Latest News - Page 3006

Delphi, a company most known for its vehicle based electronics has teamed up with Verizon and released a new device that lets you remotely monitor, track and control your car.

The Bluetooth-enabled "Car Connect" device plugs into your car's OBD2 port. Once drivers install the device, they can then connect to it on their smart phone via a custom app.

The app is available on both Android and iOS allows them to monitor their vehicle's fuel levels, engine temperature, and other vital signs. The app will also notify drivers of any error codes that may prompt them to check their engines. An onboard GPS chip will allow real time vehicle tracking if the car is stolen. The app is also able to unlock and lock the car as well as remotely starting the vehicle from afar.

CES 2013 - SteelSeries start off with a sprint this morning, unveiling the "world's fastest gaming keyboards" otherwise known as the SteelSeries Apex and Apex RAW. Both of these keyboards sport "unique enhancements" to the keyboards layout from low-profile keys, specifically designed raised macros rows for quick access, as well as various customizations in terms of colors and intensity on the keyboard itself.

Where the world's fastest gaming keyboard term comes into play is in the SteelSeries ActiveZone, which is a combination of programmability as well as visual support to navigate the keys better.

The Apex keyboard is the higher-end of the two, sports the aforementioned SteelSeries ActiveZone which gives an insane amount of customization functions available to the user. Up to 8 levels of illumination intensity in each of its 5 zones, with up to 4 different customizable layers per zone.

CES 2013 - Network attached storage is huge right now, and will only grow in the future, so it was only inevitable that Seagate would push more products in this area. CES 2013 brings Seagate into a position to release their Seagate Central shared storage, which is the first storage device to feature an app for Smart TVs that allow users to access their files on the big screen.

Seagate Central is also capable of automatic backups for the entire house, as well as acting as centralized storage for your digital movies and music. Remote access is also featured, where you can access Seagate Central from any Internet-connected device. Seagate have built Seagate Central with simplicity in mind, where the storage giant have reworked their software and user experience for Seagate Central where it will provide an easy backup solution for each system on the network.

This can be a Windows PC, or a Mac notebook - it doesn't matter - Seagate Central does it all. The network attached storage device is also capable of backing up photos and videos directly from Facebook, which is something the company first unveiled in their award-winning Backup Plus lineup of devices.

CES 2013 - Seagate have announced the next step in their wireless storage products with the Seagate Wireless Plus. The new Wireless Plus device was designed to wirelessly stream content for up to 8 mobile devices, as well as feature enough storage on-board for 500 high-definition movies.

Seagate's Wireless Plus also comes with a 10-hour battery life which will match the battery life of most smartphones and tablets, and comes with 1TB of storage so you won't be bored with the amount of content you can store on the device. The device is accessed through the mobile Seagate Media app which is available for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire HD devices.

Not only that, but it can work with pretty much any device that can connect to a Wi-Fi network, and better yet - you can use the Wireless Plus to watch video, photos or listen to music through your TV using Apple AirPlay, DLNA or an application designed specifically for Samsung Smart TVs and Blu-ray players.

While Microsoft are having issues with sales numbers of Windows 8-based devices and Apple continue to push their awesome Retina-based MacBook's, it is the Linux-based Chromebook from Samsung and Google that is topping Amazon's charts.

Listed at just $249, with Amazon selling it for up to $317 - as demand is driving up the price and retailers are taking advantage of this. Even at $317, which is $68 more than its list price, it is still cheaper than all of the other 20 laptops in Amazon's top 20 laptop list. What makes the Chromebook such a huge seller?

After its price being the number one reason, secondly just about anyone can use it as a Chromebook is pretty much just a Chrome web browser-based notebook, and that is definitely not a bad thing. Linux is churning away underneath, but you don't see that on top of the OS. Most people turn away from a Chromebook because they think Google's many services are all online-only, but they're not.

Today while browsing the booths offered at Storage Visions--a show like CES that takes place just before and just for storage--this M-DISC caught my eye. The company says that their disc, compatible with most newer DVD writers, will allow data stored on a DVD disc to last for up to 1000 years, compared to the 7 years of a normal disc.

They achieve this by etching the data into a "rock-like layer" that isn't affected by light and other damaging elements. The company said that the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division tested the disc versus normal discs and found that it was the only one to survive the 85*C/85% relative humidity test.

The other discs didn't survive past two days. One downside to these new discs is that they will set you back around $3 a piece, whereas normal discs are much, much cheaper than that. Other than that, these discs seem to be pretty cool. You can find out more information from the company's website.

Ever since its acquisition of IBM's personal computer business back in 2005, Lenovo have done quite well for themselves, but it looks like that's not enough. According to an internal e-mail from CEO Yang Yuanqing, who admitted that despite trying, the Lenovo brand is still only doing well in the mainstream and low-end markets.

