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Might Google compete against Siri with Alfred?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Google, Rumors,
Google on Tuesday added to its acquisition arsenal with a company whose technology might take on Apple's Siri voice assistant.
The search giant purchased CleverSense, which developed Alfred, an app the company has designated as "your personal robot."
And while you can't speak to Alfred like you can with Siri, the app provides recommendations on restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and clubs based on your preferences, location, and other factors, eventually "learning" what you like over time.
"We built Alfred to create a simple, enjoyable, and powerful way to discover new places and help make decisions on the go," Babak Pahlavan, CleverSense co-founder and CEO, said in a note on its Web site. "It's exciting to see that our passion turned into something people around the world use regularly to make everyday decisions that are just right for them."
With Google, CleverSense said it will "start a new chapter in curating the world around us [and] accelerate our efforts toward this shared vision."
Click to continue reading Might Google compete against Siri with Alfred?
Gallery: Might Google compete against Siri with Alfred?
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HP plans to release a webOS tablet in 2013 despite killing the TouchPad
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds, Rumors,
Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman said Friday that the company plans to manufacture a WebOS tablet in 2013, even as the company winds down the WebOS-based TouchPad tablet.
In what is the latest bizarre turn for HP's WebOS and related tablet business, it's reported that Whitman and board member Marc Andreessen told TechCrunch that the company would manufacture a WebOS tablet perhaps in 2012, and definitely in 2013.
An HP spokesman, asked to conform the report, said that a WebOS tablet would be made only if the market was "viable". He said that he preferred to focus on the decision to release WebOS as open source, which will give it an immortality that it otherwise might not have.
However, the schizophrenia on HP's WebOS operating system and tablet hardware continues, as HP reportedly plans one last fire sale for the tablet on Sunday, in what has become a long and winding road. Months after the TouchPad was launched in March using HP's WebOS operating system, HP decided to kill it in August, as part of a decision to kill the WebOS hardware business after sales failed to meet expectations. But after HP discounted the TouchPad to $99, sales began to take off, even prompting HP to make another batch.
Click to continue reading HP plans to release a webOS tablet in 2013 despite killing the TouchPad
Gallery: HP plans to release a webOS tablet in 2013 despite killing the TouchPad
Rumored Wii U specs put it ahead of Xbox 360, PS3
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Rumors, Video Games,
Let the console-jockeying commence: Rumored specifications for Nintendo's big follow up to the Wii are hitting the airwaves and, if true, they'll give Nintendo a one-up on its console rivals for a brief period of time, at least.
According to Wii U Daily, an undisclosed developer has allegedly leaked some of the specifications for Nintendo's Wii U gaming console, currently rumored for released in the latter part of next year. According to the rumor-starter, the Wii U will allegedly pack a quad-core, 3-GHz CPU from IBM into its design, a 45-nanometer PowerPC chip that's "very similar" to the 3.2-GHz triple-core PowerPC processor found in the Xbox 360.
Wii U Daily goes on to mention that the Wii U will come with 768 megabytes of embedded DRAM – built on the same die as the CPU itself – as well as an "unknown," 40-nanometer GPU from ATI.
Are your eyebrows raised yet? If not, they should be. First off, IBM's already insinuated that the Wii U will be using a Power7 variant of its Power-based microprocessor architecture, not a PowerPC. That said, there is a four-core Power7 CPU in IBM's arsenal that runs at 3.0-GHz on the dot – make of that what you will. As Extreme Tech's Sebastian Anthony puts it, "In terms of raw power, this should put the Wii U way ahead of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3."
Click to continue reading Rumored Wii U specs put it ahead of Xbox 360, PS3
Gallery: Rumored Wii U specs put it ahead of Xbox 360, PS3
Sony and Hitachi begin to ship 4-Inch iPhone 5 displays
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Displays, Handhelds, Rumors,
Apple is still working out the kinks with its new iPhone 4S, but that's not stopping the rumor mill from generating speculation about the next smartphone due out at a time and place unknown from the Cupertino tech giant, probably known as the iPhone 5.
The next iOS handset will likely have a 4-inch display, according to Macotaraka.
Hitachi and Sony have "started to ship 4-inch LCD [displays] for [a] new iOS device," the blog reported Sunday, citing an anonymous source. And that's not all—the two companies are also shipping LCD screens for the iPad 3, according to Macotakara. Rumor has it that the next-generation tablet will be the first iPad to use Apple's high pixel-density Retina Display technology.
Click to continue reading Sony and Hitachi begin to ship 4-Inch iPhone 5 displays
Gallery: Sony and Hitachi begin to ship 4-Inch iPhone 5 displays
Samsung Galaxy Nexus rumored to launch on December 8
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Handhelds, Rumors,
Had we a nickel every time someone projected a U.S. launch date for Samsung's much-anticipated Galaxy Nexus smartphone. We've all seen it. We've read about it. We've watched the phone's international release come and go. We've even posted our Galaxy Nexus review. So when's the big U.S. release, anyway?
Rumors have suggested everything from Black Friday, to Cyber Monday, to just about any November date under the sun for the launch of Samsung's first big Ice Cream Sandwich device (that's Android 4.0, the latest iteration of Google's mobile operating system). The Android website Droid Life is the latest gossiper to jump into the fray, only it's coming armed with evidence that suggests the Galaxy Nexus launch isn't arriving in November after all: Rather, December 8.
