Hasta La Gadget!

Gigabyte‘s just let its Computex ‘cat’ out of the bag, and while most of it is stuff we’ve already seen plenty of, there was one new addition. The 11.6-inch M1125 netvertible boasts a high res 1,366 x 768 display, an Intel Calpella chip, USB 3.0 and an optical disc drive. This little guy also has a new fangled docking station and a full sized keyboard to boot. We don’t have anything resembling full specs yet, nor do we have pricing or availability information — though we get the feeling we’ll be seeing plenty more of this one in the week to come. Full press release follows.

Continue reading Gigabyte busts out M1125 netvertible ahead of Computex

Gigabyte busts out M1125 netvertible ahead of Computex originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Three months ago, it seemed Flash was as good as dead. Now, with a new Flash player for the Android platform and some big companies throwing their support behind the format, the technology looks like it won’t become history just yet.

Following the partnership with Google for Android OS,  Adobe is finding more supporters for its video format. Nokia, and Opera, the browser maker, have announced they’ll be sticking with Flash.

“It is the only proprietary part of the Web we support,” Opera co-founder von Tetzchner stated at the recent Open Mobile conference in London, PC Mag reports.

Nokia will also continue its support for Flash, says Alberto Torres, Nokia’s vice-president for business solutions.

In addition, reports claim media giants Time Warner and NBC Universal won’t be replacing Flash with HTML5 anytime soon. Time Warner has been especially opposed to the subscription model allegedly promoted by Apple.

No surprise there, as Time Warner announced a big deal with Adobe last year to bring online properties such as Warner Bros. Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting System, and Home Box office.

The war for the future of online video started when in 2007, iPhone appeared and surprised the world (and its future users) by completely nixing support for Flash. Apple stepped up the anti-Flash campaign by not allowing any Flash-developed applications on the iPhone and iPad, with Jobs himself leading the PR effort.

Recent months have seen major websites like YouTub, Vimeo and The New York Times embrace the HTML5 format which the iPhone and iPad can run. Disney, in which Jobs is the largest individual shareholder, launched an iPad app that includes all ABC shows for free. Other networks such as CNN and Fox have also started using HTML5 on their sites.

Meanwhile, Adobe is trying to fight back. Last week, it showed a beta version of Flash Player 10.1 for Google’s Android OS. Flash would require Android version 2.2 aka ‘FroYo’.  Android 2.2 will be the the first mobile platform that fully supports Flash, instead of the stripped-down Flash Lite version.

The launch of Flash Player 10.1 for Android, along with support from big players like Nokia and Time Warner, points to a vigorous effort by Adobe to push back against Apple’s criticism. This trench warfare is bound to continue for a while.

See Also:

• First Look: Flash Arrives on New Android OS
• Adobe Gives Up on Flash for iPhone, iPad
• Google Fires at Apple, Integrates Flash Into Chrome Browser
• Apple Promotes ‘iPad-Ready’ Websites Ditching Flash
• Steve Jobs Claims Flash Will Kill the Mobile Web
• HTML5 for iPad Won’t Kill Flash, But Could Change Apps

Photo: Flash Player 10.1 on Nexus One (Keith Axline/Wired.com)

For those who feel there’s not enough choice in e-readers or smartphones, here are some new options. Acer is showing a new e-reader and smartphone that more than anything else add clutter to the category.  The two devices will be shown at Computex, one of the largest trade shows for PC makers held every year in Tapei, Taiwan.

Acer’s new e -reader called LumiRead will have a 6-inch E Ink display, 2 GB flash memory (good for about 1500 books) with the option to add a MicroSD card, and a QWERTY keyboard.

There’s also an ISBN scanner built into the device so users can scan ISBN codes on the books to create their own wish list or search online libraries and book stores.

Like the Alex e-reader or Amazon’s Kindle, Acer’s LumiRead will have a internet browser and connect wirelessly using 3G or Wi-Fi.

Acer has signed agreements with Barnes & Noble and Libri.de, a German internet book retailer to offer e-books. The device will launch in the U.S. in the third quarter and be available in China and Germany towards the end of the year.

Acer isn’t talking price, which will be key to the device’s success. The e-reader market is flooded with Kindle clones and the arrival of yet another device is hardly likely to get consumers’ attention.  The ISBN code-scanning feature aside, the LumiRead feels rather pedestrian and unless Acer can beat Sony’s $170 Pocket Edition e-reader, it is difficult to see how LumiRead can get ahead.

Separately, Acer also announced a new smartphone called Stream. The Android-powered phone will have a3.7-inch touchscreen OLED display, 3G,  Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capability, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor, 512 MB RA and 2 GB of internal memory.

“Acer Stream is a high-end multimedia smartphone, optimized for watching movies, listening to music and enjoying web browsing like at home,” says Acer in a statement. “Perfect for most demanding users who look for the best in entertainment.”

That means HD video recording up to 720p, 5-megapixel camera, a GPS system that allows photos and videos to be geotagged and a HDMI port. The phone will run Android version 2.1 aka ‘Éclair.’

Based on the specs, the Stream sounds a lot like the Nexus One.  It’s likely that Acer will launch the device in Asia and Europe only. After all, the Nexus One and the HTC EVO 4G blow the Stream out of the competition in the U.S.

Acer hasn’t announced telecom carriers or pricing for the Stream.

See Also:

• $150 Kobo eReader: The Real Kindle Killer?
• Plastic Logic Aims New Que E-Reader at Business Users
• Entourage eDGe E-Book Reader
• Acer Plans a Million Chrome OS Netbooks, New E-Reader

Photo: Acer LumiRead/Acer

A new version of Apple TV will be intended for streaming video and will be based on the iPhone OS and chip. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20006289-260.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Circuit Breaker/a/p

The PC hardware community recently discovered that quad-SLI was a huge waste of cash, so when we heard that TweakTown were stringing together four Radeon HD 5870s in a similar CrossFireX configuration, we figured they were about to throw away their time, too. Boy, were we wrong, because the hardware site never intended to seriously benchmark the rig as a viable gaming PC — their intent was to make our jaws drop, and right now they’re somewhere around our ankles. The contraption brought 3DMark03 to its knees with a soul-shattering score of 200,000 and achieved average framerates approaching a ludicrous four digits in Devil May Cry 4. How? Liquid nitrogen, of course. By attaching LN2-filled copper pots to each of the four already-powerful graphics cards and physically tacking on extra capacitors to direct the voltage, they bumped the Core i7-980X CPU clock to 5.8GHz and each GPU to 1250MHz, in what we think you’ll agree is a healthy jump from 3.06 3.33GHz and 850MHz, respectively. Watch them build the mean machine after the break, and remember kids, don’t try this at home.

Update: The Core i7-980X runs at 3.33GHz, or 3.6GHz in Turbo Mode, not 3.06GHz. Our bad!

Continue reading TweakTown slathers four Radeon HD 5870s in liquid nitrogen, crushes some benchmarks (video)

TweakTown slathers four Radeon HD 5870s in liquid nitrogen, crushes some benchmarks (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 13:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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