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Targeting the back-to-school shopping rush, Google announced today that its Chromebook computers will soon be headed to even more major retail stores — including the most coveted retailer of all: Walmart.

The retail giant will begin offering the cheapest Chromebook, Acer’s $199 model, starting tomorrow. That computer should be particularly appealing to Walmart’s cost-conscious customers, especially as parents will soon be looking for cheap computers for kids to take to school.

Additionally, Staples will soon offer Chromebooks from Samsung, HP, and Acer later this summer. Those models range from Acer’s $199 model to HP’s gigantic $330 Pavilion Chromebook.

Best Buy already carries some Chromebook models in its stores, but the addition of even more physical retailers could be a big win for Google. With netbooks on their way out, Chromebooks could fill an important gap for inexpensive (and somewhat disposable) computers. It also makes much more sense for Google to spotlight its cheap Chromebooks, rather than the insanely expensive $1,299 Chromebook Pixel.

Chromebooks run Chrome OS, Google’s stripped-down operating system built on its Chrome web browser. They’re meant to be cheap, light, and singularly focused on web apps, which makes them well-suited to classrooms. Most Chromebooks don’t have much storage for media, and they also can’t play games offline. (Great for parents who want less distractions for their kids, bad for kids who want to waste time.)

#PewPew on Repeat: I made this hole on Mars with 100 laser shots over 20 minutes [GIF] http://t.co/PP9V0MOzy5

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) June 17, 2013

Perhaps not a very big hole, but a hole nevertheless.

Over the course of 20 minutes, Curiosity fired its million-watt laser at a tiny section of Martian soil 100 times. A million watts might sound like a lot of power, but Curiosity’s laser only operates for five one-billionths of a second. Still, that was enough to transform a small part of the Martian surface through all four states of matter almost instantaneously: from solid to liquid to gas to plasma within milliseconds.

The plasma then explodes (NASA calls it “rapid expansion”) and creates a minicrater as you can see in the animated GIF above. NASA didn’t specify but was likely checking the vaporized matter for its molecular and atomic makeup in an attempt to learn more about the present and past surface of Mars.

I refuse to believe NASA scientists were just “having fun” shooting a laser from a robot on Mars.

The crater is tiny — perhaps a millimeter in size — so there is no danger of indigenous Martians interpreting the laser blasts as a sign of incipient Earthling attack.

Image credits: NASA

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Intel is testing a number of “experimental devices in the lab,” one of which is a smartwatch-like device, according to chief technology officer Justin Rattner.

“Actually, we’re looking at novel display devices. The watch is kind of — if you want to put the time on it, that’s fine ,” said Rattner at Bloomberg’s Next Big Thing conference. “But if you’re talking about texting today, wouldn’t it be nice if you could just look at your wrist?”

Late last year, rumors came out that Intel was working with Apple on a smartwatch. Whether Apple is involved in these tests are unknown.

The smartwatch gained popularity a little over a year ago when Pebbe raised over $10 million on crowdfunding website Kickstarter and sold out its 85,000 preorders. The watch tells the time (thankfully) but can also push your incoming calls, emails, and calendar entries through a connection to your smartphone. In May, the company raised $15 million from Charles River Ventures and opened up a software development kit so that the smartwatch community could start creating apps to run on Pebble.

A number of other companies such as Google are said to be jumping on the trend as well.

Intel’s “novel display device” seems to be focused on communications. The company is also working on “contextually aware computing,” a technology that can tell when you want to use it. Other environmental clues control its functions. Intel could use this kind of tech to push its smartwatches forward and keep them energy efficient.

Intel CTO photo via Meghan Kelly/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
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Samsung isn’t slowing down with its Galaxy S4 variants anytime soon.

After announcing smaller and tougher versions of its flagship smartphone, Samsung is now gearing up to launch a new version of the S4 with support for LTE-Advanced networks, Reuters reports.

The phone could hit South Korea as soon as this month, Samsung co-chief executive officer J.K. Shin told Reuters. LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) is a major upgrade over the current LTE standard, and it could end up being the driving technology behind future “5G” networks. For now, though, it looks like carriers are approaching LTE-A as a way to speed up existing 4G LTE networks. T-Mobile, for example, claims it’ll be the first to offer LTE-A in the U.S. because it has newer LTE equipment than other carriers.

LTE-Advanced will potentially offer speeds up to 300 megabits per second (three times faster than LTE’s theoretical bandwidth), so you can be sure that carriers will want to market the heck out of that upgrade. Samsung claims its LTE-A Galaxy S4 will be about twice as fast as the current LTE models.

For the most part, the LTE-A Galaxy S4 seems like a show horse for Samsung. It gets to claim that it’s the first in the LTE-A handset market, but most consumers won’t be able to take advantage of the faster speeds for some time. The phone will also serve as a way to push Samsung’s 4G networking-equipment business. (After all, it’ll only be able to convince carriers to adopt its LTE-A equipment if there’s a phone that supports the faster network.)

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

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The idea of a decent gamepad controller for the iPhone is something that many gamers — casual or otherwise — are bound to be happy about.

And that’s apparently what accessory maker Logitech is currently working on, according to a leaked photo obtained by Kotaku today.

As you can see from the photo above, the Logitech controller sports a direction-pad on one side and five buttons on the other side. In the middle is an iPhone 5-shaped hole with a Lightning connector port sticking out from the right. There’s also a new “G” branding logo that appears under the direction pad, which presumably will be part of Logitech’s line of gaming products.

The new controller is apparently focused on the newly revamped Apple Game Center for iOS 7, and it’s one of many such controllers being developed by third-party companies, according to Kotaku. Apple, however, won’t be providing support for the new gamepad controllers.

Our phones are faster and smarter. Our laptops are thinner. But, for most of us, our headphones still have wires — serving as both an umbilical cord to today’s digital media and a constant reminder of old-school music tech.

With just about everything going wireless these days, it’s surprising how much we’re still relying on wires when it comes to listening to music on the go. Despite their penchant for tangling, snagging, and breaking, good ol’ wired headphones are still the most popular choice.

But now, with the ubiquity of smartphones and improved Bluetooth connectivity, wireless headphones finally don’t stink. In fact, I’ve tested several that could be good enough for discerning audiophiles (or at least, good enough that they don’t throw them away in disgust). And if you’re looking to share music with friends, wireless speakers have also come a long way.

Ultimately, the success of today’s wireless audio gadgets boils down to a better experience than we’ve ever seen before. And in many cases, that’s due to our mobile devices offering better experiences as well. (We’ll be exploring the huge evolution in mobile experience at our MobileBeat 2013 conference next month.)

The cable dilemma

I suppose it’s not hard to see why we’re so attached to our wired headphones. There have been plenty of wireless headphones over the years, but they’ve mostly failed to catch on due to their cost, complexity, and sub-par sound quality.

The biggest issue? Basic wired headphones are dirt cheap. And, from what I’ve seen, most people never see the need to move beyond the headphones that come with their phones and music players. And audiophiles have preferred wired headphones because of their better sound quality. With limited demand from both the low- and high-end of the market, there simply hasn’t been much of a place for killer pair of wireless headphones.

But, just as we’ve seen many other gadgets go wireless, it’s only a matter of time until the tide turns for headphones as well.

The current wireless headphone crop: Something for everyone

Today, there are plenty of worthy wireless options that are miles ahead of what we’ve seen before.

Take, for example, Jabra’s Revo Wireless, a surprisingly comfortable pair of Bluetooth over-the-ear headphones that sport a healthy 12 hours of battery life.

