Author: Dr. Bill

They will be selling out, just as the original Kindle did. If you want one, get in line now!

Amazon’s $199 Fire sparks supply, margin questions

“(Reuters) – The rock-bottom price of the new Kindle Fire tablet computer is raising questions about Amazon.com Inc’s ability to keep up with demand and the device’s effect on the company’s already razor-thin profit margins.

Amazon’s billionaire Chief Executive Jeff Bezos unveiled the Fire on Wednesday at a lower-than-expected price of $199.

Bezos said Amazon is making ‘millions’ of the tablets, without being more specific. However, he urged customers to pre-order the device early.

‘When Bezos quipped that people should get their pre-orders in quick, that wasn’t just a sales pitch,’ said Brian Blair, an analyst at Wedge Partners. ‘That was him warning this will sell out.’

When the first Kindle came out in 2007, Amazon hadn’t made enough and the e-reader sold out in less than a week. That meant the company missed out on sales and got the device into fewer customers’ hands, limiting quick adoption.

‘I hope they learned their lesson from the last time,’ said Vinita Jakhanwal, an analyst at IHS iSuppli, which tracks electronic component supply chains.

Amazon spokeswomen didn’t respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Amazon has lined up about four to five million screens for the Fire in the fourth quarter, which is a ‘fairly significant’ amount, Jakhanwal added.

The technology that is being used for the Fire’s screen has been around for at least a year and already has been produced in high volume, reducing the chances of supply shortages, Jakhanwal said.

One of the components that was in shorter supply in the first half of 2011 was the 10-inch screen, mostly because of Apple Inc’s blockbuster-selling iPad, according to Bradley Gastwirth of technology research firm ABR Investment Strategy.”

This is cross-posted from my VirtZine Blog:

This changes everything! It will truly be the replacement for Citrix XenApp! Imagine a system that delivers any Windows app to ANY OS (it truly doesn’t matter, Linux, Unix, Windows, the Cloud, etc.) all you need is a HTML 5 browser… with NO client installed. You hit a web site, click on the icon, and bang! The app runs exactly as it would normally run in Windows. This is coming soon from VMware. It was the hottest thing seen at VMworld. Watch this video:

Check out Gabe Knuth’s thoughts on this in his Blog at Brian Madden’s site:

After the VMworld buzz, a look at VMware AppBlast

So, the Amazon tablet is almost here… and it will be the big news this week. Sounds like it will be pretty cool. But, to really set the “world on fire.” (Couldn’t resist.) It would have to be a bit less expensive.

On Wednesday, Amazon Will Unveil The “Kindle Fire”

“Last Friday, Amazon sent out invites to a press conference being held this coming Wednesday. They didn’t give away any details in the invite, but given our scoop earlier this month, everyone assumed it was to unveil the new Kindle tablet. We can now confirm this is correct. And we know a bit more.

On Wednesday morning in New York City, Amazon will unveil the Kindle Fire. Yes, this is the name Amazon has settled on, to help differentiate the product from the e-ink Kindles, which will still be very much alive and for sale. And while Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will show off the Fire on stage, it won’t be ready to ship until the second week of November, we’ve learned.

Everything we’ve previously reported on the hardware remains the same. It will be a 7-inch backlit display tablet that looks similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook. Gdgt’s Ryan Block was able to dig up a bit more about the connection. Apparently, the Kindle Fire looks like a PlayBook because it was designed and built by the same original design manufacturer (ODM), Quanta. Even though Amazon has their own team dedicated to Kindle design and development, Lab 126, they wanted to get the Fire out there in time for this holiday season so they outsourced most of it as a shortcut.

Block’s sources seem very wary of this shortcut move. But having played with a DVT model myself, I can assure you that it’s better than the PlayBook because the software is better and, more importantly, the content available is much better. Amazon has built their own custom version of Android (that looks nothing like Android) and it utilizes their own Android Appstore. While that store doesn’t offer all the apps found in Google’s Android Market, Amazon has been rounding up the big app makers to get them on board for the Fire launch, I’m told.”

e-Sword is the VERY BEST electronic Bible, and you know that I use it ALL the time! Well, thanks to a special deal with Codeweavers, you can get a 25% discount off their “Crossover” product to allow e-Sword to work on Linux and on the Macintosh! Neat! Check it out at the link below!

