Apple release iOS 4.0.1 to the wild

It seemed that Apple is too anxious to share with the whole world about the new redesigned signal bars in the iPhone 4, and they can’t wait until the iOS 4.1 to be ready. Therefore, Apple has released the iOS 4.0.1. This update is just up yesterday, and therefore there’s not much known on this update.

When the iPhone 4’s antenna issue went into scrutiny, Apple went on to promise that in a future software update they would make bars 1, 2, and 3 taller, and make the bars more “accurate” by displaying 2 bars fewer in certain circumstances.

Here’s where the iOS 4.0.1 comes in. The only significantly obvious changes would be the changes in the bars displayed. Apple made bar 1 and bar 2 of their signal bar taller. But that is not visually enough to describe the new ‘formula’ that Apple thinks is much better than how the older iOS 4.0 shows it.

Lenovo intros business-oriented ThinkCentre M90z all-in-one

 
Lenovo has unboxed the ThinkCentre M90z, which is claimed to be the "industry's first large business-focused, 23-inch all-in-one" desktop PC. The new AIO doesn't stray far from the norm in core specs, with hardware including a choice of Intel's latest Core i3 and i5 processors, DDR3 RAM, a selection of both disk and solid-state drives, a DVD player, as well as optional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Some additional features include an optical touchscreen, a physical on/off toggle for the webcam, automatic brightness adjustment to conserve energy, an easily removable back for in-house tech support, and security features like encrypted storage drives. Lenovo has posted a brief video discussing the design process of the ThinkCentre M90z.

The AIO is currently available through business partners and it will be on Lenovo's site later this month. It's already used by the Center for Severe Weather Research, who brings the machine on the road when tornado chasing. Pricing starts at $899.

Intel ships 25nm NAND flash memory chips

Intel announced today that it has begun shipping its 25nm NAND flash memory to manufacturers. The new chips were sampled earlier this year and will supplant Intel's less efficient 34nm parts, which can be found in products such as the second-generation X25-M solid-state drives. Intel's 25nm chips can hold up to 8GB of data or about 7,000 photos, 2,000 songs, or eight hours of video.

An 8GB 25nm NAND flash chips measure just 167mm², making it possible to squeeze even more memory into components all across the board – from USB drives and SD cards to smartphones and SSDs. For instance, a 256GB SSD can now be produced with only 32 of Intel's 25nm chips, compared to 64 previously. We'd expect that to lower prices a bit, but Intel hasn't released any figures.

With mass production underway, electronics with the new memory should hit store shelves before the year is up, if not shortly thereafter.

HP intros more than a dozen AMD-based notebooks

HP intros more than a dozen AMD-based notebooks

 

As part of its spring refresh, HP has announced nine new enterprise notebooks, many of which employ AMD processors and graphics technology. The launch includes the HP 425 and 625 as well as the ProBook 4325s, 4425s, 4525s, 6450b, 6550b, 6455b, 6555b, which make use of Phenom II, Turion II, Athlon II, and V-series processors to accommodate a variety of budgets -- though there are some Intel chips in the mix.

Measuring 14 and 15.6-inches HP 425 and 625 are the lowest-priced business systems starting at only $549. The ProBook 4325s, 4425s, and 4525s range offers all of the above-mentioned AMD CPUs and HD 4250 or HD 530v graphics. They should begin shipping this month for as low as $619.


The 6450b and 6550b are 14 and 15.6-inch machines also with discrete Mobility Radeon HD 540v graphics, but rely on Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. Pricing has yet to be determined, but they're scheduled for a June release. Finally, the 6455b and 6555b are AMD-based and seems to be the most diverse for small and mid-sized business users. HP claims they're 69% faster with 24% more battery life than their predecessors.

Additionally, the company's Pavilion dm1, dv5, dv6, and dv7, along with the Compaq CQ42/G42 and CQ62/G62 consumer-grade systems are available with dual or quad-core versions of AMD processors. We have to wonder if the emphasis on AMD chips in HP's latest update lends any credence to rumors that Apple is also mulling the underdog's offerings. 

Google buys Real-Time Video Conferencing for Android

Google announced that it would acquire Global IP Solutions Holding, a large provider of the VOIP engine that powers Yahoo, AOL, WebEx and Lotus conferencing. Why? The Plan is to bring Video conferencing to Android.

Google has bought the company at $68.2 million, not a bad deal for the kind of VOIP innovation the Global IP solutions had been holding.

Apart from running Real-Time Video conferencing to Android, it could also create a Skype-competitor by adding video capabilities to Google Voice, just like GTalk but would work with desktops and mobiles, alike. This service can somehow be coupled with Gizmo5 acquisition to enable powerful VoIP and video conferencing across all kinds of devices (IP phones, IMs, Cellphones). To extend it, Google could offer the developers the API to leverage the potential to create next level of applications that would add communications to Webapps, and even to corporate Google Apps.

Before some days, Google launched a new version of Google’s Feed API, which will push updates directly to a user’s browser. No more refreshing pages to see when new content is available – the real-time web comes to you live, nearly instantly as soon as it’s published. Same is the fate of Video conferencing.
An API from Google incorporating this real-time video communication, pushing content in the same way as it will with its Feed API, would further enable endless possibilities.

LED-based Lighting + Data Networking at 2mbps

What was once thought to be a revolutionary energy-efficient Lighting solution, can become Data networking media in the future.

A chinese scientist is trying to bring back line-of-sight networking (Bluetooth, Wifi are omni-directional), by streaming video to a laptop, Desktop, Smartphones/PDAs with nothing but ceiling-mounted blue LEDs.


The Chinese Academy of Sciences claims to have attained a 2Mbit per second internet connection that transmits data simply by modulating the flicker of the little diodes, and imperceptibly enough to have them serve as room lighting as well. Since LEDs consume only a partial amount of power that bulbs, it is the most energy efficient combo of Lighting+Networking we’ve see so far.

Looking closely, single mode Optical fibers work on the same basic concept: Quickly switch lasers (based on LEDs as well) at a high frequency to interpret ZEROs and ONEs as data stream and then encode, compress them using proper techniques. On the receiving end, same process is reversed to get data back. We’ve seen several LED based communications but most of them traditionally needed a media (like fiber) to travel. the ones that traveled through air were painfully slow and unusable.

The current 2mbps may not be ideal for Home networking, but technology has scope of further improvement, above all, its a Green Tech solution we aspire for, for the meantime WiGig would offer great 7 Gigabit Wireless Home Networking solution.

Kindle for Android coming this summer

What was hinted at in those leaked Dell Streak flyers is now official: Kindle for Android. Unfortunately, it's not quite ready to download. Amazon's free Kindle ebook reader -- already out for Mac, PC, BlackBerry, and iDevices -- won't launch until later this summer. When it does, users of Android 1.6 and above (with SD card) will have the ability to search, browse, and purchase (without exiting the app) any of the half million books in the Kindle Store. Like the other apps, Kindle for Android features Whispersync to keep your bookmarks, last page read, notes, and highlights synchronized across all your Kindle-enabled devices. Expect to see this demonstrated at Google I/O starting tomorrow.