New Charms Bar in Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Windows 8 Consumer Preview is expected to become available for the general public in the next few weeks, with a great deal of interface changes packed inside.  Among them, we can count the lack of a Start button, although it has been present in all flavors of Windows ever since Windows 95 was launched.  But this is only one of the major changes that the touch-enhanced flavor of Windows will arrive on devices with.  When compared to the Windows 8 Developer Preview, which has been around since September, the upcoming Consumer Preview will also change the Charms bar that can be seen on the right side of the screen.  The black Charms bar is no longer there, and has been replaced with a transparent one, in which only the icons...

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Windows 8 Beta Loses the Start Button

Microsoft is making further changes to the user interface of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system, the latest of which is to remove the Windows Start button from the task bar.  The Start button has been present in all the flavors of the Windows operating system for the past 15 years. It was introduced in Windows 95 and has remained there to this day. Those who gave the Windows 8 Developer preview a try have noticed that the Start button was present in the taskbar and that it brought the Metro Menu up when pressed (see the first image on the left).  The Beta flavor of the platform, set to arrive on the market as Windows 8 Consumer Preview, will change that by removing the Start button from the taskbar.  Leaked screenshots...

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Have a Look at Samsung’s Super Bowl Commercial

Samsung has been pushing its mobile phones hard to the US market lately, especially with video ads that bite at Apple. A new such commercial is now available for your viewing pleasure.  This is none other than Samsung’s 90-second Super Bowl XLVI spot, which was aired on Sunday, and which stars the company’s large Galaxy Note smartphone.  The same as in the other latest video ads for the US, the South Korean mobile phone maker is suggesting that users should no longer wait in line to purchase what they consider a worthy smartphone, since “the next big thing is already here.” Clearly, Samsung is mocking those who stand in line whenever Apple launches a new iDevice. Galaxy Note can free people, Samsung suggests, and the ad turns into something else, as soon as they realize this as...

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MSI Z77A-GD55 Motherboard for Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs Pictured

After we presented you the production version of the Z77A-GD65 motherboard at the end of last week, it’s now time to take a look at its smaller sibling, the Z77A-GD55, which was just pictured by a Chinese Website. The motherboard is compatible with all Intel processors using the LGA 1155 socket, including the chip maker’s upcoming Ivy Bridge processors, and comes basically as a stripped down version of the GD65. What this means is that it loses the redundant BIOS support of its older brother, as well as its consolidated voltage measurements points. Despite these changes, the rest of the features list remains pretty much unchanged, the MSI motherboard featuring the same three PCI Express x16 slots, four PCIe x1 slots, as well as six SATA...

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Olympus OM-D Retro ILC Camera Pictured in Full

Olympus’ retro-looking OM-D interchangeable lens camera has been pictured on our website quite a few times until now, but recently a new image of the camera showing all its details has been posted online by Amazon. The picture was uploaded on the retailer’s Japanese website, where it was spotted by 43rumors right before being removed. As you can see from the image right above this post, Olympus’ camera resembles the OM-4T quite a great deal and can even be fitted with an external battery grip.  Apart from the optional E-M5 grip, the OM-D also packs a 16MP Micro Four Thirds sensor and a built-in 1.44m dot electronic viewfinder (EVF). A water sealed magnesium body and a brand new auto-focus (AF) system will round up the specs list, together...

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BlackBerry 7 Smartphones Receive Certifications from US and Canadian Governments

Research In Motion has just announced that all its smartphones running BlackBerry 7.0 and BlackBerry 7.1 operating systems have been awarded FIPS 140-2 certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC).  Some of the smartphones that have been certified by both U.S. and Canadian governments include: BlackBerry Bold 9900, 9930 and 9790, BlackBerry Torch 9810, 9850 and 9860, and BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360, 9370 and 9380. Aside from FIPS 140-2, RIM’s BlackBerry 7 operating system was also awarded Common Criteria EAL4+ certification. It is also worth mentioning that the BlackBerry PlayBook recieved its FIPS 140-2 certifications from both governments back...

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Nvidia Kepler GPU Specs, Pricing and Release Dates Revealed – Report

The specifications of Nvidia’s upcoming next-generation GPUs, code named Kepler, were allegedly revealed by a recent report to hit the Web, together with their prices and approximate release dates. This info came into the possession of the Lenzfire Website from unnamed sources, and describes in great detail the GK100-series graphics cores that Nvidia prepares to launch in the next two quarters of this year. According to this report, the first GPU to arrive will be the GK110, which will be utilized by both the GeForce GTX 680 and GTX 570. Despite being manufactured using TSMC’s 28nm process, the GK110 will be a particularly large chip, since it will measure no less than 550mm², 30mm² more than the current GF110 GPU, fabricated utilizing the...

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AMD May Partner with ARM After All, Eventually

AMD has said in the past, several times, that it is fully committed to x86, but this no longer seems to mean that a partnership with ARM is totally impossible.  Advanced Micro Devices has always been a rival to Intel on the market for central processing units based on the x86 architecture.  However, the ARM architecture has been advancing and gaining popularity rapidly, enough so that AMD may be reconsidering previous commitments.  Granted, “reconsidering” may be laying it a bit thick, since starting to make ARM chips doesn't mean AMD will be any less active in its x86 research and development.  Still, where there used to be certainty that AMD would not start to use the ARM architecture, there is now ambiguity.  AMD's...

