B&N, Microsoft team up on Nook, college businesses

NEW YORK (AP) -- An infusion of money from Microsoft Corp. sent Barnes & Noble Inc. stock zooming Monday, as the software giant established a way to get back into the e-books business. The two companies are teaming up to create a subsidiary for Barnes & Noble e-book and college textbook businesses, with Microsoft paying $300 million for a minority stake. Shares of Barnes & Noble jumped $10.41, or 76 percent, to $24.09 in morning trading. The opening price of $26 was a three-year high. Microsoft stock rose 2 cents to $32. The deal gives Barnes & Noble...

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5 most unique phones in the World

Some manufacturers release a phone with a unique shape or ability. Some have weird shapes when compared with the form of mobile phones in general. Yes, but a strange shape, its function was sometimes surprising. In a sense not just for phone, SMS or multimedia play, but also the ability of mobile phones are generally out of the ordinary. Here are a few phones that have been produced with the form and function quite unique, as quoted from various sources. 1. Pantech Mosquito In addition to functioning as a phone, Pantech Mosquito can also repel mosquitoes, according to its name. Yes, it is claimed to emit ultrasonic sound to scare the...

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7 Gadgets of old things for the collection Millionaire

For certain items, the older the age the more intense he sought. Although the price is also more inflated. Similarly, for the following technology products whose existence is endangered and is suitable to fill the collectors cabinet that doubles as a millionaire. Like robot named Radicon this. Robot with a height of 20 inches on the side is believed to be the first toy to be controlled via remote. Since attendance at a toy store in Japan in 1957, he became a work of art that drew the attention of collectors. With a cast of gray paint, Radicon has qualified components such as wireless radio remote, multi-board wheel, the arm can move,...

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ASUS introduces desktop series with the 3rd Generation Intel Core Processors

Press Release: ASUS today announces a series of desktop PCs featuring the 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processor. Powerful and versatile, there is a desktop to cater to each type of user, with the ROG TYTAN CG8580 for the hardcore gamers, the CG8270 and CM6870 for the tech-savvy crowd, while the ET2411 and ET2701 All-in-One PC are for those looking for hassle-free PC entertainment. These ASUS desktops also feature Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0; high definition graphics with DirectX® 11, and Intel® Quick Sync Video Technology. In addition, LucidLogix Virtu MVP accelerates graphics performance by up to 60% and triples video conversion speeds. Supreme gaming with the ROG TYTAN CG8580 Featuring a stealth submarine-inspired design, the CG8580 houses...

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Samsung takes the crown from Nokia and Apple

Gone is the 14 year supreme reign of Nokia in the mobile world, Samsung has the old king beat. With the announcement of their Q1 results, Samsung has shipped out 93.5 million phones in the previous three months, compared to 82.7 million from Nokia. Of this shipment, 44.5 million were smartphones, which toppled Apple’s iPhone sales of 35.1 million. These two statistics combined makes Samsung the biggest phone and smartphone reseller in the world. From these smartphone shipments, the Galaxy SII and Galaxy Note are the top sellers; the mobile division in total growing 86% year on year. Meanwhile their TV business grew by an...

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Pirate party makes a raid on German politics

BERLIN (AP) â€" Pirates are capturing Germany's political system.The party with the outlaw name started as a marginal club of computer nerds and hackers demanding online freedom, but its appeal as an antiestablishment movement has lured many young voters to the ballot boxes, catapulting it into two state parliaments in less than a year.Polls show the all-volunteer Pirates â€" who offer little ideology and focus on promoting their flagship policies of near-total transparency and an unrestricted Internet â€" as the country's third-strongest political force, leapfrogging over more established parties.The tremendous success has doubled the Pirates'...

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Google Glass gets an official public debut

When Google announced its ambitious project Google Glass, the Internet went crazy over the demo video that showed a piece of eyewear that would feed information and alerts to a user through a small glass display in front of their right eye. Though Google co-founder Sergey Thurn was spotted wearing a pair of the glasses at a charity event, yesterday was the first time we got to see the device and what it can do. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Sebastian Thurn who works at Google and is working on Project Glass demonstrated a simple use for the augmented eyewear – sharing photos. In the middle of the interview, Thurn...

