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Last week, at his sentencing, Dr Binayak Sen asked, "What is Section 124-A?" The judge replied: "Rajdroh."
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レイバン メガネ | 2013/08/07 07:34 PM

Definitely, Rahul has succeeded immensely in ensuring key support from his party and gaining considerable media coverage. The other parties have not been so successful. Will Rahul retain this lead electorally too? Politically, this has seldom been the rule. There has always been a significant gap in media coverage gained by parties in the race and the votes won by them. Not surprisingly, this reality has led to questions like whether the Congress is banking on media hype about Rahul. How many more seats does the Congress expect to gain this year, compared to its performance in 2003 and 2007 polls? Now, it is to be watched whether Rahul's magic wand will work or not!
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ルイヴィトン バッグ | 2013/08/07 07:08 PM

The child lost her mother Kiran in the tragedy while her father and siblings are still missing. Doctors said her vision was unharmed.
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レイバン サングラス | 2013/08/07 07:07 PM

Four out of five life insurance agents that DNA contacted tried to sell endowment productswhen the reporters told them they already had Ulip policies.
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And then there are simple technical glitches. Ryan’s the original post, for instance, prominently features a chart comparing stock p/e ratios over time with something called the M/O ratio ? the number of 40-somethings expressed as a percentage of the number of 60-somethings. That chart somehow failed to make its way into the BI version of the story.
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But the city’s heroes were the tens of thousands of policemen, firefighters, utility workers and paramedics who labored all night for $40,000 to $90,000 a year. And the local politicians who focused on performance, not partisanship, such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Newark Mayor Corey Booker.
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Fake Oakleys | 2013/08/07 02:50 AM

In a phone interview Monday, Hausfeld told me that the new Pomerantz Haudek suit is an attempt to peel off a piece of his case. I asked whether the two classes overlap. “Of course,” Hausfeld said. “They’re playing games.” The banks that made loans pegged to Libor didn’t set the benchmark rates themselves, he said, so the Pomerantz Haudek class only has claims that derive from the claims in his case. Hausfeld said he believes the Pomerantz case is poaching on his turf, and he intends to ask the judge to step in. “You have not seen the end of this,” he told me.
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There’s an implication here that if Neil had promised to pay Elon Musk $1,000, rather than Doctors Without Borders, then the WSJ would have considered his welshing on his bet to be more ethical than his making good on it. We don’t know, which is a bit problematic in itself.
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ロレックス | 2013/08/07 02:11 AM

That favourite old chant - 1-0 to the Arsenal - had echoed around the Liberty Stadium immediately after the first goal and, for long periods, it was indeed a performance that had more in common with the resilient George Graham era than recent Wenger teams. Michael Laudrup had talked of wanting his Swansea team to finish their excellent season with "a bang" but, with silverware already in the trophy cabinet and Premier League survival guaranteed, it was perhaps unsurprising that they should produce one of their less convincing performances of the season.
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レイバン メガネ | 2013/08/06 11:26 PM

In an August 4 letter to Castro, she wrote, "I recognize today that the Cuban government may not like the type of work that Alan was doing in Cuba."
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RAYBAN | 2013/08/06 09:03 PM

The author is an IAS officer of Gujarat cadreLike in everything else in India, there is also apparently a caste angle to the entire army chief story. Now, the word on the street is that, at the time General VK Singh was carrying out a battle to prove he was a younger man, though by just a year, his cause was taken up by a group of politicians. Around 35 leaders of varying seniority, from heavyweights like former chief ministers to dynamic, younger MPs, petitioned the government to help the chief. They all had one thing in common they shared the same surname with General Singh. And caste was good enough for them to validate the chiefs theory. Of course, it wasnt just politicians that were turning ageist issues to casteist ones. The Akhil Bhartiya Rajput Sabha held a meeting in VK Singhs hometown Bhiwani, and threatened to storm Jantar Mantar if the government didnt accept his younger status.
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DISPUTE ON REDEVELOPMENT CAUSED DELAY
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ヴィトン 財布 | 2013/08/06 08:21 PM

The first dessert is a banana sliced in half and stuffed with scrambled eggs and glazed with sugar syrup. The stuffed banana is a treat with the scrambled eggs which are cooked in sugar providing a strange combination of textures not many desserts have to offer. The cube of egg white has a jelly-like consistency and taste, with the sweetened yolk shavings adding a crunchy edge. The second, motta maala, is a cube of egg white, sprinkled with yolk shavings.
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レイバン メガネ | 2013/08/06 08:20 PM

In the first verdict of the tribunal on January 21, former Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad was sentenced to death on similar charges.
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MCM リュック | 2013/08/06 06:57 PM

Tuesday will be no different. Delhi Daredevils have had their share of problems, the biggest being the unavailability of Virender Sehwag. And maybe thats one of the reasons theyve lost both games. They also let a 40-year-old flourish at the Kotla on Saturday. Rahul Dravid batted with renewed vigour to fashion an unlikely win for Rajasthan Royals.
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レイバン メガネ | 2013/08/06 06:56 PM

never actually tried)Accusing the BJP of forcing it to walk out of the alliance by not being forthcoming on Narendra Modi's future role, senior JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari on Saturday said the announcement of a split in the coalition was a "mere formality".
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レイバン メガネ | 2013/08/06 06:55 PM

The number of incidents covered by the home ministry includes actions both by extremists as also the security forces. Among states, during last year, Chhattisgarh reported killing of 124 civilians which was second worst after Jharkhand which registered the maximum of 149 innocent killings.
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http://www.japanesekakuonline.com/%E3%82%B7%E3%83%81%E3%82%BA%E3%83%B3-2286/ | 2013/08/04 08:29 PM

Of those killed, nine died in early morning clash in three upazilas of Bogra while six in two upazilas of Joypurhat during Jamaat-called 48-hour shutdown, the Daily Star reported.
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トリーバーチ 靴 | 2013/08/04 09:28 AM

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レイバン サングラス | 2013/08/04 12:35 AM

disheartened with the verdict but they are neither alienated nor antagonised and he dismissed the impression created in the media that Muslims in the country have been pushed to the wall.
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トリーバーチ 財布 | 2013/08/03 07:12 PM

Last year, users got to explore 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Jules Verne, shared a tune they strummed on the Les Paul guitar, and even became a part of Googles biggest animated Doodle so far - commemorating Little Nemo, the main character in the comics strips of Winsor McCay, published in the New York Herald and the New York American from 1905 to 1914.
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ロレックス 中古 | 2013/08/03 06:56 PM

North Korea has been a family affair ever since its inception in 1948 under Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994 but remains its Eternal President. The young Kim, known as the Supreme Leader, is even modelling himself physically on his grandfather.
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http://www.kakustoreja.com/seiko-2287/ | 2013/08/02 06:44 PM

One, direct public mobilisation at election time. Civil society needs to intervene at the critical stage of ticket distribution. Not after the seats are given out, and we are presented with a fait accompli of choosing the lesser evil. Political parties will tell you that in principle they too are disturbed about giving tickets by the dozens to crorepatis and local strongmen. But kya karein, they say. In the end, winnability (read: bank balance) is the only factor. Well, reverse this pernicious logic. Set up a monitoring panel in each district of a state which is set to hold elections. For this, forge networks with local organisations and prominent citizens. Make this wide-ranging enough to bypass allegations of partisanship.
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Lululemon Canada | 2013/07/18 08:46 PM

