Improved page turn and formatting of downloaded eBooks
Improved startup time for My Library, The Daily, and Settings
Immediate launch of the reader upon choosing Select from The Daily and My Library, for books and subscription issues that have already been downloaded; otherwise the book detail page is displayed, with Download as the first option.
Exclusive Barnes & Noble in-store content and promotions: when a customer enters a store, your nook will recognize the location and display the Barnes & Noble logo and welcome message, as well as special articles and offers.
Elimination of the page skipping that has occurred in certain PDB eBooks
Status bar (battery indicator, signal indicator, and clock) is displayed in reader
Overall system improvements

The new design, with a 10.1-inch display, includes a textured, smudge-resistant palm rest, sculpted keys and an extended-life battery offering up to 9.5 hours of operation. The Mini 10 can also be personalized with a broad range of optional colors or hundreds of optional custom artwork designs available in the Dell Design Studio.

The Inspiron Mini 10 will be offered in a selection of bundles with features like an HD display, Broadcom Crystal HD media accelerator, surround sound capability, built-in HDTV tuner for over-the-air local HD broadcasts, or built-in Wi-Fi location enabled GPS. Some models will also feature Bluetooth and Mobile Broadband communications as well.

“The Inspiron Mini 10 continues to offer some of the best mobile entertainment options available in a great-looking, compact and lightweight design,” said Brian Pitstick, general manager of Dell’s mobile products. “With an even better look and great battery life, we think Mini 10 is the perfect companion PC for anyone who wants to be entertained and connected wherever they go.”

We have just learned that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has denied our appeal in the i4i case. We are moving quickly to comply with the injunction, which takes effect on January 11, 2010.

This injunction applies only to copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007 sold in the U.S. on or after the injunction date of January 11, 2010. Copies of these products sold before this date are not affected.

With respect to Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007, we have been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August 2009 and have put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products. Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for U.S. sale and distribution by the injunction date. In addition, the beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction.

While we are moving quickly to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options, which could include a request for a rehearing by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals en banc or a request for a writ of certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We are excited to make the Kindle for iPhone App available to iPhone and iPod touch users in more than 60 countries, allowing them to access the vast selection of the most popular books, all available wirelessly from the Kindle Store," said Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle. "The Kindle for iPhone App is the perfect companion for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX, and a great way for customers around the world to download and read books even if they don't yet have a Kindle."

"The web is getting more powerful as an application platform and ever improving developer tools are playing a key role in this growth," said Andrew Bowers, Product Manager at Google. "Google Web Toolkit's performance and productivity enhancements have been tried and tested over the past year with Google teams that are pushing the boundaries of web apps -- products like Google Wave and AdWords 3.0."

“Kindle is for anyone who loves to read — in fact, we’ve heard from thousands of vision-impaired customers and customers with learning disabilities over the past two years who have been helped tremendously by Kindle,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “With some key modifications, we believe Kindle can be a breakthrough device for the blind, and the team is excited about making these enhancements.”

The Dell YouthConnect program was launched in February 2009 and by the end of the year, Dell will have donated more than $8 million to educational and digital initiatives that will impact more than 100,000 young people in eight countries.

“As we grow our network of Dell YouthConnect partners across the world, we are laying the foundation for the success of future generations. We are delivering technology where it will have the most impact in creating life skills and enhancing the environment in which we live,” said Gil Casellas, vice president of corporate responsibility at Dell.

The MP3 selections this year will range from traditional holiday songs performed by modern artists to some unique holiday-themed originals. Some of the available tracks announced will be Tori Amos’ “Snow Angel,” Lady Gaga’s “Christmas Tree,” and Casting Crowns’ “Joy to the World.”

“Our customers love that we offer free songs all year since it’s an easy way for them to experiment with artists they are unfamiliar with,” said Pete Baltaxe, director of Amazon MP3. “25 Days of Free is a fun way to discover new holiday music to keep our customers in the spirit at home or on the go.”

“Kindle is a great gift for anyone who loves to read and it’s flying off the shelves faster than any other product Amazon sells,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “We’re seeing lots of people buying from one to a handful of Kindles as gifts for friends or family, as well as many businesses and other organizations buying Kindles in large quantities for their employees or customers.”

The agreement provides Lockheed Martin with access to the ESP technology portfolio enabling the company to build cost-effective simulation solutions for customized training for its worldwide customers. Lockheed Martin’s software development teams will extend the current capabilities of ESP to enable a whole new suite of innovative ESP-based solutions that will evolve beyond flight training to include ground and civil agency applications.

“The training needs of our military and civil government customers continue to expand,” said Chester Kennedy, vice president of Engineering at Lockheed Martin’s Simulation, Training & Support business unit. “Seeking out and developing new innovative solutions such as this one based on the proven Microsoft ESP technology allows Lockheed Martin to provide our customers with new and tailored training systems more quickly and cost efficiently.”

“Solutions built on Microsoft ESP can engage users in immersive experiences with very realistic environments, making them ideal tools for training, evaluating and preparing personnel for optimal performance in the real world,” said Chris Cortez, general manager of Strategic Programs at Microsoft and a retired Marine Corps major general. “ESP models the entire world and will allow Lockheed Martin’s developers to easily add their own content, objects, scenery, simulation functionality and scenarios to create custom training solutions.”

The Microsoft ESP IP licensing agreement builds on the existing Microsoft/Lockheed Martin Strategic Alliance to bring meaningful information technology services and products to market and continue to fuel innovation. It is also an example of Microsoft’s broader efforts to collaborate with industry through IP licensing.

“With almost 200 million live listings, the eBay Marketplace is second to none when it comes to holiday gift options,” said Rob Chesney, vice president of buyer and seller experience, eBay. “This season we are making it even easier for Internet Explorer 8 users to find amazing products at deep discounts with the eBay Daily Deals Web Slice.”

Amazon also announced today that the 6-inch Kindle now has a built-in native PDF reader that enables Kindle customers to read professional and personal documents in their original PDF format without conversion.

“Kindle, already the #1 bestselling, most wished for, and most gifted product on all of Amazon.com, is now even better—with 85 percent more battery life and a built-in PDF reader,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “These two significant enhancements are available now.”

To read their personal or professional documents, Kindle customers simply email PDFs to their Kindle email address or move them over using a USB connection. Customers that prefer to have their PDF documents converted to the Kindle format simply type "Convert" in the subject of the e-mail when sending documents to their “@kindle.com” address.

“In addition to offering customers exclusive Amazon.com deals on a wide range of products throughout all of our categories, we’re doing even more,” said Paul Ryder, Amazon.com vice president of Electronics. “We’re searching for the best Black Friday deals everywhere, and we are working hard to meet or beat the lowest prices out there. We want our customers to know that when they come to Amazon.com, they are getting competitive prices during the holiday shopping season and year-round.”

The Black Friday page is the top destination for customers to experience Amazon.com's Black Friday Deals Week offered now through Nov.30. Customers will find limited time Lightning Deals with doorbuster-level discounts, along with fantastic offers available all day long. Also, the Black Friday Deals page will offer special sales beginning on Nov.29 for Cyber Monday.

“There’s no need to fight crowds for parking spaces or to stand in long check-out lines just to try and get a handful of deals on devices that might not have the features you really want,” continued Ryder. “Shoppers will really benefit from doing simple research online without leaving the comfort of their homes—especially using Amazon.com’s Customer Reviews and feature lists to make sure they are getting the product they want at the best price.”

“This is about choice and flexibility — giving our customers more ways to match their own data needs, on their own time and with their own budget,” said Mark Collins, senior vice president-Voice and Data Products, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “We want our network to be open, accessible and useful in a way that accommodates unique customer needs. DataConnect PassSM is another way consumers can customize the AT&T experience.”

