Seagate teases "game-changing" drive, coming May 26

The pros and cons of mechanical and solid-state drives have been thoroughly discussed. Disk drives offer unmatched storage capacities at bargain basement prices, while flash memory is quicker, quieter and less power hungry, but inherently more expensive. Seagate might harness the best of both worlds with a new product teased today.

Billed as a "game-changing device," Seagate's undisclosed storage product is believed to be the Momentus XT, which is currently up for preorder on ProVantage for $133.84. Seagate claims its new unit boosts system performance by up to 150% and can "learn about its user to dynamically decrease disk time, boot time, and application load time."

Based on ProVantage's product page, the 2.5-incher carries 500GB of mechanical storage along with 4GB of SLC NAND memory, and rumors suggest it will ship with Asus' ROG G73Jh gaming laptop. More information will be available soon enough, with the big unveiling slated for Wednesday, May 26 at 11AM PST.

By Matthew DeCarlo, posted 4 days ago If you're keen on the tablet movement but can't bear to part with the familiar ways of a hardware keyboard, Ace

If you're keen on the tablet movement but can't bear to part with the familiar ways of a hardware keyboard, Acer has a proposition for you. The company has just rolled out its new Aspire Timeline 1825PT convertible tablet PC, which offers an 11.6-inch 1366x768 touchscreen, a 1.3GHz Intel Pentium ULV SU4100 or Core 2 Duo SU7300, 3GB or 4GB of DDR3 RAM (supports up to 8GB), and 250GB or 320GB of storage.

Also on the table is a six-cell battery pledging up to eight hours of runtime, a webcam, a media card slot, HDMI and VGA-out, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, optional Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and 3G connectivity, as well as a multitouch trackpad. Along with Windows 7 Home Premium x64 and Microsoft's touch apps, Acer preloads its own touch-optimized software.

The Timeline 1825PT is currently available in the UK with a starting price of €600, and it should make its way over the pond sometime soon.

Google unveils Android-powered TV platform

Confirming earlier reports, Google has officially announced its Android-powered TV platform today at the I/O conference in San Francisco. The new product will combine traditional television programming with Internet video, allowing users to easily search for programs without scrolling through cumbersome onscreen TV directories.

Users can use their remote to drop down a "quick search box" to search TV and the web. For instance, typing "House" will give you the listings for the show on both USA and Fox -- which can be set for recording if there is a DVR -- as well as links to watch episodes online via Hulu or purchase them on Amazon.com. Besides supporting a number of online video sources, including Netflix and YouTube, Google TV will also have the capability to run apps from the Android Market and should integrate a range of online services like Twitter for a more social television experience.

To reach the long-elusive goal of bringing television and the web together, Google has partnered with Sony, Intel and Logitech to produce the actual devices that will run its platform. Sony is expected to introduce both a standalone TV model and set top box-type unit incorporating a Blu-ray Disc drive later this year, while Logitech will launch a high definition camera for video chat and a companion box that brings Google TV to existing HDTV home entertainment systems. The Intel Atom CE4100 processor will power both the Logitech and Sony devices

Bethesda dev: Microsoft should allow non-gaming Natal apps

In the run-up to Natal's debut, more and more developers have gotten the chance to see Microsoft's upcoming motion-sensing peripheral in action. Among them is Bethesda' production director Ashley Cheng. Writing on his blog, Cheng said he was "blown away" by the potential of Natal and believes that Microsoft should take a page out of Apple's book and open up the device to non-gaming applications. In his view, Natal "seems wasted on games" but if the company were to provide access to the device's API then hobbyist developers could really take things to a new level.


Cheng's comments follow similar calls for 'openness' from Valve CEO Gabe Newell regarding the PlayStation 3, and Ubisoft calling both Natal and the PlayStation Move "revolutionary".

Indeed, Microsoft has expressed interest in taking its motion-sensing technology beyond console gaming. Without delving too much into details, Bill Gates said about a year ago that Natal will also come to Windows and that its depth-sensing camera won't be limited to gaming use, but for media consumption as a whole. He also said Natal could even find a place in the business world for interacting in meetings, communicate and collaborate.

Initially, however, the focus will more likely be on gaming. Project Natal should finally get a more consumer-friendly name at E3 in Los Angeles next month, where Microsoft is expected to officially launch the device.

