Today, Mozilla released the third Firefox for Maemo Release Candidate.
Since RC2, Mozilla said that it had fixed several usability bugs that were found, as well as addressed a number of performance issues.
"To improve page load times and responsiveness, we tuned a number of preferences and improved several algorithms. We?ve sped up zooming and made our panning even better," Mozilla said.
If you?ve already got RC2 installed on your N900 or N810, you will be receiving a software update shortly. Otherwise, you can install it from here.
Mozilla decided to disable plugin (not to be confused with add-ons, which are supported) support for this release. The Adobe Flash plugin
used on many sites degraded the performance of the browser to the point where it didn?t meet Mozilla's standards. If you wish to enable our experimental plugin support, you will be able to manually via about: config, but do so at your own risk. Mozilla said that they were working on an add-on that would allow the user to have control of which sites to enable plugins for, as some sites, like YouTube, do work quite well.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Google Search Is Getting More Social
Google's Social Search is available to everyone in beta on google.com.
With Social Search, when users search for something on Google, they not only do we get the usual websites with expert opinions, they also find relevant pages from their friends and contacts.
"For example, if one of my friends has written a blog where he talks about a great baby shop he found in Mountain View, this might appear in my social results. I could probably find other reviews, but my friend's blog is more relevant because I know and trust the author, "said Maureen Heymans, Technical Lead for Social Search at Google.
Google has also added some new features to the search. For example, they' ve added social to Google Images. Now when you're doing a search on Images, you may start seeing pictures from people in your social circle. These are pictures that your friends and other contacts have published publicly to the web on photo-sharing sites like Picasa Web Albums and Flickr. Just like the other social results, social image results appear under a special heading called "Results from your social circle." Here's what it looks like:
Looking at the screenshot, you may notice two new links for "My social circle" and "My social content." These links will take you to a new interface we've added where you can see the connections and content behind your social results. Clicking on "My social circle" shows your extended network of online contacts and how you're connected.
Clicking on "My social content" lists your public pages that might appear in other people's social results. This new interface should give you a peek under the hood of how Social Search builds your social circle and connects you with web content from your friends and extended network. You can check out your social circle directly by visiting this link. (Note that it may take some time for the connections and content to update.)
The new features are rolling out now on google.com in English for all signed-in users.
With Social Search, when users search for something on Google, they not only do we get the usual websites with expert opinions, they also find relevant pages from their friends and contacts.
"For example, if one of my friends has written a blog where he talks about a great baby shop he found in Mountain View, this might appear in my social results. I could probably find other reviews, but my friend's blog is more relevant because I know and trust the author, "said Maureen Heymans, Technical Lead for Social Search at Google.
Google has also added some new features to the search. For example, they' ve added social to Google Images. Now when you're doing a search on Images, you may start seeing pictures from people in your social circle. These are pictures that your friends and other contacts have published publicly to the web on photo-sharing sites like Picasa Web Albums and Flickr. Just like the other social results, social image results appear under a special heading called "Results from your social circle." Here's what it looks like:
Looking at the screenshot, you may notice two new links for "My social circle" and "My social content." These links will take you to a new interface we've added where you can see the connections and content behind your social results. Clicking on "My social circle" shows your extended network of online contacts and how you're connected.
Clicking on "My social content" lists your public pages that might appear in other people's social results. This new interface should give you a peek under the hood of how Social Search builds your social circle and connects you with web content from your friends and extended network. You can check out your social circle directly by visiting this link. (Note that it may take some time for the connections and content to update.)
The new features are rolling out now on google.com in English for all signed-in users.
DRAMeXchange: iPad stimulates demand of NAND Flash
With the release of Apple's iPad, Apple currently controls over 20% of the NAND flash demand according to a DRAMeXchange estimation.
Therefore, whenever Apple launches new products, the popularity of the new device may bring forth a capacity crunch to the NAND flash market. DRAMeXchange believes that the iPad may sell 1.5million units in the first half of 2010 , a total of 9million?10 million for 2010. Consequently, the iPad will consume approximately 2% of the total NAND flash demand in 2010. DRAMeXchange also expects that the iPad demand created by Apple will exacerbate the shortage situation in 2H10, magnify NAND flash sufficiency ratio from -2.6 to -5.7% for 2010 and from -5.4% to -9.8% for 2H10.
The device is a half-inch thick and weighs about 1.5 pounds with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display. The heart of iPad is a 1GHz Apple-built A4 processor with 10 hours of battery life and 30 days of standby time.