The 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge awarded a first place prize of $250,000 to Peter Homer of Southwest Harbor, Maine, and a second place prize of $100,000 to Ted Southern of Brooklyn, N.Y. The competition seeks innovative spacesuit glove design concepts to reduce the effort needed to do work during spacewalks. In this challenge, competitors demonstrated their glove design by performing a range of tasks with the glove in a pressurized chamber.

"It is remarkable that two designers working on their own could create gloves that meet the requirements for spaceflight -- a task that normally requires a large team of experts," said Kate Mitchell, an engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“Windows 7 is the simply best PC operating system we have ever built,” Ballmer said. “It enables people to do more of what they want to do more easily and more quickly, and customers are responding. Since launch, we’ve already sold twice as many units of Windows 7 than any other operating system we’ve ever launched in a comparable time.”

With Firmware 3.10, PS3 system owners can now share unlocked trophies with their friends on Facebook every time they sync their Trophies. Additionally, the system update enables PS3 system owners to share information on games they just purchased. The new system update also enables game developers to set up trigger points in their games that provide PS3 system users the option to quickly and easily publish game related information from their favorite titles to Facebook.

"Launching Facebook for the PlayStation community is a natural fit for our goal of delivering unparalleled connected experiences - from connecting our community to each other to connecting our customers to great entertainment downloaded from the PlayStation Store," said Susan Panico, senior director, PlayStation Network, SCEA. "As we pass the third anniversary of PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Network, we're excited to deepen the social experiences of PlayStation Network and kick-off the first phase of our integration with Facebook."

"We're excited to connect Facebook's 300 million active users with the PlayStation 3, enabling players to connect and share their game experiences with friends," said Ethan Beard, director, Facebook Developer Network.

"We know that Canadians are passionate about books and reading, and we're excited to make Kindle available to our customers there," said Ian Freed, vice president of Kindle. "Kindle enables customers around the world including Canada to think of a book and start reading it in under 60 seconds."

The Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore) offers Canadian customers over 300,000 books, including New Releases and Globe and Mail Bestsellers, which are typically U.S. $11.99 or less.

“Our entry into the smartphone category is a logical extension of Dell’s consumer product evolution over the past two years,” said Ron Garriques, President, Dell Global Consumer Group. “We are developing smaller and smarter mobile products that enable our customers to take their internet experience out of the home and do the things they want to do whenever and wherever they want.“

The LCROSS spacecraft and a companion rocket stage made twin impacts in the Cabeus crater Oct. 9 that created a plume of material from the bottom of a crater that has not seen sunlight in billions of years. The plume traveled at a high angle beyond the rim of Cabeus and into sunlight, while an additional curtain of debris was ejected more laterally.

"We're unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbor and, by extension, the solar system," said Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The moon harbors many secrets, and LCROSS has added a new layer to our understanding."

Since the impacts, the LCROSS science team has been analyzing the huge amount of data the spacecraft collected. The team concentrated on data from the satellite's spectrometers, which provide the most definitive information about the presence of water.

"We are ecstatic," said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle vapor plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact. The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water."

Data from the other LCROSS instruments are being analyzed for additional clues about the state and distribution of the material at the impact site. The LCROSS science team and colleagues are poring over the data to understand the entire impact event, from flash to crater. The goal is to understand the distribution of all materials within the soil at the impact site.

"The full understanding of the LCROSS data may take some time. The data is that rich," Colaprete said. "Along with the water in Cabeus, there are hints of other intriguing substances. The permanently shadowed regions of the moon are truly cold traps, collecting and preserving material over billions of years."

The Inspiron Zino HD is 7.75 inches square and 3.5 inches tall, and features 10 color choices, choice of AMD processors or dual core Athlon Neo X2 6850e, up to 8GB dual channel DDR 2 memory, up to 1TB internal hard disk storage, combo DVD/CD RW drive with optional Blu-ray Disc combo, integrated 10/100/1000 networking with wireless option, optional wireless keyboard and mouse, built-in 2.1 high-definition audio and 4-in-1 media card reader, integrated ATI graphics adapter with standard HDMI and VGA video connections, and optional 512MB discrete graphics adapter, four USB ports (2 front/2 rear); two eSATA ports (rear), and is Energy-Star 5.0 compliant.

“The Inspiron Zino HD proves again that great things can really come in small packages,” said John Terwilliger, Director of consumer products. “It is a fashionable and functional computer that is small enough to fit almost anywhere in the home and can be personalized for the style-minded.”

Part of NASA's Centennial Challenges Program, the competition will test gloves independent inventors designed and constructed. The tests will measure the gloves' dexterity and strength during operation in a glove box that simulates the vacuum of space. This year's entrants must provide a glove that includes an outer thermal protection layer, as well as the inner pressure-containing layer. The result is a complete glove suitable for space operations.

Centennial Challenges is NASA's program of technology prizes for the citizen-inventor. Recent Centennial Challenge events included Regolith Excavation, Lunar Lander and Power Beaming Challenges, in which six different competitors won a total of $3.3 million in prizes.

“Developers and businesses located in Asia, as well as those with a multi-national presence, have been eager for Asia-based infrastructure to minimize latency and optimize performance,” said Adam Selipsky, Vice President of Amazon Web Services. “We’re very excited to announce the expansion of AWS infrastructure into Asia to help our customers plan their technology investments and better serve their end-users in Asia.”

"We're very happy to extend our Holiday Wi-Fi gift to the millions of people who will spend time in airports over the next few months," said Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience at Google. "We know that this is a very hectic travel season for people, and we hope that free Wi-Fi will make both traveling and connecting with friends and family a little bit easier."

Kindle for PC features Amazon’s Whispersync technology that automatically saves and synchronizes bookmarks and last page read across devices. With Kindle for PC, you can read some on your PC, read some on your Kindle, Kindle DX, or one of the free Kindle applications, and always pick up right where you left off.

"Kindle for PC is the perfect companion application for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX," said Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle. "Kindle for PC is also a great way for people around the world to access a huge selection from the Kindle Store and read the most popular books of today even if they don’t yet have a Kindle."

“The Q1 is the most advanced and the easiest-to-use headset on the market today – those qualities do not usually go hand in hand. Through the simplicity of voice control, we can add richer functionality without more buttons or thick manuals,” said Taisen Maddern, Executive Chairman of BlueAnt Wireless. “We are honored that CEA has recognized the achievement of the Q1 Voice Controlled Bluetooth headset and will strive to continue creating innovative wireless devices that seamlessly integrate into people’s lives.”

"Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time," said Susan Wojcicki, Vice President of Product Management at Google. "AdMob is the quintessential Silicon Valley startup – generating impressive year on year revenue growth – and we're excited to welcome this talented team to Google."

"I think people underestimate how important ads have been to funding the development of innovative content on the Internet. Our goal all along at AdMob has been to make it possible for developers and publishers to bring their products and ideas to mobile with the same business model," said Omar Hamoui, Founder and CEO of AdMob. "We're proud of the progress we've made towards accomplishing this goal, and joining Google will only accelerate this process, ultimately leading to very real benefits for end users around the world. As publishers and developers generate more revenue from their mobile products, they will invest more, and their mobile offerings will become richer, more creative and more robust."

"Attracting the world's top engineering talent and people with entrepreneurial vision to Google has always been crucial to our success. AdMob's proven track record in innovating at speed will help maintain that culture – which is why we are so excited to be working with them," added Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering at Google.

“The BlackBerry ecosystem is thriving and with the new services platform announced today we will help developers further monetize their applications and build breakthrough, highly responsive, location-aware applications for BlackBerry smartphones,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “RIM is continuing to provide the tools, technologies and business services that developers need to create and market even more powerful and successful applications on the BlackBerry Application Platform.”

The free Orb application and service enable the streaming of any media type from computers running Windows or the Mac OS to any other internet-connected device including laptops, mobile phones, and TVs connected to a game console. Users can enjoy their music, photos, video and webcams anywhere, anytime, without first having to download content before they leave the house, or upload anything to the cloud. All media stays on the computer and is streamed directly to the remote device.