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House vote sets up Senate cybersecurity showdown

WASHINGTON (AP) â€" The House's solid bipartisan vote for a cybersecurity bill sends a message to the Senate: Now it's your turn to act.Ignoring a White House veto threat, the House approved the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which would encourage companies and the federal government to share information collected on the Internet to help prevent electronic attacks from cybercriminals, foreign governments and terrorists.The vote Thursday was 248-168, with 42 Democrats joining 206 Republicans in backing the measure.Congressional leaders are determined to get a cybersecurity bill completed this election year but that may be difficult....

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Nokia launches Asha series of phones in the Middle East

Nokia launched their Asha series of phones in Dubai yesterday. With the Asha set of handsets, Nokia plans on making data services available to the lower end of spectrum. With four models released that range in prices between AED 288 to AED 539, the Asha is certainly very affordable and with different form factors such as keypads, keyboards and touch screens, it should appeal to a wide range of consumers. Present at the launch was Mr. Vithesh Reddy, General Manager, Nokia Lower Gulf. I would like to thank him for taking some time off to talk to me and explain what the Asha range means to Nokia and where they’re headed with...

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Nintendo sinks into loss on weak sales

TOKYO (AP) â€" Nintendo Co. sank into a 43.2 billion yen ($533 million) loss for the fiscal year just ended as weak sales of the Wii home console and the strong yen eroded earnings.Kyoto-based Nintendo, once the star of video games with franchises like Pokemon and Super Mario, has seen its glory fade with the advent of smartphones that are wooing away casual gamers.Nintendo, whose products compete against offerings from Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp., acknowledged sales suffered because of the price cut on the 3DS during the fiscal year.Such price cuts are relatively common to boost slow sales and try to make up in profit later from game software...

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RIM launches Blackberry Mobile Fusion

Research In Motion today announced the availability of Blackberry Mobile Fusion in the region for the enterprise market. Mobile Fusion aims to provide administrators with greater control over devices in their organization, including the Blackberry, iOS, and Android platforms. The Mobile Fusion platform consists of three services that can be run simultaneously or independently – Blackberry Enterprise Server provides familiar BES security and policies to secure Blackberry handsets, Blackberry Device Service allows for the management of Blackberry Playbooks and future Blackberry 10 devices, and Universal Device Service controls...

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Smokey Bear becomes next space crew's mascot

STAR CITY, Russia (AP) â€" An American astronaut heading to the International Space Station has chosen Smokey Bear as his crew's mascot.NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba said Wednesday that he hopes Smokey, the mascot of the United States Forest Service, would help raise public awareness about the dangers posed by forest fires.He added that Smokey "makes people aware of human-caused fires and how important the natural environment is."Acaba and his Russian crewmates Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin plan to blast off to the space station on May 15 from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The retirement of the U.S. shuttle fleet has...

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HP launches ENVY 14 Spectre notebook

HP today announced the launch of its ENVY 14 Spectre notebook, which features some rather impressive use of glass. Rather than encasing the laptop in metal or plastic, HP have opted to use a scratch-resistant glass on the lid, display, and palmrest of the laptop, giving it a distinctive look and style. “Sleek, midnight black glass on the outside and stark contrast silver on the inside make Spectre extraordinary, defying conventional notebook design,” said Louis Perrin, director, consumer products, Personal Systems Group, HP EMEA. “We chose the name for our first ENVY Ultrabook to evoke mystery and to satisfy those who...

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Google Drive Offer Data Storage in the 'Cloud'

Google launched a new service called Google Drive. Based services or cloud computing cloud computing allows users to store photos, documents and videos on Google's servers so they can be accessed with a web-connected devices and can be shared easily. For example, if users want to send emails recorded with Android smartphone, then he can upload them to Google mobile applications Drive and send e-mail a link to the video. So no need to send a file too large. Software productivity is also integrated with Google Docs Drive. "Today, we introduced Google Drive, a center where you can create, share, collaborate and store," said Sunda Picai, Senior...

