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IPHONE 6 .....

Coming Soon: The Slicker, Faster and – Maybe – Cheaper iPhone

Excitement over the new iPhone is building to a frenzy this week as rumors abound that Apple (AAPL) will unveil upgraded models on September 10.

That would be almost exactly a year after Apple introduced the iPhone 5, which grabbed the title of best selling smart phone model in the world last year.

Apple isn’t commenting on new models yet but the September 10 introduction date has been confirmed by major news organizations including the Wall Street Journal’s AllThingsD and dedicated Apple bloggers such as Jim Dalrymple.

The rumored new handset, expected to be called the iPhone 5S, will probably look quite similar to the current model 5 but is sure to be lighter and more powerful than ever. It may also be accompanied by a lower-priced, plastic-cased model, dubbed the iPhone “5C” on the Internet.

Pictures leaked onto the Web of the purported lower-priced iPhone show an array of bright colors instead of just the same old black and white models available in recent years. That would make 2013 a banner year for colorful phones, as the new Google (GOOG) Moto X phone arriving in stores in a few weeks is being offered in 18 colors.

A rising share price

And it's not just customers who are excited about a new iPhone. Investors have been driving up Apple's share price — even before billionaire hedge fund manager Carl Icahn tweeted this week that he had bought a large position. After lagging the market for most of the year, Apple shares have gained 17% over the past month.

Apple remains a top player at the high end of the smartphone market, especially in the United States, where most carriers subsidize more than two-thirds of the cost of a new phone for customers who sign a two-year contract.

The lower-priced phone would help Apple better compete for customers who pay month to month and those who live in less-wealthy countries where carriers don’t offer subsidies. Apple currently offers older models, such as the 2010 iPhone 4, to those customers. But the older phone still costs $450 without a subsidy and may lack the appeal of more recent models running Google’s Android software.

“They’ve been wickedly profitable but their market share is kind of plateauing,” says Ramon Llamas, mobile research manager at IDC. Apple captured 18% of the smartphone market in 2011 and 2012, according to IDC. “A little more attention to emerging markets is warranted.”

Competitors with $200 to $300 phones have been growing faster than Apple in many less-wealthy markets, according to data from Gartner. Apple sold 31.9 million phones worldwide in the second quarter, up just 10% from a year earlier, Gartner reported, second to Samsung. But Apple’s next three competitors – LG Electronics (066570.KS), Lenovo Group (0992.HK) and ZTE (0763.HK) – sold almost as many, 31.8 million combined, as their sales jumped 93%.

Still, Llamas isn’t sure a new lower-priced phone is needed. Lower pricing and greater promotions of older models could work just as well, he argues.

Could the cheap phone move backfire?

And Apple’s rumored move to offer lower-priced new iPhones could backfire. Some analysts fear that a portion of wealthy customers will forgo buying more-expensive models in favor of the “5C.” That could cut into Apple’s revenue and profits. The move could also tarnish Apple’s reputation as a leading premium phone maker, particularly if the lower-priced model is seen as chintzy or with key functions crippled.

But if Apple announces a lower-priced model, it is more likely to create a desirable, full-featured product in keeping with the company’s premium image, according to John Gruber, who has followed Apple for over a decade at his website, DaringFireball.net.

“The 5C is not about selling a piece of junk to some sort of unwashed masses,” Gruber wrote on Tuesday. “It’s about continuing to push the price down to expand the iPhone’s market without changing what the iPhone brand stands for.”

At the high end

Following a pattern Apple has established over several years, the new high-end iPhone is likely to retain the outward appearance of the current iPhone 5. Apple tends to produce a major iPhone overhaul only every other year, in keeping with the two-year contract cycle of many mobile phone subscribers. And pictures floating on the Internet show a rumored new iPhone with a similar shape and upgraded internal components to the current model.

But many analysts expect Apple may incorporate a brand-new feature this year – a fingerprint reader hidden in the iPhone’s tiny home button. Apple bought mobile security firm AuthenTec and its fingerprint-scanning technology last year for $356 million. And text contained in beta versions of Apple’s new iOS 7 software appears to reference a finger print sensor, too.

“It’s a great way to ease the hassle of remembering passwords,” says Ken Hyers, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics. “It will be much more reliable than the facial-recognition technology that Samsung first introduced with the Galaxy S3, and easier to use, too.”

