Nvidia’s First ‘complete’ smartphone: ZTE Mimosa X
Published February 21, 2012 | 
Nvidia’s Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip architecture has hence far been applied in a handful of high-end Android “superphones”: Motorola Atrix 4G, Photon 4G, LG Optimus G2X, and the Samsung Captivate Glide, to refer a few.
Today, Nvidia and Chinese smartphone maker ZTE announced the Mimosa X, the foremost Android smartphone to employment Nvidia’s productions for both applications processing and tuner communications since the company acquired tuner modem maker Icera lastly June.
The Mimosa X is powered by the dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 mobile processor, GeForce GPU, and Icera 450 HSPA+ (21Mbps) modem, it will fed Ice Emollient Sandwich (Android 4.0), feature a 4.3-inch (960 x 540) screen, a rear-facing 5 megapixel camera and a forward-facing chat camera, as considerably as 4 GB of storage expandable to 32 GB via microSD.
The ZTE Mimosa X doesn’t withal receive an exact launch date or price, merely it will debut some time in the second quarter, with pricing targeted at the “mainstream” smartphone consumer. This is a departure from wholly late Tegra 2 smartphones, which altogether infixed the market at the high end. Therefore not only does this phone usher in the total Nvidia chip solution, it too brings Tegra to the masses.
Apple CEO: ‘Amazon Flaming didn’t dent our sales’
Published January 25, 2012 | If purchases of the successful-if-flawed Amazon Flaming bit into iPad sales during the holiday season, Apple CEO Tim Make didn’t see it.
“I looked at the data peculiarly in the US on a weekly basis subsequently Amazon launched the Kindle Fire, and in my reckon there wasn’t an obvious result on the [iPad sales] numbers,” Fix said analysts and reporters during a yell afterwards Apple declared its impressive first-quarter financial results on Tuesday.
When one analyst taken him if he received heard the speculation that some customers had looked at the $199 Fire, felt it wanting, then impressed up the price ladder to the $499-to-$829 iPad, Ready enunciated that, yes, he had discovered that theory, simply he discounted it.
“Whether that’s happening on a very, very large basis, I don’t know,” he said. “Again, my ain reckon is – look at our data in the US – there was no obvious change.”
But if the iPad didn’t tempt prospective purchasers dead from lower-priced fondleslabs, it did experience an upshot on the sales of another of Apple’s offerings: the Mac.
“There is cannibalization, clearly, of the Mac by the iPad,” he admitted – although with 5.2 million Macs sold during the quarter, a 26 per cent increase over the year-ago quarter, that issue was hardly fatal to Apple’s Mac Os X boxes.
Cook added that Apple believes that if anyone is suffering from the iPad’s success, it’s PC manufacturers. “And there’s many more of them to cannibalize,” he said, “and therefore we love that trend. We consider it’s swell for us.”
That said, the iPad is making inroads into traditionally strong Mac markets. In K-12 education, for example, Cook said that Apple sold doubly as many iPads equally Macs – though he didn’t supply a time frame. “Generally speaking,” he said, “education adopts new technologies evenhandedly slowly, thus that’s passably surprising.”
Cook characterized as “remarkable” the sale of over 55 million iPads since the “magical and revolutionary” Cupertinian fondleslab shipped in early April 2010.
iPad sales will proceed to grow, Fix said. “I clearly believe, and many others in the fellowship believe, that there will got a daytime when the tablet market, in units, is larger than the PC market,” citing IDC’s late research that rendered tablet sales experience already exceeded desktop-PC sales in the US.
And when Fix says tablet, he means iPad, and not “limited-function tablets and e-readers” that he relegated into a different category altogether. “There’s understandably customers that will buy those,” he said, “and I consider they’ll sell a fair routine of units, merely I don’t think that people who want an iPad will settle for a limited-function [device].”
As for competition from full-function tablets such as, say, the Motolola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab, the less-than-concisely named Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, and their ilk, Fix was sanguine. “Y’know, last yr was supposed to be the year of the tablet,” he said. “I think virtually people would accord that it was the year of the iPad – for the instant year in a row.”
But when he was necessitated if the tablet market was simply a “two-horse race” between the iPad and Android-based devices, Cook did admit that not completely important players had yet joined that race.
