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Hisense Sero 7 Pro Hands On: A Promising Nexus 7 Clone

2013-05-23T17:43:00.001-05:00

Source: http://gizmodo.com/hisense-sero-7-pro-hands-on-a-fantastic-nexus-7-clone-509516366

Contrary to some rumors, Google didn't announce a refreshed Nexus 7 at I/O a little while back, but up-and-comers Hisense just announced a pretty good alternative to the aging tab. Its new Sero 7 Pro—the companies first foray into the tablet space—is basically a Nexus 7, but at only $150.

The Sero 7 Pro has all the Nexus 7-y features you want. A 1200 x 800 resolution screen, a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and stock Android 4.2.2. All for $150. The compromise is that storage is capped at a meager 8GB, but to ease the blow, the Sero 7 Pro comes with an MicroSD expansion slot. And, it even has the Nexus 7 beat by including a 5MP rear-facing camera, and HDMI output. HP's Slate 7 has been pushing in on the Nexus 7 a bit too, but it's a shade more expensive at $170, and doesn't pack in some of the perks that the Sero 7 Pro has.

We got a little hands on time and the Sero 7 Pro doesn't feel like a cheap tablet. It's got a solid build, remeniscient of the Nexus 7 it's trying so hard to app. The back is hard, textured plastic that feels less than premium, but not all out bad. The performance is smooth, thanks to Nvidia's Tegra 3, and running stock on pretty much the exact specs of a Nexus 7 delivers a pretty comparable experience. The OS does come with slight modifications via a customized launcher, with a few pack-in apps (like Walmart) but those are all easily removed. It's better than you'd expect for a $150 tablet.

We're due for a Nexus 7 refresh here sometime soon, and chances are it'll be a pretty nice overhaul of the existing model, but things like a MicroSD slot are very very unlikely to ever show up in a Nexus device. HiSense may not be the biggest name, but it's first tablet offering seems pretty damn good for the low end of the spectrum. It's rolling out to a Walmart (ugh) near you tomorrow.

Google uses computer vision and machine learning to index your photos

2013-05-23T17:16:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/23/google-plus-image-search/

Tags are so 2008. Google doesn't want you to waste time tagging your photos, except for the people in them. The web giant wants to be able to recognize more abstract concepts like "sunset" or "beach" automatically and attach that metadata without further input. In yet another post-I/O update, Google+ photos now uses computer vision and machine learning to identify objects and settings in your uploaded snapshots. You can simply search for "my photos of trees" or "Tim's photos of bikes" and get surprisingly accurate results, with nary a manually added tag in sight. You can perform the searches in Google+, obviously, but you can also execute your query from the standard Google search page. It's pretty neat, but sadly Mountain View seems to have forgotten what cats look like.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Source: Inside Search

Acer C7 Chromebook getting 16GB SSD option, keeping $199 price tag

2013-05-23T16:30:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/23/acer-c7-chromebook-getting-16gb-ssd-option/

Acer's C7 Chromebook is the cheapest way to get in on Google's cloud-OS party. But, it still ships a 320GB 5,400RPM drive. Truth be told, such a large amount of local storage is counter to the whole idea of Chrome OS -- not to mention that the slow spin introduces a certain amount of unwelcome lag. Thankfully the bargain-basement $199 laptop is about to get an SSD makeover, according to a listing at Best Buy. The official specs at the Google Play store still list the standard hard drive, but the big box shop has a model featuring 16GB of solid state storage. The updated C7 keeps the same affordable price point, though we have no idea when it might start shipping. Best Buy lists the Chromebook simply as "coming soon," with no estimated delivery date. From what we can see there are no other changes to the machine, so if you weren't a fan of the cheap construction before, don't expect that to change.

[Thanks, Cody]

Filed under: Laptops, Google

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Source: Best Buy

MOBILE INSIGHTS: Will Carriers Cash In On Consumer Data?

2013-05-23T06:40:00.001-05:00

Source: https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome

Mobile Insights is a daily newsletter from BI Intelligence that collects and delivers the top mobile industry news. It is delivered first thing every morning exclusively to BI Intelligence subscribers.

