Hands-on with the Amazon Kindle Fire HD

Amazon's push to sell consumers more content by selling them hardware they can use to buy and consume that content continued on Thursday. At a press event in the US, the company introduced not only updated Kindles and a beefier Kindle Fire but also three new Kindle Fire HD tablets.

After the presentation, we got a chance to get our nerdy hands on the newest HD version of the Fire. We were impressed.

The is the Kindle Amazon hopes will take on the iPad in the tablet space. According to Amazon, the Kindle Fire currently owns 22 percent of the tablet market. Clearly Jeff Bezos wants more. The new seven-inch Kindle Fire HD feels more like a true iPad competitor. It sheds much of its predecessor's bulk and delivers a speedier more refined experience. The screen is crisp, with better contrast than the old Kindle Fire. However, while Amazon says that it has reduced the glare on the Fire HD's display, it's still a struggle under bright lights.

The external button has been moved from the bottom to the top on the Fire HD. It now sits flush with the case of the tablet, which should reduce instances of users accidentally putting the Fire into sleep mode while propping it up to read a book -- an all-too-common occurrence with the previous design. There are now physical volume buttons at the top of the device, too -- a welcome improvement over the software-based volume control.

Amazon's customised Android skin remains, but with tweaks that improve navigation. Sliding a finger from the top of the screen brings up settings, for example, which is much better than trying to tap that tiny gear. The new Coverflow-esque feature that replaces the bookshelf of the current Kindle Fire seems more like a lateral move than a step up, but the Favorites drawer is a welcome addition.

The speakers on the back are hidden within the distinctive black stripe that, even if not intentionally decorative, sets the Kindle Fire HD apart from other tablets. Unfortunately, the noisy airplane hangar where Amazon held its launch event was no good for testing audio performance, so we can't say anything about the sound.

All these tests were done on the seven-inch Kindle Fire HD.

The Kindle Fire HD is available for pre-order at £159 for the 16GB model and £199 for the 32GB version. 

Hottest Tech you need to own.

Best in show from the Berlin tech showcase

Having unveiled its first S tablet at IFA last year, Sony has given its latest slate the Xperia branded makeover, making it thinner (8mm) and lighter than its predecessor. Running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and powered by a NVIDIA Tegra 3 quadcore processor, the Tablet S also hosts a 9.4-inch 1280x800 IPS OptiContrast display and Sony’s ClearAudio+ technology making it suitable surroundings for watching movies. There’s an 8-Megapixel rear-facing camera and 1.0-Megapixel front-facing snapper both which shoot in HD, while other notable specs include SD card support and a 10 hour play time courtesy of a 6,000 mAh capacity battery.

Price: TBC | Release date: September 2012,

Slimmed-Down Sony Xperia -Tablet S unveiled.

Sony has revealed its latest Android tablet.  " Sony Xperia Tablet S".

The new tablet comes with a slim aluminium body, a 'splash-proof design' (for the kitchen, see?) and the option of some specially-made docks and other accessories which you can buy separately.

It may look a little familiar, given that we've a) seen it in leaks galore over the past few weeks and b) seen it in chunkier form as its predecessor, the Sony Tablet S.

Running this puppy are the quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) rather than the more up-to-date Jelly Bean. The chillier snack-set was rumoured in the latest Xperia Tablet leak.Sony hasn't said whether the device will get the Jelly Bean upgrade or not.

Name game.

Available in three storage options (16GB, 32GB and 64GB), the tablet comes with Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi connectivity, and there's an 8MP camera on the back with a 1MP HD web snapper on the front too.

Like its similarly-monickered predecessor, the Sony Tablet S, the Xperia Tablet S has a laser-like focus on media apps which should all be in line with the Xperia smartphones now too.

This means that the likes of Walkman, Music Unlimited and Sony's movies app will now work the same across all its smartphones and tablets.

Keeping all that media action going is a 6000mAh battery which Sony reckons will give you 10 hours of web browsing or 12 hours of video playback from a full charge.

As for an official release date or price for the Xperia Tablet S, we're still in the dark – we've had our sleuthing hat on and managed to hunt the slate down this summer so check out our many and varied thoughts on the new slate in our hands on. 

If you can't wait long enough even to click that link, we've got a video demo of the Sony Xperia Tablet S ready and raring to go

Social network Best of all Worlds targets the one percent

Erik and Louise Wachtmeister, founders of exclusive social network ASmallWorld, have launched another private, online community called Best of All Worlds.

The invite-only social network -- which can be accessed via web, iPhone and iPad apps -- aims to provide the world's leading entrepreneurs, creative types, thinkers and influencers with a place to connect and plan their lives. Describing itself as a "social navigator", Best of All Worlds is designed to make sure that members don't find themselves "overwhelmed with irrelevant connections".

Erik Wachtmeister explains: "So much of social media is about focusing on other people's past. Best of all Worlds is about paying more attention to our own future."

When Wired.co.uk meets Wachtmeister, he is keen to point out that it's not just for the super-rich. Rather, it aims to bridge the social and professional worlds of influential people. However, a quick glance at the events that have been selected as crucial suggest otherwise -- it's packed with fashion weeks, polo matches and design fairs.

The platform lets users state their current and planned locations with the view to arrange to meet up with other members in those places. In order to find the right people to connect with, users can interact in a series of "worlds" that focus on a range of social and professional interests, such as business, food and wine, health, technology and art. Each world is curated and moderated by Best of All Worlds staff members.

