Just as Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) CEO Brian Krzanich opens the regular staff meetings before a dramatically reduced IDF2015 Shenzhen conference, it is a good time to review how government and enterprises don’t see eye to eye when it comes to strategic business.

China’s Tianhe-2 supercomputer is world’s fastest supercomputer, at 33 PFLOPS demonstrated and 55 PFLOPS theoretical performance.

Remember the Tianhe-2 machine at Guangzhou Supercomputer Center, the current World’s number one according to Top 500 Supercomputer list? Unlike some other China supercomputers – Tianhe-2 is fully Intel based machine,  the world’s largest assembly of Intel Xeon CPUs and Xeon Phi accelerators.

Even after Intel ‘opened the kimono’ and gave a nearly 70%  discount on its processors and accelerators, it has given Intel, and therefore US technology sector a major foothold in China and Asian region as such. Over the course of past two years, we were involved in a lot of discussions with Intel staff who were not privy to see the financial impact of the deal — and even argued our undoubtedly solid information. We’re not here to report how things should be, or are in marketing and investor presentations to its numerous staff, but how things really are.

During 2015, the Tianhe-2 supercomputer was supposed to be doubled in its size, up to 110 PFLOPs peak, again using the very same Intel processors and accelerators. Since now these are mature products with lower real manufacturing cost for Intel, they could finally make some real money.

Well, it was not to be: our tweety bird from the window chirped to us that Uncle Sam has put this supercomputer centre, together with National University of Defense Technology in Changsha, the system’s creators, and Tianjin centre, among others, on so a so-called “Denial List”, which prevents any high technology from the USA to be sold to these sites. Our sources used even harsher words.

Knowing that these several sites alone are expected to order some 250+ PFLOPS of compute in the next few years (around 500,000 top-end Broadwell-EP Xeon E5v4 processors, or  approximately $1 billion high margin list price) and they were THE Intel friendly ones, this is quite a loss to Intel, thanks to Uncle Sam.

But, what’s worse strategic loss in time is that, based on this decision as an excuse, indigenous China high end processor architectures can now push the government to gradually remove any dependence on US. This means just one thing: an AMD or Intel x86 processor technology is increasingly becoming errata non grata. Should the Chinese government react in force, it will give the Chinese vendors the blank check support to go all the way a developing their Alpha, POWER and MIPS processors for both the government and the mainstream commercial use.

You may think they are not up to the mark, but remember how fast British ARM architecture became the dominant processing architecture in the world. And this group doesn’t need to worry about the antiquated x86 ISA, worry about satisfying the dumbed down shareholder masses, or overpaying their marketing and sales staff, as well as the fat check, golden parachute-protected CxOs.

They have taken the best that the USA has developed (some of key Alpha, GPGPU and MIPS architects left US over the course of past four years, a lot of them due to non-renewed visas) and discarded due to corporate shenanigans, and the continued developing it much farther than anyone expected both on hardware and software side.

Five years ago, ShenWei showed a CPU that performed faster than the fastest GPUs of the time. Now, fifth generation is approaching, slotting between Tesla and FirePro GPGPUs and next-gen Xeon Phi accelerators. However, this is not an accelerator or a GPGPU – this is a CPU.

So, thanks to Uncle Sam, China might not have a 110 PFLOPS Intel based supercomputer but it definitely will launch a 100 PFLOPS system based on upcoming 64-core, TFLOPS-class ShenWei Alpha, with true blue CPUs possibly faster per socket then even the next generation Xeon Phi or Volta/Pascal-based Teslas.  Next, of course 100 PFLOPS Chinese POWER8 or 9 — (thank you IBM) and then possibly even Loongson MIPS – -it may come back into the high end field with renewed government support because of this Uncle Sam move. All are clean, elegant, scalable high end RISC architectures.

So who are the winners and losers from this?

NUDT and Tianhe may be the losers for now, but only short term. They will simply speed up their HPC ARM plan.

Intel comes out the big loser from this and a lot: who will want to do a phased deployment large x86 machine in China now, and worry about future phases? Then comes Uncle Sam himself: they lost even that little bit of influence on the high end China HPC. How is that for “cutting your nose to spite your face?”.

VR WORLD’s  Analysis: US government moves accelerate the Chinese CPU roadmap while curtailing juiciest sales for Intel and other US vendors.

The post Uncle Sam Shocks Intel With a Ban on Xeon Supercomputers in China appeared first on VR World.

Earlier, an Airbus A320 carrying at least 144 passengers and 6 crew crashed Tuesday in Southern France, fueling a mainstream media frenzied debate over plane safety as well as airline protocols and training procedures. The Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 was on its way from Barcelona to Dusseldorf when it unfortunately crashed in the Alpes de Haute-Provence, France, specifically near the town of Méolans-Revel, probably killing all its passengers and crew. Germanwings is a subsidiary of Lufthansa Group, one of the largest airlines in the world. The flight was a routine flight that was taking one of the most popular passenger aircraft in the world, alongside a route that these planes traverse on a daily basis – all without incident.

