Contributed News
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Is Windows Mobile 6.5 a worthy competitor for Apple's iPhone and Google Android?
Microsoft's plans to launch an update to Windows Mobile may be too little too late in the face of intense competition from Google and Apple. Is version 6.5 as innovative as it seems?
Mimicking its desktop counterpart, Windows Mobile has aspired to be the de facto choice for Smartphones everywhere but stagnation during software development and intense competition from Apple, RIM, Symbian, Google and more recently Palm, has put Windows Mobile in the backseat. Microsoft might be making a play for hearts and minds with Windows Mobile 6.5, which was announced during last week's Mobile World Congress, but this newest update feels like a patch. You might not get excited until Windows Mobile 7 arrives sometime next year.
Profile pages: Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 3G, Apple, Apple iPhone, Google, Microsoft, Android OS, Windows Mobile, Nokia, Smartphone, Google Android, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Android Market, Operating system, Apple App Store, Apple MobileMe, Windows Mobile 6.5
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How Snow Leopard will change your life (or won't) part 2
Snow Leopard will be pouncing on Mac users this year but how will it change your Mac? Obsessable gives you the run down.
Apple is set to release the newest addition to the OS X family, Snow Leopard, sometime this year. However, the slew of interface tweaks and cool new additions that have made OS X such a hot seller will be eschewed for features that will make your Mac a much faster system. Snow Leopard will be that plus a little more. Here's Obsessable's follow up to part 1 on the ways that Snow Leopard will change your Mac as we take a look at 3 more.
Profile pages: Apple, GPS, Apple Mac OS X, Smartphone, multi-touch, Microsoft Windows, codec, Apple Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Apple QuickTime
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How Apple's new Mac OS X Snow Leopard will change your life (or won't), part 1
Snow Leopard will be pouncing on Mac users this year but how will it change your Mac? Obsessable gives you the run down.
Apple is set to release the newest addition to the OS X family, Snow Leopard, sometime this year. However, the slew of interface tweaks and cool new additions that have made OS X such a hot seller will be eschewed for features that will make your Mac a much faster system. Snow Leopard will be that plus a little more. Here's a look at three new features that might change how you use your Mac.
Profile pages: Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 3G, Apple, Apple Mac OS X, GPU, RAM, TB (Terabyte), CPU, Apple Mac Pro, Apple Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
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NVIDIA Ion netbook graphics are great for media playback, horrible on battery life
The reviews are in for NVIDIA's Ion platform and as expected, graphics-related tasks are fast but battery life takes a serious hit.
The reviews are in for NVIDIA's Ion platform (which places a somewhat-powerful graphics processor right on the computer's motherboard; normally powerful GPUs are on their own boards, taking up extra space and power) and as expected, graphics-intensive applications that would drag along on netbooks with Intel's less robust graphics chips run leaps and bounds faster when powered by a GeForce 9400M. However, there is a trade off for buying any netbook powered by Ion besides a markup in price: a decrease in battery life.NVIDIA created the Ion platform as a catch-all system for netbooks and nettops, increasing the computational power of a computer and providing an adequate graphics processor that actually has some teeth when it comes to video intensive tasks. What NVIDIA is showing off is similar to what's inside Apple's newest Macbooks, except that netbooks often have an Intel Atom CPU in place of the much faster dual core chip found in those computers. The inclusion of a GeForce 9400M will give netbooks a new edge when it comes to gaming but at a cost: battery life will be diminished much more quickly. This of course is expected as just about any GPU will guzzle down more power than the standard Intel integrated graphics behind most netbooks. NVIDIA is confident that power draw will be significantly reduced when Ion-powered devices show up in your local neighborhood store later this year.
Benchmark speed tests have shown that Ion-based devices have significant bumps in speed over the standard Intel chipset which is good news for those interested in nettops. However, gamers and creative professionals looking for a small netbook to take on the go will have to make do with a shorter battery life.
