Netflix is wanting to change the way Hollywood views internet content, and they’re even looking to take on HBO to become the supreme when it comes to original ad-free content. Sarandos says that director David Fincher’s roll in House of Cards is changing the way people view internet streaming content, where it’s no longer a bunch B-list web shows, but actual TV series featuring A-list celebs.

House of Cards is a great example of how Netflix is changing the way people view streaming content. The series stars Kevin Spacey, who is best known for his numerous roles in tons of classic films, such as American Beauty, The Usual Suspects, Se7en, and Superman Returns. The first two episodes of the series were directed by David Fincher, who also directed movies like Fight Club, The Social Network, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

This year already, Netflix has released two original series: House of Cards and Hemlock Grove, with several more original shows on the way: Arrested Development and a Hasbro-sponsored children’s show, as well as three more that we know of. That’s seven shows total that we know of, meaning that if Netflix kept their promise and doubled their original content in 2014, we’ll be getting at least 14 shows next year, but Sarandos says that’s merely a goal, not a promise.

Netflix accounts for a third of all traffic that makes its way through the internet, which is something quite impressive, and the service streams more content than YouTube even. Netflix also keeps adding on new users, claiming three million more customers during Q1 2013 to make a total of 37 million users paying for Netflix.

SOURCE: Hollywood Reporter

Now before you get too pumped up about this situation, you should mind the fact that if you do unlock your Glass device, you’ll be voiding your warrantee provided by Google. This is the same for most devices on the market today running Android, so keep a weather eye when you’re hacking along.

What you’re seeing here is a screen rather similar to that which you’d see if you were working with ClockworkMod Recovery on an Android smartphone or tablet. Here with Glass, the user will be using the camera shutter to scroll through menus and the power button to select items inside Recovery – on a smartphone, this is done with a device’s volume buttons and power button.

Kriebel has tested several elements inside this version of Recovery, but notes that he’s not yet tested any installations – since none yet exist. Once developers begin to create odd packages for Glass and zip them up real nice, Recovery will be able to flash them to the device with a button tap.

I have successfully tested the following:
  access via adb (including Koush’s new adb backup)
  wipe data/factory reset
  mount/unmount partitions
  backup/restore
  auto disable of stock recovery re-flash
  auto root
- Kriebel (bekit)

Users wishing to work with this custom Recovery for Google Glass can head over to Brint Kriebel’s Google+ post to grab the link to the file image. If you’re feeling brave, let us know how it all goes – and if you’ve got any fabulous customized bits and pieces you’ve installed with Recovery, too!

PlayerScale CEO Jesper Jensen says that the company isn’t “going anywhere,” and that the company’s platform “will continue to support the same great games that you love playing today,” saying that PlayerScale “will only get better from here.” However, half of the company’s staff will be joining Yahoo, while the other half will stay at PlayerScale.

PlayerScale says that its platform has over 150 million users, with their user base growing exponentially. The company announced back in January that they surpassed the 100 million-user mark. Overall, Jensen calls the acquisition the “the next big step toward our goal of building the best possible gaming infrastructure platform.”

Today’s PlayerScale acquisition comes just days after Yahoo made its largest buyout ever, purchasing Tumblr for $1.1 billion. The financial details of the PlayerScale acquisition weren’t disclosed, but it probably wasn’t as much as what Tumblr got out of the deal. However, does this mean that Yahoo is getting into the gaming business?

Essentially, PlayerScale’s Player.IO platform offers game developers a place to implement multiplayer and Facebook aspects into their game using PlayerScale’s servers. Many popular mobile and Facebook games are most likely using Player.IO to run certain aspects of the game. With the Yahoo acquisition, the company may be looking into mobile and social gaming, but it’s obviously too soon to tell right now.

VIA: TechCrunch

SOURCE: PlayerScale

Hardware

The Nokia Lumia 928 works with a body and a set of innards that make it a very close relative of the Nokia Lumia 920, a device that’s being sold by AT&T right this minute. The 928 works with a 4.5-inch AMOLED display with 1280 x 768 resolution, carrying with it Corning Gorilla Glass 2 for scratch and break protection, ClearBlack technology so your blacks are as black as can be, and PureMotion HD+.

Those buzz words do actually mean something when it comes down to it – you’ll have brights that are bright enough to see in direct sunlight, darks that blend in with the bezel, and with a pixel density of 334 PPI, you’ll have quite a bit of sharpness as well. Of course compared to the HTC One and the Samsung GALAXY S 4, you’ll have a bit less sharp of a picture, but other than that you’re up there with the top guns – thus far this year, that is.

ABOVE: Just about as direct as the sunlight gets, straight on and up. BELOW: In a bit more shade.

This machine works with NFC, Qi-standard Wireless Charging, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor. This is the same processor found in the Nokia Lumia 920 and will be more than enough to power the highest-requirement Windows Phone 8 apps on the market today.

Also inside you’ll have 1GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, and SkyDrive cloud storage of 7GB – given to you right out of the box. The back-facing camera is similar to that of the 920, bringing an 8.7 megapixel PureView sensor with a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens. This all means you’re going to be able to take photos in rather low lighting situations and will have some nice looking pics no matter what you’re photographing.

Software

You’ll be getting Nokia’s friendly collection of apps like HERE City Lens, HERE Maps, and Nokia Music along with Microsoft-added apps like Office and OneNote. One thing Windows Phone 8 can still hold over Apple’s head is Office as a native app, and here Nokia makes it clear that they’re willing to stick with that party. This device also has several photo “lenses” that add on to the abilities of the camera.

Each of these lenses is an app that can be downloaded for Windows Phone 8 devices, some of them specifically tuned for Nokia Lumia models. The Lumia 928 comes with Cinemagraph, Smart Shoot, Panorama, and Bing vision. With Bing vision, the user will be able to take photos of objects and receive information about them – this app also works with text translation on-the-spot.

The biggest difference between this device and its competitors is its exclusive access to Nokia apps and hardware – particularly its camera technology. Nokia makes several high-powered location-based apps for allowing you to get around your city – or a city you’ve never been to before. The camera technology you’ll be able to experience in the section immediately following this one.

Camera

Below you’ll find a collection of photo examples captured with the Nokia Lumia 928. Some of these photos were captured in optimal cloudless-day sunlight situations while others were photographed in the dark. This machine does, without a doubt, still reign in the darkest conditions without a flash. Have a peek at our Nokia Lumia 920 vs iPhone 5 camera battle to see how they fare in similar conditions.

Battery

The battery life on this device is well balanced enough to provide at least 8 hours of uptime for an average user. If you’re a power-user, you’ll want to consider the positive and negative elements in a battle between this and a smartphone with a replaceable battery: Verizon also carries the Nokia Lumia 822. The 822 doesn’t quite have the camera power of the 928, but the ability to carry more than one battery replacement in your pocket can be a big matter for some users.

Wrap-up

The Verizon Nokia Lumia 928 will cost you $99 USD with a 2-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate – that’s less than half the cost of some of the higher-end competitors on the carrier today (like the Samsung GALAXY S 4 and the Galaxy Note II), and essentially equal to that of the Samsung Galaxy S III. It’s also equal to the price of the Windows Phone 8X from HTC, a device that was released several months ago that we reviewed as well. If you’re going for tactile feeling alone, you might want the HTC device – otherwise I’d stick by the Nokia hardware for basically everything else.

The Nokia Lumia 928 is easily Verizon’s finest Windows Phone 8 device, and with its advanced camera abilities, it may well be the nicest Windows Phone 8 device in the USA as well. Until another Windows Phone 8 device comes along with a metal body, on the other hand, the Nokia Lumia 925 will continue to roll with that title worldwide.

