Amazon Launches $139 Wi-Fi Kindle

Amazon has launched a $139 Wi-Fi-only Kindle, hoping to stay ahead of competitors by luring customers with low-priced e-readers that the online retail is betting will drive digital book sales.

Amazon on Thursday also introduced the third generation of the original Kindle, which has Wi-Fi and 3G wireless technologies. The latter makes it possible to buy digital books from Amazon and download them in less than a minute. Amazon kept the price for the device at $189.

Both Kindles are about $10 less than comparable e-readers from rivals Barnes & Noble, Borders and about $30 less than Sony's device, excluding the $25 e-book gift card Sony gives with each purchase.

Besides lower prices, the latest Kindles have several improvements over previous generations. While the size of the screen remains six inches diagonally, the display is based on manufacturer E Ink's latest technology, which offers a contrast ratio about 50% greater. While the screen only displays black-and-white, its high resolution makes it possible to read text even in direct sunlight, an advantage over the LCD displays used in Apple's iPad and smartphones.

In addition, Amazon has made the Kindle 21% smaller through a sleeker design and has reduced the weight by 15% to 8.7 ounces. The latest models have a battery life of a month and twice the storage, which is enough to carry up to 3,500 digital books.

While Amazon has prepped the latest Kindles as stiffer competitors, the retailer won't be able to start shipping the e-readers until Aug. 27. Amazon suspended shipments on Wednesday, but is taking pre-orders.

Nevertheless, Amazon is making the Kindle available in time for the back-to-school shopping season. The retailer is also pressuring competitors to lower prices, as the industry moves closer to offering devices possible as low as under $100, which analysts say would be low enough to be a compulsive buy for consumers.

Amazon's latest releases reflect an industry shift toward making money on the sales of e-books instead of the e-readers, since the lower prices are meant to get the devices in the hands of potential book buyers.

This strategy is apparently working for Amazon. the company this month announced that unit sales of e-books surpassed that of hardcover books. On Wednesday, Amazon said Swedish author Stieg Larsson has become the first writer to sell more than 1 million digital books on Amazon. Larsson is the author of the bestselling "Millennium Trilogy."

The growth rate of e-books sales for Amazon has been impressive, given that digital books overtook hardcover books in less than three years. Amazon has been selling hardcover books for 15 years.

However, competition could get tougher, not just from other e-readers, but also from the emerging category of tablet-style computers, such as the iPad. While the Apple computer starts at more than $300 more than the cheapest Kindle, it does considerably more besides acting as an e-reader. The device also surfs the Web, accesses e-mail and plays video, music and games.

Netgear introduces new Push 2TV wireless media player

Netgear has introduced new Push 2TV wireless media player and it is based on Intel’s Wireless Display Technology. This device is very much useful to wirelessly transmit HD videos from laptop and then to play on TV screens. You can watch a movie with your family in the living room over HD television through your laptop,. Netgear has not announced prices of the device so far.

A portable device, the Push2TV PVT-1000 is to be hooked to your HD TV via HDMI cable or Composite. This device will let you stream photos and videos with HD quality to the larger screen installing it on your compatible laptop. The only restriction is that it functions on Intel based laptop only. This means you can not use it on older laptops.

Intel showed its new Wireless Display technology at the Consumer Electronics Show 2010. This technology uses an adapter to bring content from laptop to TV. Intel WiDi technology needs Intel Core i7-620M, Core i3 or Core i5 based laptop with 64-bit Windows 7 OS. Certain specific modules are also needed on the laptop to get the Intel WiDi thing functioning.

PC/smartphone makers mimicking Apple; working on tablet computers

With the exemplary growth of Apple’s portfolio - from the Mac to the iPod, and now to an enviable bevy of successful devices including the iPhone and the iPad -, PC/smartphone makers are mimicking the company and working on tablet computers.

With the iPad emerging as a game-changing device – a fact that is evident from the continual selling out of the device from the store shelves -, analysts are reporting that the sales of the iPad and other similar tablets are bound to witness a substantial leap next year; probably giving a blow to the laptop sales.

Essentially a media device, the 10-inch iPad chiefly boasts a PC-like functionality, though it neither features Windows nor Intel processor.

The astounding success of the iPad has attracted other PC-makers to the tablet arena – with PC giant Dell already having released its Streak tablet, which is powered by Google’s Android operating system and a Qualcomm ARM processor.

Another bigwig PC-maker embarking on the tablet computer route is Hewlett-Packard (HP), which is coming up with its highly-awaited ‘PalmPad’ tablet/slate device – basically Palm’s version of the iPad, sans a PC operating system.

Meanwhile, smartphone makers like Research In Motion (RIM) and Motorola are also supposedly having a go at the tablet platform. Though details about the rumored RIM tablet have yet to come by; Motorola’s tablet – which will use software and silicon similar to the one used in the recently-released Droid X handset - is likely to launch later this year.

Seagate Announces Momentus XT Solid State Drive

Seagate today announced it is now shipping its Momentus XT, touting it as the world’s fastest 2.5-inch laptop PC hard drive to distribution channels, VARs and system builders, in India. Combining SSD-like performance with the massive capacity and much lower cost of HDDs, the Momentus XT drive features Adaptive Memory – a new technology from Seagate that learns and optimizes the drive’s performance to each user by moving frequently used information into the flash memory for faster access. The Momentus XT solid state hybrid drive boots up to 100 percent faster than traditional 5400RPM drives, the mainstream spin speed for laptop PCs. Adaptive Memory technology uses algorithms designed to learn and anticipate the users’ needs.

In India, the Momentus XT drive is now shipping in capacities of 250GB, 320GB and 500GB at MSRPs of Rs 6,800, Rs 7,400 and Rs 8,100 respectively.