Hardware

AMD Stakes Out Mobile Territory With New Low-Power Chips
May 24, 2013

Perennial Intel competitor AMD on Thursday launched three additions to its 2013 A-Series and E-series mobile accelerated processing unit family. They include the Elite Mobility APU, previously code-named "Temash," and the Mainstream APU, formerly code-named "Kabini."Both are system on a chip solutions based on AMD's "Jaguar" microarchitecture for low-power processors.

Nvidia's GTX 780 Boosts Performance With Less Tweaking
May 23, 2013

With a slew of advanced action games for the PC on deck for release later this year, including Activision's just announced Call of Duty: Ghosts and Electronic Arts' Battlefield 4, Nvidia has introduced a graphics card that will provide top-notch performance for gamers. The GeForce GTX 780 GPU is the latest evolution in Nvidia's line of powerful Kepler-enabled processors.

Intel Puts Its Chips on 'New Devices'
May 22, 2013

Intel's new CEO Brian Krzanich showed Tuesday he's ready to put his stamp on the chipmaking giant by announcing a company reorganization that includes a division for new devices. The division, headed by former mobile unit chief Mike Bell, will reportedly focus on emerging product trends. It will be a key component in Intel's attempt to boost its performance where it has lagged rivals.

Getting the Best Out of IT Partnerships, IBM-SAP Style
May 21, 2013

There's no shortage of partner initiatives at most annual IT vendor events, but that was especially apparent at SAP's recent Sapphire NOW conference in Orlando, Fla. In large part, it's simply the nature of the event beast. Vendors work for weeks or even months on conference-related announcements, hoping to garner the attention of energized, enthusiastic attendees.

Dell's Weak Q1 Earnings Throw Fuel on Buyout Fire
May 17, 2013

Dell's quarterly earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations this week, leading to more questions about whether or not shareholders will accept Michael Dell's buyout offer and regroup as a private company. The PC maker reported a net income of $130 million, or 7 cents per share, during its most recent quarter.

HP Launches Split x2 Win 8 Laptop-Tablet
May 15, 2013

HP on Wednesday announced the Split x2 Windows 8 hybrid laptop-tablet, the second such device in its lineup after the Envy x2, which debuted last year. The Split x2 is a detachable PC, meaning that the screen can be removed and used separately as a tablet. HP also announced the Android-based SlateBook x2 on Wednesday.

Square Stand Lets Small Retailers Put Their iPads to Work
May 15, 2013

Square announced Tuesday it would reach out to retail outlets with its new Square Stand, an iPad dock that can handle business transactions and customer analytics. The mobile payments processing startup said small and medium-sized businesses would be able to collect customer loyalty information when they ring up sales. Square Stand replaces the cash register.

Icahn Leads New Pitch to Win Dell Shareholders
May 11, 2013

Two of Dell's largest stockholders, Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management, have teamed up to propose an alternative to Michael Dell's plans to take his computer company private. The new deal on the table, issued in a letter to board members, involves a leveraged recapitalization that will pay investors and keep them on as shareholders in a public company.

The App-Driven Gadget Floodgates Are Open
May 10, 2013

Peruse any big consumer electronics box-store aisles, and you can't help but notice a new style of peripherals hugging the displays. App-driven devices are appearing on store shelves that let homeowners manage and monitor home systems like thermostats and security using a smartphone or a tablet. There are sensors, styluses and add-ons. Later this year, we'll likely see a plethora of smartwatches.

Vaio Fit May Be the Laptop Windows 8 Has Been Looking For
May 07, 2013

Sony introduced its new line of entry-level laptops on Tuesday. The new Vaio Fit series starts at around $550 with the Fit E, which offers Intel's Core processors, discrete Nvidia graphics processors, and hybrid hard drives, as well as a full-sized keyboard and trackpad. The step-up Vaio Fit, at $649, offers an aluminum chassis.

HP Goes to Work With New ProBooks for SMBs
May 07, 2013

HP, facing difficulties in its desktop and laptop sales, on Monday unveiled two new series in its ProBook notebook computer line for small and medium businesses. The ProBook 400 series has five laptops with screen sizes ranging from 13.3 to 17.3 inches that are up to 36 percent thinner and 18 percent lighter than previous notebooks.

Federal Workers Lead Telecommuting Upsurge
May 07, 2013

U.S. government employees led a big jump in the use of technology to work from home or other locations, instead of their normal offices, during an annual telecommuting exercise in March. For employers and vendors, the message seems clear that the market for telework and mobile workplace equipment and software has only one way to go -- up.

Scan of Entire Internet Reveals Too Many Leaky Devices
May 06, 2013

There are 3.7 billion IP addresses on the Internet, and HD Moore has pinged every one of them. Moore is chief security officer at Rapid7, a cyberthreat and risk management company. In February, he decided as a hobby project to conduct a census of all the devices connected to the Internet, using a nest of computers in a spare room in his home.

Intel Focuses Iris GPUs on Gaming, Video
May 02, 2013

Intel on Thursday announced the Iris family of graphics processor units for its forthcoming Haswell line of processors. The Iris family offers up to double the 3D performance of the chip giant's fastest mobile HD graphics solutions on its processors for laptops and Ultrabooks. It also triples the 3D performance for its R-series processors for desktops.

World's Smallest Movie Is IBM's Science Blockbuster
May 01, 2013

IBM has released the world's smallest movie. Company researchers moved thousands of atoms to create a miniature stop-motion movie titled A Boy and His Atom.. The movie, which has 242 frames, was made with a scanning tunneling microscope which IBM has been using to conduct research into storage. The movie has been certified as the world's smallest by the Guinness World Records.

FOSS Fact or Fiction? A Tale of Two Surveys
April 29, 2013

It's a well-known fact that statistics can be manipulated to suit virtually every occasion and purpose, but every once in a while an example comes along that illustrates that rule with breathtaking clarity. Case in point? Two recent surveys on the topic of FOSS that came out in the very same week.

Wanted in Healthcare: More Wireless Devices for In-Home Patients
April 27, 2013

The machine-to-machine communications industry is undergoing a period of fundamental change and significant growth. Encouraged by declining chipset and sensor costs, manufacturers are increasingly embedding their products with wireless connectivity. Mobile operators and key players in industries as diverse as automotive, oil and gas, and healthcare all have a strong interest in pursuing this growing market.

Samsung Tinkers With Mind-Controlled Tablet
April 22, 2013

Samsung is researching a system that would allow consumers to use thought control on a tablet computer, according to published reports. Together with Roozbeh Jafari, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, the company is testing how sensors and brainwaves could let users turn on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, launch applications, select contacts or choose songs from playlists.

Improving IT Ops Service Levels and Efficiency
April 22, 2013

New tools are available to help with service level management, but they require a new perspective on how IT infrastructure components should be managed. The key is to embrace a new ideal of managing every infrastructure component from the perspective of how it impacts end-user service levels. To do this, IT operations teams must understand the three laws of service-oriented IT operations management.

Mighty Microbattery Delivers Lightning-Fast Charge
April 19, 2013

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a super-dense battery that measures only a few millimeters, but can both store and release a lot of power, resolving a problem that has long plagued consumers and electronics manufacturers. Capacitors can release power very quickly but can't store much. Fuel cells and batteries can store power but release it slowly.