Barnes & Noble reported its economic performance nowadays. They generated $ 1.4 billion in sales, a 2 percent boost over the identical period last year.

Book sales were down, but the firm’s Nook operation were up, reports C/Net.

The company reported that its Nook enterprise, which includes hardware and digital-content sales, grew 140 percent during the period to $ 277 million.

The $ 139 Nook and Nook $ 249 Color, which runs Android, functions a B&N application store, in addition to e-book support.

The agency pricing model for e-books, in which book publishers set the retail cost and retailers take a commission, is working nicely for Barnes & Noble, says Paid Content. Amazon now can’t undercut it on e-books from the “big 6” publishers, all of whom use the agency model.

“We think agency is going to take hold as the dominant form of pricing for e-books going forward. It makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons,” Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch said in an investor call this morning.

All eyes are now on Amazon, for an anticipated color Android tablet.Technologizer speculates on how the Amazon Tablet may possibly be priced:

It would have to be attractive. A thin 7″ device with a Super AMoLED display may well support – particularly when packaged with Amazon’s MP3 cloud library, Movies, Kindle books and Android Apps.

Amazon’s 7-inch tablet PC, which is supplied by Quanta Pc, is expected to begin shipping in October. Mass production of Amazon’s 10.1-inch tablet will be conducted in the first quarter of 2012 with Foxconn Electronics making the device, says Digitimes

Amazon outsources its Kindle e-book reader to Foxconn with an estimated volume of 15-18 million units, accounting for 60-70% of global e-book reader shipments of 25-30 million units in 2011.

But people forget that the Amazon tablet will be a media hog (in contrast to the Kindle). The data connection is key — WiFi is just too inconvenient.

A low cost 4G connection, say $ 10-$ 20/month for 1-2GB/mo, appears required to attract a mass market. Newspapers and magazines might help subsidize the price of the connection — along with Google, Microsoft and other people.

Forrester expects Amazon to sell among three and 5 million units in Q4.

In its revised report on “media tablets,” iSuppli bumped up its overall growth predictions for all shipments, stating that 60 million tablets will ship in 2011, 1.1 million much more than it originally stated. In 2015, it now expects annual shipments to reach 275.three million, up from 262.1 million in its previous report.

dailywireless.org

In news breaking just minutes ago, Apple has announced that Steve Jobs, 1 of Android’s principal detractors, has resigned from his position as CEO of the organization. Tim Cook, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, has been named the Cuprtino-based tech giant’s new CEO. Jobs will remain part of the business, assuming the role of Chairman of the Board. In a statement released by Apple’s Board, Art Levinson mentioned:

"Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and beneficial technologies company. Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s achievement, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative staff and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his distinctive insights, creativity and inspiration.The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the appropriate individual to be our subsequent CEO. Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding efficiency, and he has demonstrated exceptional talent and sound judgment in everything he does."

Jobs will no doubt nonetheless play a significant role in Apple’s operations, with the move becoming related to 1 recently undertaken at Google that saw Eric Schmidt’s duties shifted from CEO to Executive Chairman. Jobs’ history of illness most likely was a big factor in the restructuring of Apple’s greater brass. His new position will most likely come with a decreased workload.

[By way of iSource]

Android Phone Fans

That Final Cut Pro (FCP) had lately been showing its age is no secret. Most of the innovation was really taking location in the consumer field with iMovie, and there had been several capabilities that expert editors were eyeing with envy.

These were attributes such as: skimming through thumbnails to get a preview of clips to tremendously speed up the selection procedure becoming able to label clips with different key phrases to make it effortless to discover the appropriate 1 in seconds giving each project its own scratch disk as opposed to having one set for the application a much more up-to-date font and text architecture instead of the antiquated one that hadn’t changed considering that FCP’s introduction and being able to see when an audio clip is peaking just by glancing at the waveform in the timeline, rather than getting to listen to it suitable.

All these were added to FCP X (pronounced ‘ten’), along with a lot of other people including a 64-bit architecture (meaning you can feed it as considerably RAM as you can cram into your Mac, rather than be limited to only 4GB), background rendering and the ability to function with any files from SD to 4K – even inside the very same project. All this sounds great, so why all the fuss on-line and even on comedy shows?

It’s simply because Apple decided to get rid of a lot of what several expert editors depended on and never ever thought about until it was taken away from them.

Take the primary column in the browser window, which employed to stay anchored on the left-hand side – no matter how far down the proper you’d scroll to see a lot more of the clip’s metadata, you’d by no means lose track of its name. Well, that’s gone.

