Monday, September 16, 2013

TECH NOW: Top tablets for kids and teens

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Which tablet you get depends on your student's needs — and your budget.

From educational apps to digital textbooks, tablets can be a great tool for teens and even younger kids. Students can do just about everything they need on a tablet, especially if you pair it with a keyboard or keyboard case for easy writing and note-taking. For younger learners, an entire world of educational apps can appear right at their fingertips, along with easy access to plenty of age-appropriate content to read or watch. If you know where to look, you won't have to spend a fortune to find solid slate — for a super-savvy price.

Which tablet you get depends on your student's needs — and your budget. If you're a budget-conscious shopper — and who isn't? — keep these buying tips in mind to keep the cost down:

If used mainly at home or at school, you'll need just a Wi-Fi-capable tablet, without an additional 3G or 4G Internet option. Not only would the price be higher upfront for cellular data-ready models, but that service will cost a monthly fee. As long as there's access to a secure Wi-Fi, you don't need anything else.
For average use, your student isn't likely to need more than the lowest amount of storage space — books, apps and homework assignments don't take up a lot of room, and low-end, 16GB models should be more than enough. If your child works with videos or video editing, you may want to consider more storage.

Certified refurbished models are often as good as new and usually come with the same warranty as a new product for a worthwhile discount. Look for these at MacMall, New Egg or Amazon — to name a few.

Now that you know the basics, here are our favorite tablets for students of all ages:

APPLE iPAD

The iPad's excellent selection of apps — over 375,000 designed especially for the tablet including a stellar selection of educational apps — makes it our top tablet choice for students. Additionally, there's a version in both 10-inch and 8-inch and one of the models is sure to suit your budget: the iPad costs $500, the iPad 2 costs $400, and the ultra-portable iPad mini costs $330. And because the tablet is so popular, it's relatively easy to find used and refurbished models to cut your costs even further.

We do expect a refresh on the iPad coming out this October, so you might want to hold off a few more weeks and either spring for the latest and greatest, or enjoy deeper discounts on older models.

AMAZON KINDLE FIRE HD

It's impossible to beat Amazon's aggressively priced Kindle Fire HD. This 7-inch Android tablet is priced like a budget tablet, selling for just $160 on a promotion right now, but it has the power to stand up to almost anything on the market. This is also an excellent choice for younger children: Amazon offers great parental controls with Kindle FreeTime, and the Kindle FreeTime Unlimited subscription service offers unlimited access to a selection of age-appropriate books, games, movies and TV shows ($5 a month or $3 a month if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber).

As with the iPad, Amazon also is likely to update the Kindle Fire soon, which again, could mean waiting will net you a better deal on a newer gadget. Last but not least, several of my friends have complained that the Kindle is hard to get online and keep online. I haven't had Wi-Fi connection issues myself, but more than a dozen friends of mine have. So if constantly being online and surfing the Net is important to you or your student, this is another consideration.

LEAPFROG LEAPAD ULTRA

If your child is younger — between the ages of 4 and 9 — the 7-inch LeapPad Ultra is designed with the younger set in mind. That means it has excellent parental controls, kid-tough construction, access to tons of kid-safe content (over 800 apps, games, videos, and books) curated by LeapFrog, and can access the Internet where kids can visit age-appropriate websites.

The only thing we don't like about the LeapPad is that it comes with a scant 11 apps — and anything else your child wants you'll need to buy. But priced at $150, it's the least-expensive tablet on our list and it may be the perfect choice for your child.

GOOGLE NEXUS 7

The Nexus 7 is a great size for portability: It is comparable in size to a paperback book (and weighs just 0.64 pounds), and yet it can carry a whole library of content. The Nexus 7 sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, which makes it lightning-fast, with a rich, full HD display. And because Google just released a new model of this Android powerhouse, you know you're getting the latest tech, which means it will take longer for your child to insist on replacing it because it's obsolete.

