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Monday, February 14, 2011

CHART OF THE DAY: A Break Down Of The $2 Billion Virtual Goods Industry

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-virtual-goods-2011-2

In Mary Meeker's latest huge presentation on the future of technology, she includes a slide projecting the virtual goods industry to total $2 billion in the US for 2011.

In case you're wondering how the $2 billion market breaks down, she helpfully included another slide breaking down the industry. As you can see, in-game currency is the most popular way to spend real dollars on fake goods, with maps/levels the least popular.

Click here to see the rest of her presentation which is loaded with interesting charts like this.

chart of the day, virtual goods spending, feb 2011

Follow the Chart Of The Day on Twitter: @chartoftheday

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Samsung Reboots with Super-Thin, Super Sharp Galaxy S II [Smartphones]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5759220/samsung-reboots-with-super+thin-super-sharp-galaxy-s-ii

Samsung Reboots with Super-Thin, Super Sharp Galaxy S II Not that this is any surprise given the massive leak of photos and impressions that preceeded today's big Mobile World Congress event, but Samsung has officially pulled the trigger on an impressive reboot of the Galaxy S.

The unsurprisingly named Galaxy S II arrives in a thinner form factor than its predecessor at about 8.49mm thick. The thin shell hosts a large, crisp AMOLED Plus display, measuring 4.27 inches (800x480).

As for the insides, earlier reports that Samsung had opted for an NVIDIA Tegra 2 core turned out to be incorrect. Instead, they're reportedly going with their own Exynos chip, which is slated to go into production next month.

Software-wise you'll be seeing Samsung's preferred TouchWiz 4.0 stacked on top of Gingerbread. A download option using a new Game Hub feature will purportedly allow users to bypass the Android Marketplace's app size-restrictions, although that has yet to be confirmed or denied.

Expect more information on this smartphone, Samsung tablet news and a full hands-on as our own Kat Hannaford reports from the MWC throughout the day. [Engadget, Image: BGR]

10-Inch Galaxy Tab 10.1 Takes Aim at Burgeoning Tablet Market [Tablets]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5759276/10+inch-galaxy-tab-101-takes-aim-at-burgeoning-tablet-market

Aesthetic comparisons to the well-established iPad will be inevitable as the tablet market gets ever more saturated, so where the now official 10-inch Galaxy Tab 10.1 hopes to compete is on the inside. Let's take a peek.

First of all, forget "Galaxy Tab 2." Doesn't exist! The name's Galaxy Tab 10.1. So sterile! So accurate, given this guy's dimensions.

Although the Tab 10.1 is in fact a quarter pound lighter than its Apple competitor at 1.25-lbs., what's going on inside marks the biggest difference. Android's made-for-tablets Honeycomb OS and a Tegra 2 processor make this dual-core tablet go go go, while everything is presented to the user via a 10.1" WXGA TFT LCD display with 1280 x 800 resolution.

Nitty gritty specs from Samsung follow. Samsung told us in their release that they are not final and could change without warning, like New England weather or a loved one's mood on Valentine's Day:

Network HSPA+ 21Mbps 850/900/1900/2100
EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
OS Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)
Display 10.1" 1280 x 800 (WXGA) TFT
Processor 1GHz Dual Core application processor
Camera Main(Rear): 8.0-Mega Pixel Camera AF with LED Flash
Front: 2.0-Mega Pixel Camera
Video Format :MPEG4/H263/H264
Playback : 1080p FullHD Video @ 30fps
Recording : 1080p FullHD Video @ 24fps

Audio MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, OGG, MIDI, AMR-NB/WB
3.5mm Ear Jack, Stereo Speaker
Value-added Features Android Market™ for more applications and contents
Android UI / Android Browser
Google Mobile Service : Google™ Talk Video Chat, Google™ Maps, etc
Connectivity Bluetooth® technology v 2.1 + EDR
USB 2.0
WiFi 802.11 (a/b/g/n)
Sensor Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity
Memory 16GB/32GB
Size 246.2 x 170.4 x 10.9mm (599g)
Battery 6860mAh

Samsung Series 9 slides its rail-thin body through the FCC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/12/samsung-series-9-slides-its-rail-thin-body-through-the-fcc/

Remember the Samsung 9 Series laptop from CES? Of course you do, it was the seriously thin, duralumin 13-inch laptop with a new Sandy Bridge Core i5 processor and 128GB SSD. Well, as you can see from the label shot above, the .68-inch system just passed through the FCC, which means the skinny sucker should be on track to hit its February release. (Our Samsung contact told us we should be expecting a unit later in the month so we're assuming it will hit retailers around then.) The FCC filing doesn't reveal much -- it was actually submitted by Broadcom -- but the label clearly shows its 900X3A model number and the drop-down port latches on the edges. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled for more on this beauty, but it can never hurt to watch our hands-on video from CES to remember just what we're lusting after here. Video after the break!

Continue reading Samsung Series 9 slides its rail-thin body through the FCC

Samsung Series 9 slides its rail-thin body through the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Feb 2011 18:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Optimus 3D has dual-core 1GHz OMAP 4 CPU, video codecs up the wazoo

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/12/lg-optimus-3d-has-dual-core-1ghz-omap4-cpu-video-codecs-up-the/

LG's been mighty stingy with details about its 3D smartphone, but some very promising ones have just trickled out of Barcelona ahead of Mobile World Congress -- in keeping with the company's theme of doubling everything, the LG Optimus 3D will ship with a dual-core 1GHz TI OMAP 4 chip. Considering that we've seen that particular SOC drive three screens, we're guessing that a single 4.3-inch stereo display (yes, 4.3-inch is confirmed) will be old hat, and we've certainly seen the included PowerVR SGX540 graphics throw around some weight in many a Galaxy S. Raw specs aside, though, the Optimus 3D has a feature that we've been waiting on in Android for a while: LG says it will have "four times more video decoders than competing designs." Admittedly, that probably means it will still only recognize about eight video formats in total, but as long as we can play the vast majority of our anime music video library without re-encoding the lot, we'll promise to only grumble occasionally. Deal? PR after the break.

Gallery: LG Optimus 3D has dual-core 1GHz OMAP 4 CPU, video codecs up the wazoo