Rumour: Apple tests iPad's A5 chip in MacBook Air

Apple has reportedly tested a MacBook Air chassis that uses the A5 processor inside the Apple iPad, according to a Friday report.

Macotakara, a Japanese Apple blog, reported that Apple tested a MacBook Air with an A5 chip inside. The A5 is used by Apple's iPad 2.

"According to this source who saw live A5 MacBook Air actually, this test machine performed better than expected," Macotakara reported.

That doesn't mean that Apple will release a version of the Air on an A5 processor, an entirely different architecture than the Intel X86-based "Sandy Bridge" processor that currently powers the MacBook Air. In fact, there's no indication that this is anything more than a lab experiment.

"Though it's not clear which Mac OS X or iOS is pre-installed on this A5 MacBook Air, iOS seems to have difficulty to use features of Thunderbolt without Finder," the blog added. "And even if Mac OS X is installed, developer should spend time to support A5 on Universal Binary Applications. As considering these situation, this A5 MacBook Air seems to be made just for experiment."

Earlier this month, rumors of ARM-based MacBooks surfaced, with one site making the wild claim that the switch would come in the A15 generation, a ways away.

However, Steve Jobs himself has said that Apple has no interest in building a netbook, the MacBook Air being the only Apple product that comes close, and it runs on an Intel Core 2 Duo chip. On top of that, the current MacBooks are some of the first products to use Intel's "Sandy Bridge" architecture, so it's hard to imagine Apple opting for a likely less-powerful CPU on future products.

Other sites have also speculated that new MacBook Airs are due in June, equipped with high-speed Thunderbolt transfer technology and Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors.

As PCMag's lead laptop analyst Cisco Cheng noted in April, the technology inside the existing MacBook Airs, which arrived last October, is incredibly outdated compared to its MacBook Pro brethren.

Microsoft Windows Phone 7.1 to get 500 new features with Mango update [Imahes and Video]

Microsoft announced the Mango update for Windows Phone 7 at a press conference in New York yesterday, an update that brings 500 new features to the platform, and will take the version number to Windows Phone 7.1, rather than 7.5 as previously rumoured.

While the Mango update was detailed a bit further, there was no real information imparted, and even a release date was left nearly as ambiguous as before - sometime in the American Fall. Andy Lees, president of Microsoft’s Mobile Communication Business, headed the webcast.

The biggest change Mango brings to the platform is true multitasking, allowing users to switch between all types apps, including third party apps, which will continue to work in the background. Lees added: “Third-party applications have been freed from their silos…They're [now] part of the total experience."

Live Tiles have been improved, enabling better glance-and-go information and notifications, as well as personalized, as described by Joe Belfiore earlier at MIX11. Other changes include a version of Internet Explorer 9 (left) for the Windows Phone platform – apparently faster than any other mobile browser out there, a new unified linked inbox, a thread-based IM aggregator, and a new Groups-based contact system. Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are all natively integrated.

Also new was the native application – Local Scout – providing real-time local search results and recommendations for dining, shopping, and entertainment. Windows Phone 7.1 will also feature App Connect, an improved way to discover apps in web-based searches. There is also a Quick Cards feature, meant to provide brief descriptions of related apps, events, and products in search results. Improved Bing for WP7.1 also brings Visual Search and Music search to the fore.

The announcement also held a few details about a new and improved Xbox Live hub, and, native access to the Skydrive cloud storage service. Also important, is the voice-to-text and text-to-voice support that’s been built-in for handsfree use.

While these changes are numerous and all for the better, and, users will have no real reason to complain, the future of Windows Phone 7 is still a quite uncertain – after all, it’s ecosystem could hardly be compared to those Android and iOS enjoy, with the sheer diversity of apps available on the Android Market and Apple App Store. While Windows Phone Marketplace does have over 18,000 apps, and Microsoft doesn’t miss any opportunity to boast of its record-breaking growth, we can’t help but wonder if it will be enough for Microsoft to carve back a niche in the smartphone market.

News of Nokia using dual-core 1.2GHz processors for its Windows Phone devices is certainly interesting, but clock speed and processing power is no guarantee for success in the smartphone category.

On the developer side of things, Microsoft has released beta Windows Phone Developer tools for the Mango today, with many improvements to take advantage of the new features: Live Agents background processing, new profiler and emulator for testing, use of Silverlight + XNA together, Silverlight 4, IE9 web browser control, Live Tile enhancements, access to additional sensor, fast application switching, networking / sockets for communications, local SQL database for structured storage, as well as access to calendar and contacts for apps. Refer to the developer site for more information.