Corsair expands Force SSD family with three new models

Corsair is expanding its recently introduced Force range of solid-state drives today to include the F60, F120, and F240 models, sporting 60GB, 120GB, and 240GB capacities respectively. Just like their 100GB and 200GB siblings, the three new drives come in a 2.5-inch form factor using MLC NAND Flash memory chips, have a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, offer TRIM support and are powered by the SandForce SF-1200 controller.

According to the numbers the company is quoting, performance doesn't vary based on the capacity of the drive. This means the entire range can reach a maximum read speed of 285 MB/s and write speeds of up to 275 MB/s. If Corsair can keep the price around $200 for the 60GB model it certainly could be a popular choice among users looking to jump in the SSD bandwagon with a fast drive for their operating system and applications.

The new additions to the Force family are expected to become available in June and will be offered with a two-year warranty. Unfortunately, no pricing information has been disclosed at this point.

Nvidia Tegra 2 tablet prototype shown, seems promising

Nvidia let folks get up close and personal with a Foxconn-manufactured tablet prototype this evening, and based on early impressions, it's a keeper. The unnamed Android slate measures 8.9-inches and is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip -- which boasts eight independent processors, including a 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU. There's also a gig of system memory, a front-mounted camera, two USB ports and the multi-touch WSVGA display.

When the Tegra 2 was first unveiled, Nvidia claimed the chip was four times faster than its predecessor. The SoC can make quick work of 3D games and HD video, all while consuming less power than Intel's Atom and Qualcomm's Snapdragon. Engadget had a brief hands-on with the slate and shot a 24-second video of it running a 3D football title, and Gizmodo has photos of it running another game.

There's no information on when the tablet will be finished, but we'd expect it to debut before the year is up.

Gateway updates ZX AIO line with new AMD, Intel chips

Following in the footsteps of other major players, Gateway today added AMD chips to its ZX all-in-one PC range. The company's ZX4300-01e features a 20-inch 1600x900 touchscreen, an Athlon II X2 235e dual-core processor, Radeon HD 4270 integrated graphics, 4GB of DDR3 1333MHz RAM, 640GB of storage, a DVD burner, six USB 2.0 ports, a multi-card reader, wired and wireless Internet connectivity, and anything else you'd expect to find on a $750 AIO machine.

The company's update isn't limited to AMD-based offerings. For another $270, the ZX6900-01e features a 23-inch 1080p touchscreen, a 2.93GHz Intel Core i3-530 processor, a slot-loading Blu-ray player, 5.1-channel audio support, and HDMI-out. Both machines ship with a wireless keyboard and mouse combo and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

The Gateway One ZX4300-01e will be available the first week of June and iterations with quicker processors and TV tuners are due in July. Meanwhile, the ZX6900-01e is available now, while an i5 variant is slated for June.

Google to launch app store for Chrome browser, OS

During its annual I/O developer conference Google unveiled today a new online application marketplace. The Chrome Web Store will contain both free and paid software designed for Google's Chrome browser, as well as Chrome OS, the company's upcoming Internet-focused operating system designed for netbooks and similar machines.

The store will be accessible through both platforms and installed applications will exist as new tabs. As you might expect there will be a number of apps for Google services, such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Google Wave, but the gallery is not limited to Google products.

For instance, you can expect apps like TweetDeck, along with games such as Plants vs. Zombies and Lego Star Wars. Developers will be allowed to upload their software to the store on their own, and the marketplace will include a built-in payment system.

The Chrome Web Store should be added to Google's browser later this year, and will presumably be live in time for Chrome OS' debut.

Ubisoft: Half of all new games will be 3D-ready by 2012

While most gamers and media buffs are still on the fence regarding 3D-mania, Ubisoft believes it will take off in only two years. The developer recently said in a conference call that it expected to see 3D gaming take off on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as portable consoles – though none of that is unforeseen.

Microsoft recently inked a deal with LG to promote 3D gaming on the Xbox 360, Sony is leveraging its in-house divisions to push extra-dimensional content, and Nintendo is hard at work on the 3DS – a 3D-capable DS successor that doesn't require glasses. All three companies should have something on display at E3, and Sony is already selling 3D TVs.

"We can count on substantial [growth] in the 3D market just because it's more immersive, so it will be a good way for the industry to give even more emotion to the gamers," said Ubisoft. As early as next year, 15 to 20% of games will be 3D-ready, and that will grow to half of all games by 2012, the company believes.

