Ibase Technology announced an ATX motherboard that supports Intel's 2011 Core i3, i5, and i7 processors and accepts 16GB of RAM. The MB960 includes six SATA ports, two USB 3.0 ports, seven expansion slots, and three video outputs, according to the company.

(more…)

Acer, Asus, and Leonvo will roll out “Ultrabook” portable computers for under $1000 in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a DigiTimes report. Resembling Windows versions of the successful Apple MacBook Air, the devices will be less than 0.8 inches thick, use Intel Core processors, and employ SSD (solid state disk) storage.

(more…)

Two tech blogs have obtained information and images regarding Google's upcoming “Ice Cream Sandwich” version of Android, apparently from a common source. The release will feature a new, blue-themed user interface, a revised launcher for applications and widgets, and a panorama mode for cameras, among other new features mentioned by Android Police and RootzWiki.

(more…)

Acer announced a seven-inch tablet that runs Android 3.2 (“Honeycomb”) on a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. The $330 Iconia Tab A100 offers 1024 x 600-pixel resolution, 8GB or 16GB of flash storage, dual cameras, plus a microSD slot as well as micro-HDMI and micro-USB ports.

(more…)

Avalue announced a fanless embedded computer featuring shock and vibration resistance and an operating range of -14 to 131 deg. F. The EPS-QM57 is equipped with an Intel Core i7 processor, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, PCI and mini-PCI Express expansion, SATA and CFast storage, plus a wide range of I/O.

(more…)

Portwell announced a Mini-ITX board that includes RAID support and Intel's Xeon E3-1225 processor. The WADE-8011 has six SATA ports (four 3Gb/sec. and two 6Gb/sec.), three video outputs (HDMI, DVI-D, and VGA), eight USB 2.0 ports, plus both PCI Express x16 and PCI Express x1 expansion slots, the company says.

(more…)

Google Wallet and other mobile payment providers, coupled with Near Field Communcation-enabled smartphones, are stimulating the production of contactless technology in cash registers, says ABI Research. Some 85 percent of Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals that ship in 2016 will be “contactless-enabled,” up from 10 percent in 2010, says the research firm.

(more…)

Intel Capital announced a $300 million fund designed to help foster the chipmaker's “Ultrabook” category of portable computers. The money will be invested over the next three to four years “to create a cycle of innovation and system capabilities for this new and growing category of mobile devices,” the company announced.

(more…)

Worldwide mobile device sales reached 428.7 million units in the second quarter, representing a 16.5 percent increase from 2Q 2010, while smartphone sales grew 74 percent in that period, according to Gartner. Android saw the biggest increase in smartphone share, jumping to 43.4 percent, while Microsoft dropped to 1.6 percent, says the research firm.

(more…)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly looking into alleged anti-competitive behavior on the part of Google, including forcing Android OEMs to use its own services. According to The Wall Street Journal, the FTC is said to be preparing subpoenas related to the Android issue, which follows up on an existing investigation into whether Google's search practices violate antitrust law.

(more…)

Lanner announced a small embedded PC that includes an Intel Atom N270 processor, a 2.5-inch drive bay, and a CompactFlash slot. The LEC-2055 has a Mini PCI Expansion slot, three serial ports, two gigabit Ethernet ports, and a VGA port, the company says.

(more…)

Apple has reportedly petitioned a German court — the same one from which it won an iPad-related preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Pad 10.1 earlier this week — with a complaint against the Motorola Xoom and a tablet from German vendor Jay-Tech. Meanwhile, Open Invention Network (OIN) announced 35 new licensees for its Linux patent protection services.

(more…)

Aug. 12 is the 30th anniversary of the IBM Personal Computer — generally seen as having launched PCs into the mainstream of technological advancement. But now, one of the system's original designers claims in a blog posting, PCs are “going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records, CRT, and incandescent light bulbs.”

(more…)

Aaeon announced two industrial system controllers that come with Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processors. The AIS-Q572 and AIS-Q574 include single or dual 3.5-inch hard disk drives, dual gigabit Ethernet ports, eight USB 2.0 ports apiece, and optional DVD readers, among other cited features.

(more…)

CompuLab unveiled two hard disk drive-equipped versions of its tiny, Linux-based, Nvidia Tegra 2 powered computer, a discounted price on its Trim-Slice Pro Dev-Kit, plus Trim-Slice support from Arch Linux and MeeGo's Smart TV group. The $319 Trim-Slice H250 includes a 250GB drive, while the $279 Trim-Slice H Diskless lets users add a disk of their own, says the company.

(more…)