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| LG Chromebase all-in-one desktop to run Chrome OS |
While ideal for laptops (like Chromebooks), Google's Chrome OS has occasionally found itself on desktop PCs, usually in small-form-factor systems like the Samsung Chromebox. But LG is going a different route with its forthcoming Chromebase machine.
The Chromebase is an all-in-one (AIO) PC that combines Chrome with a 21.5-inch display with 1,920x1,080 full HD resolution. Given the lightweight footprint that Chrome requires, it should come as no surprise that the Chromebase's other specs aren't awe-inspiring: Intel Celeron Haswell processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of solid-state storage.
LG hasn't announced pricing on the Chromebase, though don't expect a big sticker price considering the pricing strategy for most Chrome systems (Google's Chromebook Pixel aside). In addition to Windows AIOs, it will be competing against a handful of Android-based all-in-onesfrom Acer and HP. LG announced the Chromebase to get a jump on the deluge of tech news coming soon from next month's CES trade show, but more information will probably emerge when the company shows off the new PC in Las Vegas in January.
Via: Engadget
Updates to the Jolicloud OS, based on Ubuntu 10.04, and the Jolicloud desktop environment, available for Ubuntu 12.04 and up through a PPA, will be discontinued in December of this year.
The company say that they wish ‘to entirely focus on the web with Jolicloud 2‘.
While no future updates will filter down, users will remain able to use both the OS and the desktop environment in their current states.
Both projects will remain open source and available at jolios.org.
Joli-Well Expected
The news won’t come as too much of a shock to anyone, let alone Jolicloud’s users. The French company recently announced that their web-based content-hub ‘JoliDrive’ – to be rebranded as Jolicloud 2 – now has more than one million users. News that makes the company’s decision to focus its time and energy on its successes a wholly appropriate one.
“JoliDrive is growing to the point where a lot of the actions that used to require an OS no longer do”, Jolicloud’s communications guru Zak Kaufman told me via e-mail.
“Things like file management, music and video playback, can all be done using Jolidrive, available from any web browser on almost every platform”.
Choices
The OS won’t be “officially” discontinued until the end of December, so if you’re using the DE or OS you have a couple of months grace to look at other options.
Migrating to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, which will receive maintenance updates until 2017, is one idea. Or, for those keen to continue using a light, web-centric experience just yet is to switch to a Chromebook. Chrome OS offers more features than that of JoliOS or the Jolicloud desktop environment, and the Jolicloud 2 hub can continue to be used.
Before then, if you want a copy of the OS for posterity, or see what the fuss is (soon: was) about check out our previous articles on the desktop environment.
Source : OMG Ubuntu
Just about a month ago, Microsoft rolled out Remote Desktop apps for iOS, Android and Mac OS X. On November 21, the company made available updates to all three versions.
What's in the updates? Here's Microsoft's list of features and fixes:Microsoft execs said that there've been 1.5 million downloads of the three new Remote Desktop apps combined in the past month. According to the Softies, the remote desktop app for Android is Microsoft's most popular Android app release to date. Execs said there have been more than 5,000 unique Android device types that have downloaded the app.
iOS
- Pinch to zoom support in mouse pointer mode
- Performance improvements
- iPhone 5 screen resolution fix
Android
- Pinch to zoom support in mouse pointer mode
- Performance improvements
- Improved support for stylus input
Mac OS X
- Improved full screen support for OS X 10.7 - 10.9
- Performance improvements
Download links for each of the three updates are available in Microsoft's Server & Cloud blog post.
Microsoft's multi-platform Remote Desktop apps -- which include an overhauled version of the two-year-old Mac Remote Desktop client -- provide access to virtual desktops. They allow users to connect from devices running these operating systems to Windows and Windows Servers to work with applications and files stored there. There are also versions of Remote Desktop for Windows and Windows RT. Microsoft execs have said there will be remote desktop support for Windows Phone, but no details as to when.
Remote Desktop has been one of the most popular Windows Store apps among Windows 8 and Windows RT users. The licensing requirements for these apps are complex. Client-access licenses and supporting back-end infrastructure are required to make Remote Desktop work on Windows and non-Windows devices.
Via: ZDNet
Target tried to stand out with a $100 gift card offer with the purchase of the new iPad Air during Black Friday, but Walmart has chosen to focus on the first-generation iPad mini. Like Target, it is offering a store gift card when you buy a iPad mini (not the new Retina-display one, however), but Walmart is providing a $100 gift card instead of the $75 one Target is giving. The bad news is that Walmart is only makng this deal available at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving for one hour with a guarantee that buyers will receive the product. (If the store runs out of stock, Walmart says impacted customers will receive their item "before Christmas.")
