Kindle Owners' Lending Library lets you borrow for free

Are you a voracious reader who happened to have made the leap over to the e-book world, so much so that you do not bother with physical paperbacks anymore? Well, good news for you then – it seems that 16 of the Top 100 best-selling paid Kindle books in the month of March were exclusive only to the Kindle Store, and is made available for Prime Members with a Kindle who can borrow it for free via the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. The 16 books in question will include only paid units, and will not consider borrowed or free units at all, where among them include Kindle Singles "An Unexpected Twist" by Andy Borowitz and "Bearded Lady" by Mara Altman, "Easily Amused" by Karen McQuestion, books 1-3 in Michael Wallace's Righteous Series, and independently-published books from T.R. Ragan and A.K. Alexander. As for other hugely popular Kindle-exclusive books, they are Kurt Vonnegut's new Kindle Single "Basic Training" and Stephen Covey's highly rated tome "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." Are you getting your reading kicks via a Kindle, or do you prefer an upcoming yet unannounced e-book reader to get the job done for you? [Press Release]

Asus PadFone officially priced, should be released in May

Asus' interesting PadFone, which combines a smartphone and a tablet into one device, will reportedly be available starting May. That's what ePrice says, mentioning that the PadFone will be first released in Taiwan, Asus' home country. The website has also unveiled the official price of the PadFone, which will ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The smartphone itself costs 17,990 Taiwan dollars, meaning about 610 USD. If you want the tablet, too, you have to pay 24,980 Taiwan dollars (about 847 USD). Additionally, you can get a keyboard dock for an extra 100 USD. In Taiwan, pre-orders for the PadFone will start on April 6 (tomorrow).

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE gets teardown, gives literal best viewing angles

We have waxed lyrical about the Galaxy Tab 7.7's Super AMOLED Plus delights - twice. Color us not entirely shocked, then, to see that Samsung's proudly tore apart the Korean LTE variant for component-obsessed fans. Some Korea-only features include a DMB TV antenna just below the 1280 x 800 display, while a magnesium cover above that keeps the thickness and weight down. Conversely, however, the border of the rear cover was increased by 0.1mm to defend the touchpanel against scratches and ensure that the rear camera doesn't stick out too much.

Transformer Prime Gets Firmware Update

The Asus Eee Transformer Prime tablet which runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich just got a firmware update to maintain the tip top, high end tablet in tip top and high end shape. As we reported awhile back, Asus was teasing users with awesome new features that were going to be coming along with the update. Well the update has arrived so if you are yet to update your device do get it done. The update brings with it a few tweaks and the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements. But more than that, the company has provided new features such as the system bar lock which will be unavailable until set otherwise by the user. This bar lock will lock your screen effectively so users will no longer "accidentally" hit an icon and be transported out of whatever app is being used even if it would take a second of two to come back in. The second new feature is lock screen notifications, while the third is more music with an update for its @Vibe music service and an alleged better interface for the service. Also added is USB Ethernet which will allow Prime users to access networks with a wired connection requiring only a USB-to-Ethernet adapter. Besides that, is the ad hoc support for Ice Cream Sandwich and two new modes for the HDMI interface, crop and scale. If you own a Transformer Prime and have not updated it yet, please do it as soon as possible and see the changes for yourself.

ASUS PadFone launches mid-April in Taiwan for nearly $1,000 with accessories

When ASUS announced the PadFone at this year's Mobile World Congress, the company promised the hybrid device would begin shipping in April. Staying true to its world, ASUS on Thursday revealed that pre-orders will begin on Friday and the device will launch on April 20th in Taiwan, Engadget reported. The 4.3-inch Android-powered smartphone will be priced at NT$17,990 ($610) on its own and the dockable tablet and keyboard will cost roughly $240 and $130, respectively, bringing the PadFone's total cost with accessories to $980 in Taiwan. ASUS will also be offering an extra battery as a bonus to those who pre-order the device. The handset features a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, an Adreno 225 graphics processor and an 8-megapixel rear camera. The device also has the unique ability to dock inside a tablet shell that will deliver a 10.1-inch display, a tablet UI and a new range of functionality. The company has not announced further details regarding the PadFone's global availability.