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New wireless subscribers down sharply at AT&T

NEW YORK (AP) â€" When Verizon Wireless started selling the iPhone, AT&T sounded a defiant note, saying that its customers would remain loyal. A year later, it's clear that the Verizon iPhone has crimped AT&T's stride.Verizon had little problem attracting new customers before it started selling the iPhone. In fact, it was the only wireless carrier that managed to keep up with AT&T's iPhone-fueled growth.But with the iPhone in its arsenal, the country's biggest wireless company is getting bigger, while No. 2 AT&T Inc.'s growth has slowed precipitously.On Tuesday, AT&T revealed that it essentially gained no phone subscribers...

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Windows 8 Release Preview to come in June

Microsoft is set to deploy a ‘release preview’ in the first week of June, as announced on the Building Windows 8 Twitter feed. The Consumer Preview of Windows 8 came out back in February of this year, and a release preview is a near-complete version of the OS. Windows 8 has received both positive and negative views in the past few months, mostly over it’s new Metro interface. Still, the company is determined to make Windows 8 its flagship OS for both PCs and tablets, and is pushing forward to finalize the last few changes and bug fixes before the OS gears for shipping later this year....

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Apple's squeeze hits phone companies, competitors

NEW YORK (AP) â€" Apple is set to report another record quarterly profit on Tuesday, continuing the relentless string of results that's made it the world's most valuable company. Those profits don't come out of thin air: A range of businesses â€"from the company's wireless carrier friends to its PC-making foesâ€" are seeing their profits melt away and flow to Apple's bottom line.Apple's success is good for the U.S. economy, and some businesses, like software developers and memory-chip makers, have benefited from the disruption Apple is causing. But its enormous gains have resulted in others' pains, sometimes in unexpected places.â€"AT&T...

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Chinese court seeking to mediate iPad dispute

SHANGHAI (AP) â€" A Chinese court is mediating between Apple Inc. and the Chinese company challenging its right to use the iPad trademark, seeking to get the companies to settle an awkward standoff over the issue.The Guangdong High Court in southern China, is seeking to arrange a settlement, said Ma Dongxiao, a lawyer for Proview Electronics Co. The court on Feb. 29 began hearing Apple's appeal of lower court ruling that favored Proview in the trademark dispute."It is likely that we will settle out of court. The Guangdong High Court is helping to arrange it and the court also expects to do so," Ma said Monday.China has sought to showcase its...

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HP introduces the Z1 Workstation in the Middle East

With much fan fare and a host of partners, HP introduced their Z1 workstation in the Middle East. The 27″ All-in-one Z1 is a pretty impressive machine with it’s modular structure allowing you to upgrade components with ease- something that is not necessarily common amongst all-in-one designs. Although with the impressive base configuration of the Z1, you probably won’t be looking into changing much under the hood. At the event was Yn Bergeron from HP who introduced us to the Z1. Press Release HP today unveiled the world’s first all-in-one workstation with a 68.6 cm (27”) diagonal display. Designed like no other, the...

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Adobe to launch new software suite for designers

NEW YORK (AP) â€" Adobe is launching the latest version of its software package for designers and Web developers.Adobe Systems Inc. is set to announce CS6 on Monday at an event in San Francisco. Creative Suite 6 includes Photoshop, Illustrator and other programs aimed at designers.Unlike previous versions, which came shrink-wrapped in a box, Creative Suite 6 will be available on a monthly subscription basis as part of Adobe's Creative Cloud offering. Subscriptions will start at $50 a month for those who sign up for a year. Subscribers will be able to download programs such as Photoshop, InDesign or Illustrator, store their work online and share...

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Skype comes to Windows Phone

Skype is now officially available for the Windows Phone platform, replacing the beta app that was launched at the end of February. The Skype for Windows app works over Wi-fi and 3G, and allows users to search for contacts and call landlines. A downside however is that the app doesn’t run in the background, so you are only able to make and receive calls only if you’re in the Skype app. Microsoft is looking to integrate Skype more thoroughly when Windows 8 hits the mobile sphere, but chances are that it will again bundle as a standalone app rather than being a seamless integration with the OS. Skype is already available for...

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MIT geniuses play Tetris – on a building

There are many things in life that I am proud to have accomplished. Graduate? Check. Sky-dive? Check. Fly around the world playing with gadgets for a living? Check. Play Tetris on the side of a building? Wait, what? That’s exactly what the brilliant minds over at MIT did this weekend by turning the campus’s Green Building (that houses the MIT Earth and Planetary Sciences department) into a fully-playable Tetris game. It’s clearly the weirdest hack you’ll ever see, and also one that has been on the drawing board for a while. The hack scrolled the word ‘Tetris’ across the building before launching into a new game. So clearly...

