Alienware introduces hexagonal Area-51

Gone are the days when the CPUs were in traditional rectangular tower shape. After Apple's Mac Pro which introduced a Cylindrical design, Alienware has built a crazy Hexagonal machine. 

Named Alienware Area-51, it’s a beast of a machine. The company claims that the funky design has much more than that meets the eye. Since the back is not perpendicular to the floor, one can push back all the way to stick to the wall without blocking important ventilation. Internal fans blow fresh ambient air, quietly and directly to the graphics card and the internal cables management ensures maximum air flow which is necessary for a high-end gaming machine.

This machine will be just loved by the hardcore gamers. The Alienware Area-51 ushers in a new era of performance with 6-core and 8-core Intel® Core™ i7 Extreme processor options that come factory overclocked and made possible with the new Intel X99 Express chipset alongside 2133Mhz DDR4 memory — up to 32GB in quad channel. Do insane, intensive multitasking like rendering video or extreme performance 4K gaming at your leisure. Experience a custom balance of solid-state and hard drives, enabling the performance of SSD with the storage capacity of HDD. Plus, 802.11ac – the latest wireless protocol – prioritizes streaming video and gaming, so lag is reduced. And with an impressive array of ports and connectivity options, you can stay in the game no matter where it takes you. 

Unstoppable graphics capabilities can enable a mind-melting 11520x2160 resolution across triple Ultra HD 4K monitors. The new Area-51 is designed to support up to three full-length double-wide graphics cards, or quad GPU configurations. It’s not just the highest-performance gaming experience – it’s a breath-taking display you can lose yourself in. 

So it's worth the wait for this machine to be launched.

Source: Alienware

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Microsoft’s Chromebook rival is coming at $199 made by HP

At such a low price, Google’s Chromebooks have been a nightmare to Microsoft. The Chromebooks are quite cheap with exceptional performance and are giving a tough time to Windows laptops. Dubbed HP Steam 14, a Windows 8.1 device is tipped to carry a tag of $199 when launched.  

The notebook is rumoured to be powered by an AMD “Mullins” A4 Micro-6400T quad-core SoC and 2 GB of RAM with an integrated Radeon R3 GPU. The architecture of the chipset features a heat sink, without a built-in fan, showed an image that was leaked. The device will be available with a 14 inch display along with 1366x768 pixels resolution. 

It will have 32 GB and 64 GB variants. While none of this is official yet, the laptop is also expected to have USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports along with support for HDMI as well. It has Beats Audio enhancement and consists of four speakers. 

In addition, the HP Stream Notebook 14 1.75 kg heavy has a 32 watt-hours or large 2960mAh battery. The notebook will also come in the colors silver, green and purple on the market, the cover has one type of each. The buyer will also receive for a period of two years, all 100 gigabytes of storage space with Microsoft's cloud service OneDrive - just as it does in the Google Chromebooks. 

Anyone looking for a great entry-level notebook, gets here probably a pretty attractive offer, to which shortly certainly likely to join tens of other models. So stay tuned for further updates. 

Source: MobileGeeks

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Microsoft to deliver Windows 9 aka "Threshold" preview next month

Microsoft is expected to deliver an early preview version of Windows Threshold next month, the codename for what will likely be named Windows 9. A preview of Windows 9 will be made available in either September or October, according to ZDNet. That timeline keeps ‘Threshold’ — Windows 9’s codename — out into the public market as a finished product likely in early 2015.  The software maker has been gradually working on the release over the past several months, adding and tweaking features ready for a “technology preview” release to the public. 

ZDNet claims updates will be pushed to users who install the preview on an automatic basis, meaning the release will change rapidly over the coming months before it's finally ready. 

Threshold is expected to include a number of new features that are aimed at continuing to improve Windows' usability on non-touch devices and by those using mice and keyboards alongside touch. Among those features — according to previous leaks — are a new "mini" Start Menu which Microsoft at its annual Build developers conference in2014, windowed Metro-Style applications that can run on the Desktop, virtual desktops, and the elimination of the Charms bar that debuted as part of Windows 8. Cortana integration with Windows Threshold is looking like it could make it into the OS, as well. 

As of now, Windows 9 stable version is expected to start rolling out by spring 2015, though this is yet to be confirmed by Microsoft. The pricing details of this OS are yet to surface. Representatives for Microsoft when asked didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Source: ZDNet

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Microsoft Confirms Windows 8.1 Update for 12th August

Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that they will be rolling out another update to Windows 8.1 on August 12. It's not the rumored Update 2 which everyone was waiting for but rather Microsoft said that instead of collecting all the small updates into a large one we would be delivering small updates frequently in order to respond quickly to customer and partner feedback. In fact they said there would not be another update like the big Windows 8.1 Update 1. 

