Check out this newly released gaming PC from Dospara, the GALLERIA-A FH. Specs-wise, the system features a 3.30GHz AMD FX-8300 processor, an AMD 970 chipset, a GeForce GTX 660 2GB graphics card, an 8GB DDR3 RAM, a 2TB hard drive, a DVD Super Multi Drive, a multi-card reader, a 750W 80PLUS power supply and runs on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS. The GALLERIA-A FH sells for 89,980 Yen (about $998). [Product Page]
Epson has also introduced their latest nettop PC, the Endeavor NB51E. Specs-wise, the system is packed with a 1.70GHz AMD E2-1800 processor, an AMD A45 FCH chipset, a built-in Radeon HD 7340 graphics card, a 2GB DDR3 RAM, a 250GB hard drive and runs on Windows 8 64-bit OS. The Endeavor NB51E sells for 36,540 Yen (about $407). [Product Page]
Back in July, we reported on the price to upgrade your Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 PCs to Windows 8 Pro to be only $40 as a promotional offering from Microsoft. If you haven’t upgraded your PC to Windows 8 Pro, you may want to do so right this second as Microsoft is announcing the promotional upgrade price of $40 is going to end soon.
Up until January 31st, those PC users who are upgrading to Windows 8 Pro will still be able to upgrade for the promotional price of $40, but after that, expect to pay big bucks if you’d like to upgrade your existing Windows machine to Windows 8 Pro. How big? A Windows 8 Pro upgrade will set you back $199.99, while the standard Windows 8 upgrade edition will cost $119.99. That big.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Mega Goes Live, Microsoft Integrating Skype Into Voice, Video Communications Across All Products, 
Dell Wyse – the cloud computing company acquired by Dell in May 2012 – may soon be entering its bet on the emerging PC on a stick genre. While the previous examples of these flash drive computers we’ve seen use Android as their primary operating system, Dell’s product will also run on Android, but will give customers the freedom to choose from different OSes to actually use.
Currently known as “Project Ophelia,” the computer is meant to be used mainly as a gateway to Dell Wyse’s cloud services. According to Quartz, “It allows access to Windows, Mac OS, Google’s Chrome OS, Dell’s custom cloud solutions, Citrix cloud software, and even Google’s Chrome OS, using virtual instances of those operating systems running in the cloud.” The PC will plug into (and draw power from) a display via USB. Then it will connect to Dell Wyse’s servers via Wi-Fi and to hardware peripherals via Bluetooth.
Dell’s vice president of cloud operations Tarkan Maner said that they’re planning to sell Ophelia for only $50 (USD) each, though he didn’t mention how much the cloud services would cost. That’s probably where they’ll generate most of their revenue.
From a tech support perspective, this could make it a lot easier to secure and manage a large number of computers. But I wonder if it also poses a risk of data theft, disconnection or lack of access on a massive scale should things go wrong. It also takes away a lot of control from the user in return for the convenience it provides. Either way, it’s too early to see what kind of effect Ophelia may have on the PC industry.
[via Quartz via Boy Genius Report]
In May 2011, Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.6 billion, and since then, it’s been slowly integrating its newly purchased product into its own services and products, with the majority of the integrating taking place within its desktop products.
A report has found Microsoft is planning to replace its proprietary voice chat in all of its products with Skype, including its Xbox 720, tablets and PCs, too. Relying on Skype as the back-bone for all of its voice and video communications will certainly put quite the strain on the service, especially considering it’ll be implemented into the new Xbox. The source familiar with the matter added, “You might jump to the conclusion that we’ll see asynchronous voice and video messages in next-gen Xbox Live”.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Because We May Movement Brings Discounted Apps from May 24 to June 1, Gaikai and Nvidia Team Up to Offer GeForce Grid; Cloud Gaming Service , 
Microsoft is expected to make Microsoft Office 2013 available to the general public sometime in the first quarter of 2013, and if you were planning on getting your hands on Microsoft’s latest productivity suite, a leaked set of slides (via ZDNet) supposedly meant for retailers has made its way onto the internet, and on it are the prices that resellers will probably be selling the software at. As expected, the version that Microsoft is targeting to university students and regular home users will be the cheapest starting at $139, while those looking to get a bit more professional will have to pay $219 for the Office Home & Business 2013 edition, followed by Office Standard 2013 at $369 and Office Professional Plus at $499.
