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Blink and It's Gone: Google Forks WebKit

Subject: General Tech, Mobile | April 6, 2013 - 05:47 PM |
Tagged: webkit, Blink, Android, Google Chrome, ChromeOS

There once was a web browser named Konqueror which was quite common in the Linux community. At its core was the KHTML rendering engine, a nice standards-compliant layout package; KHTML was so nice that Apple decided to create WebKit based on it. Since then, WebKit has been the basis of Google Chrome and other applications such as Steam as of a few years ago.

And even though the project maybe never be done, Google stuck a fork in it.

Blink is a new layout engine, based on WebKit, soon to be implemented in Google Chrome. By soon, I mean practically the next release. It stands to reason, too: a forked project by definition starts out looking nearly identical because they both start from the same point. The two projects will be able to evolve in different directions as each begin to differ in needs and desires.

So what does it mean? Firstly, web developers do not need to worry about a new vendor-prefix until at least Google starts to worry about one. According to their above Q&A, they currently seem more interested in reducing prefix support rather than adding new ones. Personally, I expect that at some point they will likely need to add some as standards evolve.

In terms of the future: I feel that multiple rendering engines will only be better for the future of the web. Sure, it can be difficult for web developers to test their products across a variety of devices but that is a drop in the bucket compared to the misery caused when a dominant player gets complacent. A noncompeting player will stop innovating and maybe pull away from open standards.

Then again this pretty much always happens: no-one is satisfied with monopolies. Thankfully the WebKit license made it easy for dissatisfied parties to take action. In turn, WebKit can benefit from many of these developments at their leisure, particularly before their products look too dissimilar.

Source: CNet

Still in the market for a gaming laptop?

Subject: Mobile | April 4, 2013 - 04:18 PM |
Tagged: Cyberpower, Fangbook X7-200, gaming laptop

If you are one of the few with the money and desire for a gaming laptop you have probably looked at CyberPower as a supplier in the past.  They recently updated their Fangbook series and Legit Reviews got a look at the X7-200 model, with a Core i7-3630QM, GeForce GTX 675MX, 16GB of DDR3-1600 and a 60GB Intel 520 SSD for your OS backed up by a WD Scorpio Black 750GB for storage.  Thankfully they chose a 1920x1080 panel for this 17.3" screen as 1366 would not live up to the components inside.  There are quite a few other extras in this laptop, up to and including a KillerNIC; read the full review for the entire list.

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"The fine folks at Cyberpower PC have sent us over one of their latest creations, and truth be told, I'm looking forward to this one! What we have today is the Cyberpower Fangbook X7-200 gaming notebook. The entire Fangbook series features a massive 17.3" screen (1920x1080 HD LED-Backlit), Intel Core i7-3630QM quad-core processors (to start), and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX and GTX 680M graphics. To say that these things are beasts doesn't do them justice. The Fangbook has the different versions to it, each with slightly different specifications and price points. The Fangbook X7-200 that we have in our hands today starts out at $1549..."

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Source: Legit Reviews

Oyen Digital MiniPro eSATA / USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive Enclosure Review

Author:
Date: April 1, 2013
Subject: Motherboards, Storage, Mobile
Manufacturer: Oyen Digital
Tagged: usb 3.0, UASP, Oyen Digital, MiniPro, eSATA, asus

Introduction and Technical Specifications

Introduction

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Courtesy of Oyen Digital

Oyen Digital, a popular manufacturer of portable storage enclosures and devices, provided us with its MiniPro™ eSATA / USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive enclosure for testing USB 3.0 enhanced mode on the ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe motherboard. This enclosure offers support for USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and eSATA ports in conjunction with a 2.5" hard drive. We put this enclosure on the test bench with the ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe board to test the performance limits of the device. The MiniPro™ enclosure can be found at your favorite e-tailer for $39.95.

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Oyen Digital

The MiniPro™ SATA / USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive enclosure is a simple aluminum enclosure supporting any 2.5" form factor hard drive up to SATA III speeds. The enclosure itself supports USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and eSATA connections. Because of its use of the ASMedia 1053e chipset for USB 3.0 support, the enclosure supports both USB 3.0 normal mode transfer speeds and UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) mode transfer speeds. UASP mode is a method of bulk transfer for USB 3.0 connections that increases transfer speeds through the use of parallel simultaneous packet transfers. Per our sources at ASUS, UASP can be explained as follows:

The adoption of the SCSI Protocol in USB 3.0 provides its users with the advantage of having better data throughput than traditional BOT (Bulk-Only Transfer) protocol, all thanks to its streaming architecture as well as the improved queuing (NCQ support) and task management, which eliminated much of the round trip time between USB commands, so more commands can be sent simultaneously. Moreover, thanks to the multi-tasking aware architecture, the performance is further enhanced when multiple transfers occur.
The downside of UASP is that the receiving device (Flash drive/external hard drive etc) must also be UASP enabled for the protocol to work. This requires checking your peripherals before purchase. However since UASP is an industry standard, the device support for ASUS UASP implementation is not restricted to a particular controller manufacturer or device type, so the overall number of peripherals available should undoubtedly grow.

