NVIDIA announces quad-core Kal-El SOC, promises it in tablets by August (video)
February 15, 2011 No Comment
So it turns out that NVIDIA roadmap we saw last month was as true and pure as driven snow. The barely conceivable quad-core Tegra chip that it listed has now been made official by none other than NVIDIA itself, with the company also informing us that the new silicon is already sampling out to prospective clients. Known as Kal-El internally, this will most likely turn into NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 as and when it’s ready to enter the consumer market. Tonight NVIDIA whetted our appetite for what’s to come with a demo that can most fittingly be described as an exhibition of unadulterated computational muscle. A 2560 x 1440 stream was being decoded on a developmental device, scaled down to that slate’s native 1366 x 768 resolution, and additionally displayed on a connected 30-inch, 2560 x 1600 monitor. That entire voluminous workload was being handled in real time by Kal-El and we saw no signs of it struggling. By NVIDIA’s own estimation, the quad-core newbie provides roughly double the processing power of Tegra 2 and triple the graphics-crunching prowess. In the second demonstration of the evening, we saw an instance of Great Battles Medieval — ran at 720p with 650 enemy soldiers on the field — on both a Tegra 2 and a Kal-El platform, which showed the baby superhero handily dusting its still very new brethren. This was in large part down to the full dozen GPU cores contained within Kal-El, though before you freak out about battery-draining insanity, NVIDIA claims things are much, much more efficient as well — up to 12 hours of HD video playback are promised under the right circumstances. It’s a big fat wedge of awesome boasts we’ve heard from the GeForce maker today, however the company’s given us a schedule to hold it to as well. The “August timeframe” is when the quad-core Kal-El is expected to land in tablets, while smartphones will have to wait until the holiday season to benefit from what’s likely to be a slightly downgraded variant. Skip past the break to eye the future Tegra roadmap for the next few years plus video of the wildly impressive demos we were witness to. Gallery: NVIDIA Kal-El quad-core SOC and development platform Continue reading NVIDIA announces quad-core Kal-El SOC, promises it in tablets by August (video) NVIDIA announces quad-core Kal-El SOC, promises it in tablets by August (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The rattling of naked cassettes in the glove box. The crunching of plastic cases in the footwell. That satisfying clunk when a tape got pulled down into the dash. For those who drove in the ’80s and ’90s those are memories of in-car audio, the ubiquitous tape deck, and it’s now dead. Well, dead as a factory option, anyway. The 2010 Lexus SC 430 was the last car to offer one, no longer available in the 2011 edition. Thank goodness we’ll always have Tape Deck Mountain The in-dash tape deck is dead, mixtape memories will live forever originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Samsung managed to impress us back at CES with its ultrathin 9 Series laptop but, as far as we knew at the time, the company was only planning to produce a 13.3-inch version of it. If a listing from online retailer Provantange is any indication though, it looks like there could also be a 11.6-inch model in the pipeline. While there’s no indication of a release date, the specs do seem to suggest that this is something more than a typo, as they include in a Core i3 processor instead of the i5 on the 13-incher, 2GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD, and the same 1,366 x 768 resolution as its larger counterpart but a lower 340 nits brightness. As you can see above, it also lists a price of just under $1,200, which would place it about $400 less than the 13.3-inch model. [Thanks, Vikram] Samsung 9 Series laptops to include 11.6-inch model? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Intel Core i7-990X stealthily hits shelves, Origin PC overclocks one to a lap-melting 4.6GHz
February 15, 2011 No Comment
These days it’s less about the megahertz and more about the cores, but custom PC maker Origin isn’t leaving either benchmark untouched. It’s taken the as-yet-unannounced six-core, 3.46GHz Intel Core i7-990X processor and pushed it up to 4.6GHz — a full 200 hertz more than the company’s previous hotness, a 4.4GHZ Core i7-980X . The 990X is now available in the company’s desktops as well as the EON-17 laptop — which is honestly pushing the boundaries of lapablity. Think you can do better than that — say, with a little LN2 ? You’ll find the Core i7-990X at the likes of Mwave and Newegg for what we’re sure is a perfectly reasonable $1,050 right now. [Thanks, Travis ] Continue reading Intel Core i7-990X stealthily hits shelves, Origin PC overclocks one to a lap-melting 4.6GHz Intel Core i7-990X stealthily hits shelves, Origin PC overclocks one to a lap-melting 4.6GHz originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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What happened since the last time we podcasted on Sunday ? Well, everything happened. Literally everything . And that means we have a lot to talk about — so follow the break for all the action. The Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 5:45 ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …DoubleTwist for Android adds AirTwist, streams media to Xbox 360, PS3 and more
