Tuesday, July 02, 2013

14-inch Razer Blade gaming laptop review: smaller, faster, lighter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/02/14-inch-razer-blade-gaming-laptop-review/

14inch Razer Blade gaming laptop review smaller, faster, lighter

Most companies refresh their products on an annual basis, carefully timing development and release schedules to match consumer demand, product obsolescence and component upgrades. It's the norm, an expected pattern that most PC, smartphone and tablet manufacturers follow. Razer, however, completely ignores this cycle, as exemplified by its Blade line of gaming laptops -- already on its third generation in less than two years. This would be less impressive if the firm wasn't a relative newcomer to the game; before it announced the Blade, Razer was known primarily for creating keyboards, gaming mice and console controllers. A fully fledged gaming PC was a jarring departure for the humble peripheral maker.

Even so, here we are: reviewing the third-generation Razer Blade gaming laptop. This, too, is a departure from what we've grown to expect from the company -- a smaller, thinner device bereft of the previous model's signature Switchblade interface. For some PC manufacturers, a 14-inch machine might be just another SKU in the catalog. But for Razer, it's almost a mark of progress: not only is the Blade popular enough to necessitate successive generations, but also multiple form factors. It's also the company's lowest-priced laptop yet, not to mention its first to include Intel's new fourth-generation CPU -- but at $1,800 for the base model, it still isn't cheap. Read on to see if the new Blade has enough charm to be worth its lofty price tag.

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ASUS' 31.5-inch 4K monitor is up for pre-order for an introductory $3,500

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/01/asus-taking-preorders-for-4k-monitor/

ASUS' 315inch 4K monitor is up for preorder for an introductory $3,500

A mere month after ASUS unveiled its 31.5-inch 4K monitor to the world, and the humbly-named PQ321 is already available for pre-order on Amazon, Newegg and TigerDirect. As a reminder, the Ultra HD display boasts a jaw-dropping 3840 x 2160-pixel 10-bit RGB (a billion colors) IGZO panel with LED backlight, 176-degree viewing angles, a maximum of 350 cd/m2 in brightness and 8ms GTG response time. Built-in stereo speakers sweeten the package, as does a 3.5mm audio jack, DisplayPort connectivity and dual HDMI inputs. Oh, and did we mention it's also apparently the thinnest 4K monitor on the market at only 35mm thick? However, you'll have to pay a pretty penny for all that awesomeness: it has an introductory price of $3,499.99. That's about $300 less than what was announced a month ago, but it's still not exactly cheap. The PQ321 is set for a July 16th release date, so you still have a couple weeks to bribe relatives, rob a bank or sell off any unwanted organs.

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Via: ZDNet

Source: Amazon, NewEgg, TigerDirect

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Monday, July 01, 2013

Bing adds licensing rights refinement to image search

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/01/bing-images/

Image

Here's a nice little feature for those of us who love to post images on the internet. Bing has added the ability to refine image results by license. The addition's simple enough to use -- just do a search and pull the appropriate license from a drop down on the top of the results page, alongside options for date, size and color. Selections include public domain and options like "free to modify, share and use," based on the Creative Commons licensing system, so there's no doubt as to precisely how you can incorporate them into your own posts. Google's had a similar option on its own search engine for some time -- albeit one's that's a bit less prominently displayed.

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Source: Bing Blog

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This Chart Proves That Many Internet Explorer Users Are Only Using It Because They're Forced To At Work

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/browser-usage-chart-internet-explorer-usage-dips-on-weekends-2013-7

For many Americans, going into work every Monday is made just a little bit worse because their companies force them to use Internet Explorer.

Redditor Flying_ScotchMan noticed a really interesting pattern when he was looking at aggregate browser use statistics over at StatCounter Global Stats.

Here's the chart of daily browser market share:

browser use

 

Take a look at the weekly periodic perturbations of Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and to some degree Safari. 

During the Monday to Friday work week, Internet Explorer gains around 2% marketshare.

That browser drops over the weekend, when people aren't working and using their home machines — which have either Google Chrome or Safari on it, each of which enjoy a roughly 1-2% jump in usage over the weekend.

That's one interpretation of this data, and by far the most compelling. 

It's a cool look at why people prefer different browsers and why, despite a relatively poor reputation, Microsoft's browser is able to maintain such a consistent marketshare. 

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ZTE Open, the first Firefox OS phone for consumers, launches tomorrow for $90

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/01/zte-open-launches-tomorrow/

ZTE Open, the world's first Firefox OS phone, launches tomorrow for $90

When Mozilla said devices running Firefox OS would be cheap, we didn't know they'd be this cheap. Telefónica has just tweeted that the ZTE Open will be launching in Spain tomorrow for €69, which translates to around $90 and is a good $30 less than the cheapest developer unit we'd seen until now. And here's where it gets pretty wild: that price includes €30 ($39) of airtime for prepaid customers. When we played with the Open back in February at Mobile World Congress, we weren't exactly blown away by it, but we're arguably not the target demographic. The real question is whether Spaniards will be willing to sacrifice access to Google's services and ecosystem with devices like the Vodafone Smart Mini now selling for as little as €49 ($65).

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Source: Telefonica Digital

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