Deal Alert: Registration Open for $14.99 Windows 8 Pro Upgrade

Registration is now open for Microsoft’s Windows Upgrade Offer, a program that will provide a deep discount for Windows 8 Pro.

If you have already purchased or plan to buy an eligible Windows 7 PC between June 2, 2012 and Jan. 31, 2013, you will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $14.99 after the software debuts on Oct. 26. Registration will close on Feb. 28, 2013.

Users running Windows XP or Windows Vista are also eligible for a discounted upgrade. After the October launch date, you can download the update for $39.99 through Windows.com. A physical packaged DVD version will set you back $69.99 at retail stores.

To register for the upgrade, visit the offer website after purchasing your computer. For this part of this process, you will need the date of purchase, retailer, PC brand and model and the 25-digit Windows 7 product key that came with your computer. Starting on Oct. 26, Microsoft will email the promotional codes and instructions for completing the online upgrade.

Microsoft has been aggressive in pricing its latest operating system, which is quite a change of pace from its $119 Windows 7 upgrade in 2009. This could be a strategic move to level the playing field with Apple, which charged just $19.99 for its OS X Mountain Lion upgrade.

5 Tech Companies That Get Content Marketing Right

How many tech companies do you think have corporate blogs? Given the buzz around content marketing and its importance to branding and reputation building, you’d think most would.

Think again. Fewer than 21% of technology companies have a corporate blog, according to a recent report from Percussion Software. That’s problematic since the same report also suggests that companies with great content on their blogs are perceived to have better, higher-quality products and a more established reputation.

To be clear, we’re not talking about the official Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook blogs, as their audiences are brand loyal and even product updates count as a good read. It’s the smaller or lesser-known brands that need a bit more creativity to turn visitors into dedicated readers.

The following five companies not only have innovative products, but are great examples of insightful blogs that provide their audiences with valuable and compelling content.

1. KISSmetrics

The Product: KISSmetrics is an online analytics platform for websites and e-commerce platforms.

The Target Audience: Website owners who want more conversions.

What Their Blog Does Right: The KISSmetrics blog provides effective tips and tricks for navigating the online world. It’s information like, “8 Habits Of Conversion-Focused Copywriters,” which is useful for just about any site.

How They Engage Readers: There’s a consensus among tech industry influencers that the KISSmetrics blog is where you go to find concrete advice that you can immediately implement. The blog serves up information about a variety of online and content marketing areas, including A/B testing, list building, web design, and analytics.

The blog’s high-quality content reflects how the product is perceived. Even a reader who may not be a direct customer gets the sense that KISSmetrics is a powerful analytics tool. The result is plenty of recurring readers subscribing to the blog by email so as not to miss out on the latest tips.

2. Instagram

The Product: Snap a photo, add a filter. That’s Instagram. If you can’t see the value, that’s okay. At least a few folks thought it was worth $1 billion.

The Target Audience: Any human being with a smartphone will work.

What Their Blog Does Right: Instagram’s blog serves as a platform for users to tell their stories via images. Rather than directly promoting itself, Instagram gives users the power to share themselves via the Instagram product.

How They Engage Readers: The greatest blog feature is “This Weekend’s Hashtag Project,”, which encourages users to take pictures according to specific instructions and add the hashtag of the week to them. Now that’s how a brand really engages their users.

3. Eventbrite

The Product: Eventbrite is an online tool that helps individuals put together events.

The Target Audience: Event creators and their attendees.

What Their Blog Does Right: They connect event attendees to the real people behind the events.

How They Engage Readers: As stated in their manifesto, Eventbrite’s mission is to make events as easy as possible to create, find, and attend. Their blog helps companies achieve this goal through the “meet the organizer” section, which spotlights various event organizers who explain their event and what they’re trying to accomplish. This is a really effective way of drawing in a bigger audience.

4. Buffer

The Product: Buffer is a smart tool that helps you schedule your social posts at a prime time so most of your users actually see them.

The Target Audience: Anyone who is looking to get a lot of shares, re-tweets, mentions, and likes will find this useful.

What Their Blog Does Right: The Buffer blog takes social sharing to another level, providing very unique insights into the world of social media, such as how certain human behaviors impact our sharing behavior.