Combined with several wireless technologies already in the iPhone, the fingerprint scanner could also be part of a new mobile-payments network from Apple. That would be quite different from Google’s Google Wallet payment system, which relies on phones that have specialized hardware, known as a Near Field Communications, or NFC, chip. U.S. mobile carriers have blocked Google Wallet apps and are planning to roll out their own NFC-based payment network known as Isis. But neither has caught on yet.

Apple’s system, relying on Bluetooth and Wifi standards, could ignore the NFC wars and build off its existing iOS app called Passbook, which currently works for items like travel and entertainment tickets. Apple mobile development chief Craig Federighi made fun of Android's NFC-based file transfer system at the company's developer conference in June. "There's no need to wander around the room bumping your phone," he said, referencing the system featured prominently in Samsung television ads.

Apple fans hoping for a bigger screen are likely to be disappointed. Android phones have featured ever larger screens – the new LG G2 model unveiled August 7 has a 5.2” screen, one of the biggest yet. Google's Moto X phone has a 4.7" screen.

But Apple is trying to avoid further fragmenting its lineup in order to make it easier for developers to write apps that will look good and run smoothly on all iOS hardware. Analysts expect Apple will stick with the 4” screen introduced on last year's iPhone 5. The screen was slightly longer than earlier models but maintained the same width, so apps that weren’t updated for the new size could just display a black bar over the extra space.

Some analysts say Apple needs to move to bigger screens to better compete against Android. That probably won't happen until the company's 2014 upgrade cycle.

“It’s just like in the movie 'Jaws' – what we need is a bigger boat,” says Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics. “If you’re going to charge a premium and seek to delight your customers, you have to be leading, not following, the trend.”

NEW IPHONE - - Circle September 10 on Your Calendar for Apple’s Big iPhone Event

Apple is expected to unveil its next iPhone at a special event on Sept. 10, sources toldAllThingsD.

D: All Things Digital

The launch comes at an important time for Apple, which continues to make a lot of money from the iPhone but has seen its global market share dip amid a growing wave of lower-cost Android devices, as well as an intense battle with archrival Samsung.

One of the key questions is whether Apple adopts a new tactic to address the midrange of the smartphone market. Historically, Apple has gone after those customers by offering its year-old and two-year-old models for $100 and $200 less than a new iPhone. However, there has been a great deal of talk that the company will debut a new lower-cost iPhone alongside whatever update it has in store for the current iPhone 5.

Much of the speculation there has centered on the usual kinds of camera and processor enhancements, as well as the likelihood of a fingerprint sensor. That has been expected ever since Apple acquired Authentec last year.

Naturally, any new phones will be running iOS 7, which has been in testing since its announcement at Apple’s developer conference in June. The new software includes aradical redesign of the overall look of the iPhone’s menus and icons, but the other new features are largely incremental updates, such as improved notifications, better photo-organizing abilities and additional capabilities for developers.

This has become something of a pattern for Apple, which typically debuts its software update at its June developer conference, tests it for a couple months, then shows the new hardware a couple weeks ahead of the new phone’s availability. The iOS update is also available for older models. Apple has already said that iOS 7 will work on many recent iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices.

Apple is also expected to formally launch the next version of Mac OS X, known as Mavericks, in the coming weeks, though that is not expected at the Sept. 10 event.

An Apple representative declined to comment on the timing of any upcoming events.

Consumers, investors (and reportedly board members, as well) have been pressing Apple for a more rapid pace of innovation.

The company has long been rumored to also be working on television and watch projects, though there is no indication either of those are close to debuting.

IPHONE 6 - New iPhone 6 Concept features edge-to-edge design, Retina 2 Display

Apple will be launching the next generation iPhone, dubbed iPhone 5S, later this year. It is widely expected to look like the iPhone 5, but come with improved internals and possibly new features such as fingerprint sensor.

But next year, Apple will most likely launch a redesigned iPhone 6. It remains to be seen if it will sport an all-new design or it will be an incremental update.

Business Insider points us to a gorgeous iPhone 6 concept created by graphic designer and artist Johnny Plaid. Plaid’s iPhone 6 concept features an edge-to-edge design, Retina 2 Display, multi-touch sensors at the bottom instead of the Home button, and you may not like this part, a new MagSafe based charger.

