ASUS announces updated, faster Chromebox on the way
In Taipei at the Computex event today, ASUS has announced they are preparing an updated model in their line of Chromebox devices. The ASUS Chromebox CN62 will come with a new fifth-generation Intel processor which is an upgrade compared to the current fourth-generation chip. ASUS is also upgrading the WiFi to support 802.11ac compared to the current b/g/n support. ASUS also claims the new CN62 will idle at only 17dB and draws just 6W of power, which will be welcome news for users bothered by noisy units.
ASUS did not release any details regarding a release date, market availability or pricing.
source: AndroidCentral
Come comment on this article: ASUS announces updated, faster Chromebox on the way
Samsung is rumoured to be updating the Galaxy Note 4 to Android 5.1.1 by end of July
While some Galaxy Note 4 owners are yet to see Android 5.0.1 on their devices, having to make do with KitKat 4.4, others have been using Lollipop on their devices for a while already. And now it seems that the Samsung is allegedly busy sorting the ingredients out for the next batch of firmware updates for the handset.
According to SamMobile, Samsung is busy prepping Android 5.1.1 for the Galaxy Note 4, with the aim of rolling it out to handsets by the end of July. Hopefully all Galaxy Note 4 owners, regardless of the carrier or variant, will be able to enjoy the Android 5.1.1 update. Samsung’s work is never done though because we all know what the question will be after the Android 5.1.1 update is (eventually) rolled out. That’s right, when is Android M coming?
Source: SamMobile
Come comment on this article: Samsung is rumoured to be updating the Galaxy Note 4 to Android 5.1.1 by end of July
MediaTek intros the octa-core Helio P10 SoC, coming to mid-range devices late 2015
In hopes to expand its already large footprint in the competitive mid-range market, MediaTek has introduced the Helio P10 SoC – the first processor in the company’s P-series. The P10 is the successor to last year’s popular MT6752, which brings significant improvements that were first introduced in the X10 and X20. This new SoC features two clusters of 64-bit Cortex A53 cores, with four of the cores being clocked at 2GHz and the remaining four cores clocked slightly lower. The Helio P10 also includes a 64-bit Mali T860 GPU clocked at 700MHz.
The Helio P10 also includes a TrueBright ISP engine with an ultra-sensitive RWWB sensor that provides support for 21MP cameras. The company’s MiraVision 2.0 display technologies are also present on the chip, which supports full-HD displays at 60fps, as well as MediaTek’s UltraDimming mode and a BluLight Defender that saves more power than conventional software applications.
The SoC also has LTE Category 6 capabilities with download speeds up to 300Mbps and 2x20MHz carrier aggregation. This also includes CDMA2000 support that the company needs to make progress with North American CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint.
The Helio P10 will make its way to manufacturers in Q3 2015, with production happening towards the end of the year, likely sometime in Q4.
OnePlus offering limited time Flash Sales for One smartphone
Because it’s seemingly incapable of running a standard sale, OnePlus is offering a limited time Flash Sale for its One smartphone. Running for one week only, it’s a promotion that sees the handset sold at a discounted rate.
For the first time, OnePlus is selling the 64GB Sandstone Black and 16GB Silk White models at prices that start at $250. Beginning today, a limited quantity of models will be listed with discounts; the timing changes on a daily basis.
Daily Sale Schedule:
June 1 – 12:00 GMT (8 am EST)
June 2 – 2:00 GMT (10 pm EST -1 day)
June 3 – 12:00 GMT (8 am EST)
June 4 – 2:00 GMT (10 pm EST -1 day)
June 5 – 12:00 GMT (8 am EST)
June 6 – 2:00 GMT (10 pm EST -1 day)
June 7 – 12:00 GMT (8 am EST)
It’s likely that OnePlus is blowing through its inventory in an effort to make room for a successor. The timing makes sense for a refresh and the specs are starting to look a little outdated by comparison. But, with that in mind, you could do way worse for yourself than to consider one of these for the money.
The post OnePlus offering limited time Flash Sales for One smartphone appeared first on AndroidGuys.
