Monday: May 10, 2010
- Borders joins the e-reader party, taking pre-orders for Kobu device.
Let's see - so now we have a Kindle, a Nook, an iPad, and a Kobu. I'll admit that I see many a Kindle on the morning commute into Manhattan and I've spotted the Nook on the subway just once in my travels. I'll also admit that the name Kobu sounds like something you'd eat for dinner.
Monday: May 17, 2010
- Apple beats out Whole Foods and Nordstrom for best shopper experience title.
Factors that contribute to a good shopping experience, according to the survey, include having customer-centric store design, maintaining shopper history data, creating ambiance, and carrying and displaying a well-organized, 'rationalized' product assortment.
Wednesday: May 12, 2010
- HTC asks for ban on Apple products after filing patent complaint.
Engadget is taking a deeper look at just what patents are involved here between the two companies and the implications of the federal lawsuit (which HTC has filed along with their patent suit). Should be an interesting battle - or about as interesting as Nokia versus Apple.
- Google will probably have an e-book store of their own in the near future.
Interesting news when combined with the all-to-recent rumors of an Android tablet coming to Verizon. And apparently Google has already even gotten approvals from roughly 25,000 authors and publishers.
Tuesday: May 11, 2010
- Have a peek at some near-final screenshots of the Windows Phone 7 interface.
I find parts of this user interface to be very depressing (granted it's not final but near-final sounds like their pretty close). The data entry screens are bland, colorless, and lifeless. Almost as if you're signing a death warrant on someone when you want to add them as a contact. Not very inviting.
- Microsoft would like you know that Natal will launch this October.
Get your imaginary baseballs and soccer balls (anything imaginary will do really) ready because Project Natal will be available for your beloved Xbox 360 this October. Microsoft hasn't nailed down an exact date that month but they think they'll have that ironed out by the time E3 rolls around.
Monday: May 10, 2010
- Ten cool gadgets you can't buy in the United States just yet.
This particular list is rife with iPad and iPhone alternatives (all of which seem to be running some flavor of Android). The two lone and notable exceptions in my opinion seem to be this tiny camera, pictured in thumbnail to the left, and the ever peculiar Ant Watch (fifth slide in).
- An interesting writeup on iPad usability from Jakob Nielsen.
This post contains most of my reasoning as to why I haven't purchased an iPad just yet. I can't seem to rationalize how the device fits into my overall usage scheme. The iPhone seems to do everything I would use an iPad for - and it does a heck of a good job at everything it already does.
Tuesday: April 20, 2010
- Apple would like their device back from Gizmodo, sends official letter.
Well, this whole story just keeps getting more interesting every minute. Apple has acknowledged the existence of said missing device and sent notice asking for return. Gizmodo has decided to post the letter along with a casual smart-alecky response as well. Not a good way to win brownie points or future media event invitations.
Thursday: April 15, 2010
- Adobe to sue Apple sometime in the near future regarding recent SDK changes.
This really shouldn't be a surprise given Apple's recent barring of none-native code on the iPhone and features that Adobe had ready for CS5 in those regards for development. Apparently this was the final straw and not the relentless bashing they've endured for lack of Flash on Apple's various mobile devices.
- Opera Mini for iPhone shoots past one million downloads in the App Store.
Turns out that people really do like an alternative to mobile Safari on their beloved iPhones. The application is also currently in the number one position in all twenty-two flavors of the app store.