After that, he didn’t mention PCs again, only saying that “benchmarks on just the video and audio performance are 8-10 times superior to the current gen,” saying that “the compute capabilities of these platforms and the data transfer speeds we can now bank on, essentially removes any notion of rationing of systems resources for our game engines.”

The Xbox One comes with an 8-core processor along with 8GB of RAM. We’re not told about specifics, but a good guess would that both the PS4 and the Xbox One are running AMD’s Jaguar chip. Compared to gaming PCs, most gamers have a quad-core processor in their gaming rigs, with a few 8-core chips floating around.

However, Microsoft nor Sony have revealed what graphics their respective consoles are running, but if they’ve seen the just-announced NVIDIA GTX 780 Titan graphics chip, I’m pretty sure they’d run away whimpering. Imagine two of those cards in SLI — the gaming prowess would be practically infinite.

However, it’s possible that Teneja doesn’t actually mean these new consoles are faster, but rather just have newer technology in them, meaning that the processor inside the Xbox One and PS4 are so new, that it isn’t available for PCs yet. Then again, from the way that Teneja worded his blog post, it seems to mean that PCs don’t stand a chance against the next-gen consoles, which is quite saddening to hear.

VIA: Polygon

A passage from the book is read out loud and it describes the characters in the upcoming game, giving us a little tease at who gamers are going to control while playing the game. However, we’re still not given a taste of any gameplay, which has gamers frustrated and wanting more, but it seems Activision will be milking this one out for a while.

The trailer was directed by Jon Favreau, who is best known for directing Iron Man and Iron Man 2, and his style certainly shows in this new Destiny trailer. Of course, though, we still don’t know many details about the game, other than that they’re calling it “shared-world shooter” that looks a lot like Halo, which isn’t too surprising, as the same developer is behind both games.

A look at the trailer reveals that some of the action takes place on the Moon, as well as what looks like Mars, but as you can clearly see a close-up planet in the sky, it looks to be a fictional planet that the developers made up for the game. Overall, Destiny definitely won’t be coming to an Earth near you. The game is set to release on both current- and next-generation consoles sometime in 2014, so don’t expect it to launch alongside the Xbox One or PS4 in time for the Holiday season — you’ll want to put it on your birthday wish list instead.

Hisense Sero 7 Pro

This device works with a 7-inch IPS LCD display at 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB internal storage. One of the first big differences between this machine and the Nexus 7 is the inclusion of a microSD card slot – that’ll allow you to expand the tablet’s storage space by an additional 32GB.

This machine works with a mini-HDMI out port so you can play videos or games straight to your high-definition television or computer display, and it works with two cameras. While the Nexus 7 works with a single front-facing camera, the Hisense Sero 7 works with a 2 megapixel front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel camera on its back. The back-facing camera also has a single LED flash for photos in the dark.

Wireless connectivity features include Bluetooth, NFC, and wifi. This device measures in at 7.9″ x 5″ x 0.43″ and will be released with Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean. With a 4,000mAh battery to keep it running for what Hisense says will be 10 hours, this machine is certainly prepared to do battle with the Nexus 7. It’ll be out for $149 USD in stores this week – or if you’re at the right Walmart store, you might be able to find it today.

Hisense Sero 7 LT (or Lite)

The Lite version of the Hisense Sero 7 brings similar specifications, but the Pro is just a bit of a step up. This Lite version also comes in at a $99 rather than $149, so it’s a bit of a value/abilities trade. The Hisense Sero 7 LT brings Android 4.1 and a dual-core processor at 1.6Ghz with 1GB of RAM. Up front is a 1024 x 600 pixel display that’s also IPS LCD.

This smaller tablet has a smaller internal storage at 4GB, but it also works with a microSD card slot for 32GB of storage expansion. This machine is also a bit smaller physically with a size of 7.9″ x 4.8″ x 0.41″ – and it’s got just one camera, too. This machine works with a 0.3 megapixel camera on its front, much like the Nexus 7.

The imagery isn’t available yet for the public eye, but Google gave is a sneak peek at what we’re in for. The company posted a few photos of Googlers walking around with “Trekker” backpacks that include a big Street View panorama camera attached to it that extends up from the backpack itself. Apparently they weigh around 40 pounds, so we commend those who were tough enough to carry them around all day.

If you’re not familiar with the Galapagos Islands, they were made famous by Charles Darwin, who’s theory of evolution was thought up thanks to the help of studying various animal species on the islands. The set of islands are located well off the west coast of northern South America and southern Latin America.

Google says that not only will these images be cool to look at, but they will also act as an “important visual record” for the CDF and GNPD to use in order to “study and protect the islands by showing the world how these delicate environments have changed over time.” The Galapagos Islands are constantly under threat by invasive species, climate change, and other human impacts.

It took ten days total to get all the imagery needed on the islands, and they even went underwater to capture sea life near the islands as well. Ten locations in total were captured by Google, averaging out to one location per day. Google has captured other unique locations in the past, including the Great Barrier Reef and even Antarctica.

The video compares both tablets as far as hardware specs are concerned, such as the weight and size of the tablets, as well as the selection of apps and the ability to multitask. Microsoft shows off the ASUS tablet running full Office, while the iPad only has the OneNote app. And while the iPad can quickly switch between apps, Microsoft gloats that the VivoTab can do split-screen multitasking.

The ad also demonstrates that Windows 8 tablets have a microSD card slot built in, while the iPad requires an adapter in order to get the same functionality. Microsoft even brings up printing, noting that the iPad only works with AirPrint-compatible printers, while Windows 8 tablets work with nearly any printer.

While Microsoft’s previous tablet commercials have been all about focusing only on the tablet itself, these new ads put some focus on the competition — in this case, it’s the iPad that’s giving Microsoft’s tablets a run for their money, so it seems the company wants to set the record straight and let people know the benefits of their tablets.

It’s certainly a blatant call out to the iPad, which could result in some eye rolls by viewers, but we have to say these ads are a bit better than office workers break-dancing on top of tables and flinging around their Surface tablets. It’s certainly a better ad for those who don’t like flashy and fast-paced advertisements (*raises hand*).

This newest Kinect for Windows works with “Active Infrared”, meaning the user will be able to work in nearly any lighting condition. This allows the user to work with four senses where before, Kinect worked with three: audio, depth, color, and active IR. The ability to sense the human body without needing high lighting conditions will allow the sensor to work in more “real-world” settings – hand position, facial features, and body movement all included.

Kinect for Windows newest hardware will bring improved skeletal tracking. More points than on any previous model are being tracked – tip of the hand and thumb now included. This system also allows tracking of up to six skeletons at once. More users means more opportunity for multi-player games and, as Microsoft suggests, physical fitness solutions.

The expanded field of view on the new Kinect for Windows will allow for both a wider place for people to be able to stand and be tracked and more fluid gesture recognition. This new unit works with a high definition color camera with advanced Time-of-Flight technology from Microsoft. This technology measures the time it takes for each little photon to leave and bounce back to bring on “unprecedented accuracy and precision.”

This Kinect for Windows platform will be delivered “next year” according to Microsoft, with a new Kinect for Windows sensor and software development kit (SDK) to go along with it. It’s not yet known if the SDK will be delivered before the actual unit, but BUILD 2013 has been noted by the company as a place where “developers and designers can begin to prepare to adopt these new technologies so that their apps and experiences are ready for general availability next year.” That’s in June – stay tuned!

