Saturn's icy moon possibly has warm waters that could foster life

Enceladus used to be just another icy moon until the Cassini spacecraft spotted geysers on its surface, spewing water 125 miles into the sky back in 2005. Now, after years of research, scientists have published two studies suggesting that these geysers are caused by hydrothermal vents or fissures that heat the water at the bottom of the 6-mile-deep ocean beneath the Saturn's moon ice crust. Why is that important? Well, if the vents truly exist, the waters that surround them will contain chemicals and minerals necessary for life. Plus, the conditions around those vents will be similar to the environment surrounding Atlantic Ocean's hydrothermal field -- the place where life on Earth might have begun.

The first study published in Nature explores the findings of the researchers who analyzed and studied samples from Saturn's outermost ring within the past four years. They determined that the minuscule particles the spacecraft collected are grains of silica formed from water erupted by the geysers. Since these particles can only be formed by water with specific saline content, pH and temperatures around 200 degrees Fahrenheit, they strongly indicate the existence of hydrothermal activity beneath the moon's oceans.

The other study published in Geophysical Research Letters reinforces the belief that there are hydrothermal vents on the Saturn moon. It suggests that the methane content in gas and ice particles collected from southern geysers is a product of hydrothermal activities. Whether or not life actually exists on Enceladus, however, remains to be seen. Space agencies will probably need to send underwater robots similar to the ones they plan to send to Jupiter's moon Europa to collect samples before they can confirm anything. If they do find signs of life, then Enceladus might be the key to helping us understand how life started on our planet.

BBC to give out one million 'Micro Bit' computers to get kids coding

It's the first year of a major new coding curriculum in the UK, and now the BBC wants to play its part in training the next generation of star programmers. The broadcaster is developing a spiritual successor to the BBC Micro, called the Micro Bit, which will give students a physical companion in their path to coding competence. It's going to be a small, standalone device with an LED display that children can carry around with them and plug into a computer to continue their work. The hardware will be basic, as the BBC calls it a "starting point" for "more complex" devices such as the Raspberry Pi and Kickstarter-funded Kano kits. The project is still in a prototype phase, but the BBC claims it'll be ready to give away one million of the new microcomputers to year 7 students this autumn.

The Micro Bit is just the tip of the BBC's new initiative, however. The organisation is developing classroom resources under its Bitesize and School Report brands, as well as a slate of events to inspire would-be coders. Under a new 'Make it Digital' campaign, the BBC is also pulling on some of its biggest TV shows, including Doctor Who, EastEnders and The One Show, to create new programming that will promote technology-fuelled creativity. BBC Three will be launching a talent show called 'Girls Can Code' and there will even be a drama about the making of Grand Theft Auto. Yes, you read that correctly. Grand Theft Auto. While some of this content will be available straight away, the BBC says it's working towards a "big audience moment" in September, when the kids go back to school.

The BBC has teamed up with a ton of companies to make all of this happen, including Google, Microsoft and Samsung, as well as Code Club, the British Computing Society and Tech City UK. At a time when the licence fee is being scrutinised yet again, such an ambitious project is a timely reminder of the BBC's public service contributions.

Reducing Stress on India's Grid With Efficient, Climate-Friendly Air Conditioning Refrigerants

As industry leaders gather in Delhi this week for ACRECONF, an international conference on key emerging technologies in the built environment, including air conditioning, lighting and other products with rising demand in Asia. One of the featured discussions is on how alternative refrigerants used as coolants can improve the energy efficiency of room air conditioner (RAC) units. The innovative refrigerants can work with efficient air conditioning units to reduce stress on the power grid and mitigate the climate change impact of these cooling units.

As new issue brief, "Reducing Stress on India's Energy Grid: The Power Sector Benefits of Transitioning to Lower Global Warming Potential and Energy Efficient Refrigerants in Room Air Conditioners," released at ACRECONF by NRDC's Bhaskar Deol, makes clear, switching to RAC refrigerants with lower global warming potential (GWP) than the business-as-usual technologies, commonly used in today's market, could result in a 15% energy savings for India's stressed power grid. This new report discusses the use of these commercially-viable alternative refrigerants and what it can mean for achieving India's national energy and climate goals, alleviating the burdened energy grid, and providing a growing export market for domestic manufacturers.

The Delhi Chapter of the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE) is convening this two-day international stakeholder conference to discuss the latest developments in RAC technology in India and worldwide. The innovative refrigerants are now available to replace hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), one of the most potent of six greenhouse gases, while also operating more efficiently than traditional air conditioners.

Leading manufacturers such as Godrej & Boyce and Daikin are already manufacturing and marketing RAC units using climate-friendly refrigerants, R-290 and R-32, respectively-- demonstrating India's opportunity to not only mitigate climate change, but also to reap the energy benefits of commercially viable options available now.

As the new issue brief clarifies, India's air conditioning market is in need of, and primed to adopt alternative refrigerants that reduce stress on the energy grid, operate more efficiently, open up new export markets and combat climate change.

India's AC market is growing, placing a burden on the energy grid. With India's already high ambient temperatures, rising middle class and fast-growing economic needs, air conditioning use is increasing rapidly. In fact, it is projected to grow five-fold from 2005 to 2030, resulting in increased demand on India's power grid. With 1.2 billion people currently without electricity and daily power outages a regular occurrence due to the current stress on the energy grid, reducing energy demands is vital to supplying reliable power across the country.

Using alternative AC refrigerants is the low hanging fruit to combat climate change. Weather patterns are altered due to climate change, making an already hot India even hotter. This results in a dangerous cycle that requires more air conditioners to keep people comfortable in the face of the increasing heat. The default refrigerant, technology used by most Indian manufacturers today, is HFC-410A that has a GWP of 2,088. HFCs have the potential to raise the global temperature by 0.5°C all by themselves by 2100. The alternatives are the R-290 or propane, which has a GWP of less than 5 and the R-32, which has a GWP of 675. These reductions are significant. Studies estimate that the use of R-32 could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 31% by 2050.