Basically, DRAMeXchange sees the new iPad as an extension of the iPhone/iPod touch product line. iPad essentially works as the way as a iPod touch does, purchasing and listening to music on iTunes, playing games downloaded from Apps stores, surfing the web in the palm of your hand. However, what is intriguing about the new device is the differentiation of the three product lines. If the iPhone is targeted on mobile phone users and the iPod touch is targeted on gamers and iPod users, the iPad is obviously design for e-book reading and light computing.
Apple has struck deals with five major book partners in the U.S. to bring contents to the iBooks, Apple's new e-book reading application available on iPhone/iPod touch/iPad. Book contents are not limited to black and white text e-books like Amazon kindle; everything is displayed in sharp, rich, color. Moreover, we speculate that in future versions of iBooks, publishers may provide dynamic and interactive e-books, author?s video interviews and even social networking applications. Apple reinvented the portable music play industry with iPod, reinvented the mobile phone industry with iPhone, and may as well reinvent the publishing industry with iPad, says DRAMeXchange.
As for the pricing of the new tablet computer, the Wi-Fi only models will come in 16GB for $499, 32GB for $599 and 64GB for $699. The 3G models runs on AT&T with new data plans ? 250MB for $14.99 and an unlimited plan for $29.99 a month contract-free ? and will cost an extra $130 per model. The Wi-Fi only models will be available beginning in April and the 3G model in May. Plans for international release will be announced later this summer.
Therefore, whenever Apple launches new products, the popularity of the new device may bring forth a capacity crunch to the NAND flash market. DRAMeXchange believes that the iPad may sell 1.5million units in the first half of 2010 , a total of 9million?10 million for 2010. Consequently, the iPad will consume approximately 2% of the total NAND flash demand in 2010. DRAMeXchange also expects that the iPad demand created by Apple will exacerbate the shortage situation in 2H10, magnify NAND flash sufficiency ratio from -2.6 to -5.7% for 2010 and from -5.4% to -9.8% for 2H10.
The device is a half-inch thick and weighs about 1.5 pounds with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display. The heart of iPad is a 1GHz Apple-built A4 processor with 10 hours of battery life and 30 days of standby time.
Basically, DRAMeXchange sees the new iPad as an extension of the iPhone/iPod touch product line. iPad essentially works as the way as a iPod touch does, purchasing and listening to music on iTunes, playing games downloaded from Apps stores, surfing the web in the palm of your hand. However, what is intriguing about the new device is the differentiation of the three product lines. If the iPhone is targeted on mobile phone users and the iPod touch is targeted on gamers and iPod users, the iPad is obviously design for e-book reading and light computing.
Apple has struck deals with five major book partners in the U.S. to bring contents to the iBooks, Apple's new e-book reading application available on iPhone/iPod touch/iPad. Book contents are not limited to black and white text e-books like Amazon kindle; everything is displayed in sharp, rich, color. Moreover, we speculate that in future versions of iBooks, publishers may provide dynamic and interactive e-books, author?s video interviews and even social networking applications. Apple reinvented the portable music play industry with iPod, reinvented the mobile phone industry with iPhone, and may as well reinvent the publishing industry with iPad, says DRAMeXchange.
As for the pricing of the new tablet computer, the Wi-Fi only models will come in 16GB for $499, 32GB for $599 and 64GB for $699. The 3G models runs on AT&T with new data plans ? 250MB for $14.99 and an unlimited plan for $29.99 a month contract-free ? and will cost an extra $130 per model. The Wi-Fi only models will be available beginning in April and the 3G model in May. Plans for international release will be announced later this summer.
ASUS Unveils Low Radiation Motherboards
ASUS launched the ASUS Protect 3.0 Design based motherboards, which are equipped with an anti-radiation shielding that lowers the generation and transmission of harmful radiation by up to 50%.
The low levels of radiation lowers the adverse health impact to users and delivers more stable system operations. Additionally, active anti-surge protection helps enhance component and system longevity. Protect 3.0 also includes the ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit) chip to reduce system-wide power consumption by up to 80.23% and to ensure a more environmentally sustainable operation.
On average, users are exposed to about eight hours of electromagnetic radiation daily from computer usage. Protect 3.0 effectively reduces this radiation exposure by up to 50%?achieving the lowest radiation emission levels in the industry. Additionally, a Low Radiation Circuit Design reduces the radiation produced by electrical components by intelligently positioning oppositely-charged electrical flows across each other to cancel out the fields generated. Finally, a Radiation Moat Design eliminates radiation leakage to surrounding components by confining it to small region around an active area.
