SaskTel has honestly stepped up since their 4G network launch. The latest devices such as the BlackBerry Bold 9900, Torch 9860 and the Samsung Galaxy SII and now they have slapped the “coming soon” label on one of the hottest tablets. No word on the release date or price, probably $499.99 outright.
Here’s a rundown of the specs: the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G runs Android 3.1 Honeycomb with TouchWiz, measures in at 8.6mm thin with a weight of 565grams, a 10.1-inch display that has a resolution of 1280×800, dual-core 1Ghz Tegra 2 processor, 1GB RAM, 3 megapixel camera on the back with a 2 megapixel.
Blockbuster Canada’s receiver wants a court order to shut down the movie rental company’s 253 remaining retail locations, saying it can’t find a buyer.
Sony announced that their Android 3.1 Tablet S will be coming to Canada today, we found out the official launch date is actually the 16th of September. There are a couple versions, a 16GB for $499.99 and a 32GB for $599.99. So what makes the Tablet S different than all the other tablets that have arrived on Canadian soil? Here’s a few quick notes with my short time with it.
First, the design is different. Sony says the idea of this tablet came from a folded piece of paper, actually they dub it a “folding design”, with most of the weight being at the top, while the bottom is incredibly thin. It only weighs 590 grams and overall dimensions are 9.5 x 6.8 x 0.3 inches, so a bit smaller than the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. This is mainly due to the display, coming in at 9.4 inches, which is actually a good size and compliments the unique elevated design when it sits on a table/your lap. The display itself catches a massive amount of fingerprints, but has a high resolution to it at 1280 x 800. The viewing angles were good and in our full review we’ll take it outside and see how it does with direct sunlight.
As for other specs, the Wi-Fi only Tablet S comes with NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2 processor with 1GB of RAM. I saw little lag time during the quick overview but noticed the accelerometer took its sweet time to adjust to the way the tablet was being held. On the front of the tablet is a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calling, on the back is a respectable 5-megapixel camera that can shoot 720p HD videos. One of the cool aspects of this is the ability to share media via DLNA capable devices. In the video you’ll see a quick demo of how you can immediately push images and videos to the TV, plus share music wirelessly.
The huge advantage that the Tablet S has over the other tablets is the distinctive and standout muliti media features. This is the only tablet that’s PlayStation certified, this comes pre-loaded with a couple titles, Crash Bandicoot and Pinball Heroes. Sony expect more games to be coming out by the end of the year.
As for accessories, to start the Sony Tablet S has two. A Bluetooth Keyboard that has dedicated keys for Android (top left hand side) will retail for $79.99 and a Desk Cradle that will cost $39.99. There’s so much more, like the Reader eBooks and the ability to watch movies from Q Video on demand. We’ll have a full in-depth review up shortly. The Tablet S will be available at the Sony Store (and online), Best Buy, Future Shop and London Drugs.
Today, the top speed limit in the country is 80 mph. By tomorrow, September 1, 2011, the Texas Legislature will have upped the state’s maximum speed limit to 85 miles per hour, faster than any other state in the nation. (Note: A more thorough reading of the bill reveals the Texas DOT was granted the option to raise the speed limit to 85 on the day the bill was signed, back in June. The September 1 milestone eliminated separate night speed limits.) More »
Today, the top speed limit in the country is 80 mph. By tomorrow, September 1, 2011, the Texas Legislature will have upped the state’s maximum speed limit to 85 miles per hour, faster than any other state in the nation. More »
University of Alberta researchers are hoping a tiny sensor placed on the helmets of young hockey players to help determine when they have sustained a concussion.
Chrome: Google’s adding offline support to Gmail, Calendar, and Docs. The offline support comes via the Offline Google Mail extension, available now in the Chrome Web Store. More »
Sony Tablet was officially announced today, it’s actually called the Sony Tablet S. This runs off Android OS 3.1 Honeycomb and will come in 2 models, a 16GB for $500 and a 32GB for $600. Sony stated in a press release that the Tablet S “will be available at Sony direct and online stores and authorized dealers across Canada”… this is now up for pre-sale and will hit shelves in September, probably the 14th like we previously stated.