Alternative energy efficient technology is available. As the air conditioning market expands, utilizing and providing a supportive policy framework to encourage the use of energy efficient refrigerants can help address the growing energy crisis in India. R-290 is already on the market and could save 11.9 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of energy per month over the HFC-410A refrigerant that is currently being used. It has a 5 star energy efficiency rating from India's Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and a recent Godrej & Boyce model was labeled the "Diet AC" because it surpassed India's energy efficiency standards. R-32 is also a viable option that is being sold in 30 different countries. Daikin's model received the prestigious grand prize for excellence in energy efficiency and conservation in Japan. The U.S. recently approved both R-290 and R-32 as viable alternatives under its Significant New Alternatives Program (SNAP). Switching to lower-GWP options could result in a 15% energy savings.

There is a supportive international framework to enable the transition to alternative refrigerants in India. India can seek support from the Montreal Protocol framework that is already in place and has served as a successful tool in addressing a transition away from ozone-depleting substances such aschlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). India is in the process of phasing out use of ozone depleting refrigerants as part of its national commitment under the Montreal Protocol. However, in the move away from CFCs that deplete the ozone, the industry is substituting CFCs with HFCs that have a significant global warming impact, over a thousand times stronger than carbon dioxide. It is almost certain that high-GWP HFCs would also need to be phased out eventually. In order to be efficient, India could utilize the Montreal Protocol to leapfrog to low-GWP alternatives right away, rather than using technology that will become globally obsolete.

Switching to alternative refrigerants supports national goals. Using energy efficient refrigerants in air conditioners supports the central government's goals to improve access to energy while achieving energy security. During U.S. President Obama's recent visit, Prime Minister Modi announced hiscommitment to making concrete progress on phasing down HFCs at the Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in 2015. The opportunities are vast. What is clear is that the business-as-usual scenario will place such a burden on the energy grid that the national goals will be impossible to reach.

Alternative refrigerants support Indian manufacturers keeping pace with international market trends. In line with Prime Minister Modi's "Make In India" campaign, Indian manufacturers could potentially benefit significantly from switching to alternative low-GWP refrigerants that are being adopted in key markets worldwide. Global markets such as Europe, Japan, the U.S., and China are already phasing-down use of high-GWP HFCs. The alternatives, R-290 and R-32, are currently available and have superior energy efficiency ratings. India could penetrate many markets if it pursued these energy efficient alternatives. Continuing down the path of HFC-410A forecloses these opportunities.

The opportunity for industry, the government, and Indian air conditioner consumers is significant. Leapfrogging over antiquated, soon-to-be obsolete, and inefficient refrigerants will benefit the power sector while saving consumers money. It will also advance the Indian economy, ensure Indian industries can compete in the international market, and help mitigate climate change, while supporting India's national goals of being energy secure in the face of rapidly rising energy demands from the world's third largest economy.

The $50 device that symbolizes a shift in North Korea

A $50 portable media player is providing many North Koreans a window to the outside world despite the government's efforts to keep its people isolated - a symbol of change in one of the world's most repressed societies.

By some estimates, up to half of all urban North Korean households have an easily concealed "notel", a small portable media player used to watch DVDs or content stored on USB sticks that can be easily smuggled into the country and passed hand to hand.

People are exchanging South Korean soaps, pop music, Hollywood films and news programs, all of which are expressly prohibited by the Pyongyang regime, according to North Korean defectors, activists and recent visitors to the isolated country.

"The North Korean government takes their national ideology extremely seriously, so the spread of all this media that competes with their propaganda is a big and growing problem for them," said Sokeel Park of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), an organization that works with defectors.

"If Pyongyang fails to successfully adapt to these trends, they could threaten the long-term survival of the regime itself."

North Koreans have been spending money more openly, a sign that some forms of entrepreneurship are increasingly tolerated and that the state is easing some of its harsh controls over the economy. In recent months, consumption has become more conspicuous.

"The variety and number of places for locals to spend money has really increased," said one regular visitor to Pyongyang, declining to be identified. "People seem a lot more confident flashing the cash than they used to be. I've seen people spend $500 on a phone with no hesitation, for example."

There is no sign, however, that the regime in nuclear-capable North Korea is loosening its grip, looking to make substantial reforms or making any change in its unpredictable ways of dealing with the outside world.

But along with rising incomes, more goods are available in the impoverished country, mostly on the black market but also in some state-controlled stores.

CHEAP AND VERSATILE

Notel or 'notetel' - the name is a uniquely North Korean word combining 'notebook' and 'television' - are easily found on the black market for around 300 Chinese yuan ($48), and are also available in some state shops and markets.

The device was legalized last year, according to defector-run news outlets in Seoul - one of many recent measures taken by the state to accommodate grassroots change.

The new rules, however, also require North Koreans to register their notel, enabling authorities to monitor who is most likely to be watching banned foreign media.

North Koreans do not have access to the internet - those who can go online are limited to a state-run intranet, while the country's 2.5 million mobile phone subscribers are not allowed to call outside the country.

The notel comes from China, either smuggled or legally imported.

Lee Seok-young, a defector from the North, said he smuggled 18,000 Chinese-made notel into the country last year. He said he ordered them directly from a factory in Guangzhou that was likely still in production solely to satisfy the demands of the North Korean market.

The devices have lost their popularity in China over the years, but still sell well in the provinces bordering North Korea, according to data on the China-based online shopping website Taobao.

When asked to quote a wholesale price for notel, one Chinese trader in the border city of Yanji said: "You want to send them to North Korea? How many do you want to send? They sell well there."

The low-voltage notel differs from the portable DVD players of the late 1990s in that they have USB and SD card ports, and a built-in TV and radio tuner. They can also be charged with a car battery - an essential piece of household equipment in electricity-scarce North Korea.

Legally-registered notel must be fixed to official state television and radio channels, according to the Daily NK, a Seoul-based news organization run by defectors.

Lee, the defector, said the device's multi-function nature makes it easier for users to get away with watching illegal material.

