Archivi giornalieri: 14/10/2011
Google Music Planning To Open MP3 Store?
Google is currently in talks with major record labels to sign agreements that will allow the search giant to open an MP3 store, to compete along side the likes of Amazon and Apple’s iTunes stores, its been reported by the New York Times.
Its also suggested that Google may even open the new Google Music MP3 Store within the next couple of weeks and will likely connect the new store to its already existing cloud service, Music Beta.
Google might even try and launch their new service before Apple launches their new iTunes Match music service which is expected to arrive towards the end of this month.
Google was approached for confirmation but a Google spokeswoman declined to comment, and various music labels also had no official comment about Google’s Music Store. As always when more information becomes available about Google Music or its new MP3 store we will keep you updated.
Source: NYT
MacBook Pro Update Arriving Soon?
Apple has started to curb the amount of MacBook Pro laptops that it currently has in stores with many nearly out of stock, which nearly always indicated that a refresh of some kind might well be immanent. So if you are thinking of purchasing a new MacBook Pro it might be worth holding fire for just a little while longer.
Other indication that suggest a refresh is immanent is that new references for all MacBook Pro models have appeared in Apple’s inventory system for the 13 inch, 15 inch, and 17 inch screen sizes.
The references seem to suggest that Apple will continue to supply 2 x 13 inch models, 2 x 15 inch models, and 1 x 17 inch model of MacBook Pro. But rather than a huge overhall the expected changes are thought to be fairly small and only upgrades to their processors and the Bluetooth 4.0 technology. Which Apple has started shipping in their new model MacBook Air systems.
Source: 9to5Mac
CyberpowerPC Gamer Scorpius: nuovi PC con AMD FX Bulldozer
CyberpowerPC presenta la nuova serie di PC Gamer Scorpius con nuovi processori AMD FX socket AM3+ e schede grafiche serie AMD Radeon HD 6000.
CyberpowerPC sarà disponibile in quattro versioni a seconda del processore:
- AMD FX-8150, con otto core a 3.60 GHz;
- AMD FX-8120, con otto core a 3.10 GHz;
- AMD FX-6100, con sei core a 3.30 GHz;
- AMD FX-4100, con quattro core a 3.6 GHz.
I PC Gamer Scorpius potranno anche essere configurati con sistemi di dissipazione a liquido come il kit Xtreme Hydro Liquid Cooling, il CoollT Eco-II liquid cooling e la serie di dissipatori Asetek 500. Gli utenti potranno inoltre personalizzare il proprio PC con dischi rigidi, SSD, drive ottici e memorie.
La serie CyberpowerPC Gamer Scorpius avrà un prezzo che partirà da 576 Dollari, con Windows 7 a 64-bit con Service Pack 1 e godranno di tre anni di garanzia e supporto telefonico gratuito a vita.
Microsoft finalizes acquisition of Skype, Tony Bates shares his thoughts (video)
Well, it’s finally happened — Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype has just been finalized, a little more than five months after it was first announced. Under the $8.5 billion deal, Skype CEO Tony Bates will be named president of the new Skype Division of Microsoft, and will have to report directly to Steve Ballmer. Many Skype employees, meanwhile, will stay onboard at offices around the globe, including at outposts in Estonia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden, the UK, Luxembourg, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. In a post on the Official Microsoft Blog today, Bates seemed unsurprisingly enthusiastic about the acquisition, describing it as a marriage of two “disruptive, innovative, software-oriented companies.” The exec was less specific about the role his company would play within Redmond’s new architecture, but assured that Skype would be at the forefront of future communications initiatives across a variety of platforms. “Microsoft is committed to the ubiquity of the Skype experience – communication across every device and every platform will remain a primary focus,” Bates wrote. “And we’ve only scratched the surface.” Head past the break for Microsoft’s full PR, as well as the video address from Bates.
Google Translate for Android gets v2.2 update, adds more language support for speech-to-speech (Video)
Let the voice recognition battle begin! Siri’s already thrown the first punch in the soon-to-be dicey (albeit very consumer friendly) voice service wars, but don’t count Google out just yet. The folks over at Mountain View are doing their best to strike back, adding extra functionality to the Google Translate app for Android. So, what’s new in this version 2.2 upgrade? The company’s expanded the app’s previously limited speech-to-speech repertoire with support for an additional 12 languages, accessible via the alpha-tagged Conversation Mode. And to prevent you from any awkward (and potentially hilarious) moments of unintended translation, there’s now a post-edit ability to keep those two-way foreign exchanges PG. Alright, so it’s not quite the hands-free, HAL-like cyber assistant update we’d like it to be, but there’s always Ice Cream Sandwich for that — we hope. In the meantime, go ahead and hit up the source below to test out the experimental wares for yourself or check out a video demo of Conversation Mode after the break.
Chinese researchers create ping-pong playing robots, trash talk still needs work (Video)
Wu and Kong are the latest additions to a pantheon of robot athletes. Sure, their eye-mounted motion-tracking cameras may not make for the most emotive games you’ll ever see, but we can’t help but be impressed by all those precision shots. The robot twins were developed at China’s Zhejiang University and, we’ll admit, compared to getting hustled at pool or being struck out by a baseball robot, there’s something a bit friendlier about a game of table tennis with our future oppressors. You can marvel at the duo’s bionic backspin in action after the break. We’re massive Wu fans.
Google announces Q3 earnings: $9.72 billion in revenue, $2.73 billion net income, 40 million Google+ users
Update: During the company’s earnings call, CEO Larry Page confirmed that there’s now 190 million Android phones activated around the world, and 200 million users of the Chrome web browser (although it’s not clear how many of those are active users). Page also took a moment to post his remarks to Google+ during the call.
Circuit City starts shipping Lenovo IdeaPad U400, reminds you it still exists
Remember Circuit City? It may no longer exist in your local mall (or alongside the 405) but somehow it’s wangled a flock of Lenovo’s new IdeaPad U400s — ahead of the company’s own official store. This thin yet powerful object of desire has a 14-inch 1366 x 768 Backlit LED screen, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, 1GB ATI Radeon HD6470M graphics and a 2.40GHz Intel Core i5-2430m processor. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit is stashed on the 750GB HDD and the whole thing is rated to run for four-hours on the built-in battery. If you want one to be slung on the back of a UPS truck on its way to your domicile, it’ll set you back $920 — a little more than the $850 that Lenny had promised, but isn’t it worth a little bit extra to get one before anyone else?
Ubuntu 11.10 ‘Oneiric Ocelot’ now available to download (Video)
In case you haven’t been keeping an eye on the countdown, we thought we’d remind you that Ubuntu 11.10 — otherwise known as Oneiric Ocelot — is now available to download (completely free of charge, of course). That brings with it an updated version of the Unity interface that includes features like a new alt + tab switcher and “Lenses” with some expanded functionality instead of the previous “Places” feature — not to mention full support for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and other script languages. Did we mention it also now has its own soundtrack? Head on past the break for a taste, and hit the source link below for a nifty web-based preview of the OS before you download.
HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio review
We had some hands-on time with HTC’s new European Android flagship a short while back, but it wasn’t nearly enough to answer all our questions about how the 4.3-inch, 1.5GHz dual-core XE compares to the original 1.2GHz Sensation, or whether the implementation of Beats Audio was anything more than a cunning scheme cooked up between the manufacturer’s marketeers and Dr. Dre’s agent. Now, though, this phone has been our closest companion for long enough to reveal its true colors. They’re red, primarily, but there’s a whole rainbow of detail right after the break.
