Hasta La Gadget!

While Acer is pushing forth several machines this week that take on the mantel of an entirely new design in and of themselves at Computex, the Acer Aspire S7 looks, on the surface, to be the same machine as it was earlier this year. Under the surface though is a reboot that means more than just accepting the 4th generation of Intel Core (Haswell) processors. Included in this reboot of the Aspire S7 is 2nd generation Acer TwinAir cooling, new electroluminescent (EL) backlit keyboard technology, and a new option for a display sharper than its already-1080p-wielding predecessor.

Though it seemed almost over-the-top seeing 1920 x 1080 resolution on this notebook earlier this year – see our Acer Aspire S7 review to see what we mean – this new iteration of the machine will have a 2560 x 1440 pixel option. That’s WQHD on a 13.3-inch display, using IPS LCD technology on what’s also the first display to be both WQHD and 10-finger touch for Acer.

This notebook – this Ultrabook, rather – works with an ever-so-slightly thicker body at 12.9mm (where the original was 12.5mm) and remains light enough to compete at 1.3kg. Both sides of the lid (the top and the display) are covered with Gorilla Glass 2 while the bottom bit is made with a single block of aluminum.

NOTE: Above and below you’re seeing the original Acer Aspire S7 – the reboot appears in the gallery below, and is essentially identical save its optional WQHD display.

Acer employs dual-array microphones with this machine with Acer’s own PurifiedVoice technology. This aims directly at making the computer understand, transmit, and record – where necessary – your voice for voice recognition (hello Google) and VOIP applications in as “crystal clear” a manner as Acer is able.

The display’s ability to pull back 180 degrees – flat, that is – allows for more multi-user capabilities as well. “Touch-and-show sharing” they call it, with a hotkey combination flipping the orientation of the display at will. Aside this machine’s 4th gen Intel Core processor is a RAID 0 solid state drive for silent operation and quick read/write times and wakeup from sleep.

Intel’s Haswell generation of Core processors work here to bring on Intel WiDi technology so that this machine can extend or mirror its display to a TV or otherwise big screen monitor wirelessly. Intel’s technology is also implemented here to improve battery life, coming in at 7 hours according to Acer, that ending up bringing a 33% improvement over the original.

At the moment Acer notes that this update to the Acer Aspire S7 will be available in the third quarter of 2013. Pricing and more specific release information will be appearing soon.

Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook gets Haswell reboot with optional WQHD is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Today at Computex Acer has revealed several products in the Windows 8 arena, coming in with a tablet that’s made for a single hand, as they say, with the Acer Iconic W3. This machine is the first 8-inch tablet to have been introduced with full Windows 8 aboard, also working with an Intel Atom Z2760 processor to assure proper processing power for the full Windows 8 experience. This machine was also introduced with the 2013 Microsoft Office Home & Student suite installed out of the box, this bringing on apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

The Acer Iconia W3 works with an 8.1-inch display to be precise, this working with LED-backlighting technology and 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, able to deliver 720p videos on the go. Though the tablet is presented as a stand-alone unit, there’s also a unique full-size Bluetooth keyboard that holds the tablet upright and “docks to the tablet” for screen-protected travel. There’s also, of course, an on-screen keyboard as comes standard with any Windows 8 device.

Acer suggests that this machine works with up to 8 hours of battery life, at the moment says they’ll offer a wi-fi-only iteration of the unit with 802.11b/g/n, and of course assures us there’s Bluetooth technology onboard as well. This device will be offered in two storage size options, either 32GB or 64GB (internal), with a microSD card slot included with both that’ll allow 32GB more with your own microSD card.

This 8-inch tablet works with a micro-HDMI port, microUSB port, and two cameras – one on the front, the other on the back, both of them coming in at 2 megapixels. This device will be available for MSRP $379 USD, but as pre-sales begin, final pricing may be different (possibly even lower).