The source of the info is unknown, but the allegedly internal documents list a "Launch / End date" for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus as December 8. Although an accompanying description seems to indicate that the date could be reserved for a marking campaign for the device, instead of the smartphone's actual release date, Droid Life has corroborated its first leaked image with a second.
Click to continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus rumored to launch on December 8
Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Nexus rumored to launch on December 8
iPad 3 displays already shipping to Apple
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Displays, Handhelds, Rumors,
We're entering that special time of year. No, not the season when people begin to wrap presents and trim their trees, but those months leading up to the period when it's assumed that Apple will launch its next-gen tablet that iPad rumors abound.
The latest report comes from Digitimes, which has claimed makers of iPad displays including Samsung, LG, and Sharp shipped one million high-res panels for the iPad 3 in October. It also said these suppliers will increase shipments to two million units in November.
Apple will begin assembling the third iPad in January of 2012, Digitimes also said.
It alleged that Apple is developing a new 7.85-inch panel, and suppliers AU Optronics (AUO) and LG have already sent samples to Apple. However, Digitimes said it couldn't determine whether or not Apple would add an iPad of this size to its line next year.
Click to continue reading iPad 3 displays already shipping to Apple
Gallery: iPad 3 displays already shipping to Apple
Apple thinking of discontinuing the Mac Pro
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Rumors,
Apple is rumored to be mulling whether to continue investing in its Mac Pro line of workstations beyond 2011 with executives at the company reportedly agreeing that "Mac Pro's days ... [are] inevitably numbered."
Sales of its workstations have dropped off to the point that continuing to make them is "no longer a particularly profitable operation" for Apple, while improvements to the company's consumer line of Mac products has decreased the performance gap with the professional-targeted Mac Pro line, according to a report by Apple Insider.
In fact, Apple management has been "in limbo" over whether to invest further in its Mac Pro products since this past May, the Apple watcher reported Monday, citing "sources familiar with the matter."
Apple does have a Mac Pro revision in the works, according to Apple Insider, but it's unclear whether those new workstations will "see the light of day." The company would likely build any new Mac Pros around Intel's powerful new Sandy Bridge-class desktop chips coming out soon, but it's another fertile partnership with Intel—the; development of the high-speed, dual-protocol Thunderbolt I/O technology that's now part of several of Apple's Mac products—that; could "ultimately allow other, more popular members of the Mac product family to assume the vast majority of the roles that once required the Mac Pro's flexibility and architecture."
Click to continue reading Apple thinking of discontinuing the Mac Pro
Gallery: Apple thinking of discontinuing the Mac Pro
Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 set to launch October 19
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Rumors, Software,
Android fans, set forward your alarm clocks next Monday: the rumored Nexus Prime (or, Galaxy Nexus) is rumored to be launching on October 19!
According to Engadget, Google and Samsung will unveil the so-called Nexus Prime on Oct. 19 during All Things Digital's first Asia conference in Hong Kong. Android VP Andry Rubin and Samsung EVP of product marketing Won-Pyo Hong will be in attendance.
Rumors about the Nexus Prime (or Galaxy Nexus?), Google's third Nexus smartphone, have been circulating all year long. According to the latest rumors, it'll come with a curved glass touch-screen display, Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera, and support for 4G LTE networks.
Click to continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 set to launch October 19
Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 set to launch October 19
Comcast and Verizon live TV content expected to come to Xbox 360
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Microsoft, Rumors, Video Games,
Microsoft will partner with providers like Comcast and Verizon for its upcoming Xbox 360 integrated TV experience, according to a Bloomberg report.
Users will sign into Comcast Xfinity and Verizon FiOS apps on the Xbox 360 with existing account information. Redmond will also likely ink content deals with HBO, Sony's Crackle, the Bravo and SyFy channels, and Amazon's Lovefilm, Bloomberg said.
Microsoft discussed its Live TV efforts at this year's E3 gaming conference, and the feature has already kicked off overseas with Sky TV in the U.K., Canal Plus in France, and FoxTel in Australia. Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer provided more details on what US consumers can expect during a presentation at the company's BUILD conference earlier this month.
"It's quite obvious that we need to increase the amount of video and TV content that are available on the Xbox," Ballmer said. "Our goal this year is to dramatically increase the total amount of content, the total entertainment catalog available on the Xbox, particularly by working in partnership with a number of video suppliers."
Click to continue reading Comcast and Verizon live TV content expected to come to Xbox 360
Gallery: Comcast and Verizon live TV content expected to come to Xbox 360
Barnes & Noble set to launch a new Nook Color
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Rumors,
Is Barnes & Noble preparing to launch another tablet under the Nook name? Rumor has it the company will launch a new, pricier Nook Colors this year.
According to a tip obtained by the Digital Reader, B&N will launch a $349 tablet that could be named Acclaim. The Nook Simple Touch Reader will still be offered at $139 and the Nook Color will stay at $249. The tipster didn't offer any information on the specs of the device, but said the tablet would launch in the next quarter, likely in some time in October.
The Digital Reader also pointed to a tablet it saw on a slide from a Barnes & Noble company presentation with the codename Encore, but speculated that this is an updated version of the current 7-inch Nook Color.
Click to continue reading Barnes & Noble set to launch a new Nook Color
