Taiwan: HP and Lenovo to build up own brand stores.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Taiwan: HP and Lenovo to build up own brand stores.

Seeing Apple achieving success by promoting its products with its Apple Stores, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Lenovo are both aggressively aiming to build up their own brand stores in Taiwan, according to sources from the retail channel.

Lenovo currently has about five own-brand stores in Taiwan, mainly in the two major metropolitan cities Taipei and Kaohsiung and the company is reportedly considering to greatly increase the number of its brand stores in Asia region to 1,000. Meanwhile, HP is also establishing a full-service center in Taipei, combining product maintenance service with product exhibition in one location and the center is the HP's eighth full-service center in the Asia Pacific region.

The sources also pointed out that unlike the traditional IT mall, a brand store can greatly enhance the brand image through decoration and allow the sales to have better communication opportunity with consumers.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple's revenues from the Apple Store grew 42.6% on year to US$17.08 million, accounting for 13.2% of the company's total revenues.

Partnership Foxconn/Sharp to target Apple orders. Apple TV ?

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Partnership Foxconn/Sharp to target Apple orders. Apple TV ?

Sharp has announced a strategic alliance with Foxconn (Hon Hai). 

Through third-party allotment, four Foxconn subsidiaries will obtain an about 9.88% stake and become the largest shareholder of Sharp. Foxconn will also hold shares in Sharp Display Products (SDP), a joint venture of Sharp and Sony producing large-size panels and modules.

Sharp indicated that Foxconn will procure panels and related modules from Sharp's 10G plant in Sakai, Japan. The procurement will keep the 10G plant at high capacity utilization.

Sharp and Foxconn are suppliers of Apple. Hence this cooperation may be aimed at obtaining orders for Apple TVs. Apple may want to use Sharp's technology to produce Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) panels for Apple TVs.

Foxconn has been investing in Taiwan-based LCD panel maker Chimei Innolux (CMI). The market believes the cooperation between Foxconn and Sharp will not benefit CMI. Sharp has been replacing CMI as the panel supplier for Apple's iPads, hence cooperating with Sharp seems more beneficial to Foxconn.

LTE: AT&T: Nokia Lumia 900 for $99.-

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

LTE: AT&T: Nokia Lumia 900 for $99.-

AT&T said it will offer Nokia’s Lumia 900 device, a Windows Phone smartphone with LTE connectivity, from 8 April 2012, priced at US$99 with two-year service contract. The operator will begin accepting pre-orders later this week.

Amazon Kindle Touch 3G Now for Sale to Customers in over 175 Countries.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Amazon Kindle Touch 3G Now for Sale to Customers in over 175 Countries.

Kindle Touch 3G – the most full-featured Kindle e-reader – easy-to-use touch screen and free 3G wireless, no annual contracts or monthly fees and never pay for or hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Now available in multiple languages – German, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and American and British English.

Amazon.com  today announced Kindle Touch 3G – the most full-featured Kindle e-reader – with an easy-to-use touch screen and the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G wireless, is available today for pre-order from www.amazon.com to customers in over 175 countries and territories around the world. With Kindle Touch 3G, customers never have to hunt for or pay for a Wi-Fi hotspot, there are no annual contracts or monthly fees – simply download and read books anytime around the world. Kindle Touch 3G is small and light, has storage for thousands of books and an extra-long battery life.

In addition, Kindle Touch 3G is available in seven languages – German, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and American or British English – so customers can read, take notes, and navigate their Kindle in any of these languages. Kindle Touch 3G will ship to customers beginning April 27. Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G are also available today for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es and Amazon.it.

“We’ve seen great excitement over our new line of Kindle e-readers and we’re thrilled to be able to offer Kindle Touch 3G to customers worldwide,” said Dave Limp, vice president, Amazon Kindle. “Customers love the electronic ink display that reads like paper, with no glare, even in bright daylight, the unparalleled convenience of 3G for downloading books in less than 60 seconds, and with our new touch technology and a unique combination of features you won’t find anywhere else – Text-to-Speech and our new technologies EasyReach and X-ray – we’ve made it easier than ever to read and explore Kindle with one hand.”

Both Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G feature X-Ray, a feature that Amazon invented to help customers explore the “bones of the book.” With a single tap, readers can see all the passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics that interest them, as well as more detailed descriptions from Wikipedia and Shelfari, Amazon’s community-powered encyclopedia for book lovers. Amazon built X-Ray using its expertise in language processing and machine learning, access to significant storage and computing resources with Amazon S3 and EC2, and a deep library of book and character information.

Additionally, Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G come with built-in speakers offering support for text-to-speech, audiobooks and mp3 support. Customers can discover, download, and listen to audiobooks – read by authors, celebrities, and world-class narrators.

