First Retina iPad Mini is on track, DisplaySearch reports

Update at 11:15 p.m. PT: The iPad Mini will get a refresh in the third calendar quarter with a Retina display, NPD DisplaySearch predicted late Sunday.

This is an update to information that DisplaySearch provided earlier Sunday.

"We see two refreshes coming. One [with a Retina display] in the second half of this year, then one in Q1 [first quarter] of 2014," analyst Richard Shim told CNET late Sunday night.

"The Q1 [2014] device will have a Retina display plus an updated processor," Shim added.

Earlier Sunday night, NPD stated that the first iPad … Read more

ORBX streaming tech could revolutionize computing

SAN FRANCISCO -- First-person shooter games don't appeal to Brendan Eich, Mozilla's chief technology guru and the guy who created JavaScript nearly two decades ago. He doesn't let his kids play them, either, he says. But he was so excited on Friday about showing off the potential of a new browser codec called ORBX.js at Autodesk's One Market Street offices here that he began playing Epic's Unreal Tournament 3 "Sanctuary" level in a room of 20 or so witnesses.

As Eich maneuvered somewhat awkwardly through the onslaught of opponents, Jules Urbach, CEO … Read more

Apple fail should be a lesson for Microsoft

Apple is good at addressing design oversights. Will Microsoft be as adept?

The Retina iPad, for example, violated Apple's design creed: products should get thinner and lighter -- aka, cooler. Not thicker and heavier.

But Apple fixed this quickly (six month later) with the iPad Mini trifecta: thinner, lighter, cheaper. And the iPad, reinvented as the Mini, has been a runaway success.

Now that Microsoft is in the business of making tablets, can it act fast when it commits product-design sins?

Surface is not a success -- yet. The Surface Pro is too big and heavy (and expensive), according … Read more

Acer to launch Win 8 tablets with smaller screens this year

Acer plans to launch Windows 8 tablets with smaller screen sizes in the second half of the year, an executive said Friday.

Such devices will feature touch screens smaller than 10 inches, Emmanuel Fromont, Acer president for the Pan America region, and Sumit Agnihotry, Acer vice president of product marketing, told CNET in an interview following an Acer product launch event in New York.

They likely will cost below $400 -- the typical entry point for Windows tablets today -- and will be pushed as productivity devices that link to the traditional PC world more easily than Android devices, the … Read more

Mozilla: Look ma, no plug-in for video, apps

A new codec from Mozilla and OTOY will let browsers run high-performance rendering apps like Autodesk and high-definition video without plug-ins, the companies unveiled Friday.

The new, open-source digital stream encoder and decoder, called ORBX.js, obviates the need for a plug-in like Flash, Sliverlight, or QuickTime to run HD video in the browser. Mozilla and OTOY expect live TV, watermarked video, and cloud gaming to all get a boost in HTML5-enabled browsers that support it. Currently, that list includes all five major browsers: IE 10, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera.

"Thanks to our ongoing efforts in making the … Read more

Acer launches 2 notebooks, tablet that emphasize touch

NEW YORK--Acer on Friday launched two new touch-screen notebooks and a tablet, hoping to attract buyers and stem its steep declines in the PC market.

One notebook, the Aspire R7, features a 15.6-inch touch screen and a hinge that allows users to rotate and flip the screen to convert it in tablet. The company moved the keyboard closer to the edge of the lower tray and shifted the trackpad closer to the screen, which it said should make it easier to use the touch screen. The $1,000 product will be in stores in mid-May, with an exclusive U.… Read more

Google Fiber heads to Shawnee, Kansas

Google Fiber is making its way to another part of Kansas.

The search giant on Thursday announced that Shawnee, located just outside of Kansas City, has voted to bring Google Fiber to its residents. Google Fiber is already available in Kansas City, the first location to get the Google high-speed Internet service.

Google Fiber has started to slowly expand its footprint across the U.S., with the company recently announcing that it'll be made available to Austin, Texas, residents. Provo, Utah will also receive Fiber service.

Google on Thursday did not say when its service will be available to … Read more

Future Microsoft tablet may have 7.5-inch display, low price

A future Microsoft tablet is expected to sport a 7.5-inch display, as the budding tablet maker seeks to reduce both size and price, according to NPD DisplaySearch.

"From the supply chain side, we're seeing the panel specifications, the touch module, the mass production schedule being made," Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, told CNET Thursday.

The tablet is expected to use a 7.5-inch panel with 1,400x1,050 resolution, according to Shim. That comes to a respectable pixel density of 233 pixels per inch, higher than the Nexus 7 and Apple's iPad Mini. … Read more

Intel has a new CEO: Now what?

Intel decided to play it safe with its next leader.

By going with tradition and tapping an insider, Chief Operating Officer Brian Krzanich, as its new CEO, Intel is signalling to the world that it has no intention of making any radical changes.

Nevertheless, Krzanich will need to make some big moves if Intel is to retain its dominant position in the technology world. The choices he makes in the coming months and years will have a big impact, not only on the company, but also on the future of the broader computing arena.

Krzanich takes over at a time … Read more