As the title says, a whopping 8% of amazon’s sales come via mobile devices, and the figure is only increasing. Tablets are ideal for lazying at home on a Sunday, flipping through the web pages of Amazon, and then paying for books, TV’s, clothes and just about everything including your kitchen sink.

Amazon had spotted this trend a while ago, hence the new Kindle tablets and their investment in making them as good as they can. Also it’s another reason they sell them either at cost or a small loss, as they know their future sales will derive from them. They are just making it easier for people to shop in their store front.

Just imagine, if other retailers started providing tablets at a loss. We would be plagued with rectangular devices until Apple patented a new shape of course.

NVIDIA has announced at CES, Project Shield — a dedicated Tegra 4 powered game center and more. It’s a 7-inch clamshell device, running pure vanilla Android, a 720p multi touch display, and enough battery power to play up to 10 solid hours of games or 24 hours of HD video, HDMI and USB.

The Tegra 4 chip that also got announced at CES is extremely powerful, powerful enough to use HDR on moving items. I can’t wait to see this in stores.

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), the world’s largest seller of mobile phones, said it will start selling smartphones this year featuring the Tizen operating system backed by Intel Corp.

“We plan to release new, competitive Tizen devices within this year and will keep expanding the lineup depending on market conditions,” Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung said in an e- mailed statement today. The company didn’t elaborate on model specifications, prices or timeframe for their debut.

The new handsets will come as Samsung looks to reduce its reliance on Google (GOOG) Inc.’s Android operating system after the Internet search company acquired (GOOG) handset maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.5 billion in May. Executives from Intel, Samsung, NTT DoCoMo Inc. (9437) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) formed the Tizen Association last year to support the open-source software.

“The Tizen was born as Samsung hoped to lighten its growing dependence on Google on concerns that its top position in the smartphone market may weaken following the Google- Motorola tie-up,” Byun Han Joon, an analyst at KB Investment & Securities in Seoul, said by phone today. “Intel always wanted to boost its presence in the mobile CPU market.”

Samsung seems to be supporting handsets in every market ensuring it makes money where there is money to be made. Maybe they see problems ahead with Google producing its own handset. All it does mean is more options for the consumer.

Polaroid has launched the Polaroid PTAB750 7-inch Android 4.0 8GB Internet Kids Tablet ipdesigned for children. The Android 4.0 operating system connects to WiFi and delivers a way to engage, entertain and educate children in the home or on the go. This white 7-inch tablet has a 1GHz processor, 8GB of internal memory, 512MB of RAM, USB port and an SD card slot for extended memory. The design of the integrated side and rear rubber bumpers protect the tablet from shocks, falls and withstands all sorts of liquid accidents. The Baby Switch feature is used to disable the touch display of the tablet, preventing little ones from stopping the safe and filtered stream of children’s video entertainment. The 2-megapixel camera allows children to be creative with pictures and videos and share them with friends and family. This device comes pre-loaded with (3) top rated learning Apps, (10) Dr. Seuss & Smithsonian interactive books and preloaded with the Nook bookstore and reader. The Appshop only includes apps for children where your child can safely browse and download free apps or purchase apps (when parental controls are turned off) that have been carefully selected before being included in the shop. The web browser also has parental protection.

Reasonable idea but a bit overkill or is this the kid friendly tablet solution ?

Google Play is offering free subscriptions to print subscribers. This is really good news as it starts to promote using digital mediums even more.

Is it me, or does it seem that Google is advancing rapidly in its media offering? I wonder for how much longer Apple will hold all the trump cards.

Sony’s Xperia Z is rumored to be Sony’s next flagship device for 2013. The Z will be a 5 inch 1080p device and with a full HD display using Sony’s Bravia technology.

A 13MP Exmor RS camera with fast capture and HDR are also expected. Sony makes some of the best camera optics so I am hoping for great video and stills. But even better it is water-resistant.

I am looking forward to the full reveal on this phone. Are you ?

Google has warded off an antitrust investigation from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by agreeing to license certain patents to its rivals in the mobile phone business.

The FTC announced on Thursday that Google has agreed to license “essential” patents to competitors such as Apple, some of which were acquired in its acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

“The changes Google has agreed to make will ensure that consumers continue to reap the benefits of competition in the online marketplace and in the market for innovative wireless devices they enjoy,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. “This was an incredibly thorough and careful investigation by the Commission, and the outcome is a strong and enforceable set of agreements.”

Google will allow competitors fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory access to patents essential to smartphones, tablets, laptops, and gaming consoles. The search giant also agreed to give advertisers more flexibility to manage their ad campaigns with Google’s AdWords along with rival ad platforms. And Google also agreed to stop lifting content from “vertical” websites, which focus on categories such as shopping or travel, and presenting it in its own vertical offerings.

Time will tell to see whether Google does carry out its promises. Something tells me this is far from over.

Apple has a free music video of One Direction .

I expect a mass rush of people downloading this.