Isn't it time you went hands-free with a Bluetooth headset? Here's what you need to look for when choosing the perfect companion for your mobile phone.
Picking the right Bluetooth headset might seem simple, but it actually comes with a challenge that's unique to all headphones, and, well, anything that needs to be placed in your ear: It's tough (and not completely sanitary) to try products out before plunking down the cash for them. But a major component of a headset's success depends on how it feels and fits—and that varies widely from person to person, and even from ear to ear. Other factors including sound quality, design and style, battery life, and extra features are important, too. We've come up with eight points you should consider when shopping for your next Bluetooth headset:
1. Call Quality
If call quality is the most important consideration for you, you'll want to check out the Plantronics Voyager 520, the Aliph New Jawbone, or the Motorola MotoPURE H15. (The latter two incorporate noise-cancellation technology; more on that later.) Call quality varies widely among products, but we're pleased to report that even the most recent, smaller, fashion-conscious models like the drop-dead-gorgeous Plantronics Discovery 925 finally sound as good as their larger counterparts, despite having tiny microphones and speakers.
2. Noise Cancellation
Aliph's original Jawbone introduced noise-cancellation technology to the masses. The popular model is still a solid benchmark in noise-canceling performance, although Aliph's New Jawbone steps it up with more advanced NoiseAssassin technology. Some headsets, like the BlueAnt Z9i, also do a fine job at blocking out noise and are more comfortable than the Jawbone models, which need to sit snugly against your cheek for the best performance.
3. Battery Life
As for endurance, a guiding principle: If you don't want to charge, go large. Some of the bulkier, less fashionable headsets like the Plantronics Voyager 520 can last almost 9 hours on a single charge. The original Aliph Jawbone makes it to about 6 hours. The New Jawbone drops that down to a shade below 4 hours owing to its smaller, slimmer design, which lacks the room necessary for a large battery. The same is true of the Motorola H15.
4. Comfort
Again, this is a tough one. Some models, like the original SoundID SM100 and the newer Plantronics Voyager 835, feature a rubber earbud that sits partially inside your ear. While some may find this uncomfortable, I think it creates a secure fit without being too tight. (I find both of these models very comfortable.) Others, like the Cardo S-800 and the Samsung WEP700, sit on the edge of your ear, while the Plantronics Voyager 510 and 520 rely more heavily on their requisite ear hooks for balance and comfort. It's all a matter of personal preference, really.
5. Style
A certain portion of the population thinks that all Bluetooth headsets look silly. A certain portion of the population thinks that all Bluetooth headsets look silly—a view that's reinforced whenever they see people walking down the street wearing one, even when not in use. If you want the best-looking device you can find, the sleek, hatpin-like Plantronics Discovery 925 and the tiny but cute Motorola H15 score points for their fetching designs. The slight but attractive Aliph New Jawbone is another head turner. Still, limiting headset use to your desk or the car will keep disapproving stares to a minimum.
6. Range
There's not much variation in range of operation, except for the Callpod Dragon, which achieved close to 50 feet on our tests. Most headsets are limited to a theoretical range of 33 feet, which is a limitation of Bluetooth technology. Typically, you can go a good 10 to 15 feet before static starts to creep in.
7. Mono vs. Stereo Sound
Most Bluetooth headsets provide mono sound and fit in a single ear. But if you want to listen to stereo music wirelessly—say, for your workout—a few of the latest dual-ear models, like the MotoROKR S9-HD and the Altec Lansing BackBeat, are worth considering. Die-hard audiophiles, on the other hand, should stick with wired earphones for the best sound quality. But when it comes to pure convenience, it's tough to beat a stereo Bluetooth set, especially since these models let you listen to your tunes and take calls from your Bluetooth-enabled phone.
8. Bonus Features
Depending on the device you choose, you can get one (or more) nifty extras. Some headsets, like the Plantronics Voyager 520, let you pair up to two devices simultaneously; that means you can switch between PC-based VoIP calls and cell-phone calls all day without pairing and re-pairing each time. The BlueAnt V1 lets you speak commands and gives you voice-based tutorials, and the Callpod Dragon has a two-way communication mode so that you and a friend can talk to each other while riding bicycles, for example. One of the more innovative headsets we've seen, the Iqua 603 SUN integrates a solar panel that keeps its battery charged with the sun's rays.
