New Features Of Pictarine Web App

Pictarine - the Paris-based photo webapp available on any browser and iPad, that organizes for you all the photos from your favorite websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Flickr or Twitter and photos from your computer. They have just announced a new version with great features available.

Pictarine now lets you enjoy all the comments and likes from Facebook, Flickr, Instagram and all your services directly in Pictarine viewer. If you want to like a photo of one of your friend on Facebook or reply to a comment on one of yours on Instagram, just like or write your comment on Pictarine and it will automatically publish it for you on these services. You finally access all the social part of your photos and interact with your friends in one place.

Pictarine now supports 4 new services :Dropbox, 500px, Picplz and Windows Live. You can view all your photos and your friends photos from these services and even download them very easily.

The last update is about your Facebook pages : all the photos of your Facebook pages you manage are now automatically imported in Pictarine. You can see at a glance all your Facebook fan pages' photos directly in your albums screen on Pictarine. This feature is specially useful for people dealing with different communities on Facebook.

Visit Pictarine website

Read more »

Nexus Prime in New Photo and Video [Updated]

There have been a wide range of rumors regarding the release of a new Nexus handset and, while all of them should be put to rest as soon as next week, when the smartphone is expected to be made official, a new photo with the phone appears to have just emerged, along with a short video preview. 

Update: Screenshots with the new Ice Cream Sandwich platform have been added to the article.

The next Google phone is expected to become available with the upcoming Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system on board. 

The forthcoming device has leaked on Romanian site mobilissimo.ro, where some of its hardware specs were confirmed as well. 

The new mobile phone is said to have been manufactured by Samsung and to arrive on shelves under the name of Samsung Nexus Prime. 

Some of the previous rumors on it suggested that it would be on its way to the US market exclusively on the airwaves of Verizon Wireless, and that it will be called Samsung Galaxy Nexus there. 

One way or the other, it appears that this might be one and the same device, sporting a 1,750 mAh battery inside, and a 5-megapixel photo snapper on the back. 

The handset is said to pack a plastic cover, but the brown shades it sports will make you think it is metal. 

The anonymous source that provided these details on the new Nexus smartphone also said that the Ice Cream Sandwich OS flavor looks and feels great. 

In the video embedded below, you can have a taste of it, but all the goodies it will bring to devices will be unveiled only after the official launch of Nexus Prime. 

Overall, the new smartphone is said to have been created to impress, and that it will certainly manage to do so when put up for sale. Details on when that might happen have not emerged for the time being, nor on the price tag it would feature when released, so stay tuned. 

The video with Nexus Prime was already removed, which confirms that the leak was real. However, the clip emerged on YouTube as well, and can be seen below.

Read more »

White Galaxy S II 4G Available at Bell Canada Today

Samsung Galaxy S II 4G is one of the latest handsets to become available for purchase in Canada, and the handset is now up for sale via wireless carrier Bell in a white flavor as well, in addition to the usual black variant. 

The handset features the same capabilities and specs as the usual version, and was even made available with the same price tag attached to it. 

At Bell, those interested in the purchase of a Galaxy S II 4G device will have to pay only $149.95 (about $145 USD / 107 EUR) for it with the signing of a three-year contract, or a bit more if they commit to shorter term deals. The device is available free of contract as well. 

The new mobile phone arrived on shelves at Bell with a large 4.3-inch screen display, complemented by a fast 1.2GHz application processor, and a high-quality photo snapper on the back.

“The Samsung Galaxy S ll 4G is truly an amazing superphone. It's equipped with a powerful 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and is designed to run at incredible maximum speeds of 21 Mbps,” the wireless carrier notes. 

“It's a super-thin device with a 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus display that delivers crisper text, clearer graphics, wider viewing angles, and readability even in direct sunlight.

“It also has an 8 megapixel camera with flash, a 2 megapixel front-facing camera, plus a 1080p camcorder to capture and play back full HD.”

Some other features of the new device would include Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities, along with Exchange ActiveSync and Adobe Flash 10.1 support, and more.

The new mobile phone runs under Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and offers support for a wide range of Google Mobile Services, including Gmail, Search, YouTube, Maps and the like, as well as for the Android Market, where users can find applications and games for their devices. 

