Razer refreshes its Blade gaming laptops with NVIDIA Maxwell GPUs, multitouch support
“Thin and powerful” aren’t words we tend to associate with gaming laptops, Razer has always been an exception. The company’s Blade and Blade Pro laptops have been challenging our preconceptions for almost three years now, but the shadow of compromise has hung over each iteration of the product in some form or another. Last year, it was the 14-inch model’s low resolution display — a thinly veiled bottleneck that kept gamers from over-taxing the machine’s GPU. That won’t be an issue for the laptop’s 2014 refresh: Razer announced today that it’s outfitting the Razer Blade with a 3200 x 1800 IPS panel with multitouch support, a Intel Core i7-4702HQ processor and NVIDIA’s new GeForce GTX 870M (3GB GDDR5) GPU. It’s a loud answer to the issues we had with the last generation. It also takes it one step further from the new 17-inch Razer Blade Pro.
Like the standard Blade, the 17-inch model has been outfitted one of NVIDIA’s new Maxwell GPUs, specifically the GTX 860M (2GB GDDR5). It’s also kitted out with twice as much RAM (16GB DDR3L), an Intel Core i7-4700HQ processor and Razer’s Switchblade User Interface — a miniature keyboard with 10 keys (each with their own LED display), an LCD driven trackpad / touchscreen and a small suite of apps. Here’s where things get interesting: buyers after Razer’s Switchblade interface will wind up with a lower resolution screen without support for multitouch. Razer told us the Pro’s matte display was a better choice for productivity, and pointed out that 17.3-inches was a bit large for touchscreen gestures. Instead, the Razer Blade Pro will come with a Switchblade “Charms” app for Windows 8, as well as new applications for productivity suites like Maya, GIMP, Adobe Photoshop and Premiere.
Razer’s Pro and Standard Blade laptops were always separated by size, processor configuration and the Switchblade interface, it somehow seems different this time around. With more video RAM, a touchscreen and a higher resolution display, the 14-inch Blade seems to be built with entertainment in mind, while the Razer Blade Pro leans more towards productivity with a larger (but lower resolution) screen, more RAM and apps tailored to the needs of multimedia professionals. While both promise to be capable gaming rigs, they aren’t quite targeting the same buyers. Figure out what side you belong to? Start saving: the Razer Blade Pro ships at the end of the month, starting at $2,299, with the 14-inch Blade following soon afterwards for $2,199. Check out Razer’s product page for pre-orders, configuration options and eye-candy.
NVIDIA says most laptops die after 50 minutes of gaming, claims new GPUs will double that
Thanks to the appearance of a curiously thin MSI gaming laptop at CeBIT a few days ago, we had an inkling that NVIDIA’s new batch of laptop GPUs were inbound. Indeed, the 800M series has just become official, with a number of features geared toward portability and battery life. For a start, the lower half of the stack — the 830M, 840M, 850M and 860M — has been endowed with the company’s latest Maxwell architecture, which allows gaming credentials to be claimed by thinner and lighter machines. The new Gigabyte P74 is a decent example: It contains an 860M inside a 21mm-thick chassis and we managed to play BioShock Infinite on it, running at 1080p and max settings with a frame rate above 40 fps — that’s a level of performance that NVIDIA says would have required a 55mm-thick laptop three years ago. The other big promise with this generation concerns battery life, and it comes courtesy of a setting called “Battery Boost.”
The Battery Boost setting won’t affect general-purpose stamina, but instead only springs into action when you load up a game. It lets you set a target frame rate, such as 30fps, and then it dials down the performance of the system whenever possible in order to meet that target, so you don’t waste power on frames that you can live without (at least while you’re traveling away from a mains socket). Based on some testing by Tom’s Hardware, NVIDIA says the average duration of battery-powered gaming on a current GeForce laptop is less than 50 minutes, but Battery Boost should be able to increase that by 50-100 percent in a relatively easy-to-run game like Borderlands 2.
Finally, NVIDIA is also bringing some desktop features across to its laptop range of GPUs for the first time. These include Shadowplay, which lets you record 1080p footage (as h.264 video) of your gaming exploits for broadcast on sites like Twitch and UPlay. Then there’s Gamestream, which lets you play games on your laptop remotely using an NVIDIA Shield handheld.
