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Microsoft Hit with $731 Million Fine in EU over IE Debacle

Michael Kwan — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:27:26 +0000

You know, it’s like we’re experiencing deja vu all over again. Microsoft is no stranger to problems concerning holding a monopoly and not giving consumers suitable alternatives. Back in 2009, Microsoft came to an agreement with the European Commission that it would provide Windows users with the ability to choose between multiple web browsers instead of automatically defaulting to Internet Explorer.

And they did, until the Windows 7 Service Pack was released in May 2011. With that Service Pack, Windows users were once again left with Internet Explorer as the default web browser out of the box. This went against the agreement that Microsoft had with the EU. Now the European Commission has fined Microsoft for the cool sum of $731 million.

“A failure to comply,” writes Commission vice-president Joaquin Almunia, “is a very serious infringement that must be sanctioned accordingly.” Microsoft says that it will not appeal the verdict and will just pay the fine. They “take full responsibility,” saying the “oversight” was due to a “technical error” and not because they just really want everyone to use IE.

[Source]

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Daily Deal: 20% Off Lenovo Notebooks and Ultrabooks

Michael Kwan — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 13:52:52 +0000

Maybe it’s because Windows 8 has arrived and that’s why retailers are frantically trying to clear out their Windows 7 laptops. That’s good news for consumers, because it means that you’re able to find some great deals on some pretty great laptops… like this substantial collection of Lenovo notebooks on sale for 20% off.

If you go to Amazon and look through the Lenovo notebooks that they have in stock, just about all of them on sale for quite a bit off the regular retail price. They’re mostly powered by Windows 7, but if you insist on having the newest OS, there are deals to get Windows 8 Pro for about $40.

As far as the Lenovo notebooks and ultrabooks go, a good example is the Lenovo IdeaPad Z585 261729U. It’s a 15.6-inch laptop powered by a 2.3GHz A-Series Quad Core A10-4600M processor and 6GB of RAM. It used to be $729.99, but now you can have it for $499.99. Similarly, you can get the MacBook-esque Lenovo IdeaPad U310 with the Core i5-3317U processor for $629.99, down from the regular price of $799.99.

Go find your Lenovo laptop deal on Amazon now before they take away these savings or run out of stock. They all qualify for free super saver shipping too.

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Daily Deal: Up to $400 Off Select HP Laptops

Michael Kwan — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:21:20 +0000

Are you looking for a deal for a new laptop? You don’t have to wait until Black Friday to score a new notebook at a great price, because a number of HP laptops have been slashed on Amazon for savings of up to $400.

If you have a look at the HP laptops feature page on Amazon, you’ll see that they have selected six notebooks from HP for these significant savings. For example, you can go super sleek with the HP Envy 15-3040NR 15.6-inch laptop in black and silver. It’s powered by a second generation Intel Core i7-2670QM processor and 8GB of RAM, once retailing for $1,300, but now on sale for $1,100.

Perhaps you have a smaller budget. If that’s the case, the HP Pavilion dv6-7010us has also been slashed by $200, bringing your effective price down to just $499.99. For that, you get a 15.6-inch laptop powered by an AMD Quad Core A8-4500M processor, 6GB SDRAM, and 750GB hard drive.

The biggest savings is with the HP ENVY 14-3010NR Spectre 14-Inch Ultrabook, though. That’s where you save $400 off the regular price, bringing your purchase price down to $999. Check out all of the HP laptops on sale on Amazon and take advantage of the free super saver shipping too.

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Windows Vista And Windows 7 Gadgets Prove To Have A Very Real Security Flaw

Andrew Grush — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 02:28:40 +0000

Personally, I don’t see much value in Windows Gadgets, but there are many Windows Vista and 7 fans that do make use of them on regular basis. The problem is that gadget users are about to find that Microsoft is ripping them away with a new security patch. You might be curious about what kind of possible security risk a widget on your desktop could have, but apparently they are bad news. Recently, MS made the realization that desktop widgets have a web-based code that has flaws that could easily allow gadgets that look normal to be malicious spyware. Because of the way gadgets work, these things could use backdoors that would make it much easier to affect computers negatively than other methods.

As a result of this discovery, Microsoft has created a new patch that disables the gadgets entirely, though its not entirely clear whether or not the company has intentions to fix the security problems and put gadgets back, or if they decided to just ax them permanently. Just curious, any Windows users here that actually make use of these gadgets? If so, how do you feel about MS just ripping them away? I understand security is important, but surely there has to be other ways to fix these vulnerabilities.

