Hasta La Gadget!

NVIDIA’s founder and president Jen-Hsun Huang has never been one to dodge a question, and that made for an excellent closing interview here at AsiaD. Outside of (re)confirming what lies ahead for Tegra, he also spoke quite openly about his feeling towards Windows on ARM in response to a question from Joanna Stern. Here’s the bulk of his reply:

“It’s important for [Microsoft] not to position these as PCs. From a finesse perspective — I can’t speak on their behalf — but I would come out with tablets first with Windows on ARM. It helps to establish that this isn’t a PC. Will yesterday’s Office run on tomorrow’s Windows on ARM PC? Will a new version of Office run on tomorrow’s Windows on ARM tablets? Both questions are about legacy, and both are about Office. The actual implementation of it is radically different. I see no reason to make Office 95 to run on Windows on ARM. I think it would be wonderful, absolutely wonderful — I’d say, as someone who uses Windows — it would be almost a requirement to me that [the ARM] device runs Windows interoperably. If Office runs on Windows on ARM — it’s the killer app. Everything else is on the web.”

He elaborated to say that he would hope Office for Windows on ARM would support the same files that today’s Office does, much the same way that Office for Mac eventually synced up with its Windows-based sibling. For more from Huang’s interview, hop on past the break!

Continue reading NVIDIA’s Jen-Hsun Huang: Windows on ARM should hit tablets first, battling Intel is a bad idea, would love his chips in iPad

NVIDIA’s Jen-Hsun Huang: Windows on ARM should hit tablets first, battling Intel is a bad idea, would love his chips in iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wondering whether Sony’s PlayStation Suite will ever really leave its nest? While the SDK won’t be out until next month, SCE Chairman Kaz Hirai just told us here at AsiaD that this Android-friendly framework’s still open to all other manufacturers, and he emphasized that it “isn’t an ecosystem where we want to keep everything within the Sony family” while pimping the three PlayStation Certified Android devices so far: Xperia Play, Tablet S and Tablet P. Kaz also confirmed that Sony’s currently “in discussions with non-Sony companies to bring them onboard,” but as to when this will come to fruition, the company will make those announcements “when it’s time to go public with it,” so we shall see.

Kaz Hirai: Sony is ‘in discussions with non-Sony companies’ over PlayStation Suite originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, so much for that. Samsung’s Executive Vice President of Product Strategy — Won-Pyo Hong — didn’t say a whole heck of a lot on stage here at AsiaD, but he did clarify one thing near the end of his interview: he has ‘no idea’ where those earlier rumors came from. With “those rumors” regarding the matter of designing the Galaxy Nexus specifically to avoid patent troubles with Apple. According to Dr. Hong, the actual development of the Galaxy Nexus started with Google before the initial lawsuit hammer fell between the two outfits, making it impossible for the suits being flung back and forth today to have any impact on that decision.

We believe it. These phones are designed months — if not years — in advance, and the actual process from concept to shipping takes a relative eternity. Furthermore, the original source (linked in More Coverage) only tied the quotes from Sammy’s Shin Jong-kyun loosely to the Galaxy Nexus, and we’re guessing that Samsung takes a look at all potential legal implications before shipping any product. In other words, the company’s probably doing everything it can — including paying Microsoft for every single Android device sold — to avoid these nasty legal battles, but the Galaxy Nexus wasn’t engineered just to sidestep another fight with the lawyers in Cupertino. And now you know.

Update: In response to a question from Joanna Stern regarding Samsung’s rethinking of hardware and software (mainly TouchWiz) in order to lessen its chances of being sued in the future, Dr. Hong did muster a very vague affirmation that a newer build of TouchWiz will eventually surface, and that it’ll almost certainly be tweaked in a way that’ll cause Apple’s lawyers to salivate less.

Samsung’s Won-Pyo Hong: Galaxy Nexus wasn’t designed just to skirt Apple patents originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 05:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You heard it here first, folks — ASUS chairman Jonney Shih just affirmed that the long-awaited Padfone will be shipping in Q1 of 2012, and yes, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will be onboard. That was in response to a question from Joanna Stern regarding the future of the multifaceted device, which we first heard may run ICS way back in May. Still no solid word on price or a global release schedule, but now that Android 4.0 is finally coming out, we’re assuming things are finally in high gear.

ASUS’ Jonney Shih: Padfone will ship in Q1 2012 with Ice Cream Sandwich originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready for the world’s first consumer light field camera — you know, the spiffy kind that can infinitely focus? After demoing the tech earlier this year, Lytro’s unveiled the world’s first shipping product — a little something it calls the Lytro camera. Within the anodized aluminum frame, the consumer-friendly camera totes an f/2, 8x zoom lens which utilizes an 11-mega-ray light-field to power all that infinite focus magic. It’s instant-on and the rubber back-end wields only two physical buttons: one for shutter and the other for power. The company’s added the ability to change the focus on-camera, a task accomplished via its touchscreen glass display.

It’ll ship in two versions: the $399 8GB flavor can hold 350 pictures, and comes in graphite or blue, followed by a $499 16GB model, which sports an electric-red finish and stores up to 750 images. Pre-orders go live at Lytro’s website today, and will ship in early 2012 on a first-come first-serve basis. Our hands-on impressions are here, with PR and sample images after the break.

Continue reading Lytro introduces world’s first light field camera: f/2 lens, $399, ships early 2012

Lytro introduces world’s first light field camera: f/2 lens, $399, ships early 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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