Around the web: Boing Boing Gadgets
, Gizmodo , HotHardware.com , SlashGear , Megite Technology News: What's Happening Right Now , Slashdot (307 comments) Profile pages: Netbook, NVIDIA, GPU, Nettop, Intel, CPU, NVIDIA GeForce
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Seagate unveils 2-terabyte Constellation enterprise hard drive
Seagate is playing catch up to Western Digital in the 2-terabyte hard drive arms race with the newly unveiled Constellation series of drives.
Last week Western Digital made a splash with a 2-terabyte, eco-friendly hard drive sporting eco-friendly, energy saving features. While the capacity is sure to excite computer enthusiasts looking to store massive amounts of media or even those looking for a spacious drive for data backup, the few that demand speed from their hardware will be disappointed as the actual disk rotational seed has yet to be disclosed.On the other hand, Seagate unveiled a drive with the same capacity running at a speedy 7200 RPM. Seagate achieved the monumental capacity through four platters housed within the enclosure, each with an areal density of 500 gigabytes. The drive — which is part of the newly created Constellation moniker — is aimed at enterprises looking for a ton of space. While it's not the same eco-conscious drive Western Digital is showing off, Seagate's Constellation drive does power down when not in use.
The only downside: Seagate won't be shipping these bad boys until sometime this September. If minimal power draw and slower performance aren't a huge setback for you, Western Digital's newest 2 TB drive should satisfy your hunger data storage whereas Seagate's new Constellation drive would be the optimal choice for speed.
Around the web: Gizmodo
, PC World , DotGizmo: The Best gadget Blog Posts Profile pages: Gigabyte, TB (Terabyte), Western Digital, Hard disk drive, RPM
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Verizon Hub goes on sale for $199.99 on contract
Verizon revealed its land phone line slaying Hub, a VOIP communicator bundled with web powered Widgets that aims to bring smartphone functionality to a home near you.
Verizon officially released the Hub during SuperBowl Sunday but we've known about the VOIP packing base station for quite some time. What Verizon is aiming for with the Hub, is just that, a central communications device that's beefier than your standard cordless phone. VOIP replaces the aging land line phone and a 7-inch touchscreen gives the Hub smartphone functionality albeit in a form factor that is far from pocket friendly.While calling loved ones may be the ultimate use for the Hub, widgets that aggregate data to and from your cell phone such as weather, contacts, text messages, calendars, traffic reports and maps give the device all the functionality of a smartphone and pricing of one too. Verizon will sell you the Hub for $200 (after a 50 mail-in rebate) on a 2 year contract. The only available plan at $35 a month nets you unlimited calling and texting from the device. Unfortunately, you cannot buy the Hub without having a pre-existing plan from Verizon Wireless. Would-be subscribers must also live in an e911 capable area as the devices uses your broadband connection for VOIP functionality.
Around the web: Mobilewhack.com
, Engadget Mobile Profile pages: Touchscreen, Verizon Wireless, VoIP, e911, Broadband, Verizon Hub
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AMD Phenom II Overclocked To 6.5GHz
During CES, AMD introduced an addition to the Phenom family, the much awaited Phenom ll and thanks to a team of enthusiasts, new records were set for the chip.
AMD's Phenom II X4 is already powerful enough on its own when doing the most basic of tasks from word processing to the more processor-intensive realm of gaming. The limits of Phenom II have been pushed and an impressive speed of 6.5 GHz was achieved through liquid hydrogen and helium cooling bringing the CPU temperature to -232 degrees Celsius.The event was captured on video in front of an eager crowd of hardware enthusiasts who witnessed the AMD-based setup achieve a score of 45,474 on 3Dmark05 which is a rigorous benchmarking utility that measures the 3D capabilities of a computer. While this record shattering feat is impressive, this super-cooled AMD Phenom II couldn't surpass the bar set by an Intel Core i7 chip a few weeks earlier. No serious alterations were made to the Intel CPU, as it only used air cooling and ran at a clock speed of 3.693 GHz.
Although this setup seems highly impractical for everyday use such as word processing, surfing the web and even a little overkill for casual gaming, it's interesting to find the limits of the technology. Typically, better and faster systems will be created in the future, but if liquid hydrogen cooling somehow becomes feasible for desktops, you can bet your CPU will be pushing clock speeds double of what's doable today.
