CURSE THE HYPE

Apple Sued Over Accelerometer and Bubble Level

2012-01-30T22:54:00.000-05:00

A patent troll is going after Apple for patent infringement of an "electronic alignment system".
By Douglas Perry January 30, 2012

Calibrait, LLC, a company with no history and apparently has been founded with the sole purpose to acquire a patent and sue for patent infringement,

claims that Apple directly and indirectly infringe its patent 7,447,265 by offering accelerometers in its mobile devices as well as software that turn iPods, iPads and iPhones into electronic alignment devices. Calibrait also alleges that Apple engages in indirect infringement by enabling others to violate Calibrait's patent. The patent in question was filed in 2005 and granted in November 2008 to John Cerwin, founder of Cerwin Tools in Illinois. Calibrait, headquartered in Irvine, California, acquired the patent from Cerwin in May of 2011. According to USPTO records, Calibrait does not own any other patents. Back in 2005, it appears that John Cerwin envisioned mobile devices to integrate "at least two accelerometers" that are mounted "mutually perpendicular to one another" and are employed to determine "the angle of rotation of the device about an axis." He mentioned that two accelerometers can determine one angle, while three would be necessary to calculate a second angle. There is also a note of distance sensors or a gyroscope to determine a third angle.

Read more here -->tomsguide.com

AMD touts LRDIMM memory for x86 servers

2012-01-30T22:50:00.002-05:00

Pushing up to 384GB per socket
By Timothy Prickett Morgan 30th January 2012

It looks like Advanced Micro Devices is first to market with support for load reduced DIMM DDR3 main memory for x86 and quite possibly all kinds of servers, and is trotting out Inphi, the maker of the isolation memory buffer chip that is at the heart of this technology.

With LRDIMM memory, you take out the register on a DDR3 memory module and plunk in a buffer chip that allows the memory chips on the module to run at a higher clock speed and also allows for more memory chips to be put on each channel. When the Opteron 4200s and 6200s were launched last November, AMD said that it would support unregistered, registered, and load reduced DDR3 memory modules with the chips. To add LRDIMM support, the main memory controllers on the Opterons had to be tweaked so they could talk this new chatter and support the higher clock speeds on the memory. What might not have been obvious at the time was that the extra memory that AMD was offering was only available through the use of LRDIMM memory. As it stands, says John Fruehe, director of product marketing for server, embedded, amd FireStream products at AMD, if you use unregistered DIMMs, you top out at 64GB per socket, and registered DIMMs are at the 256GB per socket upper limit, twice the maximum memory as the prior generation of Opteron 6100 processors. By moving to LRDIMMs, you can boost that memory capacity to 384GB per socket without having to resort to special memory extender electronics that add costs to the server.

Read more here -->theregister.co.uk

New Email Spec Aims to Tangle Phishing Lines

2012-01-30T22:46:00.000-05:00

By Richard Adhikari 01/30/12

Fifteen leading email service providers and tech companies have announced a joint effort to fight phishers.

Google, Facebook, PayPal, Yahoo and Agari are among the companies behind the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) spec. DMARC is a technical specification that standardizes how email receivers perform email authentication using well-known mechanisms. "The inspiration behind DMARC was PayPal's and Google's attempt to stop phishing together, but they quickly realized the model they were pursuing could not scale," said Daniel Raskin, vice president of marketing at Agari. That led to the formation of DMARC. "For years now, cybercriminals have been leveraging brand content such as formatting, content and logos from the marketing emails of companies to create messages that attempt to drive users to sites where they will give up sensitive information such as usernames and passwords," Sam Masiello, general manager and chief security officer at Return Path, told TechNewsWorld. What Does DMARC Do? DMARC standardizes how email receivers authenticate email using Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM). SPF lets administrators specify which hosts are allowed to send mail from a given domain by creating a specific SPF record in the domain name system (DNS). Mail exchangers use the DNS to verify that mail from a given domain is being sent by a host approved by that domain's administrators. DKIM provides a method for validating a domain name identity that is associated with a message through cryptographic authentication.

Read more here -->technewsworld.com

Anonymous Threatens Facebook Shutdown Jan. 28

2012-01-23T20:25:00.000-05:00

by Zoe Fox 1/23/12

Anonymous is planning to target Facebook in an attack Jan. 28 — at least that’s what a video uploaded to YouTube Monday is claiming in the name of the hacker network.