SOURCE: MSDN

The issue of backward compatibility of next-gen consoles is something that has been hotly discussed over the past few months, as gamers try to decide whether to consider brand loyalty when they upgrade from their existing console, or indeed if they should jump ship to more casual gaming, such as on a tablet. That’s led to some interesting hoop-jumping, as companies attempt to deliver retro support while still push the envelope with new technology.

Sony, for instance, opted to go with a cloud gaming system for the PlayStation 4 which runs PS3 titles on remote servers and then delivers the content via the gamer’s internet connection. The same technology will also funnel PS4 games to the PS Vita, as part of Sony’s attempt to more tightly integrate the ecosystem.

That’s not apparently something Mattrick thinks is particularly necessary, at least based on Microsoft’s research into how many people play old games on new hardware. In fact, only around 5-percent of people do that, he claims, arguing that if Microsoft spent time and effort on building it into the Xbox One, it could potentially mean compromises in other areas which would in fact have more impact on a greater number of gamers.

What Microsoft will, in fact, use the cloud for is offloading some of the Xbox One’s processing. Elements like background textures can be rendered remotely on the Xbox LIVE infrastructure and then delivered over the internet to the console, leaving its own 8-core processor and AMD graphics free to focus on more obvious visual glitz.

Instead, there’ll be lingering support – and new titles, some at E3 2013 – for the Xbox 360, so it might be worth reconsidering trading in your old console for an Xbox One if there are some classics in your collection you can’t do without. Exactly how much of a turn-off having to build a game library from scratch will be to Xbox One buyers remains to be seen.

EA’s newly-rebranded Ghost Games studio will be in charge of development, with help from Criterion Games, who was behind Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Need for Speed: World. Rivals will include the same experience that past Need for Speed titles have had, but EA says that the new game will go back to its roots, with the cops vs. racers modes, allowing gamers to play as cops too. You’ll be able to move up in the ranks, as well as unlock new cars and customization options.

Online multiplayer in the new game is getting a feature called AllDrive, which allows friends to drop in and out of your open world to race with or against you, as well as the ability to play as cops and chance down racers. Speedpoints will be rewarded to players for chasing down racers or eluding the police, which can be used for performance upgrades.

Rivals will also include Criterion’s social tracking system Autolog, which provides leaderboards and lets gamers challenge other friends. The system will be similar to what’s coming in GRID 2, which will be released later next week. All of these features will be available for both current- and next-generation consoles.

The Need for Speed series is approaching 20 years in the making, and while it has drastically changed over the years — going from a simple racing game to street-tuned all-out racing with multiple modes, it seems Need for Speed is finally going back to its roots of the early days of the series, which we’re pretty excited to see what EA has in store come November.

VIA: VG247

With the Sculpt Comfort Mouse, there’s a blue touch-sensitive strip along the side of your clicker called the Windows touch tab. This allows the user to swipe up or down to move through Windows 8 the way a touchpad would. A press on this strip also brings you back back to your Start screen like the Windows button on your tablet, PC, or keyboard.

The Sculpt Comfort Mouse uses Bluetooth to connect wirelessly to the device of your choice, and will be using “BlueTrack” technology for use on “pretty much any surface.” This mouse will be available in June from Microsoft stores and retailers here and there for MSRP $39.95 in the USA.

The Sculpt Mobile Mouse is made for – you guessed it – mobile users. You’ll have four-way scrolling as the Comfort Mouse does with a tilt of the scroll wheel. This will allow sideways scrolling in your Windows 8 Start screen as well as in long webpages – if you happen across any here in the modern world.

The Sculpt Mobile Mouse will be working with a USB transceiver, BlueTrack technology, and availability inside May – that’s this month! This device will be available for MSRP $29.95 and, again, will be out in Microsoft stores as well as in retailers carrying Microsoft-branded hardware all around the USA.

Have you ever used a Microsoft-manufactured mouse or keyboard? How about a Surface tablet? What were your first impressions? Do you still use these devices today, or did you switch to a “3rd party” creator of accessories?

Essentially, the iPad app lets you scroll through your email while you have individual messages open in a larger pane on the right side. Of course, this type of layout isn’t new as we’ve seen similar layouts in other iPad email apps, but if you’re committed to Mailbox, you’ll no doubt be pleased to be able to churn through email on a larger display.

Mailbox first made its debut back in February for the iPhone, and most users were immediately greeted with a wait list status, meaning that a lot of users couldn’t start using the new app right away, with hundreds of thousands of users waiting in line in front of them. However, the company recently removed the wait list and let anyone in, allowing full access to Mailbox.

Back in March, popular cloud storage service Dropbox acquired Mailbox for an undisclosed amount. The two companies didn’t exactly detail what the future plans would be, but we’re guessing that Mailbox will end up coming with some sort of Dropbox integration at some point, although two months later, we haven’t heard from Dropbox about their plans for the email app.

If you’re interested in using Mailbox, it’s available for free, but it only supports Gmail at this point, with no word on whether or not other email services will get integration. Granted, a lot of people use Gmail anyway, but for those using Yahoo or Outlook, you’ll have to hold up for a bit to see if Mailbox gets support for other service.

SOURCE: Mailbox

This means there will be a least three different editions of the game. While each version allows you the same access to the full retail version of Grand Theft Auto V, the “Standard Edition” brings just that. Each of the three editions offer a pre-order bonus of an “Atomic Blimp” in-game vehicle for “iconic and leisurely” travel through Los Santos.

The Special Edition brings with it a SteelBook with artwork including custom and metallic treatments – strange printing techniques only used in presentations above and beyond the normal call of duty for an art book. A BluePrint map that shows a unique view of Los Santos and Blaine County is included in the package at 21.5 x 26.75 inches large.

The Special Edition will also add special weapons added to the players inventory available for free – melee Hammer, Bullpup Shotgun, and Pistol .50. In-game bonuses also include a “Special Ability Boost” which makes your special ability bar jump 25% faster, Stunt Plane Trials, Bonus outfits, tattoos, and aesthetic differentiators of all kinds.

The Collector’s Edition includes everything that’s in the Special Edition, adding a Security Deposit Bag with Logo Key, 9FIFTY Snapback Cap, and a set of “classic” Grand Theft Auto characters for customization and use in the Grand Theft Auto Character Creation System.

The Collector’s Edition also adds a garage where users are able to store custom vehicles. Single-player mode has this garage stocked with a 1930′s style Hotknife hotrod as well as a CarbonRS sports bike. The online version will include a “high-end Khamelion electric car.”

And of course the whole lot comes in a fancy collectable outer box with foil-embossed Grand Theft Auto V logo with matte, scuff-resistant film lamination. This Collector’s Edition will run you a cool $149.99 USD while the Special Edition will cost $79.99, and the normal edition will cost you right around $59.99 – choose your fate!

SOURCE: Take-Two

The reminders are pretty easy to set up as well. All you do is select the note that you want reminded about, and click the small alarm clock icon in the upper-right corner. From there, you just set the time and date, and the reminder is created and ready to go. You can also set other parameters, like how you want to be notified (through an email, notification, etc.).

This feature can be extremely handy, especially for work or school purposes where you have a deadline or due date for a particular project or essay. Personally, I really wish I had this feature during my college days, as I would save research notes and then quickly forget about them as I move onto another project.

Reminders are also synced across platforms, so setting a reminder on your Mac will also have it appear in the iOS app and web app as well. Sadly, Evernote hasn’t yet rolled this feature out to Android or Windows apps, but it should be only a matter of time before that happens. In the meantime, you can use the web app on Windows if you want reminders that badly.