It’ll be interesting to see this machine work with the Office family now that the whole bunch is updated for touch – especially since this will likely be the smallest display they’ve been used on thus far. Acer is also bringing on a collection of other devices like the Liquid S1 phablet, Aspire S7 and S3 Ultrabooks, and more – all of them working with touch, all of them appearing at Computex this week.

Acer Iconia W3 is industry’s first 8-inch Windows 8 tablet is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Double Fine have announced that they are – once again – taking to Kickstarter to fund an upcoming gaming venture. This time around, it’s a game by the name of Massive Chalice, and they’re pushing forth a world in which turn-based tactics meet “feudal fantasy”, making what they call a “lovechild” of the two elements – this game will eventually be appearing on Windows, Mac, and Linux machines.

Once this game is under way, it’ll be powered by Double Fine’s in-house 3D Buddha Engine. This means that once they’ve raised the cash they need to move forward – and by the looks of it, it wont be long – Double Fine will have a big opportunity to once again make an in-house hit. Nothing like inspiring people to buy your game with funding project they put their own cash into.

ABOVE: A conceptual map made for “Massive Chalice” in pre-production.

The game is, as the folks at Double Fine say, inspired by games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and X-COM – this along with the game Fire Emblem rounding out some classic turn-based tactical strategy games that they intent Massive Chalice to join. This place in the gaming universe is one that’s long-lasting: playing games from many years ago that were made in this genre continue to be a challenge, the best of them continuing to be cult-classics due to their intricate gameplay.

But why does Double Fine need a Kickstarter to make this game a reality?

“Last year, you Kickstarted Double Fine Adventure, shattering records and bringing video games to the Kickstarter spotlight! Now known as Broken Age, that game is in full production and is already a beautiful and unique experience—but the Broken Age team only represents a third of our multi-game studio.

Double Fine’s goal is for all our teams to remain independent and responsible directly to their players. Kickstarting MASSIVE CHALICE allows us to maintain a pure creative vision, put out updates on our own schedule, respond to feedback without roadblocks, and release it all DRM-free.” – Double Fine

Again, the campaign behind this game is already at $620,447 of its $725,000 USD goal with 26 days left to go, so it’s not as if this Kickstarter wont be a successful one. It’s just a matter of time before the next push begins. Now we’ll see if the creators of Iron Brigade, Psychonauts, and Brutal Legend can create another successful video game title.

Double Fine’s “Massive Chalice” video game campaign gains steam is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

When Ubuntu Linux was still in early development back in August 2004, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth filed a tongue-in-cheek first bug: that Microsoft had a majority of PC market share. Little did he realize that he’d have an excuse to cross that bug off the list in 2013. Since computing now includes phones and tablets, he argues, that leaves the traditional PC (and therefore Windows) in the minority versus Android, iOS and other platforms. Whether or not you agree with that market interpretation, Shuttleworth is ready to move on — he feels it’s better to polish Canonical’s own cloud, desktop and mobile efforts than to target someone else. It’s undoubtedly easy for Shuttleworth to make peace when the battle is supposed to be over, but we can’t object to such a healthy attitude.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Microsoft

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Via: NPR

Source: Ubuntu (1), (2)

Unlike companies such as Samsung, which have the freedom to throw products against the wall only to see whether they stick, HTC is forced to be more calculated with its efforts. With this in mind, Bloomberg now reports that HTC has canceled its plan for a 12-inch Windows RT tablet, which was previously rumored to be in the works alongside a smaller 7-inch Windows RT slate. Sources spoke to Bloomberg on anonymity, but suggested the decision was made based on concern that the 12-inch tablet would be too expensive to generate considerable demand. Coinciding with the launch of the 7-inch RT tablet — which is now pegged for September or October — Bloomberg sources also suggest that HTC will launch a similar 7-inch Android tablet in the same time frame. Talk about hedging one’s bets.

Filed under: Tablets, HTC

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Source: Bloomberg