LG has revealed more details about its range of televisions for 2013, ahead of CES. Adding to the announcement of Google TV-enabled screens the company has already shown, it has also opted to give more information on features the HDTVs will have, including NFC, Miracast, WiDi, and a new recommendation function.
Intel in a quick blurb has said it would expand Wireless Display (WiDi) soon, most likely at CES. Along with computers and TV adapters, it was also coming to game consoles, projectors, fully integrated TVs, and "other devices." Several chip designers were involved, such as Cavium, Mstar Semiconductor, Sigma Designs, Realtek, and Wondermedia.
LG Electronics and Intel on Thursday revealed they have partnered up to bring Intel's Wireless Display (WiDi) technology to LG's Cinema 3D Smart TVs. When the TV sets launch next year, they will be the first to have WiDi embedded inside. It will allow users to wirelessly stream high-definition content from their notebooks and other portable devices onto their TVs.
Dell chose Thursday to remake its most important small notebooks. The 14-inch Inspiron 14z and 13.3-inch Inspiron 13z together slim down compared to Dell's usual and measure just slightly under an inch thick. Some of the size reduction comes from a move to higher-quality parts: they now use aluminum lids and palm rests instead of the plastic common to many notebooks in their class.
Belkin appears to be preparing to launch its ScreenCast WiDi adapter, which has already appeared on the company's website. The device allows users to wirelessly stream Blu-ray movies, web-based content in HD quality, audio content such as Pandora, and other audio or video feeds from a supported notebook to an HDTV or other display.
Intel's Sean Maloney opened Computex in earnest with a keynote hoping to redefine the ultraportable notebook class. Now calling them "ultrabooks," Intel saw them as systems that were under 0.8 inches thick but could still start under $1,000. The category included systems like the ASUS UX21 and, by extension, the MacBook Air.
LG kicked off its turn at Computex with a new all-in-one specially designed with the help of Intel. The V300 is the Korean company's first all-in-one PC and borrows a design cue from the iMac but uses LG's expertise in displays. The 23-inch, 1080p panel brings passive glasses 3D that keeps the cost down but also supports multi-touch and uses a color-accurate IPS screen much like on its Apple equivalents.
Intel has updated its Wireless Display 2.0 (WiDi 2.0) standard this week to support wireless streaming playback of HDCP copy-protected content. This includes Intel Insider, DVD and Blu-ray movies at up to 1080p. Users with the latest Sandy Bridge-era Core processors can update their HD Graphics drivers to see the change.
Sony has begun offering customers the option of custom VAIO S notebooks from its website. The four-pound, 13.3-inch computers can now be configured with up to a 256GB SSD, as much as 8GB of RAM and a 2.66GHz Core i5. Also on offer is a backlit keyboard, a Blu-ray drive, Windows 7 Professional and 512MB NVIDIA GeForce graphics.
iWork '11 and possibly the mobile suite may have a way of sending Keynote presentations out to the Apple TV, an e-mail message reputedly from Steve Jobs said this weekend. A fan asking if he could send Keynote presentations to the media hub from an iOS device or a Mac was told that it could all be released in the near future. "It's all coming soon," Jobs said in the message obtained by TUAW. "Stay tuned."
Dell today overhauled its high-end notebooks on Thursday with an entirely new XPS line. The systems are all more refined with aluminum lids and palmrests, and they now carry JBL 2.1-channel speakers as well as the first webcams officially greenlit by Skype. NVIDIA's Optimus live graphics switching and 3DTV Play over HDMI are both core features, and certain models support Intel's WiDi (Wireless Display) to push video without cables.
A newly escaped Intel roadmap has confirmed that the chip designer is planning a sweeping upgrade to its notebook processors in the fall beyond what has been seen so far. Along with the 2.66GHz Core i5 580M, Intel would upgrade the higher end of its dual-core chips with a 2.8GHz Core i7 640M. The replacement for the 2.66GHz i7 620M would Turbo Boost to 3.46GHz and still use the same 35W of power, rendering it a drop-in upgrade for thin notebooks such as the MacBook Pro.
