Americans Name Price For Their Personal Data

According to a new study, Americans expect rewards and discounts for allowing advertisers access to their personal info. That seems pretty fair to me, what do you think? New research has found that 45 percent of consumers are willing to share data collected about them online if it means advertisements would be better tailored to their preferences. However, consumers also expect to receive something in exchange for providing personal info. Namely, 59 percent of consumers said that if they pass along their personal data, they'd be more willing to buy products and services from brands that offer discounts and rewards. Comments



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Barnes and Noble posts $119 million loss in Q4 2013, will partner with third party on future Nook tablets

Barnes and Noble has not had an easy go of it. The brick and mortal stalwart has seen its revenues and profits steeply decline as we've entered the age of the ebook. In fact, profits haven't just shrunk, they've disappeared. During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013, the company suffered a net loss of $118.6 million, down significantly from the already poor showing it posted in 2012 when it lost $56.9 million in Q4. For the year that put Barnes and Noble's losses at $154.8 million -- more than double what it lost in 2012. Revenues have dropped both at retail outlets and its Nook digital business by $105 million and $56 million, respectively year-over-year. For its e-reader and ebook arm, that represents a 34 percent drop from Q4 2012. The bad news there is that device sales have declined dramatically and, while content sales were up for the year, in the fourth quarter they fell by 8.9 percent. Barnes and Noble attributes the year-over-year fall in sales to be attributed to the lack of blockbuster titles. In Q4 2012 revenues were boosted by juggernauts like Fifty Shades of Grey and The Hunger Games.

Going forward Barnes and Noble wants to significantly cut its losses on the struggling Nook business. To do that the company will be partnering with an as yet unnamed third party to manufacture and co-brand its tablet line. The Nook line of e-readers will continue to be designed and built in-house, but the retailer will be looking beyond its Manhattan office walls for help with the flailing Nook HD line. Existing products will be supported for the foreseeable future however, so don't go tossing your Robert Brunner-designed slate in the trash just yet. If you'd like more detail check out the PR after the break.

Filed under: Tablets

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Leap Motion starts expanded beta, opens dev portal to the public, shows off Airspace app store (hands-on)

Slowly but surely Leap Motion is making its way toward a commercial release. Today, the company has announced it's moving into the next phase of beta testing and that it will be opening up its developer portal to the public later in the week. While this still won't get folks a Leap device any faster, it will let them dig into Leap's tools and code base in preparation for when they finally get one. The move marks a shift from the company's previous SDK-focused beta to a consumer-focused one that'll serve to refine the UX in Windows and OSX. Within each operating system, there will be two levels of Leap control: basic, which essentially allows you to use Leap in place of a touchscreen, and advanced to allow for more 3D controls enabled by Leap's ability to detect the pitch and yaw of hands in space.

CEO Michael Buckwald gave us this good news himself, and also gave us a preview of Airspace, Leap's app store, and a few app demos for good measure. As it turns out, Airspace is a two-pronged affair -- Airspace Store is showcase for all software utilizing the Leap API and Airspace Home is a launcher that keeps all the Leap apps that you own in one convenient place. There will be 50 apps in Airspace at the start of the beta, with offerings from pro tools and utility apps to casual games, and we got to see a few examples.

Gallery: Leap Motion Airspace store and apps preview

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American Airlines completes roll out of iPad flight bags to all cockpits

After completing testing and replacing traditional flight bags with iPads for some of its fleet, American Airlines today becomes the first commercial airline to transition to paperless cockpits in all of its aircrafts: American Airlines has completed the successful rollout of its industry-leading Electronic Flight Bag program with the discontinuation of paper revisions to terminal […]



via 9to5Mac http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/24/american-airlines-completes-roll-out-of-ipad-flight-bags-to-all-cockpits/