Google TVs in the UK, France and Germany will all welcome the Google Play store this month

Google has announced it is expanding the reach of its Google Play store on Google TV boxes, with the UK, France and Germany all gaining access to movies and music later this month.

Google TV has been around for a few years, but didn’t make it to Europe until mid-2011. Last month, Google added Google Play support to its set-top boxes, and thankfully it hasn’t taken another year for them to provide the same service elsewhere in the world, as today, Google has announced that it will be opening up Google Play for Google TV boxes in the UK, Germany and France on November 13.

With Google Play available on Google TV, access will be granted to the music and movie stores, but it has yet to be confirmed whether TV shows will be included. It’s also unclear how many studios and content providers have signed agreements with Google and for which countries, so expect them all to vary when it goes live. Finally, there’s no information on pricing for renting or buying content for Google TV either.

Initially, Google added Canada and Australia to its list of lucky new countries, but these have since been removed with an apology, and a promise that more locations will be added soon. Whether this was a mistake, or the result of some last minute legal wrangling, isn’t known. However, if it’s the latter, then they may appear again sooner rather than later.

If the news that Google Play is coming to Google TV in your home country has inspired you to seek out a box, your choice is slim, with Sony’s NSZ-GS7 being one of the only official, current options. It’s yours for £160 through Amazon in the UK. By contrast, Apple TV, the closest competitor to Google TV is a mere £75, and provides access to iTunes and its extensive collection of movies, music and television shows.

The November 13 release date will be a busy one for Google, as it’s the same day the new Nexus 4 smartphone and Nexus 10 tablet go on sale too.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Apple Store app update brings Passbook support for gift cards, Siri integration for checking prices

Apple has updated their Apple Store app for the iOS devices that let you check out prices, buy products and track your purchases on the go. The update brings support for Apple Store gift cards with Passbook support and Siri integration.

Now you can purchase Apple Store gift cards for your friends and family through the Apple Store app. When you send a gift card, it arrives as a mail to your recipient. They can then choose to send it to their iPhone and it appears in Passbook through iCloud integration. They can then just walk into an Apple Store and purchase items by showing the pass in the Passbook app.

Another cool new feature is integration with Siri, so you can now just ask Siri for prices of Apple products and it will provide them if you have the Apple Store app installed.

Both features are only available in the US for now.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

DC Comics adds entire periodical line to Apple, Nook and Kindle Stores

Look, up on the Apple Store! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the new addition of the entire line of DC Comics periodicals, which are also being added to the Kindle and Nook Stores today.

Apparently, it’s far easier to fight Darkseid and the demonic hordes of Apokolips than it is to break new ground in the digital distribution world. After all, DC Entertainment’s line of monthly comic books – including such hit titles as Batman, Green Lantern, Justice League and Action Comics – are more than a year from their much-publicized New 52 relaunch (from September 2011), but only now will they be offered on multiple digital platforms including Amazon’s Kindle Store, Apple’s iBookstore and Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Store.

The announcement of the partnerships was made earlier today as DC Entertainment confirmed that the entire line of DC Comics – which goes beyond the more well-known superhero line to include other imprints such as the mature reader Vertigo line and tie-in comics to such kid-friendly fare as Young Justice, Superman Adventures and various Cartoon Network cartoons – will be made available on what it called “the top three e-bookstores.” In the announcement, DC co-publisher Jim Lee said that, “As e-readers and tablets continue to explode in popularity, it’s important for us to offer consumers convenience and choice in how they download digital comics and graphic novels and these new distribution deals with the top three e-bookstores do just that. We’re very excited to work with Amazon, Apple and Barnes & Noble to bring bestselling DC Comics and Vertigo periodicals to their e-bookstores.”

Previously, only collected editions of these titles have been available through these three outlets, with the digital editions of the regular monthly print releases being limited to release through ComiXology.com (Initially, the collected editions were under exclusive release from Amazon, leading to Barnes & Nobles to pull the print editions of the books from their bookstores in protest; after the exclusivity period finished, both print and digital editions were added to B&N stores across the country). DC and ComiXology signed an exclusive partnership for the digitizing and digital distribution of their catalog in November 2010, initially beginning with back catalog material. In September 2011, coinciding with the publisher’s New 52 relaunch, ComiXology started to offer new releases on the same day as their print release; prices were set to match their print counterparts for the first four weeks of release, before dropping a dollar as each release became back catalog. DC has confirmed that its partnership with ComiXology is no longer an exclusive one, although it is unknown whether or not the new outlets will follow the ComiXology pricing model.

