Deep discounts bolster BlackBerry PlayBook sales, study finds

Research In Motion announced last week that it will take a $485 million charge in the third fiscal quarter due to poor sales of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The Waterloo, Ontario-based vendor shipped 500,000 PlayBook tablets to retail partners during the slate’s first quarter of availability and just 200,000 units in the second fiscal quarter. Last quarter, RIM shipped just 150,000 units into sales channels. A string of big sales ahead of the holidays this year is apparently going a long way to clear unsold inventory however, and one study suggests adoption may have jumped by nearly 50% during Black Friday weekend. Read on for more.

Ad network Chitika on Tuesday published the findings of a traffic monitoring study that focused on impressions served to RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet between November 14th and November 30th. Beginning on November 22nd — and even before that date in Canada — RIM announced that select retail partners would offer the PlayBook tablet at a steep $300 discount, making the entry-level 16GB just $199.99. Starting in the early afternoon on Black Friday, impressions served by Chitika to PlayBook tablets began to climb.

Shortly after noon on Monday, traffic to PlayBook tablets saw a huge spike before leveling off on Tuesday. Even after stabilizing, however, PlayBook traffic was up about 46% over average levels before the holiday shopping weekend.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is the first device from RIM to feature the vendor’s new QNX-based operating system. While RIM’s debut tablet has not fared well in the market for a variety of reasons including a lack of native PIM support, we liked the slate as it compares to competitive offerings and found the UI to be a good fit for a tablet. RIM’s first smartphone to feature the QNX-based OS, now called BBX, is now on schedule to launch in the second half next year.

Verizon DROID XYBOARD 10.1 and DROID XYBOARD 8.2 tablets to launch this month

Verizon Wireless on Tuesday officially announced the DROID XYBOARD 10.1 and the XYBOARD 8.2, otherwise known as the Motorola XOOM 2 and XOOM 2 Media Edition tablets. Aside from different sized IPS displays, both devices offer support for Verizon Wireless’s 4G LTE network and are equipped with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel camera capable of recording HD video, a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi support and the ability to share a 4G LTE connection with other Wi-Fi-enabled devices. The tablets will ship with Android Honeycomb installed but will eventually be upgraded to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The 16GB DROID XYBOARD 10.1 starts at $529.99 with a new two-year contract, but 32GB and 64GB models will also be available. The DROID XYBOARD 8.2 will come in 16GB and 32GB capacities and pricing will start at $429.99 with a new two-year contract. Both tablets will be available from Verizon Wireless this month. Verizon’s full press release follows after the break.

VERIZON WIRELESS AND MOTOROLA MOBILITY INTRODUCE NEXT-GENERATION DROID XYBOARD TABLETS ON THE VERIZON WIRELESS 4G LTE NETWORK

New Tablets Elevate Customers into an Unprecedented Realm of Communication, Entertainment and Productivity; Verizon Wireless Also Offering New DROID RAZR^™ by Motorola in White, Just in Time for the Holidays

BASKING RIDGE, N.J, and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – Motorola Mobility, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) and Verizon Wireless today introduced two new additions to the DROID family to deliver new and unparalleled experiences on America’s fastest, most reliable 4G network, the DROID XYBOARD tablets.  The two new DROID tablets present new options for consumers looking to stay connected, productive and entertained.  Additionally, Verizon Wireless will debut the trendsetting DROID RAZR^™ by Motorola in a flashy new white color, a unique gift for the winter holidays.  All three products will be upgraded to Android^™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The new DROID XYBOARD tablets both boast the blazing speeds of Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network and the power of dual-core 1.2 GHz processors, 1 GB of RAM and MotoCast^™ for remote access to non DRM-protected music, pictures, videos and documents stored on work or home computers’ hard drives.  Both are equipped with scratch-resistant displays that use Corning^® Gorilla^® Glass to stay brilliant and a coating of water-repellent nanoparticles makes them resistant to accidental spills and splashes.

Lighter than a paperback book and thinner than an AAA battery, the DROID XYBOARD tablets feature Android^™ 3.2 Honeycomb, brilliant high-definition displays with wide viewing angles, magnesium-reinforced bodies with aluminum housing and super portable form-factors.  Both tablets offer robust Business Ready features, including enterprise-grade security and apps such as Quickoffice HD^® for document editing and creation, Citrix^® GoToMeeting^™ for productivity and collaboration and Google Talk^™ for video conferencing.

