AT&T Beam is a USB LTE modem with built-in LCD, due May 10th for $20

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/06/att-beam-usb-modem/

With the onset of MiFis, smartphone hotspots and other methods of tethering your computer to the 'net, USB modems aren't exactly the most popular devices on the block anymore. It doesn't mean they're not desirable to business folk, however, so most carriers keep at least one or two in their lineup. AT&T just introduced the Beam, its latest dongle from Sierra Wireless, which offers the usual LTE domestically (700/AWS) along with tri-band HSPA+ (850/1900/2100) and quad-band GSM / EDGE.

The key feature here is its built-in 96x64 black-and-white LCD panel, which displays signal strength, data usage and other stats. Finally, it offers mobile hotspot capability, GPS and microSD card support (up to 32GB), and will work on Win 8 / RT laptops and tablets. Dimension-wise, it weighs 1.91 ounces and measures a stout 1.97 x 2.58 x 0.46 inches (50 x 65.5 x 11.7mm). If that fits your purposes, the Beam can be all yours starting May 10th for $20 and a two-year commitment.

Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless, Mobile, AT&T

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Source: AT&T

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Google Drive desktop app adds in-app file sharing, catches up to 2010's Dropbox

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/06/google-drive-app-file-sharing/

Sure, you could see and manage your Google Drive files from within the comfort of your PC / Mac file management system, but you couldn't publicly share them with friends -- until now. Google Drive files are now sharable via right click directly on your desktop, meaning the Drive desktop app now has one more feature that Dropbox already had several years ago. We hope you'll forgive our lack of enthusiasm for Google's catchup effort, but it's hard to get all jazzed up about functionality that should've probably been there at launch. Anyway, if you're not seeing the new feature pop up on your dashboard yet, Google says it's "rolling out over the next few days." Hold tight!

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

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Source: Google

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Sony's mainstream laptops now named 'Fit,' arrive ahead of back-to-school season

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/07/sony-vaio-fit-series-announced/

At some point -- we're not sure when -- Sony's naming scheme for laptops got confusing. There was the C series and the E series. The S, T, Z and even the F (RIP). Fortunately, Sony's been working to clear things up: its first Windows 8 products all had descriptive names like "Duo" or "Tap." Now, it's streamlining its mainstream notebooks too. The company just unveiled some redesigned models for back-to-school season, and they're all named 'Fit.' As the replacement to the entry-level E series and most of the T line, the Fit family includes both lower-end models (the Fit 14E / Fit 15E) and premium ones (the Fit 14 / Fit 15). They'll be available this month, starting at $550 and going all the way up to $2,210, depending on how many upgrades you check off during the configuration process.

Regardless, there are certain specs you'll find across the board - not just on the Fit machines, mind you, but on every Sony PC announced this season. These include NFC, backlit keyboards and webcams with Sony's Exmor R imaging tech for better low-light performance. They'll all have 1080p screens, too, with the exception of the 14-inch Fits, which start at 1,600 x 900. Both the Fit and Fit E will be offered with optional NVIDIA GT 740M GPUs (1GB or 2GB), touchscreens, optical drives and a choice of Core i3, i5 and i7 processors (Ivy Bridge for now). Ultimately, then, the difference between the two comes down to build quality: the Fit E is made of plastic, whereas the Fit has a thinner aluminum chassis, with the fans hidden above the keyboard, and a lid that covers the hinge. Also, the Fit will be offered with SSDs, with hybrid drives being the base option; the Fit E comes standard with a regular HDD and can be upgraded to a hybrid drive. And in any event, all of these laptops will be available later this month. For now, check out the press shots below for a closer look.

Filed under: Laptops, Sony

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Intel's Silvermont CPUs Herald a Serious Push into Mobile

Source: http://gizmodo.com/intels-silvermont-cpus-helard-a-serious-push-into-mobi-493160769

Intel's Atom cores have caught a lot of guff, mainly thanks to bad memories of the netbook days. But its latest incarnation, the new Silvermont CPU architecture, is low-powered and packs a performance punch, positioning Intel to make a big push into mobile.

The 22-nanometer System-on-a-Chip platform boasts a three times performance increase over the previous Saltwell Atom CPUs and at five times less the power consumption thanks in no small part to the 3D transistors Intel's been cooking up for years now. The first Atom CPUs to be designed specifically for smartphones and tablets, Silvermonts allow for scalablity up to 8-core SoCs, giving the architecture the freedom it needs to fill in the space below Haswell on the device hierarchy with no gaps. Bay-Trail tablets with Silvermont CPUs for brains are due to start rolling out toward the end of this year. Smartphones based on the new architecture will be following in early 2014.

While Silvermont is the first Atom chip aimed squarely at phones and tablets, it's certainly not going to be the last; Intel's going to be iterating on this CPU yearly and creeping further and further into the mobile space with each push. It will still be a while before we can actually get our hands on anything Silvermont's inside, but this could be the start of a much more mobile Intel. [AllThingsD]

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Intel Silvermont: next-gen mobile CPU's three times as fast and more energy efficient

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/06/intel-silvermont-22nm-soc/

ARM's long been the dominant form of silicon in mobile devices, but Intel aims to change that with its next-generation Atom chip design codenamed Silvermont. According to Intel, the new architecture will enable CPUs that operate at up to three times the speed of existing models, while (in some cases) also offering chips that sip just one-fifth the amount of electricity to get computational jobs done. The keys to those improvements are Intel's 22nm process and Tri-Gate transistors tuned for SoCs. While Silvermont was designed with mobile in mind, the architecture supports up to eight cores and will find its way into data centers and Ultrabooks in addition to phones and tablets. When? Intel's not telling yet, but rest assured when Silvermont shows up in an actual product, we'll be there to put it through its paces.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Intel

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Via: ZDNet

Source: Intel

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