Hasta La Gadget!

CEATEC isn’t exactly the first place you’d expect a new notebook to turn up, but Fujitsu’s booth had a bit of a surprise on the laptop front. The Japanese company had its Lifebook UH75 Ultrabook on display running Windows 8. That OS is the real news here: no other real specs beside the 14-inch screen we already knew about. Fujitsu said this machine will launch alongside its new Arrows Tab sometime in late October or November. Check out our video hands-on below the break.

Continue reading Fujitsu Lifebook UH75 running Windows 8 at CEATEC (hands-on video)

Filed under: Laptops

Fujitsu Lifebook UH75 running Windows 8 at CEATEC (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft isn’t exactly a stranger to the news business. It founded Slate Magazine way back in 1996 as part of its then still-nascent MSN website, and it partnered with NBC that same year on the MSNBC cable news network. While it’s since sold off both Slate and its stake in MSNBC, it looks like the company is now taking another big swing at producing its own news operation. As Reuters reports, Microsoft is making “big, multi-million dollar investment” to create what is being described as a “decent-sized media operation,” one that will be a part of the new-look MSN that the company has also announced today. Details remain light beyond that, but Reuters says the new MSN will still “chiefly aggregate news” from traditional sources like Reuters and the AP in addition to producing its own content. As for that new MSN itself, it’s unsurprisingly built with tablets (and Windows 8, specifically) in mind, with a design that’s tailored for full-screen use and touch input. Its launch wil coincide with Windows 8’s debut on October 26th, but you can get an early look at the link below and in the video after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft set to get back in the news business with relaunched MSN

Filed under: Internet

Microsoft set to get back in the news business with relaunched MSN originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With Windows 8 finally launching in less than four weeks, it’s only a matter of time before the web is flooded with prices of upcoming PCs, the first among which this month hail from Sony VAIO’s Japan branch. Starting with the Duo 11 slider PC, it’s expected to go for about ¥150,000 ($1,930) when it launches in Japan on October 26th (alongside Windows 8), and it’ll come with a 1080p display, 1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, 128GB SSD, 4GB RAM and WiMAX. Then we have three flavors of the Tap 20 portable all-in-one which will range from about ¥140,000 ($1,800) up to about ¥180,000 ($2,310) come November 3rd, with the main differences being the CPU (1.8GHz Core i3-3217U, 1.7GHz Core i5-3317U or 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U) and the RAM (4GB or 8GB), but all three will feature the same 20-inch 1,600 x 900 display and 1TB hard drive.

Also announced at the Tokyo event are Japan prices for three more existing VAIO models that now feature a touchscreen: ¥130,000 ($1,670) for the T Series 13 Ultrabook with Core i5-3317U, ¥150,000 ($1,920) for the VAIO E Series 14P laptop with Core i5-3210M, and from ¥210,000 ($2,700) to ¥240,000 ($3,080) for the VAIO L Series 24-inch all-in-one with Core i7-3630QM and 1080p display. The two laptops will be available in Japan from October 26th, whereas the all-in-one will join in from November 3rd.

There’s no indication as to whether the US prices will match their Japanese counterparts (the former are usually a lot cheaper), but hey, stay tuned here and you’ll know as soon as we do.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Sony

Sony reveals Japan prices for Windows 8 devices, adds touchscreen to VAIO L, E14P and T13 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If a company won’t use its own products, how can it expect others to? Many customers, especially on the enterprise side of the equation, are understandably a little wary of the drastic change that awaits them when upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8. So, Microsoft decided to share what it has learned from its own experience dogfooding the new OS around the Redmond campus (and likely beyond). While the company is a little light on specifics of the low-volume rollout, it does highlight some of the features available to IT departments that should make transitioning easier. It even offers a few pointers along the way. Sure, there’s plenty of back-patting involved, but tips like using IT Easy Installer to automate deployments and trim install times by half shouldn’t be dismissed. There’s also some information about its support system for early adopters which included a knowledge base called Pointers that helped highlight the most important issues needing to be addressed. For more details hit up the source link and get ready to embrace your inner IT nerd.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

Microsoft details its own Windows 8 rollout, lessons learned from ‘dogfooding’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD has a disproportionately large $6.4 million investment in BlueStacks, and now we’re seeing one clear reason why. The two companies have teamed up to create a special version of the BlueStacks App Player that’s tuned for AMD’s Fusion-based processors and Radeon graphics cards, running Android apps with the full help of the chip desgner’s hardware in Windows 7 and 8 PCs. Accordingly, over 500,000 Android apps are invading AMD’s new AppZone portal without any needed tweaks of their own, giving the service a much larger catalog than if it had gone with Windows alone. Both companies have a clear incentive to this melding of desktop and mobile: BlueStacks suddenly gets exposure to as many as 100 million AMD-running users, while AMD can tout a giant app catalog that may be preloaded on future PCs using its components. We don’t know if the world needs yet another avenue for playing Angry Birds, especially when many AMD-based PCs won’t have touchscreens, but the BlueStacks partnership could be a strong lure for new PC buyers who’d like an instant software library.

Continue reading BlueStacks teams with AMD to optimize Android App Player for Fusion, Radeon chips (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

BlueStacks teams with AMD to optimize Android App Player for Fusion, Radeon chips (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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