And what about adding keyframes to animate any parameter, which was automatic each and every time you modified its value soon after getting set the very first one? Missing in action. Then there are the clips in the browser that kept the last In and Out points you’d set the totally free creation of chapter markers along your timeline the ability to drag any clip anywhere on the timeline, making gaps if you required them (or not) and the projects that could be of virtually any dimension.

None of these – nor numerous others – are feasible with FCP X. Bigger omissions include: a complete lack of multi-camera support an inability to natively export to OMF, AAF or EDL files to move your project to other programs for further manipulation no alternative to send a clip to Motion from the timeline to add effects to it no correct support for connecting to a broadcast monitor and no possibility of importing projects designed with an earlier version of FCP.

This is all because FCP X isn’t an upgrade but version 1. of a fully new program. What’s confusing is that Apple kept the exact same name and discontinued the Final Cut Studio suite when FCP X was released, forcing men and women to move to the new application. And if they couldn’t, they had to contemplate their possibilities – hence the anger and confusion.

Curiously enough, Apple kept the older version alive when transitioning users from Mac OS 9 to OS X and even iMovie 6 to 7, so why they haven’t carried out so this time is a bit of a mystery. But if so significantly is missing, what does this new software offer aside from the above?

For one factor, you can edit more files in their native format, such as AVCHD, avoiding the lengthy transcoding process and saving you a fair quantity of disk space. You can finally function with AAC and MP3 audio files with out getting to render them initial, and clips shot with any iOS device now display as expected.

FCP X can also import iMovie projects, creating a clear and effortless migration path for up-and-coming editors.

The new magnetic timeline keeps your clips together, avoiding unintentional gaps and creating sure you in no way overwrite clips by mistake, or move the audio and video out of sync when moving things around (unless of course that’s your intention).

There is no such thing as layers anymore: clips can be added above existing ones as you wish, but all are linked to the main Storyline, which is basically the 1st layer. This is an entirely new editing concept that will take some obtaining utilized to.

The entire process feels like you’re being looked soon after, which is fantastic for 1st-time editors, but veterans might properly feel constrained since they can’t work the way they’re utilised to. Numerous keyboard shortcuts are the exact same, but quite a couple of are various. Thankfully, there’s a potent shortcut customisation selection, but this can’t disguise the fact that you are getting to learn an entirely new program.

There are a lot of things to like in this release, such as the capability to mouse over an effect and see how it modifications a selected clip prior to applying it (holding down the Choice important as you do so intensifies the impact), and the new colour correction tools are impressive, but too a lot is missing for professionals.

Since it’s so low cost although, you need to consider buying it and running it alongside FCP 7 (which will still function with Lion), then find out how to use it as you maintain earning funds with the older version.

Apple’s promised to update its new program quick and you do not want to get left behind when younger editors can do issues much better and quicker thanks to the changes in FCP X.

Related Links

• TechRadar Reviews Guarantee
• Read more software reviews

TechRadar: All PC & Mac feeds

The newest development in Samsung and Apple’s ongoing dispute saw the Galaxy Tab 10.1 blocked from sale in many parts of Europe, but the small victory won’t see the maker of the iPad resting on its laurels. In the extremely same complaint filed in Germany against Samsung, Apple references the Motorola XOOM and its desire to have the competing tablet examined by the identical court. A separate complaint filed over the XOOM is mentioned, although it is unclear if Apple aims to deploy the very same tactics they have utilized against Samsung by seeking a preliminary injunction and blocking sales of Motorola’s tablet. Up to this point, Motorola has remained reasonably immune to ongoing infringement disputes thanks to a vast portfolio of mobile patents.

[via EuroDroid]

Android Telephone Fans

Apple’s most costly MacBook Pro offers very related specifications to the high-finish 15-inch model.

Both have a brand-new, second-generation ‘Sandy Bridge’ quad-core two.2GHz Core i7 processor with integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000.

Each bring us an AMD Radeon HD 6750M discrete graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 memory, a 750GB, 5400RPM SATA tough drive, 4GB of 1,333MHz RAM and an internal seven-hour battery.

And each have a single FireWire 800 port as effectively as a Thunderbolt port, Intel’s exciting new I/O technologies providing up to 10Gbps transfer speeds in both directions.

Apart from the screen sizes, the only important differences in between the two high-finish off-the-shelf MacBook Pros is that this 17-inch model has three USB ports rather of two, and an ExpressCard / 34 slot instead of an SDXC card reader.