Here are some of the highlights of Plaid’s iPhone 6 concept:

• With the edge-to-edge design, Apple will be able to increase the size of the display, without increasing the size of the device by that much.

• Placid’s iPhone 6 concept appears to thinner than iPhone 5.

• The LED flash has been moved to the extreme right of the rear camera, and has a redesigned microphone mesh for noise cancellation.

• It also features a Retina 2 and REALD layered display.

• Instead of the Home button, the concept comes with sensors at the bottom that supports multi-touch gestures. It could be used to unlock the device, use the area to the left and right of the Home button for different functions depending on the app.

• It comes with a MagSafe iPhone charger.

• He has also imagined what a smaller version of the iPhone 6 concept looks like, which he calls the iPhone mini.

Temple Run: Oz app review

Ever since Imangi Studios launched the endless running game Temple Run for iOS and Android, it made sure that we never stopped running. The game has seen 4 versions since the original release in August 2011, with the sequel, Temple Run 2 launching earlier this year in January. The game has not just been appreciated, but went on to break the record of Angry Birds Space clocking in 50 million downloads in just 13 days.

Of these 4 versions, two are spin-offs released in association  with Disney. While one was Temple Run: Brave, based on the animated Disney/Pixar movie Brave, the more recently launched Temple Run: Oz is inspired form the upcoming Disney movie Oz: The Great and Powerful. We started running in the new environments to find out if it continues to keep us just as addicted as the original game.

Temple Run: Oz stays true to the game's tradition of non-stop running as well as turning, jumping and sliding to avoid hurdles and collecting coins. But since this version is based on Disney's movie, it incorporates a lot of elements such as new environments, objects and characters. You run as The Great and Powerful Oz down the mesmerising Yellow Brick Road in the Whimsical Woods and The Dark Forest. 

Now instead of the three demon monkeys or one big giant weird-faced monkey, you're being chased by three flying baboons at the start of the game and every once in a while when you stumble while running. 

The game is definitely more challenging than the original one but similar to Temple Run: Brave and the recently launched Temple Run 2 in some ways. It seems to have gotten faster as well, demanding greater focus and better reflexes. The obstacles in the game are quite tricky and catch you by surprise. They appear only when you approach them really close, unlike the earlier games where you could see them well in advance.

Plants in the game often leap from locations on the side of the path, attempting to grab you as they fall. Trees also often fall, seemingly out of nowhere, into the path to block your way. But the obstacles are just one part. The path itself will sometimes crumble while you're on high bridges or cliffs, forcing you to make a split-second decision to move to the side of the bridge that remains intact.

The musical backdrop of the beating drums has been replaced by the movie's background score that adds a lot of intensity and keeps the adrenaline rush going. As always, the graphics are really smooth and you'll be in awe of the surroundings and the attention to detail.

Temple Run: Oz also has certain common elements as seen in the Brave version of the game. You could collect bows in the game to unlock different bonuses like extra score points and score multipliers at the end of each running session. Here the bow has been replaced by a musical key to unlock the music box for similar bonuses. Further, you can choose to open all the boxes in case you're feeling too greedy, by paying additional coins.

A new element in the game as is the essence of the original Wizard of Oz movie is time travel with the tornado in a manner of speaking. While running you come across sign posts guiding you which direction to take and soon enough you'll see yourself transitioning between worlds with the yellow brick road collapsing before you and taking you to a different location. 

The Whimsical Woods are set in bright environs but dangerous all the while with cliffs and forests. The Dark Forest is set in a graveyard amidst ruins of stones and gives a sense of evil lurking around. After each running session, if you happen complete that particular level's challenges, you level up and are awarded with gems or coins.

Another pretty neat movie-inspired element is the hot-air ballon which appears at several points in the game for an additional opportunity to collect coins as you sail through the clouds and make your way across the crystals reminiscent of Emerald City. 

The balloons appear on the screen, and head quickly in one direction at a crossroads. Follow the balloon and hop on to take a balloon trip through the clouds. In case you don't feel like it, you can always choose to head out in the other direction.

The game also offers additional power ups every now and then which include a magnet, a flying monkey and a soap bubble amongst others. Gems can also be used to "supercharge" power-ups. For instance, the 2X coin power-up becomes a 3X coin boost at the cost of 1 gem.

