November 30, 2011

A Kindle challenger?

The ebook reader market is a funny one, because it has been typically dominated by a couple of companies. With the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Readers being the most popular devices.

The real difference between these devices is content. Amazon distribute its content from its own store. It’s a closed system, but one that’s widely accessible thanks to apps for your PC or smartphone. Sony (and many others) on the other hand offer open format support, but don’t then have the provision across platforms, or the same integrated bookstore experience.

Kobo has been active in the ebook market for some time, probably familiar to those smartphone users who might have seen the app preinstalled on their device. With the Kobo eReader, the company is moving from purely content to hardware and the content to read, so like Amazon, it gets to provide a more complete solution. In the UK this is aided by partnering with WHSmith, giving Kobo a high street presence and storefront through the WHSmith website.

Hardware

The Kobo eReader is well built, finished with an interesting “quilted” back. Don’t worry, it isn’t actual quilt, but the plastic feels sturdy enough. The diamond patterning is surprisingly nice to hold, giving your fingers a little something extra to hang on to. It weighs 185g, a touch heavier than the new Amazon Kindle, but lighter than the Kindle Touch which is available in the US.

The Kobo eReader has a 6-inch E-Ink display, and like most other models, will slip easily into a jacket pocket or bag. In terms of connections, there is a micro USB on the bottom and a slot on the side to take a microSD card to expand the memory, if you wish. Buttons are kept to a minimum, with a top power slider and a single home button beneath the screen. Operation is by touch, so there is no need for anything else.

Getting content

The Kobo eReader requires you to have a Kobo account to sync the device. It isn’t as independent as the Kindle – which offers PC-free operation – as getting started with the Kobo eReader requires to you download their software on your PC or Mac and connect to your device.

If you already have a Kobo account then you are good to go, you just have to plug in your details in the application on your computer and any existing content you have purchased from Kobo will appear, ready to sync to the reader. If you don’t have any existing titles, you can head off and buy them through the desktop application and we’re pleased to see that PayPal is a payment option across the Kobo store, making things really simple.

The WHSmith ebook store is now powered by Kobo too, so if you head over to the website to buy titles, they will automatically find their way into your Kobo account, so can be synced to devices.

But the beauty of having a Wi-Fi device is that you don’t need to use your computer every time you want to buy a new book to read. The store is easy enough to navigate on the Kobo eReader, accessed via the home page of the device. You can search or browse at will, with a section offering free books, which are mostly same collection of classics you can get elsewhere. If you want to sample a book you can download a preview.

If you buy a book from the Kobo store, it’s available to all areas of Kobo’s reach, so that’s on your eReader, your desktop and any mobile device on the same account. You don’t need to connect to your computer, so effectively, once you’ve done the initial setup on the eReader, you won’t have to connect it again, so long as you stick to Kobo’s bookstore.

As such, it’s very much like the Amazon Kindle. It offers bookmark syncing across devices, so you can continue reading on your phone where you left off on your eReader and vice-versa.

However it does have a trick up its sleeve, in that this is a regular EPUB ebook reader, so you aren’t restricted to Kobo’s own bookstore. The experience is better if you do, but if you’ve already purchased a collection of EPUB titles then once you have authorised your Kobo eReader with Adobe Digital Editions you’ll be able to read those books too.

This potentially gives you more freedom than Amazon’s system, because you can choose where you get your books from, you can shop around find the best price and so on. The downside is that you don’t get the syncing functions, so if you move on your own EPUB books these aren’t then mirrored on other devices: you’d have to manually add them.

Snuggle down with a good book

When it comes to actually reading books, the Kobo eReader E-Ink screen offers great contrast and letters are crisp and well formed. You can change the size of the text to suit your preference and you can also change the font. There are dictionary functions and you can highlight sections of text to either mark, or rather uniquely, share to Facebook.

To turn the page you need to swipe across it, or tap at the edge. Page turning is fast enough, although we’ve found that we sometimes turned pages with a stray finger by accident when handling the eReader.

E-Ink displays offer two distinct advantages of LCD displays you get on tablets. The first is that they aren’t glossy, so you can happily read the Kobo eReader outdoors or in bright conditions, perfect for reading beside the pool on holiday. Secondly, as there is no backlighting, they are very efficient with battery life.

