Amazon is reportedly meeting with advertisers to pitch the idea of welcome screen ads on its popular Kindle Fire tablet. The retail giant is asking $600,000 for prime placement on the slate, according to a report from AdAge. Amazon currently offers its entire range of Kindle eReaders with advertisements that appear on the devices’ screen savers. Customers who opt to purchase a Kindle with ads enjoy discounts of between $30 and $50 off the purchase price of the devices; if Amazon carries the same model over to its Kindle Fire, the end-user cost of the tablet could drop by as much as 25% to $149. Following an explosive launch quarter that saw Amazon’s Kindle Fire take an estimated 14% of the global tablet market after less then two months of availability, the tablet’s market share reportedly tumbled as Apple’s $399 iPad 2 extinguished Kindle Fire demand. With rumors surrounding a $200-$250 “iPad mini” heating up, an ad-supported Kindle Fire with a reduced price tag may help keep Amazon’s 7-inch tablet in the running.

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Amazon shops Kindle Fire home screen to advertisers

Nokia has sold its New York headquarters, located north of Manhattan in the industrial town of White Plains. Purchased six years ago for $30 million, the struggling Finnish vendor sold the building to biotechnology firm Histogenetics for $12 million. ”It’s a great deal for 12 million bucks,” Michael Rao, president of the realtor representing Histogenetics, told LoHud.com. “The building is gorgeous. It’s so spectacular.” Nokia’s move comes as its struggles in the global mobile market continue; the company posted a huge $1.7 billion loss in the second quarter after losing $1.2 billion in the first quarter. Excluding the White Plains office, Nokia currently has 27 U.S. office locations listed on its website in addition to its North American headquarters in Sunnyvale, California.

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Nokia sells New York headquarters

Amazon’s second Kindle Fire tablet, an updated model with a 10-inch display, will launch in the third quarter this year according to a recent report. Backing away from its earlier reports placing the 10-inch Kindle Fire’s launch date in the second quarter, Digitimes on Friday cited market rumors in claiming that Amazon’s next tablet will launch in the third quarter. The site also reports that the launch of Amazon’s purported 8.9-inch tablet has been suspended. BGR exclusively reported more than a year ago that Amazon was developing two tablets, a 7-inch “Coyote” with a dual-core processor that launched as the Kindle Fire, and a 10-inch “Hollywood” tablet that is powered by a quad-core processor.

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Amazon’s 10-inch Kindle Fire tablet due in Q3, report claims

Microsoft is looking to bolster sales of Windows-powered computers this summer by offering students a free Xbox 360 video game console with a qualifying PC purchase. Beginning on May 18th in Canada and on May 20th in the United States, students who purchase a PC for at least $599 CAD in Canada or $699 in the U.S. will receive a free 4GB Xbox 360. Purchases must be made from participating retailers including Best Buy, Dell.com, Fry’s Electronics, HPDirect.com, Microsoft Stores and NewEgg.com in the U.S., and Best Buy, Dell.ca, Future Shop, Staples and The Source in Canada. Microsoft did not indicate when the promotion ends.

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Microsoft offers free Xbox 360 to PC buyers

Facebook is officially a public company as of Friday morning shortly after 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, and what better way to celebrate the milestone than with a fresh privacy lawsuit? Led by Stewarts Law and Bartimus, Frickleton, Robertson & Gorny, a class action lawsuit has been filed in San Jose, California alleging that Facebook unlawfully continued to track users’ Web browsing after they logged out of the service. The suit seeks more than $15 billion in damages. “This is not just a damages action, but a groundbreaking digital privacy rights case that could have wide and significant legal and business implications,” said Stewarts Law partner David Straite. The firm’s press release follows below.

Stewarts Law acts for facebook users who have filed a Consolidated Digital Privacy Class Action

18 May 2012 (San Jose, Calif.)

Facebook users today filed an amended consolidated class action complaint in federal court in San Jose, California in the case In re: Facebook Internet Tracking Litigation, No. 5:12-md-02314-EJD. The class action asserts federal statutory and California State causes of action related to the revelation in September 2011 that Facebook was improperly tracking the internet use of its members even after they logged out of their accounts. The action consolidates 21 related cases filed in more than a dozen states in 2011 and early 2012.

