Jan 03

A.C. Ryan FLUXX media player capacitates full HD streaming with its Atom CE4150 processor

Posted in: 1080p, intel atom, IntelAtom, media player, media streamer, MediaPlayer, MediaStreamer, Today's Chili
A.C. Ryan FLUXX media player capacitates full HD streaming with its Atom CE4150 processor

It’s been about a year since A.C. Ryan Shrinky Dink’d its Playon!HD to make the Mini media player, and now another generation is upon us. Relying on the Intel Atom CE4150 processor, the same little beauty humming away in Google TV devices, along with 1GB of DDR3 memory, it’s capable of connecting via gigabit Ethernet or (optional) 802.11n wireless to stream 1080p media over the network, or pull it from an internal SATAII drive bay. Video output options include component, composite, and HDMI 1.3a, while there’s also an optical audio port if you’re still into that sort of thing. What it sadly doesn’t have is Google TV itself, nor an MSRP, nor a release date, but perhaps that info can be gleaned at a little media event happening this week.

[Thanks, Nash]

A.C. Ryan FLUXX media player capacitates full HD streaming with its Atom CE4150 processor originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 31

Dell to launch Latitude 2120 netbook at CES?

Posted in: intel atom, IntelAtom, netbook, netbooks, Today's Chili

Among the many new-product announcements that have been released in the time leading up to CES, word on the web is that Dell will launch a new Latitude 2120 netbook at the Vegas convention next week. Apparently, the 2120 has specs identical to the previously available 2110, but gets double the computing power of the single core Intel Atom N470 chipset in its predecessor courtesy of a dual core N550 processor. While the upgraded processor is the big news, sources indicate the newest Latitude gets an optional Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator, which should be a welcome addition for those students planning to watch March Madness during that 10AM lecture this spring semester. No word on price or availability, so interested parties will have to wait until the official launch for such details.

Dell to launch Latitude 2120 netbook at CES? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Jan 2011 01:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 18

ExoPC now up for pre-order at Microsoft Store, shipping next week

Posted in: intel atom, IntelAtom, Microsoft, pre-order, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili, Windows, windows 7, Windows7
Been waiting to order an ExoPC here in the US of A? Well, today is your day — ExoPC has just announced that it’s teamed up with Microsoft’s very own store to bring you the 11.6-inch Windows 7 tablet. There’s only one configuration at the moment, but $699 buys you a rather thin 0.5-inch slate with 64GB of flash storage, an Intel Atom N450 processor, 2GB of RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium with ExoPC’s unique UI layer, and a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera. As for that UI, ExoPC just told us that a major update should be coming next week and that it’ll amend a number of issues we had with our early review unit. The slate is currently up for pre-order on the Microsoft Store website, but we’re told it will start shipping out early next week. And if you’re waiting to check it out in person before pulling out the plastic, we hear they should be arriving in all those Microsoft retail locations soon — apparently, San Diego and Scottsdale already have ’em in stock. Hey, looks like Mr. Ballmer was right, we will have Win 7 tablets this “crucial holiday season.”

ExoPC now up for pre-order at Microsoft Store, shipping next week originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 13

Microsoft to demo new slate PCs, Windows 8 tablet functionality at CES?

Posted in: intel atom, IntelAtom, Microsoft, samsung, steve ballmer, tablets, Today's Chili, windows 7, windows 8, Windows7, Windows8
The CES 2010 Ballmernote has become something of a black mark for Microsoft — the company’s delivered almost nothing in the year after Steve demoed the HP Slate and talked about future Windows 7 Slate PCs — but as one would assume, Redmond’s expected to pick up right where it left off in just a few weeks at CES 2011. According to the New York Times, Microsoft’s prepping to explain how it will target the iPad with the help of a number of partners, including Samsung and Dell. While the article is quite vague, it looks like the keynote will include a few new tablet demos, including one of a new Samsung device that sports a “slick” slide out keyboard — we’d put money on that being the 10.1-inch Gloria. The Times says the Samsung tablet (not to be confused with the Samsung Galaxy Tab) will run some sort of software layer when “the keyboard is hiding and the device is held in portrait mode,” but Microsoft’s is also reportedly eschewing a central app store for native tablet apps and instead encouraging software companies to build HTML5 -based web apps. That certainly sounds a lot Google’s Chrome strategy (and a strategy that could backfire since HTML5 apps will work on Chrome OS devices and iPad equally well), but the Times‘ source didn’t know if these “apps” would be ready for CES as they are “still in production.”

As far as we can tell, a lot of this is still built upon Windows 7, but it’s also rumored that the Redmond gang will tease Windows 8 on stage — something that sounds extremely plausible to us, since we’ve heard from numerous sources that Microsoft’s real tablet strategy will rely on Windows 8 and a new all-touch interface that the company has been working incredibly hard on. While Windows 8 isn’t due out until the later half of 2011 / early 2012, Ballmer would do well to use his CES time to tell us about Microsoft’s “riskiest” product bet and finally do something to address Microsoft’s notable absence from the modern tablet market. Of course, nothing’s for sure, except for the fact that we’ll be there, providing live coverage of the entire thing.