The state of emergency was declared by Air Traffic Control (ATC) 09:47AM GMT when the plane disappeared from the radar. According to scattered information, it seems that the plane made a rapid descent from 38,000 feet to 6,000 feet in mere 8 minutes. This is an eerie pattern similar to the one witnessed on fatal Air Asia Indonesia 8501 flight, which crashed on December 28, 2014 while en route from Jakarta to Singapore.

A question thus arises: how well are pilots and crew trained for the fly-by-wire systems? The Airbus A320 family consists of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners. The A320 family pioneered the use of digital fly-by-wire flight control systems, a rather important advancement in civilian aviation in that time. These jets also use side-stick controls, a first in commercial aircraft as well. For many pilots, utilizing the fly-by-wire technology was a peculiar experience and many struggled with such controls, specially the older, more experienced pilots that didn’t have much experience with new technology and wanted a more hands on approach to controlling the aircraft. However, this also brought many improvements to safety, as more people are flying in the air than ever with fewer accidents than ever.

According to several sources, the behavior of the full flight envelope protection was the source of these issues, making for several specific situations where both the Airbus and Boeing jets didn’t perform as designed.

These include the recent Air Asia Indonesia 8501, China Airlines Flight 006, FedEx Flight 705, American Airlines Flight 587 and the most prominent, the US Airways Flight 1549 where the airplane experienced a dual engine failure after a bird strike and subsequently landed safely in the Hudson River. Thanks to the zeal and experience of the pilot, the catastrophic scenario was averted. The NTSB accident report mentions the effect of flight envelope protection: “The airplane’s airspeed in the last 150 feet of the descent was low enough to activate the alpha-protection mode of the airplane’s fly-by-wire envelope protection features… Because of these features, the airplane could not reach the maximum AOA attainable in pitch normal law for the airplane weight and configuration; however, the airplane did provide maximum performance for the weight and configuration at that time… The flight envelope protections allowed the captain to pull full aft on the sidestick without the risk of stalling the airplane.”

What exactly happened with the Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 is yet unknown. The exact specifics, nature and conditions of the flight have not yet been revealed. The A320-211 was a 24 years old airplane. The jet has made its first flight in 1990, delivered to Lufthansa in 1991 and passed on to Germanwings in 2014. Airbus says there are currently 6,191 A320 aircraft in operation across the world.

On the other hand, Lufthansa has an impeccable maintenance record. Aviation expert Michael Boyd, chairman of The Boyd Group consultancy, told CNBC there were no known issues with Germanwings. “Anything involved with Lufthansa is going to be clean as a whistle as far as maintenance and operations goes,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “There hasn’t been anything untoward with the A320 series. … It’s a very reliable airplane.” We can only hope that this situation gets resolved and our prayers are with the passengers, crew on the plane, but also their families.

Image: Mark Harkin

The post Germanwings Crash: Are Low-Cost Carriers Safe? appeared first on VR World.

Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) latest plan to get Windows 10 for phones on more devices involves collaborating with Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi in offering a custom Android ROM that effectively allows devices like the Mi 4 to run Windows 10.

From what has been revealed thus far, the deal seems less like a partnership and more like Microsoft trying to gain feedback from Xiaomi’s community of fans, who are some of the most vocal when it comes to sharing their thoughts on new software updates.

As part of the Windows Insider Program, Microsoft will partner with Xiaomi to offer Windows 10 free downloads to a select group of Xiaomi Mi4 users. Xiaomi Mi4 users will get the ability to flash their phones with the new Windows 10 OS and provide feedback to Xiaomi and Microsoft on their experience.

This partnership will allow Xiaomi and Microsoft to get direct user feedback and continue to improve the experience for China. Microsoft is thrilled to see Xiaomi embracing Windows 10 and offering this great value to their customers. We’re excited to see the feedback we receive from this audience.

Since Xiaomi actively encourages users to install custom ROMs on its hardware, Microsoft’s Windows 10 is seen as just another alternative among the likes of CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android and AOSP builds.

An image of a Mi 4 — which comes with hardware that is better than anything currently available on Windows Phone — running Windows 10 was posted on the MIUI forum, with the statement that the ROM would be made available to the community shortly.

What Microsoft’s intentions at this stage in launching a ROM tailored to run Windows 10 is unclear, but with Windows Phone steadily coming to parity with Android at a hardware-level, it is possible that the software giant is looking to increase the number of devices that have Windows 10 installed without actually having to launch any.

