Windows 10's Anniversary Update makes a great OS better
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Friday, August 12, 2016
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Acer Switch Alpha 12 review: Surface on a budget | The Verge
"At first glance, Acer’s Aspire Switch Alpha 12 looks very much like a me-too device. It’s a Microsoft Surface clone running Windows 10, albeit with a slightly different kickstand and a clever way of cooling itself (liquid, instead of fans). So when I started using it a couple weeks ago, I fully expected that the title of this review would end up being something along the lines of "Sure, why not?"
But my first glance was wrong — or rather, I was looking at the wrong thing. When most people walk into a Best Buy (or a Costco, which has a special bundle on this tablet), the thing they see first is obvious: the price. The Switch Alpha 12 is cheap, coming in as low as $699 for a decently specced model. That’s midrange laptop territory, not "fancy convertible tablet / laptop hybrid with a touchscreen and removable keyboard" territory.
So yes, I shrugged at the Alpha 12, then I used it and shrugged some more: it’s fine, good even, a perfectly serviceable device that does the jobs I expect it to do. But it’s hard to shrug off the price, which (depending on your options) ends up being 500 bucks less than the Surface it’s so clearly modeled after."
Acer Switch Alpha 12 review: Surface on a budget | The Verge
Mossberg: The 9.7-inch iPad Pro might be your lightest laptop, thanks to Logitech | The Verge
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"When the iPad came out in 2010, I wrote that it might upend the laptop if it could perform enough of the scenarios a user performed on his or her laptop, using its modern, full-screen, touch-centric software. For me, personally, it performed quite a few, and I used my laptop less and less.Years later — last November — when Apple came out with the original, huge, 13-inch iPad Pro, complete with snap-on keyboard (a move that followed Microsoft’s lead), the promise was tantalizing that it might totally replace the need for a laptop. But after reviewing it, I felt it had missed the mark for three reasons.
First, I found its size too big and bulky for holding while reading or watching video. Second, though Apple’s huge library of tablet apps worked well on standard-sized iPads, there wasn’t much that made use of the ginormous screen.
But the most important reason I couldn't replace my laptop with an iPad was the keyboard. I disliked Apple’s keyboard, which has a flat-feeling simulated key travel and lacks backlighting and dedicated feature-control keys for the iPad.
THE REASON I COULDN'T REPLACE MY LAPTOP WITH AN IPAD WAS THE KEYBOARD
Apple managed to overcome my first two objections with a smaller, standard 9.7-inch version of the Pro released in March. It even surpassed its big sibling in a few areas, including the screen and cameras. But it still had the same Apple keyboard, only now more cramped. So I upgraded, and waited for somebody to release a really nice 9.7-inch snap-on keyboard (as opposed to the many Bluetooth keyboards that require pairing and charging)."
Mossberg: The 9.7-inch iPad Pro might be your lightest laptop, thanks to Logitech | The Verge
Refreshed Surface Book to ditch hinge gap and Surface AIOs may get 4K displays | Windows Central
"Microsoft's Windows division is busy wrapping up the Anniversary Update (aka 'Redstone 1') for Mobile and shipping for PC, but the hardware division is hard at work as well. I'm now starting to hear reports of refreshed Surface devices being developed that won't radically change the current design but do offer some modest modifications.
Surface Book - Please mind the gap
First up is Surface Book, which sounds like is getting Intel's new Kaby Lake processor. Kaby Lake won't start shipping until late 2016, and it brings native support for USB 3.1 (Gen 2) along with a new graphics architecture for 3D and 4K graphics. While I have not heard Kaby Lake specifically name-dropped I do hear of 'updated internals,' which jives with earlier rumors of a SoC refresh for the Surface line.
Perhaps the bigger news is a fix for something that bugged some Surface Book owners: the gap in the hinge. The space allocated for Microsoft's unique fulcrum hinge, bothered some owners on aesthetic grounds (concerns over dust collecting in that area or structural weakness though seem to be unfounded). The alleged redesign I hear makes the display and keyboard flush when closed similar to a traditional laptop.
How the Surface team managed the change while keeping the dynamic-fulcrum hinge's functionality is currently not known."
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Google to push Flash closer to extinction with new version of Chrome - CNET
Google said it will begin to deemphasize Flash in September with the release of Chrome 53, which will begin blocking the plug-in.
Adobe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google plans to begin pushing Adobe Flash Player closer to its inexorable grave at the end of the year with a new version of its Chrome web browser.
Chrome 55, which the web giant plans to release in December, will replace Flash with HTML5, Google announced Monday. Noting that the browser plug-in has played a key role in the proliferation of video in the internet, Google said the change will lead to improved security, reduced power consumption and faster page load times.
"HTML5 is much lighter and faster, and publishers are switching over to speed up page loading and save you more battery life," Anthony LaForge, curator of Flash in Chrome, wrote in a blog post. "You'll see an improvement in responsiveness and efficiency for many sites."
Google said it will begin to deemphasize Flash in September with the release of Chrome 53, which will begin blocking the plug-in.
Adobe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google to push Flash closer to extinction with new version of Chrome - CNET
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