Other Sites
2012 To Be The Year Of The MacBook Air
Notebooks Increasingly Important In Samsung's Business Plan
Asustek Expects Its US Notebook Shipments To Grow 30% in 2012
The Last CES: Gadget Fatigue Forebodes Industry Consolidation
Sumo Laptop, Tablet Combo Backpacks Unveiled at CES
Lenovo All-In-One PC What Apple's iMac Should Have Been (Video)
Lose the Screws: FirmTek Debuts 2.5" Trayless Hard Drive/Solid State Drive Enclosure Solution
Steve Jobs Immortalized in New Comic Book Bio
Intel Raises Bar on Smartphones, Tablets and Ultrabook Devices
Republican Politician Rips Online Piracy Bill, Defends Google
FireWire Reaches 4 Gigabit/Second Speeds Says New 1394 Trade Association Article
2012 To Be The Year Of The MacBook Air
T-GAAP's Karl Johnson notes that the MacBook Air had a great year in 2011, with its available 250GB solid state drive and Sandy Bridge processor allowing it to finally became a mainstream computer one of Apple's top selling Macs for 2011, and it showing no signs of slowing down.
Johnson predicts that the MacBook Air will enjoy even greater success in 2012, with new Intel Ivy Bridge processors and more powerful graphics support anticipated.
He also thinks there will be a 15-inch screen size Air for 2012. This will fuel even more interest in the Macbook Airs, which will bleed sales of usier upgrading from old MacBook Pros and other PC laptops, and rendering the "Pro" models a niche product for video editors, 3D artists, 3D gamers, and other scientific computing tasks, or, if Thunderbolt gains traction, a new paradigm of one port for all external devices may eventually make the MacBook Pro obsolete.
Johnson contends that he MacBook Air has already changed the way we think of computers due to its size and weight, noting that at 2.4 lb. the 11-inch Air is only a pound heavier than the iPad, and at less than two-thirds of an inch thick it can fit in almost any bag and takes up almost no space - light and small enough to take along wherever one goes.
Consequently Johnson predicts that MacBook Air will define Mac computing for 2012 and outsell all other Macs combined, making 2012 the year of the MacBook Air.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://t-gaap.com/2012/1/12/year-of-the-macbook-air
Notebooks Increasingly Important In Samsung's Business Plan
Digitimes' Max Wang and Steve Shen report that its notebook product lines are becoming increasingly important to the overall product mix of Samsung Electronics, with the company's ultimate goal no less ambitious than to capture the top-rank status in the segment, according to the company's executive vice president Gregory Lee.
Samsung unveiled a series of new notebook lineups at CES 2012, some to hit the market starting in February, Lee told Digitimes, and that in addition to stressing product designs and high-end applications, Samsung will also optimize vertical integration resources available in-house, including Samsung's manufacture if flat panels and memory.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120112PD213.html
Asustek Expects Its US Notebook Shipments To Grow 30% in 2012
Digitimes' Aaron Lee and Joseph Tsai report that despite seeing the PC market experiencing decline, and economies of the US and Europe weakening, Asustek Computer still expects its notebook shipments in the US to grow 30% in 2012, according to Asustek US president Steven Chang.
Chang noted to Digitimes that Best Buy is the company's first retail channel partner in the US, and the company added Office Depot as its second partner in 2011. In 2012, Asustek will also add Walmart and Staples as marketing partners to help achieve its US shipment goals.
However, 2012 is not exactly getting of to an auspicious start for Asustek. Lee and Tsai note that in January the company expects its consolidated revenues for the month to drop 25%.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120111PD211.html
The Last CES: Gadget Fatigue Forebodes Industry Consolidation
ZNet's Jason Perlow says he's driving a stick in the ground with his prediction that by 2015, the Consumer Electronics Show will be no more, citing the show over the past several years becoming a victim of the MOTSS (More Of The Same Stuff) syndrome with too many players showing too many of the same exact things - much of which looking exactly like the stuff they showed us the year before and few truly interesting and disruptive products are being shown, with what was once the premier annual expo for the consumer electronics industry having reduced itself to a race to the bottom for many of what were once traditionally very strong brands.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://zd.net/w09p8i
Sumo Laptop, Tablet Combo Backpacks Unveiled at CES
Mobile Edge has introduced two new Ultrabook/Tablet Backpacks under the Sumo brand. These new backpacks are designed to accommodate laptops up to a 15" MacBook Pro in a tailored padded pocket plus a separate fleece-lined pocket specifically for iPads or other computer tablets.
Designed for smaller profile laptops (Ultrabooks) and an iPad, the stylish Sumo Combo Backpacks are built to suit the current evolution in computing hardware. The lightweight (only 1.7 lbs) design features lots of storage space for everyday items, front and side pockets for quick access items and a unique draw-string opening with a secure flap to ensure user convenience. A convenient front zippered pocket makes storing a phone or other gadgets quick and easy. The adjustable padded shoulder straps and ergonomically padded back panel make carrying your gear comfortable.
