We are just days from Christmas and if you rely on online businesses and shipping, there might be a big chance that you won't get your gifts unless you order pretty soon. With that in mind Amazon has just slashed €30 of the Kindle Fire HDX 7 tablet, at least on its German website.

The new Kindle Fire HDX with a Snapdragon 800 processor, great screen and 16GB of storage features just one downside, a locked down operating system, but then again it is selling for just €199. The 32GB version now sells for €239, while the 64GB version is €279, much less than an iPad mini with Retina with comparable storage.

Amazon wants 14 euro more if you want the Kindle HDX without adverts on it and LTE versions starts at €309 for 16GB, $349 for 32GB and €389 for the 64GB version.

The same deal works for UK customers who can now buy a Kindle Fire HDX for £169.00 for 16GB, £199.00 for 32GB and £229.00 for 64GB, or £30.00 less than yesterday. Amazon was not so kind to French and Spanish customers as they are not getting this rather sizable discount, at least not yet.

You can grab one in Germany here and in Britain you can take advantage of the discount here.

With just a week and a half to go before Christmas, shoppers are in full-on spending mode, but those looking to score the new Surface 2 or Surface Pro 2 may be disappointed. As of this writing, Microsoft’s online store shows both models and all configurations of the new tablet as “sold out.”

Microsoft Surface Pro 2

A check for either version of the device on Walmart’s online store also showed the device as “out of stock.” A number of customers are also reporting that the device is sold out at Best Buy. However, a quick check of the Best Buy website shows the device as available.

In order to untangle the conflicting stories between online commenters and Best Buy’s website, I conducted my own unscientific test to see what would happen if I called local stores looking for either the Surface Pro 2 or Surface 2 in any configuration. In a random sampling covering three Best Buy stores in New York City, Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas each local salesperson told me that neither device, in any configuration, was in stock.

And, for the conspiracy theorists out there thinking that this might be some clever retail stunt to make the new Surface seem more popular than it really is, these didn’t appear to be prepared answers that I received as soon as I asked. Each Best Buy salesperson put me on hold (in one case, for 20 minutes) while they conducted a local fact finding mission, ultimately coming up with nothing available.

When I questioned the salesperson in New York City about the shortage, asking if the device was really that popular, she didn’t hesitate when she said the device is “extremely popular.”

Consumers around the country have begun to post their frustrations on Twitter, in some cases directly asking Microsoft when the tablets will be available again.

Source : Mashable

dual-SIM 5-inch smartphones

DataWind has forayed into the Indian smartphone market with the launch of PocketSurfer5, a new range of low-cost smartphones. All the three DataWind smartphones support dual-SIM, and are priced between Rs. 3,499 and Rs. 6,499.

The PocketSurfer 5x runs Linux OS and is powered by a Cortex A8 1GHz (cores unspecified) processor. It has a 5-inch TFT display and front VGA camera. For connectivity, the smartphone supports EDGE, Bluetooth and microUSB.

The second smartphone is the PocketSurfer 5C+, which runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, and is powered by a Cortex A9 1GHz (cores unspecified) processor. The smartphone also has a 5-inch TFT display. It has 2MP rear camera, VGA front camera and supports microSD. In terms of connectivity, the smartphone supports EDGE, Bluetooth, and microUSB. It is priced at Rs. 4,999.

The Pocketsurfer 3G5 runs Android 4.2 OS and is powered by a Cortex A7 1.2GHz dual-core processor. It has 5-inch TFT display, 5MP rear camera and front VGA camera. In terms of connectivity, the smartphone supports 3G, EDGE, Bluetooth, and microUSB. It is priced at Rs. 6,499.

“On the 10th Anniversary of DataWind’sPocketSurfer - the fastest internet device operating through a GSM SIM beating all other internet devises at that time in speed, we’re very excited to introduce these amazing new devices at unbelievably low prices. Intended to again create benchmarks in the smart phone category, DataWind’s new products break the affordability barriers of smartphones and bandwidth constraints of cellular networks to deliver calling facility and internet access to anybody who can afford a simple mobile phone. Currently simple phones in the market cost as much as the smart phone on offer by DataWind,” says Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of DataWind.

“Our primary focus is to bridge the digital divide and deliver an affordable means of accessing the internet. We want to be form-factor agnostic. Globally the massive shift from feature phones to smartphones is being driven by the appetite to get on the internet. We want to be the enabler.”

Source : ThinkDigit

Kindle

A recent survey revealed that people who own Amazon Kindle devices — the Fire tablet, original Kindle, Paperwhite $119.00 at Amazon series — are more inclined to purchase other items online.

The online retail giant eats about $18 for every Kindle Fire sold at full retail price, due to manufacturing costs and other factors. But the company has said repeatedly that it aims to make up for it through sales of Amazon ebooks, apps, and other products via those gadgets.

