Microsoft's Xbox 360 continues to be the number one selling console...for 28 consecutive months! According to data from The NPD Group, as reported by Microsoft, April marked the 28th consecutive month that the Xbox 360 topped the console sales chart selling around 130,000 units in April.
130,000 sales accounts for 42 percent of current-generation console sales. A total of $208 million was spent on Xbox and Xbox-related items (software and accessories) in just the month of April. It will be interesting to see if the Xbox 360 remains on top until the next-gen PlayStation and Xbox are released later this year.
Innodisk is proud to be among the first to supply (DDR4) registered DIMM product samples to key server companies for their next-generation systems. With this announcement, Innodisk, an industry leader in DRAM modules for industrial applications and embedded systems, will continue to offer the most advanced technology to its customers.
The result of almost eight years of development, DDR4 (Double Data Rate 4) technology improves on the previous generation, DDR3, in every way. These new memory products provide users with greater performance, but can still cut costs by saving power and space, and reducing waste heat.
Performance:
DDR4 offers a giant leap in peak performance over DDR3 technology, with a 3.2 Gbps data transfer rate. In fact, DDR4 could eventually even surpass this already high rate, according to standards organization JEDEC, in the same way that DDR3 surpassed its initial ceiling of 1.6 Gbps. DDR4 memory bus speeds start at 2133MHz, which already offers a huge jump in potential performance from the average bus speed of 1333MHz and 1666MHz offered by DDR3.
Voltage:
DDR4 devices run on significantly lower voltages than devices using DDR3 or DDR2 technology. JEDEC's specifications suggest that DDR4 will operate with a power envelope of 1.2 volts, compared to the 1.5 volts demanded by the more power-hungry DDR3 generation. Lower voltages help extend component lifespans.
Power consumption:
DDR4 modules will reduce power consumption by approximately 40 percent compared to its predecessor DDR3 modules operating at 1.35V. Lower power consumption offers lower operating costs by cutting power bills, as well as a substantial reduction in heat output which helps extend lifetimes of system components, further reducing costs.
Density:
With DDR4, the maximum capacity per chip has now been doubled from 64GB to 128GB. The higher memory densities possible with DDR4 will save space, simplify module construction, and improve internal airflow.
With this head start in DDR4 technology, Innodisk is ready meet the needs of tomorrow's applications. As the IT landscape moves to adopt cloud computing practices, companies are relying more heavily on data centers with powerful server infrastructures. Innodisk offers registered DIMM in capacities of 4GB, 8GB and 16GB, so that Innodisk server customers can always be sure to have the perfect product to suit the exact capacity of each of their system designs.
Nikkan is reporting that the displays going into the next iPhone will go into production next month. According to the report, Sharp, LG, and Japan Display will be the companies responsible for producing the displays used in the next-generation iPhone.
It looks as though the device will be similar to the current iPhone 5 in shape and capabilities. If the next iPhone is launched under the S nomenclature, we expect it to come with an upgraded camera, processor, and not much else. We also continue to hear rumors that the device will be available in a multitude of colors.
If display production does start in June, it would line up with a projected launch date in late August to September. Of course, reports are just that: reports. This could prove to be an inaccurate report and the iPhone could launch before or after the projected time frame.
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Audiofly is an audio company we haven't dealt with before as we have not tested any of their audio products before now - they are also an Australian company, which is rare for audio equipment. So, that means that they are free to impress us greatly with what so happens to be a rather interesting looking pair of ear phones called the AF78, in a market flooded with many different kinds of ear phones promising to deliver all kinds of differing forms of merriment to the user
Initially of interest is that these are dual driver headphones, which means that inside the AF78, you'll find a single 9mm dynamic driver and then a secondary unit referred to as the armature driver, which can be found in the conduit between the tip of the bud that sits in the ear and the large rear housing.
The high-end is impressive through testing and left a great impression with us after we were done. Now this could be due to the setup with two drivers inside the ear phone or it could just be plain good design work. But we really enjoyed the clarity and high-end extension on offer here.
The mid-range was nice and full sounding with plenty of detail to be found. The transition from the high-end to the mid-range is smooth and gentle, and it is clear that much work has being put into making sure that music listeners will be fans of the AF78.
The low-end is on the weaker side in comparison with the above two categories. However, we must mention here, that some of this could be contributed to matching the AF78's with the correct source to allow them to reach full potential.