BlackBerry PlayBook with '4G' out and about, wants to know where you put its SIM

Jim Balsillie might be on the outs, but it looks like his once boastful pet-project - a BlackBerry PlayBook with integrated cellular wireless - is finally coming to fruition. Per CrackBerry's forums comes the above snap of the Canadian slate donning a SIM card slot, nary a month after we first spotted the company's HSPA+ and LTE tablets pass through the FCC. That also lines up nicely with a previously leaked roadmap, promising a summer arrival. Will the mythical 4G-wielding PlayBook ever make it to market? Or like it's WiMax brother, will it never be given the chance?

Ramos W17 PRO the Google Nexus tablet killer?

I just received this bit of promotional material in my inbox, where it states that the upcoming Ramos W17 PRO will be the tablet that brushes aside all affordably priced Android-powered tablets – even the rumored Google Nexus tablet, too. There is one fatal flaw that I believe Ramos has placed their faith in, which would be the hardware specifications alone. Great hardware specifications does not necessarily translate to a superior user experience, never mind that the Ramos W17 PRO itself will run on the AML8726-MX processor, being the first of its kind to do so. Other hardware specifications include a 7″ IPS display at 1024 x 600 resolution, 1GB DDR3 RAM, 16GB of internal memory, and reportedly, boasts of performance levels that are superior to select NVIDIA Tegra 2 tablets. Another potential advantage that the Ramos W17 PRO has would be its sub-$200 price point that will definitely encroach on the Amazon Kindle Fire as well as Google Nexus tablet territories. The thing is, will the overall design of the tablet itself be able to work seamlessly with whatever is underneath the hood? Not to mention the fact that whatever software updates that Google rolls out first for Android, it will definitely arrive on their own tablet and smartphone devices first before others.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and Tab 2 7.0 to be launched in late April

The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 were announced by Samsung in February, when the company said both devices would be available starting March, running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Unfortunately for those who've been waiting for them, the tablets have not been released yet. Now, ComputerWorld is reporting that Samsung had to delay the launch of the new tablets to late April. According to a Samsung spokesman, "Samsung and Google need some more time to work on Android Ice Cream Sandwich", and that's why the devices aren't available. We have no other details on this for now, but it's likely that Samsung has some problems integrating its tablet-specific TouchWiz UX UI with ICS. Samsung will introduce the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (pictured above) in the UK first. After that – probably meaning in May – the tablets will be released in more markets around the world. For the moment, there's no word on how much the new Tabs will cost.

Samsung delays Galaxy Tab 2 launch until end of April

Samsung on Tuesday confirmed that its 7-inch and 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 2 tablets have been delayed and will now start shipping to the U.K at the end of the month, ComputerWorld reports. When the Android 4.0 slates were announced at this year's Mobile World Congress, the company said both devices would arrive in U.K. stores in March ahead of a global rollout. According to a Samsung spokesman, complications with Ice Cream Sandwich caused the delay is due to Ice Cream Sandwich, which both Samsung and Google need more time to work on. This isn't the first time Samsung has run into problems with Android 4.0. Last month the manufacturer delayed its original upgrade plan for the Galaxy Note from the first three months of 2012 to some time in the second quarter. Samsung is currently rolling out an update to its Galaxy S II smartphone throughout Europe.

ASUS PadFone priced and ready for pre-order in Taiwan tomorrow, launches mid-April

We were promised that the phone-that-goes-tablet would ship in April, and it looks like ASUS is keeping its word. The PadFone and its corresponding tablet shell and keyboard dock, will be up for pre-order in Taiwan starting tomorrow, going on sale April 20th. On its own, the Snapdragon S4-powered 1.5GHz dual-core phone is priced at NT$17,990 (US$610), while the tablet set - including that curious Bluetooth headset / stylus - will set you back NT$24,980 (around US$850). If you're thinking keyboard add-ons are all the rage, expect to pay around NT$28,901 (US$980). Need more of an excuse to step into pre-order territory? Well, ASUS is offering up an extra battery for those that do. While we wait for some global roll-out details, you can remind yourself of what to expect in our hands-on from MWC.