In my testing over the past few weeks, I was surprised at just how good they sounded — bass was tight without being overbearing, and you also can hear plenty of detail at both low and high volumes. And while they weren’t tough to pair over Bluetooth, you can pair the Revo even more easily with any NFC-equipped smartphone (simply tap the phone to the left earcup). They sport touch controls on the right earcup, which you can use to control volume levels, skip tracks, and pause music.

I was impressed by the Revo’s versatility: You can plug in a mini-jack cable if you’re trying to listen to a non-wireless source (the sound was slightly better over the cable, naturally), and you can also plug it into your computer with a USB cable, which both charges the headphones and lets it function as a USB headset. The Revo Wireless also includes a microphone, so you can take calls when it’s connected to your phone, or use it to trash talk your friends in online games.

I’m usually not a fan of wearing bulky headphones, but the Revo Wireless’s well-cushioned earcups made them easy to wear for hours. I also appreciated their construction — the cups are surrounded by curvy metal arms, which are attached to a plastic bridge that can be folded down. While the metal portion felt strong, you’ll probably have to be careful about storing these headphones in a backpack where its hinges or plastic components could be crushed.

At $250, the Revo Wireless headphones aren’t exactly cheap, but you can currently find them for around $200 on Amazon. They’re a better deal than the $279 Beats by Dr. Dre wireless headphones, but if you’re looking to save some cash, consider Creative’s recent wireless lineup (especially the WP-350, which you can snag on Amazon for just $50).

If you prefer in-ear headphones, check out Plantronics’ BackBeat Go ($100) or JayBird Gear’s BlueBird X ($170). I tested out the BackBeat Go when they were released last year and found them surprisingly capable. Sound quality was decent (not as good as the Revo Wireless), and they were compact enough to stuff into a shirt pocket. At this point, the extreme portability is both their greatest strength and weakness — they’re easy to bring anywhere, but their diminutive size means there’s little room for decently-sized batteries. I saw around 5 hours of battery life with the Plantronics unit.

The original Jambox atop the Big Jambox.

Wireless speakers: Sharing the joy

The massive success of Jawbone’s Jambox several years ago made it clear that there’s a huge demand for well-designed portable speakers — especially if they sound great. Since then, we’ve seen a slew of competitors appear, and Jawbone also went for larger sound with the fantastic Big Jambox ($250).

While Bluetooth is the most prevalent connection technology for wireless speakers, Apple’s AirPlay standard has also gained some support in high-end options. Audiophiles typically prefer AirPlay since it’s uncompressed — meaning it doesn’t hurt music quality like the heavily compressed Bluetooth standard. The tradeoff, of course, is that you can only use iOS or Macintosh computers to connect to AirPlay devices. My advice? Stick with Bluetooth options for now.

One recently released speaker entry worth considering is Logitech’s new UE Boom (above), which offers up some stiff competition to Jambox’s devices. The $200 Boom looks unlike any speaker you’ve ever seen, with a cylindrical design and wacky color combinations. It basically begs to be taken outside — the Boom sports around 15 hours of battery life, a water and stain-resistant skin (which comes in handy during messy barbecues), and even though it’s much smaller than the Big Jambox, it delivers sound almost just as loud.

Most importantly, it sounds fantastic. Thanks to its cylindrical design, the Boom can effectively fill large spaces with thumping tunes. That’s a huge plus over Jawbone’s boxy offerings, which typically sound best when you’re directly in front of them. Like the original Jambox, as well as plenty of other wireless speakers, the Boom also functions as a speakerphone.

It’s all about a better wireless experience

As I mentioned above, what really sets apart this most recent round of wireless audio gadgets is a much improved experience over past wireless offerings. To list just a few:

1. Connecting to wireless headphones and speakers is easier than ever, thanks to Bluetooth devices being widely available and easier to use. Gone are the days when you struggled with your Bluetooth headset just to make a call. And as we’ve seen with the Revo Wireless, NFC could be a good way to simplify pairing even more.
2. Battery life is much improved. Most over-the-ear wireless headphones and speakers I’ve seen offer between 10 and 15 hours of functionality, which is more than enough to last you the whole day. (Those in-ear wireless units will eventually improve, as well.)
3. Sound quality is better (and will only improve over time). We’ve seen gadget makers do some amazing things with the Bluetooth A2DP audio profile, which allows for wireless streaming of music. Soon more devices will support the aptX codec, which offers even higher-quality music over Bluetooth.
4. Ubiquity. Now if you bring a wireless speaker to a party, just about anyone can pair up with their smartphone and send over their own tunes. No more cables, no more hassle.

No matter your experiences with wireless music gadgets in the past, it’s worth taking a closer look at what’s available today. Plenty of great options are out there, especially if you’re in the market for a new pair of over-the-ear headphones or just want a portable speaker that you can take to the park.

Perhaps the biggest selling point for going wireless: never having to deal with those damn tangled cords again.

Photos: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

This sponsored post is produced by the Inside 3D Printing Conference.

Inside 3D Printing Conference attracted 3,000 attendees and top exhibitors like MakerBot and 3D Systems to its inaugural event in New York. Now, after months of exponential growth and tremendous 3D printing coverage in the news, the conference will head to Chicago this July 10-11.

The topic has piqued the interest and involvement of government officials, including Congressman Bill Foster of the 11th Congressional District of Illinois who will discuss digital manufacturing and its connection to policy, education, and jobs at the event.

Industry players, innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors will meet in Chicago to discuss the impact of 3D printing on various fields. Speakers include Scott Crump, Founder and Chairman of the Board at Stratasys, Ralph L. Resnick, President & Executive Director of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing & Machining (NCDMM), and Cydni Tetro, Entrepreneur in Residence for Disney.

The event will even feature the designer and architect who created style icon Dita Von Teese’s famous 3D printed dress to discuss 3D printing’s influence on fashion and art.

Sessions include Industrial Scale Additive Manufacturing Technologies, 3D Printing and the Future (or Demise) of Intellectual Property, and The Printed Athlete: How 3D Printing is Changing the Nature of Sports. View the full program here.

PERK: VentureBeat readers will save 15% on Gold Passports to the event with code BEAT. Register today.

Sponsored posts are content that has been produced by a company, which is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. The content of news stories produced by our editorial team is never influenced by advertisers or sponsors in any way. For more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.

July 9-10, 2013
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Francisco Inchauste is a designer, writer, and human, apparently in that order.

Of all the announcements made this week at the Apple’s WWDC, the one to get the biggest reaction was the redesign of iOS. It’s the biggest change since the iPhone debut in 2008 and it definitely is “polarizing” as John Gruber warned it would be.

Many designers think Apple went too far in the wrong direction, while others feel that the UI may have been rushed and with some iteration, will get better. You can also find a lot of designers offering up some interesting visual improvements on Dribbble. Beyond just the visual style, it comes down to usability concerns and legibility with the typeface they chose to use throughout the OS.

Since an interface is something you need to use before you can truly judge the impact, I’ll have to bite my tongue until that point. But since Apple talked about more than just a redesign I wanted to point out some other things they covered. So, if you want a break from the uproar, here are six things in the Apple announcement worth talking about:

5. Desktop + devices

Apple is designing the Mac and iDevice hardware ecosystem to work better together.

Your Mac OS can now receive push notifications from your iOS device, like updates from your favorite apps and services enjoyed on your iDevices. You can also respond to instant messages, emails and FaceTime. Also, once linked, you can send things like directions to your specific device. This is notable because this kind of link from desktop to device has been a bit weaker point with Android, but I’m sure we’ll see more in the future from them.

