some custom code that enables multi-touch gestures for the diminutive e-Ink reader.

eBooks and eReaders entice North Americans to read - Survey

eBooks aren't just becoming increasingly popular.

They also appear to be promoting reading habits among American adults.
So says new research from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which states that about one-fifth of the United States adults have read an eBook in the past year.

And if you expand that to include Americans over 16 who have used an eReader device or app to read news articles or magazine-style features, the figure jumps to 43%.

Amazon Kindle Fire is an US affair only - Don't expect, for now, to get it anywhere else

The Kindle Touch 3G eReader will be available on 27^th April 2012 in 175 countries and territories, Amazon announced this week.

But there's still no word as to when the retailer's popular Kindle Fire tablet would be available outside the United States.

The US$199 (€149) Kindle Fire, which features a 7" LCD display, is the first color tablet to challenge Apple's iPad in the consumer market.
Amazon shipped 4.7 million Fire tablets in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2011, enough to grab 16.8% of the market, according to IDC.
Apple shipped 15.4 million iPads in the same period, up from 11.1 million in the third quarter.

So if the Kindle Fire is a hit with US consumers, why isn't Amazon selling its tablet worldwide?

What to expect from Google's I/O 2012 conference

Since when does a vendor-sponsored developer conference sell out 5,500 seats in just 20 minutes?

That's what happened when tickets for Google I/O 2012 went on sale this week.
It beat last year's record of an hour, which had also raised eyebrows.

One easy answer is that Google I/O sells out because of the swag.
Tickets aren't cheap, but each attendee gets a gift bag with a street value that typically exceeds the price of entry.

Last year's goodies included a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet and a Chromebook.
Previous years' attendees received Android smartphones.

Harry Potter eBook edition finally available from Pottermore online store and through Nook Tablets

Barnes & Noble (B&N) announced yesterday that the highly-anticipated eBook editions of J.K. Rowling’s bestselling Harry Potter stories are now available to buy for the first time ever at the Pottermore Shop, starting today.

All seven titles in the Harry Potter series, plus a complete set, can be instantly downloaded to Barnes & Noble’s full portfolio of Nook devices, including the Nook Tablet.

Nook customers can purchase the Harry Potter eBooks at the Pottermore Shop by visiting nook.com/harrypotter.

Computex 2012 will focus on Cloud technology, ultrabooks and Windows 8

The world's second largest computer trade show, Computex 2012, has been announced, with a focus on mobile computing high on the agenda.

June is fast approaching, which means the 32^nd outing of the world’s second largest ICT tradeshow, Computex.
Held every year in Taipei, Taiwan, the show will run this year from the 5^th until the 9^th of June 2012, during which an expected 120,000 people will attend and US$28 billion worth of business will be done.

Last week, TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) and the Taipei Computer Association held a press conference to announce what was in store for this year’s event.
The focus will be on four major categories – Ultrabooks, Handhelds, eReading and Cloud technology & Services.

US government is reconsidering electronic devices usage ban during aircraft's take-off and landing

The United States government is taking a tentative step toward making it easier for airlines to allow passengers to use personal electronic devices such as tablets, eReaders and music players during takeoffs and landings.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said last week it is “exploring ways to bring together all of the key stakeholders involved” – including airlines, aircraft manufacturers, consumer electronics makers, and flight attendant unions – to discuss whether there are practical ways to test devices to see if they are safe for passengers to use during critical phases of flight.

Technically, FAA rules already permit any airline to test specific makes and models to determine if they generate enough power that they could interfere with sensitive cockpit radios, navigation instruments and other critical equipment.

Amazon updates Kindle for Android with comic eBooks support

Amazon updated its Kindle for Android app on Thursday, adding more support for graphic novels, comic books, and children's illustrated stories.

Previously, the Android version of the Kindle app did allow illustrated books such as those added by the update, according to Amazon's own app page, but a smaller number.

The update, available via the Google Play store, also has a second practical purpose:
Viewing personal documents.