Audiofly's AF78 sets a high standard in terms of packaging and final execution. Make no mistake, this is a serious product, containing many hours on audio pleasure inside. Testing was an overall happy experience for us with a good level of sound quality to be found, which nicely matches the lovely build quality and generous package. We definitely recommend you take a look at the AF78's before buying that next set of ear phones.
According to co-CEO JK Shin, Samsung's Galaxy S 4 will soon hit the 10 million mark in sales, less than a month after its debut. That beats the Galaxy S III's time to that mark by nearly three weeks, making it far and away the company's quickest seller, ever. The model will also get another push thanks to a stock Android 4.2 version that'll be available for $649 at Google Play on June 26th. That's a pretty impressive figure, especially considering its bizarre reveal.
Ubuntu tablets may not be particularly new, but thanks to its liberal build, things can get a bit more interesting when another OS is added to the mix. Ekoore's Python S3 tablet goes a little further, nestling Ubuntu, Android and Windows 8 behind its 11.6-inch screen. Specifications can be customized on the order page, but there's an Intel Celeron processor, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD for storage, while the 1,366 x 768 resolution was chosen to suit all three operating systems: Windows 8, Android 4.2 and Ubuntu 13.04. There's connectivity through both WiFi and an optional 3G module -- the Win 8 license itself is also a purchasable extra. The device is priced at $770 for the US, while you'll be able to pick up a dockable keyboard add-on (with built-in battery) for around $179. For those of you who still can't decide your favorite tablet OS, you can hedge your bets and place an order at the source.
How much does the new flagship Galaxy S4 from Samsung cost to build? According to research firm IHS, just $237. This could be because most of the components sourced for the S4 are from Samsung themselves.
IHS analyst Vincent Leung said: "Samsung's strength is this ability to in-source to itself. They just keep adding to the list of components that they can supply to themselves". The international version of the Galaxy S4, the one that features the eight-core Exynos 5 Octa SoC, costs just $28 per chip. The US version, which features the Qualcomm-made Snapdragon processor, has an estimated cost of $20.
There are at least four versions of the Galaxy S4 being made, with two versions headed to the United States. The two US-bound versions feature a Fujitsu image processor that adds $1.50 to the cost of the phone, with the Korean version having its image processing handled by the on-board Exynos processor. The display and touchscreen are made by Samsung and cost $75, while the 32GB of on-board flash memory costs $28.
Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd, today announces a new brushed aluminum Mini-ITX chassis – PC-Q30. With its curve-shaped design and large acrylic front window the fully aluminum PC-Q30 allows users to show off their systems, and is sure to be the talking piece of any room.
Whether in the living room, bedroom, or office, the PC-Q30 with its curve-shape and brushed aluminum finish takes visual command without being ostentatious. Additionally, DIY builders can put their stylized internal components and intricate builds on full display – as they should not be hidden from sight.
Thanks to the two expansion slots on the top of the chassis, the PC-Q30 supports graphics cards up to 200mm (7.8”). For storage, up to four 2.5” hard drives or SSDs can be mounted in the removable hard drive cage at the bottom of the chassis.
A 140mm fan in the rear of the chassis expels hot air, while ventilation on the top and side allows for cool air to enter. A small form factor power supply up to 125mm (4.9”) is placed on rubber pads in order to reduce vibrations.
The front of the PC-Q30 is minimalistic in aesthetics and houses the dual LED illuminated power button that glows blue when on and red while loading. The I/O panel with two USB 3.0 ports and HD audio connections is located on the left side of the front of the chassis to not interrupt the elegant aesthetics.
Price and Availability
The PC-Q30 will be available in June in the US and Canada for the suggested retail price of US$149.
A checkerboard-style glitter pattern with a white background? Yes, please. We've always been impressed by the elegant look and feel of LG's Nexus 4, announced alongside Android 4.2 last October, and now Google is making an ivory version of the device available to (hopefully) the masses. The twist: it still hasn't been officially announced, despite the fact that a conference like I/O would be the perfect time and place to do so. While Google chose not to take advantage of the situation to show the unicorn Nexus to the world, real-life units have been discovered floating around Moscone West. Androidandme's Taylor Wimberly happened upon one of them at the show and was gracious enough to give us a brief moment or two with the device.