With its Anti-Surge Design, Protect 3.0 detects under- or overvoltage conditions in components and prevents electrical surges from spreading. Whenever surges occur especially during a thunderstorm or periods of unstable grid power delivery, Anti-Surge will immediately shut off the electrical supply and prevent potential component damage?thus enhancing total system longevity.
For enhanced efficiency and more earth-friendly operations, Protect 3.0 includes the ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit), an energy-saving chip that intelligently reduces power consumption
by up to 80.23%. EPU automatically fine-tunes the power channeled to components such as the CPU in real time for superb efficiency. To further reduce energy consumption, EPU also automatically delivers the most appropriate power via intelligent acceleration and overclocking. Such enhanced efficiency results in less CO2 released to the atmosphere from lower power generation. In fact, 10 million EPU-enabled motherboards can help eliminate up to 207,430 tons of CO2?equivalent to Australia's annual carbon emissions.
The low levels of radiation lowers the adverse health impact to users and delivers more stable system operations. Additionally, active anti-surge protection helps enhance component and system longevity. Protect 3.0 also includes the ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit) chip to reduce system-wide power consumption by up to 80.23% and to ensure a more environmentally sustainable operation.
On average, users are exposed to about eight hours of electromagnetic radiation daily from computer usage. Protect 3.0 effectively reduces this radiation exposure by up to 50%?achieving the lowest radiation emission levels in the industry. Additionally, a Low Radiation Circuit Design reduces the radiation produced by electrical components by intelligently positioning oppositely-charged electrical flows across each other to cancel out the fields generated. Finally, a Radiation Moat Design eliminates radiation leakage to surrounding components by confining it to small region around an active area.
With its Anti-Surge Design, Protect 3.0 detects under- or overvoltage conditions in components and prevents electrical surges from spreading. Whenever surges occur especially during a thunderstorm or periods of unstable grid power delivery, Anti-Surge will immediately shut off the electrical supply and prevent potential component damage?thus enhancing total system longevity.
For enhanced efficiency and more earth-friendly operations, Protect 3.0 includes the ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit), an energy-saving chip that intelligently reduces power consumption
by up to 80.23%. EPU automatically fine-tunes the power channeled to components such as the CPU in real time for superb efficiency. To further reduce energy consumption, EPU also automatically delivers the most appropriate power via intelligent acceleration and overclocking. Such enhanced efficiency results in less CO2 released to the atmosphere from lower power generation. In fact, 10 million EPU-enabled motherboards can help eliminate up to 207,430 tons of CO2?equivalent to Australia's annual carbon emissions.
Intel and Micron to Ship First 25nm Flash Memory Chips
Intel and Micron wil start shipping the industry's first 25-nanometer flash memory chips in Q2 of 2010.
The IM Flash Technologies, the joint venture between Intel and Micron, plan to release the new 64 gigabit (8 gigabyte) MLC (multi-level cell) NAND flash memory chip.
The new chips are aimed at solid-state drives , smartphones, and portable media players.
Intel and Micron are expected to be the firstcompanies to ship 25nm flash products, ahead of Samsung Electronics, the world's largest producer of flash memory, which is expected to starting producing 25nm memory in the end of 2010.
Developing smaller chip manufacturing technology enable companies to increase chip speed, reduce power consumption amd produce more compact chips.
The IM Flash Technologies, the joint venture between Intel and Micron, plan to release the new 64 gigabit (8 gigabyte) MLC (multi-level cell) NAND flash memory chip.
The new chips are aimed at solid-state drives , smartphones, and portable media players.
Intel and Micron are expected to be the firstcompanies to ship 25nm flash products, ahead of Samsung Electronics, the world's largest producer of flash memory, which is expected to starting producing 25nm memory in the end of 2010.
Developing smaller chip manufacturing technology enable companies to increase chip speed, reduce power consumption amd produce more compact chips.
MSI Wind U135
The new platform Pine Trail, designed around the Atom processor N450 and N470, promises a battery life combined with faster performance. While the goal is not to turn in netbook a lightning war, but to earn 10 to 15% performance. We will now see how behaves the new family member Wind, the U135 comes standard with Windows Starter Edition 7. The gain in speed is really sensitive and autonomy, extended by low consumption of the new Intel architecture, it is the appointment?
The regulars of the MSI Wind U100 will be in familiar territory. Indeed, the chassis of the U135 is almost identical to its predecessor. The shiny finish of the hull is relatively sensitive to fingerprints, but almost all manufacturers have succumbed to this mode. However, the quality of plastics is good with a very slight effect on the glittery interior and a discreet design on the outer shell provides a netbook well done although a little thick. The 6 cell battery which exceeds below does not catch up this impression of a machine a little stocky.