By offering a ROM, Microsoft is allowing users to try and test out the features on offer from Windows Phone, which ultimately leads to an increased interest in the platform. Android’s customizability continues to be one of its strong points, and if Microsoft can cater to that segment of power users, it stands to gain valuable feedback as well as a new outlet through which to increase the number of customers using its services.

The post Microsoft Wants You To Run Windows 10 On Your Android Device, Starting With Xiaomi Mi 4 appeared first on VR World.

In a landmark move to combat piracy in China and other emerging markets, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has announced that it will make Windows 10 freely available to all current users, even those who are running pirated versions of the operating system.

The move is designed to curtail piracy, which is rampant in China. A study found that over 67% of all PCs in China run a non-genuine version of Windows, and after trying and failing to prevent piracy, Microsoft is now looking to put an end to illegal downloads by giving the next version of Windows away for free. By allowing users to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, Microsoft will be able to “re-engage” with hundreds of millions of customers in these countries, according to Terry Myerson.

Microsoft is heavily reorganizing its business model  with Windows 10, which will be the first Windows to offer a consistent user experience across devices and form factors, such as smartphones, tablets, PCs and even the Xbox One. Windows 10 will be offered as a service, and while the first year of usage will be available for free to all users, there will be some pricing structure rolled out after that. Along with changing how Windows 10 is delivered, Microsoft is also fundamentally altering the way the operating system is built by giving millions of customers access to early builds to solicit feedback.

It is possible we’ll see an Office 365-style pricing tiers for Windows. Microsoft has not detailed as to how it will charge for Windows 10, but more details will likely emerge at its BUILD conference, which is being held next month.

The post Users Pirating Windows Will Also Be Able To Upgrade To Windows 10 For Free appeared first on VR World.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has launched a new build of the Windows 10 technical preview with build number 10041. The build comes with new features and has a more polished user interface, giving users a taste of what’s to come in the final version of Windows 10, set to launch this summer.

The new build highlights the visual overhaul of Windows Explorer, with icons looking more flatter and colorful. The settings section has also been retooled, and now features toggles that are similar to what will be seen on Windows 10 for phones.

One of the major highlights of build 10041 is the inclusion of Cortana in more territories, with users in China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK now able to access the personal assistant. The Virtual Desktops feature, which is essentially the able to run multi-window setups, is also getting new functionality, with users now having the ability to moving a specific window to its own Virtual Desktop in a single step.

The taskbar is also being tweaked, with network settings getting its own dedicated fly-out section for easy access. The Photos app, which has Live Tile functionality, will be able to pull images from OneDrive in preview mode, and has also gained the ability to handle images in the RAW file format. The feedback hub has also been tweaked and will now let users share feedback on feature requests as well as suggestions more easily.

While not ready yet, Microsoft has announced that Project Spartan will be launching in the next update. The browser will be the default way to surf the web on Windows 10 as Microsoft finally called the curtains on Internet Explorer. Project Spartan will come with a new rendering engine, come with support for extensions and  a brand new user interface with a reading mode.

Head of the Windows Insider program Gabriel Aul has mentioned that new builds will be available to customers once every month leading up to the launch of Windows 10, with Fast ring members having the ability to get updates even faster.

The post Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 10041 Launched appeared first on VR World.

At the WinHEC event in Shenzhen, China, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) head of operating systems Terry Myerson announced that Windows 10 will be launching this summer in 190 countries. Several new features were demoed as well, along with the announcement that a country-specific version of Cortana would be available in Mandarin.

Microsoft also revealed that it is partnering with several Chinese tech companies to increase its presence in the country. Lenovo (HKG:0992), the world’s largest PC maker, has announced that it will make Windows 10 upgrade services available at more than 2,500 locations in China. Lenovo also said that it would be launching its first Windows Phone mid-2015. Specific details about the hardware were not revealed, but considering that the device will be sold through China Mobile, it is likely Lenovo will target the masses with an entry-level or mid-tier offering.

Chinese internet portal Tencent (HKG:0700) is also collaborating with Microsoft in making Windows 10 available to as many of its customers as soon as possible. The vendor stated that it would be launching the highly popular League of Legends on the Windows 10 store, and that it would make several of its apps universal for Windows 10.

In terms of features, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would get a new biometric authentication system dubbed Windows Hello. Through the feature, you can use your face, iris or fingerprint to unlock your Windows 10 computer. As is the case when implementing biometric authentication, the feature will require specialised hardware, with Microsoft stating that it is working with OEMs to include Intel’s RealSense F200 sensor in their Windows 10-based hardware.

