Lite-On Group, a large conglomerate of hardware manufacturers, is working on a new lineup of inexpensive solid-state drives. The new Zeta family of SSDs will be based on inexpensive controllers as well as on NAND flash memory from SK Hynix, which is pretty rare on the market of retail storage …
Read More »Microsoft Windows 10 to be as popular as Windows 7 – analyst
The adoption of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 8 operating system has been generally slow because it looks and feels unfamiliar to most users. Windows 10 operating system promises to become more popular because Microsoft will attempt to make it more familiar to users of classic Windows operating systems. A financial analyst …
Read More »Microsoft readies low-cost Nokia 435 smartphone
Microsoft Corp. is working on a new low-cost smartphone based on the Windows Phone 8 operating system. The new handset will target the same market segment as Nokia Asha and Nokia X devices. The first phone in the Lumia 400 range will feature 4” display with 480*800 resolution, Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 …
Read More »Analyst: Sony’s PlayStation 4 will have a massive lead in titles in 2015
Although Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One has managed to outsell Sony’s PlayStation 4 in numerous countries in November, it will get massively harder for the system to compete against its arch-rival next year. The number of quality titles for PlayStation 4 will be considerably higher than the number of quality games …
Read More »WD to acquire enterprise PCIe SSD maker Skyera
Western Digital Corp. on Monday said that it has acquired Skyera, a developer of solid-state storage systems for scale-out cloud and enterprise data centers. The move will make WD more competitive on the market of enterprise-class solid-state storage solutions. Skyera will be fully integrated into HGST in order to augment …
Read More »AMD appoints new consumer sales chief
Advanced Micro Devices on Monday promoted Mario Silveira to lead worldwide consumer sales within the company's computing and graphics business unit. Mario Silveira, who is 40 years old, joined AMD in 2010 and most recently served as head of consumer go-to-market sales for the EMEA region. Mr. Silveira will report …
Read More »Intel publishes pictures of next-gen NUC 2.0 ‘Broadwell’-based systems
Intel Corp. has published images of its forthcoming new-generation NUC (next unit of computing) small form-factor personal computers based in the Core i-series “Broadwell” microprocessors. The upcoming SFF PCs will be slightly smaller than existing NUCs and will support optional technologies that are not available today. Pictures of Intel’s new …
Read More »Transition to flat user interfaces is inevitable, but will take time – former Apple engineer
If you do not like modern graphics user interfaces of the latest operating, you will have to get over it because this is exactly how GUIs will look like going forward, according to a former Apple engineer. Flat is the new black. Millions of users have criticized Apple and Microsoft …
Read More »Xbox One outsold PlayStation 4 by 400 thousand units in November – leaked NPD data
Leaked data allegedly from NPD Group suggests that Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One video game console outsold its main rival Sony PlayStation 4 system by staggering 400 thousand units in the U.S. in November. If the situation persists, this holiday season will be won by Microsoft, at least in North America. …
Read More »AMD cuts prices of professional GPUs by 50% to gain market share
Advanced Micro Devices offers to sell its professional graphics cards for workstations or servers with a massive discount to first time buyers in an attempt to increase its revenue and market share. ATI Technologies and then Advanced Micro Devices was an underdog on the market of professional graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware …
Read More »OCZ Z-Drive 6000 SSD with 6.4TB capacity, 3GB/s transfer rates earns NVMe 1.1b certification
OCZ Storage Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corp., has announced that its yet-to-be-released Z-Drive 6000-series solid-state drive for hyperscale datacenters had received NVM 1.1b compliance certification from the NVMe consortium. OCZ Z-Drive 6000 SSDs are based on scalable PMC Sierra controllers and various types of NAND flash memory …
Read More »CoolChip vows a cooling breakthrough by reinventing fans
CoolChip Technologies, a startup from Massachusetts, promises a breakthrough in computer cooling by reinventing the way modern cooling systems work. While the tech itself seems to be simple enough and may bring in a lot of benefits, it requires major changes in the way how computer coolers are made. Air-cooling …
Read More »Censored versions of PlayStation 4, Vita to launch in China next month
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita will be released in China early next year, just in time for the Chinese New Year. The consoles will be more expensive than the systems in the U.S. or Europe because they will be compatible with more affordable games. However, a …
Read More »Microsoft announces date of Windows 10 consumer preview
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announced that it will hold a special event in Redmond, Washington on the 21st of January, 2015, where it will reveal more details regarding Windows 10 operating system in general and its capabilities aimed at consumers in particular. The event will be webcast live, so everyone …
Read More »Microsoft Xbox One finally outsells Sony PlayStation 4 in U.S., U.K.
While Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4 video game console was outselling Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One for the bigger part of the year, in November the latest gaming system from software giant managed to finally leave its arch-rival behind in terms of sales in both the U.S. and the U.K. But will it become a …
Read More »Samsung begins mass production of chips using 14nm FinFET process tech
Samsung Electronics has begun volume production of semiconductors using 14nm FinFET fabrication process in accordance with its plans outlined earlier this year. The company does not disclose which chips it produces using its 14LPE (low-power early) manufacturing technology and for which companies. Kim Ki-nam, president of Samsung's semiconductor business and …
Read More »AMD may roll-out GCN successor in 2016
Advanced Micro Devices may introduce its all-new graphics architecture in late 2015 and then ramp it up in 2016. At least, Mark Papermaster, chief technology officer of AMD, implied on such scenario this week. Graphics architectures from ATI Technologies and Advanced Micro Devices live active life for about four years …
Read More »Gigabyte sells GTX 980 WaterForce 3-way SLI kit for £2499/$2999
Gigabyte Technology has started to sell what could be the highest-performing retail graphics processing solution ever developed. The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce 3-way SLI includes three massively factory-overclocked graphics cards that are designed to work in multi-GPU mode as well as a special liquid cooling solution. But extreme performance …
Read More »Apple and IBM deliver first MobileFirst for iOS applications
Apple and IBM have unveiled the first breed of MobileFirst made-for-business apps and supporting cloud services for iPhone and iPad. The new programs bring IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities to Apple users in the enterprise. The applications are designed for customers in banking, retail, insurance, financial services, telecommunications and …
Read More »Acer wants to release Windows-based smartphone, boost market share
Acer Group reportedly plans to introduce a smartphone based on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone operating system next year as a part of its plan to significantly increase shipments of its smartphones in 2015. Acer released its last Windows Phone 7.5-powered handset in 2011 and since then has offered primarily Google …
Read More »AMD could power yet another gaming device – chief financial officer
An accelerated processing unit from Advanced Micro Devices could power yet another gaming device, chief financial officer of the company implied this week. The high-ranking executive did not provide any details, but given the revenue opportunities the company outlined with the deal several weeks ago, we are talking about a …
Read More »AMD will explore graphics IP licensing opportunities going forward
In a bid to boost its revenue streams, Advanced Micro Devices could start licensing its graphics processing technologies to third parties, just like ARM Holdings, Imagination Technologies, Nvidia Corp. and Vivante. But will that business make sense to AMD? AMD and Nvidia Corp. are the last two remaining developers of discrete …
Read More »AMD: We have bright future in 2016 and ahead
Advanced Micro Devices may not have a clear product roadmap for 2015, when it essentially will continue selling current-generation products and will not increase performance of its chips significantly. Nonetheless, the company pins many hopes on its 2016 lineup when it will have a number of new products that are …
Read More »AMD: first products made using 14nm/16nm FinFET are ‘on track’
Although Advanced Micro Devices has not revealed any details about its 2015 roadmap this year, the company continues to unveil pieces of the puzzle. Last week the firm implied that it will use 20nm fabrication process for select products, but on Tuesday AMD hinted that products made using 14nm and 16nm …
Read More »Seagate preps Archive HDDs: 5TB, 6TB and 8TB at low price-points
This year both Seagate Technology and Western Digital Corp. introduced hard disk drives with breakthrough capacities designed for near line storage applications. Since those hard drives are based on enterprise-class platforms, they are too expensive not only for consumers, but even for cold-storage applications. This week Seagate quietly added the …
Read More »Battery technology – the tech’s biggest obstacle, says former Apple engineer
Bill Fernandez, the first official employee of Apple, has worked on multiple devices and technologies, but now he is a well-known expert in user interfaces. In a recent interview the man, who introduced Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, said that battery technology is the biggest obstacle for developing of mobile …
Read More »Marvell announces SSD controller for next-gen tablets, 2-in-1 devices
Marvell has introduced two new controllers for solid-state drives that can significantly improve performance of storage for tablets, hybrid 2-in-1 devices. The new controllers will not require DRAM, which will allow making smaller solid-state storage solutions for ultra-thin computing devices. “I believe our latest game-changing SSD controller will drive the …
Read More »Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 to use GM206 graphics processing unit
Nvidia Corp.’s next-generation graphics card for performance-mainstream market segment may not feature GM204 graphics chip, but will be powered by the code-named GM206 processing unit, according to a media report. Previously it was expected that Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 960 graphics card will be based on the code-named GM204 graphics processing …
Read More »AMD readies ‘Caribbean Islands’ graphics processors – report
Advanced Micro Devices is working on a new family of graphics processing units code-named “Caribbean Islands”. At present the details about the new lineup of graphics products are absent. The only thing that is known is that AMD plans to release the new graphics processors next summer. Fudzilla reports that …
Read More »Samsung announces 850 Evo SSD with TLC V-NAND flash
Samsung Electronics on Monday formally announced its highly anticipated lineup of solid-state drives based on triple-level cell (TLC) vertically integrated NAND flash memory. The Samsung 850 Evo family of SSDs promises to offer high performance at relatively low price-points. The Samsung 850 Evo SSDs line includes 120GB, 250GB, 500GB and …
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