BlackBerry PlayBook OS version 2.0 has been released to the public, according to a Research In Motion press release that was posted today. The new OS version introduces features meant to close the feature gap between it and competing tablets, and to address some of the criticisms voiced in reviews of the device (including ours).
First and foremost, PlayBook OS 2.0 introduces an email client to the platform, addressing a key issue with the platform as it was at release – the client supports a unified inbox, as well as integration with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn messages. The calendar and contacts apps can also make use of information pulled from these social networks. The BlackBerry Bridge app has also been updated, and alongside generic promises that it makes things “quicker and easier,” it adds a feature that allows the keyboard on a BlackBerry phone to be used to control the PlayBook.
Other, smaller features include a Print To Go app, an updated touch keyboard with auto correct and predictive typing, an improved browser, and a new BlackBerry Video Store for US users. RIM also announced the availability of a program called BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, which will allow for management of BlackBerry phones and tablets in an enterprise environment. The version released today is a preview, with availability of the final version scheduled for late March.
The BlackBerry PlayBook had a starting price of 9.99 when it launched, but that has fallen by about half at many retailers. If you’re interested in trying some of these new features, getting into a PlayBook is considerably less expensive than it was even a few months ago.
Source: RIM
Intel 313 Series SSDs (also known as "Hawley Creek") were originally scheduled for Q4'11 release but obviously they were delayed. VR-Zone is now claiming that the release will take place alongside the Ivy Bridge processors and the 7-series chipsets. That could mean an April release, though there are also rumors of a delayed IVB launch. Either way, here's a quick rundown of the upcoming 313 SSDs.
The 313 Series is the successor of the 311 Series (or Larson Creek if you prefer codenames), which is a 20GB SLC NAND SSD meant for caching with Intel's Z68 chipset with Smart Response Technology (SRT). SRT will be even more useful with the Ivy Bridge platform because there will be widespread support among the 7-series chipsets: two of the three consumer desktop chipsets (Z77 and H77) will feature SRT, along with one of the business chipsets (Q77). We will also finally see mobile chipsets with support for SRT.
The major change with the 313 Series is that it will switch to 25nm SLC NAND and offer a 24GB model, but otherwise we are looking at a product very similar to 311 Series. The controller is Intel's own, but that's all we know for certain. Most likely the controller is the same as in 310, 311, and 320 Series, i.e. Intel PC29AS21BA0, because Intel's roadmap shows no plans for any other SATA 3Gb/s SSDs. It wouldn't make much sense to make a new SATA 3Gb/s controller just for one product, or to create a new SATA 3Gb/s controller in general at this point. Unfortunately we don't have any performance figures but given that the controller should be the same, the performance should be on par with 311 Series—the 24GB model should have slightly higher write speeds as it uses six NAND channels while the 20GB model uses only five.
| Comparison of Intel 311 Series and 313 Series | ||
| NAND | Intel 25nm SLC | Intel 34nm SLC |
| Capacities | 20GB, 24GB | 20GB |
| Interface | SATA 3Gb/s | SATA 3Gb/s |
| Controller | Intel PC29AS21BA0 (?) | Intel PC29AS21BA0 |
| Form Factors | 2.5", mSATA | 2.5", mSATA |
| Sequential Read | N/A | 200MB/s |
| Sequential Write | N/A | 105MB/s |
| Random Read | N/A | 37K IOPS |
| Random Write | N/A | 3.3K IOPS |
As for pricing, VR-Zone is claiming a suggested retail price of (20GB) and 9 (24GB). For comparison 20GB 311 Series had an MRSP of 0 and retails for ~0 now, so a ~ price drop sounds plausible. A few German retailers have already listed the 24GB model and it's selling for around €104 without tax, which translates to ~8, but Euro prices tend to run higher than USD. Moreover, one of the sellers is listing availability as 2-3 weeks so 313 Series may hit the retail channel sooner than April. However, some of the retailers are listing the SSDs as OEM models, which explains the early availability and possibly high pricing as well.
We don't get a lot of projectors for review, but ASUS sent us their P1 Portable LED Projector and so we wanted to do a short write up of the device. It's a small projector primarily intended for portability and business use–something that you could easily carry with you as you travel to meetings so that you know you'll have a viable projector for your presentation. Tipping the scales at less than a pound, there are many projectors where the lens alone is larger than the P1.
So how does the ASUS P1 fare in our short look? While we don't have the necessary equipment to test many aspects of the projector, for the intended purpose it delivers what ASUS has promised. Read on for our thoughts on the device.
NVIDIA has just posted GeForce graphics driver 295.73, its latest WHQL-certified driver package for desktops and laptops running 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of Windows Vista and Windows 7. The drivers, NVIDIA's first non-beta driver package since last October, improve performance in a number of high-profile games, add a few new features, and fix a number of bugs.
NVIDIA's benchmarks for the new drivers showcase measureable improvements in performance for Skyrim for users of GTX 500-series cards (though some of these improvements may well trickle down to owners of older GPUs), as well as the addition of Ambient Occlusion support for that game, the Diablo III beta, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. NVIDIA also highlighted performance improvements for SLI users running the Mass Effect 3 demo.
The new driver also adds SLI and 3D Vision profiles for a number of games, updates the PhysX driver to 9.12.0209, fixes some graphical bugs in Battlefield 3, and enables WHQL support for NVIDIA Surround on Intel X79 motherboards certified for SLI. The drivers support all GeForce 6000-series and newer cards on desktops, and most GeForce 8000-series and newer chips and DirectX 10 and 11-capable Quadro chips on laptops. Links to the driver downloads and to the NVIDIA release notes have been posted below.
Source: NVIDIA
Microsoft has talked a bit about SkyDrive before in its plans for Windows 8, but Microsoft's Mike Torres and Omar Shahine have authored a Building Windows 8 blog post that have made the company's plans for it a bit clearer, and outline the degree to which SkyDrive support will be built in to the new operating system.
The Metro app, pictured above, has been built from scratch for Windows 8 and Windows on ARM and will eventually become the preferred method of working with SkyDrive data (though the service's web interface will still be available). Any Metro application in Windows 8 that can save or open files will be able to do so to and from SkyDrive manually and automatically without any extra coding on the part of third-party developers.
The SkyDrive desktop app is less tightly integrated with the OS – when downloaded and installed, it works more like Dropbox, keeping your SkyDrive files in one folder (which is stored locally for offline access) and synchronizing changes to the server as files are created, deleted, and updated – the interface (as pictured above) is very Dropbox-like, right down to the green checkmarks next to synced items. The SkyDrive client will be able to upload files as large as 2GB to your storage space, and the client will also be available to Windows Vista and Windows 7 clients when it' s launched – sorry, Windows XP users, but the writing has been on the wall for awhile, and Microsoft would very much like it if you would upgrade your operating system.
Microsoft's description of its cloud services – "a single drive that’s available across all of their devices, tailored to the experiences they’re using, providing instant, secure, and private access to their files" – mirrors to a large degree Apple's efforts with iCloud (though iCloud's storage is all used directly by applications via APIs, rather than actually allowing users to access a filesystem. iDisk offers more traditional online storage functionality for Macs, but its discontinuation is imminent) – think one part iCloud, one part Dropbox. Expect Microsoft's strategy for SkyDrive to become clearer as the Windows 8 launch date gets closer.
Early versions of the SkyDrive Metro and desktop apps will be made available with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview later this month. See the link below for additional details.
Source: Building Windows 8 Blog
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