Advanced Micro Devices Inc., struggling to re-establish its data centre chip business, said Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans to provide cloud-computing services based on its graphics semiconductors.
China's largest e-commerce company is working on expanding the range of services it offers over the internet and will work with Advanced Micro Devices to use the chipmaker's Radeon Pro graphics, the companies said Friday in a statement.
For AMD, which is the second-largest maker of graphics chips used in high-end computers behind Nvidia Corp., the deal is the chance to kick start a return to the lucrative data centre market dominated by Intel Corp. Graphics chips are playing an increasing role in data centres where their ability to process information in parallel makes them useful in certain work loads such as image recognition.
Nvidia has pioneered this more general use of the chips, which had mainly been used by computer gamers to get a more realistic experience from their hardware. AMD, based in Sunnyvale, California, has begun its fight back from market share losses to Nvidia in graphics and Intel in general purpose processors with new products that have closed the gap in performance.
AMD's stock has more than doubled this year, making it the best performer on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index, spurred by improving sales and progress in its attempt to return to profitability.
Google-centric Chromebooks are turning out to be a big deal and they’re only getting bigger. Shipments of laptops running Chrome OS increased 67 percent in the third quarter of 2014 compared to the previous quarter, according to market research firm ABI Research.
A big jump like that should be expected, however, when comparing a spring-summer selling period to the back-to-school season. What’s really interesting is that ABI expects Chromebook shipments to double in size for 2014 compared to 2013. ABI also predicts that North America will account for 78 percent of worldwide Chromebook sales for 2014.
Why this matters: The PC market ain’t what it used to be, but Chromebooks are surging in popularity. Google recently claimed that Chromebooks now account for 50 percent of sales to education institutions in the U.S., according to OMG Chrome. Microsoft has also noticed this trend and went after the growing popularity of Chromebooks during IFA Berlin in September. During the trade show, Windows PC makers—who also happen to be Chromebook makers—announced a bunch of dirt cheap, low-spec Windows laptops to compete with Chrome OS devices.
More than just a browser in a box
Chromebooks started out as devices that were more or less useless without an Internet connection. Since then, however, Chrome OS has morphed into a more powerful platform with offline functionality, a special version of Adobe Photoshop, a growing catalog of desktop-like apps, and deep integration with Android.
Add to that Google’s popular suite of productivity apps from Gmail to Google Drive and it’s easy to see why Chromebooks are becoming more popular. The fact that they’re very inexpensive and easy-peasy to maintain surely helps as well.
Further reading: ARM vs. Intel: Why chipmakers want your Chromebook’s brains
Not content with just Chromebooks, Google is also expanding Chrome OS functionality into other platforms. This is especially true for Windows, where anyone running Windows 8.1 can run Chrome in modern UI mode, where it basically transforms into a Windows-friendly version of Chrome OS.
Allowing people to become comfortable using the Chrome ecosystem within a PC platform they’re already used to could earn Google a few more converts to Chrome OS over time.
But let’s not be too bullish. It’s still early days for the Chromebook, and fighting Microsoft on its home turf of the PC market rarely turns out well. As ABI points out, Chromebooks could turn out to be just another fad like netbooks before them, especially once a wave of low-cost, Windows 8.1 with Bing-powered laptops flood the market.
But netbooks were killed by tablets, not Microsoft. And unlike netbooks, Chromebooks are full-sized laptops that are well-designed (Er, at least the latest models). Add to that the Chromebook’s low pricing—not to mention Google’s major investment in the Chrome OS platform—and it’s hard to see Chromebooks disappearing overnight the way netbooks did.
The now-familiar knock seemingly started when the very first Googley laptop rolled off the line. “Sure, Chromebooks are nice, but they can’t run Photoshop.”
Well, that just isn’t true anymore. Nor are many other Chromebook myths.
From Photoshop to Office and beyond, here are five powerful things you might be surprised to learn you can do with a Chromebook.
1. Edit images with Adobe Photoshop
Adobe and Google recently announced they’d be making Photoshop available as a streaming Chrome app. This means Photoshop will work on Chrome OS, and even in Chrome on desktop Linux! To do this, the Windows version of Chrome will run on Adobe’s servers and be streamed to your Chrome web browser.
GOOGLE
Photoshop on a Chromebook
It sounds unnecessarily complicated (and means an Internet connection is vital), but Photoshop is actually such a demanding application that this could be useful. When you use demanding functions, they can be sped up because they’re running on Adobe’s servers—they won’t drain your laptop’s battery faster or send modest Chromebook processors screaming. Photoshop will be integrated with Google Drive, so you can easily keep track of your files.