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Amazon Makes the Nikon V1 and J1 Cameras up to $150 (114€) Cheaper

Four months after the Nikon V1 and J1 interchangeable lens cameras reached retail, Amazon started offering an important number of discounts on the kit versions of these mirrorless snappers, which enable users to buy them for up to $150 (114 EUR) less than before. A full list of the Nikon 1-Series kits that the US-based retailer sells is available here. Prices start at $599.00 (456 EUR) for the Nikon J1 with the 10-30mm VR lens, and go all the way up to $999.00 (761 EUR) for the V1 bundled with the same 10-30mm lens, but also with the 30-110mm VR Nikkor zoom.  Introduced in September last year, the Nikon V1 and the J1 share nearly identical specs, with the former camera coming as the more feature-rich model of the two, thanks to a few...

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Nokia Lumia Tablet Concept Runs Windows 8

Nokia is the most important Microsoft partner when it comes to Windows Phone. In fact, it is so important that it previously hinted that it might extend the partnership to cover tablet PCs as well. No official info on a possible near device has emerged for the time being, but that does not prevent enthusiasts from imagining what a Nokia tablet PC might look like.  One of the latest such concepts puts Windows 8 on a Nokia Lumia tablet PC, one that comes from artist Tristan under the name of “Coffee Tab” (via MyNokiaBlog). In Tristan’s imagination, the upcoming Nokia tablet PC would resemble a lot the currently available Nokia Lumia smartphones that are powered by Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.  The specifications list of this device is...

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LG P700 and LG P880 Android 4.0 Phones Leak Ahead of MWC 2012

LG has just lost third position as the most prolific handset maker, which is now owned by Apple. However, those who bet on LG’s total demise are most likely wrong, as the company prepares to announce several Ice Cream Sandwich devices at the Mobile World Congress 2012, which is set to kick off on February 27.  Two unannounced LG Android-based devices have just leaked on the Internet courtesy to the folks over at Ubergizmo. LG-P700 and LG-PP880 are expected to be announced within the next few weeks, most likely one day before MWC 2012 kicks off. Not much is known about these smartphones, but according to Ubergizmo both are running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. Of the two, the LG-P880 seems to be the high-end smartphone,...

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First Nikon D3200 Details Emerge

The full-frame D800 may capture all the attention of Nikon fans these days, but this isn’t the only DSLR that the company works on releasing in the coming months, as the entry-level D3200 is also in the making. Coming as the successor of the popular D3100, this new Nikon camera is said to be built around a 24.2MP sensor and will apparently feature a new series of in-camera functions for editing and retouching photos. Furthermore, for getting the attention of its targeted audience, Nikon also plans to make it available in various colors including black, silver and red. Sadly, this is all we know at this point in time, but more info should become available once we get nearer to April 2012, when Nikon Rumors says Nikon’s new entry-level D3200...

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Android 4.0.5 on SFR’s Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S Next Month

Next month should bring along a nice range of software updates for Android mobile phone users on the airwaves of SFR. Among these updates, we can count the Android 4.0.5 Ice Cream Sandwich OS flavor aimed at the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S smartphones.  Both of these devices have been listed on the update table that the wireless carrier has recently unveiled, and both of them are said to be slated for an upgrade to Android 4.0.5 as soon as next month.  The update will be delivered to users over the air, the same as the previous software for these devices has been released.  For those out of the loop, we should note that the latest update for the Galaxy Nexus was Android 4.0.2, while the Nexus S received Android 4.0.3 about two...

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Nikon D800 Full-Frame DSLR: More Specs Revealed

With just a few more days until the Nikon D800 launch, a new series of specs for the camera have been recently uncovered and come to reveal the last few details about this full-frame digital SLR. As most of you probably know by now, Nikon plans to launch two versions of this DSLR, the regular D800 and the D800E. The latter is said to come without an anti-aliasing filter in order to produce sharper images with more details and better resolution. The downside of getting the D800E, however, is that even if the image quality can be better, under some circumstances this can lead to the appearance of a moire pattern. No matter which one of the two versions one goes for, the camera comes with the same 36MP full-frame image sensor that is paired...

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Intel Berryville Atom CE Chips Exposed, ARM Beware

Intel has been lobbying for a strong position on the market of consumer electronics devices, especially portable ones, and the Atom Berryville chip line may be just the ticket it needs. Intel may not have gotten to the point where it is ready to release the Berryville CPUs (central processing units), but information about them has surfaced regardless. At least seven of them should become available within a few months. They will be called Atom CE and will feature two cores each, complete with Hyperthreading. Add to that a graphics processor with a clock speed of 400 MHz and there is much evidence to suggest that Atom CE are based on the Cedar Trail series. The 1.2 GHz CE5318 and the 1.8 GHz CE5338 processors are intended for Smart TVs and...

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