And you thought a day without Wikipedia was bad. “An online war has begun between Anonymous, the people and the government of the United States,” the video begins. “While SOPA and PIPA may be postponed from Congress, this doesn’t guarantee that our Internet rights will be upheld.” Following the U.S. government shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload Friday, Anonymous attacked the U.S. Department of Justice’s website, among others. Monday’s YouTube video calls on the American people to participate in the hack by downloading Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC), the tool that was successfully used to target the Department of Justice. LOIC crashes websites by sending thousands of information packets to their servers. The video gives instructions for downloading and running the program, as well as a time — 12 a.m. on Jan. 28 — to launch the attack. No time zone, however, is distinguished. “Would you like to become part of the greatest Internet protests and first official cyber war?,” the video asks. “Operation Global Blackout is ongoing and everyone can be a part of it.”

Read more here -->mashable.com

First AMD Fusion Center of Innovation to Focus on Heterogeneous Computing Advances

2012-01-23T20:21:00.000-05:00

By scientificcomputing 1/23/12

AMD has announced the first AMD Fusion Center of Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to focus on the innovative developer environment and software performance advancements enabled by heterogeneous computing.

The center will fund, mentor and promote new commercial enterprises emerging from the intellectual property and research expertise in the University of Illinois community. The University has been a hotbed of new start-ups since the creation of the first widespread Web browser — Mosaic — developed by Marc Andreessen in 1992. Through access to AMD Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) technology and platforms, the AMD Fusion Center of Innovation will help bridge access to new AMD heterogeneous computing technology with the innovative spirit stimulated and nurtured on campus. To kick-off the AMD Fusion Center of Innovation, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is offering a course aimed at kindling the spirit of entrepreneurship by bringing a mix of expert speakers to cover the specifics of AMD heterogeneous computing technology, while also providing how-to background on entrepreneurship, commercialization and start-up creation. This course will be offered by the university’s College of Engineering, Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC), as “ENG/TE 360/460: Lectures in Engineering Entrepreneurship AMD section.” At the completion of the course, students will submit projects, which will be evaluated for potential funding opportunities through the AMD Fusion Fund and IllinoisVENTURES. Computer science and engineering students are encouraged to share their best ideas for new software or Web-based start-up companies.

Read more here -->scientificcomputing.com

Intel’s next big wireless play: It’s not smartphones

2012-01-23T20:16:00.002-05:00

By Kevin Fitchard Jan. 23, 2012

Intel’s wireless ambitions go beyond smartphones and tablets. It’s set its sights on the guts of the mobile network as well.

By embracing a new network design concept called Cloud-RAN, Intel believes it can reshape wireless networks from highly-specialized architectures into more generic computing platforms that run over its off-the-shelf silicon. And in the world’s largest operator, China Mobile, Intel sees the opportunity to make that vision happen. China Mobile has a massive network of 700,000 GSM and 220,000 3G base stations built into towers throughout China’s vast landscape. The base station is easily the most expensive element of the wireless network, and as China Mobile looks to the next wave of wireless technology, LTE, it doesn’t want to repeat that enormous infrastructure investment by installing pricey hardware at the bottom of every tower. Instead, it’s looking for Intel’s help to move all of that network intelligence into the cloud, leaving only the radios and antennas at the cell site. The Cloud-Radio Access Network (Cloud-RAN) isn’t the public cloud of Amazon Web Services. Rather it’s a private cloud run by each operator in local data centers, but the principle is the same. China Mobile could centralize an enormous number of now-distributed computing resources. That would not only save capital and operating costs, but it would also allow it to webscale the network’s biggest number-crunching requirement – converting the analog fuzz scooped out of the airwaves into digital ones and zeros the network can understand.

Read more here -->gigaom.com

Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet M532 adds to the Tegra 3 pile

2012-01-18T19:33:00.002-05:00

By Paul Lamkin January 18, 2012

We thought that we had seen all that the tech world had to offer by way of Nvidia Tegra 3 devices over in Vegas at CES, but it looks as if we were wrong.

