Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Intel targets Bay Trail '2 in 1' tablet / laptops for the holidays starting at $399

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/04/intel-targets-bay-trail-2-in-1-tablets-for-the-holidays-starti/

Intel is in the middle of its Computex 2013 presentation, and it's already putting a target price for some of those tablet / laptops we're expecting around the holidays: $399. While more premium experiences will be powered by Intel's fourth generation Core "Haswell" CPU, the quad-core Atom "Bay Trail" are going in cheaper ultrathin and light notebooks with touchscreens with 2 in 1 editions swinging the keyboard out of the way for use as tablets. That puts them slightly above the $200 floor predicted by Intel execs for basic touchscreen laptops, we'll see if any of the numerous OEMs on stage can bring out convertible devices worth the extra cash this holiday season.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Intel

Source: Intel (Twitter)

Intel teases fanless Haswell Core processor tablet at Computex

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/04/intel-teases-fanless-core-processor-tablet-at-computex/

It was barely a glimpse, but Intel's pushing the physical limits of its 4th generation Haswell processors. Here on stage, at Computex, we saw one very slender (and as-yet unnamed) tablet that packs the aforementioned processors without the need for fans for cooling. Sure, we've seen fanless Windows 8 tablets with Clover Trail-based hardware, but never with the potency of Intel's Core processor series. Alas, slimline profile (and hybrid skills) aside, that's all we can say for the moment. We'll update if we glean any more details from Intel.

Filed under: Tablets, Intel

Intel announces Creative Senz3D Peripheral Camera at Computex 2013

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/04/intel-announces-creative-depth-vision-camera-at-computex-2013/

Intel's just announced the Creative Senz3D Peripheral Camera at the company's Computex keynote in Taipei. The camera lets users manipulate objects on the screen using gestures and is able to completely eliminate the background. It appears to be an evolution of the Creative Interactive Gesture Camera we recently played with at IDF in Beijing. This new 3D depth camera is expected to become available next quarter and Intel plans to incorporate the technology into devices during the second half of 2014. "It's like adding two eyes to my system," said Tom Kilroy, VP of marketing. The company's been talking about "perceptual computing" for some time and this certainly brings the idea one step closer to fruition.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Mobile, Intel

Sandisk introduces Extreme II SSD, boasts 19nm tech and faster speeds

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/04/sandisk-extreme-ii-ssd/

We haven't heard a peep about Sandisk's solid state drives since CES, so we perked our ears when the flash maker announced a new consumer SSD today. It's called the Extreme II, a SATA III SSD the company claims is fast and responsive enough to please gamers or just anyone hungering for a performance boost. Built with 19nm process and nCache technology, the Extreme II promises quicker boot-ups and faster runtimes. The hardware boasts up to 550MB/sec sequential read and 510MB/sec sequential write speeds, and up to 95,000 random read Input/Output Operations per Second (IOPS) and 78,000 random write IOPS. You can snag one now in 120GB, 240GB and 480GB capacities for $129.99, $229.99 and $439.99 each. Or you can save some cash and get something a little more budget-minded.

Filed under: Storage

Dell unveils Haswell-powered laptops and desktops for professionals (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/04/dell-enterprise-haswell-revamp/

Between Computex and the launch of Intel's ~~fourth generation Core~~ Haswell processors, June's shaping up to be a big month for the PC industry. Fresh from letting us play with its new folding hybrid, Dell is whipping out new OptiPlex 9020 and XE2 desktops, an OptiPlex All-In-One and the Latitude E6540 business laptop. Given that they're Dell machines, customization options will be limitless when they arrive in the forthcoming weeks, backed by all of those enterprise-friendly vPro, WYSE and Cloud management services that Dell's attempting to become famous for.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Via: Electronista

Source: Dell

Monday, June 03, 2013

Gigabyte shows four prototype BRIX mini PCs, including models with projectors and wireless charging

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/03/gigabyte-shows-four-prototype-brix-mini-pcs/

Gigabyte said that we'd have at least a few BRIX mini PCs to choose from. At Computex, however, it's showing four new prototypes that could lead to a much larger catalog. Two of them are run-of-the-mill designs with AMD Kabini and Intel Haswell processors -- nice enough, but more evolution than revolution. The other two are decidedly more exotic, though. One includes a wireless charging pad to charge a smartphone in a pinch, while the other carries a pico projector for on-the-spot presentations. Although Gigabyte hasn't mentioned whether or not these BRIX models will reach production, we'd wager that the conservative systems are more likely to reach our desks.