The 17-inch MacBook Pro is aimed at men and women who need to have extreme performance as well as a bigger screen. It is perfect for graphic designers who require all the screen space they can get and sufficient processing power to render complex images and artwork.

Likewise, video editors require sufficient room to fine-tune their projects without losing sight of the massive picture, and enough power to save them out in a reasonable time.

The Mac isn’t most people’s selection of gaming machine, but this one is surely potent sufficient to manage existing games, and individuals who need to have lots of windows open would welcome the extra screen space.

Tech Labs

Cinebench: Higher is much better

Doom 3: FPS: Greater is far better

iTunes encoding

The days when notebooks played second fiddle to desktops are long behind us. Today’s MacBooks – particularly this new MacBook Pro – are potent enough to use as a main personal computer, and ideal for those who want a desktop setup but with a Mac they can choose up and use on the move when necessary. But is picking it up and taking it away a difficulty? How portable can a notebook with a 17-inch screen in fact be?

This is where Apple’s 17-inch MacBook Pro really shines. Its unibody aluminium construction lends it strength, but keeps it light. At 2.99kg, it is only 18% heavier than the 15-inch model, and only marginally a lot more bulky. As long as your notebook bag is massive sufficient to fit it, portability isn’t a problem.

It is good that the new 17-inch MacBook Pro enjoys parity with the greater of the two 15-inch models brought to us by the early 2011 refresh. Before, it had the identical specs as the middle of 3 15-inch MacBook Pros, which seemed wrong.

But now, Apple’s new leading-of-the range notebook is challenging to beat. It’s extremely powerful, has an superb screen and is beautifully portable for a 17-inch model.

Related Links

• TechRadar Evaluations Guarantee
• Read far more laptop critiques

TechRadar: All PC & Mac feeds

We look back at week that included Apple software updates (but not Lion), Netflix price hikes, and still more patent lawsuits.

Macworld

Apple this week began advising its retailers of an expected launch of its Mac OS X Lion next week, which may be followed closely by the launch of much-anticipated refreshes to the company’s MacBook Air notebook family.

Apple last month placed orders for the production of a total of 380,000 Sandy Bridge-based 11.6 and 13.3-inch MacBook Airs that it has been stockpiling ahead of this month’s launch. The new models are also expected to include Thunderbolt ports and possibly high-speed 400MBps flash memory, says Apple Insider

But ever since Apple missed its usual summer launch for a new phone, the speculation on a new “iPhone 5″, to be introduced in September, has increased.

The next iPhone could support all U.S. carriers, speculates 9 to 5 Mac. Right now, the general consensus is that Apple is going to use a Qualcomm chip within the iPhone 5 that can connect to both CDMA and GSM networks around the world. It could be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4, and may sport an A-5 processor like the iPad2, but another, cheaper iPhone is said to be in the works as well.

The low-end iPhone is expected to compete with the ever-growing Android market. The WSJ claims that the new iPhones will use wireless baseband chips made by Qualcomm, rather than the Infineon chips used by AT&T’s iPhone 4.

Apple uses Qualcomm Gobi chips in Verizon’s iPhone and iPad. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon MSM8655 processor and MDM9600 LTE modem support LTE, dual carrier HSPA+, and EV-DO Rev. A/B. It’s used in Verizon’s LTE Thunderbolt phone. Qualcomm’s MDM6600 modem is compatible with HSPA+ and CDMA data on 3G networks. An TD-LTE phone from Apple seems unlikely this September, but a Thunderbolt-like iPhone may be possible.

The CDMA version of the iPhone 4, sold by Verizon Wireless, carries a bill of materials of $ 171.35, but Verizon’s LTE-enabled ThunderBolt costs $ 262, notes iSupply. The premium iPhone5 could use similar components as the Thunderbolt.

Carriers use half a dozen different bands for 2G and 3G voice and data service. The only true international “4G” band is the 200 Mhz-wide, 2.6GHz band. A TD-LTE iphone is also speculated for China and India. LTE bands are available in the United States (highlighted in green), but there’s really only one place to go if anyone wants the TD-LTE flavor in the United States – Sprint.

Any TD-LTE announcement by Sprint might require them to support dongles by the end of 2011 and phones within a year. Sprint may also want to reband their network to match international standards – with TD-LTE isolated in the middle of their spectrum. The logistics would be a headache, but it could result in global compatibility and lower prices. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon or TV networks might partner with operators. A virtual operator might lease spectrum in 10 MHz chunks.

A dual-band TD-LTE/FD-LTE phone might be just the ticket for international roaming. A single global platform. Global domination.