Currently, this feature is in beta and available only to “select North America based Adobe education customers with a paid Creative Cloud membership.” But it should eventually come to all Creative Cloud subscribers.
2. Use Microsoft Office
Microsoft likes to trumpet how Chromebooks don’t have the full desktop version of Microsoft Office, and that’s true. But unless you’re an accountant, you probably don’t need all those fancy features.
Microsoft offers a completely free web-based version of Office called Office Online, complete with Word Online, Excel Online, and PowerPoint Online. Microsoft even makes these apps available in the Chrome Web Store. These web apps aren’t just for Chromebook users, though. Windows users could use Office Online to get an official Microsoft Office experience for free, and they let desktop Linux users use an official version of Microsoft Office without hacking around in Wine, too.
The Word Online web app in Chrome OS.
If you tried Microsoft’s “Office Web Apps” in the past and weren’t crazy about them, give them another try. Reborn as Office Online they’ve been much improved.
Compared to Google Docs, Office Online doesn’t offer any offline support, which is a bit of a bummer. But it does provide a familiar interface and more-or-less guaranteed compatibility with Microsoft Office documents. It saves those Office documents to OneDrive, where you can access them using Office apps on any other device—even the full desktop version of Office on your Windows or Mac.
3. Run (almost) any Android app
Google is working toward allowing all Android apps to run on Chrome OS. They recently released just four Android apps for Chrome, but enterprising hackers (the good kind) have found ways to make (almost) any Android app run on a Chromebook. Yes, this means you can now use Skype on a Chromebook.
The Skype Android app running in a Chromebook, complete with system notifications enabled.
This is becoming easier all the time. You can now use the ARChon Package app on Android to quickly convert an Android app to run on Chrome, or install the twerk Chrome app to quickly package an APK file for installation in Chrome.
This feature is very likely to keep improving, so apps that don’t work perfectly now should eventually work better. When Google is done, Chromebooks will be able to access a whole new universe of software without any hacks whatsoever.
4. Work offline
Yes, you can work offline on a Chromebook. Read your Gmail and compose new messages? Sure. View your Google Calendar? No problem. Edit documents in Google Drive? You got it.
Setting up some of Chrome OS’s offline capabilities.
Beyond the basics, you can download Kindle eBooks, videos, music, and PDFs to view offline. Use a Chrome app like Google Keep to compose notes or manage your to-do list with an app like Wunderlist or Any.DO. You can even purchase TV shows and movies from Google Play Movies & TV and download them to watch them offline, too. If you just want to kill some time, you can also install games that run offline.
Sure, many things on a Chromebook can only be done online, but let’s stop pretending that’s unique to Chromebooks. It’s 2014, and even a Windows or Linux laptop feels practically unusable when there’s no Internet connection available.
And, in Chrome 39—which is still working its way through development versions, so you probably won’t have this feature yet—you’ll be able to play an endless running gamewhenever you see an “Unable to connect to the Internet” page.
5. Use a full desktop operating system
This last feature isn’t for the novice users that just buy Chromebooks for their simplicity. But this is World Beyond Windows, where I tout the benefits of Linux, so I can’t leave it out.
Flip the developer mode switch (it’s in software now, but it used to be a hardware switch) and you can get full access to your Chromebook’s internals. You can install a full desktop Linux system (like Ubuntu) alongside your Chrome OS system. Flip over to the Linux system when you want to do some work with traditional desktop apps and powerful terminal commands.
Steam for Linux running in Ubuntu running on a Chromebook. Softwareception!
Or, even better, install Steam for Linux and play games—as long as you have an Intel-based Chromebook and not an ARM one, that is. Or, with Steam in-home streaming, you could run those games on your gaming PC and stream them to a Chromebook running Steam for Linux.
You could also install other Linux applications like Minecraft and Skype for Linux, both of which are now Microsoft applications. Yup, Microsoft makes Skype (and now Minecraft) for desktop Linux, but not Chrome OS. MakeUseOf has a great primer on installing Linux on a Chromebook if you’re curious.
The list of things a Chromebook can’t do is shrinking rapidly. Recent advancements like Chrome apps, Android apps on Chromebooks, and Photoshop for Chrome OS show Google is serious about evolving the platform. It can all seem a bit messy—shouldn’t developers be making Chrome apps and not Android apps?—but it’s undeniably making Chromebooks more powerful and capable.
