Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 10 operating system will eventually power billion of devices, the company revealed this week. Apparently, the new OS will target not only PCs, tablets and smartphones, but also various devices that belong to the Internet-of-Things (IoT) world. While Microsoft did not explicitly confirm it, it looks like …

TAG Heuer, a leading Swiss watchmaker, plans to announce its first smartwatch as early as next month and intends to use an Intel system-on-chip inside the device, according to a media report. The fact that the manufacturer of fine timepieces decided to integrate an Intel processor into its first smart …

Microsoft Corp. this week revealed that the launch timeframe of its next-generation Windows 10 operating system had been delayed to “late summer – early fall” of 2015. Previously it was believed that the OS was due in the first half of next year, but due to some reasons the software …

Solid-state drives have a lot of advantages over hard disk drives, especially when it comes to mobile devices. Unfortunately, due to relatively high prices on SSDs with adequate capacities, hard drives are used in the vast majority of notebooks nowadays. But chief executive officer of Phison Electronics, a maker of …

Professional graphics workstations are aimed at creative professionals who are supposed to generate beautiful visuals and inspiring designs. Ironically, virtually all workstations lack any creative touch themselves, whether it is about style or enhancements in terms of performance. Overclockers UK decided to change that with Renda family of workstations. The …

Semi-custom system-on-chips for video-game consoles account for a significant portion of AMD’s sales. Many market observers have been concerned that while SoCs for Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 bring in huge revenue, profit margin of such business may be negligible. While the margins of the SoCs are below …

Apple responded to market trends towards larger smartphone screens with the launch of its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus earlier this year. Nonetheless, the company has not discontinued iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, which are intended for those, who want to use their phones with one hand. Moreover, the …

In the coming quarters Advanced Micro Devices will continue to shift its focus from personal computers to other devices. By the end of 2015 about half of the company’s revenue will come from products that are not related to personal computers, in line with the company’s plans. For many years …

Nvidia Corp. has quietly added GeForce GTX 965M graphics adapter into its drivers. The listing of the graphics solution could mean that the new graphics processing unit is already shipping to notebook PC makers and may be unveiled shortly. Theoretically, it could also mean that desktop version of the product …

Google Glass 2 will not be the only smart eyewear based on silicon from Intel Corp. as the company has just signed a multi-year deal with Luxottica Group, a company that owns multiple premium and luxury eyewear brands. Starting next year we could see Google Glass-like devices from brands like …

Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday implied that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s 20nm fabrication process would only be used for select products, whereas the main focus of the chip designer is on more advanced fabrication processes with FinFET transistors. Unfortunately, AMD did not reveal any actual plans. “From an overall standpoint, today …

The world’s record GPU frequency of 2.20GHz was set on Nvidia GeForce GTX graphics cards made by Asustek and EVGA. While it is hard to believe that the GM204 GPU can be pushed further towards 2.30GHz – 2.40GHz, the new Asus ROG Matrix Platinum GeForce GTX 980 graphics card is …

GlobalFoundries, the world’s second largest contract maker of semiconductors, has leading edge process technologies and advanced fabs. However, in the recent years the company had to significantly alter its plans, which affected its performance and relations with customers. Fortunately, according to AMD, a key client of GF, the problems seem …

Affordable ultra-high-definition displays are widespread on the market these days, just like high-quality and gaming monitors with 4K (3840*2160) resolution. Asustek Computer on Wednesday introduced its PB279Q monitor that combines quality, performance and relatively low price in one package. The Asus PB279Q is based on a 10-bit in-plane switching (IPS) …

Although it is well known that the Serial ATA-6Gb/s interface does not allow modern high-performance solid-state drives to show their whole potential, the majority of PC makers and SSD manufacturers continue to use it due to cost and inventory management simplification reasons. However, a lot is going to change starting …

Advanced Micro Devices has announced that select retailers will sell its flagship dual-chip AMD Radeon R9 295X2 graphics card for £500 for a limited time. A number of leading stores in the U.K. already offered the dual-GPU graphics board for about £500 on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Apparently, the …