"To avoid getting caught, people load a North Korean DVD while watching South Korean dramas on a USB stick, which can be pulled out," he said. "They then tell the authorities, who feel the heat from the notel to check whether or not it has been recently used, that they were watching North Korean films".

Park at the LiNK organization added: "They are small enough to roll up in a blanket and hide in a wardrobe. They have become so popular because they are perfect for overcoming the twin barriers to foreign media consumption: surveillance and power outages.

"If you were to design the perfect device for North Koreans, it would be this."

Climate change: China official warns of 'huge impact'

Climate change could have a "huge impact" on China, reducing crop yields and harming the environment, the country's top weather scientist has warned, in a rare official admission.

Zheng Guogang told Xinhua news agency that climate change could be a "serious threat" to big infrastructure projects.

He said temperature rises in China were already higher than global averages.

China, the world's biggest polluter, has said its emissions of gases that cause climate change will peak by 2030.

However, the country has not set a specific target for cutting emissions of the gases, mainly carbon dioxide.

'Emphasise climate security'

Mr Zheng, the head of China's meteorological administration, said warming temperatures exposed his country to a growing "risk of climate change and climate disasters".

He said temperature rises in China had already been higher than the global average for the past century.

These are rare admissions from a Chinese official, BBC Asia analyst Michael Bristow says.

China's leaders have acknowledged the damage from global warming but they usually do not lay out the full scale of the problems.

Mr Zheng warned of more droughts, rainstorms, and higher temperatures, which would threaten river flows and harvests, as well as major infrastructure projects such as the Three Gorges Dam. He urged China to pursue a lower-carbon future.

"To face the challenges from past and future climate change, we must respect nature and live in harmony with it," the Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.

"We must promote the idea of nature and emphasise climate security."

China and the US together produce around 45% of global carbon emissions.

Leaders from the two countries are taking part in a summit in Paris this year that will aim for a global deal to cut carbon emissions by 2020.

China's decades-long pursuit of rapid economic growth has boosted demand for energy, particularly coal.

Scientists fear that pledges made so far to cut emissions will not be enough to avoid the harmful impact of climate change.

Samsung may be mulling an AMD acquisition — here’s what could happen

Rumors broke today, sparked by a Korean business site, that Samsung may be considering making a bid for AMD. It’s not unusual for these kinds of rumors to make the rounds, though it’s been awhile since I heard Samsung’s name floated. Any such acquisition would mark a sea change for the Sunnyvale-based company, and for the enthusiasts that have been its long-term customers.

Why would Samsung buy AMD?

There are several reasons why Samsung might buy AMD. Advanced Micro Devices is one of the few companies with experience in designing both the CPU and GPU halves of a custom SoC. Imagination Technologies and Nvidia both have much more experience building smartphone and tablet hardware, but these companies are on better financial footing and would likely cost significantly more — assuming either was interested in a sale to start with.

AMD’s stock has been battered by short selling, tough competition, and the company’s long, slow road back to a viable CPU architecture. Its stock currently trades at $2.66, down from $9.81 five years ago. After the disastrous Bulldozer debut of 2011, AMD has been forced to execute a slow roadmap of iterative improvements and cost-optimized product transitions. A massive injection of Samsung’s capital could give the chip designer some breathing room and let it put its expertise to work again.

AMD already has a mobile GPU that could be ported to tablet form factors, even if smartphones are currently out of reach, and the Radeon brand still has broad recognition. The company’s plans for an ARM-based server business may be in their infancy, but AMD has built at least one bog-standard ARM core, and is working on its own custom architecture to debut in 2016. Having wrested foundry leadership away from TSMC, at least for the moment, Samsung might believe that acquiring a chip firm is the next logical step in its long-term competition with companies like Qualcomm and Intel.

What would a Samsung-AMD acquisition mean for enthusiasts?

Enormous change. When I wrote up AMD’s roadmap plans last fall, I discussed the fact that AMD is transitioning away from being a company that competes directly with Intel in the core PC market. Chimpzilla wants to engage in different arenas, including embedded semi-custom architectures, high-end GPUs, and ARM-based dense servers. That doesn’t mean AMD has given up the x86 fight, but it does mean the company’s priorities aren’t focused on the bleeding edge of x86 CPU design.

The hard truth is this: The single-thread performance gap between AMD and Intel is larger now than it was in the K6 days. It’s larger than it was when Hyper-Threaded Northwood blew past 3GHz and left the single-threaded 130nm Barton struggling in its wake. AMD has made huge improvements in performance-per-watt — I wouldn’t have bet a nickel on a Bulldozer-based SoC ever hitting the 17W power envelope four years ago — but the company’s CPU division has been fighting an uphill battle for the past four years on shoestring budgets and grudging implementation timetables.

AMD’s HSA and high-performance on-die integrated graphics have pushed the technological envelope over the past few years, but APU prices and non-game benchmarks both remain largely chained to conventional CPU performance. Developers and programmers agree that features like heterogeneous compute and many-core architectures are the long-term future of computing, but AMD needs a new, higher-performing CPU architecture to better match the innovative work it has been doing on the GPU side.

If AMD agrees to be acquired by Samsung and jettisons its x86 business, it would be a tacit admission that the company didn’t think its next-generation design would deliver what it needed to better match Intel or emerging ARM vendors.

With all of that said, keep in mind that this is just a rumor. Until we hear otherwise from a more reliable source, everything is business as usual.

Founder Wang takes over as CEO as Taiwan's HTC seeks turnaround

HTC Corp on Friday named Cher Wang as chief executive, giving its founder and chairwoman a bigger role in leading a potential turnaround of the Taiwanese smartphone maker.

The return of Wang, a scion of one of Taiwan's most prominent families, comes as HTC's phones have often struggled to translate positive early reviews into strong sales, and the former contract manufacturer has found it tough to build a strong consumer brand in a competitive market.

HTC said Wang has been increasingly involved in running various aspects of the business.

