NASA's Curiosity rover checks in on Mars through Foursquare, feels lonely
I feel really weird typing Mars, NASA, social networks and check-in all in the same sentence, but here we are. NASA have announced that their Curiosity rover had "checked in" on Mars through Foursquare.
This has given NASA the bragging rights of checking in from an entirely different planet, and will use the location-based social network to share updates and pictures whilst roving around on Mars. Now all the space agency has to do is become the Mayor of Mars, and they'll be one step closer toward being a true, space hipster.
In space, no one can hear you check-in, or can they?
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Modbook Pro gets priced at $3,500 - welcome to a touch-friendly MBP experience
A touchscreen-based MacBook Pro is here, modded and ready to be pre-ordered. Modbook announced the preorders for their Modbook Pro, hitting a huge price of $3,500. What makes the Modbook Pro so special? Well, it's a touchscreen 13.3-inch MacBook Pro, with a stylus pen to boot.
It's also fully customizable, where you can option it to come with either OS X Mountain Lion, OS X Mountain Lion with Windows 7 on Boot Camp, or just Windows 7. It's a wonderful thing to have all of that choice. Hardware-wise, you can configure the Modbook Pro with a 2.5GHz Core i5 processor, or upgrade it right up to a 2.9GHz-clocked Core i7 chip. Memory can be ramped right up to 16GB and storage can kick it up to a 480GB SSD drive.
Modbook Pro brings the best of both words, infusing the hardware of Apple's 13.3-inch MBP, with a Wacom Penabled pen tablet digitizer, all on an etched paper-emulating ForceGlass screen. If you want to order one of these bad boys, you'll need a $500 deposit with each order. The Modbook Pro's come with a 12-month warranty.
I think this is a great option for those who want a touch-enabled MacBook Pro, but $3,500 - wow.
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Mark Zuckerberg to announce 'historic milestone' for Facebook tomorrow - one billion active users?
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to announce something that is being dubbed as a "historic milestone" during an interview with Matt Lauer on the TODAY show, tomorrow. Zuckerberg's interview will be the first television interview post-IPO, and with the historic milestone being thrown around, most people are wondering what the Facebook founder could announce.
We know that Facebook could smash through 1 billion users, but are they all active? This could be the announcement, and the social network probably burst through 1 billion users a while ago, but daily active users is a completely different number - this could be the 'historic milestone' - one billion active users. No other site can claim this, and no other site is even close. Competing social network, Twitter, has 555 million users for example.
Digital marketing agency, iCrossing, examined Facebook's usage and based on the site's growth rate, the firm estimated that Facebook would hit one billion users sometime in August this year. Facebook have also had quite an amazing last six months, growing from 800 million users, to close to one billion. In the past three years, we've seen the social networking site go from 300 million users, to close to (if not more than) a billion now. Insane.
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RumorTT: Xbox Music streaming service to arrive Oct 26 alongside Windows 8
Xbox Music was announced at E3 this year. The service is billed as Microsoft's "definitive music service" and rumors now place the launch date as October 26, coinciding with the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft Surface, and Microsoft's pop-up holiday stores. It seems as though Microsoft will have a busy October.
Xbox Music is a natural evolution of the Zune streaming service that Microsoft had previously tried. Now with Spotify, Pandora, and others being so successful in this market, Microsoft has decided to give it another try. The service will span Windows 8, Xbox 360, and Windows Phone 8, something the other services don't currently do.
The spanning appears to go so far as to allow playlists to be shared across the drive, as hinted to by the "Save to Playlist" option that is visible in the leaked pictures online. Pricing seems reasonable and there is a rumor that there will be a free, ad-supported version for the cheap people among us, something I would appreciate very much.
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RumorTT: Apple looking to move away from Intel CPUs for Mac systems
I'm sure many of you can still remember the older Apple Macs that were powered by PowerPC chips. These chips were designed and built by IBM with Apple engineers directly collaborating with IBM. They eventually gave up this idea and started using Intel chips around 2006/2007, which helped with performance, power efficiency, and being able to install Windows on a Mac.