"Orb users are a wildly passionate bunch. They let us know - how do I say this gently - 'frequently' about their desire for what they described as the best media application running on the best media computer," said Joe Costello, CEO of Orb Networks. "I am ecstatic to announce that for the first time, Mac users can enjoy the same high quality media streaming from iTunes to their remote devices as PC users have had for the past four years."

Google Commerce Search Ultra-fast speed and accuracy, e-commerce-specific search features, and integration with Google tools, like Google Analytics and Google Product Search.

"We're excited to bring Google Commerce Search to market in time for the holidays," said Dave Girouard, president, Google Enterprise. "To date the technology powering retail website stores has not kept pace with innovation in search. Google Commerce Search will help customers find accurate results extremely fast, to the benefit of retailers and customers alike.'"

“The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating.”

"With this announcement, Marvell raises the technology bar and takes the lead in the eReader market," said Weili Dai, Marvell's Co-founder and Vice President and General Manager of the Company's Consumer and Computing Business Unit at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. "Because this is a total platform solution – including Marvell key technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G modem, and power management – the ARMADA eReader has the potential to deliver the first mass market product accessible and affordable to billions of consumers around the world. Marvell's passion is to give consumers more choice, improved features, and greater access to more information with eReaders that are aimed at education, health, and business applications."

According to a recent iSuppli Research report, eReaders are projected to top 18 million units shipped in 2012, from 1.1 million units last year, marking eReaders as one of the fastest growing consumer markets.

"Our collaboration with Marvell will deliver an integrated System-on-a-Chip (SoC) solution to the market," said Sriram Peruvemba, Vice President of Marketing at E Ink. "This SoC solution is aimed at offering highly desired features at competitive price points."

The recently signed agreement between E Ink and Marvell includes joint development and cross licensing of next generation ePaper timing controllers and system platforms, which the companies anticipate will result in higher integration and lower cost solutions for eReader manufacturers.

Central to this new eReader platform is the world's first commercially available SoC that integrates a high performance processor and state of the art EPD controller on a single chip — the Marvell ARMADA 166E application processor. The ARMADA 166E is designed to offer users ultra fast renderings of high resolution PDF documents and support for the latest ePaper technologies in new smaller, slimmer form factors with lower system cost. The ARMADA 166E also brings to eReaders new features that save power and extend battery life including a unique hibernation mode, or zero power mode.

The two companies have also joined forces with FirstPaper, LLC, to integrate unique technology into the ARMADA 166E. This joint innovation enables a range of display sizes and resolutions, including support for larger screens that will deliver layouts, graphics, and content choices that people normally associate with periodicals, larger-format books, and documents.

“The new software for Apple TV features a simpler and faster interface that gives you instant access to your favorite content,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “HD movies and HD TV shows from iTunes have been a huge hit with Apple TV customers, and with Apple TV 3.0 they get great new features including iTunes Extras, Genius Mixes and Internet radio.”

The redesigned main menu on Apple TV gives users instant access to their favorite content, and also allows Apple TV users to enjoy fullscreen iTunes Extras and iTunes LP. iTunes Extras gives movie fans additional content such as deleted scenes, interviews and interactive galleries, while iTunes LP delivers a rich, immersive experience for select albums on the iTunes Store with expanded visual features like live performance videos, lyrics, artwork, liner notes, interviews, photos, album credits and more.

Apple TV users can also enjoy Genius Mixes through their home theater system, and can also enjoy Internet radio, allowing them to browse and listen to thousands of Internet radio stations, as well as tag favorite stations to listen to later. Apple TV’s support of HD photos is enhanced with iPhoto Events, which simplifies finding your favorite photos on Apple TV, as well as iPhoto Faces, which gives access to photos organized by people identified in iPhoto.

With direct access to a catalog of over 8,000 films on iTunes, including over 2,000 in HD video available for rent or purchase, Apple TV users can always find something of interest. Users can also choose from a selection of 11 million songs, 10,000 music videos and over 50,000 TV episodes to purchase directly from their Apple TV. They can also browse the iTunes Store podcast directory of over 175,000 free video and audio podcasts. Purchases downloaded to Apple TV are automatically synced back to iTunes on the user’s computer.

Earlier this year, Plastic Logic and Barnes & Noble announced that Barnes & Noble will power the online store for QUE. The device will also be featured along with the recently announced Barnes & Noble eBook Reader, the nook, on displays in Barnes & Noble Stores, offering customers a choice based on their reading needs.

“We are very excited to name Barnes & Noble as our first retail distribution partner and to have QUE featured prominently in its stores,” said Richard Archuleta, CEO of Plastic Logic. “QUE was designed from the ground up as a tool for busy business professionals, expanding the eReader market as its first and only proReader.”

Aside from the newspapers, periodicals and books available through the QUE store, powered by Barnes & Noble, the device also supports PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel documents, and more. QUE is the size of an 8.5 x 11 inch pad of paper, about a 1/3 inch thick, and weighs less than many periodicals. It also features a shatterproof plastic touchscreen display.

“We’re excited to expand our relationship with Plastic Logic to include not only an eBookstore, but also a physical presence in our bookstores nationwide and on BN.com,” said William J. Lynch, president of BN.com. “QUE is an incredibly innovative product and a great device for business professionals. Carrying nook and QUE allows us to provide consumers a one-stop destination in Barnes & Noble stores to demo and buy two of the best eBook readers on the market. It also supports our digital strategy to offer customers choice, expand the market overall, and deliver on our promise to provide any book, any time, anywhere.”

“For almost two years, many AWS customers have taken advantage of the simplicity, reliability, and seamless scalability that Amazon SimpleDB provides; however, many customers have told us that their applications require a relational database. That’s why we built Amazon RDS, which combines a familiar relational database with automated management and the instant scalability of the AWS cloud,” said Adam Selipsky, Vice President, Amazon Web Services.

Amazon RDS provides a fully featured MySQL database, so the code, applications, and tools that developers use today with their existing MySQL databases work seamlessly with Amazon RDS. The service automatically handles common database administration tasks such as setup and provisioning, patch management, and backup.

“The Latitude XT2 XFR is more than a laptop, it’s a key part of our mobile command and data-center solutions for field service, defense and first-responder customers,” said Paul Bell, president, Dell Global Public-Sector Business. “These unique solutions, coupled with our service model, make those communities more effective, enabling them to focus on their core missions instead of managing technology.”

The new PC features Intel Core 2 Duo processors with up to 5GB3 of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, QuadCool Thermal Management System for performance in extreme temperatures from minus 10 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, four-, six- and nine-cell battery options, optional solid state and spinning disk drives with full disk encryption, impact resistant, sunlight viewable, 12.1-inch wide LED display with capacitive multi-touch gestures-enabled or optional resistive touch screen, optional hot-swappable modules including GPS and webcam, and 802.11 a/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 and mobile broadband.

“We are listening and delivering purpose-engineered products based on unique usage models within customers’ environment,” said Steve Lalla, vice president and general manager, Business Client Product Group, Dell, Inc. “The Latitude XT2 XFR is a perfect example where feedback told us that customers needed the innovative functionality of the Latitude XT2 with the ability to perform in rugged environments.”

"The PlayStation 3 system has always been about more than just gaming, and it will soon be the only platform in the industry to offer consumers such a variety of convenient options for enjoying movies and TV shows," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, SCEA. "Whether you want to watch content on Blu-ray disc and DVD, download it from the PlayStation Network's video delivery service, or stream videos instantly from Netflix, the PS3 system is the only solution that offers it all."