Evernote is continuing to outpace its competitors by becoming more than just a minimal note-taking app. It may have started off as one, but it quickly became a feature-filled product that act as an all-in-one file cabinet of sorts, allowing you to save websites, images, documents, and other notes, as well as the ability to take photos and scan documents and have them upload straight to Evernote. Other apps are trying to keep up, but Evernote already has a strong hold on the note-taking market.

VIA: Evernote Blog

SOURCE: Evernote, iTunes App Store, Mac App Store

The developer confirmed the news via Twitter yesterday, saying that the game will be heading to Sony’s newest console, joining the PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. However, publisher Activision still says that DLC for the game will be exclusive with Xbox consoles, meaning that if you want all the CoD content you can get, going the Microsoft route seems like the best choice at this point.

As for the Wii U, Activision hasn’t confirmed or denied that Call of Duty: Ghosts will come to Nintendo’s newest console, but it’s not looking good overall. If the publisher wanted the new game on the Wii U, we certainly would’ve heard confirmation by now, but judging by the poor sales of the new console, we’re guessing Activision won’t waste their breath.

Call of Duty: Ghosts went up for pre-order earlier this month, and it became the highest-selling video game on Amazon in less than a day from becoming available for purchase before its launch. While some may think the Call of Duty series is getting stale, the turnout that the pre-order received shows that many gamers are still interested. The new installment is expected to be some sort of spin-off featuring Lt. Simon “Ghost” Riley, who was known for wearing that iconic skull-laden balaclava. However, we’ll have to wait and see in November when the game officially releases to the masses.

VIA: Joystiq

One of the most notable new products arriving for the summer is the Envy 14 TouchSmart Ultrabook, which comes with a 14-inch display at 1366×768 by default, but can be immediately upgraded to a more feasible 1600×900. Furthermore, though, you’ll be able to upgrade to a whopping 3200×1800 resolution sometime this summer, all of which is touchscreen-equipped.

The laptop has a modest starting price of $699, but that won’t get you the high-resolution display sadly — you’ll most likely have to hand over more cash in order to enjoy the 3200×1800 resolution. There’s no word on what hardware the new laptop is running, but we’re guessing Intel’s new Haswell architecture is tucked neatly inside, waiting for an official unveil next month during Computex.

The New Envy 14 TouchSmart looks to take on Google’s Chromebook Pixel and Apple’s MacBook Pro Retina-equipped laptops. However, Samsung is also in the running, as they recently announced a laptop of their own that packs a 3200×1800 display. What we once thought was insanely high-res, is now playing catch-up with HP and Samsung. Who would’ve thought?

HP also showed off their other refreshed laptops, such as 15-inch and 17-inch variants of the Envy line, as well as new Pavilion 11-, 14-, 15-, and 17-inch laptops that include a mixture of Intel and AMD processors, as well as NVIDIA mobile graphics. Furthermore, the company added on five new desktops that pack Intel’s new Haswell chips. You can grab one for as low as $289 for the HP 110, although you’ll have to cough up more for a robust machine.

VIA: Engadget

“OLED on silicon may be used for glasses-type, augmented-reality devices much like the Google Glass” CEO Kim Ki-nam said during a SID keynote this past week. “The wearable market will be a major beneficiary of the free-form factor advantage of flexible OLEDs. Smartphone-linked wearable accessory products such as watches and health bands will use ultra-thin flexible OLEDs embedded with various sensors.”

Samsung has been talking up the potential of flexible OLED for some time, though is yet to commercially deploy the technology. That’s been promised for 2013 under the YOUM brand, however, slightly delayed after Samsung was apparently forced to dedicate the bulk of its production facility to making traditional AMOLED screens for devices like the Galaxy series of smartphones.

Back at CES, the company brought a number of concepts along, some using flexible OLED technology. There, the panels didn’t actively flex, but were instead wrapped around the shell of a device mock-up, and intended for use as an always-on status panel.

The current Glass Explorer Edition, which Google has sold to a limited number of developers for real-world testing and app development, uses a small plastic eyepiece into which the image is projected. Exact technical specifications for the display technology itself have not been shared, though it’s believed to be something along the lines of a transmissive color filter panel backlit with an LED in the headset section, near the camera module.

Switching to OLED would mean Google could do away with the separate LED backlighting, since OLED pixels produce their own lighting. It seems likely that Google would still use the wave splitter eyepiece block, since that allows the “floating” display to be translucent, though it’s worth noting that Samsung has been showing off translucent OLED panels for several years, and has in fact commercialized them on a small scale.

Either way, it would likely be a more compact setup than what is used in the Explorer Edition, as well as potentially more power-frugal. That could make for a lighter, longer-running Glass, something Google has said are key objectives for the consumer version.

Exactly when the mass-market Glass will launch is unclear, though Google chairman Eric Schmidt did suggest that sometime in 2014 is likely. Similarly unknown is how much it will retail for, though Google has been clear that it aims to make the wearable far more affordable than the $1,500 developer version.

VIA: AndroidBeat

The NVIDIA GeForce Experience will be released in version 1.5 this week as well, bumping the number of games supported to 70 and ushering in support for the newest graphics hardware on the market with the GTX 780. This release will be the first in which the GeForce Experience is packaged with a driver, but will be retro-fit to all systems supported being released in the future – where applicable.

The GeForce Experience is now well out of beta, acting as both a user interface through which a gamer’s check and update to the newest GeForce drivers is made simple and providing a place where games can be optimized instantly.

The big deal with the GeForce Experience is the gamer’s ability to one-step optimize their game settings to the best they can be given their computer’s abilities. This system is made for two kinds of people playing games:

1. Users who know what some of the setting available to them are, but not the whole lot, and want to optimize their gaming experience.

2. Users who want to optimize their gaming experience and have no idea what the vast majority of the settings are – or mean – in each game.

For each of the 70 games optimized uniquely by NVIDIA graphics and performance specialists, maximizing image quality “while maintaining great performance” is literally as easy as clicking the button “optimize.”

NVIDIA has also let it be known that they’ll be releasing new features for the GeForce Experience later this summer, one of them being Optimal Playable Settings (OPS) Customization – this means you’ll be able to bump up a setting here, knock another down here, and the system will compensate and act accordingly. More than just “this is best” will be available to you once this customization feature is released.

This summer users will also see support for NVIDIA SHIELD. This little mobile device will have its own connection on your PC, rather than having its own Android application, this allowing you to optimize the full-powered network-streamed games it’s capable of playing straight from the source – but optimized for SHIELD. Further details surrounding unique SHIELD options will be coming soon.

Finally there’s ShadowPlay, another “later this summer” update. This release is essentially “TIVO for games”, as one NVIDIA representative puts it, allowing you to record video of your system constantly and select segments you’d like to save. ShadowPlay will use Kepler graphics driver technology to record 20 minute segments at a time, allowing you to keep what you want and toss the rest – all through the GeForce Experience.

ShadowPlay will be a feature inside the NVIDIA GeForce Experience that’ll be working with all Kepler GPUs inside Summer 2013. NVIDIA has made this system out to be a system that more than takes on FRAPS, it out-does it: ShadowPlay takes a minimal performance hit so gamers can play with minimal draw on their system whilst playing.

While we’ll have to wait for this system to roll out to actually test that claim, at the moment what we’re being told by the company seems to be as easy to use as the GeForce Experience game optimization system itself.

ShadowPlay uses the H.264 video encoder built-in to every Kepler GPU to “seamlessly” record the users last 20 minutes of gameplay footage, 20 minutes at a time. With the driver you’ve got built-in to the Kepler graphics card already in your machine, this system will be able to run all the time, while you pick up the segments of video you want and the rest are dumped.