A new rumor is suggesting that the company's leadership has "deliberated" over moving away from Intel chips in order to differentiate its computers from the competition. While I find it somewhat unlikely that Apple would attempt to make the move to a custom chip, they have done just that with the new A6 processor with great success.
It just seems like Intel has quite a bit more experience in this area. Perhaps a collaboration with AMD would be a better move. This way they could gain access to the x86 instruction set as well as AMD's existing fab agreements and expertise. Likely, though, they will continue to use Intel and possibly AMD chips for the foreseeable future.
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FSP Raider 750-Watt 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply Review
Introduction
Whether you know it or not, you've probably used a power supply or adapter at some point in time from FSP Group. FSP is the fifth largest power supply vendor in the world, growing exponentially since they were established in 1993. They do quite a bit with OEM/ODM power conversion products. Aside from its off the shelf power supplies, you'll often find FSP power supplies in a wide variety of monitors, TV's, and more.
We've taken a look at a few of their power supplies the last few years, including the FSP Aurum Xilenser 500W last month. All of the units we have taken a look at have been geared more towards the high-end and enthusiast segments and have done very well. This time around, we are taking a look at something a little more mainstream and cost effective. The new Raider series of power supplies from FSP is available in wattages from 450W to 750W.
We have the 750W model on the test bench today and it is most certainly geared more towards mainstream users who are seeking a better cost/performance ratio. The unit has less frills than most as it lacks modular cables, half of the cables aren't sleeved, and only comes with an 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency rating.
As we all know, performance is the single most important aspect when it comes to powering a PC and that's just what we are here to check out. Let's check out the specifications and see how well it looks on paper.
Specifications, Availability and Pricing
FSP delivers a majority of the power for the Raider 750W via a single 12V rail. The power supply is capable of 60A of power on this rail or a total of 720W. The Raider 750W features a very impressive set of minor rails. Both the 3.3V and 5V rails are rated for 26A with a combined 170W. Compare this to the recently reviewed PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 1200W and you'll see that the minor rails are capable of 70% more than a power supply of nearly double the total wattage. Over engineering is often a great thing, especially those seeking to push things to the limit. The 5VSB rail is rated for the typical 3A or 15W. Combined total output for the power supply is 750W.
The list of features is definitely something that we find a bit lacking on the FSP Raider 750W. The important protections are present, such as SCP, OVP, OCP, and OPP. Over Temperature Protection is lacking, however. The Raider 750W is 80 PLUS certified for Bronze level efficiency. The power supply features all native wiring. Unfortunately, not all of the cables are sleeved. While the Main, PCI-E, and ATX 4+4 cables are sleeved, the four peripheral cables are not. FSP does not rate the unit for 100% continuous output. Being that this is a more mainstream power supply, it should rarely see those kind of temperatures anyway.
Things get very better looking considering the FSP Raider 750W has an MSRP of $109.99. Newegg currently lists the unit for $80.98 after $10 mail-in rebate and $5.99 shipping. This makes it one of the cheapest 750W 80 PLUS Bronze power supplies on the market and, depending on performance, gives it one of the best cost/performance ratios as well. FSP backs the Raider 750W with a five year warranty.
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HP Details Turnaround Strategy, Provides 2013 Outlook
At HP's (NYSE: HPQ) annual Securities Analyst Meeting, being held today in San Francisco, the company's leadership is mapping out strategic priorities for the future and providing a detailed multiyear roadmap to turn the company around.
During her keynote, HP's president and chief executive officer Meg Whitman outlined progress made over the past year to stabilize the business and lay the foundation for a multiyear turnaround. The operating and organizational models have been integrated, centralized and streamlined, and a talented executive team is in place to execute the strategy.
The company is positioned to extend its leadership into the major trends driving IT investment -- cloud computing, information optimization and data security. In May, HP initiated a multiyear restructuring designed to realign its cost structure and create investment capacity to drive innovation against its strategic priorities, strengthen market leadership and rebuild its balance sheet while returning capital to shareholders. Despite the challenging environment, the company has maintained research and development (R&D) spending, along with a steady focus on preserving the long-term health of the business. The company is on track to deliver on its savings targets and complete the restructuring by the end of fiscal 2014.
