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    Linux 3.7 released, bringing generic ARM support with it

    Good news for Linux users—Linux creator Linus Torvalds has announced that the newest version of the Linux kernel, Linux 3.7, will provide generic support for multiple ARM CPU architectures, reducing the amount of effort required to get Linux-based operating systems running on phones, tablets, and ARM-licensed developer boards.

    “In this release, the Linux ARM implementation has added multi-platform support—the ability to build a single ARM kernel image that is able to boot multiple hardware. This will make much easier for distributors to support ARM platforms,” said Kernel Newbies.

    “After an extra rc release, 3.7 is now out. After a few more trials at fixing things, in the end we ended up reverting the kswapd changes that caused problems. And with the extra rc, I had decided to risk doing the buffer.c cleanups that would otherwise have just been marked for stable during the next merge window, and had enough time to fix a few problems that people found there too,” Torvalds said to those on the Linux Kernel Mailing List.

    The current release’s list of supported ARM architectures focuses overwhelmingly on server-oriented products, although Linux 3.7 is laying down the groundwork for support with consumer products that also use ARM CPUs, such as Android-based smartphones and tablets, which tend to be a few kernel updates behind. This is the first step toward making ARM support more like x86 support—it may soon be possible to install operating systems on ARM-powered devices without the messy work of the current architecture-specific porting process.

    Another notable addition to Linux 3.7 is 64-bit support for the newest ARM CPU model. “The newest ARM CPU model, ARM v8, adds 64-bit memory addressing capabilities for first time for the ARM world. The new 64-bit CPUs can run 32-bit code, but the 64-bit instruction set is completely new, not just 64-bit extensions to the 32-bit instruction set, so the Linux support has been implemented as a completely new architecture,” Kernel Newbies also says.

    Lenovo outs ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch

    Because of all the Windows 8 releases lately, it’s not entirely out of the question that some manufacturers update products that were launched before touchy-feely OS became officially available. Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbonis one of these products, and the manufacturer has given us a heads-up that they’ve released a refreshed version of the 14-inch notebook with a touch-sensitive display. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch still sports a tough, carbon fiber chassis, and still possesses all the things that made the original stand out from other enterprise machines. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch will come with either an Intel Core i5 and i7 processor. It still won’t be cheap – expect the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch to start at $1,499 (about Php 61369) for the basic version, and the price will only go up from there.

    Globe unveils first-of-its-kind mobile phone protection program

    In partnership with leading global insurance provider Ace Insurance, Globe launched Globe Gadget Care, the complete mobile protection program exclusive to Globe postpaid subscribers. Globe Gadget Care will protect subscribers against phone theft, damage, and outstanding postpaid balance. Globe Gadget Care is free for the first month and Php 89 a month afterward for new subscribers, those who are renewing their contract, and those who are purchasing brand new devices.

    Those who are currently under contract and do not have brand new devices, or those whose devices are not issued by Globe can also avail of Globe Gadget Care for Php 199 a month. On top of mobile protection coverage, Globe Gadget Care also guarantees hassle-free handset replacement, easy claims processing, and worldwide protection coverage for all postpaid subscribers.

    “At Globe, we understand how important mobile phones are nowadays. It is an essential tool to connect with people who matter most, so launching Globe Gadget Care is very timely and relevant, especially at the height of the upcoming holiday season where phone robberies are more rampant,” said Martha Sazon, Head of Globe Postpaid. “With Globe Gadget Care, subscribers get the complete mobile phone protection, so they don’t have to worry about losing their handsets due to unforeseen circumstances or accidents, giving them another superior experience just by being Globe-connected.”

    For more information on Globe Gadget Care, you can call Globe Gadget Care at (02) 756-5400, visit http://www.globe.com.ph/gadgetcare or go to any Globe store nationwide.

    We’re giving away more free stuff! Clicky here!

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    Who doesn’t like free stuff? “Tis the season for giving and we have nice premium items from Stabilo up for grabs!

    Tell us why you want to win Stabilo Boss Holiday Treat by answering this simple question:

    “I love Stabilo because  _________________.”

    Here are the rules:

    • Participants must like Stabilo Philippines’ FB Page www.facebook.com/stabilophilippines and Gadgets Magazine FB Pagewww.facebook.com/gadgetsmagazine to be eligible to win.
    • Post your entry to your wall on Facebook and make a status message — don’t forget to Tag Stabilo Philippines and Gadgets Magazine. Example: Hi @Gadgets Magazine! I love @StabiloPhilippines because ___________________.
    • Limited to one entry per person ONLY.
    • The best answer to “Why I love Stabilo” wins the prize!
    • Entries without the TAGS of Stabilo Philippines and Gadgets Magazine will be disqualified.
    • Entries with foul or offensive statements shall automatically be disqualified.
    • The Winners will be announced at the Gadgets Magazine website on December 17 2012.
    • (10) Ten lucky winners will receive a Stabilo Boss Original Pack and a Stabilo Mini USB from Stabilo Philippines and Gadgets Magazine.