HTC Desire & 1-Yr Unlimited Talk-and-Text from FreedomPop
Ready for a huge deal? How about a great device and a year’s worth of service for less than some people pay for their monthly rate plan? If you’re looking to ditch your contract carrier, this package from FreedomPop is definitely worthy of your attention and may save you a significant deal of moolah, baby.
See more at deals.androidguys.com
The post HTC Desire & 1-Yr Unlimited Talk-and-Text from FreedomPop appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Get the low down on the new Asus ZenWatch 2
Earlier this morning, at the Computex Conference in Asia, Asus introduced the world to the latest iteration of their Android Wear smart watch. The Asus ZenWatch 2. Since it was in the wee-hours of the morning, we didn’t have all the details on the specs of the two different options of the ZenWatch 2. Now that everyone (on the East Coast) has been awake for awhile now, we have the specs for the two options.
As we noted this morning, Asus is bringing two different watches to the game with the ZenWatch 2. There will be a 49m model, and a new 45mm model. As for the specs for both, they are matching for the most part, with only two differences. The first difference is that the 49mm model will have a a 22mm strap width, while the new 45mm version will have a 18mm strap width. The other difference, one of which was briefly mentioned this morning, is that the 49mm rendition of the ZenWatch 2 will have the ability to act as a mobile power bank.
Now there are three different options for case colors for both models. The ZenWatch 2 will come in either Gunmetal, Rose Gold, or Silver. Asus has also added a metal crown to the side, which will change how users interact with and control some of the features included with the ZenWatch 2.
In regards to the straps that will be available, there is a special option through a partnership with Swarovski that will bring a diamond pattern, laden with crystals, professional leather strap. If you aren’t looking for the special order, bling-y Swarovski leather strap, Asus announced that there will be a total of 18 different watch/strap combinations.
It has been confirmed that both versions of the Asus ZenWatch 2 will run the latest version of Android Wear, version 5.1.1 Lollipop. This version was introduced, and released originally on the LG G Watch Urbane last month, but has been slowly rolling out to other Android Wear devices.
Now if you’re looking for the specific specs for each watch, here they are:
Asus ZenWatch 2 WI501Q
- Processor: Qualcomm Processor
- OS: Android Wear
- Display: 2.5D curved AMOLED Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- Charging: Magnetic Charging Cable
- Water Resistance: IP67
- Dimensions: 49mm x 41mm
Asus ZenWatch 2 WI50Q
- Processor: Qualcomm Processor
- OS: Android Wear
- Display: 2.5D curved AMOLED Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- Charging: Magnetic Charging Cable
- Water Resistance: IP67
- Dimensions: 45mm x 37mm
Something to take note of is the fact that Asus did not release the specifications for the battery, but we have seen some instances where it’s been mentioned that the ZenWatch 2 will be able to get up to 4 days of battery life. More than likely that’s just speculation, however, if that’s what ends up being the case, that’s huge for Android Wear, and puts the ZenWatch 2 at the top of the list for Android Wear devices to purchase.
Pricing and availability have yet to be announced, but we can expect there to be somewhat of a difference between the 49mm and 45mm options, as well as the option to get the Swarovski leather strap. We can also expect to hear more about the ZenWatch 2 in the third quarter of this year, more than likely around the beginning of the fall.
The post Get the low down on the new Asus ZenWatch 2 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Typo’s truce with BlackBerry stops it from selling phone keyboards
Typo started fending off lawsuits from BlackBerry almost as soon as its lookalike iPhone keyboards went on sale, but it’s at last getting a break… well, sort of. The Ryan Seacrest-backed company has reached a settlement with BlackBerry that ends all lawsuits, but requires that it “permanently discontinue” selling keyboards for any device with a screen 7.9 inches or smaller (that is, phones). Effectively, the crew in Waterloo is asking Typo to drop its very reason for being — it was formed by executives who wanted to ditch their BlackBerrys for iPhones without having to type on glass. While Typo will stick around and sell iPad keyboards, there’s no doubt that it’s a shell of its former self.
Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile, Blackberry
Via: N4BB
Source: BlackBerry
Amazon crowns winner of first warehouse robot challenge
The robots that joined Amazon’s Picking Challenge aren’t quite ready to replace human warehouse workers, but some of them seriously showed great promise. Team RBO from the Technical University of Berlin, in particular, demolished all the other 27 competitors by winning the contest with a 60-point lead over the second place team. If you recall, Amazon challenged companies and institutions a few months ago to build a machine that can pick the right items from fully-stocked warehouse shelves to fulfill orders. For the test itself conducted during IEEE’s International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Seattle, the e-commerce giant had participants pluck different kinds of items from a standard shelf, including a rubber ducky, a pack of Oreo cookies, various dog toys and a paperback book.
The teams used an assortment of technologies during the event: LIDAR lasers, three-fingered robotic arms, tape measures that function as a tongue-like grasper and several types of suction mechanisms. Judges granted points for flawless item transfers and docked them whenever the objects were dropped, damaged or misplaced. Roberto Martin-Martin from Team RBO told Engadget that their winning entry’s comprised of two main components: a WAM arm by Barrett Technologies installed on top of an XR4000 mobile base their professor brought to Berlin from the US. He said the omnidirectional base with its four wheels allowed them to increase their workspace, since it was able to move the arm around and find the best position for it.
The arm itself can mimic the actual human limb with its seven degrees of freedom. It picks things up using a suction cup, which can conform to the shape of different objects, connected to a vacuum. The team also installed a number of sensors on the robot, including one for object recognition, another to find the base’s position in relation to the shelf and a third one to make sure the arm doesn’t exert too much force when handling items. However, the machine wouldn’t be half as effective without the object recognition algorithm the team developed for it. Martin-Martin described their algorithm as “simple but robust” and told us they credit it for their win, along with their “versatile grasping strategy” and the fact that they used a mobile manipulator.
Team RBO won the challenge (and $20,000) with 148 points, successfully moving 10 out of 12 objects in a 20-minute period, despite finding reflective and small items difficult to grasp. Their creation seemed to have the most trouble with the pencil cup, as it had metal meshes the suction couldn’t stick to. Team MIT, which used a robotic arm with a flat scoop and a suction gripper, got second place with 88 points overall.
All the robotic contestants are still orders of magnitude slower than their human counterparts at this point in time, though, as you can see in the video below. Andra Keay from Robohub even likened the event to “watching paint dry,” as the machines moved at a glacial pace. Still, this just marks the beginning of Amazon’s efforts to find an effective item-seeking warehouse robot. We’ll bet the corporation’s cooking up future events to entice more participants and to prompt contestants from this round to build better and faster machines.
[Image credit: Team RBO]
Via: Technology Review
Source: TU Berlin Robotics and Biology Laboratory, Amazon Picking Challenge
The Big Picture: Hubble peeks at the Milky Way’s densest star cluster
Some parts of space are a little more crowded than others. The Arches Cluster, located 25,000 light-years from Earth, is currently the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way. For comparison, if you measured the distance between our sun and its nearest star, and used that as a radius for a section of the Arches Cluster, you would find more than 100,000 stars twinkling back at you. These balls of gas burn brightly — NASA says 150 are among the brightest it’s ever recorded — which limits their natural lifespan to a few million years. Once their nuclear fuel has been depleted, they explode in breathtaking supernovas which create abnormally high volumes of heavy elements in the gas between the remaining stars. The image above was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in infrared; due to enormous dust clouds, the cluster is otherwise obscured and difficult to observe.
Filed under: Science
Via: io9
Source: NASA
This transforming PC tower could be a robot in disguise
Remember that time when Hasbro got really upset with ASUS for calling its convertible laptops Transformers, only to have its request for sales injunction shot down by the court? A little over three years later, we find ourselves staring at a desktop PC tower — a collaboration between ASUS ROG and In Win — that is begging to be given the same name. At the click of a button, the tower’s outer case breaks open to reveal the core frame, which then tilts up slightly for easier access to the components (or probably just to make it look cool). Surprisingly, we heard from ASUS that it intends to mass produce this awesome machine, but there’s no word on whether it’s an Autobot or a Decepticon. Our money’s on the latter. Anyhow, we’ve got a video clip after the break.
http://www.engadget.com/embed-5min/?sid=577&playList=518858599&responsive=false
Via: Engadget Chinese
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