News and Editorials (1740)
Samsung boasted with sales results of its most powerful smartphone, Galaxy S4. The device in less than a month after the launch sold 10 million copies, setting a new record for Samsung. Galaxy S3 sold 10 million copies in 50 days, a Galaxy S2 for the same number took full five months. The popularity and acceptance of the company's most powerful smartphones is skyrocketing.
What’s this??? A US Senator, John Cornyn (R-TX), is working to introduce a patent reform law that will help to limit the number of suits created by Patent Trolls. Called the “Patent Abuse Reduction Act of 2013” the bill looks to be a step in the right direction at least when considering Patent Holding companies. The problem is that this bill does little to stop or slow down filing obvious, vague, or patents covered by prior art which many of these suits stem from.
Rob Hodson from Electronic Arts via Twitter said that FIFA 14 on PC will not be based on the recently discovered engine Ignite. Specifically, Ignite remains reserved exclusively for the Xbox and PlayStation 4 One, and PC this time remains aloof.
Innodisk nanoSSD introduced the first solid state device made according to JEDEC MO-276 SATA μSSD specification. It is a complete SSD packed into one BGA chip with a dimensions of 16x20x2 mm and weighing only 1.5 grams, available in capacities from 4 to 64 GB.
Microsoft has put up an interesting new video spot where they attack the iPad on its in ability to truly multi-task, the static display and Office. The spot is sort of clever and uses Siri to highlight the points at each step. The goal of the ad is to show Windows 8 on a tablet as a true productivity device. As you might expect truth in advertising is a little limited in the ads, but we could be seeing a change in the way that Microsoft is approaching marketing. This is a good thing considering the dreadful sales that Windows 8 and Windows RT are showing right now.
Kim Dotcom is back in the news as he is now claiming ownership of Two Factor Authentication. Although the claim might seem ludicrous to many it seems there is a kernel of truth in them as well. What is interesting is the timing of the claim and how he wants to settle things. Unlike many others that hold patents, Dotcom is not looking to make a bunch of lawyers rich trying to assert his claim. Instead he would like Google, Twitter and others that are using his patented idea to help fund his legal defense in the US.
At yesterday's hearing before the Senate committee, the head of Apple, Tim Cook, has confirmed that the company will invest $100 million into production process in the United States, specifically in Texas. Computers will also be made from components manufactured in the states of Illinois and Florida with equipment made in Kentucky and Michigan.
The main characteristics of autism are decreased or nonexistent social interaction and communication, and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. Although this is a really serious disorder, people with autism often achieve high scores on IQ tests, and their focus on tasks (that they want to do), has been recognized by the Board of SAP as a great resource for writing large amounts of code, or programming.
Apple is not having a good run of luck lately. They are sagging behind their rival and manufacturing partner Samsung by almost 2 to 1 in terms of unit sales which is hurting consumer confidence in their phone and tablet products. Apple is also probably going to lose their suit with the Department of Justice over eBook Price fixing which will impact the pile of cash they have an investor confidence. To further add insult to injury they are under investigation for their tax policies in the US an overseas. The Apple mythology is crumbling faster and faster while others jump in to pick up the pieces. Apple may even be delaying the launch of new products which is not doing them helping their situation considering Samsung and others have much faster refresh times than Apple can maintain.
The Era of the Ethernet began on 22nd May in 1973. when Robert Metcalfe, a researcher at the famous Xerox PARC research center in Palo Alto, California, sent a brief letter in which he proposed a medium for transmitting electromagnetic waves, and among other things drew the bottom sketch of the new emerging standards.
It is about 24 hours since Microsoft pushed the Xbox One out the door (figuratively) and already sides are being drawn up. In our coverage of the market we expected to see two sides in the coming argument with the Console Purists on one side and the Console Enthusiasts on the other. We were way off base as there are now multiple sides in the debate. One big group that we did not count on was the game renters and resellers. Due to the high price of many games a large segment of the market will now rent games before they buy them. In this manner they can save some money if the game turns out to be a dud. Many gamers also trade-in and resell their games (to get money to buy the next round). Unfortunately for these group Microsoft appears to have forgotten them (along with locking out Xbox 360 games).
Microsoft today in Redmond before a bunch of journalists introduced the next generation Xbox, which, despite rumors that suggested otherwise, wears a simple name - Xbox One. Although the core purpose of this unit is designed for gaming, Microsoft decided to create a central ultimedia device through which we will watch TV, listen to music and surf the internet. To make the use of all the multimedia features more comfortable Microsoft has created a so-called Snap Mode, which, according to what can be seen should allow fairly easy manipulation of different applications that we use.