How They Engage Readers: The company’s blog voice is what makes it special, giving their topics a pseudo-philosophical twist with posts like “how our brains work.”

5. Wix

The Product: Wix is a great platform for creating HTML5/Flash websites.
The Target Audience: Anyone with a need for a website that looks awesome and who doesn’t necessarily have the means to create one from scratch.

What Their Blog Does Right: They emphasize the fun and creative aspects of website creation.

How They Engage Readers: The Wix blog consistently offers sassy articles on web design, mobile development, and new technologies. Following the announcement of their new HTML5 platform, they started emphasizing the new technology by filling their blog with great infographics, like “The History of HTML5.”

$800 iPhone 5 Rumor Sweeps Twitter

Will Apple charge $800 for the iPhone 5? Not likely, but a rumor to that effect has been circulating on Twitter.

Two topics related to the rumor  #800dollarsforaniPhone” and “iPhone 5 $800″ were trending on Twitter on Thursday. Most users seemed to treat the topic as an opportunity to show off their comic chops:

The exact origin of the rumor is unclear. According to IBTimes, gamenguide.com features a listing on taobao.com, a Chinese auction site, that shows a photo of what is purported to be the iPhone 5 for the equivalent of $800 to $1,050.

Of course, Apple is keeping any details about a new iPhone close to the vest. Apple has not confirmed numerous reports that peg an announcement relating to the new phone at Sept. 12. An $800 iPhone would be a big jump in price. The current top-of-the-line iPhone 4S with 64 GB of memory sells for $399 with a wireless service plan.

Sharp to Start Shipping iPhone Screens in August

Japan’s Sharp has announced it will start shipping screens for Apple’s new iPhone next month, Reuters reports.

“Shipments will start in August,” said Sharp’s president, Takashi Okuda, without giving any additional information. Sharp is one of three suppliers of iPhone screens, the other two being LG Display and Japan Display.

Recent rumors and reports mostly agree that Apple will launch the next-generation iPhone on Sept. 12, and the company itself said it plans a major product announcement in the fall.

The new device, rumors claim, will have a thin 4-inch screen and a case with a metal back, as opposed to the iPhone 4S’s 3.7-inch screen and glass back.

Sign and Send Contracts From Your iPhone For Free With HelloSign

HelloFax, the company that lets you send and receive digital faxes, has spun off its digital signature service into a new stand-alone product: HelloSign.

“Everyone has to sign documents, and it’s done in a really poor way right now, which is what we’re trying to fix,” Joseph Walla, CEO of HelloSign

Documents can be signed and securely returned to their sender from both the web and the company’s new iPhone application. Unlike some similar services and apps that are already out there, digital signatures using the service are free and unlimited so you can send and receive just a few documents or all the contracts for your business with the service at no cost.

On the iPhone application, you sign a document with your finger on the screen. Once you’re done signing, the signature is brought back into your document, then you can place it where you want it to go. The same experience can be done on your home computer using a mouse.

When you send documents to be signed with HelloSign you can also track those documents with read receipts and audit trails, so you know exactly what’s going on with the document every step of the way.

Walla says that, while digital signatures have been legal in the U.S. for any document that can be signed with a pen for the past 12 years, many companies are still using pen and paper to get the job done. He sees the service as being invaluable to companies and businesses that are faced with delays waiting on paperwork to be signed.

“What we found out is that the only reason people fax things is that the vast majority of these documents are being signed,” Walla said when we spoke to him about HelloFax earlier this year. “What we’ve found is a lot of people joined us for faxing, and now they’ve converted to electronic signatures. We have a lot users who were fax users and now they don’t fax at all.”

With HelloSign, contracts and the like can be handled almost instantly, saving everyone involved in the process valuable time. The only type of document the service can’t handle is one that requires a notary.

How to Change Your Dropbox Password, and Make It Better

Dropbox is the latest tech company to have fallen victim to a security breach, and there’s a good chance your account is at risk.

But unlike recent hacks on sites such as Yahoo, LinkedIn and eHarmony, account names and passwords weren’t posted online, making it more difficult to check via a tool if yours was compromised.

The good news is that Dropbox has taken steps to notify affected users via email about the incident and have urged them to change their passwords immediately. The bad news is that just because you changed your Dropbox password doesn’t mean other accounts that take the same password  from Facebook to Gmail are safe.