Sabtu, 21 Februari 2009
How to Buy a Bluetooth Headset
How to Buy a Netbook
Seems like everywhere you turn these days—newspapers, magazines, TV shows, even your friends—netbooks are a hot topic for discussion. What has pushed netbooks—very small laptops that run a full-blown Linux or Windows operating system—into the spotlight is the fact that they are capable yet inexpensive, with prices ranging from $300 to $600. Early on, they were considered second computers, best for e-mail and Web surfing—thus the netbook moniker. But as manufacturers compete vigorously for market share—slashing prices and tacking on extras—consumers are reconsidering the roles that netbooks could play. Inexpensive and portable netbooks appeal to a wide audience, from businesspeople who travel frequently, to kids and home users looking for a small laptop to carry from room to room, to book-laden students who spend long hours on campus.
If you're not thinking about buying a netbook, you should be—they're powerful, portable, and inexpensive. Here's what you need to know before you buy.
What Makes Netbooks Different?
It's easy enough to tell a netbook from other laptops, but the differences between one netbook and the next are getting fewer and fewer. They generally have 8-to-10-inch widescreens and lack built-in optical drives. None have full-size keyboards—they usually range from 89 percent to 93 percent of full size—so expect a more cramped typing experience than with a mainstream laptop. (If at all possible, try out the keyboard before you buy.) You will find an abundance of USB ports, a webcam, a card reader, and built-in Wi-Fi. Some even have bonus features like ExpressCard slots, Bluetooth, and options for cellular modems. Most every netbook has adopted the Intel Atom platform, made up of the Atom processor, integrated graphics, and 512MB to 1GB of RAM.
What Can (and Can't) Netbooks Do?
Don't underestimate the capabilities of these machines. They're not just limited to Web surfing, compiling spreadsheets, or word processing. You can offload your photos from a digital camera and edit them using a program like Adobe Photoshop Elements 7. With some patience, you can transcode video to another format using Windows Media Encoder 9 or edit video footage using Adobe Premiere Elements 7, or run your entire music library off of a program like Apple iTunes. A netbook can play video from sites like YouTube or a movie from an external USB drive, unmarred by distortions and lag. Businesses are considering these pint-size laptops because you can run various e-mail clients on them, put them on a network, install a VPN client, and secure them with antivirus and antispyware suites.
Configuring Your Netbook
To get a netbook that does all that you want it to do, you have to follow some basic configuration guidelines. Start with the operating system. Linux is cheap and very user-friendly, but average users tend to be more familiar and comfortable with Windows. What it comes down to is the support, functionality, and compatibility that Windows offers with an enormous range of hardware and software applications—whereas with Linux, users may not want to take the time to learn a new interface, install a program, or figure out how to get a device to work with a particular driver. And when Windows 7 rolls out, it will be even tougher for Linux to get a foothold in the netbook market. You'll find two types of hard drives: solid-state drives (SSDs) and spinning hard drives. While SSDs have faster transfer speeds, are more durable, and have longer life spans than their traditional counterparts, you pay a premium for these advantages. Most netbooks are available with spinning hard drives that can store up to 160GB worth of data. Shoot for a hard drive that has a capacity of at least 60GB and a rotational speed of 5,400 rpm.
The Intel Atom processor is the fastest and most energy-efficient netbook processor you can get. You may find an Intel Celeron M or a VIA processor in first-generation models like the ASUS EeePC 4G and the HP 2133 Mini-Note, but you're better off skipping these. Many netbooks will run fine on 1GB of memory, and most can be upgraded to 2GB, provided you can make this simple addition yourself. (Microsoft has limited manufacturers to including 1GB of memory on systems with Windows XP Home Edition, and a lot of today's netbooks run XP Home.)