The Samsung Galaxy S II 4G is listed on Bell's website here, both in black and white flavors.

Read more »

Asus Readies PCI Express 3.0 Compliant Maximus IV GENE-Z/GEN3

No more than a week has passed since Asus revealed its first LGA 1155 motherboards to feature support for PCI Express 3.0 and Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processors and now the company has announced another PCIe 3.0 compliant board, the Asus ROG Maximus IV GENE-Z/GEN3.

Asus' new motherboard uses the same design as the previous version of the Gene Z, which has now received PCI Express 3.0 compliant bridge chips to support this new standard.

Otherwise, the board is identical with its non-GEN3 predecessor and includes an important number of enthusiast features like AMD CrossFireX and Nvidia SLI support, ROG Connect support and an on-board Supreme X-Fi sound chip.

In addition to the two PCI Express x16 Gen 3 slots that are required for dual-GPU setups, Asus has also included an open-ended PCI-E x4 slot (this is only PCIe Gen 2 compliant).

Storage is provided by six SATA ports, two of the 6Gbps variety, and Asus has also included a USB 3.0 header which allows for two such ports to be routed to the front of the case.

Another two USB 3.0 ports can be found on the rear I/O panel along with an impressive number of USB 2.0 ports, two eSATA connectors, 7.1-channel audio with a digital S/PDIF output and a Gigabit Ethernet port.

Since we are dealing with an Intel Z68 board, the Taiwanese company has also included an HDMI video output, which is placed right below the S/PDIF connector.

This means that the Maximus IV Gene-Z is fully compatible with the LucidLogix Virtu on-the-fly graphics switching technology as well as Intel's Quick Sync technology. Smart Response is also supported.

CPU power is delivered by a complex Extreme Engine Digi+ PWM with an 8-phase design that Asus claims it can deliver a whopping 250A of current to the processor.

Pricing and availability details are sadly lacking from Asus' press release, but don't get too disappointed as there isn't any reason why you would need such a PCI Express 3.0 motherboard until Ivy Bridge arrives.

Read more »

AMD Opteron 4200 and 3200 Bulldozer CPUs Also Get Priced

Earlier today we reported that an US based retailer has listed online the prices of AMD's upcoming Opteron 6200-series processors based on the Bulldozer architecture, and now we found out that the same retailer has added to its offer processors from the Opteron 4200 and 3200 ranges.

Together with the designations and the specifications of the single- and dual-socket Opteron chips, Bottom Line Telecommunications has also revealed the pricing of the CPUs.

Starting with the Opteron 3200-series, this ranges in price from $114.45 (85.18 Euros) to $263.12 (995.8 Euros) and contains three processors.

Two of these, the Opteron 3250 EE and 3260 EE, are low-voltage parts with four processing cores, a base clock of 2.5GHz and respectively 2.7GHz and a TDP of just 45W, while the third chip includes eight processing cores, has a base frequency of 2.4GHz and its Level 3 cache memory size is set at a full 8MB.

The second processor series to be listed, the Opteron 4200, includes no less than eight CPUs with either six or eight processing cores and with clock speeds ranging from 2.5GHz to 3.3GHz.

Just like the Opteron 6200 parts, these are also split into low-, mid- and standard-voltage processors, the most expensive chips being the ones with a higher energy efficiency.

Outside of the low-power Opteron 4274 HE and 4256 EE CPUs, which are both priced at $430.00 (roughly 320 Euros), the rest of the processors in this series come with much more affordable price tags ranging from $143 to $360 (106 to 268 Euros).

All the AMD Opteron processors listed above and described in the table accompanying this article are based on the Valencia core.

No information regarding the release date of these processors is available for now, but their desktop counterparts will arrive in a little less than a week from now, on October 12.

Read more »

Free Windows 8 Whitepapers Available from Microsoft

As Microsoft stressed repeatedly since BUILD, Windows 8 Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is just a Developer Preview of the operating system. 

As such, it should be no real surprise that developers are the focus of the release, with core user experiences being less of a priority, at least for the time being, although this is bound to change with the advent of Windows 8 Beta. 