Codeweavers e-Sword Deal

For those of you that use a Mac, or have made the transition to Ubuntu, or other distros of Linux, this is GREAT news, and, of course, Crossover will allow you to use other Windows software as well as e-Sword!

– Dr. Bill

Amazon had this on their web site today:

“Dear Customer,

I have big news for Amazon Prime members – we’ve just signed a deal with FOX to add a broad selection of movies and TV shows to our unlimited instant streaming service later this fall. The new additions from the FOX library include 24, Arrested Development, The X-Files, Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and – available on digital video for the first time – The Wonder Years. We now have deals with CBS, NBCUniversal, Sony, and Warner Bros, and adding FOX will bring the total to more than 11,000 movies and TV shows available for unlimited instant streaming.

Since launching earlier this year, we have now doubled the number of titles available in Prime instant videos, and there’s still more to come. Prime membership remains $79 a year, and of course features our unlimited free two-day shipping on millions of products. Prime is one of the best values anywhere.

Prime instant videos can be played on more than 300 HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and set-top boxes.

If you’re a Prime member, start watching now. If not, start your one-month free trial today.

Thanks for being a customer,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
P.S. You can also watch movies and TV shows instantly at our Amazon Instant Video Store, where we offer more than 100,000 movies and TV shows for rent or purchase, no Prime membership required.”

So, you know I have been asking you to “Plus 1” the site, because it will help the site, well, soon you will be able to “Plus 1” (or recommend) Adsense ads, interesting… not sure if that will catch on, but interesting!

Here’s the letter they sent me this morning:

“Hello,

In the next month, we’ll introduce the +1 button and personal recommendations to display ads. The +1 button will begin to appear on AdSense for Content and AdSense for Mobile Content display ad formats — image, animated gif, and Flash. +1s will be one additional signal to help determine an ad’s relevance and we’ll continue to show the ads that will generate the most revenue for you.

We previously launched the +1 button on Google search and for publisher sites to make it easier for people to share and discover content across the web. Soon, your users will be able to endorse specific ads and make the ads more likely to appear to their social connections. We believe that these recommendations could help your readers notice ads on your site more, leading to higher returns for you over time.

If you prefer not to show the +1 buttons on display ads on your pages, you can opt out in your account. For more information please visit the Inside AdSense blog.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense team”

Looks like our past heroes of spaceflight find our current space program as embarrassing as we do! We will never attract the Vulcan’s attention this way, guys!

Neil Armstrong: US space program ’embarrassing’ – Aging moonmen denounce NASA, Obama

“The first and last men to walk upon the moon have testified at a Congressional hearing that NASA is a national disgrace.

The US space program is ’embarrassing and unacceptable,’ said Neil Armstrong, who on July 21, 1969 first set foot on the surface of the earthly companion that, in his testimony, he referred to as Luna.

‘Today we are on a path of decay,’ testified fellow ex-astronaut Eugene Cernan, who said goodbye to Luna on December 14, 1972, bringing the curtain down on the US Apollo program.

Being 81 and 77 years old, repectively, and having achieved much in their careers, Armstrong and Cernan have nothing to prove nor favor to curry – and their comments reflected that freedom.

‘Our choices are to lead,’ Armstrong said, ‘to try to keep up, or to get out of the way. A lead, however earnestly and expensively won, once lost, is nearly impossible to regain.’

‘Now is the time to overrule this Administration’s pledge to mediocrity,’ said Cernan.

Armstrong decried NASA’s downward spiral. ‘We will have no American access to, and return from, low Earth orbit and the International Space Station for an unpredictable length of time in the future,’ he said. ‘For a country that has invested so much for so long to achieve a leadership position in space exploration and exploitation, this condition is viewed by many as lamentably embarrassing and unacceptable.'”

