Steve Ballmer is the last person you’d expect to big up Apple.

But the main man at Microsoft has been quoted as saying Apple isn’t that bad after.

In a speech given at The University of Washington, Ballmer is believed to have said, “Apple’s done a very nice job that allows people to monetise and commercialise their intellectual property."

Sounds vanilla, right? Well, no.

This follows a spate of rumours which suggest Apple is planning to jettison Google mobile search from the iPhone and replace it with Microsoft’s Bing instead. 

In that context, Ballmer’s comments can be seen as a swipe at Google, a company both Microsoft and Apple have similar reasons to fear.

Google is growing at an unprecedented rate and surely a tie up between these most unlikely of allies would see Schmidt and pals put in their place.

Bing on iPhone isn’t as far fetched as it sounds.

There are now more than 27,000 books available as apps according to mobile ad company Mobclix.

This compares to 25,400 games published in the last year, followed by entertainment, education and then travel apps.

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And in the last month, the trend is accelerating with the number of book apps outpacing new games apps by two to one.

The latest news follows figures that showed ebooks outsold paper books for the first time last Christmas.

The proliferation of ebooks apps can only be seen as a good sign for the slew of tablets that will be heading our way this year.

The Samsung E6 eReader caused no end of squabbling among the assembled hacks at CES, as the great and good of the tech world tried to get a close up look of this slider-style eReader.

And US punters will be cock-a-hoop to hear that this ace looking eReader is due to land in ‘spring’ according to Sammy’s US arm. That’s better than the ‘2010’ plans we caught wind of before. And what’s more it’s slashed the price to $299 (£200), down from the original $399 (£267) it quoted back in January.

The e-reader, which is the spit of some of Samsung’s basic slider phones, is due to go on sale at US book store Barnes and Noble, while Google Books is also tied into the new bookworm-based gadget.

Samsung is yet to confirm plans for the 10-inch E10, or when the UK will get a taste of this Kindle killer. Stay tuned for news as we get it.

Samsung via Engadget 

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Nicola Brittain, Computing, Tuesday 9 March 2010 at 16:34:00

But the company and union will have further talks at the end of the week

Some 200 HP employees and members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union have gone on strike for a second day today.

The strikers, who are based in the north and work for the Department of Work and Pensions, picketed their working colleagues throughout the day, according to national officer at the PCS, Jim Hanson.

“We were worried that some members would think that the two day strike was too long and that there would be a lower turnout, but we have been pleasantly surprised at the support,” said Hanson.

The union will decide on their next move following talks with the company due to take place at the end of the week.

HP issued the following statement: “We are disappointed to confirm that a number of employees have voted in favour of local industrial action on Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th March. An agreement was reached with the PCS’s negotiating team, brokered through ACAS on 22nd February, but this was subsequently rejected by the union’s membership.”

“In co-operation with our client(s) we have put together a plan to mitigate the impact of the two day action. We will continue to maintain a dialogue with the union in an attempt to avoid any further form of action.”

MSI isn’t shy about unleashing new slimmed down PCs and the latest one, the X360 has just landed. Packing in the usual top end specs expected from MSI’s high end efforts, it really does look the part.

Using the Intel Core i5 processor, the MSI X-slim X360 is being billed as a long life leader, with a stonking nine hours promised by the manufacturer’s top brass. For that you’ll need to ensure you have the design-destroying 8-cell battery clamped in though.

On top of that you get an HD Ready panel for peeping your clips in luscious hi-def, not to mention a hefty 500GB HDD and 4GB of RAM to keep things buzzing along at a decent pace.

Slashgear is also reporting that there’ll be a card reader and 1.3MP camera built in too. All par for the course, but the design does really set it apart. The only issue? MSI hasn’t said how much the X-slim X360 will cost. Expect a hefty price tag with specs like these.

Hot on the heels of Sony’s 3D TV launch in Tokyo, Samsung today set out their stall for the global roll out of seventeen new 3D products, covering 3D LCD, 3D LED and 3D plasma and 3D blu-ray player at New York’s Time Warner building and Shrek, Donkey and the Black Eyed Peas look set to have a starring role.

Surrounded by a sea of 3D screens, Samsung’s President of Visual Display Boo Keun Yoon and US President, Consumer Electronics, Tim Baxter unveiled plans for their worldwide campaign to convinve us to get 3D into our front rooms.

The first 3D models are officially available worldwide today but sadly those in the UK, hungry to be first to experience home 3D cinema, will have to wait a little longer than with the first available sets likely to hit UK stores toward the end of April.

According to pcmag.com a 46" flagship 9000 Series will set you back a tidy $5,999 in the US, while the most affordable 3D-ready HD TV in the range looks likely to come in at $1,699. We’re still waiting on UK pricing but this could mean a lot of the price tags are not too out of touch with some of Samsung’s 2009 HD TVs. 

In a bid to clear up some of the questions around the supply of specs, Samsung also revealed plans to bundle 3D glasses and content together in a 3D starter kit they are calling the ‘grab and go soluition’.

The first package, which will ship with any 3D TV or 3D blu-ray purchase, comes with Monsters vs Aliens which was unveiled as an exlcusive 3D deal between Samsung and Dreamworks at CES.

Taking that relationship further still, Dreamworks is also teaming up with Samsung to exclusively deliver the Shrek in full 3D. We got a sneak preview of the green ogre, Donkey and co in action and have to say this is a film where 3D could really flex its muscles. Exactly the kind of content that will drive the family vote.

Speaking at the launch, Dreamworks Jeffrey Katzenerg said: "3D is the entertainment revolution of our time"

Samsung also gave some pointers as to how they plan to educate potential 3D buyers Stateside, with in store demos, 3D Imax adverts and TV ads created by the brains and camera technology behind Avatar. We’d expect to see a similar approach in the UK which should mean you’ll be able to experience 3D TVs somewhere near you sooner rather than later.

"This year Samsung want to take LED into a new dimension," said Boo Keun Yoon. Settingt their stall out right behind 3D Tim Baxter added, "The goal is to continually redefine entertainment and to enable the seamless convergence of devices – 3D will help make that happen."

Valve Software is getting into Macs. And that doesn’t mean it’s kitting out its offices with iMacs. The gaming giant has today confirmed it’s bringing its Steam platform to Apple machines, and with it a slew of amazing games that will at last put Macs up with PCs in the gaming-stakes.

MacRumors reports that the Steam distribution platform will rock up on Mac OS X Snow Leopard from April, bringing with it some of the very best titles available for proper computers.

Games up for grabs will include Left4Dead 2, Counter-strike and Half Life. And as if that wasn’t enough, Valve has also rubber-stamped plans to out Portal 2 for Mac and PC at the same time.

The move means that Macs can at last begin to be taken as seriously as PCs when it comes to gaming. While the Steam platform is made by Valve, other developers are also likely to get involved, doubtless making Steve Jobs a very happy bunny indeed.

Link: Via Mac Rumours

The video below first appeared on androidmobileos.com, and is just a tantalising 42 seconds long.

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But from even this briefest of peaks we can see Supersonic has a camera with a dual flash and speaker.

We also know from other sources that it will have a 4.3 inch display, run on Android 2.1 and will have be run on WiMax/4G.

Enjoy the tease below  – and let us know what you think.