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HP announces an avalanche of all-in-ones, slims down its TouchSmarts (video)

At some point earlier this year, all-in-one desktops became a thing. Companies like Toshiba that had never before taken an interest in the space suddenly started selling ’em, beefing up a market that HP, Dell and Apple had owned for years. You could tell what HP executives were thinking. Months earlier, the outfit had announced its TouchSmart 610 — you know, the one with the sprawling, tilting display. It’s as if the company had to prove it’s the real deal when it comes to all-in-ones — or, at least, that it could come up with something that’ll eat up less desk space than the 610.

Okay, we just put a lot of words into HP executives’ mouths, but really, what else could this deluge of all-in-ones mean? The company just spat out seven new models for the US market, the highest-end of which have a markedly more minimalist look. The 20-inch TouchSmart 320, 21.5-inch 420 and the 23-inch 520 all boast the kind of free-standing display display you see in that photo up there — a screen that tilts 30 degrees, and leaves enough space underneath for you to stow the wireless keyboard. The lot have starting prices ranging from $600 to $800, with the highest-end 520 matching the 610, which will still be around for the foreseeable future. Moving along, HP also trotted out the similar-looking 7230, its first TouchSmart for the small business market, along with the Pro 3420, a non-touch model. That will start at $600, with the touchscreen pushing the 3420’s price northwards of $850. And, just to make sure it had its bases covered, the company introduced two plain-Jane models, the 20-inch Omni 120 and the 21.5-inch Omni 220, which steps up to Beats Audio, Sandy Bridge processors and a more striking design. These will each be available before the end of the month, starting at $400 and $800, respectively. Oodles of glossy press shots below and a short video after the break.

Continue reading HP announces an avalanche of all-in-ones, slims down its TouchSmarts (video)

HP announces an avalanche of all-in-ones, slims down its TouchSmarts (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google says Gmail has been up 99.99% of the time in 2011


Google has set a pretty high bar for itself, guaranteeing 99.9% availability of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, Google Groups and Google Sites to its Google Apps customers. If it cannot meet that level of availability, all of its customers are entitled to a certain amount of free days worth of service in each billing cycle.

In a somewhat self-aggrandizing blog about Google’s cloud services today, Google Apps product manager John Collins reiterated that Gmail was up for 99.984% of 2010, and revealed that it’s currently at over 99.99% uptime for the first half of 2011.

Looking through the Google Apps Status list reveals how comparatively isolated Gmail outages have been. On August 29th, for example, there was an outage for 3 hours that affected less than .05% of the Gmail userbase, and the last outage was a little over a month prior, affecting less than .01% of the Gmail userbase for about 8 hours, by the unofficial number of registered Gmail users, that amounts to less than 20,000 users.

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SIAST workers go on strike

Instructors and other staff at Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology went on strike Tuesday, a move that affects thousands of students across the province.

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BlackBerry App World 3.0 now available


Today BlackBerry App World 3.0 has officially left the beta stage and is now available to the masses. This is a good day for BlackBerry users as 3.0 brings a much easier user interface, better overall design, new channels (Apps, Games, and Themes), a storefront search bar plus deeper social integration with BBM, Facebook and Twitter.

More here at RIM

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RIM shareholder says “the status quo is not acceptable”, urges Directors to look at “potential sale of the Company”


Research In Motion is currently going through a self proclaimed transition period and on September 16th execs will announce their Q2 fiscal 2011 results. This is when we’ll truly see the impact from the recent job cuts and sales numbers of the newly released BlackBerry 7 devices, namely the Bold 9900, Torch 9810 and 9860. After their disappointing Q1 results the RIM stock fell sharpy in value (to the tune of 50%) and some shareholders bailed by selling their stock.

Today, the stock is sitting at $30.12 and another RIM shareholder has become incredibly vocal. Jaguar Financial Corporation “on behalf of itself and other supportive shareholders” sent out a press release that requests RIM directors to bring the company back to life and look “all options” that include “a potential sale of the Company or a monetization of the RIM patent portfolio by a spin-out to RIM shareholders”.

It’s not known how many shares Jaguar owns of RIM but they state in their company description that they are a “Canadian merchant bank which invests in underperforming, undervalued or unappreciated companies and acts as a catalyst to create value”. Perhaps this is way to further drag down the stock so they’ll make more money. The release also stated that RIM has fallen in market share to Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android phones, plus have lost key employees and lack innovation. In addition, Jaguar took aim at both co-CEO’s and stated that “Mr. James Balsillie and Mr. Mike Lazaridis as Co-Chief Executive Officers and Co-Chairmen of the Company, is ineffective and requires meaningful change”. So Jaguar is basically saying the company as a whole needs a change.

