Tech News Today 501

Tech News Today Episode 501

Tech News Today 501: Shake That Bluetooth

Lenovo ditches the ThinkPad keyboard, AMD launches Trinity, Nvidia might eliminate the need for game consoles, and more.

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Hosts

• Tom Merritt (@acedtect)
  • TomMerritt.com
• Sarah Lane (@SarahLane)
  • SarahLane.com
• Iyaz Akhtar (@Iyaz)
• Chad Johnson (@omgchad)
• Christopher Null (@christophernull)

Top Stories

• Lenovo announces 2012 ThinkPad lineup, including Ivy Bridge and revamped keyboards
• Lenovo intros new Ivy Bridge ThinkPads, including X1 Carbon ultrabook
  • General Specs: Ivy Bridge, USB 3.0 and what's likely to get people's attention: new keyboards. The venerable ThinkPad keyboard now is a chicklet style, but Nate Ralph at The Verge says the keyboard "doesn't disappoint."
  • Lenovo's RapidBoot and Bootshield bring boot times to under 30 seconds (Lenovo says that boot times are 40% faster than typical Win7 machines)
  • RapidCharge: bring battery up to 80% charged in as little as 30 mins.
  • Some come with 4G
  • ThinkPad X, T, W and L series. IdeaPads
• Standouts: The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
  • 14-inch ultra book. 3 pounds, claim is world's lightest, 1600 x 900 res, carbon fiber roll cage, 3G broadband optional. Price not given, available in summer
• ThinkPad X230t convertible tablet
  • 12-inch ultraportable, LTE
  • ThinkPad 430s brings Thunderbolt (approx $1400)

• Facebook’s new IPO range: $34 to $38 per share
• Facebook IPO: Instagram Closing No Longer Expected in 2Q
• Facebook approved to trade on Nasdaq days ahead of rumored Friday IPO
• Facebook is a fad, say half of people polled
• Facebook “Acqhires” Mobile Photo Sharing Company Lightbox
• GM plans to stop advertising on Facebook
  • Facebook filed a new paperwork amendment for its IPO:
    • share price range now to as much as $34-$38/share. original $29-$34, back to $100B valuation, FB expected to price its stock Thursday afternoon
    • updated language on FB Instagram acquisition, deal is expected to close in 2012, previous docs said deal would close in Q2 of 2012. As we mentioned previously, FTC had launched a probe into sale, not uncommon for big sales. last week Reuters reported FTC has contacted Google and Twitter in connection with initial review of the merger.
    • analysts weighing in, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia has a “buy” rating on Facebook, with a target price of $46. (noted mobile growth & chinese market as key areas, could triple rev growth in 5 years
    • Zuck might not ring bell when stock goes public on trading floor
    • Half of the 1K people polled by the Associated Press and CNBC called Facebook a passing fad. 51% have a favorable impression of the company, while 23% unfavorable. Half polled believe the initial asking price is too high, while just a third feel the value is appropriate. BUT those results are based on Facebook's original asking price.
  • Facebook has agreed to pay Instagram $200 million in cash if regulators block the deal
  • Facebook “acqhired” the full team from mobile photo-sharing service Lightbox on Tuesday, snapping up engineering talent before the IPO. All 7 members of the London-based Lightbox will join the company, but Facebook won’t acquire user data previously held by the service. hiring for talent
  • Users will have until June 15 to download their information from Lightbox, after which the company will shut down the service. After that, Lightbox says, the company will be open-sourcing some of its code for Lightbox, and posting it to Github for all to use and see.
  • also bought Glancee last week, passive location
  • ATD notes Lightbox was predominantly focused not just on mobile, but on coding for the Android platform.