If your child is younger, the Kindle Fire HD with a FreeTime Unlimited subscription or the LeapPad Ultra will probably suit him or her better, but a high school or college student will love the Nexus 7 because it has full access to Google's Play store, which means it has more apps, books, movies and music to enjoy. The Nexus 7 starts at $230.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE

The Galaxy Note is an 8- or 10-inch tablet with a twist: It comes with Samsung's S Pen stylus, which makes it a great tablet for drawing, doodling or taking notes by hand. If drawing is a particular interest of your child, you won't find a better tablet for it than the Galaxy Note. But if your child doesn't care about drawing, you're probably better off choosing something else.

The larger Galaxy Note 10.1 is the size of a pad of paper, which makes it an ideal choice for a budding artist, while the smaller Galaxy Note 8.0 is more the size of a notepad and great for scribbling notes. Expect to pay $500 for the 10.1 or $400 for the 8.0 — though you can find sales or deals if you shop around.

ASUS TRANSFORMER PAD INFINITY

This high-end, 10-inch Android tablet can be paired with a keyboard dock that adds to its battery life and turns it into a lightweight laptop — a great choice for students who need a bit more than a tablet but don't quite need their own laptop. Its 14 hours of battery life (with the keyboard dock) and high-resolution screen (1080p) are sure to please even the pickiest tech-loving student.

Expect to pay around $400 for the tablet and another $130 for the keyboard. However, be sure to look around online: We've seen Asus tablets (and refurbished models) available for less.

LENOVO THINKPAD TABLET 2

Another excellent option for students who need more than a tablet but less than their own laptop, this 10-inch tablet runs the full version of Windows 8, which means it will run familiar Windows apps like Microsoft Office — which the ThinkPad Tablet 2 comes with. Add in a keyboard, and this tablet will rival most laptops.

Of course, this much functionality comes with a hefty price tag: The ThinkPad Tablet 2 starts at $566, and the keyboard costs $120.

ACER ICONIAW 8.1-INCH

If you like the sound of a Windows 8 tablet, but you're looking for something a bit smaller — in size and in cost — the Acer's 8-inch Iconia W is an excellent option. This 8-inch tablet is lighter and more portable than the ThinkPad Tablet 2, but still runs Windows 8 and all of your favorite Windows apps.

This small-scale Iconia costs $380, but you'll have to pay another $80 to add Microsoft Office 365 University to the package.

TABLET OR LAPTOP (OR ULTRABOOK)?

While tablets are expected to take over the mobile computing world by 2015, there are times that your student needs to create, rather than consume, and for them, a laptop or lightweight ultrabook is the better choice. Tablets are great for surfing the Web, playing games, checking e-mail, watching movies, listening to music — all of the ways we consume digital information. For creation — word processing, graphic design, spreadsheets, all of the serious stuff of latter high school and college these days — a tablet could fall short.

Switching from app to app — say, from a word-processing program for writing a paper to an Internet browser for research — is a lot more sluggish on a tablet than on a full-scale computer. And the smaller screen doesn't help much, either. However, if your student uses a shared computer at home, a tablet may be a good companion to let them easily take notes, read textbooks and write notes while they're on the go.

Security remains an issue on all Internet-enabled devices, so whatever you choose, be sure to load and update Internet security software, use the parental controlsettings and block app store and Web browsing (for younger kids) and consider investing in deeper backup protection such as Net Nanny or McAfee Family Protection.

Questions? Comments? Be sure to let us know.

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Google Street View car flees double-accident, crashes into parked truck

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A single Google Street View car has been involved in three separate accidents in Indonesia, after the driver repeatedly chose to flee the scene of the incident.

According to a report from AFP, one of Google's Street View cars has been involved in a double hit-and-run incident, ending only when the vehicle collided with a third vehicle. No injuries have been reported.

The incident occurred on Wednesday, just outside Jakarta in the Bogor region, when the driver of the vehicle, an Indonesian man, hit a minivan.

The driver is alleged to have stopped at this point and driven with the minivan driver to a repair garage, but, fearing the cost of repairs, fled the scene in the damaged Street View car. The minivan driver pursued the Street View car in his own vehicle for about 3km before the Google-owned car hit another minivan.

The Street View car continued to flee the second incident, but was stopped shortly after, when the driver collided with a parked truck.

Amateur photographs on Indonesian forum Kaskus show damage to the front of the vehicle as well as the front windshield smashed in.