February 15, 2011 No Comment
Building on its Airsync feature that lets users wirelessly keep their media (pictures, music, movies) library synced between computer and mobile device, DoubleTwist’s new AirTwist feature lets your Android powered phone stream them to any Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. Assuming you’ve already paid for the $4.99 AirSync add-on, all users need to do is get the most recent version of the app from the Android market, join the same network as one of the consoles wirelessly and authorize it within the app. While PS3 and Xbox 360 are the only devices officially listed, we didn’t have any problem pulling in a few songs on a connected Google TV device since it’s built on DLNA and should work with any device using the standard. Of course, Skifta does pretty much the same thing (with the exception of streaming to the Xbox 360) and it’s free, so choose carefully. Continue reading DoubleTwist for Android adds AirTwist, streams media to Xbox 360, PS3 and more DoubleTwist for Android adds AirTwist, streams media to Xbox 360, PS3 and more originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We know, from the side that tablet up there looks a lot like Toshiba’s still unnamed 10-inch Honeycomb tablet , but it’s actually the company’s future Windows 7 slate , which we were told today won’t be hitting the market until the second half of 2011. The model Toshiba had on display was behind glass and wasn’t actually powered on, but we did confirm that it will have an 11.6-inch display and will be powered by Intel’s Atom Oak Trail processor. That’s all we were able to get out of the company, but apparently that very tablet was on display at CES, and Notebook Italia gathered there that it will have 64GB of storage and 2GB of RAM. So, what’s the hold up on the slate? According to Toshiba’s Marco Perino, the company’s putting a bit of “Toshiba flavor” on top of the OS to make it more touch-friendly. He also said that it may not come to all parts of the world as different regions will determine the local demand. We’re not sure anyone is holding their breath for this one, but we’ll keep you updated if we should hear more. Hit the break for a few more behind-glass shots of the tablet. Gallery: Toshiba Windows 7 tablet at MWC Toshiba to release its Windows 7 tablet in the second half of the year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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This morning HTC announced its 7-inch Flyer tablet , and unlike the hoards of Android tablets we’ve seen in the last couple of months, it’s got something that frankly reminds us a bit of Microsoft’s original tablet push… a stylus! The Flyer doesn’t come with just any old capacitive stylus, however — HTC has worked with N-Trig , the company that has made digitizers for convertible PCs like the Dell Latitude XT , to implement a much more accurate writing or doodling experience. And well, it basically makes it unlike any other Android tablet on the market right now. We spent some time with N-Trig and the Flyer today, focusing quite a bit on the new stylus and “Scribe” software , as HTC calls it — hit the break for some details on both the software and hardware and a short video of how that pen actually works when put to the screen. Gallery: HTC screen, stylus, and Scribe hands-on Continue reading A closer look at the HTC Flyer’s screen, stylus, and Scribe A closer look at the HTC Flyer’s screen, stylus, and Scribe originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It looks like someone’s realized that simultaneous voice and web will not be enough to keep kids away from the Verizon iPhone. But where technical details fail to entice, perhaps a good deal will. Because, really, what’s better (or at least as good) as retaining your current customers? Bringing in a slew of new ones with a $49 iPhone 3GS (8GB); at least that’s what AT&T is banking on. We’ll have to wait and see how this works out for the carrier, but in the meantime feel free to check out the latest commercial after the break. As is usually the case, this one is a non-stop thrill ride. Continue reading AT&T gets a $49 iPhone 3GS – and a new ad to sell it (video) AT&T gets a $49 iPhone 3GS – and a new ad to sell it (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …LeapFrog’s LeapPad Explorer tablet looks a little more durable than your iPad
February 15, 2011 No Comment
Kids of all ages love tablets , but not every tablet is suitable for fingers covered in peanut butter and jelly. We’re thinking the latest from LeapFrog would handle that situation without complaint and, with its chunky construction, should make it home undamaged after show and tell. It’s the LeapPad Explorer, shipping this summer, a 5-inch color tablet will let kids draw, play games, and of course learn all about reading, writing, and arithmetic. There’s also a built-in camera and, while we’re guessing FaceTime support isn’t likely to be coming in a future update, there is an animation studio app that will let kids have fun with whatever video they record. It’s all enough to make one very jealous of Junior, and an MSRP of $99.99 doesn’t even sound that bad. Continue reading LeapFrog’s LeapPad Explorer tablet looks a little more durable than your iPad LeapFrog’s LeapPad Explorer tablet looks a little more durable than your iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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