HP Leaps ahead

HP has collaborated with Leap Motion to being Leap's 3D motion control to HP workstations.

Initially HP will bundle Leap Motion's Controller with their workstations and in future embed the controller hardware and software within the workstations.

Leap Motion have just announced the availability of their Software Development Kit (SDK) which will allow 3rd parties to add motion control to their applications.

Initially motion control will used to control the operating system itself, though apps will be available through Leap Motion's Airspace app store.

The stand-alone Leap Motion controller (which is attached to a PC/Mac through USB) is available for pre-order from Leap Motion for $79.99 (plus shipping).

Amazon Kindle becomes a tablet

Amazon have released an SDK for the Kindle range of eBooks allowing and an app store (with the same 70:30 split that Apple offer to developers through its app store).

Apps that use less than 100KB of data will be offered as a 'one off' purchase, if the app uses more than 100KB then there's a monthly rental. If an app is less than 1MB in size it can be offered for free.

This is a recent Kindle development and is seen as a way to protect themselves against Apple's forthcoming tablet as Apple are rumoured to be negotiating content deals that will mean Apple's device will be an eBook as well as offering iPhone features.

Though specifications of Apple's tablet have not been made public, it's suspected it will use an ARM core (like the iPhone) and be based on iPhone OS v4. At least a version will have 3G connectivity. This will mean iPhone apps written for the iPhone itself will run natively on the tablet. The tablet will therefore appeal to computer users who want to run basic apps on the device and the eBook community who gain an eBook with processing capabilities.

It's likely they'll be another slew of announcements from the new eBook entrants such as Plastic Logic, Barnes and Noble etc about their new app stores and SDKs.