We’ve been waiting for it for quite sometime, but now Amazon is finally ready to make its play for the living room. Fire TV is not a barebones device like the Chromecast, it’s a powerful platform with ties to the broader Amazon ecosystem. Inside the slim black plastic box is a quad-core CPU with a full 2GB of RAM — that makes it more akin to a high-end smartphone than your typical streaming device. And its incredibly slim, shorter than a dime and with barely enough clearance for the small selection of ports around back. Developing… Filed under: Home Entertainment , HD , Amazon Comments

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Amazon announces Fire TV streaming set top box

American 3D printer manufacturers have stolen a lead on the competition, but a Japan-based alliance is looking to fight back… it’ll take a year or two, is all. The group includes universities, 27 companies including the likes of Panasonic, Nissan and Kawasaki, as well as the Japanese government. Rather than cheerfully-colored figurines and trinkets, the group plans to use titanium-based materials to craft complicated components like airplane parts and artificial joints for medical use. For the government’s part, it’s promising 3.8 billion yen ($36.5 million) this year, with each member organization adding another 500, 000 yen per year to the research group. According to the Nikkei, work will focus on advanced tech that will allow 3D-printed components through (awesome-sounding) “molten metal powders.” The aim is to have prototype machines by 2015, with some 3D printers ready for sale as commercial products. Final finished machines for making medical equipment and aircraft manufacturers will apparently take another four years to perfect. Filed under: Misc , Science Comments Source: Nikkei

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Japan looks to next-gen 3D printers for a return to manufacturing success

You’re not the only one who’s ever bought silly things from Amazon while drunk. Good thing Amazon has several return methods, the newest of which lets you send back that banana slicer through the company’s strategically placed delivery lockers . According to The Wall Street Journal , the e-commerce giant will now let you return duds that way, so long as you get a drop-off code from its Online Returns Center first. You’ll need that code to open a cabinet on the locker, where you can stick in a box (up to12x12x12 inches in size) that holds and conceals your embarrassing purchase. The WSJ says this move could save Amazon some serious cash, as up to a third of online purchases are usually returned and shipping’s one of the company’s biggest expenses. After all, carriers can retrieve items and deliver new orders at the same time whenever they visit a location. Unfortunately for customers, Amazon charges the same amount for locker returns as it does for UPS drop offs. We imagine it’s still a welcome development for folks who live or work near one of those lockers, though — whatever makes it more convenient to send back that Borat mankini , right? Filed under: Misc , Amazon Comments Via: Wall Street Journal Source: Amazon

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Amazon delivery lockers now also accept returns

Samsung has just taken a big step in its home automation plans by launching its Smart Home service in the US and Korea. That means you can now download an Android app that, in conjunction with Samsung’s cloud service, will give you control over certain (crazy expensive) Samsung smart appliances. In the US, those include Samsung’s T9000 Smart French Door refrigerator , the WF457 smart front loading washing machine , all 2014 Smart TVs and, later in the year, the Smart Bulb , Gear Fit and Smart Ovens. On top of an app for any Android 4.0 or later device, a Tizen app will soon arrive to Samsung’s Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch, as well. Once all that’s installed and connected, you’ll be able to fully control a wash cycle, check the temperature of the fridge or even say “good night” to the TV remote to shut down all connected devices. Samsung has promised that all of this is encrypted and secure, so let’s hope that’s the case — all this is just the beginning of its “grand plan” to enhance your home. Filed under: Household , Peripherals , Software , Samsung Comments Source: Samsung

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Samsung’s Smart Home service ready to control new wave of TVs and appliances