Just days after the last roll of the expo's dice, a new Tegra 3 touting tab; the brilliantly named Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet M532, has turned up in Germany. Well, on a German website at least. The M532 is said to be rocking the latest generation Tegra chip alongside a 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800, display, along with 16GB of onboard storage, an 8-megapixel camera on the back and a 3-megapixel one up front. At the moment it is running Android Honeycomb 3.2 but, just like another Tegra 3 tab recently unleashed from ZTE, the M532 will most likely be packing 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich when it launches. Just when that will be isn't clear yet, but a price tag of €499 is mentioned. We've heard that Fujitsu is looking to make a big impression at MWC this year, so we guess we'll get more details then. Who knows, it may even take the Fujitsu Tegra 3 Ice Cream Sandwich quad-core phone out of its plastic cage so we can have a proper play too.

Read more here -->pocket-lint.com

AMD Counters Intel Ultrabooks With 'Ultrathin' Line

2012-01-18T19:29:00.000-05:00

Intel won’t be the only chip maker pushing the Ultrabook form factor this year.
By Kristin Bent, January 18, 2012

Rival chip vendor AMD is gearing up to launch its own version of a super-thin, light-weight notebook form factor -- fittingly called the Ultrathin -- sometime around mid-year, which will be powered by the company’s next-gen line of A-series "Trinity" accelerated processing units (APUs).

The new processors are said by AMD to deliver the same performance as its current A-series line used in standard notebooks, while using only half the power and drawing 17 watts of power. In addition to power efficiency, the new Ultrathin line is expected to deliver a feature perhaps even more attractive: a low price point. According to a report from DigiTimes, AMD’s Trinity-based Ultrathins will be offered at a price point approximately $100 to $200 less than upcoming Intel Ivy Bridge-based Ultrabooks. DigiTimes suggested that the modest Ultrathin price point will be possible because AMD’s new Trinity-based platform delivers little in terms of boosted performance or function. Exact price points for the Ultrathin platform have not been confirmed, but Andy Lutzky, an AMD spokesperson, cited affordability as a critical factor behind the company’s overall strategy for the platform. "The price point is definitely a goal," Lutzky told CRN. "Anything in the $599, $699, $799 range is the goal."

Read more here -->crn.com

Alienware Crams Gaming PC Into Console Form Factor

2012-01-18T19:23:00.000-05:00

Is it a new Alienware gaming console? No, but it will fit right in nicely with your PlayStation 3 and Xbxo 360, but packing superior hardware.
by Kevin Parrish January 18, 2012

On Tuesday, Dell updated its blog with news of a new Alienware desktop gaming PC that fits within a console-like chassis. Called the Alienware X51, the compact rig is a direct response to community demands for a more efficient gaming system with a smaller, more versatile form factor.

That said, the Alienware team came up with an impressive-looking rig measuring 13.5-inches tall in the front, 12.54-inches tall in the back, 12.52-inches deep and 3.74-inches wide. Standing up it looks like a super-slim PC, dwarfed by its bigger Alienware desktop brothers -- laying flat, it could be mistaken for a next-generation gaming console sporting a sleek matte black finish, dark chrome accents and three customizable lighting zones, but better hardware. "The X51 is Alienware’s smallest gaming desktop ever produced, and yet is powerful enough to give gamers the freedom to do it all – play modern games, immerse themselves in PC hobbies and tasks for work or school, or even create an entertainment hub by integrating it into a home theater setup for watching Blu-ray movies with 7.1 surround sound," the blog reads. Under the hood, the Alienware X51 features Intel's 2nd-generation Core i-Series CPUs, Nvidia GeForce GT or GTX GPUs with GDDR5 memory, 802.11n connectivity, HDMI 1.4 output, and USB 3.0. But don't let the small form factor fool you: this rig isn't a closed system, but rather is fully upgradeable, allowing owners to quickly perform their own hard-drive, graphics, and memory upgrades quickly and easily.

Read more here -->tomshardware.com

Even Steve Wozniak Thinks the Android Bests the iPhone

2012-01-16T20:54:00.000-05:00

Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak still loves his iPhone, but says in some ways, Android has leapt ahead. Wow.
By Dan Lyons Jan 14, 2012

Apple CEO Steve Jobs hated the Android smartphone operating system so much that he vowed he would spend his last dying breath and every penny Apple had in the bank trying to destroy it.