    Sony details Xperia mobile accessories, throws in discounts for Xperia buyers

    Aside from selling Android-powered Xperia smartphones, Sony has also been pretty active in the mobile accessory space. We sat down with Mr. Patrick Larraga, Head of Mobile Business for Sony Philippines and other Sony execs earlier today to talk about a few of their mobile Xperia accessories, namely the Sony SmartTags, SmartWatch and the Smart Wireless Headset Pro. 

    The Sony SmartWatch isn’t particularly new, but it’s still a pretty cool gadget to have nonetheless. It’s basically a small display that you pair with your Android device that allows you to monitor and control your device. You can remotely check your email, SMS messages, missed calls and even use the watch as a remote viewfinder for your Android device if you’re into that kind of thing.

    The Sony Smart Wireless Headset Pro does exactly what it says – it links with your smartphone and allows you to listen to the music on your smartphone wirelessly. Don’t want to link it to your Android device? No problem – it’ll work as a stand-alone music player without any issues. You can also read text messages on the small LCD display, and gives you access to the people in your call list without taking out your phone.

    The Sony SmartTags are simple NFC tags that can be customized depending on your needs. For example, you can set one up in your car to turn on your data, GPS and Google Maps when you tap on it with your NFC enabled smartphone. You can set another one up in your office so that you can just tap on it so your phone will go on silent/loud and connect to your corporate WiFi connection. These are just simple examples – we’re sure a lot of users will be able to figure out other uses for it.

    Sony will be giving Xperia smartphone buyers Php 500 off for the Smart Wireless Headset Pro and the SmartWatch, provided that they buy a qulified Xperia smartphone, which includes the Xperia ion, Xperia P, Xperia sola, Xperia U and Xperia J. The Smart Wireless Headset Pro and the SmartWatch retails for Php 5,990, while the SmartTags  will retail for Php 790 for a pack of 4.

     

    And we have a winner!

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    We were buried under the number of entries for our last contest, but lady luck (through a random drawing) finally picked a winner for y’all. 1 awesome Manli GeForce GT620 is going to Teodosia Aparece while the Manli GeForce GT630 is going to Regel Arreola! Congratulations to both winners! Please send us a private message in our Facebook account (www.facebook.com/gadgetsmagazine) to coordinate pickup. Congratulations and Merry Christmas to the winners!

     

    Our Camera Issue will show you how to capture your holiday celebrations!

    It’s important to keep tabs on special moments, especially now that the holidays are just around the corner. This month, we’ll show you how to capture your memorable Yuletide celebrations in our Camera Issue.

    Looking for a snazzy Christmas present for yourself or for your loved ones? Fret not. Our Wishlist section from last month makes a comeback with more gift options for the tech-savvy. Get a load of the Canon’s newest digital cameras in our Parade section, including the newly released EOS M. Leading the pack in our GadgetsLab is Nikon’s newest addition to its line of interchangeable lens cameras, the 1 J2.

    We also have an interesting treat for those of you who can’t decide on what point-and-shoot brand and model to get for Christmas—the results of a long-term study and review of different camera models from Canon, Nikon, Polaroid, Samsung, Panasonic, Sony and GE!

    Learn how to shoot for different occasions, such as concerts and family gatherings, in our Cover Story: Ready, Aim, Shoot! Canon Crusader of Light Dino Lara also gives us tips on what to remember in shooting extra-special events like weddings.

    Other features include HTC’s newest Windows Phone 8 smartphones, the different Windows 8 machines, pop artist JP Cuison, www.ArtisteConnect.com, the AFAD gun show and our review of Assassin’s Creed 3.

    Model-actress Sam Pinto, who, herself, is no stranger to the camera, graces our year-ender’s cover.

    Our Camera Issue is now out! Grab your copy at your leading bookstores.

    Canon wraps 2012 PhotoMarathon Manila leg with 2,300 participants

    The Manila leg of Canon’s 2012 PhotoMarathon competition drew to a close last Saturday with a record-breaking number of 2,300 participants shooting in the streets of Intramuros, Manila.

    “This has by far the greatest attendance among all our PhotoMarathons from the past seven years,” said Alan Chng, president and CEO of Canon Marketing Philippines. “This is the perfect year-end occasion to thank those who have supported Canon and continuously strengthened the photography community.”

    Last year’s Manila leg consisted of around 2,000 participants, while the Luzon and Visayas legs of 2012 were able to gather over 200 and 100 participants, respectively.

    This year, 2,500 participants from the point-and-shoot, DSLR, and camcorder categories took on the challenge of shooting the best scenes or subjects within a given theme and time limit.

