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When Google launched the new Devices section of their Google Play Store, it only seemed like a matter of time before the company would eventually expand beyond selling just the unlocked Galaxy Nexus. After all, it’s called the Devices section for a reason.

While rumors of forthcoming Nexus tablets dance in our heads, Google has recently started carrying some new gear in the Play Store, though they’re decidedly not new or flashy. Users can now pick up Samsung vehicle and desktop docks to prop up their Galaxy Nexuses when needed, but here’s the thing — not all of you will be able to use them.

You see, the accessories listed work just fine with the GSM version of the Galaxy Nexus, but you’re fresh out of luck if you’ve opted for one of the LTE-capable versions. Chalk it up to a very minor difference between the two versions’ waistlines, as the Verizon and Sprint variants are juuuust thick enough to render them incompatible.

Yeah, they aren’t exactly the additions I was hoping for either. Still, it’s a pretty clear sign that Google is more serious about their hardware offerings. If Google really is set on offering a score of new gadgets through their own web store, they can’t let those customers mosey on over to other retailers when it comes time for them to shell out extra money for related goodies, especially when accessories are where retailers often make up for money lost of device sales. I imagine that Google’s testing the waters a bit with this new turn — if they can entice users into buying other, supplementary knick-knacks from them instead of turning to mainstays like Amazon, you can bet they’ll do the same with any other devices they happen to start selling down the line.

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30 May 2012 3:26 PM

Welcome to the Windows 8 Hardware blog! I’m Chuck Chan, Corporate Vice President on the Windows Development team. We’re rattling agog to attain acquirable today the Windows 8 Release Preview on the Windows Dev Center. Windows 8 represents a move nervy for the Windows platform, the utilization agency set, and the figure experiences you crapper physique for Windows.

We’re actuation this journal to wage you whatever brainwave into how we fashioned and shapely Windows 8, and to explore the prizewinning practices for nonindustrial enthusiastic element and drivers, as you start the newborn concern of Windows 8 development.

The grouping tributary to this journal are the engineers antiquity Windows 8 and the tools and kits that hold it. Our content is to support you intend started by centering on the “why” and “how” of antiquity awful PCs and figure experiences for Windows 8. Each journal locate module inform a utilization matter and bond unitedly aggregation from the Dev Center, Forums, MSDN Library, and where it makes sense, samples from the Windows Hardware Code Gallery.

We fashioned the Windows 8 papers and tools to support you create high-quality drivers and Metro call figure apps using an integrated, recent agency set. Using the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) and Visual Studio, you crapper write, build, clew package, deploy, test, and debug your drivers and apps direct from Visual Studio. With the newborn Windows Hardware Certification Kit, you crapper secure the sympathy and reliability of your devices, and wage a enthusiastic coverall individual experience.

To intend started, download and establish Windows 8 Release Preview, the Windows Driver Kit 8, and Visual Studio Professional 2012. The Windows 8 SDK is also included with Visual Studio. As you begin using Windows 8, you’ll attending that we’ve additional newborn features and reinforced existing ones. In constituent to providing a recent agency set, we’ve also been hornlike at impact rising noesis direction and processing the artefact you wage a enthusiastic individual undergo for devices
with Metro call figure apps. We’ll deal more info in forthcoming posts.

The Windows Development aggroup module locate to this journal erst every digit to digit weeks until the promulgation of Windows 8. Commenting is encouraged, and we are hunting nervy to a snappy conversation. Please administer ordinary manner and meet on matter with your comments. The Windows Hardware Community Forum is also a enthusiastic locate for hardware-related questions and communicating most Windows 8.

Intel announced its quad-core Ivy Bridge processors in April, but we've known that dual-core CPUs must be on the way too. And alas, the chip maker does have some up its sleeve -- 14, to be exact. Core i5 and Core i7 versions will be the first to ship, with Core i3 processors launching later this year along with new Pentiums and Celerons. Of the 14 dual-core processors, six are desktop-grade. The rest are mobile, though four are ultra-low voltage (which will be denoted by a U at the end of their name). Computex is just around the corner, and we expect to see plenty of Ivy Bridge systems -- especially Ultrabooks with ultra-low voltage CPUs -- there next week. In the meantime, we've already reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad x230, a system running a dual-core 2.6GHz Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor. If you're into the nitty-gritty details, you'll find plenty to love in the Intel slides below the break.

