Asus T100 Joins Transformer Book Family

SAN FRANCISCO—The mobile theme at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) is stronger than ever this year, so it's not exactly a surprise that so many PC companies appearing or exhibiting at the show here are adding major new laptops, tablets, or convertibles to their product lines. The latest to do so is Asus, which tonight unveiled two new systems in the Transformer Book family.

The Transformer Book T100 is a close variation of the original Transformer Book convertible Asus revealed at Computex last year. The 10.1-inch system is based on Intel's new quad-core Bay Trail platform, and its two-part dockable design means it can be used as either a traditional laptop or a standalone Windows 8.1 tablet. (It is, for all intents and purposes, a smaller version of the 13.3-inch Transformer Book T300 Asus debuted at IFA last week.) Asus also touted the fact that that T100 will come preinstalled with the Home and Student version of Microsoft Office 2013.

IDF 2013

Taking the concept to the next level is the Transformer Book Trio, which made its initial appearance at Computex back in June. Though it has a two-piece design similar to the T100's, the Trio uses a keyboard dock that contains its own Intel Core i7-4500U processor—meaning it can function as a desktop when the 11.6-inch screen is detached from it and used as a tablet (and that two people can use it for different things at the same time). And when the tablet is docked, you can switch between two operating systems—the dock's Windows 8 and the screen's Android 4.2—with the touch of a button. Interestingly, the Trio's tablet uses a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2760 processor—not one of the new Bay Trail chips.

In addition to the T300, the T100 and Transformer Trio also join a newHaswell-based Asus Chromebook, which was also unveiled today.

According to Asus, pricing for the Transformer Book T100 in the United States will range from $349 (for the 32GB model) to $399 (for 64GB); pricing has not yet been given for the Transformer Book Trio. The T100 will be available October 18 (the same day as Windows 8.1, but Asus has not yet announced official availability for the Trio.

     Source: pcmag

Developer wake-up call: Shift from iOS 6 to iOS 7 is ‘biggest since the original iPhone

Apple formally launched iOS 7 yesterday, and hundreds of thousands of developers around the world are finally, frantically figuring out that the new mobile operating system they’ve had access to for three months in beta form will require significant changes to their apps.

And they’re not ready.

“We have companies coming to us in an absolute panic,” Matt Johnston, the CMO of uTest, told me this morning. “You are going to read some horror stories of very popular apps two weeks after launch that suddenly see their app reviews go way, way down.”

The differences between iOS 6 and iOS7 are both subtle and obvious.

While hopeful developers can try to simply recompile their apps for the Apple’s new mobile operating system, iOS 7′s new look and feel means your old user interface might look clunky and out of place. Worse, apps that try this cheapskate method of upward compatibility are seeing significantly more crashes on iOS 7, Johnston says, and any user of the iOS 7 beta over the last three months can confirm (me included).

More significant, the new operating system renders elements differently, with overlays and transparencies, and old apps could find elements not just looking odd, but also actually out of place. For example, iOS 7 has OS-wide text size settings, meaning that some buttons with dynamic text in your app could be faced with overflowing text. And one key challenge is the curveball Apple threw everyone: 64 bit.

“A lot of companies weren’t expecting this … it caught everyone off guard,” Johnston says. “That means that the world of development and testing just got that much harder – now you have a 32-bit iOS compilation and a 64-bit iOS version.”

Not all developers have been entirely surprised, of course.

Many have been planning for iOS 7 since summer, working with the beta release, and gradually adjusting their apps to an iOS 7-optimized version. They’ll be ready to launch as soon as Apple pulls the trigger on the OS — and Apple did notify all iOS developers yesterday, asking them to submit their iOS 7 apps as soon as possible.

But while uTest, which tests web and mobile apps for customers like Google, HBO, and Amazon through a global crowdsourced army of 100,000 testers in 200 countries, saw a significant number of requests for iOS testing in July, the number jumped 10 times between the first week of August and the last — and even higher in last couple of weeks.

“The number of inquires blew away anything we saw in August,” Johnston told me.

The new iPhones are actually great for owners, he said. The iPhone 5S, particularly, with its high-powered 64-bit processor and beefy graphics capability, is going to provide for significantly better and more engaging apps, especially games. But they do bring new challenges for already-busy developers, with a change that rivals that from the first iPhone to the second.

