Hasta La Gadget!

ASUS’ distinctive Transformer AiO has been a long time in coming, having first reached our paws last June. For Americans, it’s at last more than just a fantastical idea: Amazon, J&R, Rakuten and other US-friendly online retailers now list the oddest of odd PCs as on sale, and usually in stock. For a typical $1,299, more adventurous buyers get a Windows 8 base desktop with a 3.1GHz Core i5, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive, a DVD drive and a GeForce GT 730M. The real fun, of course, rests in its display. Remove that 18.4-inch LCD from its dock and it suddenly becomes a gigantic Tegra 3-based Android tablet running Jelly Bean. We’re not sure if we’ll ever completely wrap our heads around the concept, but those who understand ASUS’ expanded definition of an all-in-one can shop at the source links.

Filed under: Desktops, Tablets, ASUS

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Via: Android Police

Source: Amazon, J&R, Rakuten

Namco Bandai’s Ridge Racer series has always been considered a more arcade-y racing game as its gameplay mechanics, especially when drifting, can be considered to be extremely exaggerated. The next game in the series will take an equally exaggerated step in another direction, but it isn’t to make its gameplay crazier, instead, it’s a step in the free-to-play direction.

Ridge Racer Driftopia will be the first Ridge Racer title that will be completely free-to-play as you can purchase cars, XP packs and repair kits to help enhance the experience. Just how much of the game will be free-to-play is unknown at this time, but we hope Namco Bandai will at least be able to deliver a Ridge Racer game for fans of the series without nickel-and-diming its customers by providing more DLC options than anything else, which it did with its Ridge Racer for Vita. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Black Ops 2 Uprising’s Mob Of The Dead Highlighted In New Trailer, Draw Something App Might Ends Up As A Game Show,

If reporting that the entirety of the PC market weren’t enough of a punch in the gut for Microsoft from the analytical group IDC, the suggestion that their newest operating system is to blame really, really is. What you’re about to witness is the continued downfall of the PC industry in the charts of the IDC, this most recent quarter’s report being much worse for ware than we’re sure any of the manufacturers listed would have liked. When your only job is to create PCs and you hoped Windows 8 was going to bring the industry into a shining light, you’re probably not too happy right about now.

As this most recent IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker report shows, the first quarter of 2013 was not extremely kind to the likes of HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, ASUS, and the rest of the bunch. With a total average drop in PC shipments of 13.9%, it’s not appearing too positive for the near future in next-level PC production. That 13.9% drop is compared to the fourth quarter of 2012, while year-on-year the decline was a rather similar -12.7%.

“At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market.” – Bob O’Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, Clients and Displays

You’ll find that Lenovo – good ol’ Lenovo – was the only vendor to have stayed flat from the quarter before this one to the one we’ve just completed. Their market share also went up a couple of percentage points while each of the other top-5 groups decreased by at least .2 points of a percentage – that’s Dell hanging in there as well. HP remains on top of the stack with a 15.7% share of the market but was hit hard with a 23.7% drop over the past year.

“While some consumers appreciate the new form factors and touch capabilities of Windows 8, the radical changes to the UI, removal of the familiar Start button, and the costs associated with touch have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices. Microsoft will have to make some very tough decisions moving forward if it wants to help reinvigorate the PC market.” – Bob O’Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, Clients and Displays

According to the top 5 vendors chart of United States PC Shipments, Apple reaches in for a piece of the pie – as does Toshiba. Here we’ve still got HP up on top, Dell not far behind, and Apple butting heads with Toshiba and Lenovo. Here you’ll find Lenovo once again the only brand of the top five to not have lost market share over the past year with a 13% gain from Q1 of 2012 to Q1 of 2013.

Of course when you average the collection of the top 5 vendors of PCs in the United States, you still get a cool 11% drop this quarter compared to 2012′s Q1. Apple on its own also lost 7.5 points year-on-year in this market, still running strong with an estimated 1,418 units shipped in Q1 2013.

Have a peek at the timeline below for other recent IDC reports to see how the mobile and desktop PC universes are making their time here as we roll into the spring of 2013.

[via IDC]

PC market tumbles as IDC points at Windows 8 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The IDC reports that worldwide shipments of PCs declined 13.9% in Q1 2013 compared to Q1 2012. The 13.9% decline is much higher than the IDC expected in its forecast. It states that the decline of PC shipments most likely has to do with the poor reception of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system. The IDC also states that Microsoft’s hybrid tablet/laptops have seen poor sales due to its high prices and inhibited component supplies.

In Q1 2013, there were a total of 76,294,000 PCs shipped worldwide. HP accounted for 11,997,000 of those shipments, garnering a 15.7% market share. However, its total shipments last quarter was 23.7% less than the 15,726,000 it shipped in Q1 2012. Lenovo came in second place with 11,700,000 PCs shipped, and 15.3% of the market share. Its PC shipments was off only by 5,000 compared to Q1 2012.

Dell came in 3rd place with 9.010,000 PCs shipped, and 11.8% of the market share. Its shipments dropped 10.9% from its 10,110,000 shipments in Q1 2012. Acer came in 4th place with 6,150,000 PCs shipped, claiming 8.1% of the market. It suffered a whopping 31.3% decline from its Q1 2012′s 8,952,000 PCs shipped. ASUS comes in last with 4,363,000 PCs shipped, claiming 5.7% of the market. It suffered a 19.2% decline from the 5,401,000 PC shipments it made in Q1 2012.

All of the other PC manufacturers shipped a total of 33,075,000 PCs, claiming the remaining 43.4% of the market. Their shipments dropped 10% from last year when it shipped 36,739,000 PCs. IDC Research Director of Personal Computing, David Daoud, states, “Although the reduction in shipments was not a surprise, the magnitude of the contraction is both surprising and worrisome.” According to the IDC, Q1 2013 was the worst quarter ever for PCs, and it has been tracking PC quarterly shipments since 1994. The IDC states that a major factor for this huge decline is most likely due to the restructuring that both HP and Dell are going through

IDC: Worldwide PC shipments fell 13.9% in first quarter is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If Windows 8 is the ticket to a bounce-back in PC sales, it’s going to be a long, slow recovery. At least, as long as you ask IDC. It estimates that worldwide computer shipments in the first quarter of 2013 fell 13.9 percent to 76.3 million, which is the steepest quarterly drop the research firm has recorded since it started tracking PCs back in 1994. While the exact factors at work aren’t clear, IDC blames it on a mix of customers spooked by Windows 8’s unfamiliar interface, the continued rise of mobile devices, and the decline of the netbook. This isn’t helped by the higher typical prices of touchscreen PCs, or by restructuring efforts at computing giants like Dell and HP.

Who’s reigning in this apparently declining PC empire, then? Worldwide, it’s a different picture than it was a few months ago: HP is back on top at 15.7 percent, followed by Lenovo, Dell, Acer and ASUS. The American climate is somewhat more familiar, with HP in front at 25.1 percent while being chased by Dell, Apple, Toshiba and Lenovo. With the exception of Lenovo, however, virtually all of the manufacturers involved saw at least some decline in their PC shipments. To IDC, that’s a sign that vendors and Microsoft need to find an antidote to the crazes for smartphones and tablets — and find it quickly.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Apple, ASUS, HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo

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Source: IDC