The Kindle Store on Amazon.com offers the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read. Customers have access to over one million books in the Kindle Store, including international bestsellers, newspapers and magazines. In addition, over one million free books are available to read on Kindle devices.

Simple to Use Touch Screen: Kindle Touch 3G features an easy-to-use touch interface. Turn pages, search, shop books, and take notes quickly and easily.

Light and Compact: Kindle Touch 3G’s all-new sleek design sports an 11% smaller body, with the same 6” screen size, and is 8% lighter, only 7.8 ounces.

Holds 3,000 Books: Carry up to 3,000 books – keep your entire library with you wherever you go.

Two Month Battery Life: No battery anxiety – read up to two months on a single charge with wireless off and half hour of reading per day.

NEW EasyReach: Tap to turn pages – no need to swipe – so you can hold Kindle in either hand.

Books in 60 Seconds: Find a book and start reading in seconds with our fast, free wireless delivery. No computer required.

Free 3G Wireless: Kindle Touch 3G is our top of the line Kindle – no wireless set up, no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots. Download books anywhere with no monthly fees or annual contracts. 3G works globally.

Built-In Wi-Fi: Connect to Wi-Fi hotspots at home or on the road.

Simple to Use: Ready to use right out of the box – no setup, no software install, no computer required to download content.

Adjustable Text Sizes: Read comfortably with eight different sizes and three font styles.

Fast Page Turns: Kindle Touch 3G has a powerful processor tuned for fast, seamless page turns.

PDF and Personal Documents: Email personal documents and PDFs direct to your Kindle and read and annotate on-the-go.

Massive Selection: Customers have access to over one million books in the Kindle Store, including international bestsellers, newspapers and magazines.

Free, Out-of-Copyright Books: Over one million free books are available to read on Kindle.

Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.

NEW X-Ray: With the new X-Ray feature, you can explore the “bones of a book.” With a single tap, see all the passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics of interest, as well as more detailed descriptions from Wikipedia and Shelfari.

Read-to-Me: With Text-to-Speech, Kindle can read English-language content out loud to you.

Free Cloud Backup: We automatically back up your library in the cloud, so you never need to worry about losing your books. Re-download wirelessly anytime for free.

Buy Once, Read Everywhere: Kindle books can be read on your Kindle, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, PC, Mac and Android-based devices with our free Kindle Reading Apps.

Whispersync: Our Whispersync technology synchronizes your last page read, bookmarks and annotations across your devices so you can always pick up where you left off.

Customers can discover full details and order Kindle Touch 3G at www.amazon.com/kindletouch3Gintl. In addition, Kindle Touch (Wi-Fi only) is available at www.amazon.com/kindletouchintl. For more information on Kindle and Kindle Keyboard 3G, visit www.amazon.com/kindle.

For high-resolution images of Kindle Touch 3G, visit www.amazon.com/pr/kindle.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com’s financial results is included in Amazon.com’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 update available for download. Supports Windows 8.

WorldWide Tech & SCience. Francisco De Jesús.

Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 update available  for download.

The following changes have been included in this Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 update:

- Visual Studio IDE is patched to enable selection from a list of emulators, and launching it;

- Windows Phone (512 MB device) emulator image is updated to use build 8773;

- Microsoft Advertising SDK is updated to the latest version, and fixes some issues that were previously reported by developers, mostly at runtime;

- IntelliSense now supports specifying the 512 MB device requirement in the manifest file, should devs choose to opt their app out from running on the new 256 MB devices;

- Language support includes all 10 of the WPSDK 7.1 languages and in the emulator OS, Malay and Indonesian have been added.

Keep in mind that this update can be installed without having to uninstall the CTP launched last month. Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update is now available for download here.

Two things make this update very important for Windows Phone developers. Firstly, it offers them the possibility to create applications that will run within the parameters on smartphones that are equipped with only 256 MB.

Secondly, once developers update to Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 they will be able to create applications on devices running Windows 8 operating system.

The installation process of this update will take about 15 minutes, as the patch is about 300 MB in size. It contains two virtual OS images, for 256 MB and 512 MB devices, and runs on Windows 8 devices, though unofficially until the RTM release of Windows. 

Berg Insight research says: NFC phone sales to reach 100 million in 2012.

World Wide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Berg Insight research says: NFC phone sales to reach 100 million in 2012.

Near-field Communication (NFC) technology enables data to be exchanged wirelessly over distances of a few centimeters, meaning mobile phones can be used to pay for goods, store electronic tickets, download music and swap photos and business cards.

In a research Berg Insight  said  100 million cellphones using  (NFC) will be sold this year.

Handset vendors released more than 40 NFC-enabled models in 2011, hoping to tap emerging market for mobile payments.

