Agam Shah, Author at NetworkingNexus.net

Agam Shah

Author Archives: Agam Shah

Lenovo brings 64-bit Android to $129 tablet

Tablets running 64-bit Android haven’t been out for long but prices are already set to fall fast. Lenovo’s 8-inch Tab 2 A8 will ship in June starting at $129, with a 64-bit version of Android 5.0 and a 64-bit quad-core processor from MediaTek. It was one of three tablets Lenovo announced ahead of the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona. Sixty-four-bit tablets have a few advantages. They can support more memory and therefore make light work of multimedia-intensive apps such as games, as well as apps that use encryption for security. More 64-bit Android apps are in development, so a 64-bit tablet also provides some future-proofing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

MediaTek eyes new markets with $300 million startup fund

MediaTek, the Taiwanese chip maker that has helped create the market for low cost smartphones and tablets, is setting up a $300 million venture fund to expand in new areas.MediaTek Ventures will invest in startups in Asia, North America and Europe, with a focus on areas like the Internet of Things, Internet infrastructure and online services, the company announced Monday.Along with China’s Rockchip, MediaTek produces a lot of the processors that go into the cheap smartphones and tablets that are being adopted quickly in developing markets like India and China. By investing in startups, it hopes to expand more quickly in emerging areas like wearables.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Acer going all in with Windows 10 smartphones

Acer didn’t embrace Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8.1 OS for smartphones, but it’s really warming up to Windows 10.The Taiwanese company plans to launch more Windows 10 smartphones as it looks to bring a consistent user experience across its phones, tablets and PCs, said Wahid Razali, marketing manager for Acer in Europe, at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona. Unlike its predecessor, the new OS makes it easier to share content and use the same applications across the range of Windows devices.Acer has mainly offered Android smartphones in the past, but Windows 10 has made it rethink that strategy. It’s one of the only PC makers that can offer Windows on tablets, laptops and smartphones, which makes adoption of the OS on handsets an easy decision, Razali said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Acer’s new low-cost handset will be upgradeable to Windows 10

Acer is getting a head-start on Windows 10, releasing a new smartphone that comes with Windows Phone 8.1 but which it promises will be upgradeable to the new OS when it arrives later this year.Called the Liquid M220, it’s priced from €79 (US$89) and will go on sale in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Acer couldn’t immediately say if it will be sold in the U.S., but it’s been focussing on EMEA lately for its mobiles and wearables.It is one of many low-cost phones Acer is announcing at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The others run Android.The M220 has a 4-inch screen, which is similar to other low-cost Windows handsets like the Lumia 435 and Lumia 512. It has a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera, and comes with a bevy of Microsoft apps including Cortana and OneDrive.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Acer’s new low-cost handset will be upgradeable to Windows 10

Acer is getting a head-start on Windows 10, releasing a new smartphone that comes with Windows Phone 8.1 but which it promises will be upgradeable to the new OS when it arrives later this year. Called the Liquid M220, it’s priced from €79 (US$89) and will go on sale in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Acer couldn’t immediately say if it will be sold in the U.S., but it’s been focussing on EMEA lately for its mobiles and wearables. It is one of many low-cost phones Acer is announcing at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The others run Android.+ See our full coverage of MWC 2015 +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ARM, IBM offer starter kit for making IOT devices

ARM and IBM want hobbyists to make their own connected devices in a matter of minutes with a new development kit announced Monday.The ARM mbed IoT Starter Kit -- Ethernet Edition will allow users to make cloud-ready Internet of Things products that could receive or transmit data for analysis or alerts. The development kit will come with ARM's mbed OS and connect into IBM's BlueMix cloud, which will help in the development of applications and services.The kit is for those with little to no experience in embedded or Web development. Prototype designs will guide enthusiasts through the process of making a device and connecting to IBM's BlueMix cloud service.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IoT sensors can run at lower power with MIT chip design

As more sensors get added to the Internet of Things, power consumption can pose a problem, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with a way to reduce the energy that such components require.The researchers have created a new circuit design that could lead to more power-efficient sensors, which are driving growth in the Internet of Things (IOT). About 1.2 billion IOT devices receive or transmit data wirelessly for alerts or analysis, and the number could grow to 5.4 billion by 2020, according to a study by Verizon.Many sensors remain idle most of the time and become active when they send or receive data. The researchers have designed a circuit for a transmitter that could reduce energy leakage by up to 100 times when a sensor is in that idle state. That could extend the battery life of sensors by many months.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Startup Flex Logix aims to score big in a niche chip market