This ShadowPlay system’s pre-set 20-minute segments are the current optimized pre-set lengths that each video will be recorded in. This amount of time is not set in stone – NVIDIA may change before the final release – but for now, the company says it’s the best amount of time based on their testing of the feature.

The GeForce GTX 780 works with the same GK110 GPU used in the GeForce GTX TITAN. Inside are 12 SMX units bringing 2,304 CUDA cores, along with six 64-bit memory controllers (that’s 384-bit) with 3GB of GDDR5 memory – that’s 50% more of each than the GTX 680 delivered.

This memory interface also delivers up to 288.4GB/second peak memory bandwidth to the GPU. Like TITAN, this card is meant to run next-generation technology such as WaveWorks and FaceWorks, each of these demoed at NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference earlier this year.

GeForce GTX 780 works with a base clock speed of 863MHz while a typical Boost Clock speed works at 900MHz. This number comes from an average found by NVIDIA running “a wide variety of games and applications”, while the actual Boost Clock speed will depend completely on your actual system conditions. Memory speed on the 780 is noted at a 6008MHz.

The GeForce GTX 780 works with a new Adaptive Temperature Controller – working here with NVIDIA’s GPU Boost 2.0, fan speed will be adjusted up or down “as needed” to maintain a temperature of 80C. With the Adaptive Temperature Controller working on the GTX 780, an adaptive temperature filter eliminates “unnecessary” fan fluctuations with an advanced RPM and temperature targeted control algorithm.

The software solution that allows this control will be available on the NVIDIA reference design for the GTX 780 as well as to partners who wish to implement it on their fans. Expect a bit more of a smooth ride with this feature implemented on your card – TITAN quiet.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 is build to work with, again, the same die as the GTX TITAN, but here has no extra double-precision floating-bit. Users will be working with around a 70% performance upgrade over the GTX 580, and an overall experience that’s consistent with gamers wanting to blast out maximum graphics settings and screen resolutions with high levels of AA to boot.

The NVIDIA-made GeForce GTX 780 reference board is 10.5-inches in length and works with two dual-link DVIs, one DisplayPort connector, and a full-sized HDMI out. Users will need to power this amalgamation with one 6-pin PCIe power connector and one 8-pin PCIe power connector.

THe NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780′s pricing sits at $649 USD and this will be the first card delivered with NVIDIA giving manufacturers the GeForce Experience to include on their install disks. While the GeForce Experience is an entirely optional system to install, and it’s completely free to download from the web either way, this release does mark the first point at which NVIDIA is formally pushing the GeForce Experience as an interface they recommend to anyone and everyone working with GeForce hardware and a love for one-button graphics and performance optimization for games.

EE had been named the Facebook phone’s initial exclusive partner in the UK, with sales expected to start within a few months of the First arriving on US shelves. In the intervening period, however, Facebook released the Home launcher – which the First comes preloaded with – as a free download (for select devices) in the Google Play store.

It’s that software availability – along with middling first-impressions of Home – which is said to have doused expectations around HTC’s device. As we discovered in our review, the hardware isn’t bad, but users will need to be significantly – and pretty much solely – invested in Facebook for their social lives in order to get the best out of Home.

Unofficially, insiders have claimed that HTC was surprised by Facebook’s release decision for the Home launcher, the original plan having been to stagger the availability. That would have left the First with a period of market exclusivity, as the only way for Facebook fans to get their hands – officially, anyway – on the system.

We’re waiting to hear back from HTC and EE as to what’s happening in the UK, but the assumption is that the cost of launching a region-specific First variant with EE LTE support was deemed too much given the predicted demand. Whether HTC recycles the design (which was met more positively than the software) for a Home-free version remains to be seen.

The news is the latest in a spate of generally pessimistic chatter around HTC, which has seen several high-profile executives – including the CEO of HTC Asia – leave the company in recent weeks. One high point has been HTC One sales, which according to an unnamed executive at the company have now reached 5m units.

Update: An EE spokesperson gave us the following statement:

“Following customer feedback, Facebook has decided to focus on adding new customisation features to Facebook Home over the coming months. While they are working to make a better Facebook Home experience, they have recommended holding off launching the HTC First in the UK, and so we will shortly be contacting those who registered their interest with us to let them know of this decision.

Rest assured, we remain committed to bringing our customers the latest mobile experiences, and we will continue to build on our strong relationship with Facebook so as to offer customers new opportunities in the future.”

VIA: Mobile News Online; Engadget

The acquisition comes a week after Mankani Power’s first fully-autonomous test flight, with an Airborne Wind Turbine taking off, hovering, generating power, then hovering again before landing safely. The tethered wing flies in large circles, and uses around 90-percent less material than a traditional turbine.

Mankani Power fully-autonomous test flight:

Google began investing in Mankani Power back in 2007, part of a broader R&D project aiming to develop ways of producing power more cheaply than traditional coal-fueled methods. The Mankani Power approach has culminated in Wing 7, which can produce 30kW of power as well as autonomously switching between generation and standby modes.

Take-off involves the AWT being reeled out from the base station “perch”, and then hovering before flying in crosswind. If the wind gets too weak or strong, or the AWT needs maintenance, it can automatically be transitioned back to crosswind hover mode, and then winched back home.

Mankani Power technology demonstration:

“This formalizes a long and productive relationship between our two companies, and will provide Makani with the resources to accelerate our work to make wind energy cost competitive with fossil fuels” Mankani Power said in a statement. “Makani could not have reached this point without the support of the US Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program and the hard work of our talented team, past and present. We look forward to working with our new colleagues at Google[x] to make airborne wind a cost-effective reality.”

Google’s mysterious X labs is the company’s more outlandish thinktank, separate from the mainstream work the rest of the company does on search, Android, and other more immediately commercialized products. The team has also been tipped to be working on autonomous robotic explorers, which could use self-driving car technology with the same kind of Street View photography equipment as used in Google Maps to more comprehensively document the world.

VIA: Bloomberg Businessweek

For US users, and those watching select content in the UK, the new Shazam iPad app can listen out to what’s showing on-screen and pull out extra content. That could be special offers related to advertising, or information on specific shows and actors. The new homescreen will include what TV is being commonly watched in among the music listings, too.

Elsewhere, there’s integrated Rdio streaming – for which you’ll need a subscription – to instantly play back tagged songs, and a world mapping system which can show what’s popular in different locations. Shazam says it’s accurate down to town-level data, in some cases.

Meanwhile, the app can now apparently recognize music in as little as a second, and there’s tagging caching if you’re in an area with a poor data connection, so that you don’t have to re-tag them when you get coverage again. Social options now include email, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Shazam’s new app is available for iPhone and iPad, though some of the more impressive features only work on the tablet version. As for the Android app, that’s due to get a similar update “in the coming weeks.”

Those tax incentives could amount to as much as $7,500, depending on where the car is registered. Add in California credits some are eligible, and that could knock another $2,500 off the sticker; in fact, GM says, the Spark EV could end up $17,495 if the driver can get all the potential discounts.

Difficulty in getting behind the wheel might be a matter more of finding a showroom with the Spark inside, rather than affording it. Chevrolet’s initial roll-out plans consist of select dealers in California and Oregon; beyond that, it’s not clear which states will get the car next.

As for the lease, that’s $199 per month over the course of three years, after a $999 initial payment and fees, assuming you qualify.

Since range anxiety is likely to be a lasting concern for electric car drivers, the Spark EV works with Chevy’s RemoteLink app that hooks up via Bluetooth with the in-car systems and OnStar; that can re-plan your journey so that you drive via a charging station if you won’t have sufficient power to make it all the way.