Filed under: Desktops, AMD, Intel

Source: Engadget Chinese (translated)

Cameras in the Future Might Not Need Lenses

Source: http://gizmodo.com/cameras-in-the-future-might-not-need-lenses-511037818

Cameras in the Future Might Not Need Lenses

Every camera you've ever used in your life has a lens that focuses incoming photons on to a light-sensitive surface. But in the future, cameras might not need lenses at all, and this Bell Labs prototype illustrates how this could be done for cheap.

Technology Review reports the Bell Labs concept, which relies on a method for assembling images called comprehensive sensing (or comprehensive imaging). The basic principle states that any data set with lots of similar measurements will contain a lot of overlapping—and therefore redundant—information. In theory, then, if you take better measurements, you can get substantively similar results more efficiently.

The prototype design consists of two different parts: An aperture assembly and an image sensor. The aperture assembly is an LCD, which allows light to pass through at points of variable size and position. The sensor, in this case, is a single-pixel, three-color chip.

To take a photo, the camera records the light that passes through a random sampling of points on the aperture assembly, and uses processing to find the correlation between the different data, after which, it can reassemble the image.

While this whole process takes a bit longer than we're used to by today's photographic standards—it needs to do the equivalent of thousands of shutter movements instead of a single shutter—it's unbelievably efficient when it comes to materials and components. Indeed, the Bell Labs prototype was assembled using off-the-shelf materials.

Imagine a camera without optics and hardly any pixels on the sensor. It could be incredibly cheap. The main problem will be getting the image quality and performance of such a camera up to snuff, which is all too far off. [arxiv.org via Technology Review]

E Ink launches Mobius flexible display for your next smartwatch

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/03/e-ink-launches-mobius-flexible-display-for-your-next-smartwatch/

Although smartwatch makers have had access to e-paper for a while, there have been few such displays tailor-made for our wrists. E Ink is more than willing to fill that void with a new, watch-oriented version of its Mobius screen. The flexible, 1.73-inch panel won't floor anyone with its 320 x 240 grayscale picture, but it can be cut into timepiece-friendly shapes that take more abuse than a typical e-reader. More importantly for us end users, E Ink already has at least one hardware partner lined up: Sonostar is using the tiny Mobius for a smartwatch this summer, and the odds are that the company won't be alone.

Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables

Source: Sonostar, E Ink

Toshiba intros three Android tablets, two with Tegra 4 and a 2,560 x 1,600 screen

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/03/toshiba-excite-pure-excite-pro-excite-write/

Could three times be a charm for Toshiba? After striking out with its "Thrive" Android tablets and then coming up a bit short with the "Excite" line, the company is completely scrapping its tablet lineup and replacing it with three new models. These include the Excite Pure, Excite Pro and Excite Write, and while they share the same plastic design, 10-inch form factor, ports and Android 4.2 OS, they each offer something a little different on the inside. Starting with the Pure, it's a $300 tablet running with last year's specs -- namely, a Tegra 3 SoC, a 1,280 x 800 screen with Gorilla Glass 1 and no rear camera whatsoever. Storage is capped at 16GB, but since all of these have a microSD slot, 16GB or 32GB isn't really a hard limit. Moving up the line, the Excite Pro steps up to a Tegra 4 chip, 32GB of storage, an 8MP rear camera, Harman Kardon sound and a 2,560 x 1,600, 300-ppi Gorilla Glass 2 screen to match the Nexus 10.

As you can see in the shot above, it was meant to be used with an optional keyboard case, though you can technically use that dock with any of these tablets, since they all share the same hardware. That will arrive in early July for $500, putting it in line with the iPad and other premium tablets like the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity. Finally, the Excite Write is exactly what it sounds like: a tablet with pen support. Specifically, it has a Wacom digitizer with support for 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity. Accordingly, Toshiba is also pre-loading its own TruNote and TruCapture apps to assist with note-taking. That digitizer aside, the Write shares all the same specs as the Excite Pro: Tegra 4, 32GB of storage, an 8-megapixel camera and a 10.1-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 display. This, too, will be available next month, with an MSRP of $600. In the meantime, check out our hands-on photos after the break.