She replaces Peter Chou, who will lead product development as head of the HTC Future Development Lab, an executive role focusing on identifying future growth opportunities.

Chou is known to be more focused on research and development, so the change is positive in that respect, said Jimmy Chen, a technology analyst with Masterlink Securities Investment Advisory in Taipei.

But Chou also built a reputation as an abrasive manager whose demanding style hit morale at the company, according to executives previously interviewed by Reuters.

It remains unclear if HTC can overcome its challenges, Masterlink's Chen said. "If you don't bring in fresh blood then there's probably less of a chance to improve the operations."

HTC recently named a new marketing chief, filling a post that had been vacant for four months.

Revenue at HTC, which once had a 10 percent share of the global smartphone market, has largely flatlined after gradually sliding over the past two years.

Net income has fared worse, with the company reporting either losses or a slim profit at best since hitting a peak in the third quarter of 2011.

Like other, larger mobile phone makers such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics, HTC is trying to diversify into other 'connected' devices to find new growth outside an increasingly commoditized space.

"We are seeing rapid changes in the industry, with the smartphone as our personal hub connecting us to a growing world of smart devices," Wang said in a company statement announcing the management changes.

But despite forging a partnership with Google Inc to develop a smartwatch based on its Android operating system over a year ago, HTC has yet to deliver one to the market.

Wang's father, the late Wang Yung-Ching, was chairman of Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group. Cher Wang was considered a pioneer in Taiwan's male-dominated technology industry, founding HTC in 1997 and establishing it as a leader in a then fast-growing mobile segment.

Microsoft reportedly working on new Surface tablet that ditches Windows RT

A new report from WinBeta claims that Microsoft is planning to release another Surface tablet as a successor to the Surface 2 launched back in 2013. A year later, the company unveiled the Surface Pro 3, but made no mention of a regular "Surface 3" at a lower price point; Microsoft also abruptly scraped plans for a Surface Mini that was presumably intended to compete against Apple's iPad mini.

WinBeta claims the new Surface will be unveiled before or at Microsoft's Build conference next month, and should hit retail in close proximity to that announcement. It will reportedly ship with a full version of Windows — likely to be 8.1 — and be upgradeable to Windows 10 when that ships sometime this summer.

As far as design goes, WinBeta says the Surface 3 will be fanless and run in silence thanks to the inclusion of either an Intel Atom or Core M processor. Accordingly, Microsoft is unlikely to promote the new device as a professional-caliber machine; the Surface Pro 3 will still hold that distinction for now.

Microsoft has already washed its hands of the unsuccessful Windows RT operating system, so it's no surprise to hear that all of its tablet plans now revolve around full-blown Windows. Still, the regular Surface's future was very much uncertain when it was a no show at the Surface Pro 3's 2014 debut. Now it appears the company has every intention of battling lower-priced tablets from Amazon and Google along with premium products like Apple's iPad Air 2.

TSMC to supply chips for rumored iPhone 6S and 6C

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will remain the major processor supplier for Apple in the second half of 2015 as the foundry will supply 20nm chips for an upcoming 6C model and 16nm FinFET chips for 6S models, according to industry sources.

TSMC is reportedly the sole supplier of processors for Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which industry observers believe are the best selling iPhone models of all time. Strong demand for the 6 and 6 Plus has boosted TSMC's sales generated from 20nm process technology.

TSMC has reported record revenues for January 2015, and guided its first-quarter revenues will register flat sequential growth despite seasonal factors.

Growth in TSMC's 20nm business is expected to continue in the second half of 2015, as the foundry will supply chips for a 4-inch iPhone model tentatively dubbed the iPhone 6C, the sources noted.

Shipments of the iPhone 6C, which will launch as the entry-level product for the brand with a price tag between US$400-500, are expected to reach 10-20 million units in the first year after its release, the sources estimated.

Meanwhile, TSMC will supply a portion of processors for the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus models, using its 16nm FinFET technology, the sources indicated.

The sources identify Samsung Electronics as the other processor supplier for the upcoming 6S models. Samsung had long been the sole provider of Apple's A-series chips until it lost out to TSMC for the A8 series used in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Jury clears Kleiner firm in Silicon Valley gender bias case

A California jury on Friday cleared venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers of gender discrimination claims brought against it by a woman former partner in a trial that transfixed Silicon Valley.

After further deliberation, the jury also cleared Kleiner on a claim that the firm had retaliated against former partner Ellen Pao by terminating her employment after she sued in 2012.

The verdict dashed Pao's hopes for personal vindication, but the trial's embarrassing disclosures about how Pao and other women were treated at Kleiner have cast a long shadow over Silicon Valley corporate culture and its lack of diversity.

The California Superior Court case laid bare the personnel matters of the firm that backed Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc, with Pao's attorneys painting Kleiner as a quarrelsome pressure cooker where a former male partner used business trips as opportunities to make advances to female colleagues.

Pao, now interim chief executive at social-news service Reddit, claimed her standing at Kleiner crumbled after she ended a brief affair with partner Ajit Nazre. Her career deteriorated after he and Kleiner started retaliating against her, amid a climate that was overall unfriendly toward women, her lawyers argued.

The firm disputed those charges, presenting evidence that Kleiner went out of its way to hire women.

Pao sought to illustrate her point with testimony from former Kleiner partner, Trae Vassallo, who said Nazre appeared at her hotel room on a business trip. He wore a bathrobe and carried a glass of wine, according to testimony.

Kleiner countered that it investigated Nazre after Vassallo complained, after which he quickly left the firm.

Some witnesses, including Pao's onetime mentor John Doerr, have testified that Pao's lack of advancement stemmed from subpar performance, not discrimination or retaliation.

But Pao's attorneys argued she laid the groundwork for the firm's highly successful investment in RPX, the patent company, and suggesting an investment in Twitter, an idea more senior partners rejected at the time.

Pao herself testified for five days and faced tough questions both from Kleiner's legal team and from jurors. One juror asked if it was "professional to enter into an affair with a married partner?"