"You can also now Email personal documents to your "Send-to-Kindle" Email address and the documents will be delivered to Kindle for Android and automatically archived in the Amazon Cloud where they will be available for re-download," an Amazon spokeswoman said in an Email, which uses Whispersync, Amazon's technology to sync content among the various devices that can display books and other content from Amazon.
"Just like Kindle books, Whispersync automatically syncs your notes, highlights and last page read for personal documents."

Google Play sees a good start

 

So now we're more than a week into the new Google Play replacement of Google Music, Books and Android Market ... so how is the new Google Play going as a replacement for Google Music?

It's off to a pretty good  start, all things being equal.

The “Instant Mix” feature allows you to create the Google Play playlist  version of Apple’s Genius Playlist, and it works pretty well.
We have yet to be denied for an Instant Mix based on a song choice, while the Genius Playlist from Apple often comes up empty-handed when we ask it to create a playlist.

What seems missing from Google Play is the talk of what the Google Drive phenomenon was, a cloud storage drive for Google Music or Google TV, as well as the interesting Google entertainment device.
How will this fit in to Google Play?
Is there more to come? 

Readability comes to Android Monday with a week exclusivity given to Amazon

 

Readability's much-delayed Apple's iOS app made its debut just over a week ago, and now the company's following it with a brand-new app for Google's Android phones and tablets.

The free app will be available on Monday morning, though if you want to download the app as soon as possible you'll also need the Amazon Appstore on your device, where it will be exclusively available for the first week.

That strategy is a nod from Readability to Amazon, aligning it with a company that's done so much for readers.

Android Market is dead. Long live Google Play!

 

Internet giant Google raised eyebrows yesterday by announcing it was doing away with the Android Market.

In its place is Google Play, a new unified digital storefront that will not only offer access to Android apps, but also to Google’s eBook, movie, and music offerings.

The idea behind Google Play is to bring together Google’s primary digital content offerings in a single place, then make that online storefront accessible not just from Android devices, but to everyday Web browsers as well.
Google customers will be able to treat Google Play a bit like a locker for their digital purchases.
For instance, music they buy from Google Play will be available on any device that signs in to their Google account.

Simple, yes?

Qualcomm brings 3D augmented reality to healthcare and education industries

When it comes to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon chip family tends to steal the media spotlight with plenty of placement on fancy new smartphones and tablets.

But Qualcomm managed to turn the focus away from consumer devices (at the Consumer Electronics Show [CES], of all places) to two other major initiatives: education and healthcare.

For anyone watching the press conference on Tuesday morning, well more than the first hour of the event would have been quite a bore considering Qualcomm was only trotting out gadgets that we’ve seen before — notably those that have already been unveiled in the last two days.

Solar Kindle lets you read at night and charge your Amazon eReader

A new all in one Kindle accessory is going to be released in the next few days and looks very interesting.

It is a combination Book Light, Solar Powered Charger and Case.
One of the great aspects about this is that you can either power your Amazon Kindle via the Solar Charger or charge the built in Book Light.

Here is how it all works with this new surefire must have Kindle accessory.
Firstly it functions as a lightweight and protective cover for your eReader.
The form-fitted cover keeps your Kindle safe from damage while discretely adding functionality with a built-in solar panel that charges the reserve battery for the LED reading light while also providing extra power to the Kindle.

Polaroid to launch an Android eReader tablet with camera

Polaroid can’t seem to find its niche these days – who can forget the odd camera-sunglasses and Lady Gaga partnership at CES last year!

Now it seems a tablet/eReader may be the company’s next endeavor.

Shots of the slate have been snuck out ahead of time, along with the tagline of “tablet + camera” so that you don’t think Polaroid has forgotten its roots.

Cameras front and back are an interesting touch – that should certainly make nighttime video calls clearer, should you be the sort of person who reaches for their tablet at midnight – and there’s a sizable speaker above the display.

Tablet and smartphone owners prefer reading newspaper on their device - Report

Tablet PCs will likely emerge as a new media replacing conventional newspapers and televisions, a recent survey suggests. 

According to the poll released on Sunday by the Korea Communications Commission, seven out of 10 users of tablet PCs get news on the device rather than from conventional newspapers.

And half said they watch less TV than before.