Discussion Stories

• Full Samsung Galaxy S III manual available for download
• Samsung update list
• Samsung Galaxy S III Manual
• Samsung fills out Android 4.0 ICS upgrade list with T-Mobile devices
• Samsung Galaxy S III gets permission to enter US, still only with HSPA+
  • Samsung also updated it's list of phones slated for ICS updates: T-Mobile's version of the Galaxy S II, the Galaxy S Blaze 4G, as well as the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus and the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Still no dates though.
  • Samsung made the manual for SGSIII available for download (186 pages) - Launches Europe May 29
  • HSPA+ SGSIII hits the FCC for approval - 2100 mAh battery Globally available May 29

• AMD launches second-generation APU processor series
• AMD launches Trinity processors: the Ivy Bridge alternative
• AMD unveils Trinity chipsets to challenge Ivy Bridge
• AMD A10-4600M Review: Mobile Trinity Gets Tested
  • AMD launching second generation A-sereies APUs (code named Trinity - Ivy Bridge competitor)
  • 28% CPU and a 56% GPU performance increase over Llano.. 12 hour battery life --
  • dual-core 17-watt and quad-core 25-watt, still 32 nm, Piledriver microarchitecture
  • Discrete-GPU VLIW4 based on Radeon HD 7000 (supports DirectX 11)
  • Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba all have laptops coming
  • Pushing that Trinity can handle 30 fps and si optimized for gaming and video
• Mainstream (35W)
  • 2.3GHz A10-4600M, HD 7660G
  • 1.9GHz A8-4500M, HD 7640G
  • 2.7GHz A6-4400M, HD 7520G
• Low-voltage (25W)
  • 2.0GHz A10-4655M, HD 7620G
• Ultralow voltage (17W)
  • 2.1GHz A6-4455M, HD 7500G

• Nvidia announces Tesla K10 and K20 GPUs
• Nvidia announces the Nvidia VGX, the world's first GPU developed for cloud computing
• Nvidia announces GeForce Grid: cloud gaming on a distributed GPU, with games by Gaikai
• Nvidia poised to change gaming with cloud graphics chips
• 2012 GPU Technology conference in San Jose
• Nvidia announced two new Kepler based processing units for high-performance computing part of CUDA 5 platform
  • Tesla K10 based on GK104 (found in GTX 680 and 690) available immediately
  • Tesla K20 based on new GK110 core available Q4
  • For pros who want max performance and smart resource allocation with good energy efficiency
• World's first GPU for cloud computing- Nvidia VGX - implement in data center, employees can access virtual machine from any device - can serve up to 100 users
  • Demo showed iPad with Citrix Receiver connected to VGX running 3D simulation,and Windows Autodesk-- then MacBook Air accessing ILM render farm to make real-time changes to The Avengers and Battleship scenes
  • Planning to bring it to gamers as well
  • Each VGX board itself contains four GPUs, each with 192 CUDA cores and 4GB of frame buffer — it also has 16GB of onboard memory and uses the standard PCI Express interface.
  • Nvidia's partnered with Gaikai, and claims that the GeForce Grid GPU has reduced latency of streaming games to just ten milliseconds by capturing and encoding game frames rapidly, and in a single pass, and promises that the enhanced Gaikai service will be available on TVs, tablets and smartphones running Android and iOS.
  • Showed an unreleased game called "Hawken" that pairs Asus Transformer Prime playing against LG Cinema TV.

News Fuse

• T-Mobile's CEO Philipp Humm sent out a memo to employees telling them of the company's plans to restructure. Back in March, Humm announced layoffs with a net loss of 1,000 jobs. The memo about the restructuring did not detail how many others will be out of work, but T-Mobile has confirmed with news outlets that 900 jobs will be cut.

• An update to Chrome will soon bring tab syncing across machines if you're logged into Chrome. A stable version of Chrome 19 is out today, but the tab sync feature will be rolled out over the weeks. The feature will also work on Chrome for Android beta.