“We were the first to offer our entire comic book line same-day digital,” Lee continued, “and now we are the first to offer fans the convenience of multiple download options.” Each digital outlet will make the DC releases available as of today.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Amazon released Cloud Drive Photos app for Android with 5GB of free storage

Amazon has just launched the Cloud Drive Photos app in the Google Play Store. It’s free and can be installed on any device running Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread or higher.

With this app you can easily upload photos from your Android devices and computers to the Amazon cloud. You can also easily share those photos to various social services, via email, etc.

Amazon gives you 5GB of free storage for your photos.

Unfortunately, the app doesn’t offer automatic camera upload along the lines of Dropbox. Hopefully a future update will see to it.

You can get the app right here.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Watch out Apple, Google Play now has 700,000 apps too

It's reported that Google Play now contains 700,000 apps, which means it equals Apple's figure provided for its iTunes App Store. With Android activations growing too, Android could soon overtake iOS here too.

It’s being reported that there are now 700,000 applications available inside the Google Play store, which sees the two giants of the app world — Google and Apple — tied for first place. Although not officially confirmed by Google, CNet.com says its own sources agree with Bloomberg’s original report.

This means there has been an influx of 25,000 new apps since September, when Google announced the Play store was home to 675,000 apps, and that it had seen 25 billion of them downloaded since it opened in late 2008.

Apple also states the iTunes App Store contains 700,000 apps, a figure it has repeated at both the launch of the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini, and each time prefacing the figure with either “more than” or “over.” The last number Apple officially provided was back in June, when it announced there were 500,000 apps to download.

This is the first time the two major app forces have been tied, with Apple traditionally maintaining its lead over Google. However, the growth of Google Play mirrors the growth of Android as a platform, which recently reached 900,000 activations per day and is expected to tip over the magic one million mark at the end of this, or early next year.

The amount of available apps is a crucial figure for marketing teams, as it can be used to show the operating system has a vibrant community behind it. However, quantity doesn’t always mean quality, and with interest in tablet-only apps at an all-time high, Apple still has the upper hand, with more than 200,000 of its app total being optimized for a bigger screen.

Now Google has caught up with Apple, it also serves to illustrate the gulf between the two industry leaders and their competition. Earlier this week, Microsoft told those gathered for the launch of Windows Phone 8 that its application store, the newly christened Windows Phone Store, contained 120,000 apps. A figure expected to grow at a faster rate now that the new Windows Phone SDK has been released.

As for BlackBerry App World at the end of September, 105,000 apps were reported to be available, up from 90,000 in July.

Will Apple be happy to concede another one of its trophies to Google? Probably not, so expect a revised figure from them soon, perhaps when it releases iTunes 11.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

iPad mini pre-orders go live

Apple has put up the iPad mini on its online store. You can choose between the Wi-Fi or the Wi-Fi + 3G models. Each comes in 16, 32 and 64GB capacities. You also have a choice of two colors, black & slate and white & silver.

The Wi-Fi-only version prices are $329, $429 and $529 respectively for each of the storage capacities and it ships next week on November 2. The 3G models are priced at $449, $549 ad $649 respectively and will ship in mid-November. You can choose from three carriers in the US: AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.

Meanwhile, the fourth generation iPad, now officially referred to as the iPad with Retina display, continues to sell at the previous price points. The Wi-Fi model will ship next week on November 2 and the Wi-Fi + 3G model will ship in mid-November.

The iPad 2, which is still on sale for some reason, sells for $399 for the Wi-Fi model and $529 for the Wi-Fi + 3G model, only in 16GB capacity. The iPad 2 will be delivered in 1-2 days.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Windows Phone Store reaches 125,000 apps, but report shows growth has slowed

A new report indicates that Microsoft's Windows Phone Store has reached 125,000 apps, just ahead of Windows Phone 8's launch. However, despite incoming new hardware, growth has slowed over recent months.