Big Phone Companies Begin to Sell Consumer Data (Wall Street Journal)
Carriers are opening up their enormous troves of data, and that is expected to draw pushback from privacy advocates. The carriers counter that they are selling aggregated data about groups of users, not individual subscribers. Given their comprehensive data sets, especially with regards to location, it is sure to draw interest from marketers, advertisers, and other businesses interested in consumer behavior. Carriers, worried about becoming "dumb tubes," or providers of raw bandwidth, likely view data as a potentially huge new revenue source, especially as other revenue drivers like SMS dry up. Read >

Sephora Chief Marketing Officer: Women And Tech Do Mix (Business Insider)
Julie Bornstein, Sephora's chief marketing officer, seeks to debunk the myth that women aren't technology adopters, and aren't Internet-savvy. To reach women via tech, she says, it's important to make experiences mobile and social. Read >

Millennials Prefer Webrooming to Showrooming (Urban Land Institute)
U.S. consumers aged 18 to 35 are much more likely to "do research online, but buy in a store" than "do research in stores, and then buy online," suggesting that showrooming isn't yet as widespread as some retailers fear. Read >

Juniper Sees 120 Million 'Connected Cars' Globally By 2017 (Juniper Research)
The research firm also believes revenue from in-car apps will rise ten-fold by that year. The rise of cars with apps creates a new arena for the globe's hardware and software giants to battle in — with legacy car manufacturers meanwhile also seeking to keep tight control of what's on the dashboard of their vehicles. Read >

Tablets And Smartphones Leap To One-Fifth Of E-Commerce Traffi! c&nb sp;(Monetate)
First it was comScore, which reported that U.S. mobile commerce grew 31% in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same quarter in 2012. That's in contrast to desktop e-commerce that grew 13% year-over-year and traditional offline retail which only grew a paltry 1%. Total retail spend via mobile devices for the quarter was $5.9 billion. Now, Monetate is reporting that tablets and smartphones accounted for 21% of all e-commerce traffic in the U.S., compared to only 2% two years ago. Tablets actually had a slight edge over smartphones in generating e-commerce traffic (11% versus 10%), despite there being far fewer tablets in circulation than smartphones. Read >

2013 Mobile Trends for Marketers (Forrester)
In a new report, Forrester thinks that smart apps connected to ! CRM syst ems will be a big trend for mobile marketers this year. It also cites indoor location, cross-channel attribution, responsive design, analytical solutions, and mobile "big data" as interesting technological innovations, but not yet "game-changers." Read >

HTC Is in Disarray (The Verge)
After the disastrous launch of the Facebook-branded First, the faltering handset manufacturer has seen a talent drain as employees head for the exits. Although the HTC One handset was well-received, critics point to the absence of long-term strategy and Samsung's dominance of Android as contributing factors to its ills. Read >

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This Is HP's Take on the Retina MacBook Pro

2013-05-23T05:56:00.001-05:00

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-is-hps-take-on-the-retina-macbook-pro-509466199

HP has just announced a big overhaul of its Envy and Pavilion ranges, and most of the updates are fairly uninspiring—apart from the company's take on Apple's Retina MacBook Pro.

The Verge has taken a peek at the new laptops, and the Envy 14 TouchSmart Ultrabook sure looks like it could be a winner. The new range features "recessed hinges, revamped touchpads, and slim wedge designs" that combine to make a slew of laptops which, well, look a little bit like Macs.

In its basic form, the Envy 14 TouchSmart Ultrabook seems pretty uninspiring—$700 gets you a basic laptop with a low-res 14-inch, 1366 x 768 screen. But while firm prices and specs for higher-end models are as yet unannounced, HP has let slip that the laptop will be available with a 3200 x 1800 resolution screen some time over the summer.

The computer will likely lack the polish of Apple's offering, but you can also expect it to be a damn sight cheaper. Of course, it remains to be seen if performance will stand up—but we'll have to wait and find out. [Verge]

Images by Verge

First Haswell gaming laptop revealed: MSI GT70 Dragon Edition 2 with GTX780M graphics

2013-05-23T05:51:00.003-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/23/msi-gt70-with-next-gen-chips/

With Computex just around the corner, MSI has taken the wraps off what can truly be described as a next-gen gaming laptop. According to CNET, the 17.3-inch GT70 Dragon Edition 2 will pack a yet-to-be-announced Haswell chip alongside an equally mysterious NVIDIA GTX780M GPU that is claimed to deliver a 3DMark Vantage score of 36,000 -- in other words, roughly equivalent to the benchmark stat you'd get from a desktop rig containing an Ivy Bridge Core-i5 and a full-size GTX670, if the boast happens to be true. A SteelSeries-branded keyboard is in attendance, alongside multiple SSDs in Raid 0 config and three video outputs, all contained within a 21.8mm-thick package that weighs 2.9kg (6.4 pounds). Lesser variations will bring the weight down to 2kg (4.4 pounds) by reducing screen size to 14 inches and switching to a less frenetic GTX760M. Expect pricing and availability details once the big Taiwanese expo gets underway.