You can opt for Weekly or Legendary Challenges from the Menu section that also award coins, gems and multiplier bonuses. These include challenges like Marathon Man (run a certain distance), Big Time (Get 125,000 points in 1 run), Steady Bankroll (Collect 25,000 coins) and many others.

Overall, the game offers a fresh perspective in terms of being movie-inspired. Apart from that the basic mechanics of jumping, sliding and tilting remains the same. Currently, the app is only listed on the App Store and like other Temple Run games, we'd hope to see it launch for Android as well. (Update: The game has now been released for Android as well priced at Rs. 53.18 in the Google Play Store).  

Even though the app isn't free, Rs. 55 ($0.99) seems pretty decent to try out something new. Those who still wouldn't mind skipping this version, can check out Temple Run 2 that's also new release and is available for free. 

Temple Run: Oz (iOS, Rs. 55)
Temple Run: Oz (Google Play, Rs. 53.18)

Apple's new TV service may come with ad-skipping feature: Report

Apple has long been rumored to enter the TV space, either with a television set of its own, or a TV service with support from the big networks, or, indeed, both. While wait for the mythical Apple TV - the television - continues, a new report has disclosed some rather interesting details of Apple's TV service.

According to a report by Jessica Lessin, former reporter and editor for The Wall Street Journal, Apple's TV service will come with a feature that will allow users to skip ads. The feature will appeal to new generation of users who have grown up with DVRs that let you record content and, thus, skip ads when actually sit down to watch the show.

Naturally, the TV networks are not thrilled with the idea, but, the report claims, Apple plans to offer monetary compensation for any loss of revenue that may result from the ad-skipping. Based on the report, the initial response from networks doesn't seem to be very positive, though the negotiations are likely to continue for a while.

The report also confirms a few other murmurs we've been hearing for a while, like the discussion between Apple and the networks and cable companies have been going on for over a year now. Apple is said to be seeking rights for a service that would allow users to watch live and on-demand TV content. Apple may deliver this content via the existing Apple TV, any other set-top box, or its rumoured television set.

The report claims the discussions have been "highly secretive" and CEO Tim Cook and Senior Vice President Eddy Cue held talks with some media companies as recently as last week at a conference in Sun Valley.

WhatsApp for iPhone now a free download, brings iCloud backups and more

WhatsApp, the popular mobile messaging service has updated its iPhone app adding support for iCloud chat history backup and restore functionality and sending multiple images at the same time, in addition to bringing URL schema support for third-party apps.

With the update, WhatsApp is also changing its monetization model for the service on iPhone. It will now offer the app as a free download, however, new users will be charged $0.99 every year after getting one year of free access to the service, similar to how the service is offered on other platforms. Existing users of the WhatsApp iPhone app, though, will get the service free for life.

With the iCloud backup functionality, users will now have the option to backup their message history to iCloud, Apple's cloud service. To activate the iCloud backups, users will need to enable 'Chat Backup' through their WhatsApp settings. This would essentially allow users to restore their chat history from iCloud if the delete and reinstall the app on their device or install the app on a device on which they're signed in with the same Apple ID. Users will be prompted to restore from iCloud, while setting up the app.

Support for sending multiple pictures has also been included through a new image interface that comes up after the user selects the first image that is intended to be sent.

The update also includes URL schema support for third-party apps. This means that apps can contain a link or button that directly opens a WhatsApp chat with a contact. If the third-party app wants to add sharing using WhatsApp, the developer can use the Document Interaction API to send media to WhatsApp contacts and groups. 

iOS doesn't feature WhatsApp integration in its system wide sharing menu, so individual apps can add the functionality through the API. As WhatsApp gains more popularity, more developers would want close integration with it.

What's New in Version 2.10.1 
- multi-send UI: can send multiple photos at the same time
- URL schema support for 3rd party apps 
- iCloud chat history backup and restore: WhatsApp > Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Backup

Android 4.3 leaks online, brings new dialler, camera app

While Google is expected to release the next version of its mobile operating system, Android 4.3, next week, a leaked copy of the OS for Nexus 4 devices has already appeared online. 

Although it's known that Android 4.3, which would continue to be referred as Jelly Bean, will be a minor update and won't bring major user-facing changes, it still offers some incremental updates.

According to a hands-on video uploaded by Android Central, the update will increase the touch responsiveness of the Nexus 4.

