Having spent a sizeable amount of money on your Motorola Xoom tablet, you will surely not even want to imagine of it getting ruined after being knocked or exposed to moisture, dust or scratches. Motorola Xoom cases are designed to help you avoid this scenario. Classified as Xoom accessories, these cases have become very popular with Motorola Xoom buyers: with majority of people who buy the Motorola also opting to buy cases for them.

Motorola Protective Portfolio Case for MOTOROLA XOOM (Motorola Retail Packaging) Average Rating: 158 total customer reviews...

Bear Motion ® 100% Real Leather Case for For Motorola Xoom 10.1 inch tablet (3G & 4G WI-FI 16 GB 32 GB 64 GB) - Xoom Case Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb Black (NOT Compatible with XOOM Family and XOOM 2) Average Rating: 212 total customer reviews...

Snugg Motorola Xoom 1 Case Cover and Flip Stand in Black Leather (3G & 4G WI-FI 16 GB 32 GB 64 GB) - Xoom Case Google Android 3.0 Average Rating: 10 total customer reviews...

Acase Slim Leather Folio Case with Built-in Stand for Motorola Xoom (Black) Average Rating: 130 total customer reviews...

Mochie (trademark) Black Folio Leather Case Cover for Motorola Xoom Tablet Average Rating: 20 total customer reviews...

Navitech Black Genuine Premium Leather Flip Carry Case With Adjustable Stand For The Motorola Xoom Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb , 10.1 inch tablet (March 2011 Release ) 3G & 4G WI-FI 16 GB 32 GB 64 GB Average Rating: 59 total customer reviews...

Targus Truss Leather Case and Stand for Motorola Xoom WiFi/3G - THZ06902US (Black/Gray) Average Rating: 33 total customer reviews...

The four major benefits you stand to get out of Motorola Xoom Cases

There are four major benefits that you stand to get out of your Motorola Xoom cases:

1 The cases protect the Xoom tablet from getting exposed to moisture: nothing can ruin your costly Motorola Xoom faster than moisture. A Motorola Xoom case costs just a few dollars, but in some situations, it can make the difference between losing and retaining this costly device.

2 The cases protect the Xoom tablet from getting exposed to dust: if you keep on carrying your Motorola Xoom without a case, chances are that some dust will find its way into the device, and in the long run, cause it to malfunction. This is a scenario you can avoid through the use of an inexpensive Motorola Xoom case.

3 The cases protect the Xoom tablet from getting scratched: a ‘bare’ Xoom will almost inevitably end up getting scratched, and aging prematurely. You can save it from this fate, and keep it looking new using a relatively inexpensive Motorola Xoom case.

4 The cases protect the Xoom tablet from having to bear the full brunt of knocks: the way most of these Motorola Xoom cases are designed is such that they absorb most of the pressure, in the event of your Xoom falling or otherwise getting knocked. This can, in some cases, make a difference between the device getting irreparably damaged and the device retaining its functionality.

The cost of Motorola Xoom Cases

There is a great variance in Motorola Xoom case prices, meaning that whatever your budget, you can get a suitable case for your precious Xoom. The prices of these cases seem to vary depending on the materials that the cases are made from, and the features that the cases come with. The best Motorola Xoom cases come with integrated stands, and are made from decently hard material, to ensure optimal protection for the encased Xoom tablets.  Some come with zippers, and some come with special screen protection features.

All said and done, you will find justification to spend money on the Motorola Xoom cases if you take into consideration the cost of the Motorola Xoom, and the level of extra protection you can offer that precious Xoom using the cases.

Does it make sense to spend money on Kindle 3 Covers? To find answers to this question, we need to briefly look at what the said Kindle 3 covers are, what role they serve, and whether or not it is something worth spending money on.