The DROID XYBOARD 10.1 is optimized for productivity with stylus support for easy notetaking and markup using a precision tip stylus, included in the box. The XYBOARD 8.2 is perfect for portable entertainment with 2.1 adaptive virtual surround sound and a high-definition display for enjoying Netflix^™ movies in up to HD quality, concert-like music and serious gaming.  Powered by the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network, DROID XYBOARD 10.1 and 8.2 customers can soar through the Web at blazing speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps within 4G LTE Mobile Broadband coverage areas.

Additional features for DROID XYBOARD tablets:

·         10.1-inch and 8.2-inch high-definition In-Plane Switching (IPS) display for DROID XYBOARD 10.1 and DROID XYBOARD 8.2 respectively

·         Mobile Hotspot Capability – share 4G LTE connection with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices

·         5-megapixel rear-facing HD cameras with digital zoom, autofocus and LED flash,  optimized for capturing the moment

·         1.3-megapixel HD front-facing cameras perfect for video chatting with friends and family

·         Dijit^™ app allows DROID XYBOARD tablets to double as a universal remote control with an electronic programming guide for TVs, Blu-ray Disc^™ players, digital video records (DVR), and most other consumer electronics

·         Support for Google^™ Mobile Services including Gmail^™, YouTube^™, Google Talk, Google Search^™, Google Maps™ and access to millions of books from Google Books^™

·         Supports a wide array of separately purchased accessories including an HD station for connecting to speakers and a larger screen, an HD dock to send content via HDMI out to HDTVs and home theater speaker systems and a stylish portfolio with Bluetooth^®-enabled keyboard and mouse

·         Wi-Fi Connectivity (802.11 a/b/g/n)

Pricing:

·         Both DROID XYBOARD tablets will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com this month.

·         The DROID XYBOARD 10.1 will be available in three models: 16 GB for $529.99, 32 GB for $629.99 and 64 GB for $729.99 all with a new two-year customer agreement.

·         The DROID XYBOARD 8.2 will be available in two models: 16 GB for $429.99 and 32 GB for $529.99 both with a new two-year customer agreement.

·         Customers that purchase a DROID XYBOARD tablet will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband data plan starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

• DROID RAZR in white will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com this month for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.  Customers that purchase a DROID RAZR will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

Special promotion:

·         Customers will receive $100 off a DROID XYBOARD tablet and $50 off select Motorola accessories for a limited time when a customer purchases a DROID RAZR by Motorola with a new two-year customer agreement.

Biscotti could begin a new era of HDTV phones

About six years ago, I was at Disney’s EPCOT center and rode on Spaceship Earth so I can see the “world of the future”. In the exhibit, they showed a family gathered around a television, communicating with a videoimage on the other side.

I scoffed at that, and thought that EPCOT needs to update the ride, as that was a demonstration of present-day webcam technology. Now Biscotti’s TV Phone promises to be “the next generation of home video calling”.

Biscotti is so named because it is shaped like the popular dunking snack sold at Starbucks. You can place it atop your flatscreen, and it has a remote for popping up onscreen menus.

Biscotti allows the user to make free calls to other Biscotti and other devices that support Google voice and video. The user can set the Biscotti to answer calls from select contacts and turn on the TV when receiving a call from the TV.

So, is this the beginning of an age of TV communications, like we all have seen on the Jetsons? Biscotti certainly hopes so, as their press release states that video calling grows at fifty percent per year. The Biscotti is the first device as a home TV phone, and could start a whole new era.

The Biscotti is available now for about $199 at the official site.

The Mini – Might get Someone to Use their Digital Picture Frame

I don’t even like to cover digital frames anymore, I mean, everyone has one, and everyone has given at least two as a gift. I know I have, and three birthdays later, my mother in law is still begging me to set hers up, it seems like the people that would actually enjoy using a digital frame, are the least likely to be able to set it up easily…

Luckily, digital photo frame manufacturer Isabella Products, has launched a new product, the Isabella Mini.  This USB dongle makes regular digital frames and TVs wireless, and it’s users will be able to receive emailed photos direct to their screens from their contacts. Photos can be sent to the Mini from a phone (email or MMS), Internet,PC or even from online galleries like Photobucket.