Apple’s iOS installed base is believed to be the key differentiator for Apple. It’s expected to rise rapidly from 250 million devices in 2011 to 415 million by the end of 2012, outmatching Android as the industry’s leading mobile operating system.

But Android is gaining fast and Microsoft will be coming on strong. The Samsung Hercules, Google Nexus 4G, Motorola Droid X2 and HTC EVO 3D are here or arriving soon, while Motorola’s Photon 4G for Sprint packs a dual-core Tegra 2 chip, along with WiMAX, CDMA and GSM connectivity. Those handsets should give the new iPhone a run for its money and keep things interesting.

dailywireless.org

A list of 27 user names and encrypted passwords apparently for an Apple website was posted to the Internet over the weekend along with a warning from hacker group Anonymous that the Cupertino-based computer maker could be a target of its attacks.

Macworld

China Mobile may begin selling the iPhone 5 in September, reported the Shanghai Daily and repeated by Reuters. But the deals that Apple’s Tim Cook was making in China this week probably won’t result in products by September, says Fortune.

The aggregate number of mobile subscribers of the three main telecom operators (China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom) stood at approximately 823 million as of the end of November 2010.

While China now has nearly 900 million subscribers, currently only 74 million have access to 3G networks, says Fortune. China Mobile leads with a 3G share of 45%, while China Unicom and China Telecom had 30% and 25%, respectively. Most mobile users in China are still using 2G phones.

China Mobile controls a huge 70 percent market share of China’s total mobile sector, according to Wireless Intelligence, but their percent of 3G connections is far less than the other two operators. China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network is why

Apple has a deal with only one of China’s three largest carriers, — China Unicom — the country’s second largest, according to Fortune.

• China Unicom, the 2nd largest in China and the world’s third-biggest mobile provider. It has a (GSM) license to expand its business to 3G telecommunication.
• China Telecom, the 3rd largest mobile telecommunication provider in China with 43 million mobile subscribers, and has a nationwide CDMA business.
• China Mobile, is the world’s largest mobile phone operator with over 600 million subscribers. Its 3G network utilizes the TD-SCDMA — which is incompatible with Apple’s current generation of iPhones. China Mobile’s 4G network will utilizes the TD-LTE standard.

China Mobile has announced that it will carry Apple’s 4G iPhones when a LTE (long-term evolution) version is ready. When that happens is anybody’s guess.

But TD-LTE chipsets are being readied by Qualcomm, Sequans, Huawei, LG, Samsung and others.

Unpaired frequencies, used by TD-LTE networks, are by nature asymetrical. China and India say Time Division Multiplexing handles data-intensive communications more efficiently. Frequency Division LTE networks, such as those used by Verizon and AT&T in the United States, waste channel capacity just “listening”, when nothing is being transmitted.

The company is testing TD-LTE in 6 cities, including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Xiamen. Telecom giants such as Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, and ZTE, have participated in technical trials of TD-LTE technology with China Mobile since the end of 2008.- China Mobile’s Chairman, Wang Jianzhou, has said that Apple will support a TD-LTE phone.

Without giving a timeframe, Bill Huang, president of China Mobile’s research institute, said both Sprint/Clearwire and Light Squared have announced they will adopt TD-LTE.

dailywireless.org

Back in late 2009 Nokia sued Apple for using their patented technologies while not paying any license fees like many others in the wireless industry were doing. Apple then countersued and acted like a child who was ticked that someone had the nerve to take action. When all the others were licensing these patents that Nokia had spent billions developing, it was pretty obvious Apple was just trying to show they didn’t have to follow the rules like everyone else. Nokia just announced that Apple has now become a licensee and lawsuits related to patent infringement are now dropped.

While Nokia’s market share is falling during this transitional phase and increasing competition from Apple and Google, they still are due recognition and payment for the billions they spent on R&D over the years as they led the world in wireless technologies. It is nice to finally see Apple realize Nokia was due such payments and will be making a one time lump sum payment followed by future royalty payments so when Apple succeeds Nokia gets a piece of the pie too. The length and financials of the agreement were not disclosed.

Nokia Experts

Four days ago Apple got a court order to smell what the Samsung is cooking. And now it would seem that Samsung is looking to play a game of “You show me yours, I’ll show you mine”.

With this request, Samsung is looking to catch a glimpse of the yet to be announced “iPhone 4S”, “iPhone 5″ or anything closely resembling that lineup; as well as the “iPad 3″, “Third Generation iPad” or anything resembling that lineup. So, you know, these lawsuits wont happen again. With Apple’s track record, Samsung could just look at the stuff that’s already out, imagine it thinner, call it the next generation and have a 95% chance of getting it right. Of course that’s probably another lawsuit.