There isn't any surprise associated with this particular beaut, as it's packing the same design and specs as we've already seen in the original black model (sorry, LTE hopefuls). The pattern on the back actually doesn't stand out as much as it does on the black version, as it happens to blend in with the white a little more. We also noticed the same set of tiny nubs on the bottom that mysteriously appeared on the black version a few months ago. Lastly, the white Nexus is rumored to be the first device with Android 4.3 when it officially launches, but this particular version we saw only sports 4.2.1. There's not much else for us to write about the new color, but let's face it -- you're here for the pictures, which you can gaze upon below.
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The KingFast F3 Plus Series KF2510SCF SSD merges the LSI SandForce SF-2281 controller and Intel 25nm SLC NAND into one package. This arrangement features sequential read/write speeds of 556/530 MB/s, respectively. The random read IOPS are 55,735 and random write weighs in at a higher 83,221 IOPS. These are likely FOB (Fresh out of Box) numbers with 100% compressible data.
Recently we published a review of the SuperSSpeed S301 Hyper Gold Enterprise SSD, which also features a very similar build with the SF-2281 and Intel SLC flash. The real differentiator between these two products is that the SuperSSpeed is geared specifically for the client-side, and the KingFast F3 Plus Series SSD was designed and optimized from the ground up for datacenter applications.
With the same controller and NAND on both of these SSD's, we will put them head to head to see which can provide the best solution in an enterprise environment. There are always different variables to take into consideration beyond the normal 'feeds and speeds' when testing enterprise storage solutions. Typically, reliability and enhanced efficiency will trump less-refined solutions, even if they are faster.
The emergence of these value-oriented SLC SSD's brings forth an interesting product for those seeking tremendous endurance specifications at lower price points. The KingFast F3 Plus retails for roughly $2.50 per GB at the time of publishing for customers purchasing 10 or more SSD's. This is in the same price range of the SuperSSpeed offering, with its $2.00 per GB price. Part of the pricing disparity is due to the slightly larger capacity of the SuperSSpeed S301. The SuperSSpeed S301 features 128GB in comparison to the 120GB of the KingFast F3 Plus.
Perhaps one of the largest motivating factors for administrators looking to deploy SSD's into datacenter applications is the huge savings in power, space and cooling. The KingFast F3 Series SSD sips power at a much lower rate than many of the top-notch SSD's available today. With its excellent speed and low power consumption, the F3 Plus delivers a great IOPS-to-Watt ratio across the board.
There was a tremendous difference in the power consumption of the KingFast F3 Plus Series SSD in comparison to the very similar SuperSSpeed S301 Hyper Gold SSD. For two SSD's that share so many similarities, with the exact same NAND and controller, it was interesting to see the huge difference in power consumption and efficiency.
The KingFast F3 Plus Series SSD performed admirably in our testing with the superb write performance expected of an SSD with SLC NAND. There are areas where the KingFast F3 Plus can improve though, and perhaps the most pressing need would be the three year warranty. Comparable MLC products offer warranties of five years, so the three year warranty is a bit on the low side for enterprise applications. With the extreme endurance and durability offered by the SLC NAND, it should be a relatively safe bet to guarantee the SSD for five years even in write intensive environments.
The other concern is capacity. The F3 Plus only comes in two capacities of 60GB and 120GB. This limits the number of applications that can benefit from such small storage devices. These SSD's will provide great performance in RAID arrays, due to their higher write endurance, which would allow for an aggregation of available capacity. Some will require more capacity and will be forced to look at other products.
One of the misguided views we hear frequently is that there is no differentiation from one LSI SandForce product to another. Our testing today shows that this is simply not true. While LSI SandForce provides turnkey firmware's and reference PCB designs, many manufacturers use different methods, components, and at times completely proprietary PCB's.
This provides the manufacturer with a flexible platform for deployment, but the quality of the components used and different PCB designs can affect the performance of the solution in other ways. As out testing today highlights, there is a very big difference between two very similar LSI SandForce SSD's in power consumption metrics.
Why is efficiency so important? Over the life of the device, it can cost more to power and cool the storage solution than the initial acquisition cost. When deployed en masse into datacenters, small differences in power from one drive can become huge differences when multiplied by hundreds or thousands. The largest ongoing expense in any size deployment is the cost of power, and when making a decision between two devices, power consumption is always a concern. Many enterprise product evaluations do not provide any insight into power and efficiency metrics, ignoring one of the most important facets of any storage device.
This wristband from Jawbone tracks your daily activities and the quality of sleep that you are having. It also allows you to indicate your mood at the point of activity. This would help you to improve your lifestyle by improving your diet, sleep patterns and incorporate an active lifestyle
Editor's Choice | ChewOnTech.com
Written Review
For the first time, I would be moving into a new format with a short and concise written review on top of my video review for those who prefer to read an written review.