Pop quiz: which of the following is being marketed as an Ultrabook? Behind door number one, we have a 2.5-pound wisp of a laptop with a 13-inch screen, Core i5 CPU and 128GB SSD. Next up there's contestant number two, a 3.94-pound notebook with a 14-inch display, 500GB hard drive, and DVD burner. If you guessed the latter, well, congrats on reading that headline correctly, though we'd understand if you said that first option sounds like the Ultrabook.Indeed, Samsung's are a tad plumper than most, and look especially oversized next to the , that other ultraportable we've been describing. But it's not just Samsung using loose parameters to decide what counts as an Ultrabook. If Intel's own is correct, half of the 75-plus models that go on sale this year will have 14- or 15-inch screens, and we've already seen a sampling of contenders from , and . The idea, say PC makers, is to lure in a more old-fashioned kind of customer, shoppers who aren't quite ready to ditch their DVD drive, and who aren't keen on stepping down to a too-small screen. At the same time, these laptops are thinner and lighter than similarly sized laptops, last longer on a charge and hold the promise of faster performance -- three reasons manufacturers can get away with charging more than they would for a plain 'ol laptop.In a nutshell, that's the value proposition behind the 14-inch Series 5, which costs $949 and comes bearing a Core i5 processor, 500GB hybrid hard drive and, of course, a DVD burner. But do the benefits of a bigger Ultrabook outweigh the annoyances? And how does it compare to regular 14-inch laptops that aren't classified as ultraportables (and that don't command the Ultrabook tax)? Let's find out. Look and feelThe curious (and absolutely intentional) thing about Intel's Ultrabook marketing blitz is that it's forced us to adjust the way we talk about laptop prices. About value. On what planet is a $949 laptop a budget item? One where it's touted as an Ultrabook, and other so-called Ultrabooks run in excess of $1,400, that's where. But in the real world (one where "Ultrabook" is just a fancy word for a lightweight laptop) $949 is hardly chump change, especially when $550 can buy you a with a Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, six-cell battery and a (partly) metal design.So let's look at the Series 5 for what it is: an inexpensive Ultrabook, and a mid-range laptop. Though its design is inoffensive and tasteful, the build quality and attention to detail aren't any better than what other PC makers are offering for the same price (or less, even). With the exception of the plastic bottom, the laptop is fashioned completely out of gray aluminum -- a material that does an admirable job of resisting fingerprints, but chips easily around those sharp edges. If you look closely, it has roughly the same tapered shape as the impossibly thin Series 9, but it's tougher to appreciate on a machine that's not . Other than Samsung's logo and a super thin metal band ringing the trackpad, you won't find any bold embellishments here, as on the $800 , though depending on your tastes that could be a very good thing indeed.There's no getting around this next part: the 14-inch Series 5 is big as far as Ultrabooks go: heavy, and flush with ports. Granted, we'll soon see many more bigger-screened Ultrabooks, and despite having an optical drive, it manages to weigh less than the DVD-less (3.94 pounds versus 3.97). At least Samsung made room for lots of sockets in that .82-inch-thick (20.8mm) frame. Starting on the right edge, there's the tray-loading optical drive, along with a USB 2.0 port, Kensington lock slot and 4-in-1 memory card reader. Move around to the left and you'll find two USB 3.0 ports -- something no other Ultrabook save the Spectre can lay claim to. There's also an HDMI socket, Ethernet jack, combined headphone / mic port and -- who saw this coming? -- a VGA port! We can actually hear a few sarcastic snores coming from the peanut gallery, but for those of you with an aging projector lying around, well, you're in luck.Before we talk about build quality, this might be a good time to offer a quick primer on Samsung's naming conventions for laptops. In ascending order of niceness, there's the Series 3, 5, 7 and 9. You don't have to be a math genius to know that leaves this $949 laptop in the second-to-lowest-end category, suggesting it was intended as a mid-range machine. Accordingly, the build quality is totally fine, though hardly top-notch either. The lid wobbles a bit when you set the machine down, and if you type vigorously enough. We also noticed some flex in the palm rest, but only when we held it with one hand, which wasn't often. On the plus side, though, Samsung has been prideful about putting its TV know-how to good use, which means even on a humdrum machine like this you'll enjoy a bright, unexpectedly matte display. (Much more on that later, of course.) Keyboard and trackpadLike so many other Ultrabooks, the Series 5 is studded with shallow keys. (Come to think of it, we can't remember ever seeing a Samsung-made laptop with a cushy keyboard, but that's neither here nor there.) Fortunately, though, these are fairly easy to type on. The keys have a pleasant, ever-so slightly textured finish, and hold their own even under the pressure of furious typing. You might notice, though, that that wobbly screen starts to jiggle if you really start pounding the keys.When we first settled in with the Series 5, we worried the shrunken keys (Tab, Caps Lock, etc.) would pose a distraction, but we ultimately typed much of this review on them without fuss. The arrow keys are small, though -- smaller than you might expect on a laptop this size. If you're the kind of person who prefers arrows for highlighting text, you might fumble around at first as your fingers try to find them; with practice, you should be able to tap them without pausing to look.One thing you may or may not miss is a backlit keyboard. Without any dimly lit overnight flights to work through, we can't say we missed that glow, and knowing the battery isn't as robust as we would have liked (spoiler!) we're happy not to strain it further. Still, similarly priced Ultrabooks like the Dell XPS 13 and HP Folio have this, and it would have gone a long way in livening up the Series 5's otherwise staid design.Here's a frequently asked question we get here at Engadget: is there a Windows trackpad you do like? Why yes, actually, but funnily enough, they all combine a pad with good old-fashioned touch buttons. (In other words, we've had quite enough of those seamless clickpads with flaky gestures and poor palm rejection.) Maybe that's why we're fond of the Series 5's touchpad, which offers a large, low-friction surface for smooth, precise tracking. Powered by Elan, it capably handles both two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom, allowing you to carefully scale text without jumping from fine print to size 40 font. As you're poking around, you might notice some stuttering as you magnify web pages, but those transitions should look smoother when you're examining photos and PDFs.As for those touch buttons, they're tactile and generously sized (+2), though the buttons make a rather loud click every time you press them (-.5). Display and soundAfter spending a week with the HP Spectre and its 1600 x 900 display, the Series 5's 1366 x 768 pixel count should feel like a step down. And to some extent, it is. Then again, we're talking about a machine that costs $450 less. Not to mention, pretty much every sub-$1,000 Ultrabook we know of offers the same middle-of-the-road resolution. If that's a deal-breaker for you, we'll direct you toward our Spectre, and reviews with the usual caveat that a crisp display doesn't totally make up for flaws like a stiff clickpad either.Resolution aside, it still beats the other 1366 x 768 displays you'll find on other Ultrabooks, especially ones in this price category. Specifically, it's one of Samsung's SuperBright screens, which means it has 300 nits of brightness (not to be confused with the 450-nit SuperBright Plus panel inside the Series 9). As luck would have it, it has a matte finish, too, though somehow the viewing angles are still fairly narrow. The screen still gets washed out when you dip it forward or watch from oblique angles, but at least that matte coating cut down on glare from overhead lights and nearby windows. To wit, it's nice that you can't really see the vertical lines in the LCD unless you lean close. That's more than we can say about that eye-popping Radiance panel on the Spectre.The speaker strip stretching across the keyboard deck pushes out sound that manages not to be too tinny -- at least, for pop and rock songs. The middling audio quality is most obvious with rap and other bass-heavy tracks, where low notes get lost in the shuffle of higher-pitched synthesizers.Like an increasing number of other laptops, the Series 5 makes use of Intel's Wireless Display technology, which you can use to mirror your desktop on an HDTV or external monitor. In addition to blowing up your desktop on a bigger screen, you can also stream 1080p movies, a step up from the 720p resolution cap imposed by early WiDi laptops. To get a feel for how it works, we suggest you read oldie-but-goodie of a review. Suffice to say, though, the streaming tends to be fluid, and the third-party are usually a cinch to set up. Performance PCMark Vantage 3DMark06 14-inch Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook (1.6GHz Core i5-2467M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 6,908 2,618 (1.6GHz Core i5-2467M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 9,335 3,468 (2.8GHz Core i7-2640M, Intel HD Graphics 3000 / NVIDIA GeForce GT520M 1GB) 7,982 5,414 (2.3 Core i5-2410M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 6,177 4,079 (1.6GHz Core i5-2467M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) N/A 4,130 (1.6GHz Core i5-2467M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 6,701 3,387 (1.4GHz Core i3-2367M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 5,894 3,601 (1.8GHz Core i7-2677M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 9,939 3,651 (1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 10,508 4,209 (1.6GHz Core i5-2467M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 5,367 3,221 (1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 9,484 4,223 (1.7GHz Core i5-2537M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 7,582 2,240 Note: the higher the score the better. With one important exception, the Series 5 has the same innards as the Dell XPS 13 and Ultrabooks we've tested recently: a 1.6GHz Core i5-2467M CPU, 4GB of RAM and integrated HD 3000 graphics. Wash, rinse, repeat, right? Not exactly. The difference is that this guy runs on a 500GB 5,400RPM drive with 16GB of flash memory -- double the 8GB used in Samsung's higher-end . Though it's not without drawbacks (more on that in a moment), it does exactly what it promises to do: accelerate the start-up process, cut resume times and launch apps quickly. The machine boots in a brisk 21 seconds, at which point you can immediately start clicking things -- no waiting around for Windows to finish loading. It also wakes from sleep in less than two seconds, as any good Ultrabook should. And despite its lack of an SSD, it notched a similar score in PCMark Vantage as the $900 Folio 13, which does have a solid-state drive.What's more, the Series 5 does a slightly better job dissipating heat than either the XPS 13 or the Spectre, both of which we've tested recently. After five hours of working in Chrome, we could feel some lukewarm air coming through the vents, but it was still cooler than either of those two other machines would have been after some extended web surfing. Without discrete graphics or an SSD, its performance trails beefier laptops and smaller Ultrabooks.Still, when it comes to disk performance, it's clear this hybrid drive is no substitute for an SSD. Using the benchmark ATTO as our guide, we saw peak read and write speeds of 111 MB/s in each category. On the one hand, that's better than the 80 MB/s reads and 75 MB/s writes you'd get from the hybrid HDD inside of the $800 Acer Aspire S3, but it's no match for a proper solid-state drive. Even the Folio 13 can hit 232 MB/s reads and 192 MB/s writes, and that's hardly even the fastest SSD the current crop of Ultrabooks have to offer (that would be the ).With very few exceptions, the Ultrabooks we test limp along on Intel HD 3000 graphics, so if gaming is a passion of yours, look elsewhere. In this case, the Series 5's average score on the benchmark 3DMark06 is exceptionally low, though in practice gaming isn't much smoother on better-scoring machines like the pricey Spectre. In The Sims, it's a difference between 62 frames per second and 65; in Call of Duty, it means even with 1024 x 768 resolution you're sputtering along at 10fps, as opposed to 15fps. Either way, Intel's graphics solution has yet to fail us when it comes to simple things like zooming in on and lightly editing photos.It's worth noting, though, that these performance comparisons are artificial in a way: so far, we've only been pitting the Series 5 against other so-called Ultrabooks, with low-voltage processors and integrated graphics. But this laptop is large enough that it might also make sense to stack it up against a "full-fledged" 14-inch laptop -- you know, one that's a little too muscular to be called an Ultrabook. Do that and you'll see something like the XPS 14z comes out ahead (so does the lower-end Inspiron 14z, by some metrics). Of course, this isn't a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, since the XPS 14z we reviewed is worth hundreds of dollars more. The point is, you could buy a machine like that and pay to add discrete graphics and extra RAM if fine-tuning the performance was that important to you. The 14-inch Series 5 Ultrabook comes in just one configuration, though intrepid types can replace the RAM and drive (but not the battery) on their own. Battery life Laptop Battery Life 14-inch Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook 5:06 Dell Inspiron 14z 6:37 HP Folio 13 6:08 Toshiba Portege Z835 5:49 ASUS Zenbook UX31 5:41 13-inch, 2011 MacBook Air 5:32 (Mac OS X) / 4:12 (Windows) HP Envy 14 Spectre 5:30 Lenovo IdeaPad U300s 5:08 Dell XPS 13 4:58 Dell XPS 14z 4:54 Samsung Series 9 (2011) 4:20 Acer Aspire S3 4:11 You'd think that a relatively hefty Ultrabook would yield more robust battery life, right? In fact, that goes for phones and tablets, too: most of us can handle a few extra ounces (or pounds, as it were), but there ought to be some sort of benefit, like a larger battery, or maybe an extra helping of ports. In this case, the 14-inch Series 5 brings an optical drive, but nothing in the way of extended longevity. In our standard battery test (WiFi on, movie looping off the disk, brightness fixed at 65 percent), it managed just a hair over five hours. Sure, that's longer than you'd get with the even-heavier Dell XPS 14z, but it falls short of most every other Ultrabook we've tested. Give up the optical drive and you should enjoy an extra hour of runtime with the HP Folio 13. Even if you do need a DVD burner, the Dell Inspiron 14z ($550 and up) and up lasts more than six and a half hours with a six-cell battery.On the plus side, we noticed the laptop sips very little power while asleep, so you could theoretically go days without charging it if you only needed to respond to emails in short bursts. SoftwareThe apps pre-installed here are a mostly benign bunch, including CyberLink Media Suite, MediaShow, Power2Go, PowerDirector and the YouCam webcam app; Skype 4.2; Norton Online Backup; Microsoft Starter 2010 (natch); and Windows Live Essentials 2011.The machine also comes loaded with a 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security 2012. If anything, we'd normally complain about annoying pop-ups and dialog boxes entreating us to purchase the product, but in this case we also ran afoul of the FileInsight feature, which wouldn't let us download a .exe file from box.net that we've successfully installed on every PC and Mac we've tested. Configuration options and warrantyNone! The 14-inch Series 5 Ultrabook is available in one configuration, the $949 number we've been describing in detail. If you can do without the optical drive, Sammy's also selling a 13-inch model, available in two flavors. Both have the same 1.6GHz Core i5-2467M processor as the 14-inch version, along with 4GB of RAM, a 300-nit, 1366 x 768 display and integrated Intel graphics. The lower-end $900 version also has the same 500GB hybrid drive as the 14-incher, though the $1,100 model steps up to a 128GB SSD, putting it in line with similarly priced competitors. At 3.24 pounds, it's heavier than most 13-inch Ultrabooks, though it's still a shade lighter than the 3.3-pound Folio 13. The competition With the 14-inch Series 5 the line between Intel-sanctioned Ultrabooks and regular laptops is blurrier.So Samsung's marketing this 14-inch laptop with an optical drive as an Ultrabook. Given that positioning, then, we'll kick off your comparison shopping with a brief nod to other Ultrabooks. To recap this review thus far, its display is better than most machines you'll find in this price range, though the performance isn't necessarily faster, and the battery life is markedly shorter. The selection of ports is unrivaled, save for the Spectre, which has two USB 3.0 ports (but no VGA socket or optical drive, neither of which you'll necessarily miss). As for design, we tend to think the Dell XPS 13 and arguably even the Folio 13 are better looking than this, though the Series 5 still wins when it comes to having both a comfortable keyboard and trackpad. All told, the HP Folio 13 is still our favorite of the lower-cost Ultrabooks -- it's not perfect, but it still offers the best combination of performance, battery life, ergonomics and tasteful design.Typically with Ultrabook reviews, we only mention other ultraportables in this comparison shopping section because, well, most machines in that size and weight class are Ultrabooks. With the 14-inch Series 5, though, the line between Intel-sanctioned Ultrabooks and regular laptops is blurrier. Given the larger screen size, its relative heft and that optical drive, why not compare it to thin-and-light notebooks that are just a smidge too heavy to be called Ultrabooks?Indeed, the field of 14-inchers is large, and we haven't tested each and every one, but we do want to share a few highlights. For starters, the Dell XPS 14z we've been name-dropping throughout this review now starts at $800 with a more polished (if somewhat gaudier) all-metal design, a comfortable keyboard-and-trackpad combo and an optional discrete GPU (not that the graphics performance is that impressive). Keep in mind, though, that it's not as compact as the Series 5, at 4.36 pounds and .9 inches thick. The little brother to that, the Inspiron 14z ($550 and up) offers solid performance and exceptionally long battery life, though we weren't as fond of the trackpad.Aside from the Spectre, HP doesn't offer many 14-inch laptops, and the one it does -- the -- is decidedly low-end, starting at $480 with a Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. Not bad specs for everyday computing, but you'd also have to walk away from all the speed, longevity and portability that Ultrabooks are promising. Here, you'd have to make do with a 4.68-pound system and battery life rated for a little over four hours, which doesn't bode well for real-world use. This go-round, we suggest leapfrogging HP and focusing on what other manufacturers have to offer.Like Acer, whose lineup includes the recently announced series, which caters to precisely the same person who might be considering the Series 5: someone who can't bear to part with that optical drive, but still craves something relatively thin, light and affordable. (No word on US pricing, though we've been told in the past prices would fall in line with the company's current TimelineX offerings.) What we do know is that the 15-inch is set to ship this month with NVIDIA's new 28nm Kepler graphics, making it the first Ultra to hit the market with a discrete GPU.As for Sony, even the lightest of its 14-inch laptops, the E series, is on the heavy side, at 5.08 pounds, but if you're flexible on screen size, we'd also recommend the 13-inch SA / SB series (now $650 and up), which has a clean, timeless design, lightweight build, switchable graphics, healthy battery life and an optical drive, putting it in the same class as the 14-inch Series 5. Since we it last year, we've been recommending it left and right as a solid all-purpose laptop. Wrap-upIf you're in the market for a mid-sized laptop with a DVD burner for occasional backups, we can see why you'd look twice at the Series 5: it's thinner and lighter than most 14-inchers. It also has a pleasant keyboard-and-trackpad combo -- something we can't say about all Ultrabooks. The problem is, without discrete graphics or an SSD, its performance trails both beefier laptops and smaller Ultrabooks. If you can live without the optical drive, most of the 13-inch Ultras we've tested are faster and yield longer battery life. And though traditional 14-inch laptops are heavier, their performance tends to be more robust, and their runtime is only marginally worse than the Series 5's (there are even exceptional machines like the $550 , which endures almost two hours longer).If you're going to spend $900 on a so-called Ultrabook, you may as well choose something like the , which weighs less, performs better, lasts longer on a charge and has a healthy selection of ports (just not a high-quality display). Or, you know, you could shrug your shoulders at the Ultrabook fad and choose to spend hundreds of dollars less on something decently performing, but a little less portable.By Billy Steele, Sarah Silbert and Christopher Trout Illustration By ILoveDust While planet Earth has yet to meet its demise, the end of 2012 is nigh. It was a year of lengthy legal battles and shifting power dynamics in the tech industry. It brought with it great advancements and great failures -- and, for some, the promise of the end of days. We've combed our archives to bring you just a few of the stories that made the biggest impact on our reporting this year. Herewith, an abridged look back at the year that was. Photo: (Getty Images for Extra/Noel Vasquez) The Year in Tech JANUARY January 1st Following a year of production delays for its high-end Karma hybrid, American automaker Fisker 239 vehicles. A malfunction with its Li-ion batteries was found to increase the risk of an electrical short circuit and fire. This was far from the end of the company's woes. In August, a Karma owner returned from the grocery store to find the EV engulfed in flames. January 8th At CES, Acer announced the "," the Aspire S5. The 13.3-inch notebook boasted a thickness of 0.6 inch and a weight just under three pounds. Though other systems like the 0.5-inch Samsung Series 9 would out-svelte the S5 later in the year, Acer's machine showed that the race for the slimmest system was kicking into high gear. January 9th Also at CES, Nokia unveiled the long-rumored smartphone as an AT&T exclusive. We liked its 8-megapixel rear camera, strong performance and blazing LTE speeds, but its successor, the Lumia 920, would wow us even more when it debuted in the fall. January 14th LightSquared's years-long effort to integrate a wholesale 4G LTE network with satellite coverage was by the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing, which found that the technology could interfere with GPS equipment. This came on the heels of Sprint reneging its 15-year resource-sharing agreement with LightSquared, and set the tone for many defeats on the company's eventual road to bankruptcy. January 19th Federal prosecutors shut down popular file-sharing site Megaupload in the US, indicting founder Kim Dotcom and others for copyright violation, conspiracy to commit racketeering and other alleged illegal activities in the process. coincided with the high-profile online piracy debates brought about by the PIPA and SOPA bills. Megaupload has yet to rise from the dead. January 19th for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York, with the goal of emerging with a completely reorganized business by 2013. The company received $950 million in debtor-in-possession financing, which it said would bolster liquidity and working capital. As a sign not only of the company's troubles, but also of the decline of non-digital photography, Kodak even sold the iconic film arm of its business later in the year. January 20th Following statements of opposition from Google, Facebook, Twitter and just about every other major tech company, the US Senate and House decided to on PIPA and SOPA, respectively. The controversial anti-piracy bills called for greater government authority for banning websites that infringe copyrighted material. They've remained in limbo ever since. January 22nd After months of investor backlash -- and the underwhelming launch of the PlayBook -- RIM at the top. Co-chief executives Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepped down from their positions, and COO Thorsten Heins was appointed to take over as CEO. The news was coupled with rumors that Heins would license the BlackBerry 10 operating system to other handset manufacturers. Photos: Kodak film canister (AP Photo/Mel Evans); PIPA protest (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images) FEBRUARY February 2nd The internet got a at the Windows Phone 8 operating system, codenamed Apollo, when an internal Microsoft video leaked. In it, Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore described support for dual-core CPUs, four screen resolutions, NFC and also hinted at Skype integration. When the OS was released at the end of October, all those features were indeed there. February 13th Apple announced that Foxconn, one of its major manufacturing outlets -- and the subject of media scrutiny due to worker suicides and a factory explosion -- would receive a from the Fair Labor Association at factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China. The report was said to cover working and living conditions and would include polling thousands of employees. February 13th The US Justice Department followed the lead of European regulators and gave to Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The $12.5 billion purchase was subject to close inspection due to concern that it would cause competition issues, though Mountain View made it clear it was just interested in Moto's patent portfolio to bolster the Android ecosystem. February 20th Following reports that Google bypassed Safari's privacy features by tracking users through web ads, Microsoft found the search giant was also in Internet Explorer to track users via cookies. Mountain View responded by calling Microsoft out for using a "widely non-operational" P3P protocol for privacy protection. February 22nd While it was released in Japan in December of 2011, Sony's PS Vita (known previously as the Next Generation Portable) finally made its , nearly a year after Nintendo's 3DS hit shelves. February 26th At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, HTC launched its new flagship handset, the . Along with the One S and One V also announced at the show, the phone represented a step away from brand dilution and toward a more unified line of products for HTC. Our reviewers gave top marks to the phone, applauding its attractive polycarbonate unibody design, Gorilla Glass-coated display and fantastic camera. The addition of AT&T LTE only sweetened the package. February 27th Nokia had a big MWC announcement of its own: the , a handset running the Symbian Belle OS on a 1.3GHz single-core chip and offering a ho-hum 640 x 360, 4-inch screen. But the 808 really stood out for being the first smartphone with ultra-high-end camera technology: the shooter boasted a full 41 megapixels and a Carl Zeiss lens capable of continuous-focus 1080p. February 29th The world's cheapest mini-Linux computer, the , went on sale with an asking price of $25 for the Model A version with 256MB of RAM and $35 for the Model B iteration with an extra USB port and an Ethernet hookup. Web retailers were overwhelmed with orders, and the Pi even sold out at distributor Premier Farnell. Photo: Raspberry Pi (www.sotechdesign.com.au) MARCH March 5th As part of Deustche Telekom's OSIRIS project, the company's T-Labs team successfully transferred data over a single optical fiber wavelength channel from Berlin to Hanover and back at a blazing . It was a mighty impressive demonstration, but rest assured the widespread implementation of this tech was (and is) quite a ways off. March 6th The Android Market that supplied apps, books and movies to handsets running Google's OS was replaced by a one-stop shop for content called . The Play store incorporated the former Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore. March 7th Shedding the numbering convention for its tablet line, Apple announced the aptly named . The 9.7-inch panel sported 3.1 million pixels in a 2,048 x 1,536 configuration, and the Retina branding would next show up on the 15-inch MacBook Pro with an even more stunning 2,880 x 1,800 resolution. Just as exciting as all those pixels? The new tablet was Apple's first device to offer LTE connectivity, via AT&T and Verizon. March 15th Famed Austrian skydiver from an altitude of more than 13 miles above the Earth, reaching a maximum speed of 364.4 MPH. This jump was just one of several lead-ups to Baumgartner's attempt to break the record of 120,000 feet; in October, he raised the bar with a 128,100-foot dive -- reaching a max speed of 833.9 MPH and breaking the sound barrier in the process. March 19th Responding to travelers' complaints about gadget restrictions on flights, the FAA told The New York Times it would once again regarding the use of laptops, tablets and other non-cellular gadgets on airplanes. Perhaps one tiny baby step in the right direction: in September, the FAA cleared American Airlines crews to use iPads in the cockpit at every point during a flight. March 29th The Fair Labor Association from its audit of the Foxconn plants in China where Apple products are made. The group found violations of both FLA code and Chinese legal limits on hours worked, and as a result Apple and Foxconn agreed to drastically reform factory conditions by July 2013. The plant also agreed to raise employee wages and improve safety and health conditions. March 29th In the wake of RIM's Q4 2012 earnings announcement, the company dropped the news that Jim Balsillie, who had already stepped down as co-CEO, was from his position on the board of directors. In light of a dip in revenue, CEO Thorsten Heins admitted that RIM faced significant business challenges and said he would refocus on the company's enterprise business and BB10 -- which has still yet to launch. Photo: Jim Balsillie (Jin Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images) APRIL April 3rd Nearly two years after launching on iOS, the extremely popular photo-sharing app Instagram finally made its . The app included the same filters offered on the iOS version, and supported Android 2.2 and above. April 4th Google released a video demoing , a wearable heads-up display with Android on board. This would be the first of many high-profile public appearances for the device; two months later at Google I/O, Sergey Brin demoed the project with skydivers over San Francisco, and Mountain View put the glasses up for pre-order at $1,500 a pop. April 9th Less than a week after the release of Instagram's Android app, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company was the popular photo-sharing platform. Rumors pinpointed the price tag at a cool $1 billion in cash and shares. Instagram's CEO stepped in to reassure users that "the Instagram app will still be the same one you know and love." April 11th After allegations of anti-competitive pricing practices lead to an investigation of publishers in Europe, the Department of Justice launched its own , Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster. The DOJ's filing focused on charges that Apple and the publishers conspired to raise the cost of e-books and imposed that model on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. April 11th Allerta, maker of the inPulse Smartwatch, launched a Kickstarter campaign for its new , offering full iOS compatibility and a 1.26-inch, 168 x 144 black and white e-paper display for $99. Within two hours, the smartwatch raised $100,000 in pledges, and it eventually broke Kickstarter's record with a total of $3.3 million raised. Successful though its funding efforts may have been, the project was plagued by delays -- as of mid-December, the watch was slated to debut in early 2013. April 12th Barnes & Noble unveiled its , an e-reader with an illuminated screen meant to let users enjoy e-books without disrupting their sleeping partners. It went on pre-sale for $139. Amazon would release its own version of the illuminated e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite, later in the year. April 23rd Along with introducing Creative Suite 6 -- with 14 applications including Photoshop and InDesign -- Adobe announced its move to the cloud, with a new monthly plan that would let users access CS6's features over a broadband connection for a monthly fee of $75. April 28th Two years after Google incurred the wrath of the Justice Department for collecting private data over WiFi while amassing Street View and location information, the the company of all wiretapping violations. This move came as the DOJ and FCC said they couldn't find evidence that the search giant accessed any of the data it amassed. MAY May 3rd At the company's Mobile Unpacked event in London, Samsung announced its latest flagship, the . The handset touted a new (at the time) 1.4GHz Exynos 4 Quad chip for the heavy lifting alongside 1GB of RAM. Internals were tucked in behind a 4.8-inch, HD Super AMOLED display with TouchWiz-wrapped Android 4.0. May 14th What became official for LightSquared on May 14th didn't come as much of a surprise. The company formally turned in its paperwork to begin a filing in the US Bankruptcy Court of Manhattan. With this, the lofty goal of offering high-speed wireless for more than 260 million mobile users disappeared. May 16th Verizon's CFO Fran Shammo confirmed what many unlimited data users on the network had long feared. The company announced that with the arrival of , "everyone will be on data share." This meant that eventually, those grandfathered in would be forced into a monthly allowance. May 17th Facebook gathered up its massive user base and . The social network placed 421,233,615 shares of common stock on the table with an initial per-share price of $38. Excitement would be short-lived, though, as investors remained skeptical of ongoing growth and stock prices fell in the following months. May 22nd After a long courtship and approval from China, Europe and the US of A, Google of Motorola Mobility. The folks in Mountain View also announced that Dennis Woodside would steer the ship as CEO of Moto's mobile unit for the foreseeable future. May 25th Giving promise to the future of commercial space exploration and solidifying 2012 as a really good year for Elon Musk, became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully dock with the International Space Station. May 31st Unfortunately, the long, between Google and Oracle didn't wrap up when the infringement verdict arrived in May. Copyright proceedings determined that Google had infringed on parts of Java APIs. However, the judge ruled that Oracle's claim was in fact invalid, as it extended the rights of the copyright holder a bit too far. Photos: Cell Tower (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File); Mark Zuckerberg at NASDAQ (AP Photo/Nasdaq via Facebook, Zef Nikolla) JUNE June 5th More than three years after its official announcement, Tesla of its more-affordable Model S EVs to a venture capitalist in the Bay Area. The vehicle was let loose two weeks before the expected June 22nd arrival. Later in the year, the Model S would be voted Motor Trend's Car of the Year. June 11th Apple trotted out its own after nixing its long-standing use of Google's tech. However, the software arrived to a barrage of criticism for its glaring flaws, despite the inclusion of features like turn-by-turn navigation. The tech also touted full 3D capabilities, much like the upgrades Google announced mere days before. June 11th In 2012, we watched as Apple pulled the cover off of its Retina display on a number of devices -- one of which was the next-gen . The laptop was outfitted with a 220-ppi display panel that boasted a resolution of 2,880 x 1,800 on the 15-inch offering. At the time, the base model was priced at $2,199. June 14th The hits kept coming for Nokia. In June, the company to reduce its workforce by 10,000 before 2013 came to a close. Three executives also made their exit and the outfit sold off all but 10 percent of its stake in the luxury brand Vertu. June 18th At a presser in LA that was announced just hours beforehand, Microsoft confirmed that a Surface-branded was in the works. The rather unexpected move into tablet manufacturing touted a VaporMg, all-magnesium frame that wielded NVIDIA's ARM chip to power the business end of matters. June 20th With its second event in less than a week, Microsoft made . The exhilaration was short-lived for those who had already jumped on the WP bandwagon, as the company announced that current handsets wouldn't see the new OS. This also proved that the early rumblings about upgrades were in fact false. June 27th Looking to reveal the next version of its OS in grand fashion, Google detailed the software on its brand-new slate, the . The 7-inch tablet was the first and only device at the time to sport (Android 4.1). The follow-up to the six-month-old Ice Cream Sandwich tacked on Project Butter and Google Now -- the company's answer to Apple's Siri. June 28th After numerous outages and a shuffle at the helm, matters continued to get worse for RIM. For Q1 of its 2013 fiscal year, the company reported a $518 million net loss and 5,000 additional job cuts. The company also revealed that BlackBerry 10 smartphones until sometime in Q1 of the 2013 calendar year. Photo: Tesla Model S (Will Lipman) JULY July 2nd While it was granted a temporary injunction earlier in the year to halt iPad sales, China's Shenzhen Proview Technology for its claim to the iPad trademark. The slates would return and a meager (by Apple's standards, anyway) $60 million was sent to Proview to resolve the matter, thus proving that Cupertino wasn't immune to having to pay up. July 4th Though the cat was let out of the bag the day before, still packed quite the punch. A new boson was observed with a standard deviation of 5 at 99.9 percent confidence. This preliminary result provided evidence of the heaviest discovery to date and the best proof thus far of the Higgs. July 10th Riding the biggest first day in Kickstarter history, the Android-based gaming console took less than 12 hours to rocket past its funding mark of $950,000. Designed by Yves Behar, the unit touted a $99 price tag while being extremely accommodating to devs and lobbying for a wealth of free content. July 15th Richard Branson had claimed for some time that he'd be on board Virgin Galactic's first commercial tourism , but he confirmed that said trip would happen at some point during the course of 2013. A mere $200,000 per person nabbed a seat for the voyage aboard the company's SpaceShipTwo craft. July 16th Mountain View's first female engineer, a top executive and one of its first 20 employees departed this summer. decided to leave Google to become Yahoo's new CEO, joining the ranks after Scott Thompson's departure amid a r&eacute;sum&eacute; scandal. July 18th A judge in the UK forced Apple to with Samsung in the public forum. Judge Colin Birss made the Cupertino outfit post on its website and in several publications that Samsung didn't copy the design of the iPad. This action was said to counter the "damaging impression the South Korea-based company was copying Apple's product," but it wouldn't be its last forced apology. July 23rd Before Nikon's foray into the space, rumblings of Canon's own mirrorless offering swirled around the internet. However, wasn't the change of pace from its DSLR offerings that the aforementioned competitor ushered in. The $800 shooter touted a spec sheet reminiscent of the Rebel T4i with an initial launch coming in October. July 23rd After a battle with pancreatic cancer, , the first American woman to travel to space, died at the age of 61. Ride is remembered most for breaking NASA's gender barrier when she took part in an expedition on the Space Shuttle Challenger in June 1983. She also founded the administration's Office of Exploration. July 26th Google ramped up its efforts in Kansas City, more than a year after the initial announcement. The extra oomph came in the form of Google Fiber TV -- a service that touts a tailored, searchable UI, 1TB of space on Google Drive and a Nexus 7 slate to help out with the channel surfing. Photos: Particle Diagram (Courtesy CERN); Marrisa Mayer (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images); Sally Ride (Courtesy NASA) AUGUST August 6th With the help of guided entry, a parachute, a powered descent and a sky crane, NASA's touched down on the surface of Mars. Getting right to work, telemetry and the first images of Gale crater were sent back from the 2,000-pound (900kg) planet-exploring vehicle. August 12th Another Fisker Karma this summer in a Woodside, Calif., parking lot. The hybrid EV was powered off and unplugged at the time of the incident, similar to the fire back in the spring. Fisker was quick to point out that its prized electronics weren't the source. An investigation pointed to a cooling fan, causing a recall days later. August 24th After a three-week trial, a federal court jury in the lengthy patent infringement lawsuit between Samsung and Apple. Samsung was found to have knowingly infringed on Apple patents, with damages totaling more than $1 billion. On the other hand, the jury found Apple in all five instances cited by Samsung. August 25th Following complications from heart surgery just a few weeks prior, , the first man to take a step on the moon, died at age 82. His pioneering expedition with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft changed the face of space exploration forever. August 29th It wasn't a huge surprise when the latest supersized offering from Samsung was announced with a new stylus in tow. Screen real estate on the expanded to 5.5 inches and S Pen improvements nabbed most of the software tweaks this time around. A second-gen model signaled that the phablet was here to stay. August 29th Mitt Romney, the GOP's presidential candidate, had already taken to Yahoo Answers to respond to voters' questions when the commander in chief decided to tackle internet inquiries himself. The virtual took place via an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, continuing his use of social media throughout a successful re-election campaign. August 29th A name like surely meant placing the Android OS alongside a dose of touch functionality and added connectivity, right? Sure enough, the anticipated shooter was "Unpacked" at IFA with a 4.8-inch (308 ppi) display, onboard Jelly Bean and a standard 1/2.33-inch BSI CMOS sensor capable of 16-megapixel snaps. August 29th Among the barrage of new gadgets that Sony announced with rapid succession at its IFA presser was the awe-inspiring . The 3,840 x 2,160 LCD display is outfitted with an X-Reality Pro Engine and supports greater-than-HD passive 3D upscaling. Thus continued the trend of super-high-res, crazy-expensive TVs. Photos: Curiosity landing (Courtesy NASA); Neil Armstrong (Courtesy NASA) SEPTEMBER September 5th Just nine months after the announcement of its Lumia 900 flagship, Nokia outed its successor, . It may have been just as colorful, but this Windows Phone 8 handset was clearly a cut above, featuring a dual-core Snapdragon S4 CPU, a 4.5-inch (1,280 x 768) screen and an 8-megapixel camera packing the outfit's PureView technology. September 6th Adding even more light to the fight, Amazon introduced its own illuminated entry into the e-reader field with the . Nearly five months after Barnes & Noble released its glowing reader, Amazon released its own $120 contender with a front-lit display. The screen also featured 25 percent more contrast and a 62 percent increase in resolution over other Kindles. September 12th In evidence that doubling down on secrecy is easier said than done, Apple introduced a very familiar . Proving the rumor mill right, the phone was both taller and slimmer, and sported a two-tone exterior. That new screen measured four inches and packed a 1,136 x 640 resolution. It was the first iPhone to offer 4G LTE. September 19th Continuing the unibody construction and naming scheme introduced with the One X, HTC announced its . The colorful WP8 flagship would come in four distinct shades, with a 4.3-inch, 1,280 x 720 Super LCD 2 display; a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor; an 8-megapixel camera; and Beats audio on board. September 23rd Tesla founder Elon Musk teased the unveiling of the company's saying it would "feel like alien spaceships landed at highway rest stops." And he was right. At the event, the company revealed its plans to deploy the otherworldly power pumps across the US, Europe and Asia. The stations were said to charge a Model S with 100 kilowatts in about 30 minutes. September 25th Google's pet project, Glass, made yet another high-profile cameo on the face of Sergey Brin at the signing of a bill that established rules and regulations for allowing on California's roads. Gov. Jerry Brown visited Google HQ in Mountain View to set the stage for the signing. September 25th Its long-awaited touch-friendly OS refresh was no doubt the star of RIM's BlackBerry Jam developer conference, with the company outing details like a new face for BBM and even a new developer handset. However, it was a rather featuring a rendition of "Keep on Loving You" that stole the show. September 28th It wasn't all multi-billion dollar earnings and Foo Fighters performances for Apple this year. Following what may be the company's most public failing of late, CEO Tim Cook to its customers for delivering a subpar Maps app. The outfit went as far as to post a list of competitors' solutions to its App Store. OCTOBER October 3rd Nearly 10 months after AT&T effectively left T-Mobile at the altar, the carrier was officially courted by another suitor. Deutsche Telekom announced that the magenta one would . October 14th After what seemed like endless delays, Felix Baumgartner's was on. The daredevil broke records (and the sound barrier) for the highest-ever manned balloon flight as well as speed and altitude records for a free fall. October 23rd With NASA's shuttle program officially shuttered, 2012 saw a number of the spacecrafts journey to their final resting places. It was Endeavour's of LA, however, that had the world mesmerized. October 23rd Steve Jobs was famously opposed to a smaller slate, but that didn't stop Apple's new regime from releasing the . In an attempt to gain back a portion of its tablet market share from the proliferation of 7-inch tablets, the company introduced its own 7.9-inch offering. October 26th And the hype beast came to rest. After more than a year of previews, teases and leaks of , Microsoft finally made its touch-friendly OS available to the public, ushering in an army of laptop-tablet hybrids and touchscreen PCs. October 29th Following the very public embarrassment that was Apple's Maps app, the company announced a : SVP of iOS software Scott Forstall was on his way out. The head of Apple retail, John Browett, would also be parting ways. Meanwhile, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi would all take on added responsibility to fill the void. October 27th Having c its own hardware announcement due to Hurricane Sandy just two days prior, Google announced its latest Nexus devices via press release. The was a 10.5-inch Samsung tablet that appeared to share much of its DNA with the Galaxy Tab 10.1, while the was a 4.7-inch smartphone with a 1,280 x 768 HD IPS Plus display and Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU. Both were powered by the latest Android build: 4.2 Jelly Bean. October 30th Setting off a storm of ridiculously cute (or annoying depending on your perspective) Mickey Mouse Star Wars memes, Disney announced . for $4.05 billion. The company also voiced its intentions to release a new Star Wars film every two to three years, much to the chagrin of some purists. Photos: Baumgartner (Red Bull Stratos/Red Bull Content Pool); Space Shuttle Endeavour (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill); George Lucas and Disney characters (AP Photo/Disney, Todd Anderson) NOVEMBER November 10th In what appeared to be an attempt to avoid the courtroom drama that marked the Apple v. Samsung case, HTC struck an with Cupertino in its own patent suit. The original filing, initiated in March 2010, covered 20 patents related to iOS. This particular suit ended in a 10-year licensing agreement. November 12th It was a big year for Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky. After overseeing the production and release of one of the company's most anticipated software versions ever, Redmond announced that the company. Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller would step in to fill his shoes. November 13th When HTC announced its , it proved that the Retina display wasn't the only super-high-resolution game in town. Putting the iPhone 5's pixel count to shame with its 5-inch, 1080p Super LCD3 display (that's 440 ppi), the DNA also packed a Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, Android Jelly Bean, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and 1080p video capture. November 18t We first got our hands on the Wii U's tablet-like controller in June of last year but it wasn't until its that it would reach consumers. The release came just in time for the holidays and sparked arguments over whether the second screen was a step forward in gaming or merely an over-hyped gimmick. November 20th It's no secret that HP has had a tough go of things over the past few years. However, perhaps nothing rivaled the death of webOS in terms of bad news like the $9 billion hit the company reported during its Q4 2012 earnings call. The loss was blamed on stemming from its 2011 software acquisition, Autonomy. November 22nd First doesn't always mean best -- at least according to Popular Science. The publication named Google's Siri competitor, Now, its 2012 , calling it, "the first virtual assistant that truly anticipates your needs." Siri had this to say: "Sorry, I don't understand." November 29th In further signs of growing political unrest in Syria, all 84 blocks of IP addresses used by the country were . It was not the first such blackout and again both President Bashar al-Assad's office and rebel forces blamed the opposing party. The US State Department voiced its own opinion, saying it believed Assad cut communications in an attempt to stifle opposition forces. Reports of a return of service surfaced two days later. November 30th Two recalls and multiple delays later, Fisker put its once again. The company announced that it would temporarily halt production due to its battery supplier, A123 Systems, applying for bankruptcy in October. Fisker said it would continue production sometime after the outfit was auctioned off. Photo: Steven Sinofsky (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) DECEMBER December 3rd Despite the growing popularity of the tablet and simultaneous decline of print media, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. announced that it would its tablet-only magazine The Daily on December 15th. The news sparked debates about the viability of the old-school format in a new computing era. December 4th It looks like Netflix may be the place to see Episode 8 of the Star Wars franchise on TV. The streaming service with Disney that will make it "the exclusive US subscription television service for first-run live-action and animated feature films from The Walt Disney Studios" starting in 2016. December 6th According to a fellow dinner guest, Steve Jobs once said, "Those jobs aren't coming back," in response to an inquiry from President Barack Obama about what it would take to make the iPhone in the US. It may not be the iPhone, but during an interview with Brian Williams, Apple's current CEO, Tim Cook, did "one of our existing Mac lines" stateside. December 7th In what was no doubt upsetting (but, perhaps, unsurprising) news for backers of the Pebble smartwatch, Allerta announced that the Kickstarter darling was hit with and would not be available for the holiday season. December 18th Following an uproar sparked by an update to its Terms of Service, Instagram attempted to put an end to "." The company's co-founder Kevin Systrom took to its blog to clarify the changes, saying the company was simply looking "to experiment with innovative advertising" to increase revenue rather than attempting to sell users' photos as some suspected. Two days later, Instagram reverted to its previous terms. December 21st Despite predictions to the contrary, the Apocalypse was not upon us. Photos: Rupert Murdoch (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file); Disney / Netflix (AP Photo/File)I lost a bet with myself at CES 2013. In we published ahead of this week's big show, I wrote, "As per usual, the games industry and CES are acquaintances at best -- at least from what we've heard thus far. Perhaps this will be the year that bucks the years-long trend, but we're not betting on it." Wrong. Wrong. But hey, this is one of those, "glad to be wrong" situations. NVIDIA shocked everyone with its first Tegra 4 device, , which is essentially NVIDIA's first in-house dedicated gaming handheld. Not only does it play Android games, but more importantly, it streams full retail games from your NVIDIA GPU-based PC, all on its high-res 5-inch screen. Heck, it even has built right in, allowing you to explore Steam and purchase games, as well as push them directly to your television (employing Shield as your controller). And then popped up, confirming what we've heard murmurs of for months: the company's head down on creating a PC for your living room. Not exactly shocking, but certainly exciting; the plans are still nebulous, but Valve's . We even saw some third-parties stepping up with their own versions of Valve's initiative. is the first such creation revealed, though the company's staying tight-lipped about specs -- we do know that Xi3's working directly with Valve on its tiny, modular PC. It's barely 2013, and already Valve's Steambox initiative is dominating gaming news. Let's call it right here -- this is the year that Valve attacks. In 2013, we'll assuredly see the big incumbents -- Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo -- push back. After all, Nintendo's Wii U just launched , and both Microsoft and Sony's aging consoles are sorely due for updating. Which is to say nothing of the ongoing rumors regarding Microsoft's "Durango" and Sony's "Orbis" (the purported internal names for each company's next-gen hardware); specs, features, and services have all started popping up, albeit from the ever-dubious "anonymous sources." E3 2012 featured several games that looked far too graphically impressive for modern consoles (we're looking at you, Star Wars 1313), and each was revealed with company reps clamming up about where those games would end up, platform-wise. Suspect indeed. The open approach that Valve decided on years ago is paying off big when it comes to the living room -- if only five percent of that installed base jump in on Steambox in 2013 (what we'd call a highly conservative guess), that's 2.5 million users. Pushing back -- and hard -- is what all three will need to do. Valve's Steambox initiative won't require the same hurdle jumping that the other guys face; Steam's got and growing, regardless of platform. The open approach that Valve decided on years ago is paying off big when it comes to the living room -- if only five percent of that installed base jump in on Steambox in 2013 (what we'd call a highly conservative guess), that's 2.5 million users. Or to put it another way, more than double since launching mid-holiday 2012. Is Valve taking a risk by moving into hardware production? For sure, but an incredibly calculated one. Even if the Steambox initiative fizzles, there's always the massive ongoing success of Steam's digital storefront to fall back on. 2013 may be the year that Valve attacks, but it's not just the company's internal hardware projects that are up for the challenge. Support from third-party hardware manufacturers is already lined up, from the likes of Xi3, Alienware, Digital Storm, and more. Heck, you can already buy Alienware's X51 and drop it in your living room, where it blends in seamlessly with the likes of Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U. If Nintendo's Wii U doesn't get snapped up by consumers, Nintendo risks taking a massive financial hit. The same applies to Microsoft and Sony; admittedly, each of those two have other divisions to back up potential whiffs in gaming, but neither is in any financial position to cede substantial ground to Valve's more flexible approach to the living room. From where things stand now, though, Valve's sent a considerable volley at the biggies. Brace for impact.Chevrolet Spark EV Lease as Low as $199 per MonthCould save owner average $150 monthly in fuel costs based on EPA assessmentsDETROIT. Chevrolet announced today a low mileage lease on the new 2014 Spark EV 1LT for as low as $199 per month* for 36 months, with $999 due at lease signing including security deposit (tax, title, license dealer fees extra), making the vehicle one of the most affordable EVs on the market.Spark EV's Manufactures' Suggested Retail Price starts at $27,495 as low as $19,995 net of the full federal tax credit which ranges from $0 to $7,500 and includes $810 destination freight charge.Depending on their tax situation, California Spark EV owners may also qualify for other state and local tax credits and incentives ranging from $0 to $2,500, potentially reducing the price to $17,495. Spark EV owners in California are also eligible for High-Occupancy Vehicle, or carpool lane, access.Compared to the average new gas-powered vehicle, the Spark EV can save drivers, on average, about $150 per month in fuel costs based on EPA assessments**.The Spark EV will be available at select Chevrolet dealers throughout California and Oregon beginning mid-June 2013."The Chevrolet Spark EV is the most efficient and now one of the most affordable - EVs you can buy" said Chris Perry, vice president, Chevrolet Marketing. "Combined with outstanding infotainment and great design, the fun-to-drive Spark EV is engineered to impress."The Spark EV features a combined city/highway EPA estimated range of 82 miles when fully charged and an EPA-estimated combined city/highway 119 MPGe fuel economy equivalent. The vehicle's 21 kWh lithium-ion battery pack will continue Chevrolet's tradition of offering outstanding limited warranty protection eight years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.Spark EV will be the first vehicle on the market to offer as an available option compatibility with the recently approved SAE combo charger for DC Fast Charging. The capability, available shortly after launch, will enable the Spark EV to recharge up to 80 percent of its capacity in approximately 20 minutes at select DC Fast Charging stations when they become available. Unlike most competitors, the Spark EV's battery system is capable of handling multiple compatible DC Fast Charges daily. Charging can also be completed in less than seven hours using a dedicated 240V charge. A 120V charge cord set comes standard. Charging can be managed and monitored remotely using the Spark EV's smart phone application, provided by OnStar, which is standard for three years.Connectivity to Enhance EfficiencyThe 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV will offer several forms of in-vehicle connectivity, including the MyLink infotainment system that includes a seven-inch touch screen and integration with third-party apps and features such as Siri Eyes Free, Pandora and BringGo navigation. These features require the user to purchase third party apps separately on a compatible smart phone. See Chevrolet.com/MyLink for more details. The Spark EV RemoteLink application is designed to enhance the overall ownership experience with fingertip interaction and control. The application, which requires compatible smart phone and active OnStar subscription: displays charge status plugged in or not, and voltage provides flexibility to "Charge Now" or schedule charge timing displays percentage of battery charge level and total range allows manual setting of grid-friendly charge mode for off-peak times when electricity rates are lowest sends text or email for charge reminders, charge interruptions and full-charge notification displays miles and odometer readings remotely starts the vehicle to pre-condition interior temperature requires compatible smart phone and active OnStar subscriptionBecause the Spark EV operates only on electricity, drivers will need to know if they can reach their destination on a single charge. The Spark EV Waypoint tab, which is integrated into the RemoteLink app, can quickly plot a waypoint route with recommended charging stations if the route is beyond the vehicle's remaining range.The Spark EV comes with three years of OnStar Directions and Connections service, which includes Automatic Crash Response, stolen vehicle assistance and connected navigation.Chevrolet will also provide customer assistance via a Spark EV advisor. Dealers will provide on-site dedicated Spark EV service and sales experts. To be among the first to purchase a Spark EV, customers can visit their nearest participating Chevrolet Spark EV dealer. A Spark EV dealer locator is available on www.chevy.com/sparkev.Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world's largest car brands, doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than 4.5 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature spirited performance, expressive design, and high quality. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.-based are all the rage these days, but they mostly target the full swing. Can such electronics be accurate enough to measure a much smaller stroke, namely the all-important putt? Since golf season's nearly here, we decided to find out with the $200 3BaysGSA Putt, a tiny, lightweight device that fits in the handle of a putter and relays stroke information via Bluetooth to an Android or iOS device. As Engadget's resident golf nut, yours truly put the device through its paces both objectively and in a less-than-formal way to see whether it could accurately track a stroke. Will it help you lift your putter in victory, or make you wrap it around a tree? Hit the break to see how we did. Maker 3BaysGSA has already made some hay with the very similar-looking (and identically priced) Pro full swing analyzer, but make no mistake: this is a very different device, with an entirely separate app and sensor. To use it, you'll need a putter, ball and place to practice, as the Putt actually requires a ball to be struck -- just swinging won't cut it. To get started, you install the app on your iOS or Android device, insert and align the tee-like device and pair it using Bluetooth. After firing up the app, pausing for a tick to line up your stroke will serve to "prime" the device, letting you start to hit putts. Following each flail, a clear graphic representation of your stroke path along with several key stats will display on your device: the critical putter-face angle at impact and tempo, among others. It does that with a "delicate 9-axis sensor and intelligent algorithm," according to the company, which also detects the ball / club contact. Each stroke is duly filed away, allowing you to chart your progress (or lack thereof) over time. For a rather chunky $200, the sensor device is fairly plasticky, but seemed to hold up fine during the time we used it -- and a lightweight device was required to not affect your stroke, accord to 3BaysGSA. It claims up to five hours of play time on a charge, but we found we could only net three to four hours of steady use, so it might depend on your putting frequency. To check if it actually works as advertised, we set up a a video camera to film the stroke from overhead, then compared the plotted result with the stroke path displayed on a smartphone, as shown in the video below. The path, tempo and face angle seemed to line up fine in this admittedly un-scientific test, but more importantly, when the device said a putt was bad, we generally missed it. That gave us a pretty high level of confidence that it was correctly tracking the stroke. Once your putting session is over, you can review each stroke including all the captured telemetry or share a screen-cap on your social network of choice. The included app's well-designed interface shows an animation of your putts and displays a curve indicating the path of your stroke, which can be overlaid against that of a previous, model putt you've chosen. The device saves all the data from each hit, namely the animation, path, putter-face angle at impact and throughout the stroke, angle of attack, tempo, impact speed and swing path distance -- in other words, more information than most players would know what to do with. But since a single degree deviation of the face angle can cause you to miss a six foot putt, this data can help set you straight, once you figure out how to use it. That's the rub, of course -- the garbage in / garbage out rule applies equally here, so you've got to supplement the 3BaysGSA Putt app and device with the most important thing: practice. As for us? A hands-on isn't enough time to judge whether it actually helped our putting, but when things start to go sideways, it never hurts to have a second set of eyes -- especially if those eyes can read 10 indices at once to the nearest tenth of a degree.You'll likely miss 3D Robotics on first pass. The company's San Diego R&D facility is headquartered in an unassuming building amongst similarly nondescript offices in a maze of a business park. Enter through the back and you'll find yourself in the middle of a small manufacturing assembly, where industrial Pick and Place machines buzz loudly and a handful of women are QAing finished product. Until earlier this month, the site was mostly off the radar, save for a devoted group of online enthusiasts. Then, Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson announced he was leaving the magazine in order to head up the company. Anderson's off grabbing lunch as we arrive -- like us, just off a flight from the East Coast for a brief visit before jumping on yet another plane. He's in transition at the moment, as the head of both Wired and 3D Robotics, trying out his keycard for the first time as we set up our film equipment to interview the newly minted executive for an upcoming Engadget Show segment. Anderson's ties to the company go back to its inception, however, co-founding 3D Robotics with Jordi Mu&ntilde;oz, a 19-year-old living in Tijuana when the two first met through Anderson's DIY Drones online community. Anderson's fascinations with the world of consumer unmanned aerial vehicles began to manifest itself when the editor started building Lego aircraft with his children, soon growing into a sort of obsession that gave rise to DIY Drones well after his kids lost interest in the matter. Mu&ntilde;oz ultimately turned to the site as he struggled to improve upon a cheap Chinese RC plane, hacking his way to a better product and posting his efforts online, including a video featuring a Wiimote-controlled vehicle that ultimately grabbed Anderson's attention. Five years or so after the founding of the company, 3D Robotics operates out of San Diego and just over the border in Tijuana, where the majority of the company's manufacturing occurs, successful enough to lead Anderson to jump ship from his longtime gig into the nascent world of consumer drones. The company sells full vehicles through the DIY Drone storefront -- you can pick up a quadcopter for around $450 -- but the company's real bread and butter are autopilot modules like the Arduino-based ArduPilot, that can turn RC vehicles into drones. Toward the end of our visit, as we wind down a demo flight, a FedEx truck arrives carrying hundreds of enclosures for the company's flagship product. It's a small but monumental step in 3D Robotic's push toward a more mainstream audience. Anderson foresees a future in which sports teams use autonomous vehicles to shoot matches and farmers employ them to monitor crops. There's still a long way to go, however. At the moment, there's still a decidedly hobbyist feel around these parts. Their dream of skies filled with camera-toting drones still seems a ways off, requiring, for one, more consumer-friendly prices. If the gadget-loving masses do ultimately come around to such autonomous vehicles, however, 3D Robotics will be in a prime spot to deliver."We're not scanning every object in the collection," Adam Metallo tells me, offering up the information almost as soon as we set foot in the Smithsonian's Digitization office. It's an important piece of information he wants to make sure I have, right off the bat. It seems that, when the story of the department's first hit the wire, a number of organizations blew the scope of the project out of proportion a bit. And while the team's project is certainly ambitious, it's not, you know, crazy. It's the work of a three-person team, still in its nascent stages, attempting to prove the value of new technologies to a 167-year-old museum affectionately known as "the nation's attic."In the fall of 2011, Metallo and fellow Smithsonian 3D scanner Vince Rossi (a duo the institute has lovingly deemed its "laser cowboys") unpacked their equipment in Chile's Atacama Desert. "They were widening the Pan-American Highway, and in doing so, they uncovered about 40 complete whale specimens," Rossi explains. "But it might take decades for them to remove the fossils from the rock, so we were able to capture this snapshot of what that looked like in 3D." The tool of choice for the expedition was a laser arm scanner, which utilizes a process the duo compares to painting an object, moving back and forth across its surface as the device records the relative position of its axes. The results speak for themselves. As we sit down for an interview, two employees carry in a scaled-down 3D print of one of the scans, an impressively detailed and still rather large object they place on the table behind Metallo. The team is planning to print the whale out at full size for a future exhibit -- albeit in pieces, due to build-volume constraints in even industrial-level 3D printers. "The prospect of printing a 25-foot-long whale that we scanned in the Atacama Desert in Chile is pretty exciting," Rossi says with a smile.Also impressive is the sheer diversity of the team's work -- fitting though, when you consider the breadth of the Smithsonian itself. Metallo and Rossi rattle off a number of 3D scans they've done for the museum, a list that includes orchids, gunboats, the first aircraft to ever fly and various parts of Abraham Lincoln's body. "About three years ago, we had a 3D scan of a cast of Abraham Lincoln's hand," says Rossi. "We did 3D scanning because mold making was not an option -- pouring silicone rubber on this object posed a risk to it. Without touching the object, we're able to capture it in 3D on the computer and deliver that data to a 3D printer that can bring it back into the world."On a table next to the whale fossil sits a variety of 3D prints and laser-cut cardboard versions of the president's head. "Life casts were taken of Lincoln, just before the Civil War and in the remaining months of the war," explains Metallo. "So we have a 3D representation of a sitting president over the course of a few years. By scanning the masks and seeing the toll the war took on the president, we have a much more visceral understanding of what he was going through." The key is minimal invasiveness -- 3D scanning affords the opportunity to create a lifelike representation of the objects without actually touching them.The team utilizes a few 3D-scanning technologies, including the arm, each with its own limitations and employed for different jobs. The large-range scanner sitting on a tripod on the other side of the room, for example, might be employed to scan a roomful of dinosaur fossils, a process that involves setting up a number of targets throughout the room to give the machine clearly defined reference points. None of these devices, however, were actually developed with such work in mind. "All these tools that were developed for different industries, like engineering, architecture, the medical industry," explains Rossi. "We can see how these tools can be applied to the Smithsonian's mission."It's a learning process, as is determining what to do with the final product. It's clear that there's value in scanning these priceless objects for posterity. However, unlike the museum's documents (which are scanned on a machine that shares the same space), it's hard to say precisely what the information will ultimately be used for. "The first reason we make an object available in digitized form is 3D research and education use," explain Rossi. And indeed, the team is partnering with educators to increase student engagement with the work, which will come in part with the increase of 3D printing in the classroom, thanks to consumer devices like , which is churning away on a project for the majority of our visit.And then there's the question of what the general public will do once the data is released on a wider scale. "We're intrigued to see what people can make with the data," says Metallo. "Everyone knows what to do with a photograph, but we want to see what the world can do with polygon models of Smithsonian artifacts."When the company that helped invent 3D printing asks you if you want to be turned into a Star Trek statue, the only right answer is: "how soon?" Naturally, we immediately shot off a couple of selfies (front-facing and profile) and ticked off a couple of personal details: I wanted a phaser, naturally, and poor Tim got stuck in a red shirt, to help bring out the natural Riker in that beard of his. Sadly, we only had the option of the Original Series, in the lead up to launch, so you've got to use your imagination. As for the inscription on the base, Engadget Show producer Benjamin (who you can see after the break) asked for "Peace and Long Life," in keeping with his pointy-eared Vulcan theme, and I went with "May the Force Be With You," because, let's face it, I was always more of a Star Wars guy anyway. Tim wanted the simple, but expressive "Khaaaaaaan!" but sadly didn't make it in under the wire, so he'll have to get creative with a Sharpie.Once you send in two photos, fill out the specifics and pay the (admittedly somewhat steep) $70, someone at one of fulfillment centers will convert your image into a 3D model, import it into the company's software and then print it out using the Projet 660pro. It's a rebrand of the high-end device at Laika's Portland studios, printing out faces for the then-forthcoming stop-motion feature ParaNorman. The printer is capable of rendering objects in impressively high resolution, far more than you've been seeing on those consumer printers you've heard so much about. It can also print in full color, thanks to jets that spray a bed of drywall-like gypsum plaster, utilizing off-the-shelf HP ink cartridges. The whole process takes around three hours to complete a figure (about an hour per inch). Once printing is done, you excavate the models from the powder bed and then clean the excess powder off using a jet of high-pressure air. The process makes you feel a bit like an archeologist. Even after running it through the air blast, the figure still looks a bit ghostly, so 3D Systems media relations team member Alyssa Reichental took us through the next step in the process, using Vulcan Ben: squirting a Super Glue-like substance over the logic-loving humanoid producer. The final step both enhances the color of the statue and adds a bit more strength to its fragile structure. Once it's all done, the company boxes it up in a nice package and sends it off. Sadly, the packaging wasn't finished in time for our preview, so our 3-inch likenesses were delivered in bubble wrap and Styrofoam peanuts.As far as accuracy goes, Ben's figure, which was the first one out of the box, was probably the least convincing of the three. For one thing, none of us really recognized the guy without his glasses on (sorry Star Trek fans, the machine doesn't do eyewear particularly well -- or else Tim would have no doubt rocked his Google Glass), and facial hair can be a bit tricky. Tim's beard, on the other hand, was fairly spot-on and the hair was rendered impressively on all of ours. My figure also turned out pretty well, and while I wish I could claim that those were my pecs, they're actually the same ones that everyone gets. And though the printer is capable of much higher resolution and consistency than your standard extrusion desktop system, the powder still leaves things a little rough to the touch, with a slightly sandpaper-like surface.Is it worth the $70? It's a bit of a tough sell if you're picking one up for yourself, but this could be the perfect gift for the Star Trek fan in your life who has everything -- everything save for a 3-inch figure of themselves, that is. As for non-Trekkers, well, we suspect that this is only the first in a long line of branded, cloud-printable products from the company.In April of last year, former COO Samuel Cervantes launched the , a $500 3D printer. We were a bit taken aback by the price point -- after all, his former company's product had seemingly set the standard for consumer-facing 3D-printer pricing at around $2,000. We're hoping you've got both hands firmly clutching your hat when we tell you that the 3Doodler, a 3D-printing pen from the crew over at , is going to run a whopping $75 at launch -- and heck, if you get in early on the company's recently launched , you'll be able to snag one for $50. Before we go any further, however, let's get some things out of the way. For starters, it's best to take the 3D printer thing with a grain or two of salt. Calling the 3Doodler a 3D pen is a bit like calling a high-end ink pen a 2D printer. The device is actually quite simple, but pretty brilliant. It essentially takes the heated extrusion head off a 3D printer and incorporates it into a standalone device. A single piece of plastic (ABS or PLA, for the more environmentally minded out there) is threaded through the back, fed through the pen and comes out melted through the tip. Yes, like its 3D printer brethren, it works a bit like a hot glue gun. You can draw flat on a piece of paper or follow along with stencils, if you're not all that artistically inclined. The real trick, however, is writing upward, essentially drawing in the air. There are two buttons on the front of the device, which let you control the speed of the extrusion. The higher speed works just fine on paper, but if you want to hit that third dimension, it's best to slow things down, allowing the plastic to solidify as you build up. It's also possible to create three-dimensional structures by printing out 2D sides and essentially welding them together afterward with a bit of plastic, as the company did with its rather impressive Eiffel Tower model. The Wobbleworks guys let us take the pen for a spin for a bit. It's easy enough to use, but actually drawing a three-dimensional object takes a good deal of trial and error. We're sad to say that we hadn't quite mastered the thing by the time we had to give it back. There's also the fact that if you're not an artist, this thing isn't going to magically teach you how to draw. We're told, however, that the company's going to put a few of these in the hands of some Etsy users, so we should be seeing some pretty cool one-off results -- some of which will go toward rewarding Kickstarter donators. The first-gen unit needs to be plugged in, though the company tells us it's working on a battery-powered version. No telling how long that would actually run, given the extruder and the big onboard fan. It's also looking at the possibility of a more kid-friendly version (the main problem being that hot tip), and when I suggested a Thingiverse-like database for stencils, company reps nodded their heads knowingly. It should be pointed out that what you're looking at here is a prototype (there's an even older version in the gallery). The final version will be roughly the same size, with a different body. The company is looking for $30,000 in funding, in all. You can get in on that action by clicking on the source link.ようやく正式発表を迎えたノキアの最新Windows Phone 8スマートフォン について。4100万画素の大型イメージセンサやツァイス レンズ、光学手ブレ補正にLED+キセノンフラッシュといったカメラ機能を最大の特徴とする端末ですが、今年5月に発表されたばかりの現行フラッグシップ Lumia 925 と比較しても、RAMが2GBに倍増などさまざまな変更点があります。Lumia 1020 と現行のフラッグシップ Lumia 925、昨年発売の先代 Lumia 920、ついでに元祖4100万画素携帯であるSymbian端末 ノキア 808 PureView の 公開仕様を表にまとめました。 Lumia 1020Lumia 925Lumia 920808 PureView価格$300 + 通信プラン469 ($610) 欧州での単体価格$99 + 通信プラン$414.99 Amazonで単体価格プロセッサ2コア 1.5GHz MSM89602コア 1.5GHz MSM89602コア 1.5GHz MSM89601.3GHzRAM2GB1GB1GB512MBディスプレイ4.5インチ PureMotion HD+ 有機EL4.5インチ PureMotion HD+ 有機EL4.5インチ PureMotion HD+ IPS液晶4インチ ClearBlack有機ELピクセル数1280 x 7681280 x 7681280 x 768640 x 360カバーガラスGorilla Glass 3Gorilla Glass 2Gorilla Glass 2Gorilla Glass解像度(精細さ)334 ppi334 ppi334 ppi184 ppiストレージ32GB16GB / 32GB32GB16GB + microSD背面カメラ4100万画素光学手ブレ補正f/2.2 6エレメントレンズLED + キセノンフラッシュ870万画素光学手ブレ補正 f/2.0 6エレメントレンズデュアルLEDフラッシュ870万画素光学手ブレ補正f/2.0 5エレメントレンズデュアルLEDフラッシュ4100万画素f/2.4 5エレメントレンズLED+キセノンフラッシュ前面カメラ200万画素1280 x 9601280 x 960480p動画撮影1080p1080p1080p1080p通信方式HSPA+, LTEHSPA+, LTEHSPA+, LTEHSDPAWiFi802.11 a/b/g/n802.11 a/b/g/n802.11 a/b/g/n802.11 b/g/nBluetooth3.03.03.03.0センサ類地磁気計,加速度計,ジャイロ地磁気計,加速度計,ジャイロ地磁気計,加速度計,ジャイロ地磁気計,加速度計NFCありありありありワイヤレス充電Qi(要オプションカバー)Qi (要オプションカバー)Qi非対応SIM 形式micro-SIMmicro-SIMmicro-SIMmicro-SIMバッテリー2000 mAh2000 mAh2000 mAh1400 mAh重量157.6 g139 g185 g169 gサイズ130.3 x 71.4 x 10.4 mm127.5 x 70.5 x 8.5mm130.3 x 70.8 x 10.7mm123.9 x 60.2 x 13.9 mm本体色ホワイト、ブラック、イエローシルバー、グレーブラック、ホワイト, レッド, イエロー, グレーホワイト、レッド、ブラックこのほか を参照。7digital releases first digital music store on Windows 8 7digital application provides Windows 8 users with access to 20 million high quality music tracks Newest addition to 7digital's mobile offering will capitalise on the millions of anticipated Windows 8 devices coming to market The 7digital music store is available worldwide to anyone currently previewing Windows 8. London, UK, 24th July 2012 7digital, the leading digital media company, today announced the availability of a music application for the Windows 8 operating system, ahead of the full launch in October. The 7digital Music Store application, available from the Windows Store Preview, is an early preview that will be further refined ahead of the Windows 8 release. 7digital is the first digital music store to be made available worldwide on the Windows 8 platform. The application has been developed as part of 7digital's platform agnostic mobile strategy, providing consumers with access to their music collection across all devices. The application has been designed to work on both the desktop and tablet (Metro) versions of Windows 8, and provides users with a single, unified interface for music discovery and purchase across all their Windows 8 devices. Users will have access to 7digital's entire catalogue of 20 million high quality digital music tracks, can search through 7digital's catalogue for favourite artists and tracks, or discover new music based on 7digital's recommendation technology. 30 second previews of all tracks are available before purchase, and purchased music is automatically added to a user's cloud-based 7digital Locker for access on other devices or through a web browser. Existing 7digital users will be able to automatically sync and download all tracks and albums in their 7digital Locker to a Windows 8 device, once the application has been installed. Favourite artists and albums can also be 'pinned' to the Windows 8 UI and shared with friends. Ben Drury, CEO of 7digital comments "The potential of Windows 8 is huge. Microsoft's renewed commitment to the tablet space, and development of the Surface hardware, means there could be millions of devices in the market by the end of next year. We believe this offers us a significant market opportunity as a digital music provider. "The heart of our digital strategy is providing a platform agnostic music store that does not tie users to a single device or operating system; we have apps for Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone and iOS already available. Developing the Windows 8 application early means we're ideally placed to become the default digital music store for newly purchased desktops and tablets, and compatible across all other platforms. We're also ensuring our existing customers can access their tracks and albums, and purchase new music, as soon as they buy or upgrade to Windows 8." The 7digital Music Store application is available globally from the Windows Store Preview for users testing the current Windows 8 build. The application is available worldwide, and is compatible with x86, x64 and ARM based devices.Technically, Computex doesn't open its show floor until tomorrow, but if you ask Gigabyte, the show has been in full swing since last week. After a little , the company announced the , an 11-inch laptop that claims to be the world's lightest Ultrabook, at 975 grams, or 2.15 pounds. At the time, we brought you a few hands-on shots from our colleagues at Engadget Chinese, but we couldn't resist getting hands-on ourselves when we found it on display here in Taipei. Follow past the break for detailed impressions from Engadget's resident laptop reviewer or, if you've got a short attention span, check out our hands-on pics and walk-through video. Look and feel We're not sure if the X11 really is the world's lightest Ultrabook or how long it will hold that title, but in a way, it doesn't matter. This thing really is featherweight, and is easy to carry across the room in one hand. Does it feel materially different form other 11-inch Ultras like the MacBook Air and new ? You'd have to be a laptop reviewer like moi and have them lined up in a row. Based on muscle memory alone, it's difficult to appreciate the difference between one wispy machine and another. When Gigabyte first unveiled the X11 last week, we were instantly curious about that carbon fiber build -- not just because it makes for a lighter-weight system, but because it could make even a toilet feel premium. Indeed, the chassis feels smooth and soft under the fingers, but we noticed it's not immune to fingerprints -- everything from the touchpad to the palm rest to the lid showed greasy smudges. All told, it feels nice in hand, though it doesn't nearly match the level of craftsmanship you'll find in the UX21A or the current-gen Air. Here at Computex, Gigabyte is only showing the race car-inspired version, which has a fading "Woven Diamond" pattern, but Gigabyte will eventually offer an all-black version as well. Keyboard, display and trackpad Lift the lid and you'll be greeted by a fairly cramped keyboard. That's not surprising -- most 11-inch laptops have at least a few squished keys -- but even so, the UX21A offers a more spacious layout and its keys are made of metal, not plastic. The touchpad, meanwhile, has a nice, smooth surface and responded well to simple taps and basic navigation, but we'll have to hold off on judgment there since we weren't testing final drivers. Ports Last note before we sign off: the X11, like all 11-inch Ultrabooks, makes some considerable compromises in the way of ports. Starting with the good news, you get two USB 3.0 ports, along with a Mini DisplayPort and audio jack, but it's missing a full-sized SD slot; instead you'll have to settle for a microSD reader. Then again, ASUS' UX21A doesn't have a memory card slot of any kind, so this doesn't necessarily put the X11 far behind the competition where I/O connectivity is concerned. Specs and pricing The X11 will go on sale in the US in late July or early August, according to a Gigabyte rep staffing the company's Computex booth. When it does, it'll start at $999 -- pretty typical entry-level pricing for an 11-inch Ultrabook. At that base level, you'll get an Ivy Bridge Core i5 CPU and SSD (again, par for the course), but a Core i7 CPU and larger drive will also be available. In terms of runtime, Gigabyte says it's still testing the X11's locked-in battery, but a rep tentatively said it should be able to last five-plus hours on a charge. Wrap-up As always, we'll reserve full judgment until we can test a final, production-grade unit; until we do, after all, there's nothing we can say about battery life, speed or even touchpad performance. In the meantime, though, we wonder if the X11's superlatively light weight and carbon fiber construction are enough to make it stand out against more impeccably designed machines from ASUS, Apple and others -- especially if the price and specs are going to be the same. Zach Honig contributed to this report.Unlike some of the phones we test, the elicits... well, very little response whatsoever from passers-by. After all, it's certainly not going to win any awards for its stunning beauty or its size -- save those for the not-for-US-consumption -- but be that as it may, the N75 is a very significant product launch. Why? Well, if you're bothering to read this little rundown, you probably already know -- but for starters, it's Nokia's first WCDMA 850 / 1900 device to actually make it to market. Second, it's an S60 device launching on a US carrier, which in itself is a landmark event. Third, it gives us some hope that Nokia intends to support and develop for our very special flavor of RF spectrum that we're blessed with in these parts. A lot of pressure for one otherwise-unremarkable smartphone to take on, is it not? Read on for our take on whether the N75 lives up to the hype. We won't spend much time here waxing philosophical about the N75's physical appearance; like we've already said, there's not much to report here. It's a black block. The screen, external controls, and camera lens are all raised slightly. Stereo speakers hide behind metal mesh grills on either side of the back, directly behind the hinge (more on those bad boys in a bit). Flip it open and you're greeted with a matte silver, chrome, and glossy black palette. We found that the glossy area around the screen and the screen itself seemed unusually prone to attracting smudges from holding the phone to our face, but maybe we're just unusually oily (gross). The numeric keypad is pretty flush and doesn't offer much tactile feedback, but they're plenty large so we had very few mistypes here. The d-pad was another story, though -- the menu, music, direction, and enter keys are all placed just a little too close to one another for comfort. We'd occasionally find that we meant to hit 'right' and would end up in the Music menu, for example.Screen brightness and clarity is good -- and the ambient light sensor certainly helps -- but the screen still has a tendency to wash out outdoors, thanks in part to the aforementioned oil that tends to accumulate. Making the screen transflective would've helped here. No such woes for the external display, though, which is transflective. We found ourselves referencing the outside of the phone pretty frequently in day-to-day use thanks to its size, resolution, readability, and high functionality. The outer two music controls directly below the screen serve double duty, functioning as soft keys to navigate simplified forms of the messaging and music (obviously) apps in addition to the profile switcher. The N75 has a full eight (yes, eight) keys on its exterior, so keylock is a must; thankfully, it can be called up by quickly hitting the left and right music keys in succession.Going into the review, we had major misgivings (understandably) about AT&T mussing and fussing with the N75's firmware. As with any smartphone platform, S60 is a slate best left clean for the user to customize as they see fit; it would've been easy for AT&T to rebrand, hardcode, and lock down the N75 into oblivion, but thankfully, they didn't. Don't get us wrong, there's plenty of customization in here, but it's pretty much all undoable or irrelevant. There are some odd little things -- every instance of "SIM" in the N75's menus have been replaced with "SmartChip," for example -- and icons for the AT&T Mall, Cellular Video, and AT&T's own Mobile Email app dot the menu system. They can all be moved out of the way, though (we stuck 'em in their own folder where we don't have to look at them) with the notable exception of Music. For some reason, AT&T has decided that its Music menu is the one thing of theirs that you must stare at in the N75's root menu, probably because there's such a great revenue tie-in for the carrier with offerings like Music ID and MobiRadio in the mix. Oh, and there's an unwelcome switcheroo to watch out for: AT&T cleverly hides the real (and absolutely excellent) S60 web browser in a subfolder, replacing it with a crappy WAP browser titled "MEdia Net" in the N75's main menu. We fixed that little "glitch" right quick, though, and by the time we were done changing settings and moving things around, you could barely tell that the phone was carrier-branded. That's just the way we like it.Otherwise, the N75's software is pretty standard fare for a modern S60 3rd Edition device. Flash Player, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and QuickOffice come installed, and there doesn't seem to be any AT&T-imposed restriction on what software can be downloaded and installed. We immediately loaded up Google's GMail app and Nokia's own Internet Radio reference software to give us some streaming capabilities. App load times were reasonable, about what we're accustomed to seeing from S60 devices -- not instantaneous, but not frustratingly sluggish, either.Speaking of streaming, data speed is obviously a concern with this device. The simultaneous voice and data offered by UMTS is pretty cool, but what we really care about is pulling down bits just a little faster than what EDGE has to offer. In practice, we found that we were getting 80-90kbps, well south of the theoretical 384kbps that we should be getting downstream -- but latency appeared to be somewhat better than what we'd typically see on an EDGE device, and that makes a big difference in the browsing experience. The N75 lacks HSDPA, perhaps a tip of Nokia's hat to the fact that it hasn't fully bought into American 3G yet, but right now we'll take what we can get.There's been a lot of talk about poor battery life on this phone. It ain't going to win any marathons, but we found that it'll comfortably last a day and a half with heavy (but realistic) voice and data use. In other words, charge it nightly and you'll be fine; if you forget to charge, though, you can still coax it through day two by laying off the browsing and email.What about music, then? If Nokia's serious enough about it to slap a dedicated music key on the phone's keypad, it must sound alright, yeah? Well, first of all, a gripe: the N75 lacks a 3.5mm jack, despite the fact that the far slimmer N76 has one. To get a headphone jack here, you've got to hook up an accessory to the strangely placed pop-port (it's on the left side). Word has it A2DP is scheduled for a future firmware release, but it's not here yet, so you're stuck connecting old-skool 'phones or blasting music through the the internal stereo speakers. For the record, we think that stereo speakers on cellphones are generally pretty gimmicky -- but as gimmicky stereo cellphone speakers go, the N75's impress. They're extraordinarily loud and reasonably clear, both particularly valuable traits when you consider that these are the same speakers used for the phone's ringtones.The camera falls a little behind the standard for recent Nseries devices, offering just 2 megapixels without autofocus. On the plus side, though, the N75 offers S60 3rd Edition's smartly-executed camera / camcorder app and the LED flash was reasonably effective at making even the darkest environments serviceable.So does the N75 live up to the hype? Sort of. If we put on our carrier-branded blinders for just a moment, the N75 is one of just two S60 devices offered on AT&T -- in fact, one of just two offered on any major US carrier at the moment -- so for S60 loyalists, the choice is a pretty straightforward one. If we take off those blinders, though, the N75 is lost in a sea of more brilliantly-executed Nokia smartphones like the N76 and . So the question becomes: just what is official carrier support and 3G worth to ya?Back in 1991, a computer science student named Linus Torvalds announced on a newsgroup that he was creating a "hobby OS." That hobby was Linux, and today it's much more than a tinkerer's operating system, with availability on all manner of hardware and a seemingly unlimited array of flavors, or "distributions." Maybe you're new to Linux, or maybe you're itching to graduate from Ubuntu to something with a little more geek cred. Whatever the case, we're going to take the sting out of all those command prompts, using two great distros as examples. What is Linux? If you wanna be a jerk about it, Linux technically isn't an operating system. Linux proper is actually a kernel, which is only a portion of an OS (albeit, the main portion). When most people say "Linux" however, they are talking about a Linux distribution, which is indeed a full-fledged operating system. Luckily for any beginners out there, it's not as complicated as you might think -- what makes Linux Linux is a small combination of components, that kernel included. In fact, we can break them down into four main parts, in no specific order: That's the short version. Now let's take a moment to break each of these down. The bootloader For the sake of keeping things simple, the bootloader is a piece of software that helps get the Linux kernel loaded into memory so that you can use your computer. It is required. When you hit the power button, your computer does what's called a POST (Power-On Self Test) and then the BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) reads data from your disk drive, which says, "Hey, I'm a bootloader, execute me!" Your computer says, "Okay," and executes that bit of code. At that point, the bootloader tells your processor and memory to load and execute the Linux kernel that's been waiting so eagerly to run. There are three main bootloader options in the Linux World: LILO An oldie but goodie, LILO seems to be used less nowadays, especially compared to GRUB. One drawback is that it lacks support for EFI, which many newer computers support. There is, at least, a modified version of LILO called "elilo," which does support EFI. Pros: Cons: GRUB GRUB has quite a few points in its favor, including the fact that you don't need to re-install it every time you change something, as with LILO. GRUB version 1 (aka GRUB Legacy) is the most commonly used bootloader today. Just keep in mind that, like LILO, it's in maintenance mode by now, which means no new features are being added. You'll find those in GRUB v2, which is used by default in the ever-popular Ubuntu, among other distributions. GRUB v2 was officially released June 26th, 2012. That's how new it is. Pros: Cons: Syslinux Syslinux is a slightly lesser-known bootloader that was originally designed to boot the Linux kernel from a FAT/MSDOS filesystem. Written by a bright guy named Hans Peter Anvin, it has a decently broad feature set and supports the bleeding-edge filesystem known as BTRFS. Also, pretty much any ISO image of any Linux distribution you boot utilizes Syslinux, in the form of Isolinux. Pros: Cons: Really, these all do the job pretty well. The beautiful thing about open source and using a Linux-based operating system is the freedom to choose exactly what you'd like to use. The Linux Kernel So, what is the Linux Kernel? Let's begin with the layman's version: the Linux Kernel is essentially the boss of your computer once the bootloader assists it into execution. The kernel controls memory, the CPU, input and output, and any peripherals you connect to your computer. It controls what application can access what memory, and what user can run what task. Now, the "I've got a degree in computer science" version: The Linux Kernel is a monolithic operating system kernel that supports loadable device drivers (kernel modules) and preemptive scheduling. It is highly portable, and runs on 90 percent of the world's top 500 super computers. It's written in the C programming language and is supported and maintained by several individuals worldwide. It's open source, meaning the code is open to anyone who would like to modify it. It's also freely available to download. Userland These are the bits of software that include your web browser, video games, your spreadsheets, your text editors. This is also the software you use to get around your computer's filesystem, copying file A to file B, moving a picture into a folder, creating a new folder, etc. The most important parts of userland are the GNU core utilities, also known as coreutils. This GNU toolset contains the base tools and commands to complete a Linux distribution on the most basic levels. Some basic commands from coreutils that you need to familiarize yourself with: The Linux filesystem The Linux filesystem can get tricky, and seems to be the item that takes the most time for people to master. To begin, every filesystem has a filesystem type, as well as a filesystem layout. The type refers to how a hard drive is formatted, which has a direct impact on how Linux reads and writes files. Luckily for you, confused newbies, there's a boatload of filesystem types out there. For now, and for the sake of this article not becoming a Frank L. Herbert novel, we'll only discuss one here. That would be ext4, a filesystem in wide-enough use that it makes sense as a go-to choice. Once you become a Linux Jedi Master feel free to take a swim in the ocean of alternative open source filesystem types. Now let's move onto the filesystem layout, the most detailed section of this article. The filesystem layout in Linux is naturally different than what you're used to if you're coming from Windows. If you're coming to Linux from Mac OS X, you're in somewhat better shape. The filesystem is where your files live (obviously), as well as where all the above components are stored when the computer is turned off. The layout of the folders is what we really need to talk about. First off, if your background is in Windows, all of the \'s become /'s. Example time: C:\myname\myfolder\myfile.txt in Windows, becomes /home/myname/myfolder/myfile. Now, here's a more general view of the layout of a Linux filesystem. It's important you get familiar with this; almost all Linux filesystem layouts look like this, regardless of the distribution. Don't close your browser window out yet -- we'll walk you through these so that you know them like the back of your hand. Check it out: We understand that if you're new to this, this might seem overwhelming, but believe us when we say you'll get it with time. The filesystem hierarchy of Linux can be a bit of a struggle at first, but after a while it actually starts to make sense. You may even like it better than whatever it is you're used to. Also, keep in mind that not all Linux distributions use the standard filesystem hierarchy listed above. There are some distros that take a completely different approach. Open source is all about choices. As you fall further into the rabbit hole, you'll find out just how deep it goes. Now that we've armed you with a basic overview of what Linux is and how it breaks down, let's put it all together. What's the best way to choose a Linux distribution? Each of the thousands of Linux distros out there naturally has its pros and cons. Peek into forums and you'll bear witness to heated flamewars over which distribution is better than which. The answer to this question is that it's up to you. This may seem like a cop-out, but it really is true. Open source is about freedom. You have the freedom to choose what you like and go with it. With that said, we do want to suggest two Linux distributions that will not hold your hand too much, and that don't hide the underpinnings of the OS behind a fancy UI. This will help you in the long run by forcing you to actually learn the OS. You'll probably have to do some Googling to make things work, whereas installing Ubuntu and spinning up Firefox would take an easy 20 minutes. Don't get us wrong here: Ubuntu is great. If you just want a quick-and-easy distro that will help get you up and running quickly, Ubuntu is awesome. Not to mention that Steam has been officially for Ubuntu. If that's what you had in mind, stop reading now and head on over to ubuntu.com, download an ISO and get started. If you want more of a challenge, though (or maybe more leet hax0r cred), read on. Slackware Slackware is one of the oldest distros. Back in the early days, 1993, another smart guy named Patrick Volkerding -- aka "The Man" -- released Slackware. Volkerding is known as "The Man" because he is one of the few Benevolent Dictator's For Life (BDFL) in the open source community. He also developed the first versions of Slackware all by his lonesome. There have been some rumors circulating lately that Slackware is going the way of the Palm brand. This is not true. The root of these rumors is that the Slackware website experienced some lengthy downtime this spring, though as of this writing it's back up. If by chance it's down when you see this, you can still obtain good ol' Slack from . You can also find torrents . In any case, rumors be damned, development remains active, and Slackware 14 is expected to land soon. Installing Slackware Hold onto your hats, newbies: you won't find a mouse-driven, Windows-like UI to get Slackware installed. Instead, you'll see a tried-and-true, text-based setup program. Lucky for you, it's quite easy to use. Before you start the installation, though, you'll be greeted by a message stating that you'll first need to partition your disks with a / (root) partition and swap partitions. You have the option of using three utilities to carve up your drive: fdisk, gdisk and cfdisk. We recommend cfdisk. Let's break down the minimum requirements: 1. swap - A 4GB partition should be enough, and if you have lots of RAM (read: 8GB or more) that should be plenty. 2. / - Use the rest of your disk for this partition; it's where the OS and your personal files will live. It should look something like this: Partitioning is tough for newcomers, but hopefully the above helps out. Once you get past that step just type "setup", select "Add Swap" and get used to pressing Enter. Sure, you'll have to type in a few things like hostname, and root (user) password, but that's about it. Because of the manual partitioning we'll admit it can be intimidating for those new to Linux, and those new to installing operating systems in general. With that said, the installation program does a great job of telling you exactly what you need to do. If you can read the screen, you can get a full Slackware installation up and running with little to no Googling. Package management in Slackware Slackware's approach to package management -- that is, the management of software installed within a Linux distribution -- is quite simple. By design, it's a complete installation that stays up to date with any patches that might be released. As the explains to newcomers, "This avoids the mess of dependencies that other Linux based GNU systems face". Read differently, this says, "What you see is what you get." Depending on which mantra you believe, this could be a really great mindset, or a terrible one. Slackware packages are files with a .txz extension. They are usually named as follows: appname-version.txz. For example, firefox-12.1.txz. Slackware provides a tool for adding/removing these txz packages and keeping them up to date, called 'slackpkg'. Using slackpkg takes a bit of configuration. You have to choose a mirror -- which is a place to download packages -- in a configuration file, /etc/slackpkg/mirrors. Not rocket science, but not necessarily easy for a true beginner either. After considering which mirror you'll use, learn three commands: slackpkg update, slackpkg upgrade-all, slackpkg install-new. These will get your default Slack setup up to date and secure. Third-party packages What are third-party packages? Well, there's a good chance down the road you'll want to install a piece of software that is not included in your base Linux distribution. You'll need to get that installed outside of using the package management system. With slackpkg in particular, you're currently limited to whatever packages are available in the official distribution. That doesn't help you much if you need to install a third-party application, like Skype. There are a few options out there to help with this. One is a project/website called . This site provides a script and source files that you can download. You basically toss all of them in a folder and execute the Slack build script. It'll make a default Slackware package in /tmp for you to install. Got all that? Good. After you do this a few times, it's a piece of cake. The next option you have is a beta project called sbopkg, which is essentially a tool that makes the manual part of using Slack builds a bit easier. Check out sbopkg.org for more info on that. Community support in Slackware There's always a good chance something is going to happen to your system, or you're going to want to do something that you can't easily find steps to do so. This is when you need to go out and get support from "The Community". That is, each Linux distribution typically has a community of users with different skill sets that are, in most cases, happy to help fellow users out. Slackware's main sources of community support come from forums like , and from IRC. In particular, there's an expansive set of questions and answers on the . If you encounter an issue you can't find a solution for on LinuxQuestions, the folks in the are pretty helpful. (For you regular IRC'ers, that's #slackware on free node.) Hopefully, your issue isn't getting connected to the internet. Sometimes finding Slackware support online isn't as easy as other distributions, but if you ask intelligent questions in #slackware, and don't spam with questions like, "YouTube isn't working, how do I fix lol?!?" you should find the support you need. Arch Linux At 10 years old, Arch Linux is a relatively recent addition to the Linux fold. First launched in 2002, Arch was designed as a "rolling release" operating system. That basically means that once you install Arch using the built-in package management, you'll always have the current version installed. This is amazing in that you won't have to wipe your system and reload an OS to get the latest and greatest, or go through a nasty upgrade process. Like Slackware, Arch is built around simplicity. As we said, though, this can be a good or bad thing depending on your appetite for a challenge. To get started, pick up Arch Linux . If you've got a fast internet connection, we recommend doing a net-install so you get the newest version off the bat. That just means the installer will grab the latest packages from the Arch Linux servers so you're automatically up to date after installation. Installation Arch Linux utilizes an ncurses-based installation program that doesn't require too much pointing and clicking. All told, it's a fairly involved installation, at least compared to Slackware. It does have an automated disk configurator, but even so, we can see where selecting the packages you want installed on your system could be overwhelming to newcomers. When you're selecting package sources, we recommend "core-remote," "community-remote" and "extra-remote." Once it comes time to choose a package, the process is broken down into two steps: group and individual selection. For group selection, we recommend: That'll be plenty to get a nice base install going. We can always add more packages later, which we'll cover later in the package management section. After you go through the group package selection you'll be presented with a rather lengthy list of individual package options. To avoid overwhelming you, though, we recommend only installing these packages: You'll need these to get a graphical user interface up and running out of the gates in case you need a web browser to get some help and check the wiki. Lastly, you'll be presented with the system configuration menu. At the minimum, you'll want to modify rc.conf and set the root password. In rc.conf, you'll need to set your hostname at the "HOSTNAME=" section. If you leave everything as default under the "interfaces" section the system will use DHCP to automatically obtain an IP address. Then set a root password and you're done. Finally, you'll need to install your bootloader, and whether or not you choose GRUB or Syslinux you'll be prompted to modify the bootloader's configuration file. You can safely save and exit with no modifications here. Reboot and you're all done. As you can see, the installation of Arch is a bit more involved, but once you get past it, you'll have an amazing rolling-release system. Package management Package management in Arch is handled by a phenomenal tool called "pacman," which allows you to keep your system up to date and install any extra packages you want with ease. There are also thousands of third-party packages available through pacman, which we'll discuss in more detail in a moment. Updating your system: You can update the entire system with one simple command: pacman -Syu If you did a net-install, you should be completely up to date out of the box, but later on in the week, you'll want to run "pacman -Syu". Adding a package to the system: To add a package to the system is pretty simple as well. Let's say you want to install Firefox. Peck out "pacman -S firefox" as the root user and a few moments later, Firefox should be ready to rock. Additionally, pacman takes care of any so-called dependencies a package may have. For example, Firefox will require some libraries, in which case pacman finds and installs them for you. Third-party packages Third party packages are also available via pacman. In the off chance you cannot find a package in the pacman repositories, you can reach out to AUR, the Arch User Repository. Similar to slackpkg, AUR provides an online method to download, build and install packages for your system. More info can be found . Community support in Arch Arch Linux has an expansive wiki, which you can explore . Trust us when we say it's awesome. Anything you can think of is there. There's also a great IRC channel (#archlinux) full of users ready to assist. If Arch community support was ranked on a scale of 0 to 10, it'd get a 15, thanks to the wiki alone. IRC as always, is another story: it can be hit or miss, with conversations moving off-topic and questions getting overlooked. But hey, that's how IRC goes.Alright, so you've been successfully pwning n00bz in and , but lately you've decided your rig could benefit from one of those surround sound headsets that everyone says will make you so much better at first-person shooters. You might remember Astro Gaming's latest offering from E3, the -- it's the company's second try at a wireless Dolby Headphone-enabled 7.1 surround sound system. Its previous attempt, the (sold alone and bundled with the $229 A30 / $280 A40 Wireless Audio Systems), was a solid solution for folks wanting traditional MixAmp controls and enough versatility to use with any pair of wired headphones. (What's up, audiophiles?) However, it didn't provide as seamless a setup for gaming on the couch as headsets with embedded wireless radios like Turtle Beach's X41. So, does essentially shoving the MixAmp 5.8 into an A40 make for a better living room-geared solution? Does it manage to retain that -bred DNA Astro is famous for? Does it trump headsets in its range like the $270 ? Most importantly, should serious gamers consider dropping 300 bones for it? We'll explain it all after the break. Hardware If it ain't broke, don't fix it -- that seems to be the mantra behind the A50's design. The headset is nearly identical to the tried-and-true A40 ($200 as a standalone product), all the way down to subtle details like the embroidered headband -- the same sort you'd find on a fitted baseball cap. For those unfamiliar, it's a very retro-futuristic design; you're looking at an extremely flexible skeletal frame made from sturdy matte plastic along with two glossy metal tubes that connect the earcups to the headband. That said, discerning shoppers will notice the A50 differentiates itself from the A40 with a non-glossy finish on the outside of the earcups and red coloring on the partially visible internal wiring. The coiled and slightly exposed wiring might seem like a malfunction waiting to happen, but we've never experienced any breaks or snags with last year's A40. So we'd say it's fair to expect the same robustness here as well. Some tweaks have also been made to accommodate a more couch-friendly experience than the A40 wireless system (i.e., A40 plus Astro MixAmp 5.8). Aesthetically, this means the A50 doesn't have customizable speaker tags, nor can you move the mic to the right earcup on the fly. Not that it matters, because if you're at home, it's not like anyone can see how totally awesome your customizations are anyway. However, this does actually have an impact on the tonality of the A50, which we'll discuss in more detail later. If it ain't broke, don't fix it -- that seems to be the mantra behind the A50's design. With that, let's talk about what might have counted as "broken" in the past. As we mentioned earlier, the MixAmp 5.8's performance and versatility were both great, but having a wired headset that plugged into a belt-attached receiver that connected wirelessly to a transmitter was ideal only for a niche group of users. Namely, it was made for those with large living rooms and who wanted the traditional MixAmp experience without tracking wires across the room. It was also a wireless option for those interested in hooking up their audiophile cans like the Sennheiser's 500 series. In the case of the A50, though, the belt pack is gone. Its controls, radios and rechargeable lithium-ion battery are now embedded in the headset itself -- specifically, the left earcup. Within your thumb's reach on the back of the right earcup is a notched volume wheel, while further up you'll find a power button with an indicator light and a tri-mode switch for sound profiles, which we'll explain in the audio section. The volume roller is placed in a great spot and becomes more intuitive with each use -- you won't be fiddling to find it at all. However, we quickly became annoyed with just how many flicks it took to move throughout the volume range -- we're talking around 50 taps of the thumb. You might think that once your volume is set you'd barely be touching the wheel, but we found ourselves trekking up and down its range in all sorts of scenarios, from new games to music listening. That said, the dial and tri-mode switch function smoothly, and unlike previous MixAmps, you won't notice any static or off-centering in the audio signal while making adjustments. Moving along to the outside of the right earcup, it's essentially a giant rocker for adjusting the balance of audio coming from games and voice chat. It's convenient to press that big, tactile button and hear a satisfying click, though we did find the sound of its springs to be a bit annoying at lower volumes. Thankfully, the rocker also enables three audio cues to help you gauge the balance. (Additionally, you'll hear these sounds indicating when the headset is powered on or in need of a charge.) Overall, we wouldn't say this system is as intuitive as having a duo of stereo system-like volume dials to control the audio levels like previous MixAmps, but we're at a loss trying to come up with a better implementation than this. Along the rear of the left earcup sits a mini-USB port for charging, and a 2.5mm input for your Xbox Live chat cable, and we've got no complaints about their placement. The outside features a non-removable mic that's extremely flexible, and positioning it upright will let you quickly mute any potentially embarrassing conversations you might need to have with your roommates. Still, we've got to kvetch at least a little. This flip method (which we've loved on wired Sennheiser headsets like the ) is certainly better than having a mute switch embedded inline with a cable, but its left-side-only mic placement puts you at a loss. It's one of those subtle design elements that make the A40 unique and accommodating to the user, and as understandable as that design choice is, we're just a bit saddened that the option isn't here. By the way, although the A50's MixAmp TXD wireless transmitter looks largely the same as the original 5.8's TX, A40 owners might be disappointed to learn that the 5.8's MixAmp RX receiver is not compatible with this unit due to differing audio technologies (more on that later). The same goes if you try to use the A50 with the OG 5.8 TX. All that's understandable, for sure, but still a bummer if you plan on having buddies over for split-screen gaming or an intimate LAN party. Setup and layout We're happy to report that getting the whole A50 package set up went smoothly -- the hardest part was fiddling with the three plastic bits that snap together to create a stand for the headset and MixAmp transmitter. Aside from those pieces, you'll find a pair of USB cables, a TOSlink cord and an Xbox chat cable. Yes, you'll still need to plug a pesky cable into your controller to talk on Live, since Tritton has the exclusive rights for totally wireless Xbox headsets with its upcoming . Still, since Turtle Beach offers a wireless controller puck to ensure there are no cords at all, we can't help but be disappointed that Astro has once again left Xbox users in need of a cable for its wireless system -- even if it is one fewer than was needed for the 5.8. Although the wire never separated from our controller, we do wish the connection were a little tighter. From left to right, the back of the A50's TXD features an auxiliary input for your PMP (you'll need to supply your own cable); a USB power socket and an optical input that connects with your console or computer; an optical pass-through and a second USB port for charging the headset. Unlike the MixAmp 5.8 TX, the TXD spares us the hassle of a proper wall wart as it gets its power right from the USB of your gaming system. Astro, again, managed to leave its wireless system needing a wire for Xbox users. The cables from the base shoot straight from the back, a setup similar to what you'll find on the . From there, it's a matter of charging up the headset and powering it, and the TXD, up. Annoyingly, the base's buttons are still controlled independently (as on the original), meaning you won't be able to power it on and switch from stereo or virtualized Dolby Headphone 7.1 sound from the comfort of your couch. While we suspect the idea is to keep the base powered on at all times, there are surely many folks out there who'd prefer to avoid such a scenario altogether. It's not like you'd have to do the same with your console. We're happy to report that this time around PS3 users don't have to fork over extra cash for a TX-to-console chat cable, as was the mind-boggling case with the MixAmp 5.8. All that said, we still have another nit to pick in the cable department. If you'll recall, the A50's internal battery is not user-replaceable. This means you'll need to hook it up to the TXD or your console via USB every single time the battery dies. With our usage, this was about every six hours despite Astro's claim of 12-plus around 10 hours "across platforms." However, we're told that keeping the mic muted should allow for better battery life, and that Xbox users will likely achieve longer runs between charges because of that chat cable. Thankfully, the A50 can function while charging, but the included three-inch charging cord won't get you very far. A longer "Play-and-Charge" cable is available from Astro, but it'll set you back eight bucks. At that price, we're not sure why it's not included in the package. By the way, we're told that battery will last up three years for most users, and that a service replacement program will be available for those who burn out the battery before then. Fit Hands down, this is one of the most comfortable headsets you'll slap on your noggin. All of the embedded tech makes it noticeably heavier than the A40 (0.81 vs. 0.71 pounds) but Astro's compensated for this with more of its Tempur-Pedic-esque padding. Essentially, there's a floating headband that balances the headset's weight distribution, while the deep earcups and circumaural fit should ensure that the pads will wrap around your ears rather than push against them. We'd be remiss not to mention that the left side of the headset feels noticeably heavier in-hand due to the internal battery, but you might not be able to discern the difference once it's on your head. Better yet, the padding is made of cloth, ensuring your ears never get excessively sweaty after long periods of wear. Bottom line: we had no issues using this puppy for hours of game play. Beyond that, the earcups have a long range of adjustment up and down the metal headrails, and the cups fold flat (notably, with the earpads facing down) for resting on your collar when it's time to take a break. Recall that flexibility we mentioned early? It really helps keep the clamping force of the A50 at a minimum, yet its fairly loose fit remains snug enough to provide a solid seal between your ears and the earcups -- it's ultra-comfortable and won't cause cartilage cramps. The only headset that rivals it for us is the PC 360, which loses some brownie points for having pads that push against glasses rather that mold around them like with the A40 and A50. Bottom line: we had no issues using this puppy for hours of game play. Sound and wireless connectivity Building on the 5.8GHz solution first introduced with the MixAmp 5.8, Astro also threw in KleerNet lossless audio processing. To put it simply, is well-known for its wireless DSP, which aims to offer CD-like resolution for audio files, being capable of offering uncompressed, lossless audio. This also means the unit has the ability to interface with other KleerNet-enabled devices. Just like the A40, this headset uses 40mm drivers (rated at 48oHms) despite the 50 moniker, but the sound signature is noticeably different. The most drastic change is the A50's completely closed back design, instead of the A40's optional semi-open or closed back setup handled by its speaker tags. (Essentially, the tags for the A40 can be used as partial blocks for the earcup vents or near-total blocks using its foam dampeners.) Basically, you can expect gobs of passive-isolation and bass. The A50 produces audio that's warm, punchy and absolutely massive. As it stands, you'll have a choice between three presets: Media (bass boost), Core (flat) and Pro (treble boost). Following in the steps of Turtle Beach, Astro says users will soon be able create their own custom presets featuring options for "EQs, sidetones, noise-gates and more"; although the company hasn't said when, exactly, this feature might roll out. Out of the box, the A50 produces audio that's warm, punchy and absolutely massive. Media mode is excellent for movie-watching and listening to music, but we didn't use it as much while gaming. This is without a doubt the deepest and wub-wub-iest bass we've experienced, and it definitely drowns out the rest of the mix a bit. Core mode sounds much like the A40 models since the 2011 Edition, albeit a bit less clinical with more extension in the low end and slightly darker treble. The Pro mode essentially pushes out a major boost in the treble, making it easy to discern footsteps and gunshots; although the audio thins out as expected, the sound doesn't become overly sibilant or unpleasant to listen to. Naturally, you'll have to figure out which preset you like best, but we usually found ourselves swapping between the Normal and Pro modes during matches. One thing is certain: this headset is capable of pumping out great, loud sound. We found no traces of distortion at even the loudest volumes, and we're curious to see how much the sound could potentially improve once Astro lets us set custom EQs. As it stands, we find that Astro's pre-loaded A50 presets for the Media and Core modes are simply too bass-focused at the moment, seeming more like demos for how low it can go. So how about Dolby Headphone's simulated 7.1? You might want to read up on the More Coverage link below for full details on how the magic happens, but it works great -- just like most quality headsets that use the DSP. The A50 itself is naturally a stereo headset that still maintains a decently wide sound stage compared to the A40, so the added surround effect really does give an impressive "image" of where sounds are coming from. It's by no means necessary for having fun in games like Call of Duty, but it does serve as an aid to hearing sounds as if you were really on the battlefield. That said, you'll still find this advantage in many other headsets, they just might not sound as creamy and crisp as the A50 manages to be. There are a few minor flaws we have to point out with regards to incoming audio. For one, despite using a 5.8GHz signal rather than the more crowded 2.4GHz frequency (and being only between 10 to 20 feet away from the TXD on average), the sound tended to cut out for a split second multiple times during MW3 sessions on our Xbox. We even did A/B with the MixAmp 5.8 (via optical pass-thru), and weren't able to reproduce the problem -- we're waiting for a response from Astro about this abnormality. Additionally, we're running some more tests with other games and consoles to get some more insight as to whether the problem actually lies with the A50. Secondly, we noticed a small bit of buzzing along with some expected signal hiss. It's usually unnoticeable, but you might hear it creep in when the incoming audio becomes quiet. Update: Astro has confirmed the problems and says a firmware update will be issued shortly to the alleviate the issue. We'll be sure report back with our results once it's available. Update 2: We can confirm that the audio cut-out issue has been resolved, along with a variety of other tweaks, which we've detailed . Of course this is a headset, and with that designation comes the embedded microphone. We've talked about its external characteristics, so now let's explore it in a bit more detail. The mic is of the unidirectional variety, but it does have a fairly small sweet spot for placement. How do we know this? Well, your voice is actively monitored and the audio is fed into your ears, as with Astro's other MixAmps. This makes it easier to avoid shouting, especially given the thick isolation from the earcups. The monitoring is much clearer, but it's still very low in volume like previous MixAmps, so we'd still prefer it to be much more present in the mix. As it stands, there is no way to control its level other than moving how close the mic is to your mouth. The problem is that the signal gets distorted if the mic is too close, so we're hoping that we'll be able to adjust its level when Astro rolls out that preset manager we mentioned earlier. In-game, our buddies reported hearing us clearly with only the occasional complaint that we sounded muddled. We'd say it's largely similar to the A40 2011 Edition's microphone, meaning it isolates speech well enough for in-game, but we wouldn't recommend it over the likes of a for gameplay commentaries. Wrap-up For the most part, Astro Gaming has succeeded in creating what's likely to be the next hot gaming headset. $300 is a steep price considering how much consoles go for these days, but it's still closely aligned with competing products like Turtle Beach's $270 XP500. It's clear that Astro isn't just dabbling in the home market anymore: it's making an earnest bid to unseat other headset makers. If you've been looking for wireless gaming headphones, and provided the issue with audio cutting out gets resolved (Update: This issue was recently fixed via a Firmware update, which is detailed above in the sound section), then this belongs on your shortlist alongside the $270 XP500 / $250 PX5 and maybe even the $270 Tritton Warhead (when it stops being vaporware, that is). What if we had to choose, you say (especially in comparison to the wireless A40 system)? We'd say it looks like you've got some great options for serious in-game sound.ABB to build world's largest nationwide network of EV fast-charging stations in the NetherlandsABB wins contract for nationwide electric vehicle fast-charging infrastructure in the Netherlands bringing a charging station within 50 kilometers of all 16.7 million inhabitantsZurich, Switzerland, July 8, 2013 ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, announced today that it has been selected by Fastned to supply chargers to more than 200 electric vehicle fast-charging stations in the Netherlands, bringing an EV fast charger within 50 kilometers of all of the country's 16.7 million inhabitants.Each of the more than 200 Fastned stations along Dutch highways will be equipped with several multi-standards fast chargers, such as the 50 kilowatt (kW) Terra 52 and Terra 53 models, capable of charging electric vehicles in 15-30 minutes. The first ABB Terra fast chargers are due to be delivered in September 2013. Construction of the Fastned stations, which will have solar canopies, is expected to be completed by 2015.To date, the Netherlands is the most populous country to roll out a nationwide fast-charging network. Fast-chargers will be located a maximum of 50 kilometers apart along all highways, and because of ABB's multi-standard design, the network will be capable of serving EVs offered by all major car brands from Europe, Asia and the USA. ABB's open standards-based cloud connectivity solution allows Fastned to create a user-friendly payment and access service for all drivers."Fastned chose ABB for its proven expertise in deploying and managing nationwide EV charging networks," said Ulrich Spiesshofer, Executive Committee Member responsible for Discrete Automation and Motion. "ABB provides the chargers and industry-leading software solutions for remote servicing as well as connectivity to subscriber management and payment systems."EV fast charging Netherlands infographicEach web-connected ABB fast charger has a wide range of connectivity features, including remote assistance, management and servicing and smart software upgrades.ABB's multi-standard design supports all fast-charging standards and protocols such as CCS and CHAdeMO. This is critical to maintain compatibility between rapidly evolving cars and chargers in the years to come, and will allow Fastned to maintain a reliable service and to upgrade its network as the technology evolves."This countrywide network of locations will lay the basis for the commercially viable development of e-mobility," said Bart Lubbers, one of Fastned's founders. "I foresee a race towards faster charging and larger batteries throughout the car industry."The plan to deploy EV fast-charging stations along Dutch highways started in 2011 when Fastned asked the Ministry of Infrastructure for permission to implement an EV-charging network. In December 2011, the government announced a public-tender process to facilitate the deployment of charging facilities at the 245 service stations along the Dutch highways. Fastned gained concessions for 201 locations.ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 145,000 people.Fastned (www.fastned.nl) is a Dutch start-up founded in 2011 by Bart Lubbers and Michiel Langezaal to realize a nationwide charging infrastructure. The business rationale is based on the concept that the first market entrant will be able to pick the best locations for fast chargers in a country, justifying an early stage investment.Headsets with vibrating haptics aren't exactly novel -- we've already seen such offerings from as well as . Now AblePlanet is coming out with something similar, but the underlying technology makes it considerably smarter than anything currently on the market. The company recently announced it's pairing up with haptics firm to make a gaming headset that offers different-feeling vibrations depending on what kind of music you're listening to, or what's happening in the game. The as-yet-unnamed headset will go on sale within the next six to nine months, according to AblePlanet, with pricing to be announced at a later date. Additionally, the companies plan to team up on other projects, including ear canal devices for field workers (firefighters, etc.) and even products for the hearing impaired. Before we get ahead of ourselves, though, we want to give you a quick preview of the headset, which we tested for a few minutes here at CES. Unfortunately, the set we tested today was merely a retrofitted NC1000CH plugged into a control box. Still, it gave us a good sense of what we can expect when the final product drops later this year. Meet us after the break to learn more. Before we dive into the gaming demos, it might help to take a step back and explain how ViviTouch's technology works. In brief, the secret is its (EAP for short) -- basically, a thin sheet comprised of two electrode layers with a dielectric elastomer film sandwiched in between. When a voltage is applied, the two attracting electrodes compress the entire sheet. This slim, low-powered actuator module can be placed underneath an inertial mass (usually a battery) on a tray, which in turns amplifies the haptic feedback produced by the host device's audio signal. (In the past, that signal has been 50Hz to 300Hz -- i.e., the easily audible bass frequencies.) In the case of these forthcoming headphones, the actuators live inside the earcups. In our brief test, we listened to some bass-heavy hip hop ("Bass Down Low," appropriately enough) along with some milder classic rock. As you might expect, we enjoyed the technology more in that first scenario: you might appreciate some haptic accents when listening to Kanye West, but we can see where it would be a distraction if you were rocking some softer James Taylor and got a pulse to the ear every time someone hit a low note on the piano. Like we said when we got with Skullcandy's haptic headset, a whole album might be a bit much, but using this for gaming seems like a sweet proposition. Fortunately, at least -- and this is what the headphones are all about -- the vibrations are subtler when the music isn't as thumping. Shorter and less intense, we mean. So in theory, then, the techonology won't ever drown out whatever it is your'e listening to. Additionally, you'll be able to disable the vibrations in the final product, as well as adjust the strength of the haptic feedback. Another thing: volume isn't tied to the vibration strength, so don't be shy about cranking it up. As for gaming, we also got the chance to try out a controller with the same haptic technology inside. It's here in particular that you can really feel the range of haptic feedback. In a round of Half-Life 2, wading into water felt different from shooting a handgun, which felt different from shooting a bullet against a metal barrel. Different weapons even had a different feel: as in real life, shooting a handgun isn't the same experience as firing a machine gun. It's the difference between some low-grade, continuous vibrations and a bunch of short, isolated bursts. Here, somehow, it felt immersive, but not distracting in the way it sometimes felt when we listened to music. Then again, maybe you should let us wear one for three hours and then ask us how we like it. Something to revisit in a full review, we say.ABLE PLANET GIVES E3 a SNEAK PEEK AT LINX FUSION, THE MULTISENSORY TECHNOLOGY DRIVING THE Next Generation OF Audio And Communication DEVICES.Able Planet fuses its award-winning proprietary technologies with Bayer MaterialScience's ViviTouch EAP to create LINX FUSION, a multisensory technology that simultaneously transmits sound through skin, bone and down the ear canal for unsurpassed sound quality, clarity and speech intelligibility.Los Angeles, CA (6/11/2013) Able Planet Incorporated announced today the 2013 release of LINX FUSION, a portfolio of next generation multisensory headphones that will set new standards of performance for active noise cancellation, stereo, wireless, cellular/telecom, gaming, and DJ headphones. With a MSRP of $399.99, these headphones are expected to release in Q4 to eagerly awaiting retailers who have already committed to substantial year-end launches, worldwide.Able Planet was founded on state-of-the-art hearing technologies that remove barriers to active lifestyles for people with varying levels of hearing abilities. New inventions and the migration of technologies from unrelated industries expanded the company's scope beyond hearing loss devices to include proprietary technologies for consumer audio and communications products that create The Live Sound Experience. With over 40 of the world's most prestigious industry awards, this award-winning sound quality has become preferred by people with normal hearing and is changing the lives of those with hearing loss. The co-development with Bayer MaterialSciences will fuse ViviTouch EAP with Able Planet intellectual property to create Next Generation devices that enhance the listening experience, enable communications in severe noise environments and help people with hearing loss, even the deaf, to hear. The company was founded to create an Able Planet."The fusion of intellectual property between Able Planet and Bayer MaterialScience will create a broad portfolio of consumer audio, communications and hearing loss devices by which all other products will be compared." said Kevin Semcken, CEO Able Planet. "LINX FUSION technology will only be available from Able Planet that offers a broad portfolio of products distinguished by a history of awards for sound quality, clarity, innovation and design."The ideal performance for high-end audio is the accurate reproduction of the Live Sound Experience. Current audio technologies struggle to replicate this experience, because fuller sounds can mask high tones making speech and music sound muddled. LINX AUDIO, winner of Best in Category at the International Consumer Electronics Show, provides full rich bass sounds, clear high tones and intelligible speech that enable the listener to Hear the Difference. ViviTouch's Electro Active Polymer technology (EAP) enhances the perception of loudness without increasing volume. This technology enhances the bass response without overwhelming high frequency sounds, like the strings of a guitar or voice. ViviTouch EAP employs a motion technology that enables conduction of sound to the auditory system through controlled contact with skin and bone. The technology consists of an extremely thin polymer film upon which electrodes are printed. This film is form-fitted into an audio device that creates wide area surface contact with the skin, or the inside of the ear canal. A proprietary process allows the film to move nimbly when applied with current, resulting in a highly efficient transmission of the audio signal via simultaneous passage through skin and bone conduction that is coherent with sound generated from the device driver. Simultaneously transmitting sound through three distinct and separate audio delivery methods results in unsurpassed sound quality, clarity and speech intelligibility."BMS co-developments with Able Planet pair a leader in Audiology and Speech Language Sciences with Bayer MaterialScience, a world leader in proprietary polymer technologies," said Dirk Schapeler, CEO of Artificial Muscle, Inc. a Bayer MaterialScience Company and maker of the ViviTouch electroactive polymer technology. "The companies are co-developing a broad portfolio of next generation headphones and in-ear products, including state-of-the-art hearing health devices."Initial product launches will focus on active noise cancellation, stereo, wireless, cellular/telecom, gaming, and DJ headphones. In addition, the companies are also fusing EAP technology into in-ear devices and Able Planet's Hearing Health products. One such product is the award-winning Personal Sound, which was recognized by Melinda Beck of the Wall Street Journal who stated, "The most impressive new PSAP is the Able Planet Personal Sound AMP 2500". This product received numerous recognitions, including "Best of What's New 2012" as one of the top 100 innovations by Popular Science Magazine. Fusing technologies with BMS will not only enhance the listening experience, it will preserve hearing for people with normal hearing and connect people with hearing loss to the world of sound.might be a little as protocols go, but it's been the prevailing standard for getting music hardware and software to play nice pretty much since its inception. As such, the MIDI controller is a fairly established staple in professional and bedroom studios alike. The problem is they're generic by nature. They come in all shapes and sizes, but to be profitable, they need to appeal to a broad range of applications. Ableton clearly didn't think this arrangement was up to snuff, though, so it created Push -- a software controller built entirely for the latest version of its software. While there have been Live-specific controllers before -- some even officially endorsed by Ableton -- Push is a whole new beast. It's one that hopes to unite hardware and software in a way that an all-purpose controller never could. Ableton also has lofty musical ambitions for Push: it claims it designed the hardware as an instrument in and of itself; something that lets you close the lid of the laptop and use to make music with, while not looking like you are checking your email. And, given that Ableton makes the software that it's building Push for, integration is understandably expected to be airtight. But how well does it work? Is it an instrument? Will it replace all your other controllers? Do you want one? Is it worth the $599 pre-order price? Will it blend? We've pushed ourselves to explore the device fully in an effort to find out (apart from that last question, of course). Hardware We already alluded to the fact that there are myriad MIDI controllers in all shapes and sizes, but there are two in particular that are worth knowing about before we go on for context -- and Akai's . Both are Ableton-specific controllers, which arguably have at least in some way influenced the Push we're evaluating today. With those fresh in our memories, let's look at Ableton's spin on things. There aren't many mass-produced controllers that feel and look as well-crafted as this. Remove Push from the box, and the first thing that strikes you is how dense it is. The square device measures 14.5 x 11.5 x 1 inch, and weighs 6.6 pounds. The weight falls very much into the "reassuringly heavy" category, though if you're a fan of lighter units such as the Launchpad, it might initially feel a little cumbersome. Bar a few connections around the back, all the action can be found along the top surface. A large 8 x 8 grid of white rubber pads takes center stage, flanked on the left and right by smaller black buttons with a different, harder, plastic feel than the central white ones. Above the central grid are another two rows of smaller buttons, an LCD display and nine rotary controllers. On the left side, there's also a touch-strip between the center pads and the black control buttons. Overall, the finish of the casing feels great, and is of the soft-touch variety -- similar to that found on many phones and tablets. The pads in the central grid are pressure-sensitive (how hard you push affects the sound) and feel extremely firm / mashable, with only a small amount of travel. The black buttons on either side, however, are slightly looser and have more of a "clicking" action. All the rotaries are endless (you can twist them forever), and are entirely smooth in their motion, bar one, which has a notched action to allow easy setting of fixed values. None of them are clickable, as is sometimes the case, but they're touch-sensitive up top, which adds extra functionality. Those other ports we mentioned earlier all sit along the rear of the device, and include a brushed-metal power button, a 6V DC input (adapter included), a USB port and two 1/4-inch jacks for pedals. We have to say that we've handled more than our fair share of MIDI gear, and there aren't many mass-produced controllers that feel and look as well-crafted as this. The design is very much in keeping with Ableton's approach in the software realm, and has a very strong sense of minimalist aesthetic simplicity. This, combined with the quality of the build, really does make it an object to behold. It gets as close to some of the more bespoke or niche controllers (anything from Livid, or ) as we've ever seen in a mainstream device. It's worth noting, too, that the hardware has been produced in partnership with Akai, so not only is there some heritage in , but it's been built by the company that effectively makes a competing (albeit older) option. Software / Hardware interaction The launch of Push coincides with the long-awaited arrival of Ableton Live 9 (the only version it currently works with). While we're not going to go too far into the software side of things from a review standpoint, it's important to explore how well Push does its job -- which ultimately is letting you control the software. There will be some assumption of basic knowledge of Live, as most people interested in buying are probably using it already. We'll start with the two main views in Live -- Arrange and Session. Push is almost entirely interested in Session view. Within this part of Ableton Live, there are broadly two things you will want to do: create new clips of music, and play / trigger these clips in a musical, ordered fashion. Push lets you do both of these tasks, and we'll approach both separately. Connect Push to your computer (via USB, no drivers, etc. required), open Ableton Live and the device springs to life. The previously unlit pads display vibrant colors, and the LCD screen lets you know that Ableton is asking you a question. That question is "Would you like to start a new song?" Clicking "Yes" will automatically drop Push into drum-machine mode, having loaded up some default instruments in the software automatically. In this state, the 8 x 8 grid divides itself in three. The bottom-left 4 x 4 pads represent drum sounds (touch the slider to scroll up and down through even more sounds), while the bottom-right quarter of the grid serves as a clip-length control (press and hold the first pad, tap the fourth for a four-bar loop, etc.). The remaining 8 x 4 pads above now function as a step-sequencer -- with a sound selected, tapping these adds drum hits in the respective position in the drum loop. This is intended to serve as your starting point for a new song, letting you lay down a rhythm straight away. Push lets you add drum hits by tapping the pads on and off as the loop plays, but you can also record a pattern in live if you're a bit of a finger-drummer. This is where we break out onto the outer black buttons, which (among other things) contain controls for quantize, delete and -- thankfully for us -- undo. So, you've got a little drum beat going and you'd like to spice it up with a melody. No problem, says Push. The top-right cluster of black buttons lets you change focus between clips, devices, tracks and so on. Ableton will have automatically loaded a pitched instrument in the software, and making this the center of Push's attention is just a button click (or two) away. It will depend on what you were doing last, but the black controls helpfully light up when they are useful, and remain dim when they are not. The LCD display also shows the current function of the buttons directly below it, which, in the current state, means switching between tracks in our project. With our pitched instrument selected, the grid on Push changes from the step-sequencer view into its method of notational input. So, you've got a little drum beat going and you'd like to spice it up with a melody. No problem, says Push. To achieve this, the pads essentially become piano keys, the arrangement of which can be heavily configured to your preference. A scale button lets you change the musical key and whether it's minor or major (or a host of other exotic scales). You can also change the grid to represent either only those notes in the key you have selected (never play a wrong note!), or to offer all the notes chromatically. This is where it tackles a significant challenge: allowing experienced musicians and one-finger wonders alike to "play" it as an instrument. Again, without drifting off into theory too much, the way the pads represent notes has been arranged so that you can rattle off scales, chords, etc. if you so wish. It can also provide gentle guidance to those who are perhaps a little more used to drawing in their MIDI notes one by one with a mouse. While there's much more to explore for each of the above two instrument styles, the other main mode of operation is as a clip launcher. This is akin to the most basic function of Novation's Launchpad, whereby the 8 x 8 grid represents a corresponding section of your project. In this mode, one pad represents a MIDI or audio clip, which will start to play when pressed. Again, like the Launchpad, you can set off whole "scenes" (or rows) of clips easily with the corresponding black button to the left. There is a four-way navigational pad in the lower-right corner of Push, and this can be used to move the 8 x 8 grid's focus around your session. If you have a really large project, with hundreds of clips, pressing (and holding) shift will present a zoomed-out view, where each pad now represents an 8 x 8 section of a project, letting you quickly jump about to different parts of the session. Feature-wise in this mode, things are pretty straightforward, and a well-constructed project can be navigated and performed with ease. So, while you might be more interested in performance or production with Push, in reality, the two tasks can also be combined somewhat seamlessly, which is quite the exciting prospect if you've so far been using multiple devices to achieve something similar. In use In general, and if you know the software, most of the controls feel intuitive. But, if like us, you want to explore what everything does right now without reading the manual, it can be a little frustrating on the first go. We'll admit that our first five minutes with Push weren't quite as straightforward as we'd hoped. Creating clips of drums and melodies was simple enough, but figuring out only slightly more advanced actions -- such as duplicating a clip, or trying to add a plug-in / third-party instrument -- had us jumping back and forth between modes looking for the right button. This is likely more down to our enthusiasm, wanting to be experts right off the bat. The second session with Push felt a lot more natural, and intuitive. Fortunately, it doesn't matter how much you know about Live, as there is adequate documentation to get you going no matter how patient you are (or in our case... not). Rhythms and melodies can be played expressively, and experimental ideas (and happy accidents) suddenly become easier and more frequent. Once the workflow clicks, however, the fun really begins. The difference a MIDI controller makes to your creative workflow is already significant. So having one that's purposely built for the software it is controlling only serves to ramp up that sense of using a hardware instrument, rather than a virtual one. Rhythms and melodies can be played expressively, and experimental ideas (and happy accidents) suddenly become easier and more frequent. Ableton Live already had a reputation for allowing you to get ideas down quickly, and Push really does expedite that process even more. This, for us, is its strongest suit. There are small concessions being made. For example, keyboard players might prefer a regular piano interface, and drummers may like bigger pads, etc., but Push still manages to deliver all of that functionality in just one device, and does an honorable job, at that. But it's definitely the sparking of new ideas that really makes this worth a look. If you regularly find yourself wheeling out the same patterns, Push might be just the creative kick you need. It's also worth noting that you have to commit to a certain amount of preparation first. If, like a great number of users, you're interested in using Ableton Live with third-party plug-ins, things understandably aren't as native as they are with Live's built-in instruments. You can work around this by creating instrument racks, and allocating macro controls to the most important features of your instrument. Live will even display whatever you choose to label it on Push's readout. This is great, but it means when you are creating a new MIDI track, and browsing for instruments, that you can only add those from Live's suite, or instrument racks you've created as described above. Given that Ableton has no control over third-party instruments, it seems a little unfair to mark it down for this. But on the flip side, you'll likely find yourself organizing your library, instrument and sounds in a new way to accommodate Push, and the side effect is that your whole workflow will benefit, even if you might be doing it reluctantly. As we've established, asking Push to be able to do everything for everyone right out of the box is a big request. But, with a user mode that lets you map your own configuration and Max for Live, there's a very good chance that the community at large might fill in many of the blanks in short order. Perhaps this is something Ableton considered when deciding where Push's competencies should lie. Wrap-up If you want something that will bring every function, option and submenu of Ableton Live within physical reach, then you're likely asking far too much of any software controller. If, however, you want a device that makes Live feel more like dedicated hardware, then this goes a long way to achieving that. But, is it for everyone? Well, that's a hard question. Making music -- especially in the digital realm -- is a very personal affair. There aren't any best practices as far as workflows go. What Push does, though, is bring Live out from the screen and under your fingers in a way that not many other controllers can match (in terms of 1:1 function mapping). As always, there are trade-offs, with one of the biggest being that there aren't nearly as many controls for audio as there are for MIDI. If you were perhaps thinking about using this to record audio on the fly, loop things up and build a track that way, then you might want to try one out for yourself first, or adapt your workflow to make this fit. There's no doubt you would be able to configure it with the User mode to do all of those things, but it's not really part of the native workflow a device like this sells itself upon. The User mode is a great catchall feature, but it's there to make up for all the functions that Ableton didn't give a fixed amount of hardware resources to. Above and beyond all of that, Push is immense fun, and will likely provide a creative jab in the arm to almost any Live user no matter what their usual workflow is. And, to be fair, whether you're a jobbing, aspiring or recovering musician, that's pretty much the best "feature" you can ask for. If you're completely new to Ableton Live, the $1,198 asking price for Push and Live 9 Suite ($948 for Live standard) might be a big chunk of change. Existing users can pre-order the hardware by itself for $599, which, while not unreasonable, is a price that would get you both its nearest competitors with change leftover. This will no doubt be the biggest source of user debate, but we're pretty sure once you actually laid hands on it, there's a good chance you might find yourself justifying the cost. After all, you can't put a price on creativity, can you?Acer Tablet Family Welcomes New Arrival For New Users Editor's Summary: Acer expands tablet portfolio with its 7" Acer Iconia B1-A71 Ideal for new users or families opting for a 2nd tablet for their children Also easy to carry, read and explore, and powerful enough for fast media consumption it is an excellent mobile companion for the busy executive TAIPEI (Jan. 7, 2013) Acer today announced the Iconia B1-A71 tablet targeted at young or new users or families looking for an additional tablet for their children. The Iconia B1 is also ideal for busy individuals seeking a convenient mobile companion. At 7 inches the same size as a standard book page - the display is comfortable for e-reading, web browsing, playing games and watching videos. Super Portable: The Iconia B1 is easy to hold and use in one hand, a triangular corner grip on the lower left side improves single-hand usage even more. It's also easy to tote around in a bag or jacket at a feather-light 320 grams, making it one of the lightest 7-inch tablets in the market. Highly Responsive Fun: To take your experience to the next level, this tablet combines a 1.2GHz dual-core processor for fast and smooth gaming, web browsing and video watching with Android's Jelly Bean operating system to get quickly precise answers to your search queries and seamless browsing. For many search queries performed through VoiceSearch, you can now hear a spoken answer quickly. Fast and Free Media: Over 500 free online magazines from hundreds of publishers and top web sites are always at your fingertips thanks to Google Currents. The recently updated smart mobile app allows you to discover, read, and share your favorite new outlets, blogs and online magazine on the 7-inch WSVGA (1,024 x 600) capacitive display even when offline. If you are into playing, you have more than 700,000 games and apps from the Play Store to choose from. News releaseCapture and Share More: To top off the rich experience, the Iconia B1 comes with a frontfacing camera to engage in live chats with your friends. The camera is on the top right corner and works also when in landscape mode, allowing your friends to get into the picture during a video chat. The Iconia B1 is an affordable entry level device to the wide family of Acer products and is designed for the everyday usage of Modern Day Explorers in this case young explorers or busy mobile explorers. The Iconia B1 is, like its Acer family products, a device which provides the most premium experience at its price point. Available as 8GB version with the option to expand via microSD slot, the Iconia B1 is the ideal easy companion for tablet newbies or children while adults use their own. The new Iconia B1 expands the Acer tablet family now offering three 10-inch Android, two 7-inch Android, one 11" Windows 8 and one 10-inch Windows 8 Hybrid Tablets. Pricing, Availability and Warranty The Acer Iconia B1-A71 will be available with a starting price less than $150. Acer Iconia B1-A71 features and specs: -Android JellyBean operating system - Mediatek dual-core 1.2GHz processor (MTK 8317T) -7-inch diagonal WSVGA capacitive multitouch screen with 1,024 x 600 resolution display -8GB(1) of internal storage and 512MB DDR3 memory -Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n -Bluetooth wireless technology 4.0 -GPS -3.5mm headset/headphone/microphone jack -internal speaker -microSD expansion slot with up to 32GB support -front-facing 0.3-megapixel webcam -Rechargeable 2,710 mAh battery -micro-USB (charging and PC connect) with USB 2.0 -Dimensions: 197.4 mm x 128.5 mm x 11.3 mm -Weight: 320 gAcer's First 5.7" Mobile Companion Lets Users Take Their Wireless Office and Mobile Studio EverywhereAcer Liquid S1 opens up more possibilities to explore a new lifestyleTAIPEI, (June 3, 2013) Acer announces its first "phablet" device, designed to be the new travel companion for professionals and adventurers alike. With a large 5.7" HD 1280 x 720 screen and intelligent applications, the Acer Liquid S1 greatly enhances mobile productivity and entertainment.Featuring single/dual SIM cards, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, quad-core 1.5 GHz processor, and a day's worth of battery power, the Liquid S1 combines the work efficiency of a tablet PC with the convenience and multimedia-rich features of a smartphone. It is an all-in-one mobile device that opens up more possibilities for users to communicate and explore.Wireless office at handThe Liquid S1 is easy to carry and lets users access their documents and files wherever they go. Business people can leave documents behind, knowing that they can wirelessly retrieve their files via AcerCloud Docs. Users can also remotely access files from their main PC through Acer Remote Files. In addition, with the Liquid S1 businesspeople can project their presentations in 720p HD, and print documents straight from their phablet - all using wireless display and print features.Everything under perfect controlIntuitive and useful applications that boost work productivity and maximize entertainment on the go are preinstalled on the Liquid S1.Acer Float User Interface allows several app windows to stay open so users can multitask without having to back out of one app to work on another. The press of a key brings up the Float Apps shortcut; apps on a translucent screen float over the function being used. It is easy to access or switch Float Apps anytime. These apps include camera, maps, calculator and notes. A Float Caller notification ensures that users will not be interrupted by incoming calls that take over the full screen. When a call comes in, the Float Caller mini-window pops up and the user can choose to take the call or reply with a quick message.Acer Auto Profile supports predefined network settings for frequently visited locations, so the next time the user visits the same spot, the Liquid S1 will automatically switch profiles. The adjustable settings include brightness, volume and vibration; plus Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G connections.Voice Unlock directly opens apps or interfaces by recording and using personal voice commands. Users can quickly unlock the Liquid S1 to the home screen, camera, SMS or call keypad by voice, in one easy step, without touch. Acer data traffic manager keeps an eye on daily and monthly data usage, which is especially handy for users who do not have an unlimited data plan.Mobile studio and entertainmentBringing the Liquid S1 along is like taking a complete mobile studio on the road. In addition to its spacious 5.7" screen with HD streaming and vivid HD playback, this phablet combines features for photo taking, video recording, and editing and creating media. Everything can be conveniently shared. The studio/entertainment features include:Wide Front Shot uses the front camera with 88 wide viewing angle plus the 24 mm lens to capture more. The camera and 5.7" screen together capture wider, taller visuals for better wide-angle photos and video conferencing. Voice Shot allows hands-free photo taking just by saying "cheese!". Smile Shot detects smiling faces and automatically captures precious moments in real time - especially useful for taking pictures of babies and young children.Studio Sound delivers astonishing sound and an extra-wide stereo image. DTS Studio Sound brings cinematic audio to mobile devices with a bigger sound field and higher vocal clarity.Live sharing among friends Through Acer's 2-way Live Screen app users can invite friends for temporary group sharing. The group administrator simply taps on a photo or note, and it will pop up on friends' mobile-device screens, enabling live interaction and sharing in real time. Friends can push photos or notes back for 2-way live sharing.Premium design and materialsThe Acer Liquid S1 uses fine craftsmanship and materials to deliver a premium, minimalist design, ideal for assertive businesspeople and passionate explorers. With a slender profile, it features curved details on the front and the sides, aluminum side grips, and is available in matte black or white.Pricing and availabilityThe Liquid S1 will start shipping in Q3 2013 in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Ukraine, Russia, UK and Germany, followed by Spain and Italy with a starting price of 349.-New Acer H6 Series Monitors; Sleek, Seamless, Smart Editor's Summary: 'Zero frame' construction provides elegant aesthetics as well as seamless visuals when using multiple monitors simultaneously, including video walls. Full 1080p HD resolution IPS panels provide consistent and accurate color performance from wide viewing angles up to 178 degrees. HDMI input transfers both audio and visual via just one cable, which means less clutter. Tilt capability from -5 to 15-degrees enables users to adjust the displays for the most comfortable fit. Displays feature a standard three-year warranty. SAN JOSE, Calif. Feb. 19, 2013 Acer America is now offering its H6 Series LED-backlit displays to consumers in the United States. Svelte and savvy, the new monitors feature near zero frame construction for elegant aesthetics as well as seamless visuals when using multiple monitors simultaneously, including video walls. Acer's newest monitors are available in two sizes - 21.5-inch (H226HQL) and 23-inch (H236HL). Both models have Full 1080p HD IPS panels, which provide consistent and accurate color performance from wide viewing angles up to 178 degrees. They can also tilt from -5 to 15-degrees, so users can adjust them for the most comfortable fit. "Our new Acer H Series displays are the ideal all-around monitors due to their flexibility, Full HD resolution and excellent viewing angles," said Chris White, senior director of product marketing for Acer America. "They offer users the ability to display content with viewing angles as wide as 178 degrees, which makes them ideal for collaborating with others. Plus, the near zero frame construction is perfect for use in multi-monitor setups and video walls." Boundary-Free Visuals Featuring a 'zero frame' construction, the H6 Series displays sport a very thin .08-inch frame versus the thicker ones typically seen on displays. This clever design provides seamless visuals when building video walls consisting of multiple monitors placed side-by-side and/or on top of each other. A stylish brushed hairline finish has aesthetic appeal and a magnetic surface allows users to post notes and store paper clips directly on the stand. A crisp 100,000,000:1 contrast ratio provides a very high level of clarity and a fast 5ms response time contributes to sharp images even during game play. The Acer eColor Management tool lets users optimize image performance under different viewing scenarios. The new displays also come with built-in speakers and multiple digital connectivity options, including HDMI, DVI and VGA. Pricing and Availability The new Acer H6 Series displays are now available at leading retailers in the U.S. The manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) for the 21.5-inch Acer H226HQL display is $149.99 and the MSRP for the 23-inch Acer H236HL display is $179.99. Like all Acer displays, the Acer H6 Series feature a standard three-year warranty(1) and will be available at leading retailers in the U.S.HardwareTake away the keyboard and the P3 looks a lot like the W700, which is to say it's fashioned out of aluminum with a boxy shape and blunt edges. At 0.4 inch thick, it's actually slimmer than we would've expected a Core i5 tablet to be, but it still makes room for a full-sized USB 3.0 connection over on the left. What's more, at 1.74 pounds, it's lighter than most of the other 11.6-inch Core i5 tablets in its class, including the , which weighs two pounds, and the , which weighs 1.8 pounds (3.8 if you factor in the accompanying keyboard). Granted, we'd still prefer to use a nearly two-pound tablet in its stand, or on our laps, but there's no doubt it's a bit more pleasant to hold aloft than some of its competitors.Elsewhere, you'll see everything else you'd expect to find on a tablet, including a volume rocker, micro-HDMI socket, headphone jack and power / lock button. There's also a micro-USB-to-USB cable for charging the included Bluetooth keyboard. Lastly, it ships with a micro-HDMI-to-VGA adapter, though most of you won't need it.Normally we'd wait until later in the review to talk about the keyboard, but in this instance, the included keyboard case is a crucial part of the P3's identity. What's nice is that the case fits neatly into the groove where you're supposed to prop it up, and once it's in, it stays put. The whole setup feels more stable than some similar-looking setups, like the one on the . The downside to this form factor, of course, is that the screen angle isn't at all adjustable. Luckily, the IPS panel makes for easy viewing, both head-on and from slightly off to the side.The thing is, once you get the tablet inside the case, it can be awfully hard to pull back out. Even when you do manage to wrest it out, you'll probably hit the power button or volume rocker by mistake. Also, the process of tearing away the plastic cover reveals just how cheaply made it is: it flexes in a way the tablet itself doesn't. It's not prone to breakage by any means, but it's also not the sort of thing you want showcasing your new $900 plaything.Considering the whole thing is about the size of an 11-inch Ultrabook, the keys are remarkably well-spaced. Heck, even the arrow keys are generously sized. All told, they're easy to type on, though there seems to be even less travel here than on other keyboard docks we've tested. In fact, we sometimes went out of our way to hit the keys hard, just to make sure our presses registered. The real problem, though, is that there's no touchpad -- not even an optical pointing stick -- so you'll need to supply your own mouse if you plan on spending a lot of time in desktop apps. For what it's worth, at least, desktop items are easier to hit with your finger than on a 1080p tablet. Hey, that 1,366 x 768 resolution had to come in handy for something, right?Display and soundThis is as good a place as any to segue to the display section. As it happens, you already know what we like about the screen -- namely, that the viewing angles are good enough to compensate for the fixed screen angle. But what about the resolution? To be fair, as far as pixel density is concerned, 1,366 x 768 isn't so bad on an 11-inch display. Ultimately, we're probably more forgiving than we'd be if this were a 13-inch device. (Uh oh, HP. ?) In fact, you might not necessarily miss how tiny the objects are at native 1080p resolution. But some of you will, and as it happens, the Surface Pro offers a 1,920 x 1,080 screen for a similar price (with some caveats, which we'll discuss more later). And for all the Surface Pro's shortcomings, it does, objectively, have a nicer display than the P3, mostly because it uses optical bonding to reduce glare.Though the P3's case has a slot that could, in theory, be used to hold a pen, the tablet doesn't actually have an active digitizer, so you can keep your spare Wacom pens stowed in a drawer. You won't need them here.The tablet's dual speakers are located on the bottom edge of the tablet, which means they're firing down into the case when docked, but toward you when you're actually holding it. As on so many Ultrabooks, the sound quality is tinny, but it actually seems a bit worse here than on other units we've tested recently. Yeezus sounds dreadful at top volume, for instance, what with all the distortion; if you do buy the P3, you're better off sticking to a medium level or opting for headphones. Fortunately, the sound is loud enough that you can get by listening on a lower volume setting, at least if you're in a quiet space without much background noise.Performance and battery lifePCMark73DMark063DMark11ATTO (top disk speeds)Acer Aspire P3 (1.5GHz Intel Core i5-3339Y, Intel HD 4000)3,8673,999E925 / P503552 MB/s (reads); 524 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i7-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,5454,807E1,107 / P621 / X201540 MB/s (reads); 525 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Core i7-4500U, Intel HD 4400)4,634N/AE1,067 / P600 / X183558 MB/s (reads); 255 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Core i5-3337U, Intel HD 4000)4,4184,045E1,081 / P600626 MB/s (reads); 137 MB/s (writes) (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000)4,4143,840E924 / P512 / X177482 MB/s (reads); 317 MB/s (writes) (2.0GHz Core i7-3537U, Intel HD 4000)5,2755,272N/A553 MB/s (reads); 500 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Core i5-3337U, Intel HD 4000)4,0433,944E1,053 / P578484 MB/s (reads); 286 MB/s (writes) (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000)4,9984,818E1,137 / P610 / X201516 MB/s (reads); 431 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,6733,811E1,019 / P552526 MB/s (reads); 201 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,6734,520N/A516 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes)The configuration we tested, which retails for $900, comes with a dual-core 1.5GHz Intel Core i5-3339Y CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 120GB SSD. If you recall, this processor is one of Intel's lower-power Ivy Bridge chips, so our benchmark scores were naturally a bit below other devices with third-generation Core processors. Fortunately, while CPU-intensive tests show a dip in performance, the Intel-made SSD actually outperforms other machines on the market. In the disk benchmark ATTO, it did something most drives don't do: it delivered nearly even results for both read and write speeds (552 and 524 MB/s, to be exact). Most other WinTel tablets / Ultrabooks don't get that fast on read tests, and they definitely don't come close on the writing side. Also, the whole thing cold-boots in seven seconds, which bodes well for fast everyday performance, even if it won't ever make the leaderboard for PCMark.There are other signs, too, that the P3 is a capable performer. For instance, it logged an impressive score of 206.3ms in the web-rendering test SunSpider (version 0.9.1). Indeed, web browsing is a smooth affair, with fluid scrolling and zero tiling when you zoom in and out. In general, that low-power CPU does a good job of keeping the machine quiet and (relatively) cool. Even after streaming Spotify and loading up a bunch of web pages, the vents on the top edge of the device felt merely lukewarm. And even if they do get a little toasty, you're unlikely to graze the vents with your fingers anyway -- at least if you're using this thing in landscape mode.Battery lifeAcer Aspire P34:33Sony VAIO Duo 139:40Acer Iconia W7007:13Sony VAIO Pro 116:41Dell XPS 146:18Sony VAIO T135:39Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 135:32Dell XPS 125:30ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A Touch5:15Toshiba Kirabook5:12Toshiba Satellite U8455:12Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M35:11Toshiba Satellite U925t5:10Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon5:07Samsung ATIV Book 75:02ASUS Transformer Book5:01 (tablet only)Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch5:00Sony VAIO Duo 114:47Acer Aspire S54:35MSI Slidebook S204:34ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A4:19Acer Aspire S7 (13-inch)4:18Acer Aspire S34:11Lenovo ThinkPad Twist4:09HP Spectre XT TouchSmart4:00ASUS TAICHI 213:54Microsoft Surface Pro3:46Acer says the P3's four-cell, 5,280mAh battery can last up to six hours on a charge, but a company rep admitted that when it comes to video playback, specifically, you're looking at somewhere between roughly four and a half hours and five hours and 20 minutes. Indeed, with a video looping off the local drive, WiFi on and the brightness fixed to 65 percent, we managed four hours and 33 minutes. With the brightness set to a more conservative level, we bet you could top five hours, just as promised.In any event, four and a half hours isn't good, especially in light of the runtime we've been getting from early Haswell systems like the new and . In all fairness, the P3 does get almost an hour more runtime than the Surface Pro, which also runs on an Ivy Bridge processor. That's faint praise, though: it's not like there's much of a reason for you to buy a device with last year's chips. Not unless the price is too low to pass up, anyway.Software and warrantySo how bad is the bloatware load here? Well, it's not as bad as the we reviewed last month, but the collection of pre-installed apps is still pretty extensive. Taking up two pages on the Start Screen are shortcuts for: 7digital, Zinio's magazine shop, Kindle, Evernote, Skitch, newsXpresso, TuneIn, WeatherBug, Fresh Paint, Music Maker Jam, Zeptolab and the Xbox Live game Shark Dash. Acer also threw in some apps of its own, including Social Jogger, Crystal Eye (a webcam app) and Acer Explorer (for getting to know all those pre-installed apps you didn't ask for). For malware protection, you get a trial of McAfee Internet Security, which brings all the same annoying pop-ups as we've noticed on other test machines. Finally, just like any other Acer device, the P3 works with Acer Cloud, allowing you to store files in the cloud and access them on your mobile device.The P3 comes with a one-year warranty, including 24/7 phone support.Configuration options and the competitionIn addition to the $900 Core i5 model we tested, there's an $800 configuration with a 1.4GHz Core i3-3229Y CPU. Otherwise, the other specs are the same: a 120GB SSD and 5-megapixel main camera. As for a possible Haswell refresh a little later down the line, Acer won't say one way or another if new processors are on the way. So, it's up to you if you'd rather take the machine as is (and with a fairly low price) or hold out for an improved version that doubles down on battery life.The same goes for many of the P3's competitors. We've mentioned the Surface Pro several times already, for instance, and that, too, comes with an Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor. We'd actually be shocked if Microsoft didn't soon announce a new Surface, one with a refined design and fresh processors. That said, if you can't wait, the current Surface Pro starts at $899, the same price as the Core i5 P3. For the money, though, it starts with just 64GB of storage and no keyboard (those will cost $120 to $130 extra). The battery life is also shorter but, as we said, you do at least get a sharper display with less glare and Wacom pen support thrown in for good measure.The performance takes a hit and battery life is only a little bit better than on competing tablets.Speaking of nice screens, the is an 11-inch tablet with a 1080p touchscreen with Wacom pen support and -- get this -- a matte finish. As we said in our hands-on, that anti-glare coating serves a few purposes: it reduces glare, obviously, but also masks fingerprints and makes the doodling experience feel more like writing on real paper. This also ships with Ivy Bridge processors, though a Haswell refresh is coming (the problem right now is that these are enterprise-friendly vPro chips, and Intel hasn't actually released its Haswell vPro CPUs yet). You'll also find the keyboard dock offers way more ports than you'll find on the P3, though the design is admittedly clunky (and sort of ugly too). We'd also caution you of the price: $1,499 is a lot for a tablet with last-gen processors, even if it does have a 1080p display, 128GB SSD and active digitizer.As for Lenovo, the ThinkPad Helix ($1,679-plus) falls in a similar vein, with an 11-inch, 1080p display and an active digitizer. Like so many of the other models mentioned here, it currently ships with Ivy Bridge processors (your choice of Core i5 and i7). Mobile broadband is an option too. We expect to have a review up soon, but for now, suffice to say the battery life is quite a bit better than on the P3 or the Surface Pro.So far, we've been mentioning hybrids that are better than the P3, but also more expensive. We can think of at least one, though, that comes close to matching Acer on both price and specs. That would be the HP Split x2, which goes on sale in August for $800 with a 13-inch, 1,366 x 768 display and your choice of Intel Y series CPUs (Core i3 or i5). On the whole, then, it's largely like the P3, with two key differences: screen size (natch) and the keyboard dock. In the case of the Split, the keyboard houses lots of additional ports, and also contains a 500GB hard drive to complement the SSD inside the tablet proper. Between that and the price, we suspect some people will give the Split a second look, those last-gen processors be damned.Wrap-upAt $800 with a keyboard included, there are lots of things we can forgive about the P3: its 1,366 x 768 resolution, the lack of an active digitizer for pen input. But we can't shake the feeling that Haswell would have made this a much better tablet. In designing this tablet, Acer resorted to a lower-power Ivy Bridge chip, presumably to maximize the battery life. But the performance takes a hit, and meanwhile battery life is only a little bit better than on competing tablets. Based on some early reviews of machines with Haswell chips, we're quite certain the battery life would be hours longer on the P3, and that the performance would improve too, especially on the graphics side. If you can hold out for a possible refresh, the P3 will be a more compelling deal than it is now. As is, you'd be shortsighted to buy something this compromised, even if it is priced to sell.If you told us Acer was coming out with an innovative new take on the Windows 8 convertible, we'd probably laugh in your face. After so many months of evaluating slidable, twistable, bendable and detachable machines, we'd (hopefully) be forgiven for believing we'd seen every possible form factor. The proves that we were wrong, and we're actually kind of glad. With a 15.6-inch display sitting in a unique, flexible "Ezel" hinge, this device lets you switch between four modes, and the panel can even lie nearly flat above the keyboard like an all-in-one desktop. Oh, and Acer switched the positions of the keyboard and touchpad, a setup that definitely takes some getting used to.Though the R7's form factor sets it apart, it offers the same specs as many Windows 8 convertibles: you get a 1080p screen, a Core i5 processor and 6GB of RAM for $1,000. So does the R7's appeal hinge on its distinctive design? Follow us past the break to find out -- we promise the bad jokes stop here. Look and feelOur review photos are pretty telling: there are so many ways to look at this machine. Like the , Acer's notebook works in four different modes thanks to an adjustable (and flippable) screen: notebook, Ezel, display and pad modes. But more than the different use cases, it's Acer's so-called Ezel hinge that begs to be photographed from all angles. It lets you extend the display over the keyboard at various heights, from a slider-like angle to hovering almost flat above the chiclet keys. This mechanism is clearly well-made; there's not a hint of creakiness when you move the display through its full range of positions. And the R7 is a good-looking machine, too, thanks to a tasteful shade of silver and the Ezel's brushed-aluminum finish.There are two real sweet spots for using the Aspire R7. The first is with the display pushed forward so it's hovering over the keyboard, a bit like a slider device. So long as you're fine using the touchscreen instead of the touchpad, this position is great for browsing the web, composing emails and playing games on the sizable screen. Secondly, with the panel flipped backwards to face away from the keyboard, you have an ideal setup for watching movies and sharing presentations.The two other positions are, quite frankly, much less comfortable. With the screen locked in its hinge so the R7 looks like an average laptop, you have access to both the touchpad and the keyboard, but the touchpad is a reach (literally -- and we'll expand on that in the section below). There's so much empty space on the large deck that it feels like Acer is missing something; it's pretty clear the company doesn't envision people using this device like any old notebook. One reason for the free space on the deck is the tablet mode: push the display forward, and it will lie almost flush with the keyboard below. "Tablet mode" seems a bit facetious, though; 5.29 pounds isn't too comfortable in the hands, at least not for very long. In fact, the R7's large footprint has a few drawbacks. In addition to making for a very hefty slate, it's too weighty to compete with Ultrabooks, and it's too big to stuff in most airplane seatback pockets.There are two real sweet spots for using the Aspire R7: Ezel and display mode.Allow us to touch on the more cut-and-dried details for a moment: the left edge of the R7 sports Acer's for connecting displays, an HDMI port, two USB 3.0 connections and a mic-in / headphone jack. The right side is home to a full-size SD card slot, a USB 2.0 port, a volume rocker, the power button, the DC-in jack for the AC adapter and a Kensington lock slot. It's a pretty comprehensive selection, but we know some will bemoan the lack of an optical drive. Other notable hardware features include the Windows 8 Start button, which sits below the display and a set of bottom-mounted speakers.Keyboard and touchpadWe usually tackle the keyboard before evaluating a device's touchpad, but since Acer's switched things around on the R7, we'll follow suit and start with the Elan pad. And to really kick this section off right, we have to consider Acer's thinking in placing the trackpad above the keyboard. While the company says having the keyboard at the front edge of the deck -- closer to users' hands -- makes for a better typing experience, the touchpad's position also allows the display to extend forward and lie almost flat for use in tablet mode. It may have been a necessary design choice, but there's no denying that it feels strange.If you, like us, prefer the physical clicker over a less-reliable finger when tapping or selecting small on-screen items, you'll find yourself reaching for the R7's touchpad quite a bit. This is both uncomfortable -- you'll have to stretch your hand much farther than you're used to -- and inconvenient if you're using the machine in Ezel mode, since you'll have to push the screen back to access the trackpad. As for the touchpad itself, it works well enough, provided your hands don't accidentally brush against a key or two. Essentially, you have no palm rest when using it, which is a huge ergonomic failure. If Acer was trying to minimize the importance of the touchpad, we almost think the company should have left it off altogether. That would be quite a statement, right?The Aspire R7's island-style, backlit keyboard, while not outstanding, isn't quite so frustrating to use. It's slightly recessed, and though it offers sufficient travel, the chiclets themselves are too close together. When we tried a few typing tests, our accuracy suffered due to hitting adjacent keys several times. We wish Acer took better advantage of the ample room on the deck to make a more comfortable layout; there's a good deal of space on either side of the keyboard, after all. On the plus side, keys aren't dramatically undersized, and they offer a satisfying amount of feedback.Display and soundThe 15.6-inch, 1080p touchscreen is great for watching Netflix and surfing the web. Colors look accurate and text is crisp, just as it should be. Thanks to IPS technology, the LED-backlit display offers good viewing angles. From the far left and right of center, we had no trouble making out images. Of course, the adjustable screen helps to combat glare, too. As a touchscreen, this panel doesn't disappoint either. It registered our swipes and taps flawlessly.Audio gets plenty loud on the R7, thanks to four speakers and Dolby Home Theater v4. On the downside, music doesn't sound especially rich; it comes through slightly tinny and muffled, as it does on most machines. Acer says the audio channels automatically reverse when you switch modes on the R7, and indeed sound quality seems pretty consistent regardless of whether we're in laptop, tablet or Ezel mode.Performance and battery lifeWith an Ivy Bridge Core i5-3337U processor clocked at 1.8GHz, along with 6GB of RAM, the R7 is a capable daily driver. It runs a 500GB, 5,400RPM hard drive with 24 gigs of solid-state storage rather than a full SSD, so it falls behind much of the pack on benchmarks such as ATTO, where its read speeds maxed out at 117 MB/s and writes peaked at 115 MB/s. Similarly, you'll note the lack of an SSD when booting the system up: it takes about 21 seconds, which does verge on frustrating.PCMark73DMark063DMark11ATTO (top disk speeds)Acer Aspire R7 (1.8GHz Core i5-3337U, Intel HD 4000)4,0344,478E1,126 / P631 / X213117 MB/s (reads); 115 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Core i5-3337U, Intel HD 4000)4,4184,045E1,081 / P600626 MB/s (reads); 137 MB/s (writes) (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000)4,4143,840E924 / P512 / X177482 MB/s (reads); 317 MB/s (writes) (2.0GHz Core i7-3537U, Intel HD 4000)5,2755,272N/A553 MB/s (reads); 500 MB/s (writes) (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000)5,0114,918E1,035 / P620 / X208934 MB/s (reads); 686 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Core i5-3337U, Intel HD 4000)4,0433,944E1,053 / P578484 MB/s (reads); 286 MB/s (writes) (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000)4,9984,818E1,137 / P610 / X201516 MB/s (reads); 431 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,6733,811E1,019 / P552526 MB/s (reads); 201 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,4224,415E917 / P572278 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,6734,520N/A516 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes)Synthetic tests aside, the Aspire R7 runs smoothly and quietly, effortlessly handling several tabs in one browser, music streaming on Spotify and apps running in the background. An integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU is on board, which should accommodate casual gaming with titles downloaded from the Windows Store.Battery lifeAcer Aspire R74:44Acer Iconia W7007:13Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012)7:02MacBook Air (13-inch, 2012)6:34 (OS X) / 4:28 (Windows)Dell XPS 146:18Sony VAIO T135:39Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 135:32Dell XPS 125:30Samsung Series 5 UltraTouch5:23ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A Touch5:15ASUS Zenbook Prime UX51Vz5:15Toshiba Satellite U845W5:13Toshiba Kirabook5:12Toshiba Satellite U8455:12Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M35:11Toshiba Satellite U925t5:10Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon5:07Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M55:05Samsung ATIV Book 75:02ASUS Transformer Book5:01 (tablet only)Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch5:00Sony VAIO Duo 114:47Acer Aspire S54:35MSI Slidebook S204:34ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A4:19Acer Aspire S7 (13-inch)4:18Acer Aspire S34:11Lenovo ThinkPad Twist4:09HP Spectre XT TouchSmart4:00Vizio Thin + Light (14-inch, 2012)3:57ASUS TAICHI 213:54Microsoft Surface Pro3:46Acer says the R7 is good for up to four hours of battery life, but we got a slightly better result on our video rundown test. With WiFi on, brightness set to 65 percent and a video playing on loop, the machine lasted four hours and 44 minutes. We wouldn't call that runtime impressive, but it's hardly surprising given the large, power-sucking touchscreen.Software and warrantyAcer piles on its full suite of proprietary programs, including AcerCloud, Acer Crystal Eye and Acer Screen Grasp. There are plenty of third-party programs here as well: Norton Online Backup trial software is pre-loaded, as is the game Cut The Rope and the app Social Jogger. As always, we took bigger issue with the incessant pop-ups rather than with the bloatware. Definitely disable the McAfee and Acer Recovery Management notifications to save a bit of sanity.The Aspire R7 comes with a one-year limited warranty, which covers parts and labor.Configuration options and the competitionFor now, at least, Acer is offering only one configuration of the R7, available through the company's website and Best Buy. For $1,000, you get a Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor, six gigs of RAM and a 500GB hard drive with an extra 24GB of solid-state storage. When we first saw the R7 at Acer's , though, the company said that a Core i7 option would be available. Could that model be delayed to make way for Intel's fourth-gen chip? Acer's certainly not saying, but the computer maker will likely have some products packing that new silicon at Computex next week. (Stay tuned for that!)For a gadget that spans the notebook, tablet and all-in-one categories, it's fairly impressive.If the Aspire R7's design is a tad too adventurous for your tastes or you simply like to comparison-shop, you'll want to check out these alternatives. If portability isn't a concern, you may like the , an 18-inch all-in-one with foldout stands that transform it into a gigantic tablet. Pricing starts at $900, with processor options ranging from a Pentium chip to a Core i7 CPU. You could always go the Ultrabook route and pick up the , which rivals the R7 in its transformation tricks and sports a lovely, crisp IPS display. If that machine piques your interest, though, you may want to wait for a possible Haswell refresh. And there's also the , though the adjustable display doesn't make up for subpar build quality and a cramped typing experience.Wrap-upIf the R7 weren't well-built, it would appear to have a major identity crisis. But, happily, this machine is a success. Offering an innovative transforming design, a nice 1080p touchscreen and solid performance for $1,000 is no small feat. The device is hardly perfect, but for a gadget that spans the notebook, tablet and all-in-one categories, it's still fairly impressive.So should you snatch this guy up? A few things give us pause: the imminent arrival of Intel's Haswell processors, for one, and the fact that this relatively heavy machine is unlikely to replace your slate or your desktop. And call us old-fashioned, but we still can't quite get over the oddly placed touchpad. Finally, the cramped keyboard could be a dealbreaker for some. If those caveats don't deter you, though, this machine offers solid specs and build quality for the money.Zach Honig contributed to this review.With dozens and dozens of Ultrabooks on parade, you'd be forgiven if one skinny laptop with an ultra-low voltage processor started to look like the next. Even so, it's tough to forget the : of all the ultraportables we've seen these last nine months, this is the only one with a motorized port cover. Yeah, one. It's an intriguing product, to be sure, and the stakes are especially high given that $1,400 price: you'd have to really enjoy that form factor (and everything else) to choose it over some less expensive ultraportable. So is it worth it? Is that drop-down door anything more than a gimmick? Questions for the ages, and ones we'll tackle in our full review after the break. Hardware The S5 feels durable, but lacks the design flair you'd expect from a premium machine. Back in January when it was announced at CES, the S5 was touted as the "world's thinnest" Ultrabook, at 15mm (0.59 inches) thick. Nearly seven months later, we're not sure the S5 still qualifies for that title (the widens to 0.5 inches), but no matter: it still cuts a skinnier figure than most of the Ultrabooks we've tested. In contrast to last year's Aspire S3, which costs about half the price, the S5 marks an improvement in craftsmanship, with magnesium alloy now covering the lid, bottom and palm rest. No doubt, it feels sturdier than the S3, but the build quality is still unremarkable compared to other Ultrabooks, especially other high-end ones. You might argue, for instance, that the S5's plastic keyboard deck and bezel are part of the reason it weighs a light 1.35kg (2.98 pounds), but the Series 9 is made of unibody aluminum and still weighs about four-tenths of a pound less. Ditto for the , which weighs 2.96 pounds, or the metal-clad , which comes in at 2.86 pounds. We could go on, but you get the point: the S5 feels durable, but lacks the design flair you'd expect from a premium machine. Obviously, the conceit of the S5 is that most of its ports are tucked behind MagicFlip, that motorized drop-down door on the laptop's rear edge. Ignoring for a moment how annoying it is to have all the key sockets located back there, it's a pretty good selection of ports: in addition to two USB openings, it has Thunderbolt and full-sized HDMI sockets, both rarities for Ultrabooks (heck, Thunderbolt ports on PCs are rare, period). Not all the openings are hidden, though: on the notebook's right edge, you'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the power button and memory card reader sit on the left. Thought you'd find the power button on the keyboard deck? That space is home to the button controlling the drop-down door (much more on that later, of course). Keyboard and trackpad Since Acer released its first Ultrabook last fall, the company has unveiled models, each of them marking a step up in overall quality. But one thing's remained constant: that flat, cramped keyboard. The keys here are quite lacking in travel, though they're easy enough to master. All told, they're no shallower than the ones on the Series 9, which we neither loved nor hated. The problem is, unlike Samsung's layout, which is fairly well-spaced, the S5's arrangement gets mighty crowded, especially toward the periphery where many essential buttons lie. The Tab key is tiny, for instance, as are Caps Lock and the four arrows, which you could easily miss if you tried to hit them without looking. Also, this keyboard isn't backlit, though you'd probably expect it to be on a machine this expensive. As much as we wish Acer would re-think its Ultrabook keyboards, the company at least got the trackpad right. The large pad responds smoothly to one-finger navigation, as well as multi-touch gestures like two-finger scrolls and pinch-to-zoom. Occasionally, the cursor would stop short on the screen before we got to whatever it was we meant to click on, but we mostly carried on without many incidents. We'd also add that the built-in touch button is easy to click and makes a quiet, low-pitched sound when pressed. Display and sound Given how pricey this machine is, you'd expect Acer would have gone all out (or at least met us halfway) when it came to display quality. A high-resolution screen would seem to be in order. IPS quality, too, or perhaps one of those panels with the narrow bezels. Instead, what we have here is a run-of-the-mill, garden-variety TN screen with 1,366 x 768 resolution. Everything about this display is common, from the standard resolution, to the reflective finish, to the width of the bezels. It would've been fine on an $800 system, but given that you can find lovely, higher-res screens on the MacBook Air, , Samsung Series 9 and the entire ASUS Zenbook Prime family, we don't understand why Acer cut corners here. (Actually, we do: this could be a trade-off to going with a more complex design and a RAID 0 SSD configuration, but we're not sure either of these was worth settling for a mediocre screen.) The sound coming out of the Dolby-enhanced speakers is a bit tinnier than we're used to, which is quite the feat. Aside from a metallic sound, we were able to make out a faint, buzzing distortion even at medium volumes. One other interesting thing to note before we sign off on display and sound quality: the S5 is one of the few Ultrabooks we've tested recently that does not include Intel's Wireless Display technology. If you had no intention of streaming 1080p video to a big screen, carry on, but it does seem like an odd omission from what's supposed to be a high-end machine. Performance PCMark Vantage 3DMark06 Acer Aspire S5 (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 12,895 5,071 (13-inch, 2012, 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 8,624 5,155 (2012, 1.8GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 13,469 5,827 (1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 10,508 4,209 (Ivy Bridge Core i7 processor, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 10,333 4,550 (1.8GHz Core i7-2677M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 9,939 3,651 (15-inch, 2012, 1.6GHz Core i5-2467M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 10,580 4,171 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 8,345 4,549 (2.6GHz Core i5-3320M, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 8,234 4,891 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 8,189 3,847 Note: higher scores are better At $1,400, the S5 comes with some top-shelf specs to match its lofty price tag, including a 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U CPU, 4GB of RAM and -- here's the kicker -- dual 128GB, LiteON-branded SATA III SSDs arranged in a RAID 0 configuration. Cutting straight to the chase, this is the speediest disk performance we've logged on any laptop, of any size. We actually ended up running ATTO more times than usual because we initially couldn't believe the scores: at their best, the two SSDs reached peak read speeds of 875 MB/s and writes as fast as 700 MB/s. In real-word use, those numbers are matched by a 12-second boot-up. And yes, our scores landed in this ballpark every time we ran these tests. No flukes here, kids. For those of you who are curious, Acer confirmed to us that you cannot switch to a RAID 1 configuration: in the BIOS, you'll see options for RAID, along with IDE and AHCI. When we switched to our other standard benchmarks, the S5 still notched some stellar numbers, though this time they fell a little more in line with other top-performing Ultrabooks. For example, its score of 12,895 in PCMark Vantage falls less than 600 points short of the 2012 MacBook Air's high mark -- hardly a dramatic difference. Likewise, its score of 5,071 in 3DMark06 is among the highest we've seen from an Ivy Bridge machine. Not that that's saying much: even with the default settings (read: 1,024 x 768 resolution) Call of Duty 4 chugged along with frame rates in the twenties -- just good enough to be playable. MagicFlip In practice, pressing a button to expose key ports is more tedious than innovative. In practice, pressing a button to expose key ports is more tedious than innovative. Imagine, for instance, that you want to connect a portable hard drive. You can't just plug it in; no, you need to press the button, wait a second or two for the door to open and then reach around to the back of the laptop to find the USB socket. If you can't do it by feel, you'll have to turn the laptop around so you can see the ports -- an awfully big hassle just to plug in a peripheral. One thing we weren't aware of when we first got hands-on with the S5 is that the motorized door will open on its own to expose the vents when the machine gets too hot. And yes, we mean "when," not "if." We first experienced this within minutes of unboxing our system -- installing a program and running Chrome was enough to trigger the overheating mechanism. It happened again about 30 seconds into a game of CoD 4. The good news is that the machine stayed tepid enough that we could use it comfortably for extended periods of time, but in exchange for cool operation you'll have to put up with a good deal of fan noise. To be fair, once the ports are fully exposed, it shouldn't have much bearing on your ergonomic experience and obviously, we'd all rather our machines not overheat. Still, as brief as this interruption is, it can be distracting to feel your computer rise beneath your fingers while you're trying to work. And there is, of course, an easy solution for that: just build the ports into the sides of the laptop and not worry about laying claim to the "thinnest Ultrabook" title. When the S5 was first announced, one of the most common responses from our readers and editors alike was, "What happens if the motor gives out?" Acer rates the door for 15,000 cycles, tested with 50 pounds of pressure -- a claim we naturally didn't have the time or automated equipment to test. We will say that the motor makes a grating sound that doesn't inspire much confidence in the resilience of the various underlying parts. On the bright side, we appreciate that the door automatically closes when you shut down the computer or close the lid, even if you forgot to press the button to do it manually. Battery life Battery Life Acer Aspire S5 4:35 Samsung Series 9 (15-inch, 2012) 7:29 Lenovo ThinkPad X230 7:19 Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012) 7:02 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2012) 6:34 (OS X) / 4:28 (Windows) HP Folio 13 6:08 HP Envy Sleekbook 6z 5:51 Toshiba Portege Z835 5:49 ASUS Zenbook UX31E (2011) 5:41 Sony VAIO T13 5:39 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2011) 5:32 (OS X) / 4:12 (Windows) HP Envy 14 Spectre 5:30 Lenovo IdeaPad U300s 5:08 Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook (14-inch, 2012) 5:06 Dell XPS 13 4:58 Lenovo IdeaPad U310 4:57 Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2011) 4:20 ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A 4:19 Acer Aspire S3 4:11 The S5's three-cell battery is rated for up to 6.5 hours of battery life, which is shorter than what many other 13-inch Ultrabooks promise. Indeed, its runtime is as uninspiring as the performance is fast. In our standard video playback test, it barely made it four and a half hours -- a poor showing compared to the 13-inch Series 9, which lasted seven hours, and the new MacBook Air, which managed six and a half. Even middling ultraportables can outlast the S5 by at least an hour. In fact, this is, quite literally, the shortest runtime we've recorded on a 13-inch Ultrabook since we tested Acer's own laptop last fall. Software and warranty Though it might not be the worst offender, the S5 does come with a good deal of bloatware. Pre-installed programs include CyberLink's MediaEspresso media converter, an eBay shortcut, Evernote 4.5.2, Fooz Kids (a children's gaming platform), Norton Online Backup, Skype 5.5, Nook for PC and a trial of McAfee's Internet Security suite. And, like other Acer machines, the S5 comes with the company's media streaming software. Additionally, it's worth mentioning that the S5 is the first Acer laptop to support , the company's recently launched service that backs up your photos, music, videos and documents online. It's free, and storage is unlimited -- well, limited only by how much you can store on your local machine. You can, of course, access all this stuff remotely, provided your computer isn't completely powered off. In particular, with the help of a mobile app you can see your files on an Android phone, even if the two devices are not connected to the same WiFi network. Rather, AcerCloud attempts to create a peer-to-peer connection whenever possible and, failing that, uses a security token in the laptop to play middleman between your notebook and phone. For now, this service is only available in North America and China, but it's expected to roll out to other markets worldwide sometime in the fourth quarter. Getting AcerCloud set up involves creating an account, a mercifully brief process that only requires you to give your name and email address, and to create a password. (Interestingly, as we progressed through the setup, McAfee popped up, asking if we wanted to grant AcerCloud access.) After creating our account, verifying our email address and using check boxes to confirm what we wanted to back up, we were up and running. As for the warranty, the S5 is covered by a one-year plan, which is pretty standard for a consumer laptop, regardless of the price. Configuration options Though Acer usually offers its laptops in various pre-configured versions, the S5 is only available for $1,400 with the specs we tested here (a Core i7 CPU, 4GB of RAM, the 64-bit edition of Windows 7 Home Premium and 256GB of solid-state storage). As is the case for almost every other Ultrabook we review, the drives, RAM and battery were not designed to be user-replaceable. Again, that's true of most every laptop in this class, but we'd rather remind you, lest anyone wind up disappointed. The competition The S5 suffers from some serious usability flaws, and nothing really justifies that $1,400 price. You want high-end Ultrabooks? Let's talk high-end Ultrabooks. Even for a high-end machine, the S5 is pricey; we can think of several excellent alternatives that drip quality but still cost slightly less. For starters, there's the 13-inch Samsung Series 9 beginning at $1,300, which weighs just 2.55 pounds and has a higher-quality aluminum build. The Series 9 also leads the S5 (and every other 13-inch Ultrabook) in battery life. Its keyboard is equally flat, but better-spaced. And while its performance isn't rated quite as highly, it's also capable of 12-second boot-ups. If you're willing to consider a bigger screen, you might also want to check out the HP Envy 14 Spectre or even the of the Series 9, which measures just 0.58 inches thick. Though we haven't yet tested a 13-inch equivalent, ASUS' lineup also looks mighty promising. We'll refrain from breaking down every specific configuration listed on Amazon, but suffice to say we're particularly excited about the ($1,350 at Amazon), which combines a 1080p IPS display with an NVIDIA GT 620M GPU. For the OS-agnostic, we'll include the new MacBook Air in the high-end category: its battery life is on par with the champion Series 9, its keyboard and trackpad are comfortable and the performance is some of the fastest we've seen, even from among Ivy Bridge machines. Regarding screen quality, a pain point for Acer's S5, the Air has the same 1,440 x 900 display as past generations. That's not the absolute best you'll find -- not with the Series 9 and Zenbook Primes on the market -- but it's still a step up from the S5. Wrap-up The Aspire S5 has some key ingredients that might have made it a great Ultrabook: a thin shape, an impressive port selection and blazing I/O performance. Unfortunately, though, Acer seems to have invested its energy in all the wrong places. Instead of a higher-resolution display or finer build quality, it focused on stuffing all the ports behind a door in the back -- a design choice that feels gimmicky at best, and tiresome at worst. In exchange for a skinny silhouette, it settles for a three-cell battery that barely lasts four and a half hours on a charge. Even the RAID 0 SSD configuration might well have contributed to the high price, and that's a shame since the S5 probably could have delivered strong performance even with a more standard setup. (875 MB/s read speeds? Maybe not, but that 12-second boot time? Quite possibly.) As is, the S5 suffers from some serious usability flaws, and nothing really justifies that $1,400 price except, possibly, that screaming SSD setup. We look forward to possible redemption with the upcoming , but in the meantime we're certain you can find a better ultraportable for less money.Back in June, when Acer first announced the , two things seemed noteworthy: these were the company's first touchscreen Ultrabooks, for one, and they were easily its best-made. Whereas the earlier and skew a bit boring, the S7 is made of aluminum, with either a metal or Gorilla Glass lid, depending on whether you choose the 11- or 13-inch version. What's more, it has a 1080p IPS display, which looked just as nice in our initial as the spec sheet would have you believe. Throw in a choice of Core i5 and i7 processors and a RAID 0 SSD configuration, and you can easily expect the same fast performance we recorded on the S5. So is this it? Has Acer finally built an Ultrabook we can heartily recommend? More to the point, does the 13-inch model get enough things right to justify that $1,400 starting price? Find out in our review after the break. Look and feel The S7 is as nice to touch as it is to look at.Smooth glass, sharp edges and cold aluminum. You can forget Acer's for putting out cheap plastic stuff: the S7 is as nice to touch as it is to look at, and is easily the prettiest, most tactile laptop the company has ever made. On both the 11- and 13-inch models the keyboard deck is fashioned out of smooth aluminum, with a large trackpad and metal keys. Though it looks like the screen has a bezel, it's actually an edge-to-edge glass display, with a border that matches the white lid. To be clear, when we talk about that white lid, we're referring to the 13-inch model, specifically: that bigger version has a white Gorilla Glass cover, while the 11-incher has a metal lid. Both look nice; just don't expect one to be a shrunken version of the other. Since we tested the glass-clad model, in particular, we can speak to that more directly: the white surface picks up fingerprints but, as promised, it doesn't get scratched.At 2.86 pounds, the 13-inch version we tested weighs even less than the , which was itself pretty light for an Ultrabook. That seems like a feat, given that the 13-inch S7 has a glass cover -- after all, the we reviewed a laptop with a glass lid we ended up making excuses for its relatively heavy build. The 13-inch model is thinner, too (0.47 vs. 0.59 inch), which is noteworthy given that the S5 was once touted as the "world's thinnest" Ultrabook. (The S5 had a motorized drop-down port door in the back, so it sort of had to be thicker than the S7.) Even if you don't have the S5 lying around for comparison's sake, we think you'll be able to appreciate how impressively thin this is. It really does feel slimmer and lighter than other 13-inch Ultrabooks. And again, the S7 is handicapped in that a glass lid and touchscreen should theoretically add more heft. So well done, Acer.On the bottom side, the notebook is sealed in such a way that you can't easily get at the battery, SSD or RAM. (This is pretty typical for Ultrabooks.) That bottom surface is also where you'll find the speaker strip, which is somewhat unusual: laptop speakers are usually located in the keyboard area or around the sides. The back edge of the machine is completely taken up by the vent, which will make its presence known quite frequently (more on that when we dive into performance).As for ports, the S7 offers almost everything you'd expect in a 13-inch Ultrabook: two USB 3.0 ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack and an SD reader. (We only expect an Ethernet jack on thicker systems.) The one thing you might have wanted that you won't get is a full-size HDMI socket; there's just a micro version here. Happily, though, you do get USB-to-Ethernet and micro-HDMI-to-VGA adapters, along with a carrying case and mouse, so hopefully there won't be any hard feelings.Keyboard and trackpad As it happens, our tester unit has the layout Canadian customers are going to see, but that doesn't mean our thoughts on the backlit keyboard won't resonate with shoppers here in the US. As we found with Acer's two other Ultrabooks, the keys are awfully flat and shallow, and don't offer much in the way of travel. Meanwhile, the actual sizing of the buttons is a mixed bag: the Caps Lock key is about the size of the nail on your index finger, but Enter and Backspace are amply sized. In any case, whatever considerations Acer made in designing the keyboard seem to have paid off: we quickly found ourselves typing at a brisk clip, making very few typos. And when we did make a mistake, that oversized Backspace key was easy to hit.The story of the trackpad matches what we've seen from some other new Windows 8 laptops: it does a good job of handling native Windows 8 gestures, but isn't as good at single-finger navigation. For instance, you should have no problem swiping in from the right to expose the Charms Bar; that's a trick that really doesn't require much practice. When it comes to dragging the cursor around the screen, though, the arrow often stops before you get to whatever you meant to click on. Other times, the touchpad registered a left click, when all we were doing was moving the cursor around the screen. We had a similar issue when doing pinch-to-zoom (though the zooming itself was otherwise smooth). So, if we weren't careful, we'd accidentally open apps when we didn't mean to. Good thing the computer was quick to react when we hit the Start button as a way of backing out.Display Simply put, the S7's 1080p, IPS screen is one of the loveliest laptop displays we've seen in some time, the sort of panel that puts other laptops to shame. You might think that 1,366 x 768 is sufficient for a 13-inch screen -- and you'd be right -- but once you've used the S7 it's difficult to go back. Everything from desktop items to Windows 8 apps looks noticeably crisper. Color reproduction is good: blacks are black, whites are white and colors are vibrant without looking cartoonishly saturated. Lastly, that IPS panel made for some good viewing angles. We can't promise you won't suffer any screen glare (this is a glossy panel, after all) but you should be able to work with the notebook in your lap and not have to worry about fiddling with the screen angle. If you plan on having a Netflix-streaming party, the screen is also easily viewable nearly edge-on, with colors still looking potent even at severe off-angles.As you've no doubt noticed, this isn't the sort of Windows 8 machine you can use in tablet mode, though that doesn't mean it isn't capable of contorting at all: the screen on the 13-inch model can be pushed all the way back, so that the whole thing system lies flat. We confess we're not sure when you'd use it this way, beyond the occasional board game or painting app, but it is a nice parlor trick nonetheless.Performance and battery life PCMark73DMark063DMark11ATTO (top disk speeds)Acer Aspire S7 (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000)5,0114,918E1035 / P620 / X208934 MB/s (reads); 686 MB/s (writes)Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,4224,415E917 / P572278 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes)Toshiba Satellite U925t (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,3814,210E989 / P563521 MB/s (reads); 265 MB/s (writes)Dell XPS 12 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,6734,520N/A516 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes)"LOUD NOISES." That's the note I wrote to myself in the performance section of this review, back when I was still gathering my impressions and felt the need to leave a placeholder. It's odd, in a way, to begin this part without a discussion of speeds and feeds, but then again, once you get rolling you might not pause to think about the fact that your $1,650 laptop has a 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U processor. That fan noise, though -- that will follow you everywhere. It would be an understatement to say the machine pipes up during gaming, and other graphics-intensive tasks; it gets loud even when it's mostly idle, or when you open a single app, like Maps.It's too bad the machine gets so distractingly loud, because underneath all the noise it's an impressively fast, capable system. Like the Aspire S5 before it, the S7 has two solid-state drives arranged in a RAID 0 setup, which allows for some screaming I/O speeds. In the disk benchmark ATTO, we saw top read speeds of 934 MB/s with writes maxing out at 686 MB/s. A quick look at the chart will tell you that's light years beyond any other high-end Windows 8 Ultrabook we've tested recently. The rest of its benchmarks -- variations on PCMark and 3DMark -- are more in line with the competition, if slightly better. Same deal for start-up times: it cold boots in about 12 seconds, which is on par with, if not faster than, other machines on the market.Battery LifeAcer Aspire S74:18Samsung Series 9 (15-inch, 2012)7:29Lenovo ThinkPad X2307:19Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012)7:02MacBook Air (13-inch, 2012)6:34 (OS X) / 4:28 (Windows)Dell XPS 146:18HP Folio 136:08HP Envy Sleekbook 6z5:51Toshiba Portege Z8355:49Sony VAIO T135:39Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 135:32MacBook Air (13-inch, 2011)5:32 (OS X) / 4:12 (Windows)Dell XPS 125:30HP Envy 14 Spectre5:30Toshiba Satellite U845W5:13Toshiba Satellite U8455:12Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M35:11Toshiba Satellite U925t5:10Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon5:07Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook (14-inch, 2012)5:06Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M55:05Dell XPS 134:58Lenovo IdeaPad U3104:57Acer Aspire S54:35Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2011)4:20ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A4:19Acer Aspire S34:11Vizio Thin + Light (14-inch)3:57Acer claims the Aspire 7's 4,680mAh battery can last up to six hours on a charge, which is already a modest rating compared to other Ultrabooks. In our video rundown test, which was designed to be taxing, we never came close to that. Even after running the test several times, the best we could muster was four hours and 18 minutes. For those of you new to Engadget reviews, that was with a video looping off the local drive, WiFi on and brightness fixed at 65 percent.We were so taken aback by these scores that we contacted Acer to rule out the possibility that we had received a lemon. As it turns out, Acer's own internal testing team has been getting around five hours of runtime on its own test. That's longer battery life than what we saw, but then again, comparing Acer's test to Engadget's isn't exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. Interestingly, the battery life we recorded is in line with what we got on Acer's previous two Ultrabooks, the S3 and S5.And besides, even if our machine did last five hours, that would've still been a poorer showing than we saw from other Windows 8 Ultrabooks, like the Dell XPS 12 and Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13. And even those machines don't last as long as some non-touch Ultrabooks we've tested this year. So, the runtime here really is pretty bad, a large step below mediocre. And that's a shame: if not for the awful battery life, this would be a killer ultraportable.Software and warranty Not that Acer's the only PC maker to do this, but it definitely saddled the S7 with a good dose of bloatware. On tap, you'll find 7digital (a music streaming service); eBay; Skitch and Evernote; Acer Explorer; the Encyclopedia Britannica; iCookbook; ChaCha; TuneIn; Amazon.com and Amazon Kindle; Netflix; StumbleUpon; Skype: Spotify; newsXpresso; and a trial of McAfee Internet Security Suite. Other apps include Acer's Crystal Eye webcam software, Microsoft Office and two games: Taptiles and Shark Dash. Finally, there's AcerCloud, Acer's free online storage service which allows you to back up things like photos and music tracks and access them through mobile apps.Like most other consumer PCs, the S7 comes with a one-year warranty.Configuration options and the competition As we mentioned, the Aspire S7 is available in 11- and 13-inch sizes, with the industrial design being mostly the same, except for the lid. In the US, at least, the 13-inch model is available in two configurations: a Core i5 version, for $1,400, and a Core i7 one for $1,650. Stepping up also means more disk space: the Core i5 model has 128GB of storage, while the Core i7 one has 256 gigs. Either way, it comes with 4GB of RAM, integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics and that 4,680mAh battery.If you're curious about that smaller, 11-inch number, it weighs less, as you'd expect (2.29 pounds versus 2.86), though it's actually slightly thicker, with a 0.48-inch chassis. Acer is offering just one configuration in the US: a $1,200 system with a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of RAID 0 storage and a 3,790mAh battery rated for up to five hours.If you feel put off by the S7's short battery life, you can at least take comfort in the fact that it's not a novelty: almost every PC maker is selling plain old notebooks with touchscreens slapped on. For the purposes of this comparison, we'll stick to other high-end options, since folks considering paying $1,400 for a 1080p machine probably aren't going to want to settle for something with a 1,366 x 768 display. Perhaps the most obvious competition comes from ASUS, which is selling a of its Zenbook Prime Ultrabooks. All told, it has the same industrial design and 1080p IPS panel as the we reviewed, though we haven't had a chance to test whether that touchscreen puts a dent in the battery life. Hopefully we'll get to put one through its paces sooner rather than later. If you don't mind some extra heft, HP is selling the 15-inch ($1,400 and up), the first HP Ultrabook to rock a 1,920 x 1,080 screen. At 4.77 pounds, it's light for a 15-incher but again, it's nowhere near as portable as the S7.Wrap-up With each successive generation, Acer comes closer to building the perfect Ultrabook. Its first model, the S3, had a low-rent feel, with short battery life, trailing performance and a stiff trackpad. The S5 improved on that with a nicer design and blazing speeds, due to a RAID 0 disk setup. But thanks to a low-res screen, among other shortcomings, it ultimately felt overpriced for what it was.Now we have the Aspire S7, the best-made Ultrabook Acer has put out, with a stunning 1080p display and that same fast performance we recorded on the S5. One problem, though: Acer never did figure out the battery life. The S7's runtime is short even compared to other touchscreen Ultrabooks, which generally have not been lasting as long as non-touch models in our tests. While it's easy for us to praise Acer for having come so far, it's tougher to recommend a mobile device with skimpy battery life, especially when it has such a lofty starting price. If you don't mind carrying a charger everywhere you go, this is otherwise a premium piece of hardware. But if battery life is important (or if you're simply looking for more of an all-around performer) you'll have to let out a deep sigh, as we did, and keep looking.Acer Enhances its Flagship Ultrabook, the Aspire S7Featuring improved battery life, 2nd generation Acer TwinAir cooling, and WQHD display technology for exceptional entertainment and productivityTAIPEI, TAIWAN (June 3, 2013) Acer presents the next-generation 13.3-inch Aspire S7Ultrabook at Computex Taipei. In addition to retaining the celebrated characteristics of the previous model, the new S7 Ultrabook has improved battery life for all-day computing, a refined electroluminescent (EL) backlit keyboard for more natural typing, and 2nd generation Acer TwinAir cooling with less fan noise. In addition, it is equipped with wireless display (WiDi) technology for big-screen entertainment and productivity."We designed the S7 to be the best touch Ultrabook in the world, bar none," said Jim Wong, Acer Corporate President. "We listened carefully to users to find substantial ways to make it even better." The re-engineered S7 delivers improved battery life of up to 7 hours, a 33% increase from its predecessor. Its new light-sensing EL backlit keyboard is also refined, with a deeper keystroke for more natural and comfortable typing. Plus, thanks to 2nd generation Acer TwinAir cooling technology, the noise at maximum load is more than 20% lower than the previous S7, keeping the system quiet and cool.Acer's new S7 supports Intel WiDi technology, which allows users to extend their laptop screen to a TV or big screen without a cable. With this feature, S7 users can stream video on their living room screen and open a new window on their computer and to work, bringing a new dimension to multitasking.The Aspire S7-392 features Acer's first 10-point touch WQHD display will also be available on the S7, with IPS technology squeezing a very impressive 2,560x1,440 resolution into a 13.3-inch screen. In addition, IPS technology shows consistent and accurate colors at viewing angles up to 170 degrees. Taking advantage of the touch benefits offered by Windows 8, the touch-enabled screen on the S7 can be opened a full 180, and the image orientation reversed with a simple hotkey combination for easy touch-and-show sharing.This new S7 packs powerful technologies, including dual-array microphones and Acer's proprietary PurifiedVoice technology, which enhances speech performance and reduces noise for voice recognition and VOIP applications, making voice communication crystal clear. Moreover, it is powered by a 4th generation Intel Core processor and a RAID 0 solid state drive for fast wakeup and read/write times, as well as quietness.The S7 Ultrabook remains impressively slim and light, measuring only 12.9 mm thin and weighing 1.3 kg. It is constructed from premium materials and features a dual-torque, T-shape hinge frame design to ensure wobble-free touch use. Its Gorilla Glass 2 surface is smooth to the touch, beautiful and thin, yet strong, scratch resistant, and easy to clean. The new S7 features a unibody design made from a single block of aluminum using a process that saves energy and material; the result is an ultra-thin chassis that is super tough and roadworthy.The Aspire S7-392will start shipping in July starting at 1,450. For details about availability, product specifications and prices in specific markets, please contact your nearest Acer office or retailer, or visit www.acer.com.Acer Launches the Aspire S3 Ultrabook In the New S Series Family StyleThe beautiful, powerful Aspire S3 integrates Acer design and innovations derived from the flagship Aspire S7TAIPEI, TAIWAN (June 3, 2013) - Acer today announced the launch of the new 13.3" Aspire S3 Ultrabook at Computex Taipei. The S3 has inherited some of the industry-leading design and innovations of the Aspire S7, making it an impressively stylish and productive PC.As on the celebrated Aspire S7, the S3's patented dual-torque hinge design allows users to easily open the lid up to 180 for sharing content, while keeping the display wobble-free for an outstanding touch experience.With Acer TwinAir cooling technology, the S3 is always cool to the touch without sacrificing performance. The light-sensing keyboard auto adjusts its brightness to ambient light for better visual comfort in dim settings. In addition, evoking the family design and visual purity of the S7's gorilla glass cover, the new S3 cover is made from aluminum and sprayed Sparkling White with a mirror-polish finish; the operation area is made from anodized aluminum throughout. Just 17.8 mm thin and weighing only 1.67 kg, this Ultrabook is slim and easy to carry anywhere.The S3 combines gorgeous design with impressive power. It is equipped with the latest Intel Core processors, which offer up to 15% better performance and up to 2x faster 3D graphics processing speed, with lower power consumption. With option of the new NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M graphics, users can play videos/movies, edit photos and play games faster than ever before.The S3 has intuitive features that make it a joy to use. Acer Fast Resume enables the Aspire S3 to resume from Sleep mode in just 1 second, giving it tablet-like responsiveness and waking up 3x faster than a standard Ultrabook. And users no longer need to press the power button as the system will automatically boot up when the display is opened - even if the computer has been shut down.When it comes to entertainment, the Acer S3's 1080p Full HD display renders movies, photos and games with exquisite clarity. The display with IPS technology ensures vivid and accurate color reproduction, with a 170 wide viewing angle that keeps images bright and clear, even when seen from the side. Users can also wirelessly share their favorite digital content on a big screen with better visuals and sound quality via WiDi technology. Plus, with unique Acer Purified.Voice technology, communicating with friends and family sounds crystal clear.Acer's S3 is available with a 7.2 mm 1 TB hard disk for storage, with the capacity to keep up to 250,000 MP3 songs or 150 FHD videos, and 290,000 8 MP photos - plenty of room for essential entertainment on the go.The new Aspire S3 will start shipping in July with a starting price of 999.The PC industry might have Ultrabooks up its sleeve, but fortunately for restless tech reviewers like yours truly, they're not all cast from the same mold. As the year wears on, we'll see prices dip as low as $700, and a few will be offered with discrete graphics -- a nice respite from games handicapped at 30 fps. And, in some rare cases, you'll find machines that manage to achieve both. Enter the series, a pair of 14- and 15-inch laptops that start at $680, and, for an added premium, can be had with NVIDIA graphics. What's more, the 14-inch model we tested has a DVD burner, making it as much a full-fledged laptop as an Intel-approved Ultrabook. Accordingly, then, we'll be comparing it not just to other low-priced ultraportables, but to some budget mainstream notebooks on offer this back-to-school season. So how does it stack up? Let's see. Look and feel While it would be inaccurate to say we've reviewed this exact laptop before, we've certainly tested something very similar. If you recall, we had a chance to try out , a 14-inch Ultrabook also packing NVIDIA Kepler graphics. If you think you're in for an encore of that same review, well, keep these two things in mind: for starters, the M3 Ultrabook is not for sale here in the US. Secondly, while the M5 doesn't offer any improvements under the hood, the design is decidedly more premium, with a metal keyboard deck and lid. (The bottom side is still made of rough plastic -- this is a $680 laptop we're talking about, after all.) Additionally, Acer went with an LG panel for some narrower bezels. Lastly, the keys are backlit here -- always a welcome touch. The lid on this guy wobbles less than on more expensive machines we've tested, an impressive feat, though pick up the notebook by the palm rest and you'll hear some creaking coming from the left side. All told, it's an adequate design, though we can think of similarly priced machines, like the and , which feel a bit more solid. When Acer first announced the Timeline Ultra laptops back at CES, the company didn't explicitly describe them as Ultrabooks -- in fact, we thought of them more as mainstream notebooks, successors to last year's series. In the intervening seven months, though, we've seen enough larger-screened Ultrabooks that we now realize the M5 fits right in with other 14-inch thin-and-lights. Both this and the 15-inch version measure 0.81 inches thick, which is on par with and the 0.82-inch-thick , which also makes room for a DVD burner. In terms of heft, the M5 is a good deal heavier than the Series 5 (4.3 pounds versus 3.94), but it's still lighter than the XPS 14, which weighs 4.6 pounds and doesn't even have an optical drive. What we mean to say is, this is hardly the lightest Ultrabook you'll find, but it's easy enough to tote around, and it's definitely lighter than all those you could be buying. In addition to that DVD burner, the M5 sports two USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet jack, a Kensington lock slot and an HDMI socket -- all inconveniently located on the notebook's back edge. (And here we thought that was just a conceit of the !) Though we're never fans of having to reach around to access ports, that arrangement seems especially odd here since the right side has barely any openings, save for a 3.5mm headphone jack and a 2-in-1 memory card reader. There's no reason not to put a USB socket there, unless you truly think people would prefer to have it tucked out of sight on that rear edge. Keyboard and trackpad Acer doesn't seem to have re-invented its keyboard design since releasing the TimelineX series last year: the island-style arrangement is similar, as are the keys' shallow pitch. Though we had to get used to the lack of travel, we appreciated the buttons' smooth finish, as well as the sturdy underlying panel -- say what you will about that hollow palm rest, but we didn't notice any flex or give while typing. If anything, we would have expected some slightly larger arrow keys, just because the M5 has a wider footprint than other Ultrabooks and there would appear to be more room to widen those auxiliary keys. The large, Synaptics-powered trackpad responds well to various multi-touch gestures, including two-finger scrolls and pinch-to-zoom. The palm rejection can sometimes be a problem, though, meaning you might accidentally highlight text you weren't trying to select. Also, the built-in touch button is on the stiff side. Between that and the palm rejection, this reviewer got into the habit of using one-finger taps instead of doing the equivalent of a left click. It's an adaptive technique that works, though only you can decide if you'd be willing to work that way (or, at the very least, invest in a standalone mouse). Display and sound No surprises here: both the 14- and 15-inch M5 laptops have 1,366 x 768 resolution, which is typical for a machine in this price range. For what it's worth, the glossy finish didn't get in the way while yours truly wrote this review in a harshly lit office. As a garden-variety TN display, you'll find it washes out pretty easily if you dip the lid forward, but we don't think you and your friends will have a problem crowding around to watch a movie -- even the people sitting off to the side should have a decent seat. And, of course, that Shuriken display is nice to have, especially on a machine as relatively inexpensive as this. The best thing about the M5's Dolby-enhanced speakers is that they get loud -- loud enough for a small, impromptu dance party, say. But, as is the case with so many notebook speakers, the audio quality here is tinny, and it only gets more metallic-sounding as you crank the volume. Performance PCMark Vantage 3DMark06 Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 (481TG-6814, 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000 / NVIDIA GeForce GT640M LE 1GB) 7,395 9,821 (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 12,895 5,071 (1.7GHz Intel Core i7 2637M, Intel HD 3000 / NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M 1GB) 11,545 11,128 (13-inch, 2012, 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 8,624 5,155 (2012, 1.8GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 13,469 5,827 (1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 10,508 4,209 (Ivy Bridge Core i7 processor, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 10,333 4,550 (1.8GHz Core i7-2677M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 9,939 3,651 (15-inch, 2012, 1.6GHz Core i5-2467M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 10,580 4,171 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 8,345 4,549 (2.6GHz Core i5-3320M, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 8,234 4,891 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 8,189 3,847 Note: higher scores are better If you were to buy our test model, it would cost $780, and come with a 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U CPU and 4GB of RAM. There's also a 500GB hard drive on board, paired with a 20GB solid-state drive for faster boot-ups. And man, does it boot quickly: we recorded a fast 17-second startup. Obviously, having a hybrid hard drive is no substitute for an SSD as far as disk speeds go, but it at least fares well in its class. In the benchmark ATTO, read speeds topped out at 133 MB/s, on average, with writes consistently maxing out at 108 MB/s. That's not bad compared to the Sony VAIO T13, which managed 131 MB/s reads and 92.5 MB/s writes. Still, in synthetic benchmarks it trails the T13, as well as the Lenovo IdeaPad U310, both of which fall in the same price range and offer similar specs. (Actually, both of these machines lack the advantage of discrete graphics, which the M5 has.) Thanks to that 1GB GeForce GT640M LE GPU, the M5's 3DMark06 score is roughly double what you'd get from a typical Ivy Bridge-based Ultrabook with integrated HD 4000 graphics. In real-world use, that naturally means much higher frame rates. In Call of Duty 4, for example, we enjoyed smooth gameplay at about 80 fps, and that was at the max resolution, mind you. Even when you crank the settings, there's really no overlap with the best-case frame rates on a lesser-specced Ultrabook (in past tests, these machines have hovered around 30 fps, even at default settings). Battery life Battery Life Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 5:05 Samsung Series 9 (15-inch, 2012) 7:29 Lenovo ThinkPad X230 7:19 Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012) 7:02 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2012) 6:34 (OS X) / 4:28 (Windows) HP Folio 13 6:08 HP Envy Sleekbook 6z 5:51 Toshiba Portege Z835 5:49 ASUS Zenbook UX31E (2011) 5:41 Sony VAIO T13 5:39 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2011) 5:32 (OS X) / 4:12 (Windows) HP Envy 14 Spectre 5:30 Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 5:11 Lenovo IdeaPad U300s 5:08 Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook (14-inch, 2012) 5:06 Dell XPS 13 4:58 Lenovo IdeaPad U310 4:57 Dell XPS 14z 4:54 Acer Aspire S5 4:35 Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2011) 4:20 ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A 4:19 Acer Aspire S3 4:11 Acer rates the M5's non-user-replaceable battery for up to eight hours of runtime and about 1,000 charge cycles. In a video rundown test, though, Acer's own testing team got closer to six hours. That dovetails fairly nicely with our own results: in our standard battery test, it lasted a little over five hours with WiFi on, the brightness fixed at 65 percent and a video looping off the hard drive. That's on par with the 14-inch Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook, but that's not necessarily a good thing: considering how these laptops are bigger and heavier than most ultraportables we test, we'd at least expect them to make up for that heft with longer runtime. Software and warranty Like the higher-end S5 Ultrabook we just reviewed, you'll find a good deal of bloatware pre-installed, with third-party programs that include: CyberLink's MediaEspresso decoder, an eBay shortcut, Evernote, the Fooz Kids gaming platform, a trial of McAfee Internet Security Suite, Nook for PC, Norton Online Backup and Skype 5.5. Additionally, Acer bundled a handful of its own apps, including Backup Manager, ePower Management, a gaming hub, Instant Update Service, Theft Shield, Updater and , for streaming media over WiFi. The M5 comes with a one-year warranty, which is par for the course among consumer laptops, especially lower-priced ones like this. Configuration options Though the particular configuration we tested costs $780, the M5 starts at $680, with prices topping out at $830, meaning even the top-of-the-line models here are still going to be lesser-specced and more affordably priced than most other Ultrabooks out there. At the entry level, the M5 comes with a second-generation (read: Sandy Bridge) Core i3 processor, along with 6GB of RAM and that same 500GB hard drive paired with a 20GB SSD. It's important to note, too, that this base model also does not include discrete graphics -- for one of those Kepler GPUs you'll need to pay $780 and higher. If all you want is Ivy Bridge, but you're willing to settle for integrated HD 4000 graphics, you can get away with spending as little as $730. The competition For the money, the Acer Aspire M5 is a fantastic deal. Forget for a minute that this is an Ultrabook: for all intents and purposes, it would be smarter to compare this mainly to mainstream laptops, models with optical drives and maybe even discrete graphics. One that comes to mind is the recently refreshed , a 15-inch laptop that's available with discrete graphics and known for its relatively slim design. At $1,300 and up, it's hardly in the same price category, but it starts with an Ivy Bridge processor, NVIDIA GT630M GPU and a much-higher-res 1080p display. It's worth considering if you've taken a look at what the M5 series has to offer, and feel like you're willing to spend more for better performance. In HP's camp, there's the Pavilion dv4, a 14-inch laptop that starts at $650 (not counting any promotions on HP's site). Like the M5, that sub-$700 base price includes a Sandy Bridge Core i3 processor and a 500GB hard drive. The difference is that the dv4, like most of HP's machines, is fairly customizable with options for an Ivy Bridge Core i7 processor, two kinds of NVIDIA GPUs, a Blu-ray player and up to 16GB of RAM. And while you won't find any SSDs offered here, the storage space maxes out at a roomy 1TB. Just keep in mind that, as with the M5, regardless of how much money you spend, there's only one display option: a TN panel with 1,366 x 768 resolution. As for Sony, your best bet might be the E series, which is similarly offered in 14- and 15-inch sizes. (There's an 11-inch version, too, but that's not really relevant here.) With starting prices hovering around $570 for each, they, too, come with a Sandy Bridge Core i3 processor at the base level, along with 6GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. The difference here is that you can step up to an Ivy Bridge Core i7 CPU and a 1,600 x 900 display. Things you won't find: a Blu-ray option, SSDs or discrete graphics. For those features, you'll need to move on up to the higher-end S series, which starts at $800. Wrap-up For the money, the Acer Aspire M5 is a fantastic deal. At $780, it delivers some of the best graphics performance you'll find in this price range, or among Ultrabooks, in general. It's thinner than many mainstream 14-inch laptops, even though it still makes room for an optical drive. Unlike other ultraportables, too, you'll find a generous selection of ports (Ethernet, HDMI, USB 3.0), and the keyboard and trackpad are fairly comfortable. And because the price is so tempting, we suspect the people considering this (students, etc.) will be willing to forgive its minor flaws, like its mediocre screen and scratchy, plastic bottom. If you've been looking for a solid, all-purpose machine and either can't afford a $1,100 Ultrabook or need something with more horsepower, you won't do much better than this.Acer Brings Thinner, Lighter Designs to Mainstream Notebooks With Versatile Aspire V5 and V7 SeriesNEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 03, 2013) - At a press event held today in New York, Acer unveiled an updated and slimmed down Aspire V5 Series of notebooks and also introduced the powerful new Aspire V7 Ultrabook. The new V Series represents Acer's largest and most versatile line of mainstream notebooks with numerous models available in a variety of colors with varying screen sizes, resolutions, with or without touch and with varying performance and graphics capabilities."The new Acer Aspire V5 and V7 Series are all about giving our customers a wide range of performance and entertainment features from which to choose," said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president, product marketing, Acer America. "In addition to adding full high-definition panels, more powerful graphics and solid state drives to the V Series, models are up to 9 percent slimmer than the previous generation."The new Acer Aspire V Series was introduced today with other new products, including the Acer Aspire R7, Acer Aspire P3 Ultrabook and Acer Iconia Android tablets. The new line of Acer mobile products highlights the company's focus on redefining the computing experience through progressive design. #AcerTouch.Based on lifestyle and performance needs, consumers can choose models featuring large 15.6-inch displays, more portable 14-inch displays, or highly transportable models with 11.6-inch displays.Because One Size Doesn't Fit All - Diverse Options with 14- and 15.6-inch Displays to Fit Your PersonalityAll models are available with a choice of touch or non-touch screen. To make typing easier and more comfortable, all V5 models include a full size keyboard with an 8 percent larger key cap area than previous generation V5 notebooks. All notebook configurations with a touch screen will also include backlit keyboards.For crystal clear viewing, the new V5 notebooks featuring a 15.6-inch or 14-inch display are available in either high definition (1366x768) or full high-definition (1920x1080) with IPS technology(1), which provides an amazingly vibrant and wide viewing angle. These models also include four speakers and are supported by Dolby Home Theatre for crystal clear cinematic surround sound with less distortion. It also makes it easy to connect to a home theatre system, and provides total control over the PC's audio settings with a few simple clicks.Models are available with the next generation AMD dual core or quad core processors, or the latest Intel CPUs. Select configurations are equipped with NVIDIA GeForce GT7XXM series or AMD Radeon HD8750 discrete graphics for fast casual gaming and rich responsive multimedia.Touch, Mobility and Affordability in Models Featuring an 11.6-inch DisplayThe smallest Aspire V5 models featuring an 11.6-inch high-definition (1366 x 768) include touch screens and are ideal for anyone wanting an affordable thin and super light notebook to take wherever they go. Just 3 pounds and less than an inch thick, they are ideal for a frequent traveler, child or for student use. Models are available with the next generation AMD dual core or quad core or the latest Intel CPUs. They also feature a full size keyboard, while backlit keyboards will also be available in some regions.When Performance is Critical - V7 Series UltrabooksThe new V7 Series Ultrabooks offer the same stylish and thin design found on the V5 models, but adds a "silky touch" finish on the bottom. In addition, the V7 models include a variety of the latest Intel processors, solid state drives, Acer Theft Shield, the new Acer converter port and WiDi, Intel's Wireless Display technology, which makes it easy to connect directly to a big screen HDTV for watching movies, viewing photos or videos or playing games.Acer Converter Port Makes Connecting EasyFor maximum convenience, all V5 models include an Acer Converter Port, making it easy to connect to an external display, hard drive, router, etc. Some models include a converter cable, which supports VGA, USB and RJ45 connections.Availability and PricingThe Aspire V Series will be available at the end of May. The V Series has a starting Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $499 USD(2).About AcerEstablished in 1976, Acer is an information and communication technology company dedicated to the research, design, marketing, sale and support of innovative products that enhance people's lives. Acer's green supply chain delivers environmentally friendly PCs, displays, projectors, servers, tablets and smartphones -- tools our customers need to explore beyond limits and experience more. Ranked No. 3 for notebooks globally (IDC 2012), Acer employs 8,000 people, and 2012 revenues reached US$14.7 billion. Please visit www.acer.com for more information. 2013 Acer Inc. All rights reserved. Acer and the Acer logo are registered trademarks of Acer Inc. Other trademarks, registered trademarks, and/or service marks, indicated or otherwise, are the property of their respective owners. All brands and product names mentioned herein include trademarks of their respective companies and are used solely to describe or identify the products.1) HD content required to view HD images.2) Estimated street prices. Actual prices may vary.It's been just over a month since Google unveiled its gorgeous and affordable only to surprise us days later with an even cheaper system, the . At first glance, these two laptops are very similar, both in purpose (cloud-based computing on a budget) and in specs (11.6-inch display, dual-core CPU, 2GB of RAM), but there are significant differences under the hood. Samsung's offering achieves its svelte form factor, 6.5-hour battery life and attractive price via a fully integrated and fanless ARM-based design while Acer takes a more conservative approach -- cramming standard off-the-shelf components like a 2.5-inch hard drive, small-outline memory module, mini-PCIe WiFi card, and processor into a traditional netbook-like chassis. Does being $50 cheaper make up for the C7's lack of sex appeal and short 4-hour battery life? What other compromises in performance and build quality (if any) were made to achieve this lower cost? Most importantly, which budget Chromebook is right for you? Find out after the break. Look and feel Cheap molded plastics abound, making this laptop sturdy but not particularly elegant.Whereas Samsung's $249 Chromebook is purpose-built and inherits most of the finer design attributes of its larger, faster and more expensive cousin, the , Acer's $199 Chromebook looks and feels like a cheap netbook. In fact, other than the Chrome logo and OS-specific key labels, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the C7 apart from its twin, the company's . Build quality and materials are on par with other low-end Acer systems we've come across -- cheap molded plastics abound, making this laptop sturdy but not particularly elegant. If Samsung's Chromebook evokes the 11-inch , the C7 is completely generic and purely utilitarian. Beyond the obvious aesthetic differences, Acer's Chromebook is also thicker (one inch vs. 0.7 inch) and heavier (three pounds vs. 2.4).The screen lid and keyboard deck are painted "iron gray" while the bottom shell is made of textured black plastic and the display bezel is finished in shiny black. Strangely, each of these disparate surfaces manages to attract fingerprints to various degrees. Acer's brand is stenciled below the glossy 11.6-inch screen and in the middle of the lid. The Chrome logo is embossed in the top-left corner of the lid -- it's actually a sticker which started peeling off within minutes of us unboxing the C7. You'll find a webcam and microphone above the display and the power button with an embedded blue LED above the keyboard to the left.Speaking of which, the keyboard uses black island keys but differs in layout from other Chromebooks, which is problematic (more on this later). The left side is home to a 10/100 Ethernet jack, VGA and HDMI outputs, plus a USB 2.0 port, while the right side features a Kensington lock, the power connector, two more USB 2.0 sockets and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. In front, there's an SD card slot on the left and a pair of blue / orange status LEDs (sleep and charge) on the right. The removable four-cell Li-ion battery slips into the back of the system and is secured via a sliding lock mechanism accessible from the bottom.Flipping Acer's Chromebook over reveals a few vents and grilles for the cooling fan and the speakers. What's more interesting is that the bottom shell is largely covered by a plastic door that's fastened with a single Phillips screw located under the warranty seal. Opening this door provides access to a 7mm-thin 2.5-inch SATA hard drive (320GB / 5400rpm) made by Seagate, two DDR3-1066 / 1333 SoDIMM slots (one of them populated with 2GB of RAM) and an Atheros half-height mini-PCIe 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi card (but no Bluetooth). This, combined with the Ethernet jack, VGA output and additional USB 2.0 port makes the C7 a lot more tinker-friendly than Samsung's Chromebook. In fact, resourceful hackers are already dual-booting Chrome OS and on this laptop -- we're sure is not too far behind.Keyboard and trackpad We've been spoiled by the quality of the keyboard and trackpad on Samsung's $249 Chromebook, which seem to be lifted right from the pricier Series 5 550. The C7 falls short in comparison -- the keyboard and trackpad are decent, but we can't see ourselves typing this entire review on Acer's $199 Chromebook.First, the keyboard deviates from the standard Chromebook layout by losing the power button (it's separate) and including caps-lock (instead of the search key). Second, it's cluttered with vestigial keys (such as Home, End, Ins, Del) which are too small to be useful and in some cases (like Pg Up / Dn) interfere with the cursor keys, something that quickly makes editing documents extremely frustrating. Third, the Ctrl and Alt keys are too small and are separated by other keys on the left side, while the Alt key is missing on the right (replaced with Alt Gr). Once you're past these niggles, it's a serviceable if somewhat mushy chiclet keyboard.Acer's trackpad almost matches Samsung's. Single-finger tracking and two-finger scrolling work as expected but pressing to click requires more force, which becomes tiring after using the C7 for a while. Of course tapping to click is available in the settings, but we prefer the tactile feedback of a properly calibrated switch.Display and sound There's one major difference between the 11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768-pixel LED-backlit screens on these two budget Chromebooks -- Acer's is glossy and Samsung's is matte. In fact, this is the second Chromebook ever with a shiny display (the first being ). Colors are slightly cooler on the C7, but brightness, contrast and viewing angles are similar on both screens -- neither is as bright as the Series 5 550, and you'll probably want to adjust the lid for the best viewing angle once you're in a comfortable position. While Samsung's matte display is easier on the eyes (especially when working outdoors), Acer's screen opens almost flat, which is a nice touch.Neither Chromebook is going to break any records in terms of audio quality when using the built-in speakers. These sound tinny and are easy to obstruct, being located in the bottom shell near the front edge of the keyboard deck on both systems. Samsung beats Acer on loudness here, but the C7's volume is still adequate in a quiet room.Performance and battery life Acer's Chromebook, which is rated for four hours of operation, lasts only three hours and 16 minutes in the same test.Acer's $199 Chromebook features Intel's 1.1GHz Celeron 847 processor and a 320GB hard drive. Samsung's $249 Chromebook is built around the company's A15-based 1.7GHz (5250) SoC with 16GB of flash storage. Both laptops sport a dual-core CPU and 2GB of RAM, so it's really a battle of x86 vs. ARM and HDDs vs. SSDs. On Chromebooks, the processor speed usually affects things like page rendering and scrolling, the amount of RAM impacts how many tabs you're able to open at the same time, and storage performance generally affects boot times and page cachingIn our experience, Samsung's Exynos-packing system slots somewhere between the Chromebooks and the Celeron-based models like the Series 5 550. Of course, those are all equipped with solid-state drives. The C7, then, is an anomaly -- it's marginally faster than its budget stablemate, both subjectively and as reflected by SunSpider web rendering results (528ms vs. 677ms), yet it takes twice as long to boot (18 seconds vs. nine). We don't remember noticing any hiccups or crashes -- as such, it's a perfectly competent Chromebook that provides middle-of-the-road performance.Battery life is another matter. Samsung's Chromebook comes out ahead by matching its specs and scoring six hours and 33 minutes in our usual battery rundown test (which involves playing a video in a loop from local storage with WiFi turned on). Acer's Chromebook, which is rated for four hours of operation, lasts only three hours and 16 minutes in the same test. While the C7 features a smaller 2,500mAh battery (vs. 4,080mAh), it's also saddled with less-efficient components, like that 2.5-inch hard drive, the Intel Celeron CPU and its associated cooling fan. Speaking of which, the fan is always spinning, and while the speed varies, it's often loud enough to be noticed. While it's somewhat annoying, it keeps the laptop cool even when the vents are partially covered by fabric.Software There's a certain beautiful simplicity to cloud-based computing.For many, Chrome OS is an acquired taste -- you really have to live with it for a few days to appreciate it. While it's not for everyone, it's a compelling option once you wrap your head around the idea. There's a certain beautiful simplicity to cloud-based computing that becomes clear once you start using a system designed to do only one thing really well -- the one thing people do the most -- surf the web. No more worries about managing apps or updating software or lending your laptop -- you're able to focus and be productive. We have several fans in our midst here at Engadget, and this pair of budget Chromebooks is generating more interest than ever among colleagues, friends and family.Acer's $199 Chromebook runs version 23 of Chrome OS. We earlier this year, which marked a significant change for the OS -- the UI evolved from being pretty much a full-screen instance of Chrome to offering a more desktop-like experience, complete with wallpapers, a task bar and a launch menu. It also introduced additional functionality with a photo editor, broader media compatibility, offline documents including Google Books, support for Hangouts, plus tab synchronization with other versions of Chrome (mobile and desktop). That build of the OS also comes with Chrome Remote Desktop to access remote systems and share your own screen. Version 23, which also ships on Samsung's $249 Chromebook, features a revised log-in screen, additional wallpapers, a calculator app, a camera app (with funky filters) and deep Google Drive integration -- complete with 100GB of free storage for two years.Wrap-up Whether you're interested in cloud-based computing on a budget or you're just curious about Chrome OS, there's never been a more affordable selection of Chromebooks. Acer's $199 system certainly wins on price, but it looks and feels extremely cheap. It offers a fast processor along with Ethernet and VGA connectivity, but at the expense of a glossy screen, poor keyboard layout and lackluster battery life. Did we mention the sea of cheap plastics?Still, it's hard to ignore the C7's tinker-friendly ways. Adding another 2GB of RAM (by installing a second SoDIMM) and replacing the hard drive with a small SSD is a trivial way to achieve Series 5 550 levels of performance for less money than buying Google's flagship laptop -- not to mention, this Chromebook's already been hacked to run other operating systems. Plus, the removable four-cell Li-ion battery opens the door to larger-capacity replacement packs.Ultimately, we think it's worth spending a little extra for Samsung's $249 model. It's more elegant, better built, thinner and lighter. This, together with the matte display, top-notch keyboard, Bluetooth and decent battery life makes for a more polished Chromebook experience. After all, if you're gonna live in the cloud, might as well be on cloud nine, right?It's been a while since we last took a look at a . Today's offering -- the S500 CloudMobile -- however, might not be all that unfamiliar, having first met our eyes way back at MWC in spring. This time around Acer presents us with a leaner, slicker, much more design-conscious handset, one that isn't just about the pretty looks, either. With a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera and a 720p display, all for 289 SIM-free, it's pitched against similarly specced phones like the . In short, it's yet another alternative for people seeking a full-featured smartphone, except it comes without the pocket-draining price tag. More importantly for Acer, however, is the chance to get back onto people's smartphone radars. So, now that the CloudMobile has gently drifted over our shores, does it have us looking to the sky, or putting on our raincoats of indifference? Read on to find out. Hardware "This is clearly a handsome phone -- one that won't suffer a case of mistaken identity" The CloudMobile has already enjoyed a rare Engadget accolade: we were so intrigued by it that we felt compelled to . The phone, which won an , has a memorable look and feel, with Acer opting for a combination of sharp corners, curved sides and a dimpled matte back that contrasts nicely with the flat, glossy front face. Materials-wise, it's made of plastic but still manages to feel solid -- the kind of build quality we're used to seeing in Samsung's handsets. In fact, when this editor placed it in the same pocket as a Galaxy Nexus, the similar texture on the two phones made the two indistinguishable by feel. The dimpled battery cover not only provides some much-needed personality, it also makes it easier to grip. The metallic accents around the mic and top speaker grille add some visual interest as well. Regardless of whether you think this deserved the iF Product Design award, this is clearly is a handsome phone -- one that won't suffer a case of mistaken identity. The display measures in at 4.3 inches, which should make the CloudMobile easy for most people to grip. In a world where phone screens are it seems Acer has opted to make its product fit in as many hands (and pockets) as possible. It's lightweight and comfortable to hold, and yet we never felt we were making concessions on screen size. This might -- in theory -- lend itself to easy use with one hand, but the placement of the power / standby button on the upper-left edge requires a modicum of dexterity for right-handers. It's only your index finger you'll need to train to reach that far, though, as the volume rocker sits more comfortably on the right-hand side, with the rest of the input happening onscreen. That leaves the USB port, mic and headphone jack as the only other openings along the edges. (Note: there's no dedicated camera button, but the volume rocker will perform this role in camera mode.) Those edges also create a slight lip around the display, no doubt making it a bit more scratch-resistant when you place it face-down. "The display is bright, clear and wonderful to look at." The overall design is eye-catching enough, but that screen is what's bound to capture your attention. Acer describes it as an HD720 IPS LCD, which means, of course, that it has 1,280 x 720 pixels. We, on the other hand, would describe it as a bit of a corker. It really is bright, clear and wonderful to look at. Colors are crisp and the whole image just pops. This isn't surprising given that its screen density of 342 ppi bests other current flagships like the iPhone 5 and Nexus 4. Some of this "pop" has to do with the manufacturing technique used: Acer presses the glass up against the digitizer, eliminating any air. The screen is viewable from a broad range of viewing angles, even in direct sunlight. Images and photos are reproduced faithfully with dark blacks and no hint of saturation. Look past that exterior, and you'll find some respectable innards. It might not be the quad-core monster you were hoping for, but the 1.5GHz dual-core chip keeps itself busy without causing any apparent problems -- that is to say, we were never caught cursing its performance. All told, it should be more than adequate for most people, but we'll elaborate on that later once we throw the phone to the benchmark lions. As for the 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, these are fairly pedestrian specs these days, but the option to augment the storage capacity using a microSD card should come as a relief to many people. To get at the SD slot, you'll need to pop off the back cover, where you'll also find the micro-SIM slot and 1,460mAh battery. The rest of the non-radio hardware is made up of a front "HD" (0.9-megapixel) camera and that rear 8-megapixel shooter, along with Dolby Mobile 3 sound enhancement and DLNA. The unit we've been testing supports quad-band GSM / GPRS /EDGE and UMTS / HSPA+, as well as 802.11b/g/n, GPS, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0. Performance and battery life It's true that the Acer walks among an increasing number of quad-core competitors, but as we all know, it's not what you got, it's what you do with it that counts. Under the hood, the CloudMobile packs a perfectly adequate dual-core Qualcomm 8260A Snapdragon S4, clocked at 1.5GHz. Not once did we feel we were using a phone that wasn't capable of doing what we wanted it to. Bear in mind, this packs the same processors as , and the -- not a slothful crowd by any stretch of the imagination. Also, thanks to that light, unobtrusive skin atop Android 4.0.4, there's little getting in its way. We also put it through some long bouts of casual gaming as we went about our day, and we're pleased to say that those angry birds flew with nary a glitch, Hill Climb Rally was as smooth a ride as possible, and Cut the Rope never looked better. When not gaming, we jumped back and forth between apps equally unabated. Of course, talk is cheap, so we've prepared some quantitative comparisons to help put the performance in context. Acer CloudMobile Sony Xperia TL HTC One X (AT&T) Quadrant 5,502 4,892 4,784 Vellamo 2.0 1,918 N/A 1,638 AnTuTu 6,792 7,091 6,956 SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms) 1,699 1,850 1,453 GLBenchmark Egypt Offscreen (fps) 14 14 14 CF-Bench 9,621 9,580 9,479 Battery life 6:10 5:50 8:55 SunSpider: lower scores are better You can see right away that the CloudMobile gives HTC's One X a good chase on most of our regular tests -- in fact, it bests it on several of them, including Quadrant. There's not a lot of bragging rights left over for owners with Acer's plucky upstart holding its ground against Sony's flagship. Ah, you say, but with only a 1,460mAh battery to keep the CloudMobile on the road, it probably dies halfway through the day. As it happens, that's not the case. In our regular test (video looping, WiFi and 3G on, display brightness fixed, etc.) it managed a little over six hours. While this isn't exactly marathon territory, it's not a poor showing. With more casual use, the CloudMobile can hang in for almost two days, and that includes being kept on overnight. We know for our readers, though, light use is a rarity. We hear ya, but even then you'll be getting some average runtime to cover a regular day's use. As for data and downloading, based on the UK's O2 network, the CloudMobile regularly got faster speeds than the Galaxy Nexus when we performed side-by-side tests. The CloudMobile tended to get between 4 Mbps and 5 Mbps on our speed tests, while the Nexus peaked at 4 Mbps in the same areas. Voice calls on the other hand were crisp and clear. Audio in general is boosted by the Dolby support. When enjoying music with the phone, this feature really makes a difference. It's hard to gauge whether it's mainly down to the increase in volume it provides, but it's definitely a step up from the meeker sound without it. The small metal Dolby plate isn't just for branding, it also covers the loudspeaker. How does that speaker perform (when used for something busier than voice)? Well, if you're a fan of listening to music this way, you'll like the CloudMobile more than most. Sound is louder than on the Galaxy Nexus, but it's still just a tiny speaker, so don't expect much. The best thing about the audio is that you have more control over it than just a standard Android install. But the same inevitable limitations (e.g., where to put a better speaker?) are still ultimately there. Camera If it's numbers you're after, then for this section, the one you'll care about is eight. That's how many megapixels are crammed inside the camera sensor. But as you likely know, the number of pixels isn't the only measure of a camera's capabilities. In fact, sometimes, it can be a downright rotten one. In any case, what can it do with them? Well, before we get to that part, it's worth noting that even though the CloudMobile's software is fairly close to stock Android, there are some notable additions in the camera department. The main difference is the inclusion of some extra photo modes, with a choice of Panorama, HDR, Low Light and Continuous. "Even though the CloudMobile's software is fairly close to stock Android, there are some notable additions in the camera department." Panorama mode works surprisingly well, with a very simple and clear on-screen display that has you leading a blue ball along a horizontal line, into a central circle. Once you guide it there, it automatically takes the next photo until you tell it to stop. HDR and Low Light modes work as you might expect (i.e., all the magic happens behind the scenes), remaining active for just one photo before defaulting back to normal mode. This is helpful because it keeps you from leaving these modes on accidentally. Still, it's also a chore to activate every time if you happen to be taking a series of similar shots in the same place. Lastly, Continuous mode shoots 10 pictures in a row. There's no way to configure the interval, but it's handy for the occasional action shot, or if you want to be use a scatter-gun approach, and go back to choose the best one. It's worth mentioning that you can tap to focus, if the phone's own autofocus isn't homing in on what you want it to. In general, our sample shots were pleasing so long as light conditions were favorable -- we thankfully didn't notice any compression. When lighting conditions weren't so great, though, quality drifted to the fringes of acceptable. Software As we've mentioned, Acer decided to mostly keep its sticky fingers out of the Android experience, which will please many users. While we're not against manufacturers adding a dash of spice and flair to the phone's software, it's much better when it's just a light dusting of features, rather than a heavy-handed attempt at making over the software. Fortunately, the team at Acer liberally sprinkled in a few unobtrusive treats that largely enhance -- or, at least, don't detract from -- the overall experience. As far as the bread-and-butter features go, it's all Android (4.0.4, in this case). The on-screen buttons, WiFi, battery and signal icons remain unchanged. The same is true for the app tray, home screens and core app icons (camera, browser and so on). In fact, you might not even spot the differences immediately. But when you do, the first will likely be the pull-down notification list. Unlike stock Android's slide-to-dismiss notifications, the CloudMobile has its own list, which can be discarded with "X" buttons. When in this screen, you might also notice that there are some quick access controls at the top. These allow you to dive right into the music player, notifier, quick settings (WiFi on / off, Mobile data, etc.) and the alarm clock. Another welcome addition are shortcuts on the lock screen. Press the stand-by button to wake the phone up, and you can either swipe to unlock, or press, then swipe, one of four icons along the bottom to be dropped straight into that app. These can be configured to applications of your choice by long pressing an empty location on the home screen. You might also be pleasantly surprised to find that Swype is installed out of the box, so if you're an ace with that, then you are good to go. If not, you can always turn it off, or install your own preferred keyboard. The last software function we're going to mention is the cloud piece -- you know, the set of features hinted at in the phone's name. Though the handset was clearly named after its cloud-connected services, this functionality actually has a rather low-profile place in the phone's software. Once opened, a pre-installed AcerCloud app will prompt you to register for an account. After you do that, you can set your phone to automatically sync photos, videos, music and documents across any other devices with the app installed. Currently, this is limited to Windows PCs and Android devices. The service works as expected: take a photo, and then it'll appear in your synced folder on other devices. From what we can tell, however, there's no way to view these files online via the browser, which seems like a key feature to be missing. It seems, therefore, that the feature is more about helping you sync your media across different devices. That's nice, but this functionality is already available in several different popular incarnations like Google Drive, SkyDrive and Dropbox, among others -- none of which require a hardware buy-in. It's a shame that this feature wasn't more fleshed-out, but perhaps this is something Acer intends to build on with later releases. Wrap-up If it feels like we've kept the the lid on our enthusiasm throughout this review, well, we have. It's no surprise that a phone we first saw back in February isn't offering swoon-inducing specifications in November. However, there are a few occasions where excitement levels touch the red. That screen, for example, is a delight to look at, and some of the tweaks to Android are good enough that we'll miss them when we go back to our daily drivers. All told, it's a phone that just keeps calm and carries on. Most importantly, Acer has created a device that stands its ground against some pretty big competition. It's just that with Google's Nexus 4 newly on sale for about 50 less SIM-free, it's hard to find a reason to pick this over the other. If there's any consolation Acer can take from this, it's that it's a challenge other Android handset manufacturers are likely to face over the coming months. The big takeaway here is that Acer can deliver Android handsets worthy of your time -- it just needs to speed up the release cycle. Special thanks to Expansys for providing us with a review unit.Acer Debuts Industry's First 8-Inch Windows 8 TabletPre-installed with Microsoft Office, the Acer Iconia W3 is the only tablet that can put the desktop into a single handTaipei (June 3, 2012) Acer today unveiled the Acer Iconia W3, the industry's first full-featured 8.1-inch tablet running Windows 8, bringing entertainment and full PC capabilities into a single hand. Further solidifying its spot as the ultimate mobile companion, the Acer Iconia W3 comes pre-installed with Microsoft Office Home & Student 2013, a 139 &sup1;value, at no additional expense.The Iconia W3 carefully considers the human element with a design that is compact enough to use comfortably in one hand for reading and web browsing, yet sports a screen large enough for both productivity and entertainment. As a result, it's ideal for business people, students and families who already use programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for school and work.The Acer Iconia W3 was introduced today at a press event at Computex along with other new products, including the Acer Aspire S7 and S3 Ultrabooks as well as the Liquid S1 phablet. The new line of Acer mobile products highlights the company's focus on redefining the computing experience through progressive design. #AcerTouch."With the Iconia W3, Acer is giving the millions of students, consumers and professionals who create, read, work and play in the Windows environment a single-handed device that does it all," said Luca Rossi, vice president, consumer business unit, Acer Europe. "These adventurous will enjoy the industry-leading combination of a Windows 8 tablet in a sleek and lightweight 8-inch design, giving them a new and more effective way to take their fun and productivity on the go."Productivity Boosting Office Suite and DesignMicrosoft Office Home & Student 2013 comes pre-installed with the new Iconia W3, so customers can begin using it for school and work right away. A 139&sup1; value, Microsoft Office Home & Student Edition includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, giving customers the applications they need right at their fingertips.The Iconia W3's design makes it incredibly useful for productivity in several different ways. The slim and sleek device weighs only 540 grams and measures only 11.35 mm thin, so it's easy to take anywhere. The device pairs with an optional full-size Bluetooth keyboard that holds the tablet upright for typing and then conveniently docks to the tablet to lay flat for easy transportation while protecting the screen. The keyboard mirrors the size of those found on larger 13.3-inch notebooks, so it is comfortable to use and makes working on documents and presentations even more convenient. Further boosting productivity, the Acer Iconia W3 was designed with a virtual keypad that is the ideal size for thumb typing, a common way for savvy mobile customers to connect in messaging and social platforms.Windows 8 Companion Brings PC Capabilities AnywhereSince the Acer Iconia W3 runs Windows 8, it keeps files, photos, and contacts synced across other Windows 8 devices, so customers can work on documents and programs on the go and then conveniently access the most current version from another device. Plus, because it runs full Windows 8, the Acer Iconia W3 is compatible with x86 legacy Windows programs. Consumers can customize Windows 8 by utilizing Live Tiles right on the start page to keep updated on the topics, news, weather and other events that they care about most.The range of capabilities paired with the slim size makes the Iconia W3 great for sharing at school, work and home. Windows 8 supports multiple user IDs, so customers will have access to their email, Live Tiles and other apps. The device keeps content secure and safe with multiple layers of security and parental controls, even with multiple people using it.On the Go Performance for Productivity and EntertainmentThe new tablet is powered by an Intel Atom Z2760 mobile-optimized processor to smoothly handle a range of apps, including web browsing and enjoying digital media. Plus, the Acer Iconia W3 provides up to 8 hours of battery life(2) to boost all-day productivity in classes, while traveling, or simply for staying in touch throughout the day. Connected Standby helps extend battery life by turning the display off while the device remains powered on to handle background tasks. The Acer Iconia W3 keeps consumers connected to Wi-Fi networks and hotspots with 802.11b/g/n wireless technology.The crisp 8.1-inch LED-backlit display brings 720p video to life with incredible detail and brightness. The 1280 x 800 resolution makes photos and multimedia as well as text and graphics, appear crisp and clear. The tablet's front- and rear-facing 2MP webcams ensure that customers can capture images and video for social networking, video conferencing and sharing.The Iconia W3 was designed to enable quick sharing of data between devices to bring full PC productivity to a tablet form factor. It has a micro-HDMI port for connecting to a TV or external display for sharing presentations, photos and video. The micro-USB port allows easy sharing of data and a connection to devices like phones, MP3 players, USB drives, or a mouse. The new tablet is available with either 32GB(3) or 64GB(3) of internal storage, and customers can add an additional 32GB(3) via microSD for extra storage and convenient transfer of photos and video between devices.Pricing and Availability The Iconia W3 with 32GB and 64GB capacities will be available in June from retailers starting at a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of 329.- and 379.-. (4) The optional keyboard will be available for a price of 69.- and the case will be available for 24.90.- (grey) and 27.90 (white).It's sort of hard to believe, but the first sub-10-inch Windows 8 tablet only just two weeks ago. For now, at least, the is the only 8-inch option available, though it surely won't be the last. What's more, it arrives in lockstep with Windows 8.1, which brings a few improvements that might make an e-reader-sized tablet like this especially easy to use (think: the ability to snap photos from the lock screen). And with a starting price of $380 (Microsoft Office included!) it could be a great buy among Windows tablets, period, regardless of screen size. Let's see if it really is. HardwareIf you recall, the 10-inch tablet was the first finished Windows 8 device we tested, so it's not surprising the company is laying claim to the first 8-inch product as well. And whaddya know? The W3 looks just like its big sibling, except cut down to size. This, too, has a gray plastic back cover and a band of white ringing the sides and front. At 1.1 pounds, it's the lightest tablet we know of that runs full Windows 8, but that's just a victory by default -- it's not like there are any other 8-inch Win 8 tablets yet or anything. Even more than its actual weight (it's only slightly lighter than the W510), its real advantage is its more compact size, which makes it easier to hold. We'd argue, too, that as boxy as the tablet is, its chunky shape helps make for a comfy fit. Ditto for the rounded corners and softened edges. Not pretty, exactly, but pleasant to touch.And by the way, despite the fact that this is sort of a thick tablet, it doesn't actually make room for that many ports: There's your requisite power / lock button on the left, along with micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports. Flip it over to the right landscape edge and you've got both speakers, along with the power port and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. All that's left are the volume buttons up top, plus an exposed microSD slot (and a bit of conspicuous Iconia branding). Wrapping up, there are cameras on the front bezel and also around back. Surprisingly, they're actually the same resolution: two megapixels.Keyboard dockUnlike with the W510 when it first came out, the W3 doesn't come standard with a keyboard; you have to buy it separately for $80. One thing hasn't changed, however: the Bluetooth keyboard here is still the most awkward part of the design. In this case, the 8-inch W3 is paired with a full-sized keyboard, one that would be more at home on a 13-inch laptop. According to an Acer rep we interviewed back at , the company decided a larger keyboard would make for a better typing experience, even if the small tablet and big keypad make for an unsightly duo. We can't say we disagree: the keys are well-spaced and deep, even if the underlying panel is a bit flimsy. And besides, if other PC makers can't nail the typing experience on a 10-inch device, how was Acer ever going to have a chance of success with an 8-inch model? Can you imagine the things we would have written in this review? Two words, folks: field day.Even so, this thing has some incredibly strange design elements. Starting with the keyboard deck itself, there's a rounded slot where the tablet is meant to sit, along with a slightly protruding piece to prop it up. When it's just sitting there, the tablet stays put. But when it comes time to change rooms, or pack up and go elsewhere, you've got two choices, one of them being: "Hold the keyboard as steady as you can, with the tablet still inside, and pray you don't drop it." The other option is to pop the tablet into a scooped-out area on the back of the keyboard, which was designed to cradle the device when not in use. The problem is, inserting it can be a slightly finicky affair, particularly since the device doesn't make much of a "click" when you set it in, so it can be unclear when you've actually inserted it correctly. (To its credit, it never, ever fell out during our testing.) Additionally, having to stop to put the tablet in its slot takes time. Not much time, but a few seconds each go-round, especially if you don't yet know what you're doing. It would be much more efficient to snap the tablet into a keyboard dock with a proper hinge mechanism, and simply shut it when you're ready to move.Display and soundEven for a budget tablet, the W3's 8.1-inch, 1,280 x 800 screen feels like a letdown. Head-on, at least, colors are balanced and the pixel density is pleasing, but once you adjust the screen angle at all, whether it be horizontally or vertically, the panel quickly becomes washed out. Pick a really off-kilter angle and the screen takes on a sickly yellow overcast, especially in areas that are supposed to be white. That's bad news for people who don't immediately buy the optional keyboard dock; you're going to spend a lot of time with the tablet resting face-up on a table or your lap. And it's a shame, because we're pretty sure the industry is better than this: if and can make budget Android tablets with knockout screens, surely the same can be done for Windows... right?As for the sound quality, it's some of the tinniest, weakest we've heard from a tablet yet. Were you expecting much more from an extra-small, extra-affordable device?Performance and battery lifePCMark73DMark06ATTO (top disk speeds)Acer Iconia W3 (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD)1,447N/A84 MB/s (reads); 35 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD)1,29745482 MB/s (reads); 28 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD)1,44445781 MB/s (reads); 35 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD)1,43745882 MB/s (reads); 35 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD)1,40037283 MB/s (reads); 35 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD)1,42346083 MB/s (reads); 35 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD)1,425N/A83 MB/s (reads); 34 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD)N/A37482 MB/s (reads); 36 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD)1,297N/A81 MB/s (reads); 28 MB/s (writes)Lately, we've mostly been testing Windows PCs with full-fledged Core processors inside -- you know, Core i5, occasionally Core i7. And as more and more OEMs have upgraded their wares to Haswell, we've noted a sizable performance jump, particularly with regards to battery life. In the case of low-powered tablets, though, we don't yet have a new Atom chipset from Intel, which means all the models we're testing continue to have identical specs: namely, a 1.8GHz Z2760 CPU, Intel HD graphics and 2GB of RAM.Not surprisingly, then, it performs more or less like the others, particularly when it comes to read and write speeds. In the disk benchmark ATTO, the Samsung-made drive reached peak read / write speeds of 84 MB/s and 35 MB/s, respectively, which is near-identical to what we've seen on every other model, plus a megabyte or two. We also logged a 15-second startup time, which isn't exceptional, exactly -- the performs just the same -- but it's still faster than what we've seen from a few competing offerings. , for example, takes a full 30 seconds to boot into the Start Screen. If anything, we wish the accelerometer were quicker to switch between landscape and portrait orientation. Not that other tablets are great at this either, but with larger 10-inch models, you're probably less likely to ever use it vertically in the first place.Otherwise, it performs about the same as other Atom-powered tablets. Though it scores slightly higher in PCMark 7, a possible result of the upgrade to Windows 8.1, that doesn't translate into significantly better real-world performance. As we've always said, Atom processors, as low-powered as they are, are sufficient for precisely the sorts of things you might do on a tablet (especially a little one like this). We had no problem streaming music and video, or opening and switching between apps. It will choke on graphically detailed games before you even get past the opening animation sequence, but again, you're not buying a tablet like this because you want to play BioShock Infinite.Windows 8 systemsBattery lifeAcer Iconia W39:21ThinkPad Tablet 210:27Dell Latitude 109:03 / 16:01 (with the dock)Acer Iconia W5108:19 (tablet only) / 14:17 (with the dock)HP Envy x27:53 (tablet only) / 12:30 (with the dock)ASUS VivoTab Smart7:30HP ElitePad 9007:15Samsung ATIV Smart PC (AT&T)7:04 (WiFi only) / 6:43 (LTE)Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx6:10/ 9:24 (with the dock)Acer rates the W3 for eight hours of battery life, but really, that's just a conservative estimate approved by the company's legal department. As it happens, the tablet managed an impressive nine hours and 21 minutes in our battery test, and that was under fairly grueling conditions too (video looping off local storage, WiFi on, brightness at 65 percent). Had we stuck to web surfing and lowered the brightness a notch, we're sure we could've squeezed out even more runtime.Software and warrantyBecause we borrowed our review unit from Microsoft while attending the Build 2013 developer conference, it came pre-loaded with . As you might already know, it'll be yet before Microsoft even ships 8.1 to PC makers, so for now the tablet comes with regular old Windows 8 out of the box. Of course, you can download the preview yourself anytime you're ready (hit the more coverage link below for the download page).If you're interested in a full rundown on what Windows 8.1 includes, we encourage you to read our , which details all the new apps, as well as the various UI tweaks (think: enhanced windowing options, the return of the Start button, et cetera). For the purposes of this review, though, we'll say this: Windows is a delight to use in portrait mode, which you might have rarely done before, but will be tempted to try now that there's finally a tablet small enough to comfortably hold in a vertical position. And while you may have always been one of the few to use Windows 8 in portrait, the newest version of the software brings some tweaks that make it especially well suited to smaller, e-reader-sized screens. For example, the expanded choice of Live Tiles, including the super-small ones, means you can better make use of that narrow screen real estate when holding the tablet vertically.Windows is a delight to use in portrait mode.Additionally, Microsoft's added a pair of keyboard shortcuts that make on-screen typing easier. In particular, you can swipe the space bar to cycle through spelling suggestions, and then tap it to select the one you want. This works like a charm, saving you the (minor) pain of having to remove your hands from the QWERTY area to tap on a spelling pop-up. Also, you can long-press a key to get at alternate characters (the question mark doubles as the exclamation point, for instance). Even better, once you know where those secondary symbol options are going to pop up on-screen, you can just swipe the button in question in that specific direction. Coming back to that exclamation point, for instance, the exclamation always appears as a pop-up above the question mark, so you can swipe upward on the question mark to make an exclamation point. This, too, works as promised, so that you don't have to tap multiple times just to get to those foreign currency symbols.Also, we love that you can now take photos from the device's lock screen. This will be a welcome feature on 10-inch Windows 8.1 tablets too, but it's especially convenient here, where the form factor is light (and maybe even discreet) enough to use as a standalone camera. Finally, in a refreshing twist, Office 2013 doesn't just come pre-installed on the W3; it's also free to activate. Just use a code that comes in the box and enjoy. Like other products from Acer (and pretty much every other company, really), the W3 comes with a one-year warranty, including 24/7 phone support.Configuration options and the competitionAs impressive as our review unit's $430 price is, it's not even the cheapest configuration Acer has to offer. For $380, you can get it with mostly the same specs, except with half the storage space (32 gigs versus 64). Oh, and if you happen to be shopping for this on some third-party site, like Amazon, the configuration codes are as follows: W3-810-1416 for the 64GB model, and W3-810-1600 for the 32GB one. Either way, as we mentioned, the keyboard will add $80 to the price, while an optional carrying case costs $35.For now, if you're looking for a smaller-screened Windows tablet, the Acer W3 is your best and only option. ASUS is to be working on something similar, and we're inclined to believe that Wall Street Journal story at the link, even though company officials have so far declined to comment. The problem is, if this report is to be believed, the tablet(s) won't arrive until later this year, which probably means holiday shopping season at this point, as ASUS has basically missed the back-to-school window. Finally, we also wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft chimed in with a , though good luck getting Microsoft to comment on that.Assuming you're not dead-set on an 8-inch device, though, there are plenty of good Windows tablets, most of which offer impressive battery life even on last year's Atom CPU. Excluding any ARM-powered Windows RT devices, our favorites are the affordable and the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, which costs more, but adds pen support, optional 4G LTE and the best dang keyboard dock we've ever used. We'd recommend more powerful Core i5 models like the Surface Pro too, but most haven't been upgraded with Haswell yet, and the battery life won't be nearly as long as what you get here.Wrap-upFor the time being, at least, the Acer Iconia W3 isn't just the best small-screened Windows 8 tablet; it's your only option. Even if there were more to choose from, though, the W3 has a few things to recommend in its own right. Number one is price. With a starting MSRP of $380, Microsoft Office included, we can just about forgive most of its flaws, including its cheap build quality and that oddly designed keyboard. And to be fair, it'll be hard for any OEM to craft a good 8-inch keyboard. Just sayin'.Additionally, the W3 lasts nearly nine and a half hours on a charge, and that's under grueling conditions, and without the aid of a second battery. The only thing we'd really change is the screen -- if budget Android tablets like the Nexus 7 can have nice screens, so can low-end Windows tablets. As is, though, the W3 proves that Windows 8 is a great match for smaller-screened devices. Even more than that, it's a great value; the best bang-for-your-buck Windows 8 tablet you're going to find. And yes, that includes the larger guys too.If you don't remember today's specimen, you'd be forgiven: the is one of many, many tablet / laptop hybrids that have debuted over the past few months. Plus, this isn't even the highest-end Windows 8 PC Acer has to offer: unlike the , which has a 1080p screen and Ultrabook guts, the W510 runs off a -based Atom processor, and has a smaller 10.1-inch (1,366 x 768) display. Accordingly, the price is also lower: the W510 starts at $550 for the tablet only, though if you want to purchase it with the keyboard dock that price climbs to $750. (And if the dock really does double the battery life to 18 hours, you might want to.) All told, this is one of the least expensive systems we know of running full Windows 8. But is it any good? Let's find out. Note: We originally published a preview of the Iconia W510 on October 9th, 2012, at which time we only had a pre-production unit that wasn't ready to be benchmarked. In the absence of any hard performance scores, we chose not to include a review card or pass final judgment. Finally, on January 29th, 2013 we updated our story after testing a final unit. Our story now includes benchmark scores, a review card, a verdict and comparisons to other systems, some of which we had not tested when we published our original preview. Look and feel It was a little over a year ago that Acer CEO J.T. Wang the company would stop making "cheap and unprofitable products" and focus on more premium items -- namely, Ultrabooks. And yet, the W510 feels like precisely the sort of low-end netbook that earned Acer its reputation for slipshod quality in the first place. Mostly, it's the keyboard dock that's the problem: the plastic buttons have a slightly scratchy feel, and look mismatched against the smooth, faux-metal keyboard deck. The hinge, meanwhile, is made of white, textured plastic, which seems out of place next to the rest of the system. What's more, there's a large, unsightly gap between the hinge and the keyboard -- again, netbook redux. Not to go there, but we suspect it's because of products like this that Microsoft's management to build the . Even if you left the Surface out of this, you can still do better than the W510. Just ask Samsung, or HP: if nothing else, their Windows 8 hybrids are at least more pleasant to look at. The W510 feels like precisely the sort of netbook that earned Acer its reputation for slipshod quality in the first place. Visceral reactions aside, we have some concerns about the build quality. We found that the screen tends to wobble in its hinge -- a potential inconvenience for folks who work on jostling buses, planes and Amtrak cars. Also, the weight balance is such that the machine can easily fall backward if it's placed in the keyboard dock, and you've got the whole thing resting in your lap. There's a solution here -- i.e., keeping the display fixed at an upright angle -- but it's not a very good one. Still, having manhandled our tester machine a bit, we'd say it's safe to pick up the tablet by the screen with the keyboard attached; you don't have to worry about it falling out. On the plus side, too, the hinge feels sturdy. You can safely push the screen all the way back so that the keyboard is tucked behind the screen, with the keys face-down against your desk -- not that there's much advantage to using the tablet that way instead of in regular clamshell mode. The tablet itself has the same gray plastic shell, with a white band ringing the edges. On its own, without the keyboard dock nearby, it's actually not a bad piece of kit: plain, yes, but unassuming. In fact, we like the two-tone effect of the white band against the black bezel. The only thing we could have done without is the "Acer" and "Iconia" branding, etched into the plastic on different sides of the devices. Other than that, the tablet feels unexpectedly light, at 1.27 pounds, and for that we have those plastics to thank. (Even with the keyboard, by the way, it weighs just 2.63 pounds) In practice, the 10.1-inch screen is just wide enough that you might have trouble typing in landscape orientation if your hands aren't that big, but using the onscreen keyboard in portrait mode is easy; even when you're holding the tablet upright, the weight feels balanced enough that you don't have to strain to prop it up. Taking a tour around the device, you'll find the tablet portion is home to all the ports you'd expect to find on a mobile device. Up top, there's a headphone jack, power button and a switch for locking the screen orientation. On the bottom side are the various connectors that allow the tablet to slip into the keyboard dock, and the right landscape edge houses a volume rocker, microSD slot, micro-USB port and micro-HDMI output. The W510 has dual speakers, one on each side of the tablet when you're holding it in landscape mode. Unfortunately, though, they're located precisely where you're likely to grip the device, so it's easy to muffle the sound if you're watching a movie while holding the tablet in-hand. Finally, there's an 8-megapixel camera and LED flash around back, along with a 2-megapixel shooter up front. The keyboard dock, meanwhile, is home to a full-size USB 2.0 port, along with a built-in 9-hour battery that promises to double the tablet's runtime. What you won't get is an SD card reader -- something ASUS typically offers on its Transformer Pad docks. There's also a charging slot, allowing you to use the same AC adapter you would with the tablet. That power connector is oddly large, but since there are no USB ports nearby, it's not like we have to worry about it obstructing any openings. Additionally, Acer is offering some optional accessories alongside the W510. These include a micro-HDMI-to-VGA adapter, along with a pigeon-gray, faux-suede case. The sleeve has a super soft lining on the inside, and we appreciate how discreet the branding is; just a small metal logo that fades in with the suede, and nothing more. Display and sound Though we're not impressed by the W510's build quality, its Gorilla Glass display is actually quite nice. Yes, 1,366 x 768 resolution is middle-of-the-road as far as PCs go, but it's standard for Atom-powered hybrids like this. And in terms of quality, the IPS panel offers some decently wide viewing angles. Working with the dock on a flat surface, you should have some leeway as far as dipping the screen forward or backward (a boon for people who get work done on airplanes). You can even get by watching a movie from a side angle, but we're also aware that people aren't terribly likely to crowd around a machine this small anyway. We'd add, too, that the viewing angles improved as we increased the brightness. At 350 nits, it's quite bright, yet the battery life is robust enough that we never worried that cranking the brightness would have an adverse effect on runtime. As on other tablets, the W510 doesn't deliver remarkably loud sound, and the audio quality is rather tinny with certain songs. Depending on your musical leanings, though, it's actually pleasant to listen to at the mid-range. Eric Clapton's "Layla" on acoustic guitar is enjoyable, for instance; synthesized songs like MGMT's "Kids," not so much. Keyboard and touchpad By now it's obvious we need to grade these Windows 8 keyboard docks on a curve: it's clear that creating a comfortable typing experience for a machine this small is no simple feat. In fact, we already knew that to be true: early netbooks offered terribly dense keyboards, and while PC makers like eventually designed 10-inch laptops with more spacious layouts, we didn't really see progress until OEMs started putting out slightly larger 11-inch machines. It doesn't help, then, that the W510 has a 10- not 11-inch screen: that extra bit of real estate seems to be the difference between a cramped setup and something more usable. As you've probably gathered by now, the W510 falls into that first category: in order to fit everything inside that 10.2-inch-wide keyboard deck, Acer had to shrink certain buttons like the Tab key and the four arrows. To Acer's credit, though, it at least used all the available space: the keys extend nearly to the edge of the chassis on either side. While typing, we also found that our fingers easily found the letter keys. If anything, we ran into more problems when our thumbs kept reaching past the space bar and hit the trackpad instead. Speaking of the trackpad, it doesn't support gestures. That includes Windows 8-specific maneuvers, like swiping right to bring up the Charm Bar, but also two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom. Basic stuff, don'tcha think? Cameras The W510's 8-megapixel rear shooter performs capably in daylight and with macro shots, though we routinely had to hold the tablet still for a couple seconds after tapping the shutter in the Windows 8 camera app. The shutter, by the way, isn't an onscreen button; you can tap anywhere onscreen to capture. Though there's no tap-to-focus feature, we found that, with still photos at least, the camera homed in on exactly the parts of photos we would have expected it to. With 1080p video, though, our clips sometimes slipped in and out of focus, as if the lens wasn't sure what the highlight of the shot was. Across the board, colors appear fairly muted, but you should notice a good deal of detail in your full-res, 8MP shots. Lower-lit shots will look a bit duller, of course, but even then, the noise level was tolerable. Performance and battery life When it comes to things tablets are supposed to be good at, the W510 shines. For the most part, when we compare the W510 to netbooks, we're making a dig at its cheap build quality. But there's something else the two have in common: internals. Like netbooks of yore, the W510 packs an Intel Atom processor -- a 1.8GHz dual-core Z2760 CPU from the Clover Trail series, to be exact. Also like a netbook, it comes with 2GB of RAM. For storage, you'll get a 32GB SSD if you choose the lowest-end $500 model; every other configuration has 64GB of on-board storage. Either way, an SSD isn't something we would have taken for granted back in the netbook era; most minis at the time had spinning hard drives. As you'd expect, the Atom's performance has improved since it in 2008, with the latest-gen Clover Trail chips promising 10 hours of use and three weeks on standby. We'd wager, too, that consumer expectations might have changed: when PC makers were stuffing Atom processors inside netbooks -- essentially, miniature laptops -- they had a heck of a time explaining to consumers what they could and couldn't do with these machines. In the case of tablets, though, we suspect no one is expecting laptop-grade performance. And when it comes to things tablets are supposed to be good at -- email, web browsing and video streaming -- the W510 shines. That Z2760 chip is also more than sufficient for handling the overhead of Windows 8. Not only was the touchscreen responsive, but we also didn't notice any lag when we launched programs, swiped right to expose the Charms Bar or swiped in from the left to rotate through open apps. All of which is to say, the W510's performance is totally normal for an Atom-powered tablet. In fact, its synthetic benchmark scores closely match what we got from the , which has the same processor and 2GB of RAM. In the disk benchmark ATTO, for instance, the W510 notched peak read speeds of 81 MB/s and max writes of 28 MB/s. That's only slightly lower than the x2's scores, which came to read speeds of 83 MB/s and writes of 34 MB/s. Booting into the start screen takes 13 seconds, compared with 15 for the x2. The only area where the two diverged in a significant way was in the general performance benchmark PCMark 7: the W510 scored 1,297, whereas the x2 got up to 1,425. Windows 8 systems Battery life Acer Iconia W510 8:19 (tablet only) / 14:17 (with the dock) HP Envy x2 7:53 (tablet only) / 12:30 (with the dock) Acer Iconia W700 7:13 Samsung ATIV Smart PC (AT&T) 7:04 (WiFi only) / 6:43 (LTE) Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 5:32 Dell XPS 12 5:30 Toshiba Satellite U925t 5:10 Sony VAIO Duo 11 4:47 Acer Aspire S7 4:18 Lenovo ThinkPad Twist 4:09 Again, battery life is rated at up to nine hours on the tablet, and the keyboard dock promises to double that. We'd say that's about right: our test unit lasted through eight hours and 19 minutes of video playback, with a movie looping off the local drive, WiFi on and display brightness fixed at 50 percent. Admittedly, that's a pretty grueling test, so we're not at all surprised that we didn't get all the way to the nine-hour mark. With the keyboard dock attached, the W510 managed 14 hours and 17 minutes -- almost two hours longer than you'd get with the HP Envy x2 and its accompanying dock. Software and warranty As we've seen on other Acer systems, the W510 comes with a good deal of pre-installed software, including Amazon.com's Windows 8 app, the Kindle reader, Netflix, Skype, Spotify, iCookBook, ChaCha, StumbleUpon, Skitch, eBay, Evernote, Hulu Plus, newsXpresso, the radio service TuneIn and the music / e-book seller 7digital. Additionally, Acer included its own Social Jogger hub, as well as Acer Explorer, which helps you, uh, get to know all those-pre-installed apps. Additionally, similar to other Acer PCs, the W510 is tied into Acer's free AcerCloud service, which allows you to remotely access stored items through an iOS or Android app. As a of a that went live in January 2013 (after the first draft of this review was published), you can now back up things on your mobile devices too. Like most other consumer electronics, particularly those in this price range, the W510 is covered by a one-year warranty. The competition The nice thing about shopping around for Windows 8 hybrids is that all of the Atom-powered models, at least, have the same key specs: a 1.8GHz Atom processor, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of built-in storage. With that squared away, then, you're free to choose based on differences in the actual user experience -- you know, things like battery life or how comfortable the keyboard is. We already mentioned the HP Envy x2 as an obvious competitor. With an 11.6-inch display, it's slightly bigger, but just enough that the keyboard is noticeably more spacious. Don't get too excited, though: the keys themselves feel a little mushy. The battery life is also shorter, both on the tablet itself and with the accompanying keyboard dock. All told, the main reasons to get the x2 over the W510 are that it's more attractively designed, with pen support, NFC, slightly faster performance and, of course, that larger keyboard. Good reasons indeed -- in fact, this is probably an all-around better system. But here's the catch: the x2 starts at $850 with the keyboard, compared to $750 for the W510 and dock. So, it's a great option for people who want pen support (or who have a lax budget), but we're otherwise not too keen on spending the extra hundred bucks; the x2 is better in some ways, but it's still a flawed product. Other models cost more and don't actually perform much better, if at all. We also don't have great things to say about the , which you can buy with WiFi only or with an AT&T LTE radio inside. First of all, avoid the AT&T version. Stay far, far, far away. The price is $700 with a two-year contract, and that doesn't even include the keyboard. Not that the keyboard is such a great addition, though: the keys are cramped, and the tablet doesn't sit snugly enough inside the cradle. Plus, this is one of the rare keyboard docks that doesn't have a built-in battery, which means you've got just the main tablet battery to rely on. If you do decide to give it a shot, go with the WiFi-only version: not only is it contract-free, but it also has pen support, which the LTE version doesn't. Finally, Lenovo has a pair of Atom-powered hybrids: the , for consumers, and the for business users. A little quid pro quo: we haven't reviewed either yet, so we can't vouch for things like performance, stability or battery life. Here are some basic specs, though, so you have a general idea of what you'd be getting. Starting with the higher-end of the two, the ThinkPad Tablet, it starts at $679 with a 1.8GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The keyboard (which looks fairly comfy) is sold as an accessory for $120. While that might seem a bit pricey for a mere Atom tablet, this one at least has pen support, and comes with a pressure-sensitive pen. (It also has NFC, not you can do much with it.) If you can do without the NFC and pen input, the Lynx starts at a lower price of $649. Wrap-up Having met with Acer's product team in person (and having read its executives quoted in the press), it's obvious the company is eager to shed its reputation for cheap products and be taken more seriously as an OEM capable of building premium PCs. You can even see glimmers of that in the Iconia W510, with its lovely IPS display and optional accessories. Ultimately, though, the W510 does a disservice to Acer: with a chintzy build and a cramped, netbook-like keyboard, it confirms whatever pre-conceived notions shoppers may have about the brand. And with so many Windows 8 hybrids either out there or on the way, Acer can't afford to have its products get lost in the mix. If there's one thing that saves the W510, though, it's this: it delivers best-in-class battery life, and at $550, it's attractively priced for a device running full Windows 8. We're still not wild about it, but if you are going to get a low-powered Windows 8 hybrid, we'd sooner steer you toward this than some others on the market. No, it's not even close to perfect, but some of those other models cost more and don't actually perform much better, if at all. We also have yet to find a keyboard dock we're happy with (hopefully one of Lenovo's two hybrids proves better in this regard). For now, the W510 is okay for shoppers sticking to a budget, but if you've got more money to spend it might be a good idea to hold off for something that offers the full package.Until PC makers figure out what consumers want in their Windows 8 PCs, they'll be throwing different designs at the proverbial wall to see what sticks. One thing's for sure, though: laptop / tablet hybrids have already made it. So far, we've seen a mix of models, some with low-power Atom processors, and others with laptop-grade Core i5 CPUs inside. Basically, a choice between amazing horsepower and long battery life. In Acer's lineup, specifically, we've already had a chance to play with the , an Atom-powered device with a keyboard dock. Now we're taking a look at the ($800 and up), an 11-inch tablet that's essentially an Ultrabook with no keyboard attached. Based on that brief summary you'd think it had the same form factor as the smaller W510, but you'd be wrong. Whereas the W510 has a keyboard dock with a built-in battery, the W700 has a cradle with a modular kickstand you can use you to prop up the tablet in landscape or portrait mode. There's no battery inside the dock, and the keyboard is a standalone product; you'll have to pack it separately if you decide you need it on a trip. So is there any advantage to having a design with so many different pieces? And how does that Core i5 processor fare, anyway? Let's see. Look and feel Think of all the pieces you'll need to carry with you if you decide to take the W700 on the road. We almost don't know where to begin. Insofar as the W700 is a laptop / tablet hybrid, we really should explain what it's like to use this thing as an 11-inch slate. Suffice to say, it feels well-built, which makes sense, as the casing is fashioned entirely out of aluminum. The problem is that as nicely constructed as it is, it's rather bulky, at 2.09 pounds and 0.47 inch thick. To some extent, the port selection is the culprit: the W700 is home to a full-sized USB 3.0 socket, so clearly this was not destined to be a razor-thin tablet. (The remaining ports include: a micro-HDMI port, a headphone jack, volume rocker, power button, screen orientation lock and dual speakers. There's an HDMI-to-VGA adapter, in case you plan on hooking up a projector.) Also, given that this has a laptop-grade Core i5 processor inside, it requires some serious vents, which you'll find along the top edge. Obviously, any fanless, Atom-powered Windows 8 tablet will be thinner and lighter. But even some i5 tablets are more lighter than this. Take Samsung's , which clocks in at 1.96 pounds. (To be fair, it's about as thick as the W700.) But what difference do a few ounces make when the entire form factor borders on absurd? To be fair, it doesn't look so bizarre at first glance. Not until you play with it, anyway. The W700 comes with a docking cradle that you can use to prop up the tablet in either landscape or portrait mode. There's no battery built in, but you do get three extra USB 3.0 ports, which you'll appreciate if you want to use a wireless mouse or any other accessory that might require a dongle; you'll need to keep that plugged in, so it's nice to have a spare USB connection free. Inside the cradle there's a male USB connector, which plugs into the USB port on the tablet itself. Thankfully, it stays put; you'll need to wrest the tablet out with both hands when you're ready to undock it. Here's where it gets weird: the kickstand on the back of the dock is removable, and can be inserted in one of two ways (again, to support the tablet in landscape or portrait mode). Though the kickstand ships with an illustrated instruction sticker on it, it's still way too easy to insert it incorrectly. It's at this point, in fact, that I wish I could narrate this review in GIFs, or at least show you a candid-camera-style video of all the people who tried and failed to put the dock together while swinging by my desk. It's not a terribly intuitive design. It's also thick and heavy with a puffed-out back, and the empty cradle's sharp edges make us nervous about putting it in a bag next to more delicate items. The whole thing is ugly too, but that's almost beside the point. Worse, though: think of all the pieces you'll need to carry with you if you decide to take the W700 on the road. We've already mentioned three: the tablet, cradle and kickstand. But if you're going to be using this with the cradle, you'll probably also want the Bluetooth keyboard, which comes in the box. That's four. If you're using this in desktop mode, you'll also want some sort of wireless mouse or trackpad (not included in the box, sadly). That's five pieces. The AC adapter is six. Then there's the bundled faux-leather case, which fits the tablet only. Take that and you're up to seven. It's a lot to remember, and some of the pieces (the cradle, kickstand) don't lie flat, so they'll take up more space in your bag than a device with a regular ol' keyboard dock. And really, there wouldn't have been much of a downside if Acer went with that form factor instead: you'd get the cradle and keyboard in one piece, along with a built-in battery and a smattering of ports. The only thing you wouldn't be able to do is dock the tablet in portrait mode, which is fine by us. Fortunately, at least, the case can be folded in such a way that you can prop the tablet up (in landscape mode). That'll save you some baggage, though you won't get any additional ports, as you would on the cradle or any competitors' keyboard docks. Keyboard The Bluetooth keyboard is similar to the one that comes built into the W510's keyboard dock, in that it has white plastic keys against a gray frame. Here, though, the keys aren't squished into a keyboard dock meant to fit a 10-inch tablet; it's more expansive, with no shrunken or undersized keys. It shouldn't take you long before you're typing at your usual brisk pace. What's more, we appreciate that the keyboard has an on / off switch, which takes any potential confusion out of the pairing process (i.e., there's no need to hold down a button or anything like that). If anything, as we said, we just wish Acer went with a keyboard dock instead of a separate cradle that you have to assemble every time you set up shop somewhere. Maybe a slightly larger (read: less cramped) version of the one that comes with the W510. We know you can do it, Acer. Maybe next time. We feel compelled to add, too, that it would've been nice if Acer threw in a mouse, particularly since there's no trackpad area on the keyboard (hybrids with traditional keyboard docks often have a small touchpad built in). Heck, we would've been happy to have a mouse instead of a carrying case, though that leathery folio is admittedly nice to have. Seriously, though, what is one supposed to do with the tablet in desktop mode with 1080p resolution and no pointing device? Particularly on such a dense screen, it is very difficult to get around the traditional Windows desktop using your fingers. As it happens, we had lying around, though most of you will need to go out and buy something, especially if you want to pull off certain Windows 8-specific gestures, like swiping in from the left to toggle through open apps. Fortunately, at least, there's a growing body of options, so assuming you're willing to shell out an extra $50 or $60, you should be fine. Display Acer's Aspire S7 already holds claim to one of our favorite laptop displays, so we weren't terribly surprised to find that the W700 also has a high-quality panel. This, too, is a 1080p IPS screen (this time coated in Gorilla Glass), though that resolution looks especially crisp on the smaller 11-inch screen (versus a 13-inch laptop, that is). It's the sort of thing you'll notice in desktop mode, when framing photos or even flicking through the Start Menu. With the brightness cranked all the way up to 350 nits we had no problem previewing photos we took using the stock camera app. That bodes well for indoor viewing angles as well, though it's a bummer that you can't adjust the screen angle, thanks to the fixed cradle and all. The ability to fiddle with the precise angle might come in handy if you're sitting a few feet away watching a movie, or trying to thwart glare from the overheard lights in your office. With the brightness at its max setting, we could indeed still see some reflections, but only when we bothered to look: the screen isn't so glossy that it ever distracted us from getting work done. Camera As you've probably gathered by now, we're not normally fans of tablet cameras, but we actually managed to get some usable shots from the W700. The autofocusing, 5-megapixel camera seems to home in on subjects a bit faster than other tablets we've used recently, such as the . Colors were usually pleasing, and we even had a little bit of luck in harshly lit situations. We deliberately chose to lead with the above photo because it's a telling one: we were able to preserve the blueness of the sky (albeit, in an oversaturated way) even though the stock camera app doesn't have any sort of HDR mode. Poke around in the gallery, though, and you'll still find some pictures with washed-out backgrounds, so whatever magic at work here won't necessarily save every shot you take. Performance and battery life PCMark7 3DMark06 3DMark11 ATTO (top disk speeds) Acer Iconia W700 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,580 3,548 E518 / P506 542 MB/s (reads); 524 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 3,113 4,066 E1033 / P549 136 MB/s (reads); 130 MB/s (writes) (2.4GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000) 5,011 4,918 E1035 / P620 / X208 934 MB/s (reads); 686 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,422 4,415 E917 / P572 278 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,381 4,210 E989 / P563 521 MB/s (reads); 265 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,673 4,520 N/A 516 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes) By most metrics, the W700 is a fast device. Our particular test configuration has 4GB of RAM, a 128GB Toshiba-made SSD and a Core i5-3317U processor with integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics, the same chip you'll find on most Win 8 Ultrabooks. Despite packing similar components as competing devices, it mostly bests them in PCMark 7, and nearly matches the rest. In the disk benchmark, its read / write speeds (542 MB/s and 534 MB/s) were trumped only by the , which has dual SSDs arranged in a speedy RAID 0 configuration (and is therefore going to be faster than anything else we test). Boot-up takes just 12 seconds, which is on par with some other Windows 8 systems we've reviewed. Also encouraging: those big honking fans on the tablet's top edge do a good job of dissipating heat, so that the device always feels cool or, at worst, lukewarm to the touch. If anything, its Achilles' heel seems to be graphics performance, which to be fair was never a strong point for Ultrabooks and laptop / tablet hybrids. Its score of 3,548 in 3DMark06 falls far short of other Windows 8 systems, even those with the same integrated graphics solution. Even if you remove the high resolution as a variable and only compare it to other 1080p machines, it still ranks at the bottom of the list: the Aspire S7 and both scored better on the same test despite having 1,920 x 1,080 panels of their own. Windows 8 systems Battery life Acer Iconia W700 7:13 Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 5:32 Dell XPS 12 5:30 Toshiba Satellite U925t 5:10 Sony VAIO Duo 11 4:47 Acer Aspire S7 4:18 Lenovo ThinkPad Twist 4:09 The W700's battery life is more typical of a low-powered ARM device. What's funny about the W700 is that it has the same chipset as other Windows 8 machines we've tested, along with a 1080p touchscreen -- precisely the sort of thing that would normally suck the life out of a battery. And yet, the three-cell, 4,850mAh battery lasts hours longer than bigger touchscreen Windows 8 systems with similar internals. Specifically, we got seven hours and 13 minutes of runtime after looping a video off the local disk with WiFi on and the brightness fixed at 65 percent. The next runner-up in our list is the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13, and if you look at the numbers, it wasn't even a close contest: it managed just five and a half hours in the same test, even though it probably has room for a larger-capacity battery than the W700. It only gets worse from there: we've seen touchscreen Windows 8 systems that barely cracked four hours. The W700 looks even more impressive when you compare it to lighter-weight, ARM-powered tablets. You wouldn't expect that to be the case -- this really isn't a fair fight -- but in fact the difference in battery life isn't as drastic as you'd imagine, especially if you take into account tablets that offer merely average endurance. The , for instance, lasts only about an hour longer than the W700; the edges out the W700 by a mere 13 minutes. We'll admit, the Nexus 10 offers skimpy battery life (we complained about it in our initial review). But here's the thing: we don't know of another Core i5 tablet that can even come close. Take the , for instance: it's expected to last half as long as the -- i.e., about four and a half hours in our rundown test. If that's true, then the W700's battery life would seem that much more exceptional: after all, the W700 and the Surface Pro are close cousins, at least as far as key specs go. It's incredible, then, that the W700's battery life is more typical of a low-powered ARM device. Software It's never a good sign when a company needs two large clusters of Live Tiles just to showcase all the bloatware it installed. Indeed, there's a lot of pre-installed software here -- some of it useful, along with plenty more we could do without. On board, we have Amazon.com; the Kindle reader; Netflix; iCookBook; Hulu Plus; the music streaming service 7digital; Evernote; eBay; Skitch; ChaCha; StumbleUpon; the TuneIn internet radio service; Skype; Acer's CrystalEye webcam software; Spotify; newsXpresso; and a trial of McAfee Internet Suite. But wait, there's more: you'll also find a handful of games, including Zeptolab, The Treasures of Montezuma 3 and Shark Dash. AcerCloud, meanwhile, is less crapware; it's Acer's unlimited cloud storage service, which allows you to use iOS and Android apps to access your content remotely. There's even Acer Explorer, an app for getting to know all the pre-installed apps. So basically, inception. Configuration options and warranty The W700 starts at $800 with a 1.8GHz Core i3 processor and a 64GB SSD, though other specs, including the graphics solution and 1080p display, remain the same. The $900 configuration steps up to a Core i5 CPU, but still has 64GB of storage. The $999 model, the one we tested, combines an i5 chip with a larger 128GB solid-state drive. There's also a $1,149 one with the same specs, except it has Windows 8 Pro installed and has a warranty that lasts for two years instead of one. Whichever you choose, the cradle and Bluetooth keyboard are both included. Pretty impressive when you remember that other companies, like Samsung and Microsoft, are still selling the keyboard separately for some or all of their configurations. So kudos to Acer for just tossing it in, and at a lower starting price, to boot. The competition We get what Acer was going for here and really, it's an intriguing proposition: a hybrid that can be used as a standalone tablet, but is powerful enough to be your next laptop. As we said, it's fast and offers awesomely long battery life, but we suspect you'd feel more comfortable researching a few similar options before shelling out a thousand bucks. We mentioned the Surface Pro, though it doesn't even go on sale until next month. At that point, it will start at $900 for the 64GB model, with the fantastic keyboard sold separately. As with the Surface RT, we expect we'll enjoy the Surface Pro's sturdy kickstand and comfy typing experience. Not to mention, it's comprised of fewer pieces than the W700, and supports pen input, which the W700 doesn't. Still, it's rated for shorter battery life (but we already told you about that). The , a convertible Ultrabook with dual 1080p screens, is also tempting but we it creep into retail just yet. Certainly, we haven't had the chance to review one, so we can't vouch for its performance or overall quality right now. The W700 succeeds in being powerful while still lasting seven-plus hours on a charge. Most other Core i5 tablets don't have that going for them. One option that is available now is the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro, aka the , which retails for $1,200 and up. This, too, has a Core i5 processor, 128GB SSD and an 11-inch 1080p display. The difference, though, is that the tablet supports both pen and finger input, and comes loaded with the same S Pen apps you'll find on the . Also, the keyboard dock has a built-in touchpad, so you don't have to use a standalone mouse in desktop mode. Suppose you only occasionally need to use your PC in tablet mode. Why not get a more traditional-looking touchscreen Ultrabook that can morph into a slate when you need it to? If you go that route, we suggest the ($1,200 and up), which is only slightly bigger than the Acer Iconia W700, but still adds a 1080p screen and a fantastic keyboard. If it were us shopping, we'd avoid sliders altogether. In general, the propped-up display eats into the usable keyboard space, which means you're stuck with a cramped keyboard. Also, who wants their PC's display to be exposed all the time? In particular, we found the 11-inch has poor build quality (on top of all those other issues), along with short battery life and loud fan noise. And though we're still wrapping up our review of the , we'll tell you now that many of these complaints apply there, too. Wrap-up After unboxing the W700 and putting the cradle dock together, we didn't think we were going to like it very much. As it turns out, we like it quite a bit, and we think you might too, but you'll have to get past some surface flaws in order to truly appreciate it. The W700 is thick and heavy, even for a tablet with a Core i5 processor, and though it's solidly built, it has a boxy look that can be off-putting. The good news is that it's fast, even among Windows 8 PCs, and offers surprisingly long runtime. If we're honest, we never expected Core i5 tablets to be very longevous, and meanwhile touchscreen Ultrabooks have been consistently disappointing on the battery life front, so it's impressive that the W700 succeeds in being powerful while still lasting seven-plus hours on a charge. Most other Core i5 tablets don't have that going for them. Finally, let's not forget the cost: even the $800 model comes with a cradle and dock, which is pretty aggressive pricing for a product in this class. For $900, in particular, you can get one with a Core i5 CPU and 64 gigs of storage. Compare that to the Surface Pro, which will start at $900 with the same CPU and no keyboard included. Granted, we prefer the Surface's lightweight, connectable keyboard, but that's beside the point: Microsoft could take a cue from Acer on pricing here. The problem, though, is that the W700's cradle design doesn't make much sense. A dock with a built-in keyboard (and perhaps a touchpad and spare battery) would have been a simpler, more compact solution, and you wouldn't have had to give up much in the way of extra ports. It would have been more versatile too -- the sort of thing you could use in the office or on the road, in a hotel room. Ultimately, you could pack up the tablet and keyboard separately, but it's not ideal: it's a bit of a pain, and the components will take up more space in your bag. We suggest you use the case as a stand instead, but with the understanding that you'll have just one USB port: the one on the tablet itself. So, the quirky design doesn't rise to the level of a dealbreaker, but we do hope that Acer reconsiders the keyboard dock as it designs the inevitable follow-up product. After all, for a portable device like this, less would almost certainly be more.Acer Defines Touch and Type Experience with New Aspire R7Designed to create the best touch and type experience, the R7 features a repositioned keyboard and a high-definition touchscreen mounted on a revolutionary "Ezel Hinge" that allows it to flip, reverse, lie flat or floatNEW YORK (May 3, 2013) At a press event held today in New York, Acer unveiled the Aspire R7, a revolutionary 15.6-inch notebook that will redefine the touch and type computing experience. Featuring a Full HD 1920x1080 touch screen, the Acer R7 was made for the new computing lifestyle, which increasingly combines touching and typing. With a repositioned keyboard and a revolutionary "Ezel Hinge" that moves the display forwardand into different positions, the R7 makes the combination of touching the screen andusing the keyboard more intuitive and natural. Its ergonomic design allows users to explore anddetermine their own preferred way to interact with technology."With the Aspire R7, Acer has redesigned the laptop with an approach that's based on how people interact with their notebooks and other devices," said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president, product marketing, Acer America. "Itsprogressive designredefines the computing experience, so whether consumers are touching or typing, the R7 adapts to allow consumers tocreate, browse and share content in ways they never have before."The Acer Aspire R7 was introduced today with other new products, including the Acer Aspire P3 Ultrabook, Acer Aspire V Series touch notebooks and Acer Iconia Android tablets. The new line of News releasecer mobile products highlights the company's focus on redefiningthe computing experience through progressive design. #AcerTouch.As Acer's Exclusive Retail Partner, Best Buy Customers who Pre-Order Will Receive the new STAR TREK: THE VIDEO GAME for PC for FreeAvailable May 17th, consumers who place pre-orders with Best Buy between May 3 and May 16, 2013 will also receive a free download of STAR TREK: THE VIDEO GAME for PC as part of Acer's marketing partnership campaign with Paramount for the upcoming film, "Star Trek Into Darkness," opening on May 17, 2013."Best Buy has always been known for bringing innovative products exclusively to our customers, like the Aspire R7," said Jason Bonfig, vice president of computing at Best Buy. "Partnering with Acer to develop and launch this product is a perfect example of how we're working closer with our vendor partners to innovate and produce new and exciting technology for our customers, as part of our Renew Blue transformation strategy."Four-in-One Design Lets Users Have it Their Way"Acer believes touch will be crucial to the new computing experience," said Agnihotry. "There is nothing on the market so powerful and versatile which enables such easy video and picture editing or enjoyinga movie on a bigdisplay. As a powerful full-featured15.6-inchnotebook the Acer R7 enables a unique functionality in a design that makes more sense for a human, touch-enabled, world."The Acer Aspire R7 lets consumers transform their notebook into the shape that best delivers an immersive content experience based on their usage needs. With four modes of operation, the R7 can easily be used as a traditional notebook, a table top pad, a display, or switched into "Ezel" mode, allowing the screen to float over the keyboard at various angles. This allows users to work where they want and how they want - seated or standing, at a desk or with it on their lap. The Ezel Hinge makes it easy to switchthe display around, to touch or type while creating, browsing or sharing content. Dual hinge technology allows for single-hand switching between modes and keeps the display rock-steady when touched.1. Ezel Mode Reach out and pull the display closer, eliminating the need to reach across the palm rest and keyboard to use the touch screen. Just pull itup and out where it can be positioned in front of the keyboard, or float over it. By pulling the display close, switching between touchscreen, keyboardand touchpad is seamless.2. Notebook mode Slide the display back behind the keyboard, and you have a powerful, full featured Windows 8 notebook computer with a 15.6-inch Full HD (1920x1080) touchscreen display, an Intel Core i5 processor, 6GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive, a 24GB SSD and a full-size backlit keyboard. It also includes a volume control button, HDMI port, SD card reader, audio jacks, three USB ports, WiFi, Bluetooth and a convenient converter port supporting VGA, RJ45 and USB.3. Display Mode Flip the screen over and it's positioned perfectly for watching a movie, showing photos or giving a presentation. Sharing and collaborating is simple, enjoyable and straightforward. With Acer's proven dual-torque design, the screenflips easily yet remains rigid when touched.4. Pad Mode Simply pull down the touchscreen and lay it on top of the keyboard with the face up, and the Aspire R7 morphs into a pad, without giving up the robust performance of a notebook. The ergonomic 4-degree tiltingangle makes it perfect for browsing, writing or drawing. It's ideal for pure touch interactions like casual gaming, browsing, drawing, annotating and more.Premium SoundOffering a superior audio visual experience, the R7's powerful features and high-definition display are complemented by a premium sound system with Dolby Home Theater v4 and four 8 watt speakers. Because of its transformative design, the audio channels automatically reverse when switching modes, so sound is always perfect.In addition, Acer also relocated the placement of the dual microphones from the traditional notebook layout. Instead of positioning them on the LCD bezel near the webcam, they are placed along the front of the notebook, just under the spacebar. This provides for the best voice sound quality, and enhances the aesthetics of the touchscreen by eliminating the need for holes in the bezel.Premium DesignIn a manner befitting its revolutionary design, the Aspire R7 includes a unibody aluminum chassis, a beautiful brushed metal hinge, and an archedcover with very subtle curves and lines. The bottom features a soft touch finish for a securegrip, making it easy to grasp and carry. Even the keyboard placement was reconsidered in the new design. Repositioning it closer to the body in front of the chassis makes typing more comfortable and as efficient and as fluid as possible. The keys fall naturally under the fingers, eliminating the need to hold the arms out and over the palm rest and touch pad in order to type. The travel of the keys was also considered in the design, ensuring it is deep enough to provide a perceptible tactile response when typing, so that using the keyboard is just as enjoyable as touching the screen.Red Dot Design Awardhe Acer Aspire R7 has already been awarded with the Red Dot, one of the world's most soughtafter quality marks for excellence in product design. The award is presented annually in the international competition by a jury of 37 design experts for the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen of Germany. Design guru Jimmy Choo joined as a member of the jury for the first time in this year's competition, which received 4,662 entries in 19 categories. The Aspire R7 was selected in the "computers and information technology" category.Availability and PricingBest Buy is Acer's exclusive retail partner. The R7-571-6858 has a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of of $999.99 USD. It will be available in stores and online for shipping on May 17th. Pre-orders can be placed now at www.bestbuy.com. Additional models and specifications will be announced in the following weeksAcer Iconia B1 16GB Now Available Editor's Summary: Acer expands Acer Iconia B1 series with 16GB version Ideal for first time users or families opting for a 2nd tablet for their children Also easy to carry, read and explore, and powerful enough for fast media consumption it is an excellent mobile companion for the busy executive BARCELONA (Feb. 24, 2013) Acer today announced the expansion of the Iconia B1-A71 tablet with a16GB version. First announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) as 8GB version, the Iconia B1-A71 is targeted at young or new users or families looking for an additional tablet for their children. The Iconia B1 is also ideal for busy individuals seeking a convenient mobile companion. At 7 inches the same size as a standard book page - the display is comfortable for e-reading, web browsing, playing games and watching videos. Super Portable: The Iconia B1 is easy to hold and use in one hand, a triangular corner grip on the lower left side improves single-hand usage even more. It's also easy to tote around in a bag or jacket at a feather-light 320 grams, making it one of the lightest 7-inch tablets in the market. Highly Responsive Fun: To take your experience to the next level, this tablet combines a 1.2GHz dual-core processor for fast and smooth gaming, web browsing and video watching with Android's Jelly Bean operating system to get quickly precise answers to your search queries and seamless browsing. For many search queries performed through VoiceSearch, you can now hear a spoken answer quickly. Fast and Free Media: Over 500 free online magazines from hundreds of publishers and top web sites are always at your fingertips thanks to Google Currents. The recently updated smart mobile app allows you to discover, read, and share your favorite new outlets, blogs and online magazine on the 7-inch WSVGA (1,024 x 600) capacitive display even when offline. If you are into playing, you have more than 700,000 games and apps from Google Play to choose from. Capture and Share More: To top off the rich experience, the Iconia B1 comes with a front-facing camera to engage in live chats with your friends. The camera is on the top right corner and works also when in landscape mode, allowing your friends to get into the picture during a video chat. The Iconia B1 is an affordable entry level device to the wide family of Acer products and is designed for the everyday usage of Modern Day Explorers in this case young explorers or busy mobile explorers. The Iconia B1 is, like its Acer family products, a device which provides the most premium experience at its price point. Available as 8GB and 16GB version with the option to expand via microSD slot, the Iconia B1 is the ideal easy companion for tablet newbies or children while adults use their own. Pricing, Availability and Warranty The Acer Iconia B1-A71 16GB is available immediately in Europe, Middle East and Africa with a starting price of 139(1). The Acer Iconia B1-A71 8GB is available since mid-January at a starting price of 119(1). Acer Iconia B1-A71 features and specs: -Android Jelly Bean operating system - Mediatek dual-core 1.2GHz processor (MTK 8317T) -7-inch diagonal WSVGA capacitive multitouch screen with 1,024 x 600 resolution display -8GB/16GB(2) of internal storage -Wireless connectivity: -Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n -Bluetooth wireless technology 4.0 -GPS -3.5mm headset/headphone/microphone jack -internal speaker -microSD expansion slot with up to 32GB support -front-facing 0.3-megapixel webcam -Rechargeable 2,710 mAh battery -micro-USB (charging and PC connect) with USB 2.0 -Dimensions: 197.4 mm x 128.5 mm x 11.3 mm -Weight: 320 gLast week, Acer got out in front of the madness by reintroducing its smartphone and announcing the new . Well, we're on the ground here in Barcelona and we just got to see them both in person. A quick recap for those who missed Acer's first Androids of 2013: the mid-range E1 runs Jelly Bean on a 4.5-inch 960 x 540 IPS display, has a dual-core 1GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera and a 1,760mAh battery. The entry-level Z2 also runs Android 4.1, but has a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 screen, single-core 1GHz CPU, a 3-megapixel shooter and a 1,300 mAh cell. Both phones come in either black or white and can be had in single- or dual-SIM configurations. Peruse our galleries of photos below, won't you? Then join us after the break for a video and our full impressions. Given that neither the Liquid E1 nor the Liquid Z2 are high-end devices, we weren't surprised to find that the handsets are constructed of relatively low-rent plastic. That said, fit and finish of the phones we lay our hands on were good -- pieces were fitted with tight tolerances and there were no unsightly seams or blemishes to be found. The E1's skin is textured around the back, which makes it easy to grip, and its only two buttons -- a chromed plastic volume rocker on the right edge and power key up top -- had decent travel and were easily found by feel. According to Acer, the E in E1 stands for entertainment, and while it does have dual speakers embedded in the back and DTS audio, we weren't particularly impressed with the sonic output. It could pump up the volume louder than most phones, but the sound's still shallow and tinny like every other smartphone we've heard. Otherwise, performance was befitting a phone of it's caliber: the dual-core CPU kept screen swiping smooth and apps launched with little lag, and the IPS display had near 180-degree viewing angles and good, if slightly cool, color reproduction. As for the Z2, well, it's an entry-level handset aimed at folks who are looking to leave featurephones behind and get their first smartphone. It is a largely unremarkable handset as a result, but Acer has put a bit of unique software to make the transition from dumb- to smartphone a bit easier. It's an app launcher that simplifies the Android interface and keeps users in a more comfy featurephone interface. If either of these new Acers strike your fancy, they are available now in Europe, where the Liquid E1 runs 199 to 229 depending on carrier and retailer whims, while the Liquid Z2 goes for 99 and 129. Dana Wollman contributed to this report.Acer Hits Smartphone Market with Launch of Liquid E1 and Z2 BARCELONA, (Feb. 20, 2013) ---Acer will be showcasing the first two smartphones of its 2013 line-up targeted at feature phone upgraders, first-time and multimedia users at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Featuring a new industrial design in pearl white and carbon black and dual SIM cards(1) the Acer Liquid E1 and Z2 complements the company's mobile footprint and reinforces Acer's commitment to the smartphone market. Acer Liquid E1: Cinema Experience with Dual Speakers Targeted at multimedia users the Liquid E1 features a large 4.5-inch qHD display(2), powerful dual-core processor, optional dual SIM cards(1) and two speakers to smoothly handle multimedia and communication at the same time. The unique Float Caller notification ensures that users will not be interrupted by incoming calls or messages by taking over the full screen while using apps or watching videos. Instead, a Float Caller notification window pops up and lets users take calls or reply with quick messages. Liquid E1 also features an impressive dual-speaker system and DTS Sound for enhanced audio with volume maximization, so users can freely enjoy music stored locally or streamed from their PC through AcerCloud. The integrated Moodagent creates music playlists based on an individual's mood or uses songs from the library to create playlists that not only matches a person's mood, but also a specific taste in music. The zero shutter delay camera captures images momentarily and snaps fast-action sequences with 4-, 8- and 16-burst shooting. Liquid Z2: Your gateway to the world of Smartphones The Liquid Z2 features a quick mode navigation tool and a fast 1 GHz processor offering first-time users and feature phone upgraders a fluid first time experience. The Android OS learns users' habits and has a very intuitive interface with large icons. It's easy to operate and makes Internet browsing, photography, and listening to music a breeze, especially with the support of AcerCloud. The versatile 3MP or 5MP camera launches in just 1 second, offers panoramic and multi-angle modes, plus continuous shooting (up to 99 shots) to capture precious moments. SRS Sound immerses users in excellent mobile audio with greater clarity and deeper bass. The enhanced sound is echoed by rhythmic design features including rippling lines along the smartphone's edges. The optional dual SIM cards(1) gives users all the convenience of having two mobiles in one and a great way of saving money by combining two different rate plans or services. Easy to Share Files and Media Acer smartphones also support AcerCloud, a file sharing and media management solution that lets users easily retrieve, enjoy and share their multimedia and data files using a variety of computing devices. AcerCloud simplifies management of digital assets across mobile devices, regardless of platform, and is free on new Acer products. Price and Availability The Liquid E1 and Z2 will be available to buy in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Ukraine followed by Russia, UK and Italy across selective, retail-, telco-, and online channels. Additional information is available at www.acer.com. Visit Acer at Pepcom on February 24 and at MWC at Hybrid Hall Hall 3, stand 3C154 from February 25 28. Acer Liquid E1 features and specs: Network: 3G 900/2100 MHz, 2G 850,900,1800, 1900 MHz Display: 4.5" qHD (960 x 540) with IPS Chipset: Dual Core 1GHz OS: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Camera: 5MP AF with flash LED + 0.3MP front Speakers: Dual speakers Additional features: FM Radio, Float Caller, Mood Agent, DTS Sound, Acer UI 5.0, AcerCloud, Google Search, Google Gallery/Music, Gmail, Gtalk, Google Play Store, YouTube,Polaris Office Editor, Swype text input GPS: A-GPS(3) Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0+EDR, Dual SIM&sup1; Sensor: Accelerometer, e-compass, light, proximity Memory: 4GB ROM(4) + 1GB RAM, micro-SD Dimension: 132 x 68.5 x 9.9 mm, 130g Battery: 1760 mAh Acer Liquid Z2 features and specs: Network: 3G 900/2100 MHz, 2G 850,900,1800, 1900 MHz Display: 3.5" HVGA (480x320) Chipset: 1GHz OS: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Camera: 3MP or 5MP Additional features: FM Radio, Quick Mode, Google Search, Google Gallery/Music, Gmail, Gtalk, Google Play Store, Google maps, YouTube, SRS Sound, Swype text input GPS: A-GPS(3) Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0+EDR, Dual SIM&sup1; Sensor: Accelerometer, light, proximity Memory: 4GB ROM(4) + 512MB RAM, micro-SD Dimension: 110 x 62.5 x 12.25 mm, 110g Battery: 1300 mAhAcer brought a whole bunch of folks out to NYC for a and made sure the attending press got their money's worth. In addition to outing the unique convertible , the company unveiled the Aspire P3 -- its first convertible Windows 8 Ultrabook. The screen can be angled forward to use as a traditional (ish) laptop or completely folded down in slate mode. As you can see in the image, there's even a place to clip on a stylus. Acer wasn't too forthcoming with specs during the presentation, but we'll be sure to dig up those specifics when we get our hands-on (which should be coming shortly).Update: You'll find impressions and specs after the break. We'll say this: Acer knows how to package a device. Unlike many of its competitors, the Taiwanese company includes a keyboard case with this diminutive Windows 8 tablet. The base model will ship with a Core i3 CPU (upgradeable to an i5), 4GB of RAM and a 60GB SSD, for the reasonable price of $799. All that is packed into a surprisingly light 2.19-pound package (not including the keyboard). The 11.6-inch screen isn't a full HD panel, but at such a small size that amount of pixel density can start to wreak havoc on productivity anyway (Excel sheets are at 360ppi can put quite a strain on the eyes). The display is plenty crisp, though, if a tad too reflective. The overhead lighting at Acer's event resulted in quite a bit of glare getting in the way of our photos, as you can see.The internals provided plenty of power to keep the P3 humming along at a brisk pace during our brief time with it, but we make no guarantees once you start loading up tons of poorly coded apps. The slate feels surprisingly solid in the hands, with no obvious give anywhere on the silvery chasis. Even near the exhaust vents theres no flex. On the right side you'll find a pretty standard-issue volume rocker and power button. Both are pretty middle of the road -- neither particularly squishy nor satisfyingly clicky. On the left are a full-sized USB, mini-HDMI and headphone jack.The faux-leather Bluetooth keyboard case, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. While its inclusion in the basic package is appreciated (and any keyboard is better than no keyboard with Windows), it had us feeling underwhelmed. The tablet fits rather snuggly into the top half of the case, so much so that it's actually kind of difficult to remove. But the plastic housing adds quite a bit of bulk to what is already relatively thick device. The keys on the deck are well spaced, but have very little travel making it hard to touch type, and there is a significant amount of flex to the board. The angle of the screen is also fixed, since the case relies on a notch above the keyboard (like many Nexus 7 cases) to keep the tablet stationary. Still, hopefully a few others (cough, Microsoft, cough cough) will take a lesson from Acer and start including keyboard docks as part of their basic tablet package.Dana Wollman contributed to this report.Acer Extends AcerCloud to Top Three Operating Systems, Making it Easy to Share Files and Media Among Windows, iOS and Android Devices LAS VEGAS, NV (Jan. 7, 2013) Acer today announced cross-platform support for AcerCloud, the company's file sharing and media management solution, free to Acer customers. Consumers can now share, retrieve and enjoy their multimedia and data files using a variety of computing devices, regardless of which operating system they are running Windows, Android or iOS. AcerCloud uses the free space on a PC's hard drive as cloud storage space. Users simply designate one of their PCs as their "Cloud PC," enabling them to use the available hard drive space on their own PC, giving them security and full control over their storage needs. And unlike other cloud solutions, consumers won't receive constant reminders about exceeding capacity with solicitations to pay for more storage. "With AcerCloud, Acer now supports free file sharing between all of the key mobile devices, adding tremendous value to Acer customers," said Acer President, Jim Wong. "AcerCloud greatly simplifies our customers' ability to manage all of their digital assets across all of their devices, regardless of platform." Remote Access and Wireless Connectivity Anytime, Anywhere Users can also use the new "Remote Files" application for direct access to any of their Windows PCs from any of their other devices. They can upload and download files on any Android, iOS, or Windows device, whether at home or on the road, using Wi-Fi or their cellular network service. Other enhanced features of AcerCloud include: AcerCloud Docs Effortless Portability A feature especially convenient for professionals, AcerCloud Docs enables users to push their Microsoft Office documents to any of their Windows, Android or iOS devices. For example, a document edited and saved on a PC will be pushed to AcerCloud and available for download and viewing from any of their other devices wirelessly and automatically. These files will be synced at AcerCloud and available for 30 days from the day files were modified. There is no limit to storage capacity. PicStream Instant Picture Streaming PicStream allows consumers to push all their photos to any of their Windows, Android or iOS devices at anytime, anywhere. They can take pictures with their smartphone or tablet, and view them instantly on any of their other devices. These pictures will be synced at AcerCloud and available for 30 days from the day the pictures were taken. Like documents, there are no limits for storage capacity. clear.fi Enjoy Music and Photos Anywhere on All Devices With AcerCloud clear.fi, consumers' multimedia libraries are available for managing and enjoying on any device; users can manage their pictures on their PCs and view them on their smartphones and tablets. In addition, a user's complete music library is available and can be streamed or downloaded and enjoyed on any device running Windows, Android or iOS, from any location. Availability and Pricing The new version of AcerCloud will be available for online update starting in January 2013, and will be bundled on all Acer consumer PCs starting in Q2 2013.AMD and Adobe Collaborate on Upcoming Version of Adobe Premiere Pro Software to Enable Breakthrough Video Editing Performance through Open Standards AMD A-Series APU, Radeon and FirePro graphics technology work seamlessly with next version of Adobe Premiere Pro software to provide real-time editing, effects, compositing and colour grading SUNNYVALE, Calif. Apr. 5, 2013 AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced its collaboration with Adobe Systems Incorporated to deliver OpenCL hardware-accelerated video editing for the first time on the Microsoft Windows platform with the next version of Adobe Premiere Pro. This collaboration further demonstrates AMD's commitment to enabling partner ecosystems with cross-platform open standards, empowering Adobe to amplify the editing experience for creative professionals everywhere. The combination of expanded support for open standards and the Adobe Creative Cloud brings unmatched access to the most up-to-date and powerful professional post-production tools anywhere. The next version of Adobe Premiere Pro has been optimized to take full advantage of a wider range of AMD professional- and consumer-class graphics processing units (GPUs) and accelerated processing units (APUs), delivering unprecedented real-time editing with formats from DV to HD and 4K Ultra HD at high frame rates. Now Adobe and AMD extend this advanced OpenCL functionality to creative professionals running the Windows operating system. The expanded support on Windows and OSX complements the already popular Mac OSX OpenCL support available on Adobe Premiere Pro. "AMD and Adobe are dedicated to delivering professional- and consumer-level solutions that support open standards and provide artists everywhere with the ability to create at the speed of thought," said Neal Robison, senior director, Software Alliances at AMD. "Through AMD's strong relationship with Adobe, video editors no longer have to wait for the rendering of edits, effects and composites ?? most everything can now be achieved at high-quality in real-time." Coupling AMD graphics hardware with the latest Adobe software, video professionals and prosumers alike will benefit from seamless, high-quality feedback. The next version of Adobe Premiere Pro with support for OpenCL harnesses the power of discrete AMD graphics cards and AMD A-Series APU's to enable real-time edits, application of dozens of effects, support for the new Lumetri deep-colour engine, and multi-stream and mixed format accelerated workflows with AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology. From its APUs and notebook graphics cards to professional workstation cards like the AMD FirePro W-series, AMD technology works transparently with Adobe Premiere Pro to provide scalable GPU-accelerated editing solutions for inspired prosumers and creative professionals everywhere. The software is accelerated by OpenCL to efficiently harness the compute power of AMD APU and graphics products and achieve up to 4.3X faster exports from a source format with effects to a preferred final destination format for quick and easy distribution and publishing[1]. "We're all about creating the best software possible, and at NAB we're revealing some incredible enhancements to our video editing tools," said Simon Williams, director of strategic relations at Adobe. "Our customers require powerful systems that enable them to work quickly and efficiently. While we already support OpenCL on the Mac, today's announcement gives creative professionals the opportunity to tap into the massive compute resources of AMD APUs and GPUs on Windows-based PCs, broadening the type of accelerated experience they can have with our upcoming software." Video professionals and enthusiasts utilizing the Adobe Creative Cloud gain a competitive advantage through immediate access to AMD hardware-accelerated features and functionality with the latest Adobe video production software. Adobe Creative Cloud offers an end-to-end, cross-platform tool kit with industry-leading software seamlessly integrated with all the hardware needed to create, collaborate and stay connected. At NAB, Adobe is previewing the next generation of its professional video and audio products (NAB Booth SL3910.) Learn more about the next versions of Adobe's pro video and audio tools at: www.adobe.com/go/nab_reveal. More information about Adobe's upcoming new video tools will be unveiled at Adobe MAX, The Creativity Conference, May 4-8 in Los Angeles, Calif.Powerful New Adobe Photoshop CC Debuts at Adobe MAXMilestone Version of The Industry Standard in Digital Imaging Anchors Major Update to Adobe Creative CloudLOS, ANGELES - May 6, 2013 - At Adobe MAX, The Creativity Conference, Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe Photoshop CC as part of a major update to Adobe Creative Cloud (see separate press release). Photoshop CC pushes the boundaries of possibility, offering a powerful new creative process, legendary imaging magic, and greater creative freedom with new tools and workflows. Adobe Photoshop CC will be available, exclusively to Creative Cloud members, in June.Adobe's desktop apps, including Photoshop, were previously known as Creative Suite (CS), and will now be branded CC to reflect that they are an integral part of Creative Cloud and have been reinvented to support a more intuitive, connected way of creating. Photoshop CC includes a wide range of innovative enhancements, including new image deblurring and sharpening features to improve design workflows, and new Camera Raw capabilities. This update combines Photoshop standard and Photoshop Extended features to deliver greater accessibility to 3D tools and image analysis, while Creative Cloud integration offers flexible collaboration and sharing capabilities."With the ability to quickly deliver new innovations, we're empowering photographers and creatives to push the boundaries in digital imaging and design," said Winston Hendrickson, vice president of products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. "Our customers will no longer have to wait 18 to 24 months to access new Photoshop innovation. When a new Photoshop feature is ready whether it's the next Healing Brush or something as mind-blowing as Content Aware Fill we'll deliver it via Creative Cloud."New Features in Photoshop CCPhotoshop CC brings a wide range of new features and enhancements designed to unleash creativity and boost efficiency whether perfecting photographs, designing for online and offline media, creating 3D artwork or shooting video.A fleet of new tools introduce the most advanced deblurring and sharpening technologies to date. The new Camera Shake Reduction tool analyzes and corrects for blur from camera movement to produce a better image. The all-new Smart Sharpen tool uses adaptive sharpening algorithms to minimize noise and halo effects while producing high-quality results. With intelligent upsampling users can increase the size of an image large enough for a billboard without pixelating the image.Adobe Camera Raw 8 brings three new photo-editing capabilities to Photoshop CC. The Advanced Healing brush allows photographers to "heal" or "patch" images with a brush stroke instead of a circular area. The new Radial Gradient offers powerful controls to draw attention to the focus of an image without applying a standard vignette, and the Upright tool automatically straightens horizons and applies perspective corrections without distorting the image. Camera Raw edits can also be made to any layer or file within Photoshop CC.For designers, improvements to rounded rectangles add the ability to adjust corner radii at any time. Users can also now select multiple paths, shapes and vectors at once, providing a faster, easier workflow for working with multiple objects.In previous releases, Adobe Photoshop Extended was released as a separate application comprising all Photoshop features as well as 3D and image analysis capabilities. Beginning with Photoshop CC, all Photoshop Extended features will be integrated within one application, providing all users with advanced capabilities for 3D image editing and image analysis.Photoshop CC is the first Adobe desktop app to include theability to post files directly to Behance fromwithin the application, showcasing work immediately and integrating peer feedback into the creative process. Behance is the world's leading online creative community, with over 1.4 million members.Photoshop CC includes all the Photoshop feature innovation delivered exclusively to Creative Cloud members over the last year, including: Smart Object support for Blur Gallery andLiquify effects, Conditional Actions, andCSS support for faster web design.Adobe is also previewing a new workflow from Photoshop CC to Edge Reflow CC that will enable creatives to build web designs in Photoshop that can easily be turned into responsive websites, viewable across devices. Adobe expects to update Photoshop CC with this new capability this summer, underscoring the constant steam of innovation delivered to Creative Cloud members."I capture thousands of images for my 'Day to Night' projects and am always looking to improve my creative process," said Stephen Wilkes, an award-winning photographer, whose work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Time, Life Magazine, and The New York Times Magazine. "With Photoshop as part of Adobe's Creative Cloud, I don't have to wait every year for a new set of tools and features, like Smart Sharpen and the new upsampling capabilities, to help achieve my vision. I'm also excited about the integration with Behance. As a photographer, the ability to connect to a global community of artists, art directors, and designers is very inspiring."Adobe's best known for its creative software, but lately it's been toying with the . Over the past few weeks, the company's XD division's been teasing Projects Mighty and Napoleon for tablets: the former is a pressure-sensitive stylus, while the latter is a ruler for drafting. Both hardware experiments feature Bluetooth but, more importantly, they tap in Adobe's . The units are essentially a serious side project for Adobe, but we have a feeling designers will be seriously excited once they get to see these prototypes in action. Geoff Dowd, XD's Design Lead, was kind enough to delve a bit deeper into the projects for us in a video walkthrough you can catch after the break. While we saw a few different design possibilities for Project Mighty on the table, certain aspects remained consistent: each has built-in storage, a selector button, an aluminum frame and a top-mounted LED for input feedback and Bluetooth status. Different variations of charging bases are also being tested, one with two contacts on the shaft and second which lets the tip rest in portable and desk-purposed cradles (we're told the latter has become the preferred one). The current tip is 5mm, but smaller variations are currently being worked out for finer applications.A feature called Contact Detection is also onboard, which allows the stylus' companion app to recognize different types of input. For example, you could use your finger to copy, paste, erase and redo using only gestures and then go straight back to doodling. Of course, pen-based input commands can also be used for some tasks; the key is not having to select a menu to get things done. Holding the stylus against the screen brings up a circular Pen Tip menu to let you choose between the likes of brushes and , and to connect with your Creative Cloud account. Currently, there's a private SDK in the works for the menu so that its functions can be expanded. Best of all, Geooff noted that the styli last for tens of hours -- plus, mobile charging cases are in the works.Now for Napoleon, "the short ruler." (Get it?) It's a drawing tool that uses two capacitive feet to serve as a guide for drafting. The unit can snap to different angles, letting you draw precise, parallel lines without having a steady hand. In fact, you can trace your lines from anywhere on the screen once it's set into position.So, that's the short of it. We asked about pricing and availability for each, but our queries were met with only a smile and little information. At this point, the projects are being treated as a learning experiment that has the potential to make it to retail if XD feels they're worthy. That said, these are not going to serve as reference designs, so it looks like both are in Adobe's creative hands for the forseeable future. For now, you can sign up for more info at the source link and read Ge0ff's blog on the project at the more coverage link.Edgar Alvarez and Daniel Orren contributed to this report.Every week, a new and interesting human being tackles our decidedly geeky take on the Proustian Q&A. This is the .In this week's edition of our regular answer sessions, VP of Experience Design discusses and six-fingered spies. Head to the other side of the jump to peruse those and a number of other topics in this coup d'&eacute;tat of queries. What gadget do you depend on most?My iPad. I've always been obsessed by drawing. I sketch all my meeting notes, and pretty much have to draw to tease out a coherent thought. About a year ago, I tried switching from pen and paper to doing all my drawing digitally. Now that I can use an active stylus with my tablet, I'm hooked. And to further create an even better drawing experience, we're working on our own "cloud-connected pen," we have named Project Mighty. I get really anxious when the battery dies and I can't sketch. Sometimes it feels like withdrawal.Which do you look back upon most fondly?My drawing table and all the great non-digital tools that I used with it. I loved my collection of circle templates, triangles and French curves. I had a particularly sensuous set of translucent ships curves and a couple of ?exible curves that seemed, at the time, to o?er in?nite possibilities. And my green felt-lined case with my compasses. And Radiographs and mechanical pencils and electric erasers and eraser templates and little tape dots.Did you know that Adrian Newey is still using analog drawing tools to design the aerodynamics of the world's most advanced racing cars?Which company does the most to push the industry?Apple gets the nod for the experience they enable. You'd think by now that other tech companies would get beyond thinking about the product or its capabilities alone to consider the experience holistically, like say an automobile company does, but not so far.What is your operating system of choice?iOS all the way.What are your favorite gadget names?I'm pretty happy with the project name for our digital ruler. We call it Napoleon because it's short and, uh, a ruler.What are your least favorite?Chumby.Which app do you depend on most?Paper by FiftyThree. It's a really simple drawing app that just draws the way I like to draw.What traits do you most deplore in a smartphone?Short battery life, too small text, embarrassing autocorrect-adjusted messages, inability to bounce o? of concrete surfaces.Which do you most admire?Baseball score updates, ability to ?nd restaurants and access to loved ones.What is your idea of the perfect device?I can no longer remember who I am paraphrasing, but I want the same thing from my devices that I want from my relationships. The perfect device should:Understand my desires, anticipate my needs, foresee consequences, make connections, handle routine chores without asking, remind me when I need reminding, filter out the noise and find matching socks."I'm pretty happy with the project name for our digital ruler. We call it Napoleon because it's short and, uh, a ruler."What is your earliest gadget memory?"Six ?ngers, six ?ngers, man alive... how did I ever get along with ?ve?" For those of you that aren't a half-century old, it's the marketing jingle for a really cheesy spy toy.What technological advancement do you most admire?It's a tie between the internet and my Sonicare toothbrush. Oh wait, de?nitely the sailboat.Which do you most despise?Any TV remote. They should all be burned. Don't the people designing them realize that all that interface should just be on the TV since that is what I am looking at?What fault are you most tolerant of in a gadget?I'll put up with all kinds of dysfunction if it's beautiful. I think my iPhone love has more to do with looks than function.Which are you most intolerant of?Dead batteries.When has your smartphone been of the most help?There have been numerous potential family emergencies that have been averted by phone use. I would go into detail, but my wife would ?nd out and add to her list of child-endangerment accusations.What device do you covet most?Like thy neighbor's device? I lust for an NKE Gyropilot with the carbon housing wrapped in a Chantier Naval Structures Pogo 12.50.If you could change one thing about your phone what would it be?The maddening way it receives calls, emails and text messages from people that I am not interested in talking with.What does being connected mean to you?It means having a sense of security and perhaps a touch of omniscience.When are you least likely to reply to an email?It's interesting. I used to avoid answering phone calls by using email. Now I avoid email by texting. So I am least likely to reply to an email whenever I feel like I can get away with not replying.When did you last disconnect?[A] 25th anniversary vacation in Belize. But only when we couldn't ?nd a cell signal or WiFi.AEREO ANNOUNCES LAUNCH DATE FOR CHICAGOAereo CEO and Founder Chet Kanojia announces launch date at the third annualTechWeek Chicago, the Midwest's largest technology conferenceMore than 9.5 million Chicagoland consumers will have access to Aereo's innovative antenna/DVR technology to record and watch live television onlineChicago, Illinois (June 27, 2013) Aereo, Inc., today announced plans to launch its groundbreaking online television technology in the Chicagoland area on September 13, continuing the company's nationwide rollout. The expansion to Chicago will cover 16 counties across Illinois and Indiana. Aereo's technology is currently available to consumers residing in the New York City, Boston and Atlanta designated market areas (DMA). Aereo's CEO and Founder, Chet Kanojia, will make the announcement today during a main stage Q&A at TechWeek Chicago, the annual technology summit held at Chicago's famed Merchandise Mart."There's no place like Chicago and we're excited to be launching in this world-class city in September," said Aereo CEO and Founder Chet Kanojia. "Consumers want more choice and flexibility when it comes to how they watch television and the enthusiastic response to our technology from people across the country has been humbling. At Aereo, we feel that we've built something meaningful for consumers and we're proud of the work we've accomplished. However, there's still much more to come as we continue our expansion into new cities throughout the summer and fall."Aereo's innovative remote (cloud-based) antenna/DVR technology makes watching television simple and user-friendly. Using Aereo's technology, consumers can pause, rewind and fast-forward any program that they are watching live, or save a program for future viewing. In Chicago, consumers will be able to use Aereo's unique antenna/DVR technology, to record and watch major networks such WLS-TV (ABC), WFLD-TV (FOX), WMAQ-TV (NBC), WBBM-TV (CBS) and WYCC (PBS), as well as other other-the-air special interest and foreign language channels. In addition, consumers can also add Bloomberg Television.Aereo works on 'smart' devices from tablets to phones to laptop computers. Aereo is currently supported on iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Chrome, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Safari, Opera, AppleTV (via airplay) and Roku devices. Android support is expected later this year.Aereo membership will be available to consumers residing in the following counties in Illnois: Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, La Salle, Lake, McHenry and Will counties and in Jasper, La Porte, Lake, Newton and Porter counties in Indiana.Aereo membership begins at $8 per month, for access to Aereo's cloud-based antenna/DVR technology and 20 hours of DVR storage. For an additional $4, consumers can upgrade their membership and receive 60 hours of DVR storage for a total of $12 per month. Consumers who join Aereo will get their first of month of access for free. To learn more about Aereo's technology and how to pre-register, visit Aereo.com.Aereo Sets Launch Date for Boston More Than 4.5 Million Boston-Area Consumers Will Have Access to Aereo's Groundbreaking Antenna Technology to Watch Live Television Online Starting May 15, Pre-Registered Consumers Will Begin to Receive Invitations to Join Aereo; General Membership Access Begins on May 30 CEO Chet Kanojia Will Give a 'Sneak Peak' Tonight at Boston New Tech Meet Up Hosted at StartUp Lab Allston BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Apr 23, 2013) - Aereo, Inc., today announced plans to launch its groundbreaking online television technology in the Boston metropolitan area. Beginning May 15, consumers who have pre-registered with Aereo will receive a special invitation to join and be one of the first to experience Aereo's technology. After May 30, Aereo will make membership available to all eligible consumers across the Boston designated market area (DMA), which includes more than 4.5 million consumers in 16 counties in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. Boston is the second city to launch as part of Aereo's expansion announced in January. "Aereo is simply the easiest, most convenient way for consumers to access broadcast television online using an antenna," said Aereo CEO and Founder Chet Kanojia. "Consumers deserve more choice and flexibility in how they experience television and Aereo provides them a high-quality, rationally-priced alternative. This is an exciting step forward for the company. Today's announcement is even more meaningful and special for our more than 60 employees who call the Boston area home, including me. I'm proud of our team and what we've accomplished in such a short period of time." Aereo's innovative remote (cloud-based) antenna/DVR technology makes watching television simple and user-friendly. Using Aereo's technology, consumers can pause, rewind and fast-forward any program that they are watching live, or save a program for future viewing. In Boston, there are 28 over-the-air broadcast channels accessible through Aereo's antenna/DVR technology, including major networks such as WGBH (PBS), WBZ-TV (CBS), WCVB (ABC), WHDH (NBC), WLVI (CW) and WFXT (Fox); special interest channels such as The Country Network, PBS Kids, Ion and Qubo; and Spanish-language broadcast channels such as Univision and Telemundo. In addition, consumers can also add Bloomberg Television, for a total of 29 channels. Aereo works on 'smart' devices from tablets to phones to laptop computers. Aereo is currently supported on iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Chrome, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Safari, Opera, AppleTV (via airplay) and Roku devices. Aereo membership is available to consumers residing in the following counties in Massachusetts: Barnstable, Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester; in New Hampshire's Belknap, Cheshire, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham and Strafford counties; and in Vermont's Windham County. Aereo has offices in Long Island City (Queens), Downtown Brooklyn and in Boston's Innovation District. Aereo employs more than 60 people in the Boston area, primarily engineers and developers. For information on hiring, please visit Aereo.com/careers.AEREO UNVEILS NEW, FLEXIBLE PRICING STRUCTURE AND Aereo Try for Free SIMPLE, EASY WAYS TO EXPERIENCE AEREO'S INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY Aereo rolls out a new pricing structure for consumers that includes a $1 day pass, $8 and $12 monthly plans and an $80 annual plan Aereo Try For Free provides consumers an easy, commitment-free way of experiencing Aereo's technology for one hour each day, free of charge NEW YORK, NY (August 2, 2012) Aereo, Inc. today announced a new membership pricing structure that provides consumers with more choice and flexibility to experience Aereo's groundbreaking television technology. In addition, the company also announced a new feature called Aereo Try for Free, which allows consumers the ability to access Aereo's technology for a continuous one-hour period each day, free of charge. Aereo membership is currently only available to residents of New York City and the Aereo Try For Free feature is only available to people physically present in New York. Aereo's innovative technology allows consumers to access live broadcast television on compatible Internet connected devices, at home or on the go. With Aereo, there is no application to download and no box to install, so consumers can root for the home team, catch a newsbreak or watch their favorite broadcast programs with ease. An Aereo consumer uses a remotely located individual antenna and DVR, so users never have to worry about installing equipment or waiting for the 'cable guy.' Aereo is currently available to residents of New York City and is supported on iPad, iPhone, Safari on MacBook, AppleTV and Roku. "We know that one size does not fit all, that's why we've designed our new pricing structure to work for a wide variety of lifestyles," said Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia. "Whether you want a day pass to watch the 'big game' on your mobile device or an annual membership that provides you with 40 hours of DVR storage, we have a plan that works for you. Our pricing is designed to work with the consumer not against them." Aereo Try for Free is simple to use and provides consumers access to live broadcast television free for an hour each day. For example, if your Aereo Try for Free use begins at 2PM, your access will continue to 3PM. While the Aereo Try for Free feature is free, as with any Aereo plan, users are responsible for any relevant data charges. Getting started is simple: Visit Aereo.com, create a login and password and, subject to capacity, consumers can begin using Aereo Try For Free immediately. There is no credit card to enter, but users must be located within New York City to use Aereo Try for Free. All Aereo users, including Aereo Try for Free will be able to use Aereo's remote antenna/DVR technology to watch broadcast television live and to pause, rewind and fast-forward any program that they are watching, just as you can with "live" television on a home DVR. With Aereo Try For Free, consumers make recordings of their programming for live play but those recordings are not retained after viewing and there is no DVR storage for future recordings. However, with a paid Aereo membership (day pass, monthly & annual memberships), consumers get live broadcast television, as well as access to remote DVR storage, based on membership level. Aereo Try For Free users are able to upgrade at any time to a membership plan. Aereo announced its new pricing structure two weeks after federal Judge Alison J. Nathan issued a ruling denying a motion for a preliminary injunction against Aereo filed in February 2012 by a group of 17 network broadcasters. Aereo believes that consumers have a fundamental right to access over the air television that broadcasts on the public airwaves, and that enhancing and supporting public access to that local broadcast signal is important. Aereo allows consumers portable and simple access to that broadcast television signal. In times of emergencies and breaking news, access to timely, live information is crucial. Aereo can serve as another avenue for the public to access that important information. In New York City, there are currently 28 broadcast channels available over-the-air, including major networks such as WABC, WNBC, WCBS, WNYW-FOX, WPIX-11, WNET-PBS, and PBS Kids, special interest channels such as NYC.GOV, NYC-LIFE, Ion and Qubo, and foreign language broadcast channels such as Telemundo, Azteca, Telefutura, Univision, Sinovision, NTDTV and CGN-TV. Aereo is currently supported on iPad, iPhone, Safari on MacBook, AppleTV and Roku. Additional device support, including PC's and Android is expected later this summer. For more information on devices and a full list of available channels, please visit: Aereo.com.Red's clean room on the is typically no place for camera crews, but after adding a bit of protection, Red President Jarred Land gave us the green light to step inside the company's for a closer look at . (The $8,500+ sensor swap gives Epic cams the gift of 6K shooting.) The view from behind the glass wall separating spectators from technicians isn't significantly different, but we were able to get quite a bit more insight into how the process goes down, including stops at each of the workstations. The temporary assembly center that Red built at the Las Vegas Convention Center is a miniature version of the company's primary facility in Irvine, California -- while Dragon upgrades are underway in Las Vegas, a structure that's estimated to be 20 times the size of the one here in Nevada is processing the updates remotely, though admittedly with far less fanfare. Join us past the break for an exclusive look at the process, live from Red's booth at NAB. We were able to step inside Red's all-white sanctuary while the show floor was closed to attendees -- as industry insiders gambled their life savings at casinos or dined on the Strip, we hung out at club Red in the South Hall. The room we visited was divided into several workstations, representing the upgrade process from start to finish. The process begins with a functional check, where techs verify that the camera is working correctly before it's modified in any way. At the second station, the camera is disassembled -- components that are set to be reused are joined by new parts. Then, they move on to clean rooms, where the Dragon sensor and new optical low-pass filter are installed. Next, the kit heads through a sealed passthrough to the next assembly point, where additional chips join the mix, before the front and back halves of the camera are joined together. After that's all set, the device leaves the clean-room environment and moves on to the general facility. After the Dragon-equipped Red is fully assembled, it heads on to a battery of tests. Image quality is checked, along with other functions, before the camera heads to temperature and vibration testing in a sealed chamber. Then, it hits the burn-in rack, where the cameras are tested time and again. After all that's done comes another functional test, just to make sure the cam is still performing as expected. One of the final steps is a visit to the custom laser engraver, where the serial number is permanently affixed. Last but not least is a trip to a QA expert, who signs off on the camera before it's shipped back to the owner. The entire process is something to behold, but our favorite component was quite possibly the laser-engraving station. You can see the company's 27th Dragon-upgraded camera get tattooed just below.Tablet Cloud Gaming Leader Agawi Collaborates With Marvell for Next Generation Cloud Gaming on Android-Powered Smart TVs With the integration of Agawi's CloudPlayTM and Marvell's awarding-winning ARMADA 1500 HD Media SoC Platform, PC games can now be streamed directly to big screen TVs Menlo Park, Calif.-January 9, 2013-Today at the 2013 International CES, Agawi and Marvell are teaming up to demonstrate console-quality games streamed to Marvell's award-winning ARMADA 1500-based Android smart device. Agawi's revolutionary CloudPlayTM gaming platform enables OEMs, network operators, game publishers and retailers to deliver their own cloud gaming services to their customers. Marvell's ARMADA 1500 platform provides state-of-the-art video performance and can be built into any smart TV device. It is also a premiere hardware platform powering the latest Google TV devices from leading OEMs like Vizio, Sony, LG U+ and others. Now anyone can play console-quality PC games on Android-powered connected TV devices. All devices containing the Marvell ARMADA 1500 chipset-and all OEMs that choose to implement it-have the power to run Agawi's CloudPlay platform, from smart TVs to connected Blu-ray players, set-top boxes and HDMI dongles. With the mission of making great games widely accessible on any device, Agawi has teamed up with Marvell for a high quality gaming experience on smart TV products. This extends Agawi's established leadership position in cloud gaming on tablets. "By making Agawi CloudPlay accessible via Marvell's hardware platform, we're opening up a world of opportunities for gaming on connected smart devices," said Rajat Gupta, Agawi's co-founder. "This is an elegant cloud gaming solution that any TV device manufacturer or operator can integrate into their products and services-now it's even possible to offer Agawi's instant game streaming as a preloaded application on smart TVs and the like." Marvell's powerful HD media system-on-chip platform offers quick application launching, award-winning video performance and high-resolution graphics-all within the Android TV itself and at affordable costs, without the burden of an expensive gaming console. "Marvell is very proud to support Agawi's innovative CloudPlay platform for Android smart TVs. Marvell aims to provide the ultimate in performance, affordability and power efficiency in cloud-based multimedia content delivery," said Winston Chen,vice president of the Smart Home Business Unit at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. "Above and beyond traditional gaming services, the ability to deliver an immersive, console-gaming experience on an Android-based platform and on the largest screen in the house is key to allowing our ecosystem partners to rapidly roll out turnkey cloud gaming solutions. Our collaboration with Agawi is testimony to the very talented and committed engineers on our staff and demonstrates yet another way in which Marvell delivers one of the best smart TV experiences in today's connected lifestyle." Unlike other cloud gaming platforms, Agawi CloudPlay is a flexible, white-label B2B solution that can be deployed on an open cloud environment, eliminating the need to build proprietary data centers. It is also the only cloud gaming platform that has been deployed massively on iPads and other mobile devices. Now with the addition of this smart TV capability, Agawi's vision of "any game, any where, instantly" is becoming a reality.Aio Wireless Launches 4G LTE ServiceBy Maria SchnabelRelease Date: Jun 20, 2013No-annual contract wireless provider launches 4G LTE in Aio markets, adds new LTE-capable device to portfolio, and expands to Ft. Myers and Naples, FLAlpharetta, GA - Aio Wireless (NYSE: T) announced today the launch of 4G LTE service covering more than 200 million people, further enriching the first-class wireless experience it provides to wireless users who don't want to commit to an annual contract. Aio has made the transition to 4G LTE easy for its customers by sending a free over-the-air software push that has automatically upgraded their SIM cards so they can enjoy 4G LTE speeds when using an LTE-enabled device in Aio's LTE footprint.Aio also announced today the expansion of its LTE-capable device offerings with the addition of the ZTE Overture", which will be available in Aio stores and online at www.aiowireless.com in the next month. The ZTE Overture" features the Jelly Bean operating system, a full-touch 4" LCD display, rear facing 5 MP camera for photos and front facing camera for video chat. The device supports enhanced, PC-like web browsing, fast LTE speeds, email, navigation and expandable memory option up to 32 GB.Aio has also added Naples and Ft. Myers to the growing number of markets it serves. Aio began operations last month in Houston, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and Gainesville, Fla., and plans to expand to additional markets across the United States over the next year.Aio makes wireless simple for customers by offering three simple rate plans, ranging from $35 to $70 per month, including all taxes and fees. All three plans include unlimited talk/text/data with a pre-established amount of 4G LTE data access. Aio also offers an attractive device portfolio that includes smartphones and a tablet, as well as the opportunity for customers to bring a compatible, unlocked device, for activation with Aio service.With the launch of 4G LTE service, Aio's customers with compatible LTE-enabled devices are now able to stream video, play video games, download apps, and more at even faster download speeds. Aio customers have access to a 4G LTE network that now covers more than 200 million people in 278 markets, and is expected to reach 300 million people by year-end 2014. When Aio customers go outside the 4G LTE footprint, they will continue to have access to fast 4G speeds. To view Aio coverage, please see our coverage viewer on our website (www.aiowireless.com)."We're expanding rapidly and are encouraged by the response we've been receiving from consumers in our launched markets, as well as from others throughout the U.S. who are eager for Aio to arrive in their area," said Jennifer Van Buskirk, president of Aio Wireless. "We're delighted to share the news of our 4G LTE service and our new LTE-capable device, as well as the addition of our two new Aio markets, bringing even faster data speeds and more choices to our growing family of Aio customers who are looking for a first-class wireless experience without an annual contract."Airbus and Dell OEM Solutions Launch Electronic Flight Bag Service* Dell OEM Solutions to manage integration and configuration of Dell Latitude laptops for FlySmart with Airbus "Class-2" Electronic Flight Bag solution;* Dell OEM Solutions will source, configure, and support the solution for Airbus' single-aisle aircraft in both forward-fit and retrofit scenarios;* Agreement reinforces Dell's commitment to aviation industry; will benefit Airbus aircraft operators.Dell OEM Solutions has partnered with Airbus, to support A320 Family airliner operators worldwide by providing an end-to-end Electronic Flight Bag (EFB*) solution supported by Dell Latitude solutions. Dell laptops, which adhere to strict regulatory standards, will be pre-loaded with FlySmart with Airbus software and installed as Class-2** EFB equipment. This EFB approach eliminates the need to carry paper based flight documentation while digitizing information in a way that supports local specifications. This initial announcement will cover EFB Class-2 solutions for Airbus' Single Aisle aircraft, though the agreement includes scope to extend application to other aircraft types."Airbus is dedicated to helping airlines enhance the profitability of their fleets by working with industry experts like Dell OEM to deliver the best possible solution," said Didier Lux, Airbus Executive Vice President of Customer Services. "Pilots will soon benefit from the very latest portable IT technology for viewing and interacting with their key documentation and information during all stages of the flight. Furthermore, this powerful and robust EFB solution will add value and increase efficiency to their daily work.""Dell OEM's ability to deliver customizable, best in class solutions designed to meet unique business goals is crucial to our customers. Our market insight, flexibility and speed differentiate us from other Tier One manufacturers and integrators," said Joyce Mullen, vice president and general manager OEM Solutions at Dell. "Our relationship with Airbus further cements our commitment to the aviation industry and our agility in delivering and supporting the EFB solution to Airbus customers globally re-enforces the strength and efficiency of our global supply chain."The agreement with Dell showcases Airbus' shared commitment to continued innovation. This Class-2 EFB solution supported by Airbus and Dell OEM allows airline operators to connect Dell Latitude laptops to the aircraft cockpit via a certified connection. Moreover, the device can be used at any point during the flight to access performance applications, electronic documentation of the airline's manuals, weather information, navigation and airport charts. As well as ensuring the overall physical robustness required for a cockpit operational environment, Dell's Latitude EFB solution also complies with strict aviation regulations and offers dependable security and in-depth data and device-management options.Notes for Editors:* An "EFB" is an electronic system for viewing and interacting with flight crew functions which have previously been accomplished using paper references (operating manuals, performance calculations, navigation charts);** A "Class-2" EFB takes the form of a portable laptop which is connectable to aircraft's avionics systems and power supply via a docking station. As such, this EFB classification means that it need not be permanently built into the cockpit's console. Rather, the pilots can disconnect it from the aircraft, take it with them when leaving the aircraft and continue working with the data to prepare for the next flight.AKAI PROFESSIONAL ANNOUNCES MPC HEADPHONES From concept to creation, Akai Professional now offers a fully immersive production experience with headphones and earbuds that match each new MPC in design and quality. Cumberland, R.I. (January 24, 2013) Akai Professional, the name synonymous with music production, announces MPC Pro Headphones, MPC Headphones, and MPC Earbuds, premium personal audio devices each designed for professional music production with Akai Professional's newest line of MPCs. Akai Professional will exhibit the MPC Pro Headphones, MPC Headphones, and MPC Earbuds at Booth 6700 at the 2013 NAMM show, January 24-27 in Anaheim, California. Akai Professional's new MPC headphones and earbuds are designed to match each new MPC in design, quality, and purpose. Each is designed to empower producers with the ability to hear their tracks and hone their craft with unmatched clarity and precision. In addition, MPC headphones and earbuds provide an exceptional experience for simply listening on the go to a personal music library. MPC Pro Headphones feature powerful 50mm drivers and an over-the-ear design for premium isolation and comfort in the studio, while MPC Headphones come with precise 40mm drivers and an on-the-ear design ideal for portability and music production on the move. Both feature Akai Professional's unmatched expertise in tuning and frequency response, as well as fully adjustable headbands, pivoting ear cups, and gunmetal aluminum and steel construction for a solid, comfortable fit. Overstuffed leather cushioning on the headbands and ear cups provides a luxurious listening experience for even the most demanding studio sessions. An audio cable with 1/8-inch connector and 1/4-inch adapter is included for music production, and a communication cable with a built-in microphone is also included for use with mobile phones. "Headphones are a huge part of the production process," said Dan Gill, Akai Professional Product Manager. "With the MPC headphones and earbuds, we're simply doing what we've always done-delivering the tools musicians need to get fully immersed in their craft." Featuring lightweight soft-touch ear clips with aluminum trim and volume control, MPC Earbuds are flexible, powerful, and designed for the active producer. They're engineered to be multi-purpose with the ability to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth to any compatible music player for casual cable-free listening, or to connect via the included professional audio cable for latency-free performance during music production. The built-in lithium-ion battery recharges easily via USB (cable included). MPC Earbuds deliver Akai Professional's superior tuning and frequency response for any track via precise 13mm drivers. Producers can go wired or wireless by connecting or disconnecting the included 1/8-inch cable from the Akai Professional medallion that is located on the cable between the earbuds. The medallion also includes a built-in mic for using MPC Earbuds with a mobile phone.Alaska Airlines Pilots Go Lean and Green With iPadsFirst major domestic airline to use iPads to replace flight manualsSEATTLE, May 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of an ongoing effort to use technology to enhance flight safety, improve efficiency and protect the environment, Alaska Airlines is issuing iPad tablet computers to its pilots. The 1 1/2-pound iPads replace up to 25 pounds of paper flight manuals that pilots are required to carry when they fly.The iPads are being distributed to all Alaska Airlines pilots, a process that will be complete by mid-June. This follows a successful trial by 100 line and instructor pilots and Air Line Pilots Association representatives, who evaluated the feasibility of using iPads as electronic flight bags this past winter and spring.Alaska Airlines is the first major domestic airline to use the iPad to replace paper manuals."We've been exploring the idea of an electronic flight bag for several years, but never found a device we really liked," said Gary Beck, Alaska Airlines' vice president of flight operations. "When the iPad hit the market, we took one look at it and said this is the perfect fit."The iPads contain an app called GoodReader that is loaded with PDF versions of 41 flight, systems and performance manuals, reference cards, and other materials. The electronic manuals include hyperlinks and color graphics, enabling pilots to find information faster and easier. Updating these reference materials can now be accomplished with one tap on the iPad screen instead of the former, labor-intensive process of replacing individual pages with new ones. The iPad is considered a Class 1 electronic device, meaning it is stowed during takeoff and landing under Federal Aviation Administration regulations.In conjunction with replacing paper manuals, Alaska Airlines is exploring the replacement of paper aeronautical navigation charts with electronic versions on the iPad, eliminating the need for every pilot to carry their own copy. The two initiatives, dubbed "Bye, Bye, Flight Bag," will save about 2.4 million pieces of paper.The cost of the project is expected to be offset by lower paper, printing and distribution expenses and reduced fuel consumption as some weight is removed from the aircraft. Further savings are expected from fewer back and muscle injuries caused by pilots carrying flight bags that can tip the scales at 50 pounds or more fully loaded.Note to media: A high-resolution photograph of an Alaska pilot with the iPad on the flight deck of a Boeing 737 is available in the airline's online newsroom image gallery at www.alaskaair.com/newsroom.Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), together serve 90 cities throughout Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. For reservations, visit www.alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Newsroom at www.alaskaair.com/newsroom.SOURCE Alaska AirlinesDell's Alienware X51 Desktop Brings Immersive HD Gaming Within Reach Powerful, High-Resolution Gaming Performance in a Small Form Factor Sophisticated Desktop Design That Fits in Nearly Any Living Space New Alienware Service Offerings Tailored Specifically for the Needs of Gamers Tweet This: Dell unveils the Alienware X51 gaming desktop an immersive, big game experience now within reach. http://dell.to/y03Ln7 #Alienware ROUND ROCK, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alienware, Dell's high-performance, PC gaming brand, invites customers to join in the ultimate gaming experience with the Alienware X51, its smallest gaming desktop ever with outsized performance capabilities. The latest in Dell's PC gaming portfolio, the X51 is designed to deliver an exhilarating 1080p high definitioni and 3D gamingii experience of today's top-tier game titles while the new, smaller chassis design offers the flexibility to turn nearly any living space, from the living room to the dorm room, into an entertainment and gaming mecca. The Alienware X51 gives customers the freedom to focus on the game with the performance expected in an Alienware gaming PC and a thoughtful design for post-purchase upgrades, and the latest in performance technology. The versatile design of the X51 enables customers to achieve high performance computing in virtually any living space with a dual-orientation chassis supporting 7.1 surround-sound audio and an optional Blu-Ray disc drive. "The Alienware X51 allows us to bring the exciting nature of high-definition, immersive gaming within reach of more gamers than ever before," said Arthur Lewis, vice-president, Alienware and Product Management for Consumer, Small and Medium Business. "With the X51, we've expanded our gaming desktop offering to cater to all gamers in addition to our core enthusiast and competitive gamers. Now everyone can enjoy the latest games on a sleek, powerful, compact and customizable system. The X51 desktop delivers an incredible feature set for its size and price." High Performance Gaming and Sophisticated Design Alienware X51 features powerful 2nd generation Intel Core i processors, NVIDIA GeForce GT or optional GTX class graphics cards for intense gaming performance, Wireless-N technology for easy Internet access, HDMI 1.4 for connecting to 3D TVs and watching 3D Blu-ray moviesii, two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports for fast data transfer, High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio and GDDR5 graphics memory - the most advanced graphics memory offering available. At its entry-level configuration with a Core i3 processor, 4GB memoryiii, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 graphicsiii, and a 1TB 7,200rpm hard driveiv, the raw power of the X51 yields an average 34 frames per second in Battlefield 3 at high settings and a resolution of 1080pv, starting at $699. The Alienware X51's intelligently designed chassis blends function and style. The desktop's sleek matte black finish with dark chrome accents and three customizable lighting zones, controlled by AlienFX software, create a distinguished appearance. The gaming desktop's thoughtful design with an ultra-quiet dual orientation chassis allows for a horizontal or vertical set-up, allowing flexibility in the X51's footprint without sacrificing performance. The intuitive internal layout with a mini-ITX motherboard allows customers to perform their own hard drive, graphics card and memory upgrades quickly and easily, giving them peace of mind for the system's longevity. Complete Control and Support All Alienware laptops and desktops come with Alienware Command Center, which provides intuitive, user-friendly access to exclusive applications and controls, including AlienFXTM lighting effects and the AlienFusion power management system. AlienAdrenaline, a new module for the Alienware X51, enables gamers to create unique profiles that launch a series of customizable events when activated, such as opening specific programs, changing AlienFX themes, opening key web links and more. Updates and new releases download directly into Command Center, creating a constantly evolving tool for users to modify and personalize their system. Alienware Gaming Services Specifically for Gamers The newly available Alienware Gaming Services enable gamers' lifestyles by providing services, which support the latest games on the market and come with a "No Fix, No Fee" policyvi. Services offered include New Game Setup, Game Performance Optimization, Game Customization and Personalization, and In Game Troubleshooting. These services can be found on Dell's Solution Station web portal. Product Leadership Alienware is recognized throughout the industry and with customers alike for performance, functionality and design. The Alienware M17x gaming laptop with Intel Sandy Bridge processors recently won "Best Gaming Laptop" of 2011 from PC Magazine, with the Alienware M11x laptop coming in as runner-up. As new technology is released, Alienware will continually offer the latest in PC gaming hardware, partnering with other industry leaders to deliver an optimized gaming experience. Alienware X51 Product Specifications: Intel Core i3 Dual Core (standard) and Intel Core i5 and i7 Quad Core Processor Options Intel H61 Express Chipset Architecture Mini-ITX Motherboard Powerful NVIDIA Graphics Card Options 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GT 545iii (Standard) 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 555iii Configure with up to 8GB of DDR3 Memoryiii (4GB Standard); 2x 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM Slots Fast 7,200RPM 1TB Hard Driveiv Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (Standard) or optional Blu-ray Disc Reader Internal High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio with Waves MAXX Audio Software Integrated 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet NIC and Integrated 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Wireless LAN (standard) USB 2.0 (6x); USB 3.0 (2x); Microphone In; Headphone/Speaker Out; HDMI 1.4 Output; RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet; Front, Rear and Center Speaker Ports; SPDIF Digital Output (TOSLINK); SPDIF Digital Output (Coax) Alienware 240 Watt Power Supply (Standard) or optional 330 Watt Power Supply Dual-orientation tower system dimensions: h: 13.5" (343mm) x w: 3.74" (95mm) x d: 12.52" (318mm) Starting Weight: 12.1 lbs. (5.49 Kg.) Availability and Pricing: Alienware X51 is available now on Dell.com and Alienware.com with a starting price of $699. Alienware Gaming Services is available in the U.S. and Canada at this time.Alienware's latest PC is an attempt to fire a salvo right across the bows of Sony and Microsoft's gaming flagships. It looks like the (slightly overweight) lovechild of the pair; like an alternate universe console. The borrows liberally from the design schools of both the Xbox (matte sides) and the PlayStation 3 (slot-loading optical drive, front panel gloss). The logo rotates to suit both vertical and horizontal setups. The device is around the size of the original PS3, but it looked pretty petite in comparison to the rest of Alienware's gaming hardware. There's a litany of holes on the back of the X51, including plenty of USB ports and audio options. Reacquaint yourself with some technical specifics after the break, alongside our hands-on impressions with Super Street Fighter IV. Something you may have noted in the gallery; those light-up features on the device can be reassigned to different colors -- thus the two blue and green hues we saw at the launch event. Both a compatible mouse and keyboard can also be tied into these colored light shows. The device is still pretty weighty, presumably due to the fact that this desktop has a largely modular structure, with extra adjustments possible on whichever build you decide to invest in. The PC is available now in both the UK and the US -- this was Alienware's London launch, so there may be some minor differences to the hardware on either side of the Atlantic.Connectivity-wise, we have the aforementioned USB ports, totaling six (2.0) and two (3.0), respectively, with space for HDMI, digital optical and coaxial audio out, space for surround sound systems, twin DVI outputs, and Gigabit Ethernet. The X51 looks equally comfortable in either orientation, and the ability to plug in control pads to the front of the device again echoes its console rivals. Alienware seemed eager to demonstrate this console experience, showcasing Super Street Fighter IV in a tournament for attendeesThe rub? Gameplay was smooth, with the same vibrant graphics you'd expect for a PC kitted out to last beyond the current crop of Sony and Microsoft hardware. Our efforts were more hampered by the controllers, on which which we struggled to unleash our hadoukens. We also had a brief stint on Portal 2, which, although no graphics powerhouse, also ran untroubled. The Core i3 X51 will set you back $699, with a GeForce GT545 graphics card. Anyone willing to pony up more cash for the Core i5 and i7 models, you can expect to pay somewhere between $700 and $1000, with a grand netting the top-drawer model. The chance for a strong debut entry into PC gaming, minus the toying-with-internals rigmarole, could tempt some previously console-only gamers to get their wallets out.Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.If we're to find a common thread in this week's collection of stories, it'd be nature's guiding hand. How it inspires science, how we seek to imitate it, and how unnatural the future of policing could be. This is alt-week, There's a dystopian future we all fear. But it's not one that usually involves Brazil and soccer. News, then, that military robots could be used to in the samba-state might catch many of us by surprise. iRobot, maker of the decidedly non-threatening (and more aptly named) , has secured a contract to provide security technology (in the form of its somewhat more menacing ) to the Brazilian government, including for the large sporting event. How the PackBots will be deployed, exactly, isn't made clear -- but it's likely they'd be pulling surveillance duties at the very least. Though we'd argue that telly-watching soccer fans are more worried at the sight of a noisy vacuum cleaner than anything else.Researchers at NC State University that could improve solar panel efficiency. The inspiration? A moth's eye. If you ever wondered what causes the rainbow effect when gasoline leaks onto a wet car park floor, then the answer is thin-film interference. This phenomenon causes light to reflect off the water, back through the fuel, taking a slightly different route. The resulting "interference" creates the rainbow. This same process can make thin-film solar cells, or electronics, reflect light causing them to be less efficient. Dr. Chih-Hao Chang at NC State explains how the eye of a moth has evolved so that it doesn't reflect light -- a design they were able to imitate in a nanostructure, thus stemming thin-film interference. The material essentially resembles a dense sheet of nanostructure cones with a second thin-film on top. This configuration was found to reflect 100 times less light than a regular thin-film. At this stage it's hard to estimate potential efficiency gains a commercial product could deliver, but the team is focusing on scaling it up, in order to find out.If a scientist tells you they've created something in a beaker, what might you expect? Some tissue, a cluster of fungal spores? Whatever it is, the likelihood is that you weren't thinking "." However, that's exactly what a team has created. Or, more accurately, flower-like sculptures. Technically these are crystals, but without the harsh, jagged edges we've come to associate with them. The blossoming structures are created by tweaking chemical gradients in fluid (in said beakers). Similar processes also occurs in nature, such as the formation of shells. The Harvard team experimented with different chemical reactions until it found the right combination that allowed them to control how the crystals grow. The research helps understand how complex shapes can form in nature, as well as the effects chemical changes in the environment can have.Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.Well, here we are. It's happening. We're officially talking about setting up a human colony on Mars. Not only is this very real, it's something you can be part of. You don't have to leave the planet to get your extra-terrestrial fix though, as our two other stories demonstrate. This is alt-week. First up is a quick tribute to the Herschel telescope, which this week. The European Space Agency project took off almost four years ago, and is responsible for 35,000 scientific observations, while collecting more than 25,000 hours' . When it launched on May 14th 2009, it did so with 2,300 liters of liquid helium coolant which have now been exhausted, causing all systems to overheat. Herschel's image archive leaves a lasting legacy from the mission, which is expected to continue providing new discoveries for a long time to come. For now though, it's "so long, and thanks for all the fish."What you see above definitely wasn't spotted by the Herschel telescope. The tiny skeleton was found in the Atacama desert about ten years ago, and its origins are . Despite being just six inches tall, with a cone-like head, researchers at Standford's School of Medicine claim that every nucleotide observed from the remains is human. DNA tests even suggest that it was between six and eight years old when it died. Perhaps more unusual is the fact that there were no signs of dwarfism. One possible clue to its origins comes from tests on the mitochondrial DNA (an element passed from mother to child), which shows a possible match for an indigenous Chilean ancestry. Of course, the skeleton's unusual size and shape has invariably stirred chatter of otherworldly beings among certain groups, but the scientists haven't found anything that remotely suggests this. The mystery continues to spark interest, with the skeleton also featuring in a recent crowd-funded documentary on UFOs Sirius Disclosure.Some people will do almost anything to get on TV, even if it means leaving your loved ones behind forever on a one-way trip to Mars. The project -- which hopes to send a number of "lucky" members of the public to colonize the red planet -- has over 20,000 applicants. Each one will have paid a processing fee of around $38, meaning these are at least more than just casual form-fillers. One major talking point of the expedition, is its reliance on television rights for funding, leading some to describe it as a reality-TV show. This is something Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Mars One, is keen to play down, insisting it's a serious mission. That said, Lansdorp the selection process would likely include a public voting component, based on profiles and introduction videos, with the final decision being left to a panel of experts. The hardware used to ferry the winners would come from existing industry players, such as . Budding astronauts have at least ten years to prepare for the trip, with Mars One hoping to land the first wave of settlers in 2023, and if you think you're ready to leave it all behind, you've got until August to put your money where your mouth is.[Image credits: Mars One, Sirius Movie]Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.What goes up must eventually come down, and shortly after landing on Terra Firma from his last of three ISS missions, Chris Hadfield has resigned from the Canadian Space Agency. That leaves us to wax poetic on his legacy of and other , while we also make goldfish disappear and admire dinosaur plumage. Welcome to alt-week. Space exploration is serious business, but you wouldn't know it by watching charismatic Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who just finished a stint commanding the for 144 days. While getting that job done, Hadfield also flaunted breathtaking images, educated us on the of the zero-g environment, and even entertained with a surprisingly decent version of Bowie's "Space Oddity" from actual space -- prompting a "" reply from Ziggy Stardust himself. Shortly after rejoining the earthbound (see the video, above), Hadfield announced his retirement from the Canadian Space Agency and said he'd be moving back to his home in Ontario. Of course, he'll continue inspiring interest in science at Canadian schools while waving the space exploration flag on behalf of the CSA, and as his wife, Helene, said, "anything Chris does is always an adventure."To date, so-called invisibility shields have been more or less , where the scene behind an object is , camouflaging it from the environment. However, such razzle-dazzle only works when viewed head on, making it useless in any practical applications. But researchers from Zhejiang University in China have a pair of invisibility shields, one that cloaked a cat from any of four different directions, and another hexagonal system that shielded a goldfish from six viewing angles. Any object in the interior of the shields can be cached, thanks to optical systems that map the correct background to the given view. Though the illusion breaks down if you change the viewing angle, such a device would be cheap and easy to build, according to scientists -- meaning you may soon be able to put that pet-hiding project on the front burner.Recently, we've had our childhood delusions dashed by the discovery that our had feathers. But what about the plumage of actual, soaring dino-birds like Archaeopteryx? Little was known about its color and composition due to the breakdown and fossilization of the organic elements over hundreds of millions of years. Thanks to at the Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, though, scientists now have a complete picture of that species' feathers, right down to the coloration -- which was light overall and dark at the tips, not uniformly dark as previously thought. All that was possible thanks to SLAC's ultra-sensitive X-ray beams, which discovered traces of pigment-related metals and organic sulfur compounds that could only have come from the extinct dino-birds themselves. The results go beyond the feathers, giving clues into the animal's health, diet and even mating rituals -- which we certainly wouldn't want to get in the middle of, judging by the image above. Check the video below for more.The moon is far from old hat. In fact, after exactly four years on the job, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is just scratching its jagged surface. The dearth of info on our celestial neighbor isn't stopping us from trying to send personal space messages to a far-flung star system, though. Why? Blame it on our huge brains, which we've now mapped in detailed 3D. Yes, this is alt-week. After numerous orbiting missions and six personal visits, you'd think we'd know our moon pretty well. But the (LRO) which launched four years ago has brought such a wealth of , it's hard to know where to start. For one, we now know the lunar topography better than any other planet, including our own (what with the ocean and all). Other discoveries include deep craters which are the coldest places we've yet seen in our solar system, evidence of ice at the moon's surface and fault lines showing that the moon has recently shrunk. On top of that, the LRO has scanned the moon's crust while other missions deliberately crashed into it, received a laser signal from earth in the and even . Evan after all that, NASA says that the moon is still a cypher in many ways -- luckily, the LRO still has a lot of years left in it.Speaking of nearby mysterious objects, how about the gray matter inside your head? Researchers from the Human Brain Project mapping the brain of a deceased 65-year old woman by first scanning it via MRI, then slicing it into 7,400 20-micrometer layers. After repairing and digitizing each one on a flatbed scanner, the result was a 3D map accurate to 20 thousandths of a millimeter -- too large to see individual neurons, but small enough to see the overall cell structure of the brain. The terabyte-sized neural atlas is available for anybody to (registration required) and could prove valuable to future research projects. While it doesn't show brain activity or function, such data could be integrated later to help create a computational model of the brain. That in turn could become a jumping-off place or "mother ship" for future research that leads to a better understanding of neurological diseases, childhood development and even structural differences between individual brains. Meanwhile, you can use your own to see how they did it in the video above.The lack of a smoking ray-gun hasn't stopped people from in alien life, and a new website called the aims to, er, help those folks. Rather than just beam a generic message itself into random space, though, the group will now let you send your own, personalized dispatch to those hypothetical green men via the Jamesburg Earth Station radio dish. It chose a very specific red dwarf star system 18 light-years away called Gliese 526 to receive the transmissions, even though scientists aren't even sure if has any planets, let alone life. Still, such uncertainty didn't stop futurist Ray Kurzweil from sending the first message, which says in part: "As you receive this, our computers have made us smarter, the better to understand you and the wisdom of the universe." Though we may not be so profound, the rest of us can also send a single message for free, but naturally, Lone Signal isn't just doing it as a kindness. Subsequent tidings will run $0.99, or about $3 for a photo, and you can even purchase a whopping 4,000 credits for $100 or so. The chatty among us might find that to be a good deal, but just remember: you won't hear a reply of any kind for at least 36 years.Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.Printing can take these days, . It's a term we see pulled in another direction this week, but one we think you'll enjoy. Want something a little more tangible? How about advanced Antarctic topology, or gas-detecting microscale vacuum pumps? Yep, this is alt-week. It's a fact, we're suckers for a bit of video game nostalgia, and this week we've got it in spades. Not only does Taito's classic Space Invaders since swallowing its first quarter, Tetris is . So, technically, it might have never really left -- but this time it's inception-style nostalgia, thanks to this natty Tetris "printer." Using an algorithm to convert a source image into one-square-sized "pixels," a Tetris playfield recreates the image one line at a time, clearing blocks and rows as needed until the right colors are in place. The code essentially plays the game until it gets the Tetriminos in the right places and the end image -- in this case game characters -- emerges. Watch the video to see it in action, or head to the to see how it was put together block by block.You'd be forgiven for thinking the image above came from the Curiosity rover, which is due to soon. Actually, it's a detailed map of what Antarctica looks like . The new images, created by the British Antarctic Survey, are compiled from decades of measurements, and give us the most intricate view of the continent's topography yet. Three datasets in total were used -- surface elevation, ice thickness and bedrock topography -- to create the imagery, which replaces the previous best collected over 10 years ago. The picture it paints is in stark contrast to the relatively smooth surface we're used to seeing thanks to the permanent layer of snow and ice. Beyond mapping, the work also helps scientists understand how the ice moves around, under its own weight, on top of the base layer of rock. Want to see more? Interactive images and a video presentation are available for the curious.If you thought the was the pinnacle of vacuum technology, think again. , , has resulted in the world's smallest vacuum pumps. In some cases, smaller than a dime. While these micro-suckers might not be much cop at cleaning the den, they do have other, more specialized talents. Most notably, the technology could offer highly sensitive gas sensors that can provide early warnings of chemical attack, and biological pollution. The research was conducted with input from the University of Michigan and Honeywell, with the example you see above being a 24-stage microscale "rough" pump -- where each section serves as either a pump or a valve. Previously, the smallest pump or vacuum technologies were about the size of a deck of cards, making them impractical for use inside complex electronics. With further development, however, these microscale pumps could allow for smaller (and more accurate) laser-cooled atomic clocks. So don't make that just yet.Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. It's a beautiful world we live in. And, while the sweet and romantic part is debatable, strange and fantastic is not. Our universe is one populated by non-planetary celestial bodies with their own non-planetary satellites, high school social hierarchies based on predictable mathematical formulas and military-funded "gut-on-a-chips." It's a weird place filled with weird stories, and we just can't get enough of it. So, what has the last seven days brought us from the fringes of science and tech? Keep reading after the break to find out. This is alt-week. Turns out, math isn't just something you suffer through in high school -- it can actually determine your social standing. In the clique-filled world of secondary school there is a clear social hierarchy, and researchers at the University of Michigan believe they've found the formula that unlocks its secrets. The unfortunate truth is that social circles are filled with one-way relationships and, the more you're the benefactor of, the higher your social standing. Not only that but, the more lower-ranked individuals claiming friendship with you increases as you advance from one grade to the next and as your number of true friendships grows. Turns out high school isn't really all that tough to figure out after all -- so long as you can pass pre-calc. Maybe you couldn't quite figure out that whole "people" thing in high school (there's enough us on staff at Engadget -- we understand), but perhaps you could increase your social standing by making your own friends. We're not quite to the point where you can cause a beautiful woman to materialize , but researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard are inching us closer with some help from DARPA. The military research arm has agreed to work with the school's scientists and provide them with up to $37 million in funding to further develop their program. The goal is to use flexible plastic circuits to recreate all the basic functions of the human body, from digestion to breathing and everything in between. They claim that the primary goal is to provide platforms for studying diseases, toxins and medication, but we know the truth -- the army wants . Not every attempt to recreate the human anatomy in synthetic form is destined to lead to our enslavement, however. Engineers at the University of Missouri are using the human eye as inspiration for what may be the . See, your eyelids actually spread a film of oil over your eyeball which protects a thin layer of tears that allow you to keep your eye open without it drying out. Similarly, an inkjet printer's nozzles need to be kept open to put words and images on paper, but drying out can lead to clogs and less than desirable results. By placing a tiny droplet of silicon oil in the nozzle the researchers are able to prevent the ink from crusting up. Obviously an eyelid-like shutter mechanism would be too large and complicated for something as small as a print head, so an electrical field is applied instead to keep the film spread thin. Our eyes aren't just good for inspiring technology, they're also pretty good for lookin' at stuff. Sometimes they need a little help from something like the Hubble Space Telescope, but its our peepers that ultimately spotted , P5. Since from planet to dwarf planet in 2006 we've actually discovered two new moons orbiting the icy sun satellite. Which makes us wonder if -- is Pluto trying to convince the International Astronomical Union to reverse its decision? At least it's got entire class of space debris named after it now. Being the inspiration for the name Plutoid has to count for something, right? Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] comAlt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.It's not often that smell gets a look-in when it comes to gadgets and technology. That all changes this week with the "scent camera" you see above. But, while you're thinking about preserving the aroma of those killer cookies you baked, others are wondering what's going on in the deep, dark sky above. This is alt-week. How about a new area of astrophysics to get things started? Well, that could potentially be a reality thanks to by the in New South Wales, Australia. A details four unusual deep-space radio "flashes" picked up by the telescope, each lasting barely a millisecond. The team of scientists involved has ruled out gamma rays, merging stars and black holes as potential sources, and the signature of the frequency strongly suggests that the flashes came from as far as 11 billion light-years away. It's not believed that the bursts came from the same location, but instead, might actually be a fairly common occurrence in the sky -- just only rarely received by current listening posts. This is where a new field of astrophysics could fork out, in search of more information about the potentially new class of event. For now though it's left to our imaginations.All those pictures of food on instagram could eventually become a whole lot more tempting (or repulsive, depending) thanks to an aroma "camera" . Creator developed a scent-snatching device using equipment more commonly used in the creation (rather than capture) of fragrance. Radcliffe says that The Madeleine functions in a similar way to a photo sensor, but instead of receiving and recording light information, The Madeleine grabs molecular information about the odor. The hardware, however, would look more comfortable in a science lab than a camera bag -- consisting of a glass dome some pipes and an angular unit housing a resin trap. It's this last piece that receives the molecules from whatever is in the glass bell. The idea being that you can then send the trap off to a lab to be "developed" into a replica of the smell. So, while it won't be in the camera of your phone any time soon "scent-ography" could become a burgeoning area of its own.?While there are many believers, for the mainstream scientific community there's yet to be any conclusive proof of alien life in our galaxy. The good news is, that that doesn't mean they're not trying their hardest to find some. The Search for Extra Terrestrial Inteligence -- better known as SETI -- has largely operated out of the US, but that's about to change. Teams from 11 UK academic institutions to join the hunt for signs of alien life. Collectively known as the UK SETI Research Network (UKSRN), the group is currently seeking funding, and plans to explore new ways of searching for signs of life in outer space. It's not asking for much, either, with co-ordinator Alan Penny stating that it just needs half a percent of the amount that currently gets spent on astronomy to be comparable with the American wing of the operation. British agencies have previously worked with SETI projects, but the hope is that the new dedicated effort could make an "amazing difference" once up and running. Sounds like something we could definitely get behind.Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.