In the race to create a laptop that takes advantage of Windows 8's touch-friendly interface, manufacturers have developed a plethora of sliding and rotating laptop-tablet hybrids. While it already has the sliding Duo, Sony is introducing a new design with the $899 VAIO Flip 14. This 14-inch laptop has a screen that can flip 180 degrees and then fold against the keyboard. Add in long battery life and good sound and you have a mostly satisfying laptop-first combo device. - See more at: http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/sony-vaio-flip-14a#sthash.nhIUiWn5.dpuf
Lenovo has been going through a rough patch. The brand’s consumer laptops were preloaded with adware that left users open to security attacks, although the company has since apologized and removed the offending software. But that’s not the only issue. In our undercover testing, Lenovo’s tech support was subpar. Plus, the review ratings haven’t been as strong as in years past, and the quality of the company’s keyboards and touchpads has been mixed. All that added up to Lenovo falling from an excellent second place last year to sixth in this year’s Best and Worst Brands survey. Lenovo’s lineup offers a good mix of value and selection, and it generally offers high-quality business notebooks, but that wasn’t enough to avoid a middling overall score.
The Logitech Type-S is a thin and light protective keyboard case for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and protects both sides of your Galaxy Tab S from accidental bumps, scratches and spills. Its built-in Bluetooth® keyboard and well-spaced keys provide a fast and comfortable typing experience. The dual-view stand caters to different activities from typing to reading to chatting online, and includes an auto-wake auto-sleep feature so that the tablet wakes when you open the case. The Logitech Type-S is also now available in bright red.
• Everyday essentials
• Available with Windows 8.1
• For the budget conscious
• Handle daily tasks with ease
• Built-in DVD drive & optional touch
• Available up to 39.6cm (15.6) screens
Tech Deals of the Week: Big Savings on Laptops, Speakers, Cameras, and More
This week in Tech Deals of the Week we have Lenovo laptops with free extended-warranty packs, an all-in-one laser printer that's as workaholic as you, a JBL speaker dock for your old iPod or iPhone, 2.1 speaker system from Logitech, and a whole lot more. Go ahead, make some smart buying decisions this week!
1. Free 2-year additional warranty on select Lenovo laptops at Amazon Amazon and Lenovo are offering free 2-year extended warranty on select laptops purchased at Amazon. There's an additional Rs. 1,000 off on these laptops, along with a free laptop bag. Some of these laptops already carry a discounted price tag which makes this deal totally worth it. Some great picks from this offer include the Lenovo 15.6-inch laptop which comes with a 1.9GHz Core i3 processor, supported by 6GB of RAM, and includes a 1TB hard drive at a price tag of Rs. 36,990. Another variant in the same display-size category with the Core i5 processor, and 6GB RAM is available for Rs. 43,999. Both these laptops run Windows 8 out of the box. In case you're in the market for sub 30,000 machine, the Lenovo 15.6-inch laptop with Core i3, 2GB RAM, and 500GB hard drive fits the bill at a price of Rs. 25,999. This laptop doesn't include Windows 8, instead it ships with DOS.
2. Ricoh Aficio SP203SF multifunction workaholic laser printer Snapdeal has discounted the Ricoh Aficio SP203SF multifunction laser printer down to Rs. 8,641. The printer comes with a scanner that can allow users to scan and make copies. There's an in-built fax machine as well, if that's still your thing. The Ricoh Aficio SP203SF can make a great replacement for your old laser printer at the office or home. If you print a lot, and need to upgrade your old laser printer with a new all-in-one, you should totally consider this. The company promises a short warm up time of 25 seconds, and a duty cycle of around 20,000 pages per month. The maximum resolution supported by the printer if 1200x600dpi, and it can print up to 22 pages per minute in A4 sizes.
Amazon is selling the Lenovo Flex 2 14-inch laptop at an attractive price tag of just Rs. 44,720. The laptop is powered by the Intel Core i5 processor (fourth generation), supported by 4GB of RAM. It comes with a 500GB hard drive, and an 8GB SSD. The smaller SSD can be useful to quickly run most-accessed applications, and files. But it's still too small to boot Windows 8.1 directly from it. The laptop comes with a 14-inch touchscreen, and graphics card with 2GB of physical memory. The Flex 2 is capable of flipping to a 300 degree angle maximum. Lenovo promises a battery backup of around 4 hours on a standard 4-cell battery. The laptop comes with 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 HDMI port, 1 VGA port, and a memory card reader.