Google confirmed the incident, and said that it is working closely with local authorities regarding the incident.

"We take the safety of our Street View operations very seriously, and though we're glad everyone is OK and that no serious injuries were reported, we're sorry for any damage caused."

Street View drivers are typically engaged by Google on a contract basis, and are required, under the company's policies and local law, to stop in the event of an accident.

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A secret audio message, transmitted by touch

2:35 PM No comments

A team at Disney Research has created a novel way to tell someone a secret: pass it from your body to theirs electrically, using your finger and their ear as the speaker. They call it "Ishin-Den-Shin," after a Japanese concept of "unspoken understanding."

With Ishin-Den-Shin, one person first records their message into a microphone. By touching another person on their earlobe, the second person can hear that recording. But it doesn't work like those bone-conduction earpieces — this is something different.

The recording from the microphone is fed through a special amplifier that converts it into "high amplitude, low power" electrical pulses, little shocks. Because these pulses are low power, they can't really shock anyone, yet their amplitude is big enough to be modulated and carry a signal.

Disney Research

Diagram explaining Ishin-Den-Shin

From the amplifier, the electrical signal is conducted to the user's body by a wire attached to the microphone itself. When the user touches the second person's ear, the signal is transmitted to the person through their skin. The current creates a slight vibration as its amplitude goes up and down, those vibrations travel into the ear, and the sound is heard.

Though you need to touch near the ear for the message to be heard, the signal itself can pass from one person to the next via any kind of contact, and can even be conducted through multiple people. You could hold hands with a few others in a line and have the last person touch someone else's ear — the sound should come through just fine.

Apparently the sensation at the receiving end is a bit tickly, and not everyone likes the idea of electrical currents passing through their body. Of course, you can always just whisper.

Ishin-Den-Shin was created at Disney Research Pittsburgh by Yuri Suzuki, Olivier Bau, and Ivan Poupyrev.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

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Apple invites developers to submit 64-bit apps for iPhone 5s

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Developers can now submit 64-bit third party applications for iPhone 5s, allowing their software to leverage the power made available with the new A7 processor and iOS 7 operating system.

Set to release this Friday, the iPhone 5s ships with the A7 CPU as well as a new version of iOS 7 compiled in 64 bits. Apple on Monday issued a note to developers, inviting them to now submit their 64-bit apps ahead of the iPhone 5s launch.

Currently, developers who wish to continue supporting iOS 6 will need to build their apps in 32-bit only. But Apple has promised that next month, changes will be made that will allow developers to support 32-bit on iOS 6 and both 32- and 64-bit on iOS 7 with a single binary.

"Xcode can build your app with both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries included so it works across all devices running iOS 7," Apple said.

When Apple announced the iPhone 5s last week, the company revealed that its custom A7 chip would be the first major 64-bit smartphone processor available on the market. The company has touted the A7 as a "desktop-class" chip with over a billion transistors.

The A7 is also twice as fast in raw processing power and graphics performance, and is a whopping 40 times faster than the chip found in the original iPhone. To take advantage of the 64-bit capabilities of the A7, Apple's iOS 7 mobile operating system has also been updated with a 64-bit kernel, libraries and drivers.

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Pew: cell phone Internet access on the rise

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Study finds 67% of cell phone users now access the Internet, and for 21% is it their primary device

There's a quote from Louis C.K. that is really spot on: "People say, 'My phone sucks. No, it doesn’t! The shittiest cellphone in the world is a miracle. Your life sucks. Around the phone."

What he is really trying to say there is that people who have unfulfilling lives can't fill that void simply by purchasing the latest iPhone, but the general point still stands: cell having a phone that can connect to the Internet is an amazing thing. And it is rapidly changing the world, giving Internet access to those who normally would not be able to afford it.

Case in point, just look at how many people are now turning their phones into the latest version of personal computer: Almost two-thirds, 63%, of all cell phone users now use the device to go online, according to a new study out from Pew Research Center on Monday.

Since 91% of Americans are now cell phone users, that means that 57% of the entire adult population in America is now using a cell phone to go online. That is an inredible number, especially when you look at how it has been growing.

