Lenovo has unveiled the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, claiming that the carbon fibre constructed notebook is the world's lightest 14-inch notebook.
Lenovo's X-range represents the firm's more ultraportable offerings, often with pricey price tags and impressively slender dimensions and specifications. Now the Chinese manufacturer's flagship ultrabook has appeared under the ThinkPad X guise.
When it comes to size and weight, the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon is no disappointment, revealing an astonishingly slender 18mm chassis weighing just 1.3kg. The X1 also crams in a backlit keyboard with Lenovo's trademark 'pointing stick' or 'nipple' as it's affectionately known with a regular touch trackpad to boot.
The 14-inch screen offers 1600 x 900 resolution with a bright 300-nit display. Ports are rounded out with full-sized USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, SD card reader, Mini DisplayPort and there's even a fingerprint reader.
Intel's ultrabook initiative appears to have given a solid boost to the specifications of Lenovo's X1 Carbon versus the previous 13-inch non-ultrabook model. Shaving 300gr off the weight, adding an inch of screen size and upping the resolution from the former X1's 1366 x 768 .
As you'd expect, Lenovo is decking out the ThinkPad X1 Carbon with Intel Ivy Bridge processors but didn't say exactly what model. The company is also tight-lipped about the exact release date.
While the sexy X1 has received much of the attention, Lenovo have also refreshed much of the ThinkPad lineup with Ivy Bridge upgrades including the T-series enterprise ThinkPads. Also the beefy desktop replacement W-series with RAID drives and even another couple of models in the portable X-series, the ThinkPad X230 and X230t.
Which is all very nice but the X1 Carbon, phwoar eh?

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ightest/028345 ...

AMD has finally launched its long-anticipated second generation A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (aka APUs).
Aimed at mainstream and ultrabook notebooks, all-in-ones, traditional desktops, home theatre PCs, and embedded designs (there can't be much left over, surely?), AMD claims the new offering, formerly code-named Trinity, has up to 12 hours of battery life, and double the performance-per-watt compared to the previous generation.
The 17-watt APU is also said to give users 'an affordable and uncompromised visual experience for ultrathins'.
AMD said it now has a record number of APU-based notebook design 'wins' with manufacturers ranging from Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and Sony to Toshiba
Going back to the new A-Series APUs, they come with the AMD HD Media Accelerator, which is designed to optimise video quality and accelerate video file conversion.
There is also reportedly an increase in CPU performance of up to 29 percent with higher processor speeds because of the next-generation AMD 'Piledriver' CPU core with 3rd generation AMD Turbo Core technology, where power is dynamically shifted between the CPU and GPU depending on application needs, to provide a more responsive experience that can boost CPU frequencies to up to 3.2 GHz.
AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics should increase graphics performance by up to 56 per cent over the previous generation.
“The latest OEM notebooks, ultrathins, all-in-ones and desktops based on the new AMD A-Series APU enable the best video and gaming experiences, highly responsive performance with AMD Turbo CORE, and accelerates an ever-increasing range of productivity and multimedia applications - in sleek, stylish designs at price points that make sense,” said Chris Cloran, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Client Business Unit. “Our 2nd Generation AMD A-Series APU is a major step forward in every performance and power dimension, allowing users to enjoy a stunning experience without having to give up the things that matter to them most. This experience doesn’t stop at mainstream notebooks. It carries over into affordable ultrathin form factors featuring the latest in AMD Radeon graphics.”

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ies-apu/028347 ...

Just seen this over at ebay UK for a great deal:




Sharper, smarter, and better, the Bluetooth-enabled 3rd Generation Apple iPad is nothing short of a technological breakthrough. The Retina display of The new iPad, with 2048-by-1536 resolution (that’s four times the number of pixels in iPad 2 and a million more than an 1080P HDTV) and 44 percent greater color saturation, yields amazingly detailed and sharp images. Featuring a 5 MP iSight camera with a backside illumination sensor, this Apple iPad will delight you with its exceptionally rich photos and the ability to take 1080p HD videos. The built-in Apple A5X chip with quad-core graphics powers the 3.1 million pixels contained in the 9.7-inch display and generates an unfaltering response for all sorts of operations on this Apple iPad. Your voice will be its command - the Dictation feature in the 3rd Generation Apple iPad types as you speak, be it e-mails or status updates on social networking sites. What’s more, the AirPlay feature in The new iPad lets you wirelessly stream your favorite stuff to your speakers or an HDTV.

Check it out here --> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2907125953...m=290712595315 ...

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Despite never having been released for Wii in North America, the Wii's "New Play Control" version of Pikmin 2 will be released as part of the "Nintendo Selects" line June 10, alongside fellow GameCube port Mario Power Tennis. Rather than question the logistics of a budget re-release of a game that was never released in the first place, we'll celebrate the $19.99 price point under which it's coming out.

Also joining the Nintendo Selects line are two bona fide Wii games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the excellent Donkey Kong Country Returns, at $30 each. It's about (two years past) time for Brawl to be made cheaper, though it's unusual that these two games will sell for $10 above the normal Nintendo Selects price.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/14/pi...c-returns-and/ ...

Certainly it's no great shocker that Amazon's got plans for a new e-reader and tablet later this year. Nor should anyone be particularly surprised at the prospect of a front-lit reader from the retail giant set to compete directly with the latest Nook offering. Reuters, however, claims to have some insight into both, courtesy of an anonymous source. Apparently the aforementioned reader is set for a July launch, arriving in the customary Wifi and 3G varieties. The tablet, meanwhile, is set for a release "closer to the holiday season," according to the source. Amazon, E Ink and the like naturally refused to comment on the matter.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/14/r...-for-july-new/ ...