The Mini also offers real-time sharing as you can receive photos of important memories from anyone, anywhere in real time, by way of the Mini’s 3G mobile broadbandconnection. So send out some invites to friends and family and allow them the opportunity to immediately begin sharing their photos right to Grandma’s Mini.

The Mini is ultra portable too, so gran just has to plug it in to a friend’s tv or a digital photo frame in order to bore them, I mean show them, pictures of her beautiful, wildly sucessful family.

Set up is so simple mom can do it alone, without 12 phone calls to you. Just plug it in and Mini is ready to receive photos from just about anywhere. No need to view photosfrom memory cards, when friends and family can email their photos directly to Grandma’s Mini… you know, the one she’s getting for THIS birthday.

The Mini will be available very soon on www.vizitme.com and will run about $99 bucks. Isabella also charges $79 a year for its VizitMe service, which will allow you to upload up to 1,450 photos a year and access AT&T’s network. The monthly plan costs about $6 and lets you upload 100 photos a month.

LG DX2500 glasses-free 3D monitor

LG Electronics has just added another feather to its cap with a glasses-free 3D monitor – and not only that, their latest effort will also not go to waste, considering how it is also the first in the market that will be on the receiving end of the TÜV Rheinland certification for a glasses-free 3D monitor.

The 25″ DX2500 will see the incorporation of glasses-free parallax barrier 3D and head-tracking technologies, and Si-hwan Park, Vice President of the Monitor Division at LG’s Home Entertainment Company, says, “LG is taking glasses-free 3D monitors mainstream with the DX2500. With the DX2500, we are making the LG brand synonymous with glasses-free 3D monitors. In 2012, we’ll continue to expand our range of glasses-free 3D monitors featuring different designs and advanced functions.”

Of course, not having to wear any 3D glasses would also mean that you as a viewer, will need to make some provisions on your part. In order to enjoy optimal viewing of 3D images, you will still need to stay within a certain angle and distance, but the traditional restrictions have been relaxed thanks to the inclusion of the parallax barrier 3D and head-tracking technologies that see action with the LG DX2500. This results in you enjoying a greater freedom of movement, allowing you to have a more comfortable user experience.

The use of position tracking in the DX2500 will function in the way where a camera that is embedded in the monitor, where it is capable of detecting changes in the user’s eye as well as head position in real-time. Using this information collected, the monitor will then do a little bit of soul searching on its side, where it will calculate the angle and position of the viewer as well as adjust the image to display the optimal 3D effect. Once that is done, it will proceed with its advanced 2D to 3D conversion function, letting DX2500 owners view unlimited 3D content including movies, photos and games with but a single mouse click.

No word on pricing, but the LG DX 2500 will be available in South Korea now, although the rest of the world will have to wait until early next year.

Vuzix does 2D and 3D with Wrap 920 glasses

Stereoscopic 3D is really catching up with the masses, ever since Avatar came out late last year to wow the audiences, but sad to say, the uptake in such technology in the living room is growing albeit not at a searing pace – something which manufacturers and supporters of 3D would have liked to see pushed forward. Heck, even 3D capable TVs are not really doing that well in terms of sales, as consumers do not really see the need across the board to watch movies and the news in 3D other than for the novelty factor.

Well, Vuzix might want to pull one back for the 3D team with their latest Wrap 920 glasses that is capable of supporting thousands of side-by-side 3D videos which have already appeared over at YouTube – clearly making this one of the most affordable ways of watching 3D videos on your home computer, tablet or notebook.

Whenever you plug in Vuzix’s creation into a VGA adapter, the Wrap 920 will take over in full 3D mode – showing off videos which Vuzix claims is capable of rivaling a $2,000 TV in a package without burning anything more than $250 in your bank balance. Not only that, you need not look dorkier than you already do as there is no red/blue glasses to wear, and neither do you need additional equipment or a specific graphics card in order to enjoy the 3D content. As for mobile users, all they need to do is plug into an iPhone or iPad and watch the same videos on YouTube in full 3D even when they are on the road.

Wearing the Vuzix 920 is like putting on a pair of sunglasses – it will let you experience the equivalent of watching a virtual 67″ display as viewed from 10 feet, where you will enjoy both crystal clear 2D and 3D videos. To make sure it will run just right, a couple of AA batteries are able to deliver up to 4 hours of video playback, automatically turning this into the perfect travel companion, especially when you’re making that long, trans-continental flight again. The Wrap 920 can be worn over the majority of prescriptionglasses, where it will come with separate focus adjustments and the adjustable, hypoallergenic nosepiece for a personalized, comfortable fit.

