Tech Funda

Friday, 18 November 2011

Roku planning to bring set-top boxes to Canada, UK in early 2012

It's been a big year for Roku. The streaming content box manufacturer launched its Roku 2 HD, XD and XS this summer, with a $50 LT model coming just last month. Now, the Netflix / HBO Go / Angry Birds player will cross the border into Canada and the U.K., with the expansion set to begin in early 2012. The company is looking to build its 350 channels with region-specific content, which can be provided free, supported by ads or with a subscription -- and if you choose to add your own content to the service, you'd certainly be in good company.

Archos debuts Arnova 9 G2 Android tablet, offers Gingerbread on a 9.7-inch IPS display

Archos' new Arnova 9 G2 tablet looks to be the very definition of a mixed bag. It's part of the company's budget-minded Arnova line, so it will likely be relatively inexpensive (there's still no official word on a price), and it packs some specs that range from decent to high-end, including a 1GHz ARM A8 processor and a 9.7-inch IPS display with a 1,024 x 768 resolution (the same as the iPad). But it also runs the smartphone-minded Android 2.3 OS on that decidedly tablet-sized display and, as with other inexpensive Android tablets, you'll have to make do without official access to the Android Market (Archos offers the Appslib application store instead). Still curious? Details on everything but a price and release date can be found at the source link below.

Update: Matias emailed to let us know that he spotted an official listing for this device on Amazon.de, carrying a price of 250 Euro. If you're interested, that's about 340 of our American dollars.

Plextor outs M3S SSD: SATA III and an 'ironclad' five-year warranty from $199

Harken to the news of Plextor's latest 2.5-inch SSD, which beats previous offerings with three things you can't complain about: a lower price, a modest spec bump and an extra two annums beyond the usual three-year warranty. The M3S employs SATA III and a Marvell controller to deliver speeds of 525MB/s and 445MB/s for sequential reads and writes, and 70,000 and 65,000 IOPS for random reads and writes. The lowest 128GB capacity will sell for $200 from the end of this month, alongside a 256GB variant for $350 and -- from early next year -- 512GB for $700. The company's proprietary True Speed software is also in attendance, which claims to preserve "like-new" rapidity even as the drive fills up with fragmented data. You'll find further specs in the PR after the break, but alas it has none of the third-person narrative flair we saw last time.

Cedar Trail Eee PCs get previewed in ASUS magazine

Today we learned that ASUS produces its own in-house magazine, stuffed full of thoughtful pieces about the company's products. This season's festive edition of Tech in Style included a holiday gift guide (exclusively packed with ASUS products, of course) and a first look at the Cedar Trail-powered Eee PC 1025C and 1025CE netbooks. Both ship with the latest 32nm processors, come in a variety of colors, have 12 of hours battery life and pack a 10.1-inch slim LED WSVGA (1024 x 600) display. The CE model adds USB 3.0, USB Charger+ (letting you recharge your cellphone even when the Eee is switched off) and WiFi direct connect, which can network with other devices without a standalone router. Both models have already passed inspection by the FCC, so it's likely we could see the wee beasties arriving just in time for the holiday buying season. Head on after the break to see the full page, hewn from ASUS' very own Tech in Style.

Tuesday, 8 November 2011

Mozilla seeks to infiltrate Android with Boot to Gecko, a new mobile OS for geekos

Remember those rumblings about Mozilla and its very own mobile OS known as Boot to Gecko? We now have further details to share, and unlike most operating systems -- which demand their own hardware -- this one is aiming to shack up with Android smartphones. Given the existing complexity of altering many of these devices, Mozilla's Boot to Gecko will likely find favor among geeks alone, but the project itself has much greater ambitions. First and foremost, the OS will be designed with web apps in mind, yet with functionality and device integration that's on par with native applications. The true boon here is the potential for other operating systems to integrate Mozilla's technologies into their own browsers, thus allowing true cross-platform application development and the possibility of bolstering platforms that struggle for developer interest. Right now, much of the project exists only in the minds of a few tenacious developers, but the group hopes to unveil a public demo early next year. As if this weren't wild enough, while Mozilla has no intention of creating its own Boot to Gecko device, the group has expressed a willingness to work with OEMs that share its dream of a web-based future. Go ahead and count us in.

T-Mobile to carry Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus with 4G, available November 16th for $250

We were already expecting to see the WiFi-only version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus make its American debut on November 13th, but it may be worth waiting an extra three days if you'd like to have some good old-fashioned HSPA+ connectivity on T-Mobile. Indeed, the carrier announced its 4G-ified iteration of the tablet will be ready for your purchase on November 16th for a $250 down payment after a mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract. Oh, and that's not the only fine print: you'll need to shell out twenty monthly interest-free payments of $10 in addition to your normal data plan. To sum up the specs, the seven-inch tablet has Android 3.2 preinstalled, runs on a 1.2GHz Exynos CPU, has 16GB of internal storage and takes advantage of a 3MP rear-facing camera and 2MP front-facing cam for video chat. Still intrigued? Read on through the press release to learn more about your potential Tab life.

Microsoft wants a share of Huawei's Android profits

As a reward for its growth and successful product launches, Huawei now finds itself on the grim radar of Redmond's patent fee hunters, who claim that Android-based hardware impinges on their intellectual property. "Microsoft has come to us," said the Chinese manufacturer's chief marketing officer at an event in London last night, confirming that "negotiations are in progress" and hinting that Huawei could soon be another head on Steve Ballmer's wall -- which is already crowded with trophies.

Facebook's Zuckerberg visits old stomping grounds at Harvard

Mark Zuckerberg went back to Harvard on Monday on a recruiting trip, his first visit since he dropped out of the prestigious university to found social-media giant Facebook.
Clad in his trademark hoodie and T-shirt, Zuckerberg told reporters, "This is a great time to come."
"There's a lot of really smart people here, and a lot of them are making decisions on where they are going to work when they graduate in the next couple of weeks," he said.
The university posted a slickly edited video on YouTube of Zuckerberg's outdoor remarks.
Zuckerberg quit Harvard and moved to California to found Facebook in 2004. The university's student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, says he was back on campus for the first time since he left to recruit students for internships at Facebook.
Facebook is "just getting started," Zuckerberg said, according to The Crimson.
"The original goals for the company are to make it so that the whole world can be more open and connected. And you know the last five years have really just been about helping people get signed up and stay connected with their friends," he said, The Crimson reported. "But I think the next five or 10 years are going to be about all of these different products and industries that can be rethought."