Walmart enters Into social media

Evernote, LinkedIn, Mint….Walmart? The retail giant is now among Mountain View’s leading startup companies following its purchase of Kosmix, the company behind real-time Twitter filter site TweetBeat, medical search engine RightHealth, and topic-specific engine Kosmix. The company has now been transformed into Walmart’s @WalmartLabs division, which aims to create technologies and businesses around social and mobile commerce.Kosmix founders Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, as well as the entire Kosmix team, are expected to stay on-board as part of the newly formed @WalmartLabs. Walmart hopes this division will better integrate the shopping experience between bricks and mortar stores and e-commerce.

“The world of social media is exploding and for millions of consumers their social connections matter hugely in their daily lives,” said Anand Rajaraman, co-founder of Kosmix. “Our work has focused on developing a social genome platform that captures the connections between people, places, topics, products and events as expressed through social media — be it a feed, a tweet or a post. We are thrilled to join one of the world’s largest companies and combine our work with

Rumors: Samsung Wants To Buy WebOS, Not HP's PC Business

Samsung has hired HP's former president of PSG marketing Raymond Wah to run its PC business and is considering a purchase of WebOS, according to a DigiTimes report.Last week, Samsung denied rumors that it wanted to buy HP's PC business. This new report from DigiTimes speculates Samsung is going after WebOS instead.

The future of WebOS is in limbo. HP says it is still considering using the OS to power PCs. It's also possible HP will license WebOS to other manufacturers.But the most likely scenario is that HP will sell off WebOS altogether.WebOS could be a lot more attractive to Samsung now that Google owns Motorola. Since it's very likely Motorola will get first dibs on Google's Android updates and new features, Samsung could be looking for an alternative OS.

iPhone 5 May Have Metal Back and Sub-4-inch Display : Reports

The still-unacknowledged iPhone 5, expected to make its debut in October, is now expected to sport a metal back instead of glass, and its screen size will not exceed 4 inches, contrary to earlier reports.Instead, the next iPhone will have a display size between 3.5 and 3.7 inches -- the current model has a 3.5-inch display -- and may also have a thinner bezel along the sides of the device to make the screen look larger than it actually is. 

Other than those changes, the next iPhone is not expected to be remarkably different from the iPhone 4, sources inside Apple's supply chain have reportedly told Taiwan-based DigiTimes. Shrinking Screens Suggestions the next iPhone would have a 4-inch screen have been circulating for some time. In February, DigiTimes claimed the iPhone 5 would have a 4-inch screen, and a similar report followed a month later in the China Times. DigiTimes is apparently backing off its original report, and now says the next iPhone's display will not be much larger than the usual 3.5 inches.

Samsung postpones Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia VXK7Q4A54KJD

The patent war between Samsung and Apple continues. Today, Samsung plans a countersuit and will delay the Australian release of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 until the end of September.
Samsung’s ongoing legal war with Apple will mean more delays for its devices in Australia. Today, the electronics maker revealed that it plans to delay the Galaxy Tab 10.1′s Australian release until at least Sept. 26, reports ZDNet. In addition, the Samsung will countersue Apple Australia, alleging that the iPad and iPhone violate several, perhaps dozens, of Samsung’s patents. Apple alleges that the Galaxy Tab violates 10 of its patents.

“Our cross claim will include a cross claim of infringement for a number of our patents that have been infringed by their iPad,” said barrister David Catterns to Justice Annabelle Bennett today.
Apple has been aggressively, and successfully, attempting to block the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in regions around the world. Australia and Germany are the big battlefields at this time.

BlackBerry Torch 9810 launched by RIM in India

Canadian Smartphone maker Research In Motion (RIM) successfully announced the launch of BlackBerry Torch 9810. This smartphone stands to be the successor of classic slider BlackBerry Torch 9800. The company gave an official push much late than the device actually entered the market last week.

BlackBerry Torch 9810 popularly known as BlackBerry Torch 2 comes loaded with BlackBerry OS 7. The device brings the combination of touch functionality and QWERTY keypad. The UI houses a list of widgets on the home screen and brings a way to easy navigation. BlackBerry 9810 packed with 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 4X zoom capabilities. The camera can capture the magical moments in High definition 720p mode at an instant with a zero lag time. The device powered with 1.2 Ghz processor and coupled with 768 MB RAM and 8GB internal memory. This makes the device a instant "pick me" phone. The browser supports the latest HTML 5 pages and allows multi-tasking.

BlackBerry Torch 2 is a 3G enabled device with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA speeds. The device allows the user to enjoy browsing and watch videos with a smoother graphics. The device comes loaded with apps with free of charge and keeps you engaged for more time. Like the traditional BlackBerry smart phones, this device also comes with powerful document editing features and BlackBerry Messenger.

Google+ Isn't Just A Social Network, It's An "Identity Service" : Eric Schmidt

Google+ is not just the search giant's effort to take on Facebook: it's primarily an "identity service" that Google will use to help build other services.That's according to Google chairman Eric Schmidt, who was explaining why Google+ is requiring users to stick with their real names.
As Fred Wilson points out, Schimdt's statement raises the question of who Google+ is really for you, or Google?

Lots of companies have tried to establish an identity system for the Web. The idea is that if users have a single trusted identity, it could ease their interactions offline and online -- imagine never having to sign in to get your email or make an online purchase, for instance. Microsoft made an effort in the late 1990s with Passport, but its ambitions were thwarted by privacy advocates and the FTC. Facebook's social graph is another effort.

Before Google+, your Google identity was really only used on Google sites. But with Google+ and the +1 button, that identity system can extend across the Web -- if you're signed in to Google+ and you +1 a particular Web site, that information can be tracked. That helps Google provide more personalized services (like search results) for you, but could also help with ad targeting.Schmidt also said that Google believes the Internet will work better if people know that you're a real person rather than a fake person or a dog.

Kindle 3G – Features and Hacks

Many people believe that the Kindle is a simple e-reader which retrieves its books from Amazon.com. However many people are not aware of the unique features that this simple device offers.On top of just being able to download books and magazines, this device can actually browse the internet. No it can’t handle video’s or any extensive web elements, but simple websites with mostly text on them are easily pulled up. Googling is a snap as you browse about on FREE 3G internet, and other sites work great as well.Want to find out when the next movie is playing, or search for a great restaurant? Check on your Kindle! Many people underestimate the 3G capabilities of the Kindle and would be pleasantly surprised to see that it can do most of the functions that smart phones can without having to pay the monthly bills associated with them.

What Kindle Should I purchase?
You will see that there is a slight price gap between the Kindle 3G with ‘special offers’ and one without. These special offers are actually ads that appear when your Kindle is not powered on, and for some people they can be quite annoying. If you want to save money, then purchasing the Kindle 3G with special offers is the way to go especially since there is a hack that can remove those pesky ads (as seen below). If you don’t want to deal with jail breaking your Kindle, then purchase the one without ads and save yourself the headache.

What else can my Kindle do?
If free 3G internet access and unlimited e-books/magazines wasn’t enough, then you can satisfy your greedy appetites by indulging in the Kindle’s other features. For one, this e-reader has an incredibly long battery. It’s advertised to have a battery life of two months, but really the battery lasts for only a few weeks with continuous use, which is still a significant amount of time for any wireless device.Another unique feature is that you can store/play music files.