"As instantly watching movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix becomes an increasingly popular way to enjoy the Netflix service, our goal is to rapidly expand the devices that stream to our members," said Netflix CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings. "As a leading game console and Blu-ray disc player, bringing Netflix to the PS3 system is a real win for both Netflix members and PS3 system owners."

Initially, watching movies instantly streamed from Netflix via the PS3 system will be enabled by a free, instant streaming Blu-ray disc that is being made available to all Netflix members. The free instant streaming disc leverages Blu-ray's BD-Live™ technology to access the Internet and activate the Netflix user interface on the PS3 system, which must be online via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

Netflix members simply slide the disc into their PS3 systems to reveal movies and TV episodes that can be watched instantly. Members can use the Netflix Web site or navigate directly on their PS3 systems to add movies and TV shows to their Queues. With the PS3 system's Wireless Controller, members can choose a movie to watch from their instant Queues or just play directly from any of the lists. They also have the ability to read synopses and rate movies. In addition, they have the option of fast-forwarding and rewinding the video stream via the Wireless Controller.

"Making NASA more accessible to the public is a high priority for the agency," said Gale Allen, director of Strategic Integration and Management for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington. "Tools like this allow us to provide users easy access to NASA information and progress at a fast pace."

The NASA App collects, customizes and delivers an extensive selection of dynamically updated information, images and videos from various online NASA sources. Users can access NASA countdown clocks, the NASA Image of the Day, Astronomy Image of the Day, online videos, NASA's many Twitter feeds and other information in a convenient mobile package. It delivers NASA content in a clear and intuitive way by making full use of the iPhone and iPod touch features, including the Multi-Touch user interface. The New Media Team at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., developed the application.

The NASA App also allows users to track the current positions of the International Space Station and other spacecraft currently orbiting Earth in three views: a map with borders and labels, visible satellite imagery, or satellite overlaid with country borders and labels.

"We're excited to deliver a wide range of up-to-the-minute NASA content to iPhone and iPod touch users," said Gary Martin, director of the New Ventures and Communications Directorate at Ames. "The NASA App provides an easy and interesting way for the public to experience space exploration."

“With Windows 7, there’s never been a better time to be a PC,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Together with our partners, we’re bringing more choice, flexibility and value to the market than ever before. With Windows 7, you’re sure to find a PC that fits your life.”

In a speech in New York, Ballmer thanked the millions of volunteers who helped improve the product by testing early versions.

“A project with the global customer reach of Windows can only be done as a team,” said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft, speaking at a launch event in Tokyo. “We are grateful for the valuable contributions from customers, partners and developers around the world that helped make Windows 7 such a collaborative project.”

To show how Windows 7 simplifies the PC, today Microsoft is also launching the next wave of its global “I’m a PC” campaign, and tens of thousands of customers around the world have volunteered to host launch parties or meet-ups beginning today, showing off Windows 7 to friends and family members.

Along with increased customer involvement, Microsoft’s partners had a closer, more involved role in the product, resulting in improved performance for PCs as well as compatibility with a broad range of software and hardware. More than 50,000 developers from 17,000 companies are enrolled in the Windows Ecosystem Readiness Program to build solutions for Windows 7. Together, these partners are developing hardware, software and services capable of reaching more than a billion PCs around the world.

Kindle for PC features Amazon’s Whispersync technology that automatically saves and synchronizes bookmarks and last page read across devices.

"Kindle for PC is the perfect companion application for folks who own a Kindle or Kindle DX," said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "Kindle for PC is also a great way for people around the world to read the most popular books of today even if they don’t yet have a Kindle."

With Kindle for PC, readers can purchase, download, and read hundreds of thousands of books available in the Kindle Store, access their entire library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers for free, choose from over 10 different font sizes and adjust words per line, add and automatically synchronize bookmarks and last page read, view notes and highlights marked on Kindle and Kindle DX, zoom in and out of text with a pinch of the fingers (Windows 7 users only), turn pages with a finger swipe (available in a future release for Windows 7 users)

Microsoft demonstrated Kindle for PC for the first time ever at the Windows 7 launch event today in New York City. “Customers have told us that they want access to a wider variety of content and an increasingly diverse set of form factors,” said Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows Platform Strategy at Microsoft. “With the announcement of Kindle for PC, Amazon is making its massive selection of Kindle books available on the world’s most widely used platform. The new Kindle for PC’s use of Windows 7 features such as Jump Lists and Windows Touch demonstrates how Windows 7 makes new things possible.”

“We asked our customers what they wanted in an eBook reader, and specifically designed nook to be the most full-featured, fun, stylish and easy-to-use eBook reader on the market,” said William J. Lynch, President of Barnes & Noble.com. “With our nationwide footprint, Barnes & Noble customers can see, touch and hold nook. Our 40,000 booksellers are ready to help customers discover how easy it is to download and read eBooks on nook, and what a pleasure it is to have access to their favorite eBooks, magazines and newspapers any time and anywhere.”

The nook will begin shipping at the end of November with a price of $259.00. Barnes & Noble is taking pre-orders now at www.nook.com and in stores starting tomorrow. In celebration of nook’s launch, Barnes & Noble will also offer a free eBook of Malcolm Gladwell’s widely acclaimed best-seller, “The Tipping Point,” for the first 10,000 customers to pre-order nook.

“Apple is the Multi-Touch leader, pioneering the use of this innovative technology in iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Apple's Multi-Touch technology allows us to offer an easy to use mouse in a simple and elegant design.”

The Magic Mouse laser tracking engine provides a smooth, consistent experience across more surfaces than a traditional optical tracking system. Magic Mouse uses Bluetooth wireless capabilities to create a clean, cable-free desk top and its secure wireless connection works from up to 10 meters away. To extend battery performance, Magic Mouse includes an advanced power management system that works with Mac OS X to automatically switch to low power modes during periods of inactivity. The wireless Magic Mouse is powered by two AA batteries which are included.

With the BLOCKBUSTER On Demand service, TiVo subscribers can now rent new release movies from $2.99 for classic hits to $3.99 for new releases. Over the coming weeks, Blockbuster will expand its available catalog, including select HD titles. In addition, TiVo DVRs will be sold at thousands of participating BLOCKBUSTER stores nationwide.

"Blockbuster nights are synonymous with family and fun, something that goes perfectly with the TiVo experience," said Joe Miller, senior vice president of sales and marketing at TiVo Inc. "By bringing Blockbuster's content direct to TiVo subscribers, we show once again that TiVo offers much more choice and convenience for our customers compared to other DVR offerings. We are very pleased to say that customers can now walk into a participating BLOCKBUSTER store to purchase TiVo DVRs and that together both companies have succeeded in bringing even more entertainment direct to the living room."

"When people see BLOCKBUSTER on their TiVo DVR, they'll instantly recognize that they have a movie lover's trusted source of entertainment at their fingertips," said Bruce Anderson, senior vice president and general manager of BLOCKBUSTER On Demand. "We're thrilled to give consumers another way to enjoy the movies they want most now with the convenience of their TiVo remote control in the comfort of their living room."

"Nokia understands mobility like no other company and recognizes that the most 'powerful' device is the one that doesn't have you running for the power plug or network point," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, president and CEO of Nokia. "By combining the Booklet's sleek design, impressive features and competitive price together with the new Windows 7 operating system from Microsoft, AT&T's nationwide 3G coverage and Best Buy's unmatched national retail footprint, we believe we have a winning combination for U.S. consumers."

"Our alliance with Nokia is advancing on multiple fronts and the Nokia Booklet 3G is an important step," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "We are excited with Nokia's decision to launch its first PC with Windows 7. By combining the value and simplicity of the operating system with the all-day mobility of the Nokia Booklet 3G, we are bringing new and valuable experiences to consumers and businesses."

