Data from global research firm TrendForce claims that Acer has seen the biggest growth in the second quarter shipments of Chrome OS notebooks, jumping 6 percentage points on its performance for the previous quarter. This rise means almost one third of all Chromebook shipments in the last three months were Acer models. The Taiwan-based tech giant now edges ahead of rival Samsung to become the most popular Chromebook maker, having been narrowly beaten by the South Korean electronics company earlier in the year.
Acer recently announced that its consumer Chromebook sales in the U.S. hit nearly 47% during the first quarter of the year. A mix of higher pricing of the second-generation Samsung Chromebook 2 and reportedly average performance from the eight-core Exynos Octa processor used seems to have resulted in cheaper and more powerful Intel-based devices flourishing.
Great news for Chromecast fans from Ireland, Google is now selling Chromecast through Play Store there. Here is the official announcement from Google Play on Google Plus:
Ireland, time to play your heart out!
Your favorite films are now available on Google Play. Stream hits like +The LEGO Movie instantly on the web or your Android or iOS device http://goo.gl/BwGyXG, then download a few old favorites and take them with you wherever you go on your tablet or phone—no internet connection required. Hopefully we’ve made some Irish eyes smile. http://goo.gl/UXDSCj
Lets hope the Irish Government can’t mess this up like with that greedy Garth Brooks fella.
There have been many rumours of a NVIDIA Android gaming console over the last few weeks. We don’t have anything new to report on that front, but we do have a solid leak regarding NVIDIA’s upcoming gaming Android tablet from one of the most reliable sources, out pal @evleaks.
The NVIDIA Shield Tablet could be one of the most interesting things to happen to Android gaming. In fact, it’s entirely possible there won’t necessarily be an Android gaming console from NVIDIA because, with the proper input/outputs, this could easily become a portable gaming console. We do know that this device is supposed to come with the NVIDIA Tegra K1 SoC or if the newly leaked NVIDIA gaming controller is meant to pair with this device, a likely situation however.
Either way, Android gaming is only just now evolving to reach a more mainstream gaming audience. This device could be a big step in that direction.
Gareth shows how and where he has installed the energy monitors for the Moneysupermarket.com challenge. From the insertion of the monitor on the live feed to the monitor on the kettle’s plug, Gareth’s dusty setup covers some of the most used item’s around the house. Don’t feed the giraffes.
Gareth has unboxed an efergy Elite Classic Energy Monitor Set for a challenge set by Moneysupermarket.com. Over the next month Gareth will be monitoring this electricity consumption and attempting to make a saving by comparing his results online.
In this video Gareth opens up the Elite Classic 3.0 In-Home Energy Monitor and one of two EMS 2.0 In-Home Energy Monitors. With these devices Gareth hopes to get a handle on his energy consumption, and perhaps identify a better tariff. To compliment the challenge we will be linking to content with some tips for consumers on the MoneySuperMarket.com website.
Energy comsumption is something that is always at the back of our minds. We hear stories of how leaving your TV on standby contributes a little extra to your energy bill over the course of the month. I am just a guilty as the next man for thinking that it cannot be that much and the hassle of actually turning it off at the wall is more than worth the cost. When Moneysupermarket.com contacted me with the opportunity of actually seeing the impact these little indecresions had on my electricity bill I had to admit it might be time well spent.
An important factor is that I do not come under the standard “Big Six” on the mainland. England has a dizzying variety of energy providers and all I hear is horror stories of tariffs, confusion and contracts. Here is cosy Northern Ireland we have the “Big Two,” Power NI and Airtricity. At the moment I believe these companies offer only one tariff each and what you see is what you get. Over the next month I will investigate the options, tariffs and prices available and when the results of the study are revealed I may be asking some very simple questions to those companies about the findings.
Over the weekend, Google’s Babak Parviz let slip that he is no longer with the search engine giant, he posted image is Amazon’s logo, and the accompanying message reads “status: super excited!” Further investigation sees on his profile section, Parviz confirms the move to Amazon.
“Having worked at companies ranging from tiny start-ups to huge corporations and universities in Europe and the US, I have found each one to be fun in its own unique way,” he writes. “I founded and led a few efforts at Google (among them, Google Glass and Google Contact daily lenses are public so far 🙂 prior to moving to Amazon and work on a few other things now…”
Parviz pioneered the development of Google Glass way back when it was Project X. He has also been involved in Google’s “smart” contact lenses. Currently, there are no clues as to what he will be doing at Amazon. However, he is likely to participate in the Augmented Reality (AR) market. Based on Parviz’s track record and Amazon’s push into new hardware, one can only speculate what Parviz will be working on. Augmented Reality specs is likely on Amazon’s menu, allowing wearers to scan a product in a shop, pull up Amazon’s price, and place an order right there on the spot.