Before we walk you through how to protect your account, here’s a rundown of what happened.

Dropbox Hacked

The cloud-based, file-sharing company said in a blog post on Tuesday that news about the breach started about two weeks ago when users said they received spam at email addresses used only for Dropbox.

“Our investigation found that usernames and passwords recently stolen from other websites were used to sign in to a small number of Dropbox accounts,” Dropbox wrote. “We’ve contacted these users and have helped them protect their accounts.”

The company discovered that an employee’s account was compromised and the hacker obtained improper access to the site, which led to spamming the accounts of members.

“We’re sorry about this, and have put additional controls in place to help make sure it doesn’t happen again,” the company said. “Keeping Dropbox secure is at the heart of what we do, and we’re taking steps to improve the safety of your Dropbox even if your password is stolen.”

To prevent this from happening again, Dropbox is rolling out a series of initiatives to enhance the site’s security. For example, it will be implementing a two-factor authentication in the coming weeks which requires two proofs of identity, such as your password and a temporary code sent to your phone, when signing in.

In addition, Dropbox will be adding new automated mechanisms to help identify suspicious activity, as well as a page that lets you examine all active logins to your account. The company said, in some cases, it might ask users to change their password if it’s commonly used or if it hasn’t been updated in awhile.

Maximum Security

This may sound simple, but it’s critical to change your Dropbox password now if you haven’t already. To do, click here and follow the instructions.

To make sure your Dropbox password or any account is secure, it’s imperative to set a unique password for each website you use.

“Though it’s easy to reuse the same password on different websites, this means if any one site is compromised, all your accounts are at risk,” Dropbox warns users.

There are ways to be proactive about your online security, without spending too much time and energy by doing so. Password manager tools such as LastPass and 1Password help you manage strong passwords across multiple sites.

How to Turn Your Smartphone Into An Emergency Kit

Technology can help you find a restaurant, locate a parking spot, and even get you a date. But how can mobile apps impact the more crucial aspects of a person’s life, like safety and well being?

While apps can’t replace your doctor or local police, there are many that can make a major difference in an emergency. Here are nine that will help you prepare for, react to, and report such situations.

Prepare

Emergency preparedness isn’t just about extra batteries and jugs of drinking water. It’s about making sure you have access to the right information when you need it most. The following apps allow you to prepare for emergencies before they occur.
 
pMonitor: pMonitor lets parents use location alerts to, for example, know when a child arrives at school or is headed home. Users can create alerts for potentially dangerous situations as well. So if you have an elderly parent, you can set an alert that will ping you if that person happens to fall. In other words, this app will let you know whenever a loved one is in a bad situation so that you can respond.

 

Pocket First Aid and CPR: This app is useful to keep in your phone as a CPR tutorial. It can’t replace a certification, but it does offer best-practice reminders on how to properly administer this life-saving technique. It can be particularly useful to have a mobile app to walk you through the steps during a crisis when it’s easy to seize up.

 

Safety NET: This app is great for an elderly parent or a disabled loved one, as it monitors for things like falls or collisions. It then automatically alerts a previously selected emergency contact to call for help.

React
Preparedness is one important element of safety, and there are some great apps that help you take control in emergency situations.
 
Silent Bodyguard: This app serves as a silent panic button that calls the police without setting off any alarms. The panic message can also send a text to a loved one or a post to your social accounts. It will also use your phone to share your coordinates with, say, police officials.

 

Poison Center Help: The free Poison Center Help app allows users dealing with someone who has ingested poison or been exposed to a dangerous substance to quickly connect to the poison control center to find out what side effects to expect, and how to address them.

 

KidsDoc: Your pediatrician may be on speed dial, but this app could save you a few middle-of-the-night phone calls. KidsDoc allows you to input symptoms to find out what common ailment might be bugging your child. It also offers simple treatments.

Report
The faster an emergency gets reported, the sooner help can arrive. Dialing 911 is a great first step, but here are some other handy tools for sharing emergency information.
 
Neighborhood Watch Official Mobile App: The Neighborhood Watch has gone digital. With this app, you can access training videos and best practices for keeping your neighborhood safe. You can also submit details about local crimes and make sure things get reported.

