Hasta La Gadget!

The Google Nexus 5 handset has yet to be officially announced, although some believe that the device, along with Android 4.4 KitKat’s release, will be revealed at Google’s Tel-Aviv event on the 5th of November. In any case it seems that over in Canada, local carrier, Wind Mobile, has put up a pre-registration page for the upcoming handset which shows off the device’s rendering which is pretty much in line with what we have seen in previous leaks. The pre-reg page also shows a spec sheet of the phone that also corroborates earlier rumors.

It should be noted that the page has since been pulled, either because the information is wrong or because Wind Mobile had gotten ahead of itself (we’re guessing it’s probably the latter), but the spec sheet lists a 4.95” Full HD Gorilla Glass 3 display with a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor on board. It will also come with 2GB of RAM and users can choose between a 16GB or a 32GB option with an 8MP rear-facing OIS (optical image stabilization) camera to top things off. It will also most likely run on Android 4.4 KitKat. A recent sighting on Google Play has revealed that the price of the 16GB model will be $349, but we guess we will just have to wait for the 5th of November announcement to see if the rumors pan out.

Canadian Carrier Launches Nexus 5 Pre-Registration Page original content from Ubergizmo.

Here we have a new mini-tower PC case from SilverStone, the PS09. Supporting both micro-ATX and mini-ITX motherboards, this steel case is equipped with a front-placed I/O panel with 2x USB 3.0 and 2x audio ports, two 5.25-inch external drive bays, four 3.5-inch internal drive bays, one 2.5-inch internal drive bay, four expansion slots, foam padded side panels for noise absorption and a 120mm front fan. Unfortunately, there’s no word on pricing yet. [SilverStone]

We’ve heard of smartphones, smart TVs, smartwatches, but smart displays? Granted this isn’t exactly new but it’s not one that we regularly come across but that is exactly what display manufacturer, ViewSonic, has recently announced. The company has recently announced their second-generation smart display which comes in the form of the VSD241 and is a 24” monitor that comes with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with an NVIDA Tegra 3 quad-core chipset under the hood. There is also a smaller VSD221 which is presumably the same device, just with a smaller screen at 22”.

Apart from the rather interesting notion of a display running Android (which makes it sound like a giant tablet), the VSD241 will feature HDMI connectivity that will allow it to pair with laptops or tablets, along with two full-sized USB 2.0 ports, a micro USB and mini USB port, SD card storage, an Ethernet port, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, and can be used as a standalone device or as an extended display. Priced at $499, the VSD241 will be available for purchase starting from today, while its smaller 22” VSD221 sibling will be available in December for $399.

ViewSonic Announces 24″ VSD241 Smart Display original content from Ubergizmo.

Just last week during Apple’s iPad event, it was revealed that new Mac computers would come with iWork and iLife installed for free, and that the company would offer upgrades to their latest operating system, OS X Mavericks, for free as well. While it seemed like this was an offer with no clock on the table, we guess there are still some users out there who might be wondering if there is a time limit to this offer and if it was a one-time deal. Well the good news is that if you were worried that this was indeed a one-time deal, fret not because during Apple’s financial results conference, the company’s CFO, Peter Oppenhemer, confirmed that iWork, iLife, and future OS X updates would be offered for free for the foreseeable future.

According to Oppenheimer, “We wanted all of our customers to have access to our very latest software so they can get the best features […] We wanted to make it a part of the experience.” Apple’s decision to make OS X Mavericks free has seen a sharp increase in the operating system’s adoption rate, which according to the figures suggested anywhere between 6-8% within 24 hours of the operating system’s release. It is an interesting move by Apple to offer up their software for free and we guess we will have to wait and see if this strategy will pay off. What do you guys think?

iLife, iWork, OS X Updates Will Remain Free For The Foreseeable Future original content from Ubergizmo.

Apple’s tablets have typically sold well, but recent Q4 earnings released by the Cupertino company has shown that at least for this quarter, their expectations fell short by a hair. According to Apple’s expectations, they expected to sell about 14.5 million units of tablets but fell short at 14.1 million (this still managed to beat internal expectations though). Granted this is a pretty small mark on an otherwise pretty stellar Q4 earnings report, it was enough to send Apple’s stocks down by 2%. To that end Apple has revealed that their gross margins will see an estimated drop to 36.5%-37.5% for the ongoing quarter.

While it was not stated why tablet sales fell short of expectations, there is a chance that customers were holding out and not purchasing any tablets from Apple as they were waiting to see what the new iPads (the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina dsplay) had to offer. Now that both tablets have been revealed and with a released pegged for November, perhaps the next earnings report from Apple will be even better, assuming of course Apple is able to meet the demand for the new iPad minis. Previous analyst claims have suggested that Apple could suffer a loss if they are not able to do so, but we guess we will just have to wait and see.

Apple Moves 14.1 Million iPads In Q4 original content from Ubergizmo.