Android, created by Google, entered the market after Apple but soon gained greater market share. A lot of Apple fans dismiss Android as a ripoff of Apple’s ideas, and a crappy one at that. But oddly enough, Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with Jobs in 1976, says he’s a big fan of Android phones. Woz says he still thinks Apple’s iPhone is the best overall smartphone, but he says there are ways in which Android has leapt ahead of Apple. “My primary phone is the iPhone,” Woz says. “I love the beauty of it. But I wish it did all the things my Android does, I really do.” Woz says voice commands work better on Android. Android’s built-in navigation system, where the phone acts like a GPS system, is another advantage, he says. Android phones aren’t as simple to use as the iPhone, but they’re not that much more complicated, and “if you’re willing to do the work to understand it a little bit, well I hate to say it, but there’s more available in some ways,” Woz says. There’s a theory that Android could do to iOS (Apple’s mobile operating system) what Microsoft Windows did to the Macintosh in the 1990s. Microsoft triumphed because it licensed its software to many different hardware makers and ultimately had much greater market share than Apple, which would only sell its operating system on its own hardware.

Read more here -->thedailybeast.com
Also read this --> Does Steve Wozniak really prefer Android to the iPhone?

Skype coming soon to Windows Phone, later to Xbox Live

2012-01-16T20:46:00.000-05:00

By Nathan Olivarez-Giles January 16, 2012

Skype can be used to make voice and video calls over the Web using PCs, a number of TVs and Blu-Ray players, Facebook and via smartphone apps found on BlackBerrys, Androids, iPhones and iPads.

Yet, despite Microsoft buying Skype at a price of $8.5-billion in October, you still can't make a Skype call on a Windows Phone handset. However, that will change soon, Skype and Microsoft said in a YouTube video produced at the Consumer Electronics Show last week. If you're feeling a bit skeptical, you're likely not alone. Skype has been promising a Windows Phone app since April of last year. But a higher level of integration between Skype and its new owner Microsoft is inevitable, if not late. Rick Osterloh, Skype's vice president of product, said in the company's CES video that the online calling service is working on apps for not only Windows Phone, but also for Microsoft's Xbox gaming console and the in-development Windows 8 operating system. Osterloh also said that Skype is on an upswing of growth with the service recently passing 200 million monthly users who use more than 1 billion minutes a day. Also on the way is group-calling with up to 10 people on a single call, he said.

Read more here -->latimesblogs.latimes.com

AMD demos Lightning Bolt USB killer technology at CES

2012-01-16T20:34:00.000-05:00

by Rob Kerr January 16, 2012

The latest edition of the massively anticipated Consumer Electronic Show witnessed chip-maker AMD demonstrating its forthcoming offering Lightning Bolt

- the company's answer to Intel's USB killing technology Thunderbolt. AMD opted to make the demonstration behind closed doors only, therefore not revealing too much information to its rivals about what the company is really up to. According to reports, the new Lighting Bolt technology will come as a one-stop-solution for display, USB 3.0 as well as power connectivity - where all these three aspects will be handled by one single cable, once the technology hits the market. The Thunderbolt technology rolled out by Intel happens to be the first ever multi-use-interface, capable of delivering up to 10Gbps data transfer speed, per channel. This technology was first used by Apple, in their MacBook line up. How fast or how slow AMD's Lightning Bolt will be in comparison to Thunderbolt (and USB 3.0), is yet to be known.

Read more here -->itproportal.com

Microsoft Signs Patent Agreement with LG; Now Covers 70% of US Android Market

2012-01-13T20:23:00.002-05:00

by Erica Thinesen January 13, 2012

In what comes as a boost to Microsoft's efforts for making money from the success of Android, the Windows maker has signed a patent agreement with LG.

Under the terms of the agreement, LG will get access to Microsoft's broadband patent portfolio for tablets, mobile phones and other consumer devices based on Google Android or Chrome OS platform. With this new deal, Microsoft now covers 70 percent of the Android market in the United States. In exchange for letting LG access its patents, Microsoft will get a royalty fee for each Android and Chrome OS device that LG sells. The companies failed to disclose the financial details of the agreement. "We are pleased to have built upon our longstanding relationship with LG to reach a mutually beneficial agreement," said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft. LG now joins the long list of Android device manufacturers that Microsoft has struck a patent licensing agreement. This includes Samsung, HTC and Acer, which are among the 10 Android and Chrome OS device makers which have signed on for MIcrosoft's IP licensing program.

Read more here -->itproportal.com

Androids Invade CES 2012

2012-01-13T20:20:00.000-05:00

By Ian Paul, Jan 13, 2012

Google's Android operating system played a big role in the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, appearing in smartphones, tablets, televisions, MP3 players, cameras, and gaming headsets.

