17W Low-Power AMD Trinity APU for Ultrabooks Inbound

While Intel's Ivy Bridge approaches, Advanced Micro Devices readies its Trinity APU series, and there seems to be some new information on a concern regarding the latter. 

Granted, concern may be too strong a word, since this isn't about some flaw or necessary weakness, but it is close enough. 

Essentially, some people are worried that AMD's future accelerated processing units will be too power-hungry, compared to the competition. 

After all, Intel's Ivy Bridge units are built on the 22nm process technology, while the Trinity still rely on the 32nm manufacturing node. 

More than that, some were afraid that the actual performance of Trinity would be lower than that of the Llano, as absurd as it sounds. 

Fortunately, or so VR-Zone would have us think, neither of these two concerns will become reality. 

For one, the clock speed of the Trinity will be higher than that of the Llano by up to one Gigahertz, leading to 3.8 GHz clocks. 

Secondly, there will definitely be at least one quad-core APU with a power draw of just 17W, making it well suited for Ultrabooks. 

Indeed, if Advanced Micro Devices gets lucky somehow, the product type that Intel has been spending so much time and money advertising will feature quite a few AMD-based designs. Factor in the Radeon graphics that should be better than HD 4000 and we have a winner. Maybe. 

Besides this update, the report made a point of saying that, in actual game usage, Trinity APUs would increase the FPS (frames per second) rate by almost half. 

This fits with the previously-reported 56% faster Graphics and 29% better productivity. Joined by the better power management, this all makes for a potentially interesting ride. 

The Sunnyvale, California-based company is expected to launch the Trinity this spring (2012). The first ones will appear on May 15.

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Run Windows 8 Metro UI on Your iPad with Win8 Metro Testbed

Splashtop Inc. has released a 20-dollar app that promises to be the only piece of iPad software that allows you to experience the true Windows 8 Metro UI on your Apple device. “Win8 Metro Testbed - powered by Splashtop” is available at a special price for a limited time (the app regularly sells for $49.99 / 39.99 EUR).

Don’t rush to buy the discounted app until you’ve learned all the limitations. After all, the headline does say you’ll only be able to put the interface on your iPad. That does’t actually mean Windows 8 will be installed on your tablet computer.

Instead, Win8 Metro Testbed is much like a virtual desktop app, in that it streams the experience from a regular PC running Windows 8 over WiFi. 

It supports Windows 8 Metro touch gestures, which is a key advantage for developers, “so you can take advantage of all the underlying touch capabilities of Windows 8 as you build your app,” says Splashtop.

The magic includes the ability to swipe from the right to view the Charms menu, swipe from the left to switch apps, pull down from the top to close an app, swipe slowly from the left to run two apps side-by-side ("snapping"), and the ability to pinch to navigate files, folders, apps and data with Semantic Zoom.

“Win8 Metro Testbed is a must-have app for anyone who’s trying to build a great Metro style app without incurring the high cost of a Windows tablet!”, according to its creators.

In addition to downloading Win8 Metro Testbed for iPad, interested parties will also require the free Splashtop Streamer installed on a PC. This tool, for its part, requires Windows 8 Consumer Preview, 1GB of RAM, and a 1.6 GHz or faster dual-core CPU.

Download Win8 Metro Testbed - powered by Splashtop

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Tongfa and Haier Reveal Ultrabooks at IDF 2012

Intel's IDF 2012 show in Beijing, China, is underway, which means that, in addition to triple-display demonstrations of Ivy Bridge graphics capabilities, actual products based on the chips are being put through their paces as well. 

IDF 2012 is an Intel event, which means that, naturally, it is going to be chock-full of examples depicting the company's latest pet project. 

As people may or may not know, the current such “pet project” is called “Ultrabook.” 

Two companies that have such laptops on display are Haier and Tongfa. 

Both of them are based in China and, most likely, aren't going to send their machines outside of the country. 

Still, an ultrabook is an ultrabook, so we're going to write about them anyway. 

Tongfa's product measures 14 inches in diagonal and uses a Sandy Bridge Core i3 CPU instead of an Ivy Bridge. 

VGA and HDMI outputs exist, along with an SD card slot, Ethernet, three USB 2.0 ports and a rippled design on the lid. 

Alas, the other specifications are unknown, just like the company itself really. 

The other ultrabook, from Haier, has the same screen size and relies on the Intel Core i3-2367M CPU, whose clock speed is 1.4 GHz. 

