RPad.TV

Android Honeycomb and the iOS Conundrum

Here’s a video from Google’s Android Honeycomb presser. Honeycomb is the first version of Google Android that was designed for tablet use. I wasn’t expecting much going into the press conference, so I was surprised by how excited Honeycomb made me. The widget, notification, and Gmail features have me curious about future Android tablets…which has left me with a bit of a conundrum.

You see, I was dead set on going with an Android phone and an iPad 2 in 2011. I need to use both operating systems so that I can write about them and play games on both platforms. Prior to yesterday’s presser, I was completely uninterested in Android tablets. Unfairly, I think my disinterest was derived from being mostly unimpressed with the Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet (which uses a version of Android that Google admits was never designed for tablet use).

My genuine interest in Honeycomb has me thinking about going with an iPhone 4/5 and an Android Honeycomb tablet. This annoys me because I had a nice plan in my head and Google threw a wrench in it. I’ll wait until Apple’s iPad 2 press conference — which should happen this month — before I make any decisions.

If you have a chance, check out the Honeycomb presser and let me know if there are any features that interest you.

Free Unlimited Streaming for Amazon Prime Customers?

Since 2010, it has been rumored that Amazon will offer free unlimited video streaming to its Amazon Prime customers. If you’re not familiar with Prime, it offers free two-day shipping and $3.99 next-day shipping on most Amazon purchases for an annual fee of $79. Recently, Engadget discovered some evidence that showed the rumor could pan out soon.

Netflix is, by far, the most popular video streaming service in America. Amazon could challenge Netflix in the streaming space with this rumored deal. It would be cheaper than a yearly Netflix subscription and users would get additional value from the shipping services. While Amazon would arguably lose money on the streaming service, the idea is that it would more than make up for it when customers purchase physical goods.

I’ve been an Amazon Prime customer since the program’s inception and I absolutely love it. That said, it also makes me spend more money than I probably should since I know that my items will arrive quickly and I want to maximize the value of my subscription. Since money is a bit tight, I’ve considered dropping Prime in 2011, but the prospect of free video streaming will probably make me hang onto the service.

For gamers, the choice is especially interesting. Amazon has several great deals on games and often ships new titles to Prime customers so that they arrive on launch day. However, Netflix is available on all three current-gen consoles. Amazon Video on Demand is available on TiVo, PC, certain Sony Bravia televisions, and select Panasonic Viera models. Though I suppose using an Xbox 360 as a Windows Media Extender would allow for console playback. The point being that Netflix has direct ways to watch content on consoles, while Amazon does not (yet).

I’d love to hear what you think of this rumor. Would you subscribe to Amazon Prime if it included unlimited video streaming? Also, thanks to RPadholic tokz_21 for reminding to write about this rumor.

Source

Airplane Movie Review Addendum: The Town

I can’t believe I forgot to include The Town in my recent batch of airplane movie reviews! The omission had everything to do with jet lag and nothing to do with the quality of this film. Despite the positive reviews I heard from friends, I had a hard time believing that a movie directed by, co-written by, and starring Ben Affleck could be any good. Don’t get me wrong, I loved him in numerous Kevin Smith movies and in Good Will Hunting, but most of his other movies sucked (or he sucked in them). The Town is shockingly good.

The movie is a nice mix of drama, action, and Boston accents. It’s completely believable that a small section of Boston (Charlestown) has produced numerous bank robbers because…well, that’s what I think Red Sox fans are like (I’m kidding). The Town is a suspenseful and enjoyable crime drama. The writing is sharp and Ben Affleck is actually charming in the movie.

Hmmm, perhaps Affleck is only good when his lines are written by Kevin Smith or when he uses a Boston accent.

Has Sting Signed with the WWE for WrestleMania XXVII?

The NY Daily News has reported a rumor that Sting (Steve Borden) has signed a one-year contract with the WWE. The rumor coincides with WWE promos showing a mystery man that will make his debut on February 21, 2011. The dirt sheets have speculated that 2/21/11 will be the return of The Undertaker or Triple H, but Sting would be an interesting choice that makes a certain amount of sense.

Sting is one of the few NWA/WCW stars that has never wrestled for the WWE. This year’s WrestleMania takes place in Atlanta, GA — a huge WCW town. The WWE also owns the rights to Sting’s best matches. The speculation is that Sting will return for a brief program with The Undertaker, promote a best of Sting DVD, and be inducted into the WWE hall of fame.

I used to be a huge Sting mark back in the day. I loved the neon-wearing, rat-tail version of Sting. His matches with Ric Flair were outstanding. (Though to be fair, anyone could have an outstanding match with Flair in those days.) I never warmed up to the “Crow” version of Sting and the TNA version was a shell of his former self. While he’s definitely limited and not what he used to be, I believe that The Undertaker could help him pull off one more excellent match.

Although this rumor makes sense on paper, I’m going to wait for more information before I start buying into it. Part of it is that I would love for Sting to have one last run and would love for the WWE to roll out the red carpet for him. If I started believing the rumor and it didn’t pan out, I’d be disappointed. Part of it is that a lot of Sting’s recent work in TNA seemed sloppy — the result of a worker that’s unmotivated and disinterested. Perhaps a final run on the big stage combined with money from DVD sales will motivate Steve Borden to turn back the clock and become the Stinger of old.