Standard netbook batteries are typically three-cell (less than 30 Wh) units, although netbooks like the ASUS EeePC 1000HE, the Acer Aspire One (10-inch), and the Samsung NC10-14GB have upped their standard batteries to six-cell units. Our testing has shown that the smaller batteries will get you anywhere from 2 to 3 hours on a single charge, while the bigger ones range from 6 to 8 hours. If your activities include trips abroad or all-day classes, you'll want to look for a netbook with a six-cell option.
Specialty features aren't exclusive to larger laptops, either. Already, the HP Mini 1000 is bundling mobile broadband, a modem that makes use of cellular networks to acquire a broadband signal. One can accomplish (though not master) gaming—once thought of as an absurd activity on a netbook—on the ASUS N10Jc, thanks to an Nvidia graphics chipset. (The N10Jc also includes Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics, so you can switch between the two chipsets to enhance graphics power or to prolong battery live.) Several netbooks have already been spotted running Windows 7, Microsoft's successor to Windows Vista, and the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 is currently the only netbook shipping with a 12-inch screen. And some laptop makers have imbued their netbooks with sex appeal, even at the modest price points of these units. Both the HP Mini 2140 and the ASUS EeePC 1002HA have sleek-looking aluminum frames. As for the future, if manufacturers can keep netbook prices down, the sky's the limit
Jumat, 20 Februari 2009
Nanotech Drives Transistor, Storage Advances
CHICAGO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Two U.S. teams have developed new materials that may pave the way for ever smaller, faster and more powerful electronics as current semiconductor technology begins to reach the limits of miniaturization.
One team has made tiny transistors—the building block of computer processors—a fraction of the size of those used on advanced silicon chips.
Another has made a film material capable of storing data from 250 DVDs onto a surface the size of a coin.
Both advances, published on Thursday in the journal Science, use nanotechnology—the design and manipulation of materials thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair. Nanotechnology has been hailed as a way to make strong, lightweight materials, better cosmetics and even tastier food.
"We have demonstrated that we can make important technologies that are significantly smaller than existing devices," Jeremy Levy of the University of Pittsburgh said in a statement.
Levy's team created its nanotech transistors using two ceramic crystal materials known as lanthanum aluminate and strontium titanate. When sandwiched together, these natural insulators conduct electricity as a positive charge is passed across them.
Using the tip of an atomic force microscope, Levy's team applied voltage to etch a tiny conducting wire between the two materials, which can later be erased by reversing the charge, much like a child's Etch A Sketch drawing toy.
"The transistor we made is arguably the smallest one that has ever been produced in a deterministic and reliable fashion. And we did it using an instrument that can be miniaturized down to the size of a wristwatch," Levy said in an e-mail.
He said the same materials can be used to make atom-sized transistors for computers, memory devices and sensors.
"In terms of simplicity, it's striking," Alexander Bratkovsky, a scientist for Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) who is familiar with the work, said in a statement.
THIN FILM
Meanwhile, a team from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of California Berkeley said they had found a faster, more efficient way of making a thin semiconductor film that they think could dramatically improve data storage.
Many teams have tried to use polymers to create sheets of semiconductor films but the material often lost its structure when spread over large surfaces.
To overcome this, the team lead by Thomas Russell of the University of Massachusetts heated sapphire crystals to create a specific pattern of ridges on the surface. This served as a guide for the semiconductor film.
"We applied a simple concept to solve several problems at once, and it really worked out," Russell said in a statement.
He said the technology could make nearly perfect arrays of semiconductor material that are about 15 times denser than anything achieved previously.
Google, Yahoo, Microsoft All Show Search Gains
Whether they're searching for jobs or video clips of Britney Spears, Americans conducted 13.5 billion online searches at the core search engines in January, the majority of which were done via Google, according to Wednesday data from comScore.
About 63 percent of January searches were done through Google-owned sites, with 21 percent using Yahoo, and 8.5 percent using Microsoft sites.
hough Google's core search ranking dropped slightly from 63.5 to 63 percent, overall Google sites – including YouTube – attracted 11.7 billion searches, up 5 percent from December. Yahoo saw a 10 percent increase with 2.9 billion searches, and Microsoft inched up about 9 percent with 1.2 billion.