The Nokia Booklet 3G will be sold at all Best Buy locations nationwide as well as at the more than 50 Best Buy Mobile standalone stores across the country. The Nokia Booklet 3G will be offered at an introductory price of $299.99 with an AT&T Data Connect plan two-year activation. The Nokia Booklet 3G should arrive in stores by mid-November, and Best Buy expects to begin taking orders online and in stores on October 22nd.

"Our customers are looking for ways to stay connected no matter where they are and we're finding that netbooks and laptops are important companion devices next to the smartphone. The addition of the Nokia Booklet 3G to our stores will only serve to amplify consumer interest in this emerging mobile technology," said Brian J. Dunn, CEO of Best Buy. "As the exclusive retailer through the holidays, Best Buy is uniquely positioned to offer this great product to consumers and ensure they have the knowledge, supporting products and services to use it the minute they leave our stores."

Running Windows 7, the Intel Atom-powered Nokia Booklet 3G will deliver up to 12 hours of battery life, and weigh less than 2.76 pounds. The mini-laptop also comes with an HDMI port for HD video out, a front facing camera for video calling, integrated Bluetooth and an SD card reader. Other features include a 10.1 inch HD-ready display, integrated A-GPS with Ovi Maps, and the latest version of Ovi Suite for synching with a Nokia mobile device.

"The LCROSS science instruments worked exceedingly well and returned a wealth of data that will greatly improve our understanding of our closest celestial neighbor," said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS principal investigator and project scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "The team is excited to dive into data."

Warnock and Geschke’s initial innovation, a printer language called Adobe PostScript, sparked a quiet revolution that democratized publishing and today is seen as an important first step in the mass dissemination of ideas and information.

Building on the success of PostScript, Warnock and Geschke launched the Portable Document Format (PDF) in 1993. PDF is now used by government organizations, corporations and people around the world for universal, reliable document exchange. The company has distributed over half of a billion copies of the virtually ubiquitous Adobe Reader software for interacting with PDF files.

“If current estimates are correct, many emergency departments across the nation could be overwhelmed by two groups of patients — those who have H1N1 and those who believe they have H1N1,” said Angela Gardner, M.D., FACEP, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. “It is going to be essential that we use every tool and service at our disposal to contain this illness, and online H1N1 self-assessment tools, such as the one offered by Microsoft, can be helpful in providing people with ways to determine whether they should seek emergency care.”

Designed to help people decide what to do if they are worried that they or someone they know might have H1N1, the site offers consumers a self-assessment licensed from medical and public health experts at Emory University. The service assists people in deciding whether their symptoms could be caused by the H1N1 flu virus and provides guidance on what they can do next.

“It is already clear that certain people are more vulnerable to the effects of H1N1 flu virus than others,” said Dr. Arthur Kellermann, professor of emergency medicine and an associate dean of the Emory School of Medicine. “By providing an at-home tool that can help users evaluate whether they need to see a provider before they head to the hospital, we can encourage those who are severely ill or at risk for serious illness to contact their doctor, and reassure everyone else that it is safe and prudent to recover at home. This will reduce the number of people needlessly exposed to H1N1 influenza in crowded clinic and ER waiting rooms, and allow doctors and nurses to focus their attention on those who need them most.”

“Kindle is the most wished for, the most gifted, and the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items we sell on Amazon, and we’re excited to be able to lower the price,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “We’re also excited to announce a new addition to the Kindle family—Kindle with global wireless. At home or abroad in over 100 countries, you can think of a book and download it wirelessly in less than 60 seconds.”

Kindle wirelessly downloads books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and personal documents, and utilizes the same 3G wireless technology as cell phones, so you never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot or sync with a PC. Readers can wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download books in less than 60 seconds, automatically receive newspaper and magazine subscriptions, receive personal documents, and read from their library - now in over 100 countries and territories.

“Kindle has revolutionized the way we purchase and read books, by making it mobile, easy and intuitive,” said Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T. “We are excited to work with Amazon to help readers access books even faster and from significantly more places than ever before, including more than 100 countries and territories around the world through AT&T’s global wireless coverage.”

With more than 350,000 books already in the Kindle Store, Lonely Planet travel guides will also be available starting today.

“Lonely Planet is excited to make a vast selection of travel guides from Australia to Zanzibar available to Kindle customers around the world,” said Lonely Planet CEO Matt Goldberg. “Travelers can now pack as many Lonely Planet guides as they want into Kindle’s 10.2 ounces and download new guides wirelessly while travelling around the world.”

In late summer, AT&T said it was taking a fresh look at VoIP capabilities on iPhone for use on AT&T’s 3G network, consistent with its regular review of device features and capabilities to ensure attractive options for consumers.

"Our new mobile app is an important step in establishing Vonage as a software technology company that enables high-quality voice and messaging across any device in any location, providing great value over any broadband network," said Marc Lefar, CEO of Vonage.

“Adobe Creative Suite is essential for designers and developers worldwide, and touches virtually all the content and applications that enable products, brands and ideas to stand out above the clutter. This is a breakthrough for Flash customers who can now leverage their existing content and expertise to target the iPhone, along with other Flash-supported devices,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Adobe Creative Solutions.

Flash Player 10.1 is the first consistent runtime release of the Open Screen Project that enables uncompromised Web browsing of expressive applications, content and high definition (HD) videos across devices. Using the productive Web programming model of the Flash Platform, the browser-based runtime enables millions of designers and developers to reuse code and assets and reduce the cost of creating, testing and deploying content across different operating systems and browsers. Flash Player 10.1 is easily updateable across all supported platforms to ensure rapid adoption of new innovations that move the Web forward.

“With Flash Player moving to new mobile platforms, users will be able to experience virtually all Flash technology based Web content and applications wherever they are,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “We are excited about the broad collaboration of close to 50 industry leaders in the Open Screen Project and the ongoing collaboration with 19 out of the top 20 handset manufacturers worldwide. It will be great to see first devices ship with full Flash Player in the first half of next year.”

NASA Twitter followers in attendance at the Tweetup will have the opportunity to ask space station crew members Nicole Stott and Jeff Williams questions about what life is like in space during a 20-minute downlink. Williams' Twitter username is @Astro_Jeff, and Stott's is @Astro_Nicole. The event will include a "meet and greet" session to allow participants to mingle with a former station astronaut and the staff behind the tweets on @NASA.

The PSP Go system features a pocket-sized design with a sliding screen, that's more than 50 percent smaller and more than 40 percent lighter than the original PSP-1000. It also offers 16GB of internal flash memory to store games, videos, music, and photos, and also offers expandable storage through a slot that fits a Memory Stick Micro, an ultra-small card with a current capacity of up to 16GB. The current PSP-3000 and the UMD format will continue to be available.

"We've been saying that 2009 is the year of the PSP platform, and with today's launch of the PSP Go system along with the flood of PSP digital content now available on PlayStation Network, we're delivering on that promise," said Peter Dille, senior vice president, marketing and PlayStation Network, SCEA. "The consumer appetite for digital content continues to grow, and PSP Go is the first dedicated gaming handheld to fully address the demand for an all-digital entertainment device."

“Dell is introducing ground-breaking innovations that mark many industry firsts,” said Steve Lalla, vice president and general manager, Business Client Product Group, Dell, Inc. “We’re delivering robust solutions to solve real customer needs. We are committed to our core business and expanding our product line to meet the needs of our customers when they are ready to refresh or add to their existing infrastructure.”

“Consumers have told us that they want the protection of real-time security software but we know that too many are either unwilling or unable to pay for it, and so end up unprotected,” said Amy Barzdukas, general manager for consumer security at Microsoft. “With Microsoft Security Essentials, consumers can get high-quality protection that is easy to get and easy to use — and it won’t get in their way.”

By making Microsoft Security Essentials easy to get and easy to use, Microsoft hopes to encourage broader adoption of anti-virus protection across the consumer audience, which in turn will help increase security across the entire Windows ecosystem. For business customers, Microsoft will continue to offer Forefront Client Security, providing centralized, comprehensive management and reporting capabilities.