The same holds for the "one-hour guarantee" laptop special Walmart is rolling out at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving: an HP Pavilion TouchSmart 14-B109WM for $278. This appears to be the version the retailer is currently selling for $398, and includes an Intel Celeron B877 processor, 4GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, and 14-inch touchscreen. You can spend even less on the HP 2000-2d09WM notebook, which has a bigger screen (15.6-inch) -- though without touchscreen capabilities -- and an AMD E-300 processor, but only will cost $178 (or $140 less than the regular price).
Rounding out Walmart's Black Friday laptop specials, the HP Pavilion 15-B129WM is available for $388, or $60 off the current price. It features a 15.6-inch touchscreen, AMD A6-4455M processor, 4GB of RAM, and 500GB hard drive. Only one desktop sale is listed in Walmart's ad: The HP 20-B323W all-in-one PC, which comes with an AMD E1-1500 processor, 4GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, and wireless keyboard and mouse, but lacks touchscreen functionality. It will sell for $348, or $101 off its current $449 price.
In addition to the usual ultra-cheap Android tablet deals the company likes to trot out at turkey time (for example, a $49 7-inch RCA slate at the 8 p.m. Thanksgiving one-hour guarantee event), Walmart has a couple of other notable tablets specials. Starting at an undisclosed time on Thanksgiving morning, you'll be able to purchase an iPad 2 with a Bluetooth speaker and accessory kit for $349 through Walmart.com. And like OfficeMax, Walmart will be offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1-inch tablet for $299, or $60 less than Samsung is presently selling it for on its own site.
After witnessing year after year of mob scenes when the doors to its locations have opened for Black Friday shopping, Walmart has finally wised up and decided to give out wristbands in advance of its one-hour guarantee events and for certain hot items (like the new Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 video game consoles). Is that modicum of sanity enough to get you to venture out to Walmart on Thanksgiving or Black Friday for some of these deals? Let us know in the Talkback section below.
Via: ZDNet
If you’ve ever wanted to play games on your PC, but found that it struggled with the demands of animating large battlefields or the rapid 3D rendering of driving games, there’s a solution that’s cheaper than buying a dedicated rig or one of the next- generation consoles
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Source : PC Advisor
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With much of the processing that games require now being handled by the graphics card, fitting one to your PC can have a potent effect on its gaming potential. Here we explain to upgrade your graphics card for less than £150.
Just be sure to first check that your motherboard has an available PCI Express slot, the case has enough room to fit a card, and your power supply that can handle the extra strain.
How to fit a graphics card
1. Before you order anything, look inside your case to check whether your current PSU is capable of running a new graphics card. Remove the side panel and look at the ‘Total continuous power’ figure. It should be at least 400W, but preferably 500W
2. PC cases come in many different sizes, so it’s important to measure how much space you have inside. Also check that you have a free PCI Express slot. Graphics cards can be quite tall, so you might need two empty bays to accommodate one.
3. You can now head to your retailer of choice and look for a suitable graphics card. Remember that if you want a more powerful card than your power supply allows you can always replace the PSU with a beefier unit.
4. Once your card has arrived, uninstall the existing drivers on your PC to avoid any conflicts. Head to Control Panel, ‘Uninstall a program’, then find and uninstall your drivers. You can also ‘uninstall’ the Display adapters hardware in Device Manager.
5. Before you begin the installation you should ground yourself to discharge any static electricity. To do this you simply touch a nearby radiator or a metal part of the case while it’s still plugged in. Next, turn off the PC and unplug it from the mains.
6. If your PC has an existing graphics card you’ll need to remove it now. Many modern machines use integrated graphics, which can’t be removed. If there is a card installed, remove the screw(s) and check for any plastic clips that hold it in place.
7. Ensure the area around the empty slot is clear, then install the new card. Position it gently, first checking that nothing is blocking its path, then press down firmly on the top of the card to completely seat the connector in its slot.
8. Connect the power supply to the card via the relevant slots. If your PSU doesn’t have the correct connector (usually a black, six-pin block marked PCI-E), check in the box for an adaptor that will hopefully have been supplied.
9. Reconnect the PSU and re-fit the case’s side panel. Power on your PC. Head to the graphics card manufacturer’s website to download and install the latest drivers (those supplied on disc may be out of date). Reboot the PC if prompted. Now the fun can begin!
10. Quickly visit Control Panel, Device Manager, Display adapters and check that the graphics card appears with no warning signs that might indicate a problem. Then fire up your favourite game, ramp up the detail in the Settings menu, and enjoy.
11. If you experience any stuttering you may need to lower the quality settings. Typically, lowering the anti-aliasing and shadow detail levels will improve framerates. Ideally, you should use your monitor’s native resolution for the best quality.
