Hasta La Gadget!

What’s this? Just another USB 3.0 thumbdrive at IDF 2012? Not quite. You’re looking at Kingston’s DataTraveler Workspace, a storage device that incorporates bona fide SSD technology not usually found in thumbdrives — like a bunch of ultra speedy flash memory and a SandForce controller that supports TRIM and S.M.A.R.T commands. As such, it shares more in common with Kingston’s line of SSDs. It’s not really designed for data storage — instead, it’s meant to be used as a certified Windows To Go fixed drive, “a fully manageable corporate Windows 8 workspace on a specially configured, bootable USB drive”.

The idea is that corporate IT can deploy these thumbdrives to employees who can then run a secure, managed instance of Windows on a variety of PCs with a bootable USB 2.0 (or faster) port. Another interesting feature of Windows To Go is that Kingston’s DT Workspace thumbdrives can be removed for up to 1 minute without crashing Windows — the OS simply alerts the user to “keep the USB drive plugged in” and continues where it left off. Pricing remains a mystery, but the device will be available for business customers in 32, 64 and 128GB capacities when Windows 8 launches. Until then, you’re invited to peek at the gallery below and to watch our hands-on video past the break.

Continue reading Hands-on with Kingston’s DataTraveler Workspace at IDF (video)

Filed under: Misc, Storage

Hands-on with Kingston’s DataTraveler Workspace at IDF (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 06:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today’s business jargon gem: TAM, Total Addressable Market. AMD feels that Windows 8 comes with plenty of the stuff, so it sees no commercial need to make its forthcoming tablet chip — codenamed Hondo — play nice Android as well. Speaking to The Inquirer, corporate VP Steve Belt said it was a “conscious decision” not to go after compatibility with Google’s OS, because AMD doesn’t want to spread itself into “other markets.” What could this mean for us tablet-buyers? No dual-booting Windows / Android magic on AMD devices, for one thing, which is perhaps a shame now that ASUS has shown off the combo’s potential. On the other hand, Belt made it clear that Honda will support Linux, which — for now, at least — is more than can be said of Intel’s rival low-power silicon, Clover Trail.

Filed under: Tablets

AMD’s Hondo tablet chip will happily run Windows 8 and Linux, but not Android originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Sep 2012 08:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s potentially bad news ahead if you’re hoping to wipe the drive on that future HP Envy X2 and load Ubuntu — Intel reportedly claimed at IDF that Clover Trail-based Atom processors “cannot” handle Linux properly. As outlined in The Inquirer‘s account of events, the issue is more a matter of optimization than an outright block: Linux doesn’t yet know how to cope with all of Clover Trail’s power state changes at the kernel level, which would put any penguin-powered PC at a disadvantage. Intel would really, really prefer that you run Windows 8, as the new Atom and Microsoft’s OS are tuned to work hand-in-hand. Linux might catch up, but the Windows-only emphasis is a sharp break from Intel’s tendency to shower love on open-source OS projects across the board, including ongoing work like Intel-native Android builds or Tizen.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Software

Intel claims Clover Trail-based Atom won’t properly run Linux, points us to Windows 8 instead originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The march to the launch of Windows 8 soldiers on, as Microsoft has now opened the Windows Store for submissions from individuals in anticipation of the grand OS launch on October 26th. Previously, only those with company accounts were able to submit their applications for consideration in the Windows Store. The big news doesn’t end there, however, as Microsoft has also added 82 new markets for app submission, which means that in total, developers from 120 markets may now publish their applications to the Windows Store.

In additional news, Microsoft has also revealed that many MSDN subscribers will receive a free, one-year developer account to the Windows Store — eligible subscription levels include Visual Studio Professional, Test Professional, Premium, Ultimate, and BizSpark. Similarly, students that take part in Microsoft’s DreamSpark program will have their subscription fees waived. As it stands, both Windows 8 apps and traditional applications may be submitted for inclusion in the Windows Store, however in the case of applications for the desktop environment, purchasers will be re-routed to individual developer sites to make their purchase and grab the download.

Filed under: Software

Microsoft opens Windows Store app submissions to individuals, welcomes devs from 82 new markets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 16:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft has just announced that it will be providing security patches for the Windows 8 IE10-specific version of Flash, despite the software giant initially suggesting it wouldn’t. The patch will be available “shortly,” and hints at a return to the update cycles of old. More significantly, as ZDNet points out, unless Microsoft coordinates these releases with Adobe, there could be a constant cycle of IE10 being vulnerable in the future. On a positive note, the fix should be released before Windows 8 goes prime time, but for those who jumped on board early, you might want to keep one eye locked on the update page, and get it when it lands.

Filed under: Software

Microsoft confirms Flash vulnerability fix for Internet Explorer 10 coming soon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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