"Based on user feedback and the recent explosion in tablet sales, our design team created a stylish backpack that is ideally suited for todays active women," says G. David Cartwright, President & CEO, Mobile Edge. "Combining protection for a Tablet and an Ultrabook, our new Sumo Combo Backpack reflects the changing environment in mobile computing."
The Sumo Combo Backpack Collection comes in two colors, Red and Black with Pink stitching. Both carry an SRP of $79.99 and are backed by the Mobile Edge Lifetime Warranty.
Available online at:
http://mobileedge.com
and
http://sumocases.com
Lenovo All-In-One PC What Apple's iMac Should Have Been (Video)
M.I.C. Gadget's Herman Lai says Lenovo's new unveiled a 27-inch all-In-One desktop machine that supports 10-finger capacitive multitouch is good news for anyone who wants a desktop PC, but bad news for Apple. Whats more, says Lai, the Lenovo's screen can be adjusted to a flat orientation to work like a giant tablet, and has posted a video so you can see how this amazingly cool hybrid works.
The new Lenovo AIO packs a Core-i7 Sandy Bridge CPU, 8GB of RAM, up to 1.8TB of storage space (with SSD options), a 2GB discrete graphics card and a slot-loading Blu-ray drive. The screen has a 1920 x 1200 maximum resolution and can slide down at an angle to make onscreen typing more convenient, or like a touch-table for playing touch-enabled games. Lai says the A720's build quality is impressive, if seeming a bit on the heavy side, but the aluminum chassis is gorgeous, giving a solid and premium feel.
He adds that Lenovo expects to start shipping the A720 in the first half of 2012 at an estimated $1300, and has also unveiled their new IdeaPad Yoga convertible ultrabook that converts from notebook to tablet.
For the full report visit here:
http://bit.ly/xMW3oY
Lose the Screws: FirmTek Debuts 2.5" Trayless Hard Drive/Solid State Drive Enclosure Solution
FirmTek, LLC, a developer of Serial ATA solutions for Apple Macintosh and PC systems, has announced the miniSwap/ES enclosure. An industry first and perfect for solid state drives (SSD) and 2.5" Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives, the miniSwap/ES enclosure provides trayless, hot-swap, 2.5" dual-bay, external enclosure support for Mac and PC computers.
The trayless, dual-bay miniSwap/ES was created to provide 2.5" storage devices with blazing fast SATA 6G bandwidth, amazingly simple disk mounting, ultra-quiet operation and user selectable digital power modes that support auto-on or manual power-on in the case of a power disconnect. The small, ultra-light, yet rugged miniSwap/ES can be integrated as a portable on-the-go 2.5" dual-bay enclosure, or as a space saving, high performance, trayless 2.5" desktop drive mounting station. Multiple miniSwap/ES enclosures can be cascaded to provide advanced RAID performance, expanded capacity and simple or complex storage configurations.
The miniSwap/ES incorporates an innovative backplane design with no internal cabling which helps to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) and improve convective cooling. It supports 2.5" Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives and solid state drives (SSD). The unique miniSwap/ES trayless bay design supports standard 2.5-inch 9.5mm height devices along with 7mm, 12.5mm and even larger disks up to 14.9mm.
Do Away with the Tray
The miniSwap/ES's silver aluminum chassis is made from extruded aluminum to keep weight at a minimum while maintaining firm structural rigidity. "Loading a 2.5-inch hard disk or SSD is as easy as inserting a bare drive into the miniSwap/ES and closing the bay door. That's it! No tray, no screws and no tools required," says Chi Kim Stanford, Vice President of Business Development. "The high quality, detailed construction of the miniSwap/ES allows each 2.5-inch drive to connect with the FirmTek direct-connect backplane and instantly communicate with the computer. Each miniSwap/ES bay is tied to the computer with its own dedicated eSATA data cable. This connection method maximizes performance while providing superior SATA controller compatibility."
Instant Data Access
The miniSwap/ES is compatible with virtually every external SATA host adapter and built-in SATA port. In addition, the SATA 6G miniSwap/ES enclosure can support bandwidth of up to 600MBytes/sec or 6.0Gbits/sec per drive. The trayless, direct-connect miniSwap/ES enclosure is designed to excel with audio/video editing, computer animation, digital photography, portable computing, storage expansion, backup and any application where external, flexible trayless, hot-swap, high performance, data storage is desirable. FirmTek customers who appreciate the power of SSD and the portability and quiet operation of 2.5" storage devices will love the miniSwap/ES.
