AMD had back from its second quarter slump, and the company has held its word, reporting a net income $48 million in its Q3 financial reports.
AMD cites growth in its Graphics and Visual Solutions (GVS) division, which is responsible for semi-custom products like the chips bound for the upcoming PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the current Wii U.
“We achieved 26 percent sequential revenue growth driven by our semi-custom business and remain committed to generating approximately 50 percent of revenue from high-growth markets over the next two years,” AMD President and CEO Rory Read stated in the earnings announcement.
The Sunnyvale firm (AMD) on Thursday reported a third-quarter profit of $48 million, or 6 cents a share, on revenue of $1.46 billion. During the same period a year ago, the semiconductor maker lost 21 cents a share on $1.27 billion in sales. Excluding one-time items, AMD would have earned 4 cents a share.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast AMD to earn 2 cents a share on $1.42 billion in revenue. AMD shares fell almost 8% in after hours trading. The company said it expects fourth-quarter sales in a range that could fall below analysts’ forecasts of $1.52 billion.
Other story: Origin PC drops AMD graphics options due to feedback. Origin PC’s move is a blow to AMD’s image; it suggests that the chip designer needs more than just advanced silicon to please gamers.
This decision was based on a combination of many factors including customer experiences, GPU performance/drivers/stability, and requests from our support staff. Based on our 15+ years of experience building and selling award winning high-performance PCs, we strongly feel the best PC gaming experience is on NVIDIA GPUs.
However, not every portion of AMD’s business is flourishing, however – both its Computing Solutions and GPU segments saw a drop in revenue over the past year, and the company admits that it’s shipping fewer notebook chipsets these days. Even so, the numbers bode well for the company, which posted a total revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, alongside an optimistic outlook. After all, the company’s Mantle graphics cards are just around the corner.
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With more than 200 million users worldwide, Viber’s also taking this day to announce what it is referring to as the biggest update to the service yet.
Viber has just been outed for Windows and Mac PC’s, bringing the popular cross-platform VoIP service to desktops.
If you’re looking for an alternative to Skype, Viber now gives users the ability to place calls not only to other mobile users, but also to desktops.
For starters, the Viber for Android and iOS applications have both been on the receiving end of a pretty meaningful refresh, following the recent introduction of VoIP calling on older versions of BlackBerry OS. An all-new desktop app will, as of today, also be available to Viber users on a Mac or PC (Linux coming soon, we’re told), packing in most of the features the service is well-known for but in a less-mobile form.
Setting up Viber Desktop uses the same process that the popular mobile app uses, with your mobile number being used as your unique user ID. Your contacts who have Viber are automatically added from your contact list, and are seamlessly synced between your mobile and desktop versions.
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The new desktop version coincides with version 3.0 of the popular platform, which adds significant updates to the mobile (Android, iOS, and BlackBerry) versions of the app, but also include video messages, enhanced photo support, a new voice engine, and support for some 20 languages overall.
VIBER RELEASES DESKTOP VERSION – YOU’LL WANT TO SIT DOWN FOR THIS
Leading Free Messaging And VoIP Platform Unveils Windows And Mac Versions With Video Calls; Launches Version 3.0 Of Its Platform, Completely Redesigns Viber for Android, Supports Eight Additional Languages And Announces It Has 200 Million Users
LONDON – May 7, 2013, Viber, the leading mobile communications platform offering free messaging and HD-quality phone calls, announces today the release of Viber Desktop for PC and Mac. The new versions seamlessly integrate with existing mobile versions of the app and provide the same super-simple setup process that uses your phone number as your ID.
The company also announced today that it has over 200 million users across the various platforms that it supports.
Viber has revolutionized free messaging and VoIP on mobile with its popular app for leading platforms including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and others. Now with the release of Viber Desktop, users have one easy-to-use and always available solution for free messages and calls.
One of the strengths of Viber is its easy activation process. The company has replicated the same process with Viber Desktop. As soon as you enter your mobile number and a confirmation code which is sent to your mobile Viber app, you are ready to go! All of your mobile Viber contacts are instantly and continuously synced from your mobile Viber to Viber Desktop.
Viber Desktop and the latest versions of the Viber app were designed from the ground up for individuals using Viber on multiple devices, so you can always use the app that’s right for you, whether at home, in school, at the office, or on the go. Viber offers far more flexibility than any similar product. Some of the key combined features include:
Seamlessly transfer calls between Viber Desktop and the Viber app with one click or tap
Received and Sent messages are shown on all devices, but will only “beep” on the device you are currently using
Messages and conversations you delete from one device will be removed from all devices
On top of this, Viber Desktop is Viber’s first application to offer video calls. With this new beta feature, users can now make desktop-to-desktop video calls to other Viber users.
