Google Inc chairman Eric Schmidt could sell as many as 2.4 million shares of the company’s class A common stock as part of a predetermined stock trading plan. In a filing with the U.S. regulators, the Mountain View, California-based company said Schmidt adopted the Rule 10b5-1 plan last November and could begin selling shares this month. Schmidt, who stepped down as Google’s chief executive last April after a decade of “adult supervision,” could bring down his voting power on the company’s stock to about 7.3 percent if he sells all the shares under the plan. As of December 31, he held 9.1 million shares of Google’s Class A and Class B common stock – wielding about 9.7 percent voting power. If Schmidt sells his shares under the plan, his overall stake would fall to 6.7 million class A and B shares – based on Google’s outstanding shares as on December 31 – or about 2.1 percent of outstanding capital stock. Schmidt, who led Google starting in 2001 to bring more management experience to a then-fledgling company, became executive chairman of the Internet giant’s board after stepping down. Google shares closed at $604.64 on Friday on the Nasdaq.
Following up on analyst speculation a week ago, China Times is now reporting that Amazon is indeed exploring alternative size and manufacturing options for the next wave of Kindle Fire tablets set for release sometime this summer. Although the specifications haven’t been finalized according to the report, a 10-inch prototype tablet from Foxconn could be under consideration. Supply chains are said to be shipping sample parts next month with mass production to start in May or June. Such a schedule could set Amazon up for a launch sometime this summer or in the fall. Based on an iSuppli teardown of the Kindle Fire a few months ago, we know that Amazon is selling their current tablet at a small loss. As such, profit from the iPad rival comes via Amazon’s vast content library which is something that the company would like to address with their next release. In contrast, Apple’s iPad 2 has an estimated total bill of materials of $323.25 for a 32GB CDMA model which the company sells for $729. China Times says that in an effort to reduce manufacturing costs, Amazon will be hand-selecting and approving components for the Kindle Fire’s successor(s). Engadget notes that this task was previously done by Quanta, one of several part suppliers that Amazon utilizes. It’s unlikely that Amazon would use cheaper quality or slower components in their next device, but perhaps they can negotiate better supplier pricing or find equally as good components for less.
Tata DOCOMO has launched innovative song search service, Grab a Song, for its GSM and CDMA customers. This would enable Tata DOCOMO customers set the song they hear as Call Me Tune/Welcome Tune from a massive music library of over 400,000 songs in 20 languages. Tata DOCOMO customers can dial 57878 (toll-free) and hold the phone near the speaker of the source of the sound, be it a TV, laptop, music system, car stereo, in a cinema hall and so on. The voice recognition software at the back-end will match the song’s availability in the Tata DOCOMO ‘Call Me Tune’ database and find it from within the vast collection. Within 30 seconds, the customer will receive an SMS confirming activation of the service and the song details, including the movie or album it is from, and the name of the singer(s).
Customers can also add their favorite song in the personal playlist at 578787 (Re.1 /min). After adding the song, customers can check their playlists any time and set Call Me Tunes and Welcome Tunes.
We've seen this one before in a teaser video and then photographed alongside its arch nemesis, the Galaxy Note. But LG has now officially launched the Optimus Vu in Korea and it comes with everything we have heard so far. For starters, you get a 5-inch IPS display with a 1024 x 768 resolution, which gives it an aspect ratio of 4:3. The display has a pixel density of 256 PPI, which is just short of Galaxy Note's 285 PPI. Due to the 4:3 aspect ratio, the Optimus (90.4mm) Vu is wider than the Galaxy Note (83mm), which will make it even more difficult to handle. It is marginally thinner (8.5mm) than the Note (9.7mm) but that's not going to matter much when you hold it in your hand. Other than that the Optimus Vu has a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8660 processor with Adreno 220 GPU, 32GB internal memory, 8 megapixel rear camera with auto-focus and LED flash, 1.3 megapixel front camera, LTE, HDMI, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct and T-DMB and a 2,080 mAh battery. The phone will launch with Android 2.3 Gingerbread but will soon be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich. The Optimus Vu will be available on SK Telecom and LG+ carriers in South Korea in early March. Pricing details are as yet unavailable.