That’ll work best with the optional DC Fast Charging – though not quite ready for the June launch – which will allow the Spark to power back up to 80-percent in around 20 minutes. Chevrolet says that, unlike some of its (unnamed) rivals’ cars, the Spark can use DC Fast Charging multiple times during the day without ill-effect. From a 240V supply the car will get to 100-percent in under 7hrs.

As HTC has complained about before, it’s getting sufficient stock that is primarily holding the One back, the executive continues. “Orders are pretty good so far and are still more than what we can supply” the source suggests. “This is partly due to the shortage of components. When the issue is resolved next month, we will have a better idea if it’s doing really well or not.”

Production is set to double this month HTC has already claimed, and April sales figures showed a reassuring upward turn, believed to be primarily down to One performance. The phone was originally intended to release in eighty countries by the end of Q1 2013, but issues sourcing components for the “UltraPixel” camera, among other things, saw that limited to just a handful of locations.

That hasn’t stopped HTC from making bold predictions for Q2. Revenue for the current quarter is expected to reach around NT$70bn ($2.4bn), the company has said, an increase of almost a billion US dollars.

Still, the 5m figure pales somewhat compared to Samsung’s sales figures for its Galaxy S 4. Earlier today, Samsung confirmed that 10m of the latest Galaxy flagships had been sold – though it’s worth noting that Samsung’s numbers count sales to operators and retailers, not to end-users – in the first month of the device’s availability.

Meanwhile, the other phone HTC had high hopes for, the HTC First, has not seen the success expected. Sales are said to have underwhelmed, and sources have even claimed that the First – which runs Facebook Home, a replacement Android launcher focused on information from the social network – was scuppered by Facebook itself, after a last-minute change in strategy that saw the launcher released free in the Google Play market in the same week that the smartphone arrived on AT&T.

In the brief demo video shared on Aireal so far – you can see if from the 0:44 point – a gamer plays a goalkeeper simulator, with balls fired toward them on-screen. The challenge appears to be knocking as many of the balls away, using physical movements tracked by a Kinect; the Aireal sits next to it, firing puffs of air at the player to recreate the sensation of objects impacting.

Disney Research describes the system as creating “interactive tactile experiences in free air”, and it relies on the inherent stability and range of a vortex of air. By spinning the flow of air around the central axis, the blast can be made far more precise and reach further into the room.

The developers – Rajinder Sodhi of the University of Illinois, along with Matthew Glisson and Ivan Poupyrev of Disney Research Pittsburgh – don’t say exactly what the range of the Aireal cannon actually is, only “large distances.” The system is “scalable and inexpensive” they claim, though would presumably need to be made more compact if it wanted to gain living room acceptance.

However, you could easily imagine Microsoft integrating Aireal into a future version of the Kinect sensor bar, which was updated for the Xbox One revealed earlier this week. The new Kinect has more accurate motion-tracking – now capable of identifying not only skeletal movement, but musculature and force, and even measuring heart-rate – as well as advanced microphones for voice control of the next-gen console.

So far, though, attempts to make gaming more immersive have tended to treat the sense of touch with relatively broad strokes. At most, there’s some sort of haptic feedback from vibration of the gamepad; the Xbox One controllers, for instance, have tunable vibration to suit the on-screen action, but harness systems and similar to spread the sensation across the player’s body have generally met with resistance.

Disney Research’s approach – though perhaps less targeted than strapping vibration motors across your torso – does away with the issues of clumsy bodywear, and it could also be used to good effect in media types other than gaming, such as movies and TV shows. Whether that will make it an acquisition target for one of the big game companies remains to be seen.

VIA Geek; ExtremeTech

Elsewhere, there’s an 8-megapixel camera on the back, with an LED flash and HTC’s ImageChip for improved processing; HTC uses an f/2.0 aperture, 28mm lens. The Desire 600 tops out at 720p HD video recording, however, not the 1080p we’re used to seeing. A front 1.6-megapixel camera is there for video calls.

The Desire 600 doesn’t get HTC Zoe, however, the combination stills and video burst system it made a headline feature on the One. Instead, it gets a pared-back Video Highlights system, which cuts together impromptu thirty second video compilations from your content, which can be edited, set to music and themes, and then shared online.

Inside, there’s HTC BoomSound speakers, positioned facing the front for the same sort of impressive audio performance as on the One, and Beats Audio processing too. Connectivity includes dualband HSPA and triband GSM/EDGE – no LTE – along with WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX.

There’s also NFC, GPS, and AGPS, while Russia and the EU will get GLONASS too. Internal storage is 8GB, with a microSD card slot for adding to that, and there are two SIM slots. HTC says both cards can be active at the same time, unlike some other dual-SIM handsets, so you can have calls come in on either account even when you’re using one of them.

The 1,860 mAh battery is good for up to 11.1hrs of 3G talktime, HTC claims, or up to 577hrs of 3G standby. Unlike with the One, it can be removed and swapped out for another, too, something HTC customers have been vocal in requesting.

The HTC Desire 600 will go on sale in Russia, the Ukreaine, and select markets in the Middle East and Asia from early in June. No word on pricing or the possibility of a European or North American version at this stage.

The commercial kicks off with Windows’ Live Tiles, with Siri conceding that iOS doesn’t update its icons like that, and then launches into multi-tasking. The ASUS tablet is shown opening up a sidebar with a second app, again something which isn’t supported on the iPad.

Then it’s time for PowerPoint, since Microsoft apparently can’t imagine a world where a tablet user might not want to throw together some slides. On the ASUS, the presentation can be edited and re-formatted, while the iPad is shown merely scrolling and zooming around in frustration. It’s worth noting that Apple does offer Keynote for iOS, its own PowerPoint alternative, which does allow presentations to be created.

“Should we just play Chopsticks?” Siri concludes, playing out the advert as Microsoft reveals its kicker: how much 64GB versions of both tablets cost. The iPad – Apple’s full-sized version, complete with Retina display – is priced at $699, while ASUS’ Windows 8 tablet is $449.

It’s certainly one of the better adverts Microsoft has put together – at least there’s no random dancing like the Surface tablet commercials the company aired last year – and the use of Siri’s voice (the actual audio files for which Apple licenses) is a sly touch that’s likely to get the fans arguing. Still, Microsoft’s decision to illustrate functionality with PowerPoint seems like a missed opportunity; the business-centric app has little relevance to home users.

Thanks Craig!

With that in place, and the Square app installed, anybody can take a payment from a credit card. Square charges a 3.25-percent transaction fee in Japan, and is promising next-day deposits for “participating banks” and deposits within a week for other banks.

Meanwhile, Square will soon offer Square Wallet functionality in Japan, which will allow for direct payments between accounts, rather than requiring a credit card or cash. Square will also offer businesses the option of using a traditional cash drawer and receipt printer, though the app can send an email receipt by default.

Mobile payments are a growing business, and Japan has been ahead of the curve for some time with cashless options. Cellphones in the country have long been able to use mobile wallet systems, with subscribers able to charge travel, goods, and services to their monthly bill.

Square does not currently offer a Chip & PIN option – where credit or debit cards have an embedded microchip, similar in appearance to a phone SIM card, and the customer must punch in their PIN code to authorize the payment – which is in use in Japan, with the old-fashioned “swipe and sign” process used instead. The company is also working on a system for small payments between friends and family, with Square Cash going into closed beta recently.