Video after the jump.
Around the web: Slashdot
, I4U News , Thinktechno.com -
Intel cuts quad-core chip prices by 40 percent
To combat dropping sales, Intel is cutting prices on many of its processors meaning you may get a better bargain than what you were aiming for.
Intel recently posted dismal sales numbers for its fourth-quarter and with recent pressure for AMD, its biggest competitor, the semi-conductor company lowered prices on most of its Core 2 line of processors. Intel hopes you'll buy up these price slashed priced CPUs but don't take it lightly, even though the company is transitioning into the Core i7 brand replacing the aging Core 2, these near to last generation chips still pack a punch.The price cuts range anywhere from 13-percent to as high as 40-percent across the Core 2 Duo, Quad, Xeon, dual-core and single-core Celeron lines. The most notable price cuts are on Intel's Quad Core CPU, the Q9650, which is now 316 dollars instead of 530 dollars, and the Xeon X3370, which now bears the same price as the Q9650. Price cuts on most of Intel's Core 2 Duo, Quad and even mobile CPUs should entice hardware enthusiasts with many options for a home-built computer.
Intel's often cuts prices for older processorsas it ushers in new product lines but the longer you wait, the better deal you'll be able to get as last generation CPUs are slowly phased out. If you've been eying a nice Quad-Core CPU to increase your gaming performance or even a Xeon chip for your workstation, and you can do without the features Core i7 (the successor to Core 2) brings, now's as good a time as any.
Around the web: eWeek - RSS Feeds
, PC World , HotHardware.com , TG Daily (117 comments) -
No serial number required for iWork '09 retail box
iWork '09 is dropping serial number authentication, making the office editing suite more vulnerable to software piracy.
Introduced during Apple's final appearance at Macworld, iWork '09 brought improvements to the entire office editing suite with the biggest addition being online document collaboration that connects writers through iwork.com. Chalk up another convenience; Apple just did away with serial number verification for purchased iWork '09 retail copies.Not requiring a serial number eases up your installation process and also makes it easier for you to transfer valid copies of your software instead of dealing with the hassle or App verification and other registration-related muck. The downside to a more install-friendly approach is of course the heightened possibility of piracy but the "would these people really have bought it anyway" argument can always be made.
This isn't new for Apple Apps made to run under OS X, as iLife and even Apple's flagship software operating system do not require you to enter a serial number to finish the installation, nor do they require registration of any sort.
Around the web: AppleInsider (5 comments)
, Infinite Loop , MacRumors : Mac News and Rumors Profile pages: Apple, PDF, Apple iWork, Apple iWork '09
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Samsung plans an Android-based smartphone on Sprint and T-Mobile this year
Details are scarce, but if you're a Sprint customer you might finally get your hands on a phone running Google's Android software by the end of the year.
That Android cell phone operating system looks pretty neat, eh? But what if you're a Sprint customer and you don't want to switch to T-Mobile to use the G1? We have good news for you! Last month
rumors swirled around a Samsung-made Android phone hitting T-Mobile and Sprint. Those rumors phone just got a lot more concrete thanks to a leak from one of Samsung's executives.If you're looking for specs, you'll be disappointed; no word from that front yet. There is some good news if you're a fan of the Samsung Instinct: speculation has pointed to a design similar to that or the Omnia. That means no hardware keyboard. Instead, you'd get a touch-screen keyboard similar to the iPhone. A vague launch date of 2009 was given by Samsung.
It's no surprise that Samsung would be interested in using Android in one of its smartphones but it isn't the first or the last. The Open Handset Alliance (of which Samsung is a part) has many members pledging to contribute to the project.
Around the web: techradar.com
, TmoNews , Brighthand.com , TechRadar: All Latest Feeds , MobileBurn.com Profile pages: Google, T-Mobile G1 (HTC Dream), Android OS, Kogan Agora, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile, Samsung Instinct, Samsung Omnia
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Sony PS3 Slim image gallery