“People spend a substantial amount of time on their smartphones,” said Talmon Marco, CEO of Viber. “However, a lot of that usage takes place at home or in the office, where they have laptops or desktops close by. With Viber Desktop you always get to use the most convenient device. You can seamlessly switch devices while messaging and even transfer calls between your mobile and desktop.”
The release of Viber Desktop is part of the roll out of Viber 3.0, the next major version of the platform. The 3.0 release includes major updates to both the Android and iOS versions of the app, as well as a new version for BlackBerry that ensures voice calling as well as compatibility with Viber Desktop.
Viber for Android now features a completely redesigned “Holo” interface as well as numerous Android specific optimizations.
Both the Android and iOS versions were not only designed to ensure seamless communication with the new desktop version but also include a host of new features.
Key highlights of the new versions include:
Video messages
New stickers
Last online status
Enhanced photo experience
Performance improvements
New voice engine
Android version security fix
On top of this, Viber now speaks your language, with support for eight new languages and 20 languages overall. Supported languages include (new in Bold): Arabic, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
About Viber:
Viber is developed by Viber Media, a pioneering mobile messaging and VoIP company. Viber lets everyone in the world connect. Freely. Viber users can send free text messages, photo messages, share locations anywhere in the world, and make free, HD-quality calls on iPhone®, Android,™ Windows Phone, Blackberry®, Windows®, Mac, Symbian, Nokia S40 and Bada devices over 3G/4G or WiFi connections. With more than 200 million users in 193 countries, Viber is constantly innovating by introducing new platforms and adding fun new features including stickers and emoticons.
Four new desktop models from Sony’s VAIO L Series will be released on May 18. This included 3 touch panel models and 1 non-touch panel model. All feature 24-inch (1920×1080) LED Full HD displays, Windows 8 64 bit, upgradable to Windows 8 Pro, Intel Core i7 or i5, 8GB memory, upgradable to 16GB, and 2 TB or 3 TB HDD.
L series:
SVL24149CJB – About ¥255,000
– Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor (2.40 GHz)
– 3D compliant 24 inch (1920×1080) display
– Memory: 8GB/ Max 16GB, HDD: 3TB
– Windows 8 64 bit, upgradable to Windows 8 Pro
– Color: black
– Touch panel
SVL24148CJW, B – About ¥230,000
– Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor (2.40 GHz)
– 24 inch (1920×1080) display
– Memory: 8GB/ Max 16GB, HDD: 3TB
– Windows 8 64 bit, upgradable to Windows 8 Pro
– Color: white, black
– Touch panel
SVL24147CJW, B – About ¥210,000
– Intel Core i5-3230M Processor (2.60 GHz)
– 24 inch (1920×1080) display
– Memory: 8GB/ Max 16GB, HDD: 3TB
– Windows 8 64 bit, upgradable to Windows 8 Pro
– Color: white, black
– Touch panel
SVL24146CJWI – About ¥190,000
– Intel Core i5-3230M Processor (2.60 GHz)
– 24 inch (1920×1080) display
– Memory: 8GB/ Max 16GB, HDD: 2TB
– Windows 8 64 bit, upgradable to Windows 8 Pro
– Color: white
– Non-touch panel
Apple finally came clear about the launch date of its new generation of iMacs. Thinner, faster and DVD-less, the new iMacs will hit it off this Friday, November 30.
Unfortunately, it’s only the 21.5-inch (1920x1080px) model that will ship immediately. The 27-inch iMac (2560x1444px) will join the little one in early December and it would only be available online.
The new iMacs have a new, slimmer build, a less reflective screen, and feature Fusion drive, Apple’s latest hip name for a hybrid drive. Apple’s drive, however is not any hybrid drive. The Fusion drive pairs a 1TB standard drive with a 128GB worth of flash storage to deliver faster performance in most tasks. Mac OS will auto manage the drive, deciding which files to store on the flash portion for speedier access. Of course, Fusion drive is an option and it will cost you extra.
Price-wise, the 21.5-inch model starts from $1299/€1349 for a a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Nvidia GeForce GT 640M graphics.
The 27-inch model starts from $1799/€1879 for a 2.9GHz quad-core Core i5 with Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M graphics.
