Multiple Chrome OS Devices Revealed
Google has announced several new Chrome OS based devices from Haier, Hisense, and ASUS. Available immediately are the Haier Chromebook 11 and Hisense Chromebook, both of which come in at a price point of $149. The Haier will be available on Amazon while the Hisense will be carried at Walmart. The Haier model has an 11.6" screen and is powered by a Rockchip 3288, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of eMMC storage, and an ARM Mali 760 quad-core GPU. Google claims that it will have up to ten hours of battery life. The Hisense was listed as having similar specs to the Haier with 8.5 hours of battery life.
The pair of devices from ASUS are a bit more intriguing and offer more than conventional laptops. The Chromebook Flip has a 10.1" touch screen display "that flips around for things like gaming and apps." The Flip weighs in under two pounds and is also powered by a Rockchip 3288 with options for 2GB of RAM and 16GB of eMMC or 4GB of RAM and a 16GB SSD. Both models have an ARM Mali 760 quad-core GPU, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and up to ten hours of battery life. The ASUS Chromebit is a full computer in a form factor resembling a USB stick, or as Google put it, "smaller than a candy bar." The Chromebit can turn any display into a computer and is powered by similar specs to the base model Flip. The Flip will have an MSRP of $249 and will be available in Spring while the Chromebit will cost under $100 and arrives in the Summer.
Source: PC Magazine
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PAC-MAN Comes to Google Maps
April Fool's Day isn't quite here, but that isn't stopping Google from getting in on the fun. The folks in Mountain View have a little surprise in store when you check out a location in Google Maps: PAC-MAN! You can now play PAC-MAN in the city streets in Google Maps, with different locations offering up the chance to eat a bunch of dots and avoid Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde. PAC-MAN works on both computers and mobile devices, but only in certain areas.
Which areas exactly? Well, Google is letting us figure that out, as a series of clues help point us to the spots. Some are a little more obvious than others, and some Google is keeping under wraps for right now. Either way, if you want to have some fun and say bye-bye to the day's productivity, load up Google Maps and get after those dots!
Source: Google Maps
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New Silicon Materials Made with Potential Uses in Electronics
Silicon remains the dominant material in our electronics, and while it is reaching its limits, that does not mean it is running out of uses. Researchers at Brown University have recently found a way to grow new nanomaterials of silicon telluride, and these materials could have applications in electronics.
Silicon telluride is a pure, p-type semiconductor with a layered structure that could be used for in battery electrodes. What the Brown researchers found is a way to grow it in 2D nanomaterials. They started by vaporizing silicon and tellurium in a furnace and letting it react with a precursor compound on a substrate, causing the silicon telluride to grow on the precursor. By controlling the temperature and the treatments of the substrate, the researchers were able to make nanoribbons from 50 nm to one micron wide, and 10 microns long, as well as nanoplates that were either lying on the substrate, or standing up. Each of these shapes have different orientations to their crystalline structure, which means they also all have different properties. The researchers also found they could dope the silicon telluride structures by using substrates made of different materials.
Though it will have some competition, these silicon telluride nanostructures could be used to bring 2D materials to our electronics. They do have a stability issue in the environment, but the researchers already have a plan to fix that by oxidizing them and then baking off the tellurium. This will leave a coating of silicon oxide to protect the material.
Source: Brown University
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Microsoft Introduces the Surface 3 Tablet
Nearly a year ago Microsoft introduced the Surface Pro 3, which was a high-powered tablet aimed at replacing a high-end laptop. The Surface Pro 3 does a great job at that, but its high cost means not everyone is willing or able to pick one up. That is where we are today, as Microsoft has announced the Surface 3, a powerful tablet that does not carry a powerful price. The Surface 3 runs the full version of Windows, along with all the programs and app you can want, and is even available with a 4G LTE radio. The best part is the Surface 3 starts at $499.