The percentage Internet accessing cell phone users has more than doubled since 2009, when only 31% were doing so, and is up 8% just from last year alone. Pew based their findings on the responses from 2,252 adults, all over 18.

Even more importantly, though, is the number of people who are using their phone as their primary device for online access. That is where the real change is coming from.

Over a third, 34%, of those who use their phones for Internet access say that their phone was the device they used most often. That adds up to 21% of the entire cell phone owner population.

And when you look at those who are primarily using the Internet on their phone, it becomes clear why this is so important: contrary to what you might have though, these are people who are actually less well off.

As you could have guessed, tend to be young, with half of cell internet users ages 18-29 mostly use their cell phone to go online.

But they also are typically minorities, with 60% of Hispanics, and 43% of African-Americans using their phone as their primary device for Internet access, compared to only 27% of causcasians. And they also tended to be less-educated, with 45% of cell internet users with a high school diploma or less mostly use their phone to go online, compared with 21% of those with a college degree.

While Pew did not break down the figures, the study also said these people tended to be on the lower end of the income scale.

Cell phones are giving Internet access to those who may not have had it before, making them a great equalizer for people on the lower end of the education and income levels.

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Deal Alert: Nokia Lumia 1020 Now Going for Just $150 via Amazon

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It certainly took Nokia and AT&T a little longer than expected to bring Lumia 1020’s on-contract price down from $300 to $200, but once that threshold price point has been reached (only a week back,) it seems there’s no limit for how low it could all go.

Today, it’s $150. Next week, it could be $100. Or it could be $200 again, so if you’re willing to take the risk, be sure you can handle the consequences.

Anyways, what say we’ll all live in the moment for once? If you’re with me, visit Amazon now and you’ll see AT&T’s exclusive phone listed at $149.99, no matter its color variant: be it yellow, white or black (the red one is still impossible to score anywhere in the world).

The even better news? Amazon charges 150 bucks for the Nokia Lumia 1020 regardless of your current status as an AT&T customer. In other words, both new and existing users of the network are treated the same. Isn’t that neat?

It is, but I’ll tell you what’s neater. The phone’s 41 MP Pure View camera with Carl Zeiss optics, optical image stabilization, Xenon and LED flash. The pre-loaded Windows Phone 8 Amber is not too shabby either, while the 4.5-inch HD screen and dual-core 1.5 GHz processor are, let’s say, honorable. Bottom line, this fellow is a must buy at $150.

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Report: Samsung Gearing Up To Release Another Smart Watch In Early 2014

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Having got the better of Apple AAPL -3.19% in the race to be the first to release a smart watch, Samsung may already be speeding ahead to improve the product, post-launch.

Samsung is planning to release another version of its smart watch as soon as early-2014, according to a report by South Korea’s Digital Times citing an unnamed industry official. The new version of the smart watch will include GPS, a better battery life and will sync with other Android device.

When Samsung unveiled its first smart watch, called Samsung Gear, on Sept. 4, industry analysts criticized the device for its battery which lasted a little over one day, for lacking GPS and for only pairing with a single device, the new Galaxy Note 3. (Samsung has said the Gear will work with other other Galaxy phones at some point point in the future.)

Forbes contributor Larry Magid said in his early,hands-on review of the Gear, that the limited battery life was the device’s biggest let-down. “It’s one more thing to have to remember to charge up everyday and its charger is one more thing to have to take with you when traveling,” he said.

Samsung is known for pivoting quickly to respond to market change and developing consumer tastes, so the overall impression was that the Gear was as much an experiment as it was a commercial endeavor. And despite its drawbacks, the Gear will cost $299 when it launches in the U.S. this October , suggesting it may primarily entice early adopters to open their wallets.

As Samsung works on improving battery life, the real potential for the Gear and other smart watches may come from apps and services that can run on the device. The Gear will already host apps including eBay, Pocket (for saving and reading web content offline), RunKeeper, Path and messaging app Line. Samsung’s proprietary messaging service AppsChatOn will also work on the Gear.

If Samsung can continue to collect an array of appealing services for its next smartwatch, this along with the necessary hardware improvements could give the next device a better chance among mainstream consumers, and not just curious, early adopters.

