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Lenovo has become the only top-five PC maker not to suffer from the so-called ‘post-PC’ slump, posting record profits for its last financial year.

The PC slowdown might be hitting many high-tech companies hard, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at Lenovo: the company has just posted record profits on the back of massively increased sales.

Founded in 1984, Chinese Lenovo hit the big time when it acquired IBM’s personal computer business in 2005 – giving it the right to produce laptops under the well-regarded ThinkPad brand. While not all of its decisions have gone quite as well – it famously sold off its smartphone and tablet division in 2008 for $100 million, only to change its mind and buy it back a year later for $200 million – the company has seen steady growth in the mobile computing arena.

Steady, that is, until its most recent quarterly earnings report. Despite its rivals complaining of flagging profits, slowing sales and the looming spectre of the so-called “post-PC” era – in which buyers stop picking up desktops and laptops in favour of tablets and smartphones – the company has had a bumper quarter. Figures released by the company late last night show a 90 per cent gain in profits year-on-year from $66.8 million this time last year to $126.9 million in the last quarter.

The whopping growth comes as the global PC market continues to shrink, the hoped-for sales boost from the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system having never materialised. Some of that growth, naturally, comes from Lenovo’s smartphone and tablet arm – but the company has sustained previous levels of desktop and laptop sales, increasing itsmarket share to the cost of its competitors. In doing so, it has become the only one of the top five PC makers not to see its shipments slide.

The good performance its final quarter has led Lenovo to a record annual income of $801 million based on $34 billion in sales – suggesting that Lenovo, unlike its competitors, isn’t feeling the pinch of the market slowdown. That, however, would appear to be primarily thanks to its tablet and smartphone arm: desktop PC shipments held steady during the quarter, while its laptop division saw sales decrease two per cent year-on-year. Smartphone shipments, by contrast, grew 206 per cent in the fourth quarter.

That isn’t to say that Lenovo is becoming a smartphone company, of course: laptops still accounted for 53 per cent of the company’s overall sales for the quarter, despite the slip in shipments. Lenovo’s position as one of the very few companies in the PC market to show growth, however, does show a couple of things very clearly: PC makers without “post-PC” strategies are going to struggle in the coming years, and Lenovo’s $200 million buy-back of its hastily-sold tablet and mobile division may have been a sound investment after all.

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AMD’s new mobile-oriented APUs include tablet-targeted system-on-chip parts as well as the company’s answer to Intel’s Ultrabook success.

AMD has announced its 2013 accelerated processor unit (APU) ranges targeting mobile devices, finally giving real product designations for what has previously been known as Temash, Kabini and Richland – and has indicated that it has no intention of leaving the burgeoning tablet market to Intel and ARM.

Announced at an event last night, the three product families target three distinct areas of mobile computing: Temash, now known as the 2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU range, looks at giving the company a presence in tablets, ultra-portable laptops, and hybrid devices of 13″ or smaller screen size; Kabini, or the 2013 AMD Mainstream APU, looks to find a home in entry-level and small form factor touch-screen laptops; and Richland, the 2013 AMD Elite Performance APU, is AMD’s answer to Intel’s Ultrabook-targeted components.

‘The client market has evolved – with greater diversity in the types of mobile form factors and higher performance demands from the software – and AMD is uniquely positioned to deliver the best processors to meet the needs of mobile device users today,‘ claimed Lisa Su, AMD senior vice president, of the launch. ‘As computing becomes more visual and the graphics processor can be leveraged to do other types of processing, our dedication to the software community and the APU architecture sets us apart from the competition and enables us to deliver the best user experience whether on a tablet, a hybrid device or a notebook.‘

First, Temash. A true system-on-chip (SoC) design, combining components normally left to a companion chipset onto the same package as the APU itself, the chip is claimed to be the first quad-core x86 SoC based on a 28nm process technology. Designed for low-power devices, including tablets, the chip will be available in dual-core A4 and quad-core A6 versions, both of which are based on the same ‘Jaguar’ processing cores as used for the semi-custom processors in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One games consoles. The graphics portion of the APU, meanwhile, is based on AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series Graphics Core Next (GCN) hardware, boasting a claimed 212 per cent improvement in graphics performance compared to AMD’s last-generation APUs. Overall performance-per-watt, meanwhile, is up 172 per cent compared to the last generation.