A report published by AllAboutWindowsPhone.com shows Microsoft’s Windows Phone Store now contains more than 125,000 applications, up from 100,000 at the beginning of May.

The exact, official figure may be slightly lower, as according to the report, the amount of apps available depends on how you count them, as not all are live or available in all locations.

Regardless, 125,000 is a respectable figure, but it’s a long way short of the 675,000 apps in its Google Play store and Apple’s 700,000 available in the iTunes App Store, a figure it confirmed during the iPad Mini event this week. Apparently, the Windows Phone Store is growing at the rate of around 215 apps per day, and there are 30,000 currently active developers too.

Microsoft hasn’t confirmed these figures, but has the ideal opportunity to do so on October 29, when it will officially launch Windows Phone 8. While a growing app store is essential for the success of a mobile platform today, the rate of new apps being added has slowed over the past few months, which as the report points out, will be due to Windows Phone 8’s impending release.

Looking at the “Items Added” chart, the difference is startling. In December last year — the store’s high point, just after the release of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango — more than 12,000 apps were added, but fast forward to July 2012 and less than 5,000 made their debut. August was much the same, as is October so far, but a spike to around 6,500 came in September.

We know what you’re thinking, with just weeks to go before sparkly new Windows Phone 8 hardware goes on sale, why aren’t developers busily submitting new apps to capitalize on the rush? Microsoft has made things difficult in this area, as it still hasn’t released the Windows Phone 8 SDK to all developers, an essential piece of software to create and test new apps.

It should make an appearance on October 29, right after Microsoft reveals everything it has held back about Windows Phone 8, so November and December should see a big increase in apps being submitted and released. At least, Microsoft better hope it does.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Bad manners? UK store stops serving customers yakking on mobile phones

Staff at a store in England have become so annoyed with people talking on their mobile phones at the cash register that they're now refusing to serve them.

The County Stores in south-west England says on its website that visitors will be able to find, among its many offerings, “a bakery, our delicatessen counter, a small and friendly butcher, quality chocolates and coffee.” They’ll also find a notice informing them that should they approach a cash register while talking on a mobile phone, they won’t be served.

Staff at the store, which has been in business since 1836, have become so fed up with distracted customers yakking away on their handsets that in the end the notice seemed like the only solution.

“Quite simply, if someone’s on their phone, we’ll serve the next person,” store assistant Sharon Kidd told the Daily Mail. “People refusing to hang up when it’s their turn to be served is happening increasingly, and…..the queue can get quite long.”

Kidd said that on the whole that the policy has been well received by customers, with only one or two visitors getting upset after being ignored.

The owner of the store, Hugh Duder, understands his workers’ disgruntlement at visitors who appear unable to take a break from their mobiles, saying, “It’s disrespectful to be on the phone when you want to get served, and the counter assistants shouldn’t have to put up with it.”

The store isn’t first in the UK to adopt such a policy. Earlier this year Darren Groom, owner of a coffee shop in Norwich in eastern England, decided to “strike a blow for basic manners” by putting up a sign indicating that he would refuse to serve customers talking on a phone.

Groom explained that he’d become fed up with people expecting him to be able to lip read their order.

“In the shop we need to ask a few questions, like whether they’re having it in or taking it away, whether they want whole milk or not, sugar or not,” he told the BBC, adding “When people come in we like to say ‘hello’. It’s nice if people respond to that. They should have the basic manners to converse with us.”

In the case of retail stores, it’s possible the issue of customers talking on their phone while at the cash register is a bigger annoyance than many people realize. However, beyond sticking up notices, there’s little staff can do. If only cell phone jammers weren’t illegal….

[Image: Arcady / Shutterstock]

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Google Play Store updated, brings wishlists

Google seems to be on a roll with its app updates, and the latest one to receive new features is the Play Store. The official repository app now features wishlists and supports removing apps from My Apps list.

Wishlists are a powerful addition to the Play Store and you can easily add items to yours via the Bookmark icons on the individual apps’ screens. Once you’ve added an app to your wishlist, you can view it from Options -> My Wishlist.

