consumer – Page 16 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Intel’s Compute Stick: A full PC that’s tiny in size (and performance)

Specs at a glance: Intel Compute Stick STCK1A32WFC OS Windows 8.1 with Bing 32-bit CPU 1.33GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3735F (Turbo Boost up to 1.83GHz) RAM 2GB 1333MHz DDR3 (non upgradeable) GPU Intel HD Graphics (integrated) HDD 32GB eMMC SSD Networking 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 Ports 1x USB 2.0, microSD, micro USB (for power) Size 4.06” x 1.46” x 0.47” (103 x 37 x 12mm) Other perks Lock slot Warranty 1 year Price ~$150, ~$110 for Ubuntu Linux version with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage Our appreciation of mini desktop PCs is well-documented at this point . In the age of the smartphone and the two-pound laptop, the desktop PC is perhaps the least exciting of computing devices, but there are still plenty of hulking desktop towers out there, and many of them can be replaced by something you can hold in the palm of your hand. Intel’s new Compute Stick, available for about $150 with Windows 8.1 and $110 with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, takes the mini desktop concept about as far as it can go. The Stick isn’t even really a “desktop” in the traditional sense, since it’s an HDMI dongle that hangs off the back of your monitor instead of sitting on your desk. It’s not very powerful, but the Compute Stick is one of the smallest Windows desktops you can buy right now. Let’s take a quick look at what it’s capable of. Read 19 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Intel’s Compute Stick: A full PC that’s tiny in size (and performance)

This Is the First 3D-Printed Part That’s Approved for a Jet Engine

3D printing has just reached another major milestone as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has officially approved GE’s T25 as the first 3D printed part cleared for use on a commercial jet engine . Read more…

Virtual Desktop Makes Windows OS Oculus Rift-Capable

An anonymous reader writes Virtual Desktop is a free program that makes the Windows operating system compatible with the Oculus Rift VR headset. To the surprise of some, plugging the Oculus Rift into a computer doesn’t result in a native view of the OS, meaning that users have to put on and take off the headset as they move from one VR-specific app to the next. If you want to use typical Windows programs—like Photoshop, Firefox, or Microsoft Office—no dice! That’s where Virtual Desktop comes in, enabling the entire Windows desktop, and any application that can run on it, to be seen through the Oculus Rift. It also works as a bridge between VR-specific applications, allowing you to move from one to the next without ever taking off the headset. The latest version released today includes voice commands for launching VR games, global monitor mirroring, performance improvements, and is built against the latest Oculus Rift SDK. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

FAA Grants Amazon Permission To Test Drone Deliveries

The FAA just released a statement indicated that Amazon now has limited permission to test and develop drones in the United States. It’s not a blank check, though. The FAA gave Amazon strict rules and regulations. Read More

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FAA Grants Amazon Permission To Test Drone Deliveries

Samsung’s Portable SSD T1 Tested

MojoKid writes The bulk of today’s high-capacity external storage devices still rely on mechanical hard disk drives with spinning media and other delicate parts. Solid state drives are much faster and less susceptible to damage from vibration, of course. That being the case, Samsung saw an opportunity to capitalize on a market segment that hasn’t seen enough development it seems–external SSDs. There are already external storage devices that use full-sized SSDs, but Samsung’s new Portable SSD T1 is more akin to a thumb drive, only a little wider and typically much faster. Utilizing Samsung’s 3D Vertical NAND (V-NAND) technology and a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface, the Portable SSD T1 redlines at up to 450MB/s when reading or writing data sequentially, claims Samsung. For random read and write activities, Samsung rates the drive at up to 8, 000 IOPS and 21, 000 IOPS, respectively. Pricing is more in-line with high-performance standalone SSDs, with this 1TB model reviewed here arriving at about $579. In testing, the drive did live up to its performance and bandwidth claims as well. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Samsung’s Portable SSD T1 Tested