Filed under: Tablets

Toshiba outs the PX35t all-in-one with a mouse little enough for women to use

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/03/toshiba-px35t-all-in-one/

In addition to announcing some new laptops for back-to-school season, Toshiba took the opportunity to refresh its lone all-in-one desktop. This new model, the PX35t, comes with a new look, borrowing some design cues from the televisions Toshiba introduced back at CES. Really, it's that aluminum, U-shaped chin that keeps it looking sort of TV-like, though the new pedestal stand helps too. Inside, it will be offered with Haswell Core i3, Core i5 and i7 CPUs. At the high end (somewhere in the $1,300 range) you can trick it out with up to 1TB of HDD storage, 16GB of RAM and a Blu-ray drive. A Toshiba rep also told us it will also be available with optional discrete graphics -- specifically, the NVIDIA GeForce 740M.

Either way, you get a 23-inch 1080p touchscreen (no IPS), four Harman Kardon speakers and a mix of Sleep-and-Charge and Sleep-and-Music ports. Interestingly, Toshiba says the target market for its all-in-ones skews more female, so it deliberately tailored the mouse for smaller hands (Ed. note: fits like a glove.) The keyboard, however, is cushy enough that even men should be able to use it comfortably. Look for the whole package to ship this month, starting at $1,030.

Gallery: Toshiba PX35t all-in-one

Gallery: Toshiba PX35t

Filed under: Desktops

Broadcom intros a trio of 802.11ac WiFi chips for PCs and set-top boxes

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/03/broadcom-intros-a-trio-of-802-11ac-wifi-chips/

Broadcom has focused most of its 802.11ac WiFi efforts this year on high- and low-end mobile chips. Today, it's swinging that attention back to bigger machinery like PCs and set-top boxes. The company's new BCM4350, BCM43556 and BCM43558 all carry more robust, 2 X 2 MIMO antennas that help them hit 866Mbps speeds and optimize traffic through beamforming. Any differences, Broadcom notes, revolve around everything but the WiFi. The BCM4350 carries a more PC-like set of interfaces that includes Bluetooth 4.0, PCI Express and SDIO 3.0; the BCM43558 drops the PCIe and SDIO in favor of USB 3.0, while the BCM43556 also sheds Bluetooth. Although we don't know which companies plan to use the nimbler wireless technology, it should ship to gadget makers in the second half of this year.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Laptops, Tablets, Networking, HD, Mobile

Source: Broadcom

This Beautiful New Asus Ultrabook Is Dripping in Glass

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-beautiful-new-asus-ultrabook-is-dripping-in-glass-510986219

This Beautiful New Asus Ultrabook Is Dripping in Glass

Asus has been busy announcing a slew of new products at Computex in Taipei overnight and, while many of them are deeply unremarkable, a glass-coated ultrabook and updated Transformer Pad Infinity should be enough to pique your interest.

Engadget took a look at the new slim laptop, the 13.3-inch Zenbook Infinity, which uses a pretty impressive-looking aluminum and glass construction, featuring Gorilla Glass on both the back of the display and around the keyboard. Tough to say how well that will work in practice—the smudges! Oh, the smudges—but it does at least look beautiful. In terms of specs, a dual-core Haswell processor will nestle within its frame, though other details are scant. At just 15.5mm thick, though, it's super-slim—and should be available some time in the third quarter of 2013.

Elsewhere, Verge reports that an updated Transformer Pad Infinity promises to deliver far more than the tablet has done in the past. With a 10.1-inch 2560 x 1600 IPS screen, Tegra 4 processor, 32GB of storage and 2GB of RAM, the tablet will apparently pump out 4K video via HDMI. It'll also support USB 3.0 port, packs a 5-megapixel camera and sports a 1.2-megapixel front-facer. It's not clear when the new tablet will be available, but expect it to retail at a similar price point to its predecessor. [Verge and Engadget]

Image by Verge

Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook refreshed with a WQHD screen, S3 gets a total makeover (hands-on)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/02/acer-aspire-s7-aspire-s3-refresh/

It was a year ago at Computex that Acer unveiled the Aspire S7, a skinny sliver of a thing that turned out to be one of our favorite Ultrabooks of 2012. Now, 12 months later, the company is unveiling... the Aspire S7. A much-improved S7, to be precise. Going into the second half of the year, there's only to be a 13-inch version (the 11-incher's been discontinued), and it has much the same industrial design, with a lightweight chassis and Gorilla Glass lid. The difference is that it will now be offered with a 2,560 x 1,440 screen, which will be standard in certain regions, like Europe. (Elsewhere, a 1080p IPS panel will continue to be the base option.) As you'd expect, Acer's upgraded the S7 to Haswell CPUs (Core i3, i5 and i7), but it also squeezed in a bigger battery -- 47Wh, up from 35Wh. Between that bigger cell and new chipset, Acer is rating the battery life at seven hours, which, if true, would correct one of the OG model's biggest shortcomings. Rounding out the list, Acer moved the mics to the front, and also updated the cooling system with the promise of less fan noise.