Technical Specifications (taken from the Oyen Digital website)

Ports

 eSATA 6G (Up to 6.0 Gbps)
USB 3.0: (Up to 5.0 Gbps)

Interface

 SATA III (up to 15mm SATA 2.5" HDD/SSD)

Chipset

 USB 3.0
ASMedia 1053e

eSATA
ASMedia 1456pe

Weight

 10 oz.

Certifications

 CE, FCC

Requirements

 Windows XP/Vista/7/8 & above; MAC OS 10.2 & above; Linux 2.4.22 & above

Continue reading our review of the Oyen Digital MiniPro™ enclosure!

NVIDIA Releases New GeForce GT 700M Mobile GPUs

Author:
Date: April 1, 2013
Subject: Graphics Cards, Mobile
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Tagged: nvidia, mobile, kepler, GT 750M, GT 740M, GT 735M, GT 720M, GT 700M

NVIDIA releases the GeForce GT 700M family

NVIDIA revolutionized gaming on the desktop with the release of its 600-series Kepler-based graphics cards in March 2012. With the release of the GeForce GT 700M series, Kepler enters the mobile arena to power laptops, ultrabooks, and all-in-one systems.

Today, NVIDIA introduces four new members to its mobile line: the GeForce GT 750M, the GeForce GT 740M, the GeForce GT 735M, and the GeForce GT 720M. These four new mobile graphics processors join the previously-released members of the GeForce GT 700m series: the GeForce GT 730M and the GeForce GT 710M. With the exception of the Fermi-based GeForce GT 720M, all of the newly-released mobile cores are based on NVIDIA's 28nm Kepler architecture.

Notebooks based on the GeForce GT 700M series will offer in-built support for the following new technologies:

Automatic Battery Savings through NVIDIA Optimus Technology

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Automatic Game Configuration through the GeForce Experience

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Automatic Performance Optimization through NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0

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Continue reading our release coverage of the NVIDIA GTX 700M series!

How is the Razer Edge not another N-Gage?

Subject: General Tech, Mobile | March 28, 2013 - 01:10 PM |
Tagged: razer blade, gaming

You may remember Nokia's failed N-Gage, the phone that thought it was as console but turned out to be a failure; it seems that Razer is going to market with a similar product called the Blade.  This time we have a product that is a tablet with aspirations to console-hood as you can tell from the gamepad-type controls surrounding the 1366x768 10.1" screen.  Inside you will find an Intel Core i7 processor, a 256GB SSD, and 8GB of RAM all of which adds up to a heavy weight mobile device with not much in the way of battery life.  Gizmodo tried it out at GDC and played BioShock Infinite on Ultra with no problems whatsoever so the performance is there.  On the other hand can a $1500 gaming tablet compete with full Ultrabooks or streaming devices like Project SHIELD?

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"A gaming laptop in a tablet. It's a thought experiment that raises a whole host of questions: Is that even possible? Can it possibly be good? Would anyone even want it if it were? And finally: How much does it cost? The Razer Edge's answers translate roughly to "Yes!", "Sort of.", "Maybe?", and "Erm, you better sit down.""

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Source: Gizmodo

ZAGG invisibleSHIELD: Buy One Product, Get 2nd Product for Free

Subject: General Tech, Mobile | March 26, 2013 - 01:10 PM |
Tagged: deals

Top deal

ZAGG invisibleSHIELD: Buy One Product, Get 2nd Product for Free

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Computing Hardware & Peripherals

Linksys AE6000 Wireless-AC Dual-Band USB Adapter for $56.99 with free shipping (normally $60 - use coupon code: HSDISH5).

HDTVs & Theater

LG 60LS5700 60" 1080p 120Hz LED HDTV for $1,378.00 with free shipping (normally $2,000).

LG 47LM6700 47" 1080p 120Hz 3D LED HDTV $899.00 with free shipping (normally $1600).

Samsung UN40EH6000 40" 1080p LED HDTV for $597.99 with free shipping (normally $850).

Samsung HW-E450 2.1-Channel Soundbar System (refurbished) for $174.99 with free shipping (normally $300 - use coupon code: DIG5).

Klipsch QUINTET 5.0 Speaker System for $343.19 with free shipping (normally $550).

Gadgets

Cobra iRadar Radar Detector for Android or Apple Devices for $59.99 with free shipping (normally $150).

Source: LogicBUY

ARM Mali Graphics Interview: Digging into the graphics side of ARM

Author:
Date: March 25, 2013
Subject: Mobile
Manufacturer: ARM
Tagged: unified shaders, T-604, OpenGL ES 3.0, mali, licensing, ip, directx 11, arm

 

ARM is a company that no longer needs much of an introduction.  This was not always the case.  ARM has certainly made a name for themselves among PC, tablet, and handheld consumers.  Their primary source of income is licensing CPU designs as well as their ISA.  While names like the Cortex A9 and Cortex A15 are fairly well known, not as many people know about the graphics IP that ARM also licenses.  Mali is the product name of the graphics IP, and it encompasses an entire range of features and performance that can be licensed by other 3rd parties.

