Sony's Xperia Z smartphone is now available for pre-order ahead of its UK new release date on February 28th

Pre-orders for Sony's new Xperia Z smartphone are now open, with mobile networks leading the charge offering delivery of Sony's new smartphone on February 28th. This is one day earlier than the scheduled release date for the device offered by retail sites such as Amazon.co.uk.

Sony is offering a free pair of MRD-1R headphones worth £299 to customers who pre-order the Xperia Z. Mobile networks have started posting up tarrifs and with Three network offering the handset with an entry purchase of £69 and contracts starting at £34 per month.

The water-resistant Xperia Z has a 5-inch screen and a 13MP camera on the rear (with 1080p video) and a 2MP camera on the front (with 720p video). The phone also boasts a quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.5GHz, 2GB of RAM and runs on Android Jelly Bean OS.

I don’t know a single small business owner not actively looking for ways to get more from their SEO. We want trusted information focused on the areas we’re not always too sure about like… search ads. Or how to decipher Google Analytics. Let’s face it, as SMBs we’re pretty swamped. We don’t always have the time or resources to learn about everything. Instead, we want to know what we need to know and we only want to take in information we can trust. And that’s exactly why SMBs may be interested in checking out the Learn with Google Webinars happening all this month.

Yesterday morning Google announced its new Learn with Google Webinar program which is designed to share best practices across a variety of topics like paid search, mobile ads, display ads, YouTube and Google Analytics. Eight webinars were formally announced, all taking place during the month of March.

What topics can you expect tips on from Google?

    March 13 at 10am PDT: 5 Tips to Start Marketing your Business with Video
    March 14 at 10am PDT: Introduction to the Google Display Network
    March 15 at 10am PDT: GoMo: Mobilize your Site and Maximize your Advertising
    March 20 at 10am PDT: Understanding Mobile Ads Across Marketing Objectives
    March 21 at 10am PDT: Reaching Your Goals with Google Analytics
    March 22 at 10am PDT: GoMo for Publishers
    March 27 at 10am PDT: Manage Large AdWords Campaigns with Less Effort
    March 28 at 10am PDT: 3 Tips to Get More out of your Video Advertising Campaigns

Video.
Search ads.
Google Analytics.
Mobile.
More advertising.

Yup, looks like all of the core areas that Google has been stressing that SMBs get more involved with in order to help grow their online presence. If you’re a small business owner just starting to get your feet wet (or finally not ignoring) any of these important areas, you may want to sit in on these free webinars and get some best practice advice from Google.

Also worth noting is Google’s new webinar page which not only lets you register for the webinars listed above, but let’s you access previous webinars that you probably didn’t even know existed. Many of these Google webinars are targeted toward setting up and smartly using Google Analytics, which is pretty vital. If you’re feeling 100 percent comfortable in this area, you’ll definitely want to check these out.

To make things even simpler, Google is allowing SMBs to download it’s Learn with Google Webinar calendar to be automatically notified of upcoming webinars via Google Calendar. Wasn’t that nice of them? ;)

I think it’s really great for Google to these types of resources for small business owners to take advantage of. You’ll almost always want to go beyond what Google is telling you and experiment on your own, but if you don’t even know where to start or how to get going (and many of us don’t) these types of programs are just the jump start we need.

By Lisa Barone (smallbiztrends) "ThankS"

Sony has introduced a new 10.1-inch Android tablet to compete with the iPad and Nexus 10, Engadget reports. Dubbed the Xperia Tablet Z, it falls alongside the company's new flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z, which was announced earlier this month at CES. Like its smartphone sibling, the Xperia Tablet Z features a thin and sleek design, measuring at just 6.9mm thick, besting the iPad mini and making it the thinnest tablet available. It sports Qualcomm's 1.5GHz quad-core APQ8064 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of local storage, NFC capability, and a 1920x1200 display. While the display doesn't quite match the pixel density of the iPad (264ppi) or Nexus 10 (300ppi), it offers a respectable 224ppi.

While the Xperia Tablet Z won't feature the 13-megapixel, HDR video-enabled camera found in the Xperia Z, it will have an 8.1-megapixel Exmor R camera. It will also share the Xperia Z's waterproof casing, though the company hasn't explained to what degree. In terms of connectivity, Sony has announced that it will support Wi-Fi and LTE, though carrier partners have yet to be revealed. It will ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and come in either white or black.

Sony has yet to discuss pricing or release information Soon.