ASUS PadFone up for pre-order in Taiwan, on sale April 20

In the year since it was initially announced, the ASUS Padfone has gone through a few changes. But ASUS promised us it would finally for on sale in April, and sure enough retail availability is almost upon us. The PadFone is up for pre-order in Taiwan. Though it may not be indicative of its pricing model in all regions, there will be several options to consider when purchasing the chameleon of a device. Users can opt to buy only the handset portion up front — the dual-core Snapdragon S4 brains of the operation will retail for NT$17,990 (equivalent to $610 in the US) — or pick up a bundle that includes the tablet dock (NT$24,980 or US$850) or tablet dock with keyboard dock (NT$28,901 or US$980). For those that pre-order ASUS is throwing in an additional battery pack. The PadFone starts shipping April 20th for those in Taiwan. Availability in other regions has not yet been revealed.

Amazon offers up refurbed Kindle Fires on sale, cuts price to $139

That's pretty darn cheap. On today's Gold Box deal, Amazon has chopped an extra 30 bucks from its refurbished Kindle Fire stock The retailer promises that all the tablets are certified to "look and work like new." At the time of writing, tablet hunters had an extra 18 hours to stake their claim, but the sale will stop once it's sold its stock. There's also a limit to five per customer - a warning to all those auction-based-get-rich-quick schemers.

Android 4.0.4 now on its way to HSPA+ Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S, US Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi

The latest version of Android has been pushed to open source by Google yesterday, and today it has started rolling out to some devices. We're talking about Android 4.0.4. This is still called Ice Cream Sandwich, and, as the small version number change may imply, is a minor update. In that it doesn't bring any new features. That said, expect to see much improved performance when using this build, as Google has supposedly ironed out all the kinks in ICS. Or many of them, anyway. You can expect “stability improvements, better camera performance, smoother screen rotation, improved phone number recognition and more”, according to Google. The company says there are more than 100 changes in this version. A 4.0.4 build (which was clearly a work in progress) was leaked a couple of months ago for the Nexus S 4G, and some custom ROMs have so far been taking advantage of the bits found in that version. Now, however, it's all official. The HSPA+ version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (pictured above), the HSPA/GSM version of the Samsung Nexus S, and the Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi units sold in the US are the first devices to be receiving the update to Android 4.0.4. The rollout has started today, and may take a while to complete. For some owners of the Samsung Nexus S, this will be the first taste of ICS. That's because while a previous iteration, Android 4.0.3, managed to make it to many Nexus S units, that particular rollout was abruptly stopped at one point and many Nexus S owners have been stuck on Gingerbread all this time. That's sad, but will be rectified in a few days at most. Google didn't say a word about when the Nexus S 4G for Sprint or the LTE-capable Galaxy Nexus for Verizon will be updated. We're guessing that has something to do with carrier testing and such. Still, those handsets will probably end up running 4.0.4 well before most of the other phones sold by America's biggest CDMA carriers, so no reason to become angry for needing to wait a little bit more. At least not yet.

ViewSonic ViewPad VS14445 passes through the FCC's database

ViewSonic's ViewPad VS14445 - also known as the ViewPad 10e - has been kicking around since CES, and other parts of the globe have had access for a few months now. That said, those in America who've been holding out for this particular Android slate won't have to wait much longer. A drop by the FCC's database typically means that a product is just weeks away from being on store shelves, and considering that we've already been waiting months on end to get from 'hands-on' to 'now shipping' in this part of the world, hopefully it'll be out and about before long. Hoping that it'll run Ice Cream Sandwich? We'd go ahead and stash those dreams aside...

WSJ: Google to sell ASUS, Samsung tablets from its own online store

In a move that would be reminiscent of its initial plans for the Nexus handsets, the Wall Street Journal suggests Google will open its own online store this year, but stocked with tablets instead of phones. The Android tablets would be built by Samsung and ASUS who already offer the well received Galaxy Tab and Transformer lines, but have been unable to make a dent in marketshare comparable to that of Apple or even Amazon. Other details seem to be less clear, including the possibility of the lineup including Google branded tablets - like the one hinted at by Eric Schmidt in December - or that the store could offer a new tablet from ASUS (maybe running Jelly Bean, maybe not), or the chance that Google will follow Amazon's approach by subsidizing the upfront cost. Right now it seems that all possibilities are still in Play, but if the rumor is right we'll see the store launch this year - any suggestions for the folks at Mountain View?