PMC-Sierra, a leading designer of storage controllers, and Memblaze, a producer of high-end storage accelerators, have unveiled a new extreme-performance PBlaze4 solid-state drive that boasts both extreme capacity and extreme performance. The Memblaze PBlaze4 solid-state storage solution is powered by PMC’s Flashtec NVM Express (NVMe) controllers, use PCI Express 2.0 …

Seagate Technology on Tuesday introduced an all-new family of hard disk drives designed for enterprise-class network area storage (NAS) storage devices. The new HDDs will provide enhanced performance and reliability for NAS applications and will compete against Western Digital’s Red Pro series HDDs. Seagate’s Enterprise NAS hard drives feature 7200rpm …

The market of wearable computing devices is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years and many observers believe that a lot of consumers will wear more than one of such gadgets. Therefore, it is logical to expect hardware makers to unveil wide families of wearables. For example, a supplier of …

Hewlett Packard on Tuesday introduced its new family of laptops that includes notebooks, which are thinner and more powerful than Apple’s MacBook Air, a laptop that is considered as a de-facto standard for ultra-thin laptops. At present it is unknown how much will the new laptops cost, but since the …

Samsung Electronics has world-class semiconductor manufacturing facilities and leading-edge process technologies. While the company designs its own system-on-chips for mobile devices, Samsung continues to use application processors from Qualcomm for its high-end smartphones and extensively uses intellectual property from ARM Holdings and Imagination Technologies. Apparently, Samsung wants to change that …

Laptops with touchscreen displays have never really gained popularity because of various reasons. Recently it turned out that the majority of notebook makers and contract manufacturers have ceased to develop mobile PCs in clamshell form-factor with touchscreens and next year such computers will disappear from the market completely. In 2015, …

Asustek Computer has unveiled its new small form-factor graphics card that fits into mini-ITX computer cases. The new Asus GeForce GTX 970 DC Mini sports advanced DirectCU cooling solution and is factory-overclocked. It is probable that the new graphics adapter is the world’s most powerful SFF graphics card. The Asus GeForce …

Although AMD’s next-generation accelerated processing unit (APU) code-named “Carrizo” employs the company’s upcoming high-performance “Excavator” x86 cores, they may never make it to high-performance desktop computers as AMD tailored its forthcoming APUs specifically for mobile devices. In order to cut-down power consumption of “Carrizo” chips compared to current-generation “Kaveri” APUs, …

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. and Spansion on Monday signed a definitive agreement to merge in an all-stock, tax-free transaction valued at approximately $4 billion. The post-merger company will be a leading global provider of microcontrollers and specialized memories for embedded systems. Under the terms of the agreement, Spansion shareholders will receive …

Advanced Micro Devices recently set a goal to improve energy efficiency of its accelerated processing units by 25 times by 2020. To achieve this goal, AMD will have to outpace historical energy efficiency trend by over 70 per cent, but the company claims it knows what to do and even …

Apple has been trying to cut its orders to Samsung Electronics for many years now, but when it comes to making ultra-low-power system-on-chips using a leading-edge process technology, in high volume and with high yield, Samsung is one of a few companies who can do the job. As a result, …

After Apple has failed to get the right amount of right quality sapphire crystal glass from GT Advanced for its new smartphones, it has not dropped the idea of using the material, but turned to its partner that manages to always deliver what Apple wants: Foxconn Electronics. Apple has reached …

Many multi-channel surround sound headsets come with only one driver per ear cup and a special software, which emulates surround sound using various tricky methods. Asustek Computer decided to offer something that provides a true surround-sound experience in headphones and introduced Strix 7.1 surround gaming headset that features 5 miniature …

Both Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have promised sub-$100 media tablets based on Intel Atom system-on-chips and Microsoft Windows 8.1 operating system in a bid to fight slates powered by ARM application processors and Google Android platform. Apparently, the strategy works and even exceeds expectations. At present a store in …