Our favourite internet behemoth – Google – is planning to open an online store to sell tablet PCs directly to consumers, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Google’s online store would offer tablets made by Samsung and Asus based on Google’s Android software, according to the WSJ report.
Google briefly sold a specially-designed Android smartphone – Nexus One – directly to consumers in 2010, but closed the store after four months saying it had not lived up to expectations.
Google now relies on retail and carrier partners to sell Android smartphones made by a variety of handset makers and Android has become the world’s No.1 smartphone operating system, ahead of iPhone-maker Apple Inc.
But Apple still dominates the market for touch-screen tablet computers with its two-year old iPad. Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet is based on the open-source Android code, but the device features a customized interface that does not use many Google services.
Google may co-brand some of the tablets sold through the store and has considered subsidizing the cost of future tablets to make them more competitive with the Kindle Fire, according to the Journal report. It is unclear when Google plans to open the store.
Über Video Cards, the pinnacle of pixel pushers are the stuff of dreams for us mere mortals. Keeping the dream alive ASUS has released the ultimate Über MARS II video card, the most powerful video card in the world. ASUS has pulled out all the stops for the MARS II, with 22% higher performance than it’s younger NVIDIA GTX 590 the MARS II is a video card on fire.
Hidden under nearly 2kg of aluminium heat sinks sits twin GeForce GTX 580 cores along with 3GB of superfast GDDR5 video memory, a potent combination. If all of this has you salivating and reaching for you wallet, pause and know only 999 of these Über video cards are being produced and each one will cost you $1,400 USD, oouch. Read the full article »»»»
Channel Blipverts is thrilled to have as our video selector this week Agnus, E-Harmonies love matching algorithm. Agnus was introduced to us here at Highpants through a loose association with World of Warcraft. Actually Agnus saved yours truly from an angry horde of knob goblins that were baying for blood. Agnus it turns out is handy with a broad sword.
While we find it hard to believe that E-Harmony uses anything more than a pair of dice when matching people up we can latest to the fact that Agnus is a whole lot more than a random number generator. Agnus was a natural for selecting video’s as well, people are forever showing her video’s they shouldn’t. So with boundaries hardened through years involved with internet dating, behind the scenes only she would always explain, we set Agnus loose in the world of video. With a new-found respect for those hard-working individuals behind the scenes in the dating game we present this weeks Channel Blipverts.
Video’s selected for your viewing pleasure by the dating dynamo and match maker, our girl Agnus.
Sphero makes another appearance at Highpants this week, this time he has his trailer in tow. It’s always the accessories that cost you. In case you missed the incredibly cool Sphero night golf video CHECK the VIDEO
Sphero with his Chariot
ASUS has released the UX series of ultra shiny laptops – Highpants UX31 article here -, very classy and thin, it’s not until you see them in someones hands that you realise how slim these new UX series laptops are.
Asus UX21 ultrathin laptop hands-on at Computex 2011
Über gaming laptops, these Über laptops are more than just a status symbol for the manufacturer and user, this is the modern work-horse computer. Republic of Gamers, the face of gaming at ASUS have released a new contender for the King of Über Gaming Laptops, the ROG G74Sx. ASUS has bestowed the G74Sx with the weapons to take the game to the current king, the Dell Alienware M17x. Boasting the latest generation Intel Core-i7 quad core processor and NVidia’s latest mobile GPU the NV 560 the ASUS has turned up to a knife fight with a 44 magnum. ASUS has managed to deliver an Über Gaming laptop that doesn’t scream look at me, it just does what you require without compromise. Just as happy editing your photo’s and shooting the hell out of your buddies in Battlefield this is a proper Desktop Replacement jack of all trades. Read the full article »»»»
Launched at Computex 2011 the UX31 is part of a new UX Series of laptops from ASUS, also released along side the UX31 was it’s smaller brother the UX21 -11.6 inch screen-. Intels new generation chipset and CPU have allowed power usage and temperatures to drop, essential for this new generation of laptop.
The UX31 and Ultrabook reference design certainly do pack a lot of technology into a sleek and compact design, Intel has tried to make an industry standard model better than the MacBook Air and have generally managed to do just that. The UX31 presented at Computex included a Core i7-2637M -Sandy Bridge CPU- running at 1.7GHz, half the speed of the desktop equivalent. According to ASUS online options will include the cheaper Core i5 as well as the Core i7 CPU as seen in the demonstration models. 4GB of DDR3 Ram is standard along with the SanDisk U100 SATA III SSD, starting at 64GB, options for sizes up to 256GB will also be available. The UX31′s impressive 13.3 inch LED backlight screen boasts 1600×900 resolution, solving the most annoying characteristics of Netbooks, slow speed and low resolution screens. Intel’s anaemic integrated graphics is built into the CPU -keeping power usage down-, which it does very well but at the cost of graphics performance which is still a tad slow, in the same ballpark as most Netbooks. Still there is enough power here to run a second monitor or TV, watch movies and generally plod around as we do. Read the full article »»»»
Our favourite internet behemoth – Google – is planning to open an online store to sell tablet PCs directly to consumers, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Google’s online store would offer tablets made by Samsung and Asus based on Google’s Android software, according to the WSJ report.