The Tablet S has a 9.4-inch display with a resolution of 1280×800, Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, Wi-Fi, DLNA (Sony says you’ll be able to use it as a remote control for your TV and “throw” personal content like photos and videos to your TV to view on the big screen”), weighs in at 590 grams. Most importantly, Sony is continuing to bring all their products together, the Tablet S is PlayStation certified, ability to access Reader eBooks, purchase music and watch movies from Q Video on Demand”
I go off the grid four times a year for a week at a time. During these weeks I put up a vacation reminder that says I’m off the grid, not checking email or phone, but if it’s an emergency I can be found by my assistant Kelly. While I leave her email and phone info in the vacation responder text, she still checks my email to make sure that nothing critical is going on. While this works well, Josh Kopelman blew my mind with his awesome vacation responder a few weeks ago.
I am currently out of the office on vacation.
I know I’m supposed to say that I’ll have limited access to email and won’t be able to respond until I return — but that’s not true. My blackberry will be with me and I can respond if I need to. And I recognize that I’ll probably need to interrupt my vacation from time to time to deal with something urgent.
That said, I promised my wife that I am going to try to disconnect, get away and enjoy our vacation as much as possible. So, I’m going to experiment with something new. I’m going to leave the decision in your hands:
If your email truly is urgent and you need a response while I’m on vacation, please resend it to interruptyourvacation@firstround.com and I’ll try to respond to it promptly.
If you think someone else at First Round Capital might be able to help you, feel free to email my assistant, Fiona (fiona@firstround.com) and she’ll try to point you in the right direction.
· Otherwise, I’ll respond when I return…
Warm regards, Josh
From now on, I’m going to set up an account at interruptyourvacation@foundrygroup.com and leave this in your hands. Powerful – and fucking brilliant.
Over-the-air TV signals switch to digital from analog transmission as of Thursday morning in most major cities across Canada. Here’s how it will affect you.
According to ComScore, out of the 82.2 million people in the US with a smartphone (up ten percent from last quarter), Android came in first as the biggest platform yet again, capturing a whopping 41.8 percent of the market like a boss. In a not-so-close second, Apple was able to snag 27 percent, followed by RIM in the third place spot with 21.7 percent — down 4 percentage points from last quarter. Pulling up the rear is Microsoft with 5.7 percent, and lastly Symbian with a grim 1.9 percent — both down when compared to the previous three months. As far as US hardware manufacturers goes, Samsung is still on top with 25.5 percent of the market, while LG got 20.9 percent and finally Motorola with 14.1 percent, down 1.5 percentage points from before. Apple was able to snag some standing in the OEM space with a 9.5 percent share, while BlackBerry-maker RIM only captured 7.6 percent. As the battle wages on, looks like Androids, iPhones, and BlackBerrys (oh my) are still on top — at least for this quarter. Check out the PR after the break for the full scorecard.
The Mozilla team has been quietly toiling to bring Firefox to a mid-sized screen near you. It’s already a perpetual favorite on the desktop and has made a bit of a splash on Android phones, now the group has Honeycomb tablets squarely in its crosshairs. It’s still very much in the early stages of development but a few UI decisions have been made, including the choice to adhere pretty strictly to Android 3.0’s minimalist appearance. In landscape mode tabs will be represented as a persistent thumbnail bar on the left, but in portrait they’ll revert to the top with a more familiar appearance. The tabbed Awesome from the mobile version also returns. Check out the gallery below, as well as the source for more detail and more mockups.
![Click here to read Tomorrow is "85 mph day" in Texas](http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/images/12/2011/08/small_texas_speed.jpg "Click here to read Tomorrow is "85 mph day" in Texas")
