Enchanting folding-out laptop with utopian specs

No matter how advanced, progressive, sleek and lightweight our laptops get, the one thing that we sorely miss is an elaborate keyboard. I know of someone who uses his Macbook but in conjunction with a wireless keyboard. Many hybrids and self-built versions are out there being used by folks, so the question really is, are we happy with what the industry is dishing out to us? Or do we have to lust after Utopian concepts like the iWEB 2.0…with really drool-worthy features!

Designer: Yang Yongchang

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Acer announces Acer Aspire Ethos T5943G and 8943G multimedia notebooks

Acer has announced two new models entertainment notebooks; Acer Aspire Ethos T5943G and Acer Aspire Ethos 8943G. These entertainment focused notebooks are equipped with large 18″ and 15.6″ displays and a will be equipped with powerful Intel Core i5 or i7 processors as well as ATI Mobility Radeon HD5000 series graphics cards.

Additionally, these notebooks will be equipped with true 5.1 Dolby Home theater surround support (including subwoofer), fingerprint reader, webcam, USB ports, Firewire, eSATA port, Storage up to 1.28 TB (combining 2 640 GB hard disk) and an optional Blu-ray optical drive upgrade.

The Acer Aspire T5943G will support a Full 1080p HD (1920 x 1080) resolution and the Acer Aspire 8943G will support a (1366 x 768) HD resolution. Both of these models also come with Acer’s own unique software; Acer Arcade Deluxe which provides a single place to organize your multimedia files.

• Acer Arcade Photo: This application will let you organize photos in slideshows and albums as well as do basic photo editing.
• Arcade Music & Arcade Video: This software will let you organize and play music and video on the go. Arcade Video will also let you to convert home made movies to many formats.

Acer has not announced pricing or a firm release date on these models but it’s expected soon.

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Microsoft to release “out of band” patch to fix zero-day IE vulnerability

In what will be Microsoft’s second ‘out of band’ patch this year, the company will Tuesday release a security update – MS10-018 - to fix the zero day vulnerability that has, of late, been affecting Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7, and has been used in targeted attacks over the last few weeks.

The flaw is a consequence of an invalid pointer reference within Internet Explorer (IE); and is accessible after an object is deleted – thereby allowing the hackers to carry out remote code execution attacks. Microsoft had cautioned the users against the attacks in its Security Advisory 981374 – the company’s official March ‘Patch Tuesday’ release.

According to a Monday statement on Microsoft’s official blog, the update will fix as many as nine vulnerabilities, some of which also affect the IE 8. Microsoft also added that the nine vulnerabilities “were responsibly disclosed;” and added that the company is unaware of any active attacks that are targeting these vulnerabilities.

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Gmail Chat getting file transfers soon

Over at the Google Blog today they've announced new file transfer capabilities in iGoogle and orkut. That's fun! But what I'm most excited about is their promise of file transfer in Gmail Chat.

For now, file transfer works directly in the browser for iGoogle and orkut, allowing you to send files without saving them as attachments in email. It's also compatible with Google Talk software, so you can share with desktop users as well. It seems easy enough to use: once you've started a chat, just click on "Send a file..." in the "Actions" menu. The person on the other end of the line can then either accept or decline, depending on how they feel about you and the types of files you're inclined to send.

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Japan considers end to cellphone “SIM lock”

It's a beautiful dream: buy whatever phone you want and then use it with whatever service you want. And it looks like that's a dream that will come true in Japan.

The Japanese government has launched a review of the SIM lock system that doesn't allow people to simply swap their SIM cards out to talk on different carriers, something all three major Japanese carriers prohibit. It's especially annoying to Japanese travelers who want to travel overseas with their standard phone; swapping in a SIM from an American carrier, for example, won't work.

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Brightcove likes HTML5

As commercial availability of the Apple iPad draws near, we have been getting a lot of inquiries from customers looking for guidance on what they need to do to deliver great video experiences on these devices that exclusively support the HTML5 approach to video. These customers are excited about the possibilities of the iPad, but they also have concerns about what it will take to deliver great video experiences in this environment. They want to know what the tradeoffs and gotchas are, and what we're doing to help them navigate this new landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Customers have been thrilled and somewhat surprised to learn that Brightcove has supported HTML5 in basic form since 2008, which is when we began to support the H.264 video format and released our open Media APIs for accessing content stored in the Brightcove online video platform. Since that time, it has been possible for customers to create HTML5 experiences on devices such as the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch and deliver video that renders beautifully. We have had several early adopter customers use our platform in this way.

As interest in HTML5 has continued to grow, it has become clear to us that we need to more crisply describe the HTML5 capabilities of our platform and our long-term roadmap for broadly supporting HTML 5 in our platform. So, today we are announcing the Brightcove Experience for HTML5, a new solution that captures what are doing with HMTL5 today and describes our vision for the future of HTML5 video experiences.

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iPad App Store video tease offers brief glimpse into the near future

Curious about the iPad App Store process and unable to wait until launch day? Take a peak at this video and be satiated. For now.

iPhone Hacker Thinks He’s Cracked the iPad, Too

George Hotz, famously known as the first hacker to unlock the iPhone, says he’s done it again. The whiz kid on Thursday evening said he had cooked up a new hack for all iPhone OS devices, and he’s betting it will work on the iPad, too.

When the hack is released (Hotz won’t disclose a release date), it should be as simple to use as Blackra1n, Hotz’s one-click solution to jailbreak current iPhones, he said.

“It is completely untethered, works on all current tethered models (ipt2, 3gs, ipt3), and will probably work on iPad too,” Hotz said in his blog post.

It’s plausible to believe that an iPhone OS jailbreak will also work for the iPad. While the iPad will support apps that are exclusive to the device, its OS shares the same DNA as the iPhone’s.

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Nvidia’s DirectX 11-ready GTX 470 and GTX 480 cards are here

After many months of waiting, attributed further by the fact that the launch date has been pushed back multiple times, FERMI makes its debut today, finally.

In recent weeks we've learnt a lot about what to expect from this very significant release, bar what we want to know the most, performance numbers. Today the cat's right out of the bag for all to see.

I'd be surprised if anyone reading this doesn't already know that the two cards launched today are the GTX 470 and GTX 480; NVIDIA's first generation of DirectX 11 graphics cards. Our VGA specialist Shane Baxtor has been glued to his desk all week gathering up all that there is to know about the cards and shares his findings with all of us in this article that's just gone up in a timely fashion with the NDA lift.

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ASUS lets loose details on Calpella powered notebooks

ASUS has let loose a stack of info about its first two multimedia laptops that are based on the Calpella platform and use Core i5-520M 2.4GHz processors.

The N82JV-VX020V is a 14-inch model whilst the N61JA-JX008V uses a 16-inch; both of which are LED-backlit displays that run a native res of 1366x768.

Other specs that remain consistent between the two models is 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD, 8-in-1 card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, HDMI output, USB 3.0 support (via one connector + 2 x USB 2.0 connectors), Bluetooth and a 6-cell battery.

Apart from the screen sizes, the only other notable difference between the two is that the N61JA uses a Mobility Radeon HD 5730 1GB for graphics, whilst the N82JV runs a GeForce GT 335M 1GB setup (together with Optimus tech).

Both notebooks are said to hit EUrope in mid-April at a price of 1049 Euro each.

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HP EliteBook 8740w tips up

HP is feeling the need for new and so today it has announced a number of updates to its workstation offer, including the new EliteBook 8740w. Measuring 397.5 x 285.5 x 36.5 mm, the 8740w mobile workstation has a gunmetal anodized-aluminium finish for a sexier look, and features a 17-inch (30-bit) WXGA+ or WUXGA LED backlit display, a Core i5 or i7 processor, up to 16GB of RAM, a SATA HDD of up to 500GB or an SSD with a maximum capacity of 256GB, a DVD or Blu-ray drive, and a professional graphics card (ATI FirePro M7820 1GB, Nvidia Quadro FX 2800M/FX 3800M 1GB ).

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German government to users: Stop using Firefox!

The German government has issued a stern warning to web surfers telling them not to use Firefox because the browser contains a critical security vulnerability.

BürgerCERT, part of the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology, is advising users to stop using Firefox until Mozilla can push a patch out to users to fix the vulnerability that it contains which could be exploited by hackers to run malicious code on users’ computers.

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Seattle man sets Guinness World Record for fastest text message sent on a touchscreen device

Page celebrates after setting the Guinness World Record for text messaging.

A 24-year-old Seattle resident has set the Guinness World Record for the fastest text message sent on a touchscreen device. Franklin Page set the record by composing the sentence -- “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious" -- in 35.54 seconds. (I gave it a shot myself a few moments ago, clocking in at 59.9 seconds with no mistakes. Give it a shot and let us know how you fare.)

However, the world record is a bit of a PR stunt. (As most world records are). Page was recently hired at Swype, the Seattle startup whose technology allows mobile phone users to input text on touchscreens with the "swype" of a finger. Samsung, which has incorporated Swype into some of its phones, used the stunt in a new TV ad campaign.

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Bing's Market Share at All-Time High

According to Nielsen, Bing's market share was at an all-time high in February, when it reached 12.5% of search engine providers worldwide.  What is so remarkable is that this number was a 15% increase from Bing's market share in January of this year.  This increase coincides nicely with the February 18th announcement that Yahoo! and Microsoft were granted regulatory approval to make their Search Alliance a reality (see Titan SEO's Search Alliance article). Although Microsoft has seen consistent growth since April 2009, when its market share was 9.9% (well before the launch of Bing), this jump from 10.9% in January to 12.5% in February is its biggest yet.

Yahoo!, on the other hand, has seen a slow but steady decline in market share since last year, when Nielsen claimed the search engine had control of 16.3%; as of February 2010, Yahoo! only controlled 14.1%.  The obvious conclusion we draw here is Yahoo! and Bing combined have not gained much ground over the past several months, and have not presented much of a threat to Google as a unified front.  This is evident in Google's statistics, as their market share has hovered around the range of 64%-67% during the past year; it currently holds 65.2% as of February.

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Is Windows 7 RTM so good that SP1 needs no real improvements?

Yesterday, Microsoft started the announcements about Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. The one thing that struck me was the fact that Windows 7 will only get some minor updates and bug fixes from the Service Pack. Even though Windows 7 is sweet and looks very good from the beginning, I think there still are a few rough edges in the OS to work on. I was really hoping that Microsoft did some work to add some more sweetness to Windows 7. But I'm afraid that we have to wait a little bit longer. Here is my shortlist of issues to be fixed or better said features to be finished and enhanced in an upcoming update of the OS.

1. Libraries

Libraries in Windows 7 are a wonderful thing as long as your data is on the local system or made available offline with the offline files option. The problem is that this is exactly where the story ends. Many people have been plagued with the dreadful "this location cannot be added because it is not indexed" message when they try to add a network shared folder to their libraries. The current solutions are:

1. Make the added location available offline
2. Index the data on the server (therefore it must be a Windows Service)
3. Complete disable the search feature for all libraries in Group Policy and lose file search in the start menu at the same time.
4. Use an unsupported method by fooling the OS into thinking the data is local while it isn't.

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Steve Jobs: "I Almost Died"

During an event to introduce the first living organ donor registry in the country today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a crowd he "almost died" waiting for his own transplant in 2009.  According to The Mercury News, Steve told California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that 21,000 Californians are waiting for organ transplants.

"I was fortunate," he said. "Last year, 400 other Californians died waiting. I could have died." 

"I was almost one of the ones who died waiting for a liver."

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AMD working on another Phenom II X6

According to a roadmap snatched by the guys over at ati-forum.de, AMD is preparing yet another Thuban Phenom II X6 CPU that should come sometime in Q3.  In addition to the Phenom II X6 1035, 1055 and 1075, working at 2.6GHz, 2.8GHz and 3.0GHz, AMD's roadmap shows an unnamed Phenom II X6 10xx that might have a higher clock speed.

If you follow AMD's logic, the new one could end up to be named as the Phenom II X6 1095 and could have a 3.2GHz clock, but considering that this is purely speculative information, you should take it with a grain of salt.  In any case, AMD is working on another Phenom II X6 CPU and this one will come in Q3 according to current AMD plans.

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Silverlight now on 60% of all internet connected devices

The future looks bright

In the fall of 2007, Microsoft was introducing a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in designed to be the source of new, rich online user experiences. Fast-forward a little over two years and Silverlight is at the top of its game with uptake stronger than ever. During his keynote address at MIX10 this year, Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, .NET Developer Platform, revealed that the vast majority of computers and devices capable of connecting to the Internet were running Silverlight at the moment.

“At the PDC last November, we announced that Silverlight was installed on 45 percent of all Internet-connected devices in the world. Today, that number is now approaching 60 percent and accelerating rapidly,” Guthrie stated.

Microsoft is currently hard at work wrapping up the final development milestone of Silverlight 4. A Release Candidate of Silverlight 4 is already available for Windows and Mac OS X users, with the final version promised for April 2010. Linux users have Moonlight 2 available for download, and a Preview of Moonlight 3 has already also been offered, bringing to the table features beyond version 3 of Silverlight for Windows and Mac OS X.

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Leaked details on NVIDIA GTX 480 and GTX 470 emerge

The launch of NVIDIA's DirectX 11 capable GeForce GTX 400 series is drawing every closer, so it was perhaps inevitable that we'd see some leaked presentation slides floating around sooner or later.  That time has now come, courtesy of Turkish web site Donanimhaber, supposedly laying bare the specifications of the GeForce GTX 480 for all to see

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The slides don't provide as much details as we'd like, but they do give us the first image of NVIDIA's reference design - complete with protruding heatpipes.
The brief spec sheet confirms that 1,536MB of GDDR5 memory will be on board, connected via a 384-bit interface, and that the card will consume anything up to 300W of power.
Measuring around 267mm in length, the card sports both six-pin and eight-pin power connectors, and will feature dual-link DVI and mini-HDMI outputs.

HEXUS has posted up the slides in question.  Meanwhile, VR-Zone also claims to have a scoop on specifications for both the GeForce GTX 470 and 480, along with recommended pricing details:

GeForce GTX 480 : 480 SP, 700/1401/1848MHz core/shader/mem, 384-bit, 1536MB, 295W TDP, US$499
GeForce GTX 470 : 448 SP, 607/1215/1674MHz core/shader/mem, 320-bit, 1280MB, 225W TDP, US$349

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Intel will launch its own USB 3.0 controller later this year

Won't find its way into chipsets for now

According to NEC, we're some six months down the line from the launch of its USB 3.0 controller and we've yet to see a single competitor, but we’re now hearing that Intel is getting ready to enter the market with its own device. It won't be part of Intel's chipsets for now and it seems like there are several reasons for this.

Today it costs a motherboard manufacturer about $9 to implement USB 3.0 on a motherboard, including all the connectors and so forth. This is a fairly high percentage of the cost of a motherboard and this is why we’re not seeing USB 3.0 implemented on more basic models, as it would make the motherboards far too expensive to remain competitive.

With that in mind, it also makes financial sense for Intel to produce a USB 3.0 controller, as prices will remain fairly high at least for the rest of this year, despite NEC’s imminent production ramp, although we’re hearing it might take a little bit longer than the company announced the other day. Even if the USB 3.0 controllers are priced at $5 each, there should be a fairly good profit to be had from manufacturing them.

On top of this it seems like USB 3.0 hasn’t reached the stage where it’s cost effective enough to implement in a chipset. Judging by the size of the NEC solution, it might just take up too much die space for Intel to want to implement it, but then again, why put something in a chipset when you can charge a hefty extra for it?

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HP refreshes Pavilion dv3

The latest HP Pavilion dv3 entertainment notebook PC features quad core computing in a small form factor durable aluminum chassis, weighing approximately 2kg. It comes with a spacious, island-style keyboard, large Clickpad that supports multi-gestures and HP TrueVision Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone.

You can choose Intel Pentium or Core i3/15/i7 processors (Quad and Duo Core), Intel HD Graphics and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 graphics card on the machine. With up to 8GB system memory, Dolby Advanced Audio, Altec Lansing Internal Speakers and Blu-ray optical drive, the 13.3-inch laptop claims to provide superb multimedia experience.

The dv3 also claims up to 5.5 hours of battery life, and offers integrated WiFi, Bluetooth, VGA, HDMI, USB, e-SATA, and 5-in-1 media card reader. Optional accessories complete the package,including an optional 9 cell battery and modular USB media docking station with a port replicator dock, stand and speaker.  The HP Pavilion dv3 Entertainment Notebook PC will be available in Asia Pacific from end March 2010 onwards with a starting price of approximately US$699.

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Copy/Paste will come to Windows Phone 7 series some time after launch

Microsoft may be turning its back on copy and paste right now, but istartedsomething.com says that there just wasn't enough time to have it in place for launch

Microsoft's decision not include true multitasking or copy/paste on shipping version of Windows Phone 7 Series have sparked quite a bit of discussion around the internet in the past few days. The copy/paste drama has been an especially thorny topic. On the one side, you have people saying that it's a travesty considering that Apple, Palm, RIM, and Google support the feature. On the other side, you have people saying that it isn't a big deal and that copy/paste should be relegated to the desktop/notebook realm.

In fact, previous reports suggest that Microsoft agrees with the latter group. Microsoft's Todd Brix says that copy/paste just isn't a big deal to the general consumer. Brix said that the the lack of copy/paste is a "conscious decision" and that “smart linking” (clickable web address, phone numbers, email address, etc.) is all that is needed for the majority of smartphone users. Brix even says that copy/paste on a smartphone platform isn't even needed for mobile Office applications.

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Hardware Virtualization is no longer a must-have to run XP Mode in Windows 7

XP-mode is a very nice and help feature in Windows 7 that helps to address the incompatibility issue. But it’s long been criticized for the fact that in order to run it the computer must have a processor that has either Intel’s VT or AMD’s AMD-V feature built-in.

To address this concern as well as to compete other competitive products like VMware or Virtual Box, which don’t have this cumbersome requirement at all, Microsoft just released an update (KB977206) that Enables Windows XP Mode for PCs without Hardware Assisted Virtualization Technology. Another words, this update removes the prerequisites required to run Windows Virtual PC and XP mode in windows 7.

For those who already have XP-mode running, you can simple ignore this update.

But for those who wanted but wasn’t able to do it, that’s a good news for you. Simply go to Windows Virtual PC download page, and download XP Mode image, Virtual PC program, and the updates, and install them in order.

Video: Steve Ballmer's dancing avatar

Scott Guthrie of Microsoft showed a Windows Phone 7 app that turned Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer into a dancing marionette at the company's MIX conference.  The audio for the demo was recorded by Steve himself, adapting his trademark "developers, developers, developers" rallying cry for the mobile phone.

Here is another clip of the dancing virtual Ballmer.

Intel notebook CPUs in tight supply, says sources

Intel's latest Core i7/i5/i3 series notebook processors are currently facing tight supply, as Acer, optimistic about the upcoming demand for the related notebooks, has placed large volume of orders for the processors, according to sources from the notebook sector.

Intel is giving priority to major clients, and second-tier and smaller notebook players have to wait much longer before receiving supply of the CPUs, the sources noted.

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Facebook becomes bigger hit than Google

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social networking website Facebook has capped a year of phenomenal growth by overtaking Google’s popularity among US internet users, with industry data showing it has scored more visits on its home page than the search engine.  In a sign that the web is becoming more sociable than searchable, research firm Hitwise said that the two sites accounted for 14 per cent of all US internet visits last week. Facebook’s home page recorded 7.07 per cent of traffic and Google’s 7.03 per cent.

It is the first time that Facebook.com has enjoyed a weekly lead over Google.com. The lead may be slim, but it has become inevitable as Facebook’s popularity has grown rapidly from just over 2 per cent of visits a year ago. Heather Dougherty of Hitwise said that Facebook had “reached an important milestone” with the weekly figures.

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Intel's Larrabee to do a Lazarus

Will rise again from the undead

Don't write off Intel's Larrabee completely, because the project will come back with a vengeance when you least expect it, according to an industry insider close to the project.

Our source, who had been a key member of the Larrabee engineering team said the announcement of Larrabee's apparent demise a few months ago had been seriously mishandled by Intel, leading people to believe the project had been completely shelved and would never see the light of day. "That is just not the case," our source told us adding "Intel is not a one-shot company."

Admitting that information about Larrabee had leaked out "like information leaking out of a leaky sieve," our source also said he'd never bet against Intel and that had Larrabee emerged on time, "it would have been industry changing.

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Core i5-powered Aspire Timeline laptops on the way

 

Acer will unveil its Calpella Timeline series notebooks equipped with Intel Core i3 and Core i5 processors for the global market on March 22, according to industry sources in Taiwan.  The series will have display sizes ranging from 13- to 15-inch with a running time of eight hours, the same as the company's Timeline ultra-thin models.

Although Acer's Calpella Timeline notebooks will be as thick as the Timeline models, they will be slightly heavier due to the cooling modules.  The Calpella Timeline series will feature a 9-cell battery instead of the Timeline's 6-cell battery to enable an eight-hour battery life, the sources noted.

The Calpella Timeline will have three different display sizes: the 13-inch model is made by Wistron, while the 14- and 15-inch models are produced by Quanta Computer.

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Video hands-on with a Windows Phone 7 device at MIX 2010

Benjamin Rubenstein from Neowin was in Las Vegas for the Microsoft MIX10 conference and was able to go hands-on with one Windows Phone 7 device. Well, actually, Neowin didn’t go hands-on, but the friendly chap from Microsoft gave them a nice look at the phone and what it can do in its present state.

Senior Game Platform Strategist for the Xbox team, Andre Vrignaud spoke about Windows Phone 7.

 

Test Drive Internet Explorer 9

The Platform Preview is an early look at the Internet Explorer 9 platform so some features are incomplete, some may change, and some may be added. This is the lists of features available in the latest Platform Preview and known issues with those features. To view the latest known issues, see the list on Microsoft Connect.

Warning from one blog: You can actually try it now, though some of the features—most conspiciously HTML5 video—aren't yet there, and the interface is still pretty barebones. (There's no proper address bar, for example, but just a "go to" popup window. This is a developers' test tool, really.)

There is no Information Bar (aka Gold Bar) in Platform Preview. As a result, downloads initiated by script will not function. Files can be downloaded using the “Save Target As…” in the right-click context menu, by clicking on hyperlinks to files, and by typing a download URL in the Open dialog (Ctrl+O).

Features Available

• CSS3
  • Selectors (entire module and ::selection)
  • Namespaces (all except attribute selectors)
  • Backgrounds & Borders (border-radius)
  • Color (rgba(), opacity)
• DOM Core Namespaces
• DOM Range
• DOM L2 Events
  • Event registration and dispatch APIs (addEventListener, removeEventListener, createEvent, dispatchEvent)
  • Event capture, bubble and target phases
  • New event objects (Event, UIEvent, MouseEvent, etc.)
• DOM L3 Events
  • CustomEvent, KeyboardEvent, DragEvent interfaces
• HTML5 Selection
• XHTML Documents
• SVG
  • The SVG in IE is based upon the SVG 1.1 2nd Edition Full (targeted at desktop browsers)
  • Most document structure, scripting (eventing) and styling (inline and through CSS) is functional
  • Many presentation elements and their corresponding attributes and DOM are available including paths, shapes, colors, and transforms
• ICC v2 and v3 color profiles are supported on images

Features Partially Implemented

• DOM Style
  • See Known Issue Below
• DOM L3 Events
  • WheelEvent, TextEvent, CompositionEvent, MutationEvent, MutationNameEvent interfaces (and related events) are not currently supported

Download Here

Fujitsu’s ProGreen Laptop has Purported 18hr Battery Life

 

Two Lifebook notebooks, the Lifebook E780 and Lifebook S710 represent Fujitsu’s new ProGreen selection for mobile users. Customers can choose between two different display sizes: 14-inch and 15.6-inch. Also certified for Energy Star 5.0, the notebooks are up to 25 percent more energy-efficient compared to previous models, quite a feat considering that notebooks are already highly-energy efficient. Additional energy savings are achieved by an AC adapter with 87 percent efficiency, an energy-saving LED backlight, and Fujitsu’s EcoButton that switches off non-essential components in eco mode, extending battery runtime by up to an hour. Such increased efficiency enables tremendous battery runtime, up to 18 hours for the LIFEBOOK E780 with two batteries. And for added mobile security the models feature Fujitsu’s Advanced Theft Protection (ATP) module.

The Lifebook E780 can possibly reach an 18-hour battery life because of the two batteries it runs on, and while the rest of the series' specs hasn't yet been revealed by Fujitsu, this is definitely something to keep an ear out for.

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MSI launches 17-inch Gaming Notebook

Micro-Star International (MSI) has launched its latest 17-inch gaming notebook - the GE700 - equipped with Intel's latest core i5 processor, ATI Radeon HD 5730 discrete graphics card with 1GB DDR3 VRAM, two cinema-class speakers, a subwoofer, a HD webcam, and support for two hard drives.

The GE700 utilizes Intel Turbo Boost Technology for dynamic enhanced processing efficiency, and boasts MSI's exclusive ECO Engine Power Saving technology to extend battery running time.

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Shuttle enters Laptop Business

For medium and smaller OEMs

Although Shuttle didn’t lack in new products on this year’s Cebit, the company had a few other nuggets of info showing that the company is serious with any business model they take up.

This time around, we’re talking about notebook production for OEMs, which means that the notebooks will not actually come under Shuttle brand. The idea behind the move is to help smaller and medium brands/companies break into the notebook market, which promises some nice competition to the big dogs, especially knowing that Shuttle is the one orchestrating it.

So, the company will be offering notebooks with standardized components and different mainboards, chipsets and GPUs for 10’’ and 17.3’’ devices. Customers will be able to purchase notebooks carefully designed and tailored after their needs as long as the order exceeds 500 units.

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Dell introduces Precision M4500

Dell has announced the new 15.6" high-end Precision M4500, loaded with the best in latest-gen hardware.

The Precision M4500 will be powered by either Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs (including Core i7-920M Quad Core Extreme), and will sport a 15.6" HD 1920x1080 display. NVidia Quadro FX 1800M/880M are the options for graphics, and other goodies such as a 3MP integrated webcam, backlit keyboard, multitouch trackpad and Precision ON are available, in addition to others.

Battery life is estimated at over 7.5 hours with the 9-cell options, and if you really need more juice there is a 12-cell battery slice option available. Weight is 6lbs, and pricing is expected to begin around $1,700 when it becomes available in a few weeks.

Windows Browser Ballot, What really happens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the rollout has begun and every PC user in Europe running XP, Vista or Windows 7 will shortly see the new browser ballot screen, if they’ve not seen it already. Last night I got my update and along with it, a few surprises.

The first surprise was the apparent optionality of the update. In Windows update Microsoft Browser Choice Screen Update for EEA Users of Windows was unticked. Presumably this would only remain so for a short period of time before it becomes mandatory.

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Google is everywhere — and by everywhere I mean EVERYWHERE

”Here’s a few of the things Google wants to own: your phone, your email, your computer, and your entire digital life.” It doesn’t stop there.  The video has compiled a near three minute list of Google’s constantly growing empire.  There’s a treat at the end so be sure to stay put!  Pretty crazy stuff, huh?

MSI unveils X360 X-Slim ultra portable

MSI has been peddling its thin and svelte X-Slim line of notebooks for a while now and they are all nice looking machines. MSI has added a new ultraportable to the X-Slim line today called the X360.

The new machine has a 13-inch screen with a resolution of 1366 x 768 and Intel HD graphics. The operating system is Windows 7 Home Premium and the machine can have up to 4GB of RAM. Storage is to a 2.5-inch HDD up to 500GB and a memory card reader is integrated.

Other features include HDMI out, D-sub, dual USB 2.0 ports, RJ45 and more. A 1.3MP webcam is also built-in. The thin notebook runs an Intel Core i5-520UM processor. Pricing and availability are unknown.

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DailyTech reports Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight vie for dominance amid HTML5 threat

Microsoft's Director of Developer Platform Marketing, Brian Goldfarb, and Adobe's Director of Technology Strategy, Anup Murarka, recently participated in an interview together about their competing rich web formats and what the future holds. Currently, Microsoft's Silverlight and Adobe's Flash both are well entrenched, with a legion of developers sitting on each side of the fence.  However, Microsoft and Adobe are both warily eyeing HTML5, an open standard that could unravel support for their proprietary platforms. 

In terms of PC user base, Microsoft's latest figures show it to have 45 percent market penetration for Silverlight worldwide and 60 percent in Europe and Asia.  Meanwhile Adobe, benefiting from 10-plus years on the market, is in 98 percent of computers worldwide.  Reportedly, it was able to bump 95 percent of users worldwide to Flash 10 within a year of its release.

Adobe has a large developer base, but it isn't releasing exact figures.  Microsoft openly claims a developer base of 500,000 developers.  Its recent high profile content victories have included using Silverlight for coverage of the Winter Olympics, the upcoming March Madness (college basketball's annual championship tournament), Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and the Netflix Watch Instantly service.  Adobe, meanwhile, continues to control the rich content backend for some of the web's biggest sites like YouTube and Hulu.

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