Apparently Sprint is confident enough in these advantages to double down on the iPhone 4S by offering a new promotion that directly grabs at iPhone fans on other carriers. Until the end of the month, anyone who wants to buy an iPhone 4S and has a history with the iPhone can trade in their old device for a $100 discount through Sprint’s Buyback program. That means that in a non-promotional period, an iPhone 3G trade-in might get only a $50 value but fortunately this offer will make up the difference. Of course, if your iPhone is much newer and has a value that exceeds $100 you will be entitled to the full amount. As with most phone offers in the United States, you also must be willing to throw in with Sprint for a two-year contract.

As previously mentioned, the deal ends on June 1 so act fast if you want to save some cash and don’t mind kicking AT&T or Verizon on the way over.

Source: Sprint

Microsoft will begin in the United States and Canada on May 20th and 18th (respectively), bundling a 4GB entry-level Xbox 360 with Windows 7 laptops priced at $699/$599 (again, respectively). The program will be offered through the following select retailers:

Participating retailers in the US include Best Buy, Dell.com, Fry’s Electronics, HPDirect.com, Microsoft Stores, and NewEgg.com. In Canada, they include Best Buy, Dell.ca, Future Shop, Staples and The Source.

Please note that participating retailers and terms and conditions may change over the course of the promotion.

Now that ultrabooks offer a form factor that may be more appealing to students on the go, this promotion might experience quite a bit of traction. It is worth noting that with the impending release of Windows 8, it may be worth waiting before availing yourself of this offer. The Verge points out that the Windows 8 Upgrade Program is rumored to be announced in early June, so it’d be a prudent choice to delay your purchase until then.

Source: Windows Experience Blog | Via: The Verge

Google is known for quickly iterating and testing new features even on its entrenched services. Search and Docs are two of the data giant’s biggest offerings, and both have just received sizable additions.

The latest addition to search comes in the form of Knowledge Graph which looks to make sure users are getting results for the right search term, and will maifest in the form of a box on the right side of the screen. The knowledge graph is based on an index of over 500 million actual things, with Google accounting for 3.5 billion connections as of now. The end goal is similar to that of Apple’s Siri in that users will be able to ask natural language questions that contain multiple variables.

Docs has also received a new feature in a new side panel that facilitates research while in a document. The effect is similar to that seen in the forthcoming Windows 8 implementation of apps running in 1/3 screen view. This is much less ambitious than the Knowledge Graph feature, but it should bring some nice usability improvements to the document creation process.

Source: Google (1, 2)

By offering early access to a new version of Android, Google is surely hoping to encourage more differentiation of Android devices based on hardware rather than software. While the report doesn’t explicitly state that next-generation Nexus devices would be running stock ROMs, former devices in the program like the Nexus One and Nexus S ran almost entirely unaltered versions of the operating system. By showing off the core functionality of Android without software alterations like manufacturer skinning and carrier preloaded applications, Google could send a much more clear message of what they have to offer.

Source: Wall Street Journal | Via: The Verge (image)

Rumors have been swirling for years that a new MacBook Pro is on the way that would ditch the optical drive and even an even more svelte package in the wake of the MacBook Air’s success. It looks like those rumblings are finally coming to fruition with those in the know now pointing to a summer release for an all-new notebook from Apple.

The latest information comes out of 9to5 Mac, and here’s the rundown of rumored features:

• All-new ultra-thin design, yet not tapered like the MacBook Air
• High resolution, retina-style display running at 2880 x 1800
• Native USB 3.0 support thanks to Intel’s new Ivy Bridge chipset

These are the rumored features, but one confirmed component is Nvidia graphics. The Verge, corroborated by ABC News, say that the new machines will in fact use a Nvidia chipset likely based on the GeForce 650m “Kepler” architecture. A reference to specific chipset where also located by 9to5 Mac

Other small rumored tidbits include the relocation of the power button from the outskirts of the keyboard to on the keyboard itself similar to the current MacBook Air design, and the removal of the built-in ethernet port due to size constraints.

The newly redesigned MacBook Pro is rumored to hit sometime this summer, with WWDC in June acting as a well-timed stage for the announcement.

Source: 9to5 Mac – The Verge (1, 2) – ABC News

This name change has already taken place in all territories including those with LTE, with not as much as single public note from Apple about the matter.