Device manufacturers are using Android for a wide variety of devices as part of a larger strategy to create a network of connected gadgets backed up by online storage and sync. Acer and Lenovo used CES to announce their new cloud services, with both companies relying on Android devices for at least part of their vision. Lenovo went as far as to say it is reimagining itself as a "personal cloud solution provider" where hardware, software, and online services tie together all your data. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt was also on hand at CES discussing Android, and shared a bit of Google's vision how Android devices may help you in the future. "As you arrive at your house with your Android device," Schmidt said, "all the things that have computers in [them], sort of adjust as necessary . . . a text comes to you and it goes to the television, because that's your preference." Schmidt also remarked that some home appliances are also using Android including refrigerators, such as the $3500 Samsung RF4289HARS. No home appliances make this list, but there are some highlights from the Android invasion at CES 2012.

Read more here -->pcworld.com

Apple Loses Ruling in Patent Case Against Motorola Mobility

2012-01-13T20:16:00.000-05:00

By Bloomberg January 13, 2012

Apple Inc. lost a ruling in a case where it accused phonemaker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. of patent infringement, a setback for efforts to prove that devices running Google Inc.’s Android operating system copy the iPhone.
Motorola Mobility, a maker of Android smartphones that agreed to be bought by Google for $12.5 billion, didn’t violate Apple’s rights on three patents, U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Theodore Essex in Washington said in an initial determination today without elaborating on his findings. Two of the patents related to touch-screen technology. The case has been part of a broader battle that Cupertino, California-based Apple is waging across four continents against makers of phones that run on Android, which the company claims copies features of the iPhone. Apple received a mixed ruling in a trade commission case against Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC Corp. last month, and is awaiting decisions on additional complaints against HTC and Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co. Notice of the Motorola Mobility decision was posted on the agency’s website, with the full opinion traditionally to be released after companies redact confidential data. The judge’s findings are subject to review by the six-member commission, which can block imports of products that infringe U.S. patents. While Apple is the largest manufacturer of smartphones, accounting for about 29 percent of the market, Mountain View, California-based Google’s Android, which is licensed for free to device makers, powers more than half the world’s smartphones, according to data from Gartner Inc. and Nielsen Holdings NV.

Read more here -->businessweek.com

Dell Prepares to Reenter the Tablet Market

2012-01-11T13:04:00.002-05:00

By Daniel Ionescu, Jan 11, 2012

Dell killed its 5- and 7-inch Streak tablets but it wants to reenter the consumer tablet market with a new model later this year.

Dell has been taking its time, a company executive told Reuters, highlighting the “general failure of everyone that's tried to introduce a tablet outside of Apple.” Few other details are known about Dell’s upcoming tablet, besides a late 2012 introduction. The company was coy to say whether it would use Windows 8 or Android for its tablet, but the year-end timing resonates with the expected launch of Microsoft’s next version of the OS, with tablet optimizations. Dell acknowledged that it isn’t just about the hardware with tablets, and that it is spending a lot more time in the overall ecosystem: "When you are talking about PC, people are more focused on the hardware itself. When you are talking about the tablet or the smartphone, people are interested in the overall environment it’s operating in.” Dell’s tablet flops were not as mainstream as HP’s or Research In Motion’s, as they tried to challenge Apple’s iPad. Dell first nixed the Streak 5, an oversized Android smartphone pretending to be a tablet, in August last year and in December the Streak 7 was axed, too. There were no fire sales as with the TouchPad; Dell instead opted for notices on the products’ webpages. With tablets eating away in PC sales, Dell is also entering the Ultrabook market, and announced the XPS 13 at CES 2012. The thin (6mm) and light (3 pounds) laptop resembles a MacBook Air, including the wedge shape. Dell claims it will run up to eight hours on a single charge. It will go on sale starting at $999 in February.

Read more here -->pcworld.com

Intel Enters Smartphone Chip Race For Real

2012-01-11T13:01:00.001-05:00

By Michael J. Mille Jan 11, 2012

We are moving from the era of the personal computer to an era of personal computing, said Intel CEO Paul Otellini in his keynote at the 2012 International CES.

