Lenovo unveils new Thinkpad products at CES 2015

Lenovo has today announced a series of new Windows 8.1 products for its Thinkpad line at CES 2015 in Las Vegas. The range topper is this, the Thinkpad X1 Carbon which is one of the lightest 14-inch Ultrabooks in the world, built partly to celebrate 100 million Thinkpad products sold in Lenovo's 22 year history with the line.

The X1 Carbon will start at $1249, boasts a new precision keyboard, a Carbon Fiber cover, a FHD or WQHD display option, 256GB and 512GB PCIe SSD drives and 4G LTE options with Intel's 5th generation Core i processors underneath.

Besides the X1, Lenovo is also announcing a bunch of other Thinkpad laptops at different spec and price points. New additions to the L, W and T series will be available – as with the Thinkpad X1 – beginning in February. All will be running the latest 5th Generation Intel Core i processors

The unveils don't end there, either. Lenovo has also introduced the Thinkpad Stack, a series of stackable add-ons that include a 1TB USB 3.0 hard drive, a wireless access point, a Bluetooth speaker and a power bank. All are detachable and with the pogo pin design can transfer data between them, too. Prices start at $49.99 for the power bank rising to $199.99 for the wireless access point and hard drive.

Image & News Credits Windows Central

Nest's thermostat gets smarter with support for more third-party devices

August smart lock, Philips Hue lights, and Automatic's driving assistant now work with Nest

Nest is today announcing a handful of new additions to the company's "Works with Nest" program, a designation given to third-party smart home products and appliances that can communicate with Nest's learning thermostat and smoke detector. And there are some fairly big names — 15 in all — coming on to help keep the temperature in your home at the perfect level. August's Smart Lock can now interact with Nest, for example, and the pairing could be hugely useful if you happen to own both. Lock your doors and Nest will automatically go into away mode (and save energy in the process). Once you unlock the door and head in upon returning, Nest will toggle back into home mode and set things back to a comfortable temperature.

This is the most insane wireless router in the history of mankind

CES is always full of surprises. Sometimes it's a wild television technology. Other times it's a crazy motorized skateboard. And sometimes it's a Wi-Fi router that looks like it wants to take off, join an armada of alien spaceships, and nuke the planet from orbit because that's the only way to be sure.

The router in question is the D-Link AC3200 Ultra Wi-Fi Router, and make no mistake: as these things go it's more than solid. Six antennas, support for the latest 802.11 protocols, and speeds up to 3.2Gbps. And this is just one of D-Link's new Ultra series (it'll be available on Newegg tomorrow for $309.99).

But mostly it just looks bonkers. Think about it. Sitting on the corner of your desk. Plotting. Scheming. Biding its time. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that there really is a wireless router that would want to murder your entire family before diving through a transdimensional wormhole to plot the demise of an entire civilization.

But if there was, this would be it. 

News & Image Courtesy The Verge

New OS data shows a loss for Windows 8.1 while Windows 10 makes an appearance

The Windows 10 Technical Preview has started showing up in the operating system market share numbers from Net Applications, in their recently revealed statistics for December. However, those same numbers display a loss in market share for Windows 8.1.

Windows 10 is now being used by 0.06% of all PCs worldwide, according to Net Applications' data, which is gathered by unique visitors to the websites it monitors. As expected, Windows 10's share is very small due to its preview status, but that share is expected to grow slowly in the months ahead as Microsoft will release more stable preview builds, leading up to its commercial release sometime in late 2015.

As far as Microsoft's current and older versions of Windows, December saw a loss in market share for Windows 8.1, which had been gaining share over the past few months. December saw its share drop to 9.49%, well below that of November's 12.10%. The older Windows 8 claimed 4.04% in December, which again is a drop from 6.55% in November.

Windows 7 remains the top used operating system for PCs, with a 56.26% share in December, up from 53.71% in November. Windows XP, which Microsoft no longer supports, had an 18.26% share in December, higher than the 13.57% it had in November.

Image & News Credits : Windows Central

Acer adds fifth generation Intel Core chips and 802.11ac wireless to several laptops

As part of its CES 2015 announcements, Microsoft has stated that Acer will include Intel's 5th generation Core processors and 802.11ac wireless hardware in a number of its Windows 8.1 laptops, including the Aspire R 13, Aspire S7, and Aspire Switch 12.

Microsoft says:

"The Aspire R 13 and Aspire Switch 12 are 2-in-1 convertible PCs. Both feature the ability to transition into 5 different modes including tablet, tent or laptop. The Aspire R 13 has a special hinge – the Acer Ezel Aero hinge – that enables the 13.3-inch display rotate 180 degrees. The Aspire Switch 12 has a 12.5-inch display with a unique kickstand design that features a magnetic and latch-less detachable keyboard. And the Aspire S7 Ultrabook is built super thin with an all-aluminum unibody design.

The Aspire R 13 and Aspire S7 featuring 5th Generation Intel Core processors and 802.11ac wireless will be available worldwide in January. The Aspire Switch 12 featuring the new Intel Core M processor will be available in the United States and Canada in early 2015. Exact specifications, prices and availability will vary by region."

Do you use 802.11ac wireless at home yet? Maybe steps like this will inspire people to upgrade their routers.

Source: Microsoft Windows Central

Microsoft Band officially on sale again in Microsoft Store US retail locations

As we previously reported, US Microsoft Store retail locations are now selling a new shipment of Microsoft Band units. There's no word on how many units of the $199.99 wearable device are available for sale in each store location.

It's more than likely that shipments are highly limited. So if you want to get one and you live near a Microsoft Store location, you might want to go today before they are sold out. This restock is just for US retail stores; the Microsoft Store online site still is not selling the Microsoft Band. Hopefully, these supply issues will straighten out soon.

Source: Microsoft Store (Twitter) Windows Central

Flipboard for Windows Phone gets another small update

Flipboard is a popular app that grabs content from several sources and presents them in a magazine format. The Windows Phone version has just received a small update today, following a similar tiny update that was issued a few days ago. Today's update brings the version number up to 2.5.2, but we don't have a new changelog to go along with the download.

We would assume this update is for bug fixes and/or improvements, but if you notice anything different, please let us know about it.

Thanks to Sankho for the tip!

• Download Flipboard from the Windows Phone Store (Free)
• Download Flipboard from the Windows Store (Free)

Image & News Courtesy : Windows Central