 

SaferBus: This free app monitors performance of public transit and allows you to report unsafe driving, improper conditions, rowdiness, and other issues on public transportation systems.

 

iWitness Now you’re covered anywhere you go. This app allows users to report what they see while auto-tracking their position for easy reporting.

Windows 8 Enters the Final Phase Before Release

Microsoft announced Wednesday it was releasing Windows 8 to its manufacturer partners. That means it’s all done tweaking and finalizing the operating system, which is now ready to be incorporated into products.

PC makers such as Lenovo, Asus and Toshiba will certainly be happy to get their hands on the final build of Windows 8, which will let them put the final touches on the first round of PCs that will ship with the new OS when it goes on sale Oct. 26.

It’ll also let them create proper drivers and software for existing Windows 7 machines, most of which will be able to run Windows 8.

In a blog post, Microsoft’s Windows chief, Steven Sinofsky, lauded his team for the work they’ve put into Windows 8.

“Back when we first demonstrated Windows 8 in May 2011, we described it as ‘reimagining Windows, from the chipset to the experience,’ and that is what Windows 8 (and Windows RT) represents for both Microsoft and partners,” he wrote. “Together we are bringing to customers a new PC experience that readies Windows PCs for a new world of scenarios and experiences, while also preserving an industry-wide 25-year investment in Windows software.”

Sinofsky also said the most exciting innovations were “yet to come” referring to the work developers will soon begin crafting Windows 8 apps. Developers will be able to download the final build of Windows 8 on Aug. 15, and the following day (Aug. 16), business customers will be able to download the Windows 8 Enterprise edition so they can run pilot programs with it and start testing.

More than 16 million PCs participated in the pre-release testing of Windows 8, Sinofsky revealed, installing some version of the pre-release software the most participants ever for a pre-release of any software Microsoft has ever done. The most recent publicly available build, the Release Preview, was downloaded 7 million times in just eight weeks.

Windows 8 completely re-imagines the Windows to be friendly to both traditional PCs and toucscreen devices like tablets. In doing so, it borrows the minimalist design aesthetic of Windows Phone, called Metro.

Apple v. Samsung: Why the Future of Ideas Is at Stake

That distant sound you hear is Apple and Samsung slamming into each other in a San Jose courtroom like two bighorn rams vying for dominance. Apple says Samsung stole its ideas; Samsung says it had similar ideas first.

For many, it’s a simple patent case that will be won or lost based on the evidence of inspiration. Yet what’s at stake is more than the $2.5 billion Apple wants from Samsung’s hide it’s the future of innovation, and maybe even the very definition of an idea.

Apple and Samsung’s multi-billion legal battle over curves, colors and button placement is easily one of the most compelling and important patent cases in recent history. It could decide the future of Samsung’s mobile business in the U.S., at least.

The revelations coming out of the trial (and outside of it) are nothing short of stunning. Court documents and purposely leaked product plans have revealed the road to the first Apple iPhone and the Samsung’s pre-iPhone plans to make a button-free, slab-style phone.

This tit-for-tat will go on for weeks, as both sides try to prove to a jury that they alone came up with the idea for a rectangular, curved edge, all black gesture-ready smartphone device. The jurors will sit there trying to be impartial, like they’ve never owned or used a smartphone like the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S III.
Everyone knows these phones and handsets like them. Touchscreens are everywhere. Icon-based interfaces are the standard.

I worry that the argument in the jury room will quickly devolve into an iOS versus Android debate. And yet the kind of questions at stake are more about design: Who came up with the idea of a curve first? Who thought of making a phone black and button-free first?

Obviously, neither Apple nor Samsung invented the rectangular phone with curved edges or tablet-like gadgets. Touch-screen PDAs go all the way back to the 1990s. Tablets also existed, though they were pretty much useless. But these early products clearly influenced every company that has since built smartphones and tablets. How could they have not?

To know what works, you have to know what didn’t work and you also have to recognize the handful of good ideas in those failed enterprises.

Apple is seeking billions in damages because Samsung lifted its ideas. Apple is partially right. Samsung was clearly influenced by the iPhone. Samsung admitted this on day one of the trial, stating: “the iPhone was an inspiring product to everyone. Being inspired by a product is called competition. It’s not copying.”