Microsoft Security Essentials is designed to run quietly in the background alerting users only when there is an action for them to take. It also limits CPU and memory usage, resulting in less impact on the tasks consumers perform every day, even on older or less powerful PCs. Microsoft Security Essentials uses real-time protection to help prevent PCs from becoming infected, and it is the first Microsoft security product to make use of the company’s new Dynamic Signature Service, a technology that helps ensure users stay protected by the most current virus definitions available without having to wait for the next scheduled download.

“Microsoft is focused on the challenges that prevent consumers from running up-to-date anti-virus software today, particularly in emerging markets where there is a growing prevalence of malware,” said Jon Crotty, security analyst at IDC. “With Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft is helping to reduce some of the barriers that constrain consumers from running AV.”

For the next six weeks, ideas for new Centennial Challenge prize competitions may be proposed for NASA's consideration. Creative ideas are sought from industry, colleges, universities, private organizations and the public. The ideas will be posted on the NASA Web site to stimulate additional creativity. Some selected proposals may be formulated into future prize competitions starting in 2010, pending availability of prize purse funding.

As the latest initiative in the Spark family of programs, which includes Microsoft BizSpark and DreamSpark, the WebsiteSpark Program provides Web professionals with Microsoft software and solutions, together with related tools, training and support, to help their businesses succeed. The WebsiteSpark Program also helps drive new business opportunities by connecting Web professionals and hosters with an ecosystem of customers, partners and other professionals with complementary technologies.

“Developers are the lifeblood of our business, and we are wholly committed to ensuring their success,” said Bob Muglia, president of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business division. “WebsiteSpark makes Microsoft’s Web development tools and support more accessible to developers and designers at small companies as they create inventive applications for the Web. Our third Spark program, WebsiteSpark furthers our commitment to ignite innovation among key communities and individuals.”

Web development and design companies with up to 10 employees and owners can participate in the WebsiteSpark Program for three years with no up-front cost. There is only a $100 program offering fee, payable at exit, with no other costs or obligations. Once approved, these companies can have access to three licenses of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, two licenses of Microsoft Expression Web 3 and one license of Microsoft Expression Studio 3. Companies will also have access to four processor licenses for production usage to Windows Web Server 2008 or R2 (when available) and four processor licenses for production usage to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Web Edition. A third-party premium Web site control panel (DotNetPanel), and professional technical support and training will also be available.

“We saw an opportunity to create a line of consumer electronics basics that combine quality and low prices for an overall focus on value,” said Paul Ryder, vice president of Consumer Electronics for Amazon.com. “We drew on our history of developing other private-label brands and combined that with our mission to give customers the ultimate in selection and value. AmazonBasics is the result. We will continue to gather input from customers and evaluate opportunities for new products under the AmazonBasics brand. We aim to offer our customers as wide a selection as possible, and we think AmazonBasics makes a great addition to the brands we already carry.”

The AmazonBasics line currently features a growing assortment of blank DVD media, cables and accessories, which are available now in the U.S. on www.amazon.com, with plans to introduce the line on Amazon’s international sites over the coming months.

All AmazonBasics products ship in Amazon.com’s Frustration-Free Packaging (www.amazon.com/frustration-free), which is easy-to-open and made from recyclable cardboard, alleviating plastic clamshells, wire ties and excessive packaging. AmazonBasics products also include a one-year warranty.

The team "BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos," the merging of three teams that had previously competed against one another in the contest, received the $1 million Netflix Prize in an award ceremony hosted by Netflix Co-Founder and CEO Reed Hastings and Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt.

"We had a bona fide race right to the very end," said Mr. Hastings. "Teams that had previously battled it out independently joined forces to surpass the 10 percent barrier. New submissions arrived fast and furious in the closing hours and the competition had more twists and turns than 'The Crying Game,' 'The Usual Suspects' and all the 'Bourne' movies wrapped into one."

The winning team is comprised of software and electrical engineers, statisticians and machine learning researchers from Austria, Canada, Israel and the United States. All seven team members - Bob Bell, Martin Chabbert, Michael Jahrer, Yehuda Koren, Martin Piotte, Andreas Toscher and Chris Volinsky - attended the awards ceremony. It was the first time all seven had met one another in person. How the $1 million is split is to be determined by the team.

Netflix said "BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos" edged out a team called "The Ensemble," another collaboration of former competitors, with the winning submission coming just 24 minutes before the conclusion of the nearly three-year-long contest. The competition was so close and the submissions so sophisticated that it took a team of external and internal judges several weeks to validate the winner after the contest closed on July 26th. The Netflix Prize external judges are University of California, San Diego Professor Charles Elkan and University of California, Irvine Professor Padhraic Smyth. The internal judges are Netflix senior engineers Stanley Lanning and Jon Sanders.

"Accurately predicting the movies Netflix members will love is a key component of our service," said Dr. Hunt. "This extreme level of personalization is like entering a video store with 100,000 titles and having those that are most interesting to you fly off the shelves and line up in front of you. We take the guess work out of renting by presenting the movies and TV episodes we believe each Netflix member will most enjoy," he added.

“Images and video have tremendous power to help us stay connected to family and friends,” says Phil Scott, Worldwide Director of Marketing, Digital Capture and Devices and Vice President, Consumer Digital Group. “The KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera makes it easy to spontaneously capture HD video – of heartwarming moments, of ‘can you believe that?’ moments, and of just plain laugh-out-loud moments – and then quickly and easily share them.”

“iPhone 3G S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet and we think people will love the incredible new features including autofocus camera, video recording and the freedom of voice control,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of WorldWide Product Marketing. “And with a breakthrough price of $99, we are thrilled to get iPhone 3G into the hands of even more users who want them.”

iPhone 3G S will be available in the US on June 19 in both Apple and AT&T’s retail and online stores, Best Buy and Wal-Mart stores, and requires a new two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. The iPhone OS 3.0 software will be available on June 17 as a free software update via iTunes 8.2 or later for all iPhone customers. iPod touch customers will be able to purchase a software update for $9.95.

“Across the line, all of our new MacBook Pro models now include Apple’s innovative built-in battery for up to seven hours of battery life, while staying just as thin and light as before,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Starting at just $1,199, the aluminum unibody MacBook Pro is more affordable than ever and sets a new standard for environmentally friendly notebook design.”

The new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models will run for up to seven hours on a single battery charge, and will last nearly three times the lifespan of conventional batteries. The new line MacBook Pros can also be upgraded with up to 8GB of RAM, up to a 500GB hard drive, or up to a 256GB solid state drive. The 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models can be upgraded to a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

Apple today also updated the MacBook Air, making it more powerful and more affordable. The MacBook Air is available in two models starting with the new entry price of $1,499 for a 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 120GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics. A 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 128GB solid state drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics for $1,799 is also available.

Starting this fall, a broad selection of movies and TV shows from Zune video on Xbox 360 will be available to start and stream instantly in 1080p, no waiting for downloads and no delays.

In addition, Microsoft announced it will more than double the number of markets where Xbox LIVE offers its TV shows and movies, growing from eight to 18, by adding Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Xbox LIVE members in these markets will have access to instant on 1080p video as well. New Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace will also offer some additional features for the U.S., U.K. and Ireland, including Netflix, which will now let you watch and share supported movies with up to seven friends on Xbox LIVE via Xbox LIVE Party. Users will also be able to recommend their favorites to friends and see their virtual selves as an avatar on the screen.

“Last June, we gave developers an early look at the powerful new technologies that form the underpinnings of Mac OS X Snow Leopard,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “At WWDC, we will be giving our developers a final Developer Preview release so they can see the incredible progress we’ve made on Snow Leopard and work with us as we move toward its final release.”