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A divided Congress confronts a rising cyberthreat

WASHINGTON (AP) â€" The mysterious caller claimed to be from Microsoft and offered step-by-step instructions to repair damage from a software virus. The electric power companies weren't falling for it.The caller, who was never traced or identified, helpfully instructed the companies to enable specific features in their computers that actually would have created a trapdoor in their networks. That vulnerability would have allowed hackers to shut down a plant and thrown thousands of customers into the dark.The power employees hung up on the caller and ignored the advice.The incident from February, documented by one of the government's emergency...

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IOS and Android Have Instagram, BlackBerry Got Instigram!

If the IOS operating system and applications have Instagram Android, BlackBerry users may be a little relieved by the presence of an application called Instigram. Yes, you did not misread. His name is so, Instigram. I know it is different with Instagram, but at least can also share photos via Twitter and Facebook. Maybe that was previously made ​​using the application developer JaredCo ShareIt, had known of this application. The real reason is that now the application ShareIt renamed Instigram. How it works is quite simple Instigram. Simply capture an image, then just enter your Twitter account or Facebook to share the photos. To upload...

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German rules against YouTube in rights case

BERLIN (AP) â€" A German court has ruled that online video platform YouTube must install filters to prevent users from uploading some music videos whose rights are held by a music-royalties collecting body.German news agency dapd reported that the Hamburg state court on Friday mostly sided with Germany's GEMA, which represents about 60,000 German writers and musicians.GEMA took Google Inc.'s YouTube unit to court over 12 temporarily uploaded music videos for which no royalties were paid.YouTube has maintained that it bears no legal responsibility for the uploaded content â€" saying it checks and sometimes blocks content when users alert the...

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Nokia posts $1.2 billion Q1 loss as sales plunge

HELSINKI (AP) â€" Struggling cellphone maker Nokia Corp. blamed tougher-than-expected competition, particularly in the smartphone market, for a huge €929 million ($1.2 billion) net loss in the first three months of the year.The loss, reported Thursday, compared with a profit of €344 million in the equivalent period a year earlier and came as revenues slid 30 percent to €7.4 billion from €10.4 billion in 2011.The result represents one of the company's worst ever quarters and came as it faced stiff competition from the likes of Apple Inc.'s iPhone and handset makers using Google Inc.'s popular Android software â€" such as Samsung Electronics...

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Galileo sets your iPhone in motion

Ever wish that you could properly use your iPhone for a video conference? Or maybe for some awesome time-lapse photography? Well a little KickStarter campaign is out to change that with Galileo, a robotic iOs controlled device that offers infinite rotation capability for your iPhone. You simply slide your iPhone into Galileo, and then control it with an iPad or another iOS enabled device. The introduction video on the campaign page looks promising – while I don’t think you want to be sliding your iPhone under a car to check for oil leaks, it certainly will improve things for video conferencing, spying on your kids, and taking...

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Google CEO Page returns to stand in Oracle trial

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) â€" Google CEO Larry Page returned to the witness stand Wednesday in Oracle's patent and copyright case against the Internet search leader over its popular Android operating system for phones and tablet computers.Page sported a suit and a tie, a departure from his usual casual attire. The Oracle lawyer questioning him was David Boies, who had gone after Bill Gates in the federal government's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp.Page testified briefly on Tuesday as Oracle's witness before the court recessed for the day.The dispute in U.S. District Court in San Francisco is over whether Google Inc. built its widely used...

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AOC launches new monitor e1649Fwu

Press Release: AOC, part of Taiwan based TPV Technology Limited, and the largest display manufacturer in the world, today announced the launch of its new monitor e1649Fwu, an ultra-light, super slim, 15.6” WLED USB Monitor, a must have laptop accessory in the Middle East and Africa region. The neatly designed lightweight USB monitor comes with a flexi stand that rotates by 90 degrees to accommodate portrait or landscape mode and instantly transforms into a digital photo frame or presentation display, further enhancing its value as an extension of display capability for every PC.  The screen features a 1366×768 resolution,...

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