The new update will bring an additional feature to the phone's dialler suggesting phone numbers from your contacts as you dial by matching digits or looking up names. It also adds an option to add pauses while calling a number.

Android 4.3 also seems to brings a new Wi-Fi setting, 'Scanning always available' which will allow apps to get location data through Wi-Fi even when Wi-Fi is set to off and not being used for data access.

As revealed in previous leaks, Android 4.3 also offers a new updated Camera app that features a new arch based menu that makes it easier to control and switch camera settings.

In addition to these, the update brings the OpenGL 3.0 graphics standard for better 3D rendering for visual effects in apps and games, and Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) support, through which devices running the OS will be able to sync with low power wearable devices like health monitors and smart watches.

The update also offers a new Notifications history menu which keeps a log of all notifications and the app responsible for them.

Alleged screenshots of an early version of Android 4.3 running on Samsung Galaxy S4's Google edition variant had also appeared online, in June. The screenshots had suggested changes to the Camera app.  We had earlier seen the same camera app when a Nexus 4 running Android 4.3 was spotted at the Thailand Mobile Expo last month. 

Samsung launches Galaxy Tab 3 range of tablets in India

Samsung has launched the Galaxy Tab 3 range of the tablets, namely the Galaxy Tab 3 211, Galaxy Tab 3 310, and Galaxy Tab 3 311.

The 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3 211 was announced in April. Under the hood, Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 211 is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor alongside 1GB of RAM. The 7-inch screen has a rather disappointing 1024x600 resolution at a paltry 169ppi. The tablet will be available in 8GB/ 16GB storage options, expandable by another 64GB via microSD card. Connectivity options on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB and A-GPS/ GLONASS. The tablet runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and is priced at Rs. 17,745.The 8-inch Galaxy Tab 3 310 and Galaxy Tab 3 311 are powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor alongside 1.5GB of RAM. They come loaded with a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera. The tablets have a 8-inch WXGA TFT display with a resolution of 1280X800 pixels. Available in 32GB and 64GB variants, the tablets also offer expandable storage up to 64GB via a microSD card. The tablets come with a 4,450mAh battery. The device runs Android Jelly Bean 4.2 and come pre-loaded with Samsung applications and services such as Samsung Hub, ChatOn, S Translator, S Travel, Pop up Video and WatchON.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 310 is the Wi-Fi version of the tablet priced at Rs. 21,495 and Galaxy Tab 3 311 is a Wi-Fi + 3G tablet that will be available for Rs. 25.725.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 311 and 310 key specifications

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                                                                                                                                      8-inch WXGA TFT display with 1280X800 pixels (189ppi)
1.5GHz dual-core processor
1.5GB RAM
32GB, 64GB internal storage, expandable by up to 64GB
5-megapixel rear camera
1.9-megapixel front facing camera
4,450 mAh battery
Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
Weight: 314 grams (Galaxy Tab 3 310)
3G (Galaxy Tab 3 311 only): HSPA 21Mbps DL, 5.76Mbps UP, Quad 850/900/1900/2100
Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz)
Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 211 key specifications

• 7-inch WSVGA TFT display with 1024X600 pixels (169ppi)
• 1.2GHz dual-core processor
• 1GB RAM
• 8GB, 16GB internal storage, expandable by up to 64GB
• 3-megapixel rear camera
• 1.3-megapixel front facing camera
• 4,00 mAh battery
• Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
• Weight: 302 grams (Wi-Fi variant)
• 3G: HSPA 21Mbps DL, 5.76Mbps UP, Quad 850/900/1900/2100
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz)
• Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0

Samsung debuts monster 1.6TB SSD with new, high-speed PCIe NVMe protocol

Samsung unveiled its new XS175 line of SSDs today, with capacities of up to 1.6TB and a brand-new storage interface. The new drive uses the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) standard, which is meant to boost SSDperformance by transitioning to using PCI Express for transfers rather than conventional SATA.

The Serial ATA standard has been extended multiple times since it first debuted in 2003, but it was fundamentally designed for spinning disks. Many of the features that the SATA/AHCI interface enables, like NCQ (Native Command Queuing) were designed to address problems with that type of media — not for modern SSD architectures. (See: Crucial M500: The first 1TB SSD, priced at just $0.60/gig.)