QUESTION I have recently upgraded my PC's memory by adding an additional two sticks of memory of the same type as the two which were installed when I bought it. Unfortunately, my PC has started crashing a fair bit with the new memory installed.
I have tried re-seating the memory and using different sticks in different memory slots, but I can't make my system run reliably and I'm now not sure which sticks of memory are the new ones.
Is there a reliable way I can test my system to find out where the fault lies?
HELPROOM ANSWER If you have a spare USB flash drive or a blank CD and plenty of time, you can perform a thorough test of your memory using Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org.
This utility needs to boot from a DOS environment (hence the USB flash drive) and offers a simple menu-driven interface which will allow you to stress-test your RAM.
Follow the Download link at memtest.org and download either the Auto-installer for USB Key or the Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO, depending on which medium you're intending to use to boot your system.
To make a bootable CD from the .ISO file, use your favourite disc burning software. We've found Imgburn from www.imgburn.com to work well.
If you want to make a bootable USB key, you'll need to unpack the auto-installer download and run the utility, selecting your blank USB flash drive. Note that all existing data on the drive will be erased while preparing it for use with Memtest86+.
Now boot up your PC using the disc you just created. The Memtest86+ software should load up and start running automatically. Now you just wait. The testing process will probably take a few hours, depending on how much RAM you have installed, so you may want to leave it running overnight.
Near the top of the screen, in the middle, it will display Test #x, where x is the number of the test currently running. It's generally advised to leave the program running until this gets to around No.8.
If no errors are detected, the problem is probably unrelated to your memory chips. If errors are reported then you may have one or more faulty sticks of memory or possibly one or more faulty memory slots on your motherboard.
You will have to locate the source of the problem by a process of elimination. At this point it would be a good idea to mark your memory sticks in some way so they don't get mixed up again.
Start with the first memory slot and re-test each stick of memory in that slot one at a time, until you find one with errors. If more than one stick reports errors, try testing in a different memory slot.
Also check the specification of your memory modules and ensure that your PCs BIOS is configured correctly for your memory. It's wise to use matched memory sticks – i.e. those that all have exactly the same specifications and timings.
Source : PC Advisor
n the beginning, there was the L3p D3sk. A monstrous marvel of the arcane art of extreme case modification, the L3p D3sk project transformed a humble computer desk into a hulking, glowing, water-cooled PC, built to scoff at benchmark tests and to play even the most demanding games without blinking an eye, while also serving as a handy-dandy place to hold your sticky notes and Coke.
The L3p D3sk was awe-inspiring. The L3p D3sk gobbled up awards. The L3p D3sk was glorious.
This article is not about the L3p D3sk. This article is about the commercial product inspired by the L3p D3sk’s overclocked majesty: Red Harbinger’s Cross Desk, the most outrageous, audacious, downright enthusiast blend of PC case and office furniture ever created.
From concept to commercial
Here’s the thing about the L3p D3sk: For all its creativity and usefulness, there was only one. The same can be said for any case-modification project. But computer lover Thomas Nunn wants to bring killer, modding-inspired computer cases to the masses.
“The start of Red Harbinger was the mindset that there is this vibrant [modding] community that creates these awesome-looking computer cases and designs, but that’s it,” says Nunn, the CEO of Red Harbinger. “There are no computers on the market like that… It’s kind of like when the conceptual designers at Toyota or Ford put out a car at an auto show and everybody drools over it, and then they release a Camry.”
He continues: “What if there was a dealership that just sold the concept cars that everybody drooled over? That’s what I wanted Red Harbinger to be, but for computers.”
And what better place to start than with a commercial version of the utilitarian yet utterly awesome L3p D3sk?
Nunn reached out to Peter Brands, the modding maestro behind the L3p D3sk, who was understandably skeptical at first. “I had to send him a little cash and say, ‘Look, I’m not a scam artist,’” says Nunn. And just like that, Red Harbinger was born.
Other passionate PC lovers joined the company, coming from all corners of the globe to transform their dream into reality.
“We wanted to make sure Red Harbinger’s products are built by PC builders,” says Nunn. “Someone that actually does this as an extreme hobby or for a living, and that’s why it was important to bring people on who weren’t just engineers but also had a deep-seated interest and love for doing awesome specialty computers.”
Developing a dream
Shortly after its founding, Red Harbinger announced its first product: the Cross Desk, a desk-case hybrid inspired by Brands’s L3p D3sk and designed with PC enthusiasts in mind. As the Red Harbinger website declares:
Our goal with Cross was to bring to market the most ultimate and all-encompassing PC case ever created. The desk itself doubles as the case and completely integrates all hardware, liquid and air cooling systems, lighting systems, and pretty much anything else that you may want to throw at it.
The road from concept to commercial product wasn’t easy, though.