He showed off the first Intel-based smartphone and also spoke a bit about the upcoming Ivy Bridge generation of its Core processors, while hinting at processors to follow. Intel is now shipping its third generation Core processor known as Ivy Bridge, based on 3D transistors. (Otellini seemed to be talking about shipping to computer manufacturers yet other Intel folks have said quad-core Ivy Bridge processors will start shipping to consumers in April, followed by dual-core processors a month later.) Intel has a clear path to the 14 nm generation and at that level, 200 million of 14 nm transistors can fit on the head of a pin. To put smartphone progress into perspective, Otellini said a smartphone today has more computing power than all of NASA did when it put a man on the moon in 1969. Phone calls now make up only 10 percent of mobile phone use, so Intel views mobile phones as another computing experience—"no compromise" experience. The first phones based on the Intel architecture will be going to China (available on China Unicom's network in the second quarter of 2012) and Liu Jun, Senior Vice President of Lenovo, joined Otellini to show Lenovo's new K800 smartphone. With a 4.5-inch display and what Jun said is "incredible multitasking performance" it still manages to maintain great battery life.

Read more here -->forwardthinking.pcmag.com

Google CEO says Android isn't fragmented

2012-01-11T12:52:00.000-05:00

by Mike Luttrell January 11, 2012

In a new corporate spin, the head of Google says Android is not fragmented - it's "differentiated."

Android has skyrocketed to stardom in a way few expected when the G1 phone launched on T-Mobile nearly four years ago. In fact, I remember being in line for a launch-day G1 because I thought it would be a neat novelty phone that I could reminisce about down the road and tell people about the time Google tried to make a mobile phone OS. I could not have been more wrong. Android is a thing of immense momentum and popularity, but there's always a cost for success. In the case of Android, that cost comes in the form of what many have called fragmentation. That is to say, the Android phone you bought and the Android phone your roommate bought may be completely different phones. They may have different versions of Android, your apps might not be available on his phone, and he might have a physical keyboard while you don't. In a discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, though, Google CEO Eric Schmidt denied that this fragmentation issue was really a problem. Instead, he said, Android is "differentiated" - manufacturers can choose to make a phone however they want, but the software is more or less the same. Critics could easily question this argument, but Schmidt said any sense of fragmentation will hopefully be eliminated once Ice Cream Sandwich, or Android 4.0, is in full force.

Read more here -->tgdaily.com

CES 2012: Lenovo IdeaPad YOGA is an Innovative, 360 Degree Take on the Ultrabook

2012-01-10T01:38:00.000-05:00

It fold, it flips... but does it blend?
By Brandon Hill - January 9, 2012

If you're tired of all the Ultrabook announcements today, I'm sorry to say that the announcements will keep coming for the rest of the week.

The good news, however, is that we've got a unique notebook to talk about today that strays far away from the traditional "open and close" of traditional notebooks. Lenovo today announced its IdeaPad YOGA notebook which features a 360 degrees dual-hinge design that allows it to open like a traditional notebook, then flip the screen 360 degrees backwards to turn the device into a tablet (the back of the screen can fold flat with the back bottom of the notebook). When it tablet mode, users have full control over the IdeaPad YOGA's 13.1-inch touch screen (1600x900), which allows 10-point capacity touch. We're hoping that the keyboard is disable in this mode to prevent keypresses from being regiestered. It can also be used in "tent" mode in which the device is propped up on a desk. The 3.1-pound IdeaPad YOGA is powered by Intel Core processor, supports up to 8GB of RAM, and up to a 256GB SSD. The notebook is designed to take full advantage of Windows 8 (the prototypes shown at CES were running Microsoft's next generation operating system). As the notebook is built around Windows 8, it won't be launch until the boys from Redmond roll out their next generation flagship consumer operating system.

Read more here -->dailytech.com

Starting February 1, 2012: Use the Power of Kinect for Windows to Change the World

2012-01-10T01:32:00.000-05:00

By Kinect for Windows Team 9 Jan 2012

We’re thrilled at the sales we’ve seen for Kinect - 18 million sold in the past year – and we were honored to receive a Guinness World Record for the fastest selling consumer electronics device ever.