Normally, enterprise products aren’t of much interest to the consumer market, but NVMe is a feature that’s headed for the consumer space before too long. The performance benefits over AHCI are significant — NVMe is designed to allow a drive to create multiple queues, using a model that more closely maps to the multiple NAND channels in an SSD rather than relying on spinning media to access data sequentially. It supports up to 64K submission and completion queues, with each queue holding up to 64K of entries. Queues can be prioritized or weighted differently to speed system accesses.

Samsung is the first company to implement NVMe, and it claims the standard will offer significant performance advantages. While plenty of other SSDs have used the PCIe bus before now, the benefit of NVMe is that it’s a standardized interface that won’t require specific manufacturer drivers in the future. Once widely adopted, you’ll need just a standard driver that can easily be bundled with the operating system.

Those of you who follow the storage market may be aware that the next generation of SATA controllers, dubbed SATA Express, are adopting PCI Express as their interface. SATA Express and NVMe are complementary, not competing technologies. Specifically, SATA Express specifies the design of the physical connectors and hardware, while NVMe provides the driver and interface. According to the consortium that’s in charge of SATA Express, the decision to move to NVMe was made because it offers increased performance and significantly improved power management without requiring a full doubling of bandwidth.

The current SATA transfer rate tops out at 6Gbps, while SATA Express bumps this to 8Gbps. That might not sound like much, but the SATA-IO working group believes that the benefits of NVMe, combined with the modest bump in raw bandwidth, will deliver a satisfying performance kick.

The first SATA Express chipsets are expected in 2014, with Intel’s Broadwell. SATA Express is backwards compatible with AHCI as well as supporting NVMe — there’s no reason to worry about drives becoming incompatible due to the shift.

Apple’s new Mac Pro: Is this the workstation we’ve all been waiting for?

In 2010, Apple released a new Mac Pro built on Intel’s then-new quad-core Gulftown CPU. In 2012, it bumped that system up one grade, offering hexa-core processors. Both systems were based on Intel’s 32nm Westmere architecture, which means they lacked all the features introduced since Sandy Bridge, including AES-NI, AVX, and PCIe 3.0. Mac users were rather unhappy with this non-update a year ago, prompting Tim Cook to reassure everyone that a new system was coming in 2013.

Now we’ve seen that system and it’s dramatically different than anything Apple — or anyone — has done before in this space.

Hardware specifications

Apple is playing coy with exact specifications, but we can infer quite a bit from the figures the company has announced to date. The current top-end chip in the Mac Pro is the X5675. According to Intel, the new Mac Pro offers “up to 2x” the FLOPs performance of its predecessor. The Westmere chips currently used in the Mac Pro are capable of eight single-precision and four double-precision FLOPs per cycle. Sandy and Ivy Bridge, in contrast, can perform 16 SP and eight DP. Haswell doubled that again, up to 32 SP and 16 DP per cycle.

If the new Mac Pro is using Haswell, in other words, Apple could claim a 4x increase rather than a 2x jump.

The other clue is in the chipset identification. Apple’s website states that the system uses “the new-generation Xeon E5 chipset.” There’s no such thing as the “E5 chipset,” but thereis a C600 chipset that supports the E5 family. It’s not a perfect match, given that Apple is advertising PCI-Express 3.0, while the C600 only officially offers 2.0, but Intel’s messaging is unclear on this point. Diagrams for the C222 – C226 chipsets point to PCIe 3.0 capability, even though the official Intel database shows those products as limited to PCIe 3.0.

Based on what we know right now, however, it looks as though the new Mac Pro is Ivy Bridge, not Haswell.

Other features are more current. The move to PCIe-based Flash storage will boost storage performance well above what even SATA 6G offers and memory bandwidth is up to 60GB/s across four channels. Twin graphics cards from AMD anchor the GPU side of the equation. Based on the quoted specs (7TFLOP total GPU power, 6GB of VRAM), it’s not clear which cards these are. If that 6GB of VRAM is per-GPU, AMD’s top-end W9000 is the best candidate, though it would normally offer 8TFLOP of performance, rather than 6TFLOP.

If the VRAM is being quoted in total, it implies AMD has done a custom design for Apple. None of AMD’s current FirePro’s offer 3.5TFLOP of single-precision floating point and just 3GB of RAM per card. Regardless, that’s more than enough GPU power to handle heavy rendering tasks.

