At CES, AMD launched its first Zen chips for PCs, called Ryzen. Next on deck is the 32-core server chip code-named Naples, which will ship in the coming months.Naples doesn't have an official name yet, but the expectations are high. While Ryzen is set up for success in PCs, it's a different story for Naples, which has to take on Intel's juiced-up Xeon chips, which are used in most servers today.AMD is trying to drum up excitement for Naples, which will be released in the first half of this year. It's promoting Naples using the same tactic as it did for Ryzen -- by talking about the performance benefits of the Zen CPU.The Zen CPU core in Naples will provide the same performance benefits as in the Ryzen chips. AMD claims a 40 percent improvement in instructions per cycle, an important metric to measure CPU performance, compared to the company's previous Excavator architecture.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has agreed to buy SimpliVity for US$650 million as expands its hyperconverged offerings, and analysts believe it's a great deal.SimpliVity makes management software that helps administrators gain control over data-center resources. The tools help enterprises make efficient use of server, storage and networking resources.The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.For months, HPE was rumored to be pursuing SimpliVity, which also offers convergence tools for servers from Dell, Lenovo and Huawei. Hyperconvergence companies are a hot commodity. Nutanix, a top player in the market, went public in September last year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has agreed to buy SimpliVity for US$650 million as expands its hyperconverged offerings, and analysts believe it's a great deal.SimpliVity makes management software that helps administrators gain control over data-center resources. The tools help enterprises make efficient use of server, storage and networking resources.The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.For months, HPE was rumored to be pursuing SimpliVity, which also offers convergence tools for servers from Dell, Lenovo and Huawei. Hyperconvergence companies are a hot commodity. Nutanix, a top player in the market, went public in September last year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft will ship its first PC-attached mixed reality headsets for Windows 10 PCs to developers starting in March at the Game Developers Conference.The first Windows 10 VR headsets from Microsoft will be units for developers to write and test applications based on the Windows Holographic platform.The headsets will work with Windows 10 Creators Update, said Vlad Kolesnikov, senior program manager at Microsoft, during a webcast on Friday.GDC is being held from Feb. 27 to March 3 in San Francisco.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The company that provides GPUs to Apple's iPhones now wants to shake up the Android landscape by bringing high-quality VR experiences to low-end phones.
GPUs from Imagination Technologies are used in both iPhones and Android handsets. The company's latest PowerVR Series8XE Plus GPU will be installed in Android handsets priced between US $200 and $400.
The use of virtual reality in Android devices is growing fast. But most VR-capable phones, like the ones supporting Google's DayDream platform, are expensive because of powerful GPUs and high-resolution screens. Cheap VR headsets like Google Cardboard can be used with inexpensive phones, but the experience is uneven.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Shopping can be fun but also harrowing, especially in electronics or shoe stores. You can't find help or can't figure out if a specific product is in stock.In the future, the shopping experience should be much better thanks to technology. The store will recognize you, dig into your shopping habits, and guide you in the right direction. If your favorite product is in the store, retailers will make sure you know through messaging.That Minority Report-type technology is still many years away but will be possible with the magic of sensors, cameras, and data analytics. But some retailers have an early start: Some furniture stores are already using virtual reality so buyers can preview how furniture will look in a room.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel is phasing out Atom chips from mobile devices and has scaled back Android development for such devices.But Panasonic has come out with a new tablet with an Atom chip and Android 6.0 anyway. Panasonic's new Toughbook FZ-A2 has a crazy starting price of US $2,189, and its Atom x5-Z8550 chip is a big problem.Atom chips are almost disappearing from tablets, especially devices with Android. There are also questions on whether the Toughbook will get upgraded to the newer Android 7.0, code-named Nougat. Panasonic didn't provide a response to the query.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple's new MacBook Pros have put the brakes on a free-fall of Mac shipments globally, though they haven't provided the significant boost the company was looking for.The company's Mac shipments totaled 5.3 million units during the fourth quarter of 2016, a decline of just 0.9 percent compared to the same quarter in 2015.That compares favorably to overall Mac shipments in 2016, which totaled 18.4 million units, a decline of 9.8 percent compared to 2015, according to IDC. Apple launched the new MacBook Pros in late October, and it was considered a significant upgrade. Had the new MacBook Pros shipped for all three months, the quarterly growth may have jumped up to flat or positive territory.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you can't find Intel's Joule developer boards in your country, it's because shipments have been held up.Intel's Joule 570x and 550x are powerful computer boards that can be built as a PC, or be used to build robots, drones, or smart devices. But Intel is now seeking government certification so the boards can be cleared for shipment in those countries.Joule shipments have currently been blocked in a number of countries, including Taiwan, Japan, and Israel, all of which have active technology markets where hobbyists design hardware.Users that have ordered Joule boards from retailers abroad can't receive shipments in the blocked countries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tech artifacts like old Mac computers are finding their way to museums, but some never-say-die technologies continue to serve requirements important to computing.