As consumers, we may take devices like Kinect for granted, but in fact electronic devices are the fruit of a great deal of behind-the-scenes ingenuity and experimentation. Kinect is a shining example of this. Instead of mimicking the handheld motion-sensing controllers already on the market, Microsoft shattered the existing controller paradigm by inventing a new natural user interface system that enables advanced human tracking, gesture recognition, voice control and more. Our answer to the “wand” controller was no controller at all, or as we say, “YOU are the controller.” Getting there wasn’t easy. Without many years of intense R&D efforts, including research investments of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the deep partnership between our research teams, software teams, hardware teams, manufacturing teams, and games studios, Kinect simply wouldn’t exist. And as amazing a piece of hardware as Kinect is, it is much more than that. At the heart of the Kinect experience lies sophisticated software that meaningfully deciphers the images and gestures captured by the 3D sensor as well as the voice commands captured by the microphone array from someone much further away than someone using a headset or a phone. More importantly, Kinect software can understand what each user means by a particular gesture or command across a wide range of possible shapes, sizes, and actions of real people. The incredible amount of innovation on Kinect for Xbox 360 this past year shows the potential for Kinect as a platform for developers and businesses to build new and innovative offerings. Along with many others, we have only begun to explore the potential of this amazing technology. This proliferation of creative and imaginative new ideas for Kinect, which we call the Kinect Effect, will expand even further with our commercial release of Kinect for Windows. Today, we are announcing that the new Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying software will be available on February 1st, 2012 in 12 countries (United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom), at a suggested retail price of US $249.

Read more here --> blogs.msdn.com

Nokia Lumia 900 – Born for the USA

2012-01-10T01:26:00.000-05:00

by Ian Delaney on January 9, 2012 repost here 1/10/12

Nokia announces its biggest yet thinnest Windows Phone to date with the Nokia Lumia 900, its first phone to support high-speed LTE data transfers.

As our exclusive video shows, this powerhouse was built exclusively for AT&T and promises a bigger, faster, stronger smartphone experience thanks to larger screen, faster processor and support for the fastest mobile data transfers available to date. The Nokia Lumia 900 allows data downloads up to 50Mbps on AT&T’s 4G LTE network. What does that mean? It means that you’ll be able to view videos as fast as you can click on them, and never wait. It means your email arrives on time and you’re not sitting looking at an hourglass. It means the Web is totally fun to use on your mobile. If you don’t have LTE, then the next step down is HSPA for a mere (cough!) 21Mbps download speed. How will you cope, USA? Starting with the screen, the Nokia Lumia 900 puts an end to squinting at your smartphone display. It boasts a large, 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display to offer a big, crystal clear and super-colorful screen indoors and out. The resolution is 800 by 480 pixels. nside, there’s a 1.4GHz processor, running on an updated chipset, to support LTE. It’ll keep the phone running smooth and make sure everything happens now. For the tech aficionados, it’s a 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8055 + MDM9200. But not everything is totally new. We’ve recreated the popular polycarbonate unibody design pioneered by the Nokia N9 and the Nokia Lumia 800 for this new, bigger model. It looks amazing, fits the hand superbly – and it’s really hard to do it any damage.

Read more here -->conversations.nokia.com

Kodak Preparing for Chapter 11 Filing

2012-01-04T23:56:00.002-05:00

By MIKE SPECTOR And DANA MATTIOLI JANUARY 4, 2012

Eastman Kodak Co. is preparing for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy-protection filing in the coming weeks should efforts to sell a trove of digital patents fall through, people familiar with the matter said.

The struggling photography icon, which employs about 19,000 people, is in discussions with potential lenders for around $1 billion in so-called debtor-in possession financing that would keep it afloat during bankruptcy proceedings, the people said. A filing could occur as soon as this month or early February, one of the people said. A Kodak spokesman said the company "does not comment on market rumor or speculation." Should Kodak seek Chapter 11 protection from creditors, the company would then try to sell its portfolio of 1,100 patents through a court-supervised bankruptcy auction, the people said. Kodak would continue to pay its bills and operate normally while under bankruptcy protection, the people said. Kodak is still making last-ditch efforts to sell the patents, which would keep the company from filing for bankruptcy protection, one of the people said. But the 131-year-old former blue chip company has started making preparations for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing if those efforts don't come to fruition, the person said. Kodak warned in a securities filing in November it will run out of cash to fund operations unless it sells its patents or is able to borrow more money.

Read more here -->online.wsj.com

Android Market catching up to Apple in app numbers

2012-01-04T23:53:00.000-05:00

By Athima Chansanchai JANUARY 4, 2012

Choices are becoming more abundant in the Android Market, which has just hit 400,000 apps in the first flush of the new year.

