Items tagged with systems
Apple has snagged a patent from the USPTO for what amounts to Siri, evolved. The “method and apparatus for building an intelligent automated assistant” appears to be a situation where your whole home or office is littered with sensors that track where you are and what you’re doing while always being...
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There’s a new member in the small-but-growing virtual reality headset club, and it’s from a major player, as Sony announced that’s developing Project Morpheus, a VR headset that will rival the likes of the Oculus Rift. “I have long dreamed about VR and the possibilities it brings in regards to...
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It's been one heck of a ride, but like all good things, the Windows XP era is officially coming to an end next month. For many users, the XP era ended long ago, though according to market research firm StatCounter, around 2 out of 10 PC users are still rocking the legacy OS after all these years, which is more than...
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There will be no deduction of geek cred points if you've never heard of Steiger Dynamics, a relative newcomer to the scene. However, from this point forward, you may want to make a mental note of the company, which is breathing some fresh air into the growing home theater PC (HTPC) market. Introduced at the Consumer...
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Every time NVIDIA drops a new line of GPUs, all your favorite boutique PC builders refresh their systems with the tasty new components, and today’s debut of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 800M series of GPUs is no exception, as CyberPowerPC, Maingear, MSI, Razer, and Origin PC all have new machines ready to go. For more...
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Makerbot’s making them both big and small these days. Just weeks after beginning orders for the Replicator Mini Compact 3D printer, Makerbot announced that the big brother of its new line of 3D printers, the Z18, is available for purchase. Whereas the Mini Compact offers a petite build volume of 10x10x12.5 inches, the Z18 can handle...
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Apple has released an update to its latest mobile OS with iOS 7.1, and among the bug fixes and miscellaneous tweaks, there’s a big new feature with CarPlay. CarPlay allows you to connect your iPhone to your vehicle in a powerful way, most notably by bringing up a variety of apps and tools from your iPhone to the...
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Zotac has a new lineup of mini PCs that alternately rock Intel Core CPUs and AMD A8 APUs, and some of them are aimed at mainstream gamers. The Zotac Zbox E-Series offer Intel Iris Pro 5200 graphics with 128GB of EDRAM and Intel Pixel Sync technology and have quad-core Intel Core i7-4770R (3.2GHz) or Intel Core...
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Just as inexpensive laptops running Google’s Chrome OS are looking to eat away at traditional PCs’ market share, there’s a new spate “chromeboxes” that are designed to do the same on the desktop side. ASUS’ $179 Chromebox model is now available for preorder at Amazon, Newegg, and Tiger Direct, with more...
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Oddly, it seems like it’s been a while since the Ouya Android gaming console felt truly compelling after a whirlwind Kickstarter honeymoon, fundraising explosion, and emergence of the device as a Real Thing, but the company is trying to change that with its “Ouya Everywhere” initiative. Basically...
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AMD announced its new AM1 platform, which consists of dual- and quad-core Kabini APUs that slot into motherboards using the FS1b socket. The idea is that AM1 gives users a powerful but compact and affordable--not to mention upgradable--system. Designed for the mainstream market, Kabini APUs come equipped with Jaguar...
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Samsung announced the next generation of its chromebook series with the 11.6- and 13.3-inch Chromebook 2 laptops that have unique pleather stitching on the chassis and specs that are starting to match up more with “real” notebooks. The two chromebooks, which are identical save for their respective sizes...
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Make no mistake, connected cars are an emerging reality, and Apple wants to be there as early as possible. The Cupertino company is launching an in-car OS next week in a bid to help push cars into a new age where they use an operating system and are connected to services such as navigation, communication, video, and...
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The smallest member of MakerBot’s 3D printing platform, announced at CES, is now available to order at MakerBot’s website or at one of the company’s three store locations in New York, Boston, and Greenwich, CT. The Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printer (the build volume is 10x10x12.5 inches) is designed...
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We’ve seen our share of wild chassis designs, and Lian Li is giving the world another with the DK01, which is a chassis that serves double duty as a PC case and a desk, which brings new meaning to the phrase, “sitting at your computer”. The funky DK01 looks like a brushed-metal chassis turned on its side and mounted on legs...
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MiiPC, a kid-friendly, cloud-managed, Android-based computer has offered both desktop use, media center applications, and it also offers a new level of Android gaming by incorporating Cannonball from 18th Parallel. The MiiPC now supports Android gaming with a number of third-party gamepads, including Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Logitech controllers....
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Freescale Semiconductor announced its smallest-yet MCU, and it’s destined for the many objects in the growing Internet of Things (IoT) trend. The Kinetis KL03 MCU is a 32-bit chip based on ARM, and it promises lower power requirements in smaller devices than existing solutions. “When size is no longer a...
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Microsoft is reportedly cutting the cost of its Windows 8.1 licensing fees on cheaper PCs and tablets in an attempt to remain competitive in the lower-end market. According to Bloomberg’s sources, manufacturers will pay just $15 to preinstall the OS on any device that sells for less than $250 instead of the...
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Belkin has an intriguing suite of WeMo-branded smart devices for home automation, including light switches, motion detectors, integration with appliances, and more, but security firm IOActive recently discovered multiple vulnerabilities in WeMo--vulnerabilities that Belkin says it has now patched. Belkin’s statement on the subject reads...
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Bitcoin digital currency is somewhat controversial as many people are just completely confused by it, but that hasn’t stopped Bitcoin from being used around the world--nor has it protected the currency from cybercriminals. SecureMac detailed the discovery of a Trojan called OSX/CoinThief.A that specifically...
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There’s a good bit of scuttlebutt circulating about the upcoming update to Microsoft’s operating systems--both Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1--and all of it sounds juicy. For starters, there’s more evidence that Microsoft will roll out an AI assistant called Cortana (named after the Halo...
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Sony is officially leaving the PC business. Instead, the company will focus on smartphones and tablets and also work to make its TV unit profitable. The venerable company has been trying to turn its PC unit around for a while now but announced that, due to the “drastic changes” in the PC industry and other...
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