Apple Considering Standalone iTunes Radio App for iOS 8
Following its introduction at WWDC 2013, Apple’s iTunes Radio music streaming service launched alongside iOS 7 in September of last year. The service is available within iTunes on the desktop and the Music app for iOS, allowing users create channels based on artists, genres or songs. To bring attention to the service and increase engagement, Apple may be spinning off iTunes Radio into its own app in iOS 8, according to a report by 9to5Mac.
As a standalone application, users will be able to more quickly access iTunes Radio. Psychologically for users, iTunes Radio will be its own app competing with the likes of the Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio apps found on the App Store. The benefit for Apple, however, is that iTunes Radio will be pre-installed. The interface for the standalone iTunes Radio application is said to be nearly identical to the one found inside of the iOS Music app and its Home screen icon is a terrestrial radio graphic atop a red background.
Apple originally wanted to launch iTunes Radio as a standalone app alongside iOS 6, but those plans allegedly fell through when licensing negotiations with major music labels hit a snag. As envisioned for iOS 8, the new standalone iTunes Radio reportedly would be similar to the current Music app version, continuing to offer Featured Stations and include a browsable music history. iOS users would maintain their ability to create and manage their music channels as well as purchase individual tracks.
Despite being buried within the iOS Music app, iTunes Radio continues to grow in popularity. A recent report from Edison Research and Statista places iTunes Radio as the third most popular music streaming service in the United States, edging out Spotify to land behind market leaders Pandora and iHeartRadio. The breakout of iTunes Radio into its own app in iOS 8 could further boost usage of the service.
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Microsoft OneNote Going Free with Mac Launch Later This Month
Microsoft is working on a version of OneNote for the Mac that will debut later this month, claims The Verge. This release will expand the note-taking software beyond its roots as a paid desktop app for Windows users and will complement the mobile apps that exist on iOS and Android.
According to The Verge’s report, Microsoft will drop the price on the note-taking app and release it for free to both OS X and Windows owners. The latest version of OneNote also may include companion web-clipper extensions that plug into popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. These plug-ins will make it easy for people to grab snippets from web pages and immediately share them with the OneNote app.
Microsoft hopes the price drop along with new web-clipping feature will make OneNote attractive to customers who currently use competing note-taking apps such as Evernote.
We understand that Microsoft will release the OneNote for Mac app for free, and the company is also planning to make the Windows desktop version available at no extra cost. This marks a significant change in the way Microsoft manages OneNote, unbundling it fully from the cost of Office. We’re told part of this free approach is targeted at competitors like Evernote, but Microsoft is also adding additional features to entice people away from the competition.
The launch of OneNote is part of a larger push by Microsoft into the Apple ecosystem. The company is rumored to be working on a new version of Office for the Mac that may debut later this year as well as Office for the iPad that allegedly is coming soon. 
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Tech21 Impact Mesh and Impact Shield for Galaxy S4 Review
Up today for review is the Impact Mesh case and the Impact Shield screen protector from Tech21. These two accessories are a match made in heaven for someone looking to provide great protection for both body and screen of the Galaxy S4. Let’s dig into, the case first:
The Good:
- Case feels sturdy and shock absorbent material is quite impressive
- See through so you can still see the back of your S4
- Not slippery, so you don’t have to worry about sliding off a table
- Feels good in my hand
The Bad:
- The volumes buttons are hard to press, I have noticed that when it is cold it is harder but when I have used it during the day it gets better
Judgement:
The case is quite durable and just has that feeling of high quality. It is unfortunate that the volume buttons are harder to press, but with time (1 week so far) this might resolve itself. Coming in at 35 bucks, this is something definitely worth checking, it is on the higher end side of the price range, however you are getting a high quality case, check it out at Tech21′s website.
Impact Shield screen protector:
The Good:
- Easiest install I have ever had for a screen protector
- No bubbles, always a plus
- Self Heal Technology
The Bad:
- None, quite impressed with this screen protector
Judgement:
The screen protector is quite impressive with its self-heal technology and how easy it was to install. I’ve never enjoyed a screen protector quite like this one and would highly recommended it to any, however it will cost you 35 bucks for this type of convenience and quality, which you can find at Tech21′s website.
Overall: Both the case and screen protector are great ways to protect your phone, however 70 bucks is alot to spend for most people. However, I had to choose just one of these items I would go with the Impact Shield screen protector, because it is that good and impressive!