Pioneer BDP-140 3D-Compatible Streaming Blu-ray Disc Player

If you intend to brave the madness of “Black Friday”, then you might want to consider trying to snatch Pioneer’s BDP-140.

This 3D-Compatible Streaming Blu-ray Disc Player is an “epicenter of both audio and video content”, and promises “unrivaled” picture and audio quality at 1080p resolution. I recently had a chance to try it out for myself, and I will have to say that it turned my ordinary flatscreen into something quite extraordinary.

It is definitely good for those who want the 3D content, and proof that the 3D fad is still going on, albeit slowly. The BDP-140 is also built for the streaming resolution as it works with YouTube, Netflix, Pandora, and Picasa online services.

Another terrific feature is that Pioneer offers users a free app known as iControlAV2 that serves as a fully functioning remote control for the BDP-140. This app is compatible with the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and select Android devices, and works when the player is connected via Ethernet to a wireless router.

You should be able to purchase the Pioneer BDP-140 Blu-ray Disc Player on the Pioneer site now for a price of $299.99. I found it on Amazon for about $100 cheaper. While you are on Amazon, you might want to get yourself a stack of Blu-rays to go along with it.

I Want SCANDY! To scan my documents with my smartphone!

In case you missed the joke in the title of this posting, it is an allusion to a songcalled “I Want Candy” by 80′s band Bow Wow Wow.

The SCANDY is a very cool device that allows you to scan a document with a smartphone. This is something that I have done before at libraries. I find that when I do this, I can’t help but feel like a cold war spy snapping pictures of secret documents with my spy camera. Of course, I do it with my smartphone, and it does slide together like those old spy cameras from movies.

It is difficult to hold a smartphone camera steady when taking pictures of documents this way, which is why SCANDY can literally screw in to the side of the table. There is a video of it at my Source if you want to see it in action.

I have to admit that what sold me on this was the man scanning pages like he was speed reading a book. Imagine doing that on a scanner!

Of course, I can’t really buy this right now. This is one of those Kickstarter projects that requires funds from users in order to go to the market. You can go to my Source if you wish to donate on it. I believe that $40 will get you your own SCANDY!

Take a 360-Degree Panoramic Photo with the Camera Ball

What you are seeing here is not some spherical shaped Rubik’s Cube, but you are right in assuming that those glass circles are cameras. It has 36 cellular phone camera sensors in all, and the green pieces around it are Nerf-like foam.

This is the camera ball, designed by Jonas Pfeil, and its purpose is to take 360-degree panoramic pictures. The user tosses the ball in the air, and it takes a picture when the ball is in apogee (the point where the ball is stationary at the top of its throwing arc).

As you can see in the video, the camera ball can take some pretty impressive pictures in the right surroundings. You will note that some of the video shots look a little like something like the bullet time of the Matrix. I honestly hope that the user has the ability to do that.

You will note that it is possible to see more of the shot after the ball has been “developed”, for lack of a better word. For example, the picture of the family in the canyon from the video shows climbers on the big and tall rocks. I would not be surprised if the people at the scene didn’t notice them at the time.

I suppose that this camera ball is doing something that we have been trying to do since the invention of photography and video, to preserve a memory. My Source did not have a release date or price on this, so I am assuming that this is a concept for now.

Take smarter videos with your smart phone with Mobislyder

One of the problems with shooting video with your phone is that a phone was never really designed with that purpose in mind. Moving shots in movies and television are often done with tracks and pivots, in order to avoid that shaky feeling that comes from unsteady hands.

Now smartphones have the Mobislyder, which is a portable dolly designed for small video enabled devices. It requires a lot less set up than professional video equipment.

There is a video of the Mobislyder in action after the jump. As you can see, it can be placed on any surface with its glider track and a swivel for many angles.

Of course, it will take a little bit of setting up, but not like some big Hollywood production. I believe that this is worth it just to get the emotional effect that a moving camera can create.

I once heard that scenes from the upcoming Avengers film were filmed with iPhones, but it turned out that this was just a rumor. Clearly, director Joss Whedon could get some great shots with an iPhone if he had one of these.

You can pre-order the Mobislyder for about $135, and cure shaky hand video syndrome.