[via This is my next | Read on Engadget]

Android Phone Fans

Mac users who’ve downloaded the Mac Defender Trojan horse got some help from Apple Tuesday in the form of instructions on how to removal the malware off their Macs.

Macworld

With the tenth anniversary of the Apple Store come and gone, Apple has rolled out a new shopping experience at its retail outlets, highlighted by the use of iPad 2s to display product information.

Macworld

View full post on Macworld

We can’t help but notice what appears to be an upwards battle with the entry of the HTC Flyer tablet.  Amidst the multiple 10-inch, dual-core Honeycomb running devices, HTC has opted to usher in the 7-inch, single core (although 1.5 GHz) device running Gingerbread instead.  What do you think?  Wise move on HTC’s part?  Check out the pics below for a comparison between all of the devices, courtesy of our friends over at Engadget.  Don’t forget to let us know what you think in the comments below.   Read More…

Will The HTC Flyer Measure Up To Other Tablets Like The Galaxy Tab And Apple iPad?

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

Apple and Verizon have ceased taking preorders for iPhone 4s.

View full post on Macworld

Apple on Wednesday released an update to Lexmark printer drivers for Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

View full post on Macworld

HTC’s main business is cellphones sold their wireless partners, but they keep their product catalog spread out among carriers and provide enough options in terms of software and hardware to justify a storefront pedaling only their shwag. Turns out, that is exactly what the manufacturer is considering. Following in the footsteps of Apple, Microsoft, and Nokia, HTC has plans to open three flagship stores in Taiwan. Judging on their success, the company would want to further expand with 100 additional retail outlets.

It is unclear whether any of these stores would make it outside of Asia, but we’d imagine the major international markets like New York and London might get their own. The move would encourage people to purchase their next phone based more on product selection rather than carrier, but we still think HTC would need to diversify their lineup a bit more to make the enterprise successful. A tablet might be a good way to start traveling down that road…

[via IntoMobile]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Apple has come under fire in China, where a group accuses the company of not doing enough to ensure environmental and safety standards in its supply chain.

View full post on Macworld

Just because Steve Jobs is take a leave of absence for his health doesn’t mean COO and acting head of Apple Tim Cook doesn’t want to have a go at it. In an earning call today Cook discussed his feelings about the iPad’s competition, knocking Windows tablets for being “big, heavy, and expensive” and called out Android tablets for being “scaled-up smartphone[s]” that are a “bizarre product.”

Here is Cook’s full response:

“Q: What about iPad competitors?

TC: There’s not much out there as you know. There are two kinds of groups today (in the market) — the ones using a Windows-based operating system. They’re big, heavy and expensive. Weak battery life. Need keyboard or stylus. From our point of view, customers aren’t interested in that.

Then you have the Android tablets. The variety shipping today, the OS wasn’t designed for a tablet — but Google said this. So you wind up having the size of a tablet that’s less than reasonable. Or one that’s not even a real tablet experience. It’s a "scaled-up smartphone" – that’s a bizarre product in our view. Those are what is shipping today. If you do a side-by-side with an iPad, some enormous percentage are going to pick the iPad. We have no concern there.

In terms of next generation. There’s nothing shipping yet. So I don’t know. "Today they’re vapor." However, we’re not sitting still. We have a huge first-mover advantage. And a huge user advantage from iTunes to the App Store. Huge number of apps and an ecosystem. We’re very confident entering into a fight with anyone.”

Guess there won’t be a break from Jobs’ style of elitist views towards mobile platforms anytime soon.

[via TechCrunch]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Jason Snell and Dan Moren provide live coverage of Apple’s conference call with investors, following the company’s quarterly earnings statement.

View full post on Macworld

Oh boy. Not much can be said for this little diddy all about Android. Well, all about Android might be a stretch, as the song is also 50 percent Apple bashing seasoned with plenty of profanity and all the bold-faced player hatin’ you could want. Not much can be said for a song that speaks for itself with lines like “If you talk s*** about Android I’ll slap you on your a**…and stick my finger up it.” Sure to give Rob’s G1 rap a run for its money…

[via DroidLife]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

If one thing has become clear in the early going at CES, it is that there are lots of companies competing to keep your iPhone and iPad powered up and protected.

View full post on Macworld

The $4 Remote HD app lets older Apple TVs running FireCore’s aTV Flash add-on to use AirPlay to stream video from other devices.

View full post on Macworld