Whitman walked through a multiyear roadmap to turn the company around. By 2016, she expects the company's revenues to be growing in line with gross domestic product (GDP), with operating profit growing faster than revenues, industry-leading margins and disciplined capital allocation.
"HP has a powerful set of assets, a culture of engineering innovation and a trusted brand," said Whitman. "Now, we have to focus on bringing our incredible assets together to deliver for our customers, employees and shareholders."
Fiscal 2013 outlook
Cathie Lesjak, HP's chief financial officer, provided a financial outlook for the company in fiscal 2013. The company estimates non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for fiscal 2013 to be in the range of $3.40 to $3.60 and GAAP diluted EPS for fiscal 2013 to be in the range of $2.10 to $2.30. Fiscal 2013 non-GAAP diluted EPS estimates exclude after-tax costs of approximately $1.30 per share, related primarily to the amortization of purchased intangible assets, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges. Lesjak also articulated the company's long-term commitment to financial discipline and reducing net debt.
Business segment strategies
Throughout the day, HP's management team will lay out specific plans and goals for the company's turnaround, including:
HP Enterprise Services
Mike Nefkens, acting global HP Enterprise Services leader, and JJ Charhon, senior vice president and chief operating officer, HP Enterprise Services, will give an overview of the turnaround plans for HP's Enterprise Services group. Due to several factors, including exceptional runoff in four major accounts and selective pursuit of deals to ensure the appropriate margin structure, HP anticipates revenue declines of 11 to 13 percent in fiscal 2013 with operating margins between 0 and 3 percent.
Nefkens and Charhon will outline a detailed turnaround plan for HP Enterprise Services with the objective of driving margin improvement over time. The four pillars of the strategy are: improving the portfolio through innovation in the core and expanded offerings in higher-growth services such as cloud and information management; strengthening accountability and empowering account executives; optimizing the cost structure with a focus on account performance and improving account performance; and improving operating excellence with tools and processes and a formalized operating cadence.
Nefkens and Charhon will lay out an expected long-term operating model with HP Enterprise Services growing revenue at 3 to 5 percent annually, operating margins between 7 and 9 percent, and 15 to 25 percent return on invested capital. Long term, the company expects to improve the mix of services revenue so that about 80 percent of HP Enterprise Services revenue comes from the company's core data center, applications and business process outsourcing, and 20 percent of revenue is generated by the higher-growth, higher-margin services including cloud, security, mobility, applications modernization, transformation and integration, and information management and analytics.
HP Printing and Personal Systems
Todd Bradley, executive vice president of Printing and Personal Systems (PPS) at HP, will detail how PPS has retooled itself to better understand and anticipate customer needs and deliver better products and solutions that leverage the entire HP portfolio. To create efficiencies from the combination of the printing and PC units, HP PPS has been focused on consolidating supply chain functions and shrinking from six sales teams to three, while reducing functional support organizations from 12 to seven. In addition, the group is focused on simplifying the business by reducing the number of SKUs in the printing business by 30 percent and the number of platforms in the PC business by 25 percent by the end of 2014.
The PC group within HP PPS has been refocused around customer needs. The group also completed a major refresh of its product line with a focus on design. In addition, the group launched the HP ElitePad 900, the first tablet specifically designed for businesses big and small, and is reinvesting in mobility with a dedicated leadership team.
The printing group within HP PPS has been focused on developing new business models such as Ink Advantage, a program targeting price-sensitive customers in emerging markets that has expanded to 82 countries, and the Ink in the Office initiative, which is targeting business customers. The group has expanded differentiated services and solutions by leveraging HP's portfolio of hardware and software, including combining multifunction printers with Autonomy management solutions to develop cloud-based document management services.
