Fire Tablet Gets A Facelift

Amazon Fire Colors
Taken from talkingnewmedia.com

By: Lexi Thayer

ATLANTA, Ga- Amazon Kindle readers are in for a real treat with the release of the Fire with color.

Amazon announced April 21 that their newest Kindle Fire Tablet will come in three new colors with more storage as well. The Fire is available in black, blue, magenta, and tangerine. The new Fire will also offer an 8 GB starting at $49.99 and a 16 GB at $69.99. Customers have the luxury to carry their Fire on the go. The newer Fire will allow consumers to take more movies, shows, songs, books, apps, and take pictures. Alongside the Fire colors, Fire Kids Edition is available with 16 GB starting out at $119.99.

"We're excited to introduce Fire with bright new colors and even more storage-so that customers can enjoy a great entertainment experience on a fun, colorful tablet starting at less than $50," said Kevin Keith, GM, and Fire Tablets. The new Fire won't just have three new colors and two storage options to choose from, it has many new features as well. The newer Fire will have a 7 IPS display that will have vivid and accurate color reproduction that can be seen at all angles. Consumers will also have a faster processor that will allow easier ways to switch between apps, stream movies, and browse the Internet.

Now you won't have to whip out your iPhone to take pictures of your family and friends because the Fire has a front-and-rear facing camera. You'll be able to video chat with friends and family, take and share photos, and save them later on cloud storage. The newer tablet also offers up to 128 GB of expandable storage through a microSD card; a battery life that lasts all day, filters that limit the exposure of blue light so it's easier to read at bedtime, along with 38 different movies, shows, books, and songs with unlimited free cloud storage. If that isn't enough, the Kids Edition also comes in new colors and storage. The Kids Edition comes with one year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited which features 10,000 children's books, videos, and educational apps. There is even a 2-year, worry-free guarantee if anything happens to your device, return it and Amazon will ship you a new one for free.

What more could an Amazon Fire bring to the table? I know the storage sounds small to everyone. But I love how you now have the option to choose a color and it comes with all these new features. The first Kindle version was just black and white, no camera, no Internet, no music or videos. I think the Fire tablet is trying to compete with the iPad. Yes, the iPad has everything the new Fire has; but the Fire is significantly less in price. If I can purchase a new Fire with the capability to roam the Internet, watch movies, TV shows, read a novel, and take pictures why not pay $49.99 or $69.99 instead of $200 or $300 dollars for an iPad Mini.

I'm sure there are still some customers partial to their Apple products, but with the newer Fire, I think more and more consumers will flock because of the newer details. Personally, I do not own a Fire or iPad, but from people I know who own both, they seem to enjoy the Fire. With the cheaper price tag and similar features, the Fire could possibly out rank the iPad in years to come. What do you all think? Will Fire become the new iPad? Check out the new Fire HD 6 on the Amazon.

Layer3 TV-The New Comcast

Layer3 TV box from Wired.com

By: Lexi Thayer

ATLANTA, Ga- A new wave of cable being refurbished with Layer3 TV.

Most Americans today are paying an average of $161 a month to an all-in-one service provider for cable. “The traditional experience we have at home seems really outdated,” said BTIG media and tech analyst Richard Greenfield. Layer3 TV is the new innovation coined by CEO Jeff Binder. According to Binder, Layer3 will make cable better by adding clearer pictures, better design, and stellar customer service. This new service will combine pay TV channels which include traditional broadcasters that Comcast or Time Warner provide. There will also be an Internet-enabled video in a channel guide that allows you to find what you want to watch. Layer3 after a while learn to show you programs you most likely will want to view.

Binder bought the URL for “Layer3” in 2007 before he knew what he’d do with it. (The name is a reference to network protocol architecture, which has seven layers; the third is network routing over which internet protocol travels.) Binder rose to fame as an entrepreneur working for Motorola and later leaving by age 50. His success comes from his video-on-demand startup called Broadbus Technologies. He sold this company to Motorola for $200 million in 2006. 

Binder created a partnership shortly after selling Broadbus Technologies with Dave Fellows, the chief technology officer for Comcast who had just recently left his position. Fellows had created the 'triple play' of bundling cable, broadband and television subscriptions. Binder and Fellows created an investment firm, Genovation Capital that partnered with TPG and Silver Lake to determine startups and cable companies to invest in or buy. By the year 2014, Binder and Fellows thought of a brilliant idea to incorporate not only cable, but also Internet to allow everyone access to their favorite programs. 

Essentially, Layer3 has shrunk bandwidth. Bandwidth is needed to transmit video. According to wired.com, "To transmit typical web video, an Internet connection must support download speeds of 10 to 15 megabits per second. If a lot of viewers are attempting to watch video using this amount of bandwidth, it becomes very taxing on the cables that carry the Internet to a home. "Binder explained Layer3 is able to send high-def video into a home at less than 4 megabits per second. This is on par with Netflix, but using a different video compression technology called HEVC (high efficiency video coding). Binder wants to emphasize this is not Internet TV. Layer3 will not have to rely on public Internet, they have their own Supercomputer. 

Layer3 recently tested out its technology under Umio. Two Texas communities experimented with Umio which offers 300 channels with cable and Internet offerings. The easy-to-use guide uses algorithms that analyze demographic data, time of day, and viewer preferences. Layer3 will eventually be available to customers in Chicago and a few other major cities on the East and West coasts. The cost of Layer3 will be somewhere around $80-150, depending on how many TVs a home has. Personally, I would be interested in testing out Layer3. I know Comcast now has Xfinity X1 which allows individuals to search by voice controlled remotes and use some aspects of Apps as well. I like how Layer3 is not as expensive as Comcast or Time Warner. I think $80-150 is a reasonable price. Right now, I'm paying over $100 for Comcast Internet and basic cable and I could receive faster Internet and over 300 channels for an $80 value.