Apple Announces New MacBook Air And Upgrades To iPhoto, iMovie And GarageBand

Angeline Tan, product marketing manager, portables and wireless, Apple Asia Pacific, says that in Singapore, according to IDC, the PC grows 21% as compared to the Mac, whichgrows 41.5% year-on-year.

"The Mac business is very important to us and we have spent a lot of focus and investment in this segment. Today we have the new MacBook Air which is Apple's thinnest and most portable and compact Mac. And for the first time, it has two configurations, the 11-inch and 13-inch," Tan said.

The baseconfiguration for the 11-inch MacBook Air starts from S$1,488, and the 13-inch MacBook Air starts from S$1,948.

Sam Leung, manager for applications product marketing, Apple Asia Pacific, talked about the new upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand on iLife'11 and demonstrated how easy it is to create a slideshow, photo album, movie trailer and learn to play the guitar and piano.

The iLife '11 is availablein Novemberat a suggested retail price of S$78
through the Apple Store (http://store.apple.com/sg) and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The iLife ’11 Family Pack includes five licenses and is available for S$128 and the Mac
Box Set which includes iLife ’11, iWork and Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard is
available for S$278.

Antec Launches Continuous Power Facts Website

A new website by Antec explains the differences between “continuous power" and "peak power". The website also highlights the consequences of buying mislabeled power supplies. The website’s pretty educational if you ask me, so folks, click here to find out more.

"Many brands on the market use misleading power efficiency labels or model names to confuse consumers. To make things crystal clear, Antec, the global leader in PC components and accessories, always uses “Continuous Power” on all our power supply labels."

Article via [Antec]

Le FPS XCOM deviendrait un TPS

Le temps passe et l'on se dit que nous avons eu la chance exceptionnelle de voir XCOM lors de l'E3 2011 dans une version plus qu'alléchante. Pourtant, le fameux FPS tactique s'est vu depuis maintes fois repoussé et ses équipes changées. Si nous ne connaissions pas les raisons des déboires de ce volet, c'est désormais chose faite grâce à un lecteur de Kotaku.

Le bougre signale en effet avoir participé à un sondage marketing concernant XCOM, lequel présenterait le jeu comme un jeu de tir à la troisième personne gardant toutefois un large aspect tactique. Mais ce n'est pas tout puisque l'étude laisse penser que la version PC ne serait plus d'actualité, tandis que les versions consoles seraient relayées à de simples versions téléchargeables sur le Xbox Live et le PSN. A ce rythme, XCOM sera un hack and slash en 2014, date à laquelle le jeu est censé nous dévoiler ses charmes.

· Forum XCOM

ASUS announces Eee PC 1015PEM, packs dual-core Atom N550

[Singapore, 13 September 2010] ASUS today announces the launch of the Eee PC™ 1015PEM with the latest Intel® Atom™ N550 dual core processor. This processor gives the 1015PEM a level of performance that surpasses other Atom-based netbooks available today.

Unprecedented Performance from a 10.1-inch Netbook

The incorporation of the Intel® Atom™ N550 dual core processor into the Eee PC™ 1015PEM enables the netbook to deliver an enhanced cloud computing performance with DDR3 memory support and longer battery life.

The processor gives the 1015PEM the processing power it needs to handle games, as well as other advanced software like Adobe® Flash®. In terms of performance, the 1015PEM has clocked at speeds at least 23 percent* faster than single core processor netbooks.

Despite the added performance, the ASUS-exclusive Super Hybrid Engine technology ensures all-day computing, delivering a battery life of up to 10 hours.

And in terms of storage space, the 1015PEM comes with a 250GB hard drive along with 500GB of online storage space thrown in, making it the ideal cloud computing tool.

Multiple Connectivity Options- Everything but the Kitchen Sink

The Eee PC™ 1015PEM comes with all the bells and whistles normally found on much larger machines.

Bluetooth 3.0 speeds up mobile device sync times, making them up to eight times faster than the previous Bluetooth standard.

There is also Wi-Fi 802.11n and a built-in webcam with its own camera cover for additional privacy.

A Color for Everyone

The 10.1-inch Eee PC™ 1015PEM comes in a variety of shades and colors and is available in Silky Red, Midnight Blue, and Glossy Pink. For those with a more distinguished taste, there is also glossy and matte black or white finishes to choose from.

Availability and Pricing

The Eee PC™ 1015PEM is available already available in Singapore at a recommended retail price of S$599.

Europe is expected to get it this month as well, or latest by next, and will go for 349 EUR.

Unfortunately, there is no news on availability in the United States yet.

Specifications table

Reference: ASUS SG PR

ASUS 240 MIMO Wireless Total Solution

ASUS Technology Pte Ltd (ASUS), a leading provider of high-performancewireless solutions, today unveiled the 240 MIMO series total solutions, whichincludes the WL-566gM router and the WL-106gM cardbus adapter. The ASUS 240 MIMOtotal solution drastically improves WLAN’s data transfer rate and coveragerange, while maintaining signal integrity and Wi-Fi interoperability.

With high-speed 240Mbps data transfer rate, the multi-transmitting 240 MIMOtotal solution excels with an actual throughput of up to 100Mbps, and coverseight times the range than that of standard 802.11g WLAN devices. True wirelessmultimedia experience in homes, small businesses, retail stores etc, without anydead spots is now possible by taking advantage of multipath propagation in theMultiple Input Multiple Output technology - MIMO.

True Wireless Reality
Employing the MIMO technology, which leveraged multi-path signaling, the overallthroughput, range/coverage, and reliability are significantly improved. TheWL-566gM and WL-106gM incorporated this innovation and makes true wirelessenvironment a reality at enterprises, home offices, retail stores and homes withcoverage range that extends eight times than that of the existing 802.11g WLANsolutions, and thus eliminating dead spots, cables, and the cost of additionalrouter configurations.

8X Speed than Existing IEEE 802.11g Units
By transmitting multiple signals containing different information streams overthe same frequency channel, MIMO provides a means of doubling or triplingspectral efficiency. With a data rate of 240Mbps and actual throughput of up to100Mbps, the 240 MIMO series operates at Super Speed that is two times the speedof standard MIMO devices, and eight times the speed of 802.11g. This makesextending applications possible in areas of HD video streaming, multiple onlinegaming, MP3 and movie downloads; and large file sharing could be accomplished ina few seconds.

EZSetup at Press of a Button
Both the WL-566gM and WL-106gM utilizes the ASUS EZSetup Wizard that allows foreffortless setup in just 2 easy steps. Wireless devices and security featuresare detected and automatically implemented at just a press of the button.

Wi-Fi Multmedia (WMM)
WMM enhances wireless transfers of multimedia contents, providing wirelessnetwork users an improved experience for sharing audio and video files. TheWi-Fi Alliance defined WMM as a profile of the upcoming IEEE 802.11e Quality ofService extension for 802.11 networks. QoS and multimedia support are criticalto wireless home networks, which require video on demand, audio on demand, voiceover IP and high-speed Internet access. WMM defines four access categories –voice, video, best effort, and background – that are used to prioritize trafficto provide enhanced multimedia support.

Data Security with Wi-Fi Protected Access2
The WL-566gM router employs WPA2, which is based on the IEEE 802.11i standard,ensuring all data and access to the network is restricted to authorized usersonly. Coupled with WEP firewall protocol, the router provides advancedencryption mechanism and security without the sacrifice of physical distance.