"Going back I would not have done it again, but I didn't think it was inappropriate at the time," Pao said, emphasizing that Nazre had told her he was separated.

The case is Pao v. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers LLC, CGC-12-520719, in California Superior Court, in the County of San Francisco.

BlackBerry posts surprise Q4 profit, though Grim Reaper still lurks

Those crazy kids at BlackBerry managed to surprise the haters on Wall Street by pulling out a profit in their most recent quarter.

Take about 30 seconds to savor that before we get to the punch line: Sales dropped 32 percent to $660 million, missing analysts’ projections.

BlackBerry’s revenue fell to $660 million in Q4, waaaay down from $976 million for the same period a year ago, and under the $786 million that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected. So, yowch.

Thanks to cost cutting, though, the company reported a net profit of $28 million, or 5 cents a share, even though analysts had expected a 4 cents a share loss.

“Our focus this past year was on getting our financial house in order while creating a multiyear growth strategy and investing in our product portfolio. We now have a very good handle on our margins, and our product road maps have been well received,” BlackBerry chief executive John Chen said in a statement. “The second half of our turnaround focuses on stabilization of revenue with sustainable profitability and cash generation.”

BlackBerry is hoping to hang on long enough for a slate of new phones and services to deliver a long-awaited turnaround.

Assembler Pegatron's record 2014 profit puts Apple reliance in spotlight

Strong iPhone 6 sales lifted annual net profit at Pegatron Corp, the Taiwanese assembler of Apple Inc, to a record high, as its chief executive questioned the company's reliance on smartphones to generate revenue.

Pegatron on Monday said 2014 net profit rose 53.4 percent from the previous year to T$14.66 billion ($466.8 million).

Fourth-quarter net profit also surged 68 percent to a record T$5.68 billion, as revenue from its communication devices business grew to account for just under two-thirds of its overall revenue, up from 30 percent in the same year-ago period.

Asked about Pegatron's reliance on smartphones, Chief Executive Jason Cheng told an earnings briefing Pegatron was taking advantage of a good business opportunity.

But he added: "It's definitely not a good thing to be too concentrated on just a few clients. But you can't avoid the fact that mobile phones have been fast sellers. When good business comes your way, how can you not take it?"

Apple sold more than expected iPhones over the year-end holiday season.

Last month, a labor rights group said low costs helped Pegatron win business from Apple, which allegedly moved some orders from rival Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd after an increase in labor costs aimed at addressing a spate of worker suicides in 2010.

Pegatron's strong communication device revenue contrasts with weaker sales of most of the other tech products it assembles: computers' contribution to revenue fell 38 percent, while consumer devices, which includes tablets and video game consoles, dropped 17 percent, it said.

"They should be careful about their reliance on Apple," said Fubon Securities analyst Arthur Liao, who estimates Apple products contributed as much as 59 percent to Pegatron's revenue last year.

Pegatron rival Hon Hai has struck several deals to diversify away from contract manufacturing, including buying a stake in a Taiwanese telecom provider. On Monday, it said it was teaming up with Chinese social networking firm Tencent Holdings Ltd to develop opportunities related to electric vehicles.

Windows 10 phones to get bigger, smaller, faster, and maybe even x86ier

Even as we wait for a flagship Windows handset, Windows 10 for phones will support faster processors, more RAM, and higher screen resolutions than Windows Phone currently does.

Microsoft has been talking Windows 10 hardware at its WinHEC hardware conference in Shenzhen, China. As we've heard previously, there will be two main Windows variants: one "Mobile," for phones and tablets with sub-8-inch screens, bottoming out at 3 inches, and one "desktop," for devices with screens of 7 inches or more (and yes, this means that between 7 and 8 inches, OEMs will be able to pick either operating system).

The "Mobile" family will be the successor to the Windows Phone we have today: no desktop, no traditional Win32 applications, fully locked down and sandboxed, and running on system-on-chip platforms. Microsoft seems unsure of exactly what this desktopless versions is called; sometimes it'sWindows "Mobile" with the quote marks, other times it's just Windows Mobile in a terrifying resurrection of a widely maligned and near-universally unpopular branding. Until it's clear, we're going to stick with the former, because the alternative is unpalatable.

The Windows Phone universe has always been more constrained in terms of supported hardware—it's no coincidence that Windows Phone is currently exclusively available on Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, it simply doesn't support anything else—with OEMs having to wait for changes from Microsoft before they can roll out new processors, screen resolutions, and hardware support.

Windows 10 will support a wider range of SoCs than before. New to the list of supported chips are the Snapdragon 810, 808, 615, 210, and 208. These processors span the breadth of Qualcomm's range; the 810 is an 8-core, 64-bit processor with four A57 cores and four A53 cores. It has integrated LTE including Category 9 support, for data rates of up to 450Mbps. The 208 is a quad-core 32-bit processor using the ARM A7 core, and only supports HSPA+ at up to 21Mbps.

Also supported are Intel's Atom x3 (formerly known as SoFIA), and x5 and x7 processors (codenamed Cherry Trail). x3 is aimed at low-to-mid-range smartphones, with x5 and x7 targeted towards tablets. AMD's Carrizo and Carrizo-L processors are also supported, and Carrizo-L in particular may find its way into tablets.

While the high-end Qualcomm processors, and all of the Intel and AMD processors, are 64-bit, Windows "Mobile" is presently strictly 32-bit, and those processors will be working in their 32-bit modes.

Currently, Windows Phone tops out at a 1920×1080 resolution. Windows "Mobile" broadens this considerably, including support for 1440×900 to 1920×1200, 2048×1152 to 2560×1600, and 2560×2048 or greater. These ranges also have corresponding RAM requirements; 2GB or more, 3GB or more, and 4GB or more, respectively.

There's no change at the low end, however; 800×480 (with hardware buttons on the front) or 854×480 (without hardware buttons) remains the minimum resolution, and 512MB remains the minimum RAM. Any higher resolution, from 960×540 to 1366×768 bumps the RAM mandate up to 1GB.

