Kindle Library Lending

Announced today April 20, 2011 Amazon's Kindle will finally support library lending.

Later this year, Kindle owners and those who run Amazon's Kindle apps will be able to borrow books from over 11,000 local libraries.  While playing catch-up with the Nook and Sony Reader, Amazon needed a way to differeniate their Kindle lending among the competition.  Jay Marine, Amazon Kindle's director states, "Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."

I'm sure Amazon will see great benefits from their Kindle sales by adding this library lending feature.  I personally know a handful of people that were opposed to purchasing the Kindle for this particular reason and chose to buy a Sony Reader instead.

Direct Wi-FI is a threat to Bluetooth

You may soon be able to transfer content between Wi-Fi-enabled devices in your home or office without having to set up a Wi-Fi router. In October of 2010, industry association Wi-Fi Alliance began certifying consumer electronic gadgets that can connect directly to other Wi-Fi devices. The technology is, in effect, an alternative to Bluetooth wireless connectivity.

Devices marked with the new Wi-Fi Direct label can connect to older Wi-Fi devices. Mobile phones, cameras, printers, PCs and gaming devices can now connect to each other directly to transfer content and share applications. Devices can make a one-to-one connection, or a group of several devices can connect simultaneously. How this might work: Your Wi-Fi Direct device will signal to other devices in the area that it can make a connection. You can view available devices and ask them to connect, or you might receive an invitation to connect to another Wi-Fi Direct device.

Chipmakers including Intel, Broadcom and Atheros have already announced Wi-Fi Direct products. If Wi-Fi Direct takes off, Bluetooth’s is looking to have a dim future...

Boom in Tablet Market

Apple and other electronics makers will generate $49 billion in sales of tablet computers by 2015, amid booming demand for devices that bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops. The strategic trend here is for personal and mobile computing to shift away from keyboards to touchscreens. The tablet may surpass all other consumer electronic devices by sales, except for personal computers and TVs.

When tablet developers begin gearing devices more toward content creation than consumption, the market may easily extend beyond $49 billion. It can be assumed that at least for the next couple of years, Apple will be the leader. This is going to be a fast-growing market and there's going to be a lot of announcements over the next one-to-two years, but very few of them are actually going to survive in the long run.  While tablet prices will begin to decline in about two years, Apple's "aggressive" pricing leaves little room for rivals to cut prices significantly.

Double Screened Phones

No one's really excited by a slide-out keyboard anymore, but you'd be surprised about much attention Sprint's Echo is getting for it's double-screen feature.

At first glance, the Kyocera Echo from Sprint looks like a normal Android touch-screen smartphone—although a chunky one. But a special hinge allows the Echo's top screen to shift up, over and snap down beside a second screen hidden beneath. The two screens correspond with each other to create what looks like one large screen, but one that also allows a different app to run on each screen, or display two activities from the same app on each screen.

The seven apps that can run in what Kyocera calls Simul-Task Mode—a different app on each screen—include email, Web browsing, contacts, gallery, phone, messaging and VueQue—a way of showing YouTube videos on one screen and a queue of upcoming videos on the other. For Simul-Task, users must simultaneously tap a finger on each screen, which displays a menu on both screens showing the seven apps. Each screen will run the app that's selected on it.

 

More Facebook on Smart Phones

I'm talking about RockMelt, the latest  Web browser that continuously displays information from Facebook, Twitter and news feeds on the left and right edges of its browser window. It lets users instantly share Web content with their social networks, or chat with Facebook friends without ever opening the Facebook site. And RockMelt, which was released to the public last month, runs on the same technical underpinnings as the Google Chrome browser, giving it the ability to run any of Google's 3,700 Web Store apps within the browser.

A fan favorite feature of the RockMelt app is that it and the PC Web browser are constantly synchronized. This means any new bookmarks or news feeds I added on either the PC or the iPhone, or any articles marked as View Later—a helpful tool that saves links for accessing at a later time— will be mirrored on both platforms within seconds.

However there is a slight drawback for the mobile version: a dynamic search function and friends. The PC version of RockMelt has a search box that automatically includes your Facebook friends in each search and suggests links to Web content in a drop-down screen as you go. The mobile app's search is limited to a simple Google search box.But the mobile app is missing two key chunks that make this browser so socially comprehensive on the PC: a dynamic search function and friends. The PC version of RockMelt has a search box that automatically includes your Facebook friends in each search and suggests links to Web content in a drop-down screen as you go. The mobile app's search is limited to a simple Google search box.

Tracking Down Email Addresses

The tool called Peepmail, created by Samy Kamkar who is known for the 2005 virus that took down myspace, promises to deliver email addresses for everyone from Steve Jobs to the random guy's business card you lost. Many email servers will tell the sender whether the address is valid, even before the message is sent.

When a user enters the name and company into Peepmail, the program tests permutations of the name until the company's email server responds with a message that indicates the address is valid. Before any emails go through, the program aborts the communication, so the person being looked up doesn't know it's happening.

I guess we don't have much privacy left these days..

Smarter Appliances

Samsung Electronics wants to become the biggest U.S. large-household-appliance brand by making refrigerators smarter. Samsung and LG Electronics aim to carry over their leadership in products such as cell phones, TVs, and personal computers into the development of household items that can be remotely turned on and off, connect with repair staff, display recipes, or play music. Smart appliances will completely replace traditional machines by 2020.

Right now Whirlpool has 41.5 percent of U.S. appliance sales, while Samsung holds less than 1 percent of the market and LG has 8.7 percent.  Samsung's U.S. appliance sales have jumped sixfold in the past four years, making it one of the fastest-growing brands in that market, Senior Vice-President James Politeski says. One new refrigerator features separate temperature and humidity settings for different compartments. "Our goal is to be the No. 1 appliance brand in the U.S.," Politeski says.