Lining up now several different price points for the Nook line with $99 for the Nook Simple Touch, $169 for the Nook Color, $199 for the Nook Tablet 8GB, and $249 for the 16GB Nook Tablet.

The new adjustment in price for the Nook Tablet is set to bring more direct comparison with Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which sits at $199 also. This newest tablet from Barnes & Noble comes just three months after the release of the 16GB model.

With a $249 price, the 16GB version launched ahead of the 2011 Christmas buying season, but didn’t quite take off the same way Amazon saw the Kindle Fire perform, and most likely was because of the higher price point as both offer vary similar features.

As Barnes & Noble continues to transform from a traditional bookstore in the real world, to a content player in the digital world, this new move should help align their tablet as a more viable option to hungry consumers on the hunt for a new tablet.

The new Google glasses look to include a display, just inches from your eyes, and stream real time data about what is going on around you. Also called “augmented reality” in smartphone applications previously seen.

Streaming from your data connection, whether 3G or 4G in speed, the glasses will used several sensors and GPS to accurately display the pinged information requests.

Matching in price to today’s smartphones, the new Google glasses will look to be around the same amount to be competitive in the marketplace. Aiming for this price point let’s us know that Google is looking for mass distribution of the new technology.

As we continue to dream of the future, it seems the future is catching up with us faster each day. No more wondering when such innovation would come, when today we can officially start counting down the days.

Image: Geeky-Gadgets.com

According to David J. Smith, SVP Mobile Computer at RIM, he said “Building on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s proven web browsing, multimedia and multitasking strengths, the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 introduces a range of new communications and productivity enhancements as well as expanded app and content support.”

According to the release, some of the new BlackBerry Playbook 2.0 OS features include:

New BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 features include:
•    Integrated email client with a powerful unified inbox: With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 you have the option to use a  unified inbox that consolidates all messages in one place, including messages from Facebook®, LinkedIn® and Twitter®, as well as personal and work email accounts.
•    Social Integration with Calendar and Contacts apps:  The built-in calendar harnesses information from social networks and makes it available where and when users need it.  Contact cards are also dynamically populated with updated information from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to create a consolidated view of contacts.
•    Updated BlackBerry Bridge app: BlackBerry® Bridge™ is a unique app that provides a Bluetooth® connection between your BlackBerry PlayBook and core apps on your BlackBerry® smartphone (including BBM™, Email, Contacts, Calendar and Browser) in order to let you view the content on the larger tablet display. With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, it’s easier and quicker than ever to take documents, web pages, emails and photos that appear on your BlackBerry smartphone and display them on your BlackBerry PlayBook for an optimized viewing and editing experience. The updated BlackBerry Bridge app also provides a new remote control feature that allows a BlackBerry smartphone to be used as a wireless keyboard and mouse for a BlackBerry PlayBook.
•    Improved mobile productivity: Updated document editing functions, the new Print To Go app, and increased control and manageability of corporate data with BlackBerry® Balance ™ allow you to get more out of your BlackBerry PlayBook every day. Plus, an updated virtual keyboard with auto correction and predictive next word completion learns how you type to enable faster, more accurate typing.
•    New apps and content: Thousands of new apps are being added to BlackBerry App World™ today (including a range of Android® apps that will run on the BlackBerry PlayBook). A new BlackBerry Video Store1 is launching today. Enhanced web browsing capabilities are also available with BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0.

The BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 is now ready for free download to all BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

Image: Gizmodo

Let’s take a look at what each startup is, and how Groupon may look to benefit from adding what these innovators had to offer in the coupon deal business.

The first to be snatched up was data mining company Hyperpublic. Hyperpublic is a open database of people, places, and things that are related to a certain geographical location and was founded just 2 years ago by Jordan Cooper and Doug Petkanics.

Next was Kima Labs, the maker of mobile barcode reading apps. Kima Labs specially created a targeted a barcode reading app named Barcode Hero for scanning and processing barcodes from your mobile phone, tablet, or other smart device.

TapBuy is also produced by Kima Labs, and offered daily deals similar to Groupon, but also processed the purchases directly from the mobile app, including grouping transactions together for multiple sales. Kima Labs was founded by former Amazon employees Jason Crawford and Blake Scholl.

Image: Groupon

The Rosepoint processor from Intel gives the ability for less space in a hardware component, using less power, and giving the ability for mobile devices like tablets and notebooks to operate for a longer time-span. Now, Intel developers have a new one for us, by fitting a Wi-Fi receiver in a processor as well.

Only a research foundry at this time, the Rosepoint Intel processor still has a bit to go for development, but certainly shows promise for use in mobile phones or laptops in the coming months.

