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Shuttle announced a mini PC that includes multiple expansion slots and is designed so that an SSD (solid state drive) can augment its hard disk speed. The SZ68R5 supports Intel “Sandy Bridge” Core processors, accepts up to 32GB of RAM in four DIMM slots, has three drive bays (one 5.25-inch, two 3.5-inch), and includes 12 USB ports, according to the company.
Userful Corp. announced a new version of its multiseat Linux PC sharing software, now Ethernet-ready and bundled with a $99 HP t200 thin client. The “Userful MultiSeat with HP t200 thin client” solution turns one Edubuntu-based Linux PC into up to 15 computer stations, enabling faster networking than the previous USB-only release, says the company.
SeaMicro says it has packed 64 Intel Xeon processors into a device it says “uses half the power, takes one-third the space, and delivers twelve times the bandwidth of today's best-in-class servers.” The SM10000-XE has up to 2 terabytes of DDR3 memory, up to 64 SATA hard disks or solid state drives (SSDs), and up to 16 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) or 64 1GbE ports, the company says.
[Updated: Feb. 2] — Members of the KDE Plasma Active community announced an open source tablet platform that runs the mobile-oriented version of KDE's Plasma UI layer on a MeeGo Linux-based “Mer” operating system. The seven-inch “Spark” tablet features a 1GHz AMLogic ARM Cortex-A9 processor with a Mali-400 GPU, offers 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, an SD slot, and a projected price of about 200 Euros ($262).
Symantec has warned of “a new Trojan horse” called Android.Counterclank, which attaches to applications in the Android Market and may be used to run malicious code on users' smartphones and tablets. Taking a slightly different view, Lookout Mobile Security says Counterclank is merely “an aggressive form of ad network” but nonethless “should be taken seriously.”
Habey announced a fanless embedded PC equipped with Intel's new dual-core Atom N2800 (1.86GHz) or D2700 (2.13GHz) “Cedar Trail” processors and up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM. The BIS-6630 features an SATA bay and dual Mini PCI Express slots, dual gigabit Ethernet ports, six USB 2.0 ports, dual serial ports, and both VGA and DVI-D video ports, the company says.
Verizon's LG Spectrum phone — equipped with 4G LTE, a great 4.5-inch screen, and a dual-core, 1.5GHz processor — provides speed and impressive battery life, according to this eWEEK review. However, author Clint Boulton adds, the touchscreen was sometimes unresponsive, and the customizations LG has layered on Android 2.3 aren't much of a success.
Samsung announced a 1GHz “Galaxy S Advance” phone running Android 2.3 on a dual-core 1GHz processor and featuring a four-inch Super-AMOLED screen — slated for Russia in February. Meanwhile, Motorola announced a Europe-targeted, unlockable “Razr Developer Edition” and is preparing a similar Android device for the U.S. “in the coming months.”
MSC Vertriebs announced a Qseven module powered by the Texas Instruments (TI) C6A8168 chip, which combines a 1.5GHz ARM Cortex-A8 core with a 1.5GHz digital signal processor (DSP). Designed for “demanding image processing” applications, the Q7-TI8168 includes 1GB of DDR3 memory, up to 8GB of flash storage, two SATA ports, six USB ports, and an HDMI/DVI interface, according to the company.
Some 37 million Apple iPhones shipped worldwide in the fourth quarter, besting Samsung's 33 million shipments and reducing Android's share to 47 percent, says ABI Research, echoed by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech and Good Technology. Meanwhile, Android tablets surged to 39 percent share worldwide in Q4 2011, but still trail Apple's 58 percent iPad share, says Strategy Analytics.
ZTE is readying a number of seven-inch Android tablets, starting with a dual-core, Android 3.2-based ZTE Optik tablet heading for Sprint Feb. 5 and a similar, but 4G LTE-equipped V66 tablet headed for Verizon, reports say. Meanwhile, a seven-inch ZTE V9A Light Tab 2 just went on pre-order in the U.K, and we're still waiting for two tablets ZTE showed at the Consumer Electronics Show: a seven-inch T72 tablet and quad-core T98.
America's first public “WhiteFi” network, leveraging spectrum previously occupied by analog TV channels, has been launched in North Carolina. Running at 1.5 to 3.1 MB/sec., the service will initially be used mostly for municipal functions such as surveillance cameras and transmitting water quality data, according to reports.
Chromebooks from Samsung and Acer running Google's Chrome OS may not be catching on with consumers, but hundreds of schools across the country have adopted the web-oriented notebooks, the search giant claims. Earlier this month at CES, Samsung showed off a sleeker new version of the Chromebook that switches to a faster Intel Celeron processor, also promising it would release a “Chromebox” mini-PC.
Verizon is now offering Motorola's Droid Razr Maxx for $300, with a claimed battery life of up to 21 hours. With a dual-core, 1.2GHz processor, 4.3-inch screen, and an eight megapixel camera, the device is otherwise similar to the previously released Droid Razr, but it's thicker by approximately 2mm.
PocketBook International announced a seven-inch tablet that runs Android 2.3.7 on a 1GHz TI OMAP3621 processor. The PocketBook A 7″ is equipped with 512MB of RAM, 2GB of accessible onboard storage, a seven-inch, 1024 x 600 touchscreen, a two-megapixel camera, and Android Market access, according to the company.