Meanwhile, Acer thoroughly revamped the mid-range S3 Ultrabook so that it looks more like the S7. The main differences are that this has no Gorilla Glass on the lid, and the entire machine is noticeably heavier (1.67kg vs. 1.3). Part of the reason for that chunkier shape is that it will be offered with beefier components, including optional NVIDIA GT735M graphics and a 1TB hard drive (you can also get it with an SSD). Additionally, the S3 steps up to Haswell CPUs, along with a 1080p IPS touchscreen -- the same kind that the S7 had when it first launched. Design-wise, as we said, it looks like the S7, particularly with the lid shut, and it's now made from one piece of aluminum, instead of several. The keyboard looks different from the S7's, though, and is also a bit clackier, for whatever reason. In Europe, at least, the Aspire S7-392 will start at €1,450, and the S3-392 will go from €999. Both will arrive in July. No word yet on US pricing. For a closer look, check out our hands-on photos and video, both embedded after the break.

Update: US pricing for the S7 will start at $1,400 and go up to $1,700, depending on the configuration.

Filed under: Laptops, Acer

Acer announces the Liquid S1: a 5.7-inch smartphone with a near-stock Android experience (hands-on)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/02/acer-liquid-s1-5-7-inch-smartphone/

Acer announces the Liquid S1 a 57inch smartphone with a nearstock Android experience handson

Acer keeps the product announcements coming here at Computex, adding a new (and big) Android phone to its new Ultrabooks and Windows tablets. The Liquid S1 arrives with a 720p 5.7-inch display, matching ZTE's Grand Memo in screen size, and marking Acer's first contribution to the five-inches-and-over smartphone club. The phone is bound for Asia and Europe (no US release is planned for now), and it comes appropriately equipped with twin SIM-card slots. There is, however, no LTE radios, something that Acer admits will be arriving in its smaller Android devices first.

Other notable specs include a Mediatek quad-core 1.5GHz processor and 1GB of memory to aid Android 4.2. It's worth noting that the UI here, like we've seen from Acer in recent years, is largely a stock one, both in functionality (the two-finger drag-down menu for settings toggles is here, take that HTC One!) and looks, although there's some additions to the software that we'll outline later. We've managed to get some playtime with the device ahead of its big reveal at Acer's press event, so check out our (literally) earth-shaking first impressions and hands-on video after the break.

Gallery: Acer Liquid S1 hands-on

Gallery: Acer Liquid S1 and Samsung Galaxy Note II comparison

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Acer

ARM unveils Cortex-A12 CPU and Mali-T622 GPU in expectation of a mid-range boom

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/02/arm-cortex-a12-mali-t622/

Few trend-spotters would disagree with the following prediction from ARM, but it's worth laying it out anyway: Of the 300 million mobile devices sold in 2010, the majority cost over $400. Within the next two years, however, these "crazy money" products (as a spokesperson described them) may represent just 25 percent of the total mobile market -- still huge in absolute terms, since almost two billion phones and tablets are forecast to be sold in 2015, but a distinct minority relative to entry-level and mid-range options.

In an effort to convert these expectations into an even taller heap of gold, ARM has just announced a new mid-range core, the Cortex-A12, which is designed to replace the aging Cortex-A9 while offering a 40 percent boost in performance. This gain will likely come with the added advantage of better battery life, since the Cortex-A12 will initially be fabricated at 28nm instead of 40nm, and will be offered to manufacturers alongside a new Mali GPU (the Mali-T622) and video engine (Mali-V500) that promise further power savings of their own. The Cortex-A12 will also support big.LITTLE configurations, allowing it to be installed alongside Cortex-A7 cores that will take over for low-effort tasks in order make further power savings. Big.LITTLE hasn't really blown us away so far, at least not on the Octa-core Galaxy S 4, but its wrinkles may well have been ironed out by mid 2014, which is when the Cortex-A12 is due to land. Check out the PR for more technical details on each component.

Richard Lai contributed to this report.

Gallery: ARM unveils Cortex-A12 CPU and Mali-T622 GPU in expectation of a mid-range boom

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)