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops, Intel

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Source: CNET

HTC Desire 600 announced: quad-core processor, dual-SIM and BlinkFeed

2013-05-23T05:51:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/23/htc-desire-600-snapdragon-200/

It didn't take long for HTC to go official with the Desire 600. Interestingly, it picks up on several of the new Sense 5 features revealed alongside the HTC One, including its fingertip-baiting BlinkFeed for social network and news updates. BoomSound and the ability to craft video highlights from your photos and clips also make the transition, although apparently not the burst-capture Zoe mode. Hardware-wise, there's a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 200 quad-core processor, with a 4.5-inch Super LCD2 display (at 960 x 540 resolution), an 8-megapixel primary camera capable of up to 720p video capture and a front-facing 1.6-megapixel shooter. The Desire 600 picks up the same dual front-facing speaker setup of the One, although rather than a global appearance, it's currently headed to Russia, Ukraine and the Middle-East for now, landing early this June in white and black options. However, we've already spotted a China-bound version for China Unicom's WCDMA network, the Desire 606w, and if we're honest, we'd probably be happier to see the rumored M4 make an official showing. Now, where's that Desire 200?

Gallery: HTC Desire 600 press shots

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Google Voice Users Can Answer Phone Calls in Hangouts

2013-05-23T00:26:00.001-05:00

Source: http://lifehacker.com/google-voice-users-can-now-answer-phone-calls-in-hangou-509395930

Gmail users got a taste of Google's new Hangouts featurethis week, but it turns out it has a little bit of Gmail's voice calling baked in as well.

If someone calls your Google Voice number and you're signed into Hangouts, you'll be able to answer the call right then and there. It'll open up in its own window, just like a video hangout, and you'll be able to talk to them as if you were talking to them on the phone. It doesn't look like you can make outbound calls yet (typing in someone's phone number just opens up a text chat with them), but it seems like Google's trying to integrate the Voice features we had in the old chat. Head on over to Gmail to give it a try!

You Can Now Call Into Google+ From Regular Phones | Disruptive Technology

These Brand New AMD Processors Could Be Your Next Laptop's Brain

2013-05-23T00:23:00.001-05:00

Source: http://gizmodo.com/these-brand-new-amd-processors-could-be-your-next-lapto-509442127

Intel's new 4th-gen chips may be on the horizon, but AMD is taking the opportunity to strike first and get out their with its new family of third-generation A-series processors ahead of time. Enter the "Temash," "Kabini," and "Richland," processors that will make themselves at home in upcoming tablets, midrange notebooks, and powerhouse ultrathins soon.

With the new trio of processor families, AMD is aiming to each the very middle of Intel's lunch. Temash is pointed reasonably high-performance, almost-a-computer tablets, Kabini mostly at convertibles, and Richland at 10 and 11-inch clamshell Ultrathins with a bit more power under the hood.

AMD's "Temash" APU's—which are gunning for the space between Intel's Atom chips and the bottom regions of Core i3-land—consist of a trio of 1GHz APUs: the dual-core A4-1200 and A4-1250, and the quad-core A6-1450. No exactly powerhouses in the grand scheme of things (nor are they intended to be), they offer hefty increases in performance power for high-functionality tablet devices while requiring less than half of the wattage of 2012 offerings, while pushing better battery life.

AMD's convertable-bound A-Series "Kabini" chips—the 1.5GHz A4-5000, and the 2GHz A6-5200 (both quad-core)—are boasting similar improvements: namely around 50 percent performance increases even with wattage requirements dropping by half. The second generation E-series chips—E1-2100 E1-2500 E2-3000—are seeing an even bigger jump in performance. And all of the "Kabini" class chips are picking up sweet battery life bonuses, offering lifetimes of about 10 hours on a charge.

And lastly there's AMD's top-shelf "Richland" family which encompasses the upper end A8 and A10 models. The leaps in performance-per-watt aren't quite as high over here, but the increases are still respectable. And once again, power-management features are enabling battery lives than can come up on 10 hours. With the A8 and A10 though, you're also looking at seriously good graphic performance for integrated graphics. Probably the best you'll see without bolting in a discrete card.

In total, the new class of chips promise nice performance increases, and paired with decreased wattage requirements and all-around power efficiency increases to boot. Features like smart sleep states (which, in fairness, isn't going to be functionality exclusive to AMD chips) are going to boost your battery life, and even with Intel's integrated graphics taking a big step forward, AMD is bound to keep the integrated graphics crown.

Of course, how AMD's chips stack up against Intel's 4th gen cores is mostly a guessing game at the moment. We know that Intel's new Iris graphics are a peak for the company, but integrated graphics are AMDs strong-suit. When it comes to everything else, the details are hazy. AMD's new chips come out on top of Baytrail and 3rd gen Intel cores handily, sure, but that's not really a fair matchup at all.

Head-to-head comparisons aside, AMD is gunning for the spaces in Intel's armor, the places where different flavors of Intel chips line up against each other. AMD could gain a lot by being just slightly better than the best Atom processor, if not quite as good as a Core i3.

