White Galaxy Nexus Gets...

It’s hard not to love the Galaxy Nexus, even if you’re not a Fandroid. With a 4.65-inch 720p display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and Android 4.0 ICS to boot, what’s not to love? Well, if you’re being picky, perhaps you’re yearning for a white GalNex, in which case I have good and bad news. Which do you want first? The good news is that the white Galaxy Nexus is indeed an official product and it will be available on February 13, which gives you a whole day to use a combination of Google Wallet and Fab to find your sweetheart a nice Valentine’s Day gift. The bad news is that, according to TrustedReviews , the white GalNex is only available to the UK this week. (Bad news for us, anyways.) Wait, there’s one extra bonus bit of good news: If you have enough dough, the white GalNex is has a pentaband HSPA+ radio, meaning it will work on both AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks. And by “enough dough”, I specifically mean at least £496.79 ($770), which is what the 16GB model seems to be going for over at UK online retailer Handtec . Past it’s pale appearance, all the specs will remain the same between the black and white models. However, if you happen to remember when we first noticed the white Galaxy Nexus , you’ll recall that the render within the post showed an all-white bezel. That isn’t the case with the official version, as the front bezel of the phone is still solid black and the back portion of the phone is white.

Video: A Swarm of Nano ...

Quadrocopters have to be one of the hottest tech/geek topics right now. There is some serious research going into them from all around the world, with start-ups in Australia using them to film surfing and major sporting events all the way to universities programming them to be automated building bots, creating structures by transporting blocks Related Digital Buzz Posts: The Vodafone Pixel Hunt Will Facebook’s Video Chat Change Everything? Greenpeace Black Pixel Project

The $199 PlayBook Retur...

Back in November, there was a run on PlayBooks when the price was briefly reduced to $199. For a tablet that started out with a premium price, the deal proved enticing to many buyers. And again at the beginning of January, with a slightly odd promotion pricing all models at $299 . Well, they’re at it again: until the 11th, the PlayBook is priced to move : $199 for the 16GB version, $249 for 32GB, and $299 for 64GB. Unfortunately, the device won’t be shipping with the 2.0 version of the PlayBook software that we played with at CES . They will be rolling out the update soon, though. Now, despite the protracted beating that this poor half-baked tablet has received, I have to say that at $200, with the new OS, this is a really good deal. For the price of a Nook or Fire, you get a device with much better specs and some big-boy productivity software. If you want games and apps, it’s obviously not a good choice. But if you use a BlackBerry and are interested in time management, email, contacts, syncing, and all that lovely stuff, the PlayBook is now a fairly practical buy. For $200, that is. I sincerely doubt this is the last time the device will be on sale, though, and there are of course plans to obsolete it later in the year, at which time it will be going for peanuts. So there’s no pressure to buy, though if you’ve got a pair of Benjamins burning a hole in your pocket, I can think of worse ways to spend them.

Tumblr Hires Editorial ...

Tumblr is categorized as a social blogging site. That’s a nice title until you realize that there are 42 million Tumblr sites that are generating content (I hope they are not counting my account that I have done nothing with). One would hope that there is something of worth is going on in a community that big. Combine this with the fact that Tumblr is a free service that needs to turn all of those accounts into revenue and your thoughts probably go to advertising. But how and where? Well Tumblr thinks it may have a solution. Of course, in the name of journalistic integrity the “a” word is not mentioned but we are smart enough to read between the lines. The New York Times reports The popular social blogging site Tumblr is hiring writers and editors to cover the world of Tumblr. Chris Mohney, a senior vice president for content at BlackBook Media, will be the site’s editor in chief. Jessica Bennett, a senior writer and editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast, will be the executive editor and, she said, a kind of Tumblr correspondent. “Basically, if Tumblr were a city of 42 million,” Ms. Bennett said, referring to the number of Tumblr blogs that exist, “I’m trying to figure out how we cover the ideas, themes and people who live in it.” The talk is trying to keep people on the sites longer. While that’s a nice metric that will not pay the bills. How can they monetize the free service? There’s that “a” word again. It’s inevitable, isn’t it? One can’t blame any business for trying to make money. After all, these free services that we all love to use and criticize are not public services. They are businesses. It’s making the move from free to “we need to make some money” model that seems to trip up most businesses like Tumblr. So why does this happen? Companies like Tumblr have a hyper sensitivity to the relatively small minority of users that will cry foul when something of a commercial nature (that is generated by Tumblr not other Tumblr users) appears on the site. This content aggregation and curation model only makes sense if there is a revenue component to it. Tumblr will need to show some backbone during any transition because there will be whiners. It’s the Internet after all and people are curious in that they feel they can be outraged when things that are free to them change their little comfort zone. It’s not a healthy environment but it is very real. Regardless of the ultimate goal, Tumblr’s new hires must have taken PR courses when they can produce the following Mr. Mohney said that the forthcoming content will market Tumblr by highlighting how the site is being used, but, he added, “fun, cool, compelling and organic creation will go a lot further towards demonstrating the potential of this nascent creative population than simplistic or forced attempts at corporate boosterism.” Ms. Bennett, when asked what statement Tumblr was making by bringing her and Mr. Mohney on board, said, “Tumblr is basically hiring a staff to celebrate creativity and innovation. How many companies can say that?” That’s very nice Ms. Bennett but creativity and innovation don’t pay the bills. How will Tumblr make money from something like this is the real question. Any thoughts?

Little Black Bag Raises...

There is something to be said about the serendipity of shopping in a brick and mortar stores, especially when you’re buying fashion. The dilemma with clothing is that you don’t know what you’ll like until you get to the store and are presented with an array of options, and that perfect thing you never though you’d like. Perhaps this is why people stock up sartorially in actual stores — Part of the fun of shopping is the sense of discovery involved in finding and loving items IRL. Attempting to bring some of this spontaneity back, startups like Stylemint and Birchbox are trying to make the online shopping experience as novel as the offline. A new addition to the spontaneous online shopping club today is startup Little Black Bag , which takes off on the Japanese shopping concept of fukubukuro, or “lucky bag sale,” where shoppers buy a mystery bag of fashion products and the trade those items with friends. Taking off on this concept, Little Black Bag attempts to apply this model to the Internet. To get started the app asks you questions about your style preferences, allowing you to choose options like “Hipster” or “Classic” to questions like “What are your favorite styles?” The site then presents you with a virtual “bag,” revealing one item and keeping the other two a mystery. A user can purchase their bag for $59.95 or $49.95 for a monthly subscription and, if they don’t like the products, can trade their items with other Little Black Bag users resulting in modest savings on brands like Betsey Johnson, Z Spoke by Zac Posen and others. The company turns a profit on its resale margin. “I’ve been fascinated for years by how cold the Internet is when it comes to eCommerce,” writes co-founder Dan Murillo, “And this gap has only gotten bigger as new social media sites have emerged (Pinterest, Path, etc.)  When I came across this idea, I thought it would be the perfect starting point from which to build a truly interactive community around eCommerce.” To execute on its vision, Little Black Bag has just raised $2.75 million from investors like GRP, DCM Chamath Palihapitiya, Tim Kendall and David Tisch. Murillo will be using the money to build out his product and team.