The New York Times Company and Washington Post Company are launching pilot programs with Kindle DX this summer, where The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post will offer the Kindle DX at a reduced price to readers who live in areas where home-delivery is not available and who sign up for a long-term subscription to the Kindle edition of the newspapers.

“At The New York Times Company we are always seeking new ways for our millions of readers to have full and continuing access to our high-quality news and information,” said Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman, The New York Times Company and publisher, The New York Times. "The wireless delivery and new value-added features of the Kindle DX will provide our large, loyal audience, no matter where they live, with an exciting new way to interact with The New York Times and The Boston Globe. Additionally, by offering a subscription through the Kindle DX to readers who live outside of our delivery areas, we will extend our reach to our loyal readers who will be able to more readily enjoy their favorite newspapers. Meanwhile, we are continuing to work with Amazon to make The New York Times and The Boston Globe experiences on Kindle better than ever."

Leading textbook publishers Cengage Learning, Pearson, and Wiley, together representing more than 60 percent of the U.S. higher education textbook market, will begin offering textbooks through the Kindle Store beginning this summer. Textbooks under the following brands will be available: Addison-Wesley, Allyn & Bacon, Benjamin Cummings, Longman & Prentice Hall (Pearson); Wadsworth, Brooks/Cole, Course Technology, Delmar, Heinle, Schirmer, South-Western (Cengage); and Wiley Higher Education.

Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College, and Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia will launch trial programs to make Kindle DX devices available to students this fall. The schools will distribute hundreds of Kindle DX devices to students spread across a broad range of academic disciplines. In addition to reading on a considerably larger screen, students will be able to take advantage of popular Kindle features such as the ability to take notes and highlight, search across their library, look up words in a built-in dictionary, and carry all of their books in a lightweight device.

“The Kindle DX holds enormous potential to influence the way students learn,” said Barbara R. Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University. “We look forward to seeing how the device affects the participation of both students and faculty in the educational experience.”

“Our customers have been asking us for two things: HD and the ability to watch movies and TV shows instantly on their television,” said Bill Carr, Amazon vice president Music and Video. “Today we are thrilled to begin offering HD and to add the distinctive Panasonic VIERA CAST-enabled HDTV lineup to the growing number of televisions and devices supported by Amazon Video On Demand. We plan to continue making it easier than ever for customers to instantly enjoy their favorite TV shows and movies in HD from the comfort of their living rooms.”

With movies and TV episodes in HD, customers can now order and watch movies and TV shows in HD on their televisions through compatible devices including: the Roku digital video player, TiVo Series3, HD, and HD XL DVRs, and the Sony Bravia Internet Video Link. Amazon Video On Demand’s entire library of 40,000 titles, plus HD titles, are also available on Panasonic VIERA CAST enabled HDTVs. Using these devices, customers can now rent HD movies for $3.99 - $4.99. Customers can also purchase and watch HD TV shows online on MACs or PCs, through compatible devices, or download them to their PC for offline viewing for $2.99.

“Panasonic is thrilled to be working with Amazon’s Video on Demand service, an association we see as another step in providing the ultimate entertainment experience for the consumer. Both Panasonic and Amazon are extremely consumer centric and this functionality will provide the consumer with a myriad of entertainment choices,” said Merwan Mereby, Panasonic vice president of New Business Development. “It’s fitting that Panasonic and Amazon have joined creative forces to create this unique entertainment vehicle. Panasonic’s VIERA CAST HDTVs have garnered numerous best of awards, while Amazon is a pioneer in transforming in-home movie entertainment. The consumer will have access to a vast selection of movie and TV entertainment at their finger tips with just a click of a button.”

“The addition of Amazon’s HD offerings to the Roku digital video player is a tremendous enhancement for our customers,” said Tim Twerdahl, vice president of consumer products at Roku. “Amazon’s vast selection of high-quality content is the perfect complement to Roku’s instant delivery of top movies and TV shows directly to the TV. The combination of Amazon Video On Demand and the $99 Roku player is an incredible value to customers.”

“This is a great day for our customers because our best-in-class HD offering just became even better with HD movies and TV shows now being offered by Amazon Video On Demand,” said Tara Maitra, vice president and general manager of Content Services and Advertising Sales at TiVo Inc. “Adding HD content from Amazon Video on Demand to an existing vast library of options shows once again that with a TiVo remote you truly can have it all. Consumers can access Amazon Video On Demand HD movies and TV shows, all with the simplicity people have come to expect from TiVo.”

“Striving to deliver high-quality content directly to customers, Sony is excited to have HD movies and television shows from Amazon Video On Demand delivered directly to BRAVIA televisions,” said Jeff Goldstein, vice president of TV Marketing for Sony Electronics.

"Skype software for the iPhone has been the number one request among our users. We are delighted to deliver on this request and put Skype into the pockets of millions of people around the world who are carrying iPhone and iPod touch devices," said Scott Durchslag, Skype's Chief Operating Officer. "Skype for iPhone will open up new ways for more than 400 million Skype users to stay connected and take their Skype conversations with them. Skype for iPhone is an experience that offers the same simplicity, ease-of-use and quality our users have come to expect from Skype, combined with an elegance of design and richness so loved by Apple's many customers worldwide."

Skype for iPhone requires a Wi-Fi connection to make free Skype-to-Skype calls or low-cost Skype calls to mobiles and landlines. Users will not be charged by Skype for making and receiving Skype-to-Skype calls using an iPhone or iPod touch. Skype's normal low rates apply if using Skype to call landlines or mobiles.

The app uses Wi-Fi, 3G, GPRS or EDGE (whichever is available) to sign into Skype, update a contact list, maintain and update presence and send/receive instant messages. Skype recommends an unlimited data usage plan for using Skype over a mobile data connection to avoid being charged by a wireless service provider for 3G, GPRS and EDGE mobile data usage.

“The new iPhone OS 3.0 is a major software release packed with incredible new features and innovations for iPhone customers and developers alike. It will keep us years ahead of the competition,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

The iPhone OS 3.0 beta software and SDK include over 1,000 new APIs and are available today for all iPhone Developer Program members to use for development and testing of their apps for iPhone and iPod touch. Included in these APIs is the ability to leverage the incredible purchase model of the App Store within apps. In-App Purchases will allow developers to offer subscription content and provide the ability to sell new content and features in a simple and secure process. Developers can also more easily create peer-to-peer games for iPhone and iPod touch by using Bluetooth.

Another key developer feature in the iPhone OS 3.0 beta software is the ability for apps to interface with hardware accessories, creating a whole new element of control for iPhone and iPod touch accessory developers as well as a new ecosystem of solutions for customers. Developers will also be able to use Apple’s new Maps API to integrate Google Mobile Maps services within their apps which will offer Google Map tiles, current location, custom annotations and geocoding. The iPhone OS 3.0 beta software includes the Apple Push Notification service which provides developers with a mechanism to alert users with sounds, text or a badge.

The new iPhone OS 3.0 software will be available to iPhone and iPod touch users this summer with over 100 new features including cut, copy and paste which can be done within or across applications; MMS to send and receive photos, contacts, audio files and locations with the Messages app; and the ability to capture and send audio recordings on the go with the new Voice Memo app. Landscape view will be available for Mail, Text and Notes. Search capabilities will be expanded, allowing customers to search within Mail, iPod and Notes or search across all key apps by typing a key word or phrase into the new Spotlight search, conveniently accessed from the Home screen.

The updated Stock app will add the ability to display recent company news and current trading information like opening or average price, trading volume or Market Cap, and will offer a landscape view to see a full screen of any stock chart. Customers will also be able to view shared calendars right on their iPhone with CalDAV support and sync their calendars with iCal, Yahoo, Google and Oracle.

Today, the App Store has more than 25,000 applications available to consumers, and 15 more countries have been added so the App Store is now available in 77 countries, allowing developers to reach more than 30 million iPhone and iPod touch users around the world. Developers set the price for their applications and retain 70 percent of all sales revenue. Apple covers all credit card, web hosting and infrastructure costs associated with offering applications on the App Store.