So despite the rumors and speculations we are not planning to deliver a Windows 8.1 Update 2.  

Users will continue to receive updates through normal channels like Windows Update(WU), Microsoft Update(MU) and Windows Server Update Services(WSUS). These updates will be including a bunch of security and performance updates working "behind-the-scenes" improving the performance and reliability of the device. 

Following are the features and improvements for August 12th Update Tuesday. 

• Precision touchpad improvements – three new end-user settings have been added: Leave touch pad on when a mouse is connected; allow right-clicks on the touchpad; double-tap and drag. 
• Miracast Receive – exposes a set of Wi-Fi direct APIs for Independent Hardware Vendor (IHV) drivers or OEM drivers to develop Windows 32-bit applications that run on all supported x86-based or x64-based versions of Windows 8.1, enabling the computer as a Miracast receiver. 
• Minimizing login prompts for SharePoint Online – reduces the number of prompts with federated use in accessing SharePoint Online sites. If you select the “Keep me signed in” check box when you log on for the first time, you will not see prompts for successive access to that SharePoint Online site. 

It will be a gradual roll out for users who have turned Automatic Updates on but can be manually done through Windows Update. Also Enterprise users can update anytime. 

Source: Microsoft

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Apple refreshes its MacBook Pro Line up

Apple recently updated its MacBook Pro line up with new Haswell processors, increased RAM and reduced prices on its high end models confirming the leaks that surfaced earlier. 

After this upgrade the base model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with 8GB of RAM, up from 4GB. Also the new Haswell Core i5 chips increased the CPU speed to 2.6GHz from 2.4GHz. but the biggest difference is that this comes without any change in price. Earlier Apple used to offer its 128GB PCIe-flash storage model at a price of `94,900 which remains the same for the upgraded version. 

Additionally the 13-inch model comes with processers clocking at 2.8GHZ with a turbo boost to 3.3GHz, up from the earlier models. Also they can be configured with Core i7 chips to 3.0GHz and turbo boost to 3.5GHz. 

The higher variant i.e. 15-inch model sees the biggest change with a reduced price of $100 on these models. The base model of 15-inch MacBook Pro is now available at `144,900. Also these run on a faster Core i7 processor clocked at 2.5GHz with turbo boost to 3.7GHz and double the RAM at 16GB from an earlier of 8GB. 

Like the new 13-inch model, these can be configured to run at a higher clock speed of 2.8GHz with turbo boost to 4.0GHz. 

These new MacBook Pro are available at Authorized Apple resellers across the country.

Specifications	Price
13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display powered by Intel Core i5 clocked at 2.6GHz (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 8GB RAM and 128GB PCIe-flash storage and Intel Iris Graphics Card	`94,900
13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display powered by Intel Core i5 clocked at 2.6GHz (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 8GB RAM and 256GB PCIe-flash storage and Intel Iris Graphics Card	`109,000
13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display powered by Intel Core i5 clocked at 2.8GHz (Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz) with 8GB RAM and 512GB PCIe-flash storage and Intel Iris Graphics Card	`129,900
15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display powered by Intel Core i7 clocked at 2.2GHz (Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz) with 16GB RAM and 256GB PCIe-flash storage and Intel Iris Pro Graphics Card	`144,900
15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display powered by Intel Core i7 clocked at 2.5GHz (Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz) with 16GB RAM and 512GB PCIe-flash storage and Intel Iris Pro and 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M Graphics Card	`179,900

Source: Apple

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NaMo Antivirus : Free Protection for Your PC

Innovazion, an IT firm has launched a free antivirus software named NaMo for protection against malware and viruses.

The NaMo anti-virus software is currently available for Windows PCs but the firm is planning to launch a version for Apple's Mac Computers. This antivirus comes with loads of features including real-time detection, custom detection, intelligent scanning and much more.

According to CEO Abhishek Ganeja of Innovazion, "India is the 3rd biggest country in terms of internet users but only 13 per cent of users are using a licensed version of antivirus and 30 per cent tend to reinstall the trail version again. Rest 57 per cent either have no security or uses unknown applications for protection and this is the segment we are targeting".

"By building this software we wanted to congratulate the current government. We also want to pass a message to the government that nation has high expectations from them", were his words.

Head over to its website to give a try to another NaMo product after the launch of a range of products by NaMo followers.

Source: TOI

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