Distimo, a Netherlands-based company that tracks app store data, posted a blog entry that shows it reaching that milestone over New Year's weekend, with free apps as the majority of the active apps. The market began the year with about 150,000 apps, reaching 200,000 in April and 300,000 in August. The Apple App Store reached 400,000 in June, and now has more than 500,000 apps. What Distimo research shows is consistent with the increased popularity of other Google products: While it may have started off a little slow, the Android Market has rapidly closed the gap with the App Store within the past year. Sure, it's only natural given the proliferation of Android handsets and tablets out there (more than iOS devices) that there would also be a bigger demand as developers realized the potential market in the audience. The Android Market, after all, has recently reached another milestone: 10 billion downloads. It's crowded out there. But, as with downloads, handsets and tablets, Android is a system that picks up fast.Overall, Distimo tracking showed it took the Android Market 31 months to reach the 200,000 apps point, while it only took Apple 22 months to do the same. But, after that it took fewer and fewer months for Android to cross each subsequent hundred-thousand mark.

Read more here -->technolog.msnbc.msn.com

Quanta Sues AMD Over Microchips for Notebook Computers

2012-01-04T23:51:00.000-05:00

By Tim Culpan and Phil Milford 1/4/12

Quanta Computer Inc., the world’s largest contract maker of notebook computers, sued Advanced Micro Devices Inc.(AMD) for breach of contract, alleging the chipmaker sold defective products.

AMD and its ATI Technologies Inc. unit sold chips that didn’t meet heat tolerances and were unfit for particular purposes, Taoyuan, Taiwan-based Quanta claimed yesterday in a federal court filing in San Jose, California. The chips were used in notebooks Quanta made for NEC Corp. and caused the computers to malfunction, according to the filing. “Quanta has suffered significant injury to prospective revenue and profits,” the company said in the complaint. Quanta is seeking a jury trial and damages, according to court papers. AMD, with more than $6 billion in annual revenue, is the second-largest maker (AMD) of computer processors, behind Intel Corp., which has more than $50 billion in annual revenue. The lawsuit also claims breach of warranty, negligent misrepresentation, civil fraud and interference with a contract. “AMD disputes the allegations in Quanta’s complaint and believes they are without merit,” Sunnyvale, California-based AMD’s spokesman, Michael Silverman, said in an e-mailed message. “AMD is aware of no other customer reports of the alleged issues with the AMD chip that Quanta used, which AMD no longer sells,” Silverman said. “In fact, Quanta has itself acknowledged to AMD that it used the identical chip in large volumes in a different computer platform that it manufactured for NEC without such issues.”

Read more here -->bloomberg.com

Taiwanese Manufactuer Announces AMD-Based Tablet

2012-01-03T18:22:00.002-05:00

by Joel Hruska January 02, 2012

When AMD announced its first tablet APU earlier this year, codenamed Desna, it was obvious that the chip was more a proof-of-concept than an actual shipping part. Factors outside AMD's control, such as the limitations of Windows 7 when running on a tablet, have kept consumer interest in x86 tablets to a minimum.

Nevertheless, MSI's AMD-powered Windpad 110W is about to have company. A Taiwanese manufacturer, Bungbungame, has developed a device based on AMD's Z-01, dubbed the Photon-100. The tablet features an AMD Z01 APU, Windows 7 Home Premium, a 10.1-inch multi-touch screen, 4GB DDR3 memory, 64GB SSD and a weight of 820 grams, BungBungame indicated. The tablet PC is produced by Taiwan-based Askey Computer on an OEM basis. Bungbungame is mostly an application developer, but reports that it created the Photon-100 when its customers were unhappy with existing tablets that didn't meet their needs. The company has already received some 7-8,000 preorders for the device and will showcase it at CES 2012 this year. We expect to see a handful of x86 tablets running Android at CES, but most of the buzz around such devices will focus on Windows 8 and the 2013 timeframe. AMD's Z-01 tablet APU is essentially a cherry-picked Ontario without Turbo Mode that's capable of operating at lower voltages than the 1.05-1.35v specified for AMD's standard C-50 part. The Z-01's TDP of 5.9W is 35 percent lower than Ontario's 9W, but still far too high to compete with the likes of the iPad 2. Intel's Medfield is supposed to address this when it launches this year, while AMD's 28nm Bobcat processors (when they eventually appear) should also put the company on a much stronger competitive footing.

Read more here --> hothardware.com