You’ll get around a month of life from the battery, although this is governed by how much reading you do. Of course, the Wi-Fi will chomp through the battery much faster than this, so it’s worth engaging the flight-safe mode when you don’t need to be connected.

Extra, extra, read all about it!

There are a few extras hiding in the Kobo eReader too. There is a browser so if you want to you can browse the Internet, although it’s a little slow and navigation is rather tricky. It’s a last resort really and if you have a smartphone you’d be much better off using that. You also get a sketchbook and Sudoku game.

One of the more up-front features is the social side of the Kobo eReader. From the home page you’ll find a Reading Life section. This is basically a sort of achievements system, where you can earn awards by taking particular actions. Some of these awards are designed to get you trying things, like getting information from the store. There is also a stats page, so you can see how many books you have read, how many hours you’ve read for and the number of page turns.

Verdict:

We’ve seen a number of ebook readers that, although technically proficient, don’t always impress. With the Kobo eReader we’re more impressed because there is a whole system to explore and the service rivals that offered by the Amazon Kindle. If there is one feature missing it’s accepting library loans, which is something that currently only the Sony Readers do in the UK.

So with the Kobo eReader being a competitive choice, can we fully recommend it? Well there is another issue that needs to be taken into account: price. The Kobo touch will cost you ?109 from WHSmith, which is the same as the Amazon Kindle keyboard. The cheapest Kindle matches the price of the Kobo Wireless eReader, a non-touch device, so it has been competitively priced too.

But you also have to consider content cost and availability. Glancing across a few new titles in the Kindle and Kobo stores we found that prices were similar, occasionally with some cheaper editions in the Kindle Store. It’s worth searching for your favourite authors to see how well stocked different stores are, but remember that you’ll be able to buy from any EPUB book store on the Internet with the Kobo eReader.

Overall a great little ebook reader and we’ll worth considering if you want an alternative to Amazon’s offering.

Tags: eBook readers Kobo WH Smith

                             

Kobo eReader Touch Edition originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:03:00 +0000

Holly Madison Holly Marie Combs Holly Robinson Peete Hugh Grant Hugh Jackman Iamdiddy

Former  Real Housewives of New Jersey star Danielle Staub is moving from acting to dancing, and this week she shot the music video for her new song ?Cry?. From what we hear, the song is not bad, mostly for a first one ever, and Danielle Staub looks very sexy in the video, despite the non-sexy [...]

Ioan Gruffudd Isaiah Washington Ivanka Trump J.K. Rowling Jaden Smith Jaime Pressly

Max allowed in a day,

HTC has seen its company shares drop a whopping 7 per cent in just a single day, following a revenue forecast cut.

The company said it plans on being in a similar position revenue-wise at the end of 2011 as it was in the previous year. HTC is pointing to increased competition as a reason for the reduced growth, which it had previously forecast to be around 20 or 30 per cent.?

HTC warned back in October that its fourth quarter revenue was beginning to slow. HTC is predicting no growth compared to the same time last year when the company took $104 billion in Taiwanese dollars.?

Some are pointing to a lack of new products to go up against Apple’s iPhone 4S in the US. HTC recently announced the Sensation XE and XL, revamped but not redesigned takes on the HTC Sensation. It is also competing against the likes of Samsung in the Android department, no easy task particularly with handsets like the Galaxy Nexus set for release.?

?

Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC Biz

HTC crisis on cards as shares drop 7 per cent originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:59:00 +0000

Ben Affleck Ben Fogle Ben Shephard Beyonce Knowles Beyonce Knowles Billy Zane

MTV Buzzworthy Blog: Pop Stars At The Airport!

Related Artists

• Beyoncé
• Jay-Z
• Britney Spears
• Lady Gaga
• Justin Bieber

Gillian Anderson Glasses Malone Goldie Hawn Goran Visnjic Gordon Ramsay Gwyneth Paltrow

Even after lawsuit was dropped last week, Bieber’s team is taking steps to prove the allegations are false.
By Jocelyn Vena

Justin Bieber
Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images

Justin Bieber is a man of his word. After promising he would take a DNA test when a paternity suit was brought against him, TMZ reports the pop star took one Friday night at a lab in New Jersey.