Source: 9to5Mac

In what will likely be Google’s first major pickup this year, All Things D is reporting that they’re in talks to purchase Meebo for a slick $100 million. If you haven’t heard of Meebo, it’s a fairly experimental company that’s dipped its toes in web-based instant messaging, content recommendation, and a product called “Meebo Bar” that allows for website owners to place social links and advertisement on their pages. As a result, Meebo’s team could easily integrate into those behind Reader, News, AdWords, and Talk.

Source: All Things D

While Bing has seen steady growth since its inception, the rise of marketshare has really come at the expense of Yahoo! rather than Microsoft’s primary competitor Google. Microsoft is now teaming up with Facebook to deliver a wholly redesigned search experience.

Bing's new three-column interface

The design is set around three columns – core web results, snapshot, and sidebar. The first column is much of what you’d expect, namely the primary search results for your query. Microsoft makes a point to highlight a lack of social links embedded in this feed, calling out Google for integrating Google+ influenced results directly into the stream.

That function is reserved for the sidebar, which is powered entirely by Facebook social search. While the actual practicality of the tool is questionable, the basic idea seems sound. In short, it allows you to ask questions of your friends that you might ask face to face, like soliciting recommendations for an upcoming trip or finding the best restaurant to go to that night. Microsoft and Facebook are leaning directly on people’s willingness to socialize rather than influence search based on broad suggestions, which is a truly novel strategy for search.

Finally, the middle column is dedicated to “Snapshot”, which gives contextual visual search results that may be relevant to what you’re looking for. If you were searching for a restaurant, you might find in the Snapshot column a map of its location, a link to OpenTable for reservations, and pictures of some of the food that people have taken in the past.

No matter how you look at it, Bing is trying some truly new ideas. Whether or not they resonate with users is another thing entirely, but hustle is in and of itself quite important in the consumer electronics space. Check out the source link below for an extended video that further explores the new interface or simply go to Bing’s coming soon page to sign up to be the first to use it.

Source: Bing blog

Out of the blue, a complete redesign of the Google Plus iOS app hit the App Store yesterday. The revamped app is a complete rethinking, and it’s obvious that Google is doing everything they can to make it not only functional, but beautiful as well.

Here’s the bullet point rundown straight from Google:

• Whether you post photos or articles or text, we’re making ‘em look gooood
• We’re adding crisper fonts, larger profile pics and a friendlier homescreen
• We’re making the stream easier to scan, and easier on the eyes with overlays, gradients and other visual elements
• Conversations fall into view as you move forward and backward in time
• Optical cues (like parallax) help the mind linger on individual posts
• Important actions like +1 now float atop the stream, making it easy to endorse all your favorites

There are a lot of nice touches in the new interface. Photos are front and center, and subtle animation throughout makes the perusal of streams enjoyable. While Google obviously has a long way to go before even approaching Facebook’s popularity, a great mobile experience is a key piece of the puzzle.

The new Google+ mobile app is currently available in the iOS App Store, and it will be hitting Android within a few weeks with a “few extra surprises.”

Source: Google

With Dell’s PC ambitions generally lacking in favor of the profitable enterprise market, it might be a surprise that they’re also experimenting with reaching some niche markets. In this case, the niche market is web and mobile developers and Dell is doing so by launching Project Sputnik.

Sputnik is a six-month pilot project that is focused on delivering a device (and later a series of devices, predicated on the success of the initial rollout) that meets a typical developer’s needs and desires. One way they’ll be doing that is by making the first device available the XPS 13, the latest in their line of svelte ultrabooks that can deliver both performance and form factor in a single bundle.

More importantly, Dell will pre-install Ubuntu on these laptops along with tools for developing in Ruby, Android, and Java. It’s also worth noting that they’re working closely with Ubuntu project leader Canonical to deliver perfect driver support for their hardware. Project Sputnik aspires to clear the board of all bloatware and rather include the software that devs actually want, which leads to the last element of the project – feedback.

Dell is already soliciting feedback on how they can better serve the needs of developers through this project via their Idea Storm website. Already people are commenting on what hardware specs they prefer or what Sputnik devices will initially be made available to “key influencers”, but will expand to a wider audience if feedback and growth is positive.

Source: Dell