CoolNote 1.5 has been released with lots of sparkling goodies just in time for Christmas. It was always capable of downloading extra content in the form of backgrounds and fonts, so appropriately enough this new version sees a whole bunch of new Christmas-themed backgrounds with everything from snowmen, santas and presents right through to the Christmas bunny. There are lots of other improvements too, most of which revolve around polishing the look and feel whilst retaining the smooth interface CoolNote has become known for. There's also a nice price drop to 0.99p/~$1.50 for the rest of the year. But back to those Christmas notes - they in fact serve a dual purpose, since they can not only be used as cool Christmas to-dos (e.g. present lists) on your home screen, but the rich notes are now sent as an image with the text when the note is shared via email to any non-CoolNote using buddies - yes it really is a poor mans Christmas card solution :-)

Arriving in good time for the Christmas festivities is an update to DrinkMinder for Android - and this time things get social. Yes, you can now set up a Twitter account and automatically tweet each drink so that even those without DrinkMinder can now keep an eye on things ;-) The full DrinkMinder write up is here, but there are some other minor improvements relating to usability, performance and compatibility. DrinkMinder is a FREE Android app which will keep you informed with its instant unit/calorie reckoner or its drink session recorder, where with a carefully designed 1-tap drink logger you can track your sessions over time. Get it from the Android Market now!

The Android reader wars are here in earnest now - Barnes & Noble just released their Amazon Fire rival with what's claimed a better spec in the battery and screen resolution department. Offering free WiFi at all its stores, the tablet will be widely available at the end of November 2011at a cost of $249. The spec compares well to the Kindle Fire with a 7-inch tablet, a 1024x600 pixel touch screen, 1G RAM an a Dual core 1Ghz OMAP4 CPU. This move is the next logical one for B&N who announced in the summer that the were selleing 3 times as many digital books through its websites as physical ones, and so pretty much had to do this to stand a chance of competing with Amazon, Apple etc.

A TV Remote with a TV screen which runs Android Apps? Where do I sign up! Motorola turn up their boundary-pushing machine to the max as the distinction between a tablet, a TV remote and a media player gets totally blurred with the announcement of the Corvair. Said to be a dedicated TV remote running Android Gingerbread (2.3), it has a 6-inch touchscreen, WiFi, Infra-red and even a ZigBee variant known as RF4CE for all those home automation goodies. You can only wonder how well this works with Google TV from, err, Motorola since Google's buyout seems all over bar the shouting. Now all it needs is a dedicated app to stop any particular family member hogging it...

To mark the launch of its Android-based VX-100 EPOS system, Casio is inviting developers to find out more about the device in exchange for prizes and the chance of having their app feature on the device.

The VX-100 is a compact EPOS terminal equipped with a colour main display with full-touch screen operation, a sub-display that is great for showing information to customers, and a built-in thermal printer to generate receipts. The VX-100 is designed for use in SME retail stores, and works as both a standalone system or as part of a networked system. Casio has provided a software development kit that supports the VX-100 hardware.

CoolNote just got a huge update - you spoke, we listened! The focus is on great looks, power and simplicity. New features include the widgets now being optional, the notes now having two sides (text and check item), the abiity to set a notes background color from an infinite pallette, a new "micro" note size and the ability to password protect the whole app. Check out the video below, take a trip to the CoolNote website or get the Free or Paid versions from the Android Market.

Christmas - and a huge tasty treat for Android fans - is about to come early. As its followers are well aware, the tradition is to quiety (ha!) erect a statue on a lawn outside the Google HQ in the style of the Android sweet-flavoured codename given to an imminent new release. It's no secret this next one is Ice Cream Sandwich, and so here he is - joining his Froyo, Gingerbread etc buddies right on cue. It's expected this is the Android 4.0 release, since this is the one which unifies the smartphone and tablet lines, although that's not certain, nor is the actual date of the Google announcement. Samsung are also to announce a handset running it - this is the one delayed by the death of Steve Jobs - and the vibe for the most likely date is now Oct 19th in Hong Kong.

This years hottest Android event in the UK takes place in London on October 6 & 7 - Droidcon UK, and we've teamed up to give attendees a special discount offer of 25% off the regular attendance fee by using the code OTAMATE-DROID-150 when registering here. Droidcon is Europe's largest conference that exclusively covers Android development and applications. This year, over 500 Android enthusiasts will rub shoulders with many of the world's foremost Android experts to dig into every aspect of Android and its ever-growing ecosystem. The themes this time around are Android for Developers, in the Enterprise, Gaming, and Design. 

Panasonic has added the Toughbook to the vast range of Android tablets on the market now, with the clue in its name that this one's different due to its rugged build and security system. Unveiled  at the Defence Security and Equipment International (DSEi) at Londons Docklands, the Toughbook features a stylus with a 10.1-inch XVGA (1280x1024 pixel) antiglare touchscreen display with 5:4 aspect ratio – figures that will definitely offer high brightness and greater viewable angles even under direct sunlight. The tablet has deep rooted security measures embedded at hardware level. Other features include satellite-based GPS, full-shift battery life, professional-grade accessories and optional in-built 3G mobile broadband connectivity.

Sharp has announced the Aquos SH8298U handset to rival LG's latest 3D model. It runs Android 2.3.4, has a 4.2-inch screen and the 3D effect doesn't need special glasses. There's 512Mb RAM with 2Gb internal and it's powered by a 1.4Ghz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU - with the graphics being handled by a Adreno 205 GPU. To record 3D video, dual 8 Megapixel cameras are on the back with a single LED flash. This one looks hot - but unfortunately it's only available in Sharps homeland of Japan at the moment, on the SoftBank network. Expect further news on this when it's rolled out to other countries soon...

Jelly Bean - yeah, sort of rolls off the tongue doesn't it? Continuing the sweet/dessert themed alphabetic sequence for Android the boffins have though long and hard about one which began with "J", following the "I" of Ice Cream Sandwich and, as is reported to have been leaked by a trusted source, it's to be called Jelly Bean. Also, some of the "game changing stuff" originally planned for Ice Cream Sandwich has been moved back into this version, although as intriguing as this sounds there's absolutely no information on what that could be. It's not official yet - we need to see a giant one on Googles lawn first - but it seems a great fit. Time to think about "k"?

Echostar has announced the launch of the HDX-200, an IP set-top box to enable operators to use IP to extend services further inside the home network and to access a universally accepted platform for delivering high value applications and services. Amongst many software options, the HDX-200 supports the Android(TM) operating system (OS) and also ships with secure processor technology ensuring that content and services can be delivered securely. The unit provides the interface between the Internet or IP network and a consumer's TV screen and as such will appeal to over-the-top (OTT) entertainment providers, digital TV operators - who wish to deploy hybrid IP solutions - and telco, broadband or IPTV operators.

Several reports are coming in regarding the projected total Android App downloads for 2011 to be 8.1 billion, and that's news because it's higher than the 6 billion for the iPhone. Last year, Apple had the lead with 2.7 billion download where Android trailed at 1.4 billion. Analyst Ovum has announced these figures, but also gave the warning that things in the revenue department were not about to change: "Although Android phones will lead on total download numbers, iPhone will continue to dominate the market in terms of revenues from paid-for apps, reaching $2.86 billion in 2016, compared to $1.5 billion for Android.” Note the wording carefully - paid for apps. Google is at heart an advertising company, so their goal is to increase the surface area on which their ads are shown. Are things slowly but surely tilting towards the free ad-supported app model?