Staples To Buy Office Depot For $6.3 Billion

An anonymous reader writes: Today Staples announced plans to buy Office Depot in a deal worth $6.3 billion. This is a huge consolidation within the office supply industry. Office Depot and OfficeMax were the second- and third-biggest suppliers when they merged in 2013. Adding those to the enormity of Staples would effectively bring the U.S. under a single office supply chain. “The move is expected to draw scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, though regulators have been increasingly willing to approve retail mergers in light of burgeoning e-commerce competition. … This isn’t the first time Staples has tried to buy Office Depot. In 1997, the FTC derailed Staples’ acquisition of its rival as anticompetitive. By 2013, though, the agency’s view had shifted. When the FTC allowed Office Depot to buy OfficeMax, it said the advent of online retailing ensured competition in the market for office supplies. Consumers today also rely more heavily on big-box chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for office products, the commission said.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Staples To Buy Office Depot For $6.3 Billion

DirectX 12 Lies Dormant Within Microsoft’s Recent Windows 10 Update

MojoKid writes After last Wednesday’s Windows 10 event, early adopters and IT types were probably anxious for Microsoft to release the next preview build. Fortunately, it didn’t take long as it came out on Friday, and it’s safe to say that it introduced even more than many were anticipating (but still no Spartan browser). However, in case you missed it, DirectX 12 is actually enabled in this Windows 10 release, though unfortunately we’ll need to wait for graphics drivers and apps that support it, to take advantage of DX 12 features and performance enhancements. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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DirectX 12 Lies Dormant Within Microsoft’s Recent Windows 10 Update

Office 2016 and Office for Windows touchscreens are due later this year

Word for Windows 10. These touch-optimized apps are separate from the desktop Office suite. 5 more images in gallery The Office tablet and phone apps for iOS and Android both ship with a touch-optimized subset of the features of the full flagship Office suite, and even though Microsoft is readying an Office release for Windows phones and tablets, the desktop version will still reign supreme. Microsoft says that the next version of the flagship suite, dubbed Office 2016, will be “generally available in the second half of 2015.” It will remain optimized for keyboards and mice. The touch-optimized Office apps for Windows 10 are still on their way, though, and Microsoft has shared some screenshots that show what the apps will look like on both phones and tablets. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook Mail, and Outlook Calendar for Windows 10 (the official product names) unsurprisingly share a lot in common with the touchscreen apps for other platforms. Microsoft released Office for iPad in March of 2014 , and that UI has served as the foundation for all the tablet versions of the suite, including the still-in-beta Android version . The phone-sized versions of the apps look more like the new iPhone versions released in November , not like the limited versions that are currently available on Windows phones. The Outlook app for Windows 10 is something we haven’t seen on other platforms yet. Microsoft has released Outlook clients for iOS and Android, but they only support business-class Office 365 accounts and are more or less just wrappers for the standard Outlook Web client. The version for Windows 10 looks more full-featured, more closely resembling the desktop version of Outlook, at least in the three-column tablet view. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Office 2016 and Office for Windows touchscreens are due later this year

‘Be My Eyes’ App Crowdsources Help For the Blind

An anonymous reader writes: A new not-for-profit app, Be My Eyes, aims to help the visually-impaired by connecting them with volunteer users who can support them in their daily lives via live video calls. Once downloaded, Be My Eyes asks the user to identify as blind or sighted, to see if you require help or are offering it. When a blind person requests assistance the app scans the system for an available volunteer. The blind user connects with the volunteer over a video call and points to the item they would like described. Be My Eyes was created by Hans Jørgen Wiberg, a visually-impaired entrepreneur, at a startup event. Wiberg teamed up with Robocat, the Danish software studio behind Haze and Thermo, to make his vision a reality. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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‘Be My Eyes’ App Crowdsources Help For the Blind

3D Cameras Are About To Go Mainstream

An anonymous reader writes: Vox’s Timothy B. Lee reports that everyday imaging is about to take a big step forward as 3D photography finally makes it to prime time. Technological advances in 3D processing algorithms have accelerated at the same time the equipment for taking these shots has become significantly cheaper. Those facts combined mean that we’re going to be seeing 3D cameras become much more prevalent very quickly. “If things go according to Intel’s plan, within a few years all of our tablets and laptops, and perhaps even our smartphones, will have fancy 3D cameras instead of boring old 2D ones.” Throw in the fledgling industries of commercial camera drones and autonomous vehicles, and you have a lot of major companies throwing huge amounts of research money into making cheap 3D cameras work. “The result will be a proliferation of devices, from tablets to self-driving cars, that understand and interact with the world around them.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.