The Kindle Fire HD has a 7-inch display running at 1280 x 800 resolution, and packs Bluetooth, dualband WiFi, and an HDMI output. A front-facing camera, 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage, and a battery rated for over ten hours round out the package. In our review, we rated its tight integration with Amazon’s ebooks, multimedia, and other cloud services, assuming you’re a frequent shopper from the retailer.

As for the Kindle Fire HD 8.9, that steps up the display to an 8.9-inch panel running at 1920 x 1200 – more than Full HD. It also has a faster processor, TI’s OMAP4470, though the same connectivity options as the smaller version.

The Kindle Fire HD 7 is up for preorder from the equivalent of $214, while the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 comes in at the equivalent of $284. They’ll ship to those in Ireland and Gibraltar from the UK site; to Austria and Luxembourg from the German site; and to Monaco from the French site.

Back when we reviewed the Fire HD 8.9, we praised its pricing and the consistency of the experience, though as with the Fire HD it’s less well-rounded if you’re not entirely dedicated to Android. Both Kindles are positioned basically as mobile storefronts for the retailer, and since there’s no official Google Play access you’re limited to what third-party apps Amazon allows into its own Appstore.

The jump from seven countries to more than 170 is another sign of Amazon’s growing hardware ambitions. Earlier this month, leaks suggested the company was working on at least two potential smartphones, one of which would use a glasses-free 3D display with eye-tracking for improved performance over previous implementations of the technology.

A Sonos-style music streamer was also tipped, though there’s no guarantee that – even if the products are in development – Amazon won’t axe the projects before they see the light of day.

Update: Amazon has also announced today that its Appstore for Android is now live in “nearly 200 countries”, paving the way for the Kindle Fire HD expansion. The service will also come to Brazil “in the coming months” the retailer says.

As far as the full-year numbers go, Lenovo saw a pre-tax income of $801 million USD, with the earnings coming in at $635 million. Annual sales hit $34 billion, resulting in a full-year 6.16 cents basic EPS. As of the year-end, net cash reserves tallied in at $3.1 billion. Crunching the numbers, we see the full-year sales hitting a record, jumping 15-percent year-over-year.

The fourth-quarter results were also excellent, seeing a record revenue of $7.8 billion and a pre-tax income of $166 million, a jump of 63-percent year-over-year. In the fiscal quarter, the company saw basic EPS (earnings per share) of 1.22 cents per share. Meanwhile, the operating profit in the quarter increased 67-percent year-over-year to $169 million, and earnings jumped most of all – a whopping 90-percent – to $127 million.

Lenovo also saw good things in the market, gaining 14 points while the industry as a whole saw a drop in excess of 13-percent over the previous year. This pushed the company into its record market share at 15.5-percent, fueled in part by another record, this one in PC shipments totaling a tad over 52 million units. Such numbers represent a year-over-year shipments increase for the company of about 10-percent annually. Lenovo in Asia Pacific/Latin America saw the greatest growth in quarterly market share at 11.7-percent, followed by Lenovo in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at 11-percent.

Lenovo’s CEO and Chairman Yang Yuanqing said: “Despite a challenging macro-economic environment and ongoing PC industry transformation, Lenovo delivered a strong performance in the 2012/13 fiscal year. Not only were we the fastest growing among all major PC players, with record market share, revenue and profitability, more importantly, our smartphone and tablet businesses saw dramatic growth.”

SOURCE: Business Wire

The display comes in the form of an IPS LED panel offering a resolution of 1600 x 900 with 10-point touch, and audio is courtesy of integrated Beats Audio. Under the hood, the HP ENVY Rove 20 runs 4th generation Intel Core processors and Intel HD graphics. The AiO PC has an adjustable kickstand on the back for propping the device up. As far as software goes, HP preloads the ginormous slate with some games, including Monopoly.

HP’s Consumer PCs and Solutions Senior VP and General Counsel Ron Coughlin said: “Customers are looking for mobility and flexibility in their computing devices to give families new ways to bring generations together. HP is evolving to meet our customers’ needs by designing next-generation form factors, like the Rove mobile All-in-One PC, which will enable people to connect, share and create in ways they never imagined.”

In addition to the ENVY Rove 20, HP also announced a couple other devices, including the HP Pavilion 20 TouchSmart and Pavilion 23 TouchSmart All-in-One PCs, the HP Pavilion 11 TouchSmart Notebook, and the HP Pavilion 14 TouchSmart Sleekbook. Obviously, all four PCs offer touch panel displays, allowing users to take advantage of Windows 8′s touch-based design.

And finally, rounding out the announcement are two new compact printers, the HP ENVY 4500 All-in-One and the HP 5530 e-All-in-One. Both are color printers offering HP ePrint and HP wireless direct. With this functionality, consumers can print from a mobile device, such as an iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

All the PCs will be launched in June, with the exception of the HP ENVY Rove 20, which will be released in July for a yet-unspecified price. The Pavilion 20 TouchSmart AiO will be priced at $620, the Pavilion 23 TouchSmart AiO will be priced at $750, the Pavilion 11 TouchSmart Notebook at $400, and the Pavilion 14 TouchSmart Sleekbook at $480. All prices are the base rate, and will increase depending on user customizations.

The ENVY 4500 (launch in June) printer will start at $99, and the ENVY 5530 eAiO (launch in July) at $130.

SOURCE: HP

Such a project could, if it ever reaches its end goal, end up being a medical miracle, allowing humans who suffer limb amputation, whether it is an appendage as small as a finger or as large as an entire arm or leg, to regrow their body part. The process could also be used to promote healing without scars, eliminating issues with scar tissue, as well as healing burns.

When a human suffers a limb amputation, the wound heals over with scar tissue, resulting in a stump. The researchers recreated this healing phenomenon in the axolotl salamanders by eliminating a type of immune system cells called macrophanges, which the researchers suspected were responsible for the limb regrowth. Getting rid of the macrophanges resulted in the same type of healing humans experience.

What is particularly interesting is that once the macrophanges were restored in the salamanders that had been depleted of them, the limb that was removed and healed over regenerated when it was re-amputated – that is, surgically reintroducing the wound in the area where it had previously healed. This seems to indicate that, should a solution ever be discovered for human limb regeneration, it could be effective for those who have lost limbs in the past, rather than just those with fresh wounds.

Ideally, the research will lead to a kind of salve or similar topical that would be applied to an open wound, introducing the necessary chemicals to the area to enable limb regrowth. All of this, for now at least, is still a dream, with the project being in the research phase and the exact method that enables limb regrowth not being known. Such a prospect is certainly something to keep an eye on, however.

SOURCE: ABC News

The issue concerns many companies’ use of two-step verification, something Dotcom alleges he created and holds the patent for, which was filed in 1997. He goes on to link to his patent, which details the kind of two-step verification process mostly any Internet user will be familiar with. The information comes from Dotcom himself, who said in one tweet: “Twitter introduces Two-Step-Authentication. Using my invention. But they won’t even verify my Twitter account?!”

This tweet was followed by another two tweets that hour, the next saying that Google, Twitter, Citibank, Facebook, and more all utilize two-step verification that infringes on his patent. The following tweet then offers the “big reveal,” saying that in excess of 1 billion two-step authentications take place online every week.

All was silent for an hour, then another tweet popped up, this one stating that Dotcom has been aware of the mass violations of his patent but “never sued them” due to a belief in the mutual sharing of ideas and knowledge that better society in some way. He then insinuates that a lawsuit against one – or all – companies could take place, however, over “what the U.S. did to me,” regarding the legal turmoil resulting from the Megaupload debacle.

