Newsletter 23: Kindle Fire, Transformers 3, Acer A100 & more

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Thank you for reading the 23rd edition of the DVD Catalyst newsletter.

Well, next week is Apple week, with rumors going on all over the web about the iPhone5, but this week was Kindle Fire week.

Tech News:

Kindle Fire: Of course I have one on pre-order. It is a new, unique tablet, and while it does run Android, the customized interface, and the "different" way of doing things will provide an interesting experience. Of course DVD Catalyst is already capable of converting movies for it, but the profiles will be in the next update.
While similar to the B&N NOOKcolor in terms of functionality, if one company can take a large chunk of Apple's dominant position in the tablet market, its Amazon. B&N has the books and all, but Amazon is going out in full-force. It has been doing a lot of work with its appstore and the "free-app-of-the-day" promotions, and has already build-up a nice catalog of apps (which reminds me, I still have to submit MovieGallery). And of course its "cloud-based" music service has also seen its fair share of testing already, all in preparation of the Kindle Fire.
In my opinion, they are going to conquer. With Apple showing no interest in going smaller, the iPad will remain more of a in-house tablet, and the Kindle, well, the current generation is already found in a large amount of purses, so the Fire will find its way in there as well.

If you put a Kindle Fire on pre-order, make sure you visit http://www.fireforum.net to stay informed.
But, I just hope it will get rooted pretty quickly though. I don't think Amazon will put "Netflix" in its Appstore
Other than that, the web was flooded this week with speculation on next week's Apple Keynote, XBOX Live getting some premium TV streaming stuff, Skype video call support on some Honeycomb Tablets and the 4G upgrade process for the Xoom has started.

DVD Catalyst News:

This week has been all about "ImageGallery", my upcoming Android image-viewer app. While I have been answering questions and all this week, most of my time was spent on tweaking, improving and expanding Image Gallery. My main goal was to make the folder selection part easier than the current implementation in "MovieGallery", and to make it look as clean as possible by removing all that isn't needed from view.
For the folder-part, I made it look at the folders that actually contain pictures and images, and only display those. By tapping on the screen, it will bring up a slider with folders, and just tap on the folder you want to see just the images in that folder. For settings-access, while not a big deal for most Android devices since they have buttons for it, I implemented a long-press to bring up the menu, which basically results in no buttons, just the gallery display in the mode of your choosing.
In addition to the above, I added options to change angles of the 3D view, battery warning, stay awake and a bunch more.
ImageGallery is currently being tested by beta-testers to make sure it works properly for most devices and usage scenarios.

Tools4Movies.com Articles:

Just one this week, and that was a last-minute one. For some reason, Transformers 3 was released today rather than on the usual Tuesday, and of course, just like the previous 2, it has the 99track issue. Once the correct track is determined, the movie converts without any complications though.
Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon (2011) DVD | DVD Catalyst 4, the ultimate app for movies & tv on the go



Acer A100 First Impressions:

After last week's battles with the Blackberry PlayBook and Wifi, I walked past the tablet-display in the store, and noticed a box for the Acer A100. I asked the rep if they had one out of the box to play with, but they didn't. I read some reviews on it a couple of days ago, and there were some gripes about the thing, but I figured since its running Honeycomb, it would be fine, so I picked one up.
I've been using it on and off during the week, for movies and such, and it works great. It doesn't feel as sturdy as the Playbook or the Xoom, but it has the right size to be carried around, which is what I like the most about it.
Performance-wise it feels like the Xoom, smooth, snappy, however, I did encounter some complications with Netflix.

Closings:

Well, that was it for this week's newsletter. Not much, but besides the projects I am working on, the home-improvement stuff is also still going on. The outside is done, but the inside is still a mess. We have my nephew and my stepson helping, but it is getting to the point that it is a lot more work chasing them down than to actually do the work myself. I just wish this crap was done and over already.
Anyways, thanks for reading the newsletter and enjoy your weekend. I'm off to get the shed cleaned out a bit.

Sincerely,
Mitch


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