Kindle 3 Covers

Simply put, Kindle 3 covers are protective coverings created for Kindle 3 e-book readers. By now, everyone should be conversant with e-books. What can be said by way of introduction to e-book readers, for the benefit of anyone who may not be conversant with them, is that they are ‘books in electronic format.’ Traditional books were usually available on printed paper, but e-books are available in ‘soft copy’ in which the people reading them get to interact with them, without having to print out the material in them. So the Kindle is one of the devices available for reading such e-books.

Kindle 3 e-book readers are, in actual fact, the third generation of Kindles – hence the reason as to why some people also refer to them as Kindle 3 g. The Kindles are marketed by a company known as Amazon, which also happens to be the world’s leading seller of E-books.

Like most electronic devices of their nature, Kindle 3 e-book readers (which as we have seen are also known as Kindle 3g e-book readers) turn out to be rather sensitive, hence the need for protective coverings for them. That is the role served by the previously alluded to Kindle 3 covers, which may also be referred to as Kindle 3g covers.

The role served by Kindle 3 covers

Kindle 3 covers serve a number of purposes:

* They protect the Kindle 3 e-book readers inside of them from exposure to moisture.

* They protect Kindle 3 e-book readers inside of from exposure to dust.

* They buffer the Kindle 3 e-book readers inside of them from ‘shock’ when the Kindles are exposed to mechanical pressure (like in the event of ‘falls’).

As it turns out, however, in a bid to keep the price of the Kindles as low as possible, their vendors will tend to sell them without the coverings. It is therefore usually upon the people buying the Kindle 3 e-book readers to also buy Kindle 3 covers (as ‘extra accessories’), usually from third party vendors.

Such money spent buying Kindle 3g covers would be termed as money well spent because:

* Covering the Kindles enhances their useful life: it can be demonstrated that Kindles which are covered would tend to last for longer than Kindles that remain exposed all along. Sometimes, depending on the environments where the devices are used, we may be looking at a situation where covering your Kindle can increase its lifespan two-fold. That would the benefit you get from a cover which typically costs less than $10. For as little as that, you would be saving yourself from the pain of having to buy two Kindles within the same duration.

* Covering the Kindles enhances their resell value: it can be demonstrated that Kindles which have been covered will tend to come across as being ‘as good as new’ in terms of aesthetic appeal, as compared to Kindles which remain exposed, and which tend to ‘show age’ or even show an exaggerated age.

* Covering the Kindles protects their utility: it can be demonstrated that Kindles which remain covered would tend to retain all their features and functionality for their lifetimes, whereas Kindles that remain uncovered tend to eventually lose most of their utility so that within a couple or so years, they are effectively ‘shells’ with only the most basic functionality.

In the final analysis, then, money spent on Kindle 3 covers can be termed as money well spent.

Kindle Covers

Kindle Lighted Leather Cover

The Kindle 3

As alluded to earlier, the Kindle is a product of Amazon (Amazon also being one of the most popular e-book sellers online).

The latest version of the Kindle, as at the time of this writing, is that which has come to be referred to as the Kindle 3 (that is, the third generation kindle).

One of the strongest selling points for the Kindle is cross-platform compatibility, in a situation where Amazon has endeavored to create Kindle software for almost all the major platforms. We end up in a situation where there is Kindle software for Windows, Kindle software for the Mac Operating System, Kindle software for the Android as well as Kindle software for the Blackberry.

As a user, one thing you are very likely to love about the Kindle is its ‘e-ink electronic paper’ display, which makes the literature you read on your Kindle come across as if you are reading it on real paper.

With the Kindle too, you can be sure that the quoted (physical) weight is what you will be actually getting.

Yet another strength associated with the Kindle is in its support for .doc and HTML formats (though that is supposed to happen through a complex email based process).

In terms of pricing, the Kindle does also seem to (slightly) beat the Nook, with the latest version of the Kindle going at $139 whilst the latest version of the Nook goes for $149. The ten bucks could matter, in some circumstances.

Read more reviews about Kindle 3G

The Nook

As mentioned in our introduction, the Nook is Barnes and Noble’s reply to Amazon’s Kindle. Barnes and Noble also happens to be Amazon’s biggest competitor in the online e-books market.