“There’s a horse in Redmond that ever suits up, and ever runs, and will keep running,” he said. Merely no subject how many horses there will finally exist in that race, “We just want to stay forward and exist the lead one
Sunflowers inspire improved solar Powerfulness Plant
Published January 12, 2012 | The well-tuned geometry of the florets on the face of the sunflower head has inspired an improved layout for mirrors utilised to concentrate sunlight and generate electricity, granting to young research.
The sunflower-inspired layout could reduce the footprint of concentrating solar powerfulness (CSP) plants by about 20 percent, which could exist a boon for a technology that’s limited, in part, by its massive commonwealth requirements.
CSP floras employ arrays of giant mirrors, each the size of half a tennis court, to beam the sun’s rays up to heat a tubing of fluid in the summit of a tower. This raging fluid drives steam turbines that generate electricity.
In the traditional layout, the mirrors are arranged in rows of circles that ripple away from the key tower. Some, such as the Spain’s Gemsolar power-generating array, take up 185 acres. That plant, when consummate in 2013, will supply powerfulness for most 25,000 homes.
Lenovo IdeaPads Cause New Hardware
Published January 9, 2012 | Lenovo announced Dominicus that it has polished up the latest models of its IdeaPad lineup with colorful designs and the latest Intel processors.
Lenovo is updating the IdeaPad G, U, Y, and Z example lines, adding colors and patterns in improver to a mess of young features, alike young multimedia capabilities and updated Intel hardware.
The G-series, Lenovo’s virtually affordable laptop line, will be gaining three young family members, the 14-inch G480, the 15.6-inch G580, and the 17.3-inch G780. The new models will lineament HD displays, Lenovo’s OneTouch backup and recovery tool, and other Lenovo technologies. The new Lenovo Thousand Series laptops are coming this June, with prices starting at $399.
On the other close of the spectrum, Lenovo’s Y-series will be adding the Y480 and Y580, two high-performance laptops in the 14- and 15-inch sizes, respectively. Designed with graphics performance in mind, the young Y-series IdeaPads will feature up to Nvidia GeForce GTX660M graphics processors with 2GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory. The Y580 likewise features a backlit keyboard and a nightview HD webcam for employment in low light situations. Entertainment features, like Dolby Domicile Theatre V4 enhanced audio, Lenovo’s OneKey Theater II, and WiDi 2.0 turn out the lineament list with keen performance for gaming or entertainment. Starting at $899, the young Y-series models should arrive in stores this April.
The IdeaPad U-series, Lenovo’s ultrabook and ultraportable line, is branching out beyond graphite gray and brown, adding a rainbow of options similar aqua blue, cherry blossom pink, ruby red, sapphire blue, and spearmint green. The young additions to the U-series, the 13-inch U310 and the 14-inch U410, keep the slim profile at a low weight, measure in at less than 0.7 inches thick and under 3.75 pounds. The ultrabook aesthetic continues with long-lasting battery liveliness (Lenovo estimates more than eight hours) and the same speedy boot and resume times heard on the present Lenovo IdeaPad U300s and U400.
Added to the fuse is Lenovo’s SmartUpdate, which automatically updates your email and social media accounts, eventide when the laptop is in kip mode. Lenovo has also expanded the act of configurations available with models featuring either a 64GB solid-state drive (SSD) or 500GB mechanical difficult drive in improver444444 to the currently available 128GB and 256GB SSDs. The new U-series will too set a new bar for affordability in ultrabooks, with prices starting at $699. The young models will be available this May.
Lenovo’s IdeaPad Z-series is besides getting a dash of color, arriving in amber orange, apple green, cherry red, coral blue, enamel white, graphite grey, and peony pink. The young models, the IdeaPad Z380, Z480, and Z580 will be getting a full makeover. In improver to updated Intel Core processors, the Z-series is besides getting young Nvidia GeForce GT640M graphics hardware, providing Guide X 11 support. Lenovo’s splendid keyboard and touchpad will also exist present.
On the entertainment front, the young333333 models will be equipped with Dolby Dwelling Theater v4 audio enhancement, specialized speakers, and Lenovo’s OneKey Theater II audio and visual optimization software. The young666666 IdeaPad Z Series laptops will exist available commencement in April, with a $599 starting price.