[ source ]

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Viewsonic’s Windows 7 Oak Trail Tablet

Andrew Grush — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:44:16 +0000

With the touch-optimized Windows 8 soon on its way, you would think that every hardware maker out there would have a big “On Hold” sign over any possible plans for Windows tablets until late-2012.

Of course you’d be wrong, as Viewsonic announced at CES that it is releasing the new ViewPad 10i.

The 10i runs on the latest Intel Oak Trail Atom Z670 processor, and uses Windows 7 Professional as its OS of choice.

The ViewPad 10i manages to wiegh only 1.77 pounds, features a super high-res IPS display (1280×800), has 64GB of storage, 2GB of RAM, dual cameras, 4 hours of battery life, and pre-loaded customized apps and software with touch in mind.

So why is Viewsonic releasing a Windows 7 tablet now when 8 is coming in late 2012? I suppose part of the reason could be to try and attract users that what to test Windows 8 beta out on the latest tablet hardware around.

Nonetheless, I wouldn’t expect the 10i to fly off store shelves anytime soon. As for Viewsonic’s new $170 ICS tablet, that’s another story.

[ source ]

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HacPro Touch: A Samsung x86 Tablet Running OS X

Alexander Udalov — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:34:31 +0000

There are many ways to pay homage to the Genius design of Apple products. One of them, certainly will invite some attention from Cupertino giant is the Hackintosh movement. The folks out of this group of talented hackers must wear their Apple’s “Cease and Desist” letters as badges of honor or something. Now, 9to5mac.com demo’d a Samsung tablet normally meant to run Windows 7 but running OS X Lion instead; they call it the HacPro Touch.

It’s only working on video out, and the HDMI link routinely blanks the tablet screen. There’s also no output on the main tablet screen just yet. However, if you are interested in x86 tablets running OS X you should follow tonimacx86 forum.

If you ask me, sure, I’m a proponent of everything running on everything, Arduino robots included. But as much as I’m trying to look into the depths of my Crystal Ball, I just can’t see much of the future for x86 tablets in 2012 and beyond. Sure, it could be just me, but I’m kinda sick and tired of fans and grills for heated air exhaust on x86 tablets.

But when we talk about ARM-based devices, sure, count me interested. Apple software running on other devices other than Apple’s may look sexy to some, but always troublesome. If done correctly could create much needed hype for Samsung slates, but until then, its a work in progress.

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ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro tablet lets you run both Android and Win7

Michael Kwan — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:19:43 +0000

Let’s say that you want a tablet and you’re pretty sure that Android is for you, but you also want to do the Windows thing on the same tablet when you need to run a certain application. If that’s the case, ViewSonic is gearing up its ViewPad 10pro tablet for someone just like you. That’s right, this device is a dual-booter.

It may look like any other tablet, but the ViewPad 10pro runs both Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Windows 7. It’s a shame they didn’t get Honeycomb under the hood of this 10.1-inch slate, but at least you have Google and Microsoft working together under the same framework. To make things more interesting, this is one of the first tablets to be powered by an Intel Atom processor.

More specifically, you get the Atom Z670 clocked in at 1.5GHz. Other core specs include the 1024×600 screen resolution, WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI out, 1.3MP front camera, microSD expansion, and up to 8 hours of battery life. I applaud ViewSonic in trying to be versatile, but I have a feeling this only fits a very niche market. It also doesn’t help that pricing starts at $599 for the 16GB model (Win7 Home Premium) and goes up to $699 for the 32GB model (Win7 Professional).

Look for them both later this month.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Slices Into Crossover Market

Michael Kwan — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:07:18 +0000

When you think about crossover vehicles, they typically fit somewhere between a standard sedan and a larger SUV. With the recent leak of the ThinkPad X1 from Lenovo, we find a notebook PC that’s try to straddle between the consumer and business markets.

Does that really work? Well, the average business user probably still enjoys some consumer-friendly features. With the ThinkPad X1, you get that corporate black styling that we’ve come to expect from the ThinkPad line, along with an encrypted hard drive, hardware-based password manager, and fingerprint reader.

But on the consumer side, you also get Dolby audio, a super thin profile that rivals the MacBook Air, HDMI output, and backlit keyboard. You can configure the X1 with a range of Core i5/i7 processors, along with Windows 7 Professional, a USB 3.0 port, DisplayPort, a single RAM slot with support up to 8GB, and a 160GB SSD. As is the case with competitors like the Samsung Series 9, there is no optical drive here.

When you walk into a business environment, you can’t exactly do it with a cherry red laptop. That just won’t demand the same kind of serious respect that a regular black ThinkPad can demand. That said, the X1 offers a slim and svelte package (along with a button-less trackpad and that signature red nub of a TrackPoint) that shows you’ve got style too. Prices start at $1,399 and go up with your upgrades.