    The Canon Crusaders of Light judged the entries.  The winners of each category were awarded with top-of-the-line Canon gadgets and accessories.

    Canon PhotoMarathon 2012 is co-presented with Aperture Trading, Benro tripods, Cebu Pacific Air, Columbia Sportswear, DELL, Echo Store, Gatorade, Intel, and Mang Inasal.The event’s major sponsors are Black Rapid, Datacolor Spyder 4, FPPF, JT Photoworld, Petron, Selecta Magnum, Selecta Overload, Spider Holster, Tenba, Thinktank, Transcend, Xfinity, Zesto Fruitsoda and Zesto Slice. Media partners include BusinessMirror, Digital Photographer Philippines (DPP), HWM, iMag and Manila Bulletin Picture Perfect.

    Globe announces Huawei Ascend P1 LTE as its first ever LTE handset

    Globe’s made good on their promise to out an LTE device on their network. The local telco has chosen the LTE version of the Huawei Ascend P1 as the first ever device on their LTE network.The Huawei Ascend P1 LTE is available for free at Globe Unli Surf 1799 with unlimited data, along with a  Php 800 monthly consumable for calls and texts, and three call and text freebies that can be changed monthly.

    Globe will also be offering a lower postpaid plan for the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE, under  Unli Surf 999 at P500 cashout for 24 months. Prepaid kit is also available at P21,000. We’re not exactly sure who Globe is targeting with the pre-paid LTE kit for the P1, but we’re assuming that they’re trying to get early adopters of their LTE service to buy the LTE phone to stick their LTE SIMs inside instead of the USB dongle that was initially offered. The  Huawei Ascend P1 LTE has a 1.5GH dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Capacitive Multi-Touch Screen, Android ICS with 8 megapixel camera, WiFi, and BlueTooth.

     

    Gabe Newell says Valve will release its own console-like PC for the living room

    We reported back in September that the so-called “Steam Box” was going to enter development because of a job posting on Valve’s website. Valve is notorious for their noncommittal stances on product releases, but CEO Gabe Newell has confirmed that he wanted to bring the PC right to your living room via a brief interview with Kotaku as early as next year.

    “The reaction to Steam’s TV-friendly Big Picture interface has been stronger than expected,” Newell said. He expects to get Big Picture, a Steam application that allows you to play Steam games on your TV, onto Steam for Linux once it gets out of beta testing, which would give Valve more flexibility when developing their own hardware. He also expects companies to start selling PC packages for living rooms next year—setups that could consist of computers designed to be hooked up to your TV and run Steam right out of the gate, and thus allow it to compete directly with Sony and Microsoft in the console arena.

    “I think in general that most customers and most developers are going to find that [the PC is] a better environment for them,” Newell said. “They won’t have to split the world into thinking about ‘why are my friends in the living room, why are my video sources in the living room different from everyone else?’ So in a sense we hopefully are going to unify those environments.”

    Newell said he’s expecting a lot of different companies to release these types of packages—”We’ll do it but we also think other people will as well,” he said, and added that Valve’s hardware might not be as open-source or as malleable as your average computer. A similar attempt was done by the 3DO Company in the 1990s, where multiple manufacturers released their versions of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. These manufacturers included Goldstar, Panasonic and Sanyo (Japan only), and although cutting-edge in technology, the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer was a commercial and critical failure by the time it left the market by the end of 1996.

    “Well, certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment,” Newell said. “If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that’s what some people are really going to want for their living room. The nice thing about a PC is a lot of different people can try out different solutions, and customers can find the ones that work best for them.”

    On the software front, Newell didn’t really give any specifics other than saying that they’re working on their next generation engine, which will also work on next generation consoles. “Hopefully that’s going to give us some interesting opportunities on the game side,” he said.

    Dell Launches their latest Windows 8 Machines

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    The era of the touch interface is well and truly upon us. Since Microsoft’s Windows 8 launch just over a month ago, various manufacturers have released devices that come with the new OS right out of the box. This means a huge windfall for those who are into the PC environment, and a new set of devices to want this season. Not one to be left behind, Dell has just officially launched a few new Windows 8 machines to make sure you and your home or small business get with the times.

    At the top of the list is Dell’s entry into the tablet market, the Latitude 10. This 10-inch tablet gives great media-consumption capabilities, as well as the full Wondows 8 experience. On top of being a great tablet that runs the latest version of Windows, you also get a tablet that can fit nicely into the security structure of your business. You even get a swappable battery, and extra options such as Dell Data Protection and Encryption, as well as a user-swappable battery, for those times you need just a little more juice. The Latitude 10 retails for 768 USD.