Google Cracks Down on Deceptive Android Apps

Google sent out an email to its developer community with news that Google Play is undergoing policy changes to crack down on shady behavior in the Android market.

Google has updated developer program policy page to make the platform more secure and easier to navigate for users. The search giant also outlined the types of apps not allowed on the platform. For example, apps that disclose personal information such as credit-card and social-security numbers without authorization are not allowed.

Google is also restricting developers from using names or icons similar to existing apps, ostensibly to cut down on piracy.

“Don’t pretend to be someone else, and don’t represent that your app is authorized by or produced by another company or organization if that is not the case,” Google said on its policy page. “Products or the ads they contain also must not mimic functionality or warnings from the operating system or other applications.”

 SEE ALSO: Outlook.com Gets 1 Million Users in First 6 Hours

To ward off spam, the policy also said developers shouldn’t post repetitive content, and product descriptions should not be misleading or loaded with keywords to boost its relevancy in the store’s search results. Google noted that sending SMS, email or other messages on behalf of the user without their approval is forbidden.

“We are constantly striving to make Google Play a great community for developers and consumers,” Google said in the email. “This requires us to update our policies when we launch new features, like subscription billing, and also when we see unhealthy behavior, like deceptive app names and spammy notifications.”

Violations to any of these rules could get developers and apps kicked out of Google Play for good.

Outlook.com Gets 1 Million Users in First 6 Hours

The team behind Outlook.com revealed in a tweet that one million people signed up for the new email service in just six hours.

Microsoft unveiled its Hotmail replacement Tuesday at noon Eastern, and by dinnertime it had cracked seven digits.

That’s an impressive spike, illustrated in the chart that @Outlook attached to the tweet (shown below). However, it’s still a tiny fraction of the user base of Hotmail, which comScore pegs at about 350 million making it the most popular free email service in the world.

One of the first web-based email services, Hotmail has been around since 1996 and was acquired by Microsoft in 1997. In rebranding it as Outlook, Microsoft has integrated social networks and replaced the formerly cluttered interface with a clean layout that’s in line with the design aesthetic of Windows 8.

The label on the chart the Outlook account tweeted out says one million people signed up for the new service, and we’ve confirmed with Microsoft that the number indeed refers to account holders, not mere aliases. Outlook users can create up to five @outlook.com email aliases per year for every account.

Apple v. Samsung: Tweets from the Courtroom

It’s being called the patent trial of the century: Apple v. Samsung. Which since Samsung complained to the court is also officially known as Samsung v. Apple.

The trial, in a San Jose federal courthouse, is set to determine whether Samsung’s range of smartphones owe so much to the iPhone that they are infringing on Apple patents.

Tuesday was technically day two of the trial; day one was filled up with the interminable jury selection process, as both sides sought to find Silicon Valley residents who didn’t have a strong bias towards either Apple or Android, the operating system on Samsung phones. That’s no mean feat.

Day two was much livelier, however and featured many of the kinds of moments we’re accustomed to in TV courtroom dramas, but never expect to see in real life. Witness Samsung’s lawyer begging, for what he said was the first time in his 26-year career, to reconsider a point of law. Witness Apple and Samsung trading zingers about each others’ originality.

Stamped App Now Lets You Create Spotify and Rdio Playlists

Stamped, the recently revamped recommendations app backed by the likes of Justin Bieber and The New York Times Company, pushed out a small but useful feature Monday night.

Now, in addition to listening to songs recommended by friends in Stamped [iTunes link], you can add those songs to playlists in music players Spotify and Rdio without leaving the app.

Robby Stein, one of Stamped’s three co-founders, says the startup has “proprietary technology that finds the same song across Rdio, Spotify and iTunes that makes this possible. I don’t know of any [other] service that does this right now.”
Neither do we.

It’s one in a series of features that helps you not only discover recommendations, but act on them. See a good restaurant recommendation? Check out the menu, view photos from Instagram and book it on OpenTable. A movie? Watch a trailer in iTunes, purchase tickets through Fandango or add it to your Netflix queue. You can also purchase books via Amazon, and buy apps and MP3s in iTunes.

