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Jessops Stops Trading

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Camera retailer Jessops is the first retail casualty of 2013-- administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) shut down all 187 stores with the loss of around 1370 jobs.

JessopsThe Jessops online store is also down, and further job losses will take place at the Leicester head office.

Founded in 1935 by Frank Jessop, the retailer broke down after a poor holiday season and growing competition from the usual suspects, online retailers and supermarkets.

Customers also increasingly prefer smartphones to cameras for their photographic needs.

Total Jessops 2012 turnover amounts to £236 million.

PwC took over as administrators on 9 January 2013. Jessops managed to avoid administration back in 2009 via debt for equity swap with HSBC, a move that saw it removed from the stock market.

Go Jessops

Paper-Thin Computing Makes CES Debut

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Thin and flexible displays have get the spotlight at CES 2013 with the debut of the PaperTab-- a flexible and thin tablet that looks and feels like a sheet of paper.

PapertabA collaboration between eReader maker Plastic Logic, Intel and the Queen's University Human Media Lab, the PaperTab is a 10.7-inch prototype running on a Core i5 processor with a black and white display.

While capable of running by itself, the CES prototype is designed for collaborative use-- multiple PaperTabs share a work area through position awareness, with each unit running a single app.

Sharing data between PaperTabs involves touching devices with each other and one can create a larger display by simply laying 2 devices next to each other.

The flexible display is not just for show-- bending the screen flicks through documents or controls video, while a "dog ear" gesture sends out emails.

The PaperTab has no actual release date as yet, and Plastic Logic is also looking for companies interested in making use of the flexible display technology.

Watch PaperTab

Go Plastic Logic Unveils Latest Concept Design

Microsoft Buys Automation Start-Up

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Blake Krikorian

Microsoft buys Blake Krikorian's id8 Group R2 Studios, developer of Android-based home automation and appoints Krikorian as corporate VP for its Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB).

Blake joins the Xbox team as a proven innovator (Slingox), having created simple, elegant products that have transformed the way people engage with and consume content.

This news probably disappoints Apple and Google who were also in talks about bidding on the company.

R2 Studios develops home-media and automation technology, is secretive about its plans—which would seem to fit well within Microsoft. But it’s no secret R2 Studios released an app that turns Android phones into touch panels for controlling heating and lighting systems wirelessly. R2 Studios also holds some patents related to controlling electronic devices and interfaces that Microsoft also acquired.

Intel Shows 2013 Core Processors

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Intel CES 2013The annual Intel keynote at CES 2013 is all about the 4th generation of Core processors-- the first designed specifically for thin and light laptops of the Ultrabook variety.

According to Intel the 4th generation Intel Core family "enables true all-day battery life" reaching up to 9 hours of continuous use with operation as low as 10W.

"The 4th generation Core processors are the first Intel chips built from the ground up with the Ultrabook in mind," Intel PC Client Group VP Kirk Skaugen says.

Also seen at CES is "North Cape," a reference design for an Ultrabook with a detachable display acting as a battery-powered 10mm tablet. Further mobile ambitions from Intel include an expanded tablet roadmap for the quad-core Atom processor series and a new low-power Atom-based platform for smartphone use.

Go Intel Delivers Broad Range of New Mobile Experiences

Microsoft's Surface Goes Pro

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Microsoft might not have an official presence at CES 2013 (it has no stand and left Qualcomm with keynote duties) but it did not decline from making an announcement at the show-- the next Surface tablet, the Surface Pro.

Surface ProShown to the press in pre-production form, the Surface Pro is Surface on steroids. Display resolution is up from 1366 x 768 to 1920 x 1080, and the touchpanel handles active pen input via included stylus (which magnetically snaps on the side of the tablet when not in use).

Pen input is pressure sensitive and reportedly feels rather natural.

Hardware is somewhat rejigged from the regular Surface-- the Pro is thicker (13.5mm instead of 9.4mm) and heavier thanks to beefed up hardware (Core i5 processor, x2 fans and a 42.5Wh battery). Even the kickstand is slightly different, angling the device at 26 degrees instead of 22 degrees.

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