Galaxy Tab 4 Nook

Back in June Barnes & Noble announced that it would launch a co-branded Samsung tablet that would marry Samsung's hardware with its Nook software. Well, that tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, is now shipping, and it's exactly what what we imagined it would be.

Indeed, the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook hardware is identical to the existing 7-inch Galaxy Tab 4, which lists for $199 (but is widely available for $20 less). In fact, there's not even any Barnes & Noble branding on the device, only on the box. The Nook version comes in white or black and is being offered for $179 after a $20 instant rebate in Barnes & Noble's online and brick-and-mortar stores. At launch you also get what B&N says is $200 worth of free content, including three e-books, three TV episodes, a $5 Nook store credit for apps or movies, and some special offers for digital magazines.The Galaxy Tab 4 7-inch is Samsung's entry-level tablet, but it's nicely designed and Barnes & Noble says it's its thinnest Nook tablet offering yet, measuring 0.35 inches thick and weighing 9.74 ounces. It runs on a quad-core processor and has 8GB of built-in memory -- about 5GB of that is usable -- but its micro-SD expansion slot means you can add storage on the cheap (a 32GB card costs less than $20). Resolution is 1280 x 768, which is fine but actually a step below the resolution of Barnes & Noble's last 7-inch model, the 2012 Nook HD tablet, which came in at 1,440x900.

mainly aiming on book worms

Galaxy Tab 4 Nook's user interface is where it departs from the stock Galaxy Tab 4. Instead, you get the Barnes & Noble skin that's similar to that of previous Nook tablets. The idea here is that this remains a "reading" tablet, with your e-books and Barnes & Noble's book recommendations and deals featured on the device's home screen. You have quick access to your library, the last book you were reading and needless to say, Barnes & Noble's e-book and app stores. As before, you can also set-up password-protected user profiles, so members of your family can have their own personalized content lockers.

We'll have a full review of the device in the coming days, but here's my gut reaction to this initial Samsung Nook product and the partnership in general:

Barnes & Noble needed a new Nook to show its customers that it's still committed to the brand after a very rough 2013. While it's agreed to buy 1 million Galaxy Tab 4s from Samsung over the next 15 months, that's a lot less risky and affordable proposition than making its own hardware.

The Galaxy Tab 4 isn't the most exciting tablet -- not too many tablets are these days -- but it's got an attractive enough design and is reasonably zippy. It also helps that the Samsung brand is quite powerful and feels like a safer investment compared to the Nook brand.

I think the 8GB of built-in memory is skimpy (16GB would have been better) and would suggest you invest in a 32GB memory card to up the memory total to 40GB. But the fact that this is an open device (you can access the Google Play store) and has that memory-card slot are nice pluses. Amazon's, Apple's, and Google's tablets do not have a memory expansion options.

Parallel desktop 10: Run windows on your Mac

Fall is around the corner, which means a new version of OS X is almost here. That also means a new version of Parallels — the software that lets you run Windows on a Mac — is almost here, too, and this time there's a big emphasis on speed.

With Parallels Desktop 10 installed on your Mac, you won't just be able to run Windows on a "virtual machine" within your Mac, you'll be able to do it significantly faster then previous generations. Windows documents open 48% faster, and Office 2013 apps launch 50% faster, the company claims. At the same time, battery life is extended up to 30%, and the Windows "machine" uses 10% less memory.

The new version also further erases the line between OS X and Windows with a few new tricks: Windows apps are automatically added to the Mac's Launchpad, and you can even use the Windows 8.1 Start screen as the Launchpad. Parallels enables sharing from Windows apps to any of the user's .

Of course, Parallels Desktop 10 supports OS X Yosemite (scheduled for release "in the fall," according to Apple), and brings some of its features to Windows apps, including the ability to save to iCloud Drive, and share via iMessage.

The software supports older versions of OS X back to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. You can create more than one virtual machine, letting you run multiple versions of Windows and even Android on the same hardware — very handy for developers.

Parallels Desktop 10 will be available Aug. 26 for $79.99, but if you have the previous version, upgrading costs $49.99. The Student Edition is $39.99. Big, obvious caveat: if you don't already have Windows, you have to buy a Windows license, too, and that costs $119. At least this edition of Parallels makes that easy, providing a way to purchase Windows during the creation of a virtual machine. There's also an enterprise edition that throws in a few extra features for device management.