Google relaunches Wave, no invitation necessary

Google's real-time collaboration platform, Google Wave, was unveiled roughly a year ago amid a ton of hype at the I/O developer conference. Although it seemed quite promising at first, combining the functions of email, instant messaging, wikis, and blogs in a framework that facilitates communication, since launch users were put off by its complexity and apparent lack of focus. The excitement over Wave quickly died down and most users just forgot about it.


Today the search giant is using the same venue to announce a revamp of the service, making it available to any home user or Google Apps customer without invitations as part of Google Labs. Lars Rasmussen, engineering manager for the product, said he is confident Wave is now ready for primetime as the trial period has served to make it faster, much more stable and easier to use. If you haven't tried it in a while, among the new features are email notifications when waves change, easier navigation to unread parts of a wave, permission management options and new extensions.

They've also included a collection of templates that should make it more obvious what Wave can be useful for. It will be interesting to see how Wave fares this time around, with less hype and more functionality built into the service.

Intel ships 25nm NAND flash memory chips

Intel announced today that it has begun shipping its 25nm NAND flash memory to manufacturers. The new chips were sampled earlier this year and will supplant Intel's less efficient 34nm parts, which can be found in products such as the second-generation X25-M solid-state drives. Intel's 25nm chips can hold up to 8GB of data or about 7,000 photos, 2,000 songs, or eight hours of video.

An 8GB 25nm NAND flash chips measure just 167mm², making it possible to squeeze even more memory into components all across the board – from USB drives and SD cards to smartphones and SSDs. For instance, a 256GB SSD can now be produced with only 32 of Intel's 25nm chips, compared to 64 previously. We'd expect that to lower prices a bit, but Intel hasn't released any figures.

With mass production underway, electronics with the new memory should hit store shelves before the year is up, if not shortly thereafter.

ViewSonic ships earth-friendly nettop, VOT125 PC Mini

ViewSonic has opened shipments on its VOT125 nettop, which the company first showed at CES 2010. The mini PC has a trim profile, measuring only 1.5 x 5.1 x 4.5 inches, and is pushed as an eco-friendly space-saver, using up to 90% less plastic and consuming up to 90% less energy than traditional desktop machines.


The VOT125 can be outfitted with your choice of four power-sipping Intel ULV processors: the single-core Celeron SU743, dual-core Celeron SU2300, Pentium SU4100, or Core 2 Duo SU7300. Also under the lid is 2GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive, two USB 2.0 ports, wired and wireless Internet connections, a 3-in-1 card reader, as well as HDMI and DVI-out.

Like most similar packages these days, the VOT125 can be mounted behind your VESA-compliant flat panel display. Depending on the processor, models are priced at $499, $529, $629, and $679, respectively.

MSI announces 15.6-inch multimedia notebook, CX623

MSI has introduced the CX623, a 15.6-inch multimedia notebook equipped with an Intel Core i5 processor and Nvidia GeForce 310M discrete graphics with 1GB of DDR3 VRAM. The machine has two RAM slots supporting up to 8GB of DDR3 1066MHz memory, a 320GB or 500GB hard drive, and a 1366x768 display resolution.

A six-cell battery powers the CX623, though MSI doesn't mention a lifespan in its press release. I/O includes HDMI and D-sub output, two USB 2.0 ports (one eSATA combo), Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1, as well as headphone and mic jacks. The system is also home to a 1.3-megapixel webcam and a chiclet keyboard.


No operating system was mentioned in the announcement but you can expect Windows 7 – presumably Home Premium x64 – to be preloaded. MSI will also ship the CX623 with several power profiles and "GPU Boost" technology, which switches between discrete and integrated graphics based on load. Pricing and availability is unknown.

Apple quietly updates white MacBook with faster CPU, GPU

Following a round of MacBook Pro updates last month, Apple has quietly snuck in a few hardware updates to the basic white polycarbonate MacBook this morning. The new model has a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up from 2.26GHz, and the old Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics chip was replaced by the latest GeForce 320M part.

You'll get a hard drive bump as well, with storage capacity now starting at 250GB (upgradeable to 500GB), and a bigger battery (63.5WH from 58WH) which Apple claims it can last up to ten hours on a single charge. Other specs include a 13.3-inch 1280 x 800 display, 2GB of DDR 3 memory, 8x dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11n Wi-Fi, two USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet and a Mini DisplayPort monitor connection.