From HD resolutions to curved screens, the TV game is always changing. LG has recently announced the latest ground-breaking development in the market, which takes the form of rollable TVs, as the BBC reports.
Taking how we tune in to the next level, the paper-thin televisions are so slight they can be rolled into a 3cm-diameter tube. And the company is not stopping there: LG is hoping to produce a huge 60in rollable TV by 2017.
This new development means that the humble gogglebox can be used in ways like never before. In honour of this, we’ve decided to take a look at some of the coolest TVs to ever have graced our planet.
Projector screens
Watching sport simply wouldn’t be the same without the trusty projector screen that takes pride of place in your local bar. In fact, recent times have seen them creep into our homes too, as telly addicts swap the small screen for a significantly larger one.
Previously, projectors and screens were costly to buy. Nowadays, you can pick up a quality projector from brands like Epson for around £250. Throw in a £56 projector screen from Rapid, and this option becomes incredibly affordable.
Piccadilly Circus
It would be difficult to install the next screen on our list in your home, but it definitely deserves a place in our run down. Piccadilly Lights, found near London’s Piccadilly underground station, is one of the city’s most famous landmarks.
Back in 2013, the advertising platform was brought into the 21st century with the installation of a new 24.6m by 4.8m SMD LED screen. Boasting 774,144 pixels, the screen is certainly a sight to behold — often by some 71,760,000 pedestrians a year.
Google Now is easily the most responsive voice activated software on the planet, however is certainly isn’t flawless. There is still has some learning to do before it can evolve to a higher level of intelligence and require the execution of some called Sarah Connor. As of right now, on the rare occasions when it doesn’t quite get a command right, Google’s engineers have given it a new feature which allows the feature another chance to do better.
Now, Google Now lets you say “No, I said… ” to try again. You simply need to restate what you were trying to do or search for after saying that “No, I said… ” line. This word correction feature isn’t the only new trick taught to this not-so-old dog. Google Now also lets you control your media with your voice. For example, you can now say “Ok Google, next song” to skip to the next track in your music player. Alternatively, you can say “Ok Google, pause song” to pause playback. Google Now can also create event cards for your calendar directly from your gmail emails. On top of this it can now better manage call reminders and let you know when to get off your train or bus.
Ballloon is a simple Chrome extension that helps users save pics, pdf files and other web files directly to cloud storages(Dropbox or Google Drive for the moment). With this extension, users don’t need to download their files from Internet first, then upload them back to Internet again. This certainly increases productivity. See how such a simple addition to your Chrome browser can make things an awful lot easier. Take for example, on a Chomebook, Google Drive is a very big aspect and Dropbox hardly gets a look in. Ballloon does not discriminate and makes the Dropbox integration much more simple.
Ballloon
Save webfiles (image, link) directly to clouds (Google Drive, Dropbox). beta 1.5.2
Ballloon is the quickest way to save web files to clouds. Viewing this page with your mobile devices? Don’t worry! Visit Ballloon.com (3 L’s) when you are available to use your laptop, and you can add Ballloon from there as well.
What is Ballloon?
Ballloon is an extension which helps you collect image, pics, pdf or link directly to your Dropbox and Google Drive without downloading steps.
- Download image to clouds can be extremely fast and simple, ONE left clicking is done.
- You can also right click a link to save web files.
- Certainly the default destination folder is alterable.
- You can read the transfer tasks at Departures board.
- I can’t help telling you that it’s really fast.
- “One more thing”, buy yourself a better mouse.
Mobilegeeks.de report that a CB3 featuring an 11.6-inch screen, Intel Celeron N2830 (Bay Trail) processor chugging along at 2.13GHz and paired with 2GB of DDR3 RAM will go on sale in Europe priced at €219. If rumours are true then this model will be particularly attractive as the memory is not soldered on to the board but housed in a slot. This means, theoretically at least, that owners should be able to swap the 2GB RAM stick for something larger.
The now ubiquitous 1366×768 resolution features, albeit with a glossy rather than matte finish, and there’s 16GB of eMMC storage for housing all your files. There are a pair of USB ports (1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0) and a full-sized HDMI out. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and webcam are all included, and the built-in battery is good for 8 hours.
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