For searches only on the main search page, Google.com attracted 8.5 billion hits, Yahoo.com had 2.8 billion, and MSN.com had 1.14 billion.
Though holiday sales helped boost Amazon's earnings, its search engine did not fare as well, dropping 4 percent to 196 million searches.
Craigslist saw a 28 percent jump with 497 million searches, while eBay was up 8 percent with 541 million, and Facebook jumped 21 percent with 195 million.
Apple iMac (24-inch Penryn)
The Apple iMac (24-inch Penryn) ($1,799 direct) is the iconic all-in-one desktop that others try emulate. Its aluminum-and-glass face evokes the iPhone and iPod Touch, a look that works well. A successor to the aluminum 20-inch iMac, the last model I reviewed, it upgrades the screen to 1,920 by 1,200 pixels—big enough to view true HD video content. This newest iteration of iMac is powered by the new Intel Penryn (45nm) Core 2 Duo E8235 processor, which allows lower energy usage and offers greater computing power than the Merom chips in older iMacs. The extra power helps the iMac maintain its place in the vanguard of all-in-one PCs.
Styling and software on the iMac (24-inch Penryn) are much the same as on its immediate predecessors. The new iMac improves on them mainly by using new processors and other components, like the speedier DDR2 memory. All iMacs now ship standard with 2GB of memory, except for the base 20-inch model ($1,199), which still has 1GB. You won't need to upgrade if you already have a fourth-generation aluminum iMac, but the new iMac is an attractive purchase if your current Mac or PC is more than three years old. Certainly, now is the time to upgrade if you're still using a PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) Mac. The screen itself is so beautiful, it could push you to plunk down a cool $1,800 if you see it live at your local Apple Store.
Buzz up!on Yahoo!
Other components include a large, 320GB hard drive and an ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO graphics card, the same as in the previous aluminum iMacs. Apple describes the processor simply as the "2.8-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 6MB L2 cache." Windows identifies it as the Intel Core 2 Duo E8235, and that's confirmed by the freeware utility CPU-Z, so that's what we'll go with. As usual, there are build-to-order options available, like larger hard drives (up to 1TB for another $300), upgraded nVidia GeForce 8800 GS graphics ($150), 4GB of RAM (an additional $200), and an uprated 3.06-GHz Core 2 Duo (also $200). Apple isn't confirming, but other parties are calling the latter an overclocked chip. It's not a Core 2 Extreme part, even though one at that speed is expected shortly.
Our test unit came very well equipped, and it costs just under $1,800. About the only piece of hardware that can't be upgraded is the optical drive. In fact, all the iMacs—from the $1,199 20-inch to the $2,199 24-inch configuration with a 3.06-GHz Core 2 Duo processor—come with the same dual-layer DVD burner (aka SuperDrive). I'd have liked a Blu-ray option, now that the format war is over.
Compared with the 20-inch version, the 24-inch iMac is huge, but it still takes up less space than even a small-form-factor PC with an external 24-inch widescreen monitor. The black bezel around the screen minimizes the effect of the "Jay Leno chin"—the expanse of material below the screen that holds some of the iMac's machinery and the speaker—that was conspicuous on the 20-inch model. The slot-loading SuperDrive is on the right side of the iMac, and it looks and feels great when you use it. The new iMac is EPEAT Silver and Energy Star 4.0 certified. You can still run the iMac almost completely wirelessly using the optional Bluetooth keyboard ($30 extra) and mouse ($20 extra), and the standard 802.11 draft-n Wi-Fi. The only cable that's absolutely necessary is the standard power cable.
Like all Macs, the iMac is bloatware free. Just about the only sales pitch iMac owners are subjected to is the offer to sign up for a .Mac subscription (which provides online services such as photo sharing and 10GB of online storage, at rates starting at $99.95 per year) when you first set up the system. You don't need to worry about 30-day subscriptions to antivirus (not needed on a Mac so far, although you'll still need to watch out for spam, phishing, and ID theft). Software updates of OS X and the preloaded programs, including iLife '08, are free; and if you use your own XP or Vista setup disc, your Boot Camp partition will be free of bloatware, too. This leaves you more space for music, photos, and videos.