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Leaked: Dell’s Android Tablet Plans for 2011

Michael Kwan — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 22:42:11 +0000

Everyone is getting entrenched in the tablet game for 2011, hoping to knock the iPad out of the top spot (or at least carving out a sizable slice of the pie). What’s Dell doing? Well, we’ve got the leaked roadmap for at least three new devices.

Dell already has the five-inch Streak out there, but a larger 10-inch (1280×800) Dell Streak Pro is slated for launch in June of this year. That’s still some ways out, but we’re hearing it’ll rock Honeycomb, Stage 1.5 UI, and a Tegra 2 processor. This pretty much puts it on par with some of the offerings from LG, Samsung, Motorola, and others.

I’m not sure if this is still the brightest move at this point, but Dell is also planning a 10-inch Windows-powered tablet called the Dell Latitude ST. I suppose this will cater more to the enterprise market with its active pen support. Other highlights include the 1.5GHz Intel Atom Z670 Oak Trail processor, 1366×768 resolution, up to 128GB SSD, dual cameras, 1080p output, and Windows 7. Expect that in October.

The Inspiron Duo might be doing the flipping thing for consumers, but business folks may be more inclined to consider the 13-inch Latitude XT-3 convertible tablet. They’re using Intel Huron River Core i3/i5/i7 processors, 4GB RAM, active pen support, smart card reader, fingerprint reader, and an encrypted HDD. That drops in July.

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Acer Iconia Dual Touchscreen Tablet Notebook Available For Pre-Order

Michael Kwan — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:51:54 +0000

I’m not at all convinced that I would want a notebook computer that doesn’t have a physical keyboard, but I almost said the same thing about touchscreen-only smartphones not that long ago. Pushing this trend along is the dual screen-wielding Acer Iconia, which is now being put up for pre-order.

With pricing starting at $1,199.99, this is anything but the cheapest tablet on the block. That said, it’s really the only one that has two 14-inch touchscreen displays. That’s saying something. The pre-orders are starting now, but you won’t actually have one arrive at your doorstep until some time in April.

As a quick refresher, you get Gorilla Glass, Windows 7 Premium 64-bit, Acer Ring Control, Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, USB 3.0, HDMI out, 1.3MP webcam, WiFi, and gigabit Ethernet. Yeah, it’s much more of a notebook than it is a tablet… which kind of makes you wonder: who would actually want this thing? I’d rather have a (smaller) tablet and a regular notebook than to have this Frankenstein’d creation.

That said, if Acer wants to send me one to try out, I’m not exactly opposed to giving it a shot. Maybe this is the future of notebook-ing, more so than say the Inspiron Duo from Dell.

Acer Iconia Touchbook Dual-Screen Tablet Provides Engaging, Natural Way to Interact With Digital Data

(Market Wire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) SAN JOSE, CA — (MARKET WIRE) — 03/29/11 — Acer today announced that its much anticipated dual-screen tablet, the Iconia-6120 Dual-Screen Touchbook is now available for pre-sale in North America. Providing a powerful, immersive touch experience like no other, it is the world’s first and only tablet to offer two touch-enabled 14-inch high-definition widescreen LED backlit LCDs.

Intuitive to use and customizable to individual needs, it combines the power of Intel Core i5 processing with the familiarity of Windows 7, and is destined to change how people use technology to engage with the world. A winner of this year’s prestigious “Last Gadget Standing” award at CES, the Iconia was noted for incorporating the best features of any notebook or tablet device.

With the flexibility to use a finger, type on a virtual keyboard, or use a combination of both, the Iconia Touchbook provides many ways to make the computing experience a truly personal one. Consumers can customize what is shown on each screen, allowing them to watch a video on the top screen and browse their multimedia library on the bottom one, or view a single web page across the two displays. Using the bottom screen to manage and control the action on the top screen keeps presentations, movies or web pages free of icons and other navigational tools.

Extremely durable and scratch resistant, the Iconia’s 14-inch LCDs are made of ultra-thin Gorilla® Glass from Corning, a renowned manufacturer of extremely durable glass. With a wipe and clean coating, it’s easy to keep the displays shiny and smudge-free.

