Saturday, May 25, 2013

Apple : Intel's power-saving Haswell chips to boost laptop battery life by 50 per cent

Apple : Intel's power-saving Haswell chips to boost laptop battery life by 50 per cent


Intel's power-saving Haswell chips to boost laptop battery life by 50 per cent

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Intel's power-saving Haswell chips to boost laptop battery life by 50 per cent

Apple MacBooks and Windows laptops with Intel's new Haswell chips will benefit from a 50 per cent boost in battery life, the company has claimed.

The new generation of processors, which will focus on lowering power consumption without compromising on performance, are set to be officially unveiled at next month's Computex show in Taipei.

According to Rani Borkar, corporate VP and GM of the Intel Architecture Group, the Haswell processors will offer a huge improvement over the current-gen Ivy Bridge chips when it comes to battery longevity.

In a media briefing, reported by ComputerWorld, Borkar said that in standby or idle mode, the chips will be up to 20 times more efficient. Impressive stuff.

MacBooks first in line?

The improvements are hugely important to Intel's manufacturing partners and consumers who're searching for that holy grail of all-day battery life from a laptop.

Apple's MacBook range may be among the first products to benefit from Intel's new chips.

Reports earlier this month suggested that new MacBook Pro laptops, featuring Haswell processors would be launched at WWDC on June 10.

iOS 7 leak reportedly paints picture of flat, monochromatic redesign

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iOS 7 leak reportedly paints picture of flat, monochromatic redesign

We first learned Apple was going to great lengths to give iOS 7 designer Jonathan Ive the time necessary to complete his overhaul of the operating system earlier this May.

The new iOS 7 is still believed to be on track for a debut at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference in June, and is expected to be used in the next iPhone later this year.

With WWDC 2013 just a few weeks away, it appears iOS 7 has found its way out into the wild, as sources have given loads of details on the "flat" redesign to 9to5Mac.

Longtime iPhone users may be in for a bit of a surprise, as the leak suggests iOS 7 will be a complete overhaul, and will replace the vibrant look and feel of the phone with a more minimalist, monochromatic approach.

Sleek and simple

The first major change indicated by the sources was a distinct lack of skeuomorphic style, as the fake textures and effects you're so used to seeing will be swapped out with a more basic design sense.

Everything starts with a new Lock screen, where the glossy image and clock have been replaced by a stark black screen with supposed improved gesture controls.

Even the security code pad has been altered, and instead of the familiar overlay, a new interface with round, black keys with white text has emerged.

As an added bonus, new panoramic wallpapers will be a part of the package, and will show different parts of an image on new pages.

Android users have been able to set such wallpapers for a long while, but this gives all those panorama photo takers on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 a place to display the widescreen memories they've captured.

By merely removing the false shadows and sheen of the standard Home screen, iOS 7 appears to be flatter, though this is part of Ive's concept to deliver an operating system that matches the physical form of the iPhone.

It will be almost immediately apparent just how different everything looks as base apps like Calendar, Camera, Game Center and Safari will be pared down quite a bit from their current incarnations.

App-solutely different

Apps won't only change in their outward appearance, as Ive has also spearheaded the revamp of the programs when opened as well.

Inside, apps like Mail and Messages will feature more uniform looks, with each individual app getting its own signature color highlights to emphasize the white background they will all reportedly share.

Weather will also see a similar re-working, but may also get some minor animated touches for different situations, be it rainy or sunny.

The various storefronts (iTunes, iBook and App) will all be re-washed in a brighter white, rather than the black they have become synonymous with, and Newstand is also believed to be dropping the wood grain, too.

iPhone users who frequently FaceTime should be glad to hear a separate button for the feature will be added, as it was for the iPad and iPod Touch.

Potent Notables

With all the other changes coming, it should be no surprise the Notification tab will also undergo significant retooling.

White text will again star on a dark grey and black pull-down menu, which will no longer feature the linen texture.

You can already get weather, stock and sports information, but Apple is also tweaking Notifications to also include local news, while some other widgets are still being tested.

Most importantly though, a new panel is expected to be included which will feature easy access to Airplane, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles.

Having those not buried under the Settings app should go a long way in making the iPhone even more intuitive for new and long-time users.

All of these major changes fall in line with rumors we've heard before, but we won't have long to wait for WWDC 2013 to see just how Jony Ive has revitalized iOS for a new generation of users.

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