Early adopters already testing the Windows Developer Preview, and especially those devs already building Metro apps, can take advantage of a number of Windows 8 whitepapers offered by Microsoft. 

All they have to do is make their way to the “White papers for Windows Developer Preview” webpage on the new Windows Dev Center. 

There are no less than three examples of documentation available right there: 

“Developing connected applications - This paper provides a set of network considerations that every connected Metro style app should know about. 

“Metro style apps using JavaScript versus traditional web apps - This topic provides information about the differences in coding styles used in existing Web apps written in JavaScript, compared to Metro style apps written for the Windows Runtime. It provides guidelines for Web developers to understand how code that is optimized for Windows relates to apps that are meant to be migrated among platforms with ease. It assumes that the reader is familiar with JavaScript programming and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards.

“Input Hosting Manager and the Touch Keyboard - This paper provides information about the invocation and dismissal behaviors of the Touch Keyboard (TKB) for Windows operating systems. It provides guidelines for developers to understand how the TKB shows and hides itself.”

Another four whitepapers can be grabbed right from the Microsoft Download Center, unlike the examples enumerated above. 

The “Play To and media sharing for Metro style apps” whitepaper focuses on the newly introduced Play To and home media sharing APIs for, providing developers with examples on how to leverage the new resources at their disposal. 

With “Introduction to Background Tasks,” Microsoft manages to detail the background tasks for Metro style apps. Similarly, the label of the “Overview of motion and device orientation for Windows Developer Preview” whitepaper should also be self-explanatory. 

And last but not least, “Using the Windows App Certification Kit” is a resource set up to offer insight into ACK and the key role it plays in app certification programs for Windows 8.

Read more »

BlackBerry Curve 9360 Arrives in Indonesia

Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion has just announced the availability of its BlackBerry Curve 9360 smartphone on the market in Indonesia, featuring a price tag of Rp 3,599,000 (around $400 /300 EUR). 

The new mobile phone was released in the country via RIM authorized partners such as PT. Comtech Cellular, PT. Selular Media Infotama and PT. Teletama Artha Mandiri.

The new device offers users the possibility to try all of the benefits of the new BlackBerry OS 7 on an affordable device, RIM explains. 

The latest addition to the company's Curve series packs a faster application processor than its predecessors, as well as various other enhancements inside. 

“The new BlackBerry Curve 9360 is a stunning, easy-to-use smartphone that will appeal to Indonesian customers who want to stay socially connected,” Hasting Singh, vice president of South Asia at Research In Motion commented. 

“The Curve family of smartphones has been a real hit in Indonesia and we expect the new BlackBerry Curve 9360, with its significant performance enhancements and all the benefits of the new BlackBerry 7 operating system, to be well received by new customers as well as existing BlackBerry users looking to upgrade.”

The new BlackBerry Curve 9360 comes to the market with the popular QWERTY keyboard on RIM's handsets, as well as with a 2.4-inch screen and built-in support for NFC (Near Field Communications).

The handset was also packed with a microSD Memory card slot with support for up to 32GB of additional storage space, as well as with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, 3G capabilities, and more. 

The new mobile phone also packs a 5-megapixel photo snapper on the back, with support for video recording, and can deliver various features powered by the new BlackBerry OS 7 platform, including the advanced WebKit browser engine that should provide users with faster Internet navigation capabilities.

Read more »

HP t200 Zero Client Enables Up to 15 Users to Share the Same PC

Once touted as the next big thing in computing, thin clients have been slow to catch the attention of the market, but HP seems determined to give this concept another try and has released the HP t200 Zero Client, which should offer business owners a nice alternative to the traditional desktop PCs.

The HP t200 Zero Client is housed inside a small chassis weighting only 0.34 kg (12.1 oz), which provides its users with four USB 2.0 ports and a VGA ouput.

After plugging in the required peripherals and a computer monitor, HP's thin client needs to be connected to a HP MultiSeat ms6200 desktop (either through USB or Ethernet) that supports up to 15 such devices.

This relies on the Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 operating system to provide each user with its own computer environment.