Update: We’ve been thinking about it (as well as keeping an ear on our chatty Tweeps) and there’s also a chance that Microsoft could show off its own Windows 7 software layer for tablets. Either way, we’re hoping to get some major answers.

Microsoft to demo new slate PCs, Windows 8 tablet functionality at CES? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 13

MSI to reintroduce WindPad tablets at CES, claims Oak Trail improves performance and battery life

Posted in: Android, exclusive, gingerbread, honeycomb, intel atom, IntelAtom, msi, tablets, tegra, tegra 2, Tegra2, Today's Chili, windows 7, Windows7
You’ll remember that back at Computex MSI introduced two tablets or so-called WinPads — there was the Windows 7 / Atom slate and another one of the Android / ARM variety. Well, MSI is planning to resurrect those with some slight improvements for CES, and this time it’s gearing up to actually release them both. First up is the 10.1-inch Windows 7 Home Premium version, which will be one of the first Intel Atom Oak Trail-powered devices out there, says the company. According to MSI’s Director of North American Sales Andy Tung, Intel’s tablet solution does show both battery life and performance improvements over the current Atom chips, but it’s “not extremely significant.” Based on our discussion with Tung, we got the feeling that it’s a step in the right direction for Atom but still not as long-lasting as it needs to be to compete with ARM-based tablets. Beyond that, the tablet measures less than an inch thick and will have a 1024 x 600-resolution, multitouch display, mini-HDMI and mini-USB ports, an SD card slot, and an accelerometer. Tung wasn’t ready to reveal pricing, but he said it should be available in early 2011.

On the Android side of things, MSI’s got a dual-core Tegra 2-powered 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800-resolution slate prepped with the same selection of ports and features — although, this one is slightly thinner and also has a drop-proof design. So, what version of Android will it run? Well, that depends on Google’s timing, says Tung. If Android 3.0 or Honeycomb is available by the February / March timeframe MSI will go with that option — however, if it’s not, it will go with Gingerbread, so it can hit the market earlier in 2011. We have to say both tablets sound rather intriguing, but will they be able to go up against the hundreds of others coming at CES: The Tablet Year? We’ll know more in Vegas, that’s for sure!

MSI to reintroduce WindPad tablets at CES, claims Oak Trail improves performance and battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 09

Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop preview (update: in-depth impressions!)

Posted in: chrome os, ChromeOs, Google, impressions, intel atom, IntelAtom, laptop, preview, Today's Chili, unboxing, video

Well, would you look at what showed up on our frigid doorstep this morning? That’s right, we are now the proud owners of Google’s first Chrome OS laptop — the Cr-48. Obviously, we ripped open the box and got right to handling the 12.1-inch, Atom-powered laptop. So, what does the thing feel like? How’s that keyboard? And more importantly, how’s Chrome OS looking? Stand by for our impressions, which we’ll be adding in depth over the day. First impression: this thing is different.

Mega update: We blew this thing out! There’s that video we already showed you, along with a way deeper dive into the hardware and the OS. It’s all after the break, and you’d be a fool to miss it.

Gallery: Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop preview

Gallery: Cr-48: a second look

Continue reading Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop preview (update: in-depth impressions!)

Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop preview (update: in-depth impressions!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 09

Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop preview

Posted in: chrome os, ChromeOs, Google, impressions, intel atom, IntelAtom, laptop, preview, Today's Chili, unboxing, video

Well, would you look at what showed up on our frigid doorstep this morning? That’s right, we are now the proud owners of Google’s first Chrome OS laptop — the Cr-48. Obviously, we ripped open the box and got right to handling the 12.1-inch, Atom-powered laptop. So, what does the thing feel like? How’s that keyboard? And more importantly, how’s Chrome OS looking? Stand by for our impressions, which we’ll be adding in depth over the day. First impression: this thing is different. Here are some quick bullet points, one of our favorite formats for presenting data in a list:

Hardware

  • The entire body is made of a soft, beautiful matte black. It feels very Droid-like, just a little less rubberized.
  • Overall, it looks a lot like a black MacBook, including a magnetic latch with a split spot for getting your finger in and lifting the lid, a very similar keyboard, and a similar hinge design.
  • There’s on of those large Envy-style clickpads. It has great multitouch scroll, and great general mousing feel (better than most Windows laptops), but it also has some of that Envy trouble of disliking a finger floating on the lower part of the pad. Basically, you have to click or mouse, you can’t be doing both at once.
  • The matte screen overwhelms us with gratitude. Thank you, Google. Thank you.
  • There’s ultra-wide ctrl and alt buttons on the left side, thanks to the lack of a Windows Key.

