ConceivablyTech

AMD Consumerizes: Tablet SoCs Ahead

Wolfgang Gruener — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:19:19 +0000

In its first public presentation, AMD's new leadership explained a new direction of the company to align itself with an evolving CPU and GPU market. In 2013, AMD will be releasing its first SoCs for desktop and tablet computers. Execution will be key for the company to succeed in a highly competitive market that is dominated by ARM vendors and challenged by Intel.

2012: The Year The Old Browser Died

Wolfgang Gruener — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:29:41 +0000

January 2012 has been a remarkable month for the web browser as we know it. Those who closely follow the popularity of web browsers already know that Chrome has, according to StatCounter, surpassed Firefox in market share in November 2011, thus rearranging the rules of the browser game and turning it, for now, into a two-horse race. Now, Chrome is beginning to approach IE in most regions around the globe and has reduced its distance to IE, on one day, to less than four percentage points. If the current trend, which has lasted for more than 3 years, continues, then Google will surpass IE within 3 months.

Will You Wait For The Intel Phone And The ARM Notebook?

Wolfgang Gruener — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:59:07 +0000

Intel will try to prove its claims that it can be a powerful manufacturer of processors for smartphones and tablets when its Medfield platform emerges in commercial products in H2 this year. In the same time frame, ARM vendors will release their first notebooks that challenge, conceivably, Intel's most important and profitable business today. Both Intel and ARM are staging aggressive launches and prepare for a fight that will be much more bloody than the historic processor battles between AMD and Intel. Does Intel have what it takes to dent ARM's segmentation-driven application processor market? Can ARM deliver processors that are compelling enough to face Intel's prestigious and performance-driven CPUs?

Amazon Vs. eBay And The Soup Nazi Customer Experience

Rob Enderle — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:05:16 +0000

eBay has never been a huge attraction for me as the idea of entering into auctions on-line just wasn’t something that I was that interested in. However after hosting me on campus last year, I was convinced that eBay was trying to be more like Amazon in terms of buying experience and they were showcasing an interesting additional step of providing apps that could point you to stores that had products you might want to buy. In other words, they were moving beyond actions and into consumer-focused commerce much more aggressively.

“Stumpy” Could Be First To Get Google’s HW Accelerated Chrome OS UI

Wolfgang Gruener — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:53:37 +0000

Chrome developer François Beaufort has posted a screenshot that apparently has been taken on Samsung's upcoming Chrome OS desktop PC. The big news here is that the hardware-accelerated Aura UI that promises a much richer interface for the user while leveraging the horsepower of a graphics chip will be part of Stumpy. The Chromebox will also integrate more hardware horsepower with an Intel Sandy Bridge processor.

Mainstreaming The Hybrid: 2012 Buick LaCrosse eAssist

Wolfgang Gruener — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:24:41 +0000

Full Review - Buying a 2012 LaCrosse could expose you to what appears to be a trick question: Do you get the 303 hp 6-cylinder or the 182 hp 4-cylinder + 15 hp electric motor - for the same price? The case for the eLaCrosse is not exactly convincing and quite confusing, but it's something we may have to get used to sooner or later.

Intel’s 1.6 GHz Smartphone SoC: Enough To Beat Snapdragon?

Wolfgang Gruener — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:28:31 +0000

Intel unveiled at CES its much anticipated entry in the smartphone battle. Previously code-named Medfield, the Atom Z2460 lacks a snappy name, but it arrives with promising features. Intel has struck a partnership with Motorola as well as Lenovo to get the chip into a commercial devices as early as Q2, but only in China initially. There was also Clover Trail, Intel's SoC for tablets and hybrids.

The Dark Horse Among Tablets In 2012

Kurt Bakke — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:02:10 +0000

We are seeing plenty of new tablets emerge at the CES 2012, which opened earlier today with a record number of more than 3100 exhibitors that have prepared more than 25,000 product announcements that are available to about 150,000 visitors over the next few days. Among those tablets is a particularly noteworthy device that could have a huge impact on the tablet market, if it works as promised.

CES And Microsoft: The Fire Is Gone

Wolfgang Gruener — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:04:31 +0000

Recap - The CES opening keynote has, traditionally been not just a keynote. Placed in the heart of the Las Vegas strip, the opening keynote has always been a show with flashy announcements and explorations of future computer and consumer electronics technologies (with the exception of the initial Bill Gates appearance in 1998). After 13 keynotes, Microsoft will depart from CES and some may agree that it was time for Microsoft to move on as there were no CES worthy announcements during a 70 minute marketing pitch that was an hour too long.

HP Spectre: A Better Dell Adamo

Rob Enderle — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:35:24 +0000

Earlier today, HP launched the HP Envy 14 Spectre and I was immediately reminded of the 2009 Dell Adamo, which was Dell’s halo product that year. Both are wrapped in glass, both look stunning in black and both would cause you to drool. But the Adamo was a bit ahead of its time, Intel hadn’t yet figured out how to package performance, we weren’t yet divorced from our optical drives (streaming was in its infancy), and Adamo had some nasty tradeoffs, not the least of which was a very high price.