Nits (however minor): There are no media card slots for downloading your pictures to the iMac; there's no Blu-ray; and you have to deal with that Apple Mighty Mouse (wonky right mouse button, no navigate back key). Although you can download HD trailers from the QuickTime Web site, you can't buy or rent HD movies or TV shows on the iMac. You can rent HD movies from the iTunes store only if you use Apple TV. You'll need a third-party TV tuner if you want to watch broadcast HDTV on the iMac; with Apple, it's all about buying and renting programs from iTunes. This is unfortunate, considering that the 24-inch iMac's 1,920-by-1,200 screen is perfect for viewing "true HD" (1,920-by-1,080) videos.
The iMac's E8235 processor is one of the new 45-nm Penryn models, and as such it has a little more oomph than the Merom-based T7700 processor of the 20-inch iMac I'd last reviewed. Our Photoshop CS3 test results show this performance boost clearly. Although the 20-inch had scored a still-quick 42 seconds running Mac Os X, the latest iMac finished in a mere 34 seconds. In Windows, the 24-inch finished in a blazing 30 seconds, barely half the time it took the older iMac (58 seconds).
This means that even if you're a Photoshop wiz, you don't necessarily need an Apple Mac Pro. The new 24-inch iMac has the same screen resolution as an Apple Mac Pro with an Apple 23-inch Cinema HD screen, and it's fast enough to do real work. The Apple Mac Pro is thousands of dollars more expensive and is more of a serious professional workstation, with dual quad-core processors and higher-end graphics cards. The only reason to get the Mac Pro these days is if you absolutely need expansion cards for components like multiple monitors, higher-end workstation-class graphics cards, and more internal hard drives—or you must have the power of eight CPU cores working on your time-critical rendering project. Compared with the latest iMac, working on most photos, illustrations, page layout, and general office projects on a Mac Pro is overkill.
Running Windows, the iMac finished the Windows Media Encoder test in 1 minute, 3 seconds, a swift score for a dual-core system. Speedy dual-cores (like the Falcon NW FragBox 8500) have been hovering around times of 1 minute, while the fastest quad-core systems, like the Polywell Poly X3800, are closer to the 30-second range. Put simply, the iMac is one fast Windows PC.
Our review unit completed BAPCo's SYSmark 2007 Preview test with an overall score of 130 points. This is a very good score for a performance PC, matching powerhouses like the Dell XPS 630 (145) and coming in just short (relatively) of the Falcon NW FragBox 8500 (174). The iMac even bests quad-core-powered multimedia PCs like the Velocity Micro Edge M40 (128) and the Gateway FX7020 (104). The iMac's 3DMark06 scores were middling at 4,278. PCs I've seen with the power to play today's games, such as the FragBox, are scoring above 12,000 points on 3DMark06. Likewise, the iMac's Crysis (15 fps) and World in Conflict (23) scores are for the most part unplayable. Of course, the iMac won't be a 3D gaming champion with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO graphics card (it's more of a light- to medium-duty 3D graphics card); if 3D gaming is important to you, go for the GeForce 8800 GS upgrade.
Though silver and black, the iMac represents "green" with Apple's take-back program, which means that Apple will help you recycle your old PC or Mac when you buy a new iMac. (This also applies when you buy other Apple computers.) The new iMac has EPEAT silver and Energy Star certifications. I tested the iMac with our Kill A Watt meter and found that it's efficient both in sleep mode (5 watts) and when off (zero watts). When in idle mode, the iMac consumed 108W, a decent number considering that has a huge screen in addition to all the computer components. When running CineBench R10, the iMac consumed an average of 135W, again a nice score. Overall, this is a little higher than desktops marketed specifically as "green" but still really good. (I've tested green PCs recently that consume less than 80W under load and fewer than 50W while idle).
HP's Revenue Misses Forecast
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co cut its full-year outlook after quarterly revenue missed expectations on weak sales of printers, personal computers and servers, sending its shares down 6 percent.