Mac Pro system design

The case’s exterior is, in a word, interesting. It’s by far the smallest workstation we’ve ever seen. It’s 9.9 inches tall, 6.6 inches wide and, as Apple notes, is more than small enough to sit on your desk. The entire system is cooled by a single impeller and each of the major components makes direct contact with a large, triangular heatsink Apple calls the “thermal core.” It’s an interesting design and I don’t doubt the company’s claims that it’s quiet and easy to cool.

The Mac Pro’s thermal core interior

It also looks like a trashcan.

I don’t mean that as a nasty dig at Apple. From the diagrams and discussion of the product, it’s clear that they’ve poured a great deal of time and effort into building a sophisticated cooling system and taken a new approach to system integration. It’s absolutely possible that the new Mac Pro will be a mind-blowing experience with great thermals and a ton of horsepower.

But it still looks like a trashcan.

iPhone 5S hardware specs leak: 4-inch IGZO Retina display, 12MP camera, quad-core GPU, same CPU

Right on schedule for a mid-September release date, photos and hardware specifications of the iPhone 5S have leaked from the Chinese supply chain. Looks-wise, the iPhone 5S appears to be identical to the iPhone 5 (no surprise there), but the internal hardware specs have received a significant boost. If the leak is accurate, the iPhone 5S will have a quad-core PowerVR SGX544MP4 GPU, 4-inch (1136×640) IGZO display, 2GB of RAM, and the brand-new introduction of NFC and… a fingerprint scanner. The CPU, according to the leak, will be the same Swift core found in the iPhone 5′s A6 SoC, but clocked at a higher speed.

The leaked photos, where were posted on Weibo (China’s equivalent of Twitter) by C Technology, show an iPhone 5S without its rear cover (revealing an NFC antenna) and a stack of semi-assembled iPhone 5S in what appears to be production-line trays. The hardware specs come from EXP Review, a Chinese-language hardware site. Judging by state of the phones, the photos probably come from a Foxconn factory in China. The fact that the iPhone 5S looks identical to the iPhone 5 would seem to discredit the idea that Apple is preparing to skip the 5S and jump straight to the iPhone 6 and a plastic-backed iPhone Mini. It’s possible that we could still see some iPhone Minis this September, but we’ll have to wait and see.

The iPhone 5S hardware specs are good, but not massively exciting; they’re an incremental update, just like the 4S. The 12MP camera with dual-LED flash will be nice, and go someway towards bridging the chasm created by Nokia’s PureView cameras. 2GB of RAM could help with multitasking. The quad-core GPU will undoubtedly keep the graphically-intensive iOS 7 running smoothly. There are some who would love to see Apple make the jump to a quad-core CPU, but Apple knows that dual-core is still the sensible choice for a smartphone. There’s probably a lot of headroom, anyway: The iPhone 5′s CPU is clocked at just 1.3GHz, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the 5S hits 1.6GHz or more.

The interesting features are, of course, the fingerprint scanner and the IGZO display. The IGZO display will probably look identical to the iPhone 5, but the superior display technology (IGZO vs. amorphous silicon, a-Si) means that the IGZO display will draw considerably less power. The other option is that Apple can make the iPhone 5S’s display brighter, while consuming the same amount of power. If this leak turns out to be true (and it’s not the first time we’ve heard it), this would be the first major outing for Sharp’s IGZO technology. The other IGZO-based product that we’ve recently seen is Asus’s 32-inch 4K monitor.

The fingerprint scanner is another rumor that has consistently popped up ever since an Apple patent for the technology was discovered. If the leak is to be believed, the iPhone 5S home button will have a fingerprint scanner built in. As one of the first consumers to have a computer with a built-in fingerprint scanner (a Samsung X10!), I can tell you that fingerprint scanning, on a consumer-oriented device, isn’t all that exciting. The primary use-case will probably be unlocking your smartphone with your finger, rather than a PIN — which is admittedly rather exciting, as long as it works flawlessly every time and you don’t have to re-swipe your finger over and over. There’s always the risk of someone chopping your finger off or lifting one of your latent prints, too — a gaping security hole that everyday consumers really shouldn’t have to deal with.

First Post

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my blog.

My name is Taranpreet Singh and i am student of b.tech Information Technology.


This is my first post and in this blog i am sharing my own views on latest technology and trying to help people who are in problem.


I will try my best. Hope you all will like it.


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