The Think brand is the company's best performer in the high-end market, and is the only brand that can compete against Apple in the high-end market. Yang has announced in the same e-mail for the sake of better brand positioning and better efficiency that Lenovo will split into two new groups: Lenovo Business Group (LBG) and Think Business Group (TBG).

The fresh start will begin on April 1st, where LBG will be headed by Senior Vice President of Mobile Internet Digital Home, Liu Jun, who will put all of energies into mainstream consumer and business desktops, laptops and tablets, as well as smartphones and smart TVs. TBG will be have current Senior Vice President of Product Groups, Dr. Peter Hortensius at the helm.

While waiting to get into the NVIDIA CES 2013 Special Event as well as myself waiting to watch the live webcast, get ready for some huge announcements from NVIDIA. What could we see?

I'm sure NVIDIA will take the stage and hopefully show off some next-gen Tegra 4 SoC gear, or maybe a tease of an upcoming new product we haven't heard of yet? Keep coming back as we're going to be reporting this live as it happens.

And it's starting! CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang has just taken the stage. Huang is talking about the iPod being a huge change for technology, talks about the Amazon Kindle which allowed you to download a book in just a minute without being connected to a PC, completely untethered. The cloud is being pushed by the NVIDIA CEO, talking about streaming video, movies and then pushing anything to a device with a smart processor inside.

Can't say I didn't see it coming - I pretty much said the same thing in my review, but it looks like Consumer Reports' latest conclusion is that the iPhone 5 is the worst of the top smartphones on the market right now. Yes - the worst.

In the February issue of the magazine, we'll get to see the full piece, but for now we have a simple photo above. With AT&T, LG's Optimus G ranks as number one and sitting on number two position is Samsung's Galaxy S III. In third position, we have the iPhone 5.

The same goes for Sprint, in the same order, but things change with T-Mobile - Samsung's Galaxy S III enjoys first position, HTC's One S pops up in position numero duo and in third position we have the 5.5-inch, just-released Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone. Verizon is completely different again where two Motorola smartphones take out position one and two with the Droid Razr Maxx HD and Droid Razr HD respectively, and third position goes to the Galaxy S III from Samsung.

Samsung have unveiled some of their new home theater products ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 in Las Vegas, included with the announcement is Samsung coming out with what they're claiming to be the world's first sound bar system to sport a vacuum tube. We're also greeted by a new way of Bluetooth for TV audio reproduction, gyros that improve sound quality and finally an all-in-one home theater system that features an amplifier made with Gallium Nitrade.

HW-F750 Vacuum Tube Soundbar

Samsung's HW-F750 Vacuum Tube Soundcar is a sound bar and wireless subwoofer product, and is the South Korean company's latest digital audio product that sports a vacuum tube in the pre-amp stage. Not only does it look great, but it should sound great too. The sound bar will also sport Bluetooth for wireless audio streaming from supported Samsung TVs, and also comes with a built-in gyroscope which is used to help adjust the speakers' sound for optimal results based on the speaker's positioning.

After 36 years on the job, Mike Daniels has left IBM according to a spokesperson from the company. Erich Clementi who currently serves as Senior Vice President for Global Technology Services, and Bridget van Kralingen, who is the current Senior Vice President for Global Business Services will be filling in for Daniels' spot when he leaves.

Clementi and Kralingen will report directly to the CEO. Daniels was once the head of Global Services in the Asia Pacific region, and also acted as IBM's Sales and Distribution operations in the US, Canada and Latin America. Daniels' other positions included responsibility for sales in regards to IBM's IT products, marketing and services. He was also seen by most as an economizer in regards to saving money for IBM, and secondly as a trailblazer in regards to computer management services.

Daniels missed out on the CEO position, but was passed over for Ginni Rometty just over twelve months ago. Rometty ended up becoming IBM's first female in charge of operations.

'Disney' and 'console' are not two words that I would've thought I'd be writing together about, but here we are. Disney all the way back in June 2011 filed an application for a patent, but it was only recently that the Patent and Trademark Office logged it.

Disney's patent suggests that the behemoth company are working on their own console that would sport 3D augmented reality, including a handheld device. The patent has teased that it is, or will be called 'Toy Box'. The description of Toy Box sound intriguing: "It's gameplay involves various Disney and Pixar characters interacting with each other".

Considering Disney have a plethora of characters under their name, including the Pixar name and now Star Wars - this could be truly game-changing news. It might not directly compete with the Xbox and PlayStation, but it wouldn't need to. Also remember that Pixar and Apple are BFFs... so this could be the work of Apple, or they've at least got their finger in the pie here.

Android adoption continues to expand at rapid rates, but as quick as it's expanding with new devices sporting Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, or older devices coming with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, older revisions of Android are seeing declines in market share.

It wasn't too long ago that Android 2.3 Gingerbread enjoyed more than 50% of the Android market share on devices, but that has now shrunk to 47.3%. Android 4.1 has scooped up 9% of the market share, with Android 4.2.1 seeing just 1.2%. Gingerbread's share of the Android OS market is expected to decline in the future as more devices ship with updated versions of the Android OS. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (and higher) versions of Android now represent over 40% of the entire Android OS market share.

