Tuesday, April 10, 2012

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Kingston HyperX 3K SSD review round-up: Cheaper than its predecessor and almost as good
Apr 10th 2012, 14:53

Kingston HyperX 3K SSD review round-up: Cheaper than its predecessor and almost as good

Kingston's new HyperX 3K SSD has appeared, powered by a second-generation SandForce SF-2281 processor. Sizes ranging from 90GB to 480GB and are appropriately priced between $140 to $700 -- depending on your storage tastes. With a SATA 6Gb/s interface wrapped in a black and aluminum casing, the HyperX 3K looks ready to spar with Intel's similarly SandForce-powered SSDs. Kingston's 2.5-inch drives have also finished the review party circuit, picking up some pretty positive responses. According to Anandtech's testing, the HyperX 3K performs almost as well as its 5K predecessor, landing just behind it for light workload tests (309.4 MB/s on average) and a heavy workload performance (225.8 MB/s) that netted it second place. Overall, they reckon the HyperX 3K is a "no-brainer," offering great performance for less of those hard-earned dollars.

The relatively rugged design was the first thing that caught Storage Review's eye, due to Kingston's (presumably necessary) thermal armor. The site was suitably impressed by read rates, which were comparable to the original HyperX SSD. Write performance didn't hold up quite as well during tests and due to the reduced quality of the NAND memory used, you will see a drop on total write cycles possible -- something that mainstream users probably won't lose much sleep over. Storage Review maintains that when it comes to both performance and pricing, Kingston's latest "delivers on both fronts." You can take a closer look at what both reviews have to say -- and a whole load of tests -- at the sources below.

Kingston HyperX 3K SSD review round-up: Cheaper than its predecessor and almost as good originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAnandTech, Storage Review, Kingston  | Email this | Comments

Chrome OS update pushes Aura desktop UI to devs
Apr 10th 2012, 14:30

Chrome OS Update pushes Aura desktop UI to devs
When the Aura UI first reared its rather ugly head back in November it was unclear what the future of the project was. Now, though, the hardware accelerated window manager and desktop has grown up (at least a little bit) and is being pushed out to owners of Acer and Samsung Chromebooks running on the dev channel. It's becoming clear that Google is prepping to take on the desktop OS market on more familiar ground. The updated UI includes a taskbar, a Launchpad-like launcher and individual overlapping windows, while hardware acceleration allows for those new components to feature slick animations. Chrome OS 19 also gains support for a few new file types, including .gz and .tar, as well as a slightly updated media player. The only truly unfortunate thing is it seems Cr-48 owners are left out in the cold. One more screenshot after the break.

Continue reading Chrome OS update pushes Aura desktop UI to devs

Chrome OS update pushes Aura desktop UI to devs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch, Ubergizmo  |  sourceChrome Releases, Aura Wiki  | Email this | Comments

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn unexpectedly resigns, Mike Mikan takes over
Apr 10th 2012, 14:13

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn unexpectedly resigns, Mike Mikan takes over
From humble beginnings as a sales associate in 1985 with no college education Brian Dunn climbed the corporate ladder at Best Buy, eventually finding himself at the top of the food chain in 2009 when he took over as CEO. Unfortunately, for this rags-to-riches poster-boy, his reign has come to an end. Dunn and BBY announced today that the long-time employee will be stepping down from his position as chief executive and will be replaced in the interim by board member Mike Mikan. The big box retailer said in a statement that the agreement was mutual and the decision had nothing to do with any disagreements with Dunn regarding "operations, financial controls, policies or procedures." However, with the company struggling so mightily, it's hard to believe that rash of store closings and poor fiscal performance are unrelated to the decision that it's "time for new leadership." Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn unexpectedly resigns, Mike Mikan takes over

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn unexpectedly resigns, Mike Mikan takes over originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge  |  sourceCNBC, Associated Press  | Email this | Comments

Amazon adds in-app purchasing to Appstore for Android devices, Kindle Fire
Apr 10th 2012, 13:50

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Amazon's Appstore has offered a typical application acquisition experience, save for one important detail: in-app purchasing. Beginning today, devs can now take advantage of the familiar revenue booster already available in the iOS App Store and Google Play, through the use of the Amazon Appstore In-App Purchasing API. The service will enable Android device and Kindle Fire users to pick up expansion packs, virtual gaming currency or manage subscriptions from within individual applications, with the same one-click purchase experience available in Amazon's online store. A handful of top devs like Disney and Conde Nast have already hopped on board, but those of you who haven't received an early nod from AMZN can now join in on the fun as well. Click past the break for a brief video intro from the e-tailer, along with a handful of testimonials in the full press release.

Continue reading Amazon adds in-app purchasing to Appstore for Android devices, Kindle Fire

Amazon adds in-app purchasing to Appstore for Android devices, Kindle Fire originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAmazon  | Email this | Comments

Nokia Lumia 900 arriving in the UK April 27th, dressed in white
Apr 10th 2012, 13:23

Sure, the US has already had its chance at Nokia's Windows-packing smartphone, but UK-based fans of the Lumia 900 won't have to wait too much longer, if the release date on Phones 4u's site is to be believed. The retailer currently has the handset's delivery date listed as April 27th -- a date that includes that white variant we've been seeing pop up from time to time. Also, in spite of some false starts, Carphone Warehouse also has the Metroed handset listed, though its date is the far broader "May 2012." We're sure Kourtney Kardashian is lining up her tickets as we speak.

Nokia Lumia 900 arriving in the UK April 27th, dressed in white originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Pocket Lint  |  sourcePhones 4u, Carphone Warehouse  | Email this | Comments

Samsung's WiFi-equipped NX20 camera gets FCC mugshot
Apr 10th 2012, 13:13

Samsung's WiFi-equipped NX20 camera gets FCC mugshot
Pretty, isn't it? You're looking at a regulatory block diagram of the NX20, which is still unannounced but is probably the successor to Sammy's NX11 mirrorless camera. We're not totally sure how it'll fit into the manufacturer's line-up, but an earlier leak pointed to an APS-C sensor akin to the NX200's, plus a 20.3-megapixel resolution, 12,800 ISO, and built-in WiFi -- that last spec being about the only thing we're able to confirm from the FCC test report.

Samsung's WiFi-equipped NX20 camera gets FCC mugshot originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceFCC  | Email this | Comments

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