Barnes & Noble has introduced the All-New NOOK. It still sports a 6-inch E Ink display, but the new Pearl E Ink features 50% more contrast than the E Ink that was used in the first NOOK. The more contrasty E Ink display is also faster with 80% less flashing, the flashing that happens when content is updated on E Ink displays.
The All-New NOOK is 35% lighter (7.48 ounces, 212 grams) and 15% thinner than the original. The battery lasts for up to two months on a single charge with WiFi off, which is about twice as long as the Kindle.
The most important feature in my mind is that the All-New NOOK now sports touch capability. Instead of a touch layer on top of the E Ink display that degrade contrast and the experience of reading, the latest touch solutions use infrared and that includes the All-New NOOK.
By adding touch you can make notes, highlight, doodle, etc. Natural almost necessary things you do on a book, and now things you can do on an e-book in your All-New NOOK.
Touch is also required to navigate. The All-New NOOK might look like a mere e-reader on the surface, but underneath is Android 2.1, an OS that will enable the All-New NOOK to act like a tablet with some under-the-hood tweaking.
The price is US$139 and you can pre-order online and in stores now. The All-New NOOK will start shipping on June 10, when you can also pick one up at BestBuy, Walmart, Books-A-Million, and Staples.
The olloclip is a quick-connect lens solution for the iPhone 4 that includes a fisheye, wide-angle and macro lenses in one small, convenient package that easily fits in your pocket. Nestled in the palm of your hand, the olloclip connects to the iPhone within 2 seconds so you’ll be sure to capture the image you want…if you don’t see the picture you’re looking for just flip it over to switch the lens.
I’ve been looking for a simple, non-case, macro lens for my iPhone 4. The olloclip seems pretty good. $45 to pre-order an olloclip.
TDK:
TDK Corporation has started mass production of a newly developed see-through passive matrix type QVGA organic EL display (product name: UEL476) from this Spring, a world’s first.
Passive. I haven’t heard much about passive matrix anything these days but maybe the technology has improved so flicker is no longer an issue when quickly updating content on the display.
The newly developed see-through type is mainly intended for use as the main display panel in mobile phones and other mobile devices.
I can see the benefits of a transparent display. For instance the act of overlaying augmented reality-based information right on top of what you’re looking at from the transparent display would be very cool. Another benefit: a direct touch-based viewfinder for photography.
The see-through type organic EL display for mobile applications has a field angle of 2.4 inches, transmittance of 40 percent, and brightness of 150 cd/m2.
Field angle? I’m not certain what that is but the size of 2.4 inches seems to indicate the diagonal display size, which is good enough for most feature phones and clamshell-type smartphones.
The use of the color filter principle means that the service life of the each Red, Green and Blue color of RGB elements is identical, and color shift is absent.
My guess is that white OLEDs are being used in conjunction with a RGB filter. Naturally, differential aging where the blue dies off more quickly than the other two (red, green) won’t be an issue. Excellent viewing angles are expected from an OLED-based display.
The Intel exec declared that new class of PC, dubbed “Ultrabooks,” will make up 40-percent of the market by the end of 2012. These machines, powered by the 22nm Ivy Bridge, will be less than 0.8-inches thick and start at under $1,000 — which sounds just like the lines we were fed about CULV chips back in 2009.
So let me get this straight. Are ultrabooks positioned between netbooks and ultraportable notebooks? So ultraBooks will compete against higher-end tablets, like the 32GB or 64GB iPads in both WiFi-only or 3G flavors? The lowest-end 11.6-inch MacBook starts at $999, and it’s a full-blown notebook.
I don’t think Intel’s ultrabook, as a new category of portable computers, will be successful. To me, it looks like ultrabooks will just turn out to be expensive netbooks, a category that has been squeezed by smartphones and tablets. On the other hand, I could see Chromeultrabooks: ultrabooks running Google’s Chrome OS.
Wouldn’t that be interesting. Microsoft ditches Intel exclusivity for its next Windows release while Google courts Intel to topple the Windows hegemony with Chrome OS and Chromebooks.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch; and iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.
OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud. I know iOS 5 will be a free upgrade for iPhone users. OS X Lion will be a fairly affordable upgrade through the App Store. iCloud, now this is a mystery. What kind of services will it bring?
Will iCloud just be an online locker for videos, podcasts, music, ebooks, apps, etc.? Will it compete with Google and offer free email, calendar, a RSS reader, a blogging service, online phone number (voicemail, texting, transcription), iWork online, etc. and sync them all with your OS X Lion-equipped Mac and iOS 5-updated iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad? I hope Apple offers all of this and even more, including a live-stream of the keynote.
