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HP Releases New Video Demo of its Slate

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What? You didn’t get the iPad?  Oh, right you’re not an Apple fanboy. You’d rather spend on a more powerful tablet such as the one previewed recently by HP, right? Well, just like you HP is also pinning its hope of capturing the tablet market and perhaps taking the thunder away from the iPad with its HP Slate product.

And as if telling all of us that the HP Slate project is still alive and well on its way to final production, HP has released a new video demo right on its HP Vodoo Blog. And boy what a tablet the HP Slate really is! Design-wise, it looks so handsome although I’m guessing that it will probably be thicker than the iPad.

The HP folks say that aside from the HP Slate’s capability to support Adobe Flash and Air, they have also paid some good attention to the HP Slate’s functionality for consuming media or digital content, be it a story from a major news outlet or or your videos and photos.

Obviously HP is banking on the iPad’s shortcomings such as the lack of front facing camera and USB port to make the HP Slate the preferred tablet instead of the iPad. HP was highlighting the fact that the HP Slate will allow you to chat with friends via Skype or share your photos from the HP Slate to Facebook or Flickr.

So, it would be interesting to see how the HP Slate can match up with the hype and buzz that the iPad has generated. Of course we all know that there are as much Apple fanboys as there are PC guys out there, willing to take the HP Slate.  Which side are you on?

Originally posted on April 5, 2010 @ 5:30 pm

Amazon Outs Kindle for Mac App

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Suddenly, Amazon announced the availability of Kindle for Mac app. As if sending a signal to all Mac users planning to buy the iPad for e-book reading purpose that they can do the same thing with their current machine.  That they don’t need to spend some precious $525 dollar just to have an e-book reader.  They can do so with their existing machine and with the help of Amazon’s Kindle for Mac.

Now that I have let that issue out, let’s get into the details of the Kindle for Mac. Features? Pretty much what the application can do with its other iteration – Kindle for PC, Kindle for iPhone, and Kindle for BlackBerry.

Some of these features will let you:

  • Purchase, download, and read hundreds of thousands of books available in the Kindle Store
  • Access their library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers for free
  • Choose from 10 different font sizes and adjust words per line
  • Add and automatically synchronize bookmarks and last page read
  • View notes and highlights marked on Kindle, Kindle DX, and Kindle for iPhone
  • Read books in full color including children’s books, cookbooks, travel books and textbooks

Amazon also promise to roll out some more features soon. These include – full text search and the ability to create and edit notes and highlights. Kindle for Mac is available as a free download requiring around 20MB of your Mac’s storage. It works for all Intel Mac models.  Ready to take this app for a spin?  Here’s the download link - www.amazon.com/kindleformac.

Originally posted on March 18, 2010 @ 2:15 am

Sony Playstation Network Starts Offering HD Movies

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Sony Computer Entertainment America has just snagged a content distribution deal with several major movie studios that will allow Playstation 3 owners to have some great movie titles delivered via the Playstation Network.  This deal just made the Playstation as the first to offer HD movies from practically all the major studios, hence establishing itself as a powerful home entertainment platform not just for video gaming but for total entertainment as well.

Among those who agreed on the movie distribution deal are 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. The deal includes both purchase and rental of the major studios’ titles on their movie catalogs.

To kick this deal off, here are new titles available today on the Playstation Network:

  • “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”, “Jennifer’s Body” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” – 20th Century Fox
  • “Up”, “G-Force”, “Earth” – Walt Disney Pictures
  • “Star Trek”, Paranormal Activity”, “Zoolander” – Paramount Pictures
  • “This Is It”, “2012”, “District 9” and “Zombieland” – Sony Pictures
  • “The Hangover”, “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”, “Wizard of Oz” – Warner Bros
  • “Inglorious Basterd”, “Couples Retreat”, “Public Enemies” – Universal

There are great movie titles. One is even nominated for the Oscars recently – Inglorious Basterd”. So if you own a Playstation 3 and have registered for the Playstation Network, you can grab these great movies and have delivered to you via your connected Playstation 3 console.

Originally posted on March 9, 2010 @ 5:32 pm

Apple iTunes Scores 10 Billionth Song Download

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Apple iTunes has just achieved a remarkable feat a moment ago, thanks to a user who just got the 10 billionth song ever downloaded from the music store. The countdown to the 10 billionth song was started earlier this month, and it was Apple’s way of celebrating such a remarkable experience. Meanwhile, whoever got to download the 10 billionth song from iTunes will win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card.

So while we await for the announcement of the winner, why don’t we all take a look at some numbers after the iTunes was opened in 2003.  Almost seven years, Apple has suceeded in making the iTunes as a premiere online music store despite its exlusivity to Apple music and mobile devices. It only goes to show that while Apple is making the iTunes popular and so were its products. And for that,  we all should commend the company, no matter how much you may like or dislike iTunes.

Last quarter, iTunes generated some $520 million in revenues. In terms of profitability, total revenues generated so far by iTunes barely surpassed the break-even point. But that’s just beside the point since we all know that Apple created the iTunes to support its main business – selling hardwares. And it did while at the same time achieving a commendable feat in selling digital music.

Anyway, in case you’re interested to know the most downloaded song from iTunes happens to be Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling. Now this is another an interesting achievement for the band but that’s another story.

Originally posted on February 24, 2010 @ 6:26 pm

Wal-Mart to Enter the VOD Market, Eyes Vudu Movie Service

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Wal-Mart has been in the DVD retailing business for quite some time now. And while this has been doing good for them, the company lacks one service which has been the the more popular way of bringing digitial movies to U.S. consumers – video-on-demand service.

But Wal-Mart may be preparing up to enter this arena soon, as New York Times is reporting that the video company is eyeing Vudu, an online movie service provider. Although the deal has not been confirmed yet by both companies,reports had it they have began informing Hollywood studios about the deal.

If the deal is indeed true, Wal-Mart maybe facing up stiff challenge against the likes of iTunes, Netflix and other online video-on-demand services. While Vudu for its part has been pretty much making some noise especially during the recent CES Event wherein the company managed to struck some deals with LCD TV manufacturers in putting Vudu services in their products.

Previously, Vudu has been advocating the use of a separate device that would connect to home TVs but could not manage to get some leverage. Since then, the company concentrated on delivering online movie service instead.

We’ll see whether this deal would make some headway in the coming days. It will be exciting to watch how Wal-Mart would put up a challenge against iTunes, Amazon, and other big names in the video-on-demand service. And whether which one will emerge as the households’ choice of VOD provider.

Originally posted on February 22, 2010 @ 5:32 pm