Google, and their partners like Samsung, LG and more will continue to push out Jelly Bean-based devices which will only see Jelly Bean's numbers increase. As consumers upgrade to these devices, Gingerbread's market share will continue to drop - which is great, as it's a very old OS. Android has come a very long way since Gingerbread, and it looks like users are noticing this, and upgrading.

CES 2013 - This is a huge rumor right now, and I'm just the messenger so holster your weapons, please. According to FanlessTech's sources, NVIDIA could unveil their first desktop SoC (system on a chip) at CES.

NVIDIA's "Project Denver" could be announced, with multiple reference designs to be shown off tomorrow night, reports FanlessTech. I would not be surprised, and I've said it before that NVIDIA should enter the desktop CPU game in some form - it's one of the biggest markets right now.

Does this news surprise you? Excite you? Personally, it excites me - I think years from now the CPU as we know it will be vastly different, as they're already doing so now - APUs and the such. A SoC that could be built into a motherboard would only cost $20-$50 (in that range) more and could give users a huge upgrade in terms of graphics performance out-of-the-box.

CES 2013 - Rosewill have debuted a world first at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the Rosewill Helios RK-9200 Dual LED Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard sports Cherry MX switches in Blue, Red, Brown or Black. It supports both Red or Green Backlit LEDs and also allows users to control the WASD and 4 directional arrow keys independently, giving you the freedom you want.

Rosewill have also taken the time at CES to unveil their new gaming case, THRONE, which will be available in both black and white and sports a "sleek, angular appeal and aggressive appearance". Rosewill's newly-announced ARMOR Evolution mid-tower case is the first mid-tower chassis to support E-ATX motherboards and have 2 x USB 3.0 front ports.

There will also be a new line of 802.11n dual-band network accessories on show, with the Rosewill L600N Wireless Router, N900UBE wireless USB adapter, N600PCE and N900PCE dual-band PCI-e wireless adapters.

The Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) has announced that SATA Express has begun the ratification process. Firstly, if you didn't know about SATA Express, it's the specification that will standardize PCIe as an interface for client storage. Secondly, if you didn't know who SATA-IO are, they are the industry consortium that are dedicated to "sustaining the quality, integrity and dissemination of SATA technology".

SATA Express entering the ratification process is big news, as this process is the last one before it will be available to the general public in the next version of the specification which is expected to be completed sometime this year. The new standard will enable an ecosystem for client storage which will see SATA and PCIe solutions fuzed together which will usher in a new low-cost solution for the next-generation of SSDs and hybrid drives.

PCIe technology is capable of speeds of up to 1GB/s per lane in the client space compared to SATA's current technology which is limited to just 0.6GB/s (SATA 6Gbps spec). Mladen Luksic, President of SATA-IO, has said:

Microsoft has halted development on its free-to-play Age of Empires Online game that came out in 2011. What this means is that there will be no new content coming for the game, though the game will continue to operate. Microsoft detailed what it means in a blog post:

So, the game will eventually die, and until then, bug support will be slow and possibly non-existant: "Fixing and remaining bugs and addressing balance issues will be slower and, frankly, more difficult for the team. Some may, in fact, be unfixable. We will be watching carefully in case any critical bugs appear."

SamMobile, a website that reports on all things Samsung Mobile has released photos said to be of the next generation Galaxy smart phone. The photos reportedly come from an insider at Samsung, but at this time, we have no conformation as to if they are real or not.

The first noticeable feature is that the home button is missing, a feature that was popular on previous Samsung phones. It is also notable that the screen seems taller which could mean that the company may be moving the buttons to the screen. Moving the home buttons to the screen is something Google has been pushing since the release of ICS.

As with all "leaked" photos, we should take them with a grain of salt. Photos are easily altered and a good fake is not hard to come by. If by chance, this photo is the real deal, I am betting we see something official by Q2 of this year.

The Megaupload saga continues, this time with Megaupload complaining that the US government lied in order to get a search warrant. According to the motion, a recently unsealed search warrant shows that the US Department of Justice asked Megaupload to keep 39 copies of copyrighted movies on its servers for an investigation.

The part they didn't mention? It was an investigation into Megaupload. They then used the fact that the files were still on Megaupload's servers as primary proof that the company knowingling harbored copyrighted content:

The on-going anti-trust investigation into Google has finally been completed with a 4-1 ruling that Google must stop excluding competitors from using standards essential patents owned by subsidiary Motorola. These patents are what the FTC call the "cornerstone of the interoperability standards that we have taken for granted."

Google is also making two voluntary changes to the way some of its products work:

"The changes Google has agreed to make will ensure that consumers continue to reap the benefits of competition in the online marketplace and in the market for innovative wireless devices they enjoy," said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. "This was an incredibly thorough and careful investigation by the Commission, and the outcome is a strong and enforceable set of agreements."