memo

Well, that didn't take long. Less than two months after I posted this review of the Memo ME172V, Asus has revealed its younger, more powerful sibling: the Memo Pad HD 7 -- formally known internally as the sequentially appropriate ME173.

The newer 7-inch tablet will ship with Android 4.2, and will feature a 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek MT8125 CPU and a PowerVR SGX 544 graphics processor. While I'm not familiar with that particular version of MediaTek silicon, the SGX 544 is nothing to sneeze at when its comes to graphics processing; however, whether the tablet's graphics … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- ZTE's quest to launch a flagship smartphone in the U.S. has hit a temporary snag.

The ZTE Grand S, one of the more impressive smartphones shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, won't arrive here until next year, Lixin Cheng, head of the company's North American division, told CNET on Tuesday.

ZTE had grand plans for its Grand phone, and the company said in January that it was confident that the flagship device would make its way to U.S. shores soon. Cheng attributed the delay to the extra time needed … Read more

Regardless of the Asus Memo Pad ME172V's attractively low $149 price, you shouldn't buy it. Its performance is slow, it crashes when attempting to play some of the latest games, and the narrow viewing angle and low resolution of the screen make it look like a hologram sticker placeholder rather than a quality screen with solid colors.

The Memo Pad does include a microSD slot, something the Nexus 7 (also manufactured by Asus) doesn’t have; however, even at $50 more, the Nexus 7 is clearly the better product. It’s faster, includes the very latest version of … Read more

DotMemo is as basic as any app can get. The problem, however -- and this crops up a lot in apps developed to take on that "simplicity before functionality" mantle -- is that DotMemo is too simple, at least for most people jotting down notes while on the go.

The idea behind the app is very simple. Open DotMemo and you are greeted with a white screen that says "note here." You tap the white space and can start typing. That's it. There are arrows to move your cursor back and forth on the screen (… Read more

Not waiting for a leak, newly ousted Groupon CEO Andrew Mason made his departing memo public this afternoon.

In it, Mason claims responsibility for missing expectations and the company's stock price, and says that a "fresh CEO" earns the company a chance at a second chance.

Mason also shows a geeky, youthful spirit, making the comparison of running the company this far to the popular, though notoriously difficult 1991 video game Battletoads.

You can read the whole memo below, which Mason linked to in a Tweet:

(This is for Groupon employees, but I'm posting it publicly … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Tossing its name into the supersize phone ring, ZTE demoed its Grand Memo at this year's MWC. Strutting a massive 5.7-inch screen, the handset belongs to the company's family of 4G LTE-enabled devices, which includes the hyped-up flagship, the Grand S, launched at CES in January. The Grand Memo will be available in China starting in March, with a later European launch in Q2.

Design If you're like me and you think LG's "phablet," the Optimus G Pro, looks a lot like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, wait until you get a … Read more

Big changes may be on the horizon for Hulu. According to an internal memo that entertainment news source Variety got its hands on, CEO Jason Kilar's jig may be up.

The three-page memo, dated from July, lists several possible changes for the streaming service, according to Variety. Of the most striking are the top two bullet points, which say this: "Outline transition plan for new CEO" and "Discuss potential candidates and process."

Kilar has had an up-and-down relationship with backers for the last couple of years. He initiated a rift with Hulu's parent company … Read more

The LG Optimus Elite from Virgin Mobile will get QuickMemo through an over-the-air update.

According to the carrier, the feature will be available in August.

QuickMemo lets you jot down notes and draw doodles with your fingers on top of the phone's screen image (though virtual notebook paper is an option too).

To access QuickMemo on the Elite, you'll have to push and hold both buttons of the volume rocker. Four different brush types and 16 colors are at your disposal as well, and you can save and send your memos via e-mail, text, Bluetooth, and more.

I … Read more

Steve Jobs' Atari memo sold for $27,500 at its Sotheby's auction, just shy of twice its estimated worth.

The handwritten memo was jotted in 1974 by then-19-year-old Jobs, who described changes Atari could make to its World Cup Soccer coin arcade game to make it more fun and functional.

Jobs worked nights at Atari for a brief time in 1974, employing Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to help whittle down the hardware required for a prototype of a single-player version of Pong, the game that would go on to become Breakout. Jobs would leave Atari that summer to travel … Read more