In Silicon Valley, where software startups are the rage, it’s unusual to see a new hardware company set up shop. But venture capital-backed chip design company Flex Logix has some big ideas about how to speed up a whole range of software applications and hardware.Flex Logix is establishing a business around FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays), which are reconfigurable chips that can help hardware run specific applications faster. A notable FPGA user is Microsoft, which has implemented the chips in data centers to quickly deliver more relevant Bing search results.PCs and servers today run on general-purpose processors like CPUs, but FPGAs are different, with functionality defined mainly through software on the chip. Flex Logix claims it has designed a new type of FPGA, which it hopes will be used in networking, telecommunications, servers, military equipment and other hardware.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Lenovo hit with lawsuit over Superfish snafu

Lenovo admitted to pre-loading the Superfish adware on some consumer PCs, and unhappy customers are now dragging the company to court on the matter.A proposed class-action suit was filed late last week against Lenovo and Superfish, which charges both companies with “fraudulent” business practices and of making Lenovo PCs vulnerable to malware and malicious attacks by pre-loading the adware.Plaintiff Jessica Bennett said her laptop was damaged as a result of Superfish, which was called “spyware” in court documents. She also accused Lenovo and Superfish of invading her privacy and making money by studying her Internet browsing habits.The lawsuit was filed after Lenovo admitted to pre-loading Superfish on some consumer PCs. The laptops affected by Superfish include non-ThinkPad models such as G Series, U Series, Y Series, Z Series, S Series, Flex, Miix, Yoga and E Series.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Lenovo hit with lawsuit over Superfish snafu

Long-awaited Blackphone tablet may emerge at MWC

Paranoid tablet users, rejoice. The first units of the secure Blackphone tablet will be demonstrated at the upcoming Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona early next month.The tablet will be the second product from SGP Technologies, which makes the privacy-centric Blackphone smartphone. A pre-release version of the tablet will be shown at the booth of Graphite Software, which has written a special interface for the device to run sensitive applications.SGP is planning a press conference at MWC where it will probably announce the tablet. A Blackphone spokesman declined to share details on the tablet launch or the press conference. However, a Graphite Software executive said the tablet would be announced at MWC and would be on display at Blackphone’s booth as well as Graphite’s.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Long-awaited Blackphone tablet may emerge at MWC

Budget smartphones to get 4K video, faster LTE with new Qualcomm chips

Qualcomm is planting the seeds for 4K video and faster LTE speeds in more affordable smartphones with its new Snapdragon 620 and 618 processors, which will reach devices in the second half of this year.The new chips could be in smartphones priced at US$300 and above, and some performance and 4K features are being cascaded from the Snapdragon 810 chip, which goes into premium smartphones priced above $500.Previous Snapdragon 600 series chips have appeared in a few handsets and phablets from HTC, Samsung and LG. Amazon’s Fire TV also uses a Snapdragon 600 chip and is able to deliver full high-definition video to TV sets.The new 600 series chips are built to support Android and Windows, said Tim McDonough , vice president of marketing at the company.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Budget smartphones to get 4K video, faster LTE with new Qualcomm chips

Panasonic’s Toughbook 54 gets lighter, but stays strong

Panasonic’s Toughbooks are known for their strength and durability, but the company is trying to resolve some of the heft and size issues with its latest model.The Toughbook 54 14-inch laptop is just 1.9 kilograms (4.19 pounds), much lighter than its predecessor, the Toughbook 53, which was over 2.5 kilograms. Panasonic has also doubled memory capacity of the laptop to 16GB, and included a spare bay to improve storage capacity.The Toughbook isn’t going to compete on weight with laptops marketed as being super light, such as Dell’s XPS 13, which weights a bit more than 1 kilogram. But it is much tougher, thanks to a magnesium alloy chassis that can withstand drops of just under 1 meter. The Toughbook 54 has a handle, making it look much like a mini-suitcase.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What Intel’s $300 million diversity pledge really means

As controversy flares over workforce diversity in tech, Intel’s Rosalind Hudnell is working on an ambitious plan to spark change that could forever alter hiring practices at IT companies.She realizes, though, that change has to start from within the company, and that it won’t come overnight. Hudnell, Intel’s chief diversity officer, is responsible for implementing the company’s much-publicized US$300 million initiative to bring more women and under-represented minorities into its workforce by 2020. The challenges are many.The effort comes as an intense debate rages over what’s perceived as the technology industry’s sexist culture. Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella, for example, apologized after igniting a firestorm when he said in a public interview that not asking for pay raises is “good karma” for women.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

« Previous 1 … 24 25 26