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Amazon App Suite to be pre-loaded on Verizon Android devices starting with Droid DNA
Sure, HTC and Verizon may have given us the long awaited pricing and launch date details for the Droid DNA, but it omitted one tidbit that we'd heard of before: Amazon's App Suite. Starting with the DNA, select Android devices on Big Red -- presumably those that aren't of the "Google Experience" flavor -- will come loaded with the Amazon-focused pane on their home screens. Though a handful of Verizon phones are already pre-loaded with Audible, Zappos and Amazon's MP3, Kindle and Shopping apps, the suite will roll them up into one experience for easy access. By signing in with your existing Amazon account, content ranging from Kindle novels to MP3s will be at your fingertips. In addition, the Seattle-based retailer's complete selection of products are just an impulse buy away through the app. Hit the jump to check out the mobile storefront in action. Update: As pointed out in the comments, App Suite doesn't support Amazon video. We've updated the post accordingly.
Dropbox joins arms with Sony Ericsson and Softbank, looks to expand elsewhere
By Dropbox's own numbers, its base has grown from five million to 25 million users in the last year, and now claims paying customers in 175 countries. Not content with this explosion, however, the company is establishing partnerships in the mobile arena to kick its growth into hyperdrive. Sony Ericsson is the first willing participant, and several of its phones (including the Arc and Play) will ship preloaded with the software throughout ten European countries. On the mobile carrier side, Tokyo-based Softbank will soon include the blue box on a handful of its Android devices, and Verizon is being courted by Dropbox, too -- nothing definite between these two, however. Good first steps, but if the company really wants to get rolling, it might want to pair up with a phone that has world domination in mind. Just a thought.
FireCore console pre-loaded with Genesis games, plays carts
We don't do usually cover plug-and-play consoles, but this one was too cool to pass up. While Innex and AtGames' Firecore Classic Console is pre-loaded with 30 Genesis games like Sonic and Knuckles and Ecco the Dolphin, it can also play all your old Genesis carts. We're not sure where all it's available, though you can find it on Buy.com right now for $50. The console also supports wireless Firecore gamepads, though you'll have to buy them separately, and newly developed "Truecolor" games. Innex is also releasing a very cool portable system with 20 Genesis games playable on a 2.4-inch LCD screen. You can get a look at it right after the break.
New Xbox 360 HDD comes overloaded with content
Remember the bits and goodies that came pre-loaded on your Xbox 360? Well, bigger hard drive = more goodies. Microsoft is really packing 'em in on the Xbox 360 Elite HDD, and the standalone drive that will be available separately -- same content on both. Although it's a ton of stuff, would it have killed 'em to throw in some freebie arcade games to help offset the cost? Especially for those people who will be just adding the drive to their current setup. Plus, this is all stuff you can download off Xbox Live anyhow, and are you going to want your drive clogged up with demos of Zuma and the Holiday '06 Accessories Video?
Yahoo snags another search partner: HP
You know what they always say: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Apparently Yahoo is applying this mantra quite liberally, as just a fortnight after signing a deal with Acer to make Yahoo the default search engine on all of its future notebooks, the distantly-second place search giant is teaming up with HP. Yahoo has been on a tirade of sorts in its attempt to partner with as many other firms as possible, but landing a deal with the world's second largest PC maker just might provide the usage boost its been after. North American HP PCs will sport an Internet Explorer 7 toolbar that automatically channels any search requests to Yahoo's servers, while European PCs will be greeted with a Yahoo home page each time they launch their browser (until they change the default setting, that is). Also noteworthy is the newfound partnership between HP and Vonage, which will toss in advertising brochures and an offer for "unlimited premium residential broadband telephone service," thoroughly showering your fresh HP box with "pre-selected offerings." Whether or not this turns out to be a two-fer-one (or are we up to three now?) deal for Yahoo, considering HP just acquired VoodooPC and all, remains to be seen -- but we can't imagine Voodoo customers warming up to an advertisement-laden OS anytime soon. Read - Yahoo teams with HP Read - Vonage connects with HP