Kabini, meanwhile, is designed for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on a budget. Based on the same Jaguar cores and GCN graphics as Temash, Kabini will be available A-series quad-core SoC designs as well as dual-core E1 and E2 models for the embedded market. Graphics performance is claimed to be up by 132 per cent and performance per watt by 127 per cent compared to previous-generation parts.

Finally, the Elite Performance Richland parts. Designed to sit at the very top end of AMD’s APU family, the A8 and A10 APUs ditch the system-on-chip design ethos for raw performance. Designed for ultra-thin laptops – competition for Intel’s Ultrabook programme, in other words – the Richland chips offer a claimed 12 per cent boost in general-purpose performance and between 20 and 40 per cent improvement in graphics performance compared to current-generation APUs. More impressively, however, is the claim of a 51 per cent boost in energy efficiency during HD video playback and claims of 13 hours battery life – albeit running the CPU at idle for that period.

In terms of actual product announcements, AMD has confirmed 2013 APU parts as per the following table.

While it’s a strong line-up, AMD will have to work hard to catch up to Intel. The company’s new chief executive has already indicated his desire to concentrate harder on mobile and embedded products, and Intel’s latest Atom chips boast some impressive low-power performance for tablet and smartphone customers. Combined with the company’s Ultrabook project, it’s clear AMD is gunning to beat Intel – after which it will have the much harder task of convincing mobile OEMs to ditch Cambridge-based ARM’s low-power designs for x86 chips.

The company also confirmed the following desktop APUs:

Key features of the new generation of both desktop and mobile APUs include power efficiency improvements through increased power gating, new DDR P-states for reduced power consumption, and improved Turbo Core technology which uses up to 16 independent temperature sensors built into the APU to detect when to enable or disable the clock-speed boosting mode as well as new algorithms for detecting and preventing bottlenecks. SoC APUs also come with wireless display support, the ability to use up to 10 USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports without the need for a separate PHY, and support for AMD’s Turbo Dock technology.

With AMD concentrating on products aimed at OEMs for now, pricing information has not been provided.

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A diagram from Bob Metcalfe’s original memo explaining how Ethernet works.

(Credit:
Palo Alto Research Center)

Most people probably associate Ethernet with a simple cable cinched with phone-like jacks. But, Ethernet is so much more.

It is the foundation for global Internet access and undoubtedly the world’s most-used connectivity technology. In the annals of “techdom,” Ethernet is a very big deal.

“Ethernet ranks highly among those technologies that impact day-to-day life on a global basis,” IEEE Standards Association writes on its Web site. “Data center networks, PCs, laptops,
tablets, smartphones, and now the smart grid, smart meters, personal medical devices, the Internet of Things, connected
cars, and more — Ethernet touches them all in one way or another.”

It was 40 years ago today that inventor Bob Metcalfe passed around a memo explaining just how Ethernet would work — connecting multiple computers to one another to exchange messages over increasingly busy networks.

The Ethernet that Metcalfe, along with inventor David Boggs, came up with wasn’t the first of such network protocols — some preceded it, and many more followed. But it won out to become the dominant local area networking (LAN) technology used for the Internet.

Over the years, Ethernet technology has evolved, expanded, and increased in speed. It’s gone from an algorithm to complicated technology applied by dozens of companies aiming to create a better Internet experience for the world’s users.

Giving an insider’s view into the history of Ethernet, Metcalfe answered questions about the technology in one of Reddit’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions on Tuesday.

“You’re probably connecting to reddit through a technology I invented,” Metcalfe said to start off the AMA. “I’m Bob Metcalfe and I invented Ethernet.”

He touched on topics such as his preferred color of Ethernet cable (yellow) and his love of the Internet: “I give the Internet credit for everything good that has happened since 1969.”

He also talked about his admiration for Bill Gates and his enthusiasm about Google Fiber adding to the high-speed Internet competition.

When asked whether the Internet has exceeded his expectations, Metcalfe exclaimed: “By far, more each year, who would have guessed? We were building our own tools, and they escaped to serve uses unimagined.”

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The popular LifeProof case joins the OtterBox family.

