Intel To Rename Next Atom CPUs, Will Be Called x3, x5 And x7

The Intel Atom CPUs are an integral part of the Windows 10 puzzle. Maybe even the most integral. These low cost chips can now be found on all manner of Windows hardware.

From budget tablets to highly affordable multimedia computers that are perfect for home theater use.

In fact, after wandering in the hardware wilderness, these processors have finally found success in the past couple of years. The Intel Bay Trail platform, in particular, brought these delightful chips to the mainstream.

But despite being a hit with hardware vendors and consumers alike, the Atom line is still confusing. Good thing, then, that the chip maker intends to change the entire naming scheme.

According to this report, Intel aims to rename and brand its upcoming Atom processors similar to how the Core series — which is essentially dividing them into Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 so as not to cause any confusion amongst buyers.

The Atom line has so many different series and naming schemes that it gets almost impossible to determine which chip is better than the other.

Hence, the Atom collection will soon be divided into the x3, x5 and x7 brands.

The Atom x3 chips are set to take position in the low end (tablets and smartphones), the Atom x5 midrange (laptops, tablets and 2-in-1 devices), and finally the flagship Atom x7 chips for more premium hardware (PCs and mobile) this year.

Welcome change, and just in the nick of time.

The next generation Intel Atom processors are set to be unveiled in March at the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2015) trade show. In a week, then.

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Samsung Smartphone Market Share Crumbles To 10%

Things seem to be going from bad to worse for the South Korean giant. Samsung smartphone market share for Q4 2014 has tumbled to the lows of just 10%. Incredible, yet, expected.

Which means that the company’s smartphone dominion is almost over.

Which also means that Samsung might have no choice but to launch a few Windows Phones to test out the waters. The company already hinted recently that it may release a handset or two powered by Windows 10 for Phones.

But as this report indicates, with mobile shipment data from Strategy Analytics, Samsung’s global smartphone market share hit these rock bottom figures.

Just a quarter, but it is perhaps the most important three months period of a year.

And then there is this talk from Reuters that Samsung is looking to freeze wages on home turf in South Korea for the first time in six year. Not confirmed by the company, but given the fact that its mobile division has experienced a descent of 60%, this may well be accurate.

Not to say that the company cannot stage a comeback from here.

But if Microsoft can deliver with Windows 10 for Phones, Samsung might not want to be left out of Windows Phone party, if it can find profits there — no one likes to leave money on the tablet, surely not a company that is under attack from all quarters in the mobile world.

This year could be interesting.

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Samsung Galaxy S6 Comes Preloaded With 3 Microsoft Apps

It’s that time of the year again! With MWC 2015 about to kick off, Android manufactures are about to unleash new hardware, with the Samsung Galaxy S6 being one of the more anticipated ones.

The smartphone has been in all kinds of news and leaks.

But one interesting report claims that the handset will not feature any bloatware from Samsung. If anything, it appears that Samsung has inked an agreement with Microsoft to bring their apps and services on the Galaxy S6.

Sure a bunch of S Apps will be included on the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge.

And these devices will come with packed with all the usual Google applications — as most Android powered handsets do.

However, the source reveals that Redmond will have three apps preinstalled on the phone, and these include popular choices like OneDrive, OneNote and Skype. These are set to be grouped together in a folder called Microsoft Apps.

Samsung and Microsoft have not been on the best of terms recently, with the Korean company very much pulling out of the Windows ecosystem, both on the PCs and mobile.

In fact, both were involved in a legal spat, which was settled earlier this month.

This added exposure, however, will be good for Microsoft, and bring its mobile solutions to the forefront, particularly OneDrive and OneNote.

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Windows App Studio Updated With Several New Features

Microsoft developed the Windows App Studio to tackle the app situation on modern Windows platforms head on. This web based system allows anyone to easily create their applications.

Applications that work on both Windows and Windows Phone.

Over the past few months, Redmond has refined the service, and people with limited programming and coding experience have crafted their apps using it. Today, the company has refreshed the popular tool with a lot of new features.

One of the most requested of changes is finally in — the Logo and Image Wizard makes it possible to upload images (in JPEG and PNG formats), which can be automatically loaded into the icons, tiles and splash screens of a given application.

They can also be cropped and zoomed from within.

Additionally the connectors for Facebook and YouTube have been updated to use the latest API.

Previous features have also been enhanced. These include the simulator, improved screenshots, a fully responsive Home Page, improved HowTo formatting for easier and more intuitive navigation, along with notable increase in the overall performance of the tool.

This update also brings eight new theme templates that are fully customizable. Redmond makes it a point to mention that this is another highly requested feature from users.

Speaking of users, some 2.5 million have already registered for, and are using, the tool.

You can take it for a spin here on the Windows App Studio Beta website.

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Lenovo’s Official Statement about the Superfish Incident; List of impacted systems

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There is no doubt over the last 24 hours or so you have heard and read a lot about this entire Superfish malware incident with Lenovo.

Also read: My Take on Lenovo, OEMS and Junkware on new computers and Microsoft vs. SuperFish here at the SuperSite for Windows.

Lenovo has released a few different statements over that same period of time plus they have been active on social media eventually taking ownership of the poor decisions that were made. In addition, they have promised to move the discussion forward within the industry relating to what is pre-installed on consumer computers.

Of course, as a couple of commenters have said on our site and social media, Lenovo’s actions will speak louder than any apology they offer.

The following is an official statement from Lenovo about the incident and wraps all the different sources up into one bundle.

At Lenovo, we make every effort to provide a great user experience for our customers. We know that millions of people rely on our devices every day, and it is our responsibility to deliver quality, reliability, innovation and security to each and every customer. In our effort to enhance our user experience, we pre-installed a piece of third-party software, Superfish (based in Palo Alto, CA), on some of our consumer notebooks.