[Image credits: Swinburne Astronomy Productions, Amy Radcliffe, Mike Peel]Amazon Takes on the High-End-Introducing the New Kindle Fire HD Family $199 now gets you the world's most-advanced 7" tablet, with a stunning custom HD display, the fastest Wi-Fi, exclusive Dolby audio, powerful processor and graphics engine, and 16 GB of storage-all backed by the world's best content ecosystem, the best cross-platform interoperability, and the best customer service $299 now gets you all the same advanced technology on a stunning 8.9" large-screen 1920x1200 HD display with 254 ppi and a powerful OMAP4 4470 processor and graphics engine $499 now gets you the same high-end large-screen HD tablet, 32 GB of storage, plus ultra-fast 4G LTE wireless powered by the latest generation 4G chipset, and Amazon's groundbreaking $49.99 one year 4G LTE data package-customers save hundreds of dollars in the first year compared to other 4G tablets New inventions exclusively on the new family of Kindle Fire devices-X-Ray for Movies, X-Ray for Textbooks, Immersion Reading, Whispersync for Voice, Whispersync for Games, and Kindle FreeTime SEATTLE-September 6, 2012-(NASDAQ: AMZN)-Less than one year ago, Amazon introduced Kindle Fire-combining 15 years of innovation into a fully-integrated, end-to-end service for customers. Kindle Fire quickly became the most successful product launch in the history of Amazon.com, earning over 10,000 5-star customer reviews, remaining the #1 best-selling product across the millions of items available on Amazon since its introduction, and capturing 22% of U.S. tablet sales in just nine months. Today, Amazon is excited to announce that it's taking on the high-end with Kindle Fire HD-the next generation of Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire HD family-the most-advanced tablets: - Ultra-fast 4G LTE wireless, powered by the latest generation 4G chipset, support for all 10 4G bands, and Amazon's breakthrough 4G LTE data package-customers save hundreds of dollars in the first year compared to other 4G tablets. - Stunning custom HD display with in-plane switching, Advanced True Wide polarizing filter and custom laminated touch sensor for 25% less glare with rich color and deep contrast from any viewing angle. - Fastest Wi-Fi of any tablet-dual antenna, dual-band, and MIMO-40% faster downloads and streaming compared to the next fastest tablet. - High-performance processor and graphics engine for snappy and smooth performance. - Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus audio-the standard in high-end audio-available for the first time on a tablet. - Kindle Fire HD starts with 16 GB of local storage, enough to accommodate the larger file sizes of HD content. - Exceptional battery life-7" Kindle Fire HD gets 11 hours of battery life. - Front-facing HD camera with custom Skype application for video calling from anywhere in the world. - New Amazon-exclusive features like X-Ray for Movies, X-Ray for Textbooks, Immersion Reading, Whispersync for Voice, Whispersync for Games, and Kindle FreeTime. - World's best content ecosystem-over 22 million movies, TV shows, songs, apps, games, books, audiobooks and magazines. - Best cross-platform interoperability, with Amazon apps available on the largest number of devices and platforms so customers can access content anytime, anywhere. - Amazon's top-rated, world-class customer service. Amazon is also introducing an all-new upgraded version of the best-selling standard definition Kindle Fire with a faster processor, twice the memory and longer battery life-all for an even lower breakthrough price-only $159. Meet the all-new Kindle Fire family at www.amazon.com/kindlefirehd. "We're taking on the most popular price point for a tablet, $499, but doubling the storage and incredibly, adding ultra-fast 4G LTE wireless," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. "Kindle Fire HD is not only the most-advanced hardware, it's also a service. When combined with our enormous content ecosystem, unmatched cross-platform interoperability and standard-setting customer service, we hope people will agree that Kindle Fire HD is the best high-end tablet anywhere, at any price." The Best Hardware Stunning Custom HD Display The 8.9" display on Kindle Fire HD features an incredible 254 pixels per inch with a resolution of 1920x1200, with pixels that are indistinguishable to the human eye. The 7" Kindle Fire HD features a stunning HD display with 1280x800 resolution that delivers deep, detailed contrast and rich, natural color. Kindle Fire HD also uses Gorilla Glass to provide superior strength and reliability. Kindle Fire HD starts with excellent resolution, but that is only the beginning-Amazon also added custom features that reduce glare and improve color saturation at any viewing angle. Most tablet displays are made up of two pieces of glass-an LCD on the bottom and a touch sensor on the top, separated by an air gap. This air gap allows light to come through the touch sensor and reflect off the LCD, which causes added glare for the user. Fire HD solves this air gap problem by laminating the touch sensor and the LCD together into a single layer of glass, creating a display that is easy to view even in overhead light, and reducing glare by 25% relative to the latest generation iPad. Like many tablets, Kindle Fire HD uses in-plane switching (IPS) to improve color reproduction. But displays that only use IPS still appear washed out at various angles, such as laid sideways in bed, flat on a table, or propped up in a case. Fire HD features an Advanced True Wide polarizing filter that is applied directly to the LCD panel. This results in a display that shows the same deep contrast and rich, detailed color from any angle. High-End Laptop-Quality Wi-Fi-40% Faster Downloads and High-Speed Streaming HD content has much larger file sizes than standard definition content-for example, Marvel's The Avengers in standard definition is 785 MB, but in HD, The Avengers is 2.97 GB. Files of this size require the very latest in Wi-Fi technology to download or stream the HD content quickly and reliably-anything else results in buffering, slow downloads and dropped connections. Many Wi-Fi enabled devices only use the 2.4 GHz wireless frequency. This frequency is crowded since it is used by everything from other tablets to microwave ovens, baby monitors, Bluetooth devices, not to mention the neighbors' Wi-Fi networks. Kindle Fire HD circumvents this congestion with state-of-the-art dual-band Wi-Fi. Kindle Fire HD can automatically switch between the 2.4 GHz network and the newer, less crowded 5 GHz network, resulting in better range and less interference. In addition, dual antennas and Multiple In/Multiple Out (MIMO) allow for higher bandwidth and longer range. The new Kindle Fire HD is the first tablet to market with all three of these latest generation Wi-Fi technologies-dual-band support, dual antennas, and MIMO. This is the first time this state-of-the-art Wi-Fi technology has been offered in a tablet, resulting in 40% faster throughput compared to the latest generation iPad. Latest Generation 4G LTE Wireless The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with ultra-fast 4G LTE, with download speeds as fast as Wi-Fi. To keep the 4G Kindle Fire HD just 8.8 mm thin, Amazon custom-designed its 4G wireless modem to be just 2.2 mm. Some 4G devices don't support all of the non-4G bands-Kindle Fire HD includes support for 10-bands, so even if a customer doesn't have perfect 4G coverage, the Kindle will fall back to the fastest available 3G speeds. Amazon's Breakthrough 4G LTE Data Package The 4G Kindle Fire HD comes with the most affordable 4G tablet data package. Customers will have access to a 12-month data plan with 250MB per month, 20GB of Amazon Cloud storage, and a $10 credit in the Amazon Appstore for a one-time cost of $49.99. In fact, when you combine the cost of the device and the data plan, customers who purchase the Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE will pay over $400 less than latest generation iPad owners in the first year of ownership. Customers can also choose to upgrade to 3 GB or 5 GB data plans from AT&T directly from the device. 8 GB of Storage is Not Enough for an HD Tablet Customers want to enjoy HD content if they have an HD tablet-and 8 GB of on-device storage isn't enough for the larger HD file sizes. The 7" Kindle Fire HD is available with 16 GB or 32 GB of on-device storage, and the large screen Kindle Fire is available with 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of on-device storage. This large on-device storage capacity is in addition to the free storage Amazon provides for Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud. Amazon digital content is automatically backed up for free in the Amazon Cloud's Worry-Free Archive where it's available anytime. Powerful World-Class Processor-Snappy and Smooth An HD display and HD content must be driven by a powerful processor and optimized software. The Kindle Fire HD family features world-class processors and the new Imagination Technologies graphics engine for lightning-fast HD graphics and excellent fluidity. The 8.9" Kindle Fire HD is powered by the latest generation OMAP4 4470 processor and Imagination SGX544 graphics engine capable of over 12 billion floating point operations per second-50 percent more than Tegra 3, and both Kindle Fire HD 7" and 8.9" come with higher memory bandwidth than Tegra 3. Combining the latest generation processors with significant customization of the Kindle Fire software by Amazon engineers results in a snappy and smooth experience for the user. Dual Stereo Speakers and Exclusive Dolby Audio-The New Standard for Tablet Audio Customers shouldn't need to wear headphones while watching a movie on a tablet to get excellent sound. Kindle Fire HD solves this by combining dual stereo speakers with the next generation Dolby Digital Plus audio platform-the standard in high performance audio-to offer a world-class audio experience. Dolby's audio suite for Kindle Fire HD includes technology used to adjust volume and deliver easier-to-understand dialogue in movies and TV shows. Kindle Fire HD automatically optimizes the audio profile based on what a customer is doing, such as watching a movie, listening to music, using third party apps like Pandora and Netflix, and also optimizes for headphones versus speakers. All of these pieces combine to create an exceptional audio experience that results in clearer, crisper and balanced sound quality. 11 Hours of Battery Life The 7" Kindle Fire HD is optimized to deliver high performance without sacrificing battery life, delivering over 11 hours of battery life. Thin and Light Even with a custom display, a powerful processor, extra speakers and dual-band/dual-antenna Wi-Fi, the new Kindle Fire HD is extremely light and thin. In fact, Kindle Fire HD 8.9" weighs only 20 ounces and is just 8.8 mm thin. Kindle Fire HD 7" is small enough to take everywhere and light enough to hold easily and comfortably in one hand. Connect with Bluetooth and HDMI Kindle Fire HD supports Bluetooth, enabling customers to connect their wireless Bluetooth headphones or Bluetooth speakers to listen to songs, videos or audiobooks. With Bluetooth connectivity, customers can also easily connect to a wide range of Bluetooth-enabled keyboards. HDMI out makes it easy for customers to connect the Kindle Fire HD to their big-screen TV to enjoy their favorite HD videos and photos. Stay in Touch with Front-Facing HD Camera The new Kindle Fire HD features a front-facing HD camera. Skype created a customized app tailored for Kindle Fire HD that is ready to use out of the box for free HD video calls at home and abroad. Kindle Fire HD makes it easy for the over 500 million customers already using Skype to get in touch with friends and family. Beautiful Leather Covers Covers for Kindle Fire HD feature a premium textured leather exterior in a variety of colors and a subtle woven nylon interior to provide the lightest and thinnest form of protection. The integrated magnetic clasp ensures the cover remains securely closed while in a backpack, purse, or briefcase. The cover automatically wakes Kindle Fire HD upon opening and puts it to sleep when closed, making it easy to dive right back into whatever content a customer is enjoying. All-New Features Only Amazon Can Offer X-Ray for Books One year ago, Amazon introduced X-Ray on Kindle Touch, and customers loved it. Amazon is extending X-Ray to books on Kindle Fire, making it easier than ever for customers to learn more about the content they love by exploring the "bones of the book." With a single tap, readers can see all the passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics that interest them, as well as more detailed descriptions from Wikipedia and Shelfari, Amazon's community-powered encyclopedia for book lovers. X-Ray for Movies "X-Ray for Movies" is a new feature that revolutionizes the movie experience by bringing the power of IMDb directly to movies on Kindle Fire HD, accessible with a simple tap. Without ever leaving the movie, customers can look up any actor in the scene or movie, see what other movies they have been in, and view photos, biographies and more. X-Ray is offered only by Amazon and is exclusive to the Amazon ecosystem. IMDb, an Amazon company for 14 years, is the #1 movie website in the world with more than 160 million monthly unique visitors worldwide. X-Ray for Textbooks Glossaries in print textbooks contain the most important information for students, but they're placed inconveniently in the back of the book. And glossaries don't always contain enough information for students working to understand new concepts. X-Ray for Textbooks solves these problems by integrating the glossary directly into each textbook page and by algorithmically assembling related data from Wikipedia and YouTube. Immersion Reading Research supports that readers can benefit from listening while reading. Together, Amazon and Audible invented "Immersion Reading," allowing customers to fuse together printed text and professionally-narrated audiobooks, giving readers the ability to experience their reading with two senses-sight and sound. As the reader views the text of their book on Kindle Fire, text is highlighted as it is professionally-narrated, creating a more immersive experience, as well as deeper learning and comprehension. Whispersync for Voice Whispersync for Voice allows customers to synchronize their Kindle books with professionally-narrated audiobooks-customers can start reading a book on Kindle Fire and seamlessly switch to listening to the companion audiobook, picking up exactly where they left off. With Whispersync for Voice, customers can continue enjoying books during commutes or any other time their eyes are busy. When they get in the car, customers can effortlessly pick up the story right where they left off reading by listening to the professionally-narrated audiobook using Bluetooth on Kindle Fire HD or with any Audible app on their smartphone. Ideal for Gaming Amazon has worked with leading developers to offer new Android games exclusively on Kindle Fire HD, including Activision's popular Skylanders Cloud Patrol franchise and Crytek's Fibble. In Skylanders Cloud Patrol, gamers will discover a new feature-the ability to purchase physical toys from within a game. Customers will be able to purchase a unique Skylanders character with a single click, and Amazon.com will deliver it to their doorstep. In addition to hardware that's perfect for gaming like stunning custom HD displays, fast Wi-Fi and large on-device storage, the Kindle Fire HD family also offers HD Games, gyroscope and accelerometer for full tilt and turn controls, as well as social gaming features including group leaderboards and achievements. Whispersync for Games One of the biggest frustrations of mobile gaming is that when customers switch devices or delete and re-install the game on the same device, they have to start a level over or go back to the beginning of the game. To solve this problem, Amazon extended its Whispersync technology to gaming with Whispersync for Games. Whispersync for Games syncs a customer's place in the game and saves unlocked levels, so even if they get a new device, the progress is backed up in the cloud. Kindle FreeTime Amazon today reinvented parental controls with Kindle FreeTime. FreeTime gives parents easy-to-use tools to personalize their children's digital media experience. With FreeTime, parents never have to worry what content their kids will access-parents select all of the content their kids can see and kids can't exit FreeTime without a password. FreeTime also lets parents limit their kids' screen time by content type-they may choose to limit videos and games, for example, but make reading time unlimited. Kindle FreeTime will be available for free on all of the new Kindle Fire devices starting in the coming weeks. Cloud-Accelerated Silk Browser The new Kindle Fire family uses a new version of Amazon Silk with the unique "split browser" architecture that leverages the computing speed and power of Amazon Web Services to deliver content faster. The new Amazon Silk browser features an updated core rendering engine and a reengineered transport layer that contribute to faster page loads. Customers can experience full-screen browsing, reading view, and improved browsing with most-visited, trending and recommended sites all available from a single screen. All-New Email and Calendar The new Kindle Fire family features world-class Microsoft Exchange integration, with fine-tuned performance on many of the most critical e-mail functions. For example, typical Exchange accounts sync with the oldest emails first, ending with the most recent emails-Kindle Fire instead syncs with newer emails first, then with older emails, getting customers faster access to the most recent emails they are looking for. Kindle Fire also features a new calendar app, making it easy for customers to stay connected and keep track of their schedules. The new e-mail client offers support for the world's most popular email providers-including Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, Hotmail and more. Photos Brought to Life Photos come alive in stunning high-resolution on Kindle Fire HD. Fire's mosaic view arranges personal photos beautifully, and customers will be delighted to see their best shots on their TV with HDMI out. Kindle Fire lets customers easily import their photos from Facebook and because their photos are securely stored in Amazon Cloud Drive, they never have to worry about losing their favorite pictures. New Latest Generation Kindle Fire-Only $159 Kindle Fire, the #1 best-selling product on Amazon for the past year, is now even better, with all the features customers love about the original Kindle Fire-all the content, seamless integration with the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, and a brilliant 7" touchscreen-now with a faster processor for 40% faster performance, twice the memory and longer battery life. The new Kindle Fire also offers all of the new features that are exclusive to the Kindle Fire family-including X-Ray for Movies, X-Ray for Books, Immersion Reading, Whispersync for Voice, Kindle FreeTime and more. Backed by the World's Best Content Ecosystem, Cross-Platform Interoperability and Customer Service All the Content-Over 22 Million Movies, TV Shows, Songs, Apps, Games, Books, Audiobooks and Magazines Kindle Fire offers customers the largest selection of digital content, including thousands of exclusives: - Over 120,000 movies and TV episodes, including the most popular titles and the biggest new releases. Customers can stream or download, purchase or rent. Amazon Prime members enjoy unlimited, commercial-free streaming of over 25,000 popular movies and TV episodes at no additional cost with Prime Instant Video. Customers who are new to Prime get one free month of Amazon Prime when they purchase Kindle Fire. - Instant access to the most popular apps and games, including Where's My Perry?, Pinterest, NBA JAM, HBO GO, Hulu Plus and Asphalt 7-each one optimized for Kindle Fire HD. - Millions of songs from over 3 million artists. Customers can stream purchases from the cloud, download playlists for offline listening, and store their personal collection in the cloud for access anytime, anywhere. - Millions of books, including over 180,000 titles that are exclusive to the Kindle Store. Over 650,000 books are priced at $4.99 or less; over 1.2 million are $9.99 or less. Amazon Prime members can choose from over 180,000 titles, including all 7 Harry Potter books and over 100 current and former New York Times best sellers, to borrow for free as part of Kindle Owners' Lending Library, as frequently as a book a month with no waiting and no due dates. - Hundreds of magazines and newspapers-including Vogue, Esquire, National Geographic and Better Homes and Gardens-with glossy full-color layouts, HD photography, and beautifully detailed illustrations. Customers can try more than 50 free single issues available in the Kindle Newsstand, including Cosmopolitan, Maxim, O, The Oprah Magazine, ESPN The Magazine, Elle and Martha Stewart Living. - Over 100,000 professionally-narrated audiobook titles available, with free samples to listen to before buying. Best Cross-Platform Interoperability with "Buy Once, Enjoy Everywhere" With apps available on the largest number of devices and platforms, Kindle makes it easier than ever to access content anytime, anywhere. Customers can read and sync their Kindle books across iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, Android phones and tablets, BlackBerry, Windows Phones and in their web browsers with Kindle Cloud Reader. Amazon Instant Video and Prime Instant Video are available to watch on iPad, PC, Mac, Xbox, Playstation 3, Blue-Ray, Roku and hundreds of compatible TVs, and because of Amazon's Whispersync technology, customers never have to worry about losing their place in a movie or TV show. Amazon MP3s are available on iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Sonos and web browsers with Cloud Player. Apps from the Amazon Appstore for Android are available on all Android phones and tablets. No other company offers customers this level of flexibility with their content. Free Month of Amazon Prime Amazon continues to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to bring Prime members new movies, TV shows and books to enjoy at no additional cost. Amazon customers enjoy unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of over 25,000 movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video; over 180,000 books from Kindle Owners' Lending Library to borrow for free, as frequently as a book a month, with no waiting and no due dates; and receive the convenience of Free Two-Day Shipping on over 15 million items from Amazon.com. Even with all this investment and continually growing selection, Prime remains at the same low price it launched with seven years ago-just $79. Customers who are new to Prime get one free month of Amazon Prime when they purchase Kindle Fire. Arrives Pre-Registered Kindle Fire comes automatically pre-registered so customers can immediately start enjoying their digital content purchased from Amazon or shop for new content. Top-Rated, World-Class Customer Service When a customer shops on Amazon.com, buys a Kindle Fire, or buys Kindle content, they know that with that they are also getting Amazon's world-class customer service. Amazon scored 86-the top score-on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), and 89 on the ForeSee customer satisfaction survey-the highest ever attained by a retailer. Amazon has been rated #1 in the National Retail Federation Customers' Choice Awards, has been awarded the top spot in the MSN Money Customer Service Hall of Fame three years in a row, and is a JD Power and Associates 2012 Customer Service Champion. Customers have been shopping on Amazon for over 15 years, and they continue to do so because of the unparalleled end-to-end customer experience. Special Offers The new Kindle Fire family comes with special offers that appear on the lock screen. Examples of special money-saving offers that customers will enjoy include a $5 credit in the Amazon MP3 Store and a $5 credit for select titles in the Amazon Instant Video Store. Customers will also receive special offers and screensavers from brands like AT&T, Discover and Intel, such as a special offer of a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card when a customer uses their Discover card to purchase a digital product on Amazon. Best Tablets at Any Price The all-new Kindle Fire HD 7"-with a stunning HD display, the fastest Wi-Fi, exclusive HD audio with two stereo speakers and Dolby Digital Plus, 16 or 32 GB of storage and a powerful world-class processor-all backed by the world's best content ecosystem, best cross-platform interoperability and best customer service is $199. Kindle Fire HD 7" is available for preorder starting today at www.amazon.com/kindlefirehd7 and will begin shipping on September 14. Kindle Fire HD 8.9", with all of these features plus an ultra-high definition 8.9" screen, and 16 or 32 GB of storage, starts at $299 and is available for preorder starting today at www.amazon.com/kindlefirehd, and will begin shipping on November 20. Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G, with the most affordable 4G data plan in the world, and 32 or 64 GB of storage, starts at $499 and is available for preorder starting today at www.amazon.com/kindlefirehd4G, and will begin shipping on November 20. The new latest generation Kindle Fire with a faster processor for 40% faster performance, twice the memory and all the new features is only $159, and pre-order to reserve their page in line at www.amazon.com/kindlefire and will begin shipping on September 14. For high resolution images and video of the all-new Kindle Fire family, visit www.amazon.com/pr/kindle. About Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support and dual-antennas/MIMO for 40% faster throughput than other tablets, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine-and it is available in two display sizes-7" and 8.9". The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless, and comes with Amazon's groundbreaking $49.99 one year 4G LTE data package-customers save hundreds of dollars in the first year compared to other 4G tablets. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life. Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise. The 4G device has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained. Forward-Looking Statements This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.Amazon Announces Login with Amazon to Reduce Sign-In Friction and Drive Higher Customer EngagementDevelopers and website owners can securely connect with Amazon's over 200 million active customersSEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May. 29, 2013-- (NASDAQ: AMZN) -- Today, Amazon launched Login with Amazon, a new service that will enable the over 200 million active Amazon customers to securely and simply login to apps, games, and websites. Login with Amazon allows developers to easily reduce sign-in friction for their customers, leading to higher engagement and order conversion.According to a 2012 Harris Interactive study, over half of all American Internet users have five or more unique passwords to remember. Login with Amazon reduces sign-in friction by eliminating the need for users to create an account and password, and instead allows them to sign-in using their existing Amazon account information. Amazon customers can choose to share certain attributes of their account profile with apps, games, and websites by using Login with Amazon."Login with Amazon enables app developers and website owners to leverage Amazon's trusted sign-in solution, allowing them to focus on providing a great experience for their customers," said Michael Carr, Amazon Vice President, eCommerce Services. "Amazon customers now have a hassle-free way to quickly and securely sign-in to apps, games and websites, without having to remember yet another password."As early adopters of Login with Amazon, Zappos and Woot, both Amazon subsidiaries, saw significant customer adoption. Zappos saw 40 percent of its new customers choose to sign-in to Zappos.com with an Amazon account. Woot found that new customers picked Login with Amazon two times more often than any other social login on their site, and those customers had the highest rate of order conversion.Login with Amazon is available at no charge to developers of apps, games, and websites. The service is easy to integrate, as developers can typically go from registration to launch in a matter of hours. It is based on the OAuth 2.0 authorization framework, allowing developers to leverage a widely-adopted open protocol. For additional details about Login with Amazon, including code samples and the SDKs for Android and iOS, please visit login.amazon.com.Login with Amazon is the latest offering in an array of services that make Amazon the most complete end-to-end ecosystem for developers building, monetizing and marketing their apps and games. These capabilities include:The ability for app developers to use Amazon Web Services' (AWS) technology platform for their infrastructure needs. Building blocks such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and Amazon DynamoDB allow developers to focus on what differentiates their app rather than the undifferentiated heavy lifting of infrastructure.GameCircle, which includes capabilities like Achievements, Leaderboards, Friends and Whispersync for syncing games across devices, and leads to better engagement with games.In-App Purchasing on Kindle Fire, Mac, PC and web-based games. This enables developers to offer items in their apps and games while allowing their end users to simply use their Amazon accounts to make the purchase.A/B Testing, which helps developers improve app functionality with the ability to simultaneously test two different in-app experiences to determine which is more successful prior to launching to a broad audience.Game Connect, which lets developers list their virtual goods for sale on Amazon, increasing discoverability of their games and making the purchase of virtual goods as easy and convenient as possible for customers, leading to increased monetization for developers.Amazon AppStore submission for distribution to nearly 200 countries globally enables developers to reach millions of Amazon customers worldwide.Introducing Amazon AutoRip for Customers in the UK: Customers Will Now Receive Free MP3 Versions of CDs and Vinyl Music Purchased From Amazon.co.uk Past, Present and FutureCustomers who have purchased AutoRip CDs and vinyl from Amazon.co.uk dating back to 1999 will find MP3 versions automatically added to their Amazon Cloud Player account, free of chargeAutoRip is the latest in a series of customer benefits exclusive to the Amazon ecosystem of digital content10 top-selling albums of all time on Amazon.co.uk revealed Adele's 21 & 19 take top 2 spotsAmazon VP of Music Steve Boom available for interview this morningLuxembourg Amazon.co.uk today announced the launch of Amazon AutoRip, a new service that gives customers free MP3 versions of CDs and vinyl music they purchase from Amazon. When customers purchase AutoRip CDs and vinyl the MP3 versions are automatically added to their Cloud Player libraries where they are available, free of charge, for immediate playback or download no more waiting for the CD to arrive. Additionally, customers who have purchased AutoRip albums at any time since Amazon.co.uk first opened its Music Store in 1999 will find MP3 versions of those albums in their Cloud Player libraries also automatically and for free. More than 350,000 albums, including titles from every major record label, are available for AutoRip, and more titles are added all the time customers can just look for the AutoRip logo."What would you say if you bought CDs, vinyl or even cassettes from a company 14 years ago, and then 14 years later that company licensed the rights from the record companies to give you the MP3 versions of those albums... and then to top it off, did that for you automatically and for free?" said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. "Well, starting today, it's available to all of our Amazon.co.uk customers past, present, and future at no cost. We love these opportunities to do something extra for our customers."AutoRip features include:&middot; Free digital copies: Amazon customers who purchase AutoRip CDs and vinyl get free MP3 versions of the albums delivered directly to their Cloud Player libraries automatically, immediately, and at no cost no more hassle with ripping CDs and finding a way to get them onto your favourite devices&middot; CD, vinyl and cassette purchases dating back to 1999: MP3 versions of AutoRip CDs, vinyl and cassettes that customers have purchased since the launch of Amazon.co.uk's music store in 1999 will also be delivered to their Cloud Player libraries for free&middot; Enjoy everywhere: Music can be played instantly from any Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and any web browser, giving customers the freedom to enjoy music from more devices than any other major cloud locker music service&middot; Free storage and backup: All AutoRip MP3s are stored for free in customers' Cloud Player libraries and do not count against Cloud Player storage limits. Customers can buy music and know that it is safely stored in Cloud Player and accessible from any compatible device&middot; High-quality audio: AutoRip music is provided in high-quality 256 Kbps MP3 audioIntroducing "Amazon AutoRip" Customers Now Receive Free MP3 Versions of CDs Purchased From Amazon Past, Present and Future Customers who have purchased AutoRip CDs from Amazon dating back to 1998 will find free MP3 versions automatically added to their Cloud Player accounts free of charge AutoRip is the latest in a series of customer benefits exclusive to the Amazon ecosystem of digital content SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2013-- (NASDAQ: AMZN)-Amazon today announced the launch of Amazon AutoRip, a new service that gives customers free MP3 versions of CDs they purchase from Amazon. When customers purchase AutoRip CDs, the MP3 versions are automatically added to their Cloud Player libraries, where they are available, free of charge, for immediate playback or download no more waiting for the CD to arrive. Additionally, customers who have purchased AutoRip CDs at any time since Amazon first opened its Music Store in 1998 will find MP3 versions of those albums in their Cloud Player libraries also automatically and for free. More than 50,000 albums, including titles from every major record label, are available for AutoRip, and more titles are added all the time customers can just look for the AutoRip logo. "What would you say if you bought music CDs from a company 15 years ago, and then 15 years later that company licensed the rights from the record companies to give you the MP3 versions of those CDs... and then to top it off, did that for you automatically and for free?" said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. "Well, starting today, it's available to all of our customers past, present, and future at no cost. We love these opportunities to do something unexpected for our customers." AutoRip features include: &middot; Free digital copies: Amazon customers who purchase AutoRip CDs get free MP3 versions of the albums delivered directly to their Cloud Player libraries automatically, immediately, and at no cost no more hassling with ripping CDs and finding a way to get them onto your favorite devices. &middot; For CD purchases dating back to 1998: MP3 versions of AutoRip CDs that customers have purchased since the launch of Amazon's music store in 1998 will also be delivered to their Cloud Player libraries for free. &middot; Enjoy everywhere: Music can be played instantly from any Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, iPhone, iPod touch, Samsung TVs, Roku, Sonos, and any web browser, giving customers the freedom to enjoy music from more devices than any other major cloud locker music service. &middot; Free storage and backup: All AutoRip MP3s are stored for free in customers' Cloud Player libraries and do not count against Cloud Player storage limits. Customers can buy music and know that it is safely stored in Cloud Player and accessible from any compatible device. &middot; High-quality audio: AutoRip music is provided in high-quality 256 Kbps MP3 audio. AutoRip is available for industry-wide top-sellers like "21" by Adele; new and recent releases like "Uno!", "Dos!" and "Tre!" by Green Day, "Overexposed" by Maroon 5, and "The Truth About Love" by P!nk; classics like "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd and "Thriller" by Michael Jackson; and Amazon customer favorites like "I Dreamed A Dream" by Susan Boyle, which was the most pre-ordered album of all time on Amazon. In many cases, customers can buy an AutoRip CD, including the free digital copy, for less than they would pay for only the digital album at iTunes. AutoRip is the latest in a series of new digital music features from Amazon launched in recent months. The Amazon MP3 Store recently expanded its catalog to offer more than 21 million songs and everyday low prices on best-selling albums, many starting at $5. In June, Amazon launched Cloud Player for iPhone and iPod touch. In July, Amazon added new scan and match technology that enables customers to import music into Amazon Cloud Player by scanning their iTunes and Windows Media Player libraries and matching songs on their computers to Amazon's music catalog. All matched songs even music purchased from iTunes or ripped from CDs are upgraded to high-quality 256 Kbps audio and are made available instantly in customers' Cloud Player libraries, making it even easier for customers to enjoy their entire music collection anywhere. More recently, Amazon made Cloud Player available on Samsung TVs, Roku and Sonos, further extending Cloud Player's accessibility.Amazon Coins Now Available for Kindle Fire CustomersEvery Kindle Fire owner in the U.S. will find $5 worth of free Coins deposited directly into their Amazon accountCustomers can also purchase Coins in bulk and receive a discount up to 10%Tens of millions of dollars worth of Amazon Coins are now in customers' accounts to spend on developers' appsSEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May. 13, 2013-- -(NASDAQ: AMZN)-Amazon today announced that customers can now use Amazon Coins to purchase apps, games and in-app items in the Amazon Appstore and on Kindle Fire. To celebrate the launch, existing and new Kindle Fire customers in the U.S. have had 500 free Coins-a $5 value-deposited into their Amazon accounts today. For customers, Amazon Coins is an easy way to purchase apps and in-app items on Kindle Fire, and for developers it's another opportunity to drive traffic, downloads and increased monetization. With discounts of up to 10% for purchasing Coins in bulk, it's also an opportunity for customers to save money on their app and game purchases. Customers can purchase Coins by visiting amazon.com/coins."Today we are giving Kindle Fire owners $5 worth of Coins to spend on new apps and games, or to purchase in-app items, such as recipes in iCookbook, song collections in SongPop or mighty falcon bundles in Angry Birds Star Wars. And with discounts of up to 10% when you buy Coins, this is a great way for customers to save money when they buy apps, games and in-app items," said Mike George, Vice President of Apps and Games at Amazon. "We will continue to add more ways to earn and spend Coins on a wider range of content and activities-today is Day One for Coins."Amazon Appstore developers will earn their standard 70% revenue share when customers make purchases using Amazon Coins. No Coins-specific changes are required for developers with apps and games currently in the Amazon Appstore. Developers not yet in the Amazon Appstore should submit their app today through the Amazon Mobile App Distribution Portal (https://developer.amazon.com/welcome.html).Amazon Coins is the latest offering in an array of services that make Amazon the most complete end-to-end ecosystem for building, monetizing and marketing their apps and games. These capabilities include:The ability for app developers to use Amazon Web Services' (AWS) technology platform for their infrastructure needs. Building blocks such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and Amazon DynamoDB allow developers to focus on what differentiates their app rather than the undifferentiated heavy lifting of infrastructure.App submission for distribution to nearly 200 countries globally enables developers to reach millions more Amazon customers worldwide.In-App Purchasing on Kindle Fire, Mac, PC and web-based games. This enables developers to sell virtual items in their apps and games while allowing their end users to simply use their Amazon accounts to make the purchase.GameCircle, which includes capabilities like Achievements, Leaderboards, Friends and Whispersync for syncing games across devices, and leads to better engagement with games.Game Connect, which lets developers list their virtual goods for sale on Amazon, increasing discoverability of their games and making the purchase of virtual goods as easy and convenient as possible for customers, leading to increased monetization for developers.Amazon.com Announces First Quarter Sales up 22% to $16.07 Billion SEATTLE, Apr 25, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN +2.05% today announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2013. Operating cash flow increased 39% to $4.25 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $3.05 billion for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2012. Free cash flow decreased 85% to $177 million for the trailing twelve months, compared with $1.15 billion for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2012. Free cash flow for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2013 includes fourth quarter 2012 cash outflows for purchases of corporate office space and property in Seattle, Washington, of $1.4 billion. Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards totaled 471 million on March 31, 2013, compared with 464 million one year ago. Net sales increased 22% to $16.07 billion in the first quarter, compared with $13.18 billion in first quarter 2012. Excluding the $302 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales grew 24% compared with first quarter 2012. Operating income decreased 6% to $181 million in the first quarter, compared with $192 million in first quarter 2012. The unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter on operating income was $12 million. Net income decreased 37% to $82 million in the first quarter, or $0.18 per diluted share, compared with $130 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, in first quarter 2012. "Amazon Studios is working on a new way to greenlight TV shows. The pilots are out in the open where everyone can have a say," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "I have my personal picks and so do members of the Amazon Studios team, but the exciting thing about our approach is that our opinions don't matter. Our customers will determine what goes into full-season production. We hope Amazon Originals can become yet another way for us to create value for Prime members." Highlights -- Amazon.com expanded selection for Prime Instant Video, announcing new licensing agreements with A+E Networks, CBS Corporation, FX, PBS Distribution and Scripps Networks Interactive, bringing exclusive access to popular television series such as Downton Abbey, Justified and Under the Dome as well as shows from HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Cooking Channel and Travel Channel. Prime Instant Video now includes more than 38,000 movies and TV episodes that are available for Prime members to watch at no additional charge. -- Amazon Studios, the original film and series production arm of Amazon.com, debuted 14 original comedy and kids pilots. The pilots, which feature stars such as John Goodman, Jeffrey Tambor and Bebe Neuwirth, are available exclusively at www.amazonoriginals.com and on the Amazon Instant Video app for Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Wii U, as well as hundreds of other connected devices. Viewer feedback will help determine which pilots Amazon Studios will produce into full series. -- Amazon expanded the popular Kindle Fire feature "X-Ray for Movies" to TV shows, bringing the power of IMDb directly to the most popular TV shows on Kindle Fire. With a single tap viewers can discover the names of actors and what they've been in, without even leaving the TV show. -- Kindle Owners' Lending Library has grown to over 300,000 books available to borrow for free as frequently as a book a month, including many titles exclusive to Amazon. -- Amazon announced the launch of the Amazon MP3 store optimized specifically for Safari browser. For the first time ever, iPhone and iPod touch users can discover and buy digital music from Amazon's 22 million song catalog. Amazon also announced its Cloud Player app for iPad and iPad mini, enabling customers to play or download music stored in Cloud Player to their device, play music that is already stored on their device, and manage or create playlists. -- Amazon announced it has extended its popular AutoRip services to vinyl records. AutoRip provides customers with free MP3 versions of CDs and vinyl records they purchase from Amazon. Additionally, customers who have purchased AutoRip CDs or vinyl records at any time since Amazon first opened its Music Store in 1998 will find MP3 versions of those albums in their Cloud Player libraries - also automatically for free. -- Amazon announced the launch of Kindle Fire HD 8.9" -- the large-screen version of its best-selling tablet --for the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. With the expansion of Kindle Fire HD 8.9" to Europe and Japan, Amazon also announced a lower price on Kindle Fire HD 8.9" in the U.S., with the Wi-Fi version starting at $269 and the 4G version starting at $399. -- Amazon Publishing, the publishing arm of Amazon.com, announced that it will start paying authors their royalties monthly, 60 days in arrears -- allowing authors to receive payment more frequently than the twice-a-year industry standard. -- Amazon acquired Goodreads, a leading site for readers and book recommendations that helps people find and share books they love. Goodreads members can discover new books by seeing what their friends are reading or by using the Goodreads Book Recommendation Engine; share ratings and recommendations; track what they have read, and list what they want to read. -- Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the launch of Amazon Redshift, a fast and powerful, fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service in the cloud for a fraction of the cost of a traditional data warehouse. -- AWS launched AWS OpsWorks, an application management solution for the complete lifecycle of complex applications, including resource provisioning, configuration management, deployment, monitoring, and access control. -- AWS announced Amazon Elastic Transcoder, a highly scalable service for transcoding video files between different digital media formats. Amazon Elastic Transcoder manages all aspects of the transcoding process transparently and automatically, providing scalability and performance by leveraging AWS services. -- AWS announced AWS CloudHSM, a new service enabling customers to increase data security and meet compliance requirements by using dedicated Hardware Security Module (HSM) appliances within the AWS Cloud. The CloudHSM service allows customers to securely generate, store and manage cryptographic keys used for data encryption in a way that keys are accessible only by the customer. -- AWS has lowered prices 31 times since it launched in 2006, including 7 price reductions so far in 2013. Financial Guidance The following forward-looking statements reflect Amazon.com's expectations as of April 25, 2013. Our results are inherently unpredictable and may be materially affected by many factors, such as fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, changes in global economic conditions and consumer spending, world events, the rate of growth of the Internet and online commerce and the various factors detailed below. Second Quarter 2013 Guidance -- Net sales are expected to be between $14.5 billion and $16.2 billion, or to grow between 13% and 26% compared with second quarter 2012. -- Operating income (loss) is expected to be between $(340) million and $10 million, compared to $107 million in the comparable prior year period. -- This guidance includes approximately $340 million for stock-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets, and it assumes, among other things, that no additional business acquisitions, investments, or legal settlements are concluded and that there are no further revisions to stock-based compensation estimates. A conference call will be webcast live today at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET, and will be available for at least three months at www.amazon.com/ir. This call will contain forward-looking statements and other material information regarding the Company's financial and operating results. These forward-looking statements are inherently difficult to predict. Actual results could differ materially for a variety of reasons, including, in addition to the factors discussed above, the amount that Amazon.com invests in new business opportunities and the timing of those investments, the mix of products sold to customers, the mix of net sales derived from products as compared with services, the extent to which we owe income taxes, competition, management of growth, potential fluctuations in operating results, international growth and expansion, the outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, risks of inventory management, seasonality, the degree to which the Company enters into, maintains, and develops commercial agreements, acquisitions, and strategic transactions, and risks of fulfillment throughput and productivity. Other risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks related to new products, services, and technologies, system interruptions, government regulation and taxation, payments, and fraud. In addition, the current global economic climate amplifies many of these risks. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings. Our investor relations website is www.amazon.com/ir and we encourage investors to use it as a way of easily finding information about us. We promptly make available on this website, free of charge, the reports that we file or furnish with the SEC, corporate governance information (including our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics), and select press releases and social media postings. About Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN +2.05% , a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support, dual-antennas and MIMO for faster streaming and downloads, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine--and it is available in two display sizes--7" and 8.9". The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless, and comes with a groundbreaking $49.99 introductory 4G LTE data package. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life. Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es and www.amazon.com.br. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise. AMAZON.COM, INC. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (in millions) (unaudited) Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended March 31, March 31, --------------------------- --------------------------- 2013 2012 2013 2012 ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, BEGINNING OF PERIOD $ 8,084 $ 5,269 $ 2,288 $ 2,641 OPERATING ACTIVITIES: Net income (loss) 82 130 (87) 561 Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash from operating activities: 700 457 2,402 1,338 Depreciation of property and equipment, including internal-use software and website development, and other amortization Stock-based compensation 229 160 901 605 Other operating expense (income), net 31 46 139 168 Losses (gains) on sales of marketable securities, net - (2) (7) (8) Other expense (income), net 68 15 306 (78) Deferred income taxes (80) (38) (307) 83 Excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation - (40) (390) (56) Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Inventories 535 747 (1,211) (1,374) Accounts receivable, net and other 729 746 (877) (479) Accounts payable (4,187) (4,258) 2,141 1,388 Accrued expenses and other (703) (529) 864 721 Additions to unearned revenue 684 397 2,083 1,252 Amortization of previously unearned revenue (460) (269) (1,712) (1,070) ------ -- ------ -- ------ -- ------ -- Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities (2,372) (2,438) 4,245 3,051 INVESTING ACTIVITIES: Purchases of property and equipment, including internal-use (670) (386) (4,068) (1,899) software and website development Acquisitions, net of cash acquired, and other (103) (50) (798) (615) Sales and maturities of marketable securities and other investments 599 1,738 3,098 6,641 Purchases of marketable securities and other investments (776) (852) (3,227) (5,997) ------ -- ------ -- ------ -- ------ -- Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities (950) 450 (4,995) (1,870) FINANCING ACTIVITIES: Excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation - 40 390 56 Common stock repurchased - (960) - (1,237) Proceeds from long-term debt and other 25 68 3,319 154 Repayments of long-term debt, capital lease, and finance lease (182) (153) (603) (483) obligations ------ -- ------ -- ------ -- ------ -- Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities (157) (1,005) 3,106 (1,510) Foreign-currency effect on cash and cash equivalents (124) 12 (163) (24) ------ -- ------ ------ -- ------ -- Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (3,603) (2,981) 2,193 (353) CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, END OF PERIOD $ 4,481 $ 2,288 $ 4,481 $ 2,288 == ====== == ====== == ====== == ====== SUPPLEMENTAL CASH FLOW INFORMATION: Cash paid for interest on long-term debt $ 13 $ 6 $ 37 $ 17 Cash paid for income taxes (net of refunds) 86 19 179 45 Property and equipment acquired under capital leases 340 149 993 721 Property and equipment acquired under build-to-suit leases 150 17 163 207 AMAZON.COM, INC. Consolidated Statements of Operations (in millions, except per share data) (unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, ----------------------------------- 2013 2012 ----------------- ----------------- Net product sales $ 13,271 $ 11,249 Net services sales 2,799 1,936 ------ ------ Total net sales 16,070 13,185 Operating expenses (1): Cost of sales 11,801 10,027 Fulfillment 1,796 1,295 Marketing 632 480 Technology and content 1,383 945 General and administrative 246 200 Other operating expense (income), net 31 46 ------ ------ Total operating expenses 15,889 12,993 ------ ------ Income from operations 181 192 Interest income 10 12 Interest expense (33) (21) Other income (expense), net (77) (99) ------ ---- ------ ---- Total non-operating income (expense) (100) (108) ------ ---- ------ ---- Income before income taxes 81 84 Benefit (provision) for income taxes 18 (43) Equity-method investment activity, net of tax (17) 89 ------ ---- ------ Net income $ 82 $ 130 ==== ====== ==== ====== Basic earnings per share $ 0.18 $ 0.29 ==== ====== ==== ====== Diluted earnings per share $ 0.18 $ 0.28 ==== ====== ==== ====== Weighted average shares used in computation of earnings per share: Basic 455 453 ====== ====== Diluted 463 460 ====== ====== (1) Includes stock-based compensation as follows: Fulfillment $ 61 $ 37 Marketing 16 12 Technology and content 120 85 General and administrative 32 26 AMAZON.COM, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (in millions) (unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, --------------------- 2013 2012 ---------- ---------- Net income $ 82 $ 130 Other comprehensive income (loss): Foreign currency translation adjustments, net of tax of $(9) and (78) 137 $(38) Net change in unrealized gains on available-for-sale securities: Unrealized gains (losses), net of tax of $1 and $(3) (2) 7 - (2) Reclassification adjustment for losses (gains) included in "Other income (expense), net," net of tax effect of $0 and $1 --- --- -- Net unrealized gains (losses) on available-for-sale securities (2) 5 --- -- --- Total other comprehensive income (loss) (80) 142 --- -- --- Comprehensive income $ 2 $ 272 == === == === AMAZON.COM, INC. Segment Information (in millions) (unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, ---------------------------------- 2013 2012 ---------------- ---------------- North America Net sales $ 9,391 $ 7,427 Segment operating expenses (1) 8,934 7,078 ------ ------ Segment operating income $ 457 $ 349 ====== ====== ====== ====== International Net sales $ 6,679 $ 5,758 Segment operating expenses (1) 6,695 5,709 ------ ------ Segment operating income (loss) $ (16) $ 49 ====== ====== = ====== ====== Consolidated Net sales $ 16,070 $ 13,185 Segment operating expenses (1) 15,629 12,787 ------ ------ Segment operating income 441 398 Stock-based compensation (229) (160) Other operating income (expense), net (31) (46) ------ - ------ - Income from operations 181 192 Total non-operating income (expense) (100) (108) Benefit (provision) for income taxes 18 (43) Equity-method investment activity, net of tax (17) 89 ------ - ------ Net income $ 82 $ 130 ====== ====== ====== ====== Segment Highlights: Y/Y net sales growth: North America 26 % 36 % International 16 31 Consolidated 22 34 Y/Y segment operating income growth (decline): North America 31 % 20 % International (133) (72) Consolidated 11 (15) Net sales mix: North America 58 % 56 % International 42 44 ------ ------ 100 % 100 % ====== ====== (1) Represents operating expenses, excluding stock-based compensation and "Other operating expense (income), net," which are not allocated to segments. AMAZON.COM, INC. Supplemental Net Sales Information (in millions) (unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, -------------------------------------- 2013 2012 ------------------ ------------------ North America Media $ 2,513 $ 2,197 Electronics and other general merchandise 6,128 4,772 Other (1) 750 458 -------- -------- Total North America $ 9,391 $ 7,427 ======== ======== ======== ======== International Media $ 2,545 $ 2,513 Electronics and other general merchandise 4,086 3,203 Other (1) 48 42 -------- -------- Total International $ 6,679 $ 5,758 ======== ======== ======== ======== Consolidated Media $ 5,058 $ 4,710 Electronics and other general merchandise 10,214 7,975 Other (1) 798 500 -------- -------- Total consolidated $ 16,070 $ 13,185 ======== ======== ======== ======== Y/Y Net Sales Growth: North America: Media 14 % 17 % Electronics and other general merchandise 28 44 Other 64 66 Total North America 26 36 International: Media 1 % 21 % Electronics and other general merchandise 28 40 Other 14 24 Total International 16 31 Consolidated: Media 7 % 19 % Electronics and other general merchandise 28 43 Other 59 61 Total consolidated 22 34 Y/Y Net Sales Growth Excluding Effect of Exchange Rates: International: Media 7 % 22 % Electronics and other general merchandise 32 42 Other 18 26 Total International 21 32 Consolidated: Media 10 % 19 % Electronics and other general merchandise 30 43 Other 60 61 Total consolidated 24 34 Consolidated Net Sales Mix: Media 31 % 36 % Electronics and other general merchandise 64 60 Other 5 4 -------- -------- 100 % 100 % ======== ======== (1) Includes sales from non-retail activities, such as AWS in the North America segment, advertising services, and our co-branded credit card agreements in both segments. AMAZON.COM, INC. Consolidated Balance Sheets (in millions, except per share data) March 31, December 31, 2013 2012 ----------------- ----------------- ASSETS (unaudited) Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 4,481 $ 8,084 Marketable securities 3,414 3,364 Inventories 5,395 6,031 Accounts receivable, net and other 2,516 3,364 Deferred tax assets 507 453 ------ ------ Total current assets 16,313 21,296 Property and equipment, net 7,674 7,060 Deferred tax assets 123 123 Goodwill 2,535 2,552 Other assets 1,732 1,524 ------ ------ Total assets $ 28,377 $ 32,555 ==== ====== ==== ====== LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 8,916 $ 13,318 Accrued expenses and other 5,416 5,684 ------ ------ Total current liabilities 14,332 19,002 Long-term debt 3,040 3,084 Other long-term liabilities 2,573 2,277 Commitments and contingencies Stockholders' equity: Preferred stock, $0.01 par value: Authorized shares -- 500 Issued and outstanding shares -- none - - Common stock, $0.01 par value: Authorized shares -- 5,000 Issued shares -- 479 and 478 Outstanding shares -- 455 and 454 5 5 Treasury stock, at cost (1,837) (1,837) Additional paid-in capital 8,585 8,347 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (319) (239) Retained earnings 1,998 1,916 ------ ------ Total stockholders' equity 8,432 8,192 ------ ------ Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 28,377 $ 32,555 ==== ====== ==== ====== AMAZON.COM, INC. Supplemental Financial Information and Business Metrics (in millions, except per share data) (unaudited) Y/Y % Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Q3 2012 Q4 2012 Q1 2013 Change ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- --------- Cash Flows and Shares Operating cash flow -- trailing twelve months (TTM) $ 3,051 $ 3,222 $ 3,368 $ 4,180 $ 4,245 39 % Purchases of property and equipment (incl. internal-use software & $ 1,899 $ 2,123 $ 2,310 $ 3,785 $ 4,068 114 % website development) -- TTM Free cash flow (operating cash flow less purchases of property and $ 1,152 $ 1,099 $ 1,058 $ 395 $ 177 (85 %) equipment) -- TTM Free cash flow -- TTM Y/Y growth (decline) (39 %) (40 %) (31 %) (81 %) (85 %) N/A Invested capital (1) $ 10,006 $ 10,250 $ 10,392 $ 11,181 $ 12,019 20 % Return on invested capital (2) 12 % 11 % 10 % 4 % 1 % N/A Common shares and stock-based awards outstanding 464 468 469 470 471 2 % Common shares outstanding 450 452 453 454 455 1 % Stock-based awards outstanding 13 16 16 16 16 17 % Stock-based awards outstanding -- % of common shares outstanding 2.9 % 3.6 % 3.6 % 3.5 % 3.4 % N/A Results of Operations Worldwide (WW) net sales $ 13,185 $ 12,834 $ 13,806 $ 21,268 $ 16,070 22 % WW net sales -- Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 34 % 32 % 30 % 23 % 24 % N/A WW net sales -- TTM $ 51,404 $ 54,325 $ 57,256 $ 61,093 $ 63,978 24 % WW net sales -- TTM Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 37 % 35 % 33 % 29 % 27 % N/A Operating income (loss) $ 192 $ 107 $ (28) $ 405 $ 181 (6 %) Operating income -- Y/Y growth (decline), excluding F/X (38 %) (34 %) (137 %) 59 % 1 % N/A Operating margin -- % of WW net sales 1.5 % 0.8 % (0.2 %) 1.9 % 1.1 % N/A Operating income -- TTM $ 732 $ 637 $ 531 $ 676 $ 665 (9 %) Operating income -- TTM Y/Y growth (decline), excluding F/X (50 %) (50 %) (48 %) (15 %) (6 %) N/A Operating margin -- TTM % of WW net sales 1.4 % 1.2 % 0.9 % 1.1 % 1.0 % N/A Net income (loss) $ 130 $ 7 $ (274) $ 97 $ 82 (37 %) Net income (loss) per diluted share $ 0.28 $ 0.01 $ (0.60) $ 0.21 $ 0.18 (37 %) Net income (loss) -- TTM $ 561 $ 377 $ 40 $ (39) $ (87) (116 %) Net income (loss) per diluted share -- TTM $ 1.22 $ 0.82 $ 0.09 $ (0.09) $ (0.19) (116 %) Segments North America Segment: Net sales $ 7,427 $ 7,326 $ 7,884 $ 12,175 $ 9,391 26 % Net sales -- Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 36 % 36 % 33 % 23 % 26 % N/A Net sales -- TTM $ 28,667 $ 30,587 $ 32,540 $ 34,813 $ 36,777 28 % Operating income $ 349 $ 344 $ 291 $ 608 $ 457 31 % Operating margin -- % of North America net sales 4.7 % 4.7 % 3.7 % 5.0 % 4.9 % N/A Operating income -- TTM $ 991 $ 1,120 $ 1,268 $ 1,592 $ 1,700 72 % Operating income -- TTM Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 2 % 14 % 34 % 71 % 72 % N/A Operating margin -- TTM % of North America net sales 3.5 % 3.7 % 3.9 % 4.6 % 4.6 % N/A International Segment: Net sales $ 5,758 $ 5,508 $ 5,922 $ 9,093 $ 6,679 16 % Net sales -- Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 32 % 28 % 27 % 23 % 21 % N/A Net sales -- TTM $ 22,737 $ 23,738 $ 24,716 $ 26,280 $ 27,201 20 % Net sales -- TTM % of WW net sales 44 % 44 % 43 % 43 % 43 % N/A Operating income (loss) $ 49 $ 16 $ (59) $ 70 $ (16) (133 %) Operating margin -- % of International net sales 0.9 % 0.3 % (1.0 %) 0.8 % (0.2 %) N/A Operating income -- TTM $ 515 $ 359 $ 183 $ 76 $ 11 (98 %) Operating income -- TTM Y/Y growth (decline), excluding F/X (49 %) (57 %) (68 %) (77 %) (83 %) N/A Operating margin -- TTM % of International net sales 2.3 % 1.5 % 0.7 % 0.3 % 0.0 % N/A Consolidated Segments: Operating expenses (3) $ 12,787 $ 12,474 $ 13,574 $ 20,590 $ 15,629 22 % Operating expenses -- TTM (3) $ 49,899 $ 52,846 $ 55,805 $ 59,425 $ 62,267 25 % Operating income $ 398 $ 360 $ 232 $ 678 $ 441 11 % Operating margin -- % of Consolidated sales 3.0 % 2.8 % 1.7 % 3.2 % 2.7 % N/A Operating income -- TTM $ 1,505 $ 1,480 $ 1,451 $ 1,668 $ 1,711 14 % Operating income -- TTM Y/Y growth (decline), excluding F/X (22 %) (21 %) (15 %) 7 % 15 % N/A Operating margin -- TTM % of Consolidated net sales 2.9 % 2.7 % 2.5 % 2.7 % 2.7 % N/A --------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ -- ------ -- ------ -- ------ -- ------ -- ---- AMAZON.COM, INC. Supplemental Financial Information and Business Metrics (in millions, except inventory turnover, accounts payable days and employee data) (unaudited) Y/Y % Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Q3 2012 Q4 2012 Q1 2013 Change ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- --------- Supplemental Supplemental North America Segment Net Sales: Media $ 2,197 $ 1,874 $ 2,215 $ 2,903 $ 2,513 14 % Media -- Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 17 % 18 % 15 % 13 % 14 % N/A Media -- TTM $ 8,270 $ 8,559 $ 8,847 $ 9,189 $ 9,506 15 % Electronics and other general merchandise $ 4,772 $ 4,937 $ 5,061 $ 8,503 $ 6,128 28 % Electronics and other general merchandise -- Y/Y growth, excluding 44 % 41 % 39 % 24 % 28 % N/A F/X Electronics and other general merchandise -- TTM $ 18,784 $ 20,226 $ 21,652 $ 23,273 $ 24,629 31 % Electronics and other general merchandise -- TTM % of North America 66 % 66 % 67 % 67 % 67 % N/A net sales Other $ 458 $ 515 $ 608 $ 769 $ 750 64 % Other -- TTM $ 1,613 $ 1,802 $ 2,041 $ 2,351 $ 2,642 64 % Supplemental International Segment Net Sales: Media $ 2,513 $ 2,245 $ 2,385 $ 3,611 $ 2,545 1 % Media -- Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 22 % 12 % 12 % 7 % 7 % N/A Media -- TTM $ 10,261 $ 10,431 $ 10,590 $ 10,753 $ 10,785 5 % Electronics and other general merchandise $ 3,203 $ 3,224 $ 3,497 $ 5,431 $ 4,086 28 % Electronics and other general merchandise -- Y/Y growth, excluding 42 % 42 % 39 % 37 % 32 % N/A F/X Electronics and other general merchandise -- TTM $ 12,314 $ 13,139 $ 13,956 $ 15,355 $ 16,238 32 % Electronics and other general merchandise -- TTM % of International 54 % 55 % 56 % 58 % 60 % N/A net sales Other $ 42 $ 39 $ 40 $ 51 $ 48 14 % Other -- TTM $ 162 $ 168 $ 170 $ 172 $ 178 9 % Supplemental Worldwide Net Sales: Media $ 4,710 $ 4,119 $ 4,600 $ 6,514 $ 5,058 7 % Media -- Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 19 % 15 % 14 % 10 % 10 % N/A Media -- TTM $ 18,531 $ 18,990 $ 19,437 $ 19,942 $ 20,291 9 % Electronics and other general merchandise $ 7,975 $ 8,161 $ 8,558 $ 13,934 $ 10,214 28 % Electronics and other general merchandise -- Y/Y growth, excluding 43 % 42 % 39 % 29 % 30 % N/A F/X Electronics and other general merchandise -- TTM $ 31,098 $ 33,365 $ 35,608 $ 38,628 $ 40,867 31 % Electronics and other general merchandise -- TTM % of WW net sales 60 % 61 % 62 % 63 % 64 % N/A Other $ 500 $ 554 $ 648 $ 820 $ 798 59 % Other -- TTM $ 1,775 $ 1,970 $ 2,211 $ 2,523 $ 2,820 59 % Balance Sheet Cash and marketable securities $ 5,715 $ 4,970 $ 5,248 $ 11,448 $ 7,895 38 % Inventory, net -- ending $ 4,255 $ 4,380 $ 5,065 $ 6,031 $ 5,395 27 % Inventory turnover, average -- TTM 10.4 10.1 9.7 9.3 9.5 (8 %) Property and equipment, net $ 4,653 $ 5,097 $ 5,662 $ 7,060 $ 7,674 65 % Accounts payable -- ending $ 6,886 $ 7,072 $ 8,369 $ 13,318 $ 8,916 29 % Accounts payable days -- ending 62 68 75 76 68 9 % Other WW shipping revenue $ 461 $ 469 $ 517 $ 832 $ 633 37 % WW shipping costs $ 1,129 $ 1,054 $ 1,153 $ 1,798 $ 1,396 24 % WW net shipping costs $ 668 $ 585 $ 636 $ 966 $ 763 14 % WW net shipping costs -- % of WW net sales 5.1 % 4.6 % 4.6 % 4.5 % 4.7 % N/A Employees (full-time and part-time; excludes contractors & temporary 65,600 69,100 81,400 88,400 91,300 39 % personnel) --------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ---- --- (1) Average Total Assets minus Current Liabilities (excluding current portion of Long-Term Debt) over five quarter ends. (2) TTM Free Cash Flow divided by Invested Capital. (3) Represents cost of sales, fulfillment, marketing, technology and content, and general and administrative operating expenses, excluding stock-based compensation. Amazon.com, Inc. Certain Definitions Customer Accounts -- References to customers mean customer accounts, which are unique e-mail addresses, established either when a customer places an order or when a customer orders from other sellers on our websites. Customer accounts exclude certain customers, including customers associated with certain of our acquisitions, Amazon Payments customers, Amazon Web Services customers, and the customers of select companies with whom we have a technology alliance or marketing and promotional relationship. Customers are considered active when they have placed an order during the preceding twelve-month period. Seller Accounts -- References to sellers means seller accounts, which are established when a seller receives an order from a customer account. Sellers are considered active when they have received an order from a customer during the preceding twelve-month period. Registered Developers -- References to registered developers mean cumulative registered developer accounts, which are established when potential developers enroll with Amazon Web Services and receive a developer access key. Units -- References to units mean physical and digital units sold (net of returns and cancellations) by us and sellers at Amazon domains worldwide - for example www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es, www.amazon.com.br, www.diapers.com, www.shopbop.com and www.zappos.com - as well as Amazon-owned items sold through non-Amazon domains. Units sold are paid units and do not include units associated with certain acquisitions, rental businesses, web services or advertising businesses, or Amazon gift certificates.Introducing Amazon Storyteller-a New Tool to Help Writers and Filmmakers Bring Their Stories to LifeFree online tool enables writers and filmmakers to quickly and easily turn their scripts into storyboardsAmazon Studios continues to add features and tools that help content creators get their movies and television series madeSEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 7, 2013-- (NASDAQ:AMZN)-For years, Amazon has been developing new programs, services and features to make it easier for content creators to make and distribute their work. Amazon Studios, the original film and series production arm of Amazon.com, today announced a new innovation for writers and filmmakers-Amazon Storyteller. Currently in beta, Storyteller is a free online tool that turns scripts into storyboards, complete with characters and dialogue that can then be shared with others for feedback."We've found that many writers want to see their story up on its feet in visual form but find it harder than it should be to create a storyboard," said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. "Storyteller provides a digital backlot, acting troupe, prop department and assistant editor-everything you need to bring your story to life. We want to see great stories turned into movies and television shows and we'll continue to develop new features and tools that help people develop great stories."Storyteller begins by scanning a movie script that has been uploaded to Amazon Studios. It identifies the scenes, locations and characters from scene descriptions, and "casts" them from a library of thousands of characters, props and backgrounds. Filmmakers can recast or change locations, or they can upload their own images. Storyteller places the cast in front of the right background so that filmmakers can focus their time on the emotion and energy of scenes by using pan and zoom, changing the facial expressions and positions of characters, adding vehicles or props or adding captions with descriptions or additional dialogue. Once completed, the storyboard can be published on Amazon Studios where other users are able to view it and give feedback on the project. Amazon Storyteller is free-anyone can visit AmazonStudios.com and use this new tool to visualize their movie script and share it with others.More information about Amazon Storyteller is available at www.amazonstudios.com/storyteller.Amazon Studios launched in 2010 as a new way to develop feature films and episodic series-one that's open to great ideas from creators and audiences around the world. Anyone can upload a script and will then be notified within 45 days if that script is optioned. Amazon Studios will read and review all submissions and those who choose to make their projects public will also receive feedback from the Amazon Studios community. Just last week, Amazon Studios greenlit its first-ever original series, including comedies Alpha House and Betas, and kids series Annebots, Creative Galaxy and Tumbleaf. These original series will premiere exclusively on Prime Instant Video later this year and in 2014.About Amazon StudiosSince its launch in November 2010, more than 14,000 movie scripts and 4,000 series pilot scripts have been submitted to Amazon Studios. There are currently 25 movies on the development slate and in the processes of being tested with audiences.Amazon Studios continues to invite series creators to upload their proposals for comedy and children's programming at http://studios.amazon.com/getting-started/series or submit them privately via Amazon Studios.About Amazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support, dual-antennas and MIMO for faster streaming and downloads, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine-and it is available in two display sizes-7" and 8.9". The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless, and comes with a groundbreaking $49.99 introductory 4G LTE data package. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es, www.amazon.com.br and www.amazon.in. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.Forward-Looking StatementsThis announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.Source: Amazon.com, Inc.It was 10 months ago that we had a doppelgnger in our midst. Amazon unleashed the to the world and we spent much of the beginning of our review comparing and contrasting it to the (even then a bit long-in-the-tooth) . Now, finally, we can stop making that comparison -- at least for this, Amazon's current top-shelf tablet. It's the Kindle Fire HD and it quite handily addresses nearly every concern that we had with the original Fire. It's thinner, lighter, faster and, yes, better looking. It's a huge step forward from that which came before and yet it still follows very much in the footsteps of its predecessor, existing as a physical portal to a digital marketplace with an alluring selection of premium content. Is it enough of an improvement to topple our current king of budget tablets, the ? You'll just have to read on to find out. Hardware To borrow a bit of cigarette marketing, the Kindle Fire HD has come a long way, baby. Where the Fire is square, dark and decidedly slab-like, the Fire HD is... well, it still isn't a knockout in the styling department, but it is at least considerably more visually appealing. The angular edges from before have been banished, replaced by a profile that curves up to meet a few millimeters worth of flat surface that then curves back again to meet the glass up top. That surface is indeed made of Corning's Gorilla Glass, so you can probably do without a protector, and it covers a 7-inch panel, the same size as before. (The 8.9-inch model won't arrive until later this year.) The Kindle Fire HD measures in at 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches (193 x 137 x 10.3mm). That's slightly (3mm) wider, noticeably (17mm) taller and fractionally (1.1mm) thinner than the Fire. In other words, it occupies roughly the same dimensions, but the taper on the back surface does a compelling job of making this feel thinner. It's slightly lighter, too, weighing in at 395g (13.9oz) compared to the OG machine's 413g. The overall design remains understated; visually, a sea of soft-touch matte black will be your overwhelming impression here. But, with that comes an air of sophistication. The Amazon logo is still subtly printed on the back, a dark shade of gray stamped atop the darker exterior. You may be visually assaulted by Amazon branding at every turn once you switch the device on, but the exterior at least is reasonably clean. Both speakers are covered with a lined grille that makes us think of the radiator inlets on a Ferrari Testarossa. Across the back runs a slightly polished metal band, the lone bit of stylistic indulgence here. It spans the width of the tablet, running from one speaker to the other and, along the way, has the word "kindle" embossed. Yes, there are two speakers here, one for each of your ears in the natural way. Both are covered in a lined grille that makes us think of the radiator inlets on a Ferrari Testarossa, though that might be entirely due to the prevalence of said car on the walls of this author's childhood bedroom. Take a tour around the edges of the device and you'll find a far more comprehensive selection of buttons and ports than in the original Fire, a big step forward that shows Amazon listens to criticism. This is a tablet clearly designed to be held in a landscape orientation when enjoying media, and held thusly, you'll find micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports on the bottom. The USB port is used for charging or file transfers, though you can also email files to your device (via the custom address each Kindle is assigned) or upload them through the Cloud Player service. The HDMI output is a very welcome addition and enables pushing all those high-def movie downloads straight to your HDTV, should you be so inclined. This physical volume control is also new compared to the Fire, which asked you to hop into the UI whenever you wanted to turn up the jams -- or the Audibles, as it were. The left side of the device has nothing to offer, while the top has a small microphone. On the right is found the 3.5mm headphone jack, positioned atop a volume rocker and power button. This physical volume control is also new compared to the Fire, which asked you to hop into the UI whenever you wanted to turn up the jams -- or the Audibles, as it were. This is far more convenient, but we found all the physical controls to be very hard to find by touch. The power button in particular is virtually intangible: tapered and flush. You'll need to flip the tablet around to find it for at least your first week of ownership. The volume rocker, at least, has two slight protrusions to set it apart. Internals There are two storage options for the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD: 16GB for $199 or 32GB for $249. Opt for the smaller and you'll have about 12.6GB of space at your disposal, while the larger offers 26.9GB. Otherwise the two are identical, both using a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP4460 processor. Amazon doesn't quote the amount of RAM, but a system check shows 752MB. There's no 3G / 4G option on the 7-inch Fire HD; you'll need to step up to the forthcoming 8.9-inch model for that -- and pay an extra $200, too. So, we're stuck with WiFi, but not just any WiFi. Jeff Bezos spent about five minutes of the Kindle Fire HD's coming out party to espouse the virtues of connectivity. That's multiple-input multiple-output if you're not hep with the lingo, basically meaning the tablet can both send and receive data simultaneously over its pair of antennas. In theory, if you're sending and receiving a lot of data this means you'll receive better overall throughput. The dual antennas will also mean higher overall signal strength, and compared to a few other Android devices we had kicking about (a Nexus 7 and a ), the Kindle Fire HD was easily the best of the bunch. We loaded up the Wifi Analyzer app on all three and the Kindle consistently had a 10 to 15dBm stronger signal, and was able to keep that signal farther away from the router than either of the other two. Display and speakers If you hadn't guessed by the name, the Kindle Fire HD takes the tablet series into the world of high-definition. It's a 1,280 x 800 IPS LCD that, like its sadly lower-res predecessor, offers solid brightness and contrast mixed with wide viewing angles. It looks very good indeed and, with greater-than-720p resolution, can finally do all that HD content in the Amazon store justice. That said, with that HDMI output you also can push that content digitally to whatever other display you want. The HD also steps up to stereo speakers and Amazon is making a big deal about this being one of the few (if not the only) tablets offering Dolby Digital Plus. In theory that means better and broader support for digital compression algorithms, as well as other fun and largely useless stuff like virtual surround sound. We'll let you, the reader, decide how important virtual surround is to your listening enjoyment, but overall we didn't find the speakers themselves to be particularly impressive in terms of their acoustic delivery. In fact their sound is distinctly on the tinny side, as one might expect given the size, but they are respectably loud and, frankly, it's a refreshing change to have two of the things. Here they're well-positioned so that you get maximum stereo separation when watching a movie or playing a game and we found that they work well even when covered by your hands. That, too, isn't something that can be said for the sound ports on other slabs. Performance and battery life The Kindle Fire HD may only get a 200MHz boost in performance over the Kindle Fire that came before it, but it feels considerably quicker than that. The media-focused UI customization that the previous tablet couldn't really handle is far more responsive now. That main carousel of content and apps and websites that is the trademark of the Fire series no longer has fits and stops and stutters -- but there are still some sluggish moments, particularly when reading comic books. We spent a fair bit of time admiring Frank Miller's "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" and couldn't help noticing the uneven rate with which the pages turn. But that didn't stop us from being glad we have access to such a wide swath of the DC back catalog. Web pages load quickly, the latest version of the remote-rendering Silk browser beginning to live up to its name, but it still doesn't beat a standard browser in either initial rendering time or fluidity of pinch-zooming. The Chrome browser on the Nexus 7 rendered every page we threw at it faster than the Fire HD, all without relying on any fancy off-site rendering techniques. Of course, the purported beauty of Silk is that it'll just get faster the more people that use it, but we never quite saw that come to pass with the last version, and we don't have particularly high hopes about this one picking up in speed. As with the last Fire, we didn't have much luck running specific Android benchmarks, but the SunSpider JavaScript browser test gave us an average score of 1,767ms. That's nearly 700ms faster than the previous Fire and almost identical to the Nexus 7's 1,785ms. Battery Life Amazon Kindle Fire HD 9:57 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 12:01 Apple iPad 2 10:26 Acer Iconia Tab A510 10:23 ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime 10:17 / 16:34 (keyboard dock) Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 9:55 Apple iPad (2012) 9:52 (HSPA) / 9:37 (LTE) Apple iPad 9:33 ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 9:25 / 14:43 (keyboard dock) Motorola Xoom 2 8:57 Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) 8:56 HP TouchPad 8:33 ASUS Transformer Pad TF300 8:29 / 12:04 (keyboard dock) Acer Iconia Tab A700 8:22 Acer Iconia Tab A200 8:16 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus 8:09 Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 8:00 Amazon Kindle Fire 7:42 Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 7:38 Acer Iconia Tab A500 6:55 Archos 101 XS 5:36 When it comes to battery life Amazon says you can expect 11 hours of normal usage, and in our typical battery rundown test (with a looping video, WiFi on and the display set to a fixed brightness) we scored about an hour short of that. Nine hours and 57 minutes, to be exact -- eight minutes more than the Nexus 7 managed on the same test. Yet again, a near-identical score and well within the top-tier of tablets. Software Much of the appeal -- or the annoyance, depending on your perspective -- of the Kindle Fire series comes with its heavily content-focused user interface sitting atop Android. This time around it's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich that's been given the treatment and, in general, things are much improved for it. Interface The interface is largely unchanged but, thankfully, so much smoother than before. The Kindle Fire HD is still built around the main carousel of content that was introduced with the Fire. It's largely unchanged but, thankfully, so much smoother than before. That carousel offers one-stop access to all your books, music, movies, apps and even websites, all presented in LIFO (last in, first out) order so your most recent selections are right there at the top. Beneath the main cycle of icons is another sequence of smaller ones that changes dynamically based on what is highlighted above. Hover over an app and it will offer a selection of apps that "Customers Also Bought." Stop at a certain book and it will show you some other novels that people have also bought. The same can be said for movies, music albums, even magazines. Finally, at the very bottom of the screen can be found a few rows of small text. Look closely and you'll that this too is an advertisement. If you're looking to buy something but don't know what, the Kindle Fire HD would love to help. Reading The basic reading interface is largely unchanged from what we've seen before, which is just fine by us -- ain't broke, don't fix it and whatnot. A swipe or a tap takes you from page to page and there are plenty of options for changing font (still just six), color (black on white, brown on sepia or white on black) and margins. Taking notes is as easy as dragging a finger across text and sharing anything to Twitter or Facebook is similarly simple. Just figured out who the murderer is? Feel free to issue a tweet right from that climactic page and spoil the book for all your friends. The big addition here is Amazon's Immersion Reading service. Now, when you purchase a textual book that's also offered in Audible format you'll be given the option of adding the voice narration for a few bucks more. When these two mediums combine you can play the narration while you read the text and the word being spoken will be highlighted on the tablet as it's said. This is an experience that's said to increase reading comprehension, but more importantly, it means you can pick up right where you left off -- whether you left off listening in the car or reading in bed. That's thanks to Whispersync for Voice, which is currently rolling out to Audible's various mobile apps. With that you can listen on any supported device and have your current position follow you wherever you are. We tried this with the recently updated Android app and it worked perfectly, dropping us into the book right where the Audible recording left off. Productivity Amazon includes OfficeSuite for opening your average Office-type productivity applications, which again you can email right to your Kindle if you like. There are also new email, calendar and contacts apps that deliver a fair bit more usability than with the previous Fire. We plugged in a Gmail account and the tablet quickly sucked down our recent email, with labels, and within a minute or so we were fighting the good fight of the inbox bulge anew. The calendar and contacts apps are similarly workable, but serious productivity-hounds will find them somewhat lightweight. For example, you can't tap on an address in a calendar invite to get directions there, can't view calendars shared with you in Gmail and, should you forget to enter an event without a name, it just says "Cannot create an empty event" and discards all of your changes. You do, at least, get reminder notifications pushed into the status bar to alert you of your upcoming conference call. Accessories We also received Amazon's leather case for the Kindle, which costs $44.99 and handily consumes your tablet on all sides. It's is available in a variety of mostly tame colors, the exception being the still somewhat subdued yellow we received. It provides easy access to all ports and buttons, cut-outs for the speakers and, best of all, has a magnetic flap that locks the screen when you close it. Amazon also offers a $19.99 ($9.99 if you buy it with a Kindle) charging adapter for the thing, as you'll get only the micro-USB cable in the box. Yes, you can charge it up through any standard USB charger, but you'll need a higher-spec charger like this one (or any of the dozens of iPad chargers) to do so at maximum speed -- about four hours from empty to full by Amazon's reckoning. And then there's the best accessory of all: $15 to . Amazon hasn't enabled this feature yet so we weren't able to try it ourselves, but given the prevalence of advertising beating you over the head everywhere you look in this thing, it might just be worth it. The competition When the original Kindle Fire launched, there wasn't an awful lot to compare it to. After all, 7-inch tablets were rare and those priced at $200 were largely, well, junk. That's certainly changed, but the most direct competition for the Kindle Fire HD is its predecessor, now informally called the Kindle Fire SD. It's largely the same device as before, still rocking the PlayBook-esque exterior and limping along with just 8GB of storage, but it now features the same a similar 1.2GHz processor as that found in the HD. And, it's considerably cheaper at $159. For that $40 here you get twice the storage and a lot more pixels to gaze at, which we think is well worth the increase in cost. But, honestly, if you're swaying well to the casual side and will be doing some simple gaming, surfing and reading -- maybe looking at a tablet for a child -- the Kindle Fire SD is a really good value. When we reviewed the Nexus 7, we called it the best $200 tablet you can buy and now, a few months later, we still think that's true. But it's close. If, on the other hand, you're someone who is leaning more toward the power user side, you're probably wondering how this stacks up against the $199 . When we reviewed that, we called it the best $200 tablet you can buy and now, a few months later, we still think that's true. But it's close. Really close. For the same money the Fire HD gives you twice the storage, proper stereo speakers, HDMI output and better WiFi performance. Plus, there's an amazing wealth of premium content always at your fingertips -- you'll never want for something to watch, read or listen to. But, we'd still take the Nexus 7. All that content can't make up for the distinctly limited offerings in Amazon's Appstore, most notably the first-party Google apps. Gmail and Google Maps alone add significant value to the Nexus 7, and then there's Amazon's heavy-handed Android customization. While the Fire HD is far more responsive than the Fire was before it, it doesn't compare to the feeling of raw, uncompromised Jelly Bean. Wrap-up Even if you step up and to disable Offers on your Kindle Fire HD, you can never and will never shake the feeling that this is less a tablet and more of a tool for shopping -- a Trojan Horse that's let into your home thanks to its low price and then unleashes a legion of must-buy items to completely compromise any walls you've built around your budget. If you can get past that decidedly subsidized feeling, you do have a compelling package in your hands. The HD is fast, has a nice design, a beautiful screen, proper stereo speakers and, of course, oodles and oodles of premium content. For casual users looking for an inexpensive yet powerful tablet, the Kindle Fire HD should absolutely be at the top of your shopping list. But, for those looking to do more, and do more rapidly, the Nexus 7 is still the king of this diminutive hill.What a difference a generation makes. While the original impressed, there was only one thing that really made it worth considering: it was cheap. Really cheap. But, when we got our hands on the 7-inch, 720p a few months back we had an honest-to-gosh nice device -- that happened to be cheap. And what do we have here? Why, it's a slightly larger version of that very same tablet, but at a significantly higher cost. It's the Kindle Fire 8.9, a tick under two inches larger at the diagonal but with a starting price of $299 for 16GB, $100 more than the cheapest 7-inch Fire HD. It goes way up from there, though, with the 32GB LTE version we tested starting at a rather more dear $499. That's far beyond the threshold of cheap, but does it still make for good value? Join us as we find out. Hardware Unboxing the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 was a familiar experience, as it looks and feels identical to its 7-inch predecessor. Unboxing the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 was a familiar experience, as it looks and feels identical to its 7-inch predecessor. Slightly larger, of course, but the design is virtually indistinguishable -- right down to the subtle molding seams at each of the four corners. Indeed its horizontal and vertical dimensions have swelled to make room for that 8.9-inch, 1,920 x 1,200 IPS LCD. The tablet measures 9.45 x 6.5 inches (240 x 165mm) across but it's actually slightly thinner than the 7-inch model: 0.35 inch vs. 0.4 (8.9 vs. 10.3mm). It's great to see that Amazon didn't take the opportunity to make this thicker, but honestly you'll be hard-pressed to notice the difference. You will, however, notice the increase in heft: 20 ounces vs. 13.9 for the 7-inch model (567 vs. 395 grams). As on the 7-incher, we're reasonably fond of the design language Amazon has deployed here. It's a bit dark, to be sure, with a soft-touch matte black backing that's livened up only by a slightly glossy (but every bit as dark) band that runs lengthwise, roughly one-fifth the way up from the bottom. Branding on the tablet is delightfully minimal, the Amazon logo subtly printed on the bottom and "kindle" embossed on the shiny band. That band again runs from one speaker to the other, visually connecting stereo speakers that are still a disappointing rarity on tablets. But, unfortunately these are relegated to the wrong side of the thing, unlike the which kindly points them in the right direction. Each speaker is protected beneath a slotted grille, but curiously those slots are shorter than those on the 7-inch Fire HD, and don't wrap as far around the side. Visually this makes them slightly less interesting than the ones on the smaller Fire, but it's still a nice touch. Around the rim of the device is a dark rim made of a more durable material. Here all the physical inputs and outputs are found. On the upper side of the right edge is the 3.5mm headphone jack sitting just atop a flush-mounted volume rocker and power button. We still wish these stood out a bit more, as the tiny ridges on the volume button are a challenge to find and it takes more sensitive fingers than can be found on this editor's hand to locate that power button without looking. Mind you, this is still a huge improvement over the original Kindle Fire, which lacked physical volume controls altogether. Center-mounted at the bottom are the micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports, separated by exactly the same distance as on the 7-inch model, opening the door for a video output and charging cradle that would work with both. Between these ports is the tiny microphone opening, which is curiously up on the top of the smaller Fire HD. There's nothing to speak of on the left side and on the upper edge can be found a pop-out tray where the micro-SIM tray lives -- assuming you opted for the LTE model that we tested. That's the only visual differentiator between the WiFi and cellular models, with both dimensions and weight staying the same. Internals and configurations The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is chock full of very similar stuff to its 7-inch predecessor, including a dual-core OMAP processor. This one is a 4470 model running at 1.5GHz -- a 300MHz step-up from the other. Amazon doesn't advertise RAM but a system check shows 770MB. As for storage, the base $299 configuration has 16GB built-in, while another $70 bumps that up to 32GB. An LTE model is available, starting at $499 for the 32GB model. Here you can pay another $100 and go up to the full-fat Fire HD, a 64GB edition with LTE. Of course, all of these include Special Offers, the in-your-face lock screen advertising that we find a bit distasteful, but it's only $15 to opt out and now you can even choose to pay that money up front and have yours come out of the box with nary an ad in sight. The WiFi-only model includes the same wireless getup that we found to be quite impressive on the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD, offering better range, reception and performance than other tablets and smartphones we tried. The 4G LTE model augments that with an AT&T cellular radio, which can also fall back to HSPA+, HSDPA and EDGE in a worst-case scenario. (For those curious about bands, it is as follows: LTE 17, 4; WCDMA 1, 2, 5, 8; GSM 850Mhz, 900Mhz, 1800Mhz and 1900MHz.) $499 is a bit dear for a Kindle device, but you do at least get an off-contract LTE tablet that has access to one of the most attractive prepaid data plans out there. $499 is a bit dear for a Kindle device, but you do at least get an off-contract LTE tablet that has access to one of the most attractive prepaid data plans out there. Pay $49.99 once and you get a year's worth of data access, with 250MB at your disposal each month. Pay for that and Amazon will throw you another 20GB of Cloud Drive storage and even give you $10 to blow in the Amazon Appstore. Granted, it's an extremely modest amount of data, but for casual users who check the news and email while on the road, or download the occasional book, it should be more than adequate. That said, you're not free to use that data however you like. Content downloads greater than 50MB in size must happen over WiFi, and for the moment Amazon Instant Videos cannot be streamed unless you're on WiFi. However, we're told that, at least, will be enabled sometime before December, but movie downloads will remain WiFi only. Display and speakers With tablets like the 2,048 x 1,536 and 2,560 x 1,600 on the market, it's a little hard to get too excited about the 8.9-inch 1,920 x 1,200 IPS LCD found in the Kindle Fire HD 8.9. But, while it won't win any awards for pixel density, it's still a great display and perfectly well-suited to the sort of content consumption this slate is designed for. The Kindle Fire HD doesn't offer quite the "Gosh I can't see the pixels" experience of the Nexus 10, but text is rendered very cleanly and of course 1080p videos look fantastic Brightness and contrast are as good as you'd expect an IPS LCD to be, and viewing angles are superb. It doesn't offer quite the "Gosh I can't see the pixels" experience of the Nexus 10, but text is rendered very cleanly and of course 1080p videos look fantastic -- though the micro-HDMI output means you can make them look even better on a big 'ol HDTV. Still, not everything looks great. The patented carousel of content that the Kindle Fire HD presents relies on icons that are now forced to render larger, and at a higher resolution, than was surely ever intended. Book covers and movie posters look fine in the carousel, as do Kindle-optimized apps, but many third-party Android icons look atrocious. Mind, you can't knock a tablet too harshly for blurry icons, but when this is your primary means of interaction with the thing, it's unfortunate that it's quite often so ugly. While the display is a definite step forward over the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD, the speakers are a half-step back. They're curiously not the dual-driver design of the smaller slate and lack some of the oomph that little brother packs. Maximum volume is lower and fullness of sound reproduction a bit weaker, but overall sound quality is about the same. That is to say, tinny but acceptable and, when placed face-down on a desk, this makes for a decent hotel room music player. Performance and battery life Again, 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD has a dual-core TI OMAP4470 processor running at 1.5GHz, a 300MHz upgrade from its predecessor. This makes the heavy-handed Fire OS that's sitting on top of Android a bit more responsive, but things can still be sluggish from time to time. Webpages render quickly and pinch-zooming is quite responsive, but scrolling through those is often a very stuttery affair. The slate delivers an average SunSpider benchmark score of 1,412ms, a solid improvement over the 1,767ms that the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD clocked in, and respectably close to the 1,371 the Nexus 10 puts down. For comparison's sake, our top-scoring tablet, the fourth-gen iPad, burns through the test in 865ms. As part of our testing we also downloaded and installed a number of games, as we figure that'll be a popular activity here. Simple, 2D stuff (like ) of course ran with aplomb, but 3D games too ran perfectly well. Unfortunately, given the more limited nature of the Amazon Appstore we weren't able to run all of our favorite benchmarks, but we don't think casual gamers will be left wanting. Tablet Battery Life Kindle Fire HD (8.9-inch) 9:01 Apple iPad mini 12:43 (WiFi) Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 12:01 Apple iPad (late 2012) 11:08 (WiFi) Apple iPad 2 10:26 ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime 10:17 Kindle Fire HD (7-inch) 9:57 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 9:55 Apple iPad (2012) 9:52 (HSPA) / 9:37 (LTE) Google Nexus 7 9:49 Microsoft Surface for Windows RT 9:36 Apple iPad 9:33 ASUS Transformer Prime Infinity TF700 9:25 Pantech Element 9:00 Motorola Xoom 2 8:57 HP TouchPad 8:33 Lenovo IdeaPad K1 8:20 Motorola Xoom 8:20 T-Mobile G-Slate 8:18 Acer Iconia Tab A200 8:16 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus 8:09 Galaxy Note 10.1 8:00 Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 8:00 Nexus 10 7:26 Archos 101 7:20 RIM BlackBerry PlayBook 7:01 Amazon advertises 10 hours of battery life for the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, one hour less than the 7-inch version. Given that the smaller slate survived nine hours and 57 minutes on the burndown bench we expected something around nine hours flat for the 8.9-inch model. Actually it did better -- one minute better, delivering 9:01. (We tested with LTE disabled to better compare with the 7-inch model.) That's over 90 minutes longer than the Nexus 10 managed on the same test (in which we play a looped video and set the display at fixed brightness) and comes in 25 minutes short of our favorite Android 10-incher of the moment, the . Software If you hated Amazon's heavy-handed way of hiding each and every aspect of stock Android you're still going to be mighty unsatisfied here. But, it is at least a lot less sluggish. The 8.9 is running the same user interface that the 7-inch model ushered in back in September. Its foundation is Ice Cream Sandwich this time and in general it provides a noticeable step up over the original Fire's interface in terms of usability and responsiveness -- but it's still very much the same. If you hated Amazon's heavy-handed way of hiding each and every aspect of stock Android you're still going to be mighty unsatisfied here. But, it is at least a lot less sluggish. All apps, movies, music, websites and just about anything else you can access on the tablet get added to the main, floating carousel of content in last-in-first-out order. Just about anything you read or play gets pushed on the top of the queue and, with a flick of your finger, you can zip your way through all your recently accessed stuff. If you're the type who tends to jump between just a few things, you'll always find them toward the top. But, if you're the type who needs to dig a little deeper, you can do that too. Movies, music, books, apps and the rest of your content can sorted by content type, and in each category you can view all your content that's already on your device and all that's patiently waiting for you in the cloud. Should it be time to summon any of that benched stuff back into active rotation, just tap it and it'll be sucked right down over WiFi or LTE -- assuming, of course, said content is less than 50MB in size. Amazon's partnerships ensure that just about anything that's available for digital consumption will be at your fingertips. If you're looking for books, music or movies the breadth of selection is impressive. Amazon's partnerships ensure that just about anything that's available for digital consumption will be at your fingertips. That Amazon's prices are generally among the best in the business certainly helps, too. However, when it comes to that other, crucial aspect of tablet ownership, that wild and wonderful world of the app, the selection is rather more limited. Amazon has managed to get major developers like Rovio to offer their upset fowl for purchase and there are plenty of other top-tier apps on offer. But, it's still a small fraction of those available in the Google Play store as a whole. Yes, you can sideload APKs if you have the technical savvy to do so, but you'll always be locked out of many of the best Android apps out there -- most notably Google's own Gmail and Maps. And then of course there's the Silk browser, Amazon's cloud-accelerated HTML renderer that's supposed to use the power of the crowd to speed up webpage rendering. In the original Kindle Fire we found such claims of acceleration to be woefully overstated and even the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD rendered pages more slowly than the Nexus 7. That's still the case, and while the 8.9-inch is an improvement in speed, it's still slower than most comparable tablets, like the Nexus 10. Since September, Amazon has added a few other tweaks to the OS, including the expansion of the X-Ray function to textbooks, enabling you to get glossary definitions and index locations for those more complicated terms -- or just hop over and get their definitions in Wikipedia. This joins X-Ray for movies, which pulls up IMDb info for whatever actors are in the current scene. There's also , which gives parents much more control over what their kids can and can't do on the tablet -- and for how long they can do it. Finally, we can't discuss a Kindle's software loadout without mentioning Special Offers. This is standard-issue on all Kindle devices at this point and it turns the tablet's lock screen into a full-page ad for such diverse things as books, video games and shaving cream. In fact, our very first experience upon booting this Fire HD tablet was an advertisement for an Amazon.com credit card. That is what you call a bad first impression. While they're generally not obnoxious, these ads serve as a constant reminder that this tablet exists exclusively to sell you stuff, and to us that gets a little disheartening after a while. Thankfully, you're never more than $15 away from stripping the advertising out entirely, and so you can decide whether to keep 'em or kill 'em. The competition At $299 and (way) up, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 finds itself starting $100 less than the cheapest comparable tablet, the Nexus 10. For $100 more you're getting a higher-resolution display and a completely unmolested version of the latest Android operating system. For some that's well worth the additional cost, but if you want cellular connectivity, your decision is easy. These days you can get yourself a 16GB for the same $299 price, a tablet with weaker performance and far fewer pixels, but a relatively uncompromised version of Android. Then there's the , similarly 9-inch, similarly 1080p and similarly burdened with a heavily customized version of Android -- but starting for just $269 for the 16GB version and $299 for 32GB. We haven't had a chance to thoroughly test that model yet, but while we expect the reading and browsing experience to be good, Barnes & Noble's app selection is even more limited than Amazon's, as is its selection of other content. For those who like doing things on their tablets other than reading and web surfing, that's a real drawback. Wrap-up At $199, the Kindle Fire HD 7 stacked up squarely against the Nexus 7 and, for power users, that's something of a tough sell. But, with a size and price that slots in well below much of the larger, 10-inch tablet competition, the $299 Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is more of a difficult proposition to directly compare. So, it's more a question of what does it offer that its smaller predecessor lacks? The answer, of course, is slightly better performance, slightly more size and cellular connectivity -- if you're willing to spend a further $200. In general we're quite fond of 7-inch tablets and so, of these two, we'd still take the more portable 7-inch Kindle Fire HD. However, those who need just a bit more workspace, or who can't stand to ever be offline from any location, might want to consider the 8.9. Meanwhile, if you're a more serious tablet user who wants access to the full power of the Android operating system, the decision is still simple: go with something else.It seems like ages since Amazon introduced us to the $199 Fire at a hectic , but in truth that was only about six weeks ago. Maybe our perception of time is warped because we've been hearing talk about this 7-inch Android tablet for months now. Maybe it's because Amazon launching a tablet seemed like such a natural thing to do after Barnes & Noble paved the way with its . Or, maybe it's just because the gadget Amazon shipped looks nigh-identical to the 7-inch that we've had for, well, ages.For whatever the reason, what Amazon has delivered is a device that is intimately familiar yet mysterious -- a simple, minimalistic exterior design hiding a flashy, seemingly quite trick customization that's sitting atop a decidedly ho-hum Android Gingerbread build. Our questions leading up to this review were many: How will it handle sideloading? Are the battery life and performance better than the PlayBook? Can a tablet that costs two hundred bucks stand a chance against those that cost two and three times as much? C'mon baby, click on through to find out. HardwareThe Kindle Fire is not identical to the PlayBook on the outside, but it's pretty damned close. Turn off the screens then put a little black tape over the BlackBerry logo on RIM's slate and, at a glance, there's almost nothing between them. The Fire is a simple, black thing with nothing in the way of styling pretenses. In fact, one could say it has nothing in the way of styling whatsoever.Flip it over and you'll see the word "kindle" subtly embossed across the back, only really visible if you hold the tablet at an angle in some light. Otherwise the matte, rubberized back absorbs too much and you can't spot that one bit of styling indulgence the designers allowed themselves here. There's an extremely subtle "Amazon" print below too and, beyond some scribbles from the FCC, that's it.Pretentious this isn't, and neither is it a handful. Measured in inches it comes in at 7.5 x 4.7 x .47 (that's 190 x 120 x 11.4mm), making it 0.4 inches shorter, 0.1 inches narrower and 0.07 inches thicker than the PlayBook. At 413g (14.6oz) it's slightly lighter, too, but still far from a featherweight -- it's noticeably heavier than the 345g Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. This thing feels incredibly solid, as if Amazon simply put a chisel to a big piece of slate, gave it a good whack and then put the resulting slab into a Frustration-Free box.But, for that extra heft you get an extra feeling of quality. Like the PlayBook, this thing feels incredibly solid, as if Amazon simply put a chisel to a big piece of slate, gave it a good whack and then put the resulting slab into a Frustration-Free box. The rubberized back may not look or feel particularly posh, but the entire assembly is reassuringly stout.The slight step down in size here compared to the PlayBook comes at the expense of the bezels, which are slightly more trim on the Fire -- at least on three sides. Held in portrait, the 7-inch, 1,024 x 600 IPS LCD is shifted ever so slightly toward the top. The slimmed-down black bars make no room for a front-facing camera and there are none to be found around back. So, while you won't be buying one of these for its looks, neither does it care much about yours.That non-removable, soft-touch back extends about two-thirds of the way up the edges of the device, the rest covered by shiny black plastic that flows up and around to the edge of the Gorilla Glass. Situated between those two layers are a pair of thin speakers that will send tinny, hollow audio out only on the right side when you're holding this as you would watching a movie. Those with more than one ear will want to want to make use of some headphones, which are not included.Bring your own and you'll find their receptacle on the opposite side, where the 3.5mm audio output is located. That's situated immediately next to a micro-USB port and a small power button. And that's it. There's just that one button to be found, meaning you'll have to delve into the software whenever you want to adjust volume. There's also no HDMI output for playing all of the great content Amazon throws your way and seemingly no ambient light sensor, as the tablet can't auto-dim its screen. Internals If you're the type who likes to load down your tablet before spending a few hours or days offline, you might find this single, tiny capacity a bit restrictive.Things are similarly barren on the inside. It's the same dual-core 1GHz TI OMAP processor that powers the PlayBook, but here it's paired with only 512MB of RAM and a mere 8GB of storage, of which about six and a half will be available to you and your ever-growing multimedia collection. Ostensibly, you won't need much since Amazon so thoughtfully lets you re-download anything you've bought any time you want, and is quite happy to stream all your music to you as well. But, if you're the type who likes to load down your tablet before spending a few hours or days offline, you might find this single, tiny capacity a bit restrictive. It's a shame Amazon doesn't offer a $250 16GB version, and a $300 32GB option too.If you are streaming content you'll be doing it over WiFi, as there's no 3G option yet. The tablet supports 802.11b/g/n on 2.4GHz and had no problem picking up and staying connected to wireless networks that weren't necessarily offering up full signal strength, but we kind of wish there were a 5GHz option. Bluetooth might have been nice, too. DisplayAgain, this is a 1024 x 600 IPS LCD panel that measures 7-inches from one corner all the way over to the opposite one. Those are the same specs as on the PlayBook and, as far as we can tell, this is the same panel. That's a reasonably good thing, because while it won't wow you at its maximum brightness, color reproduction is good and viewing angles are just as broad as you'd expect from an IPS panel.What isn't so impressive is the 169ppi pixel density. With more and more smartphones starting to offer 1280 x 800 resolutions in displays that are four and five inches we might have hoped for a bit more here. Suffice to say the LCD in the Fire is good -- but it stops short of being great.It's also a very, very different experience if you're coming from any of the company's other Kindles. E Ink displays offer a lower resolution and significantly reduced color depth (from this LCD's 16 million rainbow hues down to about 16 shades between black and white), but the Pearl display's reflective nature means it's just like reading paper and is very easy on the eyes. That is, of course, if you have enough light.An LCD brings its own backlight to the party, meaning you can easily read the Fire in pitch blackness if you're so inclined -- just remember you'll have to manually dial down the brightness before doing so. Battery lifeThis is one area where the Fire can't hope to compete against its Kindle predecessors that got the market suitably warmed up. Those readers, with their power-sipping processors and incredibly efficient E Ink screens, have longevity measured in months. We sadly have to resort to measuring in hours and minutes here, but we still have reasonably good news to report.In our standard video rundown test the Fire managed seven hours and 42 minutes. That's 12 minutes more than the seven and a half hours Amazon promises it can deliver when playing video, reaffirming our belief that there is truth in advertising. Sometimes.That figure compares favorably to the roughly seven hours the PlayBook managed but comes in 27 minutes below the healthy eight hours and nine minutes eked out by the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. PerformanceAs mentioned above, the Fire gets by with the same silicon that powered the PlayBook: a dual-core 1GHz TI OMAP chip, but here paired with only 512MB of RAM. Perhaps it's the step down from the standard 1GB, or perhaps it's the heavy-handed software overlay running atop Android, but the Fire never delivers smooth, seamless performance. While Amazon's own carousel of recently used items is slick and smooth, we had inconsistent results with APKs we sideloaded on here.While Amazon's own carousel of recently used items is slick and smooth, we had inconsistent results with APKs we sideloaded on here. Amazon's own media players work well, but third party ones that offered better compatibility with file formats universally did not. That said, 2D games like the omnipresent Angry Birds ran without issue, and simple 3D games like Fruit Ninja had no problems either.Given the Fire has no access to the Android Market many of our favorite benchmarks were unavailable to us. We were able to sideload Nenamark and Nenamark 2, but running the second caused the Fire to crash. Hard. After resetting the device (it takes just over 30 seconds to boot, for the record) we opted to stick with web-based benchmarks.Of those, the Fire achieved a respectable average score of 2,440 on SunSpider 9.1. Given the mysteries of Amazon's Silk browser, which offloads at least some of the rendering to the company's servers in the cloud, we're not 100 percent confident in that score -- especially since browser performance itself didn't wow us (more on that in a moment). But, as it's meant as a test of client-side rendering, it should be fair. SoftwareYou wouldn't know it, but the Fire is running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. That's the phone-friendly version of the OS that hasn't shown up in a top-tier tablet for quite some time. But don't fret that too much as it's been quite comprehensively buried here. So, let's start with what's been piled on. InterfaceYour first experience with the Fire will be with a beautiful lock screen showing close-up imagery of abstract things -- heads on a typewriter, freshly sharpened pencils, well-used fountain pen nibs. Writers will feel inspired by these poignant pics but anyone who likes customizing their home screen won't. There are no widgets to trigger here, just a thin arrow that you must drag left to get in. It's situated too high, in the middle of the screen, making it a bit of a clumsy reach. Choose to lock your device with a numeric code and you'll be stuck with the even more unfortunate Gingerbread number pad, which doesn't scale well on a display this size.Unlocked, you're greeted with what Amazon calls the carousel. It's an endless stack of icons representing whatever you've most recently done -- apps you used, books you read, movies you viewed -- it's all here in a big pile. Drag your finger across and those icons flip aside much like Apple's iconic Cover Flow and this is, ultimately, an easy way to get back to where you were -- so long as wherever you were wasn't that far away.However, it quickly becomes a little too deep to be all that useful, especially if you're hopping back and forth between books and movies (as we reviewers are wont to do). The solution is to pull anything you like out and pin it to your favorites, which start occupying the shelves below this main carousel. This makes for easier access, but we wish we could split the carousel itself into multiple shelves -- separate stacks of icons for most recent books, most recent magazines, most recent movies, and so forth. You have to be annoyingly precise to get your chosen thing to launch.A bigger problem is the carousel being a bit too sensitive to touch. You swipe left or right through the carousel and then tap whatever you want to launch. But, if your finger moves even a pixel or two in any direction when tapping the chosen item won't launch. The list will instead scroll just a bit and then pop back. You have to be annoyingly precise to get your chosen thing to launch.Apps and content are co-mingled here and throughout the rest of the interface, categorized into the following sections: Newsstand, Books, Music, Video, Docs and Apps. Finally, there's the Web tab, which launches the Silk browser -- which we'll discuss below.You can guess what you'll find where, and the layout of each section is similar. Tap on Newsstand, for example, and you'll be presented with a list of all the magazines and newspapers you've purchased. On top is a toggle with two options: Cloud and Device. When "Cloud" is selected it shows all content you've purchased, whether it be online or off. Tap anything that hasn't been cached locally yet and it'll instantly start downloading.Switch over to "Device" and, surprise surprise, you'll find only the things that are actually on your Fire, presented in the same sort of bookshelf aesthetic that is continued throughout the interface. The more things you add, the taller your bookshelf gets. You can sort by recently viewed or by title, but you can't reorganize and put your favorite mags up to the top like you can on the home page.Up top, the screen is a simple notification bar showing your name on the left, the current time in the middle and, on the right, a gear, a WiFi signal indicator and a battery strength gauge. Tap on these and you'll get a quick slide-down set of toggles and sliders that let you enable or disable the rotation lock and WiFi, while also letting you adjust volume and screen brightness. Reminder: this is the only way to adjust volume on the device! You can sideload other keyboard apps without problem but, since you can't get to the Android setting where those keyboards are selected, you'll never be able to actually use them.Tap the "More" button and you'll get to the full list of settings, a rather comprehensive suite of toggles that's nearly as broad as the all those Android has to offer stock, but re-skinned and somewhat restricted. For example, you can sideload other keyboard apps without problem but, since you can't get to the Android setting where those keyboards are selected, you'll never be able to actually use them.Tap on the left side of the status bar (where it says your name) and you'll get a list of current things happening in the background -- downloads and installs and the like. If you're an Android user you might find it confusing that you can't simply swipe down from the top to get this list. You might also be lamenting the lack of buttons.Most apps on the Fire take up the full screen, hiding the notification bar. To get that back, and to display a little navigation bar on the bottom, you usually have to tap somewhere in the middle of the screen. That done, the navigation bar appears and you have access to the Home, Menu, Search and Back buttons. Sideloaded apps are much the same, except you need to tap on a skinny gray up-arrow on the bottom of the screen. The tap-tap-tapping to hide and display menus is all a bit clumsy and not particularly intuitive. We'd have preferred a nice set of gestures for navigation, as found on the PlayBook or TouchPad.Finally, there's no concept of task-switching here. Apps you've been using recently do remember their state and bring you back where you left them, but there's no way to, for example, do a long press of the home key and jump from one to the next. You'll always have to go back to that carousel and scroll your way through. BrowserMuch has been made of the Fire's Silk browser and its remote rendering, ostensibly reducing the workload on the tablet itself and shuffling some of the heavy lifting off into the cloud to provide better, faster rendering. Does it work? Well, it's not the fastest browser in the West, but it is mighty quick given its limited internals.Stacked up against an the Fire routinely got beat in rendering pages -- but often not by much. We also stacked it up against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, which was often slower. Finally, we couldn't resist pitting the Fire against the PlayBook, and we found those two to be neck-and-neck in most tests. It's not a bad performer, but Silk doesn't quite live up to its smooth name.So, the Fire is a fine rendering machine, not the fastest in the world but able to keep up with the best without any ugly dithering or visual artifacts to indicate the content's remote-rendered nature. However, if we move past pure rendering speed, interacting with pages definitely seemed occasionally sluggish. Pinch-zooming was a bit jumpy and scrolling somewhat laggy. It's not a bad performer, but Silk doesn't quite live up to its smooth name.In terms of interface, Silk is comfortable and intuitive enough. The address bar at the top disappears as you scroll down, but a simple tabs list is always present, enabling you to quickly jump from one to another. A simple bookmark button in the menu bar brings up a bookmark interface that's quite similar to the stock Android browser. A simple grid of pages representing your favorites, and just hit the big "+" on the one you'd like to add.Recently visited pages also show up in the carousel and, like anything else, can be added to your favorites for quick return viewing. Annoyingly, though, there's no way to add a page directly to your favorites from the browser itself. You need to browse to that page, exit to the home screen and then do it from there. A bit of a bother, that. KeyboardThe Fire's stock keyboard is a relatively simple affair that offers suggestions as you type above the top list of keys. The suggestions are of course helpful, but the typing experience itself is a little cramped when the tablet is held in portrait mode. A particular annoyance is the spacebar on the keyboard, shifted off to the left thanks to an unfortunately placed period button. If you're the sort who exclusively hits the space bar with your right thumb you might find.yourself.typing.sentences.like.this. It's naturally a good bit more roomy when held in landscape, but even then the offset spacebar poses a bit of a challenge.If you can get over that it's a bit more comfortable to use than the stock Android keyboard, and the word suggestions are genuinely helpful -- especially for finding punctuation. There's nothing in the way of auto-correction, though, so if you want the suggestions to help you'll have to reach up and grab them yourselves. Music playback When you want to take things offline, with just a few taps you can download a song, an album or even an entire artist's worth of tracks.If you've been using Amazon's cold storage for your tunes you'll be presented with your entire library the moment you boot up your Fire. Of course, none of those tunes will actually be on your Fire, but you can quickly stream them at will. Streaming takes just a few seconds to start and, when you want to take things offline, with just a few taps you can download a song, an album or even an entire artist's worth of tracks. This makes it very easy to get your library where you want it.As with the other sections, purchasing music is very easy -- perhaps too easy for those whose buying impulses outweigh their budget-keeping abilities. There's a "Store" link that's always present in the upper-right, calling for you to click it should you find your Ryan Adams collection is a few discs short of comprehensive. Purchases can be pushed to your tablet or your happy pocket of cloud storage and pricing is generally quite reasonable.The actual music playback is simple enough, with the album art taking up the left half of the screen and playback controls on the right. Thankfully there's a volume slider right here, but that won't do you much good if you need to tweak the volume when the screen is off.Audio quality through the integrated speakers is far from inspiring. Again, they're both placed on one side, so the resulting output is decidedly monotastic. Even at max volume the amplitude here is underwhelming. Sound quality is decent, but a bit hollow, as one might expect.Swapping over to your own 'buds or headset obviously helps, but we still weren't impressed by the audio fidelity. There's a very, very subtle pop when playback starts and something of a constant hiss in the background during playback, even when the music is paused. Audiophile quality this isn't. Video playbackAs with music, all your purchased or rented videos are easily visible, whether downloaded or not. If they're not, a quick tap brings them down -- but you won't want to ingest too many. After purchasing the two-hour Crazy, Stupid, Love (we're suckers for a sweet romcom) we found it to take 560MB of our Fire's storage. With about 6.5GB at your disposal you'll have room for 10 movies -- and then nothing else.Thankfully, though, you won't need to download them. With a quick tap you can stream your purchased content and save the local storage -- if you have a suitable connection. Whether downloaded or streamed the quality of the footage wasn't great, with plenty of compression noise providing muddying scenes with quick transitions. It didn't look bad, but those who've sworn off anything but Blu-ray and its sky-high bitrates won't go five minutes here without grimacing.Amazon of course also offers an ever-growing selection of streaming content for free through its Primed service. The offerings aren't quite up to par with what Netflix can serve you, but the assortment isn't far off. Sadly, though, none of this can be downloaded for later viewing and, should you find yourself pining for the library offered by another service, both Netflix and Hulu Plus will be available.Again, the presentation here is simple and the controls intuitive enough, naturally hidden most of the time during playback, but without HDMI output there's no way to get this video content onto a larger display. We asked Amazon if wireless video streaming might be in the cards, but the response is that instead the company would like you to try streaming your video content through any of a number of other devices that can pull Amazon content. So, here's to hoping you own one of those, too. Magazine readingMagazine reading is definitely a huge part of what Amazon's hoping people will love about the Fire, but our feelings here definitely fall more toward like. Amazon has lined up 400 full-color offerings for you to peruse, so chances are you'll find something that suits your fancy.We downloaded a few photo-heavy folios, like Esquire and House Beautiful, to sample the reading experience and in general found it to be good -- but not great. Here the 7-inch display becomes a bit of a problem, just feeling a little too small and not packing enough pixels to clearly render small text. We constantly found ourselves zooming in and out to read. You can switch over to Text View, which pulls all the text out into a much more enjoyable full-page view -- but then you lose all the beautiful formatting and presentation that make magazines so engaging in the first place.Thankfully page turning is quick and responsive and pinch-zooming reasonably so, but overall we just felt a bit restricted here, leaving us longing for that . (Might we suggest Bonfire?) Comic readingAmazon made a big deal about its partnership with graphic novel publishers for the launch of the Fire, and rightfully so. Comics have tried to go digital many times in the past and have yet to find a solid following -- at least among those willing to pay money for them. So, what's the reading experience like here on the Fire? Occasionally great, but it can't shake the occasional clumsiness that muddies things here.As with magazines, text is often squashed too small to be read -- even if its drawn in bold, sure penstrokes. Shockingly, though, you can't pinch-zoom to get a closer look! You have to double-tap on whatever section of the screen you want a closer look at. You then get a popup window with a closer view of that section and, from there, you can tap or swipe your way from one panel to the next. This is a little annoying if you just want to zoom in on one section and then zoom back out again, but it sure beats not being able to read the text.Other than that annoyance comics are a great addition. The Fire's screen does a great job recreating the bold colors and simple lines that make them such a joy to read. Book readingThis is, of course, not just the Fire. It is the Kindle Fire and, as such, reading is a big part of its game. You'll quite naturally have access to all the textual content you've purchased through Amazon in the past, all your bookmarks neatly synced here so you can pick up wherever you left off. Like with the other sections you can get a quick look at all your content available in cloud plus that which is already downloaded, and moving a book from one to the other takes just a tap.The Kindle store is of course also easily accessible, which enables you to download book samples if you're not quite sure if a certain writer's prose will please your palate. Also, Amazon has just started the for Prime subscribers, which lets them borrow one book a month for free. You have eight fonts to choose from in case the serifs on the stock typeface rub your Helvetic sensibilities the wrong way.The reading experience is about what you'd expect. By default you get black text on a white background, but if you find that a little too squint-inducing you can flip and get white text on black -- or even brown text on a yellow. You can dynamically change font size, line spacing and margins, and you have eight fonts to choose from in case the serifs on the stock typeface rub your Helvetic sensibilities the wrong way.To turn the page you either swipe your finger left or right or tap on the appropriate edge of the screen. Unfortunately, you can't tap on the bezel, a feature we'd have liked, and the new expanded tap zones in the Kindle Touch don't work here. With that device the "next" tapping region takes over much of the middle of the screen. Here that real estate is needed to bring up the menu. OtherThe Fire includes a version of Quickoffice out of the box, but it's capable only of reading Word-like, Excel-esque and PowerPoint-ish documents. If you want to edit or create you'll need to spring for the $14.99 Pro edition.There's a simple email app included here as well. It isn't nearly as good as Android's iconic Gmail app, but it does work well enough and will sync with your Gmail account without much bother. You are able to send messages with attachments, if you're so inclined. Competition Sure, there are plenty of other 7-inch tablets out there, but at $200 it's hard to find a direct comparison. The best of the moment seems to be the Samsung , which we've been testing and generally liking. But, a starting MSRP of $400 makes that hard to compare -- even though it's thinner, lighter, faster and has full access to the Android Market. Another option is of course RIM's , which at $349 is getting closer. In general we found the PlayBook to offer snappier performance, but that device hasn't exactly seen a flood of support lately and, while it is more feature-rich than the Fire, it has an even more limited app selection. The from Huawei is a compelling choice, a device that we surprised ourself by liking quite a bit in our recent review. It's running straight Honeycomb and is available for just $180 -- if you don't mind a two-year agreement. $430 off-contract is a bit harder to swallow. Of course, the biggest competition is yet to come: Barnes & Noble's . That will cost $250 and ostensibly do much the same as Amazon's offering. How will they compare? We can't say for sure yet, but thankfully we also won't have to wait long to find out: the Nook Tablet ships on November 16th. AccessoriesThe Kindle Fire doesn't come with much in its Frustration-Free yet almost comically oversized box. (It's larger than the container Samsung chose to hold the Galaxy Tab 10.1.) Inside you'll find a micro-USB power adapter for charging and... nothing else. No micro-USB data cable is provided and, while we're guessing you have one or two dozen to spare at this point, the Fire is targeting a whole new demographic of tablet buyers. We'd guess many of them don't have a single one. The assumption is that they'll just get all of their media through Amazon, and that's probably a safe one.Amazon offers a selection of cases and covers that range from simple cloth sleeves to rather more advanced (and expensive) Leather covers with integrated stands. We were provided with the $29.99 Zip Sleeve in Charcoal to try, which is simple and slim and does a good enough job protecting the stout slab within, but doesn't wow with functionality like Apple's SmartCover. If that one's not to your liking there are plenty more in various colors from various third parties -- most of which cost a good bit more.It's worth noting that none of these cases have integrated Bluetooth keyboards. That's not because these companies are assuming nobody would want to do that much typing on here anyway (again, probably a safe assumption), it's because, of course, the Fire doesn't offer Bluetooth in the first place. Wrap-upThe Kindle Fire is quite an achievement at $200. It's a perfectly usable tablet that feels good in the hand and has a respectably good looking display up front. Yes, power users will find themselves a little frustrated with what they can and can't do on the thing without access to the Android Market but, in these carefree days of cloud-based apps ruling the world, increasingly all you need is a good browser. That the Fire has.When stacked up against other popular tablets, the Fire can't compete. Its performance is a occasionally sluggish, its interface often clunky, its storage too slight, its functionality a bit restricted and its 7-inch screen too limiting if you were hoping to convert all your paper magazine subscriptions into the digital ones. Other, bigger tablets do it better -- usually at two or three times the cost.So, the Kindle Fire is great value and perhaps the best, tightest integration of digital content acquisition into a mobile device that we've yet seen. Instead of having a standalone shopping app the entire tablet is a store -- a 7-inch window sold at a cut-rate price through which users can look onto a sea of premium content. It isn't a perfect experience, but if nothing else it's a promising look into the future of retail commerce.Update: Amazon wrote in to let us know that you don't have to double-tap on every panel when reading a comic. We've updated the text above to reflect that.[Thanks to for additional information on the Kindle Fire]If you had told us at roughly this time last year that the e-reader race would be heating up going into the 2012 holiday season, we would have disagreed. If anything, 2011 seemed like the beginning of the end. Spurred on by the tablet explosion, companies like , and even were looking toward that space for inspiration, introducing flagship devices on which reading was just one of many features. Heck, even the readers themselves started to look more tablet-like, with many abandoning of physical keyboards in favor of infrared touchscreens. But here we are at the end of September, and this product category has never been more exciting. Back in May, Barnes & Noble captured our hearts and midnight reading marathons with the , a wordy name for a great little device that made reading in bed at night a little easier. (A problem, according to Barnes & Noble, that was tearing the country's families apart.) But don't let it be said that Amazon doesn't believe in the American family. Earlier this month, the company launched the , the latest addition to a product lineup that has more or less become synonymous with the term "e-reader." At that , CEO Jeff Bezos described the four years of R&D that went into the powering that bright screen. It was clear from our with the device that, although Amazon is placing extra emphasis on the these days, it still has a lot invested in the e-reader fight. The sharpened, illuminated text is impressive, and Amazon has gone so far as to describe this as the Kindle it's always wanted to build. That's all well and good, but how does it compare to similar offerings on the market? Is this worth the $119 asking price (with ads)? Let's find out. Hardware Even when it was first released in 2007, the first-generation Kindle was a bit dated -- a big, bulky thing cluttered with keys and buttons. By the time the sleek third-gen model came out, it was clear that industrial design had moved up on Amazon's list of priorities. With last year's , Amazon ditched the , and now it's taking things a step further with the Paperwhite. There's a stark minimalism on display here: two buttons were clearly one too many, and as such, the company lopped off the menu button on the lower bezel, and replaced it with a lowercase Kindle logo. Only a single button remains: a small, lonely power button nestled on the bottom of the device. We've bemoaned Amazon's aversion to physical buttons in the past, particularly in the case of the physical page turn buttons that used to sit on either side of Kindle e-readers. After all, touch is fine for most things, but an E Ink reader can freeze up, leaving the screen unresponsive to touch input. And then there's the fact that single-handed reading is a risky proposition, as anyone who gets to work on the subway will happily tell you. You'll also notice that Amazon ditched the last-gen model's silver coloring in favor of an all-black design (much like the rest of the industry, we might add). The bezels on the front are made of the same hard plastic as the previous model, with a soft-touch material wrapping around the back. The material's becoming a bit of an industry standard on these devices, and we can see why: it feels nice beneath the fingers and offers some friction to help ensure you won't accidentally lose your grip during a particularly saucy "Fifty Shades of Grey" passage (not that we'd know). About a third of the way down the rear side you'll find another, larger Kindle logo. At the bottom are all the requisite FCC stats. For obvious reasons, Amazon has ditched the metal tabs used for connecting those optional reading light cases. There are also no speaker grilles here, and the headphone jack has disappeared altogether, taking the dream of multimedia playback with it. On that bottom lip, you're only going to find the micro-USB slot (for charging and syncing with your computer) and the power button, which you'll primarily be using for waking the reader up from sleep (the battery life is just that good). Of course, it will also come in handy on those occasions when a screen freeze necessitates a full reboot. Display Paperwhite. It's a goofy name, to be sure, but it does get to the heart of why Amazon thinks this is the Kindle it's been striving to make since gen one: this device holds the promise of a crisper, easier-to-read display. The addition of front lighting is obviously a big piece of that, but there's more to it. There are also more pixels for Amazon to work with here -- 62 percent more, according to the company's numbers, and the contrast, too, has been bumped up 25 percent. Even with the built-in light turned off, it's immediately apparent with the reader and its predecessor placed side by side on similar settings. It's a key difference between this reader and Barnes & Noble's offering. The Nook Simple Touch, on the other hand, loses contrast when bumped up to the GlowLight version, offering fairly uneven text throughout. Top to bottom: Kindle Touch, Kindle Paperwhite (light off), Kindle Paperwhite (light at top setting) The thing is, you won't really have to worry about how the text appears with the light off. If Amazon's numbers are to be believed, you'll be spending all of your time reading with the light on, nighttime or no. The company says it paid special attention to selecting LEDs that didn't wear down the device's battery. By Amazon's own estimate, it's done a pretty solid job on that account: it rates the battery for eight weeks of reading time with the light on (at a little less than halfway, with the WiFi off, by Amazon's own caveats). And if you had any doubts about how much confidence the company has in its estimates, note that the device's light turns on the minute you pull it out of the box and fire it up. That bodes well, we'd say. Of course, results will vary depending on what settings you've chosen. We were rocking it at full blast for a while (save for when it automatically shuts off to go to sleep, of course) with 3G turned on, and we did experience some perceptible battery drain. What's also remarkable about the display is how evenly the light is distributed. Given the attempts we've seen at front-lit e-readers in the past, we were fairly impressed even with what Barnes & Noble was able to do with its patent pending GlowLight technology. But, place it next to the Paperwhite and the difference is night and day. A quick look at the Nook shows a much brighter top, making it immediately apparent where inside the device the light is coming from. Just in case you're still unsure, give the Nook a tilt and you'll see it clearly coming from beneath the bezel. Amazon, on the other hand, has managed to significantly reduce the gap between the bezel and the display. If you look for it, you can see the light source, but unless you peer closely, the light appears to be coming from all sides. Look carefully and you'll also see spots at the bottom of the display -- when on a white page, with the light turned up to full blast. Under those conditions, you might notice some unevenness toward to bottom. On the whole, however, the light distribution is far, far more even than on the GlowLight. Left to right: The Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight and the Kindle Paperwhite (each set to maximum brightness). Also immediately apparent is the "White" part of the this whole Paperwhite proposition. While the GlowLight's display has a bluish tint, the Kindle Paperwhite deserves more of a Timex comparison. Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but you get our point: the new Kindle's lighting allows for significantly whiter pages than what you'll find on the Nook and most E Ink displays, frankly. Above, an explanation of Amazon's front light technology. How did Amazon achieve such a feat? According to the company, the lighting technology was the result of nearly four years R&D (i.e., this isn't something the company just cooked up when it heard about Barnes & Noble's GlowLight). In explaining how the technology works, Amazon has described the setup as an optical fiber laid flat across the display, above the screen, accompanied by a nano-imprinted light guide that allows for even light distribution. Of course, even with that hurdle overcome, the Paperwhite does still retain some of the issues we're used to encountering with E Ink displays. For one thing, we did encounter a bit of ghosting -- more so than we've experienced on the Nook, even, but not quite as much as on the most . You still get a full page refresh every six pages or so, which has been the industry standard for about a year now. Still, as you'll notice in the above video, full refreshes can be a lot more frequent in some cases. Software Improving the reading experience wasn't simply a matter of tricking out the screen. The company's got plenty of new tricks on the software side, too. You're still greeted by a advertisement "Special Offer" (that is, unless you're willing to pay $20 to make them go away). In the case of the Kindle Touch, starting things up was just a matter of hitting the Power button. With the Paperwhite, you'll have to also swipe the screen before you can gain entry. Simply clicking the button will only serve to turn the light on. For the default home screen, Amazon's relying a lot more heavily on images, taking advantage of that increased pixel count with a row of three book covers, each of which represent your recent picks. Fresh downloads bear a "New" sash and take up a bit more screen real estate. You'll also notice a small dotted progress bar for a quick measure of how far you've read. You can access the rest of your download library by clicking just below these, and you can also mix things up and view by title, author or collections. Below this, you get a selection of "Singles," short stories that Amazon thinks you ought to buy for $2 a pop. These sit just above a small Special Offers banner ad -- always be selling, Amazon, coffee is for closers. At the top of the home screen, you'll see a black toolbar featuring your Kindle's name ("Brian's 3rd Kindle" for me -- I'd have preferred something with more zest like BattleBook), your wireless connection (3G, suckers), battery life and the time. Below that is a row of browser-like buttons, including icons for Home, Back, Store, Search with various settings (like View Special Offers!) and adjusting the Light settings. Amazon has done a really nice job with that last one, offering up a sensitive dimmer switch with 24 notches, and a reminder to use a high setting for brightly lit rooms and a low setting for dark rooms, as unintuitive as that might sound. Farther down are two links that let you toggle between books you've downloaded and titles stored in the cloud, a pretty great addition that makes it much easier to access anything you've purchased but haven't yet downloaded to your new reader. Here, you get a library of big book covers. Clicking on one will start the download to the device, which has 2GB of non-expandable storage. As for the store itself, the experience hasn't changed very much. Amazon's borrowed the browser-like toolbar from the home screen, whose large icons push things down the page a bit. The store looks a bit cleaner, too, as the company removed the gray borders between sections. What really counts, however, is selection, and Amazon's certainly got one of the best libraries. Amazon has always been cagey about giving hard numbers, though. Take a look at the company's press materials and you'll find fairly meaningless stats like, "over a million titles less than $9.99." And what of this reading experience we've heard so much about? We're glad you asked. As ever, it's all about the words: the text monopolizes a good chunk of the page. In the bottom-right corner, you'll still find the percentage of the book you've read thus far (we still prefer actual page numbers -- though you can access those in the menu). On the lower left, however, the obscure location number has been swapped out for the new "Time to Read" feature, which is exactly what it sounds like: an estimate of how many minutes it will take you to finish the book. The feature starts with an average number and then adjusts as it learns your reading habits. All told, a terrific new addition. As mentioned above, the increase in resolution and pixels means that the company can offer up even more font sizes and styles, making the text readable even at the smallest setting. This latest Kindle features eight text sizes, seven font sizes (hellooooo, Helvetica) and three settings for both line spacings and margins. Text size can also be adjusted with a pinch gesture, though the motion is hardly fluid. Plenty of features have been carried over from the last-gen model as well, including , which lets you find characters, places, topics, etc. spaced throughout the book by searching on a given term. Setting a bookmark is as simple as tapping the upper-right corner of the screen. To highlight, hold down and drag. From there, you can add a note, look up words in The New Oxford American Dictionary, translate through Bing translation or share passages on Facebook or Twitter. Amazon's still referring to its built-in browser as "experimental," and it's easy to see why. Surfing the web on an e-reader is still kind of a last-ditch solution, something you might do should your computer, tablet and phone all explode simultaneously. To use the browser, you'll have to turn on the WiFi, even on 3G devices -- Amazon will pay for you to download all the books you want, but it ain't shelling out for you to surf the web. Between the display limitations and the stuttering required to scroll up and down a page, there aren't a lot of nice things to be said here -- and in that case, it's not all that different from browsers on competing devices. We will say this: the addition of the large toolbar from the home screen is a nice touch. As per usual, the device can display PDFs and docs. Here, it takes advantage of Amazon's handy Send to Kindle feature. Just install the application on your device and you can drag and drop files, which get sent to whichever Kindle tied to your account you specify. Amazon's estimate of "a few seconds" is a bit optimistic, but it did take less than a minute before a PDF we sent ourselves popped up on our homepage. Once it arrived, we used the touchscreen to zoom in and scroll across the document -- handy features for those who need to read word documents on the go, but don't want to rely on their tiny phone screen. Amazon's also built in some parental controls here, accessible in the Settings menu. From there, you can restrict access to the browser, Kindle Store and the Cloud, requiring all users to enter a password to utilize that functionality -- simple, but no doubt effective for parents looking to keep their kids out of monochromatic trouble. Wrap-up Left to right: the Kindle Paperwhite and the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight. So, do all of these features add up to the best e-reader out there? In a syllable: yep. Amazon was clearly focused on creating the best possible reading experience with the Paperwhite, and it's delivered. The screen adjustments are great -- everything from the evenly distributed front light to the improved contrast. Meanwhile, the new Time to Read feature, coupled with X-Ray, Whispersync and Send to Kindle, further round out the experience. And, of course, there are perennial favorites like optional 3G and Amazon's vast catalog of content. The Kindle's still far from perfect, though. For starters, it's simply not as pleasant to hold as the Nook Simple Touches -- it ultimately sacrifices comfort for some aesthetic niceties. There's also the Kindle lineup's continued lack of expandable storage, though the on-board 2GB might well be enough for you, especially with unlimited cloud storage at the ready. And then there's the whole special offers thing. Amazon, can we stop pretending that ads are a bonus feature? It's great that you're able to shave the price down to $119 for the WiFi version and $179 for 3G, and these ads certainly aren't as intrusive as some might suggest. Still, with the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight now priced at $119 without ads, it's hard to get behind paying $20 for an ad-free experience. Those caveats aside, though, the Kindle Paperwhite has once again made Amazon's e-reader the one to beat.There's little question that stole the show at last week's . After all, the new tablet marks a change for the company's Kindle line, which until now has been defined by relatively simple E-Ink-based devices. The , meanwhile, stepped up to bat to take on the likes of new and touchscreen readers. But while most expected that device to become the heir to the Kindle throne, the company made a something of a surprise move, offering up a new device that will bear the reader's name. Now in its , the Kindle has shed its keyboard and been reborn as a pocket-sized, lighter-weight reader. And a cheap one, at that -- $109 for the standard version and $79 for the ad-supported. So, is the new Kindle worthy of the name that has become synonymous with e-readers? Or did the company make too many sacrifices in the name of slashing prices? Find out in our review after the break. HardwareThe new Kindle really is rather small compared to past versions, and the company isn't kidding when it calls the thing pocket-sized -- it slips quite nicely into a pant pocket. You might run into a bit of trouble attempting this after putting the reader in Amazon's proprietary case, but even then we managed to fit the device in our jeans with little effort. The reader shaves an inch from the height of and 0.3 inches from its width, though it expands a hundredth of an inch in thickness to 0.34 inches -- a pretty indistinguishable change, to be honest. The new Kindle's dimensions are pretty much on par with the latest Kobo reader (though Amazon's reader does come in a few fractions of an inch thinner), making the 0.47-inch thick Nook Wi-Fi look downright beefy by comparison. At 5.98 ounces, the new Kindle is also easily the lightest of the bunch, weighing in at about 2.5 ounces lighter than the last-gen model.The device owes much of its smaller footprint to the company's decision to abandon the keyboard this time out -- a decision that may rub some Kindle devotees the wrong way. Though at the moment, the QWERTYriffic Kindle 3 is still on the market, on sale under the moniker Kindle Keyboard, with a $99 / $139 price tag for the WiFi and 3G versions. In the case of the new Kindle Touch, Amazon stole a page from the Sony / Nook / Kobo playbook, replacing the keyboard with an infrared touchscreen. The new $79 Kindle, on the other hand, has neither of these things, and instead requires you to interact with it using physical buttons.You'll find long, skinny page buttons flanking the display on both sides. The rear of the device is rubberized to prevent slipping, but isn't quite as grippable as the Nook's concave back, so attempting to flip through pages while holding the device with a single hand is a fairly clumsy task. The loss of some real estate also makes the device more difficult to hold than the last generation Kindle. A row of small physical buttons lines the device's bottom bezel -- Back, Keyboard, Menu and Home. In the middle of the row is a small toggle pad with arrows for navigating the reader's menus, with a small button in the center for choosing items. The power button is located on the bottom edge of the device on a slightly protruding lip alongside the microUSB slot. Along the bottom of the reader's back are two small metal pads, which, when plugged into one of Amazon's $60 cases, power a built-in light to illuminate the non-backlit screen.Not surprisingly, there's no 3G option on the new Kindle. Amazon no doubt assumed that anyone who was willing to shell out for such functionality would also likely drop the extra cash for the Touch version. Support for audio files like MP3s and text-to-speech has been dropped as well. And really, it would be silly to dock the company for the lack of that option on what's truly meant to be a low-cost, entry-level device. As with past Kindles, Amazon opted to forgo the expandable memory here, instead relying on the device's built-in 2GB for downloaded texts That's the same amount of storage included on the Nook and Kobo, which both have microSD slots and half of the previous generation Kindle (and the Touch, for that matter). But while the relative lack of storage is less than ideal, keep in mind that Amazon also lets you store texts in the cloud, taking some burden off the device itself.For such a low-cost device, the Kindle's build feels really solid with a strengthened plastic faceplate that feels almost metallic and a sort of solid construction that belies its weight. Drop the extra dime for one of Amazon's cases, and you have a device that should stand up to hours spent in a book bag or another carrying case. Amazon has also bumped up the processor to 800MHz (from 532), the same as the ones found in the Nook and Kobo readers.DisplayDespite shaving off a precious inch from its footprint, the new Kindle manages to maintain its industry-standard six-inch display. Like the Nook, Kobo, Sony, et al., theKindle is built around a sharp Pearl E-Ink screen, offering up the same 600 x 800 resolution and 16-level gray scale as its predecessor. The text really does pop, and unlike its LCD-based competition, it's quite readable in sunlight, a long-time selling point for Amazon. The reader's page turn rate is on-par with the latest generation readers, as well -- we put it up against the new Nook and Kindle 3, and couldn't detect a difference in speed, with both devices doing a full page refresh about once every six pages.As with the last version of the Kindle, you can lop a significant chunk off of the product's price by opting into the ad-supported version. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos suggested during last week's event that the device's advertising is so "beautiful" that a user who didn't know any better would just assume that they were standard screen savers. Not surprisingly, this isn't really the case here -- at least not with the ads we saw. All were pretty clearly advertisements, including ones for AT&T, the film Anonymous and, of course, Amazon itself, which was far and away the biggest advertiser we saw. That said, the ads aren't very intrusive, as they only pop up when you put the device to sleep or when you're looking at the home screen, which has small banners lining the bottom. For those who don't mind one ad delivery method in an already saturated world, the option may well be worth the $30 savings.SoftwareThe Kindle's lack of a touchscreen isn't a particular nuisance until it comes time to type. Clicking the keyboard button on the button bezel will bring up a virtual QWERTY. In this bare-bones model, typing means cycling through the letters using the navigation pad, which can be a pain when searching for books in the store. For anyone who plans on doing some serious typing on the thing -- though we're not entirely sure why someone would -- it may be worth the extra $20 to upgrade to the Touch.Firing up the device will bring you to a simple homepage with a list of all of the items you've purchased and a link to Archived Items, which gives you access to content stored on other Whisper Synced devices. A bar along the top lets you know the time, the strength of your WiFi single, battery life and how much storage you've got left. Clicking the Menu button while on the homescreen gives you the option to visit the store, sync your content, rotate the screen's orientation and visit the settings.There's also a search feature, which brings you to a central page where you can find keywords on the device, the Kindle Store, Wikipedia, the built-in Oxford American Dictionary, Wikipedia and the Web. Entering text in the search field requires hitting the Keyboard button. The browser is, of course, quite basic, with a simple search bar on the top, where you can enter a URL or a keyword, using the toggle switch to switch between Go To, Wikipedia and Google. Press down on the arrow key will display a large box with a magnifying glass for zooming into a page.The page layout is fairly simple, with the vast majority of the space taken up by the text, with the menu bar from the homepage carrying over. Hitting menu brings up options to search the text, read a description and, in the case of a sample, purchase the book. You can also adjust the font from here, choosing from seven sizes, three typefaces and three line spacing options. At the bottom of the page there's a progress bar, letting you know how far you are in the book. With the toggle pad, you can also select words to look up and annotate.As with past versions, the new Kindle reads TXT and PDF files, which you can drag onto the device onto the device via micro-USB. When looking at PDF files, the Kindle lets you zoom in and out and adjust the contrast. As with other readers, the whole process is fairly clunky and slow, but it's a nice feature for anyone who wants to review business documents on the go or import their own non-Kindle Store files.Wrap-upIf you've ever played with a Kindle, it shouldn't surprise you to learn that the fourth-generation is one solid device. The hardware is well made, the processing is snappy and the screen is extremely easy to read. It is, however, sorely lacking in the bells and whistles department, with a renewed, almost one-track focus on reading. Nowhere is this more evident than in the lack of a keyboard or touchscreen, making browsing quite the chore. Naturally, though, typing is at best a secondary feature on a device like this. And if you felt strongly enough, you could always get the Kindle Touch for an extra twenty bucks.Ultimately, though, this question of value comes down to price. The Kindle is $79 with ads and $109 without -- a steal compared to the $139 launch price of the Kindle 3 and Nook WiFi. We've heard that the Kindle tends to be a money-loser for Amazon, with the company earning back its hardware losses with strong book sales, and that may well be the case here. But at that price, the new Kindle is likely to end up in the hands of users who have been eyeing e-readers, but are loathe to part with $140. And while this certainly isn't the best or most fully featured e-reader we've seen -- and can't be considered an upgrade over last years model, the new Kindle is the best e-reader $100 (or less!) can buy.Amazon Launches India Kindle Store with the Biggest Selection and Lowest Prices in India, Kindle Now for Sale at Croma Stores across India Over one million books priced in rupees available for purchase by Indian customers on Amazon.com, including titles from Chetan Bhagat, Ashwin Sanghi, Ravinder Singh and Amish Tripathi Kindle the world's #1 bestselling e-reader for five years running now available for purchase at Croma retail stores across India Kindle Direct Publishing now available to independent authors and publishers in India SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 22, 2012-- Amazon today launched the India Kindle Store on Amazon.com (www.amazon.com/kindlestoreindia) with the largest selection, including the most bestsellers, and lowest prices of any e-bookstore in India. The India Kindle Store offers over one million books, now available for India customers priced in Indian Rupees (INR), including 70 of 100 Nielsen Bestsellers. In addition, customers can now purchase Kindle the world's #1 bestselling e-reader for five years running at Croma retail stores across India. The India Kindle Store features a vast selection of titles, New Releases, Bestsellers, and works from a range of Indian authors, including Chetan Bhagat, Ashwin Sanghi, Ravinder Singh and Amish Tripathi. Readers will also find exclusive Kindle books such as "Love, Life and a Beer Can" by Prashant Sharma, and "Reality Bites; a not so innocent Love Story" by Anurag Anand as well as over one million free classics available to download and read on Kindle. "We are proud to launch this new Kindle store for Indian customers offering Kindle book purchases in rupees and the ability to buy and read the work of many great Indian authors," said Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content, Amazon.com. "In addition, we are excited to work with Croma to make Kindle available at retail outlets across India." "We are excited to be the first retailer in India to offer the latest generation Kindle to our customers. This product will launch exclusively in all Croma stores across India at an introductory price of 6,999 INR," said Mr. Ajit Joshi, CEO and Managing Director of Croma. "Kindle is the bestselling e-reader in the world and has revolutionized the way people read. Kindle wirelessly downloads books on a high-resolution electronic-ink screen that looks and reads just like real paper, even in bright sunlight." Kindle lets you download books in less than 60 seconds, carry up to 1,400 books and read for up to one month on a single battery charge. You can also buy your books once and read them everywhere-on Kindle, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, and Android-based devices. Amazon's Whispersync technology syncs your place across all devices, so you can pick up where you left off. With Kindle Worry-Free Archive, books you purchase from the Kindle Store, and any notes or annotations you create, are automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon.com where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime. Amazon also launched Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for independent authors and publishers in India. KDP is a fast, free and easy way for authors and publishers to make their books available to Kindle customers in India and around the world on both Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps. New features for authors and publishers in India include the ability to set prices specific for India, as well as receive royalty payments in rupees. For more information on KDP visit https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help. Customers can visit the new India Kindle Store now at www.amazon.com/kindlestoreindia. Customers can discover full details on www.amazon.com/kindle and www.junglee.com or at Croma retail outlets throughout India. Customers can also continue to purchase Kindle, Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G from Amazon.com with shipment to India.Amazon Publishing Introduces "Kindle Worlds," A New Publishing Model for Authors Inspired to Write Fan Fiction-Launching with an Initial License of Popular Titles from Warner Bros. Television Group's Alloy EntertainmentLike Kindle Singles and Kindle Serials, Kindle Worlds Adds a New Approach to Digital PublishingSEATTLE-(NASDAQ: AMZN)-May 22, 2013-Today, Amazon Publishing announces Kindle Worlds, the first commercial publishing platform that will enable any writer to create fan fiction based on a range of original stories and characters and earn royalties for doing so. Amazon Publishing has secured licenses from Warner Bros. Television Group's Alloy Entertainment division for its New York Times best-selling book series Gossip Girl, by Cecily von Ziegesar; Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard; and Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith; and plans to announce more licenses soon. Through these licenses, Kindle Worlds will allow any writer to publish authorized stories inspired by these popular Worlds and make them available for readers to purchase in the Kindle Store.Amazon Publishing will pay royalties to both the rights holders of the Worlds and the author. The standard author's royalty rate (for works of at least 10,000 words) will be 35% of net revenue. As with all titles from Amazon Publishing, Kindle Worlds will base net revenue off of sales price-rather than the lower, industry standard of wholesale price-and royalties will be paid monthly.In addition, with the launch of Kindle Worlds, Amazon Publishing will pilot an experimental new program for particularly short works-between 5,000 and 10,000 words. For these short stories-typically priced under one dollar-Amazon will pay the royalties for the World's rights holder and pay authors a digital royalty of 20%.Beginning today, interested writers are encouraged to visit Kindle Worlds (www.amazon.com/kindleworlds) to learn more and get a head start on writing. In June, the Kindle Worlds store is expected to launch with over 50 commissioned works from authors such as #1 New York Times best-selling author Barbara Freethy, Bram Stoker Award-winner John Everson and RITA Award-winner Colleen Thompson. At that time, the Kindle Worlds self-service submission platform, where any writer can submit completed work, will also open.World Licensors benefit from Kindle Worlds because:It's an entirely new way to monetize their valuable franchisesIt allows them to extend their Worlds with new stories and characters and more deeply engage with existing fans, while also reaching new audiencesAmazon Publishing will work with them to establish content guidelines that balance flexibility and openness for writers with what's reasonable for the franchise"Our books have generated a massive amount of fan fiction, and we see this as an evolution in publishing and a valuable way of broadening our brands and engaging fans," said Leslie Morgenstein, President Alloy Entertainment. "When working with Amazon Publishing on this scale, we know we're in good hands and everyone will benefit.""Seeing Pretty Little Liars fans adapt and create their own stories is both exciting and flattering and I think what Amazon Publishing is offering through Kindle Worlds is a great way to reward their ingenuity," said Sara Shepard, author of Pretty Little Liars.Writers benefit from Kindle Worlds because:Amazon Publishing has already secured the necessary licenses to write about any Kindle WorldThey can earn royalties writing about established characters and universesThe Kindle Worlds self-service submission platform is easy to use"I loved writing the characters in this world, the dynamics of the friendship between the four girls as they deal with life-threatening situations," said Barbara Freethy, writing in Pretty Little Liars. "I also really enjoy the ongoing mysteries and surprising twists that always keep the reader guessing. It's great that Amazon Publishing has given those who put passion into fan fiction the opportunity to commercialize this work."And readers benefit from Kindle Worlds because:They can find a stream of new stories in Worlds they loveThey can discover new Worlds and corresponding great new storiesAs with all Kindle books these are "Buy Once, Read Everywhere"-they can read on Kindle or Kindle Fire as well as with a free Kindle app for all of the most popular devices and platforms"At Kindle, we're not only inventing on the hardware and software side of the business, we're inventing new ways to create books," said Philip Patrick, Director, Business Development and Publisher of Kindle Worlds. "Our goal with Kindle Worlds is to create a home for authors to build on the Worlds we license, and give readers more stories from the Worlds they enjoy. We look forward to announcing additional World licensing deals in the coming weeks."Amazon Publishing is engaged with additional rights holders from different areas of entertainment-books, games, TV, movies and music-and looks forward to announcing future deals soon. To get started writing works in licensed properties, visit www.amazon.com/kindleworlds for submission guidelines and updates on licensed properties.About Alloy EntertainmentAlloy Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Television Group, develops and produces original novels, television series, and feature films. More than seventy-five of AE's books have been on the New York Times bestseller list, including The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, The Clique, The Lying Game, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Private and The Luxe. AE has successfully adapted several of its top selling books into hit television shows for broadcast across multiple networks including The CW, ABC, ABC Family and Nickelodeon. Current Alloy Entertainment television series include Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, Lying Game, and soon to premiere Originals, Ravenswood and The 100.About Amazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support, dual-antennas and MIMO for faster streaming and downloads, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine-and it is available in two display sizes-7" and 8.9". The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless, and comes with a groundbreaking $49.99 introductory 4G LTE data package. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es and www.amazon.com.br. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.Forward-Looking StatementsThis announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.Source: Amazon.com, Inc.Now Open: Kindle Worlds Store and Self-Service Submission PlatformThe Kindle Worlds Store and Self-Service Submission Platform are now open. Customers can enjoy works from dozens of authors including Barbara Freethy (writing in Pretty Little Liars), Charles Sasser (Foreworld Saga) and Anita Clenney (The Vampire Diaries). Kindle World's Self-Service Submission Platform enables any writer to publish fan fiction based on a range of original stories and characters and earn royalties for doing so. To browse the store and learn more about Kindle Worlds, visit www.amazon.com/kindleworlds.Kindle Worlds is a new publishing model that allows any writer to publish authorized stories inspired by popular Worlds and make them available for readers to purchase in the Kindle Store, and earn up to a 35% royalty while doing so. Kindle Worlds stories will typically be priced between $0.99 and $3.99 and will be exclusive to Kindle. To learn more and get started writing, visit kindleworlds.amazon.com.Here's what authors and licensors are saying about Kindle Worlds:"It's actually a gift to be able to take someone else's creation and see whether you can take it in a new direction. Watch every show; read every comic book. Honor the canon and honor the fans. There is a reason these stories have become so popular. And don't feel restricted by the universe that has already been created. It reminds me a bit of writing a haiku or a sonnet. There are rules that must be followed, but within those rules, you can go anywhere. Your imagination is the only limit." -Carolyn Nash, writer in Archer & Armstrong"I believe Kindle Worlds has the potential to increase writership in much the same way the introduction of the Kindle expanded readership. I am thrilled for the Silo Saga to be a part of this program. It's a natural fit because for the past year, talented authors have been exploring Silos of their own creation, and I look forward to reading more and to crafting some Worlds stories of my own." -Hugh Howey, World Licensor for the Silo Saga"I was intrigued by the opportunity to create something that absolutely had to fall inside a canon that someone else came up with. In one way, it was very freeing to do so. Because the universe itself exists, with all the richness of an already established background and history, I could get right into the meat of the story without having to explain everything to the readers. I did try to make it understandable and enjoyable to a newcomer to the world, however. But there's a lot I worked to add that will hopefully tickle the fancy of the fans." -L.J. McDonald, writer in The Vampire Diaries"It was great fun to play 'What if?' and come up with scenarios that had ties to things that have happened on Vampire Diaries but which took things in a different direction or introduced new characters that could fit into the world of Mystic Falls. There's probably not a writer fangirl alive who hasn't fantasized about being able to write at least one episode of her favorite show, and I'm no different. While these stories aren't show episodes, it's still pretty darn cool to be able to write them with the idea of fellow fans reading them." -Trish Milburn, writer in The Vampire DiariesThe Kindle Worlds Store is now open with over 50 commissioned stories including:"Pretty Little Liars: Stained" by Barbra Annino"The Vampire Diaries: The Arrival" by Lauren Barnholdt & Aaron Gorvine"Shadowman: Salvation Sally" by Tom King"The Foreworld Saga: The Qian" by Aric Davis"X-O Manowar: Noughts and Crosses" by Stuart MooreToday's announcement is also a call to storytellers to join Kindle Worlds. Here's how the self-service submission platform works:Choose Your World: Choose a World to write in and read the content guidelines.Sign Up and Submit: Sign in (or sign up) with your Amazon account and submit your work using our self-service submission platform.Review and Publish: Amazon Publishing will review your submission for compliance with the stated guidelines and we'll publish your work once approved. Each sale of the Work will result in a royalty to the author.Promote and Track Your Work: Post publication, sign into Author Central to track progress on your work."Today, we launch the Kindle Worlds Store and the platform that will enable any writer to benefit from writing in one of the Worlds we've licensed," said Philip Patrick, Director, Business Development and Publisher of Kindle Worlds. "We look forward to hearing feedback from readers and writers, and hope to learn and improve as time goes on."Amazon Publishing has already secured licenses from:Warner Bros. Television Group's Alloy Entertainment division for its New York Times best-selling book series Gossip Girl, by Cecily von Ziegesar; Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard; and The Vampire Diaries, by L.J. SmithValiant Entertainment for Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, Archer & Armstrong, Harbinger and ShadowmanBest-selling authors Hugh Howey for Silo Saga, Barry Eisler for his John Rain novels, Blake Crouch for his Wayward Pines Series, and the Foreworld Saga by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo and moreAmazon Publishing is engaged with additional rights holders from different areas of entertainment-books, games, TV, movies and music-and looks forward to announcing future deals soon. To get started writing works in licensed properties and to view the submission guidelines and instructions, visit the Self-Service Submission Platform at kindleworlds.amazon.com. For updates on licensed properties and to buy Kindle Worlds works, visit www.amazon.com/kindleworlds. For regular updates on Kindle Worlds, follow @KindleWorlds on Twitter.July 09, 2013 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight TimeAmazon Publishing Launches Jet City ComicsNew imprint to publish original comics from George R.R. Martin, Hugh Howey, and the authors of the bestselling Foreworld SagaSEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)-Amazon Publishing today announced the launch of Jet City Comics, a new imprint focused on comics and graphic novels. Jet City launches with new comics from George R.R. Martin, Hugh Howey, and Neal Stephenson, starting with today's publication of "Symposium #1," the first original Foreworld comic from the series created by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Galland, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey and Cooper Moo. Original adaptations of George R.R. Martin's short story, "Meathouse Man," and Hugh Howey's best-selling science fiction novel, Wool, will follow in October. Jet City issues will publish on Kindle as standalone comics, as serialized comics released over multiple episodes, and as bundled graphic novels, with print editions available at amazon.com and other comics retailers."It's a dream to work with superstar authors like George, Hugh and Neal on the launch of a new imprint," said Alex Carr, Senior Editor of Jet City Comics. "Millions of fans have read and loved their novels, and with Jet City we look forward to opening up these iconic worlds to new audiences. We're working with an incredible, hand-picked team of comics professionals, writers, artists, and translators, who have done an amazing job developing and expanding these inventive stories. I'm looking forward to the response from comics readers and fans.""My fans have been clamoring for the return of Dunk & Egg ever since the graphic novels of 'The Hedge Knight' and 'The Sworn Sword' went out of print several years ago," said author George R.R. Martin, "so I am delighted to announce that Jet City Comics is bringing them back-newly formatted for digital readers, and in paper for those who still prefer the traditional formats. And Jet City will be bringing you something new as well: the graphic novel 'Meathouse Man,' adapted from one of my strangest, darkest, and most twisted short stories by the amazingly talented Raya Golden. I'm pleased and excited to be a part of Jet City's takeoff. May they fly high.""Comics and graphic novels, especially in digital format, represent a unique area for innovation," said Jeff Belle, Vice President of Amazon Publishing. "Our focus will be on adapting great books for this medium as a means of expanding the audience for our authors, pushing boundaries with new ideas that combine visual and narrative storytelling, and creating compelling new experiences for readers."Jet City will publish the following comics in 2013:An original comic adaptation of George R.R. Martin's story "Meathouse Man," illustrated by Raya Golden, and a re-release of "The Hedge Knight" by Ben Avery and Mike S. Miller, a prequel set in the universe of Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy series (the inspiration for the hit HBO program Game of Thrones). "Meathouse Man" will be released as a single issue comic in digital format in October 2013; "The Hedge Knight" will be released as a collected graphic novel in print and digital formats in November 2013; and its sequel, "The Sworn Sword," will follow in early 2014.An adaptation of Hugh Howey's bestselling dystopian novel Wool by comics veterans Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and illustrator Jimmy Broxton, where the remnants of humanity live in a massive silo hundreds of stories below the surface of the ruined and toxic landscape of Earth. Wool was a #1 bestseller in the Kindle store and is one of the most-reviewed science fiction novels on Amazon, with almost 6,000 customer reviews. It will be released as a Kindle Serial, as six individual comics issues starting in October 2013, followed by a collected graphic novel in 2014.Six original comics from The Foreworld Saga, the bestselling alternate history series that began with The Mongoliad (a serialized novel collaboratively written Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Galland, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey and Cooper Moo). The first Foreworld comic, "Symposium #1" by author Christian Cameron and Illustrator Dmitry Bondarenko, details the origins of the Shield-Brethren in Ancient Greece in the days following Athens crushing defeat to Sparta in 394 BC. It goes on-sale today, with new installments releasing monthly before being collected in a series of graphic novels in 2014.Jet City Comics joins sister imprints 47North, AmazonCrossing, AmazonEncore, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, and the recently announced Little A, Day One, Two Lions and Skyscape in the Amazon Publishing family. For more information about all imprints of Amazon Publishing, visit http://www.apub.com/. Jet City Comics is a brand used by Amazon Content Services, LLC.May 02, 2012 11:32 AM Eastern Daylight Time Amazon Studios to Develop Original Comedy and Children's Series for Amazon Instant Video Writers, animators and filmmakers around the world are now invited to submit comedic and children's series proposals SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ:AMZN)-Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that Amazon Studios is expanding its development efforts into comedy and children's series. Amazon Studios is Amazon's content development division that uses audience feedback to identify great, original entertainment customers will love. Starting today, series creators are invited to upload their proposals for comedy and children's programming to Amazon Studios at http://studios.amazon.com/getting-started/series. The best comedy and children's series will be distributed through Amazon Instant Video, Amazon's digital video streaming service. "In the course of developing movies, we've heard a lot of interest from content creators who want to develop original series in the comedy and children's genres. We are excited to bring writers, animators and directors this new opportunity to develop original series." "Amazon Studios wants to discover great talent and produce programming that audiences will love," said Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios. "In the course of developing movies, we've heard a lot of interest from content creators who want to develop original series in the comedy and children's genres. We are excited to bring writers, animators and directors this new opportunity to develop original series." Each month, Amazon Studios intends to option one promising new project and add it to the development slate where it will be tested for viability with an audience. If Amazon Studios elects to distribute a full-budget series, the creator will receive a $55,000 payment, up to 5 percent of Amazon's net receipts from toy and t-shirt licensing, and other royalties and bonuses. Amazon Studios' production company, the People's Production Company, is signatory to the Writers Guild of America and to The Animation Guild, Local 839. To submit, a project must have a five-page description, along with a 22-minute pilot script for comedies, or an 11-minute pilot script for children's shows. Within 45 days of submission, Amazon Studios will either extend an option on the project for $10,000 or invite the creator to add the project to the Amazon Studios site. If a project is not optioned, creators may remove their idea from the Amazon Studios site or leave it to get community feedback. Amazon Studios new series development is led by Joe Lewis, previously with 20th Century Fox and Comedy Central, and Tara Sorensen, formerly with National Geographic Kids. Amazon Studios launched in November 2010. Since then, more than 700 test movies and 7,000 scripts have been submitted and 15 movie projects are currently under development. For more information about Amazon Studios, visit http://studios.amazon.com. Follow the Amazon Studios blog, Hollywonk (http://www.hollywonk.com) for up-to-date news, tips on filmmaking and writing or insightful interviews with industry leaders.Rovi Corporation today announced Rovi Digital Copy Solution, a ground-breaking offering that will enable consumers to access their physical DVD and Blu-ray Disc movie collections via the Cloud. Rovi Digital Copy Solution integrates into consumer electronics devices and PC applications, allowing them to recognize a movie on physical disc, authenticate its origin, and then trigger access to a copy from the UltraViolet Digital Library. Digital copies can then be enjoyed by consumers from virtually anywhere on a range of enabled connected devices that may include HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players, set-top boxes, game consoles, smartphones, tablets, and PCs.According to Forrester Research, by 2016 the personal cloud services market will hit $12 billion and be used by 196 million consumers; yielding a new computing experience that is focused on seamless access to virtual libraries from across personal devices. This trend to access digital movie, music, book, photo, and other collections, coupled with the growing demand for Internet-connected living room devices which is expected to reach 540M worldwide by 2014 (Source:TDG), is opening new revenue opportunities for content owners and distributors."Consumers want to watch movies anywhere, while still getting value from the investment they have made in physical media. The Rovi Digital Copy Solution combined with UltraViolet, unlocks new value for consumers and helps them rediscover some of their favorite entertainment that can be enjoyed on many different devices via the cloud," said Corey Ferengul, executive vice president of products, Rovi. "Rovi Digital Copy Solution can provide CE manufacturers, digital storefronts, and movie studios with an opportunity to acquire new customers, generate new revenue, and introduce more consumers to the flexibility and convenience of digitally delivered entertainment."Rovi Digital Copy Solution incorporates Rovi Media Recognition and Media Authentication Services and can be incorporated as a component of Rovi Entertainment Store, the company's end-to-end, white-label solution for digital storefront creation and management. Rovi Entertainment Store technologies and services can be used to facilitate the cloud storage of digital copies of DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies via the UltraViolet industry standard, and for facilitating cross-merchandising and promotion. To ensure a high-quality viewing experience, DivX Plus Streaming, another component of Rovi Entertainment Store, can be used to deliver digital copies purchased to a broad range of connected devices.Legal Disc Copy Made Simple: How It WorksConsumer places disc into supported hardware (CE device or PC) where it is automatically identified using Rovi Media Recognition Service;The Rovi Media Authentication Service performs a variety of heuristics to determine the disc's authenticity;If authorized by the content owner, consumers can then be presented with the opportunity to purchase access to a digital copy that can be placed in a digital storefront library powered by and made available via UltraViolet.Once purchased, the title would then be available from the cloud for downloading or streaming via a range of connected devicesAvailabilityRovi Digital Copy Solution is available for integration today and will be supporting new products and services expected to launch in the first half of 2012.During the Consumer Electronics Show 2012, Rovi will be hosting demonstrations of Rovi Digital Copy Solution along with a full complement of new and in-market solutions helping fuel the industry's transition to IP-based entertainment. Meetings are by appointment, January 10-13, 2012, at Caesars Palace.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Flixster Developing Movie Application for Panasonic VIERA Connect HDTVs and Blu-ray Players Allowing Consumers to Easily Stream Their Movie and TV ShowsThrough Flixster App UltraViolet Will Come to the Living Room2012 International CESLAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flixster today announced its popular movie application will be available this year on Panasonic's line of VIERA Connect devices including HDTVs and Blu-ray players. By simply launching this new Flixster app, consumers will be able to watch and enjoy their UltraViolet movies and TV shows from the comfort of their living room."One of the great benefits of UltraViolet is the ability to watch your content whenever and wherever you want. If you're at a friend's house with a VIERA device, you can easily access your collection by simply logging into Flixster."Flixster is currently the leading movie discovery application on mobile platforms with over 50 million downloads to date, including Android, Blackberry and iPad, and ranks among the most downloaded of iPhone apps of all time. Flixster provides access to UltraViolet, a new industry standard that gives consumers greater flexibility with how and where they watch the movies and TV shows they purchase. UltraViolet also allows consumers to share their entire UltraViolet digital library with other members on their account, and they can even watch the same title simultaneously from different locations."Bringing UltraViolet to the living room will make it easy for consumers to enjoy their UltraViolet-enabled movies and TV shows," said Steve Polsky, President of Flixster. "One of the great benefits of UltraViolet is the ability to watch your content whenever and wherever you want. If you're at a friend's house with a VIERA device, you can easily access your collection by simply logging into Flixster."VIERA Connect is Panasonic's Smart TV platform which enables owners of VIERA Connect-enabled HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc Players and Home Theater Systems access to a wide range of internet-based video-on-demand content and applications covering everything from news and fitness, to social networking and online gaming. VIERA Connect requires no external box or PC and is accessed via a single button on the television remote control."Panasonic's VIERA ConnectTM Smart TV platform's singular focus to deliver to our consumers an extremely robust and interactive connected TV experience that can be customized and enjoyed on their large-screen HDTVs. We are delighted to add Flixster to our VIERA Connect Smart TV platform in 2012," said Merwan Mereby, Panasonic's Vice President of Interactive Content & Services. "Partnering with a Hollywood powerhouse like Warner Bros. Entertainment to integrate their highly popular Flixster movie application into our VIERA Connect platform is another great step in our efforts to continuously drive the connected TV experience to a whole new level for consumers."---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Samsung to Bring "Disc to Digital" Feature to Smart Blu-ray Players in 2012Developed by Flixster and Rovi, Consumers will be able to Import Their Existing Blu-ray Disc and DVD Collections from Participating Studios into the UltraViolet Cloud Making them Viewable on a Wide Range of DevicesFlixster will also be Available on Samsung TVs and Blu-ray Players this Year, Allowing Consumers to Stream their UltraViolet Digital Collections from the CloudToday, at the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) UltraViolet press event, Samsung announced plans for a "Disc to Digital" feature on Samsung Smart Blu-ray players, developed by Flixster and Rovi. Available later this year, Disc to Digital will allow consumers to add their existing Blu-ray Disc and DVD libraries from participating studios to their UltraViolet digital library-making them viewable on a wide range of devices."This is exactly the type of ground-breaking service our white-label, digital entertainment technologies and Rovi solutions were designed to serve"Disc to Digital can work with any authorized retail service and will initially be available using a new Flixster application on Samsung's Smart Hub. When consumers insert an eligible physical disc into a 2012 Samsung Blu-ray player and select the Disc to Digital icon, they will launch the Flixster application and can easily add the movie to their UltraViolet locker for a nominal amount. If high definition versions are available, they will have the option to upgrade their standard definition movies for an additional fee.Once digital copies have been created and added to the consumer's UltraViolet collection, the content will be available to enjoy through the Flixster Smart Hub application on Samsung's Smart Hub, as well as a broad range of mobile and portable devices such as iPhones, iPads and Android-based devices as well as PCs and Macs. UltraViolet also allows consumers to share their entire UltraViolet digital library with other members on their account, and they can even watch the same title simultaneously from different locations.Flixster will also be available this year on Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players. Through the application, consumers will be able to easily access and stream their UltraViolet movie and TV show collections directly on their TVs.Disc to Digital uses Rovi Digital Copy Solution, which integrates into consumer electronics devices as well as PC applications to allow them to recognize a movie on a physical disc, authenticate its origin, and then trigger access to a copy from a cloud-based digital library.The new Disc to Digital feature will be demonstrated Jan. 10-13, at Samsung's CES booth, #12004 at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). Rovi Corporation will also demonstrate the service by appointment at its meeting space at Caesars Palace."Disc to Digital is a revolutionary way for consumers to 'future proof' their DVD library," said Steve Polsky, president of Flixster. "They will no longer need to worry if a DVD is misplaced or if it's scratched. Through UltraViolet, consumers have an exciting new way to collect, access and enjoy digital entertainment. They can take their movie and TV collection with them and watch it when and where they want.""This is exactly the type of ground-breaking service our white-label, digital entertainment technologies and Rovi solutions were designed to serve," said Corey Ferengul, executive vice president of products, Rovi. "We are proud to be supporting this new market offering that will enable the creation of 'virtual movie collections' and introduce more consumers to the flexibility and convenience of digitally delivered entertainment."-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------UltraViolet Press event participantsMark Teitell General Manager Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) & UltraVioletAmy Jo Smith Executive Director, DEG: The Digital Entertainment GroupPanelists:Bill Carr Executive Vice President of Digital Media, AmazonMitch Singer President, Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) & UltraViolet Chief Technology Officer, Sony Pictures EntertainmentLisa A. Hook President & Chief Executive Officer, NeustarTae-Jin (TJ) Kang Senior Vice President, Media Solutions Center, Samsung ElectronicDavid Bishop President, Sony Pictures Home EntertainmentMike Dunn President, Fox Home Entertainment Worldwide, Twentieth Century Fox Home EntertainmentCraig Kornblau President, Universal Studios Home EntertainmentRon Sanders President, Warner Home VideoAmazon and Viacom Announce Multi-Year Video Licensing Agreement; Adds a Selection of TV Shows Available Exclusively on Prime Instant VideoPrime Instant Video is adding thousands of episodes from Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV and COMEDY CENTRAL-including a collection of subscription TV shows customers won't find anywhere else-with favorite kids shows like Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, Blue's Clues and The Backyardigans, all available to Kindle Fire customers with FreeTime UnlimitedMulti-year deal will bring Amazon customers the TV shows and movies they want to watch, when they want to watch them, and on any device they want to watch them on-including Kindle Fire, iPad, iPhone, Roku and moreSEATTLE & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 4, 2013-- Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB and VIA) today announced an expanded multi-year, multi-national digital video licensing agreement to bring hundreds of TV shows and thousands of TV episodes from Viacom to Prime Instant Video. This deal includes a collection of TV shows that customers won't find on any other digital video subscription service. Prime members will now have unlimited instant streaming access to popular kids programming such as Bubble Guppies, The Backyardigans, Team Umizoomi, Blue's Clues and Victorious, along with top-rated shows from MTV and COMEDY CENTRAL like Awkward, Tosh.0 and Workaholics. Prime members will also have access to future episodes of Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, Fairly Odd Parents, Fresh Beat Band and more. LOVEFiLM customers in the UK and Germany will get some of the same great shows later this summer.Select shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. will be available in Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, a service built just for kids that gives them the freedom to explore all their favorite books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows, while providing parents with the tools they need to manage their kids' screen time."Kids' shows are one of the most watched TV genres on Prime Instant Video," said Bill Carr, VP of Digital Video and Music for Amazon. "And this expanded deal will now bring customers the largest subscription selection of Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. TV shows online, anywhere. With programs like Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, Bubble Guppies and The Backyardigans there are hundreds of great shows for kids and parents to choose from. In addition, we are bringing customers popular shows from MTV and COMEDY CENTRAL like Key & Peele, Workaholics, Awkward and Teen Mom 2, with the promise of more shows from these networks in the future.""We are thrilled to be extending and deepening our relationship with Amazon," said Philippe Dauman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom. "This innovative agreement will provide Prime members with access to even more of our best programming from our major television brands, including many digital video subscription streaming exclusives. Amazon has created a unique, brand-friendly environment for streaming entertainment and consumer products and we are excited to work with Amazon to bring customers shows they love."Prime Instant Video offers more than 41,000 movies and TV episodes for Prime members to stream on Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Wii U, among other connected TVs and devices-all at no additional cost. Also as previously announced, later this month Prime Instant Video will become the exclusive home to PBS hit series Downton Abbey as well as the highly anticipated CBS summer series Under the Dome, with each episode of the latter added just four days after initial broadcast. To sign up for Amazon Prime, visit www.amazon.com/primeinstantvideo.Amazon Expands Global App Distribution to Nearly 200 Countries Developers Should Submit Their Apps Soon to Reach Millions More Active Amazon Customers Developers around the world reporting high monetization rates with Kindle Fire and Amazon Appstore SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr. 17, 2013-- (NASDAQ: AMZN) Amazon.com, Inc. continued the global expansion of its Appstore today by announcing that developers can now submit their apps for distribution in nearly 200 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, India, South Africa, South Korea, and even Papua New Guinea and Vatican City. These apps will be made available in the coming months when the Amazon Appstore for Android launches internationally for consumers. Registered developers who want international distribution will have their apps automatically made available for download, unless they designate otherwise. This international expansion is the latest in a series of Amazon Appstore for Android launches, which have included the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. Signing up is easy and developers can get started today by visiting the Amazon Mobile App Distribution Portal. Developers throughout the world are experiencing strong monetization and user engagement through Kindle Fire and the Amazon Appstore. The success is being driven by Amazon's large customer base and industry-leading e-commerce features like 1-Click purchasing, Amazon's APIs for In-App Purchasing (IAP) and A/B Testing, and GameCircle, Amazon's gaming experience for Kindle Fire. A recent study of more than 500 games that utilize in-app purchasing on Amazon found that GameCircle-enabled mobile games earned 83 percent more average revenue per user (ARPU) than non-GameCircle games. "Amazon's platform is a complete end-to-end solution for developers wanting to build, market and monetize their apps and games on Kindle Fire and Android devices," said Mike George, Vice President of Apps and Games at Amazon. "Allowing developers to target distribution of their apps and games in even more international countries is yet another important milestone as we strive to serve consumers and developers globally. Many of our existing developers have localized their apps and games for international consumers, and we look forward to working with new developers that have been waiting to bring their apps to more Amazon customers across the globe." Monetization Success P2 Games is a UK based publisher of interactive games. "We launched our Kindle Fire version of Peppa Pig in January 2013 and within a couple of weeks we saw the sales on Kindle Fire overtake Google Play to a factor of four or five times," said Peter Sleeman, Director, P2 Games Limited. "Kindle Fire is now a legitimate contender and although our apps have been out much longer on the iOS formats our current rate of sale is close to parity with iOS most days." Mobile Deluxe is the creator of popular games like Big Win Slots and Jewel Factory. "We see superior engagement, retention, and monetization from players who download our games from Amazon," said Sean Thompson, Vice President of Mobile Deluxe. "The GameCircle integration is helping us achieve 40 percent better per-user monetization rates compared to non-Amazon players. We're excited to continue this momentum as the Amazon Appstore grows into more and more international countries." Playmous is a UK mobile games publisher. "We were excited to see how fast the Kindle Fire install base was growing in the UK and other European countries," said Anton Volnykh, Playmous. "Our initial launch on the Amazon Appstore in October was targeted to Europe only and we saw 4x growth in paid downloads when we launched the second campaign in just 6 weeks after the initial release. Moreover, our conversion rate from the free version to the paid version of the game has been 30% higher than on other app stores on average with the same product." Anuman Interactive is a French multimedia publishing company. "With 30 apps released since April 2012, more than 80 percent of the Anuman's Android sales were realized on the Amazon Appstore," said Stephane Longeard, CEO Anuman Interactive. "This store is extraordinarily easy to use with its recommendations system and secure 1-Click payment technology. We are really glad to reach people all over the world, thanks to Amazon Appstore." Developer Support Big Duck Games is the developer of the popular puzzler Flow Free. "We've been distributing our games on Amazon since May 2012. Today, we have many hundreds of thousands of daily sessions on Amazon," said Sharon Newman, Vice President, Big Duck Games. "It's a great audience that deeply engages with our games, and we're excited to reach an even larger audience with the added international launches of the Amazon Appstore." Imangi Studios is the creator of the popular game Temple Run. "We've integrated with Amazon's In-App Purchasing and GameCircle APIs, which was a breeze," says Keith Shephard, CEO of Imangi Studios. "We've seen significantly higher customer engagement with Temple Run since the integration, making the few, short steps worth it. We're looking forward to following the Amazon Appstore as it expands into more international countries."Amazon AutoRip Extends to Vinyl-Customers Now Receive Free MP3 Versions of Vinyl Records Purchased From Amazon-Past, Present and Future Amazon today announced it has extended its popular AutoRip service to vinyl records. AutoRip was introduced in January of this year to give customers free digital copies of CDs they purchase. Starting today, when customers purchase an AutoRip vinyl record, a digital copy of that music will be automatically added to their Cloud Player libraries where it will be available, free of charge, for immediate playback or download. People no longer need to go through the hassle of making a digital copy of a vinyl record. Additionally, customers who have purchased AutoRip records at any time since Amazon first opened its Music Store in 1998 will find digital copies of those albums in their Cloud Player libraries also for free. Thousands of records, including titles from every major record label, are available for AutoRip, and more titles are being added all the time just look for the AutoRip logo. "AutoRip has been wildly popular with customers since it launched earlier this year," said Steve Boom, Vice President of Digital Music for Amazon. "It's a fun experience to suddenly find CDs you purchased just today or 15 years ago added automatically and free of charge to your digital library. We're thrilled to extend this experience to vinyl records. Many of our music customers are vinyl fans and it's traditionally been very difficult to make digital versions of vinyl records now customers can enjoy the albums they buy wherever they are, not just when they have access to a record player." AutoRip features include: Free digital copies: Amazon customers who purchase AutoRip vinyl records get free MP3 versions of the albums delivered directly to their Cloud Player libraries automatically, immediately, and at no cost no more hassling with finding a way to get them onto your favorite devices. For vinyl record purchases dating back to 1998: MP3 versions of AutoRip records that customers have purchased since the launch of Amazon's music store in 1998 will also be delivered to their Cloud Player libraries for free. Enjoy everywhere: Music can be played instantly from any Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Samsung TV, Roku, Sonos, from any web browser, and from Ford SYNC Applink-equipped vehicles, giving customers the freedom to enjoy music from more devices than any other major cloud locker music service. Free storage and backup: All AutoRip MP3s are stored for free in customers' Cloud Player libraries and do not count against Cloud Player storage limits. Customers can buy music and know that it is safely stored in Cloud Player and accessible from any compatible device. High-quality audio: AutoRip music is provided in high-quality 256 Kbps MP3 audio. AutoRip for vinyl is available for industry-wide top-sellers and customer favorites like "Babel" by Mumford & Sons, "The Lumineers," by The Lumineers, "Unorthodox Jukebox," by Bruno Mars, "All that Echoes," by Josh Groban, "Greatest Hits Chapter 1," by Kelly Clarkson and "Alabama Shakes," by Alabama Shakes. AutoRip for CDs launched in January of this year. Here's what customers said: "The new AutoRip is great and it couldn't be easier. You keep offering more amazing services, and I am impressed every time. I will sing your praises to everyone I know! Thank you!" "Amazon Cloud is one of the best services I've ever used on the internet; ever. The AutoRip feature has just upped the ante again." "Amazon, thank you so much for creating the AutoRip feature. What a huge surprise!! All of this great music I've bought over the years on my laptop and Kindle Fire HD and anywhere else we wish!! You rock." "AutoRip is simply awesome. A cloud player is a commonplace item these days, but MP3 files of CDs purchased in last 15 years instantly loaded and do not count toward number of songs quota?!! I even forgot that I purchased a Chick Corea CD back in 2002, yet Amazon gives me the MP3 files instantly. What a *very nice* surprise. Thank you Amazon!" "Thank you for this new service AutoRip...AWESOME!!!!!" Customers can sign up for a free Amazon Cloud Player account by visiting www.amazon.com/cloudplayer or by downloading one of our free apps from the Amazon Appstore for Android, Google Play or the iTunes Appstore. AutoRip for vinyl is the latest in a series of new digital music features from Amazon launched in recent months. Recently, Amazon announced a new Cloud Player for iPad app, just following the launch of an Amazon MP3 store optimized specifically for iPhone and iPod touch. Earlier this year, Amazon announced Cloud Player integration in Ford SYNC Applink-equipped vehicles, giving customers access to their Cloud Player libraries while on the road. Last year, Amazon launched Cloud Player apps for iPhone and iPod touch, Sonos, Roku and Samsung TVs. The company also introduced scan and match technology that enables customers to import music into Amazon Cloud Player by scanning their iTunes and Windows Media Player libraries and matching eligible songs on their computers to Amazon's music catalog. All matched songs even music purchased from iTunes or ripped from CDs are delivered in high-quality 256 Kbps audio and are made available instantly in customers' Cloud Player libraries, making it even easier for customers to enjoy their entire music collection anywhere. The Amazon MP3 Store now offers more than 23 million songs and everyday low prices on best-selling albums, many starting at $5.Introducing Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9" on Amazon.inKindle Fire HD-with a stunning custom 7"or 8.9" HD display, ultra-fast Wi-Fi, and exceptional battery life-perfect for web browsing, apps, games and booksInstant access to the most popular global apps and games including Facebook, Temple Run 2, Angry Birds and marquee Indian apps including Zomato, Dhingana, ErosNow, ESPNcricinfo, MapmyIndia, MakeMyTrip and NDTV -each optimized for Kindle Fire HDNew Delhi-June 13, 2013-Today Amazon announced that Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9" will be available starting June 27 on Amazon.in for customers in India, giving them access to over 1.9 million of apps, games and books, including more than 325,000 books that are exclusive to the Kindle Store. Kindle Fire HD 7" will be available at a suggested retail price of ?15999 and Kindle Fire HD 8.9" will be available at a suggested retail price of ?21999. Customers can learn more about the Kindle Fire family at www.amazon.in/Kindle.Starting June 27, Kindle Fire will also be available at over one hundred retail outlets across India including Croma, Reliance Digital, E-Zone and Vijay Sales stores located in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Pune-visit www.amazon.in/KindleRetailers for more details.Designed for entertainment, Kindle Fire HD is perfect for web browsing, apps, games and books. Features include: Stunning customized HD display with in-plane switching, Advanced True Wide polarizing filter and customized laminated touch sensor with rich color and deep contrast from any viewing angle; ideal for movies, apps, and gaming Custom Dolby audio and dual stereo speakers for crisp, rich sound. The most popular apps and games. Fast web browsing and streaming with built-in dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi. Front-facing HD camera for taking photos or making video calls. Exceptional battery life-Kindle Fire HD gets over 10 hours of battery life. Easy-to-use e-mail, calendar, and contacts for work or home, including Gmail, Hotmail, Exchange, and more. "Buy Once, Read Everywhere" with the free Kindle app available on a large number of platforms so customers can use their Kindle books on any of their devices. Amazon's WHispersync technology automatically saves and synchronizes a customer's last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights across their Kindle apps and Kindle devices. Amazon's top-rated, world-class customer service."Not only does Kindle Fire feature advanced hardware, it's also a service, "said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "The combination of the leading apps, the largest book selection, great email and browsing and top rated customer service, we hope our customers in India will agree that Kindle Fire HD is the best tablet for a great price."Stunning Custom HD DisplayThe 8.9" display on Kindle Fire HD features an incredible 254 pixels per inch with a resolution of 1920x1200. The 7" Kindle Fire HD features a stunning HD display with 1280x800 resolution that delivers deep, detailed contrast and rich, natural color. Kindle Fire HD a laminated touch sensor to reduce glare and make the display easy to view even in overhead light, and an Advanced True Wide polarizing filter that results in a display that shows the same deep contrast and rich, detailed color from any angle.High-End Laptop-Quality Wi-Fi-Faster Downloads and High-Speed StreamingKindle Fire HD comes with dual-band Wi-Fi and can automatically switch between the 2.4 GHz network and the less crowded 5 GHz network, resulting in better range and less interference. In addition, dual antennas and Multiple In/Multiple Out (MIMO) allow for higher bandwidth and longer range.Stay in Touch with Front-Facing HD CameraKindle Fire HD features a front-facing HD camera. Skype created a customized app tailored for Kindle Fire HD that is ready to use out of the box for free HD video calls at home and abroad. Kindle Fire HD makes it easy for the over 250 million customers already using Skype to get in touch with friends and family.Millions of Apps, Games and BooksKindle Fire provides customers a large selection of digital content, including thousands of exclusives: Instant access to the most popular global apps and games including Facebook, Temple Run and Angry Birds and marquee Indian video apps including Big Flicks, Chhota Bheem, Dhingana, ErosNow, ESPN Cricinfo, MapMyIndia, MakeMyTrip and NDTV, each optimized for Kindle Fire HD The largest selection of books, including the most bestsellers, illustrated content including graphic novels such as Judge Dredd, Batman and Watchmen, Children's titles such as the Mr Men series and the lowest prices of any e-bookstore in India. Over 1.7 million books, including over 325,000 titles that are exclusive to the Kindle Store. Over 600,000 books are priced ?200 or less and over 1.2 million ?600 or less.Photos Brought to LifePhotos come alive in stunning high-resolution on Kindle Fire HD. Fire's mosaic view arranges personal photos beautifully, and customers will be delighted to see their best shots on their TV with HDMI out. Kindle Fire lets customers easily import their photos from Facebook and because their photos are securely stored in the Amazon cloud, they never have to worry about losing their favorite pictures.16 or 32 GB of On-Device Storage, Plus Free Cloud Storage for Amazon ContentKindle Fire HD is available with 16 GB or 32 GB of on-device storage. This large on-device storage capacity is in addition to the free storage Amazon provides for Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud. Amazon digital content is automatically backed up for free in the Amazon Cloud's Worry-Free Archive where it's available anytime.Powerful World-Class Processor-Snappy and SmoothAn HD display and HD content must be driven by a powerful processor and optimized software. The Kindle Fire HD family features world-class processors and an Imagination Technologies graphics engine for lightning-fast HD graphics and excellent fluidity. The 8.9" Kindle Fire HD is powered by the latest generation OMAP4 4470 processor and Imagination SGX544 graphics engine capable of over 12 billion floating point operations per second, and both Kindle Fire HD 7" and 8.9" come with higher memory bandwidth than Tegra 3. Combining the latest generation processors with significant customization of the Kindle Fire software by Amazon engineers results in a snappy and smooth experience for the user.Dual Stereo Speakers and Exclusive Dolby AudioKindle Fire HD combines dual stereo speakers with the Dolby Digital Plus audio platform-the standard in high performance audio-to offer a world-class audio experience. Dolby's audio suite for Kindle Fire HD includes technology used to adjust volume and deliver easy-to-understand dialogue, and also optimizes for headphones versus speakers. All of these pieces combine to create an exceptional audio experience that results in clearer, crisper and balanced sound quality.10 Hours of Battery LifeKindle Fire HD is optimized to deliver high performance without sacrificing battery life, delivering over 10 hours of battery life.Thin and LightEven with a custom display, a powerful processor, extra speakers and dual-band/dual-antenna Wi-Fi, Kindle Fire HD 8.9" weighs only 20 ounces and is just 8.8 mm thin.Connect with Bluetooth and HDMIKindle Fire HD supports Bluetooth, enabling customers to connect their wireless Bluetooth headphones or Bluetooth speakers to listen to songs or audiobooks. With Bluetooth connectivity, customers can also easily connect to a wide range of Bluetooth-enabled keyboards. HDMI out makes it easy for customers to connect Kindle Fire HD to their big-screen TV to enjoy their favorite videos and photos.Email and CalendarThe Kindle Fire family features world-class Microsoft Exchange integration, with fine-tuned performance on many of the most critical email functions. For example, typical Exchange accounts sync with the oldest emails first, ending with the most recent emails-Kindle Fire instead syncs with newer emails first, then with older emails, getting customers faster access to the most recent emails they are looking for. Kindle Fire also features a new calendar app, making it easy for customers to stay connected and keep track of their schedules. The new email client offers support for the world's most popular email providers-including Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, Hotmail and more.Beautiful Leather CoversCovers for Kindle Fire HD feature a premium textured leather exterior in a variety of colors and a subtle woven nylon interior to provide the lightest and thinnest form of protection. The integrated magnetic clasp ensures the cover remains securely closed while in a backpack, purse, or briefcase. The cover automatically wakes Kindle Fire HD upon opening and puts it to sleep when closed, making it easy to dive right back into whatever content a customer is enjoying.Customers can discover full details and order Kindle Fire HD at www.amazon.in/Kindle-Fire-HDPricing and AvailabilityKindle Fire HD 8.9" will be available June 27 for a suggested retail price of ?21999 at www.amazon.in/Kindle-Fire-HD-8-9Kindle Fire HD 7" will be available June 27 for a suggested retail price of ?15999 at www.amazon.in/Kindle-Fire-HDKindle Fire HD is also available at hundreds retail outlets in India. Customers can discover stores and locations at www.amazon.in/KindleRetailers. Interested retailers can contact Redington, www.redingtonindia.com, our authorized distributor in India.About Amazon.inAmazon.in is operated by Amazon Seller Services Private Ltd, an affiliate of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Amazon.com, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle who opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es, amazon.com.br and now www.amazon.in. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.Forward-Looking StatementsThis announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.AMD Unveils Innovative New APUs and SoCs That Give Consumers a More Exciting and Immersive Experience AMD Enters 2013 With Its Strongest Consumer Line-up of APUs; Announces New Relationship With VIZIO LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwire - Jan 7, 2013) - International Consumer Electronics Show -- AMD (NYSE: AMD), a leading provider of technology that enables visually-rich experiences for today's consumers, provided an early look at its new 2013 accelerated processing units (APUs) and announced a new OEM relationship with VIZIO. At an International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) event, AMD demonstrated working silicon of its first true system on chip (SoC) APUs, codenamed "Temash" and "Kabini," which will be the industry's first quad-core x86 SoCs. Both APUs are scheduled to ship in the first half of 2013. Demonstrations included a range of leading-edge applications and games on a "Kabini"-based ultrathin notebook and a "Temash"-based performance tablet and hybrid notebook. AMD also introduced the new APU codenamed "Richland" which is currently shipping to OEMs and delivers visual performance increases ranging from more than 20 percent to up to 40 percent over the previous generation of AMD A-Series APUs1. "Richland" is expected to come bundled with new software for consumers such as gesture- and facial-recognition to dramatically expand and enhance consumers' user experiences. The follow-on to "Richland" will be the 28nm APU codenamed "Kaveri" with revolutionary heterogeneous system architecture (HSA) features which is expected to begin shipping to customers in the second half of 2013. Additionally, AMD announced a new series of discrete graphics processors for performance gaming that are already shipping to OEMs, AMD Radeon HD 8000M Series graphics. These latest products are reflective of the company's strategy to focus on creating differentiated IP leadership through low-power technologies that target the high-growth client markets such as ultrathin, convertible and tablet. "With a groundbreaking new APU line-up in 2013, AMD is poised to win in high-growth consumer segments," said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager, AMD Global Business Units. "We are developing technologies with end users in mind -- to bring true surround computing and immersive experiences to our everyday lives. It is exciting to bring our industry-leading APU technologies to market, including the industry's first x86 quad-core SoC, while building on our leadership in graphics and gaming." 2013 APU Line-up Delivers a Huge Leap Forward in Performance-per-watt and Elite Software Experiences "Temash" is AMD's elite low-power mobility processor for Windows 8 tablets and hybrids. AMD expects "Temash" to be the highest-performance SoC for tablets in the market, with 100 percent more graphics processing performance2 than its predecessor (codenamed "Hondo.") "Kabini" targets ultrathin notebooks with exceptional battery life and offers impressive levels of performance in both dual- and quad-core options. "Kabini" is expected to deliver an increase of more than 50 percent in performance3 over the previous generation of AMD essential computing APUs (codenamed "Brazos 2.0.") "Richland" brings increases in both CPU4 and graphics along with improvements in battery life5. "Richland" APUs are expected to come bundled with a wealth of elite software experiences which include gesture- and facial-recognition, wireless connectivity directly to TVs and monitors, and prioritization of system resources when streaming video. AMD Forges NewTechnology Partnerships with Popular Consumer Brands During an unveiling at today's press event, VIZIO was on hand to showcase a powerful new relationship and portfolio of AMD-based platforms. VIZIO's new AMD portfolio includes an 11.6" APU-powered tablet PC, two high-performance ultrathin notebooks in both 14" and 15.6," and an impressive 24" All-in-One (AiO) system. "VIZIO is entering the consumer PC market in an even bigger way in 2013 and we are thrilled to include AMD in our line-up for the premium visual and gaming performance we believe their processors deliver," said Lily Knowles, vice president of Product Marketing, VIZIO. "AMD provides the VIZIO tablet, notebooks and All-in-One with the best graphics and visual experience for our customers." In addition to VIZIO, AMD will support a wide variety of systems from several OEMs with premium features and stunning designs in 2013. "The ASUS U38 delivers a premium feature set to consumers and was co-engineered in close partnership with AMD and Microsoft, and designed for Windows 8," said S.Y. Hsu, corporate vice president, ASUS. "With an HD touch display and solid-state drive for faster start-up times, the ASUS U38 brings the AMD A-Series APU to an entirely new tier of premium design." "The HP Pavilion TouchSmart Sleekbook is HP's most affordable touch-enabled system, perfect for Windows 8 users and with the performance of the AMD A-Series APU supporting an excellent overall experience," said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, Consumer PCs, Printing and Personal Systems, HP. "The quality graphics, high-performance game play and immersive audio/video offered on the AMD-based HP TouchSmart Sleekbook will make it a hit with consumers of any age." Bringing Surround Computing to Life at CES These new products further AMD's vision for the next era of Surround Computing -- the convergence of computing ecosystems that result in immersive experiences across a wealth of form factors with new consumer-driven natural interfaces. To build on this concept, AMD in concert with VIZIO unveiled the industry's first AMD SurRoundhouse which gives visitors to the AMD Experience Zone at CES a first glimpse into the art of the possible for Surround Computing. The AMD SurRoundhouse delivers a next-generation home theater demonstration on AMD technology that delivers panoramic HD content perfectly paired with spatial audio to immerse participants in a true 360 sensory experience. Supporting Resources 2013 Software Experiences video 2013 Software Experiences blog Read our CES blog on how AMD is bringing virtual worlds to life AMD on Twitter at @AMD_Unprocessed Follow #AMDsurround Follow AMD on Facebook About AMD AMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its groundbreaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD's server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD's superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit www.amd.com.AMD Unleashes the World's Fastest Graphics Card - AMD Radeon HD 7990, the world's fastest graphics card, offered with largest-ever free game bundle, including new "Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon" - SUNNYVALE, Calif. - April 24, 2013 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today launched the AMD Radeon HD 7990, the world's fastest graphics card, designed for gamers who want to take their PC gaming experience to the highest level. Based on award-winning AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture with AMD Eyefinity technology, the AMD Radeon HD 7990 graphics card delivers unrivaled performance and world-class technology for playing the latest DirectX 11 games in extreme resolutions and multi-monitor configurations. "If you crave the ultimate in PC gaming, the clear and commanding choice is the Radeon HD 7990 graphics card. No other graphics card on the market measures up to the unparalleled gaming experience it delivers, and it comes with eight AAA game titles optimized for AMD Radeon award-winning GCN architecture," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit, AMD. "Once again, AMD shatters the industry benchmark for state-of-the-art graphics technology." AMD underscored its commitment to offering the best PC gaming experience by introducing the AMD Radeon HD 7990 graphics card with a refreshed "Never Settle: Reloaded" AAA game bundle. In addition to "Crysis 3," "Bioshock Infinite," "Tomb Raider" and four other titles, AMD is including the highly anticipated "Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon" by Ubisoft. This new title will also be offered as a thank-you gift to all previous "Never Settle: Reloaded" customers and will be loaded automatically onto existing redemption codes. "'Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon' is an all-out honest cyber shooter that doesn't take itself too seriously. In a genre saturated with super-serious narrative and realistic settings we felt it was time to inject some good old fashioned robofun into it," said Dean Evans, creative director, Ubisoft. "Ubisoft's relationship with AMD's Gaming Evolved program brings together today's most sought-after titles in PC gaming with the most advanced graphics technology. With AMD Radeon technology, our top games 'Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon' included can be played with the quality and performance we intended." Continued AMD innovations in graphics technology enables gaming enthusiasts to play the latest and most popular PC games at maximum settings: for instance "Tomb Raider" with TressFX Hair enabled, or the demanding "Crysis 3" in 4K resolution. Impressively, the AMD Radeon HD 7990 GPU was the graphics card of choice to showcase the Electronic Arts public unveiling of "Battlefield 4," to be released in the fall of 2013. Key Features and Benefits of AMD Radeon HD 7990 Graphics Card Ultimate in Speed: Combining two of the world's most advanced GPUs with 6GB of GDDR5 memory, AMD Radeon HD 7990 is the world's fastest graphics card; More Screen, More Pixels: Supports up to six simultaneous displays with AMD Eyefinity technology and is the ideal graphics card for gaming on Ultra HD displays (4K resolution); Silence is Golden: At 100% utilization, AMD Radeon HD 7990 GPU's whisper-quiet triple-fan cooler is more silent than a typical library. "Never Settle: Reloaded" is Now Overloaded With the launch of AMD Radeon HD 7990 graphics card, AMD is offering the biggest free game bundle in history with a total of eight titles: "Crysis 3" "BioShock Infinite" "Tomb Raider" "DeusEx: Human Revolution" "Sleeping Dogs" "Hitman: Absolution" "Far Cry 3" "Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon" The AMD Radeon HD 7990 graphics card will be available worldwide in two weeks. MSRP is $999 US. *In tests by AMD as of 28 February, 2013, the AMD Radeon HD 7990 showed higher average performance than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 in the 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme (FS6407 vs. FS5316) and Crysis 3 (1080p & 1600p at all quality presets). System configuration: Intel Core i7-3960X (3.30 GHz), MSI X79A-GD65, 16GB DDR3-1600 and Windows 8 x64. AMD Radeon HD 7990 evaluated with AMD Catalyst 13.2 Beta 6. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 evaluated with NVIDIA ForceWare 310.90 WHQL. GRDT-32 *AMD Eyefinity technology supports up to six DisplayPort monitors on an enabled graphics card. Supported display quantity, type and resolution varies by model and board design; confirm specifications with manufacturer before purchase. To enable more than two displays, DisplayPort-ready monitors are strongly recommended. Maximum two active DisplayPort adapters supported. Additional hardware may be required; see www.amd.com/eyefinityfaq for full details. *In tests by AMD, the noise level created by the AMD Radeon HD 7990 measured at 30.1 dBA (system idle) and 37.8 dBA (furmark). By comparison, a typical decibel level in a library is 40.0 dBA ("Comparative Examples of Noise Levels," Industrial Noise Control, Inc.) Get Key Codes for free downloads of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Sleeping Dogs, Hitman Absolution, Far Cry 3, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Tomb Raider, BioShock Infinite and Crysis 3 PC Games accessed through the Steam, EA Origin and Uplay online gaming platforms when you buy an AMD Radeon HD 7990, Graphics Card from a participating retailer between April 16, 2013 and either October 1, 2013 or when supply of Key Codes is exhausted, whichever occurs first. Key Codes must be used by October 22, 2013, after which the Key Codes are void. LIMIT: One (1) free Key Code per game (8 total Key Codes) per person. Internet connection required. Internet connection fees may apply. You must be 17+ to redeem this offer. Offer is subject to geographical limitations. See www.amd.com/neversettlereloadedoffer for complete details. Void in any jurisdiction where prohibited.AMD Amplifies Mobile Experience with Responsive Performance, Rich Graphics, Elite Software and Long Battery Life2013 Mobile APU line-up meets user needs across a wide range of new and traditional PC form factors at an ideal balance of price-to-performanceSUNNYVALE, Calif. -5/23/2013AMD (NYSE: AMD) today launched three new additions to its 2013 A-Series and E-Series Mobile Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) lineup delivering solutions ideally positioned to address today's evolving PC market with dramatically increased performance and power efficiency, as well as a portfolio of unique user experiences, and superior gaming and graphics:* The 2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU (formerly codenamed "Temash") - the world's first 28nm, quad-core x86 system-on-a-chip (SoC) APU designed for touch small form-factor notebooks, tablets, and hybrids 13-inches and below;* The 2013 AMD Mainstream APU (formerly codenamed "Kabini") - the first and only quad-core x86 SoC solution for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks;* New, low power versions of the 2013 AMD Elite Performance APU (formerly codenamed "Richland") - offer the best graphics and compute in a performance APU for premium ultrathin notebooks.These new APUs are designed to effectively balance the needs of a wide range of new and traditional mobile PC users and are available beginning today from the world's top computer manufacturers, including products announced today from Acer and HP."The client market has evolved with greater diversity in the types of mobile form factors and higher performance demands from the software and AMD is uniquely positioned to deliver the best processors to meet the needs of mobile device users today," said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager, Global Business Units at AMD. "As computing becomes more visual and the graphics processor can be leveraged to do other types of processing, our dedication to the software community and the APU architecture sets us apart from the competition and enables us to deliver the best user experience whether on a tablet, a hybrid device or a notebook."2013 AMD Mobile APU Platform Details2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU* World's first 28nm, quad-core x86 SoC APU, delivers the best graphics experience of any SoC on the planet for touch small form-factor notebooks, tablets and hybrids, 13-inches and below, enabling a superior HD media experience and high-end gaming.* Available as AMD A-Series APUs, this new platform comes in dual (A4) and quad-core (A6) configurations, combining "Jaguar" x86 Central Processing Unit (CPU) cores with Graphics Core * Next AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics.* Up to 172 percent more CPU performance per watt and up to 212 percent better graphics performance per watt than its predecessor, and up to 12 hours of resting battery life.* Up to 45 percent longer battery life and nearly five times more GPU performance than the competition.* Full support for 1080p touch display capability and full Microsoft Windows compatibility, including support for "Windows Blue."2013 AMD Mainstream APU* Best-in-class graphics and first-in-class x86 quad core SoC delivers the ideal balance between function and affordability for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks.* Combine either two or four "Jaguar" x86 CPU cores with Graphics Core Next AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics, enabling stunning visual performance and all-day battery life.* Quad core 2013 Mainstream APUs, a part of the 2013 AMD A-Series APU family (A4 and A6 models), are the first and only quad-core x86 solution for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks.* Dual core versions are AMD E-Series APUs, with E1 and E2 models available.* Up to 132 percent better visual performance per watt and up to 127 percent better productivity performance per watt, plus up to 25 percent better power efficiency than previous generations, with up to 11 hours of idle battery life.* Up to 88 percent better graphics performance, up to 33 percent better gaming performance and up to 29 percent faster file compression than the competition.2013 AMD Elite Performance APU* Top-of-the-line AMD A-Series APUs with A8 and A10 models that deliver the best graphics and compute in a performance APU, including elite performance and battery life, innovative features for the evolved PC user experience, and the most entertainment, all at a great value for premium ultrathin notebooks.* Up to 12 percent better productivity performance and between 20-40 percent better visual performance than the previous generation, including up to 51 percent more power efficiency in HD video playback and up to 13 hours of resting battery life.* Between 39-72 percent better gaming performance on today's leading games than the competition.2013 AMD Mobile APU User ExperiencesAll AMD APUs are designed to deliver the best user experience for the computing activities that matter most to consumer today. AMD is uniquely positioned to do this due to its breadth of experience that spans not only the traditional x86 compute architecture that's best suited for productivity-focused tasks like word processing and spread sheets, but also graphics processing for today's new user interfaces, and media- and graphics-intensive workloads. And the three new AMD APUs announced today offer a multitude of features related to looking at, and interacting with, mobile devices in a new way.* AMD Elite Experiences Software Leverage the power of the combined compute and graphics cores in AMD Elite APU Platforms to accelerate a suite of available software experiences that can dramatically expand and enhance the user experience:- AMD Gesture Control - Control basic functions using hand gestures;- AMD Face Login - Quickly log in to Windows and other browser-based sites;- AMD Screen Mirror - Wirelessly share content with any supported TV or display.* AMD Radeon Graphics with DirectX 11.1 support - Enjoy discrete-level performance for crisp & sharp photos, movies and games.* AMD Dock Port - Use up to four external monitors and sync to other devices through a single connection.* AMD AllDay Power - Stay unplugged with long battery life.* AMD Start Now technology - Boot up or resume from hibernate in seconds.AMD Unveils Server Strategy and RoadmapBest-in-class ARM CPUs, and leading x86 CPUs and APUs for enterprise and data center serversSUNNYVALE, Calif. -6/18/2013AMD (NYSE: AMD) today publicly disclosed its strategy and roadmap to recapture market share in enterprise and data center servers by unveiling innovative products that address key technologies and meet the requirements of the fastest-growing data center and cloud computing workloads.Additionally, AMD revealed details of its 2014 server portfolio including best-in-class Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), two- and four-socket CPUs, and details on what it expects to be the industry's premier ARM server processor. This is on the heels of announcing the general availability of the AMD Opteron X-Series processor, code named "Kyoto," which dominates the small-core server market on every performance benchmark. These forthcoming AMD Opteron processors bring important innovations to the rapidly changing compute market, including integrated CPU and GPU compute (APU); high core-count ARM servers for high-density compute in the data center; and substantial improvements in compute per-watt per-dollar and total cost of ownership."Our strategy is to differentiate ourselves by using our unique IP to build server processors that are particularly well matched to a target workload and thereby drive down the total cost of owning servers. This strategy unfolds across both the enterprise and data centers and includes leveraging our graphics processing capabilities and embracing both x86 and ARM instruction sets," said Andrew Feldman, general manager of the Server Business Unit, AMD. "AMD led the world in the transition to multicore processors and 64-bit computing, and we intend to do it again with our next-generation AMD Opteron families."In 2014, AMD will set the bar in power-efficient server compute with the industry's premier ARM server CPU. The 64-bit CPU, code named "Seattle," is based on ARM Cortex-A57 cores and is expected to provide category-leading throughput as well as setting the bar in performance-per-watt. AMD will also deliver a best-in-class APU, code named "Berlin." "Berlin" is an x86 CPU and APU, based on a new generation of cores named "Steamroller." Designed to double the performance of the recently available "Kyoto" part, "Berlin" will offer extraordinary compute-per-watt that will enable massive rack density. The third processor announced today is code named "Warsaw," AMD's next-generation 2P/4P offering. It is optimized to handle the heavily virtualized workloads found in enterprise environments including the more complex compute needs of data analytics, xSQL and traditional databases. "Warsaw" will provide significantly improved performance-per-watt over today's AMD Opteron 6300 family.Seattle"Seattle" will be the industry's only 64-bit ARM-based server SoC from a proven server processor supplier. "Seattle" is an 8- and then 16-core CPU based on the ARM Cortex-A57 core and is expected to run at or greater than 2 GHz. The "Seattle" processor is expected to offer 2-4X the performance of AMD's recently announced AMD Opteron X-Series processor with significant improvement in compute-per-watt. It will deliver 128GB DRAM support, extensive offload engines for better power efficiency and reduced CPU loading, server caliber encryption, and compression and legacy networking including integrated 10GbE. It will be the first processor from AMD to integrate AMD's advanced Freedom Fabric for dense compute systems directly onto the chip. AMD plans to sample "Seattle" in the first quarter of 2014 with production in the second half of the year.Berlin"Berlin" is an x86-based processor that will be available both as a CPU and APU. The processor boasts four next-generation "Steamroller" cores and will offer almost 8X the gigaflops per-watt compared to current AMD Opteron 6386SE processor. It will be the first server APU built on AMD's revolutionary Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA), which enables uniform memory access for the CPU and GPU and makes programming as easy as C++. "Berlin" will offer extraordinary compute per-watt that enables massive rack density. It is expected to be available in the first half of 2014.Warsaw"Warsaw" is an enterprise server CPU optimized to deliver unparalleled performance and total cost of ownership for two- and four-socket servers. Designed for enterprise workloads, it will offer improved performance-per-watt, which drives down the cost of owning a "Warsaw"-based server while enabling seamless migration from the AMD Opteron 6300 Series family. It is a fully compatible socket with identical software certifications, making it ideal for the AMD Open 3.0 Server the industry's most cost effective Open Compute platform. It is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2014.About AMDAMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its ground-breaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD's server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD's superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.Cautionary StatementThis press release contains forward-looking statements concerning AMD, its server roadmap and strategy, its ability to recapture market share in enterprise and data center servers, and the timing, features and functionality of AMD's future products, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as "would," "may," "expects," "believes," "plans," "intends," "projects," and other terms with similar meaning. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this document are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this document and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Risks include the possibility that Intel Corporation's pricing, marketing and rebating programs, product bundling, standard setting, new product introductions or other activities may negatively impact the company's plans; the company may be unable to develop, launch and ramp new products and technologies in the volumes that are required by the market at mature yields on a timely basis; that the company's third party foundry suppliers will be unable to transition its products to advanced manufacturing process technologies in a timely and effective way or to manufacture the company's products on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies; the company will be unable to obtain sufficient manufacturing capacity or components to meet demand for its products or will not fully utilize its commitment with respect to GLOBALFOUNDRIES microprocessor manufacturing facilities; that customers stop buying the company's products or materially reduce their operations or demand for the company's products; that the company may be unable to maintain the level of investment in research and development that is required to remain competitive; that there may be unexpected variations in the market growth and demand for its products and technologies in light of the product mix that the company may have available at any particular time or a decline in demand; that the company will require additional funding and may be unable to raise sufficient capital on favorable terms, or at all; that global business and economic conditions will not improve or will worsen; that demand for computers will be lower than currently expected; and the effect of political or economic instability, domestically or internationally, on the company's sales or supply chain. Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2013.If you know AMD mainly for its and processors, then some readjustment may be in order: as of now, the company is rushing head-long into the market created by and the need for ultra lean tablet chips that can handle Windows 8. Specifically, we're looking at the official launch of the Z-60, formerly known as , which AMD says will arrive in tablets "later this year" and satisfy even our most for Windows 8 hybrids that last 10+ hours in tablet mode and which turn into full-scale PCs when docked. And if you're thinking that Intel made much the same pledge during its recent , then you're dead right -- we actually have all the makings here of a proper old-fashioned chip fight. Read on for a spot of pre-match banter. In a bid to emphasize the Z-60's advantages over Clover Trail, AMD is putting the focus squarely (and somewhat predictably) on visuals. It claims the new chip has 5x or 6x better graphics performance than Cedar Trail (Clover's predecessor) and will spit out games that "you would never expect to see on a tablet." It'll support resolutions of up to 1920 x 1200 over HDMI and run titles like Orcs Must Die and even Modern Warfare 2 at medium settings and 1,024 x 768 resolution. There are limits though: when it comes to watching HD content, AMD says that 720p will offer the "best experience" as opposed to full 1080p -- an admission that puts us slightly on edge. In terms of straight computing, we're looking at Windows 8 only (no Android or Linux support, despite ) and performance that matches the older C-60 chip for and , with a full boot taking 25 seconds and resume from sleep taking two seconds. But whereas the C-60 was a 9-watt chip, the Z-60 will generally consume between four and five watts depending on the task -- that's low enough for it to be kept cool without a fan, thereby permitting devices to stay thinner than 10mm. The Z-60 also promises to reconnect to WiFi quicker, allowing it enter and exit low-power states with less fuss and delay. AMD claims the processor can last a whole working day on a single charge, but it seems to have based this claim on a tablet running in "Windows Presentation Mode" -- and we're not sure how representative that is of real-life use. By contrast, Intel says Clover Trail can manage three weeks on standby and 10 hours of "active use." Clearly, there's a lot we won't discover about the Z-60 until we get to review it in some early tablets and hybrids and put it head-to-head with Intel-powered hardware. At this point, we're also waiting for crucial information on pricing: could AMD trump Intel by allowing OEMs to the $799 price point we've seen on some Clover Trail tablets, and helping them to edge closer to Windows RT territory? Something tells us it'll have to try.AMD Amplifies Mobile Experience with Responsive Performance, Rich Graphics, Elite Software and Long Battery Life2013 Mobile APU line-up meets user needs across a wide range of new and traditional PC form factors at an ideal balance of price-to-performanceSUNNYVALE, Calif. -5/23/2013AMD (NYSE: AMD) today launched three new additions to its 2013 A-Series and E-Series Mobile Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) lineup delivering solutions ideally positioned to address today's evolving PC market with dramatically increased performance and power efficiency, as well as a portfolio of unique user experiences, and superior gaming and graphics:* The 2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU (formerly codenamed "Temash") - the world's first 28nm, quad-core x86 system-on-a-chip (SoC) APU designed for touch small form-factor notebooks, tablets, and hybrids 13-inches and below;* The 2013 AMD Mainstream APU (formerly codenamed "Kabini") - the first and only quad-core x86 SoC solution for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks;* New, low power versions of the 2013 AMD Elite Performance APU (formerly codenamed "Richland") - offer the best graphics and compute in a performance APU for premium ultrathin notebooks.These new APUs are designed to effectively balance the needs of a wide range of new and traditional mobile PC users and are available beginning today from the world's top computer manufacturers, including products announced today from Acer and HP."The client market has evolved with greater diversity in the types of mobile form factors and higher performance demands from the software and AMD is uniquely positioned to deliver the best processors to meet the needs of mobile device users today," said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager, Global Business Units at AMD. "As computing becomes more visual and the graphics processor can be leveraged to do other types of processing, our dedication to the software community and the APU architecture sets us apart from the competition and enables us to deliver the best user experience whether on a tablet, a hybrid device or a notebook."2013 AMD Mobile APU Platform Details2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU* World's first 28nm, quad-core x86 SoC APU, delivers the best graphics experience of any SoC on the planet for touch small form-factor notebooks, tablets and hybrids, 13-inches and below, enabling a superior HD media experience and high-end gaming.* Available as AMD A-Series APUs, this new platform comes in dual (A4) and quad-core (A6) configurations, combining "Jaguar" x86 Central Processing Unit (CPU) cores with Graphics Core * Next AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics.* Up to 172 percent more CPU performance per watt and up to 212 percent better graphics performance per watt than its predecessor, and up to 12 hours of resting battery life.* Up to 45 percent longer battery life and nearly five times more GPU performance than the competition.* Full support for 1080p touch display capability and full Microsoft Windows compatibility, including support for "Windows Blue."2013 AMD Mainstream APU* Best-in-class graphics and first-in-class x86 quad core SoC delivers the ideal balance between function and affordability for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks.* Combine either two or four "Jaguar" x86 CPU cores with Graphics Core Next AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics, enabling stunning visual performance and all-day battery life.* Quad core 2013 Mainstream APUs, a part of the 2013 AMD A-Series APU family (A4 and A6 models), are the first and only quad-core x86 solution for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks.* Dual core versions are AMD E-Series APUs, with E1 and E2 models available.* Up to 132 percent better visual performance per watt and up to 127 percent better productivity performance per watt, plus up to 25 percent better power efficiency than previous generations, with up to 11 hours of idle battery life.* Up to 88 percent better graphics performance, up to 33 percent better gaming performance and up to 29 percent faster file compression than the competition.2013 AMD Elite Performance APU* Top-of-the-line AMD A-Series APUs with A8 and A10 models that deliver the best graphics and compute in a performance APU, including elite performance and battery life, innovative features for the evolved PC user experience, and the most entertainment, all at a great value for premium ultrathin notebooks.* Up to 12 percent better productivity performance and between 20-40 percent better visual performance than the previous generation, including up to 51 percent more power efficiency in HD video playback and up to 13 hours of resting battery life.* Between 39-72 percent better gaming performance on today's leading games than the competition.2013 AMD Mobile APU User ExperiencesAll AMD APUs are designed to deliver the best user experience for the computing activities that matter most to consumer today. AMD is uniquely positioned to do this due to its breadth of experience that spans not only the traditional x86 compute architecture that's best suited for productivity-focused tasks like word processing and spread sheets, but also graphics processing for today's new user interfaces, and media- and graphics-intensive workloads. And the three new AMD APUs announced today offer a multitude of features related to looking at, and interacting with, mobile devices in a new way.* AMD Elite Experiences Software Leverage the power of the combined compute and graphics cores in AMD Elite APU Platforms to accelerate a suite of available software experiences that can dramatically expand and enhance the user experience:- AMD Gesture Control - Control basic functions using hand gestures;- AMD Face Login - Quickly log in to Windows and other browser-based sites;- AMD Screen Mirror - Wirelessly share content with any supported TV or display.* AMD Radeon Graphics with DirectX 11.1 support - Enjoy discrete-level performance for crisp & sharp photos, movies and games.* AMD Dock Port - Use up to four external monitors and sync to other devices through a single connection.* AMD AllDay Power - Stay unplugged with long battery life.* AMD Start Now technology - Boot up or resume from hibernate in seconds.AMD Changes Compute Landscape as the First to Bridge Both x86 and ARM Processors for the Data Center Company to Complement x86-based Offerings with New Processors Based on ARM 64-bit Technology, Starting with Server Market SUNNYVALE, Calif. -10/29/2012 In a bold strategic move, AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced that it will design 64-bit ARM technology-based processors in addition to its x86 processors for multiple markets, starting with cloud and data center servers. AMD's first ARM technology-based processor will be a highly-integrated, 64-bit multicore System-on-a-Chip (SoC) optimized for the dense, energy-efficient servers that now dominate the largest data centers and power the modern computing experience. The first ARM technology-based AMD Opteron processor is targeted for production in 2014 and will integrate the AMD SeaMicro Freedom supercompute fabric, the industry's premier high-performance fabric. AMD's new design initiative addresses the growing demand to deliver better performance-per-watt for dense cloud computing solutions. Just as AMD introduced the industry's first mainstream 64-bit x86 server solution with the AMD Opteron processor in 2003, AMD will be the only processor provider bridging the x86 and 64-bit ARM ecosystems to enable new levels of flexibility and drive optimal performance and power-efficiency for a range of enterprise workloads. "AMD led the data center transition to mainstream 64-bit computing with AMD64, and with our ambidextrous strategy we will again lead the next major industry inflection point by driving the widespread adoption of energy-efficient 64-bit server processors based on both the x86 and ARM architectures," said Rory Read, president and chief executive officer, AMD. "Through our collaboration with ARM, we are building on AMD's rich IP portfolio, including our deep 64-bit processor knowledge and industry-leading AMD SeaMicro Freedom supercompute fabric, to offer the most flexible and complete processing solutions for the modern data center." "The industry needs to continuously innovate across markets to meet customers' ever-increasing demands, and ARM and our partners are enabling increasingly energy-efficient computing solutions to address these needs," said Warren East, chief executive officer, ARM. "By collaborating with ARM, AMD is able to leverage its extraordinary portfolio of IP, including its AMD Freedom supercompute fabric, with ARM 64-bit processor cores to build solutions that deliver on this demand and transform the industry." The explosion of the data center has brought with it an opportunity to optimize compute with vastly different solutions. AMD is providing a compute ecosystem filled with choice, offering solutions based on AMD Opteron x86 CPUs, new server-class Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that leverage Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA), and new 64-bit ARM-based solutions. This strategic partnership with ARM represents the next phase of AMD's strategy to drive ambidextrous solutions in emerging mega data center solutions. In March, AMD announced the acquisition of SeaMicro, the leader in high-density, energy-efficient servers. With this announcement, AMD will integrate the AMD SeaMicro Freedom fabric across its leadership AMD Opteron x86- and ARM technology-based processors that will enable hundreds, or even thousands of processor clusters to be linked together to provide the most energy-efficient solutions. "Over the past decade the computer industry has coalesced around two high-volume processor architectures x86 for personal computers and servers, and ARM for mobile devices," observed Nathan Brookwood, research fellow at Insight 64. "Over the next decade, the purveyors of these established architectures will each seek to extend their presence into market segments dominated by the other. The path on which AMD has now embarked will allow it to offer products based on both x86 and ARM architectures, a capability no other semiconductor manufacturer can likely match."AMD Targets High-Growth, Embedded Markets with New AMD Embedded G-Series System-on-Chip High performance, energy-efficient quad-core x86 design fuels Surround Computing era SAN JOSE, Calif., April 23, 2013 - DESIGN West - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced at DESIGN West the new AMD Embedded G-Series System-on-Chip (SOC) platform, a single-chip solution based on the AMD next-generation "Jaguar" CPU architecture and AMD Radeon 8000 Series graphics. The new AMD Embedded G-Series SOC platform further signifies a strategic push to focus on high-growth markets outside the PC industry, with an emphasis on embedded systems. Embedded systems are increasingly driving intelligence into new areas of our lives across smart TVs and set-top-boxes to interactive digital signage and informational kiosks. This supports greater productivity and connectivity and is expected to be a strong driver for Surround Computing, an area of substantial growth in the computing industry. Among the forces that are enabling this next generation computing era are single-chip, SOC solutions that offer smaller size, higher performance and more energy efficient processors. The AMD Embedded G-Series SOC platform sets the new bar for SOC design offers up to 113 percent improved CPU performance compared to the prior generation AMD Embedded G-Series APU, and up to 125 percent advantage compared to the Intel Atom when running multiple industry-standard compute intensive benchmarks.1 For embedded applications, the new platform also includes support for DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4.2x and OpenCL 1.22 that enable parallel processing and high-performance graphics processing, yielding up to 20 percent graphics improvement over the previous AMD Embedded G-Series APU and greater than 5x advantage over Intel Atom when running multiple industry-standard graphics-intensive benchmarks. "We have built a treasure trove of industry-leading IP in processors, graphics and multimedia, along with the infrastructure to combine these building blocks into unsurpassed, embedded SOC solutions," said Arun Iyengar, vice president and general manager, AMD Embedded Solutions. "With a 33 percent smaller footprint 4, low power consumption and exceptional performance, the new AMD Embedded G-Series SOC sets the bar for content-rich, multimedia and traditional workload processing that is ideal for a broad variety of embedded applications." The new processor family offers superior performance per watt in the low-power x86-compatible product category with 9W 25W options5. It includes: enterprise-class Error-Correction Code (ECC) memory support, industrial temperature range of -40C to +85C and available with dual or quad-core CPUs, discrete-class AMD Radeon GPU, and I/O controller. The AMD Embedded G-Series SOC combines dedicated resources that enable exceptional performance with shared resources to help reduce power consumption and die space, and provides developers the flexibility to leverage the same board design and software stack for a variety of applications due to the scalability of the new SOC design. The discrete-class graphics integrated into the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC power applications that previously required a separate graphics processor, while the addition of new CPU architecture for the Embedded G-Series SOC platform allows deeply embedded or "headless" systems, which are used in environments without a screen, monitor or input device and do not require a graphics solution. "As the Internet of Things permeates every aspect of our life from work to home and everything where in-between, devices require high performance, I/O connectivity, and energy efficiency in smaller packages," said Colin Barnden, principal analyst, Semicast Research. "With this new AMD SOC design, the AMD Embedded G-Series platform offers the perfect mix of high performance, a small footprint, low-energy use, and full I/O integration to enable smaller form factor embedded designs, cool and efficient operation, and simplified build requirements. AMD has leapfrogged the competition by combining the power of an X86 CPU, and the performance of AMD Radeon graphics with the I/O interconnect all on a single die." The AMD Embedded G-Series SOC supports Windows Embedded 8 and Linux, and is designed for myriad embedded applications including industrial control and automation, digital signage, electronic gaming systems, SMB storage, IP-TV, medical and network appliances, set-top-boxes and more. AMD will ship the AMD G-Series SOC platform with general availability in the second quarter of 2013, and target applications with a comprehensive ecosystem of industry-leading embedded solution providers supporting and/or announcing market-ready products powered by the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC. Developer Support and Product Features: Developers working with the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC can implement remote management, virtualization and security capabilities to help reduce deployment costs and increase security and reliability of their AMD Embedded G-Series SOC-based platform through: AMD DAS 1.0 featuring DASH 1.1 AMD Virtualization technology Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 support Next-generation CPU core Next-generation "Jaguar" core with innovative, new shared L2 Cache Enterprise-class feature of ECC and fast memory support Excellent AMD Radeon graphics performance per watt Enhanced Universal Video Decode (UVD) 3 hardware acceleration (H.264, VC-1, MPEG2 etc.) and new video encode capability not available in previous AMD Embedded G-Series APU Power efficiency enhancement with clock gating to contribute to overall lower power consumption Advanced GPU enables parallel processing and high-performance graphics Heterogeneous computing for industrial control and automation, communications and other processor heavy applications: OpenCL enables CPU and GPU parallel processing, which benefits applications development in these areas Graphics (DirectX 11, OpenGL) and dual independent display; high-resolution support for a superb visual experience Expands software development options and extends application lifetime with advanced graphics APIs Ideal platform for low-power and high-performance designs For Industrial Control and Automation: low-power and heterogeneous computing advantage enabled by the integrated GPU deliver more than 150 GFLOPS of compute performance over and above the compute capability of the x86 CPU cores6 For Digital Signage: eye-catching, high-definition multimedia content delivery connected through a variety of display technologies (DP, HDMI, VGA, LVDS) For Electronic Gaming Machines: dedicated hardware acceleration engines for video decode (UVD) and encode (VCE) as well as digital content management (SAMU) For SMB storage: high-performance SOC in a small form factor with a myriad of integrated USB and SATA I/O enables a fan-less design, reducing system cost Supporting Resources Visit the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC platform site Visit the AMD Embedded Solutions blog Watch a summary video about the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC Get technical support at the AMD Embedded Developer Support site For more AMD Embedded products, visit the AMD-Based Embedded Product Catalog About AMD AMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its ground-breaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD's server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD's superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. AMD GX-415GA scored 209, AMD G-T56N scored 98, and Intel Atom D525 scored 93, based on an average of Sandra Engineering 2011 Dhyrstone, Sandra Engineering 2011 Whetstone and EEMBC CoreMark Multi-thread benchmark results. AMD G-T56N system configuration used iBase MI958 motherboard with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. AMD GX-415GA system configuration used AMD "Larne" Reference Design Board with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. Intel Atom D525 system configuration used MSI MS-A923 motherboard with platform integrated 1GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. All systems running Windows 7 Ultimate for Sandra Engineering and Ubuntu version 11.10 for EEMBC CoreMark. EMB-37 2 OpenCL 1.2 currently supported in the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows Vista; Microsoft Windows 7; Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7; Microsoft Windows 8 classic mode; Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 8; Linux(Catalyst drivers). OpenGL 4.2 currently supported in the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows Vista; Microsoft Windows 7; Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7; Microsoft Windows 8 classic mode; Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 8; Linux(Catalyst drivers). Ongoing support options TBA. 3 AMD GX-415GA scored 864, AMD G-T56N scored 724, and Intel Atom D525 scored 162, based on an average of 3DMark06 1280x1024 and PassMark Performance Test 7.0 2D Graphics Suite benchmark results. AMD G-T56N system configuration used iBase MI958 motherboard with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. AMD GX-415GA system configuration used AMD "Larne" Reference Design Board with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. Intel Atom D525 system configuration used MSI MS-A923 motherboard with platform integrated 1GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. All systems running Windows 7 Ultimate with DirectX 11.0. EMB-38 4 Calculation: AMD G-Series SOC FT3 BGA package dimension 24.5mm x 24.5mm = 600.25 mm2 SOC; AMD G-Series APU FT1 and Controller Hub two-chip platform: 19mm x 19mm + 23mm x 23mm = 890 mm2; 33% improvement. EMB-40 5 The low-power x86 microprocessor class includes: GX-420CA @ 25W TDP (scored 19); GX415GA @ 15W (25), GX217GA @ 15W (17), GX210HA @ 9W (20), G-T56N @ 18W (12), G-T52R @ 18W (7), G-T40N @9W (14), G-T16R @ 4.5W (19), Intel Atom N270 @ 2.5W (20), Intel Atom D525 @ 13W (9), Intel Atom D2700 @ 10W (12) & Intel Celeron G440 @ 35W (5). Performance score based on an average of scores from the following benchmarks: Sandra Engineering 2011 Dhrystone ALU, Sandra Engineering 2011 Whetstone iSSE3, 3DMark 06 (1280 x 1024), PassMark Performance Test 7.0 2D Graphics Mark, and EEMBC CoreMark Multi-thread. All systems running Windows 7 Ultimate for Sandra Engineering, 3DMark 06 and Passmark. All systems running Ubuntu version 11.10 for EEMBC CoreMark. All configurations used DirectX 11.0. AMD G-Series APU system configurations used iBase MI958 motherboards with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. All AMD G-Series SOC systems used AMD "Larne" Reference Design Board with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. Intel Atom D2700 was tested with Jetway NC9KDL-2700 motherboard, 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. Intel Celeron system configuration used MSI H61M-P23 motherboard with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. Intel Atom N270 system configuration used MSI MS-9830 motherboard with maximum supported configuration of 1GB DDR2 (per http://download.intel.com/design/intarch/manuals/320436.pdf,) and Intel GM945 Intel Atom D525 used MSI MS-A923 motherboard with platform integrated 1GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. EMB-36 6 Calculation based on performance of GX-420GA GPU running at 600MHz = 0.6 GHz. 0.6 x 256 FLOPs = 153.6 GFLOPS. EMB-43 This document contains forward-looking statements concerning AMD, the timing and features of AMD's future products, the ability of AMD to win in embedded segments with new APU SOC products in 2013, the benefits from AMD's new technology partnerships and the timing of future products that incorporate AMD's products, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as "would," "may," "expects," "believes," "plans," "intends," "projects," and other terms with similar meaning. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this document are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this document and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Risks include the possibility that Intel Corporation's pricing, marketing and rebating programs, product bundling, standard setting, new product introductions or other activities may negatively impact the company's plans; the company may be unable to develop, launch and ramp new products and technologies in the volumes that are required by the market at mature yields on a timely basis; that the company's third party foundry suppliers will be unable to transition its products to advanced manufacturing process technologies in a timely and effective way or to manufacture the company's products on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies; the company will be unable to obtain sufficient manufacturing capacity or components to meet demand for its products or will not fully utilize its commitment with respect to GLOBALFOUNDRIES microprocessor manufacturing facilities; that customers stop buying the company's products or materially reduce their operations or demand for the company's products; that the company may be unable to maintain the level of investment in research and development that is required to remain competitive; that there may be unexpected variations in the market growth and demand for its products and technologies in light of the product mix that the company may have available at any particular time or a decline in demand; that the company will require additional funding and may be unable to raise sufficient capital on favorable terms, or at all; that global business and economic conditions will not improve or will worsen; that demand for computers will be lower than currently expected; and the effect of political or economic instability, domestically or internationally, on the company's sales or supply chain. Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2012.2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APUs Enable Best-in-Class PC Mobility, Entertainment, and Gaming Experience in Single Chip SUNNYVALE, Calif. - May 15, 2012- AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the widely anticipated launch of its 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series Accelerated Processing UnitsWU (APUs) for mainstream and ultrathin notebooks, All-in-One and traditional desktops, home theater PCs and embedded designs. The 2nd-Generation A-Series APU, codenamed "Trinity", is a grounds-up improved design over the previous generation, enabling a best-in-class PC mobility, entertainment, and gaming experience. New features of the product design include: Double the performance per watt of the previous generation2 The AMD HD Media Accelerator with a unique set of technologies designed to optimize video quality available with premium and Internet video content, and accelerate video file conversion; An increase in CPU performance of up to 29 percent3 with higher processor speeds thanks to the next-generation AMD "Piledriver" CPU core with 3rd generation AMD Turbo Core technology, where power is dynamically shifted between the CPU and GPU depending on application needs, effectively providing a more responsive experience that can boost CPU frequencies to up to 3.2 GHz; AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics for an increase of graphics performance up to 56% over the previous generation4.Combined, the CPU and GPU cores deliver more than 700 gigaflops of computing performance5 several times more than the fastest x86 CPUs to boost the compute capabilities of hundreds of applications. Up to 12 hours of battery life through CPU and GPU power enhancements, with clear battery life leadership in notebook form factors "The latest OEM notebooks, ultrathins, All-in-Ones and desktops based on the new AMD A-Series APU enable the best video and gaming experiences, highly responsive performance with AMD Turbo CORE, and accelerates an ever-increasing range of productivity and multimedia applications -- in sleek, stylish designs at price points that make sense," said Chris Cloran, corporate vice president and General Manager, AMD Client Business Unit."Our 2nd Generation AMD A-Series APU is a major step forward in every performance and power dimension, allowing users to enjoy a stunning experience without having to give up the things that matter to them most. This experience doesn't stop at mainstream notebooks. It carries over into affordable ultrathin form factors featuring the latest in AMD Radeon graphics." The Growing AMD Accelerated Application Ecosystem The developer ecosystem continues to gravitate to the unmatched level of compute and unique processing capabilities of the APU as more than 100 applications and games are now accelerated by AMD APUs. The 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APU gives users superior Web-based video experience thanks to plug-ins for Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer 9 that make it easy for consumers to turn on AMD Steady Video technology.6 Recent applications that have been optimized for use on AMD A-Series APUs include Adobe Photoshop CS6, WinZip 16.5 and VLC Media Player. AMD A-Series APUs are also well-positioned to take advantage of the upcoming transition to the Windows 8 operating system. "We are excited for the introduction of the 2nd-generation AMD A-Series APU and are confident it will continue the great work Microsoft and AMD have done together on the A-Series APU," said Aidan Marcuss, Senior Director, Windows Business Planning, Microsoft Corp. "We look forward to the seeing the A-Series APU in action with Windows 8 to deliver a great user experience across a variety of hardware." For developers who want to engage in the industry's move toward heterogeneous computing, the upcoming AMD Fusion12 Developer Summit will offer them a unique opportunity to enhance their knowledge base. More information on AFDS 12 can be found here. Unmatched Mobility With more than 12 hours of 'resting' battery life, AMD is now an industry leader in notebook battery-life performance. The 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APU delivers increased levels of performance, while consuming half the power as its predecessor. These gains can be attributed to the new, power-optimized "Piledriver" CPU core, as well as to AMD Start Now technology, which is designed to maximize system responsiveness by quickly entering and exiting low power states. With AMD Start Now, the computer resumes from sleep mode in as few as two seconds and boots to the desktop in as few as 10 seconds.7 In ultrathin form factors, AMD enables an uncompromised visual experience thanks to a power-efficient and premium AMD Radeon graphics engine. Consumers can expect to see ultrathin notebooks based on the dual-core 17-watt and quad-core 25-watt AMD A-Series APUs. These products will be easily identifiable by aluminum-styled VISION Technology stickers at a range of competitive price points. Best-in-class Entertainment As more and more people turn to their computers as the hub for their entertainment, the visual aspect of computing becomes ever more important. To enhance these capabilities, AMD created the AMD HD Media Accelerator a unique set of technologies that enable the best video quality on a PC. Key features of the HD Media Accelerator include: AMD Perfect Picture HD An image, video processing and display technology that automatically makes images and video better with color vibrancy adjustments, edge enhancement, noise reduction and dynamic contrast fixes.8 AMD Steady Video Technology A technology that enables smooth playback of jittery video content with a single button click thanks to plug-ins for popular Web browsers and multimedia applications.6 AMD Quick Stream Technology A new technology that prioritizes video streaming on PC systems for a smooth, virtually uninterrupted video stream.9 True HD video chat with up to four people at once. AMD Video Converter A video compression engine for fast conversion and sharing of media files across multiple formats and devices. Full decode support for H.264, MPEG-2, VC-1, MVC, DivX and WMV. Gaming Leadership The 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APU builds on AMD's legacy of gaming leadership with an increase in graphics performance of up to 56% over the previous generation4 and support for: AMD Eyefinity Technology For the first time, this immersive technology is available from an APU without the need for a discrete graphics card.10 Performance-leading DirectX 11 graphics architecture and 1080p gaming a life-like level of detail. AMD Radeon dual graphics support that delivers a performance boost of up to 75 percent when adding a discrete graphics card to the APU.11 The AMD Radeon dual graphics option also offers support for DirectX 9 for older game titles, and uses new AMD CrossFire Technology Profiles for easier updates. Availability and Technical Details AMD has a record number of design wins with companies like Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba based on our 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APUs and VISION Technology from AMD, with mainstream and ultrathin notebooks, as well as embedded solutions, available beginning today.New AMD A-Series APU Offers Mobile PC Users Innovative Experiences, Elite Graphics Performance and Longer Battery Life ─ Notebooks with highest performance AMD A-Series APUs expected on shelf this month ─ SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Mar. 12, 2013 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the first availability of the AMD Elite A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), codenamed "Richland." The new AMD Elite A-Series APUs deliver innovative user experiences like facial log-in and gesture recognition, improved graphics1 and compute performance2 over the previous generation, and enhanced power management capabilities on a single chip. "The high performance AMD A-Series APU continues to impress with its ability to deliver stunning graphics and immersive experiences with even more battery life. Our engineers have done a superb job of increasing processor performance while decreasing power consumption," said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD's Client Business Unit. "With the capabilities built into our 2013 AMD Elite A-Series APUs, including new software for gesture control, facial recognition, rich entertainment and more lifelike gaming, we are delivering an ever richer experience to end users and our customers." With faster performance and improved power management in the same platform architecture as its predecessor, coupled with AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics, the 2013 AMD Elite A-Series APUs build on the award-winning history of AMD's original APU line-up to help users get the most out of their notebooks, whether at work, at home or on-the-go. Differentiated User Experiences The new AMD Elite A-Series APUs leverage the power of the combined compute and graphics cores to accelerate a suite of available software experiences that can dramatically expand and enhance the user experience: AMD Face Login Uses facial recognition technology and a webcam to allow for quick log-in to Windows and other browser-based websites that require a log-in, like social networking sites and email services; AMD Gesture Control Tracks a user's hand gestures and converts them into commands for basic functions on media players, browsers, e-readers and other popular applications leveraging a webcam, advanced image processing and machine-vision algorithms; AMD Screen Mirror Wirelessly shares content like photos, videos, HD media streams and webpages from a PC or tablet based on a 2013 AMD A-Series APU with any supported TV or display with a DLNA receiver, or with other PCs. Available only on select AMD-based devices; AMD Video Entertainment Features Make your content look its very best: AMD Steady Video technology gives users push-button control over shaky home video and helps stabilize the images for better viewing; AMD Quick Stream technology enables smooth video streaming and a virtually interruption free streaming experience; and AMD Perfect Picture HD8, creates rich and lifelike color on video entertainment. This optimized-for-AMD software will come pre-loaded on select AMD Elite A-Series APU-based notebooks later this year and will be downloadable from www.amd.com next month. Next Level Performance Through engineering optimizations on the previous generation of the AMD A-Series APU platform architecture (formerly codenamed "Trinity") and updated graphics, the 2013 AMD Elite A-Series APUs feature significant performance increases along with support for high-end technologies: Visual and compute performance increases over the previous generation of AMD A- Series APUs; AMD Start Now Technology9 for tablet-like responsiveness; Improved AMD Turbo CORE technology with higher boost frequencies than the previous generation, for more performance when you need it and energy conservation when you don't; Support for AMD Eyefinity technology10, AMD Radeon dual graphics11, and DirectX 11. Enhanced Power Management AMD continues a power/performance leadership through the latest generation of power management technologies. These boosting and throttling technologies enable more intelligent, higher compute and graphics core performance to help enhance PC responsiveness and extend battery life. Building on the idea of AMD AllDay Power, the 2013 AMD Elite A-Series Platform enables up to 7.9 hours of web browsing, 5.7 hours of HD video playback and up to 10 hours of resting battery life on a 55 watt/hour battery. Availability and Technical Details Performance and traditional notebooks based on these 2013 AMD Elite A-Series APUs are shipping now with availability beginning this month in select regions. New, low-voltage and desktop variants of AMD Elite A-Series APUs are expected to be announced and available in the first half of 2013.Earlier today AMD's director of global business units marketing, John Taylor, on our CES stage to talk chips. Specifically, tablet chips, and laptop chips, and chips for products that have elements of both. While he was up there, Mr. Taylor flashed a reference device -- a laptop hybrid with the keyboard and touchpad built into the carrying case. Obviously, we weren't satisfied with just a quick tease, so we caught up with him afterward to learn a bit more. As it turns out, it runs a quad-core version of AMD's new chip, which is being billed as the first quad-core, x86-based SoC. (There's also a dual-core version.) Built into the chip is an HD Radeon 8000 series GPU with AMD's Graphics Core Next architecture, so in theory you should be able to pull off PC-caliber gaming even on a tablet. All told, it promises 50 percent more performance than AMD's processor, which you can find in Vizio's . Of course, those are just marketing claims, and besides we haven't had a chance to benchmark either a Hondo or a Temash system yet. So, to put that in better context, it might be helpful to hear AMD talk about its competitors. Obviously, Intel is a biggie, but in particular AMD says Temash should be able to compete with tablet chips, going all the way up to Core i3 on laptops. We're told Temash will ship sometime in the first half of this year, and that AMD will be revealing more details about the platform at Mobile World Congress, which kicks off in late February. Until then, we've got hands-on photos of the unit below, along with some performance impressions after the break. As we said, the laptop on display had an 11.6-inch, 1080p display and a quad-core chip, with a max power draw of eight watts. (AMD was also showing off an 11-inch, Quanta-made tablet with a dual-core Temash chip, rated for up to three watts, though it wasn't powered on.) In a demo of DiRT Showdown, we noticed lots of detail -- the glint of asphalt, and dust particles rising from the ground. At the same time, the game ran quite smoothly, even at 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. When we strained really hard we noticed some very slight slow-down, but at this point we're mostly just nitpicking: the gameplay here is more than playable, and it's a clear improvement over what you'd get on an Atom-powered device or even an Ultrabook with HD 4000 graphics. The rest of the hardware is beside the point, but knowing you guys, you're probably curious anyway. The viewing angles were good enough that we were able to follow along with DiRT Showdown, even when someone else was playing and we had to stand off to the side. The keyboard is shallow, as is often the case with ultraportables, though the individual buttons have an uncommon (but very pleasant) rubber finish. The removable case has that built-in touchpad of course, and sports a faux-leather finish. We sort of dig that orange-yellow color, but naturally any OEM that uses this design can customize the color palette. The case doubles as a stand, too, with a piece in the back that folds in to prop up the tablet. Meanwhile, there are two slots into which you can insert the tablet as a way of adjusting the screen angle. On a closing note, that 11-inch tablet measures 10mm thick and has a soft-touch finish, similar to Vizio's Tablet PC, and it too has a 1080p display. Again, though, it wasn't powered on, so we unfortunately can't tell you much more today. We should learn more by May or June, though: that's when both devices are expected to hit shelves. Myriam Joire contributed to this report.AMD Launches the AMD Opteron X-Series Family: the Industry's Highest Performance Small Core x86 Server ProcessorsTwice the Performance and More Power-Efficient Than the Top Performing Intel(R) Atom(TM) ProcessorSUNNYVALE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/29/13 -- AMD (NYSE: AMD) today unveiled a new family of low power server processors: the AMD Opteron X-Series optimized for scale-out server architectures. The first AMD Opteron X-Series processors, formerly known as "Kyoto," are the highest density, most power-efficient small core x86 processors ever built1. The new X1150 and X2150 processors beat the top performing Intel Atom processor on key performance benchmarks2, including single thread and throughput performance with superior power-efficiency, twice the cores and L2 cache with a more advanced pipeline architecture, higher integration and support for up to 32 gigabytes of DRAM -- 4x more than the Intel Atom processor.The AMD Opteron X-Series processors come in two variants. The AMD Opteron X2150, which consumes as little as 11 watts, is the first server APU system-on-a-chip integrating CPU and GPU engines with a high-speed bus on a single die. This enables customers to take advantage of leading-edge AMD Radeon HD 8000 graphics technology for multimedia-oriented server workloads. The AMD Opteron X1150, which consumes as little as 9 watts, is a CPU-only version optimized for general scale-out workloads."The data center is at an inflection point and requires a high number of cores in a dense form factor with integrated graphics, massive amounts of DRAM and unprecedented power efficiency to keep up with the pace of innovation of Internet services," said Andrew Feldman, corporate vice president and general manager, Server Business Unit at AMD. "AMD has a proud history of server innovation, and the AMD Opteron X-Series processors challenge the status quo by providing unmatched capabilities to drive the most energy-efficient servers in the industry."The AMD Opteron X-Series processors are now the world's premier small-core x86 APUs and CPUs, ideal for next-generation scale-out web and cloud applications ranging from big data analytics to image processing, multimedia content delivery, and hosting."Fundamental changes in computing architectures are required to support space, power and cost demands organizations need to deliver compelling, new infrastructure economics," said Paul Santeler, vice president and general manager, Hyperscale Server business segment, HP. "The new x86 AMD Opteron X-Series processors integrated into future HP Moonshot servers will continue to push the boundaries of power efficiency for social, mobile, cloud and big data workloads."The AMD Opteron X-Series versus Intel Atom S1260AMDIntel Atom S1260AMD Advantagex86 CPU Cores422XGPU Cores128 AMD Radeon HD 8000 CoresNoneAMD OnlyMax. DRAM Per Socket32GB8GB4XMax. DRAM SpeedDDR3-1600DDR3-13331.2XL2 Cache2MB1MB2XThroughput performance28.9@2GHz (CPU) (est.)213.0@2GHz2.2XSingle Thread Performance10.0@2GHz(CPU)(est.)25.2@2GHz1.9XIntegrated Sata PortsYesNoAMD OnlyCPUFrequency:Power Consumption:Graphics (X2150 APU only)Memory Interface:Integrated I/O:PackageModelCPU CoresCPU Configurable FrequencyGPU CoresGPU Configurable FrequencyTDP Range1KU PricingX11504Up to 2.0GHzN/AN/A9-17W$64X21504Up to 1.9GHz128266 to 600MHz11-22W$99The AMD Opteron X2150 APU and X1150 CPU are generally available now for a cost of $99 and $64, respectively, in 1K quantities. More information can be found on AMD's web site.About AMDAMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its ground-breaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD's server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD's superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Opteron, AMD Radeon and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.1 Based on AMD's small core Opteron processor Model X1150 vs. Intel Atom Model S1260, Intel's highest performance small core processor. Highest density based on cores/rack. Since Opteron X-Series has double the number of cores of Intel Atom S1200 series, it has the double the density among small core x86 processors. Most power efficient small core x86 processor as measured by SPECint_rate_base2006 estimates divided by TDP.2 SPEC and SPECint are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. The comparison presented reflects competing AMD and Intel 2.0GHz processors. Throughput performance estimates are based on SPECint_rate_base2006 results using all four threads of each processor. Single thread performance estimates are based on SPECint_rate_base2006 results using one thread of each processor. The results stated are estimates based on measurements in AMD labs as of May 2, 2013. For the latest SPECint_rate_base2006 results, visit http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/. Configuration information: 1 x AMD Opteron processor Model X1150 in "Olive Hill" Reference platform server, 8GB (2 x 4GB DDR3-1600) memory, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Release 6.3 x86_64 OS, GCC 4.7.2 Compiler. 1 x Intel Xeon processor Model S1260 in Supermicro 5017A-EF server, 8GB (2 x 4GB DDR3-1333) memory, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Release 6.3 x86_64 OS, GCC 4.7.2 Compiler.*Based on the capability of the Kyoto memory controller and expected 16GB DIMM availability.AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series Graphics Sets Pace for Graphics Industry Bringing to Market its Third Series of Graphics Cards Based on its New GCN Architecture SUNNYVALE, Calif. -3/5/2012 AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the sleek new additions to its award-winning 28nm GPU line up, the AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition and AMD Radeon HD 7850 graphics cards. Featuring AMD's cutting-edge Graphics Core Next Architecture (GCN) for spectacular performance and efficiency, the AMD Radeon HD 7800 series comes equipped with PCI Express 3.0 and the incredibly efficient AMD ZeroCore Power technology.1,3,4 Gamers can dive right in, crank up the settings and expand their gaming with AMD Eyefinity 2.0 technology thanks to the world's most advanced graphics. The AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition and AMD Radeon HD 7850 GPUs comes equipped with 2GBs of GDDR5 memory and will be available worldwide from add-in-board partners like ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond, Gigabyte, HIS, MSI, Powercolor, Sapphire, VisionTek and XFX via retailers and e-tailers, with select models starting at USD$249 SEP. "Engineered for supremacy, designed for efficiency and packed with incredible features, the AMD Radeon HD 7800 series offers more than the just world's most advanced graphics: it offers the incredible performance every gamer deserves," said Matt Skynner corporate vice president and general manager, GPU Division, AMD. "AMD continues to lead the industry in desktop graphics innovation with unrivalled computing and unequalled technologies like our game-changing GCN Architecture." With continued demand for increased graphics horsepower to support more visually intensive games, the AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series is set to power the next generation of games and applications. And for those looking to upgrade to a next-generation graphics card, the AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series is the ideal choice. "AMD has launched its full suite of next-generation graphics cards in very short order," said Robert E. Bellack, CEO, Newegg North America. "With the launch of the AMD Radeon HD 7800 series, we'll now be able to offer our customers AMD's full range of 28nm graphics cards, giving them the edge they need when gaming. We're proud to work with AMD on getting these cards to market." The AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series raises the graphics bar by providing gamers an arsenal of tools like AMD PowerTune, AMD Eyefinity 2.0 and AMD CrossFire technologies, and 2GBs of GDDR5 memory that empowers them to enjoy the latest games and applications on the market. "The AMD Radeon HD 7800 series is designed to perform for serious gamers," said Chance Lyon, Zombie Studios. "'Blacklight Retribution' is set to be one of the most visually impressive games of 2012 and AMD's commitment to pushing the boundaries of graphics technology with its Graphics Core Next Architecture means players will have an optimized 'Blacklight' gaming experience when they plug in an AMD Radeon HD 7800 graphics card."American Airlines First Commercial Carrier With FAA Approval To Use Electronic Flight Bags In All Phases Of Flight Program Critical Part of American's Efforts to Improve Operational Efficiency for Pilots, Reduce Carbon Footprint FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Furthering its efforts to advance airspace modernization, American Airlines today announced it is expanding its iPad Electronic Flight Bag program after becoming the first commercial carrier to receive FAA approval to use the Apple iPad in the cockpit during all phases of flight. American's pilots will be using iPad, the only FAA-approved tablet as an Electronic Flight Bag in approved aircraft. An Electronic Flight Bag reduces or replaces paper-based reference material and manuals often found in a pilot's carry-on kitbag. Removing the 35-pound kitbag from each American Airlines plane will save an estimated $1.2 million of fuel annually based on current fuel prices. "This is a very exciting and important milestone for all of us at American Airlines as we work to modernize our processes and best meet the needs of our people," said Captain John Hale, American's Vice President Flight. "With this approval from the FAA, we will be able to use iPad to fully realize the benefits of our Electronic Flight Bag program, including improving the work environment for our pilots, reducing our dependency on paper products and increasing fuel efficiency on our planes. We are equipping our people with the best resources and this will allow our pilots to fly more efficiently." "We're focused on building a new American where technology and innovation are fundamental to the company's return to industry leadership and exceptional customer service," said Maya Leibman, American's Chief Information Officer. "The Electronic Flight Bag program is just one more example of the progress we're making to provide the tools our employees need to deliver operational improvements and leading customer experience. In fact, our Flight Attendants have also been piloting an initiative on handheld tablets, which will give them better information about the customers on their flight and their travel needs. We'll have more to share on this and other industry-leading technologies in the weeks and months to come." As part of the Electronic Flight Bag program, American's pilots will use mobile software and data from Jeppesen, a unit of Boeing Flight Services. The FAA-approved Jeppesen application, which is allowed for gate-to-gate use throughout all phases of flight, will replace bulky paper operating manuals with real-time, up-to-date electronic information that is easier to access. "Jeppesen mobile solutions will deliver our industry-leading flight information through the thousands of iPads that will be integrated by American Airlines in its operations," said Thomas Wede, Jeppesen Senior Vice President and General Manager, Aviation. "We fully support American in this process and our mobile data software solution will work to increase operational efficiency, enhance situational awareness and reduce airline costs." American's pilots will start using iPads this month on the airline's 777 fleet. American aims to have FAA approval for use in all fleet types by the end of 2012. Beginning in January 2013, American will stop distributing paper revisions to its flight manuals and most navigation charts. To ease the transition company-wide, all active pilots and instructors will receive an iPad for use in training and inflight. American first received FAA approval to use iPads in the cockpit in 2011, which came several months after American completed testing with pilots using iPads in the cockpit. The first FAA-approved device to be tested is the iPad, and if other tablets are approved by the FAA they will be evaluated for use.FOR RELEASE: Monday, June 24, 2013AMERICAN AIRLINES COMPLETES ELECTRONIC FLIGHT BAG IMPLEMENTATIONAmerican Becomes the First Major Commercial Carrier to Deploy Electronic Flight Bags throughout Fleet and Discontinue Paper RevisionsFORT WORTH, Texas American Airlines has completed the successful rollout of its industry-leading Electronic Flight Bag program with the discontinuation of paper revisions to terminal charts, making it the first major commercial airline to fully utilize tablets in all cockpits during all phases of flight. In April, American completed testing on its Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft and has secured FAA approval to use the Apple iPad on all of its current fleet types Boeing 777, 767, 757, 737 and MD-80.An Electronic Flight Bag, which replaces more than 35 pounds of paper-based reference material and manuals that pilots often carried in their carry-on kitbag, offers numerous benefits for American and its pilots."Our Electronic Flight Bag program has a significant positive environmental and cost-savings impact," said David Campbell, American's Vice President Safety and Operations Performance. "In fact, removing the kitbag from all of our planes saves a minimum of 400,000 gallons and $1.2 million of fuel annually based on current fuel prices. Additionally, each of the more than 8,000 iPads we have deployed to date replaces more than 3,000 pages of paper previously carried by every active pilot and instructor. Altogether, 24 million pages of paper documents have been eliminated."All American pilots now enjoy the benefits associated with replacing their heavy kitbags one of the airline's biggest sources of pilot injuries with a 1.35-pound iPad. The digital format also requires less time to update each of the six or more paper manuals found in each pilot's kitbag, as manual paper revisions take hours to complete every month, compared to the minutes it takes for electronic updates."Our focus on technological improvement throughout our operation has never been stronger as we continue to build the new American," said Patrick O'Keeffe, American's Vice President Airline Operations Technology. "As the first major commercial airline to successfully complete the Electronic Flight Bag transition across its fleet, we are proud to count this among our other successful programs that provide the tools our people need to perform their duties safely and efficiently."As part of the Electronic Flight Bag program, American's pilots use mobile software and data from Jeppesen, a unit of Boeing Digital Aviation. The FAA-approved Jeppesen Mobile Terminal Chart application is allowed for gate-to-gate use throughout all phases of flight and, with the exception of a few select documents, replaces paper operating manuals with up-to-date electronic information that is easier to access."We congratulate American Airlines on the success of its Electronic Flight Bag program," said Jeppesen President Thomas Wede. "Working closely together on this program over several years, we take pride in American's achievements as it continues to eliminate paper-based materials in the flight deck, reducing pilot workload and increasing operational efficiency in a competitive business environment."American and the Allied Pilots Association (APA) began working on the feasibility of using a tablet device as an Electronic Flight Bag in June 2010, and American was the first commercial airline to receive FAA approval to use a tablet during all phases of flight in December 2011 on its Boeing 777 fleet. American has worked closely with its pilots throughout all phases of development that led to the program's full integration.Beginning July 10, American Eagle Airlines pilots will have the option to use Apple iPads to access reference material and manuals, making American Eagle one of the first regional carriers to adopt Electronic Flight Bags.Google introduced the close to a year ago. It was an intriguing device with a standout design, but its high asking price and limited functionality meant it wasn't long before the Q was pulled from virtual shelves. A peculiar product and, perhaps, a cautionary tale, but the sphere was also interesting for another reason: it was . That credential is a rarity, and in the consumer technology business, almost an anomaly. It's fast becoming a lot more common, however, with some big players setting up a stateside manufacturing presence. Awareness of the potential advantages of doing so can only increase, and serve to debunk the myth that future technology can't be built on American soil.After with the idea, then committing to build a computer in the US, Apple chose its redesigned for assembly in the states. Lenovo has a up and running in North Carolina, and Google-owned Motorola will be putting together its next flagship, the Moto X, . Time will tell whether other companies will follow suit, and to what extent, but if the arguments in favor of US manufacturing hold up, we could see the trend sustained in the long term, leading to many more gadgets bearing a US birthmark. Motorola's new Fort Worth, Texas, facility for manufacturing the Moto X handset.In recent history, many companies wouldn't even think to establish a manufacturing base in the US. As Hal Sirkin, senior partner and managing director at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) explains, "They were just looking at where in China they would put it, as opposed to where in the world they would put it." Cheap labor, more favorable local regulations and tax incentives are just some of the reasons that companies moved operations or set up anew not only in China, but in other parts of Asia and South America as well. Times have definitely changed, however, and the US has, in some respects, become both a viable and sensible location for technology manufacturing. Some outfits have made it work before, of course, whether that's because it's made sense for their business, or because they pride themselves on being "Made in America."Companies are now investing in US facilities for a host of reasons, but unsurprisingly, numbers play a large part. "Wages in China have been rising by 15 or 20 percent per year since 2000," notes Sirkin, who leads reshoring (the return of business operations to US soil) research at BCG. Shipping costs are also a factor. It stands to reason: the farther a product has to travel from where it's made to where it's sold, the bigger the transport bill. There's also a price to pay that can't be measured, but can be summarized using the old cliche "time is money." Consumer technology evolves rapidly. In the smartphone world, for example, no sooner has one flagship device launched, than another hits the market to supersede it, whether that's due to a faster processor, a higher-resolution screen or a cutting-edge design. It's the reason handset makers end up cannibalizing their own products yearly. Even with higher-value products like computers, which have a comparatively long lifespan, new processor architectures and other hardware upgrades make what came before them less-attractive purchases.Every week that a gadget sits in a container crossing the Pacific is a week of competitive edge lost."Technology is, in essence, a perishable good," as Sirkin puts it. Every week that a gadget sits in a container crossing the Pacific is a week of competitive edge lost. Fresh hardware is desirable hardware, and in the consumer technology business, speed of delivery is paramount. While it's hard to put a number next to a dollar sign and quantify the impact of shipping limbo, it's no less of a factor for companies making manufacturing decisions. Combined with rising production costs overseas, "the logistics become more important in the equation," says Sirkin. We've reached a point where, economically speaking, it's become practical for some companies to build in the US and take advantage of a shorter supply chain from the factory to end users.Despite hailing from China, Lenovo is one of the most prominent tech companies of late to expand operations in the US. It added in-house manufacturing capabilities to its distribution center in North Carolina and started PC production in January. In June, its "grand opening" signaled that the facility had hit full working capacity, with production lines singing and 115 employees tending to them. As Jay Parker, president of Lenovo North America tells us, building computers in the US is part of the company's "global-local philosophy." With the Lenovo brand growing in the US, so too must investment in all parts of the business, and "manufacturing was really the next step." Although Parker admits labor rates are higher in the US compared with emerging markets, "that gap has closed over the years." Numbers out of China's National Bureau of Statistics show that manufacturing wages have risen by 71 percent since 2008. Chinese labor costs haven't increased enough to match the US yet, but it still made sense for Lenovo to begin assembling in the US, given the logistical savings and those all-important "competitive advantages."A shorter delivery time is one of those advantages, Parker states, but he also cites being able to customize orders "later in the purchase cycle," whether that be hardware-based, or other services like etching names / logos onto products. That a computer is made in the US presents other business opportunities, as well. "We have customers that either desire 'assembled in the US' products, or in some cases, require it," Parker adds, with the latter group a reference to various government sectors.Motorola's SVP of Supply Chain and Operations, Mark Randall, expressed similar motivations regarding his company's move to manufacture its Moto X flagship at a former Nokia plant in Texas. Again, the speed of delivery to American consumers was one of the drivers for Motorola. Interestingly, Randall was part of the Nokia team that originally set up the manufacturing base in Texas.Any time you have an international boundary between you and your consumer, there's risk," Randall says."Any time you have an international boundary between you and your consumer, there's risk," Randall says. "So, being able to ship product from our Texas facility and get it to our carrier partners, or even direct to our consumers, we believe is an efficient way of doing it."In addition, Randall mentioned product development is much easier when manufacturing is a local effort, saying, "Good things happen when you get the engineers and the ops guys working together." It means product iterations are accelerated, and being closer to customers in general improves the company's ability to judge demand and react to changing needs.Manufacturing hardware in the US brings with it some clear benefits, and these can now be realized as the cost calculations make for a good business case. Companies do, of course, get the added bonus of having a "Made in America" product, a title that's appealing to the US consumer when it pops up so infrequently. Whether that's one of the drivers of the manufacturing trend is inconclusive. Sirkin argues it's favorable, but not an agent of change, remarking, "They may get an image advantage because they are doing it, but I think they are making decisions based on the economics and what's right for their business." In Lenovo's case, we heard that it does afford the company more opportunities, and as Parker mentions, "we'll certainly communicate that wherever it's appropriate."Motorola's Randall was clear in stating, "There was no PR strategy in this decision." But he adds that Google backed Motorola's plan to build the Moto X in the US, and that the team is excited to be doing it in America and challenging the norm.Workers on the assembly line at Foxconn's factory in Shenzhen, China (STR/AFP/GettyImages).Ricardo Hausmann, professor of economics at the Harvard Kennedy School, thinks PR has played a part in companies deciding to assemble products in the US. He makes an interesting point about Apple's connection with Foxconn and the negative press both have received over labor practices at the latter company's Chinese factories. A Fair Labor Association report in 2012 led to an from Apple and Foxconn to adhere to legal codes governing the amount of time employees should work, as well addressing labor conditions at the factories and on-site dormitories. The report found some employees worked excessive amounts of overtime for questionable compensation, and some worked upwards of seven days straight without time off. Injuries and suicides at the plants have also damaged Apple's and Foxconn's reputations.China's been consistently lowering its rare-earth export quotas, which somewhat restricts the movement of manufacturing elsewhere. Coupled with issues of protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights, among other problems, Hausmann says Apple's decision to build the in the US is "also a message to the Chinese that if they play hardball, there are options." The American-made Mac was something Apple CEO Tim Cook was keen to draw attention to during his appearance at a Senate subcommittee hearing in May that looked at tax practices of multinational corporations, amid accusations of Apple's tax avoidance. In an effort to dispel the perception that the company is deliberately keeping cash outside the US, he mentioned the $100 million investment being made to build a Mac on American soil. Chad Moutray, chief economist at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), believes that with regard to image, "in many of these cases it looks good. There's certainly a lot of Americans who want us to make more in the US."They may not have the global presence of Apple, Lenovo or Motorola, but there are a lot of companies in the US that manufacture computers here on a small scale. Formed in 2000, began building high-performance workstations, servers and consumer PCs for enthusiasts, with a specific focus on near-silent computers. For Founder and President Jon Bach, keeping everything in-house is essential to Puget's "quality first, price second" model. Accountability is a big factor, with manufacturing, sales and support all under the same roof to benefit patrons. "The customer just wants something that we know intimately well," says Bach."There's way too many opportunities for corners to be cut when you're not in direct control," Bach says.That's not to say Puget didn't consider manufacturing elsewhere. "When you can buy a $200 chassis [in the US] for $35 [in China], yeah, you look very strongly at that," remarks Bach. Ultimately, having tasked a factory in China to make a chassis, the quality didn't meet Puget's standards despite several rounds of prototyping. "There's way too many opportunities for corners to be cut when you're not in direct control," Bach says.As a niche vendor, outsourcing wasn't viable due to the volume of imports required. The necessity of bulk orders sourced from China means it's harder to react to changes in consumer demand. With the rapidly evolving PC market, Bach says, "We have to keep that development cycle short.", a company formed in 2007 by Karel Felipe (founder and executive manager), is another US PC manufacturer building mid-range to higher-end rigs for a broader target market. For Felipe, manufacturing in the US wasn't the result of any cost-benefit analysis, but an ideological choice."Building everything here in the US is one of those things I really wanted to focus on, and I've been fortunate that we've been able to do that," Felipe says.At one point, an investor approached Felipe suggesting he grow the company by moving assembly to China. "I said no ... and of course that never happened. So that's one of my prouder moments," Felipe tells us. "As a result, we're smaller than we could be, but I'm much happier that way."Felipe feels it's important to source as many components in the US as possible, and work with American companies wherever possible. It's good for business too, he says, adding that being made in America is something that drives Lotus' computer sales. Consumers respond to his efforts, and he believes it's a competitive advantage. "People just want to buy domestic. It makes us feel good. It makes us feel like we're supporting our own country," Felipe says.Lenovo's new Whitsett, N.C., plantAs small companies have been making it work, so too, are large ones, and if other companies find similar value in moving manufacturing to the US in order to better serve local residents, then it would make sense for the trend to continue. Moutray imagines leaner processes and the reduced labor cost difference between America and emerging markets will see the US become more competitive in the future. "The long-term prognosis for manufacturing is very bullish," he says. Sirkin also suggests that the plays of Apple, Lenovo and Motorola will cause others to assess whether they are manufacturing in the right places. A conducted by BCG in 2012 reported that 37 percent of 106 US manufacturers with over $1 billion in sales polled were considering moving at least some production from China to the US. Of the companies with revenues of $10 billion or more, that figure increased to 48 percent.When asked whether the trend will continue, Parker candidly answers, "I hope not, because we believe it's an advantage for us right now." However, he follows up by saying, "To the extent that we're a pioneer in bringing technology manufacturing back to the US ... I hope that the trend continues." Parker also highlighted the value in bringing other parts of Lenovo's business to the US. The PC maker finished moving its customer support center for web and telesales from Bangalore, India, to North Carolina in mid-May, which resulted in a 25 percent increase in satisfaction ratings, Parker tells us. This is something the smaller PC companies that manufacture in the US were vocal about -- keeping everything local to improve overall "customer experience."Not everyone is convinced US manufacturing is making a comeback, mainly due to the lack of hard numbers to support the notion.Motorola's Randall agrees that we'll see more companies follow suit and establish manufacturing bases in the US. As an aside to more favorable labor rates, he says simply that outfits "wanna be in the markets where they sell their products." Randall is also of the camp that believes as more companies move back, a local supply chain for components will develop. Several companies like Intel, Corning and Samsung already have some manufacturing plants in the US, but these components are often exported for the assembly phase.It's unlikely we'll ever see a complex technology product for the mass market that's truly "Made in America" -- the correct term is "assembled," as the vast number of components that are required to make a computer or similarly intricate hardware are sourced from all over the world, in most cases. Sirkin notes that because of this, manufacturing a product in any one country, the US or otherwise, is difficult.One opinion holds that increased component manufacturing is a natural progression. Device manufacturers begin moving back to the US, which creates a greater need for locally sourced components to further reduce logistical costs for all involved. Others suggest the component supply chain is too global, and that won't change. Parker doesn't believe that worldwide component sourcing will change over time, and notes logistical costs have more of an impact on whole products than components. Hausmann also doesn't foresee a "reversal of globalization of the supply chain."Not everyone is convinced US manufacturing is making a comeback, mainly due to the lack of hard numbers to support the notion. Talking to , Alan Tonelson of the US Business and Industry Council said, "Virtually no national- or global-level data show that American manufacturing is even continuing its recovery from recession, much less stealing the march on Chinese and other foreign rivals." (He was speaking on US manufacturing in general, rather than commenting on the technology sector specifically.)If companies increase investment in the US, there's also a chance China could do something to react. cites various experts that claim the Chinese government could address the shrinking labor cost gap through subsidies and other policies. Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, is quoted as saying, "I don't think you want to underestimate the willingness of China to protect its manufacturing."It's too early to say definitively that companies will rush to install or reshore manufacturing bases in the US. There seem to be benefits in doing it, but there are also challenges. Obviously, companies need the spare cash to invest in facilities in the US to begin with. Beyond that, Moutray mentions that for many manufacturers, US regulations, strict environmental and labor standards, as well as tax and tort laws can be a burden.It's too early to say definitively that companies will rush to install or reshore manufacturing bases in the US.Motorola's Randall anticipates "managing the second-tier suppliers when they're not localized" to be a challenge, and also found an issue with hiring skilled labor for the plant in Texas. Flextronics, the company managing the Moto X plant, has had to bring experts in from overseas to fill those gaps. In agreement with Randall's experience, a commissioned by The Manufacturing Institute found 83 percent of the 1,100 US manufacturing companies polled thought there were moderate or severe shortages in the availability of skilled production labor. Furthermore, nearly 75 percent said shortages were having an impact on their ability to produce and grow.Randall doesn't expect a rapid resolution of the skills gap, and added that partnerships with educational institutions will be necessary to nurture local talent moving forward. The Obama administration also sees collaboration with businesses and communities as important for growing a skilled manufacturing labor pool. Tax reform, tax relief, easier access to loans and other financial incentives are also ways in which the president is attempting to drive growth in US manufacturing.Lenovo admits that getting any new facility operational is a challenge, although ramping up production in North Carolina went smoothly. In contrast to Motorola's problems finding the right people, Parker says, "We were able to hire very high-quality talent very quickly. Much quicker than we thought we were going to be able to."Whatever the challenges may be, more favorable economic factors, the pace of the industry and the perceived value of being near consumers has led some companies to bring manufacturing back to the US. If they are realizing the benefits, others may well end up following suit, or could face losing out if they don't. The Nexus Q wasn't exactly a poster child for US manufacturing, as it shows that being made in America doesn't necessarily equal a better product. However, the competitive advantages expected from either expanding to the US or reshoring could aid the consumer. Smaller companies have said they've experienced this already by being able to react faster to changes in demand, ship devices quicker, accelerate product development and ultimately, better understand their target market. Larger outfits cite some of these as reasons for investing in US manufacturing also. Therefore, if the trend continues, we might not only see the US as a whole prospering from local manufacturing, but also see quicker access to better products as a result.It sounds like the future. Whirring electric skateboards, the joyous chatter of children in a distant playground and an unusual absence of petrol-powered machinery. It looks like the future, too. Glistening lakes dotting the background, lawns so lush they're mistaken for artwork and an unmistakable reflection from a vast solar farm that doubles as a beacon of unending hope.The reality, however, is starkly different. The depictions here are mere conceptualizations, and the chore of concocting the most Jetsonized habitat this side of Orbit City is daunting in every sense of the word. In 2006, one of the most ambitious community plans in all of Florida rolled into action, with owner Syd Kitson hoping to nearly triple the population of Babcock Ranch by providing some 19,000 homes, a smattering of schools and plenty of retail job opportunities. In essence, he was looking to manufacture an entire city. Three years later, Kitson & Partners in cooperation with Florida Power & Light to construct the world's largest photovoltaic power station. It would be a facility so enormous it could power homes, schools and scores of businesses across some 17,000 acres of abutting land. The goal was brazenly simple: to not only create "the smartest city," but also the "world's most sustainable city."Kitson, chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners, publicly dubbed Babcock Ranch "Southwest Florida's City of Tomorrow." But after watching Florida's real estate market collapse and our nation's infatuation with sustainability take a backseat to just getting out of debt, these grand plans have been indefinitely postponed.A sunny startThe ambitions are huge -- to build a city where only a few people presently reside.Nearly three years to the day after the aforesaid trumpet was blown -- and some eight years after Kitson & Partners initially drafted plans for the community -- I blazed a trail to Babcock Ranch's headquarters. It's situated in a quiet region of Punta Gorda that few outside of the Southeast would even associate with a state that markets little other than its powdery white edges.As the name implies, the destination is actually a working ranch. While I'd been warned that no development had yet taken place, I'd still dreamt up something a little more modern than a renovated 1920s-era barn -- a barn that I had a tough time believing was truly the property's office. Dodging a dusty pickup and a smattering of cattle that seemed unaware of modern traffic urbanities, I took a moment to enjoy the 89-degree heat and the piercing rays delivering it. For miles in either direction, I saw little but swampland, dense forest and plenty of bovines. I drove down a single-lane entrance that ran 2.5 miles. And, most frighteningly, I whisked past a sign that I was certain had advised me to enter at my own peril. It wasn't until Steve Smith greeted me with an outstretched hand that I was sure I'd been led to the right locale. "Welcome to the ranch," he said.Don't worry; the natives aren't going to be pushed out if the community comes together.Smith, general manager and vice president of Babcock Ranch, did little to mask his true self. With denim jeans, a well-worn polo and a gentle drawl in his voice, he began to map out his vision of the ranch. "It means different things to different people," he noted, making reference to the unprecedented public-private partnership that Kitson & Partners struck with the state of Florida in 2005. Essentially, K&P agreed to facilitate the transfer of some 74,000 acres of Florida's interior back to the state for the sole purpose of preservation, while keeping around 18,000 available for use as a planned community. "Community," however, is apt to be viewed as an oversimplification. What's happening here is the foundation of an entire village -- a destination that would include housing, schools and industry. Smith gestured to various colored squares on the latest version of the Babcock Ranch map -- a sheet he affectionately called "the cartoon" -- detailing proposed placements of everything from golf courses to a Field Research Site operated by Florida Gulf Coast University. Just down the road, Babcock Wilderness Adventures plans to expand its tourism initiative, further driving interest from outside visitors."It'll be like any town that started out as a cross in the road, and part of our mission is to create a place where people want to work, and want to live," Smith said. Along the northern border of the community sits a 443-acre plot of fallow land, labeled "Solar Field," highlighted on "the cartoon" in blue to differentiate it from the Eco-Lodge to its immediate right and the turf fields below. That sole plot made this planned development different from any other the world has seen to date. Not only was it reserved for a monolithic array of solar panels designed to power an entire city, but it was also for something that proved an ethos. Kitson has been exceptionally bold about what he hopes Babcock Ranch will become: "A new city where innovation will abound -- with planned state-of-the-art infrastructure to assure businesses and residents have full access to emerging technologies for communications, energy, education and transportation." It's a message that seems seared into Smith's mind, but I got the sense it was a far more pragmatic message in the past than it is today.The cost of cleanSteve Smith explaining where a proposed groundbreaking would occur.For three years now, K&P (along with Florida Power & Light) has lobbied local lawmakers to approve the necessary price hikes that would enable a massive capital expenditure to occur. An expenditure that would lead to the outlay of hundreds of thousands of solar panels across an otherwise nondescript tract of land in one of the sunniest spots on Earth. Even when pressed, Smith wouldn't confirm the estimated cost of the 75-megawatt solar array. To give you an idea, the Tinton Falls Solar Farm in New Jersey employs some 85,000 ground-mounted solar panels across 100 acres of land. It cost $80 million to build. Closer to home, a 74-megawatt solar array was planned in 2010 to power some 12,000 homes across Walton County in Florida's panhandle; the $300 million price tag is still waiting to be paid.Smith confessed that Florida Power & Light, a subsidiary of publicly traded NextEra Energy, would only need to charge each of its customers "pennies" extra per month in order to get the field going, but regulators have been adamantly opposed to increasing rates on a population that's irked by rising unemployment and sinking wages. In fact, the renewable-energy bill that includes the stipulation necessary to kick-start construction has yet to be placed back on the docket for 2013. So, what's a futuristic solar city to do without its solar grid? The same thing every other non-solar city does: turn to coal, oil and gas while it still can.Limestone mining (in part) keeps the ranch profitable while development waits."As of now, we're hoping to be shovel-ready by early 2014," Smith uttered. "If we can't get the necessary approvals for the solar array by then, we'll use conventional energy until we can have it added."You see, K&P has been sitting on a huge swath of land for nearly a decade -- land that could be generating a profit as a full-fledged community. As Smith explained, it wasn't sold at a steep loss or simply walked away from during the crash of 2008 due solely to a trio of revenue-generating operations that its new owners were fortunate enough to acquire. Babcock Ranch -- even in its present, undeveloped state -- is bringing in enough cash to pay the bills. Between selling cattle for human consumption, raising turf for homes, parks and golf courses and mining limestone for use in highway construction, there's enough inflow to keep the grander dreams alive.But it's no longer a critical part of the community. Smith confirmed that the recession "absolutely" impacted the initial concepts, and while the latest drawings haven't nixed the solar field, it's clear from our discussions that this city is happening with or without its token feature. The land's owners have waited for what feels like an eternity to break ground, and as Wall Street celebrates new highs and average home prices begin to rise, K&P senses that the market may finally be ready to accept a new town.Shadows over solarToday: farmland. Tomorrow: An eco-minded community of the future.One has to wonder, though: will the self-proclaimed City of Tomorrow ever see the dawning of a new day? As Smith sees it, K&P needs "the ideal political climate" in order to breathe life into a near-mythical 75-megawatt solar array. For a nation that's struggling to deal with some $17 trillion in debt, spending on proactive energy solutions is tough to justify. "It's honestly up in the air," Smith said with a hopeful tone. It's the same tone used when mentioning "next year" in the same sentence as "breaking ground," which -- at this stage -- is still far from certain. Crafting a new development in the current economy is no small task, but building a new town based around renewable energy is another challenge entirely. As Smith so aptly put it, "You've got to pay a lot to enjoy unlimited free energy." As it turns out, it seems that even the Sunshine State isn't quite ready to agree to pony up.Presently, Florida has refused to join states like California and North Carolina in mandating that its utility companies provide at least a small portion of power through clean sources by a predetermined date. Lawmakers squashed former Governor Charlie Crist's 20 by 2020 plan, which would have "required Florida power companies to produce 20 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020." It's almost impossible to believe. With an abundance of sunlight, near-endless water sources and plenty of coastal wind, one has to wonder why Florida isn't champing at the bit to be a pioneer in the green-energy transition. Nancy Argenziano, former chairwoman of the Florida Public Service Commission, sees the answer as fairly cut and dry: "Money is stopping it. It has nothing to do with what is better for the country or the state."California, New Jersey and even Colorado have long eclipsed Florida in terms of total megawatt production from solar harvesting, and regrettably, it doesn't appear that the situation is poised to change anytime soon. Despite the opening of the 25-megawatt, $150 million DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center -- a facility that even President Barack Obama flew down to see open in 2009 -- Florida's solar hopes have dimmed significantly since. The aforesaid plant produces enough clean energy to power 3,000 homes out of Florida Power & Light's 4.5 million customers, but given that solar costs around 70 percent more than coal and gas, the math has weighed heavily on planned projects.Babcock Ranch has the opportunity to shed a different kind of light on the ongoing battle to spend money we don't have on preserving a world that is in no way guaranteed to last. The public-private partnership proves that there is a desire to develop new cities in a sustainable way, but it also magnifies the red tape involved in making the associated parties agree to terms. Should groundbreaking begin with no clear ETA on the construction of a solar field, green advocates will no doubt be disappointed; but in the likely event that it plays out precisely as such, Smith is still hopeful that clean energy will electrify the ranch in time. Whether any other developer will try to replicate such a herculean chore, however, is altogether more doubtful.AMPED WIRELESS UNVEILS THE INDUSTRY'S FIRST LONG RANGE 802.11AC BASED WI-FI PRODUCTS New Line-Up of Amped Wireless Products Combines Award Winning High Power Technology with the Ultra-Fast Wireless Speeds of 802.11AC to Deliver Up to 10,000 sq ft of Gigabit Wi-Fi Coverage Chino, CA December 17th, 2012 Amped Wireless, the leading manufacturer of high power, long range wireless communication products for the home and office, today unveiled its family of next generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi products. The upcoming 802.11ac wireless standard is the world's fastest Wi-Fi, providing gigabit Wi-Fi speeds allowing for web content to download faster, high quality media content to synch more quickly and transfer to multiple sources at once with ease. "By combining our award winning high power technology with the horsepower of 802.11ac, we are able to provide faster speeds at greater distances than standard 802.11ac products. This means faster streaming, downloading and web browsing with your tablet, laptop or smartphone throughout your entire home, backyard or office," said Jason Owen, CEO of Amped Wireless. "With 802.11ac standard ratifying in 2013, consumers can have a more dynamic wireless network, an Amped Wireless 802.11ac based-network will deliver top of the line performance with up to three times the speed and range of past solutions." RTA15 High Power Dual Band AC 700mW Wi-Fi Router To maximize performance, the High Power AC Router features three high gain, dual band antennas and ten total power amplifiers: Four 5.0GHz 700mW, 2-Stage amplifiers, two 2.4GHz amplifiers and four advanced low noise amplifiers. It also includes a USB port for file sharing and five gigabit wired ports for connecting to a broadband network and attaching additional wired devices. The RTA15 includes an updated user interface, premium software features such as, guest networks, adjustable Wi-Fi coverage controls, parental security and support for the latest Wi-Fi security to secure your Wi-Fi experience. REA20 High Power Dual Band AC 700mW Wi-Fi Range Extender The High Power AC Range Extender is universal and extends the range of any 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi network simultaneously. To maximize performance it features three high gain antennas and ten total power amplifiers: Four 5.0GHz 700mW, 2-Stage amplifiers, two 2.4GHz amplifiers and four advanced low noise amplifiers. It also includes a USB port for file sharing and five gigabit wired ports for connecting additional wired devices. The RTA20 includes an improved user interface for enhanced management and simple installation. It includes a rich offering of security and advanced features. ACA1 High Power Dual Band AC Wi-Fi USB Adapter The High Power AC Wi-Fi Adapter adds long range 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity to Windows or Mac Ultrabooks, laptops and desktops. It features two high gain, dual band antennas and four total amplifiers to maximize performance. The ACA1 is dual band and is backwards compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n networks. It connects using USB 3.0 to take full advantage of 802.11ac's gigabit data transfer speeds. The Amped Wireless Difference: High Power Technology Amped Wireless products feature advanced Wi-Fi amplifiers to boost wireless performance. Standard Wi-Fi devices have a wireless output power of 50mW, while Amped Wireless products boasts 2.4GHz and/or 5.0GHz amplifiers with up to 1000mW of output power. The boosted performance is optimally tuned with high gain dual band antennas for maximum range and performance. (Typical Wi-Fi devices do not utilize wireless amplifiers and are equipped with antennas that have zero antenna gain.) Availability The RTA15, REA20 and ACA1 will be available early 2013. Includes Wi-Fi Analytics Tool Apps: Advanced software application for Android and Windows devices that assists in analyzing and optimizing Wi-Fi networks for maximum speed and coverage.Amped Wireless Introduces the First Long-Range 802.11ac RouterRTA15 High Power AC Wi-Fi Router delivers industry leading power and Wi-Fi rangeCHINO, CA July 8th, 2013 - The new 802.11ac standard has evolved Wi-Fi technology to allow multiple users the ability to download and stream HD or 4K media to different devices simultaneously on the same Wi-Fi network. Amped Wireless, the leading manufacturer of award-winning high power, long-range wireless communication products for the home and office, announced today it is now shipping the industry's first long-range 802.11ac router, the RTA15.A high power 700mW dual band, 802.11ac Wi-Fi router, the RTA15 features three high gain, 5dBi antennas and ten total power amplifiers, the most ever used in an Amped Wireless Wi-Fi product. The amplifiers include two 2.4GHz 700mW amplifiers, four 5.0GHz 700mW, 2-Stage amplifiers, and four advanced, low noise amplifiers. The cutting-edge technology packed into the RTA15 gives it the ability to stream high-quality media at faster speeds to multiple devices at once, with ease.The RTA15 includes a USB port for file sharing and five gigabit wired ports for connecting to a broadband network and attaching additional wired devices. The RTA15 includes an updated user interface, premium software features such as guest networks, adjustable Wi-Fi coverage controls, parental security and support for IPv6 Internet connections.The RTA15 802.11ac router delivers industry leading output power and Wi-Fi coverage. As a result, the RTA15 provides up to three times greater coverage than standard 802.11ac routers."By combining our award winning high power technology with the horsepower of 802.11ac, we are able to provide fastest speeds at the greatest distances. This means faster streaming, downloading and web browsing with your Mac or PC laptop or desktop throughout your entire home, backyard or office," said Jason Owen, CEO of Amped Wireless. "With 802.11ac standard ratifying in 2013, consumers can have a more dynamic wireless network, an Amped Wireless 802.11ac based-network will deliver industry leading coverage with up to three times the speed and range of past solutions."All Amped Wireless products include Wi-Fi Analytic Tool Apps that provide advanced software application for Android and Windows devices in order to assist in analyzing and optimizing Wi-Fi networks for maximum speed and coverage. All Amped Wireless products are backed by industry leading, US based, in-house technical support provided by Amped Concierges.The RTA15 has a retail price of $189.99 and is available for pre-order from the Amped Wireless store and will ship to customers July 15th. It will be available at major brick & mortar retailers and online retailers in mid to late July. For more information and purchasing, visit: www.ampedwireless.com/products/rta15.htmlProduct Video Spotlight: http://www.ampedwireless.com/products/rta15.html#product_videosAbout Amped WirelessAmped Wireless' mission is to develop the highest quality, long-range wireless products through experience, passion, innovation and advanced technology that exceed customers' needs and expectations. Amped Wireless specializes in providing long-range wireless consumer and business communication products for the home and office. For more information on Amped Wireless, The Leader in High Power Wireless Networking, please visit the Amped Wireless website at www.ampedwireless.com.Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Team Publishes First Findings Until the launch of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) experiment in 2011, scientists had compiled a mere anthill of information about the kinds of charged particles, or cosmic rays, that shoot around the universe. Two short years later, they have amassed an Everest-sized mountain of such information. Using the power and data transmission capabilities of the International Space Station, AMS is circling Earth and sifting through matter, antimatter and other particles that are yet to be confirmed, 365 days a year. Scientists now are beginning to sift through that mountain of data and figure out how it may change our concept of the cosmos. Astronomical evidence currently indicates that the universe is made of matter; however, the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe requires equal amounts of matter and antimatter. There also is a significant difference between what physicists believe should be the total amount of mass in the universe and what they have observed so far. Whether or not there is a significant antimatter, or another kind of matter called "dark matter," is one of the fundamental questions of the origin and nature of the universe that AMS may be able to help answer. AMS collects its data by recording the number of particles that pass through its collectors; details on the kinds of particles passing through, such as protons and electrons; physical information such as particle charge, mass and velocity; and information on which direction they came from so that scientists can attempt to track down their source. Each one of these pieces of data is called a particle event. Since its activation on May 19, 2011, AMS has collected detailed information on more than 31 billion particle events and downlinked this data for analysis by AMS collaboration scientists on Earth. In its first six months of operation on the station, AMS had accumulated more data on charged cosmic rays than had been previously collected in the history of human physics studies. And AMS continues to gather data on about 1.4 billion particle events every month. To do this, the 15,251-pound AMS and its eight primary science instrument systems use 300,000 data channels. The instruments are similar to those used in particle accelerators on Earth such as the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) outside of Geneva, Switzerland. The primary difference between the terrestrial-based instruments and AMS is that AMS' science instrument systems were miniaturized and ruggedized for launch on the space shuttle and operation on the space station. AMS is operated from the ground by two full shifts and one partial shift at the AMS Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) at CERN. The daily partial shift is run from the AMS Asia POCC at the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in Taiwan. AMS data are downlinked using the space station's high-rate data system, the same one that is used to transmit television of astronauts living and working on the station. The data are sent from the orbiting outpost to NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, which relay it to the satellite reception dishes at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. From there, the data go to NASA's Payload Operations Integration Center at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and then on to the AMS Payload Operations Control Center in Switzerland. The space station's solar arrays generate the electricity used by AMS, and they provide up to 1,780 watts of continuous power. That's a little more electricity than an average household on Earth uses continuously when averaged over time. The AMS project began in 1994, when Professor Samuel Ting, a Nobel laureate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was considering a new high-energy physics experiment. The concept of an international space station had just been announced in 1993, and Ting and his collaborators saw an opportunity for groundbreaking science in space. This group of particle physicists, called The Antimatter Study Group, published the concept for "An Antimatter Spectrometer in Space." The United States Department of Energy agreed to sponsor the project; NASA agreed to put it in space and the AMS team grew. To prove the concept, an early version of AMS spent 10 days in space aboard space shuttle Discovery in 1998. The experiment ran for 103 hours and collected data for nearly 100 million cosmic rays. The data gathered provided the first accurate measurement of the composition of primary cosmic rays. From that experiment, seven scientific papers were published. Work on the current version of the AMS began in 1998. It shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in August 2010. Space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 crew carried it into orbit in May 2011, where it was installed on the station's truss structure. It has been measuring particles ever since. AMS is composed of a magnet and eight detectors that provide the scientists on the ground with information about the particles that travel through the magnet. All of the information is collected in the fraction of a second it takes a particle to travel through AMS. Led by Principle Investigator and Spokesperson Samuel Ting of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the AMS team includes some 600 physicists from 56 institutions in 16 countries from Europe, North America and Asia. The various participants built their particular contributions, which were all integrated when the AMS was built at CERN. During the STS-134 mission, and for the first several months afterward, about 40 members of the AMS team monitored the experiment and analyzed the data it sent down from the Payload Operations Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. In July 2011, AMS operations moved back to CERN, where the AMS team continues monitoring and controlling the experiment 24 hours a day, with the capability to gather data for as long as the space station is in orbit. For more information about the AMS experiment and collaboration visit: http://www.ams02.org/You might think it should have happened sooner. This week, Microsoft it would decommission its MSN TV (formerly WebTV) service. Even I didn't think it would last this long, and I was WebTV's greatest advocate back in the day. In fact, I was its official evangelist, hired by founder Steve Perlman and his company's PR agency as WebTV's national media spokesperson for a period leading up to and including the product launch.In 1996, WebTV was tech's hottest startup, considered a blazing harbinger of the future, all for pretty good reasons. WebTV was primarily an internet popularization play during an era of widespread uncertainty about computers in the home and the value of being online. If tablets and smartphones represent a Steve Jobs-ordained post-PC era, WebTV can be seen in retrospect as a pre-PC computing category. In my view, it isn't modern web-connected TVs that finally killed WebTV (MSN TV) -- it's the mobile revolution that did it. It's easy for the tech community to forget what digital life is like for mainstream users who don't have particular interest in gadgets, operating systems, product variations and the most basic underpinnings of their digital experiences. Many people what a browser is. And why should they? Before computers, consumer technology was transparent. There wasn't much of a learning curve to operate a telephone or television. That, in a nutshell, was the rationale of WebTV.In discussions with Perlman in the summer of 1996, we hammered out talking points for the upcoming media push. Perlman emphasized over and over the ease of WebTV. It took the internet off a multi-function platform and put it on a single-function device (the TV) that everyone knew how to use.Anyone who has assisted senior citizens with computers understands the viability of WebTV's premise (of course, I am generalizing about seniors' adeptness with computers). Over many years I have observed one insistent tendency in people who have difficulty operating computers. Even those who become adroit in certain uses do so by memorizing a vertical instruction set, rather than understanding the platform horizontally. My mother, a children's book author, adopted computers in the 1980s, recognizing the clear advantage of word processing. She knew the DOS commands she needed to produce a manuscript. Later, she had much more difficulty with Windows because of its horizontal, multitasking interface. She stuck with DOS for writing, and finally learned how to look at her investment portfolio in the Windows environment. That Windows computer became a Yahoo! Finance machine -- nothing else. Through meticulous effort, she learned the vertical task of checking the portfolio. (Hi, Mom.)Perlman developed WebTV when the web was just emerging. Recognition was growing, but online citizens were a population of early adopters. I was at CompuServe during that time, and we were startled to learn that some of our users had bought a computer for the sole purpose of accessing the internet. That was eye-opening, breakthrough consumer behavior. The online experience was starting to drive computer adoption, but nobody knew how deeply into the market that phenomenon would penetrate.Email was the killer app.Email was the killer app. Perlman assumed a market of people would purchase email access for the home, but would not buy a bewildering and expensive computer to get it. Email, not being a design-specific product, was easy to deliver in an alternate format. It worked pretty well on WebTV. Web pages were much more difficult, even in those early-HTML days.To solve the display issues, Perlman developed page-coding standards that reformatted web pages for the size and aspect ratio of small tube sets. Part of the business plan involved motivating web publishers to create WebTV-formatted versions of their sites, just as today's publishers create mobile-optimized versions. (The clueful ones do; amazingly, many still provide a wretched mobile experience in 2013.) It was a walled-garden dream of developing a WebTV version of the internet, just as AOL was doing at around the same time, and as Netscape attempted with its proprietary browser extensions. There was some uptake on the part of publishers, but most sites in the exponentially expanding web simply allowed WebTV to reformat their pages for better or worse. Sites were often ugly through the WebTV lens, and sometimes unusable.A pre-production prototype of WebTV, built in 1996.The media tour began, and I spent several weeks on both coasts evangelizing the upcoming product on TV, on radio and in print. There was intense demand for interview time. That was why Perlman had to hand off the media speaking in the first place -- he couldn't handle the media requests and run his business. Handling interview questions from a wide spectrum of outlets, from tech publications to homemaking magazines, revealed a couple of repeating themes. Naturally, I fielded inquiries about product features and how to operate the thing. Print interviews were staged in hotel suites with WebTV set up and connected through its telephone modem for live demos.But the main evangelizing came up around the question, "Why do people need the internet?" WebTV's launch was wedged into a historical moment when web discovery, doubt and confusion were battling in the public imagination. The solution provided an easy on-ramp piggybacked to a device everyone owned and understood. The media coverage was mostly fair, even when not exactly enthused, but off the record I often got a vibe from interviewers which, had they expressed it, would have been, "This thing is dead before it hits the street." And that sentiment was more about the internet than about WebTV delivery.Mobile devices -- that's the real hammer to WebTV, I think.Launch plans were ambitious. The original concept included wiring an entire town -- Webb, Miss. -- with WebTV, and flipping the switch in a televised outdoor ceremony at which I would pound the pulpit. To my acute disappointment, that plan was canceled, purportedly because the town's infrastructure couldn't handle the bandwidth load. But a fairly dazzling bit of staging did take place, when spotlight trucks rolled through New York on launch night, brilliantly displaying a giant WebTV logo on the sides of skyscrapers.Assessing the demise of WebTV is probably unnecessary -- every proposed reason for Microsoft's decision has some truth. Computers have become household appliances. (Though still not easy or desirable for many people.) The long-sought internet / TV convergence is happening in new ways, most of them specialized to deliver TV-like content (not email). Mobile devices -- that's the real hammer to WebTV, I think. When the iPad was introduced, and was voraciously by seniors, the tablet paradigm provided a new on-ramp to an internet experience. Touching an app icon is a vertical action, not unlike changing channels on a TV.WebTV never scaled into the market as hoped, but its users were a loyal, dedicated, WebTV-loving lot. I wrote three editions of WebTV For Dummies. During the five-year life of that book, I received countless emails, every one of them typed on a TV, begging for new editions and updated information. That book sold outrageously well for a title that was launched into a population of about a million units -- a tiny market for a book.Farewell, WebTV, which I never adjusted to calling MSN TV. You were an interesting, exciting startup at a crossroad of the internet's evolution.One doesn't have to look far to on just about any company. , in particular, has been on the wrong end of many examples of customer service gone horribly wrong. After lambasting the payments outfit once more following a gaffe I discovered while Infinitec co-founder Ahmad Zahran, I did something I rarely do: I reached out to the company's president on Twitter. A few hours later, the 39-year old David Marcus . At the time, I was floored to get anything more than a passing sigh, but after visiting his new home - a nondescript office at PayPal's headquarters in San Jose, Calif. - I learned that my experience wasn't a unique one. Marcus, a tall, handsome chap who was into eBay after a $240 million acquisition of mobile-payments provider Zong, was bestowed with the herculean task of running PayPal not long after departed for Yahoo. Upon walking up to his office, it becomes immediately clear that he's aware of it -- his room is labeled "GSD," which the clever among us would recognize as "Get Sh*t Done." Outside of a few tall windows, there's little more here than a desk, a striking and a personal coffee machine -- seemingly, the bare essentials needed to achieve the three-lettered goal he sees each time he enters. Under Thompson's guidance, PayPal had grown at a rate seen by only a handful of other companies in the world, notching double-digit profit increases like clockwork. As it turns out, Thompson had little choice but to focus almost entirely on risk management and investor relations during his tenure - with millions in transactions pouring in by the hour, and new nations and currencies being added by the month - it simply had to be all about the numbers. Now, PayPal finds itself thrust into a new era. It's an era led by a startup junkie, tasked with getting a 13,000-plus-member team to buy into an entirely new culture. It's a culture that realizes how sensitive consumers are to financial taboos, how vital it is to iterate before rivals can even plan and how irreparably damaged PayPal's brand could become if customer service isn't a top priority as it soldiers into the world of offline payments. To protect... As I sit down with Marcus, our discussion begins with his journey into the world of PayPal. "I didn't realize it was this big," he confesses, speaking candidly about the sheer size of the 14-year-old company he's now shepherding. He's coming from a startup, fully aware that it's going to take more than a miracle to redirect the things that he sees as misguided. Though young by presidential standards, he fits the mold - he's spent the better part of his career obsessing over the finer details in payment processing, and how to make the procedure "as frictionless as possible." And indeed, there was - and in many ways, still is - a lot of friction at PayPal. Friction, as Marcus points out, that is incredibly challenging to address. While PayPal isn't "" in the traditional sense, he makes clear that his company deals with regulators in every US state and nearly 200 countries worldwide. No matter how you slice it, there's an overwhelming amount of red tape involved in handling millions of dollars in transactions per minute, and doing so "at scale" is something that fascinated Marcus from the outset. Personally, the only word I can find to describe it is "daunting." That said, it's a bed that PayPal chose to lie in. No one forced the growth upon it, and it's certainly not enacting those per-transaction fees as a matter of social charity. Marcus knows why I made the journey, and he listens intently as I describe a recent situation where his service made me, frankly, feel like a criminal. A few weeks back, I randomly received an email from PayPal informing me, in the most robotic and sterile way possible, that I would need to jump through a series of hoops in order to reconfirm my address and identity. I hadn't had a PayPal transaction in months, and I last moved a year ago. There was precisely nothing suspicious about my recent PayPal activity - unless you consider doing nothing for a few months suspicious. Marcus' head dips a bit, and his lips clinch ever so slightly. "The culture needs to be one where there's a presumption of innocence to start with, instead of guilty until proven innocent." "I had the same experience, and I was not happy," he said. "The messaging was so obscure that I didn't understand why in the world I had to do it. We really are always on the side of the customer - we just do an awful job at telling them, and explaining the circumstances of what's happening." He continues to explain the background. "The reason it happened is that there was a change in regulations that forced us. It was an anti-money laundering change, where [we had to provide] proof of residence that was less than a year old. That being said, we were more of a project / program-oriented company before, instead of being a product-oriented company. What used to happen is this: you've got a compliance team that sees this new regulation that we have to abide by, and then they write the product requirements to comply. And there wasn't a product manager in there to oversee the end-to-end experience. Now, however, we have that person embedded in the process. He or she would look at the best way to comply with the least amount of friction as possible." It all boils down to protection. Risk management is quite clearly not just a focus here, it's a necessity. My best guess is that managing and mitigating risk was the primary focus of the Thompson-led PayPal, and while Marcus is certainly concerned with keeping the guard up where necessary, he recognizes that there are better ways to communicate what's happening, why it's happening and how PayPal is there to make life easier. "The culture needs to be one where there's a presumption of innocence to start with, instead of guilty until proven innocent," he says. "And we're doing that ... massively." That's a big promise, and it's perhaps the most meaningful one that Marcus makes during our visit. I point out that PayPal's communications have been ambiguous at best, and nonexistent at worst, and it's a message heard loud and clear. Mercifully. .... And serve "When you have 6,000 people sitting in call centers all around the world trying to help our customers, it comes at a huge cost. But, there are better ways to manage cost than to just look at handle time. If you fix your core product experience, you have less calls, and you can spend more time helping customers. You can't just flip that switch overnight - it's a journey - but we're working really hard and fast to do that." You read that right - nearly half of PayPal's entire payroll works solely to field complaints, fix issues and offer resolutions in some seriously hairy situations. I offer up a suggestion that PayPal's guarded nature must have been born from being torched one too many times by digital launderers and professional fraudsters, and while PayPal's loss rate is almost unfathomably low by industry standards (less than 0.3 percent), Marcus confirms that it's a daily battle with the dark side. "There are horror stories - it's just mind-numbing," he said. "We've been burned in so many cases, and seen so many horrible things." "You can't just flip that switch overnight - it's a journey - but we're working really hard and fast to do that." "I'm sure," I reply, but what's become crystal clear to me is just how unsympathetic the outside world has been to this particular woe. I actually make a point to recommend that PayPal make a concerted effort to add transparency to the amount of fraud it's facing - perhaps even detailing a few hilariously depressing stories somewhere on its website - to give its user base a taste of why it can't just assume everyone is a saint. Still, Marcus adds that outrageously long and unwarranted account holds - known more commonly as "frozen accounts" - cannot continue at the same clip. He adds that this particular issue is atop his priority list, and the company is actively changing algorithms and engaging with frequent customers in order to establish a greater level of trust. "You can mess up a lot of things in people's lives, but the minute you touch their money, they're not happy about that, and they shouldn't be," he says. The next frontier Throughout my day at PayPal's headquarters, I'm ushered into a couple of fairly intriguing places. The first is a Product Showcase area, where the company builds mock stores and situations in order to demonstrate how PayPal's forthcoming retail payment solutions will work in earnest. "It's a story that's harder to tell without someone seeing it," I'm told, and looking back, I'm inclined to agree. You see, PayPal is about to embark on what I'd wager is its most risky endeavor ever as a company. No, it's not about expanding to nations where the moods of its leaders are less stable than the currency, it's about becoming an unmistakable payment option in more than . Starting in April of next year, PayPal is going to allow its users to pay for goods everywhere you see a "Discover Network" sign. And in an era where mobile payment adoption is lagging due to incompatible partnerships, hit-and-miss terminal installations and a general miseducation of what it offers, PayPal's aiming for an alternative that hits the only mark that matters: ubiquity. The deal makes use of the same VeriFone hardware network that exists today, enabling those with a identity card to just swipe, input their PIN and walk away. Or, for those who don't want another card, you'll be able to punch in your phone number and PIN. It's a process consumers are already intimately familiar with, but the added benefit here is having access to loyalty cards, coupons and spot discounts without even having to think about it. If you've got a coupon or rewards card in your PayPal account - even if you aren't aware of it - it'll automatically apply itself at checkout and present you with a digital receipt. Think of it less as a new payment method, and more of an integration of payment, loyalty and coupon cutting. "You can mess up a lot of things in people's lives, but the minute you touch their money, they're not happy about that, and they shouldn't be." You may wonder how exactly I could categorize this as a risk, particularly given that the company isn't really stepping out into a world that hasn't already shown proven growth potential. The reality, however, is that many who aren't tightly connected to internet commerce have never even heard of PayPal. And for many who have, they certainly haven't gone out of their way to use it. Next year, that all changes. Suddenly, PayPal will be labeling itself on the doors of businesses large and small, right alongside the iconic Visa and MasterCard icons that are now synonymous with "trusted payment processors." Suddenly, PayPal will thrust itself into the mainstream. Suddenly, any privacy violation or database hack won't just make the rounds on your favorite technology sites, it'll hit the teleprompters in front of Brian Williams and Will McAvoy. As I tiptoe into the company's Network Operations Center, or NOC, I'm immediately blitzed with seven giant projections of lines, charts and graphs - none of which am I at liberty to photograph. It looks like a million digital heart rates, all being intensely monitored by a few dozen men and women sitting in near-darkness. I get the feeling that if any one of these individuals takes their focus away from the data points, even for a second, the world as we know it may implode. Well, PayPal's world, at least. But, as it turns out, PayPal's world is about to be a lot bigger, and this room full of people who are currently working every moment of every day to ensure that millions of online transactions are processed properly will soon be responsible for managing even more. In PayPal we trust? To me, the risk here is obvious: it's a trust issue. Many users, myself included, haven't trusted PayPal for a long, long time. There's just something mysterious about PayPal's behind-the-scenes decisions - decisions that I don't see my bona fide bank making - that make me queasy. Specifically, the idea of never really knowing if the company is going to freeze my account following an eBay transaction with a guy in Tangier, and the thought of never really knowing if I'll be able to get someone on the other end of the line who genuinely believes I'm not some kind of Madoff in the making. Judging by the company's skyrocketing earnings (revenues in Q3 2012 were year-over-year to $1.37 billion), I may be in the minority here. That said, it's wise of Marcus to choose now as a time to focus intently on customer service. If a growing number of consumers stop trusting a financial service, it can easily spell death for whatever that service may be. Issues that have appeared on forums like are still few in number compared to the amount of transactions that are completed sans complaint, but the company's monumental retail efforts will quite simply force PayPal to garner the trust of those who give it a whirl next year. "We can do many things differently and better," Marcus says. "And my standard is not the quality of products that comes from larger companies - be it financial institutions or banks - but my goal is to have the quality and iteration speed of a startup." Marcus has been in his role as president for less than a year, and he has but a few months to fully morph the culture of his company into one that respects customer service, and healthily fears the repercussions for dropping even a single ball. I leave his office feeling more assured that there's finally someone in charge at PayPal who means it, and is doing more than just paying lip service. His own reputation is on the line, and his methods are certainly going to be tested once PayPal hits retail en masse. "Trust isn't given, but earned." Did he convince me - one of PayPal's most vocal critics - to trust his company again? I'm going to give the retail experience a whirl come April 2013, mostly because I have a deep appreciation for the technology involved, but I'll still be doing so with a cautious heart. As the great woman who gave birth to me once said: "Trust isn't given, but earned." This article originally appeared in .Workstagram? Officebook? Nope, It's Anchor: The Only Mobile Social Network for WorkAnchor from Tomfoolery Inc, brings team-based social networking to the office on mobile and WebJune 27, 2013 San Francisco, CA - Tomfoolery Inc., the "Work Awesome" startup founded by former AOL and Yahoo! execs, today announced the launch of their new social platform for work, Anchor. Anchor is a first of its kind social network, launching as an iOS and a Web-based app. Unlike other work apps that are focused on task lists, productivity tools, and document sharing, Anchor is designed to be a consumer-quality communication tool built specifically for the workplace. Anchor creates true personal connections between teams and team members, allowing them to share photos, links, locations, and more. Anchor also features sophisticated chat functionality, allowing people to connect via 1:1 messaging or group messaging, as well as sharing links, photos, and more while chatting. Anchor aims to bring together coworkers who are increasingly remote but always connected to their mobile devices."We spend more of our waking hours with our coworkers than with anyone else, and these relationships at work are incredibly important." said Kakul Srivastava, CEO and cofounder of Tomfoolery Inc. "People at work need better tools to connect, communicate, and share. Anchor is all about bringing the same great user experiences that we've come to expect in our personal lives to the office. There are plenty of tools that try to help you work more efficiently. We want you to work more joyfully."Anchor lets people at work create and join teams around projects, topics, events, workout groups, coffee and lunch orders, or anything else with their coworkers. Moreover, Tomfoolery, Inc recognizes that today, work happens not only across functional and hierarchical boundaries, it happens across companies. Anchor just as fluidly allows people to connect and communicate with collaborators at other companies."I'm lucky, I work in a startup with a small, tight-knit team. We know everything about each other, from favorite music, to kids and families, to the way each of us orders our burrito at lunch." Said Sol Lipman, CPO and cofounder of Tomfoolery. "We believe that every team in every office, no matter how big or small, should enjoy that same social atmosphere. That closeness makes every team better and it makes work a heck of a lot more fun. That's what we're all about at Tomfoolery, we've just packed it all into your mobile phone.""What's more, Anchor is a platform, not just an app," continued Lipman. "We will be creating a full suite of "Work Awesome" social apps that will connect to Anchor, as well as supporting additional mobile platforms and 3rd party apps."Anchor is free to download, and available in the iOS app store at: www.download.anchor.me, or online as a Web app at www.anchor.meAbout TomfooleryTomfoolery, Inc. builds crazy, beautiful, useful apps for people at work. We want to "Make Work Awesome". Founded by successful entrepreneurs out of Yahoo! and AOL with deep backgrounds in social mobile consumer technology, and backed with investments from key Silicon Valley venture capitalists, Tomfoolery builds social tools and apps for the workplace.The next version of each smartphone's operating system is always the best. We impatiently wait for the latest and greatest firmware to come around, expecting it to liberate us from the shackles of last year's code and features that haven't shown up yet. This happens incessantly with Google's Android OS, and -- unveiled at this year's in May -- is no different. Known as Ice Cream Sandwich (referred to henceforth as ICS), the last word in the title indicates the merging of , the most recent phone platform, and , the version optimized for use on tablets. We knew this much, but were otherwise left with conjecture as to how the company planned to accomplish such a feat -- and what else the new iteration had in store.But now the time of reckoning is upon us, and the -- Android 4.0's mother ship -- is slowly spreading across the globe, its users being treated to this year's smartphone dessert. ICS is one of the largest and most important upgrades we've witnessed from Android since its humble beginnings, making a huge change in user experience as well as a massive number of bullet points on the list of features. Now that we've had the opportunity to take it for a spin, where does it stand in the ranks of mobile operating systems? Follow us beneath as we dig into the layers of this sweet sandwich. Table of Contents On skins and stock ICSIn beginning our deep-dive of ICS, we'll be quick to point out that, much like the HTC-made and the preceding it, the Galaxy Nexus is running the pure vanilla and completely unskinned iteration of the OS it's ushering in. This means we're looking at ICS the way Google designed it, and not an OEM's interpretation such as on Samsung's TouchWiz, HTC's Sense or Motorola's not-so-Blur. Just as before, different skins lying on top of ICS are like having 31 flavors of ice cream: your experience with a Neapolitan-flavored sandwich may vary widely from one with Rocky Road inside.We won't pretend to know what changes these OEMs will make to the user experience, but rest assured that they'll be just as rampant as ever. While we're definitely fond of the improvements Google's made to ICS as a whole, it'll be intriguing to see how widely the interface differs from phone to phone.Booting upDo you remember the last time you booted up a brand new Android device? It was a sweet moment, we'll bet, and the setup procedure remains largely unchanged, as you still have to either sign up for a Google account or throw in your existing login codes. New to the process, however, is the option to tie a Google+ account to your device as well and lets you enter credit card information for Market purchases. You're also given the choice of watching a tutorial meant to show you the ICS ropes. Whether you choose to view it or not, your phone's now good to go. The handset begins to sync in the background after you exit the bootup menus, a process that will take several minutes; we strongly recommend you connect your device to a WiFi network during setup, since ICS will hook you up with email, contacts, calendar entries, books, Picasa albums and Chrome bookmarks -- all data-intensive activities that eat gigabytes for breakfast. Fortunately you can still dive right into the enjoyment of your new phone without having to wait until the syncing is all done. Just don't panic if Bob Johnson isn't in your list of contacts yet.Here's a handy tip if you want to take advantage of ICS's accessibility features (discussed in more detail later): when you boot up the phone for the first time and reach the Getting Started page, put your finger on the top left corner of the screen and draw a clockwise square. Doing so will activate all of the accessibility features and take you directly into a tutorial on how to use them.User interfaceThe good news: the user interface has been improved on ICS, with a litany of new elements geared to make it significantly better. Still, whether or not you're coming from an Android background, there's going to be a learning curve. That doesn't seem like such a terrible prospect, but our geek dreams of an OS without the need for proprietary OEM skins won't get any closer to becoming a reality -- on the contrary, we'll likely see plenty of tweaks made by vendors in attempt to "enhance" the user experience.One of the first things you'll notice when making the journey to ICS is the color scheme. Gone is the lime green-on-black theme present on Gingerbread, and in its place comes a subtle light blue-on-gray motif. There are five home panels at your disposal, and there's no option to add or take away screens. Along the bottom is a "favorites tray" capable of holding up to four shortcuts -- besides the standard app tray button, of course -- doubling the previous version's layout of two (phone and browser). And while stock Gingerbread wouldn't allow those icons to be swapped, ICS does -- heck, you can even put folders here or just get rid of all of the apps altogether. The fact is, you're now given the choice, something we deeply appreciate.You'll notice that a long-press of the home screen still brings up a menu, but it's only associated with wallpapers now. No longer will you find access to widgets, folders and shortcuts here; widgets and shortcuts are now located in the same space as the app tray, and folders can be created easily without the long press.While we're on the subject, folders have definitely graduated in design, transforming from ugly manila covers to transparent circles showing your apps inside, piled on top of one another. In fact, it almost has a look reminiscent of -- dare we say -- iOS. Sure, there's the obvious difference in shape, but all it takes to create a new folder is the act of dragging one icon on top of another. Once established, it's easy to rename your new creation.The app tray's definitely grown and matured to sport a Honeycomb-style look and feel. Instead of one continuous panel that you navigate by scrolling up and down, the menu actually consists of multiple panels that you navigate by swiping left and right (a la TouchWiz). Long-pressing an app from here will bring up a birds-eye view of your five home screens, as well as a couple options above them: uninstall and app info. Dragging the app to either option will trigger the appropriate action.The widgets galleries can be accessed by touching the second tab at the top of the app tray, or by swiping the panels from right to left until you get there. Several widgets are now resizeable -- a feature present in Honeycomb but not in anything 2.x or earlier -- and can be adjusted dynamically as soon as they begin taking up real estate on your screen.Another welcome addition to the ICS scene is the row of virtual navigation buttons on the bottom: back, home and task switcher. The menu button -- mandatory to all pre-ICS phones -- is completely gone, as is the search (a moot point, given the standard Google search bar on the top of each home panel as well as search options in most apps). We doubt that they'll be missing from every ICS-enabled device, though; in fact, we'd be more shocked if we didn't see a virtual search button pop up on a proprietary skin rather than the other way around. We're also curious to see how the menu button on legacy devices (that is, phones upgrading from Gingerbread that still utilize hardware or capacitive keys) will be applied to ICS, however, because the stock OS is designed to work specifically without that button getting involved. Ultimately, we can see the direction Google's heading here with these new soft keys: offering virtual buttons will allow for larger displays and minimize the number of physical keys lining the outside of the phone, and we get the sense that the company envisions a future with none whatsoever.Unlike previous versions of Android, soft keys on the stock OS don't offer long-press shortcuts. The task switcher, once accessed by holding down the home button, now shares an equal amount of real estate on the bottom row of virtual keys. A quick press of the switcher brings up a vertical list of all of your running programs, displayed in a way that will make Honeycomb users giddy. Each app on the list can be individually removed by simply swiping it to the left or right, but now's the perfect time to offer a disclaimer: this isn't a guaranteed task killer. Some running programs close completely, but a majority of those that have background network access won't actually be shut off by simply swiping them away. The only way you can be absolutely positive that your app's no longer running behind the scenes is to go into the Apps section of your Settings menu and manually stopping the process.The notification bar also got a facelift. It's still accessed the same way as before -- sliding your finger down from the top -- but you can also reach it on the phone's lock screen if you prefer (more on that later). Much to our satisfaction, we were happy to see that rather than only being able to clear all of our notifications in one fell swoop, most of them can be swept away one by one with a flick of the finger to the left or right; you can still clear them all out at the same time, however, by hitting the "x" in the top right corner.Oh, and what about easy access to the settings menu? The notification bar's got it at the very top. It's an obscure icon and easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for, but after we got used to its new location and look, we discovered it was much easier to get to settings now because we could reach it from any app we wanted to, rather than having to jump out of the app first.Lock ScreenBy now, you're probably starting to get a full sense of the scope of how much Android's UI has actually changed, and it certainly doesn't stop there. Even the lock screen saw a remodeling, and it's definitely for the better. Upon first glance you'll find the date and time laid out in Roboto, ICS's new signature font (an incredibly clean-looking one at that), with a simple lock icon near the bottom. You can slide the lock to the left or right -- right taking you into the standard home screen, and left taking you directly to the camera (which lends additional aid to Google's goal of taking a picture on a moment's notice, given the camera's professed lack of shutter lag). Slide your finger down from the top and the notification menu pops out -- and yes, you can access all of those notifications directly from the lock screen, which means you're able to check emails, voicemail messages and anything else within seconds of turning your phone back on.If extra security is what you need, ICS still offers you the usual suspects of PIN and pattern lock, though you sacrifice direct access to the camera and notification bar. But Google threw a unique technological nugget into its latest OS in Face Unlock, which theoretically cranks the security knob on your phone up to eleven.Face UnlockIt's pretty easy to forget all about every other feature or UI enhancement in ICS considering the amount of buzz being generated by Face Unlock. We'll admit, we were pretty enticed by the feature as well at first, but let's not kid ourselves here: it's a gimmick. Clever, sure, but it's not as secure as you might think it is.Here's how it works: go to the security settings, select screen lock and choose "face unlock." The camera then memorizes your face -- or at least, the shape of it -- and asks you to submit a PIN code or pattern lock just in case it doesn't recognize you, which honestly happens more than we'd like. In fact, we saw both extremes: our faces typically weren't recognized if we angled our head slightly away from the camera or if we tried to unlock the phone in low light, but the phone easily recognized our face in the mirror and when wearing glasses. Even worse, we were able to gain access to the phone simply by holding our picture up to the camera.Face Unlock still needs some tweaking before it's ready for primetime, but the feature is still a clever gimmick that you can show off to your friends -- provided you're in a room with adequate lighting, that is. From a software perspective, we believe the technology will gradually get smarter and catch up to various PC facial recognition programs, but for now we'd recommend a good old-fashioned password to keep your sensitive information away from everyone else.Core AppsMany of ICS's core apps have evolved from their previous iterations, allowing these programs to have complete synergy with the new user interface. No doubt they look and feel like they belong right at home on Android 4.0, and let's not forget about the extra functionality they bring to the table. Here's how each core app was enhanced with Ice Cream Sandwich.PhoneYeah, it has a dialpad and you can push numbers and make it call people. But what else can you do in the phone app? The first and foremost improvement is called "quick response," which allows you to reject an incoming call and fire back a text message letting the caller know that you're otherwise predisposed. Four different messages are allowed, and you can stick with the preset list of message options or swap them out with your own custom ones.The phone app itself has also received an ICS makeover, with smooth black and blue tones throughout, simplistic icon-based tabs on the top bar along with search and options on the bottom. Moving between tabs is now just a matter of swiping right or left. The contact tab now offers a unified listing, integrating all of your social networks and Google services (such as Gmail and Google+) into one crazy mix. Fortunately ICS gives you the chance to be picky and opt out of specific services you don't care to add into the list. High-res photos are also now allowed in the contacts tab, which means that you have a large and high-quality image of your friend or family member getting all up in your face when they call you.Then there's the People app, which also offers a unified landing spot for all of your friends, family and acquaintances, but also adds a little more pizzazz than its phone app counterpart: you'll see the latest status update from your social-savvy associates. Not only that, clicking on the person's name will bring you into a contact card with multiple panels that looks an awful lot like Windows Phone. The first screen shows all of the person's connection information -- complete with links to their social networking profiles -- and the second one displays a list of their most recent statuses. This makes for a well-rounded contacts app, for sure, but there's just one small oddity about it all: Ice Cream Sandwich currently lacks the ability to merge or link Facebook contacts (more on this later).GmailLiked Gmail on your Gingerbread device before? It was pretty good before, but we have a hunch that you'll love it even more now. For one, you can actually create new messages without having to press an options key. In fact, most of Gmail's most used features have been brought forward to the app's forefront in ICS.In the inbox you'll see an extra line of text for each email, showing off the first few words. This is an improvement over Gingerbread's version, which merely shows the subject and sender, leaving the actual body of the message as much of a surprise as a birthday present. When you get into the individual email, you're given plenty of options, such as assigning labels, replying, marking it as an important message (or spam, for that matter), marking as unread and archiving / deleting the email. When you're ready to read the next message, all you have to do is swipe to the left or right to move along to another email conversation.Also included in ICS is the opportunity to read your Gmail when you're offline. By default the phone will sync email from the last 30 days, but the amount of time you prefer can easily be customized. This is ever-so handy for catching up on your email when you're in Airplane Mode or just simply not within range of a tower. We also noticed that messages had very little lag when loading. The only thing we were disappointed in was the app's lack of pinch-to-zoom support for images -- odd, since the functionality was added to the new calendar. Aside from this, however, we enjoyed the improvements made in ICS and will find it difficult to review Gingerbread handsets after playing with the new firmware and seeing what it's capable of.BrowserIt's hard to know where to begin with the browser, as so many features and elements of its performance were affected by the upgrade. Besides the temporary omission of mobile Flash (which we'll discuss in more detail later), we had a hard time finding something to dislike. First, the ICS browser has certainly sped up; while benchmarks aren't a tremendous indicator of real-life performance, we were still quite happy to see SunSpider 9.1 bring up a time of 1,850ms. To offer perspective, the Samsung Galaxy S II, another well-oiled machine with hefty oomph underneath the hood, rarely dips down below 3,000. The Acid3 test on the Galaxy Nexus also scored a perfect 100 / 100.Google's also added the ability to save webpages to read whenever you lack an internet connection -- like a native version of Instapaper -- for those times when the train goes through a tunnel or you want to do some reading midflight. Sadly, there's no way to specify exactly how many links are cached, but we can live with that. Chrome bookmarks are now synced with the ICS browser as well, and you can also take advantage of a home-brewed incognito mode when you don't want to show your browsing history.Another new feature in the browser is an option to request the desktop version of sites; we find this concern often when navigating to Engadget, since we normally have to scroll all the way to the bottom of our mobile site to switch over to the desktop flavor. Having our browser do this automatically makes for a much faster and more enjoyable experience while surfing the net.Lastly, check out the Labs option in the browser settings, where you'll discover a clever UI element that's not thrown into the browser by default. When enabled, you can pull up a three-button menu by swiping your finger from the left or right edge of the screen. This semi-circular menu gives you fast access to your open browser tabs (by the way, you can now have 16 open simultaneously), settings and the hidden URL bar at the top. Traditional Android users may not prefer it, but we found ourselves quickly growing attached to this new method of navigating around the browser. Tip: holding down the tab button while in this mode will prompt a small menu to pop up on the screen that shows your other open windows without having to leave the site you're currently viewing (seen above).CalendarwebOS may be having some rather tough times lately -- to put it mildly -- but Android 4.0 has borrowed some great design elements from its calendar (given Matias Duarte's heritage, should we be surprised?). The ICS datebook now supports pinch-to-zoom capability, which lets you expand or compress your appointments and helps you navigate to specific time slots more easily, and it also offers color coding to differentiate between your various calendars. You can also flip between view types: day, week, month and agenda can all be viewed.Google+Hangouts. In ICS's version of Google+, you're now able to join hangouts -- a feature we've always felt was wrongly missing from the app. The ten-person limit applies here, but you'll be able to do video group chats with your friends or associates. Keep in mind, however, that just because you can join 'em doesn't mean you can create 'em. Perhaps that's a bullet point on the list of features that just didn't make the cut in time.As mentioned earlier, Google's definitely plugging its social networking service into more nooks and crannies on the OS by prompting you to sync your Google+ account from the start, infusing status updates with the People app, integrating it into image sharing (as well as several other sharing options scattered throughout the OS) and offering new widgets for the home panels. The company's determined to make its new service work, and we can't think of a better way to do that than expose the heck out of it to millions of Android users.TalkWe'd mention that the Google Talk app has a completely new design to fit with ICS, but let's face it -- nearly every native app on the new version of Android has been revamped, so this isn't any new revelation by any stretch of the imagination. Aside from UI, however, ICS has spiced up Talk's video chat service by adding image stabilization as well as a few fun (read: pointless) live visual effects that we'll cover in slightly more detail in the camera section.Music PlayerThe music app in 4.0 brings an equalizer, 3D surround and bass boost effects. We were also told by Google that the player is designed to be faster in ICS, though we didn't necessarily see a noticeable difference overall.Keyboard and text inputGoogle didn't let the keyboard off the hook in this update, and we're excited about it. The 'board itself looks quite similar, but there's a lot more horsepower pulling the wagon. ICS adds spellchecking, in which a red underline indicates a misspelled word and gives you suggestions on replacements. It delivers an improved autocorrect -- which shows several possible word ideas in a brand new row above the keyboard -- and prediction, which tries to guess the words you're trying to type as you go along, and detects double-typed words, letters or spaces you left out as well as other various errors. Double-tapping a word highlights it and brings up a "replace" option that offers suggestions from the dictionary. You can still add your own words to the phone's dictionary, and even better, third-party spellcheckers and dictionaries are now supported in ICS.Our relationship with the stock Android keyboard has always been hit-or-miss up to this point, but the latest revision is certainly making us a believer. We found that the new autocorrect functionality allowed us to type faster and with greater confidence.As before, you can also utilize voice recognition to type for you. But this time around, Mountain View's boasting some tremendous server power to back up its input engine; ICS offers continuous voice recognition, which means that the mic is continually listening for your voice and will update your message as you talk. Previously, you had to wait until your sentence was completely done before the engine stopped to process your statement and push out what it thought you said.We also discovered that the new Android is also able to understand punctuation, which was a very exciting prospect to us: instead of having to insert question marks and commas manually (defeating the purpose of using voice dictation services), we could just say the word "comma." To our delight, the program even dictated smiley face emoticons. The voice recognition service has improved over Gingerbread's offering, but we still had to exercise a fair amount of patience -- it's far from perfect, as it still occasionally missed words that we stated loud and clear, and contractions didn't always come through as we expected. Last (but certainly not least), since voice input is largely controlled on Google's side, a solid data connection is a must in order to fully take advantage of the service. No internet at all where you're at? Sorry, the voice recognition doesn't work at all and the dedicated icon on the keyboard is greyed out.Camera, galleries and media editorsCamera / camcorder UIIt won't take a very long time for stock Gingerbread users to become accustomed to ICS's camera, as the look and feel has largely remained untouched. There are, however, several key differences that will make you glad to jump to 4.0.The most heavily advertised feature of the new camera is its lack of shutter lag, and it really does work -- as long as you don't want to autofocus first. While a quick press of the shutter button generates an image in virtually no time at all, it's not guaranteed to be in focus unless you actually give it a second or two to do the job. Speaking of which, tap-to-focus and face recognition are both in full swing with ICS.Other new additions to the camera include a zoom slide bar on the right -- this replaces the standard set of options found in Android 2.3, though a press of the settings key will slide the zoom away to make room for them -- and panorama mode, accessible by pressing the toggle in the bottom right corner. Once you activate panorama, you just need to press the shutter button, pan your phone left or right, and hit the shutter again once you're done. Presto, your images are getting stitched together.When switching over to the camcorder (also accessed using the same toggle in the lower right corner), you'll have a few new items of interest to play around with. The first one is the set of visual effects that can be added to your recording as it happens. These effects either involve distorting faces (such as buggy eyes, squeezed faces or abnormally large mouths) or throwing in a background picture behind the person you're shooting video of -- similar to what you'd see on a green screen. Also new is a time lapse option.Galleries and photo editorAlong with a redesign, photo galleries now come included with a homegrown editor. You can easily crop images, add effects and filters, rotate and flip. Fortunately, the newly-edited images won't overwrite the originals when you save them. Screenshots taken with your phone can be edited as well.Movie StudioHoneycomb's Movie Studio has migrated to ICS, and much like its counterpart, it's ideally suited for creating fun little video clips rather than turning into a mobile substitute to your computer's movie editor. You can combine videos together, shorten or lengthen each individual clip, and top it off with a music track of your choice. It's simple, but not laden with features. As phones become more powerful, we'd like to see the number of editing tools increase, effectively turning our Android devices into fully functional movie-making machines.Android BeamAh, the term just sounds so futuristic, doesn't it? In our heads, we associate it with Scotty from Star Trek or sharks with laser beams. Either way, Google's dead-set on bringing the future closer to our grasp by delivering NFC capabilities to the mainstream crowd, and we can't think of any better method of doing so than by loading it onto each and every one of the 500,000 Android devices activated every day. Don't get us wrong: NFC is not a stranger to the OS (Google Wallet and Tags are already offered), but its functionality is still somewhat limited and unknown. Android Beam, introduced in ICS, wants to slap the general public in the face with a large helping of the technology.Beam gives ICS users the opportunity to share apps, URLs, videos, contacts and directions -- not to mention anything third-party developers can dream up, since they have access to the API -- with another user's NFC-enabled device. Here's an example of how simple the process is: find the content or information you want to share, put your handset back-to-back with somebody else's, and Beam will prompt you to touch the screen to initiate the data transfer. Contrary to all of our experience with science fiction TV shows and movies, however, the beam doesn't make a pew pew sound when transferring information from one phone to another.While we didn't have two Galaxy Nexus units to test the full bi-directional scope of the Beam's abilities, we were able to take advantage of our ' tag-reading feature to initiate one-way transfers. Apps and websites pushed to the S like a charm, though nothing else worked. YouTube videos pretended to move over, but the tags showed up blank on the other side. Granted, given the limited scope of the phone's NFC powers, none of this should come as much of a surprise. We'll find this feature to become incredibly useful once more ICS phones come with the tech built in, but its reach is massively small at the time of this writing.MiscellaneousData monitoringSo you're not one of those lucky saps that still has unlimited data, eh? Data management on Gingerbread was a project that resulted in one or two pieces of bloatware taking up valuable virtual space, but ICS will let you access your overall data usage, warn you when you approach a custom boundary and set limits based on your current plan. Have a 2GB plan? You can tell the OS to warn you when you reach 1.5GB, and then have the phone shut off access to the internet once you hit your monthly data allowance. You can also tell specific apps not to collect data or incur usage when it's running in the background, or just restrict those apps to only do so when you're in a WiFi zone.We do need to make one critical disclaimer here, however: the numbers offered up by ICS may not accurately reflect the same numbers your service provider offers up. So don't rely fully upon Android to do all the dirty work for you -- if you believe you're quickly approaching your limit, we still recommend checking with your carrier to make sure you're safe.ScreenshotsWe were absolutely elated when we learned Android 4.0 would add the ability to take screenshots natively. While a couple Gingerbread devices somehow found a way to make this happen, the fact that it's officially sanctioned in stock Android is rather joyous. Previously, taking screenshots was a lengthy process that involved plugging your phone into a computer, making sure the right software was downloaded and Mars and Jupiter had to be aligned with Mercury in a perfectly straight line in the evening sky.With ICS, simply hold down the screen lock / power button and the volume down button for around one second. The shot magically goes into its very own screenshot folder, and we were able to drag and drop the files from there onto our computer with absolute ease.Disable unwanted appsDost our eyes deceive us? Could it be? Yes! Ice Cream Sandwich -- in its pure vanilla state, at least -- lets you disable virtually any app on your phone. That's right, even the essential ones that you might actually use from time to time. Granted, these apps haven't actually gone anywhere, so they're still taking up storage space. They are, however, at least out of your hair.The wild card (as you probably expect) is OEM skins and carrier customization. We can easily see HTC quietly dismissing this feature -- among others -- in Sense 4.0. So this is absolutely a step in the right direction for stock devices, but what will happen to every other phone or tablet that becomes subject to the manufacturer's desires?Easter EggsHow much do those clever folks on the Android team love easter eggs? Enough to include one in each successive update, at least. A picture of "zombie art" by Jack Larson was hidden in Gingerbread, and Honeycomb featured a bee. ICS followed suit with an image of the Android robot dressed up in an Ice Cream Sandwich, which grows in size when you long-press it until it transforms into a Nyan Cat-style animation. We love easter eggs as much as anyone else, but it's not really hidden anymore: each of these gems can be found by simply going to the "About phone" option in the settings menu and pressing the Android version repeatedly until the robot pops up. It's not a well-kept secret anymore, to say the least.Update: It turns out that there's actually a second easter egg called Rocket Launcher, and the Android Team kept this one a much better secret -- it takes a little trickery to activate. The Launcher looks like a screen saver; it shows all of your installed apps flying past you through space at different speeds and angles. Here's how to activate it using stock ICS: download and install Launcher Pro on your device, go into your standard launcher's widget menu and locate "activities." Drag and drop the widget onto your home screen, and a long list will appear. Locate and select "launcher," and Rocket Launcher is hanging out inside. The first time you try to use it, the program won't work properly. Exit out and go back in, and you'll find yourself flying at warp speed with icons zooming past you in every direction. [via ]Downfalls and shortcomingsFlash PlayerWait, what? The effect of Adobe's recent decision to silence mobile Flash may seem to have reached ICS, though the company's assured us that even though the Player faces an eventual death, it has one more update left in it and it's for sure coming to Android 4.0 before the end of the year.There's a slightly devious workaround to this problem, though it isn't foolproof. To our delight, we found that we could technically sideload the Flash Player 11.1 APK onto the Galaxy Nexus -- tragically, however, it didn't seem to work out quite as well as we'd hoped, as it only worked on a scant few Flash-enabled sites. But hey, it was worth a shot, right?Facebook syncing We briefly mentioned some concerns with Facebook earlier in the review, and it's worth circling back on them. In our time with ICS, it grew apparent that the social network's experience on the new firmware is a bit behind. Facebook contacts cannot be synced into your address book or People app; when attempting to access your account through the settings menu, you're greeted by an option for Facebook on the list, but pressing it just takes you back to the previous screen. We imagine this will be worked out in due time, and if nothing else, we'll likely see OEMs come up with a workaround of their own.Legacy apps No need to act terribly surprised here, given how fresh ICS is out of the virtual box, but many legacy apps optimized for older versions of Android may not work as well as we'd like them to -- at least, not for a little while. The new OS smell still eminates from Android 4.0, which means the vast majority of developers are hustling to get their apps ready for primetime. Since it's too early to get a firm grasp on how well these applications will perform once they're optimized for ICS, we'll hold off on the final judgment of third-party app performance until a later date.No Google Wallet... yetIn what seems like an odd step backwards, Google Wallet -- an NFC-based mobile payment service available on the Samsung Nexus S 4G -- is completely missing on the Galaxy Nexus. We have a sneaky suspicion that this will eventually show up on at least a few ICS phones, but Google has remained quiet on the matter for now.USB mass storageWe had a brief moment of geeky panic as we fired up our Galaxy Nexus only to discover that USB mass storage was to be found, but rather only supported MTP / PTP file transfers. While we originally assumed this was a restriction based on ICS itself, it was determined that the firmware does indeed support it -- on devices that offer expandable storage, anyways, a feature the Galaxy Nexus lacks.What's available to developersSo we've covered the visible portion of ICS at length, but haven't taken much time to dive deep into what types of features developers will be able to take advantage of behind the scenes. Here are just a few of the various APIs and other services made available in Android 4.0.WiFi Direct is a relatively new concept for phones, one that hasn't been highly utilized. Essentially, the tech enables devices to connect directly to one another without needing a router or internet connection to act as a middleman. In other words, it gives your Android phone another method of sharing pictures, files or just about anything else with your desktop computer -- but it can also connect a group of gamers, stream media content from your ICS phone to an audio player, print files and so on.Hardware AccelerationTo be clear, hardware acceleration was an option made available for Honeycomb tablets and has finally been expanded to cover phones in ICS. Ultimately, Google's added framework support for hardware acceleration in both versions so that developers can enable it on their apps simply by adding a single line of code.Bluetooth ProfilesGoogle has included support for connecting to Bluetooth Health Device Profile (HDP) devices, which means ICS is capable of hooking up to heart monitors, sensors in hospitals and a whole load of various wireless medical devices. Also included in Android 4.0 is support for Bluetooth Hands-Free Profile 1.6.USB game controller and HDMI supportAs it turns out, our future game consoles may not actually be standalone machines at all, but rather our hooked up to a TV via HDMI. This could be made possible through ICS's support for external USB game controllers -- using a USB-to-microUSB adapter, of course -- and the usual HDMI to go along with it. This was enabled for Honeycomb tablets, but this is the first time we've seen the ability on Android handsets as well.Visual VoicemailConfusion erupted when the Samsung Galaxy Nexus came out with visual voicemail inexplicably missing from the firmware -- rightfully so, since we were all originally told in Hong Kong that the functionality would be included in ICS. After a bit of clarification on Google's part, we now understand that this feature is actually buried deep within Android 4.0 in the form of an API. This way, developers can work closely with carriers or other third parties in order to take advantage of it.AccessibilityICS has made some progress on the accessibility front as well. Earlier we talked about how to enable the functionality directly from the setup screen, and our above video dives deeper into exactly what you can do. Specifically, ICS brings a new explore-by-touch mode that offers audible feedback on any part of the screen you may touch. Touching an icon, for instance, prompts the phone to tell you what you're touching -- but it doesn't activate that icon until you press it a second time.A web script-based screen reader on the internet browser can read out content and assist the user in navigating websites. The font size can be increased and inverted screen rendering is now allowed.Devs also now have access to accessibility APIs such as Text-to-Speech and explore-by-touch.SensorsWith ICS comes support for two new sensors: ambient temperature and relative humidity. Yes, we're one step closer to turning our phones into tricorders, and we couldn't be happier about it.EnterpriseWork in a facility that doesn't allow cameras? Finding a phone of any decent quality that doesn't have at least one camera is incredibly difficult these days, making your options a bit limited and frustrating. ICS adds Device Policy Manager, which can remotely disable your phone's camera. There's also an API for keychains (encrypted credential storage) as well as one for VPN clients, which offers even more options for developers to appeal to the Enterprise.Other APIs included in ICSWe can't include every single new API in our review without turning it into four or five separate articles, so we'll just offer a few small tidbits.Additional APIs for the camera give access to continuous focus, ZSL exposure, image zoom and even offers devs the ability to capture high-res photos while taking video. Apps can also now set custom metering "regions" and then adjust exposure and white balance dynamically within those regions.A new social API gives third parties (primarily social networking apps, we presume) the opportunity to integrate into the address book. Other APIs are now available for the calendar, Android Beam, low-level streaming media and audio remote controls.Honeycomb APIThere are plenty of elements introduced in Honeycomb that still hadn't seen the light of day in a phone, so ICS includes several of them in the package. In addition to the features we've discussed already, here are a few more: renderscript 3D graphics, HTTP live streaming, improved screen-support API, property-based animation, MTP / PTP file transfers and support for RTP.Wrap-upIf you argue that Ice Cream Sandwich isn't the largest incremental update to the Android platform since its birth, you're probably going to lose the fight. Not even counting the number of features added to 4.0, the changes in UI alone are enough to take your breath away. It's modern and refreshing, and the user experience is more polished than its predecessors, but we believe that newcomers to Google's mobile ecosystem won't find it quite as intuitive as competing operating systems as the tech-savvy and power-hungry crowd that has grown accustomed to Android in the past. Regardless of previous knowledge, this will probably be water under the bridge soon enough, as manufacturers push out devices with customized skins.The interface isn't perfect, and several of its new features still have a beta feel (we're looking at you, Face Unlock), but Android 4.0 appears to do exactly what it set out to do: merge the best of two worlds into an attractive package. It's a gorgeous OS that offers great performance and -- for the most part -- doesn't feel like a half-baked effort. Factoring the new functionality, ICS effectively throws a one-two punch of mobile wonderment in our face. Ice Cream Sandwich feels like a natural evolution for Android, and we have a feeling Matias Duarte & Co. are just getting started.Zach Lutz and Myriam Joire contributed to this review.Google's next iteration of Android wasn't quite the that many of you were perhaps anticipating. Rather than using Google I/O 2012 as the launching pad for Android 5.0, we're being formally introduced to v4.1 -- a mere 0.1 ahead of where placed us around six months ago. Aside from grabbing a name change, the minor numerical bump also provides Jelly Bean the opportunity to usher in a few new features for Nexus owners to enjoy. If you missed yesterday's , Google revealed that Android 4.1 would arrive on Nexus devices in "mid-July," but there's no clear word on when partner companies will begin pushing it to their products. Moreover, pundits are quick to point out the legions of Android products that still haven't made the to 4.0, leaving us to wonder if those Froyo and Gingerbread laggards will simply take the fast track to 4.1 now that it's (almost) available. Care to see if the latest and greatest will live up to your expectations once it lands in a few weeks? Head on past the break as we discuss some of the larger changes that Jelly Bean has to offer. By and large, Jelly Bean is Ice Cream Sandwich. Just ... nicer. And smoother. And with a few additions that make it worth yearning for. Here at I/O, we were provided with a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, preloaded with v4.1. Outside of the new Android build, it's the same phone we first saw in Hong Kong . As these things tend to go, the actual UI changes only tell a portion of the story. It's tough to talk about Jelly Bean's significance without first talking about . Continuing Google's long obsession with cuisine, the whimsically named initiative is an appreciated one. Effectively, Google has retooled Android to be even more responsive, so that it ramps up whatever power lies within the moment a finger touches the screen. The goal here is to achieve 60 frames per second across the board on modern hardware; that could mean bad news for older devices that may or may not get the update, but phones like the Galaxy Nexus seem to gain horsepower simply due to coding improvements. In our testing, an already zippy phone simply felt perfectly smooth. Buttery, even. Chrome loaded in an instant. Toggling voice search didn't result in a single pause. Swiping between photos was shockingly brisk. We could go on, but it's really simple: Android is finally at a place where it feels completely buttoned-up from a silkiness standpoint. In the past, you needed cutting-edge hardware to overcome some irregularities and inefficiencies in the code. With v4.1, you're actually getting more features, without feeling there's a speed hit on the other end. In fact, you're gaining features and perceived speed. And really, who wouldn't be into that? Without further ado, let's take a look at some of the more significant changes introduced in Jelly Bean. Predictive keyboard At a glance, Jelly Bean's keyboard looks a lot like the stock edition found in Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). But start typing, and you'll see something different. Or, something completely familiar if you're an avid user of . Google didn't take too much time to point it out, but the new prediction algorithm tucked into Jelly Bean's factory keyboard is hugely noteworthy. On one hand, it's a bit strange to see Google effectively ape functionality already hammered out by the folks at SwiftKey. While most of the mainstream swoons over Swype, the Engadget crew remains infatuated with SwiftKey's devilishly intelligent keyboard. Much like that third-party alternative, Google's version learns as you type and begins to make next-word recommendations based on familiar phrases you use. Better still, the center word option can be toggled into a multi-word matrix with a simple long-press. In practice, it works just as beautifully as SwiftKey (save for those times when we typed three or four words together sans spacing), and it's certainly convenient having that voice search microphone button just a tap away. Without question, this is our favorite stock Android keyboard to date. In fact, we can see ourselves using it as our go-to option, which has been difficult to say in the past. Even the "Smart Punctuation" feature that SwiftKey touts in its third build is mimicked by Google's own offering, and it actually provides an even greater variety of punctuation options to slide to. Offline Maps Google promised us earlier this month that its would be coming soon -- just in time for Apple to debut its . Right in line with Jelly Bean's launch, offline Maps is a reality for Android smartphones. It's exactly what you probably assume it is: the same Maps you know and love, but with the ability to navigate sans a live data connection. The concept here is far from new; even in early 2010, a Nokia device was in our smartphone GPS shootout thanks to its ability to operate offline. Fast forward a few years, and the Lumia's still remains a phenomenal option due to -- you guessed it -- offline support. It's actually kind of startling that it has taken Google this long to join the party, and now that it has, we're left with mixed feelings. On one hand, Maps is still beautifully designed, robust and magically woven into the fabric of Navigation. For the avid traveler, it's indispensable, and the addition of offline just makes an already world-class product that much more amazing. Maps ties in easily with searches for nearby eateries and businesses, and there's a wonderful amount of integration between searches and favorites on Maps for Android and Maps in the browser. The good news here is that offline Maps doesn't feel like a new product. It's still Maps, and it still works well. If you've downloaded a certain section of town and you're routing through it, it won't matter if you lose signal, dip into a tunnel or head underground for a bit -- at least, not any more than a conventional PND from TomTom or Garmin would. So long as you have GPS and downloaded maps, you're golden. Therein lies the problem. The actual process of getting an offline map is entirely too tedious, and thoroughly confusing in practice. Allow us to explain. When zoomed in around our test location in San Francisco, a tap into the Settings allowed us to select "Make Available Offline." Smooth sailing so far. But from here, you're presented with a situation that's just not ... ideal. You're asked to zoom in or out to select an ambiguous section of map that you'd like to download. How exactly are you supposed to know the precise road that you won't need to know about? How does Google expect its users to have that kind of knowledge if they're pre-downloading maps to a place that they'll soon travel to for the first time? And more importantly, why should Maps users need to know this? In our testing, we found it possible to download around 80MB of maps before running into a "This section is too large to download" error, which makes itself known even when connected to WiFi. If you get this pop-up, you'll have to zoom in tighter and download a smaller section. For reference, 80MB will only get you the roadways from San Francisco to Daly City (give or take a few miles). Pardon our terseness, but what a joke. Compare this to the offline downloading situation in Nokia Drive. There, you go into a "Manage Maps" section, connect to WiFi and then select an entire country to download -- or, if you aren't feeling the entire 50 states here in the USA, you can download each state individually. For reference, the entire USA takes up 1.8GB of space on the Lumia 900. Why isn't a similar option available from Google? As it stands, Google's implementation is practically useless for spontaneous road-trippers who aren't keen on spending a few hours zooming and downloading (and rinsing and repeating) in hopes of covering entire states that they'll be traversing. It really feels as if Google engineered this for urban dwellers who only intend to download maps for one city at a time. For those looking to download all of Montana in order to be prepared for those monumental coverage holes... well, you're still better off with Nokia Drive. Homescreen tweaks You won't find too many differences on the homescreen, but you will find a homescreen that's easier to get along with. When customizing the layout on each pane, it's simpler now to drag icons around until they're just so. It's designed to automatically accommodate your apps and widgets, but we still saw the unfortunate "There's no room for this widget" more than once. Of note, you can also remove any unwanted apps and widgets with a quick swipe up and off the home screen. Google Now and voice search Without question, this is the highlight of Jelly Bean. Laypeople will refer to it as Google's version of Siri, and in some ways, it certainly acts as a personal assistant. But in some ways, it's more than Siri. can be activated by holding down the "Home" key and swiping up (or just swiping north from the lock screen). But unlike Siri, which simply requires you to start speaking, this action in Jelly Bean brings up an entirely new portal. Now unfolds, revealing a scrollable list of "Cards" that are just beautiful. (Unlike those from the , these scroll down rather than across, and don't swipe up or down as the images in the new Gallery do.) The fonts, textures and borders on these things are truly gorgeous. It's a fun place to fix your eyes within Android, because truthfully, it's lovely to look at. Beyond that, though, it's also highly informative. The cards that emerge will become better with time -- assuming you opt into Now from the get-go. You see, Now makes no bones about how it gains intelligence: it watches you. It remembers what you frequently search for. It looks at your current location. It recalls which flights you've been searching for. It's kind of creepy, but honestly, that's what makes it wise. It's also worth noting just how natural the robotic voice is whenever you are lucky enough to ask Now something that it can reply to. It's entirely believable, unlike the very humanoid-y Siri. The best way to customize Now is to simply be you. Use your phone. Do things that you'd normally do. Before long, Now will feel intensely personal. Just to let you know what areas Now covers, you can find Cards for the following: Weather, Traffic, Next Appointment, Travel, Flights, Public Transit, Places and Sports. Some of these auto-populate -- yes, automagically -- based on current location (Weather) and frequent searchers (Sports). Others don't truly come alive until you're on the go. If you're near the Astor Place subway stop in New York City, the card can be configured to show you what trains are coming up next, how long you've got until they arrive, and where they're headed. The longer you use the phone, the more cards it magically puts there with information that's magically useful to you. Like, scores you'd search for anyway. Or flight details that you'd search for anyway. Or subway routes you'd search for anyway based on what subway station you're standing by. Absolutely brilliant in every sense of the word. The same goes for Traffic -- you can rely on Now to look into your frequently traversed commuting routes and find alternatives in the event that a blockage has occurred during the moments before you usually depart. Google's also ramping up notifications, enabling them to be delivered before, during or after an ongoing event. Not entirely a fresh concept -- ESPN users can do the same on iOS -- but it's a fantastic implementation. Voice search now acts as an extension of Now, but it does so with hugely mixed results. For example, when telling our Nexus to "Make an appointment for lunch tomorrow at noon," it set a reminder for 12am, despite showing that it comprehended our request word-for-word. Yikes. That said, our request to "Remind me to get the clothes in 30 minutes" perfectly set an alarm that did just that. (In case you're wondering, that's the pinch of personal assistant showing off.) When we tried to ask if we had any appointments at 2pm the following day, the Nexus simply made an appointment for 2pm the next day instead of taking a peek into Google Calendar. That's indicative of the crapshoot nature of the whole "assistant" thing. It's obvious that Google's voice search is nowhere close to being able to act as a true assistant, but at least we're seeing signs of progress. It's also a bit hard to grasp what kind of answers Now can populate, and which ones fly right over its head. For instance, asking for the "distance between San Francisco and Daly City" simply brings up a Google search of that phrase, but asking for "directions between San Francisco and Daly City" activates Maps. Clearly, the natural language recognition needs to be worked on. We expected Maps to draw the lines between the two locales and report back a mileage figure for question one, but it simply overwhelmed the system. All that said, the silver lining is obvious: Google's powering the results. If you're even remotely familiar with the kinds of things that you can type into Google.com and get an answer up top, you'll understand what things will lead to similar results on the phone. Asking "What time does the sun rise tomorrow in Tahiti?" led to an answer up top, not just a list of search results. Asking Now to "convert 47 euros to South African rand" led to yet another answer. Asking even complex math questions led to even more answers. Asking about the filming locations for "Prometheus," however, resulted in a typical list of links rather than a beautifully sorted answer from IMDb's database. (Can you tell what we're dreaming about?) Moreover, we're huge fans of seeing searchable, copy-and-pastable results even when it's the best the system can do. Having Siri return a static image from Wolfram Alpha -- an image that cannot be read aloud by a robotic voice -- is tremendously underwhelming. Google Now won't read back search links yet, but given that it fetches actual text, the potential is certainly there for this to change down the road. Better still, you're also highly likely to have even obscure questions answered by the headlines of top search results within Google. When asking "Who won the 1993 World Series?" Now didn't know how to return an answer. But the answer was plainly obvious in the second search result -- the lead-in line to an Answers.com page displayed the following: "The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4 games to 2." It's not exactly a "success," per se, but we achieved our goal of finding the answer regardless, without any additional clicks or scrolling. Finally, it's worth pointing out that Google's voice search algorithm is really fantastic. Even when speaking to our Nexus at a normal tone in a bustling restaurant, it correctly understood 15 of 16 questions. We also found the results to populate quickly, even with just a single bar of T-Mobile HSPA+ coverage. More often than not, our answers appeared more quickly than we expected them to, and overall, we found the whole "talking to Now" experience to be a terrifically pleasing one. Offline voice dictation Asking Now a question that obviously requires an internet connection to answer isn't a wise use of time. But, those with Jelly Bean can finally hammer out emails to send later via voice. Somehow -- likely using a combination of black magic and AdSense-enabled Time Travel -- Google has managed to squash its US English language voice recognition tools into the OS' fabric. Even in airplane mode, we were able to vocally compose emails and text messages with ease. In fact, we saw no difference whatsoever in the composition regardless of whether we had five bars of HSPA+ or a tiny Airplane up in the status bar. For those keeping count, Apple's voice dictation feature -- along with Siri -- requires a live internet connection to be useful. Nice play, Google; now, just cook up something similar for all of those other tongues out there. Wrap-up In addition to the facets covered above (and ), Jelly Bean also a new tap-to-air feature for Bluetooth-plus-NFC-enabled speakers; just tap your phone to an adequately equipped speaker, and your tunes start streaming. It's beautifully simple, and it works nicely alongside an updated version of Beam that supports photo sharing over simple bumps, too. All in all, it's tough to complain about a free update that both adds highly useful features and makes the overall system snappier. That's exactly what Google has managed to accomplish with Jelly Bean, which feels just stupendous in use on our Galaxy Nexus review unit. The speed improvements are subtle, but those who have used ICS for any length of time will notice them. It's sort of like transitioning from the ; the hastened transitions are just enough to spoil you once you've encountered them. The addition of Google Now and the offline voice dictation features are huge, huge assets in the Android stable. Both of these work laudably, and while there's clearly room for Now to improve as Google fine-tunes its natural language recognition algorithms, it's a feature that will no doubt have Gingerbread users crossing their fingers (and toes, for that matter) for an update. As lovely as Now is, however, offline Maps has to be the biggest letdown of the bunch. Not being able to download maps for entire states, provinces or countries is a massive oversight. That feature is already available on Nokia Drive, and Google should absolutely strive to at least meet the bar set on Windows Phone. Maps and Navigation remain world-class products, and offline Maps works as advertised so long as you have the portions you need downloaded; still, we need the ability to easily store as much of the world as we want, and we're hoping Google obliges in the near future. Android 4.1 may not be a quantum leap in any one area, but it's the fine-tuning of Ice Cream Sandwich that we've been waiting for. It's brisk, it's beautiful and it's more intelligent than any Android build before it. The primary problem, however, is availability. It's only hitting the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom (why bother?) in mid-July, with every other Android device in that all-too-familiar wait-and-see mode. It's also unlikely that the seamless experience we've seen here will ever be truly ported to the Galaxy S III; with S Beam and S Voice at the helm, it's likely that the skinned version of Android 4.1 will be massively different than the "pure" version found on Nexus products. (For those unaware, Android 4.0 for the Galaxy S II lacked most of the standout features that it brought to the Nexus family, so there's certainly a precedent.) Of course, this is hardly a new dilemma, and those who've chosen the Nexus route have plenty to look forward to.Carrier T-Mobile -- (GSM / HSDPA) -- (GSM / EDGE) Sprint T-Mobile T-Mobile Manuf. Motorola Samsung HTC HTC HTC HTC Price -- -- -- $179.99 $149.99 Released -- July 2009 -- Oct 11, 2009 Aug 5, 2009 Oct 22, 2008 Keyboard Slide-out Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual Slide-out Android MOTOBLUR Standard Sense UI Sense UI Standard Standard Processor 528MHz MSM7201A 528MHz ARM11 528MHz MSM7225 528MHz MSM7201A 528MHz MSM7201A 528MHz MSM7201A Screen 3.1-inch (est.), 320 x 480 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 2.8-inch, 240 x 320 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 3.2-inch, 480 x 320 Headphone 3.5mm 3.5mm 3.5mm 3.5mm ExtUSB ExtUSB Touchscreen Capacitive Capacitive Resistive Capacitive Capacitive Capacitive Still Camera 5MP with AF 5MP with Flash 3.2MP 5MP with AF 3.2MP with AF 3.2MP with AF Bluetooth 2.0 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 Exchange ActiveSync ActiveSync -- ActiveSync Depends on version Depends on version Storage 256MB, microSD 8GB, microSD 512MB, microSD 512MB, microSD 512MB, microSD 256MB, microSD Battery 1400mAh 1500mAh 1100mAh 1500 mAh 1340 mAh 1150 mAh Weight 163g 114g 113g 135g 116g 158g It's been over 11 months since the first hit the scene with HTC's T-Mobile G1, and in that time we've come to the conclusion that, despite having more or less a clean slate on industrial design choices and specs, little progress has been made in the way of variation. Stacked up side-to-side, Motorola manages to stand out with a slide-out keyboard and skin, but under the hood, it's pretty much as uniform as a netbook. Peruse for yourself in the chart above.Update: We had a typo on the Hero screen size -- it's 3.2-inches, not the other way around! Stupid keyboards.ACTIVISION AND ROVIO SOAR PAST ONE MILLION ANGRY BIRDSTM TRILOGY UNITS WORLDWIDE Companies Confirm Plan to Release Angry Birds Trilogy on Wii UTM This Year London, UK 14th February 2013 Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), and Rovio Entertainment today announced that Angry Birds Trilogy has soared past one million units sold worldwide. Released in September 2012 on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft with Kinect for Xbox 360 compatibility, the PlayStation3 computer entertainment system with full PlayStationMove support and the Nintendo 3DS hand-held system, Angry Birds Trilogy won fans over by combining Rovio's three legendary mobile titles, Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio, along with new content, levels and features. Building on this success, Activision and Rovio will release Angry Birds Trilogy for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U systems in 2013. "Angry Birds' proven formula for fun and addicting gameplay translated perfectly to the big screen and the consumer response has been overwhelming," said Jennifer Mirabelli, VP of Sales and Marketing for Activision Publishing, Inc. "It was certainly satisfying to see Angry Birds gameplay adapt so well to other platforms in 2012," said Petri Jrvilehto, EVP of Games for Rovio. "The features specific to the Wii U are very intriguing to us, so we're excited to release this version to fans." Completely recreated in striking HD with refined controls, gamers can play Angry Birds Trilogy with all-new animations and interactive backgrounds through 700+ levels with more than 150 hours of addictive gameplay. Angry Birds Trilogy: Anger Management, the recently released DLC pack, features even more content with 130 fan-favourite puzzles like Wreck the Halls and Birdday Party. Angry Birds Trilogy is rated PEGI 3 and is available now for the Xbox 360 system, the PlayStation3 system and the Nintendo 3DS system. For more information, please visit www.activision.com. About Rovio Entertainment Ltd. Rovio Entertainment Ltd is an industry-changing entertainment media company headquartered in Finland and the creator of the globally successful Angry Birds franchise. Angry Birds, a casual puzzle game, became an international phenomenon within a few months of its release and is now the number one paid app of all time. Angry Birds have expanded rapidly in entertainment, publishing and licensing to become a beloved international brand. www.rovio.com About Activision Publishing, Inc. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activision.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the expected release date are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.When was demoed live on stage during Apple's , we saw a modern take on classic slot cars using iOS devices and Bluetooth-equipped toy vehicles -- basically a racing video game rendered with real world objects. But there's actually a lot more to it than that. Earlier this week, we talked briefly with Boris Sofman -- Anki's CEO and cofounder -- about the product and the startup's history and ambitions. While playing the game and taking pictures was off limits, we got the opportunity to examine the cars up close. Read on after the break. Sofman and his team started working on the technology behind their product five years ago white studying robotics at Carnegie-Mellon university in Pittsburgh. Operating in secrecy, Anki successfully raised $50 million in funding and, in February 2012, received the support of VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. The company wants to revolutionize consumer robotics -- a lofty goal for sure. See, Anki Drive isn't just a car racing game, it's an iOS-based robotics platform.There are three parts to Anki Drive. First there's the mat on which the racetrack is printed. It contains positional information optically encoded on its surface so that each car knows its exact position and speed. The cars feature two motors (one for each rear wheel), a small camera (pointing downwards), a radio, a 50MHz microprocessor, a power button, a status LED and a rechargeable battery. Build quality was excellent on the prototypes we handled and we noticed some interesting details, like the rubber-coated rear wheels and additional weights built into the chassis for better grip. There are also battery charging contacts on the bottom of each car. Finally, there's the Anki Drive app, which runs on iPhone or iPod touch and functions as the game's AI and controller (if you want to drive yourself).Here's how it works. Each car "reads" the positional information that's optically encoded on the mat's surface using the camera. There's enough data there for the cars to drive around the racetrack autonomously by continuously adjusting the speed of their motors. All of this happens up to 500 times per second thanks to the built-in microprocessor, and results in extremely fluid motion. The cars report their position and speed to the Anki Drive app via Bluetooth, and the AI calculates and sends new trajectories to each car several times per second based on the game's rules and the player's input. As such, the computational heavy lifting is handled by the iOS device, which makes perfect sense.Anki Drive is expected to ship in time for the holidays for about $200, but it's unclear how many cars will be included at that price. In the meantime, the app's available as a free download from the App Store, even though it's mostly just a product showcase. While the company doesn't have immediate plans to support other platforms, it's open to exploring alternatives in the future. Sofman assured us that we'd be getting some proper hands-on time with Anki Drive soon, so stay tuned.Maybe you've been to one of our , or heard about the good gadgety times that roll when Engadget comes to town. Get ready for that effect on steroids. The entire Engadget staff is insanely excited to announce a new two-day experience that kicks our meetup vibe up more than a few notches. Engadget Expand will be a brand new event designed from the ground up especially for you, dear reader. There are plenty of events out there for industry insiders and the tech press -- folks we'll absolutely cater to and invite -- but the crux of this experience is squarely for the consumer who loves, lives, and breathes technology. Our inaugural event will be in San Francisco at the historic Fort Mason Center over two days on March 16-17, 2013, with future events to be announced in the months ahead. Click on for more! Expand will be a unique opportunity to hear from your favorite consumer electronics luminaries on stage, talk directly with Engadget editors, and get your hands on some of the latest and greatest new devices at our show floor exhibition. The show will offer live panel and one-on-one sessions with some of our industry's greatest visionaries, plus put you face to face with the product people behind the most interesting and innovative devices on the market today. We'll also show you a great time at our day one after-party featuring live music and special guests. In addition to showcasing the hottest new technologies from the major manufacturers we know and love (and giving a bunch of them away to attendees!), we'll also be putting the spotlight on a whole new wave of inventors and product gurus you'll be hearing about next. Our Insert Coin: New Challengers competition takes our long-running series about the most promising and puts it on stage, with live product demos and a competition where your vote and our panel of judges combine forces to pick the best of the best. We urge you to experience the very first Expand with us this coming March, and we're doing our best to keep the ticket prices reasonable. If you aren't able to attend in person, you'll still be able to tune in to two full days of livestreamed coverage right here on . We'll have everything that's happening on stage beamed across the internets for you, along with a ton of special footage from backstage interviews and sneak peaks from the exhibit hall floor. Head on over to our to sign up and be the first to be informed about all the vital details and developments -- including information on when ticket sales will begin, speakers and companies exhibiting, Insert Coin submissions, and more. We hope to see you in San Francisco!To most people, probably better known for its desktop-related products, but at , the company made quite a big effort to pimp its A.M.P. (Antec Mobile Products) range of Bluetooth audio devices. You may have already come across the Bluetooth speaker (pictured above in several colors), but we've been told that an identical-looking SP1+ is coming this October. What's new? Well, the refresh will come with NFC-enabled Bluetooth pairing, as well as TrueWireless Stereo technology that will let you use one SP1+ as the left channel, and another SP1+ as the right channel (but both drivers in each SP1+ are still active in this case). Do read on to see what else Antec has up its sleeve later this year. For those seeking something more powerful, Antec will be offering the larger SP3 Bluetooth boombox. This device also comes with NFC, but unlike the SP1+, it lacks stereo streaming as it doesn't use CSR's Bluetooth solution (it uses ISSC's instead), plus there's probably not much need for this feature on such a large speaker. On the bright side, the SP3 scores some brownie points by letting you use NFC to both wake and pair it up simultaneously, whereas the SP1+ needs you to flick on its power switch first. As you can see, you also get a genuine leather strap to carry the speaker around with, and the device will be available in black or white when it arrives in October. On the other end of the scale there's this small SPzero mono Bluetooth speaker, which is clearly made with portability in mind. The speaker comes with a clip that lets you hook it onto your backpack or anywhere convenient, but its real selling point is that you can daisy-chain multiple units over wire to start your own party, even though it will still be mono playback. Again, expect the SPzero to hit the shelves in October with several color options. Last but not least, Antec will be bringing its Pulse Bluetooth stereo headphones some time in September. While there's not much detail on the full specs just yet, we do know that the Pulse supports aptX compressed streaming, as well as AUX pass-through when you're out of battery. We tried the headphones on briefly and were surprised by how light they were, and the foldable design should come in handy, too. Our only complaint would be that we wish the Pulse had better noise isolation, but given the nature of the on-ear design, it'd probably require active noise cancellation to achieve this, which would push the headphones out of the affordable market that they're intended for. We'll give the Pulse another try when it's ready.Apple Unveils iOS 7Completely Redesigned With Stunning User Interface & Great New FeaturesSAN FRANCISCO―June 10, 2013―Apple today unveiled iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone, featuring a stunning new user interface. iOS 7 is completely redesigned with subtle motion, an elegant color palette and distinct, functional layers that make it feel more alive. The typography has been refined for a cleaner, simpler look, and the use of translucency and motion makes even simple tasks more engaging. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop, enhanced Photos, Safari, Siri and introduces iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service based on the music you listen to on iTunes."iOS 7 is the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "To create it, we brought together a team with a broad range of expertise from design to engineering. With what we've been able to achieve together, we see iOS 7 as an exciting new beginning.""There is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation-it's about bringing order to complexity," said Jony Ive, Apple's senior vice president of Design. "iOS 7 is a clear representation of these goals. It has a whole new structure that is coherent and applied across the entire system."iOS 7 is completely redesigned with an entirely new user interface, but will be instantly familiar to the hundreds of millions of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users around the world. The new interface actually makes your phone appear bigger because everything is designed to take advantage of the entire screen. The redesigned fonts look amazing on the Retina display, creating even sharper text.iOS 7 introduces Control Center. Now the controls you want to access quickly are all in one convenient place. With just one swipe from the bottom of your screen, you have access to controls for Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Do Not Disturb, and the ability to adjust screen brightness, pause or play a song, jump to the next track and stream your music with AirPlay. Control Center also gives you instant access to apps such as Clock, Camera, Calculator and the Flashlight.With iOS 7, Notification Center is now available from the Lock screen so you can see all your notifications with a simple swipe, and the new Today feature in Notification Center gives you an at-a-glance view of your day with a summary of the important details such as weather, traffic, meetings and events.With improved Multitasking in iOS 7, developers have the ability to enable any app to multitask in the background with a new API. Users have the ability to switch between their apps in a more visual and intuitive way, and iOS 7 pays attention to which apps you use most and automatically keeps your content up to date in the background.AirDrop is an entirely new way to quickly and easily share content with people nearby. When you've got something you want to share, AirDrop shows you your contacts close by. Just select who you want to share with and AirDrop does the rest. AirDrop transfers are peer-to-peer so you can use it anywhere, without any network or set up required, and transfers are fully encrypted so your content is protected and private.iPhones are used to take more photos around the world every day than any other camera, and with iOS 7 the new Camera app features filters so you can add real-time photo effects. The Camera app now includes a square camera option, and you can quickly and easily switch between your four cameras-video, photo, square and panorama-with just a swipe.iOS 7 includes a redesigned Photos app that introduces Moments, a new way to automatically organize your photos and videos based on time and location. You can zoom out to see all your photos organized by Moments, Collections of Moments and Years. iOS 7 includes iCloud Photo Sharing, the easiest way to share just the photos you want with just the people you want. With iCloud Photo Sharing, family and friends can contribute their own photos and videos to your shared photo streams, and the new Activity view displays updates from your shared streams all in one place.Safari's redesigned user interface lets you see more of your content-starting with full-screen browsing. The new smart search field helps simplify searching, and there's a new view for your bookmarks and your Safari tabs. With iCloud Keychain, your passwords and credit card information are securely stored and available on all your devices, so navigating password protected sites or autofilling during transactions is simple and secure. Enhanced Parental Controls allow you to automatically block access to adult websites or only allow access to a specific set of permitted websites.Siri sounds better than ever with new male and female voices and includes Twitter search integration, so you can ask Siri what people are saying on Twitter*. Siri also now has Wikipedia integration, providing access to the world's most popular Internet reference site. Siri offers Bing web search within the app and the ability to change device settings and play back voicemail.The Music app has a beautiful new design and includes the new iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store, combined with features only iTunes can deliver. iTunes Radio is the best way to discover new music. When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV, you'll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple and genre-focused stations that are personalized just for you. iTunes Radio evolves based on the music you play and download. The more you use iTunes Radio and iTunes, the more it knows what you like to listen to and the more personalized your experience becomes. iTunes Radio also gives you access to exclusive "first listen" premieres from top selling artists, Siri integration plus the ability to buy anything you hear with just one tap.With over 900,000 apps, the App Store? is the world's largest app marketplace. iOS 7 now features Popular Apps Near Me, a new way to find apps based on your current location, and iOS 7 will automatically keep your apps up to date. The App Store also comes with a new Kids category, allowing teachers and parents to easily discover apps for children by age.Additional new iOS 7 features include:a new Find My iPhone Activation Lock feature that requires your Apple ID and password before you can turn off Find My iPhone, erase data or re-activate a device after it's been remotely erased;Night Mode in Maps that responds to ambient light when you use it in the dark;FaceTime audio for high quality calls over a data network;Notification sync, so when you dismiss a notification on one device it is dismissed on all of your devices;Phone, FaceTime and Messages blocking to prevent specific people from being able to contact you;Tencent Weibo support for users in China, a Chinese-English bilingual dictionary, and improved Chinese input including handwriting recognition for multiple Chinese characters;the ability for businesses to more efficiently deploy and manage iPhones and iPads; andenhanced in-car integration, bringing an Apple designed experience into the car for the first time.The iOS 7 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 7 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation) this fall. Some features may not be available on all products.Fair Labor Association Secures Commitment to Limit Workers' Hours, Protect Pay at Apple's Largest Supplier Thursday, March 29, 2012 Independent Investigation Uncovers Significant Issues; 35,500 Anonymous Surveys Give Voice to Worker Concerns FLA to Monitor, Publish Progress Reports on Apple and Foxconn Implementation WASHINGTON, D.C.- After a thorough, independent investigation found significant issues with working conditions at three factories in China operated by Apple's major supplier Foxconn, the Fair Labor Association secured groundbreaking commitments that will reduce working hours to legal limits while protecting pay, improve health and safety conditions, establish a genuine voice for workers, and will monitor on an ongoing basis to verify compliance. The nearly month-long investigation found excessive overtime and problems with overtime compensation; several health and safety risks; and crucial communication gaps that have led to a widespread sense of unsafe working conditions among workers. "The Fair Labor Association gave Apple's largest supplier the equivalent of a full-body scan through 3,000 staff hours investigating three of its factories and surveying more than 35,000 workers. Apple and its supplier Foxconn have agreed to our prescriptions, and we will verify progress and report publicly," said Auret van Heerden, President and CEO of the Fair Labor Association, a coalition of universities, non-profit organizations and businesses committed to improving the health, safety, fair treatment and respect of workers worldwide. FLA's investigation found that within the last 12 months, all three factories exceeded both the FLA Code standard of 60 hours per week (regular plus overtime) and the Chinese legal limits of 40 hours per week and 36 hours maximum overtime per month. During peak production periods, the average number of hours worked per week exceeded 60 hours per worker. There were periods in which some employees worked more than seven days in a row without the required 24 hours off. Full worker survey data is available at www.fairlabor.org/affiliate/apple. Foxconn has committed to bring its factories into full compliance with Chinese legal limits and FLA standards on working hours by July 2013, according to its remediation plan in FLA's report. The supplier will bring working hours in line with the legal limit of 49 hours per week, including overtime. This means a reduction in monthly overtime hours from 80 to 36, and would be a significant improvement given that most of the technology sector is struggling to address excessive overtime. More importantly, while employees will work fewer hours, Foxconn has agreed to develop a compensation package that protects workers from losing income due to reduced overtime. In order to maintain capacity while reducing workers' hours, Foxconn committed to increase its workforce significantly as it builds additional housing and canteen capacity. FLA also discovered that 14 percent of workers may not receive fair compensation for unscheduled overtime. The assessment found that unscheduled overtime was only paid in 30-minute increments. This means, for example, that 29 minutes of overtime work results in no pay and 58 minutes results in only one unit of overtime pay. Foxconn committed to pay workers fairly for all overtime as well as work-related meetings outside of regular working hours. In addition, FLA secured agreement from Foxconn and Apple to retroactively pay any worker due unpaid overtime. The companies are currently conducting an audit to determine the payments due to workers. According to FLA's worker survey, 64 percent of employees say that compensation does not meet their basic needs. FLA will conduct a cost of living study in Shenzhen and Chengdu to assist Foxconn in determining whether worker salaries meet FLA requirements for basic needs, as well as discretionary income. FLA observed other serious issues in areas such as health and safety, worker integration and communication, treatment of interns, and China's social security enrollment, among others. A considerable number of workers feel concerned about the protection of their health and safety. More than 43 percent of the workers report that they have experienced or witnessed an accident. These accidents range from hand injuries to factory vehicle accidents. Foxconn has committed to be more inclusive of workers in health and safety monitoring and decisions. Until now, Foxconn only recorded accidents that resulted in a production stoppage. Beginning immediately, Foxconn committed to require supervisors and workers to report all accidents resulting in an injury. Many of Foxconn's health and safety problems, including blocked exits, lack of or faulty personal protective equipment and missing permits, were immediately corrected during the course of the investigation. FLA found that, one year after the Chengdu explosion, Foxconn had improved operating procedures, measurement, and documentation to reduce risks related to aluminum dust where Apple products are made. The assessment also found that the union at Foxconn is dominated by management representatives and does not provide true worker representation. In keeping with local laws, Foxconn has agreed to ensure elections of worker representatives without management interference. FLA also secured agreement by Foxconn to find alternative ways to address low enrollment in social security benefit programs and to adapt its internship program to ensure that interns enjoy the protections necessary for a productive, healthy and safe educational experience. "If implemented, these commitments will significantly improve the lives of more than 1.2 million Foxconn employees and set a new standard for Chinese factories," van Heerden said. Following the FLA's methodology, independent assessors logged more than 3,000 staff hours inside the factories. They evaluated conditions based on visual observation and review of policies, procedures and documentation (payroll and time records, production schedules, employee records); interviewed hundreds of Foxconn workers and managers both on- and off-site; and conducted an anonymous worker perception survey of 35,500 randomly-selected Foxconn workers providing an in-depth understanding of working conditions, particularly during peak production of Apple products. Under FLA rules, its assessors have unfettered access to conduct thorough investigations of Apple suppliers. This investigation of three Foxconn factories at Guanlan, Longhua, and Chengdu, in China is the beginning of FLA's in-depth, thorough examination of the entire operation to assess whether workers' rights and labor standards are being respected throughout Apple's supply chain. "Joining the Fair Labor Association is voluntary. But once a company joins, FLA sets the rules of investigations and has full access to any supplier, owns the information collected and publishes its findings and recommendations for remedial action," van Heerden said. In addition to follow up studies related to this first investigation, FLA will verify Apple's and Foxconn's implementation of their remediation plans and will report publicly on progress. A full copy of the report is available at www.fairlabor.org/transparency/complaints-investigations. About the Fair Labor Association: The FLA combines the efforts of socially responsible companies, civil society organizations and colleges and universities to protect workers' rights and improve working conditions worldwide by promoting adherence to international labor standards. The FLA holds companies accountable for monitoring their own supply chains and conducts independent assessments to ensure that the FLA Code of Conduct is upheld. The FLA also acts on and resolves third party complaints and special investigations about workers' rights abuses at specific factories. Through public reporting, the FLA provides consumers with credible information to make responsible buying decision. FLA is governed by a 19-member Board of Directors that includes an independent Chair and eighteen members equally representing leading universities, labor and human rights organizations, and companies. For more information, visit www.fairlabor.org.Apple Introduces 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display SAN JOSE, California-October 23, 2012-Apple today introduced an all-new version of its popular 13-inch MacBook Pro featuring a stunning Retina display and all flash storage in a new compact design. At a mere 0.75 inches and 3.57 pounds, the remarkably portable 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is 20 percent thinner and almost a pound lighter than the current 13-inch MacBook Pro. "The 13-inch MacBook Pro is our most popular Mac, and today it gets completely reinvented with a new thin and light design, fast flash storage and a gorgeous Retina display," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "With vivid colours, razor sharp text and more pixels than anyone else's 15 or 17-inch notebooks, the Retina display completely changes what you expect from a notebook." The new MacBook Pro packs more than 4 million pixels into its 13-inch Retina display, nearly twice the number of pixels in an HD television. At 227 pixels per inch, the Retina display's pixel density is so high the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels at a normal viewing distance, so images look sharp and text looks like it does on the printed page. With four times the pixels of the current 13-inch MacBook Pro, you can view and edit video in pixel-accurate HD and see a new level of detail in high resolution images. The 13-inch Retina display uses IPS technology for a 178-degree wide viewing angle, and has 75 percent less reflection and 29 percent higher contrast than the current generation. Featuring flash storage that is up to four times faster than traditional notebook hard drives, the all-new MacBook Pro is extremely responsive, whether it's waking from sleep or launching your favourite apps.* Fast flash storage combined with the latest Intel dual-core processors gives the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display plenty of power to run your most demanding apps with ease. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display features 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 processors with the option to choose faster 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7 processors, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 8GB of 1600 MHz memory, and up to 768GB of flash storage. Two Thunderbolt and two USB 3.0 ports allow users to connect to multiple displays and high-performance devices, and a new HDMI port offers quick connectivity to an HDTV. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display also features a FaceTime HD camera, dual microphones, improved speakers, three-stream 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a MagSafe 2 power port. The 13-inch MacBook Pro battery delivers up to 7 hours of wireless productivity and can remain in standby for up to 30 days.** With the all new Power Nap feature in OS X Mountain Lion, your MacBook Pro with Retina display stays up to date while it sleeps. Power Nap automatically refreshes Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, and Photo Stream, and when the notebook is plugged in, downloads software updates and backs up your Mac using Time Machine. Continuing Apple's commitment to energy efficiency and the environment, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display meets stringent Energy Star 5.2 requirements and achieves an EPEAT Gold rating.*** Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminium and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Apple notebooks contain no brominated flame retardants, are PVC-free and are constructed of highly recyclable materials. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display ships 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 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is available with a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1 GHz, 8GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage starting at $1,699 (US); and with 256GB of flash storage starting at $1,999 (US). Configure-to-order options include faster dual-core Intel Core i7 processors and flash storage up to 768GB. Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at . The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is available today through the Apple Online Store (), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.Apple Introduces iPad mini Unveils New Fourth Generation iPad with Retina Display, Faster A6X Chip, FaceTime HD Camera & Ultrafast Wireless SAN JOSE, California―October 23, 2012―Apple today introduced iPad mini, a completely new iPad design that is 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter than the third generation iPad. The new iPad mini features a stunning 7.9-inch Multi-Touch display, FaceTime HD and iSight cameras, ultrafast wireless performance&sup1; and an incredible 10 hours of battery life&sup2;―every inch an iPad, yet in a revolutionary design you can hold in one hand. Apple today also announced the fourth generation iPad featuring a gorgeous 9.7-inch Retina display, new Apple-designed A6X chip, FaceTime HD camera and ultrafast wireless performance. Both iPad mini and fourth generation iPad come with iOS 6, the world's most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features. "iPad mini is every inch an iPad. With its gorgeous 7.9-inch display, iPad mini features the same number of pixels as the original iPad and iPad 2, so you can run more than 275,000 apps designed specifically for iPad," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "iPad mini is as thin as a pencil and as light as a pad of paper, yet packs a fast A5 chip, FaceTime HD and 5 megapixel iSight cameras and ultrafast wireless―all while delivering up to 10 hours of battery life." iPad mini comes in a beautiful new aluminum and glass design that is just 7.2 mm thin and weighs only 0.68 pounds. The 7.9-inch Multi-Touch display delivers the same iPad experience users have come to expect, in a design that has 35 percent more screen real estate than 7-inch tablets and up to an astonishing 67 percent more usable viewing area when browsing the web. The dual-core A5 chip delivers responsive graphics and a fast, fluid Multi-Touch experience, while still providing all-day battery life. iPad mini features a front-facing FaceTime HD camera and a 5 megapixel iSight camera on the back with advanced optics for taking sharp still pictures and recording full 1080p HD video. The iSight camera includes video image stabilization and both cameras feature backside illumination to let users capture great pictures in low light. iPad mini also allows easy sharing of photos with friends and family using iCloud's Shared Photo Streams. iPad mini features dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi support for speeds up to 150 Mbps,&sup3; which is twice the Wi-Fi performance compared to previous iPad models. iPad mini is available in Wi-Fi + Cellular models which are world-ready with built-in support for ultrafast wireless standards, including LTE&sup1; and DC-HSDPA, so you can browse, download and stream content fast from wherever you are. iPad mini data plans will be available with no contract so you can simply sign up and activate service directly from your iPad.? The Personal Hotspot feature means you can share a fast cellular data connection via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB with up to five other devices such as MacBook Pro, iPod touch or another iPad.? The new fourth generation iPad features the amazing 9.7-inch Retina display and includes a new Apple-designed A6X chip that delivers up to twice the CPU performance and up to twice the graphics performance of the A5X chip, all while delivering an incredible 10 hours of battery life in the same thin and light iPad design. Other new features include a FaceTime HD camera, twice the Wi-Fi performance when compared to previous iPad models and support for additional LTE carriers worldwide.? iPad mini and fourth generation iPad both feature support for the Lightning connector that is smaller, smarter and more durable than the 30-pin connector. Lightning connector accessories are available to support cameras, SD cards and VGA or HDMI digital video.? Existing iPad Smart Covers and the iPad Smart Case are compatible with fourth generation iPad, and new polyurethane Smart Covers custom-designed for iPad mini are available in pink, green, blue, light gray, dark gray and (PRODUCT) RED for $39. iPad runs over 700,000 apps available on the App Store?, including more than 275,000 apps designed specifically for iPad, from a wide range of categories including books, games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. iPad also supports the more than 5,000 newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand and the more than 1.5 million books available on the iBookstore?. The iTunes Store puts the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store at your fingertips with a catalog of over 26 million songs, over 190,000 TV episodes and over 45,000 films. The new iBooks app for iPad lets users read ebooks in over 40 languages. iBooks also lets users experience an entirely new kind of ebook that's dynamic, engaging and truly interactive. Ebooks created with Apple's new iBooks Author offer gorgeous, fullscreen ebooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, custom fonts, mathematical expressions and much more. Pricing & Availability iPad mini with Wi-Fi models will be available in black & slate or white & silver on Friday, November 2, for a suggested retail price of $329 (US) for the 16GB model, $429 (US) for the 32GB model and $529 (US) for the 64GB model. The fourth generation iPad with Wi-Fi models will also be available on Friday, November 2, in black or white for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model and $699 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad mini and the fourth generation iPad will be sold through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores, and select Apple Authorized Resellers in the US, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. iPad mini with Wi-Fi + Cellular and fourth generation iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular will start shipping a couple of weeks after the Wi-Fi models, beginning in the US on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. iPad mini with Wi-Fi + Cellular will be offered for a suggested retail price of $459 (US) for the 16GB model, $559 (US) for the 32GB model and $659 (US) for the 64GB model. Fourth generation iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular for AT&T, Sprint and Verizon will be offered for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. Additionally, iPad 2 is available at $399 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and just $529 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model where they are sold now. Customers can begin pre-ordering all models of iPad mini and all models of the fourth generation iPad on Friday, October 26 through the Apple Online Store in the US, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. &sup1;LTE is available through select carriers. Network speeds are dependent on carrier networks. Check with your carrier for details. &sup2;Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary. &sup3;Based on theoretical speeds, actual speeds may vary. ?Only available on some carriers. ?Personal Hotspot requires supporting data plan. Customers should check with their carrier for availability. ?LTE is available through select carriers. ?Sold separately.Apple Introduces iPad mini Unveils New Fourth Generation iPad with Retina Display, Faster A6X Chip, FaceTime HD Camera & Ultrafast Wireless SAN JOSE, California―October 23, 2012―Apple today introduced iPad mini, a completely new iPad design that is 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter than the third generation iPad. The new iPad mini features a stunning 7.9-inch Multi-Touch display, FaceTime HD and iSight cameras, ultrafast wireless performance&sup1; and an incredible 10 hours of battery life&sup2;―every inch an iPad, yet in a revolutionary design you can hold in one hand. Apple today also announced the fourth generation iPad featuring a gorgeous 9.7-inch Retina display, new Apple-designed A6X chip, FaceTime HD camera and ultrafast wireless performance. Both iPad mini and fourth generation iPad come with iOS 6, the world's most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features. "iPad mini is every inch an iPad. With its gorgeous 7.9-inch display, iPad mini features the same number of pixels as the original iPad and iPad 2, so you can run more than 275,000 apps designed specifically for iPad," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "iPad mini is as thin as a pencil and as light as a pad of paper, yet packs a fast A5 chip, FaceTime HD and 5 megapixel iSight cameras and ultrafast wireless―all while delivering up to 10 hours of battery life." iPad mini comes in a beautiful new aluminum and glass design that is just 7.2 mm thin and weighs only 0.68 pounds. The 7.9-inch Multi-Touch display delivers the same iPad experience users have come to expect, in a design that has 35 percent more screen real estate than 7-inch tablets and up to an astonishing 67 percent more usable viewing area when browsing the web. The dual-core A5 chip delivers responsive graphics and a fast, fluid Multi-Touch experience, while still providing all-day battery life. iPad mini features a front-facing FaceTime HD camera and a 5 megapixel iSight camera on the back with advanced optics for taking sharp still pictures and recording full 1080p HD video. The iSight camera includes video image stabilization and both cameras feature backside illumination to let users capture great pictures in low light. iPad mini also allows easy sharing of photos with friends and family using iCloud's Shared Photo Streams. iPad mini features dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi support for speeds up to 150 Mbps,&sup3; which is twice the Wi-Fi performance compared to previous iPad models. iPad mini is available in Wi-Fi + Cellular models which are world-ready with built-in support for ultrafast wireless standards, including LTE&sup1; and DC-HSDPA, so you can browse, download and stream content fast from wherever you are. iPad mini data plans will be available with no contract so you can simply sign up and activate service directly from your iPad.? The Personal Hotspot feature means you can share a fast cellular data connection via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB with up to five other devices such as MacBook Pro, iPod touch or another iPad.? The new fourth generation iPad features the amazing 9.7-inch Retina display and includes a new Apple-designed A6X chip that delivers up to twice the CPU performance and up to twice the graphics performance of the A5X chip, all while delivering an incredible 10 hours of battery life in the same thin and light iPad design. Other new features include a FaceTime HD camera, twice the Wi-Fi performance when compared to previous iPad models and support for additional LTE carriers worldwide.? iPad mini and fourth generation iPad both feature support for the Lightning connector that is smaller, smarter and more durable than the 30-pin connector. Lightning connector accessories are available to support cameras, SD cards and VGA or HDMI digital video.? Existing iPad Smart Covers and the iPad Smart Case are compatible with fourth generation iPad, and new polyurethane Smart Covers custom-designed for iPad mini are available in pink, green, blue, light gray, dark gray and (PRODUCT) RED for $39. iPad runs over 700,000 apps available on the App Store?, including more than 275,000 apps designed specifically for iPad, from a wide range of categories including books, games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. iPad also supports the more than 5,000 newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand and the more than 1.5 million books available on the iBookstore?. The iTunes Store puts the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store at your fingertips with a catalog of over 26 million songs, over 190,000 TV episodes and over 45,000 films. The new iBooks app for iPad lets users read ebooks in over 40 languages. iBooks also lets users experience an entirely new kind of ebook that's dynamic, engaging and truly interactive. Ebooks created with Apple's new iBooks Author offer gorgeous, fullscreen ebooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, custom fonts, mathematical expressions and much more. Pricing & Availability iPad mini with Wi-Fi models will be available in black & slate or white & silver on Friday, November 2, for a suggested retail price of $329 (US) for the 16GB model, $429 (US) for the 32GB model and $529 (US) for the 64GB model. The fourth generation iPad with Wi-Fi models will also be available on Friday, November 2, in black or white for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model and $699 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad mini and the fourth generation iPad will be sold through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores, and select Apple Authorized Resellers in the US, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. iPad mini with Wi-Fi + Cellular and fourth generation iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular will start shipping a couple of weeks after the Wi-Fi models, beginning in the US on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. iPad mini with Wi-Fi + Cellular will be offered for a suggested retail price of $459 (US) for the 16GB model, $559 (US) for the 32GB model and $659 (US) for the 64GB model. Fourth generation iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular for AT&T, Sprint and Verizon will be offered for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. Additionally, iPad 2 is available at $399 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and just $529 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model where they are sold now. Customers can begin pre-ordering all models of iPad mini and all models of the fourth generation iPad on Friday, October 26 through the Apple Online Store in the US, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.Apple Gives Sneak Peek Into the Future of the Pro DesktopSAN FRANCISCO-June 10, 2013-Apple today showed a sneak peek into thefuture of the pro desktop with a first look at the next generation MacPro. Designed around a revolutionary unified thermal core, the Mac Prointroduces a completely new pro desktop architecture and design thatis optimised for performance inside and out. With next generation Xeonprocessors, dual workstation-class GPUs, Thunderbolt 2, PCIe-basedflash storage, and ultra-fast ECC memory, the new 9.9-inch tall MacPro packs an amazing amount of power into an incredibly small package."With the latest Xeon processors, dual FirePro GPUs, ECC memory,PCIe-based flash and Thunderbolt 2, all built around a revolutionarythermal core, the next generation Mac Pro is the most radical Macyet," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of WorldwideMarketing. "All this performance and expandability is packed into adramatic new design that's one-eighth the volume, and best of all, itwill be assembled here in the USA."The next generation Mac Pro is architected around an ingenious unifiedthermal core that allows the desktop to efficiently share its entirethermal capacity across all the processors. The result is a prodesktop with breakthrough performance packed into a design that isone-eighth the volume of the current Mac Pro. Next generation IntelXeon E5 processors with up to 12 core configurations deliver doublethe floating point performance. With two AMD FirePro workstation-classGPUs, the all-new Mac Pro is up to 2.5 times faster than the currentMac Pro and delivers up to an amazing 7 teraflops of compute power.The new Mac Pro also features PCIe-based flash storage that is up to10 times faster than conventional desktop hard drives and includes thelatest four-channel ECC DDR3 memory running at 1866 MHz to deliver upto 60GBps of memory bandwidth.* With all that power, the new Mac Prolets you seamlessly edit full-resolution 4K video while simultaneouslyrendering effects in the background.The next generation Mac Pro is the most expandable Mac ever built.With six Thunderbolt 2 ports that can deliver up to 20Gbps ofbandwidth to each external device, Mac Pro is perfect for connectingto external storage, multiple PCI expansion chassis, audio and videobreakout boxes, and the latest external displays, including 4K desktopdisplays. Each of the six Thunderbolt 2 ports supports up to sixdaisy-chained devices, giving you the ability to connect up to 36high-performance peripherals. Thunderbolt 2 is completely backwardscompatible with existing Thunderbolt peripherals, and allows you totransfer data between Macs faster and easier than ever.The next generation Mac Pro will be available later this year. Tolearn more, visit www.apple.com/mac-pro.*Performance claims are based on technical specifications ofpreproduction Mac Pro hardware as of June 2013.Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, alongwith OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads thedigital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Applehas reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and AppStore, and is defining the future of mobile media and computingdevices with iPad.Apple Unveils iOS 7Completely Redesigned With Stunning User Interface & Great New FeaturesSAN FRANCISCO―June 10, 2013―Apple today unveiled iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone, featuring a stunning new user interface. iOS 7 is completely redesigned with subtle motion, an elegant color palette and distinct, functional layers that make it feel more alive. The typography has been refined for a cleaner, simpler look, and the use of translucency and motion makes even simple tasks more engaging. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop, enhanced Photos, Safari, Siri and introduces iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service based on the music you listen to on iTunes."iOS 7 is the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "To create it, we brought together a team with a broad range of expertise from design to engineering. With what we've been able to achieve together, we see iOS 7 as an exciting new beginning.""There is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation-it's about bringing order to complexity," said Jony Ive, Apple's senior vice president of Design. "iOS 7 is a clear representation of these goals. It has a whole new structure that is coherent and applied across the entire system."iOS 7 is completely redesigned with an entirely new user interface, but will be instantly familiar to the hundreds of millions of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users around the world. The new interface actually makes your phone appear bigger because everything is designed to take advantage of the entire screen. The redesigned fonts look amazing on the Retina display, creating even sharper text.iOS 7 introduces Control Center. Now the controls you want to access quickly are all in one convenient place. With just one swipe from the bottom of your screen, you have access to controls for Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Do Not Disturb, and the ability to adjust screen brightness, pause or play a song, jump to the next track and stream your music with AirPlay. Control Center also gives you instant access to apps such as Clock, Camera, Calculator and the Flashlight.With iOS 7, Notification Center is now available from the Lock screen so you can see all your notifications with a simple swipe, and the new Today feature in Notification Center gives you an at-a-glance view of your day with a summary of the important details such as weather, traffic, meetings and events.With improved Multitasking in iOS 7, developers have the ability to enable any app to multitask in the background with a new API. Users have the ability to switch between their apps in a more visual and intuitive way, and iOS 7 pays attention to which apps you use most and automatically keeps your content up to date in the background.AirDrop is an entirely new way to quickly and easily share content with people nearby. When you've got something you want to share, AirDrop shows you your contacts close by. Just select who you want to share with and AirDrop does the rest. AirDrop transfers are peer-to-peer so you can use it anywhere, without any network or set up required, and transfers are fully encrypted so your content is protected and private.iPhones are used to take more photos around the world every day than any other camera, and with iOS 7 the new Camera app features filters so you can add real-time photo effects. The Camera app now includes a square camera option, and you can quickly and easily switch between your four cameras-video, photo, square and panorama-with just a swipe.iOS 7 includes a redesigned Photos app that introduces Moments, a new way to automatically organize your photos and videos based on time and location. You can zoom out to see all your photos organized by Moments, Collections of Moments and Years. iOS 7 includes iCloud Photo Sharing, the easiest way to share just the photos you want with just the people you want. With iCloud Photo Sharing, family and friends can contribute their own photos and videos to your shared photo streams, and the new Activity view displays updates from your shared streams all in one place.Safari's redesigned user interface lets you see more of your content-starting with full-screen browsing. The new smart search field helps simplify searching, and there's a new view for your bookmarks and your Safari tabs. With iCloud Keychain, your passwords and credit card information are securely stored and available on all your devices, so navigating password protected sites or autofilling during transactions is simple and secure. Enhanced Parental Controls allow you to automatically block access to adult websites or only allow access to a specific set of permitted websites.Siri sounds better than ever with new male and female voices and includes Twitter search integration, so you can ask Siri what people are saying on Twitter*. Siri also now has Wikipedia integration, providing access to the world's most popular Internet reference site. Siri offers Bing web search within the app and the ability to change device settings and play back voicemail.The Music app has a beautiful new design and includes the new iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store, combined with features only iTunes can deliver. iTunes Radio is the best way to discover new music. When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV, you'll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple and genre-focused stations that are personalized just for you. iTunes Radio evolves based on the music you play and download. The more you use iTunes Radio and iTunes, the more it knows what you like to listen to and the more personalized your experience becomes. iTunes Radio also gives you access to exclusive "first listen" premieres from top selling artists, Siri integration plus the ability to buy anything you hear with just one tap.With over 900,000 apps, the App Store? is the world's largest app marketplace. iOS 7 now features Popular Apps Near Me, a new way to find apps based on your current location, and iOS 7 will automatically keep your apps up to date. The App Store also comes with a new Kids category, allowing teachers and parents to easily discover apps for children by age.Additional new iOS 7 features include:a new Find My iPhone Activation Lock feature that requires your Apple ID and password before you can turn off Find My iPhone, erase data or re-activate a device after it's been remotely erased;Night Mode in Maps that responds to ambient light when you use it in the dark;FaceTime audio for high quality calls over a data network;Notification sync, so when you dismiss a notification on one device it is dismissed on all of your devices;Phone, FaceTime and Messages blocking to prevent specific people from being able to contact you;Tencent Weibo support for users in China, a Chinese-English bilingual dictionary, and improved Chinese input including handwriting recognition for multiple Chinese characters;the ability for businesses to more efficiently deploy and manage iPhones and iPads; andenhanced in-car integration, bringing an Apple designed experience into the car for the first time.The iOS 7 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 7 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation) this fall. Some features may not be available on all products.Apple Releases Developer Preview of OS X Mavericks With More Than 200 New FeaturesSAN FRANCISCO-June 10, 2013-Apple today released a developer preview of OS X Mavericks, the 10th major release of the world's most advanced operating system. With more than 200 new features, OS X Mavericks brings Maps and iBooks to the Mac, introduces Finder Tags and Tabs, enhances multi-display support for power users, delivers new core technologies for breakthrough power efficiency and performance, and includes an all new version of Safari. The preview release of OS X Mavericks is available to Mac Developer Program members starting today. Mac users will be able to download Mavericks from the Mac App Store? this fall."The Mac has consistently outpaced the PC industry and OS X continues to be the most innovative and easy to use operating system in the world," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "OS X Mavericks is our best version yet and features new Maps and iBooks apps, Finder Tags and Tabs, enhanced multi-display support, performance and energy saving features, and an all new Safari."Maps brings advanced mapping technologies from iOS to the Mac, including crisp vector graphics, stunning 3D view and interactive Flyover. With Maps you can plan a trip from your Mac, then send it to your iPhone for voice navigation on the road. Maps integration throughout Mavericks gives users helpful maps from within Mail, Contacts and Calendar, and developers can integrate the same powerful mapping features into their apps through the Map Kit API. With iBooks you have instant access to your existing iBooks library, as well as the more than 1.8 million titles in the iBooks Store, from textbooks and classics to the latest best sellers. iBooks also works seamlessly across your devices, so you can read a book on your Mac, make notes or highlights, and then pick up exactly where you left off on your iPad.OS X Mavericks introduces new power user features for the ultimate Mac experience. Tags are a powerful new way to organize and find your files anywhere on your Mac or in iCloud. You can easily tag any file in the Finder, in iCloud, or when saving a new document. Tags appear in the Finder Sidebar to enable you to view files by project or category. Finder Tabs reduce the clutter on your desktop by consolidating multiple Finder windows into one window with multiple tabs. You can customize the view for each tab, move files between tabs, and even run the Finder with multiple tabs open in full-screen. Mavericks also makes using multiple displays even easier and more powerful. The menu bar and dock are available on any display, and users can now easily run windowed or full-screen apps on whichever display they choose, with no configuration required. With Mavericks you can also use your HDTV as a second display using Apple TV and AirPlay.New core technologies in OS X Mavericks improve the energy efficiency and responsiveness of your Mac. Timer Coalescing intelligently groups together low-level operations so that the CPU can spend more time in a low-power state, saving energy without affecting performance or responsiveness. App Nap reduces the power consumed by apps that you're not using. Compressed Memory technology keeps your Mac fast and responsive. When your system's memory begins to fill up, Compressed Memory automatically compresses inactive data. When these items are needed again, Mavericks instantly uncompresses them.The new version of Safari delivers blazing performance, innovative features and breakthrough technologies. Safari outperforms other browsers in energy efficiency, memory efficiency and JavaScript performance. Safari's new process-per-tab architecture makes the browser more responsive, stable and secure. Safari also introduces innovations like Shared Links, which make it easy to discover, read and share interesting new content from Twitter and LinkedIn, all in one place.Additional features in OS X Mavericks include:* iCloud Keychain, which safely stores your website login information, credit card numbers and Wi-Fi passwords, and pushes them to all of your devices so you don't need to remember them. Information is always protected with AES-256 encryption when it's stored on your Mac and when it's pushed to your devices;* an updated Calendar, which adds integration with Maps, continuous scrolling so you can zip through weeks or months, and a new Inspector to simplify event creation and editing;* interactive Notifications, allowing you to reply to a message, respond to a FaceTime call or even delete an email without leaving the app you're using. Websites can now use notifications to keep you up to date on the latest news, scores and other information. While You Were Away Notifications make sure you see what happened while your Mac was asleep; and* Xcode 5, with powerful, intuitive new tools for developers that measure every aspect of app performance and energy use, as well as app testing.Apple Announces iTunes RadioRadio Stations Tailored to You Based on the Music You Listen to on iTunesSAN FRANCISCO-June 10, 2013-Apple today announced iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalogue of music from the iTunes Store, combined with features only iTunes can deliver. When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV, you'll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple and genre-focused stations that are personalised just for you. iTunes Radio evolves based on the music you play and download. The more you use iTunes Radio and iTunes, the more it knows what you like to listen to and the more personalised your experience becomes. iTunes Radio also gives you access to exclusive "first listen" premieres from top selling artists, Siri integration, plus the ability to tag or buy anything you hear with just one click."iTunes Radio is an incredible way to listen to personalised radio stations which have been created just for you," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "It's the music you love most and the music you're going to love, and you can easily buy it from the iTunes Store with just one click."iTunes Radio offers music fans access to thousands of new songs every week, as well as serving up exclusive music from new and popular artists before you hear them anywhere else. Whether it's an exclusive single from an up-and-coming band or a pre-release stream of an entire album, iTunes Radio has it all. iTunes Radio will also be home to special events including live streams direct from the iTunes Festival in London and other exclusive iTunes Sessions.Coming this fall, iTunes Radio will offer you an incredibly personalised experience on day one based on your listening history and past purchases from iTunes. In addition, if you're listening to a song you like from iTunes Radio or your music library you will be able to have a station built around those. It's easy to create and customise stations based on whatever you want to hear. Search for artists, songs, or genres, and iTunes Radio will instantly build a station around your choice.Let Siri make your listening experience even more fun. Ask Siri "Who plays that song?" or "Play more like this" and Siri will make it happen. Say something like "Play Jazz Radio" or ask for any of your existing favourite stations and genres. Shape your stations by telling Siri what you like and don't like, or tell Siri to pause, stop or skip. You can also have Siri add songs to your Wish List to download later.iTunes Radio is ad-supported and free for everyone. iTunes Match users get iTunes Radio ad-free, so instead of hearing the occasional ad on iTunes Radio, iTunes Match makes your listening completely ad-free. With iTunes Match, all your music-even songs you've imported from CDs-are stored in iCloud. So iTunes Radio can use information about your entire music collection to make your stations even more personalised. iTunes Match costs 21.99 for a year.Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.Whether you think they're infamous or merely a signature piece of Apple design, there's no doubt most of us have been exposed the company's iconic white earbuds. Along with the latest and the , Apple announced the replacement for those dreaded earphones, a pair of 'buds called the . Given that these are bundled with new iDevices (also sold as a standalone for $29), it's hard not to think that the folks at Cupertino are drinking some sort of spiked Kool-Aid, claiming these rival headphones that cost hundreds more. While reviewing the likes of the iPhone 5, we also gave the EarPods a listen to find out whether or not they're just an over-engineered set of 'buds. You'll find our detailed verdict after the break. Hardware Let's get his out of the way before we dive into the headphones. As you may have noticed, the EarPods come with a travel case unlike the older iBuds. It's about the size of an 11-inch MacBook Air charger, and it's super useful for wrapping up the EarPods when you're on the go. Taking a close peek from the back and sides, it's clear that the pods are built upon the foundation of a standard set of buds. In actuality, the design is largely similar to the original iBuds, down to the ceramic-like plastic. The key difference is that the driver ports are now located toward the edge, channeling all of the audio directly into your ear canals. This is a stark contrast from the standard buds, which throw the sound forward and force you to fiddle with them and shove them in your ears to hear better -- a nuisance, to say the least. The cabling is virtually identical to the older model (and just as tangle-prone), with the same smooth grey rubber and white 3.5mm plug. What has changed is the inline-remote and mic, which is now roughly 25 percent larger with curvier edges. The new remote has a more tactile feel, too, with a longer range of throw on the buttons (volume up and down, and a multifunction button). Keen eyes will notice a Siri emblem on the back of the middle button, but it doesn't spell any new features for the remote. You'll also notice that the connections at the stems have been refined with less rubber, but it remains to be seen if that has any bearing on durability. The cabling is virtually identical to the older model (and just as tangle-prone). In case you're wondering about the various vents, we'll also detail those, too. The two ports on the bottom of each stem are said to serve as bass ports, while the slit on the back of each Pod apparently helps the mid-range sound breathe. Beyond that, Apple's staying mum on what the port inside of the Pod is for -- not to mention, any concrete specs on the driver planted inside of each Pod. What we do know is that those drivers are now made from "rigid and flexible materials." According to iFixit, they've notably got a paper speaker cone like many normal speakers, unlike the totally plastic build of the older generation. The ports are definitely not for show either, as blocking the top ones will have a negative effect on the mid-range tonality (read: it makes for some trapped, stuffy sound). The same goes for the bottom ports with regard to bass. Fit By and large, Mr. Ive and his team have succeeded in making a set of 'buds that will comfortably fit a wide variety of ears. A few Engadget staffers have used the Pods (don't worry, we had our own pairs and didn't need to share earwax) and we've generally come to the conclusion that these are the most comfortable 'buds we've used in recent memory. Keep in mind that by "earbuds," we're not referring to in-ear headphones like the . We make this distinction because the EarPods aren't intended to create a seal and isolate external noise -- take note city dwellers -- but rather, rest comfortably against the tragus and surrounding cartilage, letting most the ambient noise around you mix in. The oval-shaped surface on each bud really does a great of job of keeping the Pods in place. While most 'buds, (including Apple's older set) rely on rubber or cloth-wrapped edges to stay in place, these don't need anything of the sort. All told, despite being totally hard plastic, we failed to notice any discomfort after hours of use. Heck, sometimes we even forgot we had them in. All of that said, the fit isn't tight. For those who prefer a secure-feeling fit and seal, the care-free feel here might be a tad annoying. While rushing through NYC on day one with 'em, we consistently felt the need to try and re-secure the Pods, only to realize they weren't anywhere close to falling out -- chalk it up to a force of habit. After a while, you start to trust that they'll stay anchored -- and they do. They're certainly adequate for a trip to the gym, but you might want to consider something a little more sweat-resistant if you're going to be exercising on the regular. Notably, no matter how hard we shook our heads, the EarPods never fell out, and rarely -- if ever -- did we need to adjust them. Sound We've gotta say, the EarPods sound surprisingly good for $29 'buds. Do they beat out headphones that cost "hundreds more," as Apple claims? We wouldn't go that far, but we can positively say that these are a vast improvement over Apple's original 'buds, whose sound is thin, tinny and harsh. We've given the EarPods a listen using the likes of laptops, various generations of the iPhone, an iPad 2 and even a Galaxy Nexus, all of which were able to drive them easily. The earphones have a smoother, fuller and more balanced sound, with improved emphasis on the bass and low mids. The most notable difference, however, is how much lower you'll need to set the volume on your device. We found that we needed to raise the volume many clicks higher on the old 'buds than on the EarPods to get equal sound output -- and at that point the older buds start to noticeably distort. So the new design definitely ports the audio into your ears better, but it's not to say the effect of a louder output at lower settings is the only improvement. Cranking the volume on our various devices, we genuinely noticed the EarPods maintained a much clearer signal in comparison to the older generation. It was usually only until we started boosting our EQs that distortion and clipping became noticeable. The EarPods sound surprisingly good for $29 'buds. As improved as the audio quality is, they still sound like earbuds. There is a certain level of life-likeness that you'll find on more expensive headphones that isn't here. Especially in louder environments, the fuller sound is harder to discern. All that said, the treble doesn't become overly abrasive or distorted as you raise the volume to compensate for noisier surroundings. We especially found that cymbal hits lack the crispy bite that better headphones can produce. Outside of an extremely quiet room it becomes hard to appreciate how much better the sound is with this set. What we're left with are headphones that largely sound better than the last-gen 'buds (and even the bloated-sounding in-ears that come with Samsung devices). Still, they fall short of in-ears like the $100 S4i and $180 B&W C5, despite Apple's claims to the contrary. Apple's made huge strides with the EarPods, which inch closer toward more premium offerings, and we hope certain aspects of the design might someday make their way into Apple's $79 in-ears -- that could be something really special. Of course, that leaves the onboard microphone. We're pleased to say the microphone quality is on par with the older 'buds, which we've never had much of an issue with for voice calls. Don't take our word for it, however, check out the direct recording of each in the sound bite below to hear for yourself. by Wrap-up It's safe to say Apple just raised the bar on bundled / inexpensive earbuds, but we wouldn't go so far as to recommend you rush out and purchase them as a standalone set. The key thing about Apple's EarPods is that they're tolerable to use -- a major improvement over the uncomfortable fit and abysmal audio quality of its predecessor and many others, for that matter. That said, many of the audio improvements become tricky to appreciate outside of quiet listening environments. If you're buying a new iDevice, we'd still recommend picking up better in-ears, especially if you plan on using them outdoors and on the go. Don't be quick to toss them, however, as they're likely to come in handy as a secondary set. The EarPods are possibly the best-sounding set of $29 earbuds you'll be able to find, but at the end of the day, that's not saying much.Better, faster, stronger. The claims to be better in all the ways you'd expect a refreshed product to be better: it steps up to Ivy Bridge, and packs NVIDIA Kepler chips for stronger graphics performance. It sports an improved display that cuts down on glare by 75 percent.But thinner? For the first time in the product's history, the iMac is missing a built-in optical drive, which allows it to measure just 5mm thick around the edges. We can't say we've been waiting for a desktop quite that skinny, but if the new iMac delivers substantive improvements over the last-gen model, we won't begrudge Apple a little eye candy. So, does the iMac do more than just sit pretty? Are the performance and display as good as we've been led to believe? In a word, yes. Here's why. Look and feelFor the past few years, our have been rather perfunctory. Until this fall, when Apple finally announced fresh models, the design remained the same for several years running. Even now, we're tempted to gloss over the hardware section: from the front, this looks more or less like the last-generation iMac. Same aluminum build, including that metal chin with the glossy black Apple logo in the center. The stand in the back is basically the same, with a circular pass-through for the power cable. (As it happens, the stand is slightly more compact than it had been, but that means little in terms of space savings since the screen sizes are the same as they always were.) Both the 21- and 27-inch machines are significantly lighter, too, but you'll only notice that when you're taking yours out of the box.No, if you want to appreciate the difference in design, you'll have to tear yourself away from that fully laminated screen and roll your desk chair off to the side. Now that the iMacs don't have built-in optical drives, they measure 5mm thick around the edges, about the thickness of four credit cards. Aside from nixing the DVD drive, of course, Apple was able to achieve that thin shape by adopting a process called friction-stir welding, a manufacturing technique commonly used in the aviation industry. Naturally, as you can see, the backside isn't that thin throughout; it puffs out in the center where the processor, GPU, RAM and all that fun stuff lives. Even so, it's dramatically, almost comically skinnier than last year's model. Up to a 40 percent reduction in volume, to be exact, depending on which one you get.All told, the new design is eye-catching, and will probably earn you bragging rights the next time you give someone a tour of the home office. But how often are you going to be staring at your computer edge-on? And how many stares can a desktop draw if you never take it out in public? As you'll see, we ultimately recommend the iMac for several reasons -- namely, speed, display quality and graphics might. Thinness counts, too, but it feels more like a nice bonus than anything else.With one notable exception, the selection of openings is identical on both the 21- and 27-inch model. The ports (all located on the back side toward the right) include an Ethernet jack, two Thunderbolt connections and four USB 3.0 sockets. There's also an SDXC reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack, located closest to the edge. The power button is also on the back side, but over on the left-hand side. Up front, tucked into the front bezel, is a FaceTime camera, capable of recording 720p video. Hidden nearby are dual microphones, along with an ambient light sensor allowing the screen to automatically adjust the brightness depending on the surrounding lighting conditions.The one difference is that the memory slots are user-accessible on the 27-inch model, but not on the 21-inch one. To open up the door on the backside, unplug the machine, remove the power cable from the back of the computer and then use a pen or a safety pin to press a button that causes the door to open. To be clear, though, this applies to the RAM only; the storage drive is inaccessible regardless of which model you choose.Keyboard, mouse and Magic TrackpadJust as the overall design hasn't changed much, neither have the included peripherals. As ever, the Bluetooth keyboard is a compact little thing, fairly small considering it was built to live on a desk (one big enough to accommodate a 21- or 27-inch computer, at that). In fact, the keys take up about as much space as on the 15-inch MacBook Pro, and the spacing between the buttons is similar, too. The only reason it might have been bigger, then, would have been to accommodate a numpad, which you'll not find here.In general, typing feels very similar to typing on a MacBook, which is to say the keys offer a decent amount of travel, and all of the major buttons (Delete, Enter, etc.) are easy to find by feel. Typing is also comfortable thanks to the battery door on the underside of the device, which gives the keyboard a slight wedge shape. All in all, it's an easy typing experience with a very small learning curve. If we could have Apple change one thing, though, it would be to coat the keys with the same soft-touch finish it uses on its laptop keyboards. The plastic buttons here are a bit scratchier, not that it's likely to interfere with the typing experience in any way.If you wanted, you could configure your iMac so that it came with both a and a in the box. By default, though, you get a choice between one or the other. (The regular Apple Mouse is also an option.) Far be it for us to tell you what to do, but if it were us shopping, we'd either choose the trackpad, or pay $69 extra so that we could have both. Part of it's that the trackpad works flawlessly, but it's also that the Magic Mouse is too narrow and too flat to fit comfortably in the hand. To be fair, the entire top of the mouse is one big multi-touch surface, capable of pinch-to-zoom, two-finger scrolling and all the gestures that serve as shortcuts in OS X. All of that would be awkward to pull off on a truly ergonomic mouse with a curvier shape. Still, if you've ever seen , you know mice like this don't need to be that flat -- not unless clean aesthetics are a priority, anyway.Fortunately, the mouse performs well on a variety of surfaces, including wood and metal. It also works reliably as, well, a mouse. Simple cursor navigation is a breeze, as are more complex gestures. We had no problem scrolling through pages using two fingers, or scrolling to the side with two fingers to swipe between pages. Zooming also works smoothly -- pinch-to-zoom, the obvious method, feels controlled, though when we had the option (like in Google Maps) we used a two-finger scroll to zoom instead.The Magic Trackpad, to those of you who haven't seen one before, is basically an overgrown version of the glass touchpad Apple uses on all its laptops. Meaning, it offers a smooth, low-friction surface with very precise tracking. As you'd expect, it supports all the same gestures as the Magic Mouse, though it also does things the Magic Mouse can't. To put it as simply as possible, the Magic Mouse only supports single- and two-finger gestures, while the Magic Trackpad also allows for three- and four-finger ones. These include: pinching your index finger and three fingers to either expose the desktop or the Launchpad; swiping down with three fingers for App Expose; swiping up with three fingers for Mission Control; and swiping left or right with three fingers to move between full-screen apps. We'll admit having an external trackpad instead of a mouse can take some getting used to, even if you're normally glued to the touchpad on your laptop. Still, once you get comfy, you might appreciate the bigger surface area, and also the wider range of gestures. Your wrist might thank you too.Display and soundThis is your single best reason to take the plunge.If you're thinking of buying the new iMac, this is your single best reason to take the plunge. That and, well, the screaming performance. Though the screens have the same resolution as the last generation (1,920 x 1,080 for the 21-inch model and 2,560 x 1,440 for the 27-incher), they promise 75 percent less glare, thanks to a full lamination manufacturing process that eliminates the gap between the LCD and the glass. In principle, it's not unlike the optical bonding technique used in the , iPhone 5 and ; we've just never seen it done on a screen quite this large. Additionally, Apple used a process called plasma deposition to apply an anti-reflective coating at an atomic level, instead of just blanketing the screen with the stuff. The goal there was to reduce reflections on that glass layer without dulling the quality of the colors coming from underneath.We'd say it was a success. Even with the screens turned off, the new iMac is noticeably less reflective than last year's model. Turn the two systems on, though, and the difference just speaks for itself. In our , we already described the display as a wall of color, and that still feels like the most apt description. There really are very few reflections standing in between you and those vibrant tones. True, you'd never mistake this for a matte display (there's still a little glare, as you can see in some of our product shots), but it's still a huge improvement over last year's model, not to mention competing all-in-ones. In fact, with the brightness turned up far enough, you'll struggle to even make out your own reflection. As you can imagine, the screen is easily viewable from off-angles, too, which should come in handy the next time it's movie night and there's not enough room for everyone to have a front row seat. You can also adjust the screen angle by tilting it forward and back, but given the lack of glare, we rarely felt the need to.Once you stop gawking at those rich colors, you'll notice the impressive level of detail. The truth is, even when it comes to mundane tasks like web browsing, having a 1080p or 2,560 x 1,440 display makes everything feel just a bit crisper, a bit tidier. It wasn't until we started playing games and viewing photos, though, that we truly appreciated all those pixels. What can we say? It's a fantastic spec, especially if you're stepping up from a lower-res system. Still, we can't help but feel that the resolution is of secondary importance compared to the new screen technologies used here; after all, last year's models had the same resolution and still didn't look this nice.The neat thing about the iMac's speaker setup is that unless someone gave you a tour of the system, you might not know exactly where the sound was coming from. Had you asked us back when we knew nothing about it, we would've guessed the sound came from somewhere around back. In fact, though, the speaker chambers are located on either side of the display, with the sound firing down from the bottom edge of the screen. Considering the audio is aimed down, then, instead of toward the user, the soundstage is actually quite wide -- wide enough that maybe, just maybe you'll be willing to set aside your headphones the next time you launch into a gaming marathon. The quality itself is rich -- forceful, even -- with only a hint of distortion at higher volumes (not that I pushed it past the median level when it was just me working by myself). Suffice to say, you probably don't need an external pair of speakers here; as is, we felt like we were rediscovering favorite songs, in that we were able to make out details that would have gotten drowned out on a lesser system.PerformanceAs you'd expect from a desktop that's getting refreshed in late 2012, the new iMac steps up to Intel Ivy Bridge processors, along with NVIDIA GPUs. For the purposes of this review, we tested two units (one in each size, natch). This included a 21-inch system with a 3.1GHz Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M GPU, and a 27-inch machine with a 3.4GHz Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 2GB GeForce GTX 680MX. Were you to buy these yourself, they'd cost $2,149 and $2,599, respectively.Predictably, they do do well. Very, very well. Starting with raw benchmark scores, the 21.5-inch version we tested notched an average Geekbench score of 12,577, while our 27-inch review unit scored 13,045. The 27-inch iMac we reviewed last year scored just 8,465, but our ability to compare results is limited since that was a Core i5 unit, and not the sort of specially configured system we tested this year. Our two test machines also scored well in Xbench, managing 531.91 and 560.44, respectively. (To put that in context, the new got 454 in the same test, which is a good showing in and of itself.)Refreshed silicon doesn't tell the whole story.Still, that refreshed silicon doesn't tell the whole story. That performance jump, we suspect, mostly comes from Apple's , which combines a 5,400RPM hard drive and an SSD into one volume -- similar to the setup you'll find in high-end gaming rigs. (Note: you need to configure the iMac with this feature, as it doesn't come standard.) It's a significant change, especially since as recently as last year even the most tricked-out iMacs still had spinning hard drives (7,200RPM ones, mind you, but spinning hard drives nonetheless). Here, you get a 128GB disk, and it's not just there for caching, or speeding up boot times. The difference between this and other so-called hybrid storage solutions is that by default, FusionDrive stores most everything on that SSD, including the OS and applications. (Media files might live on the HDD, since you're not as likely to open them every day.) For the most part, then, the SSD will be your primary mode of storage; it's not until you run out of space that the machine really starts off-loading content onto the slower of the two drives.And yes, it's fast, especially compared to the HDDs in last year's models. Using the Blackmagic disk benchmark, we recorded average read speeds of 409.64 MB/s and average writes of 320.14 MB/s. We should say, too, that although we varied the stress load, simulating transfers between 1GB and 5GB, the performance remained pretty consistent. For instance, in the 1GB test, which tends to yield higher numbers than the 5GB one, our average read and write rates were only slightly higher: 412.73 MB/s and 321.93 MB/s, respectively. We also didn't see that significant a gap between our high and low numbers; read speeds, for instance, never dipped below the 390s, but also never rose about the 420s. The numbers also stayed even from one machine to the other: our two systems delivered nearly identical numbers across many rounds of testing.What does that mean in practice? For starters, very little waiting. The system cold-boots in just 16 seconds. Chrome and Firefox take less than a second to open; Skype takes less than two while iPhoto, a more intensive app, takes just under three. Graphics-wise, we had no problem playing Crusader Kings II and Half-Life 2 at the max resolution (1080p), even on one of the lesser-specced 21-inch models.Software and warrantyBy now, all Apple computers ship with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and that of course includes these here iMacs. We'll steer you toward our detailed if you're intensely curious about all the new features, but here's the tl;dr version: deeper iCloud integration, built-in sharing to Facebook and other social networks and a new, Growl-inspired notification center.As ever, Apple's standard warranty includes one year of eligible hardware repairs and 90 days of free phone support. The AppleCare extended warranty ($169 for iMacs) extends your coverage to three years of service, along with three years of phone support.Configuration optionsLet's start with the smaller of the two machines, the 21.5-inch model. That guy starts at $1,299 with a quad-core 2.7GHz Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB (5,400RPM) hard drive and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M GPU with 512MB of dedicated video memory. For $1,499, you get a faster 2.9GHz quad-core Core i5 processor with a slightly better GT 650M GPU (also with 512MB of memory). Even at that higher price, you still get 1TB of storage and eight gigs of RAM. In both cases, too, you can upgrade to 16GB of RAM, which adds $200 to the cost. However, if you choose the $1,499 model, you get some upgrade options that simply aren't available on the $1,299 one -- namely, a 3.1GHz quad-core Core i7 processor ($200) or a FusionDrive ($250).Now for the 27-inch model. It starts at $1,799, and packs the same 1.9GHz Core i5 processor used in the higher-end 21-inch model. At that entry-level price, it comes with 8GB of RAM, a 1TB (7,200RPM) drive and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M GPU with 512MB of video memory. Here, too, there's a more tricked-out model, and that costs $1,999. For the money, you get a 3.2GHz quad-core Core i5 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX GPU with a full gigabyte of memory. That configuration also comes with 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive spinning at 7,200RPM.Now, if you had the budget to upgrade even further you could, but once again you'd have to start with the higher-end configuration to get all the options. For example, you can order the 27-inch version with a 3.4GHz Core i7 processor ($200) and a 2GB GeForce GTX 680MX GPU ($150), but you'd have to select the $1,999 model. Regardless of whether you choose the high-end version or the base model, though, you can configure the 27-incher with up to 32GB of RAM ($600). You can also expand the storage beyond 1TB, even if you start with the entry-level configuration. In addition to the 1TB FusionDrive we mentioned ($250), you can order a FusionDrive with 3TB of space. That'll cost you $400. If you're content to just use an HDD, you can choose a 3TB, 7,200RPM disk, which adds $150 to the price. Proud member of the 1 percent? May as well get a 768GB SSD -- a $1,300 add-on.The competitionShifting our attention to all those new Windows 8 machines hitting the market, the iMac's most obvious competitor is none other than the , which takes numerous design cues from Apple, right down to the Magic Trackpad-style touchpad and eerily familiar keyboard. Aesthetics aside, the Spectre One makes for a neat comparison, given that it, too, is missing an optical drive, and is fairly skinny for an all-in-one desktop. What's more, this is one of just a few Windows 8 all-in-ones that doesn't have a touchscreen, so the user experience here might be a little more similar to the iMac's than on other Windows desktops.In terms of specs and features, it has a 23.6-inch, 1080p screen, putting it somewhere in between the two iMacs, size-wise. Still, with a starting price of $1,300, it's much more poised to compete with Apple's 21-inch desktop, which goes for $1,299 and up. For $1,300, you get the same 2.9GHz quad-core Core i5 processor used in the $1,499 iMac, though the other specs are actually inferior to what you'd get in the lowest-end iMac. Here, you get 6GB of RAM, not eight, and the GPU is an NVIDIA GeForce GT610M (albeit, with 1GB of video memory). This, too, starts with a 1TB 5,400RPM drive, except, of course, you can't pair it with a large SSD; just 16GB of flash memory to be used for caching. Aside from the standard CPU, the only area where the Spectre One possibly wins on specs is that it has NFC. Even then, though, we're not sure even HP has a clear vision of how you'll use this feature in your day-to-day routine.Right now, at least, there isn't a single Windows 8 all-in-one with a display as nice as this.We'd also be remiss if we didn't mention the , which matches the 27-inch iMac's 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. It's also tough to ignore its $1,400 starting price, which makes it $400 less than the lowest-end 27-inch iMac. There are a few things to keep in mind, though. For starters, the specs are slightly weaker than what you'd get on the 27-inch iMac, which makes sense, given the lower starting price. Secondly, this has a built-in optical drive and optional touchscreen, in case you think you'll miss those features on the iMac. Third, and perhaps most importantly, it comes standard with integrated graphics, and the highest-end option is the GT 640M, which Apple only installs on its lowest-end 21-inch iMac. So, the graphics power really isn't comparable, and even if you were willing to settle for the 640M, you'd have to pay upwards of $2,100. Basically, then, if you're looking for a super-high-res screen on the cheap, this is it. But if it's ultimate processing power you're after, the iMac is the better value.Of course, there are plenty of other Windows 8 all-in-ones out there, but few offer such high-end specs and, more importantly, many of them are touch-based. That opens up a philosophical debate that goes far beyond Mac versus PC. It's about touch versus the mouse and keyboard (or mouse and Magic Trackpad, as it were). If you're dead-set on touch, you're probably not seriously considering the iMac. And if you are thinking of a touchscreen machine, you'll have to accept the fact that right now, at least, there isn't a single Windows 8 all-in-one with a display as nice as this.Wrapping things up back on the Mac side, you can get the benefits of FusionDrive with the budget-friendly Mac mini, which costs at little as $850 if you order it with that kind of drive. Still, you'll be stuck with integrated graphics, less RAM and less potential storage. It performs well, as we found in our review, but there's no use pretending it's in the same performance class as the iMac.Wrap-upThe newest iMac is a great product, and despite Apple's reputation for making pricey things, it's actually a great value, too. Even as other computer makers catch up in terms of screen resolution and industrial design, the iMac stands out with a stunning display that really does cut down on screen glare. As for FusionDrive, it's exceedingly rare to find a consumer system that uses an HDD for storage and an SSD for system stuff. That's a clear step up from typical hybrid drives, which use a much smaller amount of flash memory, mainly for caching and improving start-up times. And while Apple doesn't always win on specs, it makes a tempting offer here: you get beefier graphics than on competing systems, which should help creative professionals, amateur photographers and casual gamers alike.We highly recommend the iMac to all the above groups, though unless you're a pro or just have to have that extra screen real estate, the $1,799 price might deter you from choosing the 27-inch model. Even so, the 21-incher is a powerful machine in its own right, and is priced low enough that we can see folks picking one up to use in the home office, or as a shared family machine.If anything, the biggest drawback is that with this redesign Apple doesn't have a single consumer desktop with a built-in optical drive. To be honest, we're not sure how many people still depend on these, but we suggest you think long and hard about whether you need to play back DVDs -- and if you'd be willing to do it with an external SuperDrive. What's more, the iMac forgoes a touchscreen in favor of the Magic Trackpad, which means if you'd like the versatility of a touch-friendly system, you'll have to start cross-shopping Windows 8 machines, with the understanding that none of the ones available today have this nice a display. If DVD drives and touchscreens mean little to you, though, the iMac remains the best all-in-one on the market.Zach Honig contributed to this review.Product categories come and go, grow and wither, revolutionize the world and then slowly fade into a state of cold, quiet, everlasting obsolescence. It happens all the time, sometimes over the course of just a year or two (see: netbooks) and, while companies have made billions by establishing truly new categories, rarely has anybody rocked the world by splitting the difference between two very closely aligned ones. That's exactly what Apple is trying to do here. The company's line is one of the most respected in the industry for those who need an ostensibly professional laptop. Meanwhile, the is among the best (if not conclusively the best) thin-and-light laptops on the market. Now, a new player enters the fray: the . It cleanly slides in between these two top-shelf products, while trying to be simultaneously serious and fast, yet slim and light. Is this, then, a laptop that's all things to all people, the "best Mac ever" as it was called repeatedly in the keynote? Or, is it more of a , misguided attempt at demanding too much from one product? Let's find out. Hardware When physically placed between the 13-inch MacBook Air and the , it's clear that this new guy (who, for now, is simply called "MacBook Pro with Retina display") leans far toward the latter when it comes to design. With both closed, at a quick glance you would almost not notice there's anything different between this new Pro and the also-new-but-yet-old one. Still, it doesn't take long to spot the thinness -- or the lack of the slot-loading optical drive on the right. That thickness measures in at 0.71 inches (1.8cm) while the width is 14.13 inches (35.89cm) and the depth is 9.73 inches (24.71cm). Those figures compare quite favorably to the old 15-incher (at 0.95 inches thick) and it's very nearly as thin as the Air, which is 0.68 inches at its thickest. Weight? A healthy 4.46 pounds (2.02kg). That's just over a pound less than the full-sized MacBook Pro and about 1.5 pounds more than the 13-inch Air. The new Pro feels considerably heavier than the Air and not that much lighter than the old Pro. That may sound like an even split between the two sister models, but in reality the new Pro feels considerably heavier than the Air and not that much lighter than the old Pro. That said, much of this depends on where you're coming from. If you're an Air user, carrying this around is going to feel burdensome. However, if your regular daily driver is a current 15-inch Pro (or, heaven forbid, a 17-incher), the new Pro could feel like a refreshing reduction in curb weight. And, with even more resolution and performance than the outgoing 17 inch model, we think this new model makes for a more than compelling alternative. In exchange for your pack getting a little lighter, you're not being asked to give up all that much. Yes, the optical drive is the most obvious omission, the only physical media you'll be supporting here is the SD slot located conveniently on the right. The lack of ROM support helps this new model be as thin as it is -- and provides room for the extra batteries needed to keep that Retina display brightly and brilliantly backlit. Also gone is the Ethernet port, replaced by a Thunderbolt adapter that is not included with the laptop. (It'll cost you $29.99.) Likewise, the FireWire 800 port has been removed, replaced by a separate Thunderbolt adapter. Leaving all those things behind will be difficult, but stay strong, road warrior, because the new Pro is there to help, supporting your love of modern standards with two USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt ports. (Interestingly, Apple chose not to make the USB ports blue, as they're both 3.0 and, therefore, there was no need to differentiate.) Inside is an 802.11n radio providing some of the fastest wireless connectivity available, but there's no option for 3G/LTE broadband. Those who want to roam past the confines of a hotspot will have to bring their own modems. There's the now-standard single headphone jack on the left side and the soon-to-be-standard connector. This new connector is a few millimeters shorter than the old one and a few millimeters wider. Apple says this is needed because of the laptop's thinner profile and, indeed, the new Airs also make the change to MagSafe 2. But, since the old Airs got by just fine with the slightly chubbier connector, and since there's still plenty of room for the relatively massive USB ports, we're just not seeing the need for a redesign right now. Where the last design will grab and hold the end of whatever USB cable you pointed its way, the new MagSafe wants nothing to do with them. Whatever the reason, all those scratched-up, white, plastic power bricks you've accumulated over the years won't work here -- at least, not without a $10 adapter. That's a bummer, but there is some good news: the new MagSafe is no longer the same size as a USB port. Where the last design would grab and hold the end of whatever USB cable you pointed its way, the new MagSafe wants nothing to do with them. That, at least, is some true progress. Settled between all these ports and interconnects is the keyboard, which hasn't really changed from the current Pro. That's a good thing. Apple has shown itself extremely proficient in crafting fine, island-style keyboards on its portable machines, and neither that layout nor feel has changed with the new Pro. Well-weighted and nicely spaced keys make for a great typing experience -- even in the dark, thanks to the backlighting. On either side of the keyboard are the speakers, said to be louder and more effective than those in the previous Pro. We didn't notice a huge change here, but they're certainly more than capable of turning your hotel room into an impromptu dance party -- albeit one without too much bass. Beneath it all lies the glass trackpad, which feels just like it always has: really good. MacBooks have the best touch experience in the business, hands down, and this latest one is no different. Display Sure, it's a quarter thinner and lighter than before, but the real story with this new laptop has nothing to do with external dimensions and everything to do with internal density. Pixel density, to be specific, a figure measured at 220 ppi. That's far lower than the 326 ppi the delivered when it introduced the world to Retina and, indeed, the 264 ppi rating on . The new display is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. But, held at the appropriate distance, this new panel is said to meet the mystical requirement to be labeled "Retina" and, while that threshold for pixel-invisibility seems to be slinking lower, we're not here to be cynics. We just know one thing: the new display is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Text is incredibly sharp and clear, 1080p video is amazing and images, of course, look great -- when they're of a high enough resolution to do this 2880 x 1800 panel justice. Curiously, you can't actually select that resolution in the OS any longer. Where on other Macs you can explicitly select what display resolution you'd like to use (optionally going lower than the native resolution of the panel), here we have a slider with five positions ranging from "larger text" to "more space." In the middle sits "best" which presents apps, icons and text in roughly the same size as you'd find them on a non-Retina display -- rendered in a higher resolution. It's perhaps more friendly for novice users, but remember: this is a laptop with the word "Pro" in the name. Let's not ignore the fact that this new display has much more to offer than just additional pixels. Viewing angles are expanded compared to Apple's other high-end displays, so the annoying drop in contrast that happens from odd vantage points is all but abolished. Contrast, too, is boosted and, interestingly, glare reduced. Yes, this is still a glossy display and no, there still isn't an option for matte glass. But, Apple promises a reduction in glare here from previous Pros. Indeed, this laptop does have less glare than the thicker Pros, but it's no better than the current Air, which already takes advantage of the new, reflection-reducing construction. You might, then, want to turn off that lamp behind you. Performance and battery life We tested both the base 2.3GHz and higher-spec 2.6GHz quad-core Ivy Bridge CPUs that are on offer (there's an even faster 2.7GHz build-to-order model for another $250), and neither disappointed. In fact, you'd have to be a seriously jaded desktop user to want more oomph from your on-the-go machine. The new MacBook Pro handled absolutely everything we could throw at it and did so with aplomb. General productivity tools fly and more... intensive things run impressively well. The SSD delivered write speeds hovering around 390MB/s and read speeds topping out at 440MB/s. That's properly fast. We ran all the major benchmarks and saw some big, big numbers. For the 2.6GHz model, Geekbench gave us an average of 11,591 -- that crushes the 9,647 we scored with the last , which is itself far from sluggish. The new 2.3GHz model wasn't far behind with a score of 11,082. Xbench was similarly close: 486 for the higher-spec'd model, and 457 for the lower. Finally, the SSD delivered write speeds hovering around 390MB/s and reads topping out at 440MB/s. That's properly fast. MacBook Pro with Retina display (mid 2012, 2.6GHz Core i7) MacBook Pro with Retina display (mid 2012, 2.3GHz Core i7) MacBook Pro (early 2011, 2.2GHz Core i7) MacBook Pro (early 2010, 2.66GHz Core i7) Geekbench 11,591 11,082 9,647 5,395 Xbench 486 457 340 228 Battery Life 7:49 9:22 7:27 5:18 Paired with those quad-core chips is 8GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M unit with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. Also on tap is integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics, the hotter of the two GPUs toggle on when the situation demands. To create such a scenario, we installed one of the hottest games of the moment, Diablo III, and cranked it up to full resolution and full graphical details. We did, however, make one exception: anti-aliasing. When you're running at 2880 x 1800, there's no real need. We were quite happily surprised to see the frame rate hovering between 25 and 30 fps as we explored a few towns and crawled a few dungeons -- perfectly playable at an obscene resolution. Turning it down to something a little more reasonable, 2048 x 1280, netted 40 to 45 fps and running at a relatively mundane 1280 x 800 delivered frame rates over 70. This, then, is a quite passable gaming machine. Still, it only took a few minutes of hacking and slashing to get the bottom of this unit warm, and then noticeably hot. That, of course, caused the redesigned fan system to pop on, which draws in air from a pair of vents on the left and right sides of the bottom of the chassis and blows it out through the hinge. It's been optimized to create a less obnoxious sort of whirring noise. Indeed it's a subtle and unobtrusive white kind of sound, but it's definitely not silent. In fact, the fan doesn't sound particularly different than that on the current MacBook Air, though a few decibels less obtrusive. Still, you'll always know when your system is really cranking. Despite all that performance, we were still impressed by the battery life. In our standard rundown test, which involves looping a video with WiFi on and the display set at a fixed brightness, we netted an impressive seven hours and 49 minutes on the 2.6GHz model. The 2.3GHz model lasted an average of nine hours and 22 minutes -- a runtime so long we at first thought it was a fluke. After repeated runs, though, we kept turning up similar results. Software Right now, the new MacBook Pro is running Lion, but buy yours now, and you'll find a free upgrade to Mountain Lion in your inbox. We already know quite a bit about , which is, as of this writing, about a month away from launch. But what we didn't know was the high-resolution support needed for these Retina displays. As of now, that support is sadly far from pervasive. Right now, seemingly every third-party app on the Mac looks terrible. The primary Apple apps -- Safari, Mail, the address book, etc. -- have all been tweaked to make use of all these wonderful pixels. Sadly, little else has. While we got assurances that third-party apps like Adobe Photoshop and AutoCAD are in the process of being refined, right now, seemingly every third-party app on the Mac looks terrible. Yes, terrible. Unlike a PC, where getting a higher-res display just means tinier buttons to click on, here OS X is actively scaling things up so that they maintain their size. This means that non-optimized apps, which would otherwise be displayed as tiny things, instead are displayed in their normal physical dimensions with blurry, muddy edges. You do have some control over this scaling, with five separate grades to choose from, but none will make these classic apps look truly good. At least, not until their developers release the updates they're no doubt frantically working on at this very moment. Take Google Chrome, for example. You might forgive the buttons and UI elements for being ugly, but even the text rendered on webpages is blurry and distorted. It's bad enough that you won't want to use Google's browser until it's updated, which will surely leave some cynics wondering if indeed this isn't a ploy to get folks to spend a little more quality time with Safari. Good thing Safari's . Configuration options The Retina display MBP starts at a lofty $2,199. For the money, you'll get a 2.3GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB solid-state drive, seven-hour battery and dual graphics -- Intel's integrated HD 4000 and NVIDIA's Kepler-based GeForce GT650M, paired with 1GB of video memory. Of course, the three-year Apple Care Warranty is sold separately, for $349. If money is no object, you can select the highest-tier model for $2,799. Though this has the same battery, graphics and 8GB of RAM, it steps up to a 2.6GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, and doubles the storage capacity to 512GB. Not impressed? You can upgrade further to a 2.7GHz CPU for $250 or select 16GB of RAM, to the tune of $200. You can also max out with a 768GB SSD, provided you're willing to part with an additional $500. For those keeping track at home, that brings the outside cost to $4,098, the extended warranty included. Disappointingly, you can't add the higher-capacity SSD to the lower-spec CPU. And, since the storage is proprietary, swapping in your own will not be a particularly easy task. If you want more than 256GB of storage, you'll just have to step up to the 2.6GHz model. The competition You say you're looking for a laptop with a 15-inch screen, top-notch build quality and a pinch-thin frame? Fortunately for those of you who feel paralyzed by choice, that criteria whittles down your options to two notebooks, tops. The only other contender we can think of is the , which starts at a more palatable $1,500. At 3.5 pounds and 0.58 inches deep, it's barely thicker than the , which is saying a lot, since that's one of the thinnest Ultrabooks in its own right. The 15-inch Series 9 is far skinnier and lighter than the MacBook Pro, then, but it matches the MBP in build quality, thanks to a rock-solid unibody aluminum chassis and some funky aquamarine keyboard backlights. Ultimately, too, both deserve to be handled with kid gloves: whichever machine you choose, you'll find the smooth metal finish is quite vulnerable to scratches and greasy fingerprint smudges. It's with the display that the MacBook Pro starts to justify its higher starting price. On its own, the Series 9's matte, 400-nit 1600 x 900 panel is still worlds better than what you'll find on most laptops. Certainly, it's a triumph for Ultrabooks, which tend to get saddled with subpar displays, even on higher-end machines. Still, the Series 9's SuperBright Plus screen can't compete with the MBP's tightly woven pixels and wide, wide viewing angles. On the inside, too, the new MacBook Pro offers potentially better specs, with options for twice the RAM and a more spacious 768GB solid-state drive. It's also offered with multiple Core i7 processor options, whereas the Series 9 is only available with Core i5, and with integrated graphics only. These unflattering comparisons aside, the 15-inch Series 9 is still one of our favorite Windows machines -- heck, one of our favorite laptops, even. It remains a sterling choice for Windows fans, or anyone who's willing to spend $1,500 on a notebook, but not $2,200-plus. The two are also well matched when it comes to battery life: the difference in runtime is only about 20 minutes. Even so, if the Retina display MBP is aimed at people who demand the very best, it sweeps at least two key categories: specs and display quality. If it's discrete graphics you're really after, we also recommend checking out the , which starts at $1,350 (not counting promotions) and can be configured with Ivy Bridge Core i5 and i7 CPUs, a 1GB Radeon HD 7750 GPU, up to 16GB of RAM and either an SSD or spinning hard drive (storage options max out at 300GB and 1TB, respectively). Here, too, you'll find a better display than most laptops have to offer, though the IPS-quality Radiance panel has noted , and the 1080p resolution is still no match for the Retina display. Wrap-up Is this the best Mac ever? You can't ignore the Air as an amazing piece of machinery, especially with the new, higher-powered Ivy Bridge processors and faster SSDs tucked inside its wedge profile. But, this new Pro is on another level of performance. With a quad-core processor and up to 16GB of RAM it's a proper beast -- a proper beast that you can throw in your messenger bag and carry around all day without spending all night complaining about an aching back. That said, this is not exactly a small machine, heavy enough that those happy Air users who've been feeling tempted might want to take a swing by their closest Apple Store and lift one themselves. It's expensive, too. If you want a machine with enough storage to keep up with all that processing and gaming power you'll be looking at a price of $2,800 -- and that assumes you can resist all the upgrades. So, then, is this a laptop that's creating its own new product category? Not exactly. This is a laptop that stands poised to kill an existing one, one that Apple has dominated. The new Pro is good enough to make the old Pro (even the updated version) look and feel obsolete. It pushes and redefines the category, raising the bar higher than even its brethren can jump. If you can afford the premium and aren't set on a 13-inch model there's no reason to buy any Pro other than this Pro. Zach Honig and Dana Wollman contributed to this review.Apple's App Store Marks Historic 50 Billionth DownloadCUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apple today announced that customers have downloaded over 50 billion apps* from the revolutionary App Store?. Customers are downloading more than 800 apps per second at a rate of over two billion apps per month on the App Store. The 50 billionth app was Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, LLC, which was downloaded by Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio who received a $10,000 App Store Gift Card to commemorate this historic milestone."The App Store brought 'Wheels on the Bus' to the world in a big way. Sixteen apps later, a fan base of millions of parents, children and educators and a growing company with 20 full-time employees, we couldn't be happier with our success.""Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We're absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years."The App Store opened in July 2008 with 500 apps. Since its introduction, Apple's incredible developer community has created an app for doing almost everything imaginable on an iPhone, iPad and iPod touch."We were blown away with our success on the App Store back in 2008," said Rich Riley, CEO of Shazam. "And almost five years later we continue to be amazed with how much people love using Shazam on their iPhone or iPad. With the App Store, we can effortlessly provide users with updates that give them great new features while making it easy for new users to discover and download Shazam for themselves.""We started our company in 2008 as three friends focused on creating great educational apps for our children," said Caroline Hu Flexer, co-founder of Duck Duck Moose. "The App Store brought 'Wheels on the Bus' to the world in a big way. Sixteen apps later, a fan base of millions of parents, children and educators and a growing company with 20 full-time employees, we couldn't be happier with our success.""The App Store has been integral in getting us into the hands of millions of iOS users and has transformed our business," said Elizabeth Francis, Chief Marketing Officer of Gilt.com. "Our apps allow our members to access their favorite sales on Gilt every day, anytime, anywhere. App Store customers have proven to be a loyal shopper base and have been influential in making Gilt the globally recognized brand it is today."The revolutionary App Store offers more than 850,000 apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users in 155 countries around the world, with more than 350,000 native iPad apps available. App Store customers can choose from an incredible range of apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand, games, business, news, sports, health & fitness and travel.*50 billion unique downloads excluding re-downloads and updates.Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.Never one to shy away from dramatic hyperbole, Steve Jobs declared ours a "" about this time last year, acknowledging a move away from personal computers as smartphones and tablets become even more ubiquitous. And while Jobs might happily look on as iPhones and iPads become our primarily tie to the outside world, the question remains: what happens to the PC during this grand transition? To a large extent, the answer lies in the OS, which brings us to . Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to post-PC computing. In typically grandiose fashion, the company has declared OS X 10.7 "the world's most advanced desktop operating system," touting the addition of over 250 new features. The list is pretty uneven on the game-changing scale, with updates running the gamut from Airdrop (file-sharing over WiFi) to a full-screen version of the bundled chess game. If there's one thing tying it all together, though, it's something that Jobs touched on when he first unveiled the OS : the unmistakable influence of iOS. Now it's true, we already got a taste of that with gesture-based trackpads and the , but those were merely glimpses of things to come. Apple borrows so heavily from iOS that at times, cycling through features makes the whole thing feel like you're merely operating an iPad with a keyboard attached. There are plenty of welcome additions here, including aesthetic tweaks and attention to mounting privacy concerns. Like before it, however, Lion is hardly an explosive upgrade. And like Snow Leopard, it comes in at a reasonable $29 (or a decidedly more pricey $69 as an upcoming flash drive install), making it a worthy upgrade for current Mac owners. But does a boatload of evolutionary features add up to a revolutionary upgrade? Let's find out. Getting started If you're looking for iOS's influence, look no further than the installation process. It's available as a disc-free download through the Mac App Store, making even the delivery method one of the larger changes here. For the uninitiated, the whole process requires just a few clicks to go from buying something to installing it on your system. Once you download Lion, the installation is a painless process that should only last 10 to 15 minutes. Things were a bit less smooth when installing the operating system on a more well-worn MacBook. That time around, the installation process took closer to 25 minutes and required an extra manual restart to get things up and running more smoothly. Scrolling The first time you boot up Lion, one feature hits you before any other: in one of the company's more surprising updates, Apple went and inverted multitouch scrolling. Up is down and left is right -- an unfamiliar combination that might make you suspect something has gone terribly wrong with the installation. But for better or worse, it's not you; it's Apple. Oddly, the company calls the option "scroll direction: natural," as if to say Apple's scrolling has actually been topsy-turvy this whole time. The good news here, however, is that you can easily turn the feature off by un-ticking a box in System Preferences. And yes, it takes some getting used to -- not unlike firing up a flight simulator for the first time. The inversion seems inspired by iOS, wherein flicking up a page will cause it to scroll down (take out your iPhone and try it, if you don't believe us). The popular analogy here is a piece of paper laid out on a desk -- in order to see more text on the top, you push it down, rather than up, with your fingers. The motion, however, is far more intuitive when interacting directly with the screen, rather than an external input device. All told, we managed to get the hang of it pretty quickly, though even after having played around with it for awhile we're not quite ready to declare it a revolutionary new way of navigating. Perhaps, though, there's something to be said for the relatively short amount of time it took for inversion to become second nature. We will say that if you find yourself switching between systems with Lion and earlier OS X builds, the change can be maddening. Multitouch gestures Without a doubt, multitouch gestures are a core piece of this upgrade. Apple has integrated them more heavily into both the Finder and many of its proprietary apps. While in the Finder, for example, swiping three fingers from left to right brings up the Dashboard -- not unlike flicking horizontally through iOS's home screens. As with Snow Leopard, however, most of the gestures -- save for simple ones like cursor control and two-fingered scrolling -- feel secondary when it comes to interacting with the device, whereas they're critical to the iPhone and iPad. Aesthetically, not all that much has changed between Snow Leopard and Lion -- the notification buttons now default to a rectangular shape, progress bars are a bit flatter in appearance, and scroll bars are now dark gray lines that disappear when not in use. Those bars -- yet another feature borrowed from iOS -- are in keeping with Apple's goal of maximizing real estate in Lion, which also includes the ability to run Apple apps at full-screen (we're sure this will extend to third-party programs as well). It's a not-so-subtle reminder of one of the ways the desktop continues to trump its mobile counterparts: there's just more space to work with. Even better, there's no limit to how many full-screen apps you can have open, and you can swipe to the right with three fingers to do something else without actually exiting that program you were using at full-screen. We, at least, can certainly see ourselves using this option frequently, particularly during those times when we're working on our MacBook, pining for our multi-monitor office setup. Working at full-screen doesn't free up a ton of formerly unused space, but somehow even that little bit matters. To do this, click on the diagonal arrows in the top left-hand corner of a program, and notice the toolbar at the top go invisible. Mousing over the top of the screen will cause it to reappear. Apple borrowed some animations from iOS as well, such as the familiar "rubber band" bounce that snaps a page back into frame when you've scrolled to the end. The feature is present in Apple's proprietary applications, and honestly, we missed it when we switched to some third-party apps like Firefox. Additions like this are small indeed, but they definitely add to the overall experience. Meanwhile, Windows opened in the Finder boast a new "All My Files" option atop the left-hand column where you can find system disks in Snow Leopard. Thanks to this change, you get a quick way of locating files on the fly, breaking your system's content down by categories (e.g., images, movies, and documents). As far as arranging files and folders, you'll also find an option for listing it all according to category, just as you can already organize by, say, date created. Spotlight With Lion, Apple has revamped its search functionality yet again. The Spotlight magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner now extends beyond system search, adding top results from the web, Wikipedia, and dictionary results to the list. The web option pulls results from your recent history, alongside a link that will bring you results from your favorite search engine. When you click on the Wikipedia link, you'll see a pop-up a window showing the relevant entry. We can see where full Wikipedia previews in Spotlight would get unwieldy, but we would have liked to see a short, automatically generated list of Wikipedia hits, the same way Spotlight shows multiple sites in your browsing history. For instance, if we searched for "safari," we'd want to see an option to read about the browser on Wikipedia or an expedition where you shoot lions. If you hover over the dictionary result, meanwhile, you'll see a pop-up a definition of whatever word you searched for. In fact, many of the results benefit from the Quick Look feature, which offers a brief preview of the items in the list -- a definite time-saver. In Lion, you can also drag-and-drop search results from the Spotlight list to the desktop, assuring easy access the next time you're looking for that file. All in all, these are some solid updates to Snow Leopard's already-robust search functionality. Mission Control and Launchpad When you boot up your Mac, two new programs greet you in the toolbar: Mission Control and Launchpad. Mission Control, accessible by swiping three fingers upward on the trackpad or hitting F3, is something of a souped-up version of Expos&eacute;. You get a shot of your desktop and all open windows in the center of the screen, each grouped by application with their designated icon. When working at full-screen, the dashboard lines the top of the screen, as do windows representing the full-screen apps you're running. There's also a window for the desktop, and if you click on that you'll see all the windows you have open there. If you never really bothered with Expos&eacute;, there's a pretty good chance that you won't give Mission Control the time of day. If, on the other hand, the feature is a regular part of your workflow, the additional features will likely be welcome. It's a nice feature, sure, but hardly revolutionary. iOS' influence is sprinkled throughout Lion, but it's no more obvious than with Launchpad, which effectively transforms your Mac desktop into a mobile-looking one. The windows disappear and the screen becomes populated with rows of apps. You can move between pages of applications by swiping two fingers across the trackpad. Apps will appear in Launchpad as soon as they're download from the App Store. (You can also manually drag applications there.) To delete an app, hold down on it until it begins to jiggle (sound familiar?). That cutesy wiggling only happens with apps you can re-download in the Mac App Store; if not, removing software won't be that easy. As for the App Store, it now comes built into Lion, as you might have guessed by now. In another flourish reminiscent of iOS, you can also create folders in Launchpad by dragging one app onto another. A gray area will appear on the screen, allowing you to add more apps. Once created, the folder will appear as its own icon. Mail, Address Book, and Calendar Mail is one of many Apple-built applications that takes advantage of Lion's push toward the full-screen, devoting the left side of the screen to a list of messages with two-line previews (you can go into system preferences and make these longer). On the right, meanwhile, you'll see the emails themselves, grouped together in conversations. Search has also been improved, letting users drill through attachments and filter results according to sender and subject. True to its name, the Address Book defaults to book mode, forgoing the card-based organization of past versions. The application supports Yahoo syncing, iPhoto import, and lets you make FaceTime calls directly from the app. iCal, meanwhile, has made it easier to add contacts with the Quick Add feature, which detects phrases to determine where it fits into the calendar. QuickTime Apple's video player also got an upgrade with Lion, offering up, among other things, some simple editing capabilities. New on the list are the ability to export audio-only tracks, rotate clips, and record a portion of the screen. Most notable, however, is the ability to merge clips, by simply dragging a file onto an open clip, creating a timeline on the bottom of the screen, which should look familiar to anyone who has spent any time with iMovie, achieving Apple's consistent goal of adding functionality while maintaining simplicity. The program's functionality as an editor is still quite limited -- after all, Apple's certainly not looking to cannibalize its own iMovie brand. Resume, Autosave, and Versions Resume, Autosave, and Versions will likely be the most important additions for many of you, particularly given that mobile devices are supposedly geared toward data consumption, while PCs are more ideal for data creation. Resume saves apps automatically, opening them up where you left off, even when you restart the entire system. By now, this is a pretty standard feature for browsers, which reopen the tabs you were using when the program crashed. Resume does them one better, though, in that it works across applications, remembering not only what you were last doing with the app, but also the size of windows and their place on the screen. Unlike some other new Lion features, Resume actually worked with a lot of third-party apps, including Word and Firefox. When you restart or shut down a system with applications open, a dialog box will ask whether you would like to open all the windows intact when the system reboots. If your shutdown was a bit more forced on the other hand, the system will prompt the same question after you've rebooted. If you do nothing in that second scenario, the system will automatically log you into all of your closed applications after one minute. Anyone want to bet we'll soon hear plenty of cautionary tales about people who had, er, unfortunate windows open up on them in mixed company? Auto Save and Versions are likely to save a lot of heartbreak for a lot of users. Auto Save builds saving functionality into the operating system so that when you have unsaved changes in a document, for example, Lion adds "Edited" to the title and saves changes, protecting you from the nightmare of losing all that data in the event that you forget to hit Command - S. Although the OS saves every change automatically, it only folds these tweaks into a new version once an hour. That's actually a good thing: using our jobs as an example, we wouldn't want Lion to create a different version every time we fiddled with a word choice or added a comma. Also, don't be alarmed by the thought of all the versions you might rack up: Apple assures us each version is not saved as a separate file. You can also lock a document, duplicate it, revert to an old version, or view all versions -- all by clicking the title bar. Clicking "duplicate" will make an identical copy of your current document to pop up alongside the one you're currently using. Clicking "lock" will protect the document from accidental changes -- if changes are made once the document is located, a dialog box will prompt you to unlock, cancel, or create a duplicate document. Clicking "view all versions" launches Versions, a Time Machine-like screen with a familiar outer space background, featuring the latest version of the document on the left and a stack of previous versions on the right. Clicking each one will bring you back to the previous version, along with the time it was created. Here you can revert to the last saved version, if you're so inclined -- if you revert, changes lost during that decision continue to exist in the Versions layout, for future reference. Versions, along with Auto Save, will be a likely favorite for anyone who spends a significant amount of time word processing. Unfortunately, the features are still fairly limited -- they work with Apple programs like TextEdit, Automator, and Preview, but not popular third-party programs like Microsoft Word. Something tells us that functionality is likely not far behind. Safari The latest version of Safari (v5.1) gets some nice upgrades here, including new gesture support like pinch-to-zoom (or double tap-to-zoom, if you prefer) and the ability to navigate back and forth between websites by flicking the trackpad with two fingers, not unlike the single-finger swipe that works with mobile Safari. It's a feature that translates pretty well into this desktop version. Apple also promises fewer crashes in this build, thanks to a new process architecture that separates content and browser interaction from one another, so unresponsive pages don't bring down the entire program. There's some welcome security and privacy enhancements on board as well, including the ability to sandbox webpages to isolate potential malicious actions and a feature that lists -- and lets you remove -- all of the sites storing data via cookies and other sources on your system. AirDrop Easily one of the most exciting new features of OS X, AirDrop is an incredibly simple drag-and -drop file sharing system that allows you to swap files with other Macs over WiFi. The feature is baked directly into the Finder, appearing directly under All My Files. Clicking AirDrop will activate a sonar symbol, indicating that the system is searching for other compatible computers (read: with Lion installed). Once you've activated AirDrop, you'll be visible on other people's Macs, with your icon and user ID identifying you. Likewise, exiting Airdrop will automatically make you appear unavailable. Dragging a file onto another user's icon in the radar rings will prompt a box asking whether you do, indeed, want to send the file. Once okayed, the other user must confirm he or she wants to receive it. Transaction agree upon, an animated image of the folder leaps into the receiver's Downloads folder. It took us 44 seconds to send a 39MB folder between two MacBook Pros. The files are encrypted, and show up in the user's downloads folder. Perhaps coolest of all is the fact that files can be transferred without connecting to a router; rather, they can get the job done over peer-to-peer WiFi, assuming their Airports are enabled and the computers are within 30 feet of each other. This isn't the first wireless transfer system we've seen, of course, but Apple executes it with typically user-friendly panache. It's easy to see home users and coworkers alike getting plenty of use out of the feature. Security and Privacy Naturally, the security / privacy concerns don't begin and end with AirDrop and Safari -- after all, as OS X has grown in popularity, so too have the potential threats. Apple has introduced a handful of features meant to address this, including application sandboxing, to prohibit harmful programs from infecting the entire system. Also on-board is a new privacy center, which helps users opt in and out of things like location targeting, for which the company has taken in the past. Compatibility It should be reasonably well known at this point that this is an upgrade over Snow Leopard -- meaning if you're unable to upgrade to that OS you're going to be left out of the loop here, too. If you're still rolling with a PowerPC-based machine it should come as no surprise that you're not invited to this party, but Rosetta support has also been axed, meaning none of your legacy apps are going to be let past the velvet rope either. We didn't notice any major hangups on our clean system when installing Lion -- no force quits, no stumbling applications, even amongst not Apple programs like Firefox, which can sometimes be a burden on an overworked system. Our more seasoned laptop had a bit more trouble, however, with an additional restart required, as mentioned above. We also ran into some compatibility issues with Firefox plug-ins, which required some troubleshooting -- Safari, not surprisingly, fared a lot better with the reinstall. Performance If you're running Lion, it means you've got a 64-bit Intel-based Mac (yes, that includes the Core 2 Duo MacBooks that started selling a few years ago). As of this writing (read: the day Lion started shipping), it's only available on the newly refreshed MacBook Air and Mac Mini, but you can expect it to roll out to all of the other Mac desktops and laptops over the coming weeks. Over all, standard computing tasks didn't seem all that faster either -- like most other features in the operating system, light users likely won't notice drastic improvements on a day-to-day basis. On the other hand, the system with Lion was able to complete more labor intensive tasks like exporting a video in iMovie in significantly less time, shaving precious minutes, from eight down to five. We benchmarked the updated system with Geekbench, and found a noticeable drop in scores, from 5,777 to 5,302 -- a dip that we didn't notice ourselves. We were also unable to get Xbench to run on any Lion system we tested, making us wonder if either benchmark is really Lion-friendly at this point. Wrap-up If Apple's end game is a complete shift away from the personal computer, Lion feels like a transitional operating system -- one that hasn't quite sealed the deal. After all, even though 250 features sounds like an impressively round number, most of the offerings are evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, in keeping with a precedent Snow Leopard set. It's worth repeating, however, that Lion, too, costs just $29. Between that and Apple's decision to make the operating system available through the nascent Mac App Store, it feels almost is if the company is downplaying the significance of this update, even as it tosses around the title of "the world's most advanced desktop operating system." If Lion can truly be considered the "most advanced" operating system around (a matter that is certainly open for debate), it is not due to the jaw-dropping new features in this version, so much as the raft of tweaks -- some subtle, and all welcome -- it has made to an already-excellent operating system. Some of the features like AirDrop and Versions may be enough to wow users by themsleves, but this upgrade is unlikely to upend most Mac users' workflow. Chances are, though, you'll find more than enough features amongst the 250-plus to justify that modest price tag.There was no OS XI at . There was no plan to reinvent the wheel. The takeaway message at the launch event was simple: Apple is committed to OS X. What that means, in the long run () is that changes to the desktop will probably continue to be gradual. New features will be added and things will evolve over time. Like other recent versions of OS X, version follows the lead of iOS, culling from its most successful features -- though there's nothing on the order of dramatic redesign in store. But while the iPhone operating system seems to have taken the lead in terms of innovation, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of feature crippling in Mavericks, which some feared would come with the mobilization of the OS.In fact, there are a number of welcome upgrades here -- things like folder tabs, tags and a more interactive Notification Center will likely improve the workflow of many Mac users. Built-in apps like and Calendar have gotten nice facelifts, as well. We've spent a few days with the most recent build of OS X and are ready to give you a peek at what you're in store for, come fall. Still, knowing Apple, the company's likely still got a couple of tricks up its sleeve. FinderYep, it's the same old Finder Apple users have had more than a decade to familiarize themselves with. In fact, there's not even anything quite so radical this time around as the addition of the Notification Center that we saw in last year's update. Those waiting for dramatic change will have to keep waiting -- for a while, really. Apple has doubled down on its commitment to OS X, evolving it through gradual feature upgrades like window tabs and file tags, rather than the sort of drastic change we saw with . But while Apple didn't rethink its approach to folder organization, there are plenty of handy new additions that may well have a decided impact on your workflow.First up is the addition of tabs -- a feature ported over from the browser world. And really, it's hard to remember an era before they existed on that side, when internet browsing meant opening a dozen separate windows. How the feature affects your life on the desktop is completely dependent on your workflow. If you often find yourself staring at a hundred Finder windows, it could certainly be a godsend. Command + double-click on a folder and it will open up in a new tab in the same window. The tab will carry the name of the folder that created it -- you can't edit that directly, but if you change the name of the folder, it'll change automatically. Obsessive-compulsive window-openers will also appreciate the fact that you can keep different tabs in the same window organized using various folder views.From there, you can create additional tabs by clicking the plus sign on the side, as with Safari -- though, unlike with the browser, Apple opted not to have the plus sign on the window by default. You can open up tabs to your heart's content, though once you open more than five in the default window size, the rest will be hidden behind a drop-down menu. You can drag and drop tabs to reorder them, and when you hover over the tab, you'll see an X to close it in the left corner. Close the window entirely, and the tabs will remain intact the next time you open it. Pull a tab out and it will create its own window, and if you find yourself in the position of having opened up a bunch of windows in the Finder, just go up to Window > Merge All Windows in the menu at top, and you can merge them all into tabs.Tags are the other big hot newness on the Finder side of things, also aimed at users who like to keep things nice and organized. The feature's not likely to see the same kind of widespread adoption as tabs, but if used correctly, they've got the potential to clean things up quite a bit for power users. The first time you open a Finder window, you'll find a list of default tag options in the sidebar: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. The whole rainbow, plus gray, basically. You can drag a folder directly into the sidebar tag, or right-click it and pick the tag from the drop-down. The sidebar tags are listed according to the date they were added, but you can drag and drop them to reorder things. Highlight a tag in the sidebar and you'll see all the folders that fall under that tag. There's also a tagging button at the top of the Finder window that's grayed out until you highlight a folder. From there you can assign tags via a pop-up window.You can associate as many tags to a single file as you see fit -- the colored dots will begin to overlap to the left of the file name. You can also rename tags by typing a new name into the drop-down from the button at the top of the window -- it'll default to a light gray, but switching colors from the limited palette is as simple as pulling one from a drop-down. Tags can also be assigned in the iCloud document library, regardless of the device (Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc.) that was originally used to create that file. Tags associated with documents on the desktop will also follow them to the ethereal world of iCloud.One more small change to the Finder: full-screen scaling. Apple rolled the feature out across a number of proprietary apps with Mountain Lion, but somehow managed to miss Finder in the process. That's been amended here: the diagonal arrows have been added to the Finder window, so you can pretty much just ignore the desktop altogether, if you're so inclined. No big breakthrough there, but it's a nice addition with the inclusion of tabs, letting you do more business from within your Finder windows.Multiple displaysWhich addition to OS X elicited the biggest response from the crowd at WWDC? Multiple displays. That's what you get when you launch your product in front of developers. In some ways Mavericks marks the return to functionality that was lost in previous versions of OS X -- namely, the ability to have full-screen apps running on multiple monitors at the same time.Setup is a plug-and-play affair. We hooked a MacBook up to an Apple monitor and it was ready to go without the need for any additional configuration on our part. The stretched-out desktop from past versions is gone. In its place is a tiled effect -- essentially you've got an independent desktop on the other monitor. The wallpaper is repeated, rather than stretched, and the new display has its own menu bar and dock. The menu bar on each display remains ghosted until that desktop is in use. Click the mouse over there and it will turn opaque. To activate the dock, drag the mouse to the bottom of the screen and it will pop up. It's not super responsive, so it may take a couple of taps -- hopefully something that'll be ironed out in later builds. You also don't have a lot of control over the dock's behavior in settings -- the way it reacts is fully dependent on whether you activate it with your mouse. The contents of the dock, meanwhile, are mirrored from display to display.Gone here is the ability to stretch apps across displays -- that may or may not be a bad thing, depending on your workflow. For most users, we suspect that the ability to have two full-screen apps open on different displays will make up for that (even if, frankly, it's the sort of functionality that ought to have been in the operating system in the first place), moving away from the blanking out of screens that was a hallmark of Lion and Mountain Lion. An update to Mission Control brings a lot to the table here, too, letting you easily drag and drop apps between displays after clicking F3. For those looking for a higher-res destination for web video and for business people who find themselves standing in front of a lot of conference rooms with MacBook Air in hand, Apple's made it possible to use an HDTV as a second display by way of AirPlay.NotificationsUpdates to Notifications likely didn't get the sort of feedback Apple had hoped during WWDC. Granted, additions to functionality introduced in Mountain Lion won't elicit the same sort of excitement as brand-new features, but there are certainly some welcome upgrades here. Most notable is the addition of Quick Reply for Mail and Messages. When you get a note from one of those two proprietary apps, you can reply directly within the alert. That means you don't have to reconfigure and launch a new application to shoot off a quick reply -- yet another way Mavericks is aimed at helping to reduce clutter.Those who do a lot of chatting know what a pain it can be to have to switch back and forth between programs in order to have some semblance of an ongoing conversation. If you have those applications programmed to send out Alerts or banners, clicking through will open a dialogue box, where you can respond. Mail messages can also be deleted directly through this screen. Hopefully future updates to Mavericks will expand that functionality to even more applications down the road.Click through to "App Store" in System Preferences and you can set app updates to download automatically. That will happen in the background, and you'll receive a notification once it's done -- that is unless you're currently using an app, or if a restart is required. In that case, you'll get a notification with a drop-down list of options for delaying installation. FaceTime functionality has come to Notifications, too. You'll get a large pop-up image of the person calling along with a button to accept or decline the call. Miss it and you'll get a notification about it as well.If a notification comes through while your computer's sleeping, it will show up on the lock screen. By going into System Preferences, you can decide whether or not you want a preview of said messages to show up there, in case the wrong person comes along. Apple will also be introducing website updates to Notification centers, so your favorite news sites and blogs can send you information through that river. Want to know what's happening over on eBay, CNN or Yahoo Sports (all companies mentioned in the keynote) without leaving the comfort of your desktop? Good news: that functionality is coming in the future.SafariLet's face it; it wouldn't be an OS X update without a little love thrown in Safari's direction. This is probably as good a time as any to reiterate the fact that this is still an early build yet (with the consumer-ready version coming in the fall), as we had an unexpected quit in the app during our testing. That out of the way, let's dig into some of the features here. Really, it's easy to view Safari as a sort of microcosm of the larger system upgrade, which is to say that there are some nice tweaks, but not a full overhaul. Top Sites has been redesigned, trading the curved, globular layout for more of a straightforward grid. On that page, you can now drag and drop sites to reorder them, and when you hover over the thumbnails, you get an option to delete them or pin them in place.The browser's sidebar has gotten a makeover too. It's much cleaner than before, with larger text and a dark gray background. At the top, you've got big icons for Bookmarks, Reading List and Shared Links (the latter of which appears once you've signed into LinkedIn and Twitter in the Internet Accounts field in System Preferences). Each shows up in a clean list that is searchable via a field at the top of the sidebar, refining results as you type). Reading List now features continuous scrolling, a canvas that stitches together your offline reading selections, snapping to the top of the next article as you scroll. Shared Links pulls together links from your friends on the aforementioned social networks, embedded in the original context they were shared in. It could potentially become a useful feature if Apple adds more social networks. At the moment, however, it's not incredibly beneficial looking at a feed that just contains Twitter and LinkedIn updates.As ever, Apple's done a lot on the back end as well. Adding to its cookie-blocking abilities, Safari now also features safeguards against sites that might skim your plug-in cache and local-storage data for tracking. JavaScript speed has been increased, according to Apple, and each webpage is now handled by a separate process. Placed to the side of a system running Mountain Lion, load times on the Safari build of Mavericks did load noticeably faster.CalendarWe can't say we were ever huge fans of the chrome on Apple's Calendar app. Thankfully, as the company put it in the keynote, "no cows were harmed" in the making of this iteration. All of that faux-leather styling is gone in Mavericks. In its place is a layout with cleaner text and fewer boxes. It's easier to read and more straightforward -- a particularly welcome change on the calendar, which needs to be easy and quick to read / skim. Also new is continuous scrolling -- no need to flip ahead here. You can just scroll on through to the date you're looking for -- though we did find ourselves lost in the future a few times.Facebook events will automatically populate the Calendar, so long as you're logged in through System Preferences. Create an event through the Calendar and it will autocomplete the address and add a mini-map of the location using Maps -- those created in Google Calendar, on the other hand, didn't bring up a map for us in this build. The app also adds weather conditions for the time / location, so you'll know whether you'll need to pack those galoshes. And if you've enabled location-based services on your Mac (which the app will prompt you to do upon loading), Calendar will add travel times, so you'll know when to leave (you can also add those times manually, if you're so inclined). All of which brings us to the next feature...MapsHere's one of the few truly new additions to OS X -- well, from a desktop perspective, at least. Apple Maps made its debut on the mobile side (too early, ). Of course, a desktop version won't have quite the same impact as its mobile counterpart -- you're a lot less likely to have your laptop on the dashboard of your car than your iPhone, for one thing -- but there's some nice functionality here. Load up the app and it will ask you for your location (surprise). We found the whole thing to be a bit less precise than on the iPhone, missing our location by about a block and a half.Up top are buttons for flipping between Standard, Hybrid and Satellite views, as well as a search bar for entering locations. There's also a Locate Me button that zips you to your coordinates on the map, a traffic button (which is totally grayed out at the moment) and Toggle 3D, which shifts the perspective from overhead to three-quarters.The 3D mode is really quite breathtaking in those areas where there's imagery, such as New York City, though load times are a bit rough when you're using the trackpad to fly across the landscape, zoom in and out and switch orientation. We saw a lot of grids as the image worked to catch up with the change in location -- hopefully that'll speed up a bit in the final release. The app features driving and walking directions, which aren't super useful on a desktop machine, but you can print them out, export them as a PDF or send them to your mobile device (once you've got your hands on iOS 7, that is). There's also a button for bookmarking locations, which will be pushed out to your other Apple devices via iCloud.As mentioned above, Maps functionality has been integrated into Calendar. It's also coming to Mail and Contacts, so it'll be pretty hard to get away from in this build.iBooksHere's the other major port from iOS. Unfortunately, it's the major addition that wasn't quite ready at press time. For that reason, we can't really give you a run-through now, but here's what to expect: the iBookstore and multi-touch books. Content purchased through iBooks will be pushed to devices through the cloud and the books themselves will have full-screen support, customized fonts, highlights, notes and search. Copying text from a book into Pages will create a citation. Groundbreaking? Not really, but there's certainly something to be said for having the multimedia books on the same device you use to write. It could be a seriously nice addition for students.Looking aheadWhile there are some features ported over from iOS, the full mobilification (read: feature crippling) that many feared hasn't actually come to pass. There are still plenty of things you can do here that your iPhone can't -- but it's a bit of a bummer to see iOS continuing to largely lead the way in terms of new features. It would be great to see more customization targeted specifically at desktop power users, but as long as PC sales remain relatively stagnant, that's not likely to change any time soon.All told, Apple's promised 200 features with this release. As ever, that number includes large and minuscule additions alike. It's a list that includes some really nice additions like tabs and tagging. Again, there's nothing that's likely to lure in anyone who hasn't already made the jump from Windows. For the foreseeable future, OS X's growth will continue to be gradual. But there are certainly enough additions in here to make upgrading a no-brainer for Mac users when the final version hits in the fall. And in the meantime, hopefully Apple will reveal even more reasons to give it a try.A lot has changed since early 2001. We've got a new president approaching the end of his first term, the US has embarked on two major wars and the words "Lady Gaga" have become much more than just gibberish. Some things, however, don't change. In nearly each of these intervening years, Apple has issued a major update to its desktop operating system, . This time last year, the company issued OS 10.7 , a king-of-the-jungle moniker many thought would mark the end of Apple's big cat naming scheme and, by extension, the OS X lineage. In February, however, the old operating system showed she still had some life left in her, when the next edition was revealed, arriving over the summer and called . Based on the name alone, you'd think 10.8 would be a modest improvement over its predecessor -- not unlike the baby step between and . But Apple insists that this latest build is more than just a seasonal refresh -- in all, it boasts more than 200 new features. Some are major, including things like a new Notification Center, and a desktop version of Messages. Others, such as full-screen mode for Notes... not so much. What seems to unite the vast majority of the 200 features, however, is a nod to . So, how easily can Mac users justify that $20 download? Follow along after the break, as we put those 200 features to the test. Upgrading Upgrading to Mountain Lion couldn't be easier -- assuming you have the kind of internet connection that can reasonably handle a 4.34GB download. If you don't, well, you may want to look into spending a morning at your nearest Starbucks. Apple won't be releasing the software on a USB stick like it , so downloading from the Mac App Store is your only option. If you previously made the jump to Lion courtesy of a downloaded update, you should be quite familiar with what goes on here. It's a simple sequence of waiting for the download, sitting through a few reboots and then, presto, you have a new OS. We ran the upgrade on a with a Core 2 Duo processor and the install process took just over 30 minutes. Faster machines will likely chew through the installation code more quickly. Finder Twin galaxies: A Mountain Lion desktop, left; Lion, right OS X reached its 10th anniversary last year. When it was first introduced in 2001, the operating system was something of a revolution, surpassing its predecessor and, arguably, what was then the most current version of Windows. In the past 10 years, Apple's desktop OS has seen its share of changes, with a major point upgrade coming nearly every year. With the release of Lion 12 months ago, many suspected the company had issued the final installment in the OS X story, but Apple had at least one more up its sleeve. With that in mind, it's no surprise that Mountain Lion bears more than a passing resemblance to its similarly named predecessor. In fact, out of the box, the only striking difference between 10.7 and 10.8's respective desktops is a new default wallpaper. (Clearly, Apple wasn't through with its celestial theme.) As with Lion, hard disks and other drives won't show up on the desktop by default, but you can easily adjust that in Preferences. Though Apple crammed more than 200 features into its latest OS, these upgrades don't include any significant changes to the overall look and feel -- certainly, it's nothing like the transition from Win7 to Windows 8, which will also be released . That said, the Finder has gotten a bit of a facelift. First up is the introduction of an inline progress indicator for file transfers from a drive or server -- one of many features borrowed from iOS. In addition to the traditional progress window that pops up in the middle of the screen, a small white bar is overlaid on top of a grayed-out file icon, letting you know how much of the transfer is left. A big "X" also pops up on top in the upper-left corner, if you get cold feet about moving files back and forth. Addressing a complaint in 10.7, Apple has made the sidebars in Finder windows a bit more customizable, so that drag-and-drop functionality now includes categories. In other words, you can pick up and reorder things like Favorites, Shared and Devices to suit your quick-selecting needs. Another handy addition is the ability to encrypt files from the comfort of the Finder sidebar -- just highlight a drive and either click Control or give a two-fingered tap to the right side of the trackpad to protect it from prying eyes. Enter a password twice followed by a hint and your machine will start encrypting. If you thought Apple had already used up every possible swipe and tap combination, boy have we got the one-handed gesture for you -- tap three fingers on a file or folder, and you'll get a preview window, offering up an icon, the name of the file, its version and size and an option for opening it. In the case of multimedia files such as movies, you can hit play without launching a separate program. Once that window is open, you can preview other apps by highlighting them with the cursor, which should prove a boon for people who prefer large icons. Like the Finder windows, the Preview also features the new share button, a near-ubiquitous addition to Mountain Lion that allows you to transfer files through a variety of methods, tailored to different apps. These include email, Message and AirDrop. AirPlay mirroring Here at Engadget HQ, there's no single Mountain Lion feature we're more excited about than AirPlay mirroring. It worked on the iPad, so why not bring it over to OS X? Using an , you can beam movies and other content from your computer to an HDTV at up to 1080p. The setup couldn't be more straightforward -- get your system and Apple TV on the same wireless network and the AirPlay logo will pop up in the right-hand corner of your desktop. Select Apple TV from the drop-down menu and it will start to glow blue. You can then chose to have the system either scale to match the resolution of your desktop or just fit it to the TV. Mirroring works with iTunes, of course, switching to full-screen automatically. We used it to watch some movies on Hulu, mirroring both the video and the full system output (if you do that, you'll want to silence everything else that's going on). We noticed less than a second of lag -- not a problem for videos, but it could be an issue if you plan on using your TV to play Game Center titles. Otherwise, it's a seamless experience with one major oversight: some serious hardware limitations. We attempted to do some mirroring using our two-year-old MacBook Air, but couldn't quite accomplish the task. In order to take advantage of the feature, you'll need one of the following devices: iMac (mid-2011 or newer) Mac mini (mid-2011 or newer) MacBook Air (mid-2011 or newer) MacBook Pro (Early 2011 or newer) Whatever you own, you'll also need a second-generation Apple TV or a newer model. Sharing button You can run, but you can't hide from the Share button. Apple's integrated this feature into just about every first-party app in Mountain Lion. Cupertino clearly knows how devoted you, the Mac user, are to the various social networks in your life, and it wants to save you a few extra steps when it comes sharing content. Notably, these sharing options include a number of third-party services, including Twitter, Vimeo, Flickr and Facebook (in beta until later this year). And while Apple's not going out of its way to highlight a certain Mountain View-based company -- it programmed a Safari bookmark for Yahoo, of all things, but not Google -- YouTube is included as a sharing option in QuickTime. (Interestingly, this doesn't apply when a QuickTime file is highlighted in the Finder, for some reason.) Apple's done a good job tailoring sharing to different services -- Finder, for example, just offers up email, Message and AirDrop, while Preview includes all those options, plus Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and iPhoto. It's hard not to note certain oversights with regards to the selection here -- while Apple's mostly done a good job including heavy hitters, we'd love to see services like Google+ and Viddler included in future releases. Some apps, like DropBox, might be a tall order, given their overlap with Apple's own offerings, such as iCloud. If sharing were anything less than idiot-proof, it would be hard to imagine it becoming an essential part of people's workflows. After all, pasting a link to Twitter or uploading a photo to Flickr are already straightforward options -- as is AirDrop's close-proximity peer-to-peer sharing, which was introduced in Lion. That said, Apple made the whole ordeal as simple as possible. Click the Share button in your chosen program (or from Finder, with your chosen file highlighted), select your sharing method from the drop-down menu and send it off. Obviously, with Twitter, Facebook and email, you'll want to add some context, too. You can do all of that from a "Share Sheet," Apple's sharing interface, which offers up an image of the file you intend to send, paper clipped to its side. The first time you attempt to send something using email, Twitter, etc. you'll be prompted to add an account, at which point the Mail pane will open in System Preferences. Once signed in, you're good to go across all of the apps that use this functionality. In the case of Twitter, Mail and Facebook, messages will be delivered directly to the Notification Center once you're logged in. Sharing is just one of many features in Mountain Lion ported over from iOS -- take a look, even, at that little arrow icon, first used in the mobile versions of Mail and Safari. In the context of the iPhone and iPad, this feature is a necessity. On the desktop, not so much -- not with true multitasking and all that screen real estate anyway. Still, as unnecessary as it may seem, it's a nice addition to the OS. And, unlike other features introduced in this release, we can honestly see ourselves incorporating this into day-to-day workflow. Notification Center The most significant addition to Finder in Mountain Lion is actually hidden away -- or rather, pushed to the side. Your first hint that the Notification Center is even there is a rather plain graphic added to the upper-right corner of your desktop's toolbar: three parallel lines, the one in the center slightly shorter than those flanking it, with three square bullet points to their left. Clicking this will shift the whole desktop (save for the toolbar) to the left, revealing a hatched gray pane, the Notification Center. Just how far the whole thing shifts depends on the resolution of your monitor -- using the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display at a medium resolution, the display moved by about a fifth of the screen. Notification Center can also be accessed with a two-fingered swipe, right-to-left, starting from off the trackpad. If you were worried that Apple was having trouble figuring out how to utilize screen real estate opposite the Dashboard, worry not. Shifting everything back is a simple matter of swiping the other way or clicking the icon or the desktop itself. If you're wondering just how liberally Apple borrowed from iOS in Mountain Lion, take a little trip just off to the side of the desktop. Notification Center mimics iOS' drop-down notifications, right down to the color scheme. All important messages (and plenty of non-important ones) flow through here: email, Twitter, Facebook (coming soon), Messages, Calendar appointments, reminders and updates from OS X, the App Store, Safari, Facebook and Game Center. Click on a note and it will open up the full message / alert in its respective program. Not keen on checking the Center every few minutes? Fear not: before populating the sidebar, the notes appear as a small banner in the upper right corner of your desktop (sorry, Growl), where they linger for a few seconds and then disappear, vanishing into the ether. You can speed up the process by swiping them offscreen using the trackpad. More important notes -- system updates, reminders and calendar appointments, for example -- show up as alerts, which need to be dismissed before they go away. No, you can't blame missed meetings on ol' Mountain Lion. Of course, the whole banner / alert thing can be adjusted through the settings menu at the bottom of the Notification Center -- you can also opt to receive no notes at all, as well as disable sounds. If you're not feeling the default arrangement, you can't actually switch things around in Notification Center, but you can fine-tune things all you want in the settings. Apple has also found yet another location for sharing in the form of Notification Center, adding "Click to Post" and "Click to Tweet" buttons for Facebook and Twitter. (Again, Facebook support is currently in beta, coming later this year.) With the addition of banner alerts, Notifications go right to the forefront of the OS X experience -- unless you go into settings and disable them (or just never sign into any accounts), it's awfully hard to avoid them. Not that we'd want to. Notifications are a truly handy addition that should fit quit comfortably into most people's workflows. They never felt particularly intrusive to us (especially since they disappear after a few seconds), but again, on days when you can't handle Twitter screaming for your attention, tuning out is as simple as rejiggering the settings. Messages Messages, wherever: Mountain Lion, left; iPad, right; iPhone, below. Mourn not the loss of iChat -- Apple's long-running chat client had a good run, but things change, software evolves and mobile apps get absorbed en masse by desktop operating systems. It's the circle of life, really. iChat is being put out to pasture a month ahead of its 10th birthday, making room for another friendly face: Messages. The iOS client has been fully grafted onto OS X, and compared with other mobile-inspired features in Mountain Lion, Messages is arguably the most comfortable fit. After all, Messages is simply unavoidable in iOS. Integration here means you're able to communicate directly with anyone who has an iOS device. Thankfully, however, it's not just a closed Apple system; services that had been supported by iChat -- AIM, Google Talk, Jabber and Yahoo -- are included here, too. Save for the touchscreen keyboard, the app looks pretty much the same as it does on the iPad. The left side is where you'll find different conversations, with a search bar at the top. The main pane, meanwhile, shows dialogues with the usual word bubbles -- by default, you're on the right side in light blue, and your friend is on the left in white, but you can tweak colors (as well as fonts) in the settings. As ever, you'll see an ellipsis when your friend is typing. Additionally, you can send messages to a phone number or email address (with a autocompletion if it's in your address book and connected to an Apple ID). If you happen to have Messages closed while someone's attempting to get your attention, a notification will pop up in the corner of your desktop. If you're online, a new conversation will pop up in the left column, with a blue circle showing it's unread. You can add attachments like photos and video (up to 100MB), both of which will show up inline. Video, however, will open up in a separate player when you click on it. Speaking of video, you can click the FaceTime button in the upper-right corner to cut straight to staring at your friend's beautiful mug. Group messages are also possible by typing multiple names into the "To" field. The desktop version of Messages supports full-screen mode, message forwarding and lets you set delivery and read receipts, so you know your messages are getting through. Mail and Contacts Not a ton of changes on the Mail front, though Apple's made a few tweaks to its email client. Chief among these is the addition of VIPs -- a priority inbox of sorts that lets you hand-pick the folks who should skip to the front of your ever-flooded inbox. Hover over the email address of a sender and you'll see a little hollow star. Click this and, boom, that person gets the velvet rope treatment. You can view them and all their fellow Cristal-drinking emailers by clicking the VIPs tab in the mail toolbar. The rest of the riffraff will have to wait. It's worth mentioning too that Mail's got an itchy spam-filtering trigger finger. You'll want to do some inbox training when you first get started. Speaking of preferences, all of your favorites, recent senders, signatures, smart mailboxes and other account info gets pushed out to iCloud and, by extension, all of your connected devices. Search in the Mail app has been souped up a touch, too -- start typing and it starts filtering, weeding out results that don't match. And skipping to the top of your inbox is as simple as clicking the sort bar at the top, in the blank space to the left of the actual "Sort By" drop down. Oh, and if you're looking to email a webpage, you can do so by clicking the Share button in Safari and selecting Mail from the drop down. A blank message will pop up, letting you chose how you want to deliver that content -- in Reader View or as a webpage, a PDF or link. Address Book is now known as Contacts (*cough* iOS). Name change aside, things haven't really changed. A share button has been added, so you can send contact cards via email, Message and AirDrop. There are categories now, too -- you can add those by selecting New Group from File, dragging and dropping selected contacts into the categories. Handily, the Contacts app combines info from multiple sources -- email address, phone numbers, etc. -- into single entries, so you don't end up with multiple cards for any given person. Calendar and Reminders Similar to Contacts, iCal has been renamed Calendar to match its iOS counterpart. On the whole, though, the program looks nearly identical to its predecessor, down to the faux leather gracing the top pane, and the remnants of torn-out pages. There are a few minor tweaks here and there -- for one thing, the menu for toggling between multiple calendars (e.g., Work, Home, Gmail, etc.) has changed from a drop-down dialog box to a sidebar on the left. Calendar's search, meanwhile, offers up events on the right side, rather than the bottom, where it sat in Lion. That search features offers up suggestions and search "tokens," which can be combined to create more specific searches. The date selector inside of an event now offers a small pop-up calendar, making it easier to choose a date by allowing you to go back and forth between months. And, of course, once events are added to the calendar, they'll feed into the Notification Center, sitting at the top of the screen until you see fit to dismiss them. Reminders, compared: On Mountain Lion, left; On the new iPad (cropped to fit), right As in iOS, Reminders live outside of the Calendar. The app, new to OS X, looks a lot like its iPad counterpart, except with a few aesthetic tweaks, including a more leathery theme and more detailed texturing in the app's binder paper. Rather than relying on the List / Date buttons on the left sidebar, the desktop version has a calendar in the bottom left (though you can make it disappear by hitting the calendar button at the bottom). Using the calendar, you can refine the reminders by day (though not by month or week), so you can see everything you need to do on, say, July 25th. Reminders are organized by categories in the sidebar. You can toggle between them by highlighting your chosen category or doing a two-fingered swipe left and right on the reminders themselves. Clicking the triangle icon in the bottom left-hand column will collapse the app into one column, removing categories from the view. Click Reminders in that left sidebar and select a line on the paper to start writing. You can program due dates so Reminders can nag you as the deadline looms. Next to each reminder is a check box -- tick this when finished, and it'll get filed as complete. You can always untick it, if you need to add it back to your reminder list. As you'd expect, clicking the "i" that appears when you hover over the entry lets you go in and adjust its settings. You can add notes, change its priority, from None (no exclamation marks) to High (three explanation marks) in a drop-down menu and add reminders by ticking one of two boxes. Reminders can be set for a given date and time location -- be it arriving or leaving. To utilize the latter, you're going to have to enable location-based tracking in the Privacy pane of System Preferences. We set the reminder to pop up when we left Engadget HQ and took a quick stroll outside the building, and lo and behold, one New York City block later: This popped up on the old iPhone 4. Pretty handy. The reminders get pushed to your devices via iCloud, appearing on the device you're using when the time comes to remind you. Really, that's what this app is all about -- it's less a desktop application than a counterpart to a feature that many are already using on their mobile devices. Notifications are key here. We've had some difficulty incorporating these sorts of applications into our daily lives -- particularly on the desktop. The ubiquity of the notifications, however, may be enough to give it one more go. Safari Naturally, Apple would love few things more than to wean you, the OS X user, off of your Chrome / Firefox dependency. As such, it's added a sprinkling of welcome features to help sweeten the pot. Chief among these is the new Smart Search field, which, to be honest, is more of an "it's about time" addition than a truly innovative feature. In short, it incorporates predictive search into the address bar. If you've used Chrome, you know the drill: start typing and Safari will start listening, pulling up suggestions based on your search history. As with Chrome, results from your Bookmarks and history are listed below the suggestions; Apple does a good job separating these results from one another, with a horizontal line. The space just to the left of the toolbar has gotten a bit more crowded, too, with the addition of an iCloud logo (only once you've enabled that functionality in System Preferences) and, of course, that ubiquitous new Share button, which is home to Add Bookmark and Add to the Reading List, on top of the standard email / message / Twitter functionality. The iCloud feature, meanwhile, offers up compelling functionality for iOS users through iCloud Tabs, letting you pick up where you left of on your mobile device. It is, of course, not unlike Google's Chrome Sync feature, creating synergy between the companies' desktop and mobile operating systems. But while Chrome's on iOS will likely lessen many users' dependence on Safari, as long at Apple's browser continues to be the default option on the iPhone and iPad, it's likely to continue to be the most popular web browser on those devices. Speaking of tabs, the new Tab View feature does a good job incorporating the glass trackpad into the proceedings. Pinch with two fingers and the tabs will shrink down, arranged flat on a gray background, just under their respective page titles and URLs. From here, you can quickly scroll through the pages. It's a nice feature, to be sure, but it's not likely to become an essential part of the workflow for too many people outside of Safari power users. For all of Apple's unabashed love of all things cloud-based, one new Safari feature does actually manage to acknowledge the fact that we can't always live our lives online. Reading List, that icon with the little spectacles that sits along the bottom of the Safari toolbar, now does offline browsing, a feature that actually manages to distinguish itself from bookmarks, something Apple didn't properly manage in Lion. Save something to Reading List (either through the Bookmarks drop-down menu or the Share This icon next to the toolbar) and you'll have to wait just a bit while system caches textual and graphic elements. And sure enough, if you fire up Safari offline, you'll be able to read full pages, images and all -- a handy little feature for reading news stories on the go, should you plan on taking your computer on the subway or on a plane that doesn't offer WiFi. But what about the seemingly endless strings of passwords we're forced to remember? Has Safari done anything to make them easier to manage? We're glad you asked. When you first fire up the browser, Safari will ask, many times over, if you'd like it to remember this password or that. You can either agree, put it off for later or just do away with the question altogether. It's a bit of a nuisance when you're first getting started, but if you've got a machine no one else will be using, it's a useful feature, particularly for those who have more individual passwords than the human brain could be expected to retain. Even handier (and more secure, too) is the new Password pane, which lives inside of the Preferences menu in Safari. Click through and you'll see a list of websites along with usernames and encrypted passwords. If you ever need help remembering one, click Show Passwords to bring up a dialog box, where you'll enter your system password. Once you've done that, you'll see your passwords listed, clear as day. You can also remove saved passwords from the pane, should you ever start to feel paranoid. Do Not Track, a privacy standard supported by browser bigwigs Microsoft, Mozilla and Opera, meanwhile, complements the privacy options offered by Private Browsing, helping to limit the amount of private information you let slip while browsing. Performance has been enhanced, according to Apple, with hardware acceleration and Javascript bumps -- and Safari is really quite smooth, particularly if you're using the trackpad to scroll. One minor, but handy improvement is the ability to rename bookmarks directly from the toolbar. Hold down a click on one, and Safari will highlight it, letting you make the change right there. iCloud With iCloud at the epicenter of Apple's cross-device push, it's hardly a surprise that it's the cornerstone of this latest OS upgrade. Cloud-based storage is, after all, the glue binding much of the OS X and iOS experiences together, syncing your contacts, notes, reminders, calendar appointments and Safari bookmarks. As such, the company has gone out of its way to simplify the process. Sign in with your iCloud account and Apple gives you a chance to opt out of syncing all the above-mentioned services, as well as set up Find My Mac, for locating and remotely wiping a lost PC. Once signed in, iCloud lets you pick and choose which services you want to sync: Mail, Contacts, Calendar / Reminders, Notes, Safari, Photo Stream, Documents, Back to My Mac and Find my Mac. After you opt in, Apple will begin the great syncing, pulling data from your iOS devices onto your computer and vice versa. If you uncheck one of the elements, it will remove the synced data from your computer (though not before warning you). The primary iCloud page also offers up a status bar on the bottom, letting you know just how much of that iCloud storage you're currently using. A feature that was unavailable back when Mountain Lion first arrived in beta, the Documents Library marks a big step forward for iCloud. Just save something in a cross-device app like Pages, and it offers up a drop-down menu of locations, starting with iCloud, which makes that file accessible on devices signed into that account. Accessing the Library is as simple as clicking Open in an app with that functionality. From here, you can open the doc to read or edit, duplicate it, rename it or transfer it via email, AirDrop or Message, courtesy of the Share button. Docs can be viewed as icons or lists, and can be sorted by name, date and size. You can also create folders by dragging one doc onto the other, iOS-style. Documents can also be dragged and dropped from the Library onto your desktop and vice versa. Auto Save, TextEdit and Notes Pinch-to-zoom, another "sure, why not" feature, has been brought over to TextEdit, letting you adjust text size using the trackpad. It'll save your cursor a trip to the toolbar, but mostly it feels like another step in Apple's eventual plan to incorporate that functionality into all of its native apps. And, again, why not? The MacBook's got a great trackpad -- might as well get as much use out of it as possible. Still, the implementation isn't perfectly smooth here -- once pinched, the text takes a moment to snap into place. The Auto Save functionality introduced the last go 'round has been peppered with some additional features. Clicking the name of an open file in TextEdit brings up a number of features, including Rename, Duplicate, Move To, Lock and Revert. Choosing Rename highlights the title, offering up a quick and easy way to affix a new name to the file. Command-Shift-S and Command-Shift-Option-S have been added to the keyboard shortcut arsenal for easy access to Duplicate and Save As, respectively. The "Move To" option, meanwhile, offers Apple yet another opportunity to integrate iCloud, letting you transfer anything saved to your desktop to that ethereal land of infinite document sharing. Actually, by saving to your desktop, you've already skipped out on an iCloud opportunity. Apple has front-loaded the feature, making it the default location for saved documents. Of course, you can also save to your desktop, if you're still living in a localized, pre-cloud universe. Saving to iCloud lets you share your documents across other OS X devices. If you want to edit a doc created in TextEdit on an iOS device, however, you're out of luck -- it only works on Mac-to-Mac transfers for the time being. If you save a file in Pages, however, you'll get that cross-platform functionality. iCloud plays a key role in Notes, another feature borrowed wholesale from iOS. Apple describes its functionality thusly: "Jot down things you need to remember and easily find them later." Easy enough -- and really, it's mostly as simple as it sounds. After all, it was a program designed for making quick notations on the go, on a small screen. The program does, however, offer up more functionality than its Post-it-esque predecessor, Stickies (which, for the record, managed to avoid the 10.8 chopping block). The interface looks like a pad of well-loved legal paper, with a few sheets already ripped out. Typed text shows up on the notebook lines in customizable and optional bullet points and numbered lists. Images and attachments can be added as well, simply by dragging and dropping them directly onto the app, for a more accurate representation than you're likely to be able to sketch out on your real-life notepad. Handier still are links, which, when highlighted, can also be dragged and dropped right onto the paper. Along the top, you get the date and time and an option for expanding the little app to full-screen, if you're the sort who loves to cram a lot of information onto a single page. Along the bottom are a trashcan for dumping notes you no longer need (what, no crumpling paper animation?) and an option for sharing the text via email or Messages. To the left of the sheet is a list of the notes you've made and above that is a search bar for finding something amongst the pad. Double-click a note in the list, and it'll get "pinned" to the desktop, staying open after you close the app. At the bottom is a big Plus for making new notes. Click the button just to the right of that and you'll get a broader list of notes across devices. Yep, Notes is connected to iCloud too, getting pushed to connected devices in a matter of moments. Click the Plus icon next to the list items, and you can organize your notes into sub-folders. The addition of Notes in Mountain Lion makes the app all the more necessary for those using both OS X and iOS. It's a truly handy tool for keeping track of those little bits of information that might otherwise get lost in the shuffle. The changes to Autosave are welcome, as well -- anything that makes it harder for us to accidentally lose our hard work is alright by us. TextEdit has certainly received some nice boosts, particularly its broader integration with iCloud. Apple's clearly looking to take on Google Docs here, though we'd be hesitant to make the jump, given that Docs is more accessible on more platforms. If, however, you're an iOS / OS X devotee who already uses Pages, this integration will certainly make your life a heck of a lot easier. Dictation Those holding their breath for the arrival of Siri on the desktop will likely be pretty blue in the face until this time next year -- the cheeky personal assistant isn't on the list of Mountain Lion's 200-plus features. Apple has, however, seen fit to bring Dictation over to OS X in a major way, incorporating it into any app that involves typing. This means Pages, TextEdit, Notes, Mail -- heck, you can even type in Gmail, so long as it's open in Safari. You can also put it to work in third-party applications -- we were able to dictate Gmail messages in Chrome, for instance, though we couldn't quite get it to work in Google Docs, regardless of whether we had it open in Safari or Chrome. Hit the Function key twice (you can also change this command in the settings), and a small microphone glowing purple will appear in a word bubble off to the side of the app. Speak slowly and clearly, hit Done when you're finished, and it'll get to work. We gave the feature a test drive and were pretty impressed with what we saw: The actual spoken text was: This is me trying out dictation. It seems be working out pretty well so far. I'm not sure if I could type an entire paper using this however. But perhaps for short things this is a good idea. I don't know, people in my office [are] probably going to stare at me funny if I keep using this to type all of my things. One or two fumbles. Still, not bad for a first go. And yeah, this writer has been told that he has a tendency to mumble. For periods, simply say "period." It's the same with commas and question marks and commands like "all caps" and "new paragraph." It's all quite straightforward and easy to use the first time you give it a shot. It currently supports US, UK and Australian English, Japanese, German and French. But again, it can't do much about your coworkers staring at you while you talk to your computer. Mac App Store and Game Center The Mac App Store gets some upgrades here, too: app update notes show up in the Notification Center, you can use the trackpad to swipe between pages in your App Store history and a Share button lets you broadcast your app discoveries over Twitter, Messages and Facebook. And since ML is only available through the App Store, it makes sense that all OS X upgrades come through there as well, downloading automatically for your installing pleasure. App updates auto-download as well, and all new applications you download will get pushed to other computers tied to your account. A tale of two Game Centers: Mountain Lion, left; the new iPad (cropped to fit), right. Oh, how people would have laughed at you 10 years ago, had you told them that one day, Apple would become a kingpin in the gaming world. Yet in a relatively short amount of time, the company has managed to go from a virtual non-presence in gaming to the creator of one of the industry's most popular platforms. Of course, that popularity grew mostly independently of Apple's desktop operating system. Having managed to capture the imagination of slews of mobile gamers, the company is now looking to translate some of that success into the desktop experience, offering up an OS X version of Game Center, the social gaming experience first introduced for iOS 4. The primary reasoning behind bringing the feature over to the desktop seems to be the opportunity to allow OS X users to compete against iPhone and iPad owners in multiplayer games in an already bustling ecosystem (with 130 million registered accounts, as announced at WWDC last month). Sign in with your existing account and you'll bring over your info from iOS. Through Game Center, you can find friends and opponents. Game Center also offers up in-game voice chat, parental controls and, of course, notifications, which alert you to friend requests and invitations, and tell you when it's your time to play a turn-based game. Unfortunately, you're going to have to re-buy / re-download the OS X version of the games -- and at the time of this review, that selection is pretty sparse. We can certainly see the appeal of maintaining scores across devices and playing against pals with iOS, but at the moment, we can't see the desktop version of Game Center becoming vital gameplay -- at least not in the near future. Gatekeeper and Security When Apple first tipped us off about Gatekeeper, we were admittedly skeptical. We're all for security, of course, especially in a world were OS X's growing popularity has made it an increasingly popular target for hackers, but as OS X begins to look more and more like iOS, it runs the risk of becoming a far more controlled, less flexible environment. Because, let's be honest: Apple craves fewer things more than complete control over its hardware and software, even if that means severely limiting the influence of third parties. Gatekeeper seeks to reduce the presence of malicious applications on your system. By default, your system is set up to only accept downloads directly from the App Store or identified developers -- a fact that leads to dialog boxes such as this one: This can all be adjusted by making your way into the Security and Privacy pane in System Preferences, where you can ratchet up the security (allow applications downloaded from Mac App Store) or pare it down (allow applications downloaded from anywhere). Apple would no doubt love to keep your downloads restricted to its tightly vetted App Store. But even extended to include non-App Store downloads by companies with a Developer ID, legit programs can still get flagged (see: Spotify). Of course, Apple's been working double-time to get developers signed up ahead of Mountain Lion's launch -- and, worst case scenario, you can always switch your system settings when you need to download an app not listed in Cupertino's database. Though Gatekeeper is the primary new security addition to Mountain Lion, Apple's got a few more tricks up its sleeve to tackle the aforementioned ever-growing threat against OS X. For one thing, the OS promises to check for security updates every day. Also, Safari, Mail, Reminders, FaceTime, Game Center and Notes all join the list of sandboxed applications offered up by Apple. Kernel ASLR malware protection is on-board as well, along with new FileVault management tools. According to Apple the encryption being offered up is currently in the process of getting its FIPS 140-2 certification, to help it hit the government's standards. We're not yet seeing the kind of focus on security enhancements that Microsoft will talk up with each new release of Windows, but Apple does seem to be coming to grips with the fact that, yes, Macs . Dashboard and Launchpad As ever, Dashboard is always just a three-finger swipe away. Not a ton has changed from a UI standpoint, but Apple's apparently looking to bring more folks over to the barebones interface by making widgets easier to discover. Swipe your way in and you'll see Plus and Minus buttons at the bottom of the screen. Clicking Minus brings pop-up Xs on top of your widgets, so you can get the ones you don't want out of your sight (so long, Ski Report). Hitting the Plus will bring a list of all the default widgets -- pretty much the same selection offered up in Lion, albeit in a slightly roomier configuration. Click a widget and it'll appear on your main Dashboard page. You can also hold down on a widget and then click to transfer it to the front of the Dashboard. Along the top of the page is a search bar so widget hoarders can find an item amongst the clutter. As you type, widgets that don't match the description will begin disappearing. Need something that's not stored locally? Click More Widgets and you'll be magically whisked away to Apple.com's Dashboard page, where you can download around 3,900 widgets -- at last count. Oh yeah, and you can add widget folders to the list of borrowed iOS features. From the Dashboard browser, simply drag on widget icon onto another and the screen will split, revealing the contents of your newly created folder. Once created, you can keep dragging more icons into the folder (you can't drag a folder into a folder however -- let's not get greedy). To make a folder disappear, simply drag all of its contents out. Launchpad, Lion's boldest step toward an iOS-like interface, is still present in Mountain Lion, accessible via the dock, a click of F4 (on newer-model MacBooks) or by pinching the trackpad with three fingers and thumb. The Mac app interface looks nearly identical to its predecessor: rows of mobile-inspired icons atop a blurred desktop backdrop. As with Dashboard, however, Apple's added a search bar to the top of the screen, with irrelevant apps disappearing as you type. Accessibility Still Universal: Lion's Universal Access settings, left; Mountain Lion's Accessibility menu, right Apple has also done a bit to make Universal Access more, well, universally accessible, beginning with the name, which has been truncated to Accessibility -- a name borrowed from iOS (naturally). The pane offers up various options to help users with disabilities customize their experience (it's possible for both sighted and visually impaired people to do this). Apple has also improved Accessibility through a new keyboard shortcut -- Command-Option-F5 -- which brings up a simplified version of the menu, anywhere in the operating system. From here you can enable the zooming of features (via keyboard shortcuts or scrolling), VoiceOver, adaptable keys and display configurations like color inversion and contrast adjustments. More complex Accessibility features can be accessed by hitting Preferences in that window, or by locating them the old-fashioned way, through System Preferences in the dock. In Mountain Lion, the settings are a bit easier to navigate -- a vital consideration for this user group. The push buttons on the top of the pane have been traded in for a simpler, easier-to-navigate side panel with large icons, offering up options in the category of Seeing, Hearing and Interacting (which combines the Keyboard and Mouse & Trackpad offerings from Lion). Again, simplicity is the thing here. Graphical user interfaces can be quite difficult to navigate for the visually impaired and people with other disabilities -- there's no need to clutter them up unnecessarily. The visual element of VoiceOver's spoken text. Mountain Lion's also ushers in some revised features in Accessibility. VoiceOver, which translates onscreen elements into spoken text, gets the most love here, with drag-and-drop functionality coming via modifier keys and the ability press and hold buttons and reorder tables. The latest big cat release also sees the introduction of 14 new braille displays. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking on this front, but it's definitely nice to see Apple expand its support for disabled users. Power Nap What's the old saying? If you can't nap longer, nap harder? Pretty sure it's something along those lines. That's the driving force behind Power Nap, an attempt to put your system to work, even while it's sleeping. The new feature, introduced in 10.8, works while your system is in sleep mode, whether plugged in or on running off of battery power, performing Time Machine backups and delivering updates that you can install the minute the machine wakes back up. Mail, Notes, Reminders and Messages all get delivered as well, without the addition of fans or system lights. And, it works whether your machine is napping with its lid up or down, all without spinning up any fans or using a lot of power -- however, it's only going to work if your system has flash-based storage. Pretty cool feature, all in all. Preview Even poor, oft-neglected Preview gets a little bit of feature love this time out. The image / PDF viewer gets sprinkled with the normal assortment of Mountain Lion features, including Sharing (via Email, Message, AirDrop, Twitter, Facebook, Flick and iPhoto) and Documents in the Cloud, so you can check out those images and PDFs on the go -- pretty handy, that. The PDF functionality gets some bumps as well, detecting text fields for you to fill out and letting you add inline notes. You can also search notes and highlights and plug scanned images and pages into PDF, going a ways toward making you a little less reliant on yet another Adobe product. Oh, Apple, you scamp. Features for the Chinese market Given Apple's growing presence in China, it should be no surprise that Mountain Lion comes with plenty of localized goodies designed to lure in more desktop users there. For instance, those who choose China as the system's region will see a few extra options in "Mail, Contacts & Calendars" under System Preferences (after logging out and back in again, that is). Three of those are popular Chinese mail services: 163 Mail, 126 Mail and QQ Mail. You also get Sina Weibo -- China's most well-known microblogging platform, which works very much the same way on Mountain Lion as Twitter. Finally, for video sharing, the list includes Youku and Tudou, though strangely enough, these are only via the Share button in QuickTime and not iMovie. We guess it's only a matter of time before Apple provides a more convenient way for Chinese users to share their videos. Most other Mountain Lion features for China are related to text input. While we're not exactly experts in every single type of Chinese input method, Apple claims it has significantly expanded on the existing offerings, especially handwriting recognition and the pronunciation-based Pinyin (including the newly added Fuzzy Pinyin to cater to different regional accents). Most notably, in Pinyin mode you can now type in English within a Chinese sentence without having to switch keyboards like in the olden days -- your English words would simply show up as an option in the suggested word list. Speaking of which, Mountain Lion will also quietly update its library to enhance its phrase suggestions over time, and the Chinese user dictionary gets the same iCloud sync treatment as its English counterpart. If you do get stuck with certain Chinese words, fret not, because OS X will now come with a simplified Chinese definition dictionary, so you can look up Chinese words by tapping on them with three fingers (tip: if your system's set up in English, you'll need to activate the Chinese dictionary in the Dictionary app). Alas, this is only a Chinese-to-Chinese dictionary, and it's just in simplified Chinese (Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan still use traditional Chinese), so some users will still have to rely on third-party solutions. Other tidbits include the addition of Baidu as an optional default engine in Safari (to be honest, many advanced users would probably prefer sticking with Google for all sorts of sticky-icky reasons), as well as eight new Chinese fonts (though only four of them include traditional Chinese characters). System Scrolling with Dinosaurs: The standard bar, left; the expanded version, right. The most prevalent tweak on the system side has to be the beefed-up scroll bars. Anyone who's had trouble grabbing ahold of the disappearing / reappearing page movers will appreciate the ability to expand / change the color of the things by hovering over them. Those engaging in screen sharing, meanwhile, will like the ability to just drag and drop files between computers for transferring. The full-screen app mode, which was introduced back in 10.7, has been extended to secondary displays. This isn't a huge change, mind you -- in Lion, you could have an app go full-screen in an external monitor, so long as it was set as your primary display. Also, as with Lion, your other monitor will be blocked out when in full-screen on one of the displays, which kind of defeats the purpose of the whole dual-monitor thing. Screen saver gets a little love, too. There's a slew of new slideshow viewing options, including a panning one named after our documentarian pal Ken Burns, who already got a nod over in iMovie. Click one of those options and you can choose the source of your photostream from a drop-down menu, including default folders like National Geographic, Aerial and Cosmos or your own shots. The new Faces feature in iPhoto lets you tag people in pictures, making it easier to choose images when time comes to pick a profile pic or putting faces to the names in Contacts. While we can't personally claim to be heavy Font Book users, the new Smart Collections feature is pretty neat, letting you group different styles together by refining search criteria. Speaking of collections, the Xsan 3 cluster file system is on-board for shared storage, as is X11 install, if you should happen to need it for a particular app. Performance Apple hinted at some small performance enhancements, but the company isn't exactly broadcasting them as a selling point for 10.8. Overall, we found the performance to be quite brisk -- we ran our standard OS X benchmarks, Geekbench and Xbench, and saw slight performance boosts versus the numbers we got with the same Retina display MacBook Pro running Lion. It wasn't a huge gain by any stretch, but we'll never argue against a performance boost, no matter how minor. Odds and ends Above: Flipping through pages in Dictionary. Hmmm... Wrap-up Let's get this out of the way, shall we? Does Mountain Lion justify its $20 price tag? Yes. Of course it does. If you're an OS X user with a reasonably new piece of hardware, stop what you're doing and upgrade now. There are 200 features here -- odds are you're going to discover a couple you like. Better yet, if you picked up your system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on June 11th or later, you can get it for free. AirPlay Mirroring, Messages, Notifications and some great new uses for iCloud make for an extremely solid upgrade. In our time with the new operating system, we experienced no major issues; just rare hiccups that are likely to be fixed in a system update. Heck, even the installation went smoothly. Apple devotees will find a lot to like amid the long list of tweaks and new features. Does Mountain Lion justify its $20 price tag? Yes. Of course it does. Taken as a whole, the features mark a fairly aggressive bid to fold the best of OS X and iOS into one product -- a strategy we first saw with the introduction of the Mac App Store on Snow Leopard, and with the arrival of Launchpad last year in Lion. Fears that the operating system has become more walled-off in the face of these moves are mostly overblown -- for now, at least. GateKeeper and the App Store hint at how Apple might seek to regulate the OS X experience to the degree it does on iOS, where content from outside the App Store's heavily vetted selection is strictly forbidden (though not expressly illegal, of course). Moving ahead, we hope the company continues to allow end users to download whatever they please. As for that question of precisely how fresh OS X feels -- it's not quite fair to compare the change between Lion and Mountain Lion to the steps between Windows 7 and 8. After all, the company has mostly been keeping to a yearly upgrade schedule, and while OS X has maintained a fairly consistent aesthetic presentation since it was first released in the world back in 2001, every upgrade has brought with it key features, and the end result is a very different operating system than the one we were introduced to more than 10 years ago. That said, it seems time for Apple to make a bold new pronouncement on the desktop front. The company appears to have most of its resources invested in the mobile side -- and there's no question as to why: the iPhone and iPad have reinvigorated the company, making it a computing player on a scale that no one (save, perhaps, for Jobs himself) could have predicted a decade ago. Still, it might be hard for OS X users not to feel neglected -- many of the latest new features feel a bit like iOS hand-me-downs. When and if Apple rolls out a new operating system this time next year, hopefully we'll be seeing a very different side of Mac OS. Tim Stevens, Richard Lai and Zach Honig contributed to this report.Apple Reports Second Quarter Results 37.4 Million iPhones Sold; 19.5 Million iPads Sold CUPERTINO, Calif., Apr 23, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Apple(R) today announced financial results for its fiscal 2013 second quarter ended March 30, 2013. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $43.6 billion and quarterly net profit of $9.5 billion, or $10.09 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $39.2 billion and net profit of $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 37.5 percent compared to 47.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 66 percent of the quarter's revenue. The Company sold 37.4 million iPhones in the quarter, compared to 35.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 19.5 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 11.8 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company sold just under 4 million Macs, compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter. "We are pleased to report record March quarter revenue thanks to continued strong performance of iPhone and iPad," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software and services, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline." "Our cash generation remains very strong, with $12.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter and an ending cash balance of $145 billion," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2013 third quarter: * revenue between $33.5 billion and $35.5 billion * gross margin between 36 percent and 37 percent * operating expenses between $3.85 billion and $3.95 billion * other income/(expense) of $300 million * tax rate of 26% Apple will provide live streaming of its Q2 2013 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on April 23, 2013 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq213. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter. This press release contains forward-looking statements including without limitation those about the Company's estimated revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, other income/(expense), and tax rate. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ. Risks and uncertainties include without limitation the effect of competitive and economic factors, and the Company's reaction to those factors, on consumer and business buying decisions with respect to the Company's products; continued competitive pressures in the marketplace; the ability of the Company to deliver to the marketplace and stimulate customer demand for new programs, products, and technological innovations on a timely basis; the effect that product introductions and transitions, changes in product pricing or mix, and/or increases in component costs could have on the Company's gross margin; the inventory risk associated with the Company's need to order or commit to order product components in advance of customer orders; the continued availability on acceptable terms, or at all, of certain components and services essential to the Company's business currently obtained by the Company from sole or limited sources; the effect that the Company's dependency on manufacturing and logistics services provided by third parties may have on the quality, quantity or cost of products manufactured or services rendered; risks associated with the Company's international operations; the Company's reliance on third-party intellectual property and digital content; the potential impact of a finding that the Company has infringed on the intellectual property rights of others; the Company's dependency on the performance of distributors, carriers and other resellers of the Company's products; the effect that product and service quality problems could have on the Company's sales and operating profits; the continued service and availability of key executives and employees; war, terrorism, public health issues, natural disasters, and other circumstances that could disrupt supply, delivery, or demand of products; and unfavorable results of other legal proceedings. More information on potential factors that could affect the Company's financial results is included from time to time in the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of the Company's public reports filed with the SEC, including the Company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 29, 2012, its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 29, 2012, and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 30, 2013 to be filed with the SEC. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates. Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad. NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (www.apple.com/pr), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042. (C) 2013 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Apple Inc. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In millions, except number of shares which are reflected in thousands and per share amounts) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended ---------------------- ---------------------- March 30, March 31, March 30, March 31, 2013 2012 2013 2012 ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Net sales $ 43,603 $ 39,186 $ 98,115 $ 85,519 Cost of sales (1) 27,254 20,622 60,706 46,252 ------- ------- ------- ------- Gross margin 16,349 18,564 37,409 39,267 ------- ------- ------- ------- Operating expenses: Research and development (1) 1,119 841 2,129 1,599 Selling, general and administrative (1) 2,672 2,339 5,512 4,944 ------- ------- ------- ------- Total operating expenses 3,791 3,180 7,641 6,543 ------- ------- ------- ------- Operating income 12,558 15,384 29,768 32,724 Other income/(expense), net 347 148 809 285 ------- ------- ------- ------- Income before provision for income taxes 12,905 15,532 30,577 33,009 Provision for income taxes 3,358 3,910 7,952 8,323 ------- ------- ------- ------- Net income $ 9,547 $ 11,622 $ 22,625 $ 24,686 ==== ======= ==== ======= ==== ======= ==== ======= Earnings per share: Basic $ 10.16 $ 12.45 $ 24.09 $ 26.48 Diluted $ 10.09 $ 12.30 $ 23.90 $ 26.17 Shares used in computing earnings per share: Basic 939,629 933,582 939,273 932,265 Diluted 946,035 944,893 946,626 943,185 Cash dividends declared per common share $ 2.65 $ 0 $ 5.30 $ 0 (1) Includes share-based compensation expense as follows: Cost of sales $ 87 $ 63 $ 172 $ 126 Research and development $ 239 $ 168 $ 463 $ 328 Selling, general and administrative $ 249 $ 193 $ 485 $ 390 Apple Inc. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In millions, except number of shares which are reflected in thousands) March 30, September 29, 2013 2012 ------------------ ------------------ ASSETS: Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 12,053 $ 10,746 Short-term marketable securities 27,084 18,383 Accounts receivable, less allowances of $99 and $98, respectively 7,084 10,930 Inventories 1,245 791 Deferred tax assets 3,242 2,583 Vendor non-trade receivables 6,252 7,762 Other current assets 6,377 6,458 --------- --------- Total current assets 63,337 57,653 Long-term marketable securities 105,550 92,122 Property, plant and equipment, net 15,026 15,452 Goodwill 1,400 1,135 Acquired intangible assets, net 4,136 4,224 Other assets 5,294 5,478 --------- --------- Total assets $ 194,743 $ 176,064 ========= ========= ========= ========= LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY: Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 14,912 $ 21,175 Accrued expenses 13,331 11,414 Deferred revenue 7,265 5,953 --------- --------- Total current liabilities 35,508 38,542 Deferred revenue - non-current 2,877 2,648 Other non-current liabilities 20,868 16,664 --------- --------- Total liabilities 59,253 57,854 --------- --------- Commitments and contingencies Shareholders' equity: Common stock, no par value; 1,800,000 shares authorized; 940,094 and 17,954 16,422 939,208 shares issued and outstanding, respectively Retained earnings 116,572 101,289 Accumulated other comprehensive income 964 499 --------- --------- Total shareholders' equity 135,490 118,210 --------- --------- Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 194,743 $ 176,064 ========= ========= ========= ========= Apple Inc. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In millions) Six Months Ended ------------------------------------- March 30, 2013 March 31, 2012 ------------------ ------------------ Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of the period $ 10,746 $ 9,815 -------- -------- -------- -------- Operating activities: Net income 22,625 24,686 Adjustments to reconcile net income to cash generated by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 3,280 1,461 Share-based compensation expense 1,120 844 Deferred income tax expense 1,957 2,915 Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable, net 3,846 (1,663) Inventories (454) (326) Vendor non-trade receivables 1,510 (379) Other current and non-current assets 1,269 (1,510) Accounts payable (4,422) 2,809 Deferred revenue 1,541 1,916 Other current and non-current liabilities 3,658 778 ------------------ -------- Cash generated by operating activities 35,930 31,531 ------------------ -------- Investing activities: Purchases of marketable securities (81,163) (85,022) Proceeds from maturities of marketable securities 9,243 7,702 Proceeds from sales of marketable securities 49,188 49,052 Payments made in connection with business acquisitions, net (299) (350) Payments for acquisition of property, plant and equipment (4,325) (2,778) Payments for acquisition of intangible assets (429) (160) Other (93) (48) ------------------ -------- Cash used in investing activities (27,878) (31,604) ------------------ -------- Financing activities: Proceeds from issuance of common stock 275 377 Excess tax benefits from equity awards 502 636 Dividends and dividend equivalent rights paid (4,984) 0 Repurchase of common stock (1,950) 0 Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards (588) (634) ------------------ -------- Cash (used in)/generated by financing activities (6,745) 379 ------------------ -------- Increase in cash and cash equivalents 1,307 306 ------------------ -------- Cash and cash equivalents, end of the period $ 12,053 $ 10,121 ======== ======== ======== ======== Supplemental cash flow disclosure: Cash paid for income taxes, net $ 4,258 $ 4,835 Apple Inc. Q2 2013 Unaudited Summary Data (Units in thousands, Revenue in millions) Q2'13 Q1'13 Q2'12 Sequential Change Year/Year Change ------------------- ------------------- ------------------- ------------------- ------------------- Operating Segments Revenue Revenue Revenue Revenue Revenue ----------- ----------- ----------- --------- --------- Americas $ 14,052 $ 20,341 $ 13,182 - 31 % 7 % Europe 9,800 12,464 8,807 - 21 % 11 % Greater China (a) 8,213 6,830 7,637 20 % 8 % Japan 3,135 4,443 2,645 - 29 % 19 % Rest of Asia Pacific 3,162 3,993 2,516 - 21 % 26 % Retail 5,241 6,441 4,399 - 19 % 19 % ------ ------ ------ ---- --- ---- --- Total Apple $ 43,603 $ 54,512 $ 39,186 - 20 % 11 % --- ------ Q2'13 Q1'13 Q2'12 Sequential Change Year/Year Change --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- -------------- Product Summary Units Revenue Units Revenue Units Revenue Units Revenue Units Revenue ------ ----------- ------ ----------- ------ ----------- --------- --------- --------- --------- iPhone (b) 37,430 $ 22,955 47,789 $ 30,660 35,064 $ 22,276 - 22 % - 25 % 7 % 3 % iPad (b) 19,477 8,746 22,860 10,674 11,798 6,264 - 15 % - 18 % 65 % 40 % Mac (b) 3,952 5,447 4,061 5,519 4,017 5,073 - 3 % - 1 % - 2 % 7 % iPod (b) 5,633 962 12,679 2,143 7,673 1,207 - 56 % - 55 % - 27 % - 20 % iTunes/Software/Services (c) 4,114 3,687 3,171 12 % 30 % Accessories (d) 1,379 1,829 1,195 - 25 % 15 % ------ ------ ------ ---- --- ---- --- Total Apple $ 43,603 $ 54,512 $ 39,186 - 20 % 11 % --- ------ (a) Greater China includes China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. (b) Includes deferrals and amortization of related non-software services and software upgrade rights. (c) Includes revenue from sales on the iTunes Store, the App Store, the Mac App Store, and the iBookstore, and revenue from sales of AppleCare, licensing and other services. (d) Includes sales of hardware peripherals and Apple-branded and third-party accessories for iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod.Apple Brings All Day Battery Life to MacBook AirSAN FRANCISCO-June 10, 2013-Apple today updated MacBook Air with all day battery life, fourth generation Intel Core processors with faster graphics, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and flash storage that is up to 45 percent faster than the previous generation. The ultimate everyday notebook is now an even better value, with 11-inch models featuring double the storage and 13-inch models starting at a new lower price of 949. Apple today also introduced completely redesigned AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule base stations featuring 802.11ac Wi-Fi for up to three times faster performance."MacBook Air is the industry leader for thin and light notebooks, and now with longer battery life, we've set the bar even higher," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "With faster flash, more powerful graphics and up to 12 hours of battery life, the new MacBook Air packs even more performance into the portable and durable design our customers love."The new MacBook Air features power-efficient fourth generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors that give the 13-inch MacBook Air up to 12 hours of battery life and up to 10 hours of iTunes movie playback. The 11-inch MacBook Air delivers up to 9 hours of battery life and up to 8 hours of iTunes movie playback.* MacBook Air now supports next generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi for wireless performance that is up to three times faster when connected to an 802.11ac base station. New Intel HD Graphics 5000 gives MacBook Air up to 40 percent faster performance for gaming and graphics intensive apps, and new flash storage provides speeds up to 45 percent faster than the previous generation and nine times faster than traditional hard drives.**The incredibly thin and light design features dual microphones, a FaceTime HD camera, a high-speed Thunderbolt port and two USB 3.0 ports. MacBook Air also supports dual displays and video mirroring while simultaneously supporting full native resolution on the built-in display.Continuing Apple's commitment to energy efficiency and the environment, the new MacBook Air meets stringent Energy Star 5.2 requirements and achieves an EPEAT Gold rating.*** Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminium and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Apple notebooks contain no brominated flame retardants, are PVC-free and are constructed of highly recyclable materials.MacBook Air ships 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.Apple also introduced redesigned AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule base stations that feature three-stream 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology with a maximum data rate of 1.3Gbps, almost three times faster than 802.11n. The new AirPort base stations include high-powered radios and a six-element beam-forming antenna array to maximise range and performance. With setup built right into OS X and iOS, users can create a high-speed Wi-Fi network in just a few clicks, and the intuitive AirPort Utility makes it easy to view and manage a network graphically. Featuring 2TB or 3TB hard drives, AirPort Time Capsule works in conjunction with Time Machine in OS X and is the simplest way to wirelessly backup multiple Macs. Measuring just 3.85-inches by 3.85-inches and 6.6-inches tall, these new base stations can be placed almost anywhere in the home.Apple Brings 1080p High Definition to New Apple TV New Apple TV Features iTunes Movies and TV Shows, Netflix, Photos & More in HD SAN FRANCISCO-March 7, 2012-Apple today announced the new Apple TV featuring 1080p programming including iTunes movies and TV shows, Netflix, Vimeo, photos and more in HD. With iTunes in the Cloud, customers can purchase and play their favorite movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store and watch them instantly on their HD TV. The new Apple TV features a simpler, refined user interface making it easier than ever to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music with iTunes Match? right from iCloud. With AirPlay, users can stream or mirror their favorite content from their iPad or iPhone 4S to Apple TV. "People are going to love streaming movies and TV shows in 1080p with the new Apple TV, and photos look beautiful displayed at the maximum resolution of your TV," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Apple TV is easier than ever to use with its new icon-based interface and the ability to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music right from iCloud." Apple TV users can choose from an incredible selection of programming including over 15,000 movies and over 90,000 TV episodes on the iTunes Store. Apple TV also offers great content from Netflix's streaming catalog, live sports from MLB, NBA and NHL as well as Internet content from Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr.* With iCloud, you can buy movies and TV shows on Apple TV and watch them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC. iCloud also stores photos and pushes them wirelessly to all your devices including your HD TV via Apple TV. iCloud provides an incredibly easy way to get instant access to all of your content, no matter which device is being used. iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users can use AirPlay to stream music, photos and videos from their devices directly to their HD TV with Apple TV. iPhone 4S or iPad users can use AirPlay Mirroring to show the screen of their device right on their HD TV, allowing them to stream web pages, spreadsheets or even games.** Apple TV makes it easy to enjoy iTunes video, music and photo libraries from your computer right on your HD TV-and with iCloud you can instantly enjoy content that was purchased on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch as well. iTunes Match customers can now play their entire music library from iCloud-even songs they've imported from CDs. Users can also control Apple TV with their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch using the Remote app, available as a free download on the App Store (www.itunes.com/appstore). Pricing & Availability Apple TV will be available on Friday, March 16 for a suggested retail price of $99 (US) through the Apple online store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Apple TV requires iTunes 10.5 or later. Apple TV requires an 802.11g/n Wi-Fi network or Ethernet network, a broadband Internet connection and a HD TV capable of 1080p or 720p and an HDMI cable that is sold separately. iTunes movie and TV show availability varies by country. Second generation Apple TV users can install the new Apple TV user interface via a free software update, available today. Third generation Apple TV hardware is required to play 1080p video.Apple Unveils iOS 7Completely Redesigned With Stunning User Interface & Great New FeaturesSAN FRANCISCO―June 10, 2013―Apple today unveiled iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone, featuring a stunning new user interface. iOS 7 is completely redesigned with subtle motion, an elegant color palette and distinct, functional layers that make it feel more alive. The typography has been refined for a cleaner, simpler look, and the use of translucency and motion makes even simple tasks more engaging. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop, enhanced Photos, Safari, Siri and introduces iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service based on the music you listen to on iTunes."iOS 7 is the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "To create it, we brought together a team with a broad range of expertise from design to engineering. With what we've been able to achieve together, we see iOS 7 as an exciting new beginning.""There is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation-it's about bringing order to complexity," said Jony Ive, Apple's senior vice president of Design. "iOS 7 is a clear representation of these goals. It has a whole new structure that is coherent and applied across the entire system."iOS 7 is completely redesigned with an entirely new user interface, but will be instantly familiar to the hundreds of millions of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users around the world. The new interface actually makes your phone appear bigger because everything is designed to take advantage of the entire screen. The redesigned fonts look amazing on the Retina display, creating even sharper text.iOS 7 introduces Control Center. Now the controls you want to access quickly are all in one convenient place. With just one swipe from the bottom of your screen, you have access to controls for Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Do Not Disturb, and the ability to adjust screen brightness, pause or play a song, jump to the next track and stream your music with AirPlay. Control Center also gives you instant access to apps such as Clock, Camera, Calculator and the Flashlight.With iOS 7, Notification Center is now available from the Lock screen so you can see all your notifications with a simple swipe, and the new Today feature in Notification Center gives you an at-a-glance view of your day with a summary of the important details such as weather, traffic, meetings and events.With improved Multitasking in iOS 7, developers have the ability to enable any app to multitask in the background with a new API. Users have the ability to switch between their apps in a more visual and intuitive way, and iOS 7 pays attention to which apps you use most and automatically keeps your content up to date in the background.AirDrop is an entirely new way to quickly and easily share content with people nearby. When you've got something you want to share, AirDrop shows you your contacts close by. Just select who you want to share with and AirDrop does the rest. AirDrop transfers are peer-to-peer so you can use it anywhere, without any network or set up required, and transfers are fully encrypted so your content is protected and private.iPhones are used to take more photos around the world every day than any other camera, and with iOS 7 the new Camera app features filters so you can add real-time photo effects. The Camera app now includes a square camera option, and you can quickly and easily switch between your four cameras-video, photo, square and panorama-with just a swipe.iOS 7 includes a redesigned Photos app that introduces Moments, a new way to automatically organise your photos and videos based on time and location. You can zoom out to see all your photos organised by Moments, Collections of Moments and Years. iOS 7 includes iCloud Photo Sharing, the easiest way to share just the photos you want with just the people you want. With iCloud Photo Sharing, family and friends can contribute their own photos and videos to your shared photo streams, and the new Activity view displays updates from your shared streams all in one place.Safari's redesigned user interface lets you see more of your content-starting with full-screen browsing. The new smart search field helps simplify searching, and there's a new view for your bookmarks and your Safari tabs. With iCloud Keychain, your passwords and credit card information are securely stored and available on all your devices, so navigating password protected sites or autofilling during transactions is simple and secure. Enhanced Parental Controls allow you to automatically block access to adult websites or only allow access to a specific set of permitted websites.Siri sounds better than ever with new male and female voices and includes Twitter search integration, so you can ask Siri what people are saying on Twitter*. Siri also now has Wikipedia integration, providing access to the world's most popular Internet reference site. Siri offers Bing web search within the app and the ability to change device settings and play back voicemail.The Music app has a beautiful new design and includes the new iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store, combined with features only iTunes can deliver. iTunes Radio is the best way to discover new music. When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV, you'll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple and genre-focused stations that are personalised just for you. iTunes Radio evolves based on the music you play and download. The more you use iTunes Radio and iTunes, the more it knows what you like to listen to and the more personalised your experience becomes. iTunes Radio also gives you access to exclusive "first listen" premieres from top selling artists, Siri integration plus the ability to buy anything you hear with just one tap.With over 900,000 apps, the App Store is the world's largest app marketplace. iOS 7 now features Popular Apps Near Me, a new way to find apps based on your current location, and iOS 7 will automatically keep your apps up to date. The App Store also comes with a new Kids category, allowing teachers and parents to easily discover apps for children by age.Additional new iOS 7 features include: a new Find My iPhone Activation Lock feature that requires your Apple ID and password before you can turn off Find My iPhone, erase data or re-activate a device after it's been remotely erased; Night Mode in Maps that responds to ambient light when you use it in the dark; FaceTime audio for high quality calls over a data network; Notification sync, so when you dismiss a notification on one device it is dismissed on all of your devices; Phone, FaceTime and Messages blocking to prevent specific people from being able to contact you; Tencent Weibo support for users in China, a Chinese-English bilingual dictionary, and improved Chinese input including handwriting recognition for multiple Chinese characters; the ability for businesses to more efficiently deploy and manage iPhones and iPads; and enhanced in-car integration, bringing an Apple designed experience into the car for the first time.The iOS 7 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 7 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation) this fall. Some features may not be available on all products.*US English, French and German will be available with the launch of iOS 7. Additional languages will be added over time.Apple Releases Developer Preview of OS X Mavericks With More Than 200 New FeaturesSAN FRANCISCO-June 10, 2013-Apple today released a developer preview of OS X Mavericks the 10th major release of the world's most advanced operating system. With more than 200 new features, OS X Mavericks brings Maps and iBooks to the Mac, introduces Finder Tags and Tabs, enhances multi-display support for power users, delivers new core technologies for breakthrough power efficiency and performance, and includes an all new version of Safari. The preview release of OS X Mavericks is available to Mac Developer Program members starting today. Mac users will be able to download Mavericks from the Mac App Store this fall."The Mac has consistently outpaced the PC industry and OS X continues to be the most innovative and easy to use operating system in the world," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "OS X Mavericks is our best version yet and features new Maps and iBooks apps, Finder Tags and Tabs, enhanced multi-display support, performance and energy saving features, and an all new Safari."Maps brings advanced mapping technologies from iOS to the Mac, including crisp vector graphics, stunning 3D view and interactive Flyover. With Maps you can plan a trip from your Mac, then send it to your iPhone for voice navigation on the road. Maps integration throughout Mavericks gives users helpful maps from within Mail, Contacts and Calendar, and developers can integrate the same powerful mapping features into their apps through the Map Kit API. With iBooks you have instant access to your existing iBooks library, as well as the more than 1.8 million titles in the iBooks Store from textbooks and classics to the latest best sellers. iBooks also works seamlessly across your devices, so you can read a book on your Mac, make notes or highlights, and then pick up exactly where you left off on your iPad.OS X Mavericks introduces new power user features for the ultimate Mac experience. Tags are a powerful new way to organise and find your files anywhere on your Mac or in iCloud. You can easily tag any file in the Finder, in iCloud, or when saving a new document. Tags appear in the Finder Sidebar to enable you to view files by project or category. Finder Tabs reduce the clutter on your desktop by consolidating multiple Finder windows into one window with multiple tabs. You can customise the view for each tab, move files between tabs, and even run the Finder with multiple tabs open in full-screen. Mavericks also makes using multiple displays even easier and more powerful. The menu bar and dock are available on any display, and users can now easily run windowed or full-screen apps on whichever display they choose, with no configuration required. With Mavericks you can also use your HDTV as a second display using Apple TV and AirPlay.New core technologies in OS X Mavericks improve the energy efficiency and responsiveness of your Mac. Timer Coalescing intelligently groups together low-level operations so that the CPU can spend more time in a low-power state, saving energy without affecting performance or responsiveness. App Nap reduces the power consumed by apps that you're not using. Compressed Memory technology keeps your Mac fast and responsive. When your system's memory begins to fill up, Compressed Memory automatically compresses inactive data. When these items are needed again, Mavericks instantly uncompresses them.The new version of Safari delivers blazing performance, innovative features and breakthrough technologies. Safari outperforms other browsers in energy efficiency, memory efficiency and JavaScript performance. Safari's new process-per-tab architecture makes the browser more responsive, stable and secure. Safari also introduces innovations like Shared Links, which make it easy to discover, read and share interesting new content from Twitter and LinkedIn, all in one place.Additional features in OS X Mavericks include: iCloud Keychain, which safely stores your website login information, credit card numbers and Wi-Fi passwords, and pushes them to all of your devices so you don't need to remember them. Information is always protected with AES-256 encryption when it's stored on your Mac and when it's pushed to your devices; an updated Calendar, which adds integration with Maps, continuous scrolling so you can zip through weeks or months, and a new Inspector to simplify event creation and editing; interactive Notifications, allowing you to reply to a message, respond to a FaceTime call or even delete an email without leaving the app you're using. Websites can now use notifications to keep you up to date on the latest news, scores and other information. While You Were Away Notifications make sure you see what happened while your Mac was asleep; and Xcode 5, with powerful, intuitive new tools for developers that measure every aspect of app performance and energy use, as well as app testing.Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.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 www.epeat.net.Aptina Delivers Stunning Ultra High Definition 4K Video and Superior Image Capturing Performance in New 12-Megapixel and 13-Megapixel Mobile Imaging Sensors Aptina advances Smartphone imaging with a family of 1.1 micron pixel-based sensors Mobile World Congress 2013 SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aptina announced today the introduction of its 12-megapixel (MP) and 13-megapixel mobile image sensors targeting high end Smartphone manufacturers. Integrating Aptina's most advanced pixel technology, the new sensors combine 3rd generation Aptina A-PixHS and 4th generation AptinaMobileHDR technology to deliver superior low light performance and best-in-class still and high speed video high dynamic range (HDR) allowing consumers to take exceptional pictures and video regardless of lighting conditions. The smaller 1.1-micron pixel provides dramatic results with incredibly fine detail rivaling the performance of digital still cameras and enabling advanced features high end mobile devices demand. "These sensors are the first of a family of new, high quality 1.1-micron based products being sampled by our customers, and which Aptina will be delivering in the coming years." "1.1-micron pixel technology will be a significant driver in the mobile industry over the next four years providing a path for handset makers to offer higher resolution sensors in the same form factors. The 1/3-inch format will continue to be the dominant form factor for designers of mid to high-end smart phones," said Tetsuo Omori, Sr. Mobile Industry Analyst at Techno Systems Research. Both sensors take advantage of 4th generation Aptina MobileHDR technology which increases dynamic range as much as 24 decibels (dB) while maintaining image sharpness and compensating for motion making it perfect for video and still images. The end result is crisp, clear images and videos across varying lighting conditions. Fully equipped with innovative features that produce color- rich video and images in full field of view, the AR1230 captures crisp 4K -UHD video at 30fps as well as 1080P video up to 96fps for smooth playback. The AR1330 increases video capabilities by providing enhanced electronic image stabilization support in 1080P mode while capturing video in both 4K UHD and 4K Cinema formats at 30fps. Additionally, both sensors support advanced features like super slow motion video, new zoom methodologies, computational array imaging and 3D image capture which allows OEMs to offer unique solutions in their latest Smartphones. "Built on Aptina's smallest, and most advanced 1.1-micron pixel technology, the AR1230 and AR1330 image sensors provide the high resolution, impressive low-light sensitivity, and advanced features manufacturers of high end Smartphone are looking for," said Gennadiy Agranov, Pixel CTO and Vice President at Aptina. "These sensors are the first of a family of new, high quality 1.1-micron based products being sampled by our customers, and which Aptina will be delivering in the coming years." Availability The AR1230 is now in production and is available for mass production orders immediately. The AR1330 is sampling now and will be in production by summer of 2013. Available in die for OEMs and manufacturers who have their own ISP; these sensors are also available with Aptina's imaging co-processor for a fully tuned, complete camera solution. The AR1230 and AR1330 sensors are available in standard 8.5 x 8.5mm modules with low Z-heights to leading OEMs and camera module integrators. The AR1330 is manufactured on the latest 300mm CMOS image sensor process at TSMC producing category leading image sensor performance. ____________________ Aptina Introduces 1080p Full HD Mobile Sensor with Gesture Enabling Features for Front Facing Video Applications Newest Aptina mobile imaging sensor provides feature rich video solution with 1.4-micron pixel performance Mobile World Congress 2013 SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aptina announced today the introduction of the world's highest performance Full HD mobile sensor with industry leading 60fps/ 1080p video and high dynamic range capability. Aptina's newest high performing mobile solution, the AR0261, targets OEMs and ODMs designing in high end features to meet the demand for forward facing applications in Smartphones, Tablet PCs and TV monitors. The new 1080p sensor has a 1.4-micron pixel providing outstanding low light performance with incredibly fine detail. This unparalleled performance is enabled by 4th generation Aptina MobileHDR technology that delivers superior low light performance and best-in-class high dynamic range which enables Smartphones with video capture performance that rivals video cameras regardless of lighting conditions. Furthermore, the fast 60fps frame rate also enables new gesture applications that open up a new way for users to interact with their devices. "Gesture recognition, 3-D and HDR will open a whole new world of personal interaction with these devices." The AR0261 captures native 1080P full HD video (16:9 aspect ratio) or 720p HD video at speedy rates of 60fps for smooth video playback, encouraging an immersive viewing experience. Smartphone users running video applications will benefit from the image senor's built-in video resolution and dynamic range capabilities. MobileHDR technology increases dynamic range to maintain image sharpness and compensate for motion, meaning subjects can sit inside a room with challenging lighting such as a bright window lighting a low light room without having the subjects faces darkened during a video conference chat. The end result is crisp, clear images and videos across varying lighting conditions. Not only is the users' video experience more pleasing, the sensor employs a new design architecture that enables the fast speed while promoting low power for longer battery life as demanded by most portable electronics. Additionally, other exciting applications such as gesture recognition and 3-D video capture are possible with AR0261. Accurate gesture recognition can be enabled by the fast frame rate, while Aptina's 3-D technology synchronizes two AR0261 output data streams to work collaboratively for 3-D. Exclusive front facing applications for 3-D TVs and other devices can be enabled. "Designers choosing the AR0261 will find new and exciting ways to enable users to interact with their favorite devices," said Aptina's Roger Panicacci, VP of Product Development. "Gesture recognition, 3-D and HDR will open a whole new world of personal interaction with these devices." Availability The AR0261 is sampling now and will be in production by summer of 2013. Available in die and CSP packaging for OEMs and manufacturers who have their own ISP; this sensor is also available with Aptina's imaging co-processor for a fully tuned, complete front facing camera solution. The AR0261 sensor has a 1/6-inch optical format and is targeted for standard 5.5 x 5.5mm modules with low z-heights. The AR0261 is manufactured on the latest 300mm CMOS image sensor process at TSMC producing category leading image sensor performance.ARCHOS BRINGS THE ANDROID PLATFORM TO A LARGE-SCREEN INTERNET TABLET WITH THE NEW ARCHOS 5 ARCHOS Introduces the Ultimate Internet Tablet with Android Applications, Bluetooth, GPS and High Definition Video in One Handheld Device DENVER, CO September 15, 2009 ARCHOS, Inc., a top innovator in the portable media market, announced today the new ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet that combines the best of ARCHOS, featuring high-definition content, TV recording and built-in GPS, with the best of the Android platform for Internet browsing and nearly unlimited customization with applications . The ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet features a sleek and slim design, 5-inch high-resolution touch-screen, ultra-fast speeds of a PC, full fledge Internet browser, 3D GPS navigation, integrated applications that rival Mobile Internet Devices, and far more capacity and flexibility. Up to 500GB of capacity ensures the ARCHOS 5 keeps up with the growth of consumer content, offering the ability to store Android applications along with hundreds of full-length HD movies, songs, photos and more. "With the steady growth of mobile Internet adoption, easier ways to access the Internet and digital media, and an increasing need for device customization, ARCHOS brings it all together by integrating GPS, HD and the Android platform," said Henri Crohas, ARCHOS chief executive officer. "Android offers to the consumer unlimited ways to customize the tablet with thousands of apps, all easily available on the device or through the AppsLib Store." New AppsLib Store for Large-Screen Android Applications ARCHOS introduces the AppsLib Store for unlimited access to free and paid applications developed specifically for the larger 5-inch touch screen display of the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet. Consumers can simply access Android applications from the AppsLib Store through the ARCHOS 5 device and download in one-click, with the application resizing to fit the larger screen in portrait or landscape view. In addition to accessing applications through the AppsLib Store, the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet will include several pre-installed Android apps, including the popular eBuddy instant messaging app, Twidroid for sending and receiving tweets, Craigsphone for posting or accessing classified ads, Thinksfree for viewing Microsoft Office files, Quickpedia and much more. Fastest Wireless Connection With WiFi n network capabilities, the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet is connected where and when consumers want and with broadband-like connection speeds. Without WiFi access, consumers can use the 3.5G connection of their mobile phone and connect through the Bluetooth to the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet, without requiring an additional subscription. The brilliant 5-inch screen of the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet, combined with the new superscalar microprocessor ARM CortexTM A8 from Texas Instrument, allows consumers to surf the Web on a high-resolution 800x480 touch screen, as if they were surfing on their PC. Unlike the small 2- and 3-inch screens of most Smartphones and media players, the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet makes surfing the Web, watching movies, sending email, Twittering or updating Facebook pages easy and comfortable. Integrated GPS Features 3D Maps and Adventure Mode Compass The ARCHOS 5 features an embedded GPS application that can be used in the car, around town or even in "adventure mode" for off road travels. With voice assistance, Points of Interest, multiple-route calculations, maps from TeleAtlas with 3D landmarks, and a unique 3D photo realistic feature for in-city navigation edited by BLOM, the ARCHOS 5 ensures one less device in the pocket and keeps consumers moving. With multiple view angles, four zoom levels and digital compass, the ARCHOS 5 keeps users on track whether in city or back-country. ARCHOS offers a seven day free trial of the GPS features to test the power and performance before subscribing. Entertainment Your Way with the Highest Quality Content The ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet offers a host of content options, including: 16GB to 500GB Capacities: Provides enough storage to hold up to 710 full-length, HD quality movies, 3.2 million photos or 190,000 songs. HD capabilities: Consumers don't need to make compromises concerning their videos. The ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet can handle the widest range of video formats even at HD 720p resolution (H.264 HD, MPEG-4 HD, and WMV HD). Web TV and Radio: Users can stream thousands of Web TV channels and more than 10,000 radio stations directly to the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet. TV Recording: With the optional DVR station accessory, ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablets offer a fast and easy way to record live TV and play back favorite HD movies directly on the Tablet or TV. ARCHOS Media Club: The easiest way to access content on the go, the Media Club features the latest movies, TV shows, music and games from a host of providers. Personalize with Plug-Ins and Accessories Furthering the company's strategy to offer multiple customization options, the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet offers a host of optional plug-in and accessories from the ARCHOS store or Web site: HD Cinema plug-In: Play WMV HD movies in 720p resolution as well as movies in MPEG-2/VOB format with AC3 sound. Accessories: DVR Station, Battery dock, HDMI Mini-Dock, GPS In-Car Holder, , and more can be used to record TV, charge the device, transfer photos from a digital camera, record videos on the go, etc. Pricing and Availability The ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet will be available from retailers, Amazon and the ARCHOS Website beginning September 16, 2009, at prices ranging from $249.99 to $439.99. Order information and customer support details are available on the ARCHOS Web site at www.archos.com. About ARCHOS ARCHOS introduced the hard-drive-based MP3 player with the Jukebox 6000 in 2000, and since that time has revolutionized consumer electronics devices. The company introduced the portable video player in 2003 and was the first to bring TV recording, wireless and touch screens to the portable media player. The ARCHOS Internet Media Tablet and PCtablet offer consumers uncompromised access to the Internet, movies, photos, video, music and television anytime, anywhere. ARCHOS has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia, and is quoted on Compartment C of Euronext Paris, ISIN Code FR0000182479. More information is available online at archos.comAtmel and Arduino Collaborate on AVR and ARM-based Development Platforms See the latest platforms based on Atmel products in the Atmel-sponsored Arduino Pavilion located in Queens, New York, September 17 and 18 Listen to Atmel Open Source Community Manager Eric Weddington present "Open Source AVR Toolchain Past, Present and Future" at 2:00 pm PT on September 17 and 18 in the 'Make Live Stage' at the Maker Faire San Jose, CA, September 16, 2011 - Today at the BUILD conference, Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch solutions, and Arduino, the leading open-source electronics prototyping platform and community, announced they are collaborating on several development boards using Atmel AVR and ARM-based microcontroller (MCU) products. The new easy-to-use Arduino boards use several Atmel products including the Cortex-M3-based SAM3U MCU, ATmega32U4 and AVR UC3 MCUs. Arduino is an open-source, community-based prototyping platform that offers accessible hardware and well-documented software to electronics enthusiasts. The community encompasses artists, designers, students, kids, hobbyists and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. Committed to offering the shortest learning curve, Arduino has developed several boards featuring Atmel's AVR and ARM-based MCUs leveraging its complete, flexible software and hardware environments. Atmel and Arduino will be demonstrating several platforms in the Atmel-sponsored Arduino Pavilion including: Arduino Leonardo. Based on the Atmel ATmega32u4, it is a low-cost Arduino board which includes a simpler circuit as the Arduino UNO board. The software on the board includes a USB driver that can simulate a mouse, keyboard and serial port. In addition, the bootloader includes a serial port and USB mass storage driver. Arduino Due. The newest board to Arduino's collection, the Arduino Due is based on an Atmel Cortex-M3-based microcontroller, also known as the Atmel SAM3U ARM-based MCU. This MCU can run up to 96MHz and will be available to the Arduino community by the end of 2011. Arduino WiFi. This board is for hobbyists interested in WiFi applications. Arduino WiFi includes an add-on module using the Atmel AVR MCU and an H&D Wireless module that provides developers with a powerful WiFi interface. "Arduino is a grass roots community that has been working with Atmel AVR products since its inception," said Massimo Banzi, founder of the Arduino Community. "We are thrilled to use Atmel's ARM-based products for the first time in our latest development platforms. The new boards, based on the Atmel SAM3U ARM-based MCUs, include a complete, flexible eco-system that provides our community of developers with access to the most sophisticated, yet easy-to-use platforms for designing innovative and fun electronics devices," Banzi concluded. "We are excited to be a sponsor of the Arduino Pavilion at the Maker Faire," said Alf Egil-Bogen, chief marketing officer, Atmel Corporation. "The Arduino community reaches a large group of university and hobbyist communities focused on developing new designs. We've seen this community grow from grass roots to a well-established organization of true enthusiasts and hobbyists. We are excited to work with Arduino on a variety of different projects in the future." About Arduino Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. For more information, visit the website at www.arduino.cc. About Atmel Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on industrial, consumer, communications, computing and automotive markets. 2011 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel, Atmel logo and combinations thereof, AVR and others are registered trademarks, and others are trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.ARM Unveils Its Most Energy Efficient Application Processor Ever; Redefines Traditional Power and Performance Relationship with big.LITTLE Processing Addresses one of today's industry challenges: extending consumers' always on, always connected mobile experience with both improved performance AND longer battery life CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ARM today announced the ARM Cortex-A7 MPCore processor - the most energy-efficient application class processor ARM has ever developed, and big.LITTLE processing - a flexible approach that redefines the traditional power and performance relationship. The Cortex-A7 processor builds on the low-power leadership established by the Cortex-A8 processor that is at the heart of many of today's most popular smartphones. A single Cortex-A7 processor delivers 5x the energy-efficiency and is one fifth the size of the Cortex-A8 processor, while providing significantly greater performance. The Cortex-A7 processor will enable a rich user experience in sub-$100 entry level smartphones and help connect the next billion people in developing markets. "The market's demand for more functionality and connectivity with low power consumption requires ever more advanced processor, system and chip design" One of today's technology most significant challenges is how to create a System on Chip (SoC) that meets the conflicting consumer demand for devices with both higher-performance AND extended battery life. Big.LITTLE processing, enabled by Cortex-A7, achieves this by pairing the best of the high-performance Cortex-A15 MPCore and ultra-efficient Cortex-A7 processors. Big.LITTLE processing allows devices to seamlessly select the right processor for the right task, based on performance requirements. Importantly, this dynamic selection is transparent to the application software or middleware running on the processors. ARM Partners supporting these technologies include Broadcom, Compal, Freescale, HiSilicon, LG Electronics, Linaro, OK Labs, QNX, Red Bend, Samsung, Sprint, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments. Quotes and video comments can be found below and at http://www.youtube.com/ARMflix. Mobile usage has changed significantly and today consumers are increasingly using their smartphone for the majority of their connected lives. This includes high-performance tasks, such as web browsing, navigation and gaming, and less demanding 'always on, always connected' background tasks, such as voice calls, social networking and email services. As a result, the mobile phone has become an indispensable compute device for many consumers. At the same time, new mobile form factors, such as tablets, are redefining computing platforms in response to consumer demand. This is creating new ways for consumers to interact with content and brings what was once only possible on a tethered device to the mobile world. By developing big.LITTLE processing and the Cortex-A7 processor, ARM has addressed the challenge for technology that can deliver both high-performance, required for content creation and consumption, while also delivering extreme power efficiency for extended battery life. This is particularly pertinent as smartphones and tablets continue to evolve into the primary platforms that consumers use to interact with our increasingly connected world. Cortex-A7 - extending ARM low-power leadership The efficiency of the ARM architecture is the reason why ARM processors use less power and occupy a smaller footprint. The Cortex-A7 processor occupies less than 0.5mm2, using 28nm process technology, and provides compelling performance in both single and multicore configurations. Used as a stand-alone processor, the Cortex-A7 will deliver sub-$100 entry level smartphones in the 2013-2014 timeframe with an equivalent level of processing performance to today's $500 high-end smartphones. The ARM vision of the entry level smartphone market is to redefine usage in the developing world by helping connect the next billion people to Internet content and services over mobile devices. big.LITTLE processing the right processor for the right job Big.LITTLE processing combines two different, but compatible processors within the same SoC and allows the power management software to seamlessly select the right processor, or multiple processors, for the right task. The processors appear identical from an applications software perspective. The 'LITTLE', lowest-power processor in this case, the Cortex-A7 - runs the Operating System (OS) and applications for basic always-on, always connected tasks, such as social media and audio playback. The OS and apps can then be seamlessly migrated to the higher-performance processor as demands increase for high end tasks, such as navigation and gaming. The time for this migration is in the order of 20 microseconds. This flexible approach of choosing the right processor for the right job enables highly optimized processing which results in significant energy savings for common workloads. System IP and tools ensures coherency and optimization for multicore solutions The efficient and seamless switching of workloads between the two processors is supported by advanced ARM system IP, such as AMBA 4 ACE Coherency Extensions. This ensures full cache, I/O and processor-to-processor coherency between the Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7, and across the complete system. Software and applications can therefore continue to run unhindered, and unnoticed by the user, as the tasks are rebalanced to provide the optimum big.LITTLE user experience. Big.LITTLE power management software is developed by ARM ecosystem partners months ahead of silicon availability using ARM DS-5 tools and Fast Model virtual prototyping technology. The virtual platform, available now to lead partners, contains the Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 processors, as well as cache coherent interconnect System IP, allowing full system software development. For more information go to: big.LITTLE processing: http://www.arm.com/products/processors/technologies/bigLITTLEprocessing.php Cortex-A7: http://www.arm.com/products/processors/cortex-a/cortex-a7.php Supporting ARM and ARM Partner Quotes ARM "As smartphones and tablets continue to evolve into users' primary compute device, consumers are demanding performance as well as the always on, always connected service they expect. The challenge for our industry and the ARM ecosystem is how to deliver on this," said Mike Inglis, Executive Vice President, Processor Division, ARM. "The introduction of Cortex-A7 and big.LITTLE addresses this challenge and extends ARM's technology leadership by setting a new standard for energy-efficient processors and redefining the traditional power and performance relationship." Broadcom: "ARM is continuing to push the boundaries of power and performance with the launch of its new Cortex-A7 Processor IP," said Martyn Humphries, Vice President & General Manager, Mobile Applications Processor Business Unit, Broadcom. "The power optimized multicore approach enabled by Cortex-A7 drives enhanced capabilities in mobile devices and ultimately a better user experience." Compal: "The market's demand for more functionality and connectivity with low power consumption requires ever more advanced processor, system and chip design," said Leonard Tsai, Vice President, Innovation of Compal Electronics, INC. "We believe this new Cortex-A7 processor and the new big.LITTLE technology from ARM will provide the significant increase in energy efficiency and performance required to redefine the level of experience consumers can expect from future smartphones and mobile computing devices." Freescale: "As the market advances, there is an increasing need for low-power, higher-performance processing to deliver optimal user experiences across a broad range of markets," said Bernd Lienhard, vice president and general manager of Freescale's Multimedia Applications Division. "ARM Cortex-A7 technology, coupled with big.LITTLE processing and Freescale's multicore expertise will enable us to innovate and deliver exciting new products to our customers." HiSilicon: "The next wave of mobile phones and portable computing devices will continue to extend the end-user experience through exciting new features that demand superior processing power combined with long battery life," said George Yiu, HiSilicon. "The low-power and performance of the Cortex-A7 processor, and the development of big.LITTLE processing when combined with the Cortex-A15, will enable our customers to deliver leading edge mobile devices which provide a superior, always-on, mobile computing experience." LG Electronics: "ARM continues to raise the bar in performance and energy-efficiency for mobile and battery operated applications by introducing the ARM Cortex-A7 processor," said Bo-ik Sohn, Vice President and the head of LG Electronics SIC Center. "The Cortex-A7 processor's ability to work together with the Cortex-A15 processor in a big.LITTLE configuration will help address the high-performance and low-power requirements of OEMs to deliver the optimum user experience for next generation mobile phones and mobile computing devices." Linaro: "Linaro is working closely with ARM and its other members to ensure that Linux-based systems have full access to all the features that multi-processor ARM-Powered systems can provide, including security, high performance and the best power efficiency," commented George Grey, CEO, Linaro. "Our ongoing support for the new Cortex-A7 processor, and the big.LITTLE systems that it will enable, will further increase the prevalence of energy-efficient, high-performance systems for future consumer and enterprise devices." OK Labs: "OK Labs virtualization helps device manufacturers realize the full potential of Cortex-A7 processor capabilities," noted Steve Subar, OK Labs founder and CEO. "Cortex-A7 and OKL4 together boast scalable performance and enable low power operation and the single and multicore big.LITTLE paradigm." QNX: "Once again, ARM has proven that it can deliver the potent mix of high-performance and low-power demanded by our customers in the automotive and medical industries," said Linda Campbell, director of strategic alliances at QNX Software Systems. "We're especially excited by the energy efficiency and multicore capabilities of the Cortex-A7 processor, which give customers the freedom to scale processing power as their designs evolve." Red Bend: "The unmatched combination of ARM's vision for a connected world and expertise in processor design are the reasons its technology drives virtually every mobile handset in use today," said Yoram Salinger, CEO of Red Bend Software. "The advanced devices enabled by ARM's big.LITTLE processing will change how we live and work. Red Bend is uniquely positioned to leverage the virtualization extensions in ARM's processors and bring the most comprehensive Mobile Software Management solutions to device manufacturers and service providers, the automotive industry, enterprises and other markets. We are proud to be ARM's partner and work to improve the mobile user experience worldwide." Samsung: "The race is on to put a high-performance, power-efficient supercomputer in the palm of the consumer's hand." said John Kalkman, vice president, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. "We are pleased to be partnering with ARM as they redefine the power/performance equation in mobile computing. By combining innovative technology leadership from both companies, SoC designers will have the right application processor to deliver always-on, always-connected mobile computing for future devices." Sprint: "Battery consumption is an important factor with the use of smartphones, especially with the exponential growth of data use that we are seeing today. The ARM Cortex-A7 processor and big.LITTLE processing have great potential to help increase smartphone performance and energy efficiency." - Von McConnell, director of Innovation and Advanced Labs for Sprint. ST-Ericsson: "We have entered an era where wireless computing solutions bring 3D navigation, mobile augmented reality, HD video and other advanced capabilities effortlessly to a growing number of consumers," said Marc Cetto, Senior Vice President, Smartphone & Tablet Solutions at ST-Ericsson. "The combination of the new energy efficient Cortex-A7 with the high performance Cortex-A15 processor in ARM's big.LITTLE configuration will enable smartphone and tablet manufacturers to build power-efficient devices with new levels of performance." Texas Instruments: "TI's OMAP platform success relies on superior mobile computing at ultra-low power to deliver extraordinary experiences on smartphones, tablets and ultrathin laptops. Our mobile processors' smart multicore architectures have long been complementing main ARM processors with specialized engines and accelerators better suited to perform certain tasks at the lowest possible power. We are excited to see ARM's introduction of Cortex-A7 with big.LITTLE processing. We see it as a natural continuation of our innovative approach to smart mobile computing as it presents new opportunities to advance the industry overall enabling even lower power general purpose CPU performance," said Remi El-Ouazzane, vice president, OMAP platform business unit, Texas Instruments.has always prided itself on the science and technology that goes into its sports apparel. But, let's be honest, the company could spend four times as much on R&D for a shirt as HTC did on the One, and it would still never generate the same fanfare. Sure, a heart rate monitor and app still aren't going to set the tech blog world on fire, but it could be the move that earns the company the respect it deserves. The system combines a small Bluetooth LE-enabled pod with a distinctive chest strap and an app that tracks your level of exertion, awarding you WILLpower points. What the system isn't, however, is a "lifestyle" product or an "activity tracker." Under Armour is clearly going after those who fancy themselves athletes. Obviously, the question is whether or not the sportswear company has anything valuable to offer in the space. Does its new training platform actually encourage you to push yourself harder and is it really anything more than a with an extra dose of testosterone? The answers are exactly where you'd expect them: after the break. HardwareInterestingly, as a , the Armour39 strap and pod aren't really meant to be seen, yet they still sport a rather unique appearance. Instead of sticking with the one-piece, all-black design that companies like Polar favor, Under Armour laced its strip of elastic with aggressive yellow accents. Waves of yellow emanate from the black plastic well at the center where the data-tracking bug lives. The band is little more than a strip of elastic, but the sensor-laced pads are much softer than those on models from other companies. It's a small touch, but one that lends the product a dash of luxury. And we'll be honest; "luxury" is not a word we ever thought we'd associate with a heart rate monitor. Our one gripe about the design is the closure, which has you slipping a loop of elastic around one end of a plastic hook. The problem is, that hook sits far over to one side, making it awkward to reach. Its placement also pushes the slide to adjust the size of the strap around to the back. That means you'll be doing a lot of twisting and turning to ensure you've got the right fit, especially since it can be quite stiff the first few times you put it on.The "bug," which actually houses the tracking hardware, along with the Bluetooth radio, a small amount of storage and a watch-style battery, is also bright yellow with the signature U and A logo emblazoned on it. That logo hides a small LED that glows blue when attempting to connect to the iOS app and slowly pulses green to let you know everything is good to go. Orientation sensors determine how stressful a particular position is, so it can differentiate between running on a treadmill and doing planks. The onboard memory also means that you can put your phone down and walk away while exercising and still keep tracking. When you wander back into Bluetooth range, your progress will automatically be updated. A tab on one end ensures that you'll insert it correctly and makes it relatively easy to pop out of the strap. There is a bit of resistance as you try to pry it free, which is actually reassuring since you don't want it to come loose as you're sprinting or doing burpees.SoftwareUnder Armour assures us that an Android app is in the works, but wouldn't specify when we could actually expect a release. For now you'll need an iOS device, one with Bluetooth 4.0 specifically. Either that or you'll need to get your hands on the companion watch, which is not yet available and offers only some of the functionality that the app does. That being said, the Armour39 app isn't exactly drowning in superfluous features. It does one thing: monitor your level of exertion, and it does it relatively well. Still, whether or not its busy blue-and-yellow interface conveys that data in the most efficient way possible is up for debate. And we're both confused and frustrated by the fact that it's not optimized for the longer screen of the iPhone 5 or latest-generation iPod touch.Armour39 feels like the genesis of a great product, rather than the culmination of a long R&D process.The first step in getting your new fitness-tracking system up and running is to use the guided-assessment tool. The 10-minute program (for which you'll need a treadmill or a track) is hosted by Todd Durkin, the owner of Fitness Quest 10, a high-end gym in San Diego where a number of professional athletes train, including Cy Young award-winner Jake Peavy and Olympic gold medalist Shaun White. The way it works is quite simple: you start cold then slowly ramp up the intensity of your run to get a measure of your resting and maximum heart rate, while the app monitors how quickly it climbs. Then, at the end, you're directed to come to a complete stop while a final set of measurements determines how quickly you recover from high levels of exertion.This data, along with some other general information about you, helps the app generate a profile that will be used to measure your WILLpower. Under Armour's WILLpower is a proprietary measurement, like Fuel points, of your overall effort. Your heart rate and the duration of your workout both influence your score, but so too does the position of your body. WILLpower is awarded on a scale of zero to 10, with it becoming increasingly harder to rack up points as you climb higher. So, you'll hit 3.5 pretty quickly, but getting to nine is going to be a pain. (Literally, you're probably going to be in pain if you push hard enough to be awarded nine WILLpower points.)There's not much else to the app, however. You take the assessment, then start working out. You can set a WILLpower target, but that's about it as far as advanced features go. At the end of your session you're presented with a workout summary that gives you not just a WILLpower score, but also your average and peak heart rate, your average intensity, duration of your workout and the number of calories burned. Additional tabs break down your heart rate and intensity over time in bar graph form. The data is great for number nerds, but there isn't much you can do with it. Armour39 has no social aspects and, despite your workouts being synced online, there is no robust web app for digging deeper into your results. In fact, you can't even just use the app to quickly check your resting heart rate or delete a workout. You've got to connect the bug and initiate a workout before the app will spit any data out at you.Wrap-upLike Nike+, or , Armour39 is meant to motivate you by quantifying your activities. The difference is, Under Armour isn't pitting you against anyone but yourself. WILLpower isn't meant to impress your friends and the system isn't intended for people who like to brag to their buddies about how fit they are. It's a way for someone who considers themselves an athlete to attach a score to their level of effort at the gym. Obviously, the effectiveness of the WILLpower system will depend on the particular user. For someone like me, who couldn't care less about how many steps he takes, but does want to know if he's really pushing himself as hard as he can on a run, Armour39 works well. However, if you're looking for something that's going to count your calories and monitor your overall level of activity, Under Armour has nothing to offer you.The problems begin with the price tag: $150 is exceptionally expensive for a heart rate monitor, even one with some advanced hardware features. If the accompanying software were mature and robust, we might be a little more forgiving of the price. Being limited to newer iOS devices is already a significant knock against Armour39, and the fact that the app isn't even properly optimized for the latest generation of Apple handsets (which were already five months old at the time of its announcement) gives us serious pause. Ultimately, Armour39 feels like the genesis of a great product, rather than the culmination of a long R&D process. The company has identified a gap in the market, with a potentially large consumer base, but the combination of price, limited compatibility and a basic feature set undermine its chances of success.ARM Launches Cortex-A50 Series, the World's Most Energy-Efficient 64-bit Processors New 64-bit processors set to drive the next era in mobile and enterprise, extending ARM leadership in performance and low power CAMBRIDGE, UK and ARM TechCon, Santa Clara - October 30th 2012 - ARM announced the new ARM Cortex-A50 processor series based upon the ARMv8 architecture, extending ARM's leadership in performance and low power. The series initially includes the Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57 processors and introduces a new, energy-efficient 64-bit processing technology, as well as extending existing 32-bit processing. The scalability of the processor series enables ARM partners to create system-on-chips (SoCs) that address diverse markets, from smartphones through to high-performance servers. The processors launched today will continue the evolution of the mobile computing experience by delivering up to three times the performance of today's superphones and extending today's superphone experience to entry-level smartphones. With a comprehensive set of ARM and ARM partner development tools and simulation models already available to enable faster and easier software development, both processors are fully compatible with the extensive ARM 32-bit ecosystem and integral to the rapidly evolving ARM 64-bit ecosystem. The Cortex-A57 is ARM's most advanced high-performance applications processor, while the Cortex-A53 is the most power-efficient ARM application processor. The Cortex-A53 is also the world's smallest 64-bit processor. They can operate independently or be combined into an ARM big.LITTLE processor configuration, combining high performance with power efficiency. Both are supported by the ARM CoreLink 400 and new CoreLink 500 series system IP fabric solutions. ARM partners can scale SoC platforms from single- and multi-core big.LITTLE mobile solutions to massively parallel enterprise solutions for optimal flexibility and energy-efficiency. The Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 processors will target multi-GHz performance on advanced CMOS and FinFET processes technologies, which is supported by early availability of ARM Artisan Physical IP and ARM POP IP for core-hardening acceleration. Announced licensees of the new processor series include AMD, Broadcom, Calxeda, HiSilicon, Samsung and STMicroelectronics. Supporting materials and quotes from ARM partners can be found at this link and at http://www.youtube.com/ARMflix "Consumers expect a personalized mobile experience, integrating their daily lives, with seamless connectivity providing access to vast amounts of information. The ARM ecosystem will continue its rate of unprecedented innovation to enable diverse platforms. This will deliver an era of transformational computing, from mobile through to the infrastructure and servers that support consumers' connected, mobile lifestyles. This will create massive opportunities for market expansion and a revolution in user experiences," said Simon Segars, executive vice president, processor and physical IP divisions, ARM. As smartphones and tablets have become our primary compute devices, mobile performance and capabilities have evolved to drive the computing landscape. In the past five years, the ARM ecosystem has driven a 15x increase in the performance of smartphones, enabling a transformation in how people use their devices. The capabilities of the Cortex-A50 processor series allow it to seamlessly transition from a 32-bit to a 64-bit execution state, enabling today's existing applications, and provides scalability to 64-bit for mobile computing client evolution and future superphone trends. Data Explosion The evolution of mobile computing is redefining the infrastructure that drives cloud services and network connectivity. The explosive growth of smart mobile devices, combined with richness of services available to end users, is causing an increase in content generation and consumption. With data consumption predicted to reach 120 Exabytes by 2020 (eight times more than today ), the seamless mobile lifestyle will create a significant strain on network and data centre infrastructure if companies continue to deploy incumbent technologies. The Cortex-A50 processor series is designed with this new era of 'transformational computing' in mind, as well as providing an energy-efficient solution to future infrastructure needs. The enhanced 32-bit execution capability will benefit existing 32-bit cloud server applications, while 64-bit execution extends the applicability of ARM technology-based solutions to enable new opportunities in networking, server and high-performance computing. ARM Cortex-A50 processor series: Currently includes the Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 processors Optional cryptographic acceleration that can speed up authentication software up to x10 Interoperability with ARM Mali graphics processor family for GPU compute applications Features AMBA system coherency to extend to many-core coherence with ARM CoreLink cache coherent fabric components, including the CCI-400 and CCN-504 ARM Cortex-A57 processor: The most advanced, highest single-thread performance ARM application processor Delivers the enhanced performance required for smartphones as they continue to transition from content-consumption devices to content-creation devices, with up to three times that of today's superphones in the same power budget Provides computer performance comparable to a legacy PC, while operating in a mobile power budget, enabling cost and power efficiency benefits for both enterprise users and consumers Extended reliability and scalability features for high-performance enterprise applications ARM Cortex-A53 processor: The most efficient ARM application processor ever, delivering today's superphone experience while using a quarter of the power Incorporates reliability features that enable scalable dataplane applications to maximize performance per mm2 and performance per mW Optimized for throughput processing for modest per thread compute applications The Cortex-A53 processor combined with the Cortex-A57 and big.LITTLE processing technology will enable platforms with extreme performance range while radically reducing the energy consumption ARM and members of the ARM Connected Community are collaborating to develop a robust 64-bit software ecosystem. The ARM Compiler and ARM Fast Models have supported the ARMv8 architecture since it was announced in October 2011, and are used extensively by public launch licensees of the Cortex-A50 processor series. This functionality is now complemented with support for bare metal and Linux debug in the ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5). In addition, open source operating systems, applications and third-party tools are already in development. This is a natural extension to the broad ecosystem already in place that supports existing ARMv7 architecture-based devices. Availability: The ARM partnership is expected to ship Cortex-A50 series-based chips in 2014. ARMv8 open source operating system, toolchains and foundation models are now available at www.arm.com/products/processors/instruction-set-architectures/armv8-architecture Images can be downloaded at this page: www.arm.com/about/newsroom/media-resources/image-downloadsThe Assassin's Creed video game series -- beyond its trademark murderous historical fiction -- is known for arriving in annual installments. 2013 is no exception, with French publisher Ubisoft recently revealing Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, a pirate-centric next entry in the long-running franchise. Unlike last year's game, which took players through the American Revolution as a half-British / half-Native American named Connor, AC4: Black Flag puts you in his grandfather's swashbuckling boots as Edward Kenway of The Caribbean. Kenway's the captain of a pirate vessel known as "The Jackdaw," which promises a new twist in the AC series: open-world naval combat. While the last series entry teased naval combat, Black Flag is built around that gameplay; AC4 also borrows from recent Ubisoft highlight Far Cry 3, with Kenway battling sharks below water while diving for booty (a takeoff on the hunting found in that game, as well as in the last AC entry). Of course, the conceit of the AC series has always been that you're a modern man named Desmond Miles, a member of the ancient Assassin's Guild, and that you're experiencing your assassin lineage through a machine called the "Animus" in order to save the world. That story line led Desmond through a variety of eras in previous games, ending with the American Revolution in Assassin's Creed 3. Without spoiling that game's final moments, it's safe to say that Desmond isn't joining the cast in Black Flag; rather, you're simply a modern day Templar (the long-running rivals of the assassins) searching for more secrets about the enemy. Ubisoft reps wouldn't tell us much about how the modern day will play into the new game's story, but did admit that it'll play a major role. Given the game's theme, it's no surprise that conspicuous pirate Edward "Blackbeard" Teach will also show up, as well as lesser known pirates like "Calico" Jack Rackham. Between boarding ships, plundering for loot, and having naval battles, it's easy to forget that this is an Assassin's Creed game -- rest assured there'll be plenty of sneaky assassinating. During our meeting, we were promised a return to the series' roots of tracking and assassinating targets. That said, what we've seen so far has us a little worried about Black Flag -- a distinct lack of assassinating and a move away from the series' main story beats give us a sense that the blockbuster series doesn't have a steady captain at the helm. Multiplayer is also back, and likely in the form we've seen it take in previous entries, though no details are available just yet. It won't be long before we hear more, though, as Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is planned to launch this October on PC, PlayStation 3 and 4, Nintendo Wii U, Xbox 360 and whatever Microsoft's next box is called. That technically makes this one of the first (or the first) game officially announced for Microsoft's next console, though others have confirmed launch on "next-gen consoles." At any rate, it's the first Assassin's Creed title on next-gen consoles -- the trailers above and below don't do the next-gen version justice, we're told -- and we're looking forward to seeing what that means.ASUS Announces PQ321Q Pre-Order:The World's First Consumer 4K Monitor31.5-inch 4K Ultra HD Monitor features four-times the resolution of a Full HD display for incredibly detailed and lifelike imagesFremont, California (July 1, 2013) - ASUS, a worldwide leader in high performance large screen displays, today announced the exclusive pre-order for the highly-anticipated PQ321Q True 4K UHD monitor. Starting July 1st, US consumers will be able to pre-order the world's first consumer 4K monitor through Newegg, Amazon, or TigerDirect at an introductory MSRP of $3,499 USD. The PQ321Q True 4K UHD Monitor, a desktop display with a stunning Ultra HD 3840 x 2160 resolution, delivers a screen resolution equivalent to four Full HD displays combined. It has a 31.5-inch LED-backlit 4K Ultra HD display (140 pixels-per-inch) with a 16:9 aspect ratio, and supports 10-bit RGB 'deep color' for vibrant images with more natural transitions between hues.Introducing Cutting-edge IGZO Panel TechnologyThe ASUS PQ321Q True 4K UHD Monitor uses cutting-edge Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) rather than traditional amorphous silicon for the active layer of its LCD panel. IGZO panels support much smaller transistors than amorphous silicon, enabling much smaller pixels. This allows the PQ321Q to have four times the amount of pixels compared to a 1920 x 1080 Full HD display. Despite the increase in pixels, the PQ321Q offers peace of mind by coming with a 30-day Zero Bright Dot warranty.To ensure the ultimate visual experience, 176-degree wide viewing angles on both vertical and horizontal planes minimize onscreen color shift, while the 350cd/m&sup2; brightness rating and 8ms gray-to-gray response time ensure smooth, bright, and vibrant moving visuals. IGZO technology also gives reduced energy consumption compared to amorphous silicon and reduces bulk, maximizing your available space. At 35mm at its thickest point, the PQ321Q is not only the first True 4K UHD consumer monitor but also the thinnest available today.Comprehensive Video Inputs for UHD ContentThe ASUS PQ321Q True 4K UHD Monitor features DisplayPort and dual HDMI ports with Picture-by-Picture support. DisplayPort's Multi Stream Transport mode allows 60Hz refresh rates at 3840 x 2160 resolution using graphics cards from NVIDIA, AMD, and integrated video from 4th Generation Intel Core processors. Built-in 2W stereo speakers remove the need for additional desktop clutter and, in addition to being wall-mountable, the monitor stand offers full height, swivel, and tilt adjustments.Specifications:ModelPQ321QDISPLAY PANEL31.5" (80.1 cm), 3840x2160, IGZO WLED Backlit, 0.182mm Pixel PitchDISPLAY COLORS1073.7 million colors /100% sRGB/80% NTSC CIE1976 / 72% NTSC CIE1931BRIGHTNESSMin < 80cd/m2 Max: 350cd/m2CONTRAST RATIONative 800:1VIEWING ANGLE (CR 10)Horizontal: 176 / Vertical: 176RESPONSE TIME8ms (GTG)LOOK-UP TABLE14 bit LUTCOLOR AND GAMMAStandard, Vivid, and sRGB color modes. 18 levels of color temperature 3K-10K in 500K increments.5 Gamma Modes: 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4, StandardVIDEO I/ODisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 1.4, RS-232CAUDIO I/O2W x 2 stereo, 3.5mm In, 3.5mm Out (for HDMI and DP only)HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT0 ~ 150mm / 0 5.9"PIVOT / SWIVEL / TILTSwivel +45 to -45 / Tilt +25 to -5FEATURESPicture-by-Picture, Screen/OSD Rotate, Kensington LockVESA WALL MOUNT100mm x 100mmDIMENSION (WxHxD)750 x 489 x 256 mm (with stand) / 29.5 x 19.2 x 10 inches (with stand)NET WEIGHT13Kg / 28.6lbsREGULATORY APPROVALSUL/cUL, FCC, ICES, RoHS, WEEE, Windows 7 and 8 WHQLMAX. POWER CONSUMPTIONOperating ?Q 93W / Standby < 6W / Low Power < 1WACCESSORIESDisplayPort cable, Power Cord, RS-232C conversion cable, Warranty card, Cable TieMSRP$3,499 USDThe past year has been a busy one for Google TV -- in fact, with right around the corner, we're sitting down to review our fifth such device in the past 12 months. The ASUS Cube naturally does everything one would expect from a Google TV set-top box, but it also has a few tricks of its own, like a mic for voice search and a unique "Cube" main menu interface. At $139, it's priced just above the and far below the . So how does it stack up? Let's see. Hardware Obviously, when you name your device after its shape, your intent is to draw attention to what you believe is a unique differentiator, so let's start there. The ASUS Cube is of course a cube, with every edge measuring just under five inches. Judging by the fact that it is bottom-heavy, we suspect the top half of the device is empty and wonder why the extra space wasn't used to house an internal power supply -- but we do appreciate the decision to go with a power-brick style over a wall wart. Like every Google TV, there are two HDMI ports so you can pass through your cable or satellite provider's set-top box and share the coveted input-one. That's the only audio or video output, though; there aren't any for older TVs or even a digital audio out for those without a free HDMI port on their AV receiver. There's also a USB port on the front and one around back, which you can use for external storage or to quickly watch content off a flash drive. The 10/100 Ethernet port is readily available for those lucky enough to have a wired connection near the TV, while 802.11b/g/n should handily suffice for everybody else. The last port to speak of is for connecting an IR emitter, which comes in the box and is required if you wish to control your TV or AV receiver via IR using the Cube's remote, which doesn't emit IR on its own. This is useful, no doubt, but we do wish the Cube included internal IR emitters too, especially after seeing how well the works. Inside, the Cube shares the same Marvell Armada 1500 chipset as its more recent Google TV competitors. Although there's technically 4GB of flash storage, only 2GB are actually available for use. The HDMI port supports just about every HD resolution and frame rate you might want, but there's no mention of 4K. It's also able to natively pass the signal from the likes of Netflix and Vudu if your AV receiver can accept it. The last trick the HDMI port features, that we are always pleased to see, is the inclusion of . Basically, this enables the TV and receiver to automatically turn on or off when the Cube does with more reliability than IR can provide, but volume control via CEC wasn't something we were able to test. Remote In contrast to most home theater gear, where you don't even put batteries in the included remote and use a universal remote instead, the remote that comes bundled with a Google TV box isn't easily replaceable. We're happy to report, though, that the Cube's remote makes the box stand out in a good way. The overall fit and finish is solid thanks to a grippy texture, solid feel and well-placed buttons. The highlight, however, is the trackpad located on the opposite side. It performs reliably as a pointing device and you can quickly toggle it into a push-button d-pad (via an accessible button on the side) for standard up-down-right-left navigation. The good news, if you can call it that, is that the trackpad works so well that you really miss it in apps that don't support point-and-click, like Netflix. The other miss here is the lack of a backlight, which you'll find on at least Google TV box. The remote does stand out in another way that ASUS is happy to point out -- no, not motion-control gaming, the Vizio Co-Star has that as well -- it features a mic and buttons to activate Google's Voice Search. The Hisense Pulse also features a mic, but previously only the LG G2 Google TVs could use the remote's mic for Voice Search. This worked as you might expect -- so no, not perfect -- except that we had to have the remote a little closer to our mouth than we might normally prefer. Overall the remote is a reason to buy the Cube, and aside from some range problems we had when trying to use the keyboard, we really like it. That said, it isn't the be-all, end-all remote and the lack of macros will mean you'll probably keep your programmable remote around. Software The Cube is a solid Google TV set-top box but it isn't going to change anyone's mind about Google TV.The Cube's name doesn't only describe the box's shape; it also covers the design of the main menu. The user interface is a three-dimensional hexahedron with only two sides exposed. The left side is used to indicate which of the 11 main sections is currently selected (Favorite, Photo, Education, News, Music, Sports, Social, Games, TV & Movie and Home) and the right offers up six sub-menus to drill into. We suppose this will be a matter of personal preference, but this particular editor isn't a fan. Overall, you're left with a bunch of white space and a less-than-awe-inspiring effect. Happily, though, you can easily select the All Apps tile from the Home menu and still have access to the familiar Google TV grid of applications. At least the box has the power to pull off the fancy menus without any noticeable slowdowns, though. Speaking of applications, the typical offerings from Google are here, including HBO Go, Netflix, Chrome, Google Play, Google Music and . But ASUS does add a few of its own to distinguish the Cube. The two most notable, and perhaps unique, are the Whiteboard to turn your TV into a huge collaboration device, and ASUS Web Storage, which comes with a free 50GB account for easily accessing your content in the cloud. Some of your media is probably still hanging around the house and so ASUS also included apps for accessing your movies, music and photos. These can grab content via DLNA, FTP, SMB or an external, USB-attached hard drive -- most typical codecs and containers are supported, but check the full list on the support site to be sure your favorite is there. The last app you won't have to hunt for on the Play store for is a task killer, as one is included too. ASUS has done a good job of setting the Cube apart from its Google TV competitors with its software -- again, judge the Cube user interface yourself -- but at the end of the day it's still Google TV 3.2. So all the good (and bad) still apply here. The only other bit we'd add is that there should be a screen saver or dimmer feature for those with displays susceptible to burn-in. Also, other Google TV boxes have done a better job adding menu overlays to facilitate multi-tasking while in apps (the Vizio Co-Star's App tray comes to mind). Wrap-up From the very beginning, Google TV has offered the best browser experience for televisions, but a good browser experience alone can't win over mainstream consumers. In almost three years, Google has continued to iterate its TV offering through both software and hardware (via partners). The Cube has a strong place in that lineup, bringing new features and a competitive price. Sure, the Vizio Co-Star is still less expensive, but the Cube's remote is closer to that of the much more expensive Sony NSZ-G57's in both ergonomics and usefulness. The added software from ASUS will surely help set this device apart from the competition, but the Cube interface? Not so much. In the end, the Cube is a solid Google TV set-top box but it isn't going to change anyone's mind about Google TV. More than anything, though, our biggest hesitation in recommending the Cube is a matter of timing. With Google I/O right around the corner, we can't help but worry that the time to buy a new Google TV isn't now.Is there any tablet that's hotter than the right now? (Please, don't say the .) For weeks we geeks, early adopters and people who love their tech toys have been awaiting this, and none too patiently. Make no mistake: this will be one of the slickest products we test this year and it isn't just because the had such an inventive design. The Prime is the first device packing NVIDIA's hot-off-the-presses SoC, making it the world's first quad-core tablet. This comes with promises of longer-than-ever runtime and blazing performance (five times faster than Tegra 2, to be exact), all wrapped in a package measuring just 8.3mm (0.33 inches) thick -- even skinnier than the iPad 2 or Galaxy Tab 10.1. Throw in specs like a Super IPS+ Gorilla Glass display, eight megapixel rear camera and a confirmed ICS update in the pipe and even we seen-it-all Engadget editors were drooling. All of which means we dropped just everything when a 32GB Prime showed up on our doorstep earlier this week, and soon enough, you'll have your chance to nab one too. ASUS announced today that the WiFi-only models will be available through online sellers the week of December 19th, and in retail the week after. (No word yet on 3G versions for the US just yet.) It'll start at $499 for the 32GB model -- not bad considering five hundred bucks is the going rate for a high-end tablet with 16GB of storage. From there you can get a 64GB number for $599, while that signature keyboard dock will set you back a further $149. Worth it? Read on to find out. Hardware The Prime looks familiar and no, it's not just because we're looking at a device that's dominated by a 10-inch slab of glass. If you've been following the recent explosion of Ultrabooks as obsessively as you have Ice Cream Sandwich, then you know the second-gen Transformer shares its industrial design with ASUS' line of , which went on sale back in October. Like those skinny laptops, the Prime features a spun metal aluminum lid, this time available in "amethyst gray" and "champagne gold." Sure, there will be some who think these brushed metal digs would look more appropriate on a trendy kitchen appliance, but many of you will appreciate how distinctive this tablet looks -- and how nicely that faint circular pattern masks fingerprints and scuffs. In case it wasn't obvious when we reviewed the , you can count us among the second group. We think it looks great. If, however, you think the Zenbooks are a little too fashion-forward, the whole spun metal thing manages to look less aggressively industrial in this tablet form. Maybe it's because the Prime comes in a warmer, more inviting gold. Maybe it's just that the Zenbooks have a severe, pancake-flat shape that makes them look painfully futuristic. Whatever it is, the Prime is just as lovely, though something tells us it'll be somewhat less polarizing. The Prime is every bit as well-made as you'd want your $500 tablet to be. Moving past aesthetics, there's no denying the Prime is every bit as well-made as you'd want your $500 tablet to be, and we just can't get over how thin and light it is. Oftentimes, we make excuses for metal tablets, such as the 7-inch and (hell, let's throw the first-gen iPad in there, too). We're used to saying, "Well, yeah, it's kind of dense, but at least it's well built." In the case of the Prime, though, its 0.33-inch-thick frame makes it a smidge skinnier than the and, at 586 grams, it's a wee bit lighter, too. Despite that it manages to feel considerably more premium. That's at least partly thanks to that metal construction, which we can't help preferring to the feel of plastic -- at least, that is, when this is both thinner and lighter than something made of the stuff. That's not to say the 10.1 feels flimsy, just that this feels better. It must be said, though, that it doesn't necessarily feel better in the hand. While the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has gentle, rounded edges that respect your meaty mitts, the Transformer Prime is instead a tapered curve with a somewhat sharp edge. It's the same sort of shape as the iPad 2 and, while it certainly isn't uncomfortable to hold, the terminating edges of this device can cut into the more vulnerable bits of your palms after a long period of use. This does, at least, help the tablet turn into a nice clamshell shape when paired with its dock, the accessory that turns this thing from being a merely very nice tablet into a potential laptop replacement. As far as ports and other such trappings go, the optional dock naturally steals the show with its full-sized USB 2.0 socket and SD card reader. The selection on the tablet itself is a little light -- but no more or less than most slates. Pick this guy up in landscape mode and you'll find a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera looking at you, with an eight megapixel, f/2.4 shooter 'round back, coupled with an LED flash. On that top edge you'll find a lone power / lock button with a wee tiny LED indicator built-in, tucked over in the left corner. Look down on the opposite side and you'll see the proprietary connector that allows the tablet to slide neatly into the dock. This handles all the data exchange with the dock itself and, if you want to get data off the thing, this is how you'll have to do it. There's no standard micro-USB connector here. There are two other openings on the bottom that serve as receivers for a pair of latches built into the dock. These come plugged up with bits of rubber when you unbox the tablet, so be sure to clear them before your slate has its first curious encounter with the dock. Still holding it in landscape, you've got a 3.5mm headphone jack on the right side, which cuts a rather drastic profile thanks to the heavily tapered edges, while the left edge houses a volume rocker, mini-HDMI socket and -- happy day -- an unoccupied and uncovered microSD slot. The single tweeter exactly where your palm is likely to go should you be holding it with your right hand. Rounding things out is a single finely cut speaker grill, sitting on the right side under the back. This of course dismisses any hopes of stereo sound but, more troublingly, places that single tweeter exactly where your palm is likely to go should you be holding it with your right hand. Of course, you can always just flip the tablet over should the dialogue from that episode of SVU you're streaming get a little more muffled than usual, but we'd have preferred the speaker somewhere on the top. Or, even better, facing right at you, as on the new . We are happy to report that, when unimpeded, the volume coming out of the lone speaker is actually quite good. Display With or without the heroic prefix and mathematical designator it's safe to say this is a very nice panel. ASUS, apparently jealous of the increasingly lengthy string of designations Samsung is applying to its OLED displays, has crafted what it calls a Super IPS+ LCD for the Transformer Prime. With or without the heroic prefix and mathematical designator it's safe to say this is a very nice panel. What you have here is a 10-inch, 1280 x 800 display that manages a stunning brightness maxing out at 600 nits, handily topping what you'll find on most laptop panels and more than 50 percent higher than your average tablet panel. The luminosity is quite noticeable, and the contrast too, with deep darks and vibrant brights. However, color reproduction seemed a bit flat, with whites tending toward yellow and brighter hues coming up short. If you're using this tablet indoors you won't need to go anywhere near maximum brightness to get an eyeful, though we won't blame you if you crank it up anyway. Should you want to dial things down, though, ASUS allows you to disable that 600-nit, Super IPS+ mode to extend the battery life. Even when we did that and dialed the brightness down to 50 percent, the display was still quite arresting. The viewing angles are also exceptionally wide, which will come in handy if you and a friend decide to prop the tablet up in the dock and watch a movie together. ASUS claims 178-degree visibility and indeed, we were able to make out the screen clearly from severe side angles. From the front, too, the colors stayed strong even as we dipped the screen farther and farther forward -- an area where even high-end displays on MacBooks start to show their limitations. That yellowish hue did start to darken when we took the angles to extremes, but even then we could still follow what was happening onscreen without issue. The dock Despite the fact that ASUS calls this the Transformer, out of the box it isn't even a Gobot. Despite the fact that ASUS calls this the Transformer, out of the box it isn't even a Gobot. To make the thing live up to its name you'll need to spring for the $150 signature accessory: the keyboard dock. Let's start by being clear on one thing: this is not the old dock, rebadged to go with this brand new tablet. It, too, has gone on a diet and, thanks to some slimmer dimensions, it won't be compatible with your first-gen Transformer. (Sorry, early adopters.) The good news is that even with the dock attached, the tablet is thinner and lighter than a netbook (remember those?) and, shockingly, better-built than most were. You can easily stuff the whole thing in your messenger bag with plenty of room left for, well, anything, really. To connect the tablet to the accessory you simply flip-up the connecting port on the back of the dock and slip in the Transformer. While the thing sadly does not make the iconic Transfoming sound (which , of course), it does at least latch securely thanks to those two metal hooks that grab on and won't let go as soon as it's slotted into place. Won't let go, that is, until you slip a release to the left, at which point you can easily lift the thing free. As soon as the Transformer falls into place something magical starts happening: the battery gets recharged. There is a second battery inside the dock and it nobly sacrifices its own juice so that the tablet can live on. So, plug a nearly dead tablet into a full dock and, after some time, you'll have a full tablet and a dead dock. That means, if nothing else, this is a very handy $150 external battery. But of course it's also a heck of a lot more than that. With this you'll get a full USB 2.0 port and an SD card reader, giving you yet another way to expand the storage. You can use that USB port to plug in an external mouse if you like, but the idea is of course to instead use the little trackpad that's built into what is ostensibly a wrist-rest at the bottom of the keyboard but, thanks to the petite dimensions here, doesn't offer much respite at all. That trackpad may be small but it is at least reasonably responsive, letting you use gestures for scrolling webpages and even for navigating around the tablet's myriad home screens. (Though if you want to pinch-zoom you'll have to reach up on the display.) In fact if anything it's too responsive, picking up the most subtle of brushes from your fingers as you type, often causing the cursor on your tablet to jump unexpectedly and unwantedly. There's no way to disable the trackpad automatically while you're typing, which is a major annoyance. Also annoying are the trackpad buttons, built into the bottom. Push in on the left for a primary click and on the right for secondary, but try and click anywhere toward the middle and it just won't move a bit. The button itself seems plenty wide, but only the outer extents can actually be clicked. Thankfully you can simply tap anywhere and just ignore the buttons altogether. The keyboard itself is passable, but far from good. The island keys are tiny and have a very light touch to them, but we just wish for a bit more room. Everything is cramped but, it must be said, most of the important keys are reasonably generously sized -- except, unfortunately, for the right shift. One final annoyance: when mounted in the dock, the whole contraption is disconcertingly top-heavy, the Transformer itself weighing considerably more than the lid of your average laptop. This made the thing very prone to tipping over backward. In fact we inadvertently sent ours tumbling off of its perch and toward the floor while writing this very section of the review. Some deft reflexes, honed on years of Samurai Showdown and its ilk, saved our tablet from crashing into the floor, but suffice to say you should always use yours in a secure location. But the question, of course, is whether you should use this dock at all, and we honestly think that we might. While typing on a keyboard this small is certainly a chore, it sure as heck beats using an on-screen keyboard. And, while we aren't entirely fond of the trackpad, it certainly makes selecting blocks of text much easier than tapping and dragging and tapping again with your fingers on the screen. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the experience is far better here than on Motorola's various . Performance and graphics Benchmark ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime Quadrant 3,023 Linpack 43.35 (single-thread) / 67.05 (multi-thread) Nenamark 1 60.07 Nenamark 2 46.07 Vellamo 953 SunSpider 0.9.1 1,861 The Prime is something of a curiosity around these parts in that it's the first tablet to ship with NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3 SoC. Actually, let's just call it what it is: the first quad-core tablet, period. We've run our usual spate of benchmarks (listed above for your viewing pleasure), and the combined scores are among the highest we've yet seen, handily beating the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 7.0 Plus we recently tested in most cases. Suffice to say, all the mundane bits -- swiping through menus, opening apps -- run as briskly as you'd expect on a quad-core slate. The Prime's display is as responsive as it is gorgeous, and we made ourselves at home quickly -- so much so that we found ourselves tapping the screen even when we were plugged into the dock. Make no mistake: the Prime is fast, but we suspect Honeycomb's 3D animations aren't the best way to highlight this, given that dual-core Tegra 2 can stomach these flourishes well enough already. That said, we were sorry to still see some occasional stutters and hiccups from time to time, instances where the device would hesitate for just a half-second or so before responding. There are three performance modes that are easily selected between in the pop-up settings menu, but even on its highest we couldn't get it to be a consistently smooth operator. They're the kind of stops and starts we've seen on just about every Android device to date and it's a bit of a shame that even four whopping cores running at 1.3GHz can't do away with them. Battery life Tablet Battery Life ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime with dock 16:34 ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime 10:17 Apple iPad 2 10:26 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 9:55 Apple iPad 9:33 HP TouchPad 8:33 Lenovo IdeaPad K1 8:20 Motorola Xoom 8:20 T-Mobile G-Slate 8:18 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus 8:09 Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 8:00 Archos 101 7:20 Archos 80 G9 7:06 RIM BlackBerry PlayBook 7:01 Acer Iconia Tab A500 6:55 T-Mobile Springboard (Huawei MediaPad) 6:34 Toshiba Thrive 6:25 Samsung Galaxy Tab 6:09 Velocity Micro Cruz T408 5:10 Acer Iconia Tab A100 4:54 Pity the Engadget editor who had to babysit this thing while it ran unplugged, looping through our battery drain test for hours and hours. Yes, wow. Pity the Engadget editor who had to babysit this thing while it ran unplugged, looping through our battery drain test for hours and hours. ASUS says the Prime's 22Wh pack should last a maximum of 12 hours without the dock and indeed, it squeezed out an impressive 10 hours and 17 minutes in our battery rundown test, which involves looping a video with the brightness fixed at 50 percent and WiFi on but not connected. That's a scant nine minutes short of what the accomplished in the same test, a difference that could just as well swing the other way should we test these two a second time. This was also running in standard power mode -- upshifting to economy mode likely would have delivered an even more longevous result. Much of this is thanks to the new Tegra 3 chipset, which is not only fiendishly quick but also freakishly efficient. The chipset is capable of processing each frame that's rendered to the screen and determining the minimum necessary brightness of the backlight to properly display it. The backlight is constantly cycling up and down while the color temperature is dynamically cycled to compensate. The net result: great visuals and killer battery life. ASUS promises a further six hours of dependability when docked with the keyboard and we're happy to report that figure is right on the mark. We clocked in at 16 hours and 34 minutes when running with the keyboard dock. That's a huge figure. We should also tell you that the Prime can charge via the bundled AC adapter or over USB. But -- and there is a but -- the dock doesn't yet support USB charging, so if you want to prime yourself for a potential 18 hours of runtime, you had best start out near an outlet. Software We wish we could use this as an occasion to walk you through ICS on a tablet but alas, that day isn't upon us just yet. The Prime ships with Android 3.2.1, and you know what that means: Honeycomb, jazzed up ever-so slightly with a few removable widgets, power management profiles and handy settings shortcuts, which you can access by swiping or tapping the clock in the lower-right corner. Those settings, by the by, include Bluetooth, WiFi, IPS / Super IPS+ mode and auto-rotation for the screen. It's quite similar to what Samsung is packing in its TouchWiz'd Galaxy Tabs these days. Those widgets, meanwhile, are pretty harmless and not particularly exciting, with weather and mail, as well as a larger one that cobbles together weather, calendar, music, Gallery access and a shortcut to the last website you visited. Again, these are easy to dump if you like your homepages a little more pristine, as we typically do. As for pre-installed apps, the Prime comes with @vibe Music, Amazon Kindle, App Backup, App Locker, Big Top THD, Bladeslinger, Google Books, Davinci THD, File Manager, Glowball, Movie Studio, MyCloud, MyLibrary, MyNet, Netflix, Photaf Lite, Polaris Office, Press Reader, Riptide GPk ShadowGun, SuperNote, WebStorage, yskk, Zen Pinball THD and Zinio. Yes, that's a lot of games, and you'll want to be using them -- if only to show off just how good this thing is at 3D gaming. And it is good. Very good. ShadowGun is the showcase title here and it runs beautifully. NVIDIA has been promising and, while we wouldn't quite take it that far -- the game lacks some of the visual polish of top-shelf PC shooters -- it is safe to say these are the best graphics we've yet seen on a tablet. The water effects in particular are very good, and more importantly it's a fun little shooter. Camera We're usually quick to dismiss the cameras on tablets because, really, other than the odd video chat just because you can we don't ever find ourselves flipping on either front or rear sensor. But, we dutifully did here to test out the Transformer Prime's picture-taking abilities and, it must be said, it does an admirable job with its eight megapixel rear shooter. Its auto-focus sometimes took a bit too long to make up its mind and the resulting pictures occasionally seemed under-saturated, but the camera took more than acceptable looking images even in less than optimal conditions. So, if you really want to lug around a 10-inch camera, you could do a lot worse. Wrap-up The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has had a long run as the top-tier Android tablet in the 10-inch size, but that position has now properly been usurped. The original Transformer was a very good tablet and it successor steps up another notch. The Transformer Prime is thinner and lighter than the rest and, with 32GB of storage available for a dollar under $500, it's a better deal than most of the top-tier contenders. The dock, however, is a bit of a tougher sell. If you need crazy battery life on the road then it's definitely a good choice, even if you won't be relying on that cramped keyboard too often. In fact, the less you have to use that part the better, but it's still a perfectly usable way to enter URLs and it sure beats the pants off of any virtual, touchscreen text input method. For the moment the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime is the best Android tablet on the market. All hail the new king. [Review co-written by Dana Wollman and Tim Stevens]ASUS Announces Fonepad ASUS' latest mobile lifestyle device features built-in 3G for fast mobile data and full telephony support along with the versatility and power of a 7" tablet Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain (25th February, 2013) - ASUS today announced Fonepad, a competitively priced handheld with 3G voice and mobile data for all the features of a smartphone, with the versatility of a 7-inch tablet. Powered by a new Intel Atom Z2420 processor with Android 4.1, Fonepad features a vibrant HD display with IPS technology for wide viewing angles and outstanding clarity. "It is ideal to have a larger screen with entertainment, social media and other online activities now playing an increasingly important part in our mobile lifestyles," said Jonney Shih, ASUS Chairman. "The incorporation of 3G mobile data with full telephony support makes the Fonepad a perfect combination of tablet and phone in one single device." "Extending our long history of collaboration, including most recently on the Ultrabook and Intel-based tablets, we are very excited to be partnering with ASUS again," said Hermann Eul, Intel vice president and co-general manager of the Mobile and Communications Group. "Intel's new Atom Z2420 processor delivers the power, performance and flexibility required to accommodate a range of devices and market needs. We think the ASUS Fonepad is a very innovative device in an emerging category of 3G tablets with telephony features." Beautiful metallic design with Intel Atom performance ASUS Fonepad is ideal for people who value both the voice communication features of a smartphone and the entertainment opportunities afforded by a tablet, but prefer the convenience of carrying just one device. Fonepad is a sleek and compact tablet with a metallic design that can be held comfortably in one hand, thanks to its light 340g weight and slim 10.4mm profile. Powered by the latest Intel Atom Z2420 processor with full Android compatibility, Fonepad features a perfect balance of performance and energy efficiency, with hardware-accelerated 1080p Full HD video decoding and up to nine hours of battery life. The 7-inch screen features 10-point multi-touch, and a crisp 1280 x 800 HD resolution for crisp, readable web page text and incredibly detailed photos. IPS technology ensures vibrant color with 178-degree wide viewing angles, and images that are clear and bright, even outdoors. Built-in 3G for mobile data and voice calls Built-in 3G with HSPA+ mobile data means ASUS Fonepad is an always-connected mobile device for seamless web browsing, fast downloads from Google Play Store, and smooth streaming of audio and video. Thanks to its full 3G telephony support, Fonepad can also be used for voice calls using the built-in noise-cancelling digital microphone or a Bluetooth headset. With just one mobile data plan to pay for, running costs are also much lower than those of a separate smartphone and 3G tablet. Fonepad will be available in the UK with 16GB of internal storage and up to 32GB of additional storage with a microSD card. All models feature a front 1.2-megapixel camera for easy video chat and ASUS SonicMaster audio technology with MaxxAudio 3 processing by Waves ensures clear, well-rounded sound quality. Exclusive ASUS apps and accessories for greater productivity ASUS Fonepad comes with a number of exclusive ASUS productivity apps: Floating App for easy management of running apps and multi-tasking; SuperNote Lite for handwritten notes and drawing; and WebStorage Office Online for Microsoft Office-compatible document editing on the move. Fonepad users also get 5GB of free lifetime ASUS WebStorage for syncing and sharing data with other devices. Two new optional accessories are also available for Fonepad. Available in four different colors, VersaSleeve 7 is a wraparound cover with a folding design that both protects Fonepad and props up the screen in two different positions for typing and watching video. Turn Case is a lightweight hard-shell case for Fonepad that features a soft interior to keep the screen clean and a built-in stand that places the screen at a perfect angle for watching video. ### *Specifications may vary without prior notice. Options, pricing, performance and availability dependent upon region. For more details about the product mentioned in this press release, please visit http://press.asus.com . AVAILABILITY & PRICING - UK ASUS Fonepad and accessories will be available in the UK late Q2 2013. Prices start from SRP 179 (inc VAT) for the 16GB Fonepad. VersaSleeve costs 19.99 and Turn Case 39.99 (both SRP inc VAT). Exact pricing and specifications will be confirmed closer to launch.ASUS Announces 7-inch Fonepad Pricing and Availability Pre-order Today, On Sale 26th April London, United Kingdom, (12th April, 2013) - ASUS today announced the Fonepad will be available for pre-order on Friday 12th April and go on sale as of 26th April from Carphone Warehouse, Amazon and Sainsbury's for an SRP of 179.99. For more information on tariffs, please contact your preferred retailer. The Fonepad is a competitively priced handheld device, with 3G voice and mobile data for all the features of a smartphone, with the versatility of a 7-inch tablet. Powered by a new Intel Atom Z2420 processor with Android 4.1, Fonepad features a vibrant HD display with IPS technology for wide viewing angles and outstanding clarity. "It is ideal to have a larger screen with entertainment, social media and other online activities now playing an increasingly important part in our mobile lifestyles," said Jonney Shih, ASUS Chairman. "The incorporation of 3G mobile data with full telephony support, makes the Fonepad the perfect combination of a tablet and phone in one single device." "Extending our long history of collaboration, including most recently on the Ultrabook and Intel-based tablets, we are very excited to be partnering with ASUS again," said Hermann Eul, Intel vice president and co-general manager of the Mobile and Communications Group. "Intel's new Atom Z2420 processor delivers the power, performance and flexibility required to accommodate a range of devices and market needs. We think the ASUS Fonepad is a very innovative device in an emerging category of 3G tablets with telephony features." Beautiful metallic design with Intel Atom performance ASUS Fonepad is ideal for people who value both the voice communication features of a smartphone and the entertainment opportunities afforded by a tablet, but prefer the convenience of carrying just one device. Fonepad is a sleek and compact tablet with a metallic design that can be held comfortably in one hand, thanks to its light 340g weight and slim 10.4mm profile. Powered by the latest Intel Atom Z2420 processor with full Android compatibility, Fonepad features a perfect balance of performance and energy efficiency, with hardware-accelerated 1080p Full HD video decoding and up to nine hours of battery life. The 7-inch screen features 10-point multi-touch, and a crisp 1280 x 800 HD resolution for crisp, readable web page text and incredibly detailed photos. IPS technology ensures vibrant color with 178-degree wide viewing angles, and images that are clear and bright, even outdoors. Built-in 3G for mobile data and voice calls Built-in 3G with HSPA+ mobile data means ASUS Fonepad is an always-connected mobile device for seamless web browsing, fast downloads from Google Play Store, and smooth streaming of audio and video. Thanks to its full 3G telephony support, Fonepad can also be used for voice calls using the built-in noise-cancelling digital microphone or a Bluetooth headset. With just one mobile data plan to pay for, running costs are also much lower than those of a separate smartphone and 3G tablet. Fonepad in the UK is available with 16GB, and has an SD card slot for up to 32GB of additional storage. All models feature a front 1.2-megapixel camera for easy video chat and ASUS SonicMaster audio technology with MaxxAudio 3 processing by Waves ensures clear, well-rounded sound quality. Exclusive ASUS apps and accessories for greater productivity ASUS Fonepad comes with a number of exclusive ASUS productivity apps: Floating App for easy management of running apps and multi-tasking; SuperNote lite for handwritten notes and drawing; and WebStorage Office Online for Microsoft Office-compatible document editing on the move. Fonepad users also get 5GB of free lifetime ASUS WebStorage for syncing and sharing data with other devices. Two new optional accessories are also available for Fonepad. Available in four snazzy colors, VersaSleeve 7 is a wraparound cover with a folding design that both protects Fonepad, and props up the screen in two different positions for typing and watching video. Turn Case is a lightweight hardshell case for Fonepad that features a soft interior that keeps the screen clean and a built-in stand that puts the screen at the perfect angle for watching video.ASUS Announces New PCs with Latest 4th Generation Intel Core processorsDesigned for high-performance productivity and entertainment, G10 and M51 desktops, and ET2702 and ET2311 All-in-Ones, all include exclusive ASUS features2013/06/01ASUS today announced four new desktop PCs with the latest 4th generation Intel Core processors for high-performance productivity and entertainment. The G10 and M51 are stylish, floor-standing PCs; while the ET2311 and ET2702 are slimline All-in-One PCs with 23-inch and 27-inch widescreen displays, respectively. All four models also feature powerful NVIDIA and AMD discrete 3D graphics, with ASUS SonicMaster audio technology for incredible sound quality.ASUS G10 & M51 desktop PCsThe ASUS G10 and ASUS M51 are designed for fuss-fee operation with flexible support for mobile devices. Both models feature the ASUS Smart Cooling System with automatic fan speed control for optimum cooling and reduced noise, and ASUS Power Pack, a removable UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) that also acts as a portable battery pack for recharging smartphones and tablets. Both models also include the ASUS Universal Storage Module (USM) hot-swap drive bay with an industry-standard interface for optional cartridge-based hard drives.Both the G10 and M51 are housed in floor-standing tower cases with all-new designs. The G10 has clean, chiseled lines with a brushed metal finish and indicator LEDs that reflect the state of attached external USB storage devices, while the M51 has a matte finish with a textured fascia that resists fingerprints. The M51 also features an ASUS Wireless Charger tray for wireless recharging of smartphones and tablets that support the Qi inductive power standard.ASUS ET2702 & ET2311 All-in-One PCsDesigned to handle the entertainment and productivity needs of the most demanding users, the ASUS ET2702 All-in-One PC features a 27-inch widescreen display with an ultra-high 2560 x 1440 resolution and optional 10-point multi-touch. With almost twice the pixel density of a same-size Full HD display, text and images are rendered in exquisite, pin-sharp, detail. IPS display technology brings movies, games and photographs to vibrant life, and images stay bright and clear even when seen from the side, thanks to 178-degree wide viewing angles.The ET2702 also features optional Intel Thunderbolt ports and an exclusive Device Share mode for increased flexibility in households with more than one Windows-based PC. With a notebook connected with an HDMI and USB cable, ET2702 becomes a sophisticated desktop dock, giving the notebook full access to its display, speakers and USB peripherals. Intel Thunderbolt ports are also optionally available for use with next-generation peripherals and storage devices.With a stylish, space-saving design, the ET2311 All-in-One PC is perfect for home users who want a compact and powerful PC with a larger screen than a notebook, and professional users who lack the space for a traditional desktop PC. The ET2311 features a 23-inch widescreen display with a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution and optional five-point multi-touch. IPS display technology gives vibrant images and accurate color, with 178-degree wide viewing angles for easy shared enjoyment of movies, games and photographs.Exclusive ASUS technologyThe ASUS G10, M51, ET2702 and ET2311 PCs all feature USB ports with ASUS Ai Charger technology for rapid recharging of smartphones and tablets. All models also feature enhanced audio from ASUS SonicMaster technology and the same professional tools heard on the world's most popular music, movies and video games, thanks to MaxxAudio Master by Waves, recipient of a Technical GRAMMY award. The ET2702 and ET2311 are also optionally available with a desktop subwoofer for extended bass performance.All four new PCs also come with exclusive bundled ASUS applications, including ASUS Launcher for faster launching of frequently used apps, MusicMaker for music composition and Video Easy for professional video-editing results in record time. 32GB of ASUS WebStorage is also included free for three years for easy cloud-based syncing and sharing of files.ASUS desktops - leading in satisfaction with reliabilityASUS computers reflect a tradition of the finest quality, innovation and longevity. Based on the PCWorld USA 2012 reader survey of tech satisfaction, reliability, and service, users ranked ASUS as a leading choice for desktop PCs, citing high satisfaction with their value, connectivity, ease of use and reliability. The survey also found ASUS desktop PCs were one of the most likely to be recommended to others.ASUS Announces MeMO Pad HD 7 and MeMO Pad FHD 10 TabletsNew 7-inch and 10-inch tablets with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean feature high-definition displays and incredible ASUS SonicMaster audioComputex Taipei, Taiwan (3 June, 2013) - ASUS today announced the new MeMO PadTMTM HD 7 and MeMO PadTM FHD 10 Android tablets. With an MSRP of just US$ 129 for 8G and US$149 for 16G, the MeMO PadTM HD 7 is a 7-inch tablet that offers incredible value, with a quad-core processor, 1280 x 800 IPS display, and 1.2-megapixel front and optional 5-megapixel rear cameras. MeMO PadTM FHD 10 is a 10-inch tablet with the new Intel Atom Z2560 processor, 1920 x 1200 Full HD IPS display and ASUS SonicMaster audio technology.ASUS MeMO PadTM HD 7 - the value tablet for mobile entertainmentASUS MeMO PadTM HD 7 has a quad-core processor and 1GB RAM for smooth and responsive performance with apps of all kinds. The 7-inch display has a 1280 x 800 native resolution for crisp text and images, and IPS technology for accurate, vibrant colors with 170-degree wide viewing angles. MeMO PadTM HD 7 also features high-quality stereo speakers with enhanced sound, courtesy of ASUS SonicMaster audio technology.ASUS MeMO PadTM HD 7 has a 1.2-megapixel front-facing HD camera that can capture 720p HD videos and models are also available with a rear 5-megapixel camera. Just 10.8mm thick and 302g, the feature-packed MeMO PadTM HD 7 has a lithium polymer battery that lasts for up to 10 hours with 720p video playback. Models are available in four colors - black, white, pink and green.MeMO PadTM HD 7 has 16GB of storage and a MicroSD card slot, plus 16GB ASUS WebStorage free for one year. Together with the ASUS WebStorage Office, users can view, create, edit and share Microsoft Office documents online.ASUS MeMO PadTM FHD 10 - the multimedia tablet of choiceASUS MeMO PadTM FHD 10 features the latest Intel Atom Z2560 1.6GHz processor and a 1920 x 1200 Full HD IPS display for deliver vivid visuals with 178-degree wide viewing angles. MeMO PadTM FHD 10 has stereo speakers with SonicMaster audio technology and its 10-inch screen makes it ideal for entertainment, 1080p video playback and handheld gaming.MeMO PadTM FHD 10 features Intel Hyper-Threading Technology for improved graphics performance and increased energy efficiency. The slim design has a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus for impressive photos and 1080p video recording.ASUS MeMO PadTM FHD 10 is just 9.5mm thick and 580g light, and its lithium polymer battery lasts for up to 10 hours with 720p video playback. The 'micro-weave finish' is available in Royal Blue, Silk White, and Vivid Pink.MeMO PadTM FHD 10 has full connectivity options, including 802.11a/b/g/n, GPS and GLONASS navigation. ASUS Miracast wirelessly connects the tablet to a Wi-Fi enabled TV or projector to share movies, photos and presentations. MeMO PadTM FHD 10 is available with 16GB or 32GB storage and both capacities also feature a microSD card slot. 5GB of free lifetime ASUS WebStorage is also included.MeMO PadTM AccessoriesBoth MeMO PadTM HD 7 and MeMO PadTM FHD 10 come include a protective TransCover with microfiber interior. TransCover folds into a stand to prop up the tablet at the perfect angles for watching video and typing with the on-screen keyboard. TransCover is available in blue, pink, white and black for the MeMO PadTM HD 7; and black, pink and green for the MeMO PadTM FHD 10.The Persona Cover for the MeMO PadTM HD 7 is also available. Available in black, pink and green, this is a snug-fit case that protects the tablet from everyday bumps and scrapes.AVAILABILITY & PRICINGASUS MeMO PadTM HD 7 has an MSRP of US$ 129 for 8G and US$149 for 16G and will be available starting in July 2013. Please contact your local ASUS representative for further information.ASUS Announces MeMO Pad HD 7 and MeMO Pad FHD 10 TabletsNew 7-inch and 10-inch tablets with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean feature high-definition displays and incredible ASUS SonicMaster audioComputex Taipei, Taiwan (3 June, 2013) - ASUS today announced the new MeMO Pad HD 7 and MeMO Pad FHD 10 Android tablets. With an MSRP of just 149 for the 16GB model, MeMO Pad HD 7 is a 7-inch tablet that offers incredible value, with a quad-core processor, 1280 x 800 IPS display, and 1.2-megapixel front and optional 5-megapixel rear cameras. MeMO Pad FHD 10 is a 10-inch tablet with the new Intel Atom Z2560 processor, 1920 x 1200 Full HD IPS display and ASUS SonicMaster audio technology.ASUS MeMO Pad HD 7 - the value tablet for mobile entertainmentASUS MeMO Pad HD 7 has a quad-core processor and 1GB RAM for smooth and responsive performance with apps of all kinds. The 7-inch display has a 1280 x 800 native resolution for crisp text and images, and IPS technology for accurate, vibrant colors with 170-degree wide viewing angles. MeMO Pad HD 7 also features high-quality stereo speakers with enhanced sound, courtesy of ASUS SonicMaster audio technology.MeMO Pad HD 7 has a 1.2-megapixel front-facing HD camera that can capture 720p HD videos and models are also available with a rear 5-megapixel camera. Just 10.8mm thick and 302g, the feature-packed MeMO Pad HD 7 has a lithium polymer battery that lasts for up to 10 hours with 720p video playback. Models are available in four colors - black, pink and green.MeMO Pad HD 7 has 16GB of storage and a MicroSD card slot, plus 16GB ASUS WebStorage free for one year. Together with the ASUS WebStorage Office, users can view, create, edit and share Microsoft Office documents online.ASUS MeMO Pad FHD 10 - the multimedia tablet of choiceASUS MeMO Pad FHD 10 features the latest Intel Atom Z2560 1.6GHz processor and a 1920 x 1200 Full HD IPS display for deliver vivid visuals with 178-degree wide viewing angles. MeMO Pad FHD 10 has stereo speakers with SonicMaster audio technology and its 10-inch screen makes it ideal for entertainment, 1080p video playback and handheld gaming.MeMO Pad FHD 10 features Intel Hyper-Threading Technology for improved graphics performance and increased energy efficiency. The slim design has a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus for impressive photos and 1080p video recording.MeMO Pad FHD 10 is just 9.5mm thick and 580g light, and its lithium polymer battery lasts for up to 10 hours with 720p video playback. The 'micro-weave finish' is available in Royal Blue, Silk White, and Vivid Pink.MeMO Pad FHD 10 has full connectivity options, including 802.11a/b/g/n, GPS and GLONASS navigation. ASUS Miracast wirelessly connects the tablet to a Wi-Fi enabled TV or projector to share movies, photos and presentations. MeMO Pad FHD 10 is available with 16GB or 32GB storage and both capacities also feature a microSD card slot. 5GB of free lifetime ASUS WebStorage is also included.MeMO Pad AccessoriesBoth ASUS MeMO Pad HD 7 and MeMO Pad FHD 10 come include a protective TransCover with microfiber interior. TransCover folds into a stand to prop up the tablet at the perfect angles for watching video and typing with the on-screen keyboard. TransCover is available in blue, pink, white and black for MeMO Pad HD 7; and black, pink and green for MeMO Pad FHD 10.The Persona Cover for MeMO Pad HD 7 is also available. Available in black, pink and green, this is a snug-fit case that protects the tablet from everyday bumps and scrapes.AVAILABILITY & PRICINGASUS MeMO Pad HD 7 has an MSRP of 149 for the 16GB model and will be available in August 2013. MeMO Pad HD 10 pricing and availability will be confirmed later in the year.ASUS Showcases Exclusive Z87 Motherboard FeaturesPerformance, efficiency, and connected living enhanced through 4-Way Optimization, NFC EXPRESS, and Intel Thunderbolt2013/06/01Following the reveal of an entire lineup of motherboards based on the Intel Z87 chipset for 4th Generation Core processors last month, ASUS today announced additional information on specific product features.As ASUS Z87 motherboards officially launch worldwide, they bring with them exclusive innovations towards better user experiences. Dual Intelligent Processors 4 with 4-Way Optimization dynamically detect and adjust the best PC configuration based on actual usage. An updated UEFI BIOS improves usability by adding access to a wealth of new user-friendly functions, and Wi-Fi GO! includes new generation 802.11ac wireless connectivity and cloud-dedicated capabilities. NFC EXPRESS allows for convenient wire-free pairing of desktop PCs with Android smart devices, quick content sharing, and remote PC control, all with one tap.ASUS is also proud to share that the Z87-DELUXE/DUAL is the first Intel 8 series-based motherboard certified for Intel Thunderbolt, shipping with two ports of the advanced connectivity standard. The previously unannounced Z87-EXPERT was unveiled today, joining the ASUS Z87 motherboard range and also featuring Thunderbolt technology."Intel and ASUS have worked closely on the implementation of Thunderbolt technology onto ASUS motherboards over the last year", said Jason Ziller, Intel's Director of Thunderbolt Marketing. "The Z87-DELUXE/DUAL is the first Thunderbolt-certified Intel 8 Series motherboard in the industry, once again demonstrating their solid design and compatibility."NFC EXPRESS: innovation redefines convenient accessBased on near field communication technology, the external NFC EXPRESS accessory enables instant pairing with Android smart devices and the included NFC tag through simply touching them to the sensor box.Content such as photos and videos can be transferred from smart devices to desktop PCs with a tap. NFC EXPRESS automatically backs up content added to Android devices since last syncing them with a desktop PC. The Remote Desktop function allows for viewing and controlling PCs via Android smartphones and tablets, while Quick Launch saves shortcuts to favorite apps, which can then be started with the ease of a single tap. NFC EXRPESS also allows for password-free Windows 8 login, so users can go directly and quickly into the operating system.With NFC EXPRESS, simplified Windows 8 access and interaction become available to a wider user audience, whether for personal or professional use. As an added bonus the device includes two USB 3.0 ports that transfer data at up to ten times the speed of USB 2.0. The Z87-DELUXE/DUAL motherboard ships bundled with NFC EXPRESS, which is also available to purchase as a separate accessory.Wi-Fi GO!: faster and stronger networkingOnboard Wi-Fi GO! support for new generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi translates into desktops that are ready-made for three times faster connectivity than 802.11n standards. Contributing to truly connected living, ASUS Z87 motherboards employ dual-band 2.4GHz/5GHz 2T2R antennas with up to 867Mbit/s bandwidth. New Wi-Fi GO! makes ASUS Z87 boards perfect for cloud computing. The Cloud GO! function offers detailed yet user-friendly file management, which syncs and backs up content from desktops to ASUS WebStorage, Dropbox, and Google DriveTM with one click.UEFI BIOS: upgraded with new functions and sleeker mouse controlRedesigned especially for ASUS Z87 motherboards, the latest version of media-acclaimed ASUS UEFI BIOS has been made even more accessible to customers, irrespective of skill level.Shortcuts lead to favorite BIOS pages and frequently-accessed settings, and a simple but useful Quick Note feature allows users to write down performance tuning ideas and info for future reference. UEFI BIOS now has a Last Modified activity log that records setting changes, and allows naming SATA ports for instant storage device identification. UEFI BIOS EZ Mode has received a major makeover, now supporting more intricate system fan controls, XMP (extreme memory profile) settings, and extra-quick mouse-controlled system clock adjustments, which are as easy as changing the time on a smartphone or tablet.It's only been half a year since the peculiar made its much-delayed entry into select markets, and earlier this week, ASUS' launch of its phone-in-tablet brings us back to this old question: are we better off with just one mobile screen instead of two? Ask any ordinary manufacturer and the answer is likely the latter, because who doesn't want to sell more products? Similarly, carriers would likely back such manufacturers for the sake of selling more data plans, even if they admire ASUS' efforts (and they could already be selling ASUS tablets in the first place). Some folks also argue that if you have to carry the tablet module with you anyway, you might as well have two separate devices for better multitasking.It seems like there's a huge mountain to climb here, but on the flip side, ASUS' innovative differentiation does have some advantages. You only need one data plan (and no tethering required) for both form factors, you get to keep the same data in one place instead of having to duplicate them and you can pretty much instantly switch between a small screen and a large screen for the same content. Not to mention that there's also the added functionality of charging up the phone while it's sitting inside the tablet. Alas, the original PadFone and PadFone Station didn't quite hit the spot: the combined weight and bulk made it tough to justify the phone-in-tablet idea, which is why we said it's all about the PadFone 2 in our . Let's see if ASUS has done it right this time 'round. Hardware: phoneLet's start off with the main specs. The PadFone 2 is powered by Qualcomm's latest and greatest Snapdragon S4 Pro , a 28nm, 1.5GHz quad-core SoC based on the Krait architecture (which outperforms Cortex-A9 in many ways). This makes ASUS the second third manufacturer to offer APQ8064 on a phone, right after the LG Optimus G (which we recently) and the ; and it's to be followed by the in China and the in Japan. The graphics are driven by the almighty , and like many recent flagship phones, there's 2GB of RAM stacked on top to keep the gears well-oiled. As for the cameras, what used to be an f/2.2, 8-megapixel main camera is now boosted to a 13-megapixel Sony BSI sensor plus f/2.4, five-element optics. Meanwhile the front-facing imager has gone from 0.3 megapixels to 1.2 megapixels. As usual, we shall take a look at camera performance later on.Buyers do get a generous 50GB of free ASUS WebStorage service for two years.In Taiwan, the new PadFone is offered in flavors of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, whereas in it'll only have 32GB and 64GB options. Unlike its predecessor, however, there's sadly no microSD expansion. Users craving for more storage space will have to get their fix via USB OTG or the cloud. Buyers do get a generous 50GB of free ASUS WebStorage service for two years, which is no doubt to help push the initiative, but more on that in the software part of this review.Cellular connectivity comes from Qualcomm's radio which supports GSM/EDGE/UMTS/DC-HSPA+/LTE -- compatibility of which will depend on the specific regional variant: worldwide, North America (two versions), Japan, Australia and China. This particular review is based on the worldwide model which supports GSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 900/2100 and LTE 800/1800/2600. However, since there's no LTE network in Taiwan (ironically), we could only use 3G for the majority of the time during our review -- we did sneak back to Hong Kong very briefly and managed to hook the phone onto the LTE networks there. We were happy with performance on both ends of phone calls, even in noisy environments thanks to the ambient noise reduction technology. Other radios include the usual 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, FM radio, GPS and GLONASS.From afar, the PadFone 2 could be easily be mistaken for its predecessor that sported the same design language. But put the two together and you'll easily spot the larger, sharper and brighter 4.7-inch, 720p, 550-nit Super IPS+ LCD. We should point out that the new display is so bright that even on the dimmest setting, it still blinded us when we were in total darkness. You know, bedtime browsing. Hopefully this isn't a fixed setting so that ASUS can tweak it. Our One X (AT&T) has a similarly impressive viewing angle and gapless display feature, though the PadFone 2 appears to have a more accurate white balance -- the former's culprit being its warmer artificial tone. Some may miss the overly vibrant colors on the original Padfone's Super AMOLED, but in general, LCD's still king when it comes to accuracy, pixel density and outdoor performance.When switched off, the front side of the phone is dominated by the black screen plus a tapered, glossy plastic lip along the bottom, only to be interrupted by the little shiny silver earpiece near the top. But when switched on, you'll see the three capacitive soft keys light up between the screen and the logo at the bottom. We prefer these to the old virtual keys for the sake of screen real estate, and better yet, you can set the keys' backlight duration to two seconds, 10 seconds or forever.All of these are surrounded by a rigid aluminum frame that's garnished with a few buttons like before. This time, the power button's been shifted from the top side to the right, just above the volume rocker, which was two separate buttons on the first PadFone. And the spot where the power button used to be -- next to the 3.5mm headphone jack -- is now occupied by a seemingly trending pin-push type micro-SIM tray (a triangular paper clip is included), which is a big change from the old mini-SIM slot underneath the removable battery on the original PadFone.You'll never get fingerprints on the back of the phone, and the texture feels good, too.Also changed on the frame are the micro-HDMI port, micro-USB port and contact points for the external antenna (inside the PadFone Station). These are now combined into one 13-pin MHL socket customized by ASUS and located at the bottom of the phone, thus leaving the left of the aluminum frame squeaky clean. The PadFone 2 does come with a 13-pin connector USB cable. Fortunately, you can still use the regular 5-pin MHL plug or micro-USB plug for power and data, but the latter can be a bit loose, and the former won't be able to handle video -- you'll need to get an optional MHL-to-HDMI adapter from ASUS. We doubt this would be too much of a problem for most users, anyway.Moving on to the backside of the phone, apart from the darker shade of gray, the polycarbonate back cover is very much the same as before. It features an etched ripple pattern surrounding the 13-megapixel camera, thus simulating the cool visual effect of circular-brushed metal as seen on the Zenbooks and the aluminum Transformer Pads. This also means you'll never get fingerprints on the back of the phone, and the texture feels good, too.The lack of microSD slot is certainly a disappointment.ASUS admits that the PadFone 2's back cover isn't designed to be removed on a regular basis, in order to minimize the amount of dust and fluff getting in as well as to protect the delicate NFC antenna -- a feature that was missing on the original PadFone. We found it much harder to rip off the new cover, but once it's out of the way, you can see the 3.8V, 2,140mAh lithium polymer cell (instead of the old 3.7V, 1,520mAh lithium ion cell) which is sealed by a big label that screams "Please DON'T remove the battery." Sadly, there's no microSD slot to be seen. So in this case, the removable cover is solely for the convenience of maintenance. We're fine with the semi-fixed battery given that we can use either the tablet or a USB battery pack to juice up the phone, but the lack of a microSD slot is certainly a disappointment, especially for those who have already splashed out on 32GB or even 64GB cards. We'd like to think that adding microSD expansion back in would not have had a huge impact on the phone's thickness.Last but not least, there's the loudspeaker on the back which is about twice as large as the one on the first PadFone, so as you'd expect, it gets a lot louder. ASUS also claims that this is 40 percent larger than what the other leading smartphones use. With great power comes great responsibility, so the engineers at ASUS' Golden Ear Team have added in a few lines of code to minimize distortion and mechanical interference under high amplitude -- this is apparent when you blast out music at maximum volume (especially with Music Mode enabled in the AudioWizard app, but more on that later). Naturally, this small speaker still lacks in bass, but there's always the bigger one on the PadFone Station.Hardware: tabletWith the PadFone 2 inserted, the combo is still lighter than the new iPad alone.You might have already seen us raving about the new PadFone Station in our earlier hands-on, but let's recap: this module is essentially a 10.1-inch, 1,280 x 800 external IPS LCD display for the PadFone 2, but at the same time it also serves as a 3.8V, 5,000mAh (19Wh) battery pack. That's slightly smaller than the 24.4Wh battery in the first PadFone Station, but remember, the PadFone 2 itself now has a bigger battery. Together they add up to about 27Wh, which isn't too far off from the old 30Wh combination. Besides, what's more important is the weight reduction that ASUS has managed to achieve for the slimmer PadFone Station: from a hefty 724g down to just 514g. That's a 30 percent reduction! In other words, with the 135g PadFone 2 inserted, the combo is still lighter than the new iPad alone (652g). By contrast, the original PadFone and its PadFone Station together weighed more than the first iPad, which made it very difficult for ASUS to sell its "N+1" concept.The smaller battery, the removal of the battery LED indicator and the new 13-pin MHL connector at the bottom (but, for some reason, upside-down compared to PadFone 2's) certainly helped achieve the lighter weight. Still, we've been told that the engineers also looked at every component to see how they could shave off a tiny bit of body fat wherever possible. The biggest contributors to the weight reduction are probably the obscure Corning Fit Glass (on both the phone and the tablet), the magnesium-aluminum alloy frame and the cover-less docking method. Interestingly, ASUS has been working on the new docking mechanism for a year and a half, which confirms our theory that at some point the two PadFones were developed alongside each other. We recall that back when we Michelle Hsiao from ASUS Design Center, there were PadFone Station mockups that featured straightforward slide-in docking methods, but Hsiao said at the time they didn't have a way to ensure secure docking for the exposed phone, hence the bulkier solution in the end.So how does the new docking mechanism work? Well, there's the new 13-pin MHL connector, of course (so the old PadFone obviously won't fit), but that alone wouldn't be enough to keep the phone tucked securely inside the bay. And by secure we mean strong enough to withstand powerful shakes. This is where the cunning part comes in: instead of throwing in a typical slide-lock mechanism, ASUS has devised a system that pushes four toothed, rubber pads -- of the same material used by bicycle brake pads -- against the two long sides of the phone when inserted. You should feel a light click once the phone hits the bottom of the bay, and it usually takes about one second -- instead of two on the original PadFone Station -- for the tablet interface to load up.The phone managed to stay inside the bay while this author was shaking the upside-down tablet as hard as he could.As you'll see in our walkthrough video, the phone managed to stay inside the bay while this author was shaking the upside-down tablet as hard as he could (please don't try this at home). And then it gets more intriguing when you realize how easy it is to insert and remove the phone -- it's as if the locking mechanism only comes to life when you shake the device. We'd rip the tablet open to find out what kind of black magic this is, but until we get hold of our own retail unit, ASUS' patent-pending secret is safe. However, at some point later we tried the shake test again and the phone did eventually slip out, and we think it's something to do with the dust or some sort of powder that managed to get onto the rubber pads, so be careful.There's not much else visible on the new PadFone Station apart from the 1-megapixel webcam at the usual location, as well as the power button and the volume rocker around the top-left corner -- neither of which have been prone to accidental clicks for us. If we have to be nitpicky, our only gripe is that the phone isn't flush with most of the tablet's backside, meaning when placed flat on the table, the slate may wobble if you tap on either side too hard -- we're thinking of scenarios like typing or playing certain games. Hopefully the dedicated PadFone 2 Station sleeve will solve this problem. While using it, we were able to hold the new PadFone Station up for much longer thanks to the combination of rounded edges, soft-touch texture and, most importantly, lighter weight; but when walking around, we do prefer to grip the slate by the top side, with the top of the phone in our palm. We just need to remember to clean the lens every time before using the camera.What's left to talk about here is the slate's mono loudspeaker, which is apparently 32 percent larger than what other tablet makers use. To our surprise, even with the tighter space inside the new PadFone Station, the speaker still manages to output loud music with surprisingly adequate warmth and crisp treble for its size, but you do need to use the AudioWizard app (enabled by default) to achieve this performance. For those seeking something closer to audiophilic quality, there's always the good old wired headphones (and AudioWizard is disabled when headphones are plugged in). Even the bundled stereo headset sounds way better than what most other phones get -- it's identical to the one that came with the original PadFone, but that does also mean the microphone is still way too far from the user's mouth, so we always end up having to hold the mic up to talk. It's rather odd that ASUS is still using this cable arrangement.Hopefully ASUS will eventually admit defeat and come up with a matching hinged keyboard dock.So, what about a keyboard battery dock? Despite reports that "confirmed" a dedicated keyboard dock is in the works, ASUS burst our bubbles by telling us that this is simply not true. We are worried -- sure, you can always just get a Bluetooth keyboard or even plug in a USB keyboard via an OTG dongle, but that's not quite as glamorous as being able to fold everything into a netbook form factor -- which we could with the original PadFone, despite the total weight of 1.49kg. Hopefully ASUS will eventually admit defeat and come up with a matching hinged keyboard dock, because that would add so much more emphasis on using Android for productivity.Some people were expecting to see a PadFone Infinity, in the sense that the 10.1-inch tablet module would come with a 1080p panel. We asked ASUS whether it would consider releasing such an update any time soon, but the response was that while it's possible to output 1080p from either the phone or the tablet, the manufacturer intentionally chose to keep similar resolutions across the two displays for the sake of easier app and video rescaling, thus saving processing power and battery life. In other words, the time's not right; or maybe ASUS is just putting on a poker face.SoftwareMuch like the original PadFone, its successor delivers a near-vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich experience that's slick in both phone and tablet modes; and we're certain that the same will apply to the upcoming Jelly Bean update. The only interface customization you'll find here are the thumbnail overview of up to seven home screens (pinch anywhere on any home screen to toggle), as well as the "Pad Only" tab in the app drawer, the handy ASUS Quick Setting panel in the notification tray, and "ASUS customized setting" in system settings. For those who don't know, the "Pad Only" area simply houses apps that are tagged as pad-only by users -- you can do so by tapping and holding an app icon in the drawer, followed by dragging it to the "Add Pad-only Tag" button in the top-right corner.The ASUS Quick Setting Panel hasn't really changed much since the latest update on the original PadFone. Situated above the main native notification panel, the extra panel has a screen brightness slider sandwiched between the outdoor mode button and automatic brightness button. Above those is a sliding row of quick toggles (albeit in a slightly different order than last time): WiFi, Mobile Data, Smart Saving, Instant Dictionary (which is new), WiFi Hotspot, Bluetooth, GPS, Vibrate and Auto-rotate Screen. One small request for ASUS' developers: it'd be nice if users could rearrange these toggles, as we can with Xiaomi's as well as LG's UI 3.0 (on Optimus G, Optimus LTE II and others). The next row up in the panel contains three buttons that take you to the advanced menus for WiFi, AudioWizard and system settings. Strangely, in tablet mode said WiFi button is replaced by a dual-battery indicator, but it shouldn't be too hard to add the former back into that row for the sake of consistency.We still don't understand why the original Android notification panel can't be as intuitive as ASUS' implementation. Google's version requires one more tap to toggle the secondary panel for the common settings, including screen brightness, WiFi, auto screen rotation toggle and airplane mode. On the other hand, ASUS knows how to do it right: give users instant access to all the main settings after just one tap. Google could learn a thing or two from its Taiwanese buddy.After multiple mentions, now might be a good opportunity for us to properly introduce AudioWizard: it's essentially an audio-tuning app developed in collaboration with Waves, an award-winning audio DSP solutions company. Think of it as what Beats Electronics is to HTC, albeit with less branding power. There are five presets here: music mode, movie mode, recording mode, gaming mode and speech mode. Oh, and there's an "off" button which apparently saves a little bit of power. While the app works in both phone mode and tablet mode (but disabled when headphones are inserted), we've been told that it's tuned specifically for the PadFone Station's loudspeaker, but nonetheless, the improvement is apparent: audio is both louder and livelier with added warmth. Needless to say, this enhancement can only go so far, so don't expect the PadFone Station to replace your high-end speakers any time soon.SuperNote on PadFone 2 is now at version 3.0 and supports multilingual handwriting recognition.Like its previous Android products, ASUS has thrown in its usual bundle of apps: App Backup, App Locker, File Manager, Mirror, MyDesktop (powered by Splashtop Remote), MyLibrary, MyNet (DLNA), Polaris Office 4.0, , Watch Calendar and WebStorage. It's worth noting that SuperNote on PadFone 2 is now at version 3.0 and supports multilingual handwriting recognition (which worked well for us), WebStorage cloud syncing and PDF export. And while we're at it, ASUS' WebStorage also offers instant photo uploads, Microsoft integration (so you can edit Office documents online using the official interface) and file collaboration. It's sort of ASUS' own take on Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive. As for widgets, you get the same old battery indicator, task manager and PadFone Station Assistant (for setting the charging mode and how incoming calls are handled), along with both the old version and a new version of the ASUS weather widget. If you prefer the previous weather widget then fret not, it's still available on the list.Naturally, there are some new apps on the PadFone 2: ASUS Studio, Instant Dictionary and MyBitCast. ASUS Studio is simply a beefed-up version of Gallery, as it lets you view photos and videos by folders, time, location (on top of Google Maps) or album tags, not to mention the magazine-like layout as well. It also comes with the identical set of basic editing tools like cropping, auto-fix, effects and levels. As this is the default viewer for the camera app, users will familiarize very quickly. Our only feedback for ASUS here is that the locations of some of the photos were a bit off (for instance, this author was never on the north bank in the above map), which is weird considering the sky was clear at the time, plus there weren't many tall buildings. If this is merely a software issue, it'll definitely be fixed.The Instant Dictionary is even more exciting: toggling it in the ASUS Quick Setting panel will bring up a small round button that snaps to either the left or right side of the screen. Once you click it, you can then swipe your finger across any text area to look up definition or translation, and you can choose your desired target language in the app's settings. It even does offline single-word translation between Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. While popular apps like Flipboard, Pulse and Zinio are supported, there are also many that got left out -- not even Chrome and Twitter as of the 9.8.8.32 firmware -- so the button didn't always show up. Another issue is that a lot of times, we'd miss one character or accidentally highlight a nearby punctuation mark, which makes the translation a tad slower as it needs to talk to the server. We're certain that it's only a matter of time before ASUS issues a fix through an OTA update.Finally, MyBitCast is similar to SuperNote but with more emphasis on audio notes, photos and videos. Strangely, users will need to have a WebStorage account in order to use this simple app, whereas SuperNote works as a standalone app just fine. But either way, you get the idea, and this seems like a potentially useful tool for the likes of students and journalists. For those interested, we compared the sound recording performance between the original PadFone, its successor and the HTC One X at a low rooftop in Taipei City:ASUS PadFone 2:CASUS PadFone:CHTC One X (AT&T):CFrom what we can hear, the One X has excellent noise suppression, but that also became a double-edged sword as we moved to about two meters away from the phone -- the aggressive suppression started to interfere with our voice and therefore made it hard to interpret the distant speech. The original PadFone sounded the most natural, but this meant that much noise was also captured throughout. Luckily, the PadFone 2's voice recording performance is somewhere in between the two aforementioned devices: some noise is suppressed, and what's left is clean enough for speech interpretation. It goes without saying that your results may vary depending on the environment and your audio source.Obviously, all of these apps work in both phone mode and tablet mode. If you're familiar with the original PadFone then you would have already come across Dynamic Display, a name coined by ASUS that describes the technology behind the transition between the two interface modes. We've already mentioned that said transition has been sped up from two seconds to just one, but better yet, ASUS claims it's also done some work to ensure that the UK's top 100 apps work correctly with Dynamic Display.We still love showing off how a video clip continues to play after the Dynamic Display switch.Still, for some weird reason, only a portion of the bundled apps have Dynamic Display switch enabled by default, so users will need to go into "ASUS customized setting" in system settings to choose more apps. Even Google's Gmail, Play Store and Play Music apps need to be enabled manually, so we have a feeling this is more of a policy issue rather than a technical issue -- Play Store and Play Music certainly worked fine for us over Dynamic Display, just not Gmail. Likewise, we still love showing off how a video clip continues to play after the switch, though due to the lack of DivX certification, native video playback is limited to MPEG4/H.264/H.263/WMV at 1080p. That said, there are other apps that can handle some AVI and MKV files -- we use MX Player most of the time, and it's almost fully compatible with the Dynamic Display switch.In terms of performance optimization, ASUS has kept the three levels of settings but presents them in a different manner. By default, the Smart Saving mode is enabled on the PadFone 2, which has a set of predefined conditions for certain scenarios. For example, cellular data connection is cut when the phone is sleeping and the screen brightness is fixed to 60 percent while reading books, watching videos and listening to music. You can also see the full list and edit each scenario in system settings. Obviously, the mileage varies depending on your usage behavior, but the options are there should you require them. As for the performance freaks, you can enable Ultimate mode which is right at the bottom of the "ASUS customized setting" menu, but we didn't notice any performance gain during our benchmark tests. This means much like the original PadFone, the CPU can already go full throttle when needed even under "Normal" mode, whereas under Ultimate mode the phone would stay at top performance most of the time.CameraWe were fairly impressed by the 8-megapixel camera on the first PadFone, but compared to the competition, it fell behind in speed and nighttime performance. This is no longer the case with the PadFone 2's beastly 13-megapixel, f/2.4 imager. Thanks to the Sony BSI sensor and its dedicated image processor, not only can the camera handle zero shutter lag, but it can also shoot up to 100 continuous shots at 6 fps in full 13-megapixel resolution -- easily beating the HTC One X (eight megapixels, up to 99 shots at 4 fps) and the Samsung Galaxy S III (eight megapixels, capped at 20 shots at 3.3 fps). While there's no dedicated camera button, you can use the volume keys to take stills, but neither offer the proper two-stage click for pre-focusing.It's rare to see smartphones that can record 60 fps and beyond.In addition to the new and hilarious "silly face" video effects, the PadFone 2 also lets you take full-resolution still images while recording video, but this function is disabled if you switch to one of these impressive high-speed video recording modes: 1080p at up to 30 fps, 720p at up to 60 fps, and 480p at up to 90 fps. We say "up to" because the frame rate does drop in dark environments, so do bear that in mind if you want to take full advantage of the speedy video recorder. Still, it's rare to see smartphones that can record 60 fps and beyond. And by the way, the saved clips do play back at their captured frame rate instead of in slow motion -- you can see how slick it is in the following 720p sample video clip at 56.26 fps:The still images also lived up to our expectations. We managed to capture many vivid shots under the clear blue sky in Taipei and the HDR mode made some of them even more stunning, especially the photo above. Nighttime performance is much better than before, but as with many cameras, patience is required for proper focus and steady shots. You can certainly fiddle with the ISO (50 to 800) as well as exposure compensation to achieve cleaner shots at night, or you can try the various scene modes offered by the beefed-up camera app. A handful of filter effects have also been added which may please Instagram addicts, and ladies can try the new beautification mode that smoothens skin, blushes cheeks, enlarges eyes and slims faces. This author had a go with the beautification mode and it's safe to say that it doesn't work as well on men. To get a taste of the PadFone 2's still camera performance in other areas, check out our gallery below.For the sake of comparison we had an HTC One X (AT&T) with us, and it's easy to see that the newer camera sensor on the PadFone 2 delivers less noise and more detail, especially when compared at 100-percent crop level. That said, the PadFone 2 (with camera firmware version 50121) seems to have a slight bias towards blue under a clear blue sky when in auto mode, and this is more apparent in the second set of comparison shots below. At night, the One X beat both generations of PadFones in terms of white balance accuracy and detail, though since the PadFone 2 has a higher resolution, it can get away with its higher noise compression. ASUS has assured us that it'll constantly be fine-tuning the device's performance both before and after it enters the market, so chances are these camera issues will be solved soon.Performance and battery lifeSimply put, the PadFone 2 is one of the slickest phones we've ever had the pleasure to fiddle with.Simply put, the PadFone 2 is one of the slickest phones we've ever had the pleasure to fiddle with. The near-vanilla Android experience is further enhanced by the short touchscreen response time of 65ms, which is apparently faster than that of the One X and the Galaxy S III. At least we know from first-hand experience that this is more responsive than the original PadFone, especially while typing with the new virtual keyboard by ASUS. Needless to say, when it comes to raw processing power, the APQ8064 mobile SoC easily beats most, if not all, competitors, and we can certainly feel that while playing heavy-duty 3D games and dealing with HD video clips. Interestingly, the benchmark numbers indicate that ASUS has done a slightly better job than LG at optimizing its device for the Snapdragon S4 Pro platform, thus placing the PadFone 2 at the top of our smartphone benchmark chart.PadFone 2PadFoneQuadrant Advanced7,7035,354Vellamo 12,5202,521Vellamo 2 HTML52,0181,800AnTuTu15,4897,042SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms)1,291.91,559GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD C24Z16 Offscreen (fps)3113CF-Bench18,2379,571Battery life7:30 (HSPA, phone) / 9:28 (tablet*)6:15 (phone) / 9:56 (tablet*) / 17:30 (laptop)SunSpider: lower scores are better*This includes the duration of phone-only mode, as the PadFone Station no longer functions after its battery has depleted.PadFone 2Optimus G (all models)Galaxy Note IIGlobal HTC One XQuadrant Advanced7,7037,6286,8194,906Vellamo 12,5202,1432,4821,617Vellamo 2 HTML52,0181,7101,8311,364AnTuTu15,48911,28413,53911,030SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms)1,291.91,2831,0231,773GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD C24Z16 Offscreen (fps)3131177.5CF-Bench18,23714,39815,26713,233Battery life7:30 (HSPA, phone) / 9:28 (tablet*)8:4310:456:00SunSpider: lower scores are better*This includes the duration of phone-only mode, as the PadFone Station no longer functions after its battery has depleted.As for battery life, the PadFone 2's own 8.13Wh battery lasted for seven and a half hours in our standard video loop test over 3G (there's no LTE in Taipei for us to try), but don't be fooled by the Optimus G's seemingly better battery life: the former's display has a 550-nit brightness level, while the latter maxes out at 470 nits. Taking these into account and assuming there are no other significant variables, these two APQ8064 devices should otherwise have very similar overall power consumption.DeviceVideo Loop Test Battery LifeSamsung Galaxy Tab 7.712:01Apple iPad 210:26Acer Iconia Tab A51010:23ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime10:17 / 16:34 (keyboard dock)ASUS PadFone9:56 (HSPA, tablet dock*)Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.19:55Apple iPad (2012)9:52 (HSPA) / 9:37 (LTE)Apple iPad9:33ASUS PadFone 29:28 (HSPA, tablet dock*)ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF7009:25 / 14:43 (keyboard dock)Toshiba Excite 109:24Motorola Xoom 28:57HP TouchPad8:33Sony Xperia Tablet S8:31ASUS Transformer Pad TF3008:29 / 12:04 (keyboard dock)Acer Iconia Tab A7008:22Acer Iconia Tab A2008:16Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus8:09Lenovo IdeaTab S21108:07 / 15:11 (keyboard dock)Amazon Kindle Fire7:42*This includes the duration of phone-only mode, as the PadFone Station no longer functions after its battery has depleted.When combined with the new PadFone Station, our quad-core PadFone 2 managed around nine and a half hours of continuous video playback plus background sync over 3G, though the last 1.5 hours was in phone mode as the slate no longer functioned after it ran out of battery power -- it was the same with the first-gen PadFone Station. The result came close to what we got with the original dual-core PadFone in tablet mode -- which is a testament to the Krait cores' efficient asynchronous operation -- as well as the WiFi-only Transformer Pad Infinity TF700. Obviously, you'd get a lot more play time out of the phone itself if you choose "Phone Preferred Mode" or "Power Pack Mode" under the charging settings in the PadFone Station Assistant tool. The default "Intelligent Mode" simply tries to balance the charge between the phone and the slate, as the tablet requires battery power to function, so this mode gives you the most play time on the tablet.Finally, we decided to keep an eye on the recharge times. The PadFone 2 alone takes about two hours to fully charge up, whereas when docked, the intelligent charging feature fills up the phone first in just over three hours, followed by the tablet's own battery about two hours later, making it a total of five hours. However, the PadFone Station can also be charged up without the phone docked inside, but due to the removal of the old LED indicator, you'll need to insert the phone to see the battery status.Wrap-upAt a time when smartphones are becoming more and more similar, ASUS continues to inject real innovation and excitement into the market. The first Transformer Pad wasn't an instant hit, but what followed has helped ASUS establish a strong presence in the tablet market. We think the same will happen with the PadFone series. Merely half a year after the first attempt, its successor arrived right on time with all the best ingredients: a powerful and efficient quad-core processor, a powerful graphics engine, a large mobile display, best-in-class camera performance, LTE and a super-slick user experience. And that's just the phone alone!As the main selling point of the whole PadFone concept, the much lighter PadFone Station will finally help ASUS make its point: the PadFone's tablet experience is no longer hindered by any extra weight (and it's even lighter than some similarly-sized tablets now), yet you still get the benefit of instantly porting everything between the two screen sizes whenever you want. What's missing this time round, though, is the element of productivity: it really needs a dedicated hinged keyboard to make a strong statement, and there's nothing more attractive than being able to comfortably type out documents with a physical keyboard while viewing them on the larger touchscreen, and then review them on the smaller screen instantly while on the move. Sure, there's the whole cloud hype that even ASUS is part of these days, but you may not have internet connectivity all the time (especially for frequent travellers), meaning there's always a delay of some sort between saving a document on one device and then viewing it on another. So iron out the bugs, throw in a dedicated keyboard dock (preferably with a built-in SD card reader) and ASUS will have the ultimate killer package.ASUS Announces PadFone InfinityLTE smartphone with 5-inch Full HD display combines with a 10.1-inch tablet dockfor seamless mobile flexibilityMobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain (25th February, 2013) - ASUS today announced PadFone Infinity, a powerful LTE smartphone with a sleek metallic design and a 5-inch Full HD display that becomes a 10.1-inch tablet when docked to its companion PadFone Infinity Station. PadFone Infinity features Android 4.2 and groundbreaking mobile performance, thanks to its next-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor and up to 19 hours* of 3G talk time."PadFone Infinity is the latest evolution of our PadFone line," said Jonney Shih, ASUS Chairman. "It combines incredible design with an uncompromised user experience derived from our Design Thinking philosophy."Premium design with premium performanceWith a slender unibody design crafted from aerospace-grade aluminum, ASUS PadFone Infinity is both beautiful and durable. The 5-inch screen features a 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution with an extraordinary 441 pixels-per-inch for text so crisp it looks like a printed page and wonderfully detailed high-resolution images. 64GB of storage complements the class-leading Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 1.7GHz quad-core processor for a smooth and responsive premium Android experience, while 100Mbit/s LTE and 42Mbit/s DC-HSPA+ ensure super-fast web browsing and downloads.ASUS PadFone Infinity features a high-performance 13-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 5-element lens that captures incredibly detailed images with no shutter lag. A dedicated image signal-processor enhances low-light image quality and enables PadFone Infinity to capture up to 100 sequential photos at 8 frames-per-second, while simultaneously recording 1080p Full HD video. PadFone Infinity can also output 1080p Full HD video via its micro-USB-compatible MyDP interface.Share apps and mobile data instantlyThe unique two-in-one nature of ASUS PadFone removes the tedious need to synchronize data between smartphone and tablet. Data and settings on PadFone Infinity are available instantly on PadFone Infinity Station upon docking, and running apps are smoothly reformatted to fit the larger display. Mobile data bills are also reduced, since a single data plan can be shared between both devices.PadFone Infinity comes with new and exclusive ASUS apps, including SuperNote 3.1 for note taking, Story for creating stunning photo albums and ASUS Echo for voice control of PadFone Infinity.PadFone Infinity has up to 19 hours of 3G talk time*, which increases to up to 40 hours when docked into PadFone Infinity Station. PadFone Infinity Station also has sufficient battery capacity to fully recharge the docked PadFone Infinity up to three times.