Some MacBook Airs sporting faster blade SSDs, probably from Samsung

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/18/some-macbook-airs-sporting-faster-samsung-blade-ssds/

When Apple released its redesigned MacBook Air in October 2010, much was made of the switch to flash storage using a custom-built Mini PCI Express form factor SSD drive. It took a few weeks but these SSDs would ultimately be released as the commercially available Toshiba Blade X-gale SSD module, model TS128C. Now we're seeing user reports showing MacBook Airs equipped with a second, even faster SSD with a SM128C part number -- the "SM" hinting at its presumed Samsung manufacturing origins. Samsung's SSD manages up to 260MBps read and 210MBps write speeds compared to Toshiba's 210MBps read and 185MBps write performance. Of course, it's hardly unusual for Apple to multi-source components. And a recent decision to source parts from Korea's Samsung would have been a smart move to keep just-in-time supply lines fully stocked following the spate of disasters in Toshiba's home country of Japan. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any way of confirming which SSD you're about to purchase without cracking open the retail box and running the OS X System Profiler. Good luck with that.

Some MacBook Airs sporting faster blade SSDs, probably from Samsung originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 03:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung promises a dual-core 2GHz smartphone 'by next year'

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/18/samsung-promises-a-dual-core-2ghz-smartphone-by-next-year/

Are you ready for a scorching-fast future? Samsung sure is, as today the Maeli Business Newspaper reports "a high-ranking" company official has disclosed Samsung's intention to deliver a dual-core smartphone that runs at 2GHz. That's 2GHz for each core, not the specious 1GHz multiplied by two mathematics that Sanjay Jha likes to dabble in. ARM already has a dual-core Cortex-A9 design capable of scaling such speed heights, which is most probably the basis on which Samsung is building its future processor on. The report goes on to state that Samsung will consider selling the chips separately, so you wouldn't necessarily have to buy a Samsung-branded handset in order to have what's being described as desktop-class performance in the palm of your hand. Man, just as we prepared one dual-core comparison chart, here comes the next next big thing.

Samsung promises a dual-core 2GHz smartphone 'by next year' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 05:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Daum.net, Mashable (Yahoo! News)  |  Maeli Business Newspaper  | Email this | Comments

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Be Wary of Sponsored Download Pages in Search Results [In Brief]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/#!5792545/be-wary-of-sponsored-download-pages-in-search-results

Google Instant's handy keyboard shortcuts let you quickly open the first result in searches by simply hitting the Enter key, but since Google highlights sponsored results as the first result, an overly trigger-happy Enter key can dump you to a bum result rather than the legitimate first result. As tech site How-To Geek points out, when it comes to software searches, this behavior can lead to crapware-laden versions of legitimate open source software.

A careful user will likely notice that she's been dumped to an unofficial distributor in these instances, but it's also easy to trust Google's first result. In fact, often the first sponsored result is an ad that points to the same page as the real first result—for example, a query for 'Chrome' results in an ad in position #1 that's the same as the result at the true first position. The takeaway: Keep your eyes open, and make sure you're heading to official download pages when you're grabbing a piece of software via search. [How-To Geek]

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Talkatone Updates to Make Free Google Voice Calling from iPhones Easier [Updates]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/#!5792344/talkatone-updates-to-make-free-google-voice-calling-from-iphones-easier

iOS only: Talkatone, the rather nifty app that allows free Google Voice calls on iPhones, has updated with a a much friendlier interface, access to your phone's own contact list, and better connection and audio compression handling. It also works with capable iPod touch and iPad models, too.

The main improvements are on the backend, involving audio quality, call monitoring, and other network and voice technologies. But making a free call through Google Voice is no longer a function you have to hunt down in a tap-to-open menu, and you'll get notifications about incoming calls when you keep the app running in the multitasking dock. If you like to save minutes on your cellular account, or if you're often in locations with decent Wi-Fi but not such great cellular service, Talkatone is a great option.

Talkatone is a free download for iPhones, iPods, and iPads. A Premium version unlocks certain other features, including better compression for calling.

Talkatone [iTunes App Store]

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A Google A Day Keeps You Trivia-Ready [Search Techniques]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/#!5792679/stay-trivia-ready-with-a-google-a-day

Just the other day, Google launched a new search game called 'A Google A Day'. This new page has been designed to give you a daily trivia question to complete using a customized Google search built specifically for the game.

The questions become harder as the week progresses, much like the crossword puzzles in many newspapers do, and just like those very crosswords, the results are posted the next day in the NY Times!

This sounds fun and all but one of the biggest spoilers for me (and I am sure for many of you) with crossword puzzles is when someone looms over your shoulder and whispers an answer to you (right?!). This has also been addressed with the new Deja Google search.

The search bar on the A Google A Day website seems the same as any normal Google search bar, however it is indeed very different. With Deja Google search, they have created a search bar that will only show web history from before the game began, and block any social updates you might normally come across. This is all to ensure that you won't run into any tweets or blog posts with the answers. Very cool.

A Google A Day

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