• Well that Chrome tab syncing feature may be a lot more interesting to lots of people because Macquarie Equities Research says that Google Chrome should be coming to iOS. The firm says the app will be approved this quarter and believes the move is partially motivated for financial reasons - Google pays Apple for the use of Google searches in Safari for iOS.

• The Counting Crows have released four tracks from its new album for free in a partnership with BitTorrent. The band's lead singer, Adam Duritz likened BitTorrent to a radio station - saying it's actually better since people can play songs as much as they want. The band is asking listeners to buy the full album if they want more.

• ESPN Executive Sean Bratches says the network would consider including its WatchESPN app on the AppleTV with authentication. WatchESPN is already available on some Xboxes and Bratches said "We're a platform-agnostic content company." Before you start getting giddy, ESPN said that a deal isn't imminent.

• Like the look of those Google glasses but wish someone else made them? Well, tough! Google has patented the ornamental design of its Google Glasses. The device frame and the display device are covered by three patents. These are design patents and only cover the look of the glasses and Google could license those patents if it wanted.

• Wanted a Hackintosh by Psystar? Well, tough! The United States Supreme Court refused to hear Psytar's case. A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision stopped Psystar from selling OS X powered machines without Apple's approval. With the Supreme Court not reviewing the case, looks like it's the end of Psystar's Hackintoshes.

• The Wall Street Journal reports that Google plans to give OEMs early access to future versions of Android (like Jelly Bean) and Google would sell those devices directly to consumers in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. Instead of just pairing with one manufacturer, Google is looking at as many as five partners to build a line of Nexus devices that would include tablets and phones. The line should be ready by late November.

• Forget about that Apple iTV. LG showed off its GoogleTV-enabled TV and it's got some snazzy specs. It's the first 3D-enabled GoogleTV and the TV comes with a dual-core CPU. Additionally, it comes with LG's "Magic Remote" that lets you wave the remote around to control it and has a mic to handle voice commands.

Randomizer

• A NeoGaf forum poster finished Diablo III in record time, starting at launch and playing straight through for 12 hours and 29 minutes. Playing as a Barbarian, he reached Level 32 by the time he had finished. - MMOSite reports that several players have taken down the final boss in around seven hours, throwing up the screenshots to prove it too.

Calendar

• The Oracle v. Google patent case is now in the hands of a jury, lawyers for both companies presented their closing arguments this morning.

• Alsup did order that Oracle should submit “a detailed offer of proof as to nexus,” explaining the correlation of the test files and nine lines in rangeCheck with infringer’s profits by 9PM PDT on Tuesday evening.

• Verizon's 4G LTE spreading to 28 new markets on May 17. Houma/Thibodaux and Lake Charles, La.; Hyannis/Mid-Cape, Mass.; Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, Mich.; Biloxi/Gulfport/Pascagoula and Oxford, Miss.; Atlantic City/Toms River, N.J.; Dickinson and Williston, N.D.; Ashtabula, Bucyrus, and Defiance, Ohio; Eugene/Springfield, Ore.; Lancaster, New Castle, Northern Cambria County, Oil City/Franklin, Somerset, and York, Pa.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Mitchell, S.D.; Paris, Texas; Burlington/Northern, Vt.; Fredericksburg, Harrisonburg, Martinsville, and Staunton/Waynesboro, Va.; and finally Sheridan, Wyo.

INCOMING

Email

"Howdy TNT,

Your show is the only one I hear about the Apple/Proview ipad name lawsuit. I've actually got a working 15" Proview Ipad LCD monitor. As the case is coming close to a settlement seems like a good time to put together some image/joke for feedback on your show.

but . . . having trouble figuring out the best short way to make this funny.

- static image of the ipad home screen on the monitor? - video of me trying to touch the icons from that image? (not a touch monitor) - video of someone actually touching/using an ipad menu on this monitor - craigslist add for 15" ipad (this could be good)

Thoughts? Interested in building a gag here?

Jeff Spencer"

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Production Information

• Edited by: Chad
• Notes:

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