Not all of the integrations are as seamless as Netflix’s, Spotify’s and Rdio’s. If you want to buy a movie ticket, you’ll be sent to fandango.com in Safari. Likewise, you’ll be sent to Safari to purchase a book, and to the App Store to play a movie trailer. In an earlier interview, Stein said he hopes to deepen Stamped’s other third-party integrations in the future.

Google Delays Nexus Q Launch

Google announced on Tuesday that it is holding shipments of its Nexus Q “cloud-connect jukebox” gadget while the company “works on making it even better.” To make up for the delay, the company is sending the current model to customers who pre-ordered the device for free.

The search engine giant reportedly sent out an email informing customers who pre-ordered the device that the Nexus Q will be delayed as it undergoes improvements. Google said the news comes on the heels of consumer feedback.

“When we announced Nexus Q at Google I/O, we gave away devices to attendees for an early preview. The industrial design and hardware were met with great enthusiasm,” Google said in an email. “We also heard initial feedback from users that they want Nexus Q to do even more than it does today. In response, we have decided to postpone the consumer launch of Nexus Q while we work on making it even better.”

As a thank you to those that pre-ordered the device, Google will be waiving its $299 cost.

Google unveiled its first social streaming media player made for Google Play during its annual developer conference in San Francisco. The device streams music and entertainment from the cloud to your home and can be controlled via multiple devices. The device, which weighs in at about two pounds, was scheduled to ship in mid-July.

Apple Ramping Up Production For September iPhone Launch [REPORT]

If the latest rumors hold true, we’ll see a new iPhone come mid-September.

A report by iMore Monday indicated that the next-generation of the popular handset would be announced on Sept. 12 along with an updated iPod Nano, and that both would be hitting retail locations on Sept. 21. That rumor has since been bolstered by reports from by a number of sources, including Reuters and Bloomberg.

AllThingsD also confirmed that the event would be held the week of Sept. 9 with Wednesday Sept. 12 being the likely day of the event and took the investigation a bit further by looking into Apple’s recent prepayment for inventory components.

A recent spike in the company’s prepayment for inventory components indicates it’s ramping up for some sort of product release or releases soon.

The iPhone 4S was released on Oct. 4, 2011, making a late September or early October release based on history alone seem likely.

The huge spike in components is the highest Apple has seen in four years, which may indicate that it has something else  an iPad Mini up its sleeve in addition to a new iPhone and iPod Nano.

In typical Apple fashion, the company has been silent on what we can expect. Leaked parts for the iPhone 5, or perhaps just “iPhone” suggest that the next generation of the handset will have a larger screen, faster processor, and LTE connectivity amongst other features.

Samsung to Apple: iPhone Was Only an Inspiration

As opening statements began in the latest legal tussle over whether Samsung has unlawfully copied Apple products, Samsung summarized its argument with this surprisingly gracious zinger.

“The iPhone was an inspiring product to everyone,” the Korean company’s attorneys told a federal courtroom in San Jose Tuesday. “Being inspired by a product is called competition. it’s not copying.”

Previously, Apple attorney Harold McElhinny had argued that Samsung’s move to iPhone-like touchscreen phones was not coincidental. “Whenever a customer sees an electronic device with these characteristics, they think they are seeing an Apple product,” McElhinny said.

Apple’s lawyers also claimed that Samsung’s own internal documents would show a decision to move in a touchscreen direction. But Samsung countered that this alone would not prove Apple’s patents had been breached pointing out that Apple itself was inspired by the design decisions of Sony.

The patent trial is one of several currently underway around the world, as the two tech giants battle it out over whose patents are more relevant to their smartphones and tablets. Apple has said that it wants $2.5 billion from Samsung as part of any settlement.

Sony’s Microsoft Surface Rival Revealed in Leaked Slideshow

It looks like Sony may be giving Microsoft’s Surface tablet a run for its money. Leaked internal slides suggest the company is working on a new Xperia tablet that would have an optional keyboard cover/kickstand similar to Microsoft’s Surface.

Thinner and lighter than Sony’s Tablet S  the company’s current top-of-the-line tablet the new Xperia tablet would also reportedly come packing a Tegra 3 quad-core processor (the same chip as the one in the Google Nexus 7), Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or later, and 3G data connectivity.