For now AMD's got the jump on Intel, but the leap into the next generation looks good from both fronts. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

eTrak GPS+ melds WiFi, cellular and GPS tracking, launches at CTIA 2013 (hands-on)

2013-05-23T00:21:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/etrak-gps-melds-wifi-cellular-and-gps-tracking-launches-at-ct/

We've come across a number of GPS-based tracking devices over the years but most are rather bulky and difficult to setup. eTrak's attempting to remedy this here at CTIA 2013 with GPS+, a fob-like product that combines WiFi, cellular and GPS tracking in a small, light and easy-to-use package. The device, which is about the size and weight of a box of licorice-flavored Tic Tacs, features a panic button, multicolor status LED and charging contacts,. It's meant to be attached to a keyring, and comes with a matching charging base which includes a standard micro-USB connector. Battery life is about 5 days per charge -- not too shabby for a product that packs WiFi, cellular and GPS radios. Speaking of which, eTrak's partnering with Verizon Wireless for CDMA-based network positioning. The company provides a web-based interface which supports geo-fencing with SMS and email notifications, along with iOS and Android-compatible apps. GPS+ will retail for $129 and be available soon (production's been under way since May 1st). Two plans will be available: $10 per month with a one-year subscription and $15 per month commitment-free. Don't miss our gallery below and follow the source link for more info.

Gallery: eTrak GPS+ tracking device hands-on

Filed under: Misc, Wireless, Mobile

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Source: eTrak

ASUS K005 tablet hits the FCC, Snapdragon S4 Pro hints at top-tier performance

2013-05-23T00:20:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/asus-k005-tablet-fcc-snapdragon-s4-pro-/

Although ASUS recently delivered the $150 7-inch MeMo Pad and PadFone Infinity combo device, it's been a while since a premium Android tablet graced the lineup. A recent FCC filing from the company, however, reveals an unannounced K005 model equipped with the venerable Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) SoC clocked at 1.7GHz. Further details are light, but G4Games notes that it reveals AT&T-compatible GSM, CDMA and LTE connectivity and the model number suggests a 10-inch frame. Check out the FCC filing for yourself below and rest assured that we'll fill you in when we hear more.

Filed under: Tablets, ASUS

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Via: G4Games

Source: FCC

HP refreshes its laptops for back-to-school season, prices start at $399

2013-05-23T00:14:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/23/hp-refreshes-laptops-for-back-to-school/

With back-to-school season upon us and Intel's Haswell launch just around the corner, now's a great time for PC makers to start unveiling their summer lineups. Two weeks ago we heard from Sony and today it's HP's turn: the company just refreshed everything from its mainstream notebooks to its high-performance machines. Heck, even the pint-sized dm1 got a makeover. With the exception of that machine (now called the Pavilion TouchSmart Notebook), everything here will be offered with Haswell. There's a little something for everybody, and it's all waiting for you in a neat summary after the break. Join us as we break it down.

Filed under: Laptops, HP

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Innodisk outs embedded SATA nanoSSD, nets 480MB per second from one chip

2013-05-22T18:54:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/innodisk-unveils-embedded-sata-nanossd/

While single-chip SSDs are clearly known quantities, they usually run at a much more leisurely pace than their larger counterparts. Innodisk doesn't think size and speed have to be contradictory -- it just unveiled an embedded version of its nanoSSD that performs almost as well as its much bigger counterparts. The µSSD-based SATA chip has a tiny footprint (0.63 x 0.79 inches) and draws just 1W of peak power, but can still read at up to 480MB/s and write at 175MB/s. As such, it's one of the few SSDs that can theoretically stuff desktop-class storage into a smartphone or tablet. Whether or not it will is another matter. Innodisk hasn't named customers for the nanoSSD so far, which leaves us guessing just where or when we'll see the drive in a finished product.

Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Storage

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Source: Innodisk

LG's 5-inch HD Oxide mobile display has a 1mm-slim bezel, we go eyes-on at SID

2013-05-22T14:04:00.003-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/lg-hd-oxide-display-eyes-on/

LG's flexible OLED display is just one of the company's many panels on show here at SID. Our next stop in the booth tour is a 5-inch HD prototype, which uses TFT Oxide technology for low power consumption and a super-slim profile. Like the 5-inch flexible panel, this guy sports a 1mm bezel, and a rep told us it utilizes IPS technology to offer wide viewing angles. The model you see here is rated at 250 nits, though LG expects a significantly higher brightness count by the time the panel makes it to market. As for when that will happen, "ASAP" is the only answer we received. Hit up our photo gallery below for a closer look.