The new resolutions are straightforward. What's a little more peculiar are other requirements. Windows "Mobile" on Phones will require a cellular radio, Wi-Fi, audio jacks, speakers, and a microphone. On tablets, all of these bar the speakers are strictly going to be optional. Surprisingly, however, both sensors (including accelerometers, compasses, ambient light, proximity, and gyroscopes) are currently listed as optional, even on phones. More bizarrely still, touch screens are also listed as optional.

We assume that this must be some kind of error or oversight in the slides. Current Windows Phones require accelerometers and, of course, touch screens. Losing the former would break some apps; losing the latter would break everything. This may well be an error or oversight in the slides, of course, and that's what would make most sense.

Overall, while we don't expect these changes to have much impact at the low-end—the only real excitement being Snapdragon 210's LTE support, which will be a nice upgrade over the 3G still used in the cheapest phones—they will have impact at the high end. The bumped specs will let Windows devices match the specs of class-leading Android ones, and that's surely good news for those still holding out for a hero phone.

Bloomberg: Apple will let Foxconn buy and resell used iPhones in China

Thanks to the consistently high local demand, the iPhone resell business is rather lucrative in China, to the point where even the company who actually manufactures the devices wants in as well. According to Bloomberg, Apple is about to launch an iPhone trade-in program in China (we're surprised that it's taken this long, to be honest), but it'll be Foxconn on the receiving end. Basically, the OEM giant will buy the used iPhones directly, before refurbishing and then reselling them on its own online stores plus Taobao, China's popular eBay-like platform. Bloomberg's source added that the chain may extend to physical stores as well.

While this is potentially good money for Foxconn, the program's popularity will largely depend on how much store credit Apple can offer per used iPhone;Bloomberg says it's up to $300 in the US, which is a little less than what the Hong Kong second-hand market offers for, say, a 16GB iPhone 5s when we checked recently. But if this program works, it'll be interesting to see how it'll impact the entire trade-in ecosystem.

Remembering Lee Kuan Yew

ARM to have 20% of 2020 server IC market

ARM reckons it may have a 20% share of the server IC market in five years time.

ARM’s vp of investor relations told a meeting in Taipei that ARM’s market share was now less ghan 1% and Intel’s share of the server chip market is 90%.

He said that Intel’s ASP for a server chip is $600 while the cost of an ARM server chip is $100 to $200.

Moor Insights say that, over three years, the cost of buying and running ARM servers could be 35% less than x86 and they use two thirds the number of physical racks.

Canaccord reckon ARM server CPUs will have a 20% share of the server chip market by 2018.

ARM saw server chip revenues for the first time last year.

HP brought out two ARM-based servers – the ProLiant M400 with a 2.4GHz ARMv8-based Applied Micro X-Gene eight-core SoC and M800 which has a 32-bit Texas Instruments quad-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A15 with eight DSP cores.

The M800 is aimed at “businesses wanting VOIP/LTE, seismic processing and/or real-time video transcoding while saving on energy, space and cost,” says HP.. Customers for it include the US Department of Energy’s Sandia National Labs and the University of Utah. The M400 is for tasks like web caching and PayPal is one customer for it.

Four chip-makers have announced 64-bit ARM v8 chips to go into the server and networking markets.

The Big Beast is the 48 core v8 64-bit 2.5GHz Cavium processor called ThunderX. “ThunderX will enable Cavium to be the first ARM-based vendor to deliver the performance and features required by today’s volume server market at half the power and significantly lower cost compared to competing solutions,” says processor guru Linley Gwennap.

As well as ThunderX, there’s Applied Micro’s eight v8 core X-Gene processor and AMD’s eight v8 core Seattle processor.

In January, Iliad, the French provider of telecommunications services, launched a cloud service based on ARM-based servers which it has built in-house using Marvell chips.

18 servers – each with a quad-core CPU – can fit onto a blade, and 16 blades can fit in a chassis.

Americans prefer texting to talking, report says

Americans prefer texting over talking, according to a new report.

U.S. smartphone users are sending and receiving five times as many texts compared with the number of phone calls each day, according to the International Smartphone Mobility Report by mobile data tracking firm Infomate. In total, Americans spend about 26 minutes a day texting. That compares to spending about six minutes a day on voice calls.

The monthly report tracks cell phone use across 12 countries and measured smartphone users' engagement on calls, texting and chat/Voice over Internet Protocol applications.

Americans' texting habits are in stark contrast to several other countries including India, Thailand, Mexico and Brazil, where people most often use chat or VoIP apps such as Skype, Line and WhatsApp. In more than 75 percent of countries measured, mobile phone users on average spent only six minutes texting.

"Our data reveals that most Americans love texting and would rather send a text than make a call," said Infomate CEO Will Hodgman, adding that in many Asia Pacific and Latin American countries, the data reveal a strong preference for chat apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Chatting apps are hot in other countries, such as Thailand and Malaysia, where users spend about an hour or more on these applications. In the U.S., however, these apps aren't as popular. This is because mobile carriers have made texting fairly cheap for U.S. users, according to Hodgman. "Outside of this country, many of these chat VoIP services have built services within them so it's no longer about chat, it's about much more. They use Wi-Fi and they don't pay their mobile operator," he added.

Video use is still low across most markets, but in the U.S., Thailand and Qatar, video use is the highest, at an average of about five minutes per day.

The report reveals that during January, Americans spent about 4.9 hours on their smartphones compared with 4.7 hours in December. Americans also consume the most data, at 19 gigabytes a month across cellular and Wi-Fi networks. Thailand was second in overall smartphone use, at four hours per day. Argentines and Brazilians use their smartphones the least, at 1.8 hours per day.

Analysts: Potential Intel-Altera deal could be a 'win-win'

Intel is reportedly in talks to buy Altera, a deal that analysts say could benefit both chipmakers.

The deal would provide Intel with a new business line and bring new production work to its cutting-edge factories, analysts said. For Altera, the deal would help it expand its business in the fast-growing data-center market -- and, depending on the final price, could be a boon to shareholders.