At the same time Microsoft is also offering a new subscription feature which will allow users to install the software on multiple devices, versus paying a onetime fee which only allows users to install Microsoft Office on a single device. Depending on your needs, buying it outright might be cheaper, but for companies that might need to install it on multiple computers, the subscription fee could be the way to go. Microsoft Office 2013 is expected to be launched soon, so be sure to check back with us then for the details.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Facebook Users Uploaded 1.1 Billion Photos On New Year’s Eve/Day, Logitech UC Keyboard K725-C Announced, 
The folks at Facebook must be popping some champers at the moment, reveling in the moment where the world ushered in 2013 and bid adieu to 2012. Graph Search certainly had plenty of data to work on when Facebook users uploaded a record 1.1 billion photos throughout a time window of 48 hours which encompassed New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve. This is more than the triple the 300 million photos which were uploaded to Facebook on a “normal” day.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the 1.1 billion photos statistic, and the 1.1 billion additional photos would definitely increase Facebook’s collection of 240 billion photos prior that Mark Zuckerberg announced when he launched Graph Search earlier this Tuesday. Those crazy New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day photos that you uploaded are now indexed in Facebook’s new internal search engine. How many photos did you upload during your crazy December 31st, 2012 evening? Wait a minute here, do you even remember just what kind of party you attended, and what went on there, or did you wake up in a daze without remembering anything? Better use Graph Search to see what happened then lest you find yourself in some incriminating photos.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Microsoft Office 2013 Pricing Leaked, Logitech UC Keyboard K725-C Announced, 
The whole idea of Unified communications (UC) plays with the thought of combining phone calls, instant messaging, desktop sharing and video collaboration, all of them within a solitary software platform. Well, it has started to gain more acceptance and hence, push a transformation on how folks connect with one another at work. The Logitech UC Keyboard K725-C intends to ease the workforce into the world of unified communications, where it was specially designed for the Cisco Jabber UC platform, sporting nine call control keys (including call answer/end, hold, audio mute, video mute, volume up/down and voicemail) as well as an LCD display in the keyboard itself which shows off Caller ID for incoming calls.
In a nutshell, you get the slew of familiar controls of a desk phone in the keyboard itself, how about that? The Logitech UC Solution for Cisco 725-C will comprise of the Logitech C920-C Webcam that offers Full HD 1080p high-definition video and the ergonomically shaped Logitech M525-C Wireless Mouse in addition to the keyboard. [Press Release]
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Transporter Offers Data Storage Alternative, Raspberry Pi Makes For A Decent Baby Monitor, 
Instagram’s wrangling with their Terms of Service at the end of last year raised quite the uproar, and while many folks claim that they would wean themselves off from the online photo sharing service, Instagram themselves have denied that they experienced a 25% drop in users after the entire ToS snafu. The thing is, it was pretty hard to believe them at first, but now that the dust has settled, a quick peek at Instagram’s page showed that could very well be true, although it is data not from an independent auditing company, but rather, from Instagram themselves.
We are talking about the announcement that Instagram has 90 million active users as at press time, with a whopping 40 million photos added to the site daily. Apart from that, the site also picked up on average, “8,500″ likes and 1,000 comments every single second.
Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom said, “Instagram continues to see very strong growth around the world. With many of the product and internationalization improvements we’ve made, we’ve been excited to see these efforts resonate with users globally.” Empty threats from dissatisfied Instagram users?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Microsoft Office 2013 Pricing Leaked, Facebook Users Uploaded 1.1 Billion Photos On New Year’s Eve/Day, 
Epson hits back with a new all-in-one desktop PC, the Endeavor PT100E. This space-saving system is equipped with a 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD display, a 2.60GHz Intel Celeron G550 processor, an Intel H61 Express Chipset, a 2GB DDR3 RAM, a 500GB hard drive, a DVD Super Multi Drive, an SD card slot, an HDMI port and runs on Windows 8 Pro (64-bit) OS. The Endeavor PT100E sells for 59,430 Yen (about $669). [Epson]
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