The post Tech21 Impact Mesh and Impact Shield for Galaxy S4 Review appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google acquires Green Throttle Games, gaming set-top TV box possibly in sight
With rumors spreading that Google is working on a set-top TV box, supposedly centered around games, adding fuel to the fire is the recent confirmation that it semi-acquired Green Throttle Games.
PandoDaily first reported the news of the deal that was for an unknown price.
You may remember that Green Throttle released a bluetooth game controller last year that turns your Android into a portable console, which we reviewed, and it’s much like the MOGA and MOGA Pro, with setup working with the aid of the Arena app from the Google Play store. The Atlas controllers sold individually for $39.95 each or in a pair for $79.95 (with a free HD TV connector). It’s safe to say that Atlas never took off with the likes of its competitors, including OUYA and PowerA. Please note that the Atlas app was taken down from Google Play in November, so the controller is now “functionally useless.”
Green Throttle Games, which launched in late 2012, is the brainchild of Charles Huang of Guitar Hero fame and Matt Crowley and Karl Townsend, who worked on the initial iteration of the Palm Pilot. While Google wouldn’t disclose the terms of the deal to PandoDaily, it did confirm that one part of the acquisition, that the former Green Throttle staff, including Crowley and Townsend, will be joining the Google and that Huang has not joined them, but retains rights over the Green Throttle business.
It will be interesting to see what Google will do with its newest semi-acquisition since it now has some experts with experience in Bluetooth, controllers, video games and the allowing of “easy mobile control of a large screen interface.”
via PandoDaily
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Touring the Sony Archives in Tokyo: Walkmans, robot dogs and a golden guinea pig
Sony has had some tough times recently, and while it’s finally started to make some difficult changes in a bid to turn its fortunes around, the Archives building is where the company’s success stories live forever. A fair distance from most of Sony’s high-rise structures in Shinagawa, it’s a well-stocked pantheon to everything that made the electronics maker what it is today. It’s open to the public (as long you make an appointment), and the tour includes a rousing TV presentation from Sony co-founders Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, and a walk through 60 years in the electronics business. An AIBO robot will greet you at the door, and if you’ve spent any time around tech, there’s bound to be something here to make you smile — even if it’s just the Billy Joel CD. Our own highlights are right after the gallery.
If anything, the Archives are a little lacking in products from the last few decades. There’s just a single, lonely PlayStation sitting in the 意外 (“unexpected”) section and the company’s phone presence (it started collaborating with Ericsson in 1987 before buying the arm wholly in 2012) is almost nonexistent.
Our tour guide occasionally jumps in with stories and color, even if our group was more than happy to wander off alone and stare at products like a 0.3-megapixel digital camera (the DSC-F1: “Sony’s first!”). We soon reach arguably Sony’s biggest product ever, the Walkman, and hear how many executives at Sony just couldn’t get the appeal of a portable music player — let alone one that didn’t have a record function.
Fortunately, Sony co-chairman Morita got his way. The Sony exec was apparently never quite satisfied with the name, although there must have been something to it. Its Japanese rivals, the Walky, the CassetteBoy and the MiJockey (from Toshiba, Aiwa and Panasonic, respectively) are a little harder to recall. Subsequent Walkman iterations are also display in glass cabinets elsewhere, from the initial model, through those sports yellow versions, into the (less epoch-defining) MP3 iterations.
Sharing shelf-space nearby, you’ll find Sony’s AIBO range, with various prototypes and model numbers. Underneath those, the less well-known QRIO bipedal robot stares out impassively — it never made it to stores.
Back to the main exhibit, there’s also space dedicated to the cassette player’s replacement: Sony’s first compact disc player… with a Billy Joel CD jacket, for any visitors who forgot what CDs were. A few steps farther down, and the aforementioned digital cameras take their place in Sony history, with a brief mention of the now-divorced VAIO PC range. In the center of the Archives, there’s space given to Sony’s transistor radios, professional recording inventions and its TV developments, including plenty of Trinitron sets, which used a new aperture grille to offer finer picture quality. Alongside the boom in color TVs, well, Sony did OK — it even won an Emmy for them, which is encased here with the prize-winning set.
A smaller room, off to the side of the main route, houses some of the most interesting stuff, including a prototype electric rice cooker from 1946, whose results varied depending on electricity fluctuations, and an electric cushion so basic (its wires were between reinforced paper) that Sony actually marketed it under a different company, the “Ginza Heating Company.”