Gallery: LG 5-inch HD Oxide mobile display eyes-on

Zach Honig contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, LG

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Hands-on with Kwikset and UniKey's Kevo keyless entry system

2013-05-22T14:04:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/kwikset-and-unikeys-kevo-keyless-entry-system-hands-on/

Kwikset and UniKey are set to update their home entry systems, which have remained largely unchanged since they were first invented more than a hundred years ago. Using a Bluetooth daughter card in the lock mechanism, a couple Bluetooth antennas and a clever app this lock opens by simply touching a finger to the outside of the housing when you approach the door.

At its simplest, the companies' Këvo system isn't too unlike a keyless car entry system, though it takes advantage of your iPhone's Bluetooth LE -- Android and BB10 versions will arrive as soon as those platform's stacks are sorted -- or the included keyfob for the proximity technology. Security is handled through the phone or desktop app enabling you to share keys with your family as administrative users, normal users, one-off entry or even scheduled access. For those concerned about leaving your phone too near the door and thereby allowing anybody access, the system actually uses two antennas, one on the inside and one out. So should you stand behind the closed door the system won't trigger access to those outside. Battery life for the four AAs is rated for a year, and you've no need to worry about being surprised by an outage, either: the system will notify you well in advance using the lock's eight RGB LEDs or through the app. Pricing will be somewhere in the $199 range when it hits the shops, though sadly we don't have an exact date to share. We're pretty stoked to get a chance to check this system out for ourselves but until that time, check out the quick video of it in action below.

Gallery: Kwikset and UniKey's Kevo keyless entry system hands-on

Filed under: Wireless

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NVIDIA enables full virtualization for graphics: up to eight remote users per GRID GPU

2013-05-22T14:03:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/nvidia-grid-vgpu-virtualization/

You probably won't have noticed the following problem, unless you happen to be the IT manager in an architecture firm or other specialist environment, but it's been an issue nonetheless. For all our ability to virtualize compute and graphical workloads, it hasn't so far been possible to share a single GPU core across multiple users. For example, if you'd wanted 32 people on virtual machines to access 3D plumbing and electrical drawings via AutoCAD, you'd have needed to dedicate eight expensive quad-core K1 graphics cards in your GRID server stack. Now, though, NVIDIA has managed to make virtualization work right the way through to each GPU core for users of Citrix XenDesktop 7, such that you'd only need one K1 to serve that workforce, assuming their tasks were sufficiently lightweight. Does this mean NVIDIA's K1 sales will suddenly drop by seven eighths? We couldn't tell ya -- but probably not.

Filed under: Networking, Software, NVIDIA

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Here's What It Looks Like Inside The Space Station Control Room

2013-05-22T14:02:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mission-control-iss-2013-5

Joanne Manaster, a biologist at the University of Illinois-Urbana, tweeted this image of the mission control room that runs the International Space Station.

In the picture, you can see a video link into the station, the video feed from an outer camera on the station, and the station's route, which you can also find online. Look at all those screens — four each!

You can see the Flight Director, who monitors the technical aspects of the space station's flight in real time; the CAPCOM, who is the capsule communicator that talks directly to the astronauts on the space station; and the MOD, the mission operations dictorate, who plans, directs, manages, and implements overall mission operations.

Manaster is visiting the Johnson Space Center as a part of a NASA Social event — which anyone can attend. She even got to wander around a mock up of the ISS:

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Samsung buys 10 percent stake in rival phone maker Pantech

2013-05-22T05:47:00.005-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/samsung-buys-stake-in-pantech/

Hang around these pages long enough and you're bound to come across Pantech, the South Korean purveyor of everything from giant 1080p handsets down to... giant 720p handsets. Samsung has noticed this rising star too and, so says Yonhap News, has now made a $50 million investment in the smaller company in return for a 10 percent stake. Implicit in that is that the Korean government has allowed Samsung's ever-expanding influence to infiltrate a potential rival, since Pantech is now the No. 3 phone maker in that country and only Qualcomm and a state-run bank possess larger stakes than Samsung's. As a result, the acquisition could have an anti-competitive aura to it -- but then, Pantech has actually been struggling of late, not least with large debts, and it has relied on big backers to bail it out.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Yonhap News

Malaysia's Yes 4G adds WiMAX to Samsung Chromebook, aims to transform local education

2013-05-22T05:47:00.003-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/malaysia-yes-4g-chromebook-wimax/

Samsung's Exynos 5-based Chromebook may have been available since last October, but how about one equipped with WiMAX radio? Graced with the presence of Google and Samsung reps in Kuala Lumpur (including a video message from Google SVP Sundar Pichai), today Malaysian carrier Yes 4G unveiled this rather special laptop for the local consumers. In fact, we should have seen this coming as Google's official blog did hint this last month, but we failed to catch that blurred "Yes 4G" logo on the laptop in the blog's photo.