Google has already unveiled the indoor plans for Google Maps on Android smartphones. As of today, the service is also available on the desktop web version, which you probably use on your computer.
Not only that, but the map data is no longer limited to places in France, but has now been expanded to include select locations and places of interest in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Japan, the UK, the US, Sweden, and Switzerland.
You can go ahead and give it a try on your desktop computer straight ahead.
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Search any of the places in the list, then zoom in down to street level and you would see their building plans. Of course, you have to be in the map view mode – this magic doesn’t work in Satellite view.
Google has done some minor modifications to their SERP (search engine results page). The new design mostly involves rearranging the navigation controls around. As you can see from the screenshot above, the navigation controls, which previously could be found on the side, have now been moved up top. This works fine for usual web search but poses new problems for image search.
Earlier when you made an image search on Google, you would see options for image size, image type, etc. on the sidebar and you could quickly click them. In the new layout, these additional options are hidden inside a drop down menu called Search tools. Opening it reveals other options, such as Any time, Any size, Any color, etc., so you then have to click on those to access the submenus. So essentially your one click process has now turned into a three click process.
Moving the navigation controls up top has freed up space on the side. The image view fills it with image results, so you now have images spanning the entire width of your browser window. Web searches, however, just show blank white space on the side, which looks remarkably like Bing now.
There seems to be an issue with the ads for now because of which you won’t see them on the side anymore but that’s probably a temporary issue.
Today’s event wasn’t all about the iPadmini, and Apple has just unveiled its first redesign to its iMac desktop in three years.
The new all-in-one makes the widely expected leap to Intel’s Ivy Bridge Core i5 and Core i7 processors, but also represents a much leaner and meaner replacement for the 2009-era template – its edges are just 5mm thick, and it’s constructed with “friction stir welding” as well as a gapless, less reflective display that’s laminated together with the glass.
The new generations of the iMac will gather the same screen sizes and include both a 21.5-inch, 1080p model and a 27-inch, 2,560 x 1,400 model – unfortunately there’s no Retina displays. Both have a 720p-capable front cameras with dual mics as well as NVIDIA’s GeForce 600-era graphics, up to 32GB of RAM and a panoply of storage options that peak at 3TB of spinning storage, a 768GB SSD or what Apple calls a Fusion Drive that mixes both 128GB of flash with 1TB or 3TB of conventional storage (a hybrid drive, for those of us who’ve seen it before). Unfortunately there’s no optical drive unless you plug in a USB option (What a deception for a all-in-one).
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Finally, the 21.5-inch model will be available in November, and will cost you $1,299 for a 2.7GHz Core i5, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. And concerning the 27-inch iMac model will goes at $1,799 and you’ll get a 2.9GHz Core i5 as well as the same memory and storage, and will not be available until December .
All-New iMac Features Stunning Design, Brilliant Display & Faster Performance
SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple® today unveiled a completely new iMac® with a stunning design, brilliant display with reduced reflection, and faster processors.* With third generation Intel quad-core processors, powerful NVIDIA graphics and an innovative new storage option called Fusion Drive, the new iMac is the most advanced desktop Apple has ever made.
“With a stunning design, brilliant display and faster performance, we’ve made the world’s leading all-in-one desktop computer better in every way,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The all-new iMac is unbelievably thin, yet packs an incredible amount of performance and technology into our most innovative desktop.”
Redesigned from the inside out, the new iMac packs high-performance technology into an aluminum and glass enclosure with up to 40 percent less volume than its predecessor and an edge that measures just 5 mm thin. Built with an unprecedented level of fit and finish, the new iMac delivers an amazing desktop experience in a gorgeous design. The new iMac also features a completely reengineered display that reduces reflection by 75 percent while maintaining brilliant color and contrast. In the new design, the cover glass is fully laminated to the LCD and an anti-reflective coating is applied using a high-precision plasma deposition process. Every iMac display is individually calibrated using an advanced spectroradiometer.
The new iMac features third generation quad-core Intel Core i5 processors that can be upgraded to Core i7. The latest NVIDIA GeForce processors deliver up to 60 percent faster performance for advanced gaming and graphics intensive apps. Every new iMac now comes standard with 8GB of 1600 MHz memory and a 1TB hard drive, and customers can choose to configure their iMac with up to 32GB of memory and a new 3TB hard drive, or 768GB of flash storage for ultimate performance. With two Thunderbolt and four USB 3.0 ports, the new iMac delivers even greater expandability and support for high-performance peripherals.