The gossip site reports that the test was taken under “very controlled circumstances,” and the next move is on Mariah Yeater, the woman who claimed that her son is Bieber’s before dropping her paternity suit last week.

Bieber and his team have maintained that the 17-year-old is not the father of 3-month-old Trystan. E! News reports that there is no timeframe for when Yeater must provide a DNA sample.

When MTV News caught up with Bieber on Thursday night, one day before he took the test, he shrugged off the controversy, instead focusing on the positive and saying he’s been doing “great” these days.

Bieber sat down with NYC radio station Z100 earlier that day and joked that he’d prefer the rumors be about running away to South America with a supermodel. “Right now, I’m focusing on my album and the music and the [Pencils of Promise] charity we’re doing and just being positive, because Christmastime is a time for joy and happiness, so that’s what I’m thinking,” Bieber said. “And as far as the whole baby situation, it’s unfortunate that it had to happen like that. People make false accusations, but things happen in this industry and you have to keep your head high and be positive.”

Those words mirror the advice Bieber’s mentor, Usher, shared with him: “Stay strong. And know that all of this comes with the territory.”

Related Artists

• Justin Bieber

Glasses Malone Goldie Hawn Goran Visnjic Gordon Ramsay Gwyneth Paltrow Halle Berry

100Gbps upgrades to core traffic

Sky Broadband customers look set to enjoy Wi-Fi hotspot access when out in town thanks to the company’s purchase of The Cloud.

The move was confirmed by the Network Implementation Director for Sky Network Services, Trevor Legg, when he spoke to Pocket-lint about plans to expand the recently acquired wireless infrastructure at headquarters in London.

“Our plans are very much to extend the current footprint of The Cloud,” he outlined when asked about moving hotspot access beyond the functional realm of the odd five minutes in a cafe.

“Train termini are a key area for us. Airports are more difficult with respect to their own systems and current tenure from other providers but it’s somewhere we’d like to be. Wi-Fi hotpots are going to be an enhancement of our Sky broadband offering.”

Whether or not customers on all the package will receive hotspot time bundled in or not is unclear at the moment but, with Legg very much comparing Sky’s service to BT, it would seem likely, especially with “value” listed by Sky as the top priority for customers in the UK when choosing an ISP.

Sky Broadband currently supplies 3.4 million customers in the UK with its internet service but has the simple aspiration of becoming the UK’s number one ISP – something which it’s backed with over 1 billion pounds of investment to date including a just announced upgrade of its core network to include the country’s first ever 100 Gigabit per second technology which would ultimately allow 4.6 million people to stream HD video simultaneously.

All the same, despite the Digital Britain report’s ideas of reaching remote rural areas of the UK with broadband over satellite, this is definitely not something that Sky has plans to do.

“It tends to be very expensive and there’s problems with the uplink from the user to the network,” explained Legg.

“There’s roughly a 0.6 second latency which is a big issue and would make gaming impossible. I don’t think it’s mass market for us. We’d more use more radio spectrum to get to rural areas if more spectrum becomes available.”

But, while new, more distant customers might be far off, Sky’s claims of more than twice the number of public hotspots than BT will certainly be a welcome addition to its current crop of users.

Tags: Broadband Sky Sky Broadband The Cloud Internet ISPs Digital Britain

Sky Broadband customers to get Cloud Wi-Fi access originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:59:47 +0000

Chandra Wilson Charisma Carpenter Charlene Holt Charlize Theron Chelsea Handler Chris Evans

Continuing to drive the anticipation up and up, Yahoo! Movies released the final poster for the upcoming ?Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows? on Wednesday (November 30).

The adventure/crime sequel stars Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Eddie Marsan, Stephen Fry and Gilles Lellouche.

On the new poster viewers see Holmes and Watson chasing their arch nemesis Professor Moriarty down a dark, cobblestone alley.

Much like the poster suggests, the Guy Ritchie-directed film revolves around Holmes and Watson joining forces to take down Moriarty.

The movie hits theaters on December 16.

David Letterman David Walliams Deanna Russo Demi Moore Denise Richards Denzel Washington

Available on ?10 per month contract

T-Mobile has added an own-brand budget Android smartphone to its in-store and online line-up. The T-Mobile Vivacity offers Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), a 3.5-inch WVGA TFT touchscreen and is available on both pay as you go and contract (at ?10 per month for 24 months).