The Surface 3 features the same design as the Surface Pro 3, but in a more compact frame. It has a 10.8" touchscreen instead of 12", and weighs a mere 1.37 pounds. Oh, and it's also just 8.7mm thin. The 3:2 aspect ratio is the same, but instead of 2160x1440, we get 1920x1280. Powering the whole thing is the new Intel Atom x7 processor, a quad-core SoC that should deliver plenty of power while not draining the life out of the battery. No fan is required to help keep it and the Surface 3 cool, which helps make this tablet so thin and lightweight. Storage is either 64 or 128GB on the Surface 3. It also has the kickstand with three preset positions to give you the best viewing angle during use.
A 3.5 megapixel camera is on the front of the Surface 3, while an 8 megapixel is on the rear. Both can capture 1080p video, plus the rear camera has an autofocus feature to take even better photos than past models. A full-size USB 3.0 port, Mini DisplayPort, and a microSD reader are also on the Surface 3. Charging the tablet is done via a Micro USB charger, so you can use either the included adapter or your smartphone's adapter to keep the device running. Microsoft claims 10 hours of video playback on the battery, and most likely more during less demanding tasks.
Accessories for the Surface 3 are plentiful, and include the Type Cover to give you the full laptop experience while also protecting the screen; the Docking Station to connect a monitor, printer, mouse, and keyboard; and the Surface Pen, which has 256 levels of pressure sensitivity and comes in red, blue, black, and silver colors.
The Microsoft Surface 3 will launch on May 5 for $499, with pre-orders starting today. Microsoft Stores will get the tablet in tomorrow for prospective buyers to experience in-person.
Source: Microsoft Surface Blog
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AMD's Greenland GPU and R400 Series Expected to Launch in 2016
The AMD Radeon R300 series still isn't out yet (maybe in June for Computex), but there is already a rumor concerning the next series. AMD's Greenland GPU is expected to launch next year, which will be part of the R400 series of video cards. The R400 line is rumored to be called the Arctic Islands family, while the R300 is supposedly the Pirate Islands family. If you're wondering, the R200 line is the Volcanic Islands family. As for the R400 and the Greenland GPU itself, it will make use of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), much like the expected R300 top dog. Whether only the high-end Greenland GPU will use HBM or the entire R400 line was not mentioned in the rumor. The recently leaked AMD roadmap showed HBM appearing on some APUs, so perhaps the entire R400 line will indeed benefit from HBM.
There is also a chance the R400 series will be a graphics architecture used in APUs, much like how Kaveri APUs carried a GCN core for Mantle gaming. If that is the case, then maybe the R400 cards won't be discrete cards at all and only appear in APUs. Whatever the case may be, first we need some solid word on the R300 series and what exactly those will bring. Either way, it is nice to see AMD planning for the future, even with a low research budget.
Source: Fudzilla via WCCFTech
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Early DirectX 12 3DMark Numbers are Favorable for R9 290X versus GTX 980 and Titan X
DirectX 12 will be the way to go on Windows 10, and it should offer plenty of improvements over DirectX 11, at least according to early reports. AMD has another piece of news concerning DirectX 12, and it is one that may shock and impress. In a DirectX 12-enabled version of 3DMark and with the newest AMD drivers, the AMD Radeon R9 290X narrowly beats out the NVIDIA Titan X when comparing the draw calls (a request from the CPU and game engine to draw and render an object) done by the API. Those numbers also match up when looking at DirectX 11 and Mantle performance, so it looks like AMD has a winner on its hands with the newest drivers.
When the test is switched to the next highest in NVIDIA's lineup, the R9 290X outperforms the NVIDIA GTX 980 by an even bigger margin in DirectX 12. Under DirectX 11, the tests are not as favorable for AMD, so it seems the company's newest driver is ideal for boosting DX12 performance. One interesting thing to note is how DirectX 12 scales well up to six cores in a processor, but beyond that there is not much of a gain. If Hyper Threading is enabled, performance is actually a little lower than with it off. So if you have a processor with over six cores/threads, right now it looks like high-end quad-core and six-core CPUs offer the best results.