Check out a video below, of Joe Belfiore detailing some of the biggest improvements in the Window Phone Mango update, as well as some images showing some of the new features.

India's GSM subscriber base crosses 580 million customers in April

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has released some interesting data about the Indian GSM mobile subscriber base, and how various operators are faring. The total GSM subscriber base increased by 1.95 per cent in the month of April with 11.11 million new subscribers – taking the total up to a nice and massive 580.67 million. April’s growth figures are much lower than the first three months of 2011, which saw 13-15 million new subscribers each, and, quite a bit lower than monthly figures over the past year.

Among the operators, Airtel captured a large fraction of the new subscribers, with 2.41 million new customers, bringing its total up to 164.61 million, or roughly 28% of the total subscriber base. Idea Cellular was the leader in April, with 2.45 new subscribers, bringing its user base up to 91.95 million.

Vodafone gained nearly as many new subscribers as Airtel – 2.4 million - totalling to 136.98 million. Uninor 1.45 million subscribers, bringing its total subscriber base to 24.24 million. BSNL and MTNL added 689,361 and 14,633 customers respectively, making 87.14 million and 5.21 million customers in total.

Some experts are attributing the reduced growth to more stringent verification norms, and, some, to it being a seasonal trend – 11.18 million GSM subscribers were added in April 2010, compared to nearly 14 million in March.

Zuckerberg: "Facebook should allow kids under 13"

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week said that younger children should be allowed on the site—for education purposes.

"In the future, software and technology will enable people to learn a lot from their fellow students," Zuckerberg said at the NewSchools Summit in California, according to Fortune.

Currently, Facebook only allows people 13 and older to sign up for the site. It's easy to get around that, however, and Consumer Reports recently reported that there are approximately 7.5 million underage kids on Facebook.

"That will be a fight we take on at some point," Zuckerberg said in regards to allowing younger kids on the site. "My philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age."

Hampering that effort is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which bans Web sites from collecting information from users under 13. As a result, "we haven't even begun this learning process," Zuckerberg said. "If they're lifted then we'd start to learn what works. We'd take a lot of precautions to make sure that they [younger kids] are safe."

It could be an uphill battle. Facebook chief technology officer Bret Taylor appeared on Capitol Hill Thursday, where Sen. John Rockefeller grilled him about underage kids on the site.

"I want you to defend your company here because I don't know how you can," Rockefeller said.

Taylor insisted that "whenever we find out that someone has misrepresented their age on Facebook, we shut down that account. We don't allow people to misrepresent their age."

 In March, Facebook said that it removes about 20,000 profiles from the site per day for various infractions, including users who are underage.

In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson said the site is currently designed for two age groups: 13 to 18 and 18 and up.

"However, recent reports have highlighted just how difficult it is to implement age restrictions on the Internet and that there is no single solution to ensuring younger children don't circumvent a system or lie about their age," the spokesperson continued. "As Mark noted, education is critical to ensuring that people of all ages use the Internet safely and responsibly. We agree with safety experts that communication between parents or guardians and kids about their use of the Internet is vital. We believe that services such as Facebook have a role to play in encouraging this."

Nokia X7 scheduled to arrive in India by June, with Symbian Anna onboard

Nokia has announced it will be launching the Nokia X7 sometime next month in India, within the second quarter of 2011. A 4-inch Symbian device similar to the Nokia N8 and E7, the X7 has the same 4-inch Nokia ClearBlack AMOLED display (16M colours and 640x360 pixels), but a more sharply angled look than its Symbian^3 predecessors. The Nokia X7 will be priced at around 380 Euros, roughly equal to Rs. 25,000.

The X7 as expected features the latest version of Symbian – Symbian Anna, which comes with numerous interface updates, a brand new browser, and many other performance improvements. Read more about the changes here. Powered by the same 680MHz ARM 11 processor and Broadcom BCM2727 GPU combination as the N8, the device has 256MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and will come with a 8GB microSD card pre-installed. It weighs a little more than the N8, at 146 grams, but is a little thinner, at 11.9 millimetres. It has the same 8MP camera as the E7. For detailed specs, refer to our previous coverage.

It has a 1200mAh battery that is rated to deliver up to 450 hours of standby time, up to 6.5 hours of talk time, and up to 50 hours of music play – not too shabby for an entertainment device. What do you think? Does it stand a chance in the market?