For starters, I would be reviewing the Jawbone UP activity tracker wristband. Jawbone is one of the first companies that has released a wristband type of product for activity trackers. The wristband format is a convenient way to attach the activity tracker to your body. This is because you can wear the device like a wrist watch and it would do it's job silently without you even noticing it after a while. It is not a clip-on device whereby you have to worry about it dropping off from your shirt during the middle of the day.
No doubts, Fitbit has released their version of wristband activity tracker (Fitbit Flex), but the Jawbone UP wristband is the one that you can get your hands on if you cannot wait for it. This device would monitor your sleep patterns, your food intake, your exercise regime and your mood during the different activities. From the 2-3 weeks of usage, it would start to recommend you to add activities that would make you in a better mood if you are down on your mood for the day. This device aims to allow you to live a better and healthier lifestyle with all the information gathered. Without further a do, let us dive into the details of the review.
In the review package includes the wristband itself, the USB charging cable and the user's manual. The Jawbone up Wristband has to be charge via the USB cable as the only connection is a normal male 3.5mm headset connector. Battery life is rated at 10 days by Jawbone, in my actual usage, it came out to an impressive 8-9 days
This is the main user interface that you would see after you have installed the UP application on your Apple or Android devices. The application only supports Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich, ICS) and above and iOS 5.1 and above. In other words, it would work with iPod Touch (3rd generation and above), iPhone 3GS and above, iPad and the mini version. As for the Google platform, it would work with the LG Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S2 and above, HTC Droid and above. Check the list of device compatible on their website
The application takes up quite a bit of space on your device (40MB). However after installation, you would understand the need for the application to be so bulky in memory usage. In the application, there is detailed information on the calories that specific food add to your daily intake. It also has tips that tell you ways to improve your mood for the day.
As you can see in the screenshot, it would indicate the number of steps that you have taken and the total amount of sleep that you have taken for the night. It would also show the meals that you have taken. With the progress show in terms of a status bar and the how close you are to your daily goal in terms of percentage. The activity feed would show the recent activities allowing you to scroll through them and see what you have done for the day. It takes a page from the Facebook newsfeed manner for this interface.
This is the interface when you add specific food into the application. It would tell you the total amount of fats, fiber, Carbs, Protein and Sugar that you have consumed. If you are too lazy to type in the product that you have eaten and start searching for the right category, you can scan the product's barcode using your phone's camera.
The application provides tips daily to improve your mood or to improve the lifestyle that you are having. For example, if you are not hitting your targeted goal of 10,000 steps daily for a few consective days, the application would warn you that you are idling for a long period of time. On the other hand, if you exceed your targeted goal of 10,000 steps daily, the application would challenge you to beat it again (Of course with 1-2 days of break in between).
This is the screenshot of the lifetime function in the application. It would churn out all the information in a scroll able format and allow you to see all the information on your lifestyle habits and how you have improve your lifestyle several weeks after getting the band. It would also indicate the mood at the various days, this would provide you tips on how to perk yourself up if you are down on your mood today.
Last but not least, the Jawbone UP wristband is available in various colours. As you can see in the picture, there are just so many colours you can choose from. Also, please take note that there are 3 different sizes of wristband to choose from. As for the sizing information, please head on to their website (Under Sizing Guide) to take a look before purchasing the product.
This awesome activity tracker deserves an Editor Choice Rating from ChewOnTech.com. It is the only product out there in the market that is so convenient. Using the 3.5mm headset jack of your devices to sync the data. It also tells you tips to perk up your mood and to warn you if you are not hitting your targeted goal.
Earlier today, Yahoo sent press invites to a "product-related" event in New York City Monday afternoon and there are already two separate rumors about the company's plans. The first, from Bloomberg, concerns the event specifically and cites a "person familiar with the matter" reporting we'll hear about new updates for Yahoo's once-mighty Flickr photo service. The second is from AllThingsD which has upgraded rumors of a Tumblr purchase from possible to possibly imminent, saying the company's board will meet Sunday to decide whether it will make a $1.1 billion all-cash offer for the site. Since new CEO Marissa Mayer took over Yahoo has made a number of acquisitions with a focus on improving its homepage, content and app offerings including Flickr. That announcement is also penciled in for the 20th, but whatever actually goes down you can be sure we'll have the details as they're unveiled around 4PM ET.
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