Nearby, Sony’s ill-fated premium QUALIA miniature digital camera is laid to rest, replete with a whole business case of lenses and add-ons. There’s also the Chorocco: an adorable toy-sized van that never made it to retail. Intended to inspire creativity within Sony, it was a promotional gadget that “drove” around vinyl records, playing the music out of its built-in speakers.
It’s a sign of the times, but the archive could soon be the only Sony building left in this neighborhood. The company, having housed its HQ here for more than six decades, is reportedly attempting to sell the surrounding buildings and land.
But what about the golden guinea pig? A present to Sony co-founder Ibuka from his employees, it was in response to an article that said Sony was a guinea pig for transistors, and that (in 1958) many companies were now besting them in production volume. In a radio interview years later, Ibuka said in response:
“If the guinea pig spirit means developing innovative ideas and embodying them in new products, then I think this is an admirable spirit.”
Here’s to more guinea pig spirit.
Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Home Entertainment, Sony
Tinder wants to verify celebrities so you know they’re really into you
Tinder, the iOS and Android app that matches people by how close they are from one another, has a celebrity problem. While signing up to a dating app is probably the last thing you’d expect any privacy-conscious alphabet-lister to consider, Tinder already counts a few famous faces amongst its millions of users (Ashton Kutcher and Lindsay Lohan reportedly are fans), but they aren’t racking up matches because people believe their profiles are fake. According to Hollywood Reporter, the mobile startup wants to remove all doubt from that equation by introducing a verification system for celebrity users that could use Twitter-style checkmarks to signify that an actor, actress or musician (etc) is who they say they are. Tinder CEO Sean Rad also says that the company could drop the requirement for stars to sign up using Facebook, where they’d have to use their real name instead of an alias, allowing them “to enter Tinder in a different way.” We don’t yet know when the new system will be implemented, but if it does lure famous users to the service, you never know, you could only be five right-swipes away from Kevin Bacon.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Apple Shortens iPhone Return Window to 14 Calendar Days [iOS Blog]
Customers who purchased an iPhone from an Apple Store in the U.S. had a 30-day period to try out the phone and return it for any reason. Starting March 13th, this return window is being shortened to 14 calendar days, claims 9to5Mac.
According to an internal document provided by one of our retail sources, Apple plans to change its iPhone return policy to just 14 days beginning on March 13th. However the return policy currently published on Apple.com already reflects this change.
This change brings Apple’s return policy in line with U.S. carriers, which offer a 14-day return period for customers who buy an iPhone from a carrier’s website or retail store. Previously, Apple would accept returns beyond the carrier’s 14-day period, but within the company’s 30-day return window. These customers would be credited for their iPhone purchase, but they still had to pay an early termination fee and any other associated charges to the carrier. This policy often was confusing to customers who expected to return their phone without penalty.
This change also standardizes Apple’s return policy across all product categories. Starting March 13th, customers who purchase an item from Apple will have 14 days in which to make a return, regardless of what they purchased.
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Seidio Ledger case for Moto X Review
Up for review today is the Seidio Ledger, wallet style, case for the Moto X. The case is decently built for the price, but does lack in some areas that I was hoping it would shine. However, lets dig into and see what we got!
What we got:
- Seidio Ledger case for Moto X
The Good:
- Fit phone securely and features a slim profile
- Holds my driver’s license and credit cards easily
- Provides adequate protection to the front and back
- Cutouts do not interfere with microphone or camera (except you can’t take selfies because it is covered up, but why would anyone do that with the flap closed?)
- The cover and case are lined with felt to provide further protection
- It looks pretty sweet
The Bad:
- Buttons on the side are hard to push due to the case
- The flap doesn’t secure to the case (no magnet), so it tends to sit open, this isn’t an issue if you have it in your pocket, but maybe a purse or just sitting out on the table
- The material used for the flap don’t seem durable and if a little heavier could solve this issue and the previous one
- Only comes in gray and red
Judgement:
Overall the case is not that bad. I prefer a case that is slim and does not bulge in my pocket. The flap not being able to stay closed is a letdown, but I would still consider the case. It is sleek, looks nice, and provides excellent screen protection if you do not prefer a screen protector. You can check them out on Amazon, where they are priced around 30 bucks or buzz over to Seidio for more information!
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AIVAnet 