If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em.

OtterBox, which struggled for months to bring a waterproof iPhone case to market, has acquired rival LifeProof, which makes one of the best — and best-selling — tough iPhone cases.

Colorado-based OtterBox has been a leading case manufacturer for a variety of smartphones and
tablets and has quickly grown to employ 650 people worldwide. LifeProof, based in San Diego and founded in 2009 by Australian Gary Rayner, employees 250 people.

OtterBox says those 250 employees are now “members of the OtterBox family and will remain in their San Diego location for the foreseeable future.” Over the next 30 days, OtterBox will begin incorporating the LifeProof brand into that OtterBox family.

LifeProof just unveiled a waterproof
iPad Mini case at the CTIA trade show in Las Vegas (it’s expected to ship in June for $99.99), and a LifeProof case for the
Samsung Galaxy S4 is expected to ship by mid summer.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but it was likely in the tens of millions of dollars and perhaps even more. In 2012, OtterBox had approximately $600 million in revenues. That was up from $10.8 million in 2008.

Yes, the iPhone-case game is big business.

LifeProof’s $99.99 waterproof iPad Mini case, which ships in June (click image to enlarge).

(Credit:
LifeProof)

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Oh, this hurts.

(Credit:
Microsoft/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Microsoft isn’t bothering to merely flex its muscles these days.

It’s opening fire in all directions, because what is there to lose? Oh, perhaps money. But apart from that.

It’s gone after Google in a quite chilling manner. It’s gone after the Apple-Samsung phone feud.

So, in a further escalation of hostilities, a new Windows 8 ad sees Microsoft take Siri hostage, tie her up in a chair, and make her tell the truth.

The truth as Microsoft sees it, that is.

So here we have Siri plaintively admitting that she can’t do things that fine
Windows 8 tablets do.

“Sorry, I can only do one thing at a time,” she says, her ire and embarrassment barely constrained.

She confesses she isn’t too wily at PowerPoint, either. Well, what is she? Some sort of lowly administrative associate?

When I say “she,” Siri is actually talking on behalf of the allegedly aging grande dame of the
tablet world, the
iPad.

This all takes place in the style of the original iPad Mini ad. It’s even complete with a rendition of “Chopsticks,” which is allegedly Siri’s default when she feels defeated.

I feel sure that those millions who still enjoy their iPads might enjoy offering a rejoinder or two to these firmly worded accusations. They know that she is being forced to say these things.

Here, though, Microsoft ends with a price appeal, comparing the Asus VivoTab Smart (a mere $450) with the much higher price of the iPad.

I wonder if, in the coming days, there will be a smart rush for this VivoTab.

I can reveal, though, that Siri has been released from her captivity. I just asked her about the VivoTab.

She replied: “I found 15 cab companies… 13 of them are fairly close to you.”

It’s my accent, you see. She still gets confused, no matter how slowly I talk.

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Intel’s ‘New Devices Group,’ led by iPhone contributor and former Palm staffer Mike Bell, is just part of a major shake-up at the company under new CEO Brian Krzanich’s auspice.

Intel’s new chief executive officer Brian Krzanich is leading a shake-up of the chip giant that will see the company launching a new division designed specifically to target the mobile and other low-power embedded markets.

Having taken over from Paul Otellini as chief executive of the chip firm, Krzanich made no bones about his company having been slow to enter the mobile market and allowing rival ARM to get a significant foothold in what is proving to be one of the fastest-growing markets around. ‘The base of assets that we have,‘ Krzanich claimed at the time, ‘will allow us to grow in that area much faster moving forwards.‘

Ignoring for the moment the impossibility of moving backwards, Krzanich’s comment clearly showed a desire to focus more on the mobile market Intel had so long neglected since it sold its ARM-based XScale intellectual property (IP) to Marvell back in 2006. Now, however, the first indications have emerged that Krzanich is serious – and is looking to take Intel in new directions under his leadership.

According to an internal memo leaked to the Reuters wire service, Krzanich is to found a division dubbed the ‘New Devices Group’ under Mike Bell, currently vice president and general manager of the company’s Mobile and Communications Group. As if his current job wasn’t clue enough, Bell came to Intel from personal digital assistant (PDA) pioneer Palm and Apple where he contributed to the company’s iPhone programme.