Discovered by German tech site Mobiflip, the leaked internal slideshow provides a good deal of what we might be able to expect from the next-generation tablet.

Sporting “Xperia Tablet” branding, it will have a 9.4-inch TruBlack display, Bluetooth, stereo speakers, and will have an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera as well as a 1-megapixel forward-facing cam.

The tablet will also have a guest mode, allowing you to share the tablet with a guest or family member such as a child without giving that person full access to all of the apps or content stored on your tablet.

“Tentative suggested retail prices” on one slide in the presentation suggest that tablet will be available in three different sizes and at three different price points; 16GB/$449.99, 32GB/$549.99, and 64GB /$649.99. Those price points are $50 less than the iPad for each storage size.

Optional accessories for the tablet include several covers and stands, including one with a built-in keyboard as well as another with built-in speakers.

Sony has not officially announced or commented on the tablet. The company is set to attend IFA, a European electronics show next month  where it announced the Tablet S and where it might potentially reveal the tablet.

Another Apple Lawsuit: Taiwanese University Sues Over Patents

Apple is embroiled in yet another patent lawsuit  this time with a Taiwanese university.

Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University filed a patent infringement suit against Apple in a U.S. court, according to court documents. The legal battle is over Siri, the iPhone’s “intelligent” personal assistant that uses a speech recognition system. Siri helps users finish tasks using voice commands.

National Cheng Kung, which is seeking undisclosed damages, alleges that Apple is infringing on two U.S. patents that the university was granted in 2007 and 2010.

“NCKU has suffered monetary damages in an amount not yet determined, and will continue to suffer damages in the future unless Apple’s infringing activities are enjoined by this court,” the documents said. Winston O. Huff, a lawyer for the university, filed the documents Friday.

Yama Chen, the university’s legal manager, told Reuters, “We filed that lawsuit in the Texas court because it processes faster and its rulings are usually in favor of patent owners and the compensations are usually higher.”

Apple and National Cheng Kung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit is yet another in a growing number of Apple’s legal battles. Apple and Samsung are in an ongoing legal dispute over design patents. The companies are battling it out in a patent trial, which began Monday.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., banned sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, after Apple filed a motion for preliminary injunction in May, claiming the Android tablet infringes on an iPad-related patent.

Koh also granted a preliminary injunction on the sales of Samsung’s Android phone, the Galaxy Nexus.

Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology, a Chinese tech firm, filed a similar Siri-related claim against Apple in early July, according to reports.

Hulu Plus Comes to Apple TV

Good news for Apple TV owners: Hulu Plus was quietly added to the device’s list of options on Tuesday.

The service went live Tuesday morning, a Hulu rep confirmed. Apple TV currently offers streaming for Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo and Apple’s own array of movies, TV shows and podcasts. Hulu Plus costs $7.99 a month the same price as Netflix’s streaming-only service.

Though not as high-profile as the iPhone or the iPad, Apple TV has been a hit for Apple, selling 4 million units over the past fiscal year. Last quarter, Apple sold 1.3 million of the devices compared to Microsoft’s 1.1 million Xbox 360s.

Google Maps Adds Service Alerts for New York City Subways

Google announced on Tuesday it is rolling out planned service alerts for New York City’s subway system within Google Maps.

To make it easier for New Yorkers to commute and keep them posted on scheduled maintenance and delays, Google is adding information about service alerts that occur throughout the city’s 468 subway stations labeled on Google Maps.


“Since first making New York City public transit directions available in Google Maps, we’ve been working to deliver you with the most accurate and useful information about subway, bus, commuter rail, and ferry service across the greater metro area,” Csaba Garay, transit partner technology manager at Google Maps, said via its company blog. “Starting today, we’ll also be showing planned service alerts for the city’s subways, which serve more than 200 million people every year.”

Google said alerts will automatically be included in the step-by-step transit directions pointing users where to go.

“We’re regularly adding new cities and features globally and looking forward to continuing our efforts to make travel by public transportation a better experience in more than 400 regions around the world,” Garay added. “For everybody who lives in one of New York City’s five boroughs, commutes in and out every day or is visiting for business or vacation, we hope today’s update improves the ease and efficiency of your trips around the city.”