It’s not limited to apps either – you can add anything that’s available in the Play Store like music, movies, TV shows, magazines and books.

It wouldn’t be surprising if in the near future Google allows your friends and family to buy you the stuff that’s in your wishlist as a gift. That would be a whole new level of cool.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Google releases stock Android Calendar app on the Play Store

Google has released the stock Jelly Bean Calendar application on the Play Store that can now be installed by anyone with a device running Android 4.0.3 and above.

This is great for someone who has an Android device with a custom calendar application, such as the ones Samsung and HTC like to install on their devices, but want to use the stock Calendar app that you find on Nexus devices.

If you already had this application pre-installed on your device, you would have an update waiting for you in Play Store. This means that Google can now update the app through the Play Store, rather than through the next version of Android, whenever that happens. After the update, you’ll notice that the app now has a new icon. Other than that, the application is identical to the previous version.

The app is live on the store and you can download or update it from the link below.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Google Nexus 7 32GB flavor makes multiple appearances all over the web, won’t ship in the next two weeks

The 32GB flavor of the Google Nexus 7 tablet has been spotted yet again, this time on a store’s brochure. Just as before, the 32GB model is said to cost as much as the 16GB Nexus 7 currently, further solidifying the rumors of it being replaced.

But how soon, you ask? According to The Next Web, and its source we shouldn’t expect the 32GB model to launch in the next two weeks.

Still not convinced? The new 32GB flavor of the Nexus 7 has made yet another appearance at the Staples Advantage store, carrying a price tag of $248 (two dollars less than the $250 Google is asking for the 16GB model). The store has listed October 18 as availability date, but we’re inclined to believe this is just a placeholder.

Furthermore, upon checkout with his brand new 16GB Nexus 7 at an yet undisclosed Netherlands online store, Reddit user kingdaan was told that his order will be delayed by three weeks and that he’ll receive a 32GB Nexus 7 instead. I recon it’s worth the wait.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Microsoft Surface RT pricing and availability surfaces, goes after the iPad

A slip-up at the Microsoft online store has finally lead to the unveiling of the Surface tablet’s pricing. Scheduled to hit store on October 26, the pricing of the Microsoft Surface starts from $500 without the cool Black Touch Cover with keyboard.

However, chances are that you’ll want the cool accessory, which basically transforms the Surface into a fully-fledged notebook replacement. In that case, you’ll need to shell out $600. Both prices apply for the 32GB version of the slate.

The 64GB variation is priced at $700 with the Black Touch Cover included. The Touch Cover is also available for purchase separately for $120 a pop and comes in red, black, white, blue or purple. There’s also the Type Cover retailing for $130, but that’s only available in black.

Unfortunately, the listing on the Microsoft online store isn’t available any longer.

With the Surface’s advertisements already showing on TV and all over the Internet, and rocking the same price as the iPad 3 (32GB), Microsoft’s slate is ready for a fight in the upcoming holiday season.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Google releases new Play Store update, brings some much needed changes

Google has released v3.9.16 of the Play Store application for Android and with it come some useful new features. One of the new features is the ability to delete apps from your ‘All’ apps list within ‘My Apps’. Anyone who has been using Android for a while will know that this list is cluttered with useless apps that you only downloaded once and then deleted but are now permanently part of that list. Well, not anymore.

Applications in this list that are currently not installed on your device will now have a delete button next to them, so you can instantly remove them from the list. Moreover, you can now press and hold over these items and delete a whole bunch of them simultaneously.

Another useful new change is that the Play Store app finally remembers your position in a list. Before, if you scrolled down a list and clicked on an item and then went back, you’d go at the top of the list. This would be extremely frustrating of you had scrolled down a lot. Now, the app remembers your position, so you can go back and continue scrolling down from where you left off.

Other minor changes include new notification icons that appear when there is an update available, along with expandable notification option. Your phone will now also show the icon for the app that you updated instead of the same generic icon it showed before. The new Play Store app is also smaller in size than previous versions.