The world's largest PC maker said on Wednesday it expects the last quarter's weak market conditions to persist, and exchange rates to continue to hurt revenue, forcing it to slash its fiscal 2009 sales outlook by around $14 billion.
"We just don't want to bank on the fact that the economy is going to get better," Chief Executive Mark Hurd said on a conference call, as he emphasized HP's plans to create a leaner cost structure. "I mean, we just don't see a catalyst to change it."
While HP's diversified business lines—which also include computer services and software—have kept it relatively resilient to the economic downturn, it is still vulnerable to sharp cutbacks in corporate spending on technology.
"The big disappointment, not surprisingly, is the shortfall in revenue," said Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brent Bracelin. "Their hardware businesses, both servers and storage, are under intense scrutiny. Budgets are being cut and that showed up in the shortfall today."
For fiscal 2009, HP on Wednesday forecast profit excluding items of $3.76 to $3.88 a share, on a revenue of roughly $112.5 billion to $116 billion. That compared with its previous forecast for earnings per share of $3.88 to $4.03 on revenue of $127.5 billion to $130 billion.
Wall Street analysts, on average, had expected earnings of $3.78 a share on revenue of $126.6 billion.
"They are vulnerable to weakening PC sales," said Shebly Seyrafi, analyst at Calyon Securities. "Shares are down on a combination of the actual results, the revenue mess and the lowering of the annual guidance. There are lots of reasons to be concerned about Hewlett-Packard."
FOCUS ON COSTS
The technology bellwether said net profit for its fiscal first quarter ended Jan. 31 fell to $1.85 billion, or 75 cents a share, from $2.13 billion, or 80 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding items, HP earned 93 cents a share, matching average analyst estimates, according to Reuters Estimates.
HP said it was committed to a lower cost structure, and Hurd said the company would be taking out more in costs in 2009 than it has in previous years. It plans to reduce base pay and some benefits in the current quarter.
HP said the integration of technology services provider EDS—which it bought last year for $13.2 billion—is running ahead of schedule, and it has so far reduced 9,000 of the 24,700 positions outlined in its restructuring plan.
The EDS deal made HP the second-largest tech services company behind International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N) and helped HP report a $1.1 billion operating profit in its services segment.
Some analysts pointed to tight cost controls as a reason for optimism.
"A laser focus on cost-control has benefited HP despite a dramatic falloff in revenues and I don't think the outlook is as bad as it could have been given currency headwinds and overall weak demand environment," said Bill Kreher, analyst at Edward Jones.
HP said fiscal first-quarter revenue rose 1 percent to $28.8 billion, below the $31.9 billion Wall Street estimate.
Revenue in HP's personal systems group dropped 19 percent to $8.8 billion, with unit shipments down 4 percent. Notebook revenue fell 13 percent and desktop sales declined 25 percent.
Services revenue more than doubled to $8.7 billion, mainly due to EDS, while imaging and printing group sales fell 19 percent to $6 billion. Revenue from enterprise storage and servers dropped 18 percent to $3.9 billion.
For the current quarter, HP expects a profit of 84 cents to 86 cents a share from continuing operations, on revenue of about $27.4 billion to $27.7 billion. That compares with the average Wall Street forecast for earnings of 90 cents a share on revenue of $31 billion.
The PC segment is suffering from a severe falloff in demand and is not expected to bounce back any time soon. IDC said global PC shipments fell slightly in the calendar fourth quarter, although HP eked out 3 percent growth.
Shares of HP, a Dow component, are down around 20 percent from a year ago. The stock fell to $32.05 in extended trading from its New York Stock Exchange close of $34.08.
Marvell Brings 802.11n to Handhelds
Marvell's single-antenna "1x1" 802.11n solution brings 802.11n Wi-Fi down to a size that could easily fit into smartphones.
High-speed Wi-Fi 802.11n is coming to smartphones soon, chipmaker Marvell Semiconductor said at Mobile World Congress on Thursday. The company, which is behind the processors in high-end BlackBerrys and many Windows Mobile phones, also showed a range of new application processors that use simple instruction sets at fast speeds.