“Imagine your music player talking to you, telling you your song titles, artists and playlist names,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. “The amazingly small new iPod shuffle takes a revolutionary approach to how you listen to your music by talking to you, also making it the first iPod shuffle with playlists.”

When you can’t remember the name of a song or an artist playing, with the press of a button, iPod shuffle tells you the name of the song and artist. It can even tell you status information, such as battery life. The device can speak 14 languages including English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

“We are excited to bring the new Kindle application to Apple's App Store and think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to read their Kindle books on the iPhone and iPod touch,” said Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle. “Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch is a great way for customers to catch up on their current book wherever they are, like in line at the grocery store or between meetings.”

The Kindle application for iPhone and iPod touch lets customers bring their Kindle books with them wherever they go and takes full advantage of Apple's Multi-Touch user interface. With the new Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch application, customers can:

“Our flagship 24-inch iMac with twice the memory and twice the storage is now available for just $1,499,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s COO. “The Mac mini is not only our most affordable Mac, it’s also the world’s most energy efficient desktop computer.”

The iMac line starts with the 20-inch iMac, for $1,199, with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 320GB Serial ATA hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. The 24-inch iMac features a 1920-by-1200 pixel widescreen display, and starts at $1,499. The 24-inch iMac includes up to a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 640GB or 1TB Serial ATA hard drive, and a variety of graphics technology from NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 or ATI Radeon HD 4850 discrete graphics for ultimate performance.

The new iMac and Mac mini lines are now shipping and are available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers.

Starting at $599, the Mac mini is available in two models. Mac mini features a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a SuperDrive. The Mac mini features NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and now features dual display support which can drive two Apple or third-party displays with Mini DisplayPort or DVI connections.

The networked models feature an Ethernet connection so the sets can directly access Sony BRAVIA Internet Video content using an existing broadband connection. The service offers one of the largest selections of free and premium movies, TV shows, sports, music and more from an array of partners like Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Yahoo!, Sony Pictures, Sony Music and many others.

BRAVIA Internet Widgets, provided by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, expand and personalize the experience by allowing you to interact with your favorite Internet content like Yahoo News, Video, Finance, and Flickr while watching TV shows. Track your favorite sports team, check your stocks and share photos with friends and family as you watch television.

The 52-inch KDL-52W5100, 46-inch KDL-46W5100 and 40-inch KDL-40W5100 (diagonal) models feature Motionflow 120Hz technology for improved sharpness and detail in fast-moving images. They also feature Sony's BRAVIA Engine 3, which delivers a crystal clear picture even if the content isn't perfect.

The W-series models are Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA(R)) compliant, enabling easy access to digital photos, music and video stored on a PC or other DLNA server using the XMB(R) interface and the TV's remote control. They also offer a USB input for displaying digital photos or playing digital video and audio files from compatible USB storage devices.

In addition, these models feature:

* 24p True Cinema
* XrossMediaBar(XMB) with enhanced 3D favorites menu
* Internet-powered TV Guide Onscreen
* BRAVIA Sync
* BRAVIA Link Compatibility
* 4 HDMI inputs
* Single PC, component, composite and S-video inputs

Designed to match the W5100 series models, the HT-CT500 3.1 channel sound bar features an integrated A-V receiver supporting full HD 1080p video and the latest advanced audio codecs. This sound bar theater system will be available this June for about $500.

"Kindle 2's experimental text-to-speech feature is legal: no copy is made, no derivative work is created, and no performance is being given. Furthermore, we ourselves are a major participant in the professionally narrated audiobooks business through our subsidiaries Audible and Brilliance. We believe text-to-speech will introduce new customers to the convenience of listening to books and thereby grow the professionally narrated audiobooks business," Amazon stated.

"Nevertheless, we strongly believe many rightsholders will be more comfortable with the text-to-speech feature if they are in the driver's seat.

Therefore, we are modifying our systems so that rightsholders can decide on a title by title basis whether they want text-to-speech enabled or disabled for any particular title. We have already begun to work on the technical changes required to give authors and publishers that choice. With this new level of control, publishers and authors will be able to decide for themselves whether it is in their commercial interests to leave text-to-speech enabled. We believe many will decide that it is.

David Porter, formerly of Dreamworks Animation and Wal-Mart Stores, will join the company as corporate vice president of Retail Stores, though Microsoft has not yet said how many stores it will open, or when those stores will open. The company also didn't announce which products it plans to sell in the new stores when they do open.

“There are tremendous opportunities ahead for Microsoft to create a world-class shopping experience for our customers,” Porter said. “I am excited about helping consumers make more informed decisions about their PC and software purchases, and we’ll share learnings from our stores with our existing retail and OEM partners that are critical to our success.”

The special Video File also will be broadcast in standard-definition on NASA TV immediately following the regularly scheduled daily Video File broadcasts. For technical information on how to receive the special broadcast in high definition, and for NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit: www.nasa.gov/ntv

NASA and Northrop Grumman are returning NASA's two Global Hawk aircraft to flight this year under a Space Act Agreement signed in May 2008. NASA plans to use the aircraft for missions to support its Science Mission Directorate and the Earth science community that require high-altitude, long-distance airborne capability.

"Today marks the debut of NASA's newest airborne science capability," said Kevin L. Petersen, director of Dryden. "These Global Hawks represent the first non-military use of this remarkable robotic aircraft system. NASA's partnership with Northrop Grumman has made this possible."

The U.S. Air Force transferred the Global Hawks to NASA in December 2007. They are among the first seven built in the original Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program, which the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency sponsored. Northrop Grumman will share in the use of the aircraft to conduct its own flight demonstrations for expanded markets, missions and airborne capabilities, including integration of autonomous aircraft systems into the national airspace.

Global Hawk can fly at altitudes up to 65,000 feet for more than 31 hours at a time. To date, the aircraft have flown more than 28,000 hours.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, also is partnering with NASA to develop this new airborne research tool. NOAA is participating in the project management and piloting of the NASA Global Hawks and the development of scientific instruments and future Earth science research campaigns.

"The Global Hawks will provide superb new measurement possibilities for our climate science and applications programs," said Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division in Washington. "This collaboration is a model for NASA's wide-ranging Earth-observation activities to advance our understanding of Earth as an integrated system, which are critical to developing responses to environmental change here and around the world."

NASA's initial use of the aircraft to support Earth science will be the Global Hawk Pacific 2009 program. This campaign will consist of six long-duration missions over the Pacific and Arctic regions in the late spring and early summer of 2009. Twelve scientific instruments integrated into one of the NASA Global Hawk aircraft will collect atmospheric data while flying high through Earth's atmosphere in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.

Global Hawk has many potential applications for the advancement of science, improvement of hurricane monitoring techniques, development of disaster support capabilities, and development of advanced autonomous aircraft system technologies. For example, Global Hawks were used to help monitor wildfires in Southern California in 2007 and 2008.

NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, located on Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert of Southern California, is NASA's primary installation for atmospheric flight research. It has supported NASA's technology development efforts in aeronautics, environmental science, space exploration and space operations for more than 60 years.

The 17-inch MacBook Pro features a non-removable battery that lasts up to 8 hours, a high-resolution LED-backlit LCD display, and NVIDIA GeForce graphics, for superior graphics performance. The new laptop also sports the same solid-body aluminum casing as the 15-inch version, glass trackpad, and offers a matte finish display, for those who prefer it over the 15-inch's glossy screen.

Other announcements included the updates of the iLife and iWork software products, the ability to download music on an iPhone over 3G, the price of songs now set at $0.69 and $0.99 (with and additional tier at $1.29), and the iTunes music catalog of 10 million songs all becoming DRM-free by the end of the quarter.