The plaintiffs assert claims under the federal Wiretap Act, which provides statutory damages per user of US$100 per day per violation, up to a maximum per user of US$10,000. Even if Facebook’s alleged actions constitute a single violation of the Wiretap Act per class member, that implies more than US$15 billion in damages across the class. The complaint also asserts claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, various California Statutes and California common law.

The class action is being led by court-appointed co-lead counsel Stewarts Law US LLP and Bartimus, Frickleton, Robertson & Gorny, P.C. David Straite, Partner at Stewarts Law, stated: “This is not just a damages action, but a groundbreaking digital privacy rights case that could have wide and significant legal and business implications.” In addition to co-lead counsel, the court has appointed a Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee which includes Keefe Bartels in New Jersey; Mandell, Schwartz & Boisclair in Rhode Island; Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow & McElroy in New Jersey; Bergmanis Law Firm in Missouri; Burns, Cunningham & Mackey in Alabama; and Murphy, Falcon & Murphy in Baltimore. The court has also appointed a committee of former State Attorneys General to advise the class, including former Mississippi AG Mike Moore, former Arizona AG Grant Woods, former Hawaii AG Margery Bronster, and former Louisiana AG Richard Ieyoub.

[Via Investor's Business Daily]

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Facebook hit with $15 billion privacy suit on IPO day

Microsoft’s Kinect motion and voice-based controller accessory was launched with gaming in mind, but researchers have taken the technology in a number of different directions. German researchers transformed the Kinect into an interactive augmented reality X-ray machine, and Microsoft Research is now in the process of trialing the use of its Kinect sensor as a surgical assistant.

On May 8th, a surgeon at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ hospital in London used a custom Kinect installation to browse through medical images and real-time X-rays while repairing an aneurism in a patient’s aorta, NewScientist reports. The system created by Microsoft Research allows surgeons to call up images or perform a number of other tasks without assistance and without having to touch anything, thus avoiding any potential contamination.

“Up until now, I’d been calling out across the room to one of our technical assistants, asking them to manipulate the image, rotate one way, rotate the other, pan up, pan down, zoom in, zoom out,” says Tom Carrell, a consultant vascular surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’. With the Kinect, the surgeon says he had “very intuitive control.”

Carrell is eager to continue trials with the system. ”I thought this was going to be a lot more awkward to start off with, but I was very pleased with the way it went today.”

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Microsoft Kinect transformed into surgical assistant

While I may recommend the iPhone to the majority of people who ask, Android is still my mobile operating system of choice. Google has created a truly amazing and innovative platform, and because it is open-source anyone can tweak it and customize it. Even devices that weren’t meant for Android, such as my HP TouchPad, can run the mobile OS beautifully thanks to dedicated third-party developers. As I spend more and more time with an iPhone, however, I realize that my love for open-source is slowly beginning to fade. While I used to believe open-source would play a huge role in pushing Android ahead of the competition, which it did, I now believe it may end up being the thing that kills it.

With the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, Google revamped Android, making it prettier and more user-friendly. If you were to ask me what the best Android smartphone is, I would confidently state “the Galaxy Nexus.” While the handset has its flaws — for example, the camera is dreadful compared to the iPhone 4S and HTC One X — it is one of the very few smartphones that runs an unskinned version of Android, not to mention the latest version of Google’s Android software. Skins are the reason 90% of Android devices aren’t running Ice Cream Sandwich.

I understand that vendors need to distinguish their devices from the competition, but forcing customers to use a clunky, battery-wasting skin is not the answer. I wouldn’t be so against Android skins if the manufacturers allowed the average user to remove them completely, and I mean without the need to root a device. I praise HTC and Samsung for making their devices developer friendly, but it would be great for them to take things a step further and give users the option of going skinless without voiding warranties.

The days of Android may be limited when you can walk into your local Kohls or Sears store and buy an “Android tablet” for between $25 and $150. These no-name tablets, that in many cases run something crazy like Android 2.2, are killing Android brand and further confusing consumers. I am a big advocate of buyer beware and I always suggest that people do extensive research before buying anything, but this might be solved with a more closed approach to the Android operating system.

