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The Google tablet is no longer a rumor. Now we'll have the Google Nexus 7 by mid-July, or you can pre-order right now on Google's website for $199. According to Google, pre-ordered tablets will ship in two-three weeks and for a limited time, you'll get $25 to spend in Google's Play store on apps, games, books and movies. Google is also throwing in a free copy of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The Nexus 7 will have a 7-inch display and weigh about 0.75 pounds, which is right in line with other tablets of this size. It'll use Android's latest operating system, which is Jelly Bean, or Android 4.1, if you keep track of the version numbers. Google on their website has the battery rated for 10 hours of web browsing or 10 hours of e-reading, as well as over 8 hours of HD video playback. The Nexus 7 was built to work with Google Play, or Google's app store, where they're pitching over 600,000 apps and games and over four million books. Online storage a

Microsoft choose Hollywood as the location to unveil Surface, a windows tablet computer designed and engineered completely by the guys at One Microsoft Way in Redmond, WA. While the Surface is unique in appearance, with an integrated kickstand to help prop it up and a Touch Cover with a built-in keyboard, the big question quickly comes to mind. Is this tablet the iPad killer? Various tablet manufacturers have been trying to build a serious iPad competitor since the Motorola Xoom arrived on the scene in early 2011. The Xoom wasn't it and neither were the Samsung Galaxy Tabs. The Acer tablets, Asus, the Amazon Kindle and a few others have gained traction, but the iPad remains on top. Microsoft has probably thrown every punch they've learned in their 30-year history of building hardware and developing software to make the Surface attractive to savvy consumers. It even has a few strong point and features not found in the current crop of tablets and can one-up the iPad in a few

As of Monday, my MacBook Pro is no longer considered state of the art. I have only had it several months and I've been enjoying the all-aluminum body and snappy processor, along with the Snow Leopard operating system. Now Apple Inc. has announced the very latest 15-inch MacBook Pro, which is a lot like my laptop in appearance, but it also has a Retina display and faster Intel Core i7 quad-core processors, along with flash storage. I can't compete with all that. The new guy is sleeker, thinner, more powerful and certainly a looker. But is it better than what I have? Let's compare a few things. It is powered by OS X Lion and can be upgraded for free to Mountain Lion when it's ready. I'll be sticking with the Leopard for a while. Apple is also making a big deal about the two Thunderbolt ports, while I only have one. I'm left in the dust again. The Thunderbolt port technology was developed by Apple and Intel to support "high-resolution displays" and

There is exciting technology being developed in Germany and because of an impromptu meeting at the recent CTIA Wireless Conference in New Orleans, I'm one of the lucky ones to have my own personal 3D Face Avatar. All it took was a photo of my face and some computer wizardry. It was engineered by DOCOMO Communications Laboratories Europe GmbH, or DOCOMO Euro-Labs, which is the Munich, Germany-based research arm of NTT DOCOMO, a Japanese mobile communications operator based in Tokyo. They also have offices in Silicon Valley and Beijing. According to their website, they are one of the world's largest mobile communications operators, with more than more than 59 million customers in Japan. My avatar is in the form of a movie, and when explained by DOCOMO representatives, it demonstrates the ways this technology can “be creative” with the avatar’s face." But ideally, it would be a still image that suddenly comes to life with human-like expressions like smiling, winking, tal

If the announcement that the Samsung Galaxy S III is coming to five U.S. carriers this month is any indication of the future demand, maybe we all should check out cell phone contracts on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular. An upgrade might be in order if Samsung's latest mobile phone meets the anticipation of savvy consumers. Samsung has been known for hitting home runs in the mobile market and carries the title of the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S and worldwide, according to Strategy Analytics. The new Galaxy S III has been kicking around in Europe after making its debut in London on May 3. According to one of Samsung's head honchos, this device will be "the next big thing" for U.S. customers on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. The Galaxy S III, which is optimized for 4G and AT&T's HSPA+ networks, is running Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. It also sports a 8-megapixel rear camera, along with a 1.9 mega