The update is rolling out now so you’ll have to wait for it to arrive on your device. Alternatively, you can click on the source link below and head over to Android Police, who have uploaded the APK for your downloading pleasure.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Sony opens a whole new PlayStation Store on Oct. 17

Sony delivers a redesign of its PlayStation Store after 6 years. How does it fit into the facelift of its overall gaming business?

Nintendo’s quietly building hype with its Wii U, selling out pre-orders at every retailer around, from its own Nintendo World Store to GameStop. Microsoft is letting the Xbox 360 speak for itself this fall, with a rock solid library, reliable releases like Halo 4 and Xbox Live community staples like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 to carry the device through what’s likely its last full price season. Then there’s Sony. It’s not entirely clear what Sony is doing with its PlayStation business, other than giving the brand a quiet makeover.

The latest facelift to hit PlayStation: Sony announced the details of a full makeover for the PlayStation Store on PlayStation 3.

Long overdue, Sony finally made public its much-rumored plans to refresh its digital game storefront on Thursday. The redesigned store will go live next Wednesday, and bring with it what Sony hopes will be a markedly smoother shopping experience, opening up what’s become a substantial catalog of retro and modern downloadable games.

What’s changed? Everything. The baby blue theme that has become the trademark of the PSN, key in its little shopping bag logo, has been replaced with a sleeker black and grey theme that recalls Sony’s industrial design (televisions, consoles casings, etc.) The store itself is laid out quite similarly to the current Xbox Live dashboard, with large windows advertising new releases in categories like Movies and Games. The cosmetic shift bellies the more user friendly changes though, as categories for products expand not unlike the Cross Media Bar (XMB) used for navigating the PS3 itself. Selecting PlayStation 3 Games will bring out a slider menu that lets you explore options by price, release date, and other sub-categories that should help people better discover things as well as find things they’re looking for. Even search tools have been overhauled.

“Everyone is trying to solve the same kind of problems, but each [eCommerce] ecosystem is different,” game store development manager Elliott Dumville told Eurogamer, “We have a sense of PlayStation values that we want to be true to, and we need to deliver on that as well as solving interface issues.”

A solid makeover to keep the platform relevant and people spending on the product. It’s the same ethos behind the facelift given to the PlayStation 3 itself, a new model that’s lighter, smaller, and cheaper to make. The only problem is that, while Sony is doing the leg work to make PlayStation more approachable and appealing as a service and as a machine, it’s not offering the full package of new exclusive content and a lower price to go with it. The new store may seem like a small change, but it could be significant for Sony were it brining in a huge number of new users this fall with a cheaper machine. It isn’t though.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

RockMelt’s iPad Web Browser Puts Social Media Front and Center

Image credit: RockMelt

In addition to the standard Safari Web browser that comes on the iPad, there are a few others in the App Store. Some of them make browsing faster and add a few features you don’t get with Apple’s, but by and large they look like, well, Web browsers.

RockMelt’s new browser for the iPad, which is being released today, will stand out since it looks nothing like a typical Web browser.

“Everything has been fairly uninspired equivalents of the desktop browser. There’s a URL bar and an open window for the page to load,” Tim Howes, the co-founder and CTO of RockMelt, told ABC News in an interview. “We wanted to build a whole new visual style of the interface.”

And that is what the start-up did. Similar to RockMelt’s desktop Web browser, it is built around social media.  Log in to your Facebook and Twitter accounts and it brings in the articles or sites your friends are sharing in different boxes. From that grid, you can tap to read an article or visit a site. And there’s an added social layer on top of that. You can tap one of RockMelt’s feedback buttons or “emoticodes” — such as “Like,” “LOL,” “Want,” “WTF,” or “AWW.” Pinch the article to shrink it and you’ll be back on your home-screen grid.

Of course, you can still search the Web and type in regular Web addresses by tapping on the buttons in the upper left hand corner. You can also save articles you might want to read later. In those respects it is a full-on browser and not just a news app aggregator, like FlipBoard or News360.

Howes and the CEO of the company, Eric Vishria, previewed the app for me a few weeks ago and I was impressed with the clean layout, the integrated social functionality, and the speed of the experience. Beyond all that, I was impressed with just how different it looks than other browsers out there.