By using a minification process, Intel can now maximize space use in of 3G or 4G modem technology chips for phone makers to really push out some innovative use of the Rosepoint processor technology should further research prove successful.

Image: Intel

Apple has announced today that a developer version is now ready for distribution and testing, with a slated commercial release sometime later this summer through the Apple Mac App Store.

Similar to the Lion OS, we will continue to see the integration of iOS features found on the iPhone and iPad as Apple continues to push for a universal feature set to enhance user experience, and keep multiple devices in check and familiar with those using it.

Could complete fusion of iOS and OS X, as Apple calls it, be on the way to a singular operating system found on all of Apple’s devices? Possibly, as if nothing else pushes, the fusion of hardware has already been happening for quite sometime, so it is only natural a software interlock was coming.

Timing release of course will be come along the lines of a Windows 8 launch from Microsoft as the two companies continue to battle over market share, one Apple seems to continue to grow in user-ship.

So what’s new in Mountain Lion? No huge grasps are known yet, but what is known are some specific application updates for iMessage, Reminders, and Notes. Also a new “Centers” feature similar to iOS, which takes up as a Notification Center hub to sync calendar events, instant messages, and software updates in a organized fashion.

Other enhancements already claimed are new security features and App Store bells and whistles, but looks like a few more months before we see the full roar of the Mountain Lion.

Mountain Lion Preview | Image Credit: Apple

In a report at The Inquirer, it seems that Slashgear managed to pull a screenshot of the proof before the post was pulled from Samsung’s blog.

Further showing that the blog post wasn’t an error is a US advertisement for a teenage student to be featured in a commercial for Samsung related to the Galaxy Note 10.1, which the ad itself has now also been taken down.

So, if someone messed up, they did it twice. Assuming that the device is real, and still slated to make an entrance at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, then we can assume that the new Galaxy Note 10.1 will be a hybrid between the Glaxy Note and Galaxy Tab 10.1, with a doubtful addition of the smartphone capability.

It looks like they also reached out to Samsung for a comment about the device, but received a “We don’t comment on future product announcements.” Looks like we will know in just a few weeks if the above actions from Samsung were accidents or goofs.

Image: TheInquirer.net

As the surge of Facebook games continues to grow, Angry Birds certainly holds it on when it comes to user following and popularity. It came out just in time for Valentine’s Day yesterday, Angry Birds Facebook app is now officially available.

With the new added social aspect of the game, it is bound to continue it’s excited growth throughout 2012. The new Facebook app, which is similar to the mobile version, adds the social components of course, as well as new power-ups, and brand new levels that are exclusive to the app.

You can even compete with your friends on Facebook for gold, silver, and bronze crowns on any level of the game, and brag about your scores via status updates.

Featuring new power-ups in the form of Sling Scope, King Sling, Super Seeds, and Bird Quake, the avid user will find something creatively new to keep the Angry Birds excitement going.

With over 700 million downloads as of this writing from the mobile version of Angry Birds, Rovio, the game publishing company behind the popular title knows that integrated Facebook is now just the start of what is to come for Angry Birds in the future.

Image: TechRockStar.com

Apple’s iCloud services have now grown well past 100 million users, which isn’t bad at all for a company that didn’t originally specialize in cloud based storage.

In a transcript of remarks made at MacRumors.com, Apple CEO Tim Cook said “It recognizes that in the last 2-3 years, we live off multiple devices. It’s no longer a great customer experience to have to sync your iPad to your Mac and then your iPhone to your Mac and then resync your iPad to your Mac.”

Cook went on to say also “I view iCloud not as something with a year or two product life—it’s a strategy for the next decade or more,” Which means we can expect much more from Apple on the iCloud service.

Targeting both business and consumer alike, iCloud’s true metrics will be felt as Apple continues to grip the industry in the music, media, and now book business. Apple has a stronghold in nearly every popular content distribution method available now, and is expected a continued push into the enterprise market.

Image: Apple

That secret is not one too many users who know the comparisons of Android vs. iPhone, and that is the developers. As app development for the Android Marketplace has been less than stellar, clearly developers remain committed at this time to Apple’s App Store.

With a countless number of apps available in the App Store, consumers continue to based new smartphone purchases on the wide range of bells and whistles that are easily accessed on the iPhone or iPad thanks to Apple’s early push for app development.

The Android Marketplace is a fraction to what the App Store holds, even though recent sales of Android based devices has seem to overtaken those of iOS driven models, but some strategists see that catching up to the Android OS as many realize that there isn’t “an app for that” on Android – yet.

Image Credit: Mashable.com