Microsoft Office 365: Free-Free-all public beta

Microsoft has annonced that its online productivity suite, Office 365 is now available for any one to try out, as a public beta. The suite will be accessible in 38 countries across the world, and over 17 languages.

Apart from the usual Microsoft Office programs, such as Word and Powerpoint, users also have access to Microsoft Exchange, Sharepoint and Microsoft Lync for realime collaboration. Protection comes via the ForFront security client, and Microsoft promises 99.9 per cent upime for the service. The launch of Office 365's beta is accompanied with a beta of Office 365 Marketplace, which helps users of Office 365 find a variety of apps and services from Microsof and its partners. Log on to Office 365 at - http://bit.ly/fb70XJ

Woohoo! Chromebook

Google I/O: Android Ice Cream Sandwich, 3.1 Honeycomb, Market movie rentals

The Google I/O developer event had a lot big news right from the start, with the launch of Google Music, opening Google Storage for all, and updates to the Google App Engine. Check out all our Google I/O coverage here. The Android team had more to unveil however, from Android Market movie rentals to Android 3.1 Honeycomb, and a few details on the Ice Cream Sandwich we’ve been craving – due out in Q4 2011.

But first,some of the stats announced...Google Android today spans across 310 devices made by 36 OEMs, in 112 countries on 215 carriers. It has 100 million device activations to date, with 400,000 more being added to that list daily. The Android Market holds more than 200,000 apps, and has had 4.5 billion apps installs.

Details of Ice Cream Sandwich were not many, and even the version number has not been officially confirmed yet. What was revealed was exciting nonetheless. Intending it to be its “One OS everywhere,” Google says Ice Cream Sandwich will have a “state of the art UI” and “advanced application framework” suited for tablets, convertible laptops, and phones. Many of the features introduced with Android 3.0 Honeycomb will be adapted for Ice Cream Sandwich, such as the launcher, the rich live widgets and services, and the enhanced multitasking and memory management. A holographic user interface will also be making its way to Ice Cream Sandwich, from the just announced Android 3.1 Honeycomb update.

While Ice Cream Sandwich is only expected to be launched in Q4 2011 (which means first devices in 2012), Android 3.1 is now available for Verizon’s Motorola Xoom customers, and should be available for all by the American summer. Android 3.1 Honeycomb has lots of additions, with new user features in the form of an improved homescreen, enhanced transitions, better launcher and recent app list, improved Wi-Fi networking, system-wide audio feedback, touch-hold customization, and other UI refinements. The list also includes new native apps, such as the browser, gallery, calendar, contacts, and email.

 Android 3.1 also adds broad platform support and a new innovative framework for a variety of USB accessories, including joysticks and gamepads. It’s an interesting development that will also be destined for Android Ice Cream Sandwich. You can read more about it here. Enterprise support has also been improved, with proxy and IP configuration support, and support for an "encrypted storage card" device policy.

Google has also announced a new online movie rental service via the Android Market, though for now, it is for U.S. customers only - a 30-day rental period, with titles starting at $1.99. The movies will be available for all a single user’s devices, from the desktop, to tablet and phone.

In addition to all this stuff, Google also introduced its Android@Home concept, which will allow Android apps “to discover, connect and communicate with appliances,” envisioning a future for Android in more than just smartphones, but smart homes as well

NGP: First Look

Tablet Smackdown: iPad2 v/s Motorola Zoom v/s HP touch Pad v/s BlackBerry PlayBook v/s Galaxy Tab

Apple iPad 2

First up we’ve got the new kid on the block, Apple’s iPad 2. Announced by Steve Jobs to be powered by a dual-core CPU that’s supposedly twice as fast as the current iPad. The new graphics chips are ’9x faster’ too. Impressive, at least on paper. In typical Apple fashion, we don’t have actual figures other than the usual dimensions. Thickness? 8.8mm. That’s one third thinner than the current model.

Interestingly, the new iPad 2 features two cameras, one rear and one front facing and the most interesting specification of them all is the availability of the new white iPad. Apple couldn’t get a white iPhone 4 out the door but no such issues with the iPad 2.



Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Samsung showed off its new Galaxy Tab 10.1 at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with the new tablet hoping to build on the success of its smaller sibling.

Sporting a new 10.1-inch 1280×800 display (hence the name), the new Tab boasts some impressive specifications. Powering that new screen is a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 CPU with both front and rear facing cameras providing the video input. The Tab’s rear camera is capable of HD video recording and has the now obligatory in-built flash.