As Google mentioned, the ultimate goal here is to help transform Malaysia's education using the Chromebook. And now we know that this ambition will be backed by Yes 4G's rapidly growing WiMAX network -- from the initial 1,200 base stations in 2010 to today's 4,000, covering 85 percent of the peninsula; and the carrier will expand into the eastern side with 700 more sites by the end of this year. This is especially important for the rural areas, where many schools still lack access to water and electricity. As a partner of the Malaysian Ministry of Education's 1BestariNet project, Yes 4G's parent company YTL Communications has so far ensured that 7,000 local state schools are covered by its WiMAX network, with the remaining 3,000 to be connected over the next six months.

Gallery: Malaysia's Yes 4G adds WiMAX to Samsung Chromebook, aims to transform local education

Filed under: Laptops, Samsung

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Source: Yes

MSI ships AMD Richland A10-based GX70 and GX60 gaming laptops

2013-05-22T05:47:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/msi-ships-amd-richland-a10-gx70-gx60-laptops/

Just as we knew it would, MSI has formally announced pricing for its newfangled GX70 and GX60 gaming laptops -- the world's first machines to ship with AMD's Richland A10-5750M (2.5GHz - 3.5GHz) within. The 17.3-inch GX70 offers up a 1,920 x 1,080 native display resolution, AMD's Radeon HD 8970M on the graphics front, a 750GB hard drive, 8GB of DDR3 memory, a Blu-ray Disc drive, Bluetooth 4.0 and Killer's E2200 networking technology. You'll also get a SDXC card slot, HDMI 1.4 socket, 720p webcam, a 9-cell battery -- likely good for about 89 seconds of use -- a backlit keyboard and a frame that's 2.17-inches thick and 8.6 pounds. If none of that frightens you, you can plan on parting ways with $1,399.99 to call one your own. The (slightly) more petite GX60 boasts a 15.6-inch panel (still 1080p, though), a 7.7 pound frame and a $1,299.99 price tag. Otherwise, the specifications are essentially identical from its big brother, and both should be shipping any moment now.

Filed under: Laptops

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Source: MSI

Hands-on with the Coolpad Quattro II 4G and 8920

2013-05-22T01:07:00.003-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/coolpad-quattro-ii-4g-8920/

CTIA 2013 seems to be dedicated to some of the lesser-known names in the US wireless industry, so it's fit that Chinese manufacturer Coolpad should take advantage of the situation to steal the show. Indeed, we were able to take a look at the phone maker's upcoming stateside model, the lower-end Quattro II 4G. In the past year, its predecessor cranked out roughly a million units on MetroPCS, and Coolpad is hoping to build upon that success to get a foothold in the US. This sequel, which offers stock Android 4.1.2 with a 4.5-inch qHD TFT display, 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8930 chip, 5MP rear camera and VGA front-facing cam, 1GB RAM, 4GB internal storage and a 1,800mAh battery, isn't going to satisfy the tastebuds of power users or high-end flagship seekers, but it's a quality option for those who aren't planning to spend a ton of money on a decent handset. Given the intended audience, the device is perfectly solid with reasonable performance; we appreciated the company's use of a textured back cover. One nitpick: despite our best efforts to get rid of fingerprints, smudges remained with no hope of removal in sight.

Coolpad wasn't able to give many details on pricing or availability, but reps confirmed that it should arrive on C Spire in late June / early July, with it likely hitting other regional prepaid carriers after. Given the original Quattro's $80 price point on MetroPCS last year, we wouldn't be surprised to see the next-gen version offered for around the same cost. The company's still working to expand its presence on some of the larger networks, but it hopes to make its debut in the postpaid world early next year.

Gallery: Coolpad Quattro II 4G hands-on

Gallery: Coolpad 8920 hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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LG Optimus F3 leaks with 4-inch screen and Jelly Bean, allegedly headed to Sprint

2013-05-22T01:07:00.001-05:00

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/lg-optimus-f3-leak/

As was the case with another LG device recently, the Optimus F3 is making an appearance before going official. Today we're getting an early look at what appears to be an entry-level member of the Optimus family, courtesy of @eveleaks, and one which will reportedly join Sprint's smartphone lineup pretty soon. Among the alleged specs said are a 4-inch WVGA display, 2,460mAh battery, LTE capabilities and one of the latest versions of Android -- Jelly Bean (4.1.2). Meanwhile, precise availability and pricing deets are still unknown, but, if all goes according to Phone Arena, we'll find all that out here "in the next few weeks."