Inside wearables, smart devices, robots, and computers like Raspberry Pi are communications buses called I2C (Inter Integrated Circuits), which date back to 1982, and SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface), which was born in 1979.
Those buses have driven short-range communication between circuits and microcontrollers for decades. They now serve as key interfaces for sensor-related communication on smart devices, wearables, and computers.
But as devices get equipped with more powerful, bandwidth-hungry sensors like 360-degree cameras, these out-of-date buses won't be able to keep up in the long run. So standards-setting organization MIPI Alliance wants to bury I2C and replace it with the faster and modern I3C bus and also merge SPI into the new interface.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
CyberPowerPC's $499.99 Gamer Ultra VR is the first desktop ready for the Oculus Rift headset that is priced under $500, but there's a caveat.You'll need to buy it with the Oculus Rift headset, which costs more than the PC at $599.99.The bundle will put you back $1,099.98, but that's still a good deal for an Oculus Rift plus desktop, which could otherwise get pretty expensive.The Gamer Ultra VR desktop is available on Best Buy and will also be sold by Amazon. The standalone price for the desktop without the headset is $649.99 on both Best Buy and Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Back in 2014, Intel declared it wanted laptops to be free of wires, and a centerpiece of that plan was wireless charging. But the technology has been slow to mature, and it may be years before it takes off.At CES last week, Dell showed a wireless charging PC called the Latitude 7285, a 2-in-1 with a detachable screen attached to a keyboard base. It's the first wireless charging laptop based on the AirFuel Alliance's emerging wireless PC charging standard.But Dell doesn't have widespread plans to put wireless charging in a host of new devices. That's partly because the technology, with slow charging speeds, is limited to low-power devices and isn't mature enough to replace wired charging. The wireless charging Latitude 7285 has a low-power Intel Kaby Lake chip that draws just 4.5 watts of power.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel is known for cranking up PC speeds to new highs, and it's doing the same for storage with the super fast Optane.Optane, which Intel claims will replace today's SSDs and DRAM, is exciting for many reasons. Game play, PC booting, and productivity applications will be much faster with the new class of storage and memory.Intel has said Optane could be up to 10 times faster than conventional SSDs, but real-world tests on the storage have yet to be done. The first Optane storage was announced at CES, but it's only in the form of low-capacity 16GB and 32GB units to be used as cache and not as primary storage.The initial Optanes will not have a meaty capacity, but it will be a good start to test and play with the storage, said Pat Kannar, marketing director for Precision desktops at Dell.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In 2020, 4K will be passe. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be broadcast in the 8K resolution, which is four times deeper than 4K.The 8K resolution -- 7680 x 4320 pixels -- will make movies will look stunning, and gaming will be even better than on today's PlayStation Pro or Xbox One S.There's a good chance you aren't thinking of 8K yet because you haven't even moved to 4K. The early 8K adopters will be gamers looking to buy the latest and greatest hardware, and creative professionals making 8K content.Content creation is as important as the hardware itself, and efforts to broadcast at 8K are underway. PCs are getting ready: Microsoft has said Windows 10 will support 8K.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In 2020, 4K will be passe. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be broadcast in the 8K resolution, which is four times deeper than 4K.The 8K resolution -- 7680 x 4320 pixels -- will make movies will look stunning, and gaming will be even better than on today's PlayStation Pro or Xbox One S.There's a good chance you aren't thinking of 8K yet because you haven't even moved to 4K. The early 8K adopters will be gamers looking to buy the latest and greatest hardware, and creative professionals making 8K content.Content creation is as important as the hardware itself, and efforts to broadcast at 8K are underway. PCs are getting ready: Microsoft has said Windows 10 will support 8K.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