Marvell's single-antenna "1x1" 802.11n solution finally brings 802.11n Wi-Fi down to a size that could be incorporated into smartphones, Sameer Bidichandani, senior director of technology strategy at Marvell Semiconductor said in an interview.
Until now, mobile phones have been stuck at slower 802.11g speeds because 802.11n required chips and antennas that are too large to fit into a mobile-phone form factor. The 1x1 single-stream 802.11n solution can take 802.11n down to a chip as small as 50 mm square, which could easily fit into a phone. That could boost cell-phone Wi-Fi speeds by several times. The 1x1 802.11n chips are available to manufacturers today, he said.
Marvell also showed off the company's brand-new PXA910/912/920 chipsets, which bring the performance of the PXA930 processor found in the BlackBerry Bold to much lower price points. These processors could enable sub-$100 handhelds with PXA930 power, Marvell's David Elfersi said. The PXA910/912/920 series have an 800-MHz core which uses the ARM9 instruction set rather than the ARM11 instruction set. This makes the chips more compatible with software written for older and midrange phones, so they're easy to develop for.
Along with the new low-cost chipsets, Marvell showed its most powerful chips, the PXA935 and PXA168 "Aspen." Both chips are faster than the existing PXA930, with clock speeds up to 1 GHz in the Aspen's case. But unlike gigahertz chips from competitors Qualcomm and TI, these chips also run that ARM9 instruction set, which could let manufacturers go to market quickly using software that was mostly written for older processors.
To show the wide compatibility of the company's processors, Marvell demonstrated a whole bunch of operating systems. The company had third-party Android devices running, as well as Windows Mobile 6.1, Windows Mobile 6.5 and the LiMo Linux platform. On Marvell's demonstration Android phones, Marvell was showing some custom software, including a multitouch-enabled photo gallery app with pinch-to-zoom, just like on the iPhone.
Rather than showing mind-boggling HD video like in the Nvidia booth, Marvell focused on affordable solutions that kicked power up a notch without requiring developers to rewrite their code. That might get Marvell's solutions into users' hands fast.
Acer Promises Free Smartphones (With Contract)
Plenty of manufacturers have been talking about flashy, new, powerful phones at Mobile World Congress. Some have been talking about basic phones for the developing world. But Acer's the only one who has promised inexpensive smartphones for the U.S.
Acer has already been selling the company's Aspire One netbook at Radio Shack with a two-year AT&T contract for $99, plus $60 a month, which is music to AT&T's ears. With operator subsidies on board and Acer's economies of scale, Acer's Smartphone Unit President Aymar de Lencquesaing said he'll be able to push Windows phone prices down to free with contract.
"We'll make it a very simple, easy interface ... and these will retail at zero dollars," he said.
It's notoriously difficult for new cell-phone makers to get the ear of U.S. carriers, who control almost all of the U.S. phone market. But Acer's Aymar de Lencquesaing said his firm has something that wireless carriers already want: netbooks.
"We can offer them a mobile data device of any form factor, of any size, to fill their needs," he said.
Acer's phones will probably appear on either AT&T or T-Mobile, de Lencquesaing said, as they will use the GSM radio standard. Acer's large size, firm financial backing, and highly desirable netbook and 3G notebook lineup have given the company an 'in' with U.S. mobile operators, he said.
"None of the operators we've had difficulties getting appointments with, and getting to the stage where we've had conversations about selecting devices from our lineup," he said.
We'll probably have to wait to see Acer's U.S. lineup, though. Acer's smartphone push comes from the company's purchase of E-Ten, an Asian manufacturer, and the first four Windows Mobile devices the company announced for the first half of 2009 smack of stuff that E-Ten already had in the pipeline. E-Ten devices never made it to U.S. retailers, and we doubt these devices will either.