What do you think of this rumor? Does the prospect of Sting in the WWE excite you? Have any of you seen his pre-Crow matches?

Source

Google Unveils New Android Market Web Site with Push

Google has launched an updated version of the Android Market web site…and it’s so much better than the old one. Previously, Android Market’s web presence was minimal, with a limited amount of information on a very small number of titles. The new site is eons better, with a wealth of information and useful new features.

The coolest thing about the new Android Market site is that it allows you to purchase apps on the web and push them directly to your phone. Reading information and user reviews about apps is more comfortable on a computer, but once you make a purchasing decision on your PC, the app starts downloading to your phone. Being able to push purchases is a slick and powerful feature.

One of the big knocks against Android is that its users don’t buy nearly as many apps as their iOS counterparts. The new Android Market makes content easier to discover and purchase. This should give the Android Market a nice boost, which in turn will help the OS appeal to developers.

I’m going to play with the new Android Market throughout the day and post some updates in the comments section. As of this writing, I can only browse content. The site won’t allow me to sign in so that I can purchase and install apps. Hopefully this gets fixed later today.

Batman Arkham City Screens

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has released a handful of screens for highly anticipated Batman: Arkham City. The follow-up to arguably the best comic-book videogame of all time, Arkham City has tremendous shoes to fill. While screenshots only tell part of the story, at the very least Arkham City should make Batman look better than ever! Check it out.

[nggallery id=41]

How Kinect Rescued a Company From Demonic Hell

In case you didn’t know, Microsoft has sold millions of units of Kinect for Xbox 360. Did you also know that Kinect sales have brought a Silicon Valley company back from the dead? GigaOm’s Om Malik wrote an excellent article about Kinect reversing the fortunes of JDSU. Here’s an excerpt:

The success of Kinect, however, is having a bigger impact on a smaller company, which has been all but forgotten for nearly a decade — JDSU. The Milpitas, Calif-based company makes all sort of gear – from testing equipment to optical components.

It is mostly infamous for being one of the biggest companies of telecom bubble that plunged from heavenly heights straight into demonic hell. It has merged, scrimped, scavenged and retreated through the past decade. Things aren’t peachy just yet, but it seems there is some hope for the company — thanks to the growing popularity of gesture technology.

It’s nice to know that the hundreds of millions of dollars Microsoft has spent to sell millions of Kinect units has also helped bring a .com casualty back from the dead.

Check out Om’s article if you have a chance. It’s a great read from a great site…even if he did name if after himself. Who does that?!? Oh wait….

Source

January Housekeeping

Last month was surprisingly strong for the site. I was expecting a big dip from an excellent November and December, but it didn’t pan out that way. Let’s break it down.

– Traffic in January 2011 was up almost 50 percent from January 2010. Thanks for all the visits and comments! My Sony NGP stories performed really well, which is nice since that’s some of the best writing I’ve done for the site in months.

– Amazon sales held steady too. I was expecting a huge drop-off from the holiday shopping season. Thankfully two of you bought consoles in January. Ha! I can’t count on you guys and dolls to buy consoles every month, but I appreciate all the purchases you make through my site. With some luck, February won’t be too big a drop-off from January.

– February should kick off an interesting few months for the site. I’ll be attending DICE, GDC, and PAX East. I’m hoping to serve up some fun video content from these events. I’ll be telling you about my DICE interviews shortly. I have some cool people lined up and hope to confirm a few more this week.

– I was wondering how you guys get to the site. Do you just have it bookmarked? Do you use the site’s RSS feed to get updates? Maybe it’s a channel on your iGoogle page? Please let me know, as there are some things that I might tweak depending on your usage habits.

Coffee Talk #296: Where Do You Buy Your Music?

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, 20+ hours on an airplane in two days becoming a cold, where you’d go if you had a time machine, or your favorite element, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Google is holding a press conference today and one of the strong rumors is that it will finally reveal more details on Google Music. The company’s music service will differ from Amazon’s MP3 store and Apple iTunes in that it will store music on the cloud. Last year at Google I/O, the company showed some cool functionality that allowed you to stream music from your desktop to your phone; this could be part of the rumored service too.

The rumor made me wonder about your music purchasing habits? Where do you buy your music from? Do you still buy physical CDs from a store? Do you buy mostly through iTunes or Amazon (and really, you should buy all your MP3s from Amazon, *snicker*). Perhaps you don’t “buy” music at all and resort to…Captain Jack Sparrow behavior. Kindly take today’s Coffee Talk poll and let me know (please)!

[poll id=”100″]

MLB The Show Trailer Has Me Psyched for Baseball

I can’t wait for baseball season to start. In a few weeks, pitchers and catchers will report to spring training. I just feel better about the world when MLB baseball is being played. This trailer for MLB 11 The Show has me even more psyched for this season. Yeah, my Yankees aren’t as stacked as they usually are, but hopefully a strong bullpen, some good defense, and a surprise fifth starter (Freddy Garcia, Mark Prior) will make the season awesome. At the very least, I’ll be able to trounce the league in MLB 11 The Show.

Who’s psyched for a new MLB season? Any takers for the RPad.tv Fantasy Baseball Invitational?