Tablet market begins to slump due to poor Android sales

Poor sales of Android tablets is having a negative effect upon the overall tablet market, with a sharp decline in shipments across the sector.

The fourth quarter of 2011 saw record-breaking shipments of 28.2 million units, partly due to Christmas sales, but the first quarter of 2012 saw a large drop, even bigger than that expected when the normal seasonal slowdown is taken into consideration.The International Data Corporation (IDC) predicted a drop of 34 percent, but the figure was 38.4 percent, with strong sales from Apple failing to make up for a steep drop in Android shipments.Apple shipped 15.4 million iPads in the fourth quarter of 2011, but that figure dropped to 11.8 million in the first quarter of this year. Its market share increased from 54.7 percent to 68 percent, however, ensuring it remains in first place.Amazon showed strong potential in the fourth quarter of 2011, shipping 4.8 million units and grabbing 16.8 percent of the market, but this share fell to just over 4 percent in the first quarter, allowing Samsung to regain its spot in second place.Despite the weakness in Android shipments, IDC predicts that they will rebound quickly, particularly with new products from Samsung and Lenovo, which many see as viable alternatives to the iPad. New low-cost products from Amazon and Google will also play a huge role in restoring the might of Android.The launch of Windows 8-based tablets in the fourth quarter of this year will have a dramatic effect on the market, with the effect of Microsofts operating system yet to be determined. IDC predicts that Apple will stay in top place and that it will be the runners-up who will be competing most fiercely.

The Daily VR-Zone News Summary - 23 Mar 2011

Hardware news

MSI N550GTX-Ti Cyclone II OC Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
Description: The MSI N550GTX-Ti Cyclone II OC 1GB graphics cards is based on the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 550 Ti GPU, but is kept nice and cool with the MSI Cyclone II cooling solution. The N550GTX-Ti Cyclone II OC is factory overclocked with the core clock set to 950MHz and the memory at 1075MHz. We put this overclocked GF116 card to the test to see how it performs, keeps cool and overclocks!

ASUS EAH6870 1GB Video Card Review @ ITShootOut.com
Description: The Radeon HD 6870, contrary to its somewhat confusing name, is not the successor to the Radeon 5870. Instead, it acts as an almost direct replacement for the Radeon 5850, both in terms of performance and in price. Today we are looking at the Asus variant which has some exclusive features including the Voltage Tweak functionality we have come to particularly enjoy when overclocking.

Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 Pro CPU Cooler Review @ Tweaknews
Description: When its all said and done, Arctic Coolings new Freezer 13 Pro, with its innovative “Cross Blow” feature, is a worthy successor to the Freezer series of coolers. As of this writing, it only seems to be available from the Arctic Cooling website for around $55 US.

Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 Flex Edition 2GB DDR5 DX11 Video Card Review @Hi Tech Legion
Description: Sapphire is back on the scene with the Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 FleX Edition. The Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 FleX comes with the onboard ability to use Eyefinity without the need of a DisplayPort monitor or Active DP adapter. The underlying 6950 is still the original stock model. This sports a 800MHz core clock and 1250MHz (5 Gb/s effective) memory speed. The HD 6950 has 2 DVI, 2 mini Display Port, and a single HDMI 1.4a slot. There is also advanced technology with the HD 6950, including dual graphics engines, 22 SIMD engines, and 88 texture units. Sapphire has also included TriXX utility support and their Vapor-X cooling solution.

NZXT H2 Review @ Vortez
Description: The H2 is a case that slots into NZXTs "Classic" series and is regarded as the "Silent Midtower" due to the fact that there are thick side panels which feature foam underlay. It differentiates itself from the gaudy gamer styled cases currently swarming the market, by offering elegance and a minimalistic approach to styling. Fans within H2 can be controlled through 3 stages giving the user complete control over audio levels emitted from the chassis. With much more to talk about, lets begin our analysis of the new NZXT H2 that launches today.

Fractal Design Define R3 Case Review on Technic3D (German)
Description: (Machine translation) The Fractal Design Define R3 is the next PC-Case in the Technic3D Editorship. Define R3 – the successor to the good selling Define R2! Now available with a bunch of improvements, including improved cable routing, air flow and bigger hole in M/B plate for mounting CPU coolers. We will check this and more in the following Review.