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, LG

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Source: Phone Arena

The Awesome New Technology That You'll See on the Web This Year

2013-05-21T19:31:00.001-05:00

Source: http://lifehacker.com/the-awesome-new-technology-that-youll-see-on-the-web-t-509062071

The web becomes more and more capable each day, finding ways to replace what you do on your desktop. In the very near future you'll talk to your web apps, enjoy complex animation without the drain of Flash, and maybe even plug in your guitar. These features and more already exist, and they're coming to the broad internet this year.

Thanks to the quick iteration of browsers like Chrome and Firefox, what developers can easily accomplish with their sites grows by the day. At Google I/O last week, I had the pleasure of sitting in on Google engineer Eric Bidelman's session The More Awesome Web (you can view the presentation here) and learned about what we can expect from web developers—and what we as web developers can do ourselves—with the latest features of HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. Even if you're not a developer, what's up next for the web is pretty exciting. Here's a look at some of the coolest features you'll see in web apps this year.

Note: Not all browsers currently support the technologies discussed in this post, so you may need Chromium to try out any linked examples.

Plug Your Guitar into a Web Site

Yes, you will plug your guitar into a web site. Chrome already offers a web audio API that allows developers to access a user's audio input (with permission) by writing very little code. While not terribly exciting in itself, the amazing stuff happens after grabbing that signal.

Audio processing on the web is kind of mind-blowing. Developers can now detect pitch—which could lead to web-based pitch correction/auto-tuning—and add effects to live or recorded audio (e.g. vocoders). You can even plug your guitar into a web site and add effects. The web audio API can also do simple things like record audio notes. What once took an app now takes a tiny amount of code written for the web.

Automatically Translate Your Speech into Another Language

We've been able to talk to the web for a little while now, but with a number of limitations. For the most part, voice search was as good as it gets. With the latest speech recognition abilities in Chrome, developers can make use of this technology to do much more.

For example, what if you could say something in English and see it translated into Spanish, French, Italian, or a variety of other languages on the fly? You can. With access to the speech recognition API, developers can take what you say and use that text for a variety of purposes. Running that text through a translation service is just one of them.

Easily Share Your Screen

Plenty of web apps allow screen sharing, but they require quite a bit of work to make it happen. Some ask you to download software, others try to make it work with plug-ins like Flash or Java. Soon you'll see screen sharing offered directly by your browser using HTML5, bypassing a lot of the heavy lifting required by other technologies. If you're running Chromium, you can try it now. Other browsers will have to wait a little while before simple screen sharing is widely supported.

Enjoy Live-Rendered Animations with Complex Imagery

Although not the most outright exciting feature for the end user, we'll all come to appreciate the complex animation possible in the browser as developers implement new possibilities. By now you might be familiar with the SVG format, which offers a way of drawing scalable vector graphics using XML code. This format not only makes it possible to create images without files that load quickly, but also scale those images to pretty much any resolution without pixelation. In its own right, SVG is amazing. When you add animated masks using clipping paths, you get some pretty cool effects. The code is easy to write and will allow developers to add compelling and interesting motion elements to their sites.

The Future

These are just the highlights. Smaller, less flashy improvements are on the way as well and new technologies will likely surface in the latter half of 2013. The web is growing in awesome, incredible ways this year. As the years progress, we'll be doing even more than we expected in our browsers.

Title image remixed from an original by Ralph Bijker.

CustoMac May Buyer's Guide Saves Money on Hackintosh-Compatible Builds

2013-05-21T19:29:00.003-05:00

Source: http://lifehacker.com/customac-may-buyers-guide-saves-money-on-hackintosh-co-508892302

We love hackintoshes—the OS X-compatible computers you build yourself—but finding a compatible build requires some effort. Hackintosh master tonymacx86 offers up the latest working builds so you know the machine you'll build will work.

Tonymacx86's CustoMac buyers guide gets regular updates nowadays, but if you've been thinking about a hackintosh you'll get a good deal on parts this May. Why? Tonymacx86 explains:

It is currently a transitional period between Intel's 3rd generation "Ivy Bridge" and 4th generation "Haswell" Core i CPUs and their corresponding new chipset. Because of this, retailers are beginning to clear old inventory to make way for the new stuff. For those interested in super deals, it is now a very good time to build systems based on our well-established recommendations.

Per the usual, the CustoMac buyer's guide offers super cheap builds for only a few hundred dollars and extremely powerful builds that can rival a Mac Pro. When you've chosen all your parts, be sure to check out our always up-to-date guide to building a hackintosh so you can get it up and running.

Building a CustoMac: Buyer's Guide May 2013 | tonymacx86

The Basics of Music Production, Lesson 2: Recording Audio

2013-05-21T19:29:00.001-05:00

Source: http://lifehacker.com/the-basics-of-music-production-lesson-2-recording-aud-509103797

You can have a lot of fun making music, but getting a good recording and arrangement of your song requires some work and knowledge. Last week we set up a home recording studio. This week we're going to start recording.