###*Specifications may vary without prior notice. Options, pricing, performance and availability dependent upon region. For more details about the products mentioned in this press release, please visit http://press.asus.com .Availability & Pricing - UKThe combined price of the ASUS PadFone Infinity and Infinity Station will be around SRP 799 (inc VAT). Exact price and availability will be announced closer to UK launch date.Almost exactly two years ago, Motorola's solution was kicked off the stage by ASUS' PadFone, the world's first phone that could fully power a tablet module from its own OS. The original took a while to , but since then the company has kept up with a surprisingly rapid product cycle. It was only five months from the first PadFone to the ; and now seven months later, ASUS is offering the PadFone Infinity: a non-surprising full HD update for both the phone and the tablet module. The phone itself also benefits from a newer 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 SoC, as well as a new brushed-aluminum body. So, does this upgraded package have what it takes to kill the "glass is half empty" mentality? Or would consumers still rather have two separate devices? Read on to find out. HardwareLet's start off with the phone. Like many of the latest Android flagships, the PadFone Infinity comes with a 5-inch, 1080p display and a quad-core chip. In terms of resolution, viewing angle and color gamut, the newer screen is a significant upgrade from the predecessor's 4.7-inch, 720p panel; though the screens from both generations belong to Sharp's LTPS line (not to be confused with the newer line, which is currently less efficient at this panel size). Unsurprisingly, the Infinity comes with a bigger built-in battery -- 2,400mAh, which is a nice bump from the old 2,140mAh cell. The main camera uses the same Sony 13-megapixel IMX091 sensor as the PadFone 2, but its lens has been upgraded from f/2.4 to a brighter f/2.0. On the other side of the phone, the old 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera has been replaced by a 2-megapixel, f/2.0 module (it's an OmniVision OV2722 sensor, if you care), but the backlit capacitive soft keys below the screen are here to stay.The Infinity utilizes a brand-new design that takes advantage of an aerospace-grade, twice-anodized aluminum alloy construction. Instead of the signature Zen-ripple etching on the old polycarbonate cover, the almost fully metallic Infinity features a vertical brush pattern across its back -- one that is ever so slightly curved when viewed from either the top or bottom, making the thickness vary from 8.9mm in the middle to about 6mm at the edges.The back side alone easily makes this one of the best-looking devices ASUS has ever created.While the back's gentle curve does make for a somewhat comfortable grip, it stops dead at the straight sides and therefore produces relatively sharp edges. The two previous PadFones, on the other hand, had well-rounded corners that fit our hands better. It would have also helped if the screen bezels were less than 4mm thick, thus keeping the phone narrower. However, these are trade-offs that we're willing to accept for the sake of the Infinity's versatility, solid feel and clean look. How clean? The back is dominated by the straight brushed-metal pattern, though there are a few features garnishing it as well. Near the top you'll find the usual camera and its LED light, then at the bottom there's the "PadFone" logo above a T-shaped NFC antenna band -- a feature seen on some metallic phones like the , and the . The back side alone easily makes this one of the best-looking devices ASUS has ever created. As for the front, the protruding, scratch-resistant Corning screen lens covers almost the entire surface, leaving a shiny 1mm-wide chamfer from each side of the metallic body to reduce the chance of shattering when dropped.The phone's four sides feature a matte finish in the same color as the back -- either "titanium gray," "hot pink" or "champagne gold" (color availability may vary across regions). Interestingly, the loudspeaker's now located on the right side just above the power button and volume rocker, so it's less likely to be blocked in various scenarios. On the other side of the phone you'll only find a pin-ejection tray for a nano-SIM card, which makes the Infinity the first non-Apple device to adopt the new standard (the fake iDevices don't deserve recognition here, obviously).The top and bottom sides actually consist of well-disguised polycarbonate, which enables better reception through what's otherwise an all-metal body. The top edge is occupied only by a 3.5mm headphone jack, whereas the bottom side houses the microphone and a micro-USB socket. Unlike the PadFone 2, which had a 13-pin MHL connector, the Infinity's micro-USB port integrates the (Mobility DisplayPort) interface for twice the performance of MHL (at 5.4Gbps, which allows 1080p60 playback). It also provides a snug fit with any ordinary micro-USB plug -- something that the PadFone 2 failed at. Finally, sandwiching the micro-USB port are two round sockets for the tablet module's external antenna, catering to cellular signal (worldwide model: WCDMA 900 / 2100 with DC-HSPA+, and LTE 800 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600) as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11a/ac/b/g/n.What you won't find on the Infinity is a slot for microSD expansion, so you'll have to choose carefully between the 32GB and 64GB models. But as with the PadFone 2, ASUS offers 50GB of cloud storage, free for two years. Plus, there's always the handy, but less elegant USB OTG for storage expansion via flash drives.In principle, the hardware here is more similar to the PadFone 2 than the original PadFone: the phone docks vertically into an exposed bay on the back of a 10.1-inch tablet module aka the PadFone Station. And unlike the first PadFone, there's still no docking keyboard with a built-in battery, so you can't use the Infinity like a laptop. Regarding the latest model, specifically, ASUS Corporate Vice President Benson Lin doesn't think the laptop form factor is a feature that would help his company ship 1 million phones this year. In his defense, ASUS does need to keep the combined weight of the phone and tablet module to a minimum -- at least not much more than that of the iPad with Retina display for the sake of competitiveness.At this point, this is only achievable by shaving off as much weight as possible on the PadFone Station, hence the lack of a docking socket and circuitry for a docking keyboard this time around. Of course, this isn't a flaw, per se, but the lesser package may struggle to convince folks who were sold on the original PadFone concept. On the other hand, the simpler and lighter package could help win more users, anyway. Compared to the 4G iPad, which weighs in at 662g, the PadFone Infinity's combined weight of 677g (145g plus 532g) is still very competitive, and it's not that far off from the PadFone 2's 649g. For those who do miss the laptop form factor from the original PadFone, there's always the Folder case or TranSleeve case, which lets you prop up the PadFone Station and then hook up the device with a Bluetooth keyboard. You can also connect a USB keyboard via an optional adapter.The new PadFone Station comes with the same 5,000mAh battery (made by Sanyo) as its similar-looking predecessor, meaning it can, theoretically, charge up the docked phone twice in battery pack mode; or you can keep the phone juiced up -- either matching the module's battery level or prioritized, depending on your setting -- while using it as a tablet. Now, since this new PadFone Station comes with a more demanding 1,920 x 1,200 IPS panel (from Panasonic), the battery shouldn't last as long as it did with the previous 1,280 x 800 screen; but the quality upgrade is well worth the small sacrifice. Plus, there are mechanisms on the software side to optimize battery life.As before, you'll also find a nice loudspeaker, a microphone and a micro-USB port on the PadFone Station, but they've all been relocated. The loudspeaker, powered by an 18mm driver, has effectively swapped places with the microphone, so that it's now behind your right hand and well away from the tablet's volume rocker and power button on the left. As for the micro-USB port, it's been moved from the bottom edge to the right side, which means you can finally plug a USB peripheral into the tablet while it's propped up by its case. The same old 1-megapixel front-facing camera (with Azureware's sensor) is at its usual spot -- in the middle of the screen bezel's top edge, but it's no match for its 2-megapixel counterpart on the phone.Like the PadFone 2, the Infinity's PadFone Station uses a docking-retention system involving four serrated silicone rubber grips, which hold onto the two vertical sides of the phone. In a nutshell, this cunning design keeps the phone securely docked even when shaken upside down, while also allowing the user to pull the phone out with a gentle grip. This is best illustrated by the above graph (courtesy of ASUS), which shows how the required push and pull forces are carefully calibrated across different phases during docking. However, we couldn't help but notice a light rattle when we gently shook our docked Infinity module. Not that we've managed to shake the Infinity out of the tablet (seriously, we actually tried really hard), but we definitely never encountered such a nuisance with the PadFone 2.We brought the offending mass-production devices to ASUS' office and tried our phone with another PadFone Station. The result? A lighter rattle this time, but finally we came across an engineering sample module that kept the phone very still, ironically enough. Upon close inspection, it appears that this sample's docking bay had a slightly thicker padding than our two previous modules. There's clearly a problem with the consistency of build quality, but if anything, the light rattle would only be slightly annoying to some, rather than having the potential to cause any damage.Other than that one niggle, we had no problem holding the PadFone Station in either portrait or landscape. While the majority of the tablet module is 10.6mm thick (the thickest point being about 15 to 16mm thick over the docking bay), the tapered edges on the left, right and bottom sides give a nice fit in our hands. The matte, but smooth, rubbery finish certainly helps, too. The PadFone Station also comes in one of three colors to match the phone, but you're welcome to slip a pink handset into a gold tablet if that's how you swing.SoftwareThe lack of heavy skinning helps keep the system running like butter.We've always been fans of ASUS' approach to customizing Android. Which is to say, it mostly sticks to the stock OS. This is surely one of the reasons it often beats the competition to rolling out major updates, not to mention offering regular fixes. And of course, the lack of heavy skinning also helps keep the system running like butter. In the case of the PadFone Infinity, we've already received three OTA updates over the last two weeks (taking us to build 10.6.8.10 based on Android 4.1.2; not Android 4.2 as promised at ), which is pretty typical of a freshly launched ASUS mobile device. Such a rapid rate is of course highly commended.The fact that ASUS continues to use near-vanilla Android is by no means an indication that the company's been cutting corners. In fact, it's quite the opposite. First of all there's the classic ASUS Quick Settings feature that adds a row of customizable quick toggles (for auto-rotate screen, WiFi, WiFi hotspot, Bluetooth and more) and a screen brightness slider to the pull-down notification tray, and this is consistent across both phone mode and tablet mode. Given that you can disable ASUS Quick Settings, we're certain that you'll be able to switch to Android's native quick settings tray when the eventual 4.2 update comes along. Still, we're quite content with ASUS' implementation.ASUS has also made subtle changes in a few other areas. For one, the "Pad only" tab in the tablet mode's app tray is still there, where users can filter out pad-only apps for quicker access. There's also a small drop-down menu in the app tray for sorting apps by name, frequency or download time. Not sure what took this so long (or why vanilla Android never had this in the first place), but we're glad it's here now.Another stealthy tweak lies in the home button: when you long-press it, rather than showing just the Google Now button, the Infinity gives you two rows of shortcuts. The outer arc hosts up to eight customizable app shortcuts, meaning you can jump to any of these apps from anywhere at any time. The inner arc, meanwhile, gives you buttons for ASUS Echo (for voice command), Google Now, device lock, app tray and settings (for selecting the outer arc's shortcuts). We have mixed feelings about this one, as we've gotten used to flicking our finger from the home button to the lone Google Now shortcut on many other phones; so it'd be nice if there was a way to disable this feature. That said, maybe this will come in handy once you get used to it.Moving to a higher level in the UI, ASUS has decided to throw in the ability to change the home screen scenarios. Yes, it's basically like "Scenes" in the older versions of HTC's Sense UI, but HTC has ditched it in Sense 5, with the reason being not many people actually use it. Perhaps ASUS' more intuitive implementation will popularize this feature once again: you toggle the scenario-selection mode by simply pinching the home screen. Then you can either edit your home screens or switch to another scenario from there. Out of the box, the Infinity has already set up a "Work" scenario filled with productivity widgets, as well as an "Entertainment" scenario featuring shortcuts for multimedia apps and a couple of social networking apps by ASUS. You can, of course, create your own scenario from scratch as well.The killer feature of the PadFone series is obviously Dynamic Display, a fancy name given to the way the current app is kept alive when switching between phone mode and tablet mode. The good news is that not only did ASUS keep the switch time below two seconds, but the list of compatible apps out of the box has grown tremendously, including many of the 23 ASUS apps we'll talk about in just a moment. As before, essential apps like Calendar, Camera, Contacts, Gallery and Messaging can still seamlessly switch between the two interface modes. In other words, you can show off how a video clip keeps playing in the bigger screen once you've docked the phone, or how the calendar switches from phone mode to tablet mode, as opposed to just scaling up to fit the larger screen.Annoyingly, flagship Google apps like Gmail, Google+, Maps, Hangouts and YouTube are grayed out on the Dynamic Display list, as they are still not compatible with one of the main selling points on the PadFone series. Those that do work well include Chrome, Drive, Play Music, Play Store, Search and Translate, but they require manual enabling in settings for some reason. As for the non-bundled or non-Google apps, your mileage may vary: we had almost no problem with our own Engadget app, nor Dropbox, Facebook, Foursquare, IMDb, MX Player or SoundHound. Still, we found glitches in Amazon Kindle, Evernote, Firefox and Twitter -- usually in the form of weird font sizes or displaced UI components.Now, going back to the ASUS apps. If you've already played with ASUS' previous Android devices, then you should already be familiar with most of them. These include ASUS Studio for viewing photos (by location, face or tags); MyLibrary for e-books; AudioWizard for boosting the loudspeakers or headphones (the latter part is new, but not as well-tuned, suffering from volume fluctuation); MyBitCast (a note-taking app that supports audio recording); SuperNote; Watch Calendar (calendar displayed in the style of a clock); and WebStorage. The old Instant Dictionary widget is also here and can be toggled through the quick settings in the notification tray, after which you can hit the round floating widget to highlight any text for instant lookup.Of the new bundled apps, the notable ones include ASUS' Splendid onscreen color tool, as seen on ASUS computers, as well as ASUS Echo, ASUS Story, Birthday Reminder and ASUS To-Do. We're particularly fond of ASUS Story (pictured above), which lets you create photo stories in neat collages -- great for presenting your family photos or just for killing time. ASUS Echo, on the other hand, failed to impress. While the company made a big deal out of this voice-command app at MWC, it sometimes wouldn't even respond to the scripted commands for making phone calls. Even if that worked, we were hoping for a natural conversation experience that we're used to with Apple's Siri, but Echo is nowhere near that level of sophistication.ASUS has also come up with a couple of social networking-related apps: BuddyBuzz and PinPal. The former aggregates news from your various networks -- Facebook, Plurk, Renren (China's take on Facebook), Twitter and Sina Weibo -- and presents the feed in a magazine-like interface. PinPal, on the other hand, focuses on your selected friends' Facebook and Twitter feeds, and it displays their posts in a bland, but cleaner style for some creepy stalking. While we prefer BuddyBuzz to PinPal, both apps have crashed many times on us, with the former also suffering from poor photo rendering as well as struggling to grab images from Weibo, while the latter can get a bit laggy when it manages to stay running. Until ASUS sorts these apps out, we recommend staying away to minimize your agony.On a brighter note, some of these ASUS apps also come in the form of floating widgets in tablet mode -- much like the ones you get on Samsung tablets. To toggle these, simply hit the arrow at the bottom-left corner of the screen, and then you'll be shown a selection of 10 resizable floating widgets: AudioWizard, Browser, BuddyBuzz, Calculator, Calendar, Video Player, Countdown, Stopwatch, Dictionary and Email. If that's not enough, you can also add some of the normal widgets to the list, but you won't be able to resize them. Our only issue with the default floating widgets is that they respond slowly when we resize them, but chances are this is something that ASUS can also fix via an update.CameraIt's no surprise that we're seeing better results this time around.As mentioned before, the PadFone Infinity shares the same 13MP image sensor as the PadFone 2, except this newer device comes with a brighter f/2.0 lens. Add in the fact that ASUS has had more time to optimize the sensor's firmware, and it's no surprise that we're seeing better results this time around. In our , we complained about the severe loss of detail in night shots due to the high noise-suppression rate, so we're happy to say this is less of an issue on the Infinity. (And for the record, the PadFone 2's also received a fix for the aforementioned issue since our review.)In the comparison shots against the HTC One (shown below), you can see how the distant billboards maintain a fair amount of detail in the Infinity's photos, though the One still edges out with better color accuracy, presumably due to its larger pixels. As for HDR, we much prefer the results on the Infinity at night, but we did find ourselves too often relying on said feature, as the contrast of the images would otherwise be too strong (this can also be fixed in post by adjusting the gamma using a photo editor). Daytime performance is quite good in general, faithfully reproducing even the fluorescent range of colors. However, we regularly had to manually increase the exposure when trying to capture subjects under the bright sky.Little has changed with the camera app since we reviewed the PadFone 2. With the volume keys facing upward in landscape mode, the app's intuitive layout gives you dedicated buttons for taking stills and recording video on the right (you can also capture full-resolution stills during filming). Meanwhile, the left column is occupied by various settings: modes, resolution, effects and exposure. The top-left button lets you toggle between still camera settings and video camera settings, without locking you down to either still mode or video mode -- a problem that many other camera apps suffer from.While you can use either the virtual button or one of the two volume keys to trigger the camera, the Infinity also comes with a new voice-activated shutter that responds to "shoot," "cheese" or "one, two, three," and you can activate this mode in the settings menu at the bottom-left corner of the camera app. The only real caveat while taking photos or videos is that when using the Infinity in tablet mode, you need to make a mental note of the phone's actual orientation. Put simply: if you want to take a landscape photo or video (as you should), you need to hold the tablet in portrait mode.Like most flagship phones these days, the Infinity's camera is listed with zero shutter lag, but we noticed that this is disabled out of the box. We soon found out why: once enabled, the virtual viewfinder started to stutter, presumably due to the extra resources taken up by the sensor and its ISP. Regardless, you can enable burst mode, which supports continuous shots at up to 8 fps -- up from 6 fps with the PadFone 2 -- for up to 100 shots in the full 13-megapixel resolution. This also works with all 10 filters offered by the camera app, with our favorite one being the "Dropper" that lets you remove certain colors in the live feed.There are eight scenes available for the still camera: portrait, landscape, night, snow, sunset, party, backlight and vivid. These are usable in all of the camera modes, including the aforementioned HDR mode, portrait mode (formerly "beautification mode", for eye enlargement, cheek blushing, face slimming and removing skin shine), panorama mode and a new GIF animation mode. Making a GIF image is very much the same as shooting a 30-frame burst, with a choice of 0.8 megapixels, 0.3 megapixels or 0.1 megapixels in 4:3, or one megapixel in widescreen ratio. The files do get quite large very quickly so the lower resolutions are recommended.The video camera mode is very much the same as before. On top of the usual set of resolution options, you can also pick one of the following high-frame-rate modes for slicker playback: 1080p locked at 30 fps, 720p varying between 20 fps and 60 fps, and 480p varying between 20 fps and 90 fps. Alas, the varying frame rate is to compensate for the shooting environment's brightness, so don't be alarmed if your nighttime clips come out just as choppy as those taken in the normal mode. While we're on the subject, ASUS has also added a slow-motion mode (muted) in either 720p or 480p, though there's no way to control how much you slow down, as there is on the .As on the PadFone 2, the video camera mode has the same set of filters as the still camera mode. Similarly, there's also a set of silly face effects that do funny things with one's face, eyes, mouth or nose, though these are limited to 480p, which should be adequate for a quick laugh. Going back to normal video mode, there's not much to complain about with the picture quality, but we did notice that the first second of audio always gets chopped off, followed by a sudden drop in noise at about three seconds into each clip -- presumably to do with the phone's active noise cancellation. Again, we're certain that both of these can be fixed via an update. Here are a couple of sample clips to keep you occupied for the time being: the first one a 1080p 23fps video, and the second one a 720p 50fps video.Performance and Battery LifeWith Qualcomm's Snapdragon 600 SoC and 2GB RAM turning up on almost every flagship Android device these days, there's no need for us to do a long presentation on how powerful this chip is in terms of number crunching and graphics rendering. Apart from the incompatibility issues we hit with certain apps over Dynamic Display, we've experienced virtually no lag in day-to-day operation. Additionally, heavy games like Need For Speed: Most Wanted and The Dark Knight Rises are simply stunning and slick thanks to the beefed-up Adreno 320 graphics chip. Even more amazingly, our Infinity never got too hot after completing a few races on NFS.PadFone InfinityPadFone 2HTC OneGalaxy S 4 (Exynos 5 Octa)Quadrant 212,2507,70312,49513,046Vellamo 2 HTML52,3832,0182,4291,883AnTuTu 324,69715,48925,14027,805SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms)868.31,291.9853.5779.8GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD C24Z16 Offscreen (fps)33313441CF-Bench25,05718,23725,14020,745SunSpider: lower scores are betterGiven that the HTC One and the PadFone Infinity share an almost identical set of specs, it's no surprise that the two devices also have very similar benchmark scores. But that's not quite the case with our 1.6GHz (SHV-E300S, to be exact), which appears to be ahead of everyone in terms of 3D graphics and memory performance. That said, while we have yet to determine this particular S 4's battery life, it's safe to say that the PadFone Infinity should easily beat it thanks to the extra juice in the PadFone Station.As mentioned earlier, ASUS offers different charging policies to let you decide how to split the battery power between the phone and the tablet module. Here are the options: Intelligent mode for balancing the two devices' battery levels, Phone Preferred mode for maintaining a power supply to the phone and Power Pack mode for using the PadFone Station solely as a power pack (but you can hold the power key for two seconds to wake up tablet mode). These can be set in either the PadFone Assistant widget or in system settings.To help further extend battery life, you can also toggle Smart Saving (either in Quick Settings or system settings) and choose one of several of modes. Ultra-saving mode disconnects the device from the network when it's suspended, whereas optimized mode toggles the appropriate screen brightness, network sleep time, CPU speed and number of active CPU cores in certain scenarios (like reading emails, reading e-books, browsing websites and watching videos). If you're feeling adventurous, you can tweak each of these individual settings as well under customized mode.We could easily survive two days with both devices on one charge.In our two rounds of battery tests, we set the phone / tablet combo to optimized battery mode, left it on a 4G LTE connection and set the screen brightness to medium, before letting it play a 720p video on a loop. Including the final hour when the phone was running on its own battery, we managed to get about 6.5 hours of continuous video. Funnily enough, when we repeated the same test with just the phone, we got about 5.75 hours of playback. But don't be put off by these figures, as our review unit was stuck at a location with a weak LTE signal (and we'll check again when we get hold of a different carrier's nano-SIM). Also, keep in mind that the batteries lasted far longer in everyday use; we could easily survive two days with both devices on one charge. For the record, too, the phone takes about 2.5 hours to be fully charged using the original power adapter, whereas the tablet module takes about four hours, so be sure to plug your devices in well before you head out the door.Wrap-upThe PadFone Infinity is without a doubt the best phone ASUS has ever made, and it's a worthwhile upgrade from the PadFone 2 even for the specs alone. Thanks to that brand-new industrial design on the phone itself, we're confident that it'll get more attention than its two predecessors did. Pretty much everyone we've shown the device to praised the new look. While we're less concerned about the problematic new apps since they can be updated, we hope ASUS somehow finds a way to dampen the rattle of the docked phone.But the question remains: can this new package convince more consumers that owning this is better than carrying two separate devices? As nice as the PadFone is, this three-generation-old formula risks becoming stale if it doesn't break the mold. If ASUS wants to win over the non-believers, it'd have to come up with a solution that can let people use both the phone and the tablet module at the same time. That's right, dual-screen multitasking. The closest thing we have right now is , but it's more of an experimental product and won't be produced in high quantities. Perhaps wireless display from the phone to the tablet module is the way forward? Do surprise us, ASUS.It's tough to forget the : out of all the Windows 8 convertibles we've seen (and we've seen a lot) this is the only one with two screens on board. In particular, it's got one on the inside, which you'd use in regular notebook mode, along with a touchscreen on the outside that allows you to use the PC as a tablet. If you like, you can shut the lid completely and turn the machine into a slate-type of device, but you can also leave the lid open so that you're mirroring your desktop, or displaying something different on each one (imagine the possibilities for presenters!). As an added trick, that outer screen also accepts pen input, though you'll have to splurge on the highest-end configuration to get it with a stylus. For now, ASUS is selling the 11.6-inch ($1,299 and up), though a 13-inch version is going to start shipping later this month. Hopefully, though, our review after the break answers questions you'd have about either model. Namely, what's it like to use a machine with two screens, anyway? Look and feel Until now, our reviews of ASUS Ultrabooks were starting to get a bit repetitive. Sure, the company on , but the core design otherwise hasn't changed much in the past year or so. Its Zenbooks have always been flashy, with spun-metal lids and brushed-metal palm rests that contrast with the keyboard. The TAICHI is also eye-catching, but in a different way. Obviously, for starters, there's no spun-metal cover here -- the "lid" is actually that secondary display. On the inside, the keyboard deck is done up in a putty color that blends in against the black keyboard. Even the brushed-metal detailing seems a bit finer here. All told, it's an attractive, tasteful design. Inoffensive, even. Which makes sense when you consider ASUS is mainly marketing this toward business users. With the lid shut, it actually doesn't look that different from the , or the , or any other laptop with a glass lid. The difference is that you can see the faint outline of the bezel -- the sort of thick bordering you'd find on a typical tablet. There's also a touch-sensitive Start key that glows white when the machine is powered on. Ditto for ASUS' logo, which sits in one of the corners. The effect is sort of neat -- until you start using the TAICHI as a tablet. Because most other laptops with glass covers have them purely for decorative purposes, you're not likely to touch them as often. Here, it's a necessity. And man, are those fingerprints an eyesore, especially when the machine is powered off. Since that's the only piece of the laptop you can see when it's closed, you'd better be prepared to keep it looking like thirteen hundred bucks. On the bright side, ASUS used a custom glass (not Gorilla) that's proved resilient in our testing. Even after we tossed it in a bag to shuttle to and from the office, it didn't pick up any nicks or scratches. We have mixed feelings about the inner display, too: though the viewing angles are good, it's not touch-enabled, which means you don't have the option of reaching up to tap it when you're using this thing as a regular notebook. What's more, the panel is ringed by a thick, 1-inch bezel that makes the interior feel a little fuddy-duddy; something closer to an edge-to-edge screen would've gone a long way in making the machine look more modern. Then again, even with one touchscreen this is heavier than other 11-inch laptops, at 2.75 pounds. To put that in perspective, that's midway between the 11- and 13-inch , weight-wise, so we can't imagine how stocky this would be if there actually were a second touchscreen on board. The good news is that the TAICHI is fairly thin, at 0.69 inch -- not bad considering it has not one, but two displays on board. That chassis is just thick enough that it makes room for two USB 3.0 ports, along with micro-HDMI, mini-VGA, a volume rocker, an audio jack, a screen lock and a slider for powering the machine on. Additionally, the TAICHI ships with a USB-to-Ethernet adapter, a micro-HDMI-to-VGA dongle and, on select models, a pressure-sensitive pen. Like other high-end ASUS machines, it even comes with a pouch for the adapters and a matching case for the computer, which wins extra points on account of its leather detailing, magnetic closure and slot for holding the pen. Keyboard and trackpad We didn't get off to a great start with the TAICHI's touchpad. The keys on the TAICHI have more or less the same shape as the ones on ASUS's other Ultrabooks, which is to say they're a bit wider than they are tall. Still, it appears ASUS has done some retooling behind the scenes; typing on this keyboard doesn't feel quite the same. Aside from the fact that the layout is more cramped (this is an 11- not 13-inch machine, after all), the buttons here feel slightly less springy than the ones on the UX31A. In a way, though, that's just inside baseball: to someone who's never played with an ASUS laptop before, they should be just fine: even if the keys are a bit flatter, they still offer more travel than what you'll find on most competing ultraportables. We were also relieved to find that although this is a fairly small system, ASUS kept most of the major keys intact -- Enter, Backspace and the right Shift key are all amply sized, though the Caps Lock and Tab buttons are admittedly small. Additionally, the buttons have a pleasantly soft finish that makes them a comfortable resting spot for the fingers. As a side note, the backlighting is adjustable, which we can't say of every laptop we've ever reviewed. We'll admit we didn't get off to a great start with the TAICHI's touchpad. Initially, we ran into lots of problems with the cursor stopping short on the screen before it got where we wanted it to go. At one point, as a matter of fact, we were writing this review in SkyDrive, and an errant touchpad gesture caused us to close out of the site, losing some of our work in the process. It wasn't as bad as that time we were testing the original and almost threw it against a wall, but it was close. As you may have surmised, though, we've made peace with it. Mostly, anyway. Even after re-installing the driver, the cursor can still be tough to drag, but we can reliably scroll with two fingers, as well as use pinch-to-zoom to magnify text. As we've often found with Windows 8 laptops, some of the smoothest gestures are those that are native to the OS. That is to say, we had an especially easy time swiping in from the right to expose the Charms Bar and swiping in from the left to toggle through open applications. Displays, pen input and sound quality Obviously, using the TAICHI as a regular notebook or even a tablet doesn't require any instruction -- you can either close the lid or, uh, not. You will need to do a little configuring to either mirror your desktop on the outer screen or enter the dual-display mode. Just press the fourth button from the right on the Function row of the keyboard -- the key with the dual-display graphic on it. That'll launch Taichi Home, a full-screen app that also shows things like battery capacity and shortcuts for mastering things like Windows 8 gestures. In any case, just tap that Function button again to cycle through the different modes. By default, the TAICHI enters tablet mode as soon as you shut the lid, but you can lock the settings so that that doesn't happen. Oddly, though, there doesn't appear to be a way to lock your mirroring / dual-display settings. That is to say, if you have the machine set to mirror your desktop and then you shut the lid, it'll go back to regular notebook mode when you lift the lid again, with nothing showing up on the rear screen. It would be nice to control that, though ultimately we think ASUS made the right call in designing the TAICHI this way: can you imagine the battery drain if there was a chance the exterior display could be left on accidentally? Now about those modes. We can definitely see a use for mirroring. If you're hosting a presentation on your laptop, it'd be nice to show off a page in IE10 or play a slideshow in PowerPoint without having to turn your laptop around for others in the room. This way, you get a good view and so does everybody else. What's disappointing, though, is that dual-display mode only works with specific applications like PowerPoint, which allows you to display, say, Presenter View on just one screen. We're not sure what else we were expecting -- the ability to drag and drop an app onto the outer screen somehow? -- but now that we've played with it, we'd say that dual-screen mode isn't as big a selling point as the mirroring, which has more real-world use cases. The inner display offers good viewing angles. In fact, both screens do. So far, we've talked an awful lot about what it's like to use a notebook with two displays, but we haven't actually said much about the panels themselves. As we alluded to earlier, the inner display offers good viewing angles. In fact, both screens do. According to ASUS, they each make use of IPS technology, even though the outer one has a markedly glossier finish than the other. Regardless of the one we used, we had no problem watching movies from off to the side; the contrast and color balance stayed even. In the case of the interior display -- the one you'd use in notebook mode -- we were still able to follow along with an episode of South Park even after dipping the lid almost halfway forward. That means if you're working with the machine in your lap, you don't have to be too finicky with the screen angle; most should work. As for pen input, the outside screen has an N-Trig digitizer. The accompanying stylus is pressure-sensitive and is powered by a single AAA battery. It also has a button for erasing (not like the pen, where you can flip it over and use the opposite end as an eraser). Without a side-by-side comparison, it's tough for us to say which makes for a smoother experience: the Surface's Wacom-based tech or the N-Trig panel on offer here. Either way, we found we didn't have to apply much pressure while scribbling in SuperNote; we felt like we were pressing about as hard as we would if we were writing on an actual pad. On the audio side, the TAICHI features an improved version of the Bang & Olufsen ICEpower setup used on the company's Zenbook lineup. As you might expect of a small laptop, the volume coming from the speakers isn't the loudest -- we very rarely lowered the sound below the 50 percent mark. In terms of quality, though, the TAICHI 21 holds its own. It's not without tinniness -- this is a laptop, after all -- but in general the listening experience was more pleasant than on other Ultrabooks we've tested. Songs that would normally sound distorted on other machines -- rap tracks, Nirvana singles -- were fairly balanced here. Performance and battery life PCMark7 3DMark06 3DMark11 ATTO (top disk speeds) ASUS TAICHI 21 (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000) 4,998 4,818 E1137 / P610 / X201 516 MB/s (reads); 431 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,580 3,548 E518 / P506 542 MB/s (reads); 524 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 3,113 4,066 E1033 / P549 136 MB/s (reads); 130 MB/s (writes) (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000) 5,011 4,918 E1035 / P620 / X208 934 MB/s (reads); 686 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,422 4,415 E917 / P572 278 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,381 4,210 E989 / P563 521 MB/s (reads); 265 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,673 4,520 N/A 516 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes) By all metrics, the TAICHI 21 offers similar performance to other machines with these internals -- namely, a 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U CPU, integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics and a 1080p display. Those are the same internals as the Acer Aspire S7 we reviewed and indeed, its scores are mostly in line (save for read / write speeds -- the S7 has a RAID 0 SSD setup). Booting up the machine takes nine seconds, which is slightly faster, even, than some other Windows 8 Ultrabooks we've tested recently. It does seem, though, that that high-octane performance comes at the cost of heat management. After leaving the system idle for a few hours and then picking it up to use Evernote, we noticed it was slightly hot around the vents on the bottom side. If you can find a place to put this other than your lap, you should be set, but you might run into a problem if you're using it in tablet mode -- it's hard not to put your fingers on the back cover in that scenario. Battery Life ASUS TAICHI 21 3:54 Acer Iconia W700 7:13 Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012) 7:02 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2012) 6:34 (OS X) / 4:28 (Windows) Dell XPS 14 6:18 Sony VAIO T13 5:39 Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 5:32 Dell XPS 12 5:30 ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A Touch 5:15 ASUS Zenbook Prime UX51Vz 5:15 Toshiba Satellite U845W 5:13 Toshiba Satellite U845 5:12 Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 5:11 Toshiba Satellite U925t 5:10 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 5:07 Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 5:05 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch 5:00 Sony VAIO Duo 11 4:47 Acer Aspire S5 4:35 ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A 4:19 Acer Aspire S7 (13-inch) 4:18 Acer Aspire S3 4:11 HP Spectre XT TouchSmart 4:00 Vizio Thin + Light (14-inch, 2012) 3:57 Microsoft Surface Pro 3:46 ASUS rates the TAICHI 21 for up to five hours of battery life, but our test machine lasted even less time in our standard rundown test. With a video looping, WiFi on and brightness fixed at 65 percent, the TAICHI lasted three hours and 54 minutes, making it one of the shortest-running Windows 8 laptops we've seen. (Note: that's with just one of the two screens turned on.) And that's saying a lot: almost all of the touchscreen systems we've tested recently have been disappointing on the battery life front. In a weird way, this poor showing makes us glad there weren't two touchscreens after all -- we doubt it could have efficiently driven both of them. That very slim silver lining aside, the TAICHI's battery life could be a dealbreaker for many, considering this is aimed at business users and business people often like to work on their laptops in coffee shops, airplanes, terminals... places where there aren't necessarily outlets around. For now, you just might have to keep looking if long endurance is what you're after, but hopefully in the future will help improve runtime on machines like this. Software and warranty So how's the bloatware load here? Not bad, actually. Not bad at all. Starting with Metro-style apps, there's World Clock, ASUS Calculator, ASUS Converter, Skype, SuperNote and Fresh Paint. Surprisingly, this business machine also comes with a few Xbox Live games, including Adera, Taptiles, Microsoft Solitaire Collection and Wordament. Other than that, it's mainly a bunch of utilities designed to either show you how to use the TAICHI, or to tweak certain settings like power management profiles. These apps include ASUS Taichi Essentials, ASUS Tutor for Taichi, NB Guide (for learning Windows 8 gestures), ASUS Power4Gear Hybrid, Waves MAXXAudio, ASUS Install and ASUS Taichi Home, which we described earlier. Like most other PCs we test around here, the TAICHI comes with a one-year warranty, which includes 24/7 tech support and a 30-day zero-bright-dot guarantee. Configuration options In the US, at least, the TAICHI 21 is available in three configurations. Starting at the entry level, the cheapest option is a $1,299 model with a Core i5-3317U CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive. For $1,499, you can get one with essentially the same specs, but double the storage space. Finally, there's the model we tested: a $1,599 machine with the works (Core i7-3517U, a 256GB SSD and an included stylus). Additionally, ASUS is about to start selling a 13-inch version (the TAICHI 31, natch), which will become available this month, says the company. According to an ASUS spokesperson, that model is expected to start around $1,399, though that's still subject to change. The competition If you're looking for a dual-screened laptop specifically, well, we hate to disappoint you but the TAICHI, as imperfect as it is, is it. If all you want is a notebook that can be used in tablet mode, though, we can think of several better options. We'll begin with the , whose 12-inch screen is only modestly larger than the TAICHI 21's. That, too, has a 1,920 x 1,080 display, which pops out of the hinge and flips around into tablet mode. We do like that 1080p IPS screen, we have to say, but we're also fans of the comfortable keyboard, attractive design and decent battery life (at least as far as touchscreen laptops go!). That starts at $1,200 -- so, it's a little less expensive than the TAICHI 21. The only thing you're giving up is the ability to interact with it using a pen. We're also fans of the , whose screen you can fold all the way back into tablet mode. Alternatively, you can fold it only part of the way so that the machine is in "Tent" or "Stand" mode. All told, it's about as versatile as the TAICHI, though for now it's only available with a 13-inch screen, which may or may not be too big if you were considering buying the TAICHI 21. (For what it's worth, the is coming this summer.) This one starts at an even lower price -- $1,000 -- with slightly lower-end specs, including a Core i3 processor and 1,600 x 900 display. There's no 1080p option, unfortunately, but you can step up to a Core i5 or i7 CPU, along with 8GB of RAM. In our experience, this too offers a comfortable keyboard, and the battery life is slightly longer than the XPS 12's. We'd also be remiss if we didn't mention the Surface Pro tablet ($899 and up), which also has a Core i5 CPU, pen support and 1080p display. Unfortunately, though, stepping down to just one 1,920 x 1,080 screen won't get you longer battery life: it fared even worse on our standard battery test. Wrap-up Around the time I wrote this review, I was also working on Engadget's first-ever . I was sure the TAICHI would be a shoo-in for the convertible section, what with its innovative design and sterling spec sheet. Unfortunately, as inventive as this is as a concept, the finished product isn't quite what we all thought it would be. The battery life is short, even for a touchscreen laptop, and it could be a dealbreaker for the business travelers to whom this is being marketed. And now that we've gotten comfortable with Windows 8, we wish the inner screen were also touch-enabled (that might not have bothered us back in June, when touchscreen laptops hadn't yet become the norm, but it's a bigger turnoff now). To be fair, there isn't really a chipset right now that can effectively power two 1080p touchscreens at once -- not without ruining the battery life, anyway. But if we had to have just one touchscreen, then, we would have preferred to use it in both tablet and notebook mode (see: the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 or the Dell XPS 12). The good news is that for an experimental product, the TAICHI gets a lot of things right: both displays offer wide viewing angles, the performance is fast and the audio quality is surprisingly robust. It even supports pen input, which isn't true of most Ultrabooks. Needless to say, we do hope ASUS goes back to the drawing board and takes this criticism to heart -- we'd say it has the foundation for a bangin' follow-up product. It's possible you'll want to buy this now if battery life isn't a concern, you want that outer display for giving presentations and you're already used to navigating Windows 8 using keyboard shortcuts. Otherwise, though, we're having trouble recommending this when there are other convertibles that offer longer battery life and deliver similar speed for a lower price.ASUS Launches the Transformer AiO The world's first all-in-one that is a powerful desktop PC capable of running Windows 8 or Android 4.1 in desktop or tablet mode. Fremont, CA (March 7, 2013) - ASUS today announced the all-new Transformer AiO. The incredibly innovative ASUS Transformer AiO provides users the mobility of a tablet with the performance of a powerful desktop PC, all in an elegant design that is just as flexible on your desktop as it is in the home. Combining stunning design and the imagination of ASUS, the Transformer AiO features a desktop PC Station with 3rd generation Intel Core desktop processor technology for outstanding Windows 8 performance, and a detachable 18.4-inch multi-touch display containing NVIDIA's Tegra 3 quad-core for an optimum Android 4.1 user experience. The innovation does stop as the tablet is also capable of running Windows 8 in Remote Desktop mode. No All-in-One PC has ever offered this type of flexibility, innovation or design, and it is only available from ASUS. Advanced Technology and Options ASUS Transformer AiO is a powerful all-in-one PC capable of handling a wide range of demanding Windows 8 productivity and entertainment applications. Designed for desktop use, its PC Station is powered by a 3rd generation Intel Core desktop processor with NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M graphics for outstanding performance. ASUS The Transformer AiO features comprehensive connectivity options, including four USB 3.0 ports with speeds up to ten times faster than USB 2.0 for plenty of peripheral possibilities and an HDMI out port so you can attach a monitor for extended display options including the capability to use the PC Station in Windows 8 mode while the tablet operates separately in Android 4.1 mode. Its 18.4-inch LED-backlit display features 1080p HD resolution with 10-point multi-touch and IPS technology for bright, vibrant images with 178-degree wide viewing angles for shared enjoyment with coworkers, friends or family. ASUS Transformer AiO also features dual-band Wi-Fi for high-performance wireless networking with compatible routers. ASUS SonicMaster audio technology delivers incredible sound so watching the latest TV show or movie, gaming, or enjoying a new album will always be an immersive audio experience. Windows 8 and Android tablet combined When detached from the PC Station, ASUS Transformer AiO's tablet can be used in two different ways. First, wireless Remote Desktop technology on the PC Station allows complete multi-touch control over Windows 8 in tablet mode for easy access to the world's largest collection of productivity and entertainment software. Alternatively, the 18.4-inch IPS display can also be used as a standalone tablet with Android 4.1, thanks to its built-in NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. ASUS Transformer AiO switches seamlessly between operating systems at the press of a button and offers up to five hours of battery life*. The display also features a convenient carrying handle and a folding stand for comfortable tabletop use when away from the PC Station. AVAILABILITY & PRICING ASUS Transformer AiO will be available early Q2 2013 in North America with pricing starting at $1299. SPECIFICATIONS * Processor PC Station: 3rd Generation Intel Core i5-3350P Tablet: NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core Operating system PC Station: Windows 8 (64-bit) Tablet: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Display 18.4-inch (1920 x 1080) LED-backlit with IPS technology 10-point capacitive multi-touch Graphics PC Station: NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M (2GB) Camera 1-megapixel front-facing Memory & storage PC Station: 8GB DDR3 (1600Mhz) RAM 1TB SATA hard drive SuperMulti DVD Drive Tablet: 2GB DDR3 RAM with 32GB onboard storage Connectivity PC Station: 802.11a/b/g/n dual-band Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet 4x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 2.0 port HDMI-out 3.5mm headphone & 3.5mm mic sockets 3-in-1 memory card slot Bluetooth 4.0 Tablet: 802.11a/b/g/n dual-band Wi-Fi 1x Mini-USB 2.0 port 3.5mm headphone / mic socket microSD card slot Docking port Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR Battery Tablet: 38Whr Li-ion for up to 5 hours use* Size Tablet: 11.57 x 18.34 x 0.70' PC Station: 10.51 x 18.34 x 6.37" Combined: 14.8 x 18.34 x 6.37" Weight PC Station: 9.03lbs Tablet: 5.3lbs *Specifications, content and product availability are all subject to change without notice and may differ from country to country. Specifications and pricing listed are for the planed North American sku and may differ at launch. Actual performance may vary depending on applications, usage, environment and other factors.For a while, it looked like would turn out to be vaporware: after debuting to much fanfare a year ago, it encountered numerous delays, and even missed the crucial holiday shopping season. Now it's , priced at $1,499 with a Core i7 processor, a 13.3-inch (1080p) screen and a detachable keyboard dock housing both a spare battery and a 500GB hard drive. The problem is the timing: Intel is about to launch its new Haswell chips, and here's the Transformer Book, arriving on the scene with a lofty price and a year-old CPU.It'd be easy enough to tell you just wait for a refresh, which is how we've been ending all of our PC reviews in the weeks leading up to this year's Computex. But it's still worth investigating whether the Transformer Book (aka the TX300) is a compelling idea. Though we've seen many tablet hybrids (the , etc.), they've mostly had smaller 11-inch screens. So what happens when you take that form factor and stretch it to accommodate a bigger screen -- and a more spacious keyboard? And how does it compare to all those convertible options out there, like the or the ? Let's have a look. Look and feelThe Transformer Book is, at its heart, a mashup between a laptop and a tablet (a very big tablet, we might add). So it makes sense that it looks like the lovechild between ASUS' Zenbook Prime Ultrabooks and its various Transformer products. The tablet itself has the same spun-aluminum back as the , done up in a familiar dark grey. Meanwhile, just like last year's Zenbook laptops, the keyboard dock takes on a pale champagne color, which carries over to both the main deck and the back side. Basically, then, it's a two-tone, black-and-white cookie of a notebook, with dark metal blanketing one half and a lighter material covering the bottom. It's an unconventional choice, but it works.How often are you going to use your 13-inch Ultrabook as a tablet?Once we reacquainted ourselves with the familiar design language, we started to realize how heavy this thing is. In total, it clocks in at approximately 4.2 pounds -- considerably more than other 13-inch touch machines -- with the tablet and dock each weighing in at 2.09 pounds.It might seem odd that the dock weighs as much as the tablet, but consider this: the keyboard houses both a 3,200mAh battery and a 500GB hard drive to complement the 128GB SSD inside the tablet. (HP's 13-inch hybrid has a similar setup.) Likely because of these added features, the Transformer Book's keyboard accounts for much of the total thickness as well: the two together measure a fairly plump 0.92 inch thick, but the tablet itself is only 0.4 inch. That's not bad at all considering there's a frickin' Core i7 processor inside, along with a fan to help keep it cool.That said, you'll probably be most impressed with the Transformer Book if you intend to actually use it in tablet mode. As a standalone slate, it weighs considerably less than the 3.3-pound Yoga 13 or the 3.35-pound Dell XPS 12. Relatively speaking, it's more comfortable to use, though it's still a little unwieldy. And as a laptop, the Transformer Book weighs more than either of those machines. A lot more. And you have to wonder if it's worth it. How often are you going to use your 13-inch Ultrabook as a tablet? And is it really that important that your PC take on the same form factor as an iPad or an Android tablet? Both the Yoga 13 and XPS 12 have hands-free tablet modes, and they make room for big keyboards too. It would seem to us that leaves one, maybe two good reasons to go with the Transformer Book: you want the spare 500GB hard drive, or you like the idea of having a spare battery. Otherwise, there are other form factors that accomplish the same thing as the Transformer Book, albeit with a greater emphasis on the laptop piece. Moving on with our tour, that fan sits on the back edge of the tablet, right below the 5MP / 1080p rear camera. (No LED flash, sorry.) Around back, you'll also find dual speakers, with one grille on each end. Holding the tablet in landscape mode, you've got the volume rocker on the left side, along with a micro-HDMI socket and a headphone jack. Over on the right, there's an exposed microSD slot. On the bottom, obviously, are all the docking connectors that latch into the keyboard.There's also a proprietary charging port down there, which you'll find mirrored on the dock as well. Naturally, a common connector means you can use the same cable to charge both devices, and at the same time, even. Finally, the power / lock button is on top, just where you'd expect it to be. Interestingly, you don't have to hold it down to turn the device on, as you would with a real tablet; this really is more of a laptop without a keyboard.That about covers everything you might need in tablet mode. The dock, meanwhile, is home to (almost) all the ports you could possibly want in a laptop (and yes, that includes an Ethernet jack). In addition to that wired connection, there's a full-size SD card reader, two USB ports, mini-VGA and a DisplayPort. The only thing missing is HDMI, but fortunately there's a world full of adapters you can buy if a simple TV hookup is what you're after.Finally, you'll probably be interested to know what comes in the box. For starters, you get a simple black carrying case, along with two dongles: USB-to-Ethernet and mini-VGA-to-VGA. ASUS has been throwing in these sorts of extras for years, as any loyal customer will tell you, and we're glad the company is keeping it up.Keyboard dock and trackpadIf you've owned or even played with a Zenbook Prime before, you know what to expect with the Transformer Book: it has basically the same backlit keys as ASUS' earlier offerings (everything after the original , anyway). For some time now, these keyboards have had plastic, not metal, buttons, with a good deal more travel than they used to. In fact, the company slightly adjusted the key travel this time around, making that the only change over previous models.Whether ASUS made the buttons deeper or shallower is hard to tell: they feel about the same. All we know is that the keyboard offers more tactile feedback than most ultraportables, and that the buttons are bouncy and well-spaced enough that typos are unlikely (we're sure you can find a way, though). Seriously, when we think back to ASUS' first Ultrabook, where we had to mash the keys to make sure our presses registered, we're reminded of how far the company has come, at least in terms of typing experience. Today, ASUS' keyboards don't call much attention to themselves. And that's a good thing. Lingering on the keys for a moment, you'll find a few functions built into specific buttons. The space bar, for instance, has a control on the left end that activates the Power4Gear Hybrid application, where you can select different power management profiles. The "C" key doubles as a shortcut for ASUS' Splendid Video Technology dashboard, where you change the display settings to "Theater," "Vivid" or some manual configuration. (We left it on the default mode most of the time, because we're boring like that.) The "A" button contains an on / off switch for the ambient light sensor. The "V" key, meanwhile, is where you'll find a shortcut for ASUS' Lifeframe camera app, which has all the photo filters, borders and emoticons you'd expect from a typical notebook webcam. The Function keys, of course, house all your requisite volume and brightness controls. In this case, you need to use the Fn key to activate them; that's either good news or bad news, depending on how much you rely on keyboard shortcuts.ASUS has come a long way with its trackpads too. The one here, which uses ASUS' own drivers, isn't half-bad. We enjoyed smooth, controlled pinch-to-zooming in IE10, and didn't even have to apply much pressure with our fingers. Two-finger scrolls work well too. Even single-finger tracking is precise, which might be the number one thing we complain about when we test out laptop touchpads. If anything, the touch button is a bit stiff, but that's easy to let slide compared to some of the other issues we're used to.Display and soundASUS was one of the first companies to offer 1080p on an Ultrabook, and it was also one of the first to release a tablet with a 1,920 x 1,200 screen. So it should come as no surprise that the company went all out on its flagship Transformer Book. What we have here is a 13.3-inch IPS panel with a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, a 72 percent color gamut and a brightness rating of 350 nits -- about as bright as laptops get. Compared to some other touchscreen devices, like Toshiba's new , the bezels are fairly wide, though the glass, at least, runs nearly edge to edge. (All touchscreens have at least some sort of bumper along the sides.)Those bezels aside, it's of typical ASUS quality, which is to say the colors are vivid and the viewing angles are wide, especially from the front with the lid pushed forward. Though the glossy finish tends to reflect light (as glossy finishes do), we were impressed by how the colors stayed vibrant even as we shifted our position to watch from off-kilter angles. Sure, all of that starts to fall apart as you move toward a 180-degree angle, but how many of you really watch Netflix out of your peripheral vision anyway?As it's been doing with its other Ultrabooks, ASUS went with a Bang & Olufsen ICEpower audio setup, with four speakers and MaxxAudio technology on the software side. So, the equation hasn't changed, and neither has our opinion: the machine pulls off some surprisingly not-tinny sound (relatively speaking) but the volume is low, even for a small laptop. We enjoyed listening to everything from The Clash to Ray Charles, but time and again, we kept hitting the volume-up button, only to be reminded we were already maxed out. Not a dealbreaker, obviously: that's why we have stuff like .Performance and battery life PCMark73DMark063DMark11ATTO (top disk speeds)ASUS Transformer Book (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000)4,4143,840E924 / P512 / X177482 MB/s (reads); 317 MB/s (writes) (2.0GHz Core i7-3537U, Intel HD 4000)5,2755,272N/A553 MB/s (reads); 500 MB/s (writes) (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000)5,0114,918E1035 / P620 / X208934 MB/s (reads); 686 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Core i5-3337U, Intel HD 4000)4,0433,944E1,053 / P578484 MB/s (reads); 286 MB/s (writes) (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000)4,9984,818E1,137 / P610 / X201516 MB/s (reads); 431 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,6733,811E1,019 / P552526 MB/s (reads); 201 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,4224,415E917 / P572278 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,5803,548E518 / P506542 MB/s (reads); 524 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000)4,6734,520N/A516 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes)The Transformer Book runs off a 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U processor, the same one used in various Ultrabooks that went on sale last fall, like the and ASUS' own . Additionally, it has 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SanDisk SSD and, of course, integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics. (What? You weren't expecting a discrete GPU, were you?) For whatever reason, its synthetic benchmark scores trail what we got from similarly specced machines (discounting the S7, even, because that has a faster RAID 0 setup). That said, we refuse to believe it's a slow machine, per se. In practical terms, it boots in six seconds, which might be the fastest start-up time we've logged yet on a Windows 8 device. Also, it resumes from sleep in under two, as advertised. What we're trying to say is: calling this a slow system would be a huge misnomer.If you're thinking it's the 500GB HDD dragging down the performance scores, rest assured that's not the case. First off, we got the same sort of numbers even when we ran our tests with the keyboard detached. Secondly, ASUS says the OS is installed on the 128GB solid-state drive and that the computer stores files there first by default, unless you tell it to do otherwise. In other words, you won't even start using it until you run out of space on the SSD. Really, then, it helps to think of the keyboard dock as a giant external hard drive; when you attach it, you even get the same Windows dialog box that you would if you inserted a thumb drive.Battery lifeASUS Transformer Book5:01 (tablet only)Acer Iconia W7007:13Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012)7:02MacBook Air (13-inch, 2012)6:34 (OS X) / 4:28 (Windows)Dell XPS 146:18Sony VAIO T135:39Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 135:32Dell XPS 125:30Samsung Series 5 UltraTouch5:23ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A Touch5:15ASUS Zenbook Prime UX51Vz5:15Toshiba Satellite U845W5:13Toshiba Kirabook5:12Toshiba Satellite U8455:12Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M35:11Toshiba Satellite U925t5:10Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon5:07Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M55:05Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch5:00Sony VAIO Duo 114:47Acer Aspire S54:35MSI Slidebook S204:34ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A4:19Acer Aspire S7 (13-inch)4:18Acer Aspire S34:11Lenovo ThinkPad Twist4:09HP Spectre XT TouchSmart4:00Vizio Thin + Light (14-inch, 2012)3:57ASUS TAICHI 213:54Microsoft Surface Pro3:46ASUS wasn't kidding when it said the tablet's 5,000mAh battery could last five hours: our test unit ran exactly five hours and one minute in our rundown test (video looping, WiFi on). If you look at the comparison table above, you'll see that's about average for a touchscreen Ultrabook with an Ivy Bridge CPU -- the new Kirabook and the both delivered pretty similar results. The best you could hope for on a device like this is maybe half an hour longer, but hopefully that'll change when Haswell becomes the new chip standard. For now, as we said, the keyboard dock has its own 3,120mAh battery, which promises to extend the runtime to up to eight hours.Software and warrantyWe have to say: we're digging this trend of PC makers putting less crapware on their systems. (None would be super, but we'll take what we can get.) On board, you'll find World Clock, Fresh Paint, Microsoft Solitaire Collection, ASUS Tutor and a few Xbox Live games, including Taptiles, Adera and Pinball FX. There's also that Power4Gear Hybrid power management software we mentioned earlier in the review. Oh, and you get 32GB of ASUS WebStorage, free for three years. After that time expires, you still get eight gigs free for life. In the event anything breaks, you've got one year of warranty coverage. Pretty standard for consumer PCs.Configuration optionsWhen ASUS first announced the Transformer Book line a year ago, we were under the impression it would be available in 11-, 13- and 14-inch screen sizes. Evidently, someone high up in the pecking order decided that would be a bad idea, as the company is now selling just the 13-inch model, and in one configuration at that. In the US, you'll be able to get precisely the unit we reviewed today, a $1,499 machine with a Core i7 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD inside the tablet. Outside the US, a Core i5 version will be available in some regions. That one will have a 320GB HDD inside the keyboard dock, not a 500GB drive.The competitionIt's getting a little tiresome ending all pre- laptop reviews this way, but it's worth repeating nonetheless: unless your laptop dies a sudden death leaving you without a computer, you should wait until Intel launches its next-gen Haswell chips before making a purchase. We don't know everything there is to know about those processors yet, but we have been promised longer battery life and improved graphics performance which -- hello? -- is exactly what Ultrabooks need right now. Those are two very good reasons to wait, even if you're not particularly interested in clock speed, cores or Turbo Boost. And besides, all of our current favorite Win 8 devices (the Dell XPS 12, the Lenovo Yoga 13, the , etc.) are due for refreshes themselves, if not out-and-out redesigns. So sit back and see what's announced in Taiwan next month.If you'll allow us to talk up a couple true competitors, though, we'd encourage you to read up on HP's Split x2 hybrid, which arrives in August with a 13-inch display and a keyboard dock that includes both a spare battery and a 500GB hard drive. Unfortunately, this, too, will ship with Ivy Bridge processors, and its specs aren't a total match anyway (it'll have Core i3 and i5, with a lower-res 1,366 x 768 display). Still, with a starting price of $800 (dock included) it could be tempting for those who don't want to spend $1,499 on the Transformer Book. Finally, there's also the Lenovo , an 11.6-inch machine with similar internals. Unfortunately, we haven't gotten a chance to review it yet, but here's hoping we rectify that soon.Wrap-upIf you were willing to wait this long for the Transformer Book to go on sale, you may as well wait a few more months for a possible Haswell refresh: it would bring longer battery life and stronger graphics performance too. But is it worth holding out for at all? Depends on how badly you want a 13-inch standalone tablet. Though the dockable-tablet form factor makes sense for 11-inch systems, it becomes more niche-y when you expand the screen size to 13 inches. After all, tablets that big can be cumbersome to use, even when they're as thin and relatively light as the Transformer Book is. And this one doesn't have a Wacom digitizer, which rules out some scenarios where the slate form factor might come in handy. Meanwhile, convertible laptops like the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 and Dell XPS 12 weigh less in total, but still manage to offer roomy keyboards, hands-free tablet modes, slightly longer battery life and similarly fast (or faster) performance.Before you dismiss it, though, there are still some practical reasons to choose the Transformer Book over those other machines. Number one is that spare battery. Almost no convertible Ultrabooks allow you to use two batteries at once. And unfortunately, many current hybrids (the Surface, Acer Iconia W700) don't have a second battery in the keyboard. Likewise, it's extremely uncommon to find a spare hard drive inside the keyboard dock, and most Ultrabooks tend to top out at 256GB of solid-state storage. So if more space and extended battery life are important, the Transformer Book could be a good option -- even if you rarely end up using it as a tablet. Just take our advice and wait on Haswell.ASUS Transforms Expectations for Computing at Computex 2013Chairman Jonney Shih introduces the Transformer Book Trio and other revolutionary products that transform consumers' expectations of technologyComputex, Taipei, Taiwan (3 June, 2013) - ASUS today announced incredible new products at it's "We Transform" Computex 2013 press event that transform consumers' expectations about technology. Chairman Jonney Shih revealed the ASUS way of Design Thinking and introduced an entire line of innovative devices designed to simplify today's digital lifestyle."We seek to perfect the balance between engineering and humanity, where every intricate detail echoes our needs for both emotion and function," said ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih. "This is the ASUS way of design thinking, where every idea starts with people and we turn our imagination into a myriad of revolutionary innovations."The ASUS Transformer Book Trio is an innovative combination of notebook, tablet and desktop PC for unparalleled flexibility in work, play, and social activity, while the new Transformer Pad Infinity is the world's first NVIDIA Tegra 4 tablet with a stunning 2560 x 1600 resolution display. ASUS also announced the 6-inch FonepadTM Note FHD 6 tablet with 3G voice-calling, the 7-inch MeMO Pad HD 7 value tablet with an MSRP of US$149, the ultra-compact VivoPC desktop, VivoMouse, a wireless mouse with built-in multi-touch touchpad designed to optimize Windows 8 experience, and the world's first AC1900 router, RT-AC68U.Transforming Notebook Expectations- ASUS Transformer Book TrioThe ASUS Transformer Book Trio is the world's first three-in-one mobile device. With an 11.6-inch detachable display and dual operating systems, Transformer Book Trio transforms mobile flexibility by switching effortlessly between a Windows 8 notebook, Android tablet and Windows 8 desktop PC. Transformer Book Trio switches easily between operating systems to give users access to over 700,000 apps in the Google Play Store and over 50,000 apps in the Windows Store.Despite the different operating systems, the Transformer Book Trio has been designed to smoothly transition between modes, allowing users to sync data or continue to surf the webpage they're on even when moving from notebook to tablet mode.The PC Station dock has its own 4th generation Intel Core i7 processor, keyboard and 750GB hard drive, and with the tablet display detached, can be hooked up to an external display for use as a desktop PC. The PC Station also serves as a charger for the tablet for extended battery life. The tablet features a 2.0 GHz Intel Atom processor and a 16:9 aspect ratio IPS display with Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution and up to 64GB storage.Transforming Tablet Expectations- New ASUS Transformer Pad InfinityThe New Transformer Pad Infinity is the first in ASUS range of innovative dual-purpose mobile devices to feature a 1.9GHz NVIDIA Tegra 4 mobile processor with quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU and 72-core GeForce GPU. The 10.1-inch LED backlit display has an ultra-sharp 2560 x 1600 resolution with IPS technology for 178-degree wide viewing angles, plus 10-point multi-touch for smooth and responsive fingertip control. ASUS SonicMaster-enhanced audio completes the mobile tablet entertainment experience. The redesigned 254mm keyboard dock now features a multi-touch touchpad, USB 3.0 and an SDXC card reader, and gives longer battery life when the tablet is docked.ASUS MeMO Pad HD 7ASUS MeMO Pad HD 7 is an incredible value 7-inch tablet with an MSRP of US$129 for 8G and US$149 for the 16GB model. MeMO Pad HD 7 weighs just 302g and has a quad-core processor, plus a 10-point multi-touch 1280 x 800 IPS display with 170-degree wide viewing angles. MeMO Pad HD 7 also features ASUS SonicMaster audio technology, and a front 1.2-megapixel camera and optional 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. It's available in dark blue, white, pink and green colors.ASUS Fonepad Note FHD 6Part 3G smartphone, part tablet, ASUS Fonepad Note FHD 6 comes with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2560 dual-core processor and 1920 x 1080 Full HD Super IPS+ display. With a display brightness of 450 nits, ASUS Fonepad Note FHD 6 can be used outdoors in bright sunshine, while front-facing stereo speakers with ASUS SonicMaster technology ensure high-quality high-definition audio. ASUS Fonepad Note FHD 6 also includes a stylus for quick and accurate handwritten input.Transform Home Computing Expectations- ASUS VivoPCASUS VivoPC is a wireless media center designed to provide HD Wi-Fi audio and video streaming through a high-speed 802.11ac connection. Its compact design sports a spun-metal finish, ASUS SonicMaster audio technology and two USB 3.0 ports. ASUS VivoPC also features SATA 6GB/s and easy internal access for upgrades.ASUS VivoMouseASUS VivoMouse is a combined touchpad, mouse and PC remote designed to bring the Windows 8 touch experience to PCs without a touch display. VivoMouse has its own touchpad that even recognizes Windows 8 touch gestures and can be used as a wireless remote for home entertainment PCs.ASUS RT-AC68U Wireless RouterThe ASUS RT-AC68U is the world's first dual-band 802.11ac router with blisteringly fast combined AC1900 data rates of 1900Mbit/s. The RT-AC68U also features ASUS AiRadar technology that uses beamforming to focus the Wi-Fi for a stronger wireless connection and 150% greater coverage than other routers. The RT-AC68U features a Router-to-Router Sync mode that makes light work of sharing files. A simple invitation allows photos, videos and other files on USB-attached storage to be synchronized automatically to USB-attached storage on other compatible ASUS routers, without the need for a switched-on PC at either end.Other ASUS products announced at Computex include the Zenbook Infinity Ultrabook, MeMO Pad FHD 10 tablet, G10 desktop PC with built-in UPS and the PA279Q ProArt WQHD pre-calibrated professional monitor.When ASUS first teased the back at CES, many customers looked on, simmering with rage. You see, only several weeks earlier the company started selling the , a top-tier tablet priced at a not-so-cheap $500. It was a state-of-the-art product... until ASUS the TF700, a tablet that was similar, only better. It, too, has a Tegra 3 chip and 8-megapixel camera, but it adds a higher-res, 1920 x 1200 display and promises improved signal reception, for the Prime. Little did those disgruntled Prime owners know it would actually be a long time before the TF700 ever became available. Now, we're finally hearing it will in the US in mid-July, at which point the Prime is expected to drop in price before it gets discontinued. But is the TF700 all that much of an improvement over the original? And how does it stack up against comparably priced tablets, such as the , and ? Check out our early review to find out. Hardware Everything about the TF700 is reminiscent of the original Transformer Prime. You've seen this tablet before -- and no, we're not referring to the time we handled it at Mobile World Congress. Everything about the TF700 -- the thin shape, that spun metal lid, the gold and purple color options -- is reminiscent of the original Transformer Prime. With the device powered off, the only noticeable difference is that the back cover now has a thin strip of plastic stretching across the top, presumably to improve signal reception. Otherwise, it's as sturdy and well-built as any other Transformer tablet, though it's slightly chubbier at 1.3 pounds / 0.33 inches thick (versus 1.28 pounds / 0.32 inches for the Prime). Does that extra hundredth of an inch make a difference? Not for us, anyway. Taking a tour around the device, the selection of ports hasn't changed either. On the bottom, there's a trio of connectors allowing the tablet to fit snugly in the optional keyboard dock. The left landscape side is home to a micro-HDMI socket, along with a 3.5mm headphone jack and uncovered microSD slot. On the top edge, meanwhile, you'll find a volume rocker and the all-important power / lock button. Flip the tablet around and you'll find the same 8-megapixel, f/2.2 camera used on the lower-end , along with an LED flash. As with other Transformer tablets, there's also a 2-megapixel webcam tucked into the front bezel. Display and sound So what has changed? The display, for starters. Yes, this has a 10-inch, FHD IPS (make that Super IPS+) screen, just like the Prime, but this time it trades a 1280 x 800 pixel count for 1920 x 1200 resolution. Yes, it's crisp, even if it is not quite as stunning as the 2048 x 1536 Retina display. The viewing angles are wide -- so wide, in fact, that you can easily watch a movie with the tablet placed face-up on a table in front of you (not that you'd need to do this with the keyboard dock). Still, with the default settings enabled, the screen glare sometimes overpowers whatever's on screen. In situations like that, you'll want to flip on Super IPS+ mode, which bumps the brightness to a staggering 600 nits. Once we did that, we had no problem framing still shots while standing in direct sunlight. And hey, even if you don't plan on taking this outside the home, you might find that the Super IPS+ feature makes it a bit easier to use the tablet near a window, or in an office with harsh overhead lights. We did find one flaw with the display: it's bonded in such a way that if you press down on the screen you'll see air pockets form beneath your fingers. This isn't the first time we've seen this on a tablet, but it's also not the sort of thing we'd expect to find on a premium $500 product. Like ASUS' other tablets, the TF700 comes endowed with SonicMaster audio, which makes for some loud, though not exceptionally rich sound. Just keep in mind that the speaker is located on the back side, which means if you set the tablet down on a table any songs or movie dialogue will sound muffled. Then again, if you plan on watching movies with the tablet propped up in its dock, this is a moot point. Keyboard dock The optional dock offers the same features it always has, but for any first-time Transformer buyers who might be reading this, here's a quick primer: in addition to being an external keyboard, the dock is home to an SD card slot, a full-size USB 2.0 port and a built-in 19.5Wh battery, allowing you to go longer without charging your tablet. As you see in our photo gallery, the tablet is roughly the same size and thickness of a netbook when combined with the keyboard dock, and we never felt like the slate was about to tumble out of its cradle. The whole setup is actually rather sturdy, but we've always felt the dock is a little too scratch-prone; it tends to scuff more easily than the tablet itself. We'd also caution you that when the tablet is docked inside the keyboard the weight distribution becomes lopsided -- so much so that unless you angle the display just so the whole thing might tumble backward off your lap. Thankfully, this should be less of an issue if you place the dock on an airplane tray, or some other flat surface. And by the way, we're using that flight scenario quite deliberately. As cramped and flimsy as this keyboard is, it feels like an improvement over the touchscreen when it comes to pecking out short web searches and answering emails on the go. But we would never suggest a student use this to bang out 10-page term papers -- heck, we're loathe to even write 3,000-word reviews on it. Keys this shallow and this crowded simply can't take the place of a standalone laptop, but they're at least convenient when you find yourself with no other options. So go ahead and splurge on the keyboard, but think of it as a travel accessory and not the missing ingredient for some magical, low-cost laptop replacement. As for the keyboard dock's built-in trackpad, it responds surprisingly well to two-finger scrolls, but the pad's tiny size means you won't actually have much space to pull off those kinds of gestures. As we hinted at earlier, the best thing about the TF700's keyboard dock is that, well... you don't necessarily need it. Back when we reviewed the mid-range Transformer Pad TF300, many readers were upset to learn that they couldn't re-use their OG Transformer dock, meaning if they wanted to upgrade they'd have to buy a new tablet and a new keyboard, to boot. Here, there are no such compatibility issues: the TF700 will work with the dock belonging to the original Prime. That's good news for fed-up Prime owners who've had enough of the but don't have a reason to trade in the dock, per se. Performance ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 ($499) Toshiba Excite 10 ($450) ASUS Transformer Prime ($499, pending price cuts) Quadrant 4,685 4,016 4,137 Vellamo 1,475 1,471 1,418 AnTuTu 12,027 10,521 10,269 SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms) 2,012 1,939 1,861 GLBenchmark Egypt Offscreen (fps) 75 62 fps 68 fps CF-Bench 7,874 12,012 11,861 SunSpider: lower scores are better Like last year's Prime, the TF700 packs a quad-core Tegra 3 chip, though this time the clock speeds reach 1.7GHz with single-core performance and 1.6GHz when two to four cores are in use. (Compare that with 1.4GHz and 1.3GHz, respectively, for the Prime.) This tablet, too, has 1GB of RAM, but the memory is now of the DDR3 variety. So what does that mean in terms of actual performance? Well, if benchmarks are to be believed, the TF700 is faster than the Transformer Prime and Tegra 3-packing Toshiba Excite 10, but only slightly. Heck, on Vellamo, it beat the Excite 10 by a mere four points, and actually lost to it in SunSpider by about 50. Unarmed with raw numbers, it's near-impossible to tell the difference. As we've said in previous reviews, Tegra 3 shines most in gaming. When we played titles like Temple Run, Big Top THD and Zen Pinball, we enjoyed smooth graphics, though more than once the screen failed to respond to our swipes (so much for sliding under a tree trunk to escape those monkeys). In fact, finger input sometimes didn't register when we were simply navigating the OS (fortunately, this wasn't too frequent). We also observed a few other hiccups: apps were sometimes sluggish in opening and closing, and the camera application downright halted when we tapped the home button to exit. Power Saving Balanced Performance Quadrant 2,045 4,685 4,714 Vellamo 1,007 1,475 1,573 AnTuTu 5,498 12,027 12,421 SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms) 2,857 2,012 1,745 GLBenchmark Egypt Offscreen (fps) 75 75 75 CF-Bench 3,815 7,874 8,357 SunSpider: lower scores are better Like every other Transformer tablet ASUS has produced, the TF700 has not one, but three battery modes: Power Saving, Balanced and Performance. For the purpose of making comparisons with other devices, we used the default Balanced setting, but we were also curious to see how each of these three power management profiles had an impact on overall performance. Running the same benchmarks in each mode, we found that there's not much of a benefit to using the Performance settings: the battery will drain faster, and the difference in scores between this and Balanced mode is actually quite modest. On the other hand, if you flip to Power Saving mode you can expect your scores to plummet, sometimes by more than half compared to what you'd otherwise get in Balanced mode. Battery life Tablet Battery Life ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 9:25 / 14:43 (keyboard dock) Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 12:01 Apple iPad 2 10:26 Acer Iconia Tab A510 10:23 ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime 10:17 / 16:34 (keyboard dock) Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 9:55 Apple iPad (2012) 9:52 (HSPA) / 9:37 (LTE) Apple iPad (2011) 9:33 Toshiba Excite 10 9:24 Motorola Xoom 2 8:57 Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 8:56 HP TouchPad 8:33 ASUS Transformer Pad TF300 8:29 / 12:04 (keyboard dock) Acer Iconia Tab A200 8:16 The TF700 packs a 25Wh battery rated for up to nine and a half hours of runtime. Indeed, it lasted nine hours and 25 in our battery rundown test, which involves looping a video with WiFi on and the brightness fixed at 50 percent. That's still not as impressive a showing as the Prime, whose 25Wh cell lasted 10-plus hours in the same test. It also doesn't match the , new iPad or last year's iPad 2. That said, 9.5 hours should be plenty for most users, and it's longer than many other 10-inch tablets are capable of. Meanwhile, the 19.5Wh battery inside the keyboard dock promises to add an extra five hours or so of runtime. With the help of that dock, the tablet was able to last 14 hours and 43 minutes on the same video run down test. It's also worth noting that if you choose to use the OG Prime's dock you should enjoy even longer runtime, as the battery there is rated at 22Wh, compared with 19.5. A quick note on charging: though you can use the included cable to charge the tablet over USB, that convenience doesn't apply to the keyboard dock. To charge that piece of equipment, you'll need to find yourself a power outlet. Update: And the results are in: the TF700 lasted 14 hours and 43 minutes in our video rundown test, with the keyboard dock attached. Camera As we mentioned back in the hardware walk-through, the TF700 has the same 8-megapixel, f/2.2 camera module as the TF300, except this guy also includes an LED flash for slightly better low-light shots. As you'll see in that gallery down there, the image quality is hardly perfect, but it's certainly better than what you'll get from most tablets. Though the camera struggles in harshly backlit situations, it does a better job of capturing close-ups than pretty much any other tablet we've tested. The autofocusing camera is also quick to lock in on subjects, and though we had the option of tapping to focus, we found we rarely needed this feature; the camera usually identified the most salient aspect of the shot on its own. Predictably, the auto-focusing sensor was most likely to stumble in dimmer conditions, though our low-light samples weren't actually that grainy. As it turns out, this wasn't just us being optimistic: ASUS has indeed tweaked the flash since releasing the original Transformer Prime. That 8-megapixel camera is also capable of recording 1080p video, and we were similarly pleased with the level of detail in slower-moving clips. Unfortunately, though, you're likely to notice some ghosting once you start recording more high-octane scenes, like bicyclists riding by at a fast clip. As for audio quality, we appreciated that the dual mics picked up on background noise such as conversations and street music, but unfortunately they don't do nearly as good a job canceling wind noise (or, in our case, the sound of a mild breeze). Software As you'd expect of any mid-2012 tablet, the TF700 ships with Ice Cream Sandwich (version 4.0.3, to be exact). But whereas Samsung has been known to TouchWiz a tablet or five, ASUS' tabs are among the few tablets we've seen lately that run vanilla Android. Boot up the Transformer for the first time and you'll see a weather widget waiting for you, but rest assured that you can chuck it in the trash if you find it really offensive. Ditto for the raft of pre-installed apps, which include Amazon Kindle, App Backup, App Locker, separate download and file managers, Glowball, Movie Studio, MyCloud, MyLibrary, MyNet, Netflix, a so-called People hub, Polaris Office, Press Reader, TegraZone Games and Zinio's magazine reader. A heavy load, but at least everything here is uninstallable. And hey, you could do much worse than bloatware: ASUS at least didn't muck with key UI elements, such as the clock or settings tray. Also, as a nice added bonus, you get 8 gigs of complimentary lifetime ASUS WebStorage (the company used to offer unlimited space, but it was only free for the first year.) The competition The TF700 doesn't offer many reasons for existing Prime owners to upgrade. With a 1920 x 1200 screen and a $499 starting price to match, there's little question that the TF700 was intended as a top-shelf device. By now, most tablet makers have lowered the price of their goods, leaving the Infinity with only a handful of competitors in the five-hundred-dollar range. Starting with the obvious, there's the , whose 2048 x 1536 Retina display is the densest you'll find on any tablet. Spec watchers will note the entry-level iPad comes with 16GB of storage, not 32GB, and that it wasn't designed to be used with a keyboard dock, per se (not that there's any shortage of third-party options). Still, the iPad's screen is definitively the nicer of the two, and the iPad also delivers smoother performance; it just doesn't stumble the way the TF700 sometimes does. Prefer an Android device, after all? The new also has a 10-inch, 1920 x 1200 screen, along with a Tegra 3 processor and 1GB of RAM. All told, these are similar specs, except Acer's model costs $50 less and runs a slightly more skinned version of Android. As it happens, we're in the process of testing one now, but aren't quite ready to post our impressions and benchmarks results. In the meantime, then, it's at least safe to say that the A700 sits in the same class as the Infinity TF700 and is definitely worth your consideration. You know who hasn't given up on $500 tablets either? Toshiba, of all companies. After striking out with its lineup, the company has mostly found its way with the , a $450 tablet that offers longer battery life and a slimmer design. Without question, it's the best tablet Toshiba has made to date, but is it the best Ice Cream Sandwich tablet at this price? Not really -- not when you take into account the Excite's performance hiccups and lackluster camera. It's also worth noting that the TF700 could face competition from within the Transformer line: the original Prime is likely to see price drops, and we still recommend it on account of its epic battery life and similarly strong camera. (Cons: it has a lower-res display and has been known to have unreliable reception, not that that has ever been an issue for us.) Meanwhile, the TF300 costs $120 less than the entry-level TF700, and its performance and battery life aren't so far off what you'll get from this new top-shelf model. Wrap-up Gosh, it would have been nice if the TF700 were around last fall. Compared to the Prime, the TF700 is an upgrade on most counts: it's slightly faster, the screen is sharper and there's now a plastic strip on the cover designed to give the underlying antennas more breathing room. As it is, though, the TF700 doesn't offer many reasons for Prime owners to upgrade, given that the battery life is actually longer on the original, and given the similar camera performance. Unless your Prime has signal reception issues, or you just have to have that higher-quality screen, you're better off sticking with what you already own. If it is a crisp display you're after, you'd be foolish not to at least consider the new iPad: for the same money, it offers a stunning 2048 x 1536 panel -- and it doesn't suffer from as many performance hiccups as the TF700 either. Still, if you're in the market for a new Android tablet, specifically, the TF700 should absolutely be on your shortlist: it's among the best Ice Cream Sandwich tablets you'll find at any price.With the release of has come a serious onslaught on new laptops. Great news for us, since we love choices -- but we don't really get a chance to take them all for a spin. caught our eye for a few reasons. The company's increasingly attractive designs coupled with a really eye-catching price made it likely that this laptop (which is caught somewhere between a full-sizer and a netbook) could be on a lot of people's radars this holiday season. The 14-inch, CULV laptop boasts an Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 CPU and, interestingly, switchable graphics. So, we decided to give this bad boy a try for ourselves -- so read on for our full impressions. Look and feelWe're really fans of ASUS's recent , so when we opened the box, we were heartened to see that it is carrying some of the elements we love over to this model. ASUS's dimpled trackpad and metal mousing button is all over its laptops these days, and it fits right in with the design of this laptop. Overall, the UL80Vt is an attractive package -- super glossy and fingerprint prone, to be sure -- but sleek and slim following the recent trend. It isn't the most rugged build quality we've ever seen, to be sure -- it's thin, light, and also easy enough to bend or warp in your hands if you give it a try -- but it also doesn't have any hallmarks we'd designate as cheap feeling. Essentially an update of the with a bit more screen real estate, and the welcome addition of an optical drive (plus a few performance-focused changes we'll hit on below), it's got a very solid feeling build, and the flush, chicklet style keyboard is really enjoyable to use -- especially with the nice, large palm rest. Unfortunately, the mouse button isn't oriented or placed in a pleasing way, making the user experience pretty unenjoyable. The metal button is quite tight, and while it feels like it could loosen up a bit with repeated use, it's so stiff as it is that we were constantly having to press it several times to get one click to register. On top of that, it's recessed to the point of being nearly inaccessible to your fingertips, making for a rather annoying time. The trackpad, on the other hand, is pretty pleasing to use on its own -- just not in conjunction with that button. The multitouch gestures which ASUS has built into it are actually completely usable, with basic, programmable functions. The 14-inch, 16:9 screen is sufficiently bright and vibrant, but not overwhelmingly beautiful or clear. Specifications and performanceOther than than that, it's a pretty standard affair -- we didn't have any hiccups or major complaints, though the speakers aren't the greatest we've ever heard. For a thin and light, the UL80 seems meaty enough to us -- especially in this price range. Boot times are pretty quick, and we can't really see taxing this machine with standard use. Obviously, portability and a long battery life are the real draws here. It's got three USB ports and a multicard reader, plus VGA and HDMI outputs and an Ethernet port. Wrap upASUS's ever-expanding lineup of reasonably priced laptops are also looking more sophisticated than your standard units, too, and their looks are pleasing to us. They seem to have found a nice sweet spot here at about $825 -- plus a $100 gift card if you buy from Amazon -- and while this CULV laptop's not going to be standing in for anyone's gaming rig any time soon, it's a real win for the thin and light category, where you expect certain tradeoffs. In this case, thankfully, battery life isn't one of them, and there are enough useful, pleasing features about this unit to outweigh the minor performance and hardware issues we found.Read the comments on any of our ASUS Transformer Pad reviews. It doesn't matter if you pick the mid-range or the high-end . You'll invariably find someone saying, "That's nice, but can't it run Windows 8?" It's a perfectly sane request: sure, a tablet and optional keyboard dock make for a convenient setup, but how great would it be if you could use that keyboard to get work done in Microsoft Office? Ditto for the dock's USB port: being able to plug in a thumb drive is a good start, but it'd be even sweeter if you could drag and drop files, as you would on a PC. Well, ladies and gents, you can quit your fantasizing. ASUS is ready to start shipping the VivoTab RT (TF600), and we're guessing it's pretty darn close to whatever Franken-tablet you've been dreaming up. Which is to say, it takes everything we loved about ASUS' Transformer Pads, and adds Windows RT. Like other tablets in ASUS' lineup, it has a 10-inch Super IPS+ display with claimed 178-degree viewing angles and a 600-nit brightness rating. Other tried-and-true specs include a quad-core Tegra 3 chip; an 8-megapixel, autofocusing rear camera capable of recording 1080p video; SonicMaster audio; and long battery life -- in this case, up to nine hours for the tablet and up to seven for the keyboard dock. At 8.3mm thick and 1.2 pounds, it's also about as thin and light as any Transformer Pad. Lastly, the VivoTab has NFC -- something you won't find on any of ASUS' older slates. The VivoTab RT should be available beginning today, starting at $599 for the 32GB tablet with a keyboard dock included. A 64GB tablet-and-dock bundle will retail for $699. So is this as good a buy as ASUS' earlier tablets. And how does it compare to other Windows RT devices being offered at a similar price? Let's find out. Hardware What does your OS of choice say about you? Ask ASUS' design team. While the VivoTab RT borrows heavily from the Infinity's spec sheet, it has a more serious, buttoned-up look than any of ASUS' Android-based tablets. Whereas the Infinity and original Prime have bold-looking spun-metal backs, the VivoTab sports a subtle, brushed-metal finish, with a rubberized strip stretching across the top. All told, that plastic band cheapens the look ever-so slightly, but if it means there won't be any signal issues this time around, then that's a trade-off we can get behind. The good news, as we said, is that the VivoTab is about as thin and light as any Android-based Transformer Pad we've seen recently (which is to say, it's quite thin and quite light). Just as important, it's considerably easier to hold than Microsoft's , which weighs 1.5 pounds and has a thicker, sharper-edged shape. Some things to keep in mind: though the Surface is heavier, it has a built-in kickstand and finer build quality. Plus, its Touch Cover keyboard is only about 3mm thick, so if we're talking about the thickness of the tablet plus the keyboard dock, Microsoft does manage to make up for some lost ground. Taking a tour around the device, you'll find the power / lock button up top, and a volume rocker on the right side -- it's placed high enough that you won't accidentally hit it with your fingers while you're watching a movie in landscape mode. On the bottom, of course, are the connectors necessary to plug the tablet into its accompanying keyboard. On the left edge is a covered micro-HDMI socket, along with a microSD slot. Soon, AT&T will start selling an , and presumably that one will include a dedicated SIM slot, but the tablet we tested is WiFi-enabled only. As ever, the speakers are located on the rear. There, you'll also find the 8-megapixel camera module, along with an LED flash. Up front is a lower-res, 2-megapixel camera for video chatting. Keyboard dock Though the VivoTab mostly follows in the footsteps of the Transformer line, it does introduce one important, and very odd, design change. Here, there's a latch on the lower-left edge, allowing you to disconnect from the keyboard dock. That's a stark departure from the old design, in which the latch was located on the dock itself, above the keyboard. According to ASUS, its design team made this change to make the dock look more visually pleasing, and to generally improve the docking experience. While the connection is indeed as sturdy as ever, we have to say we prefer the old way of doing things: it was easier to put one hand on the dock to release the latch, while pulling the tablet out with the other. This new setup feels clumsier and less intuitive. Other than that, the dock itself looks very similar to the ones made for ASUS's Transformer tablets (save, of course, for the Start button, but you could've guessed that). As ever, the dock is made of metal, providing a sturdy base for the keys -- you won't suffer any keyboard flex here. The problem is the whole layout is a tad crowded. It's more convenient than using a touchscreen keyboard, that's for sure, but the buttons are small and tightly spaced. Even those of you with dainty hands might feel your fingers brushing up against adjacent keys you didn't mean to press. In contrast, as we noted following a tour of Microsoft's design labs last week, the Surface's pressure-sensitive Touch Cover keyboard is surprisingly spacious -- you just might experience a steeper learning curve as you get the hang of its flat keys. On the plus side, the trackpad is a little bigger than what you'll find on other tablet keyboard docks, and responds pretty well to single-finger navigation. The built-in button is easy to press too. You won't be using it much, what with the touchscreen and all, but it comes in handy when you're using desktop apps like Word or Explorer and need the precision of a mouse. As we've said with previous Transformer tablets, the weight distribution is stacked so that the tablet is a bit heavier than the dock. Holding it in your lap, the dock won't feel terribly grounded, but the weight does seem to be distributed a bit more evenly than in the past. If we had to choose, we'd say the Surface is sturdier, but only because it has a kickstand propping up the tablet from behind. That doesn't mean we'd want a kickstand planted in our lap; on the contrary, ASUS' solution seems to be more comfortable. Display and sound The VivoTab's Gorilla Glass screen has a resolution of 1,366 x 768 -- typical for a $500 Windows RT tablet (see: Microsoft Surface). As on recent Transformer tablets, it's a Super IPS+ display, which, marketing lingo aside, means the brightness can go all the way up to 600 nits. That's a higher rating than you'll find on most laptops, let alone tablets -- to give you a comparison, even the Surface tops out at 400 nits, and that's already pretty vibrant. Even if you're not clued into on feeds and speeds, a 600-nit screen definitely has its advantages. What we've always loved about ASUS tablets is that, on the one hand, the display is bright enough that you could easily use the tablet outdoors. On the other, the battery life is so good that you can feel free to crank the brightness once in a while without fear of polishing off the remaining juice. It's a really nice display, but all things considered, we still prefer the Surface's, whose optically bonded screen is less reflective than the VivoTab's. Once again, ASUS went with SonicMaster audio for its flagship tablet but, say company reps, the speaker chambers are larger than the ones on the Transformer Pad Infinity. The good news is that the bass quality is actually quite pleasant, especially compared to the sound coming out of other tablets. Despite the larger speaker chambers, the volume is on the weak side, but if you're hanging out in a quiet space it should more than suffice. Performance and battery life Like other Windows RT tablets hitting the market, the VivoTab runs on a new NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30 SoC, clocked at up to 1.3GHz, along with 2GB of RAM. In the case of this particular tablet, all that amounts to some hit-or-miss performance. On the one hand, we were able to zoom in on web pages with little tiling or stuttering, and the tablet was also quick to respond as we launched apps. Sometimes, we opened an app and changed our mind, hitting the Start key or flipping to another program before that application finished loading. In those cases, the VivoTab responded without hesitation, moving swiftly to whatever app we chose last. As with the Surface, though, we did see some performance hiccups, like when we swiped in from the left to toggle between open applications. So far, we've seen this on two of two Tegra-powered Windows RT tablets we've tested, though this stuttering was more pronounced on the VivoTab: here, the open apps tiled a bit as we paged through them. On the Surface, the swiping just felt a bit slow at times. Also, we often found ourselves tapping onscreen items (a "buy" button in the Windows Store, a backward arrow) only to be met with no response. And though it's a more minor point, it's worth noting that cold-boot times are slower on the VivoTab: about 30 seconds, compared to 25 or less on the Surface. Battery Life ASUS VivoTab RT 9:31 / 4:40 (keyboard dock) Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 12:01 Apple iPad 2 10:26 Acer Iconia Tab A510 10:23 ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime 10:17 / 16:34 (keyboard dock) Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 9:55 Apple iPad (2012) 9:52 (HSPA) / 9:37 (LTE) Microsoft Surface for Windows RT 9:36 Apple iPad 9:33 ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 9:25 Toshiba Excite 10 9:24 Motorola Xoom 2 8:57 HP TouchPad 8:33 Sony Xperia Tablet S 8:31 ASUS Transformer Pad TF300 8:29 / 12:04 (keyboard dock) Acer Iconia Tab A700 8:22 Acer Iconia Tab A200 8:16 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus 8:09 Lenovo IdeaTab S2110 8:07 / 15:11 (keyboard dock) Amazon Kindle Fire 7:42 Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 7:38 Acer Iconia Tab A500 6:55 Epic battery life has always been one of the best reasons to buy an ASUS tablet: they last a long time on their own, and the optional keyboard docks have built-in cells of their own. In this case, the tablet has a 25Wh battery, rated for up to nine hours of runtime. In practice, the tablet lasted quite a bit longer for us: nine hours and 31 minutes with video looping, WiFi on and the screen brightness fixed at 50 percent. The 22Wh dock, rated for up to seven hours, lasted four hours and 40 minutes on the same test. Camera We're grading on a curve here -- tablet cameras just aren't that sophisticated -- but ASUS has consistently delivered some of the best image quality we've seen in this category. The VivoTab RT gets off to a good start with the same 8-megapixel, f/2.2 module used on the Infinity. All told, we were really impressed by the level of detail, and our low-light shots don't look half bad, either. That's not to say this should take the place of your smartphone or point-and-shoot camera, though: many of our photos look a bit oversaturated (check out those New Mexican skies, for instance -- they weren't that blue at 5PM). We also noticed some shutter lag on our shots, which meant we had to hold still for a few seconds while taking a shot. Though the native Windows RT / Windows 8 also doesn't offer anything in the way of photo-enhancing features like HDR mode, ASUS bundled its own camera app, which looks similar to Windows', but offers filters like grayscale and sepia. Unfortunately, neither native app has tap-to-focus, but this particular camera, at least, does a good job of eventually homing in on the right subject. Software We keep saying "Windows RT" as if it's a known entity, but until this week, no tablets running this OS had shipped. And we're still not sure consumers will understand the difference between this and regular Windows 8. It doesn't help that they look the same: both have the same redesigned Start Menu, comprised of Live Tiles and native apps like Mail, Calendar, Photos and IE 10, among others. The same gestures apply -- swiping in from the right to expose the Charms Bar, swiping from the left to toggle through open programs and swiping the bottom or top of the display to expose settings specific to a certain application. As you'll hear us say many times in our early Win-8-related reviews, it takes a little time to get comfortable with this new interface, particularly because many of these controls are hidden from view. But once you master them you'll find most of these options are easy to access with just a tap or two. Even better, the Charms Bar and toggle-trigger on the left side of the screen are both within thumbs reach, so it's easy to move through the OS while still cradling your tablet in a natural position. Another similarity: both Windows RT and Windows 8 have the traditional Windows desktop. Well, mostly traditional. As always, you've got the Taskbar at the ready for pinning apps and files; it's just that the windows are two-dimensional now (no more transparent bordering) and, as you may have heard, there's no Start button in the lower-left corner. Wonderfully, too, every Windows RT comes with Office 2013 Home & Student, with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote pinned to the Taskbar. These apps are very, very similar to the desktop versions we previewed earlier this year; they've just been modified slightly to accommodate some under-the-hood differences between RT and Window 8. Other than that, though, you won't be spending too much time here, given the fact that you can't run legacy programs written for traditional x86-based Windows systems. Really, though, we imagine the only x86 app many consumers want is Office, which comes installed on every Windows RT tablet, anyway. Despite the fact that you'll almost exclusively be using apps purchased in the Windows Store, we'd add that the traditional Windows desktop on a tablet-type device can be enormously useful. Case in point: if ever you use the VivoTab dock's built-in USB port, you'll be glad to drag and drop folders in Explorer, just like you're used to. In addition to Office 2013 and all those native Windows apps we alluded to, ASUS threw in some apps of its own choosing, These include: Amazon Kindle, SuperNote, MyDictionary, MyLibrary, asus@vibe Fun Center and Guide -- a tutorial designed to make people more at home in the new Windows interface. Additionally, the tablet comes with 8GB of ASUS WebStorage, free for three years. NVIDIA has also brought its TegraZone gaming portal over to Windows RT, matching the experience offered on Tegra-powered Android tablets. Configuration options and the competition You'll have to decide if you'd rather buy early and hope for the best, or hold off until more of your favorite apps become available. To recap, ASUS will sell the 32GB tablet and keyboard dock as a bundle, for $599. If you want the 64GB version instead, that will be offered along with the docking station for a kit price of $699. The keyboard will sell on its own for $199. Soon enough, there will be a handful of Windows RT systems to choose from, with the ($499 and up) and ($799, December) set to go on sale later this season. For now, though, ASUS has the advantage of being first out of the gate. First along with Microsoft, anyway. The VivoTab lands the same day as the Surface for Windows RT, which also costs $599 if you want to get the 32GB tablet and keyboard as a bundle. (Note that we're talking about Microsoft's flat, pressure-sensitive Touch Cover keyboard, not the more traditional-looking Type Cover.) To recap everything we've been saying all along, the Surface is heavier, and not as comfortable to hold, but the build quality and display are nicer, and the typing experience is more enjoyable. Either way, performance and battery life are comparable. Outside the Windows ecosystem, tablets like the VivoTab find competition from the new iPad, as well as high-end Android tablets -- yes, even ASUS' own Transformer Pad Infinity. It already seems clear to us that Windows RT is the better choice for people who want to use their tablet to get real work done. So far, with the Windows Store still in its infancy, you'll find a much wider selection of apps on iOS and Android. As of this writing, Windows 8 is still missing biggies like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Dropbox, Mint, PageOnce, TripIt, NPR, Draw Something, Words with Friends, Temple Run, Spotify, Springpad, Remember the Milk, Instapaper, Pocket (formerly Read it Later), Flipboard, Steam, Instagram, Nook, Zinio and Rdio. That will change, though, we're sure: heavy hitters like Netflix, HuluPlus and The New York Times have recently joined the platform, while others, like Pandora, Slacker Radio, Box.net and the Associated Press have been on board for some time already. Given that this is Windows we're talking about -- a major franchise if ever there was one -- we suspect companies like Facebook and Twitter would be crazy not to develop apps for the Windows Store. We just don't know when, exactly, certain holdouts will make their way onto the platform, so you'll have to decide if you'd rather buy early and hope for the best, or hold off for a few months until more of your favorite apps become available. Wrap-up For better and worse, the VivoTab RT replicated everything we loved and didn't love about the company's Android-based Transformer tablets. This, too, is exceptionally thin, light and easy to hold, with long battery life and a good camera. Still, the fact that ASUS hasn't changed the layout on its keyboard dock means you'll have to brace yourself for a cramped typing experience -- which is a shame since Microsoft's own Surface tablet is offered with not one, but two comfortable keyboards. The performance also feels far more buggy than on the competing Surface tablet. Finally, too, we'd caution prospective buyers that the selection of Windows RT-compatible apps is far from complete, though the fact that Netflix, HuluPlus, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja and The New York Times were all added within the past two weeks gives us reason to believe that Microsoft fans won't be left hanging -- at least not when it comes to the important stuff. If you have faith that Windows RT will eventually run every app you could need or want, the VivoTab RT is one of at least two promising choices -- or at least it will be, if ASUS and Microsoft can manage to iron out the software glitches.We've been rather busy cranking out reviews lately, and we've got all the usual PC makers to thank. Similar to how we spent 2011 reviewing various Android tablets, we're now facing an onslaught of laptop / tablet hybrids, most of them running full Windows 8 and chugging along on low-powered processors promising epic battery life. So far, we've tested models from Acer, HP, Lenovo and Samsung. But our review cycle wouldn't be complete without ASUS -- after all, the company was selling its Transformer tablets before keyboard docks were even a thing. Today we're taking a look at the , a $499 tablet offered with an optional Bluetooth keyboard and a thin, magnetically attached cover that doubles as a stand. (Yes, with four different color options, it looks kind of like Smart Cover.) But that's only part of the story: this is also shaping up to be a fantastic bargain for people who want a relatively inexpensive device running full Windows 8. Think about it: for $499 you get a device with 64GB of built-in storage (not 32, but 64), an IPS display, 9.7mm-thick design and an 8-megapixel rear camera capable of 1080p video. Not bad at all for a device at that price. So is it as nice in person as it is on paper? Mostly. Look and feel The VivoTab Smart might be one of the most inexpensive Windows 8 tablets on the market, but it also happens to be one of the best-made. There's not much to it, really: the entire back shell is made of polycarbonate, with black and white being your two color choices. We got hands-on with the white model, and indeed, the review unit we took home was white too. So, we can't speak for the black model, but the white one, at least, does an excellent job of masking fingerprints. It's scratchproof too, so far as we can tell, which should apply to the black version as well, if that's the one you decide to get. The VivoTab Smart is simple, solidly built and doesn't draw too much attention to itself.And did we mention it's light? The tablet measures 9.7mm (0.38 inch) thick and weighs in at 580 grams (1.28 pounds), putting it on par with other lightweights like the (1.27 pounds) and the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 (1.3 pounds). Holding it is generally comfortable, though the rounded-off edges aren't quite as round as they look: the sharp edges can dig into your palms if you're not careful. All in all, it's perhaps not as premium-looking as ASUS' metal-clad , but that doesn't mean we like it any less. The VivoTab Smart is simple, solidly built and doesn't draw too much attention to itself. In fact, it'd be nice to see ASUS extend this aesthetic to other devices; spun-metal lids are nice and all, but we enjoy what the company is doing here, and besides, a little shake-up in design could keep things interesting. Taking a tour around the device, the VivoTab Smart has an NFC sensor built into the back. You can't miss it: there's even a sticker marking the spot. Though that's not exactly a rare feature, it's definitely something you're more likely to find on higher-end tablets than on budget models. We were also a little surprised not to find a full-size USB port. Granted, not all low-powered Windows 8 tablets have this on the hardware itself, but if they don't, there's usually at least a USB port included on the keyboard dock. The VivoTab Smart is one of the only products where you won't find a full USB port on either the tablet or the keyboard. What you do get is a micro-USB socket, which you'll also use for recharging. Other than that, the rest of the list shouldn't surprise you: a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD slot, a volume rocker and a power / lock button. Pretty standard stuff. Display and sound Like every other Atom-based tablet, the VivoTab Smart's 10.1-inch screen has a resolution of 1,366 x 768. It's also an IPS panel -- one rated for 350 nits of brightness, at that. In most situations (read: indoors) the viewing angles are quite wide: you can watch a movie with the tablet lying face-up on a table if you wanted to. That's particularly good news since the optional TranSleeve folds up in such a way that you can't adjust the viewing angle, but we'll talk about that in much more detail later. For now, suffice to say that if you're using the tablet on your couch, its display specifications should be more than adequate for streaming a little Netflix. Outdoors, though, that IPS panel and 350 nits of brightness aren't enough to make the screen easily viewable. Even with the brightness cranked all the way up, we struggled to frame shots in the Camera app, though a little shade and some squinting should help you get by. Hardly a dealbreaker, but it would be nice if later generations of this tablet sported the same 600-nit Super IPS+ screens used on ASUS' highest-end Transformer tablets (and even the !). Audio quality on the VivoTab Smart feels like a bit of an afterthought, mostly because the single speaker doesn't get very loud, and is located on the backside where the sound is at risk of getting muffled. Indeed, you'll want to keep the tablet parked in the TranSleeve dock if you intend to listen for long periods; drop the tablet flat onto a couch or a bed and the sound instantly loses some of its bite. All that said, the quality itself isn't half-bad. We started streaming Grooveshark after listening in on a laptop, and didn't really notice a drop-off in quality. If anything, it was the volume that took a hit. Keyboard When the VivoTab Smart was first announced, there were some tech bloggers () who suggested it came with a Surface-style keyboard. That's not strictly true. Yes, that thin TranSleeve cover snaps on in a manner similar to a , but there are no keys attached there. What you get instead is a standalone Bluetooth keyboard -- a thin little thing that you can easily shove into a carry-on. As you might expect, a slim profile means the buttons themselves are pretty flat. In fact, though, they're surprisingly easy to type on. Sure, it's not as comfy as the ThinkPad Tablet 2's keyboard (nothing is), but we had few issues using it to type out a chunk of this very review. When the VivoTab Smart was first announced, there were some tech bloggers who suggested it came with a Surface-style keyboard. That's not strictly true.Above all, we have to commend ASUS for maintaining a respectable amount of space between the keys. Even with that island-style arrangement, there aren't many undersized buttons here -- the Enter, Shift, Backspace and Caps Lock keys are all full-sized, and easy to hit without looking away from the screen. All told, it's a much less cramped -- less netbook-ish -- experience than what you'll get on the Iconia W510. To be clear, the buttons here are still closer together than on your typical laptop keyboard, and the flimsy panel flexes under the stress of more furious typing. Our point is: of all the hybrid keyboards we've seen, this is one of the better ones. The trackpad is also superior to what you'll find on most other tablet keyboards. Yes, it's as small as you'd expect it to be, which means it's usually a better idea to left click with a tap instead of trying to squeeze your thumb and index finger on there. But, it handles tracking pretty well, and even supports Windows 8 gestures, which isn't true of every keyboard we've tested. Certainly, the Acer Iconia W510 can't do that. Finally, one last thing we like about the keyboard: you never have to worry about swapping in fresh batteries. Instead, it makes use of a rechargeable battery, which you can top off using the on-board micro-USB socket. That's the same charging standard that the tablet uses, so in theory you could travel with just one cable and switch off as needed. It should go without saying, too, that you can use it while charging. The only downside there is that because the charging port sits on the top edge of the keyboard, the cord curls up against the propped up tablet, partially obstructing your view of the screen. TranSleeve What's nice is that once you fold the cover up, magnets keep the makeshift dock in place so that it doesn't flop around. Mostly, anyway.It doesn't seem like a coincidence that the VivoTab Smart's thin cover is similar in design to that other Smart Cover, the one designed for the iPad. Like Apple's offering, the TranSleeve attaches not through a physical latch, but through magnets, which hook onto the bottom edge of the tablet. Here, too, the cover is lined with a soft material on the side that's meant to lie against the screen; the outer shell is a bit tougher, a bit more rubbery. All told, it stands up quite well to scratches and fingerprints and generally works as promised, at least as far as protecting the tablet goes. Just make sure you don't lose it: it costs $50 in addition to the tablet, which seems steep for what it is. (Psst: try and see if you can find this for $39 or so before ponying up the full $50.) Now for the best part: in addition to protecting the screen, the cover can be folded up so that it doubles as a stand. We'll admit we fumbled a bit with this the first time we saw the VivoTab in person back at CES. But even if you struggle the first time, you're not likely to make the same mistake again. You see, the cover has indentations in the spots where you're supposed to fold it; not unlike a paper map with crease lines. Unlike a map, though, you couldn't fold this thing the wrong way even if you tried. There's only one correct way to transform this into a dock, so whatever you do, all roads eventually lead to right. What's nice is that once you fold the cover up, magnets keep the makeshift dock in place so that it doesn't flop around. Mostly, anyway. We noticed in our testing that one side of the dock often held more tightly than the other. And while the cover itself is easy enough to set up, it can be challenging to make the tablet stay put. Even after living with the VivoTab for more than a week, it still routinely takes us two or three tries to make the tablet sit in its dock without toppling the whole thing over. It would seem that has less to do with the sturdiness of the dock, and more to do with the TranSleeve's tenuous magnetic connection (while we're on the subject, you definitely want to avoid picking the tablet up by its cover). In any case, once you get it right, though, it's easy to move the thing around on your desk without having to set it up all over again. Performance and battery life PCMark7 3DMark06 ATTO (top disk speeds) ASUS VivoTab Smart (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD) 1,400 372 83 MB/s (reads); 35 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD) 1,423 460 83 MB/s (reads); 35 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD) 1,425 N/A 83 MB/s (reads); 34 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD) N/A 374 82 MB/s (reads); 36 MB/s (writes) (1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760, Intel HD) 1,297 N/A 81 MB/s (reads); 28 MB/s (writes) You might be used to seeing a little variation in specs when we review smartphones, but low-powered Windows tablets are a different beast. Every (and we mean every) model we've tested has the same Intel Atom Z2760 processor, clocked at 1.8GHz, along with Intel HD graphics and 2GB of RAM. So, what'dya know, the VivoTab Smart performs identically to its peers in synthetic benchmarks, with max read speeds of 83 MB/s, peak write rates of 35 MB/s and a boot-up time of 15 seconds or so. So what does this mean in terms of everyday use? Well, if our anecdotes are of any use, we had no problem composing this review in Word while intermittently flipping back into other applications like IE10, Netflix and the native Photos application. As we've said before, Intel's Clover Trail platform is more than adequate for doing things tablets are supposed to be good at, things like playing back movies, displaying photos, loading webpages. We had no problem opening apps, or switching between them when we had a bunch open at once. Heat management was fine too -- the backside got a little warm after we spent some time streaming music through Grooveshark, but the device never got hot or uncomfortable to hold. We did notice, though, that the screen's palm rejection couldn't always keep up with us. Case in point: we ended up with a handful of junk camera shots because the tablet couldn't tell we were just holding the tablet, and not actively tapping the screen to release the shutter. That's not a quirk we've noticed on every Windows 8 tablet we've tested. Windows 8 systems Battery life ASUS VivoTab Smart 7:30 ThinkPad Tablet 2 10:27 Acer Iconia W510 8:19 (tablet only) / 14:17 (with the dock) HP Envy x2 7:53 (tablet only) / 12:30 (with the dock) Acer Iconia W700 7:13 Samsung ATIV Smart PC (AT&T) 7:04 (WiFi only) / 6:43 (LTE) Under the best conditions, the tablet's 25Wh battery is rated for 8.5 hours of runtime. With light use, you may well approach the nine-hour mark but obviously, we got a little less juice when we really put it through its paces. In our grueling rundown test, which consists of looping a movie with WiFi on and the display brightness fixed at a constant level, we got exactly seven and a half hours of battery life. That's not bad for a tablet with an x86 processor inside, but we've also seen Atom-based slates that last longer than this. The HP Envy x2 lasts nearly eight hours for instance, while the Acer Iconia W510 is capable of nearly eight and a half. And let's not forget the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, which managed a whopping 10 and a half hours on the same test. What's more, many of these tablets (the x2, the W510) can be used with a keyboard dock that has a second battery built in. The VivoTab Smart doesn't have that, so it was especially important that the tablet itself offer best-in-class runtime. Best in class it's not, but for some, 7.5 hours might still be enough. Camera We think we can all agree that tablet cameras are crude compared to what even a mid-range smartphone can offer, with slower shot-to-shot speeds and poor macro performance. Even so, we had high hopes for the 8-megapixel shooter on the VivoTab: after all, ASUS' Android tablets already cream the competition as far as image quality is concerned. Heck, ASUS even managed to do a fine job on the VivoTab RT, which is notable since the native camera application in Windows 8 / Windows RT doesn't offer any of the amenities you'd normally expect (tap-to-focus, HDR, scene modes, etc.). So we figured if any device could rise above all the other Windows 8 tablets we've been testing, it would be this. And it generally does. Even in low-light conditions (a dimly lit lobby, for instance) the main 8MP camera focuses quickly and accurately. (Take a look at that shot of the lamp with the see-through stand; we half-expected the tablet to home in on the background instead.) We'd also add that most of our photos were free of blur, which is a bit surprising, just because we always felt keenly aware of a little shutter lag. That is, it would take an extra second before we were totally, without-a-doubt sure that the photo had processed and that we could move on. Oftentimes, we moved too quickly after snapping a pic, and were sure the shot had been ruined; it never was. Even a shot I took of my shadow while walking turned out okay. Basically, then, the camera might feel a bit slow, but if these samples are any indication, it's not actually that hard to end up with a pristine shot. As for the photos themselves, most colors look pleasant, though there was an instance or two when whatever it is we were trying to shoot came out much darker than in real life (take a look at that surreal navy sky in our sample gallery -- that was a daytime shot!). Our 1080p video, too, looked crisp, though it wasn't totally free of ghosting once we brought some fast-moving subjects into the mix. Software and warranty ASUS actually didn't go overboard with the bloatware here: you've got a few added apps like Netflix, Skype and Kindle, and then a bunch of proprietary programs created by ASUS itself. These include ASUS Camera, MyLibrary, MyDictionary, ASUS WebStorage and LiveUpdate (they're all exactly what you think they are). There's also the same SuperNote application you'll find on the TAICHI 21 Ultrabook, which is strange because this particular device doesn't support pen input for jotting down notes. Finally, ASUS bundled a handful of Xbox Live games, including Pinball FX2, Microsoft Mahjong, Taptiles and Microsoft Solitaire Collection. See, that wasn't so bad, was it? No surprises here, but the VivoTab Smart comes with one year of warranty coverage. Pretty standard for consumer electronics, unless, perhaps, you just bought a high-end laptop. Configuration optionsNormally, when we talk about different tablet configurations, we're giving you the choice between 32 gigs and 64; WiFi-only or 4G. Here, the only decision you have to make is whether you prefer black or white. The tablet will be available in those two colors; either way, it costs $499 with 64GB of built-in storage. (ASUS is expecting the street pricing to hit $479 in some places, for what that's worth.) If you want the whole enchilada -- both the sleeve and the keyboard -- they're being sold as a bundle for $130. If all you want is the cover, though, you can purchase that by itself for $50. The competition We'll just spoil the punch line right here: the ASUS VivoTab Smart offers fantastic value for the money. It might not be our favorite in every respect, but it's a compelling product in its own right, and it's even greater when you consider the price. Let us repeat: this starts at $499 with 64GB of storage. For the same price, the Acer Iconia W510 has just 32 gigs -- and the typing experience with the optional dock isn't as good, either. And as much as we love the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, it ain't cheap: it starts at $579 for 32GB of storage, and that's without pen support. All told, it offers the best battery life in its class, along with the best keyboard (that sells separately for $120, so you at least make up $10 on the price gap, what with this keyboard being cheaper than ASUS'). If pen support is important to you, we suggest you bite the bullet and pay the premium for a model that has a dual digitizer (don't bother with the HP Envy x2 -- that has pen support, but the battery life and typing aren't as good as on Lenovo's tablet). The has pen support too, but only if you choose the WiFi-only model (the only accepts finger input). Even then, we weren't fans of the Smart PC's keyboard dock, and we experienced glitches on multiple review units, too. If pen input isn't a necessity, though, you've got a choice to make: you could decide to pay extra for the ThinkPad Tablet 2 on the grounds that it's the absolute best tablet in this class. Or you could pay less for the VivoTab Smart and get more built-in storage, along with a perfectly serviceable typing experience and good-enough battery life. We can't say we'd blame you if you chose the latter. Wrap-up In absolute terms, the VivoTab Smart isn't our favorite low-powered hybrid (that would be the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2). But it's close. Hands down, this offers more bang for your buck than anything else you might be considering, what with its attractive design, relatively low price point and generous storage. We're also pretty keen on the optional Bluetooth keyboard, as its thin shape makes it easy to pack in a bag, and the buttons are well-spaced enough for touch typists. Folks who want pen input are better off splurging on the ThinkPad, as that's one feature you're not going to get here. We'd also hope that ASUS squeezes out a little more runtime on the next-gen model, especially since the keyboard doesn't have a built-in battery of its own. In fact, if spectacular endurance is what you're looking for, you might want to take a look at the Acer Iconia W510, but even then we'll warn you that it has a cramped keyboard and less built-in storage for the same price. These caveats aside, the VivoTab Smart is a great buy, and it's your best bet if you want the full Windows 8 experience on the cheap.Windows 8 has ushered in an era of category-defying devices, with hybrid machines that bend, flip around, lie flat and otherwise contort flooding the market (and our offices). When virtually every Windows 8 product we've reviewed possesses acrobatic abilities, it's easy to forget regular ol' laptops are running Microsoft's new OS, too. One such machine is the $1,949 ASUS Zenbook UX51Vz (aka the ), a 15-inch Ultrabook with the trappings of a multimedia powerhouse, including a quad-core Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GT650M graphics and a 1080p IPS display -- and no gymnastic tricks up its sleeve. Another thing it doesn't have: a touchscreen, which is available on plenty of other Windows 8 notebooks, not to mention other upcoming Zenbook Prime models. Considering that (possibly glaring) omission, is the UX51Vz still an attractive option at this premium price point? Head past the break to find out. Look and feel ASUS' Zenbook line scores high in the looks department, and the UX51Vz sports the same signature spun-metal lid and all-metal chassis as its predecessors. Those features make for a classy, super-slim Ultrabook (as evidenced by the and the before it), and they still go a long ways toward making the UX51Vz's larger 15-inch size more palatable. It definitely doesn't feel as sleek as the 13-inch Zenbooks, but it's mighty attractive for a big rectangle. Still, that's not to say this notebook is a waif: weighing four pounds and measuring 0.99 inch at its thinnest, it can't compare to the , which checks in at 3.5 pounds / 0.58 inch thick. In addition to boasting good looks, the UX51Vz has the build quality of a high-end machine. It feels very sturdy in the hand -- and very light for a four-pounder, we might add. The hinge exhibits no creakiness whatsoever, and the lid and bottom don't bend under pressure. Flip the laptop over and you'll notice that the brushed-metal motif carries over to the bottom. ASUS sealed off the underside, so you won't have easy access to the battery, SSD and so forth. In addition to good looks, the UX51Vz has the build quality of a high-end machine. Time for the formal tour: on the left side of the UX51Vz you'll find the power jack, Ethernet port, HDMI and two USB 3.0 connections. The right side is home to the microSD card slot, another USB 3.0 port, mini-VGA and a connection for the tiny external subwoofer, which comes in the box. ASUS also bundles a mini-VGA-to-VGA dongle, along with a USB-to-micro-USB converter. Back on the deck, the speaker grille sits at the top of the keyboard. And at the front edge of the system, under the trackpad, you'll find four indicator lights (for hard drive, wireless, num lock and caps lock). Keyboard and trackpad Since the UX51Vz doesn't sport a touch-enabled display, the spotlight shines extra brightly on the keyboard and touchpad. As these are your only onboard options for interacting with Microsoft's touch-optimized OS, you'll want assurance that these are finely tooled instruments. We're happy to report the ergonomic outlook is good. For one, the slightly recessed, island-style keyboard offers enough travel to make typing sentences a fluid experience -- you won't stumble over individual letters due to shallow keys. When we gave a typing test a whirl, we achieved moderate typing speeds but very low error rates. Another highlight: the palm rest is huge, so your wrists won't dangle off the edge of the machine. The touchpad is situated slightly off to the left side of the deck, and it's plenty roomy. We found it to be a noticeable improvement over other Zenbooks such as the UX31A. Windows 8 gestures like swiping in from the right to reveal the Charms Bar work reliably, though single-finger tracking is still a bit finicky. It's really an issue of having to apply more pressure than you might like to get the cursor under your control. And if you've played with any touch-enabled Windows 8 machines, your biggest problem will be overcoming the instinct to touch the display. Display and sound With a 1080p resolution, the UX51Vz's 15.6-inch IPS display provides a great canvas for watching movies and browsing the web. The panel quality is especially noticeable when you view the Windows 8 Start Screen: tiles pop out in true, bright hues against the vibrant background. This is a colorful UI, and this screen does it justice. The matte finish and IPS technology lend the machine very wide viewing angles as well -- you can tip the screen a ways forward before images start to wash out, and watching Netflix with friends shouldn't be an issue, as we had no problem viewing the action even at extreme off-angles. Of course, we can't fully sum up this laptop's display without touching on what's conspicuously missing. The lack of a touchscreen -- on a $1,949 machine, no less -- is, well, curious. Yes, adding a touch display would add weight to the already-substantial machine, but given that Windows 8 sports such a finger-friendly interface, the UX51Vz might feel like an incomplete version of the W8 experience. We found ourselves tapping at the panel simply out of habit, but quickly adapted to the non-touch model -- the comfortable, responsive keyboard and clickpad certainly make that omission easier to swallow. Then again, the UX51Vz isn't a convertible, so you won't be using it in tablet mode, which is when you're most likely to crave those touch features. The UX51Vz's built-in stereo speakers pack Bang & Olufsen ICEPower Audio Technology, and they deliver loud -- albeit slightly fuzzy -- audio. Songs and videos play back with a moderate amount of bass, though audiophiles will note that sound could be crisper. To bolster the laptop's multimedia cred, however, ASUS includes an external SonicMaster subwoofer in the UX51Vz's box. Plug this in, and you'll be treated to audio that packs more oomph. The peripheral enhances both gaming and music-streaming sessions; we'd definitely recommend keeping it on hand. Performance and battery life We tested the UX51Vz with a quad-core 2.1GHz Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD made by SanDisk. Those cushy specs lend the system good performance numbers, most of which trounce the Windows 8 systems we've tested so far. In the disk benchmark ATTO, for example, the ultraportable turned in top read speeds of 908 MB/s and write times up to 567 MB/s. Those blazing I/O speeds are bested only by the among machines we've tested recently. The UX51Vz takes a breezy 12 seconds to cold-boot into Windows 8, and in general navigating the Start Screen and desktop feels fast and fluid. PCMark7 3DMark06 3DMark11 ATTO (top disk speeds) ASUS UX51Vz (2.1GHz Core i7-3612QM, NVIDIA GT650M graphics) 4,877 14,267 E3809 / P2395 / X750 908 MB/s (reads); 567 MB/s (writes) Acer Aspire S7 (2.4GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000) 5,011 4,918 E1035 / P620 / X208 934 MB/s (reads); 686 MB/s (writes) Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,422 4,415 E917 / P572 278 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes) Dell XPS 12 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,673 4,520 N/A 516 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes) ASUS bills the UX51Vz as a multimedia machine, and the laptop packs NVIDIA's GT650M chip with 2GB of dedicated memory along with integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000. On the synthetic graphics tests 3DMark06 and 3DMark 11, it scored miles above systems with integrated graphics, and it also performed well when we played a few games via Steam. When we fired up titles like Mafia II, action looked fluid and frame rates hovered in the 40 to 60 fps range. That's a solid showing, though the fan is clearly burdened by the workload. Just a few minutes into the demo, the whirring started and the machine felt slightly warmer. Battery Life ASUS Zenbook Prime UX51Vz 5:15 Samsung Series 9 (15-inch, 2012) 7:29 Lenovo ThinkPad X230 7:19 Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012) 7:02 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2012) 6:34 (OS X) / 4:28 (Windows) Dell XPS 14 6:18 HP Folio 13 6:08 HP Envy Sleekbook 6z 5:51 Toshiba Portege Z835 5:49 Sony VAIO T13 5:39 Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 5:32 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2011) 5:32 (OS X) / 4:12 (Windows) Dell XPS 12 5:30 HP Envy 14 Spectre 5:30 Toshiba Satellite U845W 5:13 Toshiba Satellite U845 5:12 Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 5:11 Toshiba Satellite U925t 5:10 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 5:07 Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook (14-inch, 2012) 5:06 Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 5:05 Dell XPS 13 4:58 Lenovo IdeaPad U310 4:57 Acer Aspire S5 4:35 Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2011) 4:20 ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A 4:19 Acer Aspire S7 (13-inch) 4:18 Acer Aspire S3 4:11 Vizio Thin + Light (14-inch) 3:57 The machine packs an eight-cell 70WHr battery, and when we ran our battery test (looping a locally stored video on loop with display brightness set to 65 percent), it lasted five hours and 15 minutes. (ASUS rates the system for a slightly longer five hours and 38 minutes.) We've seen many, many Windows 8 devices with touchscreens turn in very short runtimes, and given that the UX51Vz doesn't pack a touch display, we expected it to offer better longevity. Plus, this 15-incher could fit in a bigger battery. Software and warranty The UX51Vz isn't immune to the bloatware epidemic that seems to affect most Windows machines, though ASUS exercised some restraint here. The pre-load mostly consists of Microsoft-branded utilities, such as the Fresh Paint drawing app, a 60-day Office trial, SkyDrive and Skype, plus a handful of ASUS' own applications. You'll find ASUS Install, a one-stop shop for installing drivers and programs -- only for pre-selected apps like Cyberlink Power2Go, however. An ASUS calculator and a measurement conversion utility are also on board, and there's also ASUS Tutor for helping users master the new terrain of Windows 8. ASUS bundles the UX51Vz with a one-year warranty, which includes accidental damage coverage and 24/7 tech support. Configuration options and the competition We tested the ASUS UX51Vz-DH71, packing a 2.1GHz Core i7-3612QM processor, 8GB of RAM, NVIDIA GT650M graphics and a 256GB SSD. This configuration will set you back a hefty $1,949 -- and, amazingly, that's the entry-level price. Big spenders can splash out even more for the $2,399 UX51Vz-XH71, which runs Windows 8 Professional and boasts dual 256GB SSDs. And before we open the playing field up to other companies, it's worth mentioning that ASUS offers that sport touch-enabled displays. The 13-inch Zenbook Prime Touch will go on sale later this month, and a touch-enabled 15-incher will come later. Given the lack of a touchscreen, we expected better longevity. If 15 inches is your sweet spot, the Sony VAIO S Series 15 is another, similarly configured option. For $1,700, you get a 2.2GHz Core i7 CPU, 12GB of RAM (!), a 256GB SSD and NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M LE graphics. Like the UX51Vz, the E Series 15 sports an IPS display with a 1,920 x 1,080 (also non-touch) resolution, though this system weighs a heavier 4.42 pounds and is thick enough to include an optical drive. There's also HP's 15-inch which, yes, sports a 1080p IPS touchscreen. A price tag of $1,569 affords you a Core i7 CPU, a 128GB SSD and full versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. The trade-off here, though, is integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 rather than the NVIDIA chips found in ASUS' and Sony's systems. And if you don't bat an eye at the UX51Vz's price tag, you might consider the 15-inch Apple . It offers a 2.3GHz Core i7 CPU, a 256GB SSD and discrete NVIDIA graphics for $2,199. Its advantages are a brilliant panel and superior battery life -- though the lack of Windows 8 will no doubt be a dealbreaker for some. Wrap-up Is the UX51Vz a worthwhile purchase? Could be: it packs high-performing internals into a sleek package and offers a comfortable keyboard, to boot. But few though the cons may be, they could be reason enough to justify passing this system up. The machine verges on cost-prohibitive, especially considering the battery life isn't great and there's no touchscreen for interacting with Windows 8. If those shortcomings don't deter you, though, the UX51Vz is easily the most powerful Ultrabook you can get.While Windows 8 inspired plenty of crazy new form factors, it also gave laptop makers a good reason to circle back and tweak their tried-and-true products to bring them into the touch-optimized era. One example is ASUS' line of Ultrabooks. We've seen quite a few of them in the last year; the landed in our offices last summer, and we reviewed the 15-inch mere weeks ago. But a dry spell is nowhere in sight: ASUS just released another 13-inch Zenbook, the $1,099-and-up . The name says it all: it's the UX31A we've known and, er, liked, but with a capacitive display added in. Of course, this slightly different iteration still provides an opportunity to improve the laptop in other ways (for instance, we thought the UX31A featured a subpar touchpad). So, does this new touchscreen model improve upon an already finely crafted Ultrabook? Jump past the break to find out. Look and feel We've lost count of how many times we've written "spun metal" in reviews of Zenbook machines, and it's no surprise that the UX31A Touch has the same all-metal chassis and subtly textured lid we've seen on other Zenbooks. And while we've described the look of this lineup ad nauseam, at least we like it -- ASUS found a sleek, silvery aesthetic and stuck with it, which was certainly the right call. This ultraportable has the same solid build quality of its Zenbook brethren. The metal chassis won't buckle under pressure, but it still feels refreshingly light. And it's nice to see that the touchscreen didn't detract from the UX31A's famously thin frame. At 2.9 pounds (1.3 kg), the machine weighs the same as the non-touch UX31A. It also shares dimensions with its predecessor: 12.8 x 8.8 x 0.11-0.71 inches. Along the left edge, there's a USB 3.0 port, a headphone jack and an SD card slot. The right side is home to the power port, another USB 3.0 connection, Display Port and micro-HDMI. ASUS has really hopped on the bundled accessories bandwagon -- we've seen a mini-subwoofer and a mini-VGA-to-VGA adapter included with the UX51Vz. And indeed the company sells the UX31A Touch with a textured brown laptop sleeve plus an Ethernet adapter and mini-VGA-to-VGA adapter packed in a compact pouch. We'll never say no to an extra layer of protection for our gadgets, and the same goes for free peripherals. Keyboard and touchpad Like the metal chassis, the backlit keyboard on this ultraportable is an old friend. We've seen the slightly recessed, island-style layout on other Zenbooks -- most recently the UX51Vz -- and it's as comfortable as ever. You'll pick up your usual pace quickly, as the chiclets offer plenty of travel and are spaced far enough to prevent hitting adjacent keys. We notched our usual score on a typing test, with a very low error rate. Historically, we've had mixed experiences with Zenbook touchpads, but they're winners as of late. We had no problem executing typical Windows 8 gestures like swiping in from the right to bring up the Charms Bar, and two-finger scrolling in web pages was fluid as well. The touchpad feels a bit sticky when you navigate with just one finger; you may occasionally have to press a field more than once for your click to register. Display and audio A high-res IPS display is pretty much a given on ASUS' Ultrabooks, and the 1,920 x 1,080 (165 ppi) panel here is as sharp and bright as you'd expect. Even with brightness set to about 70 percent, the screen kicked back bright and accurate colors. Viewing angles are very wide, but the display's glossy finish doesn't eliminate all glare -- you'll want to find an optimal, reflection-free position before settling into a Netflix marathon. That 13.3-inch capacitive touchscreen is the marquee feature of the UX31A Touch, and it's very responsive to all the swiping and pinching to zoom that you'll be doing in Windows 8. When we took a look at the Zenbook UX51Vz, we weren't terribly bothered by the absence of a touch display (although the price certainly warranted its inclusion!) given the machine's good keyboard and touchpad, but it's certainly nice to have finger input as an option. After reviewing all types of Win 8 devices, we've instinctively poked at non-touch displays more times than we'd like to admit -- it's just an intuitive way to navigate the Live Tile-based OS. When we kicked back with a few Arrested Development episodes, dialogue came through loud and clear. When we streamed a Spotify playlist, though, music sounded rather tinny and harsh. With volume maxed out, you'll be able to fill a medium-sized room, but a pair of external speakers will go a long way toward a better party. Performance and battery life The UX31A Touch's specs are the makings of a high-end laptop: a 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U processor with 4GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD made by ADATA and Intel HD Graphics 4000. Its scores on benchmark tests such as PCMark7 surpassed even similarly configured machines like the , and it offered blazing read and write speeds in the disk benchmark ATTO: a max of 554 MB/s and 523 MB/s, respectively. PCMark7 3DMark06 3DMark11 ATTO (top disk speeds) ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A Touch (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000) 5,081 5,043 E1154 / P597 554 MB/s (reads); 523 MB/s (writes) (2.1GHz Core i7-3612QM, NVIDIA GT650M graphics) 4,877 14,267 E3809 / P2395 / X750 908 MB/s (reads); 567 MB/s (writes) (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD 4000) 5,011 4,918 E1035 / P620 / X208 934 MB/s (reads); 686 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,422 4,415 E917 / P572 278 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes) (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD 4000) 4,673 4,520 N/A 516 MB/s (reads); 263 MB/s (writes) You'll notice that same snappiness in everyday use. Cold-booting into Windows 8 takes just eight seconds, and we didn't notice any lag when switching between apps and running Internet Explorer with several tabs open. The integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip doesn't have the mettle for serious gaming, but it's enough to see players through some casual sessions. In Mafia II, we notched 20 to 30 frames-per-second -- and the underside of the machine got noticeably warmer only a few minutes into the demo. But again, the UX31A Touch is what it is -- an Ultrabook -- and considering that, it offers decent graphics performance. On the 3DMark11 graphics benchmark, it scored on par with the Aspire S7. Battery Life ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A Touch 5:15 Samsung Series 9 (15-inch, 2012) 7:29 Lenovo ThinkPad X230 7:19 Acer Iconia W700 7:13 Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012) 7:02 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2012) 6:34 (OS X) / 4:28 (Windows) Dell XPS 14 6:18 HP Folio 13 6:08 HP Envy Sleekbook 6z 5:51 Sony VAIO T13 5:39 Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 5:32 Dell XPS 12 5:30 HP Envy 14 Spectre 5:30 ASUS Zenbook Prime UX51Vz 5:15 Toshiba Satellite U845W 5:13 Toshiba Satellite U845 5:12 Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 5:11 Toshiba Satellite U925t 5:10 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 5:07 Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook (14-inch, 2012) 5:06 Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 5:05 Dell XPS 13 4:58 Lenovo IdeaPad U310 4:57 Sony VAIO Duo 11 4:47 Acer Aspire S5 4:35 ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A 4:19 Acer Aspire S7 (13-inch) 4:18 Acer Aspire S3 4:11 Vizio Thin + Light (14-inch) 3:57 ASUS rates the UX31A Touch for seven hours of battery life, but the Ultrabook's 50W battery turned in a significantly shorter time on our battery-rundown test: five hours and 15 minutes. It's not like we're surprised; Windows 8 hasn't exactly been kind to laptops' battery lives -- the longest time we've logged is the five hours and 32 minutes. We wouldn't go so far as to say that this machine's battery life is a dealbreaker, but suffice it to say we're hoping this new year ushers in longer-lasting Win 8 Ultrabooks. Software and warranty You'll find no shortage of bloatware on the UX31A Touch. Pre-loaded programs include ASUS utilities such as Calculator, Converter, InstantOn and Tutor, plus CyberLink ColorDirector and PowerDirector, a trial of McAfee anti-virus software, the Nest organizer, Skype and QuickTime. Microsoft Solitaire and Taptiles are also onboard, as is the drawing program Fresh Paint. The Zenbook UX31A Touch comes with a one-year warranty, which covers parts and labor plus accidental damage. It also includes 24/7 phone support. Configuration options and the competition There are two versions of the UX31A Touch, starting with the entry-level model with a 1.7GHz Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. The Core i7 version that we reviewed includes a 1.9GHz Core i7 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. ASUS has yet to release pricing for this higher-end model, so you have time to shop around. Another high-end Ultrabook is the previously mentioned Acer Aspire S7. It packs a Core i7 processor -- clocked at 2.4 GHz, no less -- along with a 256GB SSD, and it sports a 13.3-inch 1080p touchscreen. We like the S7's design and ease of use, but its battery life is even more paltry than the UX31A Touch's: four hours and 18 minutes. The going rate is $1,650, though, so you'll certainly be paying for that top-level performance. There's also Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga 13, which includes a 1,600 x 900 capacitive touchscreen and can flip between tablet and laptop modes. If you're reading this review, you may not be looking for a two-in-one product, but the Yoga 13 offers good Core i5 performance (you can step up to a Core i7 model for $1,300). We weren't enamored of the machine's flaky touchpad, but overall it's a good product at a slightly lower price point than the S7 and UX31A Touch. If you want a touch-enabled Ultrabrook on the (relatively) cheap, you could settle for one of several options with traditional hard drives rather than SSDs. packs a lower-res (1,366 x 768) 13.3-inch touchscreen, a Core i5 processor and a 500GB hard drive with 24GB of ExpressCache. If you'd consider a slightly larger form factor, there's the 14-inch . At $750, it's significantly cheaper than the UX31A and the Aspire S7, but its touchscreen sports a standard 1,366 x 768 resolution and a 750GB hard drive. It does, however, offer an optical drive -- in a heavier 4.3-pound design. And if you're game for a 15.6-inch display, the may suit your fancy. For $1,400, you get the same solid build we liked in the non-touch , but with a 1,920 x 1,080 IPS display. The downsides are shorter battery life (it's rated for three hours and 45 minutes!), a hard drive versus an SSD and a heavier, 4.96-pound design. Wrap-up ASUS' Zenbook Prime line of Ultrabooks is a good thing that keeps getting better. The beautiful all-metal design paired with good performance has been a constant, and the keyboard and touchpad have improved over the last year. The UX31A Touch is very much an evolutionary update of the 13-inch Zenbook, as the real change here is just the touch-capable display -- and Windows 8, of course. The one remaining question mark is the price for this Core i7 model, and we imagine the cost of admission will be high. Still, this UX31A is a promising contender: it's certainly the best Zenbook available now, and it's one of the most capable Ultrabooks as well. Zach Honig contributed to this report.ASUS made a grand entrance into the Ultrabook race with the , which brought a sleek design and lovely, high-res screen. That machine was one of our favorites in what was still a budding category, though we took issue with the shallow keyboard and uncomfortable touchpad. The company recently started shipping its new Zenbook Prime series, including the 11-inch we checked out a few months ago. But there's also a follow-up to the 13-inch UX31E on the market: the ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A. This laptop offers a retooled keyboard, Ivy Bridge chips and a 1,920 x 1,080 IPS display, starting at $1,069. So how does the new 13-inch Zenbook stack up in a crowded field of high-end ultraportables? Join us past the break for the full report. Look and feel At first glance, the UX31A looks very similar to its predecessor. This Ultrabook sports the Zenbook line's signature spun metal lid, all-metal chassis and wafer-thin profile. The laptop feels pretty sturdy, though the lid is a bit wobbly, and the machine picks up scratches quite easily. ASUS stuck with the original Zenbook design for the UX31A's chassis, but the keyboard is a horse of a different color. While ASUS stuck with the original Zenbook design for the UX31A's chassis, open the lid and you'll notice that the keyboard is a horse of a different color. Rather than the white metal keys on the original UX31, this layout is black -- and ASUS added in backlighting. As always, though, we'll address the feel of the keyboard a bit later. At 2.9 pounds and 0.3 inches thick, the UX31A is super light and quite manageable for jaunts on the road. Those vital stats compare favorably to other 13-inch Ultrabooks: even lightweights like the (three pounds, 0.5 inches) and the MacBook Air (2.96 pounds, 0.11 to 0.68 inches) are slightly heftier. Of course, the 13-inch Samsung Series 9 is always there to make perfectly thin systems feel chubby; at 2.55 pounds and 0.5 inches thick, it's still the gold standard in svelteness. Unlike the 11-inch UX21A, the UX31A has room for an SD card reader, which sits on the left edge of the machine along with a USB 3.0 port and the combo audio jack. The right side of the system is home to another USB 3.0 connection, plus a mini-VGA port and a micro-HDMI port. Keyboard and touchpad As we mentioned, ASUS gave the UX31's keyboard a complete overhaul, swapping the flat metal keys for a slightly rounded layout (with black buttons this time). The change isn't just cosmetic -- it offers 12 percent more travel and provides a much more comfortable typing experience than the previous-gen Zenbooks. We typed much of this review on the laptop, with the keys only rarely failing to register a press. ASUS also added backlighting, which is a welcome change. You can toggle the lighting on and off by pressing F3 and F4 (these are secondary functions, so you'll have to hit Fn as well). We found the trackpad to be pretty unreliable. Spoiler alert: the trackpad is one of the main things holding us back from giving the UX31A a resounding two thumbs up. We were unimpressed by the one on the UX31E, and though ASUS made some tweaks with the UX31A, it's still not great. When you click on a tab or an icon, for example, the trackpad will often open the adjacent item or simply not register the click at all. Scrolling isn't a problem, though other gestures like pinch-to-zoom stutter too much. ASUS seems to be aware of these issues, and has already released several updates to remedy them, but even with the latest drivers installed we still found the trackpad pretty unreliable. That said, the hardware itself feels nice; the touchpad's integrated touch button is neither too stiff nor too mushy. Display and sound The UX31A boasts a 1,920 x 1,080 IPS display, and it's truly one of the best panels we've seen on an Ultrabook. Viewing angles are wide, with images only washing out when you tip the screen ridiculously far forward or back. The matte finish is partly to thank for that, and it means glare isn't a huge issue. Colors look crisp and vivid, which makes watching movies and paging through websites a treat. That said, you may feel the need to zoom in on web pages and text-heavy documents, as the high pixel count makes everything appear smaller than usual. The UX31A is also available with a 1,600 x 900 screen, though we strongly recommend going for the higher-res option. The 1,920 x 1,080 IPS display is one of the best panels we've seen on an Ultrabook. We weren't impressed by the UX31A's built-in speakers, which use Bang & Olufsen's ICEpower technology but fail to pack enough power for more than one or two people to enjoy music or movies. More than just being on the quiet side, though, sound on the UX31A sounds tinny and canned. Sure, that's not unusual for Ultrabooks, but we've seen several systems, such as the , provide more impressive audio oomph given their slim sizes, and it would be great if ASUS matched this laptop's top-notch display with a better listening experience. Performance PCMark Vantage 3DMark06 ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 12,494 4,989 (2012, 1.8GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 13,469 5,827 (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 12,895 5,071 (1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 10,508 4,209 10,333 4,550 (1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 9,484 4,223 (1.8GHz Core i7-2677M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 9,939 3,651 (13-inch, 2012, 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 8,624 5,155 (1.7GHz Core i5-2537M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 7,582 2,240 (1.6GHz Core i5-2467M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 6,701 3,387 (1.4GHz Core i3-2367M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 5,894 3,601 (1.6GHz Core i5-2467M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 5,367 3,221 Note: higher scores are better The UX31A's 1.7GHz Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB ADATA SSD pave the way to a solid showing in benchmark tests. Its score of 12,494 in PCMark Vantage is not only significantly higher than the last-gen UX31's 10,508, it's also better than the numbers notched by other premium 13-inchers like the Samsung Series 9. Still, the , with a Core i7 CPU and dual 128GB SSDs, outpaced the UX31A by a slim margin. On 3DMark06, the UX31A came in at 4,989. Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 is the name of the game for most Ultrabooks these days -- unless you step up to an NVIDIA-equipped configuration, that is -- and in general it offers good enough performance for casual gaming. Still, the UX31A's result is a tad lower than the Samsung Series 9's, while the MacBook Air beats it by nearly 1,000 points, but many other 13-inchers have scored even lower. While playing through Batman: Arkham City, we saw frame rates in the 45 to 60 fps range, and World of Warcraft ran at 40 fps with graphics set to "Good." And the UX31A was no slowpoke in everyday use, taking a reasonable 20 seconds to boot, and swiftly handling our multitasking workload across two browsers and several programs. Battery life Battery Life ASUS Zenbook UX31A 6:05 Samsung Series 9 (15-inch, 2012) 7:29 Lenovo ThinkPad X230 7:19 Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012) 7:02 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2012) 6:34 (OS X) / 4:28 (Windows) HP Folio 13 6:08 HP Envy Sleekbook 6z 5:51 Toshiba Portege Z835 5:49 ASUS Zenbook UX31E (2011) 5:41 Sony VAIO T13 5:39 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2011) 5:32 (OS X) / 4:12 (Windows) HP Envy 14 Spectre 5:30 Toshiba Satellite U845W 5:13 Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 5:11 Lenovo IdeaPad U300s 5:08 Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook (14-inch, 2012) 5:06 Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 5:05 Dell XPS 13 4:58 Lenovo IdeaPad U310 4:57 Dell XPS 14z 4:54 Acer Aspire S5 4:35 Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2011) 4:20 ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A 4:19 Acer Aspire S3 4:11 Vizio Thin + Light (14-inch) 3:57 The UX31A'S 50Wh battery logged six hours and five minutes on our video rundown test, which, as you most probably know, involves playing a video on loop with WiFi on and display brightness set to 65 percent. That's hardly a poor showing, but it doesn't quite take the cake from the 13-inch Samsung Series 9, whose seven-hour runtime is the longest we've recorded for a laptop in this class. Software and warranty This machine has its fair share of bloatware, including a trial of McAfee Internet Security (you'll want to disable the pop-ups) and a suite of ASUS-branded applications such as Vibe Fun Center for finding music, games, apps and books. The laptop also includes the standard Windows utilities, including Media Center, DVD Maker and XPS Viewer, while Internet Explorer comes with a heap of distracting toolbars. We enjoyed using the UX31A a lot more once we pruned away these unnecessary programs. ASUS offers a one-year warranty with the UX31A, and that includes 24-hour phone support and accidental damage coverage. Configuration options and the competition The laptop we reviewed, the UX31A-DB51, ships with a 1.7GHz Core i5-3317U processor, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and Intel HD Graphics. That model will cost $1,099. For $1,399, you get a Core i7 processor and $1,599 gets you a Core i7 CPU along with 256GB of solid-state storage. In addition to the UX31A, ASUS is selling the Zenbook Prime UX32A, which starts at $769 with a Core i3 CPU, a 320GB hard drive / 24GB SSD and a 1,366 x 768 display. There's also the $1,299 UX32VD, which is similar to the UX31A reviewed here, except it has an NVIDIA GT620M GPU and a hybrid hard drive. Starting at $1,300, this year's 13-inch Samsung Series 9 is one of the best premium Ultrabooks you can buy right now. The impossibly slim, sub-three-pound design is a huge boon, as is its long battery life and fast performance. You're looking at a Core i7 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, and its matte, 1,600 x 900 screen is second only to the UX31A's IPS display. You'll have to settle for a standard-res 1,366 x 768 display, but HP's , starting at $1,099, offers comparable specs in a 3.1-pound chassis. The CPU, SSD and Intel HD Graphics 4000 are exactly what you'll find on the UX31A, but its software selection is more generous, as it ships with full editions of Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. For $1,199 and up, the 13-inch MacBook Air offers a 1.8GHz Core i5 CPU, the same 128GB of solid-state storage and a 1,440 x 900 display. Though that panel can't compete with the UX31A's IPS technology and higher pixel density, the Air does offer a superior keyboard and touchpad. Wrap-up When ASUS first released the UX31E last fall, we found plenty to like in its striking design, high-quality display and brisk performance. The addition of backlighting and a more comfortable keyboard -- not to mention the step up to Ivy Bridge and Intel HD Graphics 4000 -- makes the whole package considerably better. But that doesn't mean the Zenbook Prime UX31A is now the best. To claim that title, it needs a more usable trackpad, above all else. We still think the MacBook Air is a better all-around ultraportable, as it offers a more comfortable touchpad and keyboard in a similarly attractive package, though we we wish it packed an IPS, 1080p display like the one on the UX31A. And though it's considerably more expensive, you might also be happier with the Samsung Series 9, which lasts longer on a charge, rocks an impressive display of its own and sports a more reliable trackpad. Still, given all the UX31A has to offer, chances are you'll be pleased with your purchase. Just evaluate your patience for temperamental touchpads before you pull the trigger.We've already AT&T's picked up by a few desperate Charlotteans, but for those residing in North Carolina's only city to own a professional sports championship (sorry, Panthers), their time has finally come to secure what just might be the most anticipated femtocell debut in the states. You heard right -- Raleigh, NC has become AT&T's second test market for the device you're peering at above, and starting today, those in and around the Triangle can procure one from their local store. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance to give the unit a go, so feel free to hop on past the break if you're on the hunt for a few more impressions. It's sort of tough to believe that Sprint's own femtocell hit the national scene , and just as we were impressed with that Samsung-sourced device, we're equally impressed with this Cisco-built box. We've already reports that the unit simply works, and without getting all long-winded on you, the long and short of it is this: yeah, it really does work.Upon unboxing the 3G MicroCell, we were immediately struck at just how large this thing is. It's nearly twice as big as our WLAN router, and it's shockingly white. In other words, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Of course, it provides a nice blanket of AT&T 3G for your phones, but there's really no hiding this thing. AT&T also recommends that you place it near a window and over a foot away from your wireless router, though an incredibly short Ethernet cable is included (go figure). Initial setup was a breeze; you simply head to AT&T's setup website, login to your AT&T account, punch in your device's serial number and then add or delete AT&T mobile numbers that can be used on the device. Got a friend that comes over often and likes to make calls? Adding him / her is no problem, and numbers can be added or deleted at any time after the initial setup, too.Once the online portion is complete, you're instructed to plug the device into your router (or broadband modem) and power it up. From there, the manual states that a 90 minute initialization period is needed before you can actually use it. Thankfully, our setup only took a half hour, and immediately after it was ready, a text message was sent to our iPhone 3G notifying us that a) our phone was connected to the 3G MicroCell and b) we could now make calls / access 3G data over the device.Once it's connected (which happens automatically), the only difference you'll notice when using your 3G handset is clearer calls and stronger 3G reception. Our web surfing and emailing was buttery smooth over 3G, and calls were as clear as ever. We huddled down in a corner that's notorious for killing our signal and made a few test calls, all of which maintained signal throughout and garnered praise from everyone on the other end. Of course, you'll still feel the pain if your ISP tends to drop from time to time, but as long as your internet connection remains strong, you should be good to go. Just so you know, we tested our calls on a basic, no frills cable internet connection that sees uploads capped at around 40Kbps. Oh, and we did test two simultaneous calls (up to four at once are supported), and both of 'em went over great.All told, AT&T's 3G MicroCell works exactly as advertised, though we were slightly disturbed by how toasty the top got. We generally saw anywhere between 1 and 4 bars of 3G at our testing facility, and after the MicroCell installation, we never saw it dip beneath 5 bars of 3G. One huge benefit of the 3G MicroCell over Sprint's is data support; the latter still doesn't provide EV-DO data, meaning that you'll still be forced to struggle through emails and web surfing at home if your handset doesn't handle WiFi. With AT&T's solution, users can expect strong 3G downloads anywhere in their home, which may or may not be a deal-maker. So, is this thing worth the coin? If you're dying to have an iPhone 3G / 3GS (or any of AT&T's 3G handsets), and you get horrible coverage at home, sure. Yeah, you could bicker that users shouldn't be paying to patch holes in AT&T's coverage areas, but that's exactly what your monthly payments go to (in theory) anyway. For those out there who are hard-up for an iPhone 3G or 3GS, another $150 from the savings account probably won't stop them. Oh, and for those of you dreaming of taking this overseas for a bit of gratis international calling, fuhgetaboutit. As with Sprint's AIRAVE, the internal GPS chip has to certify that you're within US borders before it'll work. Lame, but impossible to avoid.We dig that AT&T will let users buy the box and then keep using it sans any monthly fees (unless you opt for a $20 per month unlimited calling plan), and we're hoping that the pricing gets increasingly more attractive as new test markets are rolled out. You see, the 3G MicroCell was priced at $150 regardless of plan selections in Charlotte, but in Raleigh, AT&T is testing out something a little different. Customers can purchase the device for $150 straight-up, but if they choose a $20 monthly plan to get unlimited calling, they can look forward to a $100 mail-in rebate bringing the grand total to $50. Additionally, Raleigh-area AT&T DSL and U-verse users (new subscribers only, though) get an extra $50 rebate, bringing the net cost of the femtocell to $0.00. It's not perfect, but it's progress, and we could definitely envision these flying off shelves at a breakneck pace should the MSRP stoop below the magical $100 mark.Update: AT&T pinged us to say that the $100 rebate for choosing the $20 / month unlimited calling option is in effect for both Charlotte and Raleigh, though the extra $50 rebate is for Raleigh-area users only. And no, you can't buy this in Charlotte or Raleigh and take it back to San Jose; right now, AT&T will only enable MicroCells to operate in its test markets.GOAL ZERO TEAMS UP WITH AT&T AND PENSA TO DEVELOP AND DEPLOY PUBLIC SOLAR CHARGING STATIONSNEW YORK CITY June 18, 2013 In a world where fast-paced seems to be the only pace, there's no time for dead cell phones. Solar power market leader GOAL ZERO is collaborating with AT&T and Brooklyn design studio PENSA, to offer an eco-friendly solution to New Yorkers facing the dead-battery dilemma public solar powered charging stations known as Street Charge.Street Charge features a modern design and is powered by the latest in solar panel and battery technology from Goal Zero. People will be able to conveniently charge their phones and hand-held devices using built-in USB ports and charging tips. Solar panels and lithium batteries are elegantly incorporated into each station to ensure that there is juice for people to power up day or night."We're excited to team up with AT&T and Pensa to help make New York a little greener and solar power a little more accessible," said Joe Atkin, President and CEO of Goal Zero. "Nearly half of all Americans own a smartphone and the amount of time we spend on handheld devices has increased dramatically. All too often, we hear the dreaded low-battery beep and it happens at the most inconvenient times. Street Charge will fix that."Pensa's prototype Street Charge was tested last summer in Brooklyn. Installed in a reclaimed public space in tech-savvy DUMBO, Street Charge gave people a perfect place to relax and recharge. Teaming up with Goal Zero, the market leader in portable solar solutions, was the logical next step to develop this concept further."Partnering up with Goal Zero is a great match for us," said Marco Perry, co-founder of Pensa. "We're looking to create something that complements its surroundings and invites people to hang out and recharge. We have also found that where people gather, opportunities develop for street vendors and retail, and neglected urban areas come alive."Street Charge will be modular to meet the needs of architects, developers, and city planners seeking to offer amenities in commercial and public spaces. Besides providing power, Street Charge will have the potential for lighting, WIFI, and signage for ads and way finding.Street Charge will make its debut on June 18th at Fort Green Park. AT&T will then deploy units around New York this summer in high foot traffic areas like Brooklyn Bridge Park, Coney Island, Riverside Park, Rockaways, Summerstage in Central Park, Randall's Island, Governor's Island, Union Square, and Hudson River Park.About Goal ZeroGoal Zero is the industry leader for renewable and reliable solar power. Born out of the desire to empower people everywhere, Goal Zero's products are designed to give you the freedom to go anywhere, regardless of battery life. From cellphones to refrigerators, and everything in between, Goal Zero products keep you connected and powered up in any situation.For more information, visit www.goalzero.comAbout PensaPensa is a strategic design consultancy with a track record of developing successful products, brands and strategies. They are hopelessly optimistic in the belief that the world can be continuously ?improved through great design and a bit of clever invention.Get Away to an Adventure Every Day with New LG Escape(TM) for AT&T Customers Available September 16 $50 4G LTE Smartphone Features Innovative New Browser Toolbar, Long-life Battery With LG QuickMemo(TM), Write Personal Memos on any Screen Capture for Expressive Communication with Friends and Family Dallas, Texas, September 10, 2012 ShareThis Starting Sept. 16, AT&T* will expand its 4G LTE product portfolio by offering an unparalleled combination of premium performance and value. The LG Escape is perfect for consumers on a budget looking to transition into a powerful smartphone and pairs well with AT&T's recently announced shared data plans creating a great combination of low- cost hardware and service for data-minded families. The LG Escape is a 4G LTE Android smartphone with high-performance connectivity, processing and camera features with a vibrant qHD display. It will be available in AT&T company-owned retail stores and online for $49.99 with a two-year agreement**. The LG Escape features the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) platform and 4 GB onboard memory with the option to add up to 32 GB with a microSD card. A 1.2 GHz dual-core processor delivers seamless multitasking agility. The crisp 4.3-inch qHD IPS display gives users enhanced image clarity with true-to-life color rendering. Near-Field Communication enabled and equipped with the QuickMemoTM feature lets users instantly capture a screen image, add notes or decorate using just a finger, then share with friends. The LG Escape has full HD video recording capabilities, and users can even create customized videos by adding themes, music and text to videos or a series of photos with the Video Wiz editing application, played back in crisp cinematic Dolby Mobile surround sound. To see more of the Escape's features in action, check out this video. Because timing is everything when taking photos on the go, the LG Escape 5-megapixel auto-focus camera offers features to help users tap into their inner photographer. With the Continuous Shot feature, users can capture multiple images in a row to create that perfect panoramic photo or choose the best photo from an impromptu photo shoot to share with all their friends. Time Catch Shot eliminates shutter lag by taking several pictures before the shutter button is pushed to make sure users get the right shot every time. LG Escape also features the Skyfire Horizon, a newly created browser toolbar extension that allows users to access their favorite social media pages while surfing the internet. Available on the LG Escape and future AT&T Android smartphones, it provides customers with quick and easy access to popular consumer utilities like Facebook, Twitter, Share URL, and more. AT&T customers have access to the nation's largest 4G network***, covering 275 million people. AT&T has two 4G networks that work together for customers, LTE and HSPA+ with enhanced backhaul. That means AT&T customers are able to enjoy a widespread, ultra-fast and consistent 4G experience on their compatible device as they move in and out of LTE areas. With other carriers, when you travel outside of their LTE coverage area, you may be on a much slower 3G network. "This is an impressive smartphone for $49.99," said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, Devices, AT&T Mobility. "Running Android 4.0 and packing a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, a qHD true-color IPS screen and cool features like our new browser bar, customers looking for incredible value will quickly select the Escape." "LG Escape allows users to capture and share whatever life sends their way with its powerful dual-core processor, true-to-life screen and smart camera features," said James Fishler, senior vice president of marketing and go-to-market operations, LG Electronics USA. "And on AT&T's expansive network consumers can get the best possible experience with Escape by using its LTE capabilities to the fullest." For more information, visit www.att.com/aboutus. Limited-time offer. Discounted pricing on smartphones requires a new two year agreement with qualifying voice and data plans. Subject to Wireless Customer Agreement. Credit approval required. Activation fee $36 per line. Geographic, usage and other terms, conditions and restrictions apply, and may result in svc termination. Coverage, and svcs not available everywhere. Taxes and other charges apply. Data (att.com/dataplans): If usage exceeds your monthly data allowance, you will automatically be charged overage for additional data provided. Early Termination Fee (att.com/equipmentETF): After 14 days, ETF up to $325. Restocking fee up to $25. Other monthly charges/line may include a Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge (up to $1.25), a gross receipts surcharge, federal and state universal svc charges. Visit store or att.com/wireless to learn more about wireless devices and services from AT&T. Key Features: An advanced 5 MP camera with time catch shot, "cheese shutter," and different shot modes including Normal, HDR, Continuous and Panorama Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) AT&T's 4G LTE Network The innovative and convenient QuickMemo to create and share personalized memos by writing messages or drawings on screen captures A 1.2 GHz Dual-Core Processor True-to-Life 1080p HD recording Long-lasting 2,150mAh battery Bluetooth Version 4.0 A crisp 4.3" qHD true-color IPS Touch Screen with Gorilla Glass durability Google Integration with Google Play, Google Maps Navigation and other preloaded Google apps Add music and themes to videos and photos with Video Wiz Data sharing with Android Beam and NFC Technology Additional Features: 1.3 MP front-facing camera and camcorder Video resolutions up to 1920 x 1080 full-HD Zoom up to 4x Simultaneous GPS for Enhanced Location AccuracyWe've been playing with for a few days now, and once we got past the absolutely gorgeous display (seriously, it's mesmerizing), we wanted to find out what else there was to RIM's latest QWERTY device. Is the Bold more than a pretty face? Well, it's a BlackBerry, so you can count on it. Read on. Physically, the Bold is one of the most elegantly designed devices we've ever had the pleasure of using. The matte metal ring doesn't add even a hint of gaudiness -- it's tasteful and totally appropriate for business use. We noticed that the top half of the front (everything above the keyboard) is glossy while the bottom half is matte, which we thought was a little strange. Glossy probably makes more sense for the screen, and we would've been fine with the gloss being continued down onto the keys and the strip of plastic at the bottom. We also had some misgivings about the pleather back at first, but it has grown on us; it doesn't look bad, it gives you some extra grip the same way a soft-touch back would, and we're sure there'll be plenty of aftermarket replacements if you're really unhappy with it.Although RIM has made a huge splash in the consumer market over the past couple of years with devices like the and , there are still aspects of the BlackBerry operating system that let the company's all-business roots shine through. This is evident in places like the Options screen, where you get a completely plain-vanilla list of categories that makes Windows Mobile look like a shining example of circa-2008 UI design (okay, that's a stretch, but you see what we're saying), and the bare-bones MemoPad app that lies somewhere between the Unix commands ed and vi for sophistication. Not to say we're complaining -- quite the contrary, actually. In an age of superfluous animated screen transitions and over-the-top visual elements, it's an ironic breath of fresh air to see software that just gets down to business without any fuss.That being said, there are places where the Bold's OS 4.6 doesn't hold back on the eye candy. RIM clearly spent a ton of time on the default theme, working to maximize use of the stunning 480 x 320 display. It looks great, but we'll echo a complaint voiced by many users -- the meticulously-designed wireframe icons that are used throughout the system are actually pretty difficult to differentiate from one another. If you find that you rely on visual cues to select items from a list (which you probably do, either consciously or subconsciously), it can be tricky to tell the Applications folder from the Setup folder at an ultra-quick glance. Different colors are used from one icon to the next, but it's used only very sparingly. After a bit of use, we figure you'd learn the icons by their position in the menu, but that's not something you'll likely be able to do overnight. Fortunately, you can always download and change themes.Let's turn our attention to the Bold's most important function: calling. Despite some sporadic reports of dropped calls, we had no problem using the phone on AT&T's 3G network. Voice quality was good, and perhaps more importantly, volume was excellent -- we could turn the phone up loud enough to nearly hurt our ears. We wish we had the same praise for the music player, though. At volumes loud enough to use as a makeshift table radio, we encountered enough distortion to make it basically unusable. The good news is that there's a 3.5mm jack, so the problem's mitigated somewhat as long as you're not looking to share the music with friends; the bad news, though, is that the jack is on the side. This makes for a downright awkward experience if you plan on connecting a headset and dropping the phone into a pants pocket, so try to use a pair of buds with an L-connector if you can.The browser does a commendable job of rendering full versions of websites, but load times were a concern; calling up Engadget Mobile (the full site, not the mobile version) took 83 seconds compared to 23 seconds on an iPhone 3G, for example. The sites were loaded at the same time, so the phones were presumably connected to the same cell and both were on HSDPA. We figure it's an issue of the browser's ability to render HTML and execute JavaScript quickly, because a good deal of that load time was spent with "Running script..." appearing at the bottom of the screen. Another concern we had was with navigation; it's great that you get a real, honest-to-goodness mouse pointer that you can wheel around with the trackball, but moving it any great distance is a chore since you need to keep twirling the ball like a fiend. Nokia's implementation is better here, since you have the advantage of a traditional directional pad that you can just hold down until the pointer gets to where you want it to be.So how about that keyboard? We were skeptical going into it -- tiny keys smushed this close together aren't often compatible with fat thumbs -- but we adapted to it in short order. Anyone coming from an 8800 series (pictured left) will feel right at home, though Curve users might have a little learning curve ("curve," get it?) since they're used to having a little space between keys. What really saves the Bold's keyboard, we think, are the keys' curious texture, which sweeps to the left on the left side and to the right on the right side; it does a surprisingly good job of keeping your thumbs in the right place and prevents the majority of mistypes. We noticed that keys would occasionally click twice (but only register a single character) when pressed, which was pretty annoying, but definitely not a deal-breaker.In the final analysis, is this the BlackBerry that's going to win over a whole new generation of users from competing platforms? No, we don't think it is -- it's a really evolutionary device, and the probably has a better shot in that arena. Is this the best QWERTY BlackBerry ever made, though? There's absolutely no question about it, and we're certain that users upgrading from Curves and 8800s are going to be delighted with what they find here.AT&T Ups the Innovation Ante With New Collaboration Center in the Heart of Silicon ValleyDozens of collaborative innovation projects currently underway as Palo Alto joins locations in Texas and Israel to expand AT&T Foundry constellationPALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- What happens when you open the network to developers from around the world with new tools and services, establish a collaborative infrastructure in which dedicated project teams have direct access to decision makers that can quickly make the right connections and open a new facility in the heart of Silicon Valley that's directly linked to innovators across the world?You get increased velocity and a broader range of innovation, with new apps and services 3x faster.That's what AT&T* has done with its AT&T Foundry innovation centers, including the newest center, which opened today in Palo Alto, Calif. AT&T Foundries are fast-paced and collaborative environments where AT&T and technology providers team with developers to deliver the latest applications and services to customers more quickly than ever before."AT&T's approach to the innovation center concept is unique for the industry," said Jim Goetz, general partner with Sequoia Capital. "Their strategy embraces how development gets done in the Valley. AT&T understands where it brings value to collaborations and how they can help others innovate in new ways to bring new ideas to market quickly."The AT&T Foundry is one part of AT&T's overall innovation strategy that aims to accelerate technology development by collaborating with third party developers, venture capitalists and technology providers sometimes by taking lead on a project, other times by contributing expertise, connections and resources to help developers bring an idea to reality."The AT&T Foundry is a core component of our innovation strategy," said AT&T Chief Technology Officer John Donovan. "This isn't a technology showroom or testing facility. It's a place where real innovation is occurring at an unprecedented pace in order to bring new services and products to our customers in a fraction of the time.""In here, we're collaborating to open up our network with tools and know-how so that developers can more quickly add new capabilities to their apps," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "We're also developing ecosystems and platforms such as mHealth to help drive further innovation and provide new wireless experiences for our customers."The teams at the AT&T Foundry look for ways to speed ideas to market by identifying and eliminating common inefficiencies or bringing the right people together to deliver access to new technologies. One project currently in development focuses on ways to eliminate developer frustration with the wide range of business and technical relationships required to create applications. The team is collaborating on a concept that opens the network to developers through services such as messaging, location, payments and advertising accessible via HTML5. The result is significantly reduced complexity so that developers can more quickly build cool new apps."AT&T has the resources and the vision to make real innovation happen," said Michael Mullany, CEO of Sencha, which collaborated with AT&T to develop the HTML5 interface at the AT&T Foundry. "Together, we're working to provide developers with the tools and access to network services that help them bring new ideas to reality in months rather than years. That means AT&T customers will have the latest and greatest apps at record speed."The Palo Alto center, sponsored by Ericsson, is the third permanent AT&T Foundry facility to open worldwide, adding to a global network that includes facilities sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent and Amdocs in Plano, Texas, and Ra'anana, Israel, respectively. The new location will join two temporary facilities in the Bay Area where collaborative projects are already underway, many on display during today's opening day festivities."AT&T and Ericsson are working to transform the way telecommunications companies develop concepts that will form tomorrow's networked society," said Hakan Eriksson, Ericsson Group Chief Technology Officer and President of Ericsson Silicon Valley. "AT&T is actively engaged with us to combine local insights with global ecosystems to help entrepreneurs bring innovative ideas to market as quickly as possible."Projects are funneled to the AT&T Foundry in several ways:Fast Pitch, or "speed date" reviews, where companies or developers meet with key AT&T decision makers to evaluate projects or technologies. AT&T is on track to hold 400 of the fast-pitch sessions in locations across the globe this year.The Innovation Pipeline (TIP), AT&T's crowd-sourcing idea-generating platform, where more than 100,000 employees gather to share ideas and collaborate on bringing new products and services to market.AT&T Labs, with 135 years of history in innovation and technology breakthroughs, which provides the starting point for many AT&T Foundry projects. Many of the organization's 1,200 researchers also provide expertise to projects currently underway.It was once said that if a phone or tablet used a stylus its hardware designers had . It was also said that if the software on that device contained a task manager that coders had similarly missed the mark. The Samsung Galaxy Note on AT&T contains what many would consider a stylus and, if you hold down the Home button, you're presented with what can only be described as a task manager.So the Galaxy Note, Samsung's massive 5.3-inch "superphone," is critically flawed then, right? No. It is, in fact, one of the best phones to hit the market since another Samsung powerhouse -- the . It's a device with a lot to love and is the kind of phone that would make almost every Android aficionado swoon. However, with its massive 5.3-inch display and generally understated styling, it isn't for everybody. We reviewed it before in , but now read on to see if AT&T's $300 LTE version of this big brute is just right for you. HardwareLet's get this out there right away because it will surely be your first impression: the Galaxy Note is a big honkin' phone. While something this size that can make phone calls isn't exactly unprecedented (see: the ), this is a footprint that has proven too large to fit into many consumers' lifestyles. That could definitely change here. What initially feels cumbersome and unwieldy quickly becomes natural and, just like 4.3-inch smartphones made 3.5-inchers seem petite, a few hours with the Note will leave those 4-inch devices seeming rather more compact than before.That size is thanks to the 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED panel up front, with a 1280 x 800 pixel count. We'll talk more about that shortly, but we can't resist spoiling ourselves by saying it's one of the nicest displays we've yet seen on a smartphone -- even if the dimensions here extend well beyond what's considered average. What's truly new is on the inside, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. That's a step up in clock speed from the 1.4GHz Exynos processor in the original Note, but as we'll see in the performance section below, the speed of the device has not been similarly up-rated. (There we go spoiling things again...)That processor is paired with 1GB of RAM for short-term duties and 16GB of storage for archival purposes, though there is an empty microSD slot waiting should you need a little more room ahead of the fifth season of Mad Men. It offers 802.11a/b/g/n, support and, for longer-range data communication, supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz), UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+ (850, 1900, 2100MHz) and, of course, LTE (bands 4 and 17, if you're keeping track).The dimensions provided for the Note are the same as the international release -- 146.85 x 82.95 x 9.65mm (5.78 x 3.27 x 0.38 inches) -- so any fears that the new silicon inside might have resulted in even more to love on the outside can be safely put to rest now. It is, however, just a tick heavier, tipping over at 183 grams (6.45 ounces) compared to its predecessor's 178. Perhaps it indulged in an extra bag of peanuts on the long flight over.The camera array hasn't changed: 8-megapixel sensor paired with an LED flash around the back, capable of capturing 1080p/30 fps footage, while a 2-megapixel shooter is peeking out at you from the somewhat generous bezel above the display on the front -- right next to the mirrored AT&T logo that now comes duly attached.On the bottom of the screen are the typical four capacitive buttons found on American Android devices -- Menu, Home, Back and Search. This marks a change from the international release, which had a single physical Home button flanked by Menu on the left and Back on the right. We prefer that layout to the capacitive arrangement we get here, but sadly it seems the carriers . Those capacitive inputs light up with the screen, which on the dark Carbon Blue Note makes them much easier to see. In direct light, though, the backlight on the Ceramic White Note actually makes the buttons harder to spot. Plus, with that hue there's an annoying glow around them where the backlight leaks through.On the top of the right side is the power/lock button, opposite that on the left side is the volume rocker. Up top, slightly offset to the right is the 3.5mm headphone jack and, on the bottom, smack in the middle, is the micro-USB/MHL port for charging and MTP data exchange. But, there's something else tucked in down there: the S Pen. S Pen Even if it gives you flashbacks to your Windows Mobile days we encourage you to remember that this is not a stylusThough it may look like a stylus, and despite feeling like a stylus, and even if it gives you flashbacks to your Windows Mobile days we encourage you to remember that this is not a stylus. At least, it isn't if you listen to the Samsung party line. This is an S Pen.What's an S Pen, then? Well, it's a battery-free capacitive and pressure-sensitive plastic pointing stick that's built upon technology. Basically, it's a stylus. Yes, it's smaller than the wand you get with something like a , but the styling is at least reminiscent of the bigger ones. New on the US version of the S Pen is a gray button, which is slightly easier to find than the all-black version shipped internationally, but still almost impossible to locate by feel. The slightest little ridge or bump on the button would have been a welcome addition. (Those who spring for the white Note will, naturally, get a white S Pen with a gray button.)You can hold the button and do a long press on the screen to capture a screenshot, do two taps to bring up the S Memo application to make a note. You can also use it to perform gestures to replicate the Android buttons -- hold and swipe up for Menu, down for Home and left for Back. You'll be doing this a lot because the stylus annoyingly can't be used on the capacitive buttons at the bottom of the display. Prod or poke at them with the thing all you like, they won't respond.Thankfully, the S Pen works with just about everything else. It can be used to just mimic finger taps on the screen with greater precision, which we found most enjoyable for gaming. Titles like Fruit Ninja were a little more fun with a real weapon to wield, while physics-based games like World of Goo were that much easier.Annoyingly, though, actually writing with the thing is a challenge. Ostensibly, this phone was designed to replace something like a Moleskine notebook that many journalists stuff in their back pockets, but writing legibly with the S Pen is a difficult proposition. You must write far larger than you would with a pen on paper, so what might have been a few lines of notes can take a few pages of an S Memo. Of course, with 16GB of storage you can have as many pages as you like, but collating them later proves a bit of a challenge.Writing is a bit easier with what Samsung is calling the S Pen Holder Kit -- basically a hollow pen into which you can slot an S Pen. It's roughly Sharpie-sized and makes the writing experience more pleasant, but for something of a steep cost: $50. That's for a pen that doesn't write on paper and has no means of actually attaching to the Note. It does, however, come with an extra S Pen, which go for $30 on their own. Yes, you'll be wanting to take extra care to make sure you don't lose yours. DisplayIf this phone is too big it's only for the sake of making room for that display. It is, again, an HD Super AMOLED panel measuring 5.3 inches diagonally and sporting a resolution of 1280 x 800. Now, phone displays with 720p or greater resolutions aren't exactly unheard of these days (hello, ), and the 284ppi pixel density here won't set any records either (hello, ), but when it comes to the quality of a display you can't just look at numbers.This is a non-Plus display, meaning it uses RGBG sub-pixels. This was the subject of many lamentations when the Galaxy Nexus was announced, that presence of extra green sub-pixels causing some display purists to lose sleep, but we didn't find much to complain about here. Yes, we would certainly prefer a Plus display, and the color reproduction would surely be better if it were, but what's actually in the phone is beautiful.Because it's an AMOLED display the contrast is phenomenal -- true blacks and searingly bright whites. Viewing angles are very good, though we did notice a strong shift to blue at particularly extreme angles. And curiously, Samsung (or AT&T) opted to not include the "Screen mode" option found on the international Note that lets you select from three color settings on the display. So, you're stuck with the default. Call quality and speakerphone Unless you've been blessed with a particularly large cranium the Note is going to look a little... large held up to an ear.While we quickly got comfortable holding the 5.3-inch Note in our hands, even after living with one for some time we couldn't help feeling self-conscious holding it up to our head to make calls. Unless you've been blessed with a particularly large cranium the Note is going to look a little... large held up to an ear.That said, should you need to make a call here, the Note is a very willing partner. Quality is good and, with the phone never struggling for signal, we came through loud and clear to those on the other side of the device. Even on speakerphone we were heard without a problem, though we do have one complaint: the speaker's location. It's less than a half-inch away from the S Pen's little cubby and we constantly found grabbing at the opening for the speaker with our fingernail when trying to pull out the stylus. We'd have preferred one or the other placed on the opposite side. CameraThis is the same 8-megapixel sensor and lens getup that we saw back in our original Note review, and indeed the same as can be found in the . Left on full-auto the camera does a good job of adjusting for color and brightness. As phone-sized camera sensors go this one fares well even when light is at a premium and will not leave you disappointed in most situations.That said, the experience is even better here thanks to the bigger screen. What you get is basically the world's biggest viewfinder this side of a tablet, making framing and eyeball adjustments for exposure easy. Yes, we've said our piece about how taking pictures with tablets is more of a chore than a joy, but the Note is just small enough to be manageable. SoftwareThe Galaxy Note is running a TouchWiz'd version of Android Gingerbread -- 2.3.6, to be precise. As Android customizations go TouchWiz is among the lightest, and we didn't find ourselves minding it. In fact, the camera app here and the custom widgets and controls tend to make the phone a little nicer to use. We had no complaints there.However, the extra resolution and dimensions of the screen aren't always well-handled. When it's good it's good, like the home screen, which offers five columns of icons rather than the standard four. More icons is a plus when your phone is stuffed with apps, as most phones are these days. And, of course, mobile web surfing with this many pixels at your disposal will put you right off WVGA phones for good. The Gingerbread build here just doesn't feel comfortable -- stretched out in some places, squished down in others.Many apps, though, simply don't handle the resolution well. Signing in to Netflix, for example, gives you a giant sea of crimson with two tiny login boxes floating in space. Buttons in some apps, like the reply button in Gmail, are awfully tiny compared to other controls, like the comparatively giant Archive and Delete buttons at the bottom of the screen.This mish-mash of large and small graphical elements is hugely disjointing. The Gingerbread build here just doesn't feel comfortable -- stretched out in some places, squished down in others. It clearly wasn't meant to run on a display this size. This leaves us longing for that Ice Cream Sandwich build that we're told is . S MemoThe biggest piece of custom software here is S Memo. Hold the S Pen button and double-tap anywhere to create a new memo, or do a long single tap to capture a screenshot which you can doodle on. We could definitely see this being useful for grabbing a picture of something and then scribbling a note and sending it off to a co-worker -- say, making a comment on a home renovation or the design of a wedding dress. But, given how much trouble we had in writing legibly with the S Pen, best keep it short.You can also hop into S Memo directly and create things like picture collages. Images can be inserted from the Gallery or taken directly from the camera, moved and resized and then, of course, scribbled upon. However, it's worth noting that once you save and exit your note all those layers are compressed -- you can no longer resize individual images. That's slightly annoying, but they are at least easily shared as flat image files.We were, however, disappointed to find that the app doesn't really do much with the stylus button. We could see it working as a quick toggle to switch between drawing and erasing, for example, which would save going back up to the top menu all the time. As it is the button is really only good for initiating gestures. Performance and battery lifeWe were a bit concerned when we learned that the AT&T Galaxy Note would not be rolling with Samsung's own 1.4GHz Exynos processor and would instead have a 1.5GHz Snapdragon chip inside. The clock speed may be higher but the performance is indeed lower. You can see the full results in the benchmarks table below, proving this phone measurably lags behind the international release that shipped first, too.Apps load quickly and things are generally responsive on the device, but the annoying stutters and random pauses that plague lesser phones are definitely noticeable here. It is still a quick device, though not nearly as responsive as the Galaxy Nexus or, indeed, the elder Note. AT&T Galaxy Note International Galaxy Note Galaxy Tab 10.1 Quadrant 3,319 3,998 3,200 Linpack (single-thread) 42.98 64.30 55 Linpack (multi-thread) 76.33 95.66 81 Nenamark1 54.9 56.67 59.8 Neocore 55.6 51.77 59.8 SunSpider 9.1 3,059 2,902 3,369 Sadly that decrease in performance doesn't come with an increase in battery life. A healthy 2,500mAh cell lies beneath the flimsy (and scratch-prone) battery cover here, far larger than your typical smartphone. (The most recent Galaxy S II, for example, has an 1,850mAh pack.) But, longevity just fell on the long side of average, with the phone managing eight hours and eight minutes on our standard rundown test in an HSPA+ area. That's with LTE enabled but not connected, as there's annoyingly no way of disabling it. (Even dialing *#*#4636#*#* doesn't work.) The previous Note managed a healthy 90 minutes longer.However, we can't argue with the network performance. AT&T's LTE network is still blissfully underutilized by the teeming masses, leaving plenty of bandwidth for those lucky few early adopters. Testing in and around New York City we saw download speeds as high as 34Mbps and uploads as high as 14Mbps. Average speeds were closer to 22 down and 12 up -- very healthy indeed. Again, overall signal strength with the Note is good and we had no problem grabbing and maintaining a strong signal. Wrap-upWe've already spent quite a bit of time with the international version of this phone, but what was once a bit of a niche device -- would-be owners facing hefty import duties and confused looks from friends -- has now gone mainstream, with the to match. That kind of exposure will have a lot more people wondering if this kind of thing can work for them and for many we think the answer is yes, it could work quite well indeed.The Note is big, but not unmanageably so. Those with small hands might find it a bit unwieldy at times, but even if your glover has you written down as XS you shouldn't rule this out completely. After a few hours with the Note you'll very quickly become accustomed to the size, and once you have you won't want to go back.With the decrease in performance and battery life here, the international release is still the better phone overall, and we can't help but be disappointed by that. Still, given the relative affordability of the US release of the Note ($300 on-contract) and its ease of availability, we certainly wouldn't blame you for heading to AT&T and ordering yourself an American Superphone. It's one of the best phones of any size on the market today, regardless of what market you're in.Myriam Joire contributed to this review.AT&T GoPhone Customers Can Surf the Nation's Fastest 4G LTE Network with Prepaid PlansNew 4G LTE GoPhone Device Offers Blazing Fast Speed on a BudgetBeginning June 21, AT&T* GoPhone customers can enjoy the affordability and simplicity of a prepaid wireless plan on the nation's fastest 4G LTE network.** AT&T is adding to its lineup of GoPhone devices with the introduction of the 4G LTE-capable Samsung Galaxy Express.New and existing AT&T GoPhone customers can bring their own 4G or 4G LTE smartphone or choose a GoPhone device to connect to AT&T's nation's largest 4G network. AT&T 4G and 4G LTE service is available with any of the new GoPhone smartphone plans, which include:* $60 a month for 2 GB of data, unlimited nationwide calling, and unlimited messaging - now double the data at a lower monthly price. Additional data is available for $10 per 1 GB.* $40 a month for 200 MB of data, 500 minutes of nationwide calling, and unlimited messaging. Additional data is available for $5 per 100 MB.* $25 a month for 250 minutes of nationwide calling and unlimited messaging, with an optional data package of 50 MB for an additional $5 a month.* All GoPhone monthly plans include international texts from the U.S. to Mexico, Canada and 100 other countries."AT&T GoPhone customers can make the most of their smartphones on our fast 4G LTE network, and with our new prepaid plans, they're getting even more value and data at an attractive price," said Mark Collins, AT&T Mobility senior vice president of data and voice products. "With the addition of the Samsung Galaxy Express, customers get the latest capabilities and speeds from their wireless experience, and we'll be adding more exciting devices to our GoPhone lineup."The Samsung Galaxy Express is available on June 21 for $249.99 online and at any AT&T company-owned retail store or GoPhone distributors. The Galaxy Express is all about sharing. Samsung's S Beam enables consumers to share large files - photos, videos, music and more - with any other S Beam-capable device. Additional features include:* 4G LTE* Operating system: Android, Jelly Bean* 1.5 GHz dual-core processor* 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display* 5-megapixel rear facing camera with 720 p video recording capabilities at 30 frames per second* 1.3-megapixel front facing camera with VGA video recording at 15 frames per second* Internal memory/storage: 1 GB RAM, 8 GB storage with support for up to 32 GB microSD cardAT&T GoPhone monthly plans are also available for quick messaging and basic phones, with several plans to choose from. For $35 a month, basic phone customers can get 500 minutes of nationwide calling, unlimited data and unlimited messaging.AT&T GoPhone smartphone customers can also choose a $50 unlimited talk and text plan with Wi-Fi data only.For more information on AT&T GoPhone and a complete listing of plans, visit www.att.com/gophone.AT&T DIGITAL LIFE LAUNCHES IN FIRST 15 U.S. MARKETS Consumers Can Now Enjoy Security and Convenience of a Home Management and Automation System with the Flexibility to Meet Their Unique Needs DALLAS, April 26, 2013 Secure your home, check in on your kids or pets, adjust the temperature, let your housesitter in the front door, or check to see if you closed your garage door, from almost anywhere all on the go. Available today for the first time in 15 markets, AT&T Digital Life SM makes customers' lives easier by simplifying the management of their home. Digital Life offers customers security, convenience, privacy and peace of mind, in a customizable and easy-to-use experience from any mobile device or PC.AT&T* today announced the first commercial launch markets for AT&T Digital Life: Atlanta, Austin, Texas, Boulder, Colo., Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Riverside, Calif., San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis and select areas of the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area. AT&T plans to introduce Digital Life in up to 50 markets by the end of 2013. The foundation of AT&T Digital Life is complete home security with 24/7 professional monitoring. Through AT&T-owned and operated, U.S.-based monitoring centers, professionals will respond to emergencies and alert police and fire authorities. Customers can choose which alerts they want to receive and how. "We know how important security is to our customers, and this was our top priority when we set out to build Digital Life," said Kevin Petersen, senior vice president, AT&T Digital Life. "People rely on their mobile devices more than ever, so Digital Life offers an easy and convenient way to secure their homes, protect their families and simplify their lives from virtually anywhere." Remote, Privacy Protected Access AT&T Digital Life is an all-digital, fully integrated, wireless home management system, giving customers flexibility to manage their home from their smartphone, tablet or PC. Customers can purchase Digital Life regardless of their wireless or wireline broadband provider. The Digital Life application is available on most web browsers and apps are available for iOS, Android smartphones and Windows Phones. To ensure customers' privacy is protected, Digital Life has a secure log in system each time the app is opened from any Internet-connected device. Easy to Use In addition to security, Digital Life offers a robust suite of automation services that can be customized to meet their needs. An exceptionally user-friendly application was designed to be as simple as possible, making it easier than ever to manage your home. The AT&T Digital Life application gives customers control over cameras, door locks, lights, thermostats, small appliances and more by setting alerts or programs to manage your home. It's all integrated into one simple system. Customization AT&T Digital Life provides total flexibility so you get exactly what you want. You can build a system with the features you want, and you can add features or make changes easily as your needs evolve. Unlike competitors, AT&T Digital Life is a major home security and automation system that can be ordered completely online, in an AT&T store, over the phone, or with an in-home sales consultant. Pricing is competitive and transparent, making it easy for customers to understand and purchase solutions to meet their needs. Customers can choose from two base plans: Simple Security, which is our basic home security package; or Smart Security which includes enhanced security features and the option to add home automation. Simple Security - Includes 24/7 home monitoring, 24-hour battery backup, a wireless keypad, keychain remote, recessed sensors and an indoor siren for $29.99 a month plus $149.99 for equipment and installation. Smart Security - Includes the benefits of Simple Security plus a choice of three of the following features: motion sensor, carbon monoxide sensor, glass break sensor, smoke sensor or takeover kit. Smart Security begins at $39.99 a month plus $249.99 for equipment and installation. Customers who select Smart Security can add these automation packages: Camera Package - View live video from inside and outside of the home for an additional $9.99 a month plus equipment and installation. Energy Package - Control appliances, lighting and thermostats for convenience and energy efficiency for an additional $4.99 a month plus equipment and installation. Door Package - Allow a pet sitter or repairman into your home remotely with automated door locks, or check to see whether your garage door is open or closed for an additional $4.99 a month plus equipment and installation. Water Detection Package - Detect water leaks before damage occurs for an additional $4.99 a month plus equipment and installation. Water Control Package - Detect leaks and shut off water at the main water source for an additional $9.99 a month plus equipment and installation. "AT&T's Digital Life service is fully featured with one of the market's best selection of pre-packaged bundles and connected devices. With straightforward and competitive prices, the AT&T value proposition will leave the company in a good position to capture market share in the growing connected home market," said Larry Hettick, Contributing Analyst, Consumer Services, Current Analysis. "We're bringing you security and convenience features that can be easily integrated into your life, making things simpler for you and your family", said Petersen. "We conducted extensive research, listened to our customers and worked hard to build a single integrated solution with an unmatched set of assets all built around our customer's needs." Experience AT&T Digital Life Digital Life offers a simple purchasing process with several options. Digital Life will be sold and demonstrated in 450 company owned retail stores in the 15 markets. You can also learn and buy at att.com/digitallife, call 855-288-2727 or schedule an appointment with an in-home sales consultant. To learn more about Digital Life availability, visit www.att.com/digitallife. *AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.AT&T First U.S. Carrier to Offer Enhanced Push-to-Talk on iPhone Through New App Available to Business CustomersAT&T Expands Access via In-building Wi-FiDALLAS, June 10, 2013 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- AT&T* Enhanced Push-to-Talk (EPTT) is now available to AT&T business customers through a new app available for iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S. This marks the first time a U.S. carrier is offering push-to-talk capabilities on iPhone**.In addition, AT&T Enhanced Push-to-Talk can now be used over Wi-Fi, giving U.S.-based customers improved in-building coverage and access to the service via compatible Wi-Fi networks. AT&T operates the U.S.'s largest Wi-Fi network***, including more than 32,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots."Across industries such as manufacturing, engineering, hospitality, construction and government, organizations need instant communications in challenging environments," said Mike Troiano, Vice President, Advanced Mobility Solutions, AT&T Business Solutions. "From the start, AT&T Enhanced Push-to-Talk was designed specifically for AT&T's speedy 4G LTE networks**** and now we are offering even more devices so our business customers can communicate faster and to larger talk groups."IDC analyst John Weber recently wrote,1 "The performance of AT&T's EPTT service was comparable to traditional mobile voice services," and that, "With many mobile workers working within the four walls of the enterprise, building in Wi-Fi functionality is an important element to consider."Key features of AT&T Enhanced Push-to-Talk for iPhone include:-- Larger contact lists and talk groups than competitive push-to-talk solutions-- Ability to combine push-to-talk services and mobile applications, with help available from AT&T's team of mobility consulting and integration experts-- Supervisory override that allows supervisors to communicate important time sensitive messages to their team-- Call setup in less than one secondTo learn more about AT&T Enhanced Push-to-Talk, contact your AT&T sales representative.* AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.** For full details on Enhanced Push-to-Talk features and requirements, see Terms of Service. AT&T Enhanced Push-to-Talk requires service subscription, download and installation of the Enhanced PTT software, and acceptance of the End User License Agreement. User interface may vary by device. Some features may not be available on all devices. Enhanced PTT performance may be limited in 2G coverage areas. Availability, security, speed, timeliness, accuracy and reliability of service are not guaranteed by AT&T.***A Wi-Fi enabled device required. Other restrictions apply. See www.attwifi.com for details and locations.**** Limited 4G LTE availability in select markets. LTE is trademark of ETSI. 4G speeds not available everywhere.AT&T and NEC Introduce ultra-rugged smartphone designed for hard work, real lifeNEC Terrain Available Through AT&T Business Solutions Channels,Delivers Dedicated Enhanced Push-to-Talk and QWERTY KeyboardDALLAS, June 19, 2013 AT&T* and NEC Corporation of America today announced the upcoming launch of the ultimate workhorse among ruggedized 4G LTE smartphones, the NEC Terrain. As one of the most ruggedized phones equipped with AT&T Enhanced Push-to-Talk (EPTT) **, NEC Terrain embodies toughened versatility and business-ready features. Its design is aimed at breaking productivity barriers to keep workforces moving forward, while also keeping up with daily life outside of work. Available exclusively through AT&T Business Solutions channels and online beginning June 21, the NEC Terrain is priced at $99.99 with a two-year agreement and can be purchased at www.ATT.com/necterrain."Businesses have become increasingly mobile and employees need a smartphone that allows them to stay connected no matter where they are," said Mike Troiano, vice president Advanced Mobility Solutions, AT&T Business Solutions. "With AT&T Enhanced Push-to-Talk, access to the nation's largest 4G network and fastest 4G LTE network***, communicating is even easier than before so businesses can operate more efficiently and effectively."The NEC Terrain can also be used over Wi-Fi, giving U.S.-based customers improved in-building coverage and access to the service via compatible Wi-Fi networks. AT&T operates the U.S.'s largest Wi-Fi network****, including more than 32,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots.Featuring water and dustproof***** design, a scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass screen and sturdy core construct that exceeds the military specifications (MIL-810G) for shock distribution, the NEC Terrain is a durable smartphone built to perform in the toughest working conditions, as well as stand up to the most demanding families."Enterprises are clamoring for reliable, easy-to-field smartphones, packed with the latest security and performance features to ensure productivity for today's on-the-go workforce to use both at work and home," said Scott Spreen, director of business development, NEC. "Whether looking for enterprise-wide solutions or blending a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) into the fold, we're excited to offer a product with AT&T that goes beyond the demands of enterprise users and perfectly blends the necessary features needed for work and personal use."NEC Terrain is packed with a feature-set that helps users get the task at hand done quickly, efficiently and intuitively.&middot; The dedicated Enhanced PTT key means immediate communication when it counts most without cumbersome menus or the need to change applications.&middot; Speedy 4G LTE connectivity makes it simple to pull up plans, records or email from virtually anywhere.&middot; Wi-Fi availability giving U.S.-based customers improved in-building coverage and access to the service via compatible Wi-Fi networks.&middot; A dual core 1.5GHz QualComm Snapdragon S4 processor and Android 4.0 makes multitasking simple and easy.&middot; earSmart technology by Audience and NEC Terrain's dual speakers ensure communication is heard loud and clear with echo cancellation and noise suppression.&middot; Physical QWERTY keyboard with a 3.1" high resolution screen places a virtual office in your hand when you're on the job or just on the move.&middot; 5 MP rear camera and 0.3 MP front camera.&middot; Up to 8GB of internal memory and MicroSD up to 32GB of expandable memory for ample file and photo storage.Designed to take the heavy beatings of a mobile workforce and equipped to fit right into BYOD policies, the NEC Terrain gives IT managers the assurance that internal data and programs are safe, secure and inaccessible to prying eyes via VPN and on-device encryption. Plus, IT teams can remotely deploy applications and provide additional security with remote locking and wiping.To learn more about AT&T Enhanced Push-to-Talk, visit http://www.att.com/EPTT.More information about NEC Terrain and NEC can be found at: http://www.att.com/necterrain.Here comes the second episode of a thrilling three-part saga. Not content with simply selling of the -- its flagship device -- in the course of the last five months, Samsung's ready to flood the good ol' US of A with a healthy dose of the Galaxy S II, and it has three carriers -- Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile -- already . The has already made its way into stores (not to mention the hearts of customers), and Ma Bell's next in line to appease the masses.This time, things are a smidge different. Whereas Sprint opted to enlarge the screen and add in a few other select design tweaks, it appears that AT&T wanted to keep its variant -- appropriately named the Galaxy S II -- as close to the international smash hit as possible, opting for the same display size, squared corners and battery (albeit, with a twist). As it turns out, the tweaks are much more subtle than they were on last year's , which arguably looked almost nothing like the original Galaxy S. So does AT&T's model fit in with its two close compadres? Was its design choice the right decision for this go-round? Follow us below to get the full scoop. HardwareThe Galaxy S II lineup is launching in a much similar fashion (and with seemingly higher expectations) as its predecessor: the US models are reaching the market several months after the phone's global release, and carriers have made a few design tweaks along the way. What's so different this time around is the selection of devices. Last summer, each mobile operator took the concept of "carrier customization" to extremes, tweaking the S to their every whim -- in some cases changing the chassis altogether. For instance, the Epic 4G added a full QWERTY keyboard, the Captivate had a metal battery cover along with sharp edges and the Fascinate sprinkled Bing throughout the device's firmware. The three US variants of the sequel, however, have been a deal more subtle, making only slight adjustments in the design where the carriers see fit, and each one has even retained the Galaxy S II name in at least some way (the full title of Sprint's darling, for example, is "Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch.").At first glance, it's apparent that the carrier didn't attempt to take much of a departure from the master copy. We'd like to think that it's adopted the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality, but we're not entirely sure what the reasoning is. We won't complain, though -- we gave high praises to the global model's design, and continue to do so here, since it's practically a spitting image. The only significant tweak we could find is the inclusion of four capacitive-touch navigation buttons at the bottom, as opposed to the three found on the I9100. 'Course, a set of four keys here is nothing new for the US; dedicated search buttons come standard around these parts, while it doesn't have a presence on the global version.Anyone searching for the thinnest smartphone on the market won't find it here, though most casual observers will be perfectly content. Coming in at 8.89mm (0.35 inches) at its thinnest point, the Galaxy S II on AT&T is marginally thicker than the I9100, which measures at 8.49mm (0.33 inches). Unless you're viewing the two side by side, this slight difference won't be noticeable. With that said, it's still the thinnest of the US trio: the Epic 4G Touch is 9.65mm (0.38 inches) and T-Mobile's GS II comes in at 9.4mm (0.37 inches). At 4.3 ounces (122g), it's also the lightest of the three, though it's a full 0.2 ounces heavier than the global ditty.As with the others, we can enjoy the GSII's 1.2GHz dual-core Exynos CPU, a full gigabyte of RAM, an 8MP camera with 1080p HD video capture, a 2MP front-facing cam, 16GB of internal storage and quadband GSM and tri-band UMTS / HSPA (850 / 1900 / 2100) to make for smooth international travelling. A slot for a microSD card is included, but that'll be a separate accessory you need to purchase on your own if you require more space.AT&T opted to include a 1,650mAh battery, which is the same size as the I9100's, but there's one intriguing twist -- a (NFC) chip. Or, at least, the words "Near Field Communications" are inscribed on the battery itself -- lending credence to the presence of an embedded chip. We've that instances of NFC are littered throughout the device's firmware, and after some digging through the task manager we found a NFC Service app which proffers little details and can't be opened. In reaching out to Samsung, we were told that the AT&T Galaxy S II is not NFC-enabled, but the company didn't volunteer any details about chip placement or if it will be enabled at a later date. Our theory is that the NFC functionality is laying dormant for now, perhaps until the carrier is ready to unleash the fruits of its partnership with ISIS. We'll update if we get any more clarification.We'll try not to be too much of a bore by talking about what comes included in the box, but in addition to the standard charger and user manuals, AT&T sought fit to throw in an HDTV adaptor as well -- an accessory that was missing with the Epic 4G Touch. Granted, the Samsung Galaxy S II lineup has MHL enabled, which gives the phone the opportunity to use a single cable to pump out uncompressed 1080p HDMI while charging up at the same time. It's easy enough to find an MHL or HDMI cable to fit your needs, but it's a nice gesture on AT&T's part to at least include the adaptor for anyone who prefers to connect that way.This particular model of the Samsung Galaxy S II uses an identical display to that of the international version, with a stunning 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus with WVGA (800 x 480) resolution. It's been said with the other two phones, but it's worth repeating: regardless of how many pixels it packs in, it's still one of the most gorgeous and color-saturated displays we've had the pleasure to cast our eyes upon. The colors are brighter, more vivid and saturated than most displays you'll see on the market today, and just like the others, it's easy to view in direct sunlight. It's in close competition with the Retina Display found on the iPhone 4 -- we'll see if there's any change to that statement next week, of course -- but has the larger screen size to give Sammy a major plus (pun not intended, but greatly welcomed).It's true that Sprint and T-Mobile decided to go with a larger display, which may be a bit intimidating for anyone with smaller hands. For what it's worth, our average-sized hands didn't have any more difficulty holding the Epic 4G Touch than we did the AT&T version, mainly because of the small difference in width (4mm) between the two devices.One aspect we loved in the Epic 4G Touch and wished we could've seen here was the LED notification light. Unfortunately AT&T stayed so true to the original I9100's design, it seems, that the little blinking alert was left out.SoftwareThe Galaxy S II runs on Android 2.3.4 out of the box, but you're mostly seeing the TouchWiz user interface that Sammy's elected to add to every phone in the series (not to mention most of its non-Nexus devices, for that matter). The version we see running here is 4.0, which is the best iteration of TouchWiz that we've used so far. It's no secret that we typically prefer vanilla Android over a UI overlay, but we appreciate user interfaces that least try not to interfere with our full experience on the phone. More specifically, TouchWiz is a nice skin that allows us a schload of customization, which is a nice gesture for most users.Speaking of gestures, this is an area where TouchWiz excels. Several motion sensor-assisted gestures are available, offering a unique twist on how we pinch-to-zoom, move icons, and silence our media. When moving an icon on the home panels, you can simply tilt your phone left or right to shift that icon to other front screens. Pinch-to-zoom can be replicated by pressing two fingers simultaneously on the screen and tilting the phone up or down, which admittedly was more cumbersome to use because it doesn't feel as natural to us as its alternative. Double-tapping the top of the device when you're in voice control mode will prompt you to begin dictating. Finally, you're also given the option to flip the phone onto its front to pause media playback or silence incoming phone calls -- this particular feature has been done on HTC devices before, but we appreciate the fact that it's starting to reach out to other manufacturers.The lock screen isn't nearly as crafty as what you'd find on HTC Sense 3.0, where you can drag a pre-determined shortcut into the ring and have it take you directly there, but it has a few nifty additions. For one, you can access missed calls and messages directly from little tabs on the left and right sides of the screen, and when a phone call comes in, you're treated to an added option to reject the phone call with a text message response -- and lets you slide the screen up to view the different messages you can send the caller.The app menu is also heavily customizable, which is one of our favorite features of the TouchWiz skin. The menu still uses panels in a left-right orientation (compared to vanilla Android, which uses one scrollable up-down panel), and not only lets you choose the way you want to organize your apps -- an option that more and more skins now allow -- it also lets you put folders directly into the app menu itself. In other words, all of the pre-installed apps that we will never use and can't uninstall can now be tucked away in a folder, hidden in plain sight. So if you're the kind that prefers to organize apps and not leave dozens of them sprawled across several screens, you're in for a treat.Bloatware is a subject of constant consideration with carrier-subsidized devices. Some pre-installed apps just cannot be uninstalled without going through the extra effort of rooting your device, which is frankly an option that roughly 95 percent of the average user base probably won't think of or even care about. On the AT&T version you'll find: Kindle, Yellow Pages, YouTube, Qik Lite, Quickoffice, Live TV, Featured App (a hub that shows -- brace yourself-- some of AT&T's featured apps) myAT&T, AT&T code, AT&T Family Map and AT&T Navigator, in addition to the apps that come standard with Android and / or TouchWiz. On a good note, however, we're happy to report that a healthy chunk of the AT&T apps can be uninstalled. This hasn't always been the case, and we'll root for more of this in the future.The AT&T Galaxy S II comes with two Samsung Hubs, a stark contrast to the four found on the I9100. We felt that the Epic 4G Touch did the right thing by only including a Media Hub and Social Hub, and this model appears to have followed the same wisdom. The Social Hub has space for feeds, which gives you the option to integrate Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as you please, and messages, an option that doesn't seem to have much of a point aside from offering a universal inbox for Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and Exchange accounts. Interestingly enough, there are several more quick email setup options available here than on the Epic, which only offers support for Exchange and "others."Not a fan of the default Swype keyboard on the Galaxy S II? True, it's not for everyone -- we find ourselves torn in an epic love / hate battle with it all the time. The phone comes with not one, not two, but three options for virtual keyboards; in addition to Swype, you can choose between the standard Android and Samsung 'boards.Update: A big tip of the hat goes to for discovering a crucial security flaw in AT&T's version of the Galaxy S II. As it turns out, you can completely bypass any security lock you place on the phone -- no matter whether it's a password, PIN or pattern lock. All you have to do is wake the device using the lock key, let the screen time out and then press the lock key again. Presto. We were able to reproduce the flaw on our test unit, while the Epic 4G Touch remains secure. This may be a crucial deal breaker for anyone who keeps sensitive information on their device.Update 2: AT&T has offered an official response, acknowledging that both it and Samsung are aware of the issue and working to resolve it as quickly as possible. Here is their statement:"Currently, when using a security screen lock on the device, the default setting is for a screen timeout. If a user presses the power button on the device after the timeout period it will always require a password. If a user presses the power button on the phone before the timeout period, the device requests a password but the password is not actually necessary to unlock it. Samsung and AT&T are investigating a permanent solution. In the meantime, owners of the Galaxy S II can remedy the situation by re-setting their time-out screen to the "immediately" setting. This is done by going to the Settings->Location and Security->Screen unlock settings->Timeout->Immediately. "CameraThe praiseworthy experience we had using the camera in the I9100 and Epic 4G Touch was, to no surprise of ours, exactly matched on the AT&T Galaxy S II. Using the same 8 megapixel rear camera sensor and 2MP front-facing cam, it continues to leave us in awe no matter how many times we use it. As of this writing, the only phone available in the US with a better camera is the 12 megapixel Nokia N8, which is easy enough to find -- at a significantly higher cost upfront. In other words, the Epic 4G Touch and Galaxy S II for AT&T (and, presumably, the T-Mobile variant) are the absolute top of the line on their respective carriers. Simply put, Samsung continues to produce phones with camera sensors that have a seemingly higher quality than their megapixel count implies, which unfortunately is something that can't be said about many other OEMs.We're impressed by the buffet-style spread of various camera settings that give the phone even more of a point-and-shoot feel: ISO, metering, focus modes, scene modes, anti-shake and exposure adjustments aplenty are found embedded within the UI itself. The left side of the camera app has slots for five icons; the fifth slot is always reserved for the settings menu, but the other four squares are completely customizable shortcuts that let you choose which settings you'd like to quick-jump into.Our images turned out as beautiful as they did on the other two phones. The colors seem to pop out in all the right places, the macro focus mode did well capturing close-ups in wondrous depth and we were able to capture important moments instantaneously, thanks to the camera's ability to first lock in focus and exposure before we're ready to actually take the picture. In essence, it functions the same way a double-detent button normally would on a standard digital cam, and is the next best thing to actually having a dedicated button on the right side of the phone -- a feature left out of every Galaxy S II so far.The LED flash, while not a subject of great emphasis on any handset, is worth a mention here because it's bright -- really bright. When taking pictures around our backyard in the dark, the flash captured far more depth and color than we've previously seen on a phone. But where most devices use the flash like it's going out of style, the Galaxy S II is wise enough to know how and when it should be employed; it was smart enough to tell when flash was needed for actually taking the picture and when it was only necessary to help focus on an object.Again, as we expected, the Galaxy S II for AT&T has the same concern with the narrow dynamic range. In short, this causes a sharp contrast between dark and well-lit areas, which can create deeper shadows and blown-out highlights, depending on where you're attempting to focus. But this was the only nitpick we had with any element of the camera's performance on the Galaxy S II, and otherwise was an absolutely thrilling contribution to the phone's appeal.Samsung offers 1080p HD for video capture, but just make sure you have the camcorder turned to the correct setting if you want to bump it up to the max, since it keeps the default at 720p. If you want to zoom in, the higher resolution isn't going to do it for you -- every lower-res setting will give you the chance to zoom up to 4x, if it so fits your fancy. In general, the vids turned out great and were able to capture motion without trying to refocus on moving objects. The only shaky movements that could be seen in the videos were due to our admittedly shaky hands.And much like its counterparts, the AT&T version of the Galaxy S II also comes with a homegrown Photo Editor, which takes the images you've so carefully taken with your camera and gives you the chance to screw around with them. It's not as elaborate as you'd see in any professional photo editing software, of course, but it still gives options to touch up your pics by adjusting brightness and saturation, adding blurs, cropping, resizing and more.Performance and battery lifeWe're pretty hefty multitaskers on our phones. We normally have our email and social networking syncing 24 hours a day, and we're constantly texting, checking news sites, playing games, and trying to keep our lives organized in the process (emphasis on "trying"). As a result, we're consistently pushing our phones to the limit, demanding more out of them than anyone should. We still couldn't get a flutter, flicker, or any other sign of weakness to come out of the Galaxy S II. It's tough to beat Samsung's proprietary Exynos CPU, a 1.2GHz dual-core darling that translates into top-tier phone performance in almost every area of the device. We witnessed very little lag -- and when we did, it was negligible -- and the device didn't crash once. Not to say it won't ever crash, but we could definitely tell that the Galaxy S II doesn't skip a beat.In our , Quadrant performed as expected, typically hovering between 3,200 and 3,300. Neocore and Nenamark nearly hit the max framerate by scoring 59.8, and we saw Linpack give results that were much the same as the Epic 4G Touch, typically producing 55 MFLOPS for single threads and 81 MFLOPS for multi. AT&T's browser performance also matched wits with Sprint's version, notching a top score of 3,369ms.When it comes to the call quality and speaker volume, we'd be happy campers if every single phone could perform as well as the Galaxy S II. We found ourselves having to turn the volume down in order to converse with friends and family comfortably, and the speakerphone was no weakling either. The reception was also on par with other AT&T devices we've reviewed.Without a doubt, the Galaxy S II series has made a name for itself by providing some of the best battery life we've seen from any Android device; even the multitaskers should be getting at least a full day of use out of it, and resigning yourself to moderate usage will likely extend the life of your phone an extra half-day. What we were curious about was the difference between the AT&T model, packing a 1,650mAh juice pack like the global version, and Sprint's, which comes in at a healthy 1,800. Surprisingly, AT&T lasted longer in a direct side-by-side video test, which consists of playing a full-length movie on an endless cycle until the phone keels over and begs to be recharged. Here's the big surprise: while the Epic 4G Touch lasted 8.5 hours this time around (which was interesting by itself, because it lasted 5 hours when we initially did the review), the AT&T Galaxy S II kept cranking out the moving pictures for 9.5 hours before giving up the electronic ghost. Needless to say, we were quite stunned by the revelation.Wrap-upWe'd like to think that selling ten million units in the space of nearly five months means the Galaxy S II is a top-notch device, and being available on three of the four major US players won't hurt its numbers one iota, either. The AT&T version of Sammy's flagship is no less praiseworthy than any of the others that came under our microscope before it. Anyone who gave the international version a second look, which normally sells for $600-700 in the US as an unlocked and unsubsidized device, should give even more consideration to this one now that it's available for $200 -- provided you don't mind getting locked into a two-year commitment, that is.Once T-Mobile launches its variant of the Galaxy S II, we'll have four different tantalizing options to choose from, each with their own set of pros and cons. Is there a clear winner between the Epic 4G Touch and the AT&T version? Not really -- it all comes down to personal preference. The AT&T version is ideal for anyone who likes the features of the I9100 but doesn't want to take out a second mortgage to get one; when factoring in support for international roaming, an HSPA+ radio and a 4.3-inch display that's slightly smaller than Sprint and T-Mobile's namesakes, this unit inherited a heavy amount of charm from its mobile precursor.We were dying to call this "Samsung Impression impressions," but we found our verbal dignity just long enough to avoid doing so -- and now that we've gotten that off our chests, let's talk a bit about the phone, shall we? The is the first phone to be released on a North American carrier with a full AMOLED display, which is basically a win / win scenario -- you get better battery life and crisper, more vibrant colors. "Vibrant" might be an understatement, actually; the screen is absolutely amazing, with mega-black blacks and colors that seem to pop right off the screen. We can't believe we're saying this, but we kinda wish it had compatibility. It's not all fun and games, though -- we noticed a couple shortcomings of the Impression that might give potential buyers pause. Most notably, the smooth, pebble-like shape of the device lends itself to an awful lot of bobbles and potential drops, especially in light of the fact that the entire phone is hard, glossy plastic (it seems like the issue could've been at least partially solved if they'd gone with soft-touch). Also, because the sides of the phone are rounded and you're dealing with a slide mechanism, all of the side-mounted buttons are positioned below the break between the upper and lower halves of the phone; the net effect of this is that they're angled toward the back, making pushing them awkward. We found this particularly true with the right-mounted buttons -- lock / unlock and camera -- because pushing them causes you to unconsciously put pressure on the other side of the phone, which in turn causes it to start to slide open. Bottom line: using the side buttons is awkward, and in general you'll want to be careful when you're holding it. A couple of UI issues gave us trouble, too. First off, despite the fact that the interface is reasonably well designed to be finger-friendly throughout, the resistive touchscreen wasn't sensitive to every touch of our finger -- a shortcoming of the technology -- and we found that we had to use our fingernails to get the kind of precision and control we wanted in some situations (it almost seems like you can't ship a resistive device without a "just in case" stylus tucked in there somewhere). Second, we discovered that although all of the Impression's native, built-in applications support flawless, fast orientation changes, the Java-based stuff like XM Radio and The Weather Channel (and likely anything else you download) does not -- and in many cases, the interfaces are entirely inappropriate for a finger-controlled touch UI altogether. We wish Samsung and AT&T had put more effort into loading more appropriate apps here, because in a device of this caliber, attention to detail makes a big difference.Turning our attention back to hardware, the keyboard feels fantastic and is incredibly easy to get up to speed on; you'll be busting out speedy texts in no time. There's one big problem, though -- inexplicably, Samsung has chosen to make the shift key behave as a capitalization mode toggle alone, which means that holding down the key while typing a letter has no effect. Instead, you have to use it in exactly the same way you would a mode toggle on a T9 keyboard, which makes no sense here. We're hoping this'll be quickly addressed via over-the-air firmware update, because it's got to be a bug. The camera produced decent-quality shots considering there's no autofocus involved on that 3 megapixel sensor (sadly), but our impressions are likely skewed by the fact that everything -- and we do mean everything -- looks more gorgeous on that OLED display. For what it's worth, shutter lag is nearly nonexistent, which is nice -- but we naturally would've preferred more full-featured optics and at least a basic LED flash. In the multimedia vein, the music player is really usable, uncluttered, essentially lag-free, and offers a selection of automatic equalizer settings -- and as you can probably imagine, album art looks great on the display -- but it's inexcusable that Samsung failed to include a proper headphone jack. Yes, we know that these guys are really tied to their weird proprietary connector that does double duty as a data port and audio out, but it's 2009, and this is seriously no longer cool. Fortunately, the phone's loudspeaker is loud and clear, so at the very least, you'll be able to rock out in a very public manner should the need arise -- and the earpiece is loud enough to damage eardrums, so if you're placing a call next to a jerk blasting music from his own Impression, you'll still have a fighting chance of holding a conversation.Faults aside, it's hard to not love the Impression; the amazing display is still a bit of a novelty, and call us crazy, but we think that gives it some carte blanche for coming up short in other areas. Yes, we could've used a 3.5mm headphone jack, squared-off sides, a capacitive touchscreen, a better camera -- and hell, you may as well throw in a smartphone OS while we're at it -- but this isn't the , it's a midrange feature phone with enough dazzle to draw some attention. We think it'll play that role reasonably well.AT&T TO LAUNCH INNOVATION CENTER IN ATLANTA AND ADD SECOND DALLAS-FORTH WORTH LOCATIONNew AT&T Foundry facilities designed to speed innovation in Digital Life, connected car, connected devices, home entertainment and machine-to-machine technologiesDALLAS, June 25, 2013 - Innovation has a new home. Two, actually.AT&T is launching new AT&T Foundry facilities in Atlanta and the Dallas-Fort Worth areas to speed up the development of the latest technologies and applications that will help enrich your life whether at home, work or on the road."Since its founding three years ago, the mission of the AT&T Foundry has been to identify great ideas, put the right people and technology ecosystem around them and move them quickly to market," said John Donovan, Senior Executive Vice President of AT&T Technology and Network Operations. "As a result, our customers are benefiting from great products and services that set the pace for innovation and our company is realizing more enhanced efficiencies internally."We're planning to move fast at these new locations, which will be focused on accelerating many of the new technologies that will drive AT&T's growth in the near future."Atlanta: From Your Front Door to the Front (and Back!) Seat of Your CarThe AT&T Foundry in Atlanta will lead the way in developing the next generation of lifestyle applications and services our customers want. Located adjacent to Georgia Tech, the AT&T Foundry team will test and develop products and services for Digital Life, AT&T's recently-launched home security and automation service. The team will also create new apps and services related to the "connected car," mobility, emerging devices, and AT&T U-verse. Host sponsor Cisco will collaborate with AT&T on projects and help identify key third-party developers, startups, investors, inventors and other entrepreneurs to bring into the facility."The AT&T Foundry in Atlanta will be at the center of our efforts to make your life easier, simpler, more connected and more secure," said Ralph de la Vega, President and Chief Executive Officer of AT&T Mobility. "Whether you want to check your thermostat from the road, make the drive home a little more enjoyable, or have devices conveniently handle routine things from your day, the AT&T Foundry delivers these types of innovations and more."The AT&T Foundry in Atlanta is the result of collaboration between AT&T, Cisco, Georgia Tech, and state and local business and political leadership."The AT&T Foundry is a tremendous asset for Atlanta's innovation community. With a rich history in wireless technology, the metro Atlanta region has emerged as the global leader in mobility," said Sam A. Williams, President, Metro Atlanta Chamber. "This announcement comes amid a new, strategic effort to foster stronger collaborations among our universities and businesses and is a great example of the kind of results that can be achieved. Tighter bonds between academic and business leaders will propel our industries, and overall economy, forward.""Our long-standing relationship and close collaboration with AT&T continues through our host sponsorship of the new AT&T Foundry in Atlanta," said Pankaj Patel, executive vice president and chief development officer, Cisco. "Our vision is to bring together people, processes, data and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before. Cisco's deep-rooted heritage and ties to the Atlanta innovation community are a natural fit with the AT&T Foundry vision. By joining forces, we look to turn information into actions that create new capabilities and richer experiences for consumers and unprecedented economic opportunity for businesses."Dallas-Fort Worth (Plano): Enhancing Your Life with the "Internet of Things"The new AT&T Foundry Machine-to-Machine and Connected Device (M2M/CD) center in Plano, Texas will bring world-class expertise and tools to the field of machine-to-machine and connected device technology. Commonly referred to the as "the Internet of Things," M2M/CD involves sensors and devices that are connected to other computers to share information and help people make smarter, faster decisions."Imagine "smart" luggage and pet carriers that let you track those items from doorway to tarmac, anywhere in the world, or sealed shipping containers with sensors that detect moisture, or item-level inventory tracking that ensures the shelves at your favorite store are never empty, because the retailer knows exactly when to reorder and restock. These are just a couple of examples of what you might see coming out of Plano in the near future," said Abhi Ingle, VP of Ecosystem and Innovation, AT&T. "The M2M/CD center will focus on rapidly designing and building prototype hardware and software for such applications, using a variety of cutting-edge hardware tools and highly secure and scalable software platforms."AT&T Foundry innovation centers are unique in the industry because they focus on smart, rapid development and commercialization. These aren't showrooms for existing products or research labs for ideas that could take years to mature. They are facilities where teams are focused on taking an idea to market as rapidly as possible. The concept has attracted the attention from the innovation community, from the most successful venture capital firms to weekend developers with a great idea for an app.Like the existing locations, these two new AT&T Foundry locations will have open floor plans and work spaces. No cubicles. Everything on wheels. Whiteboards and brainstorm spaces everywhere. Open spaces so developers and engineers and designers can mingle and share ideas. We'll bring in outside developers so we can access their ideas and fresh perspective, and they can access AT&T technical capabilities and business experts.The AT&T Foundry program was launched in 2010 to identify solutions both inside and outside of AT&T to some of the most pressing needs facing the company and the industry. That vision of faster innovation through open collaboration has been realized through a variety of projects. One of the biggest successes to date has been the broad deployment of Self-Optimizing Network (SON) technology throughout our network through a collaboration with Israeli firm Intucell, whose idea was first introduced to AT&T via a "fast pitch" in collaboration with Amdocs and then honed at the AT&T Foundry. The technology went from idea to full implementation in just months, significantly improving call quality and retainability.Other projects that have been quickly launched into the market through the AT&T Foundry program include Remote Patient Monitoring (doctors and other caregivers remotely tracking a patient's pulse rate, weight and other parameters over an LTE connection) and SafeCell (an app for fleet managers to monitor and restrict drivers' use of mobile devices while behind the wheel).AT&T Foundry sponsors include Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs, Cisco and Ericsson as well as Intel and Microsoft. Together, AT&T and the sponsors have invested more than $100 million in the AT&T Foundry program.HTC One Arrives at AT&T April 19 Starting at $199.99 Pre-Sales Begin April 4 Beginning April 19, AT&T* plans to offer the highly-anticipated HTC One smartphone to customers for $199.99 with a two-year commitment, for the 32 GB memory variant. AT&T is the only U.S. wireless carrier at launch to also offer a version with 64 GB of memory for $299.99 with a two-year commitment. Customers eager to reserve their HTC One will be able to pre-order at www.att.com/htcone on April 4 starting at 1:00 p.m. CT. Only AT&T offers a free** HTC Media Link HD wireless HDMI adaptor*** (a $90 value), which lets you wirelessly share content from your phone to your HD television. The HTC One runs on AT&T 4G LTE, the nation's fastest 4G LTE network.**** AT&T has the nation's largest 4G network, covering 288 million people. HTC One is available in black and silver and boasts a powerful 1.7 GHz quad-core processor, and zero-gap aluminum unibody with a 4.7-inch full HD (1080p) screen and HTC Sense innovations, to re-shape your smartphone experience. HTC BlinkFeed provides customized content and real-time updates streamed live on your home screen. HTC BlinkFeed aggregates your content from a variety of media sources, serving up fresh content all in one place, without the need to jump between multiple applications and web sites. HTC Zoe mode on the HTC One lets you grab the entire moment and bring it to life in three-second snippets. Special moments can be captured in HTC Zoe highlights, and displayed in a living gallery that you can set to music and special effects. AT&T Locker helps you hold onto those memories no matter where you are. You can automatically store photos, videos and documents in the cloud, so you can access and share from your smartphone or computer. The HTC UltraPixel Camera with a breakthrough sensor gathers 300 percent more light than traditional smartphone camera sensors and delivers outstanding low-light performance. HTC BoomSound provides rich, clear sound with minimal distortion, as well as the authentic sound experience you expect from built-in Beats by Dr. Dre Audio. HTC One features dual front-facing speakers and a built-in amplifier to bring music, movies and games alive. Since the speakers are on the front of the device, you no longer have to worry about muffled sound when setting your phone down. HTC Sense TV lets you use your HTC One as an interactive TV guide and remote control. It can be set up in a few simple steps and gives you the ability to access electronic program guides and control a receiver and home theatre right from your phone's screen. The HTC One features AT&T DriveMode, an app that helps curb texting and driving. The app can be set-up to automatically send a customizable reply to incoming messages once a vehicle starts moving 25 mph. The auto-reply message is similar to an "out-of-office alert" and can reply to texts, emails and wireless callers letting your friends know that you are driving and unable to respond.***** Setting up your new HTC One is a snap with AT&T Ready2Go, a free service that helps you to easily set up and personalize your device in minutes from the comfort of your personal computer. With Ready2Go, it's easy to set up your email accounts, import your contacts, connect to your social networks and more.Atheer Pioneers the Mobile 3D Platform of the Future to Seamlessly Fuse an Interactive Digital Layer into the Real WorldUses Stereoscopic 3D, Seamless Human Interactions, and Augmented Reality, to Create the First-Ever Natural Human InterfaceMOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (May 30, 2013) Atheer, the company that is integrating the digital world into the real world, today unveiled its groundbreaking mobile 3D platform and natural human interface technology to spring forward into the future where users compute on the go with the swipe of a hand or the flick of a finger, and never have to touch a physical screen.The company and platform were launched on stage at The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference in front of an audience of international business and technology leaders. Atheer was one of only a handful of companies selected to demo innovative technology on stage.Atheer's technology is unlike anything that currently exists in the industry, taking the mobile interface from 2D to an interactive 3D platform centered on human actions. The platform is breaking the display size barrier and has created an experience that is more immersive than a tablet, and more portable than a smartphone. Atheer's technology enables a wearable, portable 3D platform for the first time."Our mobile 3D platform fundamentally alters the way people access information on the go, adding a natural interface that can be controlled with natural gestures and motions," said Soulaiman Itani, Founder and CEO of Atheer. "The possibilities and advantages of adding an interactive digital layer to the existing physical world are endless, and this is the future of not only technology, but the human experience."Atheer's 3D interface is completely immersive and overlays information into users' visual fields in a way that intuitively and effortlessly fits within their frame of reference. This allows users to seamlessly interact with the information by using natural gestures that do not interfere with their regular activity. The mobile 3D platform has effects on daily activities ranging from navigation and gaming, to interactive education and health.Atheer is grounded in the most advanced technology, using complex algorithms, software and hardware to provide the best form factor and user experience, and is the brainchild of dozens of patented and patent-pending inventions. These include time and power optimal AtheerCoreTM algorithms for detecting hands and gestures, and patented ergonomic benefits that can improve visual comfort and performance by adjusting to each person's specific characteristics. Atheer has patented Retinal Mapping and Vision Optimization to dynamically improve users' visual experience on the platform, and Personalized-Ergonomics to enable a truly natural experience for users' eyes, hands and posture as the platform learns the ideal operating conditions for each particular user."What we're doing is so complex and novel that we had to pull together an interdisciplinary team of specialists at the top of their fields to integrate their expertise. The result has been innovative, patented technology that allows our platform to solve a large number of interconnected problems from low-power detection, natural gesture interfaces and sensor fusion, to user ergonomics and UX," continued Soulaiman. "Because our talented team has integrated their diverse skills to test the technology in a natural mobile paradigm, we've been able to create the first fully portable platform."The platform allows users to leverage regular 2D Android applications, and has the capability to be integrated with any operating system. It also allows for the development of 3D applications specifically for the platform. Atheer gives developers an opportunity to develop 3D augmented reality applications for the first time, allowing them to build more immersive apps and user experiences. The Atheer technology and 3D applications built for the platform are fundamentally disrupting the existing mobile market, and will usher in a 3D mobile device market.Atheer is currently in the product development phase. The company will be working closely with developers to build 3D applications for the platform, and will be conducting developer demonstrations throughout Summer 2013. Interested developers can find more information here: http://atheerlabs.com/devs.Audi and T-Mobile partner to launch the industry's most competitively priced in-vehicle data plan New plan offers real-time content and secure Internet access for as little as $15 per month HERNDON, Va., April 4, 2013 Audi of America and T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced a new data plan that will provide Audi drivers with in-vehicle connectivity at a fraction of the cost of its competitors' plans. With the new data plan, Audi owners can obtain real-time news, weather and fuel prices, access to Google Earth and Google Voice Local Search and retrieve information conveniently and securely over Wi-Fi through the award-winning Audi connect infotainment and navigation system for as little as $15 per month. Passengers in models featuring Audi connect can enjoy broadband connectivity for up to eight devices. A leading national customer satisfaction survey showed that Audi buyers rank the Audi connect service as the second largest factor behind their purchase decision just behind design and ahead of engine performance. Today, with the new data plan pricing, Audi and T-Mobile enable even more Audi drivers and their passengers to access high-speed data services on the go. "Audi and T-Mobile worked closely to develop the new pricing plan based on extensive research and feedback from both dealers and customers," said Anupam Malhotra, Senior Manager, Connected Vehicle, Audi of America. "The T-Mobile-powered Audi connect service delivers unmatched connectivity to our customers at a rate that will turn their Audi into the ultimate mobile device. This plan will help move us toward the goal of one million connected Audi vehicles on the road worldwide by 2015." "Customers want to have the wireless experience they want when they want it at home, at work, or in their car. Through our partnership with Audi, customers can now access award-winning in-vehicle service and virtually unlimited data access for as little as $15 per month," said Rusty Lhamon, Director of M2M at T-Mobile. Audi was the first global auto manufacturer to offer factory-fitted in-vehicle Wi-Fi connectivity with the launch of Audi connect in 2011. With Audi connect, drivers and their passengers have a true view of their route with Google Earth and real-time Sirius XM Traffic information via enhancements to the Audi MMI Navigation plus system. Audi connect also features real-time localized weather, news and fuel prices; Google Voice Local Search for detailed information about travel destinations, such as restaurant or hotel hours, pricing and customer reviews; and the myAudi Destination feature, which allows users to log on to Google Earth from virtually any location in the U.S. and download up to 50 destinations to the vehicle. With the plan announced today, new and existing owners of cars equipped with Audi connect can pay $450 at any time to receive full data services over 30 months, a plan equaling just $15 per month or less if the Audi owner enjoyed the six-month free trial period included at purchase. Alternatively, for $30 per month, customers may also choose a month-to-month Audi connect service plan. Customers with an existing Audi connect subscription plan can sign up at the dealership or through www.myaudiconnect.com. For more information, please visit www.audiusa.com/audiconnect.Audi adds innovative INRIX Park Service to Audi connect services globally&middot; Audi is first automaker to offer INRIX Park worldwide&middot; Service immediately available to all Audi connect subscribers at no added cost&middot; INRIX provides drivers with continuously updated pricing, hours and availability information for off-street participating parking locations in North America and EuropeHERNDON, Va., June 5, 2013 Audi is simplifying the unpleasant task of finding off-street parking with the addition of INRIX Park a real-time navigation service for all existing and new Audi connect subscribers.Demonstrated today for the first time at the annual Telematics Detroit 2013 conference, Audi is the first automaker to offer the breakthrough service developed by INRIX to customers around the world. It will be available immediately with all active Audi connect accounts. In the U.S. market, the service instantly brings new benefits to more than 100,000 Audi models already on the road today plus thousands more new vehicles sold every month."Helping to ease the challenges that Audi drivers face in their daily drives is the core mission of the Audi connect suite of connected car services," said Filip Brabec, Director of Product Management, Audi of America. "By offering the ability to easily navigate to the best parking spot available for their vehicle, Audi has further simplified and improved the ownership experience."With the INRIX Park, Audi connect customers gain the ability to easily compare rates, gauge proximity to their destination and get turn-by-turn directions the entrances for more than 18,000 participating parking locations in the U.S. and 42,000 more across Europe. The roster of available parking destinations will continue to grow as data on the locations and available spaces builds.Audi and INRIX demonstrated the technology today at the Telematics Detroit 2013 conference."Together with Audi we're making it easier to get new integrated navigation services in your vehicle than it is to update your smartphone," said Bryan Mistele, President and CEO of INRIX. "With drivers looking for parking accounting for up to a third of all traffic in our cities, INRIX Park demonstrates how new data driven services can help drivers save time and frustration on the road".Key feature benefits include: Find available parking closest to a destination; save favorite locations Compare by distance or current price; prices include the rates charged for length of time parked Navigate with precision via the most direct route to the closest entrance from the vehicle's location.Audi offers vehicle owners this newly launched service through Audi MMI Navigation equipped vehicles with Audi connect* in the U.S. Delivered via the INRIX platform, the parking service is available as part of an options package that includes Bluetooth mobile phone connectivity, INRIX's dynamic fuel price service as well as real-time news, local traffic, travel and weather information.INRIX Park allows search beyond a static point of interest to navigate to the closest available parking location and best entrance based on the drivers' approach route and traffic, pricing including hourly scaling and the number of available spaces.AUGUST DEBUTS A SAFE, SIMPLE AND SOCIAL SMART LOCK TO REVOLUTIONIZE HOME SECURITYPALOS VERDES, CA-May 30th, 2013-Today at the D: All Things Digital conference, renowned designer Yves Behar and technology entrepreneur Jason Johnson launched August and its flagship product, the August Smart Lock. The Smart Lock is the first product from August, a company building products that make life simpler, allowing physical environments to seamlessly respond to user behavior. The intuitive new lock and access system for the home is a virtual doorman that makes life easier and more convenient.Through a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) enabled locking mechanism and an elegant and intuitive mobile application, August allows you to send a virtual key to anyone you choose to have access to your home. August retrofits to your existing deadbolt and installs in less than ten minutes. It relies on the same secure communications technology used by financial institutions for online banking, giving only desired individual's access to your property for set amounts of time. As the homeowner or a guest arrives at the door, August auto-unlocks and welcomes you into the home hands-free.With the app's Guestbook function, August offers a private and secure social network in which owners can share photos, stories and comments to make owners and guests feel more at home.The lock itself is crafted and engineered with the highest quality materials. Design details add tactility and provide visual cues about the smart lock's status and battery life, while the small, circular design and availability of different colors makes the lock fit in any home d&eacute;cor."Today there is a discrepancy between the sophistication of some parts of home living like our sound systems and the constant friction in others like security. The August Smart Lock is a simpler, safer and more social system for access control that is easy to install and use," said August co-founder and CEO Jason Johnson."August is about technology that puts you at ease," said August co-founder and designer Yves Behar. "Sure and reliable, August is a complete, secure and attractive system for the users and guests that depend on it."The August Smart Lock, which is slated to begin shipping later this year at the introductory price of $199, will never have a fee to use the system's core functionality. For more information or to reserve your August Smart Lock please visit www.august.com.# # #About August:August builds products that make life simpler, allowing physical environments to seamlessly respond to user behavior. August's flagship product, the August Smart Lock, is a new lock and access system that allows you to send a virtual key to anyone you choose to have access to your home. Founded by designer and entrepreneur Yves Behar and consumer technology veteran Jason Johnson, August has raised a $2 million dollar seed round to-date and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. The company has opened its cloud platform to trusted developer partners, vetted by August, so they can connect existing things to the platform and help grow the Internet of Things connected world.Scanners that can read data from your car's port (which is in every car built since 1996) aren't exactly new; they're on-hand at every mechanic's workshop and curious car enthusiasts can buy them from most hardware stores. But few port readers are consumer-friendly enough for the everyday driver to grok. Enter the newly announced , which uses and a paired smartphone to deliver diagnostic info with a decidedly novel twist. Instead of just hard facts, it offers an innovative array of features that range from monitoring driving habits, dialing 911 in case of an accident and even letting you clear a check engine light if you can fix the problem yourself. Join us after the break where we give the Link a bit of a test drive, speak to Automatic's lead product guy and find out a bit more about the potential of this tiny plastic nub. As far as the actual Link device goes, there's not much to say about it. It's, well, a tiny white plastic plug with the letter A on the front. There's an LED indicator at the top that glows red or green depending on its connection status and a speaker on the back that beeps when you've made a driving faux pas. What's interesting is what's inside; it has an accelerometer which is useful for detecting those sudden movements, and Bluetooth 4.0, which is used to transmit a set of data to your smartphone. The app, therefore, is the real star of the show. From our initial hands-on, it seems surprisingly polished for essentially a 1.0 release. The main hub appears to be the trip timeline, which records information about each drive you had that week. It calculates what it deems to be your MPG on a trip, the ideal MPG based on whether you drove on the highway or city streets, the map of your route and whether or not you made any fuel-efficiency mistakes like braking too hard or accelerating too quickly. From this information, the Automatic app comes up with what it thinks is your driving score for that week -- the higher the number, the better your driving. But the app goes beyond just taking note of your MPG. It also uses geolocation data to determine which gas station you just visited to fill up and will automatically calculate how much you paid based on a database of stations. As you drive around, the app will tell you just how much your driving is actually costing you based on that last fill-up and your driving speed. Of course, geolocation also comes in handy when trying to find a lost car in a giant parking lot. Perhaps more interestingly, Automatic can also suss out the reason behind a check engine light along with an appropriate course of action. The app lets you know what the error code means and if it's a serious problem, it'll bring up a map of nearby auto shops along with their Yelp ratings. However, if the solution is a simple DIY remedy like tightening your gas cap, you can go ahead and turn off the light with the app itself, saving you time and money. Last but certainly not least, the app will dial 911 and up to three emergency contacts when it thinks you've been in an accident -- it figures that out with the data it collects from the Link's accelerometer. We had a chance to take a test drive of the Automatic device with Ljuba Miljkovic, Automatic's chief product officer, and he told us that the Link device is purposefully "dumb." While it has the aforementioned accelerometer and Bluetooth capabilities, it relies on the phone to provide everything else, from GPS to a data connection. "If we recreated that [in the hardware], we would need to charge users a monthly fee," he said. "We thought it'd be best just to charge for the Link itself." After about a year of development, the Link can finally be pre-ordered through Automatic's website. It costs $69.95, while the app is free. Both the hardware and the iOS app will be available in May. The iOS app works over Bluetooth 4.0 so it won't drain the phone's battery, but the standard is only available in the and the . The Android app, however, works with all Bluetooth standards, and will be available later in the fall. For an interview with Miljkovic where he gives us a test drive and a first-hand demo of the Link, check the video below.Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak Achieves This Year's Goal, Ascends Entire Mountain Course Without a Driver-- The autonomous Audi research car completed a non-stop ascent up the legendary 12.42-mile rally race route in September tests-- Results certified by organizers of Pikes Peak International Hill Climb-- Motivation for the research is to develop technologies that could help motorists steer their way out of severe dangerHERNDON, Va., Nov. 18, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak research car achieved its initial goal of completing the 12.42-mile course of the world-famous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb race in Colorado without stopping and without a driver behind the wheel.The research car jointly developed by Audi, Stanford University, the Volkswagen Group Electronics Research Lab in Palo Alto, Calif., and Oracle conquered the challenging route up the mountain, which serves as the venue for one of the world's most thrilling rally races each June.During September testing, the Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak drove to the 14,110-foot summit in Colorado without stopping. Organizers of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the second-oldest race in America, certified that the Autonomous Audi TTS completed the twisting course. On the last remaining dirt section, which offered the sternest test of autonomous high-speed handling, the car reached speeds of 45 mph. Five other times during the weeklong testing the car ran the complete course, only pausing briefly on its own to confirm its reading of route data.Overall, the Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak completed the mountain course in 27 minutes, as verified by Pikes Peak International Hill Climb officials. No human rally driver has completed the course in fewer than 10 minutes, despite driving cars that produced more than 900 hp. The Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak generates 265 hp. Race officials told researchers they would expect an expert race driver on the course to finish in around 17 minutes in a car similar to the TTS.The successful result proved that autonomous technology can handle difficult driving courses and conditions, engineers on the project said."By partnering with leading institutions in Silicon Valley we seek to bring innovative technologies into our vehicles and redefine what is possible," said Dr. Burkhard Huhnke, director of the Electronic Research Lab in Palo Alto, Calif., which co-developed the Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak. "The goal is to improve driver safety and save lives by creating extremely robust electronics."ERL and Stanford have been at the forefront of autonomous driving research for several years, including involvement in past DARPA Challenges sponsored by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak reflects the ERL-Stanford strategy of conducting research in tiers that thoroughly investigate technologies needed to perform different autonomous driving tasks ranging from low-speed maneuvering in urban environments to high-speed handling on varied road surfaces on a challenging course like Pikes Peak.When research began on the Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak research project just over a year ago, the direction was clear: employ emerging software, algorithms and electronics to help everyday drivers stay in control, and safely on the road, even during extreme driving conditions.The aim of the Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak research was to develop a technology that would enhance a driver's abilities, much as computerized systems of passenger jetliners assist skilled pilots."We are not trying to replace the driver," said Professor Chris Gerdes of Stanford University, "Instead we want to learn how the best drivers control the car so we can develop systems that assist our robotic driver and, eventually, you and me."Working together, Audi, Stanford University, the Volkswagen Group Electronics Research Lab and Oracle developed a distinct engineering achievement. The Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak integrates advanced algorithms, the Oracle Java real-Time System (Java RTS), Oracle Solaris and GPS with safety and navigation systems found in stock Audi TTS models to maintain control at a physical performance extreme.Java and Oracle Solaris provide a significant advancement over traditional execution models in terms of reliability, transparency, debugging capability, programming model, predictable response-time characteristics, and cost. Using the standard Java programming model and memory management functionality, developers were able to program the Autonomous Audi TTS to easily differentiate processes based on their importance and precisely determine when time-critical functions should be executed."Oracle Java RTS is the first enterprise-class solution to formally address the issues of latency and unpredictable response times for Java applications and we're thrilled to be part of this research project," said Greg Bollella, chief architect, Embedded Java, Oracle. "For the Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak, Java was used to acquire GPS position coordinates and distribute those coordinates to all of the other components in the system. It also served as the safety controller for the vehicle, responsible for gracefully bringing the car to a stop if any of the traditional systems malfunctioned."Deciding on a location to prove the technology was an easy choice as the Pikes Peak route offered steep inclines, switchbacks and varied road surfaces for the autonomous Audi TTS to navigate. Pikes Peak is also the place where Audi technology became legendary in the rally racing world a generation ago thanks in large part to the distinctive quattro technology, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary as a technological all-wheel-drive breakthrough exclusively on Audi vehicles.The Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak achieved this year's goal on the mountain. The next stage of the research project will involve autonomous high-speed handling on paved surfaces. The research team is evaluating race tracks where they can conduct the next phase of this research.In keeping with all trials of the technology, the Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak research team worked with local authorities to conduct the mountain testing during closed-course runs that emphasized public safety.To celebrate its accomplishment, Audi is featuring the Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak at its inaugural display at the SEMA Show, which begins today in Las Vegas.To view a video of the September run up Pikes Peak by the Autonomous Audi TTS research car, please go to audiusanews.com or search Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak on YouTube.com.Thirty days is just a tiny fraction of the two-year commitment you sign when buying discounted phones in the US -- one-twenty-fourth of the actual time you're stuck with the device before switching phones. For a reviewer like me, however, it's actually about twice as long as I typically spend with any given device as my daily driver. I'm halfway through my monthlong experiment, which means this is the point at which I'm usually ready to move on to something new. Strangely, I'm not feeling the same about the Z10 -- at least, not as much as I had expected. While I became accustomed to the user interface during the first week, my experiences during the second week were even more smooth and natural than before. That's great news as I prepare for my upcoming trip to Spain to cover (I leave tonight), since my habits as a power user will be amplified during my weeklong venture to the other side of the Atlantic. Phone-wise, what would normally be a minor frustration at home can become an emergency in other countries, so I spent this week putting the Z10 to the test. I wanted to make sure it's prepared for the rough and taxing journey the two of us will face in Barcelona. Venture across the break and I'll fill you in on some of the things I discovered. Editor's note: This is not a review. If you haven't taken the opportunity to read through our review of the and the , now is the perfect time to do so. As I progress through my , I'm writing most of my thoughts with the assumption that you have a basic understanding of BlackBerry's new devices and platform. One of my fondest recollections from my BlackBerry Curve days was the phone's intricate use of shortcuts. They were everywhere; discovering new shortcuts was the equivalent of locating hidden treasure on a pirate map. At the time, I had the feeling that there were plenty of keystrokes and other shortcuts that I never found -- and now I'm experiencing that same thing with BlackBerry 10. Since my first week was dedicated to learning the user interface and ecosystem, I didn't learn many of BB10's secrets; this past week, however, was a completely different story. Thanks to a plethora of online resources (including some helpful Engadget commenters), I was immersed in the phones inner workings. I discovered that there's a delicate balance between necessity and luxury. In other words, shortcuts can add a great deal of convenience and depth for power users, but it's also important that they don't overwhelm users that only want to utilize of the platform's simple features. Fortunately, BlackBerry does a beautiful job of striking this balance. For instance, the keyboard offers several handy tricks -- type "ld" to automatically insert today's date, "mypin" for the device PIN, "mynumber" for your phone number and so on. I've also put in my own custom autocorrects, the same way I can with most other platforms. If you don't want to see the keyboard anymore, just pull it down with two fingers (and vice versa). The most mind-blowing shortcut, though? If the Hub misbehaves, you can reset it without a battery pull by pulling down from the top-right corner of the screen five times. (Head for more shortcuts.) I wish I could say that BlackBerry 10 offers that same kind of flawless execution in every facet of the OS, but unfortunately there are still plenty of areas that need extra work. One such area is battery life. Nearly every review I've read (including our own) makes mention of the Z10's power-management struggle, and my experience over the last two weeks matches those claims. I'm emailing, messaging, tweeting and browsing the internet much more frequently than any sane person should, but I'm lucky if the phone gets me through a standard workday -- usually eight to 10 hours at the most. Not once have I been able to make it through a full day on a single charge. Granted, there are some power-saving measures you can take to extend the Z10's life, but these will likely only work if you aren't wholly dependent on the phone for any degree of your livelihood. (And don't even think about playing graphic-intensive games on it unless you're close to an outlet and a charger.) This week, I also explored (and became frustrated by) BlackBerry Maps. Its simple interface might do the job for some travelers, but it's too basic for my needs. The voice turn-by-turn navigation, GPS tracking and traffic updates are handy to have and all work well, but those are staples for any OS at this point, which means they aren't standout features. The bigger concern is what the Maps application doesn't supply: I need transit directions, walking options, offline maps, distance between two points, a bird's eye or Street View feature, more POIs and Zagat- / Yelp-style reviews. I also noticed that while it's able to find most businesses I search for, there are a few smaller establishments that don't show up (many of which have been around for years). Unfortunately, I've grown increasingly hesitant about relying on BB Maps as my sole navigation option for my trip to Spain, so I've been playing with two other options: an older APK of Google Maps sideloaded from my computer -- it's sluggish, but usable -- and Nokia Here on the BB10 browser. So far, the latter has been my top choice. While it's a web app, it works amazingly well with very little delay in response. Best of all, it does everything BB Maps doesn't do with the exception of voice turn-by-turn, and I actually don't even use that feature very often. Apart from my experience using Nokia Here, the browser as a whole is one of my favorite elements of BB10 so far. I typically use HTML5 much more frequently than I use Flash, but it's nice to have the option to take advantage of the latter whenever I want. If it's not needed, I can easily turn it off in the settings. This is one feature that may persuade others to give BB10 -- an OS without many competitive advantages over its rivals -- a shot. I do wish text would auto-adjust to fit the screen whenever I zoom in (much like HTC does on its browser), but I use Reader mode to check out long-form articles in a larger font, so it's not a huge pain. The only thing missing on the browser to appease this frequent flier is the ability to save pages for offline reading, so I'll likely depend solely on movies and podcasts en route to Barcelona. How well will that work out for me? The stock video and music players deliver decent quality, but they're still a little too basic. No audio enhancements can be found on either player, though at least the video app offers sharing and editing options, something I believe is essential on every flagship smartphone. While I can't do much tweaking, the phone's audio element is at least loud and balanced enough to get an above-average listening experience, which means it'll work well enough on my upcoming flights. Without additional settings, however, the Z10 won't be my personal media device of choice unless I find solid third-party options to take the place of both players. Just like multimedia playback, the camera UI is surprisingly scarce and simple. I'll discuss the imaging performance in more detail later this month (spoiler alert: it's not terrible, but I won't look at it as my go-to device if I need to take high-quality shots). Sadly, BB10's camera UI doesn't offer very many settings to tweak. I'd rather have options available to adjust my shot for each unique situation, but even the most basic camera features are missing. I'd like to see HDR, ISO, white balance, panorama mode, exposure and additional Scene modes, among others. Using the volume rocker as a shutter button is a nice touch, especially when the only alternative is to touch the viewfinder, but very few tricks are available for the camera aside from this. The camera, maps and multimedia apps offer just a few examples of the minimalism that appears throughout various parts of the OS. It's been one of my major takeaways from the first half of my BB10 trial, and I don't believe things were left out by accident -- in fact, most mobile platforms start out the same way. It makes sense that a company like BlackBerry would want to focus primarily on the core OS and features first and tackle smaller things like extra settings and options iteratively as the platform grows and progresses. Unfortunately, it also means I'm making compromises in order to use BlackBerry 10, but I'm hopeful that we'll start seeing third-party apps that throw in more options. Wrap-up The first half of my experiment was the easy part. As I prepare for my trip to Spain, I'm now starting to realize the second half of the month will be the true test of what the BlackBerry Z10 is capable of, especially from a power user's point of view. My reliance on the device will increase dramatically as I work overseas, and to be honest, I'm a little nervous about it. While I've had enough time to become acquainted with BB10, and to make sure I'm equipped with everything I need, there's no way I can count on the device's battery to last me the whole day without an external pack. Still, there's nothing like a huge trip to turn an unproven OS into a proven (or worse, still unproven) one. You can follow Brad on , where he is documenting many of his thoughts and observations on BlackBerry 10.Editor's note: This is not a review. If you haven't taken the opportunity to read through our review of the and the , now is the perfect time to do so. As I progress through my , I'm writing most of my thoughts with the assumption that you have a basic understanding of BlackBerry's new devices and platform. If you were to ask me what the most significant changes are in , I'd likely go into detail about the user interface, gestures, the Hub and the ecosystem. It's an amazing improvement over previous BlackBerry devices in most cases. It's not too difficult to learn, either: just three days into my 30-day trial, I found myself unsuccessfully swiping up on a friend's Android phone to turn it on. But now that I've had the chance to set up all of my accounts, do some hardcore messaging and play around with the device, what are some of my thoughts about those major differences? Join me after the break and learn some of the best and worst things I discovered so far. The setup began with my BlackBerry ID, which was so old that I was surprised when the phone accepted my password. I added all of my email and social networking accounts in just a few minutes, but adding my inboxes to the Hub took several additional minutes. No special BlackBerry data plan ; all I had to do was simply slide my AT&T micro-SIM card into the phone, boot up and it gave me full access to everything I need. Even in the setup process, BB10 offered a few smart touches seldom seen on other platforms. For instance, my Facebook account is attached to one of my old Yahoo Mail accounts that hadn't been set up on my Z10 yet. When I added my Facebook logins to the BlackBerry Hub, it instantly recognized that I was using a different email address and asked me if I wanted to set that account up as well. All I had to do was throw in my password and I was ready to go. It's something that seems like common sense, but it's still a rarity in the mobile world. Once my Z10 was set up and ready to go, I had a chance to get introduced to the user interface. It's modern and beautiful, and the swipe gestures are a great touch. Despite its learning curve, I was used to the BlackBerry Flow gestures after just a couple days -- and it got even easier over time. Flow is much more intuitive than I originally expected. Going back and forth between the Hub and recent (or running) apps is just a matter of a couple finger swipes, which made multitasking much faster and easier once I became acclimatized to the UI. However, the phone would occasionally ignore my gestures; I've also experienced the complete opposite scenario, like during attempts to swipe up on the keyboard's space bar, which the phone interprets as the "home screen" gesture. Also, it seems odd that an OS dedicated to simple swipe gestures doesn't let me swipe up to get rid of running applications on the main screen (&agrave; la ). Speaking of which, the recent apps Active Frames screen (seen above) doubles as the UI's home panel, which was a little jarring at first; being accustomed to diving straight into the standard apps, this new style has involved a solid amount of adjustment time. I started using the running apps much more frequently than I ever had on any other platform, since it was so easily accessible. This quick access, as well as the ability to get into apps almost immediately, has provided me with one of the best multitasking experiences I've ever had on a smartphone. Once I began exploring the app pages, found on the right side of home, I was reminded of iOS, which features a static grid with apps and folders. To the left of home is the Hub. Here, all of my accounts are together in one place (and filterable to specific inboxes for better organization), but it's a half-baked effort. It lacks the numerous customization and communication options from previous BlackBerry devices, and app notifications can be erratic. It's also supposed to fully integrate with native apps, but two-way communication between the two elements is quite lackluster. As an example, after looking through my mentions on the native Twitter app, they remain as unread notifications in the Hub that need to be cleared out (a time-intensive process). Because of this, I have less interest in using the Hub, and only visit it to check my emails. (Update: a commenter pointed out that it's possible to long-press dates in the Hub, which reveals a "Mark prior read" option.) What about the ultimate BlackBerry staple, ? After setting the messaging service up -- easy to do, since it already had my ID -- and chatting with a few of my colleagues, the interface and feel seemed immediately familiar. The two-way video chat and screen-share features are handy, and BBM is just as pleasant to use as I remember. Unfortunately, the feature lacks cross-platform capability, limiting the number of potential friends and family members that I can talk to on the service. (Not to mention video chat is definitely no stranger to the smartphone world.) Unless millions of people flock to BB10 over the next year or so, I simply won't have a lot of opportunities to take advantage of BBM -- and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I couldn't even make it through a day before I was setting out to find worthy replacements to the "native" clients. Since Facebook hasn't committed to pushing out its own BB10 app, BlackBerry built one; at best, the application is a horribly implemented Android version wrapped up in BB10 code, and some sections of the app take you to the site on the mobile browser. As for Twitter, I've never been able to refresh my feed without fully exiting and re-entering the program. (Not everyone has experienced this bug, but numerous attempts to re-install the app haven't made a difference on my device.) As a hardcore emailer, the Z10 has proved to be somewhat cumbersome in real-life use. My inbox is organized into a "conversation view," but when I click on the email thread it takes me into an individual-message view and I can't hop from one email to the next without jumping out of the email first. I haven't found a way to preview the first line or two of text before jumping into the message, and the only way to multi-select my messages is to jump into the menu and press "select more" before proceeding. These complications make for a more time-intensive experience. While I got push emails through IMAP, syncing my account with Google's server wasn't instantaneous. There are a few settings that let me change how often the phone will communicate with Gmail, but whenever I read my email from my desktop, it would take ages before the phone knew about it. As soon as I switched to Exchange, though, everything began syncing much more quickly. On a more positive note: push email works great; BlackBerry Peek helps me see how many email notifications are waiting; viewing / saving attachments is easy; and my experience reading HTML emails is pleasant. Typing messages on the new is also fast and smooth, though my experience using the word-prediction feature is right on par with our review. Once all of my essential accounts and social networks were set up, it was time to play around in . The store, which flaunted at the time of its launch, still looks amazingly bare. Additionally, BB World isn't easy to navigate, so app discovery was rather difficult. Several times I've exited the store in disgust because I couldn't find anything close to what I was looking for. Only a handful of "featured apps" are shown on the first page, and "trending apps" typically displays just 10-15 of the apps BlackBerry wants to show off. To get to the meat, I have to dive into the categories, which are then broken up into subcategories. The silver lining is that once I get there, at least there are filters that narrow down my choices and let me change the sorting order. What if the app you really want isn't available on BlackBerry World? Welcome to the immediate future, folks. The ability to port Android apps over to BlackBerry has been a lifesaver. Once I learned Android apps to my Z10, I installed and used it to keep up on the usual feeds (I can access Google+ and Instagram this way). Additionally, I found apps for Remember the Milk, Google Voice, speed tests and podcasts, to name a few. This doesn't mean the use of repackaged Android apps is a flawless experience. Some are clunky, unresponsive and don't give me an experience as smooth as programs written natively for BlackBerry. Since Runtime for Android only supports Gingerbread or older versions (this will be bumped to eventually), I've dealt with an archaic UI and apps that don't work. Many of the sideloaded files didn't launch. On multiple occasions, some of the apps that actually did work would freeze, forcing me to exit the app completely or reboot the phone. However, since it only takes a couple minutes to sideload an app, the additional functionality you receive is worth the gamble. Wrap-up While I'm fully committed to spending 30 days with BlackBerry 10, the first week onboard the new OS hasn't converted me into a dedicated user. I'm not saying my decision to do a month-long challenge was a mistake or that I loathe every waking moment with the Z10, but BB10 simply doesn't offer many competitive advantages that would take me away from the other platforms. The UI and gestures are refreshing and fun to use, but the Hub feels a little too basic for my email needs. I'm also willing to give the ecosystem some more time to grow, but it's not a good sign that I have no other choice but to sideload Android apps to fill massive holes in BlackBerry World. Granted, I believe BB10 is the best first-gen version of any mobile OS on the market, and it has a lot more potential than I originally thought. How well -- and how soon -- it lives up to that potential is a completely different story. Note: You can follow Brad on , where he is documenting many of his thoughts and observations on BlackBerry 10.Time's up. I've now had a to call the my very own and use it as my everyday device. I've had the opportunity to use it in every likely scenario, including a to Spain for . Now comes the moment of truth: have I become a BlackBerry convert? Is the Z10 my new daily driver? Unfortunately, it's not. But before the BlackBerry fan base breaks out the torches and forms mobs, this isn't a denunciation of the phone or . Quite the opposite, in fact. I decided to pursue this experiment for a few reasons: it's the best way to learn a brand-new operating system, I genuinely am interested in how well it handles regular day-to-day use and a month gives me plenty of time to form a solid idea of the platform's potential and future. Is it possible to have a great deal of admiration for a phone while simultaneously rejecting it as my daily driver? Yes. After the break I sum up the highlights of BB10: what works, what doesn't and what simply needs a little nudge or two. What works for me Gestures. BB10's gestures are natural and intuitive. In the first week of my trial, I had become so accustomed to BB10's gesture-based UI that I started trying to wake Android devices by swiping up on the screen. Most gestures on BlackBerry 10 are easy and they give the platform a fair amount of uniqueness that you can't find on iOS or Android. Active Frames. BlackBerry's multitasking performance is among the best (if not the best) I've used on any phone, as opening any running application is almost always an instantaneous transition -- even with graphics-heavy games. I also have a love / hate relationship with the Active Frames UI; quick access to my recent apps is nice, but having it take the form of a "home page" without any ability to customize it can be frustrating. BlackBerry Peek. To be frank, my favorite notification method implemented on any mobile OS is the status bar on Android, mainly because it's easily accessible and navigable the vast majority of the time (it gets hidden in certain apps). That said, BlackBerry Peek is also a refreshing departure from standard notification systems; swipe up to "peek" at how many notifications you have, and swipe to the right if you want to view them. They're also easy to ignore if you so desire. BlackBerry Hub. Although it's not perfect, Hub is the best implementation of a universal inbox I've used so far. Since it's built directly into the OS and has integrated nearly all of my preferred methods of communication, I can catch up on emails, texts and tweet mentions without exiting to different apps. Emails. I enjoy the email experience on BB10... for the most part. I love having the option to lump my messages all together in a universal inbox or tackle them one account at a time. It handles attachments incredibly easily, HTML5 looks great and mail gets pushed to the inbox right away (I often receive emails on the Z10 before they arrive on my Mac). I also appreciate that a conversation view is offered. But there's one critical flaw that I hope can be tweaked: even though I can go into a specific thread, each response in that thread is presented as an individual email, and there's no way to navigate through the entire conversation without first backing out to the thread list and then going back into the next response. iOS is structured in a similar way, but it offers navigation arrows on the top-right corner to let you quickly move through the entire thread. The keyboard. This is BlackBerry's bread and butter, and the OS doesn't disappoint here -- at least, when it comes to performance. It's the best stock keyboard I've ever used. However, the inline word prediction feature, while really cool in theory, failed to increase my typing speed. I switched to the in-column view, in which you can choose from three words on the top of the keyboard, and was much happier. Flash Player. In full disclosure, I'm not an avid user of Flash, but I do prefer at least having the option to use it when I need it. I'm happy that it can be manually turned on or off at any time, thus giving users actual choice. This is a solid competitive advantage for BlackBerry, even though I can't envision many people switching to a different OS just for Flash support. Sideloading Android apps. Runtime for BlackBerry came through for me on a daily basis because it allowed me to use several Android apps to fill gaping holes in BB World (case in point: Flipboard). Don't worry; native apps will eventually come in to take care of that problem. The problem is, relying on Android ports as a workaround to support your ecosystem is not an ideal long-term solution. Sure, it may encourage a few more devs to think about writing apps for the platform, but it's not going to magically change the industry. Most users won't know or care to sideload apps, so BlackBerry has to work hard to make sure those users don't have to in order to get the best possible experience. Updates. Before the first month was over, BlackBerry issued a significant update promising to improve power management for better battery life, low-light camera performance and third-party app performance. Given the horrible battery life I've experienced, I'm excited to give it a try; unfortunately, the update didn't arrive in enough time for me to give it a thorough test, so I'll have to report back later. However, a quick look at various BB forums indicates that it does a much better job at retaining a charge. What needs some work BlackBerry World. I'm not going to condemn a nascent ecosystem for its app selection. No market blossoms in the space of one month, and the reality is BlackBerry has actually done a fairly good job of making sure the right pieces were in place for BB10's launch -- at least, it's done better than any other first-edition platform. Most users (especially those on the enterprise / corporate side) will likely be satisfied with what's available in BB World, unless they absolutely need Netflix or Instagram. There are a few areas of World itself that could use some improvement. It should check for (and install) updates automatically -- or at least make it an option, if not mandated. More filters are needed without diving deep into subcategories and other seldom-used lists. Lastly, with Android ports comprising 40 percent of World's app selection, each one should be specifically listed as such -- especially when they're paid apps. Data monitoring. This needs the most work, since I still haven't found any way to monitor my data usage at all. I sorely missed this feature in Spain, because I had a pre-paid data cap and didn't want to run out in the middle of an important event. If BlackBerry doesn't come up with a solution, a third party needs to step up. Maps. The native maps solution on BB10 is my least favorite of the major platforms. It's way too basic altogether, shunning important features like transit directions, walking options, offline maps, distance between two points, a bird's eye or Street View feature, more POIs and Zagat- / Yelp-style reviews. I preferred the Nokia Here web app; this speaks volumes to Here's impressive capabilities, but I shouldn't have to use it as a replacement to a platform's native maps app. Using web apps. BlackBerry is using web apps as alternatives to a few native apps, and I hope this is only a short-term solution while the company cooks up other options. There are two examples of this practice that especially need attention: the Facebook app, which takes you into the browser for a large number of its services, and YouTube, which is just a shortcut to its home page. These options are better than nothing, but they fall far short when it comes to the user experience. Tweakable settings. I like choice. If something doesn't work for me, it's nice to have the ability to tweak it so it does my bidding. Sadly, BB10 lacks a lot of these customizable settings in many core apps, such as the camera, music and video players, maps and more. This could be a symptom of being a first-edition OS, where many minor features end up on the cutting-room floor as the dev team focuses on getting the major stuff right, so hopefully these smaller things will be addressed in the next update. Conclusion While the Z10 won't be my daily driver, I can answer the questions I raised at the beginning of my experiment: does it fit my daily work flow? How does it hold up against its rivals? And does BlackBerry have a future? First, work flow: I was able to accomplish almost all of my daily work routine -- even when I was in Spain for nine days -- but a large chunk of it was only made possible by sideloading Android apps and finding other workarounds. Basically, I had to make a lot of compromises and do a lot of research in order to get it to function the way I needed, and many tasks became more time-intensive than they would have been on other platforms. I'm happy that these methods helped me get through the month unscathed, but ease of use, accessibility and speed are crucial to me. Second, how does it hold up against its rivals? There are plenty of good qualities in BB10, but BlackBerry needs a hook -- in other words, iOS and Android users won't hop out of an ecosystem they're comfortable with unless there's a very clear reason to do so. The new and improved BlackBerry is the best first-edition OS I've ever used, but the true competitive advantages are few and far between: solid enterprise / BYOD support (areas in which iOS and Android are quickly catching up) and the BlackBerry Hub. BB10's gesture-based UI and built-in Flash Player get honorable mentions, but I can't see very many people making the jump on those features alone. Again, this isn't a condemnation of the OS. After 30 days, I've discovered that I like the Z10 and the BlackBerry 10 OS a lot more than I had anticipated, and I believe it will be an ideal platform for a large number of power users, heavy communicators and corporate hotshots. It's just not the most ideal option for me right now. And as every major OS has done over time, it will evolve, add missing features and iron out the wrinkles (BlackBerry has already pushed out its first update, so it's off to a solid start). Which takes me to my final question: does BlackBerry have enough time to keep blossoming? The only way you can drive to your destination is to look forward, not at the car in the lane next to you; I believe BlackBerry is going in the right direction now, but it can't sit idly by and watch its competitors speed ahead again.Dropping a smartphone is an absolutely horrifying experience. And on my first day in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, it happened to me with my BlackBerry Z10. As much as I hate to admit, it was a dumb move on my part. Unfortunately, tragedy can strike with as simple an act as brushing one's elbow across the table, and that's all it took for me to knock my smartphone right onto a hard surface -- facedown in a perfectly horizontal position. If you've ever been through such an accident, you know the few seconds it takes to pick up the phone and survey the damage can be incredibly nerve-wracking and one of the most suspenseful moments of your life. I'm happy to say that this particular story has a positive ending, as I turned the phone over to see if I would need to call BlackBerry HQ in a panic. To my shock, it was completely fine. There wasn't a single scratch or ding, and the touchscreen was just as responsive as ever. It would've been a different story had it fallen onto a concrete floor, but this still significantly increased my opinion of the Z10's durability. Had my Z10 come face to face with concrete, I would've been in a nasty predicament. Not only would I have had to pause or put the kibosh my 30-day trial run with the BlackBerry Z10, but I'm also on the other side of the world in a foreign country. While getting a new phone isn't impossible, it's expensive, time-consuming and frustrating. Yep, this was how my 10-day international adventure began, but how well has it gone for me since? Editor's note: This is not a review. If you haven't taken the opportunity to read through our review of the and the , now is the perfect time to do so. As I progress through my , I'm writing most of my thoughts with the assumption that you have a basic understanding of BlackBerry's new devices and platform. If you're reading this series for the first time, you can look at my previous posts . I'm going to rewind the tale of my journey to where and when it all began: the flight here. In preparation for the eight-hour venture into the dark black skies, I loaded my phone up with podcasts (via a third-party native app) and plenty of games and music to keep me occupied. Everything worked up to expectations -- and frankly, that shouldn't surprise anyone. Any smartphone that can't pass the basic airplane in-flight entertainment test simply doesn't deserve to exist, and the Z10 does just fine on that end. One of the first matters of business after arriving was securing a pre-paid SIM for a few minutes, texts and all of my data needs, since I landed at the airport with no way of communicating with the world without paying outrageous international roaming charges (I'm giving you the evil eye, US carriers; you know who you are). Though some BB10 services offer reasonable offline support, I had a difficult time finding any that applied to me. In fear that I wouldn't be able to get the address of my hotel or pull up a map on my phone at the airport, I made sure to take a few screenshots just to be on the safe side. Accessing the address in an email was easy enough, but the screenshots came in handy when trying to describe my destination to the taxi driver. I promptly got set up with a Vodafone pre-paid SIM. After booting, it became clear that my unlocked unit actually comes with a rather unique trait not seen in many other GSM devices (this is the first phone I've seen work this way): it's able to load up splash screens, ringtones, apps and accounts that are associated with the current SIM's carrier. On AT&T, my Z10 booted up with "Rethink Possible," contained AT&T-specific ringtones, offered AT&T Address Book as an account option and more. Once I inserted my Vodafone SIM, however, all of those disappeared and -- with the exception of the ringtones -- were replaced with Vodafone's versions (including a Vodafone app that magically appeared after my first boot up). This was a pretty cool discovery. It's a feature that I hope is implemented on all of BlackBerry's unlocked devices (all of our units have it), though I'm not expecting handsets that are originally locked to a carrier to have the same privilege. Sure, I'm definitely not a fan of any sort of carrier branding -- especially on unlocked handsets -- but admittedly it was worthy of a small geekout moment. Another service I've always geeked out about, despite how long it's been around, is Skype. I'm not the most frequent user of the service, but it's a godsend when I'm overseas because it makes it so easy to video chat with my wife and kids. While there are plenty of similar services available, it's the one that nearly every member of my family uses. I was hoping that Skype's anticipated app would be ready for BB10 by the time I left for Spain, but unfortunately it's still MIA. The only alternate option, FaceFlow, isn't cross-platform (though it offers a web interface), so I've been using the service on my computer instead. Of course, Skype is coming to the platform soon, so most BB10 buyers won't have the same concern for long, but it was one less way for me to take advantage of the OS. A solid few days using the Z10 in Spain haven't changed my mind about BlackBerry 10 -- it's still a perfectly capable platform that just needs improvement in a few key areas -- but I must admit that my experience abroad has been better than I originally expected. To be on the safe side, I brought along an unlocked Android device as a backup, ready to accept my SIM at a moment's notice if I decided the Z10 wasn't successful at keeping up with my excessive work. Fortunately, I never felt it necessary to resort to the backup. Does that mean I had a flawless experience at MWC? Not at all. I had a few struggles, primarily in the area of mapping and app availability, and my desire for pure threaded-email conversations in the Hub dramatically increased when I was faced with twice the email volume and team email correspondence as a normal week. Furthermore, my initial concerns with battery life were also magnified as I more heavily relied on the BlackBerry to handle a much larger workload than I usually require; indeed, I made good use of external battery packs as backups, just in case I ran out of juice halfway through the day. I typically got away with only needing one recharge per day. With that said, I want to make it clear that a firmware update is on the way which promises more efficient battery life, but I haven't had the opportunity to receive it yet while I've been on the road. I hope to get my hands on it as soon as possible to properly test it out. One other thing I learned during my first few days at Mobile World Congress: four weeks after its initial launch, I was surprised to see a lot of interest in the Z10 when I pulled it out of my pocket. (The gestures seem to be a hit with most people, for what it's worth.) I know that part of this is due to the limited availability of the device so far, but people are still at least talking about it. This is good news for the company in a few ways: it hasn't been entirely dismissed by the mobile community, BlackBerry hasn't been declared dead and it is at least seen with much more curiosity and intrigue than other phones introduced at the show. (Firefox OS, anyone?) Wrap-up During the first half of my international adventure, I've learned that my Z10 is much more durable than I originally expected. The BB10 platform is also at least capable of handling the workload I throw at it, even in high-stress conditions. I can't say that it's been the most efficient method of tackling my trade-show routine, but I've survived so far. As I noted earlier, there have been a few frustrations along the way, but I got through nearly all of my typical chores just fine. (I think it's also important to mention that at this very moment in the platform's infancy, I couldn't pull this experiment off without sideloading Android apps.) A few days in Catalonia have not magically turned me into a BlackBerry convert, but the phones are good enough that I have at least become a lot more confident in the company's future.Barnes & Noble Introduces NOOK for Web, Giving Readers Instant Access to NOOK Books from any Web Browser No Sign-In, Download or NOOK Required Get Started Today with Six FREE Bestsellers Available through July 26 New York, New York July 17, 2012 Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today introduced NOOK for Web, an innovative and free new browser experience that offers readers the ability to explore the hottest digital titles and bestselling books right from their computer no sign-in, software download or NOOK account required to begin reading. With fast and easy access from any PC or Mac browser, NOOK for Web seamlessly combines NOOK's award-winning digital reading experience with access to Barnes & Noble's expansive NOOK Store. Now, anyone who loves to read can browse, sample and become instantly immersed in a NOOK-like reading environment from any browser, with support coming this fall for Internet-enabled tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices. Beginning today, Barnes & Noble is offering six bestselling NOOK Books in their entirety at no charge for readers to try NOOK's award-winning digital reading experience online. With popular summer titles the entire family will enjoy, customers can visit www.nook.com/NOOKforWeb to browse the list of complimentary titles available, including Map of Bones by James Rollins, Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell, The Vow by Kim Carpenter, The Boxcar Children Summer Special by Gertrude Chandler Warner, Brave by Tennant Redbank and Perfect Island Getaways by Patricia Schultz, instantly read the sample, and then download the entire book for free on any browser now through July 26. "NOOK for Web makes it easier than ever for anyone from NOOK customers to those experiencing digital content for the first time to access and read books online," said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. "There's no need to download special software to access your digital library NOOK for Web seamlessly combines Barnes & Noble's best-in-class digital reading experience and unrivaled NOOK Store to deliver an immersive, easy-to-use solution for readers to consume millions of titles right from their Web browser." With NOOK for Web, it's also now easier than ever for NOOK customers to read their NOOK Books virtually anytime, anywhere. The perfect complement to NOOK devices and free NOOK Reading Apps, customers can simply go to www.mynook.com to pick back up from their last page read or start reading a new book using any Web browser. NOOK for Web features the elegant, immersive digital reading experience millions of NOOK customers have come to know and love: * Enjoy free samples of the majority of NOOK Books and begin reading with just a click on the "Read Instantly" icon. There's no need to sign in, create an account or download additional software in order to sample content. NOOK for Web supports all PC and Mac-supported Web browsers including Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Get lost in a great read with the realistic book-like layout, including clear page numbers at the bottom of each screen and an innovative slider allowing users to easily track the number of pages remaining in a chapter or quickly scroll to another section. * Customize the reading experience using the intuitive navigation bar. Choose between 8 fonts and 8 font sizes and a single or double page layout. Simply collapse the navigation bar once preferences are selected to reveal a clean, easy-to-read page. Rate, review and share thoughts or recommend books via Twitter, Facebook or e-mail without even leaving the book. * Access more information about the book while reading, plus thousands of helpful editorial and customer reviews at your fingertips. * Learn what to read next with personalized recommendations from Barnes & Noble's expert booksellers from must-read new releases to up-and-coming authors all in the customizable Shop window. * Shop from the ever-expanding NOOK Store, buy NOOK Books in seconds (the majority for $9.99 or less), and select purchases right from your personal NOOK Library to open and begin reading from any Web browser. Through Barnes & Noble's free, stable and secure NOOK Cloud service, NOOK for Web now gives existing NOOK customers even more flexibility to Read What You Love, Anywhere You Like with seamless account integration and synchronization. Customers can read any book from their personal NOOK Library by signing in using a valid NOOK account. Sync the last page read from a NOOK tablet or Reader, multitude of computing and mobile devices with free NOOK Reading Apps and NOOK for Web, and keep reading virtually anytime, anywhere all without losing the page. And customers can send free NOOK Book samples directly to an existing NOOK Library to automatically access new content on the go from any NOOK device or one with free NOOK Reading Apps. NOOK for Web is now available at www.nook.com/NOOKforWeb with no download required. Simply browse for books in the NOOK Book Store and look for the "Read Instantly" icon to begin reading any book.Barnes & Noble Announces Senior Leadership ChangesWilliam Lynch Resigns as Company CEOMichael Huseby Appointed CEO of NOOK Media LLCAllen Lindstrom Named Corporate Chief Financial OfficerNEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Board of Directors of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) today announced that William Lynch has resigned as Chief Executive Officer and director of the Company effective immediately. The Company also announced the following organizational changes: Michael P. Huseby has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of NOOK Media LLC and President of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Max J. Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble College will continue to lead the digital education strategy and report to Mr. Huseby, as will the Executive Management team of NOOK Media. Mr. Huseby and Mitchell Klipper, Chief Executive Officer of the Barnes & Noble Retail Group, will report directly to Leonard Riggio, Executive Chairman of Barnes & Noble, Inc."I appreciate the opportunity to serve as CEO of this terrific Company over the last three years"The Company also announced that Allen Lindstrom, Vice President and the Company's Corporate Controller, has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. He will report to Mr. Huseby. Kanuj Malhotra, Vice President of Corporate Development, has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer of NOOK Media LLC."We thank William Lynch for helping transform Barnes & Noble into a leading digital content provider and for leading in the development of our award-winning line of NOOK products including NOOK Simple Touch, NOOK Simple Touch Glowlight, and NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ ," said Leonard Riggio, Chairman. "As the bookselling industry continues to undergo significant transformation, we believe that Michael, Mitchell and Max are the right executives to lead us into the future." Mr. Riggio added that the Company is in the process of reviewing its current strategic plan and will provide an update when appropriate."I appreciate the opportunity to serve as CEO of this terrific Company over the last three years," said William Lynch. "There is a great executive team and Board in place at Barnes & Noble, and I look forward to the many innovations the Company will be bringing to its millions of physical and digital media customers in the future."Mr. Huseby joined Barnes & Noble as Chief Financial Officer in March 2012, and has led the Company's financial organization since that time. Prior to joining Barnes & Noble, he had a distinguished career in the media communications industry having most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cablevision Systems Corporation, a leading telecommunications and media company. Mr. Huseby also served in leadership positions at Charter Communications, Inc., the fourth largest cable operator in the U.S., as well as AT&T Broadband, a provider of cable television services.Mr. Lindstrom joined Barnes & Noble in November 2007 as Vice President, Corporate Controller. Prior to joining Barnes & Noble, Mr. Lindstrom was Chief Financial Officer at Liberty Travel, Inc.Mr. Malhotra joined NOOK Media in May 2012 and in his role as Vice President of Corporate Development has been responsible for developing strategic priorities for growth and profitability. He was previously Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Affinion International.A couple of weeks back, we referred to the as a "tablet with the heart of a reader." And given Barnes & Noble's roots in brick-and-mortar bookstores, the sentiment makes sense; the company has given the world a product that felt a bit like an LCD reader with some solid tricks up its sleeve. While it shares the same core operating system as the HD, the brings a bit more to the hardware party -- namely, a high-def, 9-inch HD display. The change shifts some of the product's focus toward multimedia, with a particular emphasis on the recently announced service. That, coupled with a $269 price tag, makes for a pretty compelling combination. But is it enough to ensure that Barnes & Noble will have a winner on its hands for the holiday? Find out after the break. Hardware The was a strange-looking thing: long and plasticky, with a prominent carabiner embedded in one corner, serving no purpose other than aesthetic distinction. It was a polarizing choice, heralded by some as a break from the millions of samey slates that have saturated the market, and dismissed by others as just plain. Barnes & Noble clearly felt strongly enough about the design to keep it in place for the follow-up , making no major aesthetic alterations to the device, save for brightening the body up a shade. With the Nook HD, the company eschewed that distinctive design for something a touch more straightforward but even so, the past strongly informs the design here. At first glance, the new tablet is a dead ringer for its predecessors: a long rectangular slate, with prominent bezels encasing the display. Along the bottom of the screen, a flush black space houses the familiar lowercase "n" home button that's long been a mainstay on Nook devices. The company went to some lengths to polish the appearance, employing Simple Touch designer and former Apple employee Robert Brunner to rethink the tablet -- good news, given how the and have been raising the bar for budget tablets. The most obvious change is the abandonment of the carabiner in favor of a small hole on the bottom-left corner -- sort of a vestigial remnant from past models. The biggest side effect to this redesign is the location of the microSD slot, which now sits on the bottom edge. Using that, you can expand the built-in 16 / 32 gigs by up to 32GB. Just to the left is the proprietary charging port, which is frankly a bit of a bummer as it moves away from the more universal micro-USB of other Nooks in favor of faster charging, according to Barnes & Noble -- though the more ubiquitous choice is certainly sufficient for much of the competition. The new Nook is also significantly larger than the Tablet (9.5 x 6.4 inches vs. 8.1 x 5.0), a byproduct of expanding the screen from seven to nine inches. All told, the size increase suits the Nook. For one thing, that well-pronounced bezel is more spread out, and doesn't monopolize nearly as much of the device's front face. The increased surface area has also made it possible to shave a few fractions of an inch of thickness, down to 0.45 inch. Naturally, too, the larger size has added a bit of heft to the device, which weighs 18.2 ounces, compared with 14.1 for its predecessor. Still, that's lighter than the 20-ounce . It's important to note, of course, that the purpose of the Nook HD+'s unique design isn't just difference for the sake of being different. As with other Nook devices, there's an emphasis on function over form. The rounded corners and large bezels conform more nicely to the hand than the equivalently sized Kindle Fire (the lighter weight definitely helps as well). As with the smaller Nook HD, we wish the company borrowed a page from the by including a concave back where users can rest their weary fingers. Instead, Barnes & Noble opted for a simpler approach. The back of the tablet is covered in a nice, textured soft-touch material, with the customary engraved "n" logo in the center. There's a pair of stereo speakers hidden behind a single grille at the bottom of the device's rear. The positioning leaves something to be desired, particularly compared to the latest Kindle Fire, which has dual-grilled speakers flanking the rear cover. The sound, too, is nothing to write home about: it gets reasonably loud, but sounds fairly tinny. You're likely going to spend a lot time using the headphone port located next to the volume buttons atop the device. As with its smaller sibling, Barnes & Noble opted not to include any cameras on the HD+, which amongst other things, helped keep the price down a bit. But again, it's hard to justify totally skipping the feature at this point and time -- for something that's so family-focused, VoIP capabilities seem like a no-brainer. The killer feature, of course, is the display. With 1,920 x 1,280 resolution and a pixel density of 256 ppi, it edges out the Fire HD 8.9's 1,920 x 1,200, 254-ppi screen, and certainly trumps the Nook HD's 1,440 x 900, 243-ppi panel. It also handily beats the iPad Mini's 1,024 x 768, 163-ppi screen. Not too shabby for a $270 tablet. The company's still got some work to do on its movie offers, but, at least from a display standpoint, this is a compelling and compellingly affordable multimedia option. The 1.5 GHz dual-core OMAP 4470 also offers a bit of a bump from the Nook HD's 1.3GHz version. Software You're getting pretty much the same content experience here as on the Nook HD -- a version of Ice Cream Sandwich that's been skinned beyond recognition. Barnes & Noble calls its UI "paper-like," highlighting a focus on simplicity. Still, it's not nearly as simplistic as the content delivery approach that defines the Kindle Fire experience. B&N has struck a bit more of a balance, maintaining a UI with some of Android's more familiar file structures, while paring down some of the more "unnecessary" elements -- i.e., things that might stand in the way of the product's core competencies (reading books, magazines, etc.) The home page is a mostly clean slate, where you can easily access your favorite content and apps. Toward the top, there's a carousel of recent content -- not unlike the one that serves as the centerpiece for the Fire experience. Perhaps they just haven't been updated for this particular display, but many of the thumbnails of content that came with our device look fairly low-res. Icons at the top of the thumbnails denote the newest selection and the ones that are located in the cloud. Above this, you'll find a friendly welcome note, the date and time, and icons for WiFi settings and battery life. Clicking "Your Nook Today" brings you to a page that offers up the local weather and content recommendations. Toward the bottom, you get buttons for visiting your library, apps, the web browser, email and the Nook shop. Below this is a field for searching the Nook. As with its predecessors, the HD+ doesn't offer up access to the whole of Google Play. Barnes & Noble insists that you'll have all the apps you could ever possibly want -- and certainly the company loaded us up with a good spread, including Spotify, Pandora, Hulu Plus, Flipboard and Bad Piggies -- but it's still hard to justify a walled-off app store experience on Android at this point, particularly as the device's relative openness is one of the of the more prominent aspects that sets the tablet apart from the Fire HD. Content As with the rest of the software, the content experience is pretty much what you're getting on the smaller Nook HD. The primary difference here is the display you're using to consume that content. Interestingly when the company first announced the HD+, it mentioned magazines as an instrumental factor in its design to push toward the larger form factor. It seems like an odd thing to put at the center of a device; it's tough to imagine anyone plunking $270-plus for a magazine reader, particularly one that's of no use to you the first several minutes of a plane ride. That said, this truly is a nice product for diving into an image-rich magazine. Images really pop on that 1,920 x 1,280 display, and reading feels quite natural when you're holding the device in portrait mode. Flip to turn the page and you get a nice little curl animation. You can zoom in with a pinch and if you zoom out enough, you'll get a nice layout of the issues in thumbnails. Tap the bottom of a page and you can view it as a scrollable gallery. Flip the device into landscape and you can read it a page spread at a time. It's a really nice way to read magazines. Ditto for comics, which offer up a similar experience, along with the "Comic View," allowing you to focus on a few panels at a time. Barnes & Noble's also put some focus on catalogs, if the whole shopping on a website thing isn't your bag. Catalog browsing carries over a number of elements from the magazine UI, coupled with hotspots that bring you to product pages -- seems a bit of a roundabout way to do online shopping, but to each his own, right? Also, unlike the comics and magazines, the L.L.Bean catalog that came preloaded wasn't formatted to the display and suffered from severe letterboxing. The large display is also a compelling proposal for B&N's excellent interactive children's book offerings, serving big, bright picture books well. This, coupled with the parental control profiles the company introduced this go-around to help parents monitor content, provide two solid arguments for considering the new Nook Tablets as a low-cost, kid-friendly tablet. As far as plain, old-fashioned books go, however, you're not getting much of a bonus from the increased screen size. You've got more real estate for words here, which could certainly be to the benefit of those with poor eyesight, but really, the seven-incher is an ideal size for reading straight text (and, really, if that's your main need, you should look seriously at a devoted e-ink device like the Simple Touch or ). The extended display size does, however, make a big difference on the movie front. Coupled with the high-res display, watching movies is a really nice experience on the HD+, and as promised, the company's out a slew of content on the Nook Video with a number of high-profile movies and shows (like Brave, 21 Jump Street and Game of Thrones) having been added along with integration since we checked out the smaller version. Wrap-up The Nook HD is a solid 7-inch tablet, and its 9-inch counterpart is a pretty good thing in its own right. The software still leaves a bit to be desired, between a staid UI and a limited app selection. (Then again, that built-in microSD slot means hacking the thing is always an option.) From a hardware perspective, however, it's pretty tough to argue with a 1,920 x 1,280 display on a $269 / $299 device -- particularly one that's so comfortable to hold. Magazine and comics fans will find a lot to like here, and as the company builds out its movie offers, it will become an even more compelling device for multimedia consumption. Parental controls, kid's content and the low price point, meanwhile, offer up a temping proposition for families. All told, the Nook HD+ isn't likely to burn up the holiday charts like the Kindle Fire HD or iPad mini, but we definitely wouldn't mind finding one in our stocking this season.It was roughly this time last year that showed us just how successful an aggressively priced 7-inch tablet could be, becoming, arguably the go-to gift of the last holiday season. This summer, Google , showing the world that a $200 tablet could be more than just an OEM-ed content delivery device, enlisting ASUS to design a really solid piece of hardware at a seemingly impossible price. Barnes & Noble's journey in the space, meanwhile, has been decidedly more convoluted. In mid-October of 2010, the company gave the world the -- a product with a wildly original industrial design, but decidedly limited functionality, which was, for most intents and purposes, an LCD-based color e-reader. Halfway through the following year, the device got a Pinocchio-like upgrade, transforming it into an honest-to-goodness tablet, apps and all. The device's celebration was cut short, however, eclipsed entirely by the arrival of the aesthetically (nearly) identical, but internally superior . When Amazon announced the release of the Kindle Fire HD and all of its many variants, there was little question that Barnes & Noble had something waiting in the wings as well. After all, much of the bookseller's hardware game plan seems to revolve around going toe-to-toe against Amazon offerings, and since the company beat its chief competition to the market with a glowing reader, a Nook Tablet seemed all but inevitable. With this week's announcements, however, the company has managed to offer up some surprises -- for starters, there's the fact that it's doubled its efforts with the release of two tablets -- with the 7-inch Nook HD and the 9-inch . Then there's the fact that the company has clearly put great effort into the hardware this go-round, rather than offering up yet another rehash of the Color / Tablet lineage. Let's start with the Nook HD, shall we? Join us after the break. From an aesthetic perspective, the HD+ can be regarded as a spiritual successor to its Nook tablet forefathers. The HD, on the other hand, wipes that slate clean, instead sharing a good deal more with the company's reader offerings. It's a stubby little thing with well-rounded corners and a clearly defined bezel around the 7-inch display. Flip it over, and you'll find a back that also shares a lot with its E Ink brethren, with a soft-touch feel that's carved out to help you grip the thing. And really, if there's a common thread across Barnes & Noble's hardware choices here, it's that the company was focused on, above all, a product that's easy to hold. The weight certainly helps when it comes to a product meant to be held for long reading marathons. B&N's managed to get the HD down to a solid fighting weight at 319 grams, which compares quite favorably to the Nexus 7 (340 grams) and the Kindle Fire HD (395 grams). The light weight comes thanks, in part, to the fact that the company didn't beef up the battery, instead offering up some software bumps it says compensate for the additional battery drain that comes with things like a revved-up display. The company's also quick to point out that its product's bezels are just a built-in necessity -- they give you a place to stick those thumbs when you're reading. It's a natural positioning once you've got your fingers firmly positioned in the crook on the back of the device (of course there are no physical page turn buttons here, unlike the Nook Simple Touch). The plastic bezels also reduce the incidence of fingerprint art. The skinny form factor also makes it possible to wrap your fingers around the body of the tablet, if you prefer reading that way. The company's managed to add the big bezels to the proceedings without detracting too much from the overall look of the device -- if anything, it offers up a distinction (though, of course, not so pronounced as that of its big brother) from a slew of lookalike slates. Between the plastic and the display is a flush black bezel that gets a bit thicker on the top and the bottom, housing the trademark "n" home button -- a signature, the company explains, that helps people orient the device even when the screen is off. The top, on the other hand, is a whole lot of empty space -- there's no camera here or on the rear, a "tradeoff," according to company reps, but one they're confident won't distract from the devices greater mission: reading. In spite of that focus on reading, the company's opted for what it's deemed the "highest resolution on a 7-inch tablet," and certainly the 1,440 x 900, 243ppi display looks quite nice when you're watching one of those hi-res movies from the newly announced Nook Video. The graphics on the UI, however, aren't quite finalized and looked a bit choppy at times as we were scrolling through, something the company has promised to fix before launch. The same goes with the performance on this 1.3GHz OMAP 4470-packing device, so we'll have to hold off judgment until we get our hands on a final unit -- which shouldn't be long... The HD is running a customized UI on top of Ice Cream Sandwich. The theme here is "Paper," which, naturally, translates to simplicity. There's really not a lot going on when you load up the homepage, "focusing on the content itself," according to B&N. You've got a scroll wheel of fanned-out content on top and an open desktop onto which you can drop stuff for easy access. On the top is the "Your Nook Today" button, which brings you to a page featuring the current weather conditions and recommendations based on your recent activity. Along the bottom are buttons for Library, Apps, Web, Email and the newly-redesigned shop. The Nook HD is up for pre-order now. It'll start shipping in late October and will hit Barnes & Noble stores early the following month. It's available in "Snow" and "Smoke" colors and 8GB and 16GB varieties (both expandable via microSD slots), which are priced at a nice $199 and $229, respectively.Barnes & Noble Reports Fiscal 2013 Year-End Financial ResultsFiscal 2013 Retail EBITDA Increases 16.0% to $374 MillionCollege Generates Fiscal 2013 EBITDA of $111 MillionNOOK will Continue to Innovate and Build eReader Devices as it Transitions to a New Partnership Model on Color TabletsAdditional Inventory Charges Drive Higher NOOK Losses for the YearNEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) today reported sales and earnings for its fiscal 2013 fourth quarter and full year ended April 27, 2013."Our Retail and College businesses delivered strong financial performances in fiscal year 2013"Fourth quarter consolidated revenues decreased 7.4% to $1.3 billion as compared to the prior year. The consolidated fourth quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) loss was $122.0 million, as compared to a loss of $9.7 million in the prior year. The consolidated fourth quarter net loss was $118.6 million, as compared to the prior year net loss of $56.9 million. Fourth quarter net losses were $2.11 per share as compared to a net loss of $1.06 per share a year ago.For fiscal 2013, consolidated revenues decreased 4.1% to $6.8 billion as compared to the prior year. Fiscal 2013 consolidated EBITDA was $10.3 million, as compared to $176.7 million a year ago. Fiscal 2013 consolidated net losses were $154.8 million, or $2.97 per share, as compared to $65.6 million, or $1.35 per share in the prior year.Fourth quarter and full-year results were adversely impacted by NOOK inventory charges as discussed in the NOOK section below.The company ended the fiscal year with cash of $160.5 million and borrowings of $77 million under its $1 billion revolving credit facility, as compared to a net debt position of $270 million a year ago.The company is currently in the process of evaluating certain prior year amounts, which may result in a revision to the financial statements. The company's analysis is ongoing, but it does not believe these amounts will be material to the financial statements. Accordingly, the financial information presented in this press release is unaudited and remains subject to change based on this process.Fourth Quarter 2013 Results from OperationsSegment results for the fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2012 fourth quarters are as follows:Revenues EBITDA$ in millions Increase/(Decrease) Increase/(Decrease)Q4 2013 Q4 2012 $ % Q4 2013 Q4 2012 $ %Retail $ 948 $ 1,053 (105 ) -10.0 % $ 51 $ 67 (16 ) -23.9 %College 252 228 24 10.7 % 4 0 4 n/aNOOK 108 164 (56 ) -34.0 % (177 ) (77 ) (100 ) -129.8 %Elimination (1) (31 ) (64 ) 33 -52.0 % n/a n/a n/an/aTotal $ 1,277 $ 1,380 (103 ) -7.4 % $ (122 ) $ (10 ) (112 )n/a(1)Represents the elimination of intercompany sales from NOOK to Barnes & Noble Retailand Barnes & Noble College on a sell through basis.Fiscal 2013 Results from OperationsSegment results for fiscal year 2013 and fiscal year 2012 are as follows:Revenues EBITDA$ in millions Increase/(Decrease) Increase/(Decrease)Fiscal 2013 Fiscal 2012 $ % Fiscal 2013 Fiscal 2012 $ %Retail $ 4,568 $ 4,853 (285 ) -5.9 % $ 374 $ 322 52 16.0 %College 1,763 1,744 20 1.1 % 111 116 (4 ) -3.9 %NOOK 776 933 (157 ) -16.8 % (475 ) (262 ) (214 ) 81.7 %Elimination (1) (269 ) (401 ) 132 -33.0 % n/a n/a n/a n/aTotal $ 6,839 $ 7,129 (290 ) -4.1 % $ 10 $ 177 (166 ) -94.2 %(1)Represents the elimination of intercompany sales from NOOK to Barnes & Noble Retail and Barnes & NobleCollege on a sell through basis.RetailThe Retail segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble bookstores and BN.com businesses, had revenues of $948 million for the quarter and $4.6 billion for the full year, decreasing 10.0% for the quarter and 5.9% for the fiscal year. The sales decreases were attributable to comparable store sales decreases of 8.8% for the quarter and 3.4% for the full year, store closures and lower online sales. Fourth quarter comparable bookstore sales decreased as a result of lower NOOK unit volume and a stronger title lineup in the prior year period including The Hunger Games and Fifty Shades of Grey trilogies. Core comparable bookstore sales, which exclude sales of NOOK products, decreased 5.8% for the quarter and were essentially flat for the full year.As a result of the sales decline, fourth quarter Retail EBITDA decreased 23.9%, from $67 million a year ago to $51 million. However, for fiscal 2013, Retail EBITDA increased 16.0% to $374 million, as the sales decline was mitigated by a higher sales mix of higher margin core products and lower expenses.CollegeThe College segment had revenues of $252 million for the quarter and $1.8 billion for the full year, increasing 10.7% for the quarter and 1.1% for the year, as compared to the prior year periods. Fourth quarter sales were positively impacted by the back-to-school rush season, which extended into the fourth quarter. Comparable College store sales increased 7.5% for the quarter, while decreasing 1.2% for the full year. Comparable College store sales reflect the retail selling price of a new or used textbook when rented, rather than solely the rental fee received and amortized over the rental period.Fourth quarter College EBITDA improved to $3.8 million, benefitting from higher revenues. Full year EBITDA declined 3.9% to $111.5 million, primarily resulting from increased investments in digital education. College's full-year product margins improved on a higher mix of higher margin textbook rentals, while expenses increased due to new store growth and continued investments in digital education.NOOKThe NOOK segment, which consists of the company's digital business (including devices, digital content and accessories), had revenues of $108 million for the quarter and $776 million for the full year, decreasing 34.0% for the quarter and 16.8% for the year, as compared to the year ago periods. Device sales declined during the fourth quarter due to lower selling volume. Digital content sales increased 16.2% for the full year, however, they decreased 8.9% for the fourth quarter due in part to the device sales shortfall as well as the comparison to the The Hunger Games and Fifty Shades of Grey trilogies a year ago.The company plans to significantly reduce losses in the NOOK segment by limiting risks associated with manufacturing. Going forward, the company intends to continue to design eReading devices and reading platforms, while creating a partnership model for manufacturing in the competitive color tablet market. Thus, the widely popular lines of Simple Touch and Glowlight products will continue to be developed in house, and the company's tablet line will be co-branded with yet to be announced third party manufacturers of consumer electronics products. At the same time, the company intends to continue to build its digital catalog, adding thousands of eBooks every week, and launching new NOOK Apps.The company will continue to offer its existing inventory of its high quality NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ devices at amazing prices through the holiday. As always, Barnes & Noble will provide world-class pre- and post-sales support in its stores for its NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ customers, as well as ongoing software upgrades and improvements to the digital bookstore service."Our Retail and College businesses delivered strong financial performances in fiscal year 2013," said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. "We are taking big steps to reduce the losses in the NOOK segment, as we move to a partner-centric model in tablets and reduce overhead costs. We plan to continue to innovate in the single purpose black-and-white eReader category, and the underpinning of our strategy remains the same today as it has since we first entered the digital market, which is to offer customers any digital book, magazine or newspaper, on any device."During the fourth quarter, the company determined that goodwill impairment indicators arose in its NOOK reporting unit as recurring losses have led to revisions in its strategic plans. As a result, the company recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $18.3 million in selling and administrative expenses. Excluding the impairment charge, NOOK expenses decreased $26 million as compared to a year ago, a 34% decrease in expenses as compared to fiscal year 2012.NOOK EBITDA losses were $177 million for the fourth quarter, which include an additional $133 million of inventory charges as the company adopted more aggressive promotional strategies given the shift in strategic direction. NOOK EBITDA losses were $475 million for the full year, primarily driven by cumulative NOOK inventory related charges of $222 million.GuidanceFor fiscal year 2014, the company expects Retail comparable bookstore sales to decline in the high-single digits on a percentage basis. College comparable store sales are expected to decline in the low-single digits on a percentage basis.Conference CallA conference call with Barnes & Noble, Inc.'s senior management will be webcast beginning at 10:00 A.M. ET on Tuesday, June 25, 2013, and is accessible at www.barnesandnobleinc.com/webcasts.Barnes & Noble, Inc. will report fiscal 2014 first quarter results on or about August 20, 2013.About Barnes & Noble, Inc.Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) is a Fortune 500 company and the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The company operates 675 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). Its NOOK Media LLC subsidiary is a leader in the emerging digital reading and digital education markets. The NOOK digital business offers award-winning NOOK products and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store (www.nook.com), while Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC operates 686 bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associated 2012 Customer Service Champion and is only one of 50 U.S. companies so named. Barnes & Noble.com is ranked the number one online retailer in customer satisfaction in the book, music and video category and a Top 10 online retailer overall in customer satisfaction according to ForeSee E-Retail Satisfaction Index (Spring Top 100 Edition).General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains certain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) and information relating to Barnes & Noble that are based on the beliefs of the management of Barnes & Noble as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the management of Barnes & Noble. When used in this communication, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan," "will," "forecasts," "projections," and similar expressions, as they relate to Barnes & Noble or the management of Barnes & Noble, identify forward-looking statements.Such statements reflect the current views of Barnes & Noble with respect to future events, the outcome of which is subject to certain risks, including, among others, the general economic environment and consumer spending patterns, decreased consumer demand for Barnes & Noble's products, low growth or declining sales and net income due to various factors, risk that international expansion will not be successfully achieved or may be achieved later than expected, possible disruptions in Barnes & Noble's computer systems, telephone systems or supply chain, possible risks associated with data privacy, information security and intellectual property, possible work stoppages or increases in labor costs, possible increases in shipping rates or interruptions in shipping service, effects of competition, possible risks that inventory in channels of distribution may be larger than able to be sold, possible risks associated with ceasing NOOK's production of tablet devices, including possible reduction in sales of content, accessories and other merchandise and other adverse financial impacts, possible risk that component parts will be rendered obsolete or otherwise not be able to be effectively utilized in devices to be sold, possible risk that financial and operational forecasts and projections are not achieved, possible risk that returns from consumers or channels of distribution may be greater than estimated, the risk that the expected sales lift from Borders' store closures is not achieved in whole or part, the risk that digital sales growth is less than expectations and the risk that it does not exceed the rate of investment spend, higher-than-anticipated store closing or relocation costs, higher interest rates, the performance of Barnes & Noble's online, digital and other initiatives, the performance and successful integration of acquired businesses, the success of Barnes & Noble's strategic investments, unanticipated increases in merchandise, component or occupancy costs, unanticipated adverse litigation results or effects, product and component shortages, the potential adverse impact on the business resulting from the review of a potential separation of the NOOK digital business, the risk that the transactions with Microsoft and Pearson do not achieve the expected benefits for the parties including the risk that NOOK Media's applications are not commercially successful or that the expected distribution of those applications is not achieved, the risk that any subsequent spin-off, split-off or other disposition by Barnes & Noble of its interest in NOOK Media or other separation of Barnes & Noble's businesses results in adverse impacts on Barnes & Noble or NOOK Media (including as a result of termination of agreements and other adverse impacts), the potential impact on Barnes & Noble's retail business of any separation, the potential tax consequences for Barnes & Noble and its shareholders of a subsequent spin-off, split-off or other disposition by Barnes & Noble of its interest in NOOK Media or other separation of Barnes & Noble's businesses, the risk that the international expansion contemplated by the relationship with Microsoft or otherwise is not successful or is delayed, the risk that NOOK Media is not able to perform its obligations under the Microsoft commercial agreement, including with respect to the development of applications and international expansion, and the consequences thereof, the costs and disruptions arising out of any such separation of the NOOK digital and College businesses or other separation of Barnes & Noble's businesses, the risk that Barnes & Noble may not recoup its investments in the NOOK digital business as part of any separation transaction, the risks, difficulties, and uncertainties that may result from the separation of businesses that were previously co-mingled including necessary ongoing relationships, and potential for adverse customer impacts, the risk that Barnes & Noble's ongoing evaluation of prior year amounts may result in revisions to its financial statements and changes to the financial information presented in this press release, the risk that such process results in a delay in the filing of Barnes & Noble's Annual Report on Form 10-K and associated risks and other factors which may be outside of Barnes & Noble's control, including those factors discussed in detail in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," in Barnes & Noble's Annual Report on Form 10-K, and in Barnes & Noble's other filings made hereafter from time to time with the SEC. Our forward looking statements relating to international expansion are also subject to the following risks, among others that may affect the introduction, success and timing of the NOOK e-reader and content in countries outside the United States: we may not be successful in reaching agreements with international companies, the terms of agreements that we reach may not be advantageous to us, our NOOK device may require technological changes to comply with applicable laws, and marketplace acceptance and other companies have already entered the marketplace with products that have achieved some customer acceptance.Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results or outcomes may vary materially from those described as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended or planned. Subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Barnes & Noble or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements in this paragraph. Barnes & Noble undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date of this communication.BARNES & NOBLE, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIESConsolidated Statements of Operations(In thousands, except per share data)(Unaudited)13 weeks ended 13 weeks ended 52 weeks ended 52 weeks endedApril 27, 2013 April 28, 2012 April 27, 2013 April 28, 2012Sales $ 1,277,021 1,379,710 $ 6,839,005 7,129,199Cost of sales and occupancy 1,048,586 979,577 5,158,363 5,213,019Gross profit 228,435 400,133 1,680,642 1,916,180Selling and administrative expenses 350,480 409,832 1,670,376 1,739,452Depreciation and amortization 55,725 58,968 227,134 232,667Operating loss (177,770 ) (68,667 ) (216,868 ) (55,939 )Interest expense, net 9,510 8,629 35,345 35,304Loss before taxes (187,280 ) (77,296 ) (252,213 ) (91,243 )Income taxes (68,639 ) (20,381 ) (97,407 ) (25,600 )Net loss $ (118,641 ) (56,915 ) $ (154,806 ) (65,643 )Loss per common share:Basic $ (2.11 ) (1.06 ) $ (2.97 ) (1.35 )Diluted $ (2.11 ) (1.06 ) $ (2.97 ) (1.35 )Weighted average common shares outstanding:Basic 58,483 57,563 58,247 57,337Diluted 58,483 57,563 58,247 57,337Percentage of sales:Sales 100.0 % 100.0 % 100.0 % 100.0 %Cost of sales and occupancy 82.1 % 71.0 % 75.4 % 73.1 %Gross profit 17.9 % 29.0 % 24.6 % 26.9 %Selling and administrative expenses 27.4 % 29.7 % 24.4 % 24.4 %Depreciation and amortization 4.4 % 4.3 % 3.3 % 3.3 %Operating loss -13.9 % -5.0 % -3.2 % -0.8 %Interest expense, net 0.7 % 0.6 % 0.5 % 0.5 %Loss before taxes -14.7 % -5.6 % -3.7 % -1.3 %Income taxes -5.4 % -1.5 % -1.4 % -0.4 %Net loss -9.3 % -4.1 % -2.3 % -0.9 %BARNES & NOBLE, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIESConsolidated Balance Sheets(In thousands)(Unaudited)April 27, 2013 April 28, 2012ASSETSCurrent assets:Cash and cash equivalents $ 160,470 $ 54,131Receivables, net 142,417 160,497Merchandise inventories 1,410,769 1,561,841Prepaid expenses and other current assets 323,955 221,324Total current assets 2,037,611 1,997,793Property and equipment:Land and land improvements 2,541 2,541Buildings and leasehold improvements 1,224,384 1,196,764Fixtures and equipment 1,883,504 1,784,4923,110,429 2,983,797Less accumulated depreciation and amortization 2,525,520 2,361,142Net property and equipment 584,909 622,655Goodwill 495,496 519,685Intangible assets, net 547,931 564,054Other noncurrent assets 57,065 61,062Total assets $ 3,723,012 $ 3,765,249LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITYCurrent liabilities:Accounts payable $ 851,426 $ 914,544Accrued liabilities 569,957 603,415Gift card liabilities 341,036 321,362Total current liabilities 1,762,419 1,839,321Long-term debt 77,000 324,200Long-term deferred taxes 221,776 242,748Other long-term liabilities 413,515 358,039Redeemable Preferred Shares; $.001 par value; 5,000shares authorized; 204 and 204 shares issued, respectively 193,535 192,273Preferred Member Interests in NOOK Media, LLC 381,627 -Shareholders' equity:Common stock; $.001 par value; 300,000 sharesauthorized; 92,784 and 91,376 shares issued, respectively 93 91Additional paid-in capital 1,383,848 1,340,909Accumulated other comprehensive loss (16,692 ) (16,635 )Retained earnings 369,746 542,585Treasury stock, at cost, 34,078 and 33,722 shares, respectively (1,063,855 ) (1,058,282 )Total shareholders' equity 673,140 808,668Commitments and contingencies - -Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 3,723,012 $ 3,765,249BARNES & NOBLE, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIESSegment Information(In thousands)(Unaudited)13 weeks ended 13 weeks ended 52 weeks ended 52 weeks endedApril 27, 2013 April 28, 2012 April 27, 2013 April 28, 2012SalesRetail $ 947,677 1,052,533 $ 4,568,243 4,852,913College 252,295 227,891 1,763,248 1,743,662NOOK 107,950 163,617 776,237 933,471Elimination (30,901 ) (64,331 ) (268,723 ) (400,847 )Total $ 1,277,021 1,379,710 $ 6,839,005 7,129,199Gross ProfitRetail $ 259,304 329,353 $ 1,397,859 1,452,804College 76,131 69,781 405,076 395,311NOOK (107,000 ) 999 (122,293 ) 68,065Total $ 228,435 400,133 $ 1,680,642 1,916,180Selling and Administrative ExpensesRetail $ 208,244 262,244 $ 1,023,633 1,130,311College 72,341 69,600 293,618 279,364NOOK 69,895 77,988 353,125 329,777Total $ 350,480 409,832 $ 1,670,376 1,739,452EBITDARetail $ 51,060 67,109 $ 374,226 322,493College 3,790 181 111,458 115,947NOOK (176,895 ) (76,989 ) (475,418 ) (261,712 )Total $ (122,045 ) (9,699 ) $ 10,266 176,728Net LossEBITDA $ (122,045 ) (9,699 ) $ 10,266 176,728Depreciation and Amortization (55,725 ) (58,968 ) (227,134 ) (232,667 )Interest Expense, net (9,510 ) (8,629 ) (35,345 ) (35,304 )Income Taxes 68,639 20,381 97,407 25,600Total $ (118,641 ) (56,915 ) $ (154,806 ) (65,643 )Percentage of sales:Gross MarginRetail 27.4 % 31.3 % 30.6 % 29.9 %College 30.2 % 30.6 % 23.0 % 22.7 %NOOK -138.9 % 1.0 % -24.1 % 12.8 %Total 17.9 % 29.0 % 24.6 % 26.9 %Selling and Administrative ExpensesRetail 22.0 % 24.9 % 22.4 % 23.3 %College 28.7 % 30.5 % 16.7 % 16.0 %NOOK 90.7 % 78.5 % 69.6 % 61.9 %Total 27.4 % 29.7 % 24.4 % 24.4 %BARNES & NOBLE, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIESEarnings (Loss) Per Share(In thousands, except per share data)(Unaudited)13 weeks ended 52 weeks endedApril 27, 2013 April 28, 2012 April 27, 2013 April 28, 2012Numerator for basic loss per share:Loss $ (118,641 ) (56,915 ) $ (154,806 ) (65,643 )Preferred stock dividends (3,942 ) (3,963 ) (15,767 ) (11,044 )Accretion of dividends on preferred stock (758 ) (316 ) (2,266 ) (894 )Less allocation of earnings and dividends toparticipating securities- - - -Net loss available to common shareholders $ (123,341 ) (61,194 ) $ (172,839 ) (77,581 )Numerator for diluted loss per share:Net loss available to common shareholders $ (123,341 ) (61,194 ) $ (172,839 ) (77,581 )Accrual of preferred stock dividends - - - -Accretion of dividends on preferred stock - - - -Effect of dilutive options - - - -Net loss available to common shareholders (123,341 ) (61,194 ) (172,839 ) (77,581 )Denominator for basic and diluted loss per share:Basic weighted average common shares 58,483 57,563 58,247 57,337Denominator for diluted loss per share:Basic weighted average common shares 58,483 57,563 58,247 57,337Preferred shares - - - -Average dilutive options - - - -Diluted weighted average common shares 58,483 57,563 58,247 57,337Loss per common shareBasic $ (2.11 ) (1.06 ) $ (2.97 ) (1.35 )Diluted $ (2.11 ) (1.06 ) $ (2.97 ) (1.35 )The BBC has launched Connected Red Button, reinventing the BBC's hugely popular red button service for the future by effortlessly bringing TV, radio and online content together in the simplest possible way. The service will launch first on Virgin Media's TiVo service as part of the innovation partnership* agreed between the two organisations to create next-generation TV experiences. BBC Connected Red Button will be rolled out to other internet-connected TVs over the coming months. BBC Connected Red Button enables you to: Watch programmes from BBC children's channels, BBC Three and BBC Four anytime - day or night even if the channel is off-air Effortlessly catch up on previous episodes of the shows you love and discover new gems Get closer to the latest sporting action, with more streams, clips and content from your favourite events Immerse yourself in news and weather headlines and clips that matter to you, when you want them, all at the touch of a button BBC Connected Red Button arrives in around 1.2 million Virgin Media TiVo homes today and will be available on other internet-connected TVs over the coming months. With new functionality and features added to the service over time, Connected Red Button will redefine how audiences watch, engage and interact with BBC content on their TV. The BBC has over 13 years of experience developing and evolving its red button services, which have brought viewers closer to the action at major events like Glastonbury, Wimbledon and Formula 1. BBC Red Button now attracts an audience of 20 million per month, peaking during this summer's Olympic Games, where 24.2 million viewers watched up to 24 live streams via the red button. With predictions that by the end of 2016 there will be almost 22 million connectable TVs installed in the UK, and that over 50 per cent of UK TV households will have a connectable primary set - either directly or via a set top box**, BBC Connected Red Button will give viewers even more reason to connect their TV, and provide a platform to make BBC TV, radio and online content more interactive and engaging in the future. Daniel Danker, General Manager, BBC Programmes and On-Demand, says: "With today's launch of BBC Connected Red Button, the BBC is seamlessly bringing the Internet together with live TV, while making the technology completely invisible. This is red button reinvented, and the beginning of the exciting future of television." Victoria Jaye, Head of IPTV & TV Online Content, says: "With BBC Connected Red Button, we're starting with the TV audience who love our broadcast output and we're curating online content on the big screen in ways that add value to their TV viewing. The audience can sit back and relax the internet just made TV better." Cindy Rose, Virgin Media Executive Director of Digital Entertainment, says: "The BBC understands as passionately as we do how important connected television is for home entertainment. We're delighted the BBC is working with us to launch another milestone in interactive services. Our commitment to this partnership of innovation means Virgin Media TiVo customers are the first to experience the latest interactive services at the press of a button."We'll admit it: we're jaded. There is so much bad, middling and just okay stuff floating around in the portable speaker universe that we're tired of even thinking about it. We've had our distinct favorite -- the iPal -- for almost 10 years now, and it takes a lot to knock it off its unglamorous, but distinctive, pedestal. And we predict that it will continue to stay there. But newcomer Beacon has a hot little number in a soft-touch red dress that we're willing to put right next to it on a slightly more diminutive pedestal. The $99, baseball-sized, Bluetooth-packing Phoenix has gotten under our collective skins, and we'd like to tell you why. Design The good folks at Beacon know that looks are just as important as sound in the small speaker game these days. The muted fire truck color is handsome and the whole package feels more like a pair of OXO Good Grips kitchen shears than an overpriced Beats Audio accessory. Two sides are covered by tastefully spaced grill holes covering stereo speakers. Around back, the only ports are 1/8-inch audio in and mini-USB for charging. Up top are the transport controls, surrounded by a red and / or blue LED indicator ring to denote Bluetooth pairing / connection status or hardware line-in. The long presses used to differentiate between volume up and track skip are slightly annoying, but we didn't find ourselves using them too much anyway -- controlling on your host device is easier. A quarter-inch riser lifts the unit slightly, giving it a nice, built-in way to isolate the sound from the surface it's sitting on. If you're scared of the attention the red will bring you and your little friend, it's also available in electric blue and flat black. Sound The Phoenix puts out the best balance of quality and volume we've ever heard in a speaker of this size. The 180-degree speaker orientation (they face in opposite directions) isn't the best for panning cognition, but it helps to separate sounds that were meant to be heard on different speakers, which helps add to overall clarity. It's best heard from about five feet away, where the sound can be given some space to bounce around the room a little bit. One of the most refreshing features of the Phoenix is that it seems almost completely distortion-proof. At this price level, most small speakers will get as loud as the Beacon, but we've never heard anything get as loud as the Beacon without distortion. We can't stress how important this is: most consumers will usually crank their small speakers until the sound is unbearably broken up, just to get the music to reach a little farther in space. No such worries here: as loud as we cranked the source and the on-unit volume, we heard almost none of the clipping or distorted mud that plagues nearly every other Bluetooth speaker on the market today. To the contrary, this hot little box is actually at its best at louder volumes, although we did find the high end to be slightly angular when it's loud, cutting through the bass a bit too much for our ears. The two small speakers inside have their own character that mimics the soft-touch exterior. Reproduction is certainly not clear as a bell, but it seems to have a slightly soft-focus coloration that we began to grow fond of with time. You shouldn't be looking to buy reference-quality studio monitors at this price point or form factor anyway. Function The Phoenix takes itself seriously for what it is. Smaller options like X-mini's speaker range are almost infinitely portable, but also almost not worth the trouble considering they only have slightly louder output than most devices' built-in speakers. Larger options like Tivoli's iPal offer superior loudness and quality, but they don't fit quite so easily in a carry-on already overstuffed to avoid ever-rising bag check fees. This mid-sized box does require a little spatial planning, but the sound it puts out is well worth committing the social gaffe of leaving an extra couple of pairs of socks at home to clear up room for it. And the battery life? In a word, it's awesome. Four and a half hours on USB current will bring you to full charge. The Phoenix lasted four whole days as our primary computer output, always-on and connected via 1/8-inch. Streaming music over Bluetooth at medium to high volume, it stayed on for a staggering 18 hours, bringing it into the almost completely worry-free zone of usability, a testament to the set-it-and-forget-it mantra. Its wireless range seems slightly smaller than other devices -- it got fussy if we traveled more than 10 feet away from the source, but we're happy to sacrifice that small inconvenience in exchange for better battery life. Wrap-up Beacon's first foray into consumer electronics has turned out very nicely. Like some sort of genetically enhanced pet, it's a pleasure to be around, fun to touch and requires little to no maintenance. It falls into the sparsely populated family of "gadgets that make our lives better," a characteristic that makes it worth far more than the hundred bucks Beacon will ship it to you for today. Update: Many of you are pointing out that there's a $45 version of this speaker that lacks only this version's color and branding! Update 2: Beacon Audio has responded to your comments. Here's what they have to say (thanks to all who commented about the Satechi device): "The other device mentioned in this review is in fact sourced from the same manufacturing partner, but is a version that was produced from an outdated platform. In order to meet the company's strict quality control standards, Beacon Audio made improvements on the original product before it could be branded and sold as the Phoenix. We made the device look better, play longer and sound better. We also stand behind the updated product with a 1,000 day warranty. The quality overhaul and brand guarantee results in a finished product that has received amazing reviews and consumer excitement. Furthermore, Beacon Audio has obtained the exclusive U.S. manufacturing rights for this product moving forward. We anticipate the discounted & antiquated version will disappear from the market shortly."Maker tested, engineer approved: Introducing $45, 1-GHz BeagleBone Black open-source Linux computer Everything you need to go from box to developing in less than 3.14 minutes DESIGN WEST SAN JOSE (April 23, 2013) -With BeagleBone Black, the next-generation offering from BeagleBoard.org, everyone from electronic artists to engineers has access to a ready-to- use, 1-GHz computer for only $45. This credit-card-sized, Linux computer is an open hardware and software development platform that makes it quick and easy to transform great ideas into products. BeagleBone Black allows developers to leverage the ideas and knowledge of the highly active and engaged users of the BeagleBoard.org community who support each other from concept through development. Opportunities for innovation are endless. It's all in the box For only $45, BeagleBone Black includes all the necessary components in the box to connect a display, keyboard and network, providing a lower total cost of ownership than the nearest competitor and allowing for immediate development. BeagleBone Black is based on the 1-GHz SitaraTM AM335x ARM CortexTM-A8 processor from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI). TI's Sitara AM335x processor enhances the user experience by enabling an advanced graphical user interface and more than 2x higher performance than ARM11TM-based solutions. BeagleBone Black includes 2GB of on-board storage to run pre-loaded Linux software, as well as a USB cable to power the board. Featuring USB, Ethernet and HDMI interfaces, BeagleBone Black has the interfaces to connect to a wide variety of devices such as a mouse, keyboard or LCD display. BeagleBone Black offers designers flexibility with expansion headers, including 65 digital I/Os, seven analog inputs and access to a variety of analog and digital peripherals. Open-source software and hardware accelerate development time BeagleBone Black is based on production-ready hardware and software, helping developers, makers, hobbyists and students around the world speed development time. In addition, all of the components on BeagleBone Black, including TI's Sitara AM335x processor, are commercially available. BeagleBone Black comes pre-loaded with a Linux operating system and Cloud9 IDE to kickstart development and keep the microSD slot available for additional storage. The software is optimized to help new users explore embedded Linux and become proficient quickly. The ecosystem includes free access to documentation, example code and mainline kernel support for other software distributions like ????? Ubuntu, Android and Fedora. BeagleBone Black's kernel and driver flexibility allows users to easily integrate new hardware and software. More than 30 plug-in boards, called "capes" by the community, are compatible with BeagleBone Black, with more capes to come. Integrating BeagleBone Black with these capes-such as 3D printers, a DMX lighting controller, a Geiger counter, a telerobotic submarine, LCD touch screens and more-extends the functionality of the board to enable an even broader range of innovative projects and rapidly accelerate the development process. Community engagement fosters innovation The ticket to maximizing the full potential of BeagleBone Black is to tap into the wealth of information available in one of the most active communities in the industry, BeagleBoard.org. Interact with other developers to learn, answer questions, share ideas or just watch for inspiration. By utilizing the brilliant minds and contributions of open-source developers, BeagleBoard.org members can solve their development challenges quickly. "With all you need to get started included in the box for only $45, BeagleBone Black is a fantastic platform for hardware hackers at a great value," said engineer Limor Fried, Entrepreneur Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year and founder of Adafruit Industries. "BeagleBone Black and the BeagleBoard.org community can help almost any electronic artist-from beginner to professional developers-easily bring their unique project concepts to reality." Order yours today! Do you have a creative project idea that can help change the world? Make it a reality by ordering BeagleBone Black now. A list of distributors is available at www.beagleboard.org/black. Initial quantities are limited. BeagleBone Black is expected to ship in volume by the end of May.BEATS ELECTRONICS SETS NEW STANDARD IN WIRELESS SPEAKERS WITH INTRODUCTION OF THE "BEATS PILL" The Company Also Officially Unveils The "Executive" Premium Headphone With Focus on Quality, Comfort, and Design New York- Tuesday, October 16, 2012- Beats Electronics LLC, the leading audio brand co-founded by legendary artist and producer Dr. Dre and Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman Jimmy Iovine, today announced the expansion of the company's global product offering with the introduction of the Beats Pill, a portable wireless speaker with built-in patented Beats Audio, and the Executive premium headphones. Beats currently owns over 56% of the $100+ premium headphone market in North America according to data from NPD, and these two new products will continue to raise the bar across form, function, design and most importantly, sound quality. "The introduction of the Beats Pill and the Executive is the perfect beginning to a truly autonomous Beats as we transform into a freestanding consumer electronics company this year, " said Beats By Dr. Dre President & COO, Luke Wood. "These products demonstrate our total commitment to design, technological innovation and premium sound experience." Introducing The Beats By Dr. Dre Beats Pill Wireless Speaker At Beats, sound is king. From the placement of the drivers to the materials of the grill, the Beats Pill is specifically designed to optimize sound quality and maximize volume. The Beats Pill is the first product to be fully integrated with the company's patented Beats Audio algorithm and also features exclusive speaker modules to provide the highest quality portable listening experience. The Beats Pill is also the first wireless speaker to hit store shelves with tap-to-pair NFC and apt-X technology for easy and instant Bluetooth audio. More features include: All call functions - including speakerphone when paired with your smartphone Four speaker system with Beats unique sound profile Rechargeable lithium ion battery provides 7 hours of continuous play AC Power adapter with USB receptacle for charging Auto shut-off after 30 minutes of no signal detection in order to conserve battery life 3.5mm line out for connection to an external speaker system Built-in mic for hands free conferencing Echo cancellation for call clarity and feedback control 8 Bluetooth profiles The Beats Pill will be available in the Beats by Dr. Dre signature colors black, white and red with additional color options coming soon. The Beats Pill retails for $199 and is available today at The Beats Store as well as authorized Beats resellers and will also be available at HYPERLINK "http://www.beatsbydre.com/"www.beatsbydre.com. Introducing The Beats By Dr. Dre Executive Headphones The Executive represents a new distinctive, sophisticated design for the Beats By Dr. Dre brand that focuses on craftsmanship using premium materials such as aluminum alloy, stainless steel and leather. The soft leather headband and comfortable ear cups are designed for long wear and a unique folding design make Beats Executive headphones easy to carry on-the-go. The Executive has superior Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) performance, tuned for uninterrupted listening enjoyment at 35,000 feet and everywhere in between and with the iOS compatible microphone cable, it offers full phone functionality including answer/end, call waiting, call switching and voice command. The Executive comes in a classic silver and retails for $299. The Executive line of headphones is currently available for purchase at the Beats Store, authorized Beats resellers, as well as at HYPERLINK "http://www.beatsbydre.com/"www.beatsbydre.com. Additionally, Today Beats Electronics is expanding its in-ear product offering with the launch of the new urBeats. These new earphones were specifically designed to be a substantial upgrade from the headphones that come with your music player: more durability, better sound, and a chance to do real justice to your music. urBeats provide the premium sound quality that has become synonymous with the Beats by Dr. Dre brand. The new urBeats earphones are available in Black, White and Gunmetal and retail for $99.BEATS ELECTRONICS SETS NEW STANDARD IN WIRELESS SPEAKERS WITH INTRODUCTION OF THE "BEATS PILL" The Company Also Officially Unveils The "Executive" Premium Headphone With Focus on Quality, Comfort, and Design New York- Tuesday, October 16, 2012- Beats Electronics LLC, the leading audio brand co-founded by legendary artist and producer Dr. Dre and Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman Jimmy Iovine, today announced the expansion of the company's global product offering with the introduction of the Beats Pill, a portable wireless speaker with built-in patented Beats Audio, and the Executive premium headphones. Beats currently owns over 56% of the $100+ premium headphone market in North America according to data from NPD, and these two new products will continue to raise the bar across form, function, design and most importantly, sound quality. "The introduction of the Beats Pill and the Executive is the perfect beginning to a truly autonomous Beats as we transform into a freestanding consumer electronics company this year, " said Beats By Dr. Dre President & COO, Luke Wood. "These products demonstrate our total commitment to design, technological innovation and premium sound experience." Introducing The Beats By Dr. Dre Beats Pill Wireless Speaker At Beats, sound is king. From the placement of the drivers to the materials of the grill, the Beats Pill is specifically designed to optimize sound quality and maximize volume. The Beats Pill is the first product to be fully integrated with the company's patented Beats Audio algorithm and also features exclusive speaker modules to provide the highest quality portable listening experience. The Beats Pill is also the first wireless speaker to hit store shelves with tap-to-pair NFC and apt-X technology for easy and instant Bluetooth audio. More features include: All call functions - including speakerphone when paired with your smartphone Four speaker system with Beats unique sound profile Rechargeable lithium ion battery provides 7 hours of continuous play AC Power adapter with USB receptacle for charging Auto shut-off after 30 minutes of no signal detection in order to conserve battery life 3.5mm line out for connection to an external speaker system Built-in mic for hands free conferencing Echo cancellation for call clarity and feedback control 8 Bluetooth profiles The Beats Pill will be available in the Beats by Dr. Dre signature colors black, white and red with additional color options coming soon. The Beats Pill retails for $199 and is available today at The Beats Store as well as authorized Beats resellers and will also be available at HYPERLINK "http://www.beatsbydre.com/"www.beatsbydre.com. Introducing The Beats By Dr. Dre Executive Headphones The Executive represents a new distinctive, sophisticated design for the Beats By Dr. Dre brand that focuses on craftsmanship using premium materials such as aluminum alloy, stainless steel and leather. The soft leather headband and comfortable ear cups are designed for long wear and a unique folding design make Beats Executive headphones easy to carry on-the-go. The Executive has superior Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) performance, tuned for uninterrupted listening enjoyment at 35,000 feet and everywhere in between and with the iOS compatible microphone cable, it offers full phone functionality including answer/end, call waiting, call switching and voice command. The Executive comes in a classic silver and retails for $299. The Executive line of headphones is currently available for purchase at the Beats Store, authorized Beats resellers, as well as at HYPERLINK "http://www.beatsbydre.com/"www.beatsbydre.com. Additionally, Today Beats Electronics is expanding its in-ear product offering with the launch of the new urBeats. These new earphones were specifically designed to be a substantial upgrade from the headphones that come with your music player: more durability, better sound, and a chance to do real justice to your music. urBeats provide the premium sound quality that has become synonymous with the Beats by Dr. Dre brand. The new urBeats earphones are available in Black, White and Gunmetal and retail for $99.BeeWi Revolutionizes Wireless Audio with Hybrid Bluetooth Stereo Headphones and Speakers Wireless or wired headphones and speakers, for talk and tune on the move Las Vegas, NV, January 2013 - BeeWi, the leading European wireless accessory manufacturer, unveils at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 (CES) its latest range of innovative wireless audio devices, including the revolutionary Ghost Bee, the ultimate headphone that lets users wirelessly connect any Bluetooth device (smartphones, tablets, PCs, Macs...) to any home theater speakers. Ghost Bee's unique design and unmatched elegance is the world's only wireless/wired headphone with a touch panel on the surface of the ear piece, a docking station, and 3 modes in 1: Wireless: connect to any Bluetooth device (supporting stereo music and hands-free communications) Wired mode: enables to use Ghost Bee with any audio source Hi-Fi docking station: listen to your music on your home theater speakers, while simultaneously charging the headphones, and switch automatically between the speakers and Ghost Bee "With Ghost Bee, consumers have finally the freedom to stream their music and calls from any Bluetooth device (iOS, Android, Windows...) to wherever they like, their speakers or headphone, while making it easy, fun and affordable," explains Thierry Dechatre, the founder of BeeWi. At CES, BeeWi is also introducing a range of hybrid Bluetooth stereo speakers and headphones with an integrated microphone, so you never miss a call, along with wireless and wired capabilities. Blaster Bee is a rechargeable, compact-size, on-the-go stereo speaker that plays music wirelessly from any Bluetooth device and that can double as a hands-free speakerphone, with its built-in microphone. It has a touch panel on the top for easy access to all of its features (music, call management...) and an integrated stereo input jack for wired use. Ground Bee is a retro style Bluetooth headphone that gives users the freedom of talk through the built-in microphone - or tunes at the touch of a button. And with Ground Bee's wired option, users have not one, but 2 choices of how they want to hear their favorite tracks or talk. Ground Bee is lightweight and features 2 dynamic speakers, cushioned behind adjustable ear pads designed to reduce the risk of irritation when the headphones are worn for a long period of time. Ground Bee is available in a range of striking colors, including purple, pink, blue, red, white, chocolate and grey. Voice Bee is the ultimate Bluetooth stereo headset for gaming with top-notch sound quality and an ergonomically design with comfortable foam cushion earpads and headband. Voice Bee is rechargeable and ideal for FaceTime, MSN, Skype and phone calls as well. Wax Bee is a comfortable Bluetooth stereo headset with an adjustable headband, that lets listen to your music on the go, while never miss a call, thanks to its built-in microphone. Wax Bee is rechargeable and compatible with all Bluetooth enabled music and hands-free devices, and supports voice dial and redial functions. Come see and try out all the BeeWi wireless audio devices at booth #36626, located on South Hall 4, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. BeeWi Audio Devices Pricing and Availability Ghost Bee (BBH300): $179.99, Q1 2013 Blaster Bee (BBS305): $89.99, Q1 2013 Ground Bee (BBH120): $79.99, Q1 2013 Voice Bee (BBH105): $69.99, Q1 2013 Wax Bee (BBH100): $59.99, Q1 2013Best Buy Confirms Closure Plans for Remaining 42 U.S. Big Box Stores Brings total of store closures to 50 by end of 2012 Most locations will permanently close by May 12; three additional locations to close by late summer RICHFIELD, Minn. April 14, 2012 Best Buy announced plans March 29, 2012 to close 50 U.S. stores as part of a number of key initiatives for this year. To date, we have closed two stores this year (one in Kansas City, Mo., and one in Scottsdale, Ariz.), plus have notified five Twin Cities stores and one San Antonio store that they will close later this year. This morning, we have confirmed the remaining 42 store locations that will close. A complete list of store locations can be found at the end of this statement. Employees of these 42 stores have been notified this morning. This was not an easy decision to make. We chose these stores carefully, and are working to ensure the impact to our employees will be as minimal as possible, while serving all customers in a convenient and satisfying way. But we also recognize the impact this news has on the people who deserve respect for the contributions they have made to our business. We will be working to help these employees find other positions inside Best Buy. If they don't find new positions, or if they choose not to work at a different location, a transition including severance packages will be available. Three of these 42 locations remain open today, Saturday; the rest of the affected stores are closed today, and will reopen Sunday, April 15. Customers currently doing business with these stores are being contacted today. We expect most of these stores will permanently close by May 12. Three additional locations are expected to permanently close later this summer. 2 Best Buy continues to have additional retail store locations big boxes and standalone Best Buy Mobile stores for customers to choose from in these affected locations. More broadly, our previously announced retail store actions are intended to increase points of presence, while decreasing overall square footage, for increased flexibility including key store remodels with a new Connected Store format, while continuing to build out the successful Best Buy Mobile small format stores throughout the U.S. We will continue to share details of such actions as the year progresses. We are committed to making it easier for customers to shop with us, whenever and wherever they want. Locations of 2012 U.S. Best Buy store closings Store Name Address City State Casa Grande 1004 N Promenade Pwy Casa Grande AZ Lake Pleasant 10134 W Happy Valley Rd Peoria AZ East Palo Alto 1751 E Bayshore Rd East Palo Alto CA Westwood 10861 Weyburn Ave Los Angeles CA Manteca 934 Perimeter Dr Manteca CA Moreno Valley East 27220 Eucalyptus Moreno Valley CA Ontario 4120 E 4th St Ontario CA Pittsburg 4405 Century Blvd Pittsburg CA Jamboree 2857 Park Ave Tustin CA Arapahoe & Parker 15800 E Briarwood Cir Aurora CO The Forum 9370 Dynasty Dr Fort Myers FL Oldsmar 11655 W Hillsborough Ave Tampa FL Fayetteville 128 Pavilion Pkwy Fayetteville GA Loganville 4014 Atlanta Hwy Loganville GA Addison 1038 N Rohlwing Rd Addison IL 87th & Dan Ryan 8900 S Lafayette Ave Chicago IL Deerfield 200 S Waukegan Rd Deerfield IL Matteson 4707 Lincoln Mall Dr Matteson IL Mundelein 1100 N Rt 83 Mundelein IL West Dundee 979 W Main St West Dundee IL Speedway 10500 Parallel Pkwy Kansas City KS Back Bay 360 Newbury St Boston MA Wareham 2421 Cranberry Hwy Wareham MA Inner Harbor 600 E Pratt St Baltimore MD Hunt Valley 118 Shawan Rd Hunt Valley MD Biddeford 405 Mariner Way Biddeford ME *Brooklyn Center 5925 Earle Brown Dr Brooklyn Center MN *Edina 3200 Southdale Cir Edina MN *Hutchinson 1350 Hwy 15 S Hutchinson MN *Lakeville 18350 Orchard Trl Lakeville MN Rochester South 4540 Maine Ave Se Rochester MN *Rogers 20870 Rogers Dr Rogers MN Ellisville 15678 Manchester Rd Ellisville MO Monroe 3151 W Highway 74 Monroe NC Rocky Mount 1100 N Wesleyan Blvd Rocky Mount NC Millard 12210 K Plz Omaha NE East River Plaza 517 E 117th St New York NY Steelyard Commons 3506 Steelyard Dr Cleveland OH Salem Mall 5031 Salem Ave Dayton OH Caguas Las Americas Expry PR52 Zafiro Caguas PR Middletown 890 W Main Rd Middletown RI Hickory Hollow 5255 Hickory Hollow Pkwy Antioch TN Techridge 12901 North I-35 Austin TX *Woodlake Parkway 6218 Woodglen San Antonio TX Landmark Mall 5901 Stevenson Ave Alexandria VA Cosner's Corner 9745 Jefferson Davis Hwy Fredericksburg VA East Richmond 4410 S Laburnum Ave Richmond VA Mill Plain 16611 Se Mill Plain Blvd Vancouver WA * indicates stores notified March 29, 2012 of closure plans Note: Two stores in Kansas City, MO (Metro North) and Scottsdale, AZ (Shea) permanently closed in February 2012.Best Buy Releases Results of Independent Investigation; New Chairman of the Board Elected The Board of Directors of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) announced that on Saturday, May 12, 2012, it elected director Hatim Tyabji to succeed Richard Schulze as Chairman of the Company, effective at the conclusion of the annual meeting on June 21, 2012. Mr. Tyabji, currently Chairman of the Audit Committee, has served as a director since 1998. When Mr. Schulze steps down as Chairman, he will become Founder and Chairman Emeritus, an honorary position. Mr. Schulze will serve out the remainder of his term as director through June 2013. "Hatim's history of leadership combines technology, retail, financial and mobile experience at the most senior levels," said lead independent director Matthew Paull. "He has founded companies, chaired and served on boards and successfully led enterprises through long-term growth and change. The Board is grateful for his many years of service and is pleased to expand his role to Chairman." "The story of Best Buy is a remarkable American success story," said incoming Chairman Hatim Tyabji. "Dick's leadership and vision changed the landscape of American retail, and he will forever be remembered as an iconic entrepreneur. We join Best Buy's 167,000 employees in thanking him." The Board also publicly released the results of an independent investigation into personal conduct allegations involving former CEO Brian Dunn, who resigned in April. When these allegations, which were unrelated to the company's operations or financial controls, were brought to the Board's attention, the Audit Committee immediately initiated an investigation. Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Dunn resigned. When the Audit Committee was first informed of the allegations in mid-March 2012, it hired outside law firm WilmerHale to conduct an independent investigation. In the interest of transparency and accountability, the board made a commitment to publicly release the findings. Key findings of the investigation include: &middot; The CEO violated Company policy by engaging in an extremely close personal relationship with a female employee that negatively impacted the work environment. &middot; The CEO's relationship with the female employee demonstrated extremely poor judgment and a lack of professionalism, but the inquiry revealed no misuse of Company resources. The inquiry also revealed no misuse of aircraft. &middot; In addition, as part of the investigation, it was determined that the Chairman of the Board of Directors acted inappropriately when he failed to bring the matter to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors in December 2011, when the allegations were first raised with him. "In December, when the conduct of our then-CEO was brought to my attention, I confronted him with the allegations (which he denied), told him his conduct was totally unacceptable and contrary to Best Buy's policies and everything I, and the Company, stand for. I understand and accept the findings of the Audit Committee," said Mr. Schulze. In light of these findings, the Audit Committee of the Board will launch an effort to review and enhance, if appropriate, Best Buy's relevant corporate policies and procedures. The goal of this review is to ensure a positive and consistent workplace environment for all employees at all levels. In addition to electing a new chairman, the independent directors of the board have moved from a neutral position to a recommendation that the shareholders approve the shareholder proposal recommending declassification of the Board, which would require every director to stand for reelection on an annual basis. "As a Board, we support the proposal for annual elections as an additional demonstration of our commitment to strong corporate governance practices. Each of us - with no exceptions - will be subject to approval by the shareholders on an annual basis," said Mr. Tyabji. The full report can be viewed at www.bby.com. Investigation Methodology The inquiry relied upon voluminous interviews, documents and other data. The inquiry included 45 interviews of 34 current or former employees; searches of e-mails and other documents on the CEO's and the female employee's computers; a review of relevant internal ethics complaints; a survey of personnel records; a review of the CEO's and the female employee's purchase records using their employee discount; an analysis of the log of products the CEO tested as product samples; and an analysis of the CEO's and the female employee's Company phone records. The Company did not have access to the CEO's complete personal cell phone records. In addition, the Company's Internal Audit staff performed an in-depth analysis of expense reports, records reflecting corporate use of aircraft, and records of the CEO's use of a Company credit card over a three-year period. Mr. Dunn's Separation Agreement At the conclusion of the investigation, the Company reached a separation agreement with Mr. Dunn that includes value reflecting the increased period for a non-compete from one year, the standard company policy, to three years. The separation agreement is comprised of a previously earned bonus for FY 2012, vesting of previously awarded restricted stock, a severance payment and an unused vacation payment. Previously earned FY2012 bonus: $1,140,000 Previously awarded and reported restricted stock grants of 131,876 shares, valued at close of business on Friday, May 11, 2012, ($19.28 per share), totaling $2,542,569 Severance payment of $2,850,000 Compensation for unused vacation: $106,742 Using the May 11, 2012, stock price for calculation, the estimated total value of the severance package is $6,639,311.1 May 2010BEST BUY UK ENDS SUCCESSFUL FIRST DAY ON AWORLDWIDE HIGH IN THURROCKThe first Best Buy store in the UK opened its doors today to thousands of excited customers as the company hailed the first day at its Thurrock store as a resounding success.Paul Antoniadis, CEO of Best Buy Branded Operations said: "Today is on track to be the biggest ever opening day for a Best Buy store anywhere in the world by volume of sales. Everyone on the Best Buy team is delighted with the start of this new chapter in Best Buy's story."From 7 am onwards thousands of customers streamed through the front doors, taking advantage of incredible opening deals, competitions and entertainment.Anthony from Purfleet said, "I've been waiting for ages since I saw Best Buy's launch announced last summer. Two weeks ago I found out it was opening today so I booked time off work to come down. I expected there to be big queues so I got down here early. I actually only came in for Avatar on Blu-Ray but now I've got two Nintendo Wiis and a hard drive and I'm coming back later for a laptop when I've picked up the 'missus' from work."Tom from Dartford said: "I spoke to a Blueshirt for about 10 minutes about laptops, he seemed to really know his stuff."Best Buy's top opening day products included:&middot; Televisions: Toshiba 32" LCD TV HD Ready (32AV615) (179.99, non-sale price 329.99) and Samsung 32" LED Full HD TV (1080P) (399.99, non-sale price 699.99)&middot; Games: Wii Black with wireless remote, nunchuk, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort (99.99, non-sale price 179.99)&middot; Entertainment: Avatar Blu-ray and DVD combi pack (9.99)&middot; Computing: Iomega Prestige 1TB Desktop Hard Drive (49.99, non-sale price 89.99)&middot; Mobile: Blackberry Curve 8250 Black & Lilac (99.99 Pay as You Go, non-sale price 199.99)&middot; GreenTech and electric vehicles: Xero Tech eScooter Classic (999.99, non-sale price 1,499.99) and Freeloader Solar Charger (14.99, non-sale price 32.99)&middot; Camera: Fujifilm J25 Digital Camera (49.99, non-sale price 99.99).Best Buy also sold its first 3DTVs, including the flagship Samsung 40" 3DTV (UE40C8000) for 1,999.99.Kam Prajapati, General Manager at Best Buy's store in Thurrock said: "Today has been an exciting time for our customers, Blueshirts and Geek Squad Agents alike. The response from customers has been so positive, whether about our helpful, knowledgeable team or the range of latest technology on offer - including TVs, laptops, mobiles, electric bikes, scooters and cars and the amazing prices."What's been even more amazing is the surprise when people realise the real possibilities of technology. We help our customers to Walk out Working when they buy any laptop, camera or mobile phone, offer 121 Help so we can show them how to network their laptop, mobile and TV together to watch, share and enjoy music, movies and games at home and on the go."'Grand Opening' deals that sold out on day one included: Wii Black with wireless remote, nunchuk, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort , Logitech 1100 Remote Control, Iomega Prestige 1TB Desktop Hard Drive, Blackberry Curve 8250 Pay as you Go (Black and Lilac), Samsung 32" LED Full HD TV (1080P).The deals are continuing throughout the weekend, with Best Buy's recommendations:&middot; Dell Mini 1011 Notebook (199 amazing deal)&middot; Toshiba 32" LCD TV HD Ready (32AV615) (179.99, non-sale price 329.99)&middot; Fujifilm J25 Digital Camera (49.99, non-sale price 99.99)&middot; Avatar Blu-ray and DVD combi pack (9.99)&middot; The Gocycle with free carry case 1,299.99 (cycle non-sale price 1499.99, case non-sale price 119.99) and Xero Tech eScooter Classic (999.99, non-sale price 1499.99)&middot; Samsung C10 Standard Definition Camcorder (99.99, non-sale price 129.99).Best Buy Confirms Significant Decline in Fiscal Third Quarter 2013 Earnings Previously Announced on October 24 Adjusted (non-GAAP) diluted EPS of $0.03 GAAP EPS of ($0.04) MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 2012-- Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) today announced a GAAP net loss from continuing operations of $13 million, or $0.04 per share, for the three months ended November 3, 2012 compared to net earnings from continuing operations of $173 million, or $0.47 per diluted share for the prior-year period. Excluding previously announced restructuring charges, adjusted (non-GAAP) net earnings from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 were $10 million, or $0.03 per diluted share compared to $173 million and $0.47 for the prior-year period. Comparable store sales were down during the quarter and adjusted (non-GAAP) operating income declined significantly. Three Months Ended Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 Change Comparable store sales % change1 (4.3%) (0.7%) (360bps) Adjusted (non-GAAP) operating income2 $48 $381 (87%) GAAP Operating income $12 $381 (97%) Adjusted (non-GAAP) diluted EPS from continuing operations2 $0.03 $0.47 (94%) GAAP EPS from continuing operations ($0.04) $0.47 -- Adjusted return on invested capital3 10.1% 10.7% (60bps) "In line with trends experienced over the last three years, Best Buy's third quarter financial performance was clearly unsatisfactory. On November 13, we shared our candid assessment of Best Buy's situation and unveiled Renew Blue, a set of priorities to begin re-invigorating the company's performance and rejuvenating Best Buy. The results we are reporting today only strengthen our sense of urgency and purpose," said Hubert Joly, Best Buy president and CEO. Domestic Segment Operating Income Excluding restructuring charges primarily related to previously announced store closures, the Domestic segment operating income for the three months ended November 3, 2012 declined to $50 million ($16 million on a GAAP basis) from $249 million in the prior-year period. The decline was due to a lower gross profit rate, higher SG&A expense and lower revenue. Revenue The Domestic segment revenue was $7.7 billion and declined 4.7 percent compared to the prior year period. The Domestic segment revenue decline reflected a 4.0 percent comparable store sales decline and the impact of store closures. Best Buy recorded revenue of $431 million in its online business, with growth in excess of 10 percent, and registered positive comparable store sales growth in mobile phones, appliances and tablets/eReaders. This growth was more than offset by comparable store sales declines in notebooks, gaming, digital imaging and televisions. The company believes that tablet and notebook comparable store sales were negatively impacted by slower consumer purchasing in anticipation of major product launches. Gross Profit Domestic segment gross profit was $1.9 billion and decreased 9 percent, reflecting a rate decline of 100 basis points compared to the prior-year period. The gross profit dollars were helped by the growth of mobile phones but the rate suffered from unfavorable product mix in mobile phones and televisions, as well as from the impact of product transitions ahead of key new launches. Selling, General and Administrative Expenses ("SG&A")4 Domestic segment SG&A expense was $1.8 billion and increased 1 percent compared to the prior-year period. This increase was due to increased training and higher compensation costs for sales associates, as well as executive transition costs. Excluding the impact of these costs and the absence of the Best Buy Mobile profit share payment, Domestic SG&A expense was approximately flat compared to the prior-year period. International Segment Operating Income Excluding previously announced restructuring charges, the International segment reported an adjusted operating loss of $2 million ($4 million on a GAAP basis) for the three months ended November 3, 2012. The decline was due to Canada, Europe and China, driven by lower revenue in Canadaand China and lower gross profit in Europe. Revenue The International segment revenue was $3.1 billion and declined less than one percent compared to the prior-year period. Comparable store sales declined 5.2 percent, as comparable store sales growth in Europe was more than offset by declines in Canada and China. Gross Profit International segment gross profit was $731 million and declined 11 percent, reflecting a rate decline of 280 basis points compared to the prior-year period. The rate decline was driven primarily by Europe and due largely to increased mix of lower-margin wholesale sales, and a price competitive environment for mobile phones coupled with mix into more expensive handsets. Selling, General and Administrative Expenses4 International segment SG&A expense was $733 million and increased 7 percent compared to the prior-year period. Excluding the impact from the absence of the Best Buy Mobile profit share payment, International SG&A expense was flat compared to the prior-year period. Please see the table titled "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" attached to this release for more detail. Dividends On October 2, 2012, the company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per common share outstanding, or $57 million in the aggregate. Fiscal 2013 Financial Guidance The company currently expects to generate free cash flow5 in the range of $850 million to $1.05 billion for fiscal 2013. This amount compares with the company's previously communicated range of $1.25 to $1.5 billion that had been provided on August 21, 2012. The company's free cash flow guidance excludes the impact of previously announced restructuring activities and includes a change in restricted cash related to working capital. Holiday Sales Results The company is planning to announce revenue results for the nine weeks ending January 5, 2013 (fiscal November and December) on January 11, 2013. Conference Call Best Buy is scheduled to conduct an earnings conference call at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. Central Time) on November 20, 2012. A webcast of the call is expected to be available on its Web site at both live and after the call. A telephone replay is also available starting at approximately 12:00 pm Eastern Time (11:00 a.m. Central Time) on November 20 through November 27. The dial-in number for the replay is 800-406-7325 (domestic) or 303-590-3030 (international), and the access code is 4573748. (1) Best Buy's comparable store sales is comprised of revenue at stores, call centers, and websites operating for at least 14 full months as well as revenue related to other comparable sales channels. Relocated stores, as well as remodeled, expanded, and downsized stores closed more than 14 days, are excluded from the comparable store sales calculation until at least 14 full months after reopening. Acquired stores are included in the comparable store sales calculation beginning with the first full quarter following the first anniversary of the date of the acquisition. The portion of the calculation of the comparable store sales percentage change attributable to the International segment excludes the effect of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. The method of calculating comparable store sales varies across the retail industry. As a result, Best Buy's method of calculating comparable store sales may not be the same as other retailers' methods. (2) The company defines adjusted operating income for the periods presented as its reported operating income for those periods calculated in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP") adjusted to exclude the effects of previously announced restructuring charges. In addition, the company defines adjusted net earnings and adjusted diluted earnings per share for the periods presented as its reported net earnings and diluted earnings per share calculated in accordance with GAAP adjusted to exclude the effects of the restructuring charges. These non-GAAP financial measures provide investors with an understanding of the company's operating income, net earnings, and diluted earnings per share adjusted to exclude the effect of the items described above. These non-GAAP financial measures assist investors in making a ready comparison of the company's operating income, net earnings, and diluted earnings per share for its fiscal quarter ended November 3, 2012, against the company's results for the respective prior-year periods and against third party estimates of the company's diluted earnings per share for those periods that may not have included the effect of such items. Additionally, management uses these non-GAAP financial measures as an internal measure to analyze trends, allocate resources, and analyze underlying operating performance. Please see "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" attached to this release for more detail. (3) The company defines adjusted return on invested capital ("ROIC") as adjusted net operating profit after taxes divided by average invested capital for the periods presented (including both continuing and discontinued operations). Adjusted net operating profit after taxes is defined as our operating income for the periods presented calculated in accordance with GAAP adjusted to exclude the effects of: (i) operating lease interest; (ii) investment income; (iii) net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests; (iv) income taxes; (v) all restructuring charges in costs of goods sold and operating expenses, goodwill and tradename impairments, and costs related to the purchase of CPW's share of the Best Buy Mobile profit share agreement ("Best Buy Europe transaction costs"); and (vi) the noncontrolling interest impact of the restructuring charges, Best Buy Europe transaction costs and the purchase of CPW's share of the Best Buy Mobile profit share agreement. Average invested capital is defined as the average of our total assets for the trailing four quarters in relation to the periods presented adjusted to: (i) exclude excess cash and cash equivalent and short-term investments; (ii) include capitalized operating lease obligations calculated using a multiple of eight times rental expenses; (iii) exclude our total liabilities, less our outstanding debt; and (iv) exclude equity of noncontrolling interests. This non-GAAP financial measure provides investors with a supplemental measure to evaluate how effectively the company is investing its capital and deploying its assets. Management uses this non-GAAP financial measure to assist in allocating resources, and trends in the measure may fluctuate over time as management balances long-term initiatives with possible short-term impacts. Our ROIC calculation utilizes total operations in order to provide a measure that includes the results of and capital invested in all operations, including those businesses that are no longer continuing operations. Please see "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" attached to this release for more detail. (4) As a reminder, year-over-year SG&A comparisons for both Domestic and International segments were impacted by the absence of the Best BuyMobile profit share payment in fiscal 2013 as a result of the purchase of Carphone Warehouse Group plc's ("CPWs") share of the Best Buy Mobile profit share agreement in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012. These intercompany profit share payments previously increased Domestic segment SG&A expense while lowering International segment SG&A and had no impact on the company's consolidated SG&A. (5) Best Buy defines free cash flow as total cash (used in) provided by operating activities less additions to property and equipment. This non-GAAP financial measure assists investors in making a ready comparison of the company's expected free cash flow for the year ending February 2, 2013, against the company's results for the respective prior-year periods and against management's previously provided expectations. The company's free cash flow guidance excludes the impact of previously announced restructuring activities and includes an expected benefit from a change in restricted cash related to working capital, which is included within investing activities on the condensed consolidated statements of cash flows. Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that reflect management's current views and estimates regarding future market conditions, company performance and financial results, business prospects, new strategies, the competitive environment and other events. You can identify these statements by the fact that they use words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "project," "guidance," "plan," "outlook," and other words and terms of similar meaning. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the potential results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Among the factors that could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements are the following: general economic conditions, changes in consumer preferences, credit market constraints, acquisitions and development of new businesses, divestitures, product availability, sales volumes, pricing actions and promotional activities of competitors, profit margins, weather, natural or man-made disasters, changes in law or regulations, foreign currency fluctuation, availability of suitable real estate locations, the company's ability to react to a disaster recovery situation, the impact of labor markets and new product introductions on overall profitability, failure to achieve anticipated benefits of announced transactions, integration challenges relating to new ventures and unanticipated costs associated with previously announced or future restructuring activities. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other matters can be found in the company's annual report and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Best Buy's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on May 1, 2012. Best Buy cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not complete, and any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Best Buy assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement that it may make. BEST BUY CO., INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF EARNINGS ($ in millions, except per share amounts) (Unaudited and subject to reclassification) Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 Revenue $ 10,753 $ 11,145 $ 32,910 $ 33,370 Cost of goods sold 8,167 8,292 24,853 24,834 Gross profit 2,586 2,853 8,057 8,536 Gross profit % 24.0 % 25.6 % 24.5 % 25.6 % Selling, general and administrative expenses 2,538 2,472 7,496 7,431 SG&A % 23.6 % 22.2 % 22.8 % 22.3 % Restructuring charges 36 - 254 4 Operating income 12 381 307 1,101 Operating income % 0.1 % 3.4 % 0.9 % 3.3 % Other income (expense): Investment income and other 13 - 25 25 Interest expense (31 ) (37 ) (94 ) (98 ) (Loss) earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense and equity in loss of affiliates (6 ) 344 238 1,028 Income tax (benefit) expense (2 ) 122 84 364 Effective tax rate 34.7 % 35.6 % 35.4 % 35.4 % Equity in loss of affiliates (1 ) (2 ) (5 ) (3 ) Net (loss) earnings from continuing operations (5 ) 220 149 661 Gain (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax 6 (46 ) (3 ) (137 ) Net earnings including noncontrolling interest 1 174 146 524 Net (earnings) loss from continuing operations attributable to noncontrolling interests (8 ) (47 ) 11 (83 ) Net (earnings) loss from discontinued operations attributable to noncontrolling interests (3 ) 29 3 55 Net (loss) earnings attributable to Best Buy Co., Inc. $ (10 ) $ 156 $ 160 $ 496 Amounts attributable to Best Buy Co., Inc. Net (loss) earnings from continuing operations $ (13 ) $ 173 $ 160 $ 578 Net earnings (loss) from discontinued operations 3 (17 ) - (82 ) Net (loss) earnings attributable to Best Buy Co., Inc. $ (10 ) $ 156 $ 160 $ 496 Basic (loss) earnings per share attributable to Best Buy Co., Inc. Continuing operations $ (0.04 ) $ 0.48 $ 0.47 $ 1.53 Discontinued operations $ 0.01 $ (0.05 ) $ - $ (0.21 ) Basic (loss) earnings per share $ (0.03 ) $ 0.43 $ 0.47 $ 1.32 Diluted (loss) earnings per share attributable to Best Buy Co., Inc.(1) Continuing operations $ (0.04 ) $ 0.47 $ 0.47 $ 1.51 Discontinued operations $ 0.01 $ (0.05 ) $ - $ (0.21 ) Diluted (loss) earnings per share $ (0.03 ) $ 0.42 $ 0.47 $ 1.30 Dividends declared per Best Buy Co., Inc. common share $ 0.17 $ 0.16 $ 0.49 $ 0.46 Weighted average Best Buy Co., Inc. common shares outstanding (in millions) Basic 337.2 363.4 339.3 376.9 Diluted 337.2 372.4 340.4 386.2 (1) The calculation of diluted earnings per share assumes the conversion of the company's previously outstanding convertible debentures due in 2022 into 8.8 million shares common stock in the three and nine months ended October 29, 2011, and adds back the related after-tax interest expense of $1.4 and $4.2 for the three and nine months ended October 29, 2011, respectively. BEST BUY CO., INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS ($ in millions) (Unaudited and subject to reclassification) Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 ASSETS Current assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 309 $ 2,073 Short-term investments - 20 Receivables 2,250 1,968 Merchandise inventories 8,156 7,780 Other current assets 1,131 1,098 Total current assets 11,846 12,939 Net property & equipment 3,407 3,697 Goodwill 1,344 2,447 Tradenames 131 131 Customer relationships 213 165 Equity and other investments 91 279 Other assets 524 469 TOTAL ASSETS $ 17,556 $ 20,127 LIABILITIES & EQUITY Current liabilities Accounts payable $ 7,933 $ 7,557 Accrued liabilities 2,361 2,549 Short-term debt 310 163 Current portion of long-term debt 544 442 Total current liabilities 11,148 10,711 Long-term liabilities 1,122 1,161 Long-term debt 1,158 1,692 Equity 4,128 6,563 TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY $ 17,556 $ 20,127 BEST BUY CO., INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS ($ in millions) (Unaudited and subject to reclassification) Nine Months Ended Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 OPERATING ACTIVITIES Net earnings including noncontrolling interests $ 146 $ 524 Adjustments to reconcile net earnings to total cash (used in) provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets 687 708 Other, net 269 111 Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of acquired assets and liabilities: Receivables 216 322 Merchandise inventories (1,330 ) (393 ) Accounts payable 967 938 Other assets and liabilities (1,076 ) (310 ) Total cash (used in) provided by operating activities (121 ) 1,900 INVESTING ACTIVITIES Additions to property and equipment (522 ) (580 ) Other, net 110 25 Total cash used in investing activities (412 ) (555 ) FINANCING ACTIVITIES Repurchase of common stock (255 ) (1,056 ) (Repayments) borrowings of debt, net (200 ) 581 Other, net (152 ) (136 ) Total cash used in financing activities (607 ) (611 ) EFFECT OF EXCHANGE RATE CHANGES ON CASH 48 1 ADJUSTMENT FOR CHANGE IN FISCAL YEAR 202 235 (DECREASE) INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS (890 ) 970 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT BEGINNING OF PERIOD 1,199 1,103 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT END OF PERIOD $ 309 $ 2,073 BEST BUY CO., INC. SEGMENT INFORMATION ($ in millions) (Unaudited and subject to reclassification) Domestic Segment Performance Summary Three Months Ended Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 Change Revenue $7,673 $8,055 (5%) Comparable store sales % change1 (4.0%) 0.1% (410bps) Gross profit $1,855 $2,033 (9%) % of revenue 24.2% 25.2% (100bps) SG&A $1,805 $1,784 1% % of revenue 23.5% 22.1% 140bps Restructuring charges $34 $0 N/A Operating income $16 $249 (94%) % of revenue 0.2% 3.1% (290bps) Adjusted (non-GAAP) operating income2 $50 $249 (80%) % of revenue 0.7% 3.1% (240bps) Revenue per square foot (Domestic segment)3 $856 $846 1% Adjusted operating income per square foot (Domestic segment)3 $36 $43 (16%) International Segment Performance Summary Three Months Ended Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 Change Revenue $3,080 $3,090 (0%) Comparable store sales % change1 (5.2%) (3.2%) (200bps) Gross profit $731 $820 (11%) % of revenue 23.7% 26.5% (280bps) SG&A $733 $688 7% % of revenue 23.8% 22.3% 150bps Restructuring charges $2 $0 N/A Operating (loss) income ($4) $132 -- % of revenue (0.1%) 4.3% (440bps) Adjusted (non-GAAP) operating (loss) income2 ($2) $132 -- % of revenue (0.1%) 4.3% (440bps) (1) Best Buy's comparable store sales is comprised of revenue at stores, call centers, and Web sites operating for at least 14 full months as well as revenue related to other comparable sales channels. Relocated stores, as well as remodeled, expanded and downsized stores closed more than 14 days, are excluded from the comparable store sales calculation until at least 14 full months after reopening. Acquired stores are included in the comparable store sales calculation beginning with the first full quarter following the first anniversary of the date of the acquisition. The portion of the calculation of the comparable store sales percentage change attributable to the International segment excludes the effect of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. The method of calculating comparable store sales varies across the retail industry. As a result, Best Buy's method of calculating comparable store sales may not be the same as other retailers' methods. (2) Excludes the impact of previously announced restructuring charges. Please see table titled "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" at the back of this release. (3) Revenue per square foot is equal to the sum of Domestic segment trailing twelve months revenue divided by the average quarterly retail square footage for all U.S. stores, over the same period. Adjusted operating income per square foot is equal to the sum of Domestic segment trailing twelve months adjusted operating income divided by the average quarterly retail square footage for all U.S. stores, over the same period. BEST BUY CO., INC. REVENUE CATEGORY SUMMARY (Unaudited and subject to reclassification) Domestic Segment Summary Revenue Mix Summary Comparable Store Sales Three Months Ended Three Months Ended Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 Consumer Electronics 31% 33% (8.4%) (5.1%) Computing and Mobile Phones 45% 43% 0.9% 5.9% Entertainment 9% 10% (18.5%) (12.0%) Appliances 7% 6% 10.8% 14.9% Services1 7% 7% (4.6%) 0.5% Other 1% 1% n/a n/a Total 100% 100% (4.0%) 0.1% International Segment Summary Revenue Mix Summary Comparable Store Sales Three Months Ended Three Months Ended Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 Consumer Electronics 16% 19% (17.5%) (2.8%) Computing and Mobile Phones 65% 57% 2.4% (3.7%) Entertainment 3% 4% (16.6%) (3.3%) Appliances 9% 10% (9.4%) (7.2%) Services1 7% 10% (10.8%) 3.7% Other <1% <1% n/a n/a Total 100% 100% (5.2%) (3.2%) (1) The "Services" revenue category consists primarily of service contracts, extended warranties, computer related services, product repair and delivery and installation for home theater, mobile audio and appliances. BEST BUY CO., INC. RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES CONTINUING OPERATIONS ($ in millions, except per share amounts) (Unaudited and subject to reclassification) The following information provides reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures from continuing operations to the most comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP"). The company has provided non-GAAP financial measures, which are not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP, as information supplemental and in addition to the financial measures presented in the accompanying news release that are calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Such non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered superior to, as a substitute for, or as an alternative to, and should be considered in conjunction with, the GAAP financial measures presented in the news release. The non- GAAP financial measures in the accompanying news release may differ from similar measures used by other companies. The following tables reconcile operating income, net earnings and diluted earnings per share for the periods presented for continuing operations (GAAP financial measures) to adjusted operating income, adjusted net earnings and adjusted diluted earnings per share for continuing operations (non-GAAP financial measures) for the periods presented. Three Months Ended Three Months Ended Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 $ % of Rev. $ % of Rev. Domestic - Continuing Operations Operating income $16 0.2% $249 3.1% Restructuring charges 34 0.4% 0 n/a Adjusted operating income $50 0.7% $249 3.1% International - Continuing Operations Operating (loss) income ($4) (0.1%) $132 4.3% Restructuring charges 2 0.1% 0 n/a Adjusted operating (loss) income ($2) (0.1%) $132 4.3% Consolidated - Continuing Operations Operating income $12 0.1% $381 3.4% Restructuring charges 36 0.3% 0 n/a Adjusted operating income $48 0.4% $381 3.4% Net (loss) earnings ($13) $173 After-tax impact of restructuring charges 23 0 Adjusted net earnings $10 $173 Diluted EPS ($0.04) $0.47 Per share impact of restructuring charges 0.07 0.00 Adjusted diluted EPS $0.03 $0.47 Nine Months Ended Nine Months Ended Nov. 3, 2012 Oct. 29, 2011 $ % of Rev. $ % of Rev. Domestic - Continuing Operations Operating income $394 1.6% $854 3.5% Restructuring charges 252 1.0% 5 0.0% Adjusted operating income $646 2.7% $859 3.5% International - Continuing Operations Operating (loss) income ($87) (1.0%) $247 2.8% Restructuring charges 2 n/a (1) (0.0%) Adjusted operating (loss) income ($85) (1.0%) $246 2.7% Consolidated - Continuing Operations Operating income $307 0.9% $1,101 3.3% Restructuring charges 254 0.8% 4 0.0% Adjusted operating income $561 1.7% $1,105 3.3% Net earnings $160 $578 After-tax impact of restructuring charges 164 3 Adjusted net earnings $324 $581 Diluted EPS $0.47 $1.51 Per share impact of restructuring charges 0.48 0.00 Adjusted diluted EPS $0.95 $1.51 BEST BUY CO., INC. RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES ($ in millions) (Unaudited and subject to reclassification) The following information provides a reconciliation of a non-GAAP financial measure to the most comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. The company has provided the non-GAAP financial measure, which is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP, as information supplemental and in addition to the financial measure that is calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Such non-GAAP financial measure should not be considered superior to, as a substitute for, or as an alternative to, and should be considered in conjunction with, the GAAP financial measure. The non-GAAP financial measure in the accompanying news release may differ from similar measures used by other companies. The following table includes the calculation of Adjusted ROIC for total operations, which includes both continuing and discontinued operations (non-GAAP financial measures), along with a reconciliation to the calculation of return on total assets ("ROA") (GAAP financial measure) for the periods presented. Calculation of Return on Invested Capital(1) Nov. 3, 2012(2) Oct. 29, 2011(2) Net Operating Profit After Taxes (NOPAT) Operating income - continuing operations $ 186 $ 2,224 Operating loss - discontinued operations (241 ) (294 ) Total operating (loss) income (55 ) 1,930 Add: Operating lease interest(3) 594 600 Add: Investment income 47 38 Less: Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interest (NCI) (1,212 ) (66 ) Less: Income taxes(4) (845 ) (999 ) NOPAT $ (1,471 ) $ 1,503 Add: Restructuring charges and impairments(5) 1,760 245 Add: NCI impact of BBYM profit share buyout and restructuring charges 1,202 - Adjusted NOPAT $ 1,491 $ 1,748 Average Invested Capital Total assets $ 16,665 $ 19,587 Less: Excess Cash(6) (447 ) (1,601 ) Add: Capitalized operating lease obligations(7) 9,498 9,596 Total liabilities (12,466 ) (12,635 ) Exclude: Debt(8) 2,119 2,177 Less: Noncontrolling interests (618 ) (713 ) Average invested capital $ 14,751 $ 16,411 Adjusted Return on invested capital (ROIC) 10.1 % 10.7 % Calculation of Return on Assets(1) Nov. 3, 2012(2) Oct. 29, 2011(2) Net (loss) earnings including noncontrolling interests $ (447 ) $ 1,220 Total assets 16,665 19,587 Return on assets (ROA) (2.7 %) 6.2 % (1) The calculations of Return on Invested Capital and Return on Assets use total operations, which includes both continuing and discontinued operations. (2) Income statement accounts represent the activity for the 12 months ended as of each of the balance sheet dates. Balance sheet accounts represent the average account balances for the 4 quarters ended as of each of the balance sheet dates. (3) Operating lease interest represents the add-back to operating income driven by our capitalized lease obligations and represents fifty percent of our annual rental expense which is the multiple used for the retail sector by one of the nationally recognized credit rating agencies that rates our creditworthiness, and we consider it to be an appropriate multiple for our lease portfolio. (4) Income taxes are calculated using a blended statutory rate at the enterprise level based on statutory rates from the countries we do business in. (5) Includes all restructuring charges in costs of goods sold and operating expenses, goodwill and tradename impairments, and the Best Buy Europe transaction costs. (6) Cash and cash equivalents and short term investments are capped at the greater of 1% of revenue or actual amounts on hand. The cash and cash equivalents and short term investments in excess of the cap are subtracted from our calculation of average invested capital to show their exclusion from total assets. (7) The multiple of eight times annual rental expense in the calculation of our capitalized operating lease obligations is the multiple used for the retail sector by one of the nationally recognized credit rating agencies that rates our creditworthiness, and we consider it to be an appropriate multiple for our lease portfolio. (8) Debt includes short-term debt, current portion of long-term debt and long-term debt and is added back to our calculation of average invested capital to show its exclusion from total liabilities.Best Buy to Sell its Stake in European Business to Carphone Warehouse (Thomson Reuters ONE via COMTEX) --MINNEAPOLIS - April 30, 2013 - Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY), the leading authority and destination for technology products and services, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of its 50 percent interest in Best Buy Europe, the joint venture it created in 2008 with Carphone Warehouse Group plc (CPW). The sale price of GBP 500 million (approximately $775 million as of April 29, 2013) is comprised of GBP 420 million in cash and GBP 80 million in CPW stock subject to a 12-month lock-up restriction. During the lock-up period, however, both parties have agreed that CPW will be able to place the CPW shares on behalf of Best Buy at or above the issue price, with any additional proceeds above the issue price being retained by CPW. If, at the end of the lock-up period, the sum of the total proceeds received by Best Buy from sales of the CPW shares by CPW plus the market value of any remaining shares is less than GBP 64 million (approximately $99 million), CPW will pay such deficiency to Best Buy. In conjunction with the transaction, Best Buy has agreed to pay CPW GBP 29 million (approximately $45 million as of April 29, 2013) in satisfaction of obligations under existing agreements, including the parties' Global Connect partnership, which will be terminated at closing. The boards of directors of both companies have approved this transaction. All directors of CPW have also signed letters of commitment to vote their shares in support of the transaction. The transaction is subject to approval by the shareholders of CPW, but is not subject to any closing conditions in respect of financing. The transaction is expected to close by the end of June 2013. Beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, Best Buy intends to report the results of the Best Buy Europe joint venture in discontinued operations, including an estimated non-cash asset impairment charge of approximately $200 million, associated with accumulated foreign currency translation losses that will be written off at the time of closing. Prior to entering into this agreement, U.S. GAAP revenues for Best Buy Europe in fiscal 2014 were expected to be in the range of $5.5 to $5.6 billion. Adjusted (non-GAAP) diluted earnings per share were expected to be immaterial. "After reviewing the business and spending time with our partners, we concluded that the timing and economics were right to enter into this agreement with CPW," said Hubert Joly, president and chief executive officer of Best Buy. "This transaction allows us to 1) simplify our business; 2) substantially improve our Return on Invested Capital, one of the five pillars of our Renew Blue transformation; and 3) strengthen our balance sheet," added Joly. "Each international market is different and the sale of our European operations should not suggest any similar action in our other international businesses," said Joly. Best Buy formed the Best Buy Europe joint venture with CPW in June 2008. The joint venture operates stores in eight countries. Additional details on this transaction are available in the Company's Form 8-K, to be filed this morning.Calling All Schools: Join The Bing For Schools Program!People search in many different places, for many different things. And while we tend to talk about Bing as one search engine, it is a little more like a Swiss Army knife, responding to different contexts and intents to provide the best possible results to help people find and do what they need.Today, we're announcing a new initiative to give one context in particular a special treatment: we're helping our nation's schools to teach digital literacy skills. Starting later this year, Bing For Schoolswill offer schools in the U.S. the option to tailor the Bing experience for K-12 students by removing all advertisements from search results, enhancing privacy protections and the filtering of adult content, and adding specialized learning features to enhance digital literacy.The program is completely voluntary: schools have the choice of participating or keeping the normal Bing experience. For those that opt-in, Bing will enable the experience across all searches from within the school's network on Bing.com, without any need for special software or a different search address. And of course, Bing For Schools is free for any school or districts wishing to participate.While we aren't ready to go into too much detail, as we're still finalizing what will be available in the first iteration, here are a few things you can likely expect:Keeping Our Kids Focused on Learning:As a country, we've set schools aside as a special place that is focused on learning, and have traditionally kept advertising out of that environment. Bing For Schools removes ads from the search experience, keeping with our strong belief that schools are for learning and not selling.Protecting Our Kids:Bing already offers the ability to filter out adult content with SafeSearch, but with Bing For Schools, SafeSearch will automatically default to the strict setting and remove kids ability to change it.Educating Our Kids: In addition to the beautiful Bing homepage images, which feature hotspots that encourage exploration of new and unexpected topics, Bing For Schools will offer short lesson plans that teach digital literacy skills that are related to search and tied to the Common Core. For example, thispicture of a sloth might be coupled with the question "How many sloths could live in one square mile of jungle?" and a lesson helping students use search tools and critical thinking to find potential answers.As we look to begin another school year, we'll make more information available. For now, interested educators and parents can find out more at Bing.com/schoolsand register to receive updates and information on how they can encourage their school to participate and support the program.Microsoft employs thousands of parents, so you can imagine that we're very passionate about the Bing For Schools program. The Microsoft Partners in Learningnetwork has allowed us to provide high-quality programs to educators for years, and we are excited for Bing For Schools to add to that work. We see the program as something we can build alongside teachers, parents, and visionaries to create the best possible search experience for our children, and will continue to update you with new information as we work towards our launch later this year.-Matt Wallaert, Bing Behavioral Scientist (and former teacher)For years now, the BlackBerry OS has occupied something of a special state, almost feeling as if it were thrown down into a pit and locked into a bar of carbonite, preserved in stasis for future generations to see. Want to show your kids what using a smartphone was like in 2006? You just needed to find a Bold on display at the local electronics store and let your little ones gaze wide-eyed at a sea of menus and tiny buttons. BB7, then, was a disappointment for many, feeling like a bare-minimum update to those versions that came before rather than the complete QNX-based retooling we'd all been waiting for. The showed us what was possible with a clean-sheet approach to a BlackBerry OS, and we wanted that on a phone. Now, two years after the release of that tablet, here we have it. It's BlackBerry 10. It's a wholly new experience, very different even than the PlayBook, and in general it's quite good. But is it good enough to thrive in a world dominated by iOS and Android? Let's find out. General layout and gestures The input-free drives home the need to use gestures to interact with this new OS, because there's a complete lack of buttons on the face -- only the volume controls and a power / lock toggle on top remain. Even the touch-heavy made room for a suite of discrete inputs, but not here. So, it'll be gestures, then, which means there's a bit of a learning curve. Thankfully, it's a slight one. So, it'll be gestures, then, which means there's a bit of a learning curve. Thankfully, it's a slight one. The most important gesture is swiping up from the bottom bezel, which always brings you back to a tiled view of all the running apps. This will be the gesture most familiar to PlayBook users, and is one of the few that survived. (Swiping from the left or right bezels to switch apps, for example, isn't possible here.) Up to eight apps can be kept running in the background on this screen and bringing one back to life just requires a tap. Or, to properly kill a running app, hit the X in the lower right, an action that feels a bit ornery compared to the fun of flinging an app that you no longer needed off the top of the PlayBook's display. From here you can swipe your way left or right. To the right lies a grid of icons, on the Z10 arranged in a 4 x 4 matrix of rectangular tiles, each holding an app icon and a name. Repositioning is performed by tapping and dragging, while dropping one on another creates a folder. Folders are represented by a smaller grid of icons within a single app icon space, with no other identifying characteristic, which makes them a bit hard to pick out amidst the sea of apps. App icon and folder pages extend off to the right as more apps are installed and there's no attempt at categorizing them, again unlike the PlayBook, which had pages for "Favorites" and "Media" apps. Widgets and other desktop-like controls are not supported here. Just icons. But, a bit of room was carved out to create a static area holding three special controls: a phone, a search glass and a camera. Tap the phone and the dialer interface shows up. This is split into three sections, with the leftmost giving you a look at your previous incoming and outgoing calls. In the middle is a long list of contacts (sucked in from BBM, Facebook, Twitter and Google Contacts, among others) that is searchable and, in the right tab is a simple dial pad in case you're one of the lucky few who can actually remember a phone number. The search icon takes you into a universal search that, with one form, enables the querying of apps, contacts, messages, calendar appointments and even web history. The results, then, tend to be a bit long, but thankfully you can filter them by category. If that weren't enough, third-party apps can also hook into the search interface, represented at the bottom of the search results. Tap an app icon and your search text is handed off to the app in question. Finally, the camera icon predictably brings up the photography interface, which we'll explore in more detail later. Again, swiping up from the bottom bezel is the gesture that takes you to this interface, but if you extend that gesture you begin what BlackBerry calls the "Peek." Swiping up and holding causes a row of icons to arrive from the left, representing unread emails, calendar reminders and the like. A red asterisk by any of these means you have something new to look at. To see what that is, just continue that gesture off to the right, which brings you to the BlackBerry Hub, a section of the OS best covered in its own section. BlackBerry Hub This is the place that BlackBerry thinks will be so vital to your BlackBerry 10 experience that it's made available from anywhere, in any app, with just a single gesture. The name "Hub" is apt. This is the place that BlackBerry thinks will be so vital to your BlackBerry 10 experience that it's made available from anywhere, in any app, with just a single gesture. Swipe up and to the right and you're immediately hit in the face with an aggregated list of emails, Twitter replies and DMs. Also, text messages, BBMs, Facebook messages, voicemails and missed calls. Also, system updates and, yes, even LinkedIn messages will be listed here. It can be a little overwhelming for sure -- especially if you have multiples of each type of account to manage. In theory this could make it a great way to keep up with all your connected options, but we found it a bit cumbersome to use when quickly managing masses of messages. For example, if you want to select a bunch of emails and file them all away, it's two taps just to enable multiple-select mode. If you want to simply delete a single email, it's three taps: one tap to open it, a second to bring up a menu and then, finally, a third on the "delete" button. Or, you can perform a long tap and wait for a context menu, which takes a few seconds to pop up. By comparison, in the latest Gmail app you can delete an email right from the list with just a quick, single swipe. Overall, as a communication tool, BlackBerry Hub is powerful if you get relatively few messages scattered across multiple platforms, but if you spend a good portion of your day fending off a mountain of email, it can begin to feel unwieldy. But, when it comes to jumping into calendar invites, that's made very easy. Just scroll down in Hub and those appear up top, ready for your tapping. And, as ever, if those meetings take place on a conference bridge, just tap the number to dial in. This sort of navigation has always been a trademark of BlackBerry, and it's great to see it live on here. But, if that mega-list of all your messaging gets overwhelming, you can filter it by an individual account, perhaps showing only Twitter messages and replies for your work account or only your BBMs. This is done by grabbing the lower-left icon, which has three notches drawn on the side, and dragging it right to expose all the accounts you've added to the phone. This is a gesture and control common on many of the stock apps. You then tap the content that you want or, for more control, you can dive into the settings and individually pop them on or off. From here you can compose messages in any of these aggregated accounts, including sending Twitter direct messages, BBMs, text messages and, yes, emails. To do that, you'll need something to type on. Keyboard The virtual keyboard in BlackBerry 10 is good. Really good. It's the best stock keyboard of any mobile OS at the moment. Much has been made of the relatively pain-free method of text entry on BlackBerry's traditional, QWERTY keyboard-having devices -- and much has been said of the agony of entering text on any of Blackberry's previous keyboard-free devices. Each one, we were told, would deliver a typing experience as good as a physical keyboard without the compromise in screen size and each one failed to deliver. Until now. The virtual keyboard in BlackBerry 10 is good. Really good. It's the best stock keyboard of any mobile OS at the moment -- a good thing, because there's no way to replace it. It starts with a comfortable layout, which includes rows of generously sized keys separated by gray bars meant to evoke the chrome ones found on many a BlackBerry QWERTY handset in the past. This gives even meaty thumbs plenty of space for hunting and pecking, but that's only the beginning. It's a four-row layout to begin, with no dedicated buttons for numbers or characters other than letters, comma, period and, of course, a space. But, to get to numbers and other special characters you just swipe downward, which kindly cycles through two pages of special characters. A swipe from right to left, meanwhile, deletes whatever word was just entered, &agrave; la . Finally, the most talked-about point here is the predictive nature of the thing. The keyboard snoops through your email and social history to get an idea of what phrases you commonly type and files those away. As you type, it's helpfully suggesting what you might want to type next, and it does so in an interesting way: presenting whole words hovering above keys. To type that word, you simply swipe up from the key and the keyboard enters it for you -- plus a space. For example, if you want to type "Good morning," you'd start by hitting the "G" key. And, immediately, the BB10 keyboard superimposes the word "Good" above the "O" key. Swipe up on that and you can immediately move on to the next word, "morning," which is now conveniently floating above the "M" key. Swipe up and you're done with just three presses of the screen. Mind you, it doesn't always work this way, and in practice it can actually be a bit distracting and befuddling at times. In SwiftKey, for example, the predicted next word is always in the same place and, to select it, you hit the space bar. You very quickly get used to looking in that spot, which means you don't need to look at the keyboard itself. In BB10, the predicted words are scattered all over the letters, forcing you to follow your thumbs as you type. If you've learned to touch-type on your smartphones, this can take a bit of adjustment. But is it truly better than a physical keyboard? We still hold the at the pinnacle of smartphone typing experiences and, from a tactility sense, a touch experience isn't going to win. But, from a typing speed perspective, we have to give the nod to the BlackBerry 10 keyboard. We were able to blurt out emails and texts in record time. Voice recognition If typing isn't your thing, BlackBerry 10 offers full voice recognition -- handled via network, as on most mobile devices, meaning you'll need to stay actively connected if you want to take this for a spin. There's a dictation feature, accessed by holding down the period key. We found the voice recognition to be quite impressive, nailing easy phrases like "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," and even perfectly parsing more complex ones, like "I live in Schenectady, New York and I'm looking for a Mexican restaurant." Then there's also the Voice Control feature, which allows you to give your phone some simple commands -- much like , it must be said. Hold down the play / pause button on the phone (which is nestled between the volume up and down buttons) and a feminine voice asks you what you'd like to do. From here you can say things like "call Amanda" or "send a text message" or even "BBM Alex: Hey I just saved you 10 cents by not sending a text message." We found phrases like "note to self" to set a reminder or "schedule a meeting" most powerful, but couldn't help but wish there were more available commands. When saying, "call my wife," the phone reacted by trying to find a contact named "wife," rather than asking which of your existing contacts is your wife. Any attempt to get directions or navigation to a location or contact was rebuffed, and the service is unfortunately unable to deliver answers to simple questions, like: "How many ounces are in a pound?" It simply hands all those off to Bing. Camera The camera has a dedicated icon on the bottom of the main interface, though you can also bring it up from the lock screen by performing a long press on a camera icon there, too. The interface is simple, with a focus reticle in the center that changes to green and contracts slightly when focus is achieved. The typical ellipsis in the lower-right corner brings up a quick menu that lets you switch between front and rear cameras, toggle shooting modes, select from one of four pre-defined scenes (like Action or Whiteboard), enable / disable the flash and, finally, select between 16:9 and 4:3 images. When it comes to the business of taking photos, there's no discrete shutter button here, either physical or virtual. You just tap anywhere on the screen to take the picture. To select a different focus point other than dead-center you have to manually drag the reticle around before snapping the picture, something that we found cumbersome. We'd much prefer tap-to-focus with an on-screen shutter release. BlackBerry has also bundled in a feature called Time Shift that, when taking a shot of a group of people, actually takes a burst of photos and then lets you selectively choose the best frame for each individual in the photo. This works well when it identifies all the faces, but in our trials it had a difficult time identifying bearded faces, which are quite common this time of year -- especially among the Engadget staff. Once images are taken, you can review them and, should you like, open them up in a reasonably comprehensive editor to crop, rotate, color adjust -- or get more funky with a series of Instagram-like filters. No, there's no official Instagram app here, but you can put a predefined sepia hue on anything you like. What better way to add a little mystique to that blurry shot you took of the whiteboard before the mortal remains of your last brainstorming session were swept aside? BlackBerry Protect BlackBerry Protect returns in BB10, BlackBerry giving you an integrated way to find your handset should you and it part company. Enable the service on your device and you're enabling the means for it to phone home when lost. That's done via a BlackBerry-hosted website, which offers the ability to view your phone's current location, make it play a sound or make it display a message. You can also lock it remotely and, if things should go completely pear-shaped, remotely wipe it with the click of a button. All this is accessed via your BlackBerry ID, so we'll go ahead and remind you to make sure you chose a secure password for that service. Once logged in, you'll need to create a separate password via the website, and then you can start making the phone blurt out horrible sounds, so that you can find it in the sofa cushion. Frustratingly, there's no way to stop those annoying sounds once they start -- they'll play for 60 seconds no matter what. In our testing, these control signals took about five minutes to actually get to our Z10, only happening after the website had indicated a failure to communicate before putting on its mirrored glasses and walking away. But, those commands were indeed delivered. BlackBerry World BlackBerry World is the all-conquering portal for spending money on BlackBerry 10. Here you can get apps, music and movies -- the vast majority of which are all available at a premium. Yes, there are plenty of free apps, but you'll find a disappointingly low ratio of free to paid distractions in here compared to Google's Play Store and even Apple's App Store. And, being a new OS, there's a general shortage of apps overall. There are a lot of heavy-hitters, like Dropbox, Angry Birds Star Wars, Box, Foursquare and, uh, Hockey Night in Canada. But, there are also a lot of missing players, like Netflix and Hulu, media apps that many smartphone users on other platforms use daily. (Kindle isn't there, but it's coming, says Amazon.) And, while many PlayBook apps are available for download here, those that we sampled almost universally looked terrible. Controls were often stuffed together to fit into the phone's display, stacking on top of each other and often making the apps unusable. In one app, a Pandora client called Apollo, the Terms of Service was formatted such that the "Accept" button was somewhere off the bottom of the screen. Plenty of premium music is on offer, though we found pricing here to be consistently higher than elsewhere. That shortage of apps does not extend to the multimedia aspects of BlackBerry World, thankfully. Plenty of premium music is on offer, though we found pricing here to be often higher than elsewhere. Unorthodox Jukebox from Bruno Mars is $11.99 here, or $1.49 per track, versus just $5.99 on the Amazon MP3 Store (where it's $0.99 per track). Likewise, it's $10.99 in iTunes ($1.29 per track). Similarly, Babel from Mumford & Sons is $12.99, compared to $9.99 on Amazon and $11.99 at iTunes. Video content, thankfully, has more competitive pricing. Taken 2 is $4.99 to rent here ($4.98 on Amazon, $5.99 on iTunes) or $16.99 to buy ($12.99 on Amazon and $14.99 on iTunes), while an episode of Modern Family is $1.99 to buy here, which matches both Amazon and iTunes. But, it must be pointed out that this content can only be downloaded to up to five devices, an unfortunate and seemingly dated restriction in these halcyon days of cloud-based, download-whenever-you-want media. Stock apps While a world of apps awaits in BlackBerry World, there are quite a few pre-installed, some more useful than others. Here are some highlights. Browser We'd rather have Flash with the option to disable it than not have it at all, and it is indeed here. A new mobile platform will set off on a rocky start without a solid web browser, and thankfully the one built into BlackBerry 10 is quite good indeed, and we'll get what may be its hallmark out of the way early: it supports Flash. Yes, this is one mobile browser that's happy to serve up every annoying, flashing and bouncing banner ad it can find, plus the thousands of obnoxious restaurant websites that were sadly made into overcomplicated "experiences." That Flash is disabled by default says a lot. Also, it's worth noting that sites like Hulu and Netflix have predictably blocked access to their content, which drastically reduces the usefulness of this once-great mobile technology. Still, we'd rather have Flash with the option to disable it than not have it at all, and it is indeed here. Otherwise the browser is a fairly traditional experience, with a URL bar at the bottom doubling as a search field for Bing. A button to the left of that gives quick access to bookmarks and history, while the vertical ellipsis on the right pops up a context menu offering buttons for things like accessing settings and bookmarking the current page. It also allows access to the Reader mode, which strips out all the pictures and ads and gives you a single, lean look at the text on the page. Unfortunately, there's no way to save that view for later offline reading. BBM BBM lives on, and gets the very useful (and, these days, necessary) addition of video chat. That adds on to the voice chat feature that was included with BlackBerry 7. To start a voice or video chat, just go to the messaging interface with that person and tap the icon in the upper-right corner. Video chats are only possible with people also using BB10, but you can do a voice chat with folks on older versions. It's unclear at this point which (if any) carriers will allow this on a cellular connection. Also new is a screen-sharing function, which could make mobile enterprise support a far easier thing. While in a video chat, users can opt to share what's currently on their own display, making collaboration or troubleshooting much easier -- even when you're just stuck trying to fill out a digital crossword puzzle. And, as we mentioned above, BBM is integrated into the BlackBerry Hub, so you can send and receive messages directly in there, too. Calculator The funky calculator on the PlayBook, an obvious product of , was one of our favorite pre-loaded apps on that tablet. The calc app in BlackBerry 10 is much the same, offering the same playful color scheme and quirky skeuomorphism. Punch away and your figures are tallied on a virtual paper tape, which can be virtually torn off and thrown into the virtual trash bin. There's also an integrated unit converter and a handy tip calculator, if you really want to make sure your cheap friends are doing their part. Compass Compass is another simple but visually striking (and fun-to-use) app. This is just a floating compass that always points north (thanks to the integrated magnetometer), but it has a very clean, simple look that makes it a pleasant thing to look at and, as the compass disk is floating freely, it's interesting to turn the phone around and see that disk from the sides and even the bottom. Granted, not the most useful app here, but you might be more inclined to use this to find your way about than the default maps application. Maps The app only works when you're online, not even caching routes once you get going, so you'd best restrict your expeditions to areas with good signal coverage. In an era when mapping and navigation are increasingly important pieces of a mobile platform's pie, the Maps app in BlackBerry 10 is functional at best. The features on offer here pale in comparison to even Apple's oft-derided option in iOS 6. It's instead best compared to the bare-bones carrier-installed options like VZ Navigator -- especially since they were both developed by the same company. You can search for POIs and look at a map to see where a given contact is located and then get barebones navigation to that destination. By "barebones" we mean no re-routing for traffic, no satellite overview, no POI displays, no gestures to look around the map while navigating and, should you ever lose your connection, a complete loss of functionality. The app only works when you're online, not even caching routes once you get going, so you'd best restrict your expeditions to areas with good signal coverage. Wrap-up It's challenging to put down a final verdict on an operating system that's just emerging after such a long period of incubation. Like Microsoft with Windows Phone 7 back in the day, BlackBerry is basically starting from scratch here, and that's a difficult thing to do when the two biggest competing platforms, iOS and Android, each have millions of users deeply entrenched within their respective ecosystems, users happily sated by the hundreds of thousands of apps from all the major players. As a company, BlackBerry has been doing a ton of legwork to ensure that app partners are lined up and ready to deploy their wares here, and indeed there's a lot of potential for BlackBerry, but at this point it's hard to imagine that potential outshining the established goods offered by the competition. As a replacement for older versions of BlackBerry OS, BB 10 is a huge step out of the dark ages of mobile OS design. It's something that finally feels intended for a modern, full-touch device, yet still offers the core productivity focus we think BBID-holders will like. Does it have mainstream appeal? Yes, it does, but we're not sure a great stock keyboard and some trick gestures are enough to unseat the current kings of mobile devices.BlackBerry 10 Now Offers More Than 100,000 Applications to Customers Application catalog grows by more than 30,000 apps in seven weeks More top brands building for BlackBerry 10 as platform launches in the U.S. Waterloo, ON Developers continue to support BlackBerry 10, bringing more than 30,000 new applications to the platform over the past seven weeks. BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB) today announced that BlackBerry 10 customers now have access to more than 100,000 applications for the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone on the BlackBerry World storefront. Today, Amazon Kindle, OpenTable and The Wall Street Journal are available to BlackBerry 10 customers and in the coming weeks CNN, The Daily Show Headlines, eBay, eMusic, Maxim, MLB at Bat, MTV News, Pageonce, PGA, Rdio, Skype, Soundhound and Viber will be available for download or purchase. BlackBerry 10 customers already have access to leading apps and games, including 8tracks, Angry Birds Star Wars, ATP World Tour Live, BBC Top Gear News, Bloomberg Anywhere, CBS Sports, Delta Air Lines, F1 2013 Timing App CP, Facebook, Foursquare, Jetpack Joyride, Keek, LinkedIn, Navita Translator, Need for Speed, NHL GameCenter, N.O.V.A. 3, The New York Times, PressReader, Slacker, Songza, Twitter, UFC, USA TODAY, Waze, WhatsApp, and Zara. "The response to the BlackBerry 10 platform and applications has been outstanding. Customers are thrilled with the applications already available, and the catalog just keeps growing, now with more than 100,000 apps," said Martyn Mallick, Vice President, Global Alliances at BlackBerry. "Top brands and application providers are joining us every day and are seeing the benefits of being early supporters of the new platform. We constantly hear from developers that the BlackBerry 10 tools are easy to build with and that we provide opportunities for app differentiation that they do not see on other platforms." -more- "It now appears that the already impressive levels of developer support for the BlackBerry 10 platform are accelerating into the launch window for the BlackBerry Z10. The prospect of a very robust app catalog can only bolster momentum for the product and the platform itself," said John Jackson, Research Vice President, Mobile & Connected Platforms at IDC. "The ability to attract and sustain developer support is like lifeblood for any mobile platform, and it's not something that simply happens. This progress is a testament to BlackBerry's early and innovative engagement with developers worldwide and the innovative architecture of the platform itself." BlackBerry 10 applications take connecting to the next level with the ability to leverage social, gamification, and integration frameworks that other platforms are not able to offer. Customers can easily share applications with those in their social networks including BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), Facebook, and Twitter. Applications can incorporate gaming features such as leader boards, badges, rewards and more using the Scoreloop tools, and BlackBerry 10 applications can tie to core OS integration points to allow developers to create compelling experiences to keep people moving and flow with BlackBerry 10 experience features. In addition to apps and games, BlackBerry World for BlackBerry 10 offers access to one of the most robust catalogs of music and video content for mobile users*, with partnerships across all major movie studios, all major music labels and television networks. The BlackBerry Z10 (all touch) is the first smartphone powered by BlackBerry 10, the re-designed, re-engineered, and re-invented BlackBerry platform. The BlackBerry Z10 will be available in the U.S. from March 22.BlackBerry 10.1 for the BlackBerry Z10 Smartphone It Keeps Getting Better to Keep You MovingBlackBerry 10 is designed to learn and adapt to the way you work. It helps you be faster, more efficient and more effective. It keeps moving with you to help you be more successful. And now there's an update. With BlackBerry 10.1, it keeps getting better. BlackBerry 10.1 introduces a number of enhancements to make the overall BlackBerry 10 experience even better and updating to BlackBerry 10.1 is free and easy to do from your BlackBerry Z10 over a Wi-Fi network.Highlights of BlackBerry 10.1BlackBerry Hub manages all of your conversationsBlackBerry Hub helps you stay organized, in control and on top of all of your conversations, and with BlackBerry 10.1, it just keeps getting better. You can now view emails that are attached to another email, get contact suggestions when you start addressing a message, and send PIN to PIN messages for direct communication between BlackBerry smartphones.Personalize your NotificationsBlackBerry 10.1 allows you to set up personalized notifications for your contacts and accounts. Customize ringtones, vibrations and the LED light for calls or message from each of your friends, family or colleagues. You can also set up a different notification for different accounts (such as for different email accounts, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)Click to callYou can now click on a phone number in an email or BBM message to call the number or copy and paste it right onto the dialer screen in the phone app.Better cursor controlBlackBerry 10.1 offers better cursor control making it easier to accurately place the cursor and select text. Just tap once to bring up the cursor control, grab the blue circle and drag it around to the insertion point that you want. Improved visual feedback lets you know where you're pointing. You can also tap either side of the circle to move forward or backward one character at a time.Improved picture capturingBlackBerry 10.1 adds an HDR (high dynamic range) shooting mode for taking beautiful images in tricky lighting conditions. High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode takes multiple pictures at different exposure levels and layers them automatically to produce a single photo that combines the best of the dark and light areas. It also includes improved red eye and golden eye reduction in the picture editor.More to discover with BlackBerry 10.1You'll find a number of new enhancements across the BlackBerry 10 OS like landscape support for the calendar, easier international dialing and so much more. The first step to discovering these new features on your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone is to update your BlackBerry 10 software.Updating is easyUpdating to BlackBerry 10.1 is free and easy to do. To update your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone to BlackBerry 10.1 look for the alert in the notifications section of the BlackBerry Hub. You can also check for software updates through the software updates section in the Settings menu or through the BlackBerry Link desktop software. The download will happen in the background and the update will be applied without needing to back up your smartphone. All of your information remains safe. For more information on how to update your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, visit www.BlackBerry.com/update.AvailabilityBlackBerry 10.1 comes preloaded on BlackBerry Q10 smartphones, and will be available as an update for BlackBerry Z10 smartphones as a free download. Please check with your local carrier for availability.Helpful Links:For more information on BlackBerry 10, please visit: BlackBerry 10.BlackBerry and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited. BlackBerry is not responsible for any third-party products or services.************************************************************************BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 Version 10.1 Now Available for DownloadMulti-platform Enterprise Mobility Management solution adds new "Regulated-level" IT policy controls, simplified implementation with single-server deploymentWATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 14, 2013) - BlackBerry(R) (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB) today announced BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1, an update to BlackBerry's multi-platform Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solution that provides device and app management for BYOD and corporate-owned BlackBerry(R), iOS(R) and Android(TM) devices. Today's update brings new "Regulated-level" IT policy controls and settings for government agencies and customers in regulated industries who require an advanced level of security, control and logging of BlackBerry(R) 10 smartphones. It also allows customers to support BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry OS smartphones from a single server.BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1 is free to download and existing BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Server 5 customers can exchange their client access licenses for free through 2013(i). To date, 12,000 BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 servers have been installed by customers around the world.Key features of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1-- Regulated-level EMM. BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1 provides customers with an optional set of extended IT policy settings and controls that restricts the use of a BlackBerry 10 smartphone for work only (does not allow personal apps and content). -- Simplified deployment for a lower total cost of ownership. Following a simple installation process, customers will be able to use BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1 to manage BlackBerry 10 smartphones, BlackBerry(R) PlayBook(TM) tablets, iOS and Android devices, as well as earlier model BlackBerry smartphones. Upgrading to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1 is simple and intuitive, and existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 customers can quickly upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1 with no firewall changes. -- Dashboard & reporting. New dashboard capabilities provide an "at-a- glance" graphical view of information and statistics associated with the customer's complete fleet of devices, providing administrators with immediate access to the information they need. The dashboard displays a high level overview of information such as a device deployment summary by platform and carrier, device compliance state, application deployments, and more. -- High Availability. All components of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 can now be deployed in a highly available active/passive configuration, similar to the high availability support offered by BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0. It offers simple, easy to configure threshold settings and improved failover performance. -- BlackBerry Support is now included as standard. Care(ii) now comes as standard with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 deployments(iii), providing 12x5 telephone access to BlackBerry experts, responsive online support, access to training, productivity and diagnostic tools. Extended technical support offerings are available."The new Regulated-level EMM options in BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1 give our government and high-security customers the advanced settings they need to have complete control of the BlackBerry 10 smartphones connected to their networks," said David J Smith, EVP, Enterprise Mobile Computing. "Extending BlackBerry security, device and application management to iOS and Android frees our customers from the need to invest in multiple device management technologies, giving them an easy and cost-effective upgrade path to a solution that supports their entire mobile environment globally.""BlackBerry remains the only mobile solution that has a significant focus on security and business," said Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst, Enderle Group. "This allows BlackBerry to stand out positively in a market dominated by consumer focused solutions and appeal to those that rank work and productivity as more important. They also provide the fastest solution which has proven critical to those where seconds mean dollars or lives."On the Road Map for EnterprisesAnnounced in March 2013 and scheduled to be available at the end June 2013, a further update of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 is intended to extend BlackBerry security capabilities for data-at-rest and data-in-transit and provide complete separation between work and personal data and applications for iOS and Android devices. Subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play, as applicable, the new BlackBerry Secure Work Space for iOS and Android solution would include client applications that secure email, calendar, contacts, tasks, memos, browsing and document editing for the device provisioned with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. It would also introduce BlackBerry's single outbound port solution, aimed at greatly simplifying firewall configuration and giving customers a more secure, simple, cost effective and VPN-less infrastructure to reliably manage all of their mobile devices. Additionally, customers would be able to "app wrap" to secure additional applications to run within BlackBerry Secure Work Space through simple interfaces made available with the product. The solution is currently in closed beta with BlackBerry customers and partners worldwide.For companies that don't require behind the firewall app and browsing access, application management, or advanced security and controls, BlackBerry 10 smartphones support ActiveSync, providing organizations a fast and easy solution for synchronizing with Microsoft(R) Exchange(R), IBM(R) Notes(R) Traveler, Novell(R) GroupWise(R), Hotmail(R), Microsoft(R) Office365(TM), and Google Apps(TM). This is an attractive option for SMBs and larger companies that don't require the comprehensive controls and settings offered by BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and are looking for a fast, cost effective way to connect BlackBerry 10 smartphones to their enterprise messaging systems.AvailabilityThe BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1 server software is available as a free download at www.bes10.com. Annual client access licenses (CALs) are free for BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 customers trading up existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 CALs through 2013(i), or can be purchased for $59 per year per device. For Regulated-level EMM capabilities, additional carrier charges may apply.BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1 server software is also available as a sixty (60) day free trial including 20 CALs and can be downloaded here.The BlackBerry 10 Ready Program continues to run with offers, information and resources to help organizations make the transition to BlackBerry 10 fast, easy, and cost effective. A new free upgrade offer from BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4 to BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 is now available, saving customers the $995 software upgrade fee. BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 is required in order to manage BlackBerry OS smartphones through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, and existing customers can still take advantage of the free license exchange program at www.blackberry.com/blackberry10ready, which is available until December 31, 2013.(i)(i) Terms and conditions apply. Subject to change without notice. For more information visit: www.blackberry.com/licensetradeup.(ii) For customers wanting access to higher levels of support, priority queuing, account management and strategic services, BlackBerry Technical Support Services are available.(iii) Deployment includes installation of the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1 server software and purchase of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 Client Access Licenses. Only new 10.1 annual licenses are eligible for Care, which is for BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 support only.BBM Now Lets You Tune In to the People and Communities That Matter To You with BBM ChannelsWATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 14, 2013) - For the times when you want to share experiences beyond your friends or engage the communities you care about, BlackBerry(R) is taking its globally popular mobile social network, BlackBerry(R) Messenger (BBM(TM)), up a notch with new functionality called BBM Channels. BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB) today announced the beta launch of BBM Channels, a new social engagement platform within BBM that will allow people to connect with the businesses, brands, celebrities and groups they are passionate about."BBM is the best way to stay connected, and with today's announcement, we're again expanding the capabilities of the service to provide a deeper real-time engagement experience for people to connect with brands, business, and communities that matter most to them," said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President of Software Product Management and Ecosystem at BlackBerry. "With over 60 million highly engaged customers using BBM, content creators have a great opportunity to build deeper relationships, enhance their brands, and connect in new ways."BBM Channels allows individuals and groups to create a dedicated channel and share information and updates with the immediacy that BBM offers. BBM customers around the world will be able to connect and share information, broadcast about themselves to their channel, or join their favorite communities and share their experiences of the channel with their BBM contacts.Starting today, BBM customers can connect and share the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team on their BBM Channels. BlackBerry is working with leading global brands around the world to help them build and promote exciting new BBM Channel offerings.BBM Channels features:-- Create a channel - Create, edit and publish in an instant, and there areno limits to the number of followers you can have in your channel.Securely manage your channel from either a BlackBerry smartphone or theweb.-- Discover channels - BBM Channels includes a carousel that lets youdiscover new channels. You can share channel invites within a BBM chat,and people can be added or invited using the channel's PIN or QR code.-- View - View profiles for each BBM Channel you choose to follow.-- Subscribe - Subscribing to a channel allows the channel owner to sendyou timely and relevant updates, giving the subscriber instant access toyour news, deals, events or whatever you want to communicate.Subscribers can choose to receive notifications when new posts areavailable.-- Participate - Participate and engage in conversations with your favoritepeople or communities by "Commenting" and "Liking" posts from channelsyou subscribe to. Channel owners have the option to directly chat one-on-one with a subscriber.-- Monitor engagement - Easily use built-in measuring tools to assess andmonitor follower engagement and interaction.Today, BlackBerry also announced plans to bring BBM to iOS(R) and Android(TM) users this summer. BlackBerry expects that iOS and Android users will also be able to experience BBM Channels later this year, subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play.BBM with BBM Channels is now available in beta for BlackBerry(R) 10 smartphones, as well as BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry(R) 5 OS through 7.1. For BlackBerry OS customers(i), BBM Channels is part of the new BBM version 8, which also offers enhanced navigation tools, with tabbed viewing for quick and easy access to contacts, chats, groups, recent updates and BBM Channels. Furthermore, it allows the option to share your enhanced profile information with BBM contacts or within invitations. The beta releases can be downloaded for free on BlackBerry Beta Zone(ii). Customers can sign up to BlackBerry Beta Zone for free at www.BlackBerry.com/betazone. For more information about BBM, please visit www.blackberry.com/bbm.(i)BBM requires a BlackBerry service plan on BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry OS.(ii)BlackBerry Beta Zone is not available in all markets.RIM's successor to the original Bold -- the -- has finally landed on our doorsteps. The 9000 is in many ways a hard act to follow. Hardware-wise, it lived up to its name, going where most phones never went with its retro, leathery, nearly clunky looks in an age of rounded edges and shiny curves. Don't get us wrong -- we loved the 9000's aesthetics obsessively -- which is why we couldn't wait to get our hands on its newborn child. A few questions we had in mind: would the 9700 live up to its predecessor's notoriously uncompromising fashion sense? Would the new Bold feel as good to hold and use in the hand as its ? How would it stack up against other, new devices from RIM? If these are the kind of questions you think you might want answers to, read on for our impressions. As we already mentioned, we were serious fans of the original Bold's hardware, and it would be pretty hard for a successor to live up to it. As far as we were concerned, it really had no close competitors in terms of mobile phone design and, you know, attitude. What we liked most about it aesthetically was its fearless defiance of conventional phone stylings at the time of its release. Faux leather and chrome edging rather than plastic all combined to produce a phone that was just a little off the beaten path, that felt substantial in our hands, and that definitely caught and kept our attention. The 9700 has kept some of those details -- there's still bits of chrome and leather here -- but it's also dropped nearly any flourish of attitude from the original design. RIM's chucked out the weird metal surrounding the camera on the back, and the full, old timey-looking leather battery cover, in favor of what essentially amounts to a with an optical trackpad. Honestly, we recognize our own personal oddities, and understand that a lot of RIM's choices here favor modernization of the handset, which we heartily support. However, we also sort of wish the designers had had some exciting new ideas to add to this Bold -- but it feels like they didn't. The new Bold is all about, well, normalizing the handset and bringing it up to speed with other new RIM offerings, a la the 8520 or the Tour, as we previously mentioned.We do, however, love the smaller, more sleek form factor of the whole package, and the device feels nice in the hand. Much more streamlined than the previous Bold, the 9700 feels light without feeling overly cheap, though it does feel a little less substantial than older BlackBerrys to us. We prefer the leather-strip on the back's feel over the slightly more rubberized Tour, and the rubberized volume rocker on the right side is preferable to the 9000's variation.The QWERTY keyboard will be familiar to a Bold (or more recently, Tour) user, and it's worthy of our affection. Typing on it is a joy, and if you've been away from it for a while, as we had, it's just like getting back on a bicycle... it all comes back to you, and you're in love again pretty quickly. That said, the 9700 is much smaller than the 9000 or the Tour, and you'll feel that. We still don't mistype on the keyboard, but we could see the larger-handed among us feeling pretty cramped. RIM's gone ahead and popped its new optical trackpad into the 9700, too, and this is one modernization we can really get behind. Yes, it takes a little getting used to -- but in our opinion it makes a far superior navigational tool and provides a smoother experience. Regardless, we were also big fans of the old trackball, but this is probably the right direction for RIM to move its hardware in. All of the 9700's other hardware buttons feel great and clicky, and we have no complaints about them.The 480 x 360 display on the 9700 is up from the 480 x 320 of the original Bold, but in practical terms, it looks very much the same -- also terrifically clear, crisp and beautiful. The colors are bright, but we find ourselves wishing for a bit more screen real estate, (which is par for the course in our experiences with BlackBerrys), especially in the increasingly sad browsing experience. More on that in a moment.The 3.2 megapixel camera (up from 2.0 on the original) is noticeably improved, with crisper images, and it responds a lot faster than the 9000 as well. They've ditched the 3x digital zoom for a 2x digital zoom, which in practice is fine with us as the extreme zoom always produced rather disappointing results, anyway. This brings us to the performance of the 9700 in terms of user experience. Although the processor is clocked at the same 624MHz as its older sibling, the 9700's obviously got some special sauce under the hood, because with no interface changes in sight, this device is much snappier overall. Navigation, which has always been pretty quick on a BlackBerry, is tightened up a bit, and we found that opening up a bunch of applications stressed our device out a lot less than the original Bold, which was sometimes inclined to give us the dreaded clock. Thankfully, we haven't seen much of the old lag here -- and the fact that the 9700 ships with BlackBerry's OS 5.0 probably helps it along a bit, too. The battery -- which RIM says gets about 6 hours of talk time -- seems like a real strong point on the phone, and is more than adequate to get through a full day's heavy use.Call quality is good, and the volume is nice and loud, though we can't help but feel the speaker phone is a bit weaker than the 9000's, but that could just be our weakening hearing, of course. RIM says it's enhanced the browser on this newest device, and we'll admit it's a bit faster, but as we said earlier, we are left with the feeling that browsing on a BlackBerry will not be satisfactory until there's a serious updating of the software.And, at the end of the day, that's one thing we can't get past -- serious BlackBerry enthusiasts will tell you that the interface is doing just fine, and there are plenty of reasons to get hooked on these devices. For us, however, the BlackBerry UI is showing its age, and ultimately, beautiful hardware aside, this device is essentially exactly the same as every other BlackBerry. Whether that's a good thing or not, we'll leave you to decide. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 (as you can see) is by Black Friday, and the AT&T variety will appear on November 22nd. Both carriers are offering the handset for $199 with a 2-year contract (AT&T's deal requires a $100 mail-in rebate).Research In Motion Expands BlackBerry 7 Portfolio with the New BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 SmartphonesJAKARTA, INDONESIA AND WATERLOO, ONTARIO, Nov 15, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Editors Note: Six photos for this release will be available via Marketwire on the picture wire of The Canadian Press.Research In Motion (RIM) RIMM +0.60% CA:RIM -0.43% today announced two new smartphones based on the BlackBerry(R) 7 operating system (OS) - the BlackBerry(R) Bold(TM) 9790 and BlackBerry(R) Curve(TM) 9380.The new smartphones offer impressively slim and stylish designs with enhanced communications, multimedia, productivity and social connectivity features. The BlackBerry Bold 9790 is both powerful and compact, offering users a fully loaded, high performance smartphone with the dual benefits of a high resolution touch display and a highly tactile keyboard. The BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first-ever BlackBerry(R) Curve(TM) smartphone with a touch display. It continues to deliver the powerful social experiences, ease-of-use and smaller handset size that distinguish the BlackBerry Curve family, while also offering Curve users the choice of a larger display and an all-touch design."We are very excited to expand the BlackBerry 7 portfolio with the new BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380," said Carlo Chiarello, Senior Vice President, Handheld Product Management at Research In Motion. "BlackBerry smartphones offer a uniquely refined mobile communications experience that people love and we think many customers will be thrilled by the faster performance, beautiful touch displays and compact designs available with these new BlackBerry 7 based models."BlackBerry Bold 9790 Smartphone with Touch Display and KeyboardTrue to the BlackBerry Bold brand, the new BlackBerry Bold 9790 smartphone is powerful, full-featured and built with premium materials and finishes. It combines a high-resolution and highly responsive touch display with a highly tactile keyboard and a precise optical trackpad, but comes in a narrow design that is easy to carry and exceptionally comfortable to hold. With the BlackBerry 7 OS and powerful 1 GHz processor, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 delivers fast, smooth performance for browsing the web, running apps, working with documents, and enjoying multimedia. It includes 8GB of onboard memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB of additional storage.All-Touch BlackBerry Curve 9380 SmartphoneThe finely crafted BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first all-touch smartphone in the BlackBerry Curve family. It features a highly responsive and brilliant 3.2" high resolution display and comes with preinstalled social networking apps, including BBM(TM) (BlackBerry(R) Messenger), Facebook(R), Twitter(TM) and Social Feeds apps, that offer a fun, easy and smoothly integrated mobile experience. This compact and stylish handset also features a 5MP camera with flash and video recording, allowing users to easily capture and share their favorite moments with family, friends and colleagues.Powerful BlackBerry 7 OSThe BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 are both powered by the new BlackBerry 7 OS, which delivers a faster and richer user experience with improved browsing, voice-activated searches, and support for Augmented Reality and NFC (Near Field Communications). It also includes the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, and comes with a variety of personal and productivity apps out of the box.BlackBerry 7 also introduces an enhanced browser that provides a significantly faster, more fluid web browsing experience. The browser includes a new JIT (just in time) JavaScript compiler to improve the load time speed of web pages and it offers optimized HTML5 performance for incredible gaming and video experiences. The popular universal search capability has also been enhanced with support for voice-activated search, so users can simply speak to begin searching their device and the web for information.The BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphones include built-in support for Augmented Reality and NFC, allowing users to connect with the world around them in fresh new ways. With the Wikitude Augmented Reality application, users can find nearby BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) contacts in real-time, read reviews on restaurants close to them, or get the story behind an interesting landmark and points of interest. NFC also enables many new and exciting capabilities, including the ability to make mobile payments, pair accessories or read SmartPoster tags with a simple tap of the smartphone.BlackBerry 7 includes a number of preinstalled applications and integrated functionality for increasing productivity and easy sharing and collaboration right out of the box. The Premium version of Documents To Go is included free of charge, offering users powerful document editing features as well as a native PDF document viewer. BlackBerry(R) Protect is pre-loaded(i), offering customers the peace of mind that personal data can be backed up and secured in the cloud. BlackBerry(R) Balance is integrated in BlackBerry 7, allowing users to enjoy the full BlackBerry smartphone experience for both work and personal purposes without compromising the IT department's need for advanced security and IT controls. The Social Feeds (2.0) app has been extended to capture updates from media and favorites all in one consolidated view. The Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones (2.0) app introduces features like Facebook chat and BBM integration that makes it easier for users to connect with their Facebook friends in real time.AvailabilityThe BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphones will begin to be available from various carriers around the world over the coming weeks. Availability dates for specific devices from specific carriers will be announced in conjunction with RIM's partners.Additional InformationFor additional information please visit www.blackberry.com .We don't know, but it seems like RIM has enlisted a couple more CDMA engineers because the gap between new devices launching on GSM and then making their way to CDMA has been getting noticeably smaller over time. The BlackBerry Curve 8520 was only a few short months ago, and it's already made its way to both Verizon and Sprint. It's not the same powerhouse as its older sibling the Tour, but this device packs a heck of a lot of punch into a very pocketable package. Read past the break for our extended impressions. Design & BuildThe 8530 has a very sleek look to it, and it kind of reminds us of the Pre or with the rounded nature and lack of hard edges. It's not as "professional" feeling as the Tour, and we missed the soft-touch rubber surfaces and the shiny chrome accents. However, the Curve product line has always been more low-end than the Bold and Tour line, so we're not going to complain. The convenience keys and media control buttons along the sides and top of the phone seemed a bit cheap to us. Rather than being actual buttons detached from the main housing, they're built into it and don't have much feel. We do like the dedicated media keys up top, and think they're much more useful than the mute and lock buttons that you find on most other modern BlackBerrys.The keyboard, of course, is where BlackBerrys usually shine -- but after getting accustomed to the keyboards on the Bold, Tour, and 9700, we're a bit underwhelmed by the 8530's offering. It's essentially the same keyboard as on the original Curve (and all its subsequent variants), which means that the buttons are tactile and clicky, but a bit hard to type on. We know people who swear by the Curve keyboard, but for the most part, we prefer the mushiness of the keyboards found on the Tour and Bold.Much like the phasing out of the original thumbwheel, we're sensing that the end is near for the trackball as optical trackpads find their way into more models; the change is a point of contention for many a BlackBerry diehard, and we have to admit that it takes a bit of getting used to. The trackpad seems unnatural to use at first, but after a few hours of playing with it, we can see that it's a superior input method. Whereas trackballs have an uncanny knack for breaking, the optical alternative doesn't have the same moving parts so it's a much safer bet. We don't like the four navigation buttons around the optical trackpad, however, and find them hard to press and the uneven backlighting is a bit frustrating. They look like they'd be touch sensitive like the buttons found on the new Storm2, but they're actually physical buttons that take a bit of effort to use.SoftwareDepending on how you look at it, the BlackBerry OS can be seen as a strong point of consistency or an indication of just how little RIM is doing to advance the platform. Most of the BlackBerry models on the market today offer up a nearly identical user experience -- the only real variation being the Storm and Storm2, and even they carry over as many classic BlackBerry UI elements as they possibly can. The 8530 model we received came preloaded with OS 5.0.0.337, which means that it's on OS 5.0 -- the latest OS version RIM has released, which really isn't all that different from 4.5.The browser is nearly identical to the one present on the Tour, as is much of the rest of the OS. The addition of WiFi, however, is a welcome one. The lack of 802.11 in the original Tour is still something we're appalled by, but we're glad to see Verizon (and Sprint) coming through on their promises to include the requisite radios on all smartphones moving forward.Interestingly, the new isn't included in the shipping firmware version, but it's easily added through a quick download from BlackBerry App World. Also, Google Maps still doesn't work properly with GPS, so you can get a location through triangulation but you won't get one through the GPS chip in the device. It works with the native Maps application, but as BlackBerry users already know all too well, that doesn't pack as much functionality as Google Maps does.Our Verizon-branded unit also came with icons for Verizon apps such as VZ Navigator and V CAST Song ID, although you'll have to pay extra on your plan for that action. ComparisonsTo put the 8530 in context, we're gonna break it down against the Tour -- its closest competitor in the CDMA BlackBerry space -- as well as the 8520, its GSM counterpart. The most damning mark against the GSM 8520, of course, is the lack of 3G -- likely a cost-saving move that ends up making a virtually identical phone look way cheaper on paper. By contrast, you've got full EV-DO Rev. A on the 8530 -- a huge difference that pretty conclusively gives the 8530 the upper hand, carrier preferences aside. The differences against the Tour, though... well, that's another story altogether. While the 8530 packs both WiFi and that hot new optical trackpad, it lacks the world-roaming capabilities of the Tour and uses a different keyboard style that some users might prefer. Oh, and here's a big one: the 8530 disappointingly sticks with RIM's older QVGA resolution, which makes a huge difference; the Bold and the higher-end BlackBerrys that have come after it set a benchmark for the way a portrait QWERTY display should look, and the 8530 just doesn't live up to that standard.Wrap-upWe love the Curve and the Tour, but we're having trouble understanding the relationship between the two devices. For a supposedly "low end" device, the Curve 8530 packs many "high end" features that the Tour lacks. We're expecting this to be remedied when RIM and the carriers finally decide to launch (or even announce) the Tour2, which should bring WiFi and the optical trackpad to the original Tour form factor. For now though, we're going to stick with the Tour over the Curve. The international roaming capabilities and better keyboard are enough to keep us from switching, although the WiFi would be convenient. When choosing which device is right for you, it really comes down to a matter of what's more important: international global roaming and a better keyboard or a slightly smaller package with WiFi and an optical trackpad -- assuming, naturally, that you're brave enough to deal with a QVGA display here in the year 2009.BlackBerry Demonstrates New Mobile Computing Service for AutomakersNew "Over-the-air" service delivers wireless software update and management capabilities to automakersTelematics Detroit Conference, Novi, MI Today, at the Telematics Detroit conference, BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB) will preview a new solution for automakers that lets them manage and deliver "Over-the-air" (OTA) software updates to vehicles. Leveraging BlackBerry's existing global and secure infrastructure, which today delivers software updates to millions of BlackBerry devices around the world, the Software Update Management for Automotive service facilitates machine-to-machine (M2M) communication directly between the automaker and the vehicle, allowing the automaker to easily provide software updates to vehicles in the field."BlackBerry is helping facilitate a rapid convergence between mobile computing and the auto industry as automakers seek to connect with customers wherever they may be," said David J. Smith, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Mobile Computing at BlackBerry. "At Telematics Detroit we are previewing how BlackBerry can help automakers connect with customers, solving the complex and difficult task that automakers face when they have a software update for the vehicles they've made. BlackBerry's Software Update Management for Automotive service can transform the vehicle experience by enabling automakers to deliver new, compelling capabilities to their customers, long after the initial sale."Vehicles have more computing power than ever before with complex environments equipped with dozens of electronic control units (ECUs) as well as sophisticated in-vehicle infotainment systems that can provide everything from 3D navigation to smartphone connectivity. The vehicle's built-in software is an important component of the automotive experience, and software updates can refresh a vehicle with new features and services as they become available. With BlackBerry's new Software Update Management for Automotive service, automakers can easily, securely and cost effectively manage and deliver software updates."According to a study Gartner did with U.S. vehicle owners in 2012(1), 40 percent of all U.S. vehicle owners either 'definitely want to get' or at least are 'likely to get' the ability for wireless software updates in their next new vehicle making it the third most demanded automotive-centric Web application and function," said Thilo Koslowski, Vice President, Distinguished Analyst, Gartner.Through BlackBerry's OTA service, which provides secure global distribution and is highly scalable to support millions of vehicles, automakers can deliver a number of new capabilities to customers, including software updates, new applications, and the ability to get the status of functional systems in a vehicle.The development of OTA services is part of BlackBerry's broader mobile computing strategy. BlackBerry is providing the foundation for a new era of mobile computing by connecting mobile end points securely and creating opportunities for community building, connecting and sharing.More details about the BlackBerry's OTA solutions will made available in the coming months. For more information, please visit www.blackberry.com/m2m.RIM's attempts to get a cellular-equipped version of the have been troubled, to say the least. The company signalled its intentions around Mobile World Congress , only to watch as carriers -- partly as RIM focused its attention on LTE, and partly after carriers grew of the WiFi version. A year and a half later, we finally have an LTE version, and with a faster 1.5GHz processor to boot. But do 4G data and a processor bump make all the difference? And does the upgrade stand a realistic shot in a competitive field that has moved on since the original PlayBook? We'll find out in our hands-on. If you're looking for cosmetic differences, they'll be tough to find. About the only conspicuous change since the 2011 original is the presence of a micro-SIM slot tucked just behind the ports at the bottom. The new PlayBook will be a disappointment for display quality aficionados that would like RIM to move past the 1,024 x 600 (if color-rich) screen we saw last year. With that in mind, the hardware similarity isn't necessarily all bad, as it means the LTE edition is just as thick as its WiFi-only ancestor, rather than fattening up to compensate. Weight and grip are the same as well, which makes it heavier in our minds than the , if still roughly as upscale in feel. Revisiting the design reminds us how much more quality the PlayBook exudes than the which shares some of its roots: to abuse a car analogy, the PlayBook is the Acura to the Kindle Fire's Honda. The software is much like what we saw as of the update this past February -- RIM hasn't seen fit to throw in any special software additions to take advantage of that always-on 4G connection. It's good news for those who aren't fans of carrier bloatware slipping into their tablets, although it also means there's no Bridge-free or built-in turn-by-turn navigation. We're also baffled by the lack of built-in hotspot creation support, which would make a very convincing case for the PlayBook as an oversized router. As for the 4G? RIM is most definitely keeping up with the Joneses here, and that's no small feat. We tried the PlayBook on Rogers' network in Ottawa, and it was not just fast, but consistently fast: multiple tests saw us produce no less than 20Mbps downstream and 6Mbps upstream, with the peak a very speedy 31.9Mbps down and 6.3Mbps up. Of course, your mileage may vary with another carrier, or if you live in a different area. In our experience, access was often faster than a home cable internet connection and made it subjectively difficult to tell the difference between LTE and WiFi. We haven't had time for battery tests, but we can vouch that leaning heavily on cellular access will sap the battery quickly; like most current LTE hardware, we wouldn't risk being overly greedy with all that extra bandwidth. The 1.5GHz processor (we're led to believe it's a ) does make a difference, although it's normally what you might call an improvement by a thousand cuts over the original 1GHz chip. RIM's interface is just a little bit more fluid, apps are ready just a little bit sooner, games like Need For Speed: Undercover are just a bit faster. Where we noticed the clock speed hike is in browsing -- and by a wide margin. Running the SunSpider web browser benchmark, we saw the JavaScript processing time cut by 35 percent versus the WiFi version to 1,397ms, making it faster not just than the WiFi PlayBook but , the Nexus 7, the and even the quad-core smartphone. Our personal experience also showed that the browser didn't have much trouble keeping up with complex pages. We're not sure what RIM slipped into the PlayBook 4G LTE's diet to make its browsing so quick, but we'd like to try some. PlayBook 4G LTE PlayBook WiFi iPad (2012) Nexus 7 Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms) 1,397 2,165 2,111 1,785 2,239 SunSpider: lower scores are better With that kind of speed on tap, and HSPA+ even if you're outside of LTE coverage, the PlayBook does make a bit more sense than its WiFi counterpart. You've got BlackBerry push mail on a tablet, wherever you are; Bing Maps is more than a slightly handy navigation tool; radio and video chat are that much more convenient. If you depend on or thrive in the BlackBerry ecosystem, it's easy to point to the PlayBook 4G LTE as a quick pick -- it fulfils more of what the BlackBerry line has always set out to do, and it's the 'ultimate' model even if you only sparingly use LTE. It's when you stack up Waterloo's latest tablet against its competition that things get tough. Asking $550 Canadian ($554 US) off-contract for a 4G, 32GB tablet is reasonable in isolation, but it faces competition that can provide a better value, at least under certain circumstances. To get a new iPad with 4G and 32GB of space is about $200 Canadian more, but it also touts a much better (if less portable) screen and a giant tablet app ecosystem. Pay just $100 Canadian more and you'll get a Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE that isn't as high-resolution or as quick as the iPad, yet still manages to improve on the PlayBook's resolution and app diversity. And if you don't want LTE or 32GB of minimum space, there's not much of a contest: the Nexus 7 has a more advanced platform at a much lower price for the same screen area, the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is also very competitive, and the WiFi-only PlayBook is cheaper than its LTE cousin at $300. We're of the same mindset as we were when we looked at PlayBook 2.0: the device is fine, but it's not enough to make an undecided shopper gravitate towards the BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE based solely on its technical merits. We'd need more and better apps, a higher resolution screen or some truly exclusive features to make the leap. The tablet therefore remains mostly for the BlackBerry faithful. However, that $250 price difference between 4G and WiFi versions is just small enough that, between the two, we'd spring for the faster and more functional 4G edition.The words "play" and "book" are a bit of an odd choice for RIM's latest attempt at consumer relevance, a tablet that, at its core, runs one of the most hardcore and industry-friendly operating systems known to man. The OS is and the hardware is, of course, the BlackBerry PlayBook. It's an enterprise-friendly offering that's also out to conquer the consumer tablet ecosphere, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the BlackBerry handsets that have filled the pockets of corporate executives and BBM addicts around the globe.It's something of a serious tablet when compared to the competition running software from Apple and Google and, while it certainly has games, its biggest strengths are rather more boring. It does a really great job at displaying PowerPoint presentations, for example, and has the security chops to keep last quarter's dismal sales figures from falling into the wrong hands. Exciting stuff? No, but useful features for sure, and regardless of whether you find those intriguing or boring this is RIM's seven-inch, Flash-having but 3G-lacking tablet clad in an unassuming but extremely sophisticated exterior. It's what's running behind the glass that disappoints. HardwareThe black PlayBook, with its angular edges and dark styling, looks decidedly nondescript, more likely to open up a wormhole somewhere in orbit around Jupiter than leap into someone's hands at retail. Only the chrome logo 'round the back adds some flare, with the word "BlackBerry" subtly embossed below the display on the front. The chassis is cool metal, ever so slightly rubberized, the edges squared off, and there is absolutely no flex or give anywhere. It feels perfectly solid and doesn't yield to any attempted contortions, despite being just 0.4-inches thick -- less than a tenth thicker than an iPad 2. At 0.9 pounds, it's considerably lighter, but a bit heavier than the .83 pound .Debate about the perfect tablet size rages on, but we have to say the slightly smallish factor here creates a device that's comfortable to roam with. The light weight certainly makes it easier for reading and the more hand-friendly size makes it feel more comfortable to carry. That size, plus the dark coloring, makes this slate a bit less obvious than much of the competition, which is certainly part of its understated charm.Up top are four buttons, the only physical controls to be found: volume up, volume down, play/pause, and an unfortunately small power button that's flush with the chassis. It's impossible to find by feel and, once located, difficult to activate. You can't really hit it without using a fingernail and even then it requires a lot of pressure to modulate. Plus, it's located centrally on top of the device, exactly where your fingers likely aren't.It sounds crazy, but this is, hands-down, the worst part of the hardware. Think about how often you use the power button on your phone to toggle the screen and then imagine having to stab really hard at it with a fingernail instead. It's hugely frustrating and, while you can turn the screen on by swiping all the way from bezel-to-bezel, even on this seven-incher that's a bit ornery -- and there's no way other than the power button to disable the screen.A five megapixel camera peeks out the back, while a three megapixel unit handles front-facing duties. That one is tucked under the glass and situated just above the seven-inch, 1,024 x 600 display that will threaten neither rods nor cones when on maximum brightness. It does, however, deliver great clarity and excellent viewing angles.Hidden away on the bottom are three ports: micro-HDMI, micro-USB, and a proprietary three-prong charging connector for use when the thing settles down in its docking cradle or gets cozy with the optional external adapter -- charging at twice the rate of micro-USB. Up top there's one more hole, a humble 3.5mm headphone jack, but if you look closely you'll also spot stereo speaker grilles cut into either side of the glass. InternalsRunning the show is a dual-core, 1GHz TI OMAP processor that's expertly massaged and manipulated by the QNX OS here. QNX is a decidedly efficient and bulletproof operating system that powers everything from jet fighters to, well, little black tablets. That's backed by 1GB of RAM and 16, 32, or 64GB of storage, with the smallest costing $499 and each subsequent step adding $100 to the cost of entry.Graphics are handled by a PowerVR design, which quite handily offloads video decoding and gaming acceleration from the processor, enabling this thing to decode and display 1080p video over HDMI while still ticking along quite smoothly and running productivity apps on the seven-inch display. Not a hint of dithering or pixelation, of course. Apps load quickly, tend to be impressively responsive, and switching from one to the next is effortless.Early builds of the PlayBook software (we're now on our third since taking possession of the thing) seemingly had some issues managing memory, and on multiple occasions we found upper corners glowing red. Our first thought was that the guns on our CRT had been misaligned by a wayward magnet, but this is just how the PlayBook alerts you to issues, in this case a lack of memory. Memory management seems to be much improved in the most recent build we've received, but you can certainly still kill unwanted apps whenever you want by simply swiping them vertically, off into oblivion. ConnectivityThere are various flavors of 4G coming down the pipe for the PlayBook later this year, including a WiMAX sampler for Sprint as well as HSPA+ and LTE for... well, for other carriers. That leaves us with 802.11a/b/g/n connectivity, plus Bluetooth of course. Using that last standard you can pair up a keyboard and mouse; do so and a microscopic cursor appears on the screen. Left clicks for taps and right-clicks for gestures, initiated at the edge of the screen rather than off of it. This, as you'd expect, turns intuitive gestures into clumsy mouse flicks.Curiously, though, the device doesn't support simple USB mass storage -- you can't just plug it in to your laptop and dump a bunch of files on it. You can mount it as a drive over USB, but then you have only access to a small, read-only volume that contains a single driver. Install that and the PlayBook shows up as a network drive.Deliciously, this driver allows you to access the device over the network or connected directly over USB, but if you're rocking something other than a Mac or a PC you're going to be disappointed the first time you try to tether here. And, with no simple mass storage mode, it's far more complicated that it should be if you just want to get a file off the thing. Battery lifeWith day-to-day usage, WiFi on, screen reasonably bright, checking out some websites and playing some tunes, the PlayBook has plenty of juice to get you through a couple days without breaking a sweat. It'll handily survive your all-day presentation at the office, make you look cool in front of your boss, then still have plenty of battery life left to chill out to some N.W.A. on the flight home.But, compared to the competition, it delivers a solid mid-pack performance. We looped a standard MPEG4 video clip with WiFi enabled and screen brightness at about 65 percent, managing seven hours and one minute before everything went dark. That's about an hour more than the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but over an hour less than the Motorola Xoom. The iPad 2, meanwhile, manages ten and a half hours when similarly stressed. Battery Life RIM BlackBerry PlayBook 7:01 Apple iPad 2 10:26 Apple iPad 9:33 Motorola Xoom 8:20 Dell Streak 7 3:26 Archos 101 7:20 Samsung Galaxy Tab 6:09 Software Operating systemLike webOS? If so, you're going to love what's hiding under the PlayBook's (healthy) bezels -- capacitive digitizers that recognize a variety of gestures. System gestures originate to the side of the pixels and terminate on the screen -- except for the swipe to turn the screen on, which has you dragging from one bezel all the way across to the opposite one.To switch from one app to the next you can swipe inward from the left or the right, which pops the app out of full-screen and lets you move forward or back in the queue. A tap then maximizes your new favorite app. Or, a swipe up from the bottom gives you an even higher-level view of your running apps, which you can again zing your way through. Grabbing one and throwing it upward sends it to the garbage collector, or you can tap the tiny X that appears next to its name.Swiping from the top of the app brings down a context menu, extra controls that let you save files in Word to Go or jump from one album to another in the media player. Finally, swipe in from either top corner of the screen and you get a system context menu that displays the date and time, simple media controls, battery and connectivity indicators, and a little gear you can tap to tweak your system settings.Ultimately it's very intuitive to use and, even better, it feels really good. The dynamic action of throwing a frustrating application right off of the screen is quite satisfying, and the lack of any multi-finger antics certainly makes task-switching a far surer affair. Everything is quick and responsive -- just what you expect on a tablet that costs this much money. KeyboardAt first blush, the keyboard on the PlayBook seems quite good. In landscape mode the keys are spread wide but still reachable by thumbs if you hold this tablet by its horizontal extents -- well, if you don't have particularly short thumbs, anyway. Flipped into portrait it's an even easier reach, but obviously a bit more precision is required.However, spend a few minutes pecking away and things start to look rather more dire. Neither numbers nor special keys are available without digging into the symbol menu -- even the exclamation point and the question have been driven to obscurity. This means if you want anything more exotic than a humble period or comma you're going to have to go find it. In fact, typing "you're" right there required hitting the symbol key to find the apostrophe -- there's no system-wide auto-correction here (it only works in some apps), no long-presses for alternate characters. What year is this, again?There is, at least, copy and paste, and it's well-implemented, using a pair of blue tabs to highlight the text you want. Drag them to define the bounds of your text and then your selection is filed away into your clipboard of holding. Annoyingly, though, a double-tap on any word doesn't highlight it. BrowserRIM has provided a full browser for you to get your surf on, and it's a reasonably good one. Pages load quickly and naturally are rendered in full desktop mode, with all the pinch-to-zoom goodness and snappy motion you'd expect. Flash Player 10.1 is on-board and works well. YouTube videos play perfectly fine and stutter-free when embedded within pages, though there is a dedicated YouTube app you can use if you like. Even Flash games like Bejeweled play well, important if you're still riding that particular horse.We ran the browser through SunSpider JavaScript test, where it returned a quite healthy 2,360. That's maybe 10 percent slower than the iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom manage, but still quite respectable.We should note that we noticed some weirdness in the browser with the most recent (third) revision of the PlayBook software we received. When the system was running under load, with numerous other apps hanging around in the background, the browser would frequently and disconcertingly close. It would simply disappear about half-way through loading whatever page we tried. Closing a few apps seemed to fix it, but behavior like this is always a little unnerving. CalculatorYes, we're really writing about the calculator app here. It's one of the many apps on the tablet developed by , a dev team acquired by RIM who previously worked to define much of the look and feel of Android. The calculator app in particular stands out with the team's patented style. Whether you're in standard or scientific mode, a "paper" tally prints each calculation, digital pulp that can be virtually torn off and disposed. Cute. Slightly more practical is the integrated unit converter, which means we'll never have to look far to get horsepower from kW, and the tip calculator could make your next night on the town go a little more smoothly -- assuming you didn't spend the entire meal playing with your tablet. PicturesThis is another of the TAT-developed apps, and though simple it shows some nice touches with overlaid transitions as you swipe from image to image. It's of course quite minimalistic, but a pleasure to use. Adobe ReaderPDF and enterprises go together like executives and golden parachutes, so it's no surprise that Adobe is on-board here with a custom version of Reader. It's a PDF viewer at heart and, therefore, boring. But, performance is great, whether thumbing through boring statistics or pinch-zooming in on tables and charts, even with files laden with megabyte after megabyte of stock images of beautiful people smiling. MusicOpen the music app and you have four big, handy buttons to choose from: artists, albums, genres, or all songs -- the latter for users who can't be constrained by such arbitrary classifications. Albums are simply displayed in a giant grid, tap one to play it, while artists and individual songs go into a long list. The lists are a bit unwieldy, especially since you can't jump to a certain letter, but there is real-time filtering via a search dialog. Documents to Go suiteThe PlayBook comes loaded with Word, Sheet, and Slideshow to Go from DataVis, giving you the ability to view PPT, DOC, and XLS files, even create the latter two right on the tablet. Viewing and editing documents is certainly easy enough and of course being able to do so makes for heightened productivity, but trying to enter Excel formulas using the on-screen keyboard will raise only your blood pressure. BlackBerry BridgeBridge was one of the last pieces of the puzzle to come together in the PlayBook, added mere hours ago, and it's one of the strongest yet weakest aspects of the device. Here you pair your PlayBook up with a phone running BlackBerry OS 5 or 6, which must itself be running the Bridge app. The two talk sweet nothings over Bluetooth and, once connected, a new suite of applications is enabled on the tablet.In this way you get your standard productivity stuff: e-mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, and memos. There's also an option to run the Bridge Browser, viewing the web through the phone interface, but as of this moment that feature is simply busted -- the app crashed every time we tried it. The other apps, though, are good. Simple. They're exactly what BlackBerry smartphone users are going to want, but they're also exactly what non-BlackBerry smartphone users will want and, if you don't have a phone to pair, they disappear.Yes, you can get to your web mail provider of choice here, but the lack of dedicated, basic productivity applications like these feels like a huge oversight. This is RIM expecting 100 percent crossover between PlayBook buyers and current BlackBerry owners, and that seems unnecessarily limiting. Yes, these apps , but they should be here now. What's missingNon-Bridge productivity apps (e-mail, calendar, etc.) are the biggest omission, but other things are missing too, like that awesome from TAT that got us feeling all crafty. It's nowhere to be found. Also missing? The mysterious Android compatibility, support that is coming but sadly won't be working at launch. The ability to run Android apps could totally change the game -- or it could be a non-event. We won't know until RIM flips the switch and lets us all try it out.Overall, the selection in App World and on the device itself is rather limited at the moment. RIM is quick to point out that there are thousands of apps in the pipeline, written in some combination of Adobe AIR or HTML 5 or Java or within the PlayBook's native compilation engine. We're sure they're coming, but right now it's slim pickins. CamerasAgain, the PlayBook has three megapixels up front and five around the back, enabling 1080p MPEG4 video recording in a tablet and, we must say, doing a fair job of it. You're going to want a lot of light but, if things aren't too dim, video quality is quite good, as you can see in the sample clip above. Images, too, need a lot of light to keep the grain monster at bay, and the lack of a flash doesn't help in that department, but get the lighting right and the results are decent. Focus is sharp and images look bright. This is definitely a tablet that you could use to take some attractive photographs, if you can get over the social repercussions of waving this seven-inch viewfinder around on vacation. AccessoriesRIM kindly provided a few accessories for us to experiment with, including the $50 Convertible Case, which adds a good amount of girth to the tablet but also offers a lot of protection, and serves as a stand, too. But, $50 is a lot of cash for a case. (There is, at least, a thin sleeve included with the PlayBook.)We also received the Rapid Charging Pod, a $70 magnetic stand that uses that three-pronged proprietary charger at the bottom. It's said to be twice as fast as micro-USB charging and its weighted, magnetic design holds the PlayBook firmly in place for watching content while charging. But, the lack of audio output is unfortunate and, again, $70 seems like a lot for a tiny little dock. Wrap-upWriting this review has been a lot like trying to hit a moving target thanks to a series of software updates that have been dropping every few days. The PlayBook of today is considerably better than the PlayBook of yesterday, which also was a big step forward from the one we were reviewing two days before that. This is both encouraging and worrying -- encouraging that RIM is actively working to improve things, but worrying that things as critical as memory management are still being tweaked at the eleventh hour.This means we're not entirely sure what the PlayBook that goes on sale next week will look like. We thought we had "final" software on Sunday -- and then we got another update. So, what we see at the moment is a framework with solid fundamentals but a framework that is, right now, unfinished. We have hardware that looks and feels great but isn't being fully served by the software. And, ultimately, we have a tablet that's trying really hard to please the enterprise set but, in doing so, seems to be alienating casual users who might just want a really great seven-inch tablet. Oh, and don't forget that bummer of a power button.Right now, the BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet that will come close to satisfying those users who gravitate toward the first word in its name: BlackBerry. Those who were more excited about the "play" part would be well advised to look elsewhere, at least until Android compatibility joins the party. Then, well, anything could happen.Jacob Schulman contributed to this review.The New BlackBerry Q10 Smartphone available in Canada May 1 The new BlackBerry Q10, the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone to feature a classic BlackBerry QWERTY Keyboard, will be available in Canada starting May 1 on Rogers Wireless, Bell Mobility and TELUS. The BlackBerry Q10 combines the power of the BlackBerry 10 platform with a large, re-engineered physical keyboard and stunning touchscreen display the largest ever on a BlackBerry QWERTY smartphone. "We're thrilled that the BlackBerry Q10 will soon be available to Canadians," said Andrew MacLeod, Managing Director for Canada. "The new BlackBerry Q10 combines the power of BlackBerry 10 with a classic BlackBerry keyboard to help people communicate and collaborate faster and more efficiently. We're seeing strong momentum behind BlackBerry 10 from carriers, customers and partners around the world. The BlackBerry Q10 will accelerate this trend." Availability: The BlackBerry Q10 smartphone will be available in Canada starting May 1 on Rogers Wireless, Bell Mobility and TELUS starting at $199 with a 3 year contract. It will also be available on Virgin Mobile Canada, Fido, Koodo Mobile, and Sasktel, and available in select retail locations, including Best Buy, Future Shop, TBooth Wireless, The Source, Walmart Canada and WIRELESSWAVE. Highlights of the BlackBerry Q10: Meticulous attention has been paid to every detail of the BlackBerry Q10 smartphone's design, from its beautiful and distinctive form to its elegant and ergonomic QWERTY keyboard, which features a wider layout and larger sculpted keys. With the BlackBerry Q10 smartphone's advanced hardware, communications and multimedia features, along with long battery life, you can confidently stay ahead and take action all day long. The re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented BlackBerry 10 platform offers you a powerful and unique new mobile computing experience that continuously adapts to your needs. Every feature, every gesture, and every detail is designed to keep you moving forward towards your goal, and includes advancements such as: &middot; The ever present BlackBerry Hub, which brings all your conversations together in one easy to manage place that you can access at any time from any app with a simple "peek", so you're always only one swipe away from what matters to you. &middot; BlackBerry Balance technology, which elegantly separates and secures work applications and data from personal content, protecting what's important to you and the business you work for.. &middot; BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), which lets you share things with the people that matter to you in an instant. BBM in BlackBerry 10 includes voice calling and video chat, and lets you share your screen with another BlackBerry 10 contact. &middot; BlackBerry Remember, which helps you tackle tasks quickly with a new way to collect, organize and action all the information sitting in different places across your smartphone.You can't please everybody all the time, and if there's a company who knows this better than the rest, it's BlackBerry. At the , the company finally unveiled its new stable of smartphones with which it would fight the likes of Apple, Samsung, HTC, Microsoft, Nokia and Google. No simple task, that, and so BlackBerry rolled out not one, but two weapons: the all-touch and the portrait-QWERTY Q10. But there was a catch: only one would launch at a time. It was a staged attack, with the Z10 forming the initial volley. Many said this was a mistake, and that the Q10 and its familiar physical keyboard should have gone first, paving the way for the more radical, all-touch Z10. After what seems like an eternity, the $249 BlackBerry Q10 is finally ready for duty, so let's put it through its paces and see which of these fraternal twins is truly the flagship. Hardware As a portrait-QWERTY smartphone, the Q10 is a bit of a rare bird these days. In many ways its closest sibling is actually a phone with a few years of seniority on it, the , a piece of hardware we quite liked despite its aged operating system. That said, the Q10 shares plenty of design language with the keyboard-free Z10. Its 119.6 x 66.8mm dimensions actually slot in somewhere between those two. The Q10's 10.35mm thickness is one full millimeter thicker than the Z10 that came before and just fractionally thinner than the 9900. You'd never know it, though. Thanks to the Bold's tapered edges, the older phone actually feels considerably thinner. Both have custom glass-weave back panels, but where the Bold's is just an inset in the center, the Q10's is a full backplate that pops off by sliding downward, exposing a 2,100mAh battery, micro-SIM and microSD expansion. (Note that the white version of the Q10 will feature a rubberized backing, much like the Z10.) It looks quite nice and a soft-touch coating means it isn't likely to slip out of your hand. Plus its composition won't interfere with any of the internal radios, keeping precious signal strength strong. Still, its flat shape doesn't fit the hand anywhere near as nicely as the tapered one on the 9900. A metal band partway down from the top-rear visually divides the removable battery cover from the rest of the back, which surrounds the 8-megapixel camera and its LED flash -- a near-identical setup to that on the Z10. That sliver of metal protrudes ever so slightly, ostensibly to keep the camera elevated from the table when it's lying on its back, and terminates on the sides of the phone, formed by a black rim. We're somewhat more drawn to the look of the brushed, stainless-steel rim used on the Bold 9900 than the monotone darkness found in the Q10. Under here, we're told, is the same metal construction as was used on the 9900, but we have to say we're somewhat more drawn to the look of the brushed, stainless-steel rim used on the elder phone than the monotone darkness found in the Q10. It's very much in line with the Z10 and indeed the before, which is to say it's stoic and understated. Looking professional whilst using this phone will certainly not be a problem. Getting your friends and co-workers excited about how the thing looks, however, could be. The only visual highlights on the front are another four unpainted stainless bands that separate the rows of keys. These four frets provide plenty of separation for quick touch-typing and are actually a structural element of the chassis now, adding extra rigidity to the mix. Indeed, this phone passes the twist test with flying colors, not flexing or creaking when some torque is applied. Situated just above the keyboard is a 3.1-inch, 720 x 720 Super AMOLED display. Yes, it's square, which makes watching 16:9 video content a bit of a bother, but it works well in nearly all other regards. In fact, the biggest problem isn't with the display; it's with its placement. The thing is set so far down close to the keyboard that it's actually somewhat difficult to execute the key gesture in BlackBerry 10: swiping up from the bottom bezel. This is the gesture that exits you from your current app and allows you to peek into the Hub. We constantly found ourselves having to swipe up a second time to successfully get home. Those with small thumbs may have less of a problem, and if you train yourself to actually start your swipe on the keyboard and drag up from there, you'll have more success, but we can't help but wish BlackBerry had shifted the entire display assembly up a quarter-inch or so. There appears to be plenty of room between the top of the display and the earpiece, taken up only by a bit of branding at this point. Speaking of branding, it's typically minimal here. There's a metal BlackBerry logo inset on the battery cover, which looks quite polished, and an unfortunate silkscreened AT&T globe logo down beneath the spacebar that looks a bit wedged in there. Situated above the display, and above the BlackBerry branding, are the earpiece, 2-megapixel front-facing camera and a notification LED. Up on top of the device you'll find a power / lock button, 3.5mm headphone jack and a pair of microphones for noise cancellation. Moving to the right side is BlackBerry's excellent three-way volume rocker, with a middle button for play / pause and also for quickly toggling vibration mode. On the bottom, you'll find the primary microphone and the device's speaker -- which, we're happy to report, seems to be quite a bit louder than that on the Z10. Finally, on the left are the micro-USB and micro-HDMI connectors. They're positioned farther up the side than on the Z10, where they sit close to the center, but they are at least the same distance apart, meaning, in theory, a dock built for the Z10 could also work with the Q10. Like with the Z10, BlackBerry will offer four SKUs of the Q10, three with LTE (two with HSPA+ and one with CDMA) plus a fourth, non-LTE HSPA+ model. The AT&T version we tested offered quad-band LTE at 2, 4, 5, 17 (700 / 850 / 1700 / 1900) plus penta-band HSPA+ I, II, IV, V, VI (800 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100) and quad-band EDGE. A second LTE model adds in Verizon-friendly CDMA, with LTE band 13 (700), dual-band CDMA (800 / 1900), dual-band HSPA+ I, VIII (900 / 2100) and quad-band EDGE. The third LTE model offers quad-band LTE at 3, 7, 8, 20 (800 / 900 / 1800 / 2600), quad-band HSPA+ at I, V, VI, VIII (800 / 850 / 900 / 2100) and quad-band EDGE. Finally, there's the penta-band HSPA+ model at I, II, V, VI, VIII (800 / 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100) with quad-band EDGE. All offer 802.11a/b/g/n connectivity and Bluetooth 4.0. Those who like to move it, move it will find an accelerometer, gyro, magnetometer and GPS. Now, while you can draw your conclusions about what carriers the phone will be arriving on, unfortunately we don't have any confirmations as we write this review. We also don't have a formal release date, but BlackBerry promises it'll be in American stores by the end of May. Canadian readers, meanwhile, can , while European readers should have it before the end of the month. Powering the device is the same 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8960 dual-core CPU with 2GB of RAM. The phone also offers 16GB of internal storage, with microSD expansion on tap. Call quality was on-par with the Z10, so about average, but again we're happy to report the built-in speaker on the phone seems to have more oomph than the one on the Z10. Keyboard While the display is certainly worth talking about (and we shall, in just a moment), given the internal similarities with the Z10, the highlight of the Q10 is surely its keyboard. Thankfully, it's a very good one -- but we're not entirely sure we'd call it better than that on the Bold 9900. The biggest distinguishing feature is the keyboard layout, which does away with the ergonomic, curved shape in favor of straight rows. While this does mean you may need to move your wrists closer together to achieve proper thumb alignment with the keys, you're not likely to notice much of a difference. Otherwise, the layout is almost exactly the same, with the only slight difference being the addition of an alternate function on the 0 key: a little microphone. It's with this that you trigger BlackBerry 10's Voice Control feature, though in general we'd much rather just type. And, thankfully, you can. You can just start typing from the phone's home screen to search for apps or contacts. You can also enter in commands, like "email" to start an email or "bbm" to send a message. This is a very handy extension to the OS that can certainly speed up simple tasks. Overall key shape is the same as on the earlier Bold, with that same gentle arc of the keys curving to meet your thumbs. It is, then, very nearly the same as you've experienced on earlier BlackBerries, and that is, of course, a very good thing. That said, we couldn't help but wonder how this device compares to typing on the new, predictive keyboard on the Z10. So, we compared them. The move to physical keys defeats some of the most compelling aspects of BlackBerry 10's predictive virtual keyboard, namely the ability to flick upward on individual letters to auto-complete words and the ability to swipe from right to left to delete a whole word. There is a predictive mode you can enable on the Q10, which simply places a row of suggestions along the bottom of the display as you type. We found reaching up to it and then back to the keyboard a bit clumsy and, indeed, it's disabled by default. In nearly every situation, we were quicker entering text on the virtual keys of the Z10 than the physical ones of the Q10. Even though the predictive modes on both the Q10 and the Z10 quickly figured out our primary testing phrase ("the quick brown fox...") we were still slightly faster on the Z10. In fact, in nearly every situation we tried, we were quicker entering text on the virtual keys of the Z10 than the physical ones of the Q10. The exception? Email addresses and passwords. Getting to special characters is far less cumbersome when they're all right there on the keys. Display It isn't too often you see a square display on a smartphone these days, but then again portrait-QWERTY devices are hardly a dime a dozen either. The panel in the Q10 is a 3.1-inch, 720 x 720 Super AMOLED that, we're happy to report, looks quite good from all angles -- though, it must be said, the color temperature goes from overly warm to cool when you look at it off-angle. Even so, contrast remains quite high. Brightness is also good and the panel is easily visible in direct sunlight. It's really the size and the shape that are its only detractions. The 3.1-inch display is about 10 percent larger than the 2.8-inch LCD on the Bold 9900, and that we've moved up to 720 x 720 from VGA definitely helps too, but the panel here certainly looks and feels tiny compared to the relatively mammoth displays found on other smartphones. That includes the 4.2-inch, 1,280 x 768 LCD on the Z10, by the way, which feels far better-suited for consuming content, surfing the internet and even cruising through long lists of emails and other social missives. Of course, that phone doesn't have a keyboard. Camera On the Q10, we have the same pair of cameras as we found on the Z10 -- that is, a 2-megapixel shooter in the front and an 8-megapixel unit in the back, paired with an LED flash. Unsurprisingly, then, we found camera performance in the Q10 to be just the same as on the Z. In bright light, photos are passably good, lacking sharpness and having a bit of noise, but color reproduction is solid. Low-light shooting is something we would avoid. Skies seemed to actually have their contrasts decreased when HDR was enabled. That is, unless you enable the new HDR mode that comes along as part of the BlackBerry 10.1 OS update. In this mode, the camera will take two shots at different exposures and average the two together. It will, thankfully, save two shots to camera storage: a normal one and one "enhanced" by the HDR. In almost every circumstance we liked the non-HDR photo better. While dark colors did indeed get richer with HDR enabled, anything that was already well-lit seemed to actually get duller. Disappointingly, skies in particular seemed to actually have their contrasts decreased when HDR was enabled. Finally, as on other platforms, make sure you're only photographing stationary subjects when using HDR. Otherwise you run the risk of introducing some spooky ghosts into your images. Maximum video recording is 1080p out of the rear camera, and quality is reasonable. Video can be digitally stabilized here, but as you can see in the sample footage above, enabling it actually introduces some rather distracting jiggling to the mix. We're not entirely sure that's actually better than the shake it aims to replace. The camera is reasonably quick to re-focus while filming, but we did notice a bit of focus-hunting when shooting at more distant targets. Software We reviewed the QNX-based quite comprehensively when it released, so we won't cover much of the same ground here, but it is important to note that the Q10 is actually running version 10.1, an update that won't come to the Z10 for a few weeks at least. While there are no major changes, there have been a few tweaks we should mention. Again, the main feature of BlackBerry 10 is easy multitasking, primarily facilitated by gestures. Swiping up from the bottom bezel of the phone drops you back to your running apps and, as mentioned above, that's actually a bit of a challenge given the proximity of the keyboard to the display. Swipe up and to the right and you get to the BlackBerry Hub, which consumes all your messages from email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BBM and elsewhere into one massive, fast-flowing pile. Color schemes have been made darker in many apps, helping to boost the battery life on this OLED panel. With 10.1, you can now download email attachments, a rather necessary feature missing in the initial release, and send pin-to-pin messages in BBM. You can also now paste phone numbers into the dialer and take HDR photos, if you're so inclined. Specifically for the Q10, color schemes have been made darker in many apps, helping to boost the battery life on this OLED panel, and many on-screen controls have been shrunk or removed entirely to make the most of the 3.1 inches on offer here. The biggest change is the addition of Instant Actions, mentioned above, which enables you to type something like "email bob" to send an email to Bob. Other available commands include "text," "bbm" and "call." What's not changed? Most everything else, including, most tragically, the navigation app. It's still far too limited to be taken seriously when compared to the mapping offerings from Microsoft, Google or Apple. Similarly, the app selection in BlackBerry World hasn't changed substantially in the past few months since the release of the Z10, leaving it hurting when compared to those other platforms. Performance and battery life Given the Q10 offers the same dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8960 processor and 2GB of RAM as the Z10 you'd expect it to have similar performance. And, indeed, it does. Still, the OS did feel slightly more responsive and apps were slightly quicker to load. We're prone to put this down to internal improvements in BlackBerry OS 10.1 and hope the Z10 will see a similar, if slight, boost when it's available there. The SunSpider JavaScript benchmark seems to back that up, with an average score of 1,456ms. That's a nice improvement over the 1,775ms scored by the Z10, but still a far cry from the sub-1,000ms scores dropped by other top-tier smartphones. Indeed, overall improvements are slight and the Q10 works and feels very much like its predecessor. While the OS is very quick and responsive and the browser is as well, 3D gaming is not this phone's forte. The Need for Speed game that came pre-loaded on our review unit often stuttered and struggled, and if the pack-in game isn't working well, that's not a good sign. For your more casual mobile gaming pursuits, the Q10 will do just fine. The Q10 will also do just fine lasting through a day of usage, we found. On our standard battery rundown test, which entails a video looping endlessly while the phone is connected to LTE and with the display on and set to a fixed brightness, the phone managed nine hours and 35 minutes total. That's an hour and 20 minutes more than the Z10 before it, putting it more or less on-par with the LTE . More importantly, we easily got through a full day of typically heavy use without reaching for the charger. That said, the 2,100mAh battery pack here is slender enough that carrying a second around won't take up too much space in your satchel. Finally, boot-up times are still as painfully slow as on the Z10. The phone took one minute and 20 seconds to cold boot and a full 22 seconds just to completely shut down. That'll be a definite pain point for battery-swappers. Wrap-up The BlackBerry Q10 is, for the most part, exactly what we expected it to be: a Z10 with a smaller display and a physical keyboard. There's not much between the two phones when it comes to performance or aesthetics and, while the improvement in battery life is nice, both still fall into the "average" category in that regard. Unsurprisingly, then, which of the two is right for you boils down to a single question: how badly do you hate typing on glass? Again, our testing found text entry to be faster on the Z10 than the Q10 in most situations, but speed doesn't always equate to satisfaction. All things being equal, we'd prefer a physical keyboard to peck at than a piece of glass to smudge, but here we'd choose the Z10 just for that larger display. And what of the broader question, of whether the $249 Q10 can help BlackBerry get its groove back and compete with the rest? There are certainly those who won't buy a phone without a keyboard, and the Q10 is unquestionably the best phone with a keyboard on the market. However, given how weak the competition and demand there has become, we're not sure cornering that market will move the needle very far in BlackBerry's favor.May 14, 2013 BlackBerry Introduces a Youthful and Fun BlackBerry 10 QWERTY smartphone, the BlackBerry Q5, for Selected MarketsWATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 14, 2013) - BlackBerry(R) (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB) today introduced the BlackBerry(R) Q5, a new youthful and fun BlackBerry(R) 10 smartphone for selected markets. The BlackBerry Q5 smartphone features a QWERTY keyboard with discrete keys in a stunning youthful design that is confident, fun, and bold. Every feature, every part of the BlackBerry Q5 has been built to provide a fast, effortless experience that flows and moves with you to help you explore, create, and share while on the go."BlackBerry is excited to bring a new BlackBerry QWERTY smartphone, the BlackBerry Q5, to our customers in selected markets around world," said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of BlackBerry. "The BlackBerry Q5 gives you the best of everything with its cutting-edge BlackBerry 10 functionality and a physical QWERTY keyboard. It is for youthful fans that are passionate, confident and bold, and it makes it easy for them to have fun, create, share and stay connected."As part of the BlackBerry 10 experience, the BlackBerry Q5 smartphone offers a powerful and unique mobile computing experience that continuously adapts to your needs. Features and apps work seamlessly together, allowing your every move to flow into the next. Highlights of the BlackBerry Q5 smartphone include:The evolution of the classic BlackBerry KeyboardThe BlackBerry Q5 features a classic BlackBerry Keyboard with discrete keys that has been re-engineered and elegantly designed to help you type fast, accurately and with the least amount of effort. Plus with Instant Action shortcuts you can type to perform tasks faster. The BlackBerry Q5 smartphone gives you the best of both worlds - a classic QWERTY keyboard for optimized communications and a 3.1" touchscreen for all the rest.Create the perfect shot with BlackBerry Time Shift mode and Story MakerCreate the picture perfect shot with BlackBerry(R) Time Shift mode, then create and share your story, weaving together your photos, videos and music into a movie with BlackBerry(R) Story Maker.Share and be seen with BBM Video with Screen ShareInstantly switch your BBM(TM) (BlackBerry(R) Messenger) chat to a BBM Video conversation and catch up face-to-face. You can even share your screen, whether it's a photo, a page in the browser, an idea, or a view from your camera.(i)Stay close to what's important to you with BlackBerry HubWith BlackBerry(R) Hub, all of your messages and social conversations are only one swipe away. There's no need to stop what you're doing. Simply peek into the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere with a swipe to effortlessly flow in and out of your messages and conversations.BlackBerry World delivers a rich, thriving app and content ecosystemDiscovering and sharing great apps and content is easier than ever with recommendations based on similar purchases, and access to more than 100,000 apps on the BlackBerry(R) World(TM) storefront.Pricing and AvailabilityThe new BlackBerry Q5 smartphone will be available in selected markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia (including the Asia Pacific region), and Latin America, with expected availability beginning in July.It's not the most exciting hardware launch to come from the newly reinvigorated (and rebranded) BlackBerry, but the is a device with a mission. Announced formally this morning by CEO Thorsten Heins on stage at BlackBerry Live, the Q5 is in some ways a more approachable successor to the . Combining a 3.1-inch, 720 x 720 touchscreen display with BlackBerry's well-loved physical QWERTY, the Q5 is being squarely positioned at users in the developing world. And its less-than-premium build quality is a testament to that affordability. We spent some brief time getting to know this newest BB10 device, so skip past the break for our initial thoughts. The Q5's specs are nothing to get hot and bothered over. It's a dual-core device, clocked at 1.2GHz that reps the same resolution as its QWERTY relative, the Q10. At 720 x 720, users in these emerging markets are getting a handset with a fairly responsive HD LCD screen and a somewhat gimped physical QWERTY keyboard. Unlike the Q10, the Q5's keys are not arranged in clean, straight lines and there's a very cramped sense to the layout. It could be just the size of our particular fingers, but not even the slight fretting on the individual keys was enough to make detection second nature.At first blush, the Q5 also comes across as chunky, an impression conveyed in large part by its all-over plastic hull. We'd ding it for the lackluster materials used, but that's precisely the point of this device. It's less about looks and more about performance and durability, so in that sense the Q5 is a decent effort. Certainly, it doesn't achieve the design simplicity and elegance of , but it gets the job done.On the right-hand side, you'll find the volume rocker with a dedicated key in the middle that, when pressed, launches voice search and on the opposite edge, microUSB and a covered port housing SIM and microSD slots. The power button and 3.5mm headphone jack are placed up top with the speaker at the base. As for imaging, the Q5 reps a 2-megapixel front-facer and 5-megapixel rear camera. The device harbors 8GB of internal memory, although users can expand that at will via the aforementioned microSD slot. And aside from employing the same resolution and screen size as the Q10, the Q5 features a similar 2,100mAh battery.WIth a dual-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz (a BlackBerry rep confirmed that it is of the Snapdragon variety, but not an S4) and running the latest OS update, BB10's much-hyped flow remains, for the most part, uninterrupted. True, we find many of the swipe gestures a bit difficult to pull off given the close proximity of the keyboard, but barring that, navigation on the Q5 appeared unhindered by stutters or freezes. We did encounter a bit of lag when trying to access the built-in browser, but that has more to do with the crowded WiFi at BBLive than the Q5's own raw performance.For now, there aren't any plans to bring the Q5 to the US market -- its destiny lies in other overseas territories. But you should be seeing this lower-end BB10 device, one Thorsten Heins claimed is "going to be a big hit," launch in foreign markets at an affordable price point sometime this July.BlackBerry Previews Secure Work Space Technology for Third Party Platforms Extending BlackBerry's trusted, gold standard security to separate work and personal data on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 14, 2013) - BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB) today confirmed its commitment to bringing a solution that will separate and secure work and personal data on mobile devices to third party platforms. Secure Work Space for iOS and Android will be managed through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, BlackBerry's multi-platform enterprise mobility management solution which builds upon more than a decade of enterprise and security expertise and is the most widely deployed mobility solution in enterprises today. An update for BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 will soon extend BlackBerry security capabilities for data-at-rest and data-in-transit and provide complete separation between work and personal data. The BlackBerry Secure Work Space solution includes secured client applications for email, calendar, contacts, tasks, memos, secure browsing and document editing for each device that is provisioned via BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. "With BlackBerry Balance technology, we offer the industry's only true compromise-free separation of work and personal data and applications," said David J Smith, EVP, Enterprise Mobile Computing. "With Secure Work Space for iOS and Android devices, we're extending as many of these features as possible to other platforms, critical in today's Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) world. BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 offers administrators a single, intuitive platform enabling them to effectively and securely manage a variety of devices while protecting their corporate assets and at the same time providing employees the flexibility they desire." The Secure Work Space solution enables customers to save considerable effort and expense as they no longer need to configure and manage expensive VPN infrastructures to provide mobile device access to data and applications that reside behind their corporate firewalls. With end-to-end enterprise mobility management, a straightforward deployment process, and a global and flexible technical support model, BlackBerry offers a secure and reliable solution as the clear choice for enterprises and governments to support BYOD policies for iOS and Android platforms. Additional applications can easily be secured and added to the workspace, without the need to modify source code. "The vast majority of smartphones on the market aren't adequately secure for corporate or government work," said Robert Enderle, Principal Analyst, Enderle Group. "Currently BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 combined with BlackBerry Balance or Secure Work Space has the only volume solution which has been designed from the ground up to provide the security most IT departments require. With this announcement BlackBerry is expanding beyond their own top to bottom approach to security to address this need on other platforms. With this product BlackBerry is showcasing their security legacy by providing a stronger cross platform security solution than anyone else can in the market." Closed beta testing for Secure Work Space has already started and general availability will be offered by the end of the second quarter, calendar year 2013. More details will be announced at the BlackBerry Live conference in May, 2013 in Orlando, Florida.WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 28, 2013) - Research In Motion Limited (doing business as BlackBerry(R)) (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today reported first quarter results for the three months ended June 1, 2013 (all figures in U.S. dollars and U.S. GAAP, except where otherwise indicated).Q1 Highlights:-- Revenue $3.1 billion, up 15% sequentially from the previous quarter-- North America revenue grows sequentially 30%, APAC revenue grows 35%,EMEA revenue grows 9%-- LATAM revenue declines 6% as Venezuela foreign currency restrictionsnegatively impact $72 million of service revenue recognition in the firstquarter; company gross margins negatively impacted by 2%-- Shipments of 6.8 million smartphones, up 13% sequentially from theprevious quarter-- GAAP loss from continuing operations of $84 million, or $0.16 per share-- Adjusted loss from continuing operations of $67 million, or $0.13 pershare-- Venezuela foreign currency restrictions impact reported GAAP earnings andadjusted earnings by approximately $0.10 per share; excluding such impact,adjusted earnings in-line with previously provided outlook of approachingbreakeven financial results-- Cash flow from operations of $630 million-- Cash and investments balance of $3.1 billionQ1 ResultsRevenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 was $3.1 billion, up 15% from $2.7 billion in the previous quarter and up 9% from $2.8 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2013. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 71% for hardware, 26% for service and 3% for software and other revenue. During the quarter, the Company shipped 6.8 million BlackBerry smartphones and approximately 100,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.GAAP loss from continuing operations for the quarter was $84 million, or $0.16 per share diluted, compared with a GAAP income from continuing operations of $94 million, or diluted earnings per share of $0.18, in the prior quarter and GAAP loss from continuing operations of $510 million, or $0.97 per share diluted, in the same quarter last year.Adjusted loss from continuing operations for the first quarter was $67 million, or $0.13 per share diluted. Adjusted loss from continuing operations and adjusted diluted loss per share exclude the impact of pre-tax charges of $26 million ($17 million on an after tax basis) related to the Cost Optimization and Resource Efficiency ("CORE") program. This impact on GAAP loss from continuing operations and diluted loss per share from continuing operations are summarized in the table below.The total of cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments was $3.1 billion as of June 1, 2013, compared to $2.9 billion at the end of the previous quarter, an increase of approximately $200 million from the prior quarter. Cash flow from operations in the first quarter was approximately $630 million. Uses of cash included intangible asset additions of approximately $335 million and capital expenditures of approximately $83 million."During the first quarter, we continued to focus our efforts on the global roll out of the BlackBerry 10 platform," said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of BlackBerry. "We are still in the early stages of this launch, but already, the BlackBerry 10 platform and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 are proving themselves to customers to be very secure, flexible and dynamic mobile computing solutions. Over the next three quarters, we will be increasing our investments to support the roll out of new products and services, and to demonstrate that BlackBerry has established itself as a leading and vibrant player in next generation mobile computing solutions for both consumer and enterprise customers."OutlookThe smartphone market remains highly competitive, making it difficult to estimate units, revenue and levels of profitability. Throughout the remainder of fiscal 2014, the Company will invest in BlackBerry 10 smartphone launches, and the roll out of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, to continue to establish the new BlackBerry 10 platform in the marketplace. The Company will also invest resources to evolve BlackBerry Messenger into a leading cross platform mobile social messaging application, and launch other revenue initiatives associated with new services and emerging mobile computing opportunities. Based on the competitive market dynamics and these investments, the company anticipates it will generate an operating loss in the second quarter. The company will also continue to implement the cost savings and process-improving initiatives it started last year, in order to drive greater efficiency throughout the company, and redirect capital from these savings to areas of investment that will drive future revenue growth.Reconciliation of GAAP loss from continuing operations before income taxes, loss from continuing operations and diluted loss per share from continuing operations to adjusted loss from continuing operations before income taxes, adjusted loss from continuing operations and adjusted diluted loss per share from continuing operations:(United States dollars, in millions except per share data)For the three months ended----------------------------------------COREAs Reported: GAAP Charges(1) Adjusted------------ ------------ --------Loss from continuing operationsbefore income taxes $ (164) $ 26 $ (138)Loss from continuing operations (84) 17 (67)Diluted loss per share fromcontinuing operations $ (0.16) $ 0.03 $ (0.13)======== ======== =======-- Adjusted loss from continuing operations and dilutedloss per share from continuing operations includethe $72 million (approximately $50 million after taxor $0.10 per share) impact on service revenue recognitionof the Venezuela foreign currency restrictions notedabove.Note: Adjusted loss from continuing operations before tax, adjusted loss from continuing operations and adjusted diluted loss per share from continuing operations do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and thus are not comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other issuers. The Company believes that the presentation of adjusted loss from continuing operations before taxes, adjusted loss from continuing operations and adjusted diluted loss per share from continuing operations enables the Company and its shareholders to better assess the Company's operating results relative to its operating results in prior periods and improves the comparability of the information presented. Investors should consider these non-GAAP measures in the context of the Company's GAAP results.(1) As part of the Company's ongoing effort to streamline its operations and increase efficiency, the Company commenced the CORE program in March 2012. During the first quarter of fiscal 2014, the Company incurred approximately $26 million in total pre-tax charges related to the CORE program. Substantially all of the pre-tax charges are related to one-time employee termination benefits and facilities costs. During the first quarter of fiscal 2014, charges of approximately $10 million were included in research and development and charges of approximately $16 million were included in selling, marketing, and administration expenses.BBM for iOS and Android to Launch This SummerWATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 14, 2013) - BlackBerry(R) (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB) today announced plans to make its ground-breaking mobile social network, BlackBerry(R) Messenger (BBM(TM)), available to iOS(R) and Android(TM) users this summer, with support planned for iOS6, and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher, all subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play. BBM sets the standard for mobile instant messaging with a fast, reliable, engaging experience that includes delivered and read statuses, and personalized profiles and avatars. Upon release, BBM customers would be able to broaden their connections to include friends, family and colleagues on other mobile platforms.In the planned initial release, iOS and Android users would be able to experience the immediacy of BBM chats, including multi-person chats, as well as the ability to share photos and voice notes, and engage in BBM Groups, which allows BBM customers to create groups of up to 30 people."For BlackBerry, messaging and collaboration are inseparable from the mobile experience, and the time is definitely right for BBM to become a multi-platform mobile service. BBM has always been one of the most engaging services for BlackBerry customers, enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy. We're excited to offer iOS and Android users the possibility to join the BBM community," said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President, Software Product Management and Ecosystem, at BlackBerry.BBM is loved by customers for its "D" and "R" statuses, which show up in chats to let people know with certainty that their message has been delivered and read. It provides customers with a high level of control and privacy over who they add to their contact list and how they engage with them, as invites are two-way opt-in. iOS and Android users would be able to add their contacts through PIN, email, SMS or QR code scan, regardless of platform. Android users would also be able to connect using a compatible NFC-capable device.BBM has more than 60 million monthly active customers, with more than 51 million people using BBM an average of 90 minutes per day. BBM customers collectively send and receive more than 10 billion messages each day, nearly twice as many messages per user per day as compared to other mobile messaging apps. Almost half of BBM messages are read within 20 seconds of being received; indicating how truly engaged BBM customers are.Today, BlackBerry also announced BBM Channels, a new social engagement platform within BBM that will allow customers to connect with the businesses, brands, celebrities and groups they are passionate about. BlackBerry plans to add support for BBM Channels as well as voice and video chatting for iOS and Android later this year, subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play.If approved by Apple and Google, the BBM app will be available as a free download in the Apple(R) App Store(SM) and Google Play store. Additional details about system requirements and availability will be announced closer to the launch.AT&T to Launch BlackBerry Z10 March 22 for $199.99, Pre-sales Begin March 12 Only AT&T customers can experience the new BlackBerry Z10 on the Nation's Fastest 4G LTE Network Dallas, Texas, March 11, 2013 Wireless customers looking for a smartphone that helps them balance the important aspects of their lives will soon have a new option. Beginning March 12, AT&T* will kick-off consumer pre-sales of the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone for $199.99 with a two-year agreement at http://www.att.com/z10. The smartphone will be generally available for all customers, including corporate customers or those receiving a corporate discount, through all AT&T channels on March 22. The BlackBerry Z10 is the first smartphone to launch with the re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented BlackBerry 10 platform, offering customers a powerful and unique new mobile experience. It is the fastest and most advanced BlackBerry smartphone yet, and is designed to continuously adapt to a customer's needs. The BlackBerry Z10 features an all-touch keyboard and provides a modern and easy typing experience. The BlackBerry Z10 also features a high-resolution 4.2-inch display and an 8-megapixel camera that records 1080p HD video. "AT&T customers were the first to experience BlackBerry smartphones and services in the U.S. and we are thrilled to bring the next evolution, the BlackBerry Z10, to the nation's fastest 4G LTE network," said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, Devices and Developer Services, AT&T Mobility. "Customers who have grown to love the tried and true BlackBerry experience will continue to enjoy the easy typing and the secure platform they expect with a fresh platform that lets them get more out of their smartphone with easy access to all their messages in BlackBerry Hub." BlackBerry 10 is a re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented BlackBerry platform that gives customers a faster and smarter experience that continuously adapts to their needs with advancements such as: BlackBerry Hub acts as a central location for your emails and conversations. You can easily peek into the Hub from any app with one swipe to see what's new, then instantly swipe back to what you were doing. The new BlackBerry Touchscreen Keyboard learns how you write and adapts to your typing style so you can write faster and more accurately. BlackBerry fans have long loved BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). The new BlackBerry Z10 features BBM Video and Screen Share so you can catch up face-to-face and share the content on your screen** with your friend or co-worker. Taking photos and creating memories is easier with Time Shift, an astonishing camera feature that captures the moments before and after you press the shutter to let you create the best shot, and BlackBerry Story Maker, which lets you weave those moments together to create a movie in just a couple of swipes. BlackBerry Balance technology allows you to use your Z10 for work and play without compromising the security of your business-related content when connected to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. The BlackBerry Z10 will be the first BlackBerry smartphone to run on AT&T 4G LTE, the nation's fastest 4G LTE network***. AT&T has the nation's largest 4G network, covering 288 million people.*** AT&T is also launching the new BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) 10 solution, which gives AT&T business and government customers with BlackBerry 10 smartphones secure access to work email, "behind the firewall" applications and data, and offers other security and advanced enterprise mobility management features. BES 10 provides an additional option for AT&T enterprise customers to choose from when deciding which Mobile Enterprise Management solution best serves their needs. Customers can also benefit from AT&T's extensive experience helping companies create comprehensive mobility strategies. AT&T leverages best practices and proven frameworks to address nearly every enterprise mobility challenge.One cannot overstate the importance of this phone. This, the BlackBerry Z10, is the device upon which the fate of BlackBerry ( Research in Motion) hangs. That's not to say that the company will disappear if the Z10 -- and the that it contains -- is not a mass-market success. But if this phone does not do its job of extending the reach of the 'Berry OS beyond those die-hard loyalists who have clung on to their and and , it's safe to say that BlackBerry is in for some very hard times. The company hasn't exactly bet the proverbial farm on this BB10 release, but with massive financial losses tempered only by , plus an absolutely among the executive leadership and corporate culture architected by CEO and President , the phrase "make or break" feels pretty apt. So, then, is this the phone that's good enough to woo buyers away from the or the or any of the other delicious devices on the other platforms? The short answer is that no, as of now it isn't quite -- but of course it's a lot more complicated than that. Join us as we explore. Hardware As the PlayBook was an understated, professional-looking device, so too is the Z10 stylistically muted. As the PlayBook was an understated, professional-looking device, so too is the Z10 stylistically muted. Its dark, monochrome exterior is broken up only by a mirrored BlackBerry logo beneath the display, the chromed BlackBerry emblem on the back and a few matte-aluminum buttons around the rim. (Our review device, which included an AT&T SIM, is carrier branding-free, but we're told that will not be the case on retail phones shipping to the US.) These details fade into an overall appearance devoid of chromatic highlights. It's an appearance that from the front, it must be said, looks an awful lot like the iPhone 5. That's not to say there was any creative inspiration going on here -- surely the Z10 was on the drawing board long before the -- but the visual similarities can't be ignored. Still, where Apple's device presents an all-glass front, creating a clean, monolithic appearance, the front of the Z10 is broken up by horizontal bands that span the top and bottom. These painted pieces extend across and meet the sides to form the rim of the chassis, components that give this phone a feeling of rigidity, much like the PlayBook before it. But, unlike that tablet, here the soft-touch exterior doesn't carry around the back of the device. The Z10 features a removable backplate, made of plastic and given a thick, rubberized, dimpled coating. It does make for a device that's easy to hold in one hand securely, with no worries about it slipping and falling, but it lacks the premium look and feel of the tapered carbon-fiber back on the 9900, and even the faux leather on the 9700. This is not a phone that says "prestige" in any way. You might be inclined to think this is a much bigger device than the 9900, and indeed with a 4.2-inch, 1,280 x 768 display it's certainly far from petite. But, at 66mm (2.6 inches) wide, it's actually a fraction of a millimeter narrower than the most recent Bold. It's only slightly taller, too, at 130mm (5.13 inches) vs. 115mm (4.5 inches) but, thankfully, it's far thinner: 9.3mm (0.37 inch) vs. the 11mm (0.43 inch) of its QWERTY-bearing predecessor. Inset above the pane of (non-Gorilla) glass is a wide, gunmetal speaker grille that covers the earpiece. Just below that, protected beneath the glass, are the front-facing, 2-megapixel camera and a notification LED. That sensor can record 720p video, but if you want full-quality 1080p stuff you'll need to rely on the 8-megapixel rear-facing unit, situated in the top-left corner of the back and paired with a small LED flash. Discrete buttons allow you to raise or lower volume, while a third button in the middle acts as a play / pause button and also toggles BlackBerry's new Siri-like Voice Control. Buttons are few, the one of primary import being the sleep / wake toggle, found in the traditional BlackBerry position of top-center. On the right is another BlackBerry tradition: the three-way volume rocker. Discrete buttons allow you to raise or lower volume, while a third button in the middle acts as a play / pause button and also toggles BlackBerry's new Siri-like Voice Control. And... that's it. The Menu button is gone and there's no physical camera button this time around, either, but the volume buttons can be used as such if you don't feel like tapping on the screen. The two primary ports for the device are situated on the left side. Here you'll find micro-USB and micro-HDMI connections nestled in close proximity toward the center. Up top is the only other easily accessible connector: the 3.5mm headphone jack. Pry off the backplate (which bends and flexes like the cases on Samsung's latest smartphones, but comes off far more easily) and you'll find a microSD slot. Unfortunately the phone doesn't support cards larger than 32GB, but the cards are at least hot-swappable, and that helps to bolster the 16GB of internal storage. The micro-SIM card is found under here, too, but its position next to the 1,800mAh battery pack necessarily means you won't be swapping that out without shutting things down. The NFC antenna is built into the backplate, while the rest of the communications are better integrated into the chassis itself. BlackBerry will offer four separate SKUs of the Z10, effectively boiling down to one for each of the US LTE carriers (AT&T, Verizon and Sprint) plus an HSPA+ model. The version we tested offered quadband LTE at 2, 4, 5, 17 (700/850/1700/1900MHz) plus pentaband HSPA+ I, II, IV, V, VI (800/850/1700/1900/2100MHz) and quadband EDGE. A second LTE / CDMA model, presumably intended for Verizon, offers LTE band 13 (700MHz), dual-band CDMA (800/1900MHz), dual-band HSPA+ I, VIII (900/2100MHz) and quadband EDGE. A third LTE model offers quad-band LTE at 3, 7, 8, 20 (800/9001800/2600MHz), quadband HSPA+ at I, V, VI, VIII (800/850/900/2100MHz) and quadband EDGE. Finally, there's the pentaband HSPA+ model at I, II, V, VI, VIII (800/850/900/1900/2100MHz) with quadband EDGE. Those are all paired with 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0, while the phone also offers an accelerometer, gyro, magnetometer and, of course, GPS. Call quality was about average -- recipients had no problem understanding us -- but we were told we definitely sounded like we were calling on a cellphone. Transmitted volume was also a bit low, meaning we had to speak up to get the same level of output as compared to a few other handsets we tried. Volume levels also troubled us on the receiving side. The speakerphone built into the device has a disappointingly slight maximum output. BlackBerry handsets quite often get used for impromptu conference calls, plunked face-down in the middle of a conference room table, but with the Z10 you'll want to make sure you go to a quiet place before attempting this. Similarly, we often had a hard time hearing the voice in the navigation app, even with the volume all the way up. Display Again, it's a 4.2-inch display on offer here, a huge amount of space compared to the relatively cramped 9900. That, of course, comes thanks to the deletion of the QWERTY keyboard, trackpad and physical buttons. Other than the token volume controls on the right side, this is a full-touch device, and here the glass surface is recessed beneath a slightly protruding frame. This is in contrast to many other recent smartphones, like the Galaxy S III or , which project the glass upward somewhat to give your thumbs a smooth transition off the edge to nothingness, a tactile experience we've come to prefer. We're told this is to protect the display and, since it isn't Gorilla Glass, perhaps it needs it. That LCD here offers a healthy resolution of 1,280 x 768, just slightly beating 720p and offering a fine pixel density of 356 ppi. This means text is rendered incredibly clearly, making web surfing a pleasure and photo viewing quite comfortable as well. The panel is very capable in other regards, too. It's officially rated at 800 nits, which is quite high for a mobile panel, making it easily visible outdoors in direct sunlight. Contrast and color saturation are also quite good and viewing angles excel when you're looking at the phone on either the left or right sides. That said, tilting the phone up or down introduces a slight yellowish hue to everything. It's hardly distracting, but it is noticeable. Camera On the back of the BlackBerry Z10 is an 8-megapixel camera, capable of taking 1080p stabilized video. We put it through its paces in a variety of situations and found it to be a decent shooter, but not a world-class one. We struggled a bit with the interface. The camera is reasonably quick to focus and even quicker to capture images, not matching the rapid-fire shooting of the iPhone 5, but letting you capture roughly one shot per second. (If you need more, switch over to Burst mode, which takes two to three photos per second for as long as you hold your finger down.) As mentioned above, you can use the volume buttons if you're really craving something physical to press, but we found it more comfortable to just tap on the screen -- though that didn't react as we'd expect. We've become used to tapping on the portion of the image we'd like to be in focus, something that doesn't work in BlackBerry 10. We've become used to tapping on the portion of the image we'd like to be in focus, something that doesn't work in BlackBerry 10. You have to actually tap and drag the focusing reticle to where you want it before tapping again to take the shot, a process that can take just long enough for you to miss what you're trying to capture. And, should you need a second shot, you'll need to drag that reticle around once more. Helping to ensure you won't need a second shot -- at least when trying to take pictures of smiling faces -- is the Time Shift feature. It's very similar to the Smart Group Shot feature Nokia threw in its Lumia line courtesy of , capturing a blast of photos then letting you selectively cycle through individual faces so that everyone is looking their best -- or their worst, if you're a terrible friend. When it works, it works amazingly well, but unfortunately it wasn't always successful in our testing. We often had to take three or four shots before it would detect everyone's faces. In particular it had a hard time picking up mugs of the hirsute variety, which posed a bit of a problem for this particular reviewer. Standard stills taken when plenty of lighting is available are bright and clear, showing great contrast and color. However, focus was quite often off, resulting in a number of very soft photos. Manually dragging the reticle where we wanted it and waiting for the camera to refocus usually worked, but in times when we simply wanted the camera to focus on what's in the center of frame, it didn't always do that -- at least, not quickly enough to capture a good photo. Lower-light stuff was, predictably, more of a mixed bag. The Z10 does a good job of automatically dialing up the ISO dramatically enough to ensure that you can see something, but photos even in reasonably lit rooms frequently came out murky and noisy. They were, at least, sharp, the camera still keeping a short enough exposure to prevent motion blur. The flash, positioned immediately below the lens, does result in a slight shadow cast above whatever object you're capturing when you get in close, but it's bright and generally does a good job of illuminating close-up shots. Its range is short, but it's more effective than the token LED flashes we see on many other cameras. Since this is a camera that we think will be used by many traveling professionals, we decided to see how it handles capturing images of receipts. And, since this is a camera that we think will be used by many traveling professionals, we decided to see how it handles capturing images of receipts -- a common task for those filing business expenses on the road. On a well-lit desk, the camera focused on the slip from a distance of about six inches quickly and took a perfectly clear shot. Recreating that in a poorer lighting condition (something akin to a hotel room late at night) resulted in a far murkier, but still legible scan. Finally, we flipped on the flash, which sadly blasted the text into oblivion. So, stay away from the flash and this will do a reasonable job of keeping your accountant happy. Software We'll defer to our formal here, because there's a mighty great amount of stuff to talk about and the Z10 review is long enough as it is. But, as a quick summary: the BB10 OS is a huge step forward over BB7, feeling like a modern OS in most respects. It's heavily gesture-based, with a swipe up from the bottom bezel bringing you to the main interface, where you can select between up to eight concurrently running apps for multi-tasking. All installed apps are listed in a grid, not unlike iOS, which you can drag and drop to re-arrange or create folders. The most important gesture, however, is swiping up and to the right. This exposes the BlackBerry Hub, which aggregates all your forms of connectivity into a single, overpowering list. Through here you can keep up on everything that's going on -- or at least try to. There are a number of apps installed by default. Some are good, like funky calculator and compass apps courtesy of , and some are bad, like the overly simplistic Maps app. The most important apps, however, are those that come from third parties, and BlackBerry has done a fair job of lining many of them up. Dropbox and Angry Birds make appearances, but as we write this review, the BlackBerry World store is overflowing with junk apps, many of which are being sold at premium prices. Are there junk apps on other platforms? Undoubtedly, but here they not only seem to vastly outnumber the good apps, they're actually floating up to the top of the recommended and most popular apps lists. Quantity is beating quality over the head, and we're left doubting the quality of the curating process itself. That major entertainment apps like Netflix, Hulu, Pandora and Spotify will be missing at launch is disappointing. Performance and battery life The Z10 offers a 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8960 dual-core CPU paired with 2GB of RAM. We're starting with a new OS here, so most hardware-taxing benchmarks haven't been ported over just yet. In other words: we're left relying on a combination of web-based browser benchmarks (namely: SunSpider) and general impressions. And, when it comes to those overall impressions, they're generally good. The whole OS is all about keeping you moving (or Keeping You Moving, if you care to use the trademarked version), and so it needs to be very quick to respond. That it is. Most apps launch promptly and, once launched, are snappy and responsive. Web pages load in short order and pinch-zooming and other common navigation tasks won't keep you waiting. Still, overall web performance isn't up to snuff with other modern smartphones according to the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark. On average, the test completed in 1,775ms. That's nearly twice the time it took the iPhone 5 to complete (924ms) and more than twice as slow as the $100 we recently reviewed. The Z10 takes more than a minute to boot up after the battery is removed and it sometimes took up to 30 seconds just to shut itself down. Battery life is merely average. On our standard video rundown test, where we set the display to a fixed brightness and loop a video endlessly, the Z10 managed eight hours and 11 minutes. That's an hour less than the Verizon LTE-flavored version of the Galaxy S III and three full hours short of the record put up by the iPhone 5. But, of course, unlike the iPhone, the 1,800mAh battery pack here is user replaceable -- and it's small enough you might reasonably consider taking a second one with you. But there's one thing that will stop you from wanting to ever pull the battery: the incredibly slow boot-up time. The Z10 takes more than a minute to boot up after the battery is removed and it sometimes took up to 30 seconds just to shut itself down. Accessories BlackBerry has a number of accessories planned, two of which stood out to us. First is a funky little Bluetooth speaker, intended for use in conference calls and the like. It's actually U-shaped, folding over upon itself, the idea being you could clip it on a seatbelt or even the strap on a messenger bag. It makes for a passable music playback experience, but for the $100 MSRP we'd save up a little more and go with a . Frankly, we'd have simply preferred a louder speaker in the Z10. The other option that caught our eye is the Battery Charger Bundle. It's a tiny device, barely bigger than the Z10 battery pack, which can charge up a spare battery thanks to a micro-USB in. But, interestingly, it also has a micro-USB cable built-in, so if you insert a charged battery you can actually use this to recharge the Z10 -- or anything else. So, it's either an external battery charger or an auxiliary battery charger. Or, you can just open it up and swap the battery into the Z10. At $50, we'd say this is a good investment. BlackBerry will also be releasing a series of cases, including the $30 Leather Pocket we received, which has magnets to automatically turn the display on and off as it goes in and out. Yes, BlackBerry will be releasing a proper holster, too, because everybody knows BlackBerries look best when slung from the hip, just like they wore 'em in the Old West. Wrap-up BlackBerry's BlackBerry Z10 is genuinely a pretty nice phone. Performance, helped by the lightweight QNX-based OS, is more than acceptable. The form factor offers you plenty of screen size in a device that may not feel luxurious, but does at least seem durable. And, bucking the trend, the battery is removable. Camera performance is adequate in most cases and overall there's really a lot to like. But, tragically, there's really nothing to love. Nothing in the Z10 stands out as class-leading and, while the BB10 OS does have a lot of charm and brings all the best productivity-focused attributes of BlackBerry to bear in a much more modern package, the app selection is poor and the gestures here aren't so good that they make up for that major shortcoming. Will more and better apps come with time? Absolutely, but after waiting this long (and then making Americans wait another month yet) BlackBerry really needed to make a huge impact out of the gate. Unfortunately, it hasn't. All is not lost: at $199 (which BlackBerry says is the suggested on-contract price in the US), the Z10 and BB10 are a nice piece of kit. The BlackBerry faithful who've been waiting patiently for something more modern will flock to this (and its QWERTY-having cousin) in droves, but there simply isn't enough here to woo those consumers who have already made investments in Android or iOS. Too little? Maybe. Too late? Sadly. Zach Honig and Edgar Alvarez contributed to this review.This has been a year of fundamental changes for ; shifts in the company's core, beginning with a change in name from Research in Motion to the far less cumbersome -- and more familiar -- BlackBerry. The change to BlackBerry also brought the introduction of , a more advanced and modern operating system that aims to put the smartphone pioneer on an equal footing with the likes of iOS and Android, OSes that have robbed it of a good deal of market share with BlackBerry's efforts apparently focused elsewhere. The , the first handset to take advantage of the new operating system, has earned decent to good reviews, though reviewers and consumers alike seem intent on holding out for its counterpart, the , which harnesses that core competency that has helped the company maintain so many loyal users: the QWERTY keyboard. And then there's this, the BlackBtrry Water Game (pronounced, we assume, "BlackBattery"), a strange, typoed beast, which may mark yet another fundamental shift for the smartphone market as we know it. On its face, the device shares a lot more with BlackBerry's past than its future, with a build that's clearly a spiritual successor to the company's . The handset has an all-black front, with a display that occupies most of its upper third. Just above that is a gold speaker grille and below, the familiar trackball for navigating through all of those work emails with ease. A physical keyboard monopolizes the bottom of the handset -- though this, like the trackball and speaker grille above it, seems to exist primarily for aesthetic purposes. It refuses to react, no matter how hard one pushes, making us long for the simplicity of the virtual keyboard, which, while not offering any tactile feedback, actually, you know, does something. It's a bit subtle to the untrained eye, but BlackBerry diehards may well notice the presence of two large, orange buttons on either side of the trackball that jut out a few millimeters. The buttons each feature a pair of arrows and, perhaps most notably, can actually be pressed, offering a unique bit of functionality that could help distinguish this device from its rivals in an increasingly competitive smartphone market. Around the side of the device, you'll find a wide silver trim, with two indeterminate buttons of different sizes on the left side. Again, this pair seems to exist for purely aesthetic purposes -- if you're the button-pushing type, this is arguably the most infuriating device money can buy -- but it may well help cure you of that BlackBerry thumb that had you on worker's comp for much of the early '00s. The rear of the device has a nice texture to it, ensuring a good grip. There's a rear-facing camera at the top, which likely won't get much use seeing as how it appears to be painted over -- though it may offer a cool filtered effect as the rest of the world waits for BlackBerry to jump on the Instagram bandwagon. Below this is the familiar BlackBerry four-B logo and to its right is the rubber drain. Software-wise, the Water Game has a ways to go before catching up with the competition. The display is sharp and the UI is slick, but like BB 10, the app selection is fairly limited. In fact, best as we can tell, there's only one game in the app library, which involves using the aforementioned big orange buttons to push streams of water upward in order to get a number of colored rings onto two shiny red swords. All of this occurs in front of a seemingly unrelated tropical fish background. It's a simple game, sure, but with casual gaming all the rage on mobile devices, it's easy to see this becoming the next Fruit Ninja. The BlackBtrry Water Game's got a ways to go if it's going to truly compete in this cutthroat smartphone space. For one thing, the company's going to have to offer some serious incentives to developers to help build out its app offerings. It's also going to have to make sure that more than two buttons are operational, moving ahead -- even as the industry has moved toward virtual everything, consumers are still accustomed to having the physical buttons on their devices work. The device does have innovation going for it, trading in the LCD for an always-on (as the "BlackBattery" name implies) fully liquid display -- and that may well be worth the $2 asking price alone.Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Cinema Camera NAB 2012, Las Vegas, USA - April 16, 2012 - Blackmagic Design today announced Blackmagic Cinema Camera, a revolutionary digital cinema camera design that includes powerful features such as super wide 13 stops of dynamic range, high resolution 2.5K sensor, built in high bandwidth SSD recorder, open file format support, color correction with full version of DaVinci Resolve and a built in LCD with metadata entry, all in an attractive compact design for only US$2,995. Blackmagic Cinema Camera will be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design NAB 2012 booth at #SL220. Many current generation video cameras suffer from a "video look" due to a limited contrast range, a maximum HD resolution sensor, poor quality optics and lenses, the use of heavy video compression for file recording and poor integration with NLE software metadata management. With these limitations, they cannot be used for high end work or feature films. Blackmagic Cinema Camera has been designed to eliminate these problems so customers get a true feature film look, and at an affordable cost can shoot high end television commercials, episodic television programming and feature films. Blackmagic Cinema Camera Blackmagic Cinema Camera includes a super wide 13 stops of dynamic range, large 2.5K sensor, a built in SSD recorder that has the bandwidth to capture open standard CinemaDNG RAW, ProRes and DNxHD files, a built in capacitive touch screen LCD for direct metadata entry, standard jack audio connections, built in high-speed Thunderbolt connection, 3 Gb/s SDI output, a refrigerated sensor for low noise, and is fully compatible with extremely high quality Canon EF and Zeiss ZF mount lenses. Blackmagic Cinema Camera also includes a full copy of DaVinci Resolve for color correction and Blackmagic UltraScope software for waveform monitoring. UltraScope can be run on a laptop connected to the camera via a Thunderbolt connection. One of the most important features of the camera is its super wide dynamic range of 13 stops, allowing feature film quality images. Commonly people focus on more pixels, however often this just creates a higher resolution, but still "video" looking images that suffer from highlight and black clipping that limits details. Blackmagic Cinema Camera's wide dynamic range eliminates this problem and provides film quality with dramatically more detail retained in black and whites in the image. Once the shoot is complete, the included DaVinci Resolve color correction software can be used to adjust images and take advantage of this extra range in the images. The high quality EF and ZF lens compatibility also helps create sharp and cinematic images that look incredible. To eliminate the damage that low bit depth and high compression video storage creates, Blackmagic Cinema Camera includes a fast SSD recorder. The built in SSD recorder can record on fast solid state disks the full sensor detail in 12 bit Log RAW files in the open standard CinemaDNG format. These files can be read by all high end video software. The full 2.5K sensor data is stored in the files completely uncompressed because the SSD has the speed to store video data at the required rate. Then this high quality file can be color corrected on DaVinci Resolve for the same high quality result currently only possible on cameras costing tens of thousands of dollars. Blackmagic Cinema Camera has been designed as the perfect companion to Final Cut Pro X and Avid Media Composer NLE software. Unlike other cameras, which require the use of custom video file formats that are not compatible with popular NLE software, often making the post production process a nightmare, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera includes absolutely no custom video file formats, and every file type included is open standard. It records into CinemaDNG format for RAW files, ProRes and DNxHD for HD resolution files compatible with Final Cut Pro X and Avid Media Composer. The built in large LCD display makes focus easy, and allows playback of captured files. Blackmagic Cinema Camera includes a built in microphone, as well as external jack based mic/line level balanced audio connections. When playing back recorded clips, a speaker is built in, and there is an included headphone socket, as well as embedded audio on the SDI output and Thunderbolt connection. The SDI output includes all camera data such as timecode, transport control, shutter angle, color temperature setting and ASA information overlaid in attractive anti aliased fonts. For easy metadata entry, the built in LCD features fast and responsive capacitive touch screen technology. When the user taps the display with a finger, a data entry window called the "slate" appears. This lets the user enter shot information just like typing on a smart phone. This data is then stored in the files so can be accessed by NLE software when editing content later. Metadata is compatible with popular software such as Final Cut Pro X and DaVinci Resolve. All camera settings can be changed on this touch LCD, such as frame rate, shutter angle, color temperature, dynamic range, focus assist settings and more. Blackmagic Cinema Camera includes an innovative industrial design built from solid machined aluminum metal which results in an attractive but rugged design. All of the camera, recorder and display have been shrunk down into a lightweight design thats very portable. "This is one of the most exciting products we have ever created and its been a work in progress for a very long time," said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. "Ever since I was a telecine engineer back in the 1990's I have wished that video cameras would include features that allowed them to perform creatively similar to film. However current digital cameras are too heavy, way too expensive and need costly accessories to work. We felt there was a need for a camera that delivered these features in a design that's optimized for professional video shoots, as well as being a compact, elegant design that's easily affordable. We think we have achieved that!" Blackmagic Cinema Camera Key Features High resolution 2.5K sensor allows improved anti aliasing and reframing shots. Super wide 13 stops of dynamic range allows capture of increased details for feature film look. Built in SSD allows high bandwidth recording of RAW video and long duration compressed video. Open file formats compatible with popular NLE software such as CinemaDNG 12 bit RAW, Apple ProRes and Avid DNxHD. No custom file formats. Includes no custom connections. Standard jack mic/line audio in, BNC 3 Gb/s SDI out, headphone, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology, LANC remote control and standard DC 12-30V power connection. Capacitive touch screen LCD for camera settings and slate metadata entry. Compatible with extremely high quality Canon EF and Zeiss ZF lenses. Supports 2.5K and 1080HD resolution capture in 24, 25, 29.97 and 30 fps. Thunderbolt connection allows direct camera capture via included Media Express software and supports live waveform monitoring via the included Blackmagic UltraScope software. Includes a full copy of DaVinci Resolve 9.0 color grading software. Availability and Price Blackmagic Cinema Camera will be available July 2012 for US$2,995 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide. Press Photography Product photos of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagic-design.com/press/images. About Blackmagic Design Blackmagic Design creates the world's highest quality video editing products, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design's DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company's DaVinci Emmy award winning color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagic-design.com.In an effort , BlueStacks is announcing the GamePop Mini for the cube-averse. The biggest difference between the Mini (seen above on the left) and the cube (the... uh... cube above) isn't the form factor; it's in pricing. Where the regular GamePop is $129 () the Mini is "free" after a 12-month subscription of $7 per-month, or $84 total. At this price, it costs less than an , but slightly more than a . "If you keep it more than 12 months, you keep it forever," BlueStacks' Head of Marketing and Business Development John Gargiulo told us. Of course, there's not much to do with the Mini without a subscription. "It'd be like if Netflix did it this way and had hardware -- the unit would be useless without the subscription," he added. Additionally, if you return the Mini inside of 12 months, there's a $25 restocking fee.The subscription gives users access to a plethora of games from 500 "popular mobile game partners." Those partners include the teams behind and Fieldrunners. "Getting the kind of developer support we've gotten, it sets us apart," Gargiulo said. "We saw what happened with the and we saw what happened with the . You need to have good launch titles; there needs to be games everyone recognizes and wants to play."To make GamePop more enticing to developers, BlueStacks created Looking Glass -- proprietary tech allowing iOS-only apps to run on its Android-4.2-based console. When an iOS app makes calls to Apple's hardware, Looking Glass interprets those calls and translates them to the GamePop Mini's hardware. Of course, a few changes within the code are necessary. "[Porting is] not easy, but I would submit it's not hard, relatively speaking," Gargiulo said. BlueStacks isn't ready to divulge the list of currently iOS-only developers it's courting, but those it's working with are allegedly impressed. "I've had many developers call our engineer or chief tech officer because they haven't built their games to run fullscreen on big screens without pixelation or loss of quality." According to Gargiulo, no custom work is needed for the games to look how they do on a TV."If you're a developer and you've built your app and put it on iOS, it's your app. You built it, you own the bits and you own all the intellectual property. If you apply Looking Glass' layer, you can put [your app] on a TV with us," he said.Perhaps what sets the GamePop Mini apart from its Android-console the most is its target demographic: kids. "We have 7-year-olds in our office that know every single title that we're bringing onboard, but couldn't care less about , or that kind of stuff." However, Gargiulo is quick to add that there's no reason preventing BlueStacks from putting games like that on its console. "It's not that we're only going to have Wii-styled kids titles, but that's definitely a demographic we're focusing on because they play a lot of games."Kids are also why BlueStacks is choosing its business model. Gargiulo posits that paying a lump sum up front for a console and then paying X amount of dollars per game isn't how kids experience games anymore. "They have 150 games on their phones. If they paid $10 each for those, they wouldn't be so psyched [about gaming]. We want to give all-you-can-eat access to all the best games for a small monthly fee," Gargiulo said. We'll see how the company's strategy fares "this winter" when it's slated to launch.At this year's New York International Auto Show BMW is expanding its portfolio of connected apps -- by four. The company for Audible, Glympse, Rhapsody and TuneIn Radio and we couldn't help but swing by to check them all out. This integration (which also will work on ) entails an update to those existing iOS apps. In other words, you won't need a dedicated BMW app nor second versions of these individual apps. You can use the ones you already know and love. Join us below for a little more information on how that works, and a look at the company's in-car LTE router that's also on display. Like previous connected apps, these four all work when connected via USB to the car itself. We demoed them all on an using a USB to Lightning cable plugged in below the armrest, providing data to the car and power to the phone. As soon as the apps detect the connection to the car the screen is disabled, ensuring that this one vector for distracted driving is eliminated. The key features of app functionality are replicated through the car's iDrive controls. The interface is simple but still very functional for the most part. You can, for example, still mark songs or artists as favorites in Rhapsody or skip back 30 seconds in Audible. TuneIn now will suggest related stations and Glympse, a location sharing app, will automatically pull your destination from the car's GPS. Overall the data that powers the apps is still pulled down by the phone, so watch those data caps, but without a doubt this is a far safer way of using apps than actually picking up your phone. Still, we were disappointed that there's no way to change from one app to the next via the in-car interface. For that you still have to reach for the phone. We're also disappointed there's no information on versions for any other mobile operating system. BMW was also unveiling something rather more strange: a portable LTE router. It slots in where the smartphone connectivity kit rests inside the armrest and, when a suitable LTE SIM is inserted (this prototype model was rocking Verizon) will utilize the car's antenna to get you great signal. That connectivity then shows up to anyone in the car (or nearby) as a WiFi hotspot that can be configured with whatever settings you like. Interestingly, BMW put a small battery in there so that you can pop the contraption out for use while out and about. That might be good for some roadside picnic action, but with only 30 minutes of charge and a brick-like form factor it's pretty clear that has nothing to worry about here. No word on pricing, availability or carrier compatibility at this point but it will, at least, be compatible with any recent BMW that has the smartphone connectivity kit. For once, you won't need to buy a new car to get the new toys.BMW develops laser light for the car.Following the introduction of the full LED headlight, laser light is the next logical step in the development of vehicle headlight technology. BMW is planning this step, thus further expanding its lead in innovative light technology.Munich. As a globally successful carmaker within the premium segment, the BMW Group attaches the utmost importance to advanced technology in all sectors of automotive manufacturing. Exclusive innovations and technological leaps secure BMW's lead amongst the competition. In the field of exterior vehicle lights, BMW also leads the way for example with full LED headlamps for the BMW 6 Series and with new developments such as the "Anti-dazzle High- Beam Assistant", as well as with "Dynamic Light Spot". The term "Dynamic Light Spot" stands for a marker light system that automatically illuminates pedestrians in good time, thereby guiding the driver's attention.After LED technology, laser light is the next logical step in car light development. BMW engineers are currently already working on the introduction of laser light as a further pioneering technology for series production within a few years. Laser light could then facilitate entirely new light functions for even more safety and comfort and at the same time contribute significantly through its higher degree of efficiency towards a saving in energy and fuel respectively.Laser light produces virtually parallel light beams.By definition, laser lighting is radically different from sunlight, and also from the various types of artificial lighting in common use today. For a start, laser lighting is monochromatic, which means that the light waves all have the same length. And it is also what is known as a "coherent" light source, which means that its waves have a constant phase difference. As a result, laser lighting can produce a near-parallel beam with an intensity a thousand times greater than that of conventional LEDs. In vehicle headlights, these characteristics can be used to implement entirely new functions. Also, the high inherent efficiency of laser lighting means that laser headlights have less than half the energy consumption of LED headlights. Simply put, laser headlights save fuel.The intensity of laser light poses no possible risks to humans, animals or wildlife when used in car lighting. Amongst other things, this is because the light is not emitted directly, but is first converted into a form that is suitable for use in road traffic. The resulting light is very bright and white. It is also very pleasant to the eye and has a very low energy consumption.Laser diodes are already in use today in the consumer sector.Completely safe laser lighting technology is already in use in a variety of consumer products, though in many cases this is a product feature that goes unnoticed by the customer. That won't be the case when this technology is used in cars, however, as planned by BMW. Here the whole point is that the advantages should be noticeable and visible. A further feature of laser technology, which has important implications, is the size of the individual diodes. With a length of just ten microns (m), laser diodes are one hundred times smaller even than the small, square-shaped cells used in conventional LED lighting, which have a side length of one millimetre. This opens up all sorts of new possibilities when integrating the light source into the vehicle. The BMW engineers have no plans to radically reduce the size of the headlights however, although that would be theoretically possible. Instead, the thinking is that the headlights would retain their conventional surface area dimensions and so continue to play an important role in the styling of a BMW, while the size advantages could be used to reduce the depth of the headlight unit, and so open up new possibilities for headlight positioning and body styling.A further advantage of laser lighting technology, and one which the BMW engineers intend to use to full effect, is its high inherent efficiency. A single statistic will make this clear: whereas LED lighting generates only around 100 lumens (a photometric unit of light output) per watt, laser lighting generates approximately 170 lumens. With statistics like this, it is not surprising that BMW is also planning to take advantage of laser lighting technology to increase the efficiency of the overall vehicle. And appropriately enough it is in a concept vehicle from the new BMW i sub-brand, the BMW i8 Concept, that laser lighting will get its first airing. After all, BMW i stands for a new premium concept that is strongly oriented towards sustainability.Laser lighting: high efficiency and safety.Safety is a key consideration in the development of laser lighting for use in passenger cars. For BMW, the complete eye safety of this technology for all road users and its complete reliability in day-to-day use have top priority. Importantly, therefore, before the light from the tiny laser diodes is emitted onto the road, the originally bluish laser light beam is first of all converted by means of a fluorescent phosphor material inside the headlight into a pure white light which is very bright and pleasant to the eye. As a result, in future it will be possible to use laser light to implement all the familiar including more recent BMW lighting functions such as Adaptive Headlights, the "Dynamic Light Spot" spotlighting system and the "Anti-Dazzle High-Beam Assist". It will also be possible to use BMW laser lighting to implement completely new functions, which will have only minimal power consumption.BMW ConnectedDrive: Broaden of Access and Expansion of Services Globally Will Include Benefits for US CustomersKey benefits include standard BMW Assist eCall with Enhanced Automatic Collision Notification and BMW Teleservice for 10 years in most 2014 modelsWoodcliff Lake, NJ - June 5, 2013... BMW ConnectedDrive has been synonymous with forward-looking concepts and technologies in the domain of automotive connectivity for many years. By refocusing on tailor-made mobility services and new, highly innovative service features, BMW is extending its lead in this field. In the US, this will mean new standards offering throughout the range for the 2014 model year, a significant update to the latest BMW iDrive user interface, the ability for customers to add services after they purchase the vehicle if they wish. BMW ConnectedDrive will also include a range of features tailored specifically to BMW i.Target: BMW ConnectedDrive in many markets and for all vehicles.From the outset, BMW ConnectedDrive has been geared towards the mobility requirements of its users both today and into the future. The carmaker's pioneering role is exemplified by the very first in-car integration of an Apple iPod in BMW cars back in 2004, as well as the multitude of apps for in-car use introduced since 2011. The reorientation of the services now turns comprehensive, intelligent connectivity between passengers, vehicle and the outside world into a reality, while the new and enhanced service features are to be made available for all models by means of a SIM card integrated into the vehicle.Today BMW ConnectedDrive services are available in 11 countries. Over the course of 2013, the BMW ConnectedDrive service portfolio will be extended to an additional 14 markets around the world. The objective is to have around five million BMW cars linked up worldwide via ConnectedDrive with the help of the built-in SIM card by the year 2017. This broadening of its strategy makes BMW the first carmaker to firmly commit itself to the goal of achieving blanket connectivity. This will see BMW customers reap the benefits of a steadily increasing number of innovative new features and functions with high practical value.BMW ConnectedDrive in the US: For model year 2014, more standard features and available services.In the US the portfolio of BMW ConnectedDrive for model year 2014 will include more standard features throughout the range and even more available services. These will include:* BMW Assist standard in nearly all 2014 models including 10 years of eCall with enhanced Automatic Collision Notification and BMW Teleservice.* Updated BMW iDrive 4.2 available or standard on most 2014 models with a range of enhancements and additional features.* BMW navigation and BMW Online standard equipment on all 2014 5, 6 and 7 Series cars as well as 2014 X5 and X6 Sports Activity Vehicles. It is optional on all other models. In addition to BMW Online, BMW navigation includes Advanced Real Time Traffic Information (ARTTI)1 .* Concierge service is now standard on all V8 and V12 equipped 2014 6 and 7 Series models. It is now available as a standalone upgrade on most other 2014 models. The service can be initialized at the time of purchase or can be added anytime after purchase.* Internet access is available as an option on 2014 models equipped with navigation and the latest BMW iDrive 4.22 as part on BMW Online. The internet browser is connected through the vehicle using a 3G network connection.* Enhanced voice command options including available message dictation and integration of both Apple Siri and Samsung SVoice through the vehicle's voice command controls.3* Expanded availability of BMW Apps-ready third party apps. In addition to the apps available in the US today including Pandora, MOG, Stitcher and Aupeo new BMW Apps that will be available soon include Audible, TuneIn, Rhapsody and Glympse with more to follow. Later this year, BMW Apps integration will be available for devices with the Android operating system.BMW Assist: Standard on nearly all 2014 models with 10 years of eCall with enhanced Automatic Collision Notification and BMW Teleservice.BMW Assist has been available since 1997. It is now included in nearly every BMW sold in the US. For the 2014 model year, BMW Assist will be standard on nearly every model4. It will include 10 years of eCall emergency calling with enhanced Automatic Collision Notification as well as BMW Teleservice. An automatic emergency call system is set to become mandatory for all new vehicles in the EU from 2015. BMW Assist eCall offers this function today with far greater capability than will be required by law. Should an airbag be deployed, for instance, the system will transmit an automatic emergency call to the BMW call centre including the precise location of the accident site. BMW Assist eCall includes enhanced Automatic Collision Notification, which includes the groundbreaking Urgency Algorithm, developed in cooperation with the William Lehman Injury Research Center in Miami. Apart from the vehicle's exact position and direction of travel, details of the vehicle model and all the data gathered by the sensors in the car are relayed to the call centre as well. This information provides indications as to the nature and severity of the collision, while the deployment of the car's restraint systems gives an idea of the number of people injured and allows frontal, rear, side or even multiple collisions to be identified and differentiated. The Urgency Algorithm transmits the likelihood of severe injury. On the basis of all accident-related data, the call center decides which and how many emergency services are required at the accident site (e.g. doctor, paramedic, fire brigade, helicopter). The data also enables the first responders to alert the appropriate medical care for those involved in the accident before they have even arrived at the scene. The call center will also stay in contact with the vehicle's occupants until the emergency services arrive, speaking to them in their native language where possible. As well as automatic activation, the system also allows the driver or front passenger to trigger the emergency call manually in order to help other road users in distress by alerting the call center.TeleService tells the driver if and when maintenance is required. Fixed service intervals become a thing of the past, because the intelligent maintenance system, Condition Based Service, constantly monitors your vehicle's service needs. When necessary, the vehicle communicates service-relevant data to the nearest BMW Service Centre by making an Automatic BMW TeleService Call.BMW iDrive: The evolution of groundbreaking interface continues for 2014 model yearBMW's groundbreaking user interface has undergone constant improvement and development since its inception in 2002. On the heels of its most recent update, BMW's iDrive will see significant enhancements for model year 2014. Not only will more models receive the latest iDrive 4.2, but the system gets enhancements that improve the user experience in the areas of navigation, Advanced Real Time Traffic Information, connectivity, entertainment, online access and voice commands. One example is the ability to engage automatic time setting. When active, the time will automatically be adjusted for Daylight Saving or Standard time as well as changes in time zone while traveling.BMW Navigation Touchpad, Point-of-Interest voice search and enhanced route tailoring among highlightsThe BMW navigation system has received many enhancements, including a new protocol for entering addresses which more closely mirrors the way US users think of addresses. Now after a state has been entered users can input house or business number, street and city or town.Before setting out, the prescribed route can be tailored to avoid certain areas, for example, if the user anticipates heavy traffic or knows of construction on that route. The system will recalculate the route to avoid the selected area. Multiple areas to avoid can be selected for a given route and the size of coverage is fully adjustable.The online Google search function has been enhanced for customers who subscribe to BMW Online. Users can now search for points-of-interest (POI) via voice. Once the user has spoken their POI, the navigation system can then guide the driver to their desired destination.Advanced Real Time Traffic Information was significantly enhanced for iDrive 4.2 to provide a clearer view of traffic congestion using green, yellow and red indicators along the route to indicate the degree to which roads are clear or congested. The traffic incident view has been enhanced again to provide more precise indications in red of the specific location of stopped traffic.The BMW navigation system for most 2014 models will include a new iDrive controller with Touchpad. The touchpad is integrated into the top of the controller and does not require a separate location. Phone numbers, contact names and address can be written out directly on the touchpad. The user can seamlessly switch between the touchpad and the controller while information is being entered. The touchpad can also be used to zoom in and out on the interactive map.Entertainment Expanded access via BluetoothTM enhances listening optionsAmong the enhancements for BluetoothTM access is iAP, an Apple-specific protocol. A USB connection will not be required in order to access one's music library on an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch. iAP will make it possible to browse and select music using the BMW controller and screen via a wireless Bluetooth connection with the same functionality as with USB connection.Users will now be able to seamlessly switch between USB and Bluetooth connectivity on any device without the need for an additional step. The system will automatically switch between access types to ensure continuous device connectivity.An update for satellite radio listeners allows users to see SiriusXM channel logos in the Player Screen display. As previously announced, MY 2013 and newer users now receive SiriusXM All Access for the full subscription year included with the satellite radio option. This makes it possible to listen via the SiriusXM website on a computer, tablet or other devices.A visual volume indicator will now make it possible to see the volume level at a glance. The visual volume indicator will be available for entertainment and navigation instructions.BMW Online Internet browser as well as split-screen access now available.Subscribers to BMW Online can now add access to the internet while the vehicle is stationary. The internet browser is connected through the vehicle using a 3G network connection. Split screen functionality is now available while using BMW Online. Navigation map and instructions, entertainment details and other onboard content can now be displayed alongside BMW Online.Voice Access Apple Siri, Samsung SVoice now accessible. New visual voice command suggestions.With the latest update to BMW iDrive, both Apple Siri and Samsung SVoice can be accessed through the vehicle's voice command controls. With a paired device, pressing and holding the steering wheel voice command button will engage the device's voice access. Pressing the steering wheel voice button without holding it will continue to access the vehicle's voice command functions.The BMW voice command system itself has been enhanced to now include visual voice command suggestions. Once activated a banner across the top of the display offers prompts for when to speak and provides suggestions for what to say. The suggestions are tailored to the individual menu or function that the driver wishes to access.Concierge Service: now standard or available as a standalone optionConcierge service is now standard on all V8 and V12 equipped 2014 6 and 7 Series models. It is now available as a standalone upgrade on most other 2014 models. The service can be initialized at the time of purchase or can be added anytime after purchase. Concierge service puts a personal assistant at your beckon 24/7. The assistant can be reached at anytime using the car's SOS button or from a Bluetooth enabled cell phone. The assistant can find places of interest, and send the address right to your navigation. Alternatively, the assistant can send the phone number of the destination right to your Bluetooth enabled phone. The service also includes critical calling. If a cell phone is not available, the concierge can place a call.BMW ConnectedDrive services: Now more powerful than ever thanks to new services and apps.BMW is extending its standing as the world's leading provider of web-based in-car services by introducing some major enhancements. BMW ConnectedDrive customers are now able to further improve their mobile Internet experience with the help of browser-based applications (vehicle apps) in BMW Online such as Yelp and Google Street View. For yet greater convenience while travelling, there is the BMW Connected app for smartphones, which includes functions such as web radio, Facebook, Twitter, calendar, Wiki Local, Last Mile plus several more besides. All applications, regardless of whether they are vehicle apps used via BMW Online or smartphone apps, are controlled using the iDrive controller and Control Display with the familiar menu structure. In addition to all future BMW ConnectedDrive customers, the extended range of services is also available to a large number of existing customers at no extra charge.Third-party apps mean the infotainment possibilities are virtually boundless.The highly flexible app concept makes it possible to incorporate not just the applications specially developed by the BMW Group, but also BMW Apps-ready applications from other providers. With the advent of these BMW Apps-ready applications, BMW is giving customers the option of continuing to use their favorite or familiar service providers when driving in their car, too. This will allow the wide array of infotainment functions that BMW drivers enjoy when at home or out and about to be smoothly transferred to their vehicle in future.With these BMW Apps-ready applications, the range of functions can basically be expanded at will. The prerequisite for all apps is that they meet the BMW requirements for distraction-free operation. In order to ensure optimum integration of third-party applications into the vehicle, the BMW Group offers providers a special Software Development Kit (SDK). This contains specific tools that are intended to help the third-party providers develop compatible, vehicle-adapted versions of their apps that are befitting of the cars' premium status. The current portfolio comprising Pandora, MOG, Stitcher and Aupeo is being gradually extended by the addition of numerous exciting third-party apps such as Rhapsody, TuneIn Radio, Audible and Glympse. From this summer, application-based integration will also be compatible with smartphones running the Google Android operating system. With a market share of over 50 percent, Android is now the most widely used operating system for smartphones.Easier voice commands thanks to natural speech recognition.The new generation of the BMW Navigation system Professional adds various new speech functions to the BMW ConnectedDrive Mobile Office portfolio, most notably a dictation function that employs a full speech recognition system to simply transcribe the driver's words. The dictated text can then be sent by SMS or email. The multilingual dictation function can recognize six languages at present. Punctuation marks and instructions such as "new line" can also be dictated. The speech recognition service is performed outside the vehicle by BMW cooperation partner Nuance. The range of office functionalities offered by BMW ConnectedDrive has been expanded by another speech-based feature, too. The voice memo function, in contrast to the dictation function, allows the driver to make direct voice recordings of up to two minutes in length and immediately send them by email if required.LTE mobile high-speed Internet available for use in every car. The BMW LTE Car Hotspot already makes it possible to enjoy mobile Internet in your car today at the high speeds offered by LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technology. The BMW LTE Car Hotspot acts like a home router, forming an interface between the mobile device and the World Wide Web. All that is required apart from the BMW Car Hotspot is an LTE-capable SIM card, which is inserted into the hotspot. Once it has been put into service in the vehicle, the adapter works just like any hotspot, allowing the passengers in the vehicle to surf the Internet at high speed with as many as eight mobile devices at the same time.BMW i stands for a whole new concept of premium mobility and calls for a new generation of flexible, simplified mobility services that are designed to enable vehicles to be linked seamlessly into the customers' individual lifestyles. BMW i will be the world's first fully networked sub-brand offering tailor-made, state-of-the-art BMW i ConnectedDrive services.BMW i ConnectedDrive services as standard for BMW i models.For this purpose, all new BMW i models will come as standard with an integral SIM card together with BMW ConnectedDrive services that have been specially devised for electric mobility and future mobility demands. Because the card is built in, it ensures an optimum connection to the BMW ConnectedDrive services throughout the vehicle's life. The BMW i is furthermore equipped with a navigation system that already features BMW i ConnectedDrive services, and has been systematically tailored to the specific requirements of electric mobility and of flexible, individual, convenient mobility in tomorrow's world. Examples of this include BMW Assist eCall and services accessible in the BMW i Remote app. Should the customer wish to use further products from BMW & BMW i ConnectedDrive services, such as Concierge Services, Internet or RTTI, they can be booked individually from the comfort of their home computer by visiting the BMW ConnectedDrive Store (see also Chapter 3).BMW i ConnectedDrive services always at the focus of attention.The BMW i3 comes with two top-quality displays for the exchange of information between vehicle and driver and for operating the infotainment and communications functions. There is a large 6.5-inch screen positioned on top of the steering column, where all driving-related data such as speed and range appears, and a second 8.8 inch screen in the centre of the dashboard for displaying, for example, the information from the navigation system, which is connected to the outside world via BMW i ConnectedDrive. This central display also serves to keep the driver and front passenger fully informed of the vehicle's status and the drive system's operating mode. The two displays have been designed to interact in such a way that the information shown is split between them to optimum effect, as the situation requires.Total networking facilitates mobility planning.The driving range of electrically powered vehicles is very much dependent on driving style. The BMW eDrive technology aboard the BMW i3 is designed to allow the vehicle to cover a distance of 80 to 100 miles on a full battery charge. Even before setting off, the BMW i ConnectedDrive services provide the driver with realistic estimates of the vehicle's current range. One of the key elements of the networked navigation system is a dynamic range map, which delivers precise, reliable readings by factoring in all relevant parameters along the planned route. The battery's charge status, driving style, activity of electric comfort functions and the selected driving mode are all taken into account for the calculation, along with the route's topography and current traffic levels. The system is therefore able to make allowance for the extra energy used up for both an upcoming climb and stop-start traffic or traffic jams, and lower its range calculation accordingly. Optional real-time traffic data added to the equation, too. High-performance analysis and evaluation of the information is carried out permanently via the BMW ConnectedDrive servers. Every BMW i is constantly in contact with these servers thanks to the built-in SIM card, and this networking provides ultra-precise real-time information.Dynamic range display for all driving modes.Taking the vehicle's current location as a starting point, the dynamic range display from BMW i ConnectedDrive joins up all the points that can be reached with the available energy reserves to form a spidergram in the navigation display. Since the driver is able to actively influence the vehicle's energy consumption and therefore its range by switching the driving mode, the graphical representation of the range calculation is made available in two variants, allowing the driver to view the relevant current range in both COMFORT and ECO PRO mode. The driver is furthermore able to see the range that would be available if the ECO PRO+ mode was selected, so that it is always possible to know how much extra range could be obtained by changing the driving mode. The Driving Range Assistant can detect when the remaining driving range might become critical and advise the driver to choose a more efficient driving mode, a more economical route or an available charging station in the vicinity if necessary. BMW i therefore brings BMW ConnectedDrive networked services and BMW EfficientDynamics energy management together to create a perfect symbiosis.BMW i Remote app: vehicle monitoring, mobility planning and efficiency optimisation.The BMW i Remote app allows an upcoming journey in a BMW i car to be planned out in advance easily and conveniently by means of a smartphone. Using this application, which has been purpose-developed for the demands of electric mobility and will be available for the iOS and Android operating systems, the driver is able to access all vehicle data or route-related information anywhere at any time. For example, a vehicle status checklist can be called up on the smartphone that retrieves the current vehicle data via the BMW server. The driver can additionally view the vehicle's location and the destinations in the surrounding area that are within range based on the current battery charge level. The vehicle's interior can also be set to the desired temperature by remote control, either immediately or in time for departure using the timer control. Even the high-voltage battery can be adjusted to the optimum temperature in advance in order to maximise the driving range. If the vehicle is plugged into a public charging station or the BMW i Wallbox, the charging procedure can likewise be controlled remotely and even programmed to run at times when electricity is cheaper (e.g. at night) with the timer function. Using the BMW i Remote app, it is possible to search for and select both navigation destinations and charging stations, and then relay them to the vehicle. No matter whether they are shown in the navigation system or on the smartphone, all relevant charging stations appear together with an indication of whether they currently have any free spaces.The pedestrian navigation function included in the BMW i Remote app takes the local public transport network into account and conveniently directs drivers to their final destination after leaving the vehicle. Whether the journey was planned in the vehicle or at home, the destination appears directly in the BMW i Remote app as soon as the driver has left their car. BMW i thereby facilitate an individual, sustainable and easy form of mobility with seamless guidance from start to finish.Away from their car, drivers are additionally able to evaluate their personal driving style and compare it with other BMW i drivers, allowing them to hone the way they drive by recognising where there is room for improvement.Highly automated driving: Travelling Europe's motorways with electronic co-pilot.With the aim of offering motorists vehicles equipped with cutting-edge driver assistance systems for convenience and safety in the future, the engineers at BMW Group Forschung und Technik, the company's research and technology arm, have been working on an electronic co-pilot for highly automated driving on the highway. A prototype vehicle from BMW Group Forschung und Technik already drove along the A9 motorway from Munich towards Nuremberg with no driver intervention back in 2011. The research work has now reached the stage where highly automated changes between motorways are possible at motorway intersections. This is a further key step towards the universal handling of highway and interstate networks, something that will in future allow customers to enjoy a continuous highly automated driving experience. The principal technologies required for highly automated driving were developed by the BMW Group Forschung und Technik engineers over the course of the preceding BMW TrackTrainer and Emergency Stop Assistant research projects. The BMW TrackTrainer is capable of lapping race tracks in highly automated driving mode while following the racing line in order to provide some very targeted driver training. The BMW Emergency Stop Assistant performs a highly automated maneuver to bring the vehicle safely to a stop if the driver is suddenly incapacitated by illness. The research prototype for highly automated driving is able to brake, accelerate and overtake all by itself, but always in accordance with the prevailing traffic situation and while adhering to all traffic regulations. The team of specialists has already logged around 6,200 test miles (10,000 kilometers). In order for this highly automated research vehicle to operate fluidly in traffic without attracting attention, its operating strategies must be clearly defined. One of the fundamental components from which these strategies are derived, apart from accurate positioning of the vehicle in its own traffic lane, is the unfailing detection of all vehicles and objects in the immediate vicinity. This is achieved by fusing the data from diverse and complementary sensor technologies, including LIDAR, radar, ultrasound and camera scanning on all sides of the vehicle. Despite this 360 sensing capability, there is little on the outside to tell the vehicle apart from a standard production model.It is of particular importance to the researchers that the technology study's level of intelligence is constantly enhanced. At motorway slip roads, for example, the research prototype behaves cooperatively by leaving enough space to allow road users on an on-ramp to filter onto the highway. The latest advance is the vehicle's capability to negotiate highway intersections without intervention from the driver, enabling it to change from one highway to another. At the "Mnchen - Nord" motorway intersection, for instance, the car is already able to switch automatically from the A9 to the A92 heading towards the airport, and back again. The main challenges to be successfully overcome by the research team included the very fine lateral control in tight corners, as well as the clarity of points on the high-precision digital map in places where several roads converge. The BMW Group's next big target is highly automated driving on European motorways with all of the accompanying challenges in other words, travelling through tollgates, roadwork and beyond national borders. That prompted the BMW Group to enter into a research partnership with international automotive supplier Continental in January 2013. The collaborative project between the BMW Group and Continental is set to run until the end of 2014, by which time several test prototypes fitted with near-production technology should have been built.High-End Speed and Performance Without a Contract: Boost Mobile Strengthens 4G Lineup With the Award-Winning Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Boost also adds the Android powered Samsung Galaxy Rush smartphone and Samsung Array feature phone to Boost's growing handset portfolio IRVINE, Calif. Aug. 22, 2012 Boost Mobile, a leader in the no-contract wireless industry, and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the United States[1], today revealed three additions to Boost Mobile's handset lineup: the ultra-thin Samsung Galaxy S II 4G, the compact touchscreen AndroidTM powered Samsung Galaxy RushTM and the Samsung ArrayTM with a slide-QWERTY keyboard. All three devices pair with one of Boost's Monthly Unlimited plans with Shrinking Payments where customers are rewarded for simply making on-time payments. "Together with Samsung we continue to launch compelling device options from entry level to 4G-enabled smartphones to meet the evolving needs of our customers," said Andre Smith, vice president-Boost Mobile. "Launching the award-winning Samsung Galaxy S II 4G marks a defining moment for Boost's customers craving a portable entertainment powerhouse on a no-contract unlimited plan that shrinks to as low as $40 a month." Offered for the first time on a no-contract carrier in the United States, the Galaxy S II 4G provides an unmatched entertainment experience for speed and hypermedia enthusiasts without the stress of a contract. Samsung Galaxy S II 4G will be available starting Sept. 6 for $369.99 (excluding taxes) at Boost Mobile's exclusive retail stores, select independent wireless dealer locations nationwide and at www.boostmobile.com with free shipping. It will also be available late September in select national retail locations. This feature-packed Android smartphone will operate on Sprint's 3G and 4G (WiMAXTM) networks, bringing 4G speeds to Boost Mobile customers in 71 markets across the country with average upload speeds of 3-6Mbps and bursts of more than 10Mbps. As well as access to Sprint's nationwide 3G network which reaches more than 278 million people. The Galaxy S II 4G, available in white and black, is loaded with a brilliant oversized 4.52-inch Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen, dual cameras and the Samsung Exynos processor, one of the fastest dual-core processors in the industry. The phone's rich color display allows, Boost customers to snap bright photos, record full HD video on the go, and browse the Web at blazing fast 4G speeds in 71 markets nationwide. For an additional $10 a month customers can take advantage of the phone's mobile hotspot capability, which can create a personal Wi-Fi network on the go, with connections for up to five Wi-Fi devices. Additional key features of the Samsung Galaxy S II include: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system Dual-mode 3G/4G 8MP camera (2MP front facing) with 1080P full HD video Dual-core 1.2GHz processor 16GB internal memory 8 hours talk time Wi-Fi/mobile hotspot capability (additional fee of $10/month)First sub-$450 Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stationIndustry breakthrough Power Max combines fast 240V charging with increased affordability[Warren, MI]., - Bosch Automotive Service Solutions, a leading supplier of technology and services, introduces Power Max, the automotive industry's first Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station with a price point of less than $450. The Power Max will retail for roughly half the cost of current EV charging stations, offering 240V charging, and reducing charging time by half while helping customers reduce their need for fossil fuels.Leveraging expertise gained in household appliances and automotive solutions, the Bosch Power Max is UL-certified in both the United States and Canada, and is designed to safely and efficiently charge electric vehicles. Bosch Automotive Service Solutions, formerly SPX Service Solutions, has provided more than 16,000 EV charging stations and performed more than 6,000 installations, including the SPX Power Xpress, tested by a national laboratory as the most efficient charging station on the market.Designed to work with all electric vehicles, Power Max features focus on driver and vehicle safety and convenience, including:- No-touch operation, making charging as simple as plugging the vehicle in and walking away- NEMA 3R enclosure for both indoor and outdoor applications- Standard safety features including a cord breakaway system and non-live current wire- Visible LED indicator, indicating charging state- Hardwired on/off switch to completely shut off power to the unit and ensure no power is consumed- Available in 16 Amp or 30 Amp configurations with cord length up to 25 feet"We believe that for the foreseeable future most EV drivers will primarily charge at home," said Tanvir Arfi, President, Bosch Automotive Service Solutions. "Because many of the incentives available to offset the costs of purchasing and installing residential Level 2 charging stations are expiring, we believe it's critical to maintain the momentum towards Level 2 by offering high quality, but lower cost charging solutions to our customers. We are excited to offer the Power Max, as it accomplishes this objective: a superior product at nearly half the price of the current products on the market."Bosch will begin taking advance orders today; customers can call 877.805.3873 to place an order.The Power Max will begin shipping in early June, with initial customers receiving their charging station in late June to early July.Bosch also offers professional guidance for customers purchasing a Power Max or other EV charging station. Trained Vehicle Charging Advisors walk customers through a free on-site estimate, installation, inspection and ongoing support, including finding money-saving rebates offered by utility companies, government or vehicle manufacturers. Bosch installation services include a 3-year limited product warranty, all permitting and many times filing rebate paperwork.More information on the Power Max and other Bosch Automotive Service Solutions EV charging stations and installation services can be found at www.pluginnow.com.About Bosch:The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. In fiscal 2012, its roughly 306,000 associates generated sales of $67.5 billion. Since the beginning of 2013, its operations have been divided into four business sectors: Automotive Technology, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 360 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 50 countries. If its sales and service partners are included, then Bosch is represented in roughly 150 countries. This worldwide development, manufacturing, and sales network is the foundation for further growth. Bosch spent some $6.1 billion for research and development in 2012, and applied for nearly 4,800 patents worldwide. The Bosch Group's products and services are designed to fascinate, and to improve the quality of life by providing solutions which are both innovative and beneficial. In this way, the company offers technology worldwide that is "Invented for life." Further information is available at www.bosch.com and www.bosch-press.com.Bosch Makes Plugless EV Charging AffordableFirst commercially available wireless electric vehicle charging system in U.S.Exclusive distribution/installation agreement established with Evatran Group, Inc.Financing options available to U.S. customers across entire charging portfolio with installationEDTA Conference 2013WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bosch Automotive Service Solutions, an operation of Bosch Automotive Aftermarket, one of the leading providers of vehicle diagnostics, workshop equipment, software and charging solutions for the global automotive market, today announced an exclusive distribution and installation agreement with Evatran Group, Inc. to offer the PluglessTM Level 2 Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging System, the first commercially available wireless system. In addition, Bosch announced financing options for all offered electric vehicle charging stations and their installation. The announcements were made at the 2013 Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) Annual Conference, held June 10 June 12 in Washington, D.C."The addition of the Plugless L2 System to our portfolio helps us provide our customers the most dynamic and innovative range of charging solutions available."As part of Bosch's continuing drive to bring affordable charging options to a growing EV market, including the recently announced $449 240V Bosch Power Max, the company now provides multiple payment options for its customers across its charging product line-up, including installation. Financing options announced today are:$0 down, same as cash loan with no monthly payments for 12 months if repaid in full in 12 months for charging stations with installations $1,000 and above(1)$0 down, 5 year 2.99% loan on charging stations with installations $3,500 and above(2)"With the unveiling of the $449 Power Max last month, and now the financing options, Bosch offers an affordable 240V charging solution for every EV driver," said Tanvir Arfi, president, Bosch Automotive Service Solutions and EDTA conference speaker. "The addition of the Plugless L2 System to our portfolio helps us provide our customers the most dynamic and innovative range of charging solutions available."Bosch will provide the complete installation solution for the Plugless L2 System. A Bosch-certified electrician will install the home infrastructure portion of the system, and Bosch Car Service centers will install the on-vehicle components. Bosch will coordinate the entire process and provide post-installation support as needed."We are thrilled to launch the first wireless charging system," said Rebecca Hough, CEO and co-founder of Evatran, "Plugless L2 gives EV drivers a more convenient, reliable charging option. Working with Bosch's existing network of certified electricians and 1,300+ Bosch Car Service centers across the U.S., combined with their industry-leading financing options, we're bringing a game-changing charging solution to the EV market."The Plugless L2 System offers hands-free, automatic EV charging. Vehicle owners simply drive over the system's floor-mounted Parking Pad and their vehicle begins charging.The Plugless Level 2 EV Charging System includes the following components:Vehicle Adapter: Installed on the undercarriage of the user's EVControl Panel: A wall-mounted enclosure that provides alignment guidance and diagnostic information, in addition to traditional charging station functionsParking Pad: A floor-mounted wireless charging transmitterBosch offers professional guidance for customers purchasing the Plugless L2 or other corded EV charging stations. Trained Vehicle Charging Advisors walk customers through a free on-site estimate, installation and inspection, and provide ongoing support including finding money-saving rebates offered by utility companies, government or vehicle manufacturers. Bosch installation services include a 3-year limited product warranty, all permitting and even filing rebate paperwork for a vehicle owner.Arfi, an EDTA Board Member, will be speaking at the EDTA conference on Tuesday, June 11 in a session titled "Charging Networks." He will join industry executives discussing the expansion of public charging for EVs and the potential of subscription-based services for drivers.Hough will also speak at the conference on Wednesday, June 12 in a session titled "Off the Wall: Alternative Charging." She will join industry executives for a discussion on emerging charging technologies for applications outside of the home and workplace.Bosch will begin taking advance orders today; customers can call 877-805-3873 to place an order. The Plugless L2 System will begin shipping in early July, with initial customers receiving their charging station in mid to late July.More information on the Plugless L2, financing options and other Bosch Automotive Service Solutions EV charging stations and installation services can be found at www.pluginnow.com.Disclaimer:Loans provided by EnerBank USA (1245 Brickyard Rd. Suite 600, Salt Lake City, UT 84106) on approved credit, for a limited time. (1) Repayment terms on 12 months same as cash vary from 24 to 132 months. Interest waived if repaid in 365 days. 16.82% fixed APR. (2) Repayment term is 60 months. 2.99% fixed APR. The first monthly payment will be due 30 days after the loan closes. Maximum loan amount is $55,000. All rates effective June 1, 2013 and subject to change.Nestled near an entrance inside Grand Central Terminal, Bose just unveiled its latest two portable audio creations: The SoundLink Mini Bluetooth speaker () and QuietComfort 20 noise-cancelling in-ears. Measuring in at 2 x 7 x 2 inches (slightly larger than palm-sized), the aluminum-wrapped SoundLink Mini is slightly larger and heavier than a . Like its , the Mini has dual-opposing passive bass radiators and a two custom neodymium drivers for mids and highs. Bose claims these new drivers will output twice the volume of other, similar speakers.While the unit will bust out the jams for seven hours, it sadly uses a proprietary charging dock. Thankfully, however, the Li-Ion battery is user replaceable. All the controls rest as a strip of silicone buttons on the top, while the side features a 3.5mm input jack. We're digging the look of the naked metal, though, rubber covers and a nylon carry pouch will be on offer for protection. The unit's audio quality was very pleasing, without any notable harshness. We noted an acceptable level of bass on the lowest notes of dubstep tracks and there wasn't too much distortion when cranked up. Join us past the break for more info on the in-ears, as well as all the pricing and availability details for both items. So, we're thinking positively of the SoundLink Mini upon first impression, but Bose was more excited about its QuietComfort 20s. A slim, silicone-coated control module located near the end of their cable houses Bose's new DSP and ANC chips, as well as an active equalizer. Beyond that, it pack a non-replaceable Li-Ion cell (rated for 16 hours of listening), which charges via micro-USB. The unit is slim, but we're concerned about that cabling that's fixed in place -- we can imagine ourselves ripping it while hustling during commutes. We'd be remiss not to mention that the headphones also work passively if you run out of juice.Each in-ear module has two microphones to monitor inner and outer noise for the ANC chip, Bose's usual tri-port enclosure design and new StayHere+ tips. Further up the cable you'll find an inline remote and mic, which is available with three buttons for iDevices or just one for Androids. This editor hates in-ears, but can attest that these were extremely comfortable. A first for Bose, the 20s have an "aware mode," which is basically an advanced talk-through mode. Rather than cutting your music temporarily when you need to talk, it will continuously play while leaking in sound from the world around you. We were able to use the noise cancellation in a controlled demo and it seemed to remove a massive amount of noise -- all without tons of the annoying hiss we've come to expect with ANC 'phones. The overall sound quality was pleasing and smooth with powerful bass -- of course, don't use 'em for reference-type applications.If you're at all interested, the $200 SoundLink Mobile is up for pre-order today at Bose's website and hits shelves June 11th. As for the QuietComfort 20s? Those will hit this summer for $299 with either of the remotes we mentioned. For now, why not glance at our photos of 'em to tide you over?Bose Introduces SoundLink Wireless Mobile SpeakerA New Kind of Bluetooth Speaker: Audio Performance, Mobility and DurabilityFRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Bose has introduced the SoundLink Wireless Mobile speaker, a portable speaker that connects wirelessly to any Bluetooth enabled device. Now, the music from a smartphone or tablet can be streamed at the touch of a button and played out loud anywhere -- with a level of audio performance, mobility and durability that's entirely new for Bluetooth speakers. The SoundLink Wireless Mobile speaker will be available from Bose and select authorized dealers worldwide beginning September 15, 2011."Bluetooth speakers have been available before today, but we believe the SoundLink Wireless Mobile speaker represents a step forward -- a better experience""People want to listen to their music everywhere," said John Roselli, director of Bose Product Marketing. "And millions of consumers already own Bluetooth enabled devices like the iPhone, iPad and Android phones that can store thousands of songs. But there hasn't been a way to experience that content like the SoundLink Wireless Mobile speaker. With no wires or docking needed, its magic becomes evident the first time you hold it, and the first time you hear it."A New Kind of AudioBose engineers developed inventions to do something that hadn't been done to date: reproduce full-range audio from a single, hand-held enclosure. The SoundLink speaker's audio impact defies its size. It combines four low-profile neodymium transducers for clear high- and mid-frequencies, with new dual-opposing passive radiators -- designed with a patented waffle-shaped surround -- for rich, deep, low notes. With the radiators placed in an opposing fashion, vibration is eliminated, turning the energy into acoustic power. The speaker's audio package is complemented with sophisticated electronics, including Bose digital signal processing algorithms, to reproduce instrument definition and detail at any volume.A New Kind of MobilityDelivering quality sound wasn't enough: the SoundLink Mobile speaker had to meet other rigid criteria to achieve its design goals. At less than two inches thick, and no bigger than an average book, it can easily fit in a bag, backpack or briefcase. For instant setup, its integrated cover unfolds into a stand. Open the cover, and the system is ready to be played. Close it, and the system shuts off. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery supplies power for more than three hours at high volume, and for more than eight hours at typical listening levels, making it ideal for the beach, park, party, home, or office.A New Kind of DurabilityThe SoundLink speaker is a road warrior. While no mobile device can endure every circumstance, the SoundLink speaker was built to withstand the rigors of daily use like no other product in its category. It was tested in Bose environmental labs to resist salt-fog, sand, wind, and moisture. And using end-caps made from automotive-grade chrome, it will survive being dropped -- repeatedly.The Convenience of WirelessThe SoundLink Mobile speaker features Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) and a powerful antenna for a reliable wireless audio connection. Pairing takes moments, and wirelessly connecting to a smartphone or tablet is as easy as pressing one button on the speaker's control panel. The six most recently used Bluetooth devices are stored in memory, eliminating the need to pair again. And music can be streamed while texting, emailing or web-browsing."Bluetooth speakers have been available before today, but we believe the SoundLink Wireless Mobile speaker represents a step forward -- a better experience," said Roselli. "We also believe that people will reach for it again and again, and enjoy their music in ways and places they never imagined."Trim Options, Accessories, AvailabilityThe SoundLink Wireless Mobile speaker comes with a standard trim level and a dark gray Cordura nylon cover for $299.95, or in the LX model, with a premium trim level and a dark brown leather cover for $349.95. Accessory covers in nylon (bright red or royal purple) and leather (burgundy or tan) are available separately for $29.95 and $49.95, respectively. The SoundLink Mobile speaker and its accessory covers will be sold at Bose retail stores, www.Bose.com, toll-free at 1-800-444-BOSE (2673) and at select authorized Bose dealers.Air your tunes Bowers & Wilkins launches Wireless Music Systems Announcing Bowers & Wilkins Wireless Music Systems, two new, dedicated AirPlay speakers to join the award-winning Zeppelin Air. A7 and A5 feature outstanding audio performance and Apple AirPlay wireless streaming. The range expands choice for people looking for premium acoustics coupled with simple, wireless access to music. Bowers & Wilkins Wireless Music Systems comprises two new products that combine effortless wireless streaming with Bowers & Wilkins sound quality. The A7 and A5 Wireless Music Systems marry the experience gained from close to five-decades of Bowers & Wilkins audio expertise with Apple's AirPlay technology to deliver the convenience and freedom of wireless music, without compromising on sound quality. The two new products join the highly-regarded Zeppelin Air in featuring the simple to set-up and use AirPlay technology, which allows you to stream music wirelessly from your iPhone or iPad. It's quick and easy, very high quality, retains the rich app experience, and works from the palm of your hand. Plus, many customers already own nearly everything they need to enjoy its benefits: a wi-fi network and an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or a computer running iTunes. This intuitive technology is made even more straightforward with the free Bowers & Wilkins Setup App, downloadable from the App Store. Adding further Wireless Music Systems is easy, too, allowing music to be taken from room-to-room. A7 is the ultimate Wireless Music System: the beneficiary of nearly 50 years of Bowers & Wilkins experience in advanced acoustics, unwavering attention to detail by some of the finest engineers in the industry, and smart implementation of audiophile-grade electronics including Digital to Analog Converters capable of up-scaling audio to 24bit/96kHz. A7's generous dimensions provide room for a 6-inch dedicated bass driver and allow it to deliver impressively full and controlled bass, even in large living rooms. We believe it's the best-sounding AirPlay speaker available. And with no dock or control panel to break its clean lines, A7 is a model of discretion. For people looking for great wireless audio combined with minimal visual impact that fits anywhere in your home, from living room to bedroom or kitchen, the versatile A5 is the ideal choice. As you would expect from Bowers & Wilkins, it delivers a remarkably rich and detailed acoustic performance, with the kind of spacious, room-filling sound you'd expect from a much larger speaker. Completing the trio of Wireless Music Systems is Zeppelin Air. This iconic AirPlay speaker offers the best of both worlds: wireless streaming via AirPlay, and a digital iPod and iPhone dock that delivers the very best sound available from an iPod speaker dock. Whether you want to stream wirelessly or dock your device, Bowers & Wilkins Wireless Music Systems offer great sounding options for any room in your house. A7 will be available October and is priced at $799.99 A5 will be available October and is priced at $499.99 Zeppelin Air is available now and is priced at $599.95It's a little strange that the feels like a late entrant in this year's crowded smart TV market -- the core Boxee software has been around forever, and the Box itself way back in January at CES. But a from NVIDIA's Tegra 2 chip to Intel's cost Boxee and D-Link valuable time, while the Boxee software went through a dramatic UI transformation from the beta to 1.0. What's more, Boxee's gone from being an upstart rock'n'roll rebel to a legit market player, with a Netflix deal on the books and -- wonder of wonders -- an agreement to sometime next year. That's a lot of changes, and, quite frankly, a lot of hype -- Boxee's dedicated fans are expecting the small company and its asymmetrical Box to show up no less than and . So have Boxee CEO Avner Ronen and company pulled it off? Is the Boxee Box the ultimate connected TV device? Or has a punk rock media revolution turned into just another polite New Wave streamer? Read on for the full Engadget review to find out! HardwareUnlike most other connected TV devices, the Boxee Box is designed to stand out -- it's a cube sliced sharply across the bottom, with a glossy fingerprint-magnet front and a glowing green logo, lending it a decidedly futuristic appearance. The asymmetrical shape makes sit larger than it really is -- although it's not much bigger in footprint than an Apple TV, it can't be stacked or hidden away too easily. The bottom is made of a bright green rubber, while the back houses Ethernet, HDMI, optical and composite audio-out jacks, two USB ports and the power socket, all slanted downwards at the odd angle dictated by the case. It's a polarizing design -- we have a lot of room in our A/V rack, so we rather like it, but if you're tight for space you might have different feelings. We will say that it's much more attractive than any of the Google TV devices we've seen; the looks like a generic piece of Tupperware in comparison.Internally, the Boxee Box uses an Intel CE4110 chip, which is to the CE4150 found in Google TV devices, 1GB of flash memory, and 1GB of RAM. Although there are some differences between Boxee's board and Google TV -- we're told the WiFi chip is different, for example -- overall the Boxee Box makes the Revue and Sony's Internet TV Blu-ray player look comically oversized for the platform they contain.Of course, the most important part of the Boxee Box experience isn't the box -- it's the remote! We fell in love with Boxee's two-faced QWERTY remote the at CES, and those feelings have mostly survived the honeymoon period. The front side holds a four-way D-pad with select button, a play / pause buttons, and a menu button, while the rear has a very nice small QWERTY keyboard for easy searches. It's a brilliant design that prompts appreciation from everyone who comes across it -- it's easily the best home theater keyboard we've ever come across. You're not going to sit around writing email with it, but it's more than passable for searching and the occasional password entry. But it's not all roses -- in day-to-day use it's far too easy to grab the remote the wrong way round without noticing, since the front face is almost completely symmetrical save for the raised Boxee logo, and we also always seemed to flip over to the QWERTY side upside-down for some reason. Boxee went with an RF remote system over IR for cost reasons, and that means the Boxee Box can't be controlled by universal remotes out of the box -- although you can plug in a Media Center remote if you wish.We also question the value of a keyboard without a way to control the mouse, especially since Boxee offers a full Webkit browser with Flash. Using the D-Pad to move a mouse arrow around has always sucked, and it continues to suck on the Boxee Box. We'd have loved to see the D-Pad serve double duty as a trackpad -- it's an addition that would turn a pretty good remote into a great one. Of course, you can use the Boxee iPhone app, but that's not a solution for everyone, and mouse control is still an issue, since the gesture controls don't map as a trackpad.SetupSetting up the Boxee Box is pretty straightforward -- it took us about 10 minutes to get it out of the box, plugged in, and downloading a software update over WiFi. The biggest improvement over similar smart TV setup procedures was the remote, which enabled us to type in account info and passwords quickly, while the biggest annoyance was a screen-sizing task that echoes the one found during Google TV setup. We understand that every TV handles overscan differently, but adjusting for it is a super-wonky step that only a few people care about -- there's got to be a better automatic setting that can be used here.We did run into two repeated and supremely annoying issues, however: first, our Boxee Box suffered from extremely slow throughput speeds on WiFi and couldn't seem to hold a connection for very long, and when it dropped it required a restart. We've never had any problems with our router and we're sitting on a 50Mbps FiOS connection, so slow networks speeds are a sad surprise. Making matters worse, our Pioneer Elite receiver and Kuro TV had HDMI handshake issues with the Boxee Box on every restart, flashing static on the screen until we switched inputs back and forth a few times to get a good handshake. We've seen a few people in the Boxee forums complain about WiFi issues, and Boxee tells us a new driver is coming soon, so there's hope on that front, but we don't know what's going on with HDMI -- it could just be a problem with our setup. In any event, it's something to keep an eye on over the coming weeks.In addition to installing the hardware and configuring the display and network, you also need to register for a Boxee account to use the Box. The Boxee network lets you share, post, and queue videos, as well as displaying friend activity. You can also link it to Facebook, Twitter and other services to pull video content that your contacts post -- just make sure to turn off the automatic sharing option to avoid spamming your Boxee activity all over everything. Your friends will thank you for it.Software and media playbackBoxee's dramatically changed its released at CES 2010 in January. We actually really liked the old UI -- it was engaging and different, and really highlighted the social aspect of using Boxee. The new UI is... well, it's sort of ugly. It's like a cross between an Apple TV and Roku, all stirred up with some cutesy graphics, and while it may be simpler and easier to get familiar with, it's also much less functional in many ways, particularly when it comes to accessing local media -- getting to your stuff now requires many more clicks, and some of the more robust filtering options have disappeared. We're not the only ones to dislike this change; there's on Boxee's forums asking for a reversion to 0.9. We doubt Boxee will do anything that drastic, but we are hoping some of the old UI makes its way back into the 1.0 interface over time.But let's engage this interface on its own terms instead of looking at the past, shall we? At its core, Boxee is all about delivering content from multiple internet sources to you in a seamless and unified way, and you've got plenty of options in that regard. On the bottom half of the main screen you've got a selection of featured apps and videos -- we're quite fond of the Vevo music video app, which is really well done -- and then you've got what essentially amounts to a source list up top. On the far left, you can select the Friends tab, which pulls in all the video your friends from various services have shared -- if you've got Boxee hooked into Facebook, for example, all the videos your friends post will show up automatically. Boxee tells us this feed is refreshed every time you open the tab, but for us it seemed like it was taking far longer -- we'd like a simple refresh button. Right now the Box supports Facebook, Twitter and Google Buzz, and it appears there's more to come -- Netflix seems like a no-brainer, and the Boxee website lets you add yet more. Then you've got Watch Later, which is a queue of things you've chosen to watch later, Shows and Movies tabs that offer galleries of available content, and finally Apps and Files. We'll get to those last two in a moment, but let's just focus on Friends, Shows, and Movies for a second.Boxee offers a number of ways to go get content online -- in addition to a partnership with Vudu and upcoming deals with Netflix and Hulu Plus, there's also the web itself. Selecting content from Friends, Shows or Movies pops up a dialog box displaying all the potential sources available -- services, sites, even local media if applicable -- and selecting one means a number of different things might happen. You might get a buffering screen while Boxee pulls down a raw file, as with the Engadget Show. You might get a full-screen Flash player with controls mapped to the Boxee UI and remote from a handful of sites the software understands, as with YouTube. You might open an app and play a video from within that experience. Or you might just get dumped on to a webpage with a tiny Flash player and left to your own devices to make it all work. In all but the last case, Boxee does a commendable job presenting its own UI and offering a unified experience, but it's not perfectly seamless, and the tiny little differences between playback modes seem destined to confuse non-geek users.Apps are a bit of a different story -- the Boxee Box comes preloaded with a large variety of different apps, and, ah, several more can be unlocked by switching off the adult content filter in settings. (Given Boxee's rebellious history, we can't help but wonder if D-Link knows that switch is there, actually.) Boxee apps aren't really "apps" in the interactive sense -- they're more like custom content interfaces for various web sites, and they don't really try to be much more. As we said above, we're quite fond of the Vevo app, and other apps like Showtime Podcasts, The Big Picture, Auto-Tune The News and TED all provided direct access to their respective content with no added fuss. Whether or not you think having page after page of web video apps on your TV is valuable is up to you, but to us it feels like having an endless amount of Blu-ray extras with no actual movie to watch. That's not to say there isn't great long-form content out there -- we recommend a little something called The Engadget Show -- but out of the gate Boxee's app content is very "web video on your TV," not "TV delivered by the web."And finally there's local media playback, which is where the Boxee Box thoroughly outclasses its competitors. Avner Ronen said at the launch event that the Box can play back any video format with a three-letter file extension, and we were able to play back virtually every file we threw at it, whether over an SMB network share or loaded up on an SD card. Straight from a camera, pulled off the internet in an unknown format, whatever -- it played. The only issue we ran into was that when faced with either a slow network connection or SD card, hitting play would result in a wait cursor that kicked us back out to the file list, and we'd have to hit play a second time. (Since we were struggling with WiFi to begin with, we ran into this problem quite a bit.) We also agree with Boxee's many fans who want easier access to local files with more robust sorting options -- until Boxee lines up more content deals, the Box's overwhelming strength is local media playback, and it should be a point of emphasis on the main screen, not hidden away in a tab. Boxee says it'll eventually add a preference to prioritize display of local content on the main screens, and the company has also promised manual refresh and hourly scan / update options for network sources -- right now you're limited to scanning sources daily, which is clearly not often enough.Performance, browser, and FlashGiven our experience with the Intel CE4100-based Google TV devices, we weren't expecting the Boxee Box to light any worlds on fire performance-wise, and we'd classify real-world responsiveness as "acceptable." We've seen Boxee more or less fly when run on actual PCs and even Atom-based nettops, so it's a little sad to see it chug along on the Box, but it's not a killer. Unlike Google, Boxee doesn't think anyone actually wants to browse on the TV -- Avner says the Boxee browser is a "fallback" -- so while you'll wait a tick or two while cueing up a video or loading a web page, the real goal is to watch video, and the Box can certainly do that.That's not to say we had flawless playback experiences -- we noticed that audio and video sync drifted occasionally, and every now and again we encountered a Flash bug where the audio started and finished well ahead of the video. We also once came back to a Showtime podcast after a long pause to find the sync so unmatched we had to quit and relaunch the video to get it back in order. We also ran into some seriously stuttery playback of an XviD file and a DTS-encoded WAV file -- which also led us to discover that multichannel audio files are only output as PCM, instead of bitstreamed like video files. (We were able to send both DTS and Dolby Digital to our receiver while playing video, if you're curious -- we weren't able to test Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD.) Overall these are all minor issues, but they add up, and in a market this competitive we hoped the Boxee Box would be a lot closer to perfect.As for browsing, well, we can certainly understand why it's treated as a fallback -- it's serviceable, but as with Google TV, it's slow enough to make you immediately reach for your phone or laptop, and if the speed doesn't bother you, moving the mouse around with the arrow keys will make you run screaming for the hills. (We'll say it again, though: add a trackpad to this remote and it would be perfect.) We also found that Boxee's Flash implementation is just as video-centric as Google TV's -- while it'll play 1080p video without breaking a sweat, a simple Flash game like Canabalt runs at maybe half speed. There's a huge market out there for Flash games on the TV just as soon as someone figures it out -- and we can't for the life of us understand why Boxee's 1.2GHz Atom-based CPU can't run Flash games as well as any netbook or most high-end Android smartphones.Netflix, Hulu Plus, and content blockingWe'd be remiss in our review if we didn't mention Netflix and Hulu, which are both coming to the Boxee Box. Netflix is due "by the end of the year" and will be in HD, although it sounds like surround audio will remain a PS3 exclusive for the time being. Boxee's even making a , which sounds crazy to us but apparently makes perfect sense for the huge numbers of people out there who just want Netflix on their TV. As Boxee said to us, "Netflix is different."As for Hulu, well, first let's just commend these two for working things out. It's an impressive achievement for Boxee to have gone from scrappy underdog rebel to full-on media platform, and getting Hulu to play along is confirmation of the company's newfound status. That said, it's not Hulu on Boxee -- it's Hulu Plus, which'll cost you $10 a month. Visiting Hulu.com pops up a note saying Hulu Plus is coming at some undefined point in the future, and that's it. Same with various other network sites -- just as with Google TV, lots of content is blocked from the Boxee Box browser, and that kills much of the product's value. Boxee is aggressively out there trying to negotiate deals with content owners, and Avner is sincerely passionate in his belief that they'll eventually come around, but don't expect any of this stuff to be resolved when you plug this thing in on Christmas morning.We should also note that while Vudu is technically on the device at launch, we weren't able to test it -- we just got a dialog box saying it's "coming soon."Wrap-upMan, we really want to love the Boxee Box. On paper it's exactly the right blend of streaming content from online services and robust local playback support we've been dreaming of for years -- and having a Webkit browser with Flash as a fallback seems like a perfect compromise to the PC / TV interface dilemma. It also lines up perfectly price-wise: at $199 it offers vastly more features than the $99 Apple TV, but it's cheaper than the much more ambitious $299 Logitech Revue while offering a similar browsing experience. Plus we're pretty much stupid for the remote, save for the lack of trackpad.Unfortunately, in practice the Boxee Box just isn't polished enough to be worth the hassle right now. The ideas are all there, and our experience with the Boxee team has us confident in their vision and ability to execute, but the Box as shipped feels like less of a finished product than an excellent rough draft of the future. Yes, it's nice having a ton of web content easily accessible on your TV, but that stuff isn't a replacement for the high-quality linear TV content most people want, and Boxee doesn't do a great job of delivering that. Netflix and Hulu Plus will go a long way to filling that gap, but they're not here yet, and while Vudu sounds nice it's just not enough on its own.What you're left with, then, is an extremely nice media streamer with amazing codec support and tons of potential for the future. That's not a bad purchase if you're in the market for a streamer, and we'd imagine plenty of people will pick one up just for that. We'll just say it: this is the best nerdy streamer box we've ever used. But streamers are almost by definition niche products, and we don't think that's what Boxee's going for here -- hell, if you're nerdy enough to want a streamer, you're nerdy enough to grab a $299 Ion nettop and run Boxee on it, and you'll get better performance with no network content blocks. No, the Boxee Box has to deliver on all that latent potential if it wants to challenge Apple and Google and shake up the staid TV industry, and we just don't think it's there yet -- it lacks both content and polish, and that's a deadly combination.Boxee says it wants to do major updates twice a year with "many, many" small updates in between, so we're certain many of these issues will be dealt with -- and the content deals feel almost inevitable, given the Boxee team's undeniable charm. Until then, however, we're still waiting for the TV revolution to finally arrive.The team at never leaves us hungry when it merges the digital and physical worlds -- and this time it's created something that hits it out of the park for the start of this year's US baseball season. Here at the Major League Baseball Fan Cave in downtown NYC, the team has just unveiled its space program-inspired Mission Control Center. As creative director and co-founder Andrew Zolty explained, "The idea is try and pull in pretty much everything you can possibly imagine that's going on during the 2013 MLB season, and do it in a way that feels reminiscent of NASA's control room: Mission Control." The 20-foot-long installation houses 30 screens measuring roughly eight inches each. The displays are grouped into two sets of 15 (one side for American League teams and the other for the National League), separated in the middle by a large LCD and a . Below the screens you'll notice a plethora of switches with LEDs, info lights and a trio of gauges. Both sides feature three rows of five screens, each pertaining to one of the 30 MLB teams and their stadiums. At the flick of a switch, the screens display real-time connected data like recent Foursquare check-ins, weather, and Instagrams, along with team stats, facts and more for each stadium at once. Those smaller screens, by the way, are actually physically modded Android-tablets -- unfortunately, Breakfast wasn't at liberty to tell us exactly which kind they are. Essentially, they are all running custom apps, with support from to pull real-time, live streams from each stadium in the league. In total, we're told that 13 APIs and seven software languages work in conjunction to make up the Mission Control Center. The setup will also allow players visiting the Cave to have live chats with roughly 10 fans at a time who participate from MLB's site (sort of like Google+) -- of course, the chats allow an essentially unlimited number of spectators. Curious for more of the nitty gritty? Join us past the break. While the shell for the unit is CNC-crafted from wood and aluminum, Breakfast informed us most of the parts it started with were available off the shelf. Thankfully, any pieces that get abused can easily be replaced. The switches have a nice tactile click (something we're told Zolty was obsessively concern with), and change the corresponding LED from red to green when enabled. Speaking of attention to details, each of the 30 tablets is cropped by a wood frame, but the higher levels actually have slightly larger cutouts so that text doesn't get cut off for visitors viewing the displays from below. So, while the screens are slightly cropped, you can't tell thanks to how Breakfast designed the layout of what's on each screen. The larger middle screen is also cropped and split into four separate cutouts. The 4:3 center portion occupies the bulk of the screen for video chats, while a smaller cutout on the bottom acts as your video monitor (like Skype) for anyone chatting from the Control Center. Two cutouts on either side of the screen provide extra illumination, lighting up to a soft white when you stand in front of it thanks to embedded sensors. A backlit on-air section lets you know if you're broadcasting, and there are toggles to mute the video and audio, along with a turnkey for easy recording of chats. To cope with how loud the surrounding area can get, three headsets can be plugged in if the onboard speakers don't prove to be loud enough. There are six switches for social media data and four for stadium facts. Another three are for weather conditions and one is for the current time at each stadium. Six more are for team stats; four for team facts. Lastly, another four are for team standings. When one is flicked, the middle screen displays a corresponding icon, and the smaller screens begin to display team-specific info -- they spread out from the central display, each making a subtle "bloop" for a nice stereo effect. The three gauges keep track of hits, home runs and games played throughout the season, while the five info lights on each side light up in real time to indicate things like when a game is delayed or when a hit has occurred at any of the stadiums. Aside from all that, a red button relaunches (soft resets) the whole system and sets off a colorful light show as a system check, while another green button can refresh the chat feed if needed. The tablets run over WiFi to grab all the real-time info, which gets populated on- and off-site with the help of MLB's servers. As we're told, four micro-controllers in the unit grab info from those servers and push it out to the tablets, which are essentially slave devices. All in all, this is the craziest thing we've seen from Breakfast yet, and we can't wait to see what's next from the studio. If you'd like more info in the meantime, check out our detailed video walkthrough above, hit the source link below or check it in person if your in NYC. Sports fans and tech enthusiasts alike will find a lot to love.Demonstration Represents Industry's First Commercial Grade Performance For Silicon-Based LEDLivermore, Calif., March 8, 2011- Bridgelux Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of LED lighting technologies and solutions, announced today that it has achieved a major breakthrough with the demonstration of 135 Lumens per Watt GaN-on-Silicon based LED Technology. This represents the industry's first commercial grade performance for a Silicon-based LED.When grown at scale, most LED epitaxial wafers use sapphire or silicon carbide substrates as the starting material. But large diameter sapphire and silicon carbide substrates are costly, difficult to process, and not widely available. As a result, production costs have inhibited the widespread adoption of LED lighting in homes and commercial buildings. But growing GaN on larger, low-cost silicon wafers that are compatible with modern semiconductor manufacturing can deliver a 75% improvement in cost over current approaches.The 135 Lumen per Watt performance was achieved at a CCT of 4730K using a single 1.5mm power LED operated at 350mA. These LEDs have extremely low operating voltages, requiring just 2.90V at 350mA and <3.25V at 1 Amp. The low forward voltage and excellent thermal resistance of the devices make them ideally suited for high-performance, illumination-grade applications. Optimization of the epitaxy process on 8-inch Si wafers will make LED manufacturing compatible with existing automated semiconductor lines.The move to a Silicon substrate will be a revolutionary step for the LED industry, and Bridgelux is well- positioned to take full advantage of the introduction of this technology. Over the past 5 years, Dr. Steve Lester, one of the industry's pioneers in LED Research and Development, has fostered a world-class team of Bridgelux materials scientists and chip design engineers dedicated to GaN-on-Silicon R&D. Concurrently, industry-wide research and development of GaN growth on Silicon has increased rapidly. And as a result, the GaN on Silicon performance levels reported by Bridgelux today are comparable to state-of-the-art sapphire-based LEDs available 12-24 months ago. The company anticipates the delivery of its first commercially available GaN-on-Silicon products over the course of the next two to three years.Bridgelux, which maintains an asset-light operating model, will leverage its strong R&D and Intellectual Property position in LED epitaxy to jointly manufacture silicon based LEDs. The company is currently in discussions with a number of established semiconductor companies regarding the utilization of the many fully depreciated 8-inch semiconductor fabrication operations available around the globe."Bridgelux's achievement is a significant reflection of the strength of our leadership in Silicon materials and epitaxial process technology, said Bill Watkins, Bridgelux CEO. "The significantly reduced cost-structures enabled by Silicon-based LED technology will continue to deliver dramatic reductions in the up-front capital investment required for solid state lighting. In as little as two to three years, even the most price-sensitive markets, such as commercial and office lighting, residential applications, and retrofit lamps will seamlessly and rapidly convert to solid state lighting.""We only have dial-up here. You'd be shocked at the speeds. [Laughs.] But it's okay -- as long as I can send and reply to email, I'm fine with it."Those were the words spoken to me just weeks ago by the absolutely precious owner of Litia Sini Beach Resort on the extreme southeastern tip of . For those unaware, that's Samoa's most populous island (~135,000 people) -- a sliver of lush, mountainous land dropped almost perfectly in the center of the Pacific Ocean. I chuckled a bit upon hearing it, immediately realizing that I had a connection in the palm of my hand that was 20, 30, perhaps even 40 times quicker than what this business owner was relying on. She paused, as if to collect her thoughts before going into a familiar spiel about the resort's amenities, and then drew my attention to the display of her laptop. "It's still a draft for now, but this is the new tsunami evacuation plan that we're working on. Soon, we'll have this in each fale. It's taking a bit of time to get right, as the drawings are actually done in New Zealand."I nodded my head in understanding, immediately thinking that this must be in reaction to the catastrophic tsunami of September 2009, caused by a magnitude 8.1 submarine earthquake that hit barely 100 miles from the very spot I was sitting. It was the . The entire resort was leveled. Dozens upon dozens were killed. And here we were, over two full years later, and the evacuation schematics are still in "draft." Simultaneously, I wondered just how large that PDF was that my eyes were seeing. 1MB? 4MB? How many minutes of her day were spent downloading each new copy on a dial-up connection? How much sooner could these plans have been solidified if copious amounts of broadband internet were at her fingertips at an affordable rate? How many hours would she spend downloading the enlarged copy suitable for printing and posting as a public notice just inside the resort?While my own mental gears were turning, a soft, cadenced slap of waves continued on behind me, fellow guests retreated to their porches with a good book, and the government of Samoa decided to kill the power to the entire village without so much as a warning. "Due to the emergency," I'm told. "We're calling soon to see about when it will be back." "Yeah -- kind of crazy that you can get 3G out here."Without a second thought, I pulled out a half-charged Galaxy S II and furiously Googled surrounding weather conditions for the surrounding area, looking intently as the up and down arrows beneath that comforting "H+" logo light up and go dim. Within a second, it's clear that whatever "emergency" we're dealing with doesn't involve a life-threatening act of God, and within another, I've turned the handset completely off. "I better save whatever juice is left in here," I tell my wife. "Yeah -- kind of crazy that you can get 3G out here," she replies.As it turns out, "crazy" doesn't even begin to describe the whole of things. Taken for grantedSamoa is just a single example of a place that provides a vivid and undeniable reminder of just how often I take the internet for granted. I grew up in a generation that expected the internet; one where the expectation of near-ubiquity was the norm. But here, thousands of miles from home and merely 80 miles from America's nearest overseas territory, the mindset is vastly different. I can't say for sure that widespread, affordable, high-speed access to the world wide web is an immediate recipe for a nation's success, but I can say that it places a country's people in a far better place than they'd be without it. Just as books are vital to literacy, the internet is now vital to economic growth and development. I've always known these things, but being planted in a place for a solid week where the internet was harder to come by than those other essentials had a serious impact on me (and not from a 'I can't play Words with Friends!' standpoint, either).The good news, however, is that Samoa -- precisely like Fiji and so many other emerging nations -- are hopping on the internet bandwagon at precisely the right time. Rather than deal with costly hardline infrastructure -- spending millions running wire to impossibly remote villages that don't even count sealed roads as an accessible luxury -- they're skipping right to wireless. Digicel has operated a 2G network on Samoa for some time now, and in fact, I was impressed by how many Digicel billboards were advertising a simple dumbphone-to-dumbphone money transfer process that nations like America never really seemed to embrace. But money transfers are only the start. The wireless revolution is realWhen I waltzed into APW airport at some absurd hour of the morning, I was hit with a full-frontal advertising blitz. "Samoa's First 4G Network!" the signs proclaimed. The entire immigration and luggage hall was splattered with them, showcasing 's sparkling new wireless network. "Whoa, 4G in Samoa?" I asked myself. Indeed. Well, kind of. As it turns out, even the childish marketing speak that has in America found a way to this island, as the network actually tops out at HSPA+. It's not LTE, nor WiMAX, but 21Mbps down and 5.7Mbps up (the maximum offered here) is not only gamechanging for the people of Samoa: it's transformational.Unfortunately, the BlueSky office in the airport was closed for the night, but a quick drive to downtown Apia the next morning found me at a bona fide BlueSky retail store. Within 15 minutes I was in and out with a local SIM card, programmed with 200MB of data. So, there's good news and rough news here, and I'll give you the latter first.For some reason -- economics, if I had to hazard a guess -- BlueSky is pricing its 200MB data package at SAT$80 (that's around USD$40), and it's split into two buckets: 100MB to be used from 7AM to 7PM, and 100MB to be used during the non-peak hours of 7:01PM to 6:59AM. That's mighty, mighty pricey, particularly for most locals, but this is also the company hawking a year-old for SAT$2,199, or just over $1,000 in greenbacks. 200MB vanished fairly quickly when using Maps to guide myself around foreign streets, Google to find nearby attractions and Gmail to keep up with work. Moreover, the network itself wasn't entirely reliable, with a data outage lasting a solid five hours one morning on at least the eastern side of Upolo. (2G data services seemed unaffected during the period.) "There's probably no business case in existence that could prove an HSPA+ rollout on Samoa would be worth it, but I'm here to tell you it's worthwhile."Now, the good news: someone took a chance. There's probably no business case in existence that could prove a staggeringly expensive HSPA+ rollout on Samoa would be worth it, but I'm here to tell you it's worthwhile. Digicel's network in Lolumanu (where Litia Sini Beach Resort is located) can only muster GPRS data speeds. That's slower than EDGE, and in practice, it's thoroughly useless. BlueSky offers five bars of HSPA+ here, and there can't be over 100 people that call this place home. Within five years, I'm betting that the aforesaid resort owner will ditch her dial-up connection and rely solely on a BlueSky SIM to run her business -- a SIM that can travel with her across the island, right to the heart of Apia where few tourists bother to leave. In fact, that's exactly what BlueSky is hoping for; the company is straight-up marketing its newfangled technology as a true substitute to lackluster (and expensive) landline-based internet service. I know AT&T and Verizon Wireless are in to in the same way, but still -- this is the future. Priced out of reachJust to give you an idea of how impossibly out-of-reach high-speed internet is in Samoa, let's take a look at the nation's self-proclaimed "premiere" ISP, . The starter plan comes in at SAT$99 (around USD$50) per month, and includes -- wait for it -- 500MB. Overage fees? SAT$0.30 per megabyte. Need a few more MBs? All it takes to get 10,000 of 'em each month is a paltry SAT$1,075 (a little over USD$500), and it's probably worth mentioning that your speeds are throttled to a maximum of 128Kbps during daylight hours and 512Kbps during the night. If you need 10GB of monthly throughput for your business (evidently "business" means "1Mbps"), you can get that installed for the low, low sum of SAT$1,895. That's a small fortune to your everyday American; to many Samoans, those tallies are just laughable. "I can see the BlueSky cell tower from my fale; it doesn't look like a detraction of the natural beauty. It looks like a broadcasting beacon of hope."To wit, 4G wireless services offer a tremendous alternative to something that might as well not exist given the aforesaid price points. Imagine a world where this far-flung beach resort has the bandwidth to upload daily sunrise videos or captures of local dances to enchant potential customers. Imagine a world where the owner's internet is fast enough to enable her to reply to reservation requests in hours, not days. Imagine a world where she's able to handle all of her online duties while she sips her morning coffee, instead of the same chores dragging on through the morning. It's not just different, it's a seismic shift. I can see the BlueSky cell tower from my fale; it doesn't look like a detraction of the natural beauty. It looks like a broadcasting beacon of hope. Economic impactA few hours to the west sits a man and wife in , an isolated island chain that's only now beginning to explore the efforts of tourism. Some of the South Pacific's most excellent diving is here, not to mention dozens of varied islands with unspoiled beauty, incredibly hospitable people and leaders who are grasping with ways to connect far more than Port Vila with the rest of the world. I met them here in Samoa. They'd been in one of the more remote islands in the aforesaid nation for the past year, helping the locals to better their healthcare practices. In speaking to the gentleman about this piece, he mentioned a glistening new tourism building in the capital, replete with big-screen televisions that showcased looping videos of each island's grandeur."It's spectacularly useless," he quipped. "They still believe that people arrive in Port Vila and then decide which outer islands to visit. Truth is, these decisions are being made on couches in Sydney and Los Angeles, months before they ever book a plane ticket." He's right. Internet is perhaps even harder to come by in Vanuatu, where a large part of the population don't even bother with email. "Give 'em time," I think. They may have missed the broadband revolution, but the high-speed wireless revolution is at its doorstep, and I'm guessing it's just a matter of time before Vanuatu's remote villagers bypass the desktop completely and end up with something far more portable -- and in truth, more powerful. Problems of our ownThe conversation came full circle when looking at highly developed nations like the UK and America. In England, O2 will happily sell you a prepaid SIM with a few hundred megabytes of data. It's all fairly simple, really. But use over 100MB per day, and you're cut off until the next 24-hour cycle. Oh, and image uploads are horrifically compressed, so forget about tethering to get a bit of work (read: Facebooking) done. In the States, the situation is even more pathetic. Show up in any of our major airports and look for a prepaid data SIM -- go on, I implore you. It's impossible to find. Sure, a GoPhone can be picked up from any Walmart, but it's not the same. Empowering visitors with the ability to immediately have wireless, high-speed internet access as soon as they arrive within one's borders just makes business sense, and the situation is so insanely ignored by our carriers that startups like Xcom Global have been able to set up to fill the void in some tiny way. Wrap-upThe point? Wireless buildouts show the promise to bring the entire internet to fringes of the world that desperately need it, for fear of falling forever behind. Furthermore, I view my recent jaunts to corners of the globe that aren't quite as frequented as proof of a few things. One, the wireless explosion is still ongoing, and two, it's going to change lives in a huge way. The thought of having go-anywhere, high-speed internet access in a place like Samoa was a pipe dream just a half-decade ago. A score from now, I suspect the tourism industry and its economy on the whole will be far more developed than it is today -- and if ever the world could work out a global data roaming agreement that made sense, we'd see yet another monumental boom. Exporting and importing would no longer require phone calls and painful dealings with dial-up; but of course, that's a different discussion for a different itinerary."The world of video game design is a mysterious one," Double Fine's Kickstarter pitch reads. "What really happens behind the closed doors of a development studio is often unknown, unappreciated or misunderstood."Those words were written around February 2012, ahead of the longtime adventure game developer's Kickstarter campaign launch in order to introduce its latest effort to the world. The project required $400,000, Double Fine's Tim Schafer said -- a goal eventually shattered by more than $3 million in pledges -- and would unfold "over a six-to-eight-month period." A "small team" led by Schafer promised to create a point-and-click adventure game in the vein of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion. That game, first known as Double Fine Adventure, is now -- a fitting title considering what came next.Last evening, Schafer took to the Kickstarter backer page to explain what's going on with Broken Age (now well beyond the "six-to-eight-month period" originally promised): "I designed too much game," he said. That means it's not ready, in case that isn't clear. Moreover, a half-done version of the game -- pared down from its original scope -- will launch on long before the full game's planned launch, and long before Kickstarter backers will play what they paid for, in order to fund the final half. In his letter last night, Schafer said, "Backers still have exclusive beta access before [launch on Steam], as promised in the Kickstarter," though the (half-complete) version is planned for open sale otherwise. "We could actually sell this early access version of the game to the public at large, and use that money to fund the remaining game development. The second part of the game would come in a free update a few months down the road, closer to April-May [2014]," the letter said.And no, before you ask, such a change doesn't impact the $3.3 million Schafer and co. received from backers. There is no refund available through Kickstarter, as not delivering on a product isn't a violation of Kickstarter's rules. The following is Kickstarter's stance on project completion and fulfillment, as taken from :"Who is responsible for completing a project as promised?It's the project creator's responsibility to complete their project. Kickstarter is not involved in the development of the projects themselves. Kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creator's ability to complete their project. On Kickstarter, backers (you!) ultimately decide the validity and worthiness of a project by whether they decide to fund it."Essentially, whatever money given to Kickstarter projects is a donation -- sure, you're being promised something in return, but there's no legally binding contract guaranteeing you'll actually get it. Of course, the approximately 90,000 people affected by Double Fine's decision may feel differently about buying future games by the studio, to say nothing of whether they'll back a Kickstarter project ever again. Considering the positive effect a successful Kickstarter like Double Fine's Broken Age has on other gaming projects -- dubbed by Kickstarter itself -- what ramifications will its failure have?Indie developer Rami Ismail has a different view. He took to last night to express his thanks to Schafer and Double Fine for exposing the (often messy) financial underpinnings of game development, flaws and all. "Double Fine set out to make a game with eight times the budget we had on some of our titles and suddenly had to re-scope when Kickstarter expectations were [that] they were going to release a game that's worth 3 million dollars," Ismail wrote. "Instead of holding back, they are trying to give every single one of their backers the maximum amount of game for their money." And while Ismail's right in that respect, it doesn't change the fact that Double Fine is going back on what it promised backers.Since the original plan was to create a small game with a small group for $400K, Schafer and his team were faced with an unforeseen dilemma when they raised $3.3 million: either create a product "worthy" of the amount they raised or continue with the plan and simply ship that product to more people. Schafer clearly chose the former, as evidenced by his statement "I designed too much game."Whether or not Schafer made the right choice is a question for another time, and for people who are far more intimately involved with Broken Age's development than us here at Engadget. What we do know is that one of the most prominent examples of a crowdfunding success story just became one of the most prominent examples of why consumers should be wary of backing crowdfunded projects. If long-established players like Double Fine pull in more than eight times the capital they originally asked from fans yet still can't meet a grossly over-inflated budget, that's what we'd call a warning sign.Gavin Patterson to be appointed chief executive of BT GroupBT announces today that Gavin Patterson will succeed Ian Livingston as chief executive of BT Group plc.Ian has agreed to take up a role in government as Minister of State for Trade and Investment. He will continue as chief executive of BT until he steps down from his post and from BT's Board in September.Gavin Patterson has served as chief executive of BT Retail and as a BT Board member since 2008, having joined the company as a senior executive four years prior to that. He will take over as chief executive of BT Group in September.Sir Michael Rake, Chairman of BT, said: "Ian has done a tremendous job in transforming BT. His decision to accept a government post demonstrates the sense of public service which many of us know to be characteristic. He leaves behind him a very capable team, one which will take forward the strategy that has served BT well and which lays out the path to further success."We have a fitting and experienced successor in Gavin Patterson. He has a detailed knowledge of all parts of our business and a track record of success. He was closely involved in creating our strategy and is the right person to take it forward. BT will make yet further progress under his leadership."Gavin Patterson said: "It is a privilege to have been offered the position of chief executive of BT Group, and I am delighted to accept."The company is in a strong place. We have great opportunities ahead and are well placed to take advantage of them, in the UK and internationally. We have the people, the technology and the plans we need to build on our current successes. I look forward to leading a dynamic team to ensure we do just that."Ian Livingston said: 'I am honoured to have been asked by the Prime Minister to take on the role of Minister for Trade and Investment, with a remit of helping the growth of British companies and the country's future economic success."It has been an incredibly hard decision to leave BT at such an exciting time. However, the opportunities ahead and the strength of the management team that Gavin will lead mean that the company is in a great position."I am immensely proud to have led this company over the last five years. We have made huge progress over the last few years but I know there is still so much more that BT can and will do."Ian will join the House of Lords prior to taking up his front-bench government post in December.An announcement about the specific September date on which Ian will hand over the BT chief executive's post to Gavin will follow in due course.June 2013Biography of Gavin PattersonGavin Patterson, 45, became Chief Executive of BT Retail in May 2008 and joined the BT Group plc board a month later. He will succeed Ian Livingston as chief executive of BT Group in September.Gavin joined BT in January 2004 as managing director of its consumer division. He previously spent four years at Telewest (which later merged with NTL to become Virgin Media), including as managing director of its consumer division. Before entering the communications sector, he spent nine years at Procter and Gamble, rising to become European marketing director.As well as leading BT's retail division, Gavin oversees corporate responsibility programmes for BT Group and represents the company on the CBI's Climate Change Board. He has served as President of the Advertising Association since June 2011, is a non-executive director of British Airways and a Trustee of the British Museum. He also sits on the advisory board of the Cambridge Judge Business School.Gavin graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in chemical engineering and is married with four children.The engineers in Microsoft's windowless silicon lab are rattled. And understandably so. We're in their office, after all, and we have a mess of cameras in the one place you're not allowed to have cameras (or even cellphones). We're obviously outsiders on Microsoft's multi-building, security-heavy Mountain View campus, especially given our quartet of esteemed escorts: Todd Holmdahl, Ilan Spillinger, Nick Baker and Greg Williams. These four gentlemen are leading the charge on both Microsoft's next big thing and, perhaps more importantly, a major effort to internalize silicon architecture at the traditionally software-focused megacorp.The skittish engineers aren't worried we'll film the mess of 24-inch LCD screens running video-compression tests, or the rows of desks with water hose stations used for temperature stress tests, or even the sea of circuit boards in various states of disrepair -- that's all standard for any Silicon Valley computer lab. It's really just a single chip that's causing concern: a custom-built Microsoft SoC that sits at the heart of the . It's this SoC that has us in Mountain View, Calif. -- in Silicon Valley, literally down the road from Google -- a mere five days before Microsoft will unveil its next game console to the world. Over six hours last Friday, we learned not just about that SoC, but also how the company plans to utilize it in the new console. We spoke with its four lead hardware architects. We toured the labs where they are testing the silicon, and where the next-generation Kinect was born. What follows is more than a look behind the silicon that drives the next Xbox -- it's a deep dive into the changing approach Microsoft's taking to creating devices. Hidden silicon in the valleyConsidering there are large Microsoft logos emblazoned on both the buildings and signs at each entrance to the campus, the company's Mountain View location isn't exactly "hidden." What the people are doing inside, however, is one of the only secrets about the company's next-generation Xbox that hasn't . It's at this location that Williams and Baker -- the Xbox silicon development general manager and Xbox architecture distinguished engineer, respectively -- drew up the silicon architecture for Microsoft's Xbox One.In the first Xbox, Intel and NVIDIA crafted the silicon. In the case of Xbox 360, it was more of a joint effort between Microsoft and ATI / IBM. Though Microsoft's still working with AMD to build out some of its chips this time around, it's also invested millions of dollars in building out verification facilities (among others) on-site in Mountain View and doubling the amount of in-house engineering dedicated to silicon. Holmdahl explains:"In the consumer space, to control your destiny, you can't just rely on commodity components. You have to be able to make your own silicon. It helps with performance; it helps with the cost; it helps make your product smaller; it helps you create your own IP (always a good thing). I'll argue you're a lot more flexible -- you're not relying on somebody else's schedule; you make your own. So we're obviously heading that way. The stuff we've done over the last 13, 14 years is one example of that within Microsoft. And you're gonna see more and more of that, is my guess, as you go forward."For now, silicon's a teensy component of Microsoft. Of the company's approximately 95,000 employees, the silicon team is around 200 people, or roughly 0.2 percent of the total workforce. Double that if you count the system engineers working on next-gen gaming hardware -- the console, Kinect and accessories -- and that's still nothing compared to most dedicated chipmakers. Intel employs over 100,000 people, for instance, while NVIDIA employs around 7,000.However small, Mountain View's 200-person team has been working heads-down for the past several years to verify its silicon architecture and get it "first time right." That's not to say that the chip returns perfect from manufacturing, but that it doesn't run into any major issues -- of course, there's a small team within the larger group that's dedicated to debugging. As Xbox Hardware Group Lead Holmdahl points out, "One transistor can mess up your day really badly," setting the team back months to try and isolate the issue. Unlike software development, you can't quickly (or cheaply) iterate on silicon implementation. Worse, the equivalent of "debugging" is a guesswork process. "The fewer times you have to redo it, the faster you can put your product on the market," Holmdahl adds, with a nod to the business logic that also drives that need for "first time right.""We booted the OS within days of getting the SoC back," Williams says; a good indicator their initial architecture design wasn't tremendously off. "I'm proud to say that, in our schedule, we didn't have any major showstoppers."It's extremely hard. It's a matter of breaking it down. There are ways you can determine 'is the right thing happening as an input into the chip, or is it illegal?' And within the chip, there are ways we can instrument on this board and with the silicon to bring signals about to say, 'Well, within the chip, we think it's maybe between these two blocks,' and to try to get access into that signal. Of course, when you're highly integrated ... that's not as easy once you've actually built it. That's part of the art, essentially, of the process."That "art" he's speaking to applies across the entire spectrum of console development. For every generation, console manufacturers play a guessing game with internal specs, software / storage-medium support and a variety of other factors, hoping that they've prepared enough to support both aggressive initial interest and long-term attention from consumers and game developers.Powering the living room of the (near) future: 'Xbox On'In-house silicon is at the core of what makes the Xbox One tick. It provides the structure that enables the console to run two operating systems at once for instant multitasking, and for the to dish out much more information than before (to the tune of 2 Gbps). Most importantly, the five pieces of custom silicon spread across the console and its new camera peripheral helped the Mountain View team support their vision of an "always-on" console. Rather than use your hands to turn it on , simply saying "Xbox On" will immediately wake the new Xbox."The box will pop on and come to your home page or wherever you were last. In order to do that in an efficient way, you have to architect all of that into the box up front. A lot of it is in the SoC," Holmdahl says. That SoC contains both the CPU and GPU, as well as embedded ESRAM; the first two components are based on an AMD design, and custom-built into an SoC with that embedded memory. That CPU is based on the Jaguar design from AMD, with eight cores and a 4MB L2 cache, while the GPU is of the D3D11.1 (with extensions) variety, Baker tells us.The console runs in multiple power states, which means it runs in a low-wattage setting when not in use. (Microsoft wouldn't give us specifics other than to say, "The system is designed for an SoC up to about 100W, but will vary on the scenario.")"If you look at the instant app-switching, if you look at multiple OSes, if you look at power consumption -- that placed a lot of the main constraints on what we did on the silicon," Baker tells us. Some of the silicon design was derived from data center concepts, as that was the only parallel in computing available. "You're trying to make that technology seamless for the living room. It doesn't mean we need 64-bit CPU architecture. We're talking about many, many cores so you can run these tasks in parallel. We wanted to be able to support 8GB [of RAM] out of the chute, to probably support virtualization, which is what you need for running multiple operating systems. That's just a lot of making sure you have the right security systems in place so things don't stomp on each other."In-house silicon also powers the other crucial component driving Microsoft's vision for the Xbox One: the new Kinect. Improved cameras and acoustics, not to mention a sleeker form factor, are all nice changes; it's discussing the new CMOS sensor's processor, however, that gets Spillinger, a passionate, intense gentleman (whose lovable accent sadly doesn't translate to text), visibly giddy."The highlight of the story is the CMOS sensor, which we developed internally," Spillinger says. "This design was done completely, 100 percent on this site. This is brand-new technology. There is discontinuity between this technology and the first Kinect; from the technology perspective that we are using for depth, for 3D measurement. So this was done here. On this one, this was a complete Microsoft custom design, where our engagement is directly with the manufacturer. It's not with any third party. We did the work. We do the qualification of the parts. We do the validation of the parts. We have done everything on this one."If it isn't clear enough from that, he is a beaming father when it comes to the next generation of Kinect. And yes, you read that right -- your old Kinect won't work with the Xbox One.Spillinger joined Microsoft just as the company was beginning work on the first Kinect (then "Project Natal"). He hailed from IBM, where he led the team that created the Xbox 360's CPU. At the time (early '08), he thought he was joining the Xbox hardware team to get started on a next-generation gaming console."First I was the design architect in Intel, then a design manager at IBM, and when I joined Microsoft, the view was 'Okay, it's about time -- early '08 -- to start to think about the next gen,'" he says. "It didn't take us five and a half years to get there, because what happened is that the moment sort of turned around and we started development of Kinect. The entire focus was about shipping Kinect, which now, if you in retrospect see, is such a great success."The first Kinect did indeed sell very, very well for Microsoft -- 24 million as of this past February. Microsoft's decision to refocus on a new Kinect with much-improved audio recognition makes sense -- many users employ the first model solely as a HAL 9000-like order-taker. Beyond "improved acoustic models," Holmdahl says the new Kinect can track whoever is speaking using a "beam array" on the video side, which works with the audio side. It can identify, "exactly who is talking, and then be able to subtract out other people in the room so you get a really clear audio signal into your box." As time goes on, he promises that Microsoft will push out improvements to voice recognition and commands, and, "At some point, we'll be able to have conversational understanding."If that isn't HAL, what is?Inside the Silicon labLike so many other engineering labs, the one we're touring is pumped full of cool, conditioned air, very white and rife with LCD monitors. A plays on loop, putting stress on various iterations of circuit boards, while very smart, very young engineers monitor nearby workstations flooded with code. A handful of monitors display a basic dolphin animation that Microsoft uses in-house -- if the dolphin's moving, you're in business (essentially). Another few are running a very pared-down version of an Xbox Dashboard, which looks similar to that of the 360 (or perhaps more apt, that of Windows 8's Live Tile arrangement) -- the system says "Hi" and seeks a user, which the engineer quickly skirts on the debug hardware using a wired Xbox 360 controller.Black tubes protrude from the workstations, pumping hot and cold water into the lab for stress testing (and the occasional multimillion-dollar water fight, we imagine).Black tubes protrude from the workstations, pumping hot and cold water into the lab for stress testing (and the occasional multimillion-dollar water fight, we imagine). CPU sockets sit unused, next to racks of circuit boards running the SoC through the virtual gauntlet. In one corner, a massive 4K television is seamlessly playing two HD video streams from a single box. Though the Xbox One is capable of pushing and receiving 4K signals, this test station is an illustration of how Microsoft's architecture went into the console's SoC (not a demonstration of its raw power). Spillinger says that the new console's ability to decode multiple HD streams at once is a measure of his team demanding specific silicon design from third-party partners."When we talk about the SoC and the general-purpose SoCs out there, this is per our requirement," Spillinger tells us while we huddle around the station. "This is our aggressiveness to have two HD streams being compressed, decompressed. It's actually a parallel circuit, it's not part of the CPU / GPU -- it's an add-on."A tray full of the much-celebrated SoCs sits unceremoniously next to an electrical signal analyzer. "Definitely no photos of that one!" Williams half-jokes as he hands us a dead SoC to examine. This room and its many stations is the first of several we tour, and it's a good place to start, given what it symbolizes. The depth of hardware verification taking place in Mountain View is unprecedented for the software company, and offers further evidence of its internal silicon investment.Making a fake video game consolePrincipal Design Verification Engineer Padma Parthasarathy has a bowl full of M&Ms on her desk, right next to the door, which she invites guests to indulge in. Next to that, her computer is running a software virtualization of a game console. And that's her job -- as "principal design verification engineer" -- to verify whether or not all the bits and pieces of the chips driving Microsoft's next Xbox are working as they should be. It's part of the ongoing process the company's set up to create its own silicon, and it's an important step. Without people like Parthasarathy, chip development could go from a few years to a decade or more. She is yet another fail-safe in the endless quest for "first time right."In her little office, on a standard desktop computer, the logic behind the Xbox One is running -- from a server farm on campus -- through a variety of test scenarios. She can log issues on hardware that doesn't exist yet, essentially troubleshooting a game console being faked by software on a server farm (its components, anyway). Given the complex nature of the virtualization, tests can only be processed at a fraction of actual run speed, but it's still one of the best ways to troubleshoot hardware ahead of mass-producing millions of units.Parthasarathy's time with Williams and others on the team goes all the way back to the 3DO. "She has been the architect of the verification team for all of these years," he tells us as we leave for another part of campus. She's been with Microsoft since 1998, when Microsoft absorbed her team (and Williams') in an acquisition. It's people like Parthasarathy that are helping bridge the gap between the company's old approach to gaming hardware and its future.The next step in faking a game console requires a giant machine that needs its own HVAC system, of course. The spaceship-like device originates from Cadence Design Systems, and serves to run a variety of processor emulations. A peek into its innards reveals all sorts of hoses and wires, akin to opening a panel on a Willy Wonka candy machine; an even larger machine sits outside the building, powering its test conditions. Our friend the dolphin shows up once more on a monitor displaying what the emulator is up to, but his movement is imperceptible due to the speed of the emulation. Next up is a significantly smaller lab with what looks like a standalone meat locker. The meat locker has a manned workstation in front of it, where one very unlucky engineer spends his time logging issues registered by the consoles being tested within.Before long, the four gentlemen who architected the Xbox One lock our video producer Ben Harrison in that meat locker -- which is actually a temperature chamber for running the console through a variety of thermal extremes. The chamber is full of hundreds of variations of prototype Xbox hardware -- today, it's set to very cold -- and is vital in determining how the Xbox One stands up to extreme thermal conditions. With laughs all around, he's freed from the icy, zebra-filled prison. Surprising no one, the various beta kits of the console itself, the controller and the new Kinect all sport zebra-pattern tape to hide their shape (as rumored). What wasn't known is that the zebra tape serves a purpose: it's used in product design specifically to hide angles from sneaking photographers, and is usually employed by the auto industry. The final version of the console looks damn similar (if not identical) in shape and design to the developer beta kits, and Microsoft is understandably leery of leaks. At this point, though, the cat's out of the bag.The virtual console becomes realityWhen Holmdahl lifts the dark cloth off a black, rectangular box, a gamepad and the new Kinect, it's the first time some of his own colleagues have seen the final designs. Not a beta kit with zebra tape, or a mockup, but a presentation-ready prototype. As we stand around the hardware placed on a little circular table, the concept of the box "slipping into the home entertainment center" is mentioned. The Xbox One is no "inhale" -- it looks like a little computer with a slot for discs. It's got a two-tone finish of alternating black matte and gloss, with a slot-loading Blu-ray disc drive and its power button greeting users out front. It's ... well, it's not such a looker. At least not thus far -- anything could change by the time it ships, though it seems doubtful the form factor will change dramatically.When Holmdahl lifts the dark cloth off a black, rectangular box, a gamepad and the new Kinect, it's the first time some of his own colleagues have seen the final designs.The gamepad, similar as it is to the 360's, is both smaller and chunkier all at once. Though it's designed to be sleeker all around -- shortened analog sticks, a shrunken battery pack area, a lack of screw holes -- we couldn't help but think it looked a bit rough around the edges. It has a distinct "mid-'90s vision of the future" look to it. And it's certainly not helping that the 360 gamepad is considered by many to be the best game controller ever built.Kinect also got a visual makeover, and looks the nicest for the revisions. For starters, only one eye glares at you from the front, and the new chassis is a clean update to a clunky, aging peripheral. Unlike the Johnny Five-esque look of the original Kinect, the second version deserves the prime placement in living rooms that it demands.The five"In different levels, we were working on five custom-designed components. Silicon components. Three of them going to the console and two of them to the sensor," Spillinger explains. That's the SoC that drives the console, the CMOS processor in the new Kinect, I/O integrators in both Kinect and the console and a digital signal processor on the Blu-ray drive. For the four gentlemen who show us around the Mountain View campus and scads of others we don't meet, getting to the point where so much of that silicon was designed and verified in-house is the fruition of years of work.It's a major shift away from the company's past reliance on external partners, with only AMD serving as collaborator this time around. And like any game console launch, it's another huge investment for the next... five, eight, 10 years? That's an unknown, of course, but it seems likely based on history that we'll have the Xbox One for the foreseeable future. Whatever the future dictates, it looks like we'll see internally developed chips in many of Microsoft's products going forward.Cadillac ELR Electrifies the Luxury Market Luxury coupe blends dramatic design, industry-leading extended range technology DETROIT Cadillac unveils the 2014 ELR today at the North American International Auto Show. The sleek luxury coupe features the first application of Extended Range Electric Vehicle technology by a full-line luxury automotive brand. "ELR is an unprecedented combination of luxury, advanced engineering and progressive design in a coupe that is both sporty and environmentally friendly," said Bob Ferguson, Cadillac global vice president. "This is a pivotal moment in Cadillac's history, as we continue our product-driven expansion." The ELR delivers on the promise of the Converj Concept on which it is based. The exterior establishes a new, progressive proportion for the brand while the interior introduces a new design theme that will define future Cadillac models, emphasizing modern elegance, technology and precisely crafted details. Industry-leading Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) technology provides full driving range exceeding 300 miles (480 km), combining pure electric driving and an efficient, range-extending generator. "ELR marks a fresh, even surprising new dimension of Cadillac," Ferguson said. "An additional aspect of ELR's appeal to will be exclusivity. It will be a specialized offering produced in limited numbers." ELR's confident and responsive EREV driving technology is enhanced with exclusive Regen on Demand and selectable drive modes that enhance driving and make the most of efficiency. Regen on Demand allows the driver to temporarily regenerate energy from the ELR's momentum into electricity that can be stored in the battery pack for later use. It is engaged via steering-wheel paddles adapted from traditional performance cars. The industry-leading, proven EREV technology is uniquely tuned for Cadillac in the ELR. Most daily commutes will require zero gasoline with zero emissions. Longer trips are free from electric-vehicle range anxiety because EREV technology enables the same long-distance freedom as a conventional car. Additional vehicle highlights include: Enhanced AT-PZEV emissions meet California's criteria for single-occupancy access to high occupancy vehicle lanes Light-emitting diode (LED) headlamps, daytime running lamps and taillamps, as well as signature front and rear lighting elements Twenty-inch wheels paired with tires designed to balance responsive handling and a comfortable ride with efficiency Interior design featuring cut-and-sew accented leather incorporating sueded microfiber, chrome, wood and available carbon fiber finishes throughout Cadillac CUE with Navigation is standard. CUE is Cadillac's breakthrough system for connectivity and control, using Natural Voice Recognition, capacitive touch and hand gestures used on smart phones and tablets Programmable charging schedules and downloadable energy efficiency reports available online and through smartphone notification charging alerts Cadillac's advanced active safety features, including Safety Alert Seat, Forward Collision Alert and Lane Departure Warning, along with available Side Blind Zone Alert with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert and full-speed-range adaptive cruise control Advanced chassis and suspension systems, including HiPer Strut front suspension, compound-crank with Watts link rear suspension and Continuous Damping Control, which adjusts damping every two milliseconds for optimal ride and handling in all conditions Standard premium Bose 10-channel audio system with active noise cancellation. ELR production begins in the United States in late 2013 with sales starting in early 2014 in North America and expanding to global markets including China and Europe. Design The Cadillac ELR has an aggressive, forward-leaning profile that introduces a new, progressive theme and proportion in Cadillac's design evolution. It carries over almost unchanged from the 2009 Converj concept that inspired it. The overall shape is reinforced by a prominent, sweeping body line accented by 20-inch wheels pushed to the edges of the body. "The ELR represents a new dimension of Art & Science, the guiding philosophy of Cadillac," said Mark Adams, Cadillac design director. "Cadillac's DNA is innovation, with dramatic and provocative design. ELR delivers this in a luxury coupe that stands alone among major luxury brands globally." Vertical headlamp and taillamp elements create Cadillac's signature for the ELR, day or night and from the front or rear a brand tradition since 1948. Aerodynamics play a crucial role in the design as airflow is managed to help the vehicle slip through the air with minimal drag. A flush front fascia and grille with active shutters behind the grille opening as well as tapered fascia corners, enable air to move easily around the car to reduce drag. In the rear, sharp edges and a carefully designed spoiler also manage airflow. An aggressive rake on the windshield and back glass help reduce turbulence and drag and contribute to ELR's 0.305 coefficient of drag. Inside, the ELR's classic 2+2 layout is driver focused, emphasizing modern luxury, connectivity and precisely crafted details. The leather-trimmed interior blends authentic chrome and wood accents and available carbon fiber trim as well as a sueded microfiber headliner and steering wheel covered in leather and sueded microfiber. Additional features include: Eight-inch configurable instrument and driver information displays, offering four configurations ranging from elegantly simple to technologically enhanced information Auto-glide/power-assisted covered storage/cup holder in the center console Fold-down rear seat backs accommodate longer items, including multiple sets of golf clubs LED-powered accent lighting in the instrument panel and doors Available Opus semi-aniline leather seating. Cadillac CUE with Navigation is standard and accessible through a large, eight-inch, full-color capacitive-touch screen in the center of the instrument panel. It supports the electrified driving experience with displays on driving efficiency, energy usage, charging options and more, in addition to a broad range of infotainment options. Using Cadillac CUE via the touch screen features gesture recognition, proximity sensing (revealing information when needed) and a three-core microprocessor for faster response. Some features are accessible via steering-wheel controls and the motorized screen pivots up to reveal a hidden storage compartment with a USB port for phones and other personal items. Driving Experience The Cadillac ELR's dramatic design is matched with an engaging driving experience, supported by the EREV propulsion system calibrated for uncompromising performance. With 295 lb.-ft. of torque (400 Nm) about 12 percent more than the 3.6L V-6 in the SRX acceleration in the city and on the highway, including merging and passing, is achieved with reassuring power on demand. Driving confidence is further enhanced by advanced suspension and damping systems, including Continuous Damping Control which adjusts damping every two milliseconds to maintain optimal vehicle ride control over varying road surfaces and profiles. The ELR rolls on 20-inch wheels with specially engineered low-rolling-resistance tires designed to balance excellent control and cornering capability with efficiency. A solid, stable foundation underpins the ELR, featuring a body-frame-integral structure with main underbody rails running continuously from front to rear. Advanced, high-strength steels add strength and conserve weight. Additional contributors to the ELR's driving experience include: Wide front and rear tracks 62.1 inches (1,578 mm) in front and 62.4 inches (1,585 mm) in the rear along with a long wheelbase (106.1 inches / 2,695 mm) and a low center of gravity HiPer Strut front suspension featuring lightweight forged aluminum components for reduced weight and more nimble, responsive action Dual-pinion, rack-mounted electric power steering system with premium ZF steering gear designed to provide excellent feedback while helping to save fuel A semi-independent rear compound-crank suspension with Watts link that incorporates weight-optimized trailing arms to absorb lateral forces, allowing the suspension to be tuned to handle vertical, forward and rearward motions Hydraulic ride bushings in the front and rear suspensions An electro-hydraulic regenerative brake system that captures energy and sends it to the battery pack Standard chassis control systems include antilock brakes, traction control and StabiliTrak electronic stability control. Because the ELR operates so quietly in all-electric mode, a driver-activated feature sounds a noise to alert pedestrians, particularly those with visual impairments, in an intersection. The alert was developed in conjunction with the American Federation of the Blind. Propulsion and Charging Technology The ELR is powered by GM EREV technology, combining pure electric drive and an efficient, range-extending 1.4L gasoline-powered electric generator capable of 154 kW (207 hp) of total system power. The ELR's battery is a T-shaped, 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, located along the centerline of the vehicle, between the front and rear wheels for optimal weight distribution. The 5.5-foot-long (1.6 m), 435-pound (198 kg) pack supplies energy to an advanced electric drive unit capable of 295 lb.-ft. of instant torque (400 Nm) to propel the vehicle. Using only the energy stored in the battery, the ELR will deliver a GM-estimated range of about 35 miles (56 km) of pure electric driving, depending on terrain, driving techniques and temperature. A driver-selectable Hold mode directs when the ELR uses its electric generator. This feature helps optimize the electric-driving experience, allowing owners who mix city and highway driving to save the battery charge for city travel, where the ELR EV mode operates most efficiently. Charging the ELR's battery can be done with a 120V electrical outlet or a dedicated 240V charging station. The vehicle can be completely recharged in about 4.5 hours using a 240V outlet, depending on the outside temperature. Once the vehicle is plugged in, owners can schedule either immediate or delayed charges, even coordinating charging according to departure time or when electricity rates are lower. Owners also can manage and monitor the ELR online or with their smartphone and RemoteLink, a mobile app powered by OnStar. The ELR's battery is covered by an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty. Manufacturing The Cadillac ELR will be manufactured at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant, the world's only automotive manufacturing facility that mass-produces extended-range electric vehicles for global markets in 21 countries. It is also home to Southeast Michigan's largest photovoltaic solar array. The 264,000-square-foot feature generates up to 516 kilowatts of electricity enough to charge 150 ELRs per day. Cadillac has been a leading luxury auto brand since 1902. In recent years, Cadillac has engineered a historic renaissance led by artful engineering and advanced technology. More information on Cadillac can be found at media.cadillac.com.ACTIVISION ANNOUNCES THE NEXT GENERATION OF CALL OF DUTY WITH CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTSCall of Duty: Ghosts will set a new Benchmark for the Next GenerationAll-New World, Story, Characters and Experience, All Powered by New, Next GenCall of Duty Engine from the Developer that started it all, Infinity WardFor an Exclusive First Look at the Game, Tune in to Xbox: The New Generation Revealed, May 21 at 10AM PDT on Xbox.com, Xbox Live or SPIKE TVGroundbreaking Title Lands on November 5Santa Monica, CA May 1, 2013 Prepare for the next generation of Call of Duty. The franchise that has defined a generation of gaming is set to raise the bar once again with the all-new Call of Duty: Ghosts. Published by Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), and developed by Infinity Ward, the studio that created the original Call of Duty and the seminal Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, Call of Duty: Ghosts ushers in the next generation of the franchise. The new title delivers a riveting all-new gameplay experience built on an entirely new story, setting and cast of characters, all powered by a new, next generation Call of Duty engine that redefines the series for the next generation."Infinity Ward set the gold standard for first-person action for a generation, and they're going to do it again with Call of Duty: Ghosts," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, Inc. "Ghosts delivers an all-new story, all-new characters, an all-new Call of Duty world, all powered by a next generation Call of Duty engine, which is a leap forward for the franchise. Infinity Ward is going all-in to create the next generation of Call of Duty worthy of the world's greatest fans.""Everyone was expecting us to make Modern Warfare 4, which would have been the safe thing to do. But we're not resting on our laurels," said Mark Rubin, executive producer of developer Infinity Ward. "We saw the console transition as the perfect opportunity to start a new chapter for Call of Duty. So we're building a new sub-brand, a new engine, and a lot of new ideas and experiences for our players. We can't wait to share them with our community."To see an exclusive first look at Call of Duty: Ghosts tune in to Xbox: the Next Generation Revealed on May 21 at 10AM PDT on Xbox.com, Xbox LIVE or SPIKE TV for the debut of the all-new game from Infinity Ward."We are consistently thrilled with the overwhelming response received from critics and consumers alike to the Call of Duty series, which has firmly established its home on the Xbox 360 with the game's largest and most engaged community," said Don Mattrick, president of the interactive entertainment business at Microsoft. "With Call of Duty: Ghosts, we have no doubt that our longtime partners, Activision and Infinity Ward, will raise the bar higher than ever before for this incredible franchise."Starting today, fans can begin pre-ordering their copy of Call of Duty: Ghosts at retail outlets worldwide."There's no other video game property like Call of Duty. It's the biggest game franchise on the planet that has had some of the biggest game entertainment launches in history," said Tony Bartel, president of GameStop. "We are very excited for the launch of Call of Duty: Ghosts, as we transition to next generation consoles."Call of Duty: Ghosts will release on Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and PC on November 5. Call of Duty: Ghosts will also be available for next generation platforms. For the latest intel, check out: www.callofduty.com/ghosts, www.facebook.com/CODGhosts, or follow on Twitter @InfinityWard. Call of Duty: Ghosts is not yet rated.About Activision Publishing, Inc.Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, mainland China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activision.com.Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the expected Call of Duty: Ghosts release date of November 5, 2013, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.# # #ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE and CALL OF DUTY GHOSTS are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. Microsoft, Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.CALL OF DUTY KICKS OFF ELECTRONIC ENTERTAINMENT EXPO 2013WITH WORLD PREMIERE LIVESTREAM OF CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS GAMEPLAYActivision Brings E3 to Fans First with "Call of Duty: Ghosts All Access" -Global Telecast of Live Next Generation Gameplay Levels"No Man's Land" and "Into the Deep"Live Broadcast aired on DIRECTV, CallofDuty.com, on Consoles and Global Online Destinations across the WebFans also had Sneak Peek of Massive, Unprecedented Video Wall Set to Blow Attendees Away On-site at E3 this Week; Call of Duty's "Show Mode" Features State-of-the-Art Visual/Sound Effects, Pyrotechnics, Wind, Smoke/Fog to Highlight Original Call of Duty Content, Set to be THE Event of the ShowLos Angeles - June 9, 2013 - Let the games begin. Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), kicked-off E3 early this year with an unprecedented live telecast to fans around the world, showcasing a first look at new gameplay from the upcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts. Featuring an all-new world, new story, new characters and new experiences, all powered by a new, next-gen engine, Call of Duty: Ghosts is not only a stunning leap forward for the mega-hit franchise, but also showcases what's possible on next generation consoles. Hosted by Spike TV's Geoff Keighley and Internet personality iJustine, the live 30-minute broadcast titled "Call of Duty: Ghosts All Access"gave fans of the worldwide phenomenon the first chance to go behind the scenes with Activision's acclaimed studio Infinity Ward, for a look at the upcoming title two days before the start of 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 Expo)."Every year our team puts on an amazing production to showcase our games at E3, a spectacle that delivers an epic, immersive experience that takes your breath away. Yet all our fans aren't able to be here and share in the moment," said Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg. "So, since our fans can't come to E3, we're bringing E3 to them. This year we're making sure the Call of Duty community is first in line to see Call of Duty: Ghosts as we kick-off what's going to be a historic week."Gamers saw the level "Into the Deep," a beautiful and awe-inspiring underwater mission that pulses with lifelike realism and heart-pounding tension; "No Man's Land," an eerie glimpse at the aftermath of a world recovering from a catastrophic event, as well as the first chance for gamers to get their first peek at Riley, the new canine character in Call of Duty: Ghosts. The televised special, which was broadcast live on television on DirecTV, on consoles and on popular online outlets around the world, offered viewers a sneak peek at the gameplay a full two days before the industry commences its annual E3 conference. The global telecast also featured a series of interviews with members of the Infinity Ward development team, as well as Academy Award winning writer Stephen Gaghan, who is penning the script for the new title.Fans also got a sneak peek at a massive, immersive and unprecedented video wall built by Activision for show attendees on-site at E3. Call of Duty's "Show Mode" experience also features state-of-the-art visual/sound effects, controlled pyrotechnics, wind, smoke and low-lying fog to highlight original Call of Duty content, providing a truly unique experience for attendees at the show.With an amazing level of attention down to the smallest detail, where each hair is noticeable on character models, scratches and bruises are apparent, and even the dirt beneath fingernails of characters are recognizable, Call of Duty: Ghosts sets a new bar of visual fidelity and near photorealism without sacrificing any performance, maintaining the hallmark of 60 frames per second-on every platform-to provide that signature Call of Duty smoothness and gameplay."Our new tech is allowing us to deliver an absolutely stunning next generation Call of Duty experience on Xbox One, PS4 and PC, but that's not all. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will reap the benefits of our new tech as well, which we believe will make this the most striking Call of Duty game ever created, regardless of what platform our fans choose," said Infinity Ward, executive producer, Mark Rubin.The stunning new Call of Duty created by Infinity Ward, Activision's acclaimed development team behind the original Call of Duty and the award-winning Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, will be showcased this week at E3 in LA at Activision's booth #647 in the South Hall. For the latest intel, check out: www.callofduty.com/ghosts, www.facebook.com/CODGhosts, or follow on Twitter @InfinityWard. Call of Duty: Ghosts is not yet rated.Call of Duty: Ghosts will release on Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and PC on November 5. Call of Duty: Ghosts will also release on the Xbox One, the all-in one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PlayStation 4 later this year.For fans that missed the "Call of Duty: Ghosts All Access" broadcast, go to www.callofduty.com/ghosts to watch the replay.About Activision Publishing, Inc.Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, mainland China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activision.com.Bank of Canada Unveils New $5 and $10 Polymer Bank Notes30 April 2013Ottawa, Ontario - Canada's new and more secure $5 and $10 polymer bank notes were unveiled today at the Bank of Canada's Ottawa head office, and from aboard the International Space Station. Both of the new notes will begin circulating, at the same time, this November.Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney and Paul G. Smith, Chairman of the Board at VIA Rail Canada, were joined via satellite by Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Chris Hadfield, Commander of the International Space Station, to unveil these final two notes in the new Polymer series."Canadians can be very proud of their new polymer bank notes," said Minister Flaherty. "With today's unveiling of the final two notes in the series, one can see not only the unique story that each of the five denominations tells, but the unifying theme that underlies them all - the profound courage, determination, and ingenuity of our nation and its people."The new $5 and $10 notes will carry the same leading-edge security features as the $20, $50 and $100 polymer notes already in circulation. Featuring a sophisticated combination of transparency and holography, this is the most secure bank note series ever issued by the Bank of Canada. The Polymer series is more economical, lasting at least two and half times longer than cotton-based paper bank notes, and will be recycled in Canada."The Polymer series notes are at the frontier of bank note technology. The new $5 and $10 bank notes depict the frontiers of our country and our planet," Governor Carney said. "It is fitting that we are today crossing the final frontier for a world first - the unveiling of a bank note from space."While orbiting more than 350 kilometres above Earth, Commander Hadfield gave Canadians their first look at the new $5 polymer note. It features images of Canadarm2 and Dextre - robotics innovations used to build and maintain the Space Station and that symbolize Canada's ongoing contribution to the international space program."I try to inspire young Canadians to aim high. This new $5 bill should do the same," Commander Hadfield said. "By giving prominence to Canadian achievements in space, this bank note reminds us that not even the sky is the limit."The front of the $5 note features a portrait of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Prime Minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911.VIA Rail Canada's Paul G. Smith unveiled the new $10 polymer note at the Bank of Canada. The new $10 note features a striking image of The Canadian train journeying through the Rocky Mountains, and represents the enormous feat of engineering that linked Canada's East and West by rail. A portrait of Sir John A. Macdonald, who was Prime Minister of Canada (1867-1873, 1878-1891) at the time of the railway completion, is featured on the front of the note."The transcontinental railway helped build modern Canada. On behalf of VIA Rail, I am delighted that this accomplishment, through the use of this iconic image, has been honoured on the new $10 bank note," Mr. Smith said. "Not only did the railway contribute to Canada's economic prosperity by moving people and goods across this vast land, but it also gave Canadians the means to seek new frontiers of their own."Over the months leading up to the issuance of these notes in November 2013, the Bank will continue to work closely with financial institutions, manufacturers of bank-note-handling equipment and retailers to ensure a smooth transition. Businesses that use note-handling and processing equipment are encouraged to contact their suppliers about machine compatibility and plans for upgrades.Harper Government Protecting Consumers and Increasing Competition in Canadian Wireless SectorOTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 4, 2013) - The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Industry, today announced decisions to further promote competition in the Canadian wireless telecommunications market to give Canadians access to the latest technology at better prices."Our government is clearly committed to encouraging competition in the wireless market so that Canadian families will benefit from cutting-edge technologies and services at affordable prices," said Minister Paradis. "I believe the basis of a strong economy is a competitive marketplace and consumer choice. We will continually review the regulations and policies that apply to the wireless telecommunications sector to promote at least four wireless providers in every region of the country so that Canadian consumers benefit from competition."The Minister also announced that TELUS' application to transfer Mobilicity's spectrum licences will not be approved. Mobilicity's licences were among those set aside for new entrants in the 2008 Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) auction, which included restrictions on transferring licences to incumbents."Our government has been clear that spectrum set aside for new entrants was not intended to be transferred to incumbents. We will not waive this condition of licence and will not approve this, or any other, transfer of set-aside spectrum to an incumbent ahead of the five-year limit," said Minister Paradis. "Our government will continue to allow wireless providers access to the spectrum they need to compete and improve services to Canadians. We are seeing Canadian consumers benefit from our policies and we will not allow the sector to move backwards. I will not hesitate to use any and every tool at my disposal to support greater competition in the market."In addition, the Government also outlined improvements to the policy on spectrum licence transfers that will be released in the coming weeks, which followed consultations launched in March 2013. Going forward, proposed spectrum transfers that result in undue spectrum concentration-and therefore diminish competition-will not be permitted. This policy will apply to all commercial mobile spectrum licences, including the 2008 AWS licences.All applications for licence transfers will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and decisions will be issued publicly to increase transparency.In light of these decisions, the timing of the 700 MHz auction has been updated. The application deadline will now be September 17, 2013, and the auction will commence on January 14, 2014. These new dates will provide companies with additional time to consider today's decisions and finalize their approaches to the auction process.In 2008, the Government set aside AWS spectrum for new entrants and introduced roaming and tower-sharing policies. In 2012, foreign investment restrictions were lifted for telecom companies that hold less than a 10-percent share of the total Canadian market. Earlier this year, the Government announced several measures, including expanding and extending the requirement for companies to provide roaming to competitors, strengthening cell tower sharing rules, and ensuring at least four providers in every region can acquire spectrum in the upcoming 700 MHz and 2500 MHz auctions.CANON'S NEW POWERSHOT SX280 HS DIGITAL CAMERA OFFERS A SUPER 20x OPTICAL ZOOM, WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY AND GPS TECHNOLOGY Highlighted Features Include a New DIGIC 6 Processor With Impressive Low-Light Performance, Shooting Speed of up to14 Frames-Per-Second and Enhanced Image Quality MELVILLE, NY March 21, 2013 Fusing portability with high-quality image technology, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced the new 12.1-megapixel PowerShot SX280 HS Digital Camera with built-in Wi-Fi technology and an impressive 20x Optical Zoom lens. Amazingly compact, the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera is the first Canon camera to feature Canon's DIGIC 6 Image Processor, the most advanced processor to date, delivering incredible detail and fast continuous shooting performance. "Canon recognizes the importance of capturing the highest quality images possible and sharing them instantly and easily," said Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group, Canon U.S.A. "The PowerShot SX280 HS Digital Camera with its impressive features provides users the resources to shoot in almost any situation and the creative tools to help capture their vision." Share Great Images Wirelessly The PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera's Wi-Fi connectivity offers users connectivity options to share their beautiful images. With the download of the free Canon CameraWindow app1 from an Android TM or IOS store, users can connect to both iOS or AndroidTM smartphones and tablets2 to wirelessly transfer photos and videos from their camera to their device. This camera also has the ability to connect directly to social networking sites and to Canon's iMAGE GATEWAY3, making photos easily accessible and ready to share. In addition, the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera has the ability to connect wirelessly to computers, select PowerShot wireless cameras, and wireless PictBridge4 compatible printers, such as the PIXMA MG6320 and MG5420 Wireless Photo All-In-One printer models. 1 ?Powerful and Versatile 20x Optical Zoom Lens Providing users the ability to capture images with stunning quality, the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera features a 25mm wide angle lens and impressive 20x optical zoom (up to 500mm) providing versatility in a pocketsized camera. At wide angle, the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera is ideal for capturing lasting memories of family and friends at get-togethers as well as stunning landscapes. The lens' super telephoto reach allows photographers to bring subjects in close and is perfect for capturing images at sporting events, distant nature scenes and wildlife in their natural habitat. Exceptional Images and Fast Performance The PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera is packed with a variety of impressive imaging features that help ensure moments are preserved in stunning quality. In conjunction with the PowerShot SX280 HS ?digital camera's 12.1-megapixel High-Sensitivity CMOS image sensor, the DIGIC 6 Image Processor creates the Canon HS SYSTEM. This system is responsible for the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera's improved low-light performance up to ISO 6400, with minimal noise and maximum detail. In addition, the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera features advancements in Canon's Auto Focus (AF) system with improved AF times and reduced lag over previous SX-series models. The responsive high- speed AF helps users to capture great shots as they happen, with reduced lag time. Adding to the camera's diverse feature-set is High-Speed Burst HQ which allows for continuous, fast-action, high-resolution shots at up to 14fps. With incredible zoom capabilities, fast and responsive AF, stunning resolution and easy-to-use features, the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera is the perfect camera for vacationing or capturing a morning soccer game. Further advancements attributed to DIGIC 6 Image Processor can be experienced in movie mode, which records in MP4 format. For added flexibility, the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera allows you to shoot video in a selectable frame rate of up to 60 fps or up to 30 fps resulting in smooth and rich 1080p Full HD video. Users will also notice improved image stabilization with Dynamic IS, which detects and can compensate for tilt and parallel movement (shift blur) to help create improved video clarity. ?Simplicity and Convenience The PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera offers a variety of easy-to-use features that help take the guesswork out of capturing captivating, imaginative photos. With Smart AUTO, the camera identifies an ideal image setting by intelligently selecting from one of 58 pre-defined modes. To combat blurry images, the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera utilizes its Intelligent IS system, which draws from six different stabilization modes to choose the best IS for the current shooting condition. The Intelligent IS system, combined with Smart AUTO creates the camera's Hybrid AUTO mode which helps create a beautiful and ?steady HD video clip (up to approximately 4 seconds) in Movie Digest mode every time a user shoots a still image while the Movie Digest mode is activated. Adding to the camera's diverse feature set, the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera is also equipped with a built-in GPS receiver5, and when activated, data is recorded along with each image. Users can easily access the location where their photos were taken without depending on their often vague post-vacation memory. The built-in GPS receiver not only records the exact location of the shot, but users can create a visual log of their journeys on a map using the bundled Canon software. To further help ensure that an image is never missed, the PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera comes equipped with ECO mode to assist with battery conservation. ECO Mode manages the 3.0 inch, 461k LCD screen brightness and turns off when the camera is inactive. ECO Mode can be activated for easy power preservation when an additional battery is out of reach or the moment is too exciting to put the camera down. Pricing and Availability The PowerShot SX280 HS digital camera is expected to ship in April 2013 for an estimated retail price of $329.99.Shoot in the dark. That's essentially what you can do with the -- with a top sensitivity of ISO 102,400, what was once unfathomable could soon become an acceptable standard. While point-and-shoot manufacturers are adding WiFi and GPS, and tweaking algorithms in an effort to boost sensitivity beyond the 6400 mark, Canon and are making clear cases for a DSLR upgrade, by drastically improving image quality. The had an excellent three-year run, but with its 22.3-megapixel sensor, 1.04M-dot 3.2-inch LCD, improved autofocus and high-performance video capabilities, Canon's latest full-frame DSLR is an entirely different beast, and a very compelling successor. We spent two glorious weeks with a pre-production 5D Mark III before reluctantly shipping it back to Canon. The biggest benefit (for us, at least) has been . While the former 5D could theoretically handle ISO 25,600 captures as well, its native range topped out at 6400 -- venturing beyond that territory meant taking a hit on image quality, making it a seldom-used feature that benefited the camera's spec sheet far more than our low-light snap collection. With this latest iteration, we were able to capture sharp images in environments where there was far too little light to make out details with the naked eye, just as we have with the larger (and pricier) . Our resulting scenes look like they were lit with sophisticated rigs, or in an environment that allotted far more natural light than was actually available. Low-light shooting is but one benefit of the Mark III, however, so join us past the break for a closer look in our field review. Silent shooting You made it past the break! As a gesture of our appreciation, we're going to let you in on a little Mark III secret -- in fact, if that high-ISO shooting wasn't in the picture, this could very well have been our favorite new feature. It's called Silent Single, and it literally allows you to capture an image without hearing that familiar shutter sound. Clunk. Clunk. Or clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk -- six times every second in high-speed mode. You can even do your rapid-fire snapping in Silent Continuous, though you're limited to three frames per second rather than the typical six, with an available workaround (more on that in a moment). There's no question that silent shooting will impact your experience. Sure, you'll never be able to mask the fact that you're lugging around a full-size DSLR -- so good luck being discreet -- but you will be able to avoid attracting attention each time you snap a frame. The practical applications for this are endless -- wedding photographers won't have to worry about disrupting the ceremony, street shooters can avoid alerting their subjects and nature photogs won't have to worry about frightening wildlife and ruining their shots. The feature will also be more than welcome on film and television sets, where photographers are often required to use cumbersome (and pricey) noise suppression equipment. It's not silent, as its name suggests, but it's very very very quiet. So should you simply set Silent Single and forget it? For many photographers, there's really no reason not to. The mode uses a process called Pulse Width Modulation, which slows the speed of the mirror mechanism and the shutter charging motor. Because both operate at a slightly reduced speed, there's a longer delay between the time you hit the shutter release and when the camera begins an exposure, but unless you need every second-fraction you can get, you shouldn't have any issue here. There's also a "Silent Shooting" mode available when in Live View, though this operates by using the CMOS sensor to control the start of an exposure, rather than the first curtain of the mechanical shutter. This mode can be even more advantageous, since it's completely vibration-free. It's also compatible with the high-speed continuous drive mode, letting you capture six frames per second -- double the count available in Silent Continuous. ISO 25,600 and beyond Yes, you know the Mark III can capture usable images at ISO 25,600 -- the top sensitivity available on the 5D Mark II -- but there's a noticeable improvement with this year's model, even with our pre-production sample, as you can see in the 100-percent comparison below. There's also an option to jump even further -- to ISO 51,200 and 102,400 -- but you'll only want to venture that high if you're more concerned about freezing the action than snapping a printable image. On our first day with the 5D paired with a 24-105mm f/4 L lens, we spent some time exploring Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea, capturing sharp frames of building interiors from outside the barricades. If you're been to a similar complex in Asia -- The Forbidden City in Beijing, perhaps, or temples in Thailand -- you're entirely familiar with the scene of tourists forcing their way to the front of a group, point-and-shoot in hand with the flash engaged. After patiently waiting our turn, we were able to snap tack-sharp shots with natural light, holding the camera by hand. The same applied to night scenes, and other interior shots. But what really sealed the deal was an evening shoot around Lower Manhattan. We first came upon the World Trade Center construction site, with 4 WTC shining bright against the sky at dusk. There was more than enough light to snag crisp handheld shots at ISO 3200. Minutes later, with the sun far below the horizon, we walked through Battery Park City towards the Hudson. We flipped to 12,800 to snag ferries hovering above the river, layered afront the New Jersey skyline. Then, ISO 25,600 became the norm, as we were able to capture daffodils at 1/40 second, and freeze cyclists and joggers mid-stride, lit by nothing but ordinary street lamps. Next, a stop at an elevated position just above a small pedestrial bridge, with blue street lamps and a view of Jersey City in the background. Just past the waterfront, we happened upon a view of a fog-covered 1 WTC, which you can see below as photographed from the southern tip of Manhattan. We then made our way over to Stone Street, to capture the happy hour excitement, lit by a variety of dim street and building fixtures. We've singled out these high-ISO shots, compiling them in the gallery below, though you'll want to to get a better feel. Image quality As you've probably already gathered, we're very impressed with the Mark III's performance, both while capturing images and when it came time to review them after a shoot. So much so, that we wouldn't hesitate to declare that image quality is absolutely spectacular. You can't pass judgement on a professional camera as easily as you can a tablet or smartphone. It's critical to test every setting, venture out into the field to experience every lighting scenario, and review your shots on a large high-res display, examining hundreds of images in great detail. Naturally, frames shot at ISO 800 and below were flawless -- tack-sharp, with excellent color reproduction and spot-on white balance. Jumping into the four-digit ISOs did add some noise to the equation, but it remained nearly indistinguishable through ISO 6400. At 12,800 and 25,600, noise became easily visible in brighter areas at a 25-percent view, but both settings are quite usable. In fact, if we're shooting strictly for the web, we wouldn't hesitate to leave the camera tuned to 12,800, or even 25,600 if absolutely necessary. ISO 51,200 and 102,400 are noisy as all hell, to be frank, and while you may find these settings to be usable, especially for the web, use extreme caution to avoid venturing this high whenever possible. Colors became more washed out as the ISO creeped up, so noise isn't the only concern here. Still, we were thrilled with the camera's performance at ISO 12,800 and below, and wouldn't hesitate to use those modes for all but the most critical of shoots. It's also important to note that the camera we used was a pre-production sample, so image quality could further improve, though Canon felt confident enough in this version to permit a review. Focusing You can't really prioritize features when it comes to a professional camera -- everything needs to work, very well, and focusing performance is right up there with image quality in our book. When every shot counts, having a flawless focusing system is key, and thanks to the 61-point High Density Reticular Autofocus on board (the same system you'll find on the 1D X), we felt quite fulfilled in this department as well. Frame your subject, hit the shutter release, and the camera focuses -- with dead-on accuracy -- in what seems like an instant. You can select any one of the 61 focus points, and once you do, the Mark III will bring whatever falls directly in front into perfect focus incredibly quickly, even when your subject is in near darkness. For example, we were able to focus on our production assistant Jon Turi in a pitch-black room, lit by nothing more than a laptop near its lowest brightness setting at a distance of two feet. The camera took a second to find a lock, but was perfectly accurate once it did. Repeat the process outside, or even in a well-lit room, and that second delay never comes into play. The Mark III focuses just as soon as you hit the shutter release. Video Like its predecessor, the 5D Mark III is an incredibly capable video shooter -- in fact, some of the camera's future owners may not use it to capture stills at all. We certainly don't fit within that elite category, though we did snap some homebrew motion pictures whenever still photos just couldn't do a justice. Video looked fantastic, just as it did on the Mark II. You'll need to focus manually (or before you start a clip), which we've always found to be a challenge, especially when attempting to film a hands-on solo without any cameraman support. But if you're fortunate enough to have a follow focus at your disposal, you should be in good shape here. There's also no mechanical zoom option, so if you're feeling confident enough to tweak it manually during a shot, you'll probably want to use the mic input to avoid picking up any associated noise. And finally, there's no option to capture stills while you're recording video, though if you're shooting in 1080p -- there's support for 1080 at 24/25/30p or 720 at 50/60p -- you'll probably have plenty of frame grabs to use. Battery life Battery life shouldn't be an issue on any recent DSLR. Period. This is also the case with the 5D Mark III -- you're likely to fill your memory card long before you exhaust the battery, unless you happen to be using SanDisk's 64GB Class-10 Extreme Pro SD card -- which works beautifully in this camera for both video and 6 fps stills, along with any high-performance CF flavor. We were able to fire off 1,000 stills and a few minutes of HD video before the 1800mAh LP-E6 battery even hit the 50-percent mark, and made it to a whopping 2,200 frames before that compact rectangular pack went kaput. We spent an uncharacteristic amount of time adjusting settings and using Live View, as well, so you'll probably see even more impressive figures. Considering that we're unlikely to push past the 500 mark on even the busiest of shooting days (liveblogs being the obvious exception), it's safe to say the Mark III will make it through an entire week on the CES show floor without requiring a recharge. Design Did we save the best for last? Well, in a way, but you'll spend as much time thinking about the camera's design as we're going to spend on it here. We're really struggling to find any design flaws with the 5D Mark III -- it's a sharp looking camera, with a practical and familiar layout, an intuitive menu structure and a gorgeous optical viewfinder. The stellar 3.2-inch LCD doesn't tilt or swivel, but you can view it from above, below or to either side, if necessary. Some ports have seen some position tweaking, but they're all there: mic input, headphone, mini USB, HDMI, etc. There are SD and CF slots, as we've already covered, along with a slot for the same excellent battery used in the 5D Mark II. It's beautiful. It's familiar. It just works. Wrap-up We honestly haven't been this in love with a camera since we reviewed the . And while there's little to compare from a price and design perspective, we're seriously questioning that affair, and completely ready to sacrifice the compact design in favor of this incredibly capable do-everything shooter. At $3,499 for the body only, Canon priced this latest 5D higher than its predecessor, which rang in at $2,699 at launch. Still, if you've been considering a 5D Mark III purchase, don't hesitate -- it's worth the investment, we promise. And if you've already placed your order or have one in the mail, get ready to have your world turned upside-down -- this thing is simply amazing, in every way. What's a field review, you ask? Essentially, the term serves to clarify that our analysis is based on real-world usage, and that it, however regrettably, won't include the thorough benchmarking a camera of this caliber may ordinarily require. It's a perfectly suitable assessment by a photographer that's spent many hours operating similar equipment, but given the cost and sophistication of such a piece of machinery, we would recommend that professionals also consider reviews from other sources before making a purchase.Canon's New EOS 60D Digital SLR Camera Unleashes The Creative Potential Of Digital Photography And EOS Full HD Video With New In-Camera Imaging FeaturesNew EOS 60D Offers a Vari-Angle LCD Screen, EOS Full HD Video Recording, In-Camera RAW Processing and Creative Filters and 18-Megapixel Resolution Among Class-Leading SpecsLAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., August 26, 2010 High-quality digital capture and skillful post-processing go hand-in-hand for superior end results, and more control over in-camera image processing means less time editing and more time shooting. At the same time, the overwhelming popularity of Full HD video recording with other current EOS Digital SLRs has led to customer requests for more advanced features such as manual audio level control and flexible LCD screens. Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, delivers all of these features and more with the new EOS 60D Digital SLR Camera. For the first time on an EOS camera, the EOS 60D DSLR boasts a three-inch Vari-Angle Clear View LCD screen, EOS Full HD video recording with manual overrides including audio level control, and in-camera functionality for RAW image processing plus Creative Filters to manipulate images after taking them. Designed primarily for advanced amateurs, the EOS 60D replaces the EOS 50D and boasts a broad array of new features that make it easier for photographers to add personal creativity to their images. Whether it's capturing an overhead shot on the Vari-Angle screen at a graduation ceremony, or converting a color image to black and white for a nostalgic look, Canon is delivering in-camera features and functions that empower advanced photographers to capture, display and print the images they want."The EOS 60D has been designed to offer the image-capture and the Full HD video features customers are looking for as they continue to expand their photographic skills. The exciting new features of the EOS 60D make using a DSLR camera more attractive and easier than ever before. We want everyone to experience the great image quality a Canon DSLR can offer with features and functions that they will appreciate and use," stated Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A.Exciting EOS "Firsts"For the first time in the history of the Canon EOS System, the new 60D camera features a large Vari-Angle 3-inch Clear View LCD screen with 1,040,000 dot/VGA resolution plus anti-reflective and smudge-resistant coatings for bright clear viewing from any angle. The new LCD screen is ideal for composing low-angle or overhead shots whether capturing still images or Full HD video clips.Another first for the EOS system is the EOS 60D camera's new Multi-Control Dial, which places a Multi-Controller and Set button inside the Quick Control Dial. This new control layout streamlines camera navigation for vertical as well as horizontal shooting and enables a cleaner camera design. Responding to customer requests, the EOS 60D also features a locking mode dial, which makes camera operation more secure by preventing inadvertent changes to the photographer's selected shooting mode.While the photography mantra of "get it right in the camera" still stands true, Canon's new EOS 60D gives advanced photographers an edge with new in-camera features that enable users to enhance their images without a computer even after they have been shot. For the first time ever in an EOS camera, the EOS 60D features in-camera processing of RAW image files, new reduced resolution image copies, and post-processing creative image filters for exceptional flexibility in digital image rendering.* In-camera RAW image processing features include Picture Style, White Balance (WB), Color Space, High-ISO Noise Reduction, Peripheral Illumination Correction, linear distortion correction and chromatic aberration correction. These powerful in-camera editing tools will allow photographers in the field to produce optimized images on the spot and generate JPEG files at various resolution and compression settings for immediate sharing, without affecting the original RAW data.* Another great new feature for photographers-on-the-go is Canon's new image resizing function. After capturing full resolution or smaller JPEG images, the camera can generate lower-resolution copies using menu commands. New lower-resolution settings include 1920 x 1280 for optimal display on HD televisions, or 720 x 480, ideal for immediate uploading to social networking and other photo sharing web sites. The original high resolution files remain unaffected by the image resizing function.* Available for the first time in an EOS camera are Canon's new creative image filters. Familiar to Canon PowerShot users, these fun photo effects help make a great image more dynamic, even after it has been shot. Canon provides four artistic filters that allow photographers to capture an image and then create and manipulate a digital copy of it.o The Soft Focus effect filter helps dramatize an image and smooth over shiny reflections.o The Grainy Black and White filter can give a different nostalgic perspective to any shot.o Canon's "Toy Camera" filter deliberately adds vignetting and color shift for a creative option when shooting a colorful scene.o Users can also make a scene appear like a small-scale model, simulating the look from a tilt-shift lens, with Canon's Miniature Effect filter, great when shooting any scene from a high vantage point.Each of these filters can be applied to a captured still image in-camera to create a second "filtered" JPEG version, leaving the original RAW or JPEG file unaffected.Another addition to the camera's Live View function is Canon's new Aspect Ratio feature whereby the Live View screen can display cropping lines for 1:1, 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratios in addition to the standard 3:2 ratio. These cropping lines make it easier to compose images in Live View, and they can help to expedite printing when using Canon's supplied Digital Photo Professional software. Custom aspect ratios are also applied to JPEG images whether captured directly in-camera or created with the EOS 60D's in-camera RAW image processing function.EOS HD Video: Continuing the Video Paradigm ShiftIn addition to its new still capture capabilities, the EOS 60D features Full HD video capture at 1920 x 1080 resolution with selectable frame rates of 24p, 25p or 30p. Native 24p recording helps videographers achieve a more cinema-style look for their footage without the need for post-processing. The EOS 60D builds upon the great video capabilities Canon has introduced in recent DSLR cameras and packs them into a camera photo enthusiasts will love. Full HD video capture, along with selectable cinematic frame rates for both NTSC (National Television System Committee) and PAL (Phase Altering Line) standards, will help the EOS 60D to be the camera of choice among film students and photography students alike.The new EOS 60D camera's movie mode also includes manual controls for exposure as well as manual audio levels in 64 steps, much like the latest firmware update for the EOS 5D Mark II HD-SLR. Users can set audio levels on the rear menu screen before shooting begins; once recording is initialized, audio adjustments are not possible. In addition, Canon has added an electronic Wind Filter to the audio controls within the movie shooting menu.Canon has also included an in-camera movie editing feature, allowing users to shorten a video file by clipping segments from the beginning or the end, removing unwanted portions without outside software. This feature can dramatically accelerate workflow by reducing the time needed to upload video clips to a computer for further editing and assembly. The EOS 60D also includes Canon's Movie Crop mode, which allows users to achieve 7x magnification when shooting SD video. Unlike the digital zoom feature found in many compact digital cameras, Canon's Movie Crop mode crops the image directly from the CMOS sensor at full SD resolution to preserve image quality and still provide additional telephoto power.Providing access to the right lens for any given shooting scenario, the EOS 60D DSLR camera is compatible with more than 60 Canon EF and EF-S lenses. The EOS 60D DSLR's video functions are supported by two key proprietary Canon technologies, a DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor and a large APS-Csized CMOS sensor capturing fine detail and color with an amazing cinematic depth of field. The Canon EOS 60D allows for three video recording modes Full HD and HD in a 16:9 aspect ratio and Standard Definition (SD) in a 4:3 aspect ratio, all at selectable frame rates. The EOS 60D Digital SLR camera will record Full HD at 1920 x 1080 pixels in selectable frame rates of 24p (23.976), 25p, or 30p (29.97); 720p HD recording at 50p or 60p (59.94) and SD video at frame rates of 50p or 60p (59.94). The EOS 60D features a dedicated button to initiate live view for both video and still shooting. Once engaged, the same dedicated button will start and stop video recording.Valuable Additional FeaturesAlong with the adjustable LCD screen, the new EOS 60D DSLR features a class-leading 18-megapixel Canon CMOS sensor, a proprietary DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor, a 9-point Autofocus system and Canon's exclusive iFCL Metering System (Intelligent Focus, Color, Luminance) giving it the power of a professional-level camera. Capable of capturing fast action, the 60D DSLR can shoot full resolution still images up to 5.3-frames per second (fps). The EOS 60D records its images and video clips to the photographer's choice of SD, SDHC or new extended capacity SDXC memory cards.The 9-point AF system on the new EOS 60D features f/5.6-sensitive cross-type focusing on all nine focusing points. Like the EOS 7D, the center AF point is a hybrid of standard cross-type and special diagonally-shaped "X" cross, with high-precision sensitivity for f/2.8 and larger aperture lenses. Complementing the AF system, Canon's iFCL metering system, identical to that on the EOS 7D and Rebel T2i, takes color information into account and includes a 63-zone dual-layer metering sensor that reads both illumination and color for consistent results in all lighting conditions, keeping exposure levels stable from shot to shot, even as the light source changes.Photographers will enjoy shooting in low light thanks to the EOS 60D DSLR's wide ISO range from 100-6400 (adjustable in 1/3-step increments from ISO 100-6400 and expandable to 12,800) allowing it to capture beautiful images without flash during family milestone events such as wedding ceremonies, while still being equipped with a built-in pop-up flash for shooting the cake cutting ceremony and reception. The EOS 60D's pop-up flash features a built-in Integrated Speedlite Transmitter for control of up to two groups of off-camera EOS Speedlites without the need for an external transmitter, providing an economical solution for multi-flash shoots.Making accurate composition more convenient, the EOS 60D's optical viewfinder provides 96 percent coverage along with Canon's built-in single axis Electronic Level Display, which utilizes the exposure level scale below the picture area to let the photographer know when the camera is level. The Electronic Level Display is also visible on the camera's LCD screen in both Live View and Movie modes. An artificial horizon display illustrates horizontal roll, allowing the photographer to know when the camera is in a fixed level position. The entire camera has been durability-tested to 100,000 exposures making the EOS 60D a reliable as well as a powerful imaging tool.Pricing and AvailabilityThe Canon EOS 60D Digital SLR camera is scheduled to be delivered to U.S. dealers toward the end of September, and will be sold in a body-only configuration at an estimated retail price of $1,099.00i. It will also be offered in a kit version with Canon's EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM zoom lens at an estimated retail price of $1,399.00ii. The Canon BG-E9 battery grip is scheduled to be available toward the end of September and sell at an estimated retail price of $270.00iii.About Canon U.S.A., Inc.Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranked fourth overall in the U.S. in 2009&dagger;, with global revenues of US $35 billion, is listed as number six in the computer industry on Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies 2010 list, and is on the 2009 BusinessWeek list of "100 Best Global Brands." Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. At Canon, we care because caring is essential to living together in harmony. Founded upon a corporate philosophy of Kyosei "all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future" Canon U.S.A. supports a number of social, youth, educational and other programs, including environmental and recycling initiatives. Additional information about these programs can be found at www.usa.canon.com/kyosei. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss.###&dagger; Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners.Availability, prices, and specifications of all products are subject to change without notice. Actual prices are set by individual dealers and may vary.i Pricing subject to change at any time. Actual prices are determined by individual dealers and may vary.ii Pricing subject to change at any time. Actual prices are determined by individual dealers and may vary.iii Pricing subject to change at any time. Actual prices are determined by individual dealers and may vary.Chad Mumm is our video producer at Engadget, doing work on The Engadget Show and filming shorter-form stuff when we need it. He recently acquired the 7D for personal and work use, and we asked him to put together some thoughts on the camera in terms of using it primarily for video. You can check out our traditional review roundup for the 7D .These times are strange. Five years ago if you walked onto the set of a movie, TV show, or music video -- before you got kicked out by a strung out production assistant -- you'd have probably seen a bustling group of workers huddled around a giant camera changing out huge spools with Kodak or Fujifilm logos on them. The camera shook up the industry when it was released two years ago and those cans of film were replaced with hard-drives and digital technicians. Now, we're in the midst of another monumental camera shift, and it's not the 3D revolution that everyone predicted. Nope, in 2009 we make our movies on DSLRs. Just how good are they? Well, the recently released may just be the new Engadget workhorse. Read on for the inside scoop on our ridiculously cinematic new rig. BackstoryA little more than a year ago Canon dropped the EOS , which recorded real 1080p video using its 35mm, full-frame sensor. One of the advantages of big sensors is much greater control of depth-of-field, and the 5D enabled anybody with a few thousand dollars to burn to approximate the look of 70mm movie film straight out of the box. Indie filmmakers everywhere began posting gloriously blurry test films of their friends on Vimeo and industry pros took notice. Now, Canon's newest HDSLR offering, the EOS 7d, takes the concept and runs with it, in surprising and sometimes frustrating ways. Build qualityYou can buy a new 7D (body only) for $1800. That's more than $1000 less than the 5D. We shilled out around three grand for ours with some quality glass (the EOS EF-s 17-55mm f2.8 lens, in case you were wondering). Besides a smaller form-factor than the 5D Mark II, the 7d has a new control layout that makes video shooting quicker and easier, including a dedicated movie-mode switch and a recording start/stop button. Like you'd expect from a high-end device, the build quality is excellent and the camera feels solid in your hand. The LCD is crisp and bright and the camera adds a few new features like a pitch and roll level meter and a nineteen point autofocus. Sensor info (camera nerd alert)The 7D has an APS-C cropped frame sensor, which is actually closer to Super 35mm movie film and/or RED's sensor than the full-frame of the 5D Mark II. This means that you can't get quite the same level of shallow depth of field as the 5D, but trust us, you won't have any problem getting backgrounds to go all creamy, especially with some fast glass in front of the camera. One thing to note, full-frame 35mm lenses will have a crop factor of 1.6 on the 7d. This is true of all cropped-frame cameras and it results in that 18mm wide angle lens behaving like a 30mm lens (take your 35mm lens length and multiply it by 1.6 for its equivalent cropped-frame length). Video capabilitiesOne of the biggest drawbacks of the 5D Mark II was its 30 frames per second video framerate. Movies are shot at 24 frames per second and those six frames make a huge difference in terms of the film-ness of a piece of video footage. With the 7D, Canon is offering a choice of multiple framerates for video recording for the first time. You can now record at 23.98 fps, 29.97 fps, or 59.98 fps. The 59.98 recording mode downscales the video to 720p, but it's great for an "overcranked" slow-motion effect when conformed back to 23.98 on your computer. Get ready for a rash of Wes Anderson-style, slo-mo montages of people entering and exiting cars and buildings. Of course, all this flexibility is par for the course in modern broadcast cameras, but it seems that Canon is learning as it goes instead of simply looking at the requirements of professional video shooters. Case in point, after 5D Mark II adopters cried foul, Canon announced a firmware update to bring these additional framerates to the 5D sometime next year, which begs the obvious question of why they weren't included in the first place? Another troubling omission on Canon's part is the audio recording capabilities on the 7D. Aside from the limitations of a small onboard microphone and a 1/8-inch microphone input, the camera has automatic gain control (AGC), which adjusts the volume of the audio signal inside the camera. The problem? It's impossible to disable. If the point of an SLR is to give the user full control over the tiniest details of their camera setup, then there is absolutely no reason why this crucial function should be left to the camera's discretion. Great video quality is nothing without great audio and in the production world, omitting manual controls for audio is akin to creating an SLR that won't let you manually adjust the iris. It's that bad. "Sure," you'll say, "the 7D is above-all a stills camera ," but if Canon went to the trouble of giving its video users the framerates they've been asking for, why not correct the audio recording issue? The 5D had the exact same problem and it's been talked about (and hacked to work better) since the camera first hit the streets. Fortunately for the 7D, the footage just looks too damn good to not find a workaround. Enter the . This $300, battery-powered audio recorder can record four independent channels of 24-bit audio to an SD card, including a two-channel stereo mix from its built in dual-microphone. Two 48v phantom-powered XLR inputs gives you professional connectivity for your lavelier or shotgun mics and the headphone output allows you to send the mixed signal back to the 7D as a reference to be recorded along with the video. When you get the project into your editing computer, just import the externally recorded audio, sync it up with your reference audio and enjoy the pristine sound you could never get with the 16-bit recording on your $5,500 Panasonic HVX-200 or your $8,320 Sony EX-3. We put together some videos demonstrating the camera rig, both with and without the Zoom recorder. Take a look. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the 7D does stills too. At 18 megapixels, it has plenty of resolution for cropping your pictures into oblivion, and the 19-point autofocus is a big step-up from the previous generations. The camera can burn through 8 shots every second, which, when coupled with the cropped-frame sensor makes the 7D perfect for shooting action stills.In actionFrom our initial experience using the camera, we found it very easy to go from shooting stills to shooting glorious 1080p movies. Even during dedicated photo shooting, it's hard not to be inspired to flip the switch and roll some 24p video. We also found ourselves using the live-view mode to eyeball exposure for stills much more than we had on previous live-view enabled cameras; perhaps this was a carryover from all the video shooting. One of the major downsides to the 7D is the 12 minute recording limit for video. That's not a lot of time, especially if you're interviewing somebody on camera and you don't want to break up the flow with constant stopping and starting. This is actually a limitation of the FAT32 formatting of the flash memory that even plagues P2 cameras like the Panasonic HVX-200, although the HVX gets around this problem by automatically creating a new clip at the 12 minute mark and combining them together when the recording is stopped. That said, we noticed the camera getting very warm (dare we say hot?) during recording durations longer than 4-5 minutes in an air-conditioned room, and we're a little worried about how hot the camera would get outside in the sun on a hot summer day during longer recording. With all that processing in such a small body, the heat isn't exactly surprising -- we've known the RED ONE camera to get extremely hot during long takes -- but it is something to keep an eye on. Lastly, it's almost impossible to use the camera for "run and gun," documentary-style shooting without some sort of after-market stabilizing device, like a shoulder-mount or brace. The camera is just too difficult to balance, especially when you add accessories and big lenses, plus you have to be constantly adjusting focus. It's a good way to wear out your arms. That said, try using a RED ONE (or any cinema camera, for that matter) without a shoulder-mount -- it's not gonna happen. These devices are built for imaging and there will always be a tradeoff with ergonomics. So, is this our new video camera? We like to think of the 7D as another very specific tool in our arsenal. Will we be shooting segments for The Engadget Show on it? Yes, but there is a time and a place for this camera. If we're running around shooting a mile-a-minute, we're still going to reach for our trusty HD camcorder. But if we have a moment to breathe in between takes, you can bet the 7D will be the go-to camera. It's easy to get caught up in the beautiful images from this camera, but like with all recording, it's merely a tool to help tell a story.It's here. Finally. Well, that is, if you happen to live in Japan. Canon's mirrorless interchangeable lens camera should be hitting shops the world over just as you begin to make room for that decked-out evergreen conifer, but the is already making the rounds in Canon's home country. It's available at select Japanese retailers for 109,900 (about $1,410, including sales tax). That lofty price will net you the EOS M in black, white or silver (the glossy red model remains elusive), complete with 55mm f/2 and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EF-M optics, a Speedlite 90EX external flash and the EF-M Lens Adapter, enabling full compatibility with any and all of your EF and EF-S lenses. The US variant, which comes bundled with only the black 22mm "pancake" STM lens, should run you $799 when it appears stateside beginning October 15th, though neither country's model carries a particularly competitive price tag, especially considering how diverse (and well-equipped) the mirrorless ILC market has become. You might argue that Canon is out of Nikon's book when it comes to pricing the EOS M -- had the camera offered full DSLR functionality, including an advanced user interface, a $799 sticker might be justified. But the company has crippled its new compact shooter so as to avoid cannibalizing its still-successful full-size APS-C DSLR lineup, which includes models ranging from the (about $475) to the (about $1,350). Appropriately, the EOS M falls right in the middle in terms of capabilities, with the added benefit of a new, nearly pocketable design that should win over more than its fair share of amateurs. That said, there's a reason larger SLRs remain on the market, and Canon very much wants to retain that solid footing. The EOS M isn't for everyone, and that's by design. But is it the right pick for you? Join us past the break as we try it on for size. Hardware All cameras are not created equal -- not even all EOS Ms. Sure, each of the four compact flavors may carry the same 18-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, 1,040,000-dot 3-inch touchscreen and arguably mediocre UI, but only one has a remotely premium shell. As you may have gathered from our walk-through video above, we're not talking about white. Or red, or even silver. Only the black model, which drops the glossy plastic housing in favor of a matte coat, offers the look and feel of an $800-plus mirrorless compact. As cheap and plasticky as its (relatively) colorful counterparts may be, the black version has a fantastic, slightly textured finish. That's not to say it'll necessarily be the SKU that flies off store shelves, but photographers who are at all serious about their work will likely steer clear of the other three. Color aside, there's a bit more bad news to get out of the way. Perhaps you've seen the dedicated mode dial that's become the trademark of anything premium at Canon. Even the new has the familiar controller, and that model tips the till at just $199. So, does $800 and up deliver direct access to shooting modes, advanced or otherwise? No, it does not. And, well, we can't express our disappointment enough here -- not only does a mode dial simplify the process of selecting your primary shooting preference, it also serves to provide confirmation of your current pick, letting you know that you're in manual before you fire off a half dozen now-useless frames. The EOS M does provide this feedback on-screen, but it's just not the same, and the requisite triple tap to bounce between modes is inconvenient, to say the least. Canon could have done a heck of a lot better than this. Speaking of taps, you'll be using that touch-enabled display for far more than you may have assumed. The touch-to-focus (and expose/capture) option is nice, but it's easily outweighed by the need to touch the LCD to adjust ISO, for example. As a side note, the EOS M offers an image sensitivity range of 100 to 25,600 (up to 12,800 when capturing video) -- we'll get into that in further detail later on. There's also a 31-point AF system, continuous shooting modes of 4.3 frames-per-second with fixed focus on any lens or autofocus using an EF or EF-S lens, 1.7 fps with autofocus on the 18-55mm EF-M optic or 1.2 fps with autofocus on the 22mm EF-M lens, and 1080/30p and 24p, 720/60p and 50p and 640 x 480 shooting at 30 or 25 frames per second. Now, back over to those rather horrid controls. The EOS M's rear is akin to that of most Canon point-and-shoots, but given that this isn't a low-cost model, that layout has no business making an appearance here. At the top of the camera, there's a power toggle, a dial to select from auto, standard and movie modes, and a shutter release. There's also a full-size hot shoe (huzzah!) and stereo mics (yes, they're on the top and not the front, making them perfectly fine for narration but less than ideal for interviews). You can counteract that mic placement by adding your own audio capture device thanks to the standard microphone input jack that joins HDMI and USB connectors on the left side. Plus, since there is in fact a standard hot shoe, you will have somewhere to mount an external mic. Around back, just to the right of the LCD, is a thumb rest and adjacent video record button, followed by Canon's standard lineup of menu, playback, info and dial controls. There's also a five-way toggle that can be used to navigate menus, jump through images during review, and directly access shutter mode, exposure compensation and delete options. On the bottom, there's a standard tripod socket, an SD card slot and a battery compartment, complete with an 875mAh LP-E12 cell (replacements should run you about 75 bucks). You'll find the requisite shoulder strap in the box, this time with a nifty connector that simply slides onto the camera and locks into place with a thin coin or key, along with a USB cable, AC adapter and, in the case of our test model, a Japanese-language user manual. We mostly like the strap design, but because it's able to rotate when locked into position, it's very easy to end up with a bunch of tangles. What you won't find is a built-in electronic viewfinder, or even an optional attachment (there's no connector present, so it won't be coming in the future, either). The 3-inch LCD is quite sharp, at just over 1 million dots, but it's fixed in place, so there's no way to get it to tilt or swivel. We use this feature on the on a daily basis, so not having it here really is a significant drawback, especially considering Canon's implementation on models like the (sadly its does indeed drop this feature). The display's viewing angles are decent, even in bright light, but looking from above or below is really no match for a straight-on view. User interface The EOS M surely isn't the first mirrorless camera to pack a touchscreen, and even though there are a handful of hardware controls, there's no way to completely eliminate the need to tap. While it's often inconvenient, you can get through most of the menus with a few clicks, but you'll likely find yourself tapping the LCD more frequently than you'd wish. There is a rather limited dial on the top -- options here are restricted to a full-automatic mode, an adjustable mode and video capture -- and while this switch will get plenty of use, we wish there were an option for accessing scene modes and manual, aperture and shutter priority in the same way. The movie position is also an unnecessary addition -- we would have much rather seen Canon follow the lead of other manufacturers and let you launch a shoot simply by tapping the video record button, rather than requiring you to first flip to movie mode, then hit that little red dot. You can still shoot stills in movie mode, but they're captured with a 16:9 aspect ratio, so you'll need to keep this in mind and flip back to one of the two other settings before you start snapping away -- unless, of course, you don't mind super-wide shots. The menu itself is a cross between Canon's point-and-shoot setup and its full-size DSLR offering -- settings are far more limited than what you'd find on the , for example, though also more generous than what's available with most of the company's compact models. Options change depending on your current mode, which helps to reduce clutter, but adds confusion, since you can only tweak movie settings while in video mode, for example. There's also a fairly basic Custom Functions page, which is where you'll select such options as ISO expansion (to 25,600) and the AF-assist beam status. You can flip through the entire menu in the gallery above. Performance and battery life We've seen mirrorless cameras that pack absolutely fantastic focusing systems. Then, there are those that nearly drive us to tears, instantly tarnishing our opinion of otherwise capable models. We were devastated to see that the EOS M's focusing performance falls just shy of that latter grouping -- the cameras that just plain stink at bringing a subject into focus quickly. We feared as much during our hands-on this past summer, but Canon reps at the time reminded us that the flavor we were sampling was but a pre-production version. At that point, the M struggled with everything from the 22mm and 18-55mm EF-M kit lenses to a massive 400mm f/2.8 L. This time around, with our store-bought final model, we weren't able to test it alongside any of the company's tried-and-true heavy hitters, but both EF-Ms indeed fell far short. It's not the most sluggish focusing we've seen, but it's darn close. We did notice a slight speed boost in FlexiZone - Multi mode, so you'll probably want to opt for that if you don't need to choose a single point. Granted, focusing is perfectly accurate, but if you're looking for speed, it's time to pack up your bags and hurry along. If this move was intentional, Canon's message has been received loud and clear -- serious photographers can ogle at the company's compact creation all they like, but once they dig deep, they'll come running back home to their tried-and-true form factors, leaving the svelte M to more casual types. Canon surely could have done better here, but it didn't, and we can't help but think that call was made far up the food chain, amid some decidedly heated engineering debates. Battery life, meanwhile, is far from stellar. We were barely able to get through a full day on a charge, so you'll want to pick up spares before your next safari. Perhaps we've been spoiled by Canon's pro offerings, but this device won't suffice for more intense shoots unless you have backup nearby. The battery meter itself isn't terribly useful -- there are only three positions in the indicator with no remaining percentage, and we were completely dead shortly after the battery displayed two bars, after capturing just over 250 stills and 12 minutes of 720/60p video. Image quality The shooting process itself may not be the EOS M's banner feature, but image quality is quite impressive, even in low light. As we mentioned, you can kick the ISO all the way up to 25,600, though we didn't find any need to venture beyond 6400 when using the camera's 18-55mm image-stabilized kit lens. Nighttime and day-lit shots alike looked fantastic, with sharp details even when viewing each 18-megapixel image at 100 percent zoom. You'll find all of our IQ samples at the more coverage link at the bottom of this page, and they're included in the gallery above as well, but let's take a peek at a select few right now. The M's f/2.0 prime kit lens not only enables low-light captures with faster shutter speeds, but it also yields beautiful bokeh, as you can see in this frame below. We focused on the shopper's reflection in the mirror for a pleasing soft focus effect in the foreground. Color balance, exposure and sharpness are superb. Don't let the muted colors fool you -- this scene was captured just as we saw it, with the t-shirt colors faded from many days under the bright Tokyo sun. The sharpness and exposure are excellent as well. This scene, shot through an open hotel window, yielded spot-on color accuracy and exposure. The camera's 18-megapixel sensor even let us make out text on a highway sign hundreds of feet away (see inset below). Night scenes are never easy, even for the most powerful DSLRs. The M tackled this Akihabara street with ease, in full-auto mode (we found this setting to be more accurate than aperture priority when shooting after dark or in low light). Dark laptops aren't easy to photograph, especially when displayed against a backlit surface, but the EOS M did excellent work here, with great color balance to boot. Some of the other images from this shoot had a pink hue, as you can see in our (note that the main photo there has been color corrected, though all of the images presented here are untouched). This image of Toyota's was shot at ISO 3200, and offered excellent color accuracy and limited noise, even when viewed at 100-percent. In fact, we spent a day shooting at CEATEC with the M fixed at ISO 3200, which came in handy in dimly lit booths, with great results overall. You can't properly test a mirrorless camera these days without shooting plenty of video, so we hit the streets of Tokyo to grab some footage in Harajuku, the subway and an Akihabara arcade in order to evaluate image quality and audio in a variety of situations. In video mode, ISO tops out at 12,800, and there's a full manual option that enables you to set aperture, shutter speed and sensitivity. When set to auto, exposure compensation is the only adjustable setting. You can also choose from one-shot or continuous focus -- if you opt for the latter, simply tap on the bottom left corner of the display to jump back to continuous, or press the shutter halfway to adjust focus once. You can shoot stills during recording by pressing the shutter fully, but the video will freeze for about one second, so you'll probably want to avoid that feature. We found the microphone to be excellent when used for narrations, even in noisy environments, but the top-mounted mics were less effective for interviews -- for these shoots, we'd recommend taking advantage of the M's audio input jack by adding an external mic. We also brought the camera along for a day of trade show hands-ons at -- while focus was occasionally an issue, the STM kit lenses enabled silent focusing and smooth manual zoom. Catch our sample reel just below. The competition There's plenty of good news here, just not much for Canon. With dozens of mirrorless cameras coming onto the market each year, there is now a wide range of options available to consumers -- many models are priced well below Canon's $799 sticker. If fast focusing doesn't top your list of priorities, the $500 Sony kit is a relative bargain, building upon the NEX-C3's strengths while adding features that have become key in 2012. The ($850, body only) is also worth your consideration, adding a built-in EVF and a mode dial that the EOS M so desperately needs. If you do have a need for speed, the ($999, body only) or the company's latest PEN kits, the , have certainly proven their worth on that front -- focusing performance is on par with top DSLR options, and you also get more advanced controls and a tilting LCD. For video buffs, Panasonic has made a huge push with its , and while that option has yet to hit stores, you shouldn't have long to wait. Wrap-up We like the Canon EOS M -- far more than we might have expected, given its mediocre performance during our hands-on -- but the company's first mirrorless ILC falls short on several fronts. Professional photographers can affix their pricey L lenses, which is nice, but the dismal focusing performance means SLRs will probably be far more appealing to these users. With the M, Canon is providing a digital camera bridge of sorts in the hopes of capturing the hearts (and wallets) of amateurs looking to step up from point-and-shoots. Indeed, this is far more versatile than what these beginners are used to, yet it's still built on a simple interface that isn't intimidating. Granted, this isn't what the pros had been hoping for, but Canon's DSLR series clearly isn't ready to free these users from their hefty housings, leaving the company's ever-strong professional lineup to live another day.Just before Halloween in 2009, Canon announced its most powerful DSLR to date. The $5,000 professional-grade EOS-1D Mark IV was the company's answer to Nikon's market-leading D3S, which rang in just shy of $5,200. On the basis of price alone, Canon won that round. Then, after two years of silence, the company launched its new flagship, the . The date was -- roughly 10 (or "X") years after the very first model in the series was announced, way back in 2001. A decade ago, Canon priced that introductory 1D at $5,500 -- a princely sum considering the 4.15-megapixel CCD on board. Now, the 1D X, which is arguably the most powerful sub-five-figure camera available, commands 6,799 of your hard-earned dollars, or $800 more than the D4, Nikon's $6,000 equivalent. All this talk of price may seem to skirt the camera's long list of lust-worthy features, but when the cost of any piece of hardware approaches a year's tuition at a public university, a purchase decision deserves thorough consideration. A camera in this league is absolutely to be used as a professional tool. And while deep-pocketed amateurs may pick one up -- in the way folks with cash to burn may build a collection of overpowered two-seaters -- the vast majority will live in $30,000-plus kits, where they'll reach six-figure shutter counts, and will likely change hands several times before their eventual retirement. Right now, you're probably researching the 1D X as exhaustively as you would a new car -- in fact, you may have even lined up a test drive, through the company's Canon Professional Services group. Many months after it was first announced, we've had an opportunity to take the new eXtreme model for a spin ourselves, and it's every bit as impressive as its price tag suggests. Canon's top model isn't any smaller or lighter than its predecessors, the or -- but is all that bulk justified, despite strong contenders like the workhorse 5D? Buckle up and join us in the field (ahem, after the break) to find out. Design Canon doesn't need to budget any precious advertising funds to spread word about the 1D. The company's flagship model is one of the most photographed DSLRs on the planet, though like the shooters that stand behind it, this camera spends much of its time in the background. Perhaps you caught some of the World Series, or the Super Bowl, or maybe the Olympics earlier this month -- behind each of those enormous white "paparazzi" lenses, there was likely a Canon 1D. The camera's design has become iconic, symbolizing professionalism, quality and power. To the untrained eye and with a bit of gaffer tape atop the prominent silver X, this 1D would look like any other -- superficially, the design hasn't evolved all that much in a decade, though button placement has shifted as controls have been added. And, since it hasn't changed a lick since our first demo last year, we're including that accurate account above. Like other full-size DSLRs, this model is designed to provide a natural feel in portrait mode (positioned vertically), should you find yourself in a studio setting or alongside a red carpet. Key controls like the AF-ON button, exposure lock and focus position all enable easy toggling regardless of your orientation, while secondary shutter release and exposure dials provide direct access in both positions as well. Dual CF card slots tucked behind a textured plastic door let you duplicate your captures (with identical cards) or boost capacity, while the large secondary control wheel to the left of the storage compartment hasn't changed a bit over the years. Also identical is the battery design, which provides for easy access while also enabling a secure fit, letting you swap 2,450mAh LP-E4N packs. Up top, you won't find a flash or even a focus-assist lamp, but instead you'll see Canon's signature raised pentaprism, with a hot shoe atop, which you can use to accommodate a Speedlite flash, or perhaps even one of those nifty . Interface and shooting modes One of the X's most notable strengths is its ability to be customized to your liking. Obviously you can't reconfigure the physical button placement, but you can adjust the settings that they control, re-assigning access so that it's consistent with your previous 1D bodies. Photographers are likely to miss their shot if even a split second is spent looking away from the viewfinder to dig through menus, so a familiar layout is key. If you've used other 1D cameras, you should be able to blindly find your way, just as typing on a QWERTY keyboard becomes second nature over time. The menu system and organization should be familiar as well, with a total of 24 different configuration screens -- options range from color space to in-camera RAW image processing. Custom settings let you adjust exposure level or ISO speed increments, limit the continuous shooting speed (the camera tops out at a very impressive 12 fps) or adjust dial directions -- among many, many other options. The menu structure itself is nearly identical to that in the , letting you use that body as a backup or second shooter while maintaining the same configuration on both cameras. The 1D X offers your typical array of shooting modes, including full manual, aperture- and shutter-priority, program and a custom program mode. There are also several drive options, such as single shot, low-speed continuous at three frames per second, high-speed continuous at a whopping 12 frames per second, two time-delay options and a "silent" mode, which is by far the quietest option (compared to the rapid-fire machine gun-like spattering you'll get with 12 fps). If you're going for discretion, however, you'll want to use the 5D instead. As for that 12 frames-per-second mode, we were able to capture 70 consecutive frames with a before noticing any slowdown -- assuming you're able to focus, there's really no excuse for missing the shot. Focusing Captures looked fantastic, as we'll discuss a bit further down, but you can't snap sharp images in low light if you're not able to focus. A bit surprisingly, we had tremendous difficulty with autofocus in dim settings when paired with a 50mm f/1.2 L lens -- environments where we couldn't see very well ourselves, but the 1D X still managed to capture clear, bright images, once it did locate a focal point. Selecting a brighter object at a similar distance allowed us to pre-focus then adjust framing, but if you're shooting in dim light you're probably going to want to add a Speedlite, many of which offer that annoying flash of red light that's admittedly critical in these situations. Unfortunately, there's no focus-assist light built in. In every other lighting scenario (generally situations where we were able to make out details clearly with the naked eye), the camera's focusing system performed flawlessly, adjusting accurately and with little effort. The 12 frames-per-second shooting mode is certainly useful, but only if you have a focusing system that can keep up. Unfortunately we didn't have an opportunity to test the 1D X at any sporting events, which would have provided the necessary venue to really push the DSLR to its limits, but we were quite pleased during a day-long shoot on the streets of New York City. Battery life Whether you're embedded with the military in an active war zone or on the sidelines during a championship game, the last thing you want to worry about while on assignment is swapping batteries, and you should be in very good shape here. We didn't continue shooting until the battery was depleted during our week-long trial, if only because it seemed an impossible task. After more than 2,000 images and several hours of digging through menus and reviewing photos on the built-in LCD, we still had 41 percent remaining according to the system menu. Performance will of course vary depending on external conditions (such as weather) and how much time you send "chimping" (the practice of reviewing images on the LCD after each capture), but you'll likely be quite pleased. Image quality You'd expect Canon to be at the top of its game when it comes to image quality with the 1D X, so we weren't surprised to see that performance was spot on. The images you'll see below and in our gallery are JPEGs captured at the highest possible quality setting (10/10) with high-ISO noise reduction turned off. Let's take a look. Shoot from a moving cab in the middle of the night? You bet. This 50mm shot was captured at f/2.2 and 1/125 second at ISO 51,200 as we sped through an intersection. The camera focused and captured details, including the text on an easel, without issue. Let's head to the beach. Now don't be fooled by the sky -- this f/2.8, 1/16 second frame was shot well after sunset (notice the bright lights of nearby Coney Island in the far right). Still, you can make out plenty of detail with barely visible noise when viewing the full frame at 600 pixels wide. And what about the view from the boardwalk? Crystal clear, and colorful, even -- the typically harsh streetlamps mixed nicely with the night sky to yield this scene. We opened the aperture all the way up to f/1.2 in order to stop motion with a 1/64 second shutter speed, without venturing beyond a 12,800 ISO. Let's jump back a few hours and catch some of that evening light. Shooting at ISO 3,200 (our typical default, given the 1D X's capabilities), noise was invisible until you jumped all the way up to a 100 percent view (see inset). We froze the action in this busy scene at f/11 with a 1/2000 second exposure. We hopped a ferry to Governors Island to catch some of the best views of Lower Manhattan, including the new World Trade Center site. Bright daylight enabled a 1/4000 second exposure at f/14 with an ISO of 3,200, yielding sharp details in the foreground, and of buildings many blocks away. You surely don't need to shoot at ISO 320, ever, though that's exactly what we did here. There's no noise as a result, and any softness you may notice was likely caused by the distance between the car and the buildings reflected in the windshield. We captured this last image at f/13 with a 1/50 second shutter speed. We can't litter this review with dozens of samples, but there's plenty more to see in our gallery. Click through the thumbnails above for larger scaled versions of the shots we have here, along with plenty more examples, captured in a variety of lighting scenarios. Wrap-up If you're a 1D Mark IV owner in the market for a new professional DSLR, you probably already know you're buying the X. 1Ds Mark III shooters who spend most of their time in a studio may have less motivation to jump, however, considering the current street value of that camera and the benefits of the X when shooting in controlled lighting environments. If you don't own either camera now, but instead have a thick wad of cash burning a hole in your wallet, we can't imagine you'll be unhappy with the X -- just keep in mind its massive size, and figure how that may fit into your lifestyle. Canon's 5D Mark III is also a fantastic full-frame camera, and may ultimately be the better pick, unless you plan to snap away from your court seats at the Lakers game. If pure power is what you're after, and you need to have the absolute best, you'll want to get behind Canon's latest beast -- it doesn't get much more eXtreme than this. What's a field review, you ask? Essentially, the term serves to clarify that our analysis is based on real-world usage, which regrettably doesn't include the thorough benchmarking a camera of this caliber ordinarily requires. It's a perfectly suitable assessment by a photographer that's spent many hours operating similar equipment, but given the cost and sophistication of a camera like this, we would recommend that professionals also consider reviews from other sources before making a purchase.Thought cost a pretty penny? Well, try this head-mounted display on for size. It's that from Canon that we've been hearing so much about. As previously noted, it's set to hit the States the first of next month, carrying a decidedly gigantic $125,000 price tag (plus an estimated $25,000 in annual maintenance). But before you go writing a brashly worded letter to the bigwigs at Canon, remember: this isn't really for you. That is, unless you're an automotive manufacturer, research university or museum display curator. This is a heavy-duty, industry-facing device. That said, the camera maker did give a few of us non-industry folks the chance to play around with the display at an event in Manhattan last night, while the rest of the tech world was fawning over that fancy new . Having spent some time with , we've got to say that the experience of wearing this far, far more high-end product wasn't all that different from a hardware perspective: slip it over your head, place it on the bridge of your nose and tighten. It's possible to get it snug without being too uncomfortable -- and when it's time to take it off, a flip of the lever will remove it in one go. As with Sony's portable HDTV offering, the MREAL has two small displays sitting just in front of your eyes -- and also like the Sony (and any similar technology, we'd imagine) certain images take some getting used to -- particular those intended to be up close, with small writing (the dashboard of a car, for example). Other, broader images, on the other hand, are immediately clear (e.g., a big flower bowl a foot away or a dinosaur down by your feet). There was also no light-blocking on the devices we demoed, so there's a lot of interference coming from the sides. This is probably not a huge deal for manufacturers, but immersive interactions like museum displays could do with a small curtain. Also slightly cumbersome is the cable that trails the headset like a tail -- any demo that involved walking around required having an employee lift the cables and walk around as if you were wearing some Victorian bridal gown. Canon and a handful of partners were on-hand at the event, showing off demos that utilized various sensors, including the gyroscopes and magnetic / optical sensors. Some of the more advanced ones required big add-ons that didn't add much to the weight (which, for the relatively short period we spent wearing the device, wasn't especially cumbersome). But they certainly added a touch of character to the device. In one demo, a box decorated in QR-like codes opens to reveal a bouquet of virtual flowers. Touching them changes their color, as a bee buzzes around. You can open and close the box and move it around, and the graphics match up extremely well -- the cameras only need to catch a couple of codes to generate the image. In another demo, the wearer is seated in a leather car seat, as the device constructs a car around him or her. The interior is quite vivid -- it's hard to temporarily suspend one's reality long enough to really feels as though you are inside an actual car -- but, at least in the case of this demo, that's not really the point. Rather, the idea is to get some semblance of what it might be like sitting inside a car you've digitally prototyped. Look around and you can see details on speedometers. Look out the window and you see the real world -- click a button on your iPad app and you can open the sunroof to see more of the same. With the app you can also open the doors and change colors on the fly, in case that traffic cone orange wasn't doing it for you. Most impressive was the museum demo, in which a wall and table covered in codes becomes a Jurassic landscape. A small dinosaur wanders around your feet, while a giant predator lumbers off in the distance -- it's a little easier to suspend one's disbelief here, but again, this isn't a full-scale virtual reality device. Sadly, in the car and dinosaur demos, there's no real interacting with the scenery -- and in the former, wearers are required to put on brightly colored dishwashing gloves if they want to see their hands. It's easy to see how the MREAL could prove to be a powerful tool for digital prototyping -- though that $125k price tag seems a hard one to justify if you're not, say, Boeing. It's also exciting to imagine just how such a tool might be utilized in a museum-like setting, and hopefully developers will take advantage of that SDK to develop some truly exciting applications for the technology.CANON U.S.A. INTRODUCES THE NEW CANON MREAL SYSTEM FOR MIXED REALITY Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced the introduction of its Canon MREAL System for Mixed Reality (MR), a new imaging solution that simultaneously merges virtual objects with the real world, at full scale and in three dimensions. By combining the rich, visual information of the real world and the flexibility offered by computer-generated images, MR offers an imaging experience that is a step ahead of existing virtual reality technology, which currently only produces computer-generated environments. The MREAL System and its associated professional services inclusive of MR implementation, integration to customer systems, and custom development can benefit companies in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, automotive, construction, aerospace, medical, defense, and entertainment, to name a few. "In today's competitive markets, companies are constantly looking for solutions that can help them introduce new products to market in a timely and efficient fashion. The new Canon MREAL System for Mixed Reality allows decision-makers to evaluate a product's design and operability like never before," said Sam Yoshida, vice president and general manager, Marketing, Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A. "Canon has a very strong commitment to the augmented reality space, and by leveraging our strong heritage and leadership in optics, we intend to deliver solutions based upon Mixed Reality for use in industries including manufacturing, aerospace and entertainment." Key benefits of the MREAL System are: Productivity: Effective product lifecycle management places an emphasis on maximizing productivity to help reduce time to market, optimize designs, improve product quality, and save time, cost and resources. The MREAL System enables customers to develop digital prototypes, identify potential design concerns to reduce prototype iterations, incorporate required characteristics more quickly and get products to market sooner. Interaction: The MREAL System allows customers to make the leap from screen to seen. With this new system, you can experience, examine, modify, manipulate, discuss, analyze, or present designs with a level of realism that allows complicated ideas and plans to come to fruition quickly and efficiently. Attention to Detail: The MREAL System brings users to a 3D world where they can interact with virtually any given scene, landscape, environment or object. Designers can closely examine how components manufactured at different locations are expected to come together, or see how light will reflect off the interior trim of a car. Users can view intricate details of the 3D image from almost any angle. Feedback: When the audience is immersed in the MR experience, users gain tremendous insight. Whether collaborating on ideas, discussing new product designs, securing customer input, generating investor interest, winning management buy-in, or just entertaining an audience, MR brings many levels of value to all participants. The Canon MREAL System for Mixed Reality which consists of a head-mounted display (HMD) HM-A1 and the MR Platform Software MP-100, creates the illusion that computer-generated visuals exist within the real world by deploying the following Canon technologies: Head-Mounted Display (HMD) Two video cameras inside the head-mounted display (HMD), located in front of each eye, capture video from the real world, which is then processed and sent to a computer. Using state-of-the-art Canon image processing and directional-sensor data, the computer-generated graphics and the real world are combined with high precision and are displayed on the small monitors located inside the head-mounted display (HMD). An advanced optical system enlarges the video displayed on the small monitors to create high-impact, three-dimensional images. The innovative and patented free-form prism features a unique three-sided configuration that produces clear, solid-looking images with low distortion, reducing the impact of optical aberrations, even in peripheral areas, and further enhances the realism of the experience. MREAL Product The MR Platform is designed to enhance a company's existing design workflow. The software integrates with leading design applications including Siemens PLM Software's NX software, a leading integrated solution for computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE), and the 3D visualization software RTT DeltaGen, which renders mixed reality images through the Canon head-mounted display, in lifelike realism. Through Canon's Developer Support program, Canon also offers a MR Platform Software Development Kit. The MR SDK enables users to create software applications capable of leveraging Canon's MREAL System. The MR Platform SDK provides an ideal way to tightly integrate existing CAD and Graphic Design software with the Canon MREAL System. "Canon's MR Platform SDK has proven to be an effective way of tightly integrating RTT's DeltaGen software with MREAL Product, said Hillary Forsythe, marketing director, RTT USA Inc. "The combination of RTT DeltaGen and Canon's MREAL Product provides an ideal solution to customers focused on lessening overall product development time, driving rapid prototyping and shortening go-to-market cycles." A multitude of industries can leverage this enhanced rendering technology throughout the product lifecycle management (PLM) process to help streamline design processes, which can help get products to market quicker and can ultimately reduce costs. Automotive and manufacturing companies can utilize this solution at all stages of product development and a wide array of applications, including, but not limited to, digital prototyping, service training, plant design and factory layout. The Canon MREAL System has the capacity to expand virtually any existing design application in all sectors, including university research, entertainment and museum exhibits. Availability The Canon MREAL System for Mixed Reality, along with the services required to integrate into existing customer environments and applications, will be available immediately. Pricing will vary depending on system configurations and in accordance with usage requirements. More information on the Canon MEAL System for Mixed Reality can be found at www.usa.canon.com/mixedreality .held off about as long as it could, but it finally caved to the pressures of adding a pressure-sensitive screen to one of its Digital ELPHs. The goes down as the first-ever touchscreen PowerShot, offering a better-than-average set of specifications, a few color options, an attractive size and a 720p movie mode that helps to set it apart from some of its VGA-quality contemporaries. We took the cam for a quick spin just to see how Canon's adaptation of the touchscreen felt in real-world use, and we've posted up our impressions -- along with a few sample galleries and a raw 720p video clip -- just beyond the break. The SD980 IS is a cute, stylish choice for a pocket camera. The 5x optical zoom is superior to most on cameras this size, and the 720p movie mode is also a fantastic addition. There's also a 12.1 megapixel sensor, an ultra-wide 24mm lens, four color options (silver, purple, gold and blue), optical image stabilization, an HDMI output, SDHC card slot and a 3-inch touchscreen on the rear. At 3.93- x 2.1- x .9-inches in size, this one's definitely not the slimmest of the bunch, and at 4.59 ounces, it's definitely not the lightest. Sure, it's satisfactorily small for those with decently sized pockets, but it could stand to trim down in our eyes.One of the more curious inclusions here is the assortment of buttons to the right of the expansive touchscreen. It feels as if Canon wanted to have a touchscreen ELPH, but it was deathly scared of shocking its core user group that had grown accustomed to the orthodox rear control scheme. To that end, what you're left with is a hybrid controlling system that enables you to access a subset of tweaks via touch and the full gamut via traditional buttons. Not that we didn't appreciate it -- to be honest, we still preferred the buttons to the screen when it came time to change the options, but we would've much preferred a pure-touch camera that was half as thick to what we actually have in the SD980 IS.For example, users can line up a shot and use their finger to touch the focus point, but you'll still have to move your hand up to the shutter button if you want to capture the moment. A simple double-tap feature to focus and take the picture would've been a fabulous inclusion, but alas, we're left with a half-hearted attempt to make the touch panel useful when composing a shot as such a feature is only available when the camera is held vertically. Indeed, most everything about this device is remarkably familiar for owners of previous Digital ELPHs; startup is quick, focusing is decently fast, flipping from still to movie mode requires just the flip of a top toggle and the entire menu system / user interface is simply a of the that has been on since the days of the SD200. To be fair, the resistive touchscreen is surprisingly responsive. The panel itself is firm, and we were able to activate even the smallest icons while rocking a set of gloves. As we alluded to earlier, the issue here isn't the quality of the panel (which is excellent) -- it's the limited amount of tweaking you can do via touch, and moreover, the inability to actually control the camera's shutter with a tap of the finger. The phrase "defeating the purpose" just keeps coming to mind.Aesthetics aside, the actual image quality of the SD980 IS is decent, but it's not a giant leap forward from the prior generation of DIGIC III cameras. Colors were somewhat muted in low light, the diminutive flash introduced red eye in after-dark mugshots and sharpness seemed to suffer a bit in low light / indoor situations. We'll confess that we're being more picky than usual here, but for $329, we simply expected something that was at least noticeably superior to our tried-and-true . The included 720p movie mode holds it own, however, pumping out delightful footage given the size of the camera. As you can see in the sample clip below (the full, unedited clip is if you've got an extra 250MB to burn on your monthly ), the quality is plenty satisfactory for those spontaneous moments where capturing the event is more important than its production readiness. Will it replace your for serious shoots? Nah, but it's tough to complain with 720p in your pocket -- and this thing sure handles low-light shooting better than those do.All in all, we'd say the SD980 IS is a cautious (if not overly so) attempt at entering the over-hyped world of touchscreen cameras. Canon severely limited what you could do via touchscreen, and simply providing a selectable option to snap pictures and start / stop movies via the rear panel would've made the whole thing a lot more interesting. As it stands, you're stuck paying for a touchscreen that you'll probably never use, and you're getting no size improvements to speak of because of it. Honestly, we'd probably recommend one of Canon's other Digital ELPH offerings over this one; we appreciate the image quality and definitely dig the 720p movie mode, but the touch panel just isn't useful enough to warrant the selection of this model over another. Don't be afraid to try something really wild with the next iteration, okay ?CANON INTRODUCES THE NEW AND POWERFUL EOS 70D DIGITAL SLR CAMERA FEATURING INSTANT AND ACCURATE FOCUSING OF STILL IMAGES AND VIDEODesigned to Change the Way Photographers Capture Images and Video, New Camera Features Newly-Developed Dual Pixel CMOS AF Technology, Built-in Wireless Capability, 20.2 Megapixel CMOS Sensor, DIGIC 5+ Image Processor, and MoreMELVILLE, N.Y., July 2, 2013 Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is proud to introduce the high-performance EOS 70D Digital SLR camera bringing advanced features to photo enthusiasts looking for a step up from their entry-level digital SLRs. Featuring an innovative new Dual Pixel CMOS AF system for instant and precise focusing of video as well as still images, the EOS 70D also provides outstanding image quality and performance thanks to its new 20.2 megapixel APS-C Canon CMOS sensor and Canon's superb DIGIC 5+ Image Processor.Canon's newly-developed Dual Pixel CMOS AF, a phase-detection autofocus (AF) technology on the camera's image sensor plane, enables users to shoot video with the new EOS 70D close to the quality of a video shot with a camcorder. Dual Pixel CMOS AF employs a revolutionary CMOS sensor on which all of the effective pixels are able to perform both still imaging and phase-detection AF simultaneously to achieve dramatically improved AF performance over other EOS cameras during Live View shooting and when shooting video.Compared with Canon's conventional Live View AF systems, Dual Pixel CMOS AF realizes shorter focusing times, exceptional tracking performance and smoother autofocusing during video shooting. And, because Live View shooting can be used in a manner similar to using the camera's viewfinder, the fast and smooth AF performance allows users to concentrate more attention on the subject and composing the photo when shooting. Dual Pixel CMOS AF also supports 103 (1) models of EF lenses (including many earlier models), enhancing a photographer's creative options as well as maximizing the benefit of Dual Pixel CMOS AF in a variety of situations."The new EOS 70D Digital SLR camera is a game-changing DSLR model that incorporates advanced features for high-quality still and video capture and intuitive operation that allows photographers to evolve their creative vision from shooting still images to shooting moving images," said Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group, Canon U.S.A. "This camera's outstanding image quality combined with built-in wireless technology and popular creative functions and filters makes it easy to turn photos into works of art and share them immediately."Wireless ConnectivityThe EOS 70D Digital SLR camera's built-in wireless transmitter offers users several connectivity options to easily share their images. With the download of the free EOS Remote app2 from the Apple App Store or the Google Play store, users can connect to both iOS or AndroidTM smartphones and tablets3 to wirelessly transfer photos and videos from their camera to their device. They can also control aperture, shutter speed, and ISO from their smartphone. This camera also has the ability to connect directly to Canon's iMAGE GATEWAY4, making photos easily accessible and ready to share on social networking sites. In addition, the EOS 70D has the ability to connect wirelessly to computers, DLNA devices, Wi-Fi Certified Canon cameras and wireless PictBridge5 compatible printers, such as the PIXMA MG6320 Wireless Photo All-In-One printer model.Superb Still PerformanceFeaturing a new 20.2 megapixel APS-C Canon CMOS sensor and Canon's superb DIGIC 5+ Image Processor, as well as an extensive ISO range of 10012800 (expandable to 25,600), the EOS 70D Digital SLR camera is capable of producing sharp, detailed images, even in low-light conditions. And with high-speed continuous shooting of up to 7.0 frames per second (fps) united with a 19-point all cross-type AF system (including a high-precision f/2.8 dual cross-type AF center point), it allows photographers to easily capture accurately focused fast moving subjects. In addition, the camera's Scene Intelligent Auto Mode delivers optimized photos and offers outstanding scene detection for amazing results even when shooting in low light.The EOS 70D also incorporates a 63-zone Dual Layer IFCL (Intelligent Focus, Color & Luminance) AE metering system which enhances accurate exposures by minimizing random metering errors caused by varying subject colors and light sources. Other useful features include a built-in Electronic Level Function, Manual WB settings and AF Microadjustment.Enhanced EOS Full HD Movie Mode for Professional Quality VideoWith Canon's new Dual Pixel CMOS AF system and Movie Servo AF, the camera provides continuous phase-detection AF during video recording for quick and accurate focus tracking of moving subjects in the central 80 percent of the imaging area. While shooting with any of Canon's Stepping Motor (STM) lenses, such as the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens, motor noise from the lens is significantly reduced so the camera will only capture the stereo sound of the scene being recorded. For added flexibility, the EOS 70D Digital SLR camera also features a built-in stereo microphone with manual audio level adjustment and an attenuator function to reduce audio clipping, an accessory jack for external stereo microphones and Video Snapshot mode with editing for expanded video shooting options. When users select the EOS Movie Mode, the EOS 70D offers the ability to shoot in 1080p Full HD video up to 30 fps in either ALL-I or IPB codecs with optional embedded time code, matching the flexibility of other current EOS cameras such as the EOS-1D X, EOS 5D Mark III, and EOS 6D models.Expanding CreativityThe EOS 70D Digital SLR camera provides advanced amateur photographers and photo hobbyists looking to hone their creative and technical skills with an innovative range of in-camera imaging features such as High Dynamic Range, Multiple Exposure, Handheld Night Scene and HDR Backlight Control modes that allow for expanded creativity. The new camera is also equipped with built-in RAW Image Processing and Image Resizing functions.When any one of the seven Creative Filters is applied in Live View, users can preview the effect of the filter on the three-inch Vari-Angle Touch Screen monitor without having to shoot the image first. Users can pick from effects such as Art Bold, Fish-eye, Water-painting, Grainy Black and White, Soft Focus, Toy Camera and Miniature and choose the one that best expresses their creative vision before or after the image is captured.All of these features, when combined with a high-resolution Vari-angle Touch Screen 3.0-inch Clear View LCD monitor II with intuitive touch controls featuring multi-touch operation and Touch AF, make the it the ideal camera choice for photographers looking for the best in imaging technology.The EOS 70D is compatible with the full line of Canon EF and EF-S lenses as well as SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards, including Ultra High Speed (UHS-1) cards.AvailabilityThe EOS 70D Digital SLR camera is scheduled to be available in September 2013 for an estimated retail price of $1199.00 for the body alone and $1349.00 bundled with an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens or $1549.00 bundled with the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens. Also available will be a new Battery Grip BG-E14 that conveniently accepts up to two LP-E6 battery packs or a set of six AA batteries for an estimated retail price of $270.00.For more information about the Canon EOS 70D Digital SLR Camera, the full list of product specifications and compatible lenses, visit www.usa.canon.com/eos.CANON EMPOWERS THE MASSES TO TAKE BETTER PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEO WITH THE NEW EOS REBEL T3i AND EOS REBEL T3 DIGITAL SLR CAMERAS Two New Speedlites and a New EF-S Lens Round Out the Photographic Journey LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., February 7, 2011 Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, today announced the EOS Rebel T3i and EOS Rebel T3 Digital SLR Cameras, providing numerous intelligent high-end features at attractive price points. Complementing the award-winning EOS Rebel T2i DSLR, the EOS Rebel T3i, Canon's new flagship Rebel, offers fun and easy-to-use features for beginning photographers, and the EOS Rebel T3 provides a more attractively priced option for those looking to experience the pleasure of shooting with a DSLR camera. For the young enthusiast learning photography or the adult looking to learn more, Canon's new Feature Guide instruction will walk Rebel T3i users through functions and provide recommendations for various settings, a great hands-on learning tool. Point-and-Shoot users looking to step-up to a DSLR will enjoy the T3i camera's Scene Intelligent Auto mode, the most intuitive automatic camera mode available in a Canon Rebel camera to date, providing complete scene analysis and optimized settings. One of the most sought-after and requested features for a DSLR camera is now part of the new EOS Rebel T3i, Canon's three-inch Vari-Angle Clear View LCD screen, ideal for properly composing those difficult overhead shots. Comfortable, lightweight and affordable, Canon's new EOS Rebel T3 is a great camera to welcome users to the world of DSLR photography. "Everyone today is a photographer, and for those looking to capture stunning images and do more with photography, Canon has introduced the EOS Rebel T3i and T3, offering the right balance of high-end features and easy-to-use guidance at a great price. So regardless of experience level or budget, there is a Canon Rebel camera suited to a user's needs and lifestyle," stated Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies and Communications Group, Canon U.S.A. Boasting Canon's EOS HD video capture, 18-megapixel resolution, a three-inch Vari-Angle Clear View LCD screen, new Scene Intelligent Auto, new Video Snapshot technology and new Feature Guide instruction, the EOS Rebel T3i DSLR has plenty of reasons for Mom and Dad to step up to a DSLR. Canon's new EOS Rebel T3 DSLR camera offers users a small, lightweight interchangeable lens camera with fun options. The Rebel T3 features HD movie capture, 12-megapixel resolution and Canon's new informative Feature Guide, to help educate and instruct users as they capture great images, along with the inherent speed and low-light image quality of a Canon DSLR camera. Both new Rebel models are compatible with Canon's complete line of more than 60 Canon EF and EF-S lenses. New EOS Feature Guide Canon has also included a new EOS Feature Guide on both new Rebel cameras with an enhanced Quick Settings Screen that now includes detailed descriptions of camera settings. The EOS Feature Guide is designed to help first-time users and beginning enthusiasts better understand each camera setting with descriptions and guided recommendations for when to utilize certain settings. Along with an explanation of camera settings and modes, the Feature Guide includes easy-to-understand directions of how to use particular settings such as aperture adjustment in Canon's Creative Auto mode: Basic + Function Canon helps beginners get more creative with photography by letting even the most entry-level novice make camera adjustments with easy to understand setting options. In automatic shooting modes such as Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Action and Night Scene, Canon users can access a quick menu screen to make adjustments as per the scene's ambience. When shooting in one of Canon's "Basic Zones" users can make adjustments as per the scene's lighting or scene type. An easy-to-read menu lets you select an ambience setting from Vivid, Soft, Warm, Intense, Cool, Brighter, Darker to Monochrome, while a Lighting setting allows users to select from Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten light, Fluorescent light or Sunset. Rebel T3i Digital SLR Camera An A+ for Automatic Mode Canon aims to make everyone a better photographer and has enhanced the capabilities of the Rebel T3i's automatic mode with new Scene Intelligent Auto technology, re-branding the green mode dial setting with a boxed "A+" design. This new camera setting now takes Picture Style into account as part of the camera's "Auto" setting. By analyzing faces, colors, brightness, movement, and contrast, the camera will dynamically adjust picture-style parameters to match the subject and control vividness. Previously, the automatic setting on a Rebel DSLR adjusted exposure, focus, white balance, and Auto Lighting Optimizer, however on the new Rebel T3i, Picture Style Auto is also taken into account as part of the new Scene Intelligent Auto technology. By incorporating this fifth parameter the camera more intelligently analyzes scenes and adjusts settings based on the subject matter being shot. So when the camera is photographing a face it will reproduce more natural skin tones or blue skies for more vivid landscapes, a flashy red car for more saturated color and evening sunsets for more expressive images. Fun Rebel Features For the first time in a Rebel DSLR, the new Rebel T3i features a large Vari-Angle three-inch Clear View LCD screen with 1,040,000 dot/VGA resolution plus anti-reflective and smudge-resistant coatings for bright clear viewing from any angle. The large Vari-Angle screen helps compose low-angle or overhead shots whether capturing still images or Full HD video clips. Photographers will enjoy the convenience of capturing an overhead shot of a parade or low-angle shots of their children on the Vari-Angle screen. Canon's new EOS Rebel T3i DSLR gives creative photographers some fun in-camera tools that enable users to apply Creative Filters to images after they have been shot without altering the original file. Canon's new Creative Image Filters, familiar to Canon PowerShot and EOS 60D users, help make a great image more dynamic by creating an altered copy of the image through any of Canon's four artistic filter options: * The Soft Focus effect filter helps dramatize an image and smooth over shiny reflections. * The Grainy Black and White filter can give a different nostalgic perspective to any shot. * Canon's "Toy Camera" filter deliberately adds vignetting and color shift for a creative option when shooting a colorful scene. * Users can also make a scene appear like a small-scale model, simulating the look from a tilt-shift lens, with Canon's Miniature Effect filter, great when shooting any scene from a high vantage point. Each of these filters can be applied to a captured still image in-camera to create a second "filtered" JPEG version, leaving the original JPEG file unaffected. Another addition to the camera's Live View function is Canon's new Aspect Ratio feature whereby the Live View screen can display cropping lines for 1:1, 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratios in addition to the standard 3:2 ratio. These cropping lines make it easier to compose images in Live View, and they can help to expedite printing when using Canon's supplied Digital Photo Professional software. Custom aspect ratios are also applied to JPEG images captured directly in-camera. EOS HD Video Specs The EOS Rebel T3i with Full HD video capture at 1920 x 1080 resolution in selectable frame rates of 24p, 25p or 30p will grab the attention of film students and independent filmmakers alike. The Rebel T3i incorporates two Canon proprietary technologies for rendering amazing HD video, a DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor and a large APS-Csized CMOS sensor capturing fine detail and color with an amazing cinematic depth of field. The Rebel T3i DSLR allows for three video recording modes Full HD and HD in a 16:9 aspect ratio and Standard Definition (SD) in a 4:3 aspect ratio, all at selectable frame rates. EOS HD Video: Ready For A Close-Up When shooting Full HD video, the Rebel T3i digitally provides additional zoom power without sacrificing quality. The new Movie Digital Zoom feature, a first for Canon DSLRs, allows users to achieve 3x to 10x magnification while shooting Full HD video. Unlike standard digital zoom for still images, Movie Digital Zoom crops the video image directly from the CMOS sensor at Full HD resolution to preserve video quality and still provide amazing additional telephoto power beyond just the lens. The Movie Digital Zoom feature is great for those times when the lens isn't enough to get you in close, but this feature provides the extra boost without a loss in video quality so a child's smile on stage is just as clear and bright. EOS Video Snapshot Canon's new EOS Video Snapshot feature borrows some innovation from Canon's VIXIA line of camcorders for capturing, assembling and playing fun-to-watch video clips. EOS Video Snapshot enables users to capture the video highlights of family vacations, parties or milestone events, with the same ease as taking photos. Consumers can now record a series of two-, four- or eight-second video clips automatically. The scenes are assembled by the camera into continuous Video Snapshot Album files for easy playback and can even be further edited in camera or through Canon's Video Snapshot Task software on a compatible personal computer for added flexibility and fun. Valuable Additional Features Along with the adjustable LCD screen, the new EOS Rebel T3i DSLR features a class-leading 18-megapixel Canon CMOS sensor, a proprietary DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor, a 9-point Autofocus system and a 63-zone dual-layer metering system. Capable of capturing kids at play or wildlife on the move, the Rebel T3i can shoot up to 34 consecutive full resolution JPEG still images or up to 11 consecutive RAW images at speeds up to 3.7-frames-per-second to either SD, SDHC or new extended capacity SDXC memory cards. The Rebel T3i includes an ISO range from 100-6400, allowing it to capture beautiful images without the need for a flash during milestone events such as birthday celebrations, yet it still includes a built-in pop-up flash for those times requiring a little extra light. For the first time on a Rebel camera, the T3i features a built-in Integrated Speedlite Transmitter making it even easier to do multi-flash shoots and provide images with greater ambience. The new Integrated Speedlite settings are now even easier for beginners shooting with multiple flashes. Pricing and Availability The Canon EOS T3i Digital SLR camera is scheduled to be delivered to U.S. dealers in the beginning of March, and will be sold in a body-only configuration at an estimated retail price of $799.99. It will also be offered in a kit version with Canon's new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II zoom lens at an estimated retail price of $899.99. It will also be available in a second kit version with Canon's EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens at an estimated retail price of $1099.00. Rebel T3 Digital SLR Camera Canon is happy to introduce a chic camera for beginners to ease into the exciting world of DSLR photography and videography; the new EOS Rebel T3 Digital SLR camera. The Rebel T3 is designed to be the camera that can be expertly handled by anyone and allows great-looking photos to be taken with ease and style. The Rebel T3 is excellent in low-light shooting situations and simple to handle and operate. Putting big imaging power in a small body, the new EOS Rebel T3 DSLR features a 12.2-megapixel Canon CMOS image sensor, a proprietary DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor, a 9-point Autofocus system and a 63-zone dual-layer metering system. With individual pixels measuring roughly 10x larger than a pixel from a point-and-shoot camera sensor, the Rebel T3 is able to absorb more light with less noise, making it ideal for capturing high-quality images in dimly lit situations. The increased efficiencies in gathering light also make the camera better suited to freeze fast-moving objects such as capturing images of children at play at speeds up to 3-frames per second. Compatible with SD, SDHC or new extended capacity SDXC memory cards, the Rebel T3 also shoots 1280x720 HD movies for amazing image quality for both stills and video. The Canon Rebel T3 features an ISO range from 100-6400 for capturing beautiful images in various light settings while also including a built-in pop-up flash. Designed for easy operation through the camera's mode dial, users can go from taking great still images to great video quickly and easily, with simple to understand icons and buttons. Pricing and Availability The Canon EOS Rebel T3 Digital SLR camera is scheduled to be delivered to U.S. dealers at the end of March, and will be offered in a kit with Canon's new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II zoom lens at an estimated retail price of $599.99. New Kit Lenses Along with these DSLR cameras, Canon is also introducing a new kit lens, the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II zoom lens, the standard kit lens for both the Rebel T3i kit configuration and the Rebel T3 kit configuration. The new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II zoom lens features the wide-angle to mid-range zoom flexibility with the advantage of Canon's optical lens-shift image stabilization system that yields up to a full four stops of image-shake correction. The version II of this lens includes new IS algorithms to distinguish between normal photographing and when the camera is panning to automatically provide the optimal level of image-shake correction. New Canon Speedlite 320EX and Canon Speedlite 270EX II The new Canon Speedlite 320EX is designed to provide DSLR users with a lightweight and versatile external flash solution. Along with the new Speedlite 320EX regular flash functions, it includes a built-in LED continuous light option that is capable of providing full-time illumination for short distances when shooting video on a DSLR or PowerShot digital camera. Ideally paired with the new EOS Rebel T3i, the new Speedlite 320EX enables bounce flash shooting with six positions including ceiling bounce for vertical shooting, and rear-wall bounce. The Speedlite 320EX also includes a new remote firing function and can remote fire any EOS DSLR camera that has a built-in wireless remote control function or Integrated Speedlite Transmitter such as the new Rebel T3i, EOS 60D, or EOS 7D DSLRs. The new Speedlite 320EX provides photographers with all the great lighting options Speedlites are known for with the added capability to shoot HD video with a full-time LED light option. The new Canon Speedlite 270EX II, the successor to the popular 270EX Speedlite model, is a compact, lightweight external flash option for Canon cameras including select Canon PowerShot models. Ideal for use with the new EOS Rebel T3, the new Speedlite 270EX II uses only two AA batteries and enables bounce flash shooting with four position steps from 0 degrees to 90 degrees. Like Canon's high-end Speedlite flash models, the 270EX II allows users to control flash functions and input settings using the camera's LCD monitor. The flash also features a quick-lock mechanism and a metal mounting foot for secure and easy attachment and reliable contact. In addition to the features of 270EX model, the Speedlite 270EX II adds a remote firing function similar to that of the Speedlite 320EX. Both new Speedlites can also be used as slave flash units in E-TTL wireless autoflash configurations with other E-TTL compatible EOS and PowerShot cameras. Canon's Speedlite 270EX II is the new compact and versatile lighting tool for photographers empowering them with multiple light options, compact-size and portability. Pricing and Availability The Canon Speedlite 320EX is scheduled to be delivered to U.S. dealers in April for an estimated retail price of $249.99. The Canon Speedlite 270EX II is scheduled to be delivered to U.S. dealers in the beginning of April for an estimated retail price of $169.99.?NEW CANON EOS REBEL T5i DIGITAL SLR CAMERA PACKS PERFORMANCE WITH NEW CREATIVE CONTROLS MELVILLE, N.Y., March 21, 2013 Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is proud to introduce a new flagship model to its popular EOS Rebel line, the EOS Rebel T5i Digital SLR Camera. The incredible image quality and performance starts with an 18 megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor and Canon's superb DIGIC 5 Image Processor. Combined with an extensive ISO range of 10012800 (expandable to 25600 in H mode), the EOS Rebel T5i boasts crisp, detailed images, even in low-light conditions. With a continuous shooting speed of up to 5.0 frames per second (fps) united with 9 all cross- type AF focus points, the new EOS Rebel T5i allows photographers the opportunity to shoot with ease, even in challenging shooting situations. When shooting in Live View mode, the Hybrid CMOS AF system enables speedy and accurate autofocus for photos and video. Coupled with Canon's new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens, available in the standard kit lens bundle, the EOS Rebel T5i takes full advantage of the Stepping Motor (STM) technology, which allows the lens to smoothly and silently focus on the subject whether it is moving or standing still. When combined with the camera's high-resolution Vari-angle Touch Screen 3.0-inch Clear View LCD monitor II and intuitive touch controls, the EOS Rebel T5i stands as Canon's most "consumer- friendly" DSLR. "Built to make advanced photography creative and fun, the EOS Rebel T5i Digital SLR Camera gives users exceptional image quality and fast, intuitive operation along with creative functions to help advance photographic expression," said Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group, Canon U.S.A. Expand Your Creativity with New Advanced Features The EOS Rebel T5i provides amateur and advanced photographers looking to hone their creative and technical skills with a range of features that allow for crisp, clear images. Whether it is adding saturation to a vivid landscape or applying a unique, vintage touch to a portrait, users who want to express their creativity can experiment with different effects and settings, composing a shot, by using one of Canon's seven Creative Filters. When the Creative Filters are applied in Live View, users can preview the filter on the vari-angle three inch LCD touch screen without having to shoot the image first. Effects such as ArtBold, Water Painting, Grainy Black and White, Soft Focus, Toy Camera, Fish- Eye and Miniature let users pick and choose how to best express their creative vision before or after the image is captured. The EOS Rebel T5i features advanced shooting modes to take creative imaging even further. When using one of the advanced shooting modes such as Handheld Night Scene, HDR Backlight Control or Multi- Shot Noise Reduction, multiple images are taken and combined within the camera to help create the best quality image based off of the shots taken. Providing quick and easy accessibility, a new mode dial with Scene modes has been included, allowing users the flexibility to select the subject matter while the camera determines the optimal settings. Enhanced EOS Full HD Movie Mode The EOS Rebel T5i offers easy-to-use professional video capture. When users switch to EOS Full HD Movie mode, the EOS Rebel T5i offers the ability to shoot in 1080p Full HD video in a number of recording sizes and frame rates. With Canon's Hybrid CMOS AF System and Movie Servo AF, the camera provides continuous AF for focus tracking of moving subjects by helping to reduce the camera's need to "hunt", resulting in a quick and smooth continuous AF. While shooting with one of Canon's Stepping Motor (STM) lenses, such as the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens, the camera will only capture the stereo sound of the scene being recorded. For added flexibility, the EOS Rebel T5i also features a built-in stereo microphone with manual audio level adjustment to enhance sound quality. Expanded Lineup of STM Lenses Canon is expanding the lineup of STM lenses by adding one new lens, which now gives users three choices that will allow for the capture of stunning images and video with the EOS Rebel T5i the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM, the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM and the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5- 5.6 IS STM lens. The EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens offers high magnification in a compact and lightweight EF-S standard zoom lens with an optical image stabilizer for up to four equivalent stops for shake correction. When paired with the Hybrid CMOS AF, it allows for smooth and quiet, continuous AF for photo and video capturing - making it the perfect combination for preserving those once in a lifetime moments. Availability The EOS Rebel T5i Digital SLR camera is scheduled to be available in April for an estimated retail price of $749.99 for the body alone; $899.99 bundled with an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens kit, and $1,099.00 with the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens kit. The new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens also is also scheduled to be available separately in April at an estimated retail price of $249.99. CANON U.S.A. ANNOUNCES WORLD'S SMALLEST AND LIGHTEST DSLR CAMERA New EOS Rebel SL1 Digital SLR Camera Fuses Advanced Image Quality and Features into an Ultra-Portable Body MELVILLE, N.Y., March 21, 2013 Continuing the quest to deliver superb product innovations, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced the world's smallest and lightest DSLR* camera: the EOS Rebel SL1 Digital SLR Camera. It features a newly developed 18.0- megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor and high-performance DIGIC 5 Image Processor for exceptional image quality and speed. With its combination of lightweight size, ease of use and outstanding image quality, the EOS Rebel SL1 is perfect for users looking for the ideal camera to bring sightseeing on vacation or to capture the everyday. "The EOS Rebel SL1 Digital SLR Camera represents a new era in DSLR versatility: ultra-portable, full- featured DSLR cameras," said Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group, Canon U.S.A. "The EOS Rebel SL1 combines the high speed, high image quality and expanded shooting range of a DSLR camera, with the easy and fun usability of a point-and-shoot camera." Advanced Image Quality in a Compact Body As the world's smallest and lightest DSLR, the new camera body is 4.6" (w) x 3.57" (h) x 2.74" (d), and weighs only 14.36 oz.** In comparison, the EOS Rebel SL1 is approximately 25 percent smaller and 28 percent lighter than the EOS Rebel T4i digital camera. ??The EOS Rebel SL1 features an 18 megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor that performs exceptionally well in both bright and dimly lit shooting environments with an ISO range of 100-12800 (expandable to H: 25600) for photos and ISO-6400 (expandable to H: 12800) for video. Canon's DIGIC 5 Image Processor technology allows for exceptional image quality and shooting speed up to four frames per second (fps). The camera includes a new nine-point center cross-type autofocus (AF) system to help achieve fast, sharp focus. The new AF system also includes a new Hybrid CMOS AF II sensor, which provides a wider focus area when shooting photos or video in Live View mode, and a continuous AF speed that's increased from previous EOS models. To help capture video with ease, the EOS Rebel SL1 features Canon's Movie Servo AF, which provides continuous AF tracking of moving subjects. When shooting video with one of Canon's new STM lenses, such as the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM (available in the standard lens kit), Movie Servo AF takes advantage of the lens' stepping motor for smooth and quiet continuous AF. The camera is capable of Full HD shooting in a number of recording sizes and frame rates, and enables easy manual control of exposure, focus and Live View features. The combination of Canon's new Hybrid CMOS AF system II and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens is ideal for shooting video helping to ensure only the sounds of the scene are recorded. Allowing for clear and easy viewing even in bright environments, the Touch Screen three inch Clear View LCD monitor II provides a rich and expansive display as well as providing intuitive touch panel operation. Creativity at your Fingertips The EOS Rebel SL1 encourages users to explore their creative side with a wide array of features for convenience and simple shooting. The EOS Rebel SL1 is equipped with Scene Intelligent Auto Mode, an advanced function that detects faces, colors, brightness, movement, contrast, distance and other factors and automatically adjusts and selects the exposure method needed. The results are photos with a wide dynamic range, ideal for users without advanced photography knowledge or experience. Users can also access advanced imaging features like the new Effect Shot mode, which automatically creates two different shots, one with a selected creative filter and one without. In addition, Creative Filters and Background Blur Simulation can now be displayed in real time during Live View shooting. Editing photos is also a snap with the Rebel SL1's in-camera editing and cropping functionality. This feature allows users to view and crop the image using the camera's LCD touch screen and save the edited version as a separate file. For those who would like to take beautiful photos with ease, the EOS Rebel SL1 offers a variety of scene modes to explore. New special scene modes include Kids, Food and Candlelight, giving users advanced presets to help ensure the best possible photos even under difficult shooting conditions. Pricing and Availability The new EOS Rebel SL1 Digital SLR Camera is scheduled to be available in April for an estimated retail price of $649.99 for the body alone or $799.99 bundled with the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM kit lens.Verizon Wireless Unveils The CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE Advanced Ruggedized Android Smartphone by CASIOCASIO G'zONE COMMANDO(R) 4G LTE. (PRNewsFoto/CASIO G'zOne)BASKING RIDGE, N.J., June 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless is pleased to announce the release of Verizon's first 4G LTE Android rugged Smartphone, the CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE. With global roaming capabilities that enable network access in over 220 countries, the CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE is a durable device, which is designed to withstand the most severe conditions. The CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE is a combination of toughness and functionality that is essential for an adventurous life in both work and play. By improving upon G'zOne, CASIO delivers the brand's most durable and sophisticated mobile to date.Propelled by a countless array of possibilities, the CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE remains true to CASIO's reputation towards excellence and technological innovation. High-speed processing allows users to browse the Internet, stream video and music, and video chat via the inclusion of an advanced Dual Core 1.5Ghz processor and Android 4.0.Having undergone rigorous military standards testing, the CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE is designed to survive the stresses and strains of everyday life with shock, water and dust resistance capabilities. To enhance the user's experience while in compromising conditions, the CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE also offers Glove Mode, an interface that allows easy use of key phone features while wearing gloves that otherwise wouldn't be possible.The CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE can connect to the G-SHOCK Watch (model GB6900AA) for instant updates and notifications. Receive notifications for calls, messages, and emails. Use the Find Me feature to find your missing phone when in close proximity, or get a notification when you walk too far away from your phone.The LIVE G cloud service allows G'zOne users to share sensor information on the map and to share locations for travel and sport activities, trekking records, photos and more using the newly enhanced social media application G'zWORLD.For the CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE, CASIO has also improved its patented G'zGEAR multi-sensor tool to link with the LIVE G cloud service allowing users to build a database of their experiences with the natural world.For more information on the CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE or for other Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com. Customers can visit www.CasioGzOne.com to experience the CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE.Key features:Verizon's 1st 4G LTE Rugged Android Smartphone Meets Military Standards 810G Shock (Drop 1.5m), Immersion (1m, 30min), Dust, Vibration, Salt Fog, Humidity, Solar Radiation, Low Pressure, and High and Low Temperature. The G'zOne Commando 4G LTE display uses durable Corning Gorilla Glass 2LIVE G a cloud service for G'zOne users enhances your outdoor life.Enrich your outdoor experience with the Barometer, Earth Compass, Walking Counter, and more by using G'zGEAR. Share your locations and photos with your friends using G'zWORLD.Glove Mode use key features, even when wearing glovesNFC with ISIS Mobile WalletA Global Ready GSM (Quad-band) / UMTS (Quad-band)BLE Link to G-SHOCK watchBluetooth low energy technology (v4.0) Profiles supported; Find me, Alert Notification, Phone Alert Status, Proximity, Time Profiles for watch communicationHigh-security encryption for corporate email, SD stored data, contacts, etc. Disable camera function through EAS settings, device password enabled policyDual Front Speaker / Dual MIC Noise SuppressionFM RadioEmail features include Verizon.net, MS Exchange, Yahoo, AOL, Windows Live Hotmail, otherUnique features:G'zGEAR operates in seven tools:(Newly added)Barometer Forecast the weather from pressure trends, utilize Pressure Tendency mode that shows the current atmospheric pressure and graph of the pressure trend. The measurements from the pressure sensor can be used to predict weather trends. Then you can upload the pressure data to LIVE G. Pressure Chart Map the pressure trend data collected through LIVE G. Use this local weather information to help in your field activities.Earth Compass Functions as a standard compass, the GPS shows the distance and direction to several domestic and international landmarks. By entering the location in the compass, you can display the bearing and approximate distance to a target, which is supported by a gyroscope sensor for more accurate measurements.Walking Counter Measures steps, distance and energy consumption, and total steps for the day, week or month. It also provides virtual trail functions allowing you to walk the seven continents.Tides Access current tide information before planning an activity. With LIVE G you can find out tide information at various nautical locations.Thermometer Displays the current temperature. By linking with Live G, you can compare your local temperature to various cities across the country.Sun / Moon Checks the time of the next sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset, and tracks the moon phases for your current location.Star Gazer Utilizes GPS to display the stars and constellation names based on the current season and timeG'zWORLD allows users to share their map location for travel or sports activities, along with photos, trekking records, and more with other G'zOne users. Log book includes:Activity pins record favorite activities on a map with comments and photos.Route pins keep a record of progress while running, trekking or travelling and outline key points on a route.People pins locate your twitter friends and people in personal contactsPricing and availability:The CASIO G'zOne Commando 4G LTE will be available online at www.verizonwireless.com and in Verizon Wireless stores starting June 27 for $99.99 after $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.Business customers who want to purchase the device can contact their Business Sales Representatives at 1-800-VZW-4BIZ.About Verizon WirelessVerizon Wireless operates the nation's fastest, most advanced 4G network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 104 million total wireless connections, including more than 88 million retail customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 85,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.About NEC CASIO Mobile Communications, Ltd.NEC CASIO Mobile Communications provides innovative mobile handsets for major wireless providers in Japan and the U.S.A. The company was established in 2010 after spinning off from NEC Corporation's mobile handset business. Later that year, it merged with Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. a joint venture between Casio Computer Co., Ltd., and Hitachi, Ltd. NEC CASIO Mobile Communications aims to build an enriched communication linked society utilizing mobile handset solutions crafted from imagination and creativity. For more information, go to http://www.nec-casio-mobile.com/ or http://www.casiogzone.comFor years, construction workers, thrill-seekers, and everyone else unfettered by cubicle walls have had rubberized, rugged handsets to keep them company on the road. Until fairly recently, though, the price of durability has been settling for a . And frankly, the selection of smartphones remains pretty sparse today. ($199 on contract) isn't the first quasi-invincible Android device, but it is the first to be sold on Verizon's network. As expensive as a flagship handset, the Commando offers military-grade resilience against drops, water, extreme cold, and other elements. But is it capable enough for everything else? Let's find out. HardwareWith a name like "Commando," would it really surprise you to learn this is one macho handset? Particularly compared to the , a phone compact enough that you could mistake it for a garden-variety Android device, the Commando has an aggressively industrial aesthetic that combines rubberized surfaces, red accents, and loads of exposed screws. And yet, for such a tough device, there's something oddly toy-like about it. That's mostly because its sides are lined in plastic -- a material that also makes this handset lighter than you'd expect.In part, though, it's the small screen that makes the Commando look like a less-than-serious phone. Given its heft (5.1 x 2.6 x 0.6 inches), it's hard not to feel that Casio squandered some precious space. For a phone this imposing, the capacitive screen is surprisingly modest at 3.6 inches, and it's more cumbersome to hold than, say, , which boasts a whopping 4.5-inch display. Next to our screen, the Commando's 480 x 800 screen is brighter and more vibrant, though at times the touchscreen -- encased in 1-mm-thick -- can be vexing to use. After about a week of testing, we realized that we had subtly adapted our behavior, and learned to apply extra pressure while swiping and tapping objects. As it turns out, without that extra pressure you'll have some irritating (and fairly frequent) moments where you flick the screen and nothing happens.Taking a tour around the body, you'll find a covered 3.5mm headphone jack and a MicroUSB port, along with a volume rocker, programmable key, camera launcher, and power button. The port covers are easy to lift, particularly if you can wedge a fingernail under there. And though they stay put, these details, too, also make the phone feel deceptively less solid than it is. Removing the back cover, is also easy: just flip a lever to the unlock position and scrape the lid off. To re-secure it, just press the seven dots printed on the battery cover and slide the lever back into the lock position. Pressing those spots and hearing the lid make a satisfying click is one of the high points in the user experience, at least where tactility is concerned.Although sound from the two front-facing speakers was loud, phone calls sounded weak on our end. Ironically, we had a difficult time hearing our callers while chatting outdoors. Even when we retreated inside, though, we still had to crank the volume to make out what our friends were saying. But while the call quality isn't exactly befitting of an outdoorsy phone, the 1460mAH battery is well-suited to the challenge of lasting through a day in the rough. The phone's rated for 7.5 hours of use, and actually, we still had juice to spare after a full business day of obsessively checking email and Twitter, looking up directions in Google Maps, and playing Angry Birds during our commute and long wait at the doctor's office. If you were already in the market for a durable phone, this is the single best reason to consider the Commando. Sure, the Defy has stellar longevity, too, but with the Commando you won't have to wait long to start using it after you start recharging your dead battery.RuggednessThe Commando meets the military's 801G specifications for water, dust, shock, salt fog, vibration, solar radiation, and temperature extremes. If you were expecting to see a stunt video of us running the phone over with a cement truck, well, we hate to disappoint you, but the phone's durability is more appropriate for protecting it from mundane clumsiness. As an 810G-certified handset, the Commando can survive immersion in meter-deep (3.3-foot) water for up to 30 minutes, a series of 26 four-foot drops, and temperatures between -25 and 85 degrees Celcius (-13 to 185 degrees Farenheit).In short, it works as advertised. The phone's performance remained unchanged after we left it in our freezer for half an hour and left it submerged in water for the same period of time. And though we stopped short of throwing it out of our fifth-floor office window, we weren't able to scratch the display during our week with it.SoftwareThe Commando runs Android 2.2. (Froyo), though out of the box, at least, it feels like a crippled version of the OS. Verizon made Bing the default search engine, though you can always add a Google search widget to one of the five home screens (and, you know, trash the Bing one if you so choose). It also replaced the stock Gmail app with a proprietary mail application that syncs with Gmail accounts, along with Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, AOL, Exchange, and Verizon.net addresses. That variety's nice, but the app just isn't as well designed as the standard one -- it doesn't group messages in conversations, and you have to press a soft key to get to any reply or forwarding options.Fortunately, you can add your Google account through Android Market, at which point the phone will download the Gmail and YouTube apps, as well as copy the contact list from any previous Android handset you've owned. Alas, Google Maps doesn't come preinstalled, and you'll have to download it manually.One thing you can't recover is the stock Android keyboard. Unlike other Android handsets, which list it as an option even if or another third-party option is the default, the Commando gives you one choice: the XT9 / . Fortunately, it's a pretty darn good one. Essentially, it does the same thing as Swype, letting you trace out the word on the virtual keyboard without taking your finger off. (Of course, you can peck at each letter, too, which works smoothly.) The traceable keyboard is accurate, though be warned that there is a learning curve. You have to be precise about where you put your finger, and make sure you linger on a letter before gliding on to the next. As with Swype though, the word prediction isn't all that smart. For instance, in the photo above you can see that when we typed "helo" by mistake, "hello" wasn't among the top suggestions. Similarly, if you get the first letter of a word wrong (say, "b" instead of "v"), spellcheck won't offer words starting with "v," even if you spell the rest of the word correctly. With this keyboard, at least, the suggestions are listed in a horizontal panel sitting just above the keyboard -- a much less intrusive approach than Swype's predictive spelling, which pops up in the center of the screen.The Commando also takes liberties with the home screen (the default of five, that is), adding a flip-out menu of shortcuts for contacts, email, messaging, voice control, and the calendar app. To be honest, we didn't find much use for this, since we're fans of loading our primary home screen with shortcuts for the apps we use the most.Being a rugged phone and all, Casio also bundled a handful of home-brewed apps geared toward outdoorsy type, including a compass, pedometer, star gazer, runner's training companion, thermometer, so-called Trip Memory, sunrise / sunset tracker, and another that keeps tabs on the tides. Although you can install widgets for these, you can also find them inside the main G'zgear app. Of the bunch, the only one we found ourselves using repeatedly was the thermometer, which reports both city and room temperatures. All in all, the suite is gimmicky in the way was, but at least it's easy to ignore these extraneous applications if you're so inclined.More egregiously, Verizon also bundled its share of apps you didn't ask for, with a bloatware list that includes City ID, Guided Tours, InnoPath Active Care, Verizon's mobile IM app, My Verizon Mobile, NFL Mobile, VZ Navigator, and a quartet of V Cast applications (music, tones, videos, and a store).CameraThe ironic thing about the Commando's 5 megapixel camera is that the only way to get decent shots is to call a time-out in your active lifestyle. It's not enough to stop walking and try your darndest to keep your hands still -- you also have to stay frozen for a few seconds after you tap the shutter button. In the case of the below photo, for instance, we paused briefly to snap some foliage, and continued on our merry way. Only later did we realize we hadn't lingered long enough to get a clean shot of the greenery.Occasionally, when we concentrated hard enough, we walked away with a crisp picture.As for quality, the color reproduction is fairly accurate, though the camera still stumbles in a wide range of shooting scenarios, from harsh backlighting to close-up photography. Meanwhile, our video looks like a stop-motion movie, with people and cars chugging along at a far more sluggish speed than in real life.Wrap-upCasio's G'zOne Commando earns its stripes with its brawny design, which resists scratches, falls, spills, and stints in the freezer as promised. But what it boasts in battery life and sheer fortitude, it lacks in call quality, core Google apps, and a responsive touch experience. In a sense, we can't knock the slightly poky display too much. The Commando is a fine, if not good, phone for what it is. After all, if you're buying this, it's because you crave durability first, and not because you're a benchmark junkie. Still, we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that the Motorola Defy also offers impressive battery life -- along with a more discreet design (and, to be fair... ). If you can tolerate -- or even learn to love -- the Commando's cheesy man's man design and are willing to download core Google apps manually, you shouldn't get too hung up on the rest of those niggles in our cons list.CBS LAUNCHES FULL-EPISODE STREAMING APP FOR iPad AND iPhone App Offers CBS's Leading Primetime Programming Eight Days After Broadcast Daytime and Late Night Programming Available Day After Broadcast App To Expand To All Major Mobile and Tablet Platforms Later This Year NEW YORK March 14, 2013 CBS Corporation today announced the launch of the new CBS App for iPhone and iPad users, offering full-episode streaming of CBS programming from primetime, daytime and late night. The new app further extends the reach of the shows' audience, providing more flexibility and opportunity for catch-up viewing and opens yet another monetization window for the Company's industry-leading content. The CBS App is available for immediate download from the App Store, and offers original and second-screen features for CBS's popular shows such as NCIS, THE GOOD WIFE, CSI, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS and THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, among many others. Daytime and late night programming will be available within 24 hours after initial airing, while most primetime programs will be available on the eighth day after broadcast. CBS also announced it would introduce similar full-episode streaming apps for all major mobile and tablet platforms later this year, including Android and Windows 8. "We have been methodically and strategically finding new ways to satiate the appetite for our content on new platforms, while tapping into the tremendous revenue provided by doing so," said Leslie Moonves, President and CEO, CBS Corporation. "Our announcement today achieves both of these objectives, while protecting our very healthy current ecosystem. In addition by making our shows available on all the leading mobile devices out there we are confident we will bring a whole new set of viewers to the CBS Television Network and build upon our standing as the #1 network in the business." "Our online viewers not only want to watch their favorite shows on multiple devices, they want deeper engagement with the programs they love," said Jim Lanzone, President of CBS Interactive. "The new CBS App gives them the best of both worlds, letting people watch CBS shows on the best screen available for them, with a host of extra features that give them a richer viewing experience whenever and wherever they tune in." The new CBS App will integrate the existing CBS Connect App experience by the start of the Fall TV season. At that time, the CBS App will offer: integrated social feeds; live events that allow fans to engage directly with talent; and second-screen experiences synched to the broadcast with additional content for select shows like CSI, CRIMINAL MINDS, HAWAII FIVE-O and NCIS: LOS ANGELES. Buick is the official launch partner for the new CBS App, bringing users CBS programming with reduced commercial interruption for the first several weeks after launch. The new app further extends the CBS.com experience to viewers, where the website has led all other broadcast networks in terms of unique viewers for 51 consecutive months (comScore Video Metrix, February 2013).CERN experiments observe particle consistent with long-sought Higgs boson Geneva, 4 July 2012. At a seminar held at CERN1 today as a curtain raiser to the year's major particle physics conference, ICHEP2012 in Melbourne, the ATLAS and CMS experiments presented their latest preliminary results in the search for the long sought Higgs particle. Both experiments observe a new particle in the mass region around 125-126 GeV. "We observe in our data clear signs of a new particle, at the level of 5 sigma, in the mass region around 126 GeV. The outstanding performance of the LHC and ATLAS and the huge efforts of many people have brought us to this exciting stage," said ATLAS experiment spokesperson Fabiola Gianotti, "but a little more time is needed to prepare these results for publication." "The results are preliminary but the 5 sigma signal at around 125 GeV we're seeing is dramatic. This is indeed a new particle. We know it must be a boson and it's the heaviest boson ever found," said CMS experiment spokesperson Joe Incandela. "The implications are very significant and it is precisely for this reason that we must be extremely diligent in all of our studies and cross-checks." "It's hard not to get excited by these results," said CERN Research Director Sergio Bertolucci. " We stated last year that in 2012 we would either find a new Higgs-like particle or exclude the existence of the Standard Model Higgs. With all the necessary caution, it looks to me that we are at a branching point: the observation of this new particle indicates the path for the future towards a more detailed understanding of what we're seeing in the data." The results presented today are labelled preliminary. They are based on data collected in 2011 and 2012, with the 2012 data still under analysis. Publication of the analyses shown today is expected around the end of July. A more complete picture of today's observations will emerge later this year after the LHC provides the experiments with more data. The next step will be to determine the precise nature of the particle and its significance for our understanding of the universe. Are its properties as expected for the long-sought Higgs boson, the final missing ingredient in the Standard Model of particle physics? Or is it something more exotic? The Standard Model describes the fundamental particles from which we, and every visible thing in the universe, are made, and the forces acting between them. All the matter that we can see, however, appears to be no more than about 4% of the total. A more exotic version of the Higgs particle could be a bridge to understanding the 96% of the universe that remains obscure. "We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature," said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. "The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics, which will pin down the new particle's properties, and is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe." Positive identification of the new particle's characteristics will take considerable time and data. But whatever form the Higgs particle takes, our knowledge of the fundamental structure of matter is about to take a major step forward.With wrapped up, it's safe to say that audio wasn't exactly a hallmark of the show in the gadgety sense. As a whole, manufacturers brought their latest creations, but even calling most of them evolutionary would be a stretch. That point was confirmed when Sennheiser, an audio maven, focused its attention on its rare headphone system -- something manufactured decades ago. This year, the show felt like a minefield of updates and lineup extensions, with companies -- and -- exclaiming, "me too!" When Parrot unveiled last year it was crazy to see all that tech jammed into a pair of headphones, but that quickly became the norm. Now, it's totally common to see the likes of NFC, inductive charging and wireless connectivity in audio gear. It wasn't a total snooze fest, though. Sure, nothing really stood out the way an could, but that doesn't mean it won't be a solid year for audio. However, it may just be a bit boring now that good sound and the latest tech are being brought together at every corner. Join us after the break for this year's sonic standouts. Skullcandy Crusher On the gadget-laden headphone front, we saw some interesting sensory technology. Skullcandy introduced its latest vibrating headphones, , which we found to be surprisingly pleasing in our initial ears-on usage. The rumbling feeling felt to our Managing Editor, Darren Murph, more like a fairly accurate, audio-enhancing sensation (as Skullcandy describes it), rather than annoying buzzing. That said, it will likely prove better for movies and games, not extended listening sessions -- unless you're a basshead, of course. Better yet, the headphones are battery-powered, but the rumbling effect will still function if your juice runs out. A $100 price point will make the deal even sweeter come March. AblePlanet & ViviTouch smart haptics gaming headset Taking things a step further, ViviTouch and AblePlanet showed us their progress toward a . We've seen the former's work on in the past, and seeing it come to the audio side of things is exciting. Rather than being stuck with a usual vibration motor, a thin electroactive polymer that can precisely mimic various kinds of rumbling is embedded in the earcups. It's definitely a few steps up from what we've heard in the past, and hopefully it will make our in-game sound more immersive sooner than later. Panasonic bone conduction headphones Then there was Panasonic with its Bluetooth-equipped . Again, not the first time we've seen anything like this, but a solid -- and interesting -- effort nonetheless. Looking similar to earbuds, the sound emitting portions actually rest just in front of the ears under your temples. Our editor on the floor, James Trew, decided it was extremely hard to hear given all the loudness around him, adding that even a few times louder would likely still not be enough. It's a prototype as of this writing, though you might find them in stores later this year for about $200 if all goes according to plan. Project Daisy Perhaps the most interesting bit of audio news wasn't even hardware -- albeit from a company most known for its headphones. Following its Mog acquisition and teases about a collaboration with , Beats Electronics officially announced its ready to take the subscription music streaming segment by storm. There are really no concrete details, but will be its more personable answer to the likes of Spotify -- something that it claims will be much better for the music listener than what's currently available. It certainly has the brand power behind it, so we'll see what happens come later this year.Selecting the best in show is no easy task, because CES covers such a crazy range of devices: refrigerators, tablets, smartphones and even technologically advanced cutlery. This year was no different. We've combed our and narrowed it down to the biggest announcements that had us chattering at this year's show. Join us after the break for CES 2013's very best. Best in HDTVs: Sony's 56-inch Ultra HD OLED One of the narratives (and coming out of) CES 2013 was whether OLED or 4K TVs represented the best of the high-priced displays filling manufacturer's high-end product slots this year. We saw many great displays and connected products at CES 2013 but our pick for best in show is the one that made the fewest compromises: . It does have the drawback of being without a release date or possible price -- hey, what happened to that from last year? -- but putting out an image in which we found no flaws pushed this one to the top. Other contenders included Panasonic's new top-of-the-line ZT plasmas, Samsung's and LG's , but when we're thinking about what the best thing we saw this year was, there's no question that this is it. Best in Gaming: Razer Edge was the most exciting gaming news out of CES 2013. Not just because it's a powerful gaming computer (it is), but also because of its modularity. That it can be used as a standalone tablet, as well as a portable game console, as well as a home game console is extremely appealing. The Edge takes an open platform and combines it with the comfort of gaming consoles -- two great tastes that taste great together. Except this is actually more like four or five tastes that taste great together. Best in Tablets: Panasonic 4K 20-inch tablet We hadn't even heard whispers about this prototype before CES, but it quickly became the thing showgoers were gushing over. Sure, it's really heavy and the battery life is likely quite poor, but who cares? The display quality, impressive brushed-metal back and bezel and -- to quote our own Jon Fingas -- the "audacity of Panasonic to build something like this" was mighty compelling. The booth display had the tablets set up demoing architectural applications and remote photo shooting work. We'd take either thank you very much. Best in Smartphones: Sony Xperia Z What's a modern trade show without at least a couple handset launches? Unfortunately, Mobile World Congress trumps CES for cell launches, but that doesn't mean this show was without some magic. The Sony Xperia Z's 5-inch 1080p display and the new sensor for HDR video capture plus the fact that it is waterproof helped it shine in our opinion. The overall look and feel of the device is head and shoulders above anything else we've seen from Sony; they've stepped from wobbly plastics to a premium feel. Carrier specifics and exact launch date are still being hashed out but look for the Sony Xperia Z this year sometime in Q1. Best in Laptops: Lenovo Yoga 11S Given that Intel's battery-saving chips won't be shipping for a few months yet, it's pretty clear the best laptop of 2013 is yet to come. For the time being, though, our favorite notebook of CES and the new year would have to be Lenovo's . It offers the same comfy keyboard and versatile form factor we admired on the , except it's been cut down to a more compact size (one that's easier to use in tablet mode, we'd wager). At the same time, unlike the similarly named Yoga 11, it runs full Windows 8, not RT, and is powered by a more robust laptop-grade processor. Lenovo's shape-shifting was also a serious contender, what with its reversible display, but we have a feeling ThinkPad diehards are going to loathe that new buttonless trackpad. Best in Automotive: Ford AppLink Developer Program The story leading up to CES on the automotive front was self-driving cars, but that ended up being a bit of a bust. proved to be nothing more than a research vehicle, and was limited to say the least. The biggest story, then, was instead one of software, with both GM and Ford announcing developer programs. It is that shows the most potential, however, enabling developers to easily upgrade their existing smartphone apps to interact with the company's SYNC AppLink. Most important: it's totally free. Best in Wearables: Pebble smart watch CES has seen its fair share of smart watches in the past, as just about every manufacturer has offered at least one design in an attempt to make the genre popular. However, the might be the first such device to make consumers stand up and take notice -- heck our own pegged the Pebble as hands down her favorite gadget at the show. The sealed polycarbonate face and bezel, plain English time and stellar build quality are part of what makes it really compelling. Other standouts include the MagSafe-like adapter and waterproofing up to some five atmospheres of pressure (that's about 160 feet.) The Pebble appeared on Kickstarter early last year and quickly raised ; it's now set to ship January 23rd, after multiple delays. Best in Utensils: HAPILABS HAPIfork (and spoon) At first glance the HAPIfork seems more novelty than tech -- and may well prove to be -- but it definitely stepped away from the norm and garnered a pile of attention. The idea is you use the fork as you normally would, but it keeps track of how long you eat, how quickly and how many bites you take. It then shares these metrics with a Runtastic-like site. Eat too quickly and the fork or spoon -- the end is detachable -- will vibrate to let you know to slow down a touch. The $99 HAPIfork ships in Q2 this year. Best of the Rest: Tactus morphing touchscreen ' morphing touchscreen was quite likely our all-around favorite device at the show. It combines a great idea with interesting potential and that full-on science fiction wow when you first see the "keyboard" inflate. Tactus hopes to see products shipping with its tactile touchscreen this year in devices ranging from phones to devices for the visually impaired. We wish them well and look forward to checking out what may eventually come of this technology.CES is done for another year, but before we can drop the microphone, we need to put together a reminisci-package to summarize the week in notebook computing. This year's show was chock-full with Ultrabooks, leading many to believe that full-fat notebooks are going the way of the Dodo. However, Intel's feels that rumors of the laptop's demise at the hands of the Ultrabook are greatly exaggerated -- seeing the latter as merely a subset of the overall mobile PC firmament. Intel announced its power-sipping and revealed its highly desirable reference design, which offered us a tantalizing glimpse of what future hardware could be like. However, before we get to that, we need to deal with the hardware hitting stores this year, so if you'd like to know more, follow us after the break. Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S Of all of the various Ultrabook concepts, four-way device has the most potential. In reality, however, the came with a few issues, but we're hoping that the company will at least bring the latest model's keyboard up to its traditionally high standards. Unlike the Windows RT-based Yoga 11, this version runs full Windows 8 and gets a beefier 1,600 x 900 IPS display. It will also accommodate up to 8GB of RAM along with a 128GB SSD. If there's a downside, it's that the company hasn't revealed whether it'll pack Ivy Bridge or Haswell internals -- but we hope it's the latter for that bargain starting price of $799. NEC LaVie X When it comes to super-thin devices, no matter how many times we're burned, we still come back for more. The latest impossibly thin Ultrabook that wants our hearts (and wallets) is . We're a bit light on the specs front, except that it'll be based on and rock a 1,920 x 1,080 display. What we can say is that it certainly looks exciting, and we'll lament the fact that it's currently tipped to be exclusive to Japan. Anyone fancy bringing one back for us the next time they take a trip that way? HP Pavilion Sleekbook If you produce thin-and-light laptops that don't meet Intel's ever-stringent requirements -- namely using the company's components inside -- then you don't get to use the name. That's why this device can be found on the shelf marked as a "Sleebook." Packing a 15.6-inch, 1,336 x 768 display (with optional touchscreen), along with a replaceable battery, AMD A6 CPU and 4GB of RAM, it will go on sale later this month for $499. Samsung Series 7 Chronos We were torn between selecting and this unit, but decided to show the latter some of our well-earned love. For performance nuts, the most eye-catching laptop at the show must have been . Sitting on a gilded throne atop the company's laptop line, it comes with a 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 3635QM CPU and a -- making it capable of handling anything you throw at it. Its 21mm-thick body may be a tad hefty if you're used to noodling around on a thin-and-light device, but inside that chassis lies a body that promises a fantastic 11 hours of battery life. The company won't talk about pricing or availability, but hey, this is Samsung -- we can't imagine it dragging its feet too much. Lenovo ThinkPad Helix Lenovo's 11.6-inch Ultrabook with a reversible display offers a slightly different experience to the equivalent Yoga. For one, it gets a bundled stylus and ditches the hardware buttons on its trackpad in favor of emphasized use of the TrackPoint. Secondly, it's much more powerful, capable of supporting a Core i7 CPU, LTE and a promised 10 hours of battery life. And thirdly, the company is ushering in a new era with a buttonless trackpad, which might grate on passionate ThinkPad diehards. It will go on sale in February and set you back $1,499.The tablet landscape has changed greatly in , at least if you gauge what we've seen on the CES show floor. The 2012 expo was led mostly by high-end Android tablets. This year, Windows 8 understandably garnered much more of the spotlight now that it's available, while Google's platform mostly surfaced in the budget category, where it was much more prevalent than before. Whatever the platform, we saw our fair share of experimentation -- some companies weren't happy with just a spec bump in a familiar form factor. Check past the break for some of the more daring (or at least well-executed) examples from CES 2013. Panasonic 4K tablet There's no denying it: from a pure technology perspective, prototype leads the CES pack. Once you've seen that many pixels in a much denser area than a , it's hard to look at any other screen, let alone other tablets, the same way. That Panasonic even treats it as a tablet is equally audacious, as the 20-inch LCD and Core i5 processor are closer to what we'd expect from a desktop. The company doesn't have a definite release date or a price, but we'll honestly be happy if the 4K tablet ships at all -- it's a classic example of pushing technology to the limit. Microsoft Surface Pro Although the wasn't on the official CES itinerary, it was undoubtedly one of the stars of the show. Many Windows fans have been holding out for the Pro as the "real" Microsoft-designed tablet, and our early impressions suggest that's what they'll get. Going Pro overcomes the performance issues of the , throws in a much sharper display and introduces uncommonly intuitive pen input. It's too early to say whether or not buyers will be willing to forgive the Pro's relative heft or shorter anticipated battery life (compared to the RT-based version), but it may represent the definitive Windows 8 experience. Acer Iconia B1-A71 Why is the modest on a list full of heavyweights? Because it's a $150 Android tablet from a major manufacturer. While Acer's modest component choices and build quality won't bowl over those of us who can splurge on an , that's really not the point -- it's that many can soon afford a dual-core, -toting slate where they might have had to settle for an outdated device, or nothing at all. Remember, Google's is both more expensive and simply unavailable in many parts of the world. Virtually any solidly built device that brings technology to the masses is noteworthy in our book. Vizio 10-inch tablet with Tegra 4 Vizio's may trail Samsung's in the super-resolution Android tablet wars, but it has an ace up its sleeve in NVIDIA's . Having two extra Cortex-A15 cores and next-generation graphics could make better use of a 2,560 x 1,600 display. We'll no doubt see other tablets like this in the future, and Vizio has yet to even commit to a launch -- still, there's a certain amount of credit due for being first. Archos 97 Titanium HD Archos gave us a surprise toward the end of CES with its , and most of all with its 97 Titanium HD. While was the first with a very high-resolution 2,048 x 1,536 display in a 4:3 aspect ratio, Archos' 9.7-inch slate does so at just a $249 price. We'd be tempted to accept the plastic build quality and potentially slower dual-core processor if they lead to a much gentler hit to the pocketbook.It's been over three years since Microsoft a new version of Windows Media Center, and while some have declared the platform dead, the ecosystem lives on in companies like Ceton. Besides continuing to support Media Center, releasing new tuners and developing software, the company is now the first to introduce an extender in four years. The primary function of the $179 extender is the same as those that came before it: to bring the full-featured Windows Media Center experience to more TVs in the house while centralizing all your media on a single PC. Until now our favorite extender has been the Xbox 360, but it retails for $20 more and the power supply alone is bigger than the entire Echo, so perhaps there's room for innovation here? We'll tackle all of that after the break. Hardware What's missing is integrated WiFi, and we understand why. Unlike the , the Ceton Echo is super small. Up front you'll only notice the company's very tasteful illuminated white logo. There's also a small window for the IR receiver, but you can't see it because it blends into the black front. Around back you have Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, Toslink, USB and a mini-USB port for power. The included network and HDMI cables are appreciated, too. Speaking of power, it isn't an internal power supply like in, say, the Apple TV. Instead the power is supplied via a standard USB cable and the plug looks like one that might come with a mobile phone. We were able to plug the USB cord directly into a TV and power the device, even though the company doesn't officially support this -- presumably because not all TVs supply adequate amperage via USB. What's missing is integrated WiFi, and we can understand why. Many older Media Center extenders did feature WiFi, but endless support forum threads show that broadcast TV via WiFi is a recipe for pain and suffering. It's true that modern WiFi networks have more than enough bandwidth to deliver the maximum 19.3 Mbps that broadcast TV has to offer; the reality, though, is that WiFi is susceptible to interference, and the last thing you want is your neighbor's cordless phone getting in the way of your TV time. If you just have to try it for yourself, you can always get yourself a bridge, but don't say we didn't warn you. The little box measures just 0.8 inch tall, 4.3 inches wide and 3.9 inches long and feels very slick with its black aluminum casing and plastic caps. It never used more than four watts of power in our testing (one watt when off) which probably explains why it runs relatively cool. Don't take that to mean actually cool, though. We're also very impressed with the build quality. Then again, we have low expectations after handling many media streamers over the years. One thing we do wish, however, is that there was a way to mount the little guy. There are no holes in the back; nothing. As soon as you hold it in your hand, you can't help but dream up ways of affixing it behind every wall-mounted TV in your house. Perhaps Ceton will follow up with an accessory mount, or we can just grab some cable ties and double-stick tape. Remote Let's just get this out of the way right now: we hate the remote. In fact, the only thing we like about it is that we don't have to use it. That's because the Echo is compatible with a plethora of Windows Media Center remotes already available; this reviewer actually has a few of his own to choose from. But just in case you're planning on using the remote, this is why you should reconsider: the buttons are too small, don't have letters on the number keys for triple-press text entry and are hard to find without looking down. You can't program the volume or the power buttons to control your TV, but worse -- and unlike almost every remote ever made -- there are two power buttons: a discrete on and a discrete off. The green button is even too small for our liking and the remote doesn't use standard batteries (can't say we've ever seen a remote that uses coin batteries). And then there is the cardinal sin for remotes, there are buttons on it that don't do anything, like the Eject and DVD buttons. Software From a software perspective, a Media Center extender does only one thing: deliver the Windows Media Center experience to a TV without a PC attached to it. The Xbox 360 has always been unique in that it replicates the animated transitions and transparent menus truer than any other extender can ever do it, thanks to Microsoft's third-party extender specification. That being said, a lot of that responsiveness has been lost along the way through all the dashboard updates that have been pushed out over the years. So, while the Xbox 360 experience still has a few unique elements that can't be matched by the brand-new Echo -- the animated transitions are still something almost no other set-top box can do -- we found the overall experience more enjoyable than what we've become accustomed to recently. For example, the Xbox is known not to respond to the press of the remote, and tends to queue up commands. The Echo, on the other hand, kept up with no hint of UI lag. Fast forward, rewind and skip all work as quickly as you'd expect from using a real HTPC running Media Center, as did changing the channel. We found the overall experience more enjoyable than what we've become accustomed to recently. One point of differentiation from all the other extenders we've tried is that the Echo allows you to configure its various options via a Media Center plug-in. While the Xbox 360 requires a quick trip to the dashboard to edit things like resolution and audio output, the Echo is easily configured without a gaming controller, thanks to a user interface that has the same look and feel as the rest of Media Center. This is achieved by installing a plug-in on the host Media Center PC and then navigating to the Extras menu via Media Center on the Echo. There are eight main menus to choose from with settings like output video resolution and audio via HDMI or Toslink, but there are also some nice additions like the ability to skip startup animations and sounds. Other options are very handy, like the option to have the Echo take you directly to Recorded TV when it is turned on -- rather than the main menu, which is the default in Media Center. There are a few cosmetic options as well, including the ability to slim down your main menu by removing items you don't use -- sounds trivial, but this is something, believe it or not, that isn't easily done in Media Center. We saved the bad news for last: unfortunately the release version of Ceton Echo has a bug that seriously limits its usefulness -- beta builds include a fix. The problem is especially apparent with 1080i playback. It might not seem like a big deal with all the 1080p TVs these days, but 1080i is actually still the most prevalent broadcast format and the way it's currently rendered by the Echo makes it unwatchable. The most obvious problem is the frame rate which results in a nauseating mess of flicker and judder whenever there is any moving object; as in sports or news tickers. But that isn't all, as the black levels are noticeably grey and any compression artifacts appear amplified. Ceton has acknowledged the problems on its site and even has a fix currently in beta. The statement stops short of actually promising a date, though. This is very disappointing because this bug effectively makes everything we like about the Echo a moot point, as without rock solid 1080i playback, we couldn't recommend this device to anyone. There are a few other less notable issues with the Echo, but no others that would get in the way of us enjoying the Echo. All that said, after having a chance to try out the beta build that fixes this, it gives us confidence that 1080i can look as good once it is pushed to everyone. If you don't share our confidence, Ceton has also extended the return policy to 90 days and the warranty out to two years. Wrap-up The almost year-long wait for the Echo has left us disappointed and also, surprised. We're surprised that Ceton didn't hold the product until a bug that prevented perfect 1080i playback was fixed. That being said, it otherwise works well and we trust that a fix is forthcoming and already in beta builds. Some will scoff at the price because the Xbox 360 offers more features for the same price -- or less, if you can find a good deal. If you enjoy gaming and don't mind spending the money on Xbox Live Gold to access the Xbox's other video services, then it's clear the Echo isn't for you. On the other hand, if you really just want to ditch your cable box and have the same great Windows Media Center experience in the bedroom that you have in the living room, then the Echo is a better solution -- once the beta that fixes 1080i playback is released, of course. There are also lots of other lower-priced media streamers out there with seemingly more content, but there's still one big feature that sets the Echo apart: it can play live TV, including premium content like HBO. So while services like Netflix, Amazon and Vudu are very compelling, there's a reason why cable is still the most popular source of content in the US. If the Apple TV and Roku are the cord-cutter's or cord-never's dream, the Echo is for everyone else. It's unlike the rest of the media streamers out there in that it does have what it takes to live on input one.Intel Developer Forum in Beijing: Day Two April 11, 2013 - During their keynotes at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing today, Doug Fisher, vice president and general manager, Intel Systems Software Division, and Justin Rattner, chief technology officer, discussed how Intel Corporation is modernizing computing to deliver amazing new experiences to users. Here are brief summaries and the news disclosed during the keynotes. Doug Fisher, "Intel's Vision for Developers" Vice President and General Manager, Systems Software Division Doug Fisher, vice president and general manager of Intel's System Software Division, opened the second day of IDF, addressing several myths surrounding the industry and providing a vision of the vast opportunities that await developers. Specifically, he showcased Intel's transformation of the PC experience and advances in device segments, support of multiple operating environments, and efforts to help developers scale and modernize computing with new hardware features and software advancements for more compelling user experiences. He discussed how developers can incorporate touch and sensor interfaces to modernize applications, and use perceptual compute technologies to enable consumers to interact with PCs via voice control, gesture recognition, and more. Intel HTML5 Development Environment: Intel strongly supports and actively invests in HTML5 to ensure this development platform continues to evolve and remain open to innovation, while also helping application developers lower total cost and improve time-to-market for cross-platform application development and deployment. Based on Web standards and supported by W3C, HTML5 enables software developers to create applications once and deploy across multiple platforms with the potential to reach billions of devices, users and customers -- a feat that is difficult to achieve due to the fragmented operating system environment. Fisher introduced the Intel HTML5 Development Environment to make HTML5 development accessible to all developers. The solution provides a front-to-back and integrated cross-platform development environment to develop, test and deploy applications for multiple operating systems including iOS*, Android*, Windows* 8 and Windows Phone 8. The Intel HTML5 Development Environment assists developers deploy applications through multiple application stores including Amazon* Appstore, Apple* App Store, Facebook*, Google Chrome Web Store, Google* Play Store and Windows* Phone Store. The Intel HTML5 Development Environment is available to developers from the HTML5 zone on Intel Developer Zone with no license or usage fees. UnionPay Announces Cooperation with Intel in Mobile Payments: Using complex technologies including near field communications (NFC), mobile payments and Intel Identity Protection Technology, Intel has collaborated with a global bankcard network UnionPay, to make mobile payments both easy and secure. Speaking during Fisher's keynote, Hongfeng Chai, executive vice president of UnionPay, introduced the UnionPay Quick Pass service in which consumers can use a NFC smartphone powered by the Intel processor to pay for products everywhere from department stores to vending machines. Justin Rattner, "Architecting the Future of Computing" Chief Technology Officer Intel Chief Technology Officer, Justin Rattner, took the stage to discuss how Intel Labs is drawing up plans for a bright future. He revealed a vision for connected and sustainable cities where information technology helps to address challenges of clean air, clean water, better health and improved safety. He explained how today's mobile, urban lifestyle is demanding faster and cheaper wireless broadband communications. Forecasting a move beyond the information age, Rattner described a new era coined "the data society" and showed how information in the cloud will work on everyone's behalf, collaboratively and safely, by analyzing and relating different data to deliver new value to individuals, enterprises and society as a whole. Silicon Photonics: Today, Rattner demonstrated for the first time publicly a fully functional silicon photonics module incorporating Intel Silicon Photonics Technology (SPT) and operating at 100 gigabits per second (Gbps). This is a completely integrated module that includes silicon modulators, detectors, waveguides and circuitry. Intel believes this is the only module in the world that uses a hybrid silicon laser. The demonstration was made via a video during Rattner's keynote. In addition to the Intel SPT module, Rattner showed the new photonics cable and connector that Intel is developing with Corning. This new connector has fewer moving parts, is less susceptible to dust and costs less than other photonics connectors. Intel and Corning intend to make this new cable and connector an industry standard. Rattner said the connector can carry 1.6 terabits of information per second. Intel Developer Forum IDF spans the worlds of mobility, digital enterprise, digital home, and technology and research. Held at the China National Convention Center on April 10-11, the event is geared toward the Chinese market in support of local innovation and Intel's industry leadership in the region. Next up on the IDF schedule is a 3-day event in San Francisco, which will be held Sept. 10-12 at Moscone Center West. Further information is available at www.intel.com/idf.So, Google is finally making the move we've been expecting for some time now and bringing . Now, you'll need a device running Ice Cream Sandwich to get the new mobile browser up and running but, thankfully, we happened to have a Galaxy Nexus on hand. As you might expect, mobile Chrome (much like its desktop sibling) is fast -- a little buggy perhaps, but fast. It isn't, however, the fastest browser for the platform. Chrome Beta holds its own, but the standard Android browser, the stable version of Firefox and Dolphin HD all edged it out in SunSpider. Numbers don't tell the whole story though, so head on past the break for more. Honestly, the score disparities on SunSpider don't amount to much of a noticeable performance difference during use. Pages, even loaded desktop ones, pull up pretty quickly. The only significant hiccup we endured was a delay in rendering parts of more complex sites as we scrolled to new portions. In fact, despite its nearly 900ms lower score, we actually thought Chrome felt faster than the stable version of Firefox.The big draw though, is how it ties into your desktop experience. When you first launch Chrome it'll ask you to sign into your Google account. After doing that, all of your bookmarks, Omnibar results and open tabs are automatically synced. Opening a new tab not only offers you quick access to your most frequently visited sites, recently closed tabs and bookmarks (just like the desktop version), but also any tabs you might still have open on another machine. Your open tabs are offered in an easy-to-view list, divided by device. It's pretty handy for those that switch back and forth constantly and comes close to eliminating the need for .The new browser also comes with some interface tweaks, though things should seem plenty familiar. Up top is the address bar, which is also home to the tab and action overflow buttons. Unlike the default Android browser, it doesn't disappear as you scroll down a page however. Those who like to have their controls handy at all times will appreciate it, while others who prefer to dedicate as much screen space to a website as possible may find it mildly frustrating. Switching tabs is accomplished by either tapping the appropriate icon and flipping through them, or flicking an open page left or right within the browser. This latter option, so far at least, isn't particularly reliable -- then again, it is sporting a beta tag. You can also tilt the phone while in the tab overview screen to pan about which, while a neat trick, didn't prove to be particularly useful. Switching, closing and opening tabs is also accompanied by new 3D animations that fit quite well with the ICS aesthetic.The one potential deal breaker for some may be the lack of Flash support. Adobe has already said that Flash for mobile will be going the way of the dodo, Google has just decided to help them along it seems. Opening up an page, such as a game on , simply greets you with a missing plug in message. Honestly, we're not too put off by that limitation, especially since we can simply switch to the default Android browser if need be. If you're not lucky enough to have an Android 4.0 device, check out the video above to see it in action.Mat Smith contributed to this report.It seems like yesterday that we the inaugural Samsung Series 5 Chromebook running Google's Chrome OS, an operating system for laptops based on Chrome. It was, from the start, a world in which everything from music playback to document creation happened in browser tabs. Since we last checked in a year ago, Google has addressed some early complaints -- the browser can actually now! -- but it's only just getting around to ticking off some other long-standing grievances, like multitasking. The company just announced two new Chrome OS devices -- the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550 and Chromebox Series 3 -- and both run a spanking-new build of the OS that ushers in a simplified desktop with customizable wallpaper and the ability to minimize, maximize and close windows -- oh my! More importantly, you can now view multiple windows onscreen, edit docs offline and pin shortcuts to the bottom of the screen -- a combination that promises some seriously improved multitasking. Other goodies: built-in Google Music, Google+ and Hangouts, along with a basic photo editor, redesigned music player and enhanced remote desktop app. So does all this add up to an upgrade meaty enough to make the skeptics give Chrome OS a second look? Could it be time for you to get the low-tech person in your life a Chromebook? Let's see. A desktop... sort of Until today, it's been tough for even Chromebook sympathizers to defend Chrome OS' status as a bona fide operating system. After all, in its earliest incarnation it was little more than the Chrome browser itself, gussied up with a media player and a fledgling app store. Now in its nineteenth version, though, it's finally getting a desktop, making it look and function a little more like a traditional OS. When you sign in for the first time, you'll see an expanse of wallpaper, with a row of apps pinned to the bottom of the screen -- not unlike the Taskbar in Windows 7. By default, you can see that tray of shortcuts even when you have a window open, but when you maximize it (more on that in a moment) the window takes up the whole screen, obscuring the row of apps at the bottom. If you like, though, you can go into the settings and set any given app to always be on top (or, if you prefer, always hidden). The Chrome team has also borrowed a bit from Android: in addition to pinned apps, that tray is home to an app launcher, which looks exactly like the one used on Google's mobile products. Click it and whatever windows you have open will minimize, with a grid of large icons taking up the whole screen. You can click on these, naturally, or use the arrow keys if you want to give the trackpad a rest. To each his own, of course, but we'd much rather open apps this way than by scanning around for a bookmark in the browser. Time savings aside, the new design simply feels more intuitive: though everything from email to photo editing still takes place in the browser, just knowing there's something behind that window makes the experience feel a little more familiar. For every feature that Google has added, there are two more that remain unavailable. So that's the first piece, this space that resembles a traditional desktop. What really makes this feel like a conventional OS, though, are the windows: you can now minimize, maximize or close them! Exciting, right? And, if you're feeling really frisky, you can pull a window and snap it into place so that it takes up half the screen -- again, similar to what you can do in Windows 7. You can also resize the windows and pepper the screen with as many as you can fit. Okay, okay, we're making good use of sarcastic italics, but we do have a point: we take such things for granted to the point where it might not have occurred to naysayers that just being able to minimize a window could make an operating system more user-friendly. And it really does. Minimizing windows or even having two on screen at once allows for far more efficient multitasking than earlier versions of the software. And yet, this doesn't feel quite like a desktop: for every feature that Google has added, there are two more that remain unavailable. Although you can change the wallpaper, for instance, there are no Android-style widgets, and you also can't populate that space with shortcuts to things like webpages or documents in progress. Ditto for that row of apps at the bottom of the screen: though you can use it to launch apps, you can't jump straight to frequently visited web pages or a playlist in Google Music. When you click the Chrome icon, it opens up a new tab, instead of bringing you to the one you were looking at last, which makes multitasking feel a little more tedious than it should. There doesn't appear to be a way to change this, though you can change how Chrome behaves when the machine starts up: it can pick up where you left off, open specific sites or just start fresh. Offline apps When Chromebooks debuted last year, one of the most common complaints was that they'd be useless without an internet connection. "How am I supposed to check my email on a plane without WiFi?" people would ask. "What about accessing Google Docs in a dead zone?" Even a year ago, Google was promising offline access, and eventually it -- albeit, in a crude sort of form. Since last summer, users have been able to read (but not edit) their Google Calendars and Docs even when they've lost their internet connection. We're still holding out for anytime calendar editing, but as of today, people can at least edit their docs offline. First, though, let's take a step back and talk about what kinds of offline apps are available, and how to discover them. To make them easier to find, Google's added an offline category under the "Collections" tab in the Web App Store, though searching with the keyword "offline" should do the trick too. That's how we found Offline Google Mail. To set up Offline Google Docs, though, we had to open Docs in the browser and enable offline access in the settings. Other apps available in the Web Store: a Wikipedia reader, dictionary and solitaire, among lots and lots of other third-party offerings. The problem, though, is that offline Mail and Docs are only as useful as the content you remembered to sync while you still had an internet connection. You know how if you're out of range, your smartphone will download a limited number of emails and tweets, making it impossible to search your entire inbox or scroll infinitely backward in your Twitter feed? It's the same limitation here: that list of emails hardly goes on forever, and you can only search what's there. Even if you took the time to let it sync before you went off the grid, you can only download emails from within the past month (the settings menu also lets you narrow that list down to messages from the last week or two). In essence, then, you're still out of luck if you want to find that TPS report you submitted last January. If it's any comfort, though, company reps say Google Drive integration in the next release, due about six weeks from now. Of course, we haven't yet gotten an early hands-on peek at this feature, but we're told Drive will be baked into the File Manager, specifically. From there, you'll be able to save or copy files into Drive, as well as open Drive files on your Chrome device. Another tidbit: Google has given us a heads-up that users will need to "pin" files they want to make available offline. In other words, don't expect everything you backed up to automagically appear in your Chromebook's File Manager. Music and video playback One of the early complaints about Chrome OS was that it couldn't even support Netflix streaming. Though Google fixed that , it's only now adding support for 1080p YouTube videos. We say better late than never: we found the streaming to be quite smooth, whether we watched a professionally done animated short or some amateur home video. We also had an easy time gobbling up clips on Vimeo and Hulu, and you can also view movies from Google Play, if you're so inclined. It was at the annual I/O conference last year that Google unveiled both Chromebooks and Google Music, so we can see why the company chose not to integrate those two brand-new pieces of software from the get-go: after all, it would be another six months until Music even made it out of beta. Now that another six months have passed, though, Google was clearly ready for the service to be a built-in part of Chrome OS. And by "built-in," we mean Music is one of several shortcuts that come pre-loaded in the app launcher. If you've ever played with Google Music, the interface should look familiar. And, as ever, you'll need an internet connection to use it. Though Chrome OS' built-in media player lets you play music stored on an SD card, there's no such thing as offline Google Music. Luckily, a Google rep confirmed the company's working on letting users pin specific songs so they can listen anytime. Tying it all together is a redesigned media player, which, as always, you can park in the lower-right corner and set to stay visible as you chat, read emails, et cetera. While it's cleaner-looking, it's still lacking any advanced features: no looping, for instance, and no shuffling of tracks. Additionally, the list of supported file formats has expanded to include support for all Office files (doc, xls, ppt, docx, xlsx, pptx), rar, tar, tar.gz (.tgz), and .tar.bz2 (.tbz2). As it is, the built-in media player could already open .zip, .txt, .html, .mp4, .m4v, .m4a, .mp3, .ogv, .ogm, .ogg, .oga, .webm and .wav files, along with PDFs and "common image formats" (read: .jpg, .gif and .png). Photo editing Another common complaint about Chrome OS is that it isn't so great for creating visual content -- and frankly, it still isn't. It would seem, though, that Google is at least taking baby steps in the right direction. New with this version of the operating system is a photo editor, with options to auto-enhance, crop and rotate shots, as well as adjust the brightness and contrast. It would've been nice if Google could have just folded some of those neat Picnik filters into the photo editor, but we can see where that wouldn't be at the top of the engineering team's priority list. Hopefully, more advanced tools like that will indeed arrive in some future build. As you're editing, be sure to click the link that says "keep original"; the OS doesn't automatically save the untouched version (Google says it expects most users will want to overwrite the original if they're only making small touch-ups). When you're done, you can upload to Picasa and get a link to pass around to your friends. The ability to send edited photos to the likes of Facebook and Twitter would be nice too, but again, baby steps. Books Not new, but worth repeating: you can go to the Web Store and install Google Play Books so that you can . Continuing that offline theme permeating this review, it's possible to download a book so that you can read it even when you lose your internet connection. To do this, hover over a book's thumbnail in the Play Store and check the box that says "Make available offline." Obviously, we can't vouch for your internet connection, however poky it may be, but over a reliably strong WiFi network we were able to download "Pride and Prejudice," a 448-page book, in under a minute. Once you've gotten that over with, it's the same Google Books interface you already know, with a search feature, table of contents and the ability to adjust the typeface and font size. Naturally, if you close out of the app to do something else, Google Books will remember where you left off. Google+ integration The first time we tested a Chromebook, Google+ wasn't even an official product yet. Less than a year later, it's taking its predictable place in Chrome OS, with separate apps for the social network, as well as Hangouts, the video chat service. Interestingly, Hangouts is one of the rare instances in which opening an application will cause Chrome to launch a new window -- not a new tab, but a new window. Google+ looks exactly as it would in any other browser, so we'll spare you the recap. Starting a video chat, meanwhile, is idiot-proof: there's one field for naming your Hangout, and another for searching for names of people to invite. Whether you normally use the service or not, it's a nice improvement over the state of affairs a year ago, when the only option was a video call inside GChat. Want Skype? Sorry, folks, but surely you know a few people with Google accounts, yeah? Chrome Remote desktop You can now reach into whatever PC you left at home, and see files you don't have stored online. Chrome Remote desktop, introduced as a beta last October, is what it sounds like: an app that lets you access other devices, and also share your screen with others. Like other Google apps, you'll find it in the Chrome Web Store. Regardless of whether you're using a Chromebook, Mac, PC or Linux machine, you'll have to download it from the Chrome Web Store. Until now, the setup process was a clumsy affair, requiring Remote Desktop to be installed on both devices and for the person sharing his or her desktop to generate a 12-digit code and pass that on to whoever wants to access the machine. Because this password changed every time you did a screen-share, you needed someone else on the other end, giving permission to share their computer and then passing along the code. Once you carried out that little authentication dance, you could expect a fast connection with little latency between the two machines. In particular, you could access Skype, FaceTime and Colloquy -- apps that wouldn't normally be available on Chrome OS -- though taking control of a friend's PC or Mac to borrow his applications isn't exactly a realistic scenario. If anything, the technology was useful for troubleshooting, which you might well need to do if you gift your Chromebook to the low-tech person in your life with simple needs. Now, you can use your Chrome OS device (or any PC running Chrome, really) to access one of your own computers remotely, without help from someone else. For now, at least, the host computer has to be running Windows Vista or higher or Mac OS X 10.6 or above (sorry, Linux users). To get started, you'll need to follow a few one-time steps: go to the Chrome Web Store on both your Chrome OS device and host machine, and make sure you've installed the latest version of Remote Desktop as a Chrome browser app. Then, you'll be prompted to download a host installer to enable remote controllers. Finally, choose an access PIN for that particular machine. Once you've done all this, you'll be able to see your other computers on your Chrome OS device; it doesn't matter if they're not in the same room or on the same WiFi network, so long as that host machine is turned on. And all you'll have to do to log in is enter that PIN you configured during the setup process; no more randomized 12-digit codes here. The beauty in all this, of course, is that you can now reach into whatever PC you left at home, and see files you don't have stored online, or on your Chrome OS device. Chrome Web Store If you've used the Web Store recently, there's nothing to see here: Google hasn't changed the user interface at all this go-round. A company rep did give us an update on the selection, though, and told us there are now "tens of thousands" of Chrome-optimized applications available, including "hundreds" of offline options. For those who've managed to avoid the Web Store up until this point, here's a quick primer: on the home page, you'll be greeted by a bottomless list of apps, each represented by tiles of various sizes. Since you could stumble across every application in the store if you scrolled down persistently enough, you're better off selecting from one of the categories listed along the left-hand side (think: business, productivity, etc.). In that same pane, you'll find a link to see just the apps you've installed, along with categories for popular and trending. Here, too, is where you'll find those so-called collections, which are listed separately from the various categories of apps. Performance When it comes to day-to-day web browsing, not once did we encounter Google's equivalent of a Fail Whale, those cheerful "Aw, snap!" and "He's Dead, Jim" screens. No sites caused Chrome to crash, and we had a smooth time juggling tasks in different tabs. We also found the dual-core Celeron processor inside both the new Chromebook and Chromebox were enough to assist with speedy boot-ups and app launches. Not all was well, though: two Engadget staffers testing the Chromebook and Box noticed that the two machines can be sluggish in reconnecting to known WiFi and 3G networks after resuming from sleep. On the multimedia front, we noticed a good deal of tiling when watching an .mp4 movie. Finally, our own Myriam Joire, who reviewed the Chromebox, found that after putting the computer to sleep, she was logged out of Google Apps accounts, as well as Facebook and Tweetdeck -- and this is despite checking "keep me logged in" on these various sites and giving Chrome permission to remember these passwords. A Google rep told us the engineering team is aware of that particular kink and is working on a fix. Etc. One new feature that's worth noting but that's neither here nor there is the ability to sync tabs between your Chrome OS system and your Android device -- assuming it, too, the Chrome browser. Moving on to security, there haven't been any major changes this time around. You can still set your device so that a password is required when the system wakes from sleep. There's also sandboxing, TPM, data encryption and verified boot, among other protocols aimed at businesses and schools planning on issuing these in bulk. Wrapping up, you can still print things through WiFI-enabled printers that make use of the Google Cloud Print standard. It's worth mentioning, though, that a year later this standard has become far more ubiquitous, and it's a lot easier to find a compatible printer than it was even a year ago. Wrap-up When we reviewed the first Chromebook a year ago, we concluded that Chrome OS isn't for everybody. If you need certain desktops apps like Photoshop even when you're on the go, you're never going to appreciate what Google's trying to do here; there will always be some hole in your workflow that keeps you crawling back toward your PC. By design, Chrome OS is at its best when the user has always-on connectivity, which means for the foreseeable future, at least, it's destined to remain something of a niche concept. The good news is that Google's taken a half-baked, experimental product and done an admirable job of fleshing it out. After spending a few days testing the software, we can confidently say that multitasking is a lot easier when you can view multiple windows onscreen at once, and when you have shortcuts pinned to the bottom of the screen, below the browser. It's also hugely helpful to be able to edit documents offline instead of just view them. Ditto for being able to read books offline, or use Hangouts for video chat instead of the calling feature built into GChat. And it could be even better: it would be nice to add shortcuts to docs, books and other things to the desktop, which currently amounts to a lot of blank, unusable space. More sophisticated photo editing tools would be welcome, and we'd love to be able to share photos to sites other than Picasa. Even without these things, version 19 marks a welcome update for existing Chrome OS users, and should suffice for the classrooms that are already issuing Chrome devices to students. Heck, it might even be time for curious early adopters to give Chrome OS a second look. But as Google starts selling more Chrome devices in retail, we have a harder time believing many consumers will be ready to put up with these limitations, especially as tablet apps grow more sophisticated, and as we start to see Transformer-like Win8 devices with touch-friendly apps and physical keyboards. Even Ultrabooks are starting to come down in price, and offer some of the features that have made Chrome OS devices appealing, such as fast resume times. Given how many affordable portable devices there are to choose from, Chrome OS might have the best shot at catching on if companies like Samsung would relax the price of their wares. Myriam Joire contributed to this review.We've had a bit of a love / hate relationship with the Google Chromebook since the first one crossed our laps back in 2011 -- the . We loved the concept, but hated the very limited functionality provided by your $500 investment. Since then, the series of barebones laptops has progressed, and so too has the barebones OS they run, leading to our current favorite of the bunch: the . In that laptop's review, we concluded that "$249 seems like an appropriate price for this sort of device." So, then, imagine our chagrin when Google unveiled a very similar sort of device, but one that comes with a premium. A very hefty premium. It's a high-end, halo sort of product with incredible build quality, an incredible screen and an incredible price. Is a Chromebook that starts at more than five times the cost of its strongest competition even worth considering? Let's do the math. Hardware If you'll forgive us just one cliche, Google has gone from zero to hero with the Pixel. It's truly something to behold. Wow. This is certainly a departure. If you're going to charge an obscene premium for a laptop with an incredibly limited OS, you'd better produce something that is incredibly well-made. In that regard, the Chromebook Pixel is a complete success. If you'll forgive us just one cliche, Google has gone from zero to hero with the Pixel. It's truly something to behold. First impressions are of a laptop with surprising density. Apple's MacBook Pros, with their precisely hewn aluminum exteriors, have long been the benchmark against which other laptops were held in when it comes to a sense of solidity. In its first attempt, Google has managed to match that feeling of innate integrity with the Pixel, and in some ways go beyond it. It's all machined aluminum, anodized in a dark, almost gunmetal color that successfully bridges the gap between sophisticated and cool. Everything is very angular; vertical sides terminate abruptly at the horizontal plane that makes up the typing surface. In fact, the only thing not bridged by right angles is the cylindrical hinge running nearly the entire width of the machine, but thankfully the edges of the entire laptop are just rounded enough to keep it from digging into your wrists uncomfortably. Battle scars received while typing have become a bit of an annoyance in many modern, aluminum-bodied machines. The torsional rigidity is impressive for a machine that is as thin, and as light, as this. A good, quick test of a laptop's rigidity is to open it up, grab it on both sides of the keyboard and try to twist. On a flimsy product you'll hear some uncomfortable-sounding noises coming from beneath the keys and, if you're really unlucky, you might send a letter or two flying. Not so with the Pixel. The torsional rigidity is impressive for a machine that is as thin, and as light, as this. To put some numbers on that, the laptop measures 16mm (0.62 inch) in thickness and 3.35 pounds (1.52kg) in heft. That compares very favorably to the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina, the one that we would most closely pit this against, which is 19mm (0.75 inch) thick and weighs 3.57 pounds (1.62kg). So it's thinner and lighter, and with a very similar 12.85-inch, 2,560 x 1,700 display (which we'll thoroughly discuss momentarily), but with lower performance. It is, however, on par with the 13-inch MacBook Air when it comes to speed, and is only slightly thicker (0.06 inch) and heavier (0.39 pound). A dual-core Intel 1.8GHz Core i5 chip is the one and only processor on offer here, paired with 4GB of DDR3 RAM and generally providing more than enough oomph to drive the very minimalist operating system, which is installed on either a 32 or 64GB SSD. The larger option is only available if you opt for the $1,449 laptop, which also adds Verizon-compatible LTE to the mix (along with GPS). Either model sports dual-band MIMO 802.11a/b/g/n along with Bluetooth 3.0. For those who like to keep it physical, there are two USB ports on the left (sadly just 2.0) situated next to a Mini DisplayPort and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the right is an SD card reader, along with the SIM card tray -- assuming you paid for the WWAN upgrade. For those who aren't interested in making use of that headphone jack, there are what Google calls "powerful speakers" built in here -- though they're hard to spot. They're integrated somewhere below the keyboard and, believe it or not, that "powerful" description is quite apt. You won't be giving your neighbors anything to complain about if these are cranked to maximum volume, nor do you need to concern yourself about cracking the masonry thanks to the bass, but the output here is respectably loud and good-sounding. These speakers are at least on par with your average mid-range Bluetooth unit, meaning you'll have one less thing to pack. Google has integrated an array of microphones throughout the machine to help with active noise cancellation. For the receiving end, Google has also integrated an array of microphones throughout the machine to help with active noise cancellation, including one positioned to detect (and eliminate) keyboard clatter when you're typing whilst in a Hangout or the like. Without the ability to selectively disable this microphone we can't be sure how great an effect it had, but we can say that plenty of QWERTY-based noise got through in our test calls. Google, though, has indicated it will continue to refine the behavior of that mic, so there's hope for improvement. Integrated in the bezel is a webcam situated in the center-top of the bezel, next to a small status LED to let you know when Big Brother is watching. One final piece is the power plug, a largish wall wart that takes a cue from Apple by including a removable section. Here you can slot in either a flip-out, two-prong end or a longer, three-prong cable. The inspiration is obvious, but we're not complaining. This lets you have both a short, easy-to-pack version when you're traveling light and a longer but rather more clunky version for those times when you need a bit more reach. We do, however, wish Google had also taken inspiration from Apple and Microsoft and included some sort of magnetic power connector. We found that the small plug, with its traditional, single-prong-style connector, had a tendency to slowly work its way out of the laptop when the cable had any tension from the left. Thankfully, a bright glowing light on the connector lets you know when the laptop is charged or charging -- and thus when the thing has slid out far enough to lose connection. Keyboard and trackpad Typing on this machine is a joy. Island-style keyboards continue to be all the rage and, for the most part, Google makes no exception for its latest Chromebook. The primary keys float in a slightly recessed area, comfortably sized and comfortably spaced. Each has great feel and great resistance. Typing on this machine is a joy. However, the row of function keys that rest atop the number keys, discrete buttons for adjusting volume and brightness and the like, is a different story. These are flush with each other and far stiffer than the normal keys. This isn't much of a bother, since you won't be using them nearly as frequently as the rest, but butting them right up against each other makes them difficult to find by touch. Thankfully, all are backlit, so locating them in the dark is no problem. We also wished for dedicated Home and End keys, after finding the Chrome OS alternative of Ctrl + Alt + Up or Down to be a bit of a handful. Regardless, you'll quickly learn to type around these relatively minor shortcomings and enjoy the great keyboard. Thankfully, the trackpad is equally good. It's a glass unit, darkly colored and positioned in the center of the wrist rest, which makes it slightly shifted to the right compared to the space bar. It has a matte coating but still feels quite smooth, resulting in a very nice swiping sensation indeed. Of course, with a 12.85-inch touch-sensitive display, you may find yourself using it less frequently than you think. Display Again, up top is a 12.85-inch, 2,560 x 1,700 IPS LCD panel that we can't look at without thinking of the very similar 13.3-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 panel on the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. It's smaller but packs an extra 100 pixels vertically, giving it a slightly higher pixel density of 239 ppi. Naturally, that's far from the full story here, and those who are really into proportions will know that resolution equates to a 3:2 aspect ratio. In other words: it's rather tall. A 16:9 aspect ratio (or something close to it) is the prevailing trend among non-Macs these days, but even when acknowledging that, this one feels particularly tall. Still, we didn't exactly mind it. As mentioned above, the keyboard is plenty roomy, and given that Chrome OS isn't particularly friendly to multi-window multi-tasking (manually justifying windows is a real chore) we were rarely left wanting a wider display. That was, really, our only minor reservation about this panel. Otherwise we have nothing but love for the thing. It is, of course, a ridiculously high resolution, which makes pixels basically disappear. Indeed the simple, clean and stark Chrome OS looks great when rendered with such clarity, but we couldn't help but lament the occasional excess of white space that's becoming common across many of Google's web apps. For a display with a pixel density this high, it feels somewhat under-utilized. That is until, of course, you boot up the 4K sample footage Google thoughtfully pre-installed on the machine, which looks properly mind-blowing -- even if it is only being rendered at slightly higher than half its native resolution. This is a glossy panel, tucked behind a pane of , so glare may be a bit of a problem if your work setup has bright lights positioned behind you. Still, reflectivity seemed to be on par with the latest, optically bonded panels -- that is to say, far from the "mirror, mirror" effect provided by many of the earlier gloss displays. Contrast is quite good from all angles, though the color accuracy drops off if you look at it from too high or low, with everything quickly getting a bit pink. Slightly pretty. And, finally, this is indeed a touch-enabled panel, something we didn't know we needed on a Chromebook -- and frankly we're still not sure we do. We'll discuss that in more detail in the software section below. Performance and battery life It's no barnstormer, but the Chromebook Pixel runs a browser with aplomb. Again we're dealing with a 1.8GHz Intel Core i5 processor here, a bit on the mild side compared to most higher-end laptops. Still, it proves to be more than enough to run the lightweight Chrome OS. That's paired with 4GB of DDR3 RAM and, predictably, integrated graphics courtesy of Intel's HD 4000 chipset. It's no barnstormer, but it runs a browser with aplomb. And, really, that's about all it's likely to do with the limited selection of apps available for Chrome. Everything we threw at it ran fine, though after extended sessions we did notice heavier websites started to get a little bit stuttery. It's nothing that rebooting the browser didn't fix. High-def videos play smoothly, though when pushing the pixels (or running games), the machine does get fairly warm. The fan vents are below the hinge; a thin sliver of an opening that thankfully doesn't seem to dump a lot of hot air into your lap. It's noticeable, but it isn't particularly loud or annoying and again, since you likely won't be doing too much taxing stuff here, don't expect to hear it all that often. When it comes to battery life, Google estimates the 59Wh battery will provide "up to" five hours of continuous use. And, indeed it may. On our standard battery run-down test, which loops a video at fixed brightness, the machine clocked in at four hours and eight minutes for the WiFi model. The LTE model, with its LTE antenna on, came in about 30 minutes shorter at 3:34. These numbers are rather poor, unfortunately. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina clocks in at more than six hours on the same battery test, while both the 13-inch MacBook Air and the latest Samsung Chromebook score about 30 minutes more even than that. Connectivity As mentioned above, both Chromebook Pixel models include dual-band MIMO 802.11a/b/g/n, which means you'll be sucking down bits at an optimal rate more or less regardless of what sort of router you're connecting to. Stepping up to the $1,449 LTE version of course means you can walk away from those routers. That machine includes a Qualcomm MDM9600 chipset to receive on LTE band 13, intended for Verizon in the US only. So, then, we tested it in the US in two different LTE markets on both coasts. Speeds varied widely from location to location, but in general matched or exceeded the speeds we saw from other Verizon-compatible mobile devices. In terms of more practical connectivity concerns, it's worth noting that the modem takes about 30 seconds to reconnect after the laptop resumes from its suspended state, which is a bit annoying but certainly no slower than your average LTE USB modem. Also, Verizon is kindly including 100MB of data each month for free for your first two years of Chromebook ownership, but after that you'll be stuck paying up for one of Verizon's tiered data plans. Oh, and the Pixel lacks an Ethernet port, and does not include an adapter. We tried a few standard USB Ethernet adapters and all worked without a hitch. Software As we concluded in our , Chrome OS has come a long, long way since that first Chromebook crossed our laps. What we have now is a far more sophisticated and comprehensive experience than we did a few years ago, but it's still incredibly limited compared to the broader world of desktop operating systems. Simple tasks like file management can be a real chore if you're doing anything other than moving a file into a subdirectory. And while the OS itself has a refreshingly simple visual style, it's also very stark and, frankly, a somewhat wasteful design. Not to keep harping on the file explorer, but each file in a list is separated by a sea of white big enough to basically double the effective height. When you're skimming through a big 'ol list of files in a directory, it takes a lot more scrolling than should be necessary given the resolution of this display. At least Google made the scrolling easy. As mentioned above, the trackpad is quite good and very responsive. Multi-finger gestures are responsive, so good that you might not be inclined to reach up to that touch panel. But, you should, because the experience is generally good as well, though you'll rarely be doing anything more than scrolling webpages or documents. There's not really a whole lot more Chrome OS can do, but even in games like Cut the Rope and Angry Birds, touch was just as good as... well, as it is on an Android tablet. It's disappointing that Google didn't introduce any gestures to the OS to match its newfound touch compatibilities. That said, it's disappointing that Google didn't introduce any gestures to the OS to match its newfound touch compatibilities. In fact, you can't even pinch-zoom in the image viewer or even on most pages in the Chrome browser -- only in specifically pinch-friendly websites (like Google Maps). There are no three- or four-finger gestures for switching apps, and swiping in from the bezels does nothing. Except, that is, for a swipe up from the bottom, which alternatively shows or hides the launcher bar. Again, we won't restate the entire review of Chrome OS, but it's important to note at least briefly that functionality here is still very minimal. There are built-in apps for viewing photos and videos, for browsing files, for taking photos from the integrated webcam, an app for taking notes and... the web browser. That, of course, is the most important part. Suffice to say, if you can't do all your work from inside of an instance of Chrome on some other platform (like Windows or Mac), you probably won't be able to do it here, either. Still, we did want to point out one important part of the software, and that is it's easily replaceable. The bootloader is not locked and we've already seen the thing rocking Linux -- and while doing it. So, if you happen to be looking for an incredibly well-designed laptop to run that most noble of open-source operating systems, this could be it. Pricing and competition We can keep the pricing bit short, because there are only two options here. For $1,299, you can get yourself the WiFi model with 32GB of local SSD storage. For $1,449 you step up to the LTE model, which throws in 64GB of storage in a bid to sweeten the deal. Should that still be too bitter for your tastes -- and we're thinking there's a very good chance it will be -- Google has included plenty of other incentives that are at least mildly saccharine. First among these are 12 free Gogo passes for in-flight connectivity, each one worth about $14 for a total of $168. The other, rather more compelling add-in, is 1TB of online storage free for three years. That, believe it or not, is worth a whopping $1,800, which of course means that if you were looking to rent that much data for a period of three years you'd actually be better off just buying a Pixel. It would, effectively, just be a nice, free toy. For everyone not interested in storing copious quantities of stuff in the cloud, both price points are rather dear to put it mildly. As ever, it's difficult to compare a Chromebook to other laptops on the market thanks to the limited functionality provided by the OS. So, we'll focus primarily on hardware comparisons, and as we mentioned above, we find ourselves inclined to compare this to the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. That machine, with a full operating system and a faster, 2.5GHz Core i5 processor, starts at $1,499. That, though, has a 128GB of SSD, twice that of the biggest Pixel. We could also see many comparing this against the 13-inch MacBook Air, which offers the same CPU, integrated graphics and 4GB of RAM for the same $1,199. It's lacking the high-res screen but it perhaps makes up for that with, again, 128GB of storage. On the PC side of things, that resolution is unmatched, but the other specs certainly aren't. We recently had reasonably good feelings about , a 13-incher packing a similar Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM, but again a 500GB platter-based hard disk. An SSD isn't an option, but the $849 price is certainly more palatable. Again, none of these is an apples-to-apples comparison, as the Pixel offers a touchscreen, something all the Macs lack, and offers LTE connectivity, thus making it even more of a rare bird on the laptop scene. Whether these unique attributes, plus the various goodies Google is throwing in, turn this into a compelling proposition compared to the competition is something you'll have to decide for yourself. Wrap-up Again we reach the dreaded wrap-up section on a Chromebook review. It's simply never easy to classify these machines. In some regards, the Pixel is even harder to pigeonhole than its predecessors. The level of quality and attention to detail here is quite remarkable for what is, we'll again remind you, Google's first swing at building a laptop. Boot-ups are quick, performance is generally good and, of course, there's that display. But, with one single statistic, Google has made the Chromebook Pixel even easier to write off than any of its quirky predecessors: price. For an MSRP that is on par with some of the best laptops in the world, the Pixel doesn't provide anywhere near as much potential when it comes to functionality. It embraces a world where everyone is always connected and everything is done on the web -- a world that few people currently live in. The Chromebook Pixel, then, is a lot like the : it's a piece of gorgeous hardware providing limited functionality at a price that eclipses the (often more powerful) competition. It's a lovely thing that everyone should try to experience but, sadly, few should seriously consider buying. James Trew, Nicole Lee and Sean Buckley contributed to this review.Chrysler Group Enlists Sprint for Strategic Wireless Partner Role Enabling Uconnect Access * Chrysler Group's UconnectAccess is revolutionizing how we travel -- featuring simple, smart, next-generation in-vehicle services that enhance convenience, productivity and entertainment. * Sprint to provide wireless systems integration and telematics expertise to Chrysler Group. * Easy-to-use, easy-to-learn Uconnect Access features are available on the 2013 Ram 1500 pickup and SRT Viper supercar. OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), August 06, 2012 - Chrysler Group LLC and Sprint (NYSE: S), recognized innovation leaders in the automotive and wireless industries, have developed a new wireless in-vehicle connectivity experience for the Ram 1500 pickup and SRT Viper. The companies are evolving Uconnect to include a variety of new, easy-to-use connected features and services that are designed to help keep drivers focused on the primary driving task. Enabling the Uconnect experience... Chrysler Group has enlisted the network, systems integration and consumer market expertise of Sprint in a strategic partnership designed to seamlessly integrate wireless technology into Chrysler Group's Uconnect Access in-vehicle communication system. The result is an inspiring customer experience, with convenient features that make travel productive and entertaining. For instance, on- and off-board voice recognition technology makes the car smarter so drivers can use their voice to easily compose text messages or enter destination information into the navigation system in one step. ...with the Sprint Connected Vehicle Platform The Uconnect Access platform uses the Sprint Connected Vehicle Platform architecture and delivers built-in vehicle connectivity via embedded wireless technology. Sprint Velocity for Vehicle Manufacturers delivers a unique and customized end-to-end solution. Based on a collaborative approach, Sprint Velocity's benefits include reduced complexity and nimble technology updates, which help generate greater customer loyalty. Sprint also complements Chrysler Group's strong customer relationship strategy with its own award-winning expertise in generating customer satisfaction among consumers. Sprint is the No. 1-ranked major wireless carrier for customer satisfaction in the 2012 American Customer Satisfaction Index. "Chrysler has chosen Sprint as the strategic partner to fulfill the key role of systems integrator for Uconnect Access," said Marios Zenios, Head of Uconnect Systems and Services, Chrysler Group LLC. "Chrysler's goal is to continue enhancing the ease-of-use of technology inside the car. Key factors in our decision to choose Sprint included Sprint's best-in-class end-to-end telematics platform, secure and reliable network, unparalleled relationships within the telematics and broad Machine-to-Machine (M2M) ecosystem, and nimble consumer market experience, including a deep understanding of how customers experience and interact with wireless-based applications, both in and out of the vehicle." Matt Carter, president, Wholesale and Emerging Solutions Sprint, added, "Chrysler and Sprint are pioneering an unprecedented level of strategic collaboration, uniquely elevating the wireless provider's role to end-to-end systems integrator. Sprint has broken out of the industry norm and re-invented the enablement model for in-vehicle connectivity. We are expanding the wireless core competency to include integration of the complex components and partner ecosystem needed to harness the full power of wireless technology inside the vehicle. Sprint is proud to serve Chrysler Group as a trusted automotive technology partner and to help create an exceptional experience for their customers." James Brehm, senior strategist, Compass Intelligence, said, "The strategic partnership with Chrysler Group puts Sprint in the spotlight as a leader in providing end-to-end automotive connectivity and telematics solutions. Sprint, with deep understanding of how consumers communicate coupled with experience in providing telematics and mobile resource management (MRM) solutions, is clearly demonstrating its capacity to manage a complex ecosystem that meets exacting and demanding requirements. The end result is a different kind of a revolutionary driver and passenger connected experience through Uconnect Access." Merging the consumer wireless experience into the vehicle Today's smartphone and tablet users expect to carry a wealth of wirelessly enabled lifestyle applications wherever they go, including in the car. Delivered with convenience features such as hands-free calling and voice command, Uconnect Access expands the in-vehicle experience to include a variety of features and services that will keep drivers focused on driving. For example, drivers can wirelessly stream the Internet, or play music from their MP3, while passengers can simultaneously connect laptops, tablets or smartphones via the vehicle's WiFi hot spot. Driver experience enhanced with telematics Chrysler Group and Sprint share a commitment to technology that promotes driver focus. For example, Uconnect helps drivers maintain focus by using Bluetooth-equipped mobile phones for hands-free calling and texting. Uconnect Access also includes other features to manage in-vehicle connectivity, such as one-touch 9-1-1 calling, roadside or vehicle assistance. Sprint's deep supplier ecosystem enables system integration Uconnect Access draws on a wide field of suppliers with the proven, specialized expertise needed to support its varied components. As the system integrator for Uconnect Access, Sprint is leveraging its extensive and multi-faceted ecosystem to identify and integrate the best service and application providers. Accessibility to this wide net of potential suppliers also helps facilitate the discovery and development of innovative new features for consumers. Flexible network platform ensures a reliable in-vehicle experience Sprint's secure network ensures accurate and reliable connectivity for an expansive range of telematics applications, including the ability to lock or unlock your vehicle, and to access a 9-1-1 or roadside assistance operator at the push of a button. To ensure that the growing demand for telematics and other advanced solutions will be met, Sprint has embarked on Network Vision, a multiyear network initiative designed to enhance customers' experience with faster data speeds, improved voice quality and easier connectivity. Uconnect Access with enhanced connected services just around the corner Chrysler Group has announced that Uconnect Access will be available in the re-designed 2013 Ram 1500 pickup and the all-new SRT Viper supercar. The vehicles will include a range of new connected features and services. For more information about Uconnect Access watch the video or visit http://www.driveuconnect.com/accessram.Let's be honest: it's really hard to dislike . In fact, you feel almost compelled to root for any company bold enough to put out a product as unapologetically wacky as the , a device that somehow managed to marry a soft, cuddly vinyl sphere with WiFi and a touchscreen. It didn't make a lot of sense, and as far as we can tell, the company didn't really intend it to -- they basically threw it out there and said, "hey, so we've got this... uh, thing... now let's see what you can do with it." It was an open platform, Chumby encouraged hackers to dig in and understand the guts, and over time, a small-but-vibrant community of users and developers emerged with several hundred widgets capable of doing everything from showing the time to cracking a few Chuck Norris jokes.A quirky, overpriced alarm clock without broad market appeal can only take you so far, though -- someone's eventually got to pay the bills. Enter the $100 Chumby One, Chumby's first attempt to grow up and produce an affordable device that loses a little bit of the Chumby Classic's insanity while carefully staying true to the company's roots. Will this be Chumby's ticket out of the geek niche and into mainstream living rooms and offices? After playing with the One for a couple hours, our answer is a whimsical "why not?" Let's be very clear -- no one needs the Chumby One, nor does it close any great gap in your tech life -- but it offers enough information and functionality in one small, portable, cordless place to justify the modest price of admission.Yes, that's right, we said "cordless." The One makes good on perhaps the Classic's most damning shortcoming -- an inability to escape the wall outlet -- by including a space for a rechargeable battery underneath the base. It's not included with the device, but a quick Google check suggests that they can be readily obtained for $10 to $20. Our quick testing leads us to believe that you'd maybe get an hour and a half to two hours off of a charge (better than Chumby's quoted one hour); it's not like you'll want to be away from the charger for weeks on end, but it's good if you normally use it as your alarm clock and want to move it to another room to use as a table radio for a little while, for example.For hardware, the Chumby One is in many ways a simplified Classic, starting with a complete and utter lack of stuffing (that's a good thing for mainstream users, we'd argue). Besides the battery cover, the base has a black antenna used for FM radio reception; we never bothered to even unfurl it and we were still able to pull in a variety of local programming in crystal clarity. Around back, you've got a 3.5mm headphone jack, power port, on / off button, loudspeaker, and just one USB port, down from two on the Classic -- you won't miss the second, unless you need wired Ethernet and iPod connectivity at the same time. On the right side, you'll find a welcome addition -- a dedicated volume knob, which means you don't need to hop into the control panel anymore and actuate the on-screen slider if the music gets too loud. The top has a Chumby logo button that's used to trigger the control panel; it replaces the Classic's so-called "squeeze sensor" and can be pressed while tilting the One left or right to "slide in" the previous or next widget. Gimmicky, but cool.Front and center lies the 3.5-inch touchscreen, the same size you find on the older model; that surprised us a bit because the One is quite a bit smaller in person than we'd expected it to be and seems smaller than the Classic, but then again, there's no plush goodness here to plump up the surrounds. The display is plenty sensitive, which is good because you'll need to interact directly with the screen to accomplish just about anything. If we had a complaint here, it'd be that the screen isn't flush with the surrounding bezel which can making touching the extreme edges and corners a challenge, but we didn't find it to be a big deal.The simple interface is a dead ringer for the Classic; nothing has changed here, and that's just fine by us. In normal operation, your default "channel" -- Chumby's terminology for a particular set of selected widgets -- cycles on an endless loop, and if you'd like to add widgets or channels, you log into Chumby's site to do so (though you can delete widgets and freeze the display right from the device itself if you need to). By entering the control panel, you'll find a night mode that offers a super-dim clock and alarm display for bedside duty, though we wish this mode could be triggered automatically by light sensor (very early Classics had sensors, but for whatever reason, they were later removed). This is also where you'll go to set alarms and play music through any of the impressive variety of services that Chumby supports, including Pandora, SHOUTcast, Squeezebox Server (if you have one on your network), and a handful of podcast services and miscellaneous providers plus iPod, mass storage, and the aforementioned FM radio support. It all works well, and we like the fact that each source has its own customized UI that looks custom-suited to the service it's for (the iPod player, for example, apes iTunes). Once you've started playing your music of choice, you can navigate away and return to your widget channel if you like. We found that the built-in loudspeaker is plenty loud and clear for basic desk duty, and you always have that headphone jack available to you if you're looking for higher fidelity.Wrap-upUnlike the Chumby Classic -- which has cost anywhere between $200 and $600 over the past couple years depending on color and cover design -- the Chumby One at $100 is cheap enough so that you can effectively buy it without having any idea what you'll use it for and still not suffer even a fleeting second of buyer's remorse. Out of the box, it's a passable streaming media player, an FM radio, a photo frame, an alarm clock, a weather station, a news ticker, and more; all told, you've got over a thousand widgets available online, and with enough elbow grease, Chumby gives you the tools to make it whatever you want it to be. A miniature do-anything box for a Benjamin that doesn't look like it belongs in your toddler's toy chest? Sounds like a steal to us.CLEARWIRE'S SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO REVIEW UNSOLICITED TENDER OFFER FROM DISHCompany Plans to Adjourn Special Meeting of Stockholders; Rescheduled Meeting to be Held June 13, 2013BELLEVUE, Wash., May 30, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) ("Clearwire" or the "Company") today acknowledged that DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) ("DISH") has commenced an unsolicited cash tender offer to acquire all outstanding common shares of Clearwire at a price of $4.40 per share.In light of this development, and pursuant to the discretionary authority granted to the chairman of the meeting by Clearwire's bylaws, the Company plans to adjourn its Special Meeting of Stockholders, which is scheduled to be held at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time on Friday, May 31, 2013, without conducting any business. The Special Meeting of Stockholders will reconvene on Thursday, June 13, 2013, at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time at the Highland Community Center, 14224 Bel-Red Road, Bellevue, Washington, 98007. The record date for stockholders entitled to vote at the Special Meeting remains April 2, 2013.The Special Committee of Clearwire's board of directors (the "Special Committee") has determined, consistent with its fiduciary duties, that it will engage with DISH to discuss, negotiate and/or provide information in connection with the DISH Proposal. Consistent with its fiduciary duties and as required by applicable law, the Special Committee, in consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors, will promptly review the offer to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of Clearwire's non-Sprint Class A stockholders. The Special Committee noted that while the most recent DISH proposal raises issues that need to be discussed with DISH, the proposal appears to be more actionable than DISH's previous proposal, and the Committee intends to issue its recommendation in due course. The Special Committee has not made any determination to change its recommendation of the current Sprint (NYSE:S) offer to acquire the approximately 50 percent stake in the Company it does not currently own for $3.40 per share.On or before June 12, 2013, Clearwire intends to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 stating whether the Clearwire board of directors and the Special Committee recommends acceptance or rejection of DISH's unsolicited tender offer, expresses no opinion and remains neutral toward the tender offer, or is unable to take a position with respect to the tender offer, as well as setting forth the board of directors and the Special Committee's reasons for its position with respect to the tender offer.Clearwire stockholders are urged to defer making any determination with respect to the tender offer until they have been advised of the board of directors and the Special Committee's positions with respect to the tender offer.In connection with the definitive agreement with Sprint, Clearwire and Sprint entered into agreements that provide additional financing to Clearwire in the form of exchangeable notes, which will be exchangeable under certain conditions for Clearwire common stock at $1.50 per share, subject to adjustment under certain conditions (the "Sprint Financing Agreements"). Under the Sprint Financing Agreements, Sprint agreed to purchase, at Clearwire's option, $80 million of exchangeable notes per month for up to 10 months. At the direction of the Special Committee, Clearwire has elected to forego the June $80 million draw. The Special Committee has not made any determination with respect to any future draws under the Sprint Financing Arrangements.In addition, the Company has announced that it intends to make the interest payments totaling approximately $255 million, which are due June 1, 2013, on its first-priority, second-priority and exchangeable notes.Evercore Partners is acting as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as counsel to Clearwire. Centerview Partners is acting as financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A. are acting as counsel to Clearwire's Special Committee. Blackstone Advisory Partners L.P. has advised the Company on restructuring matters.DISH Statement on Clearwire Stockholder Vote PostponementENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) issued the following statement on news that the Clearwire Corporation Board of Directors has postponed its May 31 stockholder vote.The following statement can be attributed to Tom Cullen, DISH executive vice president of Corporate Development:"We are pleased that the Clearwire Board of Directors has decided to delay the stockholder vote to thoughtfully consider the merits of our proposal. We are confident that our offer is superior to the proposed Sprint merger as it offers substantially greater value to Clearwire and its minority stockholders and a clearer path to value realization for all parties. Importantly, it also provides a meaningful alternative to the significant group of Clearwire minority stockholders that remains opposed to the Sprint merger. Our offer is not subject to any financing contingency."DISH Network Announces Commencement of Tender Offer to Purchase All Clearwire Corporation Class A Common StockENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) announced today that DISH Acquisition Holding Corporation, a Delaware corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of DISH, has commenced a tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Class A Common Stock of Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR), including any shares of Class A Common Stock issued in respect of outstanding shares of Class B Common Stock, for $4.40 per share.The tender offer is scheduled to expire at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, at the end of June 28, 2013, unless extended or terminated in accordance with the terms and conditions of the offer.Today, DISH is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") a tender offer statement on Schedule TO, including an offer to purchase and related letter of transmittal, setting forth in detail the terms of the offer.Copies of the offer to purchase, letter of transmittal and other related material are available free of charge from Innisfree M&A Incorporated, the information agent for the tender offer, toll-free at (877) 456-3427.CLEARWIRE MINORITY SHAREHOLDERS OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVE MERGER TRANSACTION WITH SPRINTBELLEVUE, Wash., July 8, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) ("Clearwire" or "The Company") has announced the results of its Special Meeting of Stockholders held today. The Company reported that the required majority of Clearwire stockholders not affiliated with Sprint or SoftBank and more than 75 percent of the outstanding shares entitled to vote thereon voted in favor of the merger agreement proposal to acquire all shares of Clearwire which Sprint does not currently own for $5.00 per share. In total, at the Special Meeting, the holders of approximately 82 percent of the unaffiliated outstanding shares of common stock, as of April 2, 2013, the record date for the Special Meeting, cast votes in favor of the transaction. Also, the holders of approximately 95 percent of the outstanding shares of common stock as of April 2, 2013, including the approximately 50.2 percent of shares already held by Sprint, cast votes in favor of the transaction."We are pleased that our stockholders recognize the value and merits of our merger with Sprint," said Erik Prusch, President and CEO of Clearwire. "The Clearwire team is looking forward to working closely with our counterparts at Sprint to realize the potential of our assets inherent in this combination as we integrate our two companies."In addition, I would like to offer my sincere thanks and appreciation to the entire team at Clearwire. Their hard work, dedication and relentless focus on our business were instrumental in successfully accomplishing all that we did as a company. I am extremely proud of this group of people, and see today's result as a culmination of the value they have delivered to our investors."Stockholders today also voted to approve all of the additional proposals, including the NASDAQ Authorization proposal, the Charter Amendment proposal, and a non-binding proposal regarding certain merger-related executive compensation arrangements.The Company and Sprint currently expect to close the merger on July 9, 2013.About ClearwireClearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR), through its operating subsidiaries, is a leading provider of 4G wireless broadband services offering services in areas of the U.S. where more than 130 million people live. The company holds the deepest portfolio of wireless spectrum available for data services in the U.S. Clearwire serves retail customers through its own CLEAR brand as well as through wholesale relationships with some of the leading companies in the retail, technology and telecommunications industries, including Sprint and NetZero. The company is constructing a next-generation 4G LTE Advanced-ready network to address the capacity needs of the market, and is also working closely with the Global TDD-LTE Initiative to further the TDD-LTE ecosystem. Clearwire is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. Additional information is available at http://www.clearwire.com.Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking StatementsThis document includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the securities laws. The words "may," "could," "should," "estimate," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "target," "plan," "providing guidance" and similar expressions are intended to identify information that is not historical in nature.This document contains forward-looking statements relating to the proposed transactions between Sprint Nextel Corporation ("Sprint") and SoftBank Corp. ("SoftBank") and its group companies, including Starburst II, Inc. ("Starburst II"), and the proposed acquisition by Sprint of Clearwire Corporation ("Clearwire"). All statements, other than historical facts, including, but not limited to: statements regarding the expected timing of the closing of the transactions; the ability of the parties to complete the transactions considering the various closing conditions; the expected benefits of the transactions such as improved operations, enhanced revenues and cash flow, growth potential, market profile and financial strength; the competitive ability and position of SoftBank or Sprint; and any assumptions underlying any of the foregoing, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon current plans, estimates and expectations that are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The inclusion of such statements should not be regarded as a representation that such plans, estimates or expectations will be achieved. You should not place undue reliance on such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such plans, estimates or expectations include, among others, that (1) there may be a material adverse change of SoftBank; (2) the proposed financing may involve unexpected costs, liabilities or delays or may not be completed on terms acceptable to SoftBank, if at all; and (3) other factors as detailed from time to time in Sprint's, Starburst II's and Clearwire's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including Sprint's and Clearwire's Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, and other factors that are set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus contained in Starburst II's Registration Statement on Form S-4, which was declared effective by the SEC on May 1, 2013, and in other materials that will be filed by Sprint, Starburst II and Clearwire in connection with the transactions, which will be available on the SEC's web site (www.sec.gov). There can be no assurance that the transactions will be completed, or if completed, that such transactions will close within the anticipated time period or that the expected benefits of such transactions will be realized.All forward-looking statements contained in this document and the documents referenced herein are made only as of the date of the document in which they are contained, and none of Sprint, SoftBank, Starburst II, Clearwire or Collie Acquisition Corp.undertakes any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements.The are no stranger to the NBA Draft. Over the last few decades, their annual lottery appearance had become a tradition. But theyre not in the lottery this year, and more importantly, wont be for the foreseeable future.For the first time since 2000 (Quentin Richardson, No. 18), the Clippers have a non-lottery first round selection (pick No. 25). Besides the no-brainer No. 1 overall Blake Griffin pick in 2009, the Clippers have had recent success acquiring undervalued talent on draft day -- Eric Gordon (2008, No. 7), DeAndre Jordan (2008, No. 35) and Eric Bledsoe (2010, No. 18) -- and will try to find another gem on Thursday night.Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), rookie contracts have become extremely significant as teams look to add contributing role players for below market value. While pick No. 25 isnt likely to yield a franchise player, or even a starter, there is still potential for the Clippers to find a good rotation piece.Heading into the offseason, the Clippers only have Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Jamal Crawford, Eric Bledsoe, Caron Butler and Willie Green under contract. Assuming Chris Paul re-signs now that Doc Rivers has been hired as the head coach and Senior VP of Basketball Operations, the Clippers have to add interior depth behind Griffin and Jordan, as well as address their lack of size, 3-point shooting and defense on the perimeter.Since there are plenty of cheap big man options on the free agent market, the Clippers will likely target a 3-point shooting wing player with length and athleticism first. If none of their ideal candidates are available, theyll select the best big man remaining.With the Clippers looking to contend immediately, theyll likely pick a NBA-ready contributor over a player who still needs a few years to develop. Given the nature of this draft, though -- there isnt a strong consensus on players ranked outside the top-10 -- its certainly possible that a solid prospect slips to the late first round and the Clippers end up with a steal, even if hes more of a long-term project.Here are 10 players that fit the Clippers priorities and should be available in the late first round (in no particular order): - San Diego St. SG 6-5 191Franklin has drawn comparisons to another Aztec -- Kawhi Leonard -- for his length (6-11 wingspan), athleticism and defensive versatility. He has the mindset and toughness to compete right away, but will need to improve his shot selection, 3-point shooting (28 percent) and ball-handling first. - California SG 6-6 197Crabbe is an elite scorer and shooter who thrives coming off screens and spotting up, but often struggles to create his own shot. While he has the size and length to be a good defender, his effort wanes and he isnt explosive athletically. He has admitted to being too passive throughout games. - NBDL SF 6-6 211An explosive athlete (40.5-inch vertical) with deep shooting range and good finishing skills, Rice Jr. already has experience at the professional level (D-League). There are questions about his maturity -- he was kicked off the Georgia Tech team for disciplinary reasons -- and lack of defensive fundamentals. - North Texas PF 6-9 236Mitchell has the above-the-rim athleticism scouts drool over, can play either forward position and has been compared to a longer version of Kenneth Faried. His declining statistics as a sophomore and raw offensive game are worrisome, but he could be a steal this late in the draft. - New Mexico SF 6-7 198With a potent 3-point stroke (39 percent) and elite athleticism, Snell fits the profile of the "3-and-D" player so many teams covet. He lacks assertiveness and has a limited offensive game outside of catch-and-shooting, but his physical gifts and defensive potential are difficult to pass on. - France C 7-2 238Goberts 7-8.5 wingspan and 9-7 standing reach were the longest ever measured at the combine. Though hes not a great athlete, he has the mobility and instincts to become a defensive game-changer. To earn playing time, hell need to add strength and refine his offensive skills. - Michigan SG 6-6 199If not for his lack of consistency, Hardaway Jr. could be a lottery pick. Hes equally dangerous attacking off the dribble or shooting over opposing defenses, and has good court vision. Questions persist over his shot selection and ability to stay engaged defensively, but hes one of the most NBA-ready prospects. - Louisville C 6-11 230Similar to Hardaway Jr. and Rice Jr., Dieng is ready to contribute immediately. He has the length and athleticism to become a good rim protector, but isnt much of an offensive threat outside some solid shooting and passing. Already 23 years old, he isnt likely to improve much. - Providence SG 6-6 197Academic issues prevented Ledo from his playing in his freshman season, which makes him one of the most difficult players to project. He has an excellent handle, can effortlessly create his own shot and has lottery-level talent. However, his inconsistent energy and enigmatic attitude are red flags. - Bucknell PF 6-11 230Muscala is a skilled post player with a shooting touch that extends to 20 feet. Despite his lack of strength, he has a knack for rebounding and is an underrated defender. This may be a reach, as there are concerns over the level of competition he faced in college and his ability to put on weight.In the previous post I wrote about the difficulty ? quite common among networking and IT engineers ? of expressing concepts that we understand in quantifiable terms that have meaning to the CFO or anyone else who must fund our projects.The problem is that we engineers work in meterable, precise quantities. If you are asked about the bandwidth utilization of a certain link or the number of packets dropped at a certain interface over a given time period, you can go get an exact number to answer the question. But when we cannot come up with a precise number for something, we tend to get tripped up. Sometimes we dismiss as immeasurable ? intangible ? anything to which we cannot assign a firm numeric value. CFOs, on the other hand, regularly work with estimates and projections and so are more comfortable with them than we are. They make business decisions by analyzing the data available to them and then determining the probabilities that a decision will give them the results they want.There’s a disconnect because engineers and business people think differently about information and use it differently. So when you, as an engineer or CTO, propose a new networking project and say it will reduce risk in the network, and the CFO asks “by how much?”, you might be tempted to dismiss or avoid the question because, you? think, you can’t put a concrete number to “risk” with absolute certainty. Risk appears to be an intangible.The CFO, on the other hand, wants to hear an answer such as, “We are 85% certain that this project will reduce the network risk by 30%, resulting in an annual savings of $175,000 over the next five years.”Again, you’re used to measuring something and deriving a definite number in which you are 100% confident. You can’t put a definite number around “risk reduction.”Douglas Hubbard, in his wonderful little book How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business, tells about a question he asks of his seminar attendees: How would you measure the number of fish in a lake?Someone usually suggests draining the lake. If they are efficient, they might be sure to put each fish in a truck as it is counted to avoid double-counting, and perhaps multiple sweeps of the drained lakebed to insure that no fish was missed.If such a project were to be executed, it would yield an almost exact fish count. The problem is that the project is self-defeating: In the end all the fish are dead and the lake is gone.A marine biologist would have a different approach. He might suggest catching 1,000 fish, tagging them, and releasing them. After giving the fish time to mingle back in to the general fish population, he again catches 1,000 fish and counts how many have been tagged. Let’s say 25 of the 1,000 re-caught fish have tags: That’s 2.5% of the re-caught fish. He knows there are 1,000 tagged fish in the lake, so those 1,000 fish represent 2.5% of the total fish population. Therefore there are approximately 40,000 fish in the lake. The point Hubbard is making with that anecdote is that people often confuse measure with count. Where a count gives you an exact number with 100% confidence in its accuracy, a measurement is a reduction in uncertainty. The marine biologist knows that there are not exactly 40,000 fish in the lake, but his measurement is close enough to the actual count for his purposes. A carpenter might measure a length of molding to be cut at 5 feet, 11/32 inches; he knows that the measurement is not exact down to the micrometer or even millimeter range, but it’s close enough to make a good joint.There are usually points at which continued reduction of uncertainty no longer adds significant value and can even reduce the value of the information. The carpenter could buy expensive scientific instrumentation that would make his measurements accurate down to the micrometer range, but the improvement to the fit of his molding cuts would be barely noticeable over what he can get with his measuring tape. Draining the lake to get an exact fish count is an enormously expensive project with unacceptable ecological impacts.Turning back to networking projects:-?????? How do we measure things that we might think of as intangibles, such as risk and security?-?????? How do we decide when a measure is “close enough?”-?????? How do we determine the value of the information we are deriving from the measurement?In the next post we will look at some of the strategies for turning concepts into things that can be measured.??A quick note:I’ve been thinking for some time about doing a series on QoS. But while I’ve been thinking about it, Dennis Hartmann has been actually doing it. If you haven’t already seen his series, have a look. Great coverage of a complicated and misunderstood topic!? ?Network World - In many of the recent high-profile distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, the offending traffic has come from compromised Web servers rather than from botnets of PCs. Because Web servers are often connected to the backbone of the Internet, they provide a much higher-capacity pipe than PCs for distributing massive amounts of crippling malicious traffic. An attacker using compromised Web servers can direct as much as 60 to 100 gigabits of data per second toward a target. It's a real challenge to defend against that kind of barrage.Critical to the success of this type of attack are the unfortunate Web servers that come under the attacker's control. While they are legitimate servers belonging to real businesses, they are also forced to do the malevolent bidding of bad guys. What's more, this type of infection is more common than many people realize.[ ROUNDUP: ]When a hacker uses a vulnerability to break into a or website, often one of the first things he does is install a backdoor -- software that allows the hacker to connect to the compromised website or server at his convenience. The backdoor gives the hacker remote control capabilities so that even when the hole through which he broke in is patched, he can still control the server at will. He can do things like launch attacks against other sites, send out spam or phishing emails, or distribute malware through the website.Once it has been installed, the backdoor software is hard to find because it is well hidden. It's simply a file that is sitting in a list of thousands of files on the server. The administrator doesn't know if it's a backdoor or a legitimate third-party component that a Web developer has installed. External scanners can't detect it because it can be hiding anywhere and its name can be anything. But backdoors have an Achilles' heel, and it is the functionality that it is designed to allow: communication with the command and control server.The Web company just launched a new service called Backdoor Protect that provides the ability to detect and intercept the communication going through the backdoor and to neutralize it so the server or website can no longer be controlled from afar. Incapsula can identify the location of the backdoor software so the administrator can remove it and clean up his server or website for good.Incapsula, a spinoff and subsidiary of the security vendor Imperva, provides a cloud-based service designed to protect and accelerates websites. Incapsula customers change their DNS records to point to the Incapsula network instead of pointing their domain name directly to their Web server. From that point on, anyone trying to access the website first gets routed through the Incapsula network.Incapsula inspects all of a website's incoming traffic to filter out malicious traffic, such as DDoS attack traffic and hacking attempts. Because Incapsula sees all of a website's incoming traffic, the security provider is able to scan for the signatures of backdoor communications. Incapsula maintains a library of hundreds of backdoors that it has mapped and created signatures for based on its inspections of thousands of websites worldwide. If communication to a backdoor is detected, Incapsula terminates the communication to that file before it can reach the targeted Web server. Incapsula then notifies the website owner that they have a backdoor, what it is capable of doing, and precisely where it is located. is a principal analyst with .Want people to open their wallets? . Want people to fund an open source video editor project with a big vision? That's , but the Novacut project looks like it might just make it the second time around. With more than two days and less than three thousand dollars to go, things look good.The Novacut team is based in Boulder, Colorado, and they're trying to create an open source, collaborative video editor. According to the , Novacut will have some nifty features. The editor will be designed from the ground up for HDSLR cameras, use a local machine or cloud environment for rendering and storage, and support ARM as well as x86 and AMD64 systems.The team is trying to raise $25,000 for the purpose of creating a platform "to help artists make money by providing a distribution platform for free culture films and serials." At the core of this is the video editor and the first target is near and dear to many Linux users' hearts, Ubuntu:While we'd love to reach every computer, and even TVs and tablets, Ubuntu is a great place to start. It's a pretty big potential market, which is being ignored by the competition, so we can get a leg up here with minimal effort, and since our core technology is already native to Ubuntu, it's even easier for us. This way, we can very quickly build a large fanbase to support great artists, and do it better because of our focus.The other way to make artists more profitable is to save them time. Time is money as they say. If we can help artists save time, eliminate unnecessary risks, and make it easier and more efficient to collaborate, we'll have helped them tell their stories better, faster, and easier. This frees them up to be even more creative and helps them better connect with fans.This is what the Novacut editor is all about, helping artists edit video better. Again, there's a lot of low hanging fruit here. The team has put a lot of effort into designing the user experience, focusing the design around saving time, reducing risk, and enabling collaboration. The UI will feature an efficient editing workflow and be designed to tie in with similar components when available, rather than becoming a complicated mega-application of its own.The developers aren't just asking for money for development, though. As part of the package, they're offering time with the team ranging from 30 minutes (for a dirt-cheap $50) to a chance to meet the entire team for a day ($1,000 plus your own travel costs). You can also go cheap and get your name on the backer list (just $10, cheap!) or go on the backer's list and get credit in the editor as well for $25.As I write this, Novacut has a bit more than two days (53 hours) to make its goal. If not funded by 11 p.m. EDT Friday, the project gets nothing. So far, 671 people have signed up as backers. Most are at the $10 level, but quite a few people (40) have signed on at $50 or more ?? and two people want to BBQ with the Novacut team badly enough to cough up $1,000 or more. So the majority of funding, if it happens, looks to be coming from a few hundred people who are willing to pony up in the range of $10 to $49.Here's hoping they make it. It'd be interesting to see what they achieve.Thank you for contacting ESPN Customer Care about your closed captioning questions and needs. We review all feedback submitted to us. 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You further certify that I have read the foregoing, fully understand its meaning and effect and intends to assume the legal obligation of the terms it contains.Fantasy bullpen organization chart (last updated July 8)The chart below breaks down all 30 major-league teams' bullpens in terms of relievers' proximity to the closer role, not their overall fantasy value. Teams are listed in alphabetical order."Closer" is either that team's officially designated closer, or the pitcher most likely to get the team's next save chance. "Next in line" is the pitcher next-most likely to take over if something happens to the closer, or the one who might get any save chances on the closer's nights off. "Stealth" is a dark-horse candidate for saves, for those digging deep. These pitchers typically don't pose an imminent threat to the closer's job security, but might, given time. "Looming" is a pitcher who has his sights set on the closer role but whose circumstances might currently prevent him from doing so. Generally speaking, usual closers who are on hurt and/or on the disabled list (designated as "Inj." or "DL"), bereavement list ("BL") or restricted list ("RL"), closer-worthy pitchers currently working out of the rotation, specialists (especially lefties) or "next in line" options presently in the minors fit the description.TeamCloserNext in lineStealthLooming (DL)Co-closers: , (DL) (DL)[1]The inspiration for this post came from a real estate closing that I was involved in just this past week. You see I was the sellers agent of a transaction that came down to the wire not only in terms of getting the correct documents to the sellers attorney on time, but also with the sellers finishing up there move while the closing was taking place. Talk about stress!But it doesnt have to be this way. Remember, closing day should be the most exciting part of buying or selling a home. All of the work thats gone in to the process including putting the home on the market or going to open houses, the offer process, or the home inspection, all of it comes down to this last day. So why shouldnt you enjoy it?Well as was the case in this transaction there was quite a bit of running around on my part, as well as the sellers',to get the required documents sent to my sellers attorney, which really shouldnt have happened. As with this scenario, there are many issues that are encountered at the last minute that could easily be addressed earlier on in the process. Here are five areas to consider:1) Listen to Your Attorney: Every attorney will cover the expectations of the transaction process up front when first having their initial conversation with a new client. Attorney Pat Dwyer of [2] in Newton discusses among other things, expectations regarding the home inspection, financing, the closing and the purchase process in general, in the first conversation. Hell typically spend quite a bit of time on the phone with new clients going over all of this. Most clients are very appreciative, as they really have no idea what to expect. They've just had their offer accepted and are thinking "what now?" But prior to closing he will go over everything thats required including among other things (for buyers), certified funds for closing, photo identification, and the scheduled final walk-through of the property. For the sellers, most wont even attend the closing. As such, he will make sure they have provided him with the necessary information including the loan payoff information, as well as the final oil and/or water readings. Pats biggest piece of advice to all of his clients is to avoid the back-to- back (sell/buy) transactions as they can be a recipe for disaster. A delay on one can cause a ripple effect. His advice is to sell first and pay to keep their belongings on a moving truck for an extra day, then treat themselves to a night at a hotel and buy the following day. Its something his clients thank him again and again for telling them to do.2) Pay Attention to The Details: Make sure that all of your paperwork is in order and you know your crucial dates. Whether its for your attorney or for your lender this is critical. Many little items can delay a closing for hours or even days. Some things to consider include the spelling of your name (think of trying to go through airport security these days with a name on your boarding pass that doesnt match your identification), an incorrect address or even loan amounts. Even closing costs should be reviewed with you from the onset so as not to be a surprise later on.3) Follow Up On The Home Inspection Punch List Items: Its pretty typical for a home inspection to occur within seven to ten days of an accepted offer. It is also pretty common to have punch list items that have been negotiated as a result of the home inspection that you as the seller had agreed to address, or as the buyer, expected to be taken care of. As a seller, stay on top of these items and take care of them sooner than later. The closing date comes up quickly and the last thing you want is to have to call that electrician at the eleventh hour because you forgot to install the GFI outlets in your kitchen that you had agreed to deal with in the purchase and sale agreement.4) Plan Out Your Calendar: Have you booked your movers? If youre purchasing a home have you called the utility companies to transfer over the services to your name? Have you called the cable company to set up new service installation? Okay these items wont affect your closing but they will affect your piece of mind and level of stress come closing day so try and plan accordingly.5) Make Sure Your Funding Is Ready: Your attorney should review the final HUD statement whether a buyer or a seller (named after the Department of Housing and Urban Development), which is a standard form used to itemize services and fees charged to the borrower by the lender or broker when applying for a loan. They should do this in advance of the closing to avoid any issues at the closing table. As the buyer you will want to see this to make sure all of the fees are correct as well as to understand what it is youll be paying for. As a seller this is just as important.And then its done! After signing away on what might seem like hundreds of sheets of paper (particularly if you have taken out to mortgages), your home is now yours or your home is now theirs whichever the case may be. Congratulations!Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions you might have.Charlie Abrahams is a licensed real estate agent in Boston who works with buyers and sellers and can be reached for any additional information at: [3]Roberto Garcia Marquez’s oil and acrylic paintings have been exhibited at Art Basel satellite fairs as well as at galleries in Wynwood and the Bird Road Art District. But recently Garcia Marquez added one more canvas on which he shares his artwork: Clothing. Long-sleeve polyester shirts bearing images of manatees, mahi-mahi and marlins and short-sleeve nylon button-up shirts with lobsters and mackerels embroidered on them are some of the clothes available at Garcia Marquez’s new store, Ocean Outfitters, at the 16800 block of Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach. Ocean Outfitters may seem like any other beach and boat apparel store. But there’s a catch. Garcia Marquez drew all sea creatures depicted on the clothes making each shirt a unique work of art.“The idea is to bring the arts to life through apparel,” said 47-year-old Elizabeth Garcia, Garcia Marquez’s wife and store co-owner. “In hard economic times, if people can’t afford artwork, they can still afford outwear.” On a recent visit to the shop, Garcia Marquez, who now lives in Miami Lakes, picked out a white shirt with a manatee on it and explained the process of creating the images on the apparel. In his studio, he drew the manatee with acrylic on canvas. Then, he took a high-resolution photograph of his painting and through a sublimation printer, which uses heat, the image is transferred from the photo onto the polyester. The shirts depicting images of sea creatures are Garcia Marquez’s latest artistic endeavor. A self-taught artist without any formal art education aside from night classes he took at Miami Beach Senior High School, he draws in the Cubism style. In Cubism, perhaps best recognized in the paintings of Pablo Picasso, objects and people portrayed in the artwork are analyzed, broken up and reassembled in an abstract form. Traditional characteristics of Cubism are geometric shapes, and multiple and contrasting viewpoints of the same object.Some of Garcia Marquez’s artwork hangs on the back walls of Ocean Outfitters, including his oil on canvas painting titled ‘Sortilegio’ or sortilege in English. In the 30 by 40 inch canvas, Garcia Marquez has depicted a woman holding an apple. The painting is separated into 48 equal squares giving it a tiled look. In true Cubism style, body parts that are in the back of a body, are depicted in the front. “That is how I saw it,” said Garcia Marquez. While the woman’s features are in lighter hues, the rest of the painting is darker. “It goes from dark to light,” said Garcia Marquez, 47. “It is because I left the shadows in Cuba and came to the light.”The light, he said, he associates with freedom.Born in Havana, Cuba, Garcia Marquez said he was not allowed to study art during the 1970s and 1980s because communist officials knew he was against the regime and forced him to serve in the military. “In that era, if art and culture was not communist oriented, it was shut down,” he said. “We couldn’t do anything over there. We couldn’t study. It was like we were in jail.”But there was one thing Garcia Marquez and his family did that in part led him to open Ocean Outfitters. Every day he, his brother and father would go fishing. Mahi-mahi, marlins and mackerel were part of the day’s catch. So the ocean motifs were an obvious choice when it came time for him to design artwork for his clothing line and open the store. “That’s what I took from my father: a love of the ocean and art,” he said.The bar at the Lords Hotel on Collins Avenue near 11th Street is done up in gaudy gold, a campy tribute to the women of Miami. Many of the guest rooms feature huge portraits of Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra drag. There’s a giant polar bear towering over the lobby, but he’s hardly scary. How can he be when he’s striking a pose with a big vinyl beach ball between his paws? Since the Lords opened in late November (formerly the Nash Hotel,) the media has frothed about it being the first gay boutique hotel chain in America ? although there is only the one property so far. And the Lords is hardly the first hotel to cater to a gay clientele. Not nationally, and not in South Florida.But it used to be that mention of a gay hotel immediately conjured images of ? well, never mind the images. Never mind the sad decor, the sorry bar scenes, the seedy goings-on. “Even some of my friends said, ‘Oh my God, this place is actually nice,’” says Brian Gorman, the Lords’ always-chipper founder, who these days is focused on expanding the brand. He says the second Lords will open either in New York or San Francisco and that he’s close to signing deals on both coasts. “Some people said, ‘We didn’t want to book here because honestly, we didn’t really know what to expect.’ They wanted to see rooms first,” says Gorman, 35, who is committed to getting gays and lesbians to change the tape on what it means to stay in a gay hotel. “When we were opening, some people asked, ‘Is this place going to be clothing-optional?’ No, it’s clothing. And try to make it cute clothing.’’When you meet up with Gorman in the gold mirrored-mosaic bar, he’s sporting white shorts and a yellow-and-white striped tank under a light jacket and navy espadrilles. What does his style say?“Beach. Of course, there’s day Beach and evening Beach, though in the summer, I’ll often just wear a long-sleeved shirt and shorts at night. We’re different from that old gay concept. We’re very bright and open and centrally located. We’re not one of those gay places that puts a hedge around the property so no one can see what we’re up to. “Our design team at first talked about doing what a lot of boutique hotels do, which is create a really sexy, dark environment. But even in a gay hospital, there would be sex. We didn’t need to push sex. What we needed to push was a sense of luxury and fun and connection.’’The vibeThe place has a hip, boutique-y vibe, but rooms, featuring bright yellow and aquamarine colors along with a Mid-Century- Modern-meets-High-Kitsch decor, run an unpretentious $99-$149 in the summer and usually stay under $200 even in season.“This is a hotel for gay people, so the sheets still have to be Frette,’’ Gorman jokes.But as the gay community continues making gains in the civil rights arena, with New York giddy over gay marriage and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell finally starting to fade into the less-enlightened past, do “gay ghetto” components like gay cruises, gay coffeehouses, gay gyms and gay hotels delay full membership in the broader world?In recent years, many large upscale hotel chains have implemented “gay-friendly” policies, training check-in clerks not to ask thoughtless questions about whether the two men standing at the front desk really meant to book a room with a king instead of two doubles.Network World - In testing services and observing the growth of cloud activities, we've noticed that there are distinct phases that organizations go through in adopting cloud.First, application developers fall in love with cloud-based disposable infrastructure and/or ready-built app development platforms that circumvent long purchasing cycles and capital asset growth limitations. Then other attractions, like commodity rentable infrastructure, or expansive platforms, become attractive. Sometimes are either extended to the cloud as private growth areas, or moved totally off premises.In 2012, the number of cloud hosting service providers is likely to increase dramatically due to meet demand in these areas. But and reliability/SLA worries must be assuaged, and that will continue to spawn not only management application makeovers, but also new, cloud-based services for both cloud and on-premise resources and assets.Along with the standard cloud offering of infrastructure as a service and platform as a service, varieties and gradients of value-added services, especially services surrounding administration, active security and migration services will grow proportionately.OUTLOOK: We tested products that perform security in a number of diverse ways, including personal identity management, the perennial one-click logon management, but also numerous applications that provide cloud-based monitoring of both cloud and on-premise resources. We expect the number of packages in these categories to climb. Products that add intelligence to security monitoring, such as syslog managers, will increase in number as well as products that monitor assets.Asset monitoring has become more difficult because of the addition of more and diverse mobile assets, especially -- and tablets are right behind. We reviewed several mobile device management (MDM) applications, and found that the convenience of cloud-based controls seemed to trump on-premise asset tracking and policy application.We see the trend toward cloud-based MDM growing meteorically, and users will interact with MDM applications in more direct ways as the trend toward organizationally sanctioned application stores or resources will grow. The rationale is the desire to vet the security and privacy compliance of applications used by employees on smartphones and tablets, and to contain costs that are negotiated in bulk, rather than in retail quantities for users.In the same vein, as MDM applications increase their dominion over mobile assets, the scope is likely to expand toward "internal" fixed-location assets, such as desktops, servers and peripherals. This means that best-of-breed applications now running in the cloud will connect with more assets for control, then offer overall audit responsibility for compliance and regulatory control. This segment explodes. ()Similarly, we see a trend toward combinations of MDM as well as identity management in applications. 's System Center is an example of an unreleased but announced product meeting this trend, but it also has competition that's lighter on its feet on the horizon.Network World - IT professionals who have learned to work across traditional borders are the hot ticket in the current cloud-crazy job market.When David Grimes, CTO of managed and cloud service provider NaviSite, based in Andover, Mass., is looking to fill jobs at both the junior and senior level, he's not looking for folks who have stayed centered in a particular professional silo like application development, management, network engineering or data storage.Rather, he wants to hire someone who has trained across several of those IT disciplines."Moving forward it's going to be difficult to navigate a career in the cloud if you are solely operating within those traditional vertical alignments," Grimes says.IN PICTURES: MORE: Francesco Paola, vice president at consultancy Cloud Technology Partners, explains that burgeoning cloud concepts like (SDN) and orchestration portals require IT professionals to have a solid working knowledge of the fluid, underlying cloud networking infrastructure, understand how cloud-enabled need to be built to ride on those rails, have insight into how server affects both of those parts of the picture, and be clued into how can be wrapped around the whole shebang."In a cloud-based deployment, there can't be the kind of technology handoffs between silos in IT we have seen in the past. To achieve the efficiencies of a cloud investment, there has to be staff that can manage the layers of the cloud in cooperation with each other," Paola says.The exact titles for these new hybrid jobs -- as well as the set of duties to be carried out by the individuals who fill them -- are still in a state of semantic and substantive flux. Some, like cloud architect, cloud software engineer/developer, cloud systems administrator, do indeed make the "cloud" bent quite obvious.While others - like DevOps, for example - describe which two old IT silos - straight development and straight operations - have morphed into a new line item in the cloud focused IT budget. And still others -- traditional positions like project manager, business systems analyst and network architect -- are evolving into jobs that require their occupants to work in the cloud daily.Joe Coyle, CTO of Capgemini North America, agrees with Grimes that IT people with cross-training have a leg up in the new cloud world. "I can no longer interview application developers solely based on their application development skills. I need to know how well they understand how those apps intricately map to the underlying cloud infrastructure it runs on and how they will react if that underlying IaaS needs to be changed," he says.That said, "What people want and what they can get are two different things in this market," says John Reed, senior executive director of Robert Half Technology, a worldwide IT staffing firm headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif.CIO - While some large enterprises have moved their information-technology infrastructure to a third-party managed service to save costs, small firms--especially startups--have come to rely on cloud services to cut initial outlays and help them focus on the core services and products.Infrastructure-as-a-service offerings, such as Amazon's Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2), typically are used by larger enterprises to give research-and development groups flexibility in resources. For startups, eliminating the large capital expenditure of a data center at the outset has allowed many to reduce seed money and keep their burn rates that much lower, says Oliver Friedrichs, CEO of antivirus firm Immunet, which launched its first product last August.[For timely cloud computing news and expert analysis, see CIO.com's section. ]"It's a big win for smaller companies to leverage the cloud because you are really saving a lot--it is really avoiding a large, up-front investment," says Friedrichs. "Five years ago, we would have had to build out a data center and the sheer cost of that would have made it much more difficult to launch our business."Immunet has no datacenter of its own. Instead, the company uses Amazon's EC2 to analyze malicious code for patterns that can help its product, Immunet Protect, recognize viruses and Trojan horses. The firm also uses the cloud to keep antivirus service available to its more than 125,000 users, adding new virtual servers as its user base grows.The cost savings and scalability of infrastructure-as-a-service offerings are well known advantages. Yet, there are others. In interviews, three small companies that use the cloud--and one that does not--share the lessons learned from growing up with cloud infrastructure.1. From IT management to software developmentForegoing a datacenter immediately saves small companies a significant cost: Server administrators and datacenter managers. Yet, rather than reduce headcount, many companies are instead using the reclaimed budget to invest in software developers that have experience working in the cloud."In a traditional data center, we would need an IT person to rack the system, maintain the servers, and own the hardware," says Immunet's Friedrichs. "So rather than hiring someone, we now have software developers that are writing on a very flexible platform that Amazon maintains."For sales forecasting and analytics firm Right90, the cost savings of moving its infrastructure to the cloud was too advantageous to ignore. Right90 didn't start its business using third-party infrastructure, but the cost savings and flexibility of cloud services beckoned. Last year, the company moved out of its data centers in Calgary, Ontario and San Francisco, California and adopted Amazon EC2 with backup to servers located at the firm's own offices. The lack of servers to manage has freed up Right90's IT management team, says Arthur Wong, the firm's CEO."The IT operations guys are still doing, what I would call, more strategic things in the organization, rather than managing data centers and servers," he says.IDG News Service - The founder of the Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum is working to revive the organization, which fizzled in 2010.Even though the group has been defunct for a couple of years, it still counts 1,300 people on its mailing list and 3,000 in its LinkedIn group, said Reuven Cohen, who first kicked off the forum in 2008. Cohen's company Enomaly, which offered software for building public clouds and the SpotCloud marketplace for on-demand computing, was late last year.IBM: Since he the organization on his blog and on Google+ Monday morning, he's gotten "dozens" of emails from people supporting the idea, Cohen said.The group's original was to create an open community "dedicated to driving the rapid adoption of global cloud computing services." It said its work could include "advocating best practices/reference architectures for the purposes of standardized cloud computing." Its website still lists big-name supporters including Intel, Cisco Systems, IBM and RSA.The forum foundered when Cohen ran out of time to continue maintaining it, he said. But the group also struggled with its identity, and with hindsight, Cohen believes members can define a more targeted mission.A March 2009 highlights some of the struggles the group faced. The post followed an uproar that erupted after the CCIF signed on to the . CCIF later removed its name from the document and in the post noted that it didn't have the governance policies in place to make such a stand."We lost focus," Cohen said."One thing CCIF was good at, because we had such a large audience, was anyone could post their harebrained schemes and have 4,000 people see it," he said. "Now there's no place to do that."With the support of other people in the cloud industry, he hopes to revive the CCIF as a forum for people who want to discuss issues, including interoperability, in the cloud."I'm getting a lot of interest as I travel from folks in many parts of the world who want a place to discuss, to talk about what they're doing and there's no place to gain that visibility," he said.The CCIF was one of many groups that have popped up over the past few years around cloud computing. The seek to develop standards, something the CCIF doesn't plan to do.But there's also a vibrant community among people supporting OpenStack. OpenStack devotees meet regularly and discuss issues in a variety of ways around the Web.Cohen hopes that the CCIF will represent a forum where people can discuss a wider range of issues, not just those relevant to OpenStack.Another cloud group that gained momentum, stalled, relaunched and now may have stalled again is the Open Cloud Initiative. It in July last year with a goal of offering a set of principles that define what makes a cloud open. Leaders of the group have not replied to repeated requests for an update over the past couple of months.Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at . Nancy's e-mail address is The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.Network World - The cloud is revolutionizing networking, and this overhaul presents enormous challenges for IT managers who are used to being able to see, monitor and control their networks and systems.Network and systems management software has been heading in this general direction for years and is better positioned than you might think to take this next step - but there are several areas that require more work by the industry.IN DEPTH: To understand the size of the problem, let’s take a look at what cloud computing is. There are , but at its heart, cloud computing is an abstraction of things that have not been abstracted before. Instead of having servers, software, applications and storage dedicated to certain tasks, all of that is abstracted to the user and even the IT manager.Instead of being concerned about individual servers, the focus is on the services they provide ? services like email or a sales application. Under the covers, resources (like servers, network devices, storage and operating systems) are shared for these services. Automation software can set up and tear down resources as needed ? provisioning a virtual machine with an operating system and an application, for instance, and then tearing it down later. But the person using the service is unaware of the resources being used underneath, and they can be changing all the time.There are two major divisions of ? public clouds and private clouds. In a private cloud, IT departments build their own clouds in their own data centers. They set up the automation, they provide all of the hardware and software to support the service, and they provide the abstraction through virtualization and automation techniques.In a public cloud setup, a company uses an outside firm to provide the service. The most abstract type of public cloud is software-as-a-service (SaaS), where the software is hosted by the outside firm on an Internet site, and the client company usually accesses it through a Web browser. One step down in abstraction is platform-as-a-service (PaaS), where customers can create the applications to run on the platform, but all of the software and hardware is managed by the outside firm, and the applications are tied to the application platform provided. Another step down in abstraction and you get infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), where the hardware and the operating system are still managed by the provider, but the applications are completely determined by the client.You can imagine how these developments could throw enterprise management software for a loop. Management software’s roots are in the physical world, providing visibility and control into all of the hardware and software components of a network. Now, that visibility is being deliberately taken away.Past is prologueCloud computing, however, did not arise out of nothing, and management software vendors have not stood still for the past decade. Although management software still has much to do to keep up with the changes, two key developments have helped prepare management software for the cloud.Network World - ON THE UPSIDE1. Fast start-up"Cloud computing is really a no-brainer for any start-up because it allows you to test your business plan very quickly for little money. Every start-up, or even a division within a company that has an idea for something new, should be figuring out how to use cloud computing in its plan," says Brad Jefferson, CEO of , a New York company that creates full-motion videos out of customer-selected photos and music. "Cloud computing has changed the game for entrepreneurs -- the greatest part about it is that on launch day, you have the confidence that you scale to the world."2. ScalabilityTo figure out if you're a good prospect, first consider the variability of the resource utilization of your own IT structure, says Tom Nolle, CEO of CIMI, a high-tech consulting firm. "If you've got enormous peaks and valleys, you're forced to oversupply IT resources to address the peaks. It may be significantly less costly for you to outsource the peaks," he says.3. Business agility."Your mind really changes quickly when you can solve problems using IT resources but you don't need a long-term commitment and you don't have to wait a long time to get them," says Michael Crandell, CEO of RightScale, a cloud management and support company. "Cloud computing changes the whole pattern of agility at a much lower cost."4. Faster product developmentSince moving some applications and data to Amazon's cloud last April, . has seen provisioning time drop from weeks to minutes, says Dave Powers, associate information consultant at the Indianapolis company. "If I can give scientists eight weeks back on their research, that's a huge value there," he adds. "This is really starting to impact how we do business. We're starting to reduce cycle times in research, which is critical for us. That's a trickle-down effect of technology that we can make available to the scientific community."5. No capital expendituresAre you out of space in your ? Have your applications outgrown the infrastructure? Cloud computing services allow a company to shift from capital to operational expenses even in do-or-die cases, says Bernard Golden, CEO of HyperStratus, a consulting firm specializing in advanced IT technologies.ON THE DOWNSIDE1. Bandwidth could bust your budgetSuch was the case at , which considered then ruled out an external cloud service to address scalability challenges, says Nick Bali, senior systems engineer at the Culver City, Calif., company. Every day, Sony animators access and generate between 4 and 12 terabytes of data. "The network bandwidth we'd need to put that into someone's cloud and to read it back is tremendous, and the cost would be so large that we might as well buy the storage ourselves rather than paying someone else for it," he says. Now Sony is evaluating a private storage cloud, using ParaScale's cloud storage software.2. App performance could sufferA private cloud might, but a public cloud definitely wouldn't lead to improved -- not when taking network latency into account, says Tony Bishop, CEO of Adaptivity, a consulting firm specializing in next-generation IT infrastructure."I couldn't see an investment bank putting a latency-sensitive application on an external cloud," adds Steve Harriman, a vice president at .3. Data might not be cloud-worthy"On Day 1, we probably had eight to 10 applications that we would have loved to take into the cloud," says Eli Lilly’s Powers. "But, knowing the type of data we had and the classification [of who could see it], we decided going through internal governance and rigor around taking care of that data would be appropriate." And, definitely don't put an application that provides competitive advantage or contains customer-sensitive information in the public cloud, Bishop adds.4. Too big to scale"The bigger you are, the bigger your IT resource pool. And the bigger your IT resource pool, the less likely it is that you'll see any enormous financial advantage in outsourcing to the cloud," CIMI's Nolle says. "Cloud computing promotes better resource utilization, … but the gains are greatest when moving from relatively small consumption of resources upwards. If you're a very large enterprise, you might find you can achieve better economy by doing your own cloud than going to an outsourced one."5. Human capital may be lackingExploring next-generation IT models requires an adventuresome spirit and technical astuteness, says HyperStratus' Golden. "If you don't have the human capital that's willing to stretch and learn new things, taking on cloud computing can be very frustrating."Schultz is a freelance IT writer in Chicago. She can be reached at . in Network World's Cloud Computing section.Network World - As cloud computing adoption climbs, hosting providers are inking deals with security vendors to provide security-as-a-service options to customers. But will enterprise IT managers buy into these often novel forms of security woven into a cloud computing environment?There's definitely some resistance as IT and security managers struggle to sort out risk factors and compliance issues."A good number of organizations are now using what they consider to be cloud services," says Bill Trussell, managing director of security research at TheInfoPro, which just published its semi-annual of information security professionals at large and midsize firms in North America. But when TheInfoPro asked respondents about whether they'd use cloud-based security services in cloud computing environments, less than 15% cited that as being very likely."When asked whether organizations would extend functions such as user access and provisioning, or two-factor authentication, to cloud providers, it wasn't too popular," Trussell says. Enterprise security professionals are still nervous about something largely unfamiliar that doesn't sit on their premises and isn't under their direct control ? or even under the direct control of the cloud-computing provider they use, since the security service is controlled by a third-party vendor with security expertise.Still, these new security-as-a-service arrangements are coming to cloud computing, and fast.PivotLink, for instance, which offers cloud-based pay-as-you-go , including an analysis service for data related to Salesforce.com, is in partnership with Novell to beta-test Novell's cloud security service, which includes various identity-management capabilities based on software hosted at GoGrid."We get our authentication from the Novell service, which plugs into the customer's service," says Bob Kemper, senior vice president of development at PivotLink. "Today we use the identity management and their authorization to manage the security level. Novell integrates with the required enterprise systems for access to information."PivotLink's customers, many of whom are retail sales managers at companies that include REI, don't have to be using Novell software on their premises to make use of the Novell cloud security service."If they're using any LDAP or Active Directory infrastructure, it will work," Kemper says. The cloud-based service makes use of SAML-based authorization. The arrangement in the beta test with Novell allows a customer to automatically de-provision a store manager who is leaving and add a new manager automatically authorized in the same role to use the PivotLink service."Our customers say we need this level of control and management and audit in some fashion," Kemper says, adding that customers say they will feel more comfortable uploading sensitive data into the cloud.PivotLink hopes to be able to announce general availability of the Novell-based cloud security services as part of its portfolio offering by the summer. And Kemper feels the best approach to introduce these kinds of security controls is through a service model with a partner such as Novell, which maintains its own cloud.Network World - It wouldn't be a mischaracterization to equate the industry to the wild, wild west.There is such a variety of vendors gunning at one another and the industry is young enough that true winners and losers have not yet been determined. Amazon has established itself as the early market leader, but big-name legacy IT companies are competing hard, especially on the enterprise side, and a budding crop of startups are looking to stake their claims, too. In its latest report, research firm Gartner lists 14 infrastructure as a service (IaaS) companies, but Network World looked at four of the biggest names to compare and contrast: Amazon Web Services, Rackspace (and OpenStack), Microsoft and Google.FREE CLOUDS! Amazon Web ServicesIt's hard to find someone who doesn't agree that Amazon Web Services is the market leader in IaaS cloud computing. The company has one of the widest breadths of cloud services - including compute, storage, networking, databases, load balancers, and application development platforms all delivered as a cloud service. Amazon has since it debuted its cloud six years ago and fairly consistently fills whatever gaps it has in the size of virtual machine instances on its platform - the company recently rolled out new high-memory instances, for example.There are some cautions for Amazon though. Namely, its cloud has experienced in two years. One analyst, Jillian Mirandi of Technology Business Researcher, has suggested that could eventually start hindering businesses' willingness to invest in Amazon infrastructure.That sentiment gets to a larger point about AWS though - the service seems to be popular in the startup community, providing the IT infrastructure for young companies and allowing them to avoid investing in expensive technology themselves. But Mark Bowker, a cloud analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group, says Amazon hasn't been as popular in the enterprise community. "Amazon's made it really easy for pretty much anyone to spin up cloud services or get VMs," he says. Where is Amazon getting those customers from? Some are developers and engineers who get frustrated by their own IT shops not being able to supply VMs as quickly as Amazon can, so they use Amazon's cloud in the shadows of IT. "Taxi cabs pay for a lot of VMs," says Beth Cohen, an architect at consultancy Cloud Technology Partners, referring to users expensing Amazon services on travel reports. The point is there's a hesitation by some enterprises to place their Tier 1, mission critical applications in a public cloud.Amazon is looking to extend its enterprise reach though. In recent months the company has made a series of announcements targeting enterprises and developers. It rolled out , a long-term storage service, while it's made updates to its application development platform and its , which helps developers automate applications running in Amazon's cloud.CIO - I've written extensively on the disruption that cloud computing presents to IT organizations; I've focused much less on the disruption it poses for the entire IT supply chain--from vendors through to system integrators and on to outsourcing companies. Make no mistake, though, cloud computing will disrupt every part of IT. No sector of it will come through unscathed.A couple of anecdotes that were shared with me at a conference this week brought this home.The first anecdote outlined the challenge one large vendor was experiencing with its channel partners. Today, these partners help the vendor's customers implement and integrate on-premise hardware and software. A typical project lasts months (if not years!) and requires a small army of technical people with different skills: project managers, data analysts, interface programmers, finance and accounting personnel, etc., etc. In a cloud world, these projects shrink to much shorter timeframes and require many fewer people, i.e., many fewer billable hours. So, from the channel partner's perspective, cloud computing is much less palatable.[For timely cloud computing news and expert analysis, see CIO.com's section. ]The second anecdote came from an end user which had signed a large outsourcing deal. The goal of the offloading was to save money, which it accomplished. However, now it takes six months (that was the figure quoted) to get new resources provisioned. The speaker displayed visible anguish at the position IT was in: a resource provisioning process that take forever and end users with increasing demands for IT resources and an increasing impatience fostered by what they've heard about the "available in minutes" characteristic of cloud computing. Talk about a rock and a hard place!With regard to the first anecdote, it's clear that the asset-lite, easy provisioning, transparent economics of cloud computing require much less of certain portions of typical on-premise projects. However, it's not clear that the "tip of the spear" part of on-premise projects--integration with existing systems, end user interfaces, etc., disappear at all.It may be that if a SaaS solution is being used formerly necessary parts of projects that were part of the value of the project will not be needed--for example, traditional CRM implementations like Siebel had endless database and schema work, all aimed at creating an environment perfectly tuned to the user environment. With Salesforce, the service comes with a standard schema that customers are expected to live with--and guess what--they do.Nevertheless, the valuable parts of system projects, even if the overall project is less costly, remain--and perhaps deliver even more value when the overall project is freed from expensive, low-value labor.Case of Cloud and the Clipping ServiceLet me offer an example. In the past, most company's marketing departments subscribed to a clipping service--a service that subscribed to newspapers and magazine and would clip stories that mentioned the company. Every week or so, an envelope would arrive from the clipping service with all the stories they clipped neatly pasted to sheets of paper. Naturally, this was expensive because the people cutting out the articles had to be paid for. And, it was difficult to justify spending more on different clips, about competitors, say, because of the expense. Moreover, it was time-consuming and a hassle to change what you clipped for (we term this process friction), so it wasn't done very often.CodeLathe's TonidoPlug 2 is an amazing device that lets you build your own personal cloudI know why you're happy ... you've got cloud fever. You can't get enough of cloud this and cloud that so, as a change from megascale, enterprise-scale, cumulonimbus-like behemoths, let's look at a something more on the wispy, happy, summer stratus-like scale. The , which is based on the and developed and marketed by CodeLathe LLC, is a personal cloud system that is really cool, amazingly well-featured, and remarkably inexpensive.Driven by a ARM-complaint system-on-a-chip (SoC) with a Feroceon 88FR131 rev 1 (v5l) processor running at 794.62 MHz with 512MB of RAM, this device is surprisingly fast.RESEARCH REPORT: The TonidoPlug is physically small (5.5 inches by 3 inches by 1 inch) and provides 512MB of flash storage for the operating system and apps, an internal slot for a 2.5-inch SATA II drive, and a single USB 2.0 port to which (obviously) USB storage devices can be attached.For connectivity the TonidoPlug has both wired Gigabit Ethernet and integrated 802.11b/g/n .The TonidoPlug can be plugged directly into a power socket or, through a rather clever piece of engineering, the plug can be swapped for an adapter that allows a wired power cord to be used. The TonidoPlug, which can operate on any power source from 100 to 240VAC at either 50 or 60Hz, is also miserly, drawing less than 13 watts at maximum.And now, the software: The TonidoPlug 2 currently runs and supports file sharing for clients on both your local network as well as the Internet. There are also free apps to provide remote access to the TonidoPlug from iOS, , BlackBerry and 7 Mobile devices.When you first power up a TonidoPlug it will get its network configuration via DHCP. Cunningly, you can find the local IP address of the device by going to and clicking on a link that will take you to the TonidoPlug's configuration page ... this is a very clever technique that other manufacturers would do well to emulate rather than their usual simplistic reliance on a default address.The TonidoPlug comes with several built-in applications: Webshare for files and photo sharing; Explorer for file system browsing; and a DLNA Media for streaming content. You can also install a number of apps directly from the Tonido App Store, including: Sync for file synchronization; Search for file search; a personal blog called Thots; Tonido Shell for a browser-based command line; a Web browser-based BitTorrent client; Workspace, a Web browser-based collaboration software; and Jukebox, a Web browser-based music player.You can also upgrade to TonidoPro from the App Store for $29 per annum, which increases the synchronization storage from 250MB to 50GB and adds sync capability for guest accounts.A really interesting feature (currently in beta) allows you to set up the TonidoPlug as a relay by configuring the Wi-Fi service to work in "hotspot" mode. This makes the system behave much like the bigger, more muscly brother of the last August.Priced at just $119 for the drive-less TonidoPlug 2, this system gives you a huge amount of power and range of features in one small, well-polished, highly capable, and very cost-effective package. The TonidoPlug 2 gets a Gearhead rating of 5 out of 5.Gibbs is plugged in in Ventura, Calif. Connect at and follow him on (@) and on Facebook ().Network World - Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud providers are battling in a price war that has seen 29 price reductions by the four major providers during the past 14 months, a trend industry analysts expect to continue.RightScale, which acts as a cloud gateway to various providers, released an analysis of more than a year's worth of data related to price reductions and found that Amazon Web Services (AWS) had the most price reductions compared to Google Compute Engine, Azure and Rackspace.AWS had eight reductions during the 14-month period on core services, including compute, storage and bandwidth, along with another 11 reductions on non-core services such as database services, messaging, search and caching. By comparison, had four core reductions, while GCE and Azure each had three."With all these changes, the price/performance value of cloud IaaS gets increasingly more attractive," RightScale says in its press release.[ CLOUD SHOWDOWN: ]So how low can prices go? Some providers are already offering services for the ultimate low price: free. AWS, for example, has a free usage tier in which customers can use up to 750 hours of Microsoft or micro-sized virtual machine instances, along with 30GB of Elastic Block Storage (EBS), and 5GB of its Simple Storage Service."The pricing war is going to continue all the way to the bottom," says Krishnan Subramanian, principal analyst at boutique firm Rishidot Research. "Companies like Amazon and Google will have the advantage due to economies of scale. If history is any indication, Amazon will go to any level to undercut the competitor pricing. Service providers who don't have the economies of scale will try to add additional value on top of infrastructure to avoid going down this slippery slope."Some believe service providers will continue to lower prices, even to the point of offering services for free, with the goal of luring customers into placing their data in their clouds and then making it expensive, or difficult to get the data out. In AWS's cloud, for example, it's free in many services to upload data to its cloud, but costs money to take it out.Cloud providers use price reductions as a way to grab headlines, according to analysts at Technology Business Research Inc. So, while it may sound nice that AWS is reducing prices every few weeks or months, RightScale points out that many of those price reductions are on subsets of the company's services, and therefore impact a limited number of customers. For example, RightScale says two-thirds of cloud services it helps customers deploy involve compute resources, but only 23% of the price reductions by the major providers were on compute services."Compute and storage, the most mature services, saw smaller reductions than newer cloud services like database," says Kim Weins, RightScale's VP of marketing. "This could indicate that cloud providers have already squeezed more efficiencies in these areas, and future price reductions may be smaller." Still, Weins predicts that cloud prices will continue to fall for the foreseeable future, especially as hardware prices continue to drop, scale increases and providers become more efficient in running their services.An interesting thing I saw at RSA this year was at the Alert Logic partner pavilion on the show floor. had five of their leading cloud/hosting provider partners exhibiting with them. The five were: , , , (formerly Hosting.com) and . If I told you the five of these companies were at RSA, you would have probably assumed that they were in attendance seeking to learn more about security and new trends in security. You probably would not have thought that they were there as security providers themselves. However, that is exactly what they are and what they were there doing.RELATED: The fact that these leading hosting/cloud providers view themselves as security providers says a lot about the state of the cloud. For too long we have heard that security was the biggest inhibitor to cloud adoption. These leading cloud providers have taken this to heart and have turned the tables on this perception. As part of their best-in-class cloud hosting, they now offer a full array of security services.MORE:Some of the security services they offer are through third-party providers such as Alert Logic. Alert Logic offers threat management, log management and web application firewall services primarily through cloud and hosting providers. But all five of these providers also offer home-grown organic security services. In fact, security is built into the very fabric of their offerings.This manifests itself when they speak to you about how they secure their infrastructure. Security measures are built into every layer. Some in the way of technologies, some in the way of process and policy. Many of these built-in security measures are not priced separately. They then offer a suite of optional security services to their customers such as the Alert Logic offerings.When you think about it, this is really pretty amazing. We have gone from cloud being insecure and cloud providers being perceived as not having security to cloud providers acting as cloud security providers. I don't think it is a coincidence that at the same time we see this transformation we also see cloud security diminishing as an inhibitor to cloud adoption. It is a testament to the hard work and quality of security that these providers have built up over the last few years.I had a chance to catch up with several of these cloud providers and with VP of marketing for Alert Logic, Urvish Vashi. You can listen to the conversations below. I think you will find them interesting. Each conversation is only about 10 to 12 minutes.This year marked a new era of the cloud at the RSA conference. What was a weakness is now a strength. Cloud providers are now out hawking their wares as cloud security providers, and that is a good thing.(If you don't see the audio players below you may have to reload the page)My first conversation is with Cara Camping,Product Manager, Managed Security Services for Sunguard ASMy next conversation is with Chris Patterson,VP of Product Management at NavisiteFinally my last conversation is with Alert Logic VP of marketing, Urvish Vashi an old friend of mine.While cloud vendors often have larger scale operations that imply the potential for more resources and expertise to protect your data, that potential will only be realized if customers provide the oversight, funds and service level requirements to make sound security processes a good business decision for the vendors. This entails security teams getting more involved, companies allowing security to influence buying decisions and insisting on regular reporting on security processes and service-level agreements.Additionally, there are some areas, like and administrative privileges, where using a cloud vendor will always represent greater risk. These risks are exacerbated by the lack of best practices.Customer beckoning criticalCorporations evaluate security investments based on risk metrics. If you're Goldman Sachs, the chances of an internal employee trying to steal your proprietary code that runs the company's high-volume trading platform is a colossal risk. The code is worth millions and an empire of stock-trading has been built on it.Goldman's precautions in protecting that data paid off when an ex-programmer was caught trying to steal the code with, what appears to be, the intent to sell it to a competitor.If a cloud vendor were hosting that code on their servers, how would their security motivation compare? What if it was the cloud vendor's own programmer that stole the code? Wouldn't their risk motivate them not to tell the client? Corporations have pieces of data where billions of dollars are at risk. How can they entrust that to a vendor that they haven't even verified security processes with? The series of recent at McDonalds, Honda and Walgreens should be a testament of the damage that can be done by a single weak link at a third-party vendor.Cloud vendors need to be motivated by their customers to invest in security, because their own risk metrics don't justify the expense. Today this isn't happening. ?The Insider ThreatThe same virtualization layer that makes clouds possible creates an additional layer of access to be controlled ?C the ?C which only the cloud vendor can protect. The truth is virtualized data can be stolen by anyone with administrative access through a simple 5-minute trick (see a ), where security precautions and monitoring tools can be circumvented using the hypervisor.We did a small informal at VMworld and found that 93% had virtualized at least some mission-critical data, but over 70% felt one of their colleagues might be able to steal that data if they wanted.Studies like the 2010 Data Breach Report and the 2010 Cybersecurity Watch Survey verify that insider breaches cost more and happen more often, because insiders have special access and know-how. Nobody has more of those two things than the IT team itself.Contending with the insider threat requires the same tools and processes already in place in corporate data centers ?C you have to set standards and audit them. Does your cloud vendor have SAS 70 type II certification? Do you verify their controls with on-site visits? Corporations have to enforce SLA violations with real penalties. Customers need to take control of their cloud environment, protect privileged account credentials ?C especially businesses like Amazon, where individual developers will likely also have a credit card account with the company.If we want cloud vendors to be secure enough to protect our corporation's most sensitive data, then cloud customers have to insist on it, communicate their requirements, oversee the controls, ask for reports and ultimately take responsibility for the security of their cloud vendor.Today we're just not there yet and the technologies to support this are just emerging. For now and the foreseeable future, cloud vendor priorities will be aligned with those of their customers ?C reducing cost, workload and deployment time while providing new levels of scalability. Some of these priorities are at odds with the time and money resources required to do proper security.If you are going to move some processing to the cloud, I would encourage you to prioritize and oversee security at your cloud vendors, insist on reporting and improve protections of even less sensitive data, even if your crown jewels are still safe at home on your own servers.While cloud vendors often have larger scale operations that imply the potential for more resources and expertise to protect your data, that potential will only be realized if customers provide the oversight, funds and service level requirements to make sound security processes a good business decision for the vendors. This entails security teams getting more involved, companies allowing security to influence buying decisions and insisting on regular reporting on security processes and service-level agreements.Additionally, there are some areas, like and administrative privileges, where using a cloud vendor will always represent greater risk. These risks are exacerbated by the lack of best practices.Customer beckoning criticalCorporations evaluate security investments based on risk metrics. If you're Goldman Sachs, the chances of an internal employee trying to steal your proprietary code that runs the company's high-volume trading platform is a colossal risk. The code is worth millions and an empire of stock-trading has been built on it.Goldman's precautions in protecting that data paid off when an ex-programmer was caught trying to steal the code with, what appears to be, the intent to sell it to a competitor.If a cloud vendor were hosting that code on their servers, how would their security motivation compare? What if it was the cloud vendor's own programmer that stole the code? Wouldn't their risk motivate them not to tell the client? Corporations have pieces of data where billions of dollars are at risk. How can they entrust that to a vendor that they haven't even verified security processes with? The series of recent at McDonalds, Honda and Walgreens should be a testament of the damage that can be done by a single weak link at a third-party vendor.Cloud vendors need to be motivated by their customers to invest in security, because their own risk metrics don't justify the expense. Today this isn't happening. ?The Insider ThreatThe same virtualization layer that makes clouds possible creates an additional layer of access to be controlled ?C the ?C which only the cloud vendor can protect. The truth is virtualized data can be stolen by anyone with administrative access through a simple 5-minute trick (see a ), where security precautions and monitoring tools can be circumvented using the hypervisor.We did a small informal at VMworld and found that 93% had virtualized at least some mission-critical data, but over 70% felt one of their colleagues might be able to steal that data if they wanted.Studies like the 2010 Data Breach Report and the 2010 Cybersecurity Watch Survey verify that insider breaches cost more and happen more often, because insiders have special access and know-how. Nobody has more of those two things than the IT team itself.Contending with the insider threat requires the same tools and processes already in place in corporate data centers ?C you have to set standards and audit them. Does your cloud vendor have SAS 70 type II certification? Do you verify their controls with on-site visits? Corporations have to enforce SLA violations with real penalties. Customers need to take control of their cloud environment, protect privileged account credentials ?C especially businesses like Amazon, where individual developers will likely also have a credit card account with the company.If we want cloud vendors to be secure enough to protect our corporation's most sensitive data, then cloud customers have to insist on it, communicate their requirements, oversee the controls, ask for reports and ultimately take responsibility for the security of their cloud vendor.Today we're just not there yet and the technologies to support this are just emerging. For now and the foreseeable future, cloud vendor priorities will be aligned with those of their customers ?C reducing cost, workload and deployment time while providing new levels of scalability. Some of these priorities are at odds with the time and money resources required to do proper security.If you are going to move some processing to the cloud, I would encourage you to prioritize and oversee security at your cloud vendors, insist on reporting and improve protections of even less sensitive data, even if your crown jewels are still safe at home on your own servers.But I'm still bullish on cloud computing. If you've been following Forrester's analysis of the cloud computing market, you already know this. Forrester believes cloud computing is one of the Top 15 technology trends in and that it warrants investment now so you can gain the experience necessary to take advantage of its many forms to transform your organization. Tenancy, shared economics, virtualized deployment, and cloud service-to-service integration are game changers for those who are using these services. Not only do they bring potential cost advantage to applications that might otherwise have been deployed on-premise, but they create opportunities for new business applications that simply aren't feasible any other way. Like any emerging technology, however, you have to go in with your eyes open. It isn't as easy as some vendors make it sound, and if you get it wrong it can cost you more than you're hoping to save. Cloud services can, in fact, save you money, particularly if you have applications with highly variable load. An application that normally consumes only 20% of a single server, but during heavy use can consume 10 servers, is a great fit for cloud deployment where you only pay for the VMs you light up. However, if that application has to take credit card transactions and your cloud provider won't let you audit its environment or won't provide the logging and reporting you need for PCI compliance, then it may cost you more to address these issues than what it would have cost to simply run it in your own data center. Cloud providers will only go so far in providing security, management and reporting for their services. You have to fill in the gaps between what they provide and what your business requires. A recent concern among Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) customers has been visibility into cloud congestion in order to ensure application performance. There are no guarantees of performance from the cloud providers and certainly not performance as you may define it for a given application. The same is true for availability. Where most public clouds will alert you when their services are out (and rebate you for time lost) they won't monitor your application. You have to do that. If your application hangs or fails, it is your responsibility to have a redundant deployment that can identify the problem and work around it. Same with cloud outages. Another issue most enterprises don't think about is the implication of where the cloud resources are based. Most cloud services aren't geographically ubiquitous. They are like any other Internet service, served up from a data center in a specific geography. And if you do business in multiple geographies you'll need to take into account various local privacy and data protection laws. In fact, in our analysis of just the IaaS space, 90% of the providers have U.S.-based data centers. If you have European clients, you're subject to European privacy laws which state that personal information on EU citizens must be stored in the EU. That makes many of the cloud providers a non-starter for this use (see Forrester's . The promise (and delivery) of geographic diversity should be one of cloud computing's value tenets. And if so, the providers will have to provide a simple means of ensuring compliance with privacy laws. Right now, it's simply far too easy to run afoul of these laws. And it's you, not your cloud provider who will carry the liability. As one IaaS provider told us recently, "Most of our clients don't have a clue about these privacy laws and frankly aren't worried because there's little enforcement." It's an understandable circumstance but a very risky one, as enforcement can become a real concern overnight. All the government in question needs to do is fry one large enterprise for violations to shock everyone into compliance. And claiming ignorance of the laws isn't a suitable defense. As you might expect, application developers are less concerned about compliance. They're focused on accelerating time-to-market and raising productivity, and they see cloud computing as a significant accelerator. While IaaS clouds can deliver, the dynamic scaling involved can expose the company to risk if not managed, and that's the role IT needs to fill. Don't try to stop your company from using cloud computing ?C that horse has already left the barn. Instead, create a use policy that serves as guardrails to protect your company as they move down this new path.Cloud computing is right about at the same place today as the Web was in 1997."Large potential, a huge market, but at the same time a lot of hype, a lot of uncertainty," said M.R. Rangaswami, co-founder of Sand Hill Group, a consulting firm for software companies, at a conference called that concluded today in Santa Clara, Calif.Some of the uncertainty revolves around determining the return-on-investment (ROI) from subscribing to a cloud computing service. Industry experts discussing cloud computing ROI on one panel, including someone from Microsoft, said there are ways to gauge ROI, but there are too many variables to offer a simple answer.And one panelist, in particular, said if a company only calculates ROI based on savings to the IT budget, they're thinking too small.Microsoft has an for determining ROI as well as total cost of ownership (TCO) of deploying its new for doing enterprise computing in the cloud, said Dianne O'Brien, senior director of business strategy for Windows Azure.But a company could be wasting money if it puts applications in the cloud that are better left in the data center. Whether an application is suited for a cloud environment depends on how it behaves, O'Brien said, and then described four cloud-suited application types.Type one is the "On and Off" application. These are apps that might run feverishly for an hour or so and then shut down. Every night when someone closes a restaurant or other retail store, they do "batch processing," transmitting all the day's credit card receipts to the card processing company. That's a perfect example of an "On and Off" application."During the day that hard drive is idle," O'Brien noted. "That??s a lot of capacity that you have sitting around with a lot of idle time."Type two is the "Growing Fast" type. A social networking site that finally takes off needs a bunch of compute cycles quickly, she said."If you??re having to deal with bringing that new infrastructure on line at the same time you??re growing, that??s a lot of time spent just on the basics and you??re not really focused on the application itself."Type three is the "Unpredictable Burst." A site could be humming along just fine until it gets a mention on "The Huffington Post" blog or the "Larry King Live" show on CNN and everyone rushes to visit. Again, that's where it'd be nice to have excess capacity available in the cloud without having to build it in your own data center.The fourth type is the "Predictable Burst," such as the online retailer whose unique visitor numbers shoot up every year between Thanksgiving and Dec. 25."How quickly can you respond, how quickly can you bring new capacity online when you need it?" O'Brien said, listing some of the questions IT people should ask before making an investment in the cloud.But Steve Oberlin said if you only ask "How much can cloud computing save me on my IT budget?" you're asking the wrong question.Oberlin, a vice president and distinguished engineer at CA, noted that IT budgets are equal to only about 2 percent to 4 percent of a company's revenue, on average. He's seen metrics that measure the cloud ROI based on server reduction, savings on new server provisioning, reduced operating expenses and the payback period from new IT spending."But really if you think about it, if you think about the limits to savings, you??re limited to the size of your IT budget," Oberlin said.This might be harder to calculate, but what he's saying is that the ROI on cloud computing, like the ROI on IT spending in general, is determined by how much more agile the company can be, how much quicker it can bring products to market and how much sooner it can launch other initiatives to bring in more revenue and generate more profit.Network World - Two user groups launched cloud-security best-practices campaigns at RSA Conference 2009 and formed an informal alliance to influence the development of security products in accordance with their recommendations.The (CSA) and the released their agendas of threats to cloud services that need to be addressed, with CSA's detailed filling up 83 pages that detail 15 areas of security concern.At the same time, the Europe-based group served up an outline of threats it perceives. A much smaller group, Jericho Forum acknowledged that CSA had thrown more people at the problem and come up with a more complete document.But the groups are in agreement on what needs to be done. , a security consultant who wrote the architecture section of the CSA paper, shuttled from his group's launch over to the Jericho Forum event, listened and supported it. “Your concepts make sense,” he said.The groups, which tout members that include large corporations such as DuPont, Eli Lily, eBay and ING, need to use their influence as major customers to demand products that address cloud threats, Hoff said. “It's the large end-user organizations that will drive it,” he said of the cloud-security best-practices push.Issues addressed by both groups are wide ranging and include recommendations that planning what to do if the contract with the provider is terminated and understanding where data is located and how they are controlled.Businesses need to scrutinize what security providers actually supply, says Adrian Seccombe, a member of the Jericho Forum Board of Management. “There's not too much security and identity management and access management in the cloud yet,” Seccombe says.“Cloud computing ought to be called swamp computing and we don’t even know what the alligators are yet.”Despite the efforts to identify security vulnerabilities in cloud services, he is concerned that criminals capturing fragments of information ? what he calls bread crumbs - about corporate cloud activity could deduce what proprietary activities businesses are up to. These bread crumbs, while not valuable in themselves, can create a trail criminals can follow to valuable information, he says.Hoff says the work of the two groups will be ongoing because as clouds and cloud defenses develop, threats will adapt and new vulnerabilities will arise. “It's not an end state. It's going to change again,” he says.Rich Mogul, a security consultant who spoke at the Jericho Forum event, says the group should exploit the fact that its members are major corporations. “You should use the buying power of the Jericho Forum to influence the industry,” he says.CSA has broken the concerns into two broad categories: cloud governance and operating in the cloud.Governance includes subtopics governance and enterprise risk management; legal; compliance and audit; information lifecycle management; and portability and interoperability.Network World - San Francisco -- Despite the best efforts of cloud service providers and industry groups like the Cloud Security Alliance, cloud security remains a troublesome issue for IT execs.At an RSA session devoted to cloud security, IT security pros complained about the lack of transparency among cloud providers and how that makes it extremely difficult to make informed buying decisions. Attendees in the audience pointed out that there's currently no certification for cloud security. And cloud vendors won't allow enterprise customers to go on site and actually touch the machines. So, where does that leave IT execs?Nils Pulhman, former CSO at Zynga, suggested that IT execs grill prospective cloud service providers. "Play the role of a police investigator,'' he said. "Feel out how mature is the provider.''In his experience, particularly with startups, "nine out of 10 fall apart'' when you ask the tough questions.[FROM RSA: ]He said enterprises need to understand that the No.1 priority for cloud providers is minimizing the impact of a security breach on themselves. Minimizing the impact on the customer takes a back seat, so "customers need to build out controls too.''"You've got to demand transparency from the vendors,'' added Patrick Foxhoven, vice president of cloud operations at vScaler. "Without transparency, you can't audit.''But many in the audience pointed out that a single enterprise customer doesn't have much leverage against a large cloud provider that's not accustomed to opening up its security policies.One attendee asked about the problem of trying to evaluate a SaaS provider that's on a different vendor's PaaS platform, that's hosted on a third vendor's cloud infrastructure. "Does that mean three times the work?''Foxhoven also pushed back against enterprise customers and said that, as a provider, he gets hit with huge security-related questionnaires from potential customers and most of the questions aren't applicable to the way security is implemented in the cloud.He said there's no easy answer, but one suggestion for IT execs is to talk to other customers and find out what their experiences have been with a particular service provider. "That's the unfortunate reality of where we're at today,'' Foxhoven said. in Network World's Security section.CSO - Cloud computing is one of the most-discussed topics among IT professionals today. And not too long into any conversation about the most highly touted cloud models--software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS) or platform as a service (PaaS)--the talk often turns to .According to Milind Govekar, an analyst at Gartner, cloud has rocketed up the list from number 16 to number two in Gartner's annual CIO survey of key technology investments. "Like with anything new, the primary concern is security," he says. In fact, the vast majority of clients who inquire about cloud, he says, would rather create a virtualized data center on their own premises--what some call a private cloud--because they're uncomfortable with the security issues raised by cloud computing and the industry's ability to address them.Read the companion article """We are in the early stages of a fascinating journey into a new computing model that, for all its purported advantages, from a security and risk point of view, is a difficult thing to deal with," agrees Jay Heiser, an analyst at Gartner. "The things that make it easy and appealing--like the immediate plug-and-play productivity--also make it impossible to conclusively assess your relative risks." Current certifications, such as SAS 70 and ISO 27001 and 27002, are not sufficient, he says, leading to frustration for both buyers and sellers.For this reason, securing cloud computing environments will be a major focus of vendor efforts over the next year, says Jonathan Penn, an analyst at Forrester Research. In the short term, he sees users having to do a lot of the legwork, but over time, "cloud providers themselves will see the opportunity to differentiate themselves by integrating security," he says. Security vendors accustomed to selling directly to the enterprise will find that they need these cloud providers as a way to reach the market, Penn says, and as the market matures, customers will want this stuff baked into the services they're buying. "That will be quite a radical change and a disruption," he adds.In the meantime, organizations such as the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) are working to put some shape around the security issues and the ways to address them. The CSA recently released a summary of the strategic and tactical security pain points within a cloud environment, along with recommendations on how to address them. The organization divided the domains into two broad areas: governance and operations.Domains grouped under governance include:* governance and ERM* legal and electronic discovery* compliance and audit* information lifecycle management* portability and interoperabilityDomains grouped under operations include:* traditional security, business continuity and disaster recovery* data center operations* incident response, notification and remediation* application security* encryption and key management* identity and access managementNetwork World - Users and security consultants familiar with the process of securing hybrid clouds have one steady piece of advice to offer: the only way to go is one step at a time."Managing hybrid security is a matter of setting policy across all of the security touch points IT is already used to managing. It's about being consistently diligent at every turn," says Joe Coyle, CTO of IT consultancy giant Capgemini North America. Coyle advises clients to regard their hybrid cloud usage as an extension of their network perimeter. "You have to tweak firewall policy, watch IDS traffic more carefully, employ encryption, set up multiple levels of authentication for management access and demand high levels of physical security at providers' sites," Coyle says.[CLOUD SECURITY: ]In terms of securing the link between your - virtualized as a private cloud or not - you can go with a direct route or establish a tunnel. Garrett Leap, Director of Network Operations at Direct Insite, a company that delivers on-demand accounts payable and accounts receivable solutions to more than 100,000 corporations across 100 countries, says his company went for a 100MB direct fiber connection for both the increased security it offers and the fact that one of the company's data centers was already collocated at Terremark's Miami facility.Direct Insite now hosts its customer facing front end in the cloud and all of the client data is hosted and processed in the company's collocated data center. Direct Insite's Leap says knowing that Terremark's virtualized data centers were already rated as Tier IV meant there was a very high comfort level in terms of who has physical access to the servers there.To secure the direct link, Direct Insite uses a ASA box. "We only let what we want to come in and we don't let any data out that should not be allowed out," Leap says.On top of the physical layer security defined by locked cages and things of that nature, security consultant Joel Snyder of Opus One in Tucson, Ariz., says it's also crucial for customers to understand the provider's access control mechanism for management of those servers."These carriers have all the tools to make sure the ankle biters out on the Internet keep away from your data but have they guarded against having one of their guys being bribed by your competitor to pull down all of your sales data?" asks Snyder.Snyder says companies looking to build hybrid clouds should demand from their service providers proof of two-factor authentication for all server management purposes.And they should be demanding that all of the security parameters of the hybrid deployment should be manageable from the same pane of glass, says Kevin Jackson, vice president and general manager of NJVC, an IT consultancy catering to highly secure government clients. Jackson contends that unified management is going to be even more necessary as customers evolve to use multiple cloud services providers in the future. He suggests that customers look to cloud service brokerages to provide those management links.Network World - The Security for Business Innovation Council, comprised of IT security professionals from 19 companies worldwide, called cloud computing the main disruptive force for 2013. In its report, "Information Security Shake-Up," the group said it was evident many organizations are preparing to move more business processes to the cloud. This year, it will even be "mission-critical apps and regulated data" consigned to the cloud.The Council, established several years ago to advise RSA, includes security professionals from Coca-Cola, eBay, FedEx, EMC, Fidelity Investments, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and Walmart, among several others.RELATED: "Although supplier lock-in and system availability are some of the big concerns with the cloud, security remains the number one obstacle to adoption," the Council's report says. "But trust in the cloud is growing."Even regulators are starting to warm up to it, they noted, pointing out that the Dutch banking authority gave Dutch banks the green light to use cloud services late last year. But there are "gaps" in how well companies are planning for any transition to the cloud, the report notes. Though middle managers in companies may favor cloud computing for business reasons, there's a gap in coordination and trust with the IT security managers responsible for regulatory and security controls."Middle managers don't want to use their resources on security," the report bluntly says. "They are incentivized by timeline and budget; adding security doesn't fit into their objectives."Security teams should be striving this year to build relationships with these middle managers, the report emphasizes. The practice of regular meetings and information exchange is an approach that has worked well over the past few years with the top corporate executives to bring their attention to the nature of cyber-threats. These top execs now largely understand and prioritize information security. But getting the same rapport going with middle managers is likely to be an even bigger challenge, the report says.In addition, cloud computing is forcing internal security teams to look beyond internal controls they manage to find ways to assure controls they need from cloud vendors are in place, and more of the IT budget is going to go that direction as well.Other predictions about disruptive factors into 2013 center on risks associated with social media. The report suggests the risk is not simply about what corporate employees do at work in terms of social media but "also on their personal time." It's suggested training would help employees grasp any obligations they accept regarding postings related to sensitive company information. Employees also need to be made aware of how social media is exploited by criminals for purposes of spear-phishing aimed at compromising the entire organization.Ellen Messmer is senior editor at Network World, an IDG publication and website, where she covers news and technology trends related to information security. : MessmerE. E-mail: . in Network World's Security section.Network World - will seek out partnerships to offer a wider breadth of services that customers are increasingly demanding, a new predicts.The market has already seen some partnerships, but researcher Amy Larsen DeCarlo, principal analyst covering and services for Current, expects to see even more alliances as customer use case requests outpace the ability of individual providers.MISS CES? CATCH UP: CLOUD SHOWDOWN: FREE CLOUDS! Partnerships are fundamentally driven by the adoption of services happening more quickly than many people anticipated, DeCarlo says. "There's still a long way to go," she adds, but customers are turning to cloud providers for business solutions that can save them money and provide value-added services.But customers, particularly higher-end large enterprises, want complete end-to-end services, which individual providers have trouble delivering. Hence, partnerships are created.Two such examples already seen in the market are alliances between AT&T and IBM, and between CSC and Sprint -- both announced last year and expected to have service offerings announced in the early part of 2013, DeCarlo says. In many cases, partnerships are not being used to plug deficiencies in the providers' service, but rather to create expanded capabilities that the provider would not be able to offer on its own., for example, is known for its powerful analytics capabilities in its SmartCloud, but customers using the service may want a direct connection into the cloud for sensitive information. "IBM doesn't have the network," DeCarlo says, which is why AT&T is a natural fit for a business partner. AT&T MPLS customers can have direct, secure, private connections to IBM data centers. The combined partnership between AT&T and IBM is able to offer a complete end-to-end service level agreement (SLA) for the customer encompassing both the transfer of data over the network as well as handling of that data for analysis, DeCarlo expects. Specifics about the AT&T-IBM relationship are expected early this year.MORE IBM: CLOUD NETWORKS: Sprint and CSC is another example of a partnership announced last year, with this one focused on offering and end-to-end (UCaaS) using Sprint's communications capabilities and network combined with CSC data centers.Other providers have partnerships too. , which many consider the leading infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provider, has an extensive marketplace of apps that have been optimized to run on its cloud, with SAP's HANA One database available for an hourly rate, Citrix NetScaler, and dozens of database tools, including MongDB and Basho Riak available from its cloud. AWS also has partnerships with system integration companies, BMC, CA and others that provide end user customers access to its cloud and management of cloud resources. Partnerships with data center providers like Equinix allow connections directly into AWS's cloud.Network World - The shift to offers an opportunity to the national digital infrastructure by concentrating the burden of among a relatively small number of service providers rather than thousands of individual businesses, according to a report by a foreign policy think tank."Cloud computing has , but it also offers the opportunity to aggregate and automate cyber defense," according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The report, "Cybersecurity Two Years Later," is a follow-up to "Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency," which the group issued in 2008.Government security: "Much of the burden of will shift from consumers and businesses to service providers that may be better equipped to meet advanced challenges," the new report says. "The move to the cloud is not a silver bullet that will solve all cybersecurity problems, but it is part of a larger move to a more mature infrastructure that includes the automation of security practices and monitoring ? such as the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) ? particularly if we find a better way for service providers to work more effectively with government agencies."In the two years since the foreign-policy think tank issued its first report the Obama administration has fallen short of implementing measures that would protect the U.S. from cyber attacks, the new report says.More on security: The good news is that the U.S. is not engaged in a cyber war and it is not suffering cyber attacks from terrorists. The bad news is that if it were, it couldn't do anything about it. "Should this change the United States is unprepared to defend itself," the report says. Cyber spying and cybercrime are the two big threats the country faces.Public-private partnerships to formulate and implement cyber security won't work and should be dropped, the report says. "The goal for 2011 should be to issue a comprehensive national strategy based on new ideas rather than recycling the 2003 strategy," it says. "This means no appeals to public-private partnerships, information sharing, or unilateral efforts at deterrence, as were made in the 2003 strategy."The organizational structure has been put in place to protect government and military sites, the report says. "But no one in particular defends private networks, where our policy is to rely on some combination of individual action, encouragement, leadership by example, and faith in market forces. The market will not deliver adequate security in a reasonable period, and voluntary efforts will be inadequate against advanced nation-state opponents.", the sophisticated worm that destroyed some equipment in the Iranian nuclear program, is just the beginning of similar attacks that private businesses cannot defend against. "The market will not deliver adequate security in a reasonable period, and voluntary efforts will be inadequate against advanced nation-state opponents," according to the report. Federal laws and regulations are needed instead.CIO - When Ray Valentine first started managing technology for major call center providers 20 years ago, you had do everything yourself. "I came up through the old, big, Avaya premise-based heavy iron solutions," Valentine says."You had to have dedicated support teams to manage, install, and configure all of that infrastructure," says Valentine says. "Then you had to have the data centers with all the infrastructure to support those systems and keep them reliable."[Related: ]The environment tended to be inflexible and--without the proper redundancies in place--unreliable. More importantly, the capital costs were so high that large companies with big pockets dominated the call center industry.Reaching for the CloudToday, as CTO for call center operator , Valentine has wholeheartedly embraced the cloud. The Atlanta-based company, which operates call centers staffed by home-based agents in the Caribbean and Central America, was an early adopter of four years ago."We're pretty big on the cloud as a strategic direction," says Valentine. "We wanted a cloud provider with the ability to say yes when we asked them to add 100 seats tomorrow."[Related: ]They take their legacy, on-premises-based solutions and put them in a cloud-like scenario, but it's not built to be in a shared infrastructure environment," Valentine says. "You find yourself limited in the features you might want to use because when you turn something on it impacts someone else on the shared hardware."KM2 needed full-featured software that could expand and contract based on business needs and enable the company to serve a number of vertical industries; two of the company's biggest niches are auto lenders and newspaper publishers.[Related: ]Moving to the cloud enables Ray and his team to focus on "customer differentiating factors as opposed to me managing telco providers and dealing with ordering T1s," he says. Today, he's more likely to be helping a customer devise a social media strategy or a multi-channel communication plan than dealing with PBXs or routers.[Related: ]That's still unusual in the call center industry, says Valentine, where many technology leaders are loathe to let go of the technical reins. "It's something I talk about a lot with my peers. They fear that loss of control," Valentine says.Learning to Let Go"You have to have a very good relationship with your vendor. But a lot of [call center providers] have so much sunk cost in legacy infrastructure that it's really cost prohibitive for them to move," Valentine says. "And to let go of knowing exactly what's going on with this particular T1 is a challenge for some CTOs."KM2's move to the cloud has enabled it to expand quickly, from its first delivery center in St. Luci--a South Caribbean location it liked for the accent-neutral English among the population--to three more locations.Network World - In our continuing series of groundbreaking tests of , we take a look at what enterprises can expect if they decide to entrust data to a cloud storage provider.We found that lives up to its advance billing in two key areas: cloud storage can be fast and the pay-as-you-go model can be a real cost saver. We also found that security could be an issue for enterprise shops, and the formulas for trying to predict overall costs can be complex.The services that we tested were S3, CloudFiles, On Demand File Server, Cloud Storage, and 's Storage Delivery Network.Amazon, Rackspace and Nirvanix represent the containerized/object-oriented model. Egnyte embodies the file/folder metaphor, while Nasuni offers a different twist ? it's a front-end that simplifies cloud storage for enterprise customers and connects to other cloud storage vendors on the back end.To test cloud-based storage, we accessed the cloud vendor's site through their supplied APIs, where applicable. We moved data either from virtual machines in our cabinet at nFrame in Indianapolis at 100Mbps, or from our lab connected via standard Comcast broadband.We pounded each site with a variety of file sizes ranging from 500KB to 1GB. We also tested in two periods, daytime and nighttime, to see if Internet congestion played a role in cloud storage performance.Overall, performance was strong, although it was also somewhat random and unpredictable. Generally speaking we did get faster uploads and downloads at night, when Internet congestion is lower. And we found that download speeds were considerably slower than upload speeds for all the vendors tested.Rackspace delivered the best overall performance, with an average speed 2.57Mbps for uploads and roughly 650Kbps for downloads. But all of the vendors delivered impressive performance.Nirvanix delivered an average upload speed of 1.3Mbps and Egnyte topped 1Mbps. Amazon had the lowest average upload speed at 835Kbps, but also the highest download speed at 773Kbps, giving it the best balance between upload and download speeds.Security concernsThose desiring comfortable high security may be disappointed. While all of the vendors we tested provided link encryption, data encryption was glossed over by the container providers. We wanted to see port scrambling, and IP address access control lists, but these were missing across the board. Admittance control would, for some thinkers, break the cloud model by creating an extranet relationship between a subscriber and the cloud storage area, but we'd feel happier if there were greater admittance control by IP address. At press time, Amazon announced such IP address admittance control, along with HTTP_Referrer control (URL-based admittance), but we were unable to examine it at deadline.Henderson is principal researcher and Allen is a researcher for ExtremeLabs in Indianapolis. They can be reached at in Network World's Cloud Computing section.Network World - The sky is the limit for both the number and the types of tools that will eventually help enterprise IT fully embrace the cloud, say industry analysts and cloud integration experts.There are currently tools available that can assist IT departments with VM configuration management, help migrate in-house business to the cloud, enable full orchestration of cloud services and provide monitoring across multiple clouds. There are also tools that implement management policies in the cloud, set governance parameters and handle encryption management for data flowing around up there.These tools are being delivered in equal proportions by cloud platform providers, systems integrators, third-party start-ups and established vendors.[ALSO: ][RELATED: ]That said, one market condition holding back widespread proliferation of these tools, is whether or not enterprise cloud consumption has matured enough to take advantage of them."Across many of these classes of tools, it's really not a question of the technology being mature enough for use in the enterprise, it's more a question of whether or not the enterprises working in the cloud are ready to employ them," says Laurent Lachal, a senior analyst with Ovum, an IT consulting firm.Mike Pearl, a principal in PriceWaterhouseCooper's Advisory practice and leader of PwC's Cloud Computing initiatives, says many of the enterprise customers he works with have spent the last couple of years getting a strong handle on within their own data centers, while watching the public cloud to see how it might fit into their operations.Currently, most of those PwC clients are working on implementing the automation and provisioning services necessary to achieve the economy of scale benefits promises."The next step for these IT shops will be identifying the tools that will make delivering automated cloud services to their users more of a point and click proposition. Things that address cross-platform management, metering, granular dashboard visibility into cloud assets, tools that help provide self-healing services are certainly going to be useful to them at some point. But for most, those are still a future proposition," Pearl says.Keeping it simple"Right now, we try to keep things as simple as possible when it comes layering tools on top of the services we're running in the cloud," says Craig Miller, CTO of Empire Avenue, a social media exchange network in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that helps users meet other people and measure their social media value.Empire Avenue runs on a mix of dedicated and multi-tenant virtual servers in the Rackspace cloud that support its website, development environment, file servers and databases. The company also employs Amazon's cloud storage service. Miller and his team have generally been very satisfied with the tools provided by Rackspace to do things like resizing virtual machines. And his teams routinely writes its own configuration scripts on the VMs when necessary.Yesterday I took some time out of my Enterprise Connect schedule and headed to New York to participate in a cloud event held by Navisite, a leading provider of cloud services. The theme of the event was “Cloud: Beyond ROI,” which I thought was a good topic of conversation for anyone considering the cloud.Much of what I often hear around the value of cloud is cost-related ? pay by glass, it’s cheaper than traditional computing, moving CapEx dollar to OpEx dollars, meaning the value of the cloud is that it’s a cheaper version of what it is replacing. Nothing fundamentally changes, but costs go down.Now, I don’t want to diminish the value of saving money. Lowering the cost of IT is a top initiative for almost all CIOs. However, I really don’t believe anyone in IT would want to go through any kind of change in direction solely for the purpose of saving money. First, there’s a certain upfront cost involved in shifting to the cloud. Retraining, rewriting applications, upgrading the network, etc., chews up some of the cost savings. Also, there are disruptions to the user, which, again, might eat into the cost savings. So the value has to be more than cost.So, if I’m saying not to define the value of cloud by the amount of money your company can save, how should you think about cloud value? In my opinion, you need to find things that cloud enables your company to do that you couldn’t do, or is difficult to do without the cloud. Here are some examples:1. Enterprise MobilityCloud is optimized for mobile or remote working. The traditional client server computing model is based on a model where corporate servers reside in a data center and then end points attached to the corporate network access those applications. This was great for the prior model of computing. However, things have changed. More and more employees are working from home, the road, at their kids’ baseball games, airports, hotels or wherever they have some downtime. The traditional computing model means getting on a network, invoking a VPN, perhaps logging into a certain network segment and then running the application. Conversely, a cloud application is accessible without having to go through all of that hassle. Additionally, cloud apps typically run through a browser, meaning it’s easier to scale to a wide variety of end points. So, this post-PC, multi-OS, cross-platform, mobile world we are moving into is best served from the cloud, not traditional applications.2. Disaster RecoveryAs a person who was previously involved with a company’s disaster recovery plans, I know first-hand how difficult building a workable DR plan can be. You need redundant servers, hot backups, mirrored storage, realistic recovery point objectives and a bunch of other stuff, and you need to test, test, test and test some more because it better work when you need it. With cloud, the cloud provider is the one that worries about the resiliency of the cloud service. Sure, you need to architect your network to be fully redundant, but that’s a much easier task than having to create redundant data center assets.3. It’s an easier, faster deployment modelWhen considering the cloud, think about the current process of doing whatever you’re considering ‘clouding’ and the associated workloads. At the event, I used a consumer analogy. Why do people prefer to download movies from iTunes or Netflix instead of buying a DVD? You can probably get the DVD at the same or lower price as the download at a place like Wal-Mart. Well, the workload associated with downloading the movie is simple. Click and you’re done. To buy the DVD, you need to get in your car, go to the store, find the movie, wait in line, drive home and then watch it. It’s a more complicated workload. The same can be said with IT resources. Instead of having to deploy servers, manage them, patch the OS, patch the application, back up the app, back up the data and then make sure the users are running the right version, you simply turn it on and let the cloud provider worry about all that other stuff. Cloud is simpler than having to do it the traditional way.Obviously, these aren’t the only reasons to move to the cloud, but I do think they are three of the key reasons cloud is a better computing model for today’s workforce and IT environment than legacy computing. IT evaluators considering it should try and look beyond the cost element and think about how things would change in an environment where cloud was the preferred deployment model.According to much of what I hear and read, we’re on the precipice of everything moving to the cloud. Why should an IT or business leader care? Lower cost ? check, got that, better mobility ? got that too. Anything else? There is another element of cloud though that tends to fly under the radar and that is the benefit to a company’s disaster recovery plan.As a former IT person, one who was heavily involved in disaster planning, I know how challenging it is to put a good disaster recovery plan together. In fact, I often joke about that fact that everyone is an expert in backing up data but restoring it is where the challenge comes from. However, even the best companies with dedicated IT teams struggle to get to a recovery point objective of 24 hours. Think about that. One day of outage before things are brought back up. It doesn’t seem too bad, but who knows what can happen in a day? If you’re in financial services and the market moves quickly, that one day could cost more than the rest of the year. A small business that misses out on delivering a big order could damage its reputation. A school system being unavailable during exams could have significant ramifications as well.The beauty of the cloud, though, is that all of the infrastructure is located off premise so there’s no local infrastructure to protect, secure, procure and build. I know some of the cloud providers are trying to build resiliency into their offerings. At the April 5th Navicloud event in Los Angeles, NaviSite president Brook Borcherding stated on a panel that he was attempting to build a recovery point objective of zero. So any company using the NaviSite services won’t ever have any downtime, assuming there’s network connectivity.Companies that want to use multiple cloud providers or build their own can strive for this too but need to make some IT changes. The first step would be to actually embrace the cloud for mission-critical applications. I know a few companies have but the majority have not. The second step would be to align IT to be more cross discipline (check out my previous blog on this). Having IT live in individual stove pipes doesn’t exactly scream seamless IT.The biggest step, and this will become necessary sooner than later, is to build a dynamic network fabric. Fabrics have, of course, been one of the hottest trends in networking over the past year or so and are the way networks will be built as virtualization and cloud become more prevalent. The network fabric will enable the seamless movement of IT resources across and between data centers and cloud providers. Traditionally, the network is the last thing people think about but it needs to be considered with any cloud deployment.To have a successful fabric deployment it’s important that companies embrace automation as much as they can. This would include the obvious, like coordinating the movement of storage and network policies with VM migrations, but also automating things like DNS updates and IP address management. Additionally, find tools with robust GUI front ends. Manual changes done through command line interfaces is slow and often error prone. Automation can bring companies closer to the promise of cloud and reduce human latency.So, if you’re looking for a reason to go cloud, considering making DR part of the justification. If you’re looking for a reason to deploy a network fabric, use cloud and DR as part of the justification. But no matter what the reason or how you start the deployment, remember to automate as much as possible.Network World - Vaibhav Gupta is the managing partner for , a 42-person SAP consulting firm in India. His job is to effectively manage the projects the firm does for various clients, and ensure proper task management so workers know what they are responsible and accountable for on a daily basis as well as from an overall project point of view. Gupta also does billing for his company, which entails collecting accurate time and expense information from employees and billing it properly to the customers.It's a lot to handle, but it's all in a day's work for a typical manager of a small IT consulting firm.[ TECH ARGUMENT: ]In the past, Gupta and his team used a range of tools to manage the business aspects of running this company. From project management and collaboration tools to spreadsheets and email, Gupta had to hunt and peck through siloed information sources to understand the status of projects and manage his human resources. He says the company had lots of issues around tracking billable hours and generating accurate invoices, which sometimes resulted in a loss of revenue for the company. It's never a good thing when a company can't collect the money it has rightfully earned. Luckily for Vikalp Solutions, this problem was solved by adopting a better business management application.Toward the end of 2012, Gupta's company started using a fully integrated end-to-end business management application from iBE.net is a new SaaS solution that provides industry-specific applications designed for running virtually all aspects of a small to midsize business. The initial market for iBE.net is professional services such as IT consulting and service management, with more business types to come.Vikalp Solutions uses the iBE.net app to organize its workers and run the business. The app supports managing projects, managing tasks and collaborative work, capturing project time and expenses, managing employees' time and attendance, managing customers with lightweight CRM, billing and invoicing, and tracking payments. Soon the product also will provide general ledger, banking integration, tax reporting, employees' skills tracking and development, and other important business functions."We were using a lot of open source systems and project management tools like Basecamp," says Gupta. "The problem was we'd have our project management in one system and our time and expenses in another system using some other software. The data integration wasn't very good, if it existed at all. On top of that, it was costing us too much to use all these different applications."Ironically, Vikalp Solutions is an SAP consulting firm, but SAP was simply overkill for running the small firm. What's more, it would have been too expensive and would have required diverting revenue-generating employees to work on unbillable internal projects.Then Gupta came across iBE.net, which markets its application as the end-to-end business management tool that puts small and midsize businesses on a competitive level with larger enterprise organizations. iBE.net was built from the ground up to run in the cloud and on mobile devices. The collaborative aspect of the tool allows people to work together, even when they are dispersed in the field on different projects. is a principal analyst with .Network World - Giving network managers a way to provide access, single sign-on and provisioning controls in cloud-computing environments got a boost today from both Novell and a much smaller competitor, start-up .Novell said its Identity Manager 4.0 product, expected out in the third quarter, will be able to work with Salesforce.com and , as well as Microsoft , and SAP applications to support a federated identity structure in the enterprise.Symplified broke new ground with what it's calling Trust Cloud for EC2, software that provides access management, authentication, user provisioning and administration, single sign-on and usage auditing for enterprise applications running on the Amazon EC2 platform. It can be ordered through Symplified's Trust Cloud site and automatically deployed on the Amazon EC2 virtual-machine instances that customers request under an arrangement with Amazon.Out and available now, Trust Cloud for EC2, "is a big deal," says Burton Group senior analyst Ian Glazer, because it offers what promises to be the most comprehensive approach yet to exerting identity management controls over enterprise data running in Amazon's EC2 infrastructure-as-a-service data centers. "You can put controls into the EC2 environment, even make the data always flow the way you want."Symplified, which also has other proxy-based products for integrating enterprise identity management functions with Google and Safesforce.com applications, believes the central issue in tackling the security challenges in Amazon's EC2 environment is designing security for "multi-tenancy," says Eric Olden, Symplified CEO. "It's like an apartment complex."Amazon's EC2 data centers, of which there are about 35 around the world, constitute a massive virtualized universe of primarily Xen hypervisor-based Linux-based machines, which Amazon refers to as the "Amazon machine image," or AMI, Olden says.Like Google, and Safesforce.com, Amazon supports the Security Assertion Markup Language () protocol, seen as a standard building block for identity management interoperability. But only about 5% of the estimated 2,200 service providers in the burgeoning cloud-computing market appear to support SAML, Olden says, so Symplified also elected to support a variety of non-SAML-based protocols, such as those used at cloud-based recruiting and personnel management application provider Taleo, for example.Analyst Glazer says cloud computing is having a profound effect on the vendors in the identity management arena, which spent years arguing and developing SAML, to find one of its most promising uses is not just in the fortress of the enterprise to control provisioning and other functions in corporate networks, but now also in the cloud.While huge uncertainty yet hangs over how exactly identity management in the cloud can be put in the hands of enterprise managers, there are three basic approaches that have emerged, Glazer says.Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM, though some people still use SIM or SEM) has been around for about a decade now. Originally built to capture, normalize, process, and correlate firewall and IDS logs, it is now participates more extensively in areas like log management, security analysis and forensics, regulatory compliance, and risk management. As SIEM evolved, it has been called upon to collect and analyze more data from more devices across the enterprise. At the same time, vendors added additional functionality for storage management, data analysis, and reporting. Taken together, these new requirements and product enhancements have created a major bottleneck where many SIEMs can no longer keep up with today's needs for massive scalability. This issues is felt most acutely with event correlation. Most SIEM platforms simply can't process and analyze the massive number of log events generated in real-time. Looking ahead, this problem will likely get worse. Why? Server virtualization is multiplying the number of assets generating events in the data center. Users are bringing in new device types. Security tools will also go virtual thus increasing the number of events generated. Finally, there are new types IT data for analysis like the Trusted Computing Group's (TCG) Interface for Metadata Access Points (IF-MAP), and the recently discussed AppFlow being pushed by Citrix and others.All of this means that SIEM is quickly approaching supercomputer-like requirements. Okay, so what can be done about this. Well there are a few vendors like NitroSecurity and SenSage that anticipated this type of requirement and built highly scalable products. Others are responding to this problem and taking traditional scalable transactional application approaches. Like what? They are modifying their application architecture to take advantage of multi-threading on new multi-core processors. They are moving to 64-bit architectures to get beyond 32-bit memory limitations. They are parallelizing their applications to run on server clusters. These are intelligent steps but they are exactly the same things you would have done 20 years ago. In fact, Oracle Cluster Server (OCS) took these steps back in the early 1990s and ran most effectively on Sequent servers (Yes, I'm showing my age here). I have an alternative suggestion for the security management industry; it's called "cloud computing." Why not take advantage of the massive processing scale of say AWS and build a burstable hybrid-cloud application architecture for SIEM? The model certainly works, just ask Facebook games maker Zynga about architecting a distributed application architecture that leverages AWS for massive scale.Yes, I know this is security data but remember that log events aren't the same as confidential files or private data from a database column. SIEM is a resource-intensive application that will continuously require more and more processors and storage. AWS offers these resources at a fraction of what they would cost an enterprise to purchase, deploy, and manage. Given this, cloud-based SIEM processing seems like a match made in heaven to me.Network World - As companies sort out their , some are finding can be a high-tech "perk" for customers.Canadian package-delivery service Purolator had that in mind when it made the Okta cloud-based single sign-on capability available to Xerox Canada, its customer for which it had set up an e-returns portal at Salesforce.com late last year. With Okta SSO integrated into Salesforce.com, Xerox Canada could arrange pickups of recyclable items such as printer cartridges from its own customers without customers or Xerox employees having to remember yet another password. This was especially apt since Xerox had worked to set up its own SSO system used internally and by Xerox Canada customers to access Xerox .MORE: "Right now, Xerox Canada does 20,000 log-ins per month, via the SSO function at Salesforce.com," says Graeme Shiomi, director of solutions delivery at Innovapost, the technical services firm affiliated with Purolator. It's a customer high-tech convenience that unites the businesses.The Salesforce.com-located Purolator portal is mainly for use by Xerox Canada customers for returns and printing out labels. It allows authorized entry when the SSO provider, Okta, passes the user credentials from the Xerox site to the Purolator site and authenticates them against the existing user stores and directories. For Xerox end users, this cloud-based federated identity process is transparent.Under the arrangement, Xerox Canada can administer which employees or customers have SSO access to the Purolator e-returns service. But Purolator, which pays for the Okta SSO, acts as the top-level administrator. This type of arrangement is now something Purolator is offering to other customers that may want it as well.Other examples abound.In the healthcare industry, Santa Barbara, Calif.-based BioIQ, which has health-screening products and a Web portal that can unite employer and insurance content resources, is finding cloud-based SSO a natural fit for its self-described "wellness" business.After struggling with its own home-grown single sign-on a few years ago, BioIQ decided to use the cloud-based SSO service from Ping Identity, says Aaron Campos, the chief technology officer at BioIQ.The Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is a core component for standards-based SSO but when it came to the technology integration needed to facilitate the SSO experience with various partners, the firm decided this was "not our core business," says Campos. The in-house work used to involve considerable software management and staging; "now we just point to a URL in the Ping system," he says.BioIQ is now seamlessly integrating its "wellness" Web portal with healthcare partners that include products provider Alere for SSO authorized access for individuals. SSO has emerged as a customer convenience to eliminate another layer of passwords that BioIQ is willing to pay for, but it does also mean that its use has to be spelled out in business contracts.Years ago, Gary Brooks was making a living building people's "Internet homes" using Joomla. He saw that the Joomla open source project's demo site was not very stable. He decided he could do better. He went to , the organization behind Joomla and asked if he could host the demo site. After an open RFP process, Open Source Matters selected Gary and his Cloudaccess.net as the official host of the Joomla demo sites. The rest as they say is history.You can listen to how Gary did it and how CloudAccess.net has grown in my chat with him below.CloudAccess.net will host up to twenty thousand new demo sites a month. They are free to live there for 30 days after which users can either switch to a paid hosting plan, take down the site or move it to another host, among the thousands that host Joomla based web sites. Of course if you want to host a Joomla based site (and about 3% of all content managed sites are Joomla based), you would be hard pressed to find a host that has more Joomla expertise in house than CloudAccess.net.Gary calls what CloudAccess.net does Platform-as-a-Service Cloud hosting. Joomla is more than just blog software and is actually a platform that has literally thousands of applications that can run on it. As such CloudAccess is at the forefront of many of the cutting edge technologies that we see in the cloud today. Things like Big Data, virtualization and elastic storage are all aspects of what CloudAccess is offering. The core though remains Joomla. They have dedicated Joomla hosting, virtual Joomla hosting and Joomla trainingOn top of this they have added additional features like Google Apps integration, Managed DNS, Managed SSL and Compliant Cloud Backup powered by Idera's R1Soft Continuous Data Protection.As someone who has a long history in the web hosting industry, I look at CloudAccess.net as the poster child of the next generation of hosting, as they transition to cloud hosts. More importantly perhaps, CloudAccess.net is the poster child for how to build a successful business around an open source project. Kudos to Gary and his whole team for cracking that formula. Another thing that I liked in speaking with Gary is that he is very sensitive to, apprecitive of and involved in the Joomla community. He realizes that the community is the key to CloudAccess.net's success. He is very active on the community boards and on twitter .The Web Content Management space is a very competitive market. It is also one where there are more than several great open source solutions. WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are probably the three biggest, but DotNetNuke is another big one and there are more. Building a hosting and service business around them would seem to be a solid plan.So have a listen to my conversation with Gary Brooks of CloudAccess.net and enjoy!IDG News Service - Cloudian has launched a free, community edition of its software and object-based storage platform, which can store up to 100TB and be integrated with Amazon's cloud, the company said on Tuesday.The Community Edition includes all of the functionality of the regular version of Cloudian's storage platform, which just like the company is called Cloudian. But users have to rely on forum support and the total storage capacity has been limited to 100TB.GARTNER: "We think 100TB is a fairly large number. The purpose is to provide enterprises with the best of both worlds; a production ready platform that is free," said Bob DeFeo, vice president of business development at Cloudian.Until now, the company has been mainly had its sights set on service providers.Cloudian is a multitenant storage platform that can be used across multiple data centers, which allows the regular version to manage hundreds of petabytes of data, according to the company.The platform uses commodity hardware to keep costs down. Service providers can use it to deploy public clouds or managed private clouds, and enterprises can roll out private clouds or hybrid clouds which combine on-premise storage and storage in Amazon's cloud, it said.Under the hood, Cloudian is powered by a number of different open source projects, including the Apache Cassandra database and Tomcat.One of Cloudian's key features is the integration with Amazon's S3 (Simple Storage Service)."We have developed Cloudian from day one with native support for the S3 API," said DeFeo.The integration includes Amazon features such as multipart upload and location constraint. The latter feature allows IT staff to specify where in the world they want to store data. Multipart upload was designed to improve the reliability of uploads to Amazon's cloud by breaking larger objects into smaller chunks and uploading them in parallel. If the upload of one data chunk fails, it can simply be restarted while the rest of the upload remains unaffected.Cloudian isn't the only company that sees cloud storage as a great opportunity for both vendors and users.The integration of on-premise storage and cloud-based storage is a growing trend, with offerings from the likes of StorSimple and Red Hat for enterprises and Pogoplug for consumers.Also, earlier this year Amazon announced a public beta test of AWS Storage Gateway, which allows enterprises to back up application data in the company's cloud using a software appliance.Even if the enterprise products don't work in the same way, the goal is to allow users to take advantage of the flexibility that cloud-based services offer.The use of systems that combine on-premise storage and storage on public clouds are still in their infancy, but many people are thinking about using the hybrid model and are interested in it, according to DeFeo.Send news tips and comments to mikael_ricknas@idg.comThe IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.Network World - has grabbed a lot of headlines recently, but competing cloud management platform CloudStack made some news of its own this week with the project releasing its first code as part of the Apache Software Foundation.The latest advance of the CloudStack code - version 4.0 - improves support for software defined networking, natively integrates Amazon Web Service API compatibility and provides a framework for more features to be added into the code, says Chip Childers, a principal engineer with SunGard Availability Services's cloud division and a member of the CloudStack project management committee.REMEMBER WHEN? MORE CLOUD: Citrix shook the open source cloud world in April when the company pulled out of OpenStack and offered its CloudStack code to the ASF as its own open source project. But Childers says all that talk about "cloud wars" is over-hyped. "Within CloudStack, we're focusing on building software, continuing to evolve it, improve it and mature it, that's really our focus," he says. "We're not running around trying to pick a fight necessarily, we're just trying to improve a project most of us are using and make it something that's really truly owned by the whole community." isn't an apples-to-apple comparison either, he says. CloudStack is a cloud orchestration tool that allows components like compute, storage and networking to interconnect, creating the elements of a cloud platform. OpenStack, he says, is a collection of projects that are tied together by various distributions from companies. A CloudStack powered cloud, for example, could use OpenStack's Swift Storage service, for example, as a component.COMPARE FOR YOURSELF: CloudStack remains an incubator project with Apache. For it to become a full-fledged Apache project, like Hadoop or HTTP, it will first need a proven track record of stable code releases and a supporting community. That's in the early stages now. He expects the next release to be in four to six months.In the meantime though, he says the project has been growing slowly and surely. The fact that it is based off of Citrix's CloudStack code means that it already had a base level of maturity. "It can certainly be improved and evolved, but you can take CloudStack today, whether it's 3.0 or 4.0, deploy it and have it running fairly quickly," he says. "It's stable and robust."This week's code release includes a number of new features as well, most notably with an emphasis on virtual networking - something also focuses heavily on. New features in CloudStack 4.0 allow users to create network tiers using firewall governing policies. Community members have also worked to integrate technology from SDN company into the project. Other new features include the ability to have locally-accessed storage within a CloudStack framework, instead of a separate network-attached storage, and it allows server hosts to be dedicated for high availability. Many of the feature enhancements are incremental and aimed at service providers who would use the CloudStack code to create a offering, Childers says.One other advancement is around , which Citrix officials pointed out as a differentiating feature between CloudStack and OpenStack back in April. CloudStack now natively supports AWS API compatibility, whereas before it was an optional feature. OpenStack also supports AWS compatibility, but project backers usually than a collaborator.CloudStack has some advantages and challenges, says Krishnan Subramanian, a blogger and analyst at boutique firm Rishidot Research. The fact that Citrix is backing the project means that it should have support into the foreseeable future. But Subramanian says it's critical for CloudStack to grow its developer base and ecosystem of partners."A big concern for me is the relative lack of outside developers," he notes. "I was excited when Citrix pushed the project to Apache Foundation because I thought it will help them get outside developers and might span a business ecosystem like OpenStack. It has not happened. It's still a project developed mainly by a single vendor and we are not seeing any other vendor building a business out of it."But, he says, it's early yet.Network World staff writer Brandon Butler covers cloud computing and social collaboration. He can be reached at and found on at @BButlerNWW. in Network World's Cloud Computing section.This morning Cisco announced the intention to purchase privately held Cloupia for approximately $125 million in cash, adding to its long list of cloud-related acquisitions.ADVICE: For those who don’t know Cloupia, the company sells management software to orchestrate and manage cloud (physical and virtual) infrastructure through a single pane of glass. Cloud is driving the need for converged infrastructure and the vendor industry has responded nicely with Cisco, EMC, Network Appliance, Dell, HP and others having participated in building converged infrastructure. However, managing converged infrastructure is significantly different than managing legacy infrastructure. The CAs and HPs of the world do a great job of managing static, physical infrastructure, but a gap exists with virtual and even a bigger gaps exists in managing physical and virtual in a single plane of glass. This is the gap that Cloupia is trying to fill with its products.RELATED:This should be a good acquisition for Cisco as the company has made a huge bet on converged infrastructure led by the highflying UCS server products. If you’ve read the earning transcripts from the last few quarters, you’ve seen that UCS has been the highest-growing product at the company and it’s been pulling through Nexus, demonstrating the customer interest in converged infrastructure to build internal clouds. I know I’m making a bit of a causal leap here tying UCS and Nexus to cloud builds, but why would anyone buy premium-priced infrastructure to do IT the old way?The dark side of building a cloud, though, is managing and orchestrating cloud resources on the back end, and that’s where Cloupia comes in. Building a cloud requires both physical and virtual infrastructure and requires a tool that can manage both. Cloupia’s CloudIgnite enables the automation of configuring and provisioning physical and virtual, converged infrastructure for sped-up deployments. The tool also helps track multi-customer deployments as well as the specific nuances of each deployment.CloudGenie is another product that enables IT managers to administer the converged infrastructure from mobile devices, improving the real-time manageability of things like FlexPod.The acquisition also signals a continued focus from Cisco on improving the manageability of Cisco products. It’s fair to say that in years gone by, Cisco gave management tools lip service but never really took them seriously. CCIEs preferred the mysticism that came with working with CLI, scripts and the like, making products like Cisco Works a throw in for a larger hardware deal. In fact, I remember my Cisco rep years ago giving me a copy of Cisco Works and saying "it’s just software."Well, the world has changed and complexity is at an all-time high. Cisco has completely gutted Works and replaced it with a much more effective suite called "Prime." With regard to cloud, no matter how good an engineer you are, building and managing a cloud through cutting and pasting CLI commands just doesn’t scale. Cloupia does scale.I certainly see the management area being a continued area of focus for Cisco. So while the Cloupia acquisition makes the news today, expect more to come.Rafael Benitez today insisted Chelsea will have to step up a gear to becrowned world champions on Sunday.Benitezsaw his side put Mexican outfit Monterrey to the sword to set uptheir FIFA Club World Cup Final showdown with Corinthians.Goalsfrom Juan Mata and Fernando Torres, and an own goal by defenderDarvin Chavez put Chelsea in total command before a stoppage-timeconsolation from Aldo De Nigris.Read match report - Butthe Chelsea chief recalled the frustrations he suffered as Liverpoolboss against Corinthians city neighbours and biggest rivals Sao Pauloin 2005 to maintain the real job lies in front of his side.Benitezsaid: “Every game is different, every team is different. “Themain thing was to concentrate on this game. We knew they were a goodteam, but we didn't know if they could be a good team against us. “Nowwe'll see about Corinthians. They are a compact team, with goodplayers working hard, and they have the quality of the Brazilians. “Afinal is a final, so we have to be aware and ready.“In2005 we dominated and lost, so I learned that if you score, it has tobe a 'legal' goal. “Wescored three and all of them were disallowed. We hit the crossbar,too. A lot of things went against is. “Today,too, we only scored one but we started the second half well andkilled the game. You have to take your chances.”There's only Juan Mata: Chelsea playmaker scored his fourth consecutive goalTorres'goal made it five in three games for the ?50million man, who seemsto be rediscovering his self-belief under his former Liverpoolmanager.Benitezadded: “I think the team were doing well, and Fernando was part ofthe team. “Ifyou create chances, he will score goals. He was fine. He had one ortwo chances where he could have done even better, but I was reallypleased with his performance and that of the team.“Thelast week or so is down to him and his team-mates, not me. He's doingwell. “He'sa bit sharper, has more confidence and the team's playing well. It'sa run, and that's good for him and good for us. Hopefully it willcontinue. If we continue creating chances, he'll carry on scoring. “Wehaven't done too much different. We've analysed his movement andfitness, but it's not been a massive difference. “Hehas more confidence so it's easier for him when the team creates achance to score. And the team is creating more chances, which meanshe'll have more opportunities to score.”Mata'sopener, is 11 of the season, came from the sort of slickpassing with which Chelsea started the season under Roberto DiMatteo, before the winter slump that cost the Italian his job.TheSpanish schemer said: “Weare glad to get the win because it's an important trophy for us. Wewant to be world champions and on Sunday we will do our best to getit.?"Inthe second half we were very focused to get more goals and we wereable to get them, so it's a great result. “Wehave confidence about winning on Sunday, but we know that Corinthiansare a very good team and there will be a lot of their supportershere, but we will have ours, too, and it will be a football party.INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- First, a caveat: It's early.This isn't the NFL or the NBA, where free agents typically sign within a few days of hitting the market. Like everything in baseball, the pace of the offseason is slower, more deliberate, with the market taking shape over a period of weeks, not hours. So, just because all indications on the first day of the GM meetings here yesterday were that free agent outfielder Torii Hunter and pitcher Dan Haren will have many suitors and that the price for pitching, both in trades and free agency, will be astronomical, it doesn't mean it will still be so in three weeks at the winter meetings in Nashville, or three weeks after that, or three weeks after that."I wouldn't say we've furthered anything, but we've talked more," Red Sox GM Ben Cherington said yesterday, and likely will repeat today. "It's still probably a little bit early on in the trade stuff to really do that, but we'll continue discussions."Indeed, the GM meetings are typically where the groundwork for future deals gets laid, not where those deals actually get made. With that in mind, a few things to watch for today as the lobby of the Hyatt Regency begins to buzz again:--The Seattle Mariners aren't trading Felix Hernandez, and San Francisco Giants GM Brian Sabean told the Herald yesterday that Tim Lincecum isn't going anywhere. But here's a name to keep in mind: Jon Niese. The Mets could trade the 25-year-old lefty, especially with prospects Zack Wheeler and Matt Harvey on the way. They're looking for a bat, preferably in the outfield, which is an area of weakness for the Red Sox, too. But if he's available, Niese (AP photo, right) is worth exploring, particularly after going 13-9 with a 3.40 ERA and 1.172 WHIP in 190-1/3 innings over 30 starts this year.--Cherington has made no secret of the high priority of finding another starting pitcher. But the hiring of pitching coach Juan Nieves yesterday was an important step in fixing one of the majors' most underperforming rotations this year. As the Chicago White Sox bullpen coach for the past five years, Nieves worked closely with well-respected pitching coach Don Cooper, who became something of a coaching mentor to him. He also got positive results from several young relievers, including Sergio Santos, Addison Reed and Nate Jones. "He's a real hard worker, upbeat guy, creative," White Sox GM Rick Hahn said of Nieves. "He deserves a fair amount of credit for the success our young guys had in the bullpen this past year. He was a nice, calming, stabilizing force for them. And he's also done a lot of work on the side with our guys. We've had a lot of success with unleashing the talent of guys who struggled elsewhere, and Juan played a big role in that. He never gives up on a guy. He's willing to, if this isn't working, we try another arm angle or arm slot. He's tireless to try to get the best out of a guy."--As much as pitching, the outfield is shaping up to be a top priority. Cherington said the Red Sox are in the market for two starting outfielders, presumably on the corners. They face competition for Hunter, whose top priority, according to a source, is playing for a World Series contender and has drawn interest from the New York Yankees. Hunter is outgoing and gregarious, and at age 37, he's coming off a solid season with the Angels. Think of him as an outfield version of David Ortiz (his close friend, coincidentally), and you get the idea. But if the Sox fail in their pursuit of Hunter, there will be other options. ??If there??s an area in the free agent class that??s a little bit deeper, it??s probably in the outfield,?? Cherington said. ??We??ve talked to a lot of those guys."--Something to file away: Free agent first baseman Adam LaRoche has the same agent as outfielder Cody Ross. So, although they aren't going to get any two-for-one deals, the Red Sox undoubtedly will be operating on two fronts whenever they speak to Mike Milchin. LaRoche would fill their need at first base, but coming off a season in which he hit a career-high 33 homers, he's going to be looking for a long-term deal, possibly in the three- to five-year range. Ross was a steal last winter, hitting 22 homers for the bargain price of a $3 million, one-year contract. This time around, he's looking for a deal in line with the three-year, $21 million contract signed by Minnesota Twins outfielder Josh Willingham last winter.More in a bit ...(Twitter: @ScottLauber)QUADRA ISLAND, Canada - The shiny "Michael Jackson," popular lately with fishermen, isn't Ed Jordan's first choice. Even the pink and yellow "Disco Party" ranks higher on his list of hoochies. But after hearing that another Campbell River fishing guide hooked a 32-pound king salmon on it, he's reconsidering. "Take a look," he tells me, idling the motor and rummaging through the tackle rack beside the wheel. Shaking his head, he unhooks a blue and green hoochie with silver sparkles and a tail like a hula dancer's skirt. "Nope," he says, after a long look. He puts it back and pulls out a Tomic Plug 602. This lure, five inches of ivory iridescence with a mean-looking hook, "swims" when you drop it overboard. "It's old but it never fails," he says. Sure enough, the Tomic does the job. By mid-afternoon we've hooked and landed two kings (Chinook) and a silver salmon (coho). To sweeten this sunny August day we've followed Quadra's ragged coastline, watched sea birds diving for dinner and spotted a pod of dolphins. Pleased, pumped and anticipating grilled salmon for dinner, we ask ourselves what took us so long to get here. When you're a gypsy by trade, ever searching for new horizons, seeing the world - all of it - seems possible. But as one season succeeds the next and you postpone this trip, or that trip, some plans wind up in the reject pile. Then one day you look at the pushpins stuck into that big world map, each one marking your travels, and right in the middle is a black hole, as empty as a 15th century sailing chart. Until last August, Vancouver Island, 299 miles long and 50 miles wide, lying off the southwest coast of British Columbia, was one of those places. But not because it's too far away. Early-morning flights from Los Angeles and Denver - and from most western U.S. cities - arrive in Victoria, British Columbia's capital city, around lunch time. Add an hour to rent a car and you're on your way. Give yourself a week and you can tour most of the lower half of the island, especially Ucluelet (you-CLUE-let), on the southwest coast. This was a place we knew nothing about but whose name alone was tantalizing enough to get out attention. And so the adventure began. In Victoria, we tracked a pod of killer whales, explored the lively harbor scene and sampled the city's impressive new world of food. We spent a day as Canadian postmen, flying with mailman and pilot Mike Farrell on CorilAir's six-seater DeHavilland Beaver out of Campbell River. Farrell not only delivers letters, packages and emergency supplies to residents of six emerald-green islets, but he plays travel guide to sightseers along for ride, pointing out tidal currents, celebrity mansions, hidden harbors and apple orchards. Following Route 19, between Victoria and Campbell River, proved as ample as pot luck dinner at an Elks Club fund raiser. Harbors, inlets and towns dotted the eastern shore, some more scenic than others, but each with its fishermen's dock, sailboat slips, kayakers on the water and inviting green islets beyond. Wandering through Nanimo we ate lunch at Troller's Fish and Chips, a guidebook-recommended restaurant that took us 20 minutes to find, but that more than lived up to its reputation. Heading west toward Tofino and Ucluelet on Route 4, we stopped to explore Cathedral Grove, walking among the park's 300 to 800 year-old Doulas firs, hoary ancients that have been spared the loggers' saws. The biggest surprise was the abundance of farm-fresh food, sold or served everywhere. When ice cream shops beckoned, we stop to sample their home-made flavors: peach, blueberry, funky chocolate, pumpkin nut, sassy cherry. Stalls in open-air farmers' markets, set back under shade trees near the highway, displayed piles of vegetables, fruit, cheeses, breads, fish, cuts of meat and specialty jams and sauces. For a week we hustled, going 16-7. But we shifted to neutral in Ucluelet, taking time to wander along the Wild Pacific Trail and to tour the town's unique learning-focused aquarium. Even our lodging, at Black Rock Resort, was a poster child for the latest in minimalist design, instantly soothing. Ensconced among white walls, plate glass and monochrome upholstery, watching the tide surge and ebb was almost obligatory. In fact, the longer I watched the breakers rolling in, the harder it was to look away. As each wave rose, crested, curled over into a wall of foam, roared onto the rocks and slid in among the tree roots beneath the window, the easier it was to breathe deep. Our most memorable evening in Ucluelet was at the resort's Fetch Restaurant, where we sat on the outdoor deck overlooking the ocean, ordered wine, fresh halibut and a steak, and lingering over dessert, watched the twilight fade into night. But the reverie was short. At 6:30 a.m. the next morning we checked into Jamie's Whaling Station for a bear watching excursion. Why so early? When the tide is out, exposing the muddy inter-tidal zone, the black bears come out of the forest to feed. Digging in tide pools and among exposed rocks and logs, the bears are easy to see. So with the sun still barely above the horizon our group of 12 was already cruising the bay, headed for the archipelago known as the Broken Islands. Soon the sun crested the trees, casting an eerie silver sheen over the bay, a photographer's surprise. "Keep an eye out for green swales along the shoreline, open places between the trees," said our guide, Scott MacDonald, standing at the wheel. "Most are the sites of ancient Indian villages, but a few mark early homesteads. And those huge trees with the clumps at the top? Those are eagles' nests in 700 to 800 year-old trees. The birds reuse and rebuild the nests every year, which get bigger every century. They can weigh up to a ton." Closer to shore it was MacDonald who spotted the first black bear. For five minutes we bobbed on the water, watching him digging and chewing. Finally he looked up, sniffed the air, caught our scent and galloped away through the trees. "I'm glad to see he's wary," said MacDonald. "It's too easy for poachers to move in and get off a shot." Nearby a harbor seal sunned on a rock, unafraid. Cruising into the shallows we spotted blue herons wading. In some places, huge rafts of bull kelp floated, long green strands supported by swollen air pods. Noticing a group of cottages in a grassy opening, MacDonald said it was a Toquaht village named Macoah, occupying a traditional First Nations coastal site. Spotting a second bear prowling between a heap of fallen logs, the photographers screwed on their long lenses and snapped away. This bear saw the boat but kept on digging. "See those fallen logs in the water and washed up on the beach?" asked MacDonald. We'd seen them, giant logs, all about the same length, washed into back water inlets. "Most of those fell off commercial ships. I built my house out of those things," he explained. Back in Ucluelet, MacDonald apologized for finding just two bears, and those at a distance. That's OK, said somebody. Seeing the coast, the dozens of tiny islets, the kelp, the seals, the eagles' nests, was an unforgettable adventure. "But you know," said MacDonald, "the sad thing is that nature tours don't sell. Nobody signs up just to see nature. We've got to show them bears and whales. But once they're out there, they'll see what keeps us coming back. And that's what's worth it." IF YOU GO: To visit the south half of Vancouver Island, fly into Victoria, at the southern tip. From there it's three to four hours to drive to Campbell River, or west to Ucluelet. Or fly directly to Campbell River to vacation or fish in that area. Good roads, plenty of lodging and frequent shopping areas make renting a car the best way to travel. Travelers need a passport to cross the border and to re-enter the U.S. For more information, see www.hellobc.com or tourismvictoria.com.The biggest surprise was the abundance of farm-fresh food, sold or served everywhere. When ice cream shops beckoned, we stop to sample their home-made flavors: peach, blueberry, funky chocolate, pumpkin nut, sassy cherry. Stalls in open-air farmers' markets, set back under shade trees near the highway, displayed piles of vegetables, fruit, cheeses, breads, fish, cuts of meat and specialty jams and sauces. For a week we hustled, going 16-7. But we shifted to neutral in Ucluelet, taking time to wander along the Wild Pacific Trail and to tour the town's unique learning-focused aquarium. Even our lodging, at Black Rock Resort, was a poster child for the latest in minimalist design, instantly soothing. Ensconced among white walls, plate glass and monochrome upholstery, watching the tide surge and ebb was almost obligatory. In fact, the longer I watched the breakers rolling in, the harder it was to look away. As each wave rose, crested, curled over into a wall of foam, roared onto the rocks and slid in among the tree roots beneath the window, the easier it was to breathe deep. Our most memorable evening in Ucluelet was at the resort's Fetch Restaurant, where we sat on the outdoor deck overlooking the ocean, ordered wine, fresh halibut and a steak, and lingering over dessert, watched the twilight fade into night. But the reverie was short. At 6:30 a.m. the next morning we checked into Jamie's Whaling Station for a bear watching excursion. Why so early? When the tide is out, exposing the muddy inter-tidal zone, the black bears come out of the forest to feed. Digging in tide pools and among exposed rocks and logs, the bears are easy to see. So with the sun still barely above the horizon our group of 12 was already cruising the bay, headed for the archipelago known as the Broken Islands. Soon the sun crested the trees, casting an eerie silver sheen over the bay, a photographer's surprise. "Keep an eye out for green swales along the shoreline, open places between the trees," said our guide, Scott MacDonald, standing at the wheel. "Most are the sites of ancient Indian villages, but a few mark early homesteads. And those huge trees with the clumps at the top? Those are eagles' nests in 700 to 800 year-old trees. The birds reuse and rebuild the nests every year, which get bigger every century. They can weigh up to a ton." Closer to shore it was MacDonald who spotted the first black bear. For five minutes we bobbed on the water, watching him digging and chewing. Finally he looked up, sniffed the air, caught our scent and galloped away through the trees. "I'm glad to see he's wary," said MacDonald. "It's too easy for poachers to move in and get off a shot." Nearby a harbor seal sunned on a rock, unafraid. Cruising into the shallows we spotted blue herons wading. In some places, huge rafts of bull kelp floated, long green strands supported by swollen air pods. Noticing a group of cottages in a grassy opening, MacDonald said it was a Toquaht village named Macoah, occupying a traditional First Nations coastal site. Spotting a second bear prowling between a heap of fallen logs, the photographers screwed on their long lenses and snapped away. This bear saw the boat but kept on digging. "See those fallen logs in the water and washed up on the beach?" asked MacDonald. We'd seen them, giant logs, all about the same length, washed into back water inlets. "Most of those fell off commercial ships. I built my house out of those things," he explained. Back in Ucluelet, MacDonald apologized for finding just two bears, and those at a distance. That's OK, said somebody. Seeing the coast, the dozens of tiny islets, the kelp, the seals, the eagles' nests, was an unforgettable adventure. "But you know," said MacDonald, "the sad thing is that nature tours don't sell. Nobody signs up just to see nature. We've got to show them bears and whales. But once they're out there, they'll see what keeps us coming back. And that's what's worth it." IF YOU GO: To visit the south half of Vancouver Island, fly into Victoria, at the southern tip. From there it's three to four hours to drive to Campbell River, or west to Ucluelet. Or fly directly to Campbell River to vacation or fish in that area. Good roads, plenty of lodging and frequent shopping areas make renting a car the best way to travel. Travelers need a passport to cross the border and to re-enter the U.S. For more information, see www.hellobc.com or tourismvictoria.com.Marcell Ozuna isn?t putting up the power numbers some thought he would after what he accomplished in the minors, but the 22-year-old rookie is still proving early on in his big-league career that he?s pretty clutch.After picking up the game-winning RBI in wins over the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants on Thursday and Friday of last week to snap out of his funk at the plate, Ozuna delivered two more big hits Tuesday night.He drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a bases-loaded single to center in the sixth, then brought in a big insurance run in the eighth with a double off the wall in center as the Marlins rallied past the Twins 4-2 on Tuesday night in front of an announced crowd of 14,581 at Marlins Park. ?He?s given us exactly what we needed in the middle of that order,? Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. ?He had been scuffling a little bit on that road trip and really just needed a big hit, and he got it in that game-winner in San Francisco. It?s really been a turning point for him, confidence-wise.? Miami, coming off its first winning road trip of the season, has now won 12 of its past 21 games dating to May 31. The Marlins (26-50) close out their brief two-game set with the Twins (34-39) on Wednesday. The game is an early 12:40 p.m. start.Tuesday?s come-from-behind win ? aided by a seventh inning solo home run by rookie Derek Dietrich ? was the 14th of the season for the Marlins and the ninth this month. ?I think you see a different attitude out there,? Redmond said. ?You see confidence in our players and our guys. They feel like somebody is going to get a big hit at any time. You look back [Tuesday], Dietrich?s big at-bat, [Logan] Morrison?s big at-bat. That?s a good sign.?Rookie Jose Fernandez was in line for the loss before his teammates rallied Tuesday. Despite giving up just four hits and one earned run, the 20-year-old right-hander worked just five innings, battling control issues. He walked three, struck out three and threw 94 pitches. Only 59 went for strikes as he had his shortest outing this month.?My stuff was horrible and I was trying to battle through it,? said Fernandez, who added he could not throw a breaking ball for a strike through the first four innings. ?For me, it was really a learning experience out there, and I learned a lot from it. ?A.J. Ramos, who pitched two innings of scoreless relief with two strikeouts in the sixth and seventh, earned the win. Steve Cishek picked up his 13th save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth.But the story Tuesday was Ozuna. He only received credit for one RBI on his first hit off Twins starter Kevin Correia because Clete Thomas bobbled his grounder to center, allowing Giancarlo Stanton, who had slowed up at third, to score the go-ahead run. Ozuna?s second hit ? a line drive off Josh Roenicke ? was a no-doubt liner to center that easily scored Morrison, who doubled before him. Ozuna has now produced a team-leading 21 hits with runners in scoring position, raising his average to an eye-opening .438 in those situations this season.?I was thinking too much the last two weeks and swinging at every pitch, uncomfortable in the zone, swinging at sliders in the dirt,? Ozuna said.?When I faced Tim Lincecum in San Fran, I hit a pop up to second. [Placido] Polanco told me to start thinking about the middle away, and I changed my approach and drove in the winning run. Now I?m concentrating in the middle of the zone. I have a better approach.?STATSSEASONTEAMGPGSMINFGM-AFG%3PM-A3P%FTM-AFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTS'83-'8482317.23.1-6.8.4510.0-0.0.2501.5-2.1.7281.41.52.91.90.41.32.51.57.7'84-'85804331.97.2-14.5.4940.1-0.5.2162.8-3.7.7592.73.26.05.50.92.23.32.817.2'85-'86755834.37.2-15.2.4750.2-0.8.2003.9-5.1.7692.33.35.68.00.62.63.63.818.5'86-'87828238.08.6-17.2.5020.1-0.6.2344.4-5.7.7602.83.66.36.90.92.53.43.121.7'87-'88818037.810.5-20.7.5060.1-0.6.2125.9-7.2.8113.23.46.65.80.62.53.12.927.0'88-'89787839.310.6-21.4.4960.3-1.3.2605.6-7.0.7993.74.27.95.80.72.73.43.227.2'89-'90737336.89.2-18.6.4940.4-1.5.2834.6-5.9.7742.94.16.95.90.72.03.02.623.3'90-'91828234.87.9-16.3.4820.7-2.3.3195.1-6.4.7942.64.16.76.00.71.82.82.821.5'91-'92767636.29.1-19.4.4701.5-4.4.3375.3-6.6.7942.24.46.66.70.91.83.03.225.0'92-'93494934.17.1-16.7.4290.6-2.7.2335.0-6.0.8392.63.76.35.70.81.93.22.319.9'93-'94686834.37.0-16.3.4281.0-3.2.3244.2-5.4.7772.34.36.54.90.51.43.02.519.2'94-'95353437.17.6-15.0.5061.7-4.8.3574.5-5.5.8091.95.17.04.40.71.82.52.521.4'94-'95414134.87.4-17.4.4282.1-5.9.3635.0-6.0.8352.13.75.75.10.51.82.92.422.0'95-'96525138.46.4-14.7.4331.5-4.5.3325.1-6.5.7841.95.37.25.80.52.02.92.619.3'96-'97626236.66.4-14.5.4421.9-5.4.3553.2-4.3.7501.94.16.05.70.61.92.42.518.0'97-'98707035.36.5-15.1.4271.5-4.8.3174.0-4.9.8011.53.44.95.50.61.82.82.718.4Career108695034.67.7-16.3.4720.8-2.4.3184.3-5.5.7882.43.76.15.60.72.03.02.720.4CNN says it’s bringing the political debate show Crossfire back on the air this fall with Newt Gingrich as one of the combatants. The former House speaker and Republican presidential candidate will be one of the four regular hosts of the program, taking the conservative side along with commentator S.E. Cupp of The Blaze. Stephanie Cutter, a former campaign spokeswoman for President Barack Obama, and Van Jones, a Yale-educated attorney and advocate for green projects, will speak from the left. “It just feels like the right time for ‘Crossfire’ to be coming back,” said Sam Feist, CNN’s senior vice president and Washington bureau chief. The show will air weekdays but no time slot has been set. The original aired on CNN from 1982 until 2005, and its alumni list reads like a Washington who’s who: Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, Geraldine Ferraro, Lynn Cheney, James Carville, Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson among them.Together againThe leading ladies of Laverne & Shirley are reuniting. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams will guest star in an episode of Nickelodeon’s new sitcom Sam & Cat.The actresses starred as 1950s and ’60s pals and roommates Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, workers in a Milwaukee brewery. The sitcom aired from 1976 to 1983 on ABC. Sam & Cat features Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande as friends who start a baby-sitting business. Nickelodeon says Marshall and Williams will play characters involved in a decades-old feud.Ratings boostNBC’s Today show beat its rivals at ABC’s Good Morning America with a Thursday episode that featured Matt Lauer’s interview with TV personality Paula Deen, who is trying to keep her career cooking following admissions that she had used a racial slur. The Nielsen company reported Today had just under 4.8 million viewers on Thursday, to GMA’s 4.63 million. It was the first time Today had a bigger audience since November during the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. On average, the ABC show beat Today by 900,000 viewers a day last week. NBC hires BrattonNBC News has hired former New York police commissioner and Los Angeles top cop Bill Bratton as a news analyst. Bratton, who also ran Boston’s police department in a busy law enforcement career, will specialize in criminal justice policy, domestic intelligence gathering and the role of law enforcement in counterterrorism. NBC said Thursday that Bratton will also appear on MSNBC. He joins a protege in the media. John Miller, who worked for Bratton in New York and Los Angeles, is an analyst and reporter at CBS News.CNN says it’s bringing the political debate show Crossfire back on the air this fall with Newt Gingrich as one of the combatants. The former House speaker and Republican presidential candidate will be one of the four regular hosts of the program, taking the conservative side along with commentator S.E. Cupp of The Blaze. Stephanie Cutter, a former campaign spokeswoman for President Barack Obama, and Van Jones, a Yale-educated attorney and advocate for green projects, will speak from the left. “It just feels like the right time for ‘Crossfire’ to be coming back,” said Sam Feist, CNN’s senior vice president and Washington bureau chief. The show will air weekdays but no time slot has been set. The original aired on CNN from 1982 until 2005, and its alumni list reads like a Washington who’s who: Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, Geraldine Ferraro, Lynn Cheney, James Carville, Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson among them.Together againThe leading ladies of Laverne & Shirley are reuniting. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams will guest star in an episode of Nickelodeon’s new sitcom Sam & Cat.The actresses starred as 1950s and ’60s pals and roommates Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, workers in a Milwaukee brewery. The sitcom aired from 1976 to 1983 on ABC. Sam & Cat features Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande as friends who start a baby-sitting business. Nickelodeon says Marshall and Williams will play characters involved in a decades-old feud.Ratings boostNBC’s Today show beat its rivals at ABC’s Good Morning America with a Thursday episode that featured Matt Lauer’s interview with TV personality Paula Deen, who is trying to keep her career cooking following admissions that she had used a racial slur. The Nielsen company reported Today had just under 4.8 million viewers on Thursday, to GMA’s 4.63 million. It was the first time Today had a bigger audience since November during the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. On average, the ABC show beat Today by 900,000 viewers a day last week. NBC hires BrattonNBC News has hired former New York police commissioner and Los Angeles top cop Bill Bratton as a news analyst. Bratton, who also ran Boston’s police department in a busy law enforcement career, will specialize in criminal justice policy, domestic intelligence gathering and the role of law enforcement in counterterrorism. NBC said Thursday that Bratton will also appear on MSNBC. He joins a protege in the media. John Miller, who worked for Bratton in New York and Los Angeles, is an analyst and reporter at CBS News.A couple of days ago, former star of TOWIE Mark Wright and Corrie hottie Michelle Keegan got on a plane together.Completely unbeknownst to them, obviously, Mark’s manager tweeted this photo of them on the flight. And aren’t they just beyond adorable? No, I don’t think so either.Co-dependent couples like this make me vomit.I wonder who was more uncomfortable ? the aforementioned manager who no doubt felt like an awkward gooseberry, or them themselves? After all, plane seats are on the cusp of unbearable when you sit in them alone, never mind when someone’s wedged on your lap/under you.But still, Marchelle were willing to withstand the pain and numb limbs to make the point they cannot bear to be apart, even if it’s only as far apart as two plane seats which are right next to each other. They can’t even bear to listen to separate music, hence the shared headphones, one ear each. Bleurrgghh.I would pay extra NOT to sit next to my husband on a flight, with all his questions, noises and smells, not to mention his compulsion to keep telling me how high we’re flying and over which countries when I’ve made it abundantly clear on many occasions that I’m interested in neither.Sitting on someone’s lap when you’re not a child, a stripper or somewhere there aren’t enough chairs is both unnecessary and unacceptable. Plus it smacks of protesting too much. What are they trying to prove?Being this joined at the hip is not only nauseating, it sets a terrible example. It makes couples who are capable of independent thought and deed feel like they might be the weird ones, when in reality, the opposite is true.Horrifyingly, catching a nasty dose of co-dependentitis is all too easy. So it’s time to take a long hard look at yourself and see if you have any symptoms. Answer honestly, now. When asked if you liked a film do you reply: “Oh yes, we loved it”?Are you in charge of your own diary, or do you have to check with your partner before making any plans? Or, worse, do you have a ? shudder ? joint diary? Do you touch each other in public? Any time you go out alone together after dark do you insist on referring to the evening as “date night”?Do you share messages on social media sites saying how much you love each other even though you presumably have numerous direct, private contact options? Do you automatically assume your partner is invited to anything you are, so never check, and end up bringing him to girls’ nights? And finally, do you share a toothbrush?If you answered yes to any of these, it’s time to take action.If you answered yes to all of them, it’s too late. You are Mark Wright. It’s basically all over for you. (Obviously I mean you as the plural there, but you both knew that already of course.)Starved of a sense of humourLast week while they’re pregnant.Bafflingly, some people didn’t understand that I was being sarcastic throughout. This despite the inclusion of lines like, “Obviously if Frankie Sandford had any self-respect she’d be starving herself, just like all the other female celebrities.” Oh, and the suggestion that newborn babies should be put on diets if they don’t have a thigh gap.These people decided I was definitely 100% serious ? and that this newspaper was happy to print this view. I would apologise to them here, deeply, for the offence caused but there’s no point, because they all said none of them are reading my column “EVER AGAIN!!!!”This is obviously a devastating personal loss that I’m unlikely to recover from.Wit of the week“Off for the last day of Royal Ascot. Me and Ant are comparing tips. No, not like that you dirty things.”Dec DonnellySuggestion of the weekPosh reckons Becks should be an actor now he’s retired from football. “I think he should be James Bond,” she said, “He’d be a good James Bond!” Great idea. But which film should David make first ? The Man With The Golden Balls or The Spice Who Loved Me?Fantasy of the week“Odd but lovely dream about David Walliams last night: we were at his place and his mum was out so we played airplanes and had chocolate milk.”Doctor Christian JessenThrilled Co-op bosses said today that its deal to buy 632 branches from Lloyds was an exciting chance to make banking boring again.Almost five million people are expected to transfer to the Co-op in a ?750million agreement that chief executive Peter Marks described as “the most significant development in high street banking for a generation”.It propels his firm into the big league and staff say their safe and steady approach will restore people’s faith in the industry.Making the announcement, Mr Marks said: “We are an old-fashioned bank, we are boring. We are not into the risky, gambling side of banking.“People have lost trust in the financial services sector."Now we can provide a big bank, a challenger bank, that people can really trust.”All 164 Cheltenham & Gloucester branches will be included in the sale.?The rest will be Lloyds TSB branches ? 185 in Scotland and 283 in England and Wales.If regulators approve the takeover, Co-op would treble its branches to almost 1,000 ? or 10% of the market.Its new branches will be renamed TSB next summer before being rebranded as Co-op Bank.The sale was forced on Lloyds after it was bailed out by taxpayers.The group will retain 1,300 Lloyds TSB branches, which will have to be renamed, and its Halifax branches.Co-op’s buyout will involve the transfer of ?24billion of mortgage debts and ?24billion in savings and current accounts.Bosses insist customers will remain on their existing terms.The company, which has an ethical investing policy, says it now plans to attract more customers who are fed-up with the big names.Chancellor George Osborne said: “This is another step towards creating a new banking system for Britain that gives real choice to customers and supports the economy.”Shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie welcomed the deal but added: “We need to go much further and have two new challenger banks."And instead of waiting until 2015 to consider a review of competition in the banking sector, the Government should do so next year.”Federation of Small Businesses chairman John Walker said: “With four in 10 small firms refused credit by the main high street banks, this challenger bank will open up competition and help small firms access the cash they need.”The deal could be approved by the Financial Services Authority this year.If completed the Co-op would have a 7% share of the current-account market.It will also get the TSB and Cheltenham & Gloucester brands.Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said: “We believe the Co-operative will be a good owner for our business, customers and colleagues.”Buy-out: A sign of a Lloyds TSB bank branch?How a handful of new banks are stirring up a revolutionThis year could well see a “banking spring” in Britain, after anger at the mis-selling disgrace was followed by disgust as the rate-rigging scandal.Despite rip-off charges and poor service, however, most customers have not deserted the big banks ? 75% of us have the same one all our lives.This is because disillusioned people think big lenders are all the same ? and we don’t trust the newer ones.But the Co-op’s deal to buy 632 branches, which follows Virgin Money’s takeover of Northern Rock, should help change that.And a new small bank called Metro is going great guns by opening seven days a week.Customers have been demanding the same things for years ? fair charges, decent service and convenience.Yet in the race for profits, big banks took their eyes off the ball and got burned.They can afford to lose the odd few thousand customers along the way, but if these new entrants really shake things up, as they hope to do, it will lead to the retail bank revolution that millions of people deserve.Britain's battered economy was blamed for the collapse of a ?750million bank deal today.The collapse came on the eve of figures out tomorrow which will show if the economy entered an unprecedented triple dip recession at the start of the year.The Co-operative was frontrunner to buy 632 branches that banking giant Lloyds is being forced to sell. But the mutual pulled the plug on the purchase, citing the dire state of the economy for making it unworkable. According to the Co-op, record-low interest designed to try and kick start the flatlining economy had made it hard for lenders without casino banking arms to make money.Peter Marks, the firm’s chief executive, revealed the fact it saw no let-up in the crisis was big factor behind its decision. He told the Mirror: “When we started this process, we took a view we would becoming out of recession and coming into some kind of economic normality by now. "But the fact is, the economy has got worse not better.“When we look forward two, three, four, five years ahead, do I see a really significant upturn in the economy? The answer is no.“These next few years of bumping along the bottom makes this deal not do-able.” 'Some things you win and some things you lose': Co-op chief Peter MarksAs Britain waits to see tomorrow if we have slumped into a triple dip recession experts are divided on whether gross domestic product - the value of everything the country produces - went into reverse between January and March. But it came as a separate report revealed how the economy is still in the doldrums. A survey from top business group the CBI showed shop sales fell for the first time eight months in April. Among retailers questioned, 37% said takings were down year-on-year this month, while 36% said they were up, leaving a balance of minus one.Retailers’ gloom about sales growth next month was its worst for 15 months, and came a day after figures showed manufacturing orders had plunged to a 30-month low in April.The Chancellor is still reeling from the recent decision by a second ratings agency to strip the UK of its AAA credit status, and criticism of the his savage austerity measures by the International Monetary Fund.In a fresh bid to boost lending, the Bank of England the Treasury today beefed-up a flagship initiative. The extension of the Funding for Lending scheme will offer banks major incentives to provide loans to small businesses, which continue to be starved of credit.Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Most independent forecasts suggest this quarter’s GDP figures will show small positive growth. "But growth of just 0.3% would simply mean the economy is back to where it was six months ago. This isn’t? good enough.“After nearly three years of flatlining we need to see decisive evidence that a strong and sustained recovery is finally underway. “And with just 0.8% growth since the spending review, compared to the 5.3 per cent that was forecast at the time, we need really strong growth simply to start catching up all the ground we have lost under this Government’s failed economic policies.” The European Commission is forcing Lloyds to sell the 632 branches - which include 4.6m customer accounts - as a condition for being bailed out by the taxpayer at the height of the financial crisis. Lloyds, which is 39% owned by the state, will try to float the business on the stock exchange under the TSB name instead. There are reports customers could be offered free shares in the venture, although Lloyds said it was too early to say. The collapse of the deal is also a blow to government hopes of attracting new competition to take on the power of the big banks. A similar deal to sell 316 Royal Bank of Scotland branches to Santander fell through late last year. Michael Ossei, personal expert at the website uSwitch.com, said: “The banking revolution has got off to another false start. “The purchase by the Co-op would have shaken up the high street and really given traditional banks a run for their money. “As a well-liked and highly trusted brand the Co-op deal was set to kick start real competition in the sector. “This news places a dent in the potential choice available to consumers when it comes to banking on the high street.”Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “This is very bad news for everyone wanting to see more competition in retail banking anytime soon.“The Co-op’s decision is a setback to the Government’s efforts to tackle the unhealthy dominance of our biggest banks.“This would have given more choice to consumers who are sick and tired of shoddy service and unfair fees and put more pressure on the big banks to work for customers, not bankers.”When Lamont Green left Southridge in 1994, he was a heralded football star on the way to FSU. A lot has happened over the past 18 years.Considered one of the top linebackers of all time in the state of Florida, there was simply nothing this quality athlete couldn’t do. He was big, fast, smart and considered a “can’t miss” prospect by those who had watched him play.At FSU, he was the defensive catalyst for the Seminoles, who coveted the No. 1 linebacker in the nation. He represented a rare kind of player nearly 20 years ago. Someone who was coveted as a football player, but applauded for his character and work in the classroom.Although injuries cut Green’s career short ? he found over the next few years what he was really meant to do. From the dominating linebacker who could run down any back or quarterback, Green began to channel is knowledge into coaching.Whether it was in Tallahassee ? where he learned from some of the best like Mickey Andrews ? to relying on greats such as Don Soldinger, Green was actually was like having a coach on the field. He could see things that other players, and even some coaches, couldn’t recognize. Green was that good.His success as a coach, although it wasn’t something that happened overnight, has been amazing. For those close to him, following Green throughout his playing career, this is not a surprise. In fact, after leading South Miami to a rare playoff appearance, and a win against Miami Krop in the opening round last year, Green got everyone’s attention.Known throughout his career as a “no-nonsense” type of player, Green turned the Cobras around in one season because of the discipline and the demands he made on his athletes. Nobody expected anything less.“You come into a situation where they haven’t won a lot and you have to immediately change the culture,” Green said. “That’s what we had to do last season.”The success Green enjoyed in 2011 was certainly a door-opener to return to his alma mater. When Pat Burrows (now at Homestead) stepped down, the writing was all over South Miami Heights. One of the best to have ever played in this star-studded program was indeed returning. Green had left nearly 20 years ago with big dreams. At 35, he comes back with those same dreams.“This is a great opportunity for me,” Green said. “What we did last year at South Miami really matured all of us and taught us many things that we will use back here.”As Green comes back to his alma mater, he looks around to find some quality talent, including big time senior prospects such as Jamal Carter and Lamar Robbins, who both play in the secondary. He has potential at running back with 2014 prospects Jamal Adjamah and Leshone Garnett. But the position where Green is perhaps the deepest is at linebacker.How coincidental it would be that in his first season back, Green’s linebackers would be considered the deepest and best in the state. It is something that he will not hide, and when he speaks about the group of Terrance Brown (5-11, 210 pounds), Alex Philon (6-0, 215), James Atkins (6-0, 205), Akil Knowles and Daryl Rolle, Green does some boasting.“Wow, these kids are good,” Green said. “Just hard workers who really want to achieve and lift this program up. They are big, quick and physical and willing to make sacrifices to getting better.”All-star honorsWhile the 2013 Under Armour all-star football game is still months away, some locals have already committed to playing in the annual event, which is held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg,Among those who will spend the week practicing at Disney’s Wide World of Sports include University School receiver Jordan Cunningham and defensive tackle Maquedius Bain, Northeast receiver Stacy Coley, St. Thomas defensive end Joey Bosa, Booker T. Washington linebacker Matthew Thomas and Northwestern cornerback Artie Burns. We are always looking to help promote our area recruits for the current classes of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. All you have to do is send a DVD and information about the athlete to: Larry Blustein, P.O. Box 3181, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009. To comment, email floridakids1@aol.com. Follow Larry on Twitter at twitter.com/ larryblusteinWhen Lamont Green left Southridge in 1994, he was a heralded football star on the way to FSU. A lot has happened over the past 18 years.Considered one of the top linebackers of all time in the state of Florida, there was simply nothing this quality athlete couldn’t do. He was big, fast, smart and considered a “can’t miss” prospect by those who had watched him play.At FSU, he was the defensive catalyst for the Seminoles, who coveted the No. 1 linebacker in the nation. He represented a rare kind of player nearly 20 years ago. Someone who was coveted as a football player, but applauded for his character and work in the classroom. Although injuries cut Green’s career short ? he found over the next few years what he was really meant to do. From the dominating linebacker who could run down any back or quarterback, Green began to channel is knowledge into coaching.Whether it was in Tallahassee ? where he learned from some of the best like Mickey Andrews ? to relying on greats such as Don Soldinger, Green was actually was like having a coach on the field. He could see things that other players, and even some coaches, couldn’t recognize. Green was that good.His success as a coach, although it wasn’t something that happened overnight, has been amazing. For those close to him, following Green throughout his playing career, this is not a surprise. In fact, after leading South Miami to a rare playoff appearance, and a win against Miami Krop in the opening round last year, Green got everyone’s attention.Known throughout his career as a “no-nonsense” type of player, Green turned the Cobras around in one season because of the discipline and the demands he made on his athletes. Nobody expected anything less.“You come into a situation where they haven’t won a lot and you have to immediately change the culture,” Green said. “That’s what we had to do last season.”The success Green enjoyed in 2011 was certainly a door-opener to return to his alma mater. When Pat Burrows (now at Homestead) stepped down, the writing was all over South Miami Heights. One of the best to have ever played in this star-studded program was indeed returning. Green had left nearly 20 years ago with big dreams. At 35, he comes back with those same dreams.“This is a great opportunity for me,” Green said. “What we did last year at South Miami really matured all of us and taught us many things that we will use back here.”As Green comes back to his alma mater, he looks around to find some quality talent, including big time senior prospects such as Jamal Carter and Lamar Robbins, who both play in the secondary. He has potential at running back with 2014 prospects Jamal Adjamah and Leshone Garnett. But the position where Green is perhaps the deepest is at linebacker.How coincidental it would be that in his first season back, Green’s linebackers would be considered the deepest and best in the state. It is something that he will not hide, and when he speaks about the group of Terrance Brown (5-11, 210 pounds), Alex Philon (6-0, 215), James Atkins (6-0, 205), Akil Knowles and Daryl Rolle, Green does some boasting.“Wow, these kids are good,” Green said. “Just hard workers who really want to achieve and lift this program up. They are big, quick and physical and willing to make sacrifices to getting better.”All-star honorsWhile the 2013 Under Armour all-star football game is still months away, some locals have already committed to playing in the annual event, which is held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg,Among those who will spend the week practicing at Disney’s Wide World of Sports include University School receiver Jordan Cunningham and defensive tackle Maquedius Bain, Northeast receiver Stacy Coley, St. Thomas defensive end Joey Bosa, Booker T. Washington linebacker Matthew Thomas and Northwestern cornerback Artie Burns. We are always looking to help promote our area recruits for the current classes of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. All you have to do is send a DVD and information about the athlete to: Larry Blustein, P.O. Box 3181, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009. To comment, email floridakids1@aol.com. Follow Larry on Twitter at twitter.com/ larryblusteinWill Austin Rivers be a bust?Ive been asked that question a lot over the past few days.Ive pored over game tape, talked to several NBA scouts and GMs and sifted through the various analytics available before coming to a conclusion: Given his rise on draft boards -- in some cases as high as No. 6 overall -- hes being overrated.And Ive said as much in various places recently.In my look at the , I asked whether Rivers was more likely to become the next Kobe Bryant or Jerryd Bayless. I picked Bayless.During , I took issue with Skip Bayless' declaring that Rivers should be the No. 2 pick. And in a 7,900-word draft debate on Grantland with Bill Simmons, we had the following on the difference between Weber States Damian Lillard and Rivers:FORD: Lillard is a willing passer. Rivers isn't and will never be. Lillard made dramatic improvements from year to year. I thought Rivers was the exact player in college that he was in high school. Lillard is a team player. He was the second most efficient player in college basketball DESPITE being the only decent player on his entire roster; teams game planned to stop him and him alone every night. I just don't see Rivers ever being anywhere near as unselfish or efficient. I think Rivers will be shocked at the athleticism and length at his position. He'll try to do the same things at which he excelled in high school, spend a lot of time on the bench, get into it with his coach and teammates, get traded in a year or two to a desperate team, put up huge numbers for a cellar-dweller for a year or two, make some money, and eventually, teams will realize he can't be the alpha dog on a winning team.SIMMONS: Other than that, you're a huge Austin Rivers fan.FORD: I honestly think Rivers is the one guy I wouldn't touch in the lottery. Too toxic for team chemistry, doesn't have the same physical tools to make it worth it. Put all of that together and it sounds like Im piling on Rivers.Im not.But the perception is there. Rivers former head coach at Duke, Mike Krzyzewski, even called me up concerned that I or someone else was questioning Rivers character.Im not. Im questioning how his mental approach to the game, combined with his skills and physical tools, translate at the next level.To be clear, Im sure Rivers is a nice young man and I dont have concerns about his character. In fact, Coach K believes that Rivers ultracompetitive personality is what will help him at the next level."He is an alpha dog. I think he will succeed in the NBA because of that," Krzyzewski said. "He believes hes going to be great. Id rather have a guy like that than a guy who doesnt believe in himself."He also acknowledged that Rivers, like every young prospect, still has a lot of work to do."He needs to be a better rebounder and a defender on and off the ball," Krzyzewski said."Some players, they learn one punch. When you take that punch away, they get knocked out. He needs to use that aggressive mentality to work on new things about his game. "When Austin came to Duke, I told him that every player is like a house: The more skills you learn, the more windows you have on your house. When he came to Duke, he had one really big window. He was an amazing scorer. The goal was to add more windows to his game. Hes in that process right now."I hope he gets a demanding coach at the next level who pushes him to keep adding to his game. Thats how hell become great. If he reverts back to just doing the thing he does well, his chances lessen that hes a good player in the NBA."He also noted that despite rumors to the contrary, he liked working with Rivers."He was very coachable and hes a very good young man," Krzyzewski said. "I like him. He was never a problem. He fit in well. He likes the game. He was a good kid to coach."Coach K said that any chemistry issues with the team this past season, which ended with the No. 2-seeded Blue Devils being knocked out in the first round of the NCAA tournament, probably had more to do with its lack of seniors. He said that as players get older, they get more secure in who they are and what they can do and dont feel as threatened by newcomers with the skills of someone like Rivers."We had a young team, maturity-wise, this year," Krzyzewski said. "I wouldve rather had him playing with Nolan Smith and Kyle Singer. I think they wouldve reacted better to his aggressive attitude. We didnt always use his attitude properly."Fair enough. Other than his father, Doc Rivers, no one knows him better.If you’ve never been to a youth wrestling tournament, prepare yourself for the sight of lots of crying boys.“C’mon! C’mon! Big boy style,” Twin City Wrestling Club volunteer coach Jeremy Sands shouts as young Cordell White faces his opponent at a recent tournament at Hialeah Gardens High School.Minutes before, both young contenders were crying. Not because they were afraid of getting injured ? physical pain was the furthest thing from their minds ? but because they were afraid of losing. Aren’t we all. But for the boys of Twin City, many of whom come from the rougher neighborhoods of Homestead and Florida City, losing hurts a little more.Here ? where too many families fall on the shoulders of a single mom ? Curtis Dewberry, head of Florida City Parks and Recreation and volunteers like Sands are not just grooming national and state championship winners. They’re also surrogate dads who know from personal experience the hole an absent father leaves. According to 2009 U.S. Census data, more than 24 million children ? one out of every three ? live apart from their biological dads.On Father’s Day, when that absence is stark and raw, the bond of sports can help kids of all ages cope. “My parents split when I was small,” says Twin City’s Corey Harvey, 13, who just ranked a national fourth in wrestling’s Schoolboy division in Indianapolis. “Coach Curtis is my influence. It’s how he teaches you. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything. And Jeremy” ? coach Sands is Corey’s stepdad ? “helps all the time.” Dewberry grew up on the Homestead-Florida City border with a stepdad who couldn’t have cared less about his doings. “I was lucky; my dad stayed in my life,” he says. Between wrestling and playing football for the Florida City Razorbacks, he landed a partial scholarship to Chowan Junior College in North Carolina. Since 1987, when his coaching career started at Homestead Middle, he has helped boys like Corey do even better than he did. This year, about 446 kids will participate in his athletic programs. Since 1998, 22 boys have gone to college on full scholarships and onward to the National Football League, including Antrel Rolle and Eric Foster. In other pockets of South Florida, coaches are standing in. Observes head football coach Curtis Wright of the Miami Gardens Bulldogs: “So many kids have absent fathers. That’s why I coach. I was that kid.” Last year, the Bulldogs were ranked No. 1 in South Florida and No. 2 to Florida City the previous year, but Wright measures success in a different way, as well. “I like to say we’re not just teaching boys how to play football. We’re teaching them how to be men.” While Wright hears many complain that kids today are worse off, “I see it getting better,” he says. “There’s a lot of help for kids that I didn’t have coming up. A lot of parents are getting involved.” Opa-locka volunteer football coach Robert Mellerson became more involved than the average coach when a player’s father was incarcerated. “I drive him to school, help him with his homework ? and help him with football,” Mellerson says. “He lives with me. I’m stepping in as his father now.”Unlike many youth wrestling clubs that practice all year, Twin City has only three months to train and compete in the spring tournaments leading up to the Southeast Regionals in late May. They wrestle Greco and Freestyle. Dewberry emphasizes the basics, where in his experience, matches are won or lost.Then all thoughts turn to football. Southernmost of all U.S. Pop Warner teams, the Razorbacks have reached local legend status for winning Pop Warner national championships. Dewberry coached the Junior Midget division to their 2010 national championship and took the same crop of kids, as Midgets, to the national runner-up position in 2011.“People know me for football, but my first love is wrestling,” Dewberry admits. But wrestling is not only less prestigious of a sport, it’s also more expensive for parents to send their kids to tournaments across and outside the state. With registration fees, hotels and food, it can cost upwards of $500 per child for the season. This year, four Twin City boys qualified for the June 22 national competition in Utah, where All Americans will be crowned to compete against international teams later this yearin Puerto Rico. But with a price tag of $900 for the Utah trip, there’s no guarantee all of them will be able to go.“Coming out of Florida City, not a lot of parents can come up with that,” says Darren Baldwin, another Dewberry protege who became a coaching volunteer.Baldwin’s mom gave birth to him and his sister when she was a teenager. . His grandmother took him to live with her.“Coming from here, that’s common,” Baldwin says. “I’ve been under Curt since I was 1 day old. My dad wrestled with him.” With Dewberry, and his father, Darren Baldwin Sr., guiding him, he started wrestling at age 5, graduated from University of Central Florida on a football scholarship, and got a tryout with the Jacksonville Jaguars. “Dad never missed a wrestling tournament, never missed a football game,” Baldwin says. “He sent me to South Dade High instead of Homestead, driving me to school every day for four years. I never had to deal with the things other kids did ? walking home and getting into fights, wearing the same clothes and shoes to school every day. I never had to wonder, ‘Am I going to have enough money to play on the team?’?”Santiago Arciniega, 10, is one of Twin City’s qualifiers heading to Utah. “It’s all worth it,” his father Damacio Arciniega says of the time and money he has invested in youth sports. Besides putting his three boys through Dewberry’s programs, Arciniega coaches soccer for some 300 kids who practice Wednesday and Friday evenings on a field at South Dade Labor Camp at Southwest 312th Street and 137th Avenue.“I just don’t want kids to go in a bad direction,” Arciniega says. “They get into the street, and come to practice with attitudes. Eventually their anger subsides. I try to pass on a better outlook.”Six years ago. Coach Sands saw his stepson Corey going in that direction and took the boy in to live with him. “It was a rough start. Corey wants to be so much better than I was. He would say, ‘You think you’re never wrong,’ and I’d try to tell him, ‘I just don’t want you to make my mistakes.’?” Separated from his own children while trying to win visitation rights, Sands is putting his all into Corey. “I was good in sports and took it for granted. Now that he has a lot of trophies and accomplishments, I encourage him to say ‘Thank you’ and work harder.” In Florida City’s new gym opposite Loren Roberts Park ? where membership is $15 a month, almost as good a deal as the one at Miami’s Jose Marti Park ? Dewberry demonstrates wrestling moves with Harvey for the other kids. Their eyes follow the pair, entranced. When Dewberry barks an order, they jump to it. “The kids demonstrate so much respect for him,” says Lisa Oberlander, another volunteer who also learned to wrestle with Dewberry. For the love of sports, when she’s not teaching art and photography at Herbert Ammons Middle School, Oberlander ? “Miss Obie” to the boys ? helps teach the youngest wrestlers the basics.One of them, 5-year-old Tedrick Lee, competed in his first tournaments this year, winning second-place medals in Greco and Freestyle. His father, Teddrick Lee Sr., who coaches football and comes to his son’s every practice and tournament, says wistfully, “I wish my father had been around to watch me.”And so it goes, in a circle of boys and men supporting one another through life as well as sports.As the late-day sun slants across Florida City, the park fills with parents and kids psyched for summer football training. “I look at it as giving back to where I came from,” says Coach Baldwin, a football in one hand and a sign-up sheet in the other. Recently, a teacher asked one of the boys he coaches to draw a picture of his family. The boy, whose dad lives far away in North Carolina, drew his brother, his sister and his mother. And his coach.If you’ve never been to a youth wrestling tournament, prepare yourself for the sight of lots of crying boys.“C’mon! C’mon! Big boy style,” Twin City Wrestling Club volunteer coach Jeremy Sands shouts as young Cordell White faces his opponent at a recent tournament at Hialeah Gardens High School.Minutes before, both young contenders were crying. Not because they were afraid of getting injured ? physical pain was the furthest thing from their minds ? but because they were afraid of losing. Aren’t we all. But for the boys of Twin City, many of whom come from the rougher neighborhoods of Homestead and Florida City, losing hurts a little more.Here ? where too many families fall on the shoulders of a single mom ? Curtis Dewberry, head of Florida City Parks and Recreation and volunteers like Sands are not just grooming national and state championship winners. They’re also surrogate dads who know from personal experience the hole an absent father leaves. According to 2009 U.S. Census data, more than 24 million children ? one out of every three ? live apart from their biological dads.On Father’s Day, when that absence is stark and raw, the bond of sports can help kids of all ages cope. “My parents split when I was small,” says Twin City’s Corey Harvey, 13, who just ranked a national fourth in wrestling’s Schoolboy division in Indianapolis. “Coach Curtis is my influence. It’s how he teaches you. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything. And Jeremy” ? coach Sands is Corey’s stepdad ? “helps all the time.” Dewberry grew up on the Homestead-Florida City border with a stepdad who couldn’t have cared less about his doings. “I was lucky; my dad stayed in my life,” he says. Between wrestling and playing football for the Florida City Razorbacks, he landed a partial scholarship to Chowan Junior College in North Carolina. Since 1987, when his coaching career started at Homestead Middle, he has helped boys like Corey do even better than he did. This year, about 446 kids will participate in his athletic programs. Since 1998, 22 boys have gone to college on full scholarships and onward to the National Football League, including Antrel Rolle and Eric Foster. In other pockets of South Florida, coaches are standing in. Observes head football coach Curtis Wright of the Miami Gardens Bulldogs: “So many kids have absent fathers. That’s why I coach. I was that kid.” Last year, the Bulldogs were ranked No. 1 in South Florida and No. 2 to Florida City the previous year, but Wright measures success in a different way, as well. “I like to say we’re not just teaching boys how to play football. We’re teaching them how to be men.” While Wright hears many complain that kids today are worse off, “I see it getting better,” he says. “There’s a lot of help for kids that I didn’t have coming up. A lot of parents are getting involved.” Opa-locka volunteer football coach Robert Mellerson became more involved than the average coach when a player’s father was incarcerated. “I drive him to school, help him with his homework ? and help him with football,” Mellerson says. “He lives with me. I’m stepping in as his father now.”Jeff Van Gundy, who maintains a very close friendship with coach Tom Thibodeau, believes Gar Forman's decision to fire Thibodeau's top assistant could signal a rift in the organization and could get in the way of what's best for the Bulls.Forman fired Ron Adams, who was part of a staff that guided the Bulls to the NBA's best regular-season record in two of the past three seasons, on Tuesday without any explanation."I would liken it to if you have the Chicago Bears and you have a head coach who wanted to have a certain offensive coordinator and in an embarrassing fashion the GM came in and fired that guy," Van Gundy said on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN Chicago 1000. "I would say certainly it seems like something is wrong. I read something in one of the Chicago news (stories) today that it does seem like a shot at Thibodeau, and for what reason I don't know. I don't pretend to be in the know there, but it certainly seems like something is amiss."And it's unfortunate because when you get in the situation the Bulls are in with a great player and pretty good players that surround that great player in , you really have an opportunity. But most teams beat themselves from within, versus another team beating them. These types of little dust-ups and grabs for power usually get in the way of what's best for the team, and unfortunately it really harms the end result. And you hope if there is a problem or a rift that they're able to solve it, because they do have a pretty good team with a great player coming back, and really those three years there have been remarkable."The Bulls and Thibodeau agreed to a four-year extension last October, but he didn't sign it until April, which raised eyebrows. Thibodeau said it just took time for lawyers to review it, but there had been stories that Thibodeau was upset he had to wait so long to be offered the extension considering his success and winning coach of the year honors."They have a remarkable coach and I'm not sure why you would want to hurt that remarkable coach or hurt that relationship with a remarkable coach, particularly one you've just given a long-term contract to," Van Gundy said.Thibodeau was an assistant to Van Gundy in New York and Houston, and their friendship gives Van Gundy's analysis on the matter more weight."Management throughout the NBA now is taking more and more control over coaching staffs," said Van Gundy, who is an ESPN analyst. "I know this about Ron Adams, without knowing the inner workings of the Chicago Bulls, he is a great, great coach. He is completely devoted to the game of basketball."He and Thibodeau have a great friendship and working relationship, and so when you put all those things together, it seems like really strange timing. You just signed Tom Thibodeau to a long-term contract, and simultaneously you've taken away this guy who has meant so much to him and the Bulls' success. It's really, really odd too that it comes a day to two before his contract was to run out, so it really looks punitive in that it prevented him from going out and looking for other jobs. I find it very unfortunate, because Ron Adams has been a true credit to the coaching profession."The Bulls introduced their two draft picks on Tuesday and Forman initially was not going to talk about the Adams dismissal, but he came back down and said it was his decision."I think Tom and I have a very good working relationship ..." Forman said. "We're not always going to agree on everything. But at the end of the day I think we both have the best interests of the Bulls moving forward as what our goal is, and we unite and move forward."Thibodeau's only comments came via a statement the Bulls released."Ron is a great friend, an outstanding coach and I will miss him," Thibodeau was quoted as saying.BUENOS AIRES -- The NBA archives have many legendary pages. Dusting off those old books and reviving its most celebrated stories brings out memories from the long, forgotten past. Today we remember those who were --to many observers -- the two greatest coaches in American basketball: Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach and Phil Jackson. Auerbach and Jackson were successful in two different eras. During the 1950s and 1960s Auerbach made the Celtics one of the most winning franchises in the league's history, first as coach and then as president. Meanwhile, in the 1990s when the NBA was becoming a marketing machine because of satellite TV, Jackson dominated with the Bulls and then later took the Lakers to championship glory. Step by step, we will now compare several dimensions of both coaches: 1. Personality:The arrogant image projected by Auerbach, embodied by the courtside ceremony of lighting a cigar after each victory in the Celtics' dynasty years, turned him into one of the iconic figures of the league. But the truth is that this perception of arrogance was just a facade. His players loved him and accepted everyone of his requests without complaints because of his overwhelming personality. "Red Auerbach convinced his players to always love him," said Earl Lloyd, the first African-American player in the NBA. "All they wanted was to please him."Auerbach might have been loved and hated, but nobody remained indifferent in his presence. It was usual to see him arguing heatedly with fans and even with other coaches and managers, incurring in actions that made him famous for his fines and suspensions. But beyond his emotional side, which undoubtedly was his trademark, his most notorious feature as coach was his mastery for strategy and the psychological control he executed over his players. Loyalty was his most outstanding value. He kept many of the same players until the twilight of their careers, and perhaps for the same reason he never left the Celtics since his arrival after a stint with the Washington Capitals.RED'S GREATNESSBailey Howell anecdote on Red Auerbach. "One night, during a severe snow storm in Boston, (player-coach Bill) Russell was unable to make it to the stadium. Then, Red became the substitute coach for the night. "A few minutes into the game, I failed a couple of consecutive shots that I would normally score. My head was playing games with me. "Red asked for a timeout and said, 'Howell, forget those missed shots. I am the one who has to worry about your shots. You need to remember that if you have shots like those from here on and you don't take them, then you'll be sitting in the bench next to me.' "I went out and started asking for the ball, I thought I was hot and that's how the ball started to go in. He was a true master in the art of driving people, a master of sports psychology."--Ken Shouler, ESPN.com. On the other side, Jackson has always been, in his own way, a psychological trainer. Known as the "Zen master" for his ability to get into the minds of his players. His influence of oriental philosophy comes from his devotion to the book titled "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," by Robert Pirsig. Jackson has also managed to apply to his players spiritual techniques of Native American tribes, as indicated in his book "Sacred Hoops." Jackson had his share of controversial motivational sessions though. One extreme session took place in the 2000 playoffs against the Sacramento Kings, when he compared, through the use of pictures in the dressing room, a tattooed Edward Norton from the film "American History X," with Jason Williams and coach Rick Adelman with Adolph Hitler. Adelman said Jackson had "crossed the line" with those references, but nevertheless, the Lakers made it to the Finals and won the championship that season. Determination, focus and confidence were the qualities that took Jackson to the top as a coach. He never told his players exactly what to do, instead, he gave them the chance to learn and solve issues on their own. Although his behavior has been catalogued by many as "eccentric" -- that is, due to several questionable attitudes -- he has not been known as an end of the road coach. 2. Strategy: Auerbach, between the 1950s and 1960s, revolutionized several aspects of basketball. His first contribution was to apply a system of team play that many coaches copied in the following years through the concept of the sixth man. He wanted to employ a key replacement player for those occasions in which his rivals were wearing out. Offensively, he established the fast break and counter attacking techniques for those occasions in which the balance of the rival was not adequate. On defense he developed what we know today as the 'face to face' in man-to-man guarding tactics. On the sidelines he was quite a character. He would continuously wave his arms, jump up and down and pull his hair. And that's how he endured more fines than any other coach in the league's history. He was a radical innovator. His recipe for the game was improved as the years rolled by with an optimum physical conditioning job, a work ethic that had only progress in mind, a winning mentality and a rigid discipline. Perhaps one of the most revolutionary aspects of his game might have been the pressure he applied on his rival, rotating 10 to 12 men every game in order to wear his opponents out. He took this concept from the team work that Old Red always preached under the roof of the mythical Boston Garden.Instead of building the team around an outstanding player, Auerbach focused on putting together a team that worked as a whole unit, with the idea that a single sporadic absence would not break the nucleus. It was clear that Bill Russell was the main component of his teams (in which he won 11 out of 13 championships he started, a record that no one has been able to match), but he also counted on stars such as point guard Bob Cousy, shooting guards Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn, Sam Jones and defensive specialist K.C. Jones, among others. In all, he coached a total of 11 Hall of Famers. Auerbach was the model and guidance for the young coaches making their way up in the NBA. Jackson took many of his concepts and used them in his own teams. But Jackson always had star-studded teams. In Chicago he had Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, in Los Angeles he first coached Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, followed currently by Kobe and Pau Gasol. Perhaps the greatest virtue that the Zen master has is his ability to turn superstars into team players. And although many people have labeled him as an opportunist who arrives to franchises that are already filled with great players, truth is that both the Bulls and the Lakers, in their pre-Jackson eras, were not fine-tuned into championship-caliber teams. His job, therefore, consisted in putting together teams that could revolve around only one or two fundamental players. Tex Winter, an assistant with the Bulls and one of the designers of Chicago's triangle offense, a move created by Sam Barry in the University of Southern California, had a lot to do with Jackson's success as a coach. Jackson always had stars, but he always knew how to maximize the potential of everyone of his players. This is a quality Jackson and Auerbach had in common. Jackson emphasized the defensive work of Pippen and Jordan, and offensively, his triangle offense consisted in the constant movement of his players in order to generate a wide variety of passes and shots. Of course, as in every radical change, this took a while to become noticeable. However, once Jackson's style was fully developed, the Bulls became an indestructible force. With the Lakers, it all came down to organizing players and focusing on the team's defense. It was a very talented group, but also very disorganized. The arrival of a man with a talent like Jackson's brought along the success that had been denied to the franchise for quite a long time. 3. Achievements and ResultsAuerbach won nine titles as the coach with the Celtics between the 1950s and 1960s -- including eight straight from1959 to 1966 -- and put together the Celtics that went on to win seven more championships between 1970 and 1980. Before arriving to the Celtics, in his debut season in the NBA, he led the Washington Capitols to a 49-11 record in 1946-47, taking the franchise to the semifinals. He won 938 games to become the winningest coach in NBA history until Lenny Wilkens beat him in 1994-95. His regular-season record was 938-479, and in the playoffs he was 99-69. He reached victory number 1,000 in the NBA with the Celtics on Jan. 12, 1966 against the Los Angeles Lakers.The veteran coach was named Coach of the Year in 1964-65 and he made it into the Hall of Fame in 1968. To honor him, the Celtics retired his jersey with the No. 2 on its back prior to the 1984-85 season. Among other things, Auerbach recruited players such as Kevin McHale and Robert Parish and Russell to the Celtics, as well as legendary Larry Bird, whom he drafted a year ahead of time in order to make sure he would wear the Boston jersey. He had a fundamental social influence in American sports too and was an innovator in many senses. He became the first coach to draft an African-American player and the first one in NBA history to have five African-American players starting a game in the same team. Phil Jackson, on his end, has nine titles as a coach, six with the Bulls and three with the Lakers, with the chance of adding a fourth crown this season with L.A., which would make him the winningest coach in the history of the League with 10 NBA championships. He coached the Chicago Bulls between 1989 and 1998, and conquered six trophies during two separate consecutive streaks (1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93, and then 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98). Later, with the Lakers, he also won three straight titles (1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02).Jackson, Coach of the Year after the 1995-96 season, leads the NBA in playoff winning percentage. Among his merits there's the ability to coach stars such as Jordan, Bryant and O'Neal, among others. He has a 976-418 regular-season record, with a 70 percent winning percentage. In the playoffs, he is 191-80 for a 70.5 percent winning percentage. In 2007, Jackson was enshrined into the Hall of Fame.Final Thought It is impossible to determine who is the greatest coach in the history of the NBA, which is therefore not the purpose of this analysis. These two coaches had many things in common: team work, psychology as the motor of a collective action and of course, the amount of titles that each carries on their shoulders. Red Auerbach died in 2006 at 89 years old and left a legacy that remains with the Celtics. Meanwhile, Phil Jackson is currently coaching the Lakers and has a good chance to reach his 10th title as a coach. The history of the NBA has enough space for these two masters, two coaches who wrote their own story with their talent, sacrifice and hunger for victory. Bruno Altieri writes for ESPNdeportes.com.Deprived youngsters in the poorest communities could be driven to a life of crime as a result of savage ConDem cuts, a Mirror investigation reveals today.Fears of a “lost generation” are growing as children’s services are slashed and council cuts hit those in ? youngsters, single parents, the ?unemployed and the disabled.Research suggests the Coalition is targeting local authorities in Labour’s urban heartlands more than in the Southern shires ? happier hunting grounds for the Tories and Lib Dems.Devastating cuts in children services like Sure Start, the axing of libraries, sports and arts centres could lead to widespread job losses and create misery for the poorest communities in Britain, according to charity groups.They believe it will send some areas into a downward spiral ? with many of the hardest hit local authorities in the North.Sally Young, of Newcastle Council for Voluntary Service, warned: “It takes generations to break the chain of youngsters not going to school, not getting a job, not becoming dependent on benefits.“If they are unable to get an education or training they are going to drift into crime ? at the same time we are seeing huge cuts in the police.”Newcastle has a three-year cuts package designed to save ?90million and involves civic chiefs closing the City Pool.It is home to thriving teams of swimmers like Catherine Craig and her daughter Emma, aged 7. Like many people up and down the country, they were inspired by this summer’s Olympic Games.But any dreams of becoming medal winners like Rebecca Adlington and Tom Daley have now been shut down.Catherine said: “It just seems like there’s a massive cut all at the same time.”Drowning: The city pool in Newcastle?The pool’s neighbouring landmark City Hall is also set to close ? a renowned venue which has played host to musical legends Elton John, Sting and Paul McCartney.Katie Schmuecker, Associate Director at the Institute for Public Policy Research North, said Newcastle suffered council cuts of around ?150 per head, compared to ?5 per head in leafy Berkshire.She added: “There are real issues about these cuts and how the poorest areas have been hit the hardest.”And in an ominous warning, a social worker on Tyneside, who did not wish to be named, claimed that the cutbacks could lead to a repeat of the riots seen in the Thatcher era. He said: “They are taking away vital services from people who are desperate.High and dry: Catherine Craig and daugher Emma“The cuts to Sure Start services mean that single parents will not be able to get any help with their children. The loss of leisure services and pools will see ?teenagers without anything to do. Benefit cuts will push them on to the streets.“They are reducing support for people in council houses who have spare bedrooms, but there is no one-room council housing for them to move into.“It is penalising the poorest ? I can see a ?situation where there will be rioting again in the hardest hit places.”It’s a similar story in other poor areas of Britain. North London’s Haringey council, which is the 11th most deprived local authority in the country, has seen budgets cut by ?170 a head.Children’s services in Birmingham will also be slashed as the city council, the largest in England, faces cuts of ?110million.Home-to-school transport, children’s centres and youth services will be affected as ?23million is slashed from the Children, Young People and Families budget.Impending cuts of ?50million at Glasgow City Council have caused fears that frontline services like education, social work and roads will be targeted with thousands of jobs set to go.In Darlington, the Arts Centre is being shut down, while Middlesbrough is facing a catastrophic 111 separate cuts to services.Closing: The Darlington Arts Centre?The town’s Clairville sports stadium has already closed ? ending any prospects for local youngsters wanting to follow in the footsteps of Team GB’s athletics stars.Joblessness is also on the rise. Only one in 10 sacked disabled workers in the North-East and North Yorkshire are in new jobs.Just 18 of the 168 staff put on the dole when Remploy factories were axed have found work. And just three of the 41 former workers at the Remploy factory in Spennymoor, Co Durham, have been helped into employment.Ken Stubbs, who worked at the ?Spennymoor site, said: “These are people who are independent and want to work. Many of them are doing training courses, but the pay is very little and they are not getting the jobs at the end of it.“It is very hard to find work and so they have to claim benefits.”Sally Young believes loss of funding and access to vital leisure services will hamper children in their early years.She said: “You are going to create misery for a lot of people. It will affect businesses, shops and jobs and it will spiral downwards.“Cuts in the North, and particularly in areas like Newcastle, see people being almost discriminated against.“We have seen youngsters not being sent out with proper lunches and charities having to buy kids meals.“When incomes are under strain then family relationships are under strain.”A Local Government department spokesman claimed council funding was distributed in a “fair and sustainable” way designed to give more to areas of need.He added: “This year’s formula grant was on average ?300 per head more in the North East than the South East with Newcastle receiving ?653 per head, compared for example to ?150 per head in Windsor and Maidenhead.”Family members in South Florida are possibly behind a dangerous new trend in the Caribbean: the smuggling of undocumented Haitian immigrants from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, a senior Coast Guard official said Wednesday. “The new thing that’s happening is in the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico and it’s being fueled, we think, by money from relatives probably, almost assuredly up here in South Florida,” said Rear Adm. William D. Baumgartner, commander of the Seventh U.S. Coast Guard District in Miami. “In February they started smuggling Haitians and the [migrant smugglers] are charging $1,500 to $2,000 a person, again probably being paid for by relatives up here.” The trend was first mentioned by Coast Guard officials earlier this year, but Baumgartner’s statements Wednesday were the first to directly link the smuggling to possible payments to Dominican migrant smugglers by Haitian family members in South Florida. Baumgartner spoke during an hour-long presentation at The Miami Herald editorial board. He also spoke about Cuban migrants, noting the Coast Guard has seen no evidence of an exodus by sea, and about his imminent retirement after 33 years in the service. His first Coast Guard patrol was in the Florida Straits as an ensign on the cutter Dependable in 1980 when he was 21. Baumgartner, now 54, retires next Wednesday. Baumgartner’s goal was to publicize the dangers of the new Haitian migrant route and by doing so trying to deter family members here to stop paying smugglers to get their loved ones to the United States. “The [migrants] are going in homemade open boats that can have anywhere from 30 to 100 migrants stuffed in them and they’re highly unstable and they capsize easily,” he said. “We are worried that it’s only a matter of time before we lose dozens of lives. The seas are fairly rough in the Mona Passage. When these boats slow down to approach the shoreline they tend to lose control.” Baumgartner said Coast Guard officials have seen between 900 and 1,000 Haitian migrants attempting to cross the Mona Passage since Feb. 1. That’s a dramatic increase in such crossings; in the prior eight years, the Coast Guard detected only 188 Haitians in the passage. Baumgartner said smugglers involved in the criminal enterprise are ruthless. “They have no concern about the people that they’re smuggling,” said Baumgartner. “And we’ve already see them force people into the water and tell them to swim to shore and many of them don’t swim. If they think they’re going to get caught they’ll throw migrants into the water.” Haitians began using the Mona Passage route after they realized that getting to South Florida on a boat from Haiti is now extremely difficult because of improved Coast Guard patrolling. Reinforced patrolling also has cut down on the number of undocumented Cuban migrants trying to reach South Florida directly from Cuba via the Florida Straits, he said. Coast Guard figures show 705 Cuban migrants interdicted in the Florida Straits since Oct. 1, compared to 937 for the same period last year. The bulk of undocumented Cuban migrants is coming across the Mexican border.Family members in South Florida are possibly behind a dangerous new trend in the Caribbean: the smuggling of undocumented Haitian immigrants from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, a senior Coast Guard official said Wednesday. “The new thing that’s happening is in the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico and it’s being fueled, we think, by money from relatives probably, almost assuredly up here in South Florida,” said Rear Adm. William D. Baumgartner, commander of the Seventh U.S. Coast Guard District in Miami. “In February they started smuggling Haitians and the [migrant smugglers] are charging $1,500 to $2,000 a person, again probably being paid for by relatives up here.” The trend was first mentioned by Coast Guard officials earlier this year, but Baumgartner’s statements Wednesday were the first to directly link the smuggling to possible payments to Dominican migrant smugglers by Haitian family members in South Florida. Baumgartner spoke during an hour-long presentation at The Miami Herald editorial board. He also spoke about Cuban migrants, noting the Coast Guard has seen no evidence of an exodus by sea, and about his imminent retirement after 33 years in the service. His first Coast Guard patrol was in the Florida Straits as an ensign on the cutter Dependable in 1980 when he was 21. Baumgartner, now 54, retires next Wednesday. Baumgartner’s goal was to publicize the dangers of the new Haitian migrant route and by doing so trying to deter family members here to stop paying smugglers to get their loved ones to the United States. “The [migrants] are going in homemade open boats that can have anywhere from 30 to 100 migrants stuffed in them and they’re highly unstable and they capsize easily,” he said. “We are worried that it’s only a matter of time before we lose dozens of lives. The seas are fairly rough in the Mona Passage. When these boats slow down to approach the shoreline they tend to lose control.” Baumgartner said Coast Guard officials have seen between 900 and 1,000 Haitian migrants attempting to cross the Mona Passage since Feb. 1. That’s a dramatic increase in such crossings; in the prior eight years, the Coast Guard detected only 188 Haitians in the passage. Baumgartner said smugglers involved in the criminal enterprise are ruthless. “They have no concern about the people that they’re smuggling,” said Baumgartner. “And we’ve already see them force people into the water and tell them to swim to shore and many of them don’t swim. If they think they’re going to get caught they’ll throw migrants into the water.” Haitians began using the Mona Passage route after they realized that getting to South Florida on a boat from Haiti is now extremely difficult because of improved Coast Guard patrolling. Reinforced patrolling also has cut down on the number of undocumented Cuban migrants trying to reach South Florida directly from Cuba via the Florida Straits, he said. Coast Guard figures show 705 Cuban migrants interdicted in the Florida Straits since Oct. 1, compared to 937 for the same period last year. The bulk of undocumented Cuban migrants is coming across the Mexican border.Tony Stewart coasted for at least 250 miles at Daytona International Speedway, where he hardly worked up a sweat until the final hour of the race.It's a game he hates to play, dropping to the back of the pack at restrictor-plate races to casually circle the track lap after lap. The strategy of waiting until the end of the race to make a frantic, final push goes against his fundamentals of racing.But he couldn't deny the results Saturday night when he found himself in position to challenge Jimmie Johnson for the win. Although he ultimately settled for second, the finish pushed him a whopping six places to 10th in points in the Sprint Cup standings."This is a 195 mph chess match, and the lap that pays is lap 160," Stewart said. "A lot is said about guys that lag back like that, but we're in the most competitive series in the country, and when you're running in the most competitive series in the country you have to do what you think is in the best interest of you, your car, your team and your situation to get to the end."Part of winning races is knowing to be where at what times. I know some people don't like that and some people don't agree with it, but that's what I think is the best thing to do in the interest of our race team and to ensure at the end of the day when it's time to go we have a car that's capable of doing so."Stewart has used that strategy for years at Daytona and Talladega, the two tracks that NASCAR requires the use of horsepower-sapping restrictor plates. The plates control speeds and keep the cars bunched, raising the likelihood of a multicar crash when a driver makes a mistake.Now more and more drivers are simply riding around for the three quarters, choosing to wait until the end to turn it up a notch.It was frustrating to fourth-place finisher Clint Bowyer, who had voiced his boredom with Daytona several times over the weekend."I made a rule with myself at these restrictor-plate tracks to be easy. You know, ride around," Bowyer said. "It's boring. You want to be up there racing for every lap led. If you get wiped out it doesn't matter who caused it or whose fault it was. If you get wiped out before halfway in one of these restrictor-plate races it's your own fault. You knew better than to put yourself in that situation."The final results Saturday showed that riding in the back is the best strategy for making it to the finish line.Johnson, who had the dominant car, led a race-high 94 laps and felt confident his speed was enough to keep him out front and ahead of trouble. But Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Bowyer and Michael Waltrip all made it inside the top-five but laying back for at least half the race. David Ragan did the same thing to win at Talladega in May.But Stewart is correct in sensing that many fans don't like watching drivers take it easy. They gripe and grumble that there's no point in watching a plate race until the very end because that's when it gets exciting.So what does NASCAR do about this predicament? Series officials can't force drivers to race hard, and there doesn't seem to be any real consequence to laying back. Several years ago when Denny Hamlin was in the thick of the championship race, he lost a tandem partner while racing at the back and fell out of the draft. In danger of going a lap down and ruining his title chances, fellow Toyota driver Waltrip got out of the gas and slid back to rescue Hamlin.And NASCAR can't take the plates off unless it figures a way to slow the cars, which nobody has been able to do at the two biggest and fastest tracks in the series.But as Bowyer grumbled about how much idle time he spent at Daytona, where drivers run just a few laps of practice to tune their cars, then turn one lap on qualifying day, then sit and wait for the race to take it easy until the end, it became apparent the whole system is broken.NASCAR will never cut races from 500 or 400 miles to a 25-lap shootout, but that's basically what they've become. Everybody sat around and waited three days to watch the final 25 laps of Saturday night's race.At minimum, NASCAR should cut the plate events, excluding the Daytona 500, down to two-day shows for the Sprint Cup Series. No team is using all its practice time, making it pointless for everyone to be at the track all those hours.As for the race itself? Who knows? There's no incentive to race early, and there's not much NASCAR can do to change that. For now, we know what we're going to watch four times a year. We'll sit and watch for some wrecks, then wait for it to get crazy at the end.As he left the track with a second-place points on the same night teammates Danica Patrick and Ryan Newman both wrecked, Stewart accepted plate racing for what he's stuck with right now."With these things being as crazy as they are, if you can end up with a top-two, you're pretty happy when you leave here," he said. "One out of three isn't bad in the organization. The other two got wadded up pretty good."(Eds: With AP Photos.)By JENNA FRYERAP Auto Racing WriterCHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Tony Stewart coasted for at least 250 miles at Daytona International Speedway, where he hardly worked up a sweat until the final hour of the race.It's a game he hates to play, dropping to the back of the pack at restrictor-plate races to casually circle the track lap after lap. The strategy of waiting until the end of the race to make a frantic, final push goes against his fundamentals of racing.But he couldn't deny the results Saturday night when he found himself in position to challenge Jimmie Johnson for the win. Although he ultimately settled for second, the finish pushed him a whopping six places to 10th in points in the Sprint Cup standings."This is a 195 mph chess match, and the lap that pays is lap 160," Stewart said. "A lot is said about guys that lag back like that, but we're in the most competitive series in the country, and when you're running in the most competitive series in the country you have to do what you think is in the best interest of you, your car, your team and your situation to get to the end."Part of winning races is knowing to be where at what times. I know some people don't like that and some people don't agree with it, but that's what I think is the best thing to do in the interest of our race team and to ensure at the end of the day when it's time to go we have a car that's capable of doing so."Stewart has used that strategy for years at Daytona and Talladega, the two tracks that NASCAR requires the use of horsepower-sapping restrictor plates. The plates control speeds and keep the cars bunched, raising the likelihood of a multicar crash when a driver makes a mistake.Now more and more drivers are simply riding around for the three quarters, choosing to wait until the end to turn it up a notch.It was frustrating to fourth-place finisher Clint Bowyer, who had voiced his boredom with Daytona several times over the weekend."I made a rule with myself at these restrictor-plate tracks to be easy. You know, ride around," Bowyer said. "It's boring. You want to be up there racing for every lap led. If you get wiped out it doesn't matter who caused it or whose fault it was. If you get wiped out before halfway in one of these restrictor-plate races it's your own fault. You knew better than to put yourself in that situation."The final results Saturday showed that riding in the back is the best strategy for making it to the finish line.Johnson, who had the dominant car, led a race-high 94 laps and felt confident his speed was enough to keep him out front and ahead of trouble. But Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Bowyer and Michael Waltrip all made it inside the top-five but laying back for at least half the race. David Ragan did the same thing to win at Talladega in May.But Stewart is correct in sensing that many fans don't like watching drivers take it easy. They gripe and grumble that there's no point in watching a plate race until the very end because that's when it gets exciting.So what does NASCAR do about this predicament? Series officials can't force drivers to race hard, and there doesn't seem to be any real consequence to laying back. Several years ago when Denny Hamlin was in the thick of the championship race, he lost a tandem partner while racing at the back and fell out of the draft. In danger of going a lap down and ruining his title chances, fellow Toyota driver Waltrip got out of the gas and slid back to rescue Hamlin.And NASCAR can't take the plates off unless it figures a way to slow the cars, which nobody has been able to do at the two biggest and fastest tracks in the series.But as Bowyer grumbled about how much idle time he spent at Daytona, where drivers run just a few laps of practice to tune their cars, then turn one lap on qualifying day, then sit and wait for the race to take it easy until the end, it became apparent the whole system is broken.NASCAR will never cut races from 500 or 400 miles to a 25-lap shootout, but that's basically what they've become. Everybody sat around and waited three days to watch the final 25 laps of Saturday night's race.At minimum, NASCAR should cut the plate events, excluding the Daytona 500, down to two-day shows for the Sprint Cup Series. No team is using all its practice time, making it pointless for everyone to be at the track all those hours.As for the race itself? Who knows? There's no incentive to race early, and there's not much NASCAR can do to change that. For now, we know what we're going to watch four times a year. We'll sit and watch for some wrecks, then wait for it to get crazy at the end.As he left the track with a second-place points on the same night teammates Danica Patrick and Ryan Newman both wrecked, Stewart accepted plate racing for what he's stuck with right now."With these things being as crazy as they are, if you can end up with a top-two, you're pretty happy when you leave here," he said. "One out of three isn't bad in the organization. The other two got wadded up pretty good."Copyright 2013 by The Associated PressThis story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire.Ken Vander Wal, CISA, CPA is International President of . is the well known framework formerly known as Control OBjectives for Information and related Technology. Mr. Vander Wal contributed the following announcement and I hope that readers will participate in improving COBIT. Everything that follows is Mr. Vander Wal's work with minor edits.* * *Information is the currency of the 21st-century business enterprise. Organizations depend on their information for their survival and must constantly maximize the return on their investments in information and the technology that supports it.According to the 2011 , business leaders reported facing the following IT-related issues in the past year:? Increasing IT costs ? 42%? Insufficient IT skills ? 33%? Problems implementing new IT systems ? 30%? Problems with external IT service providers ? 29%? Serious operational IT incidents ? 21%? Return on investment not as expected ? 19%? IT security or privacy incidents ? 18%To help enterprises worldwide address these concerns and better manage and govern their information, an international team of volunteer subject-matter experts from the global association ISACA is developing COBIT 5. A comprehensive and flexible framework of good practices, tools and process models for managing and governing information and technology, COBIT 5 is now in and will be published in early 2012.One of the much-anticipated features of COBIT 5 is its increased focus on integrating business and IT. This orientation will improve communication, clarify roles and responsibilities, and reduce information- and technology-related incidents that harm the enterprise."COBIT helps ensure governance and management of information and technology across the complete enterprise, provides a common language that unites the business and IT, and addresses the critical business issues related to information and technology," said John Lainhart, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CRISC, Partner with IBM Global Business Services, who implemented COBIT at the U.S. House of Representatives as inspector general. "This helps enterprises identify their strengths and weaknesses and maximize their control over their information assets."Lainhart, who is co-chair of the COBIT 5 development team, notes that the new edition is a major evolution of COBIT 4.1. Changes include elements from ISACA's? ? ? Business Model for Information Security ()? IT Assurance Framework ()? guidance and? Board Briefing on .The new version increases its focus on various stakeholders involved and shifts from control objectives to management processes."COBIT 5 is based on sound enterprise governance principles and will help organizations manage constantly evolving operational risks and stay on top of increasing regulatory compliance requirements," Lainhart said. "It builds and expands on COBIT's 15-year history and is being developed by senior IT and business leaders around the world to ensure that it meets stakeholders' current needs and expectations." , PhD, CISSP-ISSMP, specializes in security and operations management consulting services and teaching. He is Chief Technical Officer of . and Professor of Information Assurance & Statistics in the at . Visit his for white papers and course materials.The federal stimulus package will pay 65 percent of the cost of COBRA health insurance for those being laid off, but it's unclear how big a difference that will make to people in South Florida who've lost their jobs.Consider Laurita Robinson, a Pembroke Park accounts payable manager who was recently laid off when her company moved its billing operations to New York. She had a family policy, covering her husband and daughter. Under COBRA, such policies usually run $1,000 or more a month.Even with the government picking up 65 percent of that, "that still leaves me about $350 or so, and that's pretty expensive when you consider unemployment [insurance] isn't that much, " Robinson said. COBRA has always been that kind of conundrum. The law requires that large companies be required to offer departing workers health insurance for 18 months -- on condition that they pay the full premium. The insurance can be pricey, the law complicated -- a godsend to those with difficult medical situations and a puzzle to many others.Robinson hadn't seen her COBRA package yet when she talked to The Miami Herald, and she was unclear on details. She thought she was told that she had to continue with the family coverage she had, rather than just covering herself, but she wasn't sure.In fact, most COBRA materials from the government say employees can choose how many family members to continue to cover, but it's up to the employer whether she could switch from, say, a regular HMO to a high-deductible plan.That's just one of the complexities of this special type of insurance. Even the name is a bit mystifying. COBRA stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985, which includes a provision about health insurance. The provision was well meaning -- but expensive.A recent study by the consumer group Families USA found that the average monthly family COBRA premium in Florida was $1,037 for a family, which is more than the average monthly unemployment benefit of $1,013. The average individual policy is $371 -- more than a third of an unemployment check.The result: Only 9 percent of eligible persons opt for COBRA, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund.BILL PASSEDThe Obama administration, which is aggressively trying to reduce the number of uninsured Americans, has pushed through a bill to help those involuntarily terminated from Sept. 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2009.Even persons who originally rejected COBRA, or stopped making payments, can qualify for the 65 percent subsidy for up to nine months.Alex Pisani of AlphaStaff, a Fort Lauderdale firm that provides human resource services for companies, says the government won't directly pay the 65 percent subsidy but instead will allow payroll tax credits to employers, COBRA administrators or insurers.Sandra Foertsch, of South Florida Health Insurance, says COBRA is not right for everyone. Younger, healthier persons might find it cheaper to buy an individual policy. Older patients with ongoing health problems are best sticking to COBRA.Kris Kraves, a spokeswoman for eHealthInsurance.com, points out that COBRA does not have to be an either-or situation. Some could decide it makes more sense to keep COBRA for themselves, if they have health problems, but put their healthy children on individual policies rather than pay family COBRA.After 18 months on COBRA, insurers must offer most Floridians conversion policies, which by state law can charge them up to twice as much as a standard policy. This does not apply to persons who worked for self-insured companies, but Foertsch says in those cases she has found they can get coverage under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.'BIG MISTAKE'Experts warn that people should avoid a gap in coverage. "The big mistake people make is that they say, 'Well, I'm pretty healthy right now. If I get sick, then I'll get a policy, Craig Thomas of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida told The Miami Herald last year. "But that's exactly the wrong thing to do."Once serious illness strikes, it will often be impossible to buy an individual policy because of preexisting conditions.All these alternatives are available to those who had coverage while they were working -- and many in South Florida did not. Almost one-third of people under 65 in Miami-Dade and one-fourth in Broward are uninsured, according to Census data.NO INTERESTThat's why Olga Hedaldo of West Dade didn't show much interest in COBRA last week when a Miami Herald reporter saw her at a Sweetwater unemployment center.She had worked six years as a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home. She clutched her state license in her hand to show her qualifications, but she had no interest in COBRA because the nursing home didn't offer health coverage."No, no, no, no, " she said, sighing.For more informationGo to www.dol.gov/COBRA -- facts in English and SpanishFor more information on alternatives to COBRA, go to MiamiHerald.com to read "Should you cuddle up with COBRA?"Tucked away on busy Main Highway is Zen Village, a center for spiritual education. The peaceful building offers refuge from the everyday stresses for its members with meditation, yoga and weekly tea ceremonies. But Zen Village may be forced to close next month after losing the $1 per year lease for the building it has been renting since 2005. The building, which was owned by a student of the organization, is in foreclosure and set to go up for auction Aug. 14. The group will be holding a silent auction Sunday to raise money to try to buy the building. Master Chufei Tsai, who founded the organization, believes that housing the organization in a central location is important for the community. “We think it has served a great purpose,” Tsai said. “We have helped thousands of people.”Susana Adrianzen, a student of Tsai’s, said Zen Village is important in “helping to build our community into a healthier community.” Adrianzen said she found peace through Tsai’s teachings and the Zen House, and thinks that preserving the well-known center is critical to helping the community. “It’s not just about a quick fix,” she said. The auction will be held following prayers at 1:30 p.m. and will go until 5. Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased online at or at the door. Donated items include jewelry, perfume and various antiques. The organization is also collecting donations, both online and in person. Tsai is happy to meet for tea with anyone who might be interested in donating. Although the asking price for the building is nearly $1.1 million, the group hopes to generate enough support to make a reasonable offer. Tsai opened Zen Village in 2005, but her nonprofits Zab Sang Institute and Heart for Humanity were founded in 2000, shortly after she moved to Miami from Taiwan. Tsai has worked to educate the community since she arrived, and has twice hosted His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his visits to Miami in 2004 and 2010. Though Zen Village students come from around the world to learn under Tsai, she is committed to helping the local community. She has partnered with programs for children, the elderly and people with disabilities to provide a support system and help improve quality of life through activities such as meditation. She wants to expand her programs and train more people to teach. “It’s so needed everywhere,” Tsai said. Tsai has had a long partnership with the Barnyard, an organization that supports low- income children in the West Grove. Barnyard Director Sylvia Jordan said Zen Village has consistently made a lasting impact on children in her program. One of the highlights was Tsai’s meditation program. “She has taken some of the most rambunctious and ill-mannered children…they walk into the room and chill out,” Jordan said. Tsai frequently invites Barnyard kids to special events, such as a recent visit by Buddhist monks who made a mandala, an intricate circular design made from sand. “It is important to have the representation of another culture, of another way of life in this time where our world is in such turmoil and our world is so quick about everything,” Jordan said. Tsai has invited the children to programs that featured Tibetan, African and Brazilian cultures, among others. “It is an exposure and it’s a place that is sometimes so un-Miami,” Jordan said. “I think it’s really important.” Tsai also works one-on-one with people who need help, both physically and mentally. U.S. District Court Judge Alan Gold came to Tsai when his daughter was about to begin chemotherapy; Tsai helped her with breathing exercises. “She did a fabulous job in a very stressful time,” Gold said. “She is an extraordinary, special and gifted person and spiritual leader.”Gold remained involved with Zen Village and believes that Tsai’s presence makes the center worthwhile.“It would be a tremendous loss for the entire community to lose the Zen center as a facility,” he said. “It offers a place of refuge to many people who have difficulties in their lives and she embraces them all…she is just open to help and to serve.”The group is exploring all options, but Tsai plans to continue her mission even if the group is unable to keep the house. Tsai said this setback is also a chance to make the organization better known in Miami. “This could be our opportunity to see if we have likeminded people out there who can help us build the community,” she said. “We should all work together.”Tucked away on busy Main Highway is Zen Village, a center for spiritual education. The peaceful building offers refuge from the everyday stresses for its members with meditation, yoga and weekly tea ceremonies. But Zen Village may be forced to close next month after losing the $1 per year lease for the building it has been renting since 2005. The building, which was owned by a student of the organization, is in foreclosure and set to go up for auction Aug. 14. The group will be holding a silent auction Sunday to raise money to try to buy the building. Master Chufei Tsai, who founded the organization, believes that housing the organization in a central location is important for the community. “We think it has served a great purpose,” Tsai said. “We have helped thousands of people.”Susana Adrianzen, a student of Tsai’s, said Zen Village is important in “helping to build our community into a healthier community.” Adrianzen said she found peace through Tsai’s teachings and the Zen House, and thinks that preserving the well-known center is critical to helping the community. “It’s not just about a quick fix,” she said. The auction will be held following prayers at 1:30 p.m. and will go until 5. Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased online at or at the door. Donated items include jewelry, perfume and various antiques. The organization is also collecting donations, both online and in person. Tsai is happy to meet for tea with anyone who might be interested in donating. Although the asking price for the building is nearly $1.1 million, the group hopes to generate enough support to make a reasonable offer. Tsai opened Zen Village in 2005, but her nonprofits Zab Sang Institute and Heart for Humanity were founded in 2000, shortly after she moved to Miami from Taiwan. Tsai has worked to educate the community since she arrived, and has twice hosted His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his visits to Miami in 2004 and 2010. Though Zen Village students come from around the world to learn under Tsai, she is committed to helping the local community. She has partnered with programs for children, the elderly and people with disabilities to provide a support system and help improve quality of life through activities such as meditation. She wants to expand her programs and train more people to teach. “It’s so needed everywhere,” Tsai said. Tsai has had a long partnership with the Barnyard, an organization that supports low- income children in the West Grove. Barnyard Director Sylvia Jordan said Zen Village has consistently made a lasting impact on children in her program. One of the highlights was Tsai’s meditation program. “She has taken some of the most rambunctious and ill-mannered children…they walk into the room and chill out,” Jordan said. Tsai frequently invites Barnyard kids to special events, such as a recent visit by Buddhist monks who made a mandala, an intricate circular design made from sand. “It is important to have the representation of another culture, of another way of life in this time where our world is in such turmoil and our world is so quick about everything,” Jordan said. Tsai has invited the children to programs that featured Tibetan, African and Brazilian cultures, among others. “It is an exposure and it’s a place that is sometimes so un-Miami,” Jordan said. “I think it’s really important.” Tsai also works one-on-one with people who need help, both physically and mentally. U.S. District Court Judge Alan Gold came to Tsai when his daughter was about to begin chemotherapy; Tsai helped her with breathing exercises. “She did a fabulous job in a very stressful time,” Gold said. “She is an extraordinary, special and gifted person and spiritual leader.”Gold remained involved with Zen Village and believes that Tsai’s presence makes the center worthwhile.“It would be a tremendous loss for the entire community to lose the Zen center as a facility,” he said. “It offers a place of refuge to many people who have difficulties in their lives and she embraces them all…she is just open to help and to serve.”The group is exploring all options, but Tsai plans to continue her mission even if the group is unable to keep the house. Tsai said this setback is also a chance to make the organization better known in Miami. “This could be our opportunity to see if we have likeminded people out there who can help us build the community,” she said. “We should all work together.”What open source projects are you using? How are they licensed? Which internal applications use the most open source? Which use the least? Which have security vulnerabilities you need to address?Software development organizations need to ask?and answer?these questions on a regular basis, not just to ensure compliance with open source licenses, but also to understand their open source usage profile.Why is it important to understand your open source usage profile?Modern software development teams do more, faster, and with fewer resources, by leveraging open source components. Gone are the days when developers wrote their own String and HashTable classes, but with this new power comes a new responsibility. Teams are now responsible for tracking and managing their use of open source to avoid technical and legal incompatibilities, security issues, and maintenance nightmares.While other articles address legal and licensing issues, this post focuses on the technical aspects of your open source usage profile.Open Source Usage ProfileAn open source usage profile is based on the open source languages, tools, and components used in application development initiatives and how those components are used. This profile is key in understanding where to invest (e.g., training, education, support, governance), investigate (e.g., analyze, automate, mitigate issues), and prepare (e.g., plan upgrades, find alternatives, replace components). To create your open source usage profile, either survey developers (fraught with peril) and track results in Microsoft Excel, or use an automated scanning toolsuch as. Whichever path you choose, be sure to update your profile at least once per year, because projects and licenses change rapidly in the world of open source.Use your up-to-date profile to mitigate technical incompatibilities, security issues, and maintenance problems.Technical IncompatibilitiesSince open source projects are the biggest users of open source code, it is highly likely that favorite projects depend on other open source components, and so on. This dependency tree can quickly become wide and deep with different versions of the same package (such as a popular logging tool for Java) in the same tree. It is important to keep up-to-date with new releases, bug fixes, security patches, and compatibility improvements to avoid ongoing incompatibilities that lead to long development cycles, hard-to-squash bugs, and single component upgrades that demand upgrading everything else at the same time.Staying up-to-date with new releases and bug fixes is relatively easy for a single project, but is more difficult when using hundreds of open source components (a common scenario in today's enterprise development environment). Options include subscribing to open source community mailing lists, visiting new release web pages (if available), and reading forums. A simpler, singular approach is to use OpenLogic's OpenUpdate service that sends customers aggregated open source news items, including information on new releases, security issues, and critical bug patches for popular enterprise-ready projects.Security IssuesSecurity vulnerabilities are always a hot topic because they often require immediate action to avoid a public incident. It is important to know when an open source component you depend on has a vulnerability, and how to address it. Keeping current on vulnerabilities can be as involved as visiting the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures site, the National Vulnerability Database site, and the Open Source Vulnerability Database, or as easy as using OpenLogic's OSS Deep Discovery to scan your applications, and point out open source components with security vulnerabilities.Maintenance IssuesOne of the many positive aspects of open source is its abundance of choice. You can choose from a variety of operating systems, languages, data stores, application servers, tools, and utilities of every stripe. You can choose a simple or a complex solution. You can favor performance over scalability, or vice versa. You can even choose an abandoned project with a dubious license over an enterprise-friendly one with a thriving community. Wait, what was that? That's right, it is not always clear which projects are suitable for use in an enterprise versus those that are only experiments or hobbies. If your developers bring the wrong projects in-house, there may be issues down the road, if you run into trouble and need to remove those projects.Thoroughly research any open source components before bringing them inside your four walls. All should have a well-known open source license, a solid community behind them, and the availability of enterprise support options (with a stated SLA). OpenLogic offers a white paper detailing the 42-point process used to certify open source packages as enterprise-ready. Follow this, or a similar process, or secure your open source components from OpenLogic, to avoid issues in the future. For enterprise support on open source components, turn to the community or a support provider such as OpenLogic. It is inadvisable to rely solely on internal staff for open source support because they frequently move among projects, are not always available for 24x7 production support, and may even leave the company.Another type of maintenance issue stems from choosing too many good projects and technologies. If every application team selects a different set of open source components, it can be difficult to share experiences, move developers among applications, and expect the teams to move in the same direction. Your open source usage profile will clearly show any need to consolidate. On the other hand, an up-to-date profile can also lead you to discover how to leverage newer technologies once they have proven successful in the organization.ConclusionGet started by creating an open source usage profile for a single application. It may surprise you how many components you are already using, and how many languages, licenses, and technologies those components use under the covers.1 Want to learn more about OpenLogic's OpenUpdate Service? 2 3 4 Need more information around Technical Governance? Contact us at:LOS ANGELES -- With the Trojans back to the grind and hard at work at Cromwell Field, heres a look at some of the early storylines that have taken shape during the teams volunteer passing sessions.Tons of talent at WR, not a lot of depthThe USC receiver corps was dealt a significant blow in the second throwing session of the summer when promising freshman went down with a torn ACL that will cause him to miss the entire 2013 season. Already without the services of -- who suffered the same injury this spring -- the Trojans now have just five active scholarship wide receivers on the current roster.The good news is that those five players have looked stellar this offseason and, barring any more injuries, USC should be fine here. In particular, 2012 Biletnifkoff Award winner , and sophomore have made a routine of putting on a virtual exhibition during the 7-on-7 drills, and its hard to imagine a better wideout tandem in the country. Just as importantly, with the role of the teams No. 3 receiver still up for grabs, veteran pass-catchers and , as well as freshman , have come out each day more focused than ever, paying off with big time results.Wittek returns to action, QB competition back on in full effectThe most notable player missing from the Trojans' early passing sessions was quarterback , who battled an apparent case of mononucleosis. The only member of the quarterback competition with starting experience returned to action this past Friday and looked sharp after shaking off some early rust.The other two members of the quarterback competition -- fellow redshirt sophomore and early entrant freshman -- have performed solidly this offseason. Kessler, in particular, has picked up right where he left off in the spring, looking poised and in command while also throwing with fantastic accuracy. Meanwhile, Browne has continued to make tremendous strides, neither looking nor playing like a green first-year youngster.With Wittek having returned to compete alongside Kessler and Browne, the race for the role of USC's starting quarterback is underway once again. And with all three players back out there pushing each other, theres reason for optimism, regardless of who the eventual starter is.Key contributors back from injuryWhile the loss of Mitchell marked the obvious low point of the workouts so far, the return of a number of players who missed all, or a portion, of the spring due to injury has been one of the great positives. Fullback , offensive lineman , tight ends and , defensive lineman ., cornerbacks and , as well as safeties , and are just some of the players who have been spotted back in action. Its provided a big shot in the arm for a team somewhat short in terms of numbers.The most talked about return has been that of Bailey, who was out for the entire spring due to postseason surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. Moving over to free safety after spending the last two seasons as the teams starting strongside linebacker, hes looked comfortable, and the competition between he, and for the starting job is sure to be one of most closely watched position battles of the summer and fall.Shaw still at safetyWith Lane Kiffin underwhelmed by the production of the cornerback unit this past spring, the Trojans head coach noted on more than one occasion that the coaching staff was considering moving redshirt junior back over from his strong safety spot to corner -- not a huge surprise considering he made seven starts at the position in 2012. So far, however, theres been no sign of the former Palmdale (Calif.) standout making that change. Lining up at strong safety during every passing session, hes currently locked in a position battle with Cravens and Bowman. And while things could always change later in the summer or even during fall camp, it looks as if Shaw has settled in at safety at this time and that Kiffin will ride with what he currently has at cornerback -- collection that includes , , Harris, , , Seymour and .Sightings of the newest freshmenAll six of the Trojans newest freshmen additions are now on campus, and theyve slowly begun to make their presence felt in the workouts. It was Mitchell who made the biggest impact early on with his unique playmaking skills, giving an all-too-brief glimpse of the kind of talent that the USC offense will have at its disposal down the line. Inside linebacker has impressed as well. Figuring to play a key role as the potential backup at the MIKE linebacker spot to , he certainly looks the part of an imposing run-stopper with a nice combination of athleticism and instincts to boot. Outside linebacker has already shown off some nice pass-rush skills during the 11-on-11 periods. At 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, running back is as big as advertised while also showcasing a surprising burst for a player his size. Rounding out the group, offensive tackle and guard have also been quick to jump into the action, gaining valuable tutelage from veterans such as and .2012 Game LogPassingRushingDATEOPPRESULTCMPATTYDSCMP%LNGTDINTRATATTYDSAVGLNGTD9/1W No statistics available.9/8@W No statistics available.9/15@L No statistics available.9/22W No statistics available.10/4@W No statistics available.10/13@W No statistics available.10/20W 229100.0800137.8000.00010/27@L No statistics available.11/3L No statistics available.11/10W No statistics available.11/17@L No statistics available.11/24L No statistics available.HYUNDAI SUN BOWL12/31@L No statistics available.2012-2013 Per Game SplitsSPLITGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy MonthGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy ResultGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy PositionGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy DayGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy OpponentGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy ArenaGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSNo splits available.PodcastStationDateESPN: Inside The Huddle with John ClaytonESPN RadioJul 5, 2013ESPN: Marty and McGeeESPN RadioJul 9, 2013ESPN: Around the HornESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPN: Baseball Tonight with Buster OlneyESPN RadioJul 11, 2013ESPN: Behind the Bets with Chad MillmanESPN RadioJun 27, 2013ESPN: Behind The Dish with Keith LawESPN RadioJul 9, 2013ESPN Radio: Best of Mike and MikeESPN RadioJul 11, 2013ESPN: Big Head Red Head PodcastESPN RadioJun 10, 2013ESPN College Football: Big 10 PodcastESPN RadioMay 3, 2013ESPN: Coach & CompanyESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPN: Dan Le Batard is Highly QuestionableESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPN: Front and CenterESPN RadioJul 5, 2013ESPN: SportsCenter AllNight PodcastESPN RadioMay 3, 2013ESPN The Magazine PodcastESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPN Radio: Dari and MelESPN RadioJul 6, 2013ESPN: Fantasy UndergroundESPN RadioJun 17, 2013ESPN: Outside The LinesESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPNU: College BasketballESPN RadioJul 9, 2013ESPNU: College FootballESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPNU: College LacrosseESPN RadioMay 21, 2013ESPNW: Basketball PodcastESPN RadioMay 3, 2013ESPN: Fantasy Focus BaseballESPN RadioJul 11, 2013ESPN: Fantasy Focus BasketballESPN RadioMay 3, 2013ESPN: Fantasy Focus FootballESPN RadioJul 11, 2013ESPN: Fantasy for BeginnersESPN RadioMay 3, 2013ESPN: First DraftESPN RadioMay 3, 2013ESPN: First TakeESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPN: Football TodayESPN RadioJul 8, 2013Grantland Pop CultureESPN RadioJul 10, 2013Grantland SportsESPN RadioJul 3, 2013ESPN: Heavy Hitting Boxing PodcastESPN RadioJul 3, 2013His & HersESPN RadioJul 8, 2013ESPN: Hockey TodayESPN RadioJun 5, 2013ESPN: In The Gate ESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPN: The Jayski PodcastESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPN: NBA Lockdown with Bruce BowenESPN RadioJun 28, 2013ESPN: PTIESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPN Recruiting Nation: The Verbal CommittmentESPN RadioJul 11, 2013ESPN College Football: SEC PodcastESPN RadioMay 3, 2013ESPN Radio: SportsBeat with Mike TiricoESPN RadioJul 5, 2013ESPN Radio: SVP & RussilloESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPN: The B.S. Report with Bill SimmonsESPN RadioJul 11, 2013ESPN: The Poker EdgeESPN RadioJul 11, 2013ESPN: The Sporting Life with Jeremy SchaapESPN RadioJun 28, 2013ESPN: Tony KornheiserESPN RadioJun 28, 2013ESPN Radio: Thundering HerdESPN RadioJul 10, 2013ESPN: We Are SCESPN RadioMay 3, 2013ESPN: X GamesESPN RadioJul 9, 2013ESPN New York: Michael KayESPN New YorkJul 10, 2013ESPN New York: Stephen A. Smith & Ryan RuoccoESPN New YorkJul 10, 2013ESPN New York: Jared Max & Robin LundbergESPN New YorkJul 11, 2013The Mike Lupica ShowESPN New YorkJul 10, 2013ESPN New York: Robin LundbergESPN New YorkJul 11, 2013ESPN New York Tonight with Bill DaughtryESPN New YorkJun 2, 2013ESPN New York: NY Jets PodcastESPN New YorkJun 12, 2013ESPN NewYork: High School SportsESPN New YorkMay 3, 2013ESPN LA: ESPN LA NowESPN Los AngelesJul 10, 2013ESPN LA: Mason & IrelandESPN Los AngelesJul 10, 2013ESPN LA: Max & MarcellusESPN Los AngelesJul 10, 2013ESPN LA: Weekend WarriorESPN Los AngelesJul 6, 2013ESPN LA: Clippers PodcastESPN Los AngelesJun 25, 2013ESPN Dallas: Fitzsimmons & DurrettESPN DallasJul 10, 2013ESPN Dallas: Galloway & CompanyESPN DallasJul 8, 2013ESPN Dallas: Chuck CoopersteinESPN DallasMay 3, 2013ESPN Dallas: College Football InsiderESPN DallasMay 3, 2013ESPN Dallas: The Nolan Ryan ShowESPN DallasMay 20, 2013ESPN Dallas: Soccer TodayESPN DallasJul 7, 2013ESPN Dallas: The Football ShowESPN DallasMay 3, 2013ESPN Dallas: Cowboys CornerESPN DallasMay 3, 2013ESPN Dallas: Inside Sports MedicineESPN DallasMay 3, 2013ESPN Dallas: The ESPN Golf ConnectionESPN DallasMay 3, 2013ESPN Chicago: Waddle & SilvyESPN ChicagoJul 10, 2013ESPN Chicago: Carmen and JurkoESPN ChicagoJul 10, 2013ESPN ChicagoESPN ChicagoJul 9, 2013ESPN Chicago: Best of ESPN 1000 ESPN ChicagoJun 24, 2013ESPN Chicago: Talkin' BaseballESPN ChicagoJul 6, 2013ESPN Chicago: Sports Medicine WeeklyESPN ChicagoMay 9, 2013ESPN Chicago: Chauncey's Great OutdoorsESPN ChicagoJul 6, 20132012-2013 REGULAR SEASON GAME LOGDATEOPPSCOREMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSWed 4/17L 41-2.5000-0.0000-0.0002000002Mon 4/15L 236-61.0000-0.0000-0.000130002212Sun 4/14L 266-7.8570-0.0000-0.000120412112Fri 4/12L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Wed 4/10W 50-0.0000-0.0002-21.0000000202Sun 4/7L 150-3.0000-0.0001-2.5002020201Fri 4/5L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Wed 4/3L 120-1.0000-0.0000-0.0006010010April14.22.2-3.2.6840.0-0.0.0000.5-0.7.7505.80.01.20.21.30.74.8DATEOPPSCOREMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSSat 3/30L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Thu 3/28W 71-3.3330-0.0000-0.0003000102Wed 3/27W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Sun 3/24L 50-0.0000-0.0002-21.0001000212Sat 3/23L 111-11.0000-0.0000-2.0004110202Thu 3/21W 101-2.5000-0.0000-0.0002020222Tue 3/19W 161-2.5000-0.0000-0.0005010002Sun 3/17L 70-0.0000-0.0000-0.0001010110Wed 3/13W 242-5.4000-0.0002-21.0006010216Sun 3/10L 31-3.3330-0.0001-11.0003101003Fri 3/8W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Wed 3/6L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Tue 3/5L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Sun 3/3W 71-2.5000-0.0000-0.0003110102Fri 3/1L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000March10.00.9-2.0.4440.0-0.0.0000.6-0.8.7143.10.30.80.11.20.62.3DATEOPPSCOREMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSWed 2/27W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Tue 2/26L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Sun 2/24L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Fri 2/22L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Previously with HOU, Acquired by SACWed 2/20W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Wed 2/13L 10-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Tue 2/12W 80-1.0000-0.0000-0.0001000000Sun 2/10L 130-0.0000-0.0000-0.0005000200Fri 2/8W 143-31.0000-0.0000-0.0004120306Wed 2/6L 50-1.0000-0.0000-0.0001010000Tue 2/5W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Sat 2/2W 102-4.5000-0.0001-2.5002000205February8.70.8-1.5.5560.0-0.0.0000.2-0.3.5002.20.20.50.01.20.01.8DATEOPPSCOREMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSWed 1/30L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Mon 1/28W 81-11.0000-0.0001-2.5002100203Sat 1/26W 10-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Fri 1/25W 10-0.0000-0.0000-0.0001000000Wed 1/23L 20-0.0000-0.0000-0.0001000000Mon 1/21W 180-2.0000-0.0000-0.0005001400Sat 1/19L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Fri 1/18L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Wed 1/16L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Tue 1/15L 20-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Sat 1/12L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Fri 1/11L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Wed 1/9L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Tue 1/8W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Sat 1/5W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Fri 1/4W 30-1.0000-0.0000-0.0002000100Wed 1/2W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000January4.90.1-0.6.2500.0-0.0.0000.1-0.3.5001.60.10.00.11.00.00.4DATEOPPSCOREMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSMon 12/31W 10-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000010Sat 12/29L 80-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000340Fri 12/28L 173-4.7500-0.0000-0.0004000226Wed 12/26W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Tue 12/25W 31-11.0000-0.0000-0.0002000002Sat 12/22W 40-1.0000-0.0000-0.0002000010Wed 12/19W 30-0.0000-0.0000-0.0002010000Mon 12/17W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Sun 12/16L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Fri 12/14W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Wed 12/12W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Mon 12/10L 20-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000100Sat 12/8L 121-11.0000-0.0000-2.0003121532Fri 12/7L 81-2.5000-0.0000-0.0003110212Tue 12/4W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Sat 12/1W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000December6.40.7-1.0.6670.0-0.0.0000.0-0.2.0001.80.20.40.11.41.31.3DATEOPPSCOREMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSWed 11/28L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Tue 11/27W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Fri 11/23W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Wed 11/21W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Mon 11/19L 20-0.0000-0.0000-0.0001000000Sun 11/18L 133-6.5000-0.0000-0.0004100316Fri 11/16L 20-0.0000-0.0000-0.0001000000Wed 11/14W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Mon 11/12L 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000Sat 11/10W 41-2.5000-0.0000-0.0000000102Fri 11/9L 51-3.3330-0.0000-0.0001010202Wed 11/7L 161-2.5000-0.0002-3.6673110304Sat 11/3L 163-5.6000-0.0000-0.0006001216Fri 11/2W 132-3.6670-0.0000-0.0001000304November8.61.4-2.6.5240.0-0.0.0000.3-0.4.6672.10.30.30.11.80.33.0DATEOPPSCOREMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSWed 10/31W 00-0.0000-0.0000-0.0000000000REGULAR SEASON STATSMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSAverages8.61.0-1.8.5500.0-0.0.0000.3-0.4.6002.70.20.50.11.30.52.2Totals38844-80.5500-0.00012-20.600120923560231002012-2013 Per Game SplitsSPLITGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSTotal458.61.0-1.8.5500.0-0.0.0000.3-0.4.6000.72.02.70.20.50.11.30.52.2Home248.20.8-1.6.4740.0-0.0.0000.5-0.7.6880.51.82.20.20.60.11.30.62.0Road219.11.2-2.0.6190.0-0.0.0000.0-0.2.2500.92.33.20.20.40.11.40.42.5vs. Division227.50.8-1.6.5000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.2.0000.61.62.30.20.50.11.30.71.6vs. Conference629.41.1-1.8.6070.0-0.0.0000.2-0.4.4620.72.33.00.20.60.11.40.62.40 Days Rest188.01.2-1.6.7860.0-0.0.0000.2-0.4.5000.72.02.70.10.20.21.71.22.71 Days Rest287.70.9-1.5.5710.0-0.0.0000.1-0.3.2500.41.92.30.30.50.01.20.31.82 Days Rest1010.61.2-2.2.5450.0-0.0.0000.8-0.81.0000.62.22.80.00.20.01.20.83.23+ Days Rest349.20.9-2.0.4410.0-0.0.0000.3-0.5.6250.92.02.90.20.80.21.30.22.1By MonthGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSNovember88.61.4-2.6.5240.0-0.0.0000.3-0.4.6670.81.42.10.30.30.11.80.33.0December96.40.7-1.0.6670.0-0.0.0000.0-0.2.0000.31.41.80.20.40.11.41.31.3January74.90.1-0.6.2500.0-0.0.0000.1-0.3.5000.31.31.60.10.00.11.00.00.4February68.70.8-1.5.5560.0-0.0.0000.2-0.3.5000.22.02.20.20.50.01.20.01.8March910.00.9-2.0.4440.0-0.0.0000.6-0.8.7140.92.23.10.30.80.11.20.62.3April614.22.2-3.2.6840.0-0.0.0000.5-0.7.7501.74.25.80.01.20.21.30.74.8Pre All-Star307.10.8-1.4.5350.0-0.0.0000.1-0.3.4440.41.51.90.20.30.11.40.51.7Post All-Star1511.71.4-2.5.5680.0-0.0.0000.5-0.7.7271.23.04.20.20.90.11.30.63.3By ResultGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSIn wins208.00.8-1.7.4850.0-0.0.0000.3-0.4.7500.51.72.20.20.40.11.20.31.9In losses259.21.1-1.9.5960.0-0.0.0000.2-0.5.5000.82.23.10.20.60.21.40.72.5By PositionGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSOff Bench458.61.0-1.8.5500.0-0.0.0000.3-0.4.6000.72.02.70.20.50.11.30.52.2By DayGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSMonday129.01.2-1.5.7780.0-0.0.0000.2-0.3.5001.02.53.50.20.00.21.50.52.5Tuesday87.30.5-1.0.5000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.51.52.00.00.30.00.00.01.0Wednesday188.00.4-1.2.3640.0-0.0.0000.7-0.8.8570.32.02.30.10.60.00.80.21.6Thursday48.51.0-2.5.4000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.52.02.50.01.00.01.51.02.0Friday167.91.3-2.0.6250.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.61.52.10.30.50.01.60.42.5Saturday168.31.0-1.8.5710.0-0.0.0000.1-0.8.1670.51.62.10.30.40.31.91.12.1Sunday1611.11.4-2.6.5240.0-0.0.0000.5-0.6.8001.12.83.90.41.00.31.60.53.3By OpponentGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSvs. Atlanta27.01.0-1.5.6670.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.50.00.50.00.00.01.50.52.0vs. New Jersey11.00.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0vs. Charlotte311.71.0-2.7.3750.0-0.0.0000.3-0.7.5001.32.03.30.30.30.32.30.02.3vs. Chicago213.51.5-3.0.5000.0-0.0.0001.0-1.01.0000.53.54.00.00.50.01.00.54.0vs. Dallas112.01.0-1.01.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-2.0.0000.03.03.01.02.01.05.03.02.0vs. Denver39.30.7-1.0.6670.0-0.0.0000.7-1.7.4000.72.02.70.70.70.01.70.02.0vs. Detroit14.01.0-2.0.5000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.00.00.00.00.00.01.00.02.0vs. Golden State18.00.0-1.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.01.01.00.00.00.00.00.00.0vs. Houston219.03.0-4.0.7500.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0003.06.09.00.02.50.51.01.06.0vs. LA Clippers45.50.5-1.0.5000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.51.31.80.00.30.00.00.01.0vs. LA Lakers210.01.5-3.0.5000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.52.02.50.50.50.02.01.03.0vs. Miami15.00.0-1.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.01.01.00.01.00.00.00.00.0vs. Milwaukee23.00.5-2.0.2500.0-0.0.0000.5-0.51.0001.01.52.50.50.00.50.50.01.5vs. Minnesota110.01.0-2.0.5000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.02.02.00.02.00.02.02.02.0vs. New Orleans23.00.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0001.0-1.01.0000.00.50.50.00.00.01.00.01.0vs. Oklahoma City215.53.0-3.01.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0002.04.56.50.00.00.02.53.06.0vs. Philadelphia24.00.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0001.0-1.01.0000.01.51.50.00.50.01.00.51.0vs. Phoenix17.01.0-3.0.3330.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0001.02.03.00.00.00.01.00.02.0vs. Portland310.72.0-2.7.7500.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.73.03.70.30.70.31.70.34.0vs. Sacramento113.00.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.05.05.00.00.00.02.00.00.0vs. San Antonio38.71.3-2.0.6670.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0001.01.32.30.30.30.01.71.02.7vs. Utah24.50.5-0.51.0000.0-0.0.0000.5-1.0.5000.01.51.50.50.00.01.00.01.5vs. Memphis38.00.3-2.3.1430.0-0.0.0000.3-0.7.5000.31.31.70.01.00.01.30.31.0By ArenaGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSat American Airlines Arena15.00.0-1.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.01.01.00.01.00.00.00.00.0at AT&T Center212.52.0-3.0.6670.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0001.52.03.50.50.50.02.01.54.0at Bradley Center13.00.0-1.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.02.02.00.00.00.01.00.00.0at Chesapeake Energy Arena123.06.0-6.01.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0004.09.013.00.00.00.02.02.012.0at EnergySolutions Arena24.50.5-0.51.0000.0-0.0.0000.5-1.0.5000.01.51.50.50.00.01.00.01.5at FedEx Forum15.01.0-3.0.3330.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0001.00.01.00.01.00.02.00.02.0at New Orleans Arena11.00.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.01.01.00.00.00.00.00.00.0at Oracle Arena18.00.0-1.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.01.01.00.00.00.00.00.00.0at Pepsi Center111.01.0-1.01.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-2.0.0001.03.04.01.01.00.02.00.02.0at Philips Arena113.02.0-3.0.6670.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0001.00.01.00.00.00.03.00.04.0at Rose Garden12.00.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.01.01.00.00.00.00.00.00.0at Sleep Train Arena1110.40.6-1.8.3500.0-0.0.0000.7-0.8.8890.62.53.20.20.70.11.20.52.0at Staples Center37.01.0-2.0.5000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.31.31.70.30.30.01.30.72.0at Time Warner Arena118.00.0-2.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0002.03.05.00.00.01.04.00.00.0at Toyota Center158.11.1-1.7.6800.0-0.0.0000.2-0.5.4290.61.72.30.20.70.21.50.72.5at United Center13.01.0-1.01.0000.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0000.02.02.00.00.00.00.00.02.0at US Airways Arena17.01.0-3.0.3330.0-0.0.0000.0-0.0.0001.02.03.00.00.00.01.00.02.0Total458.61.0-1.8.5500.0-0.0.0000.3-0.4.6000.72.02.70.20.50.11.30.52.2After more than a decade of daytime banter, Coleen Nolan will today bid a tearful farewell to Loose Women.But the Mirror columnist, 46, jokes that there’s one person who will breathe a huge sigh of relief when she quits the hit TV show ? her husband Ray Fensome.Coleen told the Mirror: “I’ll be losing my ammunition ? being able to threaten my family that I’ll talk about them on the show! Ray said the other day, ‘What, you mean we can actually have a row now without you going and telling the whole nation?’“I still can’t believe I’m leaving though. It’s so weird. It’s like saying goodbye to a really old friend who’s counselled me through the worst times in my life and laughed with me through the best times.“But I had to go as I was terrified of people getting bored with me! I’ve given every opinion I have on every subject several times over the past decade and I’d hate the thought of people thinking I’m dull.”Coleen admits she was “devastated” when her pal Kate Thornton was axed to make way for ex-Corrie star Sally Lindsay and former Countdown boffin Carol Vorderman when the show relaunches in September.She says: “I’ll be watching the new series because I’m more intrigued than anyone to see what these rumoured ‘big changes’ are. I’m sure it’s going to be brilliant. I was so sorry Kate was picked to go but sadly that’s the nature of TV. It’s happened to both of us before and I know she’ll be back.“But I’d hate to see anyone on that panel who has slagged off the show in the past. I’ll always be proud to call myself a Loose Woman and hopefully I can still be part of the family ? like an auntie you don’t see every day but you know she’s going to pop in now and again to see how you are.”Coleen joined the show as a regular panellist in 2000 after appearing on Trisha Goddard’s former programme, Celebrity Heartbreak, to talk about her painful marital split from EastEnders actor Shane Richie. And after nearly 11 years on the panel, she’s made “brilliant mates”, including Denise Welch, Sherrie Hewson, Lynda Bellingham, Andrea McLean and Carol McGiffin.Coleen, who is quitting to concentrate on new TV projects, said: “I get such a lump in my throat just thinking about my last day and knowing I won’t be sitting around the table with them again.“The other day the directors were all singing, ‘Don’t leave me this way’ through my earpiece. Billy, who does the videotapes, told me he was doing a montage of clips for my last show but it was taking him for ever to sift through a decade’s worth of footage.Loose Women presenters (Pic: Getty Images)“I’m sure I’ll blub my way through the last show. Afterwards we’re going out for lunch and I think we’ll carry on and get absolutely hammered. I don’t drink much and I’ve been the ‘booze police’ on that show for 11 years, telling them off for going out ‘til all hours and getting horribly drunk. But now I think I might just show them how it’s really done!” The mother-of-three says she owes so much to the award-winning show.“Loose Women saved me when I was at my lowest ? after my first marriage broke up,” she admits. “It helped me cope when my mum was suffering from Alzheimer’s and after she died, and also when my sisters battled cancer.“But it was there through the happiest times of my life too. It’s genuinely been like having therapy and we all counsel each other. Our morning meetings are like a group therapy session. We discuss a subject like infidelity or men being rubbish at something and then we go out and vent all our feelings.”However, Mirror agony aunt Coleen admits she has often struggled to talk about some of the painful subjects discussed on the ITV1 show.She said: “Some topics obviously hit a raw nerve ? like Alzheimer’s and cancer.“At times I’ve thought, ‘I’m going to break down and cry here’. But hard topics are good because so many people relate to them. I’ve had the most fantastic letters from viewers ? they have really touched me. But I think I may have been protected from some of the nasty letters that have undoubtedly been sent to me. I went on the Loose Women internet forum once and it shattered me for weeks. Two women were having a real go at me ? they hated absolutely everything about me.“They said I was ‘ugly’, ‘fat’, ‘fake’, they hated all my opinions and when I was next on the show I couldn’t stop thinking about them watching me and spouting all that bile.“It shouldn’t have upset me because there were some wonderful comments too, but it stuck in my mind. How could someone who didn’t know me hate me that much? In the end I decided I’d never go on the forum again ? and I haven’t.”Coleen admits it hasn’t all been sweetness and light with her colleagues either. She says: “We’ve been like a family ? a real family. You love them all but some days you walk in and something happens and you can’t stand them. They get on your nerves and you think, ‘Oh, shut up!’ But you know they’re always there for you. We know each other so well that if someone walks in you know instantly if they’re down ? even if they’ve got a big smile on their face. You say, ‘What’s wrong with you?’“It’s a big bunch of women who work very closely together so at some point there is always going to be some bitching. But we’re not back-stabbers. I’m sure some of the others will have bitched about me over the years and that’s normal ? we’re women, that’s what we do! We don’t really mean it though.“Sometimes on the show we have had real rows because we disagreed so strongly. But once we’ve moved on to the next topic those arguments are over. That’s what makes the show so good. We laugh, cry and have a go at each other ? but then we all go to the pub together afterwards. “It’s the end of an era and I can hardly believe it but I’ve got such wonderful, happy memories.” On guestsColeen Nolan with Whoopi Goldberg“I ALWAYS loved it when we had really big stars on like Whoopi Goldberg, who I’d loved and admired for years. I couldn’t believe I was sitting next to her and she was so nice.“She came on with no entourage, went on just as she’d turned up and was brilliant.“But when Rihanna came on before she was really famous she had about 30 people with her. I sat there thinking, ‘Bloody hell, you’ve only come on to sing one three-minute song about an umbrella, love!’Coleen Nolan with Enrique Iglesias (Pic: Rex Features)“Enrique Iglesias was just beautiful ? he’s a big star but humble with it. He really got the show and joined in with the spirit of it. Well, he didn’t have much choice because we just sexually harassed him the whole time he was on!”..........after more than a decade of daytime banter, Coleen Nolan will today bid a tearful farewell to Loose Women.But the Mirror columnist, 46, jokes that there’s one person who will breathe a huge sigh of relief when she quits the hit TV show ? her husband Ray Fensome.Coleen told the Mirror: “I’ll be losing my ammunition ? being able to threaten my family that I’ll talk about them on the show! Ray said the other day, ‘What, you mean we can actually have a row now without you going and telling the whole nation?’“I still can’t believe I’m leaving though. It’s so weird. It’s like saying goodbye to a really old friend who’s counselled me through the worst times in my life and laughed with me through the best times.“But I had to go as I was terrified of people getting bored with me! I’ve given every opinion I have on every subject several times over the past decade and I’d hate the thought of people thinking I’m dull.”Coleen admits she was “devastated” when her pal Kate Thornton was axed to make way for ex-Corrie star Sally Lindsay and former Countdown boffin Carol Vorderman when the show relaunches in September.She says: “I’ll be watching the new series because I’m more intrigued than anyone to see what these rumoured ‘big changes’ are. I’m sure it’s going to be brilliant. I was so sorry Kate was picked to go but sadly that’s the nature of TV. It’s happened to both of us before and I know she’ll be back.“But I’d hate to see anyone on that panel who has slagged off the show in the past. I’ll always be proud to call myself a Loose Woman and hopefully I can still be part of the family ? like an auntie you don’t see every day but you know she’s going to pop in now and again to see how you are.”Coleen joined the show as a regular panellist in 2000 after appearing on Trisha Goddard’s former programme, Celebrity Heartbreak, to talk about her painful marital split from EastEnders actor Shane Richie. And after nearly 11 years on the panel, she’s made “brilliant mates”, including Denise Welch, Sherrie Hewson, Lynda Bellingham, Andrea McLean and Carol McGiffin.Coleen, who is quitting to concentrate on new TV projects, said: “I get such a lump in my throat just thinking about my last day and knowing I won’t be sitting around the table with them again.HAMMERED“The other day the directors were all singing, ‘Don’t leave me this way’ through my earpiece. Billy, who does the videotapes, told me he was doing a montage of clips for my last show but it was taking him for ever to sift through a decade’s worth of footage.“I’m sure I’ll blub my way through the last show. Afterwards we’re going out for lunch and I think we’ll carry on and get absolutely hammered. I don’t drink much and I’ve been the ‘booze police’ on that show for 11 years, telling them off for going out ‘til all hours and getting horribly drunk. But now I think I might just show them how it’s really done!” The mother-of-three says she owes so much to the award-winning show. “Loose Women saved me when I was at my lowest ? after my first marriage broke up,” she admits. “It helped me cope when my mum was suffering from Alzheimer’s and after she died, and also when my sisters battled cancer.“But it was there through the happiest times of my life too. It’s genuinely been like having therapy and we all counsel each other. Our morning meetings are like a group therapy session. We discuss a subject like infidelity or men being rubbish at something and then we go out and vent all our feelings.”However, Mirror agony aunt Coleen admits she has often struggled to talk about some of the painful subjects discussed on the ITV1 show.She said: “Some topics obviously hit a raw nerve ? like Alzheimer’s and cancer.“At times I’ve thought, ‘I’m going to break down and cry here’. But hard topics are good because so many people relate to them. I’ve had the most fantastic letters from viewers ? they have really touched me. But I think I may have been protected from some of the nasty letters that have undoubtedly been sent to me. I went on the Loose Women internet forum once and it shattered me for weeks. Two women were having a real go at me ? they hated absolutely everything about me.“They said I was ‘ugly’, ‘fat’, ‘fake’, they hated all my opinions and when I was next on the show I couldn’t stop thinking about them watching me and spouting all that bile.SWEETNESS“It shouldn’t have upset me because there were some wonderful comments too, but it stuck in my mind. How could someone who didn’t know me hate me that much? In the end I decided I’d never go on the forum again ? and I haven’t.”Coleen admits it hasn’t all been sweetness and light with her colleagues either. She says: “We’ve been like a family ? a real family. You love them all but some days you walk in and something happens and you can’t stand them. They get on your nerves and you think, ‘Oh, shut up!’ But you know they’re always there for you. We know each other so well that if someone walks in you know instantly if they’re down ? even if they’ve got a big smile on their face. You say, ‘What’s wrong with you?’“It’s a big bunch of women who work very closely together so at some point there is always going to be some bitching. But we’re not back-stabbers. I’m sure some of the others will have bitched about me over the years and that’s normal ? we’re women, that’s what we do! We don’t really mean it though.“Sometimes on the show we have had real rows because we disagreed so strongly. But once we’ve moved on to the next topic those arguments are over. That’s what makes the show so good. We laugh, cry and have a go at each other ? but then we all go to the pub together afterwards.“It’s the end of an era and I can hardly believe it but I’ve got such wonderful, happy memories.”has hit out at for making a joke about her wedding dress.The WAG flipped after Camilla Parker Bowles wrongly suggested that she wore a ?5million frock as a bride - and joked that children could use the extravagant example to learn about “sensible” spending.But Coleen vehemently denies that she spent such a vast amount on her outfit - and lashed out on Twitter that Camilla “should know better”.The Duchess, 65, attended an event in East London where she chatted to charity MyBnk, about their work educating youngsters about finance.There, she was shown a slideshow including an image of Coleen’s dress and its hefty price tag, prompting her jovial remark about kids learning how to be sensible with their money.But Coleen, who married Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney in a lavish ceremony in 2008, did not see the funny side.The star, who hosted a show on ITV called Real Women, especially took umbrage at the suggestion that her dress had diamonds on it.Venting on Twitter, the 26-year-old ranted: “I apparently paid around 5 million for my wedding dress!! Joke!!! Diamonds on it..... Not one! Camilla (Dutchess of Cornwall) should know better and teach children to not always believe the rubbish reported!!”The comment was revealed by charity education officer James Wilson, who said: “The particular slide she spotted was Coleen McLoughlin, Wayne Rooney’s wife.“The question is, ‘How much does her wedding dress cost?’ and it works out somewhere in the region of ?5million, once she paid for it to be hand-made and the diamonds.“So she joked about just learning about being more sensible with your money.”?Wayne and Coleen had a nice wedding but there was no ?5m dressIn fact, reports at the time of their wedding suggested that the WHOLE event in the Italian resort of Portofino cost less than the exaggerated cost of the dress.Coleen, 26, married ?250,000-a-week Wayne in a lavish four-day ceremony that included a performance by Westlife, preceded by a swanky pampering session hen do for Coleen at the five star Lowry hotel in Salford, Greater Manchester and a trip to Miami.The model, who signed a deal worth a reported ?2million to front a Littlewoods campaign, wore three Marchesa gowns on her big day - one of which had a 25ft train.The couple recently looked to buy an eight bedroom, ?12million mansion in Cheshire.But Coleen’s not the only woman with expensive taste.And in 2006, it was reported that Camilla spent ?3,000-a-month on hair styling, and splashed ?500 for her makeup to be professionally applied for occasions.She owns ?500 Lulu Guinness handbags and custom-made ?200 LK Bennett shoes and employs a full time stylist who takes home an estimated salary of ?30,000.The outfit she wore to her 2005 civil ceremony to Prince Charles was custom made by Robinson Valentine, whose dresses average at a cost of ?3,000. In 2005, they apparently made 50 dresses for her.In 1995, the property she shared with ex-husband Andrew sold for ?1.5million.She owns the 27 acre Ray Mill house in Wilshire, which she purchased for ?850,000. It is now worth over ?2million.?Collabera California Jul 05 60% Design & Engineering Responsibilities:? Define, develop and implement 2010 & 2013 SharePoint Farms.? Define, develop and implement backup and restore, disaster recovery, replication strategies.? Define,... Collabera Oregon Jul 03 DESCRIPTION OF FUNCTION AND RESPONSIBILITIES:The client is currently recruiting to expand its Enterprise Engineering elite team tasked with guiding new product integrations with industry leading security... Collabera New Hampshire Dec 27 ssembly, MIL-STD-1553, Ethernet, PCI express, Serial Rapid IO, Fibre channel, ClearCase/ClearQuest, HW/SW integrationCONTACT:Madhav FataniaPhone: 630-315-7391Collabera Inc.A CMMI Level 5 Organization... Collabera Kansas Jul 10 Mainframe DeveloperCobol, CICS, DB2, JCLHands on debugging and some testing expGood Communication SkillsWork Location: Johns Creek, GA & Bentonville, AR CICS,COBOL,DB2,JCL,Mainframe Collabera Pennsylvania Jul 09 End client: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (CoPA)/DeloittePosition DescriptionThis is an Unisys 2200 COBOL programmer position. On-site, full time, working with a team on Cobol Development and maintenance. Collabera California Jul 10 Job Title: Mainframe DeveloperLocation: Sacramento, CADuration: 12 Months + Possible ExtensionSkills Required:? Looking for Mainframe Developer? Cobol, CICS, DB2, ... send your profiles to:Shashank... Collabera Virginia Jul 10 PeopleSoft Application DeveloperPeopleSoft HCM V9.1 technical team lead and customer interface.Supporting HR/Payroll/Time & Labour/Benefits/Variable Compensation modules.Scope includes Development,... Collabera Virginia Jul 10 This is a very highly visible delivery initiative within the Network portfolio and requires an experienced Project Manager with proven success. Network Infrastructure delivery and Wireless experience is highly... Collabera Virginia Jul 10 Candidate will need 5-7 years of project management experience following standard PM processes. Experience with MS Project, status reporting, project scheduling, team leadership required. Experience with... Collabera Wisconsin Jul 01 ? Responsible for designing and developing an interface as part of the MDM Product Program to synch the new MDM with the legacy item master? Key Skills are core java, web services, and Maven Master Data... Collabera Texas Jul 05 Capable of working with the business and client Stress Testing team to develop project requirements Skilled for working independently on coding, modifications, and testing in TM1 Skilled for working... Collabera Ohio Jul 05 Senior Informatica DeveloperStrong knowledge and experience in Informatica Power CenterData models (conceptual and physical)SQLData mapping and conversionGood knowledge in writing complex... Collabera California Jul 10 ? Leads customer engagement to ensure that it meets all scope, time, budget and quality expectations, through planning, controlling and managing customer projects.? Manages corporate, customer and third party... Collabera Virginia Jul 10 Managing various aspects of business projects. Includes project planning and design, implementing strategic and tactical initiatives, and ensuring, through formal project management practices, that the final... Collabera Virginia Jul 10 Top Tier Financial Client Looking for Business Operations Project Managers in Richmond, VALooking for someone more experience in Business or Operations management rather than IT management.Managing various... Collabera Virginia Jul 10 Project Managers are capable leaders of cross-functional teams in a high-pressure, dynamic and global environment leveraging expert skills in motivating, facilitating, influencing and driving great results... Collabera Texas Jul 10 ? The ETL Developer will be responsible for designing, developing and implementing data loading processes from multiple application systems into Data Warehouse.? The ETL Developer will work very closely with... Collabera Virginia Jul 10 The Sr. PM will work with the Enterprise Data Services group supporting Card data warehousing efforts. This role will be responsible for a mix of project delivery, and ?project management office? activities... Collabera Texas Jul 10 ? seeking a Workflow Analyst to perform Workflow Analyst and Issues Manager activities. They will be responsible for monitoring the U-verse order flow, analyzing and alerting on issues that impact the orders... Collabera New York Jul 01 Responsibilities:? System Database administrator for the Teradata platform? Partners with vendors and internal customers to implement technology solution and business projects.? Accountable for meeting or... Collabera Virginia Jul 10 5-10 years of IT project management experience with infrastructure implementation (not custom application development). Specifically, server, DB, COTS software and network appliances.-Large enterprise IT... Collabera California Jul 10 Requirement:? The Database Administrator is responsible for setup, support & management of Oracle Databases in production, test & development environments.? The candidate will be responsible for creation... Collabera Illinois Jul 08 BASIC FUNCTION:The candidate will be required to conduct risk analysis according to the methodology defined by HCSC?s Information Security Department. The candidate is responsible for: identifying technical... Collabera Virginia Jul 10 ****THIS IS FOR A SCRUMMASTER POSITION****Looking for a very strong Scrum Master with at least 3 years as an IT PM. This resource will be leading Agile project coordination to support upstream and downstream... Collabera Illinois Jul 02 *****************************************************************************TO SET UP INTERVIEW PLEASE CONTACT BELOW:Avinash Pandey973-559-9946avinash.pandey@collabera.com Automation testerJava and...Collabera Charlotte, NC Jun 11 Collabera is one of the fastest growing end-to-end ... Visit www.collabera.com [... Collabera America Charlotte, NC Jul 03 Will only consider candidates, who can work on our W2, our client is a large financial services company, the largest bank holding company in the United StatesIt is also Top Investment Banking Company in USWe... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 06 MBS ******************************************************** Note: For further information please contact Yash Sharma 704-893-3503 yash.sharma@collabera.com [ mailto:yash.sharma@collabera.com ] C++/Java,... Collabera America Charlotte, NC Jul 02 ************** Unix Administrator (Solaris, Linux) ***************Job Title: Unix AdministratorLocation: Chandler, AZDuration: 12 months +Solaris/Linux Administrator -Solaris 8,9 10 or Linux 4, 5. Participates... Collabera US Charlotte, NC Jun 29 ******************************************************************************* Top-Tier financial industry client has openings for SQL Database... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 09 your resume to below email: Pranav Vora pranav.vora@collabera.com [ mailto:pranav.vora@collabera.com ] or reach me at 973-889-5265 Imp Note : Need someone who can work on W2 only (NO C2C) We are the Tier One... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 05 nter/Server and IBM ODM/JRules preferred. This position can be based in NC or CA. We are looking to add consultants with the following skills in one of our fortune 100 clients. Collabera is an equal... Collabera America Charlotte, NC Jun 29 ******************************************************************************* Top-Tier financial industry client has openings for Build and Release... Collabera US Charlotte, NC Jun 27 For Quick response please forward your resume to below email: Pranav Vora[Click Here to Email Your Resum or reach me at 973-889-5265Imp Note : Need someone who can work on W2 only (NO C2C )We are the Tier One... Collabera USA Charlotte, NC Jun 25 Will only consider candidates, who can work on our W2, our client is a large financial services company, the largest bank holding company in the United StatesIt is also Top Investment Banking Company in USWe... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 09 **************************************************************************** TO SET UP INTERVIEW PLEASE CONTACT BELOW: Vipasha Parashar 704-893-3126 vipasha.parashar@collabera.com [... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 10 Immediate Hiring for UI Developer - Front End Our customer is the world's largest global provider dedicated to Retirement and Life Insurance products. Location: Charlotte, NC 28262 Duration: 8 - 10 months... Collabera USA Charlotte, NC Jun 22 For Quick response please forward your resume to below email: Pranav Vora[Click Here to Email Your Resum or reach me at 973-889-5265Imp Note : Need someone who can work on W2 only (NO C2C )We are the Tier One... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 10 Immediate Hiring for UI Developer - Front End Our customer is the world's largest global provider dedicated to Retirement and Life Insurance products. Location: Charlotte, NC 28262 Duration: 8 ? 10 months... Collabera USA Charlotte, NC Jun 22 For Quick response please forward your resume to below email: Pranav Vora[Click Here to Email Your Resum or reach me at 973-889-5265Imp Note : Need someone who can work on W2 only (NO C2C )We are the Tier One... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 10 Job Title: Case Manager Lead - FileNet LeadJob Location: Charlotte, NC 28262Duration: 3+ months(Possibility of Further Extension)Targeted Skills & ... regarding the job or to apply please contact Deepak... Collabera USA Charlotte, NC Jun 18 ************ Project Manager- Planview, STAMP*********************Job Title: Project Manager - Planview, STAMPDuration: 18 MonthsLocation: Chandler. AZ or Charlotte, NCJob Description:As a Project Manager;... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 10 ******************************************************************************** TO SET UP INTERVIEW PLEASE CONTACT BELOW: Vipasha Parashar 704-893-3126 vipasha.parashar@collabera.com [... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 04 This position requires Windows server experience and 1-3 years experience working with DFS (distributed file system). This position starts as 6 months, but, with a good fit, will be extended to 18 months. Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 09 Collabera is one of the fastest growing end-to-end ... Visit www.collabera.com [... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 07 your resume to below email: Pranav Vora pranav.vora@collabera.com or reach me at 973-889-5265 Imp Note : Need someone who can work on W2 only (NO C2C ) We are the Tier One Vendor for the client, and we are... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 02 One of Collabera's top tier clients - Nation's Leading Financial Institution is looking for a Data ... to submit your resume for consideration. Visit www.collabera.com to learn more aboutCollabera as an... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 09 Collabera is one of the fastest growing end-to-end ... Visit www.collabera.com [... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 03 Immediate Hiring for Senior Talent Acquisition Advisor with strong Finance company experienceProject Location-Candidate can work out ofANY of belowlocations-Charlotte, NCNew York City, NYDenver, COProject... Collabera Charlotte, NC Jul 01 *************************************** Note: For further information please contact Yash Sharma 704-893-3503 yash.sharma@collabera.com [ mailto:yash.sharma@collabera.com ] JIRA/Fisheye/Crucible...Finding the perfect solution to empower your workgroup to be more efficient, effective and productive has been a holy grail of the software industry for a long time. Back in the late 90's I worked for a company named Interliant that sold Lotus Notes and Domino-hosted instances that promised great workgroup potential. Unfortunately, like so many workgroup solutions, it never lived up to the promise on many counts. Workgroup solutions have gotten better over the years. Sharepoint and the open source Wiki solutions have moved the state-of-the-art, not to mention solutions like Mindshare. But just when we were starting to make some real progress, they went and moved the goalposts. Mobile devices and mobile teams leave solutions designed for PCs in the dustbin. A company out of Boston called Collaborate has come up with a great solution that not only is designed for mobile workgroups, but actually leverages the technology.Collaborate is the brainchild of Dave Greenstein (an old friend of mine) and Matt Cutler. Matt and Dave originally had developed an app called Kibits for instant networking. They have taken a lot of the technology developed for Kibits and built it into Collaborate.Collaborate allows you to share just about anything with the members of your group. That's a good thing because in today's world you can share just about anything. Files, URLs, information, to do lists, locations, etc.Collaborate lets you share by using the apps and solutions you already have. Dropbox, Evernote and all of the usual suspects included. This is a key piece of the puzzle. Today's mobile groups use BYOD devices that access cloud-based applications directly. Telling people that they cannot use these apps just is not going to work.Below is a video from Collaborate that explains it a bit better (if you don't see a video hit reload):To me, this represents a class of solutions that is designed from the ground up to capture the mobile market. It represents the coming of age of mobile applications. I am tired of the top apps in the app stores being games of one form or another. Moving beyond games to real productivity is the natural way of it, I think.I remember when PC gaming was one of the largest use cases for PC owners. Besides phone and email, if mobile devices are going to be used for real work, we need mobile apps that are designed to leverage the medium to let people accomplish real work.Collaborate is one of these kinds of apps. I have experimented using it with my own four-person group on a project I am working on. It is good for live chatting, sharing files, URLs and notes. It is also great for assigning tasks in a project and tracking them.I don't know what the killer business app for mobile devices will be. But I do know that it is not Angry Birds. People are working differently. The tools they use are different. This creates great opportunities for developers like the people behind Collaborate.I have been spending a lot of time recently with startup companies and entrepreneurs. It is no secret that real mobile apps for business are going to be in high demand. It will be interesting to see what innovation emerges as a result. Collaborate is part of this brave new breed. Check it out and let me know what you think.Network World - The scoop: OmniJoin Web and videoconferencing, by Brother, starting at $50 per month.What is it? The OmniJoin service is a collaboration and Web conferencing platform that provides high-quality videoconferencing features for attendees. At the basic level, up to 30 attendees can join a meeting, with up to 12 video windows to provide face-to-face interaction. The OmniJoin Pro service offers up to 50 attendees and up to 20 video windows during a meeting, and an enterprise version is also available with customized settings for licenses, attendees and video participants.MORE REVIEWS: As with other Web conferencing services (think GoToMeeting, LiveMeeting or WebEx), OmniJoin meeting hosts can share a PowerPoint presentation, an application, a whiteboard, their desktop, hold a chat with attendees and share files. Control of a meeting can be exchanged from hosts to any attendee, providing for remote collaboration (for example, working together on a spreadsheet or other application). Hosts can set up meetings in advance via their OmniJoin client application, or through the OmniJoin website, or conduct ad hoc meetings with other contacts in an instant messaging-like fashion.Meetings can be recorded for attendees that miss a session, with video (MP4 format) being stored locally on hosts' computers (an upcoming version will record and store video through the cloud). For audio, customers can use multipoint, full-duplex via the service, or use a traditional telephone audioconference option.While the video can be handled by any standard webcam found on attendees' computers (or external USB webcams), Brother also makes its own hardware -- the company's NW-1000 HD Videocam ($100) provides full 1080p or 720p video, a built-in stereo microphone and plug-and-play connectivity via USB 2.0 port. The company also makes a Compact Speakerphone (model VT-1000, $100), which enables mobile users to convert their smartphones into higher-quality speakerphones. The hardware isn't required to use with OmniJoin, but both devices fully support the service.Why it's cool: The service utilizes cloud technology to provide videoconferencing servers that clients connect to, rather than set up peer-to-peer connections between attendees. The cloud technology, along with additional parallel processing and multimedia processor extensions, aims to improve video quality for everyone in a meeting room. The system uses dynamic scalable video (MPEG-4 variable bitrate encoding) that gives HD quality to users who have enough bandwidth, but then scales down on a per-connection basis to clients with lower bandwidth ().The collaboration tools are quite nice and easy to use -- the user interface is easy to navigate for hosts and attendees. The service offers multiple layouts for video windows and application sharing -- if meeting hosts want to just have a large video chat without any application sharing or presentations, they can make video windows larger, for example.LOS ANGELES -- The ' postseason began with one of the greatest comebacks in NBA playoff history and all but ended Saturday with one of the biggest collapses. It's a dubious bookend to a postseason that will be viewed as a learning experience by most but a disappointment by . His first trip to the second round of the playoffs was ended by the four years ago. He said he has held on to that loss, and unless the Clippers can accomplish something that has never been done in the NBA playoffs -- come back from a 3-0 deficit -- his second trip to the conference semifinals will be derailed by the same team."It's never been done in history," Paul said of the Clippers' comeback chances after Saturday's 96-86 loss. "So it's worth a try." These young Clippers have become accustomed to rewriting history this postseason.The Spurs set an NBA record Saturday by overcoming a first-quarter deficit of 22 points to win. The previous mark was 21 points, in the 2008 Finals, when the Celtics trailed the Lakers 35-14 and came back to win 97-91. The Clippers' postseason, of course, began three weeks ago with the Miracle in Memphis, when they came back from a 27-point third-quarter deficit (and were down 24 points with 7:55 left in the game) to defeat the Grizzlies. It was the largest deficit any team had overcome in the playoffs. After coming into the playoffs with three starters and half a roster with no playoff experience, the Clippers will leave as the first team to overcome a 27-point deficit and give up a 24-point lead in the same postseason.It's not the kind of history this team wanted to be associated with, especially when facing the prospect of being swept by the Spurs on Sunday. Still, after Saturday's game, many Clippers seemed to take the loss as part of a larger learning experience.The foundation for the Clippers' season was built during a weeklong stretch in December when the team acquired Paul, and . The team was given a catchy nickname, an aggressive marketing campaign and a bandwagon unlike anything Los Angeles had ever seen. The Clippers were essentially trying to microwave a championship contender overnight during this lockout-shortened season, and they went about as far as they could go.Coach Vinny Del Negro preached this season about how you couldn't "cheat the process." Unfortunately for the Clippers, the process, or the time needed for a team to jell and grow into a title contender, wasn't going to happen during a 66-game season devoid of a full training camp and ample practice time.That was never more evident than in this series against San Antonio and against Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who basically wrote the blueprint on the process while Del Negro was playing for him.While the Clippers have come to embrace their "Lob City" nickname, wearing shirts and hats bearing the label, the Spurs' foundation has been built on a not-so-catchy quote from Jacob Riis that has been posted in the Spurs' home locker room for most of Popovich's career."When nothing seems to help," it reads, "I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before."The Clippers saw the quote come to life on the court Saturday, as they took a 24-point lead in the second quarter and didn't see the Spurs change course at all. If the Spurs continued to hammer away, they knew, in time, the Clippers would crack. Clippers players were almost in awe of the Spurs' consistency after the game as they talked about San Antonio's comeback."I heard Popovich say, 'If you pass down the shot, you're coming out of the game,'" Clippers guard said. "I heard him say that to and I heard him say that to Danny Green. That's just the confidence coming from the coach. ... And even if he misses, I'm running back with him, and I see [Popovich] clapping his hands and cheering him on. It's the system."During San Antonio's 24-0, eight-minute run in the third quarter, the Spurs made 10 of 15 shots without any turnovers while the Clippers went 0-for-12 with two turnovers. Foye recalled a play during the run on which hit on a backdoor pass that could be completed only by a tandem that has played together for the past nine seasons."I overplayed [Ginobili] and I kind of felt him about to make the move but I said he can't because that pass is too tough," Foye said, "and at the last minute, when I was getting ready to rotate my feet, it came. He pushed my body up enough and made the play."Those guys have been playing together for so long that if they look at each other one way, they already know to go backdoor. When guys play together for a long time, all you have to do is look at that guy a certain way."It's the kind of chemistry the Clippers simply don't have and not-so-secretly long for while they watch the Spurs slowly pick them apart, showing how far the Clippers have to go before they can truly be considered title contenders."I'm not going to lie to you. It was devastating today," Foye said. "It was tough on the psyche and definitely tough on the body. You're out there and you're giving it your all, and they go fast and then they go slow. It's basically like [Popovich] is over there saying, 'Pick your poison.' "'Oh, you're going to take away Timmy [Duncan]; there goes in the corner. Oh, you're going to take away Kawhi? Here's Ginobili, and Tony Parker is going to go coast to coast. If you take that away, we're going to kick it out to Danny Green for a 3.'"It's pick your poison with those guys."Sometimes whimsical, often colorful and usually the bearer of happy tidings, the postcard offers a window to a time and place that is often remembered in a nostalgic haze. That’s why Liz Coursen began collecting them right out of college 30 years ago.“People are immediately drawn to an image they recognize in some way,” says the Sarasota-based writer. “They usually see something that reminds them of when they were kids.”But postcards also do much more. They track history in a compact, visual format. They offer clues to popular sites and to the values and traditions of an era. And in the case of Florida postcards, they also were instrumental in selling the state as both retirement haven and vacation mecca. To illustrate the long-standing bond between the state and postcard industry, Coursen selected the best 100 of her Florida postcards to include in a traveling presentation that is coming to Miami-Dade public libraries over the summer. Titled “Having Fun, Wish You Were Here: An Illustrated History of the Postcard in Florida,” the program is presented in conjunction with Viva Florida 500, the state’s celebration of the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s arrival on these shores in 1513. In an hour-long PowerPoint talk chockablock with anecdotes and historical tidbits ? Coursen had to enlarge the postcards so they could be shown more easily ? she takes the audience on a trip back in time, from the turn of the century when Florida was a backwoods swamp to the 1950s when bathing beauties cavorted in the sands.