And the easy way out isn’t really the easy way out:

“iOS 7 is a different user experience, and it is a significant difference,” he said. “If developers just compile for iOS 7, there are going to be noticeable flaws.”

In difficulty lies opportunity, however, and some companies are using the switchover as a chance to differentiate themselves from the app store pack — and make more money:

“For some developers, this iOS change represents opportunity,” says Todd Anglin of cross-platform development tool maker Telerik. “A mini gold rush may occur as developers hope to ride the wave of interest in new iOS 7 ready apps. Some developers, who have for years been largely forced to give away iOS app updates for free, are using the major iOS 7 transition to introduce new versions of their apps that must be re-purchased.”

    Source and Read more: venturebeat

Galactic Clouds Where Stars Are Born 'Mapped Out'; Identified Through Poisonous Carbon Monoxide

Researchers are mapping out the locations of mysterious galactic clouds. (Photo : NASA)

Scientists are creating a map of the mysterious galactic clouds where stars are born.

"One of the largest unresolved mysteries in galactic astronomy is how these giant, diffuse clouds form in the interstellar medium. This process plays a key role in the cosmic cycle of birth and death of stars," team leader Professor Michael Burton, of the University of New South Wales School of Physics, said, a UNSW press release reported.

The gas-cloud wombs can be up to 100 light-years long.  Researchers were able to identify the galactic clouds of molecular gas through the carbon monoxide they inherently contain.

The clouds could form when an "ensemble" of small clouds conjoins into one large entity. They are fed by dying stars, and about one star per year is born in their midst in the Milky Way.

"On Earth, carbon monoxide is poisonous - a silent killer. But in space, it is the second most abundant molecule and the easiest to see," Burton said.

The research team examined the galactic clouds with the Mopra millimetre wave telescope that was almost destroyed in a recent brush fire.

The team is also on the hunt for "dark" galactic gas clouds, which are harder to see because they do not contain revealing carbon monoxide. The clouds are believed to be made up of molecular hydrogen, which is so cold it makes detection almost impossible.

Telescopes in Chile and Antarctica are being used to search for evidence of the clouds' carbon atoms, instead of their carbon molecules.

Researchers will use the surveys to "map out" the distribution and movement of these evasive gas clouds.

There is a chance these "dark" clouds could be the source of unexplained gamma rays, "which are produced when high-energy cosmic rays interact with the nuclei of gas atoms or molecules they encounter when travelling through space," the press release reported.

"The source of more than 30 percent of gamma rays remains unidentified - another big mystery our research could throw light on," Burton said.

      Source: hngn.com/

Акции Apple рухнули после презентации новых моделей iPhone

Фото с сайта ferra.ru

Акции компании Apple упали сразу почти на восемь процентов после презентации новых моделей iPhone, о чем свидетельствуют данные биржи Nasdaq. The Wall Street Journal пишет, что это обусловлено разочарованием инвесторов в ценах на продукцию Apple.

Сразу же после презентации iPhone 5C и iPhone 5S, которая состоялась 10 сентября, акции компании потеряли в цене 2,3 процента. Их стоимость составила 494,64 доллара. На следующий день падение продолжилось и составило 5,44 от уровня предыдущего дня — 467,71 доллара.

Издание поясняет, что инвесторы надеялись на бюджетную версию iPhone, однако компания эти надежды не оправдала. iPhone 5C, который Apple называет таковым, слишком дорог для развивающихся рынков.

Заявленная стоимость смартфона iPhone 5C вместе с операторским контрактом составит от 99 до 199 долларов за 16-гигабайтную и 32 гигабайтную модели соответственно. Более дорогой iPhone 5S обойдет покупателям в 199-399 долларов. Продажи обеих моделей стартуют 20 сентября в девяти странах мира. В России аппараты появятся на прилавках магазинов только в декабре.

Стоимость акций Apple традиционно растет перед выпуском на рынок новых моделей смартфонов. И если ранее показатель роста отличался стабильностью и составлял четыре процента перед выходом каждой модели, то в преддверие продаж iPhone5, которые начались осенью прошлого года, акции подорожали сразу на шесть процентов. Цена акций составляла более 700 долларов за штуку. Впрочем, вскоре последовал спад и в начале лета нынешнего года цена акций опустилась ниже 400 долларов.

   источник:km.ru

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