However, Vic Alboini, Chairman and CEO of Jaguar, said “The status quo is not acceptable, the Company cannot sit still. It is time for transformational change. The Directors need to seize the reins to maximize shareholder value before more market value is lost.”

Source: Newswire

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Gamer stuffs PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles into one case, clears shelf space for the trifecta

Sure, we’ve all thought about how nice it would be to have our PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles in the same enclosure. But, as many similar thoughts go, we left it at that. Not content with letting a good thought simmer, Reddit user timofend accepted the challenge and built himself a gaming mega-machine — he stuffed the new slim model of Microsoft's console into a PC tower alongside an older 80GB PS3. Looking to save some funds in the process, the über-gamer skipped out on a liquid cooling system — but he notes that when both machines are running simultaneously, they each hover around 100 degrees Farhenheit (38 degrees Celsius). Hey, we're not complaining… but really, timofend, can we please see a NES / Dreamcast / O.G. PlayStation combo in your next masterpiece? To take a peek under the hood, hit the gallery below.

Gamer stuffs PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles into one case, clears shelf space for the trifecta originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos 80 G9 and 101 G9 hands-on (video)

So, so many tablets this week at IFA. Archos’s pair of Honeycomb slates may not have garnered the same sort of excitement as, say yesterday’s Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 or Toshiba AT200, but there are a lot of interesting things going on with the 80 G9 and 101 G9. From an aesthetic standpoint, these are pretty nice looking devices (the 80 and 101 look largely the same, save for the difference in footprint and screen size), though they’re not quite on-par with the two aforementioned tablets, in terms of build. Among other things, they’re a bit on the chunky side and have fairly considerable bezels.

Like those devices, the G9 tablets run Android 3.2, though a decidedly less skinned up version than Samsung’s device. And their 1.5GHz processor assures that they can handle the OS with ease. Archos’s tablets also have a few tricks up their collective sleeve. Flip the devices over, and you find a kickstand on one side and a slot on the other than opens up to reveal a USB port designed for the company’s proprietary 3G stick.

Also pretty awesome is the ability to configure their hard drives up to 250GB — a fairly staggering sum in the tablet world. We got to spend some hands-on time with both — check out a video after the break.

Continue reading Archos 80 G9 and 101 G9 hands-on (video)

Archos 80 G9 and 101 G9 hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Update: Apple employees accused of impersonating San Francisco police officers to retrieve lost iPhone 5 prototype

Apple’s PR patrol is going to be working overtime this weekend as reports leak out about a breach of the law by some of its security officials.

Earlier this week, word got out that in July an Apple employee had misplaced (read: lost) an iPhone 5 prototype at a San Francisco restaurant and bar, Cava 22. According to the story, which was first filed by CNET, Apple representatives called the San Francisco police department claiming that a “priceless” device had gone missing, and that it was imperative they find it. Using built-in GPS technology, they tracked the device to a house lived in by a man in his mid-twenties. He let them search the residence and found nothing, but the story raised a lot of questions, since it was unknown whether the missing phone, which is purportedly an iPhone 5 prototype, was ever found.

Today, new information is coming out revealing that in fact the San Francisco Police Department was never contacted, and a report never filed at all. Indeed, the “police” that arrived at the young man’s house, whose name is Sergio Calderon, were allowed to search the premises including his car and his computer. Unfortunately these individuals were outed as Apple security personnel. Because the six employees who entered the house did not divulge that they were not in fact policemen (though it is presumed they were not wearing police uniforms) they are being accused of impersonation, which is a criminal offense in California.

One of the employees, Anthony Colon, offered Calderon $300 to return the device, but he denies having any involvement in the theft. As the investigation is ongoing, answers may not be revealed for some time, but if the allegations are true this may be a dark cloud over a very bright year for Apple.

Update: This saga is getting out of hand now. Apparently now the San Francisco Police were part of the investigation. SW Weekly is now reporting that “The bizarre saga involving a lost prototype of the iPhone 5 has taken another interesting turn. Contradicting past statements that no records exist of police involvement in the search for the lost prototype, San Francisco Police Department spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield now tells SF Weekly that “three or four” SFPD officers accompanied two Apple security officials in an unusual search of a Bernal Heights man’s home.”

Source: SFWeekly
Via: Gizmodo

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