Windows 10 for IoT devices was also highlighted, with Microsoft stating that it will give away the upcoming version of the operating system for free to the maker community. There will be specialised versions of Windows 10 based on the hardware use-case, with products tailored for powerful devices like ATMs and ultrasound machines, to low-energy consuming machines like gateways. Microsoft is also collaborating with Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Raspberry to launch tools and developer kits for the IoT platform. Qualcomm’s DragonBoard 410C was selected as the first dev board for Windows 10 in this segment, with the kit offering integrated Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS, single-channel LPDDR2/3 memory and a Snapdragon 410 SoC.

The post Windows 10 Launching This Summer, Microsoft Details Chinese Partnerships appeared first on VR World.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) hasn’t been as successful as Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) in the LTE modem segment, but that may all change in 2016 as it is being rumored that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is leaning toward the chip vendor’s XMM 7360 LTE modem in lieu of Qualcomm’s offerings, which have been in use in iPhones for several generations now.

Venturebeat, citing anonymous sources, revealed that a variant of the next-generation iPhone — aimed at Asian and other emerging markets —  will feature Intel’s new XMM 7360 modem:

Intel has been gunning hard during the past year for a place in the iPhone and now appears to have succeeded, at least partly. The 7360 chip will ship inside a special version of the iPhone that will be marketed to emerging markets in Asia and Latin America, the sources said.

Like Qualcomm’s X12 modem, the Intel XMM 7360 offers LTE Category 10 connectivity, which is achieved through 3x carrier aggregation. The cellular modem can attain download speeds of 450 megabits per second. The modem was announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this month, with commercial availability slated for the second half of 2015. Apple engineers have allegedly traveled to Intel’s R&D facility in Munich, Germany to work with the chip vendor on the modem.

One of the major issues with Intel’s LTE offering in 2014, the XMM 7260, was finding manufacturers that were willing to use the modem in their SoCs. Samsung and LG used the modem in a few of their products, with a few versions of the Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy Note 4 featuring the XMM 7260 module, as well as LG’s first in-house SoC — Nuclun.

Managing to get its cellular modem on the iPhone will be a major win for Intel, and will be yet another blow for Qualcomm, which has already lost Samsung as a customer for its Snapdragon SoCs — at least in high-end devices — this year. Intel is readily acknowledging that it is far behind Qualcomm in the mobile application processor segment, but by making power efficient LTE modems and offering integrated solutions for mid-tier devices aimed at emerging markets, such as the Zenfone 2, it is turning into a credible threat in this space.

The post Next iPhone May Feature Intel’s Blazing Fast XMM 7360 LTE Modem appeared first on VR World.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has announced several new features for its upcoming smartwatch, the Apple Watch, during the manufacturer’s Spring forward event.

Tim Cook called the smartwatch “the most advanced timepiece ever created,” detailing how the device is a “comprehensive health and fitness companion.” The smartwatch is accurate within 50ms of the Universal Time Standard, and comes with many different watch faces and offers users the ability to customize watch faces.

Apple showcased a Glances feature that is accessible by swiping out from the bottom of the watch face. Glances allows users the ability to check heart rate, weather and other information that can be customized. With the built-in speaker and microphone, you can answer calls through the watch directly.

Apple Pay integration was also mentioned, as well as interaction with Siri, and the ability to receive notifications from iPhones on the watch.

Given that the Apple Watch SDK has been available to developers for months, app functionality was also highlighted. For instance, Apple Watch can be used as a digital boarding pass, and can be used to book a cab directly through services such as Uber.

If you’re traveling, hotel information — such as confirmations as well as room numbers — are available directly from the watch. You even have the ability to bypass a hotel’s front desk entirely by using the watch to unlock your room. There will be a dedicated section on the iTunes Store that will allow you to browse apps tailored for Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch comes with a new magnetic connector that automatically clicks into place upon brining the watch in the vicinity of the connector. The watch itself has a battery life that is touted to last 18 hours on a single charge.

There are all-new ways of communication, with the side button coming with the ability to connect your Apple Watch with another Apple Watch through a feature called Digital Touch.

In terms of fitness tracking, the Apple Watch tracks your daily movements and comes with a reminder feature that lets you know if you’ve been idle for too long. There are also weekly statistics that highlight your activity, and based on the amount of exercise you’ve received, the following week’s schedule is set.

Apple Watch Sport edition features anodized aluminum, with prices starting at $349 for the 38mm model and $399 for the 42mm variant. The stainless steel model comes in 38mm and 42mm, will cost $549 and goes up to $1,049 based on the band.

Apple Watch edition — with 18-carat gold cases — comes with custom designed bands that are also made of solid gold. The Apple Watch edition will be sole in limited quantities, and will be priced starting from $10,000. Pre-orders begin April 10, with the devices available at retail locations for customers interested in viewing the watches on display.

The post Pre-orders For The Apple Watch Start In April, Prices Start At $349 appeared first on VR World.