"It could be a win-win," said Ed Snyder, a financial analyst with Charter Equity Research.

The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg separately reported Friday that Intel is in talks to acquire Altera. It wasn't clear from the reports how much Intel would pay or how close the talks were to an actual deal. Altera is valued at $13.36 billion after seeing its shares rise 28 percent Friday amid news of the possible acquisition.

In response to inquires from this newspaper, representatives from both companies declined to comment.

But some analysts have been touting a potential deal between the two companies for years because they believed the chipmakers would work well together.

Altera designs field programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs, a kind of chip that can be programmed to perform a variety of functions and are typically used in conjunction with CPUs to speed up processes such as video compression or encryption. Intel doesn't make FPGA chips of its own but signed a deal in 2013 to start making high-end FPGAs for Altera.

By buying the company, Intel would be able to make not just those top-end chips but all the chips in Altera's line, most of which are currently manufactured by Intel rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, said Christopher Rolland, a financial analyst with FBR. Intel could also work to integrate Altera's FPGAs with its own CPUs on single chips, which could give it a leg up in producing processors for data centers, Rolland said.

Boosting its data center business would be an important way for Intel to diversify its business away from PC's, where demand has dropped.

Teaming up with Intel could benefit Altera as well, and not just because of the windfall that shareholders could see from the deal, analysts said.

The lion's share of Altera's sales come from chips used in cellphone towers and other telecommunications applications, but that area has seen inconsistent demand over the past several years. Sales plunged in 2012 and fell again in 2013 before recovering somewhat last year. And the market for cell towers is likely to start falling next year, said Tristan Gerra, a financial analyst with Robert W. Baird. By contrast, data centers represent a big opportunity for Altera's chips, and the company could gain from Intel's strong presence in the market, Gerra said.

Of course, how much either company would benefit from the deal will depend a lot on how much Intel pays for Altera and what kind of cost savings it can wring by acquiring it. If it pays too much or if there is too little in the way of cost savings, investors might see little return from the deal.

"The devil's in the details," said FBR's Rolland.

Intel in talks to buy Altera, shares of firms surge

Intel Corp is in talks to buy fellow chipmaker Altera Corp (ALTR.O) in a deal likely to top $10 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter, making it Intel's biggest purchase ever and the latest merger in the quickly consolidating semiconductor sector.

The acquisition of Altera, which makes programmable chips widely used in cellphone towers, the military and other industrial applications, would underscore Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich's determination to expand into new markets as the personal computer industry loses steam.

Though dominant in the market for chips used in PCs, the world's biggest chipmaker has been slower than its rivals to adjust in recent years to the growing popularity of smartphones.

Earlier this month, Intel slashed nearly $1 billion from its first-quarter revenue forecast to $12.8 billion, plus or minus $300 million, as small businesses put off upgrading their personal computers.

Shares of Altera shot up about 28 percent after the talks were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, closing at $44.39 per share on the Nasdaq. Intel shares also gained on the news, rising 6.4 percent to $32. Shares of Xilinx, Altera's main rival, closed up 6 percent.

"On the surface, Altera is one of the only semiconductor companies with better gross margins than Intel, and with about two-thirds of its revenue from telecom, wireless, military/aerospace, it definitely fits the bill of diversifying revenue beyond Intel's legacy computer markets," said Cowen & Co analyst Timothy Arcuri, in a note to clients.

Intel declined to comment on the report. An Altera spokesman also declined to comment.

Any deal for Altera, valued at $10.4 billion at Thursday's close and more than $13 billion after trading ended on Friday, would easily surpass Intel's previous biggest deal, its $7.7 billion purchase of security software maker McAfee in 2011.

Altera's value to Intel is its programmable chips, which are increasingly being used in data centers, where they are customized for specialized functions such as providing web-search results or updating social networks.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, has already been manufacturing chips on behalf of the smaller company since 2013, a major change for Intel, which traditionally has been unwilling to share its cutting-edge technology.

Demand for cheaper chips and new products to power Internet-connected gadgets is driving consolidation in the industry. Features such as WiFi or Bluetooth that once required chips sold by separate companies can now be squeezed onto single pieces of silicon.

Deals in the chip sector have been expected after NXP Semiconductors' (NXPI.O) $12 billion purchase of Freescale Semiconductor (FSL.N) was announced earlier this month.

Worldwide semiconductor M&A reached $31 billion last year, the most since 2011, Thomson Reuters data show. In the 12 months through March 2, 472 chip M&A deals were made worldwide, up from 383 in the previous year.

Unlike typical semiconductors, programmable chips made by Altera can be customized after they are manufactured to suit different purposes.

Cadence and Intel collaborate to release 14nm library characterization reference flow

Cadence Design Systems and Intel have delivered a 14nm library characterization reference flow for customers of Intel Custom Foundry, continuing their collaboration on enabling digital and custom/analog flows for the Intel 14nm platform, according to the companies. The library characterization reference flow is centered on the Cadence Virtuoso Liberate Characterization solution and Spectre Circuit Simulator and enables accurate 14nm logic libraries.

The reference flow for 14nm logic libraries enables the creation of Liberty libraries, AOCV de-rating tables, library validation and reliability views. The reference flow was developed using Virtuoso Liberate, Virtuoso Liberate LV, Virtuoso Variety characterization solutions and Spectre Circuit Simulator to deliver accurate logic libraries, including advanced timing models (ECSM, CCS), advanced noise models (ECSMN, CCSN), and advanced power models (ECSMP, CCSP). The reference flow enables Intel Custom Foundry customers to re-characterize the logic libraries for custom process, voltage or temperature corners or to characterize custom cells following a similar characterization methodology.

Intel Custom Foundry has developed an extensive design platform on Intel's 14nm Tri-gate process technology for systems-on-chip (SoCs) targeted at cloud infrastructure and mobile applications. Intel's 14nm platform is the second generation to use 3D Tri-gate transistors that enable chips to operate at lower voltage with lower leakage, providing an unprecedented combination of improved performance and energy efficiency compared to previous state-of-the-art transistors.