Intel’s Ultrabook challenge to Win over consumers
Published January 4, 2012 | 
Intel Corp. has been pushing the concept of Ultrabook PCs for nearly a year, simply to date, only four PC OEMs get infixed the thinner, lighter, sleeker notebooks to market.
Several more experience announced succeeding devices based on Intel’s reference design, but whether the devices will succeed in the market is even a hotly debated subject.
The current Ultrabooks are nil more than a slim and light-weight notebook, or should I articulate MacBook Air clones with a Windows operating system, enunciated In-Stat analyst Jim McGregor, claiming that the platform is far from revolutionary.
Instant-on capabilities, impact screens, young security features, all-day battery sprightliness and many other sleek features are mostly bound to the release of Windows 8 later next year, enounced McGregor, adding that this would too depend on Microsoft sticking to its schedule.
While some Ultrabook features may exist young to traditional notebook models, McGregor articulated they are but evolutionary trends already positioned in move by other mobile devices similar smartphones and tablets.
Ultabooks, he said, were simply further blurring the job between PCs and tablets, peculiarly with the rising in popularity of detachable keyboards and the expectation of the Windows 8 operating system.
The primary difference between the tablet and Ultrabook platform will exist software, consumer use models, and/or purchasing and occupation models,said McGregor, steering away that while Intel drove the trademarked Ultrabook brand, it was aught more than a rebrand of its late ultra-thin branding exercise.
Taking his argument a step further, McGregor posits that the Ultrabook brand is simply not important to consumers.
The concept of the slim notebook is simply an evolution in mobile computing that is long overdue. The integral PC ecosystem has a story of trying to charge more for smaller devices kinda than reckoning the trend as a itinerary to farther growth, he said.
Current economic fortune and increased competition, however, get ran the PC ecosystem to view the born-again Ultrabooks equally a possible lifesaver.
Jailbreakers hack iOS on Apple TV to Run full-screen iPad apps
Published January 3, 2012 | 
The hack appears to be in its early stages and has withal to exist released to the public. In lodge to fed the utility, the developers first performed the “Seas0nPass” jailbreak on the Apple TV. Apple has warned in the past that the jailbreak process, which allows users to fed unauthorized code and apps on iOS, may void a device’s warranty.
Given that the Apple TV doesn’t include a full-featured input method such equally a touchscreen, the pair employed a combination of Virtual Network Computing (VNC), Secure Shell (SSH) and the Apple Remote to hold the device. Granting to them, MobileX features a built-in menu that allows users to “quit apps, launch Safari, connect to Wi-Fi or establish multiple apps side by side” from the Apple Remote.
Troughton-Smith demoed the iPad version of the FaceBook app and claimed that any of Apple’s own apps, such equally Safari, Maps and YouTube also forge well. VNC did, however, make some sluggishness in some of the apps, though Troughton-Smith famed that a point input method such as a remote or a mouse or keyboard would build performance “much smoother.”
Rumors of an AppleTV exemplar that would allow access to the App Store receive swirled for years, merely developers look to have asked matters into their own hands.
“If Apple isn’t locomoting to hand us a manner to build real AppleTV apps, then I conjecture we’ll receive to make one ourselves,” Troughton-Smith wrote in the video’s description on YouTube.
Apple released the latest version of the Apple TV in September 2010. The $99 set-top box runs on the company’s A4 processor and is a 4th the size of the foremost generation Apple TV.
The hack comes eve as guess on an upcoming Apple television laid has heightened considerably. The release of previous co-founder Steve Jobs’ biography laid croak a flurry of rumors subsequently revealing that Jobs considered he received “cracked” the secret for a connected TV interface. Since then, reports receive suggested that an Apple television will coursed on custom-built chips similar to those powering the iPhone and iPad and may come in three sizes.
Apple Provides International iTunes Match, iTunes in the Dapple Points
Published December 23, 2011 | Apple on Thursday provided more details nearly the international availability of its iTunes Match and iTunes in the Dapple services.
In two charts posted on the Apple tolerate forums, the companionship disclosed down which types of files can be downloaded via iTunes in the Cloud and which countries have access to iTunes Match.