The new RockMelt app will be available for free starting today for the iPad. According to the duo the company is working on bringing versions to the iPhone and other devices, so ultimately your browsing experience can be synced everywhere.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Sling Media loosens up on details for the new Slingbox 500 & 350

Sling Media finally unveiled details on its new Slingbox 500 and 350 models today after a slip-up at a Best Buy store prematurely let the cat out of the bag.

Less than 10 days after someone spotted Sling Media’s unannounced Slingboxes  on a shelf at a BestBuy store come official details from Sling, which opted to remain tight-lipped about the new products until now. Let’s take a look at what’s new for the Slingbox 500 and 350.

First, it’s nice to see that we have images of the actual products, instead of shots of boxes on a shelf. Both look great, and the 500’s sleek, angular aesthetic is particularly cool. The real update here, though, is that the 500 will offer SlingProjector capability, allowing you to stream content from your mobile device to your television. Originally, Slingbox offered only what it called placeshifting technology, which allowed users to stream live and recorded television to their mobile PC’s, smartphones and tablets. This is a modest update, but one that brings the new boxes in-line with the times. As mentioned last week, the 500 also offers built-in WiFi. 

Furthermore, we now know that both models will be able to stream in full 1080p HD, which was expected, but, until now, unconfirmed. Slingbox is also rolling out new SlingPlayer software, which will retail for $15 initially, a price point the company says reflects a 50 percent discount as a special launch offer.

Overall the two new boxes seem more like updates to an existing formula –nothing too new here. But if you’re already a Slingbox fan, this impromptu release is a welcome one.

Both the Slingbox 500 and the Slingbox 350 will be available on October 14th. The 500 will retail for $300 and the 350 will retail for $180.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Jetpack Joyride arrives on the Google Play Store

After being exclusive to the Amazon Appstore for a while, the developers of Jetpack Joyride have now released the game on Google’s Play Store. As you’d expect, the game is available free of cost.

In case you’re not aware of this game, Jetpack Joyride is a 2D side-scrolling game where you ride a jetpack and have to go as far as possible, thus getting a higher score. You collect coins during the game, which can be used to upgrade your jetpack and the special vehicles that you get in the game. You also collect spin tokens, which let you spin the slot machine at the end of each game.

I haven’t played the Amazon Appstore version so this is the first time I’m playing the Android version of the game. Compared to the iOS version, the Android version is not as smooth, with occassional stuttering although overall, it is still playable. The stuttering should hopefully be fixed in future versions. The sound and the graphics are similar to the iOS version and are just as good.

Jetpack Joyride is a fun game and offers a lot of value for $0.00. If you haven’t played the game already, download it from the Play Store now.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Whole shipment of iPhone 5s stolen from French airport

Just before the Japanese launch of the iPhone 5, three stores were robbed of a total of 191 units. Then about a week ago, an employee of a London O2 store made off with an entire shipment of 250 iPhone 5s, which are worth about £100,000.

Now there’s a report that on Tuesday there was yet another major iPhone 5 theft, which occurred in France. The number of units stolen wasn’t confirmd, but the whole thing played out like a heist movie.

The iPhone 5 shipment was being loaded on a plane at Marignane airport when three armed robbers blocked the vehicle used to load the plane with two BMWs. The gunmen then forced the driver to follow the two cars and a Renault Master that lead the way.

About 10km down the road, the robbers stopped and loaded the shipment (which also included a number of Apple laptops) in the van. After they were done, they set the airport’s truck on fire and drove off.

The police investigating is ongoing.

Note: the image above is not an actual photo of the incident, just a photo of something being loaded on a plane with a quickly photoshopped Apple logo.

Source (in French)

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Google Play hits 25 billion downloads, celebrates with app sale and special collections

The Google Play store hit 25 billion downloads this week. To celebrate, the online store is offering a bunch of 25-cent apps from some major developers throughout the week.

The Google Play store, home to more than 675,000 apps and games for Android-powered devices, hit 25 billion downloads this week, less than four years after opening for business.

To celebrate the milestone, discounts on a number of apps will be available over the next five days.

Anyone interested in picking up some cut-price software will have the chance to choose from a range of titles created by high-profile developers such as Gameloft, Electronic Arts, and Rovio. With an asking price of just 25 cents, Google Play is sure to see a spike in paid-for downloads in the coming days.

