Gadgetory

Apple won't let Microsoft enjoy its surface moment I'm Bridget Carey and this is your cnet update Microsoft has finally announced the price of surface its first tablet computer and the starting price is the same as the iPad at five hundred dollars but it has double the storage with 32 gigs and a built-in kickstand as well as Microsoft Office the surface now can be pre-ordered you'll be seeing commercials for this now but that colorful snap on keyboard cover which makes it so unique well that will cost you a hundred dollars extra so really the starting price is like six hundred dollars but it's still cheaper than buying a 32 gig ipad with all those accessories and you should know that the touch cover keyboard doesn't have buttons if you want something more tactile that feels like typing that will cost 130 dollars all these goodies come out on October 26 the same day Windows 8 is released and one hour after the surface prices were announced and it went on sale Apple just steals the media thunder and sends out a notice that the ipad mini will be announced next week on tuesday october 23rd so it's official iPad Mini is coming tis the season for tablet throwdowns Facebook has added a list of emoticons that can go way beyond the usual smiley faces you can have a Chuck Norris head a robot or nyan cat yeah these more complex ones are only for chat or private messages but you can also use some fun ones in comments like a shark or penguin you can find the full list on our story at Cena if you like your phone screens big then get excited for the galaxy note 2 this 5.5 inch screen android is coming to sprint on october 25th and it will have new features for the s-pen stylus be sure to take a look at the updated foursquare com the site is now more of a social search tool that anyone can use to find recommended places nearby so basically it's less about earning points and becoming mayor and more about being a useful tool like Yelp get ready for a whole new take on DVRs with the new boxee TV there's no storage in this box it saves all your recordings in the cloud and there's no limit to how much you can record it costs $99 but you also need to pay a fifteen dollar a month subscription for the service if you're looking to cut the cost of cable this could be a dream come true it has its own antenna for recording over-the-air TV and it can pick up some basic cable you can record two shows at once and shows can also be watched on the boxee website this new system launches november first starting with eight markets it will be interesting to see how well it works with a typical broadband connection after all that's a lot of data being transferred that's your tech news update for today you can find links to all of today's stories on the blog sina / update from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey