Gateway’s FX series desktops revamped, SX / DX series find solace in Core i3 and i5
February 2, 2010
In the market for new desktop machinery? Gateway’s gone ahead and given its gaming-centric FX series a facelift for the new year — nothing Alienware-esque crazy, but we do like the accessible ports up top, right next to the control dial for LED-infused lighting effects. Enough about the superficial, let’s go inside: a 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 processor, ATI Radeon HD5850 with 1GB discrete memory, 1.5TB HDD with additional expansion bays, up to 16GB RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, and a $1,299 starting price. There’s a 16x DVD drive, and if you don’t mind forking over a little extra, you can get a separate 4x BD-ROM drive. As for the rest of the lineup, while still donning old skin, the SX series has been boosted by a 2.93GHz Core i3 processor, and the DX series a 3.2GHz Core i5 and that 4x BD-ROM drive. You know the drill by now: FX glamor shots below, press release just after the break.
Gallery: Gateway’s revamped FX series
Continue reading Gateway’s FX series desktops revamped, SX / DX series find solace in Core i3 and i5
Gateway’s FX series desktops revamped, SX / DX series find solace in Core i3 and i5 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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China Mobile’s OPhone platform goes 2.0, supports WinMo API… wait, what?
February 2, 2010
China Mobile’s OPhone platform goes 2.0, supports WinMo API… wait, what? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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No-glasses 3D display with 64 viewing angles to debut at CeBIT
February 2, 2010
Singaporean outfit Sunny Ocean Studios is pledging to put all of the autostereoscopic 3D we’ve seen so far to shame with a new 27-inch display offering 64 viewing angles it will show at CeBIT. A serious upgrade from the 8 or 9 viewing angle lenticular displays we saw at CES this year, the company claims it’s ready to refit regular displays for 3D and also assist in 2D-to-3D image conversion. We’ve got all of the usual questions lined up like how will this affect resolution, what’s necessary to render the necessary 64 different frames for each viewing angle and of course, how much does it cost, but founder Armin Grasnick says his company can handle screens of up to 100-inches quickly and inexpensively, likely by not wasting precious R&D funds on website design. The current state of 3D is glasses all the way, but we could get a peek at the next step March 2 in Germany.
No-glasses 3D display with 64 viewing angles to debut at CeBIT originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft says it’s looking into laptop battery issues with Windows 7
February 2, 2010
We’ve already seen some evidence that suggests Windows 7 puts a particularly hard drain on at least some laptop and netbook batteries, and it looks like Microsoft has now heard enough complaints itself to open an investigation into the matter. Details are otherwise a bit light, but Microsoft is apparently looking into the issue in collaboration with its hardware partners, and says that the problem is likely related to the computers’ BIOS, which Windows 7 relies on to determine if the battery needs to be replaced. Needless to say, there isn’t much in the way of solutions in the meantime, and Microsoft isn’t offering any indication as to when one might be forthcoming.
Microsoft says it’s looking into laptop battery issues with Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Windows 7 gets a thorough SSD optimization guide
February 2, 2010
We all know we want an SSD, but do we truly know what to do with one when we get it? Sure, you could plug it into the familiar SATA and power cables and consider your job done, but that’s not really the way of the geek. To educate us wistful, hopeful, soon-to-be SSD owners, TweakTown have put together a comprehensive guide on optimizing your solid state storage — starting from the very first step of picking out the right drive. What lies ahead is a full breakdown of the controllers available on the market today, along with helpful reminders of the importance of Trim command and garbage collection support. After you pick out your perfect life partner, you’ll be wanting to ensure it plays along nicely with Windows 7 as well, and they’ve got you covered on that front too. Just hit the source link and get informed. We did, even though we still can’t afford to buy one of these mythical drives.
Windows 7 gets a thorough SSD optimization guide originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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EROS tablet video is a lesson in why Windows 7 isn’t strictly meant for finger navigation
February 1, 2010
Last time we saw the 10-inch EROS tablet it was powered down and pouting about its two hours of battery life, but the tablet’s pulled itself together and powered up to show off its skills. he performance is pretty much what you would expect of a Intel Atom-powered Windows 7 Home Premium netbook with its keyboard chopped off, and from what we’ve been able to glean from the 11 minute video below the touchscreen seems responsive to writing with a stylus and to flicks of photos and pages in a comic book. You’ll notice, however the reviewer only uses his fingers a few times, though he’s actually quite good at typing on the on-screen keyboard. The rest of the time he uses the stylus to move through those far-from-finger-friendly Windows 7 menus. If you’re wondering why Windows 7 still needs additional software tweaks to work on a purely finger-driven tablet device, spend 10 minutes watching the video below. Or just listen to The Weepies’ awesome “Gotta Have You” — which perhaps not coincidentally ends when the tablet’s done booting.
EROS tablet video is a lesson in why Windows 7 isn’t strictly meant for finger navigation originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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8.9-inch ExoPC Slate has iPad looks, netbook internals, Windows 7 soul
January 31, 2010
Yes, we realize that it’s hard to provide too much visual differentiation between tablet PCs with large, ebony bezels, but we can’t help but think that this 8.9-inch multitouch tablet looks a lot like another, recently announced 9.7-inch multitouch tablet. Nevertheless this one’s quite different on the inside, delivering “the web without compromise,” meaning full browser support with flash courtesy of Windows 7 on an Atom N270 at 1.6GHz, with 2GB of DDR2 memory and a 32GB SSD with SD expansion. Yeah, those specs are familiar too, and while we’re not thinking this will deliver the sort of snappy performance seen on the iPad, it will certainly be a lot more functional. Battery life is only four hours, but at last it user-replaceable, and a price of $599 matches the 32GB iPad. Likewise it will be available in March — or you can get a non-multitouch prototype for $780 right this very moment. If, that is, you speak enough French to manage the order page.
Gallery: ExoPC Slate tablet PC
[Thanks, Jean-Baptiste]
8.9-inch ExoPC Slate has iPad looks, netbook internals, Windows 7 soul originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft reports $6.66b Q1 net profit, Windows 7 ‘fastest selling OS in history’
January 28, 2010
Microsoft’s gotta be pretty happy with its second quarter results, especially after two previous quarters of somewhat downtrodden reports. The company’s posting a record $19.02 billion in revenue, a 14 percent increase year-over-year. Net income / profit was $6.66 billion. Buoyed by all that is $1.71 billion in deferred revenue for Windows 7 pre-sales, which in laymen’s terms means money the company made before the fiscal quarter began but couldn’t then claim it because the product (Windows 7) hadn’t yet been delivered to the consumer. Speaking of the platform, Microsoft is claiming to now have “the fastest selling operating system in history” with 60 million licenses sold. A much better way for the gang in Redmond to the start the year, so now let’s see how the rest of 2010 plays out.
Microsoft reports $6.66b Q1 net profit, Windows 7 ‘fastest selling OS in history’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iriver K1 Smart HD shows off unique UI for the cameras, flashes a hint of CE underneath
January 26, 2010
We wouldn’t say iriver is pulling out all the stops on its new K1 Smart HD player, but it’s certainly putting a bit more love and polish into the device than we’ve seen from the company in recent months. Now a video of the UI has been unearthed, which shows a new touchscreen UI based on a sort of “circles” concept. There are smacks of a traditional grid and multi-homescreen interface as well, akin to iPhone or Android, with a bit of widget engine and exciting translucent overlays for good measure. A Cover Flow-styled music browser can actually be navigated through use of the accelerometer, and if you’re brave enough you can even dive into regular old Windows CE for exciting hijinks. Check the quick demo after the break.
iriver K1 Smart HD shows off unique UI for the cameras, flashes a hint of CE underneath originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Cowon W2 shown in its natural tradeshow habitat, running Windows 7
January 26, 2010
Werefore art thou, UMPC? Oh look, Cowon found you. The Cowon W2 MID / UMPC / tablet / something has been spotted in the wild, running Windows 7 and thwarting typical efficient interaction methods. The Atom-powered device was caught by AVING running in both portrait and landscape modes, and even paired up with a pint-sized USB QWERTY keyboard. It does look a little chunky under those harsh tradeshow lights, but there’s a certain charm to the device’s OS optimism. Hopefully we’ll be able to play with one soon, but there’s still no word on a US launch.
Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs
Cowon W2 shown in its natural tradeshow habitat, running Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo compared at the macro level
January 25, 2010
We all love a good debate about how the tech giants of today are competing with each other, but rarely do we get a handy reference sheet like this to point people to. Nick Bilton of the New York Times has put together a segment-by-segment comparison between America’s tech heavyweights, which does a fine job of pinpointing who competes with whom and where. We find the gaps in coverage more intriguing than the overlaps, though, with Microsoft’s only unticked box — mobile hardware — raising habitual rumors of a Pink phone. Apple’s absence from the provision of mapping services might also soon be at an end, given the company acquired map maker Placebase in July of last year (see Computerworld). Anyway, there should be plenty more for you to enjoy, so hit the source for the full chart and get analyzin’.
Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo compared at the macro level originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Steve Ballmer’s shocking autograph of MacBook Pro caught on video
January 22, 2010
It’s likely that if you were told to describe what you think would happen if someone asked Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to autograph a MacBook Pro, it would go something like this:
Steve would fly into a blind fury, grabbing the laptop and smashing it against a far wall with the force of ten men, laughing as the computer shattered and sparked out of existence. He would then leap towards the young man who’d made the request and pin him to the floor, pulling out a Bowie knife while whispering that he would like to “Gut [him] like the pathetic animal he is.” Next Ballmer would dash out of the room only to return with a canister of gasoline, some hairspray, and one of those long lighters, all while shouting that he would “Show the world what [he's] really made of.” Ballmer would escape from this scene of utter destruction in a helicopter, but not before circling the college campus (or wherever this took place) and dumping toxic waste on hundreds of students.
But, no. He pretty much just signs the laptop. See it all happen after the break.
Continue reading Steve Ballmer’s shocking autograph of MacBook Pro caught on video
Steve Ballmer’s shocking autograph of MacBook Pro caught on video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Windows 7 way hotter than Vista off the line, now more popular than all OS X versions
January 21, 2010
We learned back in November that Windows 7 was having a much (much!) better first few days in retail than Vista did when it launched, but now that the system has had a full quarter and change to make an impression, it looks as if that growth isn’t slowing down. According to new figures from Net Application, Win7 is achieving a higher level of market penetration in a faster amount of time than Vista did; after a month, Vista was stuck at 0.93 percent, while Win7 nailed the 4 percent mark. After two months, Win7 jumped to 5.71 percent, while Vista was barely over 2 percent after the same amount of time. ‘Course, the newest version of Windows had a holiday season to help it out right from the get-go, but there’s still no denying that people are flocking to the system even now. What’s most interesting, however, is that the overall market share of Windows 7 alone has now surpassed all OS X versions that are being tracked (10.4, 10.5 and 10.6), so put that in your pipe and smoke it. Smoke it long and hard.
Windows 7 way hotter than Vista off the line, now more popular than all OS X versions originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Amazon to start paying 70% royalties on Kindle books that play by its rules
January 20, 2010
Sure, you know how much you pay for a book on your Kindle, but do you know how much an author gets from that sale? For most it’s probably some meager single-digit percentage, with the publisher taking the rest of the roughly 35% of revenue Amazon doles out. The remaining 65% goes straight into the site’s coffers, but that’s about to change. On June 30, Amazon is launching a new option in its Digital Text Platform (DTP) publishing scheme that would give authors and publishers 70% of the revenue, with Amazon taking just 30% — effectively flipping the ratio on its head. The catch? There are plenty:
- Distribution costs are now paid by the publisher, but that should be on average a few cents per book.
- These books must sell for between $2.99 and $9.99 and must be priced at least 20% lower than a comparable physical copy of the book. (This is good news for readers, putting a greater incentive for lower-priced digital volumes.)
- The book must support the “broad set” of Kindle features, including text-to-speech.
- This will only be available for books that are in-copyright and only for those sold in the US.
This is an obvious reaction to the competition from places like Scribd, which pays publishers 80%, and publisher-friendly upstarts like Skiff, but it’s also an interesting push to force more books to enable Kindle’s text-to-speech. That is currently something of a sore spot amongst those who provide the content, so while we’re sure authors will love the extra money coming here, we’re wondering whether their publishers will take it given the possible loss of lucrative audiobook revenue. So, will this help Amazon in the upcoming war of the e-readers, or will it hurt? We can’t wait to find out.
Amazon to start paying 70% royalties on Kindle books that play by its rules originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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ASUS’ Tegra-powered Eee Pad tablet to make sub-$500 Computex debut?
January 20, 2010
The first of June could see the introduction of the Eee Pad tablet if DigiTimes‘ proven ASUS sources are correct. The device has been rumored since early December and now appears to be heading to Computex Taipei for its big reveal with a price set below $500. The tablet was already rumored to feature a multitouch display, Tegra (Tegra 2, presumably) and an OS other than Windows CE. And with a name that sounds suspiciously like a feminine hygiene product for a robot, well, we’ll let you guess at which Google OS the Eee Pad will run.
Update: JKKMobile linked to a video he shot of an ASUS concept tablet running Android on Tegra 2 that was on display at CES. Somehow we missed it… we blame the Waveface.
ASUS’ Tegra-powered Eee Pad tablet to make sub-$500 Computex debut? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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EROS Shenzhen tablet has Atom, 2 hours of battery life and a $450 price tag
January 19, 2010
Our guess is that the EROS tablet got caught in customs on its way to join its tablet friends at CES. Poor kid. Regardless, the 10.1-inch 1366×768 resistive touchscreen device still deserves its time to in the sun. Powered by an Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, it runs Windows 7 (we’re hoping Home Premium since Starter doesn’t support touch). It all sounds fairly good until you hear about its three-cell battery’s abysmal hour and a half of run time. And we’ve also got to say that it looks pretty chunky in the pictures, but most Wintel tablets are. But hey, maybe HP and Microsoft will change all that with the Slate. But if the EROS has struck your fancy, it looks to only be available in China for about 3,000 yuan or $441.
Filed under: Tablet PCs
EROS Shenzhen tablet has Atom, 2 hours of battery life and a $450 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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MSI outs exceptionally exquisite X-Slim X420 laptop
January 19, 2010
MSI outs exceptionally exquisite X-Slim X420 laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Rumored HTC tablet project both confirmed and suspended in one fell swoop
January 18, 2010
Remember those rumored HTC Android / Chrome OS touch tablets that were supposedly being shown behind the scenes at CES? In a brief statement given to Australia’s Channel News, Sales and Marketing Director Anthony Petts not only confirms the existence of the aforementioned project, he also announces in the same breath —
way to be efficient, guys — that the slate are on hold as the company is now “focusing their efforts on a new generation of mobile phones.” He’s not saying never, but don’t get your hopes up for the near future. At any rate, if a 4.3-inch device like the HTC HD2 is still considered a phone by its standards, we can be happy with that — maybe they can try five on for size while they’re at it.
Rumored HTC tablet project both confirmed and suspended in one fell swoop originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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ITG xpPhone gets a price, more pretty pictures
January 18, 2010
ITG xpPhone gets a price, more pretty pictures originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Meizu’s M8 UI promo video is surprisingly professional, catchy
January 17, 2010
Oh, Meizu, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways. The KIRF-rooted company has released a promo touting the UI for its M8 phone. If any of it seems familiar, just remember that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Honestly, we’re a bit surprised just how professional the video feels, and the tune’s pretty memorable to boot. Get it caught in your head all day, footage is after the break.
Continue reading Meizu’s M8 UI promo video is surprisingly professional, catchy
Meizu’s M8 UI promo video is surprisingly professional, catchy originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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