"Accurate logic libraries are required to enable our customers to implement and verify differentiated SoCs on Intel's 14nm design platform," said Ali Farhang, vice president, Design and Enablement Services, Intel Custom Foundry. "Intel Custom Foundry's 14nm characterization reference flow includes best characterization practices jointly developed by Intel Custom Foundry and Cadence and can accelerate the ramp-up time for customers who need to re-characterize libraries."

"Our collaboration with Intel on the 14nm library characterization reference flow follows the enablement of Cadence custom/analog tools on Intel Custom Foundry's 14nm design platform we announced last year," said Tom Beckley, senior VP, Custom IC & PCB Group at Cadence. "Our mutual customers can now leverage our best-in-class characterization solution and Intel's 14nm process to build differentiated products."

THIS IS HOW WINDOWS 10 LOOKS LIKE ON XIAOMI MI 4

One of the biggest announcement during the recently concluded Windows Hardware Engineering Community in China earlier this week is the collaboration between Microsoft and Xiaomi to test Windows 10 on Mi 4 smartphone. Under the program, a number of Mi 4 power users will have the opportunity to install Windows 10 Technical Preview for Phones into their devices.

As soon as the announcement was made official, images of Mi 4 running Windows 10 have started to appear online:

However, this doesn’t mean that Xiaomi is switching to Camp Windows. In a statement by Hugo Barra of Xiaomi’s Global division, the company is still fully committed to Android via its MIUI software platform. Furthermore, Hugo pointed out that the Windows 10 build that Microsoft is going to release for Mi 4 is a stand-alone operating system.

In another words, Windows 10 is not running on top of Android and will not turn Mi 4 into a dual-boot device. As you might have expected, users need to manually flash their Mi 4 with the Windows 10 ROM which will be released on MIUI Forums soon.

Unfortunately, the program will only be available in China and let’s not forget the fact that Xiaomi has no plan to release Mi 4 in Malaysia. That being said though, we doubt that going to stop any of you adventurous and curious users out there from getting a Mi 4 and test out Windows 10 on it.

China's Lenovo, Xiaomi to work on Windows phones

BEIJING: Microsoft said on Wednesday that it will partner Lenovo and Xiaomi to develop smart devices that runs the latest version of its Windows operating system. 

The US multinational announced an initiative to deepen cooperation with China's leading hardware and software makers to promote Windows 10 on computers, tablets and smartphones, during a two-day conference in the southern city of Shenzhen, Xinhua news agency reported. 

Windows 10 is slated for launch sometime this summer. 

Lenovo, one of China's largest smartphone makers and the parent company of Motorola Mobility, will launch Windows-based smartphones this summer, Tong Fuyao, general manager of Lenovo China, said. 

A separate statement from Microsoft on Wednesday said the Lenovo phone will be a contract device with China Mobile, the country's largest telecom operator. 

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, now the third largest in the world, will provide feedback to Microsoft based on a test run of the operating system on Xiaomi's flagship smartphone Mi4 later this year. 

Windows Phone accounts for a meager 0.4 percent market share in China in the 12 months ending September last year, compared with more than 90 percent share between Google's Android and Apple's iOS, according to consultancy Kantar Research. 

Microsoft's push to expand also faces challenges from Chinese players. NASDAQ-listed Alibaba announced in February an investment in smartphone maker Meizu to promote its own mobile operating system Yun OS. 

WINDOWS 10 CAN FREE UP TO 15GB OF STORAGE SPACE

Microsoft’s upcoming operating system, Windows 10, will boast several impressive storage-saving techniques. Depending on your PC, Windows 10 can free up to 15GB of storage space. This is accomplished with a better compression method and a redesigned refresh and reset functionality.

According to Microsoft, Windows 10 uses an “efficient compression algorithm to compress system files,” which can save 1.5GB to 2.6GB of storage space depending on your system. The company also mentioned that this compression will also be available on smartphones running on Windows 10.

The redesigned refresh and reset functionality is where the most storage space is freed. Usually, if users would like to restore their system back to a pristine state, a separate recovery image needs to be stored in the system – which is the case with previous iterations of the Windows operating system. This requirement is now removed in Windows 10, which can free up anywhere between 4GB to 12GB of storage space.

When both of these space-saving techniques are taken into consideration, devices running on Windows 10 can potentially have 15GB of extra storage space. However, as phones already have a storage-optimised recovery solution which do not have a recovery image to start with, they will not benefit as much from these.

If you would like to learn more about both of these features, you can read about it here. Windows 10 will be launching this summer in 190 countries.

(Source: Windows Blog via The Verge)

STAINGATE: ANNOYED APPLE MACBOOK USERS START CAMPAIGN OVER ANTI-REFLECTIVE COATING PEELING

A group of Apple users have begun a campaign against the quality of the anti-reflective coating found on MacBook displays. It would appear that the issue stems from the coating becoming scratched or peeling off after a certain amount of time. While the problem has been known since 2013, it was only recently that Apple users began to vent their frustration over the matter.

MacBooks sold between 2012 and today have been known to suffer from the anti-reflecting coating becoming damaged from a variety of reasons. Some has been the fault of the user as third party cleaning solutions or microfiber cloths were used, but an even larger portion of damage was caused simply by pressure from the keys and trackpad while the display is closed.

What really annoys these Apple fans is that while the one year warranty covers them for replacements, the issue keeps appearing even after the device is replaced. Those that suffer the damage after their warranties have ended were left paying hundreds of American dollars for repairs.

While the complaints had originally taken place over Apple Support Communities andFacebook, an unofficial website has appeared for affected users to upload pictures of their damaged machines. The movement is asking Apple for a free repair programme to correct the problem when it appears, although to be fair, it is unlikely that Apple will be moved over the few hundred users who have uploaded their stories.

[Source: Mac Rumors]