After so many ages of waiting the Fusion devices are upon us, and here's Dell's entry. It's the M102z, rocking an AMD E-350 processor at 1.6GHz and Radeon HD 6310 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and an 11.6-inch display managing 1366 x 768 -- not bad for a little guy priced at $699. If that's a little too rich there's a 1GHz model with half the memory and slightly lower spec graphics for $599. Or, if you really like watching commercials, step it up to the $759 model with a built-in TV tuner. All are said to be available now abroad and should be hitting these shores soon, so if you had your finger hovering over the "Buy Now" button on an HP dm1z you might just want to hold off for a little while.

[Thanks, kamarul]

Dell achieves AMD Fusion, announces Inspiron M102z notebook originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Apr 2011 12:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/02/dell-achieves-amd-fusion-announces-inspiron-m102z-notebook/

SYNTAXBRILLIAN SYNOPSYS

$399.99 for a WiFi-only Galaxy Tab not low enough to pique your interest? Then perhaps $349.99 will be a bit more to your liking. While there's still no indication of a release date, Frys.com is now accepting pre-orders for the device at that price, which is presumably not a mistake. Of course, the device itself is identical to the regular Galaxy Tab apart from that "wifi-only" bit, including the same 7-inch display, 16GB of storage, and Android 2.2 with Flash 10.1 support. Those willing to sign a contract will soon be able to get a 3G model for even less, however, with Sprint now set to offer the Tab for a mere $200 on a two-year contract.

[Thanks, Andy]

Frys lists WiFi-only Galaxy Tab at $350, now accepting pre-orders originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/01/frys-lists-wifi-only-galaxy-tab-at-350-now-accepting-pre-order/

SRA INTERNATIONAL SPSS SPANSION SONUS NETWORKS SONIC AUTOMOTIVE

It's about time the ViewMaster got an upgrade. What's that? It's not a ViewMaster? Well, you could have fooled us, but either way, the thing's finally going on sale exclusively at Target April 3rd, and everywhere else starting in June. As you might have already heard, Hasbro's intro into the crowded 3D arena, simply titled My3D, does take a card from the old ViewMaster deck, but instead of enlisting cardboard discs, this thing uses your iPhone or iPod touch to bring you 3D entertainment. If your kid's not already hooked on 3D, the $35 viewer could be a decent starter -- then again, for $35 you could take yourself out to a nice lunch, give the rug rat a cardboard box, and call it a day. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Hasbro's My3D to turn iPhones into glorified ViewMasters starting Sunday

Hasbro's My3D to turn iPhones into glorified ViewMasters starting Sunday originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Apr 2011 04:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/02/hasboros-my3d-to-turn-iphones-into-glorified-viewmasters-starti/

SIEMENS CDW CHINA MOBILE CISCO SYSTEMS COGNIZANT TECH SOLUTIONS

We've all heard it before; you need to select a lengthy password, one that's hard to guess. Not a dictionary word. And it has to have some capital letters in it too, and some digits, and a symbol or two won't hurt either.

That's a handy set of rules to keep in mind, but How Secure is My Password helps us understand why they're important.

It's basically like a full-screen version of one of those password-strength meters websites sometimes use. But instead of showing you a bar going from "weak" to "strong", it shows you an estimation of how long your password would take to crack. That's a much more visceral way to understand why your password is strong.

For example, when I entered "rabbit", it came back with "your password is one of the 500 most common passwords. It could be cracked almost instantly". "rabbit5" would take two hours, "$rabbit5" would take 38 days, and "$rabbitZ5" would take 237 years. It's quite enlightening to see what a difference three simple characters can make.

How Secure is My Password lets you know just that originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/05/how-secure-is-my-password-lets-you-know-just-that/

RADISYS RACKABLE SYSTEMS QUEST SOFTWARE QUANTUM QLOGIC

Well, it's not yet confirming the "late April" launch date that leaked out yesterday, but Rogers has now just started accepting pre-orders for both the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Xperia Arc, each of which will run you $99.99 on a three-year contract (there's no indication of off-contract pricing). It does say, however, that the current "offer" will expire on May 2nd, which could possibly be an indication of an actual release date, or just the beginning of a different offer. What's more, Rogers has also revealed a small surprise of another sort -- it turns out that it will be carrying both the black and white versions of the Xperia Play. Hit up the link below to get your order in if you're interested.

