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Google will show off the new 'L' version of Android tomorrow
You can move one more item into the confirmed list for tomorrow's Google I/O keynote: a new version of Android. Your guess is as good as ours as to which L-word treat (we assume, following KitKat and Jelly Bean) Google plans to name its next iteration of the mobile OS, but as part of a lengthy profile for Bloomberg, senior VP Sundar Pichai reveals he will offer a "preview" at the developer event. It's a new approach for Google, in publicly revealing the new version (which may have momentarily surfaced on its issue tracker yesterday) well ahead of its planned release later this year, but similar to the way Apple, for example, is rolling out iOS 8. Also confirmed is Android Wear, complete with manufacturing partners and new devices, while the plans for Android TV are still shrouded in rumor. [Image credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Love is in the air starts today
Love is in the air, everywhere I look around... And it's certainly kicking off in all the major capital cities of Azeroth and Outland today. If you want a Peddlefeet pet or to kick Apothecary Hummel and his cronies out of Shadowfang Keep yet again, now's the time. Love is in the air 2014 runs from February 10 to February 24. The official Blizzard post makes no mention of any updates for 2014, so as far as we can tell no additional love has been added to this holiday. We can confirm that the drops have not been upgraded and are still ilvl 480. That being the case, burgeoning lovers can check out 2013's Overachiever guide to all the achievements, pets, items and more that the holiday brings to players. And if you want to get your love on in the real world, check out this weekend's guide to making heart-shaped candy! This is another of those fun holidays that sends you off a'hunting for the race-class combinations that elude the average player in order to shower them with rose petals for Fistful of Love. If you're one of the rarer race-class combinations, you can often peddle your services by agreeing to be showered with rose petals outside a faction capital. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. But the most important thing, in my book, is to kill the three apothecaries on every character, every day, just for a chance at the Big Love Rocket from the heart-shaped box the bosses drop. I've got 14 90s. This year it's mine.
Lenovo's 9-inch IdeaTab A2109 shows up at Best Buy, flaunts Tegra 3, $300 price tag
Lenovo's upcoming IdeaTab A2109 didn't drop in on the FCC with its seven-inch brother, but that hasn't stopped it from reaching stores. The nine-inch device appears to be in stock on Best Buy's online store, offering 16GB of storage, an NVIDA Tegra 3 processor and a standard serving of Ice Cream Sandwich for $299. The slate isn't just available for order, either -- according to Best Buy's stock locator, it can be found in brick and mortar stores too. The A2107, on the other hand, isn't so readily available, but we'll let you know when Lenovo lets it come out to play. [Thanks, Justin]
Distro Issue 38: a peek at the Navy's Robotics Laboratory and an interview with MSI's Jeans Huang
Ah, yes. The end of the week is upon us. Of course, this means that the latest installment of our tablet publication has arrived. Stepping up to the plate this time around, Brian Heater takes a look inside LASR, the Navy's Robotics Lab, and Richard Lai chats with MSI co-founder Jeans Huang. After a strong debut last week, Ludwig Kietzmann is back with Reaction Time and his take on Journey. Our brand spankin' new hands-on section looks back at Spotify's Android preview, Alexandre Herchovitch's HP Pavilion DM1, MIT's Arduino-powered DrumTop and Google Drive. We spend some quality time with the T-Mobile HTC One S, LG Viper, ASUS TF300 and MSI GT70 while Switched On tackles Kickstarter project funding. Looking for something more? IRL reveals our personal gadget stash, the Stat takes a look at tech jobs, Tapbots co-creator Mark Jardine handles the Q&A and Box Brown offers the Last Word on Facebook's recent purchase. Go ahead and hit your favorite link below to snag your copy of this week's e-magazine. Distro Issue 38 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro APK (For sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
Nikon CoolPix 'Style' and 'Life' series hands-on
What, it wouldn't be a camera convention without Nikon (and everyone else, for that matter) showing off a basket of new point-and-shoots. We knew what the company was bringing -- selections from its "Style" and "Life" series, as well as the P100 superzoom we covered earlier this week -- and now we've gotten our hands on the L22, S4000, L110, and S8000. There isn't much to say, frankly -- a collection of pocket shooters of various feature sets and various price ranges to cater to various demographics and psychographics. Still, we know you need to get that "fix" when it comes to pictures of gadgets, so let's get on with it, shall we? %Gallery-86322%
Kohjinsha's new L and V-series UMPCs get GPS, higher screen resolutions
Kohjinsha's UMPCs might have gotten a little overshadowed by the Eee, but the company is making a renewed push with two new models. The new L series replaces the SA series, retaining the aging AMD Geode chipset but upgrading the keyboard and bumping the touchscreen resolution to 1024x600, while the V series replaces the K series, keeping the Intel A110 chipset but adding GPS and a 7mm optical drive. Both models should be shipping in the middle of the month, but there's no word on pricing -- we'll let you know if we hear any numbers at CES.[Via jkkmobile]
ECS to show off four new laptop series at Cebit
This month's Cebit show will mark Elitegroup Computer Systems' first new launch since its recent merger with Taiwanese manufacturer Uniwill Computer. ECS will bust out with 4 new laptop ranges, simply named the S, L, H, and G series. Each series is targeted towards a specific user and all four support both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Detailed specs are vague but we'll spit what we've got: The slim-design S series, with LCD displays ranging from 12.1-inches to 14.1-inches, sounds like ECS' standard fare for the everyday user. The 12.1-inch S20II packs in a Core 2 Duo processor, Bluetooth, and a built-in 1.3 Megapixel camera. For all you penny pinchers, L Series notebooks will be priced for the value shopper (so probably no monster performance or sweet innards here) and will sport screens from 14.1-inches up to 17-inches. Next, the mobile presentation crowd might fancy the adjustable swivel-necked G200 (pictured), which will kick off the G series. And finally, ECS will launch its new UMPC H series with the H70, boasting a 7-inch touch screen display (with stylus input), 4-in-1 card reader, and 1.3 Megapixel camera. Apparently, ECS' basket's been full with this new breed of lappies, so we certainly hope it isn't dropping the ball on its Classmate PC plans. [Via Pocket-lint]