“The Acer Iconia Touchbook delivers a computing and visual experience like no other,” said Eric Ackerson, senior product marketing manager, Acer America. “Whether the Touchbook is used by a small business owner or a student, its unique dual screen design enhances the interaction they will have with their digital data. Our compelling design and applications will let them discover new and much more personal ways to communicate and enjoy the computing experience, regardless of whether it’s work related or for personal enjoyment.” The Heart of Iconia – the Acer Ring Control InterfaceThe unique Acer Ring Control Interface makes navigating by touch simple and intuitive. By placing five fingers in a circular pattern on the bottom display, the Acer Ring appears, providing instant access to favorite applications and features. From this point, consumers can use their fingertip or launch the virtual keyboard to change the tablet’s settings, surf the web, capture screen images, post photos and status updates to a social network, watch a movie and more, all in the manner most comfortable and natural to them.

AppCards Provide Quick and Easy Access to Productivity and Entertainment-Based ApplicationsAppearing on either side of the Acer Ring is a unique set of Iconia touch-based applications, called AppCards. Using a finger, users can scroll to the one they want, and simply tap it to have instant access to a range of compelling programs ideal for either business or home use.

TouchBrowser is specifically designed to offer a more comfortable web surfing experience when using touch input. Upon launching, web content will flow across both screens. A toolbar at the bottom of either screen provides easy control over the open pages. To enter a website address, consumers can use the virtual keyboard or enter it using handwriting gestures. A pinching action will zoom in on the content on the page. Pages can be added to Favorites by simply tapping the Add Favorites icon. MyJournal is a handy place to keep clippings of websites and other information. Images can be captured from any web page and organized onto a single, easy-to-view page. It includes pre-set tabs for News, Sports, Entertainment, Politics and Business. The selected website content on the tabbed pages is automatically updated each time it’s opened. A toolbar at the top of the page makes it easy to edit, resize, rename and move clips to other pages. In a business environment, a professional will find this feature useful in tracking news on competitors or to keep an eye on the stock market. A consumer can follow a local news story, their favorite sports team or keep an eye on their favorite celebrity’s latest antics. Social Jogger simultaneously connects to three of the most popular social networking sites — Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube, presenting them a simple interface on one screen. Users can check posts and updates on one screen at a glance, and use the other screen to view one of the sites in more detail, surf the web, view photos or work on a spreadsheet. Scrapbook is a convenient place to store website and photo images and other content. It includes a pen tool for drawing or entering handwritten text, such as adding comments or reminders. From there, images can be exported to the clipboard for insertion into other applications, or saved as an image file. TouchPhoto, TouchMusic and TouchVideo provide direct access to multimedia files stored on the tablet.

“The Acer ICONIA Dual Screen is a great demonstration of how hardware and software together enables new ways to interact with your PC,” said Soren Lau, senior director of marketing in the Original Equipment Manufacturer Division at Microsoft. “With Windows 7, you get the familiarity of Windows with support for multi-touch, so you can flick through videos and files with a fingertip, or use the touch-based on-screen keyboard.” Easy-to-use Tools Make Navigating Intuitive and FunAppearing directly on the Acer Ring are a number of useful functions and tools, including Virtual Keyboard, Gesture Editor, Capture, Webclip, Window Manager and Device Control. Tapping the desired tool’s icon brings it up for immediate use.

The Virtual Keyboard gives users the ability to enter data and navigate in a familiar fashion. Combined with its touch capabilities, the Iconia Touchbook is a flexible and powerful tablet designed for maximum efficiency and productivity. When both palms are placed on the bottom screen, the virtual full-sized keyboard instantly appears. Adaptive typing and predictive text allows for quick data entry and minimizes mistakes. A numeric touchpad with handwriting recognition converts handwriting to text. The palm rest area can also be customized with any image on the computer — a company logo or a scenic background — so users can personalize the tablet even more. Gesture Editor is a simple and quick way to instantly launch specific applications, access favorite websites, or even to lock the computer with a simple finger motion. A set of pre-defined gestures is included, but customized gestures can be created in just five easy steps. For example, simply drawing a $ (dollar sign) on the screen can launch a financial or accounting application, or a v (checkmark) can open a to-do list. The Capture tool allows users to clip parts of an image (a photo, illustration or a webpage) and save it to the Scrapbook application for further editing. It’s a great way to collect images for use in a PowerPoint presentation. And it couldn’t be easier to do. With the picture on the top screen and the Scrapbook page opened on the bottom display, users just tap the Capture tool, run their finger around the desired image and then tap the area to open a menu that will allow them to drag and drop it onto the Scrapbook page. The captured image will automatically be added as a thumbnail image above the scrapbook page for quick and easy viewing. They can then drag and drop the desired thumbnail onto the page, where it can be rotated or resized with pinching actions. The Web Clip tool is specifically for clipping parts of web pages to save to MyJournal. Tap the screen, select the area to crop, tap and drag on any of the corners of the selected area to size it, and then tap the area again to open a menu to paste the content into MyJournal, Scrapbook or copy it to the clipboard. It can also be saved as a bitmap file. Window Manager provides a touch-friendly interface for controlling the various open windows on the displays. Users can customize which screen the application appears on as well as its size. Device Control is an easy way to access and adjust power, display and volume settings, wireless connections and various devices connected to the HDMI, VGA and USB ports. Clear.fi Makes Data Sharing Convenient in Small Office Environment or the HomeMaking it easy to share multimedia content, the Acer Iconia Touchbook features clear.fi, Acer’s digital media sharing solution. Clear.fi automatically connects all Acer devices on a network (smartphones, notebooks, desktops, HD media players and storage devices) and then gathers and organizes media files by type (video, music, photo, pre-recorded TV). Users can browse the categories and then drag and drop the media to any of the connected PCs or devices for playback.