[Thanks, Caleb]

Rogers puts Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Arc up for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/01/rogers-puts-sony-ericsson-xperia-play-and-arc-up-for-pre-order/

DIGITAL CHINA HOLDINGS DIRECTV GROUP ELPIDA MEMORY EMC FIDELITY NATIONAL INFORMATION SVCS

Last week, Microsoft produced a set of charts detailing the Windows Phone 7 upgrade roadmap in both the United States and around the world.

If some early adopters didn't take those charts well, it could perhaps be excused: according to the one for the United States, three Windows Phone 7 devices are currently in the "Testing" phase for both the March "NoDo" and February updates.

Another two phones are in the "Scheduling" phase, with no firm date of arrival. While the February update was feature-free, and designed to pave the way for future updates, the "NoDo" update is supposed to add cut-and-paste functionality in addition to a range of other tweaks and improvements.

In theory, scheduling should take 10 days or less, to be followed by a "Delivery" stage that could take several weeks before arriving on an actual smartphone. The situation's a little better on the global chart, where at least some devices have begun "delivering" the update.

That was all before Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's corporate vice president and director of Windows Phone program management, appeared on the company's Channel 9 Website to talk about the upcoming MIX11 conference. During the conversation, he suggested the whole Windows Phone 7 process was well under way, which didn't seem to win him many friends among the site's commenters.

That anger compelled Belfiore to modify his commentary.

"People were officially getting it, the success rate of its deployment on real-world phones was looking good, and we were happy that the process had started well," he wrote in a March 27 posting on the Channel 9 comments section. "Still--these are not the same as all of you getting it and I'm sorry that I came across as insensitive to that fact."

It perhaps bears repeating that, according to Microsoft's own chart, nobody in the United States is currently receiving "NoDo," and likely won't for at least the next couple of weeks. Or longer.

Belfiore's comment then added something I've been rolling around in my head for the past day or so: "We know the table would benefit greatly from more detail, and we are hoping to add more to it by working with the operators who own the 'testing' phase to get more clarity," he wrote. "If your phone is shown in 'scheduling,' it'll be worth checking the table next week."

During this January's Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, I talked with some Microsoft reps about Windows Phone 7. During that conversation, they suggested that, while the carriers could technically deny an update from arriving on Windows Phone 7 devices, Microsoft didn't foresee that becoming an issue. I walked away with the impression that Microsoft had ceded a certain level of control over its software platform and updates to the carriers... and that the company was keeping its fingers crossed that the collaboration wouldn't spiral out of control.

Welcome to the spiral.

From the very beginning, Microsoft executives have suggested that Windows Phone 7 will avoid the fragmentation that plagued Windows Mobile. Unified software upgrades across all devices and carriers, they added, was something that would prevent their new software platform from falling into the same trap as Android, which is present in multiple different versions on a broad constellation of smartphones.

But what these charts suggest to me (reinforced by Belfiore's comment that "operators own the 'testing' phase") is that Windows Phone 7 is at risk of splintering like a cheap piece of wood. Unlike Apple, which took charge of pushing out software updates from Day One, Microsoft decided to cede a significant part of the upgrade process to carriers who, quite frankly, have a conflict of interest. If AT&T is already selling the iPhone and a broad array of Google Android devices, are they going to trip over themselves rushing to update Windows Phone 7? The answer's no.

And yet, instead of taking control of the situation, even Microsoft doesn't seem to know when NoDo is arriving on this HTC HD7 on my desk. The HTC Arrive (the first Windows Phone 7 device on a CDMA network) sidesteps these issues by arriving with the software updates pre-installed, but early adopters who purchased the GSM-based smartphones are very unhappy.

I have to say, for the first time, I'm starting to think Windows Phone 7 is in trouble.