It's not the tantalizing bit of Windows 8 bait you'd expect in the lead up to that revolutionary OS' official launch, but for a certain domestic segment, it'll do. As part and parcel of its Release Preview -- slated for a June bow-- Microsoft's making the busywork of keeping digital tabs on your household ankle biters an integrated and easily managed feature of the two-faced system, accessible via the "Family Safety" option. Once enabled on the account profile for an underage user, parents will have the ability to receive weekly activity reports detailing web usage, as well as set site / application restrictions, search filters and time limits for PC usage. Despite Redmond's best efforts, there's still one wall this virtual oversight won't let you breach -- your child's Facebook account. For that, you'll just have to make friends. Head on past the break for the company's helpful how-to video.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/14/w...ge-users-thro/ ...

Former Xbox exec attributes part of console's current standing to "really, really bad" transition to PlayStation 3
Former Xbox executive Robbie Bach attributes some of the Xbox 360's success to a series of "not so smart" decisions on the part of its main console rival, Sony.
Speaking at the Northwest Entrepreneur Network - as reported by GeekWire - Bach detailed some of the key decisions that helped secure a place for the Xbox in the console market. However, a number of key factors had nothing to do with Microsoft at all.
"[Sony] mismanaged [its] 70 per cent market share," Bach said. "The transition to PlayStation 3 was really, really bad. And really hard. They mismanaged their partners, they mismanaged their cost structure. They made their next platform so complicated that developers couldn't develop for it."
Bach presided over Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division for much of the Xbox era. During his tenure the console raced ahead of Sony's PlayStation, and Bach emphasised the importance of strong relationships with partners to achieving that goal.
"You need friends. It's just the way life works," he continued. "It turned out we were able to convince retailers and publishers like Activision, Electronic Arts and others, that it was a good thing for Microsoft to be successful, because if we were not successful, the only game in town was Sony.
"Being dependent on somebody else was bad for them, and so they supported us disproportionately to what they should have, mathematically."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...sonys-mistakes
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Analysts not so bullish on Sony's projections for Vita
PlayStation Vita certainly still has time to turn things around, but the picture so far is pretty dismal. With just 1.8 million units sold worldwide, financial analysts aren't so optimistic that Sony will hit its own goal of 10 million sold by the end of the fiscal year next March. RW Baird's Colin Sebastian told GamesIndustry International that 10 million at this point looks like a "stretch."
"10 million looks like a stretch goal at this point. Perhaps there is a price cut baked into that guidance later in the year, or Sony believe that there are titles such as Call of Duty for Vita that will be meaningful platform drivers," he said. "Vita is a great dedicated game device, but the market for those products continues to shrink as smart devices become better platforms for games."
The price point is something that many have questioned ever since Vita's launch. At $249 for the Wi-Fi version, many consumers may feel the price isn't justified.
"The best thing Sony could do to spur Vita sales would be to lower the price of the device"
Asif Khan

"I am not surprised that the Vita is having such sluggish sales as their launch lineup was nothing to write home about and the price point of the device is too high. With Wii U coming out this fall and 3DS sales gaining momentum, the 10 million unit sales target seems a little too optimistic. The best thing Sony could do to spur Vita sales would be to lower the price of the device," commented Asif Khan, CEO of Panoptic Management Consultants.
Given Sony's bigger financial woes and the need to overhaul its business, however, a price cut on Vita may be too much to swallow.
"Sadly, this poor start to Vita's sales is just compounding problems surrounding the ongoing restructuring of the company. We never believed Vita would be a true profit driver for the company, so its disappointing start is not that shocking. Sony needs to rethink their entire business model, streamline product offerings, and focus on making higher margin quality products," Khan continued.
"Unfortunately, PS Vita's margins will have to suffer through price cuts if they want to start moving more units out of stores. The price cut of the 3DS was exactly the catalyst Nintendo needed to jumpstart sales after a similar lackluster launch. That being said, Sony has bigger problems than a Vita price cut can solve."
Lewis Ward, IDC Research Manager, agrees that Vita hitting 10 million sold by March 2013 will be tough, but it's not impossible. "My global estimate for Vita hardware sales in calendar year 2012 is a little over 9 million. 
Vita only had about a month of sales beyond Japan in Sony's last fiscal year so I think it's likely the 1.8 million total will be matched or beaten in the next couple quarters."

A lot will be riding on Vita's 2012 holiday lineup, and you can bet that Sony will try to shine a spotlight on it during E3 next month. "I suspect the holiday 2012 lineup will be pretty solid - especially if the Call of Duty rumor is true - which could push total Vita sales over 9 million this year. I think it's an excellent device for the 'core' gaming community, so hitting their hardware sales target will mainly boil down to delivering uniquely great gaming experiences," Ward added.
While Vita certainly hasn't performed as well as Sony would have liked just yet, Billy Pidgeon of M2 Research was quick to remind us that hardware sales in 2012 so far have been pretty soft for just about all platforms.
"I would have liked to see stronger PS Vita sales, but hardware performance has been poor overall in Q1 2012. Like any new hardware, PS Vita needs exclusive software to spike system sales," he noted. "There are some promising titles coming up, including Resistance: Burning Skies, Gravity Rush and Little Big Planet, along with some third party titles including Street Fighter x Tekken, Silent Hill: Book of Memories and Metal Gear Solid HD Collection."
Pidgeon agrees that E3 could be a key event for Sony to lay out its Vita plans and perhaps spark some more interest in the portable.
"Sony should announce more must have titles for PS Vita at E3. Ideally some of those will come out in Q4 2012, as that will be the crucial sales period to close in on an installed base of 10 million for next fiscal year."


http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...lude-price-cut

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