Sony will be at E3 on the 10th of June of this year at an event where they will present PlayStation 4 console. Since the launch, or rather demonstration of PlayStation 4 in February this year, so far they did have not demonstrated not a single thumbnail to advise on how will the console actually look like, so you may be a little intrigued by the teaser below, which, according to the good old custom hides more than it shows.
Western Digital's company Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) presented the currently biggest hard drive for notebooks. Model Travelstar 5K1500 comes in a 2.5 inch format and a thickness of 9.5 mm, it delivers 1.5 TB capacity and size is suitable for installation in most notebooks with "normal" thickness.
Recently the very popular Firefox browser underwent a new update, bringing with it many new features and benefits. The new Firefox 21 Beta is the latest release from the Mozilla Foundation, and is an open-source, free browser.
Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One today in a live media spectacle that felt like a pale imitation of an Apple event. In the end what they unveiled looked a lot like some of the HTPC systems that I used to build more than a gaming console. In truth the new Xbox One probably has more in common with your traditional HTPC than Microsoft would like to admit. But there are still some cool things in it that make it interesting and probably unique in the industry.
About a month ago a memo was “leaked’ by the DEA to CNET that started a storm of articles about how secure some online messaging systems were. The memo appeared to indicate the Apple’s iMessage service was so secure that it could not be broken by government agents. They claimed that they were not able to get message details or information. Sadly, the memo ended up making the DEA look incompetent and showed that it was just an attempt to sway public opinion on the need for more surveillance powers for law enforcement.
The rumors about Acer ICONIA W3-810 were going around for quite some time, but they always came from unverified sources. Although the device has not yet been introduced, the company's site in the Finnish market posted official information about it
If you have not heard of Jolla you are not alone and do not be too disappointed either. The company was founded by a few former Nokia employees that were not happy with the decision to tie the companies (Nokia’s) fate to Windows Phone. Instead they wanted to see if they could take the MeeGo OS and make it a reality and so they introduce SailFish. SailFish is an Android compatible OS that like many others is Linux based. The question is; is this new phone and Nokia inspired OS going to show us what could have been, or will it be just another phone in an Android Sea?
In eight years of existence, YouTube has achieved the results about which its founders Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, all of them former employees of PayPal, probably would not even dare to dream. According to the latest information that the service posted on the occasion of the eighth anniversary on YouTube's official blog, at this moment, every minute on YouTube servers 100 hours of video are being uploaded.
Owners of Barnes&Noble e-books can soon expect a software upgrades that should significantly extends the functionality of the device. The upgrade will be available early next month, and they refer to readers Nook Simple Touch and Simple Touch with Glowlight.
Despite there being no clear reason to do so it looks like Microsoft is going to go ahead and push out a smaller version of their Windows 8/RT tablets. The information was leaked accidentally today by Acer Finland. The new product is going to be called the Iconia W3-810. When the rumor about an 8-inch Windows RT device first hit opinions varied as to if this was going help or hurt Microsoft and Windows RT. After a lukewarm launch sales of Windows RT and then Windows 8 devices immediately started to decline. Some blamed the radical redesign of the UI while other felt it was the locked down OS that kept people away. No matter what the cause Window 8 and RT sales were and are continuing to fall which is worrisome for Microsoft.
Samsung records excellent sales results for their new flagship smartphone Galaxy S4. According to Samsung's deputy director Shin Jong-Kyun, the company pass the milestone of 10 million units sold next week.
The Google Glass project has caused some concern in Washington. They seem to feel that a device that can capture still images and movies which you wear around all the time could be a problem. Already we have seen casinos ban them, which is not surprising as they could be used to cheat the house. Next to ban Google Glass were the strip clubs, again not a big surprise and you can imagine why. Google Glass could be a problem and we can see businesses, schools and other place banning their use in the very near future. Still we wonder about Congress getting involved. Is their concern really about privacy?
Overall spending on gaming industry the U.S. in April was $495.2 million, which is 25% less than in the same period a year earlier.
Not only that they are struggling with the fragmentation of operating system, the authors of applications for Android are faced with another problem - piracy.
“Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a Mediator and this must be the heart.” – Metropolis, 1927 - Universum
Although Tumblr is often derisively described as a heaven for hipsters and misunderstood teenagers, it does not change the fact that it is one of the largest blog services that exist. Tumblr now has over a hundred million blogs, hence rumors that Yahoo wants to buy it for a billion dollars does not really sound surprising.
Market of mechanical keyboards is bigger for another model. Das Keyboard Quiet was presented for those who want the benefits that mechanical switches offer, but still want a silent keyboard.
According to market research firm IDC, during the first three months of this year on a global scale 216.2 million "smart" mobile phones were delivered, which is 41.6% more than in the same period a year earlier.