It sports a 5-megapixel camera, supports external memory of up to 32GB through a Micro SD slot (with 512MB on board already), and has built-in GPS functionality. Battery life is claimed to offer 4 hours of talktime, 8 days in standby, and it features an in-built FM radio (to work alongside its MP3 playing capabilities).

The handset itself is not massive, being 115 x 58 x 10.5mm and not a million miles away from the iPhone 4 or 4S. However, its weight of 118g makes it considerably lighter (the iPhone 4 is 137g).

It’s a 3G smartphone (HSDPA), and has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB connectivity.

It is also Pocket-lint’s belief that the T-Mobile Vivacity is made by ZTE, although, at time of writing, we haven’t been able get confirmation on this. However, ZTE didn’t deny involvement when we asked, redirecting our questions back to T-Mobile, so we strongly suspect that’s the case. We’ll let you know if we find out more.

The T-Mobile Vivacity is available now from all branches of T-Mobile, and its online and telesales stores.

Tags: Phones T-Mobile T-Mobile Vivacity Android Gingerbread ZTE

   

T-Mobile Vivacity: Android smartphone thrills for peanuts originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 11:34:00 +0000

Freddie Ljungberg Funkmaster Flex Gabrielle Union Gavin Henson Gena Lee Nolin George Clooney

MTV Buzzworthy Blog: Celebrity Pumpkins

Related Artists

• Willow Smith
• Miley Cyrus
• Lady Gaga
• Justin Bieber
• John Mayer

Amy Lee Amy Poehler Amy Smart Andre Agassi Andrew Flintoff Andy Garcia

Although Chuck Liddell?s girlfriend is not exactly a celebrity, I thought you?d like to see her photos dressed in short shorts and doing squats. With an ass like that, and those tanned muscular legs, I bet it won?t take her long to become well known in Tinsel Town. But because of her always being accompanied [...]

Diora Baird Dj Whoo Kid Drea De Matteo Drew Barrymore Duncan James E! Online

It cares not for the rainforest

Behind the cute exterior face of the Berg Little Printer, there lies a conscience that cares not for mother earth, couldn’t give a monkeys about the monkeys and has been covering its ears and making loud noises whenever anyone dares to talk about sustainability.

For, in an age where we’re encouraged to go green and to avoid printing anything unless absolutely necessary, Berg wants to make printing cool and fun. At least it’s on a miniature scale we suppose.

The Berg Little printer connects up to the cloud and allows you, via an app (we’re not sure if this is a web app or a native one at present), to select a load of content that you want printed on receipt like sized paper. Stuff such as puzzles, messages, horoscopes, pictures and lists, as well as content from launch partners Arup, Foursquare, Google, the Guardian, and Nike. And when it’s finished printing, the cute little face re-appears.

You can also send things to your pals’ Berg Little Printers. Printing starts when you push the little button on the top.

Berg is a design studio based in London and is the brain behind the invisible ink SVK comic.

The Little Printer is just the tip of the Berg though, there are plans afoot for more Berg Cloud devices to follow.

“It’s the beginning of the journey, and I hope you’ll be with us the whole way,” said Berg’s Matt Webb. “We’ll be sharing stories as Little Printer makes its way through manufacture and assembly, packaging and warehousing, new content development and new features, and all the way to beta product and beyond.”

It’s out next year. You can register your interest now.

Read

Tags: Printers Berg Little Printer

Berg Little Printer aims to make printing fun again originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0000

Angie Harmon Anna Faris Anna Kournikova Anna Nicole Smith Ant & Dec Antonio Banderas

Stream away

Sky Go has just got a major content boost in the form of Sky Movies live and on demand. The services bring with them a significant selection of movies to watch from tablet, phone or web browser.?

Just like with the current Sky Go setup, you will be able to stream movies over Wi-Fi, with 3G capability coming by the end of the year. Sky Movies subscribers will also be able to view movie content through Sky Go.

As well as on demand, there will be Sky Movies running on 11 different channels. Movies like Black Swan, Limitless, Little Fockers and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are all due to be shown.?