No-Compromise Tablet Features Leading Technology for Maximum Productivity and FunA super charged tablet filled with enough leading technology to rival many desktop and notebook PCs in performance, the Iconia-6120 Dual-Screen Touchbook is powerful enough to handle demanding applications and graphic intensive multimedia files. Featuring an Intel® Core™ i5 Processor with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology(2), 4GB of memory and Intel® HD graphics, the Touchbook is equipped for heavy lifting. In addition, Dolby® Advanced Audio™ v3 brings vibrant sound to business presentations, movies, music, and games.

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit provides a familiar computing environment and is compatible with today’s most popular applications and media formats, and supports full web browsing with Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1. For professional environments, customers can upgrade using Windows Anytime Update to Windows 7 Professional to attain business-class PC: manageability, security and the ability to run the applications used within most organizations today, including Microsoft Office.

To maximize productivity, the Touchbook includes the new USB 3.0 standard with a top speed that’s 10 times faster than standard USB 2.0; a 25GB high-definition video file can be transferred from an external USB 3.0 storage device in just 70 seconds and stored on the roomy 640GB SATA hard drive(3). Two 2.0 USB ports and an HDMI port are also included.

A 1.3 megapixel HD webcam is ideal for face-to-face videoconferencing or for staying in touch with business associates, friends and family. Connect reliably with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ or Gigabit Ethernet LAN from work, home or while on-the-go. Weighing in at just 5.95 pounds(4), it’s as convenient to carry as any notebook computer, and fits comfortably in a briefcase or backpack.

U.S. Configurations, Pricing and AvailabilityWith an MSRP of $1,199.99, the Acer Iconia-6120 Touchbook is available for pre-sale now and will be available in April at leading retailers nationwide.

Canada Configurations, Pricing and AvailabilityWith an MSRP of $1,199(CAD), the Acer Iconia-6120 Touchbook will be available in April through authorized Canadian resellers.

About AcerSince its founding in 1976, Acer has achieved the goal of breaking the barriers between people and technology. Globally, Acer ranks No. 2 for total PCs and notebooks(1). A profitable and sustainable Channel Business Model is instrumental to the company’s continuing growth, while its multi-brand approach effectively integrates Acer, Gateway, Packard Bell, and eMachines brands in worldwide markets. Acer strives to design environmentally friendly products and establish a green supply chain through collaboration with suppliers. Acer is proud to be a Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Movement, including the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and London 2012 Olympic Games. The Acer Group employs 8,000 people worldwide. Estimated revenues for 2010 reached US$19.9 billion. See www.acer-group.com for more information.

© 2011 Acer America Corp. All rights reserved. Acer and the Acer logo are registered trademarks of Acer Inc. Other trademarks, registered trademarks, and/or service marks, indicated or otherwise, are the property of their respective owners. All offers subject to change without notice or obligation and may not be available through all sales channels. Prices listed are manufacturer suggested retail prices and may vary by location. Applicable sales tax extra.

(1) Source: Gartner data, FY2009.

(2) (TURBO) Requires a system with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology capability. Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 is the next generation of Intel Turbo Boost Technology and is available only on 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5 and Core™ i7 processors. Refer to the specs of your particular model. Performance varies depending on hardware, software and system configuration. For more information, visit http://www.intel.com/technology/turboboost.

(3) Transfer times may vary. Accessible capacity varies: MB =1 million bytes; GB = 1 billion bytes.

(4) Total travel weight including system, adapter, power filter and power cord is 6.95 lbs.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=1559312 Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine Media Contact: Alison Williams Acer Media Relations (408) 533-7746 Source: Acer America

[Ubergizmo via Acer]

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