After releasing the initial images, Red Harbinger found that numerous aspects of the Cross Desk needed tweaking. That tweaking took the better part of two years before the company could put the Cross Desk up for preorder.
“It’s things like the legs,” says Shawn Rabensburg, Red Harbinger’s VP. “You wouldn’t think legs would be a thing you’d have to think about on a desk. Most people would say, ‘Let’s throw four posts on there and make it work,’ you know? But the legs took two months of design.”
The team members’ widespread geographical locations contributed to the delay, as did problems they encountered in finding manufacturing partners willing to create the small-batch quantities needed for such a niche product. Red Harbinger eventually sorted out the manufacturing woes, though as Rabensburg says, “Cross Desk prototypes are very expensive.”
The Cross Desk
With the production bumps behind it, Red Harbinger is finally ready to release its turbocharged Ferrari of furniture.
The final Cross Desk configuration includes numerous thoughtful touches, such as a leg rest that doubles as a racing-pedal mount and a headset-stand accessory to minimize cord clutter. Drive bays, expansion fan holes, and native water-cooling compatibility abound.
False bottoms and a covered rear section hide any unsightly components. Even those troublesome legs sport empty interiors and rubberized grommets for easy cable concealment. “That’s a real big thing,” says Nunn. “We hide the wires, we hide the gear—or you can display your stuff under the glass. It’s up to you.”
Even with the extra room afforded to cabling and whatnot, the Cross Desk can hold a ton of gear. The full spec list reveals the Cross Desk’s immense capacity: 20 3.5-inch drive bays, 18 2.5-inch drive bays, a plethora of expansion slots, motherboard compatibility galore, and much, much more, all contained in 130 pounds of steel and aluminum.
With the help of a “Dual PC upgrade kit,” the Cross Desk can even hold two separate, fully functional computers within its hulking confines.
“One thing that really makes [the Cross Desk] stand out is the ability to have a server on one side and a gaming system on the other,” says Nunn. “Or to have a giant motherboard, or a mini-ITX, or a Raspberry Pi, depending on your needs. Having the ability to customize it and design and expand from there really separates it from other PC cases out there.”
In a nod to the case’s L3p D3sk roots, the Cross Desk is capable of holding even more “with a little bit of modding,” Rabensburg notes.
“The legs are hollow,” he says. “If you wanted to mod an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3 and stick it in the legs so that you have an all-in-one gaming system that plugs directly into your monitors on alternate inputs, you theoretically could.”
Payoff, and beyond
The computer-friendly equivalent of a concept car doesn’t come cheap, though. While the Cross Desk won’t launch via distributors until November 15 for roughly $2000, it is available to preorder through Red Harbinger directly for $1700 through September 13. That’s a lot of cash—and no, the asking price doesn’t include any PC hardware aside from the Cross Desk itself. You’ll need to BYOCPU.
“It’s hard to ask people to part with that much money,” Rabensburg admits. “We try to understand the hesitation for someone to go and drop that much money on something like this, but... it’s the last desk or case they’ll ever need to buy.”
To make the Cross Desk more enticing, Red Harbinger is tossing in all available accessories for free with preorders, including the aforementioned headset mount, additional shelving, and the dual PC and XL motherboard upgrade kits. Free artwork, custom-length fan cables (hey, it’s a giant case!), and access to the company’s engineers are also bundled in the asking price. “Everything that we have that’s ready to go is going with these initial preorder desks,” says Rabensburg.
Red Harbinger also offers flat-rate shipping for Cross Desk preorders, even though shipping a mammoth, metal desk to far-flung locales costs more than $350. On top of that, the company provides a financing plan for preorders, at $775 per month for three months, including shipping. That adds up to slightly more than the one-shot price, but Rabensburg says the company is hoping that the plan is “a little more convenient for some people.”
Red Harbinger intends to sell a smaller, midrange version of the Cross Desk in the future, along with more accessories. And the company isn’t stopping with computer-ready furniture. Other enthusiast-grade PC cases are coming through the pipeline, Rabensburg says, though he won’t go into detail. (Releasing the early images of the Cross Desk taught the team a lesson in silence.) Future announcements will come on the Red Harbinger Facebook page, the company’s preferred means of communication.
For now, Red Harbinger is focused on the release of its first product. When these case-desk combos land in enthusiast homes, the Cross Desk and its blank slate of PC possibilities will have come full circle from its L3p D3sk origins. Anyone can own this modding-inspired case—and it’s just begging to be tweaked and configured in a hundred different ways.
“I’m glad we were able to pull it off,” says Rabensburg. “I can’t wait to see what people decide to throw in there. That’s what we’ve been working for and waiting for all these years.”
Source : PCWorld
source : PCMag
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