Cameras

Ericsson may have a contender for oddest networking product if it commercializes the wireless bus windows it demonstrated at this week's CTIA Wireless trade show.The windows would have built-in, translucent antennas connected to an internal Wi-Fi system for passenger use while on the road. In the example Ericsson showed at CTIA, the dual-band Wi-Fi antenna was just a square of barely visible red metal embedded between layers of glass.The mobile infrastructure giant demonstrated the concept on the upper level of its booth at CTIA, above a showcase of other technologies designed for so-called heterogeneous networks with both Wi-Fi and cellular radios. On Tuesday, the company announced enhancements to its network management software that will allow carriers to do a better job shifting subscribers between the two systems for the best possible coverage.Ericsson's solution had its origin in a problem for wireless users on buses, cars and trains. For insulation and sun protection, some windows are now being built with thin, translucent layers of aluminum sandwiched between glass. Combined with the metal that covers the rest of a vehicle, those windows essentially create a so-called Faraday cage, a box that blocks all outside radio waves, said Bryan Coley, a marketing program manager at Ericsson.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Fujifilm has updated the firmware for its X-Pro1 and X-E1 mirrorless cameras, to improve the autofocus speed with the recently-launched XF 55-200mm F3.5-4.8 R LM OIS telephoto zoom lens. Versions 1.05 for the X-E1 and 2.04 for the X-Pro1 are available to download from the Fujifilm website. Click through for the links.

On the same day that HP had to admit to lackluster consumer PC sales, the company is announcing a new raft of consumer notebook computers. Touchscreens will be available even on a lower-end models, a key move for HP to stay on-trend. The flashiest models are the Envy Touchsmart 15 and 17 Notebooks. Clad in shiny cases, both models will be available with touch or non-touch displays and 6-cell batteries. Laptop multimedia has its challenges, but HP’s equipping these models with Beats Audio, four speakers, and a dual-drive subwoofer. Rock on. HPThe Envy Touchsmart 15 Notebook debuts on June 5th for $529 and up. The Envy 15 has a 15-inch Full HD touchscreen display. CPU choices will include Intel’s new 4th-generation Core products or AMD’s latest. Memory will start at 6GB of DDR3, and hard drives will start at 750GB, 5400-rpm models. It’ll go on sale June 5th for $529 and up. The Envy 17 has a massive, 17.3-inch Full HD display and a full numeric keypad. It will feature Intel’s new 4th-generation Core CPUs (i5 to i7). In addition to the same memory and storage options as the Envy 15, the Envy 17 will also offer an optional DVD-RW or BluRay drive. On June 5th, it’ll debut with a starting price of $699. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hewlett-Packard has introduced a new wave of Envy and Pavilion thin and light laptops, including an 11.6-inch touchscreen model priced aggressively at US$399.The lineup includes three TouchSmart laptops with touchscreens and two non-touch laptops. The less expensive touch models, the $399 Pavilion TouchSmart with an 11.6-inch screen and the $529 Envy TouchSmart 15 with a 15.6-inch screen, have Advanced Micro Devices' latest chips. New AMD chips code-named Kabini, Temash and Richland were announced on Thursday."We want to be aggressive with value touch notebooks," said Kevin Wentzel, technical marketing manager for HP.One touch model, the Envy TouchSmart 14 ultrabook, has Intel's upcoming Core chips code-named Haswell. It has a 3200 x 1800-pixel display and starts at $699. The ultrabook category was initially criticized for its high prices, but the TouchSmart 14 may be a sign that the issue has been neutralized.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Advanced Micro Devices has opened the door to embrace Google's Android operating system, but said it would continue to focus on Windows with its upcoming tablet and laptop chips.AMD on multiple occasions has said it had no interest in putting its chips in Android tablets and would focus exclusively on Windows 8. A change of heart could open up a wider market for tablets for the company.For now, the company's focus remains on optimizing chips for usage on Windows laptops, desktops and tablets, said Kevin Lansing, director of the notebook product line at AMD's client business unit.In an email, however, AMD spokesman Gary Silcott said OS adoption depends on device makers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows 8 has not found wide adoption among desktop users, so HP has announced a new portable all-in-one and lowered the price of touch PCs so users can take advantage of the operating system.The company introduced the Envy Rove, which is an all-in-one desktop that looks like a supersized tablet with a 20-inch screen. At 5.3 kilograms, the PC can be moved around a house or office, and an integrated battery offers four hours of run time.With the Rove, HP wants to bring mobility and tablet-like usage to all-in-ones, said Xavier Lauwaert, worldwide manager of product marketing for consumer desktops."Don't worry, we don't expect this to be [carried] to Starbucks," Lauwaert