HP Enterprise Group
Dave Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager of HP's Enterprise Group, will address the company's strategy to transform the infrastructure industry and lay the foundation for widespread cloud adoption. The HP Enterprise Group has brought together its industry-leading server, storage, networking, management software and technology services offerings to deliver Converged Infrastructure solutions for enterprise customers that will help them make this critical transition.
Donatelli will detail the company's strategy to simplify the HP Enterprise Group's product portfolio through common architectures and convergence. By selling Converged Infrastructure, Converged Cloud and Software-defined Data Centers, HP expects to grow over the long term both revenue and market share in the key areas of networking, storage and cloud, while increasing revenue from HP's industry-leading x86 server business. In addition, the company's Project Moonshot is developing new ultralow-power server technologies that will address the fast growing HyperScale server market. HP was the first large server vendor to announce these servers, and the company expects that by 2015, ARM and Atom servers will represent 15 percent of the global server market.
HP Software
George Kadifa, executive vice president of HP Software, will detail how HP's software portfolio has grown through organic innovation and acquisitions to become the world's sixth largest software company. Today, HP Software serves almost the entire Fortune 100 with No. 1 and No. 2 leadership positions in key segments within the enterprise software market, which is expected to grow to a $54 billion market in 2015.
In addition, Kadifa will talk about how HP Software is focused on integrating its acquired businesses and technologies with its existing software portfolio to deliver innovations in cloud management, security, big data and meaning-based computing.
HP Converged Cloud update
Finally, Bill Veghte, HP's chief operating officer, will present an update on the company's progress on Converged Cloud. He will detail how the company is developing and delivering the essential components and solutions for businesses to build and consume all forms of cloud offerings. HP's approach is differentiated by its ability to give customers choice in platform and delivery model with confidence in management and security to deliver an enterprise service level agreement. The company grew cloud revenue 39 percent in 2012 to nearly $4 billion, making HP the world leader in cloud infrastructure. Veghte projected that estimated cloud revenue for the company would continue to grow, reaching $8.4 billion by 2015.
Webcast details
A webcast of today's event, along with management presentations and other materials, is available at http://www.hp.com/investor/SAM2012. This press release contains only a summary of some of the information being presented at today's event and should be read in conjunction with the management presentations and other materials made available on that website.
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Logitech Announces the Harmony Touch Universal Remote
Today Logitech announced the next generation of its award-winning line of Harmony remotes, the Logitech Harmony Touch. This premium advanced universal remote gives you customization with an intuitive color touch-screen for unprecedented control of your home-entertainment system.
Designed to make finding your preferred entertainment as easy as possible, the Logitech Harmony Touch lets you add, remove and re-order up to 50 favorite channel icons from your respective cable or satellite provider right on its vibrant 2.4-inch color touch-screen. After simple online setup, you and your family can access all your favorite channels with a simple tap, swipe or scroll, removing the hassle of memorizing channel numbers and scrolling through lengthy on-screen guides. You can personalize the experience to quickly and easily find all of your favorite entertainment - from TV and movies to games and music - with one touch.
"The Logitech Harmony Touch represents the next evolution for the universal remote," said Joerg Tewes, vice president of Logitech's digital home business group. "Today, people prize convenience and want home-entertainment systems that are impressive and easy to use. With this in mind, Logitech designed a remote that makes it simple for people to customize their experience, and feel in control of their systems like never before."
This remote's ergonomically sculpted shape and streamlined button layout present a sleek, minimalist design that enhances the look of your living room. Plus, its low-profile keys are backlit so you can easily navigate your favorite entertainment, even in the dark.
The Logitech Harmony Touch is compatible with more than 225,000 home-entertainment devices and more than 5,000 brands, and it can control as many as 15 devices. And its included charging station keeps your remote powered and within reach so it's ready to go, no matter the activity.
Pricing and Availability
The Logitech Harmony Touch is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in October 2012, for a suggested retail price of $249.99.
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Cooler Master Announces the NotePal I300 Laptop Cooling Pad
Cooler Master, an innovative creator of laptop coolers, Apple accessories, and other mobile products, today reveals a new thin, lightweight, and effective laptop cooling pad, the NotePal I300.