DRAM contract prices up 3% in 2H March
Description: In order to ensure chip supply, which reportedly is likely to be short of demand starting in May, PC and system vendors are more willing to accept higher prices, according to sources at DRAM makers. Prices will go up in April anyway as PC OEMs begin to rebuild their low inventory, even without taking into account the effects of Japans earthquake on the chip supply chain, the sources said.

Intel: We Are Completely Committed to Itanium Platform.
Description: Intel Corp. on Wednesday said that it would continue developing Itanium-series microprocessors and the mission-critical platform will continue to exist. The companys statements were a response to Oracles claims that the IA64 platform was nearing the end of life.

Consumer Electronics and Software news

Sprint announces HTC EVO 3D smartphone and EVO View 4G tablet
Description: HTC is getting in on the 3D action with Sprint announcing the upcoming release of the 4G-capable HTC EVO 3D smartphone, which will be appearing alongside the equally 4G-capable HTC EVO View 4G tablet.

ARM cooperating with Microsoft, says ARM Taiwan president
Description: ARM has been cooperating with Microsoft to develop processor architectures, according to president Philip Lu for ARM Taiwan at a March 22 press conference in Taipei.

Samsung invests $15 million in mobile 3D technology company
Description: MasterImage 3D announced today that it has received a $15 million investment from Samsung Ventures. The company is focused on 3D - for cinemas (with over 60 installations), mobile displays and 3D camera ASICs. Were guessing that Samsung is more interested in the glasses-free handset displays and cameras than the cinema 3D technology...

Apple’s Mac Chief Departs as Big Changes Come to OS X
Description: Apple SVP of Mac Software Engineering Betrand Serlet is leaving the company, according to a press release issued by Apple. He will be replaced by Craig Federighi, Apple’s VP of Mac software engineering. Frederighi’s chief responsibility at Apple has been OS X development.

Torvalds backs Google Android
Description: The man who gave the world Linux, Linus Torvalds, has dismissed claims that Googles Android violates the Linux licence.

Apple sues Amazon over "app store"
Description: Fruity peddler of broken iDreams Apple is suing the online bookstall Amazon, claiming that it invented the words "app store". Apple has been getting very defensive about the phrase "app store" lately. Microsoft has appealed to the Trademark and Patent Office to stop Jobs Mob from suing everyone for using it.

Samsung Galaxy Tabs 8.9 and 10.1 Are Official: HD Video Recording And Superfast Networking Stand Out
Description: Samsung just announced their two new Galaxy Tabs, the 8.9 and the 10.1. Both are just 8.6 millimeters thick and support 4G and WiFi. Click through to watch the live video launch of these two Honeycomb tablets (with TouchWiz on top).

Gaming news

Singapore 3DS launch slated for March 28
Description: The 3DS may already be out in Japan, but gamers in Asia are still in the dark about when the handheld will be arriving in the region. Until now, that is, with a recent press release from Singaporean distributors MaxSoft confirming that the handheld will be available at all retailers in Singapore on March 28.

Sony: PS3 Hacker George "Geohot" Hotz in South America Attempting to Dodge Court Authority
Description: The ongoing PlayStation 3 security breach battle of Sony Computer Entertainment America versus George Hotz is set to continue on April 8. But according to the latest legal filing, its possible Hotz will be a no-show as he continues what Sony calls "a campaign to thwart jurisdictional discovery at every turn" -- a campaign that includes Hotzs convenient trip to South America.

Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D Dated in Japan
Description: Theres some big Resident Evil news coming out of Japan today. Joining the announcement of Resident Evil Revival Selection for PS3 and Xbox 360 comes a final release date for Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D.

Tencent Video to recoup startup expenses by 2014

In the past 16 months, Tencent has been investing heavily in in its online video website and now expects to recoup its losses by 2014. Tencent Video recieves around 275.5 million viewers a month, better than Youkus previous 266.3 million viewers a month. Youku, a popular Chinese online video service, recently merged with its rival, Tudou, amassing an average of 475 million monthly viewers.