The fact that the Nook has support for the ePub format (which many publishers are increasingly favoring) is one feature you will find attractive – especially keeping it in mind that support for the ePub format is something its rival doesn’t yet have, as at the time of this writing.

The Nook also does have an e-ink display mechanism, which makes for an attractive feature, especially when you compare the experience of reading on such an e-ink display with the experience of reading on an ‘ordinary’ screen.

The opportunity for automatic software updates associated with the Nook, which means that you won’t have to go manually looking for software updates is yet another strong selling point to the Nook.

The Nook’s connectivity speeds have been described as decent, so this is not something you should worry too much about. You will be able to connect your Nook through 3G networks, or through Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi).

Read more review about the Barnes & Noble NOOK

Conclusion

In the final analysis, you will find the only remarkable differences between the Kindle and Nook being in terms of pricing (where the difference is slight). You may also find the difference in terms of operating system platforms supported by the respective e-Readers being something of interest to you.

Nook is Barnes and Noble’s e-book reader. It works along the same lines as Amazon’s Kindle. Now you will recall that the first version of the Nook was only capable of rendering book pages in black and white. Nook Color, then, is a version of the device which is capable of rendering pages in color. Should you buy the Nook Color, some of the features you are most likely to enjoy in it include:

* The (wide) color display: the 7 inch color display on the Nook Color is simply fantastic. It renders pages in such a way that they come across to you, as the reader, as if they were on paper. Magazines and newspapers especially lend themselves very well to this functionality. Nook Color’s display also brings life to kids’ books; which is just as well, because it is very hard to convince kids these days to read books that are lacking in ‘liveliness.’

* Touch-screen functionality: this is another feature you will love – like where, magazine cover on your screen, you just have to touch the title of a given story for it to open up for you! It almost feels magical.

* ‘Unbridled’ internet connectivity: the Nook Color’s internet connectivity isn’t limited to the Barnes and Noble bookstore site (from where you will be accessing the books that the e-reader renders). Rather, through the Nook Color, you also get to connect to social networking sites, your own blogs, video sharing sites… anything. With the Nook Color, you have the web (and by extension the world) on your hands!

* Games and Music: yes, the Nook color allows you to play games on it. And it also allows you listen to music. As such, you won’t be too far off the mark viewing it as a ‘complete entertainment device,’ besides also being an educational device. That is especially so when you recall that it is also a device that allows you to go into your social networking sites, and onto the video-sharing sites. Surely, what more could one ask for in terms of entertainment?

* Access to lots of book titles: according to Barnes and Noble, the vendors of Nook Color (and to whose digital bookstore the Nook Color provides access), once you have the device in your hands, you will have the opportunity to access two million book titles. Two million is a very huge number in terms of book titles, when you come to think of it. In all probability, your favorite titles will be among those two million that the Nook Color gives you access to.

If you think that having a video game that you can play with your own limbs (so that you kick a ball on it with your real leg for instance), then you are well behind time in your thinking – for those are things you can now do with the Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures game. Simply put, this is not a game-platform through which you play using a wand, or a stylus, or a remote controller. Rather, it is a game you platform that allows you to play video games directly, as if you were ‘out there in the field.’

Briefly, among the features you will love on the Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures game platform include:

* A friendly user interface: this has to be the most alluring thing about the Kinect Sensor. Based on what can only be termed as cutting-edge and revolutionary technology, this is a game platform that allows you to play ‘off the couch.’ This way, if what you are looking at is a game that involves kicking a ball, you kick with your real foot (rather than through a control device). If it is a game that involves running, you run in front of the game platform – and it understands your moves, and responds accordingly. It has body recognition features too (so that it recognizes you the moment you stand in front of it, and signs you in!)

* Variety: there is a considerably huge variety of games you can play on the ‘Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures.’

* Xbox compatibility: which enables you, as user of the ‘Kinect Connect with Kinect Adventures’ to synch the platform with your ‘Xbox 360’ games.