What is important to remember about these tests is they are synthetic results and are not always indicative of real world performance. AMD looks to have a winner on its hands with DirectX 12 and the latest drivers in benchmarks, but things are still early, and we still do not have any DX12 games. Once we do, it will be interesting to see how the numbers stack up.
Source: PCWorld and PC Perspective via WCCFTech
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Hardware Roundup: Tuesday Edition
The final day of March is here, and if you're in need of storage, do we have you covered today. There are multiple looks at the Samsung 850 EVO M.2 and mSATA SSDs, including ones up to 1TB in capacity. We also have the Crucial BX100 SSD, which should appeal to those constantly on the lookout for the best price/performance drive. Shifting gears a little is the HIS Multi-View X2 USB Docking Station, which can run two extra displays and also features more ports to keep your laptop well-connected. Finishing off for the day is a look at 20 of the worst PC setups from the month of March.
Storage/Hard Drives
Crucial BX100 SSD @ Benchmark Reviews
Samsung 850 EVO M.2 SATA and mSATA 120GB, 500GB, and 1TB SSD Roundup @ PC Perspective
Samsung 850 EVO mSATA and M.2 @ Bjorn3D
Samsung 850 EVO M.2 & mSATA @ TechSpot
Gadgets
HIS Multi-View X2 USB Docking Station @ Madshrimps
Miscellany
20 of the Worst PC Setups - March 2015 @ ThinkComputers
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GTA V Album 'Welcome To Los Santos' Available for Pre-Order
When Grand Theft Auto V releases for the PC in April, it will feature a number of changes. While the improved graphics are probably what most people are focused on, the PC release will also include a new in-game radio station named The Lab. Now some of the music that station will play can be pre-ordered at iTunes, as part of the Welcome To Los Santos album.
The album was created and compiled by Alchemist and Oh No, and includes 14 original tracks. The music spans various artists and genres, including hip-hop, electronica, rock, and more. It will be available on CD, digital download, and vinyl on April 21, one week after the GTA V releases for the PC.
Source: Rockstar Newswire
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New Display Technology Based on DNA
The displays for our phones and computers are our windows into the virtual and real worlds, so naturally we want to always have access to them and have them always look good. To that end, many are working on new technologies, including some to make flexible screens you can unroll when desired. Often such displays use organic components, but researchers at Tel Aviv University have gone a bit farther with that by employing DNA-like molecules.
For this work, the researchers started with peptides, short protein fragments essential to all life on Earth, attached to DNA elements. The DNA was to give the new molecules the ability to self-assemble, and three of those developed did so in just minutes. The resulting structures are similar in form to actual DNA, but still possess peptide properties. The researchers next tried adding fluorescent dyes that will bind to the DNA fragments, but it turned out this was not necessary, as the molecules naturally fluoresced at every color, instead of just one, and did so in response to a voltage.
These molecules naturally have applications with opto-electronics, such as new, organic displays. As the molecules can directly emit any color of light, this would allow the pixel layer to be just one layer thick, unlike modern displays, while also being flexible. That single layer also helps keep the costs down.
Source: American Friends of Tel Aviv University
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Unified Inbox Now Available in Gmail for Android
Google has pushed an update for its Android Gmail application, bringing various improvements to those who utilize the service. The biggest improvement included with the latest Gmail update is a unified inbox that houses all email accounts, allowing users who have multiple Gmail addresses, POP/IMAP mail, and even Exchange server mail to view everything from one area. Users who want the ability to separate messages based on which account they are associated with can still do so from an easy to access drop-down menu. The updated version of Gmail for Android also includes faster and more intelligent autocomplete results for search, refined animations throughout, and larger preview attachments that allow users to view documents and media without actually opening the files.
Source: PCWorld
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GeForce GTX 980 Ti Likely to Launch After Summer
It was recently reported that NVIDIA is actively working on the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, a modified version of the recently released GM200-powered TITAN X. The card is expected to feature 6GB of memory, different clock speeds, and custom PCBs and cooling solutions from video card manufacturers, offering consumers with outstanding performance. According to sources, NVIDIA has recently adjusted the launch of its latest card to sometime after the summer season is over. While no official word has been given in regards to the reasoning behind the adjusted launch time frame, the decision to push back the release of the GeForce GTX 980 Ti may be due to the upcoming release of the Radeon R9 390X, which is currently scheduled to be available in June or July.
