Verizon upgrade eligibility extends to a full two years, New Every Two credits expire April 15th

Verizon subscribers, we hope your device habits don't revolve too closely around that 20-month upgrade cycle: it's about to get longer. Big Red has confirmed that upgrade eligibility will now start only after the two-year contract is up. Those who have an existing contract that expires in January 2014 or later will have to wait four more months before they can get hardware at a discounted rate. Ostensibly, the shift is to let customers count on a lone upgrade date for all of their connected devices, but let's not beat around the bush: the longer intervals are bad for any subscriber whose desire for a new phone or tablet doesn't perfectly dovetail with their contract length.

There are a few other changes afoot. Those on multi-line accounts can still share their upgrades as long as it's within the same device category, but they won't have the option to transfer a hotspot or tablet upgrade. It won't be as easy to upgrade to that Galaxy Note 10.1, unfortunately. Likewise, anyone who's been hoarding New Every Two upgrades since the program ended in 2011 may want to use them this weekend -- the credits expire on April 15th. While these last two changes won't affect as many of us, they reinforce the notion that Verizon would really prefer that we hold on to the gear we've got.

Via: Droid-Life

Source: Verizon

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By: Unknown On 10:15 PM

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Barnes and Noble giving away Nook Simple Touch with every Nook HD+ purchase in limited promo

March 22, 2013 01:16 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Barnes & Noble Announces NOOK® HD+ Special Limited Time Offer: Purchase the Critically Acclaimed NOOK HD+ and Get a FREE NOOK Simple Touch™

Everything That Customers Want in a Full HD Tablet Plus a FREE NOOK Simple Touch E Ink® Reader, a $79 Value

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NOOK Media LLC, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced that customers who purchase a NOOK HD+ between March 24, 2013, and March 31, 2013, will receive a free NOOK Simple Touch E Ink reader, a $79 value. This special limited time offer is available at all the nearly 700 Barnes & Noble retail stores nationwide, hundreds of Barnes & Noble College Bookstores and online at www.nook.com. The offer is also available between March 24, 2013, and March 30, 2013, through other leading retailers offering NOOK® products, including Walmart.com, Target and Best Buy. This is the perfect way to experience all that NOOK has to offer, combining NOOK HD+, the lightest full 9-inch HD tablet ever invented, with a free NOOK Simple Touch, the highly acclaimed and easy-to-use E Ink reader.

"By offering a free NOOK Simple Touch with the purchase of NOOK HD+, customers can fully experience all that the expansive NOOK Store™ of more than 3 million titles has to offer"

NOOK HD+ delivers extraordinary experiences in the areas that tablet owners use most. The reading experience is unmatched, offering beautifully rendered text, magazines in spectacular HD and lightning fast page turns. The fully laminated display reduces glare and provides excellent viewing angles, perfect for personal or shared viewing. At only 18.2 ounces (515 grams), NOOK HD+ is the lightest full HD tablet ever invented and features great battery life and expandable memory for even more storage. NOOK HD+ is available for $269 (16GB) and $299 (32GB), and is now an even better value with a free NOOK Simple Touch E Ink reader, a $79 value.

NOOK HD+ is packed full with great tablet features, including:

NOOK Video™: Delivers a growing and diverse catalog of favorite HD and standard movies and TV shows rendered in spectacular color and stunning definition from major studios and content providers including Lionsgate, MGM and Paramount Pictures.

NOOK Apps™: Features many of the most popular and bestselling top 100 app titles for tablets, including Angry Birds, Temple Run: Brave and Words with Friends, along with thousands of other popular apps and games.

NOOK Profiles™: A personalized experience that instantly transforms the device in hand to any family member's very own tablet so only they can see their own content.

NOOK Channels™: A pioneering recommendation system that provides an easy way to discover new titles by theme.

The ability to sync the last page read across NOOK devices and apps so customers don't lose their place.

A stunning full HD 1920x1280 display for rich color and deep contrast.