Samsung Series 9 2015 Edition, Series 7 AIO Launched Ahead of CES 2015
Samsung, just five days ahead of its CES 2015 event, has announced two new devices comprising of an ultrabook and an all-in-one (AIO) PC system. While the Samsung Series 9 2015 Edition ultrabook (also known as the ATIV Book 9 2015 in some markets) will reach different regions starting December 29, the Samsung Series 7 AIO will launch in January next year. Both devices will be showcased during CES 2015 in Las Vegas, where Samsung is holding an event on January 5.
While Samsung's official prices are not known yet, the Samsung Series 9 2015 Edition notebook has been listed as out-of-stock on Amazon (via The Verge), with the 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage version priced at $1,399 (roughly Rs. 88,600). The Verge also lists a $1,199 (roughly Rs. 75,900) price for the 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD storage version.
Samsung claims its Series 9 2015 Edition notebook to be the thinnest and lightest offering by the firm. Promising an 11.8mm thickness and a weight of 950 grams, the Series 9 2015 Edition laptop features a smaller than usual 12.2-inch display, which packs a WQXGA (1600x2560 pixels) resolution. The firm also talks about the device's Hyper Real Display that delivers an optimised image quality. Outdoor mode and Adaptive Display functionalities are also included.
The Windows 8.1-running laptop runs on 64-bit dual-core Intel Core M-5Y10C processor (4MB Cache, 800MHz Base Frequency, 2GHz Max Turbo Frequency, 4 Threads) along with Intel HD Graphics 5300. As for the battery backup, the Series 9 2015 Edition notebook by Samsung is rated to deliver 12 hours of battery life on a single charge. Other extra features include Samsung Galaxy S5's 'Ultra Power Saving Mode'.
HP introduced three new laptops under its Pavilion 14 and Pavilion 15 range, the new HP Envy 15, alongside the HP Pavilion x360 convertible hybrid laptop and the HP Pavilion 23 All-In-One PC in Mumbai, at the HP APJ Media Summit.
The new range of Pavilion 14 and Pavilion 15 laptops include the HP Pavilion 15-p001TX and Pavilion 15-p028TX, featuring 15.6-inch displays and respective prices of Rs. 48,990 and 41,990. The third laptop in the series is the 14-inch HP Pavilion 14-v015TU model, for Rs. 39,990. All three are available to buy from the official HP's online store.
Some of the common specifications between both the 15.6-inch HP Pavilion models include Windows 8.1 64-bit OS, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 1TB HDD, and Nvidia GeForce 830M dedicated GPU. The only difference between the two is that while HP Pavilion 15-p001TX comes with Intel Core i5-4210U processor with Intel HD Graphics 4400, the HP Pavilion 15-p028TX comes with Intel Core i3-4030U processor paired with Intel HD Graphics 4400. The HP Pavilion 14-v015TU model's base specifications match with the HP Pavilion 15-p028TX model.
The HP Pavilion x360 hybrid laptop introduced at the summit is priced at Rs. 39,990, and is said to be currently available in the Indian markets. The 11.6-inch HP Pavilion x360 11t-n000 LED antiglare widescreen, Pentium Bay Trail-M processor, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard disk drive. Some of the other features include Windows 8.1 64-bit OS, Miracast compatibility, battery life of up to 4 hours and 30 minutes, Beats Audio with 2 speakers, and a HP TrueVision front-facing HD Webcam with integrated microphone.
The HP Envy 15, set to hit Indian shelves from July 20, will cost Rs. 62,990 and would come with Windows 8.1, full-HD touchscreen display and 1TB of storage. Beats Audio tunes the speaker system. However, not all the specifications for laptop are known for now.
The HP Pavilion 23 AIO PC, which will also arrive on Indian shores on July 20, will cost Rs. 67,990. The All-In-One desktop would include a 23-inch touchscreen display along with a trendy design. The desktop is also suited for movie viewing and web chatting.
Additionally, HP unveiled some of its accessories like Bluetooth-enabled speakers and headphones the price of which start from Rs. 1,200 and Rs. 1,900 respectively. These headphones and speakers will arrive in the Indian markets on August 10. Five coloured back covers - Pink, Green, Blue, and White - for HP Slate 6 and HP Slate 7Voice Tab devices were also announced for Rs. 1,199, which will arrive alongside the Bluetooth speakers and headphones.