I was able to get a block of time with Nizar Romdhane, Head of the Mali Ecosystem at ARM.  I was able to ask a few questions about Mali, ARM’s plans to address the increasingly important mobile graphics market, and how they will compete with competition from Imagination Technologies, Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm.

 

Be sure to subscribe to the PC Perspective YouTube channel!!

We would like to thank Nizar for his time, as well as Phil Hughes in facilitating this interview.  Stay tuned as we are expecting to continue this series of interviews with other ARM employees in the near future.

ASUS VivoBook comes close to the original spirit of the Ultrabook

Subject: Mobile | March 19, 2013 - 03:21 PM |
Tagged: asus, VivoBook S500, ultrabook, win8

The ASUS VivoBook is under $1000, lightweight with a touchscreen for Win8 and it does have an SSD, a small 24GB cache SSD but enough to trim down on boot times and resume from sleep all of which come close to the original specs for an Ultrabook.  Legit Reviews tried out the 1366x768 Core i5-3317 powered Ultrabook, configured with 4GB RAM and a SanDisk cache drive.  It lasted a reasonable 2 hours and 21 minutes in Futuremark Powermark, simulating heavy usage but when it came to the storage subsystem it really lagged behind the competition.  Overall ASUS did make compromises to keept the price low, but if you are looking for an ultramobile touch device and don't need fast storage it is a decent choice.

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"Are you looking for an affordable Intel Ultrabook that features Windows 8 with Touch? The ASUS VivoBook S500 just launched this week and is an entry level 15.4" Intel Ultrabook that is loaded with features and costs under $700 shipped. Read on to see how the ASUS VivoBook S500 Ultrabook performs with an Intel Core i5-3317U processor, 6GB DDR3 memory, 500GB 5400RPM hard drive and 24GB SSD for caching purposes."

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Source: Legit Reviews

GTC 2013: Prepare for Graphics Overload

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards, Mobile, Shows and Expos | March 18, 2013 - 09:10 PM |
Tagged: GTC 2013, nvidia

We just received word from Tim Verry, our GTC correspondent and news troll, about his first kick at the conference. This... is his story.

Graphics card manufacturer, NVIDIA, is hosting its annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC 2013) in San Jose, California this week. PC Perspective will be roaming the exhibit floor and covering sessions as NVIDIA and its partners discuss upcoming graphics technologies, GPGPU, programming, and a number of other low level computing topics.

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The future... is tomorrow!

A number of tech companies will be on site and delivering presentations to show off their latest Kepler-based systems. NVIDIA will deliver its keynote presentation tomorrow for the press, financial and industry analysts, and business partners to provide a glimpse at the green team's roadmap throughout 2013 - and maybe beyond.

We cannot say for certain what NVIDIA will reveal during its keynote; but, since we have not been briefed ahead of time, we are completely free to speculate! I think one certainty is the official launch of the Kepler-based K6000 workstation card; for example. While I do not expect to see Maxwell, we could possibly see a planned refresh of the Kepler-based components with some incremental improvements: I predict power efficiency over performance. Perhaps we will receive a cheaper Titan-like consumer card towards the end of 2013? Wishful thinking on my part? A refresh of its GK104 architecture would be nice to see as well, even if actual hardware will not show up until next year. I expect that NVIDIA will react to whatever plans AMD has to decide whether it is in their interest to match them or not.

I do expect to see more information on GRID and Project SHIELD, however. NVIDIA has reportedly broadened the scope of this year's conference to include mobile sessions: expect Tegra programming and mobile GPGPU goodness to be on tap.

It should be an interesting week of GPU news. Stay tuned to PC Perspective for more coverage as the conference gets underway.

What are you hoping to see from NVIDIA at GTC 2013?

Source: PC Perspective

Not quite an ultrabook but more than a tablet, Samsung's ATIV Smart PC

Subject: Mobile | March 7, 2013 - 03:34 PM |
Tagged: Samsung, ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T, win8, digital audio converter, ultrabook

Samsung's ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T is a convertible tablet with aspirations to be an ultrabook, it is 1.97 lbs, with an 11.6" 1080p touchscreen powered by a Core i5-3317U with 4GB of DDR3-1600 in single channel configuration.  For connectivity you get a a MicroSD port, a single USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports on the dock, Micro HDMI and analog audio with Wi-Fi, WiDi and Bluetooth 4.0.  The Tech Report tested its battery life for both surfing and playing 720p video, seeing 6 hours in the first case and 5 hours in the second with very little difference when tested docked.  The final verdict was mixed, while it is almost an ultrabook and almost a convertible tablet in many ways it inherited the worst of both worlds; though if you find yourself needing both devices in your life this ATIV might be a good compromise for you.

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"This Windows 8 convertible has x86 ultrabook guts, an 11.6" 1080p display, and speedy solid-state storage. Attach it to the bundled keyboard dock, and it turns into a quasi-ultrabook. Is this the ultimate Windows 8 mobile machine, and is it worth the nearly $1,200 asking price?"

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Source: The Tech Report

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