A powerful 1.5Ghz dual-core processor and built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

NOOK Simple Touch is the perfect device for customers seeking a simple, easy-to-use, dedicated reading experience on an ultra-light, portable 6-inch reader with an advanced E Ink Pearl display and the longest-lasting battery life of up to 2 months on a single charge. With a simple tap to the 6-inch touchscreen, it's intuitive and easy to navigate, shop and read. Customers can look up words, highlight passages, adjust the font size and style or search by typing on the responsive on-screen keyboard that appears only when a customer needs it. The paper-like E Ink display features crisp, clear text that's great for reading anywhere, even in bright sunlight. This award-winning device is normally available for only $79, but for a limited time comes free with the purchase of NOOK HD+.

Customers can visit www.nook.com or visit the NOOK Digital Shops™ and displays in any of Barnes & Noble's nearly 700 bookstores for more information. Barnes & Noble offers Always Free NOOK Support in all of its neighborhood bookstores, with more than 35,000 NOOKsellers across the country ready to assist customers with setting up their NOOK devices or choosing their next great read.

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By: Unknown On 2:22 PM

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OUYA following mobile model: 'There will be a new OUYA every year'

There will be a new OUYA next year, and the year after that, unlike the traditional game console model, where new hardware ships in five- to seven-year generational increments. "Our strategy is very much similar to the mobile strategy," OUYA CEO Julie Uhrman told us in an interview this afternoon, following her DICE 2013 speech. "There will be a new OUYA every year. There will be an OUYA 2 and an OUYA 3," she added. One potentially featuring the recently revealed Tegra 4, perhaps, rather than the Tegra 3 powering the first units? It sure sounds like it. "We'll take advantage of faster, better processors, take advantage of prices falling. So if we can get more than 8GB of Flash in our box, we will," she explained.

But don't fret, nervous game buyer. Uhrman assured us that "all the games will be backward compatible" going forward. When pushed on how this will work, she said, "The games will be tied to you, the gamer," (like Steam is now) rather than tying your game licenses to the hardware you purchased (like, say, Nintendo's Wii U).

The first OUYA, set to launch for Kickstarter backers this March and at retail in June, comes with a quad-core A9 Tegra 3 that's been maxed out to 1.6GHz. Uhrman pointed out that, because of OUYA's home console form factor (which plugs into a wall, rather than relying on a tiny battery), the console will be, "the best Tegra 3 device on the market." It also doesn't hurt that OUYA's working directly with the Tegra 3's manufacturer, NVIDIA. She said that NVIDIA has a group of folks dedicated solely to getting the chip driving the OUYA to run at its highest capacity ever. We'll find out what that means when we get our hands on the console later this year. Should you like to hear more from Julie Uhrman ahead of that launch, she'll be speaking at Engadget's Expand event this March. Grab your tickets right here!

More Coverage: Joystiq

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By: Unknown On 9:59 PM

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Netflix Encodes Every Movie 120 Different Ways

This story will display in ...Dec 19, 2012 4:32 AM  

The problem with streaming video to different devices—computers, tablets, phones, and whatever else—is that they all demand subtly different streams if they're to look their best. If you're Netflix, which streams to 900 different types of device, that leaves you with some work to do.

According to Netflix, it has to encode each and every movie it offers in 120 different ways. Add to that the crowd sourcing of subtitles, global variation in titles and formats, and an armful of other problems, and the work Netflix has to go to makes $8 a month seem even better value. The video above was used at a Netflix recruitment fair—but gives a decent insight into how its video wends its way from Hollywood to your tablet. [GigaOm]

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By: Dilusha On 10:57 PM

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Pretty Much Every Holiday Party Ever

This story will display in ...Dec 17, 2012 10:00 PM  

Though holiday parties are dressed up in festivity and good spirits and cold weather, they're still freaking parties. And parties, filled with people of the human race, all end up the same way. This animated short about "-holics" shows how all holiday parties play out. For the Facebookaholic, the Twitteraholic, the Alcoholic, the Sexaholic, whoever -holic, party up. It's the holidays.

The video, called Season's Gweetings!, was directed by Aloke Shetty of Rawshark Films and animated by Rajiv Eipe. [YouTube via Laughing Squid]

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By: Dilusha On 4:27 PM

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