Software-wise, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will run the latest and greatest from Google’s Android stable, namely 3.0 Honeycomb.



Motorola Xoom

Another Honeycomb-endowed offering is Motorola’s Xoom. Recently released in the United States, the Xoom has been very well received by the gadget press. Arguably a very similar machine to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 – at least spec-wise – the Xoom’s party piece is its LTE capability. The downside here is the wait. Early-adopters will need to send their unit away for a hardware upgrade in order to take advantage of LTE speeds. Fortunately a quick turnaround is promised by Motorola, with 6 days the expected wait.

With the Xoom being powered by Google’s Android OS in its latest Honeycomb guise, there is little to differentiate it from the Galaxy Tab 10.1 when it comes to software. The main difference? The Xoom is in stores now!



HP TouchPad

Originally expected to go under the Palm name, the TouchPad will run on a new version of webOS. Now at version 3.0, webOS is promising to be a truly tablet-optimized experience. Even during the Pre’s death-throws, many believed the OS was the phone’s best attribute and a tablet was always the logical home for a future updated version.

HP isn’t scrimping on the hardware front either. A 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core CPU is the heart of the machine, with 1GB of RAM keeping the CPU busy. An iPad-like 9.7-inch 1024×768 screen is used, along with all the usual radios we’ve come to expect, including a 4G one. The TouchPad does sport a front-facing camera, though there’s nothing around the back.



BlackBerry PlayBook

With PlayBook, Research In Motion (RIM) is the fourth major platform (in no particular order) after Android, iOS and webOS to enter the Tablet Wars. PlayBook features 1Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 1080p HD video playback and HDMI output.

Powered by BlackBerry Tablet OS with UI designed by QNX, RIM’s PlayBook is expected to hit retail shelves in April this year.



Which device you ultimately stump up for very much depends what you want from a tablet device. Apple’s iPad 2 has the massive advantage of being tied into the largest App Store on the planet, though many would also consider that to be its biggest weakness. If you’re the tinkering type, and prefer the more gritty approach of Android then the Xoom or Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be right up your street. The Android Market is constantly growing though the quality of apps perhaps isn’t quite there just yet, and Honeycomb promises a new raft of software specifically designed for tablets. HP’s offering is a real unknown at this point. A new OS, with new hardware from a company that hasn’t done well with mobile devices in the recent-past could prove disastrous though we doubt it. What we’ve already seen of the TouchPad looks mighty impressive, and the thought of webOS on a 9.7-inch screen excites us. Same goes for RIM’s BlackBerry powered PlayBook. Will there be enough apps for HP’s new tablet or RIM’s PlayBook? That’s the real question.

Ultimately the decision as to which tablet is right for you is a personal one. Many will plump for the safety and security of iOS while others want the power of Android. A few will even want to take a chance on the TouchPad or PlayBook, and who could blame them? We’re not sure where our money will be going, but today’s iPad 2 announcement sure makes for an interesting few months ahead.

Is That A Computer?

Veteran game developer David Braben has developed an inexpensive mini-computer for students and enthusiasts, called the Raspberry Pi. For now, no real packaging has been shown, and as it stands, the $25 Raspberry Pi computer looks like nothing more than a small printed circuit board with a USB and HDMI port – in between the two, lies an ARM processor.
Related Stories
How does the computer work? Plug in a USB keyboard at one end, and a monitor via an HDMI cable at the other. Just like the kit computers of yesteryear, Braben intends for the Raspberry Pi to become an educational device that encourage tinkering and fosters creativity and interest in the field of electronics and programming.
While we are not too hopeful the device will actually inspire future generations, it will certainly make a lot of us older tech enthusiasts very happy, and warm up our soldering irons. Braben and team are currently working hard to bring out a new prototype that’s cheaper and more reliable. Check out the specifications below:
CPU: 700MHz ARM11 processorMemory: 128MB SDRAMStandards Supported: OpenGL ES 2.0, 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decodeBundled software: Open software (Ubuntu, Iceweasel, KOffice, Python)Connectivity: Composite and HDMI video output, USB 2.0, SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot, general-purpose I/O

Welcome To Our Blog....

So Hey!
This is Kyle and Taaran here.. We are still stuudents ;). And this is our first blog.
As you can make out frm our name 'ProHack3rs'. We'll provide you with latest tech./science and help/queries about about any computer related problem or you can even buy things from us.
Thanx. :D