“The joy of this program,” Coursen says, “is that there is no other state with a history so tied to the postcard. Postcards were an integral part of the marketing of Florida.”Coursen, who has been traveling the state for several months, tailors the event to each library location using postcards from that area to underscore her points. In South Florida, the difficult part is choosing among the many examples. “I could do a presentation on just the Art Deco hotels in Miami Beach.”Some of the highest quality postcards feature the most unlikely places, too. For example, Homestead has the finest linen postcards. (Linen postcards use a cloth-like paper known for its excellent absorption of color.) “I can’t get over how amazing the material is, how rich the colors,” she says. Whether in large cities or small towns, audience reaction tends to be the same. “They get very excited looking at things just like they remember them ? the cars and the buildings, even the clothes.”In Lake City, as she was showing a 1940s postcard of three boys fishing in the area, an older man in the audience jumped up and yelled, “That’s my brother!” Indeed, it was his older brother and the man remembered the day the photo was taken because the older boys had left him at home that morning, telling him he wouldn’t be able to keep up.In addition to providing a stroll down memory lane, Coursen recounts the history of the postcard. Postcards were first introduced in Florida soon after making their debut at the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago. In 1906, Americans purchased 863 million of them, importing more than 32 tons of postcards from Germany alone. By 1913, Americans were sending more than a billion postcards annually.In spring 2012, players union president Derek Fisher sounded the alarm about troubles at the National Basketball Players Association, including the nepotism of executive director Billy Hunter.Media reports prompted various investigations into the union's business practices, including potential criminal activity.The most ominous of those investigations is ongoing. It is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney's office. The New York Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Labor are also on the case.Hunter's power, we have since learned, had grown to be nearly limitless within the union's gleaming Harlem headquarters. His opposition was absent, silent or (in the case of Pat Garrity a few years ago) shouted down. Some of the union's best jobs went to Hunters' best friend, daughter, daughter-in-law and nephew. Hunter's son works for the union's financial advisers, and the law firm that employed his daughter won important players association assignments. Several big decisions that required a board vote -- including major contracts -- have proceeded with or without the board's knowledge or approval.So when the union announced its own "independent" investigation of Hunter's business practices, it seemed almost laughable. With all due respect to the professionalism of the lawyers involved, before today's , what ability would any union investigation have to be independent of Hunter? Was there any chance this, of all investigations, would be the one to find serious misconduct?The least surprising press release in history followed eight months later, with Hunter announcing his satisfaction that "on the major issue, I am pleased that this report has confirmed what I have always known and said -- I did nothing illegal."The , and that's not exactly what it says.The report is hundreds of pages. They are so loaded with questionable behavior that a nearly amusing time-management issue emerges: With all the hours Hunter evidently dedicated to increasing his own salary, taking vacations, seeking reimbursement for work he allegedly did on vacation, directing complex deals to deliver union work to vendors with ties to his children, hiring friends and family ... how much time could he have really had to work on behalf of players?The document contains all kinds of emails and insider accounts. The most skillful and passionate work of Hunter's in this report almost always concerns things other than the goal of the organization he has run: improving working conditions for players.Just some of the things he is said to have been doing with his time:Whether or not Hunter has hurt the union is under review. But remember that in the big picture, he is paid to help it. How much better off might NBA players have been simply to have had an executive director focused more on executive directing?When the lawyers write that the union was "unable to operate as efficiently as it should" it's simple to see that must be so.One reason the report gives is the to-be-expected "deep rift among the NBPA staff.""NBPA employees," the report says, "concluded that Mr. Hunter was running the Union as a 'family business' and, in the word of one, felt 'surrounded' by Hunter family members."Throw in serious concerns raised in the report about poor CBA negotiating strategy in 2011 and various other first-hand accounts of the union dropping the ball, and it's clear the union could have been run better. This hurts players long before talk of crime.A key point: Despite Hunter's words, the report does not say he did nothing illegal. Instead, it says "the facts do not show" that Hunter "engaged in criminal acts involving embezzlement or theft of Union funds."In other words, evidence is lacking if you want to convict him of those two particular charges.But of any other potential charges, this report says ... nothing conclusive. Hunter has not been exonerated of any crimes other than embezzlement or theft of union funds.For instance, if you read carefully, the report mentions fraud as a concern."He could be found," says the report of an episode in which Hunter sought pay for time he may or may not have been vacationing, "to have defrauded the Union in the amount of tens of thousands of dollars. Our analysis of whether Mr. Hunter did so was ultimately inconclusive ..."But most importantly, the report includes a late-breaking passage with big implications (which did not earn mention in the executive summary or press release). At issue is the much-examined relationship between the union and Prim Capital, financial advisers whose fees rose after Hunter's son joined Prim's board.For a legal document, it reads like a scene in a detective novel:Even more alarming than Prims abrupt refusal to cooperate with this investigation is that on January 15, 2013, two days before this report was released, we received directly from Prim a document resembling a letter agreement for services between Prim and the union, which was purportedly executed in early March 2011. We had never seen this document previously. When interviewed, neither Mr. Hunter nor any Prim employees reported that a contract between Prim and the union had been signed in 2011. During the course of our investigation, Theresa Messer, the NBPAs director of finance, told us that the last known existing contract between Prim and the Union was a 2005 agreement, which had expired after one year, according to its terms, and we analyzed the unions relationship with Prim in light of that document. Indeed, when asked during his interview whether he would agree that there was currently no written contract in place with Prim, Hunter stated, "Im not aware of one," and added, "I would say if [the 2005 agreement] doesnt continue, we have an oral contract."When we brought the document that we received from Prim two days ago to the attention of Ms. Messer, who manages the unions use of Prim and meets with Prim representatives regularly, she was shocked to see it and confirmed that she had not been aware of its existence. She explained that in prior years, in response to requests from the unions outside auditors, who believe that the union should have valid contracts with key vendors, she has asked Prim for its most up-to-date agreement with the union. No document other than the 2005 contract was ever provided in response.Unlike each of the previous agreements between Prim and the union, which allowed for termination by either party without cause, the 2011 letter calls for a five-year term, stretching from the date of execution, that "cannot be cancelled or revoked while in effect for any reason by the NBPA," at a cost of $602,000 per year. In our opinion, this provision is highly unusual and inconsistent with normal business practices. In addition, although the by-laws require contracts for greater than $25,000 to be approved by the executive committee, we are aware of no evidence to suggest that the letter was approved by the executive committee.For these reasons and others, we have significant concerns about the validity of this document. Although we were not able to investigate these concerns before the release date of this report, we will continue to do so and will quickly provide our findings to the special committee. We have already discussed this matter with the U.S. Attorneys Office.Calls and messages for the union, players on the special committee that commissioned the report, and lawyers at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison have not been returned. It is unknown what, if any, findings have been forwarded to the special committee, as promised, in the weeks since the report's publication.But so long as lawyers have "significant concerns about the validity" of a contract promising $3 million in players association funds to a vendor with ties to Billy Hunter's family, and so long as the U.S. Attorney is interested in that, there's every chance the legal fallout from this could be serious and long-standing. Nobody is out of the woods.And the victims in all this, of course, have always been the NBA players, who have long been deprived the benefits of a director who puts their issues first.Perhaps now, with Hunter on indefinite leave and longtime staff attorney Ron Klempner filling in, the union can, for the first time in a long time, focus on serving the players more and the union's leader less.CollegesRKTEAM1$28,410,419$0$5,500$29,860,400$4,101,515$8,825,964$4,506,056$123,769,8412$44,691,119$1,832,229$318,000$35,057,421$0$191,690$16,639,171$120,288,3703$38,608,138$0$3,750,189$27,556,385$0$15,799,713$5,015,349$115,737,0224$21,122,966$2,578,306$283,376$42,630,821$0$3,907,635$10,184,021$106,607,8955$29,403,335$1,000,000$250,000$26,405,309$0$6,650,000$4,154,643$101,806,1966$40,258,325$0$245,178$15,138,000$58,817$2,025,000$11,087,101$99,027,1057$17,528,662$1,934,812$755,765$54,923,758$2,109,205$2,300,000$1,718,005$98,874,0928$26,936,910$0$330,000$18,777,294$3,356,669$5,660,555$2,705,018$95,118,1249$30,144,815$0$305,500$28,341,873$3,264,000$0$9,224,632$92,476,14610*--------------$91,570,233RKTEAM11$21,991,623$5,195,136$106,289$34,897,688$0$4,650,000$6,079,271$89,311,82412$18,716,327$3,073,606$1,966,874$30,542,918$0$4,107,627$8,315,014$85,554,39513$28,519,228$0$1,498,466$23,252,017$0$6,841,868$2,345,902$85,018,20514*--------------$83,352,43915$17,630,120$1,907,119$135,500$37,089,914$1,976,277$6,939,857$3,107,370$82,976,04716$19,103,235$1,487,795$1,544,021$21,404,864$800,000$1,500,000$5,371,577$81,515,86517$21,870,622$0$4,016,571$19,501,782$298,568$829,600$3,777,152$81,390,68618$35,162,720$150,000$537,000$13,255,316$0$209,125$9,651,372$77,098,00819*--------------$76,661,46620*--------------$76,409,919RKTEAM21$30,560,065$0$208,000$16,410,663$0$3,908,483$8,858,680$75,492,88422$13,393,780$6,590,629$2,132,221$25,190,569$0$291,667$12,284,211$73,458,49423$27,263,673$568,996$156,000$11,980,590$0$7,512,601$5,788,505$71,727,24324$20,361,691$0$225,240$5,149,444$4,241,212$611,000$6,025,620$68,951,69225*--------------$67,820,33526$14,296,494$2,930,324$1,304,500$14,159,705$1,272,372$1,283,459$4,582,018$67,818,40327$20,821,727$1,987,931$310,000$18,039,591$0$574,921$2,983,978$66,545,95328$28,645,905$0$19,309$12,768,088$1,518,452$1,561,000$2,279,843$66,174,91629$17,861,212$6,205,790$1,825,440$15,892,163$0$10,194,418$2,653,080$66,148,18630$22,402,565$2,646,743$3,587,023$8,354,437$210,000$6,855,613$7,744,834$66,088,264RKTEAM31$17,486,754$6,157,813$236,231$17,345,132$367,642$2,766,994$1,453,744$64,412,34332$14,895,325$11,119,358$1,556,651$18,933,467$0$0$3,561,647$64,396,61233$15,481,732$2,241,249$2,063,356$13,894,187$5,209,697$0$6,373,873$64,326,05734$17,596,957$0$1,091,710$10,411,973$0$0$5,058,518$64,253,78435*--------------$61,203,34036$22,556,942$0$1,609,393$12,682,342$1,849,894$925,600$6,589,490$60,729,01637$12,115,588$8,601,302$1,573,651$12,612,828$2,698,244$0$5,575,476$59,624,10038$21,097,510$1,501,216$1,414,151$14,109,137$2,435,268$777,500$2,929,444$59,180,65239$14,389,989$0$180,500$9,848,448$0$0$4,512,149$57,155,33340$17,410,851$0$830,321$18,347,181$0$2,674,268$519,750$56,623,901The American Athletic Conference will be far from the best league in America in its inaugural season, 2013-14.But it might have the best team.Louisville -- which will compete in the conference for just one season before bolting for the ACC -- returns three starters and nearly every key reserve from the squad that cut down the nets in Atlanta in April.Considering most pundits call the Cardinals a threat to repeat as NCAA champion, it seems like a foregone conclusion that Rick Pitinos team will win its own league. In fact, of all the major conferences in the country, the American seems to have the most obvious shoo-in champ in Louisville.Not that the rest of the league members are ready to admit it.As potent as , , , and the rest of the Cards appear, there are plenty of other schools in the league that feel more than capable of challenging the defending champion.Heres a quick look at the teams that could alter Louisvilles quest for a league title in its only year in the American Athletic Conference.Biggest challengersMemphis: After dominating Conference USA for years -- including a 16-0 finish last season -- the Tigers will be eager to test themselves against higher-level competition during league play. , and are gone from last seasons 31-5 squad, but there is hardly a shortage of talent on the roster. Memphis biggest strength will be its backcourt, which should be among the best in the country and No. 1 in the conference. Point guard , a three-year starter who averaged 13.6 points last season, is back along with standout shooters and , an energy guy. The biggest key, though, centers on the eligibility status of former Missouri player Michael Dixon, who will be Memphis top overall guard if the NCAA grants him a waiver that would allow him to play. If Dixon is eligible, the Tigers could employ a four-guard lineup at times. Coach Josh Pastner is counting on sophomore to make significant strides in the paint after averaging 7.4 points in 20.2 minutes last season. Power forward and small forward are freshmen who are expected to make an immediate impact for a program that nearly upset Louisville in nonconference action last season.Connecticut: Speaking of strong backcourts, Connecticut will also have one of the best thanks to the return of guards and , who combined to average 33.5 points and nine assists last season. Double-digit scorers (12.1 points) and (11.1) also return. The biggest concern with UConn is its lack of depth in the paint. The Huskies ranked second-to-last in the Big East last season in rebounding. Overall, though, Kevin Ollies first season at Connecticut was deemed a success. He did an excellent job under difficult circumstances. The Huskies -- who were banned from postseason competition -- had nothing to play for but went 20-10. Heres betting that Ollies second season will be defined by even more success.Fringe challengersCincinnati: The Bearcats took a hit when underrated point guard graduated, but optimism for Mick Cronins squad is still high thanks to the return of second-team All-Big East selection , who averaged 17 points as a junior and 14.6 points as a sophomore. Kilpatrick has been one of the top players for Team USA in this summers World University Games in Russia. Forward also returns after averaging 5.9 points and 5.9 rebounds as a junior. In all, Cincinnati returns seven players who averaged double-digit minutes for a team that went 22-12 and lost in the NCAA tournament to Creighton. Expect power forward -- the 35th-ranked recruit in the Class of 2013 by ESPN.com -- to play a big role as a freshman.SMU: Could the Mustangs earn their first NCAA tournament berth since 1993 one season after finishing 15-17? Enough help is on the way to make it a possibility. Illinois State transfer Nic Moore, who redshirted last season, was named to the Missouri Valley Conference all-freshman team in 2011-12. Signee Yanick Moreira was the top-ranked junior college big man in the nation, and incoming freshman will become the first McDonalds All-American ever to suit up for SMU, which also returns three double-digit scorers in , and . If Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown gets this group to jell quickly, this could be the best season for Mustangs basketball in recent memory. SMU is also nearing completion on a renovation project of about $50 million to Moody Coliseum, which is scheduled to reopen in December.SleepersTemple: The Owls lost their top three players in , and . Still, Temple will be considered a threat as long as Fran Dunphy is the coach. Dunphy has led Temple to six straight NCAA tournament berths and at least 24 wins in each of the past four seasons. The Owls will be sparked by leading returning scorer and rebounder , a forward who averaged 9.8 points and 6.8 boards last season. Starting guard is also back after averaging 5.8 points and 1.9 assists.Houston: James Dickeys squad won 20 games last season but went just 7-9 in Conference USA. There are enough returning pieces to make the 2013-14 season a success, even with the transfer of leading scorer Joseph Young. Houston brings back standout forward (16.9 points, 9.8 rebounds) and athletic wing , who should make tremendous strides after averaging 12.4 points as a freshman. The Cougars also will add Danrad "Chicken" Knowles, a 2012 signee who was academically ineligible last season. House was the 19th-ranked player in the Class of 2012 ESPN 100; Knowles was No. 51. Dickey also is crossing his fingers that Baylor transfer is granted a waiver that would allow him to play immediately. Rose was the ninth-ranked point guard in the Class of 2012 (No. 63 overall) but played sparingly as a freshman at Baylor last season as a backup to Big 12 scoring leader .Paying off student loans: Introduction By Repaying the loans you took to get your degree is a given. But there are ways to manage those payments and even have some forgiven. Once you've earned your degree, you have to begin paying back the loans. In this chapter, we explain the types of payment plans you can use, how to consolidate several student loans into one (and when that's a good move), what the federal government can do for you if you take a job that is service-oriented and what to do if you get behind on your repayment plan. What can you expect to learn from this chapter: Knowing the terms and the amount of your loan are the beginning of the process. We walk you through the repayment plans you may choose from. If you have several loans, you may want to consolidate them into just one. Here's what you need to know to do that -- and what pitfalls to avoid. The federal government will forgive some of your loans if you're a teacher or a nurse or do other community-service work. See what it takes to qualify. Missing student loan payments has the same consequences as failing other debt obligations. Here's what to do if you get behind. Test how much you learned about student loans.Picking the right college for you By For many college-bound students, choosing just the right school can be even more stressful than taking the SAT exam. How do you choose, from among more than 3,500 American colleges and universities, the place where you'll live and learn for four years? Beyond that, how do you find the school you love -- and can also afford? Savvy students and parents should start by pinpointing what they most want and need in a college. Make your own customized list or check a few Internet sites for ideas. Specifications for schoolsSome sites, such as The Princeton Review, allow you to plug in specifications and get a computerized list of schools that match your criteria. Some factors you should consider:School specifications???????? ? Two-year or four-year school: Two-year schools, such as may offer smaller classes, professors who are better at teaching since they're not hired to do academic research and a chance for less-than-star students to wipe out a not-so-great high school record. Financially, two-year colleges can be a bargain, too. Four-year schools might be a better choice for students who want to be surrounded by mostly A- and B-grade students; want a college with great resources, like a big library and lots of cultural and athletic activities; want a school where most students live on campus; and enjoy a college with a strong sense of community. ? Academic strength: Colleges usually disclose the average SAT scores and high school grades of their incoming freshmen. Families can use these statistics to decide whether the school is academically challenging enough, or perhaps too rigorous, for their student. ? Price: This information can be hard to find on a college's Web site or in their admissions brochure, especially for private colleges. These institutions know that tuition prices tend to scare off incoming students and their families. So dig a little. Some Web sites, such as , let you search for colleges by their price tags. You can also find out which colleges in your price range offer need-based financial aid and outright monetary grants in areas such as academics, athletics and leadership skills. ? Size: Is the school small or large, based both on number of students and acreage? If it's a large school, does it offer any living/learning programs? These are like small colleges within large universities. ? Surroundings: Does the student prefer a school located in or near a big city? Or would a rural area be a better fit? ? Specific states or regions: Some students might want to live reasonably close to home, so they can visit high school friends or go home to do laundry. Other students may be interested in a totally new living experience -- a warm climate if they've always lived in a snow zone or a big city if they've grown up in a small town. Keep in mind that travel costs during summer vacation and on breaks will vary significantly, depending on how far the student must travel to and from school. Be sure to work that into your annual college budget. ? Majors: Does the student prefer a school that offers a wide range of fields of study or one that specializes in one or two high-profile programs? ? Attitude/religion: Is the school known to be conservative/traditional; diverse; or liberal and/or unconventional? Is the college secular or does it have strong religious ties? Early decision, early action Some schools offer what are called "early decision" and "early action" programs that give students the chance to apply -- and get an answer -- before the regular admissions deadline. This may be something you want to consider if you have one school that's your top choice. The problem is that with early decision you are making a commitment to attend that school if accepted. By making that commitment, you are giving up your ability to compare financial aid packages you might be offered otherwise. -- Posted: March 31, 2006 Page 1The rising costs of college By For families with children, there may be few financial issues quite as daunting as paying for Junior's college education. The average cost of a year at a four-year public school costs more than $16,000 today -- and a private school costs about twice that. Heading to an Ivy-league school? Costs can top out at more than $40,000 a year. If your child won't enroll in school until 2023, some of those annual dollar amounts may reach six figures. Even more astonishing than the sticker price is the rate of tuition increases. In recent years, college price hikes have outpaced inflation, and they'll probably continue to do so. There are plenty of good reasons: Colleges must stay abreast of the latest technology, offer top-notch libraries and labs, and have spectacular recreation centers and athletic facilities. Colleges must pay to attract great faculty members, and have enough professors to achieve low faculty-to-student ratios. As colleges compete for the best and brightest students across the nation, students have come to expect amenities like laptops and wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) Internet access. Those things come with a price. Is college worth the money? All this taken into consideration, college is still worth every penny. Studies show that a college graduate makes, on average, about a million dollars more over a lifetime than someone with only a high school education. And there's more good news: Very few students will pay the full sticker price of a college education. More than $105 billion in financial aid is offered each year from the federal and state governments, institutions themselves, and private organizations. And if you don't have enough saved to write a check for your child, don't think for a moment you're alone: More than 60 percent of students attending four-year public colleges and universities and more than 75 percent of those at private schools are getting some sort of financial aid. So how can you qualify for this money? The first step is to find out how much your family is expected to contribute to the overall cost of education by filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA takes into account factors including a family's income, assets, children, and number of children in college to come up with a number known as the expected family contribution (EFC). It's a lengthy process, and you'll need to have a number of documents handy to fill out the form completely, including tax returns, W-2 forms, bank statements, mortgage information, records of untaxed income and business and farm records. The effort is worth it, though, because the FAFSA is used to apply for federal and state loans and grants. You can even fill out the . Your EFC is generally what schools use to create your financial aid package, no matter what the price of the school. If your EFC is $10,000 and you attend a school that costs $8,000, you'll be expected to come up with the money to pay for your education. Attend a school that costs $22,000, however, and your need will be $12,000. Your EFC is only a benchmark, however, and some schools will expect more from you, some less. EFC is calculated in two ways: One is called Federal Methodology (FM), the second Institutional Methodology (IM). Some schools use only FM while others factor in their IM, especially when looking at nonfederal aid such as a grant from the school itself. Schools will often offer aid packages that consist of grants, loans and work-study. Dependent or independent? Through age 24, a student is considered dependent, and EFC is calculated with the assumption that parents will contribute to the cost-with a few exceptions. Students are considered independent if they're married, in graduate or professional school, have children or other legal dependents who receive at least half of their support from the student, or are a veteran or an orphan. Don't meet any of those criteria? At the discretion of the financial aid administrator, you may still be considered independent, but you'll have to have very unusual circumstances. After all, what parents wouldn't want their children to be considered "independent" if it could save them thousands of dollars? Many worry that they won't be able to pay for their children's college educations without getting mired in debt, but the key to avoiding that scenario is planning. If you're willing to put in the time to get to know the myriad education savings plans, grants, scholarships and loans that are available, you will be able to make it work. Paying for college is rarely easy, but the dividends are well worth it. -- Posted: March 31, 2006529 savings plans By To encourage families to start saving early for college, all states now sponsor what are commonly called 529 plans. Named after the section of the federal tax code that allows them, they offer significant tax benefits. There are two basic types of 529 plans: and . The more popular is the savings plan. With a 529 savings plan, parents open an account and choose an investment strategy. Earnings accumulate tax free and withdrawals can be made tax free, when it's time to pay for a child's college expenses including tuition, books, and room and board. How it works Money from a state-sponsored college savings plan can be used to pay for educational expenses at any accredited college or university. Each savings program offers parents several different investment choices. Because many state programs are open to nonresidents, it makes sense for parents to shop around for a plan that best meets their financial and educational needs. A popular type of college savings plan begins with some aggressive investments and grows more conservative as the potential college student grows up. Many plans allow anyone -- from any state -- to contribute to a 529 plan. If you start a 529 account for your child in your home state, grandparents or even friends can contribute to it, even if they live across the country. For example, if you start a 529 plan in Minnesota, relatives or friends who live in Oregon can still contribute. The caveat is that some states may charge residents a tax on earnings on out-of-state 529s. Not college-bound So you've planned ahead for your child's education. What happens if a potential college student decides not to go to college? A parent has three basic choices: ?Hang on to the savings plan ?Transfer it to another family member ?Cash out and pay a penalty Some parents hang on to the 529 plan in case the child decides to attend university at a later date. Others transfer the account over to another family member. Some parents decide to cash out the plan and pay a penalty. Most states collect a penalty of 10 percent of the earnings on any withdrawal that is used for non-educational purposes. A federal penalty equal to 10 percent of earnings will be charged as well. No penalty will be assessed if a beneficiary should die or become disabled. While the tax-free withdrawals clearly make 529 plans attractive financial options, they may not be right for every family. The reason? Participating in a 529 plan affects a family's eligibility for financial aid. Who can benefit? Some financial advisers urge lower-income families, who are likely to receive a large amount of financial aid, to pass on 529 plans. If you're likely to qualify for financial aid, the existence of a 529 savings plan may reduce or eliminate the amount of aid you can receive. That's because for financial-aid purposes, savings plans are considered an asset of the account owner. If the parents hold the plan, the amount of financial aid the student may be eligible for will be reduced by up to 5.6 percent of the savings account. A family with $40,000 in a 529 savings plan, for example, would see their financial aid decrease by as much as $2,240. College savings plans may make the most sense for upper-income families who won't qualify for financial aid and for middle-income families who qualify for loans and little else. Risks While a state-sponsored plan has benefits, the costs may be higher than you think. Invest in a high-priced plan and you'll lose a nice chunk of earnings to hefty management expenses and other fees. Let's say your family contributes $600 a year to a college savings plan with a $50 annual maintenance fee. And let's suppose an 8 percent return. By year's end the account balance would swell to $648. But that $50 maintenance fee would knock it back down to $598. So after a year of investing, you've got $2 less than when you started. A key advantage of a 529 plan -- tax-free earnings -- matters little if fees eat up all or most of your earnings. The good news is many college savings plans will waive annual maintenance fees to in-state residents, people who make automatic contributions and people with large account balances, often $25,000 or more. The bad news? There are plenty of other fees to worry about. Several college savings plans charge you a one-time enrollment fees right from the get-go. These fees range from $10 to $90, and most are under $50. -- Posted: March 31, 2005 Page 1Reduce your contribution, increase aid By Whether you've been saving for Junior's college education for years or haven't set aside a dime, when the senior year of high school rolls around there are a few immediate steps you should take to what you're expected to contribute. First, you'll want to by . There are ways to allocate your assets that will shift your amount of need -- and the contributions of outside sources -- significantly. Doing that can reduce the amount your family must pony up, called your Expected Family Contribution (EFC), while increasing the amount of aid you can receive. Often the steps you can take to improve your need are counterintuitive, which is why it's so important to understand how financial need works. ? Shifting income and assets. About two years before your child is expected to attend college, consider how you might reposition your assets so they're viewed most favorably on applications for assistance. You may want to consult with a financial planning professional. The amount of aid for which you're eligible in a given year is determined by the previous year's earnings. If you have control over the timing of some of your income or capital gains, you may want to try to take that income either two years before enrollment or defer it. Capital gains will count both as income and an asset and could have a devastating effect on aid eligibility. True, deferring it might just make the next year worse, but the rules are always changing. Worry about this year first. Another option is to reduce your reportable assets. It may not seem to make sense to pay off that car loan with the cash or stock when your child is headed off to college, but it may actually be a wise decision. By doing so, you simultaneously reduce your reportable assets, such as cash or stock, and increase your financial need. You don't have to be paying off debts, though. You can contribute to a charity or go on a vacation. Don't go overboard, but anything that reduces your reportable assets will help your chances of securing aid. ? Play the name game. Consider saving for your child's education in your own name -- that bank account you've started in Junior's name for college might not be as smart as you think. Your child's assets aren't protected the same way as yours, so it's often not a good idea to save money for college in your child's name. Having $10,000 in a savings account under your name might be a $560 annual contribution to college costs, but that same account in your child's name would be a $3,500 contribution. It always pays to save, but be careful how you do it. ? Get expert advice. Everyone's situation is different, and when it comes to college, where costs can easily top six figures, it may also be worth your while to hire a financial adviser who can work out a variety of different scenarios for you. Sometimes you can secure a discount on college costs simply by paying in advance. ? Check alternative payment plans. Some colleges offer prepaid tuition plans in which you can beat annual price increases by paying for all four years in advance. Obviously, it carries some significant risks if your child drops out (though you will likely receive some refund), and it also requires a significant outlay of cash. If you can prepay for a year, you may receive up to a 10 percent discount at some colleges. Beyond that, you may want to see if you can secure a monthly payment plan from the college. Some companies, including and , offer monthly payment plans. -- Posted: March 31, 2005Federal loans and grants By Uncle Sam offers a number of programs to help relieve some of the burden of paying for higher education, from Pell grants to Perkins loans. Here's a rundown of the programs and how you can take advantage of them: Grants and loans????? ? As noted earlier, the first step to receiving federal aid is filling out a , which can be obtained online, from a high school counselor or by calling (800) 4-FED-AID. The U.S. Department of Education administers federal college aid programs. To be eligible for federal student aid, you must: ? Demonstrate financial need (not part of the criteria for some loans). ? Be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen with a valid Social Security number. ? Show, by any of the means below, that you're qualified to obtain a post-high school education: ? Have a high school diploma or a General Education Development, or GED, certificate. ? Pass a test approved by the Department of Education. ? Comply with any state standards the Department of Education approves. ? Complete a high school education through a state-approved home-schooling program. ? Be enrolled as a regular student (that is, you have to be working toward a degree or certificate) in an eligible program. ? Register with the Selective Service, if required. ? Not be in default on a federal student loan or owe money on a federal student grant. ? Not be convicted of selling or possessing illegal drugs. ? Maintain satisfactory academic progress once in school. After you've proved that you fulfill all these requirements and you submit your FAFSA, the government will consider you for the aid programs they offer. Federal student aid comes in two flavors: gift aid and self-help aid. You don't have to pay back gift aid, and the self-help aid programs allow you to earn money or to borrow money for school. Borrowed money, as it implies, must be repaid. Pell grants and FSEOGs Gift-aid programs include the federal Pell grant program and the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program. These grants are generally available only to students who do not yet have bachelor's degrees. In some cases they might be awarded to students enrolled in post-baccalaureate teacher certification programs. come in varying amounts -- depending on your need and the cost of attendance and whether you attend full time or part time -- from several hundred to several thousand dollars. go to students with exceptional financial need. As with Pell Grants, FSEOG-award amounts range from several hundred dollars to several thousand a year, depending on the student's financial need. Students who receive Pell grants also are at the top of the priority list for receiving FSEOGs. FSEOGs have a few limitations that Pell grants don't. For one, the amount of your FSEOG can be reduced if you receive other forms of student aid. Also, each school receives a limited amount of FSEOG money; when it's gone, it's gone. That's why it's very important to apply for financial aid as early as you can. You'll have a better chance of obtaining FSEOG money if you're eligible for it. Work-study The is a key form of self-help aid. Work-study allows undergraduate and graduate students to work part time and earn money while they're in school. And more money earned equals less money needed in loans. Work-study jobs are usually on campus, but some schools make arrangements for private, non-profit organizations or public agencies to provide work-study jobs, too. These jobs pay undergraduates by the hour and at least the minimum wage. Graduate students may earn an hourly wage or a modest monthly salary. Students aren't allowed to work more than the number of work-study hours awarded to them in their financial-aid package. Like FSEOGs, work-study funds at each school are limited, and are doled out on a first-come, first-served basis. Students who apply for financial aid early have a better chance of getting work-study funds -- and a campus job they might actually like. -- Posted: March 31, 2005 Page 1Scoring a private scholarship or grant By If you think your amazing harmonica-playing skills or your exemplary Girl Scout leadership should be worth some free money for college, you may be right. Thousands of private scholarships and grants are available each year through the largesse of businesses, companies, nonprofit organizations, clubs, societies and unions across the country. Winning a scholarship isn't just for the academically gifted or for members of minority groups, although that doesn't hurt. You just need to get smart about sniffing out scholarship money and making it yours. Tracking down and applying for private scholarships and grants involves both considerable effort and considerable variability in results. There isn't a single scholarship clearinghouse that includes every program in America. Nor do you always win big. While a scholarship from the Colorado-based Boettcher Foundation can net a lucky student up to $120,000, you're more likely to get $200 here, $500 there. Winning a scholarship is a numbers game: The more you apply for, the better your chances of getting some money in return. And every little bit adds up. To start your hunt: ? First think local. You'll have a better chance of winning a local scholarship, available to a smaller number of applicants, than a state or national award. Start in your high school counselor's office. ? Log onto the Web. A number of Internet search engines provide free access to scholarship listings, so bypass paid subscription-based for the likes of , , CollegeBoard.com's , , CollegeNet's scholarship search, and SallieMae's . If you're willing to wade through a few Websites yourself, you might find a gem with a database put out by the , which includes private grants and scholarships available to students pre-college through postdoctoral. Another good breaks up grants by study subject areas. ? Hit the books. Mammoth tomes such as Peterson's "Scholarships, Grants and Prizes" book, the College Board's "Scholarship Handbook," or "The Scholarship Book" are updated yearly and list thousands of scholarships with prizes ranging from $100 to $135,000. Your local library or school guidance center should have a copy. ? Check with a scholarship management service. Not every private group administers its own scholarship program; some contract with private scholarship management services to do it for them. For instance, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation uses the Preliminary SAT as a launching point for a competition that distributes about $50 million in scholarships annually. Another nonprofit organization, Scholarship America, helps local groups distribute scholarship money through its Dollars for Scholars program. Scholarship management organizations that target minority groups include the American Indian College Fund, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute, the United Negro College Fund and the Gates Millennium Scholarship Fund. ? Get face-to-face help. The scholarships least likely to be listed in mammoth online databases are the ones you're most likely to win: local and regional scholarships that offer smaller dollar amounts but better odds. Work with your high school or college counselor to get a heads-up on money you might qualify for. Finding a scholarship you can win Whether need-based, merit-based or association-based -- or an unfortunate combination of the three -- most scholarships carry enough restrictions to make for a naturally limited applicant pool. That can be frustrating, but it can also work in your favor. Just consider what makes you special and what might make you eligible for a particular scholarship. What are your career goals? What academic field do you intend to enter? What unions, social clubs and civic groups, like the Rotary Club, do you or your parents belong to? Do you have any interesting hobbies? (You'd be surprised by the number of scholarships available for ham radio operators.) Where do you and your parents work? If you haven't come across a scholarship that matches your interests, do a -- for instance, of the terms "sculpture" and "scholarship." Once you've created a list of scholarships to apply for keep careful track of their due dates, which may fall throughout the year. Fill out an if you intend to apply for a need-based scholarship. For tips on writing winning scholarship application essays or acing interviews, you might want to consult a book like Gen and Kelly Tanabe's "Get Free Cash for College: Secrets to Winning Scholarships" or Ben Kaplan's "Scholarship Scouting Report." When you do get a scholarship offer, make sure you know what you're committing to before you send a letter of acceptance. Occasionally, stringent requirements dictate that you maintain a certain GPA, take a certain number of credit hours or enroll in a specific program to keep your scholarship. -- Posted: March 31, 2005The changes that occur in college football in the spring are supposed to take place underground. The roots of a team, planted by winter conditioning, begin to grab hold in the spring and, with the right amount of toil, sweat and prayer, bloom in the fall.That's how it's supposed to work. In recent years, however, college football has done its changing in the offseason, one blockbuster news story after another: scandal, realignment, plus-one, more scandal.This spring, however, the high tide of off-field news receded. We did find out the Conference Formerly Known as the Big East will become the American Athletic Conference, which is just as well, given the change in membership. ACC members decided to renew their wedding vows, which signaled to one and all that the heavy lifting of realignment is done. Elsewhere, there has been more evolution than change. For instance, never have so many been so overjoyed merely by the use of the shift key. The college football playoff, the holy grail of frustrated fans across the country for a generation, is now the College Football Playoff.With the minimalist name comes the maximalist arena. The inaugural event will be played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Cotton Bowl, after being benched for two seasons, has been restored in good standing to the sport's postseason elite. That might be the most unlikely comeback in the sport since Bill Walsh followed his bliss back to Stanford two decades ago. All the Metroplex bowl people needed was a $1 billion stadium with a video screen the size of Rhode Island.Two-time defending national champion Alabama went about replacing nine players taken in the NFL draft, including three of the first 11 players. Nine turnovers in the spring game -- nine! -- indicate that the Crimson Tide have work left to do. Nick Saban didn't have the luck David Shaw did. The Stanford coach got what he described as an "NFL player" dropped into his lap in February when former Cardinal tailback , who left the team last year to play professional baseball, asked whether he could return to the team. By the end of spring practice, Gaffney, who will be a fifth-year senior, shared the top of the depth chart at tailback with . Stanford is five-deep at tailback with the best left side of the line in college football (tackle , All-American guard ). The Cardinal brand of physical football is evolving.Texas A&M, squinting in the glare of the spotlight on Johnny Football, developed a game plan for quarterback Johnny Manziel's publicity. He won't be freelancing the way he does on the field. Even with the loss of All-American left tackle Luke Joeckel, the second player selected in the NFL draft, the Aggies' greater need is replacing the core of their veteran defense. At Oregon, new coach Mark Helfrich has brought a quieter vibe to the office once led by Chip Kelly and, if possible, a faster pace to the offense. Speaking of quiet, there has been little uproar in Eugene since the university made public the news that the NCAA hasn't found a lack of institutional control in the case involving the recruiting services of Willie Lyles. There is hope at Oregon that the NCAA's committee on infractions will follow the lead of its investigators and decide not to severely punish the Ducks. Yes, we did circle back to NCAA violations. Auburn withstood (again) published allegations of wrongdoing on its way to the 2010 BCS championship. The Miami investigation continued to stain both the university and the NCAA as officials from each entity took potshots at the other. There is no good outcome there, except that it will come to an end, perhaps even in our lifetime.It might not be good news for Penn State football, but it is good news for Penn State: The biggest headline this spring is that sophomore quarterback decided to transfer for football reasons. In State College, dog is biting man once again. In the state of college football, all anyone wants is a return to normalcy.Broaden your focus for a moment, past the nitty-gritty details of the schedules and two-deeps and likely storylines for the 2013 college football season, and ask yourself this: Which programs are most likely to be successful, not just this year, but over the next three?That's exactly what we asked our panel of experts, and below we offer you the fruits of their labor: A top-25 ranking of the teams most likely to compete for and win championships over the next three seasons. Or, as we like to call it, the College Football Future Power Rankings.Will resurgent programs like Notre Dame, Texas A&M and UCLA continue to climb the national title pecking order? Will struggling powers like Oklahoma, Texas and USC be able to stop their respective declines? And does anyone have a chance of taking over Alabama's throne as the top program in college football?Our panel of experts -- Travis Haney, Brock Huard, Tom Luginbill, Todd McShay and Mark Schlabach -- found answers to these questions by rating programs in five different categories (Coaching, Current Talent, Recruiting, Title Path and Program Power) to generate an overall score. (For more information on how these rankings were put together, .) They then weighed in with their analysis on each team.Here you have it: The top 25 college football programs for the next three seasons.The bar graphs reflect the average rating given by the voters for each category.Category averages are weighted by importance to generate overall score.Coaching: There was no doubt among our panelists as to which program has the best coaching situation in the country going forward. "Nick Saban's 'process' is the envy of every other team in the country," says Schlabach. "As long as he's there, they're going to be at the very top." And our panel is betting that Saban will continue to be on the Crimson Tide's sideline the next three seasons. "I don't think he's at an age where he's looking to seek out a new challenge," Luginbill says of the 61-year-old Saban. "I think he wants to see if he can create, quite possibly, the greatest dynasty in the history of college football."Current Talent: In addition to established stars like QB , RB , WR , OT , LB and FS , there is young talent ready to step in after them. RB , WR , FS and LB are among the guys to keep an eye on. As is tight end . "If there's one position where they haven't had a true difference-maker since Saban has been there, it's at tight end," says Luginbill. "Howard could be that guy."Recruiting: The anatomy of a perfect 10 rating: The Crimson Tide haven't finished outside the top three in ESPN's recruiting class rankings since 2007, and they're coming off back-to-back No. 1 classes. They currently own the No. 2 class for 2014 on the strength of highly ranked pocket passer 's .Title Path: This was the only category in which the Tide slipped a little, a credit to the ultracompetitive SEC West. But as Alabama has shown in the past two seasons, it's possible for an SEC team to withstand a conference loss and still make it to the national championship game.Program Power: As important as Saban is, our experts agree that Alabama's facilities, resources and institutional support contribute greatly to the program's success. "You have every resource at your disposal there to win long term. It's what separates them from everybody else," says Luginbill. "Everybody's heard the 'all-in' slogan when talking about college football programs. But when Alabama uses the phrase 'all-in,' they're not just talking about the football program; they're talking about the university as a whole. Whether you're the track coach or the assistant professor in the sociology wing, everybody there understands that when football drives the bus, everybody wins." To see the complete list and analysis of the top 25 teams in Insider's College Football Future Power Rankings, sign up today .Joe somehow edged out The Pro in the second week of the season. It’s a trend that’s not expected to last.Lee Sterling of ParamountSports.com, the professional analyst of this feature, went 6-2 straight-up and 3-4 against the spread in Week 2. Joe, The Herald’s national college football writer, was 6-2 straight-up and 4-3 against the spread. Joe nailed USF’s stunning, 1-point victory at Nevada, and Lee impressively picked Kansas State’s rout of Miami and Florida’s gutsy victory at Texas A&M.Entering Week 3, the competition between Joe and The Pro is neck-and-neck. Lee is 13-3 straight-up and 7-5 against the spread for the season. Overall, Joe is 14-2 straight-up and 7-5 against the spread.This week’s picks:BETHUNE-COOKMAN AT MIAMI Line: No line Joe: The demoralized Canes cannot overlook Bethune-Cookman. The Wildcats feature a talented defense and a veteran offensive line. Miami 35, BCU 14 Pro: Canes need a feel good game after defense decided not to make the trip play Kansas State last week. Miami 48, BCU 14 WAKE FOREST AT FLORIDA STATE Line: FSU by 28 Joe: The Demon Deacons were nearly upset by Liberty in their season opener but, considering Wake Forest defeated FSU last season, this line seems a little ridiculous. FSU 31, Wake Forest 13 Pro: Demon Deacons have two things that should keep them within striking distance. QB Tanner Price can sling it with the best of the ACC signal callers and the defensive game plan is to limit big plays. Florida State 41, Wake Forest 17FLORIDA AT TENNESSEE Line: UT by 3 Joe: The tattoo on the back of Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray might be the dirtiest thing in the SEC this season. It’s worth a search on the Internet. As for the game, Vols get the “glory story” over Gators’ coach Will Muschamp. UT 25, Florida 21 Pro: Tyler Bray is the best QB to play in Knoxville since Peyton Manning. Vols new 3-4 defense installed by former Alabama LB coach Sal Sunseri has already produced 10 fumbles and 5 interceptions. Tennessee 28, Florida 17FLORIDA ATLANTIC AT GEORGIA Line: UGA by 42.5 Joe: I live for spreads of 40 or more points. Easily the game of the week in college football. UGA 51, FAU 7 Pro: Owl coach Pelini called his team “disjointed”. That statement is kind to say the least after allowing Middle Tennessee State team to rush for over 300 yards with a backup RB and a rebuilt OL. Georgia 56, FAU 7FIU AT CENTRAL FLORIDA Line: UCF by 17 Joe: It seems the betting world has finally figured out FIU. Panthers fail to cover for the third straight week. UCF 42, FIU 17 Pro: Time for HC Mario Cristobal to crack the whip after allowing MAC doormat Akron to score 38 points and take Golden Panthers to OT. UCF 31, FIU 21BYU AT UTAH Line: BYU by 4 Joe: BYU’s offense reminds me of the 2006 Florida Gators. Quarterback Riley Nelson is backed up by freshman Taysom Hill, the Cougars’ Tim Tebow. Non sequitur: In Salt Lake City, there’s a local micro-brew called Polygamy Porter. BYU 35, Utah 21 Pro: Cougar players circled this game since 54-10 debacle last year. Unless Utah backup QB Jon Hayes has been playing possum, opportunistic BYU defense yielding less than 10 PPG might have field day. BYU 35, Utah 14NOTRE DAME AT MICHIGAN STATE Line: MSU by 6 Joe: Irish coach Brian Kelly has managed to manufacture another quarterback saga just in time for Notre Dame’s big early season test. Who’s going to start at quarterback? Who’s going to finish? It doesn’t matter this week. MSU 27, Notre Dame 20 Pro: Irish offense needs to run to set up the pass. Spartans defense awful salty allowing just 37 and 72 rush yards in first two games. Sparty is 11-4 series play. Michigan State 26, Notre Dame 14ALABAMA AT ARKANSAS Line: Alabama by 21 Joe: This has nothing to do with this game, but would Auburn actually consider hiring coach Bobby Petrino after what happen at Arkansas? Rumors say yes. Talk about sleeze hitting an all-time low in the SEC. Alabama 35, Arkansas 15 Pro: One week after losing to Louisiana-Monroe of the Sun Belt, Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson shows off his cannon arm and his wide receivers dent vulnerable Tide pass defense. Alabama 31, Arkansas 24 Joe vs. The Pro is a weekly college football feature that analyzes games and predicts the outcome against the spread. Sterling, a nationally respected numbers man, has been analyzing spreads for more than 20 years. Joe analyzes spreads in less than 20 seconds.Joe somehow edged out The Pro in the second week of the season. It’s a trend that’s not expected to last.Lee Sterling of ParamountSports.com, the professional analyst of this feature, went 6-2 straight-up and 3-4 against the spread in Week 2. Joe, The Herald’s national college football writer, was 6-2 straight-up and 4-3 against the spread. Joe nailed USF’s stunning, 1-point victory at Nevada, and Lee impressively picked Kansas State’s rout of Miami and Florida’s gutsy victory at Texas A&M.Entering Week 3, the competition between Joe and The Pro is neck-and-neck. Lee is 13-3 straight-up and 7-5 against the spread for the season. Overall, Joe is 14-2 straight-up and 7-5 against the spread. This week’s picks:BETHUNE-COOKMAN AT MIAMI Line: No line Joe: The demoralized Canes cannot overlook Bethune-Cookman. The Wildcats feature a talented defense and a veteran offensive line. Miami 35, BCU 14 Pro: Canes need a feel good game after defense decided not to make the trip play Kansas State last week. Miami 48, BCU 14 WAKE FOREST AT FLORIDA STATE Line: FSU by 28 Joe: The Demon Deacons were nearly upset by Liberty in their season opener but, considering Wake Forest defeated FSU last season, this line seems a little ridiculous. FSU 31, Wake Forest 13 Pro: Demon Deacons have two things that should keep them within striking distance. QB Tanner Price can sling it with the best of the ACC signal callers and the defensive game plan is to limit big plays. Florida State 41, Wake Forest 17FLORIDA AT TENNESSEE Line: UT by 3 Joe: The tattoo on the back of Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray might be the dirtiest thing in the SEC this season. It’s worth a search on the Internet. As for the game, Vols get the “glory story” over Gators’ coach Will Muschamp. UT 25, Florida 21 Pro: Tyler Bray is the best QB to play in Knoxville since Peyton Manning. Vols new 3-4 defense installed by former Alabama LB coach Sal Sunseri has already produced 10 fumbles and 5 interceptions. Tennessee 28, Florida 17FLORIDA ATLANTIC AT GEORGIA Line: UGA by 42.5 Joe: I live for spreads of 40 or more points. Easily the game of the week in college football. UGA 51, FAU 7 Pro: Owl coach Pelini called his team “disjointed”. That statement is kind to say the least after allowing Middle Tennessee State team to rush for over 300 yards with a backup RB and a rebuilt OL. Georgia 56, FAU 7FIU AT CENTRAL FLORIDA Line: UCF by 17 Joe: It seems the betting world has finally figured out FIU. Panthers fail to cover for the third straight week. UCF 42, FIU 17 Pro: Time for HC Mario Cristobal to crack the whip after allowing MAC doormat Akron to score 38 points and take Golden Panthers to OT. UCF 31, FIU 21BYU AT UTAH Line: BYU by 4 Joe: BYU’s offense reminds me of the 2006 Florida Gators. Quarterback Riley Nelson is backed up by freshman Taysom Hill, the Cougars’ Tim Tebow. Non sequitur: In Salt Lake City, there’s a local micro-brew called Polygamy Porter. BYU 35, Utah 21 Pro: Cougar players circled this game since 54-10 debacle last year. Unless Utah backup QB Jon Hayes has been playing possum, opportunistic BYU defense yielding less than 10 PPG might have field day. BYU 35, Utah 14NOTRE DAME AT MICHIGAN STATE Line: MSU by 6 Joe: Irish coach Brian Kelly has managed to manufacture another quarterback saga just in time for Notre Dame’s big early season test. Who’s going to start at quarterback? Who’s going to finish? It doesn’t matter this week. MSU 27, Notre Dame 20 Pro: Irish offense needs to run to set up the pass. Spartans defense awful salty allowing just 37 and 72 rush yards in first two games. Sparty is 11-4 series play. Michigan State 26, Notre Dame 14ALABAMA AT ARKANSAS Line: Alabama by 21 Joe: This has nothing to do with this game, but would Auburn actually consider hiring coach Bobby Petrino after what happen at Arkansas? Rumors say yes. Talk about sleeze hitting an all-time low in the SEC. Alabama 35, Arkansas 15 Pro: One week after losing to Louisiana-Monroe of the Sun Belt, Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson shows off his cannon arm and his wide receivers dent vulnerable Tide pass defense. Alabama 31, Arkansas 24 Joe vs. The Pro is a weekly college football feature that analyzes games and predicts the outcome against the spread. Sterling, a nationally respected numbers man, has been analyzing spreads for more than 20 years. Joe analyzes spreads in less than 20 seconds.It didn’t take long for the near-impossible to happen this season. Joe went 0-7 against the spread last week. What a parlay. He’s a master at picking losers.The Pro of this weekly feature, Lee Sterling of ParamountSports.com, struggled last week as well. He went 2-5 against the spread, hitting only on FIU and Florida State. Both Lee and Joe Goodman, The Herald’s national college football writer, were 5-3 straight-up.Overall, The Pro is 18-6 straight-up and 9-10 against the spread. Joe is 19-5 straight-up for the season and 7-12 against the spread. This week’s picks:Louisville at FIU Line: Louisville by 15. Joe: This will be a big recruiting weekend for Louisville. Former Northwestern star Teddy Bridgewater returns to South Florida and shows off his impressive arm. Louisville 42, FIU 20. Pro: As soon as the Cards replaced offensive coordinator Mike Sanford last year, Bridgewater showed the nation why he was so coveted. Teddy and 19 South Florida-based Cardinals players might be distracted visiting with relatives and friends. Louisville 33, FIU 27.Miami at Georgia Tech Line: Ga. Tech by 14. Joe: So, when Miami gets slammed with sanctions, how long will it take Duke Johnson to transfer to a rival? Oh, yes. It will get worse before it gets better, Canes fans. Georgia Tech 35, Miami 17. Pro: Canes sport 17 freshmen and sophomores in their two-deep depth chart. Undersized and inexperienced front seven for Miami isn’t a good matchup versus Tech’s run-based option offense. Miami’s ‘D’ at this point doesn’t match up well versus anyone with talent. Georgia Tech 41, Miami 24.Clemson at Florida State Line: FSU by 14. Joe: Gotta love the Dabo vs. Jimbo rivalry. Vegas apparently thinks Clemson is a pretender. I’m not too sure FSU is a touch overrated. FSU 28, Clemson 24. Pro: The shoe is on the other foot this year. FSU’s hard-charging defensive line manhandles Clemson offensive line that has three new starters. Home team has won five straight and Noles show public they are for real and a possible National Championship contender. Florida State 41, Clemson 20. South Florida at Ball State Line: USF by 10. Joe: I watched USF last week and I’ve already seen enough. Sorry to say this, but B.J. Daniels hasn’t improved much since his sophomore season. USF 31, Ball State 28. Pro: When the pressure is on the Bulls fold up like a pop tent. No pressure here. Everyone loves to visit Muncie, Ind., where home team is just 2-8 as a home dog. USF 34, Ball State 20.Kentucky at Florida Line: Florida by 24. Joe: First impression after watching Jeff Driskel grow up last week in Knoxville, Tenn.: He’s more Cam Newton than Tim Tebow. Meanwhile, Kentucky has gone off the rails. Florida 35, Kentucky 10. Pro: Gator ‘D’ eventually figured out Vol’s QB Tyler Bray. Figuring out the soon-to-be-benched Kentucky QB Maxwell Smith, who threw 4 interceptions last week versus Western Kentucky, won’t be nearly as difficult. Florida 45, Kentucky 13.Florida Atlantic at Alabama Line: Alabama by 49.5. Joe: FAU is SEC fodder for the second straight week. This spread is laughable. Alabama 50, FAU 0. Pro: Nick Saban could score 100 points if he wanted to run up the score. FAU probably has more talent playing fraternity flag football than this forgettable cast. Alabama 61, FAU 6.Michigan at Notre Dame Line: Notre Dame by 6. Joe: The Irish are 3-0 for the first time in a decade. No miracles this time for Denard Robinson. Notre Dame 21, Michigan 20. Pro: Robinson has led offense to 947 total yards vs the Fighing Irish the last two years. Why not make it three years in a row where the underdog has 24 covers in the last 28 in the series. Michigan 28, Notre Dame 27.Kansas State at Oklahoma Line: Oklahoma by 14. Joe: Calling for the upset here. Landry Jones’ lack of confidence will be the undoing of Oklahoma in the fourth quarter. Kansas State 36, Oklahoma 34. Pro: Wildcats are a much more mature and deeper team than last year. Head coach Bill Snyder’s favorite role as a road underdog has led to a 14-5 record away from Manhattan, Kan. Sooner QB Landry Jones stock is dropping weekly. Oklahoma 34, Kansas State 28. Joe vs. The Pro is a weekly college football feature that analyzes games and predicts the outcome against the spread. Sterling, a nationally respected numbers man, has been analyzing spreads for more than 20 years. Joe analyzes spreads in less than 20 seconds.It didn’t take long for the near-impossible to happen this season. Joe went 0-7 against the spread last week. What a parlay. He’s a master at picking losers.The Pro of this weekly feature, Lee Sterling of ParamountSports.com, struggled last week as well. He went 2-5 against the spread, hitting only on FIU and Florida State. Both Lee and Joe Goodman, The Herald’s national college football writer, were 5-3 straight-up.Overall, The Pro is 18-6 straight-up and 9-10 against the spread. Joe is 19-5 straight-up for the season and 7-12 against the spread. This week’s picks: Louisville at FIU Line: Louisville by 15. Joe: This will be a big recruiting weekend for Louisville. Former Northwestern star Teddy Bridgewater returns to South Florida and shows off his impressive arm. Louisville 42, FIU 20. Pro: As soon as the Cards replaced offensive coordinator Mike Sanford last year, Bridgewater showed the nation why he was so coveted. Teddy and 19 South Florida-based Cardinals players might be distracted visiting with relatives and friends. Louisville 33, FIU 27.Miami at Georgia Tech Line: Ga. Tech by 14. Joe: So, when Miami gets slammed with sanctions, how long will it take Duke Johnson to transfer to a rival? Oh, yes. It will get worse before it gets better, Canes fans. Georgia Tech 35, Miami 17. Pro: Canes sport 17 freshmen and sophomores in their two-deep depth chart. Undersized and inexperienced front seven for Miami isn’t a good matchup versus Tech’s run-based option offense. Miami’s ‘D’ at this point doesn’t match up well versus anyone with talent. Georgia Tech 41, Miami 24.Clemson at Florida State Line: FSU by 14. Joe: Gotta love the Dabo vs. Jimbo rivalry. Vegas apparently thinks Clemson is a pretender. I’m not too sure FSU is a touch overrated. FSU 28, Clemson 24. Pro: The shoe is on the other foot this year. FSU’s hard-charging defensive line manhandles Clemson offensive line that has three new starters. Home team has won five straight and Noles show public they are for real and a possible National Championship contender. Florida State 41, Clemson 20. South Florida at Ball State Line: USF by 10. Joe: I watched USF last week and I’ve already seen enough. Sorry to say this, but B.J. Daniels hasn’t improved much since his sophomore season. USF 31, Ball State 28. Pro: When the pressure is on the Bulls fold up like a pop tent. No pressure here. Everyone loves to visit Muncie, Ind., where home team is just 2-8 as a home dog. USF 34, Ball State 20.Kentucky at Florida Line: Florida by 24. Joe: First impression after watching Jeff Driskel grow up last week in Knoxville, Tenn.: He’s more Cam Newton than Tim Tebow. Meanwhile, Kentucky has gone off the rails. Florida 35, Kentucky 10. Pro: Gator ‘D’ eventually figured out Vol’s QB Tyler Bray. Figuring out the soon-to-be-benched Kentucky QB Maxwell Smith, who threw 4 interceptions last week versus Western Kentucky, won’t be nearly as difficult. Florida 45, Kentucky 13.Florida Atlantic at Alabama Line: Alabama by 49.5. Joe: FAU is SEC fodder for the second straight week. This spread is laughable. Alabama 50, FAU 0. Pro: Nick Saban could score 100 points if he wanted to run up the score. FAU probably has more talent playing fraternity flag football than this forgettable cast. Alabama 61, FAU 6.Michigan at Notre Dame Line: Notre Dame by 6. Joe: The Irish are 3-0 for the first time in a decade. No miracles this time for Denard Robinson. Notre Dame 21, Michigan 20. Pro: Robinson has led offense to 947 total yards vs the Fighing Irish the last two years. Why not make it three years in a row where the underdog has 24 covers in the last 28 in the series. Michigan 28, Notre Dame 27.Kansas State at Oklahoma Line: Oklahoma by 14. Joe: Calling for the upset here. Landry Jones’ lack of confidence will be the undoing of Oklahoma in the fourth quarter. Kansas State 36, Oklahoma 34. Pro: Wildcats are a much more mature and deeper team than last year. Head coach Bill Snyder’s favorite role as a road underdog has led to a 14-5 record away from Manhattan, Kan. Sooner QB Landry Jones stock is dropping weekly. Oklahoma 34, Kansas State 28. Joe vs. The Pro is a weekly college football feature that analyzes games and predicts the outcome against the spread. Sterling, a nationally respected numbers man, has been analyzing spreads for more than 20 years. Joe analyzes spreads in less than 20 seconds.Joe can count on his hand the number of times he has finished a week above .500 against the spread in the past three seasons. Amazingly, last week was one of those times.Faced with one of the more challenging set of games in the three-year run of Joe vs. the Pro, Joseph Goodman, the Herald?s national college football columnist, finished 6-2 against the spread and 4-4 straight up. For the season, Joe is 51-21 straight up and 34-33 against the spread. Joe has never been above .500 against the spread this late in the season.While Joe is finally having a respectable season, the Pro, Lee Sterling of ParamountSports.com, continues to increase his lead. Last week, Sterling went 5-3 against the spread and 5-3 straight up. Overall, Sterling is 52-20 straight up and 38-29 against the spread.This week?s picks:Alabama at LSU (Alabama by 9.5) Joe: Steve Spurrier said this week that the Crimson Tide could beat an NFL team. Alabama isn?t nearly that good but LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger doesn?t stand much of a chance. Alabama 24, LSU 15 Pro: If you want to step in front of the Bama Express that is +17 in turnover ratio and has a QB that has thrown 18 TD passes with 0 interceptions, you?re making a big mistake. Alabama 27, LSU 13Missouri at Florida (UF by 17) Joe: Mizzou?s first trip to The Swamp will not be an enjoyable experience. Florida 32, Missouri 17 Pro: Trying to cover an almost 3 TD spread after bubble burst with no passing game is a recipe for disaster. Florida 27, Missouri 16Pittsburgh at Notre Dame (ND by 16.5) Joe: Manti Te?o will keep the Irish focused after last week?s unlikely victory against Oklahoma. Notre Dame 28, Pittsburgh 21 Pro: Irish off three gut-busting games. Panthers have playmakers in RBs Graham and Shell and WR?s Street and Shanahan to make this game interesting for three quarters. Notre Dame 30, Pittsburgh 20Southern Methodist at Central Florida (UCF by 12) Joe: Knights continue their domination of C-USA. Central Florida 42, SMU 20 Pro: SMU QB Garrett Gilbert is trending up after big games vs. Memphis and Houston. He still hasn?t had even an average game against a good defense. Knights exact revenge for last year and win going away. Central Florida 38, SMU 21Connecticut at South Florida (USF by 8) Joe: Never bet on Big East football games. The unskilled are unpredictable. South Florida 45, UConn 42 Pro: Huskies need to run to score and average just 42 rushing yards per game past three games. They are poor travelers, 0-8 ATS last eight road contests. Make it 0-9 ATS after Saturday night. South Florida 30, UConn 16Oregon at Southern California (Oregon by 8) Joe: Oregon?s season is on the line against the Trojans. No problem. Oregon 28, USC 21 Pro: Arizona scored 39 points in upset of Trojans last week. Ducks run the same zone read option but with more talent and speed. Oregon 45, USC 28Florida Atlantic at Navy (Navy by 16) Joe: FAU?s bowl game was last week against Troy. Expecting a dud here. Navy 35, FAU 13 Pro: Owls showing improvement but third road game in four weeks and having to face the triple option for the first time makes me side with the Midshipmen. Navy 41, FAU 21Florida International at South Alabama (FIU by 3.5) Joe: Jags coach Joey Jones will have his team prepared. Hope FIU isn?t expecting to walk through the motions and win. Of course, nothing has come easy for FIU this season, so why would they expect it now? I?m rambling and obviously have no idea what I?m talking about here. FIU 40, South Alabama 20 Pro: Panthers are ready for a breakout game, and stepping down in class should allow them to notch an easy win against former 1-AA opponent. FIU 34, South Alabama 23 Joe vs. The Pro is a weekly college football feature that analyzes games and predicts the outcome against the spread. Sterling, a nationally respected numbers man, has been analyzing spreads for more than 20 years. Joe analyzes spreads in less than 20 seconds.Joe can count on his hand the number of times he has finished a week above .500 against the spread in the past three seasons. Amazingly, last week was one of those times.Faced with one of the more challenging set of games in the three-year run of Joe vs. the Pro, Joseph Goodman, the Herald?s national college football columnist, finished 6-2 against the spread and 4-4 straight up. For the season, Joe is 51-21 straight up and 34-33 against the spread. Joe has never been above .500 against the spread this late in the season.While Joe is finally having a respectable season, the Pro, Lee Sterling of ParamountSports.com, continues to increase his lead. Last week, Sterling went 5-3 against the spread and 5-3 straight up. Overall, Sterling is 52-20 straight up and 38-29 against the spread. This week?s picks:Alabama at LSU (Alabama by 9.5) Joe: Steve Spurrier said this week that the Crimson Tide could beat an NFL team. Alabama isn?t nearly that good but LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger doesn?t stand much of a chance. Alabama 24, LSU 15 Pro: If you want to step in front of the Bama Express that is +17 in turnover ratio and has a QB that has thrown 18 TD passes with 0 interceptions, you?re making a big mistake. Alabama 27, LSU 13Missouri at Florida (UF by 17) Joe: Mizzou?s first trip to The Swamp will not be an enjoyable experience. Florida 32, Missouri 17 Pro: Trying to cover an almost 3 TD spread after bubble burst with no passing game is a recipe for disaster. Florida 27, Missouri 16Pittsburgh at Notre Dame (ND by 16.5) Joe: Manti Te?o will keep the Irish focused after last week?s unlikely victory against Oklahoma. Notre Dame 28, Pittsburgh 21 Pro: Irish off three gut-busting games. Panthers have playmakers in RBs Graham and Shell and WR?s Street and Shanahan to make this game interesting for three quarters. Notre Dame 30, Pittsburgh 20Southern Methodist at Central Florida (UCF by 12) Joe: Knights continue their domination of C-USA. Central Florida 42, SMU 20 Pro: SMU QB Garrett Gilbert is trending up after big games vs. Memphis and Houston. He still hasn?t had even an average game against a good defense. Knights exact revenge for last year and win going away. Central Florida 38, SMU 21Connecticut at South Florida (USF by 8) Joe: Never bet on Big East football games. The unskilled are unpredictable. South Florida 45, UConn 42 Pro: Huskies need to run to score and average just 42 rushing yards per game past three games. They are poor travelers, 0-8 ATS last eight road contests. Make it 0-9 ATS after Saturday night. South Florida 30, UConn 16Oregon at Southern California (Oregon by 8) Joe: Oregon?s season is on the line against the Trojans. No problem. Oregon 28, USC 21 Pro: Arizona scored 39 points in upset of Trojans last week. Ducks run the same zone read option but with more talent and speed. Oregon 45, USC 28Florida Atlantic at Navy (Navy by 16) Joe: FAU?s bowl game was last week against Troy. Expecting a dud here. Navy 35, FAU 13 Pro: Owls showing improvement but third road game in four weeks and having to face the triple option for the first time makes me side with the Midshipmen. Navy 41, FAU 21Florida International at South Alabama (FIU by 3.5) Joe: Jags coach Joey Jones will have his team prepared. Hope FIU isn?t expecting to walk through the motions and win. Of course, nothing has come easy for FIU this season, so why would they expect it now? I?m rambling and obviously have no idea what I?m talking about here. FIU 40, South Alabama 20 Pro: Panthers are ready for a breakout game, and stepping down in class should allow them to notch an easy win against former 1-AA opponent. FIU 34, South Alabama 23 Joe vs. The Pro is a weekly college football feature that analyzes games and predicts the outcome against the spread. Sterling, a nationally respected numbers man, has been analyzing spreads for more than 20 years. Joe analyzes spreads in less than 20 seconds.Few people outside of Boca Raton have noticed, but Florida Atlantic has made steady progress throughout the season. First, coach Carl Pelini has instilled some of his Rust Belt toughness into the Owls and, as the 2012 season nears its finish for FAU, the program appears to be moving in the right direction after that regrettable 1-11 record in the final season of the Howard Schnellenberger Era. The same team that began the season with a 7-3 victory against Wagner has won two of its past three games and gave Navy a scare in Annapolis, Md. Against the spread, FAU has covered in eight consecutive weeks. Joe Goodman, The Miami Herald?s national college football columnist, is a lot like FAU in terms of picking games this season. He started slowly but has built some positive momentum. Last week, Joe took a slight step backwards, going 4-4 straight up and 3-4-1 against the spread, but, overall, Joe is 63-25 straight up and 43-39-1 against the spread. The Pro, Lee Sterling of ParamountSports.com, went 5-3 straight up last week and 3-4-1 against the spread. For the season, the Pro is a stellar 65-23 straight up and 46-36-1 against the spread. This week?s picks:?FIU AT FAU (FAU BY 1.5) Joe The Golden Panthers have had two weeks to prepare for this rivalry game but I still like FAU, which delivered a season-defining upset last week in its road win against Western Kentucky. FAU 35, FIU 28 Pro Owls have improved more than any team in the state, gaining 100 more yards per game in Sun Belt Conference play than they did in nonconference action. FAU 27, FIU 23SOUTH FLORIDA AT MIAMI (MIAMI BY 7) Joe Last week?s loss to Virginia was understandable. It?s never fun when you need to win a game so you can forfeit your postseason. The Canes deliver this week. Miami 28, South Florida 25 ProStephen Morris seems to have broken out of his three-game slump with a strong effort last week at Virginia. Bulls are No. 114 in turnover margin and can?t be trusted with a backup QB on the road. Miami 28, South Florida 17?FLORIDA STATE AT MARYLAND (FSU BY 31) Joe In years past, I?d call this a trap game for FSU. Maryland is no N.C. State, if that makes any sense. FSU 52, Maryland 10 Pro Maryland placed 29 players on the injury list last week. That number could grow as the Terps realize they face the defense that leads the nation in fewest yards allowed. Florida State 45, Maryland 3?NORTH CAROLINA STATE AT CLEMSON (CLEMSON BY 17) Joe A revenge game for the Tigers. Turnovers doomed Clemson last season. Not this time. Clemson 42, N.C. State 20 Pro No pressure for Wolfpack, which righted the ship last week with a blowout win over Wake Forest and reached bowl consideration. Tigers might be looking ahead to game with in-state rival South Carolina next week. Clemson 38, N.C. State 30?KANSAS STATE AT BAYLOR (KANSAS STATE BY 13) JoePast two meetings were decided by a combined total of six points. Kansas State 35, Baylor 31 Pro Laying double digits on the road in conference play is a recipe for disaster. The Bears? run of 10-1 straight up at home makes them an easy take. Kansas State 48, Baylor 42?STANFORD AT OREGON (OREGON BY 20.5) JoeStanford?s defense is allowing an average of 17.2 points per game. Oregon 28, Stanford 25 ProCardinal defense under the radar holding nine of 10 opponents under 23 points. Offense should work the clock on offense as its huge offensive line holds big advantage over banged-up Ducks defensive front. Oregon 38, Stanford 31?CENTRAL FLORIDA AT TULSA (TULSA BY 2) Joe A feel-out game here as both teams likely will meet again in two weeks in the Conference-USA title game. Tulsa 38, UCF 35 Pro Knights have more weapons on offense and seem to play better on the road. Tulsa QB Green completes just 53% of his passes and isn?t a big-game QB. UCF, 26 Tulsa 24?OHIO STATE AT WISCONSIN (WISCONSIN BY 2.5) Joe Wisconsin?s three losses have each been by three points. Sounds about right. Ohio State 24, Wisconsin 21 Pro Buckeyes dual threat Braxton Miller is head and shoulders above anything Wisky rolls out at quarterback. Urban Meyer, with an extra week to game plan, is worth at least a touchdown. Ohio State 31, Wisconsin 28 Joe vs. The Pro is a weekly college football feature that analyzes games and predicts the outcome against the spread. Sterling, a nationally respected numbers man, has been analyzing spreads for more than 20 years. Joe analyzes spreads in less than 20 seconds.Few people outside of Boca Raton have noticed, but Florida Atlantic has made steady progress throughout the season. First, coach Carl Pelini has instilled some of his Rust Belt toughness into the Owls and, as the 2012 season nears its finish for FAU, the program appears to be moving in the right direction after that regrettable 1-11 record in the final season of the Howard Schnellenberger Era. The same team that began the season with a 7-3 victory against Wagner has won two of its past three games and gave Navy a scare in Annapolis, Md. Against the spread, FAU has covered in eight consecutive weeks. Joe Goodman, The Miami Herald?s national college football columnist, is a lot like FAU in terms of picking games this season. He started slowly but has built some positive momentum. Last week, Joe took a slight step backwards, going 4-4 straight up and 3-4-1 against the spread, but, overall, Joe is 63-25 straight up and 43-39-1 against the spread. The Pro, Lee Sterling of ParamountSports.com, went 5-3 straight up last week and 3-4-1 against the spread. For the season, the Pro is a stellar 65-23 straight up and 46-36-1 against the spread. This week?s picks:?FIU AT FAU (FAU BY 1.5) Joe The Golden Panthers have had two weeks to prepare for this rivalry game but I still like FAU, which delivered a season-defining upset last week in its road win against Western Kentucky. FAU 35, FIU 28 Pro Owls have improved more than any team in the state, gaining 100 more yards per game in Sun Belt Conference play than they did in nonconference action. FAU 27, FIU 23SOUTH FLORIDA AT MIAMI (MIAMI BY 7) Joe Last week?s loss to Virginia was understandable. It?s never fun when you need to win a game so you can forfeit your postseason. The Canes deliver this week. Miami 28, South Florida 25 ProStephen Morris seems to have broken out of his three-game slump with a strong effort last week at Virginia. Bulls are No. 114 in turnover margin and can?t be trusted with a backup QB on the road. Miami 28, South Florida 17?FLORIDA STATE AT MARYLAND (FSU BY 31) Joe In years past, I?d call this a trap game for FSU. Maryland is no N.C. State, if that makes any sense. FSU 52, Maryland 10 Pro Maryland placed 29 players on the injury list last week. That number could grow as the Terps realize they face the defense that leads the nation in fewest yards allowed. Florida State 45, Maryland 3?NORTH CAROLINA STATE AT CLEMSON (CLEMSON BY 17) Joe A revenge game for the Tigers. Turnovers doomed Clemson last season. Not this time. Clemson 42, N.C. State 20 Pro No pressure for Wolfpack, which righted the ship last week with a blowout win over Wake Forest and reached bowl consideration. Tigers might be looking ahead to game with in-state rival South Carolina next week. Clemson 38, N.C. State 30?KANSAS STATE AT BAYLOR (KANSAS STATE BY 13) JoePast two meetings were decided by a combined total of six points. Kansas State 35, Baylor 31 Pro Laying double digits on the road in conference play is a recipe for disaster. The Bears? run of 10-1 straight up at home makes them an easy take. Kansas State 48, Baylor 42?STANFORD AT OREGON (OREGON BY 20.5) JoeStanford?s defense is allowing an average of 17.2 points per game. Oregon 28, Stanford 25 ProCardinal defense under the radar holding nine of 10 opponents under 23 points. Offense should work the clock on offense as its huge offensive line holds big advantage over banged-up Ducks defensive front. Oregon 38, Stanford 31?CENTRAL FLORIDA AT TULSA (TULSA BY 2) Joe A feel-out game here as both teams likely will meet again in two weeks in the Conference-USA title game. Tulsa 38, UCF 35 Pro Knights have more weapons on offense and seem to play better on the road. Tulsa QB Green completes just 53% of his passes and isn?t a big-game QB. UCF, 26 Tulsa 24?OHIO STATE AT WISCONSIN (WISCONSIN BY 2.5) Joe Wisconsin?s three losses have each been by three points. Sounds about right. Ohio State 24, Wisconsin 21 Pro Buckeyes dual threat Braxton Miller is head and shoulders above anything Wisky rolls out at quarterback. Urban Meyer, with an extra week to game plan, is worth at least a touchdown. Ohio State 31, Wisconsin 28 Joe vs. The Pro is a weekly college football feature that analyzes games and predicts the outcome against the spread. Sterling, a nationally respected numbers man, has been analyzing spreads for more than 20 years. Joe analyzes spreads in less than 20 seconds.For the second consecutive week, Joe and the Pro finished with identical records both straight up and against the spread.For Joe, the Herald’s national college football columnist, that’s great news. He can see the sweat forming on the Pro’s forehead as the second half of the season gets underway. That said, we have all the faith in the world that Joe will crash and burn in due time and the Pro, Lee Sterling of ParamountSports.com, will rise above the fray. Both Joe and the Pro went 6-2 straight up and 5-3 against the spread last week.For the season, the Pro is 40-16 straight up and 27-24 against the spread. Joe vs. the Pro is in its third season and the Pro has finished each season in the black against the spread. The same cannot be said for Joe, but he’s hanging on this season, 41-15 straight up and 24-27 against the spread.This week’s picks:Florida State at Miami (FSU by 20 ?) Joe: Double dimes is such a big number for a rivalry game, especially when the home team is the underdog. I’ve got to go with the Canes to cover here. FSU 35, UM 20 Pro: The good news is Miami’s defense after giving up 486 total yards to North Carolina moved up from No. 118 to No. 117. The bad news is without a healthy Stephen Morris Canes have no shot. FSU 45, Miami 17South Carolina at Florida (UF by 3 ?) Joe: Steve Spurrier held running back Marcus Lattimore out of practice Wednesday with a bruised hip. Gators’ stellar defense gets the job done. UF 21, South Carolina 17 Pro: After facing Georgia and LSU in back-to-back weeks I’m not sure Gamecocks have anything left in the tank. Favorite 10-2 ATS L12 South Carolina games also a strong trend that can’t be ignored. UF 27, South Carolina 17South Florida at Louisville (Louisville by 6 ?) Joe: The Bulls are reeling, losers of four straight. Does South Florida’s bye week mean anything after a loss to Temple? Nope. Louisville 34, South Florida 24 Pro: Both of these teams seem to play up or down to the level of their competition. Bulls QB B.J. Daniels plays his best when very little is expected of him. Louisville 31, South Florida 27Central Florida at Memphis (UCF by 21 ?) Joe: The Knights’ gutsy performance in Hattiesburg, Miss., last week was a thing of beauty. Winning at Memphis won’t be as difficult, but still, 21 ? points seems a bit much. UCF 38, Memphis 18 Pro: Last week, Memphis’ “No Cover” defense made East Carolina QB Shane Carden look like Dan Marino. Expect similar result to last year when Knights won 41-0 and held a 28-6 first down edge. UCF 41, Memphis 13Florida International at Troy (Troy by 7) Joe: The Golden Panthers’ defense is in complete disarray. This is a down year for the Trojans but they’ll cover at home. Troy 31, FIU 21 Pro: With starting Troy QB Corey Robinson likely out, the drop-off to the No. 2 QB is steep. FIU backfield situation better than two weeks ago with the return of starting QB Jake Medlock and RB Kedrick Rhodes. FIU 35, Troy 30Florida Atlantic at South Alabama (USA by 3 ?) Joe: The South Alabama Jaguars, one of the newest football programs in the country, are in their first season in the Sun Belt. If FAU loses this game…man. FAU 25, South Alabama 21 Pro: Neither team has defeated a Div. I opponent. Jaguars scored only 10 & 9 points versus Troy and Nichols State and can’t be trusted in the favorite role. South Alabama 23, FAU 21Alabama at Tennessee (Alabama by 20) Joe: The Third Saturday in October is here and Alabama still hasn’t played a team worthy to be on the same field. Nothing changes this week. Alabama 35, Tennessee 20 Pro: Anyone betting against the Bama Express when their QB has 12 TD passes and 0 interceptions and a defense that has held every opponent under 270 total yards is downright foolish. Alabama 42, Tennessee 14LSU at Texas A&M (LSU by 3 ?) Joe: The Tigers’ first trip to Kyle Field will be a festive occasion. LSU’s rugged and speedy defense will chew up the Aggies and spoil the day. LSU 28, Texas A&M 27 Pro: One of these teams plays defense and it ain’t the Aggies. With an 0-6 SU and ATS mark versus SEC opponents dating back to Mike Sherman era the boys in College Station aren’t ready for “Big Boy Football” just yet. LSU 31, Texas A&M 20 Joe vs. The Pro is a weekly college football feature that analyzes games and predicts the outcome against the spread. Sterling, a nationally respected numbers man, has been analyzing spreads for more than 20 years. Joe analyzes spreads in less than 20 seconds.For the second consecutive week, Joe and the Pro finished with identical records both straight up and against the spread.For Joe, the Herald’s national college football columnist, that’s great news. He can see the sweat forming on the Pro’s forehead as the second half of the season gets underway. That said, we have all the faith in the world that Joe will crash and burn in due time and the Pro, Lee Sterling of ParamountSports.com, will rise above the fray. Both Joe and the Pro went 6-2 straight up and 5-3 against the spread last week.For the season, the Pro is 40-16 straight up and 27-24 against the spread. Joe vs. the Pro is in its third season and the Pro has finished each season in the black against the spread. The same cannot be said for Joe, but he’s hanging on this season, 41-15 straight up and 24-27 against the spread. This week’s picks:Florida State at Miami (FSU by 20 ?) Joe: Double dimes is such a big number for a rivalry game, especially when the home team is the underdog. I’ve got to go with the Canes to cover here. FSU 35, UM 20 Pro: The good news is Miami’s defense after giving up 486 total yards to North Carolina moved up from No. 118 to No. 117. The bad news is without a healthy Stephen Morris Canes have no shot. FSU 45, Miami 17South Carolina at Florida (UF by 3 ?) Joe: Steve Spurrier held running back Marcus Lattimore out of practice Wednesday with a bruised hip. Gators’ stellar defense gets the job done. UF 21, South Carolina 17 Pro: After facing Georgia and LSU in back-to-back weeks I’m not sure Gamecocks have anything left in the tank. Favorite 10-2 ATS L12 South Carolina games also a strong trend that can’t be ignored. UF 27, South Carolina 17South Florida at Louisville (Louisville by 6 ?) Joe: The Bulls are reeling, losers of four straight. Does South Florida’s bye week mean anything after a loss to Temple? Nope. Louisville 34, South Florida 24 Pro: Both of these teams seem to play up or down to the level of their competition. Bulls QB B.J. Daniels plays his best when very little is expected of him. Louisville 31, South Florida 27Central Florida at Memphis (UCF by 21 ?) Joe: The Knights’ gutsy performance in Hattiesburg, Miss., last week was a thing of beauty. Winning at Memphis won’t be as difficult, but still, 21 ? points seems a bit much. UCF 38, Memphis 18 Pro: Last week, Memphis’ “No Cover” defense made East Carolina QB Shane Carden look like Dan Marino. Expect similar result to last year when Knights won 41-0 and held a 28-6 first down edge. UCF 41, Memphis 13Florida International at Troy (Troy by 7) Joe: The Golden Panthers’ defense is in complete disarray. This is a down year for the Trojans but they’ll cover at home. Troy 31, FIU 21 Pro: With starting Troy QB Corey Robinson likely out, the drop-off to the No. 2 QB is steep. FIU backfield situation better than two weeks ago with the return of starting QB Jake Medlock and RB Kedrick Rhodes. FIU 35, Troy 30Florida Atlantic at South Alabama (USA by 3 ?) Joe: The South Alabama Jaguars, one of the newest football programs in the country, are in their first season in the Sun Belt. If FAU loses this game…man. FAU 25, South Alabama 21 Pro: Neither team has defeated a Div. I opponent. Jaguars scored only 10 & 9 points versus Troy and Nichols State and can’t be trusted in the favorite role. South Alabama 23, FAU 21Alabama at Tennessee (Alabama by 20) Joe: The Third Saturday in October is here and Alabama still hasn’t played a team worthy to be on the same field. Nothing changes this week. Alabama 35, Tennessee 20 Pro: Anyone betting against the Bama Express when their QB has 12 TD passes and 0 interceptions and a defense that has held every opponent under 270 total yards is downright foolish. Alabama 42, Tennessee 14LSU at Texas A&M (LSU by 3 ?) Joe: The Tigers’ first trip to Kyle Field will be a festive occasion. LSU’s rugged and speedy defense will chew up the Aggies and spoil the day. LSU 28, Texas A&M 27 Pro: One of these teams plays defense and it ain’t the Aggies. With an 0-6 SU and ATS mark versus SEC opponents dating back to Mike Sherman era the boys in College Station aren’t ready for “Big Boy Football” just yet. LSU 31, Texas A&M 20 Joe vs. The Pro is a weekly college football feature that analyzes games and predicts the outcome against the spread. Sterling, a nationally respected numbers man, has been analyzing spreads for more than 20 years. Joe analyzes spreads in less than 20 seconds.Someone has to chase down all those speedy skill position players, and the SEC is well equipped with some fine secondaries this fall.Here's how they rank going into the 2013 season:1. Florida: The Gators will have arguably the nation's best cornerback duo in potential future first-rounders and . Purifoy is viewed by many as the nation's top cornerback. He's still raw, but he's a tremendous athlete, has great speed and is getting better at being a pure cover corner. Though Roberson isn't as athletic, he's more polished and has real lockdown ability (14 passes defensed in 2012). Sophomore made tremendous strides this spring at corner, and many think incoming freshman Vernon Hargreaves III has the ability to play now. At safety, veterans and have moved from corner. Coach Will Muschamp wants to see more from this position, but has plenty of bodies to help Watkins and Riggs, starting with and .2. Alabama: First-round corner Dee Milliner and reliable safety Robert Lester are gone, but there's a wealth of young talent in the secondary. Safety is poised to be an All-American and could be the top safety in the country. emerged as a very reliable cornerback and should be one of the top players at his position in the SEC this year. Sophomore matured quickly last year and was solid this spring, so he shouldn't have a problem stepping into a starting role. gives Alabama a veteran leader at safety, while sophomore might be ready go from special teams workhorse to starting safety for the Tide.3. Vanderbilt: is one of the best cornerbacks in the SEC, while ranks near the top at the safety position in the SEC. Hal was second in the SEC with 14 pass breakups and added two interceptions last season. Ladler figured out a way to be all over the field last year, leading the team with 90 tackles. His safety partner, , is back. Marshall and Ladler tied for the team lead with 60 solo tackles and will be one of the league's best safety duos. Replacing Trey Wilson won't be easy, but there are plenty of options, starting with senior , who was the primary nickel corner.4. LSU: The Tigers have to replace Eric Reid and Tharold Simon, but have the bodies to make things right, starting with corners , and safety . Mills and Collins were thrown onto the field early last season after Tyrann Mathieu's dismissal and grew up in a hurry. Mills started all 13 games and defended seven passes with two interceptions. Loston had trouble reaching his potential early in his career, but has really turned the corner and should be one of the top SEC safeties. Junior should be fine at the other safety spot, while sophomores and are solid backups. Freshman is a freak athlete who should help at corner.5. Ole Miss: The Rebels gave up more yards and touchdowns through the air than they would have liked last season, but this group showed good flashes here and there. A good spring and a healthy dose of experience should go a long way this fall. Senior was very steady at corner after moving from safety and is the leader of this group, while hard-hitting sophomore safety has what it takes to be a top safety in this league. Junior leads the charge at the other safety spot, while will start opposite Sawyer. Highly-touted freshman Antonio Conner could enter the season as the starter at the hybrid "Husky" position. There is a ton of depth in the secondary, starting with big-play machine , who is back after a juco stint. and provide good reserve options at safety.6. Texas A&M: What was a young unit in 2012 is all grown up now. The top player back there is corner , who became a national name after his game-sealing interception against Alabama. While Everett could be a star, he and top safety Floyd Raven are dealing with legal issues after they were arrested in connection with an April incident at a College Station apartment complex. Getting them on the field is critical for the Aggies. enjoyed a solid freshman campaign and proved he can be a shutdown corner. Safety is stacked with veterans such as Raven, and ., so this unit should be drastically better in 2013.7. South Carolina: The Gamecocks lost a top-flight safety in D.J. Swearinger and an experienced corner in Akeem Auguste, but they bring back a lot of athleticism and speed. It starts with junior corner , who has turned into one of South Carolina's best overall players. moved back to corner from safety last season and tied for a team-high three interceptions and six pass breakups. Talented sophomore will also push to get on the field. is solid at strong safety, while sophomore could be a stud at free safety. He'll have to battle with the much-improved , but Gurley is one of the team's most talented players. There's a lot of inexperience behind the main guys, and the staff is hoping to get more out of former top safety recruit .8. Georgia: The Bulldogs lost a ton of production here, but defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is excited by the talent his youngsters have, especially safety , who might already be one of the top players at his position in the SEC. He covers a lot of ground, has great instincts and hits with the best of them. There's "old man" , who excelled as both a nickel and boundary corner last year. He's now the guy at corner. Sophomore "Star" might be the most talented player in the secondary and he'll work at both safety and linebacker in certain packages. Sophomore left spring as the other starting corner, and the coaches are excited about his potential, while talented early enrollee will miss the season after suffering an ACL injury. Sophomore should help at corner, along with true freshman Shaq Wiggins, a former ESPN 150 member.9. Mississippi State: Jim Thorpe Award winner Johnthan Banks, top interception man Darius Slay and longtime starter are all gone. It hurts, but the Bulldogs aren't lost in the secondary. Senior has loads of experience, while fellow safety really stepped up as a valuable leader this spring. is the most experienced corner coming back and the coaches expect him to break out very soon. But a lot of attention is going to juco transfer , who might be the team's fastest player and looks ready to step right in and be a shutdown corner. The top four guys seem solid, but there is a lot of inexperience behind them.10. Auburn: Auburn has a lot of experience coming back to a unit that ranked eighth in pass defense last season. That number should be better this year, especially with Ellis Johnson taking over the defense. Corner might have only played nine games last season, but Johnson thinks he could be a special player. Corners and Josh Holsey also saw plenty of time last year, while provides solid depth. Safety is covered by the high-flying and , who were two of the Tigers' top tacklers last year. This group has to be more consistent and has to generate turnovers. Auburn had just two interceptions last year, with one coming from reserve safety .11. Missouri: Senior corner is one of the best cover corners in the SEC. What he lacks in size, he makes up in athleticism, speed and toughness. He has 27 pass breakups and three interceptions in the last two seasons. had a solid spring and should start opposite Gaines. He has played in 25 games with five starts. Safety is back after starting 12 games last year at free safety, while senior should hold down the other safety spot. Only Gaines and Ponder return with interceptions from last year (one each) and this unit surrendered an average of 333.3 passing yards per game last November.12. Tennessee: The Vols do bring back experience, but this same group contributed to Tennessee owning the SEC's second worst pass defense (282.5 yards allowed per game). So that means these players have to grow and simply get better on the field. It won't come over night, but the experience gained last season should help. Safeties and , who is coming back from an ACL injury, provide a solid foundation at safety, while returning starting corner has to be much better than he was in 2012. Fortunately for the Vols, Coleman made very good strides this spring. Juco transfer Riyahd Jones could come in and start immediately.13. Arkansas: This is another group that returns a lot of experience, but it was also the SEC's worst pass defense last year. The Razorbacks surrendered 8.2 yards per pass, 285.8 passing yards per game and gave up 24 touchdowns with six interceptions. All four starters -- corners and and safeties and -- but all of them have to get better. Mitchel and Gaines have the potential to be big-time players, but they have to be more consistent. This unit should get a boost from juco transfers Tiquention Coleman and Carroll Washington, while redshirt freshman had a pretty good spring.14. Kentucky: The Wildcats lost two quality starters and are now stuck with a lot of young players. Coach Mark Stoops wasn't too pleased with the play of the secondary this spring, so this won't be a quick fix. Junior safety has the playmaking ability Stoops wants back there, but he just resumed working out after his horrific car accident from earlier this year. Youngsters Daron and , , , and all saw good time last season, but their growing pains lasted for most of the season. There was some improvement this spring, but this unit has a long way to go before fall.School ScorecardsTOTALSPOSITIONNCAA SCHOOLCONFERENCE2200021910101121370128991121000215881320470971080119150611811001912051498021900016106021859011686031838096871218240767711160102145910160003131230015690113671114991101670014380113931014490104750214370957510142508675111411049830314110287312140001118402140000184011323058640313010498302130000117501124607454011203036371112120374314120104855021200003660011480101450111470834401111406554011101037531011110385500110103856001100001470011000110270111000110730111000025301110000118011012026431210000155400100102636001001018440110000096301936071340193322544109340443500901026420290000235018000244301800016530080001724018000074310800002420180000262008000045300800005350080000244007120221400704042340070303433017130343301700006420170000270007000065110700016340070000234007000015101700001330170000134006020335000612033310260000124006000011300600001330060000023006000003300600000230151102321105000043101500001230050000141005000004100400004040040000340004000012101400003210040000122004000002200300012020030000112003000012100300000120030000030003000002100300000210020000110012000002000200000020020000011001000010000100000010010000001001000000100LOCATIONSCHOOL#7 QB-PPRock Hill, SCNorthwestern High School6'4''21283#15 RBBroken Arrow, OKBroken Arrow High School5'11''21182#15 OLBBroken Arrow, OKBroken Arrow High School6'1''21082#32 DETulsa, OKBooker T. Washington High School6'3''22079#78 ATHHouston, TXDwight D. Eisenhower High School6'1''19076#40 CBNew Orleans, LAEdna Karr High School6'0''16376#71 OTHouston, TXClear Lake High School6'6''25075#72 DTNew Orleans, LAEdna Karr High School6'2''25575#39 ILBPearland, TXPearland High School5'11''21073DEMuenster, TXMuenster Public School6'6''210NRKCastroville, TXMedina Valley High School6'0''190NRDT (JC)Gainesville, GAHutchinson Community College6'3''260NRThe dreamer found a home in the hallways.He was first, before the desks were assembled and the office key fit the lock, before the coaches lined family portraits on their windowsills.The long shot closed his eyes and saw the historic opening kickoff, the ball falling out of the air. He pictured running downfield in those opening seconds at the Georgia Dome, making that first tackle.The project was the first player to say yes to this team that has never played a game. He was certain he was ready.The gamer was done with football. He crammed his belongings into his Crown Victoria and drove home to Georgia, to start a new life.The scholar was at his cousin's graduation, listening to a speech. The coach was at the mic, his crown of gray hair swept perfectly to the side.The brothers arrived, wild hair growing long down their backs. All the coaches knew about one of them is what they'd gleaned from video.The transfer had won it all, as the backup quarterback for Alabama. At the BCS title game, confetti collecting on his shoulder pads, he realized that if he was ever to start, he had to start over.For the past two years, our How to Build a Program in Two Short Years series has documented, online and in print, head coach Bill Curry's efforts to build the Georgia State football program from scratch. On Sept. 2, the Panthers will finally debut, against Shorter College. Curry will be commanding 108 players from the sideline.This is how eight wound up at his side.The DreamerAfter the press conference to introduce him as Georgia State's first head coach in June 2008, Curry turns from the podium and meets an extended hand. It does not belong to his athletic director or school president; it is the hand of a freshman, no taller than Curry's shoulders. "Hi, my name's Jamall McMillan. I'm your first player." Then he gives Curry a playbook he's drawn on construction paper. Curry, excited about getting back in the game 12 years after his last head coaching job, at Kentucky, thanks McMillan, tells him he's impressed. He later jokes with some writers that he's just accepted the school's first player.The next month, on his first day at work, Curry sits to eat a salad in the student cafeteria. He looks up and standing next to him is Jamall. Curry remembers his name. McMillan is the first person ever to show an interest in the coach's new team, and this strikes Curry as special, no matter that Jamall is 5'8" and maybe 165 pounds.As Curry hires his staff and the bookstore stocks football apparel, McMillan rides the elevator to the ninth floor of the Citizens Trust Bank building in downtown Atlanta nearly every day. He walks through the unmarked door to the program's temporary office, backpack draped over his small shoulders, and says hello to the secretary, who calls him by name. Curry, who's worked with kids most of his life, makes time for the 20-year-old. When Curry isn't there, McMillan walks the hall, sticking his head into the assistants' offices. They stop what they're doing to talk, give advice and rib him for being there so often, sometimes rolling their eyes as he leaves.An aspiring artist who wants to major in graphic design, McMillan makes a binder of renderings for the new uniforms. The AD even considers his sketches for a new school logo. But he isn't a good enough athlete to play, no matter how bad he wants it. He's too small, too slow; he's dreaming if he thinks he'll get on the field. So he wears a suit and tie to the office to look like he means business. He tells anyone who'll listen that he will play, and when the first prospects send highlight tapes, McMillan brings in a home video of himself catching balls and running routes in a gym. Some of the coaches watch it and snicker. Curry never does. "He and I have a brutally honest relationship," Curry says. "I look at him and say, 'Jamall, it doesn't make sense for you to subject your body to this kind of stress with your size and foot speed.' He struggles with every aspect of the game, except that he loves it."The team holds three open tryouts, and McMillan shows up to them all. He doesn't run great routes. He doesn't make catching passes look easy. But he keeps coming back. When the coaches can't figure out how to dissuade him from playing, they talk to him about their families and how he would make a terrific graphic designer.In a meeting last year to finalize the walk-on roster spots, Coach Curry sits in his leather chair at the end of the table and says: "Jamall will have a place on this team." But if he wants to be a wideout and not a student-manager or equipment assistant, he must earn it in August, when the Panthers report for their first preseason practices. The Long ShotIn the silver womb of a C-17 transport plane, Rontaverous Aribo thinks about coming home. He has been in the military three years, often running air transports over Iraq to deliver armored MRAP vehicles, drowning out the hum of the engines with his iPod. During his tour, Aribo sits at Camp Anaconda and takes online classes. When he comes home, he wants to go to college.In the fall of 2008, his tour over, he enrolls at GSU and sees a flyer tacked to a corkboard: "Georgia State Football Walk-On Tryouts. All participants must register by Oct. 13. No exceptions."He excelled as a wrestler at Stone Mountain (Ga.) High School and ran track for a state championship team. But football is his love. When he was a senior he was courted as a linebacker by Lane College in Tennessee and Lincoln in Missouri. But his mom was sick with thyroid cancer, so he opted for the military's guaranteed money and sent some of it back to her.At the tryout at James R. Hallford Stadium, a rented high school field, the GSU staff figures finding someone decent is a long shot, but they bring cones and whistles and gifts of white T-shirts. Aribo, in black gym shorts and cleats, runs the 40 in 4.68. He's 5'10", 205 pounds. And he is a 22-year-old sophomore. "He was an impressive-looking guy," says John Thompson, GSU's defensive coordinator. "He busted his tail. You don't forget."Aribo earns a spot as a walk-on linebacker, becomes president of his fraternity and even performs a step show at a team mixer thrown at Coach Thompson's house. His teammates hoot and clap. He dances in a hip-hop video a student makes to promote the team. He asks questions during meetings and hosts recruits when they visit town."I want that first tackle," Aribo often says. He plans for how it will feel, knows the vision by heart. This past June at the end of a voluntary workout at the Panthers' practice field, he does a backflip after a 100-yard sprint. He can't help himself, because he is so happy -- Mom is in complete remission, he is on course to graduate, and with two years of eligibility left, he has a real chance of starting on special teams. When he lands, he hears a pop in his left foot.With only three months until the first game, he has torn his left Achilles tendon. The ProjectThe house is still decorated for Christmas. It is Jan. 21 in Charleston, S.C., two weeks away from signing day 2009. Eduardo Curry's mom and dad are there, as are his brother and sister. His grandparents too. His aunt, his uncle. Friends of friends, teachers from his school. Everyone is eating barbecue wings and quiche when the famous coach pulls up in a Buick and walks through the front door. Eduardo Curry stands at the edge of his living room, in awe of the man leaning against the fireplace."That was the dangdest recruiting visit I've ever made in my life," recalls Coach Curry (no relation). "Everyone was quiet. I talked about the way Eduardo would be treated. Nobody had to sell us on him. We knew that we were going to have to take some players who you see on tape and everyone looks at one another, and says, 'This guy will be a project, but he's got raw ability.'"That summer, on Aug. 11, most of the Curry family piles into a Suburban for a 300-mile predawn ride to Atlanta. They talk about Coach Curry in the car. "He remembered everyone's names," says Eduardo's mom, Tamara. "He was genuine and unpretentious. We respect him."At 7:45 a.m., sunlight bounces off blue benches in the dorm's courtyard and sparkles through the windows. Eduardo, a tall, wide teen with perpetual dimples, wipes sweat from his forehead and helps his dad push a laundry bin from the parking garage. Defensive line coach Chris Ward meets them, puts an arm around Curry's broad neck and says, "You made it!" But at an overweight 6'3", 300 pounds, Eduardo still has a long way to go as a run-stuffing D-lineman. He lollygags through some practice drills, and then, during others, no one can block him. The frustrated coaches bark at him to stay low, keep his feet moving, to go on a diet. "He's a true 3-4 defensive nose tackle, and I still believe he can be a good one," says Coach Thompson. "But Eduardo is learning that there's a whole lot more to college football than showing up and being big. He just hasn't figured out how to do that yet. There's a football player in that body, somewhere." The GamerIt's not the kind of surprise Ben Jacoby's dad wants to hear. His son is quitting football and moving from Indiana back to suburban Georgia. Jacoby, a 6'2", 275-pound center, has a full ride to Ball State; his father and former Cardinals head coach Brady Hoke were teammates in college and are good friends. But Hoke left before last season for San Diego State. So, after a 2008 in which he played sparingly, Ben is moving home. He will apply to Georgia Gwinnett College, which is five minutes from the house, and study information technology. "I told him not to quit," Doug Jacoby says. "But he said, 'Dad, I'm coming home.' I said, 'If you give up a scholarship, you can live here, but you're going to pay for your own school.'" Doug suggests Ben write an e-mail to Mike Riddle, offensive line coach at Georgia State. Doug has heard they are starting a team. The father tells his son that before he quits for good, he might as well meet Coach Curry, a man known for having cared about his players when he was the head man at Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky. Ben sets up a meeting with the coaches, not expecting much. At the meeting, Riddle asks him what he still loves about the game. The coach gets the player to open up about what football means to him. "He starts talking about team and camaraderie," says Riddle, "and I see the light still in his eyes." Coach Curry walks into the meeting room, looks the big kid up and down. Neither Curry nor Riddle has seen a highlight tape. Jacoby reiterates that he isn't sure that his future includes football. "Well," Curry says to Jacoby, "I can tell you this: If you don't at least find out you might regret it the rest of your life."Two days later, Ben calls Riddle to talk; a few months after that, he enrolls at GSU. "I'm such a huge nerd," Jacoby says, leaning in a chair in his unkempt dorm, an Alienware computer monitor glowing in front of him. Describing in detail how to earn the Grand Black War Mammoth in World of Warcraft, Jacoby stops himself and laughs. He could play WoW 15 hours a day; he'd seen Avatar four times in IMAX during one month over the winter; he's just received a box of Naruto Japanese manga novels from Amazon.Curry now knows Jacoby is also a gamer on the field. He can move quickly off the snap, can transform from a guy who talks about Grand Black War Mammoths into someone who hits like one. He hasn't lost his desire for the game. Everywhere he looks, from the Georgia Dome to the shiny pads in the workout room to the brand-new practice field out by the Marta track, Jacoby sees something that inspires him. Everything is new. He plays nearly every single snap at center during spring practice, and when Curry sees him walking, the coach calls him by his name, not just his number. It feels right.This April, as the only player with experience on an O-line of freshmen, he earns a plaque that reads: No. 62 Ben Jacoby. Center. Best Offensive Performer, Spring 2010. After the spring game at the Georgia Dome, Jacoby's parents walk toward him on the field. Curry stops them for a moment: "I just want you to know, your son is the savior of our line." The ScholarThere is only one thing Michael Davis has ever wanted to be. As a 3-year-old, he draws pictures of engines; by the time he's 9 he is reading Motor Trend and visiting a Ford plant in Detroit. His grandfathers were engineers; his mother is too. He grows up in the country a few miles outside of Decatur, Ga., on five acres where his dad makes him walk the horses before dawn with a flashlight to teach him discipline. He wants to study at Georgia Tech. His parents even buy him golden hats and T-shirts; it is decided.By his sophomore year at Chamblee High, Davis is tall and heavy. He starts to excel as an offensive lineman but still maintains a 4.0 GPA. His senior year, he gets an offer to play for Cornell; he's also been invited to walk on at Tech. He waffles for the first time. In December 2009, his head swimming with possibilities, Davis goes to the Georgia Dome with his family to see a cousin graduate from Georgia State. Coach Curry is delivering the commencement. The family aren't familiar with him, but his speech about perseverance and moments of truth touches them. When it is over, Mike Sr. leans over to his son and says, "Now, this is a man you want to play for." A couple of months after signing day, with his son still uncommitted, Mike Sr. goes to the GSU football offices to give a highlight tape to the coaches. He sees Curry wheeling his suitcase out the door. Mike Sr. stops him, squeezes his hand and tells him about Michael. A few weeks later, Curry is sitting across from the high school senior. "I looked at his grades and said, 'You're trying to come here?'" Curry says. "I couldn't believe I was meeting a young man like him after signing day. He was the first kid who was actually concerned about the curriculum. We offered him a half-scholarship and told him he could earn the other half." The Davis family talks about what to do. Mike Sr. has already paid a $250 deposit on the Georgia Tech dorm. Should Michael really give up his dream of being an engineer? He won't be able to get the degree he always wanted, because Georgia State doesn't offer it. In the end, he wants that half-scholarship -- and to play for Curry."Though he really hadn't been recruited, he could help us," Coach Riddle says. "For his size, he moves his feet well. He has some pretty solid punch to him."Davis lost 30 pounds in his first three months, down to 295. He's a business major, earning a 3.83 GPA in his first semester and a 4.02 in his second. And he has the other half of that scholarship.The BrothersThe boys sleep on piles of clothes in the back of their family's Chevy Astro in parking lots around Los Angeles. They share cans of tuna and saltines, brush their teeth at a drinking fountain, wet a washrag at a garage sink and wipe beneath their arms before school. They are raised to believe in God and to pray. After their dad passed away, they drove with their mom to Phoenix before settling in Sierra Vista. They move into low-income housing, sneaking school cafeteria food home to Mom. Samoan and proud, they grow to be big kids, with long hair, thick arms and dark eyes. They star in the defensive backfield at Buena High. Louie Muasau, older by a year, hits hard and is afraid of no one; his brother Jake is rocket fast.Louie moves three hours away to play at Phoenix College after high school, while his family still struggles to put food on the table. Without his big brother around, Jake goes astray and is busted selling a small amount of prescription drugs. In the middle of his senior year, Jake faces expulsion as he stands before a panel of teachers and school board members. He tells them, in his soft voice, that he did it only so he and his mother could eat. Two local women, both juvenile probation officers, know Jake and speak on his behalf, asking that he be able to complete his studies at home rather than be expelled and lose his chance before he even has one. The vote is 12-to-1 against expulsion.With the guidance and tutelage of these women, Jake graduates and enrolls at Phoenix College in 2008, where Louie, after redshirting as a freshman, has become a fierce 235-pound linebacker. Jake also becomes a linebacker, and the Muasaus start side by side for two years. But both brothers are sick with the flu when GSU assistant Chris Ward makes his recruiting rounds in September 2009. He sees film of Louie, but Jake hasn't made a reel yet, so only Louie gets invited for an official visit that December. All Louie talks about on that trip to Atlanta is Jake. "My brother's better. You need to see him," he keeps saying. Coach Ward and Coach Thompson don't know if Louie is pushing Jake because they're brothers or if he's telling the truth. "Their coach said they were both great," Ward says, "and that they didn't want to leave each other's side. We fell in love with Louie on his visit. He called himself Louie the Lion and had this personality, this long hair -- he brought in something we didn't have. He wanted to be a king, the leader."When they get tape of Jake from the 2009 season that winter, "everybody's jaws drop," Thompson remembers. "He was a phenomenal player." They call Louie and offer them both spots.Nine months before the program's debut, the Muasau boys move to Atlanta, where Louie soon takes over the defensive huddle. Players listen to him, because he demands attention. Now 6'1", 243 pounds, Jake is still as fast in person as he is on film. The brothers play side by side, teaching their teammates the Haka dance. In July, Louie is named to the FCS All?Independent Team in Phil Steele's preseason magazine."They're humble guys, appreciative," Ward says. "When they first came here, they said, 'Coach, do we have to pay for this food?' And I said, 'No, Louie. Y'all don't have to pay for it. Y'all are on scholarship. Enjoy it.'" The TransferThe announcement this June is big news. , a sophomore backup quarterback for the , can no longer play in the shadow of , who led the team to a national title. Jackson is transferring; he will become a Georgia State Panther.All spring practice, none of the other GSU QBs -- Kelton Hill, Drew Little or Bo Schlechter, part of the same recruiting class in '09 -- has distinguished himself. "We were starting to get a clearer picture, but nothing was certain," says Coach Bond. "Still, those guys have 75 practices as a Panther. Star has none. They won't roll over."Jackson picked Alabama because of Nick Saban. He says he thought it would be like playing in the NFL, under a man who'd sent dozens of guys to the league. He wasn't wrong. "Bama is a machine," Jackson says. "You do it like this, and if you don't -- your ass isn't playing." At Alabama, Jackson never backed down during the disciplined practices. He just couldn't unseat McElroy. During the national title game, Jackson stood on the sideline, feeling as if he weren't even there. On the flight home he thought about the upcoming season, imagined that same feeling again. He decided his career at Alabama was over. When he got his championship ring, he gave it to his mom.As a star at Lake Worth High, in Florida, Jackson had been close to Anthony Midget, then Lake Worth's defensive coordinator and now GSU's defensive backs coach. Midget would sometimes take Jackson home from school or out to eat hot wings. Midget and the head coach, Errick Lowe, remain close friends. When Lowe drops the idea that Jackson wants to transfer, Midget is thrilled. He talks to Jackson, tells him about the new program, describes what it'll be like. But Midget also says that his new coaches will be hard on him. Jackson buys in."I watched him play in Alabama's spring game, and in my view, he was the best QB," says Curry, whose roster features 28 transfers, including six from FBS schools. "But I told him that we wouldn't just hand it to him. His response was important to me. He said, 'I know that. I just want a chance to help you build the program you want.' That was exactly the right answer." The transfer sits on campus, wearing a T-shirt and Stewie Griffin pajama pants. "I'm blue now," he says, referring to his new team color. He can't help but think ahead to that very last game in November, when he will go back to Tuscaloosa as the Panthers take on the Tide.The brothers live in the same dorm room. They go to class, to the cafeteria, to the bank, to Mary Mac's restaurant -- and people recognize them, the hair and tattoos, the guys from the new football team who look like Troy Polamalu.The scholar represents the team at the Pigskin Preview in Macon, Ga., in June; Coach Curry has picked him as one of two players most deserving to speak for the Panthers. He wears a navy blazer, khaki pants, a striped tie. He wants to make the coach proud. The gamer runs as hard as he can. In the spring, with the bees swarming, he stretches, huffing, nose still trickling blood from earlier in practice. "You love it out here?" Curry asks. "Every minute of it," he says.The project almost gives up. His mom suffers an aneurysm, and he ponders quitting to be with her. It's a choice: Stay or give up -- which is the choice he's always had to make. Be the player they thought he could be or leave.The long shot walks with crutches, his foot hanging just above the ground in a thick black cast. He has never been injured. The coaches say they want him on the sideline to motivate the team, just as he did when he was healthy. He doesn't know if he wants to play next year.The dreamer applies, then reapplies, to GSU's graphic design program. His coaches can't believe he doesn't make the cut. Maybe it's not meant to be. But what is? He walks beneath the highway overpass near the sports arena, wearing that same backpack, a muscle T-shirt, his cleats scraping the ground. He's headed to the coaches' office. It feels like home. Justin Heckert is a contributing writer for ESPN The Magazine.Restaurant Details of College PizzaPizza, Calzon, Subs, Salads and more. Please note the restaurant charges additional $1 for credit card.Restaurant Opening and Closing ScheduleRestaurant ScheduleMorningEveningMon7:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pTue7:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pWed7:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pThu7:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pFri7:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pSat7:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pSun7:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59p Restaurant Delivery TimesMorningEveningMon9:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pTue9:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pWed9:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pThu9:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pFri9:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pSat9:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59pSun9:00a-3:00p3:00p-8:59p FoodYoYo.com ) Copyright 2007 - 2009 All Rights Reserved [Best Viewed with IE 7.0 and Firefox Mozilla]In four years at Kansas, Keith Langford scored 1,812 points, won three Big 12 regular-season titles and played in two Final Fours, a remarkable run of collegiate success that earned him a lifetime of free drinks and adulation in Lawrence.Yet for a long time after his KU career ended, the last place Langford wanted to be was Lawrence. The place where he made a name for himself had become his discomfort zone. The community that embraced him instead made him feel unworthy.It's not what anyone did. They still treated him the same, asking for his autograph, slapping him on his back.It's what they said, unwittingly cutting to his core with the simplest of questions:Why wasn't he in the NBA?An honest query, those six words instead felt like daggers to Langford because, in them, he heard the implication:What's wrong with you? You did so much in college. What happened? You're a failure."It becomes too much to explain," Langford said. "On campus, in your hometown, you're just so ashamed that, for a while, it's easier to just not be around."It's ludicrous, really, to think that someone as accomplished as Langford could ever feel like a bust.Statistics tell us that only 2 percent of all high school athletes earn Division I scholarships. Only 15 will be named All-Americans (that's including first, second and third teams) and only five to an All-Final Four team, like Langford was. Far less will play in a Final Four and an infinitesimal percentage will play in two national semifinals, as he did.By any normal number crunching, he is the elite of the elite. Yet on the basketball yardstick, which measures one to D-Wade, he felt like he came up short.If only Langford were unique.Ask any college coach and he will spin you a similar tale of a wildly successful college player who, for a time, didn't come around because he was embarrassed, ashamed that his professional accolades didn't match his collegiate accomplishments and convinced that, because he didn't make it in the NBA, he was little more than a failure."It's NBA or nothing," said Xavier guard , who grew up in New York, where the pressure begins on the playgrounds. "If you're not in the league, you didn't make it. Period. That's what people think. That's how you feel."It wasn't always this way. There used to be a pedestal reserved for great college players, guys whose games didn't translate into the pros or who were too vertically challenged to find a position.But today, from the day that kids first see their names in some version of national rankings -- and that can be as early as middle school -- one drumbeat sounds in their heads: Get to the NBA, make it in the league, get to the NBA, make it in the league.It is an all or nothing proposition that has left everything else in its wake. College careers are all but devalued and lucrative overseas deals viewed with snobbish disdain."I see it all the time," said former Michigan State All-American Mateen Cleaves. "Guys don't want to show their face. They want to seclude themselves. It makes no sense. These guys have accomplished so much, but if you don't make it to the NBA, you think you're a failure."Holloway can imagine how it would feel to be one of those guys. He just hopes he doesn't experience it.The Xavier guard is on the precarious cusp -- he's projected as a second-rounder but could slip out of the draft depending on the whims of NBA general managers."I'm nervous," he admitted. "I believe even if I'm not drafted I'll get phone calls, but I don't want my family to worry. I know how everyone envisions how their life can be different, and I don't want them to watch the draft and be devastated."It is those external pressures, sometimes even more than the internal ones, that make an undrafted reality so difficult to accept. Guys come up in their neighborhoods, pegged as future stars at a young age. The attention intensifies through high school, especially if they're tabbed an All-American, and reaches a crescendo in college, where friends, family and fans often presume a direct proportion between collegiate success and NBA riches.If only it worked that way."People ask me all the time, 'You averaged 20 points per game, what happened?'" former Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen said.What happened, players quickly learn, could be any of a number of things -- too short, too slow, too many people at your position, too little need for your talents on a particular team. After the first few picks, the ins and outs of a draft are rarely so neat and tidy as he who played best in college wins.But no one wants to hear about the business of basketball, not when it's much easier to unilaterally declare a player a flop."We live in a very opinionated world," Cleaves said. "I go on Twitter and almost every time, someone will hit me with, 'Oh you're a bust. You didn't do nothing in the NBA."A bust. A player who three times was named a college All-American, who earned most outstanding player honors at the Final Four and who still ranks atop the Big Ten record books for assists in a game, a season and a career.That's a bust?"I laugh about it now," said Cleaves, a TV analyst for the CBS Sports Network.But it's not always so easy to laugh. The players get as wrapped up in what they are "supposed to do" as the outsiders, losing sight of not only the NBA reality but also of what they've already accomplished.It's easy to understand why. Langford remembers his first day on the Kansas campus. He was playing in a pickup game with future teammates and former pros. He made a sweet pass, one that Drew Gooden immediately labeled a "league pass."One season and a Final Four run later, Gooden punched his ticket with a No. 4 pick to the NBA. So when the following year Langford helped take the Jayhawks back to the Final Four, everyone assumed his turn was coming."The message boards were on fire," he said. "All your peers around you are first-rounders. You're playing against guys like Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony and they're first-rounders, so everyone's like, 'OK, he will be, too.' Then it says you're the 46th pick projected or whatever and people start asking, 'What's wrong with him?' It gets overwhelming."Langford was never drafted and for a long time believed he was, in fact, a failure, swimming through what he referred to as "basketball purgatory," jumping from D-League teams to the USBL and back again.He blamed his agent, blamed the system, blamed everyone but himself and, worse, turned up his nose at the thought of playing overseas. He turned down more than one contract in Europe, convinced he could latch on in the NBA.Finally in debt after taking a loan from his agent, he sat down with an overseas agent and actually listened. He signed his first overseas contract."It wasn't until I got over there that I finally bought in," Langford said. "That's when I realized I'm still a professional basketball player."Not that everyone else sees it that way.After seven years of sewing together a pretty steady and lucrative overseas career -- he's played in Italy, Moscow and Tel Aviv -- Langford still is treated like a semipro."I could walk in to talk to a couple hundred kids and if you picked any guy who was playing for the NBA minimum, he'd be the one, the guy they think they're supposed to listen to," Langford said. "Or someone will ask me if I want to work a camp to make a little extra money. I want to yell, 'Hey, I'm a millionaire, too,' but it's not worth explaining. Guys ask me all the time, 'Don't you want to go pro? I'm like, 'Man, I am a pro.' But it's just NBA or nothing."That's the real kick, the reality that most every player eventually comes to -- even if outsiders don't. The NBA isn't the only professional basketball avenue and it should not be held as the lone barometer for success.Pullen could have waited to see if an NBA team decided to sign him, but with the lockout looming he instead went to Italy, where he flourished.Playing for Pallacanestro Biella, Pullen finished fifth in the league in scoring. He'll work out this summer for NBA teams and perhaps try to land here, but he's wised up. If the choice is an NBA minimum salary versus a hefty deal in Italy, he'll say ciao in a heartbeat."The money is green at the end of the day," Pullen said. "I can come home, buy the same nice car, the same nice house. Sure, I have dreams of playing in the NBA, but I also have dreams of taking care of my family."Eventually most players come to terms with all of it. They learn to ignore the critics and be proud of what they accomplished in college and what they are accomplishing as pros, whatever professional avenue that might be. They go back to campus, heads held high.In other words, they grow up.But with the draft looming, they know that someone else will soon be moping in their shoes. He will question his worth and ignore his successes.And from the vantage point of a few years down the road, they have one simple bit of advice:"Don't hold your head down for nothing," Cleaves said. "You went to college. You got your degree or you had some sort of success. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Man, we won. We're winners."Editor's Note: who had a major impact in college, but whose skills simply didn't translate to the NBA.As long as you are willing to be general in your use of the word "historic," last week marked a historic change in college sports.Whether you knew it or not, when you went to bed on June 30, you tucked in and said farewell to a familiar collegiate landscape, one only occasionally and incrementally modified in the past 30 years. When you woke up on July 1, approximately three years of stop-start conference realignment officially became a reality.Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame became members of the ACC. Butler, Creighton and Xavier joined the "new" Big East, an amalgam of seven basketball refugees who escaped the old Big East with naming rights intact. Something called the American Athletic Conference was born.How did we get here? It's been more marathon than sprint, as they say, and the breathless day-to-day developments of the past three years have been difficult to follow for even the hardiest of college basketball junkies. For casual fans, well, honestly, who has the time?That's why, as part of our Realignment Reality series this week, we decided to put together a handy list of frequently asked questions to help guide you through this bright future and/or terrifying dystopia.First things first: Which schools are in which conferences, now?All told, 50 -- yes, 50 -- basketball programs will play under a different conference name than they did last season. We could copy and paste but it's much easier for everyone if you click the link. You might also save it to Evernote, print it off and, if you are so inclined, have your local print shop create a wall-sized poster, which you can then hang above your favorite Internet commenting portal. Remember: Knowledge is power.That's a lot of changes. How did this happen? And why?The short version, in no particular order: TV money, greed, football, crippling intra-institutional insecurity, and the Big Ten.Well, duh.Don't worry, there's a long version.For all intents and purposes, the wave of realignment that brought us to the radically remade landscape July 1 began in 2007, in the Chicago offices of the Big Ten. It was around that time that the Big Ten made a prescient and all-important move: It decided to create its own conference TV network. Thanks to the conference's vast swath of major-market-residing alumni -- the type of folks who demand to see even the most minor of regular-season games -- what began as a maligned experiment quickly evolved into a cable success story. That quickly made the Big Ten wildly profitable -- in 2012, (with Nebraska receiving a partial share until 2017) -- and the vanguard of everything that would follow.In 2010, the Big Ten realized something else: The best way to grow its network was to add new teams whose fans would clamor to watch the Big Ten Network. When word leaked of the league's desire to expand -- before "realignment" became en vogue, "conference expansion" was the popular term -- everyone kind of freaked out. News reports describing the jockeying of various school presidents were a sudden daily ritual. Rumors that Texas would join the Pac-10 or Big Ten nearly caused the collapse of the Big 12. "Geographic footprint" and "market share" entered the lexicon. Other "power" conferences took note, reconsidering what made their leagues valuable and assuming an acquisition-as-defense strategy not dissimilar from Silicon Valley's never-ending patent wars.So came the early swaps: Colorado and Utah jumped to the Pac-12 and Texas A&M and Missouri found a new home in the SEC -- merely the first salvos, but important ones all the same.The effects, both real and imagined, rippled endlessly outward. The Big Ten likes to act as if it was an innocent bystander to the hysteria, but after the Big Ten Network, there was no going back. Even when the league eventually played it cool -- adding only Nebraska as its 12th school in 2011, after the insatiable Texas leviathan got its godfather deal to stay in the Big 12 -- the narrowly averted Big 12 panic and the resulting scramble made it clear that from then on, things were going to be different.OK, but still: If things were so calm for so long, why so much sudden panic?Two reasons:1. You know that queasy feeling you used to get on Friday afternoons in high school, when it seemed like everyone had awesome plans, and you weren't invited? University presidents and athletic directors may be learned dignitaries poised atop the vaunted American education system, but they are also human beings, and when human beings feel excluded, they start taking drastic measures .2. It was a pretty scary time. What if the Big Ten became a "superconference"? What would that mean for the rest of the country? How quickly could each league catch up? How far would schools go to secure their futures? How quickly could league-specific networks be formed and new network deals signed? What did self-preservation require? What made a school -- and thus a league -- attractive in the first place?And?It begins with f and ends with ootball, and I'm not talking about the English Premier League.Though it has always been a popular sport, for much of the past 50 years, college football's appeal was more provincial than national. In the 1980s and early 1990s, college basketball far outpaced football in cultural import. Things done changed: Many sports marketing experts believe college football as the nation's second-most popular sport in the coming years (if it hasn't already). In general, football is more watched and more beloved than ever before -- the NFL has grown into a fantasy-nerd-embracing, "Sunday Ticket"-living, ratings-goosing, world-devouring Galactus of live entertainment -- and the college game has come along for the ride.The "live entertainment" part is especially important. Football's rise in popularity has come at a desperate juncture for TV networks, which face more eyeball competition than they could have imagined even 10 years ago. We used to see ourselves in our favorite television characters every night; now we literally see ourselves on our computer screens every day. We once celebrated massive cultural success; now we nestle into a comfortable niche. We once gathered for appointment television; now we time-shift.Innovation is disruption, and we've disrupted the only mainstream business model TV has ever known. Must-see-live events remain the last guaranteed money-maker in the business -- the lone surefire edifice protruding from the rubble. Selling the rights to these games has never been more lucrative.So, to review: Massively increasing college football popularity + TV networks that need live events to survive + an old-world college landscape reorienting itself to the new reality = conference realignment.It really has been a wild few years.How does any of this explain what happened to the Big East?I'll tell you!The old Big East was a basketball conference with a few so-so football teams, especially since the ACC lapped up Miami and friends in the Minor East Coast Realignment of 2005. As it became clear that the old Big East was a hoops conference in a football world -- with football money being seen as necessary to subsidize basketball success -- it became less attractive to its network partners, which include ESPN. For most of 2011 and 2012, the already watered-down (see: South Florida) Big East desperately clung to life, treating new acquisitions less like universities and more like network affiliates. Memphis and Temple were sensible additions, but Tulane? San Diego State? In the Big East? Really?Then, this winter, a funny thing happened: The Catholic members of the Big East, basketball schools to their core, looked around and realized that the rush of new sports cable networks meant that these schools didn't necessarily need football to be financially viable. Do you need football to stack Ohio State racks? Yes. Do you need it to maintain a solid middle-class college hoops existence? Absolutely not. If you've got a storied brand name and a great (even if niche!) product, the market is there.And the rest of what was the Big East became the American Athletic Conference. Wait -- why did they pick that name?Something something national conference something something brand leverage something something … it's best to not think about it too much, honestly.Yeah, speaking of which -- what does this mean for college basketball?The early days looked grim. Take Kansas. The Jayhawks lost Missouri ? their century-old, historic sociocultural rival borne of real bloodshed on the old plains. They also suffered an extended indignity: For about a year, it looked like KU, whose first basketball coach invented the sport, was going to have to beg its way into the Big East or land in the Mountain West or, well … it was all very strange. The Jayhawks' shame was the sport's writ small: All of a sudden, it felt like college basketball didn't matter.Lately, things are tentatively looking up. As , for all of the whining (guilty as charged) about college basketball's place in the wider sporting landscape -- particularly relevant to the big-money movers on the football side -- the current landscape is actually not all that bad. The new ACC is going to be a beast. And, as mentioned above, the reformed Big East seems to have figured out how to make basketball the main attraction in a post-realignment world.Wait, if Kansas and Missouri don't play each other, how do they process their mutual hatred?Last we checked, .What about the NCAA? Can't it do anything?Ha, no. The NCAA is merely the centralized bureaucratic spine of the NCAA schools doing all of this shifting in the first place. The tail can't wag the dog.But it must be uncomfortable for the NCAA to argue in U.S. District Court that athletes have no right to their likenesses when schools are switching leagues for more TV money every two weeks.That's not a question … but yes. Oh, yes. .Is this over now? Can we stop?Maybe! Maybe? OK, probably not.Last fall, when ACC charter member Maryland became the latest addition to the Big Ten's diabolical plan to forcibly bundle its network into every American cable subscriber's home, that post-Big Ten Network realignment is now a product of the ongoing systemic fear of getting left in the revenue dust. This is what happens when conferences that compete against each other negotiate their own television deals separately. Anytime things seem unbalanced, or one conference sees itself falling behind, realignment will follow. Perpetual war is upon us.Besides, it's not as if conference realignment is a new thing. In 1930, the . In 1932, it split in half, and the modern SEC was more or less born. This has been going on -- albeit in less accelerated fashion -- forever.Maybe we shouldn't have to ask…but perpetual war is bad, right?Yes and no. Yes, because realignment destroys deeply rooted rivalries in the shortsighted chase for more money. Georgetown-Syracuse, Kansas-Missouri, Maryland-Duke and others have fallen by the wayside. That has been the most decried aspect of all of this, and rightfully so. It is an objectively bad thing for anyone who loves college basketball, or sports in general. Rivalries make life better. The loss of rivalries makes life worse. That's just science.On the other hand, evincing too much outrage about this means ignoring what college athletics actually is: a business. We all have to learn this sports-is-big-business lesson eventually, usually around the age of 10. Realignment is best understood when we untie our emotion from our fandom. But what is fandom without emotion?Ugh. This is exhausting. Can we at least take a break?Sort of. There are a handful of "high-major" schools that will be moving to new leagues on July 1, 2014 -- Louisville to the ACC, Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten -- and the jockeying among mid-majors likely will continue. Still, part of the reason last week felt even remotely "historic" is because it seems hard to imagine how, after three years of manic movement, another sudden rush like the one we just went through could occur.When war is peace, a ceasefire is the best-case scenario. But for now, we'll take it.I guess that covers it?Let's hope so!One last thing …Go ahead.Really? The American Athletic Conference? Why?!That's one question I don't have the answer for.Editor's Note: To catch up on all of the conference changes, read our realignment primer . And then check out on why the new college basketball landscape might not be all that bad, and Jason King's from the shakeup.A new study gives college sports a B grade for racial and gender hiring practices, though the overall numbers have dipped slightly from last year.The 2012 College Sport Racial and Gender Report Card was issued Wednesday by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.The mark for gender hiring rose slightly to 81.3 points from 80.7 a year ago, while the number for racial hiring dipped to 81 points from 82.2. The overall score fell to 81.1 points from 81.5. Among all the professional and college sports covered by the study's report cards, college sports earns the lowest grade for racial hiring practices and is ahead of only the NFL and Major League Baseball in gender hiring."As someone who has worked at the college level for years, it's disappointing to me that the colleges are still worse than the pros in racial hiring practices and in many cases gender hiring practices," said Richard Lapchick, one of the study's authors. "My hope is that things would continue to improve, but the numbers actually declined a little this year."The study showed areas of improvement but pointed out concerns. The proportion of African-American men's basketball coaches in Division I dipped to 18.6 percent, down from a high of 25.2 percent in 2005-06. It's also the lowest mark since the 1995-96 season."That significant decline is worrisome," Lapchick said.Lapchick said the downward trend in diversity for men's basketball is another reminder that colleges and conferences need to be diligent about diverse hiring. He said college sports should have a standard similar to the NFL's Rooney Rule to promote diversity in the hiring process."Scrutiny is an incentive for schools to have a diverse process, and when that happens, there's a better chance that a school will make a diverse hire," Lapchick said.Lapchick said there are reasons to be encouraged, including well-publicized recent gains in football and women's basketball head coaching positions.There were 18 minority head football coaches last season out of 120 Division I schools, which was the same number as a year ago.There is also ample diversity among the actual athletes. In Division I men's basketball, 57.2 percent of all players are African-American while 51.6 percent of all FBS football players are African-American.In women's Division I basketball, 47.9 percent of all players are African-American.But the study also noted problems ?? especially in administration.All of the conference commissioners for FBS conferences are white men, while 89 percent of all athletic directors at the Division I level are white. Only 8.3 percent of Division I athletic directors are women."It's another area where we need scrutiny," Lapchick said. "It's why every year we publish a leadership study. Presidents, commissioners and athletic directors make decisions that have impact."_____Follow David Brandt on Twitter: @davidbrandtAPChad Collins had golf's magic number in his sights Friday at the Utah Championship, but he closed with six straight pars and settled for a 11-under 60 and the second-round lead.Collins started on the 10th tee and went out in a Web.com Tour record-tying 27, notching seven birdies and an eagle over that blistering stretch. After a par at the first, the 2000 Indiana State Amateur champion carded back-to-back birdies from the second to reach 11-under for his round. Needing one more birdie for the elusive 59, Collins instead parred out to finish 36 holes at 16-under 126, three strokes ahead of first-round co-leader Brian Prouty, who shot 66 at Willow Creek Country Club.Jamie Lovemark fired a 62 to join Prouty and Adam Hadwin (65) in second place at 13-under 129 through 36 holes. Ashley Hall, Alex Cejka and Peter Tomasulo also carded 62s to move into a tie for fifth alongside Ben Martin (63) and Kevin Foley (66) at minus-12."I kept hitting greens and kept making putts," said Collins, a two-time Web.com Tour winner whose last victory came at the 2009 Miccosukee Championship. "I just played pretty solid all day. I hit some fairly close shots. Then obviously made some putts even I was surprised I made."Collins jumped 14 places in the standings courtesy of his stellar round, which fittingly began with a birdie at the 10th.A par followed at the 11th, but Collins responded with five straight birdies, highlighted by a 50-footer at the 14th."I was on the front and the pin was on the back left," he said. "That was probably 50 feet, 60 feet."At the par-5 17th, Collins knocked his lengthy approach within eight feet and drained the eagle effort. He then bent home a 12-footer for birdie at No. 18 to make the turn in 27."It's hard to do," said Collins of tying the 9-hole tour record. "It's not like this course is easy, by no means. But we have some altitude, so the ball goes pretty far."Around the turn, Collins parred the first before notching another birdie at the second. At the par-5 third, he left his eagle putt inches short and settled for yet another birdie.If that eagle effort went in, Collins could have parred out to shoot 59, but instead he needed a birdie over his final six holes.Four pars followed before Collins found the sand with his approach at the eighth. He saved par there and found the front edge of the green in two at the par-4 ninth. A lengthy birdie putt remained, but Collins missed wide right, settling for 60 and a 3-stroke lead."Actually I forgot that par was 71," he said. "With two holes to go, I thought I needed to birdie both of them, the last two holes. I guess when your mind is elsewhere, I was thinking about making birdies and making quality shots and I forgot that par was 71."I hit a terrible 7-iron on eight, my second-to-last hole and put it in the bunker. I had a really tough bunker shot and was able to get that up and down. Then Marco (Dawson) said, 'You need to get one more. Let's get one more.' And I was like, 'Yeah, that's right. Par is 71.' It kind of boosted me up again ... I gave myself an OK opportunity on the last hole. I just couldn't get another to fall."NOTES: Notah Begay III (1998 Dominion Open) and Doug Dunakey (1998 Miami Valley Open) also shot 27 over nine holes on the Web.com Tour ... Collins is the 19th player to shoot 60 on the Web.com Tour ... His best finish on the Web.com Tour this season is a tie for third at the Mid-Atlantic Championship in June ... His other win on the circuit came at the 2005 Henrico County Open ... The cut line fell at 6-under, the lowest in event history.New limits on ammunition magazines will continue in Colorado while sheriffs seek to overturn the law in court after attorneys in the case agreed on some technical fixes.A federal judge in Denver says there was nothing for her to rule on because attorneys for the state and the sheriffs had hammered out an agreement late Tuesday.The sheriffs were in court seeking a preliminary injunction on the law that bans magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.Both sides agreed that magazines that have removable baseplates won't be considered part of ban and won't be seen as being adaptable to hold more rounds than what the law allows.Attorneys for both parties say now they can debate whether the law violates the Second Amendment. No trial has been scheduled.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.A federal judge in Denver refused Wednesday to block a new Colorado state law that limits the size of ammunition magazines.Judge Marcia Krieger said she could not issue an injunction because the law already is in effect."It is already the law of the state and there is nothing for me to enjoin," Krieger said.Krieger disclosed her decision at a hearing on a lawsuit by Colorado sheriffs who are challenging the law that went into effect July 1.The law, passed in the wake of mass shootings in Colorado and Connecticut, bans magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. The sheriffs contend it violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and also is too vague to enforce.The law was a major victory for Colorado Democrats, who rallied majorities in the House and Senate this spring to pass it without Republican support. Democrats also expanded background checks to include online and private firearm sales.Sheriffs in 54 of Colorado's 64 counties filed the lawsuit in May seeking to overturn both laws. Most of the sheriffs behind the lawsuit represent rural, gun-friendly parts of the state.Krieger also said Wednesday she had been told that the plaintiffs and the governor's office reached an agreement late Tuesday on how to enforce the law while the legal challenge proceeds. Details on that agreement weren't immediately released.The lawsuit contends the magazine law lacks clarity because it bans magazines that are "designed to be readily converted" to hold more than 15 rounds.The Colorado attorney general's office, which is defending the state, had previously issued guidance to law enforcement on how the limit should be enforced, saying magazines that hold 15 rounds or fewer can't be defined as "large capacity" simply because they can be modified to include more.Opponents maintain that many magazines can be easily converted to hold more rounds. David Kopel, the attorney representing the sheriffs, said he also was arguing that the law is vague about what happens to larger magazines that were grandfathered in.The sheriffs decided not to pursue a preliminary injunction for the expanded background checks, given the complexity of the new law and limited time at Wednesday's hearing. Kopel said it's more appropriate to address the background checks at trial.Democrats argue both laws will improve public safety and are an appropriate response to the massacres at a suburban Denver movie theater last July and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December.Two Democrats - Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron - face potential recall elections because they supported the laws.There has never been a recall election for a Colorado state legislator.Last time we covered the . While is the newest technology of the key components of the , and the most recognized, here let's cover perhaps the least well understood component of the NEW architecture: colocation. , whether used by enterprises directly, by newer WAN services providers who leverage them, or both, are set to play a critical role in next-generation enterprise WANs because they hold the potential to lower the price/bit of WAN bandwidth, to help address several of the , including , and to improve application performance and predictability for both intranet applications as well as access to SaaS and cloud-based services.As with our previous column on server virtualization, rather than a detailed summary of colocation, I will mostly focus on how colocation relates to the Enterprise WAN, and to the other key components of the NEW architecture.A colocation facility, or (hereafter also referred to simply as "colo") is a type of data center "where equipment space and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers. Colocation facilities provide space, power, cooling, and physical security for the server, storage, and networking equipment." While we're about to cover how colocation can be used to create a superior Enterprise WAN, many companies are familiar with colocation as the place to put public Internet-facing servers such as websites, either done by a or managed by the enterprises themselves. Beyond public-facing web servers, colos are beginning to be used by some enterprises for disaster recover / business continuity.While some telecom service providers offer colocation capabilities, for the most part here we are talking about so-called "" facilities, such as those offered by and , where there are a wide variety of network carriers from which to choose. In fact, most frequently these colo facilities are colocated with the public points which help make the Internet the network-of-networks that it is. Being at a colocation facility puts your equipment/application/service close to the "core of the Internet" from a connectivity, performance and network reliability standpoint.Almost by definition, there is "lots" of fiber connectivity to a given colo facility, meaning that at a carrier neutral facility, there is a lot of competition providing bandwidth. The combination of competition and capacity means that the price of bandwidth available at a colo facility is much lower than the price almost anywhere else.Bandwidth rates at colo facilities as low as $1 - $2 per Gbps per month for U.S.-based colos when purchased at high volume are not unusual. And while rates in other countries, especially in Asia and South America, can be a lot higher, they are almost always 1/10th to 1/100th the price of IP bandwidth in a given geography at a general business/office location, serviced by at most one or occasionally two fiber providers.This is consistent with the well known history of data service bandwidth pricing: core bits are cheap, last mile bits are expensive (and even more so when the last mile is a telco monopoly), fiber bits are relatively cheaper, copper bits are relatively expensive, and partly because , the places where fiber comes together are where the cheapest bandwidth can be found. Colocation facilities eliminate the last mile monopoly "rent", and have many fiber providers motivated to connect to the facility. DWDM has helped to give these core fiber links unbelievably large capacity. With cheap fiber and other players there, multiple ISPs want to locate there, and Internet IP bandwidth here is close to being a "commodity". [Now, ISP bandwidth isn'tcompletely a commodity yet, especially for enterprise use, but we'll get back to that later...]President Juan Manuel Santos proposes to bring Colombia into NATO, even if it is through the back door. I think it’s a responsible initiative.NATO is the most formidable military coalition in history. It was created by Harry Truman in 1949, in the middle of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was going through its worst imperial spasm. Although named North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the institution does not take that geographic circumstance too seriously. Italy, Greece and Turkey reside in another neighborhood, yet they are members of NATO. Actually, NATO was not created to make war but to prevent it. Truman, who read the classics and loved history, used to quote the Latin phrase “ Si vis pacen, para bellum” ? If you wish peace, prepare for war. That’s what he did. He was under the influence of the strategic thinking of young diplomat George Kennan.The Soviet Union had to be contained, without unleashing another world war, until the contradictions of collectivism, inefficiency and oppression could make it implode. That took a few decades, but it worked.Colombia’s Santos has good reason to protect his country from the potential danger of a regional war. Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro has just announced the creation of a workers militia of 2 million soldiers. He wants to manufacture one of the largest armed corps in the world. It’s perfectly logical for his neighbors to be afraid.Add to this the dozens of war planes, battle tanks and sophisticated antiaircraft weapons that Venezuela has spent years accumulating. Weapons that are not adequate to maintain domestic order or deal with a local enemy. They are devices designed to wage conventional wars, presumably against other countries.There is a golden rule that usually regulates the modus operandi of armed forces: “Form defines function.” When armies grow, they overflow and become very dangerous. The moment the Cuban regime, with Soviet support, was able to build the most powerful army in Latin America, it leaped into African adventures and stayed there from 1975 to 1990 ? the longest international military operation staged by any other military body in the Americas, including the United States.The most economic way for Colombia to keep Venezuela from dragging it into a war ? as threatened in the past by the late Hugo Chavez, who publicly ordered his generals to move tanks and artillery to the border ? is to place itself under the symbolic protection of NATO.The other two options are worse. One would be to do nothing and risk exposing Colombian society to an armed conflict, precisely because of government indifference to a real danger. The other would be to begin a costly arms race that would bleed the country dry.As a consequence of the actions of communist narcoguerrillas, Colombia is already the Latin American country that spends the most in combat equipment in terms of its GNP (about 3.8 percent.) Why invest more money in guns when the needs of its society are huge?NATO has a dissuasive and beneficial effect. In general, it prevents wars. Add to this a pedagogical factor: It induces better behavior among military men and, to a degree, generates greater subordination to civilian governments.At least, that’s what Spanish socialist Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez presumed when he propitiated his country’s permanent association with NATO. He did so in the referendum held by his government in 1986, despite having rejected it in 1981, when he was a member of the opposition.Bolivia’s Evo Morales has said that Santos’ initiative is a threat to his country. But Morales also said that the Roman Empire had attacked Bolivia. Looking at Evo Morales, one is reminded of the popular Colombian song, “ La Gota Fria” ? The Cold Sweat ? which tells of two folk musicians challenging each other. Sung by Carlos Vives, it notes: “How cultured could he be, when he was born in the cactus patch?” That’s Moralito for you. Colombia needs to join NATO to, as the song says, “put an end to this mess.”President Juan Manuel Santos proposes to bring Colombia into NATO, even if it is through the back door. I think it’s a responsible initiative.NATO is the most formidable military coalition in history. It was created by Harry Truman in 1949, in the middle of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was going through its worst imperial spasm. Although named North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the institution does not take that geographic circumstance too seriously. Italy, Greece and Turkey reside in another neighborhood, yet they are members of NATO. Actually, NATO was not created to make war but to prevent it. Truman, who read the classics and loved history, used to quote the Latin phrase “ Si vis pacen, para bellum” ? If you wish peace, prepare for war. That’s what he did. He was under the influence of the strategic thinking of young diplomat George Kennan. The Soviet Union had to be contained, without unleashing another world war, until the contradictions of collectivism, inefficiency and oppression could make it implode. That took a few decades, but it worked.Colombia’s Santos has good reason to protect his country from the potential danger of a regional war. Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro has just announced the creation of a workers militia of 2 million soldiers. He wants to manufacture one of the largest armed corps in the world. It’s perfectly logical for his neighbors to be afraid.Add to this the dozens of war planes, battle tanks and sophisticated antiaircraft weapons that Venezuela has spent years accumulating. Weapons that are not adequate to maintain domestic order or deal with a local enemy. They are devices designed to wage conventional wars, presumably against other countries.There is a golden rule that usually regulates the modus operandi of armed forces: “Form defines function.” When armies grow, they overflow and become very dangerous. The moment the Cuban regime, with Soviet support, was able to build the most powerful army in Latin America, it leaped into African adventures and stayed there from 1975 to 1990 ? the longest international military operation staged by any other military body in the Americas, including the United States.The most economic way for Colombia to keep Venezuela from dragging it into a war ? as threatened in the past by the late Hugo Chavez, who publicly ordered his generals to move tanks and artillery to the border ? is to place itself under the symbolic protection of NATO.The other two options are worse. One would be to do nothing and risk exposing Colombian society to an armed conflict, precisely because of government indifference to a real danger. The other would be to begin a costly arms race that would bleed the country dry.As a consequence of the actions of communist narcoguerrillas, Colombia is already the Latin American country that spends the most in combat equipment in terms of its GNP (about 3.8 percent.) Why invest more money in guns when the needs of its society are huge?NATO has a dissuasive and beneficial effect. In general, it prevents wars. Add to this a pedagogical factor: It induces better behavior among military men and, to a degree, generates greater subordination to civilian governments.At least, that’s what Spanish socialist Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez presumed when he propitiated his country’s permanent association with NATO. He did so in the referendum held by his government in 1986, despite having rejected it in 1981, when he was a member of the opposition.Bolivia’s Evo Morales has said that Santos’ initiative is a threat to his country. But Morales also said that the Roman Empire had attacked Bolivia. Looking at Evo Morales, one is reminded of the popular Colombian song, “ La Gota Fria” ? The Cold Sweat ? which tells of two folk musicians challenging each other. Sung by Carlos Vives, it notes: “How cultured could he be, when he was born in the cactus patch?” That’s Moralito for you. Colombia needs to join NATO to, as the song says, “put an end to this mess.”Marijuana has long been accused of being a gateway to deadlier vices. But could cannabis be a swinging door that might also lead people away from hard drugs? That’s what this capital city is trying to find out.In coming weeks, Bogota is embarking on a controversial public health project where it will begin supplying marijuana to 300 addicts of bazuco ? a cheap cocaine derivative that generates crack-like highs and is as addictive as heroin.Bogota has 7,500 bazuco users among its 9,500 homeless population, said Ruben Dario Ramirez, director of the Center for the Study and Analysis of Coexistence and Security, which is spearheading the project. Addicts are often driven to panhandling and crime to support their habit, turning pockets of this thriving city into bazuco wastelands where junkies huddle to smoke the drug. In the last three years, 277 homeless people have been murdered, he said.For the most desperate users, the cannabis cure may be the only way out.“People accuse us of turning bazuco addicts into marijuana addicts but that’s an urban myth,” he said. “This program is about reducing personal harm and the risks to society.”Authorities believe that by supplying addicts with quality-controlled medical marijuana with a high THC content (the mind-altering component of marijuana) and that is specifically selected to relieve the anxiety that comes with kicking bazuco, they might be able to rescue some of them.The idea is controversial. Critics have accused Ramirez and his colleagues of smoking their own medicine and say the project risks making city government an enabler.“This plan is completely absurd,” said Augusto Perez, the director of Nuevos Rumbos, a Colombian think-tank that researches drugs and addiction. “It’s as if they didn’t know that everyone that smokes bazuco already smokes marijuana. By giving them marijuana, all they will be doing is saving the (addicts) money so they can buy more bazuco.” Bazuco is made from the residue left over after processing cocaine and it’s often mixed with kerosene and sulfuric acid. Smoked, it provides a powerful high that’s whiplash brief. Perez said the only thing harder to kick might be heroin. And abandoning the vice usually requires interning the addict in a treatment facility and providing intensive therapy. “I give this program zero probabilities of working,” he said.But advocates say the traditional medical community is stuck in its thinking.Julian Andres Quintero, the head of Accion Tecnica Social, a non-profit that is working with the district on the initiative, said most medical professionals think of drug cessation as the only answer. “This project is not aimed at getting people to quit using,” he said. “This is about reducing risks and mitigating the damage. We want people to quit a substance that is very, very damaging and transition to something less dangerous and which will allow them to function in society.”Marijuana has already been used as a hard-drug alternative in Canada, Brazil and Jamaica, he said. A 2002 ethnographic study of Jamaican crack users by the dean of the Iowa College of Nursing, for example, found that of 14 women who gave up the drug, 13 attributed their success to using marijuana.And while marijuana has been getting most of the attention in Bogota’s drug initiative, it’s just part of the equation. Addicts will also be receiving counseling, job training, emergency shelter and other services that are already part of the city’s social safety net.Colombia isn’t known for having liberal views on drugs. The world’s top cocaine producer, the nation has, with U.S. backing, been engaged in one of the most aggressive, bloody and expensive drug wars in the hemisphere. But domestically, its laws can seem a bit more like Amsterdam. While smoking and selling weed are illegal, Colombians are allowed to carry small amounts of cocaine and marijuana ? or what’s called a “personal dose” ? and are also allowed to grow up to 20 marijuana plants for personal consumption. There are also laws that allow marijuana and other drugs to be prescribed by doctors. While the mechanics of growing and distributing the medical marijuana for the city’s project haven’t all been worked out, Ramirez said one idea is to create a type of match-making service, where “personal dose” home-growers provide portions of their harvest to help bazuco addicts. But the city cannot legally hand out marijuana.Camilo Borrero is one of the driving forces behind the program and perhaps its best advertisement. Now 40, Borrero said he grew up in a family full of addicts. By the age of five, he’d had his first drink, by seven he’d smoked pot, and by 12 he was using cocaine regularly. He managed to clean up for a few years until he accidentally smoked bazuco believing it was marijuana. Within two years, he went from being a university student with his own business to living on the streets and wandering the city looking for his next fix. In 1999, he hit bottom and decided to kick the habit. He said he cycled through almost 20 drug-treatment programs, clinics and psychiatrists but never managed to give up bazuco for more than three months. Desperate for a solution, he recalled that in his younger years he’d kicked cocaine by smoking pot. He tried the therapy again and it worked, he said. He’s been off bazuco for three and a half years, and he gives credit to his carefully regimented marijuana consumption. “When I cured myself, I said ‘I have to share this with everyone,’” he said. “My life began three and a half years ago.”Borrero’s company, Cannamedic, grows medical-quality marijuana to make pomades and oils for arthritis, among other products. Cannamedic will also be one of the cannabis growers for the city’s program.Quintero, with the Accion Tecnica non-profit, said the first phase of the project needs to be successful to silence the critics. He has a tattoo running down his right arm that reads: “Nice people take drugs.” It’s his answer to those who criticize the initiative on moral and ethical grounds. “For us,” he said, “there’s nothing more ethical than offering someone a solution who has never been able to find one before.”At a sprawling central Colombia coffee laboratory and research facility ? full of coffee plants trapped in jars and shimmering test-tubes ? workers poked their heads out of cubicles to share the latest news from Central America and Mexico.“Did you read that story about Nicaragua?” one asked a visiting delegation. “They’re really suffering.”Just a few years ago, the Colombian coffee industry was on its knees as a virulent fungus known as coffee-leaf rust ? or roya in Spanish ? infected 40 percent of the crop. Millions of dollars and a massive re-planting effort later, this Andean nation is showing signs of recovery just as its neighbors to the North are being slammed by the blight. Analysts believe roya could hit 30 to 50 percent of the Central American and Mexican coffee crop over the next few years, and some aid agencies fear it could lead to hunger or even famine in a region where farmers live from harvest to harvest.If Colombia’s fight with roya is any indication, Central America could have a long, expensive and rough road ahead.The fungus creates orange spots on leaves and destroys the fruit, often during multiple seasons. As warmer and wetter weather has swept the region, roya has thrived, spreading to higher altitude coffee farms that used to be out of reach. While fungicides can help stop roya, most farmers eventually have to radically prune their trees, sacrificing harvests for years. In the rolling hills of Colombia’s coffee country, Luis Alirio Rios was watching workers on his farm, El Descanso, come in with buckets full of red coffee berries. “Just a few years ago this place was destroyed by roya,” he said. In 2012, his harvest dropped to 4,100 pounds per 2.5-acre plot, or 39 percent below usual, he said. But this year is going to be different. As he pulled back the branch of a young Castillo coffee plant, it was loaded with pea-sized berries that should be ripe in a few months. Rios said he’s expecting a bumper crop. The Castillo plant looks like an ordinary coffee plant, but it has been at the heart of the Colombian rebound. Alvaro Gaitan, a scientist at Cenicafe, a research and development facility in Chinchina run by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, recently led the way to a temperature-controlled room. Lined and labeled on shelves were hundreds of glass jars containing coffee varieties plucked from across the world, but particularly from Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee.Over the course of 13 years, Cenicafe scientists cross-bred some of the specimen with local varieties to produce the roya-resistant Castillo plant. Since 2011, the country has uprooted more than 1,200 square miles of coffee farms and replanted Castillo, at a cost of about $1.1 billion.But Colombia’s super plant is virtually useless in Central America, said Gaitan. Coffee plants need to be bred and tailored to match local conditions, and Cenicafe has produced seven regional varieties of Castillo just to meet Colombian demand. Central American farms may be too wet or dry to support the plant, he said. And while Central America has a coffee plague called mycena citricolor, or gotera, for example, Colombia has never had the issue and Castillo’s genes haven’t been tweaked for it, Gaitan explained. “Central America is going to face two or three years of pain unless they can find the right varieties,” he said. But finding the variety is just part of the equation. In order to make sure there was an adequate supply of Castillo seeds the Coffee Federation had to establish a network of quality-controlled seed farms. It also has an army of 1,500 agricultural extension workers who not only help farmers with technical details but also getting the bank loans they needed.Luis Fernando Samper, head of communications for the Coffee Federation, likes to compare the process to an “orchestra.” “If you have the money, do you have the variety? If you have the variety, do you have the seeds? If you have the seeds, how do you get them to the farms?” he asks. “Everything has to work together.”But some worry that Central America doesn’t have the orchestra needed to stop roya. Christian Wolthers is the founder and chief executive of Wolthers America, a Fort Lauderdale importer that brings in coffee from Central America, Brazil and Colombia. Early this year he traveled to Guatemala to visit local producers. He said of the 90,000 coffee farms in the country, fewer than 1 percent are medium or large. Of the estimated 89,700 small farms, about 90 percent had been hit by roya, he said.Wolthers is expecting Guatemala coffee production to fall 15-20 percent this year and up to 50 percent next year. “In Guatemala only half the farms will get some technical support and expertise through their cooperative connection,” he said. “The other half are just praying. They think this is God-sent and that God will either show them the way or solve the problem.”Other Central American nations might also suffer from lack of well-funded organizations that can marshal a unified response.The coffee crisis may be devastating for farmers, but the effects on U.S. consumers will be more subtle. While there won’t be a coffee shortage, some of the high quality, aromatic flavors from the region could be in short supply, said Spencer Turer, director of coffee operations at Coffee Analysts, which specializes in coffee testing laboratory services. “Globally speaking there is enough Arabica to meet demand,” he said. “But are the coffees that are used by the U.S. trade going to be available? That’s the big question, and the higher up the quality chain you go, the bigger the question mark becomes.”Organic farms have been particularly hard hit by roya, he said.For the moment, Colombia seems to be on the other side of the crisis. Coffee production in April was up 85 percent versus the same month last year, and during the first four months of the year, production was up 41 percent. Last month, Colombia said it had been the first country in the Americas to be able to declare four of its coffee-growing municipalities free of roya. As he walked around El Descanso farm, Samper, of the Coffee Federation, said most consumers are unaware about all the work that goes into making a cup of coffee. “You might see the coffee plant,” he said “But you don’t’ see everything that went into making the coffee plant.”Juliana Jolissaint is no more than 5-feet-5 and 123 pounds, but she could easily instill fear in the heart of a criminal. Put a nightstick in her hand and she drops a comrade to the ground in seconds.“I was very slow,” said Jolissaint, a 21-year-old cadet from Cap-Ha?tien, Haiti. “Everything that I have to do [now], I do fast. This is an experience, a great opportunity.”Since arriving at the Sumapaz academy near Bogota four months ago, Jolissaint has learned to run everywhere she goes, march in formation, bark out orders and use her nightstick for self-defense. She and her nine companions were carefully selected from a field of 350 Haitian female police recruits for a scholarship to train with women from the Colombian National Police.Jolissaint intends to return to Haiti in December to help her country’s 19-year-old police force improve through the training she is receiving about everything from taking down criminals to gender equality.The 10 trainees were chosen by Colombia on the basis of academics, physical acumen, good health and Spanish fluency. Most were university students, and several had studied Spanish in the neighboring Dominican Republic.“It is essential to share our experience and be present to help Haiti build a good police force,” said Colombian Police Commissioner Gen. Jose Roberto Leon, highlighting the areas of organized crime, narco-trafficking and terrorism, where Colombia’s expertise is shared. Leon added that Colombia hoped Haiti would “avoid the scourge of violence that our country lived through for over 30 years.”Women now represent just 7 percent of the estimated 10,000 officers in the Haitian National Police. Haiti is hoping that programs like this and others with Chile, Canada and the U.S. will help increase the force to 15,000 officers by the end of 2016, according to an HNP development plan.The program is funded by the U.S. International Narcotics and Law Enforcement office to boost the professionalism and increase the number of women in the HNP at a cost of $17,000 per cadet.The Haitian trainees will participate in 11 months of basic training to include a focus on sexual violence and protecting minors.CHALLENGESWhile Haiti has the lowest crime rate in the Caribbean, according to Haitian and U.N. officials, the island nation still has an alarming rate of violent crime. Statistics for murder, rape, assault and domestic violence in 2012 were higher than any for the previous five years, according to U.N. data. Still, Haiti has made progress in reducing kidnapping and increasing drug seizures and detentions. Officials credit close cooperation with the U.N. police and specialized training from the Colombian government in anti-kidnapping and anti-narcotics techniques.Last year, 169 kidnappings were reported in Haiti, down from the 308 reported in 2008. In drug seizures and detentions, Haiti seized 738 pounds of cocaine and 659 pounds of marijuana last year, while detaining 124 suspected traffickers. The drug seizures represent a nearly eightfold increase over the previous year.For a country of about 10 million, even a goal of 15,000 police officers would mean just 1.02 officers per 1,000 residents, a rate that’s one-third that of most countries in the world, and half that of the Caribbean average. Haiti also suffers from domestic violence in a traditionally male-dominated society, with a high of 723 reported cases last year. Figures were not available for child abuse.“Haiti is a country that has many problems in this area, so it was necessary for us to have well-trained personnel that understand these problems,” said Inspector General Jean-Yonel Trecile, international liaison for the HNP.Trecile said the objective is not only to increase the dismal representation of women in the police force, but also to increase understanding, especially in a police force that’s seeking to be more sensitive to gender issues.Trecile believes more Haitian women police on the streets and in police stations will encourage more women to report crimes.“Women in Haiti suffer a great deal from mistreatment [and] rape,” he said. “They don’t report these things to the police because they are afraid, or when they get to the police station the person attending them is a man.”Samantha Lefevre, a 22-year-old trainee from Port-au-Prince, is among the most animated in describing how she hopes to change the HNP when she returns.“There are a lot of police in Haiti that are in their offices, but they’re talking, eating and doing other things,” she said to laughter from her companions. “We have this determination to change these offices into great offices.”No longer shyThe 10 Haitian women who arrived in Colombia on January 30 were described by classmates and instructors as a shy group that had difficulty speaking Spanish, adjusting to the food and even wearing the standard issue boots.“They’ve lost their shyness,” said Capt. Diana Rojas, commander of the Santander Group of 242 students of which the girls are a part. “Now, you see them full of energy, running, speaking forcefully.”Judith Germain, a 24-year-old from Hinche, said her perspective on life changed when she felt her university classroom in Port-au-Prince shake on Jan.12, 2010. The devastating earthquake in Haiti that killed more than 300,000 made her more reflective and patriotic. She decided to be part of the change in her country.“The Haitian police to me are a good police,” she said, adding that her cousin and brother are in the force, and her brother is her role model. “He’s a police officer who is very responsible in his job. I think the only thing the Haitian police lack are experience and specialization.”Lt. Col. Yackeline Navarro, director of the Sumapaz school, said Colombia is committed to Haiti for the long-term, adding that the school had space for 50 students. While 42 qualified, an INL spokesperson in Washington said the decision was made to take 10 for the pilot program.Another INL spokesperson could not confirm if the program would continue beyond the current 10 students, saying that they “don’t anticipate” it will. INL officials reached in Port-au-Prince were not authorized to comment on the program.The Colombian police commissioner, Leon, said that while helping the sister country of Haiti is a presidential priority, the economic assistance provided by INL is a key component of the partnership. INL’s funding pays for the transportation, equipment and living expenses of the trainees while in Colombia, while Colombia absorbs the cost of providing instruction. Should the program continue, Colombia is considering receiving more Haitian students, to include women and men.At the Sumapaz school, perched on a hill and surrounded by verdant green mountains, the Haitian trainees said that in learning to take responsibility for themselves, they have gained the confidence to take responsibility for others.“In Haiti, I will have to lead other people,” said Sophie Poulard a 25-year-old from Petionville. “I think that if somebody is responsible for herself, this person can be responsible for 10 people, after for 20, for 100, for 1,000 ? for a country.”BOGOTA Seventeen years ago, Andres Angulo, a recently graduated doctor, rented an apartment, bought a whiteboard, and began training nurses and medical technicians. His first class was anatomy and he had just two students. Today, Campoalto, the educational institute he started with two colleagues, has eight campuses across Colombia’s capital, more than 8,000 active students and can boast more than 20,000 alumni. It has become the nation’s largest vocational health training school and has evolved beyond healthcare education to provide classes on auto mechanics, cooking and clothing manufacturing, among others. And soon, it will be operating in Miami.Campoalto’s rapid rise won it membership to an exclusive but growing club in Colombia: Endeavor. Endeavor is a global non-profit that selects, supports and mentors high-impact entrepreneurs. Launched in 1998, Endeavor now works in 15 countries across Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. And it, too, will soon begin operating in Miami ? its first incursion into the United States.The fact that Campoalto and Endeavor are sweeping into Miami at the same time was coincidence, but it has been opening doors in the South Florida business community, Angulo said.“People [in Miami] are calling me because I’m an Endeavor company,” he said. “Endeavor has become my calling card.”Endeavor Colombia was launched in 2006, after the organization got its start in Argentina and Chile in 1998, expanded to Brazil and Uruguay in 2000, and then pushed into Mexico in 2001. The first Colombian company to join the organization was Grupo Industrial Ideagro, a manufacturer of farm-machinery. Now, 20 Colombian companies are Endeavor members, and they run the gamut of industries. There’s Bodytech, a gym that’s as ubiquitous in Colombia and Peru as Gold’s Gym is in the United States; Mario Hernandez, a family-run leather-goods business, which is seeking to expand internationally; Refinancia, which helps low income families refinance their bad debt; and Ecoflora, the maker of bio-pesticides and eco-friendly house cleaning products.“Our focus is on scaling-up companies,” said Adriana Suarez, the executive director of Endeavor Colombia. “We are looking for leaders who can become role models, are willing to give back to the organization and other entrepreneurs, and who have a sustainable business.”Endeavor companies also have to have a proven business model and sales of between $1 million and $25 million. The requirements make finding eligible companies hard to come by. Of every 100 businesses that Endeavor Colombia interviews, only four make the cut, Suarez said. Even so, Colombia’s Endeavor companies generate about $277 million a year, represent about 0.13 percent of national GDP, and employ 5,800 workers.Colombia has a culture of “entrepreneurship of necessity” and ranks high in regional business surveys, said Suarez. But it is actually a laggard when it comes to trying to promote high-impact, job-sustaining enterprises, she said. The government is trying to change that. President Juan Manuel Santos has made innovation one of the centerpieces of his administration and in 2012 inaugurated Innpulsa, a public program that has pumped $51 million into startups. On a recent weekday, Angulo, 43, offered a tour of a hospital, bristling with medical devices and a fully-equipped operating theater and emergency room. What it doesn’t have is patients. Campoalto purchased the clinic so it could give its students hands on practice in a real-world setting.“The best way to pretend they were in a real clinic was to buy a clinic,” he said. “No other [Colombian] institution has something like this.” Campoalto started in 1997 when Angulo and his two associates, Hugo Fernando Novoa and Alvaro Hoffmann, graduated from medical school only to find that there was a dearth of qualified nurses and hospital technicians. They started the school with the idea of making high-quality vocational training available to low-income communities. The majority of Campoalto students come from working class backgrounds, hold tenuous jobs, and can’t afford to pay for school on a semester or even monthly basis. A full 70 percent are women, many of whom are the sole breadwinners of the family. Campoalto created a pay-as-you-go financing model, and students can drop into classes at any of their eight campuses without prior announcement. Schedules are flexible and also offered on the weekends. The school has a dropout rate of less than 30 percent, and a tuition default rate of less than 3 percent, Angulo said. But despite the school’s success it was also having growing pains. The three partners were wary of taking on outside investors and kept their brain-child tightly controlled. Their shortfalls in management were beginning to show just as the school was ready to expand, Angulo said.“We were at an inflexion point,” he said. “We knew we could grow more but we needed to do it with quality. We didn’t want to become a diploma mill.”In 2010, Campoalto passed Endeavor’s two-year selection process. Becoming a member connected Campoalto to a global network of entrepreneurs, opened the company up to new investors and allowed it to attract a high-caliber board. It also gave Campoalto access to heavy hitters in academia. The Boston Consulting Group helped the company develop a Colombian expansion plan, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management helped with international efforts, including targeting Miami. The school, which will be known as Highfield in the United States, will begin offering nursing courses at its newly-purchased building on 5555 W. Flagler in Coral Gables.Highfield’s target market in Miami will be Latinos who want to study but might have trouble breaking into the job market due to the lack of English. Highfield will be offering proficiency English courses even as it trains them to be hospital technicians. (Even so, board certification requires the bulk of the courses to be taught in English.)Healthcare jobs are some of the most-needed and fastest growing in the United States, and Highfield already has alliances with three local medical institutions, although it doesn’t have authorization to talk about those alliances publically yet. If Endeavor Colombia has anything to teach Miami’s branch of the organization, it’s that finding a high-quality board of directors will be key, Suarez said.In Colombia, the board of directors include Alejandro Santo Domingo, the managing director of Quadrant Capital Advisors and the son of beer-magnate and Colombia’s second-richest man Julio Santo Domingo; Andres Echavarria, a board member of ceramic titan Corona; and Eduardo Pacheco, the CEO of Colpatria bank.The high-profile board attracts the high-impact entrepreneurs that Endeavor is on the hunt for, she said.“Board members not only have to contribute resources but be involved and lead activities,” she said. “A strong board will be key to Miami’s expansion.”Endeavor Miami received a $2 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation over five years for its launch, and the organization is in the process of assembling its board and hiring a managing director. Angulo said Highfield should begin offering courses in Miami in August. The doctor-turned-educator said the company probably would have made it to Florida without Endeavor, but its association with the organization has sped-up the process and increased its ambitions. When it joined Endeavor in 2010, Campoalto was billing about $2.5 million a year. Now it is billing $6.5 million And after Miami, it hopes to open offices in New York, Houston and Los Angeles. Endeavor, Angulo said, “has changed our mindset in many aspects.”On a recent weekday, Angulo, 43, offered a tour of a hospital, bristling with medical devices and a fully-equipped operating theater and emergency room. What it doesn’t have is patients. Campoalto purchased the clinic so it could give its students hands on practice in a real-world setting.“The best way to pretend they were in a real clinic was to buy a clinic,” he said. “No other [Colombian] institution has something like this.” Campoalto started in 1997 when Angulo and his two associates, Hugo Fernando Novoa and Alvaro Hoffmann, graduated from medical school only to find that there was a dearth of qualified nurses and hospital technicians. They started the school with the idea of making high-quality vocational training available to low-income communities. The majority of Campoalto students come from working class backgrounds, hold tenuous jobs, and can’t afford to pay for school on a semester or even monthly basis. A full 70 percent are women, many of whom are the sole breadwinners of the family. Campoalto created a pay-as-you-go financing model, and students can drop into classes at any of their eight campuses without prior announcement. Schedules are flexible and also offered on the weekends. The school has a dropout rate of less than 30 percent, and a tuition default rate of less than 3 percent, Angulo said. But despite the school’s success it was also having growing pains. The three partners were wary of taking on outside investors and kept their brain-child tightly controlled. Their shortfalls in management were beginning to show just as the school was ready to expand, Angulo said.“We were at an inflexion point,” he said. “We knew we could grow more but we needed to do it with quality. We didn’t want to become a diploma mill.”In 2010, Campoalto passed Endeavor’s two-year selection process. Becoming a member connected Campoalto to a global network of entrepreneurs, opened the company up to new investors and allowed it to attract a high-caliber board. It also gave Campoalto access to heavy hitters in academia. The Boston Consulting Group helped the company develop a Colombian expansion plan, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management helped with international efforts, including targeting Miami. The school, which will be known as Highfield in the United States, will begin offering nursing courses at its newly-purchased building on 5555 W. Flagler in Coral Gables.Highfield’s target market in Miami will be Latinos who want to study but might have trouble breaking into the job market due to the lack of English. Highfield will be offering proficiency English courses even as it trains them to be hospital technicians. (Even so, board certification requires the bulk of the courses to be taught in English.)Healthcare jobs are some of the most-needed and fastest growing in the United States, and Highfield already has alliances with three local medical institutions, although it doesn’t have authorization to talk about those alliances publically yet. If Endeavor Colombia has anything to teach Miami’s branch of the organization, it’s that finding a high-quality board of directors will be key, Suarez said.In Colombia, the board of directors include Alejandro Santo Domingo, the managing director of Quadrant Capital Advisors and the son of beer-magnate and Colombia’s second-richest man Julio Santo Domingo; Andres Echavarria, a board member of ceramic titan Corona; and Eduardo Pacheco, the CEO of Colpatria bank.The high-profile board attracts the high-impact entrepreneurs that Endeavor is on the hunt for, she said.“Board members not only have to contribute resources but be involved and lead activities,” she said. “A strong board will be key to Miami’s expansion.”Endeavor Miami received a $2 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation over five years for its launch, and the organization is in the process of assembling its board and hiring a managing director. Angulo said Highfield should begin offering courses in Miami in August. The doctor-turned-educator said the company probably would have made it to Florida without Endeavor, but its association with the organization has sped-up the process and increased its ambitions. When it joined Endeavor in 2010, Campoalto was billing about $2.5 million a year. Now it is billing $6.5 million And after Miami, it hopes to open offices in New York, Houston and Los Angeles. Endeavor, Angulo said, “has changed our mindset in many aspects.”Is Latin America’s oldest guerrilla group ready to trade bullets for ballots? That’s the issue negotiators began tackling in Havana on Tuesday as Colombia resumed negotiations to end a half-century old civil war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.At the center of this round of negotiations is the legal framework that will allow the jungle-hardened Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas to become a political force. That transformation is fraught with problems. The FARC’s previous attempt to enter politics by creating the Union Patriotica party in 1985 led to bloody reprisals. More than 3,000 UP members and two of its presidential candidates were murdered.During his opening statement Tuesday, the government’s chief negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, tried to reassure his counterparts. “We are going to be discussing effective guarantees for the opposition, in particular, for the new movements that will arise out of this process,” he said. “Under no circumstance can we allow a repetition of what happened to the Union Patriotica.”The meeting comes amid renewed optimism after negotiators announced late last month that they had reached an agreement on the first, and perhaps most contentious, point of the six-part peace plan: land reform and rural development.Land-related disputes and violence date back at least 80 years, and many believed trying to resolve the thorny issue would sink the talks, said Fernando Hernandez, the executive director of Corporacion Nuevo Arco Iris think-tank.“The rural issue is at the very heart of the conflict,” he said. “If you compare the dynamic and public opinion over the last 15 days ? before and after [the land] agreement ? there’s been a change. There’s a lot more support for the process now.”But the issue of political inclusion is also a polarizing one, Hernandez said.“There are those who know that a guerrilla force like the FARC is not going to demobilize unless it, and its high command, can fully participate in politics,” he said. “And there are those that believe the state shouldn’t even be at the negotiating table.”It’s unclear what kind of penalties FARC commanders will face under a transitional justice regime, and whether or not they will be allowed to participate in politics. But critics of the peace process, including influential former President Alvaro Uribe ? have raised the specter of rebel commanders sauntering through the Senate and the Presidential Palace. “The countryside is in ruins and the president and the minister are focused on making agreements with terrorism,” Uribe wrote on Twitter on the eve of this round of talks. The United States and Colombia consider the FARC, which is thought to have about 9,000 active members, terrorists. On Tuesday, de la Calle said it was too soon to speculate about individual political players. This will be a “discussion about the creation of political movements and not about the people who will be involved in politics,” he said. “That is an issue that we will have to deal with later.”The government has said it will not release details about individual agreements until the entire process is complete. President Juan Manuel Santos has said he wants a peace deal by November, as he tries burnish the nation’s reputation as an emerging investment and tourism haven. But many think that date is too optimistic. It took negotiators six months to reach an agreement on the first point, and there are still contentious issues, including ending the conflict, the FARC’s role in drug trafficking, victims’ rights and how to implement a possible peace deal. Tuesday’s session got off to a rough start as the FARC released a statement asking the government to delay next year’s presidential, municipal and legislative elections to give negotiators more time to reach a deal.“It’s unsettling that legislative electoral pressure could damage, fade, or destroy forever our hopes of reconciliation,” the group said in a statement. They also renewed calls to overhaul the constitution.But de la Calle shot down those ideas. “That’s not going to happen,” he said, referring to them as “distractions.”The talks are also facing external pressures. Earlier this month, Venezuela, which is one of the observers of the process, said it would have to reconsider its role after Santos met with Venezuelan opposition figure Henrique Capriles. Although Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro eventually said he would continue supporting the process, he’s also maintained claims that Colombian mercenaries, working with Venezuela’s opposition, are out to kill him. He called a cabinet meeting Tuesday to discuss the future of Venezuela-Colombia relations.Martin Sanchez, 28, was in Colombia’s army for seven years until a landmine explosion left him deaf in one ear and forced him to retire in January. Despite spending all of his adult life fighting the FARC, he said he wouldn’t have any problem voting for his old enemies. “A lot of what the FARC talks about makes sense to me,” he said, citing their calls for social equality and more emphasis on rural development. “But I’d have to see how they are as politicians, because the ones we have now are terrible.”During the past five years, if you mentioned Plantation High’s football program, defense would automatically come to mind. After all, the Colonels have produced a number of quality prospects who have gone on to enjoy collegiate and NFL success on that side of the ball.Things could be changing for veteran coach Steve Davis and the Colonels’ program. Offensive football has finally returned to a school where record-setting quarterback Ryan Schneider and receiver Kevin Beard left a mark for years.Coming into the season, this was a program that was picked to be in the Class 7A race along with longtime power St. Thomas Aquinas. When you have produced athletes such linebacker H.B. Blades, defensive tackle Jeff Owens, defensive back Josh Robinson and current Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazer, it is a given that defense would be your calling card, but with numbers like 197 points in the past four weeks, offense is a big part of what this 4-1 squad continues to develop. Junior quarterback Chris Lammons is among the leaders in Broward County with six touchdown passes and no interceptions. Add to that what senior running back Jovante Ham (435 yards, eight touchdowns) and junior tight end Ravian Pierce have been able to accomplish, and this team is certainly one to watch.Lammons is an athlete who can play just about any position on the field. His speed and decision-making abilities have given him a huge lift, accounting for more than 1,000 yards in five games.While receivers such as junior Jewison Dawkins and senior Solomon Loud have been able to help stretch the field, the offensive line truly came together to give this team a huge lift. Seniors Brandon Robinson and Lionel Guillame have been impressive, but it has been a core of juniors who have added quality depth.Led by 6-4, 300-pound Sean Gosier, the class of 2014 is solid up front with Rod Richardson, Zac Capron, Rafik Abada, Justin Sutton and Kevin Angomar.IVY LEAGUE CONNECTIONWhile you are watching many of the former local players lining up at major colleges and universities this fall making plays on the football field, there are also an impressive group of South Floridians getting it done in the classroom and on the football field in the prestigious Ivy League.Among the 21 players from Miami-Dade and Broward counties include: Brown: Chad Ginsburg and Gabriel Gonzalez (Pine Crest). Cornell: Max Martinez and Javier Rodriguez, (Belen Jesuit), and Evan Brovender (Pine Crest). Dartmouth: Vernon Harris (St. Thomas Aquinas), Dominick Pierre (Calvary Christian), Frankie Hernandez (Belen Jesuit) and Aaron Mondshine (Pine Crest). Harvard: Erynaldo Kirton (St. Thomas Aquinas), Dan Melow (Gulliver Prep), Denzel Paige (North Broward Prep) and Seitu Smith (Deerfield Beach). Penn: Ryan Becker (St. Thomas Aquinas), Tyler Drake (St. Thomas Aquinas) and Drew Harris (Western). Princeton: Nolan Bieck (St. Thomas Aquinas), Taylor James (University) and Max Lescano (St. Thomas Aquinas). Yale: Cole Champion (St. Thomas Aquinas) and Dylan Drake (St. Thomas Aquinas). We are always looking to help promote local recruits for the classes of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Send a DVD and information about the athlete to: Larry Blustein, P.O. Box 3181, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009. Have a comment? Email floridakids1@aol.com. Follow Larry on Twitter at twitter .com/larryblustein or get updates at the high schools blog at MiamiHerald.com/hssportsColorado AvalancheColorado Avalanche Avalanche Blackhawks Blue Jackets Blues Bruins Canadiens Canucks Capitals Coyotes Devils Ducks Flames Flyers Hurricanes Islanders Kings Lightning Maple Leafs Oilers Panthers Penguins Predators Rangers Red Wings Sabres Senators Sharks Stars Jets Wild2012-2013 Colorado Avalanche Team StatisticsComplete through Saturday, Apr 27 Eastern Conference AtlanticRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012New Jersey DevilsHome1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Away0-0-01-0-00-0-10-0-0Total1-0-01-0-01-0-10-0-0New York IslandersHome0-1-00-0-11-0-00-0-0Away0-0-00-1-00-0-00-0-0Total0-1-00-1-11-0-00-0-0New York RangersHome0-1-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Away0-0-01-0-01-0-00-0-0Total0-1-02-0-01-0-00-0-0Philadelphia FlyersHome1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Away0-0-00-1-00-0-00-0-0Total1-0-00-1-01-0-00-0-0Pittsburgh PenguinsHome0-0-00-0-10-1-00-0-0Away0-1-00-0-00-1-00-0-0Total0-1-00-0-10-2-00-0-0Eastern Conference Atlantic Totals2-3-03-2-24-2-10-0-0Eastern Conference NortheastRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012Boston BruinsHome0-0-00-1-00-0-00-0-0Away1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Total1-0-00-1-01-0-00-0-0Buffalo SabresHome0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Away1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Total1-0-01-0-01-0-00-0-0Montreal CanadiensHome0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Away1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Total1-0-01-0-01-0-00-0-0Ottawa SenatorsHome0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Away1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Total1-0-01-0-01-0-00-0-0Toronto Maple LeafsHome0-0-00-1-00-0-00-0-0Away1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Total1-0-00-1-01-0-00-0-0Eastern Conference Northeast Totals5-0-03-2-05-0-00-0-0Eastern Conference SoutheastRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012Carolina HurricanesHome1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Away0-1-00-0-10-0-00-0-0Total1-1-00-0-11-0-00-0-0Florida PanthersHome1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Away0-0-10-0-10-0-00-0-0Total1-0-10-0-11-0-00-0-0Tampa Bay LightningHome1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Away1-0-00-1-00-0-00-0-0Total2-0-00-1-01-0-00-0-0Washington CapitalsHome0-1-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Away0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Total0-1-01-0-01-0-00-0-0Winnipeg JetsHome1-0-00-0-10-1-00-0-0Away0-0-01-0-00-1-00-0-0Total1-0-01-0-10-2-00-0-0Eastern Conference Southeast Totals5-2-12-1-34-2-00-0-0Eastern Conference Totals12-5-18-5-513-4-10-0-0 Western Conference CentralRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012Chicago BlackhawksHome1-1-02-0-01-1-01-1-0Away0-0-21-1-02-0-00-1-0Total1-1-23-1-03-1-01-2-0Columbus Blue JacketsHome2-0-02-0-00-2-01-0-1Away2-0-01-1-02-0-00-0-1Total4-0-03-1-02-2-01-0-2Detroit Red WingsHome1-1-01-0-11-1-00-0-1Away1-1-01-1-01-1-00-2-0Total2-2-02-1-12-2-00-2-1Nashville PredatorsHome1-0-10-2-00-2-02-0-0Away0-2-00-2-00-1-10-1-0Total1-2-10-4-00-3-12-1-0St. Louis BluesHome2-0-02-0-02-0-02-0-0Away2-0-01-1-00-1-10-1-0Total4-0-03-1-02-1-12-1-0Western Conference Central Totals12-5-311-8-19-9-26-6-3Western Conference NorthwestRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012Calgary FlamesHome1-2-00-3-01-2-01-1-0Away3-0-01-2-01-2-01-1-0Total4-2-01-5-02-4-02-2-0Edmonton OilersHome2-1-01-2-02-1-01-2-0Away1-1-12-1-01-2-00-2-0Total3-2-13-3-03-3-01-4-0Minnesota WildHome0-2-11-2-01-2-00-2-0Away1-1-11-2-02-1-01-2-0Total1-3-22-4-03-3-01-4-0Vancouver CanucksHome1-2-01-2-00-1-21-1-0Away1-2-00-2-10-3-00-2-0Total2-4-01-4-10-4-21-3-0Western Conference Northwest Totals10-11-37-16-18-14-25-13-0Western Conference PacificRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012Anaheim DucksHome0-2-00-2-02-0-00-1-0Away1-1-00-2-01-1-01-0-1Total1-3-00-4-03-1-01-1-1Dallas StarsHome2-0-01-1-01-1-01-1-0Away1-1-01-1-01-0-10-1-0Total3-1-02-2-02-1-11-2-0Los Angeles KingsHome1-0-10-2-02-0-01-0-0Away0-1-10-2-02-0-00-1-1Total1-1-20-4-04-0-01-1-1Phoenix CoyotesHome2-0-00-2-01-1-00-0-1Away0-2-01-1-00-2-01-1-0Total2-2-01-3-01-3-01-1-1San Jose SharksHome2-0-01-1-01-1-01-0-0Away0-2-00-1-10-2-00-1-1Total2-2-01-2-11-3-01-1-1Western Conference Pacific Totals9-9-24-15-111-8-15-6-4Western Conference Totals31-25-822-39-328-31-516-25-7Overall Totals43-30-930-44-841-35-616-25-7Power RankingWEEKRECORDRANKCOMMENT16-25-728The Avs dismissed coach Joe Sacco during the final weekend, but this team's mess goes far beyond coaching.15-23-727The Avs have played better since being publicly embarrassed by netminder J.S. Giguere and made life difficult for the Blues with a nice win Sunday.14-22-630Where to start?12-21-530Meanwhile, the Avs' season of shame continues unabated as Colorado has won twice in its past 14 outings. If there are hockey gods, neither the Avs nor the Flames will end up with the coveted first-overall draft pick in June.12-18-430The Avs' pathetic offense keeps them nominally in the driver's seat for the No. 1 overall draft pick in late June.11-16-428It goes way beyond the coach but you have to believe Joe Sacco will pay the price for another lost season in Denver.10-13-427Talk about a team stumbling around in the hockey wilderness. The Avs' 3-7-2 stretch, which includes three straight losses, has seen them plummet to the bottom of the Western Conference standings.10-10-419Call me crazy but I have a feeling the Avs are about to go on a run. They stopped Chicago's streak and then prevailed in an entertaining overtime affair over San Jose.8-8-427The Avs are the ultimate in treading water. Even the haphazard manner in which Ryan O'Reilly returned to the fold (he played in Sunday's OT loss to Columbus) speaks of a team unsure of what the plan is. Avs rank 24th in goals scored.7-8-226Honestly, trade Ryan O'Reilly and get it over with already. 5-7-129Ghastly collapse against the Oilers on Saturday night as they allowed an Edmonton franchise-record 56 shots and blew a 4-1 lead en route to a 6-4 loss. The Ryan O'Reilly issue remains a black cloud surrounding the team.4-6-027A scheduling quirk has the Avs not playing since Wednesday. They get back at it Monday night at home against Phoenix and need to start putting together wins after losing two straight.4-4-018The Avs managed to halt an early, potentially season-wrecking slide with a couple of strong performances. A win over Edmonton Saturday marked their second in a row. The still need unsigned restricted free agent Ryan O'Reilly in the lineup.2-2-022Sign Ryan O'Reilly. Now. It's insane to have made this a fight. He was your leading scorer last season. There has to be middle ground to end this squabble.0-0-015If the Avs resolve the Ryan O'Reilly contract issue ASAP, they could be poised to sneak into the playoffs. Semyon Varlamov needs another strong season to prove his durability and status as No. 1 goaltending material.0-0-023So hard to know what to make of this young bunch. Huge fan of both Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan O'Reilly; not so sure about Matt Duchene, Erik Johnson and Semyon Varlamov. Hope they prove me wrong.0-0-021Lots of observers think the Avs are a draft lottery team in the making. Not us. We like what Greg Sherman is doing and this is a team that should be dynamite offensively with lots of interesting, talented moving parts in the top nine. If Semyon Varlamov stays healthy and delivers quality starts, we like the Avs to sneak into the top eight next April (or whenever).TEAM STATISTICSPLAYER, RW48182543-113819:09670010517.1, C 47172643-121220:55270113212.9, C 4091524-71419:2128008710.3, LW47111122-132617:1734001288.6, C 4710102051816:4512007213.9, C 2961420-3418:303300669.1, LW369817-42219:2002301098.3, D 3221113-111021:351400583.4, LW48841248313:0501007910.1, RW294711-7013:092100419.8, D 461910-32819:420000502.0, RW25279-2811:190000296.9, RW3754962111:1600004311.6, RW33369-11616:491000624.8, D 4306641621:310000570.0, D 44066-162819:200001400.0, C 32426-569:0300003312.1, LW46235-7706:130000248.3, D 18134-3217:300100352.9, D 31044-31820:450000640.0, D 2804406015:300000280.0, D &dagger;34134-85418:510000214.8, D 120334818:300000230.0, C 13112-7168:4700001010.0, LW9022269:260000100.0, RW2011168:54000020.0, C &dagger;2011-129:04000010.0, C 6000-3410:22000060.0&dagger; Midseason Trades: Ryan O'Byrne (8 games ); Tomas Vincour (15 games )CENTERSNO.NAMEAGEHTWTSHOTBIRTH PLACEBIRTHDATE9225-11200LHalliburton, Ontario1/16/9199176-0182R8/31/9542246-2207LMiramichi, New Brunswick5/20/897286-1204LOakville, Ontario1/22/8590226-0200LClinton, Ontario2/7/9140255-10170LBurnaby, British Columbia1/1/8826276-0205LQuebec City, Quebec12/27/8524226-2199RBrno, Czechoslovakia11/19/90LEFT WINGSNO.NAMEAGEHTWTSHOTBIRTH PLACEBIRTHDATE58276-5220LMontreal, Quebec3/23/8626286-2205LAlma, Quebec4/19/8592206-1204LStockholm, Sweden11/23/9211246-1210LFergus, Ontario8/5/8855296-2210LBinscarth, Manitoba6/26/8414305-11184LAbbotsford, British Columbia4/19/83RIGHT WINGSNO.NAMEAGEHTWTSHOTBIRTH PLACEBIRTHDATE27265-11191RNewmarket, Ontario4/3/8723376-0190RUsti-Nad-Labem, Czechoslovakia2/14/7654286-2210RNorth Vancouver, British Columbia8/10/8412316-0192ROsoyoos, British Columbia4/17/8215306-0193RHull, Quebec3/24/8334276-2199REdina, Minnesota2/26/86DEFENSENO.NAMEAGEHTWTSHOTBIRTH PLACEBIRTHDATE41215-10190RVictoria, British Columbia7/26/9161295-11186LSt. Albert, Ontario1/5/8499186-0186R2/21/9599185-9191R1/5/9546226-1190RVancouver, British Columbia1/30/91--null6-3199Rnull2306-2210RSwickley, Pennsylvania12/9/828356-4237LPrague, Czechoslovakia6/18/7829266-4200LSt. Albert, Alberta5/14/8722285-11190LWarren, Michigan5/21/856256-4232RBloomington, Minnesota3/21/885296-3230LPort Hope, Ontario8/9/8399196-6216R3/29/9499185-11184R3/14/9544266-1207LWindsor, Ontario2/3/874335-11201LBurnaby, British Columbia6/5/80GOALIESNO.NAMEAGEHTWTSHOTBIRTH PLACEBIRTHDATE35366-1202LMontreal, Quebec5/16/7799186-2198R6/7/9531216-1195LMoncton, New Brunswick4/15/921256-2209LSamara, USSR4/27/88Coach:Today's assignment for the conference bloggers: Which teams in your conference are built to win this year -- and had better, because the future doesn't look too bright. One problem: It's just not that cut and dry with the Pac-12.This is playing off of the top 25 future power rankings -- projecting where programs will be three years from now. In the top 25 were (10), (11), (22) and (25).Let's tackle the first part before digging into the second. For teams that are built to win now, we can break those down into three categories:Oregon has proved to be virtually unmatched offensively the past few seasons, and this season they offer an outstanding secondary to boot. Stanford's defense and grind-'em-out West Coast offense has propelled it to three consecutive BCS bowl games.Arizona State has an ambitious 2013 schedule that -- if successfully navigated -- will land it in the national rankings and potentially the Pac-12 championship game. The same is true for UCLA -- which also has a tougher schedule than last season. And you can never count out USC because of the talent the Trojans bring in each year. The switch to the 3-4 is a good step defensively, and having the reigning Biletnikoff winner (receiver ) never hurts.Washington -- with good quarterback play -- could reach double-digit wins. Oregon State, though there have been down years, is consistently a tough program, and last year Arizona showed offensively what it's capable of in Rich Rodriguez's system.Now, the second part. This is where the assignment doesn't necessarily apply to the Pac-12 because, frankly, the future looks pretty bright for the bulk of the conference. Maybe I'm the eternal optimist with a backside full of sunshine and pocket full of miracles, but I don't see dynastic collapses in the future. Just the opposite: I'd put Arizona State and Oregon State in the future power rankings now. Maybe even Washington.I see the rest of the conference getting better. Top to bottom, the coaching staffs are phenomenal. Stanford officially closed the gap on Oregon last year, and Washington and Oregon State are closing the gap in the North. Three years from now, Sonny Dykes and Mike Leach could have and , respectively, in the hunt. The South is for sure a three-way battle this season among ASU, UCLA and USC, with Arizona nipping at their heels. is in rebuilding mode (again) and is entering a very crucial year.Potential future downfalls? I guess we could grasp at some straws. Oregon does still have some sanctions looming -- expected to be announced anytime between today and when graduates. Stanford has done a better job of recruiting speed the past few years, but it will always have to outwork others on the trail because of its admission standards. Washington could be on the verge of an uphill slingshot or downward spiral. Another seven-win season could put coach Steve Sarkisian in hot water. Same for USC; a division or conference title rights the ship, while another seven-win year likely costs Lane Kiffin his job.Arizona, UCLA and Arizona State are in the toddler stage of new coaches and systems. And all three took significant steps forward last season.Most will agree that the Pac-12's greatest strength -- its parity -- is also one of its biggest downfalls. The hotly debated nine-game schedule plays a huge factor. Tie-ins with Notre Dame and the annual weekenders with the California schools all but guarantee meat-grinding schedules each year.Three years from now it's more likely that we'll be talking about how the rest of the league has narrowed the margin rather than which dynasty has crumbled.Colorado RapidsColorado RapidsChivas USACrewDynamoEarthquakesFC DallasFireGalaxyRapidsReal SLRed BullsRevolutionSoundersSporting KCTimbersToronto FCUnionUnitedWhitecaps FCColorado RosterNumNamePosHtWtDOBHometown2M5'1016512/4/1984 Staten Island, NY3D6'01651/15/1984 Dallas, TX5D5'1117510/26/1986 Quito, Ecuador6D/M5'111601/26/1989 Brooklyn, NY7F5'51606/8/1990 Antofagasta, Chile8M5'111702/14/1991 Plano, TX9F6'11855/21/1981 New Rochelle, NY10M5'916011/13/1989 Roldan, Argentina11M5'81504/23/1978 Mineola, NY12M5'111752/23/1985 La Ceiba, Honduras13F6'017512/28/1985 Berkeley, California14M6'01703/28/1990 Gilbert, AZ15D6'11723/5/1990 Grand Prairie, Texas16M6'31701/9/1985 St. Peters, St. Kitts and Nevis17M5'71403/25/1994 Brighton, CO18GK6'32004/5/1982 Washington, MO20M5'816411/20/1980 Alexandria, Scotland21GK6'12053/26/1987 West Haverstraw, NY22D5'91805/8/1986 Pittsburgh, PA23M5'111854/5/1983 Medellin, Colombia24M5'101607/6/1987 St. Augustine, FL26F6'217012/22/1990 Manchester, Jamaica27M6'21909/2/1993 Midleton, Ireland28M5'1015011/3/1991 Aurora, CO29D5'111858/28/1991 Ventura, CA31GK6'31954/1/1989 Charlotte, NC32D6'31652/9/1991 Spanish Town, Jamaica33D6'21853/5/1990 Cali, Colombia55F6'21757/17/1991 Kinshasa, Congo99F5'71551/1/1900 Yaounde, CameroonPitchersPOSBIRTH PLACESALARY34RPRR336-4225Austin, TX$4,100,00063RPRR386-2220Cumana, Venezuela$4,250,00049RPLL256-0210Murfreesboro, TN$491,00045SPRR256-3225Maracaibo, Venezuela$1,650,00032SPRR236-0185Fontana, CAN/A60RPRR306-3210Panama City, PanamaN/A29SPLL326-1220Monterrey, Mexico$11,000,00061RPRR266-4235La Guaira, Venezuela$491,00059RPRR296-0205Leon, Nicaragua$1,762,500--RPLR276-5230New York, NY$491,00088RPLL286-1205St. Louis, MON/A13SPRL246-5230Collierville, TNN/ACatchersPOSBIRTH PLACESALARY20CRR245-11220Bonao, Dominican Republic$491,0008CRR345-11200Caracas, Venezuela$1,000,000InfieldersPOSBIRTH PLACESALARY283BRR226-1205Newport Beach, CAN/A171BLL396-2220Knoxville, TN$6,175,00018SSBR285-9180Maracaibo, Venezuela$900,00092BRR246-4205Visalia, CAN/A151BRR276-1200Albuquerque, NM$491,000142BRR246-1190Cullman, AL$490,000OutfieldersPOSBIRTH PLACESALARY19RFLL276-3200Dallas, TXN/A21RFLL276-3210Augusta, GAN/A3RFRR346-2220Norfolk, VA$10,500,0006LFLR246-1205McComb, MSN/A5LFLL276-1220Maracaibo, Venezuela$7,928,571Disabled ListPOSBIRTH PLACESALARY46 DL60SPLL256-0175Bani, Dominican RepublicN/A24 DL15CFBR276-4190Atlanta, GA$3,750,00044 DL15SPRR356-0190Kosciusko, MSN/A2 DL15SSRR286-3215Santa Clara, CA$10,000,000MinorsPOSBIRTH PLACESALARY--SSBR216-0160Santo Domingo, Dominican RepublicN/A--RPRR296-4215Dalton, GA$1,475,000--2BRR246-1200Rome, GAN/A26SPLL326-5205Vancouver, Canada$1,500,000--SPLL266-4215Evanston, ILN/A--RPRR266-2195Covington, GAN/A12SPRR266-3230San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic$491,000--CFLR225-11160El Tigre, VenezuelaN/A62RPLR266-2220DuPage, ILN/A--SPRR296-4215Little Rock, ARN/A123BLR256-3237Torrance, CAN/A--CFLR256-4205Sacramento, CAN/ARoster AnalysisRHBLHBSHBRHPLHPAVG HTAVG WTAVG AGEYoungOldRockies9831466-220827.62139BattingNAME13231800058120.348.375.348.7230.3612224177160165114123360.347.413.6351.0483.2712734392181155215728546.337.400.575.9752.8873416610322624632093610015.302.367.613.9803.53810573160093711150.295.368.352.7200.37025849751321026122376412.291.390.473.8632.547122123442111457142.279.315.369.6840.1752713875141134513014644.277.314.480.7931.549167144510111160123011.269.322.359.6820.268258246516272710613371.252.290.411.7010.4&dagger;29484123016183130.250.294.375.669-0.1631881646706307123320.245.322.378.700-0.3&dagger;57165224093165811338.242.290.352.641-0.5&dagger;21666161204214190.242.282.318.600-0.2601761842100117557270.239.276.313.588-0.9153548011413191.229.250.371.621-0.1632223548506167117477.216.277.320.5970.11533574002115120.212.308.333.641-0.116193400024290.211.286.211.4960.218351710028180.200.216.229.4450.1277581200310213270.160.192.280.472-0.612190310004050.158.158.211.3680.0690110002030.111.111.222.333-0.1193222000022140.063.118.063.180-0.211120000010230.000.188.000.188-0.12770000000040.000.000.000.000-0.02560000000030.000.000.000.000-0.13130000000010.000.000.000.000-0.0420000000020.000.000.000.000-0.04210000000010.000.000.000.0000.01110000000010.000.000.000.000-0.04510000000010.000.000.000.0000.0210000000000.000.000.000.000-0.04110000000010.000.000.000.0000.02600000000000.000.000.000.0000.0100000000000.000.000.000.0000.0600000000000.000.000.000.0000.01300000000000.000.000.000.0000.0Totals92319741985316121106400137426369167.267.325.430.755 -- Opponents9231754178622021874396132227559753.271.331.416.747--Bold: Qualified for batting title (3.1 plate appearances per team game)&dagger; Midseason Trades: Reid Brignac (17 games ); Eric Young Jr. (21 games ); Chris Nelson (7 games , 10 games )Power RankingWEEKRECORDRANKCOMMENT42-4719July has not been kind to the Rockies. With Troy Tulowitzki and Dexter Fowler expected to return from the disabled list soon, they won't have any more excuses. If things don't turn around, observers will note that the first week of July was the point when the Rockies' 2013 season officially went off the rails. -- Logan Burdine, 41-4215Despite being two games under .500 for the month, and losing Troy Tulowitzki for an extended period of time, the Rockies managed to post the NL West's best run differential for June at plus-1. Their weak division has left them with an outside shot at the playoffs. -- Logan Burdine, 39-3818The Rockies' first trip of the season without Tulo did not go very well. However, they were able to prevent it from being a complete disaster by taking the last two games from the Nationals thanks to Michael Cuddyer's red-hot bat. -- Logan Burdine, 37-3314Is Wilin Rosario determined to pick up the stats lost by Troy Tulowitzki landing on the DL? In the two games since Tulo broke his rib, Rosario is 6-for-9 with four runs scored and three RBIs. A big improvement from a guy who was hitting .185 in May and June going into the weekend. -- Travis Lay, 34-3013After a late-inning comeback win against the Padres on Sunday, the Rockies are 21-16 against the NL West. Last season they won only 28 games total within their division. They also lead the West in run differential this season (plus-36). -- Logan Burdine, 30-2715The Rockies need to do a good job packing their bags in June. The team is currently three games under .500 on the road and they visit Cincinnati, Toronto, Washington and Boston this month. -- Travis Lay, 27-2313While the game-deciding inside-the-park home run on Saturday and the beatdown on Sunday -- both against the Giants -- are painful, the Rockies are only one game out of first place. At this time last year, they were already 13 1/2 games out. -- Travis Lay, 24-2015The Giants went to Denver with the Rockies reeling. Then the Rockies won three of four from their nemesis (including defeating Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito) and hope has been returned to the 2013 season for Rockies fans. -- Travis Lay, 20-1716The Rockies are 3-6 in their past nine games, the low point coming against the Cardinals when they went 50 straight plate appearances without a hit spanning two games. The new-season shininess appears to be wearing off. -- Travis Lay, 18-1310The Rockies' already potent lineup got even better with the call-up of Nolan Arenado last week. The young third baseman has been plenty hyped and he did not disappoint, hitting three home runs in his first week, including a grand slam Saturday. -- Logan Burdine, 15-109The Rockies had a dose of reality this week: The team was 2-5 and injuries to Jhoulys Chacin (15-day DL) and Troy Tulowitzki (shoulder) could really put a damper on the hot start. -- Travis Lay, 13-58The Rockies are surprising everyone at 13-5 and hitting isn't the only reason why. The Rockies' offense is second in the majors in runs scored (104), which is expected, but the pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.87, which is good for 15th-best in baseball, and is very much unexpected. -- Travis Lay, 8-419The Rockies are 0-3 against teams over .500 and are 8-1 against teams with a combined five wins. -- Travis Lay, 5-121The Rockies were expected to hit, and have done so, but the starting rotation has been the unexpected bright spot. In the first six games of 2013, Rockies starters produced five quality starts, putting them well ahead of pace to beat last year's sad total of 27. -- Logan Burdine, 0-028The Rockies need a healthy rotation in 2013 to have a chance at .500. Last year, 14 pitchers started for the Rox. That needs to be cut in half. -- Travis Lay,Regular Season Schedule/ResultsAPRILOPPONENTRESULTW-LWINLOSSSAVEATTMon, Apr 10-1 (1-0) (0-1) 45,781Tue, Apr 21-1 (1-0) (0-1) (1) 24,753Wed, Apr 32-1 (1-0) (0-1) 25,766Fri, Apr 53-1 (1-0) (0-1) (2) 49,077Sat, Apr 64-1 (1-0) (0-1) (3) 31,133Sun, Apr 75-1 (1-0) (0-2) 31,060Mon, Apr 85-2 (2-0) (0-1) (4) 41,133Tue, Apr 95-3 (1-0) (0-1) (5) 41,910Wed, Apr 105-4 (2-0) (1-1) 41,606Fri, Apr 126-4 (1-0) (0-1) (4) 21,814Sat, Apr 137-4 (2-0) (0-3) 29,523Sun, Apr 148-4 (1-1) (0-1) (5) 21,337Mon, Apr 15POSTPONEDTue, Apr 169-4 (2-0) (0-3) 21,510Tue, Apr 1610-4 (1-0) (0-1) 20,239Wed, Apr 17POSTPONEDThu, Apr 1811-4 (2-0) (2-1) 18,341Fri, Apr 1912-4 (3-0) (1-2) (6) 23,445Sat, Apr 2013-4 (2-1) (0-3) (7) 30,380Sun, Apr 2113-5 (2-0) (0-1) (3) 42,507Mon, Apr 22POSTPONEDTue, Apr 2313-6 (3-1) (1-2) (8) 19,124Tue, Apr 2313-7 (1-0) (2-1) 21,724Wed, Apr 2414-7 (1-1) (0-1) 35,234Thu, Apr 2514-8 (1-3) (2-2) (4) 24,532Fri, Apr 2615-8 (3-0) (0-3) (8) 28,801Sat, Apr 2715-9 (2-0) (1-1) 31,019Sun, Apr 2815-10 (3-0) (2-2) (5) 24,852Mon, Apr 2916-10 (1-0) (0-1) 31,570Tue, Apr 3016-11 (3-1) (2-3) 47,602MAYOPPONENTRESULTW-LWINLOSSSAVEATTWed, May 117-11 (1-0) (0-4) 32,848Fri, May 317-12 (1-0) (1-2) (4) 30,255Sat, May 418-12 (3-2) (1-3) 29,099Sun, May 518-13 (4-2) (3-1) 39,220Tue, May 719-13 (3-3) (4-2) (9) 41,595Wed, May 819-14 (2-0) (1-1) (12) 40,148Thu, May 919-15 (1-0) (1-3) (13) 40,972Fri, May 1019-16 (5-2) (3-3) 37,800Sat, May 1119-17 (5-2) (3-2) 43,050Sun, May 1220-17 (4-3) (4-2) 40,881Mon, May 1320-18 (4-2) (3-1) 35,080Tue, May 1421-18 (2-3) (1-3) 38,123Wed, May 1521-19 (2-5) (3-4) 38,083Thu, May 1621-20 (3-2) (3-3) (13) 33,128Fri, May 1722-20 (5-3) (4-2) (10) 43,365Sat, May 1823-20 (2-0) (3-3) 41,412Sun, May 1924-20 (4-1) (3-3) 47,494Mon, May 2024-21 (7-0) (3-5) 23,053Tue, May 2125-21 (1-1) (0-2) 27,096Wed, May 2226-21 (6-3) (3-5) (1) 31,763Fri, May 2427-21 (3-0) (3-4) 41,881Sat, May 2527-22 (3-2) (1-2) 41,784Sun, May 2627-23 (4-2) (3-6) 42,597Mon, May 2727-24 (2-2) (1-2) 16,044Tue, May 2828-24 (2-2) (0-4) (11) 11,974Wed, May 2928-25 (3-2) (1-2) 26,881Thu, May 3028-26 (4-6) (4-2) (1) 26,239Fri, May 3128-27 (1-2) (1-3) (1) 37,923JUNEOPPONENTRESULTW-LWINLOSSSAVEATTSat, Jun 129-27 (3-2) (1-2) 36,703Sun, Jun 230-27 (7-3) (0-1) 41,536Mon, Jun 330-28 (6-5) (3-1) (15) 18,498Tue, Jun 431-28 (2-0) (1-1) (2) 27,031Wed, Jun 532-28 (4-6) (0-1) 26,665Thu, Jun 632-29 (4-2) (0-1) (1) 29,840Fri, Jun 733-29 (4-2) (2-1) 30,477Sat, Jun 833-30 (5-5) (2-4) (2) 34,590Sun, Jun 934-30 (2-0) (0-3) 33,668Tue, Jun 1135-30 (4-3) (4-8) 33,736Wed, Jun 1235-31 (1-0) (7-4) 30,304Thu, Jun 1335-32 (4-2) (4-3) (17) 37,017Fri, Jun 1435-33 (2-0) (1-3) (13) 36,114Sat, Jun 1536-33 (4-1) (3-3) 35,516Sun, Jun 1637-33 (5-3) (2-10) (3) 45,186Mon, Jun 1737-34 (3-0) (4-4) (15) 20,946Tue, Jun 1837-35 (3-2) (2-5) 22,852Wed, Jun 1937-36 (4-4) (4-3) (16) 27,235Thu, Jun 2037-37 (10-3) (0-1) 31,927Fri, Jun 2137-38 (4-6) (0-2) (19) 34,917Sat, Jun 2238-38 (6-3) (4-9) 35,787Sun, Jun 2339-38 (8-4) (2-6) (4) 39,307Tue, Jun 2539-39 (5-8) (4-4) 36,286Wed, Jun 2639-40 (5-5) (0-2) (2) 34,632Thu, Jun 2739-41 (3-1) (4-5) (14) 34,387Fri, Jun 2840-41 (7-3) (4-6) 38,428Sat, Jun 2941-41 (2-3) (1-4) 44,612Sun, Jun 3041-42 (8-5) (0-1) (19) 41,845JULYOPPONENTRESULTW-LWINLOSSSAVEATTTue, Jul 241-43 (7-5) (0-3) 37,419Wed, Jul 341-44 (6-2) (4-2) (8) 48,628Thu, Jul 442-44 (8-3) (2-6) 48,794Fri, Jul 542-45 (2-1) (8-5) 45,505Sat, Jul 642-46 (5-7) (0-2) 22,395Sun, Jul 742-47 (10-1) (0-4) 22,090Mon, Jul 843-47 (5-2) (6-7) (12) 20,400Tue, Jul 943-48 (7-7) (8-4) 22,733Wed, Jul 1044-48 (9-5) (5-5) (13) 19,411JULYOPPONENTTIME (ET)TVCOL PITCHEROPP. PITCHERTICKETSThu, Jul 11 (0-2) (2-6)Fri, Jul 1210:10 PM (4-4) (8-5)Sat, Jul 137:15 PMFOX (5-2) (7-2)Sun, Jul 144:10 PM (8-4) (6-8)The are expected to have back from the disabled list in time for the series opener against one of the hottest teams in baseball. It's uncertain, though, if will get the chance to see the field that soon.After getting back in the lineup their last time out, the Rockies are hoping that they're virtually at full strength when they face the , winners in 15 of 18, on Thursday night.Fowler hasn't played since June 25 because of an injured right hand, and Tulowitzki has been out since June 13 due to a broken rib. The two returned to the team Wednesday from rehab assignments at Triple-A Colorado Springs, but manager Walt Weiss wasn't ready to say if Tulowitzki would be ready for the series opener at Dodger Stadium.The shortstop, one of the Rockies' two All-Star starters along with Gonzalez, had the NL's second-best average at .347 along with 16 homers and 51 RBIs before his injury. He's gone 6 for 14 in his last three games against the Dodgers."I'm expecting Dexter to be ready to go," Weiss said. "Sounds like his hand is doing fine. Tulo's going to go to L.A. It'll be more re-evaluating Tulo and going from there."Gonzalez returned from a sprained finger Wednesday as the Rockies held on for their third win in 10 games, 5-4 over San Diego. Gonzalez went 1 for 5 while had two hits and two RBIs, including a key triple in the eighth inning.Colorado (44-48) will try to continue heading in the right direction with another strong showing against the struggling (2-6, 5.19 ERA). The left-hander has lost his last four matchups with the Rockies with a 6.75 ERA, giving six runs over 4 1/3 innings in a 9-5 loss at Coors Field last Thursday.That performance left Capuano at 0-2 with an 11.25 ERA in his last two starts.The Rockies, though, will also have to face a surging Dodgers club that's 1 1/2 games behind Arizona for the NL West lead after a sweep of the Diamondbacks. Los Angeles (45-45) capped that series by rallying for a 7-5 victory in 14 innings Wednesday."Obviously, you want to come in and win a series, but to win three was big for us," manager Don Mattingly said. and provided solo homers in the final inning to finish off three-hit games. Ramirez is batting .464 with seven homers and 21 RBIs in his last 22 contests, and Ellis is 15 for 39 (.385) with 11 RBIs during a nine-game hit streak.They will next try to add to 's woes. Pomeranz (0-2, 9.72) has not made it past the fifth inning in two starts since being recalled from the minors. He gave up five runs in four innings of an 11-1 loss to Arizona on Saturday, matching a career high with five walks.The left-hander gave up six runs over four innings in his most recent matchup with Los Angeles, a 10-8 loss Aug. 29. Ramirez hit a two-run homer off him in that game.The Rockies are hoping Tulowitzki will get the chance to thwart the Dodgers' attempt to move above .500 for the first time since April 15. He's 5 for 11 with two solo homers against Capuano.The are expected to have back from the disabled list in time for the series opener against one of the hottest teams in baseball. It's uncertain, though, if will get the chance to see the field that soon.After getting back in the lineup their last time out, the Rockies are hoping that they're virtually at full strength when they face the , winners in 15 of 18, on Thursday night.Fowler hasn't played since June 25 because of an injured right hand, and Tulowitzki has been out since June 13 due to a broken rib. The two returned to the team Wednesday from rehab assignments at Triple-A Colorado Springs, but manager Walt Weiss wasn't ready to say if Tulowitzki would be ready for the series opener at Dodger Stadium.The shortstop, one of the Rockies' two All-Star starters along with Gonzalez, had the NL's second-best average at .347 along with 16 homers and 51 RBIs before his injury. He's gone 6 for 14 in his last three games against the Dodgers."I'm expecting Dexter to be ready to go," Weiss said. "Sounds like his hand is doing fine. Tulo's going to go to L.A. It'll be more re-evaluating Tulo and going from there."Gonzalez returned from a sprained finger Wednesday as the Rockies held on for their third win in 10 games, 5-4 over San Diego. Gonzalez went 1 for 5 while had two hits and two RBIs, including a key triple in the eighth inning.Colorado (44-48) will try to continue heading in the right direction with another strong showing against the struggling (2-6, 5.19 ERA). The left-hander has lost his last four matchups with the Rockies with a 6.75 ERA, giving six runs over 4 1/3 innings in a 9-5 loss at Coors Field last Thursday.That performance left Capuano at 0-2 with an 11.25 ERA in his last two starts.The Rockies, though, will also have to face a surging Dodgers club that's 1 1/2 games behind Arizona for the NL West lead after a sweep of the Diamondbacks. Los Angeles (45-45) capped that series by rallying for a 7-5 victory in 14 innings Wednesday."Obviously, you want to come in and win a series, but to win three was big for us," manager Don Mattingly said. and provided solo homers in the final inning to finish off three-hit games. Ramirez is batting .464 with seven homers and 21 RBIs in his last 22 contests, and Ellis is 15 for 39 (.385) with 11 RBIs during a nine-game hit streak.They will next try to add to 's woes. Pomeranz (0-2, 9.72) has not made it past the fifth inning in two starts since being recalled from the minors. He gave up five runs in four innings of an 11-1 loss to Arizona on Saturday, matching a career high with five walks.The left-hander gave up six runs over four innings in his most recent matchup with Los Angeles, a 10-8 loss Aug. 29. Ramirez hit a two-run homer off him in that game.The Rockies are hoping Tulowitzki will get the chance to thwart the Dodgers' attempt to move above .500 for the first time since April 15. He's 5 for 11 with two solo homers against Capuano.Colorado - Top of 1stSCOREAndrew Cashner pitching for San DiegoCOLSDC Blackmon flied out to left.00D LeMahieu singled to center.00C Gonzalez struck out swinging.00M Cuddyer singled to right, D LeMahieu to second.00D LeMahieu caught stealing third, catcher to third.000 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 ErrorsSan Diego - Bottom of 1stSCOREJorge De La Rosa pitching for ColoradoCOLSDE Cabrera grounded out to shortstop.00C Denorfia walked.00C Headley singled to center, C Denorfia to second.00C Quentin lined out to left.00J Guzman struck out swinging.000 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 ErrorsColorado - Top of 2ndSCOREAndrew Cashner pitching for San DiegoCOLSDT Helton walked.00N Arenado struck out swinging.00Y Torrealba doubled to left, T Helton to third.00J Herrera hit sacrifice fly to center, T Helton scored.10J De La Rosa struck out swinging.101 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 ErrorsSan Diego - Bottom of 2ndSCOREJorge De La Rosa pitching for ColoradoCOLSDK Blanks grounded out to shortstop.10L Forsythe struck out swinging.10N Hundley safe at second on throwing error by third baseman N Arenado.10A Cashner grounded out to shortstop.100 Runs, 0 Hits, 1 ErrorsColorado - Top of 3rdSCOREAndrew Cashner pitching for San DiegoCOLSDC Blackmon grounded out to second.10D LeMahieu singled to left.10C Gonzalez grounded out to second, D LeMahieu to second.10M Cuddyer walked.10T Helton singled to center, D LeMahieu scored, M Cuddyer thrown out at third.201 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 ErrorsSan Diego - Bottom of 3rdSCOREJorge De La Rosa pitching for ColoradoCOLSDE Cabrera grounded out to shortstop.20C Denorfia grounded out to third.20C Headley lined out to center.200 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 ErrorsColorado - Top of 4thSCOREAndrew Cashner pitching for San DiegoCOLSDN Arenado singled to left.20Y Torrealba singled to left, N Arenado to second.20J Herrera flied out to left.20N Arenado stole third.20J De La Rosa struck out bunting foul.20C Blackmon grounded out to shortstop.200 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 ErrorsSan Diego - Bottom of 4thSCOREJorge De La Rosa pitching for ColoradoCOLSDC Quentin struck out swinging.20J Guzman struck out swinging.20K Blanks grounded out to pitcher.200 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 ErrorsColorado - Top of 5thSCOREAndrew Cashner pitching for San DiegoCOLSDD LeMahieu safe at first on throwing error by shortstop E Cabrera.20C Gonzalez singled to center, D LeMahieu to second.20M Cuddyer grounded into fielder's choice to second, C Gonzalez out at second, D LeMahieu to third.20T Helton struck out swinging.20D LeMahieu scored, M Cuddyer to second on wild pitch by A Cashner.30N Arenado grounded out to shortstop.301 Runs, 1 Hits, 1 ErrorsSan Diego - Bottom of 5thSCOREJorge De La Rosa pitching for ColoradoCOLSDL Forsythe walked.30N Hundley walked, L Forsythe to second.30P Ciriaco hit for A Cashner.30P Ciriaco flied out to left.30E Cabrera grounded into fielder's choice to pitcher, N Hundley out at second, L Forsythe to third.30E Cabrera stole second.30C Denorfia grounded out to third.300 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 ErrorsColorado - Top of 6thSCORETim Stauffer pitching for San DiegoCOLSDT Stauffer relieved A Cashner.30Y Torrealba struck out swinging.30J Herrera reached on bunt single to first.30J De La Rosa sacrificed to pitcher, J Herrera to second.30C Blackmon singled to left, J Herrera scored.40D LeMahieu flied out to right.401 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 ErrorsSan Diego - Bottom of 6thSCOREJorge De La Rosa pitching for ColoradoCOLSDC Headley walked.40C Quentin homered to center (402 feet), C Headley scored.42E Escalona relieved J De La Rosa.42J Guzman struck out looking.42K Blanks doubled to deep right.42L Forsythe grounded out to shortstop, K Blanks to third.42N Hundley walked.42M Kotsay hit for T Stauffer.42M Kotsay flied out to center.422 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 ErrorsColorado - Top of 7thSCORENick Vincent pitching for San DiegoCOLSDN Vincent relieved T Stauffer.42C Gonzalez grounded out to second.42M Cuddyer walked.42T Helton singled to right, M Cuddyer to third.42N Arenado popped out to shortstop.42Y Torrealba flied out to right.420 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 ErrorsSan Diego - Bottom of 7thSCOREMatt Belisle pitching for ColoradoCOLSDM Belisle relieved E Escalona.42E Cabrera doubled to left.42C Denorfia singled to right, E Cabrera scored.43C Headley struck out looking.43C Quentin flied out to center.43J Guzman struck out swinging.431 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 ErrorsColorado - Top of 8thSCORENick Vincent pitching for San DiegoCOLSDJ Herrera bunt grounded out to catcher.43C Dickerson hit for M Belisle.43C Dickerson reached on infield single to shortstop.43C Blackmon tripled to deep right, C Dickerson scored.53D LeMahieu walked.53J Thatcher relieved N Vincent.53C Gonzalez popped out to second.53B Brach relieved J Thatcher.53M Cuddyer walked, D LeMahieu to second.53T Helton grounded out to shortstop.531 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 ErrorsSan Diego - Bottom of 8thSCORERex Brothers pitching for ColoradoCOLSDR Brothers relieved M Belisle.53K Blanks flied out to right.53L Forsythe flied out to center.53N Hundley struck out swinging.530 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 ErrorsColorado - Top of 9thSCORELuke Gregerson pitching for San DiegoCOLSDL Gregerson relieved B Brach.53N Arenado fouled out to catcher.53Y Torrealba struck out looking.53J Herrera flied out to center.530 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 ErrorsSan Diego - Bottom of 9thSCORERafael Betancourt pitching for ColoradoCOLSDR Betancourt relieved R Brothers.53A Amarista hit for L Gregerson.53A Amarista flied out to right.53E Cabrera reached on infield single to second.53C Denorfia grounded out to third, E Cabrera to second.53C Headley singled to center, E Cabrera scored.54C Headley stole second.54C Quentin fouled out to first.541 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 ErrorsSAN DIEGO -- Manager Bud Black rolled the dice and the came up winners.With the tying runner on first and San Diego nursing a one-run lead against the Rockies in the ninth inning, Black left starter in the game. He was rewarded when the left-hander struck out to finish off a four-hitter that gave the Padres a 2-1 victory over Colorado and snapped a 10-game losing streak.Black went out to the mound in the ninth thinking he'd take his starter out."To be honest, I went out there thinking that I might make a change," Black said. "I've been in those shoes before and I know what goes through a pitcher's mind. I got out there and when I hit the dirt I saw the look in his eyes . that he wasn't ready to come out. So I asked him, `How do you feel?' and he said, `I got this."Stults (7-7) notched his second complete game of the season and fourth of his career. He is 4-0 with a 1.14 ERA in his last six home starts and the Padres have won each of his last seven starts at Petco Park since April 27."He (Black) came out and asked me how I felt," said Stults, who walked three and struck out five. "I looked him straight in the eye and said 'Good.' And he kind of gave me that look 'Are you sure?' and I said, 'Yeah.'"I hadn't had that high a pitch count (122) in a long time,' Stults added, "but I was sharp with most of my pitches."Stults had taken a 2-0 two-hit shutout into the ninth before giving up a one-out double to Willin Rosario, his second hit of the game. With two out, pinch hitter blooped a single into right scoring Rosario. That set the stage for the meeting at the mound.Stults had a no-hitter in the fifth inning when Rutledge legged out an infield hit on a grounder to shortstop. (8-4) took the loss going six innings, allowing one run on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks. The loss snapped Chacin's five-game winning streak. He had not lost since May 16. drove in both of the Padres' runs with an RBI triple in the third off Chacin and a bases-loaded single off of Colorado reliever in the seventh.Amarista's triple to right-center scored from first base. His single scored , who had doubled leading off the seventh. and Cabrera had singled to load the bases."Stults got a lot of ground ball outs," Rockies manager Walk Weis said. "We rolled over a lot of soft stuff for him. We couldn't get anything together offensively."Game notesPadres general manager Josh Byrnes addressed the resignation of Padres President/CEO Tom Garfinkel on Tuesday, saying he was "not completely surprised" and that "nothing has changed with me or baseball operations." ... Padres INF went 0 for 3 in his rehab start at 1B Monday and played six innings, reporting to Black that his right hand was fine. He could be back for the weekend series with the Giants. . Rockies OF was not in the starting lineup for the second consecutive game. He left Sunday's game against the with an injury to his right middle finger and is day to day. ... OF , who went 0 for 3 with a walk in a rehab start Monday night at Triple-A Colorado Springs, where he played again Tuesday night, could rejoin the Rockies on Friday when they play at the Dodgers, Weiss said. Fowler has been on the disabled list since July 2 (retroactive to June 26) with a bone bruise in his right hand.SAN DIEGO -- The Rockies expected to get a good game out of starter . 's contribution was an unexpected surprise.De La Rosa took a one-hit shutout into the sixth inning in beating San Diego for the sixth straight time and Blackmon, recalled from Triple-A on Monday, drove in the winning run and made a spectacular defensive play to help Colorado to a 5-4 win over the Padres on Wednesday night.De La Rosa lifted his record at Petco Park to 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA. His winning streak against San Diego spans eight starts.Blackmon matched a career-high with two RBIs and his triple in the eighth off Padres reliever gave the Rockies a 5-3 lead. He also had an RBI single in the sixth.Blackmon also made a diving catch on pinch hitter 's sinking liner to center with two runners on in the Padres' sixth after had hit a two-run home run off De La Rosa to make it 4-2 and send the Rockies' starter to the clubhouse."With the guys out of the lineup sometimes you got to win games that way," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "It's nice to see us do that. Charlie had some big hits and made some big plays. Jonny (Herrera) had a really good series. Any time you win a series in your division on the road it's really big."All eight position players for the Rockies had at least one hit and Colorado outhit San Diego 13-7.Herrera drove in the Rockies' first run with a sacrifice fly off in the second inning. And his drag bunt single led to the Rockies' fourth run in the sixth on Blackmon's single.The Rockies were leading 4-0 in the sixth when Quentin hit his 11th home run, a two-run shot to straight away center field, scoring , who had walked. That was all for De La Rosa (9-5), who allowed two hits over five innings with four walks and four strikeouts."We couldn't get to De La Rosa until Q's homer," Padres manager Bud Black said. "He kept us in check. We couldn't mount any attack against him. He did a good job of keeping the ball down and changing speed. The change/split is a very effective pitch. The fastball, change combo was also effective."San Diego's doubled down the left-field line off Rockies reliever leading off the seventh and came around to score on a single to right by , making it 4-3.The Rockies came back with an insurance run in the eighth off Padres reliever Nick Vincent when Blackmon tripled to score pinch hitter , who had singled with one out."I'm very thankful that the Rockies got enough faith in me to put me in this position (and) to have an opportunity," Blackmon said. "I'm just blessed to be healthy and be here, and it really feels good to help be a part of a team win."Rockies reliever pitched a scoreless eighth and came on in the ninth to pick up his 13th save in 14 opportunities. Betancourt gave up an RBI single to Headley, who stole second to put the tying run in scoring position with two out. However, Betancourt got Quentin to pop out to first in foul territory to end the game.Cashner (5-5) went five innings for the Padres, giving up three runs, two earned, on eight hits. He struck out five, walked two and threw a wild pitch that led to a Rockies run in the fifth.Herrera's sacrifice fly scored in the second. Helton had walked leading off and moved to third on a double by .Helton drove in the Rockies' second run with a single in the third that scored D.J. LeMahieu from second.D.J. LeMahieu, who had two hits, reached on an error by Padres shortstop Cabrera leading off the fifth. , who returned after missing two games with an injured middle right finger, singled up the middle, nearly hitting Cashner. hit a grounder that forced Gonzalez at second.With runners on first and third, Cashner struck out Helton. However, Cashner uncorked a wild pitch with at the plate, allowing LeMahieu to score.The Rockies left 12 runners on base.Game notesRockies OF and SS were expected to rejoin the team Thursday in Los Angeles. Rockies manager Walt Weiss said that Fowler, who has been on the DL with a right bone bruise since June 26, would play Thursday against the Dodgers and that Tulowitzki, sidelined with a fractured right rib since June 14, could be activated during the four-game series. . Weiss also noted that pitcher would be recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs and would pitch Friday against the Dodgers and . . Padres manager Bud Black announced that the Padres plan to purchase the contract of 25-year-old RHP from Triple-A Tucson and he will pitch against the on Friday night. O'Sullivan is 7-4 with a 3.88 ERA in 18 starts for Tucson. He has a 6.31 ERA in 43 major league games with the Angels (2009-10) and Royals (2010-11). . Padres 1B (right hand fracture) went 4 for 4 with two RBIs Tuesday in a rehab assignment with Tucson and could be activated during the four-game series with the Giants. . Padres 2B , on the DL since June 10 with a right groin strain, began his rehab assignment with Single-A Lake Elsinore Wednesday. Black said that Gyorko could be moved up to Triple-A Tucson Thursday or Friday.U.S. Navy Reserve Colorado Springs, CO Jun 23 Navy IT Specialists are responsible for working with mainframe computers, local and wide area networks, and microcomputer systems. In an operations area, they may set up video surveillance that helps U.S. Air Force Acquisition Peterson Afb, CO May 03 To achieve that mission, the Air Force has a vision of Global Vigilance, Reach and Power. That vision orbits around three core competencies: Developing Airmen, Technology-to-Warfighting and Integrating... Usajobs Peterson Afb, CO May 01 The mission of the United States Air Force is to fly, fight and win?in air, space and cyberspace.To achieve that mission, the Air Force has a vision of Global Vigilance, Reach and Power. That vision orbits... Psav Colorado Springs, CO Jul 06 Event Technology Specialist IIITracking Code181773-868Job DescriptionEvent Technology Specialist IIIPosition OverviewBasic set up and operation of large and small-scale audiovisual systems for live... 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Provide a visible deterrence to crime, prohibited activities, or suspicious activities in public and non-public which may include but is...2012-2013 Per Game SplitsSPLITGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy MonthGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy ResultGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy PositionGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy DayGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy OpponentGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSBy ArenaGPMINFGM-FGAFG%3PM-3PA3P%FTM-FTAFT%ORDRREBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTSNo splits available.This story appears in ESPN The Magazine's July 8, Kids In Sports issue. WILLIAM LUCK, Oliver's father, Andrew's grandfather, was deeply uninterested in sports. He was a chemical engineer, married to a chemist. The only collisions that drew them were atomic. "There is no Norman Rockwell vision of me playing catch with my dad," Oliver Luck, West Virginia University's athletic director, says today. When Oliver first went out for his school football team, his parents expressed surprise; with the television rarely tuned to sports, they weren't even sure how he'd found the game or it had found him. But they went on to teach him everything he needed to know about raising an athletic child -- about raising a child, full stop."They were there," Oliver says. His father's quiet presence in the grandstands was the constant as he went on to play high school football in Cleveland, to quarterback the Mountaineers, to play professionally for four seasons with the Houston Oilers. "My dad went to every game he possibly could," Oliver says. His parents offered him no advice, because they had none. All they could give him was their love.When Oliver had children of his own -- four, starting with Andrew -- he and his wife, Kathy, made a conscious decision to let their kids find their own loves. "That can be hard," he says. "We all assume our kids are going to want to do what we did." Because the family moved to Europe when Andrew was only a year old, first to Frankfurt, then to London, football seemed an unlikely possible path. Although Oliver went on to head NFL Europe, Andrew's introductions to the game were gentle, free of expectation. Father and son tossed a ball in their yard, "but just because I wanted to spend time with him," Oliver says. When they watched NFL football on the grainy Armed Forces Network, he would point out how high Dan Marino held the ball, next to his ear, but Andrew was never forced to sit through a game if something else was calling him.“If I had a question, he would answer it, but he never muddied the line of coach and father. I appreciated that.”-- Colts QB Andrew LuckIn some ways, the Lucks felt their primary role was tour guide, exposing their children to life and the world until their kids found what they were looking for. Sometimes the sons of chemical engineers are born to be quarterbacks. Maybe the son of a quarterback was meant to become a pianist. (Despite their best efforts, the family remains tone-deaf.) It wasn't until the Lucks moved to Houston when Andrew was 11 years old that football truly won his attention.Oliver coached his son for his first two years of Pop Warner, but then he removed himself from the sidelines, never to return, in favor of men he felt were better built to be coaches. "If I had a question, he would answer it," the Colts QB recently told ESPN's Hannah Storm, "but he never muddied the line of coach and father. I appreciated that." Less qualified parents have taken far more active roles in their children's athletic lives, but Oliver had the self-discipline, the humility, to sit during his son's games rather than stand. As much as his heart wanted Andrew to succeed, he never forgot that he was an observer, not a participant. He knew the final score wasn't up to him."At some point, sports get hard," Oliver says. Depending on how gifted the athlete, that moment might come in high school, or college, or not until he becomes a pro. But that day comes for everybody -- when the game, when life, threatens to beat you. "And whenever it does get hard," Oliver says, "you have to be very strong, mentally and emotionally, to keep going. You need that fire in your belly. Parents can blow on the embers a little bit -- I think every kid responds to positive feedback, to praise -- but it has to burn pretty bright on its own. It has to come from inside."Now that his son is a star, Oliver continues to apply the unspoken lessons his father taught him. It's enough for him to be there, to find opportunities to stoke that fire without ever taking credit for having lit it. Even when Andrew makes mistakes -- such as trying to grow a beard -- his father doesn't correct them, knowing his son is surrounded by an army of professional and amateur correctors. ("His mom takes care of his facial hair issues," he says.) What Oliver Luck gives Andrew, what he has always given him, are those things he knows every young quarterback needs the most: He gives him time, and he gives him space.Follow The Mag on Twitter () and like us on .Cgh Technologies Washington, DC Jul 01 CGH Technologies, Inc. (CGH) is a business solutions firm, specializing in Data Management, Software Engineering, and Business Intelligence solutions. Located within the Washington corridor, CGH has worked... 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Data Architect Location: Columbia, MD Job Code: 710 Description: As a Data Architect you will become an integral...Columbus Blue JacketsColumbus Blue Jackets Avalanche Blackhawks Blue Jackets Blues Bruins Canadiens Canucks Capitals Coyotes Devils Ducks Flames Flyers Hurricanes Islanders Kings Lightning Maple Leafs Oilers Panthers Penguins Predators Rangers Red Wings Sabres Senators Sharks Stars Jets Wild2012-2013 Columbus Blue Jackets Team StatisticsComplete through Saturday, Apr 27 Eastern Conference AtlanticRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012New Jersey DevilsHome0-0-00-1-00-0-00-0-0Away0-1-00-0-00-0-10-0-0Total0-1-00-1-00-0-10-0-0New York IslandersHome0-0-10-0-01-0-00-0-0Away0-0-11-0-00-0-00-0-0Total0-0-21-0-01-0-00-0-0New York RangersHome0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Away0-1-00-0-00-0-10-0-0Total0-1-01-0-00-0-10-0-0Philadelphia FlyersHome0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Away0-1-00-0-00-1-00-0-0Total0-1-01-0-00-1-00-0-0Pittsburgh PenguinsHome0-0-10-1-00-0-00-0-0Away0-0-01-0-00-1-00-0-0Total0-0-11-1-00-1-00-0-0Eastern Conference Atlantic Totals0-3-34-2-01-2-20-0-0Eastern Conference NortheastRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012Boston BruinsHome0-0-00-0-10-1-00-0-0Away1-0-00-0-00-0-10-0-0Total1-0-00-0-10-1-10-0-0Buffalo SabresHome1-0-00-1-01-0-00-0-0Away0-0-00-1-00-1-00-0-0Total1-0-00-2-01-1-00-0-0Montreal CanadiensHome0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Away0-1-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Total0-1-01-0-01-0-00-0-0Ottawa SenatorsHome0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Away0-1-00-0-00-1-00-0-0Total0-1-01-0-00-1-00-0-0Toronto Maple LeafsHome0-1-00-0-00-1-00-0-0Away0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Total0-1-01-0-00-1-00-0-0Eastern Conference Northeast Totals2-3-03-2-12-4-10-0-0Eastern Conference SoutheastRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012Carolina HurricanesHome1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Away0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Total1-0-01-0-01-0-00-0-0Florida PanthersHome1-0-01-0-01-0-00-0-0Away0-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Total1-0-02-0-01-0-00-0-0Tampa Bay LightningHome1-0-00-0-00-1-00-0-0Away0-0-00-0-10-1-00-0-0Total1-0-00-0-10-2-00-0-0Washington CapitalsHome0-1-00-0-00-1-00-0-0Away1-0-00-0-10-0-00-0-0Total1-1-00-0-10-1-00-0-0Winnipeg JetsHome1-0-00-0-01-0-00-0-0Away1-0-01-0-00-0-00-0-0Total2-0-01-0-01-0-00-0-0Eastern Conference Southeast Totals6-1-04-0-23-3-00-0-0Eastern Conference Totals8-7-311-4-36-9-30-0-0 Western Conference CentralRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012Chicago BlackhawksHome1-1-10-2-10-3-00-1-1Away1-1-12-1-00-3-00-1-1Total2-2-22-3-10-6-00-2-2Detroit Red WingsHome1-1-11-2-02-1-02-0-1Away0-3-01-1-10-2-12-0-0Total1-4-12-3-12-3-14-0-1Nashville PredatorsHome1-1-12-0-10-2-12-0-0Away0-0-30-3-01-2-02-1-0Total1-1-42-3-11-4-14-1-0St. Louis BluesHome2-1-01-1-11-2-01-1-0Away1-1-11-1-11-2-00-2-0Total3-2-12-2-22-4-01-3-0Western Conference Central Totals7-9-88-11-55-17-29-6-3Western Conference NorthwestRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012Calgary FlamesHome1-0-11-1-01-0-11-0-1Away1-1-00-1-12-0-01-0-0Total2-1-11-2-13-0-12-0-1Colorado AvalancheHome0-2-01-1-00-1-11-0-0Away0-2-00-1-12-0-01-1-0Total0-4-01-2-12-1-12-1-0Edmonton OilersHome2-0-02-0-01-1-01-1-0Away1-1-00-2-00-2-00-1-0Total3-1-02-2-01-3-01-2-0Minnesota WildHome2-0-01-1-01-1-00-1-0Away0-2-02-0-01-1-01-1-0Total2-2-03-1-02-2-01-2-0Vancouver CanucksHome0-1-10-2-01-1-01-0-1Away1-1-00-0-20-2-00-0-1Total1-2-10-2-21-3-01-0-2Western Conference Northwest Totals8-10-27-9-49-9-27-5-3Western Conference PacificRecord vs. Each Team (Home/Away)2009201020112012Anaheim DucksHome1-1-01-1-01-1-01-0-0Away2-0-01-1-01-1-01-1-0Total3-1-02-2-02-2-02-1-0Dallas StarsHome2-0-01-1-00-2-01-0-1Away1-1-01-1-01-1-01-0-0Total3-1-02-2-01-3-02-0-1Los Angeles KingsHome1-1-00-1-11-1-00-1-0Away0-2-01-1-01-1-00-2-0Total1-3-01-2-12-2-00-3-0Phoenix CoyotesHome0-1-11-1-02-0-01-0-0Away1-1-00-2-01-1-00-2-0Total1-2-11-3-03-1-01-2-0San Jose SharksHome1-0-10-2-01-1-02-0-0Away0-2-02-0-00-2-01-0-0Total1-2-12-2-01-3-03-0-0Western Conference Pacific Totals9-9-28-11-19-11-08-6-1Western Conference Totals24-28-1223-31-1023-37-424-17-7Overall Totals32-35-1534-35-1329-46-724-17-7Columbus CrewColumbus CrewChivas USACrewDynamoEarthquakesFC DallasFireGalaxyRapidsReal SLRed BullsRevolutionSoundersSporting KCTimbersToronto FCUnionUnitedWhitecaps FCColumbus RosterNumNamePosHtWtDOBHometown2D6'21852/23/1984 Newport Beach, CA3D6'21924/18/1988 Copley, OH4D6'31808/5/1983 Sao Jose do Rio Preto, Brazil5D/M6'01655/31/1983 Columbus, OH6M6'41854/13/1989 Bafang, Cameroon7M5'81585/24/1988 Caracas, Venezuela8M5'81608/18/1987 Temperley, Argentina9F6'116512/4/1988 Shelby Township, MI11F5'101608/13/1985 Accra, Ghana12M/F6'016510/25/1986 Hamilton Township, NJ13M/F5'91658/6/1990 Duluth, MN14D6'41908/22/1984 Riverside, CA16D6'116012/15/1987 Harvey, IL17F5'81551/17/1991 Stow , OH18F6'41904/17/1990 Knoxville, TN19M6'11902/14/1989 Zabrze, Poland20M5'81501/15/1993 Gahanna, OH21D5'101702/25/1991 Columbus, OH22D6'11619/30/1990 Regina, Saskatchewan23M6'21701/30/1990 Roxboro, Tobago24M5'111658/23/1983 Chicago, IL25F5'91508/25/1983 Nicoya, Costa Rica26F6'01803/27/1991 Lumberton, NJ27F5'91655/19/1992 Lewis Center, OH28GK6'31909/6/1989 Cleveland, TN30GK6'117512/30/1982 Kansas City, MO31D5'71503/1/1991 Bay Village, OH32M5'1116511/24/1990 Geneva, IL33F5'816510/24/1984 Buenos Aires, Argentina40GK6'11805/24/1990 Rochester Hills, MISOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- The chants of "USA! USA!"spread through the crowd when the kids from Columbus, Ga., got thelast out in the Little League World Series. How fitting. Cody Walker hit a two-run homer, Kyle Carter struck out 11, andColumbus beat Kawaguchi City, Japan, 2-1 on Monday, giving anAmerican team the championship for the second straight year. "It feels great," Walker said with a grin. Columbus' victory in the Little League title game came one yearafter Ewa Beach, Hawaii, beat a squad from Willemstad, Curacao forthe championship. A U.S. team hadn't won back-to-back Little Leaguetitles with different teams since 1982-83 when Kirkland, Wash., andMarietta, Ga., celebrated in South Williamsport. That Marietta teamwas the only other club from Georgia to make it to the tournament. "That is pretty awesome," Columbus manager Randy Morris said."We've been here twice and won it twice, so maybe we should trythis more. Long Beach, Calif., was a repeat champion in 1992-93, though thefirst victory was awarded after a Philippines squad was stripped ofthe title for using over-age players. Just 13, Japan's Go Matsumoto dominated hitters like a majorleaguer with an overpowering fastball. It was potent again for him on Monday, except for Walker's shotin the third inning that followed a baserunning blunder. Carter overcame a bout of wildness in the sixth and final inningafter walking one batter and hitting another to become the onlypitcher in World Series history to win four games. Morris visited the mound, but stuck with his ace. "I didn't think he was losing it or anything," Morris said."I just went out to him to tell to take a deep breath, and don'tlet up." With two runners on, he got Ryoya Sato to hit a weak bouncer toJosh Lester at second for the last out of the game. That prompted the Georgia-leaning crowd to erupt in cheers,chant "USA! USA!" and wave American flags. Columbus playersrushed toward Lester, skipping up and down in celebration andtossing their gloves to the sky. Then they posed on the mound for a group picture with a bannerthat proclaimed them "World Series Champions" as their gloveswere strewn across the infield. Kawaguchi City manager Shigeru Hidaka called Carter'sperformance "fantastic." "His curveball was right on," Hidaka said through aninterpreter. "He pitched a great game." Columbus' rally was nearly thwarted by Carter's mistake on thebases. Carter took off from second on Lester's single to center butdidn't heed the stop sign thrown by Morris at third. He was nailedat home for the second out, sliding into the catcher's shin guardswell short of the plate. It didn't matter, because Walker then hit his opposite-fieldshot over the right field fence. Lester pumped his fist as herounded third, and Morris got so excited as Walker circled thebases that his hat fell off. Jubilant teammates greeted Walker atthe plate. "All year, we have found a deep strength. When he hit the homerun, I think we thought we would still win," Hidaka said. "Wehave come back before, and the kids thought we would come backagain." It wasn't to be. A sign in the Columbus cheering section read,"Georgia, Not Just Peaches." Now, it's also home to the best teamin Little League baseball. Lester said he watched Hawaii's Little League championship win ayear ago, "but I didn't know what kind of team we'd have." He, Walker and Carter ended up playing instrumental roles. Afterthe game, the players picked up fistfuls of dirt and placed them inplastic bags as keepsakes. Carter found his father, coach Richard Carter, and gave him ahug. "He told me I did a great job," the 12-year-old lefty said. Japan is known for its power hitting, having hit 11 homers inits first five games of the Series, including four by Seigo Yadaand two by Matsumoto. The international champions used small ballto score their only run in the third inning on Monday. Yada hit a one-out bouncer into center. Pinch-hitter YusukeInuzuka missed on two bunt attempts but advanced Yada to secondwith a slow grounder down the third-base line. Matsumoto, who struck out nine and walked two, followed with ahigh chopper up the middle that drove in Yada. Rain forced the title game to be pushed back from Sunday, andorganizers then moved the starting time ahead by three hours afterweather forecasts showed another chance of rain in the evening. The title game had been rescheduled just once before, in 1990,when rain forced San-Hua, Chinese Taipei, and Shippensburg, Pa., toplay one day later than scheduled. Chinese Taipei won 9-0.Copyright 2006 by The Associated PressSynerfac Columbus, OH Jul 08 Title: CAD Technician Duration: Direct Hire Location: Columbus, Ohio CAD TECHNICIAN (Columbus, OH) The Associate will support the sales staff and production shops by preparing detailed drawings of ductwork... 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Nesco Resource Columbus, OH May 23 A major company involved in e-learning, located in the Columbus area, is seeking Drupal developers. The open positions are permanent needs, the company is looking to onboard using a contract-to-hire setup with... Columbus, OH Mar 01 Position: Enterprise Identity Mgmt Architect Job Type: Contract Job Description: A Columbus, Ohio team is in need of an Enterprise Identity Management Specialist / Architect, strongly skilled with and able to...Robert Kraft claims he was duped, though the owner of the New England Patriots seemed to have plenty of warnings before taking tight end Aaron Hernandez in the 2010 NFL draft.The fact Hernandez was left untouched by other teams until midway through the fourth round despite his obvious physical skills was one. So was an incident while Hernandez was at the University of Florida, when the 17-year-old allegedly refused to pay for two drinks at a bar and then sucker-punched an employee who tried to collect.And then there was a psychological profile from a scouting service widely distributed among NFL teams that ranked him on the bottom of the scale for social maturity and indicated there could be problems ahead. "Hernandez's ... responses suggest that he enjoys living on the edge of acceptable behavior and that he may be prone to partying too much and doing questionable things that could be seen as a problem for him and his team," said the report by Human Resource Tactics, which was obtained by Wall Street Journal.If Kraft was duped, so were fans who shelled out 100 bucks for a No. 81 jersey. They didn't have access to psychological profiles, didn't know much about Hernandez other than he was a big tight end with soft hands.They loved him because he could catch touchdown passes, and they cheered before last season when he was given a new $40 million contract to be Tom Brady's biggest target.Now Hernandez sits in a jail cell, charged with a murder portrayed in court documents as a cold-blooded execution. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge. He's also being investigated in connection with a double killing in Boston last year involving a car rented in his name.Millionaire sports hero one day, just another inmate the next. There may never have been such a spectacular fall by an active player.During the weekend, the Patriots held an event for fans to exchange their Hernandez jerseys for others.The conversations on the drive to the stadium must have been awkward. How do you tell a kid that the athlete he or she idolized whose name was stitched across their back is an accused killer?There are other conversations that should be just as uncomfortable: How can parents promote hero worship of athletes when they know so little about the person in the uniform? Why are we so quick to idolize someone based simply on their ability to throw or catch a ball?Hernandez is, of course, innocent until found guilty. That's a basic tenet of our legal system, and sometimes things aren't always what authorities say.But the account of semi pro player Odin Lloyd being lured to an early morning car ride and then shot to death at what was supposed to be a bathroom stop is chilling. So is the police narrative of Hernandez's reaction when they asked him later about a body being found nearby. They said he didn't ask who died."What's with all the questions?" police said Hernandez asked before shutting the door on them. He returned with his attorney's business card, but didn't respond when police told him they were investigating the death, according to court records.This isn't just another NFL player arrest, something we've become accustomed to over the years. This is uncharted territory, as evidenced by the way Kraft and the Patriots handled it.Criticize them for signing Hernandez in the first place, sure, but within 90 minutes of his arrest, they cut him despite knowing they'd have to take a hit on the salary cap. His locker was quickly cleaned out, and they further washed their hands of him with the jersey trade-in weekend at Gillette Stadium."What we've generally seen in the past when athletes run afoul with the law, teams generally stick with their stars especially through the legal process like the Ravens did with Ray Lewis," said Ramsey Poston, a crisis communication expert who heads Tuckahoe Strategies, a public relations firm in Denton, Md. "This is a very different move, one that suggests to me that the organization takes its reputation very seriously."The Patriots should have quit there, but Kraft talked to a select group of media on Monday and said Hernandez seemed like a nice enough guy. Respectful, likable, he even gave Kraft a check for his late wife's charity after signing a new contract.Maybe Kraft didn't read the psychological review, though it hardly matters. Because in football in all sports, really the urge to win trumps everything and teams with the most talented players win more than others.It's why baseball teams reward known steroid users with fat new contracts, and why players such as Pacman Jones keep getting chances in the NFL. Indeed, Hernandez was a winner on the field, helping the Patriots get to their last Super Bowl, where he caught a touchdown pass and led the team in receiving yards.Sometimes, though, there's a price to pay for putting winning ahead of everything.Fans, meanwhile, probably won't give it a second thought except to ponder who the Patriots might find to replace Hernandez. Not their fault he was drafted by the team, certainly not their fault he was charged with murder.Besides, when it comes to hero worship, there's always another player.And, of course, another jersey to be had.____Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlbergThere are few luckier draws on the soccer calendar than playing Belize at your place.The team is nicknamed the Jaguars, but in the parlance of the game, they're known as "minnows." Belize is ranked No. 130 in the world. The Central American nation is the size of Massachusetts, with the population of Wichita. It has only been playing international matches since 1995, and the Gold Cup opener Tuesday night in a raucous Portland stadium was the Jaguars' first-ever appearance in a major competition. Their federation had to stage a telethon just to cover the costs.It's one measure of how far soccer has come in these United States that the hosts were expected to crush Belize ? and did. The only suspense came after a wide-open Ian Gaynair headed in a cross in the 40th minute to pull the Jaguars back within 2-1. But Chris Wondolowski countered less than a minute later with his third goal of the opening half, so that by the start of the second, the only question left was whether U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann would push for more.It wasn't a long wait for the answer. Klinsmann subbed out Kyle Beckerman, a mostly defensive midfielder, with Stuart Holden, a gifted attacker with a bad-luck run of injuries, and Holden promptly responded with the first of what turned out to be three second-half U.S. goals in a 6-1 final."We took it seriously. We mentioned that before, yesterday and the last couple of days," Klinsmann said. "The team was very focused. They wanted to get the goals, and they did."And therefore," he added, "we are very satisfied."The Gold Cup final is scheduled for July 28, concluding what's been an interesting couple of months for soccer in the Americas, at least the part covered by what's known as CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football).Mexico and the United States, the region's powerhouses, were both unsettled heading into a World Cup qualifier at Azteca Stadium in late March that ended in a 0-0 draw. As both Mexico's continuing woes and the Klinsmann quote above demonstrates, only one of the two coaches has managed to put his house in order since.A story in the Sporting News the week before the Mexico City match quoted a handful of unidentified players and people close to the team who portrayed Klinsmann as a poor tactician, and out of touch with the sentiment in his locker room to boot. A few complained that Klinsmann, a great German player and one-term World Cup coach, favored German imports ? who qualified for the national team as the sons of U.S. servicemen ? over U.S.-born players, shuffled the starting lineups on a whim, and didn't post them until the last minute.More damning still was the perception both inside and outside the team that the implicit promise Klinsmann made after taking over from coach Bob Bradley in 2011 was a long way from being fulfilled. Instead of transforming the U.S. national team into a proactive side that possessed the ball and attacked, he too often relied on the same reactive tactics that Bradley had: a helter-skelter defense and the occasional hit-it-long-and-hope counterattack.But little more than three months later, Klinsmann has his team on top of the region's World Cup qualifying group and within easy reach of a spot in Brazil for 2014. Between qualifying matches and friendlies, the United States is riding six-game winning streak. They still retreat into a defensive shell against better teams, for the most part, but they've won at home and nearly every match they're supposed to ? and as they did again against Belize ? played some very attractive soccer along the way.Klinsmann took heat for casting aside veterans such as Carlos Bocanegra and, for a while, Landon Donovan, for a revolving-door approach to the roster that has resulted in nearly 30 different lineups during his tenure, and even for involving himself too deeply with the national team's youth development programs. The experiment is a long way from over, let alone successful.But what's coming into focus already is the depth of Klinsmann's ambition. He's relied on most of the core players that Bradley did, but has mixed and matched them with young and old teammates of differing abilities and experience levels in search of a style that will succeed in Brazil and beyond. In short, rather build a team, he's determined to build a program with the kind of continuity familiar to fans of Spain, Italy, Brazil and Argentina, but unseen on these shores so far.The jury will be out for some time on that one. For all the arrows that are pointing in the right direction at the moment, it's important to remember this was still Belize."A little disappointed to give up a goal," said Donovan, who's been on fire in the two since his return to the team, "but I think it was a great night for us, a great night for the fans and a good start for the tournament."Right. But remember, that's all it was.___Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org and follow him at Twitter.com/JimLitke.There are few luckier draws on the soccer calendar than playing Belize at your place.The team is nicknamed the Jaguars, but in the parlance of the game, they're known as "minnows." Belize is ranked No. 130 in the world. The Central American nation is the size of Massachusetts, with the population of Wichita. It has only been playing international matches since 1995, and the Gold Cup opener Tuesday night in a raucous Portland stadium was the Jaguars' first-ever appearance in a major competition. Their federation had to stage a telethon just to cover the costs.It's one measure of how far soccer has come in these United States that the hosts were expected to crush Belize - and did.The only suspense came after a wide-open Ian Gaynair headed in a cross in the 40th minute to pull the Jaguars back within 2-1. But Chris Wondolowski countered less than a minute later with his third goal of the opening half, so that by the start of the second, the only question left was whether U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann would push for more.It wasn't a long wait for the answer. Klinsmann subbed out Kyle Beckerman, a mostly defensive midfielder, with Stuart Holden, a gifted attacker with a bad-luck run of injuries, and Holden promptly responded with the first of what turned out to be three second-half U.S. goals in a 6-1 final."We took it seriously. We mentioned that before, yesterday and the last couple of days," Klinsmann said. "The team was very focused. They wanted to get the goals, and they did."And therefore," he added, "we are very satisfied."The Gold Cup final is scheduled for July 28, concluding what's been an interesting couple of months for soccer in the Americas, at least the part covered by what's known as CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football).Mexico and the United States, the region's powerhouses, were both unsettled heading into a World Cup qualifier at Azteca Stadium in late March that ended in a 0-0 draw. As both Mexico's continuing woes and the Klinsmann quote above demonstrates, only one of the two coaches has managed to put his house in order since.A story in the Sporting News the week before the Mexico City match quoted a handful of unidentified players and people close to the team who portrayed Klinsmann as a poor tactician, and out of touch with the sentiment in his locker room to boot. A few complained that Klinsmann, a great German player and one-term World Cup coach, favored German imports - who qualified for the national team as the sons of U.S. servicemen - over U.S.-born players, shuffled the starting lineups on a whim, and didn't post them until the last minute.More damning still was the perception both inside and outside the team that the implicit promise Klinsmann made after taking over from coach Bob Bradley in 2011 was a long way from being fulfilled. Instead of transforming the U.S. national team into a proactive side that possessed the ball and attacked, he too often relied on the same reactive tactics that Bradley had: a helter-skelter defense and the occasional hit-it-long-and-hope counterattack.But little more than three months later, Klinsmann has his team on top of the region's World Cup qualifying group and within easy reach of a spot in Brazil for 2014. Between qualifying matches and friendlies, the United States is riding six-game winning streak. They still retreat into a defensive shell against better teams, for the most part, but they've won at home and nearly every match they're supposed to - and as they did again against Belize - played some very attractive soccer along the way.Klinsmann took heat for casting aside veterans such as Carlos Bocanegra and, for a while, Landon Donovan, for a revolving-door approach to the roster that has resulted in nearly 30 different lineups during his tenure, and even for involving himself too deeply with the national team's youth development programs. The experiment is a long way from over, let alone successful.But what's coming into focus already is the depth of Klinsmann's ambition. He's relied on most of the core players that Bradley did, but has mixed and matched them with young and old teammates of differing abilities and experience levels in search of a style that will succeed in Brazil and beyond. In short, rather build a team, he's determined to build a program with the kind of continuity familiar to fans of Spain, Italy, Brazil and Argentina, but unseen on these shores so far.The jury will be out for some time on that one. For all the arrows that are pointing in the right direction at the moment, it's important to remember this was still Belize."A little disappointed to give up a goal," said Donovan, who's been on fire in the two since his return to the team, "but I think it was a great night for us, a great night for the fans and a good start for the tournament."Right. But remember, that's all it was.There are few luckier draws on the soccer calendar than playing Belize at your place.The team is nicknamed the Jaguars, but in the parlance of the game, they're known as "minnows." Belize is ranked No. 130 in the world. The Central American nation is the size of Massachusetts, with the population of Wichita. It has only been playing international matches since 1995, and the Gold Cup opener Tuesday night in a raucous Portland stadium was the Jaguars' first-ever appearance in a major competition. Their federation had to stage a telethon just to cover the costs.It's one measure of how far soccer has come in these United States that the hosts were expected to crush Belize - and did. The only suspense came after a wide-open Ian Gaynair headed in a cross in the 40th minute to pull the Jaguars back within 2-1. But Chris Wondolowski countered less than a minute later with his third goal of the opening half, so that by the start of the second, the only question left was whether U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann would push for more.It wasn't a long wait for the answer. Klinsmann subbed out Kyle Beckerman, a mostly defensive midfielder, with Stuart Holden, a gifted attacker with a bad-luck run of injuries, and Holden promptly responded with the first of what turned out to be three second-half U.S. goals in a 6-1 final."We took it seriously. We mentioned that before, yesterday and the last couple of days," Klinsmann said. "The team was very focused. They wanted to get the goals, and they did."And therefore," he added, "we are very satisfied."The Gold Cup final is scheduled for July 28, concluding what's been an interesting couple of months for soccer in the Americas, at least the part covered by what's known as CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football).Mexico and the United States, the region's powerhouses, were both unsettled heading into a World Cup qualifier at Azteca Stadium in late March that ended in a 0-0 draw. As both Mexico's continuing woes and the Klinsmann quote above demonstrates, only one of the two coaches has managed to put his house in order since.A story in the Sporting News the week before the Mexico City match quoted a handful of unidentified players and people close to the team who portrayed Klinsmann as a poor tactician, and out of touch with the sentiment in his locker room to boot. A few complained that Klinsmann, a great German player and one-term World Cup coach, favored German imports - who qualified for the national team as the sons of U.S. servicemen - over U.S.-born players, shuffled the starting lineups on a whim, and didn't post them until the last minute.More damning still was the perception both inside and outside the team that the implicit promise Klinsmann made after taking over from coach Bob Bradley in 2011 was a long way from being fulfilled. Instead of transforming the U.S. national team into a proactive side that possessed the ball and attacked, he too often relied on the same reactive tactics that Bradley had: a helter-skelter defense and the occasional hit-it-long-and-hope counterattack.But little more than three months later, Klinsmann has his team on top of the region's World Cup qualifying group and within easy reach of a spot in Brazil for 2014. Between qualifying matches and friendlies, the United States is riding six-game winning streak. They still retreat into a defensive shell against better teams, for the most part, but they've won at home and nearly every match they're supposed to - and as they did again against Belize - played some very attractive soccer along the way.Klinsmann took heat for casting aside veterans such as Carlos Bocanegra and, for a while, Landon Donovan, for a revolving-door approach to the roster that has resulted in nearly 30 different lineups during his tenure, and even for involving himself too deeply with the national team's youth development programs. The experiment is a long way from over, let alone successful.But what's coming into focus already is the depth of Klinsmann's ambition. He's relied on most of the core players that Bradley did, but has mixed and matched them with young and old teammates of differing abilities and experience levels in search of a style that will succeed in Brazil and beyond. In short, rather build a team, he's determined to build a program with the kind of continuity familiar to fans of Spain, Italy, Brazil and Argentina, but unseen on these shores so far.The jury will be out for some time on that one. For all the arrows that are pointing in the right direction at the moment, it's important to remember this was still Belize."A little disappointed to give up a goal," said Donovan, who's been on fire in the two since his return to the team, "but I think it was a great night for us, a great night for the fans and a good start for the tournament."Right. But remember, that's all it was.Robert Kraft claims he was duped, though the owner of the New England Patriots seemed to have plenty of warnings before taking tight end Aaron Hernandez in the 2010 NFL draft.The fact Hernandez was left untouched by other teams until midway through the fourth round despite his obvious physical skills was one. So was an incident while Hernandez was at the University of Florida, when the 17-year-old allegedly refused to pay for two drinks at a bar and then sucker-punched an employee who tried to collect.And then there was a psychological profile from a scouting service widely distributed among NFL teams that ranked him on the bottom of the scale for social maturity and indicated there could be problems ahead."Hernandez's ... responses suggest that he enjoys living on the edge of acceptable behavior and that he may be prone to partying too much and doing questionable things that could be seen as a problem for him and his team," said the report by Human Resource Tactics, which was obtained by Wall Street Journal.If Kraft was duped, so were fans who shelled out 100 bucks for a No. 81 jersey. They didn't have access to psychological profiles, didn't know much about Hernandez other than he was a big tight end with soft hands.They loved him because he could catch touchdown passes, and they cheered before last season when he was given a new $40 million contract to be Tom Brady's biggest target.Now Hernandez sits in a jail cell, charged with a murder portrayed in court documents as a cold-blooded execution. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge. He's also being investigated in connection with a double killing in Boston last year involving a car rented in his name.Millionaire sports hero one day, just another inmate the next. There may never have been such a spectacular fall by an active player.During the weekend, the Patriots held an event for fans to exchange their Hernandez jerseys for others.The conversations on the drive to the stadium must have been awkward. How do you tell a kid that the athlete he or she idolized - whose name was stitched across their back - is an accused killer?There are other conversations that should be just as uncomfortable: How can parents promote hero worship of athletes when they know so little about the person in the uniform? Why are we so quick to idolize someone based simply on their ability to throw or catch a ball?Hernandez is, of course, innocent until found guilty. That's a basic tenet of our legal system, and sometimes things aren't always what authorities say.But the account of semi pro player Odin Lloyd being lured to an early morning car ride and then shot to death at what was supposed to be a bathroom stop is chilling. So is the police narrative of Hernandez's reaction when they asked him later about a body being found nearby. They said he didn't ask who died."What's with all the questions?" police said Hernandez asked before shutting the door on them. He returned with his attorney's business card, but didn't respond when police told him they were investigating the death, according to court records.This isn't just another NFL player arrest, something we've become accustomed to over the years. This is uncharted territory, as evidenced by the way Kraft and the Patriots handled it.Criticize them for signing Hernandez in the first place, sure, but within 90 minutes of his arrest, they cut him despite knowing they'd have to take a hit on the salary cap. His locker was quickly cleaned out, and they further washed their hands of him with the jersey trade-in weekend at Gillette Stadium."What we've generally seen in the past when athletes run afoul with the law, teams generally stick with their stars especially through the legal process like the Ravens did with Ray Lewis," said Ramsey Poston, a crisis communication expert who heads Tuckahoe Strategies, a public relations firm in Denton, Md. "This is a very different move, one that suggests to me that the organization takes its reputation very seriously."The Patriots should have quit there, but Kraft talked to a select group of media on Monday and said Hernandez seemed like a nice enough guy. Respectful, likable, he even gave Kraft a check for his late wife's charity after signing a new contract.Maybe Kraft didn't read the psychological review, though it hardly matters. Because in football - in all sports, really - the urge to win trumps everything and teams with the most talented players win more than others.It's why baseball teams reward known steroid users with fat new contracts, and why players such as Pacman Jones keep getting chances in the NFL. Indeed, Hernandez was a winner on the field, helping the Patriots get to their last Super Bowl, where he caught a touchdown pass and led the team in receiving yards.Sometimes, though, there's a price to pay for putting winning ahead of everything.Fans, meanwhile, probably won't give it a second thought except to ponder who the Patriots might find to replace Hernandez. Not their fault he was drafted by the team, certainly not their fault he was charged with murder.Besides, when it comes to hero worship, there's always another player.And, of course, another jersey to be had.Robert Kraft claims he was duped, though the owner of the New England Patriots seemed to have plenty of warnings before taking tight end Aaron Hernandez in the 2010 NFL draft.The fact Hernandez was left untouched by other teams until midway through the fourth round despite his obvious physical skills was one. So was an incident while Hernandez was at the University of Florida, when the 17-year-old allegedly refused to pay for two drinks at a bar and then sucker-punched an employee who tried to collect.And then there was a psychological profile from a scouting service widely distributed among NFL teams that ranked him on the bottom of the scale for social maturity and indicated there could be problems ahead. "Hernandez's ... responses suggest that he enjoys living on the edge of acceptable behavior and that he may be prone to partying too much and doing questionable things that could be seen as a problem for him and his team," said the report by Human Resource Tactics, which was obtained by Wall Street Journal.If Kraft was duped, so were fans who shelled out 100 bucks for a No. 81 jersey. They didn't have access to psychological profiles, didn't know much about Hernandez other than he was a big tight end with soft hands.They loved him because he could catch touchdown passes, and they cheered before last season when he was given a new $40 million contract to be Tom Brady's biggest target.Now Hernandez sits in a jail cell, charged with a murder portrayed in court documents as a cold-blooded execution. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge. He's also being investigated in connection with a double killing in Boston last year involving a car rented in his name.Millionaire sports hero one day, just another inmate the next. There may never have been such a spectacular fall by an active player.During the weekend, the Patriots held an event for fans to exchange their Hernandez jerseys for others.The conversations on the drive to the stadium must have been awkward. How do you tell a kid that the athlete he or she idolized - whose name was stitched across their back - is an accused killer?There are other conversations that should be just as uncomfortable: How can parents promote hero worship of athletes when they know so little about the person in the uniform? Why are we so quick to idolize someone based simply on their ability to throw or catch a ball?Hernandez is, of course, innocent until found guilty. That's a basic tenet of our legal system, and sometimes things aren't always what authorities say.But the account of semi pro player Odin Lloyd being lured to an early morning car ride and then shot to death at what was supposed to be a bathroom stop is chilling. So is the police narrative of Hernandez's reaction when they asked him later about a body being found nearby. They said he didn't ask who died."What's with all the questions?" police said Hernandez asked before shutting the door on them. He returned with his attorney's business card, but didn't respond when police told him they were investigating the death, according to court records.This isn't just another NFL player arrest, something we've become accustomed to over the years. This is uncharted territory, as evidenced by the way Kraft and the Patriots handled it.Criticize them for signing Hernandez in the first place, sure, but within 90 minutes of his arrest, they cut him despite knowing they'd have to take a hit on the salary cap. His locker was quickly cleaned out, and they further washed their hands of him with the jersey trade-in weekend at Gillette Stadium."What we've generally seen in the past when athletes run afoul with the law, teams generally stick with their stars especially through the legal process like the Ravens did with Ray Lewis," said Ramsey Poston, a crisis communication expert who heads Tuckahoe Strategies, a public relations firm in Denton, Md. "This is a very different move, one that suggests to me that the organization takes its reputation very seriously."The Patriots should have quit there, but Kraft talked to a select group of media on Monday and said Hernandez seemed like a nice enough guy. Respectful, likable, he even gave Kraft a check for his late wife's charity after signing a new contract.Maybe Kraft didn't read the psychological review, though it hardly matters. Because in football - in all sports, really - the urge to win trumps everything and teams with the most talented players win more than others.It's why baseball teams reward known steroid users with fat new contracts, and why players such as Pacman Jones keep getting chances in the NFL. Indeed, Hernandez was a winner on the field, helping the Patriots get to their last Super Bowl, where he caught a touchdown pass and led the team in receiving yards.Sometimes, though, there's a price to pay for putting winning ahead of everything.Fans, meanwhile, probably won't give it a second thought except to ponder who the Patriots might find to replace Hernandez. Not their fault he was drafted by the team, certainly not their fault he was charged with murder.Besides, when it comes to hero worship, there's always another player.And, of course, another jersey to be had.(Eds: With AP Photos.)By TIM DAHLBERGAP Sports ColumnistBruce Bochy wasn't willing to go with the small sampling size and make an All-Star, though he might have been tempted to change his mind after watching the rookie sensation do a little bit of everything in helping the Dodgers to a win Sunday in San Francisco.The Giants' manager wasn't going to leave someone who has played like an All-Star the whole season off the National League squad just to put Puig on it, and that's OK. But Puig is one of the five finalists that fans can still vote on, and that's a vote Puig should win in a landslide to get a spot on the team.Hopefully, that will make Tim McCarver happy, too. The Fox announcer seemed even more insufferable than usual over the weekend in San Francisco when he said an All-Star can't be minted in just five weeks, but that if the fans really want the Dodgers' right fielder on the team he won't avert his eyes when Puig is at the plate.Make the All-Star game fun and interesting? Well, OK, but only if the fans insist.That there has been an ongoing debate in recent days over Puig's selection is probably a good thing for a game that seems to have lost its appeal to all but the hard-core baseball fan. There's little special about the All-Star game anymore, as evidenced by the fact it has lost half its television audience in the last 20 years.But fans are talking about Puig, the Cuban who may well be the truest five-tool player to come into baseball in recent times. They will tune in just to watch him, and they may buy tickets to see him in person the next time the Dodgers are in town.He's not going to save the All-Star game because the game itself is such an anachronism. Players like making the team and earning the bonuses that often go with it, but even Bud Selig's ill-suited attempt to make it relevant by giving the winning league home field advantage in the World Series didn't move the engagement needle among fans.There was once a time when the All-Star game was really something special. Fans were eager to compare leagues and, aside from spring training and the World Series, the Midsummer Classic was the only place to do it.Ernie Banks might get his only chance to bat against Whitey Ford. Pete Rose could show Ray Fosse and the rest of the American League how baseball was played in the National League. And Carl Hubbell could introduce his screwball to the American League in spectacular fashion, striking out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and three other future Hall of Famers in a row in 1934 with a pitch none of them had seen before.But with the greed of baseball owners knowing no bounds, there's now interleague play every day of the season. There are so few distinctions between the leagues anymore that even the first appearance by the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium for the first time in 32 years last month barely drew a mention outside New York.Want to see face ? Just wait two weeks after the All-Star break and the will be in Detroit. against ? The Yankees will play at Dodger Stadium late in July, and there are plenty of tickets available.At least there's still some intrigue about Puig, who found his way out of Cuba and into the major leagues when the Dodgers signed him to a $42 million contract. Not even the Dodgers were sure what they had in Puig, but it didn't take long watching him run crazily around the bases or swing at anything close to the plate to figure out that he is an electric and immensely talented player.His numbers alone should get him in the game, particularly the .409 average he had after getting two hits in Monday night's game in Arizona. Yes, he's had only 132 official at-bats, but Harper won a starting outfield job on the NL squad with less than 200 at-bats himself after being injured for several weeks this season.Even Bochy was finding it hard to leave Puig out of the mix completely. He's as old school as they get, but having Puig on the second chance ballot of five players pretty much ensures he'll have him in uniform next week at Citi Field in New York.The Dodgers are hosting All-Star voting parties this week for both Puig and , who is also one of the last five for the final spot. Gonzalez has had a strong first half for the Dodgers, but even he understands his place on the ballot."I'm voting for Puig," Gonzalez said.Baseball fans will, too, and that's a good thing. It just might make the game interesting enough to watch.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlbergCopyright 2013 by The Associated PressThis story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire.In the past few months, more than two dozen NFL players and a sprinkling of front-office executives have been arrested for crimes ranging from petty to deadly.No matter how bad it looks, remember that's not a crime wave by any fair measure, let alone by league standards. Think of it instead as just the cost of doing business. Everybody in the NFL already does.To be fair, any company with that employs 9,000 people is bound to have some bad apples. And this year's number of arrests, give or take a few, lines up with last year's pace.So no one should have been surprised to awake Thursday morning to news reports that Patriots cornerback Alfonzo Dennard was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Lincoln, Neb. But because the NFL is all about image, about "protecting the shield," as commissioner Roger Goodell never tires of saying, Dennard's team pretended to be.Another jersey trade-in offer may be in the works even as you read this."The New England Patriots are extremely disappointed to learn of Alfonzo Dennard's arrest," a team statement said. "We take this matter very seriously and are working to get more information on the incident."Please. Let's not forget the bottom line is always personal responsibility, and that Dennard climbed into his car likely knowing that the entire league and his team in particular - former Pats tight end Aaron Hernandez is being held on a murder charge - was already feeling the heat.And that he was on probation after punching a cop during a fight in the same town a week before the 2012 draft.But let's not forget, either - because the Patriots certainly can't - that the reason they were able to pluck him all the way down at the seventh round of that draft is because Dennard had several previous scrapes on and off the field.Once you stop to think about it, the cynicism that underpins the whole "crime-in-the-NFL" phenomenon is almost breathtaking.A respected agent said earlier this week that just about every time he meets with one of the league's general managers or personnel chiefs, the guy knows exactly how many potential troublemakers are on his roster. There's even a code word for those players: "turds," as in "I can't risk a chance on another turd. We've already exceeded our quota."There's upwards of 10 on just about every squad, the agent estimates. He said they tend to be clustered around a handful of defensive positions where meanness and a short memory are essential, with wide receivers being the most notable exception on the other side of the ball."They want guys who say 'gimme the damn ball," and guys who can turn around the play after they get beat and start talking trash right away about how it won't ever happen again," he said. "Without those nasty, selfish guys, competing on a regular basis is practically impossible."According to the agent, who asked that his name be withheld because he's still negotiating deals, the number of headaches a team takes on can generally be calibrated by how desperate it is to win. Think of the Cincinnati Bengals a few years back, or on a smaller scale, how Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hired a bodyguard to make sure wide receiver Dez Bryant didn't find himself in any more compromising positions.The problems in New England at the moment may spring from a different source - hubris, or as the agent put it, "too much faith in the 'Patriot Way.'" But in every case, teams know exactly what they're doing when they draft, trade or take a flyer on a knucklehead like Dennard. The only thing they can truly be "extremely disappointed" about is when one or another does something stupid or dangerous while they were his enablers.There were at least 17 different teams touched by the more than two dozen arrests these past few months, and anytime a problem extends that wide, it usually runs top to bottom as well.As noted above, this is first and foremost about personal responsibility. And to be fair, Goodell hasn't been shy about doling out harsh punishment to any employee, and even harsher punishments to the league's higher-ups. But what's clear is that his message, no matter how many times he warns rookies to "protect the shield," is still being greeted in too many corners of the league with little more than a wink and a nod.So why not just spare us the lecture?In the past few months, more than two dozen NFL players and a sprinkling of front-office executives have been arrested for crimes ranging from petty to deadly.No matter how bad it looks, remember that's not a crime wave by any fair measure, let alone by league standards. Think of it instead as just the cost of doing business. Everybody in the NFL already does.To be fair, any company with that employs 9,000 people is bound to have some bad apples. And this year's number of arrests, give or take a few, lines up with last year's pace. So no one should have been surprised to awake Thursday morning to news reports that Patriots cornerback Alfonzo Dennard was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Lincoln, Neb. But because the NFL is all about image, about "protecting the shield," as commissioner Roger Goodell never tires of saying, Dennard's team pretended to be.Another jersey trade-in offer may be in the works even as you read this."The New England Patriots are extremely disappointed to learn of Alfonzo Dennard's arrest," a team statement said. "We take this matter very seriously and are working to get more information on the incident."Please. Let's not forget the bottom line is always personal responsibility, and that Dennard climbed into his car likely knowing that the entire league and his team in particular - former Pats tight end Aaron Hernandez is being held on a murder charge - was already feeling the heat.And that he was on probation after punching a cop during a fight in the same town a week before the 2012 draft.But let's not forget, either - because the Patriots certainly can't - that the reason they were able to pluck him all the way down at the seventh round of that draft is because Dennard had several previous scrapes on and off the field.Once you stop to think about it, the cynicism that underpins the whole "crime-in-the-NFL" phenomenon is almost breathtaking.A respected agent said earlier this week that just about every time he meets with one of the league's general managers or personnel chiefs, the guy knows exactly how many potential troublemakers are on his roster. There's even a code word for those players: "turds," as in "I can't risk a chance on another turd. We've already exceeded our quota."There's upwards of 10 on just about every squad, the agent estimates. He said they tend to be clustered around a handful of defensive positions where meanness and a short memory are essential, with wide receivers being the most notable exception on the other side of the ball."They want guys who say 'gimme the damn ball," and guys who can turn around the play after they get beat and start talking trash right away about how it won't ever happen again," he said. "Without those nasty, selfish guys, competing on a regular basis is practically impossible."According to the agent, who asked that his name be withheld because he's still negotiating deals, the number of headaches a team takes on can generally be calibrated by how desperate it is to win. Think of the Cincinnati Bengals a few years back, or on a smaller scale, how Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hired a bodyguard to make sure wide receiver Dez Bryant didn't find himself in any more compromising positions.The problems in New England at the moment may spring from a different source - hubris, or as the agent put it, "too much faith in the 'Patriot Way.'" But in every case, teams know exactly what they're doing when they draft, trade or take a flyer on a knucklehead like Dennard. The only thing they can truly be "extremely disappointed" about is when one or another does something stupid or dangerous while they were his enablers.There were at least 17 different teams touched by the more than two dozen arrests these past few months, and anytime a problem extends that wide, it usually runs top to bottom as well.As noted above, this is first and foremost about personal responsibility. And to be fair, Goodell hasn't been shy about doling out harsh punishment to any employee, and even harsher punishments to the league's higher-ups. But what's clear is that his message, no matter how many times he warns rookies to "protect the shield," is still being greeted in too many corners of the league with little more than a wink and a nod.So why not just spare us the lecture?A glance at the list of men's singles champions at Wimbledon the last dozen years reveals plenty of pleasant-enough looking chaps, though not a single slam-dunk male model in the bunch.No matter. Each one was instantly fawned over the moment he held the trophy aloft, celebrated for toughness, smarts and the kind of devotion that knows no quit.Marion Bartoli displayed all of those qualities - and more - on the way to winning Wimbledon in this most tumultuous of years. But because she's a woman, at least one man behind a microphone couldn't stop there. His name is John Inverdale, and even as Bartoli headed toward the spectator's box where the father who taught her to play tennis sat, Inverdale's listeners on BBC Radio were treated to some musings about how she came to possess a champion's ability."Do you think Bartoli's dad told her when she was little, 'You're never going to be a looker? You'll never be a Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight.'"Inverdale has apologized, of course, though that hardly came off better than his original remark. The BBC did, too, before reporting that nearly 700 viewers called in as of Monday night to complain. It's kicked up a row in print, on the airwaves and across social media over in Britain similar to the one that buzzed briefly over here when Brent Musburger awkwardly rambled on about Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron's girlfriend during the broadcast of the college football national championship.The principals who find themselves the subjects of such remarks rarely make it out of the ensuing media circus gracefully, but the Bartolis are proving themselves rare exceptions.For her part, Bartoli showed up for the champion's dinner looking like a model - "her dark hair down in a loose wave ... figure-hugging black dress ... sky-high ankle boots," as one British newspaper breathlessly reported - and then said, "I invite this journalist to come and see me this evening in ball gown and heels, and in my opinion he could change his mind."When her father, Dr. Walther Bartoli, was asked about Inverdale's comments, he simply said, "I am not angry. She is my beautiful daughter. The relationship between Marion and me has always been unbelievable, so I don't know what this reporter is talking about."Neither did Inverdale at the time - and that's the real shame in this whole mess. There actually is a long, very tender and very complicated backstory behind the latest Wimbledon champion and her father that has nothing to do with her "looks."Walther Bertoli was Marion's first coach, largely reponsible for her jarring style. She plays aggressively, but isn't very fast. She hits two-handed off both sides, a strategy Walther Bartoli insisted she master after watching Monica Seles rise to the top of the heap nearly 20 years ago. His guidance was important enough that only last summer, Bartoli reportedly turned down a chance to represent France at the London Olympics because of national federation rules about having private coaching at a previous event.But this past February, Bartoli arrived at the same crossroad that a number of great athletes and their parents-as-coaches often do. She and her father parted ways, and after some shopping around Bartoli wound up settling on former Wimbeldon champion and countrywoman Amelie Mauresmo. And indeed, she got fitter and more mobile.Bartoli didn't drop a set throughout the past fortnight, an impressive feat when you consider how all the top seeds stumbled, including Maria Sharapova, who actually works in her spare time as a model.Bartoli was beset by plenty of the same nerves that felled the rest. Watching her hop back and forth awaiting serves can make you twitchy, but it's one of those things Bartoli relied on since she was young to help cope with the pressure.Old habits are hard to break, which also explains why she looked often in her father's direction during her win over Sabine Lisicki in what was a mistake-filled final. Bartoli had been in Lisicki's sneakers in 2007, when she lost the title match to Venus Williams. No one likely understood better the distance she had traveled since that day than Walther.No doubt he told her, from the time Bartoli was small, that she'd have to "be scrappy and fight." Inverdale got that part right. Plenty of athletes have heard the same thing from one parent or another over and over throughout their careers.But the other part, the part about how she was "never going to be a looker" is not just cruel, it's stupid. Because if it were true, we'd have precious few champions to fawn over - man or woman - in the first place.Before he was breaking stories of seismic proportions, international journalist Glenn Greenwald was a Lauderdale Lakes boy hoping to win a seat on the city council at age 17.It has been quite the trajectory for the 46-year-old who most recently garnered national attention when he broke the story about Edward Snowden that has played out in media outlets globally.When 29-year-old Snowden went public with proof of National Security Agency spying programs, Greenwald, a columnist for the British newspaper The Guardian, was there to tell the tale. Political blood ran in the family and Greenwald’s own involvement in politics had early roots.His paternal grandfather, L.L. Greenwald, was a Lauderdale Lakes city councilman from 1976 to 1980.“I remember when hostages were being held during the Olympics,” said his mother Arlene Greenwald, 69, of Margate. “He was 5 years old at the time and he was really interested in that. I remember him being glued to the TV.”The young Greenwald attended council meetings with his grandfather, becoming somewhat of a novelty.Former Lauderdale Lakes Mayor Howard Craft suggested young Glenn channel his interest into a seat on the city’s recreation advisory board when he was just 8 years old to add a child’s perspective to a board geared for children. Greenwald later became the only teen member of the county Parks and Recreation Board from 1980 to 1984.“I was strangely interested in municipal issues,” said Greenwald, now living in Rio de Janeiro. “Probably more than was normal for a child of that age.”At 17, he took on the city council. In a town that was predominantly senior citizens and against a senior citizen-run board, a spunky Greenwald, a Nova High School senior, challenged the powers that had long been running the city.It was his grandfather’s influence that fueled a political mindset that has carried on to this day.“He was a crusader on behalf of the city and of the people of the city that were underrepresented, and that was really inspiring,” Glenn Greenwald said.When the younger Greenwald decided to run, he looked to level the playing field. He joined other candidates on the ballot for city council, among them three incumbents four times his age: Morris Klein, 73, Lou Tenner, 73, and Harry Rosenkatz, 67.“It just didn’t really go together, that this 17-year-old was so assertive about this quest for reform,” he said. “They were made really uncomfortable by the whole thing.”Of the five candidates, he was the only one who campaigned, spending some time with a condo group, the Miami Herald reported in 1985.Though he lost, drawing only 6.6 percent of the vote, he told the Herald in 1985 that he was not disappointed.“I got 700 people who were convinced that I would be a good councilman.”In a city where, at the time, the average council member was 74 and incumbents die more often than they are voted out of office, perhaps it was indeed an accomplishment.“Just the fact that I didn’t come in last was a moral victory,” Greenwald said.The high school Greenwald and today’s Greenwald aren’t far off from one another. He spent his years at Nova Middle School and Nova High School on the debate team, and used that skill to challenge people in power, whether they were teachers or principals.One of the primary roles of an auditor is to stay on top of new laws, regulations, and industry compliance requirements that could impact a business. In September, The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) was put forth for consideration to provide the government the power to block access to websites that were deemed to promote piracy, intellectual property theft, and counterfeit goods. ISPs would be forced to block sites like The Pirate Bay and Demonoid placing the Attorney General and US Courts and in a position to determine the intent of a specific website and whether or not US citizens are allowed access to it. If You Tube has copyrighted material submitted by users it could be blocked based on this law. This alarms me on a number of levels. First we have seen the Department of Homeland Securities attempts at preventing access to air transportation for people that, as Bruce Schnier put it best " are too dangerous to let fly, but not dangerous enough to arrest". Grandmas and children have been placed on the infamous "no-fly list" requiring herculean amounts of effort and ancient Tibetan rituals to be removed. If this is an indication of how the government would handle a "no access" list of websites, I have a feeling we are in for rough times as technologists attempting to conduct business on the Internet and security researchers trying to disclose potential vulnerabilities. The Court system could become the ultimate form of Denial of Service!The concept of a "blacklist" is nothing new. Security conscious companies have been restricting access to unallocated or reserved internet address space and frequently abused network addresses for years using access control lists (Bogon lists) on routers. This in conjunction with URL filtering at the gateway provides a reasonable mechanism for enforcing policy and compliance within an organization. At Cisco these functions are further enhanced with Reputation based filtering that tracks constantly changing web addresses that are know to be malicious or hosting malware as a mechanism to address the whack-a-mole nature of these "bad sites". The reputation as a filtering mechanism has been integrated into Cisco's IPS, ASA, and the Ironport Web Security Appliance. The intent of these products are as a means for corporations to enforce acceptable use policies for users which would allow businesses to be in compliance with a law like this. The tracking of these bad websites is accomplished through thousands of reporting network devices throughout the globe. In order to indentify these "infringing sites" does the Government go into the Internet surveillance and monitoring business or spend enormous amounts of money letting the courts add and remove sites on these block lists? Doesn't sound like good use of taxpayer money to me.If the government does go down this path, it would be an enormous burden placed on the service provider and create an Internet police that no one really wants. Who would be responsible for identifying malicious websites? The DHS? What recourse would a company have if their site or service was placed on this list or served a cease and desist? Internet time is measured in milliseconds; court time is measured in months or years. The time lag alone could kill a business. Luckily this bill has not been enacted into law allowing us time to inform our representatives of our thoughts regarding the impact these measures could have. For more information on this proposed law and access to a petition you can sign to stop this bill can be located at the following link:What do you think? Is it the government's job to filter our Internet access and police websites?Combine 529 plan with other credits By ? Bankrate.com Dear College Money Guru, I am an engineer who has been employed in the automotive industry for the past 15 years and am tired of the constant threat of losing my job due to repeated downsizing. Actually, I finally did lose my job earlier this year. Seeking more stability in my employment, I have decided to go back to school for a career in the health sciences field. I just made this decision. In a little over a month, I will be starting classes at the local commmunity college. I want to know if I can get the tax benefits offered by my state (Indiana) of a 529 plan and the federal Hope Credit. IRS Publication 970 and my call to the IRS still leaves this question unanswered for me. Please help me! Thank you! -- Gail - advertisement - Dear Gail, First of all, you will not qualify for the Hope Credit -- renamed the , or AOTC, for 2009 and 2010 -- if you have already been through four years of college. Pursuing a degree in a different field like health sciences does not get you around that rule, which is too bad, because the Hope/AOTC returns 100 percent of the first $2,000 in tuition, required fees and the cost of course materials paid during the year and 25 percent of the next $2,000, for a total credit of as much as $2,500. But all is not lost. You may be eligible to claim the Lifetime Learning Credit, which is calculated at 20 percent of up to $10,000 in tuition, required fees and the cost of course materials, for a total annual credit of as much as $2,000. The Lifetime Learning Credit is more flexible than the Hope/AOTC as it does not require at least half-time attendance and there is no limit to the number of years it can be claimed. However, the credit is phased out in 2009 for taxpayers with modified adjusted gross incomes between $50,000 and $60,000, or between $100,000 and $120,000 for joint filers. You can combine the benefits of a 529 plan with one of the federal educational tax benefits, but you cannot double dip. Any expenses used to compute a Hope/AOTC or Lifetime Learning Credit cannot be included as a qualified higher education expense in determining the tax exclusion for 529 withdrawals. For example, let's say you withdraw $10,000 from a 529 plan to pay for qualified , consisting of $5,000 for tuition, fees and the cost of course materials, and $5,000 for room, board, books, supplies and computer technology. If you claim a $1,000 Lifetime Learning Credit on the $5,000 in tuition, fees and course materials ($5,000 times 20 percent equals $1,000), you must reduce your 529-qualified expenses by $5,000. That will leave you with a "nonqualified" withdrawal of $5,000, and you will have to report as income on your federal tax return a percentage (in this example, 50 percent) of any earnings withdrawn from your 529. The principal portion of your 529 withdrawal remains tax-free. Now consider the state income tax benefits. As an Indiana resident, you can claim a tax credit on your Indiana personal income tax return for 20 percent of up to $5,000 in contributions to the Indiana 529 plan, for a maximum annual credit of $1,000. If you claim the credit but later take a nonqualified withdrawal, you will need to pay back at least a portion of your credit to the state. It appears that a withdrawal that becomes nonqualified as a result of the anti-double-dipping adjustment described above can still be a qualified withdrawal for Indiana tax purposes, as long as it was used to pay qualified expenses. However, any withdrawal from an account that is terminated within 12 months after it was opened is considered a nonqualified withdrawal for purposes of the Indiana recapture tax. Federal and state rules are notoriously tricky when it comes to the , and you should consider seeking the advice and guidance of a tax professional in your state. Several important changes to the federal tax code were made with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and at the time this article was written, the IRS had not yet updated Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education. Joseph Hurley, who writes the College Money Guru for Bankrate.com, is a CPA and founder of , a Web site on college financing acquired by Bankrate in 2007. To ask a question of the College Money Guru, go to the "" page, and select "College financing" as the topic. Bankrate.com's -- Posted: July 27, 2009Network World - Comcast continues to outpace rival U.S. cable companies in the development of next-generation Internet connectivity and content.Last week, the Philadelphia ISP was among the first carriers to end-to-end IPv6 transmission for residential broadband customers. IPv6 is a long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet’s main communications protocol that provides more IP addresses, built-in security and easier configuration than the existing IPv4 protocol.Comcast’s demonstration, which was held at the North American Network Operators’ Group (NANOG) meeting, IPv6-enabled Web content from three leading providers: The Planet, a Web hosting company; Netflix, a movie distribution Web site; and Limelight Networks, a video streaming service.``We showed the community what IPv6 might look like in a residential broadband scenario, coupled with content and services,’’ said John Brzozowski, chief architect for the IPv6 program at Comcast. ``What was significant was the whole collection of technologies involved and the collaborative effort it took to make it happen.’’Comcast said it will be another year before the IPv6 service it demonstrated is commercially available.``We're entering broadband trials later this year and will probably introduce IPv6 residential service in 2010,’’ said Jorge Alberni, director of corporate communications for Comcast. ``I don’t know exactly when general deployment will happen.’’Also last week, Comcast announced that it would offer IPv6 transit services to its wholesale customers. Comcast has around 100 wholesale business customers, which are primarily Web hosting companies and Web content providers. Two of Comcast's wholesale customers ? The Planet and BitGravity ? said they were purchasing the new IPv6 transit service.Brzozowski says Comcast's wholesale customers are worried about IPv4 address depletion, which is expected to occur . Additionally, these Web content providers are concerned that if they don’t embrace IPv6 now, they’ll be forced to send their content over a complex architecture of carrier-grade network address translation devices once IPv4 .The Planet and BitGravity ``understand the advantages of IPv6 and that carrier-grade NATs are going to dramatically affect their businesses,’’ Brzozowski said. ``They would rather see network operators focus our energies on IPv6 as opposed to working around the issues related to carrier-grade NATs.’’Brzozowski says deploying IPv6 across Comcast’s network in preparation for the demonstration wasn’t hard.``It wasn’t that difficult,’’ he said. ``The cable industry has been making the piece-parts available for over three years now. So now this demonstration was about us taking the piece-parts that we needed to support IPv6 and standing them up for a live demo at NANOG…We received a lot of “Wows” from the audience.’’IPv6 leaders hailed Comcast's progress.``It’s a positive step forward anytime a service provider deploys IPv6 in their network, but it is especially significant to have a company the size of Comcast, with their extensive broadband Internet customer base, make this commitment,’’ says Cody Christman, Director of Product Engineering at which has been offering IPv6 transit services in the United States since 2001.Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts Previews X2: The Next Generation of the Company's X1 Entertainment Operating SystemX2 Adds New Customizable Dashboard and Unifies Multiplatform Content in an Entirely Personalized Experience that Learns Preferences and Becomes Smarter Over TimeThe Cable Show 2013WASHINGTON & PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Comcast, a global media and technology company, today unveiled the next generation of its cloud-enabled X1 Platform from Xfinity to further transform the TV into an interactive and integrated entertainment experience. This new platform release, known as X2, will be available to customers later this year. The technology was previewed today by Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts at NCTA's The Cable Show 2013 in Washington, D.C. The company also showcased enhancements available today on its X1 Platform, including the addition of Web-based content."The X1 Platform is an incredible example of what's possible with cloud innovation," said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO at Comcast Corp. "With the introduction of Web-based content to the platform today, and the promise of a faster and more integrated experience with X2, we're adding more functionality to each screen in a customer's home, and transforming our video product into a complete entertainment operating system."The next generation of the X1 Platform will be even smarter and faster, providing more personalized recommendations on multiple screens, for a customized TV product that consumers can access on a TV, smartphone, tablet or PC. It is designed to integrate live and On Demand TV, web content, home control and a growing number of apps in one user interface. The cloud-based technology that powers this experience enables Comcast to accelerate innovation and launch new apps and services on the X1 Platform more easily, resulting in a richer, more dynamic and personalized experience for customers.New capabilities and features demonstrated at NCTA include:New Customizable Dashboard: Customers will be able to easily launch a new personalized home screen on TV and across mobile devices that will offer a single view into the information they care about. The display will feature a collection of tiles that a customer can customize as they see fit, including all of their favorite apps on one screen. It can be personalized to include information from within the TV experience, such as recently recorded DVR content; from a favorite app, such as traffic alerts weather forecasts, or news headlines; or from a customer's other Xfinity services, such as calendar appointments, voicemails from Xfinity Voice, as well as their home thermostat and security status from Xfinity Home.Uber-personalization: More recommendations throughout the experience will be surfaced so customers have additional ways to discover new movies and TV shows. The platform will recommend content that is currently on live TV based on the customer's past viewing habits, and is engineered to become smarter over time. It includes a new six-guide carousel that filters TV listings by specific category, such as sports, kids programming and movies, and also filters by age to help ensure appropriate family viewing.Integrated Multiplatform Content: With tens of thousands of Xfinity TV entertainment choices, the new platform is engineered to connect customers with the content they want quicker than ever before. A new, sleek user interface for TVs, PCs and mobile devices will enable customers to manage content from any screen so preferences, subscriptions, saved programs and parental controls stay consistent, wherever they watch. This integration also adds the flexibility to begin an On Demand program on one device, such as the TV, and then resume it where they left off on another device, such as a tablet or PC.Social Integration: This new experience incorporates social media including viewer ratings from interactive services Rotten Tomatoes and Zeebox, so customers can find the TV shows people are buzzing about, and ratings from Common Sense Media for age-appropriate content. Through the dashboard, consumers can use tiles to track their social feeds or photos on Facebook and Twitter, among others.Web Content and Second-Screen Integration: In advance of the new platform release, two new enhancements are available today on the X1 Platform that integrate Internet content. A new feature called "Send to TV" enables customers to easily fling a web page, like one that features streaming video, directly to their X1 set top box and view it on the big screen. After downloading a bookmarklet onto their computer, tablet or smartphone, a customer chooses the Web content they would like to see on their TV, clicks "Send to TV" in their bookmarks bar, and the content from their computer or device then appears on the television. In addition, for the first time, customers will soon be able to quickly access TV-optimized sites from a variety of third-party partners in an expanding app marketplace.Comcast plans to begin the initial phase of the rollout for its next-generation experience later this year. For more information on these new capabilities and to view a slideshow, visit Comcast's NCTA page. You can also follow Comcast on Twitter and Google+. The X1 Platform is currently available in 12 markets, and today has completed its launch throughout the Washington, D.C. metro area.HE CAN charm the birds from the trees and talk his way into - and out of - the best contract in world football.But if anyone can work out what Sven Goran Eriksson says to his players at half-time, make him promise never to do it again.Eriksson's ability to transform the "golden generation" into base metal was demonstrated as never before in the Rhein Energie Stadion as England degenerated to a staggering degree.After strolling through the first half, playing Sweden off the park as Wayne Rooney and Joe Cole terrorised Lars Lagerback's side, all Eriksson's men needed to do was more of the same.Instead, Eriksson's words had the impact of a high-strength dosage of Mogodon, as everything that had gone right before the break went wrong afterwards.Watching the second-half chaos was like viewing a motorway pile-up in slow motion.And while Eriksson's status as a "lucky general" intensified - even the Michael Owen injury at least solves a tactical dilemma for him - the doubts around the manager are starker than ever.Asked what he had said or how he could explain the inexplicable, Eriksson said: "That's a good question. We talked about it. At half-time we talked about it again, saying 'come on, come on, come on' and so on."Blinding, inspirational stuff. At last we have a reason for the second-half debacles that have hurt England at crucial moments - against Sweden and Brazil in Japan and France and Portugal two years later.If that was the extent of what Eriksson said - and he leaves most of the interval imprecations to his successor Steve McClaren - it was six words too many.Even Rio Ferdinand conceded the manager's instructions had not entirely had the desired effect."Straight from the first whistle of the second half it was like a completely different game," said the Manchester United defender. "They came at us like a completely different team. We weren't doing the things we'd done in the first half."For the whole of the game we defended the set-pieces very poorly and that's not something you can normally say about an England team."They put good delivery in the box but we didn't defend like we normally would. I don't know whether it was lack of communication or organisation. That's normal procedure for us, dealing with those things, so it's something we'll have to spend the next few days looking at."What was so frustrating in Cologne was the fact that England conceded the sort of goals that the individual defenders would shoot themselves for at their clubs.Eriksson added: "Sweden had nothing to lose. They put the long balls in. It's important when that happens that, when we win the ball, we are a little bit more cool, that we can keep it and have the time for the team to come out."We have to defend set-pieces better, for sure. I think there are very few Premier League teams who play long balls like that but we defended badly. We have to handle it better against Ecuador."I don't think it was anything to do with the shape. When you defend against the long balls, you shouldn't just knock it back. You should try to keep it and come out with the team."But there are many positive things. I was very happy with the first half. I think we played better than in the other two games. We are coming."Maybe we are, but with Plan C, rather than A or B, now that Owen's tournament is over.Eriksson now has little choice but to go 4-1-4-1 from now on, with Owen Hargreaves sitting and Rooney operating as the lone striker in front of David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole.Peter Crouch, the only other realistic strike option - with Theo Walcott increasingly appearing like a kid in a toy shop, with no money to spend - must be on the bench to provide an alternative approach and allow Rooney to be rested at times.FIGHTING TALKWe will fight them on the beaches.. we will never surrenderWINSTON CHURCHILLOnce more into the breach, dear friends.. or close up the wall with our English dead We will fight them on the beaches.. we will never surrenderWINSTON CHURCHILL HENRY V (SHAKESPEARE)At my signal, unleash hell!MAXIMUS (GLADIATOR)HOW ERIKSSON REALLY DOES ITSteve AngleseyTHE REALITYSVEN GORAN Eriksson clearly does not get paid by the word - if he did he would be a pauper.While Sir Alex Ferguson employs his famous "hairdryer" in the dressing room, Jose Mourinho gives his men a detailed tactical debrief and even urbane Arsene Wenger can lose his temper, Eriksson is the half-time Trappist monk.One member of the England squad admitted that the 15-minute break under the Swede is not what he is used to at home."It is always the same with Sven at halftime. When we come into the dressing room, he lets us spend a few minutes saying what we think needs to be said."Some of us stand up, others just sit down because it's what we want to do, but there is normally something to be said."Although David Beckham is the skipper, he isn't the most vocal player. That's normally Gary Neville, probably because that's what he's used to doing at Manchester United."But that lasts for no more than a couple of minutes. Then Sven steps in, tells everyone to sit down and listen to what Steve McClaren has to say."The injured Neville was not involved in Cologne on Tuesday and with everything going well for England as they ripped Sweden apart in the opening 45 minutes, it seems that the talking in the Rhein Energie Stadion was more about preventing Wayne Rooney from expending too much energy waiting to get out and at the opposition once again.The problem, according to Gareth Southgate, an unused substitute when England's World Cup hopes evaporated in the sauna of Shizuoka against Brazil four years ago, is that Eriksson does not encourage discussion.Southgate recalled: "The guys who would have been vocal in that situation, people like myself, Martin Keown and Teddy Sheringham, were all on the bench."We did go around the dressing room, encouraging the lads who were in the team, but then we had to go out and warm up, and missed a lot of what happened."What happens, according to the current player, is a McClaren tactical talk. "Sven rarely says anything. Steve does all the real talking every game," he added."Very occasionally, Sven has been annoyed but even then he hardly says three words to us - I suppose we're expected to get the message."Certainly that was the case, even according to Eriksson himself, in Cologne, with the coach suggesting all he had said was "Come on, come on, come on"...THE FANTASYHOW we think Sven's team talks go..BOYS, that was an excellent half. But remember we've got a long trip back to Baden- Baden tonight, so I don't want anyone tiring themselves out in the next 45 minutes.In a moment, Sammy Lee will be serving your roast beef dinners. Make sure you clear your plates before the ref rings the bell for the second half. Now, hands up who ordered red wine with their meal? And who wanted port?While you're eating, take a moment to listen to the great British sporting guest speakers I have brought in tonight. First, Kevin Keegan and Graham Taylor will present their tactical analysis of the game so far. Then Colin Montgomerie and Tim Henman are here to talk you through how to close out a crucial victory.And finally we have two motivational speakers to whip you up into a frenzy - Steve Davis and Nigel Mansell. Their speeches tonight have been specially written by Alan Shearer (below).But before all that, Tord Grip will play selections from the works of Morrissey and Radiohead on his accordion. So sit back, enjoy... and when the moment comes, get out there and start resting on your laurels!& THE STATSWORLD CUP 2006ENGLAND 1st HALF ENGLAND 2nd HALF62.60% POSSESSION 61.25%2 GOALS SCORED 341 ATTEMPTS ON GOAL 227 SHOTS ON TARGET 923 SHOTS OFF TARGET 1111 BLOCKED SHOTS 20 GOALS CONCEDED 213 CORNERS WON 625 TACKLES 2570.27% TACKLE SUCCESS 70.02%76.73% PASSING ACCURACY 77.18%England have made almost twice as many attempts at goal in the first half than in the second half during this World CupPlease mark your calendars for December 13 in New York for an awesome Network World event lead by world-class experts Jeff Doyle and Scott Hogg. I'll be there, too. Plus, we've lined up other big names in the IPv6 world including John Curran, President and CEO of ARIN and John Brzozowski, Chief Architect, IPv6, and Distinguished Engineer of Comcast. As always, this Network World event is free for qualified attendees (and we'll even feed you).You'll also meet another big name in IPv6, Ed Horley, co-chairman of the and active with the Between Jeff, Scott, Ed, John and John, there are thousands of man-hours of hands-on IPv6 implementations. These guys are happy to teach you and answer your questions.Plus, we've lined up technical deep-dive sessions from A-10 Networks and BT Diamond. Here are more details:The Critical Path to IPv6, December 13, Roosevelt Hotel, New York.AgendaTuesday, December 13, 20117:30 am - 8:30 amRegistration and Continental Breakfast 8:30 am - 8:45 am, President, Jeff Doyle and Associates Inc., National Correspondent, Network World8:45 am - 9:30 am, President and CEO, ARINIPV6 matters ?C to the business. The rapid growth of Internet-enabled devices and applications has led to a depletion of IPv4 addresses, and IPv6 is the answer. In this session, hear from John Curran, President and CEO of ARIN, on how to educate your organization about the importance of IPV6, and how to gain support for it.9:30 am - 10:15 amA10 Networks will give their insights on IPv6.10:15 am - 10:45 amRefreshments and Networking Break10:45 am - 11:30 am, Director of Advanced Technology Services , Global Technology Resources, Inc.Many organizations get stalled with their IPv6 deployments because they focus on the entire organization's infrastructure. Instead, organizations should focus on the Internet perimeter as the starting point and take a streamlined approach to getting IPv6 communications to their Internet web applications. Virtually all of an organization's web applications run on dual-protocol-capable operating systems but are on IPv4-only networks, making most of these applications accessible only via IPv4. With an IPv6-capable server load balancer or Application Delivery Controller (ADC), an organization could configure an IPv6 VIP and an IPv4-only server farm. There are many IPv6-capable Server Load Balancers (SLBs) on the market. Use of an IPv6-capable reverse proxy server could help accelerate your IPv6 Internet edge deployment.11:30 am - 12:15 pm, Chief Architect, IPv6, and Distinguished Engineer, ComcastIs your LAN prepared for IPv6? How about your WAN provider? What is the timeline you should be using to guide your efforts? Leading IPv6 expert John Brzozowski will guide you through the myriad of IPv6 choices, and how they impact people, process, and technology in your enterprise. Specific areas for discussion will include service provider options, equipment challenges, infrastructure support, and application implications. John will also review and explain how concepts such as NAT, tunneling, and translation change with IPv6. And to close, John will address the topic of security ?C is IPv6 really more secure than IPv4?12:15 pm - 1:15 pmDeployment Considerations for your Corporate Network1:15 pm - 1:45 pmIn these sessions, solution providers will provide insights on migrating to IPv6 using their products.1:50 pm - 2:35 pm, Product Management Director, BT Diamond IP2:35 pm - 3:20 pm, President, Jeff Doyle and Associates Inc.Before requesting IPv6 address assignments, organizations will need to assess the IPv6 space they need, define their network topology and hierarchy, determine how mobility will fit in, and more. In this session, learn the right steps and best practices for planning and designing your IPv6 addressing.3:20 pm - 4:05 pm, President, Jeff Doyle and Associates Inc., Director of Advanced Technology Services , Global Technology Resources, Inc., Principal Solutions Architect, Groupware Technology; Co-Chair, California IPv6 Task Force, Online Community Editor, Network WorldIPv6 implementation experts will field your questions on what NOT to do when rolling out IPv6. This panel, moderated by Network World editor Julie Bort, will tackle common mistakes with IPv6 planning and address design, and the pitfalls to avoid when working with specific technologies (firewalls, load balancers, Windows servers and clients, mobile devices, etc.). Don't miss this opportunity to get all your questions answered before you tackle IPv6.4:05 pm - 4:15 pmClosing RemarksMicrosoft showed that it does have a sense of humor.After , the city that saving money was a big part of the decision. Boston will pay out about $800,000 to move the government's system to Google Apps, but said that "by dropping some Microsoft products, the city government will save at least $280,000 a year."Microsoft , "We believe the citizens of Boston deserve cloud productivity tools that protect their security and privacy. Google's investments in these areas are inadequate, and they lack the proper protections most organizations require." But even better than a statement was the debut of two Microsoft videos starring former Saturday Night Live cast member .The plays the part of Google Docs on a three-man basketball team. After numerous mistakes, a frustrated teammate says: "Google Docs, you're making everybody out here less productive and even your own team has to work harder. I thought you said you had skills, man."Schneider, aka Google Docs, admits, "To be honest, I'm not exactly Microsoft Office over there. And you're right; I don't always work well with others. Guys, I've got deficiencies." At the end of the first video, "Google Docs" says, "I don't work well without the net, so I'm taking it with me."The corresponding post on the explains why Microsoft Office is a team player and why Google Docs has deficiencies. The post is sprinkled with statements from customers who tried Google Docs and quickly went back to tried-and-true Microsoft Office. Under the heading "I'm taking the net with me," Microsoft's Jake Zborowski wrote:Unfortunately, even today you can't always take the net with you. When you're in a location without reliable Internet access, there are times when you need a great offline experience. Microsoft Office was built to live in both the online and offline worlds, with features like document merge, track changes, and conflicting change controls in SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro when working on shared documents. With Google Apps, the offline experience is limited. When you lose Internet access, you can still create and edit documents and presentations, but you can only view spreadsheets. You also lose more features in Docs and Slides like sharing, inserting images, help, printing, non-standard fonts, and more. Google also warns you not to work on shared documents offline or risk data loss: "."In another video and post on the , Microsoft explains why "Google Docs isn't worth the gamble."In the corresponding Google Docs gambling video, Schneider promises a shiny little keychain if the gambler can open a "beautifully-crafted presentation created with Microsoft Office" using "Google Docs, without data loss and format discrepancy." Of course, the gambler fails, before former Cincinnati Reds baseball player , who was permanently banned from baseball for gambling, makes a cameo appearance to claim, "That's too big a gamble. Even for me."Microsoft is also pushing the site to show how Google Apps stacks up to Microsoft Office 365.No matter which you choose, Office 365 or Google Apps, hopefully you can appreciate the cute and funny videos with Rob Schneider.Like this? Here's more posts:Follow me on TwitterBritain’s top comedians are laughing all the way to the bank, building up ?fortunes to rival Premier League football stars.Despite the recession, our comedy rich list based on publicly available accounts, reveals that the UK’s most popular comics are among the country’s highest earners and tot up millions in profits.Heading the list is , 39, who has made a profit of ?32.8million in the past two years ? that’s almost ?45,000 a day.The money from his DVDs and live shows is channelled through his two businesses Goodnight Vienna and Hussein Traders.Compare Kay’s wage packet with that of of Manchester City, who is believed to earn around ?198,000 a week, or just over ?10m a year, and it’s clear it pays to be funny.Next in line: McIntyre bought a house this week with his ?21m plus earnings?, 37, who bought a ?2.5m country house this week to go with his mortgage-free ?3.2m London pad, is next with earnings in excess of ?21m.And, despite starting his career ?relatively late, Liverpool’s John Bishop, 46, is in third slot with profits of ?6.3m in two years.He is followed closely by Jack Dee, 51, whose business Open Mike, which makes comedy shows, has earned ?5.2m.Russell Howard, 33, who earned ?4m in two years, is fifth.The highest-earning woman is , 37, with ?2m at number nine.Top woman: Sarah Millican?Miranda Hart, 40, is not listed as she does not have a company. But her ?earnings from her TV show, DVD sales, book and live shows are likely to rival that of Millican.Jason ?Manford, 31, and Jack Whitehall, 24, who have yet to file accounts this year, are likely to rise sharply up the list although Whitehall, at only 24, still made it to number 16.Stars like Rhod Gilbert, 44, on ?3m at number eight, who have high profiles in the comedy world but are little known outside it, have done well despite having chiefly stand-up careers.Also not included is Lee Evans, whose sales are thought to rival Peter Kay, but he does not channel his earnings through ?companies.Simon Brodkin, 36, who plays character Lee Nelson, is in at number 20.Top 20 Earners1 Peter Kay ?32.8m2 Michael McIntyre ?21m3 John Bishop ?6.3m4 Jack Dee ?5.2m5 Russell Howard ?4m6 Frankie Boyle ?3.3m7 Harry Hill ?3.3m8 Rhod Gilbert ?3m9 Sarah Millican ?2m10 Sean Lock ?1.7m11 Jason Manford ?1.5m12 Lee Mack ?1.5m13 David Mitchell ?1m14 Al Murray ?1m15 Ross Noble ?0.78m16 Jack Whitehall ?0.5m17 Hugh Dennis ?0.5m18 Chris Addison ?0.4m19 Marcus Brigstocke ?0.35m20 Simon Brodkin ?0.26mIt was probably the most famous hospital visit since Bob Woodward snuck into the room of dying CIA Director William J. Casey in 1987. This time it was James Comey, a deputy attorney general, who in 2004 rushed to the bedside of Attorney General John Ashcroft and implored him not to reauthorize the government’s warrantless spying program. Ashcroft stayed his pen ? and Comey, having virtually committed an act of civil disobedience, became something of a Washington legend. He is now President Obama’s choice to head up the FBI. I applaud him with one hand.Why the hesitation? Why in this moment of warrantless everything, a government scooping up our emails and, it seems, nighttime dreams, would I not cheer the nomination of someone who insisted on constitutional and legal limits on such a program? Because this is also the era of leak investigations in which the phone calls of reporters have been creepily noted, and one of them, Fox News’ James Rosen, not only had his phone records filched but was cited as co-conspirator in an investigation of a State Department leak. The criminalization of investigative reporting, even when it is done by Fox News, is a bad, bad thing.Into this mix of government spying and leak investigations steps Comey. Who is this fellow? He is the quintessential “on the one hand and on the other hand” guy ? the one who stood up to the George W. Bush administration on the Constitution (yay!) but also authorized his friend, the Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, to investigate who leaked the name of Valerie Plame. She was the CIA operative who suggested sending her husband, a diplomat, to Africa to see if Saddam Hussein was really buying uranium there. Plame’s name was originally published in The Washington Post in a column by Robert Novak. It was hardly noticed.This, though, turned out to be the mother of all leak investigations. A gaggle of reporters were implicated and threatened with contempt if they did not cooperate with Fitzgerald. One reporter, Judith Miller of The New York Times, went to jail for 85 days. She would not reveal her source or sources. While she knew about Plame, she had not written anything about her.Miller had become reviled on the left because of her reporting on the run-up to the war in Iraq. Maybe for that reason, the outrage was muted. But her jailing was a classic example of a prosecutor running amok. Fitzgerald already knew the source of the original leak. Indeed, much of official Washington, including the odd crossing guard, knew it was Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, a much respected diplomat who could not resist feeding a columnist a tasty morsel of news. (Such people go to heaven.) Fitzgerald persisted nonetheless. He would not be trifled with. He wanted his questions answered.Comey was Fitzgerald’s boss. He had appointed him and he should have reined him in. He did nothing of the sort. In fact, there is ample evidence that Fitzgerald was a prosecutor after Comey’s own heart. Comey, too, is a hard-charger. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page compiled an impressive list of Comey’s prosecutorial excesses, including the prosecution of two lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee under the 1917 Espionage Act. The case was finally dropped, but not before both men lost their jobs, a whole lot of money and, I would suspect, a whole lot of sleep.Prosecutors have enormous, virtually unlimited, power. A mere inquiry can change a life, even wreck it. FBI directors have even more power. The bureau’s Washington headquarters is named for a man who exercised his power in highly questionable and certainly unethical ways. I used to write columns urging that J. Edgar Hoover’s name be removed from the building. Now I want it to stay ? a reminder of Lord Acton’s wisdom: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”Comey has exercised his power in disturbing ways. Just as Obama overlooked Eric Holder’s role in the 2001 Marc Rich pardon, the president is now overlooking the warning signs in Comey’s record ? ticks of a disturbing zealotry. In a thoughtful article, Newsweek/Daily Beast writer Daniel Klaidman weighed the pros and cons of Comey and came down, a bit hesitantly I think, on the side of the pros. He finds Comey a man of absolute integrity, but rigid and moralistic. I agree with that, but subtlety and tolerance are needed as well in an FBI director. Comey is not a bad man, but this is a bad appointment.It was probably the most famous hospital visit since Bob Woodward snuck into the room of dying CIA Director William J. Casey in 1987. This time it was James Comey, a deputy attorney general, who in 2004 rushed to the bedside of Attorney General John Ashcroft and implored him not to reauthorize the government’s warrantless spying program. Ashcroft stayed his pen ? and Comey, having virtually committed an act of civil disobedience, became something of a Washington legend. He is now President Obama’s choice to head up the FBI. I applaud him with one hand.Why the hesitation? Why in this moment of warrantless everything, a government scooping up our emails and, it seems, nighttime dreams, would I not cheer the nomination of someone who insisted on constitutional and legal limits on such a program? Because this is also the era of leak investigations in which the phone calls of reporters have been creepily noted, and one of them, Fox News’ James Rosen, not only had his phone records filched but was cited as co-conspirator in an investigation of a State Department leak. The criminalization of investigative reporting, even when it is done by Fox News, is a bad, bad thing.Into this mix of government spying and leak investigations steps Comey. Who is this fellow? He is the quintessential “on the one hand and on the other hand” guy ? the one who stood up to the George W. Bush administration on the Constitution (yay!) but also authorized his friend, the Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, to investigate who leaked the name of Valerie Plame. She was the CIA operative who suggested sending her husband, a diplomat, to Africa to see if Saddam Hussein was really buying uranium there. Plame’s name was originally published in The Washington Post in a column by Robert Novak. It was hardly noticed. This, though, turned out to be the mother of all leak investigations. A gaggle of reporters were implicated and threatened with contempt if they did not cooperate with Fitzgerald. One reporter, Judith Miller of The New York Times, went to jail for 85 days. She would not reveal her source or sources. While she knew about Plame, she had not written anything about her.Miller had become reviled on the left because of her reporting on the run-up to the war in Iraq. Maybe for that reason, the outrage was muted. But her jailing was a classic example of a prosecutor running amok. Fitzgerald already knew the source of the original leak. Indeed, much of official Washington, including the odd crossing guard, knew it was Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, a much respected diplomat who could not resist feeding a columnist a tasty morsel of news. (Such people go to heaven.) Fitzgerald persisted nonetheless. He would not be trifled with. He wanted his questions answered.Comey was Fitzgerald’s boss. He had appointed him and he should have reined him in. He did nothing of the sort. In fact, there is ample evidence that Fitzgerald was a prosecutor after Comey’s own heart. Comey, too, is a hard-charger. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page compiled an impressive list of Comey’s prosecutorial excesses, including the prosecution of two lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee under the 1917 Espionage Act. The case was finally dropped, but not before both men lost their jobs, a whole lot of money and, I would suspect, a whole lot of sleep.Prosecutors have enormous, virtually unlimited, power. A mere inquiry can change a life, even wreck it. FBI directors have even more power. The bureau’s Washington headquarters is named for a man who exercised his power in highly questionable and certainly unethical ways. I used to write columns urging that J. Edgar Hoover’s name be removed from the building. Now I want it to stay ? a reminder of Lord Acton’s wisdom: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”Comey has exercised his power in disturbing ways. Just as Obama overlooked Eric Holder’s role in the 2001 Marc Rich pardon, the president is now overlooking the warning signs in Comey’s record ? ticks of a disturbing zealotry. In a thoughtful article, Newsweek/Daily Beast writer Daniel Klaidman weighed the pros and cons of Comey and came down, a bit hesitantly I think, on the side of the pros. He finds Comey a man of absolute integrity, but rigid and moralistic. I agree with that, but subtlety and tolerance are needed as well in an FBI director. Comey is not a bad man, but this is a bad appointment.LOS ANGELES -- was still wearing his skates and rubbing his head as he sat in front of his locker Thursday night, trying to figure out how the pulled out one of the more improbable postseason wins in team history.It wasn't quite the Miracle on Manchester or the Frenzy on Figueroa, but it may be remembered just as fondly down the line if the Kings are able to parlay their good fortune into another Stanley Cup.Trailing the by a goal with 1:42 left in the game, the Kings scored twice in 22 seconds to win 4-3 and take a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series.Brown scored the tying goal on a 5-on-3 advantage, and quickly followed up with the winning goal on a loose puck after a shot.Both players were key members of the Kings' Stanley Cup-winning team last season and have been teammates for the past five seasons as the Kings rose from upstarts to contenders to champions. That time together was not lost on either player as they stood across from each other in the Kings' locker room after the game."Experience is one thing, but it's another thing to have all that experience together as a group of guys," Brown said. "That goes a long way when you get yourself in a hole. We didn't play a great game tonight, but we found a way to win."That experience together not only helped the Kings go from the No. 8 seed to Stanley Cup champions last season, but also helped this current group rally from a 2-0 series hole against the in the first round; in Game 4 of that series, the Kings overcame a 2-0 first-period deficit."That time together helps a lot," Lewis said. "We've been through it all."The Kings claim they don't care where they play in the playoffs. Whether it's at Staples Center or on the road, they'll tell you they are equally comfortable when they take the ice.Of course, that's not totally true. Last season, the Kings won a record 10 straight road playoff games, 12 straight dating to the previous postseason, while losing three potential series-clinching games at home.They were so comfortable playing on the road last postseason that they began to stay at a hotel for home games in an attempt to capture the same feeling of being away from home that they had when they played on the road.The roles have been reversed this season.The Kings' victory Thursday night gave them not only a commanding lead in the series but also 12 straight wins at home and six straight wins at home in the playoffs, both team records. The Kings' 24-4-1 record at home this season -- regular season and playoffs combined -- is the best in the NHL and the best home winning percentage the team has ever had.It's no accident the Kings have become so good at home this season. It was a team emphasis after depending on a record run on the road to win the Stanley Cup last year."A lot of it's our attitude," Brown said. "With everything that happened last year, we didn't play great at home in the playoffs. We found a way to win 10 straight on the road. I think it was a focus coming in this year, and a part of that is it's a good building to play in. There's a lot of energy from the fans and that helps. It definitely makes a difference."Not only are the Kings more comfortable at home this postseason, but they're going out of their way to stay at home as much as possible this playoff series. After the Kings play the Sharks in Game 3 on Saturday in San Jose, they will fly home, where they will skate Sunday and Monday before flying back north for Game 4 on Tuesday night.The Kings have always enjoyed a nice home-ice advantage at Staples Center despite playing in a city that isn't historically known as a great hockey town. But that has changed. The Kings sold out every home game this season and have sold out 64 straight home games dating to last season. And anyone who has been to a Kings playoff game at Staples Center will attest to the fact it is the loudest, most raucous crowd in the city."We feed off the energy of the crowd," Lewis said. "We want to make this a tough place to play and have teams scared to come in here."As good as the Kings have been at home this season, they understand it doesn't mean anything if they don't win two more games, either at home or on the road."We haven't accomplished anything yet," Kings goaltender said. "You get nothing for two (wins) so we have a lot of work to do still."?Don your and settle down on the sofa tomorrow night for one of the biggest TV events of the year as a host of celebrities combine their comedy talent to raise millions for charity.Celebrating , the telethon boasts more than six hours of? sketches and special episodes of shows introduced by Lenny Henry, Claudia Winkleman and John Bishop.So, what time does it all kick off?Comic Relief begins properly tomorrow evening, Friday 15th March on BBC1 at 7pmThen at 10.30pm, the charity jamboree action flips over to BBC2 to allow the news to have a say before heading back to BBC1 at 11.05pm.Perfect for that tipsy-post pub audience to donate their kebab money instead, then.Quite. 'Donate' rather than 'doner'.Oof. How long will the fun times roll?Come 1.30am, Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw comes out to play and hits the TV shuffle button to show a selection of sketches from the past 25 years. It is okay to catch a few light winks by this point.?What funny stuff can we expect?Ricky Gervais famously recreated his cringey dance routine from The Office for Live 8 in 2005. .In The Office Revisited we see the pompous salesman flogging toilet cleaning products to fund his attempts to manage pop acts, including rapper Dom Johnson.??It was time to revisit my most famous comedy creation,?? says Ricky. ??He??s trying to worm his way back into rock ??n?? roll.??Nice. Next???It??s such an important day,?? adds Brendan O??Carroll, who will feature in a Mrs Brown??s Boys sketch.??The crossover between comedy and charity for this special night is absolutely fantastic.??They're very chatty these comedians, aren't they? Will Kate Moss be reading out filth again?Probably not. But by clicking on the player below.?What other must-see stuff must we see? that will see Chummy and the girls oversee a unique birthing challenge.??You??ll have to watch to find out what happens,?? Miranda says. ??But it??s funny to give the show a bit of a twist.??Other highlights to make a note of include appearances from Miss Piggy, Matt Smith as Doctor Who, Peter Kay, , and .The Vicar of Dibley?Plus, , while ex husband Lenny Henry kicks off the night with the help of co-presenter Claudia Winkleman.And after stealing the show at the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony, comedian Rowan Atkinson is set to address the nation as the brand new Archbishop of Canterbury.No doubt they'll be some One Direction dafteness going on too - but who'd ever be interested in that?And will there be any celebs taking a dip in a bath of baked beans?Jessie J?Not quite. But it will be a case of hair today, gone tomorrow as pop star Jessie J agrees to have her locks shaved off for Red Nose Day. That should be fun.The Voice mentor admits she??ll be gutted to wave goodbye to her brunette barnet.??I won??t deny I??m nervous,?? says Jessie, 24.??But I am also honoured to be part of this year??s campaign. I??ve loved watching Red Nose Day since I was a kid.??So go on, pledge a few quid. Do your bit. Then watch the box, as per.They may have grown up on TV, but the child stars of hit sitcom Outnumbered seem just like any other kid when they arrive at our shoot after school ? with their mums in tow.Ramona Marquez, 12, who plays Karen, is grinning away while sharing a joke with mates via text.Daniel Roche, 13, aka Ben, looks knackered after a successful try-out for the school rugby team.And Tyger Drew-Honey, 17, Jake, can’t wait to show us the animal print (or should that be Tyger print?) shirt he’s just bought.Although they’re well behaved and even seem a little shy away from the camera, their eyes light up when they see our special cake-themed set. And they need no encouragement when they’re given free rein to trash it. It could be a scene straight from the show when Tyger, covered in cake mix and cream, looks deadpan at his mum and jokes, ‘What? We haven’t done anything wrong…’When they’ve cleaned up a bit, they sit down with us to talk Comic Relief, the things that tickle them and what their mums really think about them…You’re encouraging people to make cakes to raise money for Comic Relief, are you a dab hand in the kitchen?Ramona: Sometimes, but I like to just cook, it’s really fun. My favourites are cupcakes and coconut cake.Daniel: Mum and I once made this amazing chocolate cake, which we covered with icing, then cut a banana in half and stuck that in, so it looked like horns. Really cool.Tyger: Me and my girlfriend like to bake together, she always makes me brownies and stuff. And when it’s a special occasion we buy each other cupcakes [Daniel and Ramona giggle]. My mum taught me how to make banoffee pie, so I can do that too.?Tell us your favourite joke…Tyger: You say, ‘It smells like updog’, and usually someone will say, ‘What’s updog?’ Then you go, ‘Not much man, how about you?’Daniel: ‘Knock, knock…’‘Who’s there?’‘The interrupting cow…’‘The interrupting cow who?’ But halfway through you scream ‘MOO!’Ramona: This is one of my dad’s… A man goes to a doctor and says, ‘I don’t feel well, I feel like a pair of curtains.’ So the doctor says, ‘Well, pull yourself together!’What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you guys on set?Daniel: I came in late one morning and the scenes were already kind of going on. I could hear Tyger screaming with who I thought was the assistant director, so I shouted out the window, ‘Shut up!’ because it was really early in the morning. But it turns out he was actually halfway through a scene…Tyger: One morning we were shooting a scene in the kitchen and Dan was kicking a ball around. He accidentally knocked over a vase, which smashed and everything went everywhere. It was so funny they ended up writing it into the script, because it’s one of those things that just happens naturally.Ramona: I remember when me and Daniel were really young and we were supposed to be watching Michael Jackson’s funeral on TV. But we ended up talking about how Michael named his son Blanket, and I think I said, ‘It’s like naming your child Sock.’ For the rest of the scene, we could not stop laughing hysterically.What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you on the red carpet?Tyger: It was the launch of the Harry Potter Museum and I was walking down the red carpet, getting quite a lot of attention, signing autographs and having pictures taken and stuff. Then there was this big announcement that Rupert Grint was just about to come down. I still had half of it togo, but suddenly everyone was like, ‘RUPERT!’ It was quite funny, me being overshadowed.Ramona: This situation was a bit awkward, but I actually found it quite funny. I was also at the launch of the Harry Potter Museum, but I’m not really into Harry Potter. So when an interviewer asked me, ‘What are you looking forward to most?’ I just kind of looked at the friend I was with, then said, ‘Um, everything!’What do you think your parents would say is your funniest quality?Tyger: Well, my mum and dad normally make cracks about the amount of time I spend on the toilet and how much toilet paper I get through. I actually have a book called Laugh On The Loo, which is full of toilet-themed jokes. My mum has started saying she’s going to take the money for the toilet roll out of my pocket money.Daniel: My parents make jokes about me being genuinely insane. I don’t know where it started from and I don’t take them seriously.It’s Mother’s Day today ? what’s the nicest thing you’ve ever done for your mum?Tyger: One time me and my family bought my mum a trip to Egypt for her Christmas present and we stayed in a luxury hotel, so that was pretty nice. And then a couple of years ago I got her a weekend spa break.Daniel: I once got my mum a sat nav for Mother’s Day…Ramona: Usually on Mother’s Day I’ll get my mum a bouquet of flowers and cook her a nice breakfast in bed. I think she really likes that.?How much like your Outnumbered characters would you say you are?Tyger: I would say I’m pretty similar to Jake, because when I got the part I was a 10- to 11-year-old boy, so I was sort of playing myself but in a different situation. Then as the character got older, he developed, so now me and Jake aren’t exactly the same ? although I would say there’s still a bit of me in him.Daniel: I reckon I’m more quiet than Ben in real life. I probably think about the same stuff as him, but I’ve just learnt not to say it out loud.Ramona: I’m a little bit similar to Karen in that we both ask a lot of questions.Who is the funniest person in the world?Tyger: Micky Flanagan. I’ve been lucky enough to meet him and he’s hilarious.Daniel: Ed Byrne makes everyday things funny.Ramona: Some of my friends are hysterical.It’s hard to believe ? and even harder to stop that making you feel old!I have fantastic memories of supporting Comic Relief, from getting a fireman’s lift from Lenny Henry to performing as the Spice Girls with the Sugar Lumps (a French & Saunders Spice Girls spoof of?Who Do You Think You Are?). But the chance to go and see where the money is making?a difference was an honour.MEETING THE KIDSI knew the days in the Zambian capital Lusaka were going to be tough. You watch Red Nose Day and see the films about the issues they fund, and you think you are used to it. But none of that had prepared me.I knew little about what I’d be seeing, other than it involved children. We all know, as parents, how much deeper home it hits when we see children suffering?? and so it proved to be when?I visited Lusaka’s hospital and met Martha and her son Mischeque.Mischeque, who was two months old, had been admitted with pneumonia the day before and was still in the admission unit, because he was too ill to be moved to the wards.His breathing was shallow and Martha told me how worried she’d been. She’d previously had to bring?in both her other children when they’d been struck with pneumonia ? but they weren’t as young and fragile as Mischeque.Victoria and her tiny 10-week-old daughter Bester had a similar story. This beautiful little girl was in the grip of pneumonia and as?I watched her delicate chest struggle to take in each and every breath she looked so vulnerable, as if each gasp for air could be her last.It was incredibly hard for me to stand by and watch, but for her mother it was torture.? KILLER ILLNESSHere, almost one in every eight children die before their fifth birthday ? for Mischeque and Bester to be so ill so young was perilous. What’s more, they needn’t have been in hospital at all.Their tiny lungs could have been spared this ordeal if they had been given a simple vaccine costing just ?5.The fact Mischeque and Bester made it to hospital means they stand a good chance of beating this killer, but for the thousands of youngsters who live too far away to get urgent medical treatment, inoculation is the answer.? WE REALLY CAN HELPAfter visiting the hospital, I saw how health centres across Lusaka are treating diarrhoea and pneumonia on the frontline before urgent cases, like Mischeque and?Besta, are referred to hospital. Preventable diseases like pneumonia and diarrhoea claim so many young lives in Sub-Saharan Africa, but such a small amount of cash can protect a life.That is what drives hundreds?of thousands of people who support Red Nose Day to do something funny to raise money.Every song strangled in karaoke, every red nose worn raises money that can prevent babies like Mischeque and Bester from suffering needlessly.That’s why Red Nose Day is as good an idea now as it was?25 years ago.Comic Relief's Big Chat - BBC Three, 7pmWe’re going to need a bigger sofa. Forget climbing Kilimanjaro, swimming the Thames, or paddling down the Zambezi.Graham Norton is no fool and he’ll be doing his bit for Comic Relief this year in absolute comfort by attempting to set a world record for the most questions asked on a TV chat show.The only peril he might face is straining a chuckle muscle if any of his guests proves to be too entertaining.He’s taking over BBC Three from 7pm, but he won’t be going it alone. To help him cope with the galaxy of stars in the studio ? who run the gamut from Ronnie Corbett to Rylan and from Little Mix to Louis Smith ? Graham will be assisted throughout the evening by an entire tag-team of co-hosts including Sir Terry Wogan, Richard Madeley, Frank Skinner, Dermot O’Leary, Fern Britton, Nick Grimshaw and more.I bet Eddie Izzard will be kicking himself for not roping in some extra staff to do some of the 43 marathons he ran for Comic Relief.Viewers can help out Graham and the team by submitting questions online (expect Twitter to be jammed with viewers asking: Can you take your shirt off please, Louis?)But that’s not all, and I hesitate before even publicising this, but viewers are invited to pop down to TV Centre, make a donation to Comic Relief and then have the chance to kiss a celebrity in Graham’s special celebrity kissing booth.He’s nicked the idea from a chat show in the States which featured a terrified Jessica Alba sitting in a car park with just a sheet of Perspex and some rubber gloves to protect her from Actual Members of The Public.This could get weird. But, remember folks, it’s all for charity.How to get to Heaven with the Hutterites - BBC 2, 9pmSticking together: A Hutterite family?The Hutterites are like the Amish but with electricity and better haircuts.And this strict sect believes the way to Heaven is to live communally.In which case ? if you do make it ? don’t be surprised to find that it’s full of bees, ants and the Borg out of Star Trek, who have also made communal living their way of life.Film-maker Lynn Alleway spent four months at the Maple Grove colony in a remote area of Manitoba in Canada ? home to 100 people who have shut themselves away from the world.As with the Amish, there are some aspects of the Hutterites’ way of life that are admirable. A community where the elderly are cared for and where everybody looks out for each other is a good thing. But just like bees and ants and The Borg, the Hutterites aren’t big on individuality.Those who think there is more to life, have to do a runner and the film has the first-ever video of a Hutterite escape. I don’t think they’ll be inviting Alleway back for a sequel after this.The Incredible Mr Goodwin - WATCH, 9pmHot stuff: Stunt specialist Jonathan?“Do you trust me?” .When they nod and obligingly let him aim knives between their fingers or fire catapults at them backwards over his shoulder, you can only assume they didn’t see him on Death Wish Live in 2006 when he accidentally hanged himself live on E4 and had to be cut down by the crew. The clip is on YouTube if you want to check it out.Anyway, the likable Welsh escapologist and stuntman has finally won a series of his own to showcase what his sister calls his “oddball, attention-seeking gene”.Tonight he’s chained to a car which is about to plummet over a cliff and he’s got 30 seconds to pick the lock before he goes over with it. The suede elbow pads on his pullover won’t offer much protection from certain death.He also tries to beat a bear-trap, free-climb up a London skyscraper and crawl under a moving car, as you do. Just as entertaining arethe reports from his bemused, American wife Katy and the clips of him obsessively practising a whole bunch of weird stuff in his shed.Mexico llega tocado tras decepciones en las eliminatorias mundialistas y la Copa Confederaciones. Otros candidatos, como el anfitrion Estados Unidos, Costa Rica y Honduras, no traen a sus principales figuras.Se?alar un favorito para la Copa de Oro que arranca el domingo es demasiado aventurado.En teoria y por su condicion de bicampeon vigente, Mexico debe imponer sus condiciones en el campeonato regional de la CONCACAF Pero el equipo dirigido por Jose Manuel De la Torre anda por horas bajas, luego de una campa?a de una victoria y cinco empates en el hexagonal final que reparte tres plazas directos y un puesto a un repechaje para el Mundial de Brasil 2014. Tal vez la localia sirva para Estados Unidos, en el que la novedad es la reaparicion de su goleador historico Landon Donovan.Donovan, quien jugara con su seleccion por primera vez desde agosto del a?o pasado, suma 13 goles en 28 partidos de Copa de Oro.Pero tiene que demostrar que posee las condiciones que le permitan ser tomado en cuenta para una cuarta participacion mundialista.Estados Unidos fue colocado en el Grupo C junto con Cuba, Costa Rica y Belice, que sera su primer rival el martes.En el pasado, el equipo campeon de la Copa de Oro previo al a?o de una Copa Confederaciones era el pais que representaba a la CONCACAF en el torneo que se disputa un a?o antes de la Copa del Mundo. Eso cambio para esta edicion y ahora los campeones de 2013 y 2015 se mediran por el puesto para la Copa Confederaciones 2017 en Rusia.Mexico sera otro equipo que usara la Confederaciones a fin de probar jugadores que le puedan servir a De la Torre para encarar los cuatro partidos que restan en el hexagonal.Solo el delantero Raul Jimenez forma parte del equipo que disputo la Confederaciones de Brasil 2013. El resto son jugadores en busca de una oportunidad.Mexico, que busca su primer tricampeonato de este torneo desde que se corono en 1993, 1995 y 1998, integra el Grupo A junto con Canada, Martinica y Panama, que sera su primer rival el domingo.En las ultimas ediciones, Mexico y Estados Unidos se han alternado los campeonatos de la Copa de Oro. El ultimo equipo en romper el dominio de ambos fue Canada, que se corono en el 2000.En esta ocasion, el equipo que podria hacerlo quiza sea Costa Rica, que marcha segundo en las eliminatorias.Los ticos tienen un plantel en el que destaca la presencia del delantero ?lvaro Saborio del Real Salt Lake de la MLS, autor de siete goles en las eliminatorias."Hay que ir a pelear por la Copa, ese es nuestro objetivo", dijo el entrenador Jorge Luis Pinto. "Queremos ir por los primeros lugares, no hay la menor duda; ese es nuestro compromiso, deseo, la lucha y para eso estamos trabajando".Honduras tambien ira a la Copa de Oro con un equipo alterno.Crime & Investigation Network offers real-life crime stories that are the inspiration behind our favourite TV dramas ? and often more incredible.By opening the doors to real crime labs, police archives and courtrooms, the programmes uncover the truth behind the headlines of some of the world’s most infamous crimes.On Crime & Investigation Network, real cops and real criminals tell it like it is out on the streets.This is where you can get close ? uncomfortably close ? to contract killers, psychotic serial murderers, kidnappers, armed robbers and bad guys.But on Crime & Investigation Network you will encounter the good guys too, with behind-the-scenes footage of successful real-life investigations.Crime & Investigation Network also opens the door and offers a fascinating insight into our justice and policing systems.It’s all real, credible and delivered in an unbiased way, so that you can make up your own mind about some of the world’s most infamous crimes.Tune in now. Watch on Sky 553, +1 554, Sky HD 555, and on Virgin Media 237The Richardsons by Fred DinenageSouth London: Dineage talks to Charlie Richardson?For two decades they held half of London in a vice- like grip of fear.While the Kray twins ruled the East End, the Richardson brothers ruled the streets of South London.They were strong-arm bandits, into every criminal enterprise known tothe underworld. Now a new TV documentary The Richardsons by Fred Dinenage, to be shown exclusively on Crime & Investigation Network, tells the truth about the “Godfathers” of South London.?Robbery, guns, extortion, “long-firm” frauds, stolen goods... Eddie and Charlie Richardson did the lot.And when people crossed them ? through a debt unpaid, daring to operate on their patch without paying their dues or, worst of all, suspected of passing information to the police ? their reaction was not just violence, but kidnap and medieval-style torture.With “Mad Frankie” Fraser as their chief henchman, victims were taken to cellars to have their teeth wrenched out with pliers, or theirtesticles wired to banks of car batteries.Sometimes there were witnesses to their crimes. But when the police came, no one had seen a thing.The Richardson gang’s notoriety for “dentistry” without anaesthetic and electric shock treatment ensured they ruled the roost and nobody grassed.And unlike some other villains of their era they never talked ? until now.Now, in a special documentary, veteran TV crime reporter and author Fred Dinenage has persuaded Charlie Richardson to spill the beans on the Richardson torture gang for the first time.? As you would expect from a man with a reputation for violence, Charlie doesn’t pull his punches.He talks frankly about how the combination of a brutal reputation, bent cops, witness intimidation and torture took the Richardson gang to the top.- Sunday, April 22 at 9pmThe Real Essex BoysIn the dock: Jack Whomes in court in 2006?Who really pulled the trigger when three notorious drug dealers were found dead in a Range Rover parked in dark, deserted Workhouse Lane in Essex in December 1995?? Was it two other disgruntled members of the gang??Documentary The Real Essex Boys tells the story of the gang members, recreating the key scenes, examining the evidence and asking whether the right men ? Jack Whomes and Michael Steele ? are serving life sentences today.Interviewees include John Whomes, brother of one of the jailed men; members of the Essex underworld who claim to know who actually pulled the trigger that fateful night; barrister Dame Helena Kennedy who was involved in the appeal to review the evidence in 2005, and other expert witnesses.Some have never been interviewed before about this gruesome episode in Essex gangland history. Others have come forward with new information casting a different light on the events of that fateful night.?But our fascination with the Essex Boys does not just rest with the drugs, the violence and the untimely deaths of three known criminals, it also reflects the way the crime was solved using two new weapons in the police armoury.It was one of the very first cases solved by the establishment of the location of people as a result of mobile phone calls made at the time of the murder.It was also one of the earliest cases where the evidence of a supergrass was largely responsible for a conviction.- Sunday, May 6 at 9pmTonight on Crime & Investigation Network7pm Myra Hindley’s Prison YearsNotorious: Myra Hindley spent 36 years in jail?Myra Hindley was Britain’s most notorious female child killer.She spent 36 years in jail after being convicted as an accomplice to her boyfriend, Moors Murderer Ian Brady.Her iconic prison mug shot has even been turned into modern art and is one of the most recognisable images worldwide.Ten years after her death in jail, Myra Hindley’s story still provokes fascination and controversy.8pm When Life Means Life: Royston JacksonWhen Life Means Life: Royston Jackson?For a select few of the most dangerous murderers, life means exactly that.These 45 men and one woman ? serial killers, torturers, hired assassins and psychotic sadists ? are such a threat to the public that they will stay locked up until they die.Some are household names... others you have never heard of. These are their stories. Tonight: double killer Royston Jackson.???9pm The Richardsons by Fred DinenageCharlie and Eddie Richardson ruled South London, Reggie and Ronnie Kray ruled East London.What were they really like? Now a new documentary programme by veteran reporter Fred Dinenage to be shown on Crime & Investigation Network lifts the lid on Britain’s Crime Incorporated.For the first time, gang boss Charlie Richardson talks candidly about his life.??10pm? At Home with the NoonansCrime boss: Domenyk NoonanA new documentary series, made by award-winning investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre, uncovers Manchester’s most notorious family.MacIntyre’s six-part series for Crime & Investigation Network examines how, after the violent death of his brothers, Domenyk Noonan takes to life as lone boss of the Noonan clan. A unique insight into the life of a complicated man.Mirror Online will be holding a video webchat with Donal on Friday - leave your questions for him by commenting below...?Brendan Shanahan didn't spend most of his career in St. Louis, just the pivotal part. Shanahan played as many seasons (four) with New Jersey, the team that made him the second player chosen in the 1987 draft, second to Pierre Turgeon. He spent the largest portion of his career, and the most competitively rewarding portion, in Detroit where he was part of three Stanley Cup championships. But there seems little question St. Louis represented the apex in a career that landed Shanahan in the Hockey Hall of Fame. "This is where he evolved into a player, in St. Louis," said Kelly Chase, a former Blues teammate who remains close with Shanahan. "I lived with him for 21/2 years and he evolved as a person and as a leader here. And he's a tough Irishman, that's for sure." Shanahan joined defensemen Chris Chelios and Scott Niedermayer, coach Fred Shero and Team Canada women's standout Geraldine Heaney as honorees on Tuesday. Niedermayer, Chelios, Shanahan and Heaney were voted in as members of the Players' Category. Heaney is the third woman elected behind Cammi Granato and Angela James. Shero, a two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, was selected under the Builder's Category. The voting is conducted by an 18-member selection committee, and the induction ceremony will be Nov. 11 in Toronto. Shanahan was in his second year of eligibility, while Niedermayer and Chelios were first-year honorees following their retirements after the 2009-10 season. Shanahan scored 656 goals and had 1,354 points, which ranks 13th and 25th on the NHL career lists respectively. He is one of 18 players to top 600 goals. He scored as many as 50 goals twice in his career - in back-to-back seasons with the Blues (1992-93, 1993-94). He is one of three Blues players to crack the 50-goal mark, along with Brett Hull and Wayne Babych. In 1993-94, Shanahan had 52 goals and 50 assists for the Blues, the only time he exceeded the century mark (102) in points. Playing alongside the likes of Hull, Adam Oates, Jeff Brown and Craig Janney, Shanahan went from promising to prolific. "He loved it here, just like all of us loved it here," said Brown, now coach of the Indiana Ice in the United States Hockey League. "We had a lot of fun in those early '90s years. We had great young team and then everybody just started getting traded and at the end of it, there wasn't anything left of that great nucleus." Brown said "competitiveness" set Shanahan apart, and exposure to other young stars on the Blues propelled his game. When Shanahan arrived, Hull was the league's premier sniper, having netted 72, 86 and 70 goals in the three previous seasons. "This is where Shannie became the Hall of Famer," Brown said. "He was a great player in New Jersey, but he wasn't polished at all. But when he came here, I really believe that Hullie, in his own way, helped Shannie become a Hall of Fame player. "I remember Shannie watching Hullie and learning from him, just learning how to be a 'goal scorer.' The things he would work on in practice was the stuff Hullie would do. He learned a lot from Brett and basically that is when he became an all-around Hall of Famer." Moreover, Shanahan's association with St. Louis is historically significant for the league and the franchise. In July 1990, the Blues turned heads by signing free agent defenseman Scott Stevens to a four-year. $5.1 million deal. As compensation, the team sent five first-round draft picks to the Washington Capitals. A rare combination of talent and toughness, Stevens joined Hull and Oates, and the Blues improved by 10 wins during his first season, finishing with 102 points and beating rival Detroit in the opening round of the playoffs. During the summer of 1991, the Blues made headlines again by signing a 22-year old Shanahan away from New Jersey. The Devils offered Shanahan $700,000 a season; the Blues gave him a four-year deal averaging $1.25 million. The move promised to push St. Louis over the top to its first championship. In the end, the signing cost the team Stevens and might have stalled those Stanley Cup aspirations, hopes that remain unfulfilled. Their first-round picks spent on Stevens, the Blues had to create a package of players and picks as compensation for Shanahan. Trying to protect their stars, management reportedly offered goaltender Curtis Joseph, emerging 21-year old Rod Brind'Amour and conditional picks. New Jersey asked for Stevens and when the teams couldn't work it out, arbitrating judge Edward J. Houston deemed the Devils' proposal more equitable. After one season as the Blues' captain, Stevens went to New Jersey and became the foundation for three Stanley Cup titles. Shanahan scored 156 goals in 177 games for the Blues, then departed as shockingly as he arrived. On July 27, 1995, Blues general manager and coach Mike Keenan sent Shanahan to Hartford for 20-year old defenseman Chris Pronger. "He hated to leave," Chase said. "He couldn't believe it. Nobody could." Like Shanahan, Pronger developed into a star in St. Louis and then won a championship elsewhere (Anaheim). Many speculate, when the time comes, Pronger will be voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. For now, one thing is certain. He was acquired for a Hall of Fame player - Brendan Shanahan.We had it all wrong. For years, the Cavaliers have privately pointed to the Oklahoma City Thunder as the model franchise for small market NBA rebuilding efforts. But perhaps inadvertently, the Cavaliers jumped the tracks. They're actually following former General Manager Kevin O'Connor's plan in rebuilding the Utah Jazz. Throughout the course of history, it has taken NBA teams the better part of a decade to return to relevance following the departure of a superstar. The Cavs are trying to cut that time in half. The word relevant, of course, is rather ambiguous and open to interpretation. But even if Andrew Bynum doesn't play a single minute this season, the Cavaliers should be playoff contenders in a top-heavy Eastern Conference that remains wide open at the bottom of the bracket. That, to me, makes the Cavaliers relevant again. To be clear, the rebuilding project isn't yet complete. Even with a healthy Bynum, the Cavs aren't yet in position to seriously challenge the Miami Heat or Brooklyn Nets for the top spots in the East. But the additions of Bynum, Jarrett Jack, Earl Clark, Anthony Bennett and Sergey Karasev should at least make basketball matter again in Cleveland when most folks are focused only on the NFL Draft. There are at least two, and perhaps three, playoff spots open next season. The Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks have taken hits to their roster and appear set on rebuilding projects. The Atlanta Hawks have a few moves left to make, but a comprehensive rebuild certainly seems possible. That leaves the bottom of the East wide open. The Bucks earned the last playoff spot last season with 38 victories, which falls right in line with the average number of wins from the East's No. 8 seed over the last five full seasons (38.4). If 38 victories is the target, the Cavs need to improve by 14 wins over last season. That certainly seems feasible. And a playoff return just three years after LeBron James' departure would be quite impressive by NBA standards. The Chicago Bulls took seven years to make the playoffs following the departures of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. They won only one playoff series in 12 years before advancing to the conference finals two years ago. The Orlando Magic didn't win a playoff series for 12 years following the departure of Shaquille O'Neal. The Boston Celtics needed a decade to win a playoff series following the retirement of Larry Bird, and it took the Los Angeles Lakers seven years to return to the Western Conference finals following Magic Johnson's retirement. That leaves the Jazz as the only team in recent history to complete a fast rebuild. The Jazz returned to the Western Conference finals just four years after the departures of John Stockton and Karl Malone. "You need three things," O'Connor told the Beacon Journal in 2011. "You need the ability to sign free agents, and that means money under the cap. You need draft picks and you need the ability to get lucky once in a while on players." The Cavs have had all three, enjoying their lucky break two years ago when an unexpected lottery pick landed a budding superstar in Kyrie Irving. "We tried to keep our powder dry a little bit," O'Connor said. "We didn't overreact and sign guys that cosmetically would make us look better, but maybe for the long term wouldn't succeed."WASHINGTON Guantanamo's Camp Justice is a place where you can sit at your laptop or by your phone only if there's a member of the military within earshot.It's a place where you can go to court only in the custody of a military public affairs officer. Inside, if there's only one escort this happened recently and somebody has to go to the bathroom, every reporter has to leave court, too.It's a place where a soldier stands over your shoulder, looks in your viewfinder and says 'Don't take that picture, I'll delete it.' This happened earlier in July. The government censor stands in front of a No Photography sign and says, "New policy, the sign and scene behind are now OK. Have at it." You take your camera to a shed for a security review a few minutes later and a sergeant says, "Um, 'No Photography' signs are forbidden." "They just told us it was OK," I say. "For real?" he asks. "For real," I reply. He deletes it anyway. There was a sliver of concrete in the frame. The fringes of a bunker you're not allowed to see.And it's a place where the Pentagon believes it can tell you not to include in your story the name of a man who outed himself in a newspaper interview in 2008 to clear his name.It's a place where, if you ask why, they tell you, "That's the rules ma'am." If you say that wasn't the rule a year ago, a month ago they shrug and say that's the rule today.You can't write that man's name any more. Never mind that reporters at the same war court reported that same interrogator's name in Guantanamo stories in 2008.I go to Guantanamo to write about a place the government intentionally chose to be outside the rule of law. The Supreme Court decided otherwise.It's a place the Pentagon likes to call the most transparent detention center on Earth. Hundreds of reporters have visited there, they say, since the first al Qaeda suspects arrived eight years ago.They skip the part about how few go back more than once stymied by the sheer frustration at the rules, the hoops, the time, and the costs of doing basic journalism. Being a court reporter. Writing a feature story. Conducting an interview.I'm here to tell you what it's like to be a reporter at Guantanamo. It's hard.Not just because you sleep in tent city where the ventilators and generators sound like you're inside a jet engine. Nearly everyone else expected in court gets housing elsewhere. The lawyers have trailers. The translators get townhouses and the judge and juries get guest quarters. The reporters get tents because if you protest, guess what they say: Don't come.Did you know there are hotels at Guantanamo? We used to get rooms there, and now we can't check into them.A reporter can't just fly to Guantanamo either. To cover a 3.5-hour hearing on Monday, I flew from Miami to Washington on Saturday, stayed in a hotel and went to Andrews Air Force Base Sunday morning to pay $400 to ride the Pentagon plane that reporters are required to take to cover commissions. I've been doing this a long time. Sometimes I can find a direct flight from South Florida to Guantanamo. I used to take them. Not anymore. Now it's forbidden.The Orlando Pro Summer League has come and gone, and we won't be watching the 76ers again until the preseason begins. Summer leagues are basically glorified pickup games. But the games do give you a good look at the new draft picks. They enable you to see what some of the veterans have learned, and introduce you to undrafted rookies trying to make NBA rosters. The NBA preseason is slated to begin Oct. 4. So here are some things we learned about the 76ers: Michael Carter-Williams still has a lot of work to do running a team as a primary point guard. Khalif Wyatt can shoot the ball. We knew that. Wyatt can add value to a team as a ball handler and distributor. We didn't know that. But perhaps the biggest thing we learned is that the Sixers, even without a head coach in place, are serious about developing young talent. For the Sixers, being in Florida was more than just about having to play in five games. "It was a 10-day journey," assistant coach Michael Curry, who ran the team, said Friday. "The only time we didn't have two-a-days was this morning. And we gave them this morning off. So they worked really hard. We are pleased with that." The hard work didn't translate into impressive victories, as the team finished 1-4. The lone victory came Friday afternoon against a Brooklyn Nets squad that dressed only six players. But this unofficial boot camp wasn't set up for the Sixers to contend for the league championship. "We told them, 'Every day you are being evaluated,' " Curry said. " 'Every day we are watching how you approach each workout.' ... A big part of it is trying to see who fits into the culture. "And in the beginning, it's about trying to establish a culture with the young guys even before the veterans start to come in." For Carter-Williams, the summer league was a reality check. The 6-foot-7 point guard out of Syracuse looked unstoppable taking defenders off the dribble to his right. He led the summer league with an average of 7.3 assists, and his 13.6-point average was second on the team. But Carter-Williams struggled while going to his left, shot only 27.1 percent (23 for 85), and averaged a team-worst 4.8 turnovers per game. "I need to work on a lot of things, getting my body right," he said. "Getting my conditioning and strength, and just shooting the ball consistently." Meanwhile, Wyatt impressed the Sixers with his scoring and ballhandling. The former Temple standout averaged a team-best 13.8 points per game, or an analytic-friendly one point per 1.4 minutes. To put that in perspective, Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo, the second overall pick, averaged one point per 1.7 minutes. But the Sixers were more impressed with Wyatt's ballhandling, passing, and leadership. After initially looking out of place, Wyatt was effective running the offense. The Sixers were also impressed with undrafted swingman Rodney Williams' defense. "Khalif and Rodney both and Justin (Holiday), they all had their moments where they played well," Curry said. "So we were happy with those guys. Micheal Eric played well. "We will see who will be around to be a part of possibly coming to training camp, and work to get ready for that."Some ice talk to cool your July day . . .. Ray Emery hasn't played in a majority of his team's games since 2006-07 with Ottawa, which was three years before he underwent massive hip surgery. No matter. The Flyers got a bargain when they signed Emery - the goalie who has made one of the most remarkable recoveries in recent NHL history - to a cap-friendly, one-year deal for $1.65 million. Emery, who was at a news conference that also introduced Vincent Lecavalier and Mark Streit on Tuesday, is not only a different goalie from the one who played 29 games for the Flyers in 2009-10. He also seems like a different person. In his first stint here, he was suspicious of the media and never appeared comfortable. Now he seems at ease, at peace with himself. What changed him? Maybe it was his career-threatening injury, or maybe he has just matured. Whatever the reason, Emery seems much more grounded and confident. The Flyers hope that carries onto the ice. "I'm very fortunate I had that operation and it stopped the deterioration in my hip," he said, adding he had felt "invincible" before suffering the injury. Even if Emery doesn't win the competition with Steve Mason for the No. 1 spot, he probably will make 25 or 30 starts and be a key player. Asked if it would work if each goalie played 41 games, Emery was quick with a replay. "One hundred percent," he said. " ... It's more about the relationship. That's not to say one guy doesn't play tons and one guy plays fewer, but it's more about making it comfortable and that you get the most out of both guys." Emery, owner of a 17-1 record and 1.94 goals-against average last season, says he wants to mentor Mason and be part of a positive locker room, like the one he experienced with the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. "It was a great working environment; how we wanted to do well for each other," he said. "I definitely take a lot from it, just how relationships went and the season went." Emery, 30, tweaked his groin toward the end of the regular season or else it might have been him, not Corey Crawford, who steered Chicago to the Cup. He returned to health after the first series, but the Blackhawks stayed with the sizzling Crawford. "There's a certain part of you that wants to be in there, but it's your team, and it was so exciting watching the team win," he said. "I really felt a part of it, even though I didn't play in the playoffs." When he was younger, Emery admitted, he might have pouted. That was long before his injury, long before he saw his career pass before his eyes ... and found some inner strength. When the 18-member Hall of Fame committee finally got it right and elected Flyers coaching great Fred Shero, Ed Snider - who is chairman of the team's parent company, Comcast-Spectacor - said it was time to forget about past snubs and to enjoy the moment. Well, I hate to be a spoilsport, but ... It "does matter that the committee bypassed Shero for about three decades. If it had done its due diligence, Shero and his wife would have still been alive to share the honor with their family, the organization, and fans. Shero used innovative coaching methods, his teams won two straight Stanley Cups - and reached four Finals in a six-year span - and he has the fourth-highest winning percentage in NHL history among coaches who have spent at least 10 years in the league. It's laughable - and, at the same time, sad - he was ignored for so long. With the Flyers spending four days of training camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., does that mean they are headed for a Miracle on Ice and will end their long Cup drought? Probably not. But the team does look much improved from last season. The Flyers haven't won a Cup since 1975. Put another way: Only one of the team's current players, defenseman Kimmo Timonen, had been born when the Flyers won their last title. He was 2 months old. If the Flyers dealt hard-luck Andrej Meszaros, it would solve their cap woes and loosen their crowded blue line. Meszaros, 27, suffered through an injury-ravaged 2013 season, but he is expected to be medically cleared in a couple of weeks. If healthy, Meszaros can be a team's top-four (or higher) defenseman. Eight teams have more than $10 million in cap space, topped by the New York Islanders at $20.2 million. Only 59 more days until training camp starts. But who's counting?Do I need to have a Facebook account to comment?Yes, you need to have an active Facebook account to comment.?How do I sign in through the article?After you enter your comment, when you click on ?Comment,? a pop-up widow will appear asking you to sign-in via Facebook. If you do not see the pop-up window after you click on ?Comment,? make sure that you have your pop-up blocker turned off.??If you are already signed-in to Facebook on your computer or device, you won?t be asked to sign-in.? 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Whether you do anything else with your Facebook account other than using it to log in to our site is entirely up to you.?Will all my comments be posted to my Facebook page so everyone can see it??Not necessarily.? When you start to write a comment, you?ll be given the option of ?post to Facebook? right under it. All you have to do is unclick that box, and it will not be shown on your Facebook page.?Do I have to use my own photo??No, you can pick whatever else best expresses yourself as your photo. The photo shown is the main photo on your Facebook account page.?Can other people commenting see my personal information, e-mail, location, etc?That depends on how you?ve set your privacy options. ?Facebook has robust privacy settings. ?You can set your privacy options by going here:?.?Do I need to have a Facebook account to read comments?No, comments posted are public for everyone to see. However, if your workplace bans access to Facebook, the comments may be prevented from appearing.?What if I still have questions about the system and how to use it?You can e-mail us at??and we?ll help you out.If this whole coaching thing doesn’t work out, Frank Vogel probably has future in fight promotion.His hair will never rival that of Don King’s Frankenstein fro, but the Pacers’ coach certainly has a natural gift for monstrous chatter.Vogel isn’t going into his team’s playoff series against the Heat $15,000 in hole this time, but his mouth still appears to be running up a deficit when it comes to talking about the defending NBA champions. In other words, it’s never a smart idea to give LeBron James extra motivation. After defeating the Knicks on Saturday, Vogel dismissed the Heat as a just another team when asked about the Pacers’ upcoming series against Miami in the Eastern Conference finals.“They’re the next team that’s in our way, and that’s how we’re approaching it,” Vogel said.For James, the comment was a head-scratcher. After all, the Heat defeated the Pacers in the 2012 playoffs, and this season the Heat has had a 27-game winning streak, finished the regular season with 66 victories and has only lost one game during the playoffs.“We’re not just another team,” James said. “I don’t understand what he’s saying. But we’re not just another team. It’s not true.”More often than not, players learn about the daily musings from around the league during interview sessions with reporters. That wasn’t the case Sunday, the Heat’s first day of preparation for the Pacers. James was the disseminator of news when one reporter asked what Vogel had said.“He said we’re just another team in their way,” James said. “We’re not just another team. We’re a great team. We’re very confident. We’ll be ready for them. “But if we’re just another team, you really don’t prepare for just another team. We’re not just another team. You got to be prepared for us.”Last season, Vogel began preparing earlier for the Heat by priming the league’s officials for a physical series. Before the 2012 Eastern Conference semifinals, Vogel called the Heat “the biggest flopping team in the NBA” and was then fined $15,000 for his gamesmanship. Not to be one-upped, Spoelstra had his own comments for officials before the Heat clinched the series in Game 6.“The league does not have a problem with hard fouls on our two main guys,” Spoelstra said. “In nine games now there’s been over a dozen hard fouls to the face, some of the tomahawk variety, some have drawn blood. They don’t have a problem with it, so we don’t have a problem with it. We’ll focus on what we can control.”Spoelstra was fined $25,000 for his comments, which weren’t exactly unwarranted. Pacers reserve Tyler Hansbrough raked his hands across Dwyane Wade’s face during the 2012 series between the teams. There were other altercations, including a blow to Udonis Haslem’s right eye in Game 4 that required nine stitches. In Game 5, the Heat’s promotional staff printed “White Hot” stickers to fans that resembled bandages and read “UD 40.” Haslem’s nickname is U.D. In 2012, Haslem doled out as much punishment as he received. In retaliation for the shot to Wade, Haslem was given a flagrant foul for whacking Hansbrough with his forearm. The physical history between the teams has the Heat on edge even if its players and coach would rather downplay the upcoming series to reporters.On Sunday, the Heat practiced on its main court to more closely simulate Wednesday’s environment for Game 1. Spoelstra put his players through a “training-camp-style practice,” which will likely be the last physical practice before the beginning of the series Wednesday. As for the expected physical nature of the Eastern Conference finals devolving into another slugfest, Spoelstra said, “last year was last year.”“Our three games [this season] didn’t have any of that,” Spoelstra said. “It was competitive. They drilled us the first two games. We were able to get one here. They were physical games, but they were not even near anything over the top.”By a 4-1 vote, Miami commissioners agreed Thursday to give a nonprofit group seeking to save the iconic but long-shuttered Miami Marine Stadium control over the full surrounding site, including parking lots, so they can develop a plan to renovate, expand and re-open the facility.Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium got a substantial boost from singer Gloria Estefan, who spoke to commissioners via pre-recorded video in support of the group’s efforts to save what she called “this jewel in our midst.’’ Estefan also provided some key legal testimony that seemed to help persuade one wavering commissioner, Francis Suarez, to vote in favor. She cited the 1963 deed that underpinned creation of the stadium from a land donation by the Matheson family, arguing that it requires the entire site to be dedicated solely to supporting stadium operations.“This is not a controversial vote today,’’ Suarez said. “We’re just doing what the deed already says.’’Elated leaders of the group said the vote now allows them to start raising millions of dollars to renovate the deteriorated Virginia Key stadium, regarded as an architectural and engineering treasure, and reopen it as a public park and venue for concerts, rowing regattas, triathlons and community events. The plan would include some small-scale development, including a marine exhibition center and restaurants, to support the stadium’s operation. About 12 acres of the 22-acre site would be converted into a green waterfront park under the plan.The detailed operational and development plan would still have to come back to the commission for approval, Friends co-founder Jorge Hernandez told the commission. Hernandez stressed the group will not seek city funding or subsidies.Commissioner Frank Carollo, the lone dissenting vote, said he believed the proposal should go to a public referendum even as he praised the group for doing “one heck of a job’’ in developing a plan to save the stadium. Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, who had previously voted against a separate agreement allowing the group to move forward with its plan, said she was reassured by the establishment of an escrow account at the National Trust for Historic Preservation to handle money raised by the group for the project.Friends has secured $10 million so far, including $3 million from a county preservation fund, and now has two years to raise the balance of the estimated $30 million it will take to renovate the stadium. Members of the Miami-Dade legislative delegation delivered a letter to the commission Thursday pledging to seek between $500,000 and $1.5 million in state funding for the stadium next year.The group was launched five years ago to save the stadium, which the city closed down after it was damaged by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and intended to demolish for redevelopment.Friends leaders persuaded the city to designate the stadium, which engineering studies determined remains fundamentally sound, as a protected historic site, and developed a plan to resuscitate it. To bypass competitive bids required under rules for leases of public waterfront property, the city designated the semi-autonomous Sports and Exhibition Authority as the stadium’s landlord. That has prompted complaints of a giveaway of public land from some activists, though Friends leaders say the city charters allows exemptions to public bidding requirements for nonprofit groups providing waterfront access. Estefan and other supporters noted that in the 20 years the stadium has been closed, no other group has stepped forward with a feasible plan to save it.“Today we right a wrong that has been there 20 years,’’ Mayor Tomas Regalado, who has made saving the stadium a centerpiece of his administration, told commissioners after the vote.By a 4-1 vote, Miami commissioners agreed Thursday to give a nonprofit group seeking to save the iconic but long-shuttered Miami Marine Stadium control over the full surrounding site, including parking lots, so they can develop a plan to renovate, expand and re-open the facility.Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium got a substantial boost from singer Gloria Estefan, who spoke to commissioners via pre-recorded video in support of the group’s efforts to save what she called “this jewel in our midst.’’ Estefan also provided some key legal testimony that seemed to help persuade one wavering commissioner, Francis Suarez, to vote in favor. She cited the 1963 deed that underpinned creation of the stadium from a land donation by the Matheson family, arguing that it requires the entire site to be dedicated solely to supporting stadium operations. “This is not a controversial vote today,’’ Suarez said. “We’re just doing what the deed already says.’’Elated leaders of the group said the vote now allows them to start raising millions of dollars to renovate the deteriorated Virginia Key stadium, regarded as an architectural and engineering treasure, and reopen it as a public park and venue for concerts, rowing regattas, triathlons and community events. The plan would include some small-scale development, including a marine exhibition center and restaurants, to support the stadium’s operation. About 12 acres of the 22-acre site would be converted into a green waterfront park under the plan.The detailed operational and development plan would still have to come back to the commission for approval, Friends co-founder Jorge Hernandez told the commission. Hernandez stressed the group will not seek city funding or subsidies.Commissioner Frank Carollo, the lone dissenting vote, said he believed the proposal should go to a public referendum even as he praised the group for doing “one heck of a job’’ in developing a plan to save the stadium. Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, who had previously voted against a separate agreement allowing the group to move forward with its plan, said she was reassured by the establishment of an escrow account at the National Trust for Historic Preservation to handle money raised by the group for the project.Friends has secured $10 million so far, including $3 million from a county preservation fund, and now has two years to raise the balance of the estimated $30 million it will take to renovate the stadium. Members of the Miami-Dade legislative delegation delivered a letter to the commission Thursday pledging to seek between $500,000 and $1.5 million in state funding for the stadium next year.The group was launched five years ago to save the stadium, which the city closed down after it was damaged by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and intended to demolish for redevelopment.Friends leaders persuaded the city to designate the stadium, which engineering studies determined remains fundamentally sound, as a protected historic site, and developed a plan to resuscitate it. To bypass competitive bids required under rules for leases of public waterfront property, the city designated the semi-autonomous Sports and Exhibition Authority as the stadium’s landlord. That has prompted complaints of a giveaway of public land from some activists, though Friends leaders say the city charters allows exemptions to public bidding requirements for nonprofit groups providing waterfront access. Estefan and other supporters noted that in the 20 years the stadium has been closed, no other group has stepped forward with a feasible plan to save it.“Today we right a wrong that has been there 20 years,’’ Mayor Tomas Regalado, who has made saving the stadium a centerpiece of his administration, told commissioners after the vote.Network World - Don’t get too attached to your specialized network hardware ? you’re not going to need it in the future, says one researcher.As networks get more and more abstract, the hardware used to run them will get less and less important, according to Riverbed’s Steve Riley, who spoke Wednesday at Interop. So much so, in fact, that users will eventually need nothing but standard x86 gear. Riley is a technical director in the office of the CTO, but he’s also a part of what’s called the Strategic Technology Group at Riverbed. He describes the job as “getting paid to think” about the company’s products, customers and competitors.“Do I think the hardware plays any role [in Software Defined Networking]? No. … All the intelligence is handled in software, all the intelligence is handled in generic machines ? the role of the hardware is to move a datagram from one interface to the other ? that’s it,” he said during his presentation. “The hardware is told what to do by the protocols that live above it.”Those protocols in this case are collectively referred to as SDN, though Riley also argued that the term is often misapplied. While the basic idea of divorcing the control plane from the forwarding plane in networking is an important one, the term SDN has gotten so much industry attention that it’s often ? erroneously, says Riley ? applied to any technology used to automate provisioning, even outside of the network layer.“Network virtualization is the more interesting thing ? SDN is a tool that gets us there, but is it the same thing as server virtualization? Not really,” he said.The abstraction of hardware into programmable infrastructure at the network level is the essential advantage of SDN ? but this requires both the ability to make intelligent decisions on how to route connections and enough consistency and transparency to work seamlessly with other layers, according to Riley.All of this, apparently, will happen in software. He highlighted Microsoft’s Azure data centers as evidence of this trend.“The hardware that goes in an Azure data center is whitebox, dumb-assed routers and switches,” he said. “They’re not making any decisions.”So where does this leave Riley’s employer Riverbed, which is a manufacturer of specialized network management and optimization hardware? Perhaps unsurprisingly, he’s still bullish.“We largely do two things in the network. One of the things we do is provide network and application server services that improve performance and availability, and these classical Riverbed product lines … they operate at a layer above where SDN goes,” he tells Network World in a separate conversation. “Regardless of what an organization might choose do to their network virtualization with, there will still be opportunities to insert performance-enhancing and availability-enhancing technologies.”DALLAS -- It is expected that whenever the economy turns, Cowboys Stadium will become known as (Your Company's Name Here For $100 Million Or So) Stadium. It might be more appropriate as a name, since Cowboys Stadium is far too limiting.Just as owner Jerry Jones expects the $1.2 billion building to permanently join the rotation of Super Bowls, NCAA tournament regional rounds and Final Fours, World Cups, championship fights, mega-concerts and maybe even a BCS game, owner Mark Cuban projects the shimmering entertainment magnet in Arlington will be added as revolving destination for the NBA's All-Star Game.The first one takes center stage Sunday night. It's the first All-Star Game in North Texas since 1986 at Reunion Arena. It shouldn't take 24 years for the league's showcase event to return."I hope so, I'd like to see it that way," Cuban said. "The NBA is certainly making more money doing it this way. So it's something I'll certainly push. It'll certainly be great for the area."That's a new tune Cuban's singing. In the past, he's insistently told the NBA's All-Star Game to take a hike. As owners go, Cuban has always positioned himself as a slave to the paying customer.It's why for years he says he rebuffed the NBA's requests to bring All-Star Weekend to the American Airlines Center, which can jam about 21,000 people into a basketball configuration. The league distributes the vast majority of All-Star Game tickets to corporate sponsors and other friends, leaving few available for, say, the 15,000 or so Mavs fans who purchased full, half or mini season-ticket packages for the 2009-2010 season. And so Cuban has contended that if his most important customers can't get into the game, then forget it."People who support you the most, you don't want to leave them hanging," Cuban said. "The last thing I wanted was someone who busts their ass, goes to work every day and says, 'I'm going to make a sacrifice. I'm going to go to Mavs games and buy season tickets,' then have a big event like this come in and give them tickets to the Bar Mitzvah and not the game. And it's even a cash bar. It's not right."The Bar Mitzvah is in reference to ancillary events such as the Jam Session at the Dallas Convention Center, the Friday and Saturday events at the AAC that include the Rookie Challenge, the Slam Dunk Contest, Three-Point Shootout and skills competition. Fun stuff, but it's not The Game."We just had to wait for the right way to do it," Cuban said.Cowboys Stadium has changed the game. Cuban called Cowboys owner Jones, who jumped on board. That high-powered collaboration excited the NBA and made it happen. At least one Mavs superstar thought he'd never see the day."When he took over, he wasn't going to do an All-Star Game," said , who will play in his ninth consecutive All-Star Game on Sunday as a Western Conference reserve. "So I was always in that mindset that we're not going to have it."At massive Cowboys Stadium, the NBA can take care of its business interests and Cuban can take care of his customers' interests. The Mavs were able to make tickets available to all of their season-ticket account holders, and they weren't relegated to nosebleed sections or obstructed-view seats. The Mavs offered every season-ticket holder options in every price range. And because of the bottomless capacity of Cowboys Stadium, just about anyone in the Metroplex who ever wanted to attend an All-Star Game can. More than 90,000 tickets have been sold, guaranteeing a world record for attendance at a basketball game. "We have one of the largest season-ticket holder bases in the league and have," Cuban said. "We've been able to take care of everybody and then some. There are all kinds of different scenarios, but everybody got access to pretty much all they needed."Yes, Cuban can smile. His stubbornness paid off. Everybody's happy, from NBA commissioner David Stern to local hoteliers and restaurateurs to the guy who bought a Mavs mini-plan.Cuban will celebrate this weekend at the various parties across the Metroplex, while looking ahead to the next time around when he predicts that this experience will make party hopping that much easier."It will be party central," Cuban said. "When you come back for a second time people will actually plan bigger parties inside the stadium itself."Jeff Caplan covers the Mavericks for ESPN Dallas. You can follow him on or leave a question for his weekly .The mole at the heart of the Commons expenses scandal vented his fury at greedy MPs last night.And he revealed his anger that staff hired to sort through MPs' receipts for expensive extravagances were guarded by troops forced to moonlight so they could earn money to buy vital equipment.One soldier had taken the work to buy lightweight body armour that cost ?750. Another wanted better quality desert boots at ?125 a pair, the insider said.The mole said: "It's not easy to watch footage on the news of a coffin draped in a Union Jack and then come in to work the next day and see on your computer what MPs are taking for themselves."Hearing from the serving soldiers about how they were having to work there to earn enough money to buy themselves decent equipment, while the MPs could find public money to buy themselves all sorts of extravagances, only added to the feeling that the public should know what was going on."It helped tip the balance in the decision over whether I should or should not leak the expenses data."Furious that MPs were claiming millions in dodgy expenses while soldiers in Afghanistan had to buy their own boots, the insider sold the information to the Daily Telegraph for ?110,000, a new book reveals. The book says staff at The Stationery Office who processed the expenses claims "became so agitated they had to be told by managers to calm down".Among the ones that stuck out were Tory Peter Viggers' ?1,645 demand for a duck island and Douglas Hogg's ?2,115 claim for clearing his moat.One that "particularly enraged" the employees was Gordon Brown's claim for a ?36-a-month Sky sports package.The insider added: "Everyone in that room was of the same mind: this was our money and these were our employees, effectively, but no one could hold them to account."The mole said you could "cut the anger with a knife" as they discovered many of the outrageous expenses.He said: "Hazel Blears was another of the early MPs to be looked at. The person looking at her expenses was disgusted that she had claimed for a KitKat."Then Gordon Brown came up. It turned out we were paying for his Sky Sports package."No one could fathom why he was allowed to claim for that rather than watching BBC News 24 like other people."Last night an MoD spokesman insisted that service personnel are fully equipped. He said: "Every soldier who deploys to Afghanistan receives Osprey body armour and a Mark 6a helmet. They receive a bag containing all their operational requirements."Mr Brown also defended his record, saying: "I have been determined to make sure that the troops that are serving our country are properly paid, that we make proper allowance for them, that we give them the best equipment, that we help them in every way possible."Aides had to explain to Gordon Brown how Jacqui Smith's husband accessed porn from his satellite telly, the book, No Expenses Spared reveals. It claims Mr Brown "reacted by focusing on the mechanics of how pornographic films can be ordered".In the original Star Wars movie, Obi Wan, aka “Ben,” Kenobi described the force as something that surrounds us and binds us all together. Those who believe in the Force can use its power to do things that some might consider impossible. The key to its power is belief in it.Today’s IT environment appears to have a new force behind it and that’s the force created by vendor-driven communities. Like the Star Wars Force, communities require belief in it to harness its power. Those that do will be able to drive more value from their technology purchases than those that choose not to leverage it.In actuality, the use of communities to drive extra IT value isn’t all that new. When I was a UNIX developer, I used to subscribe to various news groups where I could leverage the knowledge of others when I got stuck with a problem. The Linux community had a number of regional geek gatherings where people would sit and discuss the finer points of managing Web servers and other exciting topics. However, these were created by the masses for the masses. They were unstructured and really grew because of word of mouth. The only vendor-supported community that’s been around for a number of years that I can think of is F5’s DevCentral community, which allows its customers to do really cool, custom things with its iRules scripting language. The company has had phenomenal growth over the past five years and much of it is because of the community.Over the past year or so, I’ve seen a rise in vendor support forums, including the announcement late last week of the Infblox “bloxHub” (infoblox.com/community). This is just the most recent example but there are now communities that cut across almost every technology segment and it appears more and more vendors are willing to put up the resources to facilitate and foster the growth of the community. I think this is critical to the long-term success of the vendor and its customers to get full value from the products.The reason I like the concept and feel that communities have Force-like power is that the “collective” will always, always know more than any individual or even the vendor itself. Trying to configure something but you’re stuck? Odds are that someone out there using this product has had that problem as well. All you need to do is find said person. Post a message to the community site and see what comes back. The bigger the community, the faster your problem gets solved.Trying to understand the impact of something new, say IPv6? Go out and scour the community site and where others have had success or, maybe more importantly, where the “gotchas” are in the deployment so as to be able to avoid them when you deploy it.How about just perusing the site to get some ideas to find new ways to use the product? I’ve talked to many people who have had a number of “a-ha!” moments when simply browsing through a community site to see how others are leveraging a product. No matter how well you know a product, it’s unlikely you could possibly understand every use case for any product, so let the community be your guide.Over the next couple of years, I’m expecting to see the number of vendor-supported communities skyrocket. IT complexity is certainly on the rise and it’s important that the vendors give its customers all the resources they can to help with success and long-term value, and supporting a community is one of the best resources.Sometime in the past month Brocade stealthily launched a community forum () for its ADX Application Delivery Controller (ADC). The Brocade forum will be powered with Brocade’s OpenScript Programming Engine, which is a PERL-based scripting interface to allow Brocade ADX administrators to create custom functionality for its service provider customer base.The use of PERL is a good decision for Brocade as it’s well adopted in service provider environments today so the barrier to entry should be fairly low. As powerful as PERL is though, the real leverage with this announcement will be from the OpenScript Community.The community allows Brocade administrators to ask each other questions, share scripts and collaborate with one another. In essence the community site facilitates conversations and collaboration between customers that have deployed ADX. If executed on correctly, the community can create value for all Brocade customers.The concept of programmability and communities isn’t a new concept. F5 Networks has set the gold standard for all scripting environments combined with a community site with its TCL based iRules and DevCentral community. iRules used to be this geeky thing that was used by only a handful of administrators. Over the past few years though, use of iRules has exploded so now it’s a geeky thing used by thousands of administrators and is easily the reason F5 has it’s 65%+ share in the ADC market.I remember talking with Citrix’s NetScaler group about iRules years ago and their take was that it was F5’s way of offloading feature development on the users. Maybe so, but F5 took off like a rocket and NetScaler didn’t showing the power behind a quality scripting tool and community. Since then Citrix has rolled out it’s own version of iRules but hasn’t been able to replicate the success F5 has. Can it? Sure, but it needs time to build the subscriber base. This is where I think Brocade’s sole focus on service providers will bode them well. They’re not trying to broadly copy F5, they’re trying to focus their efforts on a slice of the buyers ? service providers that have the need and desire to customize.The ADC space isn’t the only market trying to capitalize on this trend. A couple of months ago wireless solution provider, Aruba Networks launched its “Airheads” community () that allows its customer to solve mobility related challenges.Juniper’s JUNOS Space and Cisco’s AXP environments are router based developer communities and Extreme Networks actually might have been the first network vendor with this concept with the XOS developer tools.So, while most of these are relatively new and the impact is still to come, I think one thing is clear ? competitive advantage will be defined by a networking vendors ability to do cool things with the products and then share those ideas with a common community. I think this will be one of the bigger trends to watch in 2012 as vendorslook to get a leg up on competition.SUNRISE?and FORT PIERCE, Fla., July 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --?, a leading specialized healthcare Business Process Outsourcing and technology firm, is pleased to announce a community and corporate partnership with the Saint Lucie County Economic Development Council and Workforce Solutions to bring a free Health Insurance U education program to help kick start residents of Ft. Pierce and surrounding communities into a health insurance career path.Five day training sessions will be delivered at no cost to attendees, and will provide pre-test training for state health insurance licensing in Florida. The program has been optimized to allow students to learn what's needed to sit for the State of Florida 240 Health Insurance Licensing exam as quickly as possible.The first class starts July 22nd, and the classes will run weekly through early August.Convey Health's Director of Learning and Development, Deanna Kim, stated, "The partnership is offering this educational opportunity to support members of the local community who want to enter the field of health insurance sales. We're honored to be in a position to offer this opportunity to help support career growth opportunities as well as offset unemployment pressure in Ft. Pierce and surrounding communities."?Those who are interested in participating in this free educational opportunity should call 800-542-6081 to learn enroll. Interest in the program is strong, and seats are limited, so registering as quickly as possible is advised.As an added feature, for residents who on re-employment assistance, Workforce Solutions will conduct an onsite workshop which will satisfy work search requirements for the week.Students who participate in the free training are not required to work for Convey Health Solutions or any of the program partners upon course completion. However, students who complete the Health Insurance U Program and pass the licensing exam will be eligible to apply for currently open positions at Convey Health Solutions, as well as when positions become available in the future. Also, the cost of the health insurance licensing exam will be reimbursed by Convey Health Solutions for all students who pass the Health Insurance U Program and pass the State licensing exam.Education Opportunities in a Growing Career FieldHealthcare is one of the nation's fastest growing employment fields. The number of licensed health insurance agents in the U.S. is set to be out-paced by the growing demand for their services ? particularly to support the 70 million Baby Boomers currently aging into Medicare eligibility.According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment of insurance sales agents is expected to increase by 12 percent over the 2008?18 period. Sales of health insurance, long-term-care insurance, and other comprehensive financial planning services designed specifically for the elderly are expected to rise sharply as the population ages."About Convey Health Solutions, Inc.Convey Health Solutions (formerly NationsHealth) is a specialized healthcare Business Process Outsourcing and technology firm that is committed to providing clients with healthcare-specific, compliant member support solutions utilizing technology, engagement and analytics.They create better business results and better healthcare consumer experiences on behalf of their business customers and partners (some of the nation's leading health insurance companies, pharmacy benefit management firms, pharmacies and more). Their healthcare-focused teams in all locations support hundreds of thousands of Americans in making important decisions related to health insurance coverage, medical products as well as wellness and chronic condition management. Learn more at .SOURCE Convey Health Solutions, Inc.Join The South Florida Blog NetworkPlease fill out this form to submit your blog. All submissions must be approved, so please expect up to 72 hours for your content to appear on South Florida Blog Network. Fill in as many fields as possible, but don't worry if you don't know your feed URL. Pen names are fine, too. Blogs must be at least 90 days old before they are eligible to join. Participation in "Pay-per-Post" and other undisclosed advertising is grounds for removal from South Florida Blog Network. Your Name: Your E-Mail: Your Blog's Title: Your Blog's URL: Your Blog's feed URL: Categories: (Check all that apply) TravelReal_EstatePoliticsPhotography_and_VideoPersonalParentingNightlifeMusicMiami_DolphinsMediaLifeLawHealthFood_and_DiningCubaCommunitiesBusinessArtsEnvironmentArts_and_EntertainmentSportsMiamiHerald.com_BlogsWeatherNewsSocial_MediaSpanishLivingTVMiami_MarlinsMiami_HeatFlorida_Panthers Comments / Feedback:CSO - A new wave of cyberattacks reportedly aimed at industrial control systems comes at a time when private companies and government are still struggling to protect the nation's critical infrastructure, experts say.[ALSO: ]The New York Times reported on Sunday that the attacks were . Rather than looking for intellectual property or sensitive information, the hackers were using probes to look for ways to seize control of processing plants.While government officials did not know if the attacks were state-sponsored, the origin appeared to be somewhere in the Middle East.The fact that senior government officials who spoke to The Times were unable to pinpoint the source of the attacks indicates a lapse in the work of the intelligence community, said Stewart Baker, a partner at the law firm Steptoe & Johnson and a former assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)."The most disappointing aspect of the story so far is the inability of the intelligence community to attribute the probes," Baker said. "That’s embarrassing.""The intelligence community has faced cyberintrusions for 20 years, yet it has been unable or unwilling to provide much useful attribution information," he said.The intelligence community is not the only part of government that has struggled in helping the nation defend against cyberattacks. Congress remains at odds over the privacy implications of legislation that would require companies to share data with government agencies.President Barack Obama issued this year an executive order requiring government agencies to share cyberattack information, but the reverse will .Government regulation by itself is not a panacea. Joe Weiss, an industrial security consultant and managing partner of Applied Control Solutions, said electric utilities often refuse to be a test bed for cybersecurity technologies because of the "onerous audit requirements." The mandates are contained within the Critical Infrastructure Protection rules established by the North American Electric Reliability Corp.Weiss has been able to find only one electric utility willing to be a test bed. That company is too small to fall under NERC CIP. "I shouldn't be in a position to say 'only,'" Weiss said. "There should be a few or one of (many), but not only."[Also see: ]Attackers bent on sabotage is not new. Many experts believe the pace of cybersabotage efforts increased after the U.S. and Israel damaged Iranian nuclear facilities several years ago with .Iran is believed to have retaliated last year with the attack on Aramco, Saudi Arabia's national oil company and one of the world's largest producers. The intruders wiped data from office computers, but failed to reach production systems, which were the main target.Private companies running much of the nation's critical infrastructure from oil production and the electric grid to manufacturing facilities and water treatment plants know of the potential damage from cyberattacks. However, the reason warnings keep coming from government officials is because not enough is being done in the way of defense.If you've used MOM 2005, you're in for a big surprise when it comes to security in OpsMgr 2007. Like most things in the more recent release, things have changed completely.MOM 2005 security was pretty simple. Each management server used local security groups to restrict the types of operations allowed within the MOM consoles, with no restriction on scope. Microsoft created four groups on a management server when that management server was created:?Two other groups were created, although not on the management server?These were local Windows groups when the component was on a member server and domain local grops if the server was a domain controller.The access of the first three groups had was fairly self-explanatory. An Administrator could do anything in the MOM Administrator and Operator consoles, a MOM Author could author mangement pack but not change which computers were managed or how a computer was managed.?This group was for individuals responsible for creating, customizing, importing, importing, and exporting management packs. MOM Users could view and modify alerts; MOM Users were typically Operations staff.The MOM Service group was used for internal MOM services and processes. Members of the SC DW DTS group could transfer data from the operational database to the reporting database. Members of SC DW Reader could view MOM reports.There was actually a big deficiency with this model.? By using local groups on each management server?to grant management group access, it was possible that the group membership on the different management servers could vary. There was no guarantee that SusieQ, a MOM Author on MS_Server1, was automatically a MOM Author on MS_Server2. To work around this, the best approach was to add user accounts to Active Directory global groups and then add those global groups to the appropriate local groups on each management server. MOM 2005 also used a number of service and action accounts. We'll focus here on the action accounts:?So what's different about OpsMgr 2007 security? For starters, these are not local groups. You ADD groups or individual users to roles, typically from Active Directory. In addition, as I point out in my earlier article (), security is role based.??Each role was a combination of a profile (capabilities) and a scope (the data and objects one could access). MOM 2005 security was really just profile-based: Administrator, Author, and User. In addition, OpsMgr uses Run As Profiles and Run As Accounts. These can be used in lieu of the Action account to grant access to specific operations in management packs, so that the default Action account does not have access to the world. Let's look at the OpsMgr-provided role definitions:?To scope access, you can create additional roles based on one of the provided profiles (with the exception of the Administrator and Report Security Administrator roles, which cannot be scoped).One other thing. In OpsMgr 2007, roles are enforced at the SDK level. Since that encompasses anything that uses the OpsMgr class libraries to connect to the SDK service, we secure access outside the console - including PowerShell cmdlets and custom clients.Once you've digested this, keep this in mind: you want to plan who has access to which role, and how to best specify your own user-defined roles and grant membership to those roles.While I've talked a bit before about the differences between OpsMgr 2007 and System Center Essentials, in , the following two tables offer a direct comparison of the feature set between Essentials and OpsMgr and Essentials and Configuration Manager. This should give you a clear picture of the capabilities of Essentials. Remember, Essentials is limited to monitoring only 30 servers.Features Available in Operations Manager 2007 and System Center Essentials 2007: FeaturesOpsMgrEssentialsCommentsManagement packsXX Monitor servers, clients, and servicesXX Management pack authoringXXEssentials has a basic interface; the OpsMgr interface is more sophisticated.Role-based securityX Essentials does not include a facility for role-based administration.Multiple management servers in domainXXAll monitored systems must be in the same Active Directory forest.ReportingXX (basic)Essentials does not include a data warehouse or fixed grooming schedule (only a maximum of 37 days of report data can be stored); the Operations and Reporting databases are on the same server, and Report authoring is not supported.Fault tolerance supportX Essentials does not support database clustering of the Operations or Reporting database or clustering the Essentials management server.Connector frameworkX ACSX AD IntegrationXXAD integration with Essentials consists of pushing Group Policy Objects (GPOs) and creating AD security groups.PowerShell IntegrationX Web consoleX ?Features Available in Configuration Manager 2007 and System Center Essentials 2007: FeaturesConfigMgrEssentialsCommentsUpdate managementXX Software distributionXX Hardware and software inventoryXXEssentials captures approximately 30 hardware and software attributes.Operating System deploymentX Mobile device managementX Desired configuration managementX Branch office supportXX (basic)Essentials does not include site servers.Network Access Protection (NAP) supportX Wake on Local Area Network (LAN)XStarwood Hotels and Resorts, the White Plains, N.Y., hotelier, is in the midst of migrating from a mainframe infrastructure to a next-generation computing environment built on and servers. By August, the company will be using its new infrastructure to support more than 150 -based for use by its 733 Sheraton, Westin, W and other brand hotel properties worldwide. CTO Tom Conophy expects that its next-generation infrastructure will save Starwood more than $20 million a year - in part through the savvy, judicious use of - while making the company more competitive and better at serving customers. Conophy discussed his outsourcing strategy in a recent interview.For the move to this next-generation environment, you kept control of application development while outsourcing almost everything else. How did you make that decision?We know the costs of maintaining, engineering and supporting the network hardware. We outsourced [the infrastructure portion] because it's closer to a commodity and it's easier to make sure we have competitive pricing and so on. What we've kept in-house are the reservation and loyalty system applications and the development of those because they are more critical to the business. This is where the unknown areas are in terms of complexity, features and new functions. If you have a mature application base and you're just into maintenance, or if you're in an industry that's not going through change, then outsourcing may well be the most cost-effective way to do it. But where we see the biggest savings from a pure [total cost of ownership] perspective is in the cost of the hardware and the maintenance on that hardware, the software licensing and the managed services side. We built the business case around those three items, and saw that we could save potentially up to $20 million a year in this new platform, relative to what we started with.So the outsourcing decision is about controlling what's core to your business while offloading what you can get more cost-effectively elsewhere?Correct. Could you operate your own efficiently and in a cost structure that might be better than these large managed services companies? Odds are, yes. But with skills and resource constraints, can you achieve that in a midsize company like we are? If I was Bank of America, maybe I'd run my own data center because I'd get synergy by the size of my operation. But for Starwood, it comes down to whether we want to take on that burden. A well-run organization might be able to get the cost-efficiencies, but it's one of those things where the cost differential just isn't that much, so you might as well outsource.After whittling down your outsourcer choices to and , you picked HP. Why?We selected HP primarily because of its overall flexibility. We knew that our business was going to change over time, and we wanted to make sure that we were not locked into a restrictive managed services contract where we'd be paying penalties because of system growth.Network World - Score: 4.1 out of 5Editor's note: This is a summary of our testing of this product, for a full rundown of how it fared in our testing across iSCSI SAN Server categories; please see our full .Compellent's StorageCenter is composed of an iSCSI and Fibre Channel controller chassis (in our case, a 3U Supermicro server equipped with a four-port Fibre Channel adapter, a two-port QLogic iSCSI host bus adapter, Ethernet, and a Compellent accelerator card in it ? and 16 empty drive bays) attached to a Fibre Channel drive shelf.Compellent sent us a 3U Xyratex dual-controller, 16-bay array with 400GB 10K RPM Fibre Channel drives which dual-attaches to the StorageCenter, giving nice high availability on the drive shelf side. If you want controller high availability, Compellent can attach additional controllers on the Fibre Channel loop. Similarly, more drive shelves (either slower SATA or faster 15K SAS drives) can be attached into the Fibre Channel loop. This makes the StorageCenter very expandable.What stood out most about the StorageCenter in our testing was its manageability. Compellent has the best console of any of the systems we tested, providing more control, configuration visualization and monitoring capabilities than its competitors. The StorageCenter management system closely aligned with what we needed to accomplish in our test. For example, when looking at performance graphs, we were able to get the graph we wanted, rather than the graph that they wanted to give us. There's not much customization in the performance graphs, but the graphs available are so well chosen that we didn't miss it. Snapshots were also easy to take and analyze from within the management interface because of the underlying supporting capabilities.A significant differentiator for Compellent is its tiered architecture. Conceptually, tiered storage means the StorageCenter controller watches how disk space is used, and subsequently moves frequently used data to faster storage (that is, those provided by its SAS drives), while pushing seldom used data to slower storage (that is, those provided by its SATA drives or slower SAS drives, depending on your configuration). This is a very different view of storage management than is taken by every other system we tested, and one that seems most attractive to us. With the huge differential in cost and capacity between SAS and SATA drives, budget-minded storage managers will want to take advantage of SATA where they can, and use SAS where they must. Compellent makes that easy.While Compellent barely grazes the midrange space we wanted to focus on with this test, coming down from the high end with a high-end price for a basic high-availability system and heavy expandability, storage managers at all levels anticipating moderate amounts of management should focus on Compellent. There is no command-line interface for the super power user, but with the Compellent GUI, it's easy to sit down in front of the console and get work done quickly. in Network World's Data Center section.This guest post was submitted by , Director of Strategy at Smartbear SoftwareIf you are a software development professional today, you are most likely aware of the frenzied waters of the current API industry. But, like many people, you may be unsure how to navigate those waters. It’s not surprising, really, considering how new the concept of APIs as a business strategy is. If you are trying to compete in this arena, you need to understand the market landscape in the same way you do when you are planning and developing your core products.SWOT AnalysisI know it seems like an odd directive, but I suggest starting with a SWOT analysis. When you stack your APIs up against your competitors, how do they rate? What are the strengths inherent in your API offerings that make you stand out? Ease of use? Great documentation? Blazing performance? Likewise, what are the weaknesses? What are the things you hope your consumers overlook? Understanding both of these perspectives as well as the threats and opportunities can help you better define an API strategy that gives you a competitive edge.Doing this analysis also helps you to determine where you want to be positioned in this landscape and identify the other players in the space. When it comes right down to it, integrators will look at all of their available options before implementing someone’s API, so it’s important for you to know what their options are and how you can win their hearts.Define a strategyOne mistake so many companies make today is jumping on the API bandwagon without a clear plan. Don’t get me wrong ? I understand the compulsion. The API industry is moving so fast that there is a good argument for leaping first and looking later. So, leap if you must, but then make sure you take a look around. With the competitive power of a well-crafted API, it is wise to treat your APIs as you would any product in your portfolio:Manage the strategyIf you are really serious about competing in this space (and why wouldn’t you be?), you need to be just as serious about delivering on your API strategy as you are about your product strategy. The reality is that having a powerful and easy-to-adopt API can open up business channels for you that have infinite reach. APIs are the bridge from your development team to thousands of other development teams and can put you in front of many more customers than your marketing team can reach on their own.So, make sure you have everything in place to execute on the plan:We’re at the beginning of a new era in software development, so it’s only natural that everyone is still trying to figure out how to adapt to the new demands and expectations of this connected world of developers. But you shouldn’t overlook what you do know ? you have tried-and-true ways of entering a marketplace and developing strategies, and that experience and knowledge can give you a firm footing in this new land.---About Lorinda Brandon, Director of Solutions Strategy at SmartBearFor more than 25 years, has worked in various management roles in the high-tech industry, including customer service, quality assurance and engineering. She is currently Director of Solutions Strategy at SmartBear Software, aleading supplier of software quality tools. She has built and led numerous successful technical teams at various companies, including RR Donnelley, EMC, Kayak Software, Exit41 and Intuit, among others. She specializes in rejuvenating product management, quality assurance and engineering teams by re-organizing and expanding staff and refining processes used within organizations. She has a bachelor’s degree in art history from Arizona State University. Follow her on Twitter .Five mega ships ? one as long as three-and-a-half football fields ? line the wharves of this bustling port as towering cranes pluck containers stuffed with products destined for the shelves of Southeast retailers.While tourists may know Savannah for its historic homes, ancient azaleas and leisurely charm, its port based in Garden City ? about a 10-minute drive from downtown ? also happens to be the second-largest container port on the East Coast.Too large to transit the Panama Canal, the ships known as post-Panamax vessels have arrived in Savannah?s river port via the Suez Canal and with the help of high tide. It helps, too, that they are not fully loaded. ?The Panama Canal has always been a speed bump for us,?? said Curtis J. Foltz, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority. But not content to rely on the vagaries of tides and light loads, Savannah wants to dredge its 42-foot-deep channel to a depth of 47 feet ? deep enough to handle the big ships that will transit the Panama Canal once its expansion is completed in 2015.That?s 40 miles of dredging from the Atlantic to Garden City ? and it doesn?t come cheap. It adds up to $652 million, with the federal government expected to chip in about 60 percent.Savannah is hoping to win big when the canal expansion is completed, but so are Miami, Port Everglades, Jacksonville and ports from Houston to New York, which want to attract the big ships that can carry more than twice as many containers as the vessels that now transit the canal.There will be winners and losers, but no one wants to be left out of the race as ports arm themselves with deeper harbors, stronger wharves, larger cranes and other improvements in hopes of snagging the big ships. Norfolk, Va., and Baltimore already have harbors deep enough to handle the super-size ships, but Baltimore needs to overcome transportation bottlenecks once the containers reach port. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey expects to have its harbor deepened to 50 feet by 2014, but it still must raise the deck of the Bayonne Bridge 64 feet above the roadway so the ships can reach the port?s main terminals. ?If all the ports are preparing, you?re probably going to get excess capacity,?? said Daniel L. Gardner, president of Los Angeles consulting firm Trade Facilitators and a logistics expert. ?There may be a few white elephants decorating the East Coast.?? There?s a limited pot of federal money for the expensive channel deepening projects and Florida reached into its own pocket to help finance the Miami dredging project when federal funds didn?t materialize.During congressional testimony last year, Paul Anderson, chief executive of the Jacksonville Port Authority, lamented that the federal government has bestowed ?step-child? status on the nation?s ports for too long and argued that the United States needs to invest in them.The typical American consumer, he said, ?gives little thought to how products move to the shelf at their local supercenter or mega-grocery or mom and pop, how the item we need is ready for purchase as we dash in to grab that container of coffee or computer part ? I shudder to think of the outcry should our consumer products get stuck on the docks because we no longer have the infrastructure to move them.?? Perhaps indicating which ports it thinks should be the winners in the race for deep water, the Obama administration announced in July that expansion and modernization plans would be expedited for five ports: Savannah, New York and New Jersey, Charleston, Jacksonville and Miami. Such projects can take years to get off the ground and a green light from the administration is important.?Clearly the administration thinks these port projects are very important and need to be addressed,?? Foltz said. ?It?s all about the post-Panamax world,?? said PortMiami Director Bill Johnson. He spent years lobbying for federal funding for Miami?s $180-million ?deep dredge? before Gov. Rick Scott announced last year that the state would kick in the remaining $77 million ?so that Florida can take another leap forward in international trade.? But Steven M. Cernak, director at Broward County?s Port Everglades, said the need for deep water goes well beyond expansion of the canal.A new generation of post-Panamax ships is coming online, he said, and they will gradually replace older, smaller ships. ?All the ports have to be ready for that day,?? Cernak said. ?We?re already seeing this size of vessels.?? In October, the MSC Texas, with a capacity of 8,200, 20-foot containers, became the largest ship ever to call at Port Everglades. But because of the depth limitations, it wasn?t fully loaded.With an environmental lawsuit behind it and the necessary approvals in place, Miami appears likely to win the race among the U.S. ports that don?t currently have water deep enough for post-Panamax traffic. It hopes to be ready for the 2015 launch of the canal expansion.Meanwhile, Savannah, a port that handles almost as many containers as Miami, Port Everglades, and Jacksonville combined, is facing lawsuits from environmentalists who say the dredging requires a pollution certificate from South Carolina. The dredging, they contend, will stir up toxic cadmium from the Savannah River bed and deposit it on the South Carolina side of the river.?I think anyone dealing with a project of this magnitude has lawsuits,?? Foltz said. But Savannah got good news in late October when the Army Corps of Engineers completed its review and gave final approval for the deepening project. Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuits, Foltz said, the federal government made it clear, ?it won?t let a state stand in the way of a project of national interest.? U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy said if necessary, she would seek an exemption to the Clean Water Act ?to prevent inappropriate delays to this project due to pending litigation.?Foltz said he expects the digging to get under way by mid-2013, with work completed by the second half of 2016. The project also includes a mitigation plan that will help restore and improve the nearby ecosystem, which includes the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.While Savannah will miss the target date for the launch of the canal expansion by about a year, Foltz said 80 to 90 percent of Savannah?s navigational improvements should be ready by then.Miami plans to award the contract for its ?deep dredge? early next year. It?s also building a four-lane tunnel for truck traffic that will link directly to the interstate highway system, avoiding the current trek through downtown traffic.A $50 million rail project, which will rehab tracks, reconstruct a rail bridge and improve links from the port to the FEC rail yard near Miami International Airport, is expected to be completed by next summer. The port is devoting 15 acres to build three parallel rail tracks that will allow half-mile-long trains. ?The local markets aren?t big enough to support what is coming off the vessels,?? said Kevin Lynskey, assistant port director for business initiatives. ?A big ship needs the rail link to make their economies work.?When the rail projects are finished, ?we?ll be able to connect with 70 to 78 percent of the American population by rail,?? said Johnson, the PortMiami director. ?Without rail, what does the deep dredge mean? Zero.?? Ditto for the $915 million port tunnel. ?If you want to stagnate in 2015, you don?t build a tunnel,?? Johnson said. Without any of the $2 billion in upgrades that are in the works, he said Miami would have to content itself with being a small regional port.With Miami?s three-pronged attack ? tunnel, rail, and dredging ? the port claims it will be able to make inroads into some of the markets that Savannah now dominates.A brochure prepared by PortMiami claims that after a three-day trip from Panama, it can have cargo in Atlanta in two additional days and in Memphis in three more days using a Florida East Coast rail connection.While a ship takes 1? days more to reach Savannah than Miami, Foltz points out the Atlanta market is just four hours away by truck.?Reaching into our market? Good luck. That?s a stretch,?? said Savannah?s Foltz. ?We?re getting cargo destined for Orlando and Tampa now.?? ?Savannah is not going to sit idly by and let anyone take away its northern Europe and Asia business,?? said John Martin, a Pennsylvania-based port consultant who has advised most major U.S. ports. ?Savannah is an excellent port.?? But he?s also bullish on Miami. Having its three major projects come together more or less at the same time is a ?major grand-slam homerun,?? he said. It puts Miami in a position to become a gateway port, win back its trans-shipment business, and become a distribution hub.Plus, he said, with the trend toward near-sourcing ? sourcing manufactured products in Mexico and Central and South America because of rising labor costs in China and mounting Asian transportation costs due to high fuel prices ? both Miami and Port Everglades are well-positioned to capture North-South trade. So which ports are the front-runners when the big ships begin transiting the canal?Experts shy away from the question, but they do say it?s not simply a matter of dig a deep enough shipping channel and the big ships will come. The port, its rail connections, trucking networks, distribution channels and the entire logistics chain needs to be analyzed and there are ripple effects all along the way. If a factory needs imported parts and supply routes for those parts are better elsewhere, it might just pick up and relocate. Pricing, the degree of bureaucracy, security, labor peace, and the ease of getting products through customs also play into shippers? decisions to use a particular port. So does proximity to certain products. That?s why Savannah?s main exports are forest products, kaolin clay from Central Georgia, cotton, chemicals and poultry.?But you need to start with the port and the port has to be ready. You need to plan for what will happen in the next 20 years. We?re in a globalized world,?? said Alberto Aleman, the former chief executive of the Panama Canal Authority. ?These ships are not going to be waiting for anyone.??Savannah, where a steady stream of trucks carrying everything from frozen chicken destined for China to imported furniture and air conditioners arrives and departs, is a port that has long prided itself on responding to the changing world of global trade. In 1945, the main port moved 12 miles up the river from its historic location when the state purchased a large tract of land that included an old cotton plantation. The move gave the port plenty of room to develop into a 1,200-acre container terminal with rail yards for CSX and Norfolk Southern, scores of refrigerated racks to hold containers, and more than 100 cranes that work both the wharves and the yards. By next year it will have 16 of the massive cranes needed for servicing post-Panamax ships.More than 40 million square feet of distribution centers for companies such as Kohl?s, Home Depot, Wal-Mart Stores, Target, IKEA and other top retailers have been carved out of the piney woods that surround the port, which has played an active role in recruiting them.Already truckers can get in seven to 10 trips a day but the port is expected to become even more efficient when a connector that will take I-95 directly into the port is completed in 2014, rail capacity is expanded and other improvements are made.Savannah was a big beneficiary when a strike closed down the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles for 10 days in 2002, prompting big shippers to experiment with all-water service to the East Coast. West Coast ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach, the two busiest container ports in the United States, have become the major gateways for U.S.-Asia trade. By using rail and truck links, they can get cargo to the East Cost faster than ships that use an all-water route to ports such as Savannah or Miami. ?We?ve never looked at the expansion of the canal as a way to move cargo faster,? said Rodolfo
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