6. New Mac Pro

With the new Mac Pro announcement, Apple shows the world that although they helped usher the masses into the “Post-PC” world, they aren’t completely abandoning the desktop computer. This should make shops that require heavy processing for things like video editing, quite happy. Apple’s design and engineering chops really shine in this rather innovative computer.

With a nod back to the Twentieth Anniversary Mac, the new Mac Pro offers up some impressive specs, packaged up into something that looks straight out of Star Trek.

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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

And if simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, iOS 7 is very, very sophisticated.

The most powerful man in the room doesn’t need a loud voice. The securely rich don’t need to flaunt their wealth. The cool kids are the ones who aren’t trying to be cool. The truly elegant realize that understatement is the essence of sophistication.

Source: http://www.brianroizen.com/blog/ios-7-beta-screenshots/

iOS 7 camera app

And the ultimate interface is the least obvious to the user.

The latest version of iOS is the culmination of Apple’s six-year journey with iPhone, and that journey mirrors the changes that successfully brought Apple back from the brink of death in the late 1990s. The product that saved Apple was the iMac, and Steve Jobs threw it like a grenade into the the computer industry. Where the industry was grey, iMac was color. Where the industry was separate pieces wired together, iMac was unified and singular. Where the industry was opaque, iMac was translucent.

But the original iMac was also a little childish — a little young — before it became the singular objét d’art that it is today. And like iMac’s 15-year transition from fruity to elegant, iOS has now crossed the user interface Rubicon from Microsoft Bob to the Bauhaus — from decoration to design.

Versions 1 through 6 were Apple’s mobile juvenilia; iOS 7 is Apple at the zenith of its design zen.

Less inter, more face

By definition, an interface is a bridge. A connection. Something that takes one thing and attaches it to another. A user interface takes what we want out of the machine and supplies it to us in a format we can see, understand, and use.

Source: http://www.brianroizen.com/blog/ios-7-beta-screenshots/

Siri in iOS 7

Glancing back at former iOS versions after using iOS 7 is an interesting experiment. As revolutionary, incredible, and praised as it was, old iOS seems obvious, heavy-handed, and almost crude in comparison. Buttons are massive, messy objects that just beg to be interpreted as old-world meatspace buttons that physically depress with a ker-thunk! as you hit them. Borders surround chunks of information like arm-in-arm security staff holding back the outside world from some very exclusive event.

Now, iOS 7 is much more authentically digital and much less representationally physical.

We’ve all grown up, Apple is saying, and we no longer need these real-world touchable referents in order to understand digital information. And, in fact, they’re holding us back, restraining us and surrounding the content we want with gimmick and gewgaw.

Who among us has ever used a rolodex? Do you keep a pad of paper handy at all times to jot down notes with pen and ink? Do we really need green felt, as Apple’s Federighi joked about in the recent WWDC keynote, to make us think of games and fun? And do we all have smoking jackets, cee-gars, and snifters brimming with brandy as we amble back to the snooker table, one hand in our houndstooth jackets?

No, no, and no.

One of the key values in iOS 7, Apple says, is deference. The user interface is there to help users get, understand, and work with the data and information they want, not to compete with it. Interface should be underneath, Apple is saying. It’s kingmaker, not king; servant, not master. Background, not foreground.

Elegant doesn’t mean somber

In spite of its elegance, iOS 7 isn’t standoffish or unapproachable. Not dark and distant.

Rather — and this is why some have likened it to Windows Phone and the new Windows design language — iOS 7 is light, approachable, even colorful in places. In other words, Apple’s not trying for an affect here. It’s not trying so hard to make iOS the nth degree in haute couture so that it becomes elitist or arrogant. Rather, Apple is looking for the best way to present and offer up experiences enabled by the device in your hand — a style so unstyled it’s not really a style but an expression of humility to the text, images, data, voices, and fun that will flow through to the user.

And that’s done in living color.

Minimalism is sometimes very minimal

While I’m happy with Apple’s overall direction, let’s keep in mind that this is a beta operating system and not a universally released, fully available product. And there’s room for improvement.

Which button is pressed? Is there a button? Can you press it?

Minimalism is a language that not everyone speaks, and sometimes less is just … less.

Just one example is in Apple’s phone app, which indicates that yes, you are on speaker mode with a very subtle light effect under the volume icon. It’s not nearly as obvious as iOS 6′s speaker mode — which is the point, after all — but the question is, is it obvious enough?

In other words, can you be so simple, so restrained, and so tentative in what you put into your user interface that you’re actually increasing the cognitive load on your users?

In a word, yes, and I think that there are some in the iPhone user camp who are going to be astonished but not delighted with some elements of the new operating system. Microsoft is going through its own challenges as users are being forced through a massive update in its desktop design language, and I think Apple will see something similar.

 Going somewhere good

That said, I like iOS 7. In fact, I really, really like iOS 7.

Source: http://www.brianroizen.com/blog/ios-7-beta-screenshots/

Photos in iOS 7

I have been using it for the better part of a week now, and despite the bugginess inherent in a beta operating system (sometimes the phone app hangs, sharing photos and videos doesn’t work in all cases, and so on), I would not go back.

We give bright, noisy toys to kids to hold their attention, and juveniles drive loud, flashy cars to reinforce the image of themselves that they desire to project, but we don’t need that.

We’re all grown up — mostly — and we know that simplicity is the core of sophistication.

Apple knew that back in the 1970s, when Steve Jobs adopted that as one of the company’s marketing slogans. Leonardo da Vinci knew it when he first said it.

And, I think, most Apple fans know it, too.

Image credits: Most: Brian Roizen, top, John Koetsier

July 9-10, 2013
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A helmet-mounted display may be available to motorcyclists as early as 2014. While you won’t be able to use it to fire off weapons, like combat pilots do from their helmets in jet planes or helicopters, it will navigate you to your destination with ease and in style.

Russian startup LiveMap is working on a state-of-art motorcycle helmet with a built-in navigation system that accepts voice commands.

Touchscreen navigators and paper maps aren’t that useful to riders while on their motorcycles, so LiveMap’s gadget addresses this problem with augmented-reality such as full-color, translucent pictures projected on the visor. It will come fitted with a microphone for voice control, a set of earphones, a light sensor for adjusting image brightness, and batteries along with a G-sensor, gyroscope, and digital compass for head movement tracking.

Chief executive Andrew Artishchev calls it the “helmet from Iron Man.”

LiveMap has been working on the project for last five years. It has conjured up prototypes for the outer shell, electronic board, optics, and software with the support of Moscow Department of Science and other foundations.

Now the team hopes to ramp up its development, conduct testing, and obtain certifications before they put it into industrial production for a late 2014 release. The gadget is expected to debut in United States and Canada.

To take it to production, LiveMap is looking to raise $150,000 via crowdfunding platform, Indiegogo. The campaign will run until July 12. With a $1,500 contribution, you can own a limited “Hero Edition” helmet. The helmet is expected to retail at $2,000.

Lines between science-fiction and reality seem to be blurring, and after Google Glass and MYO, wearable technology seems to be catching on.

Image credit: LiveMap

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Set-top box and media streaming service startup Boxee is seeking out buyers or a fresh round of funding, according to an AllThingsD report that cites unnamed sources familiar with the situation.

The company started life as a software company and eventually a set-top box maker (Boxee Box) that wanted to provide an open-source media software anyone could utilize to stream media from their TV or computer. It’s set-top box was intended as a of video codex Swiss army knife that would play pretty much any format, which was good for the nontechies that just wanted to watch their buddy’s ripped collection of sci-fi TV show DVDs using a USB drive, as well as those who wanted streaming services like Netflix, Spotify, and others.

