fire

Twitter memes can come out of nowhere and take the world by storm. Such was the case last night with the creation of @FiredBigBird, an account started in apparent protest of Mitt Romney's promise in the presidential debate to axe PBS' funding.

Quickly rocketing to more than 20,000 followers, @FiredBigBird was the Big Bird-related ID of choice for "Sesame Street" fans upset at the Republican presidential nominee's threat to the TV network and the tall, yellow feathered star of that hit kids show.

But today was not such a good day for @FiredBigBird. Only hours … Read more

When the "Father of the iPod" Tony Fadell unveiled Nest, the "learning thermostat" last fall, it was likely the first time anyone had ever thought of a thermostat as sexy.

Now, less than a year after the first version of the product arrived, bringing Apple style design and user interfaces to what had traditionally been one of the most staid home appliances, Fadell's Palo Alto, Calif.-based company today announced Nest 2.0, a slimmer version of the thermostat that was built to work in more homes and brings new flexibility and features to the … Read more

Cheaper tablets propelled the growth of the tablet market in the last year, loosening Apple's grip as the king of the tablet world, according to a report released today from the Pew Research Center.

The report said 22 percent of all U.S. adults surveyed actually own a tablet while another 3 percent said they regularly use someone else's tablet for their browsing needs.

The percentage has been growing since last year and Pew attributes the popularity to companies releasing cheaper tablets in late 2011.

About 68 percent of tablet owners got their tablet in the last year, … Read more

Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD is off to a good start in the market, yet the Nexus 7 remains the tablet to beat, at least in the eyes of mobile ad network Chitika.

Tracking hundreds of millions of ad impressions on its network from September 14 to 18, Chitika compared the Web traffic generated by the the Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus 7.

Only five days after its debut, the Kindle Fire HD racked up 11 percent of all Kindle Fire ad impressions in the U.S. and Canada. That means the new model is doing nicely in … Read more

The iPad and Kindle Fire HD are two different tablets intended for slightly different market segments. The iPad is a "does everything" tablet, while the Fire HD remains focused on media consumption.

However, most people shopping for a tablet don't have the funds to afford both (not that I'm at all encouraging anyone purchase both) and will therefore have to choose. The following is an attempt to make that choice a bit easier. With the iPad being the "everything" tablet in this comparison, I'll focus on comparing the two in categories both tablets are capable of, while also pointing out the strengths of each.… Read more

With a base price of $199, Amazon's Kindle Fire HD gives you a lot for your money. And while it's just as easy to crack open as the original Fire, it has better hardware and a completely redesigned interior.… Read more

Wal-Mart will no longer sell Amazon's Kindle products, highlighting the tensions between the online and physical retail worlds.

The retailing giant confirmed in an e-mail that it would no longer carry the product beyond its current inventory. Reuters earlier reported the decision.

Amazon declined to comment.

The decision to cease selling Amazon's products comes as the online retailer is eating into physical retail chains, also known as brick-and-mortar stores. With more consumers browsing in stores but making purchases online, retailers face the risk of declining sales -- an issue that has shut down companies such as Borders and … Read more

Amazon's Kindle Fire HD display is good enough to challenge the pricier Retina iPad's display and "decisively" beat Google's Nexus 7, said display testing firm DisplayMate.

In an article posted Wednesday, DisplayMate compared the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD with the third-generation iPad Retina and got a surprising result.

"It is much better than the iPad 2 and almost as good as the new [Retina] iPad in overall picture quality and color accuracy," wrote Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate.

For example, the Kindle Fire HD has greens and yellows "that are slightly more … Read more

New products and growing consumer demand could trigger a surge in global tablet shipments to 117 million for 2012, according to IDC.

The new forecast is an increase over IDC's previous prediction, which was looking for tablet shipments of 107 million for the year. Peering over the horizon, the research firm now expects shipments to reach 166 million next year, up from its prior estimate of 142 million. And by 2016, shipments could soar as high as 261 million.

"Despite ongoing economic concerns in most regions of the world, consumers continue to buy tablets in record numbers, and … Read more