Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Apple Devices No Longer Completely Dominate Tablet-Based Web Traffic

Source: https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome

Even with the launch of the iPad Mini — aimed at the lower end of the tablet market — Apple has not been able to beat back the rise of Android tablets. 

Let's look at Apple's share of tablet-generated Web traffic.

In March 2013, Apple iPad devices still accounted for the lion's share of that traffic at 81.9%, according to online advertising network, ChitikaThose numbers sound great. Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer even cited them in Apple's recent earnings call. 

But what he did not say was that the iPad's share is down ten percentage points from October 2012, when it was 92%. 

Even as the iPad slipped, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which runs on Android, increased its share of Web traffic from 2.1% to 4.3% over the same six months. 

Android-based devices have also made gains in unit sales recently. Apple iPads sold well last quarter, but lower-priced Android tablets like the Tab and the Kindle line from Amazon have gained market share globally. 

In the smartphone arena, Samsung remains a formidable competitor to Apple, but Chitika's data indicates that in addition to its recent smartphone success, Samsung is slowly gaining ground in the dynamic tablet market.

Apple, on the other hand, may have to find new ways to regain the unchallenged stronghold it once had in tablets. 

Chitika's data drew on mobile browser-based Web traffic from all tablet devices in the U.S. and Canada over a six month period. Traffic from mobile applications was not covered in the study.

Click here for a larger version of this chart.  Tablet-Based Web Traffic

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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/

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

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.

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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/

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

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!

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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/

Sony's mainstream laptops now named 'Fit,' arrive ahead of backtoschool season

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.

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Monday, May 06, 2013

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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