During its Spring forward event, Apple announced that it will be acting as the launch partner for HBO’s streaming service. In addition, the Cupertino giant stated that CarPlay will be available with “all major car brands”, with over 40 models set to launch by the end of the year.

ResearchKit

Apple highlighted the changes introduced in the health sector thanks to the launch of a ResearchKit program. The open source initiative will give users the ability to lead “better and healthier lives,” and works in conjunction with an iPhone.

Users will be able to make use of sensors built into the iPhone to gauge their vitals and conduct basic tests. Talking about iPhones, Apple has mentioned that over 700 million devices have been sold since the launch of the first generation model back in 2007.

Apple TV

Coming onto Apple TV, the vendor announced that the price of the entry-level model is being slashed to $69 following sales in excess of 25 million units. HBO’s streaming service — HBO Now — will be available exclusively on Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. The service will launch sometime in April, and will cost $14.99 a month. Customers registering in the month of April will be able to watch episodes for free during the first month.

All of HBO’s catalog of TV shows and movies will be available for streaming on-demand to subscribed customers.

CarPlay

Coming over to CarPlay, Apple has announced that the infotainment system will be available in over 40 car models in the US. The car vendors that will be offering the service as standard were not mentioned, although Tim Cook said that all major car companies were on board.

Apple Pay

After launching the Apple Pay NFC-based payments service last year, Apple has announced that the service has over 2,500 banks participating, with over 700,000 retail locations accepting the touchless payments method. The next move for Apple Pay is into vending machines, with Coca-Cola integrating the service in its vending machines.

The post Apple Spring Forward Event: Apple TV, CarPlay and Health appeared first on VR World.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has launched its “most efficient” notebook ever: the Retina MacBook Air. At 2 pounds in weight and a thickness of just 13mm, the new MacBook Air is 20% thinner than the current-gen 11-inch MacBook Air.

The 12-inch full edge-to-edge cover glass features a Retina display with a resolution of 2304×1440 pixels, which is also the thinnest display to be featured on a MacBook. Each light comes through each pixel, making the new MacBook Air consume less energy at the same level of brightness as the current MacBook Air.

The new MacBook Air features an all-metal construction, with the antennas embedded into the body of the notebook. Apple stated that the keyboard for the new MacBook had to be reinvented owing to the thinness of the notebook. The new “butterfly mechanism” is 40% thinner than the conventional scissor mechanism that is currently in use.

The changes continue on with the trackpad as well, which is now called a force touch trackpad. The trackpad now features a taptic engine and comes with an adjustable click feel. There are four pressure sensors underneath the trackpad, which allows for pressure sensitivity based on the intensity of the click.

Under the hood, the logic board in use is the same one featured on the 11-inch MacBook Air, but this time around, the notebook features a fanless design. In terms of specs, the Retina MacBook Air comes with Intel’s fifth-generation Core M processor clocked at 1.3GHz.

The battery technology also sees a change, with the Retina MacBook Air featuring sheet batteries that have a countered shell. Apple has stated that this allows the vendor to fit a battery that is 35% larger. Wi-Fi ac and Bluetooth 4.0 are built in for all your connectivity needs.

And in terms of ports, the Retina MacBook Air has just a single port: USB Type C. The port allows you to charge as well as drive screens with the USB port. In terms of color variants, the Retina MacBook Air comes in gold, silver and grey, same as the iPhone and iPad. A lot of the technologies Apple invented in building its mobile devices have carried forwarded to the Retina MacBook Air, and it is evident in the amount of features and similarities the notebook shares with iPhones and iPads.

Every year since the last decade, MacBooks have outgrown the industry. In 2014, MacBooks grew by 20%, which was considerable given that the industry as a whole witnessed a decline. That is set to continue with the extreme portability on offer with the Retina MacBook Air.

Prices start at $1,299, and the new MacBook Air will be available from April. MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are getting upgrades as well, with both devices getting Intel’s fifth-generation cores. The MacBook Pro will also feature the new sensor-laden trackpad.

The post Apple Launches 12-inch Retina MacBook Air appeared first on VR World.

Samsung (KRX: 005930) has had a rough go of it during the last year. The Korean electronics giant has posted consecutive quarter-over-quarter declines in profit, with its fabled electronics business at the center of the storm.

While there are a few reasons Samsung has failed to impress investors, the issue at the center of the mess was underwhelming sales of last year’s Galaxy S5 and Note 4. These phones were simply not that interesting: boring design and underwhelming specs kept them on shelves and out of the pockets of consumers.

