Hasta La Gadget!

Thunderbolt is certainly taking its sweet time catching on, but Intel isn’t about to give up yet. In 2012 the company will be rolling out Cactus Ridge, a replacement for it’s current Light Ridge and Eagle Ridge solutions. There will be two versions: a quad Thunderbolt channel, dual DisplayPort model (replacing the similarly speced Light Ridge); and a dual T-bolt, single DisplayPort edition (taking over for Eagle Ridge). Exactly when they’ll land next year or how much it’ll cost OEMs to shoehorn the controllers into their machines is still a mystery, but we’re holding out hope that this time next year the 10Gbps jacks will be in every Dell, Acer and Apple.

[Image credit: iFixit]

New Thunderbolt chips, dubbed Cactus Ridge, coming in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guess what, Wintel loyalists? “Apple’s” Thunderbolt I/O port is coming your way. If you’ll recall, Thunderbolt was actually built with Intel’s collaboration (Light Peak, anyone?), and sensibly, the chip giant is now making it possible for the port to appear on non-Mac machines. The news was just broken here at IDF, where a Haswell-based machine was briefly teased with a heretofore unpossible T-bolt port. Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group, was on-stage to showcase six pre-production Ultrabook designs (all based on 3rd generation Intel Core processors), but stopped short of telling us exactly when the Thunderbolt I/O port would make its debut on commercially available rigs (Acer and ASUS are onboard for a 2012 launch!). Naturally, we’re hoping it’s sooner (tomorrow) rather than later (the 2013 launch of Haswell).

Update: Video of the unveiling is now embedded after the break!

Continue reading Intel: Thunderbolt coming to PCs, prototype shown at IDF 2011 (update: video!)

Intel: Thunderbolt coming to PCs, prototype shown at IDF 2011 (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re sure a few of you have made that recently revamped Mac mini your office server, but now you can give it the look of a grown-up server room. Thanks to Sonnet, you’ll soon be able to rack mount your Thunderbolt sportin’ dainty PC within a 1U shell. The company has announced that, upon the system’s expected arrival in November, it’ll be decked out with a PCIe 2.0 X4 slot, a 75W power supply and a Thunderbolt daisy-chain port. This Apple speed-port adapter will enable use of that massive Thunderbolt display even in server or metadata controller mode. For more use scenarios, hit the full PR below or peruse the product page via the coverage link.

Continue reading Sonnet announces RackMac mini Xserver, makes Apple desktop IT life seem more legit

Sonnet announces RackMac mini Xserver, makes Apple desktop IT life seem more legit originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Official Android updates

• The HTC EVO 3D is now ready for a maintenance fix called 2.08.651.2, which offers some nice improvements like allowing more Sprint bloatware to be uninstallable by the user, contact transfer via bluetooth, fixes for the lock screen occasionally freezing, and GPS enhancements. This update is available through a manual install. [via SprintFeed]
• Speaking of the HTC EVO 3D, the bootloader unlock tool is now ready for your enjoyment on the company’s fancy new dev site.
• Android 2.3.4 is finally rolling out on T-Mobile’s HTC Sensation 4G, and all users should receive the OTA update by the end of September at the latest. Aside from the standard 2.3.4 enhancements, Sensation 4G owners can also expect better battery life, additional software stability, extra touchscreen responsiveness, and improved “device reboots.” Curiously, the refresh also promises better screen and photo resolution. All in all, this is the kind of firmware boost we love to see. (Thanks, Anonymous) [via TmoNews]
• If you’re using a Samsung Fascinate 3G on Telus, you’ll be interested to know that you may now have Gingerbread bestowed upon your device. It’ll involve a manual install using Samsung Kies, so go to the website to get all the instructions. [via MobileSyrup]
• The five people enjoying their Motorola Flipside can finally be treated to Android 2.2. Yes, that’s Froyo. Go here to get the update manually. [via AndroidCentral]
• Some Motorola Droid X users complained about bugs after its bump up to Gingerbread, which should be resolved by installing version 4.5.602. It’s a simple maintenance fix that throws in a couple additional enhancements at the same time. [via AndroidCentral]
• HTC Droid Incredible is inching closer to getting upgraded to Android 2.3.4, according to the support page Verizon recently set up on its site. [via Droid-Life]
• In time for today’s launch, Samsung has released the source code for the Conquer 4G. Devs, head here to download it — you’ll know what to do after that. [via Android Police]
• For everyone who chooses to get the Conquer 4G, it’s supposedly set to receive a device security enhancement today as well, according to some leaked screenshots. [via SprintFeed]

Unofficial Android updates/custom ROMs/misc hackery

• This was fast — the same bug fix update for the Droid X that we mentioned above has already been rooted. Go to the via for the full details on how to get it. As always, diving into these types of processes are more advanced, and you should follow the instructions to the letter. [via Droid-Life]
• The MIUI custom ROM is starting to gain a lot of momentum in the Android community, and if you’re interested in checking it out on your device without going through the hassle of installing the full version (let alone rooting your phone or buying a MIUI-supported phone), an XDA developer has created a clone of the MIUI launcher and has made an APK available for your downloading pleasure. The via has a large screenshot gallery to check out. [via AddictiveTips]
• We’ve seen a lot of leaked Gingerbread ROMs surface for the HTC Thunderbolt, but this time an “official” update has made its ways to the Android dev world. It’s been told that this is not yet the final build, so it’s bound to get even better with time. Still, the impatient users may want to get this as soon as possible. [via RootzWiki and AndroidCentral]
• Another build of Gingerbread, EH06, has leaked for the Samsung Epic 4G. [via AndroidCentral]
• The HTC EVO 4G update to Android 2.3 can now be rooted, courtesy of Revolutionary. [via AndroidCentral]

Refresh Roundup: week of August 15, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Aug 2011 15:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s slow, and it doesn’t have Thunderbolt, but if you’re buying thousands at a time, the $1,000 iMac is a bargain

Apple has today made available a low-specced, slightly cheaper iMac to the educational market. The 21.5-inch model costs $1000, $200 less than the regular entry-level iMac of the same size.

However, for that relatively small saving you get a lot less Mac. The processor is a dual-core Core i3 running at 3.1GHz, against the quad-core Core i5 at 2.5GHz, RAM is just 2GB instead of 4GB, the hard drive is a pathetic 250GB (Vs. 500GB) and the graphics — which use the same AMD Radeon HD 6750M processor — shrink their memory from 512MB to 256MB.

It also lacks a Thunderbolt port.

The educational iMac does get a keyboard with a numeric keypad, although you’re stuck with the Magic Mouse — there’s no free option for a trackpad.

For individual users, the $200 saving is clearly not worth it in exchange for last year’s tech — you’d be much better off buying a refurb from Apple and getting a bigger discount. For schools and colleges who don’t necessarily need to latest and best, and which buy in bulk, a $200 saving on, say, 50 machines is a lot of cash.

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2011) – Technical Specifications [Apple via Mac Rumors]

See Also:

• How the iPhone Could Reboot Education
• Colleges Dream of Paperless, iPad-centric Education
• What's the Worst Apple Product Ever?