LuvPad WM701 is a rugged splashproof tablet

With the number of portable consumer electronics devices that we tote around these days, it is no surprise to take good care of them – by getting them the right cases and what not. After all, replacing an iPhone or an iPad is definitely not cheap at all, and I have heard enough horror stories of dropping a smartphone into the toilet bowl due to carelessness to make sure mine is carefully secured each time I head to the loo. Sometimes, however, we cannot tell just when we are going to get caught out under foul weather, and if you get soaked, so too, will your beloved gadgets. This is where a device like the LuvPad WM701 would come in handy, thanks to Mouse Computer of Japan. Powered by Windows 7, this tablet is splashproof and can shrug off drops from up 70cm. It will run on an Intel Atom Z650 processor accompanied by 2GB RAM, a 32GB solid state drive, a 7″ display at 1,024 x 768 resolution, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity thrown into the mix. Do take note that being splashproof means water repellent, and you should not go scuba diving with this!

Google to sell Nexus tablets on its own

As you may already know, Google is getting ready to introduce a Nexus Android tablet this year. We've recently heard that the first Nexus tablet would be manufactured by Asus. And now The Wall Street Journal seems to confirm this. Moreover, the publication cites "people familiar with the matter", saying that Google will sell the own-branded tablets directly, through an online store. This move would be similar to what Google has done in 2010, when it started selling the Nexus One smartphone online. The WSJ is also reporting that Samsung will manufacture a Nexus tablet, too, although it's not clear exactly when. Both Samsung (with it Galaxy Tabs) and Asus (with its Transformer series) are already quite successful in the Android tablet space. (this is obviously not the Nexus tablet)

Eken A90 is one cheap Android tablet

If you're looking for an Android tablet that isn't going to break the bank and features decent specs, the Eken A90 might fit the bill. Priced at only $157.99, this Android tablet features a 9.7″ (1024 x 768) display, an Allwinner A10 processor clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, and support for 2160P HD video playback. It features a pretty slim body at only 11mm thick and packs 2 micro USB ports, a 3.5mm earphone jack, a microSD card slot and a HDMI port. The Eken A90 has a 2-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel front facing camera as well for your photo taking needs. The tablet runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 and has Google Play support, which means you'll have access to over 300,000 apps to install.

Childcare Experts Warn Parents to Control Their Kids' Tablet Usage

A group of experts on child welfare were speaking at a panel regarding how parents needed to monitor how often their children are using their tablets. This is a comparatively new field of study since the inception of the tablet two years ago. Even then, Warren Buckleitner, who is the editor of Children's Technology Review said, you can't pull it from their hands. Another speaker Rosemarie Truglio from the children's TV producers Sesame Workshop advised for a child's balanced use of technology as it maybe fosters some things but at the same time, it would dampen other things. On the other hand, Lisa Guernsey, author of 'How Electronic Media - From Baby Videos to Educational Software - Affects Your Young Child' said that things are bad when your children cannot focus on your conversation with them for 30 minutes without looking at a screen. Truglio went to to say that researchers have proven that children need that adult-child interaction in addition to electronic interaction and parents were urged to not use tablets and other technology based items as "digital babysitters", a trend highlighted by Nielsen, a market research firm. According to the results of the survey conducted by the firm, there are a few ways in which children used tablets. 75% of the children said that they play downloaded games on their tablets followed by 57% who used the tablet for educational purposes. 55% of the children said that the portable tablet could be used as entertainment during travel, followed by 43% who watched TV shows/movies, 41% who used the tablet at restaurants/events and a drastic drop to 15% for children who used the tablet to communicate with friends and family. Apparently that part of tablet usage only kicks in later. Do you think that tablets would have a positive impact on your children? Drop us a comment with your thoughts on the subject.