Note: This is primarily a video lesson and you'll get a lot more information from watching the video above. That said, the instructions below will suffice and you should hang on to them for reference.

What You'll Need in This Lesson

If you participated in last week's lesson, you should have all the equipment you need to get started. If not, read last week's lesson first before preceding. We're not going to make equipment recommendations here, but you should know what equipment you're going to need to participate in this lesson:

Your computer with the DAW software of your choice installed (we'll be using Cubase)
A digital audio interface (with 48v phantom power) hooked up to your computer
A microphone connected to your digital audio interface, most likely via XLR cable
An instrument (e.g. a guitar, your voice, etc.)
About 20-30 minutes of your time

Once you've got everything ready, boot up your DAW software and let's get started!

Get to Know Your DAW's Interface.

Interface elements vary between different DAWs, but they embody the same ideas. We'll use Cubase to demonstrate here, but if you're using something else you should find things are pretty similar. Let's take a look at the common parts you'll need to know about.

The main project window is where you'll do a lot of your work. This window lets you interact with your instruments and sounds as well as bring up individual channel settings as needed. You can do a lot more, too, but those are the basics.

The mixer (in Cubase, this is the first of three mixers) looks like a hardware mixing board in a lot of ways. You can adjust the levels of individual tracks, open their channel settings, monitor the master output, and keep a general eye on what's going on with your mix as it plays.

The transporter does what you probably expect: it transports you around your project. This is where you press record, stop, and play, but also where you can toggle the metronome, set time signatures, loop your project, and get information about where you currently are in your project.

The VST instruments panel isn't something you really need to know about until the next lesson, but it's simply where you add virtual instruments to your project.

When you click the little "e" button next to an audio track you get its channel settings. You can add input (track-specific) and send (multi-track) effects here, use the built-in EQ, and adjust gain.

Those are the main elements of the interface you need to know about. Read on to learn how to set up your first project!

Set Up Your First Project

You already know how to record audio if you know how to push a button, but digital audio workstation (DAW) software requires some setup before that big red circle will actually capture an audio signal. Although we'll be using Cubase to set up our project, most DAW software works in similar ways. If you're not using Cubase, you should be able to follow along just fine but will need to look in slightly different locations for menu items and certain buttons. Here's what to do:

To get started, create a new project by selecting New Project in the File menu. Select "Empty" as a project type. Cubase will ask you where to save it, so pick one and wait for everything to load.
Before you can start recording, you need to make sure Cubase (or whatever DAW you're using) can find your interface and the mics (or whatever else) you have hooked up to it. Go to the Device menu and choose VST Connections.
From there, click the Inputs tab and set the first mono input to your first microphone. Repeat this process for any additional microphones or inputs (e.g. electric guitars).
Click the Outputs tab and you should see a pair of stereo outputs. Set the first one to your left speaker and the second one to your right speaker.
Now that your inputs and outputs are properly routed, close VST Connections and go to the Project menu. Choose Add Track -> Audio.
When the new track window appears, create one track and set its configuration to mono. Because we're just recording from a single microphone in this lesson, you don't need a stereo track. In fact, you'll rarely choose stereo even when recording from two microphones because you'll likely prefer to have the channels separated. This provides you with greater control over where they're placed in the recording (i.e. where it sounds like the recorded voice or instrument is) and the character of the sound. When you're done, click Add Track.
By default, the new track should have its record enabling toggle button lit up red. You'll see this beneath the track name. If it isn't lit, click on it to enable recording on this track.
Also by default, your track should be set to your first microphone. If not, take a look at the panel on the left side of the main project window and you'll see input and output settings. The output should be set to Stereo (which is the default name for Cubase's stereo output) and then input should be set to whatever you named your first microphon! e (usual ly Mono In by default, but this can vary). If you see No Bus that means nothing is connected to this audio track, so click on No Bus and change it to the name of your first microphone.
Using the transporter—which is the thin horizontal window strip with lots of tools and buttons on it—press the record button. You'll see the recording start. Talk, sing, or play an instrument into the microphone and the waveform of your audio will appear in real time.
When finished recording, press the stop button on the transporter.

That's all there is to it! You've just recorded your first bit of audio. It probably sounds bad, but that's likely due to a need for EQ, higher gain (increase in the amplitude of the frequency so it sounds louder), or some other problem. We're not going to worry about that just yet because you're still getting used to how your DAW works. We'll tackle mixing individual audio tracks and the entire mix in a later lesson, though you can get a preview if you watch the video above.

Want to learn more? Join us next Tuesday at 5:00 PM PT for our next lesson: playing and recording virtual instruments. Don't forget to bring your MIDI keyboard!