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Amazon has acquired text-to-speech technology provider Ivona Software for an undisclosed amount, broadening its in-house capabilities as the Internet retailer continues to push its tablet business.

The two companies have collaborated in the past, Amazon noted, with Ivona's technology powering the text-to-speech, voice guide, and explore-by-touch features on Kindle Fire tablets.

In addition, Poland-based Ivona delivers text-to-speech products and services to thousands of developers, businesses, and customers around the world. It offers voice and language portfolios with 44 voices in 17 languages, and it's developing even more.

Amazon has been expanding its tablet business to take on companies … Read more

Intel is betting a chunk of its PC future on so-called convertibles. So far, financial analysts aren't convinced these are designs that will win the day.

Newfangled laptops that perform mechanical acrobatics to convert to tablet mode, like Lenovo's Yoga convertible and Dell's XPS 12, aren't impressive enough yet to revive PC-market doldrums, according to a growing chorus of financial analysts who follow Intel.

On Thursday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini, speaking during an earnings conference call, tried to depict convertible PC designs as the best of both worlds: the laptop and the tablet. In essence, he … Read more

Back in August, I wrote about cloud-storage service MediaFire, which was offering a whopping 50GB of free space, no strings attached.

Well, there were strings in the form of certain limitations (see below), but it wasn't like you had to provide a credit-card number or start paying for the space after, say, six months.

Yesterday, the company unveiled MediaFire for Android, which joins the iOS version in giving you mobile access to your cloud drive. And new users still get 50GB of storage, free of charge.

Like other apps of its kind, MediaFire for Android lets you view documents … Read more

Mark my words, 2013 will be the year of the $100 tablet.

Maybe not right away, but already we're seeing models like the Archos 70 Titanium for $119 (coming in February). It's just a matter of time until some major manufacturer hits that magic $99 price point.

Don't want to wait? For a limited time, and while supplies last, All4Cellular has the refurbished Amazon Kindle Fire (first-gen) tablet for $95.96, plus $2 for shipping. That's after applying coupon code A4C20 at checkout. That's the lowest price I've seen, and, I believe, the first … Read more

I've always been obsessed with sound, and I've always wanted to hear my music with the best possible sound. It enhances the experience for me, because I can more clearly hear what the musicians are playing, and the subtleties in the mix, so I get more out of the music. That's true at home and for on-the-go listening, and even when I didn't have much money I still managed to put together a pretty good hi-fi. Then again, good sound is in the ear of the beholder, and that beholder may not be so sure about … Read more

Amazon Kindle devices are automatically named when you activate them to something like, "Ed's Kindle." A second Kindle on your account will be named, "Ed's 2nd Kindle." If you want to change the name to something a bit more descriptive, like the specific model (Paperwhite, Fire, Fire HD, etc.), here's how:

Step 1: Go to the Amazon Kindle management page and log in with the account you used to register your Kindle. Under the "Your Kindle Account" section, click on "Manage your Devices."

Step 2: Click on the "… Read more

Web usage of Apple's iPad fell more than 7 percent in North America after Christmas, while competing tablets from Amazon, Google, and Samsung all registered gains, according to a new study released today.

While the iPad dominates the market with 78.8 percent Web usage, its usage after Christmas dropped 7.14 percent, according to Chitika Insights, which sampled hundreds of millions of smartphone and tablet ad impressions in the U.S. and Canada between December 1 and December 27. The Kindle Fire -- the distant second-place player in the market -- gained 3 percent to account for 7.… Read more

Tablet prices just seem to keep dropping.

Acer is the latest company to lower the bar on pricing. The company is planning to sell a $99 Android tablet, the Iconia B1, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company plans to target consumers in emerging markets, though the report notes that Acer will get clearance from the Federal Communications Commission for use in the states.

The report, which cites unnamed sources, said the Iconia B1 will come with a 1.2 gigahertz processor and pack a 7-inch display with 1,024x600-pixel resolution -- which matches the specs from the older … Read more