The movies will be viewable via the Sky Go app on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch as well as on your PC or Mac. Sky Go is also due to arrive on Android “in the coming months”.

“Sky Movies on demand is a great addition to Sky Go and gives customers complete control over how, when and now where they enjoy the latest movies.”

“Alongside other recent additions to Sky Movies like Anytime+ and 3D, the launch of Sky Movies on Sky Go helps customers get even more value out of Sky.” said Ian Lewis, Director of Sky Movies.?

For those interested in the service, more can be found out, including sign up details, at the Sky Go website.?

Tags: Sky Sky Go

       

Sky Go now offers movies on demand originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:57:00 +0000

Ashlee Simpson Ashley Judd Ashley Scott Ashley Tisdale Ashton Kutcher Autumn Reeser

The tweet goes on! Demi Moore announced on Nov. 17 that she was ending her 6-year marriage to Ashton Kutcher, but the 49-year-old mom of three is still tweeting under her “MrsKutcher” Twitter handle.

Autumn Reeser Avril Lavigne Barack Obama Barry Pepper Ben Affleck Ben Fogle

Credit: Getty Images

1.) Leave it to Lady Gaga to be so fashionably ahead of the time — she’s gracing two different covers of next year’s January 2012 Elle UK. The future is here! (ONTD)
2.) Justin Bieber’s “All I Want For Christmas” video preview from his Under The Mistletoe album dropped yesterday, and the only question [...]

Jane Fonda Jared Leto Jay-Z Jean-Claude Van Damme Jeff Bridges Jenna Fischer

by Mike Krumboltz

Details surrounding the divorce settlement between Terry Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan, and ex-wife Linda Bollea have surfaced in an article in the St. Petersburg Times. The two were divorced in 2009, but specifics of their financial settlement were unknown until now.

So much for 50/50. Linda Bollea received more than 70% of the couple’s liquid assets. But the pain doesn’t stop there for the Hulkster. His ex also received a 40% ownership stake in Hulk’s companies. Plus, she received a $3 million property settlement (more on that below).

The St. Petersberg Times writes that “the confidential financial settlement came to light this week after it was attached to a new motion filed by Terry Bollea’s attorneys.”

So, what are the gritty details? According to the documents, Linda Bollea got a lump sum of $7.44 million from the couple’s investment accounts. The remaining $2.97 million went to the Hulk.

The properties were either sold or are still on the market. The couple’s home used in “Hogan Knows Best” was originally listed for near $14 million. It is now available for around $8.87 million. Once that sells, Hogan will owe his ex-wife $1.45 million. The two will split the remaining proceeds.

Additionally, Linda Bollea received several cars in the split, including a Mercedes-Benz, a Corvette, a Cadillac Escalade, and a Rolls-Royce. Hulk received many of the remaining automobiles.

It may sound like Hulk got body slammed, but it’s not all bad news for the iconic wrestler. Deadspin explains that the Hulkster will get to keep any money he earns from personal appearances and will not have to pay alimony.

By celebrity standards, Hulk and Linda had what could be considered a pretty successful marriage. They were together for roughly 26 years and had two children, Nick and Brooke. Their reality program, “Hogan Knows Best,” ran for four seasons.

Follow us on Twitter – Find us on Facebook

Heath Ledger Heather Graham Heather Locklear Heidi Klum Helen Hunt Hilary Duff

TFT LCD displays possible

Apple’s rumoured iTV could feature a Sharp made amorphous TFT LCD display. The partnership between Apple and Sharp over its iOS powered device displays could be translated into its rumoured television project.?

Whilst it is unlikely we will see any of the OLED tech Sharp is providing in future iPhones and iPads, it is entirely possible that its display expertise could be used in the Apple iTV project. Sharp is a very well respected panel manufacturer, its Aquos range of televisions proving particularly popular in Japan.

Allthingsd is reporting that an analyst, Peter Misek, believes Sharp is changing an entire production line at its Sakai factory just to put together the Apple iTV panels. Furthermore he says that commercial production could be ready as early as February 2012, translating to a possible mid-year product launch.?

We imagine most of the competition is going to be quaking in its boots over this one. We can’t think of many display manufacturers, even those with the best possible smart TV tech, that could likely rival Apple’s knowledge of software or its iCloud setup.?