Software

  • It starts up instantly, and it’s actually really hard to tell if we’ve put it into standby or not because there are no drive noises, and we haven’t hit upon any fan noise yet either.
  • We’re having trouble installing Photoshop.
  • Our apps haven’t synced over from our desktop’s copy of Chrome, which must be a still-forthcoming feature.
  • You need an internet connection for the very first setup and login, but you can login to an existing user while the device is offline, and access anything that’s cached or HTML5-stored on the device — like some of those new Chrome Web Apps.
  • While wake from standby takes less than a second, a cold boot takes around 15 seconds to get to the login screen, and another 6 or 7 seconds to login after you’ve entered your password.
  • The remainder of our impressions will be about Poppit!.
  • Flash is really bad, both with general applications and particularly with video. Adobe hasn’t built Flash acceleration yet for Linux, and there’s not a hardware acceleration chip, either. Hulu is like a slideshow, YouTube works, but not great.

The most important thing to remember is that this product is in no way designed for the mass market, and it’s up to Samsung, Acer, and other forthcoming third parties to actually build the hardware we’ll end up buying in the long run. Still, there seems to be a lot here that laptop manufacturers of all sorts could take note of, and generic-ified or not, the Cr-48 is pretty striking.Developing…

Gallery: Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop preview

Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop preview originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 03

This is the Google Chrome OS netbook keyboard

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, Chrome, exclusive, Google, intel atom, IntelAtom, keyboard, netbook, Today's Chili

It’s just a Chrome OS sorta day, isn’t it? To catch you up here, we told you earlier that Google is planning to announce its own Chrome OS netbook this coming Tuesday, and well, now we’re peering at a supposed picture of that very machine’s keyboard. We don’t know all that much about the rest of the netbook — we’ve heard from multiple sources that it’s powered by an Intel Atom processor — but the image above was taken from an Inventec (as in, the ODM making the netbook) presentation. We’ll call a spade a spade here and say it looks like your average chiclet keyboard, but there are obviously some interesting differences. Over on the left side of the panel you’ll see a “search” key subbing for a Caps Lock key, and up above, the function row has forward / back keys as well as Window, full screen, and “configuration” keys.

Wait, but couldn’t this be any old netbook keyboard? Sure it could, we’ve got an exclusive photo of Acer’s Chrome netbook (that “ZGA” model) which happens to have the same exact keyboard layout. You can check out the picture of that one after the break, and you’ll see it looks extremely similar to this shot. We should also mention that the tipster that sent the above photo in claims the Google-branded Chrome OS netbook will be announced next Tuesday, but won’t be on sale until December 14. Looks like it’s going to be a very interesting Tuesday morning!

Continue reading This is the Google Chrome OS netbook keyboard

This is the Google Chrome OS netbook keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 19:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 03

Sources: Google-branded Chrome OS netbook to launch on December 7th

Posted in: Chrome, chrome os, ChromeOs, exclusive, Google, intel atom, IntelAtom, laptop, launch, netbook, Today's Chili

The headline pretty much reveals the brunt of it, but indeed, it looks like next week Google is going to start talking about how its Chrome operating system is coming along. Multiple sources have told us that Google will be holding some sort of event on Tuesday, December 7th — we’re not sure if it’ll be a live event, a webcast, or something else entirely — and that the shindig will see the launch of that Google-branded Chrome OS netbook we’ve been hearing about. Again, we’ve heard that the Atom-powered laptop isn’t going to be a mass market device — there will only be around 65,000 units available to Google’s closest “friends and family” — and that the Cloud-based OS is still very much in a beta, non-consumer-friendly state. It’s a bit odd that we still haven’t received an invite to this planned event since it’s purportedly days away, not to mention it conflicts with the All Things D: Dive Into Mobile Event, but at the time of publishing this post we had yet to hear back from Google’s PR team with an official comment.

Of course, this all lines up with TechCrunch‘s report that Google will be launching its Chrome Web / App Store very soon, as well as yesterday’s launch of Chrome 8, which supports those aforementioned Chrome apps. (Companies like TweetDeck have already started demoing their browser apps.) Don’t forget that those apps are going to be a large part of the OS, so it would make sense for Google to talk about ’em in tandem. The pieces sure do seem to be fitting together quite well, and while we still have lots of unanswered questions, we’re feeling confident that we’ll be getting some official answers on all this Chrome-ness very soon.

Update: AllThingsD has also heard a similar December 7th launch date of the Chrome Web Store. The evidence seems to be mounting here…

Update 2: Well, there you have it, Google just sent out invites for its December 7th Chrome event! We will be there!

Image note: As we said last time, that picture above is just our own mockup of what a Chromebook may look like. We even added a Chrome key!

Sources: Google-branded Chrome OS netbook to launch on December 7th originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 02

MeeGo-based Intel Atom phone and tablet spotted from Russia with love

Posted in: intel, intel atom, IntelAtom, meego, Today's Chili

First the 2018 World Cup and now this. An Intel press event in Moscow was reportedly the site of some new MeeGo device reveals. Mail.ru’s Anton Spiridonov was on hand and managed to spot Intel Atom-based phone the Hi/Lo Vibrant (we haven’t heard of the company, either) and a tablet of some sort, both equipped with the Linux-based OS. Not much else is known save for what appears to be a 5 megapixel camera labeled as such on the back. More pics below.

[Thanks, Chris]

Gallery: MeeGo-based Intel Atom phone and tablet spotted from Russia with love

MeeGo-based Intel Atom phone and tablet spotted from Russia with love originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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