Samsung Galaxy S6 specs

Like any high-profile mobile launch, the specs of the Samsung Galaxy S6 have been aggressively leaked during the past few months. While these specs are not confirmed here’s a rundown of the most promising leaks:

The flagship will have a QHD display which comes in at 1440×2560. This is a big upgrade from the full-HD screen of the Galaxy S5. The screen on the Galaxy Note 4, which is also a QHD variant, was highlighted as one of the best thus far on a mobile device, and it is looking likely that the same screen will be featured in the Galaxy S6 as well.

The actual chip used in the phone is not known at this time. It could be a Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) Snapdragon, but this is not likely as Qualcomm confirmed it had lost a “big customer”. The hardware that we’ll see powering the device will possibly be the 14nm Exynos 7 SoC Samsung announced earlier this year. That means that we’ll be seeing an octa-core CPU clocked at 2.1 GHz for the Cortex A57 cores and 1.5GHz for the Cortex A53 cores.

Also interesting to see will be whether the new flash memory modules — UFS 2.0 — will make their way onto the device. Current rumors suggest that that may indeed be the case, which would mean that the entry-level variant of the Galaxy S6 will feature 32GB memory, ditching the 16GB storage variant.

Considering Samsung makes the UFS 2.0 based storage modules in variants of 32, 64 and 128GB, it is likely we’ll see a 128GB version of the Galaxy S6.  It has been rumored that Samsung will stick with a 16MP variant on the device, with the sensor itself tweaked to take better images in low-light conditions.

The design of the device should be a continuation of what Samsung has undertaken thus far with the Galaxy A series, which suggests that we’ll see a metal finish on the sides of the device. Also, there are rumors suggesting that the Galaxy S6 would feature a glass back. Design-wise, the leaks thus far have failed to highlight any radical changes, although the addition of metal and glass would serve to better distinguish the Galaxy S6 as a high-end device (a facet that was severely lacking in the Galaxy S models of old).

Samsung Galaxy S6 pricing

In North America and Europe many carriers will be offering the Samsung Galaxy S6 at subsidized price points. For those that want to buy the phone off contract, here’s the expected pricing:

• Samsung Galaxy S6 32 GB: $849
• Samsung Galaxy S6 64GB:  $963
• Samsung Galaxy S6 128 GB:$1,706

Will Galaxy S6 save Samsung?

Samsung is in a tough place right now. The company is feeling pressure from investors to improve its bottom line. There once was a time where Samsung was a scrappy underdog against a market dominated by Apple (NASDAQ: APPL). But this is no longer the case: Samsung has to compete with the likes of Xiaomi. Competition has never so intense.

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 failed because it was underwhelming. There was no demand for a smartphone that was only an incidental upgrade from its predecessor.

It’s too early to tell just how well the Galaxy S6 will do. The phone’s rumored specs are not spectacular. While there’s a high degree of certainty that these will be the phone’s final specs, Samsung could throw in a wildcard and include something unforeseen it’s very likely what we see right now is what we get. With HTC (TPE: 2498) rumored to make heavy inroads into bettering the camera on the One M9, the Taiwanese vendor’s offering will seem like a more logical choice to more and more users given its aluminum design flair and the software-based features offered by the Sense UI. So far, there’s nothing too compelling from a price or performance standpoint about the Galaxy S6 that would suggest a change of fortunes for Samsung.

The post Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Will Have a Problem at MWC 2015 appeared first on VR World.

As Xiaomi is in the middle of launching another Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) inspired product and Taiwan’s TSMC posts a stellar year due to orders from the iPhone 6’s SoC, it’s important to look back to a company that built something even more revolutionary: Ikea’s BookBook.

With the launch of its 2015 calendar, Ikea is relaunching its BookBook campaign first launched in September. The ad parodies Apple’s distinct promotional style.

“The 2015 IKEA catalog comes fully charged, and the battery is eternal,” says an exec named Jörgen Eghammer, also known as Ikea’s Chief Design Guru. He says that the device is not some kind of new-fangled tablet, but a bookbook.

“Another special feature is password protection, which is voice-activated,” he adds. “All you need to say is: ‘Excuse me, that’s mine!”

The post You Need a BookBook, Not a Xiaomi or iPhone appeared first on VR World.

After almost six years, the time has come to turn the page. As of January 16 Bright Side of News* and VR World have merged. All of the content from BSN* has been preserved and will remain accessible on VR World.

Expect the same great reviews and hard-hitting news from BSN* on VR World. 

The post The Bright Side of VR World- Merger of BSN* & VR World appeared first on VR World.

If you have been using computers for more than a few years it is likely that you have seen plenty of sound cards.  If someone were to ask you about a USB sound card, would you think of a less than ideal dongle with little to no features with entry level sound quality?

Well, that was then and times sure have changed with feature packed external soundcards that are of good quality on the market.  There are even ones out there that will be good with gaming and allowing the user to experience 3D surround sound while wearing headphones to help pinpoint the action.  The Creative Sound Blaster Omni Surround 5.1 USB soundcard is a shining example of what an external sound card these days should be.