miniSwap/ES Key Features and Benefits
• Attractive, durable, portable trayless enclosure supports dual 2.5-inch SATA SSD or HDD
• Easy to set up: No screws, no drive tray required: Simply swap drives in seconds
• Easy to operate: Simply open the door to insert or remove storage devices for virtually unlimited storage
• Supports 7mm, 9.5mm, 12.5mm and 14.9mm drive heights
• Smart Power Management: User selectable power settings for Auto-on or Manual Power-on
• High performance design - Integrated direct-connect eSATA backplane; no internal cabling
• High bandwidth design - SATA 6.0Gbps up to 600MB/sec per drive
• Supports SATA 1.5G, 3G or 6G HDD or SSD 2.5-inch form factor with any capacity
• Fully RAID capable: Compatible with operating system and host adapter based RAID solutions
• Can be configured as JBOD or RAID and used with multiple miniSwap/ES enclosures
• Power and activity LEDs for each hard drive
• Aluminum case for maximum durability and heat dissipation
• Ultra quiet, fan free, aluminum heat dissipation cooling system
• High performance can handle multiple projects simultaneously
• Perfect for both storage-hungry and speed-sensitive applications
• Cross-platform, PC and Macintosh compatible: Operating system independent
• Expand storage without overloading the computer's power supply or increasing heat within its chassis
• Works with Macintosh or PC with shielded Serial ATA ports running Mac OS X, Windows or Linux
• Kensington security slot
The FirmTek miniSwap/ES is now available from FirmTek authorized resellers (Part# MS-ES). The standard model found at FirmTek resellers includes two SATA hard disks. Specially priced build-to-order miniSwap/ES bundles with custom pre-installed SATA hard disks or SSD configurations are available at the FirmTek Store. For more information or to purchase FirmTek products, visit FirmTek's website at:
http://www.firmtek.com
Steve Jobs Immortalized in New Comic Book Bio
Fox News reports that a comic book that tells the life story of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs hit stores and newsstands in the US this week.
For the full report visit here:
http://fxn.ws/xNtgs2
Intel Raises Bar on Smartphones, Tablets and Ultrabook Devices
At CES Intel Corporation announced a number of advancements across its smartphone business, including a multi-year, multi-device strategic relationship with Motorola Mobility, Inc. and a handset by Lenovo based on the company's new Intel Atom processor platform. Several smartphones based on the new Atom processor are expected to come to market in 2012.
"The best of Intel computing is coming to smartphones," said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini in his announcements during a keynote address at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show. "Our efforts with Lenovo and Motorola Mobility will help to establish Intel processors in smartphones and provide a solid foundation from which to build in 2012 and into the future."
Otellini also detailed Ultrabook category momentum and described how the company is innovating to deliver superior experiences across a range of mobile devices.
Intel Computing Inside Smartphones and Tablets
Intel's CEO highlighted the Intel Atom processor Z2460 platform, formerly Medfield, which was specifically designed for smartphones and tablets, and delivers leading performance with competitive, energy efficiency.
Sanjay Jha, chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility, joined Otellini onstage and the two executives detailed their companies multi-year, multi-device strategic relationship. The effort includes smartphones that Motorola will begin to ship in the second half of this year using Intel Atom processors and the Android platform. The collaboration, which also covers tablets, combines Intels leadership in silicon technology and computing innovation with Motorolas mobile device design expertise.
Liu Jun, Lenovo senior vice president and president of Mobile Internet and Digital Home, also joined Otellini onstage to debut the Lenovo K800 smartphone based on Intel technology and running the Android platform. Liu Jun said the K800 smartphone will be available in China in the second quarter and will run on China Unicoms 21Mbs network. The smartphone features the low-power Intel Atom processor Z2460 with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, support for HSPA+ with the Intel XMM 6260 Platform, and the Lenovo LeOS user interface for a localized experience in China.
Otellini said enabling the best mobile experience is a priority for Intel. Michael Bell, general manager of Intels Mobile and Communications Group, also joined Otellini onstage to demonstrate the Intel Smartphone Reference Design that aims to shrink device development time and costs for phone OEMs and carriers. This fully functioning smartphone features sleek packaging, a 4.03-inch high-resolution LCD touch screen for crisp text and vibrant images, and two cameras delivering advanced imaging capabilities, including burst mode that allows individuals to capture 15 pictures in less than a second with 8-megapixel quality.
Showcasing the popular Angry Birds application on the phone, Bell pointed to broad Android applications support that allows Intel technology-based smartphones to run the vast majority of Android applications, including those compiled for other architectures.
Otellini said Intel will raise the bar on tablet experiences by offering compatibility with the millions of existing applications and devices; an instant-on, software and apps experience; and support of the Metro user interface. Onstage was the worlds first public demonstration of the forthcoming 32nm Intel Atom SoC for tablets and hybrids running on Microsoft(*) Windows 8, codenamed Clover Trail.