OS X Yosemite

OS X Yosemite (version 10.10) is the upcoming eleventh major release of OS X, Apple Inc.'s desktop andserver operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Yosemite was announced and released to developers on June 2, 2014, at WWDC 2014and it was released to public beta testers (the first one million people to sign up for the public beta) on July 24, 2014. Yosemite is scheduled for final release to consumers in late 2014. Following the new landmark-based naming scheme introduced with OS X Mavericks.

Design

Yosemite introduced a major revision to the operating system's user interface, designed with inspiration from iOS 7, while still maintaining the OS X look and feel. The interface incorporates a flatter visual appearance with blurred translucency effects.

Other notable design changes include new icons, light and dark color schemes, and the replacement of Lucida Grande withHelvetica Neue as the default system font.The dock is now a 2D translucent rectangle instead of a skeuomorphic glass shelf, reminiscent of the dock design used in early versions of OS X.

Continuity

Many of Yosemite's new features focus on the theme of "continuity", increasing its integration with other Apple services and platforms such as iOS and iCloud. The Handoff functionality allows the operating system to integrate with iOS 8 devices overBluetooth LE and Wi-Fi; users can place and answer phone calls to and from an iPhone using their Mac as a speakerphone, send and receive text messages, activate personal hotspots, or load items being worked on in a mobile app (such as Maildrafts or Numbers spreadsheets) directly into their desktop equivalent.

Notification Center

Notification Center features a new "Today" view, similar to that in iOS. The Today view can display information and updates from various sources, along with widgets. The widgets in the Today view are similar to those of iOS 8.

System requirements

All Macintosh products capable of running OS X Mavericks are supported by Yosemite; as with Mavericks, 2 GB of RAM, 8 GB of available storage, and OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or later are required. However, in order to take full advantage of the features in Continuity, a Mac with Bluetooth LE (Bluetooth 4.0) is needed.

These are the models compatible with OS X Yosemite:

• iMac (Mid 2007 or later)
• MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
• Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
• Xserve (Early 2009)

These are the models that have Bluetooth LE support, and that therefore support Continuity:

• iMac (Late 2012 or later)
• MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or later)
• MacBook Pro with Retina display (all models)
• MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or later)
• Mac Mini (Mid 2011 or later)
• Mac Pro (Late 2013 or later)

Acer Aspire Switch 12 Leaks Out

Recent rumors have shown us that the company is considering bumping up the screen size of the 2-in-1. Thus, the idea of the Acer Aspire Swith 11 or 12 was born. 

Acer Switch Specs are revealed

The machine will compete with the recently unveiled ASUS Transformer Book T200TA which, unlike the Transformer Book T100, comes with a more spacious display.

Until now, we’ve had no info on the specs the new model will bring to the tablet or on whether we’re going to see a more sensible upgrade from the 10-incher, but the mystery has been solved.

The folks at Mobile Geeks have managed to dig up the information, and we’re here to share it with you. The Acer Aspire Switch 12 will become available in two distinct configurations, one base model and a more advanced one.

The lower model (SW5-111) will take advantage of an Intel Atom Z3745 quad-core Bay Trail processor clocked at 1.86GHz fitted with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage.

But if some customers feel like they need a little bit more in terms of performance, Acer will also be offering the SW5-171 model which arrives with an Intel Core i3-4021Y combined with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.

It seems like the machine is quite similar to the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, but the good thing is, it will be sold for a lot less.

Apart from that, the two Aspire Switch 12 models will share the same 11.6-inch display and will boast 1366 x 768 pixel resolution. 

This aspect is quite disappointing, as we were hoping to see Acer bump things up at least to FHD (1920 x 1200 pixels), but the company probably decided to keep it like that in order to salvage things in the pricing department.

Another nice touch could have been the addition of an active digitizer, but it will not be the case. Anyway, suppose you would really like your Acer tablet/laptop hybrid to have better resolution, it's doable.

A while back, we told you the Aspire Switch 10 SW5-012 model had surfaced on the company’s official Dutch website. This new version offered 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution and ran Windows 8.1 with Bing out of the box. So you are never out of options when it comes to Acer hybrids.

Going back to the Aspire Switch 12, we don’t know when the two products will arrive on the market or for how much they will be sold, but we'll update you when the info becomes available.