Outside of the benefit of not having to waste space and money on dedicated desktop systems for each of the users requiring a computer in an office, the HP t200 Zero Client also has the advantage of using only 3 Watts of power while running, which should lead to an important economy in energy bills.

HP's thin client is designed to be used in small businesses and classrooms, but also in the training, healthcare and manufacturing environments.

"The HP t200 Zero Client provides additional scalability to our HP MultiSeat Solution, making it an ideal solution not only for small businesses and classrooms, but also training, healthcare and manufacturing environments," said Jeff Groudan, director, Worldwide Thin Clients, HP. 

"As the global industry leader in thin clients, HP continues to innovate simple, flexible, affordable thin computing solutions that deliver rich, productive user experiences," concluded the company's rep.

The HP t200 Zero Client for MultiSeat is expected to be available worldwide in early November at a starting price of $99, which translates into roughly 73.6 Euros.

Read more »

x64 Windows 7 SP1 Can Cripple x86 Applications and Services

Microsoft is offerings customers an update designed to help them deal with x86-based applications or services being left crippled following the installation of Service Pack 1 (SP1) on computers running the 64-bit (x64) flavor of Windows 7. 

x64 Windows 7, as well as its 64-bit predecessors, can also run 32-bit applications, but it seems that SP1 upgrades can introduce some issues. 

According to the Redmond company, only customers running x64 Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 can be affected by the problem described in this article. 

The software giant stresses that customers must also be running “some x86-based applications or services on the computer. [They also need to] install updates through Windows update without first stopping the x86-based applications or services. These updates may include Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1),” Microsoft said. 

“In this scenario, an error may occur in the x86-based applications or services, which causes the application or service to stop unexpectedly. This behavior may cause data loss.” 

KB 2487426 has been available for download since early 2011. The refresh comes in three versions, one for each of the variants of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. 

Customers need to head over to the Microsoft Download Center in order to access the updates. They’ll be able to find the necessary links at the bottom of this article. 

“Updates to the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 installation software are included in this update. The installation software is the component that handles the installation and the removal of software updates, language packs, optional Windows features, and service packs,” Microsoft said. 

“This update is necessary to successfully install and to remove any service packs to all versions of Windows 7 and on Windows Server 2008 R2.”

Download the Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2487426) package.

Download the Update for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (KB2487426) package.

Download the Update for Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-based Systems (KB2487426) package.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM Build 7601.17514.101119-1850 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM are available for download on link below.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 RTM Build 7601.17514.101119-1850-ISO

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 RTM Build 7601.17514.101119-1850-x86

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 RTM Build 7601.17514.101119-1850-x64

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 RTM Build 7601.17514.101119-1850-IA64

Windows 7 RTM Enterprise 90-Day Evaluation is available for download here.

Read more »

ADATA Launched Premier Pro DDR3 Memory Tweaked for Improved Stability

Memory specialist ADATA has just announced the introduction of a new line of DDR3 computer memory, called the Premier Pro Series, that targets IT professionals and promises to deliver outstanding stability and compatibility.

Compared to standard memory, these new Premier Pro series modules are built only with DRAM chips that go through an extensive burn-in process, which is designed to spot the memory chips that have a tendency to fail.

Once this process is finished and the DRAM memory is installed in the DIMM modules, ADATA claims that the Premier Pro Series goes through another series of tests.

According to the company, these cover a wide range of failure scenarios that were encountered through years of field application, and which are also designed to uncover eventual compatibility issues. 

“When memory devices are not reliably engineered, there is very high chance that the memory module will fail within the first year of usage," said Ukyo Jeong, Vice President of DRAM product engineering at ADATA.

“A 1.6 to 3.2% rate of system failure due to problems with DRAM is not acceptable for IT professionals, and this is the typical failure range when a DRAM module uses components that are not subjected to burn-in process,” concluded the company's rep. 

These new DDR3 modules are available in densities of 2GB and 4GB, while running at either 1333MHz or 1600MHz with timings set at CL9 and CL11, respectively.

No matter their density or the timings running at, all the Premier Pro memory DIMMs require 1.5V in order to operate. 

The ADATA Premier Pro Series DRAM Modules are now available through selected distributors and resellers, but sadly no information regarding pricing was unveiled by ADATA.

Read more »