Google Acquires Restaurant Rating Service Zagat

Tech giant Google has announced it will acquire the highly-regarded travel and food rating service Zagat.

According to a post on the official Google blog, the company will provide access to Google Maps and search to Zagat services as well as use Zagat's reviews and other content to beef up their local offerings.

"With Zagat, we gain a world-class team that has more experience in consumer based-surveys, recommendations and reviews than anyone else in the industry," says Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of Local, Maps and Location Services, in the post.

Zagat was founded in 1979, and has grown to become one of the most trusted resources for reviews on restaurants, hotels and other attractions.

"The merger of our resources, expertise and platforms with those of Google will give us the opportunity to greatly expand," reads a statement from Zagat co-founders Nina and Tim Zagat. "We have spent enough time with Google senior management to know that they fully share our belief in user-generated content, and our commitment to accuracy and fairness in providing consumers with the information necessary to make smart decisions about where to eat, travel and shop."

Along with Maps, Google also offers the social-based Places where users can rate and share businesses.

BlackBerry PlayBook Sale: Prices Crash by $150

Best Buy has again taken the lead for a new BlackBerry PlayBook sale, dropping prices by $150 on the 64GB model! After the HP Touchpad sale, it seems tablets are not selling as expected and stock inventories are rising, while Apple iPad stays the favorite.
BlackBerry PlayBook Sale

Best Buy Prices reveal that BlackBerry PlayBook 16GB sells for $449 ($50 discount) while 64GB tablet sells for $549 ($150 discount)

blackberry playbook sale


Of course this is over 20% off, but still does not compare to the $99 HP Touchpad sales. Blackberry Playbook on Amazon is still selling for the usual high prices.

Compare that to the Apple iPad which sells the 64GB model for $699 or the 32GB for $599, and you now both the Blackberry Playbook models are $150 cheaper than iPad! Will you buy the BlackBerry PlayBook at this price?

Samsung Unveils Galaxy Tab 7.7 Android Honeycomb Tablet

New 7-inch Honeycomb tablet is first with A high-resolution Super AMOLED Plus display.

New 7-inch Honeycomb tablet is first with A high-resolution Super AMOLED Plus display.

Samsung today launched the successor to its original Galaxy Tab tablet, one year after first showing off the 7-inch Galaxy Tab at last year’s IFA trade show in Berlin. That Samsung would refresh that initial model, and bring its naming convention more in line with the other tablets in the company’s lineup (the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 8.9) was predictable. That Samsung would include a Super AMOLED Plus display on such a large screen was less of a given, but no less welcome.

A year ago, some observers had theorized that Samsung might include an AMOLED display on its first Galaxy Tab. But the company didn't show off its 7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display technology until November 2010. The panels—actually 7.7 inches—went into mass production in August 2011, so the use of Super AMOLED Plus makes total sense for the next-generation 7-inch-class Tab.

The display brings the benefits of Super AMOLED Plus (bright display, vibrant colors) together with a sharp resolution—1280 by 800 pixels. That makes it the highest-resolution display on a tablet we’ve seen. So far.

The Tab’s introduction today, as with the Samsung Note, was a worldwide unveiling. As of now, according to Samsung, there are no plans for it to come to the U.S. market. That said, fall CTIA isn’t far away—and I fully expect we will have news coming from Samsung about Tab 7.7’s U.S. availability just in time for the final holiday shopping crunch.

The Tab 7.7 packs a 1.4GHz dual-core processor (no word on the type of CPU) and Android 3.2v Honeycomb (not clear what the “v” stands for on the spec sheet, though this does include Samsung’s TouchWiz UX interface). Like Samsung’s other Galaxy Tab introductions this year, the 7.7 distinguishes itself with its slim and sleek design. The Tab 7.7 measures 7.89 millimeters thin, or 0.31 inch, practically two-tenths of an inch less than the original Galaxy Tab’s depth.

The new model is lighter, too: It weighs only 335 grams (0.75 pound), which shaves a full tenth of a pound off the weight of last year’s model, and makes this tablet one of the lightest on the market. That weight also helps to make this device the first tablet to seriously begin to close the gap between tablets and dedicated e-readers with E Ink displays. Granted, e-readers now hover around the half-pound mark, but the Tab 7.7’s progress in shedding weight is noteworthy, nonetheless.

Another less touted, but notable inclusion: Universal Remote Control functionality, so you can control your home entertainment system components directly from the tablet. (Presumably this capability uses a built-in IR blaster, but that wasn’t stated on the available spec information.) After trying out a URC on the new Sony Tablet S, I’m convinced this will be one of the must-have features for a tablet going forward.

The connectivity options in this model are strong. The Tab 7.7 supports HSPA+ 21mbps networks, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands), and Wi-Fi Channel Bonding for improved Wi-Fi performance. As announced in this worldwide version, the Tab 7.7, like the original Tab, supports voice calls. Assuming the 7.7 comes stateside, though, I would expect we’d lose the voice capability, just as we did on the original Tab. (Memo to U.S. carriers: Some consumers actually want their tablet to be capable of acting as their phone, too.)

Samsung says the Tab 7.7’s 5100 mAh battery will provide up to 10 hours of video playback.

The unit will come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities, with a microSD card slot on board for up to 32GB of files. The cautious language of Samsung’s press release indicates a dangerous trend forming, though. The company specifies the microSD card slot is for “direct media files transfer” only, something that Sony did with its Tablet S as well. I don’t like this trend one bit: Consumers are used to card slots supplementing their storage, not being used solely as a transfer mechanism.

Clearly, with this announcement, as well as the recent release of the Acer Iconia A100 and others, the 7-inch-tablet market has a new lease on life. Now all we need is Samsung’s release timing and pricing, which I expect we’ll hear more about by October.

Wacom’s Inkling Captures What You Draw On Paper Digitally

Wacom has announced a pretty amazing product today, the Inkling.

Wacom has announced a pretty amazing product today, the Inkling. This so-called Digital Sketch Pen allows you to capture whatever you draw or write on a sketchbook or any kind of paper in digital form, “stroke by stroke”. Just insert a sheet of paper or a notebook into the receiver, use the Inkling Digital Pen and transfer your works to your computer to refine themdigitally anytime later.

Wacom says that Inkling even lets users create layers in the digital file while sketching on paper, with the push of a button.

Works can be stored as JPEG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, SVG and PDF files for use with any kind of application that supports these formats. The Inkling offers direct transfers to Photoshop, Illustrator, and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro/Designer.

Wacom plans to start selling the Inkling worldwide in the next few weeks. In the US, it will be available in “mid-September” for an MSRP of US$199.99, according to the company website.

I am not really an expert in this field, but I am pretty sure this thing will fly off the shelve

Google+ Verified Profiles for Celebrities, Public Figures

Google+ is now rolling out Google+ verified profiles with verification badges for public figures, celebrities, and people added to a large number of Circles. Though Google+ is still planning to develop a way to extend this to the public at large, if you are in enough Google+ circles, you might get a verified Google+ profile soon.

A new tick icon is appearing besides Google+ verified profiles, and if you move your mouse over the tick, it expands to reveal Verified name. I see a lot of top bloggers, Googlers, celebrities have already got the verified badge. Much like verified Twitter profiles, people are more comfortable adding a real celebrity, who has been verified, rather than adding a fake celebrity fan account.

How can you get a verified Google+ profile? - as of now, if you are popular enough, in thousands of Google+ circles, chances are Google will verify you faster.