Continue reading Intel details 14 dual-core Ivy Bridge processors ahead of Computex

Intel details 14 dual-core Ivy Bridge processors ahead of Computex originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 May 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When Intel first unveiled its grand plans for Ultrabooks at last year's Computex, many of the fireworks were consciously reserved for Ivy Bridge-based variants in 2012 -- well, they're here. This year's show in Taipei will show off the third generation of the skinny, MacBook Air-inspired platform, and Intel is toughening up the design requirements in the process. The thickness requirements are the same as last year, at 18mm for systems with screens under 14 inches and 21mm for bigger machines, but high-speed ports are now mandatory to get that coveted "Ultrabook" label and the full marketing weight of Intel's $300 million Ultrabook Fund: if a PC doesn't have either USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt, it's out of the running. Intel also wants security built-in, rather than optional, as well as guarantees that a system is quick and responsive when it's fully awake. Not that this would be terribly hard with the low-voltage Ivy Bridge processors launching at the same time, mind you.

Just to reinforce the importance of it all, Intel is noting that the flood of Ultrabooks is about to pick up in a big way as the category hits the mainstream. We were promised 75 Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks this year in a presentation back at CES; that number's now up to 110, 30 of which will be Windows 8-friendly touchscreen models and another 10 opting for the convertible tablet route. At least some of those lightweight portables should pop up at Computex next week, and you can be sure we'll be investigating as many of them as we can to see just how well Intel's partners have advanced the game.

Intel to show third-gen Ultrabooks at Computex, makes USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt a necessity originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 May 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Today is May 31, 2012, the day Intel finally revealed specifics on its dual-core Ivy Bridge processors. That means the month of June is going to be teeming with new laptops, many of them packing Intel's latest chips. Lenovo's 12-inch ThinkPad X230 will be one of them when it goes on sale June 5th, and it happens to be the first machine we've tested with one of Intel's dual-core-flavored CPUs. But make no mistake: the X230 brings more than just a speed bump. With this generation, Lenovo overhauled its signature keyboard, opting instead for an island-style layout with wider-spaced keys. Rounding out the list is a 300-nit IPS display, a battery rated for nine hours of runtime and, of course, that brand-new Core i5-3320M CPU. So how much better is the performance? Is it a good deal for $1,249? And what to make of that revamped keyboard? Find the answers to all those questions after the break.

Gallery: Lenovo ThinkPad X230 review

Continue reading Lenovo ThinkPad X230 review

Lenovo ThinkPad X230 review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 May 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The economic downturn of the last few years hit few cities as hard as Detroit. Still, the city has recently become somewhat of a startup hub in its own right and today Ford Global Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company that manages Ford’s intellectual property portfolio, announced that it is opening a showroom for “innovators to show off their creations to peers and potential customers.” This Motor City Innovation Exchange will be open to anyone, as a Ford spokesperson told us earlier today. The goal here is to build a marketplace for licensing technological innovation from local startups across and beyond the auto industry. The public will be able to visit and browse the technologies on display and anyone who participates (including startups, established companies, universities and individuals) can license their inventions.

The auto industry, with its often entrenched supplier relationships, can be a hard market for startups to tackle. The Exchange, hopes Ford, will give it and other manufacturers access to new concepts and products by startups, individual inventors and research labs that would otherwise remain undiscovered.

Ford is working together with TechShop, the California-based hacker/makerspace which just opened its first Detroit location. The Exchange, says Ford Global Technologies’ CEO William Coughlin, “will be an open meeting place that will enable inventors to showcase what they create in TechShop and then negotiate, network and even sell their prototyped solutions to players in the automotive industry, from manufacturers and suppliers to research institutions and startups.”

TechShop members who need more space to put their ideas into practice (which is probably not an uncommon problem given that we’re not just talking about software development but also actual physical product manufacturing here) will be able to rent working space at a discounted rental rate in Allen Park and Dearborn.

Another partner involved in this project is the Detroit-based AutoHarvest Foundation, a non-profit that aims to build stronger connections between the auto industry and Detroit’s entrepreneurs and startups. Among the members of AutoHarvest are Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. TechTown, Waynse State University’s business incubator will also use the Exchange to hold office hours to provide support to local tech entrepreneurs. Given that space in the Exchange is limited, AutoHarvest will be managing the catalog of available inventions and and help connect inventors with licensees.

According to Ford, it’s important to note that the goal of this project is to create “an open innovation space meant to connect those with ideas with those that need them.” While there is no particular theme here, Ford and its partners assume that the majority of new projects will be in the automotive space, but as a Ford spokesperson told me, “there’s an extremely talented skill base in the area that goes beyond just automotive thinking. That’s where we really see the value, in finding ideas that are not derived from ‘automotive think’ yet might provide a solution for an automotive problem.”