If Google were to license Android to manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, LG and Sony, little would change where the end user is concerned, but it would put an end to what I call “craplets” — off-brand, no-name, crappy tablets.

Lastly, if Android can survive the dangers of being open-source, can survive the sale of “craplets,” and doesn’t get skinned to death by vendors, there is another matter at hand — the carriers. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint — they all do it, some more than others — pre-install apps on their devices. This “bloatware” often cannot be uninstalled and is found on just about every Android device, including my “pure Google” Galaxy Nexus.

To make matters worse, carriers and vendors sometimes enter into exclusive partnerships to offer services on certain devices. The latest example is Flipboard for Android exclusively for the Galaxy S III, and although it was eventually pulled from the device and made available for all, leaving a large portion of a carrier’s user base in the dark could end up coming back to haunt them.

Another and perhaps the worse case was when Verizon partnered with Microsoft and replaced numerous Google services with Bing as the default option. Yes, Bing was forced upon numerous Android users.

Google might be well-served to follow in Apple’s footsteps to a degree, at least, and take more control. Whether or not that means closing Android off to an extent, something must be done. The company might tell the carriers to back off with the bloatware and exclusives as well, but rumors of multiple vendors selling Nexus devices directly to end users — which Google has been considering for quite some time, as BGR reported last year — likely isn’t the answer.

When discussing the matter publicly, Google measures Android’s success in daily activations. The most recent figure sits at a sky-high 850,000. While that remarkable stat might be the best way for an advertising company to measure its success, Research In Motion and Nokia can both attest to the fact that it takes more than volume to stay on top in the mobile business.

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Being open could close the door on Android

Analysts repeatedly harp on how important China is for Apple’s iPhone. The Cupertino, California-based consumer electronics giant’s iPhone 4S launched in China earlier this year but despite reports of continuing negotiations, China Mobile — the world’s largest telecom carrier — still does not offer Apple’s iPhone to its massive subscriber base. But as Apple continues its efforts to make headway in the world’s largest smartphone market, an underdog has reportedly taken an early lead.

According to Michel van der Bel, chief operating office at Microsoft for the Greater China region, Microsoft’s Windows Phone market share now sits at 7% in China. At last count, Apple’s share of the smartphone market in China was 6%, Emerce reports.

“We have only just begun,” van der Bel said. He continued, noting that the combination of Windows Phones and Windows 8 tablets will help Microsoft succeed in the Chinese market. “Our smartphone and tablet-pc are hybrid, making them suitable for the consumer, but also easy to insert within an existing company infrastructure. This will allow us to better anticipate the consumerization of IT than many competitors.”

The first Windows Phone-powered smartphone for the Chinese market launched less than two months ago.

[Via WMPoweruser]

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Windows Phone overtakes iPhone in world’s largest smartphone market

Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone may be one of the last products unveiled by the Cupertino, California-based technology giant that was designed by Steve Jobs. The company’s late co-founder and chief executive worked very closely on the retooled iPhone before his untimely passing last October, Bloomberg reports. The news organization also reiterates earlier claims that the next-generation iPhone will feature a larger display than the 3.5-inch panel utilized by its predecessors. BGR exclusively reported last year that Apple plans to launch a completely redesigned iPhone this fall that features a new antenna system and a new case, likely comprised of glass and aluminum. Apple’s sixth iPhone is also expected to include a larger 4-inch display and 4G LTE connectivity.

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Apple’s next iPhone may feature one of Steve Jobs’s last designs

Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone may be one of the last products unveiled by the Cupertino, California-based technology giant that was designed by Steve Jobs. The company’s late co-founder and chief executive worked very closely on the retooled iPhone before his untimely passing last October, Bloomberg reports. The news organization also reiterates earlier claims that the next-generation iPhone will feature a larger display than the 3.5-inch panel utilized by its predecessors. BGR exclusively reported last year that Apple plans to launch a completely redesigned iPhone this fall that features a new antenna system and a new case, likely comprised of glass and aluminum. Apple’s sixth iPhone is also expected to include a larger 4-inch display and 4G LTE connectivity.

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Apple’s next iPhone may feature one of Steve Jobs’s last designs