However, the company made an unsuccessful “pivot” away from open-source development to focus on a new cloud-based DVR service to capture shows on cable and broadcast television and a new set-top box, Boxee TV (aka Boxee Cloud DVR as it’s now called). VentureBeat’s Devindra Hardawar certainly didn’t think much of it when it first went on sale last year. It looks like consumers share that sentiment despite several new features for the box.

ATD’s Peter Kafka notes that Boxee hired banking firm Allen & Co. to help it secure another $30 million or so in funding but eventually branched out to the idea of an acquisition. The New York-based company has previously raised $26.5 million in funding to date.

The shift to acquisition-mode probably had something to do with all the cable TV providers already offering their programming (both live broadcast and whatever was stored on DVR) via streaming devices. For instance, Comcast customers can now stream its Xfinity TV service through the Xbox 360, and Time Warner Cable has added live streaming channel feeds to the Roku as well as its own mobile applications and website. And when it comes to recording the freely available HD broadcast content, the biggest mover is definitely Aereo, even though its only available a handful of cities right now.

It’s kind of tragic to see Boxee’s slow death, especially because the company has done a lot of good in the early cord cutting movement — not to mention its lobbying congress for standards on how consumers can legally record broadcasted TV programming.

If Boxee is able to either secure new funding or a buyer that wants to revitalize the company, I’d expect even more drastic changes to its business model. Hopefully that includes less emphasis on a service-related products in favor of going back to its roots in enhancing the overall TV experience. For example, Boxee could shift its software development to Google TV cheerleader, with its DVR services as purely complimentary. (And lord knows Google TV could use a cheerleader.)

We’re reaching out to Boxee for further comment, and will update the post with any new information.

In an interesting twist in the open-source hardware movement, Sony has just announced it’s opening up its SmartWatch for your hacking pleasure.

The SmartWatch SDK has for a while enabled developers to create apps for the device, which launched in 2012, but today’s Open SmartWatch update will let them build and flash alternative firmware to the SmartWatch.

“If you create alternative firmware for SmartWatch, you can take control of SmartWatch as a hardware peripheral in new ways and create new experimental use cases and innovations,” the company wrote in the documentation.

The hardware in question includes a 128 x 128-pixel screen with touch capabilities, an ARM Cortex-M3 CPU, an accelerator, a vibrator, and Bluetooth-connectivity capability. With its current firmware, the Android-powered gadget has access to Google Play and its own slate of apps.

While these devices never really took the gadget world by storm (understatement — we called them “ugly and late to the party”), it will be fun to see SmartWatch hacks — if developers decide to take Sony up on the offer, that is.

All this comes on the heels of a slew of smartwatch rumors swirling around such companies as Samsung, Apple, and Google.

The Apple-created app resided on your iPhone’s screen regardless of whether you wanted it, asked for it, or needed it — sort of like 90s-era crapware on a cheap PC. It could not be deleted, and though it could be moved, Newsstand could not be put inside a folder. That meant that at some level, at some time, you had to look at it — which, of course, was the point. Apple was pushing its digital magazine subscription business.

The hated icon

I ended up moving Newsstand to its own screen on my iPhone, three or four screens to the right, and bitched and moaned in public.

It’s a more important issue than you might think. At stake is whether the phone is yours or Apple’s — whether your experience of your Apple technology is of core importance to Apple or whether the company’s desire to control the user interface and push its own products is more crucial. That matters, even in such a small circumstance as this.

One of the nice little benefits of iOS 7 is that Apple has now bestowed upon grateful users the ability to move all apps on their phones into folders. That’s such a big deal that someone created an animated GIF to celebrate:

People like to be in control of their technology, and this is one small step for Apple but one giant leap for iPhone users.

Thank you, iOS 7.

photo credit: the Comic Shop via photopin cc

LOS ANGELES — Suddenly, microconsoles comprise a very crowded market. This new gaming sector, which uses cheap hardware to power smartphone-like games on televisions, has multiple startups and established corporations all jumping in to find an audience.

Hardware and peripheral company Mad Catz just announced its Project M.O.J.O. microconsole last week. The box is similar to Ouya and Gamestick, and Mad Catz is showing it off at the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show going on now. I went hands on with it and talked to Mad Catz product manager Richard Neville.

I walked away wanting M.O.J.O. over an Ouya or GameStick for a very specific reason.

“Companies like Ouya and GameStick use a closed approach with their own proprietary stores — they don’t have Google Play,” Mad Catz product manager Richard Neville told me. “Where that’s all we’re going to have.”

Ouya and Gamestick both have curated stores that developers need to specifically submit their games to. These stores will essentially compete with Google’s official one, Google Play. Android users that have an investment in games through the Google Play market won’t automatically find their purchases on those systems. With M.O.J.O., if you already own Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for your HTC One, for example, then you can play it without any issues on Mad Catz’s console.

I already own games like Riptide GP, Grand Theft Auto III, and Carmageddon on Google Play. That means I already own those titles on Project M.O.J.O. The system is backward compatible with my Galaxy Nexus, which it has nothing to do with.

This is a distinct advantage for Mad Catz. The Android platform is massive, and gamers might find it easier to accept a microconsole that uses a reputable market like Google Play — especially if they will already own their own games for it.

Savvy gamers could install an unofficial version of the Google Play store on the hackable Ouya or Gamestick systems. That’s something I could probably figure out, but why would I waste my time if M.O.J.O. will work with it out of the box? Neville also promised me the system will launch as the most powerful Android microconsole on the market.

At the same time, Ouya and Gamestick are launching their consoles at $99 and $79, respectively. They can afford that price because they plan to make money through their unique online stores. Mad Catz cannot rely on any revenue from game sales. Neville told me that this will force the company to price the device higher than those competitors.

The fact that Mad Catz doesn’t have to worry about selling games could also present one more issue. Ouya and Gamestick have a vested interest in improving gamers’ experiences so that they buy more games. That should lead to updates to the interface and operating system. Mad Catz might just fire and forget M.O.J.O., leaving its adopters behind.

So I’m split on M.O.J.O at the moment. I player Riptide GP on it, and it ran well. The controller felt comfortable but a little cheap. The system’s app-store solution is enticing, but I like to know that a hardware company is invested in the success of software.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Microsoft announced today that it reached an agreement to place Windows Stores within with the country’s biggest electronics retail chain, Best Buy.

For years, Best Buy has already sectioned off a portion of its store for rival company Apple with mini Apple Stores. And like the Best Buy Apple Stores, the Windows Store sections will have their own distinct display tablets and Windows branding in a 1,500-2,200 square ft. space located in the vicinity of where computers, laptops, tablets, e-readers, and the like all compete. There will probably be a Windows Store employee available to help customers wishing to buy something from the Windows Store within a store, too.

My general reaction to this is that Best Buy is quickly turning into the Dillard’s/Macy’s of electronic retail outlets. Only instead of personalized makeup counters, Best Buy gives its largest vendors a distinct space to sell their mobile devices and accessories. It already had the Apple Store section, the smaller Google Chromebook section, and now there’s the Windows Store section. (Will Nook or Amazon be the next one to install a separate section?)

There are several benefits to this strategy for Best Buy, too. I’m guessing that Microsoft is probably paying a premium for the floor space, which brings the Windows Stores to about 600 Best Buy locations. Microsoft probably also does some promotion/advertising/marketing for free in conjunction with Best Buy stores. And finally, this is really a great way to present these products to customers, which is sort of the key when you’re trying to actually boost sales.