English entrepreneur and chairman of The Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson thinks that your tap water is dirty. So much so, in fact, that he's partnered up with Strauss Water to get one of his new purifiers into your home and onto your countertop. The colorful Virgin Pure T6 (£299, $466) can dispense 1.3 liters of chilled H20 per minute, or 1.4 liters of hot water that's stored internally. The T7 (£379, or $591) delivers a bit more swagger to your crib with its minimalist, tapered design that offers 50 percent faster cold water flow. It even gets a small power bump to heat your hot water more quickly than its less-expensive sibling. It all sounds well and good, but we'll really be impressed when Virgin crams one of these into its seatbacks in first class.

Virgin Pure water purifiers launch offensive against tap and bottled water in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 23:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

i/o Ventures, the incubator and co-working space located in San Francisco’s Mission District, just held the demo day for its latest batch of startups. All of them have been working out of the i/o offices for the past three months, and have also received a $25,000 investment.

It’s pretty hard to judge someone based on a short presentation, but if nothing else, all of the ideas sound pretty cool or at least interesting, and there’s a nice mix of consumer and business products. Here’s the list of companies:

Avenue — A tool for managing the landlord-tenant relationship. It creates a single location online where landlords can review applications, run credit checks, and collect rent. At the same time, applicants have control over the process, so they’re not sharing any information that they’re not ready to share, and a landlord won’t accidentally run a bunch of credit checks on them at once (apparently that happened to someone on the Avenue team). Co-founder Gino Zahnd previously led the UX teams at Kosmix, Flickr, and elsewhere. (The service is currently in private beta testing.)

ApptheGame — A personalized stream for sports fans, allowing them to check-in to live sporting events, whether they’re at the stadium, the bar, or at home. The app then delivers allows them to interact with other fans and also delivers customized content. Sports teams, in turn, can offer rewards for loyal fans — the company says two professional teams have already signed up.

Appsperse — Helps mobile app publishers calculate the return on investment of their user acquisition campaigns, broken down by different marketing channels. Co-founder Hugo Troche says this is something that’s easily done on the Web, but it’s a big challenge on mobile — and he cited his own experience as an app developer, as well as testimonials from others like Lumosity, to back up his case. “If Google has taught us anything, it’s that if you rpovider advertisers with transparency and accountability the advertiser base grows,” Troche says. (In private beta.)

Onefeat — An app that gamifies life. Users earn points by accomplishing different missions in the app, posting pictures, and getting positive votes from other users. You can tag other people in a photo to give them points too. In one mission, a Onefeat co-founder even got on his knees and proposed to Google’s Marissa Mayer at a tech conference. (She said no.) Ultimately, co-founder Souheil Medaghri says he wants to create a new kind of star — “the heroes of everyday life” who “shine through awesomeness.

vid.io — Co-founder Rob Sandie was previously CEO of Viddler, which helps publishers distribute their own video content outside of YouTube. Viddler is a profitable, multi-million dollar business, he says, but ultimately fighting against YouTube is a “losing proposition” — it’s just going to keep growing. So Sandie and his team have created a “HootSuite for YouTube,” allowing companies to manage their presence on the video supersite. They can manage multiple channels, create team logins, schedule publishing times, and more.

White House announces anti-botnet initiative originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 22:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Optimizely, the Y Combinator-incubated startup that helps companies A/B test their websites, just announced that it has raised new funding from Battery Ventures, Google Ventures, and InterWest Partners.

The startup previously raised $1.2 million from angels including Ron Conway, Chris Sacca, and Ashton Kutcher, but this is its first venture round. Co-founder and CEO Dan Siroker (who was director of analytics for Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008) says he isn’t disclosing the amount — which is the exact thing that a tech journalist doesn’t want to hear — because he doesn’t want to get into a competition over valuation and “vanity metrics.”

So what are the numbers that Siroker thinks really matter? Revenue, for one. Optimizely says its revenue has increased 1,266 percent year-over-year. Percentage increases can be a little deceptive for young companies (Optimizely launched in 2010) since they’re starting from zero, but that’s still a pretty good sign. The company also says it’s now being used by more than 2,000 enterprises, including Starbucks, Disney, and Salesforce.com. And Siroker sent me the chart below (via BuiltWith), which shows percentage adoption among websites in a few categories. Overall, he says Optimizely has pulled ahead of Google Website Optimizer and is now gunning for market leader Omniture, specifically its Test & Target product.