Fusion Drive is an innovative new storage option that gives customers the performance of flash storage and the capacity of a hard drive. It combines 128GB of flash with a standard 1TB or 3TB hard drive to create a single storage volume that intelligently manages files to optimize read and write performance. Fusion Drive adapts to the way you use your iMac and automatically moves the files and apps you use most often to flash storage to enable faster performance and quicker access.
Apple also updated the Mac® mini with third generation dual-core Intel Core i5 and quad-core Intel Core i7 processors that are up to twice as fast and have integrated graphics that are up to 65 percent faster.** Mac mini comes standard with 4GB of 1600 MHz memory with support for up to 16GB. Retaining its amazingly compact aluminum design, the new Mac mini now includes four USB 3.0 ports in addition to its Thunderbolt, HDMI, SDXC, Gigabit Ethernet, and FireWire® 800 ports.
Both iMac and Mac mini meet stringent Energy Star 5.2 requirements and achieve an EPEAT Gold rating.*** iMac uses up to 50 percent less energy than the previous generation when idle, and features LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Mac mini retains its status as the world’s most energy efficient desktop computer, using only 11W when idle. Both the iMac and Mac mini include PVC-free components and cables, contain no brominated flame retardants, and use highly recyclable materials and material-efficient packaging designs.
iMac and Mac mini ship with OS X® Mountain Lion, bringing Messages, Notification Center, system-wide Sharing, AirPlay® Mirroring, Dictation, Game Center and the enhanced security of Gatekeeper to your Mac. With iCloud® built into the foundation of OS X, Mountain Lion makes it easier than ever to keep your content up to date across your Mac, iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch®.
Pricing & Availability
The 21.5-inch iMac is available with a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.2 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US); and with a 2.9 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US). The 21.5-inch iMac will be available in November through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The 27-inch iMac is available with a 2.9 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US); and with a 3.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US). The 27-inch iMac will be available in December through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The Mac mini is available with a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1 GHz, 4GB of memory and a 500GB hard drive for a suggested retail price of $599 (US); a 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3 GHz, 4GB of memory and a 1TB hard drive for a suggested retail price of $799 (US); and a 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3 GHz, OS X Server, 4GB of memory and two 1TB hard drives for a suggested retail price of $999 (US). The Mac mini is available today through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at apple.com/imac or apple.com/mac-mini.
*Testing conducted by Apple in October 2012 using preproduction iMac configurations. For more information visit apple.com/imac/features/.
**Testing conducted by Apple in October 2012 using preproduction Mac mini configurations. For more information visit apple.com/mac-mini/features.html.
***Claim based on energy efficiency categories and products listed within the EPA ENERGY STAR 5.2 energy database as of October 2012. EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit http://www.epeat.net.
HP has showcased their All-in-One desktop PC running Windows 8 the brand new SpectreONE. HP claims that the SpectreONE is the thinnest AiO PC in their portfolio, with a 11.5mm .
HP has settled this achievement of thickness by removing several key features, most notably a touchscreen display and an optical drive. The SpectreONE instead comes with a standard 23.6-inch 1080p display and a multi-touch trackpad, which looks pretty much identical to the Magic Trackpad that Apple provides with the iMac.
Under the hood of the SpectreONE, we have the “latest” Intel processor, an NVIDIA GPU with 1GB VRAM, optional ExpressCache, optional SSD, two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI-in and Beats Audio. The SpectreONE will also has a built-in NFC which can be used to instantly transfer content from your smartphone by tapping it to the base of the SpectreONE.
Finally the HP SpectreONE is expected to be released in the US in November 14’th for a price of 1,299 $.
Sony unveiled one sweet looking Hybrid PC at its pre-IFA press conference, the new VAIO Duo 11, along with the Tap 20 Touch AIO PC.
The VAIO Duo 11 will runs on Windows 8/ 8 Pro and not the RT version, it has a slide-out backlit QWERTY keyboard, and a 11.6″ OptiContrast FullHD 1920×1080 capacitive touchscreen and is powered by Intel Ivy Bridge i7, i5 and i3 processors with Intel HD Graphics 4000. The Sony VAIO Duo 11 packs either 4 GB or 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4, USB 3.0, a SD card slot, two FullHD 2MP cameras at the front and back, the NFC connectivity, and can be used with a Sony digitizer stylus.
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The VAIO Duo 11 weighs 1.3 kg with the standard battery and is just 18 mm thick. It will be available from the end of October, in “selected countries”, after the Windows 8 launch.
Akibatech31 