You've perhaps never seen a full-blown computer smaller than Intel's amazingly thin Compute Card, announced for the first time at CES.At first glance, it's easy to mistake the modular computer for a credit card or smart card. It's so thin, it could be easy to lose.But it's a full blown computer, crammed with a 7th Generation Intel Kaby Lake processor, memory, storage, and wireless connectivity.It's so small, it can't accommodate USB-C or other ports to power up or connect to displays. The Compute Card will work only after being plugged into a slot of a larger device, much like smart cards.Here's the bad news: It's not targeted toward PCs. However, we hope Intel will eventually make them for PCs, and there are hints the chipmaker could.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Dell is heralding computer users into an era beyond 4K with its new 32-inch UltraSharp 32 Ultra HD 8K monitor, which is a sight to behold. But there's a caveat: Most PCs may not be ready for this cool display.
The monitor will ship on March 23 for US $4,999, Dell announced Thursday. It'll be available in about 12 countries, in limited quantities.
The 8K monitor has a resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels, which is about four times that of 4K. It will feature 33.2 million pixels and more than 1 billion colors. It has a video refresh rate of 60Hz and a viewing angle of 178 degrees.
It looks sleek -- it is slim and built into an aluminum cover. There's a thin 9.7-millimeter bezel around it.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Dell is heralding computer users into an era beyond 4K with its new 32-inch UltraSharp 32 Ultra HD 8K monitor, which is a sight to behold. But there's a caveat: Most PCs may not be ready for this cool display.The monitor will ship on March 23 for US $4,999, Dell announced Thursday. It'll be available in about 12 countries, in limited quantities.The 8K monitor has a resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels, which is about four times that of 4K. It will feature 33.2 million pixels and more than 1 billion colors. It has a video refresh rate of 60Hz and a viewing angle of 178 degrees.It looks sleek -- it is slim and built into an aluminum cover. There's a thin 9.7-millimeter bezel around it.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft wants a go-to Chromebook competitor, and it may be getting one in upcoming Windows 10 PCs with ARM chips.Those Windows 10 laptops and tablets could look something like Samsung's latest Chromebook Pro and Plus announced at CES. The attractive 2-in-1s have 12.3-inch screens and are targeted at those who do most of their computing online.In a way, Samsung's new Chromebooks share some features with new Windows PCs announced at CES. They have cool features like 2400 x 1600 pixel touchscreens and USB-C ports, which are also in the latest Windows 2-in-1s with Intel's Kaby Lake chips.While Google plots a Chromebook attack on Windows 10, Microsoft could be using Chromebooks as a blueprint for its "cellular PCs," or thin and light laptops that are always connected to the Internet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple CEO Tim Cook declared the PC dead in a famous 2015 interview. Apparently, he's wrong, and the PC market will live another day.Gartner is projecting annual PC shipments to return to growth in 2018, ending a historic skid that started in 2012, the year Microsoft released Windows 8.The growth in 2018 will be minor. Gartner is projecting shipments of laptops, hybrids, and desktops to be around 272 million in 2018, growing from 266 million in 2017. PC shipments in 2016 were 268 million, according to the research firm.There were a few bright spots in the PC market over the last few years, including the fourth quarter of 2014, when Gartner said shipments grew by 1 percent. But on an annual basis, PC shipments have been dropping and hit double-digit declines in 2015, the year Microsoft released Windows 10.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Agam Shah