Thus, it’s clear: the New Devices Group is to target smartphone and tablet markets, an area where Intel is struggling to compete with incumbent Cambridge-based chip design company ARM and its multitudinous licensees. While comments made by Krzanich in the memo suggest it will also be responsible for other areas, mobile is likely to be its primary focus for the foreseeable future.

The formation of the New Devices Group under Bell isn’t the only part of Krzanich’s clean sweep, however. The memo also details that Dadi Perlmutter is being ousted from his control of the PC Client, Mobile Communications and Data Centre groups with all major product groups now reporting directly to Krzanich. Quite where that leaves Perlmutter is not yet clear: Reuters’ claims the memo, the full text of which it has not supplied, explains that Perlmutter’s ‘next significant contribution at Intel‘ will be a matter of discussion once transfer of the product groups has been completed.

Renée James, the company’s new president, is also to take charge of Intel’s global manufacturing operations, leaving Krzanich free to concentrate on pushing product design and development forward at the company.

Intel has confirmed that the particulars of the leaked memo are correct, but has declined to comment on the changes at the company until it can prepare a formal press release on the matter.

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Unity Basic, the free 3D game engine and software development kit, can now deploy to iOS and Android platforms free of charge – if you’re an indie, at least.

Game engine giant Unity Technologies has announced that its suite of mobile game development tools will be made available completely free of charge to indie devs.

Announced late yesterday by chief executive David Helgason, the move sees the Unity software development kit (SDK) for Android and iOS platforms released completely free of charge. Previously, mobile support was a chargeable extra to the free Unity Basic software release. Those who have already downloaded Unity need do nothing aside from run the update tool to unlock the new features.

‘There are no strings attached, no royalties and no license fees,‘ claimed Helgason. ‘This is just an extension of Unity Free which we launched in 2009.‘ Using the tools, developers are able to write games using the Unity Engine and publish them to iOS and Android platforms as well as the usual desktop and laptop targets – and not have to worry about licensing, even if they come up with the next Angry Birds. ‘You can make as much money from your games as you like – this limitation is about large companies not using our free products, not about sharing your future revenues,‘ Helgason added.

The iOS and Android extensions to Unity Basic will be followed in the coming months by similar deployment tools for BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8, which will again be made freely available under the same terms. As a result, independent game developers will soon be able to publish for all four popular mobile platforms without having to pay a penny in licensing costs for the Unity engine or its toolkit.

Despite Helgason’s reassurances, however, there is a definite catch to the offer – but it’s one that should come as no surprise: designed for smaller indie devs, the offer does not extend to a company or other incorporated entity with a turnover over $100,000 in its last financial year. Anybody meeting those criteria will need to pay for a Unity Pro licence, at a cost of $1,500 for the basic software and an additional $1,500 each for the iOS and Android deployment tools.

Those who had already splashed out on the Unity Basic iOS and Android extensions in the last 30 days will be offered discounts on future purchases by way of compensation, Helgason announced, as well as the usual discount offer for upgrading to Unity Pro.

Unity Technology’s move is a clear response to growing interest in rival Epic’s Unreal Engine for cross-platform development: the Unreal Engine has long since been ported to mobile devices, while work is well under way on a browser-based version for client-agnostic gaming. With smartphone and tablet gaming spend beginning to exceed that of dedicated hand-held gaming devices like the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS, mobile is clearly to be the next battleground for engine and middleware providers.

If you fancy giving Unity a go yourself, you can download the software free of charge from the official website.

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The Lightning connector version of the Logitech Wired Keyboard will ship in August (click image to enlarge).

(Credit:
Logitech)

We review a lot of wireless Bluetooth keyboards and keyboard cases for iPads and other tablets, but we’ve yet to review a wired keyboard for the iPad. It comes as little surprise then that Logitech, which makes plenty of Bluetooth keyboards, has unveiled the Wired Keyboard for iPad, which it dubs “the first iPad keyboard made specially for the classroom environment.”

The keyboard will come in a Lightning connector or 30-pin connector versions and have an MSRP of $59.99. The Lightning version is due to ship in August; the 30-pin version will ship in October.

