Archive for May, 2008

ASUS seems to be bringing a lot of new toys out to play at Computex, but we’re suddenly most intrigued by the Eee Stick, a pair of motion-sensing game controllers that looks like nothing more than a pair of Wii nunchuks. We’re hearing that the left nunchuck can also work as a 3D mouse, but it’ll be interesting to see if ASUS plans to actually pitch the $70 set to game developers, or if it’s just another gimmicky controller that’ll inevitably get dumped for the comforts of WASD. Gameplay video after the break.

We now have official word from Samsung regarding the browser on its new Samsung L870 slider. You may recall that the Samsung-issued press release listed “Safari browser (full browsing)” as a feature. Now the clarification:

“Actually, L870 is equipped with S60 OSS browser, also known as S60 safari browser because both are using same webcore platform. Sorry again for the unclear specification, and bothering you with this.”

Of course, the S60 browser has never been known, even informally, as the “S60 safari browser,” but we’ll let Samsung bang heads together internally over that one.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has revealed a mammoth document that can only be described as The iPhone Patent, a 371-page spectacular that covers Apple’s handheld multi-touch UI paradigm in excruciating detail. Many of the mocked-up screen shots depicted in the paperwork are dead ringers for screens that we’re well acquainted with in the production phone, while others represent ideas that either haven’t finished cooking or eventually found their way into the Cupertino circular file (follow the break for a picture of a home screen with dedicated “Blog” and dictionary apps, for instance). The application also mentions “modules” for video conferencing, GPS, and other currently non-existent (though widely expected) functionality. And in case there’s any doubt over who was responsible for this compendium of legalese, industrial design, and technical diagrams, one only need look at the header of page 1: “Jobs et al.” Yep, Steve himself wasn’t the least bit shy about taking credit atop an entire column of company A-listers for inventing the iPhone’s trademark user interface, which we’re guessing came about from a mix of equal parts truth, ego, and ass-kissing from the legal department down the hall. Seriously though, if you’re Scott Forstall down there at number two on the Inventors list, what are you going to do — go boardroom showdown all John Sculley-style?

[Via Cellpassion]

Here’s an oldie but a goodie. Remember rumors last year that Apple’s .Mac was about to get a Google overhaul? It’s back with a bullet thanks to the latest 10.5.3 Leopard update. That iCal code snippet above replaces “.Mac” with the “%@” variable which Apple can fill-in later with any name it chooses. If that’s not enough of a hint then there’s always the text, “the new name of Apple’s online service (was .Mac).” This code change has also been found in the newly updated Safari and Mail apps and did not exist prior to the 10.5.3 update. So now the question: will the name change, presumably coming next week at WWDC, usher in Jobs’ promise to “make up for lost time” with the bealeugered service, or will it simply reflect the new semantics related to Apple’s Computer’s increased emphasis on iPhones, iPods, and other consumer level products? We’re hoping for the former but expecting the latter.

[Thanks, Supermario]

People have been stuffing PCs in all kinds of things they don’t belong in for a while now, but this Linux cluster creatively packed into an Ikea Helmer filing cabinet might be the first time we’ve seen furniture actually modded into a useful case. Sure, it looks like an ordinary filing cabinet, but it’s packing six machines with Intel Core 2 Quad processors on Gigabyte S-series mobos with 8GB of RAM each, allowing it pump out 186 Gflops — enough to complete a render job that takes a 2.66Ghz quad-core Mac Pro nine hours in just 64 minutes. Yeah, that’s quite a filing cabinet. Hit the read links for tech specs, instructions, and updates on Helmer II.

[Via Make]

Dell on Thursday reported a boost in earnings and revenue in the fiscal first quarter, driven in part by strong notebook sales and higher sales in countries outside of the United States.

However, the computer maker also reported that it saw “conservatism” in IT spending in the United States, which Dell expects to last through the summer.

Contributing to Dell’s profitability in the quarter was a reduction in operating expenses, led by a smaller workforce than a year ago. The company has 7,000 fewer workers than the same period a year ago, which included 3,800 job cuts in the first quarter.

While workforce reductions were across divisions, a “very substantial amount” came from Dell’s consumer product unit, Donald Carty, vice chairman and CFO, told analysts during a conference call. Dell announced a year ago that it planned to gradually cut 8,900 jobs, and is targeting $3 billion in annualized reductions in spending by fiscal 2011.

Along with the reduction in spending, Dell’s growth in commercial and consumer products and services outpaced the industry as a whole in the quarter, executives said, based on their own calculations. Product shipments overall rose 22% from a year ago, with notebook shipments rising 43%, or 1.2 times the industry growth rate, according to Dell. Shipments of server computers increased 21%, or three times the industry rate; and storage revenue increased 15%.

Revenue outside the United States in the quarter surpassed U.S. revenue for the first time at Dell. Brazil, Russia, India, and China led with a combined growth of 73% year over year in shipments and 58% in revenue. The countries accounted for nearly 9% of Dell’s total revenue.

While the company did not give a forecast for revenues or profits, Dell said it has seen U.S. businesses pull back on technology spending. “We are seeing conservatism in IT spending in the U.S.,” Carty said.

However, Michael Dell, founder, chairman, and chief executive, told analysts that he expected businesses, particularly large companies, to open the purse strings again, since it was only a matter of time before they would have to upgrade IT systems. “There’s a rebound effect, so we’re staying very close to our large customers,” he said.

On the consumer side, Dell was preparing for September, when children and young adults head back to school. “You’ll see a very active back-to-school season for Dell in notebooks,” he said.

Overall revenue in the quarter rose 9% over the same period a year ago to $16 billion. Net income increased 4% to $784 million, or 38 cents a share. Dell’s revenue and profits in the quarter surpassed estimates of Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Dell is more than halfway into a turnaround effort to reverse the mistakes that led to the company ceding the title of world’s largest computer maker to Hewlett-Packard. While financial analysts believe Dell has made progress in reversing its market decline, some believe it’s going to take some time, perhaps as long as two years by one estimate, to complete the turnaround.