Berg Insight said it expects the global market for NFC phones to grow to 700 million phones in 2016 from 30 million in 2011.

NXP Semiconductor is the leading manufacturer of NFC chips, while also Inside Secure has won some deals.

What is NFC?

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology makes life easier and more convenient for consumers around the world by making it simpler to make transactions, exchange digital content, and connect electronic devices with a touch.

A standards-based connectivity technology, NFC harmonizes today's diverse contactless technologies, enabling current and future solutions in areas such as:

• Access control
• Consumer electronics
• Healthcare
• Information collection and exchange
• Loyalty and coupons
• Payments
• Transport

Developers can learn more about NFC in the section on interoperability.

Key Benefits of NFC

NFC provides a range of benefits to consumers and businesses, such as:

• Intuitive: NFC interactions require no more than a simple touch
• Versatile: NFC is ideally suited to the broadest range of industries, environments, and uses
• Open and standards-based: The underlying layers of NFC technology follow universally implemented ISO, ECMA, and ETSI standards
• Technology-enabling: NFC facilitates fast and simple setup of wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.)
• Inherently secure: NFC transmissions are short range (from a touch to a few centimeters)
• Interoperable: NFC works with existing contactless card technologies
• Security-ready: NFC has built-in capabilities to support secure applications

Windows Phone Marketplace reaches 70,000 + apps

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

 

Windows Phone Marketplace apps reaches  70,000 + apps.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace app catalogue has passed 70,000 apps, reportsTechCrunch.

The platform has gained impetus in recent months following the launch of the first Windows Phone-powered devices from Nokia, and also debuted in China this month.

The Marketplace had 50,000 apps in December last year, rising to 60,000 by January. The range of apps available for Windows Phone will be crucial in the OS making any headway compared to the dominant iOS and Android.

Apple’s App Store is home to more than 500,000 apps and Google Play (previously Android Marektplace) having more than 370,000 Amazon’s Appstor for Android recently reported it hosted more than 31,000 apps.

Microsoft has previously said it is more focused on the quality of the apps on its platform than the quantity.

Apple Free iPad e-book user guide for iOS 5.1 available for download.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Apple Free iPad e-book user guide for iOS 5.1 available for download.

iPad User Guide for iOS 5.1 contains “everything you need to know about iPad, in a handy eBook format.”

“Get to know iPad and discover all the amazing things it can do, and how to do them. It's the definitive guide for getting the most from your new iPad, straight from Apple. The iPad User Guide is an essential part of any iPad library,” says Apple.

The book requires iBooks 1.3.1 or later and iOS 4.3.3 or later. It can be viewed only with the iBooks application on an iPad, iPhone (3G or later), or iPod touch (2nd generation or later).

Download link : iPad e-book free user guide iOS 5.1

Samsung readies NEW Enyo 5 CPU.

WorldWide Tech & SCience. Francisco De Jesús.

Samsung readies NEW Enyo 5 CPU.

The Dual Core 32nm chip is based on Samsung’s High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) process and, despite being bigger, it’s stable enough to reach such high working frequencies.

The GPU inside Exynos 5 is a T-604 MP4 “Mali” design that’s also designed by
ARMHoldings and is capable of offering around 60 fps or 3D gaming and support 8MP cameras at 30 fps. Samsung’s chip will support WQXGA resolution of 2560x1600 and will be competing with PowerVR SGX543 from Imagination Technologies.

The Korean company did not want to experiment with 28nm manufacturing process just yet, fearing difficulty with low yields and low scalability. Instead it went for their tried and true 32nm process and managed a 2GHz clock speed that’s even faster than what Qualcomm managed to get out of TSMC’s 28nm process for their SnapDragon S4 chips that rage between 1.5GHz and 1.7 GHz.

The new ARM-based design from Samsung is called Exynos 5 and it is a true A15 Core solution on 32nm. The Exynos 5 is a Direct A15 Core.

The GPU will play in the same league as the iPAD3 GPU while the CPU will show much better performance in single or dual threaded mobile applications that are, basically, most of them.

The Exynos 5 ARM CPU is expected to appear in tablets and low-end PCs rather than smartphones 

Windows 8 will support retina displays.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Microsoft's newest Windows 8 operating  system supports a 10.1-inch tablet screen with 291 pixels per inch resolution, the company says in its Building Windows 8 blog. That compares to the new iPad with 265 ppi. 

Microsoft has frameworks so developers don't have to manually code the apps to scale. Use of standard pixel units and XAML layouts, layouts will scale. Images corresponding to each scaling percentage can be stored and appropriately named so the appropriate one for the hardware will be chosen automatically. The goal is a baseline level of quality that can be achieved with little effort.

ACC.12: Panasonic Unveils Enhanced Software for CardioHealth® Station.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

 

ACC.12: Panasonic Unveils Enhanced Software for CardioHealth® Station.

