Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was announced to much fanfare at Google I/O 2012. It introduced a nice variety of features like vastly smoother user interface with Project Butter, more powerful notifications system, Google Now, offline voice typing and more.
Although the smartphone and tablet market is mostly dominated by Apple, Samsung and Google et al, Amazon has been keenly interested in adding its own hardware to proceedings. While the Kindle Fire didn't live up to the pre-release hype, the world's foremost online retailer could be, so says the WSJ, testing its very first smartphone effort, complete with a 4-5 inch display.
The smaller iPad, which the tech world has been chattering about non-stop for the past couple of weeks, is said to be a 7.85-inch slate designed to counter the new releases of the Google Nexus 7, along with the purported new Kindle Fire.
Android Jelly Bean is, for those having been in hiding and therefore unaware, the latest version of Google's market-leading mobile operating system, and unlike with Ice Cream Sandwich, which took what seemed like an age to trickle through to the various mid to high-end devices on the market, the web company seems a great deal more organized with regards to its distribution.
If you're not a keen follower of Apple rumors, you may want to look away now, for in breaking the continual flow of iPad Mini rumors comes an update on the state of play regarding the next iPhone. The device, which, unlike the iPad talk, is actually backed up by hardware "leaks", looks set to become a little longer, and the display, which has sat at 3.5-inches since the very first day it hit the market back in 2007, is expected to increase rather significantly, measuring in at nearer the 4-inch mark.
Although many of the large consumer electronics companies outsource their work to China, the number of legitimate products produced within the world's most populous country is eclipsed by the number of fakes lurking about. Apple is the usual target of the fakery, and although none of us would consider purchasing the grossly inferior rip-offs, it's certainly entertaining to look at them - particularly when placed alongside the real deal.
One of the world's most successful video streaming services, Hulu, is now offering new customers the chance to take two months free as a trial period - perfect for streaming to an Xbox 360 for instance.
Not so long ago, the iPod range was the focal point of Apple's product roster, but with the increase in popularity of both the iPhone and more recently, the iPad, has seen the once-popular music player slip into near obscurity.
Although Google+ has sat around in a somewhat dormant state since arriving last year, Google has continued to maintain it has big plans for its social network. The mobile market, a field in which Facebook has continued to disappoint, will obviously be a key area to corner if Google+ is to be a success, and the official iOS app has just been given a pretty significant update, taking the version number up to 3.0.
Kinect PlayFit, a fitness-based Xbox LIVE feature announced by Microsoft some time ago, has officially launched today, with details of the service being announced by Larry Hryb, otherwise known as Major Nelson.