We thought the product would enhance the shopping experience, as intended by Superfish. It did not meet our expectations or those of our customers. In reality, we had customer complaints about the software. We acted swiftly and decisively once these concerns began to be raised. We apologize for causing any concern to any users for any reason – and we are always trying to learn from experience and improve what we do and how we do it. Superfish technology does not profile nor monitor user behavior. It does not record user information. It does not know who the user is. Users are not tracked nor re-targeted. Every session is independent. Users are given a choice whether or not to use the product.

We stopped the preloads beginning in January. We shut down the server connections that enable the software (also in January, and we are providing online resources to help users remove this software. Finally, we are working directly with Superfish and with other industry partners to ensure we address any possible security issues now and in the future. Detailed information on these activities and tools for software removal are available here:






http://ift.tt/1EbkvOY



http://ift.tt/1EbBD72







To be clear: Lenovo never installed this software on any ThinkPad notebooks, nor any Lenovo desktops or smartphones. This software has never been installed on any enterprise product — servers or storage — and these products are in no way impacted. And, Superfish is no longer being installed on any Lenovo device. In addition, we are going to spend the next few weeks digging in on this issue, learning what we can do better. We will talk with partners, industry experts and our users. We will get their feedback. By the end of this month, we will announce a plan to help lead Lenovo and our industry forward with deeper knowledge, more understanding and even greater focus on issues surrounding adware, pre-installs and security. We are eager to be held accountable for our products, your experience and the results of this new effort.

I am disappointed there is not anything in this statement about the certificate which was installed and allowed Superfish to monitor secure sessions on the computer. That by-passing of security with a bad certificate is a major concern in this situation.

Lastly, just in case you wanted to see if a Lenovo product you purchased may have been affected we have been provided this list by Lenovo:

G Series: G410, G510, G710, G40-70, G50-70, G40-30, G50-30, G40-45, G50-45



U Series: U330P, U430P, U330Touch, U430Touch, U530Touch



Y Series: Y430P, Y40-70, Y50-70



Z Series: Z40-75, Z50-75, Z40-70, Z50-70



S Series: S310, S410, S40-70, S415, S415Touch, S20-30, S20-30Touch



Flex Series: Flex2 14D, Flex2 15D, Flex2 14, Flex2 15, Flex2 14(BTM), Flex2 15(BTM), Flex 10



MIIX Series: MIIX2-8, MIIX2-10, MIIX2-11



YOGA Series: YOGA2Pro-13, YOGA2-13, YOGA2-11BTM, YOGA2-11HSW



E Series: E10-30

Now that you have another read on Lenovo’s official stand does it change what grade would you give Lenovo's response to the Superfish situation?

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Dropbox App on Windows Phone receives a timely update

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Timing is everything.

On Thursday Rod wrote about Microsoft extending 100GB of OneDrive storage to verified users of Dropbox as a gift for signing up and installing OneDrive on their devices/systems.

I was even able to get this 100GB of additional storage, which is only valid for a year, for my OneDrive account by signing up for Dropbox and then validating that brand new account.

Well this offer of storage was sent out by Microsoft on Thursday and then Friday morning Dropbox released a big update to their Windows Phone app. Coincidence or coordination?

Maybe is it just good timing but the update to the Dropbox app is a solid one plus getting 100GB of additional cloud storage on OneDrive is never a bad thing is it?

So go ahead and install the Dropbox app on your Windows Phone, sign up for a new account and the free 2GB of storage they offer then grab some bonus OneDrive storage and see the benefits of having additional storage which is accessible wherever you might be.

Let’s take a look at the updated Dropbox app – first the new features:

- Ability to create, access and manage shared folders directly in the app including unshare the folder and editing folder members.



– Shared folders can now be pinned to your Windows Phone Start Screen for quick access



– Improved non-English language support

Of course they also mentioned the ubiquitous fixed our most common bugs.

The app itself has a very clean and intuitive interface which is easy to navigate and adheres to the Windows Phone app design principles we are used to including tap/hold for context menus and pivots to swipe between pages of the app.

Dropbox Main Page

Dropbox Settings Page

Dropbox Context Menu

Dropbox Camera Uploads Folder

Dropbox Create Folder Menu

Dropbox Share Menu

Trivia: Did you know that this app is developed and maintained by the very well known Windows Phone developer Rudy Huhn?

Download Dropbox for Windows Phone (Version 1.1)

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Windows Apps Weekly for 22 February 2015 – Nextgen Reader

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This week’s featured app is another universal app that is on both Windows and Windows Phone and for me is the center of all the sharing of links and news that I do each day.

In July 2013, when Google shut down their Google Reader service, I decided to move all of my RSS feeds over to one of the new substitutes that popped up in Reader’s place – Feedly.

Feedly had a solid web based interface and was very flexible but I really wanted to have that service available in an app on my platforms. Luckily, Feedly soon opened up a program that gave app developers early access to an upcoming API and one of the apps that got that access for Windows/Windows Phone was Nextgen Reader.

The developer of Nextgen Reader, Gaurav Kalra, actually built the app for himself initially as he shared when he was recently profiled on the Lumia Conversations blog about his experience developing for the Windows platform. I am glad he shared his work!

Nextgen Reader allows you to share items from your Feedly RSS feeds to all the popular social media sites as well as OneNote and email. For me the OneNote sharing is how I collect items together for my weekly Observed Tech podcast and since it is set as my favorite tool I can do that sharing with one button click.

Download Nextgen Reader App for Windows

Download Nextgen Reader for Windows Phone

But, wait…there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.

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