Specifications

• Model: Sound Blaster Omni #70SB156000000
• Channels: 5.1
• Interface: USB

System Requirements

On PC platform

• Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD equivalent processor at 2.2 GHzMicrosoft Windows 8 / Windows 7 / Windows Vista
• Microsoft Windows 8 / Windows 7 / Windows Vista
• 1GB RAM600MB free hard disk space
• 600MB free hard disk space
• CDROM / DVDROM driveUSB 2.0 port
• USB 2.0 port

On Mac Platform

• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz
• Mac OS 10.6 & above1GB RAM
• 1GB RAM
• 600MB free hard disk spaceInternet connection
• Internet connection
• USB 2.0 portFeatures

Features

• USB simplicity and portabilityBuilt-in dual microphones with CrystalVoice technology
• Built-in dual microphones with CrystalVoice technology
• Sound Blaster Omni Control Panel
• Dolby Digital Live600-ohm headphone amplifier
• 600-ohm headphone amplifier
• Scout mode
• Comprehensive connectivity for all your PC and Mac audio needs

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Corsair had on display a lot of the usual stuff that we are all already familiar with, but it did have some new additions.

It will be selling a new DDR4 3400 kit that is a limited release via its web store, as it has done with a lot of other limited run high bin RAM sets before.  There was a Carbide 100R Silent case that looks great for those who are needing a quiet case and want to spend their money wisely, as for the features the price of $59 is a really good one.  There was also the new H110i GT liquid cooler for a CPU and a HG10 N780 Edition GPU cooling bracket in display systems showing off just how good the cooling performance was.  The HG10 looks like an ideal situation for the Nvidia GTX 770, 780, 780 Ti, Titan, and Titan Black owners who want a way to cool their cards more efficiently.

Stay tuned as we will have more on what we think about what we saw at Corsair in the coming days.

THe Carbide 100R Silent mid-tower PC chassis looks to be a real winner at the $59 price point given by Corsair

The post Take A Look At The Corsair Suite at CES 2015 appeared first on VR World.

This year Thermaltake showed off a brand new upcoming Cherry MX RGB mechanical keyboard that is just beautiful and has a great feel when typing, as this is what the Cherry MX switches are known for.

Also on display was the brand fully modular Core X1, Core X2, and Core X9 computer cases which not only provide plenty of room for the user’s imagination to run wild with customizing options.  The cases also stack and provide even more area for some really awesome options like mounting truely immense water cooling radiators inside.  Also on display was the new Tt eSports Theron Plus smart mouse that features Bluetooth connectivity so that it can link to a mobile device and log mouse usage and statistics.

Tt eSports Theron Plus smart mouse

Ipad running TteSports+ application for data logging of the Therons Plus smart mouse

Software for an upcoming mechanical Poseidon Z keyboard that features a touch sensitive space bar that can even be programed with macros.

The post Take a Tour of the Thermaltake suite at CES 2015 appeared first on VR World.

We stopped by Gigabyte’s (TPE: 2376) suite at CES 2015 and got the low down on its latest and greatest products.

The company had a lot of nice systems featuring its products that were built by companies like Digital Storm, Origin, Cyberpower PC, and Cybertron PC.  There were many of its current offerings on display as well as some of the new ones like the company’s newest addition to the Brix lineup, the Brix S Broadwell.  The Brix S Broadwell features Broadwell CPUs that make the unit extremely power efficient. The brand new X99 SOC Champion features an OC socket for the CPU that allows the board to really push the NB/cache/uncore frequencies, thus delivering blistering memory and system performance.  The Asus Rampage V Extreme sure better watch out since this board is also  a cache/uncore/NB overclocking beast, and it only costs $300.

We will be following up with more insight into some of the products that Gigabyte had to show at CES 2015 in the coming days.  We will also have some pictures of the Extreme Overclocking event that it held as well.

Brix s Broadwell and the X99 SOC Champion

The Gigabyte GA-X99M-Gaming 5

The Gigabyte Brix lineup

An absolutely stunning custom build featuring an Enermax chassis and Gigabyte parts

14″ P34W Notebook

The post A Peek Inside Gigabyte’s Suite at CES 2015 appeared first on VR World.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) kicked off its keynote at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show by unveiling the Snapdragon 810 flagship SoC.

This announcement came just hours after LG (KRX:066570) announced the G Flex 2, a 5.5-inch smartphone with a curved display and the Snapdragon 810 inside.