Ultrabook to Completely Redefine PCs
Intel claims to be leading the industry to re-invent personal computing again with the creation of the new category of Ultrabook devices, delivering a no-compromise computing experience in thin and elegant designs. [Didn't Aple already do that with the MacBook Air? Just sayin' - Ed.]
In just eight months, and built on a foundation of broad consumer appeal and ecosystem support, the Ultrabook category has gained strong momentum with a total of more than 75 Ultrabook systems are expected to ship this year from industry partners.
Jeff Clarke, vice chairman of Global Operations and End User Computing Solutions at Dell, joined Otellini onstage to announce the companys first Ultrabook, the new XPS 13 powered by the Intel Core i7 processor. Scheduled for February availability, the sleek and stylish design weighs only 2.99 lbs and provides up to 8 hours of battery life.
Intel is committed to continued rapid improvement in user experience. The companys engineers will further accelerate Ultrabook innovation in 2012 with 3rd generation Intel Core processors, codenamed Ivy Bridge, with the help of Intel's new 22nm 3-D Tri-gate transistors.
This next generation of devices will expand the computing experience beyond anything realized today. Two Ultrabook concept designs powered by Ivy Bridge were demonstrated during the keynote speech.
Intel's CEO promised that these devices will be more secure and eliminate the discussion on trade-offs for computing, like form factor, user interface or performance. He also said Ultrabooks will offer a flagship platform for a premium, no-compromise environment that helps deliver on the Microsoft Windows 8 promise of re-imagining Windows.
Applications specifically suited for the Ultrabook are available from the Intel AppUpSM center, a one-stop shop for the latest PC apps. Intel announced a strategic relationship between Intel and Technicolor surrounding M-GO, an app powered by Intel AppUp that will bring high-definition, premium digital content for television, movies, music and apps to Ultrabook devices and other Intel-based devices with Intel Insider in the second quarter of 2012. M-GO will provide movies and TV shows from major Hollywood studios and help manage HD premium content across multiple devices and platforms via a single intuitive, secure user interface.
For more information, visit:
http://blogs.intel.com
Republican Politician Rips Online Piracy Bill, Defends Google
The Register's Rik Myslewski reports that at least one powerful Republican member of the US House of Representatives takes a dim view of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) wending it way through the House.
"The bottom line is you've got to throw it away," he cites Darrell Issa (R-CA), an 11-year veteran of the House Judiciary Committee, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and sponsor of the competing Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN Act), commenting, speaking on a congressional panel at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Issa strongly disagreed with pro-SOPA remarks made earlier in the session by his GOP colleague, Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) regarding the bill's constitutionality. "With all due respect to Marsha, she's just flat wrong on the constitutionality of SOPA," he said quoted by Myslewski, who observes:
From Issa's point of view, SOPA is "inherently unconstitutional."
For the full report visit here:
http://bit.ly/AyG5zz
FireWire Reaches 4 Gigabit/Second Speeds Says New 1394 Trade Association Article
The 1394 Trade Association has published a new technical article detailing the benefits and applications of FireWire at 4Gigabit/second speeds, which has been pioneered and now demonstrated worldwide by DAPTechnology B.V. of The Netherlands.
This high speed and bandwidth was defined in the IEEE 1394-2008 standard, and now, with the pioneering work done by DAP Technology, FireWire is running at S3200, and is moving into a new generation of advanced applications.
The new article was developed by Burke Henehan, a 25-year industry veteran who served Texas Instruments, DAPTechnology and other companies during his engineering career. It has been published on EE Times popular Industrial Control DesignLine website at:
http://bit.ly/ypLZva
The article details how the leading provider of IEEE 1394b protocol analyzer systems and diagnostic tools developed the 1.6 Gigabit/second versions and then moved quickly to S3200, or 4Gbps. The advanced FireWire capability meets the requirements of industrial product and inspection applications, vision systems, and other designs, providing the highest speeds, maximum resolution and optimal configuration flexibility. As computing speeds increase, the transport providing images from the camera to the computer must scale to support future requirements. FireWire in its fastest implementations meets those needs, according to the article, which is also available at:
http://www.1394ta.org/press/TAPress/2012_0109.html
"FireWire has achieved the 4Gbps performance we all imagined when the standard was formed and the 1394 Trade Association was founded," says 1394 TA Chairman Max Bassler. "This high speed and bandwidth was defined in the IEEE 1394-2008 standard, and now, with the pioneering work done by DAP Technology, FireWire is running at S3200, and is moving into a new generation of advanced applications.?
The 1394 Trade Association is a worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement of the IEEE 1394 standard. By the end of 2011, more than 2.5 billion FireWire ports had shipped on a wide range of computing, consumer electronics, industrial, storage and other systems. For more information, visit:
http://www.1394ta.org
Tags: News ď Tech-Industry ď