Are you excited about these new Best Buy Windows Stores? Let us know in the comments, or shoot us a note @VentureBeat.

Photo via Microsoft

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Given our addiction to smartphones and tablets, mobile consumers are already primed for the coming onslaught of wearable computing devices. Indeed, we’re so tied to our mobile gadgets today that we might as well call them wearable, according to the latest research from the mobile advertising company Flurry.

Based on random sample data from more than 15,000 iOS users in the U.S., the firm has found that we’re pretty much always connected to our mobile devices — even while we sleep (see the chart below). It’s a huge difference from the way we view television, which typically sees low usage throughout the day except for a big prime-time viewership spike.

“I’m amazed at the nighttime usage for mobile — do people not sleep?” Flurry chief executive Simon Khalaf told VentureBeat. “It kind of tells you we’re already in the wearable space; it’s [mobile] glued to consumer’s bodies.”

Khalaf presented Flurry’s latest insights at its SourceDigital13 conference in New York City today, an event aimed at bringing together some of NYC’s biggest minds in advertising to help solve the mobile ad dilemma.

“It’s not about promoting Flurry … in fact, I had to beg to get a speaking spot,” Khalaf said. “It’s more about getting people who matter together and trying to figure this out as a group. This is more of a brainstorming session.”

Among other interesting finds, Flurry found that the Millennial set (ages 25 to 34) used health- and fitness-related apps more than any other group (see chart below). And when it came to games, typically the territory for the young, Flurry found that Millennials actually used them less than other age groups. (The big gamers? Middle-aged folks from the Gen X set.)

Digging deeper into its Millennial data, Flurry found that women use fitness apps 200 percent more than men. The firm also found that certain gender stereotypes held true. The second-largest app category for women was lifestyle and shopping while men focused more on media and entertainment apps.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Samsung had been considered the most serious competitor to an unstoppable Apple and the only Android handset maker turning a profit. But now it’s more than that. It now sells more smartphones than Apple, and in the past months, it has added so many new features that it had Apple on the run. It’s partly why Apple’s stock has tanked so badly.

Thanks to strong flagship phones like the Galaxy S III, Wall Street analysts, developers, and tech gadgets, bloggers are watching the company’s every move.

You may know Young Sohn as the man that heads Samsung’s recently announced Catalyst Fund, which dedicates $100M to fund a global ecosystem of startups and services with Samsung devices as its cornerstone.

MobileBeat 2013 (July 9-10 in San Francisco) will be the occasion for Sohn — also Samsung’s chief strategy officer and widely considered to be the company’s leader on innovation — to share some of the Korean giant’s visions on the role of smartphones over the next five and 10 years. In a future where cloud services, sensors, and data are all weaving their way ever more tightly into every aspect of our lives — from lifestyle to healthcare — Samsung wants to provide the hardware where it all comes together.

How will it approach privacy — an issue more sensitive than ever — or play alongside the ecosystem of startups, apps, and carriers while ensuring a mobile experience that is both compelling and open?

Find out at MobileBeat. Check out full event details here, and grab your tickets today!

Thanks to the following industry leaders for supporting MobileBeat 2013: Ford & CloudOn as Platinum Partners; IBM, Intel, New Relic, & Tapjoy as Gold Partners; Fjord, Flurry, Kontagent, LifeStreet Media, & MoPub as Silver Partners; and Helpshift, IDrive, & Urban Airship as Event Partners.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

While we’ve been hearing quite a bit about Apple’s plans for a cheaper iPhone over the past few months, the company’s plans to go bigger have been more cloudy.

Now it sounds like Apple aims to go into phablet territory, a term for giant smartphones over 5-inches that may as well be tablets. Apple is reportedly exploring bigger iPhone models for 2014 with 4.7-inch and 5.7 inch screens, Reuters reports.

It certainly makes sense for Apple to release a 4.7-inch iPhone, since that’s pretty much the standard size for Android smartphone screens these days. But the prospect of a 5.7-inch iPhone is a bit more surprising, especially after Apple has held strong with its smaller-than-the-competition iPhone screens over the past few years. Recent research shows that consumers want both iPhones and phablets, so Apple has a huge opportunity by combining the two.

It could just be that we’re hearing early talks about how Apple is planning to take on Samsung, which has leveraged its big and bright screens to become an Android powerhouse. Samsung also helped to popularize the phablet category with its Galaxy Note series, which have typically had screen sizes around 5.5-inches.

“They [Apple] constantly change product specifications almost to the final moment, so you’re not really sure whether this is the final prototype,” one source told Reuters of the bigger iPhone.

When it comes to Apple’s iPhone launches for this year, Reuters adds weight to the rumors that we’ll see cheap models in multiple colors and plastic cases, as well as a slightly revamped iPhone 5S. Apple will reportedly add fingerprint scanning technology to the iPhone 5S (which seems like a curious addition at this point), and it’s expected to keep the same 4-inch screen as the iPhone 5.

Apple is reportedly exploring a $99 price for the cheaper iPhone. The company currently offers the iPhone 4S for that price, but it could be worth developing a phone that’s cheaper to build at that price for the higher margins.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

Google is helping a Little Leaguer throw out the first pitch in a Major League Baseball game today, even though he has a life-threatening blood disease, by using a telerobotic pitching machine — and Google Fiber.

Nick LeGrande is a 13-year-old baseball fanatic who was told by doctors in January that he could not continue to play the game. Due to his illness, Nick’s bone marrow is no longer producing white blood cells, which means his immune system is extremely weak. He can’t be around crowds of people, so baseball is out.

So tonight, Google is surprising the young Kansas City kid with an opportunity to play baseball that doesn’t involve crowds: throwing out the first pitch at the New York Yankees-Oakland A’s game, 1,800 miles away in Oakland, Calif. While the A’s home stadium is not exactly the place to go when you can’t be around people (especially when the Yanks are in town), the “no crowds” part comes in via this machine: a telerobotic pitching machine that Google calls FiberBot.

How will it work?

Google is transforming its office space in Kansas City into a baseball diamond — or at least enough of it for Nick to stand on a mound and throw a pitch toward home plate. That motion will be captured, sent over the Internet to the web-connected FiberBot, and then replicated on the mound in Oakland.

And one 13-year-old will have his dream come true.

Image credits: Google

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Steve Jobs was very upfront about the fact that good artists copy, and great artists steal. According to former Palm CEO — and former Apple SVP — Jon Rubinstein, the company Steve started is still a great artist.

As is Google, and as is Microsoft.

Speaking to Fierce Wireless about HP’s long-ago purchase of Palm, Rubinstein was asked about similarities between iOS 7 and Palm’s innovative-but-doomed WebOS:

It’s not just mobile platforms. If you look at the notifications on Mac OS X, it looks just like webOS, too. We did a lot of things that were very, very innovative. Obviously, multitasking, notifications, Synergy, how we handled the multiple cards. There’s a long list of stuff we did that has been adopted by Microsoft, Apple and Android.

Multitasking on iOS 7 is a massive update from iOS 6. Instead of simply seeing the icons of apps that are currently running, iOS7 shows users a screenshot of each running apps in a horizontally scrolling interface. That’s very reminiscent of Palm’s WebOS, which also had a horizontal scrolling view of open applications:

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/12/11/palm-pre-six-months-in/ and http://www.brianroizen.com/blog/ios-7-beta-screenshots/

WebOS versus iOS: multitasking.

Synergy was Palm’s innovative way of merging contacts from multiple contexts: Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, your personal digital rolodex, and more. Apple has been doing that for some time with Facebook contacts, of course. In addition, Palm pioneered over-the-air operating system updates, which most of the major smartphone platforms have now adopted.