Without specifying exactly what people are buying on the site — be it ebooks, Kindle accessories, lawn furniture, or luggage — CIRP reported that 40 percent of all Amazon shoppers are Kindle device owners.

In fact, those who own an Amazon-branded tablet typically buy items from an average of 6.4 different Amazon departments; 50 percent go as far as to shop in seven or more categories. Comparatively, non-Kindle device owners stick to an average 5.5 departments.

CIRP estimates that Amazon Kindle device owners spend about $1,233 per year, compared to $790 annually for other customers, according to co-founder Josh Lowitz. "They do so because Kindle device owners buy over 50 percent more frequently than other customers," he said.

Almost 30 percent of Amazon.com customers own a Kindle Fire $229.00 at Amazon tablet, while another 21 percent own a Kindle e-reader. Meanwhile, 9 percent of customers own both, "suggesting how well Amazon has done to drive sales of what amounts to a portal to Amazon.com," Lowitz said.

CIRP co-founder Mike Levin agreed, saying that the Kindle Fire tablet provides easy online access to everything Amazon sells, while Kindle e-readers have "become the way that Amazon customers buy books, Amazon's original product line," he said.

Smartphones

While consumers are obsessed with getting hold of the latest and greatest smartphone, businesses would be quite happy if the rate of innovation slowed down just a little bit.

That's because much of their effort is going into internal apps to improve business processes rather than to engage with customers.

Seven out of 10 organisations are putting money into creating business apps for employees, according to new research — outstripping the 59 percent making business software for customers.

Delivering a flexible workforce comes out far ahead of gaining a competitive advantage, with 83 percent of organisations citing staff flexibility as a main driver for mobility compared with 42 percent for business edge, the study of UK firms by enterprise apps company IFS also shows.

Integrated Water Services managing director Peter Aspley takes a firm line on setting goals for his company's mobile strategy.

"We look at it primarily from a business need perspective. So, 'What does the business need?' as opposed to 'What does the individual want?'," Aspley told an IFS mobility round-table in London.

"Our focus is very much on putting the kit out there that does the job the business needs it to. Without being too harsh, if someone needs an iPhone for their personal interaction with Facebook, they can buy one," he said.

Aspley's company provides services to the water industry, local authorities and hospitals, including managing plant and equipment on their behalf.

"Water industry, local authorities and government agencies are all feeling the squeeze, so we have to stay one step ahead of the game in trying to help to solve the client's problem." he said.

Integrated Water Services' work in Legionella control, for example, requires a lot of daily data collection, so the firm first developed a mobile strategy in 2005 to gather information and feed it back to customers and business systems via the web.

Aspley's mobile strategy takes account of a range of devices, from iPhones at the management level to access business data and Motorola ES400 smartphones for the field engineers.

"That's where the challenge is — with the device interfaces with those field workers. Because you don't want to be spending a disproportionate amount of money on a device that is going to get dropped down a borehole, dropped in a tank, run over by the van," Aspley said.

"The attrition rate with those field-based devices at the sharp end is far higher than you would see in the office and the managerial environment."

Three-quarters of firms have now invested in an enterprise mobility scheme. Of the 24 percent that haven't, three out of four say it's because it isn't business critical.

Security issues remain the top concern for companies without mobile strategies, cited by 86 percent of respondents, followed by data loss on 56 percent.

The cost of integration comes next, with a figure of 42 percent. However, software development is an issue even for companies that have been running a strategy for some time.

Aspley said keeping applications up to date in the face of the short life-spans and rapid development of mobile devices represents an ongoing problem.

"It's been a real challenge for us in terms of the iteration of devices that we've gone through. We've never had across all our operations one device that we've been able to standardise on," he said.

"Because as soon as you've deployed, by the time you've gone through that replacement cycle with all the staff, actually that [device] is no longer in production."

His company's IT team invests a lot of effort in trying to second-guess the longevity of devices.

"You try to put your application on the right platform that gives you the agility within the inherent system that you're operating to interface with as many devices as possible," Aspley said.

"We stick all our stuff at the moment in a SQL Server database, so we can interface with most things but you can't stand still. The device industry indicates, 'This is the future'. In 12 months' time, it's old hat. It's gathering dust."

Mark Austin, CIO at Bedford NHS Trust, said his route round issues created by the short life of mobile devices is to deliver services via a browser.

"We've strived towards getting applications to be more web front-ended, rather than leading on the device," Austin said.

"I don't profess that that will completely future-proof things but it gives us a little bit of longevity and then in the background we virtualise everything."

The IFS research study polled 200 CIOs and IT managers at UK-based companies with more than 1,000 employees.