The memory and storage details weren't shared, but it looks like HDMI, VGA, three USB 2.0 ports and an SD card reader exist here too. What's more, a mini DisplayPort is part of the feature set as well. 

As for the rest, the trackpad stands out somewhat, thanks to the smooth glass it is made of, although it isn't the most responsive in the world, even if the feel of the material is nice when clicking. 

Intel has promised that, by the end of this year, there will be 75 Ultrabook models in circulation around the world. By the end of the third quarter, the average price should be $700 / 533 Euro.

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You Can Download More of Your Facebook Data, Including Logged IP Addresses

Facebook is making an, albeit small, step towards offering users more control over their data and their ability to extract it from Facebook. The Download Your Information feature now contains more details such as past names, friend requests and even IP addresses you used in the past.

"Starting today, you will be able to download an expanded archive of your Facebook account history," Facebook explained.

"First introduced in 2010, Download Your Information lets you get a copy of what you've shared on Facebook, such as photos, posts, messages, a list of friends and chat conversations," it added.

"Now you can access additional categories of information, including previous names, friend requests you've made and IP addresses you logged in from," it said. 

"This feature will be rolling out gradually to all users and more categories of information will be available for download in the future. Download Your Information is available from your Facebook Account Settings," it announced.

The piece of data that would present the most interest to users and especially to competing services, Google in particular, the contact information, is still not available and probably won't be any time soon.

Facebook argues that contact information doesn't belong to the users in the first place, it belongs to their friends, so it can't allow people to just export it.

Of course, the same policy doesn't involve importing that same information from other places or exporting it to companies such as Yahoo or Microsoft. But users themselves and, more importantly Google, can't get it, which is what matters.

Still, the move is in the right direction and Facebook said it plans to include more information in the future. It's got a long way to go before it can come close to Google, though, as it's offering data from several of its products in one place, Google Takeout.

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LG Viper 4G Now Up for Pre-Order at Sprint for $99.99, Arrives on April 22

Sprint has finally unveiled the exact release date for the LG Viper 4G, along with the smartphone’s full pricing options.

Moreover, the carrier also kicked off pre-orders for customers who want to purchase an affordable 4G-enabled Android phone.

Currently, LG Viper 4G is available for pre-order from Sprint for as low as $99.99 with a new two-year agreement. Those who do not want to commit to a long-term contract can purchase the smartphone for $399.99 upfront.

According to Sprint, the Viper 4G is expected to hit shelves on April 22: “Charges: We'll charge your card for your phone today. Shipping: We'll do our best to get it to you before Sunday, April 22.”

There’s more to it as Sprint is waiving the $36 activation fee for customers who order a new line of service online. This is a limited time offer, but there is no additional detail on the deadline.

LG Viper 4G combines LTE high speeds with a pretty powerful processor so as to offer customers an affordable Android solution for when they are on the go.

Aside from LTE support, the Viper 4G is equipped with a dual-core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, 4GB of ROM, 1GB of RAM and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).

The smartphone comes with dual cameras (5-megapixel rear photo snapper and VGA front-facing camera for video calls), and a 4.0-inch capacitive touchscreen display that supports 480 x 800 pixels resolution and 16 million colors.

LG Viper 4G is powered by Google’s Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, but it might receive an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade in the future, though this has yet to be confirmed by Sprint and LG.

The phone drains energy from a 1700 mAh Li-Ion battery that should provide users with up to 5 hours of talk time. It is also worth mentioning LG Viper 4G will be shipped with a free 4GB microSD memory card in the sales package.

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Samsung Officially Launches GALAXY Tab 2 (7.0) and (10.1) in the US

Although Samsung already announced the Galaxy Tab 2 series of tablets back in February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the South Korean company did not unveil any details regarding pricing and availability.

The latest hearsay pointed to a possible late March launch in the UK, but rumor had it that Samsung was forced to postpone the launch of the Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) and (10.1) due to some Android 4.0 optimization problems.

Today, Samsung came forward with an official statement that unveils the tablets’ price tags and availability dates. 

As expected, the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) is priced a bit higher than its smaller version as customers will be able to purchase it for $399.99 (305 EUR) starting May 13.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) is expected to hit shelves much earlier on April 22 for a suggested retail price of $249.99 (190 EUR).

It is also worth mentioning that the new Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) is now up on pre-order from a variety of retailers including Best Buy, Amazon, Tiger Direct and others.

Obviously, the slates are powered by the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system integrated with Samsung’s TouchWiz UX user interface.