Why go wired? Well, it makes the keyboard very easy to connect. Logitech says it’s a challenge for teachers to simultaneously pair multiple iPads with multiple wireless Bluetooth keyboards in the classroom. With a wired keyboard, kids can connect without any help.

Logitech says the keyboard is “spill-resistant” and has full-size keys along with
iPad shortcut keys for such functions as copy and paste, Siri, app switching, and an integrated Home button. Hopefully, schools will get a nice discount if they buy multiple keyboards.

The keyboard has an MSRP of $59.99 and is spill-resistant (click image to enlarge).

(Credit:
Logitech)

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(Credit:
Burj Al Arab)

It’s the most golden hotel perk since gold-bar vending machines: gold iPads.

As if the Rolls Royce and helicopter services weren’t enough, guests at Dubai’s opulent Burj Al Arab now have access to gold-plated iPads.

The 24-karat
tablets are engraved with the property’s logo on the back, which also features a black Apple logo. Ironically enough, the hotel chain’s slogan is “Stay different.”

The iPads, meant to act as “virtual concierges,” are loaded with Interactive Customer Experience (ICE) software that gives guests information on services such as dining options at the landmark property.

The iPads were produced by Gold Co. of London, which made a 24-karat rose-gold
iPad for the hotel last October in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“The Gold Co. London 24-carat gold iPad is the ultimate in luxury accessories, hence we wanted it to be paired with Burj Al Arab, the world’s most luxurious hotel,” Amjad Ali, CEO of Gold Co. London, said in a release. “The symmetry is obvious, as both the gold iPad and the hotel are unique in terms of extraordinary quality and design.”

The glittering iPads will be on sale for about $10,200 in the hotel’s boutique, which also sells a gold iPad mini, gold
iPhone 5, and gold BlackBerry Q10.

Gold Co. of London has produced a number of eye-popping uber-luxurious gadgets with the yellow metal. Check them out in the gallery below.

Golden gadgets galore from Gold Co. (pictures)

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Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business, kicks off the Xbox event in Redmond, Wash.

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled the
Xbox One, the newest version of its popular game console.

Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business, said the company wanted to design and build the “ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system.”

The Xbox One will be available around the world later this year.

The Xbox One includes games, TV, movies, music, the Web, and apps. It has Skype and live TV capabilities, as well as voice recognition to switch between programs, new gesture recognition, and the ability to operate multiple programs at the same time. And users make group video calls via Skype, said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of marketing, strategy, and business for Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business.

The new Xbox home screen identifies users and logs them in with all their favorite apps and games. It remembers what they were doing the last time they played, and those actions show up on the home screen. A new “trending tab” shows users what’s popular with friends and the overall community.

The Xbox One also includes three operating systems in one — the Xbox operating system, a Windows OS kernel, and software to connect the two operating systems for multitasking. Microsoft also launched a new Xbox Live system for its updated game console Under the hood of the large, sleek, black device are an eight-core processor, 8GB of RAM, Blu-ray, USB 3, HDMI in/out, and a 500GB hard drive..

Microsoft, which is hosting its special next-generation Xbox event at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters, last introduced a new gaming console, the Xbox 360, in 2005. Since that time, the Xbox has become the best-selling game console in the country. In April alone, consumers spent $208 million on hardware, software, and accessories for the Xbox.

However, the new Xbox launch comes as the game console business faces an uncertain future. More and more people are turning to mobile devices and the Web for gaming, which has resulted in weaker console sales. The Nintendo Wii U, which includes a
tablet-like game controller that doubles as a second screen, has faced tepid interest since launching late last year. Sony, meanwhile, unveiled its Playstation 4 in February, but the device isn’t expected to hit the market until the fall.

The Xbox One is being positioned as a complete home entertainment system.

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

To help game consoles become more of a living room staple, Microsoft has been incorporating more entertainment capabilities into its Xbox, including media-streaming functionality. Throughout the event Tuesday, Microsoft positioned the Xbox One as an entertainment system, not just a game console.

This story is being updated as events unfold in real time. See our live blog for ongoing coverage, including video.

Live from Microsoft’s Xbox One reveal (pictures)

Updated at 10:45 a.m. PT and 10:55 a.m. PT
with additional details.

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