said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Advanced Micro Devices hopes to regain share in the PC processor market with its upcoming chips based on the Jaguar core, which will bring console-like gaming and wireless displays to laptops with Windows 8 and its successor, Windows Blue.The A6, A8 and A10 chips, code-named Richland, will be up to 12 percent faster than the comparable previous-generation processors code-named Trinity, which were released last year. The chips will boast a 40 percent improvement in graphics processing speed.The company on Thursday also introduced A4 and A6 chips code-named Kabini for low-end laptops. With the chips, the company is facilitating the introduction of inexpensive, low-power laptops with touchscreens and other features. Acer and Hewlett-Packard are expected to ship laptops based on Kabini.The financially struggling AMD is hoping the new chips will spark a revival in the company's PC business. PC shipments have been falling and AMD has been losing market share to Intel.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Penguin has settled with U.S. states in an e-book price-fixing lawsuit, leaving only Apple now in the fray.Four other publishers accused of price-fixing with Apple settled earlier with the 33 states and territories and the U.S. Department of Justice. Penguin had earlier settled in December with the DOJ in a case that is currently scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 3.Penguin said in a statement on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with the US state attorneys general and private class plaintiffs to pay US$75 million in consumer damages plus costs and fees to resolve all antitrust claims relating to e-book pricing. It also committed to the states to abide by the same injunctive relief as previously agreed in its settlement with the DOJ.Apple and the five publishers were accused of working together to raise prices of e-books, in retaliation for competitor Amazon.com pricing most e-books at $9.99 beginning in late 2007. The five publishers are Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, Penguin Group, HarperCollins Publishers and Simon & Schuster.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HP’s consumer PC sales continue to languish, but the game’s not over yet--certainly not on the company’s new Envy Rove, a 20-inch all-in-one that can lay flat for multiplayer games. The company also announced a raft of other all-in-ones and desktops today. The Envy Rove all-in-one’s 20-inch LED has a resolution of 1600 by 900 pixels with integrated Intel HD graphics. It’s designed to be portable, with an integrated battery rated to last up to three hours. You’ll likely be tempted to pick it up by its spring-loaded, hinged stand, which is actually designed to set the desktop at an angle or lay it flat on a surface. HPThe Envy Rove's hinged stand lets the PC sit at an angle or lie completely flat. The Envy Rove’s 10-point capacitive touchscreen display can function as a gaming table, and it comes preloaded with games including Electronic Arts’ Monopoly, Disney Fairies, and Fingertapps Jigsaw Wars and Musical Instruments. The system will use Intel’s 4th-generation Core CPUs, code-named Haswell. The Envy Rove will be available in July, for a price yet to be announced. HPThe Pavilion Touchsmart 20 will ship on June 23rd with a starting price of $620. The other all-in-ones announced today are the 20-inch Pavilion Touchsmart 20 and the 23-inch Pavilion Touchsmart 23. These systems use a less-expensive, 5-point optical touchscreen technology and will be offered with a choice of Intel’s 4th-generation Core CPUs and AMD CPUs. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AMD hopes to have a big second half in 2013, launching three new CPUs featuring integrated graphics that perform on par with the company’s discrete GPUs. On Thursday, AMD revealed key details of these next-generation mobile chips, code-named Temash, Kabini, and Richland. In a briefing in advance of the announcement, AMD vice-president John Taylor explained how the new chips leverage a number of firsts in AMD’s history: The first CPU with an onboard memory controller, the first dual-core CPU, and the first CPU with an on-die GPU. These are interesting achievements, but it's worth noting that AMD hasn’t bested Intel in the CPU market since 2006. That's the year Intel introduced the first generation of its Core microarchitecture, and pulled ahead. AMD has performed better in the discrete GPU market, frequently trading the number one spot in the graphics space with arch-rival Nvidia. And now the company is looking to that GPU effort to catch up to Intel in the mobile CPU market. This block diagram shows how AMD's new APUs are structured. Taylor says that consumers’ desire for thin and light computers of all types—desktops as well as notebooks and tablets—favors AMD’s APU (accelerated processing unit) effort, a chip design that combines x86-compatible CPUs with AMD’s latest Radeon graphics processors. “If you want low power and long battery life,” said Taylor, “you need an APU. Combining those functions on one chip reduces cost. It reduces power consumption, and it eliminates the complexity of using the PCIe bus to communicate with a separate graphics processor.” To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here