Each Galaxy Tab 2 tablet is equipped with a dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor clocked at 1 GHz. In addition, they pack PowerVR SGX540 GPUs, 1GB of RAM, 3-megapixel rear cameras, VGA front-facing cameras for video calls and GPS with A-GPS support and GLONASS.

Customers will be able to choose from three Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) models: 8GB, 16GB and 32GB. Samsung will only launch two Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) versions, a 16GB model and a 32GB variant.

Software-wise, both tablets are Google certified so expect them to come packed with the full suite of apps and services, including Maps, Gtalk, YouTube and other. Moreover, customers are provided with access to more than 450,000 apps and games via Google Play store.

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Samsung Almost Confirmed to Change Galaxy Note 10.1 Specs Ahead of Official Release

We already reported last week that Samsung postponed the Galaxy Note 10.1 for June. Although the company has yet to make anything official, sources in the industry claim that Samsung want to change the tablet’s specs before release.

As we mentioned in a previous article Samsung is likely to replace the dual-core Exynos processor clocked at 1.4 GHz, embedded onto the Galaxy Note 10.1 with an improved 1.5 GHz quad-core CPU. 

However, this doesn’t seem to be the only change that will affect the Galaxy Note 10.1. The folks over at The Verge claim that a company spokesperson confirmed that Samsung still had no release date for the Galaxy Note 10.1.

Moreover, Samsung’s rep also mentioned that the device unveiled at the Mobile World Congress back in February might be replaced with an entirely different device for marketing reasons.

It appears that the South Korean company simply wanted to impress Android enthusiasts with the announcement of the Galaxy Note 10.1, but it was totally unprepared for the competition’s new releases (see Apple’s new iPad).

According to the latest hearsay, Samsung had hoped to make the Galaxy Note 10.1 the main competitor for whatever tablet Apple would have launched.

Unfortunately, after the new iPad was officially announced it became clear that Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 is inferior to Apple’s product when it comes to hardware.

This is probably the main reason why Samsung is still postponing the Galaxy Note 10.1 until it finds the right configuration and the right price tag.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 announced two months ago would be powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich platform. 

For the time being, it’s unclear whether Samsung plans to release more versions of the Galaxy Note 10.1, but there might be a 3G model and a Wi-Fi only model out on the market.

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Script: WP-FAQ

WP-FAQ is an advanced system for creating a Q&A section on a WordPress-powered website.

The plugin creates a new WP taxonomy that handles questions and question groups.

After adding all the questions, along with their respective answers in the WP admin panel, the FAQ section can then be inserted into any WP page or post using the [wpfaq] shortcode.

All FAQ groups automatically become filtering tabs shown at the top of the section for narrowing down the answers in long lists and/or to specific domains.

WP-FAQ also comes with 8 default styles, for easily blending into any WP theme design. These are dark blue, lime green, intense green, white, black, pink, red and yellow.

Of course, the plugin is available in the WordPress plugin repository as well.

Download WP-FAQ here.

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Samsung Chromebook Demos Instant-On at IDF 2012

It looks like lots of people brought devices over at the IDF 2012 trade show taking place in Beijing. 

Samsung is one of them, and its range of devices includes a Chromebook prototype that shows off those Coreboot improvements we've been hearing about. 

For those unaware, Coreboot is a Linux layer in the Chrome OS that handles the hardware, what little of it there is. 

Coincidentally, the new Coreboot code confirms previous reports that Chromebooks were going to support Ivy Bridge CPUs. 

The most notable trait of the Samsung Chromebook on display was the fast boot-up time. 

Unfortunately, nothing was actually exposed about the hardware. 

Then again, with pretty much everything being done in the cloud, online as it were, that isn't much of a surprise. At any rate, there will be little, if any, storage space beyond what is needed for the OS itself.

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Official Pricing of Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga Convertible Tablet/Laptop Revealed

Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga convertible notebook has reportedly been presented at a conference by Lenovo UK complete with sale prices.

At a price of 1,199 pounds in the UK, almost $1,900 for the USA, the Yoga tablet is not really the steal we’ve been hoping for. 

For Europeans, this means around 1,450 EUR, but the price for us will be raised accordingly.

The convertible toy is powered by Intel’s new generation processor, an Ivy Bridge based Core i7, so the price is partly justified.

Let’s not forget the multi touch 13” screen that is able to receive 10 inputs at a time, and the leather covered wrist pad.

However, Lenovo’s deluxe wonder will not likely ship until Windows 8 is widely available, so we must wait just a little longer.

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