Google Play, called Android Market until earlier this year, is also offering special collections, such as “25 movies you must own, 25 banned books, 25 albums that changed the world and our 25 top selling magazines, all at special prices,” Google’s Jamie Rosenberg wrote in a blog post announcing the news.

Arch-rival Apple hit 25 billion downloads with its iOS App Store back in March, taking only slightly less time than Google Play in terms of how long the stores have been up and running. In fact, in terms of downloads and apps available (Google Play has 675,000 compared with iOS’s 700,000), Google Play and the iOS store are now pretty much neck and neck.

But there are now more Android devices in the hands of users than iOS-powered devices, so it surely won’t be long before Google Play surpasses its rival in terms of download numbers.

“Twenty-five billion is more than twice the distance, in miles, that the Voyager 1 spacecraft has travelled since its launch 35 years ago,” Rosenberg wrote on the official Android blog. “It’s the amount of time, in minutes, that have passed since some of our earliest ancestors began to set foot in Europe. And now, thanks to all of you, it’s a Google Play milestone. We look forward to the next 25 billion.”

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Barnes & Noble reveals Nook Tablet HD, HD+ with new video service

Barnes and Noble announces two lightweight, high resolution tablets. They'll roll out just in time for users to watch HD content from the new Nook Video store.

Just in time for the holiday season–and conveniently in time to compete with new offerings from competition–Barnes & Noble has announced two new tablets for your viewing and reading pleasure. The Nook HD and Nook HD+ are ready for pre-order starting September 26. They will hit store shelves in late October.

>>Read our full hands-on impressions of the new Nook HD and Nook HD+

The Nook HD is being dubbed the “lightest and highest resolution 7-inch HD” tablet in the world. While that is a bold — if not extremely specific — claim, Barnes & Noble aims to back it up with the Nook HD’s specs. The 7-inch tablet weighs in at only 11.1 ounces while packing in 243 pixels per inch. For comparison’s purposes, that’s just short of the third generation iPad’s 264 ppi and about half of the Apple tablet’s weight. With a 1.3GHz dual-core processor, 8GB or 16GB of built in memory — expandable to 64GB with a microSD card — and 1GB of RAM, there should be no issues with powering the pixel-heavy screen. The battery promises 10.5 hours of continuous reading or 9 hours of video, making it almost directly comparable to the new iPad’s battery. The Nook HD starts at $200.

While the Nook HD should please fans of smaller tablets, the HD+ is looking to prove size matters with two extra inches. The 9-inch tablet features a full HD display with a 1920 x 1280 pixel resolution and 256 pixels per inch, making it a great home for 1080p content. The “+” in the devices title also denotes an upgraded dual-core processor, clocking in at 1.5GHz. The HD+ will come in 16GB and 32GB models and feature two color options: Smoke and Snow (gray and white, if you’re not into fancy titles). Owners of these models will also get a little more weight in their hands as the Nook HD+ weighs in at 18.2 ounces — still slightly lighter than the latest generation iPad. The starting cost for the Nook HD+ is $270.

The HD focus on the latest line of Nook tablet offerings places emphasis on another new product from Barnes & Noble. The book and media company is expanding their empire to the video world with Nook Video. The newest service will be added to the Nook Store premiere this fall and will feature content from major media partners like HBO, Sony, Starz, Disney, Viacom, and Warner Bros. TV shows and films will be available for streaming or for download once the shop opens its doors to the public. An especially enticing selling point of the service is the ability to integrate physical copies of DVDs and Blu-Rays you already own into your virtual library through UltraViolet. Of course, what better device to watch Nook Video content on than a brand new Nook HD or HD+? 

One of the big points that Barnes & Noble seems to be hammering home with these HD offerings is the fact that there are no ads, calling advertisements “distracting” and “annoying” — a clear jab at Amazon, which puts ads on its Kindles. The company doesn’t appear to be pulling any punches when it comes to marketing their products. Will it put up as much of a fight in sales figures when put up against the revamped Amazon Kindle Fire’s and theoretical new iPads of the world? Check out our hands on for some first impressions of the products.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com