Rubinstein clearly indicates that Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Phone have both benefited from WebOS as well. I wonder if the important point here is how much the entire mobile industry owes to Palm, WebOS in specific, and the entire lineage of Palm products since the original Palm Pilot in general.

The reality is, we probably don’t pay as much homage to the predecessors of our amazing modern smartphones as we should. And, that WebOS’s ignominious end as a forgotten and neglected red-headed step-child in the melting-down HP family home was a tragic, crying shame.

Photo credit: ross_tt via photopin cc

Do you have an awesome app that blends emotion and robot like Romotive does? Are you blowing minds with interconnected iPads that we can play games on? Can you help us not kill our plants? Are you building tablet-driven robots to better connect people around the world? You get the idea.

Then this is your chance to get your product/gadget in front of 700 mobile executives.

We’re looking for the next generation of thinkers who blend mobile and machine to demo their gadgets on the floor at MobileBeat 2013, our flagship mobile event on July 9-10 in San Francisco. The “Whosits and Whatsits Galore” zone will be buzzing with activity right outside of the general session on both days.

Fill out the form here, and we’ll be in touch soon.

Make sure to check out all of the latest MobileBeat speakers and announcements here, and get your tickets today!

Thanks to the following industry leaders for supporting MobileBeat 2013: Ford and CloudOn as Platinum Partners; IBM, Intel, New Relic, and Tapjoy as Gold Partners; Fjord, Flurry, Kontagent, LifeStreet Media, and MoPub as Silver Partners; and Helpshift, IDrive, and Urban Airship as Event Partners.

Stay on top of all our E3 2013 coverage here.

LOS ANGELES — Building a virtual-reality experience from scratch is difficult. Oculus VR, the company responsible for the Oculus Rift VR headset, already surprised everyone by getting out 10,000 development units out to its community less than a year after introducing the concept (and just several months after its astoundingly successful Kickstarter). This is an amazing feat, but that doesn’t mean the company didn’t struggle to put together just four of its new high-definition prototypes.

“It came in very hot,” Oculus chief executive Brendan Iribe told GamesBeat. “Right now, there are only four of these prototypes in the world. We’ll be building a few more that we will give to our earlier partners — which includes developers like Valve.”

Before the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show, Oculus was very hesitant about committing to showing the latest iteration of its VR visor. That’s because it just didn’t know if it would get the new version, which runs at 1080p, finished in time for the event.

“It was certainly a crunch,” said Iribe. “Getting access to this latest 1080p display took some time. We had to really find the right partner for that. We also had to make our own circuit-board display controller to drive the screen, which is designed for cellphones.”

All that took a lot of time, but Oculus finished the units practically on the eve of E3. GamesBeat went hands on (eyes in?) with the new unit yesterday, and it’s certainly an improvement over the current development kit.

Iribe says his team wants a minimum of a 1080p screen in the consumer unit, so now that they got it working, it’s time to build the next prototype.

“High-definition was one of the biggest concerns, but we nailed it,” he said. “Now it’s on to the next set of problems, and it’s sort of like an onion. We keep peeling it back [and finding new obstacles to overcome].”

That includes reducing the latency of the head-tracking even further. The latest unit has a lag of about 35 milliseconds. Iribe says that while the hypothetical goal is 0 milliseconds of latency, they’ll settle on something around 15 milliseconds. After that, maybe Oculus will figure out the best way to add audio to the units. Or maybe they’ll improve how the optics works or bump up the resolution even further.

“We’re always building new hardware,” said Iribe.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Stay on top of all our E3 2013 coverage here.

LOS ANGELES — Imagine if you could use the Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset for more than just fragging enemies in the latest first-person shooter. The device’s makers want you to do just that. They see the Rift as a gateway to new immersive experiences, many of which go beyond the gaming space.

GamesBeat recently checked out the latest prototype of Oculus’ buzz-building wonder goggles — now featuring a fresh-from-the-factory 1080p panel — at the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo. In addition to an impressive Unreal Engine 4 tech snippet, I also tried out a “VR cinema” demo that placed us in a theater, complete with seats, screen, and a movie trailer to watch. I was able to look around the space, which even included a flickering projector directly behind us.

“[The Rift] really can expand far beyond [gaming],” said Brendan Iribe, Oculus VR’s chief executive officer. “You could imagine you’re watching a movie in this theater. You can have your buddies in there. You guys could be talking to each other. You could be doing things,” he continued.

Our conversation quickly moved to other applications. “You’re going to have medical simulation apps. … Military people have contacted us,” Iribe added. “Architecture … never before has an architect been able to build something on a computer and then look at it in the exact real scale it is.”

The Rift opens up new opportunities for creative companies seeking to showcase their products and services. Interactive VR experiences could replace car brochures, for example.

“We’ve been talking to one of my favorite car companies. … They’re looking at making all kinds of virtual experiences where you could potentially see a car before you buy it. You could look at the interior. Maybe you can style it. … You could have a VR driving experience,” Iribe said. “The car company … can model out and build out that experience.”

“This goes far beyond gaming, and that’s something we’re really excited about,” Iribe concluded.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Google Glass might be a controversial device when it comes to privacy, but one aspect no one disputes is that the unit is a bit underpowered.

Now electrical engineer Star Simpson and software engineer Scott Torborg at Catwig have torn down a Google Glass unit to show exactly how it fits together and what is inside.

As for basic hardware, the device includes a Google-branded CPU board, TI OMAP4430 processor, 16GB of SanDisk flash memory, a Elpida mobile DRAM chip, and a Synaptics T1320A touchpad for prompting commands. It also has a paltry 570 mAh battery, which explains why the thing doesn’t last but a few hours before it needs to be recharged. The battery is not replaceable in the slightest.

For the camera, Google has installed one that is described as “typical smartphone-level size and format.” The camera is not aligned with the wearer’s eye and it talks to the CPU independently from the display. Photos taken with Google Glass already look pretty decent, but like all smartphones, we’re sure better software and hardware will come down the line.

The Google Glass display is also lacking a bit. The tiny screen has a native resolution of 640-by-360 pixels — that’s roughly one-eighth the physical width of the the iPhone 5′s display.

While we still think there are serious privacy issues with Google Glass, from a gadget perspective we hope the next version will be more powerful. This thing needs a better processor, longer battery life, and a more capable display. We look forward to seeing what Google cooks up.

Take a look at some other components below.

Photos via Catwig

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Samsung isn’t slowing down with its niche Galaxy S4 variants: Next up is the Galaxy S4 Zoom, which basically looks like Samsung shoved a huge camera lens on its recently announced Galaxy S4 Mini.

The S4 Zoom sports a 16-megapixel camera with a 10x optical zoom. Even better, there’s built-in optical stabilization, which should make it easier to take photos in low light and video without too much shakiness. Only camera geeks need apply though, as the S4 Zoom only packs in mid-range specs like a 4.3-inch screen and a 1.5 gigahertz dual-core processor.

In many ways, the S4 Zoom looks like an evolution of Samsung’s Galaxy Camera from last year. But where that device was clearly a camera first (it also ran Android and had cellular access), the S4 Zoom is aiming to replace your smartphone. It’s around twice as thick as the Galaxy S4, but that’s to be expected given its long zoom lens.

Samsung has also put together some interesting features to help the S4 Zoom juggle its dual phone and camera identities. For example, you’ll be able to twist the phone’s zoom ring during a call to take a quick photo and send it to the person on the line. The zoom ring also gives you instant access to camera features, and not surprisingly, it’ll be the way you control the zoom levels on the phone.

