Nov 30, 2010

Nokia and others seek to make smart phones less stupid

George Orwell tosses and turns in his grave

For all the marvelous feats that modern “smart” phones can perform, I am constantly amazed by the constant stupidity of my own handset.  Why, for instance, is there no option to disable the ringer during a calendar event for a class or meeting?  Why does it tell me I have 300,000 updates to install and not give me a single button to “Install All”?  Why does it not have a telescoping handle and constant vibrate mode for impromptu back-rubs? Luckily it would appear that Nokia and other developers for iToys and RoboPhones are working on fixing at least some of these important issues.
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Nov 30, 2010

Acer’s Revo RL100 marries AMD CPU and ION graphics

An unholy mix that somehow works

ACER IS A COMPANY that isn’t shy to mix and match things when it comes to its computers, but its latest addition to the Revo family of low power computers is something that made us take notice when we saw the spec at a quick hands on earlier today, It’s got an AMD Athlon II Neo CPU and Nvidia ION graphics. Sadly we didn’t have too much time to play with the media centric system, but we did manage to snap a few shots of it.
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Nov 30, 2010
1

Fresco Logic launches the FL1009 USB 3.0 host controller

We sit down for a chat with the CTO

ALTHOUGH FRESCO LOGIC is still a USB-IF certification short of a sellable product, the company has finally launched its two port xHCI 1.0 FL1009 USB 3.0 host controller. Earlier today we had a chance to sit down for a chat with Bob McVay, the CTO of Fresco Logic and he gave us an insight into Fresco Logic and why it has taken so long time to bring this product to market, among many things.
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Nov 25, 2010
1

DRAM prices to continue to drop

Good for consumers, not so good for the manufacturers

THE PRICE OF DDR3 memory is maybe not in free fall at the moment, but prices are dropping and dropping fast according to the DRAMeXchange.  Prices are expected to continue to fall over the next two quarters. This is terrible news for the DRAM and module manufacturers, although it’s possible that we’ll see some artificial means of trying to boost the price of the DRAM chips by reducing production if the price falls by too much.
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Nov 24, 2010

Sandy Bridge Pentium processors unveiled

Set to replace LGA-775?

THE FIRST DETAILS of Intel’s upcoming Pentium branded Sandy Bridge processors has turned up and although these four processors might not be the crème of the crop, they do indicate that Intel is indeed planning on dropping its older CPU sockets. We’re also curious as to why Intel has chosen to launch two different series of Pentium processors, as the initial information doesn’t seem to show much in terms of a difference between them.
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Nov 24, 2010
1

Gigabyte to announce gaming motherboards at CES

Gives us a sneak peek on its blog

FOR A VERY long time now, Asus has been the only company with so called “gaming” motherboards, although we’re still not quite sure what this term really implies, as most of its R.O.G. boards have been favoured by overclockers and general enthusiasts as much as gamers. However, it seems like Gigabyte is getting ready go head to head with Asus with a range of new gaming motherboards that the company will unveil at CES.
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Nov 23, 2010

Acer announces 4.8-inch Android smartphone

21:9 aspect ratio display

MOST ANDROID PHONES are much the same these days in terms of features, but it seems like Acer has decided to take the plunge and come up with something a little bit unusual with its next gen model, as it’ll feature a 4.8-inch screen with a 1024×480 resolution. However, that’s unlikely to be the only selling point of this yet-to-be-named-handset that should launch at an unspecified date.
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Nov 23, 2010

Acer announces three new tablets

One powered by AMD, two by ARM

AMD DID MENTION that it wanted a slice of the tablet market and it seems like this is happening sooner rather than later, as Acer has announced that it will be launching an AMD powered tablet sometime in February next year. At the same time the company announced that it’s readying two Android tablets, both powered by ARM and all three tablets are said to have dual core processors.
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Nov 23, 2010

Acer announces Iconia 14-inch dual screen notebook

Is this what we’ve been waiting for?

OVER THE PAST couple of years we’ve seen several dual-screen notebook mock-ups and the odd prototype here and there, but it wasn’t until earlier this year when Toshiba launched its limited edition Libretto W100 that the first dual screen notebook arrived. However, the Libretto W100 only had a pair of 10-inch screens and Acer has just announced its dual 14-inch screen touting Iconia Touchbook which not only offers larger screens, but also more potent hardware inside.
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