    Dell also launched a new ultrabook in the Latitude 6430u. This puts security, mobility and beauty in a single form. Dell also makes sure this latitude is more than capable as living life as an office-issued laptop. It’s the most durable of the current lineup, having gone through much more of the US’s MIL-STD 810G tests than any other device in its class. It also comes with enough juice to be useful for 10 hours straight, making it the perfect companion for  anyone who likes to get work done while on the go. The 6430u is available starting at USD 1,508.

    Can’t choose between a tablet and a full laptop? Dell has you covered with the XPS 12. It’s a convertible that jumps from content-creation to media consumption at a swivel of the screen. It opens up like any regular notebook, but once the reports are done, and you want to kick back and watch a movie or just browse the Internet, flip the screen over, and you’ve got yourself a tablet. The vibrant Full HD display provides 90 percent more pixels than a standard HD display for an exceptionally crisp reading and viewing experience, and when in tablet mode, the keys are kept safely tucked away underneath the back of the screen. The XPS12 starts at PHP 65,990.

    If you need a machine that gives you a full desktop experience, plus the convenience of a touch screen, the Dell OptiPlex 9010 all-in-one is the machine to consider. It’s got a slim footprint, so you still get the most of your desk space. It also gives users a multi-point touch screen, a fixed or rotating camera and an articulated stand for easy viewing, no matter where you might want to be seated. Dell’s AIO PC is yours at PHP48,885.

    LG reports 10 million satisfied L-style owners worldwide

    LG has reached a sales milestone of sorts – the Korean company is reporting that there are now at least 10-million satisfied owners of L-style devices all over the world. These L-series of handsets include the Optimus L3 (3.2-inch display), Optimus L5 (4.0-inch display), Optimus L7 (4.3-inch display) and the Optimus L9 (4.7-inch display). “This milestone demonstrates the importance of delivering smartphones with stylish design, comparative size of display and enhanced UX features,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company. “Whereas other manufacturers are putting all their eggs into a one-size-fits-all phone, our strategy is to develop mobile products for all types of customers according to their individual needs and lifestyles.” The sales milestone is nowhere near as huge as Samsung’s record mobile sales, but at least LG is heading in the right direction.

    Ford Philippines Reports November as Second Best-ever Month

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    Sales for Ford vehicles hit record numbers last month as best ever sales for the Ford Ranger drove Ford Philippines’ sales numbers to their second-best ever. Overall retail sales for all units rose a remarkable 46%, hot on the heels of their best-ever performance figures posted for October. Leading the pack was the all-new Ford Ranger, with 344 sales that month. In second place was the All-new Ford Explorer with 107 units sold. Records continue to be broken for the company right as they continue to expand their dealer network locally, with more and more branches opening up every month.

     

    “Exceptional customer response to our newly launched One Ford vehicles like the all-new Ranger is helping drive record sales,” said Randy Krieger, president, Ford Group Philippines. “By offering customers the widest range of Ford vehicles ever in the Philippines, our brand is connecting with, and appealing to, a much wider variety of lives and lifestyles.”

    November also saw the ford fiesta on top as the best-selling five-door hatchback in the small car segment, while the Mustang continues to exceed expectations with 37 units sold in the same month. This brings the total number of delivered Mustangs to 103 in just 3 months of availability.

    It’s official: no more Instagram pictures will appear in Twitter

    Last week Twitter announced that users were having issues seeing Instagram pictures because Instagram has disabled photo integration with Twitter. This time around, Instagram has completely turned off support for displaying photos on Twitter. While users will no longer see Instagram pictures on Twitter, followers will still be able to see the URL link that’ll direct them to the picture. This information was first reported by AllThingsD from a Facebook source, but Twitter has confirmed it on their blog.

    Instagram has disabled photo integration with Twitter. As a result, photos are no longer appearing in Tweets or user photo galleries.

    While tweeting links to Instagram photos is still possible, you can no longer view the photos on Twitter, as was previously the case.

    There have been reports that Twitter will be outing their own photo filtering function soon, which may possibly explain the sudden hostility between the two customers.

    Source: Twitter

    SwifKey Flow hits beta, gives us another awesome way to input text

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    We’ve featured SwiftKey before, and it still remains the main way we get text into our Android devices here at work. The people behind the magic keyboard software has recently released the beta version of their newest keyboard replacement, SwiftKey Flow. It will look instantly familiar to many Samsung users, but the company’s addition of their secret predictive magic makes the Flow keyboard so much more effective. The keyboard layout remains more or less the same, except now, you can drag your finger through letters instead of lifting and tapping each one individually. As you move around, you’ll also see a trail of the letters you’ve hit, so you can have a general idea of where you’re going. Not content to just offer another swipe-y keyboard, Flow also gives you the option to swipe through the spacebar instead of having to lift your finger after every word. You can, of course, use it the same way as Samsung’s, and it apparently gives even better results. If you’re interested, head over to the link HERE and give it a try.