While the launch time frame of the upcoming GeForce GTX 980 Ti has been changed, pricing information still remains unavailable at this time.
Source: TechPowerUp
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ASUS Actively Developing ROG Matrix Gold Edition GeForce GTX 980
ASUS has revealed through social media that it is currently working on a new flagship NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 that will feature the company’s renowned ROG branding. The upcoming graphics card, which is being labeled as a 20th anniversary gold edition, will apparently feature core clock speeds even greater than the fastest GeForce GTX 980 currently available from ASUS. Currently, the ROG Matrix Platinum GTX 980 that features a base clock of 1241MHz and a boost clock of 1342MHz if the fastest GTX 980 that the company offers, but with ASUS asking its social media fans to “guess the core clock” on its upcoming GPU, the ROG Matrix Gold Edition GeForce GTX 980 is likely to feature even higher clock speeds.
Source: VideoCardz.com
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Intel Knights Landing Co-Processor Details Released
The Knights Landing Xeon Phi co-processor is the latest entry from Intel into the high performance computing market, taking on established products such as the NVIDIA Tesla and IBM Power8. Knights Landing will be available in three products, a co-processor, a standalone processor, and a standalone processor with integrated fabric. All three units will be able to achieve double precision floating point performance in excess of 3 teraflops using a Many Integrated Core design built with up to eight billion transistors. The 14nm chips are from the Silvermont family and will have access to up to 16GB of on-board DDR4 memory with a maximum bandwidth of 400GB/s. The Knights Landing products are expected to be available in the second half of this year.
Source: WCCF Tech
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Kingston Announces New Memory Card Reader
Kingston has announced the fourth generation HS4 All-In-One Media Reader, capable of reading all major flash memory formats. The HS4 improves on the previous generation by adding support for the latest SD card speeds including UHS-I, UHS-II, and CompactFlash Type I and II. The USB 3.0 interface provides for transfer speeds up to 5Gb/s, while backwards compatibility ensures that users with older systems can also use the HS4. As part of the announcement Kingston also revealed the addition of a 64GB version of the CF Ultimate 600x card, offering transfer speeds up to 90MB/s. Flash memory business manager Jean Wong said, "HS4 All-In-One Media Reader is a great device to quickly move data between multiple devices whether at home or on the road."
Source: Press Release
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Single Photon Found to Entangle Thousands of Atoms
Atomic clocks are the most accurate clocks in the world, but even though they would have only lost a minute since the Big Bang, researchers are still pushing for still more accurate versions. One way to achieve that is to entangle the atoms used by the clock, but entangling more than just pairs of atoms is difficult. Researchers at MIT however have found that they can entangle some 3000 atoms at a time, with a single photon.
Atomic clocks work by exploiting the fact that atoms will vibrate at a specific frequency, under the right circumstances. These vibrations are measured by firing a laser through a cloud of atoms. By adding more atoms to the cloud, the accuracy of the clock is increased, but normally the increase is related to the square root of the number of atoms. That is unless the atoms are entangled, and then the increase is directly proportional. What the MIT researchers did is fire a very weak laser beam through a cloud of atoms and watched the atoms' polarizations. They reasoned that any deviation to a photon's polarization is the result of it interacting with the atoms' spins, and the amount it changes depends on the number of atoms spinning in one direction or the other. Occasionally though the researchers detected a photon that had its polarization made perpendicular, which had to have been done by the ensemble of atoms, and by detecting that photon, the ensemble would enter a strong entangled state.
While the researchers were looking for ways to improve atomic clocks, this research could have implications in other quantum systems, such as quantum communication and the sensing of magnetic fields.
Source: MIT
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Available Tags:Chrome OS , Chrome , Google , Microsoft , Tablet , GPU , GTX , Hardware , Gmail , Android , GeForce , ASUS , Intel , Kingston ,
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