However, Liu Chunning, Tencents general manager, is confident that Tencent can catch up with Youku-Tudou soon. According to Liu, Tencent has four advantages over other video sites. First, Tencent has years of previous experience in the entertainment industry and is better able to draw viewers to videos according to their interests. Second, with Tencents integrated platforms and channels, videos can spread more widely. Third, Tencent can use its user base resources and capital to keep technology up to date. And lastly, Tencent has one of the most innovative and influential new media platforms in the country.

There are currently four popular video platforms available in mainland China: Youku-Tudou, Tencent, Sohu, and Aiqiyi. Foreign websites, such as Youtube, are banned by the government and only accessible through a VPN or other application.

Source: techweb.com.cn

TSMC Benefits From NV amp; ATi 80nm Race

ATI recently unveiled the X1950PRO designed on 80nm process and built by TSMC and NVIDIA too will roll out its 80nm chip in November, with TSMC also being the contact supplier. Thanks to the contracts from the world's top two graphics-chip suppliers, TSMC expects its capacity utilization at its leading-edge process to go up in the fourth quarter. The 80nm cooperation between ATI and TSMC also quelled speculations that ATI might divert TSMC-bounded orders toward AMD. ATI was the only contract buyer to contribute over 10% of TSMC`s revenues last year. ATI plans to introduce the 65nm technology next year.

Reallusion unveils Visualize image editing tool for iPad

Reallusionhave launched a brand-new visual application for the iPad market, whichcombines the power of free-hand cutouts, visual templates and layered compositiion.It isa image editingapplication that can create instant PNG cutouts by importing and editing images directly from the iPad camera or the Internet. Cutouts can be saved in the onboard gallery folders, to expand the current collection, or be retouched for further layering and compositing. Customizing and compositing images are made easy, thanksto a wide range of stationeries, symbols, icons and arrows, found in overseven item categories.You can rotate, scale and transformimages oruse the embedded slider controls for pixel-accurate positioning. The same can be done for changing color settings, and adjusting edge properties with special effects such as feathering, shadowing, or white edging.

Users cannow import snapshots and clippings directly from online websites with the use of a rectangular cropping tool. Images can also be manually cut out with just a flick of the finger, using the intuitive lasso tool. You can also addtextby simply typing and later adjusting the background and font settings.Last but not least, you can also further customizeyour projects by dropping in background images with added spotlight, and color effects to enhance the look. When ready, simplyexport the projects to Facebook, Picasa, Dropbox or send them as a email attachment to colleagues.

You can download the latest trial in your iTunes Stores- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/visualize-free/id456857776?ls=1&mt=8, or visit Reallusion to get more information: http://iphone.reallusion.com/

Heres a demo introduction video of Visualize

Quad Core Battle Intel Yorkfield vs AMD Altair

Yorkfield Extreme Edition based on the 45nm Penry core architecture will meetheads-on with AMD Altair based on the 65nm K8L core in Q3 2007. Both are quadcore offerings but AMD touted theirs to be a native quad-core with dedicated512KB L2 cache for each core and an additional 2MB L3 cache for the 4 cores toshare. Intel has different plans for Yorkfield. Instead of sharing L2 cache forall the cores, the L2 cache size is further increased. Due to its advanced 45nmprocess technology, Yorkfield XE is able to pack a total of 12MB L2 cache (2 x6MB L2) and still achieving a much smaller die size. The clock speed issignificantly higher at 3.46-3.74GHz too.

Yorkfield will feature Penryn New Instructions (PNI) or more officially knownas SSE4 with 50 more new instructions. Yorkfield XE will pair up nicely with theBearlake-X chipset supporting DDR3 1333, PCI Express 2.0 and ICH9x coming in theQ3 '07 timeframe as well. It is hard to predict which architecture will wineventually but it seems like AMD has packed more innovations into their K8Larchitecture while Intel moving onto 45nm process benefits its Yorkfield greatlyin terms of lower power consumption, higher clock speed and a much bigger L2cache. Certainly it is exciting ahead of us.

Discuss here!