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Sprint preps 'One Up,' its own early upgrade program

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Sprint One Up allows customers to pay for their devices in monthly
nstallments and upgrade after one year, CNET has learned

Better late than never, Sprint is finally getting into the early upgrade game.

The company is preparing to launch Sprint One Up, a program that allows its customers to pay for their smartphones or tablets in monthly installments and upgrade after every year by trading in their devices, CNET has learned. One Up is slated to launch on September 20.

Sprint is the last of the national carriers to offer such a program, after T-Mobile kick-started the trend in July with its own Jump program. Shortly after AT&T launched NEXT, and Verizon introduced Edge. The moves underscore the increasingly competitive nature of the business, with each player looking to mimic its rivals.

5 Killer Features in Grand Theft Auto V

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PlayStation 4 $517.96 at Walmart - Pre-Order and Xbox One $499.99 at Microsoft Store, the much-hyped next-generation home video game consoles, have dominated video game headlines since E3, but even they must bow down before Rockstar Games' almighty Grand Theft Auto V.

Grand Theft Auto V is Rockstar Game's most ambitious game to date, as it features an insane level of detail and interactivity that make it one of the most impressive sandbox titles in the video game industry. You can work, play, steal, and chill in digital world that builds on gameplay design mechanics that Rockstar Games has continually refined since the groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto III: Liberty City.

Players will spend the majority of their in-game time in Los Santos, a fictionalized version of Los Angeles. That name should ring a bell; Los Santos was one of the three metropolises (along with San Fierros and Las Venturas) featured in the PlayStation 2 gangsta classic, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Although the location may be familiar, Grand Theft Auto V is no simple retread. Yes, you jack rides, dabble in crime, and wage war on rivals, but Rockstar Games has added several new gameplay elements (and updated previous beloved features) that will hopefully keep the game fresh for some time to come.

With that in mind, we take a look at five killer features in Grand Theft Auto V. These aren't the only new features in the game, mind you, just a handful of the most appealing.

If you're ready to learn why this GTA may be the greatest GTA game of all time, check out our slideshow. And share your favorite Grand Theft Auto V feature/moment in the comment section below.

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Google buys Bump for app to share content with a tap

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The Android operator picks up a 5-year-old startup that makes a smartphone app for exchanging files, photos, videos, and contacts with a bump.

Google has purchased Bump, makers of smartphone apps for wirelessly sharing files, photos, and contacts, for an undisclosed sum. Bump CEO and co-founder David Lieb made theannouncement in a blog post and tweet Monday morning. Google confirmed the buy to CNET.

Founded in 2008, Bump raised roughly $20 million in funding from a collection of renowned venture firms including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital before it was picked up by Google. A source told AllThingsD that the deal was valued between $30 million and $60 million.

"We strive to create experiences that feel like magic, enabled behind the scene with innovations in math, data processing, and algorithms," Lieb said. "So we couldn't be more thrilled to join Google, a company that shares our belief that the application of computing to difficult problems can fundamentally change the way that we interact with one another and the world."

The Mountain View, Calif.-based startup developed an early following for its fun technology that lets people exchange content with friends and strangers with the bump of two smartphones. The Bump application seemed to fade from view over the years, however, and more recently the team released Flock, an app for group photo albums. Lieb said that both Bump and Flock will remain operational for the time being.

"The Bump team has demonstrated a strong ability to quickly build and develop products that users love, and we think they'll be a great fit at Google," a Google spokesperson told CNET.

The news comes just ahead of the release of Apple's iOS 7, which comes with a feature called AirDrop for wirelessly sharing content with other iOS users.

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What if Apple had made an 'iPhone 4C' instead?

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Some have said the iPhone 5C is too expensive to make a mark in places like China. A new analyst report suggests Apple should have revamped the aging iPhone 4 instead.
Apple's iPhone 5C.

Apple's new mid-range smartphone, the iPhone 5C, has come under fire for being far more expensive than many Wall Street analysts were hoping. Now, one such firm has laid out a plan B that never emerged: a phone with the guts of an iPhone 4, but the look and feel of the 5C.