Source: http://feeds.ziffdavisenterprise.com/~r/RSS/MicrosoftWatch/~3/AuxaPagXsIQ/windows_phone_7_update_saga_hints_at_major_trouble.html

EMS TECHNOLOGIES EMC ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS ELECTRONIC ARTS

In non-Soviet Russia... presidents tend to receive some pretty swanky high-tech gifts. Dmitry Medvedev, leader of the good people of Russia and one of the few men to successfully rock denims with a suit jacket, has been bestowed with a fresh new iPad 2 and his facial expression seems to suggest he was immediately irradiated with blasts of magic, fairy dust, and the smiles of innocent children from across the world. We just hope he hasn't seen the crummy camera yet, he is something of a tablet photography connoisseur.

Darren: "Why, lookie there! I can see Alaska from my iPad 2!"
Joe: "I can't believe I'm playing chess with Gary Kasparov!"
Jose: "I wonder if Barack also likes to play Risk on his iPad."
Josh F.: "See? The cat is talking but he's saying 'has' instead of 'have!'"
Don: "Kickin' in the front seat, sittin' in the back seat, gotta make my mind up, which seat can I take?"
Tim: "Look, it already has Words with Comrades installed!"
Vlad: "And this has push notifications for when Mr. Putin has instructions for me, yes?"
Richard Lawler: "10,000 apps and it's still cheaper than buying the New Jersey Nets."
Myriam: "And so if I tap here, it opens the door to the shark tank... and over here are the laser controls. Cool, eh?"
Richard Lai: "Hullo Anna!"

Caption Contest: Russian prez is impressed by iPad 2 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/YQcsoLeUTBA/

TNS TIBCO SOFTWARE TIBCO SOFTWARE THQ TEXAS INSTRUMENTS

While not a game per se, I found Mitoza intriguing enough to spend quite some time with it. You start off with a seed, and are then presented with two choices: you can either click a flower pot, or click a cute little birdie.

If you click the flower pot, a flower pot appears and the seed is planted inside. You're then presented with two further choices -- a water can or a bottle of fertilizer. Each choice you make causes your creation to morph, and presents you with two other choices.

There's no winning or losing, really. Each "game" usually lasts around four or five choices, at which point the plant/animal dies in some creative (but not too gruesome) way. At this point you instantly start over with a new seed.

The graphics are captivating; the whole thing has a cinematic feel to it, with a bit of artificial camera shake added for style.

All in all, it's a fun, peaceful way to spend a few minutes, and it might even make you think a little bit while you're at it.

Mitoza is a fun, freaky Web toy with an artistic look originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/28/mitoza-is-a-fun-freaky-web-toy-with-an-artistic-look/

QUEST SOFTWARE QUANTUM QLOGIC PROGRESS SOFTWARE PLANAR SYSTEMS

Now that Google Chrome 11 has hit the beta channel, you can expect to see extension and Web app developers making use of the new HTML5 speech-to-text API. In fact, there's as least one slick extension you can already install: Speechify.

Install Speechify, and you'll see a microphone icon added into the search box on many popular sites -- like Google and Bing. Click it, and Speechify will convert the words you speak into text. You've still got to press enter or click to search, and an automatic submit option is definitely something we'd like to see added.

If you're looking for something similar with custom search options, check out Voice Search for Chrome, which we looked at last year. Unlike Speechify, you activate Voice Search by clicking its browser action icon -- and you can search a specific site be prefixing your query, e.g. "wikipedia bacon".

Speechify for Google Chrome adds speech-to-text voice search originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/24/speechify-for-google-chrome-adds-speech-to-text-voice-search/

HYPERCOM HEWLETT PACKARD CO HEARTLAND PAYMENT SYSTEMS GOOGLE GOOGLE

In this latest episode of HotHardware's Two and a Half Geeks, Dave, Iyaz and Marco talk about the all new Matrox Parhelia 128MB AGP graphics accelerator, the Dell Inspiron 8200 powered by the hot new Pentium 4 M and GeForce 4 440Go, the Atek Super Mini Optical mouse, the Bitchin Fast 3D 2000 Pro exposed in the latest issue of MaximumPC and...

Source: http://hothardware.com/News/16-HotHardwares-Two-and-A-Half-Geeks-Webcast--April-1-2011/

ASUSTEK COMPUTER ATandT AUTODESK AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING AVNET