The company demonstrates the CardioHealth Station at the American College of Cardiology's 61st Annual Scientific Session & Expo.

Panasonic Healthcare Group today debuted new, enhanced software for the CardioHealth® Station at the American College of Cardiology's (ACC's) 61st Annual Scientific Session & Expo, ACC.12, being held March 24 though March 28 in Chicago. 

 The CardioHealth Station, Panasonic's flagship healthcare product, is designed to assist medical professionals in making a quick and valuable assessment of cardiovascular health and has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the automated acquisition of carotid intima-media thickness data and risk assessment. The CardioHealth® Station and new software will be on display and demonstrated at Panasonic booth # 18075.

The CardioHealth Station has a built-in portable ultrasound system optimized to perform non-invasive examinations of the peripheral vessels. It provides an automated measurement of the intima-media thickness (IMT) of peripheral arteries such as the common carotid and allows the user to search for arterial plaques in B-mode imaging.

 The touchscreen keyboard allows the user to input various parameters related to traditional cardiovascular risk factors and a built-in calculator provides risk scores (Framingham Risk Score, PROCAM Health Check Score, Reynolds Risk Score, risk score based on the SCORE project) commonly used in a variety of medical environments. This information is supplemented with an IMT measurement of the artery to generate a comprehensive report to aid a physician in assessing cardiovascular risk.

The enhanced CardioHealth Station software being debuted at ACC.12 allows technicians to optimize workflow, and was created based on customer feedback from the 2011 software version. The new CardioHealth Station software also allows for a more robust acquisition of plaque detection in carotid arteries. 

 The combination of B-Mode and Color Flow Mode allows technicians to more fully distinguish between plaque-mimicking motion artifacts and the actual presence or absence of plaques. Additionally the new software allows for multi-angle image acquisition and selects the image with the thickest build-up of the arterial Intima-Media Thickness (IMT). Finally, the new software provides the ability to export reports to a network folder, helping to truly integrate the CardioHealth Station into a practice's electronic medical record, or in the case of larger institutions, DICOM storage system.

"We are eager to debut and demonstrate the CardioHealth Station's new software features to the medical community attending ACC.12. We spent many years developing the foundation of this flagship product, and I am very happy to say we are raising the bar again as we incorporate even more requests of the medical community," said Steven Lynum, Director of Clinical Products, Panasonic Healthcare Group. 

 "The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology recently updated the guidelines for the screening of asymptomatic patients with intermediate risk, creating awareness for the necessity to reduce healthcare costs through prevention. It is Panasonic's intention to work closely with the medical community to provide important diagnostic tools, such as the CardioHealth Station, to assist practitioners in achieving the goal of lowering healthcare costs through the early detection of disease."

"When Panasonic first introduced the CardioHealth® Station product at ACC 2011, I was truly pleased to see that a company was listening to the market needs and delivering a revolutionary new product to fit those needs," said S. Wayne Kay, the President and CEO of CardioNexus Corporation. "Now, Panasonic is implementing truly meaningful software optimizations that further perfect the CardioHealth Station for practitioners of Personalized Preventive Medicine, at ACC 2012. Over the past year, thousands of people have been screened with this device, and I believe using the latest guidelines, screening these asymptomatic intermediate risk patients, based on the guidelines, finding an unsuspected plaque, has really helped save lives."

About Panasonics Healthcare Group

Based in Secaucus, NJ Panasonic Healthcare Group is a business group of Panasonic Corporation of North America. Bringing together Panasonic's expertise in a wide range of health and medical device technologies the business unit develops products for the healthcare industry relating to hearing care and diagnostic machines. For more information visit www.panasonic.com/cardiohealthstation or http://www.panasonic.com/business/medicalvideo/hearing-aids/index.asp

About Panasonic Corporation of North America

Based in Secaucus, NJ, Panasonic Corporation of North America provides a broad line of digital and other electronics products for consumer, business and industrial use. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation (NYSE: PC), and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic recently announced that it will relocate its North American headquarters to Newark, NJ in 2013 as part of is plans to reduce the size of its carbon emissions footprint. Information about Panasonic and its products is available at www.panasonic.com and its Full HD 3D site at www.panasonic.com/3D. Additional company information for journalists is also available at www.panasonic.com/pressroom.

About the CardioNexus Corporation

Founded on January 2009 in Houston Texas, CardioNexus Corporation is an authorized distributor of Panasonic Healthcare Group. CardioNexus focuses on early detection of cardiovascular disease using an innovative multi-modality approach. Panasonic Corporation of North America became a shareholder of CardioNexus Corporation in October 2010. For more information, visit the company's website at www.cardionexus.com

SOURCE Panasonic