Slim. Slender. Smooth.
Coming in at a slim 36 mm (1.4") thickness at its smallest point with a lightweight metal mesh, plastic, and rubber build, NotePal I300 is amongst the thinnest and lightest weight laptop cooling pads that support up to 17" laptops. It offers two height adjustment settings to provide options for ergonomic viewing and typing angles.
It also packs a powerful 160 mm fan that manages to deliver crucial airflow to cool your notebook while remaining comparable to whisper quiet. These features are rounded out by a soft blue LED lighting effect that creates a calming ambiance while using your laptop.
NotePal I300 will be available in early October, 2012.
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ASRock to Offer Better Browsing with New Google Options
Wonderful news for everyone who loves to go online! From this day on, "Google Chrome" and "Google Toolbar" will be included in every support CD that comes with ASRock motherboards, so everyone can try the faster, easier and safer way of web surfing after installing the two applications.
James Lee, V.P. of Sales and Marketing at ASRock said "If there is one thing in common for all computer users, then it's the need of a browser that does not only work, but works excellent in every aspect. The two new tools will completely change the way you interact with the internet."
Google Chrome is a streamlined web browser, customizable with your own login account. It is designed to be able to load web pages or applications with lightning speed, while at the same time it keeps you secure and also protects your privacy. Google Toolbar will enable a few features that will make web browsing even easier, such as web page translation and faster content search.
Besides impressing users with cold hard specifications or numbers, ASRock is actually more concerned in giving users a sensational computing experience. Try Google Chrome and Google Toolbar on ASRock motherboards and you will feel the difference.
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More Speed and Space, Eye-Fi Unveils 16GB Wireless Memory Card
Eye-Fi Inc., makers of the world's first wireless memory card, has announced today a new Eye-Fi Pro X2 16GB, Class 10 card that increases both storage and speed capabilities while continuing to deliver convenient, reliable wireless upload of photos and videos from cameras. The new 16GB card provides twice the storage capacity of the prior Pro X2 card, while the Class 10 performance delivers ultra-fast read and write speeds. That means more power and speed for the same retail price of $99.99. And, the new Pro X2, like Eye-Fi's other X2 series cards, enables you to wirelessly connect a camera to a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet, or use an authorized WiFi network to move content directly to a computer.
"Cameras have more megapixels, and pictures and videos are more demanding in terms of size. Moving to a 16GB, Class 10 card keeps up with these trends and delivers what our customers have been asking for," said Yuval Koren, CEO and co-founder of Eye-Fi. "Customers already know and love our Eye-Fi cards for instant wireless uploads, so the added space and faster speeds are a great addition, especially with the highest-volume photo days coming up."
Anyone with the new 16GB, Class 10 card can immediately use Eye-Fi's popular features to:
- Upload anywhere: People can instantly upload images to their home computer, smartphone or tablet, either connecting wirelessly to the device with Direct Mode or over an authorized WiFi network
- Shoot forever with endless memory mode: Cards can be set to automatically free-up space after photos & videos are transferred, so photographers never have to worry about running out of space
- Transfer RAW files: As with the prior Pro X2, the highest resolution photos can transfer wirelessly
- Back-up automatically: Pictures are safely stored on a home computer or Eye-Fi's cloud, Eye-Fi View - a great relief if the camera is lost or stolen
- Share in real-time: Card can be set to automatically share with selected social networks or photo sharing sites (Facebook, Flickr, etc.)
- Geotag pictures immediately: Eye-Fi's auto WPS Geotagging feature tags photos, allowing users to instantly see where memories were made
Eye-Fi Pro X2 16GB card is available for pre-orders that ship within the United States for $99.99 USD from Amazon.com. The card will also be available, within the coming weeks, for customers in Australia for $108.00 AUD and Japan for ¥9980. With the launch of the new Eye-Fi Pro X2 16GB card, the previous Eye-Fi Pro X2 8GB and the Eye-Fi Mobile X2 8GB will be reduced from $99.99 to $79.99 and $79.99 to $59.99, respectively, starting this month.
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