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A Star Trek: Into Darkness-themed press event reveals the latest Acer mobile devices-- the Aspire P3 ultrabook, the Iconia A1 7.9-inch tablet and the Aspire R7, a Windows 8 laptop/all-in-one desktop combo with an unusual floating hinge.

"With the Aspire R7, Acer has redesigned the laptop with an approach that's based on how people interact with their notebooks and other devices," the company claims, even if the hinge in question somewhat reminds us of 2007's short-lived HP HDX laptop.

Dubbed in promotional materials as an "Ezel," it allows users to move and reposition the R7's 15.6-inch touchscreen as required, from traditional laptop to a tablet-style quasi-flat (awkwardly enough the hinge does not lay the screen completely flat) layout.

Italian wearable maker I'm presents what it claims is "the first luxury smartwatch" at Baselworld 2013-- the I'm Watch Jewel Collection, the so-described "evolution 2.0" of the smartwatch.

While functionally identical to previous I'm Watch varieties ("Colour" and "Tech") the Jewel lineup is Italian-crafted in high-quality materials, namely silver, gold and unspecified kinds of, well, jewel.

"We always believed that this item would be an absolute revolution and represent the future of mobile technology and watchmaking evolution," the company says. "And we also believed that these 3 lines would identify, create, and match three different targets.

Regardless of collection, the smartwatch carries a 1.5-inch 240x240 touchscreen, 64MB RAM, 4GB storage and a custom Android version (I'm Droid 2) as OS. It tethers to smartphones via Bluetooth and allows one to check calls, SMS, emails, notifications, music and other apps from the relative comfort of their wrists.

Go I'm Watch Jewel Collection

Go I'm Calling From My Wrist

Samsung follows the likes of Apple and Google in the US as it makes further steps into retail-- it starts opening "Samsung Experience Shop" mini stores inside much larger Best Buy locations.

The store rollout kicked off on 27 April 2013 (the US Galaxy S4 launch date, non-coincidentally) at the New York Union Square Best Buy, a grand opening complete with CEO appearances (Samsung's JK Shin and Best Buy's Hubert Joly) and Bruno Mars performance.

Like the mini Apple Stores found at several Best Buy locations, Samsung-trained employees man the store-within-stores where customers can purchase, activate and learn how to use Samsung devices without leaving the Experience Shop.

The company hopes to open 1400 stores at Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile locations by early Summer 2013, but has no word whether it will offer the concept in Europe-- which wouldn't take place at Best Buy, if for a rather obvious reason.

Go Samsung Experience Shop

The global tablet market remains strong IDC reports-- Q1 2013 shipments grow by 142.4% Y-o-Y to 49.2 million units, with demand for smaller screen devices fueling shipments.

Apple outperforms earlier IDC projections for the quarter, managing to beat seasonal Q1 shipment drop off (following strong Q4 sales) with shipments reaching 19.5m units compared to a forecast of 18.7m.

"Sustained demand for the iPad mini and increasingly strong commercial shipments led to a better-than expected Q1 2012 for Apple," IDC says. "In addition, by moving the iPad launch to Q4 2012 Apple seems to have avoided the typical Q1 slowdown that traditionally occurred when consumers held off buying in January and February in anticipation of a new product launch in March."