Like the Galaxy Note lineup and the recently announced Galaxy S4 Active, Samsung is using this device to dabble in a slightly more specific smartphone market. Not everyone will need a thick smartphone with a decent camera lens, but for those who do there aren’t many options on the market outside of the S4 Zoom.

We’re also hearing that Nokia is gearing up to show off a 41 megapixel “EOS” Windows Phone, which likely won’t offer a huge zoom, but will rely on that high resolution to let users crop photos without losing much detail (like the 808 PureView). It’s definitely going to be an interesting year in smartphones for camera geeks.

Stay on top of all our E3 2013 coverage here.

LOS ANGELES — Virtual reality just got a few more lines of resolution today.

Oculus VR, the company behind the Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset, revealed a new prototype of its hardware at the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show. For the first time ever, the company has the Oculus running in “true” high definition. That means a 1080p screen.

“Everyone was saying that while you were in [the first Oculus headset] that it feels a little low res,” Oculus VR chief executive Brendan Iribe told GamesBeat. “We came out from the beginning and said that this was the best panel we could get access to at the time. Here at E3, we’re prototyping a high-def VR in 1080p.”

The panel in the new prototype is still just a placeholder. Iribe says that they are still looking at additional panels, but the consumer version of Oculus will ship with a minimum of a 1080p screen.

Prior to this latest prototype, Oculus’s developer kit featured a 720p screen, the lowest HD resolution. Those 720 horizontal lines of pixels created a blocky, screen door-like effect on the visuals that took some people out of the experience.

Oculus wants its headset to feel natural and completely immerse players in games, and the new 1080p screen is the start of that.

I tried out the new prototype and can confirm that the improved resolution helped bring me into the game. Unfortunately, I did still notice a bit of a black border around individual pixels. Once I was moving and looking around, however, that screen-door effect evaporated slightly.

Instead, I spent a few minutes walking around Epic’s Unreal 4 Elemental demo. It is just an example of the tech, but it felt more next-gen than most of the things Microsoft and Sony showed the world at their press events Monday.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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General Electric is on a mission to improve efficiency in hospitals and is setting aside $2 billion for its health care practice.

GE says it will fund the development of software and applications over the next five years that can expedite or improve clinical processes in the U.S., and in emerging nations.

Hospitals and GE have one thing in common: They are both under pressure to adapt to the digital age.

GE’s health care arm is currently its largest software developer. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake as hospitals upgrade their systems and adopt new technologies in order to meet federal guidelines. According to a federal mandate, hospitals, clinics, and other health providers will receive “Meaningful Use” checks in the mail for ditching existing paper-based systems. If they don’t comply by 2015, providers stand to be penalized.

The goal for the Affordable Care Act aka “Obamacare” is to drastically reduce national health care costs. Although it is proving expensive for providers to make upgrades, new computer-based systems are expected to boost efficiency in the long-run.

GE isn’t the only firm that expects to cash in as doctors go digital. Cloud companies like Box recently delved into health care and are building software that is sufficiently secure and compliant. Likewise, venture capital firms are making bets in digital health, and investment is steadily increasing.

GE is investing in software to help doctors securely collaborate and share information, similarly to Box. But its goals are more far-reaching. According to a news release, the primary areas of focus include patient care (scheduling doctor’s visits, clinical decision support), data, and analytics, and using software to minimize costs by maximizing reimbursement rates.

This new investment is aligned with the company’s broader strategy to keep industrial products relevant. GE is integrating physical machinery, like hospital dropboxes, with connected sensors and software. The device spits out relevant data, which will drive a customer’s business strategy.

GE has already committed $1 billion to its “Industrial Internet” strategy and made strategic investments in business software companies like Pivotal.

In a clinical setting, GE says it is already helping to streamline operations. When patients are discharged, their bracelets are placed in a GE box, which alerts staff to clean their rooms. This reduces the amount of time that beds stay empty.

“At the heart of it is that machines can be intelligent, connected, and that we can use software to analyze the information coming out of them,” said GE vice president Bill Ruh. “To support this next frontier requires an architectural shift in how our services are built and delivered.”

Top image via GE.com 

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Last night Apple announced the 2013 winners of its annual design awards: the best apps of the year. Ten out of 11 were mobile apps, with one desktop-only.

The winners, as you would expect, featured gorgeous design, innovative uses of Apple technologies, and some of the best-imagined apps on the app store. There are also two student-built apps that are simply amazing examples of the creativity of young developers.

Here are the winners:

WWF Together

Created by the World Wildlife Fund, WWF Together is a window into the lives of the world’s most interesting and beautiful endangered animals.

“With its outstanding attention to detail, beautiful aesthetic, wonderful sound design and music score, engaging writing, high resolution photography, rich typography, and inventive interactions, WWF Together sets the bar higher for iPad app design.”

For iPad

Procreate

Procreate, by Savage Interactive, is an art studio for your iPad.

“It’s packed with features that artists love — from true-to-life sets of pencils, inks, and brushes, to advanced layer compositing, to unique digital tools. Procreate is a powerhouse of iOS technologies like ARC, Grand Central Dispatch, and OpenGL ES which deliver state-of-the-art performance and responsiveness, 64-bit precision, and smooth 60 fps rendering of canvas sizes up to 4K x 4K.”

For iPad

Badland

Badland is an action adventure side-scroller for iPad by Frogmind.

“Badland’s intuitive one-touch controls and immersive sound design complement the balanced, physics-based gameplay as players discover imaginative traps and overcome endless obstacles. In either single- or multi-player mode, the excellent production values and brilliant execution leverage OpenGL ES, Game Center, iCloud, and Retina display.”

Apparently it’s big in China, too — it’s one of the featured games on an entire pirated Chinese app store.

iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

Yahoo Weather

One of the apps on the original iPhone, Yahoo Weather, was beautifully re-imagined this past year with gorgeous imagery and simple, clear data presentation.

“Yahoo! Weather has great layout and typography, compelling animations, fast image processing, and clear iconography. This attention to detail means that in a saturated category, an app can rise above the crowd.”

iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

Letterpress

Letterpress is a word game by Atebits that, Apple says, is a perfect blend of fun and strategy.

“It illustrates masterful asynchronous gameplay using Game Center and stands out for its beautifully understated game interface, simple gestures, subtle animations, and restrained sound design.”

Ridiculous Fishing

If you’ve never fished with chainsaws, toasters, and other weapons, you’ve never fished. Or, at least, never fished with Ridiculous Fishing, by Vlambeer.

“It delivers hours of unique entertainment in an expertly-crafted, lo-fi, retro video game style. With engaging physics-based gameplay mixed with humor, players follow the main character in his search for redemption.”

iPhone, iPad

Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders

By Atypical Games, Sky Gamblers is an arcade-style WWII aerial combat game with non-arcade style verisimilitude and accuracy, including real historical locations.

“Amazing OpenGL based visuals and special effects including specular masks, bump mapping, atmospheric scattering, volumetric clouds, sun glare, day & night transitions, HDR rendering, radial blur, heat haze, refractive raindrops, and much more, with accurately recreated locations, realistic weather, and interactive cockpits.”

iPhone, iPad, Mac

Coda 2

You may not be as wowed by the design in this code editor, but apparently the Coda web development environment, by Panic, makes the task of web coding “enjoyable.”

“It supports development in Action Script, ASP, CFML, CSS, HTML, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Smarty, and SQL. Written entirely in Cocoa and deeply integrated with OS X, Coda 2 uses AppKit, Core Animation, iCloud, Notification Center, QuickLook, AirPlay, and much more.”