But Acer's second-half lineup, which will consist of at least four more phones, includes Acer-developed Windows Mobile 6.5 phones for both the high and low ends. The comapany's $500 H2 model, for instance, uses Qualcomm's state-of-the-art 1-GHz Snapdragon chipset and has a 3.8-inch, 800-by-480 touch screen; on the other hand, Acer also has the free-with-contract smartphones. The L1 looks like a sliding feature-phone but runs Windows Mobile; think of something like the T-Mobile Shadow, but with a touch screen. The C1 is an all-touch-screen, slab-style budget Windows phone.
All of Acer's Windows phones have a cuddly, widget-based overlay on top of Windows Mobile which looks like a picture of a sort of virtual office. You click on items in the office to launch applications or perform tasks; clicking on a desk calendar, for instance, takes you to the calendar.
The company is also reported to be developing at least two Google Android-powered phones; although de Lencquesaing demurred on specifics of those.
U.S. consumers should expect to be able to buy Acer smartphones in the last quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2010, de Lencquesaing said.
Facebook Grows into a Top-Ten Web Property
Job and tax-related Web sites dominated consumers' online activity in January, according to Thursday data from comScore, but there was also a little time for social networking as Facebook cracked the list of top 10 Web properties for the first time.
"January has once again seen seasonal gains in the tax, career and travel categories, reflecting the typical American's tendency to plan for the New Year," Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix, said in a statement. Facebook's growth, however, reminds "us that 2009 will likely continue to see growth in the adoption and usage of social media."
Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft sites were the to three Web properties, followed by AOL, Fox Interactive Media (MySpace), the Ask Network, eBay, Amazon sites, Wikimedia sites, and Facebook. Not surprisingly, the three top spots also included search engines, who in turn logged the most search queries.
Google logged just over 151 million visitors, while Facebook attracted 57.2 million.
Web sites related to taxes saw the greatest gains last month, jumping from 8.9 million visitors in December to 24.7 million last month. Specifically, TaxACT.com reported a 972 percent spike in traffic, with 5.9 million visitors, while Hrblock.com saw a 277 percent increased with 6 million visitors, and IRS.gov grew 240 percent with almost 15 million hits.
Travel sites also jumped by about 46 percent to 13 million visitors, and job-related Web sites increased by 42 percent to 26.7 million.
"January has historically been a strong month for career sites as the beginning of the New Year causes many Americans to reconsider their current career trajectory and future goals," comScore said. "However, the surge in visitors this January also reflects the millions of lost jobs across the nation."
CareerBuilder.com saw the most traffic with 12.2 million visitors, followed by Monster.com with 9.5 million, and Yahoo Hot Jobs with 7.7 million.
Consumers also flocked to state and federal Web sites for information about unemployment benefits, taxes, the Obama administration, and the peanut butter salmonella outbreak. California, Texas, and New York were among the state sites that saw the greatest increase in visitors.
Some people apparently still have money to travel, as Americans looked for late-season winter travel deals or started planning spring getaways. Travel site traffic jumped 46 percent overall to 13 million visitors. Vacationstogo.com, Disney Travel, and Expedia all saw growth in the first month of the year.
Also posting gains was Oprah.com, which saw traffic spikes of 100 percent as the talk-show host kicked off the New Year with a series of webcasts. The Web site for tabloid US Magazine also increased its visitors by 62 percent, from 3 million to 5 million.
Romanian Hacker perforated Symantec Site
Bucharest - Romanian Hacker origin, seems not to want to stop challenging mempermalukan and security companies. After Kaspersky, BitDefender, and F-Secure, Symantec turn this time the victims of the hackers.
As dilansir Arabian Bussines, Friday (20/2/2009), a group of hackers often publish the victim in HackersBlog. Com has stated that exploit the rift that exists in the code emea.symantec.com site. Hacker is estimated using the same technique with the previous attack using SQL Injection techniques.
According to the hacker named, unu, the incident is really ironic because it involves the security of the site owned companies such as Symantec. However, hackers have not provided further details about the piercing site.
Meanwhile, Symantec immediately respond to the action with the hacker, it will immediately improve the dihacked page. Symantec also to thank the hacker who has the slit is.
"We are mengapresiasi answers from the company and the vendor, this vendor was very helpful and the whole organization if the communication and open dialogue is important," write in reply to a hacker repon Symantec