Consistency technology seems lot of netbooks. As with the previous generation, release themselves and are very similar. After the 1005P Asus Eee PC and the Samsung N210, this configuration is powered by an Intel Atom N450 clocked at 1.66GHz, backed by 1GB of DDR2 memory and hard drive 250 GB From classic therefore a platform that is at par with other notebooks Pine Trail that we tested. With a score of 1440 in PC Mark 2005, an index to Windows 2.30 and PC Mark 2006 to 147, performance is actually up slightly compared to previous processor Atom N270 and N280 example. The score of the circuit graph has even doubled, but no need to make plans on the comet, it will of course be impossible to play 3D games money on such a machine.
In everyday use, this netbook is for small office, surfing, watching DivX movies, even HD 720p. A test on a 1080p movie that is to say in Full HD proved much less convincing. The CPU is often so overwhelmed with where unpleasant jerks on the screen, because the decoding of certain formats of HD files do that in software mode so without hardware acceleration.
A self-deceptive
It's a surprise, but both say at the outset, not good! For the record, we have also doubled this test facing the wrong result. Given for 7 hours 30 the MSI U135 comes painfully to spend 4 hours reading DivX continuous brightness of the screen to push back. In reality, a user will take more time, but this score is very disappointing compared to other netbooks Pine Trail that we tested under the same conditions (about 6 h 30). Measuring the voltage also shows a higher consumption of nearly 4 watts average of the other champions of the category as the Asus 1005p, for example.
An increase in comfort
With his Chiclets-style keyboard that is to say with key way "favors" well spaced, the U135 can type text without suffering too much despite the small keyboard, which is not designed to rewrite the 'Encyclopedia Britannica. Although seen, a function key is used to cut the touchpad to avoid typing in it accidentally. Without being multipoint touchpad that also progresses and proves acceptable to use with ability to configure vertical and horizontal scrolling. The presence of n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is also a good point and ease further to provide a mobile phone for example. Note however the lack of 3G, which did not differ from the competition.
The regulars of the MSI Wind U100 will be in familiar territory. Indeed, the chassis of the U135 is almost identical to its predecessor. The shiny finish of the hull is relatively sensitive to fingerprints, but almost all manufacturers have succumbed to this mode. However, the quality of plastics is good with a very slight effect on the glittery interior and a discreet design on the outer shell provides a netbook well done although a little thick. The 6 cell battery which exceeds below does not catch up this impression of a machine a little stocky.
Consistency technology seems lot of netbooks. As with the previous generation, release themselves and are very similar. After the 1005P Asus Eee PC and the Samsung N210, this configuration is powered by an Intel Atom N450 clocked at 1.66GHz, backed by 1GB of DDR2 memory and hard drive 250 GB From classic therefore a platform that is at par with other notebooks Pine Trail that we tested. With a score of 1440 in PC Mark 2005, an index to Windows 2.30 and PC Mark 2006 to 147, performance is actually up slightly compared to previous processor Atom N270 and N280 example. The score of the circuit graph has even doubled, but no need to make plans on the comet, it will of course be impossible to play 3D games money on such a machine.
In everyday use, this netbook is for small office, surfing, watching DivX movies, even HD 720p. A test on a 1080p movie that is to say in Full HD proved much less convincing. The CPU is often so overwhelmed with where unpleasant jerks on the screen, because the decoding of certain formats of HD files do that in software mode so without hardware acceleration.
A self-deceptive
It's a surprise, but both say at the outset, not good! For the record, we have also doubled this test facing the wrong result. Given for 7 hours 30 the MSI U135 comes painfully to spend 4 hours reading DivX continuous brightness of the screen to push back. In reality, a user will take more time, but this score is very disappointing compared to other netbooks Pine Trail that we tested under the same conditions (about 6 h 30). Measuring the voltage also shows a higher consumption of nearly 4 watts average of the other champions of the category as the Asus 1005p, for example.
An increase in comfort
With his Chiclets-style keyboard that is to say with key way "favors" well spaced, the U135 can type text without suffering too much despite the small keyboard, which is not designed to rewrite the 'Encyclopedia Britannica. Although seen, a function key is used to cut the touchpad to avoid typing in it accidentally. Without being multipoint touchpad that also progresses and proves acceptable to use with ability to configure vertical and horizontal scrolling. The presence of n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is also a good point and ease further to provide a mobile phone for example. Note however the lack of 3G, which did not differ from the competition.
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