Users can also set their "mode" to reflect their immediate interests, choosing between the likes of "professional", "social", "family" or "party" modes depending on their intent. Similarly users can easily flip between privacy modes, choosing visibility to the entire membership, just their network, friends of friends or being "invisible".

The plan is to work on building a strong network before starting to generate revenue from referrals and posh Yellow Pages-style listings for different events and venues.

Husband-and-wife team Erik and Louise Wachmeister launched ASmallWorld in 2004. The platform grew its user base quickly to reach 700,000. In 2006, movie giant Harvey Weinstein took a controlling stake in the company in what was his first internet investment. The Wachtmeisters left the company in 2008 after differing visions about the company's future direction. In March 2011,Weinstein described his investment as "one of my all-time doozies". In his own words, he "ignored technology and went after the bottom line" instead of concentrating on making the platform better like other social networking sites did. As a result, the "other social sites kicked my butt" and he sold the company for a loss.

Best of All Worlds has seed investment from members of the Saudi Royal Family. The team is based in Stockholm and Silicon Valley. A group of 25,000 people have been trialing the app in a closed beta. Users can invite up to 10 others to join the platform and it's coming out of beta over the next few days.

The challenge will be finding a balance between exclusivity and the network effect that makes platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn so powerful.

Are you intrigued by this sort of high-end social network? Tell us in the comments below.

Windows 7 all-in-ones go out big

We won't see Microsoft's old OS on too many new PCs, but this final batch of Windows 7 all-in-ones finally matches the giant display size in Apple's 27-inch iMac.

One highlight of this year's Consumer Electronics Show was the debut of the 27-inch Windows all-in-one. Finally, two-and-a-half years after Apple debuted the 27-inch iMac, Windows vendors found a way to compete.

Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and Vizio all had big-screen all-in-ones to show off, giving CES an uncommonly intriguing batch of desktop PC announcements.

I had some hands-on time with Vizio's 27-incher a few weeks ago, but the company still has not submitted a system for review. That Samsung Series 9 all-in-one has come out in   We also had a surprise 27-inch entry from Dell. Here's a roundup of our reviews. It might not be the best time to buy a new PC with Windows 8 refreshes likely right around the corner, but you can at least say that this last salvo of Windows 7 all-in-ones closed the gap with the 27-inch iMac.

is Google search engine new antipiracy machine???

Sites that generate too many copyright take-down notices will be moved lower in Google's search rankings.

Google search will be less welcoming to sites accused of piracy by copyright owners.

On the company's blog, Google outlined a new measure designed at penalizing sites that generate too many complaints from copyright owners.

"We will begin taking into account a new signal in our rankings: the number of valid copyright removal notices we receive for any given site," Google said in the blog post. " Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results."

This appears to be among the most significant antipiracy measure Google has ever adopted. The company's powerful search engine is how most people on the planet conduct Internet searches. For the past two years, Google has made more and more concessions to copyright owners, who have long demanded that Google take steps to prevent its search engine from aiding copyright infringement.

One of their biggest requests was for accused pirate sites to be blocked from showing up in search results. Copyright owners didn't get that but they got something approaching that. What can't be forgotten is that there are all kinds of sites that index and help steer people to sites that share unauthorized film and music files.

In the blog post, Google suggested that the intent of the change is not for the company to become a copyright cop but to help weed out illegitimate sources of music, movies and other digital media.

"This ranking change should help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily--whether it's a song previewed on NPR's music website, a TV show on Hulu or new music streamed from Spotify.

"Since we re-booted our copyright removals over two years ago, we've been given much more data by copyright owners about infringing content online," Google continued. "In fact, we're now receiving and processing more copyright removal notices every day than we did in all of 2009--more than 4.3 million URLs in the last 30 days alone. We will now be using this data as a signal in our search rankings."

Copyright owners were quick to applaud Google's plan.

"Today Google has announced a potentially significant change in its search rankings that can make a meaningful difference to creators," said Cary Sherman, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the four top music labels. "This change is an important step in the right direction -- a step we've been urging Google to take for a long time -- and we commend the company for its action."

I've written this many times but I'll write it again. For you free-info hardliners, the thing to keep in mind is that Google is in the content distribution business.

Hollywood sources have told me for years that Google would struggle to get all the content it needed as long as the parent company dragged its feet on antipiracy. If Google Play and YouTube are to become serious competitors in music and movies, they need content and that means Google has to negotiate.

Antipiracy is apparently on the table.

Do u think Epic Games was going to let Gears of War die after its third installment??

You didn't think Epic Games was going to let Gears of War die after its third installment, did you?

A fourth game in the Gears of War series was announced today at E3, entitled Gears of War Judgment.

The game is a prequel and focuses on events several years earlier than those in the first Gears of War game, smack bang in the aftermath of Emergence Day -- the infamous moment in the Gears world, in which hell broke loose and chainsaws started being plunged into the chests of the invading Locust enemy.]Plot-wise, Judgment centres on Augustus Cole, Damon Baird and a couple of fresh faces: Sofia Hendericks and Garron Paduk. Together they are Kilo Squad, attempting to save the city of Halvo Bay from "a terrifying new enemy", which presumably packs up its bags at the end of the game since we don't see hide nor hair of it in the last three Gears installments.

There will be new cooperative gameplay functions and multiplayer modes, plus a feature called Mission Declassification, which rewards the player with new story scenarios for discovering "critical information" during playthrough of the game's main campaign.

Little else is known about Gears of War Judgment, but an early 2013 release is promised worldwide