I agree guys! It is a crying shame!

So, OK, that is supposed to be IMPOSSIBLE!!! But, it seems it isn’t… impossible, that is. So, Warp drives, anyone?!?

Strange Particles May Travel Faster than Light, Breaking Laws of Physics

“Nothing goes faster than the speed of light. At least, we didn’t think so.

New results from the CERN laboratory in Switzerland seem to break this cardinal rule of physics, calling into question one of the most trusted laws discovered by Albert Einstein.

Physicists have found that tiny particles called neutrinos are making a 454-mile (730-kilometer) underground trip faster than they should — more quickly, in fact, than light could do. If the results are confirmed, they could throw much of modern physics into upheaval.

‘The consequences would be absolutely revolutionary and very profound,’ said physicist Robert Plunkett of the Fermilab laboratory in Batavia, Ill., who was not involved in the new study. ‘That’s why such a claim should be treated very carefully and validated as many ways as you can.’

The results come from the OPERA experiment, which sends sprays of neutrinos from CERN in Geneva to the INFN Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy. Neutrinos don’t interact with normal atoms, so they simply pass through the Earth as if it were a vacuum.

After analyzing the results from 15,000 particles, it seems the neutrinos are crossing the distance at a velocity 20 parts per million faster than the speed of light. By making use of advanced GPS systems and atomic clocks, the researchers were able to determine this speed to an accuracy of less than 10 nanoseconds (.00000001 seconds).

‘According to relativity, it takes an infinite amount of energy to make anything go faster than light,’ Plunkett told LiveScience. ‘If these things are going faster than light, then these rules would have to be rewritten.’

Previous studies have found that certain materials can travel faster than light through a medium. For example, certain particles are able to move more swiftly than light when travelling through water or oil. However, nothing should be able to move faster than light through a vacuum.

‘It’s really thought to be an absolute speed limit,’ said Michael Peskin, a theoretical physicist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif. ‘Quantum field theory, the mathematical theory on which basically all results in particle physics are based, has the property that signals cannot travel faster than the speed of light through a vacuum. It’s really an absolute prohibition.'”

UPDATE: Oh yeah, by the way, this faster than light particle has time travel implications as well!

‘Faster Than Light’ Particles Make Time Travel Possible, Scientist Says

3D… well, meh. But longer than 15 minute video for “in good standing members = good!”

YouTube Now Converting 2D Videos To 3D, Removes 15 Minute Limit For Verified Users

“I hate 3D videos. Chances are, you hate 3D videos too. And yet, the electronics-making world insists on shoving 3D display technology into everything from TVs to smartphones, regardless of the fact that there’s still next to no worthwhile 3D content out there. Besides Avatar — but seriously, I could barely make it through that movie without nodding off the first time.

But wherever video trends go, Youtube will follow. YouTube has been playing around with 3D video support for some time now, with the biggest holdback being that only a very, very small chunk of the population owns a camera capable of capturing that extra dimension. Looking to get more 3D content onto their site, YouTube is today rolling out a Beta of a 2D to 3D conversion system. They also removed the 15 minute video limit for all verified users.

As opposed to traditional 3D video capturing setups which requires two simultaneously captured videos to be merged with fancy software trickery, Youtube’s new conversion tool measures the motion and color of a single video to simulate depth and hobble together a hacky, 3D-ish video. Youtube admits that it’s not on par with shooting 3D video the proper way — but hey, it’s a Beta. You’ll still need 3D glasses (or at least a glasses-free 3D display) to watch the videos properly.

YouTube also made another rather notable announcement, though they more so just mentioned it in passing: they’re removing the 15 minute video length limit for anyone who is in good standing (read: anyone who hasn’t uploaded porn or bootlegs) and has been ‘verified’ (read: anyone willing to cough up their phone number). Finally, the hour-long Director’s Cut of your Chip & Dales Rescue Ranger fan music video can have a home online!”