Via: ZDNet

Microsoft has quietly ended retail sales of Windows 7, according to a notice on its website.

The company's policies for shutting off sales to retailers and shipping licenses to OEMS (original equipment manufacturers) are posted on its site, which was recently updated to show that Windows 7's "retail end of sales" date was Oct. 30.

The next deadline, marked as "End of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled," will be Oct. 30, 2014, less than a year away.

Microsoft's practice, first defined in 2010, is to stop selling an older operating system in retail one year after the launch of its successor, and halt delivery of the previous Windows edition to OEMs two years after a new version launches. The company shipped Windows 8, Windows 7's replacement, in October 2012.

As recently as late September, the last time Computerworld cited the online resource, Microsoft had not filled in the deadlines for Windows 7. At the time, Computerworld said that the end-of-October dates were the most likely.

A check of Microsoft's own online store showed that the company has pulled Windows 7 from those virtual shelves.

In practical terms, the end-of-retail-sales date has been an artificial and largely meaningless deadline, as online retailers have continued to sell packaged copies, sometimes for years, by restocking through distributors which squirreled away older editions.

Today, for example, Amazon.com had a plentiful supply of various versions of Windows 7 available to ship, as did technology specialist Newegg.com. The former also listed copies of Windows Vista and even Windows XP for sale through partners.

Microsoft also makes a special exception for retail sales, telling customers that between the first and second end-of-sale deadlines they can purchase Windows 7 from computer makers. "When the retail software product reaches its end of sales date, it can still be purchased through OEMs (the company that made your PC) until it reaches the end of sales date for PCs with Windows preinstalled," the company's website stated.

The firmer deadline is the second, the one for offering licenses to OEMs. According to Microsoft, it "will continue to allow OEMs to sell PCs preinstalled with the previous version for up to two years after the launch date of the new version" (emphasis added).

After that date, Microsoft shuts off the spigot, more or less, although OEMs, especially smaller "white box" builders, can and often do stockpile licenses prior to the cut-off.

Source : Network World

Sony PlayStation 4

Sony Corp. sold more than 2.1 million PlayStation 4 game consoles globally since its release last month as Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai seeks to revive the company’s consumer electronics business.

About 700,000 units were sold in Europe and Australasia as of Dec. 1 after the console went on sale in those markets on Nov. 29, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement today. Sony sold more than 1 million PS4s in the first 24 hours of its release in North America on Nov. 15.
Hirai, who surprised investors in October with a second-quarter loss, is trying to turn around the company with holiday console sales after cutting forecasts for televisions, cameras and computers. Sony is trying to differentiate its PS4 gaming machine -- which sells for $399 in the U.S. compared with $499 for Microsoft ’s Xbox One -- by offering a wider selection of popular and eclectic titles.

“A lower price than Microsoft’s Xbox One is probably helping boost sales of the PS4,” Keita Wakabayashi, an analyst at Mito Securities Co. in Tokyo said by phone. “PS4 sales will certainly help Sony.”
Sony is confident it can meet analysts sales estimates of 3 million units by year-end and its own target of 5 million units by March, Jack Tretton, president and chief executive officer of the company’s U.S. computer entertainment division, said Nov. 11.
Sony’s previous version of the console, the PS3, sold 197,000 consoles in the first month after it was released in the U.S. on Nov. 17, 2006, NPD Group, which tracked sales of video games and consoles, said at the time.
Source : Businessweek

MPAA action has resulted in yet another major file-sharing site closing down. Visit Hotfile.com today, and you’ll see the above notice. It’s the result of a massive settlement with the MPAA, who were set to do battle with Hotfile in court next week. Under the terms of the settlement, Hotfile has agreed to pay damages amounting to $80 million.

Unlike some of the larger sites the MPAA and RIAA have gone after, Hotfile didn’t exactly have a stellar track record when it came to copyright takedowns. Prosecutors claimed that more than 10 million requests had been sent to Hotfile before the lawsuit was filed (back in 2011) and that only 43 user accounts had been terminated as a result. That’s not the kind of vigilance that keeps the Copyright monopoly off your back.

Hotfile also made things worse by offering what amounted to a cash incentive system for uploaders, who in turn responded by making copywritten content a substantial 10% of Hotfile’s total holdings. Hotfile did eventually put a copyright filtering mechanism in place, though not until well after the lawsuit had been filed. Clearly it turned out to be too little, too late to satisfy the MPAA.

Presiding Judge Kathleen Williams had already ruled that Hotfile wasn’t eligible for DMCA Safe Harbor protection, so net week’s trial would have been focused on sorting out the total bill for damages. Now that a settlement has been reached, all that remains to be seen is how much of the $80 million the MPAA will actually be able to collect from Hotfile.

Source: Geek.com