First e-reader to come with Google eBooks connectivity to hit the US shelves this Sunday

This Sunday the US citizens will witness the birth of yet another eBook ecosystem. The iriver Story HD is the first e-reader integrating direct Wi-Fi access to Google’s eBooks open platform and it’s bound for a Sunday release over at Target stores all over the country.

The iriver Story HD, will retail for $139.99 and will offer over-the-air (Wi-Fi) access to hundreds of thousands of Google eBooks for sale and more than 3 million for free. As long as you are hooked up to a Wi-Fi network you will be able to browse, buy and read Google eBooks without the need for a computer for uploading them to the device.

A really cool feature lets you store your personal ebooks library in the cloud – picking up where you left off in any ebook you’re reading as you move from laptop to smartphone to e-reader to tablet – something Amazon Kindle has been offering for a while via their proprietary Whispersync tech.

According to Google, its eBooks platform was designed to be open to all publishers, retailers and manufacturers. This means that there is a good chance many will follow iriver in releasing a Google-powered e-reader.

Specs-wise, the iriver Story HD is on par with the pricing of the competing basic e-readers on the US market – the Kindle, the Kobo, and the Nook and even bests Sony. But we are yet to see what its specs will turn out (not published yet) and whether the slow page refresh rates have received a boost since the original iriver Story. The addition of touchscreen functionality wouldn’t hurt either.

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Microsoft demands royalties for every Samsung droid made

Microsoft is demanding Samsung to cash in $15 for every Android phone sold to date on the base of using several of Microsoft's patents in these devices. HTC as the first company to give in to Microsoft claims and Samsung is now next.

We bet you’re wondering what is actually infringing Microsoft patents in the Android OS and why Microsoft is not trying to get that money from Google.

Well, Microsoft believes the Linux-based operating systems are infringing its intellectual property in some way and Android OS is a Linux-based one. We are sure Microsoft has a well prepared case about what the Linux kernel infringement is, but we are not going to dig in there.

But why not sue Google then? The question perhaps has a very simple answer - Google is not makin any money from the distribution of the Android OS - it's the device manufacturers that make a profit out of it.

HTC obviously didn't have objection to these claims and were happy to sign a deal and pay $5 for each of their Android-based phones.

According to industry officials, Samsung is going to try negotiating a lower $10 fee in exchange for some kind of alliance between the two giants.

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Project Rimino concept pushes the boundaries of mobile user interface design as we know it [VIDEO]

You don’t offten see a mobile concept as elaborate as this one. The Rimini UI/device combo is a refreshing breeze in the current attrition warefare led by the major mobile OS’s. Though the concept will hardly see daylight in a real product, it is evident a lot of thought has went into creating this interface system that’s unlike any other. Meet the Project Rimino.

Created by designer Amid Moradganjeh as part of his Master’s Thesis, the Project Rimino describes a minimalist mobile device that reacts to human interaction more intuitively than anything I’ve seen before.

Rimino escapes the application-driven structure and instead represents a task or goal oriented system that presents the most relevant tasks and options to the user based on the content captured with the device or the user input. Speaking of which, the Project Rimino imaginary device presents a wealth of new input approaches and methods such as:

• writing on the screen, writing with the device itself, scribbling next to the device
• blowing
• scratching
• shadowing the device with a hand
• twisting
• pulling and stretching
• knocking, poking and kissing
• gestures in front of the screen

Those are further aided by the interactive “lively pad” on the back of the device, which will make the phone feel as alive by regulating its own temperature, texture, force feedback, moisture, creating air flow, and even smell.

Several of the Rimino devices can be stacked together to form a bigger screen and these devices will be more than happy to connect to your other computers in a natural way via simple gestures, turning the device into a remote or a pointer or simply helping your phone text input with the computer keyboard.

You should really watch the video below to get the idea.

The Project Rimino has created a phone that’s smarter than most smartphones of today are. I doubt that we will be seeing many of those implemented anytime soon, but as the author concludes, the Future of computing is mobile… I totally agree on that part and thinking out of the box is the way to go.

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Britney Spears Femme Fatale

Britney Spears is pop music's stealth avant-gardist. For years, critics have dismissed her as a cipher with a wisp of a voice. But from the minute she burst on the scene — heralded by the keyboard power chords of ". . . Baby One More Time" — her music has steered bubblegum into weirder, woollier territory. "Toxic" was a mélange of Bollywood and spy-movie guitar; "Piece of Me" was an essay on 21st-century tabloid infamy crooned over 22nd-century club rhythms. Then there's this year's "Hold It Against Me," which dissolves into a furious dubstep breakdown — easily the most assaultive beat on the Hot 100 right now.

Femme Fatale may be Britney's best album; certainly it's her strangest. Conceptually it's straightforward: a party record packed with sex and sadness. Max Martin and Dr. Luke, the world's two biggest hitmakers, are responsible for seven of 12 songs: big melodies and bigger Eurodisco thumps. But other producers go nuts, tossing the kitchen sink at Britney. The Bloodshy-helmed "How I Roll" is sputtering, oddly beautiful techno. In "Big Fat Bass," Will.i.am turns Britney into a cyborg obsessed with low-end. ("The bass is getting bigger!" she exults.) On nearly every track, Britney's voice is twisted, shredded, processed, roboticized. Maybe this is because she doesn't have much of a voice; it's certainly because she, more than almost any other pop diva, is simply game. Femme fatale? Not so much. But say this for Britney: She's an adventuress.

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Nokia Beta Labs introduces the Nokia 3D World Gaze augmented reality app for Symbian

Symbian users with a thing for augmented reality apps should definitely check this out. The developers from Nokia Beta Labs have just announced the public availability of the 3D World Glaze app.

The Symbian app gives you a new kind of viewpoint to the world, allowing you to see through the surface (and insides) of the planet all the way to the other side. In addition to geographical features such as continents in their real physical locations, Nokia 3D World Gaze allows you to see geotagged media, day and night regions, current location of the Sun, and other content from locations around the world.

Check it out on video:

If you are sold, you can follow this link to download the application and take it for a spin. Creating an account (if you don’t already have one) is required though. Also, the app is still in beta so some bugs and instability are to be expected.

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Windows Phone 7 Foursquare app re-leased...

Bummed about the myriad issues surrounding the original Foursquare app for Windows Phone 7? The troublesome program was pulled due to lacking features and a rather sub-par user experience, leaving mayors everywhere unable to verify their credentials for hard-earned discounts. Well fret no more, friends. A new version of the mobile check-in application has been released, showing off a retooled interface that takes full advantage of Microsoft's panoramic UI. Among other features are live tile, tap-and-hold check-in, and a map that shows friends' check-ins alongside nearby specials. Version 2.0, as it's being called, is now available in the Windows Phone Marketplace -- your Twitter followers have probably missed all of your Taco Bell Fourthmeal check-ins anyway.

Galaxy S II breaks Samsung's records, sells 3 million in 55 days

Unless you were hanging out with the sherpas in the Himalayas you probably must have heard a lot about the Samsung Galaxy S II. To say it was well-received would be an understatement as almost everyone we knew had already got one or was planning on getting one. But now we have the official figures from Samsung and we know just how well they did. Unsurprisingly, they did very well.

The Galaxy S II went on to break Samsung’s own record and sold over three million units in the 55 days since launch. That’s approximately 50,000 phones a day. According to Samsung, most of these phones were consumed within the European markets.
If you think these figures aren’t all that impressive, you should know that the Galaxy S II is yet to go on sale in the US. Had it been an international launch, the figures would have been much higher. But even at the rate at which it is currently going, it won’t take long for it to break the 10 million record set by Galaxy S.