That device, dubbed informally the "4C", could have saved Apple more than 20 percent compared to what it's paying now and been more attractive in emerging markets, Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research said in a note to clients Monday. The savings could come in the form of the plastic case, and a laundry list of older tech like 3G (instead of LTE radios), 8GB of memory, and 512MB in RAM.

All that could lead to an (imaginary) iPhone that costs somewhere between $375 to $400, which would be well under the $441 Apple's charging now for the one-year-newer iPhone 4Sinternationally, Sacconaghi said. That's also far below the approximate $733 and $864 Apple's charging for unsubsidized versions of the 16- and 32-gigabyte 5C models in China.

"Such a device would have required little to no incremental investment for Apple to manufacture, provided a further test of price elasticity for its offerings, and could have been discontinued/phased out at any point had Apple been disappointed in its performance," he added.

What happened instead was that the iPhone 4S is sticking around, likely for another year, and that the iPhone 4 (which has many of those same components) has been discontinued.

But don't count the iPhone 4 out, just yet. Sacconaghi said he expects all of the remaining iPhone 4 units to make their way to China to be sold there.

"After asking Apple, it is our understanding that this is to eliminate inventory, and that Apple will not be continuing ongoing production," Sacconaghi wrote. "Accordingly, we would not be surprised to see global iPhone 4 inventory (perhaps a few million iPhones) being shipped into China."

A 4C would help Apple reach lower prices and better compete with companies like Samsung. But one thing the Bernstein report sidesteps is performance. A device with technology that's equivalent to 2010's iPhone 4 would certainly be capable of running many of the main operating-system features, but would miss out on many when new software is released. (iOS 7 comes out Wednesday.) Building that older technology in a new device would also suggest that Apple would support it with new software updates going forward, something that could create more software fragmentation among Apple's devices, and trip up developers who might be attracted to that aspect of Apple's platform.

Ahead of last week's announcements, it was widely believed the 5C would be around a $400 device, coming in under the iPhone 4 in cost. Such a device would have attracted new smartphone buyers, especially in places like China and India, where competitors have found success with a wider array of products and prices. It remains to be seen just how well the iPhone 5C, and now less expensive iPhone 4S will do in those regions. Apple has typically announced preorder numbers of its phones by now, a practice it appears to be skipping this time around.

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Report: Twitter Eyes New Users With Mobile Overhaul

2:26 PM No comments

Twitter is reportedly prepping a revamp of its mobile apps that are intended to draw in new users and highlight TV-related chatter.

According to AllThingsD, Twitter will do away with the four tabs at the bottom of the app: Home, Connect, Discover, and Me.

You will still be able to see your main news feed and interactions with people on the micro-blogging site. But you will also swipe through new feeds that highlight things like photos and discussions about TV shows. Media in tweets - like photos and link descriptions - will also show up without having to expand the tweet.

"The overall theme: Look pretty, feel richer, and become far more visually immersive than the text-heavy Twitter we're all familiar with," according to ATD.

TV has been a major focus of Twitter lately, as more and more users take to the site to discuss what they're watching in real time (like last night's gripping episode of Breaking Bad). Twitter last year teamed up with Nielsen to deliver reports that monitor TV-related conversations on the micro-blogging site, and this year it acquired TV analytics firm Bluefin Labs. Its Twitter Amplify program also allows for in-tweet video clips from broadcasters.

As Twitter becomes a bigger presence on your TV screen - most notably via persistent hashtags - the micro-blogging site wanted it to be easier for new users to sign up and stay engaged. Twitter has more than 1 billion registered accounts, but many of them are inactive, ATD noted.

The update is expected sometime after the launch of iOS 7, which arrives Sept. 18.

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Report: Twitter Eyes New Users With Mobile Overhaul

2:26 PM No comments

Twitter is reportedly prepping a revamp of its mobile apps that are intended to draw in new users and highlight TV-related chatter.

According to AllThingsD, Twitter will do away with the four tabs at the bottom of the app: Home, Connect, Discover, and Me.

"The overall theme: Look pretty, feel richer, and become far more visually immersive than the text-heavy Twitter we're all familiar with," according to ATD.

The update is expected sometime after the launch of iOS 7, which arrives Sept. 18.

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