Hasta La Gadget!

Intel has finalized the specs of its Next Unit of Computing (NUC) board, and announced it’ll go on sale in October for less than $400 with a case and power supply. Carrying a 4 x 4-inch form factor between a Raspberry Pi and mini-ITX board, it’ll be equipped with a Core i3 Ivy Bridge processor, HD 4000 graphics, two SoDIMM sockets, an mSATA slot for an SSD drive, three USB ports, one HDMI port and a mini-PCI slot for wireless connectivity. Two different models will be offered by the chip giant, identical except that one will be Thunderbolt equipped and the other will sport an Ethernet port for connectivity. Originally intended for the kiosk and signage markets, enthusiast interest compelled Intel to put the board on general sale, along with a case (pictured above) and power supply option. That’ll pit it against offerings from VIA and others, while offering considerably more oomph in a similar form factor — though a mini-server slaying Core i5 option originally proposed by Intel was dropped.

[Image credit: PC World]

Filed under: Desktops, Misc

Intel’s Core i3 NUC mini-boards set to hit market in October, power up hobbyists and OEMs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel has announced that it has completed its work on porting the latest version of Android to operate on smartphones equipped with its Medfield processors. While Intel has finished the work of making Android 4.1 Jelly Bean compatible with smartphones running its processors, the company has no idea when the smartphones will be updated. Updating the operating system on the devices is up to the carriers and manufacturers.

Intel VP and general manager of the mobile computing group Mike Bell said that multiple Intel employees were currently using Medfield smartphones running Android 4.1. Medfield smartphones originally shipped running either Android 2.3 or Android 4.0. According to Bell, the operating system compatible with Medfield processors has been handed off to carriers to put on their phones and will have to go through acceptance testing.

Bell also noted that he can’t announce Android 4.1 testing or deployment on behalf of carriers or device makers. Medfield devices aren’t exactly common on the smartphone market. Intel does have its processors inside some smartphones with Orange, ZTE, Lava International, Lenovo, and Megafon. We talked about the ZTE Grand X IN that runs the Medfield processor previously.

Currently, Medfield processors used in smartphones are single-core Atom chips. There is some expectation that Motorola will announce a smartphone using Medfield chips next week. Currently ARM processors dominate the smartphone market because of their power miserly nature. Intel’s mobile processors are currently considered more power-hungry than comparable ARM offerings. Smartphones with processors that consume more power have less runtime per battery charge, and run time is critical in the smartphone market.

[via PC Advisor]

Intel wraps up Android 4.1 port for Medfield smartphones is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Intel was fast to promise a port of Jelly Bean to Atom-based smartphones. We were left in the dark as to when that port would be ready, but mobile group general manager Mike Bell has put that to rest for PCWorld with news that the Medfield-native Android 4.1 build is both complete and running on Intel workers’ devices — including his. Before dreaming of Google Now searches on an Orange San Diego, though, we’d warn that the usual delays apply. Bell notes that phone makers and the carriers still need go through the lengthy process of signing off on any upgrades. Existing owners will no doubt find it frustrating to be so close and yet so far, although the limbo at least proves that Intel-based hardware isn’t being held back relative to its competition; ARM-running phone manufacturers are in the same boat.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Intel wraps up Jelly Bean port for Atom smartphones, can’t say when devices get it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 22:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel at CES promised a partnership with Nuance to give Ultrabooks a taste of ready-made voice recognition, and we’re finally seeing the results at IDF in San Francisco through the launch of Nuance’s Dragon Assistant Beta. As the name implies, this isn’t just a voice dictation engine like that in Naturally Speaking: chatty users can delegate common tasks like playing music, reading social network updates and searching the web. The beta isn’t immediately available as of this writing, but it should go live soon and will be a core part of of Ultrabook software bundles in the near future, starting with the Dell XPS 13 this fall. We’re wondering why Intel is focusing its Dragon Assistant efforts solely on thin-and-lights — the company still makes money from portlier PCs, after all — but we won’t mind as much given the simultaneous launch of a Perceptual Computing SDK 2013 Beta, which lets developers work Dragon recognition into their own apps. More details await after the break.

Continue reading Nuance and Intel team on Dragon Assistant Beta for Ultrabooks, Dell XPS 13 to lead the charge

Filed under: Laptops, Software

Nuance and Intel team on Dragon Assistant Beta for Ultrabooks, Dell XPS 13 to lead the charge originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As we were wandering the floor today at IDF 2012, we happened upon an OCZ rep who pulled the company’s new 2.5-inch SATA 3 SSD out of his pocket and let us get our mitts on it. Called the Vector, it will replace the well-received Vertex 4 at the top of OCZ’s lineup. Like its predecessor, the Vertex packs an Indilinx controller, but this time it’s the Barefoot 3, which was developed totally in-house without any assistance from Marvell designs. You can expect to see 256GB and 512GB versions of the Vector hit the market in Q4, with other sizes possibly showing up after. Of course, IOPS, read/write speeds and pricing remain a mystery, but we can share the gallery of shots below.

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Filed under: Storage

OCZ’s new Vector SSD breaks cover at IDF, packs in-house developed Indilinx controller originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 01:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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