On Wednesday, Apple introduced the world to the iPad 2 . A beautiful device, to be sure. Feature packed? You bet. Soon to be selling like hotcakes? Absolutely. But the introduction of an iteration on an already existing product wasn’t the most notable piece of the event, nor was the surprise appearance of Steve Jobs. No, Wednesday’s event was significant because it introduced the world to Apple’s real vision for the foreseeable future, a theme the company has hinted at but never fully expressed. This week, Apple showed everyone where it was headed, challenged competitors on that direction, and made it clear that the company not only has staked a claim in that space, but is defining it. This week, Apple stepped into the “post-PC” era of computing — and there’s no looking back, at least not for the folks in Cupertino. By joining the company’s ongoing vision of a “different” kind of computing with a soundbite friendly piece of marketing-speak, Apple has changed the rules of the game, and made the competition’s efforts not just an uphill battle, but — at least in the eyes of Steve Jobs and co. — essentially moot. But what exactly is the “post-PC” world? And why is it significant? Let me explain. Continue reading Editorial: It’s Apple’s ‘post-PC’ world — we’re all just living in it Editorial: It’s Apple’s ‘post-PC’ world — we’re all just living in it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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At this point, it feels like almost every laptop under the sun is being described as “thin and light,” but the thinnest and lightest with a standard voltage processor? Well, that’s a new distinction, and ASUS claims its 13.3-inch U36Jc is just that. The .76-inch thick chassis tips the scales to just 3.7-pounds, but doesn’t skimp on the horsepower or battery life to attain those trim dimensions like some other ultrathin systems out there . Sure, the U36Jc may ditch the optical drive, but it packs a Core i5-460M processor (the “older” Nehalem generation), NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics, 4GB of RAM, a USB 3.0 port, and a 500GB, 7200rpm hard drive for just $969. Okay, so it doesn’t have Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge processors , but there are plenty of other reasons we think those who are looking for an ultraportable for under a grand may want to consider the U36Jc. Hit the break to find out what those things are exactly in our full review. Gallery: ASUS U36J review Continue reading ASUS U36Jc review ASUS U36Jc review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …At this point, it feels like almost every laptop under the sun is being described as “thin and light,” but the thinnest and lightest with a standard voltage processor? Well, that’s a new distinction, and ASUS claims its 13.3-inch U36Jc is just that. The .76-inch thick chassis tips the scales to just 3.7-pounds, but doesn’t skimp on the horsepower or battery life to attain those trim dimensions like some other ultrathin systems out there . Sure, the U36Jc may ditch the optical drive, but it packs a Core i5-460M processor (the “older” Nehalem generation), NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics, 4GB of RAM, a USB 3.0 port, and a 500GB, 7200rpm hard drive for just $969. Okay, so it doesn’t have Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge processors , but there are plenty of other reasons we think those who are looking for an ultraportable for under a grand may want to consider the U36Jc. Hit the break to find out what those things are exactly in our full review. Gallery: ASUS U36J review Continue reading ASUS U36Jc review ASUS U36Jc review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It’s tough to get solid numbers out of Sony for hardware sales, usually they’re cloaked behind a vague “shipped” figure, but at GDC this week the company gave us one rather impressive number: 41 million. That’s the number of PS3 consoles the company says it has sold worldwide, and over 80 percent are sucking down data from ye olde internet. Confirming the moneymaking trend we heard about last month , in 2010 the PlayStation store saw a 60 percent boost in traffic and a 70 percent boost in revenue from a total of 70 million PSN accounts. Let’s see… 70 million PSN user accounts, 41 million PS3 consoles, 80 percent of which are online — that means almost everyone has one account for gaming and a second for griefing. Sounds about right. Sony celebrates PS3 success at GDC, 41 million sold worldwide originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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For a long time Ford kept its best cars in Europe and Australia, leaving Americans to make do with the Tempo or teasing us with a Focus that wasn’t nearly as good as those elsewhere in the world. That’s all changed now, and we’re dutifully returning the favor. SYNC , which has been present on many an American Blue Oval since 2007, is now going international, Ford and Nuance managing to add an additional 16 languages to the voice recognition processing, bringing the total to 19. Emergency assistance has also been expanded to cover other languages as well, so you can now hollar for help, schreien for hilfe, or even schreeuwen for helpen. Continue reading Ford SYNC goes global, 2012 Focus will accept commands in 19 languages Ford SYNC goes global, 2012 Focus will accept commands in 19 languages originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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For a long time Ford kept its best cars in Europe and Australia, leaving Americans to make do with the Tempo or teasing us with a Focus that wasn’t nearly as good as those elsewhere in the world. That’s all changed now, and we’re dutifully returning the favor. SYNC , which has been present on many an American Blue Oval since 2007, is now going international, Ford and Nuance managing to add an additional 16 languages to the voice recognition processing, bringing the total to 19. Emergency assistance has also been expanded to cover other languages as well, so you can now hollar for help, schreien for hilfe, or even schreeuwen for helpen. Continue reading Ford SYNC goes global, 2012 Focus will accept commands in 19 languages Ford SYNC goes global, 2012 Focus will accept commands in 19 languages originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It may not be the first time you’ve been able to snag a PSP Go for $150, but you can now rest assured that you’ll never pay anything more than that, as Sony has officially knocked another $50 off the handheld’s list price. That follows a similar $50 price drop back in October (not to mention a $40 price cut to the regular PSP just last week ), although that doesn’t seem to have done a whole lot to boost sales of the download-only device. Will this new low, low price make a bigger difference? And, if not, how much lower can it go before a certain quad-core monster really makes its presence felt? Sony’s PSP Go officially drops to $150 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …It may not be the first time you’ve been able to snag a PSP Go for $150, but you can now rest assured that you’ll never pay anything more than that, as Sony has officially knocked another $50 off the handheld’s list price. That follows a similar $50 price drop back in October (not to mention a $40 price cut to the regular PSP just last week ), although that doesn’t seem to have done a whole lot to boost sales of the download-only device. Will this new low, low price make a bigger difference? And, if not, how much lower can it go before a certain quad-core monster really makes its presence felt? Sony’s PSP Go officially drops to $150 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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