Given that Apple TV and iTunes already allows for streaming of a vast selection of movies, we suspect this will be translated into the iTV project, creating what will be a built-in on demand service like no other.?

Whilst no one really knows what the iTV project will look like or do, we expect Apple’s magic touch to be more than enough to warrant a newly founded iTV rumour machine.?

Read

Tags: Apple Apple iTV Home Cinema Televisions

Apple iTV could use Sharp panels originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:54:00 +0000

Brooke Shields Bruce Willis Cameron Diaz Cameron Diaz Carla Gugino Carrie Anne Moss

Drop down bar incoming

Google is rolling out its new-look Google navigation bar which gets rid of the old, slightly cluttered, effort and replaces it with a shiny new stripped down version with a swanky drop-down menu bar which will give you links to all the Google products.

This is part of a larger redesign initiative by the Big G, which has seen changes to nearly all of its products. Now going for around 6 months, Search, News, Maps, Translate, Gmail and a bunch of other stuff have all been tweaked.

The aim of the game in the case of the new Google bar is to be as slimline and intuitive as possible, with a greater focus on being able to share content in easily on Google+.

“Instead of the horizontal black bar at the top of the page, you’ll now find links to your services in a new drop-down Google menu nested under the Google logo. We’ll show you a list of links and you can access additional services by hovering over the “More” link at the bottom of the list. Click on what you want, and you’re of,” said Google on its Blog post.

Read

Tags: Google Online Gmail

Google redesign strips navigation bar to its bare necessities originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:30:30 +0000

Arielle Kebbel Ashlee Simpson Ashley Judd Ashley Scott Ashley Tisdale Ashton Kutcher

The best of the best

Our final round of nominees for the prestigious 8th Pocket-lint Awards finishes today with the blue ribbon category itself – Product of the Year 2011. Let’s face it, we’ve written about a hell of a lot in the last 12 months and we’ve seen some absolute crackers, many of which have made it to the shortlist of some of the other categories for our gala event. Now, though, it’s crunch time.

We’ve narrowed the field down to a final five but which one is worth of your vote for the 8th Pocket-lint Awards? Get your say in before 29 November. Here’s a run down of the nominees to help you make up your mind.

Sonos Play:3

Price

?220

Released

July 2011

PL review score

4.5 stars

The Sonos Play:3 sounds great, is easy to setup, and will happily sit in you kitchen or on your bedside table replacing that digital radio that doesn’t do anything apart from play what’s being broadcast now. With the option to kit out your mansion with up to 42 of these (or variations of) all controlled from a single controller, this is also a system that will grow with you.

Where Sonos has hit it on the head with this is the way it works using Spotify’s premium service giving you access to millions of songs at the press of a button. Grumbles? We’re surprised it’s not ?199 but then we always want things cheaper. If you were thinking of getting a DAB radio and have a smartphone, don’t. You should buy this instead.

Samsung Galaxy S II?

Price

From ?400

Released

April 2011

PL review score

4.5?stars

The Samsung Galaxy S II has emerged repeatedly triumphant against just about every Android handset we’ve pitted against it. Samsung really did future proof on the specs front with this one. It remains one of the most powerful phones money can buy. A dual-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, all wrapped up in an ultra thin form factor, is a pretty persuasive package.

Special mention has to be given to the 8-megapixel snapper on the back, its 1080p video being some of the best we have seen and that killer, enormous, super-lush Super AMOLED Plus screen. That and the way that Samsung’s rethought TouchWiz UI operates, adding to but never?detracting?from the core Android experience, makes for a true hero handset.

Apple iPad 2

Price

?499

Released

March 2011

PL review score

4.5?stars

The King has returned. A phrase not only applicable to Mufasa in the Lion King, but also Apple’s iPad 2, at least at launch. The lighter, thinner sequel to what was the tablet to beat, managed to steal the crown from its older brother and run a mile with it. With a dual-core processor, front and back facing cameras and a redesigned cover, this has been the tablet that everyone hoped the first generation would be.?

