Judy’s Tech News Digest

Amazon Unveils the Kindle Fire HDX

Amazon unveiled the newest version of the Kindle Fire, the Kindle Fire HDX.   It sports  a 7″ HDX display (1920×1200) with high pixel density (323 PPI), a 2.2GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.

Perhaps its most unusual feature is the “Mayday” button which enables you to connect for free to an Amazon expert 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models, prices range from $229 for the Wi-Fi, 16GB, “special offers” (aka ads) model to $424 for the Wi-Fi + 4G LTE, 64GB, ads-free model.  Pre-ordering is now available with the Kindle Fire HDX being released on November 14th.

Microsoft Stands Alone

Microsoft is apparently the only company that still offers a Windows RT-based tablet.  Dell’s Windows RT-based tablet, the XPS 10, is now unavailable.  Other former Windows RT-based table providers include Samsung, Lenovo and Asus.  Even Microsoft dropped the RT designation in the 2nd generation of Surface tablets, referring to the tablet simply as ‘Surface’ instead of ‘Surface RT.’

Netflix Goes Total Super HD

Netflix has rolled out Super HD video quality option to all users and devices.  It was originally introduced in January only through ISPs with a direct connection to Netflix.  Super HD is a full-HD video without certain compression techniques used on standard HD playback.

The Most Valuable Brands Go Tech

Interbrand, the world’s leading brand consultancy, released its Top 100 Best Global Brands.

While the Top 5 last year was tech-laden with Apple, IBM, Google and Microsoft taking slots 2 through 5, Coca-Cola was sitting on top of heap.  This year, the Top 5 companies haven’t changed but their order sure has.  Apple and Google have soared to the top 2 spots, with Coca-Cola sliding to #3.  IBM still remains ahead of Microsoft but slips to the #4 slot.  Apple’s dominance this year ends a 13-year reign by Coca-Cola.

Rounding out the Top 10 are GE, McDonalds, Samsung, Intel and Toyota.  These are the same companies as last year but Samsung cruised past Intel in this year’s rankings.