I’m getting pretty excited.
Colony says something like the Chromebook just can’t compete with devices like the iPhone or iPad that can access the App Internet… despite the fact that Google’s Android arm is already sinuously curled around the app.
Google’s Chromebook is just the most obvious and current example of Apple competitors who don’t get it. PC Vendors either need to embrace the App Internet, as Apple has done with its iOS and Mac App Stores, or perish.
That’s Forrester CEO George Colony. I’m not so sure that Google doesn’t get it. Look at the latest, and greatest I might add, app that has hit the desktop: Angry Birds, the app, installable on Google’s Chrome browser.
I am certain Google understands the power of apps. If you look at the app store for the Chrome browser you can see there are many and most act like apps, like the ones you see on Android and iOS, and not web apps.
With Chromebooks, Google is bringing an app-based ecosystem the likes of Android and iOS to the desktop. In some way Google is ahead of Apple’s own app game by taking the first step embracing, engulfing, and app-lifying the desktop.
WHO via CNN:
Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same “carcinogenic hazard” category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.
Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles:
So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we hold our cell phones.
Cell phone radiation could have a larger impact on children. Dr. Black:
Children’s skulls and scalps are thinner. So the radiation can penetrate deeper into the brain of children and young adults. Their cells are at a dividing faster rate, so the impact of radiation can be much larger.
And here’s what Apple thinks about its iPhone 4, as found on the user manual:
When using iPhone near your body for voice calls or for wireless data transmission over a cellular network, keep iPhone at least 15 millimeters (5/8 inch) away from the body.
Of course, there will be others who disagree with the WHO’s assessment of whether or not cell phones cause cancer. Here is University of Maryland physics professor Bob Park via Daring Fireball:
All cancers are caused by mutant strands of DNA. Electromagnetic radiation can’t create mutant strands of DNA unless the frequency is at or higher than the blue limit of the visible spectrum the near-ultraviolet. The frequency of cell phone radiation is about 1 million times too low.
I’m no scientist and I don’t hold a PhD in anything, but my question to Dr. Park is: maybe electromagnetic radiation cannot create mutant strands of DNA, but can it somehow aid in the creation?
I think it’s safe to say that we need to be cautious about using mobile phones, including smartphones like the iPhone 4. I’m a parent of three and I’d rather be on the safe side and be careful not to expose them to cellular radiation.
Samsung: On May 31, Samsung Mobile Display celebrated the commencement of operations at its Gen 5.5 AMOLED fabrication plant, the world’s largest. SMD started construction of the Gen 5.5 line in June 2010. The Gen 5.5 AMOLED fab processes glass substrates with dimensions of 1300×1500 mm, which is much bigger than the 730×920-mm glass substrates used in its Gen 4.5.
SMD decided to integrate a large portion of display manufacturing equipment from local suppliers. The excimer laser annealing (ELA), heat treatment, cleaning equipment are 100% sourced from South Korean companies. In addition SMD will be hiring 3000 additional workers this year and another 3000 in 2012.
SMD is planning to manufacture AMOLED displays for smartphones, tablets, and mobile gaming. I don’t think it too farfetched to expect a Samsung Galaxy Tab with something like a Super AMOLED Plus display in the near future, like the Galaxy Tab 4G.
In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, Shin spilled that the company plans to release a 4G LTE-capable version of the Galaxy Tab later this year.
That would be J.K. Shin, the top guy running Samsung mobile. Why would you jeopardize sales of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 by pre-announcing a better product that will be available in just a few months? If you are patient, in less then six months and more likely closer to five, you’ll be able to get your hands on a Samsung Galaxy Tab that connects to 4G. This bit of information is critical since purchasing a Galaxy Tab often means you’ll be tethered to a very long two-year contract.
I prefer how Apple’s doing it: iPads with no contract. This way you can always get the newest and greatest iPad without having to pay early termination fees or paying outrageously expensive prices. You can also reduce the hit on your wallet by selling your older iPad on eBay or Craigslist.
Nissho → CrunchGear: Nissho Electronics announced its BDL5231-3D2R, a 52-inch 3D TV that does not require glasses. You get full all 1920×1080 pixels in 3D, which was developed by Dimenco Displays. The specs of the BDL5231-3D2R are: 60Hz refresh rate, 2000:1 contrast ratio, 700 nits of brightness, and a 8-ms response time. Priced at about US$20,850 and available in Japan.
DisplayBlog is written and produced by Jin Kim. Subscribe via RSS.