Optimizely’s goal is to make it as easy as possible to run A/B tests on your websites. You just add a few lines of JavaScript to any page that you want to test, and you can use a graphical interface to change the layout, images, and text.

Siroker says the company’s next big launch will be a mobile product — he notes that smartphone screens have “limited real estate,” making it even more important to optimize the layout. More broadly, he says Optimizely sees a big opportunity in expanding beyond A/B testing altogether, into personalization.

You probably don't need a 112 slide PowerPoint presentation from Mary Meeker and the venture capital firm KPCB to tell you this, but the Internet, she's getting bigger. Every year more and more people sign on and, not surprisingly, many of the 663 million netizens added over the last three years have come from developing nations like China and India. In fact, since 2008, China has accounted for almost a third of new web users, adding 215 million to the connected population. What also shouldn't come as a shock, is that the boon in connectivity is also being pushed by the broader availability of 3G data connections. Areas like India, China and Vietnam have all seen triple digit percentage growths in 3G penetration since last year. Wireless broadband has really exploded in India, where year over year growth in subscribers was 841 percent, though, that still only equates to a four percent penetration rate. For more info about the state of the internet and the world's 1.1 billion 3G subscribers hit up the source link.

Internet Trends report finds online growth driven by China and India, users increasingly mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 22:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ADATA's trio of new Premier Pro microSD cards have escaped from the company's headquarters. Aimed at professionals and demanding consumers, the 16GB and 32GB editions come with a 45MB/s read and 40MB/s write speeds and support the latest SD 3.0 standard. The company isn't mentioning how well the 8GB card runs, so we'll just presume it's a little less speedy than either of its larger brothers. We've reached out to the company to find out when we can expect to see these hitting shelves (and how much they'll cost) and we will update if they tell us.

Continue reading ADATA lets the sun shine on its new range of Premier Pro microSD cards

ADATA lets the sun shine on its new range of Premier Pro microSD cards originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 21:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Because Steve Jobs had visited the AllThingsD D conference stage so many times over the course of the past decade, organizers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher decided to pay him tribute by inviting two of his friends for 25 years, Dr. Ed Catmull and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, to talk for the closing hour about “The Lessons of Steve Jobs.”

When both men were asked by Mossberg about what advice they had for aspiring entrepreneurs who’d like to replicate Jobs’ success, both had similar answers but Ellison, who was Jobs’ next door neighbor in Woodside, dominated the conversation. Want to be like Steve Jobs? Well you’re not going to get there by trying, Ellison asserted.

“Trying to copy Steve means you’re going to stop at the surface,” said Ellison, who met Jobs when Jobs’ peacock (seriously) accidentally wandered into his yard, “Some people are so unique that copying them doesn’t work.”

Ellison said the best thing an aspiring Jobs could do was attempt to stay away from a conservative mindset, fully commit to making projects successful and be obsessed with product. Then he broke down, “If you want to tell if you are like Steve, ask yourself, ‘If there’s an unsolved problem at work, can you think about anything else?’”

“If you think about the benefits about being famous and rich then you’re missing the whole point,” said Ellison, who also happens to be rich and famous, “If  you’re laying awake at night obsessed with the problems at work, and when you solve one you move on to the next problem, and then when you solve that move on to the next one then you might be similar to Steve. He described Jobs’ personality as “obsessive compulsive + Peculiar genius.”

“If you’ve got Picasso’s aesthetic and Edison’s inventiveness and then you are the next Steve Jobs,” Ellison told Mossberg, asserting that while there are a lot of lessons to be learned,  trying to model yourself out after Steve Jobs is futile, “It’s like saying you want to paint like Picasso, then asking, “Should I use more red”?

“He wasn’t trying to be rich,” Ellison went on, “Apple became one of the most valuable companies on earth and it wasn’t even one of Steve’s goals. Steve was always talking about products. He was a creative artist, engineer and entrepreneur unlike anyone else,” he mused, relaying an anecdote about how when Apple passed Oracle in market cap, Steve called up and joked with him about how CEOs in Silicon Valley measure their manhood in market cap. “He noticed [success]and he was proud of it but it wasn’t a motivator at all.”

“[If you're trying to mimic] Steve clothes, superficial things, then that’s the wrong thing,” Ellison said, “Steve wore the same thing every day because he didn’t want to think about what he was wearing.”