Hasta La Gadget!

You might not need to move to Canada after all, LTE-seeking Nexus 4 owners. It appears that several users on the XDA Developers forums claim you can tap into LTE Band 4, which the Google phone requires for LTE, in select US markets where AT&T has AWS 1700 / 2100MHz spectrum. Those cities are Phoenix, Raleigh, San Juan, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Chicago, Charlotte, Athens, GA and College Station, TX. However, LTE Band 4 is not widely deployed even in those areas, so don’t feel too disappointed if your Nexus 4 struggles for an LTE signal if you live nearby.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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Via: Android Police

Source: XDA Developers

As much of a breakthrough as magnetoresistive RAM might be for its ability to retain data while powered off, its susceptibility to leak currents while turned on has made it impractical as a replacement for cache-oriented memory like SRAM. Toshiba’s new approach could almost literally turn the situation on its head. By magnetizing spin torque MRAM (ST-MRAM) in a direction perpendicular to the magnetic layer, Toshiba cuts off the avenues for leaks without sacrificing speed. The switch away from in-plane magnetization is an upside for the memory as a whole — it shrinks normally large elements to below 30 nanometers and cuts the overall power draw of MRAM by about 90 percent. While there’s no timetable for when we’ll see such cache in a shipping product, Toshiba expects it to reach mobile processors, where even slight power savings can make a big difference. If our next smartphone or tablet survives that much longer on battery through memory we can’t even see, we’ll know who to thank.

Continue reading Toshiba goes perpendicular to solve MRAM’s power issues, rethink cache memory

Filed under: Storage, Mobile

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Via: MRAM-Info

Source: Toshiba

You know, when my toaster doesn’t get my piece of toast just right, I get really pissed off! OK, I don’t actually get that mad, but burnt toast is definitely an annoyance. Toaster tech hasn’t evolved much in the last century, but this smart toaster concept aims to take things into the 22nd century and beyond, at least for toast-making.

The Hue toaster was designed by Basheer Tome. It uses photo sensors to determine the color of bread as it toasts. Once it reaches your pre-selected level, it pops out the toast. The toaster automatically varies the toasting time depending on what you pop in, and does away with the need for special “bagel” or “frozen” modes.

A frozen piece of bread will take longer before it thaws. Thicker pieces of bread will take longer, but this toaster handles them all automatically.

While The Hue is still in the prototype stages, I hope it gets made to resolve all of our first-world, toaster-related problems.

[via Core77 via DVice]

STMicroelectronics may not be a household name, but it’s a name that’s stamped on quite a few gizmos that you and yours have probably handled. Going forward, however, the company is announcing a new “strategic plan” that’ll key in on five growth drivers while waving goodbye to a jointly held venture with ST-Ericsson. Carlo Bozotti, President and CEO of ST, stated the following: “Today we are announcing the new ST, aligned with the new market environment. Based on that, we have made the decision to exit ST-Ericsson after a transition period. We will continue to support ST-Ericsson as their supply-chain partner, advanced process-technology partner and application-processor IP provider.”

From now on, the outfit will focus on MEMS and sensors, smart power, automotive products, microcontrollers, and application processors including digital consumer — clearly, five areas where the tie-up with ST-Ericsson won’t be necessary. Most analysts suggest that the two simply couldn’t find a way to be competitive in the mobile chip business, with larger Asian and US-based rivals eating an increasing share of that pie. Moreover, the venture has been lagging ever since Nokia’s smartphone downfall; as luck would (or wouldn’t, depending on perspective) have it, Nokia was one of ST-Ericsson’s bigger clients. It remains to be seen how many jobs will be lost due to this decision, and which of the remaining chip makers will be swooping in to buy up what’s left.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: Reuters

Source: STMicroelectronics

Yes, we know. People have been recording and remixing albums on iOS for ages. As the man who claims to have given Damon Albarn the idea to make an album on the iPad, I am intimately familiar with the concept. More »