Matt’s Desk: Editor’s Blog

We’re coming up on one year since the last batch of new Kindle eReaders were announced, and recent evidence indicates that the 2012 models are nearing announcement/release.

In the last few days, the Kindle w/ Keyboard Wi-Fi model was quietly removed from Amazon’s Kindle listings, though the 3G version remains.  This doesn’t mean much alone, but taken with the fact that B&N just lowered the prices of their Nook tablets, and that the rumor mill has been churning with Kindle rumors would suggest that something’s coming soon.

We’ll almost certainly see a front-lit eInk Kindle eReader in the coming days or weeks, and perhaps even a first-gen color eInk Kindle, too (but I’m thinking 2013 on that one).  Amazon will also certainly be releasing a newer, higher-spec Kindle Fire to compete with Google’s very well-reviewed $199 Nexus 7.

The 4th Generation Kindle is my favorite model ever; I didn’t like the Kindle Touch at all, and actually returned it for the cheaper model.  Hopefully, Amazon will release a non-touch 5th Generation Kindle that improves on the near-perfect 4th Gen model.

-M

In Office 2013 – which Microsoft released the preview version of today – users can post to WordPress and other popular blog management systems right from Word. In fact, this post was made using the preview version of Word 2013.

I’ve only been playing with this feature for a short time, and while it seems to have promise, it doesn’t have the ease-of-use and WYSIWYG preview prowess of Windows Live Writer. As you can see, there’s very little control (as far as I can tell) for image margins and placement. If this and other features improve, not only will bloggers have a new, easy way to post, but Mac users will also have a way to easily post since there’s no Live Writer version for the Mac (or any good alternatives).

I’m going to play with this some more, see how it compares to Word 2010 in this respect,, and get back to you.

-M

Apple updated its existing MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lineups today with moderate improvements including Ivy Bridge chips and USB 3.0, but the big news is the “Next Generation” MacBook Pro with a retina display. 

The new ultimate MacBook Pro has a 15.4-inch Retina screen with a resolution of 2880×1800.  Other features include Ivy Bridge quad core CPUs, up to 16GB of DDR3, a Kepler NVIDIA GT 650M GPU with 1GB of RAM, HD Facetime camera, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI, up to 768GB SSD, Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, and an SD card slot.

The base model next-gen MacBook Pro has a 2.3GHz quad-core Core i7, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, a GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of VRAM, a 7-hour battery for $2199.

According to every single bit of “information” that’s come out over the last few weeks, it’s now all but certain that a entire new line of MacBooks, iMacs and even Mac Pros will debut next week during WWDC.

New, thinner MacBook Pros are expected, along with new iMacs.  There may even be new MacBook Airs and Mac Pros.

I’ve been waiting to buy an iMac for months now.  Most excited about that.

-M