Since launch it’s become the Apple fanboy’s favourite. Its design oozes everything that Apple is about, brushed aluminium and all. A definite hot product in the tablet domain if there ever was one, backed up by the App Store that goes from strength to strength, the iPad 2 will sell and sell and sell.

Amazon Kindle (2011)

Price

?89

Released

September 2011

PL review score

4.5 stars

Amazon has, quite simply, done it again. With every iteration the Kindle gets cheaper, smaller, lighter and faster. By not messing with the store or interface, the Kindle 4 feels like your favourite ebook reader, streamlined. Buying and reading books is still extremely straightforward and, while the home screen bookshelf could do with some modernisation, it doesn’t get in the way of the important business of reading.

Sure, it’s lost the physical keyboard but the soft version and five-way pad do the job with at least some credibility. Where it really does gob-smack though is the price. For $79 in the US you just can’t beat it for such a flexible product. The constant trickle of free mini-apps and books creates goodwill, and the integration of digital lending libraries is nothing short of revolutionary.

GoPro Hero HD 2

Price

?250

Released

November 2011

PL review score

Preview

We loved the orginal GoPro Hero and we love the Hero 2 even more. The idea of this latest model has been to add lots of flashy new features to lure even more people into the GoPro family. Physically, it’s the same but now there’s huge improvements to resolution and detail, and smoother action too thanks to an 11-megapixel sensor and a processor capable of frame rates up to 10 per second.

It’s fantastic at low light with hardly a colour lost or any noise creeping in once you come to shooting indoors. Add in a 3D mode when you combine the power of two GoPro Hero HD 2 cameras and you’ve got enough of a reason to upgrade. Trust us.

Tags: Cameras Tablets Features Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2011 eBook readers Phones Audio Sonos Play 3 GoPro HD Hero2 Amazon Kindle 4 iPad 2 Samsung Galaxy S II

Product of the year 2011: nominees for the 8th Pocket-lint Awards originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Sun, 27 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Elsa Benitez Emily Procter Emma Watson Emmy Rossum Enrique Iglesias Eric Bana

‘You just hit my mom with your camera. Don’t you ever do that again,’ the teen star tells tells aggressive photographer.
By Jocelyn Vena

Miley Cyrus (file)
Photo: Getty Images

Paparazzi are warned: Young Hollywood is on the defense. Just a week after Justin Bieber flipped off the paps (and later apologized), Miley Cyrus is also taking a stand against the prying camera lenses of the celeb-obsessed.

As a video posted online shows, the incident took place when a paparazzo ran up from behind Cyrus and her mom, Tish, as they were getting into their car after hitting up California Chicken Cafe in West Hollywood on Wednesday. Cyrus didn’t seem to like how close the camera guy got to her mother, so she pushed his lens out of the way, confronting him for getting too invasive.

“You just hit my mom with your camera,” she told the man, pointing her finger at him. “Don’t you ever do that again. You just almost hurt my mom. Don’t you ever even think about it, for real.”

As the two women got into the car, the paparazzo still tried to get his photo, as he said, “I would never disrespect your mom like that.”

Cyrus has been vocal in the past about her frustrations with photographers following her around, noting that they are an intrusive by-product of her life in the public eye.

“I just [want] people to know, I think in pictures I always look upset. It’s because these cameras are following me. I just think it’s really kind of unfair,” the teen star shared in a September 2010 video blog. “I know there are some people that maybe like that attention, but I’m not one of them. I really just want to be able to go on walks and enjoy where I live … The paparazzi really frustrate me, and it makes me really upset that I’m being followed around by men that I don’t know, and for anyone else, it would be considered stalking. I don’t know who those guys are. I don’t know if they’re good guys or bad guys. I don’t necessarily care; I don’t want anyone following me.”

Do you think Miley’s anger at the photographer was justifiable? Share your opinion in the comments.

Related Photos

• The Evolution Of: Miley Cyrus

Related Artists

• Miley Cyrus

Andre Agassi Andrew Flintoff Andy Garcia Andy Murray Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie

Can’t Be Tamed

• Artist: Miley Cyrus
• Label: Hollywood Records
• Director: Robert Hales
• Album: Can’t Be Tamed

Beyonce Knowles Beyonce Knowles Billy Zane Brad Pitt Brad Pitt Brandy Norwood

Newer Posts »