Do you love drawing? Do you draw well? Or do you wish you could draw well? If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the above questions, you will definitely love the uDraw Studio, which is a combination of a game-playing tablet and the specific uDraw game. It is also a game you will find to be of great relevance to you if you happen to have a kid who has a ‘thing’ for drawing.

Available from the Amazon eStore, the uDraw Studio has a number of alluring features, including:

* Drawing templates: through the use of these templates, you will be able to come up with masterpieces of drawings you almost certainly would have struggled with. These templates feature virtually every type of drawing you could possibly think of coming up with, and they are a great way for developing good-looking drawings within very short periods of time. But, of course, if all you love is ‘free drawing,’ uDraw also allows you to draw from your imagination (without making use of these templates).

* SD compatibility: this gives you the capability to save your drawings, and share them with your friends. We all know that art is nothing without people to appreciate it, and uDraw gives you the opportunity to share (and thus have other people either appreciate or criticize) your art by saving it and sharing via the SD.

* Pre-loaded Game: this is the drawing game run by uDraw Studio software; and it is the sort of games that both adults and kids would find alluring.

* Drawing-educational illustrations: this is a reference to the uDraw Studio’s capabilities to teach the people who make use of it how to draw (by giving them step-by-step illustrations of how the various drawings are developed, so that those who see the illustrations can be able to produce such masterpieces on their own by hand).

The ‘Michael Jackson the Experience’ game is part of the Nintendo Wii games franchise. It is currently available from Amazon’s popular eStore, for some $36.99 (which is inclusive of shipping). If you are musically inclined (or you have noticed that your kid has a soft spot for music), this is definitely a game you will find to be of great relevance to you. If you are cognizant of the great opportunity for socialization, fitness and even economic earning available to those who have good dancing skills, this is a game you will love (as it has a feature where it can literally teach the player how to dance well).

Briefly, some of the things you will find alluring in the ‘Michael Jackson the Experience’ game include:

* A learning-oriented video training mode: through this, you will get to see step by step illustrations of how to ‘execute’ some of the most famous Michael Jackson moves, like the ‘Moonwalk’ alluded to in our title. And having mastered this, you can go on to show them off as if you picked them up naturally because of your ‘talent!’

* A competition-oriented challenge mode: in this mode, you get to compete at dancing, either on a ‘one-on-one’ basis or a ‘two-by-two’ basis.

* A lyric-display mode: if you have always wanted to master the lyrics in Michael Jackson’s timeless classics, this mode will give you the opportunity to.

* Authenticated choreography: here, you get to see the choreography that went into the creation of Michael Jackson’s popular dances.

* A choice of 26 timeless Michael Jackson hits: 26 is a relatively huge number, which means that this is a game you won’t get bored with easily. Simply put, by the time you are through with the Michael Jackson the experience game, you should have mastered the lyrics to the most popular (26) Michael Jackson’s songs, and the dance moves to go with them.

According to Sony, research that eventually led to the development of the PlayStation Move was initiated at the turn of the century, in the year 2001. It was to be eight years before it could make its debut into the market, with its ‘revelation’ in June of 2009. Upon release, PlayStation Move proved to be a success, with well over one and half million units sold in Europe alone – and that within its first month in the European market.

The Technology Behind the PlayStation Move PS Move

As mentioned earlier, the PlayStation Move is a motion sensor.

Its main functional unit is the ‘wand’ with which it comes (where the name word is deployed in the sense of the ‘wands’ that magicians of the old used to cast spells with). On that PlayStation Move wand are two mechanisms incorporated to make possible the motion sensing.

* The first of those is a micro-camera, which is also available on a stand-alone basis through the device known as the PlayStation Eye.
* The second of those is the a set of inertial sensors.

The combination of those two sensing mechanisms means that if the PlayStation Move were animate, it would be working through both the ‘visual’ and the ‘tactile’ senses.

