Godzilla Christmas tree spreads the cheer
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Japan’s fascination with Godzilla can be seen in this Christmas tree at a shopping mall in Tokyo. I wonder who is Santa? [Buzzfeed]…
Samsung announces Galaxy Tab 10.1 for Australia
Australian court today lifted the ban on Galaxy Tab sales and Samsung wasted no time announcing it. Samsung says Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be available in the region “in time for Christmas shopping period” at a price of AU$ 579 for 16GB Wi-Fi-only and AU$ 729 for 16GB 3G variant.
The 10.1-inch tablet runs Android 3.1 OS and comes with a 1280×800 resolution display, 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 3MP and 2MP cameras, full HD video playback and 720p HD video recording, Wi-Fi, HSPA+ support (3G model only), Bluetooth 3.0 and storage options of 16GB and 64GB.
The Australian variant will be loaded with exclusive apps like ABC Reading Eggs for children and Magshop Digital Newstand App enabling users to purchase magazines for up to 30% off the price of print editions.
My Little Fire-Breathing Pony
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Do you have a little girl that you are Christmas shopping for? Forget getting her a My Little Pony. Instead make her a fire-breathing pony. It might scar her for life, but hey, it’s fire. Fire is cool.
Instructables contributor lvl_joe made this fire-breathing pony out of a FurReal Friends…
Star Wars Poker Set
I don’t know how many of you Star Wars fans out there are poker players, but I could picture Han Solo being quite the card shark…and if he cheats, he’s got Chewie to back him up. This Star Wars Poker Set is currently the “Deal of the Week” and if you are anything like the GeekAlerts writers, I imagine you’ll want to get your hands on it.
The case has 72 LED lights that illuminate the chips in our favorite, red, green, and blue lightsaber colors. This is an officially licensed Star Wars product and it is limited edition; so I expect these sets to move fast since they are 50% off. Each set includes: 200 chips, 2 Casino quality Star Wars Decks exclusive to this set, 2 Star Wars Decks: ‘Heroes and Villains’ & ‘Posters’, 1 Metal Death Star dealer button, and it is all in a Star Wars branded case.
The sleek black case has 72 LEDs built in. Turn down the lights and the clear plastic chips will glow, much like a Jedi’s favorite weapon. The Dealer button is embossed with an image of the Death Star (as if being the Dealer wasn’t powerful enough) and two of the four decks of cards feature classic Star Wars artwork and stills – perfect for showing off your perfect hand. Sorry, Luke. Touchy subject.
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WEBSITE OF THE DAY: This Is A Limited Edition
2 December 2011 1:00 GMT / By Ian Hughes
Christmas shopping can be a stressful and fruitless exercise. Even shopping online isn’t like it used to be – you have to plan ahead and get yourself organised if you’re to beat the last-minute rush. Remember the panic last year when it snowed?
And finding the perfect gift for that special somebody is fraught with peril, particularly if the special somebody has particular tastes.
WEBSITE OF THE DAY: Tower Ice Rink
17 November 2011 1:00 GMT / By Ian Hughes
Historically, visitors to the Tower of London were pretty much guaranteed a frosty reception.
And not much has changed it would seem. Although from this weekend, you’ll be able to warm yourself with the thought of a trip home rather than a trip to the chopping block. And without the sudden, swift and permanent loss of height too.
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Samsung ups profit forecast after smartphone success
Samsung’s never ending patent spat with Apple doesn’t seem to be hurting the Korean company too much, as it has issued a better than expected profit forecast for the third quarter.
Although demand for televisions and computer hardware has fallen, Samsung’s smartphone and tablet sales are on the up and up, leading to a prediction of £2.3bn operating profits.
That’s despite agreeing to pay Microsoft royalties on every Android device it sells and having injunctions against it selling the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in several countries.
Put the party poppers away
It’s not all champagne and confetti though; the company’s profits are still down 14% compared to the same quarter last year.
Amazon Kindle Fire
By Andrew Liszewski
Even with an iPhone 5 or 4S probably being announced next week, I think Amazon may have just won the Christmas shopping season this year. They might not be able to keep a product as secret as Apple can, but their new Kindle Fire certainly has what it takes to compete with the iPad juggernaut as far as I’m concerned. If the HP/PalmOS escapade taught us anything, it’s that people are happy to snap up a tablet if it’s cheap, even if it’s not running iOS. But besides the astounding $ 199 price tag, it looks like Amazon is the first company to finally wrangle Android into a user experience that can rival what the iPad has to offer.
I’ve personally concluded that the iPad is too large for the way I want to use it. But the Kindle Fire, with its 7-inch multitouch, 1024×600 resolution display, sounds just about right. Of course it lacks a camera, GPS, 3G, video out and a lot of the frills that have become commonplace on other tablets these days. But I won’t miss them if their departure is what contributed to the Kindle Fire’s cheap(er) price tag.
It’s powered by a dual core processor which probably means the Kindle, at least this version, can finally handle PDFs with ease. And it even seems like Amazon has put a lot of work into making it great for surfing the web thanks to its new Surf browser which shares the load of accessing and processing a website between the tablet and the company’s cloud computing backend. While its 8 GB of storage might seem a little anemic in this day and age, the Fire is designed to be heavily integrated with Amazon’s Cloud service. So in theory you can keep all of your content off-device, but still access it as long as you have a wifi connection.
If anything, the Kindle Fire is the first non-Apple tablet to be announced that doesn’t make my eyes completely glaze over in utter apathy. Amazon may have raised the white flag when it comes to the tech spec war, but their decision to instead fight the content battle is sure to pay off in the long run. And like I said, if that November 15 ship date doesn’t slip, they’ll have no problem selling thousands of these before the end of the year.