Despite the improvements, the same $999 price point is maintained. The update further narrows the $200 gap between the 13-inch MacBook Pro and white MacBook, with the main differences remaining the unibody aluminum chassis, more RAM (the MacBook Pro starts at 4GB), and an SD card slot.

Kindle for Android coming this summer

What was hinted at in those leaked Dell Streak flyers is now official: Kindle for Android. Unfortunately, it's not quite ready to download. Amazon's free Kindle ebook reader -- already out for Mac, PC, BlackBerry, and iDevices -- won't launch until later this summer. When it does, users of Android 1.6 and above (with SD card) will have the ability to search, browse, and purchase (without exiting the app) any of the half million books in the Kindle Store. Like the other apps, Kindle for Android features Whispersync to keep your bookmarks, last page read, notes, and highlights synchronized across all your Kindle-enabled devices. Expect to see this demonstrated at Google I/O starting tomorrow.

Seagate whipping up 3TB Constellation ES hard drive

Seagate product manager Barbara Craig today confirmed rumors that the storage company is readying a 3TB hard drive for release later this year. Dubbed Constellation ES, the drive – and presumably others like it – may stimulate an industry-wide overhaul that could see the end of DOS-era BIOS.

Craig notes that most existing systems cannot handle capacities greater than 2.1TB because of the original logical block addressing (LBA) standard developed by IBM
and Microsoft 20 years ago. "Nobody expected back in 1980 when they set the standard that we'd ever address over 2.1TB."

To get around this limitation, Craig says that Long LBA is necessary to increase the number of bytes used to define an LBA address in the command descriptor block. Fortunately, 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Vista are compatible with Long LBA, though, users of older versions are out of luck.

Although 32-bit builds of XP will see 3TB drives, in-house tests show that as little as 990MB is available while the remaining bytes are inaccessible. Craig also says that current master boot record partitions are limited to 2.1TB, so a GPT partition table would be necessary to use a 3TB HDD as a boot drive.

GPT and a larger LBA addressing scheme are part of Intel's Extensible Firmware Interface, a BIOS replacement that has yet to become standard and is only present in a handful of motherboards. Along with UEFI-compliant motherboards and 64-bit operating systems, new RAID controllers and drivers will also be required.

Dell outs new AMD-based ultraportable Inspiron M301z

Dell has added a new Inspiron notebook to its portfolio, with a product page appearing on the company's Singapore website. The M301z is the latest in a string of AMD-based systems recently launched, and it's a fine addition, if we may say so. The 13.3-inch ultraportable measures less than an inch thick and weighs around 3.89 pounds depending on your specific configuration.

It's outfitted with a dual-core Athlon II Neo K325 or Turion II Neo K625 processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 integrated graphics, 2GB to 4GB of DDR3 1333MHz RAM, 320GB of storage, a 1.3MP wecam, and a six-cell battery. There's nothing out of the ordinary as far as connectivity goes, with I/O including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v2.1, HDMI and Mini DisplayPort output, and a multi-card reader.

The Inspiron M301z ships with Windows 7 Home Premium preinstalled and pricing starts at $1,000.

Extend Microsoft Office 2010's free trial period to 180 days

If you've been using the 30-day trial version of Microsoft Office 2010, here's a nice tip for you: the testing period can be extended for up to six months. Much like Windows, the popular productivity suite contains a so called rearm function that gives you 30 extra days to activate the program. The command can be used up to five times, and if used at the end of each 30-day grace period, you can run Office 2010 for up to 180 days without entering an activation key.

The procedure is rather simple, too -- just open a command prompt window as administrator and run a file named "ospprearm.exe" which should be located in %installdir%\%Program Files%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform, where %installdir% is "C:" on most machines and %Program Files% will be the Program Files (x86) folder If you installed the 32-bit edition of Office 2010 on a 64-bit operating system.

As an alternative to the above steps, there's also a free utility available here to extend your trial period with the click of a button. The rearm feature is aimed at enterprise administrators who use a single copy or image, to deploy a supported operating system and accompanying software on hundreds or thousands of PCs. Nevertheless, the "trick" has been widely publicized online to regular home users and Microsoft seems okay with it.