The moves you make through that Motion controller are conveyed to the PlayStation video game you happen to be partaking of. In a nutshell, then, the PlayStation Move is an input device for the PlayStation 3 Console – it being one of the most advanced video game input devices, which takes in not only ‘inertial input’ but also visual input.

Navigation controller

The PlayStation Move also comes with an accessory known as the PlayStation Move Navigation Controller (which you buy separately). This may not work with all games in the PlayStation 3 Console, but for those it can work with, it greatly enhances the input capabilities of whole PlayStation move system.

Shooting attachment

There is also a gun-like unit for the video games that involve shooting action – that being a unit which is simply referred to as the PlayStation Move’s ‘shooting attachment.’ This increases the realism in video games that involve some degree of shooting action.

Powering the PlayStation Move

Apparently, the PlayStation Move is powered through rechargeable batteries, because the unit comes with a charger (know as the PlayStation Move ‘Charging Station’).

The Cost of the PlayStation Move

At the time of its release, Sony announced that the PlayStation Move would be retailing for $49.99 in the US, with people who feel the need to get the PlayStation Move Navigation controller having to add another $29.99 to get it. Those are prices which have largely held, as at the end of the year 2010. And going by sales figures, it would appear as if most buyers are of the view that these are ‘reasonable’ prices.

As of the end of the year 2010, Kindle 3 stands as the latest version of Amazon’s e-book reading device, the Kindle. The name ‘Kindle 3’ is an allusion to the fact that this is the third generation of Kindles. As such, it is also referred to as ‘Kindle 3g.’ By virtue of its being the third generation Kindle, Kindle 3 (or Kindle 3g) is widely seen as an improvement on the earlier two versions of the device. It has a considerable number of features that were, indeed, lacking in Kindle 2.

The Two Versions of Kindle 3 Readers

As it turns out, Kindle 3 comes in a couple of versions.

* The first of those is referred to as the ‘Kindle Wi-Fi.’
* The second variety is referred to as Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi.

What makes the difference between the Kindle 3 Wi-Fi and Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi is the way the respective devices connect to the Internet (the Internet being where the literature/e-books the kindles are supposed to provide a medium for reading to are held/stored). We are looking at a situation where Kindle 3 Wi-Fi, as its name suggests, only connects to the internet through the high-speed internet connection and wireless router you have in your home (or office). Without the Wi-Fi, you won’t be able to connect to the Internet. The Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi e-book readers needs no connection to connect to the Internet. The in built 3G connectivity allows you to be able to go online to buy and download books. With the 3G, internet connectivity is free because Amazon pays for Kindle’s 3G wireless connectivity.

How Kindle 3 is better than earlier versions of the Kindle

According to a number of review sites, Kindle 3g is better than earlier versions of the Kindle thanks to the facts that:

* It is comes with free Wi-Fi network connectivity.
* It comes with greater software compatibility (with special note being of the ‘Kindle for PC app’) which makes it possible to use the Kindle with operating system platforms such as the Windows 7, as well as the earlier Windows XP and Vista versions. There is also a Kindle for Android app in existence, alongside with compatibilities with the Mackintosh platform.

Market reception of Kindle 3

Amazon, the sellers of the Kindle, say that Kindle 3 is the highest selling version of the Kindle. At the time of this writing, Amazon was calling the Kindle the best selling, the most gifted, and the most wished product on the website.

Now there are many Kindle sleeves on sale, but not all are ideal. An ideal Kindle sleeve would be one that:

* Is made from a tough material: after all, the idea in buying a Kindle Sleeve is to protect your Kindle. If you buy a Kindle sleeve made from too soft a material, this is an objective you may clearly not really achieve.

* Can carry accessories you may need when using your Kindle: you may, for instance, need to have the Kindle’s power cord with you when travelling with the device. An ideal Kindle sleeve would have a side pocket for this.

* Is reasonably good looking: after all, chances are that this is something you will often have to pull out with people around you. You surely don’t want it to be a source of embarrassment – or do you?