10/15, 4:07pm
Search exec hire could be meant to boost Siri's capabilities
Apple has reportedly brought on William Stasior, an executive at Amazon who runs A9, Amazon's search and search advertising unit. Stasior will now take over the unit within Apple dedicated to its Siri digital assistant. The hire is thought to be aimed at improving Siri's search capabilities, and observers note that it could signal a stronger move into Internet search for Apple, a company that has typically relied on third-party services to power search in its devices.
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11/02, 6:10pm
Amazon Flow searches with augmented reality
Amazon's A9 search team tapped into one of the most common tactics of modern retail shoppers on Wednesday by launching Flow for iPhones (free, App Store). The app uses augmented reality through the phone's cameras to ID products based on their UPC codes. If a match exists on Amazon, users can both get more information, including videos, as well as buy it on the spot.
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02/14, 12:20pm
SmartQ Ten shown with Android 2.2, IPS screen
China's Smart Devices has unveiled its latest tablet, the SmartQ Ten. It uses an In Plane Switching (IPS) 9.7-inch, 1024x768 display and a Cortex-A9 CPU of unspecified clock speed as well as the Mali 400 GPU. It's also the company's first tablet to use Android 2.2.
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