| One2Touch Softpad S1 NFC keyboard for Android smartphones now in Brooksone stores Aug 21st 2013, 01:50, by Juan Carlos Torres The need to type out long emails or large amounts of text is a situation that anyone with a mobile device is familiar with. Even with today’s large smartphones, the task can still be a chore, especially for those without tablets or laptops at hand. As such, portable keyboards have sometimes become necessary, and One2Touch’s Softpad S1 is promising to be the best of its class. 
The Softpad S1 is a foldable, pocket-sized physical keyboard that provides portability without taking up too much bulk. It also doesn’t skimp on the size, unfolding to more than 13 inches, with two banks of keys and an area to fit a 5-inch smartphone in the middle. Almost sounds like a typical smartphone keyboard until you consider how the phone connects to the keyboard. One2Touch boasts that the Softpad S1 is the first NFC powered keyboard for Android. This fact is important because it provides two benefits over other conventional mobile keyboards. The first is that the phone and the keyboard can instantly pair and connect with each other by simply placing the phone on the keyboard. And probably most important, NFC has less battery drain compared to Bluetooth, which is commonly used in portable keyboards. One2Touch has made a video featuring the Softpad S1 as well as other One2Touch NFC keyboards. The One2Touch Softpad S1 is now available at Brookstone, both online and in retail outlets. For a price tag of $99, it might be a tempting accessory for today’s road warriors. SOURCE: One2Touch |  | Barnes & Noble NOOK still in development, at least one launch planned this year Aug 21st 2013, 01:06, by Juan Carlos Torres Amidst a discouraging loss in their first quarter 2014 fiscal report, Barnes & Nobles renewed its commitment to its NOOK devices, hinting to at least one release scheduled for the holiday season and more under development. This is a complete U-turn from previous reports of the company axing its line of tablets. 
Last June, Barnes & Nobles was reported to have said that it will license out its NOOK HD brand to other tablet vendors and maintain its focus on e-paper readers instead. CEO Michael Huseby, who took over the reigns just last July, claims that the statement was misinterpreted by the media. According to Huseby, what the company intends is to develop the NOOK devices itself, without relying on outside hardware partners. Barnes & Nobles renewed its commitment to delivering NOOK products, both black and white and color versions. This includes the NOOK Simple Touch, NOOK Simple Touch with Glow Light, NOOK HD, and NOOK HD+. The company is aiming for a unified NOOK ecosystem, focusing on putting out content first and then providing low-cost ways to consume that content, such as with the NOOK devices. They are also looking towards delivering lower priced devices at higher volume. Huseby states that at least one NOOK is scheduled for the holidays and that there are others currently in development. He assures fans of the devices that plans to sell off the company’s NOOK division has been put on hold and that the price cut that happened last month is merely an inventory issue and not a sign of company problems. VIA: SlashGear | | Facebook Android SDK updated with new Share Dialog, redesigned login screen Aug 21st 2013, 00:27, by Juan Carlos Torres Facebook has just delivered a couple of treats for Android developers who want to integrate the biggest social networking service into their apps. The latest version of the Facebook SDK for Android brings in a couple of new features such as a simplified sharing process, app events tracking, and a revamped login interface. 
The new Share Dialog simplifies sharing activities from apps. With just a single line of code, apps enable users to quickly share an activity, tag friends, and share their location, without the need to login to Facebook, saving users up to 3 steps in the process. Also new in this release is support for Facebook’s Object API, allowing developers to create Open Graph objects directly in their apps instead of relying on a hosted web page. Open Graph is the system Facebook uses to create “stories” such as “John Smith just finished reading The Book” that an e-book reader app might post on a user’s timeline. Entering into beta in this SDK release is App Events, which lets developers measure the number of times a predefined action was performed by a user, such as checking out a shopping cart or earning a level in a game. Facebook has also changed the design of the login screen based on user feedback and usability testing. Apps using the Facebook LoginButton control will immediately get the updated screen and developers will still be able to override the default text. 
The new Facebook SDK for Android is already available for download. Facebook has also included links to instructions on how to use the new features in Android apps. SOURCE: Facebook | |
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