Mac

Evernote

Remember-everything app Evernote keeps getting better — and bigger.

“Evernote truly excels on OS X with a redesigned, Retina-optimized, modern, single-window UI, which also syncs notes between your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and web. Evernote 5 for Mac uses every relevant OS X technology, including iCloud, Notification Center, Reminders, QuickLook, Secure Keychain, Disk encryption, Core Location, Full-screen, Accessibility, and In App Purchase.”

iPhone, iPad, Mac

Finish (student winner)

Finish is a task manager that is designed to help you get ‘er dun … or Finish stuff.

“Inspired by procrastinating students during finals week, the pair developed Finish., a streamlined task manager which uses gestures to help people organize their to-do’s into short, mid, and long-term tasks quickly and easily.”

Students: Ryan Orbuch and Michael Hansen

iPhone

Mosaic.io (student winner)

As the name suggests, Mosaic allows you to build a seamless panorama of images across multiple iOS devices, such as iPads and iPhones, allowing you to use your phones or iPads as one big screen.

“Self-taught iOS developers, the team created mosaic.io as a way to connect two or more iOS devices around a single image, and built the prototype in a weekend. mosaic.io supports Retina Display and magically creates a gorgeous photo mosaic across two or more iOS device screens with a simple swipe of a finger.”

Students: Ishaan Gulrajani, Alex List, and Zain Shah

iPhone, iPad

Image credits: Apple

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Apple wasn’t clear yesterday about which Macs will run its new desktop operating system, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, but it looks like current Mac owners won’t have to worry too much.

Judging from a test version of OS X Mavericks released to developers yesterday, it will run on just about every Mac that can run last year’s OS X Mountain Lion, AppleInsider reports. That means you’re in the clear if you have a Mac from 2008 or later.

Developers tell the site that Mavericks will work with these specific Mac models:

• iMac (Mid-2007 or later)
• MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
• Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
• Xserve (Early 2009)

It’s not unusual for Apple to leave behind older Macs when upgrading OS X, especially one that seems to have so many fundamental improvements. Mavericks adds a slew of power-saving features, tabs and tags for the Finder, and some interesting twists on multiple display support, among its many other features. As Apple describes it, Mavericks should be able to help your existing Mac laptops get better battery life (in one demo, we saw the CPU load from a processor-intensive website completely disappear when its browser window was placed in the background).

While Mavericks seems like a nice incremental upgrade, I’m left wondering when Apple will finally break out of the OS X cycle. With Windows 8, Microsoft has bet on touchscreens in a big way. And even though Apple pushed touchscreens to the mainstream with the iPhone and iPad, we still don’t have any sense of how the company will tackle touchscreens on laptops.

Alienware is launching three new laptops today based on Intel’s new Haswell microprocessors that deliver better graphics and less power consumption.

The new Alienware 14, Alienware 17, and Alienware 18 have all-new industrial designs, with distinctive touches that make the machines immediately recognizable. They represent the high-end of portable gaming, and they won’t embarrass you if you take them to a LAN party. Everything about the design is meant to convey that you are a gaming bad-ass, because Alienware wants to make sure that you don’t need no stinkin’ consoles.

“It’s a pretty big change for us in how we design,” said Frank Azor (pictured), general manager of the Alienware business, in an interview with GamesBeat. “And they still have more performance than we have ever put in any of our products. We reinvented ourselves with this new industrial design.”

The machines are based on Intel’s Haswell microprocessors, which are a lot more power efficient than past models. Alienware was acquired by Dell in 2006 and it remains a “master brand” and is run as a separate entity in Florida. That allows Alienware to go its own way in designing what it thinks is best for gamers. It helps that PC gaming is seeing a resurgence with titles like World of Tanks and League of Legends.

The new laptops are the first major redesign of the Alienware industrial design since 2009. Taking advantage of more power-efficient chips, these models have 20 percent less volume than the last models released a year ago based on Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors.

Hardcore PC gamers haven’t always liked laptops. They have lugged around desktops to gaming parties, known as LAN parties, for years. But Azor said, “We decided there had to be an easier way.”

Alienware collected a lot of feedback over the past few years from gamers about what they want. The new machines have features that consumers have asked for, like colorful light-emitting diode (LED) streaks along the sides of the machine. The touchpad is fully illuminated with bright LEDs. The neon-bright lights under the keyboard also keep the machines glowing, but you can turn those off  if you’re playing an intense game.

You can change the colors as you like. There are ten lighting zones and 10 trillion color combinations. People can create their own color themes as they like. The company has partnerships with 55 game publishers so they can take over the lights when something is happening in the game.

While the previous Alienware machines had a vintage “Roswell style” look to them, these new machines are built on a futuristic alien theme. The keyboard had been widely praised in the past, but Alienware took surveys of customers and a slightly redesigned keyboard tested the most positively. It has a steel-reinforced plate underneath the board. The key caps are larger for a more comfortable typing experience, and the light around each key is no longer there. The letters are a little larger and the lighting is not as bright in your face. The keyboard has 19 customizable keys so you can fire weapons more easily.

Alienware will offer a bunch of Intel processor options, including Core i7 versions of the processors. The 17-inch and 18-inch versions will support Extreme Editions of Intel’s processors, and the 14-inch can be overclocked as high as 4.3-gigahertz. They will all launch with Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 7X family of graphics processors. The 14 will have up to Nvidia GeForce GTX 765 graphics. The 17 and 18 models will have options for GTX 765, 770, and 780 graphics cards. The 18-inch will feature dual Nvidia cards operating in SLI mode. They have 8 gigabytes of main memory and 750-gigabyte hard drives.

The 14-inch supports up to three storage drives, while the 17 and 18 support up to four storage drives. About 60 percent of the structure is metal. The base frame is made from magnesium alloy. The back panel is all aluminum, all one piece. The Alienware 14 has an IPS panel, while the Alienware 18 has a PLS display, with full high-definition resolution. The speakers are from Klipsch and the Ethernet ports are based on the Killer Networks NIC designs from Qualcomm. The models have 802.11n Killer networking on the 14. The 17 and 18 have 5G WiFi from Broadcom, or 802.11ac.

Alienware can monitor the performance of the machine while it runs games. A new app dubbed Accelerator will disable a lot of Windows services and turn off background operations so that you’ll have a lot of free main memory. The 17 and 18 platforms have HDMI in ports. The screen and speakers can serve as output. Alienware also designed its own backpack to go with the laptops. There are five designs across 11 SKUs. All of the ports stick out so that they will work with any device.

Most people are going to play with the machines plugged into a wall. In terms of battery life, the machines have 7 hours on the 14, 6 hours on the 17, and three to four hours on the 18. The 14 weighs 6 pounds, the 17 weighs 10 pounds, and the 18 weighs almost 12 pounds.

“We don’t share performance on the silicon on any of the chips,” Azor said. “The GPU and CPU can run at 100 percent. That’s a design tenet of Alienware’s. Gamers don’t want their CPU throttled in a game. These are not compromise products, and that is why they are the size and weight that they are.”

The Alienware 14 will sell for $1,199 with an i7, Nvidia GeForce GT 750M, 8 gigabytes of RAM, and a 750 gigabyte hard drive. The Alienware 17 is $1,499 with the same specs except an Nvidia GeForce GTX 765 graphics card. The Alienware 18 will sell for $2,099 with dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 765 graphics cards.

Of the consoles, Azor said, “They were ahead for about six months, but we destroyed them for the last seven years.”

Here is our video interview with Azor.

[Photo credits: Dean Takahashi]

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