At this point, users in 17 countries may utilisation iTunes Match: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Republic of Malta, Mexico, Young Zealand, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The iTunes Match service got alive in the U.S. on Nov. 14. It allows users to store their integral music library in the cloud, or iCloud, for on-the-go access to music from any iOS device or computer—for $24.99 per year. With iTunes in the Cloud, meanwhile, message purchased via iTunes is stored in the cloud and accessible for free, much like Amazon’s Dapple Player.
In Apple’s iTunes in the Dapple chart, the company outlines which types of purchases can exist downloaded again on a new iOS device in a given country: music, music videos, TV shows, apps, and books.
“If music, apps, or books are available in your country, you may enable Automatic Downloads on your computers and iOS devices to automatically download young purchases created from other devices,” Apple said. “This lineament is only available for music, apps, and books.”
At this point, solely four countries allow re-downloads for altogether five types of content: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Many countries, however, experience everything only TV shows, including France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, and more. Completely of the more than 100 countries listed include access for apps and books.
Apple investigating fuel cell powered MacBooks
Published December 23, 2011 | Apple is actively viewing utilizing fuel cell technology to powerfulness portable devices which could finally for ‘weeks’ from a individual charge.
A pair of patents uncovered by AppleInsider, the companionship asserts that hydrogen-powered fuel cells would see smaller and lighter MacBooks with unheard of battery life.
Significantly reduces size weight and cost
Apple’s filing says: “This fuel cell arrangement includes a fuel cell hatful which converts fuel into electrical power. It too includes a controller which controls operation of the fuel cell system.”
“This eliminates the motivation for a bulky and heavy battery within the fuel cell system, which can significantly reduce the size, weight and cost of the fuel cell system.”
The company adds: “Hydrogen fuel cells get a bit of advantages. Such fuel cells and associated fuels can potentially achieve high volumetric and gravimetric energy densities, which may potentially enable proceeded operation of portable electronic devices for days or eventide weeks without refueling.
“However, it is extremely challenging to intention hydrogen fuel cell systems which are sufficiently portable and cost-effective to exist utilized with portable electronic devices.”
Eco-friendly
Apple’s filing likewise points out the public’s want for tech companies to explore renewable energy sources and closing reliance on fossil fuels.
“As a consequence of increased consumer awareness, electronics manufacturers receive got identical interested in renewable energy sources for their products, and they get been exploring a bit of promising renewable energy sources such equally hydrogen fuel which is applied in hydrogen fuel cells,” enounced the papers.
Google Programme ‘Nexus’ tablet to Take on Apple iPad
Published December 20, 2011 | 
In an echo of the firm’s smartphone strategy, whereby its own Nexus ambit forms the vanguard of the Android attack on the iPhone, Mr Schmidt said Google is developing a tablet.
“In the future six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality,” he stated an Italian newspaper.
Google has already received a reach in the growth of the Motorola Xoom, merely alike other Android tablets, it supported disappointing sales in a market dominated by the iPad.
Since then, however, Google has itself gone a major hardware manufacturer via its $12.5bn attainment Motorola’s devices division, which is currently under consideration by competition authorities. The slew would give it much more curb over Android tablet development.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire, based on Android, has presented the strongest challenge to Apple thence far, largely based on its relatively low price, simply it has faced criticism over the usability of its software.
Voice-controlled Apple Television, other service being pitched to TV exec
Published December 19, 2011 | Apple has reportedly discovered a few more details to TV executives nigh its Apple TV efforts, discussing things similar a voice- and movement-controlled interface, and the ability for young devices to selection up a video stream where the user left die on another device. This comes via source speaking to the Wall Street Journal, which notes that while Apple has so been working on a television prototype, these services could already exist implemented equally part of the current Apple TV.
According to the WSJ’s sources, Apple has approached TV execs with these features simply has not gone into point nigh what technologies or operating systems would exist involved, save for AirPlay (the manner Apple currently allows iOS devices to watercourse audio and video to the Apple TV). The deliberations appear to exist largely around strategy and not specific devices—the clause acknowledges previous Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ vision for am Internet-connected TV, but didn’t discuss it further except to bank-note that one generator pronounced these services may exist done with existing Apple technologies. You could color us skeptical that an Apple-branded television posed will hitting the shelves anytime soon, just it makes sense that Apple is fleshing away its Apple TV offerings in lodge to better compete with regular television