This is rounded out by a tweet telling Facebook, Google, and Twitter that they can continue to use his patent for free. He implores them to help fund his legal defense, saying they “are all in the same DMCA boat.” He goes on to explain that his defense case is looking to have a price tag of at least $50 million, linking to a whitepaper on the matter. At the end of it all came a tweet asking if anyone wants to buy a world-wide license to use his patent.

SOURCE: The Verge

As AMD sees it, Temash and Windows is a combination that means the flexibility of a desktop with the performance of a multimedia-centric chipset. The first true AMD SoC, with a choice of dual and quadcore options, Temash offers up to a 212-percent graphics boost-per-watt compared to 2012′ AMD C-70 and up to a 172-percent jump in x86 performance per watt.

However, that doesn’t come with a battery hit, AMD claims, despite offering between 2x and 5x the performance of Intel’s Atom Z2760 in AMD’s testing. A Temash-based system can manage up to 12hrs of idle battery life, or up to 45-percent longer than a Core i3-based Windows tablet.

AMD sprinkles some of its extra feature magic on the new A-series. The A400 gets GPU acceleration for apps, along with native video stabilization; the A600 adds AMD Screen Mirror, which wirelessly squirts the contents of the display to a supported TV, together with gesture controls using the webcam, and AMD Face Login, for biometric security. Both have Radeon HD 8000 series graphics.

Connectivity support includes up to two USB 3.0 ports, up to ten USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, HDMI, PCI Express, VGA, and more. There’s also support for up to 8GB of system memory and AMD’s Turbo Dock system, which boosts performance when a tablet is slotted into a keyboard base station, while prolonging battery life when it’s removed.

Perhaps most impressive, AMD says the sub-5W versions of Temash can be used in fanless systems. We had a chance to play with a Temash-based Windows 8 tablet, and the experience was impressively good: it was a Quanta reference design, the BZ1T, but the Radeon HD 8180 GPU and A4-1200 1GHz CPU were certainly strong enough to keep Full HD video playing smoothly on the 11.6-inch 1920 x 1080 touchscreen.

Inside, there was 2GB of DDR3U-1066 RAM and a 128GB mSATA SSD drive, loaded up with HD content that we could then push over wirelessly to a nearby HDTV with a Screen Mirror-compatible adapter. The whole thing was lag-free.

AMD’s second Temash demo machine was a compact Acer ultraportable, the Angel. That ran Windows 8 on a lightweight touchscreen notebook with a Temash A6-1450 processor and Radeon HD 8280 graphics. Unlike the tablet, the Angel had a traditional 500GB hard-drive inside, but doubled up RAM to 4GB. It was certainly a fast-moving machine, multitasking between office apps and multimedia quickly, though we’d need to spend more time with it to see whether it really does offer a significant step up from the Intel equivalent.

AMD expects the Temash series of APUs to begin showing up in tablets, notebooks, and other form-factors over the coming months.

AMD Kabini

Kabini is AMD’s mainstream platform for portables in 2013, targeting small touchscreen notebooks as well as entry-level laptops. The company is making a big push for battery life, with machines running the new APUs apparently capable of up to 10hrs of resting runtime, or over 9hrs of web browsing. Even playing Full HD 1080p video, they should be good for more than 6hrs of use.

The single-chip SoCs use Jaguar cores with 2MB of shared L2 cache, and come in 9W to 25W TDP variants. Each supports two simultaneous displays of up to 4096 x 2160 resolution, with DisplayPort 1.2, DVI, and HDMI 1.4a output capabilities. Other connectivity includes provision for up to eight USB 2.0, up to two USB 3.0, two SATA Gen2/Gen3, and an SD card reader.

There’s also AMD’s Steady Video technology, for smoothing out jerky camera footage, and AMD Perfect Picture HD, which does real-time processing of on-screen graphics to bring out the best contrast and colors. Compared to last year’s chips, the new Kabini E1, E2, A4, and A6 APUs offer up to an 88-percent boost in performance.

AMD Kabini Mainstream APUs

AMD Richland

As for the performance end, AMD is taking on Intel’s Core i3 and Core it with the new Richland series of APUs, replacing Trinity in the process. They offer up to 71-percent better graphics abilities than the Core i5, AMD claims, while still being capable of over 10hrs resting battery life or 7.5hrs of web browsing.

Compared to Trinity, overall performance is up by up to 19-percent, the company claims, while graphics performance is improved by as much as 40-percent. The A8 gets gesture control and face login, for chip-level biometric security, as well as AMD Screen Mirror for wirelessly pushing graphics to a nearby TV. The A10 throws in game bundles, a strategy AMD has tried with success before, including a number of games with each qualifying PC purchase to show off the abilities of the APUs.

There’s also provision for AMD Dual Graphics, with the onboard GPU in the Richland chips capable of working simultaneously with a discrete GPU from the company’s Radeon HD 7000 or 8000 series. That should make for ultraportables that can still put in some solid gaming, AMD claims.

The first notebooks running AMD Kabini and Richland APUs will show up in the coming months.

AMD Richland Elite APUs

According to the announcement, the 10 million-units-sold milestone was reached a full 20 days earlier than with the previous unit, the Galaxy S 3, and quite a bit faster than the Galaxy S (seven months) and the Galaxy S 2 (five months). The smartphone is available for purchase in 60 countries. By the end of June, the total number of Galaxy S – S4 handsets available will span 327 operators in 155 countries.

We reported on May 17 that GALAXY S 4 sales were expected to exceed 10 million units sold this week, information that was passed down by co-CEO JK Shin. The announcement was expected to be made on May 24, so Samsung hit the range a solid two days ahead of its anticipated schedule. Samsung has plans to roll out additional colors for the handset, expanding on the black and white varieties with Blue Arctic, Red Aurora, Purple Mirage, and Brown Autumn starting this summer.

On May 15, it was revealed during Google’s 2013 I/O event that a 16GB Google Edition of the GALAXY S 4 will go on sale later this year via the Google Play Store, receiving updates straight from Google and running a vanilla variety of Android. The handset will work on both AT&T and T-Mobile’s 4G LTE networks.

Of course, with the greatness that will be an unlocked vanilla Android Google Edition GALAXY S 4 comes a comparable price tag, pegged at a hefty $649. The handset won’t feature the Nexus branding, and will run Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2, Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor, and mostly all the regular hardware to be found on the regular variety. The Google Edition is slated for sale on June 26.

SOURCE: Samsung Tomorrow

Per Google’s cease and desist letter, Microsoft was ordered to pull the app and disable it on customers’ handsets by today, May 22. The Internet giant said because of the lack of advertisements and the ability to download videos, the app threatened YouTube’s “content ecosystem,” and was depriving all relevant authorities and content creators of their just dues.

Microsoft didn’t make it clear at the time whether it would pull the app, but its statement insinuated that would not be the case. All went silent for a few days, but now the deadline has rolled around and Microsoft has responded in the form of an app update. When updated, the YouTube app will lose its ability to download videos, something against YouTube’s terms of service, but still fails to display advertisements, something Microsoft says it will change immediately when Google decides to cooperate.

A Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement: “Microsoft updated the Windows Phone YouTube app to address the restricted video and offline video access concerns voiced by Google last week. We have been in contact with Google and continue to believe that our two companies can work together to hone an app that benefits our mutual customers, partners and content providers.”

According to a blog post made on TechNet earlier this year, Microsoft contends that Google is purposely trying to harm its mobile platform by preventing it from offering a YouTube app comparable to those available for Android and iOS. Said VP Dave Heiner, “But just last month we [at Microsoft] learned from YouTube that senior executives at Google told them not to enable a first-class YouTube experience on Windows Phones.”

SOURCE: ZDNet