The SoC, which will find its way into many of 2015’s flagship smartphones, was first announced last year. Qualcomm gave the world a sneak peak of the chip in December, though it chose CES for the first big official unveil of the chip. Like many other vendors, Qualcomm is choosing to use a Big.LITTLE configuration for the chips packing together ARM Cortex A57 and A53 cores in a power efficient setup. As far as a GPU goes, Qualcomm continues to use its homemade Adreno 430 GPU which has a full spectrum of APIs such as DirectX 11.2, OpenCL 1.2, and OpenGL ES 3.1.

Like other chip vendors, Qualcomm is looking beyond the traditional tablet and smartphone markets for this chip. During the keynote Qualcomm highlighted potential use cases for car infotainment and IoT.  One of the vehicles that will be powered by the upcoming chip is Cadillac’s new XTS due out next year.

“Over the course of our history, we’ve invested $33 billion in R&D,” said Qualcomm’s president Derek Aberle on stage. “Many invest in R&D, but we do it differently. We anticipate industry trends before anybody knows they’re coming, making fundamental investments and driving the industry forward.”

Qualcomm everywhere

While Qualcomm’s press conference didn’t have anything too new in the SoC space for those that watch the company closely, Qualcomm chose instead to highlight the investments it has made in getting its technology virtually everywhere from IoT, wearables to automotive. Unlike Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), which had the first press conference of CES, Qualcomm has a solid track record of getting its silicon in products.

Qualcomm has its competitors, but none have the momentum that it does. For all Nvidia’s bluster about the speed of Tegra, the company doesn’t have the record of hardware wins that it should. If Qualcomm can get the momentum for Internet of Things and automotive, it will be a real challenge for its competitors to reach its level.

The post Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon 810 SoC Flagship at CES 2015 appeared first on VR World.

Today LaCie announced the Mirror portable hard drive that is encased in mirrored Corning Gorilla Glass.  The Mirror features a 1TB hard drive and comes with an ebony wood base to be a functional mirror on your desk.

The Mirror portable hard drive has a capacity of 1TB but is not just about function, it is also about form.  The drive is encased in mirrored Corning Gorilla Glass giving the drive a striking look, it especially looks great if you take a look at it.  This drive comes with an ebony wood stand for the drive to sit in while on a desk, transforming it into a functional desk piece.  The ebony wood was sourced from Makassar and should really make a wonderful stand for the drive.  Users can rest assured that their drive will stay in great shape even with the mirror finish.  Thanks to the Corning Gorilla Glass used in the case the finish will stand up to even the roughest handling of the drive.  The drive is able to be used with all OSes, so you should not need to worry if this will work for your computer.  Even though LaCie did not disclose the connectivity options it is easy to see from the picture.  The power and data will be handled through a micro USB 3.0 cable which means you will only need to carry the drive and USB 3.0 cable to use it, there is no need for a power cord.

The LaCie Mirror portable hard drive will be available in 1TB capacity with a MSRP of $279.99 later this month from LaCie’s online store and authorized LaCie resellers.  The drive will carry a three-year limited warranty that users can extend or upgrade.  The warranty provides worldwide repair and/or replacement, so this drive is ready for your adventures around the world.

The post LaCie Announces The Mirror Portable Hard Drive appeared first on VR World.

Today LaCie announced the Rugged RAID mobile drive featuring user selectable RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration.  The new drive featuring Seagate hard drives will be available later this quarter.

The Rugged RAID mobile drive is a drive featuring two hard drives that can be put in RAID 0 for speed or RAID 1 for data redundancy.  RAID 0 uses two drives to store one piece of data, allowing it to read and write faster by storing half of it on both drives to form the single piece of data.  RAID 0 is much faster than a single hard drive (by about 2x) while being less secure for data since if one drive goes then the data is gone.  On the other hand RAID 1 stores the same data on two hard drives so that if one of them were to ever fail you will still have the data on the other.  This is a much more secure way to store sensitive data that is important for a user to protect.

The Rugged is exactly what it is called, rugged and that is thanks to its design.  The drive is resistant to shock, with it being able to withstand drops of up to 1.5m (about 5 feet) and 1 ton of pressure.  It is also resistant to water with its cap in place, and when it is the drive is IP 54 rated.  That IP 54 rating means that the drive is dust tight and will withstand splashes of water on the drive.  The drive also features USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt connectivity, which means that users will be able to use RAID 0 to its fullest.  The drive in RAID 0 will be able to get up to 240MB/s sustain performance.  The drive is compatible with all operating systems and it also includes LaCie Private-Public software.  The software enables users to password protect the entire device or just certain volumes with AES-256 encryption.

The LaCie Rugged RAID will be available in 4TB capacity with a MSRP of $449.99 later this quarter from LaCie’s online store and authorized LaCie resellers.  The drive will carry a three-year limited warranty that users can extend or upgrade.  The warranty provides worldwide repair and/or replacement, so this drive is ready for your adventures around the world.

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